Simon Says Challenge - Photo Inspiration and Autumn Colours and Exciting News !

Gosh ! Has a week gone by already ?!! I can't believe how quickly time flies.

It's Wednesday and we have another Simon Says Challenge for you ! We have a double challenge, using the photo as inspiration and also to use Autumn colours - yum, my fave !!

Here is your inspiration :

What a gorgeous photo which apparently was taken by Steph in a park in Boston, Ohio.

Here is my card

I followed the sketch over at Friday Sketchers. Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring that challenge this week.

I am also going to enter my card in these challenges too :

Craft Your Days Away - Autumn Doodles

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Seasons Change

Craftalicious - Harvest Festival/Autumn

The DP's are by Imaginisce and are called "Apple Cider". I just love all the yummy colours in these papers. Simon Says Stamp has lots of really lovely embellies and stamps to go with this paper.

The image is by CC Designs and is called "Pumpkin Emma". I think this stamp has been snapped up because of the time of year but I am sure that more stocks must be on their way. If you would really like the stamp then please email Steph or Heidi and they will order it in for you. I have coloured the image with ProMarkers. The sentiment is by Magnolia.

The leaves are by Prima

The ribbon is from my stash.

Jay-Jay is again joining us at our Guest Designer and along with the rest of the DT have made some gorgeous cards for you this week.

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

Really exciting news alert !!!!

I just couldn't believe my eyes when I received my copy of Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine on Monday and one of the cards I made for "Quick Makes" is on the FRONT COVER ! Woooo hooooo As you can imagine, I was jumping for joy (well, I still am !!) - how exciting !

If you want to see more of my cards for Christmas and also inspiration for using the free papers included in the magazine then pick up this magazine next time you go shopping ! There are so many fantastic ideas in there too from all the other Designers, a real fabby bumper issue. Also if you go to their website at http://www.cardmakingandpapercraft.com/ you will be able to see a sneak peek of this month's magazine !

Anyway, may I proudly introduce my card on the front cover...............!

Thank you for your visit, it was lovely to see you. I look forward to seeing all your yummy creations for our challenge.

Simon Says Challenge - Jay Jay's Sketch

How are we all on this gorgeous Autumnal morning ? I love these mornings when the sun is trying to peep out behind the mist and there is that nip in the air.

I'm also in a state of excitement because its only 3 more sleeps to Ally Pally ! Woooo hoooo ! I can't wait to get there and meet up with all my lovely, scrummy friends again, we have soooo much fun, laughter and chatting my whole face aches for days afterwards !!!

Anyway, welcome to another Simon Says Challenge !

This week our Guest Designer for the next 4 weeks is Jay Jay ! Welcome Jay Jay !!

Jay Jay has very kindly given us this fantastic sketch to follow




The DT are this week showcasing Sarah Kay Stamps but you can of course use any image you like for this challenge.

There is of course this fantastic prize on offer for the lucky winner.....

Here is my take on the sketch which is, as always, very like the original !!

The DP's are by Crate Paper "Restoration Collection" and these are in a handy 6x6 pad - just how cool is that ?!

The Sarah Kay stamp I have used is called "First Kiss" which unfortunately isn't showing in the Simon Says Stamp store at the moment. I am sure that more stocks will be coming in shortly and Heidi or Steph will order something in for you if you need it 'cause they are kind like that !!

The sentiment has been made up with these terrific Prima clear stamps and I have stamped the letters in Hero Arts Chalk Ink - Punch.

The heart, ribbons, lace and pearls are all from my stash.

We hope you can come and play with us this week and we look forward to seeing your take on Jay Jay's Sketch.

We also have a challenge for you over at Papercraft Planet and the theme over there is "Give Thanks and Colour Challenge". There are some great prizes on offer over there too !

Unfortunately, we have some sad news to share with you this week. Our fabby team member Martine has decided to leave us which is such a shame but the poor lass works so hard with her crafting and blog designing she deserves a break !

I also wanted to share a touching moment with you that I had at the weekend when we went away in our caravan for the weekend. We stayed in a town called Devizes which is probably about 12 miles aways from us and the campsite we chose was just over the road from the craft shop I have told you about in the past called "Potato Patch Crafts".

The lady who owned the shop, Jane, sadly lost her long battle with breast cancer earlier in the year and I was so upset. Jane was only 46 years old and had a daughter of 11 years old and a husband who she spoke about non-stop ! Jane was so inspirational and such an enormous help to me and many others through her workshop and just by popping in the shop for a chat.

Anyway, we took a walk to the shop as I was unsure whether or not it had been kept open by her friends and I was so pleased to see that it was open as usual for business ! The new owner is a lovely lady who scrapbooks herself so like Jane, she only picks the finest products to sell !!! Jane had apparently worked up until 3 weeks before died and had given her blessing to her friend to buy the shop and to keep it running after her death so at least she knew it would be in safe hands and her passion for crafting could continue.

Potato Patch Crafts will be running workshops for adults as well as children and their grand opening is this Saturday so if you are reading this and in the Devizes area, please give Potato Patch Crafts a visit !

I had to fight back the tears when I was in the shop as I remembered all the good times I had had there and even more so when I saw that the cards I had sent to Jane had all been displayed on the wall in the workshop. I felt so honoured when I saw them. Jane, I shall miss you darlin. Rest in peace.

Sorry to end on such a sad note but people as brave and determined as Jane deserve recognition for all their hard work and bravery through such a terrible illness.

Thank you for your vist, I love you all xxx

BasicGrey Blog Candy # 27

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 2nd October 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 would be interested to find out : What is your favourite BasicGrey collection ?

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

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 - Blog Candy # 26

I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting for the winner of my Basic Grey Blog Candy. We had a very quickly organised weekend away in our new caravan and somehow, drawing the winner of my Blog Candy got forgotten with a hundred other things I should have done over the weekend !

We had a lovely time though, the weather was kind to us and I think we managed to suss everything out in the end. I never realised there was so much to learn ! I was left a little deflated when a couple arrived ½ hour after we did on the site and while we were still reading through the instruction manual to make sure we had done everything we should have been doing, they were watching TV with a cuppa in their hand and guess what ? they even had their awning up ! My hubby assures me that WILL be us one day !!

Anyway, onto the moment you have all been waiting for. The winner of my blog candy is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers: 14 - Orit

Timestamp: 2010-09-20 10:31:22 UTC

Many congratulations and enjoy your goodies !

BasicGrey Challenges - A Sketch

Hellloooo ! and welcome to another BasicGrey Challenges !

Thank you to everyone who joined in our paper piecing challenge and also entered our DT call. My goodness, I don't know how we are going to make up our mind, you are all sooo talented !

Anyway, while we sit back and have a think about it we have another fantastic challenge for you. Our super, duper talented and gorgeous TaraG has drawn this terrific sketch for you this week.

Here is my interpretation which is actually exactly the same as the sketch !!

The DP's are a mixture of BasicGrey Basics Manilla and Kraft and Max and Whiskers. I just adore this turquoise colour, I think its my fave at the moment.

The image is a Gorjuss girl which has been sat in my drawer for such a long time. Like everyone else, I keep buying all these new stamps and forget about the gorgeous ones that are in my drawer and never see the light of day anymore. She has been coloured with ProMarkers.

The flowers are a mixture of Prima, Jack and Jill and ones from Hobbycraft.

The ribbon and pearl slider are from my stash.

The sentiment is by TPC Studio.

There is a fantastic prize of a $25 shopping spree from Simon Says Stamp for the lucky winner where you can buy loads and loads of amazing BasicGrey goodies !

The rest of the DT have yet again excelled themselves and their cards are to die for !

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and the sun keeps shining. While you are reading this I am hopefully away in my new caravan ! After being pestered by my DH we finally took the plunge and ditched the tent for a snug, warm caravan. We only picked it up on Thursday and are taking it for its first run out (well, with us in it anyway !!). We are only going about 15 miles up the road but it will feel like a break away !

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

My Simon Says Challenge Blog Hop Candy Winner

PLEASE SEE THE POST BELOW THIS FOR MY "MOVE IT" SIMON SAYS CHALLENGE CARD !

Whoops ! I do hope you will all forgive me ?

I have just used the RNG to find the winner of my blog candy and was so busy putting the name and link onto the Simon Says Admin Blog and informing the lucky winner that I accidentally closed down the RNG page before copying and pasting the info. Hopefully you will all believe me when I tell you that the RNG chose this luck person to win the BasicGrey Stickers.....

Number 129 - RUBY

Many congrats Ruby !! Thank you to everyone who entered my Blog Hop Candy.

Don't forget my usual BasicGrey Candy is still up for grabs and finishes this Saturday. Click on the piccie at the top of the sidebar and add your name to the list !

Simon Says Challenge - Move It !

Wow, what an exciting and busy week that was ! We had a fantastic response to our blog hop, thank you to everyone who played along with us. The winners of the grand prize and all our blog candies will be announced later.

This week our challenge is called "Move It". We want to see movement in your creations. Hop over to the challenge blog for a full explanation and a jiggy little song to get you in the mood !!



I decided to make a shaker card. I haven't made one of these before and I really enjoyed it. I followed a tutorial that is in the new Magnolia Ink magazine and its really easy.

The "shaker" part is made from the reel of a used roll of DST (luckily I had very little tape left on my reel so I pulled it all off !!). I covered the cardboard reel with walnut stain distress ink.

The image is Mermaid Emma by CC Designs and she has been coloured with ProMarkers and Waterfall Stickles.

The DP's on the reel are My Minds Eye.

The DP on the card itself I think are by K and Co.

Inside the shaker I added some Beadazzles which are micro beads mixed with glitter, some half pearls in green and blue and also some blue and clear dew drops.

The netting at the bottom and the string of pearl shells were from my local haberdashery shop. I just knew they would come in for mermaid cards when I saw it !!

The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

The flowers are from my stash.

Most of the items I used are from the Simon Says Stamp Store and I have linked them.

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

Yet again the rest of the DT have made some amazing cards for your inspiration so please hop over and go and have a look and leave them some lovely comments.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with !

Thank you so much for your visit, it was lovely seeing you today !

Thank you also for the birthday wishes you left for Mollie. She was absolutely thrilled to receive so many from you. She had a fantastic weekend, the best birthday ever she says !

Take care and see you again soon,

My Baby is 9 Today !

If you are looking for the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop then please see the post below !

Ahhh I can't believe it, it's Mollie's birthday and she is 9 today ! Where has that time gone ?




Here she is ! I know I'm biased but she is so beautiful and grown up and she makes us so very proud. She works so hard at everything she does and we feel so privileged that this little (big) girl is our daughter.

The same also applies to this little monkey ...... !!!!




What a character Izzy is - so cheeky ! I have taken to photographing my cards while she is at pre-school otherwise 99% of them turn out like this ........




Anyway, you have come to see my card I made for Mollie......



I bought one of the Kenny K images to try as I was unsure my colouring would be good enough to do it justice but I'm really pleased with how this image turned out and I just love these images.

The DP's are by S.E.I. and are called "Happy Birthday". I must get hold of some more of these as I just love the zingy lime and turquoise colour combo.

Right, I must zoom off and get all my jobs done before I have to pick up Izzy from pre-school. It's so nice to have a couple of hours to myself now each day and she adores pre-school so its happy faces all round !

Thank you for your visit and sorry its such a long post ! Don't forget all the things going on, the BasicGrey Challenges DT call, the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop and of course my BasicGrey Blog Candy - all happens on this blog you know :op !!!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Love 'n' hugs,

Simon Says ...... BLOG HOP !

Wow, what an exciting week we have lined up for you all !!!

For the first time ever we are joining forces with our challenge blogs; Simon Says Stamp and Show & The Simon Says Stamp Challenge to bring you a SUPER hop to celebrate the approaching fall and winter holidays and the crafting fun you can have throughout!

To help celebrate we will be giving a $100 SHOPPING SPREE to the winner of this hop!

The theme for both challenges this week will be HOLIDAY FUN. Your entry can be Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas themed. You can make anything you like … a card, an ATC, a Scrapbook layout … the possibilities are endless!

At each Design Team member’s blog you will find a clue, you need to collect all the clues to form a code. The complete code will be your password to enter the Grand Prize draw. At each blog you will need to leave a comment and on the last blog you must leave a direct link to the project you have made for this challenge.

The Blog hop will start at 3pm GMT on September 8th, 2010 at the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog and will finish on September 15th, 2010 at 3pm GMT on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog.

During the hop you will visit all of the Design Team member’s blogs and each blog will tell you where to go next for the following clue! If you lose your way at any time a full list of all the participating blogs with links will be available on Simon Says Stamp and Show … just remember you need to keep the clues in the correct order.

Once you have made your project and linked it to the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog you need to comment your link number together with the correct code in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog under the comments section of that week in order to be entered into the draw.


Added bonus ! You will have a chance to win goodies from each HOP! Each DT member will be giving away an ingredient to make their creation, so don’t forget to comment throughout your hop!

The winner will be randomly drawn from all the correct answers for the Grand Prize next Wednesday. Remember you must have entered the Challenge and completed the blog hop to be eligible to win this $100 SHOPPING SPREE- courtesy of Simon Says Stamp Store!!

Good Luck Everyone!

Here is my holiday card :




The DP's are a mixture of October Afternoon and BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses.

Santa is a stamp by Whiff of Joy and I have coloured him with ProMarkers. I have added Flower Soft to his suit.

The ribbon is from my stash.

This is my blog candy very kindly given to me by Simon Says Stamp !



This is a sheet of Eskimo Kisses layered stickers (please click on the picture for an enlarged image !) - great for your layouts and cards !!

Please leave your name in Inlinkz below for a chance to win !!

Don't forget you could also be a double winner if you enter my BasicGrey Blog Candy which is in the post below !!

The letter you need from my blog is L

Now hop over to the lovely Domi's blog to comment on her gorgeous card and collect the next letter !!!

Good luck and enjoy hopping !

BasicGrey Challenges - DESIGN TEAM CALL !

Just to let you all know that we are now holding a Design Team call over at BasicGrey Challenges. All the details you need to know are posted on the blog. So, if you adore BasicGrey products and you would like to come and play with the rest of us then hop over to the challenge blog and apply !

Have a great Sunday !

BasicGrey Blog Candy # 26

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 18th September 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 would be interested to find out : What style of card do you like to make ?

For example, you would type your answer as Jo Nevill (clean and simple (if I can stop adding the embellies !!!)

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.

BasicGrey Blog Candy # 25 - Winner !

I am sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of my BasicGrey Blog Candy. I had a lovely day out with the family which ended rather late and I was shattered last night.

Anyway, without further ado the winner is .......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers: 90 - FataAssaurra

Timestamp: 2010-09-05 07:04:30 UTC

Many congratulations !

BasicGrey Challenges - Paper Piecing

I hope I find you all fine and dandy this lovely Saturday morning !

Welcome to another BasicGrey Challenges ! This fornight our challenge is PAPER PIECING. Just in case you don't know what this is or would like to find out more, Martine has put a fantastic explanation of it on the challenge blog for you to read ! I even learnt something new about paper piecing so thank's Martine !

There is a fantastic prize of a $25 shopping spree around the Simon Says Stamp Store for the winner.

The DP's are a mixture of BasicGrey Basics Manilla and BasicGrey Green at Heart.

The image is a Pure Innocence stamp - just love these ! I have paper pieced her dress and coloured the rest with ProMarkers.

The background was created with a Hero Arts cloud stamp and a paint dabber in cloudy blue.

The ribbon is from my stash.

The flower is a BasicGrey Green at Heart flower.

You can purchase all of the above from the Simon Says Stamp Store.

I am also entering my card for the following challenges :

Cute Card Thursday - Material girl (the flower !)

My Time to Craft - In the Garden

Stamp Something - Something Cute

As always the rest of the DT have created some inspirational cards for you which you just have to see.

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, it was lovely to see you !

I will be announcing the winner of my blog candy later on today all being well.

Love 'n' hugs,

Waltzingmouse Stamps

Oooh I've been able to have a play this afternoon ! These gorgeous stamps fell on my doormat this morning and I couldn't wait to get them inked up ! I've been Waltzingmouse Stamps around blogland quite a lot recently and I just adore that style of card but find it so hard not to keep "adding" !! I decided to take the plunge and buy some stamps and have a go !!

There is a sketch challenge blog at Waltzingmouse Stamps and so I followed the sketch for this week's challenge (which closes at midnight tonight so by the skin of my teeth really !!). I got so carried away, I made two cards !!

The DP's are Imaginisce Polar Expressions.

The star is from the stamp set "Seasons of Love" by Waltzingmouse Stamps and the holly from the stamp set called "Very Vintage Christmas". I added some little red pearls as the berries.

The gold braid and red ribbon are from my stash.

I added some gold stickles around the edge of the papers for some sparkle.

The DP's for this one are October Afternoon Very Merry.

The star is again from "Seasons of Love".

The ribbons are from my stash.

I can't wait to have another play with the other stamps in the set, they are so beautiful.

Thank you so much for your visit and for any comments you leave. It was great to see you !

Love 'n' hugs,

Simon Says Challenge - Lace and Pearls

Phew, what a struggle to get up for school this morning ! Still, it will be nice to get back into normality again.

I just want to say a huge thank you for the comments you left Mollie and I about our publication in Cardmaking and Papercraft. We were blushing all day and our hearts were fit to burst - thank you all so much for your love, kindness and support.

Well, here we are again for another Simon Says Challenge. Thank you to everyone who took part in our paper piecing challenge last week, we had loads of fantastic entries.

The DT are showcasing Magnolia stamps this week and if you have any Magnolia stamps (yeah, right !) then we would love to see them but if not, you can use any stamp you have or would like to use.

If you don't have pearl gems you can use pearly buttons, pearl glimmer mist, liquid pearls, perfect pearls, pearlescent card , lots of possibilities and the lace can be paper lace, lacey design paper, lacey border punch , not necessarily fabric lace.

The DP's are a mixture of Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby and K and Company Classic K.

Tilda is from the Magnolia Fairytale Collection and she has been coloured with ProMarkers. I added some pale pink liquid pearls to her crown.

The lace, pearl ribbon slider and mini heart pearls are from my stash.

The flowers are a mixture of Prima Roses and other flowers from my stash.

The Tim Holtz papers, Tilda stamp, Copics, lace, pearls and roses can all be purchased in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

Again this week we have the fabulously talented Jackie as our Guest Designer.

There is a super duper prize of a $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Store for the winner.

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week. Lets see if we can get a bumper number of entries !

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you leave, they always mean the World to me.

Love 'n' hugs,