Crochet Blanket

I haven't got a card for today but I do have some photos of my finished granny square blanket. Its made with 4ply cotton and various patterns.

I wanted to make a long border but it was too heavy for me to hold so I only manages a few rows of sc.

I joined with a sc along the square I quite like this finish. It was tricky cos I joined with a whole strip at a time then each striphad to be slip stitched to the existing strips and meant lots of sewing in. Will I do another, not likely.
This week I've only managed to make my DT cards, a really bad headache finished me off on Wednesday and  yesterday I said goodbye to my Aunty Girlie, my mums older sister. It means out of all the brothers and sisters mum had have now gone except for her.
I'm off to Nikki's and Collets Christmas Stack stampin up class tomorrow that should help my tally, also I have quite a few James the bear coloured which I plan to make some quick CAS cards with.
But I will be back tomorrow with my Penny Black Saturday Challenge Card.

Bunny Christmas

I've recently got my hands on the latest Simon Says Stamps Winter Jubilee kit and I needed to make at least one card especially since it has the cutest papers ever. Including this sweet bunny one which cried out to used in the Simon Says Stamps Holiday Frame.
I've used the Simon Says Stamps Lots of Snowflakes stamp set with some hologram embossing powders, I always careful when using hologram powders if you over cook it, it looks pants!
You can see I cut out the frame a couple of times to help the Merry stand out. The snowflake sequins came in the kit but the silver thread is some I found hidden in my ribbon box. I have enough of the bunny scene to make another and I do believe that someone may have brought the paper pad anyway.

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the  Get Crafty and Use Kraft Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
We will be back soon with the name of the lucky winner of the $50 Voucher
This week the challenge is ,,,,,,,,

ANYTHING GOES 

We are showcasing SPECTRUM NOIR  Products this week, you don't have to use them but if you do have them we would love to see them used.

We have not one but TWO fabulous prizes to give away this week !!

Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

AND

Spectrum Noir are giving away one lucky winner a choice of 2 sets of Spectrum Noir Pencils ! Woo Hoo !!

We would like to thank Spectrum Noir for sponsoring this challenge. Not only have they provided this fabulous extra prize but they also supplied the Design Team with a selection of the Spectrum Noir Pencils too. Thank You so very much for your generosity.

Now in hindsight I should have got Floral but I got Essential which has the facial colours in so that one really was essential but then I got Nature which was lots of greens. Still as you can see I did manage some pinks and blues out of the sets I had.
Perhaps I should explain that these are pencils and since thats my choice of colouring medium it was interesting to see how they compared. Spectrum Noir also makes the paper stubs which I used but they also  sent me some of their blending solution and I have to confess I forgot to use.
My cute image from Penny Black cling stamp called Flower Girl, she made a nice break from the panic making of Christmas Cards.
The flowers are My Favourite Things Upsy Daisy dies with Memory Box Tender leaves and the white picket fence is again from My Favourite Things. The pinky flowers spray is a Simon Says Stamps die called Meadow Rue  and the fabulous papers are Authentique Radiant pack.

So now it's YOUR turn.  Happy Crafting

There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog , if you haven't subscribed by email you may want to so you don't miss out 

You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Keys

My niece took this picture while her other half was hunting for his keys this must happen a lot. But she got this fabulous picture of her little mischief maker. This is about a year ago because the last I heard about him was he was helping his Grandma in her garden.
The papers are some leftovers and didn't have whole page of any of the papers. Unusual for me is the black background but it really helps the red pop.
This layout is wk 40 and its wk44 so still a few behind but it having discovered I still have 30 odd Christmas cards to make I think all my creativity will be diverted to that.

Back at 1pm due to the clocks going back here in the UK.

For

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge.

Stars

Here's one of the card I made at the weekend for the new Everybody Art Challenge for Stars, that went the CAS way.
First the image is a freebie from a couple of years ago which I love and have to use it for Christmas cards at least once. Before I layered her though I used the Simon Says Stamp Stars and Dots stencil with Dreamweaver glossy white paste. I sprinkled glamour dust before I lifted the stencil but I feel that was wrong and that I should have sprinkled the dust after I lifted but it worked anyway.
Although it doesn't look it I used the Spellbinders Curved border die to make the snow layers but I used some stickles to highlight the drifts and to stop the image looking like it floating. The star is Memory box and with a bit of help from double sided tape I added some glamour dust on that too.
Once layered onto coloured card I couldn't bring myself to decorate the outside.

I'm debating whether to just photo my cards crooked instead of struggle for straight cards which is why I added the card at a jaunty angle but it looks a straight card I photo crooked!

Do pop over and check out the team and hope you can join us this month.

Hush

Maurie Manning recently sent a image for us to try out, its lines were softer but the image looked a bit fuzzy. But when it was coloured the end result look adorable and I was really pleased with the end result.
So much so I made it into a card and was so happy when Mo put him in the shop and you will find him called Hush such a perfect name, it also meant I could show the sweet card I made for him. I'm calling him a him but he would work just as well in pink for a baby girl.
The sketch is Friday Sketch Challenge but I made a small card and was limited for embellishment but thought just the hearts and Baby Boy sentiment would work not forgetting a bit of ribbon.
I've recently had a count up of Christmas Cards and it looks like I still have 30 to go wasn't expecting that many and I like my cards done for when we visit MIL at the beginning of December, so I need to get down and make them asap.

Holiday Frame

I've had the Holiday Frames from Simon Says Stamp for a few and I've been wanting to use it but other things kept getting in the way. But I saw this weeks Freshly Made Sketch I thought this would work.

Since I wanted to make a little scene inside the frame I cut out another Merry with double sided tape on the back so all I had to do was to cut the bottom and attached on top of the existing Merry. You may notice that I added the waste inside the letters R and A thats a bit of me that doesn't like the empty space where is should be.
I'm wondering now if the little houses die that Simon Says Stamps are smaller than the Memory Box one I've used cos I reckon they may work a bit better. My snow is using the curvy die from Spellbinders.
Last of all my snowflake another Simon Says Stamps Abby Snowflake die, again I added double sided tape to the back and layered them together to help it pop.
Had a successful day yesterday and four cards made admittingly a couple have gone down the CAS route but I actually like them!

White on White with a touch of Red

I've been awake for ages thanks to someone checking their tyres pressure with their very noisy engine running. Then my PC has turned into a man and doesn't want to multi task and then when it does start to work he takes ages to do anything.
Back to my card yes I promise to put the Simon says Stamp poinsettia parade and the Penny Black Holly dies away for a few days anyway. I've also used the large die from Penny Black for the background which is far too busy for my sentiment. I did put tape behind the words to make it a double layer but the lady who was card making at the retreat her words about 3 layering words on white on white to stand out keeps echoing in my head.
The sketch is vaguely Mojo Monday but for some strange reason instead of using the full card I cut it down for the mat across the middle which that meant my panel overlapped. Obviously had a moment, having plenty of those at the moment.

I thought I would photo the sentiment to show how pretty it is but those words are still haunting me. Today I have to make some DT cards, the images are all coloured and waiting to be made. Fingers crossed I get them all done today so I can make whatever I fancy.

Christmas Rose

Yes I know it another CAS card but I'm down to a few drafts having  made only one card all week but I'm hoping that will change today but we will see.
The stamp is from Stampin Up but instead of colouring the petals with white pencil I've cut them out of thin white card.
Sentiment is from LOTV but it was because it was on my desk and handy at the time.
Not much else I can say about my card, off to swimming later must try to remember not to over do it.

Works bothways

I saw the CAS(E) this sketch and this is the idea that came into my head especially has I had been using the Penny Black Holly die and the Simon Says Stamp Poinsettia Parade die. The sentiment was again Simon Say Stamp Presents and Ornaments set. To finish an awful load of red pearls if only my liquid pearls in red was behaving but it looks like I need to get a new one because I don't seem to be able to unclog it.

It works both ways but not sure which I prefer.
We are lucky I'm still able to continue the post since my computer had a mini meltdown so fingers cross it let me continue.

I thought I was too late to enter but I notice its still open for a few hours so I will be able to enter.
I attempted a card yesterday it all went horrible wrong so I continue to finish but I'm not happy with it but its for Saturday just need to photo it.

Kraft

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the  Color Coordinates Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
We will be back soon with the name of the lucky winner of the $50 Voucher
This week the challenge is ,,,,,,,,

GET CRAFTY AND USE KRAFT 

We are showcasing HERO ARTS  Products this week, you don't have to use them but if you do have them we would love to see them used. We would like to thank Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp for sending the Design Team a selection of products to use for this challenge.

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

I'll be honest I was in a rush to make sure I had a card made for this challenge because I knew I wouldn't have time after the retreat. In hindsight which is a wonderful thing I should have stamped in white but the Hero Arts Good Luck sentiment stamps like a Chalkboard and at the time I couldn't see beyond a black chalkboard so the rest of my card was made to match.

It just so happened that the Greetings and Succulents stamp and die set had arrived never mind being a succulent I think it makes a lovely flower and a lovely background. I coloured with pencils although I did used sansador I only went over it once I had finished colouring just to help hide any pencil lines. 

To make the card a bit more interesting I used Hero Arts Cling Dots to make a dotty strip. 

So now it's YOUR turn.  Happy Crafting

There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog , if you haven't subscribed by email you may want to so you don't miss out 

You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

No backlinking allowed, Only 5 new creations will be eligible in the prize draw

Great Grandparents

No not me my parents in fact they have ten Great Grandchildren and Mason is the latest. The photo of my Dad is extra special now that he is not with us anymore.
The papers I've had for ages and the centre panel is called Deborah very apt. The leaves are from Simon Says Stamp and the flowers are some I brought from a garden centre and took them apart from their stalks.
This will week 39 for my scrapbooking layout a week, even with the retreat I think I'm still behind.
Back at 2pm with my Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge card.

Amazing

After an lovely Scrapbooking weekend always run extremely well and Lorraine from The Scrap Cafe is amazing she does a seating plan so there's no fighting over seats and everyone sits with their friends. She makes cakes for us all 14 of them. My friend Nikki won one of the challenges not surprised though it was a brilliant layout.
But to finish off the my long Birthday weekend I was invited by Heidi of Simon Says Stamps to join her and Stephanie for lunch at the Simpson's on the Strand. Heidi was the first person ever to ask me to be on her Design Team in 2009 and I am over the moon that I have finally met such a lovely lady. Not only that to meet up with some amazing talented card makers that I've only met in cyber land and to catch up with Heather, Jo and Lorraine who I have met before was a wonderful bonus.
Thanks Lorraine for the brilliant photo of myself with Heidi, my daughter wonders if somewhere in our family trees are related.

Here we all are with our starters, during the meal Lorraine, Heidi and Stephanie moved seats so that we all got to talk to them.

Thanks Jo for the fab shot of our Roast Beef Lunch which is the Simpsons speciality and yes the beef was gorgeous.

More photos borrowed from Facebook, this time with Jo, Stephanie (Clearly Besotted ) and Lols

A Photo with the lovely Stephanie with Jo and Mandy

See those stairs you watched Lady Mary from Downton Abbey go up there on Sunday. 

Bunting

Sorry I'm running a bit late this morning I had such an exciting weekend, topped by an amazing lunch yesterday that its starting to catch up with me. More about that later I might have to do a post for it.
But today is another challenge on Everybody Art Challenge and this week its for Bunting.
Not sure my card has worked, well I think maybe its the papers they're some Stampin Up papers it could be the colours are a bit wishy washy. Anyway this little bear has been sitting in my coloured image pile for a while and you can tell its James the bear from LOTV.
The bunting is made with the Stampin Up punch but I made a slightly larger one to mat them. The way I do this is to draw round a punched one with a fat pen nib and then cut round. I made the Birthday banner using a square punch, oh the scallops are MFT since I broke my Memory Box one.
Do pop over and check out the team.
Well I'm not sure when I saw be up to making a card but first thing I have to do it unpack.

Sleepyhead

Just a quick post with some Scrapbooking and this is week 38 now I've some more pages to post I should update with the scrapbooking I've done lately. I seemed to have quite a few photos of Mason and his Dad asleep, I added a pic of his Grumps (Grandad) to prove is runs in the family on both sides.
Some left over patterned paper from Echo Park and I used the stickers that came with the set along with a title and job done.