Back 2 School... already?!!

Hi there

Happy Sunday! It's a bank holiday weekend here for us, so it's nice spending some time together as a family before the onslaught of packed lunches and homework starts again! It has been so nice not having to get up early. It's not that we've been getting up particularly late, but we've been able just to chill out in pj's and in my case with no make up! I love that.

So, onto my final card as part of the Design Team for the Corrosive Challenge Blog. The theme for this week is 'Back to School'. I had quite a few ideas for this one, including rulers, torn off notepaper, staples, pens. It was therefore quite difficult to decide what to do, I almost had too many ideas! After lots of sketches drawn out on the tiniest of notepads I decided on this as a layout.





Firstly I cut out two squares, one in black and one in Cogsmo DP. I matted these onto a white cardstock base. I then got to work on my little clipboard. I wanted to bring in a blackboard effect so cut out a black rectangle and then found some little white bulldog clips in my stash which sparked the idea of the clipboard. I made a little yellow file using a rectangle of card and punched out a SU! file tab, and then added another blue 'file' behind it, again just a rectangle of card. I attached the bulldog clips and a couple of coloured paperclips and adhered it to the card using pop dots.

I cut out the '1 + 1 = 2' in white Easy Peasy alphabet set, but lots of the alphabet sets don't have the 'plus' sign so I improvised by using my nurse cutter. The nurse has a red cross on her uniform which was the perfect size for it!

I cut out and added the 'Back 2 School' letters in black down the left hand side. I wanted them to look a bit random rather than neat so stuck them down at angles. Finally I hand wrote the words 'Have fun!' onto the tab using a fine marker pen.

Dies: Sizzix 'Nurse', 'Easy Peasy Alphabet Set, 'Playground Alphabet Set', Quickutz Crayons
Paper: Cosmo Cricket 'Cogsmo', assorted cardstock
Accessories: Mini paperclips and bulldog clip from stash

I think it's been a good time for me to be part of a DT because otherwise I wouldn't have got around to being very creative over the holidays. I've had a few problems posting feedback on entrants though, for some reason my system crashes when I try to leave comments on certain blogs. It's really strange. Does that ever happen to you guys?

I would like to say thanks to Janet for all the inspiration over the past few weeks. It has been really good fun working for her and I wish her all the best for her future challenges. I know I will definately be popping in to join in when I get chance. I really do need to get back into doing my challenges though, it just hasn't quite happened lately, but they do get you thinking :o)

I'm sure this week will be a busy one for us, what with labelling new uniform, shoes, pencil cases etc. etc but as the sun is shining we will definately be making the most of our last few days together for the holidays.

Take care, keep creating, and don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's cards this week. You must join in. This challenge is really fun to do!

Wild Thing

Happy Sunday!

As promised here is today's card for the Corrosive Challenge Blog #26, 'Welcome to the Jungle'. I really enjoyed making the card for this week's challenge. I thought I would try and do a scene. I don't often do them, but I came across one of Natasha's little pack of stickers so asked if I could 'borrow' it. Well, she does that to me all the time so it's only fair I get to do it back every now and again, don't you think?!

For this card I cut a rectangular piece of dotted glitter cardstock and using my Martha Stewart punch I cut a green strip to stick along the bottom border. I then cut out a frame using my Nesties and backed the gap with some stripey glitter card just to give a different effect. I stuck on the lion and palm tree stickers and then cut out some extra branches using my 'Tulip Dance' cutter. (if you look at my last posting you will be able to see that the leaves are from the same cutter). All I did was cut some pieces out of them to make them look a bit more jungle like. Now, I am SO not a jungle kind of girl, much more a five star hotel with a hot bubble bath, so please go with it if they're nothing like jungle leaves lol. I cut out a couple of red dots to add a bit of colour on the leaves. I then attached the little 'Wild' brad using a piece of string and then stuck another little brad with the word 'Adventure' in the bottom left corner. To finish I added a plastic sentiment plate which I tied ribbon through, again to bring in some colour, because it was all a bit green!


Natasha and I went out for a coffee and cake yesterday, just us girls because Ian has been poorly, and afterwards we went into one of the little gift shops before heading home. I was looking at one of those little handbag hooks/holders, have you seen them? They look like this, you can get loads of different versions of them. Anyway, I haven't quite made my mind up if they are trendy or old fashioned, but I would really like one. I hate putting my bags on the floor when I'm out. So, we were looking through a basket at them and each was £9.00. I decided I wasn't keen on any of the patterns there so we headed home. As we were walking back to the car Natasha said to me, 'we need to get ones we like, that would have been £18.00 if we had bought those ones'. Umm, at what point had I said I was getting one for her too?!!! I think this is now the age where it starts getting VERY expensive lol. Anyway, I quite like the idea of this one that I found on line here, what d'ya think?

I'm going to have to grab the packet of sticky things off Natasha to find out all of the details for the card, so if you would like them just drop me a line. I'm off to get my forty (or more hopefully!) winks. Sweet dreams x

Tulip Dance

Hi everyone

We've had a funny old week. Everything that has been planned hasn't happened, and everything that hasn't been planned has!! Very odd! Still, it's made for an interesting week! Do you ever have weeks like that?

I mentioned the other day that I had made another card based on the Corrosive Challenge blog, you may remember I had got the sketch completely wrong lol. This was the original posting showing the sketch. I thought I would share it with you today... I just love the way you can interpret sketches in so many different ways, they're fab.



I wanted to make something with my 'Tulip Dance' cutter and this is what I came up with. I didn't take long to put together once I'd put my mind to what I wanted to make. That's usually the longest bit for me lol. I cut out the various squares using Basic Grey Euphoria papers and matted them onto pinky/purple Bazzill cardstock (what colour would you call that? I'm not quite sure how best to describe it).

I then cut out the different petals of the flower. I wanted to stick to just a few colours for a change rather than adding green in for the stem/leaves, so decided on an aubergine colour. To finish I cut out the numbers '9' and '0' in white and then added the little pearls. I really enjoy using these little pearls, they add a little bit of dimension and interest. I hope you like it.

Dies: Sizzix 'Flower, Tulip Dance', 'Twango' Alphabet
Paper: Various shades of pink/purple Bazzill Bling cardstock, Basic Grey Euphoria papers from 6 x 6 mat pad
Accessories: White pearl gems

Thanks for popping by and leaving me comments, I really do appreciate it. Your comments honestly do make my day!

Have a fab weekend. I will be back on Sunday with my Corrosive Challenge card ♥

Wise Old Owl

Hi there everyone!

How's your week been? We have been having really good weather here, which has been great, especially as Natasha is on summer holidays. The weeks are flying by though which is a shame. I love spending time with her, she's so much fun and never fails to make me laugh :o) We bought her a set of steel drums the other day so it's been like the caribbean here. I love it. Soooo much better than listening to a recorder. She's been compiling her own songs too, all that's missing is the rum! Might have to sort that out later lol

I got my Pax bead the other day, woohoo. It's smaller than I thought it would be, but I really like it. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about see my previous post entry here.

My card for this week's Corrosive Challenge #25 is this wise old owl...

I actually messed up on this challenge, because we had gone round to a friend for the day and when I got there I remembered I hadn't made a card for this week's challenge! Luckily, she also makes cards so I was able to have a rummage through her card making bits and pull something together. I love looking through other people's card-making bits, don't you?! The picture is taken from my phone, but it came out ok I think. Phew, nearly missed that one. See, if I'd been a wise old owl I'd have made the card earlier in the week, AND looked at the sketch too!!

The story doesn't end there though. I gave the card to my Mum because she really liked it and wanted to send it to someone so no longer had the card in my possession. When I got home I opened my e-mail from Janet (who runs the Corrosive Challenge Blog) only to find I had remembered the sketch completely differently to what it was! By then it was too late to do anything about it. Anyway, you will get the idea, but let's just say I've used my artistic licence to do this one!!

I'm really sad actually because I only have two more cards to make and then my 3 month DT season has come to an end :o( I've thoroughly enjoyed being part of it. Janet has certainly set some great challenges and got my little brain working on new ideas.

I've put together another card based on the 'wrong' sketch so will share that with you later in the week. Oh yes, I have also just had an idea having seen a pair of teenager socks, but you will have to wait for that one ;o)

I will come back and add the 'how to' make it info later. I'm off out to get some chips!!! Don't ask, it's just one of those things I've wanted all week and now I'm off to get them!

Have fun!!

Don't forget to check out all the DT cards, they're fab.

Mocha anyone?

Hi, it's me again!

Today is the Corrosive Challenge Blog challenge day. This week is all about lurve, well weddings and anniversaries specifically! Pop on over and check out the other DT members' cards, they are all really fab!

For this card I wanted to use the theme of cream and mocha. I always work with white card and fancied a bit of a change. I don't know why I always use white, I think it might be because I'm just too lazy to cut my own coloured ones!

I cut a piece of DP which has a beige flourish and tiny mocha dots (I'm not sure if you can quite make it out on the picture - it looks like a mistake at the top but that's actually one of the mocha dots lol). I then used my Sizzix 'Frame, Hearts' cutter, to cut heart shapes, in mocha and cream. Using my yummy Nesties I cut out a small circle in cream which I had pre-printed on my printer with the bride and groom's names on. I then cut a mocha scallop to stick the name tag onto. I tied a mocha ribbon through the tag and around the DP. To finish I added a MS punched border strip in mocha and added a few swarowski gems which I think you can just make out, and one on the top right of the heart too.

Have a great Sunday. Hope you're having good weather. The sun is shining here and it's quite hot, but tomorrow isn't so great - rain is forecast, so I'm off to enjoy the sun while it lasts :o)

Thanks for popping by. I really love your comments, they keep me creating and thinking up new ideas, keep 'em comin'!

Got the blues?!

Hi everyone

How has your week been? Mine was ok until yesterday when I had to have root canal treatment...eeeuuuuuu and ouch!!! All better now though and the dentist I saw was lovely, he talked to me all the way through the process. He must have seen the look of horror when he went anywhere near my mouth lol. I'm not a very good example to Natasha, am I?! I do try to be brave!! Mind you, I'm not sure what was more painful, the treatment or the dent it left in our wallets!

So, have you all had lots of time to make some lovely cards? Here's one I made, it was for a really good friend of mine, she loves blues.

I think it probably speaks for itself, but just in case you would like to know how I made it... I cut two strips of different coloured DP. On the green paper I cut a border using a MS hole punch. Finally I tied around a piece of ribbon and a sentiment. It was so perfect for her, because she just loves these colours. I don't think you can really see in this picture, but the paper has sparkle on it. It's really pretty.

I'm not sure if you remember but some time ago I entered a competition for a 'Trollbead' on www.trollbeads.com Well, all entrants were going to receive the winning bead. This is it, it's called 'Pax', what do you think??


I'm really looking forward to seeing it. It's a dove with its wings wrapped around the earth and symbolises peace. I'd love to know...do any of you collect Trollbeads?

Well, I'm off now. I will be back again tomorrow with another Corrosive Challenge Blog post. You will have to wait until then to see what Janet has lined up for you by way of a challenge this week.

Until then have a great evening. I'm off to put my feet up. We have our first weekend of no visitors in a long time so we're all making the most of it! :o)

ps - the sentiment tag is from Craftwork Cards, the paper was 'The All Dressed Up' mat stack by DCWV and the ribbon is from my stash. Ciao!

Tweet Birthday

Hey there everyone. I just don't know where the time is going at the moment. I must be getting old! I keep thinking I will blog a card but it never quite happens. I have another card to share with you this week though, and plans to make more.

This week over at the Corrosive Challenge Blog as part of the DT we were asked to make up something in the following three colours...

Aren't these colours great?!

Now, I don't know about you but I'm loving the name of that red!!! :o)

So, how has your Sunday been? I've been working this morning and then sorting out bits and bobs. I'm about to sit down with a lovely glass of wine after a long day, followed by a candlelit bath later with a good book (says she hopefully!) I have recently started to read the Twilight series of books. I wanted to know what all the hype was about. They are great! If you haven't read them and like that whole vampire thing then these are the books for you. I know they're meant to be for teens, but there's no harm in pretending to be younger every now and then, is there?!!

So for my card I stamped out a bird and coloured it in using Copics. I've still got a lot to learn about Copic colouring in. People seem to do it in so many different ways, some do it scruffy and others with a lot more blending. I really like the scruffy look on other people's cards but it SO doesn't work for me. I just want to tidy it all up!! So I'm going to have to work on it a bit more I think, but check me out I stamped a card!!! I know it's a rare occasion so expect a full round of applause when I actually make the effort lol.

I cut out two squares of card, one in 'Pumpkin Pie' lookalike and the other in 'Ruby Red' lookalike! I don't have SU! colours. Then I cut out another square in Basic Grey DP. On each of the three squares I rounded the top right corners. I matted these as shown in the picture.

I cut out a rectangle around the stamped bird in white using my Nesties, and a scallop in 'Bermuda Blue' lookalike. I then attached some black polka dot ribbon before pop dotting my Nestie'd bird. To finish the bird off I added the little square sentiment block that I'd got free from a magazine about two years ago. I stamped the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment onto 'Bermuda Blue' card and rounded the corner, attaching it to the card with a brad and pop dots. Finally I punched out a SU! tab which I attached a couple of buttons to.

Hope you like it! I'd love to hear your feedback.

Don't forget to join in on the challenge this week, there is a prize to be won.

Enjoy the rest of your evening. I will add the recipe at a later date. My bath is calling me :o)