Summer Card Camp Week One & Lots of Catching Up!

Hello there everyone!

This is a long post so feel free to just look at the pictures lol.

I’m back today to share a few things with you, firstly a card that I’ve made for the Summer Card Camp being run by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner.  It is so much fun!  The camp started on Monday and we were set a colour challenge, see pic below.  This card is for week one’s colour combo..




Using my Copic markers I coloured in some butterflies using the feathering technique where you blend two different colours together.  Kristina taught a technique for using 6 x 6 paper across a wide card so I thought as I had the same papers I would give it a go.  Such an easy technique and as she said it was one of those why didn’t I think of that moments!
I got to play with goodies from The Stamp Attic. The butterfly die and matching stamps from Prickley Pear are just GORGEOUS!  This is my set




There is also the set below that matches the die too, which is on my wish list.  I also LOVE this birdcage set.  YUMMY!



I have another card to share with you that got published in Through the Craftroom Door Magazine recently.  I thought I’d posted it but now realise I hadn’t.  Quite a simple card, I used Madeline Prima papers, oval nesties, a Pure Innocence digi and then some luscious pink ribbon to finish it all off.



The lovely Marie who’s on the DT with me over at Color Me Creative gave me this ‘sweet’ blog award!  Thank you Marie, that’s really sweet of you to think of me.



There are three things that you are supposed to do to accept this "Sweet" award.

• Thank the person who nominated you for this wonderful award and make a link to their blog…. check
• Name 7 random things about yourself …. see below… check
• Pass this award on to 8 wonderful cyber friends … hmmm a toughie!

I really have no idea who to pass this onto.  I have made so many wonderful blogging friends, but I would love to pass it to everyone that follows my blog.  It is such a treat seeing new people adding themselves as followers or to see that more people have subscribed to my feeds, it truly makes my day!  If it wasn’t that people read my blog I probably would have given up ages ago, so THANK YOU!!

Ok, so the promised 7 random things…

I hate the way I speak, I think I sound really common but others tell me I don’t

I dislike tins/packages being put in my cupboards the wrong way round.  They have labels on for a reason, so the labels should be showing lol

I am besotted with my little dog, Lulu, and take her with me wherever possible, I like teaching her new tricks when I can. She is very clever but cheeky with it, she still thinks she’s a puppy despite being three in September so we’re often chasing her around the house where she thinks it’s funny to run off with socks and slippers!

I love to visit cities. So far I’ve been to Dublin, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, and obviously living in the UK .. London, but I would love to visit more

I love 6 x 6 mini pads.  Wendy over at The Stamp Attic calls me the paper pad queen!

I love scented candles, there is nothing nicer than having an aroma of perfume in your home

I love making up fun words, like muchly, yumdiness, hambalambas (ham), lulloo (love you), that kind of thing.  Sad, but true!

Oh, one more thing before I go



Do you like reading?  Suzanne over at Color Me Creative is setting up a reading group soon,where reading and crafting come together!  She will be sharing all of the details soon, watch this space!

If you’ve signed up for Summer Card Camp I hope to see you over there.  I’m looking forward to seeing what this next week brings.  My favourite day so far was when Kristina taught us some graphic design principles… fascinating!!!!

A card and some overdue blog awards–oops!

Happy Wednesday!

This is a long post which includes a card, some awards and some not so interesting things about me that I need to blog about as part of my awards!

If you’re looking for my card and you haven’t done so already pop on over to The Stamp Attic, I’ve posted about this card there.  I’d love to know what you think. I’m also going to enter this card into the Sketches in Thyme challenge which is to use any sketch you like.  I was inspired by an old CPS sketch from January of this year.  This is my loose interpretation of the sketch.



This is the sketch..



I flipped the sketch onto its side and used the circle as inspiration for the centre flower and the curved corners on the sketch for the panel and the base card.

So … It is with red cheeks and a bit of embarassment that I finally write about some blog awards that were very kindly given to me.  They are so overdue I’m not sure if the people that gave them to me are still talking to me lol.  I keep meaning to post them, but it just never quite happens!

So firstly thanks goes to Marie Gamber for this award..


With this award I’m supposed to tell you five things about me.  Hmmm, what should I share? 

I can touch type very fast without looking, which REALLY freaks some people out lol

I never go a day without nailvarnish, or make-up, come to think of it.  It’s not that I’m vain, it’s just that’s who I am. I like to add colour to my life, as I’m sure you’ve noticed with my cards lol

I love learning the nitty gritty about people, I don’t mean in a gossipy way.  In fact I’m not interested in gossip, I like to really get to know a person and share their troubles and experiences.  I think everyone is just doing the best they can in life but it always helps to understand a bit more about where they are coming from

I love the computer game ‘Chuzzle’, which is where you have to match three little fluffy characters in a row so that they pop!  This is the online description.. Googly-eyed little balls of fur that giggle, squeak, and sneeze as you push them across the board! Once you start popping Chuzzles you might not be able to stop!

They look like this…


Finally, I was once held hostage in a doctor’s surgery, but that’s a story for another day lol.

I also received this award from Marie which has no requirements attached to it.  It’s just simply an award to share with others that I have met during my time blogging.



Finally I got this lovely award from Tracey. 



Like me Tracey is learning to colour with Copics and I met her through my first class over at Color Me Creative.  I’m sure she would agree with me that doing the course is so fun and you really do learn much quicker where you’re doing more and more practice.

I know I’m supposed to list lots of other bloggers that inspire me but I just wouldn’t know where to start so I want to give all of these awards to my followers and RSS readers, because being in the blogging world always astounds me.  The friendships that you can make just through this hobby is incredible.  It never ceases to amaze me that while I’m sleeping I get comments from the States (comments at all in fact!!) and that some people (you know who I mean) are already on the next day due to the time differences (boy that fries my little brain!) 

I think as women we all support each other so much through our commenting.  Ian is part of a wargaming blogging group and the people that comment on his painting and terrain building are so critical.  His work is so good though. He sees it as constructive criticism.  I think if I got some of those ‘constructive’ comments I’d be packing up my papers and stamps and selling them off on eBay, in between using a whole box of tissues to dry my tear soaked eyes!! 

I think this support network makes the whole blogging experience so worthwhile, it keeps us creating and looking for new ideas, in turn developing who we are and what we create.  I just LOVE it!

So thank you ladies for my lovely blog awards, I just hope you realise that I truly appreciate them and I’m sorry it’s taken me so very long to post about them!  Hope I’m forgiven!

A card and a Blog Award!

Happy New Years Eve!

Have you had a good day?  I met up with a friend in town for coffee, lunch and more coffee, and a couple of shops thrown in, but not many.  We were having too good a time catching up! 

I have a little card to share with you that I made some time ago.  I really love the red and green October Afternoon papers, they are yummy. 

Over Christmas I received a fab 'Stylish Blogger Award' from Pauline over at Craft Obsession. What a lovely surprise!! I'm not sure about you but often you wonder if anybody ever reads/looks at your blog, so it's such a fantastic surprise when you get an award. Thank you Pauline!

By accepting this award I have to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. Thanks Pauline!
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pass it on to 8 bloggers
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award

Ok, so 8 things about me...

1. I love Tudor History, particularly anything related to Henry VIII, and the Victorian period.  I need films/documentaries to bring them to life for me though otherwise I forget what I've read lol
2. I have a ridiculous number of self-help books, I always want to improve myself and learn something new too.  I am my worst critic, nobody can say anything as harsh to me as I can!  New Year time can be a nightmare for me, I already have a million and one things I want to achieve, but I can't possibly do them all!  Step at a time, Ruby, step at a time :o)
3. I am a trained Life Coach, but haven't actually put anything into practice yet!
4. I am totally addicted to coffee and chocolate! Something I really need to sort next year!
5. I love old fashioned films, like 'White Christmas' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird', anything with actors like Cary Grant, or Doris Day, Bing Crosby etc.
6. I love Audrey Hepburn, her style, her films, she was iconic
7. I love Betty Boop, and want her curves lol
8. I enjoy listening to all sorts of music, including indie, pop, classical, some rock but not all, the list is endless, but I love Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Madeline Peyroux the most
9. I am always learning French, but never get very far.  It's been on my New Year resolution list the past goodness knows how many years, but I guess I just need to move there to immerse myself.  I love anything French, such a beautiful place and language

Ooh, I just hit 9, oh well, maybe 2 and 3 can count as one thing!  It's been quite interesting reading through my list.  It looks like I should have been born in a different era with my old films, actresses and music lol

I am going to pass it onto our new design team members at the Play Date Cafe.  It will be lovely to learn a little more about them.

Jaclyn Miller

Michele Gross
Tracey Kuzniak
Jinny Newlin
Libby Hickson
Fiona Shultz
Colleen Dietrich 

I'm also going to add Wendy over at the Stamp Attic because she is always such a big help to me when I run out of cardmaking supplies!  Thanks Wendy!

I start my new term on the Etsy Inspired Challenge Design Team soon, can't wait!  You will LOVE some of the shops they have picked as inspiration. FABULOUS! 

A Couple of Challenge Cards & My Seriously Overdue Blog Awards!

Hello there

Firstly I'd like to share a couple of cards I've made for challenges.  First up was one for Caardvarks, but I didn't get it finished in time as I only came across it last minute.  This month you had to use one of the DT cards as inspiration, so I picked one of my favourite designers, Heidi Van Laar, I love her sunny, happy cards so thought I would use bright colours for this one.

For this I used Cosmo Cricket DeLovely papers, my new doiley nesties, and some ribbon from Ribbon Girl.

This is Heidi's card...

Next up is one I made for Waltzingmouse's Sketch Challenge #19.  I'm not sure about this one.  I like the papers etc, but I don't think I like the way I've done the stamp, but I am doing as I'm told by Ian and Tinks and posting it!  Talk about nag!  They get an idea in their mind and then gang up on me!!  

This card is a bit of Basic Grey and a bit of SU!!  The papers and stamp are BG, the mini sentiment, bow and tab punch are all SU!

I finally had time to load my overdue blog awards. I really do apologise to you Janet and Sue for me not having posted them sooner. Life has been very full on. I really appreciate you thinking of me, I REALLY do, it makes me feel it's worthwhile blogging!

My first award is from Janet over at her blog, Sonnet Designs.

I have to pass the award on to 10 other people and say why I started my blog.  I started my blog at the beginning of last year, to try and kick start my motivation to keep making cards.  I had no idea I would learn so much when I started, and how much I would enjoy it.  It's so much fun!  I've met lots of really interesting people, and made some good friends along the way too.

I would struggle at 10 people as I follow a few too many blogs, but to be honest the people I would like to pass my award to are those followers that always leave me a comment, without fail, when at times I'm sure they probably shouldn't ;o)  You know who you are!  Without your comments I'd probably give up so thank you SO SO much!

Thanks Janet, I really appreciate you nominating me!  Pop over and see some of Janet's work.  I especially love her Santa here.

My second award is from the lovely Sue Lelli. I love her work and regularly look at her blog for inspiration. 

So apparently I'm supposed to tell you something about myself.  Hmmm, what can I share... I love everything French, I have tried many times to learn it, got to an ok level and then something has come up that has stopped me, or is it me that stops me?!  I am a perfectionist and everyone would say I'm too hard on myself.  I don't need anyone else to criticise me, I can do a much better job of it myself!!

I would like to pass this award onto the following people...

Joanna K

Jaclyn Miller

Donna Mikasa

Lindsay Amrhein

Em

Tracy Evans

Now pop over to Sue's blog and check out these to die for flowers.  Aren't they FABULOUS!  I 'need' that flower die cutter!!!

Keep up the great work girls, you inspire me on a daily basis!

Blog Awards

Hey there everyone!

I am really pleased to share with you that I have received another two awards! This one is from my friend, Sav.  We've got to know each other through being on the PDCC design team.  She's such a generous and fun person, and makes fab cards too!!   I'm so pleased to have 'met' her virtually, and hope to meet her in real life too! Please stop by her blog and leave her some love!!

I can remember the first award I got, I was SO excited, and they still make me feel really happy! As Sav said on her blog they seem to come at just the right time, don't they?!  Sav introduced me to {ippity} so it's thanks to her that I'm now playing with lots of yummy new stamps! Thanks Sav!!!

My next award is from Wendy over at The Stamp Attic in Wantage, thanks Wendy!

There was a list of instructions so here goes ...

1. Express gratitude to the blogger that bestowed the award unto you... Wow, Wendy, oh great one, I am so honoured that you have given this award to this mere mortal, little ole me!  I truly am not worthy of your kindness!

2. Display this picture proudly on your blog;

3. Be nice and provide a link to the person who gave it to you..................Wendy can be found here!

4. Tell 6 outrageous lies about yourself and one truth, or switch it about and tell 6 truths and one lie............you will have to decide for yourselves what you believe

5. Nominate 7 creative writers who might be into doing this (now that's a tough one!)

6. Post links to the 7 you nominate and let them know..............

Okay, here are my lies/truths...................

1. One of my favourite films is 'Another Stakeout 2'
2. I do not have an addiction to all things paper crafting
3. I usually fall asleep at the cinema, they turn the lights off...what do they expect?!
4. I hate celery with a passion
5. I am not very keen on clothes shopping
6. I used to work in an old people's home

And now I need to pass this award on to some of my blogging friends....here they are in no particular order .. except for the first one of course, she's my baby!

1. Rock Chick Tink
2. Joanna
3. Sarah-Jane Rae
4. Sav
5. Sarah
6. Julie
7. Michelle

Sorry girls, I hope you're still talking to me after this one!! It is just a bit of fun though :o)

I have exciting news to share with you tomorrow, so watch this space!

Hit and Miss, Some Awards and I've Been Tagged!

Hi there everyone! I hope you're having a good week so far.

Today's been quite a nice day. I had to pop into town with Natasha after school so we had a coffee. She wanted to order it for me so I said I would have an Americano. She said, 'Mummy, is it 'A Merry Carno' that I have to ask for?' I love that, it really made me giggle! It might well have been 'A Merry Carno' with me drinking coffee after 4 o'clock! Do any of you have a cut off time for drinking caffeine. I used to be a caffeine addict, umm, who am I trying to kid I still am a caffeine addict but I need to stop after about 4pm or I'm awake half the night. I shall confess here, I am addicted to Vanilla coffee, and I mean addicted!!

I just wanted to write a post to say that my blogging might be a bit hit and miss over the next couple of weeks while we move. I have spent most of the day making calls about utilities, ooh what fun!! ;o) I've even survived the day without chocolate, I hope you're all suitably impressed!

I have a couple of blog awards to share with you all. Sarah-Jane over at Cards and a Cuppa gave me this lovely award:



Sarah-Jane is a SU! Demonstrator and is churning out projects at the moment, I'm sure she must have little elves helping her! You should go over and check them out, they're really good. She's been busy making men's cards this week which we all know are more challenging than others! Thank you Sarah-Jane for thinking of me;

Rae (I love her simple yet stylish designs, also check out her Use It! challenge blog (see my sidebar link) it's great. I know I've said it before but I love the way she challenges you to use up old bits of stash!) Join in, you know you want to!
Heidi (I love her designs, she's started trying out white on white, it looks great!)
Karen (Karen's cards are really unique and detailed, so much thought goes into them)
Louly (I love her Holly & Madison characters and how she uses them, especially with her shaped cards)
Karen (Karen does her own sketch challenges. I like her style, it's simply classy!)

Sarah-Jane also 'tagged' me today. Now, I'm new to this tagging thing but my understanding is that I have to go to my 4th folder in my photos, choose my 4th picture and post it with some info all about it. I think I've got that right, it is getting late after all ;o) So, here is my pic....



This picture is one that my friend printed, mounted and framed for me as a birthday present a few years ago. On the back she put, 'Keep Living The Dream'. At the time I was hoping to meet my Mr Right and not long after along came my lovely Ian! I still look at this picture now and smile to myself because he was worth the wait, and she was right dreams can come true! Well I hope you're not all being physically sick after all that romantic talk. Onto the next task...

As part of this tagging I now have to tag 4 more people, so I choose...

Sandra
Mandi
Joann
Michelle

I'm not sure if everyone enjoys doing this or not, so hope I haven't upset anyone by sending it on!!

I also owe a big thank you to the lovely Sandra over at Sandra-Dry Designs. She awarded me with a hug and a lemonade last week. Sandra has just set up a new Digi Challenge blog called 'Dare you to Digistamp' with her friend where you use digital downloads rather than stamped images for your cards. I will definately be joining in on some of those. I've just recently got into the digi downloads, there's some fab ones out there. The beauty of them is you don't have to leave your house to go and get them, or be told that they're out of stock for another few weeks, they're instant! Now that's my kind of shopping! :o) So here's my little awards...

Ah he looks so sad!


I would like to pass these awards on to Sarah-Jane over at Cards and a Cuppa and Michelle over at Stamp and Smile. I know it seems odd giving awards to the person you've received some from already, but they both leave a note on every single card that I make and I think that's really lovely! I'd also like to pass on my awards to all of my other followers. Thank you for your support {hugs}

I feel honoured to have received these awards. I still get very excited about them!!! It amazes me that people think to send awards, never mind that they actually come back to read what I type or see what create!

I've got boring jobs to do tomorrow :o( I have to arrange redirection of mail, more utility calls, more phone calls to arrange disposal of furniture etc etc. I want to make cards!!! Still, not long now and I will have so much free time on my hands I won't know what to do with myself! Hmmm, I know... I could make some cards!! Woohoo!

Enjoy yourselves ♥

Let it Snow

No, I'm not wishing for snow, honestly! It's far too nice out there at the moment! I just thought I would share a quick Christmas card that I made.

I admire the girls that have been making a Christmas Card each week, I always say I will but it just never quite happens. I guess I'm a girl that likes to live life on the edge and increase stress levels around November/December!! I work better to deadlines!

Anyway, this is such a simple card to make. All I did was emboss a piece of 'elephant' Bazzill bling (those who follow my blog will know that Bazzill call it something else, but I like to have my own names for things!) Sorry, I digress...So I embossed it using the snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder, then cut out two strips in black glitter (left over from my Gothic Fairy) to attach to either side of the embossed panel. I then cut out the phrase, 'Let it Snow', in glitter and added a swarowski crystal for the dot of the letter 'i'. That's it, simple huh! When I do card commissions for Christmas I tend to make cards that are quick and easy because of the quantity involved. Also, nobody would buy them if I had to factor in the time/materials used!

Dies: Sizzix 'Let It Snow', Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' Embossing Folder
Paper: Bazzill Basics & black glitter card
Accessories: Swarowski crystal

I was also given this blog award yesterday, for supporting Kim's blog. Such a pretty award, don't you think?! You should check out her blog, she does some lovely designs.
We all know how fantastic it is to receive nice comments about our work, it makes it all worthwhile somehow. It's great to get feedback. I love to leave people comments because I know how much it cheers up my day.

I'd like to pass this award onto all of my followers;

Necron (I can't seem to find the link to your blog Necron)
MiniShoes (I can't find the link to yours either, love the name by the way!)
Sheena (go see her card for Lyn using one of the Holly & Madison downloads, it's luverly)
Emily (check out her pirate card, it's fab!)
Sarah-Jane (great with SU! products, and check out her post it note holders)
Michelle (check out her latest flowers card, SO funky!)
Debs (check out her darling 50th birthday cake, it's so cute!)
Katy (go see all the gorgeous bits she has made, not just cards)
Nikki (look at her cupcake card, it's good enough to eat!)
Christine (go see her tree header, it's gorgeous! Oh to have that as a stamp!)
Hannah (look at her gorgeous card for the Use It! challenge using my fave Amy Butler papers)
Sandra (one blogger I've actually met! Go back a bit and see her Daisy and Dan school card, it's one of my faves)
Pinky (what a cool name and check out her lovely colouring in of those stamps!)

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your support, it keeps me creative knowing that you're interested in seeing what I make. Those that have been following me will know that I was aiming for 10 followers and guess what I've now got 13!! Poor Ian sees me doing a little dance every time another person follows my blog, he thinks I'm nuts!

There's just so much talent out there and inspiration. It's endless. I absolutely love blogging, I'm really enjoying 'meeting' lots of new people that share my passion in cardmaking. Keep up the great work guys! If there's anything new you'd like to see on my blog just drop me an e-mail.

Hope you all have a fab day!

My Very First Blog Awards - Woohoo!!

Guess what... I just got my very first Blog Awards!!! I'm soooo excited about it. I kept on seeing other people getting them and felt a bit left out! Now I have some of my very own, how cool is that?!! They are from Sarah-Jane over at 'Cards and a Cuppa'. You should check her blog out, she has some really great cards on there. Also check out her calendar, I really like that idea and I love the colours she's used for the girl in January. Here's my awards;





I feel that I should have prepared a speech like they do at the Oscars, you know the kind of thing...I'd like to thank my man, my daughter, my dog, my Mum for having me etc etc (!!)but I will just humbly say a great big THANKS to Sarah-Jane! You made this little ole cardmaker a very happy girl today!!

Now, I'm new to all this but I think I'm supposed to pass them onto someone else. Ok, well I have a few people's work that I really love, so I am going to pass the awards onto them (in no particular order!)

The first person is someone's work that I have been in love with for a very long time. I'm always seeing her work published. It's Jo Kill over at 'We Don't Do Duvets'. Her work is just so very different, I love it. She has a distinct style, and I love the way she doodles on her cards and uses lots of black and white, it's fab!

The second one is going to go to someone's blog that I have just recently come across, 'Paper Playhouse' by Karen Motz. She has inspired me to get back into stamping. I used to stamp all the time but when the die cutters came along I got a bit bored with it and thought it just wasn't for me. She's made me realise that stamping doesn't have to be old fashioned, it can look fun and funky! I love the way she paper pieces her work, she is the paper piecing queen! I think I will always be someone that enjoys die cutting more than stamping, but at least now I will be doing a bit of both thanks to Karen's inspiration.

The third person I would like to give an award to is Kristina over at KWerner Design Blog. Her blog was the very first one I started following. She inspires me with her Color Inspiration Challenges, and she really does go the extra mile to keep us creative people motivated. I love the way her work is stylish yet quick and easy. I'm just about to join in on the Two Peas in a Bucket Classes that she's doing, that's my goal for this week anyway. My other goal is to stamp a card this week!

I'd also like to thank my followers. (Still can't believe I've got some!!) Thanks to each and everyone of you for thinking my work is good enough to come back and see! Big hugs to you all!