Snow, snow and more snow......no work, so time some spare time for crafting :) I love this little stamp from Snag'em Stamps. I watercoloured the flowers and leaves and added some pearl centres and gel pen dots with some piercing, red and black cardstocks and a sentiment from Craftwork cards to complete the card.
Valentines is just around the corner (crafters have to keep one step ahead) so I am working on some ideas for the next big occasion after Christmas :)

This is my first card challenge for this year and what a fine way to start with this brilliant sketch from Create4fun and another image from Bugaboo Stamps.
This gal is called Stella and she is just so funny. The papers I have used here comes from Pink Petticoat - Dots and Lola's Boudoir both are in the shade Bubblegum. I have layered Stella onto black Bazzill Swiss dots cardstock, which has been embossed using the Glittergirls Romance Board and cut out with a fiskars scallop edge scissors. White Gel ink pen for the dotted border. The sentiment comes with the digital image which is brilliant as it can be resized or as i did here, it can be printed directly onto the background paper. Stella has been coloured with Derwent Inktense watercolours and the gems are from Paper Cellar. Black ribbon from my stash.

OMG you have to hand it to Bugaboo Stamps. I stumbled on these digi-stamps by chance and they just cracked me up! There are so many characters which I can say relate to many of my girlfriends, Aunties, cousins etc (sorry girls). I have only bought the one so far....but the day isnt finish yet! This one is called Ruby....most certainly the goodtime gal!
For this card I have used black cardstock, bazzill purple cardstock, Bugaboo image, watercolour pencils, Paper Cellar gems, and some ric rac.
I add a bit of hand stitching to the outer edge of the image and some white gel pen to enhance the boots and dress. Some silver gel ink was used on the glasses and ear-rings. Cheers Ruby!

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.