A few things

Hi blogland. I know I've been a bit quiet of late, I've had so much going on here, my head has been all over the place. In the middle of organising my hubbys 60th and my mums 65th birthday party, my best friend from school lost a short battle with cancer and sadly passed away (just a few days after losing my great Uncle). It totally knocked the stuffing out of me as we were told she had 6-12 months which would be prolonged with chemo, but she passed away only 10 weeks after diagnosis. She was my age, 45. It hit me so hard, and of course because of my M.E it hit me physically as well as mentally. It's taken me quite some time to get over it. Then it was Christmas and it hit me all over again, not only because of Liz but also it's my first Christmas without my Grandad and my great Uncle John as well. I miss my Grandad so much, he was a massive part of my life. When I went for my usual Christmas eve visit to my Grandma she said to me "I've only to cook for me and Michael (my Uncle) this year, when it's usually the 4 of us, and it's so hard. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm really sad" Well of course her saying that got me upset too :'(
As usual I cooked the big dinner for me, hubby, my mum and her partner. We managed to get through it without any tears, I'm sure New Years Eve will be the time when we all have a cry. It's been a real tough year and if it wasn't for my crafting I'm sure I would have suffered a lot more, it really is better than any medicine.
So talking of my crafting, here are a few things I've been making:

I made these for the launch of Nikky's new Polka Doodles CD Cherry Blossom Lane which was on Create and Craft. It's a really lovely CD with lots of bunny images for all occasions, and some for the men as well which is brill! The images are water coloured with my Letraset AquaMarkers.

This was a bare basics frame which I have decorated with papers and embellishments from Studio 12's Picknix collection CD 1 from Polka Doodles. I have distressed the items with Tim Holtz distress inks.The photo is of my Grandma and Grandad taken in the late 40's in Skegness which was their fave holiday place. I will be giving this to my Grandma tomorrow.

I made some homemade cookies for my neighbours to say thanks for being the best neighbours anyone could wish for. So I decided I need to make some tags to attach to the packages. Then seeing as I loved doing them so much I then made some door hangers to use on New Years Eve so no-one disturbs my fur babies in the bedroom. Everything I have used comes from the fabulous Studio 12's Picknix collection CD 2 Gingerbread twist from Polka Doodles. Again I have distressed everything with a Tim Holtz distress ink.
I then decided that I needed to decorate some paper bags to put the cookies in.

I adore this CD, I wish I'd bought it before I did all my Christmas cards this year, as I would have done everyone of them with this CD!Well I think that's enough for now, I'm sure you'll be nodding off at such a long post! lol

I wish each and everyone of you a very healthy and happy new year. I'm sure 2013 is going to be amazing.

Polka Doodles week 51 challenge

The challenge over at Polka Doodles this week is:

Happy New Year OR Use The Year 2013

We are flexible on the theme - so you can use Happy New Year OR add the numbers 2013 (eg 3 of something or the actual numbers).

 

As this is our last challenge of the year the top three placed entries will all get a prize! The first placed winner will receive a copy of Picknix Vol 1 cd, second place will receive a copy of Back To Nature cd and the third placed entry will receive a copy of Sundae of Seasons cd!

For this weeks challenge I've done a digital scrapbook page. All the elements are from the fabulous Picknix Collection 2 CD from Studio 12. I've put it all together in the My Craft Studio program. I've added shadows to some of the elements to make it look more 3D. To follow the challenge I've used 1 photo, 2 bows and 3 rolling pins.

Paper Piecing

Hello blogland. The challenge over at Polka Doodles this week is "Paper piecing and use some newsapaper"
For this weeks card I have used an image and papers from the Pen and Paper Circle Club issue 4. The clothes, shoes, hairband, table cloth and bowl on the image are done by stamping the image onto the different papers and then cut out and stuck onto the image stamped onto white card. The skin and hair are coloured with ProMarkers. I've added an embossed dotty panel to match the dotty papers. The doily behind the image is done using the Marianne D designer doily die and the flowers are from the Marianne D die LR0162. I've done some faux stitching around the edge and added a ribbon bow.

Any die will do

The challenge over at Polka Doodles this week is, any die will do.
For my card I have used an image, papers and embellishments from the Sundae Of Seasons CD. The image is coloured with ProMarkers. The doily is the Marianne D Designer Doily, the butterfly is the Marianne die CR1205 and the flowers are from the Marianne die LR0107. I've added Doodle Dewdrops to the centre of the flowers and some bling on the butterfly.
And here is the card:

I've made this for my mum who is 65 next week. Most people would use this image for a Christmas card but I wanted to show how it can be used for a winter birthday as well.
I've used Tim Holtz Spun Sugar distress ink to ink around the edges and then done a faux stitch with a black marker.

One image, 4 cards

After doing the challenge over at Polka Doodles last week, I wanted to do some more cards using the same image as I think it's really cute. This time I used the pre-coloured image and made a little scene behind the main image with a Christmas tree, some baubles and a snowflake, and added a little Robin on the top of the post box. All the elements from the image, as well as the papers are from the Here Comes Christmas CD

The snowflakes and flowers are made from Marianne Designs dies. I've also used some Tim Holtz distress ink and added a few gems here and there. It shows how you can use one image in different ways, from a basic card that a beginner could do, to a more time consuming one.

Polka Doodles challenge week 45

This is my third card for the Polka Doodles design team. This week the challenge is to make a Christmas party invite.

For this card I've used images and papers from Here Comes Christmas. I've coloured the image in with ProMarkers and added some glitter on the snow areas. The message topper is made up of a paper and a border from the CD with a the message done in word. The snowflakes and flowers are done using some Marianne Design dies.

The RSVP is tucked in behind the invite message.

 A close up of the flowers,

and the snowflake.

I think this is one of my favourite cards I have made this year.

Paper scraps

Hi all. The other day I was wondering what to do with all my left over bits of paper from my recent makes and then saw this post by Miria over at Studio 12. It certainly spured me into action as I had recently made some tags. Here are the ones I originally made:

They are all cut out from a Sizzix die on my Cuttlebug. The tags on the left are done using 2 Stampin Up punches, a scalloped circle and a cirlce with the holly cut out by hand. The ones on the right are done using papers from the Polka Doodles Here Comes Christmas CD and a few Marianne dies for the snowflakes and flowers.

And here are the ones I made using up scraps of Polka Doodles papers:

I think the papers are from the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD. I've added some faux stitching and flower and butterfly embellishments. I then added the images which are from the Polka Doodles Sugarplum Daisy CD. I then punched a hole and added some ribbon. I have to say I am very pleased with how they turned out and it will be hard to part with them! lol

Polka Doodles Challenge week 44

This is my second challenge card as part of the Polka Doodles design team.

This weeks challenge is to use bright colours and sparkle.

This week I've used bright blues, greens and oranges to create a bonfire night themed card.

The images, papers and fireworks are from the Sundae Of Seasons CD. The images are coloured with ProMarkers. The flower and leaves are from the Marianne Designs Floral 3 dies set. The flower is made using 3 flowers with the inner one curled inwards to give the effect of it still being partly in bud. I've finished it off with a Doodle Dewdrop in the centre of the flower and three at the top of the card.

Digis by Jems

Good morning blogland. I have some more news to share with you today. Some of you may know of Jems Desgins who are well known for their Gothic and Fantasy CD's, well they have now launched a range of Digi images, some of which are quite different from their usual images, but of course with the same fabulous quality. I was delighted to be asked to join the Digi design team and here are my first samples I have done.

The images can be bought here. They are coloured in with Copics. The papers are from an oriental kit I bought from QVC a few years back. And the ribbons and buttons are from my stash.
There are now quite a lot of images to buy, so why don't you pop on over to Jems Designs and have a look at the fabulous images.

Polka Doodles

Good morning all. I hope everyone is managing to keep warm during this horrid weather.

I've got some exciting news to share with you all. You know I'm a massive fan of Polka Doodles products, which I'm sure you can tell by all the cards I make using their products, well, I am now a part of the amazing desgin team for them! I was soooo happy to be asked to be part of the team, I just hope I can do them justice!

So this is my first challenge card as part of the fabulous team.
The challenge is: Make a Christmas card and add Kraft.

The image and papers are from the Pretty Sweet CD. The image is coloured with ProMarkers. The flowers are handmade using the same papers. The frame around the image is the waste from the Marianne D Creatables - Designer Doily die. The silver flower is also from the same die. I've used some craft card and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then added glitter.
Pop over to Polka Doodles to join in with the challenge.

WIN a complete set of PROMARKERS over at Going Buggy!

Pop over to Going Buggy and have a look at the FAB giveaway! Letraset have given them a complete set of ProMarkers - that's 148 markers - to giveaway!

 All the info you need to enter is on the Going Buggy blog. Good luck everyone.

Haloween boxes

Todays items are Haloween gable boxes.
I don't "do" haloween but my friend asked me for some boxes for her sweet shop, so I bought this download from Aimee Asher. I took her one of each box in and she loved them and asked for 10 of each! So I spent a full day printing, cutting and glueing them.

I hope they go well in the shop. I think the last tall one is my fave, the image is sooo cute!

A frame for me!

After doing all those 3D frames I decided to do one for myself. This isn't really a photo frame it was bought as a picture. I've never seen so much polystyrene, glue and double sided tape holding a picture in! After spending ages taking the thing apart I finally got into it and managed to add my art, and this is the result:

I've used Stampin Up papers again and the Sizzix Graffiti alphabet. I've also cut our first names out in vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo and stuck them onto the mirrored part of the frame (which you can see my craft room reflection in).

3D frame

After seeing the baby frames on Facebook a friend asked me to make one for her friend who is due to have a baby this month. She asked for purple and sparkly and this is what I did for her:

For the name I've used a the Sizzix Graffiti alphabet which has a shadow behind the letters. I've done the shadow in silver mirror card. The papers are from Stampin Up and the flowers are from a Marianne die. I've also added some corners on the frame and added a few buttons.
I love these frames I think they are so different and no two people will have the same!

Another altered object

Todays item is an altered brown box. I got the box from Country Baskets a while ago and finally got around to decorating it.

 The papers are from K & Co, I've had these stuck in a cupboard for years! I've distressed the egdes with a file and some Tim Holtz Old Paper distress ink.

 The butterflies are Spellbinders and I've used both layers to give it a 3D effect.

 The image is from Make It Crafty and is coloured with Copics.

 A few close ups of the butterflies.

I've also added a Martha Stewart border at the side of the image.
I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I also have a round box which I might have a go at soon!

Altered bag

I'm back already to show you what I worked on yesterday.

I wasn't in the best frame of mind yesterday as I found out the night before that one of my oldest friends, who I went to school with, has just been given 6 months to live as she has lung cancer. To say I am devastated is an understatement.
Well, I didn't think that my brain would come up with much through all the tears and heartache, so I sat down to colour in and just chill out. When I'd coloured the image I saw the stack of plain bags I just bought sat on the floor and thought I'd have a go at decorating it. Well, the image and the papers just seemed to come together and in no time I had finished! This is the end result:

I know the stitching at the top is a bit wobbly but I think it adds to the charm. I've left the top left blank to add a message to when I decide what I'm going to use it for.

The image and the papers are from Polka Doodles. I coloured the image with my ProMarkers and FlexMarkers. I also added the Marianne die cut butterflies and distressed the edges with Tim Hotlz Spun Sugar distress ink.
All in all I think it turned out quite well.

oh dear!

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since I blogged! How bad am I especially after saying I would blog more regularly!
I've had a bit of a hectic month to be honest, I went to Spain to surprise my friend who lives there for her 50th birthday, and she was well surprised! We had a great time although it did wear me out as I wasn't to well when we went, and I'm still under the weather. I've had awful bronchitis and am on my 3rd set of antibiotics, so fingers crossed this set do the trick and send it packing.
Then I've been back and forth to the hospital to visit my great uncle who is sadly not going to be with us for much longer. And on top of all that we have been trying to get drawings and plans sorted for us to have an extension built!

 I have however manged to do quite a few cards during all that, here are a few of them.
This is the one I made for my friends 50th. It's mainly using DoCraft products from the latest goody bag, and the base card is centura pearl from C&C.

These are a few cards that my friend asked for to go in her shop.
These are using the Stampin Up motorcyle stamp and papers.

 

And these are using Stampin Ups Beware Pirates stamps.

 

I will be back soon with more cards to show you and a few other things I am working on at the moment.

Matching cards

Good afternoon Blogland. I did do some matching cards for the baby frames I did the other day and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out!

I think they are really cute. Just hope the customers in the shop do!
Also here are the lastest cards I have done for MCS which were on QVC yesterday. They are using the Alphabet & Scrolls stamp set which can be found here: QVC
Unless otherwise stated, all the papers are also from MCS.
The text backgrounds on the cards are done stamping the text stamp over and over.

 I really like this one as I love using Tim Hotlz distress inks.

 I love this embossing folder, I think it's great for mens cards, especially on silver mirror card.

 This one is a DVD or paperback book box. The papers were a magazine freebie.

 Distressing but in a delicate girly way.

That's it for today, but come back soon for more cards I have been working on this week.