This weeks challenge 11 from Cupcake Craft Challenge is "Theres a hole in my bucket". This weeks criteria is make a card, atc or whatever with a hole in it - it could be an aperture card, a shaker card, anything that has a hole in it!!!

It's half term this week, so time for crafting is short, so anything I make needs to be quick and simple. The background paper for this card is from Diecuts with a view, Rose tinted Christmas stack, some bazzill cardstock, Sarah Kay image coloured with watercolours, and sentiment from Designer Digitals. I used a circle hole punch to punch the aperture in the card. The scalloped border around the aperture was supposed to have been centred, however it didnt quite work cutting it with the compass circle cutter and the scallop scissors....but I used it as I thought it still looked pretty. I also used a white gel pen to make doodle dots on the aperture border. I can't remember where I got the ribbon from , I have a reel with 5 metres on which I bought in a sale a while ago.

I found another challenge blog while blog hopping, so here is this weeks card for Sketch Saturday. I have used papers from Diecuts with a View the Rose Tinted Christmas 6 x 6 stack. The image is a new christmas one from Sarah Kay. I have used scallop scissors for the scallop edges on the circle and border. The image has been coloured with watercolour pencils with some highlighting with a silver glitter gel pen.

My guys love Carrot Cake. I have tried various recipes over time, some we good, some not so good, some light, and some ever so heavy and stodgy, but this is most definitely the quickest and best one I have tried and tested after a few attempts at twigging the ingredients. It produces a really moist light cake and it can be made in the microwave in approximately 12 minutes (5 or 6 minutes for each layer) and will stay moist for at least two days if kept in the refrigerator.

2 cups finely grated carrots, 1 1/4 cups soft brown sugar, 1 cup sunflower oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups self raising flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 300g tub of philidelphia cream cheese, 3 tablespoons sifted icing sugar

Grease a straight sided oven proof dish - I use a souffle dish. Line the base with a circle of kitchen towel, or serviette, or paper napkin etc. This will absorb some of the dampness and help the cake to cook.

Whisk together the eggs, oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the sifted flour, cinnamon and baking soda. Fold in the carrots and the orange juice.
Spoon half of the mixture into the prepared dish. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. The cake should be springy when touched. If it still feels wet, cook for a further minute. Allow to cool for a few minutes and remove from the dish. Remove the paper towel from the base of the cake. Repeat the process for the other cake layer.

When both cakes are cooled, split each cake so you will have four layers. Sandwich each layer together with the cream cheese filling....hmmm enjoy. Refrigerate any left over cake.

As you can see I didnt split my layers evenly but it was still yummy!

This is my entry for the challenge over on Friday Sketchers. The papers are from Diecuts with a View christmas range and I have also used some bazzill cardstock. The red text piece is covered in gold coloured writing with words describing merry, joy and delight etc with no mention of christmas so it means I can use it on my other cards too. The image is one from Sugar Nellie, which I have coloured in water colour pencils but added a touch of paper piecing to the flower. The sentiment is from craftwork cards - I have used the circle cutter compass and scallop edge fiskars scissors to create the border. Speaking of Sugar Nellie they have new stamps available - gorgeous Sweet Art Ebony's for general use and for Christmas as well as a new animal range which is so cute!

Well I have posted anything since Tuesday. I was working flat out trying to get all my cards done along with lots of Halloween things for kids for a craft show I had been invited to take part in yesterday. Now those of you who have kids, will know that life with children is never straight forward no matter how much you plan or what you have planned, nine times out of ten something will always come up. Low and behold, Friday morning my youngest woke up with a suspect spot on his left arm.......could it be chicken pox??? Well he has been vaccinated against them - being born in the Middle East he was vaccinated at 15 months for chicken pox, but there was still a 3 % change he could still get a mild dose of them - hmm was he in the three percent?? As Friday wore on no more spots appeared - poor child, I spent the day proding and poking at him, making him lift his shirt so I could check for more spots....but none. Then friday night, one more appeared on his arm and one on his leg.....I rang the craft fair organiser and told her I might have to cancel. Saturday morning, two more on his back and one on his side.......I rang the craft fair organiser to cancel and off we went to the doctor. Baffled she was, one spot looking like chicken pox, but the others well......maybe he is having a mild dose as they said might happen....by saturday night several spots on the legs, one on chin, one on forehead....Today same as yesterday. Well apart from moaning a little last night the one on his leg was starting to itch, we have had a normal bouncy boy, getting on as normal........and me stacks of cards and halloween goodies, stored in my kitchen waiting to be sold. All the fun of being a parent.

ok so enough rambling.....this card for the Cupcake craft challenges blog, I made a few days ago, but didnt get around to posting. This weeks challenge was a sketch. The papers from Trimcrafts christmas Pink set, the image from Pink Petticoat, the flower from Poppicrafts, which I have stamped over with a studio G scroll stamp in white brilliance ink. The sentiment is one from craftwork cards and the button are from my stash. The photo isn't good, I am blaming it on bad Autumn light xxx

The days are flying by far too quickly. I havent been crafting today - well my youngest was poorly so was off from Pre-school, and then I have wrapping presents for our family in St Helena. Yes I know it's eight or nine weeks until christmas, but they have to be with the shipping agent for Thursday in order for them to make it to the island sometime mid December!
I have also been making up these little bags of treats for Halloween - Small zip lock bags, filled with scary wrapped chocolates. I have scored some black card and trimmed with the scallop edge scissors. The images are clipart which I have printed on orange cardstock and cut out with a circle punch. I have cut circles our in purple with a compass cutter and then edged them with the scallop scissors too. The black cardstock has been stapled to the bags under the orange and purple topper - quick, simple and easy.

Christmas is just around the corner and as usual I am behind. However these fabric cards are so quick and easy to make. Each one takes about 5 minutes to make, so I can churn out a whole pile of these in no time at all and because they are different to the norm, they are well received. They have been made using fabric squares entitled Christmas Dogs which is available from Craft Fabrics. A piece of fabric measuring 12x44 inches costs £2.95 ($6.00) with 30+ individual squares, which means a lot of cards - you dont get many toppers around for that price! Postage is really cheap and they will ship internationally as well. The squares I have cut out with a 1cm border all around, and glued them to cardstock which is the same size as the picture area. The edges of the fabric is behind the card. It makes them stiffer to use and also it hides the cut edges. They are then mounted them onto gold cardstock. The stamped sentiment is one from Studio G designer stamps.

This is my entry for this week's challenge over at Friday Sketchers. I really do adore this stamp from Sugar Nellie. It is great for making quick cards too. The papers are from dovecraft Christmas (had these free from Sugar Nellie). The sentiment is a stamp from Studio G designer stamps and the snowflakes are from my stash. I have used a white gel pen to add dots to the scallop backing of the image.

This week's challenge 40, from Tilda and Co Challenge Blog is a Tabbed Sketch.

The background paper came free with Papercraft Essentials magazine, and matched perfectly the embossed snowflake rectangle. Tilda has been coloured with watercolour pencils and mounted onto a scalloped circle which has been made using a circle cutter compass and scallop edge scissors. The sentiment on the tab, is from Studio G. I have also used a few white snowflake embellishments mounted on foam pads.

Week 15* Doodles - Sarah Kay Weekly Challenges

This week we would love to see your Sarah Kay cards/projects decorated with hand drawn elements or *doodles* as we like to call them.

Ok, so I am not much of a doodler - I made several attepts but it just didnt look right, so in the end, I just did a doodled border around the edge of the stamped images and used a white gel pen to add some spots to the black scalloped circle. The stamps in the corners are from Studio G, the background is bazzill cardstock in red (not quite sure of the proper colour name). I thought I would go with a simple theme for this card, so only watercoloured the little girls coat.

This Weeks Challenge on A Spoon Full of Sugar is a fabulous sketch by Lim

Now a couple of weeks back, Sugar Nellie were celebrating their first birthday with a special forum and prizes etc. I was one of those lucky people to win a prize, which came in the post today - The snow family stamp and some sheets of Dovecraft Christmas papers in Blue which coincidentally fits in so well with this weeks challenge sketch.

I have used the snow family stamp from Sugar Nellie, to which I have added watercolours to the hats and scarfs, circle cutter compass to cut a blue bazzill circle which I scalloped with scissors, some blue bazzill cardstock for the background, Dovecraft papers, gems and snowflakes from my stash, and a white gel pen to add highlights. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Studio G clear stamps.

When blog hopping I came across the challenge blog from Friday Sketchers. As If I dont have enough hours in the day already, I thought I would do this one too - I love the sketches and the design teams work is brilliant. I have used here my favourite stamp - Billy from Pink Cat Studio. The background paper is Doodlebug Whimsical Winter Stripes, the semi circles are from Hot of the Press (forgotten what its name is), the blue ribbon I have recycled - think it was on a piece of clothing at one time, the sentiment is from Craft work cards. I have coloured Billy with water colour pencils and used a wet teabag and paint brush to stain the outer edges of the image background.

When blog hopping, I came across this Challenge site - Cupcake Craft Challenges. The challenges are brilliant and the design teams work is amazing....so I'm throwing in the towel and joining this challenge blog too. This weeks challenge is a sketch which can be found on the cupcake craft challenges blog. I have used papers which came free with Papercraft Essentials magazine, a dry embossed snowflake piece which was gifted to me, some snowflake embellishments, an a thin scalloped border strip which I made using the Keepsake Romance board. The sentiment comes from Studio G, designer clear stamps. Tilda has been coloured with watercolour pencils and highlighted with a glitter gel pen.

Challenge 39, Arts Apart Metal - Tilda and Co Challenge Blog

Every now and then we see a little metal being used, but a lot of people don't use metal on there works of art, as they think its too "arty"
Nothing can never be too "arty" so get your metal ready and get creating
You can use anything on your work as long as it includes metal somewhere & at least one Magnolia Stamp.

I have used some sheet Aluminium which is gold coloured and the Keepsake Majestic Board to create the metal square and the inner shape. I then used a Dreamweaver embossed heart stencil to create the swirly embossing in the centre. The papers came free with Papercraft Essentials Magazine. Tilda has been coloured with water colour pencils, and I used a glitter pen to colour the "fluffy" parts of her outfit. A few snowflake embellishments mounted on foam pads, add extra decoration and also covered a few scratches on the aluminium.

Challenge 20 ~ Pink and Green colour scheme - A Spoon Full of Sugar

Criteria for this week - we would like to see you use the colour scheme of pink and green, any shades of these colours are fine.( you can also use face and hair colours).

I love this stamp from Sugar Nellie, although I dont play with it much. I was in a state of confusion at one time if it was a boy or a girl, but I've decided it's a girl and I'm going to keep it that way for now (do correct me if I'm wrong). I have coloured her using watercolour pencils - lime green trousers and a pink shirt. I have mounted the image onto a cream circle which I then punched holes in using a single hole punch. The ribbon which is from Poppicrafts have been threaded through the punched holes. The background papers have all come from my stash - they are in fact all pieces which I had left over - so I have pieced them together to form a background - now if I had a sewing machine (Hubby take note - this is a big hint) I would have done a nice zigzag stitch along the joins. I have one of those small machines but it only does a straight stitch. (New machine is featuring really high on my christmas wish list). Oops sorry was rambling on there a bit. The thin pink scallop bazzill border I made using the Keepsake Romance board. The pink bazzill in the corner I has been stamped with the Billy background plate from Pink Cat Studio. I hadnt planned to do this, but as I was inking the sentiment, I dropped the stamp, which landed on the card in the corner, so I need to cover the ink! (But I like how it looks). The birthday girl sentiment is a Debbie Moore stamp.

Week 14 from Sarah Kay challenges is another sketch. I must admit I do like the sketches, especially when I have so many papers lying around and then I am not sure what I should do with them. The background paper here is Neopolitan Stripe from Doodlebug. I had stitched this for another project but didnt like the way it turned out, but it seemed to fit nicely into this card. The pink bazill for the scallop edge has been scalloped using the Keepsake Romance board, and the trusty hole punch to create the holes in the border. The brown strip is Doodlebug Chocolate truffle. The flowers are left over wrapping paper and the pieces which had been left from punching holes in the scallop border. The Sarah Kay image has been watercoloured in Pink and Brown (it looks lilac in the picture - blame it on the Autumn sun). The sentiment is a stamp from Debbie Moore.

Now this has got to be a fabulous blog candy prize from Lim. A Martha Stewart Punch - this is definitely high on my wish list.

She will pick 1 winner on Saturday October 11th, 2008 at 8:00 PM (US Eastern Time). The prize will be:

1- The new scalloped border punch from Martha Stewart Collection

2-150 stamped images of different companies like Magnolia, HÄnglars, Whipper Snapper, Penny Black, Precious Moments, etc...

3- Some buttons, white lace and a few charms.

If you wish to participate, please leave her a comment and include a post in your own blog to let everybody know about this Candy.

Gosh, No post's since Thursday! Well I haven't exactly been doing nothing...... I discovered a bamboo tile mat which I have taken to pieces and have started to create some bamboo pendants (my next project) - they are great and I found myself looking through all my stuff for all those little bits of paper, rub on's etc that were stored to be used later.....well now they have a use. I have also been working on my cards for the Papercrafter of the year challenge in Papercraft Essentials magazine, but cant post the pictures until it's closed and the winner has been chosen. I also have the challenge blog cards to do....couldn't motivate myself today....too dark, wet and cold....tomorrow will be better!

This weeks challenge over on A Spoon Full of Sugar is a sketch by Camilla. The paper I have used for the back ground is Hot of the Press Paper Pizazz friends description. I have used the keepsake romance board to make the scallop borders from bazill cardstock. Ballet Maggie has been stamped onto white cardstock and coloured with water colour pencils. I used a circle cutter compass to draw the circle around her and the scalloped circle has been made with a scallop punch. The girls description is available from Designer Digitals. I have also added a couple of flowers made with daisy punches and some self adhesive jewels.

I dont have any pictures to post today - will get my challenge ones done for tomorrow. I have been having a look at Altered Bamboo tiles. I am so impressed with those I have seen in Google images, that I am really tempted to give it a go. Anyone had any success with these? I have an order for wedding invitations so the samples were a success. I have a craft fair this month to do as well. I am trying to think of something for the children as I found last time there was so many kids but there was nothing for them to buy.......but I cant seem to find anything which I can do to cash in on this. May be I might do something for Halloween as the craft fair is just a few days before. It is suppose to be a handmade crafts fair so I would still like to keep to this having whatever I sell largely handmade.......some cute little bags filled with spooky sweets might do the trick!