Simon Says Challenge - Domi's Sketch

Good morning and welcome to another Simon Says Challenge ! This week we have a sketch for you designed by our very own Domi !

The DT were lucky enough to receive some images from Penny Black for this challenge and the team would like to thank Penny Black for their kindness and generosity. If you have any Penny Black stamps we would love to see you use them but if not, you can still play along with us.

As usual the lucky winner will win a $50 spending spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

The DP's are Prima "Jack and Jill"

Some of the flowers are also Prima "Jack and Jill" The image is from a Penny Black clear stamp set called "Betsy Bluebell" and this has the cutest stamps you have ever seen in there ! The sentiment also comes from this set. I have also used the lacey square nesties with kraft card.

The butterfly is from a Martha Stewart punch with some blue pearls

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week. The DT have made some amazing cards for your inspiration.

Have a great day and thank's for your visit.

Papertake Weekly - Sketch #54

Good afternoon ! I'm running a tad late this afternoon with my Papertake Weekly card. My lovely hubby has just taken me out to lunch - wasn't that kind of him ? We get very little time on our own so when he has the day off, we make the most of it and treat ourselves !

Well, we have another one of Dawny's sketches over at Papertake Weekly Challenges this week, very simple to anyone can join in !!

It was an absolute pleasure to spend the day with Dawny on Saturday - thank's for making the day so special chick - mwah !

The lucky winner will win a $20 shopping spree around the Simon Says Challenge Store !

The DP's are Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman".

The image and sentiment are from a stamp set called "Grand Tour 1" and they are made by IndigoBlu. I picked these up at the NEC as they are lovely, so vintagey !! It was only when I went in search of IndigoBlu's website that I found out that they are a brand new stamp company and their stamps first outing was at the NEC. They are only currently for sale in Samuel Taylors

I stamped the hot air balloon on some linen effect card. The sentiment was stamped onto some sticky backed canvas.

The hardware is by Tim Holtz called "Sprokets, Gears and Watch Parts"

The rest of the DT's cards are just gorgeous. Please pop over and have a look and we hope you can join us in our challenge this week.

Thank you for your visit and have a great day ahead !

Ahoy There Me Hearties !!!

A late post for me today ! I've been busy, busy all day and decided to spend the evening crafting away seeing as I have some new goodies to play with !

I had a fantastic time on Saturday at the NEC and met lots and lots of fabulous crafting buddies, some new ones and some old ones but we had so much fun ! I do have a photo of some of us but its sooo dark. I'll see if one of the others has a better copy !

Well, I've been playing with some Tickled Pink digital images I bought last week and I've been itching to use them. Tickled Pink Challenges has a challenge "One For The Lads" running at the moment so I thought I would print this handsome chappy off and combine it with making a birthday card which is needed in a couple of weeks.

The DP's are Basic Grey "Eerie" which have been manhandled and dabbed with a gold marker pen.

The Tickled Pink digi is "Pirate Frankie" and he has been coloured with a mixture of ProMarkers and Copics.

The background map stamp is an old stamp I bought ages ago from e-bay. The stamp says its made by Creative Stamping. This was stamped with distress ink and then had the full works with ripping, the distresser and loads of distress ink !

A bit of corrugated card which was treated in the same way as the papers and a piece of that cream lace stuff everyone was using a while back with the fancy bits cut off the sides to make it look more manly and then the same treatment again as the papers !

The "treasure" I found at the NEC ! The sentiment is part of a Tim Holtz stamp which has been stamped onto sticky back canvas (my new love !), edges frayed and scrunched up and distress inked !

Great fun was had making this card I can tell you !!

So, I am entering this card into these challenges :

Ticked Pink Challenges - One For the Lads

Sisterhood of Crafters - Let's Hear It For The Boys !

Stampavie and More - For a Boy

Stampin B's Challenge - Make a Masculine Card

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

See you back here tomorrow for Papertake Weekly (yes, already !!).

PaperPlay Challenges - Distressing

Good morning ! Very foggy this morning but lets hope it turns into a beautiful day !

The doors open at the NEC today and I'm so excited to be going on Saturday. I just hope the shoppers who are going today and tomorrow leave some stuff for me to buy ! I'm more excited about meeting up with my lovely friends again, some I have met year after year and some I shall be meeting for the first time.

I was thrilled when my fellow teamie on BG Challenges, Sandie, asked me if I would like to join PaperPlay Challenges and the lovely talented ladies on there.

The challenge this week is DISTRESSING !

We are being sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts and the lucky winner will win a £10 gift voucher for her store !

I have had this photo frame hanging around forever and always had good intentions to do something with it ! It's a Papermania frame designed for altering.

I covered the edges with Tim Holtz tissue tape (Traveler), inked it over with Vintage Photo distress ink and then added some smudges of gold Adirondack acrylic paint dabber.

The flowers are a mixture from my stash. I also added a couple of strip of Tim Holtz film strip.

On the inside of the frame I stamped a piece of K and Company paper with stamps from a couple of Tim Holtz stamp sets, Urban Tapestry and Good Thoughts. I added some Platinum Stickles to the flowers. I just love the colour of these Stickles, they look so old and are perfect for that aged look. I also inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

The butterflies were punched from the same paper, inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and I added more of the Platinum Stickles to them

The other DT members have made some stunning examples for your inspiration and we hope you can come along and play with us this week.

Hope you have a great day and have fun in whatever you are doing !

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

Simon Says Challenge - Mother's Day/Girlie

Whooo hooo just look at that sunshine ! It's the first time I have been out this year without a coat on and it feels sooo good ! I'm also looking forward to Saturday at the NEC but spending my time running around like a headless chicken making sure the Hubster has everything he needs to look after the girls on his own !! Men hey ?! Simon Says Challenge has come around again and this week its a Mother's Day/Girlie week. As always, we have a super prize of a shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

I know my card perhaps looks very similar to last week's card but I had this cutie stamp by CC Designs and it seemed very rude not to use her too ! Now it looks like the store may have sold out of this stamp at this moment in time but I am sure that a new batch is winging its way as we speak !

The papers I used are BasicGrey "Cupcake". I stitched all the layers together with my new sewing machine !

The ribbon is from my stash.

The bingo card is by Jenni Bowlin. We had well over 400 entries in our Happy Birthday Challenge last week, lets see if we can top that number this week ! We look forward to seeing all your amazing cards and presents !

The DT have made some amazing cards for your inspiration.

Thank you for your visit. Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine !

Papertake Weekly - It's a Mom Thing (or just Girlie !!)

Here we are again for another Papertake Weekly Challenge ! Last week, your trio-tastic entries were just fantastic, thank you so much for playing along with us.

This week our challenge is called "It's a Mom Thing" (or Girlie), whatever you want to do !

This week we are sponsored by the wonderful Digital Delights and the lucky winner will win 3 digital stamps from Wendy's Store !

The DP's are by Trimcraft "First Edition Papers" called "Sweet Owl" and they are yummy ! A whole pad full of white, pink and brown, some with glitter and some without, some are double sided and some are single but a gorgeous pad !

The image is by Claudia and Co. and is a Puddlejumper ! She has been coloured with a mixture of Copics and ProMarkers.

The flowers are by Prima and I have added some of those card candy bits to the centres.

The ribbon is from my stash.

We hope you can come and play along with us. For some fantastic inspiration please check out the rest of the DT's cards, they are gorgeous !

Thank you for your visit - lovely to see you !

What's Cooking ? Fundraiser for Japan

Good morning ! I hope you all had a great weekend.

I know you don't usually see me on Mondays, let alone with a card that isn't a DT card, but after seeing this fantastic image that Mo Manning is selling in her store which is a fundraiser for Japan, I just had to print her out and colour her in.

You can buy the digi image from Mo's Store for $1 and every $1 that is raised goes to charities to help the people of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. I have just checked on Mo's Facebook page and it was updated a little while ago to say that so far, $800 has been raised and she has just sent off another $100 to the Red Cross. Just how wonderful is that ? Why not spend $1 today and make a big difference ?

I followed the sketch over at Sweet Stop Sketches so I am entering that challenge with my card.

The DP's are My Mind's Eye Stella Rose "Mabel".

You can find the "What's Cooking" digi image in Mo Manning's Store (Mo' s Digital Pencil) for $1 ! This little cutie has been coloured with a mixture of Copics and ProMarkers.

The sentiment is from a My Favorite Things a la mode stamp set.

The flowers are a mixture of Wild Orchid Crafts and my stash.

I shall have another look later to see if there are any other challenges I can enter this card into to spread the word ! If you buy the image and make a card, let me know, I would love to come and see it !

Have a great Monday and enjoy the sunshine ! I have a very busy day ahead of me, swimming gala, parents evening, concert rehearsal and Izzy has just come down with an ear infection poor lamb. Still, the Calpol works magic and she is outside swinging upside down on the swing so it can't be that bad !!!

Thank you for your visit !

BasicGrey Challenges - Recycling

Just how silly am I ? Here I am, sat here quite merrily making a card and I suddenly remember I need to do my post for BasicGrey Challenges !!! I think old age is setting in fast !!

Our challenge this fortnight is all about recycling, we would love to see something being recycled on your project. For inspiration, take a look at the DT's projects this week, they are amazing !

As always, there is a fantastic prize of a $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store for the lucky winner !

The DP's are a mixture of BasicGrey "Hopscotch" and "Basic Manilla"

The image is my My Favorite Things and is an a la mode "What's Cooking". She has been coloured with a mixture of Copics and ProMarkers.

The recycled items are the button which came from my late Grandma's button tin and the charm. I also used my new sewing machine on this card. I suppose seeing as the sewing machine was made in 1974 I could also say this was recycled !!

I followed the sketch over at the My Favorite Things "Wednesday Stamp Club" over at Splitcoasters.

We hope you can play along with us and look forward to seeing all your recycled creations !

Thank you for your visit. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. At least the sun is shining !

Simon Says Challenge - Happy Birthday !

Good morning and welcome to another Simon Says Challenge ! Wow, we were absolutely blown away with the number of entries we had to last week's challenge, over 900 ! That's a lot of commenting so if we didn't get around to you all, we do apologise.

This week's challenge is called HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I think that is pretty well self explanatory !

We are being joined again by our fantastic Guest Designer Cathy.

As always, we have a super prize of a shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

The DP's are by My Minds Eye "Tickled Pink" and I sewed these with my old sewing machine !

The image is by CC Designs and is called "Cupcake Birgitta". Isn't she just wonderful and those cakes look so yummy ! She has been coloured with a mixture of Copics and ProMarkers. I also used the gorgeous lacey circles to sit her on.

The bingo ticket is by Jenni Bowlin. Just love these !

Both the sentiment and seam binding are from my stash.

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week and we look forward to seeing all your Birthday cards and presents ! As always, the DT have made some amazing cards for your inspiration - please check them out.

I am off out now for tea and stickies with a friend so I shall be back later to see if I can join in with any other challenges with my card. Have a great day !

I am entering this card into the following challenges :

Shabby Tea Room - Party Time

Cute Card Thursday - Happy Birthday

Tip Top Tuesday - Happy Birthday

Thank you for your visit !

Papertake Weekly - Trio-Tastic !

What a busy week I've had full of "behind the scenes" crafting which you will see coming up in Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine shortly. Such a fantastic job to have and I love every minute of it !

I also made a spontaneous decision of changing my ageing sewing machine - for another ageing sewing machine !! We are lucky enough to have a sewing machine shop in town who sell all the fancy brand spanky new ones but also the ones that date back years and years. The sales assistant is in her 80's and you have to speak up a bit and repeat everything 6 times but the chap who sits in the back, surrounded by sewing machines and sewing machine "bits" is the most amazing knowledgeable person you could ever meet. What he doesn't know about every machine and sewing is nobodies business ! Anyway, I now have a 40 year old Viking sewing machine that has about 25 different fancy stitches on it and moves as sweet as a nut - I'm very happy *smiles*. Don't expect to see wondrous things being made with it though - I'm no seamstress but playing is good enough for me !!

Anyway, onto this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge. This week its all about TRIO-TASTIC - please use 3 different things on your card/project i.e. flowers, ribbons, sewing, buttons, charms etc. etc. you get the idea !

We are being sponsored by the fabulous Ribbon Girl this week and are being joined by our fabulous GDT's Suzanne and Miria.

My three things are stitching, buttons and ribbon.

The DP's are BasicGrey "Wander"

The image is by The Greeting Farm and is from the set called "Special Autumn". He has been coloured with a mixture of Copics and ProMarkers

The "Happy Birthday" seal is by Cats Life Press and has been stamped on some Basic Grey "Manilla" DP

The buttons are from my stash as is the ribbon.

The rest of the DT's cards are just amazing, so inspiring. Please hop over and have a look.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges :

Ooh La La - It's a Man Thing

Incy Wincy Designs - For the Boys

Claudia & Co - Recipe

Pollycraft - Teens

Right, must get on with that mountain of ironing which keeps winking at me !

Thank you for visiting me, it was lovely to see you and we hope you can come along and play with us in our challenge this week.

Take care,

Simon Says Challenge - Anything Goes !

Well, did you enjoy your pancakes ? Shame we only have them once a year (well, in our house we do) as they are sooo yummy ! Perhaps its because of all the mess and how much it makes everything smell !!

Here we are again with another Simon Says Challenge (I am sure the weeks are getting shorter !). This week ANYTHING GOES ! The Design Team are featuring Unity Stamps this week and we would love to see them if you have some but its not necessary to join in with this challenge.

We are being joined again by our fantastic Guest Designer Cathy.

We also have a new super fantastic Design Team Member - welcome to Melissa ! Melissa is from Amercia and makes the most amazing cards. Her blog is something to be checked out ! She also has some fabby candy up for grabs at the moment so its deffo worth a visit !!

As always, we have a super prize of a shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

The DP's I used are by My Minds Eye (of course !) from the range of "Quite Contrary". I've been saving this piece for a stamp like this !

The image is by Unity Stamps and this one is called "Rain or Shine". Simon Says Stamp sells a huge range of Unity Stamps and they are all amazing - what a choice ! I paper pieced the umbrella and coloured the rest with a mixture of ProMarkers and Copics. I also used the lacey square nesties.

The flowers are a mixture of Prima flowers from my stash.

The Design Team's cards are awesome ! Pop on over and have a look !

We hope you can join us in our challenge this week and good luck winning the shopping spree !

Papertake Weekly - Lemon Zingy

What a lovely bright and sunny day we have today AND its Pancake Day !, just right for our lemon zingy challenge over at Papertake Weekly !!

This week we are being sponsored by Peggy Loves Vintage

We have two fantastic Guest Designers joining us too - Suzanne and Miria

The DP's are by Making Memories and are called "Chloe's Closet". They are just so pretty but unfortunately, I think they have been discontinued :o(

The image is a gorgeous Hanglar stamp I bought from e-bay ages and ages ago and she has never been inked before. I've also been trying out my new Copics for blonde hair and I don't think I've done a bad job this time ! I've also used some ProMarkers too for her clothes.

The doily and flowers and pearls are all from my stash.

The seam binding was again dyed by me using cloudy blue alcohol ink.

Check out the rest of the DT's creations, they are all fantastic and sooo zingy - better get your shades on !!!

Thank you for your visit, hope you can join us in our challenge and have a great zingy day. Enjoy the pancakes !

BasicGrey Challenges - Wings

Good morning ! Wow, what a fantastic night I had last night. I had a joint birthday party with an old school friend of mine for our 40th Birthdays. Yes, I know my birthday was back in January but his is in a couple of weeks and so we chose a date somewhere(ish) in the middle !!! It's ages since I boogied the night away and great fun and laughter was had by all.

We have a new challenge for you over at BasicGrey Challenges and the theme this fortnight is WINGS.

As usual, there is a fabulous prize of a $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store for the lucky winner.

The DP's are BasicGrey Lilykate and also some Basics Manila (the doiley was cut with an MFT Die-namics die).

The image I have had for a very long time and is by Elizabeth Bell for Sugar Nellie. She has been coloured with a mixture of ProMarkers and Copics.

The flowers are from my stash and I sprayed the rose with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist.

The seam binding is from my local market and I dyed it the green with Lettuce and Willow Alcohol Inks.

The butterfly was punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

I followed Rach's fabulous sketch over at Friday Sketchers for my card so I am entering that challenge.

I am also entering Flutter by Wednesday's who are asking you to use a butterfly, angel or fairy on your creations.

As always, the DT have made some amazing, inspirational cards for you this week so please hop over and have a look to see what they have made.

Thank you for your visit, have a super duper weekend !

Simon Says Challenge - A Recipe

Good morning and welcome to another Simon Says Challenge !

This week, we have a recipe for you : 3 embellishments, 2 papers, 1 image

We are being joined again by our fantastic Guest Designer Cathy.

As always, we have a super prize of a shopping spree in the Simon Says Stamp Store !

The DP's I used are more of the yummy, scrummy My Minds Eye, Stella Rose "Hattie" - just love this new collection if you hadn't guessed !! I had to get this paper pad as "Hattie" is Izzy's middle name. It would have been her first name but we weren't brave enough at the time !!

The image is a My Favourite Things "Pure Innocence" stamp called "Being Cute Is What I Do". This cutie has been coloured with Copic Sketch pens and paper pieced. New in the store a few weeks ago was the Copic Blending Card X-Press It so I decided to buy some and try it out. It is fantastic, so smooth and blending seems to be very easy. I can recommend it highly !

The banner has been made with a My Favorite Things die-namics called "Banner Strip and Mini Alpha Set". This is great because not only do you get the die but you also get all the letters so you can stamp on it too !

The button, string and flowers are from my stash.

We look forward to seeing what you "cook up" for our challenge this week !! The DT have made some amazing cards for your inspiration again this week. Please hop on over to the challenge blog to have a look.

Thank you for your visit and for any comments you may leave, it was so kind of you to pop by today !

Take care