Happy Birthday !

I have made this card for a little girl who is about to be 7.

I made this card using

Stamp from The Stamp Boutique and coloured with watercolour pencils

The patterened papers are from Designs by Krista and are called "Tea Party". These are gorgeous and are lovely soft shades of pinks, greens, blues and also come with lots of other elements for you to use but I decided not to use them on this particular card.

The flowers are Prima with Papermania pearl brads in them. One of the flowers was white and I needed a pale green one so I inked it !

The ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge # 5 - Free Download Week

This week we would like to see your creations from the FREE downloadable papers on the Kaboodle Doodle Challenge Blog

I made this Christmas tag from the darker of the two papers and used vellum for the first time.

It's a shame that my photo doesn't show the glamour dust I used on Santa's beard. It actually looks better than this in real life. They say the camera never lies but it does with my tag, believe me !

These free papers are not only fantastic to use for your Christmas creations but others too. Go over to the challenge blog and have a look at the Design Team's work. There is a mixed bag this week with not only cards and tags but a jewellery box too !

I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing what you have come up with this week.

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Susie's Sketch

This is my card for this week's challenge which is Susie's Sketch (see my post below).




To make this card I used :

BasicGrey "Lily Kate" papers - oh wow, these are beautiful.

Penny Black "Sweet Pea Wreath" stamp coloured with watercolour pencils

The sentiment was made by me on my PC and I found it here

Pearls and lace from my stash.

I can't wait to have a look at your blogs to see what you have made !

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Challenge # 4

We had a lot of stunning entries for last week's challenge which was "distressing" and congratulations to Kim (Paperbabe) for winning the challenge.

This week's challenge is a sketch given to us by Susie Little.

"This weeks challenge is to make your creation following a sketch which has been provided by Susie Little, Susie also happens to run her own challenge blog which can be found here, you can flip the sketch over , turn it upside down or even both but you must be able to make out the original sketch, and of course use at least 1 item from BasicGrey in your creation, Susie has also been kind enough to make a card following her sketch which i have placed along with the design teams take on the challenge below :)"



Also i would like to thank Debbie our guest designer for September for being a fantastic addition to our team, unfortunately this week is Debbie's last with us :( , we were lucky to have you on the team Debbie :)

We look forward to seeing your stunning creations again this week.

Thank You Note Cards

After Ski's birthday we decided to make our usual thank you note cards to say thank you for the many beautiful presents she had received. We came up with these. We made them small so I could use some of the scraps of paper I have accumulated in my box under my desk and the small pieces of ribbon you have left over which you never seem to use because they aren't big enough ! I have only made a very tiny dent in my scrap box but at least I've used some and not had to spend more money ! Making these also gave me much need practise with my water threading punch after I remembered I had it after making the first card !

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge # 4 - Non-Traditional Embellishments !

"Well this week over at the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge blog we really want to set you a challenge!!! With our purse strings getting tighter and consequently our crafting budget forever shrinking :( we want to see you do a little bit of recycling!!! Our challenge to you this week is to use a non-traditional crafting element on your project. Now this can be anything that you wouldnt normally use or see in a craft shop e.g tickets, carrier bag, safety pins, fabric - one to really get you thinking this week!!

The prize once again is a free download of your choice from the Kaboodle Doodles website. There is no need to use Kaboodle Doodle papers or elements in your projects this week but once again, if you do you will be entered into the draw twice"

This is the card I made for the challenge.

I used to make this card :

The blue paper kit from Kaboodle Doodles.

A gorgeous Hero Arts stamp called "Glass Vases" which was given to me by my friend Lyndsey. Lyndsey knows I love Hero Arts Stamps and I also love this stamp as she has one too and has made the most fantastic card with it. Have a look at it on her blog. Thank's you my lovely !

I embossed the image with white embossing powder (I haven't heat embossed for a long time and I had forgotten how fun this was !).

My new Fiskars water threading punch which I'm actually still getting to grips with (you wouldn't think that such a simple gadget would tax ones brain quite so much. It doesn't take much to tax my brain though !!).

Gorgeous material covered brad from my friend Martine - thank you !

Tesco carrier bag for the petals of the flower covered with stickles in blue

Milk carton top (silver side) punched with my Cropadile to make the "gems" and blue stickles.

I'm looking forward to looking at all your blogs to see your "recycled" creations !

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Challenge # 3

We had many fantastic entries to our challenge last week which was "ATC's" and even from people who had never made an ATC before.

This week's challenge is "Distressing", well not literally !! We want to see distressing techniques in your creations this week and I for one can't wait to start visiting all those blogs to see them all.

This is my card for this week's challenge.

To make this card I used :

Woodware card from a card pack I purchased from Potato Patch Crafts in Devizes, Wiltshire. These are gorgeous as they are like cardboard and have a lovely "natural" texture to them. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them and it was ideal for this type of card.

BasicGrey "Mellow" papers (which you already know I adore !)

Trees, leaves and the sentiment are from the new Magnolia Fall Stamp Club Kit which arrived with me in the week and I couldn't wait to start using. These were stamped with Brilliance Coffee Bean ink which is my favourite at the moment. I love using brown ink, it makes such a change from black and isn't as heavy and seems to "go" with everything. Go on, give it a try. These ink pads (the small ones) are only about £1.60 and they are the best £1.60 I have spent recently ! I painted the images in distress inks.

The ribbon is from my stash.

The conkers are from my local park !

I look forward to seeing your entries and have fun, I did !

Crafts Beautiful Card Swap

The Crafts Beautiful forum held a card swap and the themes were either numbers or new home. I decided to make a new home card as I've not made one of these before and I had a good guinea pig as my card was going to my friend Zoe ! She says she loves it (I hope she is telling the truth and not just being kind !).

To make this card I used :

BasicGrey "Mellow" papers (oooh these are sooo scrummy !)

Image by Pink Petticoat and painted with Whispers pens

BasicGrey brown button and olive green cord from stash. The key was from a bag of charms from my stash.

The lace was also from my stash.

The flowers were a pressie from my friend Lyndsey and came all the way from the USA ! The brads are BasicGrey brads.

Many apologies

Many, many apologies for being such a bad blogger this week. Back to school the children go and into the house come the illnesses again ! I have a very poorly little girl currently sat on my lap who is full of cold and has lots of teeth all fighting to break through. Anyone who has children will know that its a exhausting business especially when they are ill and all I've wanted to do when they have gone to bed is flake out on the sofa myself and I've been feeling under the weather myself too.

Never mind, I hope everything gets back to normal in the next few days and I can start making again without having an extra pair of arms to help me !

Thank you to Jen for tagging me. I shall have to have a think about some answers for you !

Take care and keep well !

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge # 3 - "Tearing It Up"

A new challenge starts today on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog ..........

"This week's challenge is called "Tearing it up" and as the title suggests, its all about getting rough and tough and tearing up your lovely papers !! We would like to see lots of tearing in your work this week. There is no need for you to use Kaboodle Doodles elements on your gorgeous creations but any entry that do will be counted TWICE in the draw !"

This is the card I made for the challenge this week.

To make this card I used :

Kaboodle Doodles Party Picnic Green papers and edged with distress inks

Cat stamp from The Stamp Boutique painted with distress inks

Paw print ribbon from Cards & Crafts

Brads and flowers from stash

I really enjoyed making this card. Go on, have a go at tearing up those lovely papers of yours ! We look forward to seeing your entries. There is a super prize on offer too

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Challenge # 2 - ATC's

What a fantastic response we had last week to our first ever BasicGrey Challenge . The theme was "buttons" and we were amazed at the number of stunning entries we received. Thank goodness a random number generator was used to choose the winner because I couldn't have chosen one from the gorgeous creations we received. The lucky winner was Dawn. Many congratulations !

This week's theme is "ATC's" (Artist's Trading Cards). In case you are unsure what these are, an explanation is below.

I made these two ATC's this week for the challenge. I adore making ATC's !

This ATC was made using BasicGrey's "Pheobe" 12 x 12 patterned paper. The birds were stamped using Inkadinado clear stamps "The Florish Pack" in Brilliance coffee bean ink. The ribbon is from my stash.



This ATC was made using BasicGrey's "Sugared" patterned paper with Tilda who was painted using Whispers pens. The ribbon and flowers are from my stash.

We look forward to seeing your creations this week and have loads of fun making your ATC's and let your imagination run wild with them !

How to - ATC's

An ATC is an "Artist's Trading Card".

ATC's are miniture works of art and are usually made on card stock but other materials can be used i.e. heavy paper, acetate, wood, metal, canvas etc. The art on the card can also be done in any media i.e. pencil, paint, watercolour pencils, oil paint, beads, stamps, pen, ink etc. etc.

The only rule in producing an ATC is its size. An ATC should measure 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size (64 x 89 mm), the same size as other collectable cards.

ATC's usually have written on the back of them the artist's signature, date, the title and contact information i.e. email address.

ATC's are traded and not sold. Many people now make ATC's and swaps are going on all over the place and are great fun to take part in. If you would like any information about any ATC swaps that are happening, please contact me. I can be contacted on my email address which is in my profile or leave a comment and I will get back to you.

Special Days

Its a very special day in our house today. It's Ski's 7th birthday. My, where has that time gone. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was lying in the hospital bed with a newborn in my arms. We now have a stunning, leggy, cheeky blonde on our hands who is 7 going on 17 !

This is the card I made for her.

To make her card I used :

Bazzil papers cream and a raspberry pink colour (sorry, I do not know the exact shades)

Glitter card from stash

Flowers from stash with Papermania pearl brads

2 step Cuttlebug butterfly

I made the sentiment on my PC

The image is a fairy clear stamp from The Stamp Boutique.

I had seen one of these images before and one called "Flower Girl" and instantly fell in love with them but I couldn't find out anywhere who made them. While blog hopping last week I was amazed to see that I had landed on the designer of these gorgeous stamps blog ! The designer is a very talented lady called Sally-Anne and her blog is "Love to Doodle" . Sally-Anne not only has stamps made of her designs which are available through Sprial Whisper but she also sells downloads from her blog.

Crystal heart and ribbon from stash

Wishing our very special girl the best Birthday ever and we hope that all your wishes and dreams come true our darling.

Love you all the World, Moon and Stars forever and ever,

Mummy and Daddy (and Fizzy of course !) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Taking it easy

I thought that for a change this week I would enter a challenge. The challenge I have entered is on Elzybells Blog and is their first DT challenge. I have only just discovered Elzybells stamps and I have fallen in love with them already.

To make this card I used :

"Sweet Pea" patterned papers by Designs by Krista

Elzybells "Girl on a Swing" stamp. Her dress I paper pierced with the pink patterned paper and coloured her with watercolour pencils

Hero Arts Neutral flowers

Basic Grey buttons

The sentiment I found on the internet and I printed it onto an element in the "Sweet Pea" kit from Designs by Krista

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge # 2 - Feeling Spotty

I made this tag for this week's challenge. I used :

Berry Bright kit from Kaboodle Doodles

Ribbon from Poppycrafts

Papermania gem brads

Spotty Blooms from Joanna Sheen

Dovecraft stamp stamped with Whispers pens and a touch of Stickles

"Firstly, we would like to thank everyone that joined in with the first Kaboodle Doodles challenge ! Looking through all the entries, we were amazed at all the stunning samples you produced !As a thank you to you all who entered the very first Kaboodle Doodles challenge we would like to give the prize of a free download of choice to EVERYONE !! So if you can send us an email with your chosen download from the Kaboodle Doodles Website to kaboodledoodle@hotmail.co.uk, we can get them sent out to you !

Now for the next challenge.......This week here at Kaboodle Doodles we are feeling spotty !! So this week we would like to see spots somewhere on your creation. It can be on the background paper, spotted blooms, a dotty ribbon, or have a spotty element on an image, the choice is yours, we just want to see spots somewhere on your creation !! There is no need for you to use Kaboodle Doodles elements on your cards this week, but any entry that does will be counted twice in the draw !! The prize for the winning entry will be a download of your choice from the Kaboodle Doodles Website.The challenge will close at midnight on Saturday and the winner will be chosen using a random number generator and announced on Sunday alongside next week's challenge.

Take a peek at this week's inspiration provided by the Design Team !!

Have fun creating and we look forward to seeing your entries. Please leave us a link so we can come and visit you and remember you can still enter if you don't have a blog yourself. Just email a picture of your creations to kaboodledoodle@hotmail.co.uk. "

BasicGrey Challenge # 1 - Buttons

This is the card I have made for the very first BasicGrey Challenge Blog challenge which begins today. The theme is buttons.

To make this card I have used :

BasicGrey "Sultry" papers

Sarah Kay image which a very good friend kindly sent to me coloured with watercolour pencils

BasicGrey Buttons

Prima Flowers

You must take a look at the rest of the team's cards, they are adorable and can be seen on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog.

BasicGrey Challenges begin !

This is sooo exciting ! The BasicGrey Challenge Blog is now officially open and running its first challenge. The theme of the challenge is "Buttons".

"Well here it is at long last, the very first challenge for the BasicGrey Challenges blog, we thought we would start out with an easy one for you, the challenge is to create anything of your choice to the theme of "Buttons" :), now they don't have to be BasicGrey buttons so don't panic if you haven't got any, they can be any buttons you have in your stash, just as long as one thing or more on your creation is from BasicGrey then you are all set :),Now for the extra scrummy prize on offer this week for our lucky winner, the winner of this weeks challenge will win a BasicGrey 6x6 Infuse paperpack valued at £5.49, which is jam packed with 36 pages, 2 of each design of rich Garden green, hibiscus pink and coffee bean brown colors, i have this paper pack myself and it really is scrummy :)"

What a fantastic prize on offer this week ! Go on, what are you waiting for ? Get crafting !!

We look forward to seeing all your fabulous creations this week.

Can someone please pass the tissues ?!

Last night was Ski's last night at Rainbows. She starts Brownies next week. Wow, I can't believe how fast time has gone on. Anyway, she had her leaving ceremony last night and I wasn't prepared for how emotional it would be (although I do tend to cry at most things !).

There was a huge rainbow erected at one end of the room and the Rainbows and leaders all lined up alongside the rainbow. Ski had to shake hands with them all and then received a present from the leader, Clover. She then stood under the large rainbow and the Rainbows started singing their leaving song to her. They took her by the hands and she jumped over a small rainbow at the end of the line and was welcomed to Brownies by Brown Owl who was at the end of the rainbow. Well, that was me - a crumpled mess searching for that tiny bit of tissue that is falling apart in your pocket and has been used on numerous things and kids before ! We all have one in our coat pockets ! Go and check now, I bet you have too !!

Ski was desperate to make a card for them all to say thank you so we made this one together.

We used :

Patterned paper by Papermania "Sweet Nothings"

The rainbow was from a free download from Two Peas called "Magic Rainbows"

Paper Nation decoupage sheet

The sentiment was made on the PC.

Meet Mikey !

It was the first day back at school on Wednesday and after the awful Summer weather we have had, we were all looking forward to going back and starting a new year. Not only did school start again but the endless list of birthday parties has started too ! The first thing I was told when Ski left school was "I have a birthday party invitation !"

The difference this time was I knew what I wanted to make and I couldn't wait to get started !

Meet Mikey from Inklebods !

I made this card using :

Mikey from Inklebods painted with distress inks

Little Buddie kit from Designs by Krista

Transparent ribbon and eyelet from stash.

Even More Exciting News !

I suppose by now you are all getting very fed up with me telling you all about my exciting news ? Well, I have one more piece of exciting news to tell you !

I have been invited by Martine to be on the Design Team for none other than the new BasicGrey Challenge Blog !

How exciting is that ?! I can't begin to tell you how proud and honored I feel to be asked and hopefully I'll come back down to earth quick enough to be able to concentrate on my first DT piece !!

The first challenge takes place THIS SATURDAY so please pay us a visit to see what it is and join in.

Have I said how excited I am again ?!

Meet Maisy !

This is Maisy from Inklebods Stamps. Isn't she lovely ? I just love her sweeping hair !

I made this card using the patterned paper from "Blue Skies and Sunshine" Kit from Designs by Krista

The flowers are American Crafts with Papermania pearl brads in the centres.

The ribbon is Anitas and the buttons are Craftime and the rainbow drops were from Lakeland.

The lace is from my stash.

Maisy is coloured using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.