I'm Back!

OK, so I know I'm probably a candidate for the worst (or at least the most absent) blogger this week but, oh I have been a sickly specimen! However, there is light at the end of the tunnel..........I had a 'cough free' night of sleep..........woooooohoooooo! Anyhow, enough about that, today is Sunday and that means it's time for a new challenge over at the OSAAT challenge blog.

Our sponsors this week, all 3 of them, are as follows:

So there you go, lots of goodies up for grabs, no excuse not to enter! The theme this week is.........Christmas, traditional or modern, whichever you prefer. I thought I'd try something a little different again this week, so sometime during my battle against the germs, I came up with a couple of gift card holders............

So, I guess one is in traditional Christmas colours, the other more modern. Here's another view...........

I got to play with new Christmas digi papers this week from Panda Bear Designs which you will find shortly at the Stitchy Bear and I Did It Crafting Boutique. These papers are really pretty on their own, so I only embellished with various alpha stamps, ribbon, a sticker, glitter and stickles from my stash. These gift card holders fold pretty nicely too, so I think they'd look cool hung on the tree.

Well, that's it from me for now, but hopefully the creative juices will start to flow a little more freely from now on, so I should be back with another post fairly soon. Don't forget to head on over to the OSAAT blog to check out the beautiful creations from the rest of the DT.

Happy Halloween!

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OK, thought I'd better actually post the challenges this will be entered into!

Fab'n'Funky Challenges - Keep It Simple

ABC Challenge Blog - G is for Glitter

Stampavie and more - #114 Christmas

Crafty Purple Frog Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - #26 Recipe:Ribbon, gems, at least one paper embellishment

Frosted Designs - Holiday Treats

Bah Humbug - Presents

Bee Crafty - #41 Christmas (must use a digi)

No point in hiding........

............Happy Sunday everyone, hope you're having a slightly better one than me! As I'm typing this, I have, I guess, a touch of the old laryngitis............absolutely no voice whatsoever, just a very friendly cough and sore throat to go with........Yummy! Anyhow, good job the typing fingers are working OK, as I'm sure you didn't drop in to listen to my list of ailments, so let's move on shall we?

It being Sunday and all, means of course that it's time for a new challenge over at the OSAAT challenge blog. Our theme this week is 'Celebration'............could be Birthday, anniversary, new baby, a particular holiday.............you name it, if it's worth celebrating, it's included. The prize given to one lucky winner will be your choice of 5 digi's from the Stitchy Bear and I Did It Creations Store.........you can check them out here

I got to play around with an image from Barbara Jenson this week, so without further ado, here she is...........Lady Bug..........

Now, I don't mind admitting that this card took (what felt like) a zillion crafting hours to create.
I wanted to have a relevant link between the image and a celebration, so I decided (in my wisdom!) to create a window, and have Ms Lady Bug peeking through the foliage, with the sentiment.........'No point in hiding.......' on the outside, and .......'we know it's your Birthday!' on the inside. So, that's what I did! Here's a view of the inside.......

Most time, I guess, was spent on cutting, firstly, the window, which I cut into the front of the card, then made a slightly larger frame and sandwiched a piece of acetate between it and the card. Secondly, on the rather large amount of fussy cutting.........the image, and then foliage, which just had to match the DP exactly (just had to!), so was cut from a coordinating sheet. The sentiment is printed from Word, DP's are from BoBunny's Kitchen Spice line, and I ruffled a touch of burnt orange ribbon to finish off.

She is of course, coloured with a combination of Copics and Prisma's, with just enough ultra fine glitter added to her wings, to make them sparkle. Here's a close up.........

So, if you'd like to check out what the other lovely ladies of the OSAAT DT have been up to, hop on over and take a look. You have until next Saturday to enter this weeks challenge.

This little lady however, will be joining the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes - #41 A Natural Woman

Crafty Hos' Challenge Blog - Inspiration Picture Challenge (large tree in fall colours)

I Did It Creations Challenge Blog - #26 Surprise Me

Riley and Company - The colours of Autumn

Flutterby Wednesday - #127 Anything Goes (plus angel, fairy or butterfly)

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog - #40 As long as it flies

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - #123 Autumn Foliage

Daring Cardmakers - Autumn Leaves

Stamp Something - Digi Day

Creative Inspirations - #45 Halloween/Fall

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

First of many?

So another absent blogging week, mainly due to the fact that our household is fighting the incredibly annoying, and terribly persistent cold bug. We have an extremely efficient 'tag team' within the family, to ensure there's a continuous stream of coughing fits during the PM hours! Anyhow, I finally managed to scrape together at least one card this week, just in time for this weeks Bellarific Friday over at the Stamping Bella blog.

The challenge this week was a sketch............

.............so I thought I'd take the opportunity and make a Christmas card, especially as I haven't started making any yet (cue the blog post title!). Also, it gave me the opportunity to ink up my new 'Mavis wearing Holly' stamp I bought a few weeks ago. So here she is, the super festive, super sparkly...........Mavis...........

I took a few shots of this card, cause I'm not sure if you can tell that I cut the front in half diagonally. Here's the inside view..............

..............and of course there is lots of sparkly glitter, glossy accents and glaze pen going on, so here's a close up of that...........

The DP's on here, are from the Imaginisce 'Cottage Christmas' line, together with red cardstock from Martha Stewart. Mavis is coloured of course, with my Prisma pencils.....no Copics on here as there is no 'skin' present! There's also ultra fine glitter on her dress, glossy accents on the sprigs of holly and a touch of glaze pen on her nose. A new 'Eyelet Circle' Nestie works a treat in the center there (love it!), and some red ribbon and an abundance of faux stitching, finishes the job.

She will of course be entering some other challenges, but my throat now requires some TLC.........i.e. a cup of coffee, so I'll be back later with some hopefuls.

Hope you have a 'cough, sniff, croak, sneeze' free week!

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So here are the challenges Mavis will be joining:

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - #48 Ribbon

Gingerloft Challenge - #4 Winter

Pear Tree Designs - #22 Free For All

Meljens Designs Challenges and Inspiration - #30 Anything Goes

Delightful Challenges - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Southern Girls Challenge - #4 Glitter

Totally Gorjuss - #53 Sparkle

Have a great weekend...........see ya Sunday for a new OSAAT challenge.

And now for something completely different..........

...........No, the Monty Python team are not gonna appear, with a wierd and wonderful sketch! Just me, with something a step away from the 'norm' so to speak ('norm' for me that is!).

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for a new challenge over at the OSAAT Challenge Blog. Our theme this week is to 'embellish with your favourite things', and we are sponsored by Joanna Sheen, who you can check out right here.........

My task this week, as part of the DT, was to create, using some very pretty Digi papers from the 'Imagine' collection by Panda Bear Designs (which you can find of course at the Stitchy Bear Store). What.......no image to colour up and play around with? What's a girl to do?.........Stick to something she knows best, and create something 'girlie', that's what! So here's my effort for this week.............

Technically, it is still a card, although by the time my DD's have finished carrying it around the house, there probably won't be much of it left to send to anyone (lol).

I'll spill the beans and tell you that I bought a yummy new book a few weeks ago called 'Fast And Fun Folded Cards' by Annies Attic, so this is my version of one of the creations in there. Come on, you knew there was no way on this earth that I would have come up with something like this on my own..............especially as there is no colouring involved! Anyhow, I obviously 'blinged' it up, fussy cut and popped a butterfly on there, added flowers, more bling, ribbon, a fabric sticker I've had in my stash forever and..............Voila! Tres chic!

You'll definitely want to head over to OSAAT this week, and check out the other DT creations. Of course, if you enter this weeks challenge, you are in with a chance of winning the goodies up for grabs.

Well, I'm too tired to scour 'blogland' for challeges to enter right now, so I'll be back.

Have a good one.

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OK, I'm back with some challenges this baby will be heading into:

Crafty Cardmakers - Fancy Folds

Little Red Wagon - #50 Something Old/Something New

Inspiration Avenue - Pink

Scrapbook Sisters - #6 Flowers

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

My little cherry blossom.........

OK, so when you scroll down to view my card today, for the 'green fingered' amongst us..........I know......... I'm pretty sure the flowers are not actually cherry blossoms! The blog post title is staying 'as is' though, mainly because I couldn't think of anything else that was suitably oriental and sweet! Shall I get on with it?

It was Bellarific Friday yesterday (I'm only one day late!), over at the Stamping Bella blog, and the theme this week was to dust off, and show some love to those 'Ketto' stamps. This gave me the perfect opportunity to go part with some $$$$ and buy a new one. Now Ketto's always trigger an Oriental theme in my brain, and the stamp I've used here - Ginger Ketto was no exception. So here she is...........Miss Ginger Ketto...........

I like this card and I think I've finally figured out, that whenever I pair a colour with black..........it's instant satisfaction!
So, of course she is coloured with Prisma's and a little Copic marker on her face. You probably can't tell from the photograph, but there is a little glitter on her dress, and I used a clear Sakura Glaze pen to highlight her eyelashes, and the little black dots around her head. I sponged around the image with a Cat's Eye Chalk Ink and used my lurvly new lacy square Nestie again (still love it!). There is some white handmade paper under there to create a little texture, and I took the plunge and parted with another of my very favourite Prima felt flower stems.........I only have one left from my pack of 3, which lucky project gets graced with it's presence? I will digress here and show you the first card, using contestant #1 from my Prima flower stem pack..........my Mom's Birthday card, back in the summertime (prior to my launch into blogging).............

...........the outside.......... .............and inside.............

Another Oriental card but this time using a Mo Manning image.

Anyhoooooo..........back to my original conversation. I added a couple of Prima flowers on there with a little bling, some white coloured 'hemp' and those very cute heart shaped stick pins. DP is from a 'freebie' pack (included with a magazine) from Kate Knight.

This little lady will be heading into the following challenges:

Paper Cutz Challenge - #63 Anything Goes

Gingerloft Challenge - #3 All that glitters or blings

The ABC Challenge - F is for Flowers

The Sisterhood of Crafters - All things known as bling

My Partner In Crafting Crime - #13 Shine on you crazy diamond

Craftalicious Challenges - #10 Anything Goes

Our Creative Corner - Use at least 3 embellishments

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - #105 Oriental

Totally Gorjuss - #52 Pink

See you tomorrow with a new OSAAT challenge.

A 'Sweet' New Release and Blog Hop.

This is my second post of the day, so if you're looking for my OSAAT DT creation please scroll down.

Now, today is pretty exciting as we are graced with another deliciously sweet release of new digi's from By Lori Designs. They are awesome as always, so to celebrate, we are having a little blog hop with the chance of winning the whole new release.........that's George and Tammy, Sugarstick Cat and Dog and Lollipop Princess! Wow!

My offering today, isn't actually using one of the new releases, as I have been playing catch up, trying to create 2 New Baby cards for 2 ladies within my scrapping circle (who's babies are now 3 & 6 weeks old!). Now, you can't make baby cards without a Lollipop immediately springing to mind, so here are my bundle(s) of joy, using Baby McCoy..............

............in green..........

...........and in blue...........

Too cute, and I'm quite proud of the fact that I only used Copics...........what, no Prisma's! Maybe it's the fact that I only had to colour faces, tummies and a fraction of a diaper! I paper pieced various parts of the babies, and DP's are from Martha Stewart. The cards are also based on a sketch over at Inspired Crafters.

So, if you would like to be in with a chance of winning some goodies, hop on over to The Lollipop Shop, then visit each of the other DT girls. Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog ( you have until midnight Tuesday) then one lucky winner will be drawn randomly and announced at the Lollipop Shop on Wednesday. Here's a link for the rest of the girls, together with our guest designer for this month, Cara:

Lori B. Andrea G. Arielle G. Hannah B. Jane B. Jayne M. Linda L. Sheri G. sherryann Vera R. Cara E.

Happy Hopping!

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These little cuties will be crawling into the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog - #39 A Change of Season

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge - #43 Sweet Baby

Tellen's Place - Use 2 patterned papers

Craft Your Days Away - #5 Babies

The Pixie Cottage - #39 Sketch and/or embossing

Totally wicked............

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for a new challenge over at OSAAT. The theme this week is 'Go crazy with your stamps', so pretty much an anything goes with digi or otherwise. The sponsor this week is a first........the acclaimed artist Rick St Dennis (whose work adorns the collections of the rich and famous) will be sharing some of his images with us, to celebrate his launch into digital.

My little DT creation, may not be up to Ricks standard just yet (lol), but I think I made a decent effort, using some deliciously wicked images you can find at Stitchy Bear Stamps.............

So, the images I used are from the 'Which Witch Silhouette Pack', and I'm not sure if I actually went wild with them, but I did get quite a few on there..........17 to be precise! I wanted a little break from the whole Halloween deal, so as these ladies appear to be deliciously 'wicked', I thought I'd use them for a 'Wicked Birthday' card.

I'm not really sure where my mind was when I created this (probably in the gutter!), but I had this idea that I needed to create some sort of fishnet stocking and garter............hence the eons of embroidery floss and frilly trim! You know when you have what seems like a good idea? Well 30 minutes into sewing a fishnet background................maybe not such a good idea! Anyhow, I'm pleased with how it turned out so I can't complain.

No colouring on this card obviously, so I made the effort elsewhere with the sewing. The flower is also handmade by using the trim, and adding a little bling and a pin. The DP's are from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is printed from my PC.

Go check out the other wonderful DT creations at the OSSAT Challenge Blog, some using Rick's images. You won't be disappointed, and if you wish to join in the challenge, there are of course goodies up for grabs.

I am now off to hunt down some challenges, as I seem to have lost the list I'd already made (duh!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving to those of us in Canada.

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OK, found my list.

This card will be sneaking it's way into the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad Challenge Blog - #92 Something for a friend

Cowgirl Sunday Stamp'en Challenge - Girly Girl

Lexi's Creations - #24 Spooky

Digital Tuesday Challenge - #79 Ribbon,Buttons or Bling (plus a digi)

Party Time Tuesdays - #15 Anything Goes Birthday

Creative Inspirations - #81 Birthday

Paper Cutz Challenge - #62 Use Red Black and White only

Your Next Stamp Challenges - #26 Grow your own (make your own flowers)

Crazy 4 Challenges - #58 Birthday

Elephantastic - #15 Anything Goes

Happiness is...........

Oooh, have I been a bad blogger this week? Yes, absolutely, but that's not to say I haven't been crafting away.....I've actually been pretty productive, but just didn't get the time to actually post something! Anyhow, thought I'd better make at least a quick effort today, followed by another tomorrow, and most definitely on Sunday for my OSAAT DT creation.
On with today, it is of course Bellarific Friday over on the Stamping Bella blog, which means efforts have to be made by myself in honour of one of my fave stamp stores (the actual rubber, touchy, feely, squishy in your hand kind of stamp that is!). So this weeks theme is 'Fall', not necessarily a Fall stamp, but definitely the colours associated with. Here's my attempt using 'Savvy Shoppabella'..................

Now, whilst I was making this card, I didn't feel too happy with it........don't know why, but now that it's finished, I'm fairly pleased, just not 100%. Maybe it's the fact that I finally used the last of my very 'purdy shiny ribbon' (sniff)......aahhhh, she served me well!(lol).

I coloured of course with my Prisma pencils and a touch of Copics for skin, used my new 'lacy square' Nestie (love it!), a Fiskars border punch, a chipboard leaf (covered with cardstock and inked) and DP's are from the Apple Cider line from Imaginisce. I finished with a little faux stitching.

Bella will be shopping her way into the following challenges:

Sentimental Sundays - #23 Autumn or Fall

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - #79 Layer it on (at least 5 layers)

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog - #41 Celebrate the colours of Fall

Cute Card Thursday - #133 Make your own(embellishments)

Charisma Cardz Challenges - #40 Autumn

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge Blog - #38 Autumn or Fall colours

Stampin For The Weekend - Challenge 48 Autumn Inspiration

Craftalicious Challenges - #9 Autumn/Harvest Festival

Have a great weekend.

OSAAT Challenge.........

Well, Sunday has rolled around again....thought it might.....and that means it's time for a new challenge over at the OSAAT Challenge Blog. The theme may not be too obvious, so I'll give you a BIG clue..........

Can ya guess what it is yet? (said in the voice of Rolf Harris if anyone remembers!). Yes, of course it's.....SPOOKY, so what a great opportunity to get done, all those Halloween projects you've been putting off for the last month.

This is my DT creation of course, using some of the latest release of 'fright'fully spooky chaps from Stitchy Bear Stamps, which you can find in the store right here. You'll most definitely be wanting to hop over to OSAAT this week as there are numerous, yes numerous, prizes up for grabs. There's also a few more little fun games occurring throughout the week, with even more goodies on offer, so don't miss out.

So for my card and treat bag tag, I didn't have to handle a single colouring implement. Aaahhh, easy life! I used some hand made paper and a wooden skull (I found at the dollar store), on the card, and thought it would be pretty neat to add a sucker on there. The plastic skull on the tag is another dollar store find. DP's are from Basic Grey's Eerie line.

This card will be haunting the following challenges:

The Pixie Cottage - #38 Sketch and/or orange

Aud Sentiments Chalenge Blog - #12 Use any Halloween Sentiment

If The Shoe Fits Scrap It - #49 Orange

Elephantastic Cards and Crafts - #14 Black and Orange

Stamp Scrap and Doodle Saturdays - Open challenge

Cowgirl's Sunday Stamp'en Challenge - Anything Goes

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Game Day.........

Just to let you know there are Fun and Games and Goodies up for grabs over at the OSAAT Challenge Blog today, so if you want to be in with a chance of winning something, hop on over!

Their Anything Goes Challenge is also still open, if you want to take part, and another new challenge will be posted tomorrow.

See you then.