Candlelight Friends

I love easel cards, but I have yet to master taking a decent photo of one, especially on an overcast day like today - so, apologies for this rubbish picture!

 I really enjoyed making this card - I think it has every kind of bling on there..lol** The image is coloured with Copics and I decoupaged the holly leaves and added some gems for the berries. I LOVE the way the 'candle wax' turned out - after colouring it, I added a thick layer of Glossy Accents.

 Challenges - 

Allsorts - A great sketch to follow this week.

Stamp Something - Digi Day - you can use any digi image you like.

Secret Crafter - Sparkle and Shine

Die Cut Dreams - Snowflakes

The image is a cute Digi stamp from Cuddly Buddly. I don't know why I haven't come across these before, besides having a fabulous range of craft goodies, they also have digi stamps and printable decoupage sets. There's even a great freebie section for you to give their stamps a try.

DP is a mixture of Memory Box Mistletoe and Spiceberry.

The crystal gems I used were clear, I just used a Copic to colour them red.

The snowflakes are an XCut punch, covered with Diamond Dust.

Behind the image is a narrow, glittered and embossed strip. I bought this thinking that it was stick on ribbon, but it turned out to be a transfer - it's from Daisy and Dandelion.

Sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

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All ruffled up!

I tried something a little different on this card, but I don't think it quite worked. I have been seeing some lovely ruffled ribbon lately and wanted to give it a go. I wasn't sure how to ruffle up the ribbon, and I ended up folding it over as it was going through the sewing machine. The result is that the ribbon is flat - not the effect I wanted at all. So if anyone knows where I'm going wrong, please let me know. Or, you could do a tut and show us all (wink* wink*)     :-))

 

 I used the fabulous Mary and Joseph image from LOTV, coloured with Copics and a Sakura glitter gel pen on their headbands. The Fa La La stamp is Catslife Press and my DP is My Mind's Eye, Signature Christmas.

I cut the large snowflake on my Slice machine ( Fa La La Design), covered it with Diamond Dust and added a gem brad in the centre. Then I trickled some stickles glitter around the edges of the stamps.

Challenges - 

 ABC - H is for Holidays, it doesn't have to be Christmas, you can choose any holiday you like.

 Lili Of The Valley - Anything Goes (Any make of stamp or digi ) and a Blog Hop, with the chance to win some of the gorgeous LOTV stamps.

Totally Papercrafts #42 Black and Purple

How far can you throw an Epsom printer? I am seriously thinking of hurling mine down the street. It seems to have a mind of it's own at the moment. Hubby says that screaming at it won't get me anywhere - but I find it helps!! :-))

Well, 'tis Friday today and that means another challenge over at Totally Papercrafts. Our fabulous host this week is Tammy and she has chosen the theme of...

Black and Purple

Visit the blog to see the wonderful prize on offer this week, from Mandi Moore and check out the gorgeous creations from my teamies.

Here's my card....

This is the cute Party Edwin from Magnolia, who doesn't get out nearly as much as he ought to! He's coloured with Copics and a little stickles glitter.

I used  liquid pearls (platinum)  for the dots on the black card. The sentiment was cut on my Slice machine (Parties Design Card). DP is Papermania Capsule Collection, Heather and Mono. Ribbon is from my stash and I coloured the adhesive pearls black with a Copic.

Bah Humbug !!!

Can you believe there are people out there that actually don't like Christmas!!! And my brother is one of them, so when I saw this image I knew it would be perfect for his card. :-)

This cute 'gruffy little gnome' is from Meljen's designs, and is coloured with Copics.

I made the little 'Bah Humbug' tag on my comp - if anyone would like it, it's on my side bar (just right click on it and save it to your comp).

 Challenges

Papertake - A fab sketch by Dawny, with the chance to win a WOY Christmas stamp.

A Spoon Full Of Sugar - Sonja would like to see 'Snow/Snowflakes' and Bunny Zoe's Crafts is this week's sponsor.

Top Tip Tuesday - Use any image or sentiment. Check out the fab tutorial from Dawn, on how to get started with Copics

Meljen's DT and Challenge - Just got time to get my entry in for their '3 different shapes' challenge. Mine are the rectangles, the circles of the card candy and the snowflakes.

Stamp - Meljen's Designs, Gruffy Little Gnome        DP - Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy
XCut punched snowflakes.

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Forever Autumn

Help! Calling all you eagle-eyed stampers.   This is one of my fav stamps, but I just can't decide if the little girl is reaching for a flower, with her left arm - what do you think??? Is that her hand around the flower???

I used  my fav. papers for this card - Websters Pages - they're so gorgeous, you don't want to cover them up. I did manage to keep the cute little squirrel  in one corner!

Challenges -

CES - 'Forever Autumn'.  I decided to stick with browns for my card, but check out the fab DT work on the challenge blog for some rich Autumn colours. Emma is offering a fab embellie box to this week's winner.

Stampin' for the Weekend - a great sketch from Sandie, with a twist - you must add a butterfly to your creation. The prize up for grabs this week is a $25 voucher from Simon Says.
 

Stamp - GCS Artstamps, Little Girl    coloured with Copics.

DP - Websters Pages Triple Collection.          Gems are Papermania Mosaics.

Butterfly is a XCut punch.      Butterfly and around the image is sponged with Distress Ink, Antique Linen      Lace ribbon from my stash.

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Bonfire Treats

There were quite a few bonfire and firework parties around and about last night. Hope that everyone that went to one had a great time and kept safe.
Suzie let out the odd yelp when she heard the fireworks, which wasn't too bad - at least she was more in tune than Wagner was last night!!!

Here's my Coffee Walnut Cake - looks good eh??? Don't be fooled, it actually looks better than it tastes!!

I was disappointed with the cakes, they came out a bit flat and didn't taste of much. The best bit was the coffee buttercream - I had to stop myself from eating the whole lot with a spoon, straight from the mixer!!

Here's the recipe if you want to try it out.

This is definitely toffee for grown ups - it has that strong, almost bitter, black treacle flavour - and it's hard to stop eating it once you start!

It's very easy to make, with just 3 basic ingredients.

Christmas Kiss

*Happy Birthday to Sue*

today is Sue's birthday and I hope she is having a wonderful day. If you have 5 mins swing by her blog, check out her fabulous work and say hello.

Here's a quick card from me, before I head into the kitchen to make a coffee walnut cake!!

 This is probably about as 'traditional' as I get with Christmas cards - at least it is red and green!!
I used this cute stamp from Digi Stamp Boutique, colouring it with Copics and adding some little crystals as buttons and some polar white flower soft as their fur trim.

Challenges -

 Just Cute Bears & Friends - A great sketch by Helen ( you can now use any animal image on these challenges, not just bears )

A Spoon Full Of Sugar - 'Relish to Embelish'.  My embellies are the 'crystal' buttons, the 'flower soft' fur trim,

ribbon, card candy and 'diamond'dust' snowflakes.

Stamp - Digi Stamp Boutique, Eddie and Jemima Xmas Kiss        DP - K & Co Peppermint Twist

Punched snowflakes covered with Diamond Dust.         Card Candy and Sentiment from Craftwork Cards

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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Let it snow... just not yet !!

Now that we're in November, I need to step up my Christmas card making - here's one I made for a good friend,  I know she will appreciate the non-traditional style.

 I used the gorgeous 'First Snow' digi stamp from Sassy Studio Designs   coloured with Copics. I 3D'd the girl and coloured the background in with a pale green Copic and some stickles glitter. The green doesn't show up too well on the photo!!

Challenges
Sketch Saturday - Fab sketch this week and the chance to win some gorgeous Christmas stamps courtesy of The Craft Barn.
Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Use a Christmas digi image, with the prize on offer being 5 digi stamps from Prairie Fairy Designs.
Top Tip Tuesday - Create a 'Christmas Inspired' card or project or leave a top tip and check out Carol's great tutorial on how to stamp on candles.

DP - Memory Box a mix of 'Misteltoe' and 'Spiceberry'.       Fa La La stamp is Catslife Press.
'Let it snow' is a little button - I just snipped off the back.
Card candy and ribbon from my stash.

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Calorie free chocolate !!!

Put 'eat chocolate' at the top of your list of things to do today - then at least you'll get one thing done!!!

Here's a 'calorie free' chocolate, caramel card.

I had another go at 'distressing' with this card - it's not really my thing - but I quite like the way it turned out. I also sponged the background, behind Anya - it's done with a papermania copper coloured ink and, in real life, has a shimmer to it that the camera just doesn't pick up.
Anya is 3D'd and coloured with Copics, and I added a couple of little pearls to her shoes.
I love the ribbon - I found it at the bottom of my ribbon box and I think it came from a box of chocolates!

 Challenges -
Friday Sketchers - Great sketch by Claudia and the chance to win some fab digis from Lauretta's Digital Stamps
CES Challenges -  Who can resist Sandie's 'Chocolate Caramel' theme? With the chance to win a gorgeous My Mind's Eye button box. Check out the DT work for some yummy, chocolate caramel projects!!!

Stamp - The Greeting Farm, Miss Anya Dressy       DP - Daisy and Dandelion, Picnic Patch

Raffia Lace from Bunny Zoe's Crafts                       Square Gems are Papermania, Mosaics

Ribbon and adhesive pearls from my stash.

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Witchie Witchie, Screamie Screamie, Happy Happy Halloweenie !

Have you carved your pumpkins and got your witches outfit ready?? Hope everyone that's trick-or-treating,
or partying this weekend has a great time.
I don't really celebrate Halloween, but I can still use it as an excuse to make some treats!!   :-)

This is my second ever attempt at Toffee Apples. The first time was a disaster. My daughter and I made some last year and, when we went to check them, all the toffee had slid off the apples !!!
This time I remembered to clean them in hot water first, to remove the wax.

Chocolate Fudge Spider Web Muffins.
I've never done this spider web pattern before and I think the icing nozzle I used was too large, but it was fun making them and I'm sure they'll taste delicious.
You can find the recipe  here

Easy Toffee Recipe
400g golden caster sugar        1tsp vinegar        4tbsps golden syrup.
Put the sugar into a pan with 100ml of water. Heat for 5mins until the sugar dissolves.
Stir in the vinegar and golden syrup.  ( You can add a touch of red food colouring if you like.)
Boil to 140C - take off  the heat
Swirl the apples in the toffee, let the excess drip off and place on baking paper to set.

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