Simon Says - We are all going dotty !!!

Whoo hooo today is the day I pick my baby up from Brownie Camp and I can't wait to see her again and hear all about her adventures while she has been away. The house has been so quiet without her and we have all missed her like crazy, especially her little sis !

Today is also the day for a new Simon Says Challenge and this week, we are all going DOTTY ! Yes, we want to see dots in your creations !

The DT are also showcasing Prima flowers but you can use anything you like !!

There is a fantastic prize of a $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Store for the lucky winner and I shall say you will need it when you see all the goodies Heidi, Steph and Terra will order at the CHA show !!

The DP's are by Daisy Bucket and are called "Summer House". I have had these for ages and ages but thought they were perfect to go with this gorgeous Tilda image and the flowers look like big dots too !

The image is of course Tilda and she has been coloured with ProMarkers. You can of course buy loads and loads of Magnolia stamps and other goodies from the Simon Says Stamp Store.

The flowers are all by Prima and these were all in a mixed bag of flowers which I received from Lols for Chrismas. Simon Says Stamp has the largest selection of Prima flowers and other goodies I have ever seen - check them out !!!

The flower centres are from my stash.

Obviously Heather and I are great minds alike as she also used this cutie image and her card is spectacular just like the rest of the DT's creations again this week.

Before I pop off, I have some sad news. Unfortunately, Dena has decided to leave us on the Design Team. I just want to wish her the best of luck in all that she does and I shall miss her loads. I shall of course still stalk her on her blog as she makes the most wonderful cards and other creations ! Thank's for all your hard work Chick !! mwah x

Thank you so much for your visit and for any comments you may leave, it was lovely seeing you today !

Right, off to meet that coach - yeeee haaaa ! (bet I won't be saying that this time tomorrow !!!).

Love 'n' hugs,

BasicGrey Blog Candy # 24

Well, here we are again with another fantastic BasicGrey Blog Candy courtesty of Simon Says Stamp !

Just look at these amazing goodies you could win !

So, what do you have to do to win my candy ? Some of you will be used to it by now but for those first timers, here goes :

Well, there are no strict rules and the comments I make below are not compulsory to enter this draw but it would be nice if :

You could give your support to Simon Says Stamp, BasicGrey Challenges and myself by becoming a follower if you are not already. Links to both of these are in my sidebar.

Add my blog candy to your sidebar and please feel free to "take away" my blinkie

Join in with us at BasicGrey Challenges and also Simon Says Stamp's challenge blog, Simon Says Challenge ! You can combine challenges with both of these challenge blogs which is great news ! Links to both of these are in my sidebar and relevant posts.

My blog candy will be running for 4 weeks this time as I won't be able to draw a winner on 7th August !

This blog candy will be open to everyone Worldwide (including all DT members of both challenge blogs) until Saturday 21st August when I shall draw a winner with a random number generator and post a new fabby blog candy for you to enter.

To make it much quicker for me to choose a winner, I am using inlinkz but there is a catch !!!

Every fortnight I shall ask you a question and I would like you to answer that question after your name. It will be a one word answer so not difficult.

I love the "Yankee" candles you can buy and have a new one in my craft room called "Sparkling Lemon" and its sooo yummy.

What fragrance of candle do you like the best ?

For example, you would type your answer as Jo Nevill (Lemon)

Anyone not leaving the answer to my question in inlinkz will have their name deleted to stop spammers and also people only entering for the sake of it (if you know what I mean and I don't wish to be rude in anyway).

I would like to give a huge thank you to both Heidi and Steph of Simon Says Stamp for giving me this fantastic candy again for you to win.

WINNER - BasicGrey Blog Candy #23

Sorry for the delay.

Thank you to everyone who took part in my BasicGrey Blog Candy. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner and that lucky person is.....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers: 40 - Ali B

Timestamp: 2010-07-25 06:00:34 UTC

Many congratulations !

BasicGrey Challenges - Stitching

Wow, sunshine ! It's been so dark and miserable the last few days its lovely to see the sunshine.

I'm running late today as I'm taking Molls to meet a coach to go on Brownie Camp for 4 days shortly. I shall try and be brave but I know I shall burst into tears as soon as the coach pulls away (or even before if I'm really unlucky !).

Anyway, today we have a fun challenge for you over at BasicGrey Challenges - STITCHING ! The stitching can be real or faux or even both !

The DT have made some fantastic cards for you this week again. Please hop over and have a look.

There is also an amazing prize of a $25 P&P free shopping spree with Simon Says Stamp !

The DP's I used are BasicGrey "Porcelain" and I did actually stitch all the layers together with my sewing machine although it doesn't show very well in the photo.

The image is a sweet Hanglar image which my gorgeous teamie, Heather, sent me. She has been coloured with ProMarkers.

The flower I made myself from a piece of brown felt and I added some pink blanket stitching around the edges. The centre of the flower is a wooden heart which I painted with tattered rose crackle paint and then stamped with a heart stamp (Whiff of Joy I think !). The leaves are the clay embellishments again I made myself which you saw on my Simon Says Challenge card in my last post. This time, I painted it with white acrylic paint.

The doily and raffia are from my stash.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and you can buy these at Simon Says Stamp.

We hope you can come along and play with us this week and we look forward to seeing all your lovely creations.

Right, I had better organise the girls and set off for the coach :o(

I shall be back later to draw the winner of my blog candy.

Have a great Saturday and thank's so much for visiting me today - mwah !

Love 'n' hugs

Simon Says Challenge - Martine's Sketch

Good morning my lovely crafting buddies, how are we ? Well, only 3 more days of school left and we are on the countdown now ! I don't think any of us can wait until we hear that final bell, the end of term has been so slow coming for us and poor Molls is shattered.

Anyway, you are here to see what the new challenge is on Simon Says Challenge, yes ?!!

The gorgeous, super duper talented Martine has given us all a fantastically simple sketch to follow and here it is .....

and, here is my card......

The DP's are the gorgeous, yummy Pink Paislee "Queen Bee" and Simon Says Stamp now stocks the 6x6 pads ! In fact, Simon Says Stamp is now stocking lots of different brands of papers and I am sure we will see more on their return from the CHA show which is very soon.

The image is a stamp from a set called "Friendship" by Inkadinkado. I have heat embossed the image and sentiment with copper embossing powder and very lightly inked the edges with distress ink.

The flowers are Prima Artful Collage. The centres are from my stash.

You can of course buy the stamp set, distress inks and Primas from Simon Says Stamp !

The little gold embellishments were made by me out of air dried clay and a mould. When they were dry, I painted them with white acrylic paint and then Adirondack gold acrylic paint. They are so simple to make and even the kids can get involved and help too ! I got the idea from my gorgeous and inspirational crafting buddy Kim Costello who is amazing with all things embellishment (well, all things really to do with art and craft but if I tell you that, it might make her blush lots and lots !!!!).

The lace is from my stash.

The prize this week is a fantastic $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store

The DT have created some gorgeous and inspirational cards for you this week, please pop over and have a look and leave them some lovely comments and why not come and play with us too while you are there ?

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, they mean so much.

Hope you have a fantastic Wednesday and hope to see you again soon,.

Love 'n' hugs,

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Design Team Call !

COPIED FROM SIMON SAYS STAMP BLOG .......

We have a New Vintage styled Challenge Blog going live in August! Simon Says Stamp and Show.

The new challenge is devoted to All Things Vintage! The Style is inspired by the likes of Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi, 7 Gypsies and Graphic 45 - among many other Vintage enthusiasts.

The Design Team Call is from now until this Friday, and we would love to hear from you!

Please go HERE for the details!

The new challenge is Directed by the infamous, worldly, and OOOOBER talented Linda Elbourne! We are so pleased and honored to have her join us! Thank you Linda! I have been eying Linda's work for almost a year and had the luckiest opportunity in the world to meet her in person and sit across from her for Ranger U! It was a thrill and delight. Please join us in welcoming Linda to our Team!

We are soooo excited for the new challenge! The prizes are FANTASTIC! We have loads of variety packs of Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies, Jenni Bowlin, Ranger, Wendy Vecchi goodies...and SO MUCH MORE!

We hope to offer you weekly challenges that will inspire you to let your creative juices flow, feed your soul, and (as Wendy would say)...make art! Hope to see you over at Simon Says Stamp and Show!

Luv, Heidi

Dangling Tilda !!

I had a big surprise yesterday when the Summer kit from Magnolia dropped through my letterbox. I was surprised because yet again I left it until the last minute and ordered it with minutes to spare of the closing date ! The last time I did this I had to wait for ages for mine to arrive and it seemed that everyone else in the World had theirs but me !

You will be pleased to hear that you can now pre-order the new Bon Voyage Magnolia Collection from Simon Says Stamp !

Anyway, I had time to have a play this afternoon and so followed Bev's great sketch on Just Magnolia.

After a little blog hopping I am also going to enter these challenges :

Cutie Sunday - Sun, Beach and Ocean

Daring Cardmakers - We are sailing

Everybody Art Challenge - Holidays

Sir Stampalot - Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

The DP's are from Designs by Krista and are called "Classic"

Tilda has been coloured with ProMarkers

The sentiment is from a set by Woodware

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm sorry about the dark photo, its blown over all Novembery, so dark and throwing it down with rain. As long as its fine by the time I go on my camping holiday, I don't mind what it does between now and then !!!

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, as always, they mean so much.

Take care and hope to see you again soon.

By The Sea

Good afternoon ! I hope I find you all fine and dandy ?

This week has been a week of celebrations in our house. It was hubby's Birthday last week and then today it is our 15th Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly, I can remember it all as if it were yesterday.

I thought I would show you the card I made for hubby's birthday as unfortunately, I've been so busy with DT work and commissions I can't show you anything else !!

I just love stamps that you don't have to do much with although saying that, this image was actually quite hard to colour and I painted 2 or 3 which went in the bin. This was my final attempt ! I stamped the image onto watercolour paper and painted it very simply with distress inks.

The image is my Innovative Stamp Creations. The netting background stamp is also by Innovative Stamp Creations.

The map stamp doesn't have a make on it, it was a bargain from e-bay !

The token is by Tim Holtz and I bought this from Simon Says Stamp.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and I also bought that from Simon Says Stamp.

Right, must zoom again. I have the tea to cook and then its dancing again ! Hubby is at work until late so no romantic meal for me tonight :o(

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, they always mean so much.

Hope to see you again soon,

Simon Says Challenge - Let's Get Fruity !!!

Good morning ! Welcome to another Simon Says Challenge ! I can't believe how fast the week's zoom by !

This week, we want to see fruit in your creations whether it be on the paper, in the image, a brad, button, charm - whatever you like !

There is a $25 shopping spree on offer as the prize - how fantastic is that ?!

Now, I actually made a boo boo with my card as we were supposed to showcase Basic Grey products this week but silly ole me just read "fruit" and I went away happily making my card and didn't see the last bit until I came to upload my card ! Still, you can see loads of Basic Grey being used on my blog and you know I'm always telling you that Simon Says Stamp sells oodles and oodles of Basic Grey products, probably just about every product they produce !!

I cut the apple shaped card using a template from an apple shaped chipboard album I have and never used ! I must use that one day !

The DP's are October Afternoon "Report Card"

The image is by CC Designs and is called "School Puppy" and he has been coloured with ProMarkers. You can buy CC Designs stamps in the Simon Says Stamp Store.

The ribbon is from my stash.

I used alphabet transfers for the text.

The DT's cards are amazing. Please pop by their blogs and leave them a comment and you may also find some candy while you are there !

Right, must dash. The girls are waiting for me to take them to school !!!

Have a great day and thank you for your visit, it was lovely to see you.

Love 'n' hugs,

BasicGrey Blog Candy # 23

Well, here we are again with another fantastic BasicGrey Blog Candy courtesty of Simon Says Stamp !

Just look at these amazing goodies you could win !

So, what do you have to do to win my candy ? Some of you will be used to it by now but for those first timers, here goes :

Well, there are no strict rules and the comments I make below are not compulsory to enter this draw but it would be nice if :

You could give your support to Simon Says Stamp, BasicGrey Challenges and myself by becoming a follower if you are not already. Links to both of these are in my sidebar.

Add my blog candy to your sidebar and please feel free to "take away" my blinkie

Join in with us at BasicGrey Challenges and also Simon Says Stamp's challenge blog, Simon Says Challenge ! You can combine challenges with both of these challenge blogs which is great news ! Links to both of these are in my sidebar and relevant posts.

This blog candy will be open to everyone Worldwide (including all DT members of both challenge blogs) until Saturday 24th July when I shall draw a winner with a random number generator and post a new fabby blog candy for you to enter.

To make it much quicker for me to choose a winner, I am using inlinkz but there is a catch !!!

Every fortnight I shall ask you a question and I would like you to answer that question after your name. It will be a one word answer so not difficult.

This week is my 15th Wedding Anniversary ! I had my favourite flowers in my bouquet on the day, Stargazer Lilies.

So, this fortnight's questions is : What flowers did you have in your wedding bouquet ? (or tell me your favourite flowers if you are still single !!).

For example, you would type your answer as Jo Nevill (Lilies)

Anyone not leaving the answer to my question in inlinkz will have their name deleted to stop spammers and also people only entering for the sake of it (if you know what I mean and I don't wish to be rude in anyway).

I would like to give a huge thank you to both Heidi and Steph of Simon Says Stamp for giving me this fantastic candy again for you to win.

Winner - BasicGrey Blog Candy #22

So sorry I am late drawing a winner of my Blog Candy. As explained in the post below, it was my hubby's birthday yesterday so we were busy, busy, busy and he comes first after all ;o) !!

With further ado the winner is.......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers: 54 - Esme

Timestamp: 2010-07-11 19:31:57 UTC

Many congratulations !

BasicGrey Challenges

Hellooooo ! I hope you are all fine and dandy today ?

This week on BasicGrey Challenges we have a fabby challenge for you - GINGHAM. We want to see you use this in your creations this week.

There is a fabulous prize on offer from Simon Says Stamp of a $25 shopping spree !

The gingham paper is a free download from Martine's blog. What a clever girl she is ! She has designed so many colours of gingham, you will be spoilt for choice !

The yellow pattered DP is BasicGrey "Lilykate".

The image is an Elizabeth Bell image called "Rope Swing" and she has been coloured with ProMarkers.

The flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The ribbon is from my stash.

The butterly was a pressie from my gorgeous friend and teamie, Heather.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

I can't wait to see what you come up with for our challenge ! The DT's cards are amazing, you just have to see them !

Right, must dash. It's hubby's birthday today and we are busy, busy, busy. I hope to be back later to draw the winner of my BasicGrey Blog Candy but if not, it will be tomorrow.

Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine and thank you for visiting me, it was lovely to see you !

Love 'n' hugs,

Guest Designer (wooooo) on the ABC Challenge !

For my Simon Says Challenge card, please see the post below this one !

I felt very honored to be asked by Vicky a couple of weeks ago if I would join the ABC Challenge this week as a Guest Designer ! Of course, I snapped her hand off ! Thank's so much for asking me darlin.

The challenge this week is the letter"Y" and the theme is "You and Me". This can be either two images on a stamp or two stamps on a card and is a perfect theme for anniversary or wedding card.

The sponsor this week is Wild Orchid Crafts and the prize is amazing !

Here is my card :

The DP's are Basic Grey "Capella" which are sooo yummy scrummy !

I have been dying to use this Lilli of the Valley stamp for ages and ages and this was the perfect opportunity to ink it up. The image has been coloured with ProMarkers and the edges have been inked with distress ink.

The doily I bought when I went to the NEC.

The flowers are a mixture of Prima Essentials Shabby Chic, Artful Collage and Wild Orchid Crafts roses. The pin, tulle and pearls are from my stash.

The sentiment is a Melissa Frances transfer.

Most of these products you can purchase from Simon Says Stamp !

The rest of the DT's are gorgeous and I hope you can come along and play too !

Thank you so much for your visit and for any comments you may leave.

Hope to see you soon.

Love 'n' hugs,

Simon Says Challenge - Photo Inspiration

Welcome to another Simon Says Challenge. We had loads of fantastic entries last week for our "Check it out" challenge - thank you so much for playing along with us.

This week, we have a photo inspiration challenge for you and here it is......




Lols tells you all about the Blue Lagoon on the challenge blog - sounds like heaven to me !!!

There is a fantastic prize of a $25 P&P free shopping spree for the winner of this challenge !

Here is my card ......

The DP's are the new Tim Holtz papers "Vintage Shabby" and wow, they are gorgeous

The centre panel has been cut from a piece of Core'dinations, run through one of those fantastic corrugator machines and then sanded to show off the white core

The lace is from my stash

The images are of course by Magnolia. Tilda with wine and basket (which is in stock in the Simon Says Stamp Store) and the summer lanterns which I received in the Summer kit a couple of years ago. I am sure that Heidi will order this stamp for you should you like to buy it

The ticket is a Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamp and the ticket has been die cut from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix ticket strip die.

The flowers are Prima Essentials Shabby Chic which I know Simon Says Stamp are expecting in store

The brad and tulle are from my stash

We look forward to seeing how you have been inspired by this cool photo.

Thank you for your visit, it was so lovely to see you today !

Butterfly Birthday and Exciting News !

How are we all on this bright/sunny/cloudy (can't really make up its mind what its going to do) Saturday afternoon ?

Well, yet again its been a busy ole week for me and the kiddlies and it was finished off so wonderfully on Thursday when both girls appeared on stage in the dance show "Memory Lane" with their dance school. It was Izzy's first time on stage and she was a Daisy. Oh boy, did I sob when she came on stage in her pink leotard, tutu and flowery hairband ! I knew I might shed a tear or two but I never expected to sob uncontollably !

I've also been very busy with commissions which is fantastic news ! The bad news is that I can't show you most of them but I can show you this one.....

The brief was that it was to be a birthday card for my friend's sister's 70th Birthday, it had to be pretty, preferably with flowers and/or a butterfly. Well, I think I managed all that OK !!

The DP's are DCWV "Mariposa" which I distressed and inked.

The images are by Penny Black and have been stamped with Whispers pens which I used to colour directly onto the stamp and then spray with a light mist of water and stamp onto watercolour paper. I then added some Stickles.

The lace is from my stash.

The flowers are all by Wild Orchid Crafts.

The pearls were bought from Simon Says Stamp

I also added some of the Magnolia chandelier's which you can also purchase from Simon Says Stamp.

I also made and decorated a box for her to present the card in.

Both my friend and her sister were very pleased which was good news.

I have some exciting news for you too ! You may have read a post or two back that I am being published in Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine ! Well, the magazine will be available to buy from July 6th. I received my copy this morning and I haven't stopped looking at it since ! I can't believe that its actually me and my cards on those pages !!! I'm well chuffed !!

You can also see a sneak preview of one of my cards on Kirstie's blog !

Would be lovely if you could buy the mag and tell me what you think !!!

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, was lovely of you to stop by and see me today !

Have a fantastic weekend and I hope to be back soon.

Love 'n' hugs,