2 for 1 and it's only the 4th! - No! Make that 3!!!

Good morning,

Happy Bank Holiday weekend to you all.  Only 3 weeks to go until I'm sunnying myself (hopefully) on the banks of Lake Como.

I see I have 2 more new followers - Hello and Welcome.  Thanks for taking the time to share in my crafty journey.  Only 3 more then it's Blog candy time!

I've been trying to get myself organised and schedule all my crafty commitments that need to be done before I go on my hols.  Hmmmm ........ how many hours are there in a day? ........ not enough by the look of things.  And, after a lovely catch up chat with Kay (Indigo Blu) last week, my To Do list has just got even longer.  Oh well, the Gelli Plate is going to have to wait a bit longer (sigh!)

Here's a little something I made the other day.  I really should have been tidying the old craft room but instead I found some bits and pieces on my desk, and a Penny Black stamp that's been sat there for a while, and here's what I came up with .......

Another tag!
I love my large tags, and can't you tell I'm hooked on doing the hinged versions at the moment.
This little sweetheart is called  Melle Papillon (Miss Butterfly - I think).
I stamped her onto my tag using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured her with Copic Markers.  I then made a mask for her, covered her over and inked the cloudy sky background using Tumbled Glass Distress ink, and my trusty hand cut cloud.
I added a little bit of foliage around the edges using a Lavinia stamp with Rose Bud Memento, 1st and 2nd generation stamping, and a touch of black, 2nd and 3rd generation to give a more faded colour.

The bottom of the tag was cut away just above the bottom of her dress, and holes punched through both pieces.  I used large jump rings to join them together, but you could use fine ribbon, or twine or even just some wire.

 

I stamped some extra butterflies using a pretty little Hero Arts stamp, onto some scraps of previously inked card.  Cut them out, and attached them to the tag leaving the wings free, so I could bend them up a little to add a bit of dimesion.  A touch of sparkle added to her dress, and a sentiment from a Dylusions stamp set finshes everything off nicely.

As it's the beginning of the month there's a whole new set of Blog challenges out there.  One of which I came across through my good Blog friend Anne.  She's recently joined the Design Team over at Our Creative Corner and I'm so looking forward to seeing her creations.   The Blog Challenge has a brand new look and format, and there's some fabulous inspiration from some of the DT.

The theme for their first challenge is ......

ANYTHING GOES

So I thought I would enter my tag.

I'm also entering this into the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge .  Their theme is also .........

ANYTHING GOES

Again, I found this challenge through a Blog friend, and fellow Indigo Blu DT member Jo.  She's also part of the DT for Fussy and Fancy - she's one busy lady!

Wow!  2 challenges entered and it's only the 4th of the month! What's going on!?  No rushing at the last minute.  Is this a new me?  No!  It's just lucky that they both had the same theme and it was perfect for my latest make.  Back to normal now.

I've got DT stuff to do next week.  Kay's back on the telly soon - 2 shows on the 19th (I think!) One of them is a Wedding show, and the other is all about Indigo Blu stamping.  Hmmmmm ....... Does that mean new stamp designs ............ I couldn't possibly say!

Speaking of DT stuff, I posted on the Creative Studios DT Blog yesterday.  Sam's got new stamps - yeah!!!   They're sooo cool!

I'll leave you to enjoy the weekend now.  Hope you have a good one.

Thanks for popping by.  Cherrio for now

Linda

xx

PS .......... You can't get rid of me this weekend ......... I'm back with a little extra bit 

Can you believe this ..... 3 challenges!!!  (I'm pleased to say Anne, it fit!!!)

It's the start of this months Penny Black Saturday Challenge, and guess what! ........ their theme is .......

ANYTHING GOES  (whoo hoo!)

My little Miss Butterfly tag is just perfect.  It's ages since I've entered this challenge, so it's nice to be back. 

I don't think I've ever entered a challenge and been the first one up there either - go me!!!  Don't worry, it won't last!

Right, I really am going now. Have a lovely day and I'll see you all next week.  

Cheerio!!!

xx   

January Blues

Morning everyone,

I can't believe January is nearly over with, and, my blog is a year old!  Where did that time go?!  Happy Birthday Blog (it was actually a few days ago - but who's counting!) 
This is post number 200 and I've enjoyed sharing every single one of them with you.  I still find it hard to believe that so many of you enjoy reading my little old blog.  I love reading all the comments you leave, and I really enjoy stalking following you guys too. Thank you so much for keeping me company on my crafty journey.

As usual I'm on the last minute with my entry for the current Penny Black Saturday Challenge.
This month's theme is ......

JANUARY BLUES!

Don't worry it's not about being all sad and miserable, it's just they want us to use mainly blue tones on our creations.

As always, rules apply ...... only Penny Black images can be used, large sentiments and Stickeroos included.

Here's mine ......

Tea for two ..... all in blue!

Well, it's definitely blue!  I must say, it's not a colour I tend to use a lot, not for the whole card anyway.  I do like how this turned out though.

The background paper is from Magnolia, and is called 'Something Blue'.  The band across the centre was done using the PB 'clique' stamp (3858E) and Stormy Sky Distress Ink.
The main image is PB 'Tea Cozy' (1680J), stamped and coloured using Copic pens.  It's then been cut out and layered using Nestabilities dies (what did we do before we had these!?)
The tiny little sentiment on the tag is an extra, I thought it went with the stamp.  It's from the Stampin Up! Tea Shoppe set.

To finish everything off I added a couple of  Memory Box die cut flourishes, some paper roses and a pretty organza bow.

The main sentiment on the large tag is also a PB stamp - ..... special treasures (3629E).

Well, only one more day to go before hubby is home - I have missed him!   I hope these strong winds die down a little before Friday though, otherwise he's going to have a bit of a BuMpY flight.

Off to put the kettle on now.  A nice cup of Earl Grey I think, before I head off to the old craft room.

Thanks for popping by again.  Enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio for now

Linda

x

What's Christmas without a bit of Glitter and Sparkle

Hello again,

What's this I hear you all say... nothing for nearly a week then TWICE in one day!

I'm trying to catch up with everything before the silly season really gets underway.  As I said earlier, Lauren arrives tomorrow with that little angel of a Grandson of mine.  I want to be able to spend as much time as possible with them so I'm going like the clappers trying to get everything finished.

The last of my Christmas cards has just been written (phew!) now all I need to do is get them in the post tomorrow.

Before I venture out on a spot of late night shopping, I just wanted to share with you one of my Christmas cards that I made with the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge in mind.

Their Challenge this month is ........

GLITTER AND SPARKLE

What's Christmas without a bit of glitter and sparkle eh!  There was a time when I didn't make a card without glitter on it, not just at Christmas time either.  No sparkle, then it couldn't have been one of mine.

How things change.  

Here's my entry ......

There's quite a bit of sparkle on here, although I couldn't capture it in the photo.

I've used the PB stamp Fantasy Tree for my background, stamped and embossed in Disco Black embossing powder

You can see a bit more of the sparkle here, still better in real life though.
For my snow effect I've used Chunky White Fran-tage.  I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I LOVE these embossing powders.
The little snowman is also a Penny Black stamp, and I've stamped him onto acetate using a Black Stazon ink then coloured in the image, from the back, using fine glitters.  Doing it this way, the glitter doesn't shed.

I finished it all off with a few sparkly snowflakes stamped around my little winter scene, a sentiment from the Penny Black clear stamp set Christmas Cheer and a festive red ribbon.

I think I'd better go and dust all the glitter off me before I go out.  Just caught a glimpse in the mirror and I look like something off the Christmas tree.  I've just answered the door to my delivery man too, no wonder he was smiling ......... !!

Look who he brought .........

Meet Charlie Bear's 'Michaelmas' ........  he's my Christmas present to myself.  I just couldn't resist this little guy when I saw him.  He's soooo cute.
I bought a Charlie Bear for Alex last year and I didn't want him to take him home.  Well Grandma has her own now.

I just need to find somewhere for him to sit - preferably away from the glitter!

Enjoy your evening

Cheerio for now

Linda

x

Another week closer to Christmas (eeek!)

Hi everyone,
I can't believe that it's Thursday already, this week is flying by again.  Mind you I have been busy.
I've also booked my tickets for the HobbyCrafts Show at the NEC next month - yeah!  I'm not missing that one.  Two weeks today and I'll be doing some serious craft shopping - can't wait.

I notice I have some new followers too.  Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my ramblings.  It's nice to know you're with me on my crafty journey.

I've come over all festive again today.  Could have something to do with the fact that I went to a Christmas Preview evening at  the local Garden Centre last night.  It was all mulled wine and pastries.  Christmas decorations, and carols, all very festive.  I'm sure these things start earlier each year, we haven't had halloween yet!!

Now, I don't really NEED any more Christmas decorations, especially for the tree, but you know how it is, you always have to have a least one new sparkly bauble.   Well I couldn't resist this .......

How cute are they!  Of course they didn't come as a pair, but I had to get two, which is very unusual for me as I always buy baubles in 3's (the rule of thirds, odd numbers and all that!)

Today's card is for October's Penny Black Saturday Challenge
This month we have a sketch ........

Usual rules apply - use at least one PENNY BLACK IMAGE, LARGE SENTIMENT or STICKEROO.

I've made another Christmas card - whoo hoo!! (is that a total of 4 now?!)

It's a nice big 8x8 card, covered with some Christmas paper from an old Magnolia range.  I didn't want to add too many colours on this one, so I just kept to the red and white.
My second layer is a piece of  Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler cardsock, one of my favourites for Christmas cards, it's such a beautiful rich shade of red.   I've embossed it with a Sizzix Snowflake embossing folder and then added just a touch of the new Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter in places.  I love this stuff, it's glitter, but with a vintage feel, not too sparkley.  And if you read yesterday's post you'll know that it's easy to change the colour of it too.

The stamped image is  Penny Black's Snow Family (2526K).  These little guys are sooo cute.
I've stamped them twice, cut one out using a Spellbinders circle Nestabilitie die along with a matching scalloped cirlce, and the other I've cut out the two smaller snowmen and decoupaged them for a little dimension.  They've all been coloured using Copic pens, and I've added pom poms to their hats - very cosy looking aren't they!

I've added a scalloped border from the Cherry Cobbler cardstock, wrapped with some pretty white organza ribbon, and attached a  lovely big matching bow.  A silver metal snowflake, and a festive sentiment finishes everything off nicely. (the sentiment is from the new 'T for transparent' set from Penny Black called  Christmas Cheer  30-140)

Autumn has arrived well and truly over here.  One of the views I have from the old craft room window is getting nicer each day .......

The colours are gorgeous especially when the sun's shining on them.  Although we didn't have any sun yesterday morning when I took this.  It was quite grey, and if  I looked the other way, the clouds were rolling in over the mountains.

At least we didn't have any rain!

Thanks for popping by today.  I may be a little later with tomorrow's post.
As it's Friday, it's my day on the Design Team Blog over at Creative Studios. Not sure what's going to be on there yet, that's todays task.

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday.

Linda

x

Buttons and Bows

Hi folks,
I have a bit of exciting news for you this evening - well, exciting for me anyway.  But more on that later.

What happened to Thursday?  Suddenly it's nearly time for bed, and I feel as though I've done absolutely nothing.  I haven't done half of the things I had planned for today.  Don't quite know what I have been doing though.  Overall not a very productive day. 

One thing I did get done, eventually, was this months card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge .........
           
                   BUTTONS AND BOWS

You would think this one would have been easy for me,  I love buttons and bows.  But oh no, nothing was working.  I just couldn't find any PB stamps that I could use alongside two of my favourite types of embellies.  Then when I did decide on a stamp, would you believe I didn't have the right colour of buttons .....!!?  I nearly gave it up as a bad job.  But I don't like to be beaten.

In the end I went for the K.I.S.S. approach (keep it simple, stupid!)

On the positive side, at least I have another Christmas card made - that now makes a grand total of ......... 2!

I used the PB 'majestic' stamp (3997K) along with one of the brand new Christmas sentiments from the 'Christmas Cheer' clear set.
It couldn't be more simple to do.  Stamp the tree in black ink, slightly to the left of your piece of card, then stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner.  I decided to go for a jaunty little angle (second attempt.  First one was straight and I wasn't that keen).
I went for one of my favourite colour combos for Christmas cards - Black and White with a hint of red, and used this for the matting and layering.
As I said earlier, I couldn't find the right shade of red buttons - well not three the same that is.  I did empty all four jars to check.  So in the end, out came my permanent markers and I just coloured three clear pearl ones.  These were then threaded with a little white baker's twine tied off in a bow, and attached onto the tree along with a few glittery gems.  A pretty red satin bow, and a touch of the new Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter in the Clear Rock Candy around the base of the tree, finished it all off.

We have a busy weekend coming up, here on the island.  Today saw the start of the 3-day Manx Rally with a 'Scalextric' style opening night stage along the promenade in Douglas.  Hmmmm........ not really my sort of thing, so when hubby rang from work to see if I wanted to go down there, you can imagine my reaction.  Standing on the prom, in the rain, watching pairs of cars racing around a track - yes, like that's going to happen!  Just in case any of you are interested though, there's a Wiki page or you can get up to date information here.

The other event that's happening this weekend is the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival - now you're talking!

I shall be popping along there on Saturday.  We went last year and had a great day out.  It's all about local produce, with a Farmers Market, local butchers etc.  selling everything from vegetables, meat and seafood, to jams, cheeses, cakes and Christmas puddings.  There's crafts too - pottery, soaps, hampers.
The celebrity chef this year is Ainsley Harriott, who will be doing live cookery demos, so that should be fun.

The weather for Saturday, according to the local forecast, is good so it should be a great day out.  I'll let you know.

Well, it's way past my bedtime. This has taken longer than I thought.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more productive, lots of crafty things.
Before I go though, my exciting news ...........
Yesterday I was asked if I'd like to join another Design Team.  The lovely Sam Poole contacted me and said she was looking for someone to join her DT over at Creative Studios, and would I like the position.  It took me all of about 10 seconds (while I read the message) before I said YES!!  Absolutely yes.

I've know Sam for a while, we met through Inspirations in Preston - she was one of our lovely demonstrators who came to take workshops.  
Sam designs for Creative Expressions, and has her own range of rubber stamps (which are fabulous by the way).  She has an online store and a super Blog.  Check it out, there's some fab stuff on there and the store is full of gorgeous goodies.
Anyways, I'm now on the team (whoo hoo!!) and I'm going to be creating designs using Sam's stamps and other goodies.  Once I'm up and running I'll also be posting regularly on the Blog, along with the rest of the fab DT.  So watch this space.  I'm going to be busy, busy, busy.  I love it!!

Thanks for popping by again.  See you all tomorrow (or should I say later today!)

Night Night!

Linda

x

Feeling all Festive again!

Happy Friday everyone.

Hey, I've finally reached 60! - followers that is.  Thanks for joining me Jane, and making my lovely gang a nice round figure.  I'll set the next milestone at ..... 80.  Lets see if I can reach that by the end of September.

Today is flying by and I've not really done that much.  I did spend a lovely hour this morning though, on the phone to a very special friend over in the UK.  I know I'll be seeing her next week but we still had a lot to chat about  - we always do.

Speaking of next week I'm really looking forward to a trip across to the UK.  We don't go until Tuesday, but I'm packing already.  It's going to be a week of craft, craft, and more craft.  I cannot wait! 
I'll apologise now because Blog posts may be a little few and far between I'm sorry to say.  I am taking the laptop with me, but I might not have the time.  Don't worry I'll fill you in on all the details when I get back.


Todays post is my entry for this months Penny Black Saturday Challenge, and I've gone all festive again I'm afraid - well it is nearly September!
This months challenge is ......

 DOUBLE THE TROUBLE

We have to use 2 different PB images on our designs, hmmm ... shouldn't be too difficult!

I've got my hands on a few of the new Penny Black Christmas stamps and they are gorgeous.  I just had to use the super cute  Fairy Holly.  She's one of the new slapstick/Clings by Mo Manning and she is sooo sweet.  See what you think ......

Fairy Holly ( PB 40-173)

.......... isn't she pretty?
She's been coloured with Copics (rather quickly!) and then I cut round her as I didn't have any Nesties that she would fit in  (sigh! - I really do need to buy myself a Grand Calibur).
The background papers are from Magnolia, and I've used the Spellbinders Poinsettia and the Heirloom Ornament dies to make my embellishments.
My second PB image is the sentiment, it's from the new "T for Transparent" set Christmas Cheer.  It's a lovely new collection with some great  festive sentiments in a range of fonts along with a few extras.


I've added a bit of glitter, and some Glossy Accents on her snow globe,
although the gloss doesn't really show up well in the picture.
She really does look like she's dreaming of a white Christmas.

Actually, I've used 3 PB images on this card, no wait a minute, 4.  There's another of the new sentiments inside along with one of the little extra bits.
I thought as this is officially the first of my handmade cards for Christmas 2012, I would finish it off properly and decorate the inside.


Well that's another job crossed off my craft 'To Do' list.  I've done really well this week, there's been nothing added to the bottom either. just need to tidy up now ready for the next project.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, enjoy this glorious weather that the UK is supposed to have. 
It's raining here at the moment but finger's crossed it's nice for us tomorrow too.  We're going to a BBQ/Lobster Party - Nom! Nom!   and Stephen's helping with the cooking!

Thanks for popping by, see you all again soon

Linda

x

Summertime (and the living is easy) .........

......... that's the title of the latest challenge over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Hello everyone,
Yes I've finally got around to doing my entry.
The challenge has now moved to a monthly one - yeah! So there's no more rushing around on the last minute which is good.  All the rules remain the same, we just have more time to do it.
Here's my July entry ....

I used the PB 'Sugar Sweet Dreams' stamp and coloured it with Copics.  The sunflower is made up of individual petals stamped in So Saffron and More Mustard inks, each one cut out and layered behind the stamped image.  (Couldn't have done this late on a Friday afternoon). 
The papers are from the K & Co 'Wild Saffron' collection - one of my all time favourites (I love the colour combo).  I've used 3 co-ordinating designs to mat and layer, and the flower embellies are also cut from one of the sheets.
You can see my usual faux stitching is all around the edges and I've added some red vintage seam binding.  There's even a little strawberry hanging there too - a metal charm that's been coloured with permanent markers and then coated with glossy accents - looks good enough to eat!

Summer eh ...... what's that?  Maybe we'll be lucky and the weathermen have got it right - summer starts next week.  I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm going to be a little busy for the next few days.  The postman delivered a box this morning, from the lovely Kay at Indigo Blu, full of gorgeous NEW stamps, NEW flakes and other fabulous goodies to work with.  It's time to put on my DT thinking cap again and come up with designs for the show on Create and Craft at the end of the month.  Don't worry, I'll tease you with some sneaky peaks when they're done.

Have a great day whatever you're up to.  I'm off to the old craft room to play.

See you soon

Linda

x

Talk about last minute!

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post tonight I'm afraid.  I've got to get a wriggle on and get my card entered in this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge - I think I have about 1 hour and 30 odd minutes left.  I don't think I've ever been sooo late.  It'll be time for the next one if I'm not careful!!

OMG!  This was hard work today - loads of ideas but nothing seemed to be right.  Don't know what it was but my heart wasn't completely in it when I started,  plus I knew I hadn't got a lot of time - not a great combination.  Nothing has ended up in the bin though, apart from the rubbish!

I've almost forgotten what this weeks challenge is, it's so long since it went up. 
That's right, ....  it's     HOT METAL
We have to use some metal somewhere on our projects and all the usual PBSC rules apply.

Here's my entry.  It's my second attempt, as I wasn't happy with the first one.  Sorry, the picture isn't great either but the clock is ticking ....  Don't worry, I'll share the first attempt with you too before I go.

My first thought was to do a Christmas card (got to start them sometime) but like I said, things didn't go according to plan.  So, a quick change of mind was in order - I'm obviously not ready to start with the festive stuff just yet.
Even though I didn't end up with a Christmas card,  I have however,  used a Christmas stamp. 
One of my favourite PB stamps is the 'fantasy' tree and I thought as it was out on my desk, I could actually get away with using for an everyday theme.  I think it's worked.
I used my Distress Markers directly onto the stamp to ink the tree - Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo, and added some small punched flowers for blossom. (it doesn't look Christmassy now!)  The papers are from the Je T'adore collection by Making Memories which I've mat and layered onto some brown pearlescent cardstock.  All the edges have been inked with Worn Lipstick DI, and a couple of the edges have been punched.
My 'Hot Metal' is in the form of eyelets down the right hand side (5 of them), 2 more to tie the ribbon through and then the little bird in the tree is a metal bead.

sooo tweet ......

This one got a better reaction when it was finished.  I was quite pleased how it turned out, and my son has already claimed it for his girlfriends birthday later in the month so it can't be that bad!

Here's a quick look at my first attempt.........  well it's a Christmas card.  Not sure if I like though.

The metal on this one are the bells around the reindeer's neck.  I'll put it away for now, and come back to it later 

Well, that's it from me today.  Sorry it's a bit short and sweet.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a lovely weekend.

Bye for now

Linda

x

Fly the flag!

Morning everyone,
What's this ....... another early post.
It's Thursday, nearly weekend, and our little trip across to the UK.  Just a few bits to finish off, some DT cards to make with my monthly project kit from Craftwork Cards, oh and the housework to do.  All this before 5 on Friday, can I get it all done?  Of course I can, if not, the housework can wait till I get back (lol!)

This weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge is
                          Fly the Flags!

They want to see bunting, flags, banners etc.  Along with the usual, a Penny Black image, sentiment or stickeroo.

Here's mine .....

I love this little guy in the flowerpot ('greetings' stamp 3706H), he's sooo cute!   He's usually holding a flower but I decided not to ink that bit and replace the flower with a flag.
Hedgie's been coloured in with Copic Pens, and his little friend the ladybird, has had a coat of Glossy Accents on top.

I had a good old rummage in my bit box again, and came out with checks this time, not spots (like earlier in the week).  It's a piece of BoBunny paper from the Kitchen Spice range, I think.  I picked out the orange colour and teamed it up with some BoBunny Double Dot.  I added some bunting decorated with punched flowers from the same papers.  Did my usual faux stitching around the edges, added a piece of white ribbon and a bit of bling. I think the colours make it perfect for a summer (whatever that is!) birthday.

Summer eh!  It's July at the weekend only it feels more like flippin' October!!  It's stopped raining here but it's still miserable out. 
We've got the Queenie Festival going on this weekend down at Port St Mary.

There's supposed to be a beach party tomorrow night with BBQ, and live music.  It's not going to be much fun if it rains!  I'm sure it'll be busy though.  We'll bob on down there on Sunday and see what's going on.  Anything to do with food and we're there.    
Queenies, by the way, for those who don't know, are queen scallops and are very popular on the island.  My lot love them, I can eat them but not in any great quantity.  They're a little too fishy for me, nice as a starter though.  There is a website here if anyone would like to know more.  You'll find some nice recipes on there too. 

Well, I'm off to have a play with my CWC Pretty Little Prints now.  Have a great Thursday whatever you're doing.

Bye for now

Linda

x

I haven't finished yet!

Hello again,
You just can't get rid of me today can you.
Here's my second Blog Challenge for this week - the Penny Black Saturday Challenge PBSC
This weeks challenge is .....
                                 5 Circles
The usual rules of the challenge apply and this week we have to use 5 circles on our project - buttons and gems can count towards the 5. 
Here's what I came up with .....

I'm having a real vintage/distressed phase at the moment, not that I'm complaining. 
I found using 5 circles a bit of a challenge though.  I wanted to use 5 actual circles, not counting gems or buttons, but it just wasn't happening. However, looking at the finished card  you could argue that I have in fact used 6 circles and a button, making 7 in total, but I'm sticking with 5.  The main image on the large circle (1), then two smaller stamped images (3), the one with the sentiment on (4) and the button (5).

The gorgeous stamp is Penny Black's butterfly suite (4182K), which I stamped in black Versafine ink and then dusted Victorian Velvet DI over the flower and used Distress Markers to colour the leaves and add some shading.  The edge was coloured with a mix of Old Paper, Tumbled Glass and a little bit of Pumice Stone.  I used the markers again to colour the butterflies.
Prima papers were the perfect match, the spotty one is from the Jack and Jill collection and the others came from the gorgeous Nature Garden paper stack.  I distressed the edges, did a bit of tearing here and there and added a little bit of vintage lace as I was matting and layering - using up all the bits I kept finding on my work desk.  The smaller circles were cut and embossed using Nesties, and a little bit of DI was added while the dies were in place.  I found the lovely MOP button in my stash and added some lace behind and a bit of coloured twine to finish off.  I even did the inside too, to use up what was left of the papers.

I like to decorate the inside of my cards, especially the larger ones.  It makes them a little more balanced and less likely to fall over.

I would like to do one more post tonight, but whether that will happen I'm not sure.  Maybe I should leave it until the morning when my head's a bit clearer.  I've been on the computer most of the day and it's beginning to drive me nuts.  Blogger is messing with me again too.  Stephen came home and noticed that the font size had changed on my last post.  Could I change it back - NO!!!!  After walking away and leaving things for a while I've managed to get this post back to normal (ish) not sure it's worked on the last post though.  We'll see what happens once this has been published.

Thanks for putting up with me today, and taking the time to read my latest ramblings.  If you've stuck with me all day, you can't have got much else done!  I'm going to take a break for a while and would you believe, do some ironing.  I'm also going to watch the Indigo Blu shows I recorded earlier.  Kays been on the telly doing her stuff today with Christmas stamps, and I believe they were sell out shows - Yeah!!  That also means I can share with you what I was busy with last week.

See ya later

Linda

x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Happy Thursday! (It was still Wednesday when I started this)
Hopefully this will post ok.  I'm having a little trouble with Blogger at the moment -  gremlins in the system I think.  I can't view my post list, or my comments list.  I can't check out my Blog reading list, all I keep getting are these flippin' error codes when I sign in, and I can't find out what to do with them to put things right - aarrgh!!!  I can do without this right now!!!
I know you guys are reading Wednesday's post because I'm getting emails to tell me you've all left comments. Thank you,  however I can't log in to moderate them so I can't publish anything.  Please keep reading and I promise I will get things sorted asap.

Tonights (or rather this mornings) post is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge PBSC
It's a colour challenge this week and the theme is .......
 
                          Red, White & Blue!
 
Seeing as it's Father's Day on Sunday and I haven't had chance to make any cards yet I thought I'd do two jobs at once.
Here's the result ........

It's VERY red, white and blue, and I think I may have overdone the faux stitching but I haven't got time to start again!
The little guy with the tie is from a Penny Black clear set called 'Bubbly'.  The sentiment's on the same set too.  He was coloured in with Copic pens, cut out and embossed using the Nestabilities Postage Stamp Die and then inked around the edge with the die still in place, with Paris Dusk and Ladybug Memento inks.  This is a great little technique as the white edge gives the impression of another layer being there.
The papers are from one of my favourite ranges -  Bo Bunny Double Dot.  I have 2 boxes for these, one that's for full 12x12 sheets and one that's full of all the cut off bits.  I hate throwing any of these papers away, even the smallest pieces can come in for something.  I had  a good rummage through and managed to find some bits big enough to give me a nice layout, no need to cut into a full sheet.  They're double sided too, dotty on one side, plain on the other, so you can alternate them to get a nice contrast.  I used the plain sides for the bunting and the thin strips - see I really don't throw any of these papers in the bin!
This card is actually going in the post tomorrow, it's being sent across to the UK to my father-in-law.  I hope he likes it.

Well that's it for tonight, I'm off to bed.  Sorry it's a bit of a short post but I'm absolutely shattered, and it is rather late.  Plus everyone else has gone off to bed and left me on my own - awww!
I have another busy craft day planned tomorrow - more Indigo Blu.  I will post some sneak peeks over the weekend.
I'll also have another go at sorting out my Blog problem tomorrow -   Please continue to leave comments as I get them sent in an email before they go on the Blog.

Thanks for popping by.  See you all tomorrow (or should I say later today)

Night Night!

                                              Linda
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edit done 20/6  LATE ADDITION
I thought I'd add this in here as it's a Father's Day card.  Stephen had said he wasn't bothered about a card seeing as I was so busy on the run up to Father's Day but I couldn't not make him one could I.  He was out most of the afternoon on Saturday so I took the opportunity and made this for him ....

It was doing using my Cricut - well I needed all the help I could get, I was frazzled by weekend.  I think the saying is off the Wild Card cartridge, and the papers are my favourite BoBunny Double Dot, and an old print design from Magnolia.  I think he appreciated it when Christopher presented him with it.  He wasn't sure how or when I'd had the time to make it though.  xx

2 Challenges, 1 card

Hello, I'm back again,
Well I'm certainly spending time in the old craft room this week.  Not much else is getting done around the house though.  Ah well, the ironing can wait, there's still clothes in the wardrobe!

I know I said I was going to be making a birthday card for a guy today, well I got a little distracted.  I still have blog challenges to do, and it's not his birthday until Saturday (not that I'm putting it off or anything).
I wasn't in the mood for men's cards this morning, so this is what I've been up to.

It's another first for me today, I'm entering one card into two different Blog Challenges.  This is due to the fact that I haven't got time to do another design.  There's just not enough hours in the day this week, daylight hours that is.  Or, it could be that I'm taking too long with each project.  Anyway, here goes ......

The first challenge is the Penny Black Saturday Challenge  and it's  CASE-IT this week.
This is Kath's gorgeous card that we had to take our inspiration from - it's so pretty.

 

 And here's my version ....

As you can see it's a little bit bigger (8x8), I've used different colours, added a bit more ribbon and lace, and I've played around with the layout ever so slightly. The overall design is more or less the same though.
The stamp that I've used is Penny Black's  'scented message' (4239K)  and the little sentiment stamped onto the ticket is also one of theirs, 'great day' (3419D).  The floral image is so pretty I decided on a feminine pink teamed with pale green.   I know the colours don't come across well in the picture.  It's been such a miserable day over here, I really stuggled to get any decent light at all.  This is the best I could do.  It is a pretty combination though, trust me.
The flowers were coloured with Copic pens, and then the whole image was inked around the edges with Spun Sugar Distress Ink.  I highlighted the stamp on the image with Bundled Sage DI.  The background paper is from the First Edition Paper Pad - Spring Feast.  This has been on my desk for weeks, finally I took the plunge today and used it!
I added a bit more ribbon, some lace and a couple of decorative hat pins, which leads me nicely into the second of the Blog Challenges that this card is going into.

 

This is a brand new monthly challenge over at the Ribbon Girl, which will run on the 1st Sunday of every month. http://www.ribbongirls.blogspot.com  Check out their blog and see some of gorgeous samples that their Design Team have come up with. You may even be tempted to join in.

This months challenge is....... to USE RIBBON OR LACE
Well I've done that I think.  In fact the vintage seam binding, the beautiful cluny lace and the hat pins all came from The Ribbon Girl. 
Most of my cards have ribbon or lace, or both on somewhere.  A nice piece of co-ordinating ribbon or a lovely bow can add that perfect finishing touch to any project.  It is one of my (many) weaknesses, I have meters of the stuff!  But, I can always make room for more.  The Ribbon Girl is a great place to go if you just can't find that right shade of pink... purple ......blue .....

Well, I'd better be off.  I really should make a start on some housework (sigh!).  I also need to go through my stash and get something sorted for tomorrow.  I have to do the (man) birthday card tomorrow, time is running out.  I'll be in my craft room in the morning and I'm not coming out until it's finished - could be a long day!

Ooh, just remembered it's a Bank Holiday over here tomorrow.  It's the last day of the TT - Senior Race Day, with the final race being sponsored by Poker Stars.

                                             
Racing should finish tomorrow evening providing the weather's ok.  Then it's party time down on the prom finishing with a Fireworks Display in Douglas Bay at 11.30pm, bringing the 2012 TT to a close.  If it's a nice night we may just pop down there.  It'll be a little bit busy I expect.

Anyway, thanks for popping by.  It's nice to know you find my little blog entertaining.
I'll be back to share my latest creation with you all soon.
Have a good night.

Linda

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