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Wednesday 30 October 2013

WOYWW #230 and Christmas card, and prizes I won.

This is my first entry for the Unity be inspired challenge, which has a colour and/or sketch inspiration, and you need to use Unity stamps. I love this cute snowman (snowperson?) and sentiment and this little set is called Just Skating By. I followed the sketch and the colour scheme, and I stamped my patterned panel using the row of stockings from the Winter Tortellini and Spinach soup set by Jillibean Soup. I stamped the stockings in several of the colours, the image is coloured with Promarkers, and metallic Promarkers, and I added some twine, die cuts are Spellbinder dies, and the pale kraft card is one of the colours in the swatch below. The twine is so I can enter it into the Less is More challenge too, and it fits with the sketch.


Challenges entered:
Unity Be Inspired - see above details (ends Nov 13th)
Less is More - CAS and use twine or string (Saturdays)
Christmas Card Challenges - optional to add bows (Saturdays)
I love Promarkers - anything goes (Wednesdays)

I haven't taken part in Tea on Tuesdays or What's on your workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), hosted by the lovely Julia Dunnit at The Stamping Ground,  for a few weeks, it was getting too much and I couldn't visit back. I was involved in getting donations of goods for the Made in Bradford on Avon Community Hub fundraising auction, and I organised, about a week before the event, a surprise family meal for my parent's 60th wedding anniversary and made them a special card, and organised a cake to be made and the family to choose their food in advance apart from Mum and Dad, then on top of all that I had a week where I had to diet for hospital tests (I'm fine, need a small operation at some point), go to the auction, and then go on holiday. I had to keep the Quirky challenges going, cover for a sick teamie, and make for them too. Since my holiday in Torquay, I had a few days before I went down with a nasty virus which won't go away, so I almost hesitate to join in at WOYWW in case I don't get to visit back.
I did take photos of my desk last week, but then was too ill to bother.
While we were away I visited Trago Mills and got some stash, and I prebought tickets for the Sincerely Yours show in Taunton which we visited on the way home, I bought a ticket for Shaun too because they were only £3 prebooked, and if you prebook you get free tea and coffee all day long, Shaun came in a few times for his tea then sat in the car, and I didn't get a drink at all, didn't like the polystryrene cups and would have to just have water and use my own herbal tea bags, but I had a bottle of water in the car. I was surprised how many stalls were at the show, there was a whiff of the farm the whole time because the livestock market was next door full of livestock waiting for the market the next day! 
I needed replacement cutting pad, shim and rubber mat for the eBosser and have wanted the metal shim, which seems on first use to have possibly solved the problem of Sizzlets not cutting, and in the Oyster Crafts bargain bin I got Sir Tim's book volume two. I got some bargain cello bags 50p per pack, and some Decopatch, and some round foam pop dots.

The calendar was from Trago, I thought that would be cheap but have seen it cheaper online since! At the show I bought stencils, the far one was the first I saw of droplets, but I realised that it wasn't quite the one I wanted when I saw the next one, and it was 4 for £10 so I had to buy 3 more (didn't I?), and I was worried I had bought a duplicate but I didn't. I bought some Mega Flakes, and some Penny Black stamps that were 40% off, some ribbons, my first Clarity stamp (they are a bit expensive and I just chose one for now also I don't know where I am going to keep it with that handle attached). I think that is a pack of envelopes, or it could be the inkjet canvas.  

More bargain stamps and stamp sets, and a pastel blue Promarker, and some Kroma Crackle (the Indigo Blu man gave me an instruction set for this but failed to tell me I also needed Slap it On so I can't start using it yet) and one full price stamp from Woodware. I can't remember if I got the Cosmic shimmer at the show or from That Craft Place lol. 

Here we have some reduced price Crafts Too dies, acrylic inks which came from Trago as did the 3d glue dots, another stamp, more ribbon and adhesive spray.

Some Christmas paper mache bauble shapes (to decorate) from Trago and Creative Cardmaking mag with free Dreemees stamp set and papers etc.

Here is my prize from the lucky dip from Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine (thank you C&PM). Another PB stamp in this little lot too, I have shared some of this with Mum, she got the peel offs so far and might get some more yet.

This is my gorgeous glass butterfly won on Facebook and made by the talented Justine Hadfield  from Warminster who had a Facebook Giveaway that I won (thank you Justine). (My prize is now hanging from my craft room light next to my glass star, which I also won in a MIB raffle last year, and which matches the butterfly colour beautifully).

This is the stamp I won from Oak House Studios for commenting on their blog posts (thank you Lynnda Worsnop), I was randomly picked out of the commenters. 
 All three prizes had arrived when I got home from Torquay so I had LOADS of happy post!

This is stuff I bought from ebay and some lovely rubbah from Unity Stamps which were at a bargain price, and there are dies to match that I bought in the UK. 

Finally here is my messy desk, hardly touched due to being ill, the smal ink pad drawer is out of it's unit and on the desk, I was using several colours to make the card at the top of this post. My ATG need to be refilled. I haven't put everything away yet either - surprised?
This was my desk last week on Wednesday, with images I coloured while in Torquay ready to go through the eBosser, I took all my Promarkers in the Art Bin, images, and a portable craft light, the hotel lighting is not bright at all, and the light I purchased from Indigo Blu in Newbury at the Artstamps exhibition was perfect because the light swivelled to shine where you needed it, great for reading too, even Shaun was using it.

Finally this is some home made raw chocolate, which I was pretty pleased with, have eaten and put on weight this week, but then there was the takeaway, and the crisps and a few other things - I wasn't well, and the healthy snacks had run out, and I didn't feel a lot like cooking.....back to the plan this week, even if I'm not feeling good, I am stocked up with fruit and veg now, despite Sooty who after years of being good and not touching the fruit bowl on the coffee table, helped himself to and ate nearly a whole bag of pears! Today he stole carrots from my veg box too! He is not allowed fruit, but he loves it. Oh boy did that go through him!

Sunday 27 October 2013

Let's have a Quirky Chuckle - go on!

Lyn thought we needed cheering up, and set the challenge for you to: Make Us Laugh (or at least grin) over at Quirky Crafts this time. Crackerbox Palace are sponsoring us and they have lots of humorous images and sentiments. I used Chopper (I think he is brilliantly funny) and You're a Classic from Crackerbox Palace. The papers are Rockstar by DCWV and the tartan ribbon was from Crafty Ribbons. The vertical sentiment is from a stamp set by River City, at first I stamped onto the tartan paper but I didn't think that showed up enough because the letters are so small so I stamped and heat embossed on white instead. I used 4 brads from stash, could be Papermania. All the shapes are die cut with Spellbinders dies. Chopper and the sentiment are coloured with Promarkers and Trias.
You can win one of three very generous vouchers from Crackerbox Palace if you are in our top three, so hop on over to Quirky to see more funny examples (you must check out Ike's toilet), and to join in.
Crackerbox Palace sell great rubber stamps, but the team are using the digi form of the stamps, and these should be on sale when the new website is complete.
I am amazed I managed to make this card last night, I am suffering from a nasty virus that stopped me going to S. Wales and haven't been able to concentrate on anything for a couple of days! I hoped to have made more, I will for the reminder.


I have entered the following challenges:
ABC Challenges - X for Xtra special (birthday)
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything goes.

Happy 50th Birthday Alison

Because I have been ill and lost a couple of days I had to make a much quicker card today than I wanted to, but decided to use a new Spellbinders die that I have wanted for ages. I had some ribbon I bought especially and found it afterwards, I am cross that I didn't remember to use it, it said happy 50th birthday, but then again it didn't really match the pink. Number cut with Sizzlets, and finally with the metal shim for the eBosser they cut properly, and then I added Prima blooms and gems. Not the stamped card I had planned on doing.

Saturday 26 October 2013

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - L for Love

I got my post ready by 10 minutes to midnight, and dashed over to The Craft Barn to find the collection already closed, bother! I have spent a few hours trying to get this done, although I have been ill for three days with a virus. All stamps are by Visible Image, and the letter is L for Love and there had to be a window, cut with a Spellbinders die. Not my best page, it isn't finished how I wanted but not well enough to worry about it!

Note: The lovely Izzy from The Craft Barn kindly added my page, thank you Izzy!


Friday 25 October 2013

Happy Birthday Julie

It is Julie's birthday today, Julie is my son Richard's girlfriend, and she is getting a bird feeder and bird feed for her birthday which she apparently wanted. I think it is like my feeder.
Anyway I decided to make a bird themed card and used this Pink Paislee paper that came free with a magazine, I cut it a little to fit the card blank then stamped over it with Chocolate Baroque stamps that I coloured with Marvy Wet looks first to get multi coloured images. The sentiment is by Unity Stamps and stamped in black Stazon to stand out. I decorated the inside of the card with the same paper with Happy Birthday stamped on it, and finally added some polka dot grosgrain ribbon (from Crafty Ribbons) to the front of the card. Because I had this paper in mind and that I wanted to use bird stamps (although I have a few different sets I can choose from so that could have kept me thinking) this was a quick card to make, less than 30 minutes total.
I hope you have a great birthday Julie and that you love your presents, posting this on the day so you don't see it before!

I have entered the following challenges:
Cards Galore - Flowers (October challenge)

Wednesday 16 October 2013

More spooky hats!

These two are the first cards I made with the Unity witches hat and sentiment.

This is a Penny Black witch cat stamp, paired with the Unity Stamps sentiment. Die cut with Spellbinders and coloured with Promarkers. Sorry about the photo, didn't have time to put the mini studio back up then down again.

I have entered the following challenges:
Passion for Promarkers - spooky also (that's spooky)!
Incy Wincy Designs - Purple and black. Monday challenges.
 

Tuesday 15 October 2013

You say Witch like it's a bad thing!

I'm not sure I am happy with the grounding I have done on this, and it is attempt number 6 or 7, I kept getting inky fingers and ruining cards, and I wonder if I need a ground at all! Anyway this is a fabulous set by Unity Stamps, and I decided to try CAS for Less is More. Colouring is done with Promarkers, the floor is two tone, didn't work did it (maybe I should leave the ground blank)? It looks worse in the photo! Do you like my mouse hole?

Previous attempt, dark blue ground, disappears into the blue matching background of my photo studio, whoops. I decided this just didn't look right, I like the denim witches hat though.

Oh, nearly forgot, we had a real good Autumn clean yesterday, got rid of a lot of old spider's webs and dust, then when I was washing my hands later on in the mirror I saw this behind me:
Shaun hates spiders, especially HUMONGOUS spiders, so I got a glass and paper, and a step stool and captured the BIG spidey, and took it for a walk down the garden to live over in the hedge!


I have entered the following challenges:
Less is More - one layer cards, witches, wizards or little monsters.


Monday 14 October 2013

Little Monsters

I joined the Stamping Dragon facebook group, where there are extra challenges going on to those on the blog, and this Little Monsters digi was given out free on request to join the challenge, if you don't use it you can't ask for the next month's image free!
I paper pieced one monster on each card, different ones! The other monster is coloured with Promarkers, and I cut out a scalloped circle card with a Quickutz Lifestyle die, and the monsters are cut out with the same set. Finally I added some Card Candi, seemed appropriate. Because I did circles I can enter the challenge on the blog too, or I think I can!

I have entered the following challenges:

Sunday 13 October 2013

A few of my Quirky favourite things



We are feeling very sad, it is Daire's last challenge so she choose a theme to cheer us all up, and that is My Favourite Things. You can use your favourite colours, embellishments, techniques, mediums, the things you love!
We are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish and Crafty Ribbons, the image is called Paul Penguin Sleighing and is from Robyn's Fetish and the ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons
I used my favourite colour combination of purple with bright green, the brighter green the better! I also love penguins, and I used my favourite sparkly glitter purple card for the card blank. I love to add ribbon, and had some in bright green that was perfect, and I even found some of my precious buttons in the right shade of green and purple! The die cuts are all Spellbinders, I'm not sure the tiny triangles were meant to be holes but they are now, the image is coloured with Promarkers and that is another Christmas card made!

I even finished the inside on this one, the papers are from a Docrafts pad of non traditional Christmas papers.

We will miss our Quirky Daire so much, and I hope you will pop over to say goodbye to her, to see more great makes and to join in at Quirky Crafts.

I have entered the following challenges:
Passion for Promarkers - snow is falling (Tuesdays)
Stamping for the Weekend - anything goes with option to include breast cancer awareness.
Stamping Sensations - All Creatures Great and Small - October challenge
Woodware - Monochrome.
Joanna Sheen - button it up (sorry if too early - I thought it was the whole of Oct)




Saturday 12 October 2013

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - J Jardin

Here is my first entry for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge which is on J ending today. J is for Jardin, or garden. I added Stamporsaurus Shed and Greenhouse, Blade Rubber Stamps daisy (one of the first stamps I ever bought back in 2006), Hero Arts ferns, Tulips in pots - The Cottage Stamper (who knows where I got this), and last but not least the finishing touch I needed is a Little Claire hedgehog, the smallest of a group. The fence is made of Sizzix die cuts, ink is Stazon on the page and Memento on the greenhouse and shed, colouring is Marvy Le Plume on the page, and Letraset Promarkers on the shed, greenhouse and hedgehog. See the stepping stones? The only thing missing that is iun my garden is the pond.

This is J for Jigsaw, was working on it and ran over time, I looked at the clock and it was gone midnight - challenge closed, so it has to go on this post. I used Sizzix dies never before used, I really should use them! 


Friday 11 October 2013

Quirky pumpkins reminder part 3

I know, there is only one day to go to enter, well midday Saturday UK time, so if you have pumpkin makes get them into the challenge linky at Quirky Crafts quick!
I wanted to use this little witch hanging on the moon, which was a freebie of the week from Bugaboo, and she goes so well with the silhouette spooky tree background, also from Bugaboo. I coloured the white bits purple to tone in with the background, not sure that worked as it came out lighter! My pumpkin is in the silhouette picture, see it in the bottom right hand corner with a cat sitting on it? The card blank is made from sparkly purple card.
I coloured the little witch with Promarkers, die cuts are with Spellbinders Postage edge dies. Boo is from a Hero Arts clear set, it fitted the label perfectly. Ghost eyelets from stash and yellow glitter glue from Papermania, I got this everywhere as I found the bottle had split, and I remembered I had a couple of empty bottles so found one and decanted a lot of it to a new bottle, the rest was all over my hands as it ouzed out of the split in the bottle.

I have entered the following challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge - use black on your card
Allsorts challenge blog - Autumn colours
Moving along with the Times - spooktastic (Thursdays)

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Diamond wedding

 My parents recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and about a week before I organised a surprise family meal, and days before I ordered a cake to be made by a friend of the family. I decided to make them a Bookatrix card, this is the box lid. I found this pretty border stamp in a set that I think could be Papermania, I am not certain. I used Brilliance metallic sky blue ink and toned it down with white pearl embossing powder. The letters are die cut, the eBosser doesn't like Sizzlits so they aren't great. The hearts were punched with a Martha Stewart punch, the dates hand written by Vanessa, her writing is neater than mine!
Here is the card in the box. I stamped the ivory pearlescent layers with the same border stamp, and added gems to the blue pearlescent. The everlasting hearts sentiment is Visible Image, and is stamped and heat embossed in PI detail white. The left hand side has Mum & Dad, the Mum and Dad are Papermania the & is Visible Image, and Happy Anniversary is Hero Arts. The ribbons are all from Crafty Ribbons, the white with flowers is perfect. Then I found some daisies that went with the monochrome colour scheme, the only splash of a different colour is red, I wanted to add two red heart gems. 60th is die cut with a Sizzlets alphabet set.

I even stamped inside the bottom of the box.

 Out of the box, the bookmark is vellum, as is the top page, Papermania printed vellum which was 6"x6" so I had to make two pages and join them, and the bookmark was diagonal. I stamped Together (Inkadinkado) and heat embossed in white, then stamped more of the blue leaves on it, added a couple of gems and attached it with a ribbon. The pages are kept in place by brads in each corner of the first page, the foam sticky pads wouldn't hold them. I matted the whole thing on the blue card, and added a couple of layers of card to re-inforce the base and keep it flat.
I notched the lid with a Sizzix Paddle Punch and added gem brads (Dovecraft) to the corners.

I have entered the following challenges:
Chocolate, coffee and cards - flowers (Friday)
Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with ribbon
Papertake Weekly - two by two (two people, and two embellishments ribbon and flowers..)
Simon Says Wednesday challenge - use a rubber stamp

Quirky pumpkin time reminder part 2

Here is my second reminder make for the Quirky Crafts challenge ending Saturday midday, this time using Bugaboo images, I just love the silhouette spooky tree which I printed on purple card. The sentiment is by Hero Arts, die cut with Spellbinders, Peeking Cat image coloured with Promarkers. Ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. I better go add this to the challenge post where you can find more great examples and join in with your pumpkin makes.

Crafty Cardmakers - cute and furry (animal) Mondays
Crafty Ribbons - Anything goes with ribbon
Papercrafter star - Photo to inspire makes 15th Oct
Feeling Crafty - Autumn
Sir Stampalot challenges - All creatures great and small
Allsorts challenge - Autumn colours