The challenge from The Sugar Bowl Challenge is Men - the criteria -make a card, or other craft project, using a Sugar Nellie stamp for a male, For any occasion, Any age at all, young, old or 'in between'

Euton my oldest son is 14 today, so this is his birthday card. He loves this image from Sugar Nellie and he has never been able to perfect the art of skateboarding - bruises, cuts and war worns to prove he has tried, but getting it over an inch of the grown is hard work!! The slogan is by an unknown author, which I made into labels using ACME Labelmaker. The round sentiment is a fabric sticker, bazzill swiss dots cardstock, black peel off dots, Dovecraft Masculine papers, and black and light blue cardstock. The image has been watercoloured with watercolour pencils.

On the other hand, Euton loves music see him HERE and Here, and his excellent progress in his trumpet and piano/keyboard playing is unbelieveable.

This weeks Challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is to use 5 embellishments - boy was this difficult to do!

My card this week has a little Hello Kitty on it....do you see that yummy piece of fabric in the background! Well I bought it from a certain auction site.....I cut out a kitty and pasted her to some cardstock so I could cut around the image closely. The background paper is from Dovecrafts Wild Blossoms. The sentiment is a stamp from Debbie Moore.

My five embellishments - Ribbon, brad, flower, a gemstone on Kitty's bow and lots of faux stitching!

I have been blogging for a year this month - its my blog anniversary....so watch this space.....I am going to give away some candy soon which will include a piece of this yummy fabric.

The days seem to fly by so quickly - I know I am always saying this but when you week is filled doing work, fitting in your hobbies, and being the kids taxi driver, the time flies.

Two cards I made this evening - the wedding one has Dovecrafts Eastern Blooms background paper, which I ran through the printer to add the Congratulations and the names of the bride and groom. The Wedding day Chipboard self adhesive sticker, I found in one of the little pound shops. Flower made using woodware daisy punch and the ribbon came from my stash. The second card is a commissioned one too. The red heart and Honey letters are made from chipboard, bazzill swiss dots cardstock, Happy birthday sentiment done on the computer and metal heart which I cut out and embossed from some craft metal.

I never thought I would ever combine these two colours....pinks, reds, blues and purples, but yellow or lemon with black....maybe not. Well I was flicking through my new Papercraft Essentials Magazine and Kim Dellow (papercraft Essentials crafter of the Year), did this fantastic spread, using black and yellow cardstock and papers, with bee design stamps. I was so taken by the designs, the layout and the marriage of the colours that I had a good dig through my stash to find some yellow or lemon cardstock. The black and yellow check paper came free with this months magazine, so that was a good start. I have used a butterfly stamp from Kirsten Lapping Designs, with some peel off dots for the lower wings. The circle of black bazzill I also found in my stash - its worth keeping all the scraps - you never know when you will need them (a couple of years later)! The ribbon comes from Poppicrafts. Now I am off to see how my Sugar Nellies and Anyas will look in yellow and black.........

Whiff of Joy Fabulous Blog Candy - Follow the link on the left.
To celebrate this fantastic new set Katharina want to make 2!! stampers really happy (Yes, 2!!) she will be giving away 2 Summer stamp kits.What do you have to do to qualify for the draw?
Grab the above logo and put it on your sidebar with a link to the Whiff of Joy webstore (I know a lot of you already did this, thanks a lot and even better :)
Write a post on your blog letting people know about my candy.
Come back here and leave her a link to your post in the below Mr. Linky Widget. (Only entries to the widget count).
Her candy is open until friday May 1st

This weeks challenge from A Spoon Full of Sugar is to use diecuts or punches. This Sugar Nellie image I received in a swap a while back - I love the way she is coloured and she matches well with these papers from Papermania. The punched flowers have been made using the daisy punches from Woodware, which were fastened with brads. The birthday girl stamp is from Debbie Moore, ribbon and pearl and pink cardstocks from my stash.

On another note, New City Gallery, London has some outstanding art on their blog. If you are a dog lover, who over the years have owned different dogs, you will love the set of paintings which have been commissioned by a husband for his wife's birthday - They are the dogs past and present which she has had in her lifetime; even two from her early childhood that her husband hunted high and low to find. How wonderful is that?? Pop on over and have a look!

Easter is finished - the chocolates have all gone (well nearly) but left behind a reminder of why they should be eaten in moderation - in other words those extra pounds are all those chocolates!! But at least I thought I was being good - I didnt buy any - the kids had some but ate it before Easter Sunday. We had family visiting on Easter Sunday so I thought I would make us a White Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert - its Easter..... (dont even think about getting out your calculator to work out the calories - it would break). However they came over from Dubai and bought us some Patchi chocolate.......now here is where it all goes wrong. Having lived in Dubai's neighbouring town Abu Dhabi for a few years, Patchi chocolate would have to be my ultimate treat now. It is a well known Middle Eastern Chocolate of Lebanese orgin and so it should be - luxuriously package pieces of delicious milk or plain chocolate with various flavours........a weak will power and I find myself reaching for one as soon as I walk pass the tin! So next week when half term is over I will be hitting the gym....in the meantime one more chocolate wont hurt of will it?

This weeks Challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is One Layer - You may have one layer of cardstock other than your image and base. You could even just stamp on your base card. Its up to you But you may use as many embellishments as you want eg. flowers,ribbon, buttons etc.

I got this topper in a Sugar Nellie Swap a while back so thought it would be great to use it now as it suits the challenge. The topper is mounted onto purple bazill cardstock and the mounted onto the base card. The ribbons have come from my stash. Quick and Easy.

Over on Stampavie's Blog there is a fabulous challenge sketch and some awesome blog candy to be won.
I have used this Sarah Kay stamp which I really like - the little chickens so appropriate for this weekend too. All the papers and the sentiment I have used came free at some point with papercraft essentials magazine. The green cardstock and yellow ribbon came from my stash, flowers made with Woodware Daisy Punches, and the image has been watercoloured with watercolour pencils. I have used a white gel pen to decorate the spots on her hat and the bow on her hair

Just found this about and hour ago - made a mad run for it down the stairs to put together the card below with George and his golfing gear.

What a blog candy!! Fancy getting your hands on 72 Copic markers?? No you didn't read that wrong - I really did say 72!!!
Charmed Cards & Crafts have teamed up with Graphics Direct Ltd to bring you this fantastic prize. Graphics Direct Ltd are without doubt the cheapest place to get your Copics', and with outstanding customer service to boot. Although we sell several markers, such as Le Plume, we highly recommend Graphics Direct Ltd for THE place to get your Copics'.
The twist is that we want you to link to a project on your blog (in your comment) that either uses a download or a stamped image that you coloured in.
Link to a card you made with a download or a stamped image (does NOT have to be one of ours)
If you are using one of the Charmed Cards & Crafts downloads then you get two chances (please enter two comments, in the second just write "my second chance). All entries will be checked.
Please mention the candy on your blog.
This will run until 10th April. This post will stay on top until then. The final draw will be entirely random.

Ok so here is my card. I coloured George with watercolour pencils. The background paper is from Dovecrafts Masculine pack, black cardstock and the sentiment has been made using ACME label maker.

Today when I was having a hop around blogland I popped over to Club Anya's Blog and guess what my card has been featured on their blog - here . I did a double take at first - couldnt believe it - oh I am so chuffed its unbelieveable

Another Post for today - am I heading for a record? Over on the Splendid Stamping with The Greeting Farm blog is a fabulous challenge - Dont be square! The rules:


Make a non-square or non-rectangle card! As long as not all sides are parallel, it works! For example, it could be a slanted, or domed, or whatever. As long as not all 4 sides are 90 degrees.


I made a glass shaped card - thought it would work out great for something fun like a girls night out or a hen night maybe. I have used cream cardstock, drinking straw, red cardstock to make parasol which I doodled with a black marker. Sentiment on the front done on the computer and sentiment inside from Studio G clear stamps, image coloured with watercolour pencils.

Going to make this a bit of a long post as I have so many pictures to upload that I have lying around. Firstly this weeks challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenge is Folds. I made this little box called 2-5-7-10 using the Tutorial from here. It is so easy to make and it makes the smallest of gifts a joy to give. This one I am sending for my mum for her birthday. The pearls on sterling silver which you can see in the picture I bought in bulk last year and they have made wonderful presents over the year for girl pals and family - naturally two pairs are inside for Mum. I have used cream cardstock. brown ribbon from my stash, brown and pink cardstock, Snag em rubber stamp flowers, and happy birthday rubberstamp (cant remember where this one came from). I watercoloured the flowers with hints of pink and green leaves and added a few peel off white dots for extra decoration.

I won a competition in Papercraft Essential Magazine issue 40 and my prize came yesterday from Kirsten Lapping Designs - a set of stamps, pots of yummy glitter, embossing powders and small decorations for shaker cards etc, a box of ATC cards and a pen. The acetate wraps and card inserts are to follow.

The Magazine Page showing my card

The whole page from the Magazine

This weeks challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is a sketch. The image I have used here is Pretty Head Rachel from The Greeting Farm which comes as a Digital Stamp. I have coloured her in watercolours, the background paper is from my stash, the handbag paper is from Papermania. The flower in her hair has been recyled as well as the ribbon.

This months challenge from Sugar Sugar is something for Easter or Spring, other than a card.

I bought these chocolate mini eggs this week in Tesco - two tubes for pound - thought I would find something to do with them by Easter - if not eat them!! No I am going to make two and give them to the little one's teacher and her assistant - he adores them! I found this template for this box from Split Coast Stampers - Round Top Box. I have printed the template onto cream cardstock, and matted the front with chocolate and raspberry cardstock (sorry not showing very well in the picture), some chocolate ribbon, and Sugar Nellie image coloured with watercolour pencils. The Happy Easter sentiment I have made on the computer, punched out a circle and them matted on to raspberry cardstock which I trimmed with scalloped edge scissors. The best wishes sentiment is from craftwork cards.