I'm Late! I'm Late!

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all keeping well?

Are you all ready for the big switch off/shut down tomorrow?  Tomorrow's the day we say goodbye to Google Reader.  Although I've never used it so it won't be a sad day for me!  But with all the rumours and here-say about your followers being lost etc. I decided to set up Bloglovin just to be on the safe side, and rather than hitting the button that transfers all of the blogs you follow across in one go, I thought it would be a good chance to tidy them up a bit and I unfollowed a lot of blogs that haven't been added to in years, challenge blogs that have closed down etc. and I sorted them all into categories on Bloglovin (which is a feature I love about it!).  It took quite a while but I think it should be a lot easier to catch up on everyone now.
I have tried to look into the whole rumour thing about the follower thing stopping working and although I couldn't find anything concrete about it, I found some blogs where the people seemed to know what they were talking about and I got the impression that your followers on your Blogger dashboard won't change, but I don't know for sure and will find out tomorrow!

Anyway, time for a new challenge from the Pink Team at Eclectic Ellapu!  It's our lovely Sandies turn to choose the theme and she chose...

Time!

I can't wait to see what you do with the theme!

Here's mine:

The image of the White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland is a freebie from here.  There wasn't a huge amount of colouring to be done on it but what there was, I did with the following copics: R59,39,37,27,C9,7,5,3,1,00.

The papers are Pinstripes by Pink Petticoat, in black and crimson.  I inked around them with black soot distress inks.  The border punch is a Martha Stewart one and the black pearl dots were done with a Viva Pearl Pen in Anthracite.  The charms and ribbon are from my stash and the sentiments are computer generated using the free font Blackadder.

The inside has been done, more or less, to match the front.

So that's me card!  I do hope you can join me and the rest of the DT in this fab challenge - take a pop over to Eclectic Ellapu to see what the DT have done, they're all fantastic!

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

Crafts & Me Challenges; Anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity: Heavy metal
Crafty Ribbons Challenge Blog: Anything goes with ribbon
Creative Inspirations: Anything goes with ribbon
Delicious Doodles Challenge Blog: Use a charm
Drunken Stampers: Enchanted/Fairy tale (Alice in Wonderland)
My Heart Pieces: Use a digi stamp
The Paper Shelter: Brads
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything goes
Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog: Not cute

Thank for looking - I'm off to watch the British Grand Prix!
 

Sweet Oklahoma

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another early morning post.  I was so tired yesterday I promised myself an early night last night, but it never works out that way does it?!  I always find some way to distract myself from going to bed at night but yet I can't seem to tear myself away from it in the morning.  I've always been the same, I think it's a family trait!

Time though, for another challenge with the Creative Card Crew.  This fortnight we are being sponsored by the fabulous Scrapping Center

They're offering a $15 store voucher to one lucky winner!

The challenge for the next fortnight, to be in with a chance to win, is...

No Designer Paper!

How's that for a toughy!  I love my papers and was a bit stumped as to what to do.
Some of the DT decided to use the fabby Saturated Canary "Sweet Oklahoma" image that Krista did especially for our Mari with the proceeds going to her lovely daughter after her home was destroyed in the Oklahoma tornado.  So I knew that I wanted to keep it simple.

Here's what I did;

 I printed the image out and kept the card big enough to make up the front of the card.  I coloured the sweet image with the following copics: Skin: E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair: E44,43,42,41. Clothes: RV06,04,02,BV04,00,0000,G24,21,20,Y15,13,11,RV13,11,10,BG07,05,01. Grass: E49,31,YG67,17. Puddle: B01,00,000,0000.

The sentiment is computer generated and the font is called Ribbon Happy.  I used different coloured bakers twine and attached a charm from my stash with a jump ring.  A few swarovski's were added to the corner just to finish it off.  I mounted it on some corresponding card to hide the icky colour bleed on the back of the card.

The inside is even plainer than the front!  With a WRS sentiment and some more bakers twine.

So take a trip over to the Creative Card Crew blog to see the rest of the DT's work and see if you can join us with no design paper - I dare ye!

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

Crafty Friends Challenge Blog; Use a charm
Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge Blog; Girl power
Cupcake Craft Challenges; Not for flowers
My Heart Pieces; Use a digi
One Stop Craft Challenge; For a friend
Sentimental Sundays; For the girls
The Squirrel And The Fox; Use something metal

Thanks for looking!
 

Just Clowning Around!

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well.  Back to work this morning after a busy weekend.  I was doing a little bit of cleaning yesterday and while I was dusting in my sitting room a very bright light suddenly shone in through my window - it totally scared the life outta me!  It turns out it was only sun had found a tiny little hole in the clouds to break through and it decided to shine on me!  Just shows you how little the sun comes out here though when it scared me so much!

You're probably wondering why I posting at this time on a Monday morning - and I'm gonna shed a little light on it for you now (do you see what I did there? Lol!)
I've joined another challenge blog design team!!  I was delighted to be asked by the lovely Mari to join the Seems A Little Sketchy design team!  I love working with sketches but don't get to do it very often, so here's my very first post!

This fortnight we are sponsored by the fabulous Sweet 'n' Sassy!

And here's the fab sketch we have to work with:

I turned the sketch clockwise for my card and here it is...

The fabby images were supplied by Sweet 'n' Sassy and I coloured them with the following copics: E21,00,0000,R20,BG13,11,10,R08,05,02,YR09,07,04,Y15,13,11,C7,5,4,BG13,11,10.  The clown was holding a bunch of balloons, but I cut them loose so as he could do a bit of juggling instead!

The papers are My Minds Eye, Sky's The Limit and Up & Away.  The circus posters also came out of the paper pack.

I used the basic sketch on the inside too, along with another Sweet 'n' Sassy image.

So that's my card.  Why don't you "roll up" over to the Seems A Little Sketchy blog and check out what the rest of my new teamies have done!

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

Crafts 4 Eternity; Spots and stripes
Creative Inspirations; for a child
Here Come The Boys; Let's go dotty
My Heart Pieces; Use a digi stamp
My Time To Craft Challenges; Spots and stripes
Sweetpea Stampers; For the children

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!
 

Gothic Angel

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a happy Father's Day yesterday.  It turned out to be a nice day so all is good!
I can't believe Game Of Thrones is over, I don't know what I'm gonna do without my fix on a Monday night!  I have eventually bought the first book so I might get a fix of it soon - I just have about a million other books to read first, there's just not enough hours in the day to do everything!

The eyes of the world are on our wee Northern Ireland this morning as the worlds leaders arrive for the G8 summit.  I watched on TV as Air Force One landed and the Obama's disembarked this morning in Belfast.  I only hope that all will go smoothly and the trust that has been put in to Northern Ireland can stay intact!

Anyway, time for a mid way reminder for a brand new challenge blog called Punk You Girl and our very first challenge!

It's time to let out your dark side with our darker themed, monthly challenge so we want to see your gothic/punk/steampunk/emo/fantasy style creations.  We are not affiliated with any stamp brand so you are free to use any brand you like!

We do, however, have some fabulous sponsors and our very first one is sponsored by the fabulous Ike from Ikesart!
She was so generous and gave the design team some images to work with, and the challenge is....

Anything Goes!

So anything you like, as long as it's a darker theme.

I've always loved all the gothic stamps and papers out there and over the years have bought quite a few, but I've never really used them as I never had the opportunity to use them - until now!  So please be gentle with me as I show you my card!

My angel image, as I said, is by Ikesart and I coloured her with the following copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; 100,R59,39,37. Dress; 110,W9,7,5. Wings; W7,5,3. Rocks; W5,3,1,00.

My papers are by Prima from the Moulin Rouge pad.  I used a viva pearl pen for the black pearls and the lace and feathers are from my stash.
I used a Go Kreate die for the large circle and some Spellbinders for the smaller ones.

The inside is done to match the front and the sentiment is by Lili of the Valley.

 So please pop over to the brand new Punk You Girl challenge blog and leave us some love and take a look at the rest of the DT's fab work!

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

Bunny Zoe's Challenge: Wings
Charisma Cardz Challenge: Digi's only
Crafty Friends Challenge Blog: Favourite colour combination - red & black
Crazy Amigo Challenge: Round, circles & dots
Eureka Stamps Challenge Blog: Anything goes
One Stitch At A Time; Use a digi
Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Challenge: Shaped card

Thanks 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!

Sweet Oklahoma

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post to send you in the direction of a fab bargain which has the bonus of doing good at the same time!  Krista at Saturated Canary has made a digi stamp in honour of my DT friend Mari and her daughter whose house and town was destroyed by the recent tornado in Oklahoma.  Krista is selling this new digi for $1 for today with the procedes going to help the family!  How brilliant is that?!

Read all about what happened on Mari's blog here

And get the digi by going here and follow the instructions there.  The place to enter the coupon code is after you go through the paypal process and not before (I spent ages looking where to enter it before I decided I would just buy it at full price and then found the box!)

Thanks for looking!
 

Howdy Pilgrim!

Hi everyone!

Did you see Game of Thrones last night - the season finale for series 3 - Not just as shocking as last weeks episode but a few times I didn't know what to expect!  I can't wait til the next series, I love it so much!  I'll definitely have to get the books and maybe start them while I'm waiting on it coming back on the tellybox!

We have a new challenge up this morning at the Creative Card Crew and we have 2 fabulous sponsors this fortnight

 Are offering one lucky winner a surprise package!

And...

Are offering another lucky winner their choice of 5 digi's!

The challenge for the next fortnight is...

Metal - Stickpins/Charms etc.

I love that challenge!

The DT were very generously given a selection of images by QKR Stampede and this is what I did (Warning - photo overload!):

The image is called Lil' Cowgirl and I coloured her with the following copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; E29,09,07. Horse; E44,43,42,41. Clothes; RV13,11,10,06,04,02,BG13,11,10. Hat and shoes; E49,47,44.  And I fussy-cut her out.

It is an easel card, I haven't made one in ages and as this card is a little front-heavy, I thought an easel card would sort that out.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed in the above pic that the Bucking Bronco (rocking horse) is mid-buck!

I took a quick pic while I was assembling it and I think it shows you how I managed to get my rock on.  The chain with the ring attached (the lasso, if you will) is what I used to make sure I got the arc right and in the right place by attaching it to the brad and marking with a pencil through the chain links, before I cut it out with my craft knife.  I then cut a small foam pad in half and sandwiched it between two pennies (like when you make a penny slider card) and attached the image to the penny on the front with the middle of the rocker attached to the brad at the bottom.  I trimmed the ends of the brad as they were a bit long and might stick out at the bottom during the rock.

But, the Rock is not the only metal on my card (hee hee, I made a funny!) I have also made up some stickpins - my first attempt at them, using some starter pins and beads from my stash.   I think I need a few more supplies before I would be happy with these!  And of course, the cowboy boot charm fits nicely with the image.

My papers are Giddy Up (the girly version) by Carta Bella (there's also a boy-y version which I love and can't wait to get using!).  The sentiment is made up of Alphaparts by Tim Holtz.  Pearls and ribbon are from my stash.  You can really see the dimension in this pic too, and why the card is so front-heavy.

The inside has some Spellbinder circles and inverted scallop circles with a LOTV sentiment and a wee star charm added to the centre.

So go take a gander at the smokin' inspiration the maverick DT have pulled together at the Creative Card Crew Saloon!

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

Charisma Cardz Challenge; Tons of layers
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog; For a girl
Fussy & Fancy Challenge Blog; Bling it on
Our Creative Corner; Recipe - Ribbon, metal, inks
Part Time Tuesday; Fancy folds
Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog; Fold it
Sentimental Sundays; Metal Findings
Stampin For The Weekend; Cute
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Animal antics

I'll leave you with a little bit of Cowboy wisdom:  Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.

Thanks for looking!
 

Quick and Simple Male Card

Hi everyone!

I'm later than I meant to be posting this today as I called in at my parents on my way home from work and my little niece and nephew were there so we all stayed out and enjoyed the sun!  It would've been rude not to saying as the sun doesn't come to visit too often!

So a quick post to show my quick and simple male card that I made for todays new challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog - it was my turn to pick the challenge and as we're up to I, I chose...

I for Image!

I/we would like to see an image as the focal point of your creation, so not just a sentiment or a floral piece.

Here's mine:

 I chose this fab image by Tiddlyinks called Madhatter and I coloured him with the following copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Jacket; E55,53,51. Trousers & Hat; 100,W9,7,5,3. Accents; B39,37,34,32. Hair; E29,39,37,35.

The papers are Granola Sunflower by Basic Grey.  I used Spellbinders Labels one and Grand Nesties for the base of the card.  I also used Scalloped labels one and Decorative labels one.  The sentiment is a Whimsy ticket stamp on a craftwork cards ticket with a Wild Rose Studio sentiment.  All have been aged with distress inks and some recycled ribbon from my stash (it came from some packaging).

 The inside is plain so I didn't take a pic of it so here's a sideways view of the card!

So please take a look at the rest of the DT's fabulous work at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!

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

Bearly Mines Challenges; Dies and/or punches
Charisma Cardz Challenges; Tons of layers
Crafts 4 Eternity; For the boys
Crafty Creations Challenges; One for the boys
Here Come The Boys; Use ribbon
Papercrafting Journey; Masculine cards
Simon Says Stamp Challenges; Masculine
Stamp n Doodle; A card for a male
Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Challenges; Shaped cards
Tiddly Inks Challenges; Men, men, men, men, manly, men, men, men (and now that song is stuck in my head!)

Thanks for looking!