PAMELA'S PAGES

New style easel card

2012-01-21T11:34:00.002Z

I belong to several craft forums and recently a member of one of them hasn't been posting for quite some time. So some of the members have got together and sent her hand made cards to try and cheer her up. I was watching Create & Craft the other day and Dawn Bibby was showing a new style easel card blank - so I had a go at making my own. You cut up both sides of the front of the easel and a little way down the back. Then make folds so the middle section sits back a little (a bit like a stepper card). Not sure I've described it very well and I forgot to take a piccy from the side!

The scene and lady are from Debbi Moore's Enchanted Christmas Cd and the blue backing paper is from Crafter's Companion A Touch of Christmas Cd. It's been finished off with some peel offs and card candi.I'm entering this card into the CD Sunday Blog Challenge as the theme this week is Enchantment.

Debbee's CDs Blog Challenge.

2012-01-19T16:19:00.003Z

A friend of mine has just started a monthly blog challenge - It's called Debbee's CDs DT Challenge Blog. She provides free downloads to be used in the challenge. I intended entering this challenge before I went on my holiday but didn't have time to blog it - so here it is:

I made my favourite card shape - an easel. The card is for hubby's aunt's birthday, without whom we couldn't have got through the last couple of years while looking after her brother - my FIL. She loves shopping and these images are perfect for her card. I was going to name the shop after her but didn't have enough 'e's in my rub ons so used a sticker from a very old QVC kit.There's still time to enter until the 25th January and the prize is a free cd from Deb's web site (http://debbeescds.co.uk/). Good Luck!

Olympics

2012-01-06T22:36:00.001Z

I think crafters out there will be busy this year with many Olympic themed challenges and swaps!It's the theme for the Cd Sunday Blog Challenge this week and also this month's ATC swap on Sharon Duncan's forum. I've combined both of these with another ATC swap I do where the theme is 'O' is for......

Two of the Olympic Sports ATCs were made using images from a cd by CardzCardzCardz and the third one is from Joanna Sheen's ATC cd rom. The Olympic medals image is from the internet.A very short blog today as I'm quite busy at the mo.

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

2011-12-03T13:05:00.001Z

It's the final tonight - I wonder who the King of the Jungle will be? The theme on the CD Sunday Blog Challenge is On Safari. The card I've made is more 'in the jungle' than 'on safari' hence the title of my post! LOL!

It's a very simple and quick card made from a cream card blank, the green BP is from Card Creations+ Wild and Beautiful cd and the main image is from Greeting Card Factory Deluxe.

Business as usual! LOL!

2011-11-26T17:17:00.001Z

Yep! I'm last again with my entry for the CD Sunday Challenge! LOL! Having been absent for the whole of November I thought I'd better sneak one in today before the month rolls over to December! The theme this week is trees and I have loads of tree related crafting goodies but opted for a quick card.

I've used a piece of Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Coredinations cardstock. I've embossed it in my Wizard with a Crafts-Too embossing folder - I prefer to use the Wizard for embossing folders, the impression seems to be deeper. I then sanded it to reveal the colour core and layered it onto a card blank that matched the colour core. The tree image is from the Forever Friends Collector's Edition and is mounted onto silver mirri but has scanned as blue.Just a very basic card but after not being able to get in my craft room for weeks I've enjoyed making it. My craft room has been bursting at the seams, no not with stash, but furniture! I've had to store FIL's surplus things in there until I could dispose of them. Thankfully it's nearly all gone now and I was able to find my Christmas crafting stash - hence the Christmas card today!

My last Guest Designer week

2011-10-30T08:30:00.000Z

As the title says it's my last week as Guest Designer for the CD Sunday Challenge Blog. I've had to schedule this post as I'm away so I hope Mr Blogger plays nicely.The themes for 3 of the 5 weeks in October were good ones for me. I already had a CD called Wine Buffs so that was an easy week for me, I love Halloween - as last week's photo shows! - and this final week was very enjoyable as it's Puss Cat and I adore cats.I've recently discovered Polka Doodle CDs so reached for Paper Boutique Volume 3 as I knew there was a cat image on there. I decided to make a magnetic notepad to keep on the fridge door.

The cat image has been attached over the top of the notepad that I made. I cut sheets of paper to the same width as the green dotty label and run them through my Carl rotary trimmer with the perforating blade attached so the sheets could be torn off. I then used 2 backing papers from the cd to make the background. The brown BP has cat related words on it such as kitty, claws, purr, meeow, paws etc but I like the pink one with the fish bones on it. I finished it off with some pink letters to spell out Shopping and I attached strips of adhesive magnetic sheets to the back so it could be kept on the fridge door. It looks as if my cat has already made use of it! LOL! Hubby and I are now having a much needed long weekend away. We chose this weekend because it was my birthday yesterday (Saturday). We're hoping to recharge our batteries ready to do the final clearance of FIL's home when we return. It's hard to believe FIL has already been in the care home for 5 weeks but he's looking a lot healthier and doesn't seem so confused. I hope my 5 weeks as Guest Designer has given you some inspiration or at least something to smile about. Having to force myself to make something each week has been a welcome distraction from what has been a very stressful time. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have done any crafting for quite some time. I'd like to thank the CD Sunday Design team for asking me to be a Guest Designer and I hope to be able to continue joining in with the weekly challenges.

My Halloween makes.

2011-10-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

I don't know why but I love Halloween - perhaps it's because it's near my birthday and I'm often refered to as The Welsh Witch! LOL! So when I was told that it was one of the themes for my month as Guest Designer for the CD Sunday Challenge Blog I knew I'd be in my element. This is going to be a long post with several photos so make yourselves comfortable.The first photo is a group shot of the items I've made.

I'll start with the item that I made first and which took me the longest - the bunting.

I opened MCS and typed the word Halloween using a font called Parry Hotter. Some letters were coloured purple and every other coloured orange. I then dragged in a circle, coloured it orange, copied it 4 times and placed them behind the purple letters. I did the same to make purple circles to put behind the orange letters. These were cut out, along with slightly larger circles from black card, and matted and layered together. I then went and searched through my cd roms to find Halloween BPs and found some on Joanna Sheen's The Cardmaker's Year and Crafter's Companion Autumn & Winter. These were cut into triangles and the letter circles stuck onto them. After threading them onto some cord I decided I needed a few more triangles so cut some from Coredinations card, embossed them in my Wizard and sanded them to reveal the coloured core.As I was putting the embossing folders away I found one I hadn't used - an A6 haunted house. So I played around with the folder and coredinations card and liked the result so much I made a Halloween card from it. It's matted onto silver holographic card and BP from the Crafter's Companion cd rom but the colour was changed to look like the dead of night. I must admit this is my favourite out of everything I made.

Next I made a party invitation which I based on a design from a craft magazine. The bat paper is again from the Crafter's Companion cd but I opened it in MCS and darkened the colour. The foam bat was given to me by my neighbour but it was purple so I coloured it with a black Promarker (resulting in very black fingertips!). I had some googly eyes that I was going to use but they were far to large so made some small circles using an office hole punch and black dots from a fine nib pen. The wording was done in Word using the Parry Hotter font again and wordart.

All that was left now was to make some little bags of sweets for the trick or treaters. I used several BPs from different sources and got the idea from a blog called It's All Fiddle Fart.

Starting at the back. The eyeballs and skulls are from a very talented artist's blog - Vince. He regularly has free digis of his amazing artwork that can be downloaded. The eyeball packets contain eyeball sweets and the skull packets have skull rock sweets.The RIP headstones, red devils and green frogs are clipart from the internet, opened in MCS, resized and tiled. RIP packets are 'body parts' sweets, devils and frogs have red and green jelly beans respectively.Bats, flying witches, ghosts and pumpkins again are all from the Crafter's Companion cd and colours changed in MCS to match the colours of the sweets (jelly beans).If you're still with me - well done! And I hope I've given you some ideas for your own Halloween celebrations.Next Sunday is my last week as Guest Designer for CD Sunday (sigh). I've already made my 'item' as I'm away for the weekend and will have to schedule my blog posting - fingers crossed Mr Blogger wants to play nice!

2012 Calendar

2011-10-16T08:30:00.000+01:00

When I found out the theme for CD Sunday this week was 'Around the World' I was a bit stumped. I wanted to include lots of images from around the world so decided a card was out as it would be too small. Looking through my cds for inspiration I came across one by Card Creations+ called Wild and Beautiful. There are so many lovely images of animals from many different places - Alaska, Russia, Australia, Canada, Greenland, Africa, Norway, Eurasia etc I knew I wanted to use as many photos as possible so decided to make a calendar for next year to hang in my craft room.

I thought you'd all be bored with 13 pictures in this posting so photographed the 12 monthly pages as one group shot:

The cover was printed onto glossy photo paper and the pages onto lightweight card. I bound it together using my Bind It All and added a hook to hang it from. I can't wait to see what everyone makes for this theme as it's quite 'open' and your cards are all so inspirational.

Favourite Tipple

2011-10-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

The theme this week on the CD Sunday Challenge Blog is Wine Buffs. Well there's one cd that fits the bill - Wine Buffs from Katy Sue Designs! I decided to make a double easel card so that I could use two of the cartoon images.

I picked out the black and wine colours from the images in the card I used to mat them on. The base of the card is covered in a backing paper from the cd - don't you just love the wine stains! LOL! I used the same card to make the 'stopper' that keeps the 2 easels upright. I then cut out 2 of the wine bottles and put them on the top of the 'stopper'. Luckily I had Happy Birthday stickers that were a wine colour, so they went on the labels of the wine bottles. There's a surprise inside the card as I used a second BP to cover the back of the 2 easels:

Wine is hubby's favourite tipple so I'm saving the card for his birthday. My favourite tipple is Dandelion and Burdock pop. We're like chalk and cheese! LOL!

Butterflies..........................

2011-10-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

............why do you think they’re so popular with card makers? I like butterflies in real life but rarely include them in my card making. So when I was told the theme of my first entry as a Guest Designer for the CD Sunday Challenge Blog was Butterfly Kisses I knew I’d find it challenging – little did I know how challenging! LOL! Along with the members of the Design Team I received a set of stamps from this month’s sponsors, Creative Expressions. The stamps were designed by Sam Poole and called Nature’s Wonders. The set includes several butterflies, some ladybirds, a large stamp with plants a moth and a beetle, a few sentiments and……….a spider on a web. I have a dread of all things creepy crawly but especially spiders (even typing the word I’m feeling nauseous). I’m not too bad if they don’t move but you won’t see me for dust if they do. Thankfully rubber stamps don’t have a habit of crawling along your desk so I did manage to make a card.

I coloured a piece of card with a distress ink pad, then ran it through my Wizard in an embossing folder. I used a folder by Provo Craft from a set of four called ‘Wall Décor and More’. I then coloured the vine with ink from a distress ink pad using cut and dry nibs. More distress ink pads were used to colour the main stamped image. I then stamped the large butterfly a second time and layer it over the original butterfly. For a BP from a cd I turned to Butterfly Bliss by Artylicious. There’s some beautiful backing papers on this cd but all the butterflies were to large to go with the ones on my topper. So I used a plain BP from the cd and stamped the small butterfly from the set all over it. So I got there in the end even though I had to colour in a moth and a beetle! LOL! Thankfully the themes for the rest of the month aren't likely to bring me out in a cold sweat. EDITED TO ADD: Houston we have a problem! LOL! The theme for this week's challenge was changed to 'Nature's Wonders' but I didn't receive the message. Sorry if I've confused anyone wanting to enter.

Guest Designer for CD Sunday

2011-10-01T23:00:00.000+01:00

The lovely Design Team members over at CD Sunday have asked me to be a Guest Designer for the month of October. I was hesitant at first because life is very hectic and stressful looking after my FIL. But my darling hubby (known to a few as the Pie Man) persuaded me to accept. October is my birthday month and 3 of the 5 weekly themes were good subjects for me so I took that as an omen and agreed to do it. At this point I have made 3 'items' and have ideas for the last 2 so it looks as if I'm on track! I'd be so upset if I wasn't able to fulfill my commitment and let the DT down. So starting with this post I have to learn how to schedule a posting - fingers crossed this goes ok! LOL! I have a busy few days ahead as we're clearing out FIL's shed, but family are visiting and helping us out so despite the soaring temperatures it shouldn't be to difficult a task.

Business as usual!

2011-10-01T21:29:00.000+01:00

After managing to post my entry for the CD Sunday Challeng Blog on Tuesday of last week, I'm back to tail end Charlie this week! LOL! I knew I was going to have a very busy week so wouldn't be able to make this week's card until today. But when I got up this morning I had a sore throat and felt really ill so after being up for all of 2 hours I went back to bed. I slept most of the day and when I eventually got up managed to quickly make this card for the theme of Winter Wonderland.

The card base is one I bought from the craft show I went to on Thursday from a company called 'Every Crafts A Pound'. I covered it with a BP from Xmas Snowy Wonders cd by FeeJ Designs. Not a good idea! I had to cut the excess paper from around the card base which was a bit stressful as my head was a bit woolly. The topper is from a Kanban card kit. It already had glitter on it but I added a bit more sparkle with a Sakura gelly roll pen. although I don't think you can see it in the photo.

Unusually for me.........

2011-09-20T14:03:00.002+01:00

.......I've finished my card for the CD Sunday blog - 4 days early! I've needed to destress so have immersed myself in crafting. The way things are going there'll be a few more cards before the week is out. The theme this week is Black and Blue and as I had a birthday card to make for a female relative I knew what topper I was going to use. I bought a sheet of Kanban toppers at a craft show in Cardiff and as there wasn't a show last year I must have had it since October 2009!

The backing paper is from Funky Hand's cd Funky Seasons. It's designed as a sheet of small squares but when I held the topper over it I preferred the squares to be diamonds - so turned the paper around. I then found some square gems that I also turned on the side to repeat the pattern of the paper. I don't know if other cd crafters do the same as me but when I'm looking for a suitable BP I end up printing loads of sheets as the colours always look different on screen. So I used one of the 'extra' sheets as an insert and blinged it up with some peel offs.

I've got the idea for 2 more cards in my head so while I'm at the computer I'll be printing off a few more things from cds.

M is for..........

2011-09-17T20:23:00.000+01:00

......moving! My godson and his parents have just moved house so when I saw the theme on CD Sunday was 'M' is for I knew just what card to make. I think they're new home is a little bigger than the house on my card as they've moved into a barn conversion!

I've recently got into Nikki Hall's Polka Doodles cds and have 5 now. The house image is from Paper Boutique Vol 3. It's meant to be a house shaped card with an image on the back and front. I've used the 2 images side by side to look like one large house and made an A4 card. The window boxes, roof gables and some of the flowers are decoupaged. The cloudy sky and grass background are a clip art image from the internet (hiding behind the house is a fairy castle LOL! For a change my card was ready by 3pm today but I was unable to blog it as we had a phone call from the police. FIL had been wandering and a very kind stranger realised he shouldn't have been out on his own (no coat on in heavy rain). Luckily FIL had taken the carers folder with him and his address was in it so they drove him home. They then phoned the police who arrived and started ringing the numbers next to the phone. Our number is first on the list thankfully and the police officer stayed with him until we got there. We had to bath FIL and put warm clothes on him and stay until he'd eaten a warm meal and his meds had started to take effect (they make him sleepy). Off now to try and relax and enjoy what's left of the evening.

Inspired by Peacocks

2011-09-10T18:13:00.001+01:00

The theme for CD Sunday Blog Challenge this week is 'Inspired by Peacocks'. And as it's the first Sunday in a month the challenge is being sponsored by none other than.....Glenda Waterworth from Chocolate Baroque. As I already have some of Glenda's cds I thought it would be rude not to use one! I decided to stick with the peacock theme and used the Peacock Summer Party cd. There are some many lovely images and papers on these cds and I couldn't chose which to use so decided to make a triple easel card so that I'd have lots of surfaces to cover!

The base card is a beautiful blue colour which fitted in well with the blue of the papers and peacocks. The deep blue bp on the base is printed on photo paper. The peacocks and fans are printed on Ultimate Graphic paper. It's classed as paper but it's a light weight card and ideal for toppers. The surface is really smooth and printer colours come out really rich. I'm using the new Blogger interface for the first time so hope this post comes out ok!

For Debs

2011-09-03T21:27:00.002+01:00

My mate Debs of Debbees cds has been guest designer at CD Sunday for the month of August. So as a farewell pressie I decided to use a CD from her web site for my card this week. The theme is Just Because... and I decided it was Just Because she's my mate and I try to promote her web site as much as possible! Could that be the longest title for a card? LOL! One of Deb's cds is by Pamela West called Dayze of Innocence. There's some lovely artwork on this cd. I chose the acetate decoupage for my card and there's 7 layers all together! It was impossible to get a proper picture of the finished card. Unless you're exactly square on the the image it looks at of line so apologises for the awful pictures. The first one was taken with a camera but looks fuzzy and as if the decoupage isn't lined up properly:

So I then scanned it but because the card is so thick the scanner let in a lot of light - on the right hand side of the card:

So sorry Debs but I haven't done these fantastic images any justice! LOL! I know you'll forgive me though.

Hubby's fast asleep.....

2011-08-27T15:53:00.003+01:00

....so I nipped into my craft room to make a card. And the reason hubby is asleep on a Saturday afternoon is that we've had a very tiring and stressful week caused by his dad and a careless carer. Thank goodness for crafting and my crafty friends.
The card I made is for the CD Sunday Blog Challenge . This week's theme is Nursery Rhymes. I try to join in every week but thought I wouldn't be able to this week. So this is a very quick, one layer, card - designed on the PC, printed onto Graphic Ultimate paper and stuck to a card base. The cd I used is from My Craft Studio - Walk in Wonderland volume 1. At least the boot image is from there. The background is from another MSC cd but I now can't find it to give it a name check! The little Home Sweet Home metal charm was in a blog candy win from a few weeks back.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do!
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed!

Here's hoping next week is a little less frantic!

CD Sunday - Ovals

2011-08-19T22:31:00.003+01:00

I've been having problems with the internet (or is it Mr Blogger?) all afternoon so I'm keeping this post short.
The theme for the CD Sunday Blog this week is ovals.The image is from a Card Creations +cd called Art Deco. The 'frame' is actually an insert from My Craft Studio. I've also added peel offs and flower gems from my stash.

Patchwork twisted easel

2011-08-16T17:29:00.006+01:00

The black and white card in my previous post has reminded me of another card I made a couple of months ago but forgot to blog. I made the card for a challenge on Free Craft Downloads Forum . it was the first time I entered and the theme was a patchwork card in a twisted easel style. I'd never made either type of card and must admit I don't like the twisted easel style - because of the angle there's too much card at the base. I prefer things to be symetrical and evenly balanced. Here's a piccie of the card:

The sentiment was 'Friends are like quilts, a patchwork of warmth and comfort'. The members of the forum vote for the card they like the best and I was delighted to find that my card received the most votes! My prize was a gift voucher for Joanna Sheen's website and when I received it I also had a hand made card from them with a little note congratulating me on my win.

Button it!

2011-08-13T10:30:00.002+01:00

The CD Sunday team have a theme of buttons this week. I spied some button embellishments in a pound shop last week so just had to buy them to make this card:

The image is from a Card Creations + cd called Silhoupage Images. It's one of their very early cds, long before they were on a tv craft show. I've just matted and layered black and white card onto an 8x8 card. The buttons have black cord thread through the holes before being stuck down with silicone. The buttons have some silver on them but as usual it doesn't show in the photo - it just looks black.

Birthday cards

2011-08-13T10:15:00.002+01:00

A friend asked me to make some birthday cards for him. One was for his Grandson's third birthday:

The giraffe and vine border are embossed using a folder and my Wizard and then coloured in with promarkers. I then used a freebie stamp to do the zebra. I think it's meant to be a donkey (Eeyore?) but I've used a little artist's licence! LOL!

He also wanted some general cards for female birthdays:

These are all from Kanban kits with some of my stash added.

Promarker Storage

2011-07-30T19:31:00.005+01:00

I recently 'made' a storage rack for my Promarkers and have been asked several times for piccies so decided to blog it.
I can't take the credit for this idea, loads of crafters have blogged their versions. I searched for ages to find a cheap DVD rack that I also liked the look of. Lots of people have used this one from Ikea
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50093308
but they don't sell it on line and I don't have an Ikea near by. Then one day when I was searching Ebay (as you do!) I came across a wooden DVD rack with a starting price of 99p. It also had a buy it now price of £5 which I would happily have paid. I sent a message to the seller asking for the measurements but they were away and didn't answer for a couple of days. By which time someone had started to bid on it so I couldn't do the buy it now. I eventually won and paid the huge sum of £1.71! The postage was £4.41 but it was a bulky, heavy item so that didn't both me. When it arrived the seller had paid over £7 postage! So I was really pleased with what I'd paid. So this is what it looked like:

I also used these:

Double sided tape, small circle labels, brown paper from my stash and really cheap (and nasty looking) DVD covers. The DVD covers were from a pound shop 6 for £1 so I bought 2 packs and covered the DVD covers with the brown paper. I printed off a Promarker colour chart and coloured in the ones that I have and stuck it to the edge of the DVD covers. The circle labels were stuck to the Promarker chisel nib cap and coloured in. I had to buy the labels from Ebay as I couldn't find any white labels anywhere. They only cost £1.42 for a pack of over 600.
This is what the finished item looks like:

I had a couple of spare 'shelves' so used them to store my inkpads (Stazon and Ranger Distress Ink pads). I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it looks great on my craft desk. And the best bit is that it cost me less than a tenner!

Dreams....

2011-07-29T18:19:00.003+01:00

....are the theme at CD Sunday this week. I knew I would struggle with this so I fell back on my old faithfull Greeting Card Factory. I adore cats so this image was the obvious choice.

I cut the image down and mounted it onto red card. I then printed a bp from Purrrrfect Pets cd by FeeJ Designs. I thought the ginger cat licking his lips was very appropriate to go with the image of the cat dreaming of mice! The sentiment reads 'This Christmas..... hope all your dreams come true'.

At last...

2011-07-23T19:39:00.002+01:00

...I had the elements for this card all ready on Wednesday but have only found the time to make it today. The card is for CD Sunday Blog Challenge where the theme this week is nautical.

The image is from a cd by CardzCardzCardz called Everyday 2 Pyramidz & Invertz. I've had this cd for years and never used it. The images tend to look fuzzy if you enlarge them. This one was to make a pyramage card but it was round and I'm unbelievably bad at cutting circles! So I opened the base image in MCS and played around until I had 4 layers of square pyramage. The base layer had a border around it that was a very pale blue. I didn't like the colour so had a rummage in my stash and found some red paper that was the same colour as the boat so made a new frame. I made the frame slightly larger than the base layer and after sticking it down I went around the edge with an embossing tool and it now looks as if the frame is embossed. Whilst I was rummaging for the red paper I came across the anchors so finished the card with one in each corner. Off to post this on the CD Sunday Blog before it's too late for this week! LOL!

Even if I say so myself.....

2011-07-16T13:40:00.002+01:00

...I'm quite pleased with how this card turned out! I had a nightmare of a time making it - stamped the image at least 5 times before I was happy with it. Once again I've used an iris folding stamp from Personal Impressions but I masked off the handle. Once I'd completed the iris folding I made a handle by threading cordinating beads onto wire. The wire was then pushed through the back of the card and taped down. The image was then mounted onto a backing paper is from Sharon Duncan's Embossibilities CD - Elegance. I like the way the border frames the image. I finished the card with a textured BP from my stash, some gems and card candi.

The card is for this week's CD Sunday Challenge - Handbags.

It's July for goodness sake!

2011-07-09T14:47:00.002+01:00

And the theme for CD Sunday this week is 'Christmas is Calling'. Well not in this house it isn't - I usually make my Christmas cards in December! But I thought I'd play along anyway so I reluctantly dug out my Christmas CDs and settled on looking through Season's Greeting by Artylicious. I printed out a sheet of toppers I liked and some background papers in different colours. There were 6 toppers on a sheet and I tried various ways of printing out just one but the picture kept pixelating so I had to print out the full sheet. Well after my original Bah Humbug thoughts look what happened.......

I ended up using all 6 toppers by making 5 cards (one is decoupaged, hence only 5 cards). I finished them off with various bows, peel offs and lots of gems. And I'm really pleased with the end results so you're forgiven CD Sunday! LOL!

Penny Black Saturday Blog Hop

2011-06-22T20:31:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday I decided my stamps were in much need of a sort out. When I'd finished I realised I had a lot of Penny Black stamps so decided to pop over to their blog. I'm glad I did as they're having a blog hop! The theme of the challenge this week is Pesky Critters and you can use any of their stamps with an animal on. It's also their 3rd birthday - hence the blog hop. My card is no where as good as some of the other entries but I'm submitting it anyway! LOL!
I'm enjoying using a Fiskars Everywhere punch at the mo so my card has 3 apertures with a different Pesky Critter in each one. I've used Promarkers to colour the images but I'm not very good at colouring in - wish I had more time to practice.

Tassel Time!

2011-06-19T17:05:00.003+01:00

I checked out this week's challenge at CD Sunday as normal this morning and thought I wouldn't be able to take part this week. You had to include a tassel on the card and I thought I didn't have any. After a search through my ribbons drawer I found one! I've never bought tassels so this must have been a freebie or cut off a used shop bought card someone had sent me. So I based my card around this tassle! I had already been browsing a cd for ideas to make a card for a 90 year old lady from her family, so I just resized the images in MCS. The cd is from Card Creations Plus called Strictly Card Dancers. I've made a waterfall card and used the tassel to pull the slider. I coloured a flower with a black Promarker so I had yellow and black flowers to match the images. Trying to take a photo of a waterfall card is not easy - hope you're sitting comfortably as there's 5 altogether!

So I've gone from not being able to join in, to being second to enter and I've made a waterfall card just like Kevin has (the first person to post their card on CD Sunday this week)!

Father's Day Card

2011-06-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

A really quick and simple card for FIL on Father's Day. I've had a Fiskars Every Where punch for sometime and never used it. So I had a play and made a card with 3 apertures so I could spell out DAD. For a first attempt with the punch I'm quite pleased - the squares aren't quite lined up but they're only out of line a little bit. You're supposed to practise first on some scap but just dived straight in! LOL!

If The Shoe Fits.....

2011-06-18T18:56:00.003+01:00

I decided to use an iris folding rubber stamp for the CD Sunday Challenge this week. I have 3 of these stamps, from Personal Impressions, 2 different styles of shoes and one is a handbag. I coloured the image with Promarkers before doing the iris folding.The image is stamped onto a die cut from a recent QVC TSV. I then drew around a larger die cut and cut another mat from a pale blue pearlescent paper. The backing paper is from a Sharon Duncan cd. It's from the Embossibilities range of cds and is called One For The Girls (I love Sharon's Embossibilities cds). The card is finished off with an appropriate sticker and a tiny pearl for the fastening on the shoe.

CD Sunday - Under The Weather

2011-05-23T18:36:00.003+01:00

Another week and another card to be entered into the CD Sunday Blog Challenge.
This week's theme is 'under the weather'. I bought a digi download from Debbees CD's ages ago. It's called 'Piggie Snuffles' and is perfect for anyone who's in hospital. I'm not very good at cutting out so only decoupaged all the snouts, ears and nurses' caps. I matted onto some starry holographic card and then realised I needed something from a cd! LOL! I spent most of Sunday afternoon looking for something suitable (think I was being too fussy). I finally settled on a BP from a cd bought from Deb's site - Pamela West's Dayze of Innocence.

I probably won't be able to enter the challenges on CD Sunday for the next couple of weeks. But I've recently bought some new cds and can't wait to try them out so will be back raring to go soon.

First Yeehah! and now die cutting.

2011-05-21T17:26:00.003+01:00

This is my second attempt at posting this as blogger 'ate' the last one!
I'm on a roll this week - not one but 2 cards for the CD Sunday Blog Challenge.
My previous post shows the card I made for the Yeehah! theme. But there was also a choice to do diecutting so I made a second card. It's taken me all week to make this card as the die cutting wasn't going right. Yesterday I went to my local craft shop that was having a closing down sale and kindly took some of her remaining stock off her hands - wasn't that kind of me! Especially as my craft room is stuffed full of stash. One of the things I bought was funky foam so I die cut the lady in the bath out of white foam. I then coloured everything in using Promarkers - much easier than cutting everything out in different colours and piecing them together. The blue bubble paper is from a 12 x 12 sheet that I bought when I first started crafting. I only have a small piece left now. Both the bubble paper and white card are die cut using a Nestie. The dark blue backing paper is from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD. It's a photo of blue silk but I thought it looked like the lady's towel ready for her to use when she gets out of her bath! The card is finished with an acetate slider greeting from a QVC kit and some ribbon from my stash.

I'm going to sent this card to my youngest sister for her birthday at the end of May. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with a piccie of a card I made about a month ago. I haven't been able to show it before as it was entered into a forum competition. All the entries are voted on by the forum members and to keep it fair no one knows who made the cards until the winner is revealed.

Can it really be Sunday?

2011-05-15T11:17:00.002+01:00

It must be late Saturday evening because I've finished my card for this week's CD Sunday Blog Challenge! And instead of being last to enter I'm going to be first! The DT will most likely fall over with shock! LOL!
The card took less than 2 minutes to complete which is why I've finished so early. It's a bit of a cheat really as it's a design from the Hallmark Card Studio CD and all I've done is edited the words inside, printed it onto paper and folded it into 4 (it's an A6 size card). I've not added anything whereas when I use the card studio I would normally print it onto card and add a few mats and embellishments. The theme this week was using a die cut or Yeehaw or combining the two. If I have time during the week I'm going to make another card using the die cut option. I'll probably be posting that card late on Saturday as per usual LOL!

Let's Go Oriental.

2011-05-14T20:58:00.003+01:00

Boy am I late with this week's entry for the CD Sunday Blog Challenge!
I started well last Sunday, the day the theme is announced, by printing off the papers I wanted to use and a rough idea of the design of the card. I'd enjoyed stamping and colouring with Promarkers last week so wanted to do the same this week. The card was going to have a central image of a Chinese lucky card (where the cat has one paw raised in the air as if it's waving at you! Lol). Well I ran out of time so stamping was out of the question and have just finished making a very quick card this evening (slap and stick a la QVC craft style!).
Here's a photo of the card:

I was going to do this blog entry when I realised I couldn't remember which CD the paper's came from so had to look through my Oriental cds to find them! The red BP and the teabag papers are both from Oriental Dreams by Joanna Sheen. I ran the gold mat through an embossing folder and the card is finished with good old fashioned peeloffs and a sticky backed gem in the centre of the teabag rosette.

CD Sunday Challenge - Stamping

2011-05-07T18:51:00.002+01:00

Early Saturday evening again and time for me to enter the CD Sunday Blog Challenge. This week the DT wanted to see some stamping as well as something from a CD. It could have been a stamped image or just a sentiment. I needed to make a wedding card so chose to do a stamped image. It's a La Blanche stamp from the Love Is range. I coloured it in with Promarkers (I need to practise more as I'm not very good with them). I then cut the image out with a Nestie and mounted it on some holographic silver card that I've had in my stash for years. The strip across the middle is a Martha Stewart punch again matted onto the same holographic card. The backing paper I came across when I was making a previous card. It comes in several colours and I printed out 4 different sheets as I liked it so much. When I was ready to make this wedding card I knew the pink BP would be perfect as the bride loves pink. The cd I found it on is a Kanban one called 'The Seasons Collection' and it's in the Spring and Summer section.Finally the flowers and the pink dewdrop are from my stash. Unfortunately having almost finished making it I managed to get the paper wet and as we all know paper printed on an inkjet printer doesn't like being wet. So I had to position the image over the worst bit and the peeloffs were needed to hide 2 other small splashes. I then had to place other peeloffs around the card to balance it out.

This first picture was taken with a camera.

The second picture is a scanned image and has come out very bright! The holographic card also looks black instead of silver.

I'm really enjoying being able to do some cardmaking again. It doesn't matter that my new job only pays minimum wage - I get home so relaxed and now have the energy to do housework after work so that I can have time to myself at the weekends. Wonder what the subject of the challenge will be tomorrow over on the CD Sunday Blog!

Happy Birthday CD Sunday Blog Challenge

2011-04-23T14:52:00.004+01:00

The CD Sunday blog is one year old and to celebrate they are having a first and second prize for the best birthday cards. I've skidded in by the seat of my pants again!
I've gone back to a very old CD rom for this card - Simple But Stylish by Sharon Duncan (2005). I think this little girl is really cute and have used her previously for a sister's birthday card. This time I've flipped the image so that the girls would be facing each other on the front of the card. I've also resized the frames from the same cd. Inside I've used another Sharon Duncan CD rom, Embossibilities - Celebration. I've printed the candle design in purple on both sides of the paper and folded it to make an exploding card. I've made several of these cards in the past - some were requested by friends after they'd seen one I'd made for my hubby's auntie.The card is finished of with peeloffs, ribbon and gems from my stash.
The card is very difficult to photgraph/scan. The first photo was scanned but came out very white/bright. And the photo of the interior doesn't really show the 'Wow' factor when the recipient opens it.

Dashing off to post on the CD Sunday Blog before they close the challenge today. Good luck everyone who enters, there's some beautiful cards been entered.

CD Sunday Challenge - Someone Special

2011-04-09T15:47:00.006+01:00

Parts of this card ended up in the bin but then got taken out again LOL! I've made this design several times but it wasn't going right this time. I printed the paper from Damask Delights by Artylicious (sadly they went bust but Glenda has now set up a new business with the wonderful name of Chocolate Baroque).I printed on both sides of the paper as they both show once it's folded. I then promptly cut off a piece that was far to small for the size of the card I wanted to use - this is the bit that went in the bin! I then folded a piece of backing paper, that was the right size, and put it on the card but felt something was lacking. So out of the bin came the small piece and it was put on top of the larger piece and I decided I liked it! A couple of gems and a sentiment were added to finish it off. I'm entering this in the CD Sunday Challenge.

CD Sunday Challenge Blog - Transport

2011-04-02T19:43:00.004+01:00

This week's theme over at the CD Sunday Challenge Blog was perfect for me as it was FIL's birthday last weekend and we took him for a trip on the Brecon Mountain Railway. It's only a small railway with a tiny amount of track. Michael and I have been there several times with various family and friends. The weather was dry and the train was packed with lots of families taking the chance to get out in the fresh air. This time of year they only run 3 trains a day. I used a photo of the train on FIL's card and the backing paper was from Crafter's Companion CD - Men's Collection set 1.

2 Cards in 2 Days!!!

2010-09-26T17:10:00.003+01:00

Think I'm on a roll here folks - 2 cards in 2 days! But no housework done though LOL!!
As soon as I saw the theme for CD Sunday Challenge was Something Sweet I knew I had the CD to fit the bill.....it's called 'Something Sweet'! I bought it from ebay sometime ago and it's by The Creative Cottage. I decided to make an easel card as I like this style of card.

The stripey BP is as it was on the CD, the 3 individual cupcakes were taken into MCS and made smaller before cutting them out and layering onto the scalloped circles. The bit I'm most proud of is the BP on the base of the card. I took a BP from the CD into MCS - it was originally a pinl background with large yellow polka dots. I made it quite small and then turned it into a tile dragging it to cover an A4 sheet. Then I took the 4 cupcakes into MCS, made then quite small, copied and pasted them until there was 4 of each. I tilted them at different angles and spread them out over the BP. I'm really pleased with how the paper turned out, what do you think?
Must dash now to do some house things, like iron at least on outfit each for tomorrow.

At last a card!

2010-09-25T19:24:00.003+01:00

Where does the time go? Is it really 4 months since I last posted? Eeek!!!
Every Sunday I decide I'm going to take part in the CD Sunday Challenge and before I know it It's Sunday again and a new theme's been posted. Well this week I've just about managed to get a card done and it's a biggie - an A4 landscape card. The theme this week was CD + stamping.

I've used a recent QVC TSV from Kanban. The chandelier is from a stamp with the backing paper from the Kanban 'Stamp Backgrounds' Cd. I took the BP into MCS and changed the colour as there wasn't a pink one on the CD. The main image of the rather elegant lady is recycled from an old notecard. Hubby decided the card needed a bit of bling (and who am I to disagree!)so I added lots of gems and some jewel brads.

Down in the dumps/a bit of fun!

2010-05-28T16:09:00.010+01:00

I've been off work this week with flu and I've been quite ill with it - didn't know I had so many joints that could ache! I still wanted to take part in the CD Sunday Challenge but knew that I wouldn't be able to send the card to anyone because I didn't want to pass on the flu virus. So I decided to make a little 'scene' stepper card. The theme this week is Elegant Ladies and my 'laydees' are making their way up to the steps to the laydees boudoir! LOL. The rose swag is from MCS Walk in Wonderland. I copied it and flipped the image then laid them side by side so that when printed off there was no join down the middle. The ladies are from the Cocktail Hour cd by Hinny Bop Designs. They were taken into MCS and cropped/reduced until they were the right size. I then cut them out and stuck them to the 'stairs' on the stepper card. Not a card I can give to someone but it has cheered me up!

Days gone by

2010-05-22T20:34:00.008+01:00

The theme for the CD Sunday Challenge Blog is Days Gone By. My image is from the Art Deco cd by Card Creations+. I've altered in MCS so that it fitted an A5 card and then copied and flipped the image. I've made a gatefold card and as it's my youngest sister's birthday at the end of the month I thought I'd give the card to her. Does she know how lucky she is! I've used 4 large brads and loads of gems. Of course she knows LOL! She's a card maker too (I introduced her and an older sister to cardmaking a few years ago).

CD Sunday Challenge Blog

2010-05-15T15:15:00.005+01:00

I'm skidding in by the seat of my pants to enter this challenge! The theme was announced on Sunday 9th May and it closes on Saturday 15th May. I eagerly awaited the theme to be announced and managed to print of all the items last Sunday but it's taken me all week to get around to finish the card. So here's the result:

The image is from Pamela West Collection (Joanna Sheen). It had a frame around it to make it look like a painting but I chopped it off! It's mounted onto black gingham vellum. The two backing papers are from The Seasons Collection (Kanban) and Quintessentially Contrasts - Spring (Chris Warner) but I don't know which is from which cd, sorry! Hubby doesn't like the flowers, he thinks they're too pale and I should have used a more vibrant colour but I like them - what do you think? Off to tackle a mountain of ironing so that I'll have time to have a go at tomorrow's challenge.

Boo!!

2010-05-03T16:00:00.006+01:00

Did I make you jump? I bet you never expected to see a blog posting from me again! Not only have I not had time to blog but I've also not been crafting - how sad is that? Since the beginning of the year I've only made 5 cards and I'm starting to think that I'll never remember how to make a card again. Luckily I've discovered a challenge blog that encourages using cds in cardmaking It's called The CD Sunday Challenge Blog (http://cdsundaychallenge.blogspot.com/). I've a huge collection of cardmaking cds and it's so much quicker to make a card using them. I've made the following card this afternoon:

I've used 2 cds. The background paper is from Sharon Duncan's Celebration Embossibilities and the central image is from Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2009. I've added some ribbon across the middle of the card and pearl brads in each corner.
I have to thank my crafting friend Carol for finding the challenge blog. She's been joining in since the blog started on 18 April 2010.
Here's hoping I'll be able to join in every week from now and (perhaps) blog a bit more frequently - don't hold your breath folks! LOL.

With a little help from my friends!

2009-07-28T10:44:00.019+01:00

My little cat has decided that I need some help with getting back to blog land:

She's a cutie and she's called Snuggles. She's not actually my cat - she wandered in one day and has decided to stay. Her name really suits her as she loves a 'snuggle' or as we say in Wales a 'cwtch'.

There's been very little time for crafting but I have managed a couple of cards.

These 2 cards were made from a kit from QVC. One is a birthday card for my youngest sister and the other is a birthday card for my penpal Hazel. They were both A5 cards.

This was the card I made for FIL for Father's Day. I recycled the tree image from another card.

And this was the RAK card I sent to Hazel in June.

The papers were free in a magazine. The inside is decoupaged.

I've been through my stash and come up with some things to put in a Blog Candy. I notice I've gone way over the 1000 posts, so thanks to everyone for sticking with me and my much neglected blog. I'm hoping to photograph the blog candy today and put the picture up tomorrow.

Take care everyone and hopefully I'll be posting again

tomorrow afternoon.

Two months later…..

2009-06-30T09:06:00.002+01:00

.......WOW! Is it really 2 months since I updated my blog? Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun (not!)?
So, what has been so important that it’s kept me away from blog land? Firstly I’ve been looking for a job and one application in particular has required a lot of my time and attention. I applied for a vacancy with the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) with the job centre. The only people recreating at the moment is the job centre – a sign of the times sadly. The DWP are recruiting countrywide and in my area alone there are 70 jobs up for grabs. The recruitment process is very drawn out. The application form has 2 full pages of scenarios with a choice of 4 answers that you have to put in the order of which you are most likely to do. If you answer these correctly you’re invited to sit literacy tests. When I went there were 290 people being tested (this was only in my region of the DWP). In the English test there was 15 mistakes and you had to find 9 to pass (I had a score of 13). With the Maths there was 20 questions and you needed 10 correct answers to pass (I had 14). I was told on the day that I’d passed and then given a date for interview. They helped you prepare for interview by telling you the type of questions you would be asked so that you had time to think of situations you’d previously been in and how you’d dealt with them. Two weeks after the interview I had a letter telling me I’d passed – but this wasn’t a job offer. They then go on to do pre employment checks such as CRB, health checks and references. Well it’s now more than 6 weeks since I had that letter, I’ve received a copy of my CRB but my referees haven’t been contacted yet. I’ve phoned the DWP and they’ve told me there’s a huge backlog because of the number of vacancies being filled. So meanwhile I leap on the postie every day (he’s getting used to it now!) to see if there’s a letter from the DWP.
In-between keeping the DWP staff in employment I’ve been decorating. Hubby and I stripped FIL’s bedroom back to the bare bones. FIL was away on holiday at the time and we had to get it finished before he came home – he suffers with severe anxiety and he wouldn’t have coped with the mess and disruption. It was a lot of hard work and I was exhausted by the time FIL came home. The holiday did him good (he stayed with his sister) and he came home looking and feeling really well. Unfortunately that didn’t last! He decided that as he was feeling so well he’d stop taking some of his medication. The ones he chose were steroids! He’s also not been caring for him self – no bathing, changing clothes, eating properly nor doing anything (probably because he’s been feeling really rotten due to the withdrawal symptoms from stopping his meds). So we’ve had a bit of a battle getting him to take them again and to understand that he can’t just stop taking them. Hubby’s been to his dad’s every morning, before work, to make sure he’s taking them and to sit with him while he has some breakfast. He’s then left instructions for his dad to have a bath and change all his clothes. I then go to the bungalow in the afternoon to check he’s done everything, collect his dirty clothes and help him prepare a meal. We then phone him in the evening to remind him to take the rest of his tablets. Thankfully he’s now a lot better and I just hope he keeps it up.
On top of all of this, under Doctor’s supervision, I’ve stopped taking the antidepressants. I think it’s a sign that I’ve overcome the depression because I’ve coped with everything that’s been thrown at me lately.
Well I think that’s everything that’s been going on in my life – thanks to those who have managed to read this far! LOL! As a Thank You for sticking with me, and my blog, during my absence, and also as I’m fast approaching 1000 visits, I’m going to look out some of my stash for a Blog Candy. Watch this space for further info. Bye for now, and hopefully it won’t be another 2 months until my next posting. I'm now off to check all of your blog entries from the last 2 months.

Hubby's 50th Birthday

2009-04-30T18:06:00.006+01:00

My dear hubby was 50 yesterday bless him! I made him a word book - I'm afraid there's six photos all together!

The photos are from the day he spent at the rugby in March. He and his lifelong friend had a hospitiality package to see the Wales/Ireland match. The were chaeuffeur driven to Cardiff Castle where they were greeted by a Welsh Male Voice choir. Then into the castle for a 4 course meal and free drinks, off to the match and back to the castle for more food, drinks and after dinner speeches. They had a great time and were given special treatment as they thought there birthdays were that day! They even had a cake with candles for them both.

I've been blog hopping today and there's some great candy on offer over at http://katharina1704.blogspot.com/2009/04/woj-elisabeth-bell-summer-stamp-kit.html

It closes tomorrow so get ver there now to be in with a chance of winning.

Blog award

2009-04-28T15:02:00.004+01:00

Nothing for ages and then 2 posts in one day! LOL.

Just been blog hopping and I've been given a blog award by my mate Hazel (http://didosdesigns.blogspot.com/)
I now have to pass it on to 5 others. I've chosen these blogs because I just love their cards:

1 http://rosaswelt.blogspot.com/

2 http://pinkgem-janet.blogspot.com/

3 http://charmedcrafts.blogspot.com/

4 http://kimpiggott.blogspot.com/

5 http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.com/

Neglected Blog!

2009-04-28T14:20:00.026+01:00

I've been missing from blog land for sometime - my poor blog! But thanks for sticking with me and continuing to add comments. It's greatly appreciated.
I'm having a break from Craft Forums at the mo as something on one has upset me big time! So my blog is now getting some much needed attention.

Anyway thought I'd do a catch up on a couple of cards I've made recently.

I made this for my godson's 12th birthday. His parents were buying him a guitar so I thought I'd use a guitar image as my theme. You can't tell from the pic but there are 3 frames surrounding the guitar,a yellow, black and black/yellow one. These are raised onto 3d foam. The top frame then has music note peeloffs added to it. The card was created using Card Creations+ Toolbox CD.

This card was for a friend's birthday and again I used a card making CD. This time it was My Craft Studio The Finishing Touch. I changed the colours and printed it onto card. I also went over some of the flower petals with a sakura clear glaze pen.

I always thought Match-it peeloffs were a bit pointless - until I

used them! This card was made using the oriental matchits and is

an A6. The vase has been curved slightly so the flowers would fit behind. Some of the flowers are also

lifted up with silicone glue to make them look more like a vase of flowers would in real life.

I'm now going to try and make a card for hubbies 50th birthday as it's......tomorrow! See Ya!

Some cards - at last!

2009-04-05T15:30:00.023+01:00

This card was for a RAK group I belong to. The image is from a Fee J CD. I created the background using Card Creations + Toolbox CD. The swirly pattern under the image was stamped straight on the card but it didn't stamp clearly. So I restamped it onto a piece of card and placed over the original messy bit!

I liked the previous card so much I made a second version. Again the image is from a FeeJ CD and I created the paper using the Toolbox CD. This card was for Hazel ( http://didosdesigns.blogspot.com/) and I also made 2 ATCs to go with the card.

For the first ATC I used a paper I found on a teabag folding site. The ribbon slides were freebies from a magazine - I think!
The second ATC I used up the remaining BP from the card. The flowers were a freebie from a magazine and the button I found in my late MILs button box (it was way too pretty to throw away).

I always say that I hate making ATCs but I did enjoy making these. I even like the second one and had to force myself to put it in the envelope to Hazel!

The weather is beautiful here today, hope you're having the same. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.

Quick posting.

2009-04-03T21:58:00.004+01:00

Just been blog hopping and wanted to share a couple of great blog candies with you.
Pop over and check out :

http://cstoen.blogspot.com/

Camilla is Dutch but her blog can be translated into English. (Apologies Camilla is Norwegian)

http://juliesjapes.blogspot.com/

Jules has some really cute stamps in her blog - a deer and an owl to name just 2.

Tomorrow I'm hoping I'll have time to post piccies of cards I've made recently, but I'm not holding my breath!
Hugs to all.

Busy Busy!!

2009-04-02T14:23:00.003+01:00

Been ssooo busy lately - no time to blog and very little time to craft. I have a new toy and have been kept busy using it.
Unfortunately not a crafting toy but .......................................... a Bissell carpet cleaner! LOL! Hubby's wanted one for sometime so when we saw it on offer we bought it. Some how though hubby isn't the one who uses it. My right arm/shoulder/hip now ache for Wales.
FIL has also kept me quite busy not just with washing/ironing/cleaning but with trying to keep him calm and not worry over every little thing. Had him on the phone yesterday in tears as he'd had a letter he couldn't deal with. Hey Ho I'm sure things will improve soon.
Hope to get back to crafting and posting soon. Take care all - see ya!

2009-03-14T16:38:00.002Z

One of my sisters had her birthday on Tuesday. This is the card I made for her using Oriental Match-Its. The lilac backing paper is one I found online somewhere. I've introduced my sister to card making so she will have looked at it very closely to see what I'd used! Hope you had a good day Audrey.

A7 swap

2009-03-14T15:18:00.005Z

I recently joined a new swap on http://www.crafttelly.com/forum/.

We decided to try our hands at making an A7 card - it's a bit bigger than an ATC. I've always struggled with ATCs but thought I'd have a go.

The backing paper was free from a magazine. I stamped the image and watercoloured it using Derwent pencils. I enjoy watercolouring, why I don't do more I don't know!

Blog watch!

2009-03-10T11:20:00.002Z

I've been catching up and the blogs I follow and have come across some scrummy blog candy at http://kath-allthatglitter.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-birthday-blog-and-candy-too.html#comment-form

It's one of my sister's birthday today so if I was to win I'd just have to share the candy with her - wouldn't I? But with over 300 entries I don't think there's much chance of me winning.

Card Competition

2009-03-05T17:15:00.003Z

I entered a card comp in February. It was run by Fee over on http://www.feejdesigns.yuku.com/directory.

She provides the papers and you have to follow certain rules. This time there had to be at least one button.

I forgot to take a photo of the inside but it's an 'exploding' card. The insert is a bit like those paper things we used to play with as kids. The one you put your fingertips into and opened and closed the them. Do you know what I mean?

I didn't win but I came second!!! My prize was to pick a CD rom from her website to the value of £15.99. I have a lot of her CDs but found one that had passed me by so I picked 'Girly Girly'. can't wait for it to come.

Scor-pal giveaway

2009-03-02T15:48:00.001Z

More blog candy this time a Scor-pal. I've wanted one of these for sometime so fingers crossed!
If you want to join in then pop along to Wendy's blog:
http://papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-first-blog-candy-giveaway.html

The Crafty Pad Blog Candy

2009-03-02T14:39:00.001Z

Just been blog hopping and came across some blog candy at The Crafty Pad. Pop over there for a chance to win a great new stamp: http://thecraftypad.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-candy.html

Blog Award!

2009-03-02T13:30:00.006Z

Hey! I have my first Blog Award!!!! Thank you Hazel (http://didosdesigns.blogspot.com/) for this award - you're a pal!

Now the hard part, I have to pass it on to 10 other blogs.

1 The first one is easy, I've followed his blog for sometime now and it's a pleasure to pass this on to him. It's Fabrizio or Fabyon as he's also known as http://craftingmad.blogspot.com/

2 and 3 I've recently joined a forum (yes another one!) http://www.feejdesigns.yuku.com/directory and 2 of the members have blogs that I follow.
http://denyze-densden.blogspot.com/ and my namesake http://www.pjayscraftblog.blogspot.com/

4 I know Phree from another forum (http://www.crafttelly.com/forum/) and have followed her blog for a while http://inkstainsurvivor.blogspot.com/

5 This just had to be number 5!! This young lady is 5 years old and has her own blog. You deserve this award Holly and I hope you get many more .http://hollyspaperworld.blogspot.com/

6 I love the cards on the next blog they are amazing! http://sandradrydesigns.blogspot.com/

7 When I came across the name of this next blog I just had to put it in my favourites! http://bling-kin-eck.blogspot.com/

8 http://bubble-deb.blogspot.com/ Another blog where I love the card designs.

9 Now for an overseas blogger - Brandi. Again another great name for a blog!
http://barelybananadays.blogspot.com/

10 Lastly but by now means least - I love the clean, uncluttered look of Amanda's cards. http://littlespaceofmyown.blogspot.com/

There were a few more I'd have liked to give this to but they already had it!!

Have a good day everyone - I hope to be adding to my blog more often, life just seems to get in the way all the time!

Two of a kind

2009-02-27T17:05:00.011Z

I made this card for a friend's birthday and liked the image and colours so much I made a similar one for my penfriend.

The next photo is of the card opened out:

I also sent her the following ATCs:

I don't enjoy making ATCs (as my penfriend Hazel will testify!). I don't know why this is as they're only small cards. But I'm never happy with the finished item. It doesn't help that Hazel makes some beautiful ATCs! I'm sure she appreciated the effort that went into making these 3.

It's taken me ages to work out how to post photos. Why does the first one added come up last in the post? Anyway it looks as if I got there after many tries.

Blog Candy

2009-02-21T17:43:00.007Z

I've just been reading on Dido' Designs Blog (my penfriend) that there is blog candy on offer at
http://jacqui47.blogspot.com/
and also at
http://clarecurd.blogspot.com/

As this is my first entry on my blog I don't know if this will work so fingers crossed for when I hit the enter button!