Football Friday

If only I had made him into a easel card this little chap would've of worked for LOTV challenge but I will settle for the Papertake Weekly since I used Dawny's fab sketch. But what a dilemma when it came for embellishments, I even thought faux stitching but the image is so sweet and delicate I thought it would over power him. So I left him clean and simple, I used Joy Ride by Cosmo Cricket, MS zig zag punch, the sentiment from Hero Arts and a bit ribbon.
Sis and her Hubby have packed their bags and are now staying at the Golden Bahia in Tossa de Mar because they've a generator and everything is working normally.
I have a bit of a confession I've still got tingling in my fingers and I'm pretty certain why but I'm going to bury my head in the sand a bit cos I know the remedy. So for now I've had to restrict my commentating and I have been copying and paste to save all the typing cos it was starting to affect my crafting but I'm still visiting. I don't bother buying craft mags since there so much talent blogging, so I still need my daily fix.

Penny Black Easel Card

Penny Black Saturday Challenge is calling for an Easel card, I so love easel cards, really must do more of them. I made the this quite large and I didn't want a long front so I cut it down . The papers are papermania and my MS doiliy punch had an outing. I followed the sketch on Sketch Saturday for the slapstick PB image, isn't she cute.
Here's a pic with the easel card folded up so you can get a close up of the image. Wot no flowers.
So my sis is back in Spain for a week, she has an apartment out there and they go about now to clean it and open it up for summer. Well they've arrived to 3 inches of Snow and the village of Tossa de Mar has had no power for the last three days since the main cable has been damaged. I bet they're regretting putting in the electric cooker now.

Simon Says Sketch

Whoops I'm running late this morning but I'm going to blame Microsoft, Wednesday is the day it uploads updates and there were seven of them and dragged my PC almost to halt.
Anyway back to the challenge on Simon Says Stamps Challenge and it's a fabulous sketch from Iris.
I finally found my Tilda with the puppy which I knew I had but had a job to find, Bo Bunny papers. Oh look would that be my woodware daisy punch, I may have to hide it to stop myself from using it so much. I used swirls instead of leaves and I do believe I torn the paper, of course I did this with my eyes shut.
We had an amazing 400+ entries last week truly brilliant.
Hopefully I shall have a better day today, yesterday was just a write off.

More 52-10

I'm so behind on my 52-10 project that I was determined to get up to date, thank goodness for MJ all day crop, I'm now only two weeks behind.
Some of my pages are quite simple in order to catch and some didn't work at all so I'm only showing my fave pages.
But if you really want to see the rest, you will find them here. You will have to scroll down as I've posted them with prompt one first.

edited Whoops I should have said that it's my Sister in the photo and the tree was cut using the Graphically speaking cartridge on the cricut but I used MJ's expression so I could cut it at 8 inches.

A touch of purple

Don't you find if one thing cos wrong it just keeps going wrong. First of all the colour in my chart for my pencils didn't look like the colour of the top Sarah Kay is wearing but its OK the Cosmo Cricket has the bit of that colour in.
I decided to follow the Friday Sketchers sketch and I use a circle punch but it didn't quite turn out a circle, heavens know what I did wrong but its OK the image mat will hide that fact. Then I couldn't find any embellishment that would work they all seemed to clash with the colours, the nearest I could find was this aqua ribbon and flowers and it doesn't look to bad on the actually card but now that I've photo it they're now standing out like a sore thumb. Oh well Sarah Kay is looking cute!
We're all very excited over on Simon Says Stamps Challenge we have reached 1000 followers and over 300 entries but Lols wants to see if we can get our best ever with 400 entries. So a little gentle reminder that we accept multiples entries and we don't mind if you combined challenge either.

A Gem of a Sketch

I very nearly didn't make a card for the fabby sketch from Janet on Gem of a challenge I thought I had another week so I reckon I've lost a week somewhere, if you find it can you let me have it back.
Lucky for me Denny was already waiting to be made in a card although he's not too happy with the wonky photographer. The papers are Kaiser kraft and I managed to get some white fun flock so I used that for the clouds but really I got it because I'm told if you mix it with flower soft you get a better coverage so we will wait and see if that's true.
You must be so fed up with my woodware daisy punch but Denny is watering a daisy so I couldn't really put any other flower but a daisy.

Easter Puddy Cat

I love this Pink Gem Puddy cat with the easter chicks he's so cute, I used the Stamp with Fun sketch but I missed the deadline, never mind its still a great sketch. I also used my MS stamp round the page punches. I'm not that keen on them but I do like this one and I had it on my list for the Make it show but no-one had one which is a good job cos I managed to get it cheaper else where.
My papers are the DCWV citrus pad nearly all the best papers have been used but there' still a couple I like.
For a change I used some prima flowers and swirls as well as leaves, the sentiment is from Pink Gem Designs too.
I've also used the ticket sentiment also Pink Gem on my secret project which is now not a secret project since I gave it to my sister on Saturday. It's a mini book that I won at MJ Christmas Crop, hopefully I will get it all the photo's resized this week so I can show it entirely over on my other blog All in One Place. If you do pop over, there's a list in the sidebar with categories with links.

Since the book was already made, I had to take it apart and cut out the binder holes in the My Minds Eye pattern paper, it was the most boring thing I've ever done but it does look better than a cream border. The other problem is that I've got 3 other people's photos so that's a total of 1200 photos to go through to make sure I got the best ones and I forgot to put them in a separate folder on the PC so if I make another for myself I've got to through all those photos again.

Cosmo Cricket Sunday

When you see a challenge with a tutorial I suggest you actually read the instructions instead of looking just at the pics. I wanted to edge this tent card for the Just Magnolia challenge with red cardstock but couldn't get it right but if you read the instructions it will tell you to cut the circle out with them both together duh.
I also didn't want Tilda tangling since my fingers are still having pins and needles problems and have to fiddle with split rings just wasn't going to happen. So I backed the circle with acetate and stuck Tilda on the front. The papers are Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety I think its called.
I stuck the two pieces together with the thin red dst that once stuck never comes apart but thinking about it now I could have connected it with the ribbon and bow rather than stick a bow on it. Still I pleased with my first attempt.
I had a great day at MJ Every Moment Matters crop even though I have to get up really early to be at Sis so that Hubby can get back to work on time. You can stay really late but will only manage to about seven. I've almost managed to catch up with my 52-10 prompts just the journalling to do.

Weekend Crossword

There's a Black and White challenge on Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, not my favourite colours and I've these Daisy Bucket papers waiting for such a challenge. It was helped that this stamp fell through my letter box obviously they weren't alone but this one was perfect for the challenge. I did sneakily coloured Hedgie's pencil with blue but you wouldn't be able to see the pencil otherwise.
Since the image is perfect for a chap's card I've kept embellishments to the minimum of course there had to be a bit of ribbon somewhere.
Do check out the challenge the DT has done a brilliant job again.
I'm off for a day of Scrapbooking and to check out what some of girls got up to at the Inspired Retreat last week.

Pretty Friday

Today the last day for Penny Black Saturday Challenge and its a fab sketch from Carole so there's no way I could resist especially has I've got my hands on some of the new old stamps.
Isn't she adorable, I've used those free papers from the craft mag and I had to add a bit of ribbon somewhere and there was a lot of white space in the corner that cried out for flowers.
Need to get myself sorted out, off to MJ Every Moment Matters all day crop tomorrow, I've got to try not to take my craft room each time I go.

Fave Tilda

I love the sketch on Sketch Saturday this week since I could use up the last of the Bo Bunny papers. I've used one of my fave Tilda's and the sentiment is Hero Arts and not forgetting the punched flowers using the woodware punches.
With the last bits of paper I experiment a bit with a few A6 cards to be honest I think I failed miserably, I even had CPS and Mojo sketches to use, but since this is a record of my crafting you get to see the good, the bad and the downright ugly.


Well I know what I was doing 32 years ago and since Hubby gave me a card this morning he remembers too. Happy Anniversary to us.

Traditional Mother's Day Card

It's not long till Mother's day here in the UK so the the challenge on Simon Says Stamps Challenge is a card for Mum or a female card for someone close to you. The DT are also showcasing Hero Arts this isn't because you have to use these stamps for the challenge but to show what amazing stock Simon Says Stamps has, you can drool for hours.
So back to my card this time I've made a traditional Mother's day card since both my Mums are in their eighties and don't really understand cute.
I've made a gatefold card using the Dandelion Frame which I love and I stamped it on some really old Basic Grey Alyssa. The front I used glamour dust and then I used Engraved Daisy, which I stamps three times one to stick the whole flower onto the patterned papers and the other two to make the daisy, the centre I used some accent beads.
In side I used the dandelion frame again and I found some nice words on the WWW which I printed onto the paper and used the dandelion frame again. I also had to ink the outside of the word panel to match the sides. I'm really please how this turned out since it took a while to do and it looks so much better in RL
Hubby has informed me its football tonight so I shall be crafting tonight.

Sugar Bowl Boy

Kathy has done a fabulous sketch over on the Sugar Bowl with an added option of shabby chic, I inked round the edges of the cardstock afraid thats the shabbiness I could muster. I do love this Home Grown stamps he reminds me on my nephew although he is very blonde and this chap I coloured his hair brown so it didn't clash with his jumper.
The papers are Kaiser craft, I used MS zig-zag punch unfortunately its got a bit lost, the wheel thing I handcut out, its a template I made years ago when I used to handcut all my titles and if Mr Blogger lets me you can see the layout I used it on originally here.
One of the things I think is odd is Craftwork cards selling the tiny circles when they are so simple to make. Here I used a stampin' up 1/4 inch punch but I've have in the past used the dots left from using the croc-a-dile although its 1/6 and a bit smaller, I then used an embossing tool and make the rounded shape.
The sentiment is from Hobby Art, I wanted a new home sentiment and I had to buy a set of sentiments to get it and this was one of them.
I really pleased with myself the secret project is nearly finished, just the front page, I plan to finish it and photo it while the sun is shining.

Multi Challenge

I don't do this very often but this is a multi challenge card, the sketch is Stampin' for the weekend, the fancy ribbon is for Cute Card Thursday and Tilda is for Just Magnolia which calls for a Birthday card, Ok mine's a belated birthday card. Also I apologise for the crooked photography it seem she's back. The papers are Cosmo Cricket not sure which pack I want to say Girl Friday but I'm not convinced. I used fiskar punches, apron one and the ribbon slot one and the stampin's up oval ones for the sentiment which was printed on the PC. Not too sure on the flowers but I couldn't change my mind cos they're well and truly stuck.
Goodness its the first day of March I have a horrible feeling this year is going to whizz by.

Happy St David's Day

Spring has Sprung

It's all change at the By the Cute and Girly with Lora taking over the running of the challenge and life has got in the way of a few of the DT so there will some new members joining us. The challenge this month is Spring and seeing has the sun is shining this morning it couldn't be a better day if we tried.
I found this challenge hard since I had no pics of spring flowers or baby animals but the above pic was when we were in Spain in April a few years back. The papers are Deja Views, the font on the Cricut is Storybook.

This page was using papers out of Scrap-a-gogo Kit, I think possible the cosmo cricket one got mixed up with but although it sticks out like a sore thumb is this pic its not so bad in real life. The pics are of my hubby and BIL clearing out his gardening for the price of a roast dinner. The font is Base Camp and the leaves are Sizzix and punched flowers.
Don't forget the challenge is for any crafts whether you sew, paint etc we would love to see your Spring creations.

Mellow Yellow Sunday

I'm so pleased how this card worked out using BG Origins and Friday Sketchers Sketch this week. I have turned the sketch and used the usual suspects ribbon and punched flowers with roses and of course not forgetting the stamped Sarah Kay image.
I have to report I was disappointed with the Make it show and I really have to think hard whether next year will be worth its ticket price. It is possible we've just got too much stuff and we've been crafting for a few years so we not easily impressed but I still manage to buy some stuff and most of my list was all brought.
So I managed to buy glue, dst, chalkpads, acylic blocks, new home sentiment stamp and not on my list some PB stamp two of which were in the £2 off baskets and a couple of A5 set of stamps from Jenny of HobbyArt and a large pad of Bazzill paper which I now wish I brought more.
Then we popped down to the Art of Craft which is only a hop, skip and jump away from the show, they were having a second hand craft sell, where they sell your unwanted craft stuff and 20% goes to the charity sorry I forgotten which one it is. So I managed to buy some stamps most were PB and Cricut pens so maybe a successful day after all.
If you're planning to go to the Make it Show today unfortunately they've cancelled because they're expecting strong winds.
One thing we did do was to book ourselves on a Copic class with UK Copic Certified Tutors on the 25th April at Farnborough Hants in fact its at the Holiday Inn or the Queens Hotel if you're local. It being arranged by Stamps and Memories so hopefully I will be able blow the dust of my copics.
I've waffled enough now signing off.

Oh just wanted to Wave to Sarah aka Crafty Little Minx, lovely to meet you.

Stitching Saturday

I really must pluck up courage to use a sewing machine, this card took ages just because I hand stitched all the mats. The reason for the stitching its the challenge today over on Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge and we also welcome the two Vickys as permanent members of the DT.
Do go and check DT's creations, some of them are much braver than I actually used a machine.
So I've got my money, my list and the tickets, so what are the odds that I bring home stuff not on my list!

Wisteria Easel card

There's a couple of challenges calling for easel cards one of them being Everybody-Art-Challenge. I love making them but haven't for a while, also Bev has a fab sketch on WOJ challenge so I brought them both together. I did have to alter the flowers on the sketch since they would be in the way of the dress. Of course I used one of WOJ city girl collection and the fab Wisteria pack from BG, I've only got the not so nice papers left. Flowers are the funky flower punch and the border is a Fiskars punch.
All I wish now that these easel cards weren't so hard to photo.
Well it's the Make it Show at Farnborough this weekend and there's no way we're going to miss it since it's on the doorstep. Sis has sold some of my cards so I've an extra pot of money but I'm going to try and be good, I don't need any papers, or stamps (too many uninked already)I do have a list but on it is boring stuff, like glue, inkpads etc.

Colour Challenge

There's a great challenge on Simon Says Stamps group over on PaperCraft Planet, its a colour challenge. Brown, Vanilla (cream) and Teal, I immediately thought of the Basic Grey papers I think could be Offbeat but I've long since lost the front cover. My main prob was the cream was white in the papers so I picked papers with a small amout of white and used cream cardstock for everything else . The papers came out of a kit and I was just going to put them with my other flowers but they're perfect for the colours. Sweet Tilda and yummy chocolate ribbon with some MS butterflies to finish.
There's plenty of time to join the challenge and Simon says stamps are giving away a prize to the winner.

Is it Spring Yet

I wasn't going to miss out on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge although the colours Pink, Green and Yellow pretty much has me stumped till I remembered I had a papermania card pack that would work.
Since the shade of colours I had choosen pretty much screamed Spring I found a PB Easter stamp that I brought last year. My MS doily punch had an outing along with my funky flower punch. I was really pleased to find an Easter sentiment on a Woodware set.
I'm keeping this short and sweet since my index finger is sending pins and needles up into my hand, doesn't hurt but it does feel quite bizarre!