Gingerbread basket

A nip and a punch - the first of the month!!!
Wow! Here we are in October already, (although you wouldn't think it with this warm weather we are having) and we have another challenge for you at the CES Challenge Blog.

Our lovely host this week is Shell  
and she has chosen the theme Totally Gorgeous - Pretty Girls


A good excuse to get out all your pretty, girly papers and embellies.

I'm not really a girly girl, but I did my best. 

I made a simple box from card and used a large, doorplate die to cut the shapes, that I stuck to the front and back. I covered the basket with First Edition, Festive Treats DP from Crafty Emma's.

It's hard to make out from these photos, but the little gingerbread hearts are all glittery.

The handle is a piece of card, punched on both sides, with a strip of the DP down the middle and finished off with a little satin bow.

I decorated the front with some pretty blooms, dew drops, card candi, sheer ribbon, swirls and a Catslife Press stamp.

Tilda is paper-pieced, coloured with Copics and sprinkled with Glamour Dust.
I didn't have time to make some real gingerbread men, so, just for fun, I cut a paper one using my Slice machine, inked the edges and added black gems for his eyes and buttons :-)

I thought afterwards, I should have cut a little gingerbread man from the DP and replaced Tilda's cupcake with it - next time!!!

Don't forget to check out the awesome work of my fellow teamies - they have outdone themselves this week -we are also having a little change to the prize this time and the winner will get one Whiff Of Joy Stamp from Crafty Emma's
There's also a great SALE on right now - so head over there and grab yourself a bargain..

Challenges - 

Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter - For the Girls

Simon Says - Anything Goes. - they are trying for 1000 entires this week!This is my second entry.

Totally Papercrafts #45 Christmas Punch !

Hello everyone... hope you are all well, and, if you have snow, I hope you are keeping wrapped up warm at home. It's time for the new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts. HUGE thanks to everyone who joined in last week.

This week the challenge is being hosted by the wonderful Heidi and the theme is

Christmas Punches

So dig out those punches and get crafting... we can't wait to see what you come up with.   Here's my project  -  a Christmas Countdown.   It was 36 days till Christmas when I made this, but now we are down to 

22 sleeps till Santa

This is a really easy card to make and you could use it for a countdown to anything... wedding day, special holiday, retirement day!! lol**

I die cut the squares and added numbers cut on my Slice machine. Then I punched holes in them, and the card and attached them with some blue cord.

The weight of the numbers makes the card want to splay out, so to stop this, I cut a strip of card, scored and folded at each end, and attached it to the insde of the card. If you also score across the centre of this strip you can fold the card flat for storage, or posting.

DP -Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy.   Martha Stewart, Lace Border Punch.    Numbers were cut on my Slice Machine.   Snowflakes are a XCut punch, covered with Diamond Dust.    Text made on my comp.

Totally Papercrafts #41 Tag It !

I am dazzled, I tells ya !! You gals certainly love your 'sparkle'' - we had a fab response to our 'bling it on' challenge last week. Thanks to everyone who joined in - check out the Totally Papercrafts blog to see who the lucky winner is.

This week our host is the wonderful Anne, and her chosen theme is

'Tag It'

There are lots of different things you can do for this challenge - make a gift tag, a christmas tag, or add a tag to a card. Check out the awesome work of my teamies - guaranteed to get your mojo flowing!!

Here's my project - a little set of Christmas gift tags.

This started out life as a 'matchmakers chocolate' box. Don't you just love it when you have to eat the contents of a box, just so you can use it for something else!!
I used green card to make some dividers, so that my tags would sit in nicely,  then I covered the box with DP and added the cute 'Coco and Presents' stamp, from this week's challenge sponsor Digi Stamp Boutique

Don't look too closely at the tags - I cut them with my Slice machine, which can have a mind of it's own sometimes! It doesn't seem to have cut properly on the right hand side.

Anyhoo, I inked the edges, added some embellies and threw some glitter around in the hope that no-one would notice the mis-shapes!

Stamp - Coco and Presents, Digi Stamp Boutique, I paper-pieced the sledge and coloured the rest with Copics and stickles glitter.

DP - K & Co Peppermint Twist, which also contained the die cuts I used on the tags.

Slice machine - Fa La La Design.

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Anyone can be an Angel !

My 'Clean & Simple' cards can be pretty hit and miss - I just can't stop myself reaching for the embellies  :-)
Can you see here? Those pearls were just screaming at me to be added - they virtually jumped onto the card themselves !!!

There are NO mistakes on this card! Can you believe it? I hardly ever make a card where something isn't quite right. Ok, Ok... stop trying to find something :-))

I would like to enter this card for a couple of challenges...
Keep It Simple - fast becoming one of my favourite challenges - where the theme this week is 'Take A Bow'.
Fussy and Fancy - fab DT work to inspire you - theme is 'Winter Wonderland'

Stamp - from the Penny Black, Christmas Critters set, coloured with Copics and Sakura Glitter Pen.
Design Paper - Memory Box, Spiceberry.  
Large snowflake cut with Slice machine ( Fa La La Design Card ) and covered with Diamond Dust.
Adhesive pearls coloured red with a Copic.  Red Ribbon from my stash.

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Totally Papercrafts #38 Autumn

 Is it Friday again already??   Then it's time for another challenge at Totally Papercrafts.

This week the fabulous Sue is hosting our challenge and she has picked the theme of 'Autumn'.

I don't know what it's like in your part of the world, but Autumn has well and truly arrived here in Yorkshire.

The temperature has dropped and the leaves are falling from the trees. I love this time of year and  I can't wait to see all your 'Autumn' projects.

We have some wonderful new DT members too - so please pop by their blogs and say hello to

Tammy - Kizzy Designs, Sarah - Stressed Stamper and Heidi - Crafty Goat Girl.

I decided to go with Autumn colours and try my hand at a 'shaker' card.

I knew I had a couple of plastic, coaster kits, left over from my cross-stitching days. It took a lot of rummaging and a little swearing, before I finally found them. I put a good amount of 'autumn' coloured seed beads into the coaster, then my coloured image and then snapped the back into place. I used Glossy Accents to stick the coaster to a piece of scalloped card.

I like the way that Heidi and Madison look as though are knee deep in beads... kind of like standing in a heap of leaves!

The DP is Basic Grey, Max and Whiskers. Stamp - High Hopes, Heidi and Madison, coloured with Copics.
The corners were cut with my Slice - Parties Card and the banner with the Slice 'Pink' Card.
Banner text is a Personal Impressions stamp.   Beads and Ribbon from my stash.

Hope that you will find time to join in our challenge and have some fun.    xxx

You can never add too much glitter !!

My craft desk, the floor and the dog,  are now all covered with a fine sprinkling of glitter  

I think I got a bit carried away.  :-)

Challenges I would like to enter...

Friday Sketchers - A Great Sketch presented by Beatrix
Creative Cottage - 'Bling it On' - I think there's enough bling on this card   :-)

Stamp - LOTV James Bear, Deck the Halls. Coloured with Copics. I added some fine red glitter to the tinsel
wrapped around him and some glossy accents to the baubles and star.
Design Paper - The red is K & Co, Peppermint Twist, and the rest is Memory Box, Mistletoe.
Snowflakes cut with Slice, Fa La La card and covered with Diamond Dust.
Blooms made with a XCut punch, and outlined in a Clear Star Sakura pen. The centres are Card Candy covered with Frosted Lace Stickles.
Lace from my stash.

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Away in a Manger

Hello everyone, it's a damp and dreary day here today, so I am practicing my 'photography with flash' skills !!
Here's another card to add to the Christmas pile..
This is the first outing for my LOTV stamp - isn't it just adorable - I really tried hard to do it justice with my Copics.
I have also discovered my new favourite thing... a little Sakura Stardust pen,
that I got from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. It so easy to get a nice, thin line of pretty glitter - check out Mary and Joseph's headbands.

 I would like to enter my card for the following challenges...
Papertake Weekly - 'Favourite challenge from the last 3 years' - I just love Dawny's sketches, they are great to follow and really make the stamp the star of the show, so I chose one from June (No. 43), that I didn't get to use first time around. Papertake also have a fabulous Birthday Blog Hop, so pop on over there and join in the fun.
Winter Wonderland - 'Jesus is the Reason for the Season'. Warning: Do NOT look at their Christmas Countdown Clock... you will panic... :-)
Allsorts - 'Inspiration from a Song Title' -   Away in a Manger

Stamp - LOTV Mary and Joseph,  coloured with Copics and  Sakura Stardust Pen
Design Paper - GCD Ella Blue.
Snowflakes - Cut with Slice machine ( Fa La La Card ) and covered with Diamond Dust.
Blooms - XCut punch, edged with Sakura Stardust Pen, with pearl centres.

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Two presents are better than one!

Just got time to post my second Christmas card of the weekend, 

before I open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and settle down for a night slumped in front of the TV!

I was VERY naughty last week, and despite being totally skint, I persuaded hubby that I NEEDED some Christmas stamps.This is one of three stamps that I chose from the gorgeous selection at Lili of the Valley.

It's coloured with Copics and some gold stickles glitter.

Challenges - 

Fussy & Fancy - Mindy's fab. Sketch

Stamp with Fun - Stuffed Animals

Winter Wonderland - Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly + Red/Green

Stamp -  Lili of the Valley - Xmas Ted presents for 2
Design Paper - Memory Box, Spiceberry
Holly leaves cut with Slice machine - Fa La La design card, for the berries I coloured the pearls with a Copic pen.
Sentiment - Craftwork Cards
Martha Stewart border punch.

Ribbon from my stash. 

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O Christmas Tree

Morning everyone... hope you are all enjoying the weekend.

We have a bit of blue sky here in Yorkshire, but it's pretty cold and windy out there.

A good day for staying inside and cooking and crafting.

Hopefully I will have some treats to show you later :-)

Here's a card I made yesterday - I tried something a little different.

I layered my card and design paper up and stitched it in place. I cut some trees with my Slice machine and added them with foam tape. The paper is glittery already, but I sprinkled on a little extra and stuck on some adhesive pearls. I stamped the Merry Christmas text.
It needed something adding in the corner, but I just didn't know what! I ended up cutting a small tag and adding the bow, snowflake and button. I'm not really sure it works - especially the colour! What do you think?

Challenges - 
ABC Christmas - T is for Tree, with an optional extra of 'buttons'.


Here's a close up -   it's hard to see, but there is a lot of sparkle and glitter on this card.

Slice machine - trees and snowflake were cut with design card 'Fa La La'.
Snowflake was covered with diamond dust, trees with stickles and adhesive pearls.
Martha Stewart 'Arch Lattice' border punch.
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye, Signature Christmas.
Merry Christmas stamp is Catslife Press.

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Totally Papercrafts #35 It's a Kind of Magic

Well, you all loved Carol's 'Happy Birthday' theme last week, and we had loads of fabulous entries.
Pop on over to Totally Papercrafts to see who won the prize.

This week our host is Ria and she has chosen the theme of

'A KIND OF MAGIC'

We want to see anything with an element of magic - witches, fairies, wizards, magical creatures.....
If you need some inspiration check out the awesome work of my teamies.

If you click on their names it will take you to their blogs.
Don't forget that it's the last challenge of the month and that means that our sponsor is the amazing
Simon Says Stamp. Check the blog to see what the prize is.

I admit, I was a bit stumped on this challenge
until I thought of the most magical time of year - Christmas.

I layered up my card and design paper, and stitched it all into place.
I wrote the sentiment on my comp and then added the Pollycraft digi image.

The image is coloured with Copics and some stickles glitter.
I added a silver bow to the ribbon, popped on a snowflake, covered in Diamond Dust,
and placed a pearl in the centre.

Finally I added the swirl, which is a mixture of pearls and crystals.

Stamp - Pollycraft Digi 'Bronson & Beaker' coloured with Copics and stickles glitter

Design Paper - Memory Box
Snowflake cut with Slice machine - Fa La La Design Card, covered in Diamond Dust.

Pearl & Crystals - Say it in Pearls

Martha Stewart Border Punch

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Behind every great man there is a woman rolling her eyes!!!

I think I've finally cracked it... I have found my 'style' for men's cards - 

nice and simple, with not too much going on..

just like a man!!   :-)

For this card I followed Jay Jay's sketch at Simon Says Stamp
and would also like to enter for the 'Anything Goes' challenge at Charisma Cardz

This was another quick card to make - colouring the image taking longer than anything!
I stitched the card, DP and ribbon  in place and then cut the centre shapes on my Slice machine.
I love how this machine will cut a shadow of your chosen design ( as long as you design card is MS+)
These were then stuck down with tape and then Edwin went on top, using foam pads.
The stars were also cut with my Slice and stuck with foam tape.
I edged the small stars with some glitter and added the sentiment to the larger one.
Then finished off with some card candy.

Stamp - Magnolia 'Guitar Edwin', coloured with Copics.
DP - Daisy & Dandelion 'A Winter's Tale'.
Slice machine with 'Parties' Design Card
Card candy and sentiment -  Craftwork Cards

Life is better on two wheels!

I had a mad scramble this morning, as I looked through  my stash of 'male' cards and found nothing suitable for my BIL's birthday at the end of this week.
He's into motorbikes, infact, at this every moment he and my SIL are travelling around Europe on their bike,
Bingo!  I found this bike image over at Bird's Cards. Have you been over there? Not only does Bird make  amazing cards, but she also generously shares her digital images and lots of other goodies.

This was a very quick and easy card to make - once I had layered the paper and card, I coloured the image with Copics. The star was cut with my slice machine - which also cuts a 'shadow' star. Great for layering.

Then I added the sentiment to the centre of the star, the spotted ribbon and the adhesive pearls.

I would like to enter the following challenges...
Stamptacular Sunday - 'Grid'

Cupcake Craft - 'Transport'

Spoon Full Of Sugar - Anything Goes'

Digital Stamp from Bird's Cards
Design Paper - Daisy & Dandelion 'A Winter's Tale'
Star cut with Slice machine - 'Parties' Design Card
Sentiment - Craftwork Cards
Black adhesive pearls and ribbon from my stash

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Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree. ( Emily Bronte)

Well, Autumn seems to have well and truly arrived. My tumble dryer is working overtime and it won't be long before we have to fire up the central heating!!   I love it!!    It's my favourite time of year, and if I'm very lucky we will have a nice thunderstorm before too long!

Here's my latest card, using some lovely Autumn colours.

I followed Dawny's great challenge sketch over at Just Magnolia - which sent me scrabbling around in the kitchen cupboards looking for something to draw around for the large circle. I eventually found a glass sundae dish that was the perfect size!!
The tag was cut with my slice machine and I added some DP to the centre. Then I cut out my Tilda, coloured her with copics and stuck her on with foam pads. I used a punch for the small flowers, nipped the petals together to give them a little shape and added an adhesive pearl to the centre. I used card candy on the tag and the corners and finished off with some stickles glitter and the birthday sentiment.

I would also like to enter this card for Craft Yours Days Away - 'Girly 'n' Glitter'. ( Is it girly enough?? )
                                                  and  Allsorts - 'Colours of Autumn'

Stamp - Magnolia 'Flower Power Tilda'
Design Paper - Memory Box 'Blackbird'
Tag cut with Slice Machine - Basic Elements
Blooms - XCut punch
Card candy and sentiment from Craftwork Cards
'Diamond' Stickles glitter.

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Eat, drink and be scary!

Do you celebrate Halloween?
I don't think it every really caught on around here.

I did all the trick or treating when the girls were younger,
but last year, I don't think we had a single caller!

Shame -  I had to eat all the Halloween candy myself!!!

I made a little 'trick or treat' basket using the very easy template from

  Clear and Simple Stamps Blog.
It's only small, but I managed to fit a couple of bags of Mini Oreos inside. These bags are joined together in two's and as I ripped them apart, one split open, scattering Oreos everywhere. It was a mad scrabble between me and the dog to see who could grab the most. I think she won!!

For my card I used the lush memory Box paper 'Blackbird''.
It's so gorgeous that I didn't want to cover it up too much.
I paper-pieced a lot of my stamp and coloured the rest in with Copics.
I added the 'Oct 31st' text and a few adhesive pearls, colouring them black with a copic pen.

I would like to enter this for a couple of challenges, first of all Fab 'n' Funky, where the theme is "What'eva".
This means you can make anything you like!
And secondly Simon Says Stamp - 'Holiday Fun'.  Simon Says are also running a Stamp-tember Hop, that you DO NOT want to miss out on. Check their blog for all the details.

Recipe - 

Design Paper - Memory Box, Blackbird.

Stamp - Pink Gem Designs, Milly with Pumpkin.

Oct 31 cut with Slice machine - Fa La La design card.

Advesive pearls, coloured black with Copics.

Glitter Reindeer

I have been a terrible blogger recently, but in my defense, I have had a new toy to play with. I got a

Making Memories Slice machine for my birthday  :-)

So I have been playing at cutting out shapes and getting used to the machine. I already know I am going to LOVE it!

Here is my first card using it. It's a little bit different to my usual style, mainly because I used no stamping,

but the more I look at it, the more it's growing on me...lol**

My Slice machine cut the reindeer, the large snowflakes and the small tags.
I covered the reindeer with Diamond Dust, and I used a punch for the centre of the snowflakes,
then added a pearl and some stickles glitter.

I would like to enter for the following challenges 

Sketch Saturday - Jeanette's Sketch. (Now I have looked at the sketch again, I have missed out the strip across the middle, so just delete me if I don't qualify to enter!)
A Spoon Full of Sugar - 'Animal Crackers'.

Making Memories Slice - 'Fa La La' Design Card
Xcut Snowflake Embossing Punch
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye, Signature Christmas
Stickles glitter, Diamon Dust and Adhesive Pearls

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