Crafts on the Net has teamed up with Crafter’s Companion for a competition - the prize is a bumper Flower Fairy kit worth a massive £149.91!

The Rules - Create a card using ANY Crafter’s Companion products.

I have used the Crafters Companion Ultimate pro to create a embossed layer on the background on the card. The pretty patterned paper came with this months issue 50 of Papercraft Essentials Magazine. Popcorn the bear has been taken from the birthday cuddles stamp set and watercoloured with Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils. The sentiment is from the same set of stamps. I have stitched the outer edge of the image using shades of pink thread by hand. The ribbon is from my stash (recycled from something else) and the gems are from Paper Cellar.

Happy New Year and cheers for many, many more crafting days and competitions in 2010!

The magazine article:

My card is number 3 - but the name index has me as number 7 :( but still I am so proud to be a winner!

Ok, I have had to keep this a secret since last week, but today I can officially release my news......as the magazine goes on sale today! Now I bet you are wondering what I am on about??? Well I was named as one of the nine runner ups in the Papercraft Essentials Magzine, Papercraft of the Year 2009 competition...........and as you can imagine I am bursting with excitement!! I am looking forward to receiving my prize which will be £160 of products and my card will be in this months magazine along with the other eight runner ups and the overall winner who has been crowned Papercraft of the Year 2009.

The cupcake card is my winning entry, but the entry requirements were two cards and another papercraft project.... I made a christmas gift bag.

The only disappointing thing in all of this is my card has been linked to someone elses name in the two page spread and my name with another project - but the magazine Editor will correct this in the next edition.......but I am so looking forward to getting my products and wish all the other participants and winners and big, big congratulations :)

The days are zooming by......and once again I have had so little time to blog.......but I have some new stamps to play with so I am going to have to put in a little time for play.

I now have nine new Sugar Nellies - won them in their recent birthday competition....and I had only one of them in my collection already so that means I have eight new stamps for play.

I also have some really good news too.. (bursting with excitement) .......but have to wait until Christmas Eve before I post it :)

Well I cant believe it has been way over a month since I last posted something on my blog.....have I been lazy?......well maybe! But I have excuses......I have been working, I have been helping to organize a Christmas Bazaar (which I suggested - glutton for punishment), making cakes, making cards, doing the family things, entered the Papercraft Essentials Crafter of the year competition and also took part in Sugar Nellie's Birthday celebrations......and yes I won six.....yes six Sugar Nellie Stamps!

Anyway this is a card I did make in the past month. Swiss dots 12x12 paper, Hot of the Press French Script, Paper cellar gems, pink cardstock and free image from Sketching Stamper, which I have watercoloured.

I have an order for about 15 christmas cards which all need to be personalised so I had better get moving, do a bit of housework, take the boys to Tae kwondo and then hide away in my craft corner for a little while.....until next time happy crafting.

Its Sugar Nellies second birthday so Happy Birthday Sugar Nellie. To celebrate Sugar Nellie is running a birthday bash over at Splitcoast Stampers and the challenge is to make a sweet creation using a Sugar Nellie stamp, but not in green or yellow and extra points if it has anything to do with a cake

Well, I thought I would make a little cake, but I'm out of eggs so I had to re-think. So the only option was to combine paper with real ingredients and come up with something which looks like a cake.

I used a 6 inch diametre circle of card and creased it to make mountain folds. I then used my embossing tool to draw a 2 inch diametre circle in the centre so I could fold the cardstock into a cupcake case shape - after much fiddling it worked :) I then filled the case with pasta (to give some height to the "cake" and cover the pasta with some layers of paper napkins so I could smooth the fondant icing (ready to roll) on the top.

I stamped and watercoloured my image. Trimmed around it to remove the mushrooms and the butterfly, stamped the Sugar Nellie so sweet sentiment, and Happy birthday sentiment from Crafters companion Popcorn bear inside. I trimmed the circle with scalloped edge fiskars, and glued it to the hand of this sweet little girl. I then adhered the image to a cocktail stick and yeah I have made a Sugar Nellie Cake Pic.

After smoothing the icing over, I covered it in glue and sprinkled on the cake sprinkles, inserted my cakepic and so Happy Birthday Sugar Nellie :)

This weeks challenge from Cupcake Crafts is a sketch. I made this card a few days ago, with the intention of photographing it and then posting it on my blog, but it somehow managed to slip under the piles of christmas fabric I have on the worktop and I forgot about it :( so I am late posting.

This cute little girl is C.C. Designs Swiss Pixies Birgitta, which is a digital image available from All that Scraps. I have watercoloured her and added some silver gel ink to her wings (didnt quite pick it up in the photograph). The background paper came free with Papercraft Essentials Magazine, ribbon from my stash, paper cellar gems, lillac bazzill cardstock, white cardstock which is dry embossed using the ultimate pro from crafters companion, and the sentiment from Designer Digitals.

This week's challenge from Dare U 2 digistamp is a shape card - not square. Well unless the card is square I find myself struggling to make something that will at least manage to stand up! After trialling a few ideas I found this digistamp from the Greeting Farm which I had from their recent birthday bash - and boy does he make a super shaped card - quick, simple and oh so easy.

I printed Ian on cardstock, folded it just along his head, cut around the shape, leaving a piece at the bottom, so the card would stand, and there it was a shaped card! I have watercoloured Ian, and the sentiments came from the Popcorn the bear stamp sets, Party Time and a Gift for You. This would also make a super birthday invite too.....having said that Ethan has been planning his - only nine months in advance!

Just a quick post today before football club and school meeting. I made five of these cards all the same for five teenagers who are all going to be sixteen at the end of the month. The image is Pretty Head Lily from the Greeting Farm. I have water coloured her, added some aqua glitter to her eyelids, woodware daisy punch flowers and a flat back pearl in her hair. The black and white paper was a free download, raspberry card which has been dry embossed with the ultimate pro from Crafters companion and black ribbon. The circular sentiment was done on the computer and the Lets Celebrate sentiment is from Popcorn the Bear party time stamp set.

Okay so I am aiming for a record.....two posts in a day.....but I have just seen this most amazing blog candy over on Jaks blog the Crafters Kitchen - its for a............... It is worth £299.00 and I think you will agree it is an amazing prize. So what is it then........well it is none other than a Quickutz Silhouette - The Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool is your gateway to creative freedom. This vinyl and paper cutter plugs into your computer giving you access to all of your favorite fonts and shapes at anytime, in any size.

Due to weight it is open to UK Residents or you have to have a UK address to ship it too.

Hop on over leave your details, link her blog to yours and you are in with a chance of winning.

Each day aim to blog and fit in craft time among many other things I need to do too......but its just not happening. The kids have been off school again with various illnesses but hopefully they are sorted and back to school as normal now - its amazing how quickly they all become ill once school restarts.
I love this image which is a digi stamp free from Sketching Stamper . I have painted it in watercolours - Derwent Intense colours and added black gems to the centre. The back ground paper is french script by Hot of the Press matted onto cerise cardstock. I have managed to do some stitching around the matted border and the sentiment and it just adds some extra chic to the whole card. The pearl in the corner is from Paper Cellar.

Its been ages since I have blogged! School starts and guess what? Four or five days later the kids all start going down with some illness or other......but fingers crossed we are back to school and flowing as normal. I have so little time for crafting recently...but I do am to rectify that....hopefully by the weekend. In the meantime a quick card using the Greeting Farm digital downloads Rachael and Lily - so adorable these girls.

Also the friday challenge from Splendid Stamping was emboss it - so I have dry embossed some pink cardstock using the crafters companion ultimate pro, pink and black gems from Paper Cellar, black ribbon, girls coloured with watercolour pencils, felt flower, black cardstock, pink brad from Dovecraft, black and white background paper free download.

The summer holidays are over and the kids are back to school tomorrow.....and the weather is set to be good for this week -typical LOL.

I have had very little time to craft over the past six weeks, but will hopefully get my mojo back and have some fun crafting over the next few weeks. My youngest was invited to a birthday party over the week - this little girl is his "girlfriend" and he constantly says he will definitely marry her! Anyway I had some specifications, could I make a card and a box for her gift (which he choose too as it had to be special) in pink and it had to be beautiful. He chose the image too for the card.

This is one of the new autumn stamps from Sugar Nellie and so adorable. I have coloured her with watercolour pencils, a little highlighting with white gel pen, pink cardstock, papermania background paper and sentiment from Designer Digitals.

The box entitled Pack a Picnic...the template is available from here and it is one of fantastic designs by Lauren Meader. It was so quick to make and quite spacious. I used the keepsake romance board for the scalloped edge, large brads, and pink and white cardstocks. I have made a pretty simple version, but I can see this little box being used many times from now on. The image is another from the Sugar Nellie Autumn sets which I have watercoloured.

Its the Greeting Farm's first birthday. To celebrate this wonderful occasion a giant blog hop has been organised showcasing The Greeting Farm stamps.

I have used papers from Pink Petticoat Downloads, The Greeting Farm pretty head Lily Digistamp and sentiment from Designer Digitals. I have watercoloured Lily, given her a spotted bow in her hair thanks to a white gel pen, a little bit of bling too in the bow using a gem stone, and some glitter for her eye shadow.

Want more Digistamps? Well Owl Whimsy has gone mad - she has decided that because of the economy, and because she want EVERYONE to be able to purchase and use her DigiStamps, she has lowered the prices on ALL Owl Whimsy stamps that are currently available and ALL Owl Whimsy Stamps to come!!

They are all now $1.00 each for the singles and the sets from as little as $6.00 a set - what are you waiting for go to here, buy and download now!!!

This weeks challenge from Owl Whimsy is another bloghop around the design team blogs and yes I am giving away this weeks freebie.

So how do you play? Well you should have arrived on my blog from Paula's blog while you have been hopping along trying to find this weeks freebie. Use this freebie to make a card or go to here and you can purchase the rest of the set. Post it to here and you may be the winner of a whole lot of Owl Whimsy digistamps.

My card have been made using this weeks free image, watercolours, bazzill card stock, craftwork cards sherbert pips -which looks like big brads, ribbon scraps, paper from simply cards and papercrafts, score board. The quote which I really like, was found on google.

If you missed the other design team members creations they are here:

Steph

Billie
Jana
Elaine

Paula

Have fun playing along!

Its the summer holidays - school is out so craft time is definitely out too, but I managed to fit a little time in today to make this card - well it was raining most of the day so we had to hit the indoor/at home activities today.

This weeks challenge from Victoria Case Stamps is Dark/Hot Pink, Orange and White. The image I have used here is a freebie from Victoria Case Stamps.



The papers I have used are from Pink Petticoat downloads and the sentiment is from Designer Digitals. I have used water colours to colour the image and some smooch in siren to add some definition to the flower petals. The orange card stock came from my stash (which is growing bigger by the day:)

Ok I couldn't resist these Popcorn Bear stamps - there are twelve sets on the market (but I bought only four this time:), available from many places but I bought mine from Card Craft as they also did free inland UK postage and I had mine within two days of ordering. I have used the stamps from the I love you set to create the card and the sentiments from the Birthday Cuddles set. I have also bought Party Time and Thanks a bunch.......which I will have a play with shortly. The stamps are all designed to mix and match so the sentiments from the other sets will fit the little posters that the bear is holding.
The papers I have used here came with simply cards and papercrafts issue 57, and for the first time I decided to decorate the inside of the card too - must admit I love this effect so will be doing more of this in the future! I have watercoloured the stamped images and outline the toppers with blue and some black doodling........off to try the other stamps:)

This weeks challenge from The Sugar Bowl is a sketch by Gayle - and amazingly I have managed
to make a card within a day after the sketch was released! The papers I have used here, all
came free with simply cards and papercraft magazine issue 57 (which I have a card published in - more on that later). The image of course is from Sugar Nellie - How quirky is she??
I decided to do a little paper piecing on all of the flowers in the image using the scraps of background paper and doodled the centres with some siren smooch. The ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment is a digital download from designer digitals. The shaped panels in the centre were free templates from Mel Stampz

This weeks challenge from the Owl Whimsy Challenges is a blog hop through the Owl Whimsy Design Team Blogs - you will get a free cute image to use, but you are going to have to hop through the design team blogs to find it - only available for 7 days or to 100 people for download.

I am also using my same card to enter the Dare U 2 Digistamp challenge - Pink, Black and white.

Go to the Owl Whimsy Challenges site for all the details and the rules for this weeks challenge.

The winner of the challenge will get a free set of Owl Whimsy digi stamps of their choice.

You should have arrived at my blog from Jana's blog, however if you skipped a few, here is the list of the rest of the design team

Steph
Angi
Billie
Elaine
Jana
Paula

I have used one of the Annie May Angels along with a sentiment from the same set. I have water coloured the image, used heat embossing with silver powder on her wings, and given her some funky fishnet gloves with a gel pen! The background paper came free with simple cards and papercrafts magazine issue 57, ribbon from poppicrafts, sherbert pips from craftwork cards, white doodled dots with a gel pen, and black cardstock.

So to get your free image you need to hop around the other design team members blogs, the next inline is Paula

Wow Summer has arrived - the weather is brilliant! This Dotty Spotty card is for a challenge over on the Greeting Farm. I love this stamp which is also from the Greeting Farm - she is so chic! The background papers and the handcut stem and leaf I made using free download papers from here - aren't they stunning? The pink flowers I have cut from Dovecraft wild blossoms paper, the white daisy made using a woodware daisy punch and a black sharpie marker. Dotted ribbon and raspberry cardstock from my stash, Anya image watercoloured and smooch siren added to her dress and flowers and a little hand made tag with a handwritten sentiment. I have also used a sharpie pen to do some doodled dots on the scalloped layer behind the image. Peel off black dots have been used for the flower centres.

This weeks challenge from Dare u 2 Digi stamp is a fabulous sketch. I have watercoloured the image using watercolour pencils, the background papers and ribbon I found in my stash, craftwork cards sentiment, lilac cardstock from DS Crafts, and the image from Victoria Case Stamps. I have outlined the centre of the flowers and the edges of the petals with smooch pearlized accent ink (siren).

This weeks challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is a sketch.

I have used a stamp from the Greeting Farm Miss Anya collection but I have added a set of wings to her. The wings are availabe FREE from Owl Whimsy and if you take part in her challenge there is a set of digistamps to be won too.

The papers I have used is from Papermania creative tones, red cardstock, sentiment from craftwork cards, watercolour pencils to colour stamped image, and digi stamp wings from Owl Whimsy

This weeks challenge over on the Owl Whimsy blog is a sketch - and you also get a FREE image for you to use.

I have used Owl whimsy Annie May Angel Image, watercolour pencils, glitter from Kirsten Lapping Designs, background paper from Sandylion - One of a Kind pink, craftwork cards sherbert pips, bazill swiss dots and brown cardstocks. The ribbon I have used has come from Anita's everyday range.

An the prize to the winner of the challenge - the newest set which is to be released shortly - usually $12.00 worth of digistamps - so what are you waiting for??

This months Craft Stamper magazine came with this awesome little owl stamp from Sugar Nellie
I have water coloured the images, along with adding some gel pen in the hearts and a couple of googly eyes. The paper I have used is Sandylion One of a Kind pink, ribbon from Anita's range and some peel off spots. The sentiment is from Designer Digitals.

I thought these would make wonderful little notecards so decided to make a little box and fill it with some of these and the envelopes. The box is made using chocolate, cream and pink cardstocks, Sandylion paper, woodware daisy punch flowers and cream ribbon.

The week has flown by again so quickly. I have had little time to do any crafting for fun - I had a commisson for ten cards - mostly fathers day and this little cowboy on the right had his 5th birthday on Thursday.......so it was a birthday party and tons of baking to do. I also decorated 36 sacks for the cowboys and cowgirls......but didnt take a picture :(

This weeks challenge from Dare U 2 Digistamp is Chocolate and Orange - hmmm what a delicious combination.

I have chosen to use this beautiful image from Victoria Case - I think she is just stunning with that little bit of an attitude too! I have watercoloured her with pencils.

The papers I have used is orange floral from Dovecrafts Wild Blossoms range, and Doodlebug chocolate truffle. I have added some faux stitching with a white gel pen, the sentiment from Designer Digitals and the ribbon from my stash (Anita's range)

This is another sneak peek from the Owl Whimsy collection, which will be released on Monday. There is currently a challenge going on and the prize is this whole set - check here for details. She comes dressed in an outfit but there are additional dresses in the set so I have used one of those for her to wear. The fan is also in the set - I have watercoloured it and added a little gem. The image has been watercoloured and I have used a white gel pen to outline the flowers on her dress. The sentiment is from Designer digitals. The ribbon and sandal charm has come from my stash, the background paper from Dovecraft's Eastern Bloom range

I do love these Anya Stamps from The Greeting Farm.....still waiting to get my hands of the newest ones though....they sell out so fast!
Splendid Stamping is running a challenge entitled Black, White and Grey with a sketch to follow....and a fabulous good bag prize. I have used papers from Dovecraft and Papermania, a white gel pen for the doodle dots, ribbon from Poppicrafts and the sentiment is available from Designer Digitals.

Asian Flair Sneak Peek......do you want to win this gorgeous lady and her accessories? This is the new one from Owl Whimsy which will be coming out next week and you can win her by taking part in the challenge here.

There is a free image there for you too to download.

I have dressed her in one of her dresses (two in the set) and used her parasol, which are all watercoloured. The papers are Eastern blooms by Dovecraft. The chinese symbol in the corner is a clip art picture meaning Love

Woo hoo - Betty the maid! This is another Sneak Peak from Owl Whimsy's forthcoming Betty range. Well she could be anybody really, I just thought she would make a great maid. There are some cracking images in this set and they are definitely fun to play with. I have used the striped paper from my stash, the black designs on the paper are peel offs, which I coloured with a black sharpie pen. The sentiment "Maid for you" I wrote in my not so great hand writing. The things to do list I generated on the computer, but the clipboard came from Digifree. I have coloured Betty with water colours and given her some gel pen stockings! The chair is from the Magnolia Tilda range, which I stamped and watercoloured.

This weeks challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is Fairies.

I found this cute little image from Here. I have watercoloured her and added some glamour dust to her wings. The background paper and the bow image has come from Digifree, the flower from my stash, green and pink cardstock, scallop edge scissors and sherbert pips from craftwork cards. I also pierced a trail on the card too.

Green and Pink is starting to be my favourite colours at the moment....so more cards in the making.

This weeks challenge from Dare U 2 Digistamp is a fabulous sketch. As a new design team member of Owl Whimsy Digistamps, I thought I would use this weeks FREEBIE (yes she is free) from Here (make sure you play along too - details here). This girls is called Suzie Q Diva - and comes in a set of six - all with real Diva attitudes and poses. I have been hunting through my masses of craft stash and found these papers, along with the pink cardstock on which I used the keepsake romance board to scallop the edges and a single hole punch for the holes. Green cardstock, heart and sentiment from my stash and the pink dots are sherbert pips from craftwork cards. Suzie Q Diva has been coloured with watercolour pencils and a gel pen for her shoes.

New Monday Challenge with Owl Whimsy - and she's giving you the digital image for free for this challenge just fly over to the Owl Whimsy Digi Stamps site - she can be found under Girls/Suzie Q.

This week the challenge is based on the new SuzieQ Diva set, which you can purchase at Owl Whimsy Digi Stamps! This first challenge is kind of a free-for-all! You can make whatever you want, you just have to use one of the SuzieQ Diva stamps in your creation! The winner will get the ENTIRE Betty Set, which will be out next Monday! :)

Betty Sneak Peek below:

It's been a busy weekend.....out and about in the sunshine which has been beautiful and I also managed to spend some time crafting too.

Another one of the Suzie Q Diva images which I really love from Owl Whimsy. I found this clip art branch a while ago and while colouring her today, I thought this branch would be perfect for her to sit on. The stamped sentiment is Studio G Designer clear stamp, black gel pen doodles around the edges and some yellow satin ribbon. The image has been coloured with watercolour pencils.

Sneak Peek.......

I am using Betty from the newest set which is to be released soon from Owl Whimsy - she looks like a gal who loves a night out on the town! There will be six of these funky Betty images in a set....so watch this space :)

I thought I would add some funky stockings to her with a black gel pen and throw in some peel off shoes to complete the look. The sentiment can be made using Acme Labelmaker, the papers are from Papermania and Dovecraft. The red dots I made using a single hole punch, red cardstock and ribbon from my stash.

Woohoo.......I have been asked to become a member of the Owl Whimsy Design Team - and naturally I said "yes". If you haven't seen some of her cool images - then hop over to her blog where you will find the digital images, to buy and ready to be downloaded. Do check her blog too from time to time as she will be offering a freebie from each new set.........now I off to do some design team work :)

I found this cute design on Owl Whimsy's Blog She is offering up this little girl in a chance of taking part in her new venture - making Digi-Stamps and will give 1 piece from every set away for FREE. She would like for everyone to take the freebie and play with it and post the finished product on their blog and post a comment on her post, saying where you have posted what you created! Then she will have a drawing, and the winner gets the rest of the set for FREE! :)

Now on to the important part - She is also looking for 6 people to design for her. This team will get all the Digi Stamps she create for FREE. In return, they will each be assigned one stamp to use in their design. So, if you would like to be a part of the design team, just leave that in your comment when you show her what you did with the free image.

I have used some shades of pink cardstock, lace, sentiment from Designer digitals, watercolours and card candy from Craftwork cards.

I was asked to make a few cards for the end of the school year as a thank you for various tutors. After much thought, and lack of suitable teacher stamps etc, I came up with this idea - and its totally made on the computer. Background paper with random typed letters, with the words thanks included, and the blackboard front with white text - covered every aspect of the requirement perfectly

I got this super cute digi image from Dustin Pike. This week Dustin is running a blog candy giveaway but he wants something to be created and sent to a child from Post Pals. When I dashed over to the Post Pals site, I read some of the most heart wrenching stories about children who are suffering with various illnesses. Seeing their faces and reading their stories about what they and their families are going through is unbelievable. I decided that the card I have made, I would send to Zachary H as he is the same age as my youngest and likes pretty much the same things.