Simon Says Challenge ! # 3

What a fantastic response we had to last week's challenge of recycling - well done to all those who entered.

This week's challenge we are doing some cooking ! Yes, we have a receipe for you !

The receipe we would like you to use is :

2 x papers
1 x ribbon
3 x buttons


This is what I cooked up !



The two patterned papers are from BasicGrey Sugared.

The green card is from the Papermania card stack.

The image is by Stampendous and is Changito Monkey. I won three of these stamps on the Simon Says Stamp blog when they were offering them as blog candy. They can be purchased in the Simon Says Stamp store. This cheeky fella has been coloured with ProMarkers and matted onto the green card which ran through my swirls Cuttlebug folder.

The leaves have been punched from my fabby new punches from Woodware. They had some jungle cards in the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine and I fell in love with these leaves when I saw them (and the stamps !) and knew they would be perfect with this stamp and for this card. I have edged the leaves with vintage photo distress ink and added some highlights with a white pen.

The raffia ribbon is from Hobbycraft.

The buttons are BasicGrey.

I also decorated the inside of the card too. The sentiment is computer generated.

This challenge runs from today for the next two weeks so you have plenty of time to enter.

Heidi of Simon Says Stamp is offering a prize of $25 to spend on anything at all in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

I'm looking forward to seeing your wonderful creations.

Please visit the challenge blog to see the DT's amazing creations, they are all so different and inspiring.

Have a great Wednesday !!

Colour Create Challenge # 13

This week on the Colour Create Challenge Blog it was my turn to come up with a colour combo and theme, not as easy as it sounds ! I knew that I for one love making cards for those difficult males in our lives as I love the rich, warm colours you tend to go for when making male cards but I was afraid the other DT members might not like me anymore with my suggestion ! Anyway, after persuading myself that it is a challenge blog after all, I gave my suggestion to Tara and luckily, it looks like the rest of the DT have enjoyed the challenge ! You should see their creations, they are fantastic and really give loads and loads of inspiration for male cards that you need to make.

So, here are my colours, brown, orange and green and the optional extra is "for a male".

(Isn't this little chap just the cutest ?!).



Here is my card for this week:




The base card is green Bazzill.

The brown DP is BasicGrey Archaic (the inspiration for my colour theme as I just love this collection of papers and elements by BasicGrey). I added some doodled stitching to it.

The checked DP is Dovecraft Abstract Prints which I won in Judy's blog candy.

The image is a Sugar Nellie stamp, Home Grown Boys "A Boy's Best Friend" which I also won in Judy's blog candy (wasn't I a lucky girl ?). This cutey chap has been coloured with ProMarkers. Mustard and sandstone (hair), ivory and blush (skin), pumpkin and sandstone (top), moss (top), umber and burnt sienna (shorts), umber (shoes), warm grey 2 (dog), cool grey 2 (outlines). I also chalked the background with brown and green and added a border stamp with copper Brilliance ink. I matted the image onto gold card.

The raffia ribbon is from Hobbycraft and the twill ribbon is from my local market (fantastic for men's cards and very, very cheap !).

The button is from my stash.

The tags are a Sizzix die and the sentiment is computer generated and I have attached these with some green cord.

The brads are from my stash and I believe they may be old Papermania ones and the colours were a perfect match to these papers.

I do hope you like my card and colour combo and of course the theme ! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with and hope you will be brave and make something for those chaps in our lives.

Have a great Sunday and I will see you back here on Wednesday for Simon Says Challenge - yes, 2 weeks have gone by already !

BasicGrey Challenge #32

Good morning !

I do apologise for being such a bad blogger. We went on holiday to Cornwall during the last week of the Easter holidays and had the most fabulous time. It was a well deserved, relaxing and enjoyable break away from everything but I've had to pay the price this week and get back to starting back to school, being knee deep in washing and ironing and being a taxi driver most nights and to make it worse, my DH has been working late afternoons into the early hours so I've had to do it all myself which as many of you will know, can be very hard work at times so I have come back down to Earth with a thump !!

It was Fizzy's birthday while we were away - we can't believe she has turned 2 already - wow, where has that time gone ?

Anyway, back to the task in hand and telling you all about this week's challenge on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog. This week we had a fabulous sketch to follow by the ultra talented Chris and it is certainly a fabby sketch. I have definately saved this one for future use.

My new Gorguss girls arrived in the post yesterday afternoon and I just had to use one of them. I also received in the post the blog candy that I had won from Judy and in there were the most gorgeous flowers of wonderful citrus colours which really got me going !

The base card is yellow Bazzill.

The lime green card is Core'dinations.

The patterned paper is BasicGrey Urban Prairie.

The Gorguss girl image has been coloured with ProMarkers. Cocoa and cinnamon (hair), ivory and blush (skin), yellow and gold (flowers), lime green and soft lime (dress and socks). I also chalked the background of the image with some lime green and orange chalks which were also in Judy's blog candy.

The yellow card the image has been matted onto is Core'dinations and has been cut with my nesties.

The flowers are from Judy's blog candy and I have added some paper roses.

The raffia ribbon is from Hobbycraft.

The photo corner has been punched with an EK Success photo corner punch and I have added a Claire Curd sentiment.

The rest of the DT's creations are astounding as always so you must go and have a look at them. I'm hoping that this week I shall be able to catch up on my blog hopping as well as my card making so I'm looking forward to seeing your take on Chris' sketch.

See you tomorrow for Colour Create !

Have a great Saturday.

Colour Create Challenge # 12

This week on the Colour Create Challenge Blog, our very talented DT member, Chris, has chosen the colour combo of black, white and pink with the optional extra being polka dots.




Here is the card that I made :




The base card is white Bazzill.


The patterned papers, black florishes, "Diva" label, polka dot paper for Madison's dress and black and pink patterned paper which I cut with my oval nesties are all from a digi kit by Designs by Krista called "Cheeky".

The image is a download from Charmed Cards called "Holly and Madison" and I paper pieced Madison's dress with some of the polka dot paper that was in the digi kit. The rest of Madison has been coloured with Promarkers.

The ribbon is from my stash and I have added some jewels to it.

Again, the DT's creations are amazing this week, you must go and check them out.

Thank you for your lovely comments and I look forward to visiting you and see your black, white and pink creations, and some polka dots of course !

BasicGrey Challenge #31

This week on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog, we are paper piecing something which I love to do but don't do often enough.


It was Fizzy's 2nd birthday on Easter Sunday and so this was the card I made for her and decided to use it for this week's challenge too.



The base card is a Papermania scalloped card.

The patterned papers are BasicGrey Urban Prairie and Papermania Retro Floral.

The punch I used was a Martha Stewart doiley punch.

The image is by The Greetings Farm and is "Rock the Farm" Anya. Her hat, scarf and bows have been paper pieced with BasicGrey Urban Prairie and her hair, skin, trousers and buckets have been coloured with Promarkers.

I cut a butterfly from a piece of the backing paper and stuck it on with some dimension pads.

The number 2 is from a box of chipboard numbers I bought from The Papermillshop and I covered this in some BasicGrey Urban Prairie paper and rubbed distress ink around the edges.

I wanted some flowers on my card but didn't want to cover up the beautiful pattern of the backing paper and so punched some flowers out from a piece of acetate with my retro flower punch, covered them in glossy accents and then sprinkled them with Twinklets diamond dust and added a Zoom to the centre. If you click on the photo to zoom in you should see them all twinkly.

Please go and have a look at the DT's creations, they are amazing yet again and it was such a great challenge this week. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Simon Says Challenge ! #2

Well, what a fantastic response we had to our first challenge. Thank you all so much for entering and we hope you enjoyed taking part.

For our next challenge, our DT member Chris has come up with the fantastic idea of recycling. She says that while she was sat in the dark during Earth Hour she thought "let's try and save our Earth" so that is what we have been up to !






The base card is kraft card from a pack of Woodware cards and envelopes.

The patterned paper is from my scraps box from other cards I have made and is My Minds Eye "Bloom and Grow".

The buttons are by BasicGrey

The star brads are from my stash.

The frog image and sentiment are from a set of Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Stamps called "Frogs Jumping for Joy"

The centre of the card, holding the tag is actually a toilet roll tube which I stapled at the bottom and then covered in pattered paper and then stuck to the front of the card.

The tag is made from a piece of left over Bazzill and I added some more frogs which have been coloured using Promarkers.

The letters are by Papermania and are the foam self adhesive ones.

The ribbon is from my scraps box.

The rest of the DT's creations are amazing, you have to hop over to the Simon Says Challenge Blog to see them.

I'm looking forward to seeing you "save our Earth".

Take care,

Colour Create Challenge # 11

Happy Easter Sunday to you all. Are you all full up from all that chocolate yet ?!!

This week on the Colour Create Challenge Blog we are all chocolatety too. This week's colour combo has been chosen by our very own talented and "Master of Magnolia" Tab who has chosen brown, beige and cream and with the optional extra being distressing.

The base card is from a pack of scalloped cards by Papermania.

The patterned papers are BasicGrey Archaic.

The brown card is Core'dinations which I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Traffic Jam folder and the distressed using a Heidi Swapp distressing tool and sandpaper. I then added some string from my local garden centre.

The photo corners were punched with an EK Success photo corner punch and the brads are from my stash.

The tag I made myself and added some wording on my PC.

The image is by Mary Hall and is available at Funky Kits. This has been coloured with distress inks.

I hope you all have a great day and enjoy yourselves whatever you are doing.

Take care and thank you all for your lovely comments which I really appreciate.

BasicGrey Challenge #30

This week on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog we are thinking about chocolate. What is your favourite chocolate ? A nice strawberry creme, an orange creme, mint chocolate, those gorgeous, scrummy, yummy ones you get in Thorntons, any of those as long as its chocolate !! When you think of your favourite chocolate, think of the colour combo and use that !

Well my favourite chocolate is.... chocolate, whatever shape, taste or form (apart from any nut chocolate because I am very allegic to nuts). I do however enjoy a lovely mint chocolate with a cup of coffee after a lovely meal and this is one of my favourite colour combo's too, brown and green.

This is my chocolate .....





The base card is white Bazzill.

The patterned papers are BasicGrey Porcelain.

The green card is Core'dinations.

The image is Whiff of Joy, Melinda hugging a heart which Martine very kindly gave me a long time ago and I thought it was perfect for this as I imagined it would be a box of fine chocolates. She has been coloured with distress inks, peeled paint, vintage photo and walnut stain and a touch of worn lipstick for the hearts. I added some gold glamour dust to her wings.

I edged the image with some tapestry stamps in walnut stain and peeled paint.

The flowers are Hero Arts neutral flowers.

The spacers are from my stash.

The brads are BasicGrey.

The ribbon is from my stash and the heart is from my lovely friend Kim Dellow - thank you Kim !

I wonder what your favourite chocolate will be ? I look forward to seeing them.

The rest of the DT's cards are amazing, you must pop over there and have a look at them.

Have a great Saturday and see you back here tomorrow for Colour Create.

Hurry, hurry, hurry and Simon Says Challenge Sneek Peek !

Just a reminder that there are only 5 days left to join in the challenge at Simon Says Challenge ! so if you have time to spare this Easter weekend why not join us in our challenge ? It is so easy, the theme is yellow and green and guess what ? there is a prize of a $20 shopping voucher for the winner - just think of all those goodies you could buy with $20 !

We are so close to achieving 100 entries in our first week it would be a shame not to make it so I am relying on you !!

The brand new challenge starts this Wednesday and I am giving you a little sneek peek !

Have a great day and get making !!!

Happy Easter Hedgies

As promised, another Easter card I have made and this time with Penny Black hedgies which I also found in my stash of images.







All the ingredients are the same as the last Easter card I made although I used my label nesties to cut the sentiment in the centre.

The ribbons are from my local market.

Have a great day, looks like it is going to be a sunny one !

Happy Easter Bunnies

While sorting through the hundreds of images I have been given over the past year by my lovely crafting and blogging buddies, I discovered some gorgeous Penny Black Easter images. I have been very good and haven't bought any Easter stamps this year (which does surprise me !) and so decided to use the ones I have already.

The base card is Bazzill and I am sorry but I do not know the colour.

The patterned paper is the delicious My Minds Eye "Bloom and Grow" which I have fallen in love with big time (just look at the blog !!). I bought this from a fantastic online store called "Craft Island" who not only sell the complete set of "Bloom and Grow", sell co'ordinating packs of Bazzill to go with it but also provide a fantastic, quick service and I can highly recommend them.

The image is by Penny Black which I have coloured with ProMarkers.

I also decorated the inside of the card.

I cut an oval from my nesties and added a sentiment from a stamp I found lurking with my other wood mounted stamps.

The raffia ribbon is from HobbyCraft.

It's a gorgeous day out there today and I'm quickly typing this up just before we make our way out to go bowling with a group of friends of ours which I love and I know the kids love.

Have a great day and I'll be back with another cutie Easter Penny Black card I have made with the same yummy papers.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments, I really do appreciate them and they give me so much motivation.

Judy's fab news and her blog candy !

My fellow DT buddy on Colour Create, Judy of Judy's Crafty Moments is celebrating. Not only is she celebrating the fact that she has had nearly 10,000 hits on her blog (which isn't surprising as she is sooo talented and everyone wants to see her work) but also she has been published in none other than Craft Stamper magazine ! Many, many congratulations Judy.

There are three rules to be in the running to win Judy's candy

1. To add a comment on your blog and link Judy's blog - with pleasure !
2. To be a follower of her blog - been one of these for a long time
3. Nominate someone in blogland who has helped or encouraged you in some way.

Well, that one isn't at all hard for me. Over the past year I have met some amazing, friendly people who have both helped and inspired me but there is one person who stands out amongst the rest and that is my fabulous, talented and wonderful friend Tara of Happily Ever Crafting. Tara is one of the most genuine, down to Earth and loyal friends you could ever wish to meet and I love her to pieces. If I won Judy's blog candy, I would share it with my friend Tara.

I love this idea as its not just about winning blog candy or following someone's blog or even adding a comment, its all about taking the time to think about your friends and appreciating them and what they do for you. Well done Judy !

Colour Create Challenge # 10

I feel so chuffed with myself that I managed to do my blog makeover all by myself (with the aid of a kit and some instructions of course) and I love it ! If I was to do it again, I would do some parts of it differently but on the whole I was surprised how easy it was especially as I have never, ever tackled anything like this before ! No doubt I shall be dreaming about blog codes for the next few nights !!

Gosh, don't I waffle ?!!

This week on the Colour Create Challenge Blog......

Your colours this week are Duck Egg Blue and Rose Pink and the optional extra is stitching whether it be real or faux.

This is my creation for this week.

The base card is Bazzill and I am so sorry that I have no idea of the colour (well, I know its blue !).

The patterned papers are BasicGrey Marrakech. The pink paper I distressed with a distressing tool and ran through my Cuttlebug with the Textile folder.

The image is Constellations by Penny Black and this has been stamped with Tim Holtz China Blue distress ink. The edges have been distressed using Antique Linen distress ink.

The flowers are Prima.

The brads are Papermania pearl brads.

I cut the tags freehand and used a Clare Curd sentiment from her sentiment set.

The ribbon is from my stash.

The pearls are from my stash.

I took inspiration for the layout of this card from Friday Sketchers

The colours of this card are a lot more subtle in real life. I had a terrible job taking a photograph of it and it did not matter how or where, the colours were just not like in real life. I wonder why this sometimes happens ?

The rest of the DT have yet again blown me away with their fabulous creations so you must go and have a look and leave some lovely comments for them on their blogs.

Have a great Sunday !

Blog Makeover

I am in the process of giving my blog a complete makeover so no, you haven't visted the wrong place ! Hope you like it ? Work is still in progress !

BasicGrey Challenge #29

Haven't we had some beautiful Spring weather this week just ties in nicely with this week's challenge on the BasicGrey Challenge Blog. The theme this week is Easter/Spring. We would like to see this theme in your creations this week.

I chose a gorgeous afternoon to make my card this week, sun streaming in through the window, the sound of people cutting their grass, birds singing in the trees, my tulips dancing in the breeze and my two beautiful girls playing out in the garden and having a whale of a time together.

The base card is white Bazzill, swiss dots, this is such gorgeous card and so I chose not to cover it up too much. I love the freshness and how clean it looks.

The patterned papers are BasicGrey Urban Prairie and Papermania Retro Floral. These have been matted onto some pale yellow and pale blue card from the Papermania card stack.

The image is Messy Rabbit which my fabulous friend Tara sent to me and I have coloured her with ProMarkers. Warm grey 2 for Messy, blossom and blender pen for her pink bits, lime and moss for the leaves, cornflower for the flowers, yellow for the centres of the flowers, terracotta for the pot.

The ribbons are from my stash.

The Easter egg brad in the centre of the ribbons is by Hot Off The Press.

The buttons are by BasicGrey.

I printed the sentiment from my PC.

The tulips are in my garden !

As always the rest of the DT's creations are out of this World and have to be seen.

Have a fantastic Saturday and see you back here tomorrow for Colour Create.

Simon Says Challenge ! First Challenge !

Good morning !

Well, today sees the start of a brand new challenge blog Simon Says Challenge and we are all so excited ! We have some fantastic challenges waiting for you, a fantastic DT to show them off ! fantastic blog candy, fantastic prizes on offer - what more could you ask for ?

So without further ado, the first challenge is..... a colour combo ! The colours are green and yellow - so beautiful and spring like.

Here is the card that I have made :

The base card is from a pack of Woodware cards and envelopes which I bought at Christmas and I forgot I had them - oops !

The green patterned paper is My Minds Eye, Bloom and Grow.

The other patterned paper and yellow paper are BasicGrey, Lilykate. I punched the yellow paper with a Martha Stewart valentine heart punch.

The green card that Tilda is sat on is from the Papermania card stack and I put this through my Cuttlebug with the swirls folder. The card isn't as bright as the green in the photo !

Tilda has been coloured with distress inks. Her top and trousers have been paper pieced with the BasicGrey papers.

The flowers were punched from the BasicGrey papers with an EK Success retro flower punch and a daisy punch. The buttons are from my stash.

The sentiment is from a set of Simon Says Stamps exclusive stamp sets "card sentiments".

The ribbon is from Cleo Crafts.

The charm is from e-bay.

I also used a black pen for doodling around the edge of the card and the flowers. I had to laugh while doodling. It was only a few posts back that I was complaining about how awful my real stitching was, it wasn't at all straight and looked a right ole mess and here I was, pen in hand trying to get the lines all wonky, I even practised doing it first on a piece of paper !!!!! What are we like, hey ?!!!

You still have time to enter the draw for the blog candy - 7pm uk time, 8pm CET

You must go over and see the amazing creations of the rest of the DT, what a talented bunch they have chosen !

I'm looking forward to seeing your green and yellow beauties !!

Have a nice day (big grin !)