I haven't blogged in such a long time - July 2010!!! Happy New Year!! I have made so few cards and cakes overs the months......but I have an excuse.......I have been taking care of all my family duties, I have been working, I've been studying, and I have been really, really busy!
I intend to continue with my hobbies when the time allows as I love crafting and baking and the satisfaction I get from pursuing my hobbies. Whether I will be entering any competitions and challenges soon.....will be determined by the amount of time left over after helping our boys to forfill their dreams and my studies....... but its going to be so worth it in the end.

It's been ages since I blogged anything. I have recently been focusing my attention to other things -family, work, kids clubs, and enjoying the warm weather. I have had little time for crafting recently....but I'm not going to let it go. I am storing my lovely stuff for when I get my mojo back and for whenthe weather becomes miserable, wet and dark again :( The computer too was having a real break over the past weeks - it was getting itself into a real pickle - and this is besides having an expensive anti virus running in the background- they just dont make these computers like they used to!! Anyway now its all sorted (fingers crossed), I am foward to catching up with other blogs and seeing what I have missed from the craft world over the past weeks.

This weeks Challenge from Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is Flower Power. I havent posted anything for the which the answer is I have been busy! I have my very first Bugaboo Clear Rubber Stamps - they are available from Totally Stampalicious I won them in the recent blog hop and they arrived from Canada on Friday. I have this gorgeous little girl, named Desiree with promarkers, with some white gel pen enhancements. I was orginally going to do the card with some orange shades of background paper, but I just loved this piece of pink paper and thought I could co-ordinate it somehow on the card - see it matches the lollipop! The pink background paper I've recycled from a old greetings card, the orange punched circle was made using Kanban cardstock and a woodware punch, the butterfly from my stash and the sentiment from the Stamp set - yummy!

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

This weeks challenge from Our Creative Corner is Blooming Blossoms. The stamps for the image and sentiment I have used this week is from the Popcorn Bear Thank you set available from Crafters Companion. I have used promarkers to colour the image, some ribbon from my stash, patterned paper which came free with this months issue of Papercraft Essentials magazine, and those little silver pearls from the Mark Richards collection. Scoring done using the

Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro.

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 know I always ramble on about the weather....but I am a Leo - the sun is oh so very important to me....and this week the weather has been brilliant. Lots of lovely sunshine - lets hope it stays that way! This weeks challenge from Our Creative Corner is Butterflies. I love this butterfly stamp from Elusive Images. It is quite a big stamp and makes a really nice topper for the six inch square card blanks that I use. I have used promarkers to colour in the image in shades of Rose Pink, Coctail Pink and Lillac. The sentiment stamp has been used from a Popcorn Bear stamp set. The pink ribbon and cardstock have been taken from my stash (which needs major organisation), and the silver self adhesive pearls are from the Mark Richards Collection.

This weeks challenge from Catch the Bug is to use a bug somewhere on your creation. I love this fabulous little freebie image which came from Bugaboo Stamps - but the Bug Brats over on the site are so gorgeous and soooooo cute too. I have coloured the image with promarkers in red, pear green, satin, tan, and aqua blue. The sentiment has been created on the computer and the punched border on the red cardstock has been done with a punch from craft habitat. The black gems on the antannae are available from Paper Cellar and the ribbon from my stash. A little doodling with a white gel pen for the final touches.

Hooray......the weather is on the up which means brighter days and better pictures too!!. This weeks challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges is to Make your own flowers. I love the colour combination on this card.....and it has been made without any stamping!!! I recently went to a craft fair and though I am not big on peel offs these days, I found these from Little Claire Designs. There are some cute little characters on each sheet and they are so quickly and easy to colour and I am sorry I didnt buy more at the time (will have to order some) - I have used promarkers in cocktail pink, rose pink, cinnamon, lilac and pear green. The back ground floral paper I have found in my stash, raspberry cardstock, ribbon from my stash and the flower I have made using the woodware, small, medium and large daisy punches. The brad is from a range by papermania. The sentiment too is a peel off and came on the sheet with this cute little girl.

This weeks challenge from Catch the Bug Challenge is Coral, Kiwi and Banana. The image I have used here is from Bugaboo Stamps.

I love the images from Bugaboo and they are just perfect for colouring with promarkers. I have used promarkers in the following colours cocktail pink, pear green, yellow, blush and cinnamon to colour the image. The background papers banana and green papers are from Crafters Companion and the checked coral cardstock is from Kanban. The silver metals are from the Mark Richards range and the ribbon from my stash.

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.

I love the sketch from Catch the Bug challenge.
This little cowboy is available from Bugaboo stamps and I have coloured him in with my new promarkers. I have used cinnamon, blush, red, brown, yellow, pear green and China Blue on the image. I gave him a checked shirt with by adding lines with a white gel ink pen! The sentiment has been done on the computer, and was added to the image before printing. The background papers are available from crafters companion, the silver metals are from Mark Richards and a little hand stitching to add to the embellishments.

Create4fun challenge blog has been hosting a lovely sketch for this week's challenge. The butterfly and sentiment stamp I have used came from Elusive Images. I have been putting my promarkers to good use and experimenting with them over the past few days. The butterfly has been coloured with promarkers and Mark Richards silver metals has been used for the flower centres. The papers are all Kanban and ther ribbon from my stash.

This is my first card from my Crafter's Companion, Flower Fairies prize, and it has been watercoloured with pencils.....but I am moving on.....I am now hooked on new colouring materials :) I made this from the Zinnia set. Well yesterday I went to a craft fair in Malvern....it was Mothering Sunday too, so it was a nice treat to be able to have the afternoon to stroll around and indulge in my favourite pastime. Okay the thrill of the event was great.....I had told myself I wasn't going to get any more stamps (I was so tempted too though) - but was going to go with an open mind about other products.....watch some demos and take it from there. I was so taken up by the demos using promarkers and distress inks.....so I gave in and bought some promarkers and how thrilled am I with them.......I want more! I bought a three in one punch too, but was after another little flower one......but it had sold out (but the salesman was still doing demo's showing of a punch he no longer had in stock :( .......and do I have the patience to wait for one (no not really). Have you seen the Gorjuss Girls decoupage and toppers?????? OMG they are truely Gorjuss.....and so cute. Now I'm off to attend to my poorly oldest boy......make dinner and squeeze in some time with the Promarkers :)