Merry Christmas Everyone !

I am sure that this will be my last post before Christmas so I just wanted to say to everyone.....

"Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year"

I can't believe that I only started my journey into cardmaking just under a year ago. I have met so many lovely, kind and talented crafters during that year who have inspired me and made me spend all my money !! and have given me opportunities I could only dream about a few months ago. I thank you all. I am hoping that I am worthy enough to join you all and spread a bit of inspiration to fellow crafters as you have done for me.

Thank you to all those who follow my blog, you don't know how much it means to me.

Roll on 2009 with even more fun to be had with crafting and blog hopping !

Hoping you all have a fantastic time with your families and that Santa brings you everything crafty !

Take care with lots and lots of rubbery hugs,

Just one more......

I just wanted to show you the sweet bags I have made for our Darlings for their stockings. I have used my new label Nesties, Joel the Reindeer from Toodles and Binks coloured with ProMarkers, House Mouse stamp from Christmas clear set and ribbon from my stash. These were also coloured with ProMarkers. It's probably more than enough to send their teeth black in the New Year !

Gosh, has a week really gone by ?

I have made it ! I am still alive ! I have just had the most awful week to top off my last awful weekend and have finally come through the otherside of the dreaded lurgy. Typically my DH was working long days this week (3am - 3pm) and Ski was still at school. I don't know how I managed during daylight hours but as soon as my DH walked through the door, he wore the trousers ! Poor Fizzy came down with it too during the week so we were both curled up on the sofa watching that awful Christmas Daily Cooks - what a load of old *&%£"! !!!!

I emerged from my duvet this morning feeling relatively human and ready to face the World.

Tonight I thought I would pop by and say hello and show you two rush makes of the week before last and guess what ? They aren't Christmas cards !! LOL

My friend had two boys, both born on Christmas Eve, 5 years apart ! Now, I wonder what the odds are of that happening ? They needed Birthday cards and here they are.

This card I had already made some months before but I adapted the inside of it and made a pocket to slide some money into it.








To make this card I used :

Black card from The Papermillshop.

Magnolia Edwin, wall and graffiti "Happy Birthday" stamps. Edwin and the wall were painted with distress inks.

All the patterned papers, lizard and the sentiment are a download from Designs by Krista






To make this card I used :

BasicGrey Cupcake papers. I punched the balloon border using my X-Cut border punch system which I totally forgot I had ! oops !

House Mouse stamp "Pop-ular Fun" which I have coloured with ProMarkers. The largest balloon I covered with glossy accents.

Again I added a pocket to the inside of the card although looking back, I could have added something else to it too - never mind, too late now.

Thank you for popping by. I hope to catch up with you again before the "Big Day" to wish you lots of merriment.

Thank You

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those people who have sent their kind wishes and love to my little girl who bumped her head last week -gosh, is that really a week ago now ? I am happy to report that apart from a stinking cold, she is back to her old self and still climbing on chairs and anything else she can scramble onto !

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge # 16

Sorry for being late posting this card. I have just had a weekend I don't ever want to repeat. To cut a long story short my baby DD, Fizzy, decided to give me a heart attack by falling off a chair onto the hard kitchen floor and when I went to her she was motionless on the floor, white face and blue lips. Of course, panic set in and I phoned for an ambulance. Within minutes they were here and she was screaming the place down. Apparently when she fell she went into shock and this is a very normal way a child deals with shock ! - they could have told me. We then spent the rest of Saturday night checking her every ½ hour (panicky parents) only to be woken by her being sick the next morning and she ended up being really poorly yesterday and another trip to A&E where they said she probably had a tummy bug and it was just coincidence that two came together.

Anyway, she is back to climbing chairs now and hanging off the Christmas tree so she must be back to her old self !

Now for what I am really here for .......

This week on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog.....

"This week the challenge is all about Males, we would like to see a creation aimed towards boys and/or men. Ok so it is quite a difficult one this week, but we are nearly at the end of the year so we thought we would give you a challenge"

This is the card I made.....

The patterned papers are the Kaboodle Doodles All Star Kit available in the Kaboodle Doodles online shop.

I cut the stars on my Cricut and these are Core'dinations card. I doodled some stitching around the edge and added some BasicGrey letters and dabbed them with some silver ink.

The image is Edwin who I have coloured with ProMarkers.

The string and button are from my stash.

I hope that you can find a little time in between those last minute Christmas cards to come and play with us this week and I look forward to visiting your blogs.

Take care and have a fabby week. Thank you for taking the time to come and visit me !

Hugs,

BasicGrey Challenge #15

This week over on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog ......

"For this weeks challenge we would like to see you use some recycling on your creations, eg, cardboard, parts cut from another card, material from old clothes, postage stamps, it can be anything you like, the list is endless, also its not essential that the recycled item has to be old and used, you could simply use the inside of a business envelope for example as i know they can have some lovely patterns that can be used as backing papers etc, so have fun and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from basicgrey somewhere on your creation"

This is my card ..

Firstly, I am sorry for the dreadful photo. It is so dark and miserable here I have had terrible trouble trying to get a decent photo even with all the lights on and a light over the top of my card !

The patterned papers I have used are BasicGrey Wassail and some gorgeous handmade paper with gold dots on it (this must be recycled somehow ?). I have also used some purple Bazzill for matting.

The main recycled "green" part is the dark purple patterned card that the Angel are on and the tags. This was card from a cake box that my daughter's birthday cake came in from Tesco ! I thought this card might come in handy for Christmas time as it had patterns of snowflake type shapes on it so I kept it in my box of scraps.

The Angel is a download from All That Scraps and she is coloured with ProMarkers and the only two Copic pens I have ! I have glittered her wings with some fabulous glitter which I bought from Crafts U Love called "Twinklets Diamond Dust" and it is little pieces of glass which sparkle just like diamonds. I also used this on the two brads and snowflake. You may just pick this up from the second photo I have taken if you zoom in.

The snowflake has been cut using my Cuttlebug and I rubbed some purple Brilliance ink and pink Colorbox chalk onto it and sprinkles the whole lot with diamond dust. The filigree and brad are from my stash.

The pink ribbon is also from my stash.

This week is the final week for the BasicGrey Challenge Blog until the New Year so you have plenty of time to gear up for our next challenge. We look forward to seeing you back again with us next year.

Thank you so much for popping by and visiting me and for any lovely comments that you leave !

Take care and have a good weekend. Hugs to all.

Anniversary Wishes

I made this card for my Brother and his wife and also for something else which I won't reveal just yet ;o)




I took inspiration for my card from Friday Sketchers as they had a fab sketch on there to follow.

To make this card I used :

K and Company patterned paper.

Red Core'dinations cardstock for matting.

A red piece of gorgeous paper from my BasicGrey Wassail pad and embossed this with my hearts folder on my Cuttlebug.

The image is a Penny Black stamp called Sweet Pea Wreath which I coloured with distress inks and I added some glossing accents to the flowers. You might just see this in the second photo I have taken. I cut all around the image and cut out the centre because I wanted the hearts embossing to show through. This took quite a bit of time and patience (which isn't my strong point !) with my craft knife !

This ribbon is a brown Anita's ribbon.

The pearls are from my stash.

The sentiment I made on my PC and distressed it with Antique Linen and Old Paper distress inks.

The colours in this card and gorgeous and warm and I was really pleased when I finished it.

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge # 15

This week on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog......

"This week the challenge is all about Embossing, any type of embossing, use your embossing powders and heat tool, or your cuttlebug and collection of folders, your light box and embossing tools - anything you like"

This is the card I made this week :

I used Kaboodle Doodles Green Papers Kit and also a piece of Papermania green Christmas paper.

A piece of bronze coloured Core'dinations card which I embossed with the script embossing folder on the Cuttlebug and then I sanded it to distress it. It also makes the embossing stand out too.

The image is a Papermania stamp which I triple embossed (my first time !) and I used silver, gold and silver pearl embossing powders. I really enjoyed doing this although I was a little worried I would end up with the stamp stuck in the embossing powder or a melted stamp ! I then rubbed some Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink into the embossing and "polished it" which gave it a distressed look and also made the image stand out a little more. I mounted it onto some bronze shiny card.

The sentiment is a Woodware clear stamp which I stamped in Versafine Olympia Green and distressed with distress inks (old paper and walnut stain) and also mounted this onto some bronze shiny card.

The rainbow drops and ribbon are from my stash.

I loved making this card, such a challenge and something I had never tried before.

I am looking forward to seeing your embossed creations !

Hope you all have a good week and I hope the end is nearly in sight for all those Christmas cards (says she who hasn't even written one yet !!).

BasicGrey Challenge #14

What a very busy week it has been this week and I have had no time at all for crafting or blogging. I was lucky and manged to make this card last weekend !

Now for this week's challenge on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog .....

"For this weeks challenge we would like to see some charms on your creations, you can have as many as you like, and of course not forgetting to use at least 1 item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creations"

This is the card that I made :




I used brown card from The Papermillshop

BasicGrey Pheobe patterned paper which is lovely with the little birds on it. I also used BasicGrey Sultry for the stamped birds. The birds are Hero Arts stamps.

The blue/green card is Core'dinations which I stamped with an Inkadinkado florish in Versafine Olympia Green.

I downloaded the image from Pink Petticoat and coloured it with ProMarkers. The sentiment is also from the same download from Pink Petticoat.

The ribbon and key charm are from my stash.

The flowers are Hero Arts flowers with leaves from Hobbycraft. The spacers and brads are from my stash. I also used some little rainbow drops and pearls also from my stash.

I have sent this card to my friend who is moving house in the New Year.

I would also like to say many congratulations to my new playmates ! Who are :

Kim Tara Anthea Chris Rica

You must go and visit these talented ladies blogs - they are amazing !

I am sure we are going to have lots and lots of fun !

Have a good weekend.

It's a Cracker !

This is the other card I made for my friend's little boy. I decided to follow the sketch Martine had designed for the DT call on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog seeing as she had done such a good job ! It was a great sketch to follow - thank's Martine.

I used :

Bazzill Basics "ruby slipper" CS and Papermania patterned papers (these are so lovely).

White card from The Papermillshop embossed with my snowflake Cuttlebug folder

Elzybells "Cracker Surprise" stamp coloured with ProMarkers.

Woodware snowflake punch and gems from my stash.

BasicGrey brads and spacers from my stash.

Ribbon from my stash with Santa charm from e-bay.

The senitment ticket is from a tickets kit from Kaboodle Doodles and I printed the sentiment from my PC.

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge # 14

This week its all about scallops - and no, not the fishy type !! ;o) so go get your scissors, punches, circle templates, nestabilities and get a scalloping !

There is also a fabby new kit available in the Kaboodle Doodles shop called "Contemporary Christmas" and this kit is gorgeous with lots of very girly colours so ideal for those little nieces (or indeed big ones), Mum's and Sister's or just a special girl in your life.

This is the card I made for this week's challenge :

I used the new Kaboodle Doodles "Contemporary Christmas" Kit for the patterned papers.

Elzybells "Sprinkle Snowflakes" stamp coloured with ProMarkers. I also added some Stickles to the snowflakes.

Nestabilities for the plain and scalloped circles.

Stampendous sentiment stamp.

Fiskers water threading punch for the scalloped border.

Woodware snowflake punch. These snowflakes also have Stickles on them.

The gems and silver elasticated ribbon/braid are from my stash.

Why not go over to the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog and have a go at the challenge this week and have fun !

BasicGrey Challenge #13

"For this weeks challenge we would like to see an aperture in your creation. It can be any shape, size or quantity that you like (for those of you not familiar with an aperture, an aperture is a hole or opening that acts as a window on your creation, and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creation"

Well, yet again my blood ran cold when I saw what the challenge was to be this week -I have never made an aperature card in my life ! I was determined that I was going to make one myself and not cheat and buy one and decorate it ! I was actually surprised at how easy it was.

This is my creation for this week and what I used to make it :




The CS I used was Bazzill Basics "ruby slipper" which I covered with the scrummy BasicGrey Wassail patterned papers.

The aperature was cut with my nestabilities and I put a piece of acetate over it and stamped it with my Inkadinkado snowflake stamp and white Stazon. I also put a tiny amount of Stickles on the snowflakes to make them slightly glittery.

Tilda was very kindly given to me by the wonderful Martine and I coloured her in my newly acquired ProMarkers which came highly recommended by a few people (you know who you are !!) and I was pursuaded to buy some and try them out. I now "need" all 92 colours as I have fallen in love with them !

The poinsettias are Making Memories and have BasicGrey Wassail brads in the centres. I used gold Stickles on the petals and added a charm which I bought from e-bay.

The sentiment is a Studio G stamp.

The holly is also Making Memories which has gold Stickles on it too.

The snowflakes I bought from Potato Patch Crafts the last time I visited. These are gorgeous.

I'm showing two pictures of my card so you can see the inside a little and also those gorgeous snowflakes.

I'm looking forward to visiting you to see your fantastic creation this week !

Keep warm and well,

Time for Bed

Oh I wish !

I have been asked by my friend to make Christmas cards for her children. I feel honoured to be asked.

I made this one for her little girl who is nearly 7.




To make this card I used :

Bazzill Basics red card and Core'dinations blue/green card.

My Minds Eye "Be Merry" patterned papers.

Elzybells Christmas Dreams stamp painted with distress inks. The curtains I paper pieced with the patterned paper and I also added some stickles to the stars and moon and added some "snow" to the windows.

The ribbons, buttons and Christmas tree brad are from my stash.

The charm is from e-bay.

The flowers are from Poppicrafts and Hero Arts which I also covered in Stickles.

The sentiment is PC generated.

What a yukky morning its been here. Its absolutely freezing and thick fog and it looks as thought its going to stay for the weekend. I shall have to stay snuggled up in front of the fire and make a few more cards (I'm making lots of wishes today :o) ).

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Sneak Peeks !

I'm feeling better than I was although its still hanging around and driving me mad. The good news is that I have finally felt up to playing again and my goodness, it does feel good. I thought I would show you a couple of sneak peeks of what I have been up to this week. Both of these are my DT pieces for the BasicGrey Challenge Blog and the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog both of which will have a brand new theme this weekend.

For BasicGrey this Saturday.....



For Kaboodle Doodles on Sunday .......



Hope you are all feeling well and keeping warm ?

Take care and thank's for looking in !

Jo x

What a lucky girl I am !

I have received another award and here it is :



The award has a lovely sentiment behind it, which is:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger’s who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Isn't that fantastic ? The wonderful people who have given me this award are Tara, Steph, Jackie, and last but definately not least TaraG . Thank you so much, it means such a lot that you have thought about me.

Now the problem is that I have to pass this onto 8 other lovely people but I've been sat here and I have struggled just to pick out 8 so, breaking all the rules as usual, I would like to pass this award onto everyone that reads my blog to say thank you for taking the time to read my blog and look at the cards I make. I love to read all your comments and I love to return the favour and look at your blogs and creations too.

I'm feeling a little bit better now and have managed to pick up a pair of scissors today and made my BasicGrey card for the next challenge. I have missed crafting so much. Thank you for all your good wishes.

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Challenge # 12

Sorry about my absence all week, I'm not a well bunny at the moment and all I want is my bed which I can't have because my DH is away all day and I have the girls to look after. I think I have the beginnings of a chest infection and typical, it only gets worse as the Doctors close their doors.


Anyway, down to business. Over at the BasicGrey Challenge Blog this week, the theme is embossing. It can be dry embossing or heat embossing or any other type of embossing you can think of !


This is the card I made earlier in the week.

The patterned paper is BasicGrey Euphoria (yes, I finally managed to get my hands on a 6x6 pad and it is beauuuuutiiiful !).

I embossed with my cuttlebug some pink card and distressed it with some white ink.

The images are an Inkadinkado stamp with no name ;o( and I heat embossed the image with metallic purple embossing powder. I then rubbed over the images with pink and purple Colorbox chalks.

The flowers and beads are from my stash.

Back to the sofa now. Hope you all have a good weekend and keep warm - it is freezing here today.

P.S. Martine is also holding a DT call on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog. Looking forward to meeting my new playmates !

Craft and Coffee - The Perfect Combination

I finally had the chance to go to Potato Patch Crafts again in Devizes for their Tuesday Craft and Coffee Morning as my DH is at home and was able to babysit. This is a real, real luxury for me as I very rarely get the chance to go out on my own and do what I want to do.

There were four of us and we had a lovely natter, lots of crafting and lots of coffee and it was perfect.

I have had some Prima clear stamps for a little while now and just looked at them not knowing where to start. I was thrown in at the deep end last week when for the BasicGrey challenge I had to make "one for the boys" for my DT piece (you can see my card below) and I decided to use these stamps. I wanted to try my hand at resist stamping as I had seen a tutorial on the Hero Arts blog and was keen to have a try and this was the perfect opportunity so I took my Prima stamps with me. This is the card I made.




I used distress inks and stamped the leaves in clear Versafine and then clear embossed them. I then rubbed distress inks over the top. I then mounted them onto some copper coloured card. The florish stamps and the background stamps were also in the set I have. It's not bad for a first effort but I would like to have another go sometime.

I also made this card very quickly at the end as I was keen to try the huge holly stamp. Unfortunately I didn't take the name of it but it is gorgeous and there are so many ways you could use this stamp. I decided to heat emboss it in gold.

I know this stamp is in a set of unmounted stamps and they are grey in colour but if anyone knows the name of it or who makes it, I would be keen to find out. I can always contact the shop to find out but then I might be pursuaded to purchase the set !!!

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge # 12 - Monochrome

This week, the theme on the Kaboodles Challenge Blog is monochrome. Oh dear I thought, this is as bad as making a card for a chap ! How surprised I was then when I saw that the BasicGrey Challenge this week was to make a card for a chap !! I did however surprise myself and I thoroughly enjoyed making the chap's card and also the monochrome card. After all, this is why they are called "CHALLENGE" blogs, isn't it ?!

Anyway, this is my monochrome card and I used to make this card :




Grey paper kit from Kaboodle Doodles.

Inca Stamp 3D Scroll Butterfly which I heat embossed with seafoam white embossing powder.

The ribbon is from Poppicrafts.

The sentiment is from a set of KandCompany clear stamps Brenda Walton Chelsea Sentiments.

The flowers are Hero Arts.

The brads and pearls are from my stash.

I am looking forward to seeing your monochromatic project !

BasicGrey Challenge Blog - Challenge # 11

Gosh ! The time flies when you are having fun !! I can't believe we are on week 11 already.

Anyway, enough of the waffle ! This week on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog its all about boys ! ;o)

"This weeks challenge is to create something for the boys, i can hear the shrieks all the way over here in Northern Ireland lol, i know exactly how you feel, men's cards are just too darn tricky but this is a challenge blog after all and that's exactly what we are doing, Challenging you, so good luck and remember that your creations must contain at least one item from BasicGreyand for your hard efforts on this challenge we have a fabby prize on offer for one lucky winner which has kindly been donated by our new sponsor The scrapbook Garden"

This is what I made for the challenge this week and I loved getting down and dirty for this one ! I love using distress inks but so far, I have only ever used them for edging and painting. I had also bought myself some Prima clear stamps which are totally different to anything I have used before, very "Tim Holtz" ! I have been sat looking at these stamps for weeks and I eventually said to my DH "why on Earth did I buy these ?". This week I was thrown into the deep end and decided to give "that look" a try and I hope I have done it justice !




To make this card I used :

Distress inks in vintage photo, walnut stain, peeled paint and pine needles all mixed in a big mess on a piece of card ! I then stamped the images in vintage photo and Versafine onyx black.

Prima Clear Stamps "Dance" and a touch of glossy accents on the bird

Bazzill green card, BasicGrey Archaic patterned paper and Core'dinations brown card

Brown ribbon from Poppicrafts (this does have hearts on the reverse but you can't see them !).

Archaic buttons and brads and cord from my stash.


Unfortunately, we also have some sad news this week. We are saying goodbye to our fabulous DT member, Chris. On a personal note I would like to say a big thank you to Chris for being such a fabby team mate and for giving me lots of inspiration and I wish you luck and happiness in the future and keep up your fantastic work !!


Looking forward to seeing your "one for the boys".

Cracker Surprise

It has been so long since I took part in a challenge and seeing as I have been a good girl and made my DT pieces in good time this week, I decided to have a go and make a piece especially for a challenge for a change. The challenge I chose was on Cute Card Thursday where they want you to use red or green.

This is the card I made :

I used Elzybells Cracker Surprise stamp which I painted with distress inks.

The patterned paper is Papermania Christmas pad. The green card is Core'dinations.

The poinsettias are Making Memories and the spacers and brads are from my stash. I put some gold Stickles on the petals.

The button and ribbon are also from my stash.

The sentiment is part of a PaperArtsy stamp which was stamped in Brilliance Lightening Black so it has a gold shimmer to it.

The charm is from e-bay.


This little chap is so cute, I forgive him for pulling that cracker !!!!

Make a Wish

I made this Birthday card for one of Ski's friends who is going to be 7 at the weekend.

To make this card I used :

Papermania patterned papers.

Pink Core'dinations card cut with my nesties.

Make a Wish House Mouse Stamp painted with distress inks and I added some tiny beads to the cake to look like sprinkles. I took another piccie so they would show up better.




The buttons are various ones from my stash.

The flowers are Prima Forever Flowers and the brads are from my stash. The spacers I bought from e-bay and they came all the way from Hong Kong and I received a fabulous service. Will definately buy from there again.

The sentiment is from a set of clear K&Company stamps Brenda Walton Chelsea Sentiments.

I took the layout of this card from a sketch I have seen somewhere but for the life of me, I can't remember where ! I look at soooo many blogs I get very confused. I shall rack my brains and if I remember, I will put in a link !

Edit : I have just found the sketch I used ! It came from Friday Sketchers !

I have just seen on A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge blog that their challenge for this week is to make a card for a child. I think this card qualifies, don't you ?!

Remembrance Day Poem

I am sorry that this is posted so late in the day but I saw this poem on the box of poppies in town when we bought one today and just had to share it as its so moving and made Ski understand a little more about what Remembrance Day means. We shall remember them.

A POEM FOR REMEMBRANCE DAY

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in the town today.
The poppies dear, are the flowers of love
For the men that have marched away.
But why have they chosen a poppy , Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my love, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.
But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red
Red is the colour of blood, my child
The blood that our soldiers shed.
The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief
For the men who never came back.
But why are you crying Mummy?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are for you my child
For the world is forgetting again.

Author unknown.