Craft for a Cure

Well I finished my stint as Chair on my sons PA yesterday with a really good summer fayre - weather was great, turnout was great, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves which was great! so I am rather relieved (and very tired!) today. 

As they say when one door closes another one opens so this brings me onto my next fund raiser which is Craft for a Cure - Morag and I are doing another charity crop this year, once again all proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK - much more poignant to me this year due to losing my friend Cathy last Christmas to this horrible disease.

Here is the flyer that has been wonderfully designed by Morag:

If you would like to come along and support us in raising money for this very worthwhile cause please email either myself or Morag (our What Housework website is currently down at the moment due to technical issues but it will be resolved soon so watch that space too!)  - Cost is just £40 which will include a lovely venue, lunch, a fabulous paper kit and two classes. 

I will leave this post at the top of my blog for the next few weeks so for later posts please scroll down.

Thanks

Sorry I am awol

No problems here I am alive and well!  just not been scrapping or papercrafting for the past couple of weeks - I am on DS1's school parents association and it's our summer fayre this weekend so I am busy with that and also all the running round that usually happens in schools this time of year - today I have had a parents association meeting, been to Aquafit and done Forest School this afternoon at DS2's school so I am absolutely shattered!  Most evenings I have been too tired to get my scrapping stuff out so I have been sitting on the settee and catching up with my Mandy Shaw "A Quilter Lives Here" quilt which is coming along quite nicely now - when I remember I will take some snaps of the finished applique blocks I have already completed - I have done 4 out of the 8 so am half way now!

Just thought I would show you a picture of a layout I did back in May when my mojo was visiting:

These pictures were only taken in January too - how up to date am I!

Thanks for visiting :)

Still no mojo

but I have spent most of the day doing this layout:

Have found it quite a struggle as I seem to have scrappers block again but I just had to use the new Creative Journey London stamps I bought with my birthday money, shame I haven't really done them much justice as they are fabulous - my top tip from this layout is do not, under any circumstances, stick down a huge flower and a chipboard sign with glossy accents without standing up to check that the layout is balanced first! - I wouldn't mind but I rarely stick anything down with GA but I was too lazy to go upstairs and get the glue dots, which might have ripped some of the paper, but at least would have enabled me to reposition them!  I have tried to rebalance it all with extra stamps and cut out images so it is ok now but without my usual mojo and enthusiasm its been a pain!

Anyway hope you like it, my children do thankfully (at least I think they do, they might just be saying that so that I stop scrapping and start playing Lego Pirates of the Carribean with them on the xbox instead!).

Thanks for looking.

My PIFs Here!

It actually arrived yesterday but I haven't had time to photograph it until this afternoon - here it is:

I have a fabulous notebook which I will use to keep track of challenges in, a lovely card and some papers to play with.  The tag is also handmade so thank you so much Kyla - it's all fab.

I have also decided that the layout I partially showed on Wednesday is complete so here it is properly:

have decided that if I do eventually want to put dinosaurs and ladybirds peeking out I can!  Unfortunately this decision hasn't made my mojo magically reappear as I had hoped!  I have just inked a tag this afternoon using some of Tim's fabulous kraft resist cardstock that I have managed to get my hands on (thanks Bernice!) and I love it (both the cardstock and the inked tag) but don't seem to know where to go from there so it's sitting on my desk dining room table waiting to be finished - am off to take DS1 to football now so maybe the inspiration will strike when I get back!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 105

Well how much fun was last week!  I have to admit my experience was a bit stressful too due to being on holiday and reliant on free wifi at breakfast and my OH's phone! but still I managed to join in, get my pif sent - from lovely Looe in Cornwall - and get in touch with my sender too, so phew. In fact looking back now me frantically waving a phone in the air to keep a dodgy connection whilst stuffing my face with a full english in the middle of a Cornish Premier Inn restaurant was probably quite a funny sight to see!  Honestly the things we do for our Wednesday fix of snooping!

I also didnt manage to get to visit many of you either due to being on holiday and then taking two days to celebrate my birthday but I will endeavour to try harder this week!

Here is my desk dining room table as of yesterday afternoon:

 - the black and white ribbon I have just bought today (Tues) from the rag market in Birmingham, the plant is a gift from my two little boys (it has pink glitter on it too - very sweet!), the Tilda box kit is a birthday present from a quarterly sewing club I am in, the yellow album and plastic bag should really be in the bin/recycling, the layout I have got very stressed about as I started it a couple of weeks ago and still cant seem to find the missing things to finish it (I envisaged little dinosaurs and ladybirds peeking out through the branches but cant muster up the energy to put them there!) so I have decided whilst taking this picture that actually the layout is complete as is and I am going to move on - no wonder I have no mojo if I am stressing over bits peeking out!!, the pile of stamps were bought before my holidays and I have yet to use them - oops.  Thats about it really - if you want to join in the fun and show your desk to the world then pop over to Julias and join in the fun.  We should all be showing our PIFs today but I havent received mine yet but will post it when I do!

Have a great day and thanks for looking :)

It's my birthday

Yay!

Not much craftyness to show today as we were away in Cornwall last week so I havent been making stuff (apart from some material flowers whilst sitting in the hotel room at night but they need sewing up) but still I thought I would share!

Had a big urge to do something creative last night (after I had finished unpacking and had started on the five loads of washing we bought home with us!) so I think my mojo is back - however I spent the night organising and filing away layouts as I managed to get three d ring binders (£2 each what a bargain!) from TK Maxx in Bristol last week.  Lets hope I get chance to craft later today - whoo hoo.

Here is a layout I did before we went away:

Nice and simple showing my two enjoying themselves at the Krispy Kreme factory at the really huge Tescos in Slough (no doubt we were on one of our many trips to Legoland last year! in some ways I am rather relieved our Merlin annual passes have run out as visiting so many theme parks in the short space of one year is really very tiring!). 

Anyway am off to open my cards and hopefully will be going shopping for some new crafty goodies later for new stamps I am sure I need.  Hope you all have a great day too.

WOYWW 104

Happy Birthday WOYWW!!!!  Whoo Hoo two years old today - how fantastic is that!

Here is my dining room table this morning:

As you can see my scrapping mojo is still awol but these are a couple of the bags I have been working on for my little boys.  Yes I know the digger material is upside down but he is only 6 he might not notice!  Have had the material for about four years now and thought I ought to use it as my two little boys are growing up so fast and its already a bit too "young" for them - anyway this pattern uses up four fat quarters which is ideal for me at the moment - at least when I get these finished I can get on and use some of the new stuff I bought at the Malvern Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago - or the stuff I bought last year come to think of it!

Thanks for looking and come and join in the birthday party fun over at Julias and show us your desk too!  Can't wait to see who's pif I will be getting!  Whoo hooo.

Challenge Number 6 again

So sorry everyone but I havent done my last challenge!  therefore I will roll the same one over for the next fortnight too (only because I know exactly what I want to do on my layout in my head but havent put it into practice yet - am too busy sewing all the lovely goodies I bought at Malvern a couple of weeks ago!).

So again the challenge is to use the following image for inspiration:


If you would like to join in with me then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:


Thanks :)

WOYWW 103

Oh no mojo has gone again!  It was a very short and sweet visit from Mrs Mojo I had last month!  Oh well I am sure she will come knocking again soon.  This is the sorry state of my dining room table this morning:

The pirate book is one of the childrens and I didn't want to throw it away in case they want it, the distress inks are just there because I ran out of enthusiasm when tidying up (think I got distracted and went off to dust the lounge....) so that should really be upstairs, wristband, lego and notebook - well where else do I put those???

Wasn't going to join in today due to lack of mojo (had a lovely time at Malvern last week and bought some stuff to sew so maybe my mind is on that at the moment - not that I have started any of it (or any of the stuff I bought last year come to think of it....)) but have now decided to join in (which is why I am later than usual) in the hope that when I come and visit your desk I will have a flurry of inspiration!  Fingers crossed....

If you want to join in all the fun too then pop over to Julias.  Thanks for looking.  Oh and can I just say a big hello and thank you to Sam for following me - I am sure I will be back with a better post soon!

WOYWW 102

Here I am again! third week running - so much for only once a month eh! I managed to visit around 70 blogs last week and comment on all of them and then blogger crashed and deleted them all!  Oh well such is life.

Here is my dining room table as of yesterday afternoon:

I was making a card to enter into a challenge - don't ask why I didn't use my craft room with my lovely new cupboards as I don't know! I even had the house to myself for 7 hours too!  But I sat here and listened to the radio via the telly - I have found that when listening to that I am much more constructive than sitting in front of the telly and watching a Midsommer Murder (I have 70 episodes taped to watch - might as well delete them all now!).  Anyways thats me for today (and yesterday!) - hoping to get around to a few of you later won't have chance tomorrow as I am off to the Malvern Quilt Show - whoo hoo.

If you are wondering why I am showing my desk to all and sundry then pop over Julias she will explain why!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 6

Ok my mission for this next fortnight should you choose to accept it is:  Use the following image for inspiration:

Can't wait to give this one a go!

If you would like to join in with me then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:


The challenge runs until Tuesday 31st May so have fun!
Thanks :)

Card challenge

I still seem to be addicted to challenges at the moment and the one over at Daring Card Makers has again caught my eye.  This week the challenge is "The Darling Bugs Of May" as soon as I saw it I knew what stamps to use:

Have had this Tilda for a while now and have only used her once so I knew I just had to dust her down and ink her up!  I love Magnolia stamps but they are so big once masked and stamped with backgrounds aren't they.  This card is A5 and the main image is so big it doesn't leave much room for anything else - I am saying that because I don't think she would normally sit quite so near to a bee hive would she!!  Anyway for this card I have used the sketch SSS108 over at Sweet Stop Sketches so I would like to enter it into their challenge too.  Other stash used is:
Fancy Pants papers - Road Show - Delicate dots and Chic Stripes, sizzix beehive and bees, Tilda with Bee, Spring Tree and Old Stand stamps (all Magnolia), Just bee cos I care stamp is by Little Claire Designs.  Promarkers used are: Blush, Saffron, Buttercup, Canary, Cinnamon, Caramel, Terracotta, Ginger, Spice, Sandstone, Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, China Blue, Cornflower, Meadow Green, Apple, Sunkissed Pink, Blossom and Black.  Distress inks used are: Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint.  Have finished the card off with bling for the bees eyes and string for their flying paths which I have stapled in place with my tiny attacher.

Thanks for looking :)

Flower card

I seem to be keeping my creative juices flowing at the moment by looking around at the various challenges set each week.  The one at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ caught my eye this week as it is for May flowers - which are hawthorns or lily of the valley - I thought this fitting to make a card for my Nan (albeit early as her birthday isn't for a few weeks yet) as her name is Lily.  So here is my entry:

Papers are Prima - Flights of Fancy as are the butterly, tag and chipboard letters, the Lily of the Valley image has been taken from the internet, printed onto Stampin Up paper and coloured in with Promarkers - Forest Green and Lush Green, I have used a nestability die to cut it out, a sizzix tag for the tag, a Viva My PaperWorld script stamp for the background and used Tea Dye and Tattered Rose distress inks, string and staples.

I have based the card on the sketch over at http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.com/ so I am entering the card into their challenge too.

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 101

Morning everyone - wasn't going to join in this week as I have cleared my dining room table and my desk is tidy too - however I am hoping to have a play later today, can't do too much as both my sons are having friends round for tea after school, but am I am hoping to get a couple of things finished so I have staged this photo to show you what I will be working on.

Yes it yet another configuration box - a Time one this time!  this just needs some stamped out clocks and watches added to it and the mannequin (which I got from Sainsburys) has been covered in music paper for a skirt (this is my fourth attempt - I did it like this first and wasnt keen, so I changed it to one whole piece which looked dreadful, then I made a skirt out of tags (inspired by the Apprentice dress - remember that one with the ties?) well I can't begin to describe how rubbish that looked so she has sat bare on the shelf for a few weeks whilst I lost my mojo but now I have gone back to the original fitted one).  This now just need some lace, ribbon, tulle and bling to finish it off so hopefully two quite quick projects which should get done sometime today.

If you would like to show us all whats on your desk pop over to Julias and bare all!

Thanks for looking :)

Another layout for my week five challenge

Here is another layout I have done with crowns on:

have blurred the faces of the other children and teacher.  This is my second son receiving an award at his birthday celebration assembly - I thought it was just a birthday certificate so you can imagine my horror (after spending hours sorting out that chipboard no. 6 that took 2 attempts at crackle paint until I finally gave in and painted it with inka gold paint instead and using the birthday themed papers) when he said "that's me receiving an award in assembly" - however I think he is right and it is a certificate of achievement but it was also given to him during his birthday week assembly (the dates of the photographs tell me that) so I am covered!  Phew.

Papers are from the Bo Bunny Its a Party range - had them leftover from a class I did at the crop last year - arent they fabulous - I love bright!  Managed to sneak on some old stickers that I have had in my sticker case for a while now too!  Also - first time ever this - I got my copy of Craft Stamper through the post on Thursday and I have used a new technique from it within the week!  It's the painting on the journaling circles - not sure it works as well on the brights as it does on the darker colours in the article but I am still pleased with it.  Have also done another double layout too will post that up soon and now I need to go and make a tag to fit my challenge theme - watch this space.....

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Layout

Firstly a big hello to Noukie - thank you for following me - that's a very cute little boy you have there! :)

It's not very often I manage to do a layout in about 30 mins but here's one:

Papers are from the My Minds Eye Lost and Found collection as are the glitter die cuts.  Yesterday I made the mat for the picture, cut out the nestibility shape and popped out all the die cuts and then distressed and inked them.  This morning I placed all the items in place with every intention of adding some homemade flowers but I thought it looked fussy enough as is so I have just stuck all the pieces down and not even put my title on - have just gone with the die cut texts.  Am quite pleased with myself!  Now have the rest of the day to create another layout rather than faff around for hours with this one (which would normally be the case!).  This also suits my challenge of Crowns or Castles as there are 2 crowns on it.

Happy Sunday everyone and thanks for looking :)

A robot layout

I made this layout last week alongside the robot card - it just needed a bit of finishing off which I managed to do today:

The robot papers are by Lilypad but I don't think that they are available anymore.  Other stuff I have used is:  robot twill, Tim's on the edge Ornate die, Green hemp - vintage, boy brads (robot and funny) Around The Block, Round brads O'scrap - baby boy, Tim embossing folder, Tim reflections stamp, Distress inks: Mustard Seed and Pumice Stone, a blue sakura pen - gelly roll blue star and I based the layout of the sketch on Page 10 of Pagemaps 2. 

Again this is a really old photograph that has been in the pile to scrap for about four years! so another one done!

Also there is a fab giveaway at http://ribbongirls.blogspot.com/2011/05/strawberry-molly-giveaway.html - here's a picture:


hurry though it closes on Sunday night!
Thanks for looking :)

My Challenge Card

Here is my challenge card for my theme of Crowns and Castles - as you can see I have opted for castles on this one!

Stamps used are:  Paper Artsy Crowns and Castles 2, 4 and 7, Magnolia frog, butterflies, toadstools and brick wall, Elzy Bells George and Dragon, Woodware Woodland Mushrooms and I am not sure of the make of the alphabet but I know it came from the Studio Cards catalogue. 
Distress inks used: Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage and Pumice Stone.
Promarkers used: Blue, Khaki, Ice Grey 2, 3 & 4, Baby Pink, Gold, Apple, Grass, Forest Green, Terracotta, Honeycomb, Coral, Pastel Beige, Pastel Blue, Red, Buttercup and Leaf Green.
Have also used my sizzix cloud die - the Happy Birthday banners are handcut.
This is a three tiered card - here is an aeriel view:

sorry for the poor quality but the weather isn't so good today is it!

Apart from my own challenge here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2011/05/challenge-number-5.html
I would like to enter it into the following challenges too:
http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ - a patriotic theme (I figure George and the Dragon is patriotic!)
http://www.stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ - something with wings
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ T is for two or more images
http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/ - a butterfly
http://crafts4eternity.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything beginning with C (in my case Castle!)
http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - Anything goes
http://atsblog.typepad.com/wednesdayschallenge/ - Anything goes
http://scrappyfrogschallenge.blogspot.com/ - Anything goes

Phew - think thats it!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 100

Morning everyone, and Happy Star Wars day! - May the 4th be with you!!!

Well there's lots going on in my craft room this week!  I have gone from this:

to this:

and then after a sleepless night worrying about all the weight and whether it was going to go crashing through my ceiling or not, to this:

Have moved the heavier weighted stuff such as paints, sizzix dies and lots of the childrens school stuff and some holiday memoribilia downstairs (managed to fit those original white drawers into two old wardrobes we have in a spare room after a big sort out) so I have slept peacefully since!

For some reason I am still scrapping on my dining room table at the moment though probably because the children have been off school for the holidays - hoping to get round to a few of you today and tomorrow but the children are off yet again tomorrow for voting so it depends upon whether I take them out for the day or not!

If you want to join in the fun and show off your workspace to the world pop over to Julias for this fun and addictive once a week excitement!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 5

Well for the last challenge I managed lots of layouts and cards but no tag!  Oh well let's hope I have time to make a tag with this challenge - after all the excitement on Friday I am going to have a royal theme so your challenge is to create anything with a Crown or Castle on it.

The challenge runs until Tuesday 17th May so have fun! and dont forget to put your link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:


Thanks :)

Paperartsy House

Last week I finally finished off my Paperartsy house (yes the one I bought at Hobbycrafts in March last year!) - it's been on the go for ages as I lost momentum half way through after covering all the edges with musical sheets, putting in the backgrounds which consist of inked and embossed (Tim's texture plates of course!) cardstock and even putting all the stamped metal on the roof - yes I gave up when it just needed the fun part of adding all the embellishments to it!  Still mojo is back in fine form so here it now is:

I love to sew so this one is going to go up in my craft room and hopefully have pride of place in my new cupboards (if I can find a space that is!).

Here is a closeup of the roof:

used metal from Paperartsy and a Magnolia brick wall stamp.  The edges are cut using a border punch - there is a better view here:

sorry for the blurry picture!

and here is a closeup of the metal sewing machine - got this at a local charity shop for 49p!

I am just not sure whether to add a cotton reel chimney or not (you know me it will have to be put on so that it stands up straight so will entail lots of faffing about) so I would be grateful for any opinions on that!

and my bargain tip of the day is these:

aren't they fabulous! got them from Poundland so get there quick - well at least before Morag.....

Thanks for looking :)

And here is another card!

Firstly can I just say a big hello and thank you to Sandy O for following me - it's lovely to have you on board!  I have had a busy weekend - have had a good sort out in my craft room - will post some pictures on my next WOYWW post and have also done a layout and a card over this weekend too!  It's all go here I tell you!

Here is the latest card:

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Daring Card Makers whose challenge is a patriotic theme- so I have used red, white and blue colours
Sketch and Stash Challenge this time sketch no. 7 and its all old stash - nothing new on here!
Delightful Sketches  which is distressing (although very minimal distressing on here for me!)
Moving Along With The Times which is Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday which is use any sketch (not sure if I can also enter the cards I made on 28th and 29th to this too or whether that is backlinking?  would be grateful if someone from Cute Card Thursday could let me know please).

I know it's a very plain and simple card for me but lets face it you've got to be in it to win it!  Have not done much shading or embellishments as I don't know the child that well and I think it might just end up in the bin so I couldn't bear to spend hours on it (you all know how it is I am sure!).

For the card I have used red, white and blue cardstock, Maya Road cog chipboard, silver embossing powder, bubblegum embossing powder (this is from the English Stamp company and is great for a little boy as it smells of bubblegum!), Stampendous Robot stamps, Heidi Swapp chipboard number and the promarkers used were Ice Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, Cool Grey 4 and Grey Green.

Thanks for looking :)

Still cardmaking!

Wasn't all the pomp and circumstance fabulous yesterday! Hope you all had a great time - we had a good day although we didn't watch all the wedding as it was going on (went to Ikea instead and am now sitting here waiting for my new craft room cupboards to be delivered sometime today - whoo hoo - I am going to be having a day sorting out new and old stash - can't wait!).

I have made yet another card and here she is:

My two best friends birthday's are in May so I thought I would get them done early - this one is quite similar to the other one I made (used the same papers!) but I don't see my friends together so I should be safe!  This is based again on sketch no. 5 at sketchandstashchallenge so I will enter it into their challenge - I don't usually enter 3 cards into the same challenge site in one week so this is a first for me!  but they have a choice of about 10 sketches to choose from this week so it's great to get your creative juices flowing so go and check them out if you have time (challenge closes on Monday). 

The new stash I have used is the butterfly and the Lili of the Valley stamps, the old stash I have used are all the flowers and the papers.

This card also fits in with my own challenge as follows:
Something old - the papers which I think are by DCWV
Something new - the Lili of the Valley stamps
Something borrowed - the lovely Magnolia stamp - thanks Jackie!
Something blue - the cardstock

Promarkers used were: duck egg, cyan, powder blue, sky blue, vanilla, mustard, ginger, baby pink, rose pink, pastel green, soft green, cool aqua, aegean, pastel beige, khaki, sunkissed pink, blush and saffron.

That's it for today then - off to take photos of my "old" craft room before the new cupboard arrives!  Have a great day everyone.  Oh and if you fancy joining in with my challenge the link is here challenge number 4 and this one runs until Tuesday so please join me if you can.

Thanks for looking :)

Card challenge

Have made a pact that Wednesday night is going to be craft night from now on.  With this is mind I had a look around at some other challenges and created this card last night:

The challenges I have taken part in are:  daringcardmakers whose challenge is Speaking Professionally - so I have used my new Magnolia travelling Tilda stamp to make a card for an Air Stewardess.  For the card I have again followed a sketch at sketchandstashchallenge this time sketch no. 5 so I will enter this into their challenge too.  I would also like to enter it into the delightfulsketches challenge which is distressing and the movingalongwiththetimes challenge which is Anything Goes.

Papers are Passport by Making Memories, Stamps are by Stampers Anonymous, Recollections and TPC Studio, Flowers and butterfly (sprayed with Jazz Blue Glimmer Mist) are Prima, Metal embellishment is an old Tim Holtz one, Bling, ribbon and hemp are just from my stash.  Promarkers used were: cool aqua, duck egg, pastel blue, blush, saffron, sunkissed pink, pastel yellow, baby pink, mustard, pastel pink, ginger, spice and gold.

Thanks for looking - am off to get ready as its soon school run and then coffee time at Starbucks this morning!  whoo hoo.

A peaceful day in

Children both went back to school today after the holidays and I have to admit I have missed them, the house has been very quiet! - I spent the morning catching up with housework and then settled down in front of the tv to catch up with some shows I have taped and made this:

it is based on a sketch (no. 42) over at sketchandstashchallenge so I would like to enter it into their challenge.  The new stash I have used is the butterfly and the Lili of the Valley stamps, the old stash I have used are all the flowers and the papers.

This card also fits in with my own challenge as follows:

Something old - the papers which I think are by DCWV
Something new - the Lili of the Valley stamps
Something borrowed - the lovely Magnolia stamp - thanks Morag!
Something blue - the cardstock

Promarkers used were: Powder blue, cyan, azure, aegean, sky blue, arctic blue, pastel beige, khaki, sandstone, caramel, cocoa, henna, baby pink, rose pink, sunkissed pink, blush and saffron.
Thanks for looking :)

Easter Weekend Layout

Had a lovely day on Saturday spent most of it scrapping this:

Yet another double layout in two days and 8 more photos scrapped too!  how happy am I :)

Layout is based on a pagemap - page 61 of Page Maps 2.  Papers used are a sheet of Basic Grey Basics and then the rest are from the new Echo Park Off the Record set along with the stickers and journal cards.  Have used some old Prima flowers, bling and some sizzix butterflies to finish it off.  Stamps used are my new Pink Paislee Daily Junque, Tims Mini Muse "The Journey" quote and the This Day in History stamp is by Glitz.  Also managed to use up a few pieces of metal on this one too.  Note that there is no distressing on this one either! unusual for me although I did crease up the journal card and This Day in History card a bit and used Brushed Corduroy and Old Paper distress inks.

Thanks for looking and I hope you had a great Easter too.

Challenge Number 4 second layout

As I am clearly in the mood to get some unfinished projects finished I took this (again been in the drawer for about 2 years!):

inspiring eh! and took a sketch some Nitwit papers I have had for a while and made this:

I know it won't win any prizes and there aren't really enough twiddly, hidden and dangly bits on it for me but it's another layout done and five more photos scrapped!  Notice how the photos are all very similar - does anyone else take loads of photos of the same thing and then just cannot choose between them?  I think this is what causes my difficulty in scrapping sometimes - there are too many photos of one thing for a layout or mini book - but just look at my little munchkins on these piccies- I have a typical Oliver dancing around being followed by Benjamin, two fabulous facial expressions from Oliver but not Benjamin, a great picture of Benjamin but Oliver looking down and then just a daft photo that completely sums up my boys - just how do you pick one?  I certainly can't and I know I could spend hours on Photoshop sorting out the faces to turn three photos into one but why bother I have better things to do like, erm, spending two years faffing on the said photos!

Anyway this layout (note its a double one too!) fits in with my current challenge like so:

Something old - The green tree (a tag set from Poundland years ago) and the Christmas Tree brad (been in my brad box for years too!)

Something new - Nitville houses - these weren't originally meant to be on this layout which is why they arent really the right size but I printed them out this week on the same sheet of paper as the scarecrows as I didn't want to waste any paper (I am sure I am not the only one that does this am I?) and then after cutting out a row of Tim sizzix houses suddenly remembered them so used them instead (they are by Nitwit Collections)
Santa & Sleigh/Reindeer - Not actually a new purchase but the first time they have been used (again they are by Nitwit Collections)
Ginger Fella - again not new but first time used! (again Nitwit Collections)
December embossing folder - bought this at Christmas but am not sure if I have used it or not?
Bauble Decoration stamp - again not new but unused!

Something Borrowed - the alphabet (think it's from the crop but I am pretty sure it isn't mine)
Santa is Coming to Town stamp - thanks Jackie!

Something Blue - ink and cardstock.

Layout is based on a pagemap - page 24 pagemaps 2.  Think I am finally getting to grips with sketches now!
Just need to look up what year these photos were taken now, I am guessing 2006 due to Benjamin's curly hair!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 4 layout

Ok here is the finished scarecrow layout!  wont know what to take to push around the table at the crop now!

Scarecrows, pumpkins, leaves and grass are all from a digi kit and hand cut out.  Background is Basic Grey and has been sewn onto the brown card (this was what I did about 2 years ago and then left it in a drawer and forgot about it!).  Will enter this into my own challenge as:

Something old - the layout itself and the digi images
Something new - the Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamps (how fab are they!) and the Tim reflections stamp
Something borrowed - the Car embossing folder from Bernice (although I have to confess that these are so fabulous that I have a bought a set myself and they arrived Tuesday and are still in the packaging - lets hope I get a chance to play again later today!)
Something blue - that was going to the be butterfly which is coloured with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky distress inks but then I decided to carry on and add the stamped images (car, live the life quote and the two tickets) so I coloured those in the same inks too.

I also went round to Morags yesterday morning so we could stocktake our workshop stuff and I came home with some papers for my next class (which will be at our June crop) and, lo and behold, I actually did the layout yesterday afternoon!  whoo hoo for me!  will post that at a later time though - dont want to overdo the old blogger do I!!!

Thanks for looking :) and please join in with the challenge if you can - runs until 3rd May.

WOYWW

Where on earth has April gone?  I am only taking part in WOYWW once a month at the moment and it struck me last night (when I took this photo) that this is the only day I can play as I am on a school trip next week.  Anyway hope you are all well and I am hoping to look round quite a few desks later today or tomorrow even though the children are off school.

Here is my craft table which I was working on yesterday and probably still will a bit this afternoon so that I can craft and catch up with the tv programmes I taped last week whilst we were away in sunny Bournemouth:

The layout on it has been ongoing for about 2 years - seriously I am not joking here - it really doesnt do much for me but I am still battling on and getting on with old photos that might not look good aesthetically but really tell an important story about my children growing up.  I am also going to turn that butterfly blue and use this layout in my challenge below - as I noticed I have already used something old, something new and something borrowed on it!  I am also sure I will get more layouts done to suit this challenge as my mojo is back with a vengeance at the moment.

Thanks for looking in and I hope to pop by your desk shortly too.  If you are reading this not via Julias then pop on over and join in the fun too!

Challenge Number 4

My challenge this week is really quite simple (for me anyway!) - as the wedding fever is starting to take over in a big way my challenge is simply to produce a card, a tag or a layout (or all three if you can!) using:

Something Old
Something New
Something Borrowed and
Something Blue.

Have fun! and dont forget to put your link here so I can come and have a look:

A new tag

Had a little play a couple of weeks ago with my new Tim Sizzix die but have not got around to blogging it so here it is:

For the background I used the following distress inks:  Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Aged Mahogany and Walnut Stain - again these colours were chosen by just picking out 5 colours randomly from my bag of handles and wouldn't normally have chosen to put together.

The diecut mannequin was inked with some of the same inks and stamped with a Ticket stamp then mounted onto the tag with a rolled up piece of paper under it so it's 3d.  The stamped mannequin on the tag is one of Bernice's so I don't know what make it is.  The buttons and cotton reel are from the same sizzix die as the mannequin and then I have finished them and the tag off with some Vintage True Hemp.  The quote is from my Creative Expressions set of sewing stamps. 

Thanks for looking :)

And here is my third layout for my Challenge Number 3!

The 24 items used were:

1 - 7. Chipboard Circles
8. Shaped Cardstock - Creative Imaginations Narratives - Memories Ledger
9 - 12. Photos
13 - 15. Alphabet twill ribbon
16. Metal owl
17. Bundled Sage distress ink
18 & 19. Alphabet stamp
20. Metal clock (from a Primark necklace)
21. Metal heart (from a Primark necklace)
22. Basic Grey Chipboard mini monos alphabet
23. Black base cardstock
24. Black Mitsubishi uniball pen (the best pen I have ever owned!)

The 7 part of the challenge is the 7 letter title "Playful", and, of course, all of the chipboard circles cater for the 365 part of the challenge.

I found this layout a little bit more restrictive than the others as normally I would ink the letters with black soot around the edges rather than draw on them with the black pen and also the metal embelllishments would have had ribbon or string on them allowing them to hang freely on the circles rather than been glued on.  Also I would have preferred to have stamped images on the circles with the metal on and have used a different method to write the labels on the photos.  However I am still pleased with the result and thats another 4 photos off the pile and my third layout this week!  Its also a bit out of my comfort zone too as the photographs are all taken at different times - usually I like to have a layout with photos all taken on the same day but I have gone past the idea of putting these small pictures into a school book - thats something for another day I think!  Again I based the layout on a sketch - page 27 Page Maps 2.

Thanks for looking and if you would like to join in the with the challenge the post is here: http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-number-3.html - Go on don't be shy!

Thanks for looking :)

And here is another challenge number 3 layout!

Bernice/Jackie I have no idea why you think this challenge is too difficult - this is my second layout in as many days and, after I have posted this, I think I might just go and make a third - it has really got my creative juices flowing!

This is my little boy at his Sports Day in 2003 - so another set of four old photos scrapped!  Whoo Hoo.

So for the challenge, the 24 items used are:

1. Score card paper - Crate Paper - School Spirit Collection - Chalkboard
2. Red/Grade card paper - Crate Paper - School Spirit Collection - Gradecard
3. Hexagon paper - Crate Paper - School Spirit Collection - Chemistry
4. Photo
5. Photo
6. Photo
7. Photo
8. Vintage Photo distress ink
9. Mustard Seed distress ink
10. Aged Mahogany distress ink
11. Heidi Swapp chipboard letters (used these as a mask for the title)
12. Brown Zig writer pen
13. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
14. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
15. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
16. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
17. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
18. Chipboard star - Rusty Pickle
19. Chipboard circle - Rusty Pickle
20. White pen - Inkssentials
21. String
22. Staple
23. Staple
24. Staple

For the 7 part of the challenge I have used a 7 letter title "RUNNING" and also there are 7 stars on the layout.
 
For the 365 part of the challenge I used the chipboard circle/star to put the date in.  I also based the layout on the sketch on page 68 Page Maps 2.
 
Thanks for looking and if you would like to join in the with the challenge the post is here: http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-number-3.html  - Go on  don't be shy!
 
Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 3 layout

Finally got my challenge layout done! Phew!

These pictures were taken in 2003 and have been sitting in the pile to be scrapped since then!  What a relief to finally have them done.

This layout is done to my number 3 challenge 24/7/365 - so the 24 items used are:
1. White cardstock
2. Travel paper - Autumn Leaves - Zoom Zoom Zoom
3. Stripe paper - Autumn Leaves - Paper Charming
4. Photo
5. Photo
6. Photo
7. Naturally Serif Alphabet (Sizzix)
8. Blue cardstock
9. Indigo Pigment Ink
10. Tattered Traveller Date Stamp - Tattered Angels
11. Tattered Traveller Clock Stamp - Tattered Angels
12. Long clock stamp - Recollections
13. Time keeping stamp - Recollections
14. Stormy Sky distress ink
15. Kate Hadfield Monkey
16. Kate Hadfield Monkey
17. Long spinner
18. Short spinner
19. Brad
20. Glossy Accents
21. Green rick rack
22. My Wildlife Chipboard - butterfly - Colorbok
23. My Wildlife Chipboard - panda - Colorbok
24. My Wildlife Chipboard - lion - Colorbok

7 - The seven word title "Waiting to go to the Safari Park"

365 - the clock and date circles (although the date one is actually quite wonky - that was the stamp and not me - honest!)

It was actually quite an easy challenge until I got to the last four items which ended up being the rick rack and chipboard.  Might go and do another one now!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 3

Ok here is my third challenge - bit of a tricky one this! (have changed the button as this was what I was always going to call my challenge but I made it on my main PC and whenever I have gone to post my challenge the PC has been in use so I have had to upload the other picture from my laptop - but now its all on my laptop so I can use it whenever!).

When I walk to school I always walk past a parked service van which has 24/7/365 days a week written on the side - this got me to thinking about this challenge.  What you need to do is:

24 - You must use 24 items on your tag/card and/or layout - this includes the base cardstock, any colours used, if you use 5 staples this is classed as 5 items, however if you use a stamp and have already classed the ink colour used as an item then you only class the stamp as a new item

7 - there must be a link to 7 of something on your creation - for example you might use a specific colour of the rainbow, a 7 letter word title, or a 7 word title - be as creative as you like here but there must be a connection to number 7

365 - this is the easy part - use a circle somewhere on your creation.

Phew - told you it was a toughy!  Unfortunately although I planned this challenge about 3 weeks ago I havent had time to prepare any examples for you - due to drama plays, birthdays and just generally having a busy life!  I hope to catch up and post something soon for you though.

Please join in with me if you can and post a link here so I can come and look at your creation:

Mothers Day Cards

I spent Saturday catching up with three Mothers Day cards (one each for my Mom, my Nan and my Mother In Law) - they are all fairly quick and simple for me but as I based them all on sketches I have decided to enter them into the sketch challenges:

Here is the first card that I made two of - one for Mom and one for my Mother In Law:

this is based on the sketch at http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge.  I used a kraft card base (a fabulous find in a Paper shop on holiday), My Minds Eye papers, a Martha Stewart edging punch, Tim's birdie and rosette dies and the birdcage is a new die that I bought at Hobbycrafts at the NEC - cant remember the make but will post back if I do.

The second, well third really!, card was for my Nan who I have always sent a Mothers Day card and small gift to:

Have based this one on the sketch at http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge.  Have used the last of our fabulous paper kit made up of Prima papers alphabet and stickers (well almost the last think I might be able to squeeze out one more card using the last few remnants of the butterfly papers!) and a Prima butterfly.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos but Saturday was quite a busy day as I had to go shopping, take little one to a birthday party and prepare for having everyone around for lunch on Sunday as well as make these cards! why do you always lose your mojo when you have to make cards for a specific occasion???

Thanks for looking :)

Proud Mommy!

My little narrator took to the boards on Wednesday and Thursday night with his schools performance of Romeo and Juliet - all of the cast were fabulous and the show was a big hit.

Here he is on the stage just before for the final performance - who knows maybe this is start of a new career!