Leighs Little Blog

WIN! A Cricut Gypsy

2010-10-11T22:22:00.002+01:00

All you have to do is pop over to this wonderful blog, become a follower and leave your comment and spread the word, it really is as easy as that.

Good Luck :)

Secret Crafter - Annie With Wreath

2010-10-09T17:26:00.004+01:00

Happy weekend everyone, my mojo has been missing again hence my lack of blogging lately. But, the Christmas adverts have started showing on telly already so I thought I'd better get my booty in gear and start thinking about Christmas Cards.
The other weekend I went to a demo by my friend Erika who works for Personal Impressions. She made some fabulous things and I haven't been able to stop thinking about copics since then. So, as I had sold my small collection of copics and promarkers I just had to go and buy some more which arrived today. Of course, there's always one or two pens you end up forgetting to add to the basket so after a bit of help from Kirsti I discovered that there is absolutely nowhere to buy them from locally :(
So, rather than shop at the two stores I had just bought from and look like a total addict, I searched again and found you could also get them for a great price and service at Secret Crafter. When there I checked out the Challenge blog and this weeks challenge is nice and easy - DISTRESSING.
I distressed the edges of my layers just using the blade for my scissors, a distressing tool is on my list but I keep forgetting to go and get one.
The Annie with Wreath stamp is coloured using Copics, and I think my shading is getting better this time round but still lots of room for improvement...
The papers I used are from Dovecraft Christmas Fancy, I thought these were quite good for the money. I am often put off Dovecraft as it has a tendency to look like wrapping paper but they seem to have improved.
Thank you for looking :)

A Long Overdue Post From Me

2010-07-21T09:17:00.004+01:00

Good morning bloggers, how are you all. I am ashamed to say that I have barely been near my craft desk in the past several weeks, I just haven't been feeling the love for it. I think I need some new things to play with, I did get some cosmic shimmer mists which are fabby and then I got some more. If anyone has any suggestions of something new and exciting for me to play with please leave a comment here.

Yesterday though I did make these ATC's for the ATC trail swap on UK Scrappers. I never thought I would ever make an ATC, I just couldn't see the point in them. But I do now, they are a great way of experimenting and then you send your experiments to someone else and they send you theirs in return. So, in theory you could end up with a fabulous collection of different techniques, etc.

So, as I had typed up a note of what I did to make this one I thought, hey, I could blog this too, so here are the instructions on what I did. The ATC itself looks way better in real life, all the embossing creates the camera glare from hell.

I cut the Damask from Cricut Stamping Solutions cartridge and used it as a mask to chalk around. Then I covered the lot in versamark and a clear embossing powder. Before that cooled I used some sparkle embossing powder and then before that cooled another layer of clear. Once it had all cooled I cracked the embossing by bending the card several times. I then took a tiny bit of Vaseline on my finger and dipped it in a pot of cosmic shimmer powder, rubbing it into the cracks and wiping off excess with a tissue. After that I added some more plain cracks. Butterfly cut from Stamping Solutions too, once in lilac card and once in acetate which I ran through the cuttlebug d’vine swirls embossing folder. Quote I found online.

Thank you for looking, and don't forget to leave suggestions of anything you can think of which will get me back at my craft desk. BTW I have tried Promarkers and digi stamps/anyas, but decided that look is lovely but not me.

Go Wild

2010-05-26T08:48:00.007+01:00

Here are those wild cards I made and promised to share with you. This is a great cartridge once you get your head round it. Though I recommend that you get the 12x24 mats and try and find some 12x24 paper for some of them. You can even make matching envelopes too and line them, but some of the cards can be put in an ordinary envelope, like my doily cards I have been cutting at 5 3/4 inches so I can pop them in a 6" square envelope.

This is the graduation cap card, I think its quite cute. I think I will be making a few of these soon as every year for the past 3 years I have made graduation cards for the nursery class at my nephew's school. The teacher asked my brother the other day if I could make them again this year even though he is coming to the end of Primary 1 now. The congrats was cut from Stamping Solutions cart.

Here is the present card, I cut this at 7 1/2 inches. I got inspiration to make this card from this blog. I had been surfing looking at Wild Cards while I was waiting for my expression and Wild Card to arrive and I fell in love with this version. I printed the paper from scrapbookscrapbook and the flower was punched using my EK Success punches. The tag is really cute too and I did a bit of faux stitching round the edge.

This card is the Birthday card cut. Now I didn't like the way the machine had cut it as the back part was larger than the front so the card kind of leaned to the front. I made them level and now you can see it kind of leans over to the side like the Tower of Pisa. I put a piece of acetate in the opening, under the layer of DCWV paper and attached my paper flower with a brad. The sentiment is a Stampin Up stamp.

Thank you for looking, I have to take my mum to hospital today as she is getting a heart op tomorrow, I hope all goes well with it.

Create A Critter #9,10, 11 and 12

2010-05-25T12:03:00.007+01:00

Hi all

Back with a quick lunchtime post to show you a few more critter cards I made last week that I thought might be best shared on one post. My favourite is the Zebra I think.

First up we have the little duck, I thought the umbrella was cute and that it would make a cute Get Well card, so I printed the sentiment on the computer. The paper I used was Fancy pants and it was double sided so I used the back of it too.

Then we have the dog, I used paper which I downloaded from Sweet Shoppe as I couldn't find anything suitable in my pile. The sentiment is A Hero Arts clear stamp.

Here is a cat card too, again with the same bundle from Sweet Shoppe, I will dig out the info for this download bundle after work as it had quite a lot of great things in it. The sentiment is an old Elzybells one.

And finally the Zebra, I downloaded the paper for free from Scrapbook Scrapbook and stuck it to the Doily card from Wild Card. I added some faux stitching round the edges by drawing dots then lining them up. It doesn't matter if you go wonky as it makes it look more realistic - well going on my machine skills anyway lol! The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

Thanks for looking. I hope to have something more interesting to share with you later. I never managed any crafting yesterday after work as I was knackered.

TTFN

Create A Critter #8 - Poodle

2010-05-24T05:32:00.003+01:00

Here is my card for this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge. Yet again I used a critter – the poodle this time, along with the WRMK Tiffany papers. I cut the Victorian Oval frame from Stamping Solutions and the branches were cut from this cartridge too using the blackout feature. The sentiment stamp is from Hero Arts and the little flower is an EK Success punch.

I did some cool cards with Wild Card yesterday, no critters were used. I will share those later.

I can't believe I am back to work today, boooo.

Thank you for looking.

Create A Critter # 7 - Alligator (GS#39)

2010-05-23T08:29:00.004+01:00

Good Morning, and Happy Sunday.

Here is my card for this week’s Get Sketchy challenge. I used the little alligator critter this time along with Bo Bunny papers. I used the alligator’s phrase smile and added it’s your birthday using adornit stickers.

I am still loving this cartridge so much, but maybe you are all getting bored of it now. I will try and use another one today but I don’t know if I can promise anything. I do have a few more cards ready that I have made with it, I will show these later.

Thank you for looking.

Create A Critter #6 - Another Butterfly

2010-05-22T08:49:00.005+01:00

Good morning, it's Saturday and my holidays are drawing to a close, boo-hissss!

Here is a card I have made for the new Jitterbuggin' challenge blog. It's a sketch challenge combined with a recipe where you have to add a flower, a bug from any card and the colours pink and purple. Aaah purple....one of those colours I really struggle to work with. But, I found a piece of purple spotted DCWV Nana's Nursery paper and used that on the wings, combined with pink and green.

The butterfly was cut from, yep you guessed it, Create A Critter. I used Stamping solutions for the mat, flower and branch - using the blackout function for the branch and flowers. The papers I used are We R Memory Keepers Tiffany. The sentiment was printed on Word.

You should go check out the challenge, one lucky winner will receive the Cricut Cuttin' Up cartridge.

Thank you for looking, have a great day whatever you are up to.

Create A Critter #5 - Dino

2010-05-21T21:50:00.004+01:00

Here's a little card I made tonight for the Daring Cardmakers Boyzone challenge where you have to make a card for a young boy - no big boys allowed!!

As I have been making up critters I decided to use this dino fromcreate a critter cart. The papers used are 3 Bugs Playtime collection and I went a bit experimental for me and did a bit of white space. Do I like it, hmmmm the jury's still out, I reckon I need a bit of practice on that style. The scalloped circle was cut on the Stamping Solutions cartridge. I printed the sentiment in Word which involved a moderate amount of faffing to get it half decent - no matter how I matched it up on the A4 sheet the circle seemed to knock the print off to the right a bit, grrr.

Thank you for looking and have a wonderful weekend.

UK Cricut Crafters Challenge 8 - Bag

2010-05-20T10:49:00.003+01:00

Good morning, I think my creativity is beginning to dry up for now, I have taken ages to make this card today and to look at it you wouldn't think so as it's quite simple. It is for the UK Crafters challenge on the cricut messageboard where you had to use a bag from any cart.

I used the Poodle's handbag at 5 3/4 inches on the Create A Critter cart and welded 2 together in Design Studio. Added a piece of doodlebug paper to the flap and a bit of ric-rac round the edge of that. Punches 2 EK Success flowers and added them to the front of the cart and stamped a Hero Arts sentiment onto the Scalloped Circle from the Stamping Solutions cart.

Thank you for looking, I think I might step away from the bug for a wee while today and go and play on the playstation a while.

BBTB2 Challenge - Ready to Rock

2010-05-19T20:28:00.006+01:00

Good evening, I have been busy working on this card for this weeks BBTB2 Challenge Ready To Rock. It was based on the Hannah Montana cartridge but some of the DT are like myself and don't own that one so I followed their lead and used the Stamping Solutions cart to come up with this.

I used the George cartridge for the back of the card and welded the two of them in Design Studio. The alpha I used was Cuttin Up and I added some doodling, a bit of embossing and a couple of brads. The paper is from the DCWV Rock Star stack.

Again I will upload the cut file here so you can download it and use it if you like. Please leave a comment if you do, and do share anything you make with it.

Thanks for looking.

Create A Critter #4 Butterfly

2010-05-19T10:50:00.010+01:00

Here is my card for this weeks Cricut Cardz challenge where you have to make a card featuring a bird or butterfly from any cart. I am also entering it in the Sir Stampalot May challenge, the theme is Blossoms and Butterflies and you can win loads of Tim Holtz goodies, go lookie!
I designed this card in Design Studio using Create A Critter and George cartridges. The patterned paper is an old piece of Kelly Panacci and the stamp is by Hero Arts. I embossed the Butterfly in my big shot using D'vine Swirls and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folders.

Thank you for looking, do pop over and check out the challenge. Oh and if anyone would like the cut file I used you can find it here. Don't forget to leave me a comment if you do download it and please share your creations.

Create A Critter #3 - Frog

2010-05-18T13:08:00.005+01:00

Back again with another challenge card, this time it's for the Papertake Weekly Say it With Flowers challenge. As you can see I have added my flowers to the lily pad and I thought putting one on the frogs head would be quite cute too. I didn't have any small enough flowers so I used my tiny EK Success Punch, but as it was sticking I had to use it on some tin foil first to sharpen it. I curled the petals round my pokey tool then pushed them up when I attached them with my brads to make them pop out a bit.

Frog is cut from Create A Critter along with his wee pad. The card blank is from Wild Card and I cut the New Pad sentiment on Cuttin Up font. Paper used was from the DCWV Citrus stack, I am loving citrus at the moment.

Thanks again for looking, I promise I won't post any more cards today as it's probably wearing quite thin lol.

Create A Critter #2 - Snake

2010-05-18T11:22:00.004+01:00

I made this card this morning for the Cricut Cardz Challenge #24, it is a bit of an eleventh hour entry as it seems they post a new challenge every Wednesday. Still, I am caught up and will be able to play with tomorrow's challenge too.

The challenge was to use 3 circles from any cart - I used Wild Card and have my 3 circles as the card blank, the turquoise part of the liner and the spotted part of the liner. Again the paper used was that Stampin Up pack I have. The snake is from create a critter and his present was borrowed from the bear on the same cart. The sentiment was cut on Wild Card, and I chopped it so that I could have it going along the bottom of the card.

Thank you for looking.

Create A Critter #1 - Owl

2010-05-18T09:23:00.004+01:00

Morning all, I have finally gotten around to playing with my Create A Critter cartridge I bought with my bingo win and all I can say is WOW! This cartridge is soooo cute that I want to make a card with each and every critter on it.

I sat last night and cut all critters on the top row and assembled them. This morning I made my first card. I went straight for the owl as he is just too cute. I don't normally get the bird thing. Infact I am pretty much scared of birds with the exception of my mums cockatiel, a male called Rosie lol, and that's only because he chirps hello Rosie at me and rings the bell in his case. But this owl is adorable.

Anyways, most of it was cut from my scraps drawer and I added a piece of Stampin Up paper, which I can't remember the name of. The owl was cut at 3" and the sentiment was printed in word using the Fontmoochers font. I think if I had planned things out better I would have cut him smaller so I could add a cut sentiment as opposed to a printed one, I will know for next time.

Thank you for looking.

Little Princess

2010-05-17T08:38:00.004+01:00

Hi folks back for the 3rd day in a row with my final (for now) Paper Dolls step card . I couldn't leave the girls out so today we have a princess with her castle in the background. The knight has left his horse and dragon with her while he nipped out on some knightly business.

Papers used are Fancy Pants Daydreams.

My black Zig pen died on me yesterday, so I went and got an Ultra Fine Sharpie, but for some reason it seems to bleed on the bazzil. I had a bit of an ordeal drawing her face because of this and ended up using a black gel writing pen for most of it.

Right, off to explore another cartridge, I am off work all week so you never know I may even find the time to update my blog daily.

Thanks for stopping by. x

P.S. A tip for you if you have Design Studio and this cart - use the Hide Contour feature in DS to give a blackout shape like I did for the dragon here.

Oonga Boonga, it's a cave boy

2010-05-16T09:35:00.003+01:00

After yesterdays Wizard of Oz card I decided to play around with this cartridge some more, with step cards. One good thing I managed to do was suss out the measurements needed to make the base with a sheet of A4 instead of cutting into a sheet of 12x12. I drew the boy's face, being a bit more adventurous this time, lol.

All elements here are are from the cave boy/girl and the paper pad I used was Basic Grey Archaic. I added some red stickles to the lava.

Thanks for looking.

We're off To See The Wizard

2010-05-15T12:32:00.004+01:00

My sister in law asked me if I could make a Wizard of Oz themed New Home card, and after a wee bit of googling we found these awesome characters made from the Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up cart.

So I got to work, naturally adding red stickles to Dorothy's shoes and then having to figure out how to get them onto a card whilst still doing the dolls the justice they deserve. Bingo! I thought about a side step card, using a piece of Kraft bazzil as the base as I felt white would be too stark. Obviously I had to get the castle in there too, and a yellow brick road, the only thing missing was a rainbow, and I would have used one too if I had a piece of printable acetate left. Toto was cut from Create a Critter, which I am dying to play with but had to get this card done first. The basket was from doodlecharms. Oh and the title was cut on Cuttin Up font which I welded on Design Studio.

I have just got back from my brothers, grudgingly handing it over and waving bye to it as I left lol, the three of us were sat staring at it for ages. Though it has made me realise that there are sooo many possibilites with this cart and step cards, so watch this space!

Oh and the whole thing made me really want to watch the movie, so I managed to pick up a copy for £5 in Asda, yay!

Love, Love, Love My New Toy

2010-05-12T19:55:00.006+01:00

Evening all, after a couple months saving and a wee sale on ebay of crafty things I no longer use I managed to have enough pennies to treat myself to the Cricut Expression. And I just have one question for myself.....why didn't I do it sooner?!?!

The seller I used on ebay had a great deal on where you could choose to swap the carts which came with it for other ones, all you have to do is check with her and she will invoice you if there is any price difference. So I got Cuttin Up font, Stamping Solutions and Wild Card. Out of all of them the one I have played with the most is Wild Card, I just love making the shaped cards, its a great change from square, etc :)

Here are a couple of cards I have finished, oh and you can cut matching envelopes too.

This first one was made using the Heart card. I used a piece of making memories paper for the inner heart and filled in the edges with perfect pearls. The flowers were made using an SU Scalloped circle punch. The tag was cut from the Wild Card cart too and the sentiment on Beyond Birthdays.

This one was cut again from Wild Card. I thought the zingy colours of the DCWV paper would look great on the Kraft cardstock. I made a matching envelope using a piece from a roll of brown paper I got in Tesco - this was fiddly, I had to play about with the settings so it wouldn't tear. I used a piece of SU paper in matching colours to line the envelope. Sentiment and scalloped oval are from Wild card too and the flowers are from my favourite EK success punches.

Also, I had a play tonight making a couple of baby cards using New Arrival, I made one of each flavour, but have only taken a photo of the girl one. The papers used here are by Cloud 9.

Oh, on another note, I went to the Bingo on Sunday night with 2 friends, and I WON £255!!! Okay, so I had to share it with the others as I couldn't run fast enough to get away from them lol, plus I didn't have my car for a getaway, so I got £85. And before you could shout Two Little Ducks, I had ordered the Create A Critter cart. Postie tried to deliver that today but I was out at boring work, so will have to collect it on Friday.

Thank you for looking, I am really looking forward to next week as I am off work so will be able to spend lots of quality time with my new toy. This thing just blows the original cricut, the robo and the slice clean out of the water!!!

It's Been A While

2010-03-01T18:42:00.004Z

Well, it's been a couple of weeks actually, so not my longest break from blogging. I have just been quite tired in the evenings, and spending my spare time sprawled out on the sofa having snoring competitions with the dog.

I have a couple of cards to show you, one of which I actually did make last week but have been far too lazy to sit down and type anything that resembles a blog post.

Anyway onto the first card, which is an eleventh hour posting of Papertake Weekly Sketch #35. I used some SEI papers which I got as a present and my EK Success flower punches - I love dragging these punches out from time to time. The sentiment is a Hero Arts clear stamp.

My second card is more current for Fridays Sketchers #91. Now for this card I have been actually playing around with my Craft Robo. I have been coveting nestabilities for a while now but keep putting myself off buying them. So, I though I would blow the cobwebs from my old arch enemy the Robo and set to work creating my own nested shapes.

A little bit of help from the Craft Robo forum on UK Scrappers and I have made a new mat (the real ones got thrown out in a tantrum lol), successfully drawn and cut a scalloped oval and plain oval to nest inside it and discovered that I had originally had my blade in wrong. Can you believe it, I have cut Bazzil, I thought that was an impossibility on this thing lol as most of the time when I have tried before it has ended up looking like something the dog chewed.

Anyway, enough waffling from me, I used MME Papers on this card and those punches again, along with a little help from Craft Robo.

Thank you for looking.

365 Cards Day 351

2010-02-14T17:23:00.004Z

It's Sunday, which can only mean one thing....Super Sketchy Sunday on 365 cards. Now I love a good sketch, so I checked it out and saw circles. Oooh and how exciting, they are having a week of sketches!!

I decided to use a circular shaped card (by papermania) and covered it with paper before trimming back with a craft knife. Any dodgy cutting on the edges was disguised by inking with chalk ink. I then rummaged and found 2 turquoise flowers and added 2 smaller white flowers inside. The fancy tag was cut using the MM Slice Noteworthy Design card and I used a Hero Arts clear stamp for the sentiment.

I am pleased to say I am nearly finished this pack of MME papers now - I set myself a challenge to use up what was left of them this weekend and give any teeny pieces to my friends daughter to play with.

Thank you for looking, I can't believe its nearly the end of the weekend :(

DCM Have a Heart and Get Sketchy GS#25

2010-02-14T09:05:00.004Z

I made both of these cards yesterday but was too lazy to sit and type out a blog post for them lol. I don't know what it is, but since I switched to a laptop I seem to spend less time typing things, I think I might need to get one of those laptop tables that swing out over the end of the sofa as perching this fold out table at the end just isnt working for me.

Anyhoo onto the cards. First up is Daring Cardmakers Have A Heart.

Have a Heart
We'd like to see cards with hearts on them. You can use as many hearts as you like and they don't need to be "obvious" so if you want to use a heart shape to make the petals of a flower, strawberries on a cupcake or apples on a tree that's fine by us.

They don't have to be Valentine Cards either - anniversaries, weddings, or just "Hello" cards for a good friend whatever the reason add a heart to your card and show you care.

I cut 14 hearts on my cricut George cartridge and put a wee fold in them, and arranged them to make the flower on this card. Papers are old Sandylion scraps.

Then we have Get Sketchy GS#25

Quite a simple sketch but open to lots of possibilities I think. I made this card, and it was so quick to make that I made 2 of them just switching the dotty papers around so that used up 2 8x8 sheets of MME Bloom & Grow paper from the pile :) The flower was cut using MM Slice noteworthy design card - 2 at 3 1/2" and 1 at 3".

Thank you for looking.

Cards For Men Challenge 3

2010-02-07T10:49:00.003Z

I found another challenge blog this weekend called Cards For Men, what a great idea as everyone struggles making male themed cards so this should be a good challenge and some inspiration too.

This weeks challenge was a sketch, and you could incorporate a love/valentine theme if you wanted to. I don't really tend to make valentines cards as me and my bloke don't bother with Valentine's day, so I made a birthday card instead.

I used fabby 3 Bugs In A Rug Playtime papers which I bought from Sarah's Cards a while ago. I do love these papers even if it is the first time I have cut into one. I used my Slice Just Chillin card to cut the game controller. At first I cut it in black, but it just looked weird, so I went for gray with black inking round the edges and stuck a scrap of black paper in the back of it for the buttons.

Thank you for looking.

Supplies

3 Bugs In A Rug Playtime
Elzybells Sentiment Stamp
MM Slice Just Chillin Card
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Sketch Saturday - Week #89

2010-02-07T07:31:00.003Z

Here is my card for this weeks sketch on Sketch Saturday. I combined it with the February card challenge on UK Scrappers, where we had to use birdies, a decorative edge and ribbon. I don't usually use birdies as I am not sure what to do with them so this is my second birdie card I have ever made. I had to improvise for his wee branch, so I used two of the flower stalks from the MM Slice Basic Shapes 2 card and combined them so I would have a branch and leaves. I then wonkily hand cut a couple of leaves for the top part as the sketch required you to have something there.

Thank you for looking.

Supplies

MME Bloom & Grow
Ribbon From Stash
Elzybells Sentiment Stamp
MM Slice Just Chillin Card - Birdie
MM Slice Basic Shapes 2 card - branch and leaves
SU Scalloped Border Punch
Woodware Scallop Circle Punch
Cricut George - Circle cut at 2 1/2" with shadow

Daring Cardmakers Amethyst

2010-02-06T09:58:00.004Z

I screamed with horror when I looked at this week's dare on Daring Cardmakers yesterday:

For the February Birthstone challenge we'd like to see cards with an Amethyst theme, this could be the colour, or maybe something to do with the meaning and mythology around the stone.
So off you go, you can use anything you like be it papers, gems, buttons, whatever comes to hand as long as the Amethyst stone is the theme

OMG Purple!!, now I have nothing against purple and I love it on clothes, but when it comes to crafting it's my nemesis - I just cannot work with it! As hard as I try, I struggle to come up with something I like with it. However, I really wanted to be in with a chance to win the gorgeous prize from David and Brenda at Craft Obesssions.

So I had a rummage in my meagre pile of purple themed papers and found a small old piece of paper (from One Heart One Mind I think). And it was double sided too, which was a bonus as then I didn't have to think about what to match it with. And here we have my card. I hope you like it. The bling kind of photographed a bit weird though. Thank you for looking.

Supplies:

Bazzil Cardstock
One Heart One Mind Paper - don't even think you can buy this nowadays
MM Just Chillin' Design Card for the butterflies, cut at 2" and 2 1/2"
Sentiment printed on a clear Avery label and stuck onto the cardstock
Bling from stash
Corners clipped using a small Woodware green circle punch

Kreativ Blogger Award

2010-02-03T18:19:00.002Z

I received a blog award today from my crafting and cropping buddy Sharon, I have not received many blog awards possibly because I have been rubbish at updating this thing lol. Thanks Sharon!

So to the rules....

To have this award is to pass it on – the instructions are as follows:

1. Thank the person giving the award.
2. Copy the award graphic to your blog.
3. Place a link to their blog.
4. Name seven things people don’t know about you.
5. Nominate seven bloggers you admire.
6. Place a link to these bloggers.
7. Leave a comment on their blog notifying them of the award.

Sharon is very talented and is on the design team for Bubblyfunk's Vanilla Sugar and Tando Chipboard. Please pay her a visit and check out her yummy creations.

1. I have a phobia of sticky things, especially price labels. I worship the inventor of barcodes as most shops use this method now. If something (especially food) has one of those price stickers on it I have to take it off before I open it. I am perfectly fine with sticky tape, sticky letters, etc but you can add peel-offs to the phobia pile too lol.

2. I hate touching polystyrene, especially with wet hands. I can't drink from polystyrene cups.

3. I have 3 older brothers and one day when I was about 4 I streaked when they were playing football outside the house! In all honesty it seemed easier to run naked to my friends paddling pool bikini in hand than actually wake my mum up (she worked nights) to get changed.

4. I had a massive fear of the dentist but had to conquer my fear last year and get a load of work done - it was well worth it!! Now going to the dentist is just like going to the hairdressers :D

5. I am a bit of a bookworm and love to just veg out with my nose in a good book. Favourites are generally chick-lit and crime novels, but am currently loving Vamps - though can't see the fascination with Edward Cullen - I prefer Angel.

6. I used to love playing with my mums clubbie books. I was chuffed when she got a new one as I would get the old one to cut and stick with. I would make up what I guess you could call a collage of living rooms, etc. My brothers then landed me the nickname Ling-Leigh-Clubbie.

7. I used to do Ann Summers, and if I was going to be held up in my day job, would phone home and get my dad to get my chocolate willies made for my party that night lol.

Right now I have the difficult task of finding seven people who haven't had this before. As I am just getting back into this blogging lark I apologise in advance to those who have had it before.

Kirsti
Kara
Fiona
Shazza
Emma
Elaine
Dawn

Sweet Sunday Sketch #54

2010-02-03T17:24:00.002Z

Last night I had another go at one of the flower tutorials from this blog, this time a lollipop flower.

I had made these before but I loved the tip of scrunching the circle round the blunt end of a pen, I found this made the flower 'pop' more. I was still too chicken to roughly cut the circles though, so I used my cricut, but i did rough them up a lot by distressing them with my scissors.

I added some pink stickles round the edge, then popped the circles on top of the radiator to dry quicker as I was way too impatient to wait for it to dry lol.

I then added my completed flower to this card for this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch #54. For my scalloped piece I used a Crafters Workshop template. My favourite one in the pack is the smallest one as it gives the most rounded scallops. **A tip for you - if you want a longer scalloped piece simply draw the template in the centre of your strip of paper, then line it up at either side to get the desired length before cutting out.**

Supplies Used
MME Bloom & Grow
Elzybells sentiment stamp
Crafters workshop scalloped template
Brad from stash
30 cut using Making Memories Slice - Noteworthy
Circles cut on Cricut George

Thank you for looking. I have switched browsers again - this time to Opera as IE, Firefox and now Chrome seem to annoy me when I am blogging, and surfing other peoples blogs. So, this one seems to be running well, I can see pics, I can comment, and the pages actually load. Oh and more regular readers will notice my facelift too - can you tell I was bored yesterday afternoon lol.

Mothers Day - fabby flowers

2010-02-02T15:34:00.007Z

I just had to share this fab blog with tutorials for handmade flowers I found at the weekend - Scrap-a-little. I am sure you will agree with me that Helen the blog owner is one clever, talented lady.

On the blog I learned how to turn this:

Into this:

Loved doing these so much that I made two:

They are cards for a friend to give on Mothers Day but I will definitely be making more of these flowers and more in the future. Do you think I need to add a little tag saying "with love on Mother's Day" to the ribbon area?

Thank you for looking

Supplies Used

Paper - MME Bloom & Grow
Ribbon & Brads from stash
1 1/4" circle punch.
Versamagic Chalk Ink Pads
Mum was cut using MM Slice Basic Shapes 2

Sketches By Tamara - Challenge 101 Layout Sketch

2010-01-31T14:04:00.003Z

For the weekly challenge on UKS we had to do the following:

Use a photo of something other than a person 10 points
use journalling somewhere on the layout 5 points
use a sketch (and let us know which one) 5 points
use ribbon 5 points
use bling 5 points

I used a photo of a sheep at Doonie's Farm (a local visitors centre) which I took last May when I visited with my nephew and Sister-In-Law.

My Sketch came from Sketches By Tamara #101 which is a great challenge blog with a different challenge every week for cards, layouts, etc. There was also a challenge on this sketch to use stitching. I used a Crafters Workshop template - first of all I drew round the template on the back of my cardstock before piercing the holes. Then using embroidery floss, I stitched the design - this took me about 45 minutes and my arm was aching but I really like the effect so will do it again.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock - Stampin Up Bazzill
Papers - We Are Memory Keepers
Ribbon - from stash
Alphabet Stickers - Papermania
Flower Punch - EK Success
Bling Brads - Papermania
Bling - from stash

Thanks for looking, I am off to check out Tamara's card sketch next.

Just Christmas and Birthday Cards Sketch #54

2010-01-24T21:52:00.001Z

Been busy beavering away again tonight making a card for the latest Just Christmas and Birthdays Sketch. I used some papers from my WRMK paper stack - fabby pad this and its huge so I am working my way through it. A Chipboard flower was covered in a scrap of paper from the same range and I messed it up so I had to do another one lol. A wee bit of ribbon and a sentiment printed on the pc finished it off.

Now, a question for anyone who reads, I have a cricut, slice, bigshot, etc but you know how it is, I get fed up dragging one or other of them out and cutting an embellie for a card. I am not much of a stamper so don't tend to do much of that - I do have a wee selection of promarkers but can't do them the justice I see all over the internet. What I am looking for, is ideas for quick and easy embellishments, you know ready made kind of things? Any suggestions? I have a stash of paper blossoms, but got kinda bored looking at them too - though it would be a good idea to use up what I do have. Okay I am waffling now, but you get my drift - ideas for ready made embellies, etc. Oh or if anyone could point me in the direction of tutorials for funky diy embellies too.

Thanks for looking and thanks to anyone who can help me.

Sarah's Cards January Sketch - New Wheels

2010-01-24T13:25:00.004Z

I have joined a new team on UKS and our leader Yve is excellent at giving us inspiration and encouragement to actually sit down and do some scrapping, so much so that I have produced this layout.

It is from the Sarahs Cards January Sketch - from Vanessa (Ellepiggo). I thought it was a fabby sketch to work with and will definitely be checking out their challenges in the future. I did mine on an 8 1/2 x 11 LO as I will be putting it into a book of me which is that size. I know I'll never win the DT space lol, but it will keep Kirsti from nagging me about blogging lol! :P

The photo itself also ties in with this weeks challenge on UKS which was to scrap a piece of history - an old photo of yourself, or something special to you. This was a photo I had scanned in ages ago, its not brilliant quality but it is of me, standing proud with my BMX bike I got one Christmas - I would be lying if I said the year, but am guessing I was around 8 or 9? Love the hairdo! What on earth was my mother thinking - I have a feeling she did it herself - what with? The Wallpaper Scissors?!?!?

I used MME Abbey Road papers, with a random piece of sassafras as the background. Bo Bunny Brads, random buttons from costco, papermania alpha stickers and the bracket was cut on my cricut.
Thats all for me just now, I do plan on sitting down later on and having a play though and a wee bit of blog-hopping at tea time I think.

DCBD Sketch 161/365 Cards I'm A Frayed Knot and Fabby News!

2010-01-22T22:25:00.006Z

Evening bloggers, been meaning to blog all day about this but wanted to make a card too so I wasn't just posting about my fabby thing which arrived through the post today.

Anyway, I have just knocked this card up, combining two challenges on the one card -
Diva Coffee Break Designs Sketch 161 and 365 Cards I'm A Frayed Knot.

It's a really simple card which took all of 5 minutes to make. I used some scraps - doodlebug and Allsorts, the letter stickers are thickers and the heart was cut on my cricut. Oh and I embossed the background using a Sizzix Texture plate. Scalloed edge courtesy of my Stampin' Up Punch.

Remember my last blog post where I had entered the Bubbly Scrumptious Over to You Sketch. Well there was a fabby Ribbon and Stamp prize up for grabs to a random winner. And, yep, you guessed it....that Random Winner was Your's Truly. The prize arrived today and was true to its name of fabby. Thank You to Kathy for the sketch and Caroline for the generous prize.

Thats all for now, cropping tomorrow so hopefully I will manage to blog again with some makes from tomorrow.

Bubblyfunk - Over to You Challenge

2010-01-17T14:58:00.004Z

One of my {very talented} cropping friends Sharon is a DT member on Bubblyfunk's Vanilla sugar blog and had been talking about the Bubblyfunk forum. I decided to sign up to the forum to see if it would coax my mojo into action as I am really struggling to make any cards nowadays or do much else other than playing silly facebook games and reading lol.

So I joined last night and my membership was approved this morning.

I got stuck straight into the challenge set by Kathy as it was a nice easy sketch challenge.

I used some old BG Blush papers as I am refusing to buy new stuff other than essentials like DST until I get myself out of this rut I seem to be stuck in. My MM Slice Basic Shapes 2 card provided the flower and the top panel has been "cheeseholed" with my crop-a-dile. Lots of distressing was done courtesy of my scissor edge and a wee bit of ribbon was stuck on all ruffled to finish it off.

Thank you for looking, lets see if I am better at this making and blogging lark in 2010.

Christmas Doggy!!

2009-11-22T15:15:00.003Z

Eeeek not long to go 'til Christmas now, a little more than a month. I have been busy beavering away with some Christmas cards, and will be blogging a few over the next wee while - following a nagging from Kirsti.

First up I just have to share with you my most favourite die-cut in the world ever! Being a lover of all things doggy (woof ;) ) I snapped these cuties up from Adorable Die Cuts - a shop on ebay. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever, infact I love him so much that I have bought more, plus a few other cutie die cuts. The papers I used are the MME Wonderful Winter Glittered papers - a pad which has been constantly on my desk since I opened it. I am nearly finished the pad now.

Check back again soon for more Christmas cards :)

2 Sketches 4 U - Kazan's Sketch 33

2009-08-19T20:32:00.003+01:00

I made this card a couple of nights ago for Kazans Sketch 33 on 2 Sketches 4 U. I love this sketch and will definitely be using it again. I used MME papers, Adorn-it letter stickers and Sizzix Serif Alpha for the sentiment, various blossoms and ribbon was then added.

Thank you for looking :)

Papertake Weekly - Sketch

2009-08-16T22:57:00.006+01:00

A last minute card from me for this weeks papertake weekly challenge. My mum's friend needed a big card, so I used the sketch to help me make it as I always struggle making bigger sized cards (C5 sized). I know the sketch is technically square so I hope I'm not cheating lol.

I used My Minds Eye papers and flowers. I punched two holes with my cropadile and tied the ribbon through them at the top.

Thanks for looking.

365 Cards -Super Sketchy Sunday

2009-08-16T10:49:00.004+01:00

Here is my card for today's 365 cards, it is a sketch today which I thought would work well for a simple thank you card. The paper is from Dovecraft and the scalloped punch is from Stampin' Up as my Fiskars punch broke, I think I like this punch better though :) I cut the flowers from the Slice Basic Shapes 2 card.

Thank you for looking :)

New Challenge Blog + Link to Candy

2009-05-09T07:30:00.001+01:00

Hello, I have had a mad week and not managed to get any challenges done since the weekend. Hoping to get caught up today and tomorrow but before I go stalking the challenge blogs I just had to tell you about a new challenge blog - Passion For Promarkers. They are offering blog candy at the moment too, which might be a great way to top up your collection of these fabby pens. If you have lots of the pens already you might be interested in joining their design team, there is a post on the blog about that too.

Back soon.

365 Cards - Day 64 A Sketch

2009-05-03T17:55:00.002+01:00

We were given a sketch to use today for 365 cards. So, I had a rummage around in the scraps box I mentioned earlier and decided I wanted to make a man card for this sketch. I used some kaisercraft papers and cut matching stars inside circles using the Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge.

The starry bits were mounted on foam pads to give a bit of definition. I then cut another star/circle from another piece of paper and attached it to the card on foam pads too, hanging it off the edge.

Got an ink smudge on the back though, grrr. Will keep it in my box for another nephews birthday as he won't notice/care lol.

Thank you for looking.

365 Cards - Day 63 Floral Fest and Blog Candy

2009-05-03T16:14:00.008+01:00

First of all, Fiona is offering some fab blog candy in celebration of her sons birthday in May, so pop on over and check it out.

Now onto todays card. I am still catching up on 365 cards, this is yesterdays challenge to use 8 blooms on your card. I also took the sketch idea from somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it now, I have spent ages trawling through my history, so if you recognise it please let me know so I can give credit where its due.

I used some more crate Katlin and blooms from poppicrafts. I have spent a wee while today decluttering my craft desk and and determined to work my way through a box of odds and ends paper wise hence using the katlin papers again.

Thank you for looking, might manage another card later, headache depending.

Piggin' Tired

2009-05-03T09:16:00.001+01:00

As you know I went to a local farm yesterday with my sis-in-law and my nephew. Got lots of photos, all outdoors but this was the first one I wanted to scrap as the title leapt out at me as soon as I saw the piggy. He was so cute, snorting in his sleep and everything, must have been chasing truffles lol.

I used some old K&Co Berry Sweet which I am trying to use up.

Thanks for looking, hopefully be back later with some cards, got some shopping and housework to do first.

CP#13 and 365 Cards Day 62

2009-05-02T21:53:00.003+01:00

As soon as I saw this weeks Card Patterns sketch I knew I could combine it with Day 62 from 365 Cards to help me get caught up on challenges a bit. I made this card for my nephew's birthday (which is in August! I am so organised!!)

It is a 5x7 card, so I covered the card front with the back of some fancy pants papers and doodled a wee bit on it. I then took some more from my new Lime Rickey pad and ran the plain piece through a cuttlebug folder in my big shot to make it a bit more interesting. I painted the chipboard number and added some glossy accents before adding it to the 5. The image is another from that Woodware set I used earlier.

Thank you for looking.

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #49

2009-05-02T18:03:00.002+01:00

Here is the card I made using this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch.

I used some BG Lime Rickey papers which I have been itching to use and an old Woodware clear stamp was dusted down for the image. I carefully handcut the rounded frame by first cutting a circle with my cricut to use that as a template for the arch. The stars were cut on my cricut and the sentiment is an old Elzybells stamp.

Thank you for looking.

Back From The Farm

2009-05-02T16:07:00.003+01:00

Was out visiting a local farm today, called Doonies Farm. It is under threat from closure at the moment from Council cutbacks which is a shame. It was a great day to go, although it was very windy, there were lots of new baby animals which was well cute. It would be a shame if it would close down, I wish I could do something to help so will have to rack my brains.

Thought I would share some of my fave piccies with you. I must say I enjoyed it more than my nephew did, he just couldn't wait to get to the playpark in it lol.

Will share some more piccies later, have chicks, horses, and a fab piggy pic which is screaming out to be scrapped - got the title nailed for that one already lol.

Old MacDonald Had A Farm...

2009-05-02T09:40:00.002+01:00

...and on that farm he had some dogs eee-iii-eee-iii-ohhhh!

Yes, thats this weeks Dare on Daring Cardmakers:

Now onto this week and its Vanessa here to set the dare. I don’t know why I came up with this one, but for some reason I’ve been singing away to Old MacDonald, you know the song “Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee I ee I oh! And on that farm he had some .........”

........we’ll let you fill in the blank – that’s your dare this week, get some farmyard animals on your cards and pop a link in the comments section so we can come and see!

I stamped up this old whippersnapper stamp and coloured it with my promarkers. I then attached it using some Cloud9 papers and a brad which I have stashed in a bag as a WIP Mini Book of my doggies.

with a woof-woof here and a woof-woof there. He-he I am going to be singing this all day today and oddly enough we are going to pop to a farm today to see the animals and play in the park (that's me, my nephew and sis-in-law)

Love Birds - DigiStamp Boutique

2009-05-01T22:12:00.007+01:00

Sally-Ann from grabadoodledo has now opened a fab new digi downloads site called DigiStamp Boutique. They have a blog and there is a monthly competition to win next months Offer Of The Month. All you have to do is make a card/project using any image from this month's Offer Of The Month which this month is the Love Birds set.

I have made this card using the Love Birds and I decided it would be quite suited as an engagement card.

I coloured them with my promarkers and did a bit of fiddling with my cricut to cut the circle out after I had coloured them. It was cheek-clenching stuff I tell you as I was panicking that my paper would come unstuck and ruin what I had coloured in lol.

Anyway, I then layered them up with some yummy scrummy BG Bittersweet papers and cut a sizzlits photocorner.

Thank you for looking and good luck to everyone who enters the competition.

Quick Hello and a card

2009-05-01T16:19:00.003+01:00

Hello all, I am a tad tired this week with ongoing poorly parents, feeling run-down and to top it all I got an abcess in my tooth so my rock & roll lifestyle will have to go on hold this weekend while I dose up on the antibiotics lol.

I have managed to make a card today, well I stamped her on Wednesday, coloured her yesterday and assembled the card today. It is Rockstar Anya, which I got from Angel Crafts - they do a great 5 promarkers and stamp deal btw and there are several stamps to choose from.

I used some scraps of Fancy Pants papers.

Thank you for looking, I hope to be less tired this weekend and get caught up with all the challenges and the blog-hopping.

365 Cards - Day 59 A Certain Sentiment

2009-04-28T21:25:00.004+01:00

And quite a fitting sentiment for me anyway from 365 cards today. See my fiance is away on Operational tour at the moment, so my dilemma is...do I put it in with his next parcel or don't I. As much as I make loads of cards, we don't really give them to each other so he would think something was up lol.

Anyways onto the blurb about the card, I used some Allsorts papers which have been gathering dust for a while, I got them from Craftworks Cards but i think other places might stock them now and my fiskars threading water punch.

The alpha stickers are by adorn-it. The bracket frame and heart were cut using my slice machine - noteworthy and basic shapes 1 but I left the scallop off of the heart.

The bracket frame and heart were stuck on with 1mm foam pads to give a bit of depth, I don't really like to use anything thicker than that. To me, foam pads are like push-up bras, just a little lift is all you need, anything else is too bulky and in your face lol!

Right, I think I am going to get sorted for going to my bed now. Am tired and have some new books to be reading.

365 Cards - Day 58 Somethings Fishy

2009-04-27T17:22:00.004+01:00

Here is my card for today's 365 Cards challenge. You had to include at least one image of a fish somewhere on your card. This is Jim Just Chillin from grabadoodledo, the only fishy thing I seem to have. Papers are by Creative Imaginations.

Thanks for looking.

365 Dare - Day 57

2009-04-26T21:39:00.003+01:00

Ok, I have managed to do this card for Day 57 on the 365 Cards blog which I just found this morning. Wonder how many of the other daily dares I will manage to complete before my mojo runs away again?!?! I used more Basic Grey cupcake papers for this card and added a wee bit of doodling to it to liven up the background a bit. Stars were cut on my Cricut as was the oval.

I used MM Tiny Alphas White on Black to stick on the sentiment which was a bit of a nightmare to stick down as my tweezers have run away.

Thank you for looking.

Sweet Stop Sketch #1

2009-04-26T14:13:00.003+01:00

I have made this card for the launch sketch for the Sweet Stop challenge blog (from Sweet & Sassy stamps)

I saw one of the DT had used the DCWV Nana's Nursery boy papers, so that inspired me to dig my pad out and use some of it up - hehe another pad I will be glad to see the back of.

The onesie was cut on my Cricut New Arrival Cartridge and I added some adhesive pearls in the bottom corner of my card.

Thank you for looking.

Card Patterns CP Sketch #12

2009-04-26T09:14:00.004+01:00

Here is my card for the Card Patterns CP Sketch #12 which I made this morning. It's quite a simple sketch to follow and opens up to a load of ideas but I decided to keep the simplicity and make a Thank You card. I used some DCWV Spring Stack papers (which I will be glad to see the back of lol) and some blooms from Poppicrafts.

I do believe I am on a blogging roll now, hope it continues as its a great way of using up stash.

Thanks for looking.

Sketch Saturday Card - Sketch #48

2009-04-25T17:49:00.003+01:00

Here is my card for Sketch #48 on the Sketch Saturday blog.

For this sketch, I decided to pop back into my comfort zone and created this card using the Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper pad. I cut the flowers on my Making Memories Basic Shapes 2 card and did my favourite scrumpling to bring them a bit to life. They were secured to the circle panel using an Urban Prairie brad. I then cut the oval and stamped a Hero Arts sentiment to it, attaching more Urban Prairie brads at either side of the greeting.

Thank you for looking,

Daring Cardmakers - Supersize Me

2009-04-25T13:13:00.007+01:00

I went and checked out this weeks Daring Cardmakers dare for this first time in ages and it was Lythan's turn to dare this week:

I have loads of enormous paper flowers that I have bought and never used. So I want to see some really big embellishments on your cards. Bonus points for outsize blooms!

Like Lythan, I have shedloads of outsized blooms which rarely get used nowadays so I jumped at the opportunity to try and get some used. I also decided to have a bash at an acetate card as I have never done these before and now I know why - it's an absolute nightmare trying to keep the molting husky hair from it lol. Anyway this is the finished result, using some Bo Bunny double sided papers, assorted blooms and ribbon. Simple but quite effective and I have managed to keep it fur-free!

Thanks for looking.

Lilly With Wings - Dare U 2 Digistamp

2009-04-25T11:16:00.003+01:00

Here is a card I have made this week for the DU2DS challenge - Things With Wings.

I used Lilly from grab-a-doodle-do again, as she is the only digistamp I have with wings at the moment, and coloured her with my copics/promarkers. See I am getting a bit more confident at the blending now. I blinged up her wings with a bit of glamour dust before cutting her out and sticking her to the scalloped circle which was cut on the MM Slice Basic Shapes 2 card.

The butterfly is one of those little Studio G cheap stamps and I carefully cut it out and added it for a bit more wings.

The paper used is all from the Papermania Sweet Nothings pad.

The sentiment is a Penny Black stamp I have had for ages.

Thanks for looking.

Papertake Weekly - Dawny's Sketch

2009-04-21T19:45:00.008+01:00

Go Meeee!! lol! I managed another card.

I have managed another card for the Papertake Weekly Challenge, Dawny's Sketch #13. I used my old favourite Doodlecharms Cupcake and chopped the candle off the top. Combining this with some Junkitz papers which always remind me of Neopolitan Ice Cream I came up with this card. Both sentiments are from a Hero Arts clear set.

I am so glad I have found my love of cardmaking again. I have been managing to do the odd card but have been scrapping more lately when time allowed me to. I helped a friend out with some wedding invitations recently and I think that just totally scared my mojo away. I was so scared it was never gonna come back lol.

Thanks for a fab sketch and thank you for looking.

On another note, Debbie is celebrating her blogoversary and 62,000 hits and is offering the most generous blog candy. Do stop over her blog and take a look, the draw is open until 30th April. Congratulations Debbie.

Another card

2009-04-19T18:57:00.004+01:00

Here is another little card I made, using the MM Slice I cut the flowers from the Noteworthy design card and scrunched them up again before flattening them out - gotta love this method, it really makes them look better (well I hope so anyway!) I cut two scalloped ovals from the Basic Shapes 1 card and then carefully trimmed the pink one back so that it could nest inside the darker one.

That's one drawback from the Slice, that you cannot nest the shapes easily like you can with a Cricut. It's still a great piece of kit though.

Papers used are the BG Sugared paper pad and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts set.

Thanks for looking.

No Mojo, No Blog

2009-04-19T16:42:00.007+01:00

Had a lot going on lately and not much decent crafting done but I think my mojo is starting to make a comeback now as I have managed a few cards and things this weekend so I thought I would share them on here.

I bought some copics and promarkers to try out and see if it encourages me to make cards and it has worked I think.

First up, I dusted down some old Woodware stamps, I think the set was called Girly Fun and had a play with my promarkers. I used some doodlebug papers and the sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Next up we have a couple of cards I made using some downloadable images from the fabulous grab-a-doodle-do website. I did leave the images overnight to make sure they were dry enough to colour in with the pens though otherwise they tend to smudge. These cards are from the Lilly and Josh sets, aren't they cute? For Lilly I used some scraps of Fancy Pants Papers and Josh has some scraps of Cosmo Cricket. I have entered the girly one for the Pink and Green colour combo challenge on Dare U 2 Digistamp as it fits the bill for that. I will definitely be keeping an eye on that blog too, as it looks like some fab challenges.

I also had a play with my slice machine this morning and made the following orange card. I used the Noteworthy design card and scrunched up the flowers before flattening them out and sticking them down, this brings them to life a bit more. The papers on here are some scraps of the My Minds Eye Daydreams papers.

I am still getting to grips with the pens and want to try and blend them but scared they end up looking like the dogs dinner.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope to find the time to update my blog a bit more nowadays as I am feeling all efficient and on top of things this weekend.

FAO Tina who left the comment on the baby card

2009-04-06T17:42:00.000+01:00

Hi Tina

I tried to track you down but am having problems so hopefully you will read this.

Firstly thank you for your lovely comment, I used the Doodlecharms cartridge for the shapes and All Mixed Up for the font. I also used the George cartridge to cut the circles.

Happy Christmas, and a card

2008-12-29T18:03:00.005Z

Hi all

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and are not suffering too much from over-indulging lol! I hada great time, and am off work at the moment so having really chilled out days, shame I have to go back eventually.

Anyway, I cleared a path on my craft desk this morning and have actually sat at it for the first time in weeks. I had a play with my scor-pal which was one of only a few crafty pressies I got this year. I didn't feel like I needed much crafty goodies as I want to work my way through what I have then have a big splurge later on in the year for lots of new things.

So, I discovered that the very talented Kathy of Daring Cardmakers fame has set up a sketch blog. You so need to go and have a look. I have made a card today using her Sketch #2. I used crate papers, my trusty cricut for the star and a stamps away stamp. Hope you like it and that you decide to go and visit Kathys new blog for inspiration.

Have a great New Year all. Will post again in 2009!!!!

Joy!!

2008-12-04T19:16:00.006Z

Hello all, it's been a while but I am back to show you this little creation I made earlier. A chipboard Christmas Decoration, using Pink Petticoat Tis The Season papers and image stamps.

I made the backing by covering six 4" x 3" pieces of chipboard with the patterned papers (aren't they fab papers?!) and then attaching ribbon to the 3 along the back, leaving equal spaces between then. You will notice in the second photo that I knotted the ribbon at the ends.

I then attached the front panels and decorated using some Pink Petticoat Monograms printed onto some more Tis The Season papers.
I also added some of the cute little robins, which I printed at A5 size so that I could punch them out and layer up on a scalloped circle punch.
Some ribbons, glitter, a brad and some bling were also added to finish it off.
The very generous Liz from Pink Petticoat is running a competition to win a Making Memories Slice, all you have to do is make something using Pink Petticoat products to enter. Better be quick though as it closes this weekend.
Me, being the die-cutting junkie that I am just HAD to have a bash at this competition, wish me luck. And good luck to anyone else entering.
Leigh xx

Advent Box

2008-10-27T12:24:00.002Z

Over on UK Scrappers there is an advent box frenzy going on.

I made this calendar ages ago following the instructions on bubblyfunk. I used craftwork cards papers, and cut the embellishments on my cricut. The most time consuming part of this is painting all the matchboxes. I used blank matchboxes which I bought online, but lots of people are just buying loads and loads of cheap matches from the supermarkets.

Daring Cardmakers - Forever Autumn + Little Extra

2008-10-24T14:43:00.006+01:00

Ok, since I seem to be on a bit of a roll today I decided to tackle this weeks Dare for the first time in ages......

I decided on this one after hearing the Justin Haywood song of the same name playing on the radio. I couldn’t get it out of my mind and kept singing it as I was working.

So now I’m daring you to make a card that depicts Autumn.
It can be an Autumn scene or it can be something completely different but using a palette of Autumn colours……the choice is yours!

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if a few of you are singing along by the time you’ve finished either, I know some of the DT were!

To help you along your way here's a few cards from the design team and if you're still in need of a little inspiration you could always have a go at using Kathy’s template from the Little Extra as I have for my card. The main thing is to have fun and whatever you do, don’t forget to leave us message in the comments box so we can come and see all your creations.

So, I decided to do just that and combine it with Kathy's sketch too. I cut an "@" on my cricut and layered it up for some dimension, then I cut a star. Used Basic Grey Archaic papers.

Hope you like my card, thank you for looking.

Quickly Posting some more cards

2008-10-20T18:35:00.007+01:00

Back again with another quickie update of some recent cards. Still busy, busy, busy here, but glad I have a long weekend off work this week. Infact I am only in tomorrow then off to a course on Wednesday and off Thursday onwards, yay!

First up is a wee Christmas Card I made using some of the DCWV Christmas stack which I bought last year. I hung the Cricut stocking so that it swings on the card just to add a bit of interest. Struggling to use this pad, a lot of the papers are a bit wayyyy out on their own, so I try to use them in small pieces.

Then, I was using up scraps when I made this card using some papermania and K&Co papers. The heart was cut on the cricut machine and I layered up several of them to give a faux chipboard look. The scalloped edge was done using the much sought-after Fiskars Threading Water Punch. Love, love, love this punch!! No sentiment on this card as I was only messing around, but then a girl at work needed and engagement card, so Hey Presto! it found a home.

Finally this card was made using the Paper Dolls Dress Up Cartridge on the cricut. Super cute bride and groom, but quite fiddly poking out all the little bitties. The background is a Pink Petticoat download.

Thanks for looking, will try and come back again soon.

Back Again with a quick visit

2008-10-19T16:51:00.003+01:00

Hello to anyone who still reads my blog nowadays. As promised yesterday I am back today with a quick post of some cards I have done recently.

The yellow one is for the Quick Cards Big Card for Children In Need. Basically you have to send them a card and they are going to put them all together to form a big Pudsey Bear for the worlds biggest card. I don't normally do yellow, so I had to scrabble around to find the goodies to make this card. Then I couldn't resist putting a bit of red on to bring out the red flowers on the paper (maybe it will stand out more on the telly lol!)

Then, I quite liked the layout I used on the pudsey card, so I made this card using up some scraps, a chipboard flower and some bling. I cut a circle shape out as a template to use for sticking the gems on, then I ran out of turquoise gems and had to track down some more doh! So. although this card doesn't have all its gems on, please imagine that it does pmsl!

Lastly for now here is a wee female card made using my trusty old EK Success flower punch, love how you can add dimension to the petals by curling them round a pencil before sticking down with foam pads. The paper used here is actually a papermania pad called Sweet Nothings. Have you tried papermania pads lately? The quality has improved and they seem to be producing some quite nice designs now compared to the old Colossal Stack which many people shudder to think about.

Will try and pop back again soon with more creations. Right now I am off to chill out for a while as I have had a monster headache for most of the weekend.

Poppicrafts - No Images

2008-10-18T16:16:00.005+01:00

Hello, I am back after a long, long break from blogging as I've been a busy bunny this year and kind of got a bit lazy when it came to uploading my creations.

Anyway, I was bloghopping while eating my lunch earlier and was reading the very talented Sarah's blog where I discovered that the fabby wee shop Poppicrafts are having a competition. So, I popped over for a look. The comp was to create a card using no images - yippee, my kind of challenge since I don't tend to stamp anymore. We also had to use the colours, Pink, Green, White or Black, or all of the above. So, I set to work and finished this card which does actually include all of the colours (basically because I didn't have a dark enough green to do the sentiment lol!)

I used K&Co papers, some chipboard flowers, ribbon and the Sentiment is from a clear Hero Arts set.

Pop on over to the Poppicrafts blog for a look, and while there why not visit the shop where you can find fabby ribbons, blooms etc at fab prices.

And as for me, well I promise I will be back again soon with some things that I did manage to photograph before they went out the door.

Oooh Yay for me!

2008-02-20T16:30:00.004Z

Just a quickie post for now to say YAY me! I am the featured blogger of the day on QKD Bloggers

We are bringing stampers and scrappers together in one blog. Get more people to see your blog, become a member! Need inspiration? book mark this blog and when you need an idea come and click through the links of blogs we have. You’re guaranteed to be inspired by one of your GREAT members.

Go check it out for inspiration when you have a spare while.

While I am here I will post another couple of old cards, still really busy atm, hoping things will quieten down for me soon.
Gotta go for now, it's my nephews birthday today and I have yet to make his card LOL!
Baby card made using Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge, SizzixSkittle-Dee-Doo alphabet and Doodlebug papers.

Card made using cat cut on Craft Robo - thanks to maryhaggie on UK Scrappers for the template. Papers are by DCWV - the All Dressed Up Stack.

Bex Challenge - a template!

2008-02-15T21:37:00.003Z

Ok there's a massive challenge weekend on Justbex this weekend as part of the normal monthly challenges. We kicked off tonight with a fabby template from Sue.

So, I cut the flowers on my Robo and chalked the edges. Then I added a little Doodlebug paperfrill, and layered it all on the DCWV Spring Stack. Its quite funny, but when DCWV first came out I bought some of the stacks and absolutely hate them and have so struggled to use them. But they are coming out with some gorgeous ones now, I love this Spring Stack for one.

If you haven't been to Justbex you should SO come and take a look. Its a fab place full of inspiration and challenges and everyone is really lovely. Oh and you collect points for the challenges, and WHAT DO POINTS MAKE?...............................PRIZES!!

Some stuff I made a while back

2008-02-14T21:15:00.003Z

Ok, so things are still hectic here for me, with lots and lots of cards to make, etc. Thought I would quickly update my blog now before bed to save me doing it tomorrow.

And I can't remember if I mentioned that my dad (who had been on dialysis for 3 - 4 years) got a kidney transplant on Christmas Day. Anyhoo, he was doing really well, but was taken in to hospital on Saturday as they were beginning to think he was rejecting it. They did a biopsy, but they think that it was his medication so altered that. So, he looked perfectly fine when I visited him on Monday, but then Tuesday onwards he was feeling seriously rough. It seems like he may have ended up with the winter vomiting virus, and because of his anti-rejection drugs its a lot worse for him than it would be for you or I. But, on the upside, mum went to visit him tonight and said he was looking and feeling a lot better, so fingers crossed he is on the mend.

Right, so here are some of my fairly recent creations that I haven't managed to blog yet. These 3 were all made with templates designed by my own fair hands on the craft robo.

A simple engagement card, with a welded word. Hearts from Cricut George cartridge and cuttlebug embossing folder at the back.

A little cupcake with a glace (glossy accents) cherry on the top :o)

A little pram, teamed with the baby from Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge. Can you spot the deliberate mistake which was fixed after it had been scanned LOL!

Thats all for now, hopefully I'll get more blogging done at the weekend.

A Couple More Cards

2008-02-14T06:02:00.003Z

Ok, just a quickie from me today before I head off to work. Here are a few more cards I have made recently.

This one is for another friend who is leaving work today, the paper is from the DCWV All Dressed Up Stack, ribbon and blossoms from stash.

These 2 are using the DCWV Spring Mat Stack. One with a couple of blossoms and one with a chipboard flower. I tell you, if you love chipboard but find sanding the edges a pain then you have so gotta get the Basic Grey Precision File set. I got one at Christmas and they are fantastic.

Finally this one is one I was very much inspired by Jo Kill for - after seeing her doodling Little Extra I really got stuck in with my white and black pens. The pink flower is chipboard with a piece of DCWV Spring Stack on.

Double Loving!

2008-02-12T17:21:00.003Z

Ok, well this weeks Little Extra over on Daring Cardmakers is

We have Valentines day coming up on the 14th- as you well know, and obviously we have to do a romantic type dare to celebrate! So, this weeks little extra is to give us a card with a romantic theme AND to use both red and black ribbon!

Add to that, the Papertake Weekly Challenge (for which I am a first-timer)

This weeks challenge is 'Simply Stripes' - quite self explanitory really lol! This weeks challenge is to use stripes on your project!

And throw in for good measure a last minute request from some girls at work for some Valentines cards and you have my creation to fit both challenges.

My black and red spotty ribbon are added along the bottom with a swirly clip, and I used some old Imaginisce diagonal striped paper. The spotted background was also from my scraps box, and the red heart was cut on the Cricut.

I will come and get properly caught up with everyones blogs soon, I have a few things on the go at the moment, I reckon I need a week off work to get up to date lol.

Thank you for looking :o)

This Weeks Dare - Paper Pesto Sponsored Challenge

2008-02-10T19:36:00.000Z

YAY, I managed to complete this weeks Dare, which was a sketch challenge sponsored by Paper Pesto. Now, I really liked Jo's Doodling Little Extra earlier on in the week, but time wasn't on my side so I didn't get to complete it on time. So, I thought I would incorporate it along with this weeks dare. I used DCWV Spring Stack papers, and think my (rather ropey) faux stitching ties in with the stitches round the dots, a making memories brad and some blossoms. Quick stamped sentiment using an Elzybells stamp.

Not got a whole lot else done this weekend, don't know where my mojo's gone. Sods law, Sunday night it decides to make an appearance.

Just a quickie - DCM Red & White

2008-02-06T22:32:00.000Z

Hellllloooo

Having a hectic time, but I just managed to complete this weeks Dare on Daring Cardmakers.

I quickly squeezed in this card tonight for my friend at work who is leaving tomorrow, gutted that she is going but you never know, she may come back :o) I really don't have much in the way of red papers (so if you know of any nice ones let me know) so I used some from Pink Petticoat. Cut the title and scallops on my Robo, and added a couple of blossoms from my drawer.

Hoping to have a go at the little extra for this week tomorrow, its fabby - Doodling!

Catch you again soon. :o)

You Make Me Smile Award And News

2007-10-28T08:34:00.000Z

Well, I have had an awful week, this happened to my poor Bruno.....

He managed to fall down a hole and has dislocated his foot, last Sunday morning. An emergency trip to the vet and he got strapped up in the rather funky bandage with Ouch Stickers. Then we had to have a follow up check on Thursday at our own vet, and we have to take a road trip down to Fife on Tuesday for an operation. It's costing me a lot of pennies, but thankfully I have pet insurance. I am a total bag of nerves at the thought of leaving him there for a few days to get the operation. He's fine atm, and is back to leaping about like a mad thing most of the time, but still does the 3 legged walk.

Anyway, thanks to Marlou, Loublou, Anne and Nic for the You Make Me Smile Awards, lol I am not doing much on that front atm, but I promise I will get back properly blogging once things calm down, both with Bruno and with prepping for this fair. I now have to think of 10 people who make me smile, could be quite tricky because I think most folk will have been done by this time. Will come and update this later once I have had a shuffle round the blogs.

I will try and post a piccies only post this morning of some stuff I have been doing lately, though most of the fair stuff is in half-finished piles. lol it reminds me of a cross-stitch sampler I once saw in a shop years ago -

Why is it when I'm halfway there creative joys dimish
New Projects are more fun to start than old ones are to finish.

Bad Bad Blogger!

2007-10-14T22:50:00.000+01:00

Oooooooooh where have the last 12 days gone?!?!?! Eeek has it been that long? Well, I guess for a start I got stuck in decorating my bathroom, so that is looking all lovely now.

Then my sore throat turned into the worst cold ever, which had me off work for a couple of days as I had absolutely no energy.

Then, on Thursday night I called a number I got from my brother for a local craft group who basically hold fairs almost every weekend of the year at various places in the area. So, I had to get together a paperbag album and some notebooks, etc to take along (with some cards too)for them to see as samples of my work and decide if they would let me join. PMSL! It felt like an X-Factor audition, and I was a complete bag of nerves. But........they loved my work!!! Unfortunately there is a waiting list for cards, but notebooks, mini albums, etc are a definite yes. So, I am guesting next month at one of the fairs to see how it goes.

And that has basically been it for me. Apologies to all the folks who have tagged me, I've not been ignoring you, just this is the first time I have been near my blog in ages. Will try and catch up properly over the next couple of days.

Justbex - Let It Snow(man)

2007-10-02T19:04:00.000+01:00

This challenge was set at the weekend on Justbex, with a points deadline of midnight tonight. Basically we had to make 5 cards with snowmen on, they could be all the same or different but I like to have lots of different cards.

I got all the snowman bits assembled last night and managed to get them onto cards tonight after work. I quite struggled with this challenge. I have used my cricut for 3 of them (the Doodlecharms cartridge and Christmas Cheer).

These 2 were made using yet more of the DCWV Christmas stack. I am glad to say that I have almost finished this pad now, but it could have something to do with me binning a fair amount of the papers as I just didn't like them. The snowman ribbon is from papermania and the winter wonderland ribbon was from my LCS (not sure of the manufacturer) The stamp used is by Hero Arts.

This card was made using Basic Grey paper and again more ribbon from my LCS.

This card just uses cuttlebug embossing folders on bazzil cardstock. And again some papermania ribbon.

And finally this card. I covered another Brenda Pinnick Frame and tied a piece of papermania ribbon around it. An embossed cuttlebug panel was added behind the snowman. The paper used here is by The Paper Company, and has a lovely sheen to it.

Thats all for now (if you are still awake as it feels like I have taken ages to write this lol) I am off to nurse my sore throat - me and my mate at work moved desks yesterday to sit across from a bloke snuffling and coughing without putting his hand over his mouth and now we are both suffering today, hmmmmmmm!

Daring Cardmakers In The Frame

2007-09-28T23:45:00.001+01:00

Ok, the challenge over on Daring Cardmakers this week is

Good Morning Darers, Lynne here - are you ready for a new dare? Thanks for all the amazing work for Gill’s Op shop dare last Friday, and Tuesday’s Cars, Boats, Trains & Planes Little Extra - we love seeing all the different takes on the dares that are set. Of course we still have our fab Guest Designer Rachel with us this week.
So, on with the dare. This week I’d like you to use a FRAME or FRAMES on your card. You can use any type of frame you so wish. How about a die cut frame or a hand cut frame. You can frame your card with brackets or flowers or how about some doodling - the choice is yours.

I had made this Sizzix Christmas Pudding die cut up the other night so it was screaming out to be used on a card. I covered a Chipboard Frame (QVC Brenda Pinnick TSV) with some Doodlebug Christmas paper, and tied a ribbon round the corner. I prefer decorating these chipboard shapes to suit my own colour schemes now as I got a tad sick of the ones in the kit lol, so at least this uses them up. I then layered it all up on some bazzil after running the red bit through the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder and stuck the pudding in the centre on foam pads. Added a printed sentiment to finish.

3 More Christmas Cards

2007-09-26T23:53:00.000+01:00

Oh my, I can't believe how organised I am for Christmas this year, I even started my shopping - I am normally a 1st week in December shopper. Made these 3 cards last night, yet again using more of the DCWV papers. Going to have a break from them though as I can almost feel the patterns burning onto my eyeballs now lol!

I had planned to make loaaaads more, but I was messing about with my cricut, experimenting and it kind of scared my mojo off for a wee while. Managed to gently coax it back out though and get these three made.

Again the shapes are cut on the cricut, and I printed the sentiments on my PC.

Oh and quite excited as I caved last night and bought a bind it all. Well, lol, I found an online Magic Eight Ball and asked it if I should, it said......."Absolutely!" so it would have been rude not to.

2 Christmas Cards

2007-09-25T22:28:00.000+01:00

The first card was made for a challenge on Justbex, a nice simple sketch challenge. I used the Santa from the Doodlecharms cricut cartridge along with some old DCWV Christmas papers from last year.

This second card was made just because I felt like it. Again the reindeer was cut from the Doodlecharms cartridge and again I used the DCWV Christmas papers - lol I am determined to use up most of these papers but there are some I don't like.

Thats all for now.

DCM Little Extra - Vroooom!

2007-09-25T18:20:00.000+01:00

Ok this weeks little extra on Daring Cardmakers is:

Cars, Boats, Trains & Planes
is the theme for our Little Extra challenge this week. A good chance to stock up on kids cards and make a few of those poor, unloved "cards for men", maybe? How about "congratulations on Passing yout Driving test" or "Got your Wings" for newly qualified pilots? - ok so we may be reaching a bit far with that one, but you never know!
Basically, what we'd like you to do is put some transport on your cards this week, how you do it is up to you!

I decided to combine the challenge with a blocking challenge on Justbex, and make a You Passed! card. I used the Ellison Thin Cuts car die along with the Skittle Dee Doo extended cuts alphabet. Here are the results.

Cupcake!

2007-09-24T23:43:00.000+01:00

Ok, I totally adore the cupcake on Doodlecharms, but I always have to chop the candle off it lol. I made this card on Sunday night using up a scrap of Junkitz paper from my box and an assortment of bazzil. Added sprinkles using liquid pearls and a touch of chalking. An embossed cuttlebug panel added some more texture.

I always seem to make it in pink lol, I really should step out of the box some day and try other colours.

Just Bex - Trimming The Tree

2007-09-24T09:05:00.000+01:00

Ok the latest challenge on Justbex this weekend was to make 5 Christmas Cards featuring Christmas Trees - this is to help us all get organised for Christmas.

This first card uses DCWV Christmas Stack paper, a Dovecraft bottlecap, some buttons and my Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge.

This card uses Papermania Christmas paper, some velvet ric-rac, DIY Glitter card and my trusty Christmas Cheer cricut cartridge.

I can't remember who made the paper on this card, but I used the Cuttlebug Embossing folder for this one.

On this card I have used Doodlebug paper and ribbon and yep, you guessed it - my Christmas Cheer cartridge.

And this is my favourite card, using Daisy Bucket Wrapped Wishes paper and my Christmas Cheer cartridge. I printed the sentiment and cut the tag using George cartridge. I cut the tree several times from scrap pieces of white card and layered them up for a faux chipboard look, inking the edges to disguise the white.

I am gobsmacked that I have managed to blog for 3 days in a row now. Could I actually be back in the swing of things?!

Monkey Business

2007-09-23T15:10:00.000+01:00

Ok, I have been hankering after the cute monkey on the New Arrivals cricut cart for a while. Yesterday while I was drooling over him I thought, hmmm it doesn't look all that difficult to make one, its all simple shapes.

So, I gave it a bash just now and I think he has turned out quite well

I made him all on the George Cricut cartridge using circles and ovals. So it just goes to show you that with a little bit of imagination you can get a lot more out of George. I added a couple of white brads which I doodled on for the eyes.

Updated with sizes:

Nude card:
2 1/2" Oval
2 x 1/4" Circles in signpost - they come out about 1cm for non cricut cutting

Dark card:
2" Circle
2 1/2" Oval shadow
2 x 2 1/2" Circles in signpost - they come out about 1.5 cm for non cricut cutting

Daring Cardmakers - Charity Begins At Home

2007-09-21T13:52:00.000+01:00

Ok, this weeks dare was a toughie for me:

OK, here's this weeks dare:
Let's go Charity shopping
or Op shopping (as we call it in Australia)

I DARE you to visit your local Charity Shop & make someone else's

TRASH your STASH!

.........and make a GORGEOUS card from what you find.
You'll be amazed at the special little treasures you'll find if you only take the time to look with CREATIVE EYES

I went round to my nearest charity shop and it didn't have much to inspire me, so I bought this for 50p:

And made this card with it, which ties in lovely with a challenge on Justbex too - a card for a bloke. Quite pleased with the final card, though I will have to practice that doodled border a bit I think lol. And it was all made with scraps from my box too, yay!. The little tag and stars were cut on Doodlecharms and George cricut cartridges respectively.

Sketch This #26

2007-09-15T17:06:00.000+01:00

Ok, I printed off a batch of sketches/challenges the other night to work on. Gradually getting through them. Here is the card I made for the current sketch on Sketch This Cards. I used Daisy Bucket Wrapped Wishes papers again and hand cut the scallop circle (not bad for a first attempt lol) Glittered up some of the paper and added a few glittery snowflakes cut from Cricut Christmas Cheer (DIY Glitter card again).

Quite enjoyed this sketch.

I've been Tagged lol

2007-09-14T20:39:00.000+01:00

lol! I've been tagged by Andrea. Not seen this tag before, so I thought I should get in quick lol before everyone else has been done and I run out of names to do. This one's a funny one.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Kimmy Escort

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Raspberry Oatmeal-Raisin

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) LMIT

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Pink Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ann Aberdeen

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Mitle

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The") Black Coffee

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Harvey Jimmy

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Deep Red Brandy Balls (PMSL!!!)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ) None Douglas

Ok I would like to tag the following people, I won't take offence girlies if you don't want to play :)

Sonya
Mandy
Sadie
Patsy
Angie

Daring Cardmakers Little Extra - Big and Little

2007-09-13T16:50:00.001+01:00

This morning when I was making the tearing purple holes for Christmas card I had a bit of an accident and cut the Christmas word waaaaaaaay too big for the card lol. I kept it though, and it dawned on me that I could use it for this weeks Little Extra on Daring Cardmakers.

Big & Little We'd like you to use items in pairs of Big and Little - so you need to have both sizes on your card ie big & little buttons, big & little die cuts, big & little hearts, big & little circles etc The theme of your card can be whatever you like this time, so that's nice of us, isn't it?

So, here we have the big and little words, and a big and little tree lol. PP is Daisy Bucket designs from Craft Obsesssions and is absolutely gorgeous. I added little gems to some of the snowflakes on the paper for a bit more bling. The white card is glittery which hasn't picked up too well on the scan.

Daring Cardmakers - Tearing Purple Holes For Christmas

2007-09-13T13:30:00.000+01:00

Ok, I have finally plucked up the courage to do this weeks dare. Why pluck up courage I hear you ask? Ok well the dare is this

So, we'd like you to make and show a Christmas card which incorporates the following:

Some Paper Tearing

The colour Purple

AND

It has to have at least one hole somewhere in the design!

Now, I am pretty much pants at tearing, it just never feels like it looks right to me. But since I was at a loose end this morning I attempted it. And luckily for me it ties in with another challenge on Justbex which involves tearing. So two birds with one stone and no more tears and tearing lol.

Here is my card. The card blank and messages were cut on the Cricut Beyond Birthdays cartridge, and the snowflakes came from the Christmas Cheer cartridge. The vellum I had lying around in my Christmas box. White snowflake brads are by Making Memories, another thing I have had for ages. The messages and snowflakes are just cut on standard white bazzil and run through my Xyron upside down before being sprinkled liberally with glamour dust for DIY Glitter card.

Now off to breathe a huge sigh of relief. lol!

1st Birthday Card

2007-09-10T16:27:00.000+01:00

I was asked last week to make a 1st Birthday card for a little girl for 18th September, so I got it made today. The bear was made from circles cut on my Cricut George cartridge and the scalloped tag and present were from Christmas Cheer. Paper is Sassafras Lass and Ribbon is by Papermania.

Not been making much lately, my mojo upped and left, I think it has something to do with us getting a Wii last week lol. Am off work this week though, so hopefully I will manage to get a lot of crafting/blogging done this week.

TTFN

Another Justbex Sketch Challenge

2007-09-04T22:50:00.000+01:00

Ok, last night my mum phoned saying she needed a card for her neighbour for her birthday on Wednesday. I panicked to start with thinking that for her to get it on time I would have to drop it off tonight at the very latest.

Then, I had a look at the latest challenges on Justbex and the Sketch challenge caught my eye. I got straight to work, cutting my basic grey Phoebe papers into 1.5 inch squares and stamping the greeting onto a larger panel. I inked all the edges, is it just me or do you find inking edges very therapeutic lol. I then added a selection of blossoms, some buttons, ribbons and a swirly clip.

Didn't take too long to do, and my mum was pleased with it.

Thats all for tonight, my internet has been very slow tonight. It has picked up a bit of speed now, but its bedtime for now.

Justbex Sketch Challenge

2007-09-03T21:51:00.000+01:00

I made this card on Friday night for a Sketch challenge on Justbex, I had hoped it would be finished in time for the August points deadline, but had a catastrophe involving a Clear sentiment stamp and the sink... think you know the rest. Anyway, the papers are Dovecraft, and the stockings and stars were cut on the Cricut. Sentiment got printed out on the PC.

Still a few more from the weekend to show you, but will hang onto them and share them over the next few days. Must try and get back into blogging daily.

Hey Cupcake!

2007-08-29T21:12:00.000+01:00

Another challenge on Justbex was to create a card using some corrugated card. I didn't have any but using a ribbler was allowed. I racked my brains for days trying to come up with something other than just using the corrugated bit as a layer. And then last night I leapt out of my chair shreiking "Got it!!" like a mad woman, got some odd looks from OH for that one.

So, my big idea, was to use the corrugated part as on a cupcake cut from Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge to give the impression of a paper case for baking. Instead of using the liquid pearls on the top part of the cake this time I ran it through the cuttlebug swirls embossing folder and chalked the edges. I used Junkitz paper and a bit of ribbon to finish.

Justbex Fun WIth Felt

2007-08-28T21:10:00.000+01:00

One of the latest challenges on Justbex is to use felt on a card.
Felt is a big trend in papercrafting at the moment, and felt flowers are very popular - so this challenge is to make a card using felt for something other than flowers!

Here is my card for this challenge. I cut out the heart and stitched it onto the black panel. Then stitched a rough border round the edge. I then stuck on some ric-rac and sewed the 2 buttons together on top of that (doodling round the edge of the white one) It was so huge when I finished that I had to use a DL card. The sentiment was cut using the Beyond Birthdays Cricut cartridge.

Its not scanning too well, and there's a bit of liquid pearls on the scanner glass, but you get the idea.

Will stash it away til next year as it would be perfect for Valentines day.

Justbex All Stitched Up

2007-08-27T12:37:00.000+01:00

Another challenge on Justbex which I did at the weekend was the All Stitched Up challenge where we had to use hand or machine stitching on a card or LO. Since I don't have a sewing machine I decided to do some pricking and stitching.

I stamped the Dimension Forth stamp in silver ink and then pricked along the lines. Then I took some metallic green thread and stitched it on, adding red beads at the ends. I used some Glamour Dust on the pot and then funked the card up with some Doodlebug paper and a Dovecraft bottle cap. It took ages, but it is all pretty twinkly and sparkly in real life.

Gingham Card - Justbex

2007-08-26T11:09:00.000+01:00

Last night I thought I was all organised for my nephews birthday today, then my mum phones in the middle of X-Factor to see if I could make her a card for him. So, I sat and thought about it for a bit last night then decided to work it in with the gingham challenge on Justbex.

He loves Aeroplanes, infact he calls them "Skies" - awwww cute. So I used the Cuttlebug Aeroplane die and worked it around some gingham paper. Oh and I even had some cute gingham buttons to work into the mix too.

Justbex Easy as 1,2,3

2007-08-25T16:50:00.000+01:00

I have just made this card for the Easy As 1,2, 3 Challenge on Justbex where we had to use a big number on the card. Perfect challenge for me, since its my nephew's birthday tomorrow and funnily enough he will be 3 lol. I am going to put the Altered Letter I made the other week in with it as they are matching. Ooooh, just had an idea....wonder if I have time to alter a quick scribbling book for him too.

DCM Who's Pushing Your Buttons

2007-08-25T10:38:00.000+01:00

Ok, I have attempted this weeks dare on Daring Cardmakers this morning.
I know you've all got buttons stashed away somewhere, whether they've been purchased at a cardmaking store or you thriftily snipped them off DH's old shirt. I'd like you to find those buttons and use them somewhere on a card. They can be real buttons, craft shop buttons, die cut buttons, faux buttons or another type of button, surprise us all.

Wasn't too happy with my first attempt, the one with the red flower, so had another bash on trusty black and white, still not totally keen on that one. I think I need to clear my head, its my nephew's 3rd birthday tomorrow and I have yet to make his card. Hoping that when I get that done I will be able to concentrate better. It doesn't help that all I seem to be able to do lately is Christmas cards lol.

Sketch This #23

2007-08-22T23:07:00.000+01:00

Ok, I seem to be managing my new routine of at least one card a night after work - well I have done 2 days of it lol. Tonights creation is based on this weeks sketch on Sketch This! Cards

I used KI Memories paper, along with a printed sentiment from my pc. Faux stitching was added using a white souffle pen and my Christmas Cheer cartridge cut the shapes. A wide piece of white ribbon with red stitching added some texture.

Thats all for tonight, thank you and goodnight!!

DCM Little Extra - Dash it, Thats Put Me on The Spot!

2007-08-21T20:13:00.000+01:00

Well, after having had no mojo all weekend, and disastrous things happening when I tried making cards - like leaving the lid off an inkpad causing it to stain some ribbon doh! - I braved my craft desk tonight and attempted this weeks Little Extra on Daring Cardmakers.

Now then, maybe you need a little extra challenge in the middle of the week - well, if so, as usual we have something to amuse you....

Dot Dot Dot Dash Dash Dash

We'd like you to make a card featuring dots and dashes, spots and stripes - that's it, a nice easy and fun little theme for you to play with - just make sure you get both spots AND stripes on your card. We'd love to see your dotty, spotty, stripey creations so please come back and leave a message when you're ready to share.....

So, I delved into the Christmas box again, and got out this PM Colossal Paper pack from last year which I had never used yet. How perfect, some pretty co-ordinating dots and dashes, yay! So I then cut this tree from the Christmas Cheer cartridge, making my own glitter card again and set to work. Finished it off with some of that lush velvet ric-rac and a printed sentiment using a much coveted font which a fabby forum friend helped me find today (thank you so much!!).

DCM Frilly Bits

2007-08-17T12:38:00.001+01:00

Ok, this weeks dare over on Daring Cardmakers is Frilly Bits:

You must make a card with a frill - it could be some lace, frilly ribbon, a hand cut or decorative scissor edge or a folded paper frill - or what ever you choose to make.... you decide!

I used Cherry Arte paper, along with my scallop scissors to create some frilled layers. I added a piece of lace (coloured with an inkpad) just to add a bit more frill. A couple of blossoms, some ribbon and a sentiment finished it off. Please excuse my squint scanning.