Penny Black Saturday Challenge 34

Wow look at this ... day one of the new Penny Black challenge and I've made my card!! This week's challenge is to make a "Circle Card"

I first cut out a large circular card from white cardstock which I edged with pink ink, I then cut a smaller circle from patterned parchment, then a smaller scalloped circle from co-ordinating pink patterned paper (both from this month's Making Cards Magazine) and finally the white circle which I edged with green in then stamped the Penny Black image. The balloons and gift are coloured using Sakura pens and H2o's then decoupaged onto the main image. I finished off the card with sparkling flowers and a pink organza bow.

I have at last found out how to change the background of my blog, with a lot of help from my lovely daughter in law .... thanks Deb! Trouble is, I'm not sure that I like it, I may have to change it again whilst I can still remember how to!! What do you think of it?

A colleague of Rob (my OH) is retiring next month and he asked me to make a card. She is mad about otters so this is what I came up with, the image and backing papers are from the Jayne Netley Mayhew collection.

Ooops missed one of the awards off, here it is ..

I have been tagged by Sarah The rules are:- Go to "Pictures" on your PC, select the 6th album and the 6th picture, upload it to your blog and explain what its about, then select 6 people to do the same .... here goes ... The picture was taken last year when we went to Niagara Falls.

I have also received two awards from Sarah and will pass the awards and the tag onto
Christine Tracie Frances Debbie Kerry Sally

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 33

This week's challenge is called "Frame it" and this week I've made two. I made the first one, the cat with the balloons then I wasn't quite sure about it and so I made card number two, the little hedgehogs, I think they are just so cute.

Graphicus Monthly Challenge

Graphicus have started running a monthly challenge, it's a two pronged challenge where there's a theme and a colour scheme, you can either combine the two or make two entries if you prefer (check out the Graphicus Blog, Glenda explains it much better than I). January's theme is Celebrate and the colour scheme is Plum and Gold.

For my entry I have stamped the background in gold and then plum using the border stamp from the new Elusive Images Harlequin Rose set, the other side of the background is very lightly sponged in gold and Versafine crimson red. The oval I made using a mixture of Wild Plum, Cranberry and Egg Plant alcohol inks which I then sprayed with Gold Glimmer mist, whilst it was still wet I pressed some bubble wrap onto the bottom half but left the top half to dry as it was. I then stamped and embossed with gold onto acetate one of the fairy images again from an Elusive Images set. The wings I sprinkled with glitter, I then stamped just the wings onto fantasy film with Stazon, cut them out and attached them to the acetate image to give some movement. When dry the fairy was attached to the oval mount with sticky fixers and silicone glue and the oval mount was attached to the base card with sticky fixers. When I took the photograph of the card the sun was shining so the oval mount has shown up as more pink than plum!

And now here is the sunset

Beautiful isn't it?

Sunrise and Sunsets

It looks as though we are in for a fantastic sunset tonight (make a change from all the rain of the last few evenings). This morning began with heavy rain and blustery winds, I delayed taking Bonnie for her walk until about 8.30am when it looked as though it was easing off somewhat. By the time I had struggled into my wet weather gear (looking like a cross between Nanook of the North and Mr Blobby!!)and driven down to the beach it was 8.50am and the rain had stopped although the skies were very ominous looking. We had a quick walk as I was certain the heavens were about to open again and I didn't relish the thought of getting soaking wet. Anyway by late morning the sun was out and we have had a glorious day, hence the lovely sunset. I took some photos down on the beach a couple of mornings ago when again we had quite dramatic skies, here are a couple of them.

I've received an award

I've received this lovely award from Frances (CMof3), thank you Frances. Now I have to list 5 things that I am addicted to then choose 5 people to forward the award to, so here goes .... Five things I am addicted to in no particular order:-

1. Crafting
2. Blog challenges
3. My family and Bonnie my little dog
4. Shopping for crafting goodies
5. Mahjong (played on the computer)

Now I have a problem, I've lost the instructions on how to link each name with their blog (if anyone can enlighten me I would be very grateful) so all I can do is list the names .... sorry people

Caro
Card Crafty Julie
Angelswings2
Sally Bentham
Tracie

Sketch and Stash Challenge 2

This is a new challenge blog where the challenges are set fortnightly. Somehow I managed to miss the first challenge deadline (how can you miss it when you have two weeks to complete a project?!), so I'm determined to enter this second one. The challenge is to use a combination of your new, unused or forgoten items together with some of your older stash.

Here's my card. The new items are the Rachelle Anne Miller stamp from The Glitter Pot (great offers on at the moment 25% and 50% off some items), and the Joanna Sheen gingham backing paper, the varigated paper which I have cut into strips and put through my cuttlebug is some that I had forgotten I had and the ribbon and fibre threads are also old stash.

Cuttlebug Challenge 14

This week's Cuttebug Challenge is called the Valentine Colour Challenge, you have to make a Valentine card with NO pink or red on it ... that sent the little grey cells churning and this is what I've come up with. I've gone for a very classic gold and cream colour scheme (no pink or red in sight). I've stamped the large border from the new Harlequin Rose stamp set by Elusive Images in gold on the left hand side, the large panel is the cuttlebug scrolls embossing folder which I brayered in gold then matted onto mirri gold card. The hearts are also elusive images designs which I embossed using gold embossing powder, they are fixed to the gold mirri card square using sticky fixers, I then finished the card off with sheer ribbon which has a slight gold sheen to it

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 32

The Penny Black challenge this week is "Lets Get Dotty" so I've made this fun card for a dear friend of ours who is in hospital at the moment receiving treatment for cancer, hopefully it will cheer him up a little. The green background is made using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder which I then sanded to make the dots look white, the bottom half is just a small peice of card I had in my scrap box. The stamp is Penny Black Toadily Yours and the little flowers I crocheted.

The Cuttlebug Spot Challenge 13

This week's challenge is called "Heart to Heart" and you have to have hearts on your card so I've gone for hearts of different sizes and shapes. The background paper is from Anita's Classis Christmas Red papers, I then cut out a large heart shape and embossed with the Cuttlebug Swirls folder, the red and white panels are nestabilities and the Newton Bear stamp came free with this months Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine. I punched out different hears, embossed the small red one with gold ink and the large gold one with a sentiment in red ink, it's finished off with some sparkling cord.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 31

This weeks Penny Black Saturday challenge is Pink and Brown, a combination I love so here's my effort. I cut the aperture and the "cushion" that the little hedgehog is decoupaged onto using my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug, the background papers are Making memories Cosmopolitan Collection, the bottom strip is embossed using a cuttlebug folder and the flowers are Hot of the Press and Lakeland.

What a start to 2009

What a start to 2009! Last Saturday himself (Rob) decided to fix the tap in our en-suite (not that I was aware it needed fixing!)... he gashed his hand! He then decided to look at the shower that wasn't performing properly, I suggested calling a Plumber but he was convinced it was a simple job that he could undertake himself. To cut a long story short the shower was rendered completely useless with water gushing everywhere!! A Plumber had to be called to cap off the water from the now useless shower, a new shower had to be ordered and the Plumber called back to fit it a few days later, then to cap it all off he put his back out so he is now off work and in agony!! ..... MEN!!

Anyway on to more interesting topics, crafting. I had the Jayne Netley Mayhew collection CD for Christmas, there are some wonderful images on there, here are a couple of photos of my first cards of 2009 made using this CD, what do you think?

I had a wonderful surprise on Tuesday when I went round to my friend Sue's for our weekly crafting session, she had just had her Beautiful Cards Magazine delivered and three of my cards were featured in the readers gallery, they are all made using the beautiful Ophilia stamp from Graphicus, it is one of my favourite stamps.