Birthday Bingo

Good Morning all, it's the first Sunday of the month so that means new challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More. 


In case you missed it, I have a little weekend candy giveaway details here, just leave a comment to be in with a chance.

At Stampalot we invite you to play Bingo with us and at Penny Black and More we are celebrating "Birthdays".

The card at the top is my Penny Black DT card using Penny Black 4164K A Rose stamped simply in black versafine, embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics.Matted onto bazzil, a punched border with some added pearls and a sentiment from Darkroom Door.  A really quick and simple card.

On both of my cards I had a play with the new tabs from Scotch which are so effective and as the name suggests they really are re-stickable, how cool is that. They are double sided, easy to use, will stick to any surface, remove cleanly and because they are clear you don't see them when they are used for such things as hanging Christmas decorations. Best of all, when you are finished with them you can simply wash them in soapy water and they are as good as new.

For my Stampalot DT card I selected the Bingo row "Pearls, Flowers and Punch". The base card is some really nice ribbed Kraft cardstock, swirls cut with a Marianne die and accented with pearl drops, a flower cut with TH tattered floral die from the same DP as I used along the bottom of the card.............it was scraps from stash and I am note sure of the make, but could be Doodlebug. I stamped two butterflies with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear.........they are Hero Arts ones but unmounted which typical me means I have no idea of the code as the packing has long since been lost.

Have a good Sunday everyone and thank you so much for dropping by.

First day at school

We have a new challenge for you at Allsorts where Fleur has chosen the them 'Starting School/back to school'. Now I know there are loads of lovely stamps out there that fit this theme perfectly, but none are here in fantasy land, so I was a little bit stumped.

After much head scratching I decided to use one of my Sarah Kay images, she is a bit of a Country girl and has no school uniform and unsure what to expect on her first day at school, so is taking a rather large picnic basket to share with her new friends and some flowers for the teacher.........................I know, fantasy kicking in big time.

I coloured her with Copics , used Doodlebug DP from which I made the pom pom flower, added some swirls cut with a Sizzix die and added a computer generated sentiment.

Enjoy the weekend whatever you have planned.

A green one, a purple one

Good afternoon peeps, a bit of a later post that I've been planning all day. But I did want to share with you that Theresa from Crafts and Me has spotlighted me on her blog again with the cards coming up further down this post. If you've never visited her store where have you been ? As well as all sorts of craftiness, she sells those gorgeous Sweet Pea stamps as well as several brands that are hard to find here in the UK, as well as her own label stamps of the most divine fairy images.....what better for people like me who live in a total fantasy world.

So the delays in posting........a very thoughtful gift from my hubby of Photoshop Elements which he thought would help me editing my photos.......jury's still out on that one because four hours on and I'm ready to throw it out the window. I'm sure it's a great piece of software, but for the less than technical mined more of a nightmare. So perseverance I think..............

My card, well two of them actually following the same sketch but I could not decide on a colour so did two. The image is Crafts and Me Eternity by Molly Harrison. Isn't she just adorable ? For both cards I brayered a background with Big and Juicy hydrangea and soothing sunset masking a moon....you all know I love my moons. I used the same ink pads to colour the images and glittered the wings of both with crystal ultra fine glitter.

The border on the green version.....my favourite I think.......is Martha Stewart eyelet lace and on the purple floral vine. The green DP is Magnolia and the purple DP Doodlebug. Flowers gems and pearls to embellish. These cards are for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - Sketch

Crafts and Me - Gems and Sparkles

ABC - C for Charm (dragonfly)

Fab 'n' Funky - Material Girl (lace)

Cute Card Thursday - same as above

Simon Says - Pearls and Lace

Creative Cottage - Celebrations

Lots to Do - Fairies and Angels

A another quick card as a certain person.....she knows who she is........made me feel so guilty that I could not find a house to share for this weeks Tuesday Taggers theme "Our house is a nice house ours is", so this one is just for you girls. The row of houses....yes at Christmas........are all in the new set from Hero Arts CL464 which I stamped simply onto some patterned Kaiser DP and added a little red Copics here and there and a bit of glitter. The birds are Penny Black 3937H birds on a wire.

Garden Inspiration

I'm really running late this weekend, I had this all prepared to go yesterday and Mr B's obviously got the hump with me big time because I only just realised the post was sitting there and not gone live as scheduled. So I have started from scratch so I can also add some challenges.

This week at Allsort's it's Helene's turn to host the challenge and she would like to to seek "Inspiration from a Garden or Park". For my card above, I used this lovely stamp Hero Arts K5366 Tall Birdhouse stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I inked some clouds and added stickles to the branches. The mat is punched with Martha Stewart double loop around the page using Doodlebug DP.

And at Polkadoodles the boss Nikky has given us a great sketch to work with. I used it literally as drawn using papers and poinsettias from the new Christmas Paper Boutique CD, decoupaged and layered onto mats cut with Nesties. A Martha Stewart snowflake border punch and ribbon to finish. Greeting on the tag is from the Jingle Jangle Christmas stamp set.

This card is also for the following challenge:

Secret Crafter: Make a Start on Christmas

And my third card (top of post) uses hero Arts K5363 Flower Trio stamped with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I stamped round the edges if the main piece with Magenta 32090M crackle background and distressed with Tim Holtz antique linen. I stamped the three flowers a second time onto some DP from stash and cut out to decoupage. The leaves are punched from Basic Grey DP and some hessian and string tied across the middle.

This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Stamping: Distressed Birthdays

Moving Along with the Times: Recipe

Dogs and puppies galore

Sorry Folks !!!!

Seems like a constant whinge from me and I'm forever saying this, but so sorry for being a real bad blogger yet again, I must seem like a real pain in the butt, but I am still feeling so rough and taking ages to shift this infection. I really can't believe I've got this so quickly on top on the last one in June. I 'think' I'm going in the right direction, but since the weekend have have a total lack of energy which they say is the concoction of medication taking it's toll. So not a lot of craft the last few days and this is the best I have come up with.

I stamped the main card with Hobby Art GR1341F Shakespeare Sonnet - 'Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day ?' using Tim Holtz broken china, which I also used to create the background for my main image which is Penny Black 4042K daisy fields which I inked with the same TH ink plus tea dye and spritzed with water before stamping. The DP is Doodlebug, the border punch Martha Stewart eyelet lace, then lace, ribbon, gems and pearls to embellish plus three punched butterflies.

This card is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - Inspired by a Poem

Midnight Madness - Sketch

And a share of a few pictures of the boys and girls, much as I'd love one of all six of them together it night impossible to keep the pups still for long enough to do that.

George, Bernie, Daisy and a non too elegant pose from Buffy (far left)

Buffy and Daisy - night picture and the light makes them look much darker that they really are

George, Bernie and Lily - she's a slightly lighter colour than Daisy

More Molly Blooms

Hello everyone, hope you are all OK and like me getting ready for the long school holidays. We are counting the days here and so looking forward to our holiday, it's going to be a bit of a mad rush as the children break up from school next Wednesday which leaves just Thursday to do all the final preparations and packing as we go on Friday.

My bone graft seems to be working and the pain is sooooo much better.......I even managed to eat some fish yesterday, what a change from soup that made I can tell you. I have been really good and kept away from my computer as the lack of postings confirm, but I shall have something a bit special coming up for you next week.......candy is involved but there's a bit more to it than that, but you will have to wait to find out exactly what's in store, otherwise it won't be a surprise !

I have cards for a few challenges, the first one is the card at the top of this post which is for this weeks Papertake Weekly who's theme is In the Garden. The stamps are Hero Arts K5313 silhouette ivy and Penny Black 4040K sparklers stamped with Hero Arts chalk ink grass and punch. The mats were cut on Cricut storybook, the DP is Doodlebug and the corners a Sizzix die.

My next card is for Everybody Art Challenge who have the theme Holidays. I have used Molly Blooms at the seaside, coloured with Copics. The circles are cut with Nesties and the DP is nameless from my stash. The swirls my favourites Sizzix die and punched flowers added.

The new Molly Blooms stamps are just adorable, they are beautifully etched deep rubber, stamp fantastically and are available exclusively from Sir Stampalot.

My last card is for the following challenges:

My Time to Craft is Butterfly Bliss

Tuesday Taggers - Anniversary

It's a pretty simple make, a card with matching envie. The main panel is run through the Cuttlebug, corners cut from a Sizzix die, roses made from burgundy paper and edges glittered with iridescent embossing powder and the sentiment Penny Black 3851E. And punched glittered butterflies.

Big shot challenge prize

Judging by the number of entries, lots of you already know about our Stampalot challenge where there is a Big Shot up for grabs as well as Blog Hop prizes. But for those of you who don't know - where have you been all week ? Click here to find out how to enter..........I'm sure there must be loads of you who would love that prize and all you have to do is make a card........how easy is that ?

The Stampalot challenge certainly has kept me busy this week and I am afraid I am still neglecting all my blog friends, I am so sorry but there has been precious little time for blog hopping or crafting. But on a positive note I have actually managed one card today. It's one I needed to make for an order for a young lady for her boyfriend, but it fits some challenge themes so I am taking the opportunity to share it with you.

The theme at Stamping for the Weekend and Creative Card Crew is "Valentine" and ABC challenge is "N for New". My image is Penny Black stamp three times, coloured with Copics and decoupaged. The balloons have been liberally glittered. The frame is a Nestie run through the Big Shot and the border Martha Steward embossed hearts using the "New" element which is the very pretty glittery Doodlebug DP and I used the tiny hearts from the border cut-outs to dot around the image. All in all a quick simple card.

By the Cute and Girly

So much going on blogwise at the moment I was almost late with this one, had it saved as a draft but forgot to schedule it.

Jules has selected the theme for February and most of will not be surprised that her theme is 'LOVE' which she says we can interpret as we wish.

The first creation I am going to share is a card I created with the new Hero set CL375 Big Flowers stamped several times onto Doodlebug DP and acetate, cut out and layered. I stamped Hero F5042 over the card itself with Hero cerulean blue chalk ink and created a stem for my flower with a Sizzix swirl die cut on the Big Shot and the border Fiskars threading water punch. The sentiment is computer generated.

Allsorts challenge 35

Another Saturday and another challenge at Allsorts. I am scheduling this one ahead as when it pops up on my blog I will be on a weekend jolly with my mate Jules........so apols I can't visit any of you for a few days. We've had it booked for weeks and are spending the weekend in Peterborough........I know real long distance for me, but by staying over we can have a meal in the evenings and a bottle or two of the red stuff.

The boys are going to the footie to see Peterborough v Derby who Jules hubby supports - it's going to be a real enlightening experience for my hubby as like me he's a Liverpool supporter, although in his defence rather more reserved than me when it comes to showing emotion about the score line.

So where are Jules and I going.......one guess ......Sir Stampalot of course and it should be a good day as Louise is doing a Copic demo so plenty of crafty gossip and even a bit of shopping. And might have a nose round Phase Eight and Coast to see if anything takes my fancy for the May wedding.......it will be good to have the second opinion from a woman's perspective rather than the normal "it's fine, it's OK" that the men usually trot out.

Our teamie Kirsten has chosen this weeks theme of "Pink and Brown" a fabby colour combo and gives you a pretty open field to create your entry. I have gone with a Sarah Kay image First Kiss, stamping it three times with versafine black and embossing with detail clear, coloured with Copics, cut out two layers and decoupaged. I created a sun on the base piece using a mask and sponging with chalk inks, added some clouds, greenery and flowers.

I created a tied band effect across the middle and tied on some hearts......very thrifty of me indeed, they were part of a wedding favour. Flowers are punched, leaves cut with a Sizzix die through the Big Shot and DP's are Polkadoodles and Doodlebug.

Passion for Promarkes

Morning Peeps, wet and windy - again, so hope lots of you are using the excuse for some serious crafting activity.......or are you all counting your pennies out ready for the NEC ?

Over at Sir Stampalot central (stand H05) it's a hive of activity packing and loading ready for the big event, as it is at Stamp Addicts (stand H30) and I'm sure lots of other locations around the UK. And come next week those of us lucky enough to go to the NEC will be bursting with inspiration all rushing to show off our new goodies on our makes........but with empty purses what else will we be able to do ?

Three challenges here, a great sketch from Tina at Everybody Art Challenges, and Passion for Pormarkers who have the colour theme of 'Grass and Canary' and wow do these two colours look great together and Creative Card Crew who want to see 'Ribbons and Gems'.

On to my card, a bit of a busy one for me, but it's sort of growing on me. My image is Sarah Kay Rose Garden, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with the two required Promarkers. The DP is Doodlebug and Basic Grey and the border punch Fiskars Threading Water. I made the three roses from the same DP and for a change I added some pearl stamens which I think works quite well. Leaves are punched from my new L-Em Ashe Tree Family 2 punch which I told you about yesterday. The little birdie and butterfly are from Penny Black 30- 034 and the flowers next to the image are from the Tilda range but afraid I have no idea of the code.

Cupcake Challenge

Thought it was too good to last as today us fen folk woke up to a cold dull day which has now turned into rain.......yes I know we do need it. That central heating switch got a nudge this morning.......minus one in our greenhouse according to hubby, so those frosts can't be too far away. At lest that will help the sprouts on their way........mind you sprouts are a dodgy subject sometimes a bit like Marmite, you either hate them or your love them.......but they make the best bubble and squeak ever.

So on to a card, this week over at Cupcake the theme is 'Thanks a Bunch'. Just right for botanical me and a chance to share a recent card for a demo day at Sir Stampalot. For those of you who live in the area, I will be doing an all day demo with them on Saturday 17th October, refreshments and special offers all thrown in for good measure and a chance for lots of crafty chatter.

The image is one of the new Hero cling stamps CO102 inked with Brilliance Tyne and Hero shadow Soft Pool. The background card is repeat stamped with Hero H2385 Old French Writing, then overstamped with one of the swirl stamps from Inkadinkado 97513. The DP is Doodlebug punched with Fiskars Threading Water. String, flowers and pearls added to finish.

Rosie Dees challenge

It's Sunday which means a new Rosie Dees challenge and sneak peek and the reveal of last weeks project.

I decided to think outside the box........sorry folks, bit of a pun here, but the theme was 'two squares and a rectangle' so I decided on a gift box, a thank you card and gift tag. The box was cut from Cricut Wild Card, acetate placed in the aperture and the box stamped randomly with Inkadinkado 98702 DC, a new one from them which is so very delicate and fine. The panel on the card was cut on Cricut Storybook to match the box aperture and matted using some Doodlebug DP, which I also used to punch the little daisies. I added some lace to the top of the box and pearls to embellish.

Friday Sketchers

Well it's Friday, bank holiday ahead and the weathers is distinctly British.......at least it is here in the Fens, blustery, cloudy and rain looming. But according to the optician this morning Monday is going to be lovely - I certainly hope he is right.

Today there is a fab new sketch from Claudia over at Friday Sketchers, there was also the addition of a colour combo - Blue and Orange.......which I remembered after I had made my pink card.......something of a common trend amongst some of this week it seems. Luckily when I re-visited their blog it sad the colour theme was "optional" so I have stuck with my pink card girls.

My image is one of the fabby new cling stamps from Hero Arts CG105........when Andy (Mr Sir Stampalot) said try them out I was hesitant, but they are great and I am really impressed with the quality and of course they work out rather cheaper than wood mounted. I stamped simply with Hero soft blossom onto linen cardstock and matted up following the sketch with My Minds Eye and Doodlebug DP's. Border cut with Martha Stewart doily lace, leaves with L-Em and flowers with Woodware punches respectively.

Passion for Promarkers

Passion for Promarkers have given us a double whammy this week, to use Pumpkin and Prussian but with the twist of Halloween. Panic.......I don't have a single Halloween stamp, so it had to be done......a trip to Sir Stampalot, well what else was I supposed to do placed in that position ?

Actually I did have a bit of an excuse as they had goodies there waiting for me to collected. And when I got there it was like Christmas come early, a lovely delivery van was just arriving with a Hero delivery, so cream cakes at the ready as Andy set at unpacking. Soooooooo exciting they are all piled up ready for the big Christmas launch I mentioned earlier in the week 29 & 30th August 10 through 4 both days with lots of demo's, new products etc.

On to my card, a brand new Penny Black stamp 3716K stamped in versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured in with the two requisite Promarkers and they really do go very well together and cut on the Bug with Nesties. The little owls are Hero A4942, leaves cut on my L-Em punch and border with Martha Steward arch lattice. DP's are Doodlebug an finally ribbon, some star gems and a small charm which was silver, so I inked with brilliance blue and embossed with detail clear to match my card.

Passion for Promarkers & Spoonful of Sugar

I'm combining two challenges together on this one, Passion for Promarkers there the challenge is to use Cocoa and Cornflower Blue and A Spoonful of Sugar which ask that you use hearts on you projects.

I have used Art Impression T3094 (Sir Stampalot) as my main image stamped in versafine black and embossed with detail clear. To incorporate the hearts I used a Stamps by Judith (Stamp Addicts) stubby stamp to decorate her dress, colouring the hearts with the cocoa and the cornflower blue for the main part of her dress. As I have said before, I have problems with solitary figures, so my little girl is walking across cobbles stamped with Art Impression L3297, has some chalked clouds above her and some little birds using part of Art Impression G3234. My DP's are Daisy Bucket and Doodlebug, the top panel was run through the bug using the hearts folder to carry the theme and finished off with three flowers and some swarovski crystals.

Allsorts challenge week 8

Good monring everyone, week eight at Allsorts already, this time it's Amandas turn to select a theme and she has selected a SHAPED card. There is also some super candy on offer from Pink Petticoat.

My card is using the very pretty template from Cricut Wild Card. My DP's are Doodlebug and the butterfly image is JudiKins 2696K - Cloth Butterfly which I stamped onto vellum three times and cut out to obtain the graduated wings. I coloured the back of the vellum with Marvy pens, layerd it up with silicone, addded stickles and pearls for the throax and wire for the antenna. Cirles were all cut on the Cuttlebug using nesties.

Cummon Andy - ABC challenge

Well my take on this really is just a bit of fun ........ the theme at ABC this week is "U for United States, you can choose anything that includes red white and blue, stars, stripes..." I thought patriotic of course, but as our UK Union Flag also sports the same colours, I decided to stay this side of the pond and I hope my take on the challenge will be acceptable.

Not too much artistry here, an image of Andy downloaded from the web, Penny Black 3659 stamped down the edge with blue Brilliance to represent tennis balls and two little inchies from Inkadinkao 98852 of a rising sun, hopefully a new dawn on Andy's first Wimbledon victory ........ but please Andy, try and do it in three sets, Monday night was a real nailbiter.

The DP is Doodlebug and I inked and embossed three large brads to represent red white and blue as per the requirements. Lettering was cut on Cricut Plantin Schoolbook and the sentiment Art Impression G353.

Friday Sketchers 55

It's been like hard labour this week trying to get anything crafty completed ........ you know, one of those weeks when you never seem to get where you want and it all takes forever.

But, I did at least finish one which will fit in with this weeks Friday Sketchers which has a great sketch by Jacque and you know how much I like sketches and this weeks sponsors are Sir Stampalot so I have no option than to enter. Also, a new one that's just off the ground this week is Stamping for the Weekend where the theme is "Dusk to Dawn" - using the colours Purple and Yellow, two colours that I love together, so all in all I enjoyed the task in hand.

My image is a Stampsmith one I've had for years, they do some really unusual stamps and this little girl sitting in the moon fits the bill just right. I have stamped her simply with Brilliance victorian violet and given the moon a bit of glitz with a quickie glue pen and crystal glitter. The DP's are Doodlebug and Basic Grey and the scallops cut with my Fiskars punch ........ yes, still waiting for the Martha Stewart ones. The scallop mount is cut on Cricut Storybook and the oval tag is from a new set of nestie labels and a flowers and pearls added to finish.

Allsorts challenge4

Again we are thrilled that so many of you joined in our challenge last week, a huge thank you everyone.

The theme this week is "Pink and White" and has been set by Lisa. Although I love pink and use it a lot and was pleased when Lisa chose her theme, this card is so not me, yet seems right. My cards are usually nice and symmetrical and defiantly not set at a "jaunty" angle, but the image somehow seems right that way so I went with it.

I had this idea to make a flower by gathered up some lace so the rest of my card was planned around that and I added a flower shaped button to the middle which I had been saving for ages for the right card .........well at least that's a half credible excuse for never using it before. The image is a Penny Black favorite 3817K, stamped with Brilliance orchid, heat embossed with detail clear and lightly painted with the same inkpad and stickles added to the stamens. The DP is Doddlebug designs and the scallops punched with my Fiskars punch. More of the same lace as the flower across the card and some pins and a gem to finish.

Autumn Leaves

Well it seems I can share some of the cards delivered to Stamp Addicts this morning as they are going to be shown at their first ever retreat next weekend. Sarah tells me they have 40 people booked to attend, so sounds like she has a very busy time ahead.

The main stamp I had to work with is Judikins 2784I, a set of four leaves so I was very at home with this botanical theme. Clearly it gave me an Autumnal feeling as I realised after the first ten or so cards there was a distinct theme of oranges and golds going on.

I started by brayering a piece of glossy cardstock with a rainbow inkpad, then stamped over with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and cut each leaf out. The tiny leaves are cut on Cricut Storybook and stippled with Adirondack acrylic dabbers. The DP is Doodlebug designs.

I'd better be honest and tell you the card is actually sidewards on, despite turning the image several times, it just reverts, but as it square figure it will be OK as I don't have the original to do another piccy.