My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club

Hope you have all had a good weekend and found plenty of playtime ?

I have been lucky enough to have some time this weekend to catch up with some DT work and also join in with one of my favourite challenges, My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club ! I just love these stamps and the clean and simple sketches to follow.

Here is this week's sketch



I decided to rotate the sketch

The DP's are Prima "Jack and Jill" which you can buy from Simon Says Stamp.

The image is by My Favorite Things and is called "Time to Celebrate" and is from the à la mode collection. Simon Says Stamp also sells lots of MFT stamps !! Ihave coloured this gorgeous image with ProMarkers and Copics. I have topped the icing with Rock Candy Distress Stickles to give the icing a sugar coated look.

I used the MFT doily die-namic for the doily centre.

The seam binding is from my local market.

I also decorated the inside of my card :

These DP's are also Prima "Jack and Jill"

The sentiments are included in this stamp set.

I've really enjoyed my crafting time today. Let's hope I can sneak a bit more of it in soon !!

I am also entering my card for these challenges :

Everybody Art - My Favourite Thing (name of the stamps and I lurve these stamps !).

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Food for Thought

Crazy Challenges - Spots and Stripes

Creative Stamp Friends - Die Cut Shapes

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

Have a great week !

Simon Says Challenge - Animal Antics !

A very late posting for me today I am afraid. Blooming computers, don't they just drive you up the wall ? Mine has been poorly sick for quite a while now and has been sooooo slow and forever crashing. Anyway, I've been moaning and complaining about it 'til the cows come home but has the computer whizz of the house looked at it - NO ! It wasn't until my dear heart wanted to use it that he decided that "something needs to be done" ! With that, he changed all the firewall and anti-virus to something else and hey ho, its working as if its been re-born !!!

I can hear you from here "been there, done that and got the T-shirt !".

Now, the challenge over at Simon Says Challenge this week is "Animal Antics". The DT are showcasing Stampabilities stamps this week. We would love to see yours if you have any but if not, still join in the fun with whatever animal stamps you have !

As always, there is a marvellous prize of a $50 shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

Here is my card which is very clean and simple this week

I used Nestabilities Labels 8 for the shape of the card and cut it out of dark brown Bazzill.

The image is called "Balloon Journey" and is made by Stampabilities. I have coloured the image with ProMarkers.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts from the set "Anytime Messages"

The seam binding is from my local market.

That's all there is to say about it really !

We do hope you can join us this week in our challenge. The rest of the DT have made their usual show of amazing cards so why not hop over and have a peek and leave them some love too !

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

Love 'n' hugs,

Bye for now..... Jo xxxxx

BasicGrey Challenges - Flower Power ! and DT Call

How are you all on this cold and frosty morning ? I'm up bright and breezy (well, not quite !) because I'm off to a course in first aid this morning at the pre-school. I wonder who will be the lucky one to receive treatment from me !!! Poor soul !!

Anyway, if you are lucky enough that you will be having a bacon roll, cuppa tea and time in your craft room why not join in with our BasicGrey Challenge of FLOWER POWER ? Easy peasy, just add flowers to your project but please remember you do have to use one item of BasicGrey ! It can be the paper or as small as a button or brad.

We had so many entries for our last challenge and so many of you want to join our DT too ! Thank you so much for all your fabulous entries and keep them coming in. The DT call does not close until the end of this next challenge which will be on Saturday 5th February. For full details, please see the BasicGrey Challenge Blog.

The DP's are BasicGrey Koishi.

The image and sentiment are the new stamps from Lili of the Valley which I just couldn't resist buying. This little beauty has been coloured with ProMarkers and a generous amount of diamond Stickles ! I'm also just loving my new nestabilities lacey circle dies too.

The flowers are new ones by Prima and I bought these from Simon Says Stamp. They just have the most enormous stock of Prima flowers I have ever seen ! The little brads in the centres are by BasicGrey and the lace is from my stash.

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

We also have our fabulous Guest Designer Sandie joining us for this challenge too. Both Sandies and the rest of the DT's cards are just gorgeous this week, please hop over and have a look !

Thank you so much for your visit and I hope you have a great weekend.

I am also entering my card for the Lili of the Valley Challenge. DawnyP has designed this terrific sketch (although I have replaced the square with a circle !).

Simon Says Challenge - Bingo !

Welcome to another Simon Says Challenge. This week we have a really interesting challenge for you, we are having a game of bingo !

If you hop over to the challenge blog, all the details of the challenge can be found there !

There is a fantastic prize of a $50 shopping spree for the lucky winner too in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

Here is the bingo card we are using for this challenge



The line I chose for my card was punch/die cuts, embossing and ribbon

The DP's are BasicGrey Pyrus. I just love the warm, rich colours of these gorgeous papers.

The image is by Lili of the Valley and Simon Says Stamp has sets of these stamps in store. This image is taken from the set "Boy Oh Boy". I stamped the image in brown ink and then heat embossed it. I thought it would make a change from using black ink and the brown ink I had would have run with my ProMarkers so heat embossing the image with clear embossing powder stopped it from running when I coloured it (good tip there for anyone who didn't know this or had forgotten !).

The image has been cut with nestabilities lacey circles.

I also decorated the inside of my card too which I like to do as its using up my scraps which I just otherwise throw into a box which is already overflowing all over the floor !

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week.

I am also going to enter my card into the following challenges :

Totally Papercrafts - Happy Birthday

One Stop Craft Challenge - Card for a Male

Stamp Something - Anything Goes

Thank you for your visit and for any comment that you may leave, its always appreciated.

MFT - Wednesday Stamp Club - Sketch #2

After winning last week's challenge over at MFT Wednesday Stamp Club I couldn't wait to join in again ! I just adore these stamps and can't wait to get my hands on some more !

Here is the sketch for this week :

This time I used an image that does have a head !!



The DP's are Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg.

The image is by MFT (My Favorite Things) a la mode "Miss You a Latte". She has been coloured with ProMarkers and I have paper pieced the coffee cups with kraft card and some of the Nutmeg DP's.

The ribbons are from my stash.

The buttons are by BasicGrey.

The half circle is the doily die-namics which is by MFT too.

I also decorated the inside again.




I used the Nutmeg papers again and inked around the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink. The image is also stamped with Walnut Stain.

The sentiment comes with the stamp.

Anyone can join in this challenge which can be found over in the MFT forum on Splitcoasters. If you do not use an MFT stamp you can win $15 to spend in store and if you do use an MFT stamp you can win $20 to spend in store !

Hope you have a great day and thank you for your visit !

Simon Says Challenge - It's Sketch Time !

Here I am, skidding in at 100mph ! Phew !

Welcome to another Simon Says Challenge ! Wow, it's Wednesday again already !

This week we have a fabulous sketch for you designed by our super talented DT member, Domi.

We are also pleased to announce that we have a new member to the Simon Says Stamp family and Design Team - Tara ! Welcome Tara ! You can see Tara's fabulous card along with the rest of the DT's fabulous cards over at the challenge blog.

Also, this week, the Design Team is showcasing Crafters Companion stamps - Popcorn Bear & SWALK stamps! Simon Says Stamp has an amazing selection of all of them, and they are TOO GOOD to pass up!! So head on over to the store and check them out !!!!!

This week, the prize is a WHOPPING $50 voucher from Simon Says Stamp Superstore!!! Whheeeeeehoooooo !!!!!! How exciting eh?? So, get out your stamps and start creating!!! We can't wait to see what you create !!!! Have a great week & good luck!

For my card this week I used a Popcorn the Bear image called "Thank's a Bunch" and I decided to blow the dust off my distress inks and watercolour paper and boy, it was hard going ! I am so used to using my ProMarkers now I had forgotten how to paint !! I'm actually really pleased with how my painting turned out though.

The DP's are BasicGrey Pyrus, these are sooo yummy !

The flowers have been made with the MFT rolling rose die and I have put a pearl brad in the centres.

The lace is from my stash.

We look forward to you joining us in our challenge this week !


I received the super fantastic news when I got up this morning and read my emails that I had won the MFT Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoasters ! I am soooo happy, I'm jumping for joy ! So far its been a terrific week, full of happy times and surprises and I can't wait for Saturday when its my 40th Birthday - have I mentioned that before ?!!! I was feeling very apprehensive about it all but this week has been so good so far, I'm actually beginning to think that life does begin at 40 !!

Take care of yourselves and thank you so much for your visit and for any comments you leave.

Winner - BasicGrey Blog Candy #34

Thank you to everyone that entered my BasicGrey Blog Candy. Unfortunately, that is the last BasicGrey Blog Candy that will be offered. I would like to thank Simon Says Stamp for giving all my visitors the chance to win 35 blog candies in total and thank you to my blog visitors that entered !

The lucky winner of my last BasicGrey Blog candy is.......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

42 - Shazza

Timestamp: 2011-01-12 09:37:19 UTC

Many congratulations. Could you please email me so that I can arrange for Steph of Simon Says Stamp to send you your goodies.

BasicGrey Challenges and DESIGN TEAM CALL !

Happy New Year and welcome back ! We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year with your family and friends.

The start of a new year always brings new beginnings and its with sadness that we have to say goodbye to some of our Design Team members. We are so sorry to say that we are losing Chris Dark, Christine, Kim and Martine.

Martine was the founder of BasicGrey Challenges and gave a few of the first DT members their first break in the World of blogging and Design Teams. She has worked tirelessly for 2 years running the blog and posting all the challenges etc. and we would like to thank you Martine from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done not only for BasicGrey Challenges but for us personally and we all love you.

Having given you all that sad news, we are pleased to say that BasicGrey Challenges is here to stay - whooo hooo ! and here is our first challenge of 2011 with details of our DESIGN TEAM CALL following.

The challenge for you this fortnight is DOTS or SPOTS !!

We would like to see dots or spots somewhere on your project.

You are able to use any brand of papers for this project if you find dots or spots hard to come by in your BasicGrey stash and they can be on the flowers you use, the ribbon, punched holes, buttons BUT as always, please remember that you have to use at least one BasicGrey product on your project to qualify for the prize. Please also mention the BasicGrey product you used in your blog post or email entry so that we can easily identify it !

The Design Team have made some amazing cards for you again this week. You will notice that we have listed the BasicGrey products we have used on our cards for your information and inspiration !

We are absolutely thrilled to tell you that we will also be inviting Guest Designers to be joining us !

Our first Guest Designer is the super talented and lovely SANDIE (sandieshores) of The Crafty Side of Me. Visiting Sandie's blog it is an absolutely must as you will be blown away with her gorgeous projects.

We also have a fabulous prize of a $25 shopping spree with our wonderful sponsor Simon Says Stamp (please see challenge blog for conditions).

The DP's I used for my card are a mixture of BasicGrey "Oliver" which is the red spotty paper and Cosmo Cricket "Material Girl" for the button paper and tape measure paper.

The image is by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps and is called "Mona the Seamstress". I just love how quirky these images are ! I have coloured the image with ProMarkers and paper pieced the piece of material she is sewing with the BasicGrey Oliver spotty paper. Mona is layered onto a Nestie lacey square.

The lace is from my stash and the buttons and brads are both by BasicGrey.

The cotton reel and needle are from a mini chipboard pack from Maya Road with lots of gorgeous mini chipboards of sewing items. I inked them with some distress ink and then wrapped embroidery cotton around it.

I also again had time to decorate the inside of my card !

The stripey paper is from BasicGrey "Oliver".

The sentiment I made myself on the PC and attached it to a Nestie Fancy Tag.

We look forward to seeing all your fantastic creations for our new challenge and also your Design Team applications ! All the details of the challenge and the Design Team call can be found on the BasicGrey Challenges Blog. If you have any queries at all, please feel free to email us and we will get back to you ! There is a "contact us" button at the very top of the challenge blog.

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

Have a super, fantastic weekend ! I can't believe that this time next week I shall be waking up 40 years old !! I never thought when I was a teenager that I would be 40, it always seemed so old and in flash, I'm in the last week of being 39 ! I just hope that life does begin like they say !!!

Love 'n' hugs,

MFT - Wednesday's Challenge

What a horrible, rainy day we have here today. Good excuse to hide away and craft though ;o) !!

Yesterday, I told the ironing to politely "go away" and with the girls at school, I decided to give myself a well earned cardmaking session.

The stamps at MFT (My Favorite Things) have been growing on me and I can actually say now that I love them ! The ones with no heads have taken getting used to but they work ! Who needs a head ??!!

Anyway, MFT run a Wednesday Challenge and I saw yesterday that they are now having a sketch and this week's sketch looks too irresistible to pass on !

So, here is my card to enter their challenge. I turned the oval shape round in the centre to fit this lovely image, perfect for any girlfriend I reckon !

The DP's are DCWV "Linen Closet"

The image is by My Favorite Things and is called "How Sweet It Is" and I have coloured this with ProMarkers and paper pieced the chair and foot stool.

The ribbons are both from my stash. I gathered the ribbon at the bottom.

I even managed to decorate the inside of my card which I haven't done for ages and ages. My gorgeous friend TaraG sent me the most gorgeous Christmas card and inside she had stamped the image and left it uncoloured. What a fantastic idea I thought......

You can find details of the MFT Wednesday Challenge over at the MFT blog.

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

Keep dry and hope to see you again soon,

Love 'n' hugs,

Simon Says Challenge - New Beginnings

Happy New Year !

Didn't all that go by in a flash ?! My tree and decs are back up in the loft, the girls are back to school and all the festivities seem so long ago now !

We have a great challenge for you over at Simon Says Challenge - NEW BEGINNINGS.

We have a new beginning on the challenge blog too - a whopping $50 shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store for the lucky winner ! Just how fantastic is that ?

The DP's are Prima Marketing "Jack and Jill".

The flowers are also Prima Marketing "Jack and Jill" and the little button brads are by Making Memories.

The image is a stamp by Helz Cuppleditch/Stampavie called "Home Sweet Home" and I have coloured this with ProMarkers.

The ribbon, wooden heart and cork scrabble pieces are all from my stash.

The rest of the DT have some very inspirational cards for you to look at, please hop over and have a look and leave them a comment.

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week.

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

Take care,