Bad Blogger - Christmas Candy :) lol

This post will stay on top until 6th January 2013.

 

Hi and good afternoon :)

 

Firstly I want to apologise for being a bit of a lapse blogger lately - :( 

 

I have struggled at times to keep up with my commenting due to my rubbish satellite internet (Avanti), and I usually pride myself on returning visits and comments and I love seeing what everyone has been up to.  Its often easier for me to visit every few days as it uses less of my costly bandwidth. 

 

I have moaned about my satellite internet in the past quite enough, but recently we were sold onto another company (QSat) without consultation,  and just checkout these prices and packages!! :(

Being very rural we have absolutely no other choice, and at times its cripplingly slow and imo rather costly to boot - Niall Quinn - take note!  We can only justify paying for 512kbps (like pulling teeth) and it has a very low usage cap.  As Scottish Rural customers we are not even allowed the nightsaver option!

 

Anyhoo - to celebrate reaching 400+ followers, and over 100,000 hits (how amazed and blown away am I) I would like to offer up some candy. 

 

Up for grabs are 2 of my very favourite Cheery Lynn dies (new ones, not my used ones! lol) and I will also chuck a few other bits and bobs in including a Prima Nature Garden 6 x 6 paper pad and a Kenny K rubber stamp.

 

This candy will stay open until 6th January, as my blog like many others is likely to go a bit quiet over the Christmas and New Year period - LOL

 

All I ask is that you are a follower (I always follow back) and please only follow if you like my blog.  Feel free to put a pic in your sidebar, or post about it, but its not compulsory (rules schmules!). 

 

Candy only blogs will be deleted (I will check).

 

 

Thanks so much for sticking with me, I always read every single comment and I appreciate all of them! :)

hugs

 

 

Santa Claus is Coming - Sweet Stampin

Good Morning! :)  I hope everyone has some fabby festive plans for the weekend.  We are off to see THE HOBBIT tonight, and I cant wait!

 

My card today is for our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin where this week our theme is 'Santa Claus is coming'.  We are sponsored by A Day for Daisies and our regular monthly sponsor Joanna Sheen, so brilliant prizes! :)

 

I layered MME Lost & Found Christmas papers onto Kraft cardstock and added quite minimal embellishments for me.  The stamp is an old wooden one I have had for ages, so no idea where I got it from and just finished it off with a few pearls, twine, wooden snowflake and a metal corner.

 

I use a photography 'puffer' (that I cadged off OH) to get rid of excess glitter and didnt notice that whilst I was puffing away my smallest dog Hector was sat underneath.  He ended up a lovely, shimmery, festive gold - lol.

 

I hope everyone has a smashing weekend and thanks so much for visiting my blog today,

Tis' The Season - Cheery Lynn Designs

Hi and Good Morning :)

 

My card today is for our new challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs, where this weeks theme is  'T'is the Season' and you still have bags of time to enter to be in with a chance of winning a brilliant prize so I hope you find time to play along.

 

Now I have loved making my christmas cards this year with Cheery Lynn Dies, there are so many fabulous and seasonal dies to choose from I was never stuck for ideas or inspiration. 

 

I started off with a  6 x 6 inch blank card base and I layered MME papers onto dark green bazzil cardstock.  I cut 2 Tiffany Border dies, enabling me to shadow the dark green with a splash of cream for contrast, and also did the same with the stunning O' Tannenbaum Tree.  I hand-beaded pearl seed beads onto the tree following the patterns on the die and this made it really easy and effective! :)  I  added a the Holly Lace Flourish, Christmas Lights and Holly Corner dies to the card panels before centering my main image onto matted oval stackers.  I finally added a bit of twine, wooden snowflake and a moonstone brad for a finishing touch.

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

DL142 - O Tannenbaum Christmas Tree

B184 - Holly Corner

B148 - Holly Lace Flourish

B137 - Tiffany Border

B131 Christmas Light Swag

XL-8 - Scalloped Oval Stackers

L-7 - Oval Classic Stackers

 

I cant wait to see what you do with this weeks challenge, we are on the final stretch to christmas, and a hand-made card is always really special both to give and to receive.   Dont forget to check on our Cheery Lynn Designs blog for fresh daily inspiration and more fabulous creations by the very talented DT too.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and I hope you have a smashing week,

 

 

With Love at Christmas - Joanna Sheen

 

Good Morning :)  I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  I spent yesterday putting the finishing touches to my christmas decorations, and unwrangling a set of lights that had been bugging me! lol.

 

Today sees the start of our new challenge over at Joanna Sheen, and this time you have a whole month to join in and play along - just to make it easy! ;)  Our theme is 'With Love at Christmas', and as always the lucky winner will win a £15 voucher to spend online - brilliant prize!

 

I was sent this gorgeous set of Giordano decoupage sheets called Father Christmas and Friends, and it was packed full of lovely warm and very cute images.  I dont do a lot of decoupage as the fiddly stuff puts me off, but these are really big and so easy to work with, I ended up making 2 cards in the same time I would usually spend on one!  Excellent for making some last minute christmas cards ;)

 

 

I used 6 x 6 Kraft card blanks for my base and just layered Memory Box papers onto gold mirri card, and added a few die cuts to match.  The beautiful gold ribbon was sent to me as a birthday present and its so luxurious I didnt want to part with it! :)

I hope you find time to play along, and dont forget we have weekly candy give-aways and daily talent spots too.

Have a smashing sunday, and thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Marvelous Magnolia - Snowflakes

Good Morning, I hope everyone is having a good week :) 

Well the snow still hasnt gone (we had over 6 inches fall from Sunday) and its frozen so hard its absolutely lethal - even my doggies were skating on it when they charged out this morning - lol! :)

My card today is for our new challenge over at Marvelous Magnolia where this week our theme is 'Snowflakes' .  Rather fitting really!  We have 2 fabby sponsors and great prizes, so well worth joining in.

Marker Pop

 

 

&

 

Tildas Town

 

 

I layered MME papers onto white Bazzil card and coloured the image with PM's.  The dies are mix of Doo Hickey, and Marianne and the lamp-post and snowflakes are Cheery Lynn.  The ornate gate is spellbinders and took absolute age to get right, then I remembered a tip that was left in my comments box a couple of weeks ago suggesting I try talcum powder - BRILLIANT tip! :)  It literally fell out with such ease, I was amazed! Thank you :)

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

**Moneysupermarket.com** - Christmas card competition - check out the link to enter with a chance to win an iPad, or hobbycraft vouchers.

Tildas Town - Celebrate Christmas

7 Kids Challenge - Holiday Inspired
I ♥ Promarkers - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Snowflakes
Crafts & Me - Anything Goes
Divas By Design - Let it Snow
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge - So this is Christmas
 

Thanks so much for looking at my blog today and I will be trying to catch up visiting back later :)

Cheery Lynn Designs & Hampton Arts

2nd Post of the Day

 

please scroll down to see my Christmas at Sweet Stampin post.

Good Morning :)  back again today with my 2nd post!

 

This week we have a really special event taking place as Cheery Lynn Designs and Hampton Arts both team up to give you a week of gorgeous inspiration and fabulous prizes! 

 

 

 

Visit the blogs daily and just leave a comment to be in with a chance of winning either a fabulous $25 Cheery Lynn gift certificate or this wonderful Hampton Arts stamp and inks prize!

 

 

 

Our challenge theme this week over on the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge blog is 'Happy Holidays' and I was lucky enough to be able to use a couple of gorgeous Hampton Art wooden stamps on my project which worked beautifully with these elegant dies. 

 

I started off with an 6 x 6 ivory blank card base and layered HOTP papers, Kraft Card and Ivory Cardstock (300gsm).  Both images were stamped with Hampton Arts Graphic 45 Decades ink pad in Dark Cashmere, and tinted along the edges.  The sentiment stamp was mounted and layered on 2 sizes of  Scalloped coved rectangle and the matching Classic coved rectangle dies and then matted onto square scalloped & classic stackers.  The musical border was edged by using the largest purple scalloped stacker and just cutting along one side to create a border.  I was really pleased with how this turned out! :) 

 

I had a lot of fun creating my own flowers for this card, and went to town with loads of fabulous Christmas dies too.  I used my favourite Lace Christmas Tree just tucked behind the main sentiment and also the Holly Lace Flourish .  The flowers are a mix of  Build a Flower, Darling Daisies and Holly Leaves. 

 

All dies used on this project are:

 

Build a Flower #1

Embellishment #2

Lace Christmas Tree

XM-11 - Coved Scalloped Rectangles

M-10 - Coved Rectangle Classic Stackers

Holly Leaves

Holly Lace Flourish

Holly Corner

Darling Daisies

L-1 - Square Silver Stackers

XL-2 - Square Scalloped Stackers - Largest size for the border edging and a medium sized full square for the sentiment mat.

 

Hampton Arts products:

 

PS0510A - Warm Wishes Collage

PS0670 - Music Note Border

Colour Box Graphic 45 Decades Ink Pad - Dark Cashmere

 

I hope you find time to join us in the challenge this week, and I look forward to seeing some gorgeous Christmas creations!  Dont forget there is fresh daily inspiration over on both the Cheery Lynn Inspiration blog and the Hampton Arts blog too.

 

I am entering this card in the below challenge:

 

The Sketchy Challenges - Fab sketch ladies!

Dies to Die for - Dieing for a Challenge - Christmas Creations

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and have a smashing day!

 

 

 

 

 

Anything Goes - Sweet Stampin at Christmas

1st Post of the Day

Good Morning :)

 

Today sees the start of our first challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin, where we kick off with a month long theme of 'Anything Goes'!  We have 2 amazing sponsors: 

Funky Kits

 

 

&

 

Letraset

 

 

so well worth playing along, and you have bags of time to join in before we officially launch next year on the 9th January!

 

As we are not an 'exclusively stamping' blog, the rest of the DT have created some gorgeous christmas projects from wreaths to advent calendars and it was great fun making something a little different. 

 

Now I always try to use up scraps and old stash on gift tags, so I had a dig through one of my Crafty Bitz boxes and ........'Ta Da' - I found some embossed gold baubles and poinsettas .  The tags are a mix of  Marianne and Doo Hickey and the paper is Anna Griffin.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and I hope you get time to pop back later as I will be sharing my DT project for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge, where this week we also have a special event! 

Ribbons & Snowflakes - Sweet Stampin

Oooh, 1st December - Woop Woop  :)   I have today loaded my iPod with xmas toons and I am deffo feeling a little bit festive.

Our new challenge this week over at Sweet Stampin is 'Ribbons &  Snowflakes'.  We have multiple fabby sponsors this week, so you could be in with winning a prize from Joanna Sheen, Crafty Ribbons and The Stamp Fairy.  Brilliant prizes, so I hope you find time to join us.

This super-cute image is called Molly Winter and I coloured her in PM's and Flexmarkers (although I was having a bit of an off day with my colouring - tut)  .  The papers are scraps from very old stash and the dies are a mix of Cheery Lynn, spellbinders, Memory Box and the fab layered xmas tree is Dee's.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and I hope everyone has a smashing weekend

Cheery Lynn Designs - Pink Christmas

 

Hi and Good Morning :)

Our new theme this week over at the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge is  'Non Traditional Christmas Colours'.  As always there is a fab prize on offer and you still have plenty of time to enter HERE:

Now I love to see light and fresh looking christmas cards, they can really stand out amongst the darker, more traditional colours and its quite nice to have a break from all the reds and greens too.

I started off with a 6 x 6 scalloped card base and layered K&Co papers from my scraps box onto American Crafts white textured cardstock.

This stunning Lace Christmas Tree die cuts beautifully and is so ornate and swirly it has a real wow factor!  I layered it on top of the matching Angel Wing for dimension and then added lots of sparkle and bling.  The gorgeous snowflakes were layered snowflowers from set 1 and 2 held together with moonstone brads, and the smaller snowflakes were made using embellishments from the BAF embellishment sets.

The beautiful border is the Anastasia die with 2 staggered layers and topped off with pink dotty satin and organza ribbon.  This was a pretty quick card to make, and would work well with any colour combo and scraps of papers :)

All dies used on this card are:

Lace Christmas Tree + A/W
Anastasia Border
Snowflowers #1
Snowflowers #2
Snowflakes plate (the 3 mini snowflakes, top left)
BAF - Embellishment set  #1
BAF - Embellishment set #2
Square Classic Silver Stackers
Scalloped Square Stackers

I cant wait to see how you interpret this  weeks challenge and dont forget there is always fresh and inspirational projects uploaded daily by the rest of our talented DT over on the Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, I have had family staying over the last week, so hope to catch up with everyone soon.

Marvelous Magnolia - Non Traditional Christmas

 

Good Afternoon :) 

 

Today sees the start of a brand new challenge over at Marvelous Magnolia where this week our theme is 'Non Traditional Christmas Colours'.  We are sponsored the fabulous Live and Love Crafts, so a brilliant prize and well worth playing along! :) 

 

 

I hadn't intended to make an easel card, but as I cast aside the scraps of HOTP paper on my desk, they all seemed to fall in place and it seemed a shame to banish them to the scrap box forever! lol.  I have had this HOTP christmas paper pad for years, and there are still has so many gorgeous papers left I doubt I will ever see the end of it!  

 

I am back to hand-stitching as I have no idea how to wind a bobbin on on my cheapo machine. I saw one for sale on Ebay for £3 and was tempted to buy it just for the instructions.  I found it quite a time-saver so it must be worth giving it another go just to try and wind some thread on.

 

I used an MS snowflake punch for the outer edging, and the dies are a mix of Doo-Hickey, Cheery Lynn, Marianne and spellbinders (so almost a full house) and added cheesecloth, pearls, wooden button and ribbon from stash.  The mini-cones on the tree are again nicked from one of my many pot-pourri bowls! :)   The sentiment is Pink Petticoat and there are also a few LOTV grunge sentiment stamps scattered about this too.

 

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

 

Live & Love Crafts - Christmas

Tildas Town - Anything Goes

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Winter

7 Kids Challenge - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Ribbons & Pearls

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Divas By Design - 2 or more patterned papers

Stamptacular Sunday - Recipe - ribbon, pearls, dies & punches

Dream Valley - Anything Goes

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and I will be catching up later,

 

Tag You're It - Cheery Lynn Designs

 

 

Hi and Good Morning :)

 

We have a new challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs and our theme is  'Tag - you're it', and you still have lots of time to enter here:  As always the winner will receive a brilliant $20 voucher to spend online at the Cheery Lynn Store.

 

This was a really fun project for me, as I dont often think to make tags this size.  I used a blank manilla parcel tag (6.5 x 3.5 inches) and covered it with MME xmas paper.  I then backed it onto some kraft card and inked the edges. 

 

I layered 2 of the Holly Lace Flourish dies and made the border from the Queen Anne's Lace following some of the pattern design on the paper.   I chose to make the centrepiece out of the beautiful and very elegant lacey Bell Die which comes with the fabby bow too, and layered it onto cream cardstock.  I decorated the bells with pearls and fixed it to the oval stackers.  For a fabulous finishing touch I added 3 snowflakes from set 1 and 2 of the snowflowers dies, I absolutely love these and seem to be using them on almost everything at the moment! :)

 

All dies used on this tag are:

 

Bow & Bell

Queens Annes Lace Border

Holly Lace Flourish

Snowflowers - Set One

Snowflowers - Set Two

Scalloped Oval Stackers

Silver Stackers Oval

 

I hope you find time to join in this week, and I look forward to seeing more lovely entries.  Dont forget there is always fresh daily inspiration over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog too.

 

I would like to enter this tag into:

 

Dies to Die for - Dieing for a challenge - Winter

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and have a smashing day!

 

 

 

Snow People - Sweet Stampin

 

Good Morning :)  I hope everyone has some fabby plans for the weekend!

 

We have a new challenge today over at Sweet Stampin where this week the theme is 'Snow People'.  We are sponsored by our monthly sponsor - the ever generous Joanna Sheen, and our weekly sponsors of Di's Digis and Bugaboo Stamps.  Brilliant eh? !! :)

 

I used this cute Ava & Deacon digi image and it was great fun to colour!  I try where possible to make my christmas cards flat, and also a  cheaper size for posting (lol) so I used a 7 x 5 inch scalloped card (for a change) and layered HOTP papers onto white bazzil card.  The dies are a mix of Marianne, Memory Box, Cheery Lynn and spellbinders, and the tags are LOTV. 

 

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

 

I ♥ Promarkers - Christmas Trees

My Mums Craft Shop - Winter Wonderland

Crafts & Me - Non Traditional Christmas Colours (I think this means no red & green?)

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and dont forget we have a mini DT call over on Sweet Stampin and Christmas at Sweet Stampin, so if you are interested in joining a fab, fun team pop over and take a look.

 

Have a smashing weekend

 

Colours of Autumn - Cheery Lynn Designs

 

Hi and Good Morning :)

 

Our new challenge this week over on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog is 'Autumn Colours' and there is a fab prize of a $20 voucher to spend online at the Cheery Lynn Designs store.

 

Now I have been dying to use some more of the gorgeous celtic borders on my cards, and so I chose to start off with an 8 x 5 inch card base, as the borders really work well when used in 8 inch strips.

 

My cardstock for this was 300gsm Kraft and Ivory, so really heavy weights and as you can see they cut the most detailed dies beautifully.   I coloured a fab Crafts & Me digi image as my focal point and used HOTP papers from my scraps box.

 

The gorgeous border dies are the Celtic Chain and the Celtic Heart Border.  I added a cross section of the Tiffany Border die towards the bottom and embellished that with 2 mini doilies taken from the centres of the Polynesian Sails and Nautical Wheeler dies.  These are so useful! 

 

The leaves are a mix of Dimensional Small Leaves,  Olive Branches and Pair of Ferns  I finally added twine, a wooden button and a few more bits and bobs glittered up from my pot pourri bowl - lol! :)

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

B202 -  Celtic Chain

B237 - Celtic heart border (tucked behind the image)

Tiffany Border

Polynesian Sail - mini doily taken from the centre of the main die

Nautical Wheeler Doily - mini doily taken from the centre of the main doily

DL133 Dimensional Small Leaves #1

Olive branches

DL152 - Dragonfly Small w/Angel Wing

B118 - Pair of Ferns

 

I hope you find time to play along with our challenge this week, and I look forward to seeing some fabulous creations.  Dont forget there is also daily inspiration from the other talented members of the DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog.

 

I would like to enter my card in the below competitions:

 

Papertake Weekly - Flower Power

Divas By Design - Anything Goes

Dream Valley - Amything Goes

Natalie & Amy - Colour Me Happy - Green, Brown & Cream

Crafters Companion - Fave colour combo - I am using Green, Brown & Cream quite a lot recently :)

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and I hope everyone has a smashing day!

 

 

Cold & Frosty - Joanna Sheen

 

Morning :) 

 

Well SkyFall was Ace ! - I quite like my Bonds' mean & moody and it was a fabby film! 

 

Now, we have a new challenge starting today over at the Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog, where this fortnights theme is 'Cold & Frosty'.  The winner will receive a brilliant Joanna Sheen voucher to spend online, so well worth playing along.

 

I was sent this adorable House Mouse image - House Mouse Winter and it was so lovely to use.  I coloured with Distress Inks, and then added some Aleenes glitter snow with a paintbrush and sprinkled extra Fairy Dust on top. The papers are Memory box, sentiment is LOTV and the dies are a mix of Cheery Lynn, spellbinders and Memory Box.  The berries are again borrowed from my pot pourri bowl ;)

 

I am now in countdown mode until Dec 13th when the wonderful Richard Armitage is back on my radar (even though he is a beardy dwarf) in The Hobbit - I absolutely cant wait for that :)

 

 

pic courtesy of richardarmitagenet.com

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and have a smashing day,

Marvelous Magnolia - Pearls and Lace

 

Morning :)

 

So, today sees the start of our 2nd challenge at Marvelous Magnolia where this week our theme is 'Pearls & Lace' (my favourites!).  We have 2 fabby sponsors this week too, and I really, really, really wish I could enter! lol

 

Tildas Town

 

 

 

&

 

Marker Pop

 

 

I actually won this gorgeous, cute stamp called 'Rose Scent Tilda' from Tilda's Town earlier this year, and I couldnt resist buying a few more at the same time as they do FREE WorldWide Shipping (how amazing is that!)  - its actually quite often a deal-breaker for me - lol ;) 

 

I hand-stitched Prima Papers and shabbied them up with a bit of white acrylic paint.  The dies are a mix of  Doo-Hickey and Nellie Snellen and the flowers and lace are WOC.  The metal corner and key are Tim Holtz and the twiggy seed pods were again nicked from my pot pourri.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and have a smashing day!

 

 This card is available to buy from my Etsy Shop HERE

Cheery Lynn Designs - Give Thanks

Our new challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs is 'Give Thanks' and this can be interpreted in so many ways.   The winner will receive a fab $20 voucher to spend online at the Cheery Lynn store so well worth playing along. 

 

I started off with a 6 x 6 blank card base and layered MME papers on American Crafts white cardstock.  I coloured a sweet Sylvia Zet digi-image called 'Sympathy Bugs' to match my papers and then set about playing with my dies.

 

The borders down the sides are the elegant Lace Light Deco border, which I think goes with just about anything and everything - its fab!.  I then  used for the first time the Nautical Wheeler Doily - this is a fabulously styled and lacey design and you even get a mini doily that pops out in the middle to use later.  I made my own flowers using Sweet Williams and Roses dies and added some Olive branches to the spray.

 

The sentiment was printed on my PC which I cut out using the coved rectangle and scalloped rectangle mini dies.

 

All dies used on the card are:

 

Nautical Wheeler Doily Die

Lace Light Deco Border

Exotic Butterflies Small

Sweet Williams

Medium Roses

Miniature Roses

Olive Branches

Thank

You

Coved Rectangle

Scalloped Coved Rectangle

Circle Silver Stackers

Scalloped Circle Stackers

 

I hope you find time to play along and dont forget there is also daily inspiration from the other talented members of the DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and I hope you have a smashing day! :)

 

 

All That Glitters - Sweet Stampin

 

Good Morning and Happy Weekend - YAY!!

 

We have a new challenge today over at Sweet Stampin where this week the theme is 'All That Glitters'.  We are sponsored by our monthly sponsor Joanna Sheen, and our weekly sponsor is one of my very generous teamies - Natalie, with this fabby prize from her shop Iva Nova Chest:

 

 

 

 

 

I coloured up a gorgeous image from Mo Manning with PM's and layered up white bazzil card and MME xmassy papers.  The dies are Cheery Lynn and the border punch is MS. 

 

I will be entering this card in the below competitions:

 

The Sketchy Challenges - Fab sketch!

Live & Love Crafts - Christmas

Divas By Design - Feeling Festive

I ♥ Promarkers - Cute

 

 

Thanks so much for looking at my blog today and have a smashing weekend,