Crafty Emma's Store DT and Candy

Emma has just announced her design team for Crafty Emma's Store Challenges.

Are you one of  the lucky DT members?
She has picked some awesome talent and I can't wait for the first challenge, which starts on Sat 28th August.

Until then Emma has delicious candy up for grabs - check her blog to see the details.
xxx

Monthly Candy Draw

Check out Aud Sentiments 

for info about their new, monthly candy draw.

This month they are being sponsored by 

DeNami Design Rubber Stamps
who are offering a whopping $30 certificate to one lucky winner,
to spend in their store.

Wouldn't you love to get your hands on that?

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Totally Papercrafts #29 Rainbow

Good Morning everyone,
well, from last week's entries over at Totally Papercrafts
it looks as though lots of you
' like to be beside the seaside, beside the sea! '
Check the blog to see who the lucky challenge winner was.

This week's host is Joey,
who is hopefully well recovered from her bout of flu.
Joey has chosen the theme

'RAINBOW'

So get your spades ready and let's go and find that pot of gold!!
You can add rainbows to your cards, or nice, bright rainbow colours
and if you need some inspiration check out the fab projects from the DT.

Here's my project - a mini mailbox.
Actually it's not that 'mini',
there's plenty of room in there for goodies..  lol*

I used the fab template from QBee at splitcoaststampers
I must have made a mistake somewhere, as I did struggle to get it all to fit properly.
It took some extra cutting, some strong glue and quite a bit of swearing... lol!!

I covered the mailbox with some 'rainbow' paper
added some blooms and the cute little Toga with Flowers
from Sew Many Cards,
who are this week's challenge sponsors.

Then I filled the mailbox with, what else, but Rainbow Drops.
Always a favourite here...    :-)

Mini Mailbox - covered with DP from My Mind's Eye, Magnolia
Digital Stamp - Toga with Flowers from Sew Many Cards, coloured with Copics.
Blooms and Card Candy from my stash.
'You've got treats' made on my comp.
Martha Stewart lace border punch.
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Christmas Production Line

Have you started making your Christmas cards yet ?

Head over to the  ABC Christmas challenge,

where their theme is 'Quick and Easy'.

They have a great sketch for you to follow

and the extra challenge is to make more than 1 card.

A great way to start your Christmas card pile, or  add to it.

Some Christmas cards just lend themselves to having a little production line going.

I get everything cut out, coloured and ready to go,
and then it's just a  matter of assembly, when I have some spare time.

 I got to ink up my new Catslife Press stamp for this card.

I  love the cheeky  'Fa la la la la ' saying.

They do other cute text stamps too and

Crafty Emma's Store has a good selection.

You have to be quick though, as they go like hot cakes!!

Emma is expecting more stock next week,
so keep checking her store, if you want to get your hands on some.

I coloured my Forever Friends stamp with Copics and added some glitter.

Now I realise I NEED a real life sparkly dressing gown, just like this one!!!

I'm sorry, I can't remember what the DP is -

it's from last year and has long since lost it's cover!

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My Favourite Things and a New Challenge Blog

 

Calling all you challenge-a-holics,
have you seen the new blog

Craft Your Days Away.

They opened the doors on Saturday,
and because they are a fortnightly challenge,
you still have plenty of time to get your entry in.

The first challenge, set by Joanne, is

'Favourite Things'

 

As you can see from my card, my favourite things are

mice cakes !!!

 

I have followed Claire's great sketch over at Sketch & Stamp
and I thought my Penny Black stamp was perfect for the
photo inspiration challenge at Stamp Something,

I 3D'd the little hedgies (and their feet) and coloured with Copics.

I added glitter to the icing, and the flowers
and think I might go back and add some
around the candles too.

Stamp - Penny Black Party Pooped.
DP - My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary (magazine freebies)
Sentiment - Craftwork Cards

Back to School

I used to love the summer hols when my girls were younger -

having them at home
and making up lots of fun things to do.
I know it's not everyone's idea of bliss though -
so hang on in there if you are starting to feel frazzled -
only another 4 weeks to go... lol**

The thing I like about challenges, is that they make you try something different
and push you out of your comfort zone.

This card certainly did that, I'm not really sure about using the bright colours,

but that was the challenge over at Allsorts

'Red, Blue & Yellow'

I also used the great sketch by Emma at
Sketch Saturday
and followed Stampin' for the Weekend's

'Back to School' challenge.

I used this cute Digital Delights stamp of the school bus.

I wanted to make the characters look like they were sat in the bus,
so I cut out an extra bus layer and used foam pads to 3D it.

Stamp - Digital Delights School Bus & Sentiment, coloured with Copics.

Design Paper - Papermania Basics - Vibrant.

Buttons from my stash.

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Snowflake Layer Cake

This took a little longer than a normal sponge cake,

but the results were well worth it...

Definitely a big hit!

If you feel like giving it a go here's the recipe by Carole Walter.

325g Plain Flour
4 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

175ml Milk

125ml Water

225g unsalted butter at room temperature

325g caster sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsps vanilla essence

1 tsp coconut essence

5 large egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Buttercream - you can make your own, but I used a tub of Betty Crocker Buttercream Icing

200g dessicated coconut.

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4
Grease two 9"  round,  2" deep cake tins and line the bases with non stick paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together three times. Mix the milk with the water.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed cream the butter until very light.

Gradually add 225g of the sugar, taking  6 - 8 minuted to incorporate it. Beat in the egg,
then the vanilla and coconut essences.

(I had to miss out the coconut essence as I couldn't find any!)
Fold in the flour mixture alternatively with the  milk and water, beginning and ending with the flour.

Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.

Add the remaining sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating to form a soft meringue.

Fold into the cake mixture and divide the mix between the 2 cake tins.

Bake for 30 - 35 mins, or until golden brown and coming away from the sides of the tins.

Leave in the tins on a cooling rack for 15 mins. The turn out and remove the non stick paper.

Leave to cool completely, then fill and coat with buttercream and cover with the dessicated coconut.

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Relax... it's the weekend.

Are you relaxing today?   I hope so.

I am in a cooking mood, after seeing the goodies at Cherry's blog.

So I am planning a tea of 

*Smoked slamon with creme fraiche and horseradish*

*Duck with blackberries and roast veg*
*Snowflake layer cake*

The diet can wait 'til Monday...lol**

But first I want to show you this Kickstand card.

It's the first time I have made one of these,
but I thought it would be perfect to show off the delicious Websters papers.

You cannot believe how hard it was for me to cut into these.

The technique is easy - just trim away the bottom of your card front,
and attach your extra piece of card, making it level with the bottom edge of the back piece.

The beauty of this card is that you can play around with the size and shapes.

It's hard to get a good photo the card when it's open...
but I'm sure you can get the idea.

I would like to enter this card for a couple of challenges..
Aud Sentiments, where the theme is 'Relax...'
and Secret Crafter, where the theme is 'It's a Man's World'.

Stamp - LOTV little boy relaxing, coloured with Copics

DP - Webster's Pages, Seaside, Garden & Nature.
Sentiment made on my computer.

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Totally Papercrafts #28 By The Sea

Morning everyone..

It's Friday again, so that means a new challenge at

Totally Papercrafts.

This week the lovely Sue has chosen the theme of

'BY THE SEA'
 We want to see the ocean and mermaids, beaches and boats..

or, of course anything else that fits the theme.

We are being sponsored by AI Factory and they will be offering
one lucky winner $10 to spend in their store.

Check out the awesome DT work if you need some inspiration
and leave us a comment so we know you called by.

Here is my card, using digi stamps from the AI Factory.

I used round nesties to cut out a frame for the 'porthole',
adding small brads around the edge.
Then I placed this over my water scene and added the mermaid on top,
with foam pads.

Stamps - Ella Under The Sea Set, coloured with copics and stickles glitter.
Design Paper - Papermania Capsule Collection Aqua
Papermania adhesive shimmer dots.
Sentiment made on my comp.
Martha Stewart lace border punch.
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It's so tweet !!

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

to re-decorate Maria's room, now that she is away at Uni again.

I have scrubbed, sanded, glossed and emulsioned.... 

and it's not fun anymore... lol**
Just got to persuade hubby to do the wallpapering on Sat now...

So, this morning I finally got some time to craft
and I  decided to have a go at one of these sweet little backpacks.

I would like to enter this for the Simon Says Challenge,
where the theme is 'Sing it Baby'.

The song I chose is...   

Little Green Bag
Now, you may think that you have never heard of this song,
but take a listen, the first few bars are instantly recognisable.
Are you jumping to the left... and to the right ???

For the backpack I used the brilliant template and instructions by
Mary at Splitcoast Stampers

Do you want to see my deliberate mistake...  ??

I should have to stuck the pink flap inside the bag,
so that it wouldn't show.
Never mind... only you and I know that...   ;-)

Mini Backpack is  in green card.
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye 'Wild Asparagus'

Bird and sentiment stamps Impression Obsession 'Life is Tweet'
Ribbon and brads from my stash.

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One Frosty Morning

I so wanted to try this challenge over at Winter Wonderland.
I thought that using
'NO DESIGN PAPER'
would be easy.... silly me!!
This took me ages!

I was going to pick a couple of my fav Xmas card designs
and make more of them nearer the time.
I think this one will be good to use -
it won't take long to run a batch of these off and I could
always try it with a different stamp.

I would also like to enter this for Stamp Something's
'CHRISTMAS IN JULY' Challenge.

Stamp - from Woodware 'A Winter's Day' set - coloured with Copics
Stickles Glitter 'Crystal' added around the edges of the papers and on the stamp
Large Silver Pearls from Crafty Emma's Store
Ribbon from my stash.
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