Wow Spring is just around the corner and the sunshine on the weekend was a nice treat! I decided to get some of the craft stuff out on the weekend and made a card......while everyone else was playing music!! I didn't have a design in mind, just went with the colours and bits and pieces I had left lying around (some from some recent wedding invitations). The background paper came free in PC Essentials magazine from Crafters Companion, the ribbons, lace, cardstocks, flowers and gems from my stash and the image is a Manga Stamp from Sugar Nellie. The heart is a stamp from Stampin Up (forgotten the name of the set) and I have handwritten the sentiment.

I am going to enter this card at the Dream Valley Challenges Blog as they have a female themed creation for their current challenge - although some of the cards from their design team is just amazing!!

Now on Saturday afternoon, after cardmaking and music session had ended...... we decided to go and get new school shoes for small son as it would be a bit wrong of us to make him wait until the term ended for new ones (poor feet). Having been out for about two hours, I get a call from our neighbour, asking if we were in. Having explained to her that we were out, she calmly told me that she had just noticed that our house keys were hanging out of the lock in the front door!!! Oh dear......I am glad that I was in the car, with the kids first.......so it wasn't to hard to work out who had left the keys in the door!!! Anyway our kind neighbour, walked across and removed the keys from the door, and kept them until we made a rather speedy journey home!

To thank her for her vigilance and because I was so relieved that everything was still left in the house......I baked her a dozen chocolate cupcakes which were iced and delivered to her door, as soon as they had cooled out of the oven!!!

These are the darkest moistest chocolate cakes, topped with a generous dollop of dark chocolate ganache and then a swirl of cooked flour vanilla butter cream!!

Cooked Flour Buttercream

8 oz granulated sugar

2 oz plain flour

250ml milk

175g butter softened

In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and the flour. Stir in the milk and then heat over a gentle heat, stirring all the time, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens to a thick sauce. (around 7 - 10 mins).

Pour the sauce into a large bowl, add any flavouring and colouring and allow to cool completely. When the sauce is cool, whisk in the butter, until the butter cream is thick and creamy.

This weeks challenge over on Sugar Nellies Facebook page is "A Piece of Cake" - a pin board showing a whole selection of cakes in chocolate, orange and white colours for inspiration! The challenge over on Sketch N Stash is Free Choice Sketch so I have used Sketch 40 for the design of this card

Now seeing as I like dabbling in both papers and cakes - I was thinking of making some chocolate and orange decorated cakes too - but thought I would cut back on those calories and show a picture from a previous baking session (but they were gooooood).

These gorgeous papers are free from Three Paper Peonies - they are new to my stash - I found them today while looking around the web!! They are so yummy and they were perfect for this Sugar Nellie image. The lace is from my stash and the brown ribbon I have recycled - had it in my stash for a few years now - it came from a box of chocolates from my favourite Middle Eastern Chocolate Shop - Patchi!!!

I am also entering this card in the following Challenges:

Make It Monday

Everybody Art Challenge - Flowers

Oreo Cupcake with Vanilla Cheesecake and Gold Dust

The inside - whole oreo on the bottom, a layer of vanilla cheesecake and dark chocolate sponge.

It's been back to work week! It has been an early start each day as our son has just started college and has to catch the bus very early! However the early start has made me more organised - I managed to iron a pile of clothes this week (uniforms, clothes etc for all week) so no battling with an ironing board at 6.30 in the morning!!

I have had time this evening to craft, which is lovely!! This little girl is from Sugar Nellie and the layout comes from the sketch this weeks challenge over on the Sugar Nellie Challenge Blog - The Sugar Bowl Challenge.

The background papers I have used is from the Nitwits on a High Note Collection and the foreground strips of paper is from Nitwits Threads and Thimbles collection....which suits the image perfectly! I have added some string (made my own baker's twine using a promarker) and some white gel pen effects. The leaf stamp came with the Sugar Nellie stamp collection. The leaf has been stamped onto rust bazzill cardstock.

I am also entering this card in the following Challenges:

Everybody Art Challenge - #158 - Autumn

My Mums Craft Shop Challenges - Layer it up

Cute Card Thursday - At the Office

Stamp Something - Anything Goes

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Chocolate Cupcakes, Covered in Dark Chocolate Ganache and a Dark Chocolate Heart (made with Chocolate Transfers)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho.....its back to work I go!! Summer holidays are finished and its back to work tomorrow.....I really should be sorting out the ironing pile and making sure I get all the bags and kits ready but I could not resist the challenge on Sugar Nellies Facebook Page of Less is More!! Firstly its not an easy task stamping directly onto a card blank (so glad I dont do this everyday - I would hate to think of the waste)!! I had to look through my Sugar Nellies to find the stamp with the least intricate details in the hopes that I would get a clean stamp outline on my card. I won this stamp from Sugar Nellie ages ago (two year plus) and she was still sitting clean and new in her packaging.....and today she was perfect for the task!

I coloured her with promarkers and then outlined a shape around her which I coloured in with a blue promarker.....so she would at least look grounded. A border with a black fineliner and some not so good handwriting completed the look!!

Lemon Cupcakes with white sprinkles and some gold edible glitter!

I have had the most wonderful week - Our middle son did us proud by playing trumpet beautifully in the youth orchestra for the Lights Down Theatre Company's Wiz production. It was one week of many round trips to rehearsals, but the end result was absolutely amazing. We also enjoyed some days away which allowed us to relax and to meet up with so many of our amazing family and friends on the weekend - something we will continue to reflect on for many weeks.

Last weeks challenge from The Sugar Bowl Challenge is a sketch along with the theme One for the Girls. I love this stamp from Sugar Nellie as it allows me to indulge in my favourite colour mixes of pinks and browns from my promarkers and the must have white gel pen!! The light pink papers are from Nitwits, Threads and Thimbles collection, the dark pink from an edition of Papercraft Essentials Magazine, and brown card stock, gems and flowers from my stash.

Nut Free Blueberry Bakewells Tarts (Puddings)

I am not sure if you can call a bakwell tart, a bakewell if it is almond free? But the man of the house has a nut allergy, so I decided to bake these nut free ones. I made a rich shortcrust pastry and filled the cases with blueberry conserve and a vanilla victoria sponge cake mixture. When they were baked and cooled I decorated then with a swirl of royal icing an a fresh blueberry! I know its not the best of pictures but they didn't hang around long enough for me to try taking pictures from various angles.

I managed to get some of the stash out this week - spent most of the time hunting for papers, card and embellishments as I had forgotten what I had stashed away (or how much I have stashed away). This week over on Cupcake Craft Challenges is a celebration for reaching 150 challenges, with the challenge to create a card or project from one of the previous challenges. As I ease back into crafting I thought I would go simple and go for Challenge number 61 - Going Girly. These gorgeous papers are from Nitwits collection, I love them. Some faux stitching and a handwritten sentiment with some flowers to finish the card. The stamp is an ex Sugar Nellie by Elisabeth Bell, called Scattered Love. I am seeing my niece for the first time in 5 years next week and as I missed her birthday, I have made this with her in mind.

Click the picture for more details - Wow these babies are going to be available soon from Sugar Nellie.

Way back in the day (hmm not too long ago), I bought my very first stamps from Funky Kits. It was my first go at Rubberstamping and it was my first taste of Sugar Nellie - how the addiction can grow so quicky!!! This was one of the first stamps I bought along with Hamish and his tractor. On the Sugar Nellie blog, they are currently looking back at the begining of Sugar Nellie and those first stamps. This is most definitely one of my favourite stamps. I have coloured her with promarkers, been through my stash for the papers and ribbon, the sentiment is from the Popcorn bear range of stamps, and the punched border is done with a punch from craft habitat. The silver pearls are from the Mark Richard range - how I love these too!!

I have just typed all of this and it disappeared when I was about to post it!!! The second time around you'll never remember what you typed the first time.......but here goes anyway. This weeks challenge from The Sugar Bowl is to use any sketch from their sketch library. I have used here the sketch from challenge 20. The image is of course from Sugar Nellies Gorgeous girls range - this is Untamed. I have coloured her tanned with black hair as she is going to some one very special of similar colour etc. The background patterned card is from Kanban - bought a large box for a fiver of mixed card at a recent craft show. I have added some paving to the image so my girl isnt standing in mid air. The promarkers I have used for this card are black, red, pear green, cocoa and tan, and a white gel ink pen too. The ribbon is one from Anita range, the red border has been created using paper from Crafters Companion and a punch from Craft Habitat. The brads are from my stash and the flowers have been stamped from Elusive Images butterfly set.

This weeks challenge from Our Creative Corner is Easter. I thought these colours would be perfect for an Easter card - delectable chocolate and orange! The image is Peek a Bunny from Sugar Nellie which I have coloured with promarkers. The background papers are all available from Kanban, the ribbon from my stash and the silver metals from Mark Richards. The sentiment is from one of Crafters Companion Popcorn the Bear set. The fancy edging on the paper has been done using a punch from Craft Habitat - which is lovely but they only sell at Craft shows, which mean it is always had to get most of their stock unless you go on the first day!

The Sugar Bowl has a fabulous sketch for the current challenge. I was soooooo lucky on Friday as I received my prize for the Runner up of the Papercraft Essentials papercrafter of the Year 2009 competition. The box was filled with stamps from Crafters Companion, loads of Glue Dots products, lots of other craft stash and MIC products including this fabulous self adhesive fabric which I have used on the card below. The background paper I have used is available from Crafters companion (received in a prize recently too), the star stamp from Crafters companion, this lovely girl is from Sugar Nellie and the sentiment is from the Popcorn bear range. I have been using my promarkers to colour and they are just brilliant. The silver metals are from the Mark Richards range, and some white gel ink pen stitches.

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 :)

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.

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 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.

Its been nine days since I last blogged!!! Where have I been??? Well nowhere really.....have just been snowed under with other things.....but I have been crafting too......50 place card settings, 5 menus and a table planner for a golden wedding anniversary and 10 other commissoned cards (and I didnt take a picture) :(

The challenge from The sugar bowl challenges is a brilliant sketch by Marlene which is to also include buttons. I have used papermania background papers, green cardstock, green bazill cardstock, the wow sentiment is a fabric sticker, Sugar Nellie image coloured with watercolour pencils, metallic domes which is card candy from Craftwork cards - Sherbert pips (these are like brads but with without the backs), the button from my stash and the flower which is a download from edupics.com, with centre watercoloured to match the papers.

I washed my car - it changed colour!! I have cooked dinner, taken my son to his piano lesson and waited for him, taken my youngest son to football training and I had time to do this new country girl from Sugar Nellie.

I have coloured her with watercolour pencils, and layered her onto some navy cardstock. The red cardstock and ribbon has come from my stash, the sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

The Country Girls arrived in the post!! It was torture.....they plopped through the letter box just as I was putting on my shoes to go to work!! Luckily for me I only work in the morning......I havent yet eaten any lunch.....I just had to ink up this girl and get her onto paper! I have gone for very little colouring....I'm giving this to my neice who has black hair, so I didnt want to overdue it with alot of colour. Her apron is paper pieced with Dovecraft Wild Blossoms paper, I have used water colour pencils to colour the image. The sentiment is from Craftwork cards, the background paper from Dovecrafts Eastern Blooms range.

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.

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.