Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #18

This is the sketch for Sketch Saturday's challenge. I found this the most challenging sketch to date. God knows why. I made 3 cards using this sketch, 1 went in the bin and the other 2 I'm not happy with either. Here they are....

First card - CS ~ Papermill, DP ~ freebie download from last year dont remember where, image ~ RAK, sentiment ~ Studio G, jingle bells ~ Poundland, ribbon ~ stash, coloured with Whisper pens and blinged with Glamour Dust.

Second card - CS ~ stash, DP ~ Summer Driggs, image ~ Precious Moments, sentiment ~ Studio G.

Friday Sketchers ~ Sketch #21

This is the sketch from Friday Sketchers...

This week they have a sponsor called "Kort & Hobby Godt AS" its a Norwegian company that produces their own stamps and accessories.They sell retail and wholesale.Most of their products are manufactured exclusively for them.The prize this week is a stamp collection, lace, ribbons, nails, charms and other embellishments.

CS ~ Papermill, DP ~ Pink Petticoat, image ~ RAK, sentiment ~ Studio G clear stamps, coloured with ~ Whisper pens, Snowflake charm ~ Poppicrafts, snowflakes ~ punched from mirri card, glamour dust on wings.

OMFG! I WON....................!

Yeh.....I won! .... I won! {jumping about} ... I'm really excited cos I won the amazing "Peeking Bunny" stamp at Sketch Saturday. I've never won anything before... not even the blasted lottery! I do love the sketches at Sketch Saturday and I'm not just saying that cos I WON! I can't believe it! I love random.org pmsl!

I think I've hidden my excitement well, dont you? ROFLMAO!!!!!

Cute Card Thursday ~ Challenge 29

This week the theme for the challenge is.....
Lots of sparkle!
You can add bling, glitter, baubles, stickles, anything that makes your card sparkle!
We have a sweet little Sugar Nellie stamp to give away this week. The very sweetChristmas Honey designed by Elisabeth Bell.

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the poor photos, clearly there's something wrong with my camera (could be the operator at fault!) So I hope you can see the sparkle on them. Secondly, after blog hopping I find that you lot are making Christmas cards already and have been for months, so I thought it was time I pulled my proverbial finger out and got making! These are the cards I've made for Fae and Scott to give I've done 6 of each design. CS ~ stash, DP ~ Raspberry Road Crystal Skies, Glitter card ~ Home Bargains, bling ~ stash, snowflakes ~ punch and image ~ google search engine (christmas couple sketch), coloured with watercolour pencils. Love how these have turned out and Fae's happy with them too!
These are the ones that I've made for Eloise. I googled "Precious Moments Clipart" and it brings up some fab images, even found a page that you could download the images to colour yourself. Thought I'd saved it to favourites but its not there when I find it I'll post the link. I managed to use all the christmas paper I printed out last year and never used and scrap pieces of card! Again used the glitter card for corners and snowflakes and added stickles to the snowball and snow.

Papertake Weekly Challenge ~ Mellow Yellow!/Children In Need

This weeks challenge is a charity one! Quick Cards made easy magazine are trying to break the record for the worlds biggest handmade card, for BBC Children in Need.You're able to use any products/materials you like but the finished card needs to be yellow!! The preferred size for the card is a standard A6 (approx 4x6 in). All cards will be put together to form a giant Pudsey Bear card!

We'd love to help support this charity and I'd like to ask everyone who joins in with this weeks challenge if they would kindly, like to send their cards in!?Of course you don't have to and you can join in in the usual way but it would be lovely for PTW to be able to send off some cards to add to the total!For each different person who sends a card (or cards!) to me (to send on from PTW!)within the next 2 weeks, I will make a donation of 25p!

Loving this card! CS ~ stash, DP ~ Pink Petticoat, image ~ from fall collection coloured with whisper markers and paper pieced, blooms and bling ~ stash. I don't very often find myself making yellow cards its not really one of my favourite colours, but I'm really pleased with how this has turned out!

Shhhhhh.....Listen!

.....What can you hear? Me, I can hear the whirring of Andy's PC and the clicking of the keys on my laptop as I type! Oh this is bliss lol! Might even listen to the sound of the kettle in a mo cos I'm gagging for a brew.........yes there's that sound!...........Shhhhhh! Peace and quiet! No I've not lost the plot, well not quite anyway, but I'm working on it pmsl! I'm home alone. Andy and Ellie have gone to college, Rylee's gone home and its just me and Peaches the cat. My one day of real freedom.......no having to listen to "Muuuuuum, does this look ok on me?" "why doesn't it look ok, you can't just say it doesn't look ok there's got to be a reason" "Muuuuuuuum, can you give me a spray tan, straighten my hair, give me a lift, etc" or "Jill can you check my college work? "Jill what we having for tea?" or "Mum, can you look after Rylee" "Mum can you pick me up some nappies, wipes, etc" or from Rylee "jhuyaj hofhhiw hoslij" "ta ta ta". So listen to my house while I make a cuppa............... See how nice that sounds! pmsl!

So whilst I've been alone for the past hour I managed to get 2 candles made and a gift sorted. I printed the images out this afternoon while Rylee was asleep so that I was all ready to go once he'd gone home.....

These candles I've done for Carrie (my neice) and Dean (her hubby) for their birthday's next month. If you're a frequent visitor, you'll know I made birthday cards for them using the same images, if you're not a frequent visitor then, hey get with the programme lol! I printed the images out in the usual way and then buffed them up with a dry cloth once they were cooled (tip from Barbara, thanks honey), makes the image all shiny and sort of stands out a bit more, or that could be my imagination!

Oh ffs, just pressed the publish button before I've finished, see what happens when I get too excited!

I got this cup for Eloise to give to Carrie. Its a VW camper cup and coaster.... only saying cos the pictures not really clear. It came in a really crappy cardboard box, that's in the bin now. I wanted to jazz it up a bit so it wasn't your bog standard boring cup. In the top of my wardrobe I've got a bag of goodies. No that those sort of goodies, keep it clean ladies!.......I added a few of those, one cup sachets.... Maltesers, Horlicks, Cappucino, Coffee, hot chocolate and a tea bag. Thought it looked a bit better. Wrapped it in cellophane and added a piece of ribbon and......voila.... a cheap cup, with one cup sachets in..........roflmao (that just for you Becky!)

What A Fab Weekend!

Well my Mojo's been on overdrive this weekend, don't quite know what happened but just couldn't make cards quick enough. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that did it, I wont go into details, but just say lady problems... roll on the menopause! I suppose it could have something to do with my fab new Magnolia Fall Stamps. I just don't know....

Just love all these cards. I've also started Ellie's Christmas cards too, managed to make 8 of those up to now, but I'll show those later. All the paper and card I used for these cards were from my scrap box, all leftovers from previous projects. All images are coloured with Whisper Markers and paper pieced with background DP's and the bling, ribbon and any other stuff is from my stash.

I was hoping that one of these would fit the PTW challenge, sadly they don't so it looks like its back to the dining table for me! (what a shame lol!)

Just been looking at my blog and noticed that its over a week since I had a session with a candle ... oh you filthy minded devil! It did sound wrong though didn't it? pmsl! Anyway, I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms so I better rectify that! (that sounds wrong too!) ..... Oh sod it I'm going................

For My Parents

This is the card that I shall be giving my parents on their wedding anniversary. I wanted something a little bit special and didn't have a clue what to do... until I visited Carol's amazing blog. On there I saw a gorgeous card that she had made for a Golden Wedding Anniversary. So I mailed her and asked her if she would mind if I used her design to make my parents card. Obviously, she very kindly said yes and so here it is....I used CS ~ stash, DP ~ Pink Petticoat, flourish ~ googled wedding clipart and printed out then using glue pen glittered (not too happy with that part of it, actually doesn't look too bad on her but IRL its not as crisp as I'd like it to be) 50 years ~ printed out and coloured with gold Sakura pen, ribbon and heart brads ~ stash

Thanks so much Carol for allow me to use your design!

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #17

Sketch #17... and there's a fab prize up for grabs this week! sponsored by Bootiful Stampz "peeking bunny".

Using this sketch I made another card for my parents golden wedding anniversay. This is the one that Fae, Scott and Rylee will be giving them. CS ~ stash, DP's ~ Pink Petticoat, image ~ Rak, coloured with Whisper Markers and blinged with diamond stickles on the bottom of the dress and veil, Martha Stewart doily punched bits ~ Dawny P's lovely Rak and pearls and ribbon ~ stash.

My Awards!

Becky and Jill have very kindly given me the "One Sweet Blog Award" and Jill has also given me the "Sylvester Award". I would like to say that I truly appreciate these awards and am pleased that my work is inspirational to some of you! It's always nice to be told that your work is fab by others, apart from family and friends who can be at times biased. So now to pass on these awards to others... Well, there are so many blogs that make me smile and two of those blogs belong to the above mentioned, but seeing as Jill already has these awards, as much as I'd love to include her in the list, it'd be a never ending process of sending it too and fro. So Jill, you do make me smile lots, every time I visit your blog and you are one of the sweetest virtual people I've met, you too Becky!

Right, here goes.... Becky I award you the Sylvester Award.... the following people are awarded both awards .....Carol, Carole, Dawny P, Jacqui, Rach, and Vicky.

Cute Card Thursday ~ Challenge 28 and Friday Sketchers Sketch ~#20

Challenge 28 is Food ~ This week we would like to see some food on your card. There is some gorgeous ribbons from Ribbon Oasis to give to one randomly chosen winner.

Kristine from Norway has designed this weeks Friday Sketchers Sketch #20 and this week they have a Norwegian sponsor called 3ndypapir. The winner of Kristine's sketch will receive a complete set of the 2008 summer collection papers.
I've made this card for my parents who will be celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary in October. This card is one I've made from one of the girls. CS and bling ~ stash, DP's ~ Pink Petticoat, Lola's Boudiour in gold, image ~ Panduro wedding collection, coloured with Whisper Markers, sentiment ~ Pink Petticoat and flowers ~ HOTP template.

An Award!

Elaine has given me the award on the right, thank you Elaine thats so kind of you. I would like to pass this on to Jill, Becky, Barbara, Kerry and Rach.

I'm so excited!

Sad, but true! I'm really excited about going to Derby's new Primark this morning. I'm all ready and chomping at the bit. Just gotta wait for Andy to get ready..... who said women take more time? I've showered, done my hair, make-up and got dressed and hes still faffing in the bathroom! I'd go without him but he has the cash lol!

Didn't loose anything at fat club again! Thats 2 weeks running. But have decided perhaps I'm eating too much bread!

Anyway gonna get my coat on. See ya when I get back!!!!

Edited: Well, I'm back from Primark and it was fab!......But, Andy ended up buying more for him than I had! (that's it he definately has to be banned from Primark, he's getting worse than a woman) I did get what I wanted, which was a pair of pinstriped trousers and some black 3/4 length trouser and as I walked passed a handbag and umbrella fell in my basket lol! Got Rylee a gorgeous pair of black jeans with red stitching and a little black, red and grey sweater.... so cute! Will show him tomorrow after nursery. Oh yes... my trousers we're a size 12! thats 2 dress sizes since joining Weight Watchers aka Fat Club lol! I'm still 2.5lbs away from my 10% but who cares when I can fit in a size 12 again! Ok, in all fairness they are snug at the minute, but the 14 looked and was enormous, well ok then, not enormous but too big. I have until October 4th to shrink into them perfectly though!

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #16

Another fabulous sketch from Jo at Sketch Saturday!

CS ~ Papermill, DP ~ Leftovers, images ~ new Magnolia Fall Collection coloured with Whisper Markers and blinged with Glamour Dust, sentiment ~ RAK from Jo.

I made this thank you card for Fae & Scott to say thanks for the lovely Sunday roast they cooked for us last weekend. It was really nice not having to prepare veg and all the other things a Sunday lunch entails. I did still have to wash the pots though! LOL!

Papertake Weekly Challenge ~ Katharina's Sketch #11

This weeks challenge is another of Katharina's sketches!

CS ~ Papermill, DP ~ more leftovers, image ~ google search engine, Martha Stewart Doily Punched bits ~ courtesy of Dawny P, ribbon, pearls and peel off ~ stash and sentiment ~ PC generated and cut out using Nesties.

This was an SOS card for my Mum's Friends daughter. She'd been looking for a card for her Granddaughter's 1st birthday with Winnie the Pooh on and apparently they were a bit boyish. So this is what I came up with.

Unexpected Rylee free day!

I didn't realise Fae had booked the day off work today, so I have an unexpected Rylee free day and am looking forward to the rest of the week too..... the outlaws will have him tomorrow morning whilst I grocery shop, Wednesday morning he's at nursery, Thursday he's spending the day (for the very first time ever) with his other Grandma (Scott's Mum), not sure how thats gonna work out but oh well! Going to take the opportunity to visit Derby's new 3 floor Primark .... heaven!!! And Friday morning he's back at nursery again!!! How lucky am I? So, you'd think I'd have done lots today ..... wrong! I've been shopping for size smaller clothes this morning, came home had lunch and finally got Ellie to give me a full leg and bikini line wax....ouch!!!! I always think its a good idea till she starts doing it and then I remember its not pmsl! But its done now and I'm sat here at my laptop all sticky and with my legs and bits still fizzing! I have got another card to post for this weeks PTW challenge that I made yesterday and which fits brilliantly, but I need to go to my Mum's cos its for her friends, daughters, granddaughter and I forgot to take a photo of it. I just hope she's not collected it yet!

Carol's Fun Sketch #3

Yet another fab sketch from Carol and more goodies for one random winner....

I've made this card for my neice Carrie whose having a 30th birthday next month... God, that makes me sound old, but there's only 9 years between us and the funny thing is theres 9 years between her and my eldest Fae and 9 years between Fae and Carrie's daughter Ebony! Anyway , CS ~ The Works, DP ~ Raspberry Road Designs, Bailly's Room, image ~ google search engine, sentiment ~ done on PC and cut out using Nesties, flowers and bling ~ stash.

Both Carrie and her hubby are mad on VW Camper vans and have a huge collection of bits and bobs. Obviously, not being able to afford the real thing I thought I'd use an image on both cards. Here's the card I made for Dean.....

CS ~ stash, DP ~ leftover from last weeks PTW challenge, image ~ google search engine and embellishments ~ symbols cut from Hippie Chick alpha's on the cuttlebug in leather, turned them over cos I thought they looked better that way round! Layout is loosely based on Friday Sketchers Sketch ~19

I'm feeling lucky today!

Just look what my postman bought me today.....

This little lot was from Jill as a thank you for sending her a birthday card and some stamped images. I don't have any of these images, so I'm gonna be having fun colouring these!

And this was from Dawny P, some fab papers and most importantly some Martha Stewart Doo Dah punched thingy's, which I knew Dawny was sending, but I didn't know she was sending all the papers and a few images, which was a total surprise.

So, all in all I'm feeling pretty special today and can't wait to play with my new goodies. Thank you so much girls, i really do appreciate your kindness.

Talking of playing ..... I had to play with a candle earlier... only cos I had an order to fulfil, no other reason honest!

Friday Sketchers ~ Sketch #19

This weeks sketch is by Heidi from Norway and its absolutely fab. I love it that much I made two cards using it. Here is the sketch ...

and this is what I did with it.....

Both cards are for my Auntie's birthday's the end of the month. The first card is made using ... CS ~ The Works, DP ~ scraps of leftover paper from previous projects, image ~ coloured with H2O's and watercolour pencils, blooms and brads ~ stash. The second card is again made with leftover papers, CS ~ The Works, image ~ coloured with Whisper Markers, blooms and brads # stash.

Cute Card Thursday ~ Challenge 27

This weeks challenge is to make a card with a Cats and Dogs on it. Theres also the change to win two fabulous cute downloads to give to one lucky participant chosen at random next week! These downloads have been donated by the very talented Debbie Moore who also designs for Spiral Whisper. I've so gotta have these.... its a giraffe!

CS ~ Crafts Central, Orange DP ~ Canon site, Boo DP ~ can't remember at the mo, image ~ PIF ages ago so don't remember, coloured with Whisper Markers and blinged with Glamour dust, blooms and button ~ stash

Papertake Weekly Challenge ~ Autumn Haze

This week challenge is to make autumn themed cards - autumn stamps, autumn colours or anything you associate with autumn! I don't really have autumn themed stamps so I used autumn colours to make my card.
CS ~ stash, spotty paper ~ Pink Petticoat, DP ~ Summer Driggs, image ~ PIF I got ages ago, coloured with watercolour pencils and blinged with glamour dust, layout ~ Mojo Monday, ribbon ~ stash, sentiment ~ pc generated and cut out using nestie.

Blog candy Giveaways!

There is some fab blog candy on Gina's blog and all you need to do is leave Gina a comment and put a link on your blog.

Suzanne also has some fab candy which includes a Whiff of Joy Stamp and other goodies, again you need to leave a comment and a link about the candy on your blog.

I've done it again!

Yes, I've gone and done it again! Decorated more candles, but only because people asked me too! Lol, any bl**dy excuse! So without furthur ado here they are.....

Eloise didn't want to send her friend a card for her 25th birthday, so we decided to send a candle instead. The photo is of the 2 of them at their works Christmas party ...Ellie's the one on the left!

This is for a friends granddaughter's first birthday. My parents sent her a candle for her 40th and she's now asked me to do 2 for her! Winnie the pooh image is from Disney clipart.

I was asked to decorate this candle for a friend's friend's birthday, if that makes sense. She collects anything with elephants on. The image was from the Joanna Sheen ~ Jayne Netley Mayhew Collection and looks fab on the candle.

Thats what I've been up to on my Rylee free morning. I've also taken an order for more candles this morning from my neice and her boss! Looks like everyone wants one, which is pretty lucky for me!

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #15

This weeks sketch is being sponsored by Sassy Crafts, who sell a wide array of fabulous crafting goodies and always give their customers an excellent friendly service and exceptional value for money.
Again I used the Joanna Sheen ~ Jayne Netley Mayhem Collection CD for the image and papers, CS ~ Crafts Central, sentiment ~ Pink Petticoat, flowers and gems ~ stash. Think this one also passes for a male card.

Friday Sketchers ~ Sketch #18

Jacqueline from the Netherlands has design this weeks fab sketch. The random winner of this week's challenge will receive a Hero Arts stamp design Block “floating leaf patter” nr. S 5055 which is a great stamp.

For my card I used an image and papers taken from Joanna Sheen ~ Jayne Netley Mayhew Collection, that my MOT lent me to use (see she can be nice, if she tries lol). CS ~ Crafts Central, string ~ courtesy of Hubby's price tag on jeans from Primark!, buttons ~ Poppicrafts.

I need to start making cards for November birthdays as well as Christmas ... only done 2 of those! 3 of the birthdays that month are male's and they all live in the same house, so I thought this one would be a good start! I love the sketch and will definately be using it again.

My award!

I've been given this fab award by Jill. It really cheered me up after an absolutely sh***y week! First we had Rylee, who thought he was a money box and then last night while I was enjoying being pampered at my Godmothers hairdressing salon I get a text message from Ellie saying "I've just crashed my car" after I remembered to breathe I realised that she couldn't be hurt else she wouldn't be texting me, but you imagine all sorts and none of what you imagine are reality ... fortunately. Anyway, after a phone call and a mad but safe dash home, we found that it was minimal damage and the car only requires a new headlight and that Ellie was just in shock. She explained that the other car was in front of her and for no reason just slammed on his brakes and she went sliding into the back of him. She had a few tears cos her car is her baby, but seemed ok after that. Put it this way she went back out in the car, not sure she really wanted to but she didn't really have a choice.

So, can you imagine how pleased I was to receive this award?! Its always nice to get an award, but this just seems extra special after this weeks trauma's. Thank you very, very, very much Jill, if you haven't visited Jill's blog then you really should she has some gorgeous cards and is extremely talented.

BTW dont think I mentioned my weight loss this week did I? When I went to fat club on Wednesday I'd lost another 2 and a half pounds ... thats 12 and a half in total and only another 2 and a half until I reach my 10%!!!!! I've also gone down a dress size!

Now I need to pass this on... Vicki, Jo, Becky, and anyone else who doesn't have it and wants it, please help yourself.

Papertake Weekly Challenge ~ Katharina's Sketch #10 & Cute Card Thursday ~ Challenge 26

This weeks challenge is another of Katharinas fab sketches and this week Whiff of Joy (Katharina's stamp company) are sponsoring the challenge! So theres a gorgeous stamp up for grabs. Challenge 26 at Cute Card Thursday is "Pretty In Pink" theres also a chance to win a fab stamp from Inklebod stamps.CS ~ Papermill, DP ~ forgotten sorry, but I do know they're called Strawberry and Lemonade ... or something like that! Image ~ Joannna Sheen coloured with my new Whisper markers, ribbon ~ stash, sentiment ~ RAK from Jo. I know its not really pink, more burgundy, but it does have pink on it I hope it qualifies for the CCT challenge.