One Lovely Blog Award!

My thanks go to Dawn, over at Dawn's Crafting,
 for sending me this lovely blog award.
Soooo sweet of you Dawn, thank you!

Of couse, there is now the small matter of who to pass it on to! A bit tricky, especially as Dawn has already nominated most of the people I too would've chosen!!! Lol!! But anyway, here goes:

1. Paul at ATC Swappers

2.Roz  at Vintage Treasures

3. Debbie at The Crafty Pad

4. Andrea at Let's Get Crafty

5. Spyder at Dragonsmoore

6. Pixie Dust Studio

7. Paula at Tales from Pollycraft

Well done folks, please collect your award, and pass it on to 7 more deserving bloggers. And finally.....a belated welcome to my two latest followers: Debbie, from The Crafty Pad, and Tarotwisdom.

GCSE Success! An Easel Card to Celebrate!

AT LAST!!! I've managed to tear myself away from my addiction for making ATCs and I've made a card!!! ROFL!

This is for my niece, Lily, who did brilliantly in her GCSEs and got the results today....really proud of her!  Its an easel card and matching pyramid gift box made using a graphics collection called 'Thinking of You Girls' which is an exclusive downloadable set from Scrapbookingmad. I created the backing paper using the 3 different tiles that come in the collection, and made a matching tag on both the card and the box. I added some brads, ric-rac and black spotted ribbon on the box (the inside is black spotted too.) The box is filled with her fave sweeties!

This is also going to be my entry in the August competition at Card Making Downloads, where you have to make a card with more than one fold.

'EXCITING NEWS' AT CRAFTY STASH

One of my FAVE sites,  CRAFTY STASH, designed, set up, run and owned by my dear cyber buddy Debbie Lauder has had a makeover and now has some exciting new features....a brand new forum and members gallery! Yay! (How I'm EVER going to get anything done around the house now is anyones guess!!! Lol!) There will also be a monthly competition too! Whilst you're over there checking it out, don't forget to have a good look around at the downloads she has for sale too....

I want to wish you the very best of luck with it Deb, and I am so excited for you!

Before I disappear (well, get upstairs to bed actually!) I want to welcome my latest follower, and that's Roz Parry (aka Maisie) who I met through my ATC swap on Paper Craft Planet....hi and thanks so much for following!

Back To School.......with Harry Potter!

'Back to School'...........that's the theme for the ATC swap over on the Card Making Downloads forum for September. I wanted to do something a bit different, and here they are.

As you can see, I went with  a Harry Potter theme....Now, we only make 3 as a rule, but I couldn't miss out one of the 'houses' so I have made 4. I used wikipedia to find out what each house stood for, and googled images of the logos. The backing paper is actually a map of the forthcoming Harry Potter theme park! I tore and inked the edges, mounted the shields onto card and gave them a bit of a 3D 'curve.' I finished each one off with some matt metallic brads. I am really chuffed with them!!!

Thanks for looking!

ADDICTED TO ATCs!!

Yes, I sure am!!!!! And to prove it, here are my latest offerrings. These are for the current swap over at Addicted to ATCs. The theme for the swap is 'Make a Splash!'

I've used a bit of a mixture for these, including Bugaboo and Tiddly Inks (freebie) images coloured with Promarkers.  A few gems, ribbons and paper flowers, a couple of buttons, mulberry paper and even peel off corners....in fact, a right old hotchpotch!!! I couldn'r resist using the vintage Pears soap ad image, I laugh every time I see it, and even used it on my brother's birthday card (he has a warped sense of humour just like me and I KNEW he would find it amusing too!!)

Thanks for popping by!

Who am I Tagging for the Blog Award.....?

Mmmm, this has been really hard for me as a newbie to the world of blog! Having said that, here are my 5 tagged bloggers:

1. Paul Ford for Crafty Blogocks and ATC Swappers....Paul has a great style of cardmaking, and as a DT member for Bugaboo, his work always showcases their products perfectly!
2. Dawn for Dawn's Crafting....another newbie to the world of blog, and a very good cyber buddy of mine. Love her work and value her friendship as she can always make me smile, even on a 'bad' day.
3. Roz for Vintage Treasures....I have only just 'met' Roz through an ATC swap, but her vintage style is one I am really interested in, and her work has inspired me to 'have a go' at all things vintage just as soon as I get a moment to experiment!
4. Alison for Free Digital Stamps......what can I say? She does all the hard work, so we don't have to! Thanks Alison, your blog is perfect for us newbies to the world of digi stamps!
5. Andrea for Let's Get Crafty! She seems to be as addicted to ATCs as I am, and that's gotta be a worthy reason in my books!!

Now for a picture I love. This was taken last summer (2009) on a beach in Kent....my wonderful family, who mean everything to me. I can't believe how much my littlies have grown up since this was taken!!

And finally, the hardest part....3 things I love about myself! (1) I try my hardest to do my very best in everything I do. (2) I am honest, loyal and trustworthy. (3) Although my life isn't simple, I wouldn't change it for anything!

PHEW! Done it!!!

AN AWARD 'With A Cherry On Top!'

Wow! Just received this fab blog award.....'WITH A CHERRY ON TOP' from Lyn over at Spyder's Corner! It's for 'beautiful blogs with that little bit extra!' Thank you so much for thinking of me Lyn, I really appreciate it. Now for the rules of receiving this award:
1. Thank the person that gave it to you......Thanks again Lyn!

2. Post it with pride on your blog....it's done, and with LOTS OF PRIDE!
 3. List 3 things you love about yourself. Uh-Oh, that one's going to be tricky....I'll get my thinking cap on!
4. Post a picture you love....will get onto that v shortly!
5. Tag 5 other people for this Award.....will do that in a separate post.

Another ATC Swap!!!

Yes, I did say I am really into ATCs atm, and here are the ATCs for a one-off swap I organised over at Papercraft Planet. There were 5 of us who took part (another 2 who were also interested I am doing personal swaps with.) So, thanks to ANN, JAN, ROZ (aka MAISIE,) and KRIS for your FAB ATCs.....and here they are:

ANN

MAISIE

JAN

KRIS

MINE!

We agreed on a theme of 'Favourites' and I have used 2 of my fave card-styles (easel and waterfall,) digi image (Kiki with Cupcakes from Pollycraft, coloured with Promarkers,) a decoupaged Caron Vinson fairy, paper flowers, and 2 waterfall downloads from Crafty Stash and Scrapbookingmad

.....and here's a closer look at mine.....

Thanks for looking!!

ATC Swap at CARDMAKING DOWNLOADS

Good Morning! I thought I'd share with you the wonderful selection of ATCs made by everyone over at CARDMAKING DOWNLOADS for this month's swap, which has a theme of 'ANIMALS'.....I'll be posting them out to everyone this morning (hope I catch the post!) but thought you might like a sneaky peak at what you can expect the postie to bring! Many thanks to everyone for taking part, another fantastic selection as always.

JEAN (GLITTERBABE)

DENISE (DEECYMAC)

SUE

KERRIE

DEBBIE

KRIS (MADABOUTPOOH)

BRYONY

MARIAN

DAWN

NORMA (BO PEEP)

KELSEY

ALI

LYN (SPYDER)

Aren't they fab....?! More ATCs coming soon......yes, I'm hooked!!!!

And FINALLY...............a big HELLO and THANK YOU to my latest followers, welcome PAUL FORD and BITS4CARDS! Thanks for visiting today. x

ATC Swappers....THANK YOU!

How chuffed am I....? VERY is the answer! Here are the 12 ATCs I received in the July ATC swap over at ATC Swappers.....and here's a closer look.....

I'd like to thank everyone I received these from: Andrea x2, Angela, Catherine, Jan, Julie x2, Paul x2, Poppet, Sue E x2. If you are interested in joining in, then head over to ATC Swappers by clicking on the link. I'm realloy enjoying taking part in these swaps.....I've already made and sent my August ATCs!

'My Favourite Things' ATCs

Over at the Cardmaking and Papercraft forum, the theme for Spyder's ATC swap this month is 'My Favourite Things.' I decided to make mine based on 4 of my favourite styles of card....STEPPER, WATERFALL, EASEL and SHAKER.....hope you like them!

A decoupaged Caron Vinson FAIRY Easel ATC

A fun 'BEACH' themed Shaker ATC (I used seed-beads)

A DINOSAUR Stepper ATC (you may recognise this one from a previous post!)

....and finally, a BUTTERFLY Waterfall ATC

My Beach-Babes!!

Morning! I'm back from my hols, and boy have I missed my blog!!! Not to mention cardmaking.....I feel as if I've had a limb removed!! Thought I'd share a couple of pics of my youngest 2 on the beach opposite our caravan; we managed to get a morning down there (in between the rain!) and as always, there were very few people there.....such a lovely beach yet never busy.

Miles of sand and hardly a soul in site!

Zoe set to work on her latest creation!

Noah enjoyed lining up the pebbles!

And of course, I couldn't finish my post without adding a picture of Zoe riding without her stabilisers!!!

She just OOOOZES confidence !!!!!

Back shortly with ATC pics :)

ATC Swappers....'SPORTING SUMMER'

Me again! Today it's ATCs on the menu! Here is my offerring for the August swap over at ATC Swappers. The theme is 'SPORTING SUMMER' and everyone makes 4 ATCs, all the same, or all different.

OK, so I had to be different! I made 2 sets of 2, but kind of mirror images of each other! I have used Bugaboo 'Tennis Nut' digi stamp which I coloured with Promarkers and put onto a tennis-court background, and 'Cheerleading Squad' clipart graphics collection purchased from Scrapbookingmad.

And here's a closer look at each one.....

I'll be back soon with my ATCs for another swap I'm taking part in! Bye for now.....

LAVENDER TEARDROP PYRAMAGE

Good Morning! Today I am sharing with you a card I made for my Mum to give to her Sister-In-Law (my aunt) on her 80th birthday.

I have used downloads from Scrapbookingmad (who currently have a 25% off sale throughout August,) called Lavender Teardrop Pyramage and Lavender Backing Papers. The teardrop is layered up with foam pads, and mounted onto lilac pearlescent card. The central panel and sentiments are layered onto purple glitter card. I tied a lime green ribbon around the centre panel, added a few paper flowers and gems and inked the edges to complete.

ONE CARD, SIX Challenges!

Hi Folks, me again! I have a few posts 'scheduled' for this week as I'm away on my hols, but couldn't resist adding this 'extra' post too!! It's been an exciting day here, as Zoe, my beautiful and determined little 5 year old has mastered the art of riding her bike without the stabilisers!! It took her all of 3 minutes, compared to when my son learnt last year (aged 9yrs) who took at LEAST 3 DAYS!!! Will post pics when we get back :D

Anyway, onto all things 'cardy!' I have made a card today following a sketch as I feel the need to widen my skills to include a wider repertoire of styles and designs.

I used Papermania 'Yellow Tones' papers (although they are more orange than yellow!!) a Bugaboo stamp 'AKV BBQ' coloured with Promarkers, and the cardstock, brads and buttons are from my stash.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

• Sketch Saturday week #115 ~ (follow the given sketch)
• Pixie Dust Challenge #34 ~ 'Cute as a Button'
• Simon Says Stamps Challenge ~ 'Sing it Baby!' My song is 'In the Summertime....'
• Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge #95 ~ 'It's a Man's World!' (Who would argue that BBQ-ing is definately a mans' world!!!)
• Pollycraft Monday Challenge #56 ~ a photo inspired card
• Catch The Bug Blog for Bugaboo ~ 'Sweet, Sweet, Summertime!'

Hope you like it, thanks for popping by. x

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADLEY!!

A quick post to wish my Nephew BRADLEY a very 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' He is 9 today, and here is the card I made for him.

It's a right-side Stepper Card, and I used a template created by my wonderful friend, Deborah Lauder....you can view/purchase her fantastic creations at CRAFTY STASH

I printed a blue, spotted background onto thick, white card, and used some fab digi images from BUGABOO (where you can currently get 50% off your purchases until Aug. 10th) coloured with Promarkers. The sentiment is from POLLYCRAFT  I used a little Stickles and Glamour Dust, 4 yellow brads and a couple of gems, all from my stash to complete. I still need lots of practise with my Promarkers, but am really enjoying using them! 

I LOVE PROMARKERS CHALLENGE #26 - & 2 more challenges!

Morning! Well, for those of you who know me, it'll come as no surprise that instead of tackling the chores and packing for my week away, I have spent the morning making a card!!! Heee-heee!!! One of my forum buddies at Cardmaking Downloads (Lorraine,) is on the DT for I Love Promarkers and I've been wanting to join in their challenge for a while now. Well, this week I have managed it!! And here is my card.....

The rules this week are: Follow the sketch provided (below) and use no more than 3 colours.

It was a great sketch to work with, not too fussy, and here's what I used:

• 
  
  The digi image is called Swiss Miss Coralie from all that scraps and she is coloured with Promarkers
• 
  
   Papers are by Kate Knight (and were a freebie with Cardmaking & Papercraft mag a few months back.)

• 
  
  Ribbon, gems, cardstock etc were from my stash

I would also like to enter my card for:

1.  the Cute Card Thursday challenge #124 ~ 'whateva!'
2. I Did It Creations Challenge ~ #16 'Cute, Cute, Cute!'

• 
  
   I would NEVER have put these colours together ordinarily, but I followed the colour combo that was in the papers, and am actually pleasantly surprised with the results!

Thanks for popping over, and have a great weekend!