Sweet Stampin' - spots & dots

I'm back with my 2nd post for today, my DT card for Sweet Stampin', where our challenge is 'spots and dots'.  I love using spotty papers so this was a nice and easy one for me :o)  We're sponsored by Stamp Fairy and Crafty Ribbons this week and our monthly sponsor is Joanna Sheen so there are some fab prizes to be won!

This card is for my mum to give to my youngest son Dex, who'll be 4 tomorrow.  I've used a very cute Lenny Notes image kindly provided by Stamp Fairy, coloured with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  The papers are MME 'blink of an eye', buttons and 2 different ribbons from my stash.

I've made the most of having a relaxing day today - tomorrow will be much busier!  Hubby's mum is having a joint birthday lunch for me and Dex (my birthday's in a little over a week), and then my mum's having a little family party for Dex later in the afternoon.  We still have to wrap all of his pressies tonight so I hope he goes to sleep ok, he's a bit excited!  Hope you're all enjoying your weekend :o)

A Gem of a Challenge - photo inspiration

This week at A Gem of a Challenge we have this gorgeous inspiration photo chosen by the lovely Rebekah...

And here's my card... those with an aversion to pink might want to look away now ;o)

This cute little ted is a new digi stamp called Love Heart Teddy, coloured with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, and I added some sparkle to the hearts with a sakura clear stardust pen.  The papers are from a Forever Friends pad, with textured kraft card from Stampin' Up.  The sentiment ticket is from Pink Gem, available here.  The swirly corner is a sizzix die, the butterfly was cut with a MS punch, and the pearls and raffia lace are from my stash.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far.  I'm not planning on doing much today as I still have this rotten cold, so I'll be curled up in the chair with my Kindle for most of the day I think :o)  I'll be back in a little while with my DT card for Sweet Stampin' though.

The Stamp Basket DT - Tilda with wrapped heart

It's Thursday which means it's my day for posting on The Stamp Basket blog, and this week I got to play with an adorable Tilda stamp which is part of the new Magnolia 'crazy in love' range.  I think a few of us on the DT have been happy bunnies this week when we heard that Janet will be stocking these stamps, dies and papers :o)  All the new goodies are there for you to see in the shop and you can pre-order them now if you like, they'll be in stock very soon.

When I haven't used a Tilda for a while, I forget just how lovely they are to colour - I really had fun with this one :o)  Of course it helped that my new Prima papers arrived in time for me to use them too!

Items available from The Stamp Basket
Magnolia stamp - Tilda with wrapped heart
Craftwork Cards scalloped edge card blank
Deco Art glamour dust - crystal
Dovecraft adhesive gems

I've coloured Tilda with a combination of promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  The papers are Prima 'alla-prima', with Stampin' Up textured kraft card.  I've added some wooden flowers, covered in glossy accents and glamour dust, and yellow pearls from my stash.  The border was cut with an MFT die and I'm not sure what make the sentiment stamp is.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Papertake Weekly - anything goes + optional something new
• My Mum's Craft Shop - something new (new stamp & papers)
• Simon Says Stamp - new something (as above)
• Cute Card Thursday - what's new
• Delightful Challenges - have a heart

I'm still trying to shake off the cold I've had since before Christmas - my voice went completely yesterday and it's not much better today... hubby and the boys are quite amused by my squeakiness, no sympathy in this house!  Do you remember that cartoon - was it Dastardly and Muttley? - well I had a laughing fit last night and sounded just like that dog lol :o)  Hope you all have a lovely evening, will be round to catch up with you later.

Waste Not Wednesdays wk1!

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, my crafty resolution for this year is to try and work through my huge pile of unused stamps and digis.  A few of you said you might like to join in, and Amanda came up with the name - thanks hun :o)  I also want to use more of my 'stuff' in general, so you should see slightly more elaborate cards from me this year - this doesn't come naturally to me really though, so making one card takes a long time at the moment!

Anyway, as soon as I thought of starting this weekly thing, I knew which stamp I'd have to use first.  For some reason this sweet little girl has been sat waiting to see ink for about 2yrs... shame on me!

So as you probably know, this stamp is Daisy from Sugar Nellie, coloured with a combination of flexmarkers, promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  The papers are from a free MME pad that came with a magazine ages ago, with cardstock from Papermill Direct.  The sentiment is Personal Impressions, swirl cut with a sizzix die, butterflies cut with a Stampin' Up die, tab cut with a Stampin' Up punch and embossed with a Stampin' Up embossing folder.  Pearls, lace and shimmery button all from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Papertake Weekly - anything goes + optional something new (don't think I've used anything new though, sorry!)
• Flutterby Wednesdays - open challenge
• I Love Promarkers - buttons & lace

So this is just a little 'for fun' challenge to get me using all those poor forgotten stamps, but if anyone would like to join in with me, please leave me a comment and I'll come and see what dusty stamp or digi you've used :o)  I'll add a linky next week if there are a few of you joining in.  Just for fun, no prizes, although I might do the occasional little giveaway - we'll see how it goes!

Dex's 4th birthday

It will be Dex's 4th birthday on Sunday, my little baby's growing up fast!  He told me he'd like a boy on his card, and a ribbon, so that's what he's got :o)

I also had to put a bit of pink on his card, because that's his favourite colour - I don't suppose I'll get away with using pink for long so I might as well make the most of it!

The image is super cute Sammy from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  Papers are Echo Park 'walk in the park' with dark brown cardstock from Papermill Direct.  Sentiment is CC Designs, ribbon from Hobbycraft and the number 4 was cut on my Cricut (Plantin Schoolbook cart).

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• CLP Challenge - sketch
• Totally Gorjuss - something happy
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
• Charisma Cardz - anything goes
• Stampin' for the weekend - anything goes
• Secret Crafter - anything goes
• Pile It On - anything goes

The boys are back at school and nursery tomorrow - I'm quite glad they didn't go back today, it's been blowing a gale and pouring with rain all day so a great day to spend in the craft room and not venture out at all!  Hope it's been a bit nicer where you are :o)

** Ooh - I nearly forgot!  There's a sale on at DigiStamp Boutique at the moment, so you can get 30% off everything until 7th Jan! **

The Stamp Basket DT - Mimo ski

I'm running late as we took the boys to spend their Christmas money.  My mum came too - she got me a pressie for my birthday and let me have it now (there's a couple of weeks until my birthday), a pretty case for my Kindle so it won't get damaged in my bag :o)  We also managed to get some extra bits for Dex's birthday without him seeing - that's on Sunday... very bad birthday planning in our family lol!

Products available from The Stamp Basket
Craftwork Cards scalloped edge card blank
Bildmalarna Mimo - ski stamp
White seam binding, dyed with distress inks
Dovecraft adhesive gems
Deco Art glamour dust in crystal

Ooh and in the next couple of days Janet will have the new Magnolia Sweet Crazy Love stamps, papers and dies in the shop!  I'm quite looking forward to having a play with some of these :o)

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch Saturday - fab sketch
• Crafty Calender - cold and frosty

Ok, so now my paper ban is over (yippee, hurrah - 2 new paper pads on their way already lol!!!) I've been thinking about what I should do this year.  The pile of un-inked stamps and unused digis has been bothering me for a while - I just can't seem to stop myself buying them and then for some reason I don't get round to using them... and then I buy more!  I'm going to try and change that this year, so I've decided to have at least one day each week where I use an unused stamp or digi, or maybe both if I have time... on Wednesdays I think. Any ideas of what I can call my weekly 'thing'?  Maybe some of you fellow hoarders will join in with me :o)

Paper ban...

** This post will stay at the top of my blog so I CAN'T conveniently forget! Please scroll down for more recent posts **

We've been out most of today so I've not had chance to make anything, but I thought I'd give this its own 'official' post lol... I've decided to ban myself from buying anymore papers until the New Year!  Eek, I'm scared just typing it! But seriously, I have an obscene amount of paper and I really need to start using some of it up.

Of course, my ban doesn't apply to stamps or dies, or anything else I might fancy tee hee, just paper.  Hmm, if I don't hit 'publish' then I can just forget all about this can't I?!... nope, here goes...


**2nd July update - One whole month into the ban, no cheating and I'm 'coping' ok... buying lots of stamps though lol**

** 19th Nov update - Wow, not too long to go now!  Can you believe I haven't bought any papers since the end of May?!  It's not been easy, but I've got used to it and don't even consider buying papers now - before if I saw something I liked on someone's blog I'd have rushed off and bought it straight away... I don't feel the need to do that now, so hopefully it's achieved something and when the ban is lifted I'll do less impulse buying.  I must admit though, I'm getting SO desperate for that lovely feeling of flicking through a brand new paper pad - I can't wait for January! **