Sunday 30 January 2011

Wow - I won a challenge at incy wincy designs and a blog award from Gemma


Hiya Everyone!

I have had an absolutely fab weekend. It was my friend Carolines' birthday so a large group of us went to the casino for a 3 course meal package which included £10 of chips each although we bought £10 extra too. Anyway, we decided to play roulette and we ended up playing for about 2 hours and winning £70. Not bad considering we had £30 of chips to start with and it was only a bit of fun! It was really special as it's the first time me and my hubby have been out since Tayla was born. We only got home at about 1am which was late considering I was expecting to be home for 11.30pm - at least my mum and dad were ok with it!


I got home this evening and find that I have been given a blog award by Gemma at Gems little creations and that I won a challenge at incy wincy designs so I have won 7 bugaboo digi stamps!

Maybe I should go out more often Lol!

Thanks ever so much for thinking of me and I accept it with honour :o)

This special award, which is aimed at bringing unknown good blogs to light and in accepting the award I have had to agree to the following conditions;

1) You have been tagged, do you want to accept? YES! then create a post on your blog and post the love blog photo.
2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.
3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.


As the aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers.

It was very difficult to decide who to give this award to but I've decided to choose these very special people in no particular order:-

1. Sarah at clarabellecrafts
2. Teresa at Craftingallday creations
3. Meesh at Meesh's House of cards
4. Elaine at Craft my life
5. Rachel at Crichley Creations

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula.x

Thursday 27 January 2011

Pink petticoat new baby card!


Hiya Everyone!

I've got a new baby card that I made today to share with you that I have made from my new Pink Petticoat stuff that I won. I have used the baby giraffe image and the doodle dots papers in the colour blossom. I made it for a friend and used a sketch by sweet sketch wednesday. I coloured parts of the image in with my baby pink promarker and paper pieced the bow. I used my sizzix oval scallop die as I haven't got any oval nesties yet. I went around the edges of the papers with some spun sugar distress ink and I have added a bit of white ribbon and some light pink diamantes. The buttons have white paper thread attached to them. I was going to add some flowers but I just don't think it needed them so I didn't bother. I did the sentiment on the computer - font is Bearz.

I hope you like it - thanks for looking!!!

I will enter it into the following challenges:-

Fuzzy wuzzy challenge - Animal anything goes
Tellens place - Dots
Stamps R us - Animals
Craft your passion - 2 patterned papers
Everybody art - My favourite thing (my daughter)
Sweet sketch - Sketch
Sisterhood of crafters - Anything goes
Simon says stamp - Animal antics
Scrapbook sisters - Add a little friend
Pennys challenges - Anything goes
Fab n funky - Use a digi
Creative craft world - Cute and cuddly
Belli challenge - P for pink
Crafts and me - Monochrome
Paperplay - Layer it up
Do you stack up? - Patterned papers
Crafty sentiments - My favorite things (my daughter)

Paula.x

Wednesday 26 January 2011

New Summer Driggs Free kit out today!!!


Hiya Everyone,

I've had a lazy couple of days as I've been at my mums overnight with Tayla to give my hubby a break and (hopefully) a night of uninterupted sleep so I haven't a new card to share with you. I did just notice that Summer Driggs has brought out a fab new kit out called "Dance with me" - it's fab!!! Lots of reds, greys and black. There's some fab lovey sentiments/toppers too - ideal for valentines day! I cannot wait for her to bring out a new kit (usually every 4-8 weeks or so) and was dead excited when I saw this one which I downloaded immediately! Go check out her great blog and other fab kits here.

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Post pals - send a card to a sick child


Hiya Everyone,

A friend reminded me about this charity recently and I just thought I would share the information just in case you weren't aware of it. Basically, you send a child of your choice that you pick on the site a letter or card which is great as us crafters usually have spare one (or ten) knocking about all the time! I have found a few cards suitable for children that I intend to send out.


Some of these children are sick and will eventually get better but some are terminally ill. Receiving something through the post is a nice way to put a smile on a childs face. If, like me you have something to give, spare a thought for a poorly child and click on the link below.

There's no money involved, just a card and a few kind words.

POST PALS

Thanks for looking!!!

Monday 24 January 2011

LOTV White Vintage Wedding card


Hiya everyone!

I thought I'd try something a little bit different with my new LOTV stamp "I do" available here. I coloured the image with my promarkers and went around the edges of my nestie with stickles frosted lace glitter glue. I haven't used any papers at all as the whole card is made from white linen card. I have used my textile embossing folder and my new Martha Stewart eyelet lace punch. I inked all the edges in Tim Holtz antique linen distress ink.


The fab sentiment ticket is a new digi download from the Crafty Pad Stamp Designs (here)- there are loads of designs and are only 50p each! The flowers and pearl spray are from Wild orchid crafts and the pearl heart things were from the works. The bits around the edges are vintage letters and postcards which I got from google images and just printed out.

I will enter this into the following challenges:-

Bunny Zoe's crafts - Love is in the air
Magical monday - Flowers
Woodware USA - Anything goes
Let's ink it up - Anything goes (not a digi)
Stamping sister in Christ - Vintage
Catch the bug - Mainly Whites
Craft your days away - Love
Crafty calendar - New beginnings
Ellephantastic challenges - New beginnings
A gem of a challenge - Pearls and lace (pearl spray/hearts and eyelet lace punch)
Really reasonable ribbon - Hearts (and ribbon, obviously Lol!)
Phindy's place - Lace and pearls
Raise the bar - N.E.W (nestie/embellishment/white
Simply create - Use your punches (MS eyelet lace punch)
The Stamp Man - Distressing
Stamp something - Cute somethings
Totally papercrafts - Add a heart
Ai factory - Anything goes
Crafty purple frog - Distressing
Crafty sentiments - Vintage
Hodge podge - White on white
Paper crafting journey - Wedding, lace and pearls
Stamp insanity - Use your favourite colour and go monochrome
Crafts and me - Go monochrome
Fresh brewed - Love or valentines
Penny's paper crafty - Anything goes
Simon says stamp - Bingo (lace/flowers/embossing)
Creative card crew - New beginnings
Papertake weekly - Ribbons and pearls
Promarker challenge - All you need is love
LOTV thursday challenge - Sketch

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Very quick Wedding cards


Hiya Everyone,

Just a quick post before I nip out to the post office. I just thought I'd share some really quick and easy Wedding cards with you. The first is made using that fab scriptina font which is a free download from here. They can be made in virtually any colour and once you have your sentiment "set up" it's just a case of printing, layering up and adding a few diamantes. Simple, but very effective. I am going to try and make more CAS cards as I'm more of a "throw everything at it" kinda girl but I do realise that less is sometimes more Lol!

The second is made with the fab harrington font which is a free download from here. Again, it is just a case of printing it out in whatever colour you want, layerering it up and adding some diamantes. On mine however, I did go over the Mr & Mrs in glossy accents which was a little fiddly - a sakura clear glaze pen would have a similar effect and I think would be much easier too.

I made these a while back as I was doing a craft fair and I needed some more basic cards that I could make quickly and easily and that I could sell as cheaply as possible by not adding too many embellishments etc.

Thanks for looking!

Paula.x

Sunday 23 January 2011

Guest DT position for Crafty Pad Stamp Designs


Hiya Everyone,

I hope you've all had a good weekend - I've had a lazy one myself. I tidied up my craft room (a bit) and removed the ribbon off about 60 reels of ribbon that were just bunged in a bag. I now have a bag of ribbon bunged in a bag till I can be bothered putting it in the right boxes. I haven't got a card to show you today but I do have some interesting news. I have been asked by Debbie from the Crafty Pad Stamp Designs to be on their design team. Due to various commitments I declined a more permanent DT position but agreed to a guest DT spot with scope to return. Debbie has some fab designs - I especially love the new ticket sentiments that have just come out. They are in digi format and only cost 50p each - Bargain!!!

Go and check out her fab stuff here or check out her challenge blog here.

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Friday 21 January 2011

House mouse Birthday card


Hiya Everyone!

I can't believe it's after 10 o'clock already - where has today gone? I have done well today though as I've made 3 cards Woo hoo! 2 are DT cards so I can't show you those I'm afraid but I have made this little cutie with one of my new house mouse stamps. I thought I'd alternate with my new LOTV as I love both of them and have so many new ones of both it's difficult to choose. I opted for this one purely because there is a challenge based on chocolate so I thought I could colour the cake brown and an idea was born.

The house mouse image has been coloured in with my promarkers and I have used glossy accents on the frosting which looks better in real life as it looks a bit odd with the camera flash Lol! I love glossy accents and use it on all sorts of stuff. It's great on eyes and noses etc - and it's cheap as chips!
The papers are from Summer Driggs "Almond and apples" free downloadable kit - her link can be found on my sidebar - I can not recommend her stuff enough and can not wait for her next kit!

I have made this not only for loads of challenges that were posted today but this will be a Birthday card for my close friend whose birthday is in a few weeks - multi-tasking!

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:-

Fairy fun friday - Birthday
Fairy knoll - Chocolate
Fairy tale - Flowers
Fussy and fancy - SKETCH
Fuzzy wuzzy - Animal anything goes
Phindy's place - Lace and Pearl (doily and pearlin flower centre)
Tellen's place - Polka dots (swiss dots embossing folder)
Totally papercrafts - Add a heart
2 sisters - flowers
Really Reasonable ribbon - Ribbon and hearts
Totally gorjuss - Cuddly
Corrosive challenge - Lace and pearl (doily and pearl flower centre)
Crafty pad - Something new (stamp is new - 1st time used)
House mouse and friends - Celebrate
Gingerloft - Celebrations
Let's ink it up - Not a digi and anything goes
OSAAT - New (stamp)
Pile it on - Anything goes
Scrappy frogs - Hey cupcake
My time to craft - Spots and dots (swiss dots embossing folder)
Fab 'n' funky - Animal magic
Penny's papercraft - Anything goes
Sisterhood of crafters - Birthday
Simon says stamp - Bingo line (Brad/flowers/ribbon)
AiFactory - Anything goes
Delightful challenge - Celebration
House mouse and friends - Embossing (swiss dots)
Stamp something - Cute

and any others I can find!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Thursday 20 January 2011

Together forever - Card with new LOTV stamp


Hiya Everyone!

I hope you are all ok and haven't ruined any of your new years resolutions.....yet! I didn't make any as I usually fail miserably. I know lots of you have put a ban on buying yourselves any more crafty stuff. I wasn't silly enough to make that pledge. I know I don't NEED any more stuff but that doesn't stop me WANTING more Lol!

Anyway, I have a card to show you that I made mostly yesterday but I finished it today as Tayla turned into the devils child and I just couldn't finish it off. I think we were up till around 2ish with her so we were both knackered this morning.
It is made with the new together forever stamp from LOTV which is just one of the 8 new ones I got the other day. I have coloured it in with my promarkers although I'm still not very good at the hair but I've not really coloured in many "people" so I suppose I will get better with practise. The papers are from a DCWV paperstack called nana's nursery. I bought both the boy and the girl one although this is the first time I've used them. I have added a bit of pink ribbon, fluffy pink fibres and a few buttons. As some of the papers were glittery, I went around the circle of the image with stardust stickles glitterglue. This is also the first card that I have added some of the fab flowers that I got from Wild Orchid Crafts. The ticket sentiment information can be found on my previous post.

I will enter this into the following challenges:-

Ai Challenge - Anything goes
Cute card thursday - 1,2,3 (1 image, 2 buttons, 3 flowers)
Digidoodles - Anything goes
Do you stack up? - Pink
Pixiedust studio - Buttons
Belli challenge - "P" (for pink)
Fresh brewed - Love/valentines
Pennys challenge - Anything goes
Simon says stamp - 3 things in a line on bingo card (buttons/flowers/glitter)
Passion 4 Promarkers challenge - All you need is love
Tip top tuesday - All sentimental
Tuesday throwdown - Valentine
Bunny zoes crafts - Love is in the air
Craft your passion - Button it up!
Crazy challenge - Buttons
Lexi's creations - Say it with love
Ooh La la - Bling it on!
Paper playtime - Use the word love
Pollycraft - Pastel colours
Let's ink it up - Not a digi and anything goes
OSAAT - New (stamp and papers)
Pile it on - Anything goes
Quirky crafts - In a spring garden
2 sisters - Flowers
Secret crafter - With love
Fairy tale - Flowers
Phindys place - Valentine
Stamp something - Anything goes (rubber stamp)
Wags and whiskers - With love

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

My first ever blog award!!!!!!!!


Hiya everyone!

I am very flattered *blush* to have been given my very first blog award by Lou Mac from Lou's love of paper
It has always been my hope that some of the designs I do will inspire people in some way and it seems that I have so I feel very chuffed with myself!

Many thanks to Lou for her fab award!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Free Valentines/love tickets


Hiya everyone!

I just thought I'd share this link for a blog called Miss Cutie Pie (here) as she has some great freebies - especially those really fab tickets that we're all loving at the moment. She also has some fab christmas ones too! I found the blog last year but I was just using one myself so I thought I'd post it as everybody is going to be making valentines card soon!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

House mouse valentines card!!!



Hiya everyone!

I have made this cute house mouse easel card to enter into some challenges as I have been busy with DT work which unfortunately I cannot share until 6 months after it's published :o(
I haven't made a house mouse card for a while but they are definately one of my favourite ranges along with LOTV.

The papers are from Summer Driggs fabulous "freedom" free downloadable kit - the link to her blog is on my sidebar. I have decoupaged the house mouse cherries image and I have used glossy accents on a few of the chewed bits for a bit of extra oomph! I have used a bit of faux stitching and a bit of crochet lace which I got from Quixotic paperie (here)
The heart charm is a making memories one that I've had for ages and the flowers, ribbon, brad and buttons are just from stash.

There are a lot of challenges out there for love cards etc so I intend to enter it into everything that's relevent.

Southern girls - Love
Meljens design - square card
Paperplay - Cute
Shelly's images - Lace
Reasonable ribbon - Heart
Delightful sketches - Easel card
Secret crafter - With love
Wags and whiskers - With Love
Phindys place - Valentines/love
Lexi's creations - Say it with love
The crazy challenge - Buttons
Craft your passion - Button up
Bunny Zoe's crafts - Love is in the air

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula.x

Monday 17 January 2011

Give us a smile!!!

Hiya Everyone!

Our gorgeous little girl Tayla is just over 6 weeks old and has just discovered the art of smiling. Not the little windy smiles that aren't really smiles at all but real melt your heart smiles. My hubby took this video this morning just before he went to work and I couldn't resist sharing it with you all.



Ah, well. Back to the card I was making......

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Summer Driggs - AMAZING free digital kits!!!!


Hiya Everyone,

I just thought I'd let you all know as I'm amazed that there are so many people who are not aware of this fabulous womans blog. Her name is Summer Driggs and she creates amazing digital kits that are free for personal use. I have downloaded each and every kit she has done and they are really great. I included a piccie of the "so this is love kit" as it's not too far away from valentines day is it?

As you can see from my previous post - I have loads and loads of stash but often find myself having a look through my digi papers more often than not.

Here are some of the cards I have made with her stuff!

This is a forever friends card I made a while ago for a male themed challenge (don't you just hate mens cards Lol) - This I made with the "happy fathers day" kit.


Here is a a valentines card I made with the "bubblegum and licorice" kit.


This easel card made with a really cute house mouse stamp is made with the "freedom" kit.


If you haven't heard of Summer Driggs you really should pay her blog a visit. It would take a while to download all the kits (I would know Lol) but it's definately worth it! You can find the link to her blog via her logo on my sidebar!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Sunday 16 January 2011

My craft room - UPDATED!!!

Hiya Everyone!

Me and the hubby have been busy for the last few days putting my promarker storage unit and my new really useful unit on the wall as I needed to make some much needed room on my desk for my new cricut expression so I have taken some piccies of my newly updated craft room.


I already had 2 of the really useful storage units which used to sit on my desk. I needed another one when I when at bit mad on paper roses and cherry blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts - I spent about £95 altogether.... Oops! I have 3 units now which hold my adhesive diamantes/pearls in which I have sorted out into the various colours. They also hold my collection of paper and fabric flowers and my lovely new wild orchid crafts flowers which again are all sorted out into various colours.

On my desk I have some A4 plastic folders which I store stuff I'm in the middle of. The little white unit on the desk is from poundland (2 together) and has various random bits and bobs in such as small round doilies, pretty pins, sparkly stems etc.


Along the top you can see my full set of Tim Holts distress inks which are sorted out into the same order as the colour chart.


Next to them is my new promarker storage which I made (details of which can be found here)


Plonked on top of my promarker storage is my card candy box. I bought about 20 different types and me and my mum spent hours sorting them out into different colours. Yes - I really am that sad Lol!


Next to my promarker storage is my fab magnetic board that I got from IKEA which holds my magnetic little tubs which are also from IKEA. They have clear lid so I can see what's in them. They mainly hold my various brads and eyelets which are sorted out into various colours.


I have a small cheapie box that I store all my metal charms in. They are sorted (kind of) into different categories. I also have a large clear plastic box that has thousands of embellishments in it. Mainly creative flatback buttons as I came 2nd in their category last year in the COTY competition and I got loads and loads of packets so I threw them in the box as well as other random bits and pieces. I really should try and sort them in some way but I'm not quite sure where to start.


To the left of my desk is a shelf unit that holds my boxes of ribbon which you've guess it - are sorted out by colour. I love ribbon/fibres/lace and have loads of it. I know loads of people keep it on the rolls but sometimes you only get 1 metre of each type so I usually just bung it in the right box. If it is a little creased I just use my old hair straighteners and it works a treat to get rid of any kinks!


On the top of the shelf unit are some fab jars that I got from poundland ages ago. They were actually 2 for a pound and were an absolute bargain. They hold my large collection of white flowers which are mainly prima but also some from wild orchid crafts. These I colour in with my promarkers or distress inks if I want flowers that match my project better.


Under my desk I have a massive box of 120gsm printer paper that I bought which is the same as the old Tesco finest printer paper which is now not as good quality so I bought 11 reams off the net so that should last me a while Lol! I also have 2 of these A4 paper cabinets which I got free from a place I used to work as they were throwing them away. They house all my envelopes, cello bags, 6x6 and 8x8 square card blanks. I also have 3 drawers which are full of papermill hammercard. 1 each of white, ivory and cream. They stopped doing it in the fill your own box so I bought a value box from papermill direct.


These are great storage units which are from ikea. I have allsorts in these:-
rubber stamps/nestabilities/sissix dies/punches/beads/gems/christmas stuff and loads of other random stuff that I may barely use but I can't throw it away - just in case Lol! I can just chuck stuff in these with them being opaque but they still look tidy. The brown thing that you can just see the top of is my nursing chair so I can sit with Tayla. I have also just put a travel cot in the corner of the room so I hopefully will be able to spend more time in there in between her sleeps.


The magazine holders are also from ikea and I have 10 of them which hold my assorted cardstock. I have sorted these out into colour although there are a number of textures and finishes in them. I would have loved one of those flat shelf units for A4 card but I honestly haven't got much space left and these utilise the tops of the ikea units well. I have 3 really useful boxes full of 12x12 paper that I've barely touched for ages as it's a nightmare to get at them and to be honest I've forgotten what I've got in there. I also have 3 A4 sized really useful which hold various 6x6 and 8x8 paperstacks which I don't use that often as I tend to use a lot of digi stuff.


My printer stand is actually a kitchen trolley that I also bought from IKEA (you can probably tell - I love IKEA) It has 2 shelves so I put my various papers on the top shelf and my button collection on the bottom shelf.


These cute little jars are also from IKEA and only cost £1.99 for 4. I have loads of buttons and spent an age sorting these out into different colours. I have stuck a button on top of the jars so I can see from different angles what is in the jars.


I think that's about it really. I hope I haven't bored you all silly and have maybe given you some ideas on how to store some of your crafty stuff.

I'm not sure how long it will stay tidy but I'm going to try my best Lol!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Saturday 15 January 2011

£200 prize from Pink Petticoat - WOW!!!!


Hiya Everyone!

I have just managed to finally take a piccie of the fab prize I got for coming first in the Pink Petticoat category of the Cardmaker of the Year Competition. I received everything in the picture as well as a £60 voucher to buy whatever I wanted from their on-line shop! I can tell you that £60 gets you loads and loads as their single paper sets are only £1.99 each and they all come in 52 different colours which is fab for mixing and matching.

I am currently tidying my craft room and my fabulous hubby has been screwing my new promarker unit and extra storage units to the walls. Basically I needed extra space on my desk to make room for my new cricut expression which I treated myself to before christmas. I am ashamed to say that I've only played with it once as Tayla has been more than a handful but I am making space in my craft room for her moses basket so she will be able to be with me in my craft room (where I haven't spent a lot of time recently). I will have to take some new piccies of my craft room when I've found homes for all my new stuff!

New goodies arrived for my next commision for Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine so I'll be busy making a few cards for that in the next week or two. Unfortunately, I can't blog about the creations I make for 6 months so I'll have to squeeze in a blog challenge or two so I've got something new to show you.

I have a piece in the February issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine which is out on Tuesday 18th January. It's so exciting to see my work in print as it looks so much better than me taking the piccies myself at daft o'clock when the light's rubbish Lol.

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Thursday 13 January 2011

Fabulous Promarker Tutorial ***LOOK***


One of my crafty friends Meesh on facebook has made up an AMAZING promarker tutorial so I thought I'd share the love and the blog details (here) so you can all have a looky. Her colouring is OUTSTANDING and really puts mine to shame. Meesh is just so good at all the shading and highlighting. She originally only posted it on facebook for a few crafty people but after a bit of convincing from a few of us she reluctantly agreed to post it to her blog too. She has taken far more pictures of each stage than a normal promarker tutorial so you can really see what she has done from one piccie to the next.

Her work really is second to none so go and take a looky at the rest of her blog too - it's well worth a visit especially her fabulous Alice in Wonderland creations that she made with Mo's images.

http://meeshsplace.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Blog challenges - Where to find them!!!


Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well and have recovered from Christmas and the New Year! I'm not sure I have but with a 6 week old baby it's not like we'll be getting back to normal - I've forgotten what that is Lol! I know it's not what you want to hear but I'm looking forward to next Christmas as Tayla will be 1 and will be much more aware of what's going on. I thought I'd add this really cute piccie of her in her santa outfit!

Anyway, I have decided to keep a regularly updated list of ALL blog challenges in my side bar as a lot of people seem surprised by the amount of challenges I enter with 1 card and often ask me how I find them. I started off by seeing what challenges others were entering so I started making myself a list of challenges by doing some searching. This list was a little out of date so I have deleted anything that hasn't been updated recently or the blogs who have stopped that particular challenge for whatever reason. This way if you're about to make a card you can see what the current challenges are as it may have an impact on what you make. This is what I do and why I can enter so many. They will be listed in alphabetical order from Monday - Sunday and they will have a link back to that particular blog challenge (I have started doing this but it may take me a while to link them all up! - only done monday so far!)

This is not an exhaustive list by any means so I'd be grateful is you would let me know of any blog challenges that would be worth adding to my list that I may have missed.

I also still have blog candy available till 31st Jan which can be found here!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Tuesday 11 January 2011

I'm in Cardmaking and Papercraft February issue!!!


Hiya Everyone,

I've just found out that the work I did for the February issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine is out on the 18th January. Woo hoo! I had to make 5 baby cards with a small selection of items so I'd be interested to see what you think of my efforts!

Paula. x

Has the Lili of the Valley site crashed?!?


I have just tried to get onto their site as they are launching some new stamps today so I thought I'd treat myself to one or two (well, maybe 6 or 7 LOl) and all I'm getting is a service unavailable message. Can it be that all LOTV lovers have rushed to get on the site and the unbelievable demand has crashed the site? Has anyone managed to see the new stamps. I've been really looking forward to today ALL week (sad, I know) and I still can't part with my cash..........GUTTED!

Will keep trying all day and see. If anyone has any news please let me know.

PS. The card is a LOTV stamp called boy with boat - more details can be found on my blog here.

Paula. x

Monday 10 January 2011

Simple monochrome card


Hiya Everyone!

I've been very busy re-jigging my craft room and making better use of the space I have this week. I have put my new promarker storage unit after I finally finshed it into my craft room as I finished it off downstairs watching TV and it stayed there till I could be bother moving it Lol!

This card is the first card I've made especially for blog challenges this year. I have used this fabulous bird digi stamp which is a freebie download from pink petticoat which can be found here. I cut a square of white card which I cut roughly in half and used my swiss dots embossing folder to emboss the bottom half. I stuck both halves onto a slightly larger light pink square. I then took some pink ribbon and tied it to the side of the card. I printed out my image onto rymans card which I then mounted onto the same pink card. I coloured in the flowers, hearts and beak with my rose pink promarker and used my diamond stickles glitterglue on the wing of the bird and around the edge of the white card. I mounted this with foam pads to the left of the bow. I then added 3 pink adhesive gems to the top left corner to finish it off.

It is a lot plainer than I would normally make but I made it specifically for a number of challenges that I'd been eyeing up in the last few days.

I am entering it into the following challenges:-

Paper play - Clean and simple
Reasonable ribbon - Something new (Image - I've had it a while but never used it before)
Stamp something - Digi image
Stampin' bees - Old and new (Image is new(ish) - everything else I've had for ages)
Speedy the cats friends - Embossing
Alys sun challenge - Things with wings
Crafty Ho's - Monochrome
Sentimental sunday - Anything with wings
ECP - Old stash (Image is new(ish) - everything else I've had for ages)
Fun at fairy knoll - All that glitters
If the shoe fits - Ribbons and bows
Crazy 4 challenges - Photo inspiration (Pink and sparkly)
Our creative corner - Photo inspiration (Birds/snow/winter/berries etc)
Secret crafter - Texture (embossing/ribbon/glitter)
Cupcake craft challenge - Something new (Image - I've had it a while but never used it before)
Incy wincy designs - Go dotty (swiss dots embossing folder)
Lexi's creations - Say it with love
Ooh la la craft blog - Bling it on
Pollycraft monday challenge - New things (Image - I've never used it before)
The crazy challenge - Animals
Whoopsi daisy challenge - No designer papers
Tuesday throwdown - embossing
Catch the bug - embossing
Rainbow lady's challenge - It's all new to me (Image - never used before)
Delicious doodles - New (Image - never used before)
CES challenge blog - All creatures great and small
Fab 'n' funky challenges - Anything goes
Craft your days away - Anything goes


Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Sunday 9 January 2011

Tim Holtz Distress inks colourchart


Hiya Everyone!

I have been busy making DT cards but unfortunately cannot post them yet as they need to be displayed in Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine first. I will be in Februarys issue which should be out at the end of January sometime.

As I am writing this I am in the middle of a blog challenge card but probably won't get chance to post it till tomorrow so I thought I would re-post the Tim Holtz distress inks colourchart that I did a while back in case some of you missed it and for my new followers :D. I coloured in a blank Tim Holtz colourchart a while ago when I bought all 36 reinkers and laminated it so I had a good record of all the shades which I've found really useful. The chart shows the "neat" ink colour painted directly so it gives a good representation of the shades.

If any of you would like to take a copy of this A4 sheet feel free. A print off obviously won't be as good as the real thing but might be useful if you're trying to work out what shades to buy if you are buying them a few at a time. It will certainly be better than some of the charts that you can find on-line. I bought them all as I sold some unwanted stuff on ebay and was going to buy all 24 then they bought out a new 12 set so I ended up buying all 36. I'm very impatient Lol!

If you would rather make your own colourchart a blank copy of the colourchart can be found here.

I hope you will find this useful - Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Friday 7 January 2011

My new Promarker storage + FREEBIE!!!


Hiya Everyone!

I have finally finished my promarker storage rack that I made with an IKEA DVD rack. This isn't my idea so I can't take the credit - I think it was originally devised by Camilla from Norway. Her cards are fabulous (she designs for Magnolia) so check out her blog here. The DVD rack cost £7.99 and was kindly sent to me by a fellow Docrafter called Karen before christmas as I was pregnant and wasn't able to get to IKEA myself. It takes 14 blank DVD cases (Poundland) and will house all your promarkers neatly and in order. I also bought some small round stickers from Rymans that I coloured in and stuck to the flat end of the pen. I used the official promarkers colourchart and spent hours on word making little boxes to fit along the spines of the DVDs so they listed the colour and had a small box to colour in underneath which I printed on the Rymans white coated card.




As a freebie if any of you want to make one of these for yourself I would gladly e-mail you the word document so you can just print it off to save you doing all the messing about that I did getting it to look right!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

ALL Papermill shops are CLOSING!!!!!!!


Hiya everyone!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I just thought I'd let you know that ALL the Papermill shops are closing. As far as I know the only one staying open is the main warehouse in Kendal which is going to stay open for mainly on-line business only. Some stores are closing as soon as the 15th January so all staff are being made redundant which some have only just found out about which completely sucks. I had a feeling that is was going this way when they stopped doing the hammercard in the boxes,odd shops started shutting and the stock levels were poor. I am gutted as it was not far from me and it was great for basic cardstock. I'm paying a visit with the MIL on sunday to get a few boxes as I think the Fleetwood one at Freeport shuts on the 22nd January. Luckily, I bought a value box of hammercard on-line from Papermill direct after they stopped doing it in the normal boxes so I've got loads of that. It's a good time to stock up now before your local shop closes.

Paula. x

Tuesday 4 January 2011

1st Prize for Cardmaker of the year competition - La Pashe category



Hiya Everyone,

I just thought I'd share a piccy of the prize I received from La Pashe for coming 1st in their category in the Cardmaker of the year competition. I actually received the prize just before christmas but things have been so hectic that I've only just had chance to have a good look through it. There are framing cards, 6 flippin' stamp sets and loads and loads of various decoupage sheets. It isn't my usual style but they make great cards for older people.

For piccies and info on the winning card that I made with a remember when decoupage sheet see here.

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Monday 3 January 2011

Top 5 Cards!!!


Hiya Everyone!

I hope you've all had a great start to the new year so far! I thought I would share with you my top 5 cards of 2010!


(In no particular order)

1 - My first card is the card I made for the COTY competition for the Pink Petticoat category. I came 1st with this card and have won £200 worth of stuff which I think was delivered a few days ago when I was out so I am now waiting till after the bank holiday so I can go and collect it from the post office - it's been ages! For more piccies and info see here.

2 - This card I also made for the COTY competition but for the La Pashe category. It is completely different to anything I have made before and it took me 2 whole days to make it but I was so pleased with how it turned out considering I just made it up as I went along! For more piccies and info see here.


3 - I made this card for my first stint on the Joanna Sheen design team. I had to make 4 cards (2 decoupage and 2 stamped) and this particular one was shown on create and craft tv - I was so chuffed! For more piccies and info please see here.


4 - I made this card for the papercellar category for the COTY competition although I didn't win anything with it but I do like it. For more piccies and info see here.


5 - This card was one of the first cards I made in order to enter some of my first blog challenges. For more piccies and info see here.

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x