Hoppy Easter!

Hi everyone!

I hope you're well?  I'm back with another card that should've been posted a week ago!  I'm hoping that my constant need to catch up will soon be at an end as the main reason for me not being able to keep up is finally getting seen to!  I had my big injection on Tuesday, and I didn't realise until after it just how anxious I was before hand.  The procedure is a fairly common one but having never had anything like that done to me in my thirty something years on earth, I did feel nervous about it.  The needle was being guided via ultra sound scanner right into the joint of my right shoulder.  And boy oh boy but it was painful!!  I watched the screen and could see the needle going into the joint and the swirling of the liquid being injected into where it had to go.  It was not a pleasant experience!  It has been very sore and stiff/tight ever since, they said it might take a couple of weeks to start to feel right, it felt a good bit better this morning when I woke up, but as the day has gone on it is getting sorer again.  But hopefully it's on the right road now!  Then I have to go through it all again in a few weeks on the other shoulder!  At least I'll know what to expect that time.

So, the card today was for the challenge that started last Friday at the Alphabet Challenge Blog - you can call this a midway reminder!  It was my turn to choose the challenge and as we are up to E I chose...

E for Easter!

How appropriate! Lol!

Here's my card

The image is by Saturated Canary and is called Easter Dress.  I coloured her with the following Copics:  Skin;E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair & Bunny;E44,43.Y15,13,11. Dress;R22,21,20.B06,05,04,01,00,0000.YG07,05,03.RV29,25,23.

The papers I have used are Here & Now by Echo Park.  I used a set of Spellbinders Petite Ovals in large for the image and a Stampin' Up! punch for the sentiment.  I have a really old egg shaped punch that I found in my stash so I used it too.  The sentiment is computer generated using the font AR Christy.  The ribbon and gems are from my stash.

I used a Martha Stewart punch that I was going to use for the front of the card but I thought it was a bit much so I just used it on the inside along with the same papers, egg punch shapes, ribbon and gems as the front.

Please pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to check out the rest of the DT's cards for this challenge and add your entries there - cos I know you're gonna enter!!  Lol!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Craft For The Craic; Something for Easter or Spring
Craft Your Passion; Bunnies, chicks and eggs
Crafty Catz; B is for... Bunnies, blue, bow
Dream Valley Challenges; Easter
Eureka Stamps; Happy Easter
Just For Fun Challenge Blog; Easter
Oldie But A Goodie Challenge; Easter
Papertake Weekly; Happy Easter
The Pink Elephant; Easter
Twisted Tuesday; I need your paperwork

Thanks for looking!
 

Retro Revival!

Hi everyone!

I have been demented over the past few days because my Office 2010 programs quit working.  I use them for so much - I have everything organised in excel and it was really annoying that I couldn't get it fixed.  I think the problem happened when I was renewing my internet security program cos it was just after that when I tried to open excel and it wouldn't let me.  It told me to go to the control panel and do a repair, which I did, unsuccessfully, several times!  I then had the task of finding the box with the disk in that the program came on (which I eventually found and I have no idea why I put it where I did!).  I then tried the repair again, this time from the disk.  It still didn't work.  I ran virus scans and checks and could find no solution so I un-installed and re-installed the entire Office program.  I entered the key and did everything right and thought it was fixed but then it said it needed to verify the key.  Then the bloody pop-up came up again saying: “An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. (0x8007000D)” with a little link asking if this information was helpful...well, no.  It really wasn't helpful!
So after a few more attempts at doing repairs that I knew wouldn't help I finally found a solution on google and got it fixed!  I can't tell you how relieved I am!  I keep opening excel and just keep looking at it!  I'm so grateful to the people who run blogs which are there to help people with things like that, cos it's not the first time I've had to get help with something and found the answer on a blog.  So a big cheer to everyone in blog-land for putting so much time and effort into things that help other people (for free!), even if it is just a silly story that will maybe help someone to put a smile on their face!

So back to my post which will bring you back through time to Tuesday, when this should've been posted!

We had a new challenge up on Tuesday at the Creative Card Crew and 2 fabulous sponsors...

First of all, one of our regulars, Marianne Designs

Who are offering a gorgeous set of stamps and a set of dies to one lucky winner!


Our second sponsor for this fortnight is Kenny K Designs

They're giving another lucky winner 3 digi's!

So, the challenge we have for you is a special one as it is running along with Seems A Little Sketchy and using their sketch!  It was lovely to use the same sketch for 2 cards and see how differently they turned out!  Here's the sketch:

And here is my card, I'm nice and early for my sister's birthday this year, it's not til April!

The image is by our sponsor, Kenny K Designs and is called What If.  I coloured her with the following Copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; E49,47,44,43. Clothes; RV23,21,10. Background; Y15,13,11.

The papers I used are from the Country Drive pad by Echo Park.  It's not too often that I use all the papers in a pad but this one is nearing the end, lots of lovely papers in that one!
Not a lot going on on this card as I thought the retro look of the image suited a simple design, so I went with the bright coloured papers teamed with the black border and rounded corners instead.
The sentiment is computer generated using the font Calibri.  I usually make some dig at my sister about her age as she is older than me so I can get away with it!  A few years ago I bought her some wrinkle cream!  She was not amused, well, maybe a little!  lol!

The inside uses the same papers and a simple happy birthday sentiment using a Wild Rose Studio stamp.

So that's my card, please pop over to the Creative Card Crew and Seems A Little Sketchy blogs to submit your entries and have a look at what the DT's have done - lot's of inspiration this time with 2 design teams!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations Challenges; Something to drink - I wasn't sure if mentioning a drink in the sentiment was enough to enter, if it's not then please remove my entry :)
Crafty Sentiments Designs; Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday; Warm it up
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog; Happy birthday
Lady Bug Crafts Ink Challenge Blog; Keep it clean (and simple)
Moving Along With The Times; Girly Cards
Stampin For The Weekend; Happy Birthday
Top Tip Tuesday; Clean and simple
Kenny K's Krafty Krew; Use black

Thanks for looking!
 

Holly's First Day

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all well?
I'm starting to get back on track today with a new challenge from Seems A Little Sketchy.

We have 2 sponsors for you today - The Robin's Nest

Who are offering a $10 gift certificate to one lucky winner

And Robyns Fetish

Who are offering 3 digi's to another lucky winner!

And here's our fab sketch for you to work with this fortnight!

My little nephew Ryan is back to school today, into P2, after his nice long summer holidays but my wee niece Holly starts in P1 on Wednesday, so I thought I'd give her this card for her big day!

The image was provided by Robyns Fetish and I coloured her with the following copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Uniform; G07,05,Y17,15,13. Hair; E44,43,40. The rest; E47,39,35,33,30,29. RV34,32,B95,93,91,W3,1.

The papers I used are Echo Park, Country Drive.  I used Spellbinders dies - lg classic and scallop circles and ovals.  The ladybirds are from my stash.  The sentiment was computer generated - only just the right size! lol!

 I used papers from the same pad for the inside



 So I hope you can join us with this sketch - take a look at what the rest of the DT have made at Seems A Little Sketchy!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity; Back to school
Crafty Creations Challenges; Use a number
Crafty Ribbons Challenge; Back to school
Creative Belli Blog; Number
Delightful Challenges; Make the cut
Dream Valley Challenges; For a child
Fussy & Fancy Challenge; Back to school
Perfect Sentiment; Goodbye summer, hello school
The Pink Elephant; Numbers

Thanks for looking!
 

An Apple A Day...

Hi everyone!

A wee late one from me, and for a change not DT related!  But I thought I'd better post my Father's Day card before it gets too far past it!

Here it is:

A fairly simple sort of a card, but there's something about it that I like, and I don't say that very often about my own cards!  Maybe it's the simplicity of it?

The images are by Birdie Brown and these ones were actually freebies!  I coloured them with the following copics: Bear; E39,37,35. Tree; E47,44,43. Apples; R39,37,29. Grass; G99,YG97,95,E49,31. Sky; B000,0000,C1,0. And highlighted with some white acrylic paint.

 The papers are Country Drive by Echo Park.  The sentiment was computer generated in power point - I worked out what size my image was and created the wording to go around it.  The font is Lainie Day.  I finished it off by adding some doodled lines and some red ribbon and pearls from my stash.

The inside is simple to match the front, with a Wild Rose Studio sentiment.

So that's my card for my lovely daddy!  He has got a couple of apple trees but it's out of season at the moment, I just liked the picture!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

CRAFT Challenge: Recipe
Dream Valley Challenges; Father's Day
Fab N Funky Challenges; Animals
A Gem Of A Challenge; Father's Day
Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog; Father's Day
One Stitch At A Time; Use a digi
Simon Says Stamp Challenge; Summer fruits
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Animal antics
Top Tip Tuesday; Masculine
Twisted Tuesday Challenges; Clothes make the man

Thank for looking!
 

Up, Up And Away!

Hi everyone!

Happy Father's Day to all the lovely Daddy's out there and especially to my own who I think is just the best one!  (In my opinion anyway! lol)
I have to share a quote from a friend about our weather that I thought was both funny and true!  "I think my calendar must be wrong - it says it's June, but when I look out through the window, it's telling me it's October!"  And that's all I'm saying about the weather!

It was my parent's wedding anniversary yesterday - they have a big one next year so it was a quite one this year, but we all went out and had the whole family together anyway.  My little niece and nephew were there and we were talking about flies.  I asked them what you would call a fly that had no wings and Holly (4) replied with "a spider!".  Ryan (5) turned to her and said "No Holly, an insect only has 6 legs!"  I almost fell off my chair!  If he had've said that arachnids have 8 legs I think I would've!

Anyway, time for a new challenge with the Pink Team at Eclectic Ellapu and this week our lovely Asha is hosting and the challenge she has chosen is...

Celebrate Summer Sunshine!

So at least I'm getting to see something summery, even if it's not out through my window!  (see above)

Here's what I did:

 
The one I made the other day got me in the mood for making easel cards, so I made another one!

The image is Patchwork Bunch Of Balloons by LOTV and I have coloured him with the following copics: Bear; E39,37,35,33. Balloons; Y17,15,13,B95,93,91,RV29,25,21,V000,RV13,11,10,YG95,93,91. Sky; B000,0000,C1,0.

The papers are Echo Park, Here & Now.  I have used a multitude of dies - Spellbinders Decorative Elements Grand Nestibilities for the base.  Go Kreate XXL circles.  Spellbinders Big scallops circles and standard circles.  Pearls and ribbon are from my stash.

 The inside/base of the easel has a mini easel as the stopper and the sentiment is by LOTV.

So go take a peek at what the rest of the DT have created at Eclectic Ellapu!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafty Ribbons Challenge; Anything goes with ribbon
Crazy Amigo Challenge; Round, circle, dots
Delicious Doodles Challenges; All creatures great and small
Party Time Tuesdays Challenge Blog; Fancy folds
Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog; Fold it
Stamp And Create Challenges; Summer fun
Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog; Summer vacation
Stampin For the Weekend; Cute
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Animal antics
Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Challenges; Shaped cards

Thanks for looking!

Butterfly Kisses

Hi everyone,
I hope you're all keeping well?
It's been one of those weeks where I've been really busy but have nothing to show for it, I hate that!

We have another challenge for you this week from the Pink Team at Eclectic Ellapu.
Our lovely May has chosen a fab challenge for us this week!  It is...

Anything With Wings!

I always think it sounds like a difficult challenge and then you think of all the lovely things with wings you get loads of inspiration!

Here's what I did:

My image is Springtime by Saturated Canary and I coloured her with the following copics:  Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; E23,Y26,23,21. Clothes; RV29,25,21,B04,02,01,Y19,17,15,13,11,YG97,95,93,91. Grass: E44,31,G99,24,07,YG17,07. Sky; B00,000,0000,C1,00.  I used some pebeo paints to highlight the flowers.

The papers are Echo Park, Here and Now.  The swirl and the little butterfly are laser-cut shapes by Make it Crafty which I painted with the same pebeo paints that I used on the image.  The sentiment is from the Dreamdays set by LOTV and I cut it out with Spellbinders dies.  The butterfly is by Prima and I got it in some blog candy that I won recently! :)  The bling and the ribbon is from my stash.

The inside more or less matches the front and the sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! Happiest Birthday Wishes set.

So pop over to Eclectic Ellapu and take a look at what the rest of the DT have done, they're so talented!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

All Sorts Challenge Blog; Here come the girls
Bearly Mine Challenge Blog; Colour challenge
Crafts For Eternity; The same letter - B for Butterflies, Bling, Blue.
Crafty Friends Challenge Blog; Challenge 1, anything goes
Eureka Stamps Challenge; The great outdoors
Fab & Funky Challenges; For the girls
Fussy & Fancy Challenge Blog; Bling it on
QKR Stampede Challenge; Any winged creature
Southern Girls Challenge Blog; Tic tac toe - top row
The Ribbon Girl Card Challenge; Add a die cut

Thanks for looking!
 

Circletastic

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well.  I had a lovely weekend and didn't leave the house once!  After a few very busy weekends it was a welcome change!  Although my house was crying out for a good clean so had to do a wee bit of that! lol!

In between cleaning though, I found some time for crafting - it has to be done, right?!  I made my card for the new challenge at the Creative Card Crew.

This fortnight we are being sponsored once again by the fabulous Scrapping Center!

And they're offering another $15 to spend in their store to one lucky winner!

Our challenge for this fortnight is...

Bling!

I love this challenge!  And I'm sure I'll be totally wowed by all the bling blogland has to offer!

Here's what I did:

I went a bit mad with the circles!  I fell in love with this image "Summer" the moment I saw it at Saturated Canary.  I coloured her with the following copics: Skin: E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair:E49,47,44,43,42. Clothes:Y06,02,00,B24,23,21,YG17,13,11,RV13,11,10,BG49,45,000. I have been a bit slack with colouring backgrounds so I thought this would be a good image to start practicing on and I used G28,24,21,E49,RV34,N1,B0000 to do it.

The papers I have used are Country Drive by Echo Park.  I used Spellbinders Decorative Elements Grand Nestibilities for the base of the card and Go Kreate large circles too.  Smaller Spellbinders dies were used for the image and back panel.  I used a white gel pen on the scallops and my bling is the pink and clear gems around the base scallops.  I also added a little clear gem to Summer's bow in her hair.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up! from the Happiest Birthday Wishes set, with a few more gems, just because.

A fairly simple inside, because it's quite a small space with another stamp from the Stampin' Up! set.

So go take a peek at the rest of the samples from the DT at the Creative Card Crew - they're all fab!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge: Favourite colour combo
Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge: The letter B = Blue, Butterflies, Bow
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog; Favourite colour combo
Love To Create Challenge Blog; Punches and/or dies
Papercrafting Journey; Use a sentiment
QKR Stampede; Favourite things (My copics for colouring and a SC image!)
Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog; Dark & bright and don't be square
Stamp & Create Challenge; Use at least 1 die cut
Stampin' For The Weekend; Dies and/or punches
Saturated Canary Challenge; All things bright and beautiful

Thanks for looking!
 

Chickadee

Morning everyone!

A poorly post from me this morning.  I've been to the doctor this morning and I've been told I have acute tonsilitis :(  Very painful and not a bit cute!

Anyway, it's friday morning and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog and my lovely teamie Emma picked the theme for this one, and it is...

F for Feathered Friends!

A bit of a toughy for me as I don't actually have a lot of stamps of birds!  So I went with a trusty Magnolia stamp and made this card:

 I used Memento "Rich Cocoa" to stamp "Tilda with chickens" and then I masked her off and used a Whiff of Joy "Tree stump" stamp and then masked it off too and used another WOJ stamp "Fall Grass", both of which I've had for ages, I think they came in a seasonal kit.  I like the slightly more subtleness the rich cocoa gives the image.
I coloured her with my Pro-markers this time.  Skin: Sunkissed Pink, Oatmeal, Blush and Pastel Pink.  Dress: Dusky Rose, Budding Rose and Pale Pink.  Hair and tree stump: Umber, Chestnut, Cocoa and Caramel.  Grass: Emerald, Bright Green and Meadow Green.  Flowers: Magenta, Cerise and Cocktail Pink.  Chicks: Gold, Sunflower and Lemon.
I used my large standard circle and big scalloped large circle nestibilitie dies to cut out the shapes.

I then used distress inks around the image: Tattered Rose, Tumbled Glass and Frayed Burlap.
The papers I used are from Echo Park "Country Drive" pad.  I used some Stampin' Up! bevelled window panes and adhered some contrasting paper to the back of them with glossy accents.  I then threaded some ribbon from my stash through the panes and stuck them to the bottom of my centre step card.  I used an old cheapo alphabet stamp set that I've had for years and the Rich Cocoa memento inkpad to stamp out my sentiment which I then cut out into rough squares and used the same distress inks as before to, well, distress them!  They're attached on with foam pads for a bit of a lift.  I finished off the lettering with a clear stardust pen.  I stuck the feathers (also from my stash) in at the top, but I'm not sure about them, they kinda look like what they are - an afterthought!

The inside finishes off my sentiment (Happy Birthday, Chick!)and uses the same materials as the front plus a papermania flower brad.

And that's me card!  If you go over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog you'll be blown away by the gorgeous creations the rest of the DT have come up with!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Ladybug Crafts Ink Challenge Blog; Shapes
Little Claire's Designs; Doing the rounds
Paper Sundaes; Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog; Shape it up
Southern Girls Challenge; Fancy Folds
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge; Freebie week
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Hit the bottle - glossy accents
Top Tip Tuesday; Spotty dotty
Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Challenge; Punches or die cuts
Just Magnolia; Soft spring shades

Thanks for looking!  And welcome to my new followers!
 

New Baby

So another fortnight has flew by and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!

It's a special week this week as we are introducing some new DT members, so I'm not a newbie anymore! lol!
It's also the week we complete another round of the alphabet which means we're up to Z and the challenge for this week is...

Z for Zoo Animals!

When I first saw the challenge I thought it was gonna be hard to find an appropriate image - until I looked through my stamps and then I was spoilt for choice!

So here's what I did...

I used a Pink Petticoat image called Baby Elephant which I coloured with my promarkers (Cerise, Pink Carnation, Baby Pink, Carmine, Yellow, Buttercup, Grass, Leaf Green and blender pen)

I made a centre step card and the papers I used are Echo Park; Country Drive.  I edged it with tattered rose distress ink.

The "Bundle of joy" sentiment is also Pink Petticoat printed onto safmat and then framed with some Hodgepodge Hardware from Stampin' Up!.  The rest of the sentiments are computer generated and punched out with Stampin' Up! punches.

I used some pink adhesive pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts on the front and on the inside along with some other elements from the front.

That's it.  Why don't you head over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the DT have done - including all the new team members!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Bling It On; New beginnings
By The Cute & Girly; New beginnings
Charisma Cardz: Pretty in pink
Creative Inspirations; Anything goes
Digi Doodle Shop; Anything goes
Dream Valley Challenges; Animals
Simon Says; Anything goes
Totally Gorjuss; Welcome
Whimsey Stamps; Pearls or bling

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!  Also a big hello to all my new followers!