Don't take anything for granted

Well, that was certainly a summer to forget! You may have noticed my absence from Blogland for quite a few weeks, I've hated being away, however it was not by choice.I'm not one to air her sob stories in public, but I feel an explanation is due.I actually spent the best part of the summer in hospital after suffering a stroke in July - stroke is something I associate with the elderly and although I don't feel  exactly like a spring chicken, at 46 I never dreamt that this was a medical condition that would effect me, how wrong was I!!
I also underwent brain surgery(I'm not one to do things by half!)I'm going to get on my soap box now - I feel that our NHS service is very unfairly treated by the media, after spending time in Kings College in London and then in my local hospital in Maidstone I'd like to say that although I can't pretend that it was enjoyable I  would like to say that it opened my eyes.  I was so well looked after that I was sad to be discharged in August. The nursing staff were fantastic , certainly over-worked, they didn;t stop all day and received a lot of abuse by some patients I'm sorry to say.
My occupational and physio therapists were outstanding and I would like to have had them all come and live with me!when I went home, lol!
Anyway, after much hard work by them and myself, I am on the road to recovery and can now walk with a stick. Unfortunately, although I have movement back in my left arm, my fingers are proving to be more reluctant to improve and so I am unable to make cards at the moment - I have had a go, but wouldn't dream of posting them on my Blog until I can 'tweak' them.
I have learned many things on this unexpected journey, the main one being not to take anything for granted, especially our health, don't get me wrong - I would not like to know what is around the corner that would not be a good thing, but I do think we need to take time out occasionally to appreciate what we have -  I never realised how much I rely on my hands, not just for leisure, but in the simplest of day to day tasks
Ok that's enough doom and gloom, I just wanted to post a quick explanation of my whereabouts recently (hopefully some of you will have missed me!)
As I said , I won't be posting any cards for a while and will not be able to fulfill any DT duties :(  I will, however, be keeping an eye on all the challenges and visiting your Blogs to see your creations!
Just one more thing, then I promise to zip it!
I would like to say a huge thank you to all the dt members that sent me cards and get well wishes - they were a real boost and were all exquisite - thank youxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It’s still Christmas at Lacy Sunshine!

This is my second DT card for the challenge at Lacy Sunshine where the theme is ‘Anything Goes’ (using a hand coloured image). If you use a Lacy Sunshine image you will be eligible for the draw and the random winner will receive a fab $30 voucher to spend at Lacy Sunshine Stamps. The Top 3 (using any image) will also get to choose 2 of Heather’s lovely digis. There is also always a freebie available for each challenge if you’d like to use one in the challenge, just pop over to the challenge blog.

The DT have been given some more fantastic Christmas images to play with, seeing as my last card was non-contemporary colours, I’ve gone for the more traditional look with this one.

Image - ‘Bubbles Jolly Elf’ – Lacy Sunshine Stamps coloured with Promarkers
Glitter card & patterned paper - ‘Fizzy Moon Traditional Christmas Decoupage & Paper Pad’ - Trimcraft
Embellishments from stash
Hunkydory’s Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ glitter
Dies used: Memory Box ‘Frostyville Border’ & Marianne Designs ‘Snowflake1’

Challenges:
’Let’s Get Girly’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Anything Goes’ – Papertake Weekly

’It’s All About Santa’ – Christmas Cards All Year Round

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Take A break

Good morning everyone, I thought I'd sneek this card in as I have no DT card today. It's one I made for my sister-in-law's Birthday, it's got my favourite combination on it - a good book, chocolate and wine, yum!

Image - 'Deserve A Treat' - Crafter's Companion coloured with Promarkers

Card (Coredinations), paper & ribbon - J & C Creations

Gems - 'Back to Basics IV' - Dovecraft

Dies used: Memory Box 'Precious Stars'

Challenges:

'Dies & Die Cuts' - Crafter's Companion

'Let's Get Girly' - Whoopsi Daisy

'Anything Goes' - Papertake Weekly

'Cute' - Divas By Design

'Stars &/or Stripes' - Cute Card Thursday

'Seeing Stars' - Little Miss Mufffet

Thanks for looking!

Natx

CAS Butterfly

It’s Tuesday and I’m back to share another card with you made from products from the J & C Creations shop. This rather gorgeous Penny Black stamp is so pretty that I decided piling on the embellishments (as I’m wont to do!) would be unnecessary, the focus should be be the butterfly, don’t you agree? So I’ve left my card Clean & Simple and let the image do the talking! If you pop over to the shop there is a fantastic 25% off this stamp at the moment along with lots more bargains to be had.

Products from J & C Creations
Penny Black Slapstick/cling stamp - ‘Soft Wings’
Tim Holtz distress ink pad - ‘Victorian Velvet’
Ribbon
Pearls
Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder - ‘True White’
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘Ovals’ & ‘Floral Ovals’

Challenges:
'Not Cute' - Sweet Stampin

Natx

Green Fingers

So, we are now half way through the year, when did that happen?! At least we are having some nice weather at last in my little corner of the UK, not sure how long it will last, I have given up watching the forecast, it’s more accurate to have a  guess! I’d just like to apologise for not getting around to everyone’s blogs recently, I know I keep saying it, but there really are not enough hours in the day and add that to an internet connection that is so slow some days I could cry! I did do a catch up last night, so hopefully I’m not in anyone’s bad books!

On to my DT card for July’s challenge at A Little Bit Crafty where this month the theme is ‘Die-ing For It’. What a fab theme, I’m sure you can all incorporate a die cut or 2 into your cards and there are some fantastic prizes as usual, Paula really does work hard to get such brilliant sponsors.

Saturated Canary are offering 3 digis of the winner's choice

Smeared Ink are offering a £15 voucher

Cheery Lynn are offering a $20 voucher

So, fantastic prizes, get yourselves over to the ALBC blog for some lovely inspiration from the DT.

The lucky DT had the choice of any Saturated Canary digi to work with this month, oh my, what a hard decision! I ended up with Maxine, she’s a bit different from a lot of Krista’s gorgeous images, but I love her ‘big’ hair and thought the gardening theme would make a perfect card to sell in our garden centre.

Image - ‘Maxine The Florist’ – Saturated Canary coloured with Promarkers
Kraft card – Craftwork Cards
Papers - ‘Garden Party’ – Dovecraft
Pearls – J & C Creations
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 25’, Cheery Lynn ‘Fanciful Flourish’ & Heartfelt Creations ‘Daisy Patch Bouquet'

Challenges:
’Summer Fruits’ – Saturated Canary (no actual fruit, but the colours make me think of strawberries and kiwis - hope that counts?!)
‘Anything Goes’ – Inky Chicks
‘Pretty Pearls’ – Divas By Design
’Not Cute’ – Sweet Stampin
’Flowers’ – That Craft Place
'Let's Get Girly' - Whoopsi Daisy
'Make Your Own Flowers/Embellishments' - Dream Valley
'Flowers' - C Is For Challenge

Thanks for looking!
Natx

I’m A Sunshine Girl!!!!

Ok, here is my second post today. I don’t know about you, but the majority of my emails are bills, advertising or spam (if I have any more emails about PPI, I think I’ll go mad!). So you can imagine my surprise and delight, when I received one entitled ‘DT invite’. The email was from the fantastically talented Heather Valentin of Lacy Sunshine Stamps asking me if I would consider joining her Design Team. Well, of course I had to think long and hard about it – NOT! I’ve been a fan of Heather’s gorgeous digi images for a while and there was no way I would give up the chance to join her DT! There was a small nagging voice inside my head warning me about over-committing myself, but I figured the only thing that might suffer would be the housework, so, hey-ho, lol!

So, it’s official, I’m a ‘Sunshine Girl’ and my first DT card is for this fortnight’s challenge at the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog where the theme is ALWAYS ‘Anything Goes’ – what could be easier?  Only entries using a Lacy Sunshine image will be eligible for the random prize which is $30 worth of digis to spend in the Lacy Sunshine Store, although other entries will qualify for the Top Three prizes of their choice of 2 digis.

I was sent the cutest ever little fairy from Heather’s Sticky Wings range– meet Coco, she’s just adorable. I intended to go with traditional Christmas colours for my card, but ended up with non-contemporary purple and turquoise!

Image – Lacy Sunshine Stamps coloured with Promarkers
Card – Coredinations – J & C Creations
Papers – free with a magazine
Gems - ‘Back To Basics IV' - Dovecraft
Snow made with an ‘Ice White’ Viva pearl pen
Dies used: Memory Box - ‘Frostyville Border’ & ‘Precious Stars. Marianne Designs - ‘Christmas Tree’ & ‘Snowflake 1’
Cuttlebug embossing folder

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Inky Chicks
’Anything Goes’ – Pollycraft
'Cute & Cuddly' - non traditional colours - Christmas at Sweet Stampin

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Don’t Be Square!

It’s a busy Sunday for me today, with 2 new challenges starting today and then I have 3 card requests including one that needs to cover several themes – bell ringing, real ale, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and/or Priscilla Queen of the Desert, anti-aircraft gun forts/platforms and lots of pink!!! Yes, well I’ll let you know how that goes, lol.

My first DT card today is for the challenge at Joanna Sheen where we would like to see your shaped cards – NO SQUARES ALLOWED! This is one of my least favourite themes, let’s face it, square is easy, but the idea is to challenge you! I was sent the beautiful Shirley Barber CD and project book. As with the last CD sent from Joanna Sheen, I couldn’t make up my mind which image to use and printed several off before settling on this rather striking one of kingfishers, not my usual style, but very, very pretty. My shape is a rocker card – I love the movement you get with them.

As usual there is a fantastic £15 voucher up for grabs to spend in the Joanna Sheen online shop.

Image & papers – Shirley Barber CD – Joanna Sheen
Gems – Anitas
Ribbon – J & C Creations
Hunkydory Angel Whispers ‘Diamond Sparkles’ glitter
Flower punches - Hobbycraft
Die used: SB ‘Decorative Labels 8’

Challenges:
’Shaped Cards – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Fly Like A Bird’ – Cute Card Thursday
’Flowers’ – That Craft Place

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Easy As 1,2,3 at LLF

We have another fantastic challenge for you today at Lili’s Little Fairies - ‘Easy As 1,2,3’. We want to see 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments (3 in total or 3 types) on your projects. We are being sponsored by Dreamees who are giving away a fab £10 voucher to the winner.

When I joined the LLF team, I thought it would be easy to make a card each fortnight using a LOTV image, but I like all their images so much, it takes me ages each time to decide which one to use, lol! This image was actually part of a set of stamped images free in one of the craft magazines ages ago which I had forgotten I had! I put some glossy accents on the balloon, but the picture doesn’t show it off very well. I have restrained myself from buying any more dies for a while, so the clouds were made using a wooden embellishment as a template! I won the pearls recently – they are so pretty, they are glassy like gems, but smooth and round like pearls.

Image - ‘Balloon Bunny’ – LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Papers ('Perfect Pair') & sentiment – LOTV
Card – Coredinations
Ribbon and pearls from stash
Dies used: SB ‘Circles’ & ‘Scalloped Circles’ & Memory Box ‘Faux Crochet Border’

Challenges:
’Use A Sentiment’ – LOTV Ideas To Inspire 
‘Cute And Cuddly’ – Sweet Stampin
’3,2,1’ – Come & Get It
’3D’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Anything Goes’ – Inky Chicks
’Pretty Pearls’ – Divas By Design
'Fly Like A Bird' - Cute Card Thursday

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Kiss That Frog!

This is my second post today and I have my DT card for Passion For Promarkers to show you. This week the theme is ‘Name That Tune’ and we are being sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps who are giving the winner their choice of 7 fab digis.

When I first saw the theme I had a bit of a wobble, but when I sat down and started to think of song titles, suddenly I had loads of ideas! I picked ‘Kiss That Frog’ by Peter Gabriel as I wanted to make a card for my husband’s birthday using a Pollycraft image and I thought he’d appreciate the sentiment! So pop over to the PFP blog and get some inspiration from the fab DT and get crafting – don’t forget to tell us in your post which song has inspired you!

Image from Pollycraft coloured with Promarkers
Papers - ‘Back To Basics II’ – Dovecraft
Kraft card, card candi (coloured to match with Promarkers) and twine from stash
Crown charm – part of a prize from Here Come The Boys
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 25’ & ‘A2 Scalloped Borders One’

Challenges:
’Father’s Day/Male Theme’ – Dream Valley
’Let’s Go Dotty’ – Here Come The Boys
’3,2,1’ – Come & Get It 
‘Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Anything Goes’- Pollycraft
’Anything Goes’ – Stampin For The Weekend
'Anything Goes' - The Hobby House
'3D' - Whoopsi Daisy
'Colour Inspiration' - Love To Create

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Pretty in Purple

Hi everyone, wow, Tuesday’s come round so fast! This is the first of 2 posts today and my second post for the J & C Creations Blog. I have a card to share which – apart from the card blank – is made entirely of products from the J & C Creations shop. This is ‘Dawn’ by Nellie Snellen, isn’t she sweet!? Not all the products are on the website, but if you give the girls a ring, they will be able to help you. If, however you are lucky like me to live close by, why not pop into the warehouse and have a nose?

All from J & C Creations shop

Image - ‘Dawn 02’ – Nellie Snellen coloured with Promarkers
Card – Coredinations
Pearls paper & ribbon
Dies used: SB ‘Leafy Squares’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
'Anything Goes' - The Hobby House

Thanks for looking
Natx

Whatever!

I have no DT card today, so I thought I’d share a card that I made for my teenage niece last week. I absolutely adore Heather Valentin’s fabulous digis available at Lacy Sunshine Stamps and when I saw this one I knew it would be perfect for my niece who has attitude with a capital A, lol!

Image - ‘Bugz Graffitti’ – Lacy Sunshine Stamps coloured with Promarkers
Blue card started off white and was colour matched with Promarkers as I didn’t have any blue card!
Papers were free with a magazine
Twine & brads from stash
Gems - ‘Tea Party’ – Dovecraft

Dies used: SB 'Labels 25'

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Anything Goes’ – Pollycraft
'Teen Cards' - The Crazy Challenge
'Anything Goes' - The Hobby House

Thanks for looking
Natx

Bildmalarna Bargain

Morning everyone! 

I had some sad news recently - the J & C Creations challenge has closed. It's not all bad news for me though as I will continue to make cards for the warehouse and have been asked to post them on the J & C Creations Blog once a week. So, today I would like to share a card I made recently using a Bildmalarna stamp. These stamps are so sweet and are a dream to colour. J & C have absolutely loads to choose from and at half price you can afford to bag a bargain (or 2, or 3, lol!) I have used one of my favourite Spellbinder dies to make a gatefold card with a difference using a fab tutorial from Beccy's Place which I used a while ago and just absolutely love!

Products from J & C Creations
’Bildmalarna ‘Sitting Mimosa’ stamp coloured with Promarkers
Double-sided paper
Pearls

Other products
Chalks (around image)
Ribbon - Joanna Sheen
Dies used: SB 'Labels 25' & 'Tags'

Challenges:
'Shaped Cards' - Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
'Happy Birthday' - Divas By Design
'Cute' - Stampin For The Weekend 

Thanks for looking
Natx

Under The Weather

Morning everyone, I’d like to say hello to my new followers and to say thank you to everyone that takes the time to drop by and comment on my posts – it means a lot!

Today’s card is my DT card for Lili's Little Fairies where the theme this week is ‘Get Well Soon’. We don’t have a sponsor prize this week, but something even better – a 2 week stint as a GDT!! Why not pop over to the Lili's Little Fairies blog for some inspiration from the other DT members and get crafting!

Believe it or not, I do not own any of the LOTV images specifically for ‘Get Well Soon’, so I had a rummage and came up with one of the stamps that I won from LOTV a little while ago. The papers were also a candy win from the lovely Di of Di’s Digi Designs and they are absolutely gorgeous. I had a little splurge (well, little and often is apparently healthy!!!) and bought some Memory Box dies last week. I actually ordered the ‘Precious Stars’, but was sent the ‘Precious Hearts’ by mistake, of course it was a lot easier to keep them and re-order the stars than to send them back, lol!

Image - ‘Summer Lovely Lilis’ – LOTV coloured with promarkers
Papers & pearls - ‘Tea House’ – Dovecraft
Brad, ribbon & flowers from stash
Dies used: SB ‘Floral Ovals’ & ‘Tags’, Memory Box ‘Precious Hearts’ & Cheery Lynn ‘Fanciful Flourish’

Challenges:
’Bright & Breezy’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’In The Garden’ – Allsorts

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Believe

It’s time for a new challenge at Passion For Promarkers and this week the theme is ‘Inspired By A Fairytale’. We are being sponsored by Bearly Mine and the challenge winner will receive a fantastic £10 voucher to spend in the online store.

I have to admit, I panicked a bit when I saw the theme for this challenge as I do not own any images that I thought would fit the bill, so I set off on a search for something suitable. I discovered several fabulous images at Mo’s Digital Pencil, but couldn’t make up my mind! In the end I decided against the obvious more girly characters and chose this image that is called ‘They Grow So Fast’ who has to be based on Jack from Jack & The Beanstalk. I went for CAS, not quite sure if I pulled it off, the papers are a bit busy!

The cute charm with the snail on was part of a fantastic bag full of charms which I won at Here Come The Boys.

Image - ‘They Grow So Fast’ – Mo’s Digital Pencil coloured with Promarkers
Double-sided paper, green card (Coredinations) & ribbon - J & C Creations
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 2’

Challenges:
’Children Of All Ages’ – Mo's Digital Challenge
’In The Garden’ – Allsorts
’Use Ribbon’ – Here Come The Boys
’June Bug’ – Cupcake Craft
'Metal' - Creative Card Crew

Thanks for looking
Natx

Wellington Take 2!

Ok, here’s my second post of the evening featuring Wellington again. The orange seemed a good choice when I started the card, now I’m not so sure! I recently reset my camera (my son got fed up with me keep on asking to borrow his phone to take pictures!). The photos do seem to be coming out clearer and truer in colour to the real thing. The only trouble is that the best ones seem to be the ones taken on my carpet in front of my lounge patio door (so much for my photo tent and tripod!) This means that I can only take them ‘flat’, so you can’t see the layers of decoupage, but as I said, the colour’s much better, so I suppose it’s a case of give and take!

Image – decoupage & papers – Docrafts 

Orange card – Coredinations – J & C Creations
Button brads from stash
Ribbon & brass leaf charm – Joanna Sheen

Challenges:
’Who’s The Daddy’ – Ready-Teddy-Go
’Anything Goes + Texture’ – Tammys Scrapin Corner
’Father’s Day’ – Love To Create
’Father’s Day’ – Anything Goes
’Anything Goes’ – Papertake Weekly
’In The Garden’ – Allsorts
’Use Ribbon’ – Here Come The Boys

Thanks for looking!

Natx

Wellington

Oh my goodness, I haven’t posted for a week, that hasn’t happened in months and is very naughty of me! On the up side, however, time not spent blogging has been spent making cards, so it’s not all bad.

 To make up for my absence I’m posting twice tonight. Both my cards feature Wellington Bear from Docrafts. I wasn’t too sure about him when I first saw him, his feet are so big, lol, but he has grown on me a lot, so I had a splurge on some decoupage. Unfortunately I realised that my bargain buy of 18 decoupage designs was cheap because it wasn’t die-cut! I almost took it back to change it for the more expensive die-cut set, but remembered that once upon a time I had moaned about die-cut decoupage making us crafters so lazy! I don’t like to be hypocritical, so I sat down one evening in front of the tv armed with my scissors and cut out all 18 designs. Surprisingly I really enjoyed it, it’s so therapeutic!

Image – decoupage (NOT DIE-CUT!) & matching papers – Docrafts
Red card – Coredinations – J & C Creations
Twine – The Ribbon Girl
Large card candi from stash coloured with a promarker to match, small candi made using a hole punch

Challenges:
’Who’s The Daddy’ – Ready-Teddy-Go
’Anything Goes + Texture’ – Tammys Scrapin Corner
’Father’s Day’ – Love To Create
’Father’s Day’ – Anything Goes
’Anything Goes’ – Papertake Weekly

Thanks for looking!

Natx

Spots & Stripes at Joanna Sheen

We have a fab challenge at Joanna Sheen starting today - ‘Spots & Stripes’. As usual there is a £15 voucher up for grabs to spend in the online shop.

The DT have been hard at work, so please pop over to Joanna Sheen and give them some love!

I was sent the fab Tom Mielko Project Book & CD Rom for this challenge and I had a real job to choose from all the wonderful toppers and decoupage. In the end I had to do ‘eeny meeny miney mo’ lol! I kept it fairly CAS so as not to detract from the image, unfortunately my printer had a funny five and there is a faint line on the image, but after printing it out 3 times, I decided that enough was enough if wanted any ink left!

 

Image and papers from the Tom Mielko Project Book & CD – Joanna Sheen
Ribbon – J & C Creations
Bone charm – Won at Here Come The Boys
Clear Dew Drops – The Ribbon Girl
Kraft card from stash
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘A2 Scalloped Borders One’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Catch The Bug
'Spots & Stripes' - My Craft Creations

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Something Sweet

Can it really be June already!?! So, apparently it is, which means it’s the start of a new challenge at A Little Bit Crafty and this month the theme is ‘Something Sweet’. We have some fantastic sponsors lined up!

Wild Rose Studio are offering 2 stamps of the winner's choice.

Bugaboo Stamps  are giving away 7 of their fabulous digis.

Dawn Til Dusk are offering a fantastic £15 voucher.

Wow, we really are spoiling you all! The DT have been working hard, so please pop over to A Little Bit Crafty and see what we have all been doing.

When I saw the title for this challenge I immediately thought of this stamp as it is sweet as in ahhh and sweet as in chocolate, yumm! and even the sentiment matched as well!

Image & sentiment – House Mouse ‘Love Chocolate Heart’ – Joanna Sheen
Papers – ‘Summer Breeze’ – Dovecraft
Ribbon, DMC thread (banner), flowers and brown card from stash
Pearls – J & C Creations
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 25’, Marianne Designs ‘Layered Flowers’ LR0106 (leaves) and Cheery Lynn’s ‘Tags 4’

Challenges:
’Dies & Punches’ – That Craft Place
’Punches And/Or dies’ – Creative Card Crew
’Tie A Ribbon – Divas By Design
'Use Dies (But No Punches) - I ♥ Promarkers

Thanks for looking!
Natx

LLF Colour Combo

We have a fab colour combo as our challenge at Lili’s Little Fairies this week - ‘Purple & Yellow’. We also have a fab sponsor who are offering the winner a £10 voucher for their online store.

Purple & yellow are not colours I would normally put together, having said that I’ve just realised that my last card was purple & yellow! Anyway, they go rather nicely, but I decided to do something a bit different from my normal square scalloped card and when I saw this tutorial at Beccy’s Place, I had to have a go. I must admit I had a couple of tries as my Cuttlebug chewed up the first 2 attempts, I realised that I was asking a bit much trying to put through 2 layers of card and some paper! So I changed my white card to a thinner one, changed my Kraft for some thinner Coredinations and it went through fine! I didn’t have the die that Beccy used (it’s been added to my wish list!), but I thought the ‘Labels 25’ from Spellbinders was a good substitute. The photo’s not bad (my son’s camera phone again), but I wish I’d realised that the flourish had got a bit squished! 

 

Image - ‘Balloon Bear’ & dotty purple paper – LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Card (Coredinations), yellow checked paper (Craft Creations), flowers & ribbon – J & C Creations
Gems – Anitas
Dies used: SB ‘Tags’, ‘Labels 25’ & Cheery Lynn ‘Exotic Butterflies’ & ‘Fancy Flourish’

Challenges:
’Dies & Punches’ – That Craft Place
’Anything Goes’ – Lacy Sunshine
’Punches And/Or Dies’ – Creative Card Crew
’Tie A Ribbon’ – Divas By Design
’Use Dies (But No Punches)’ – I ♥ Promarkers

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Magical Birthday

It’s Tuesday again and that means a new challenge at Passion For Promarkers. The theme this week is another nice easy one – just ‘Add Ribbon, Lace or Twine’- simples! We are being sponsored by Clearly Besotted Stamps 

and they are giving away a fantastic stamp set of the winner’s choice. The DT have worked their usual magic and have come up with some fantastic inspiration, so please pop by PFP to have a nose.

My card includes some recent wins. I was picked for the Top 3 at Lacy Sunshine and won 2 of Heather Valentin’s lovely digis. There was far too much choice, but Mostin really caught my eye and so here he is. Over at Here Come The Boys I not only got picked for the Top 3, but I also won the prize which was a bag of beautiful charms for all occasions and when I saw this wizard hat I knew it would be a perfect finishing touch for my card.

Image - ‘Mostin Mouse’ – Lacy Sunshine Stamps coloured with Promarkers
Papers - ‘Back To Basics II’ – Dovecraft

Twine – Joanna Sheen
Kraft card & buttons from stash
Hunkydory’s Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ glitter
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 2’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Lacy Sunshine
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Tie It Up’ – Cute Card Thursday
’Happy Birthday’ – Allsorts
’Must Have Buttons’ – Here Come The Boys
’Off The Edge’ – Come & Get It
'Boys' - Cupcake Challenges


Thanks for looking!
Natx

Not Sew Easy!

Evening everyone, I had 5 mins to myself, so I thought I’d post this card I made recently. I have added some sewing to this one, I felt it needed something more, but not too much more being a male card and I always admire the sewing that I see on cards in Blog land, so I got out my needle and thread and had a go. Well, all I can say is - hats off to the sewers out there and now I remember why I don’t do it very often! The thread kept dropping out of my needle and I was all thumbs! I think it was probably worth it in the end, it doesn’t look too bad, but the needle and thread have been put back in their box for now!

Image - ‘Relax’ from the Mulberry Wood range – Crafter’s Companion coloured with Promarkers
Papers - ‘Garden Party’ – Dovecraft
Card, buttons, ribbon, twine & sentiment – J & C Creations
Dies used: SB ‘Leafy Squares’ & ‘A2 Scalloped Borders One’

Challenges:
’Masculine’ – Crafter’s Companion
’Spring Has Sprung’ – Ready-Teddy-Go
’Sew Special’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts
’Button It Up’ – Stampin For The Weekend
’Bingo’ – Catch The Bug (button/die cut/sewing)
’Must Have Buttons’ – Here Come The Boys
’Makes For Men’ – That Craft Place
’Animals’ – Dream Valley
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
'Tie It Up’ – Cute Card Thursday

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Special Anniversary Challenge at Passion For Promarkers!!

We have a fantastic Challenge lined up for you today to celebrate our 4th anniversary at PFP. We have several fabulous sponsors and prizes galore, if that wasn’t enough to tempt you, the theme is ‘Anything Goes’ – so there’s every reason to join in! Check out all the info on the PFP blog – both teams are joining in this week, so there will be plenty of inspiration from all the DT members!

Letraset are offering one lucky winner a pack of their Limited Edition Spring/Summer Promarker 12 pack

Whimsy Stamps/Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize of $10.00 worth of digi papers

Saturated Canary are offering one lucky winner 2 digi images of their choice

Bearly Mine Designs are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store

Dies to Die For are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store

I made my card for the daughter of my best friend – I ummed and arred about something a little older for her as she  turned 13, but opted for Henry in pinks & blues and kept my fingers crossed that it wasn’t too ‘Cutesy’. However, she absolutely loved it and I noticed that it’s the only birthday card still on the mantelpiece at her house!

Image - ‘Henry Celebrating’ – Whiff Of Joy coloured with Promarkers
Card – Coredinations, ribbon & daisy – J & C Creations shop
Sentiment & papers - ‘Bonnets & Bowties’ – LOTV
Card candi from stash
Dies used – SB ‘Circles’, ‘Scalloped Circles’ & ‘A2 Scalloped borders One’ & Cheery Lynn ‘Tags 4’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Recipe’ – Dutch Dare (3 types of embellishments)
‘Animals’ – Dream Valley
’True Blue’ – Allsorts
’Something For Kids’ – Love To Create

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Best Friends

Today is the start of a new challenge at Lili's Little Fairies and we want to see ‘Thank You’ cards. We have a fantastic sponsor this week!

So, every reason to get crafting! But please remember you MUST use an LOTV image (either stamp or topper). Please pop over to Lili's Little Fairies to see what all the fairies have been up to this week.

At the risk of boring everyone, I have turned yet again to my trusty LOTV sketch pad and paper pad for my card and have coloured up Patch & Puss who are obviously the best of friends! Aren’t they just the cutest?! And - another photo I was reasonably happy about and guess what? I took it with my son’s camera, so it would seem that maybe the problem is my camera and not me after all, lol!

Image from ‘Jack, Patch, Puss’ sketch pad - LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Papers - ‘Perfect Pair’ paper pad – LOTV
Ribbon – Joanna Sheen
Kraft card from stash
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 25’, ‘Floral Ovals’ & ‘A2 Scalloped Borders One’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Animal Antics’ – Incy Wincy Designs
'Lots Of Layers' - Cupcake Craft

Thanks for looking!
Natx