Watch the birdie!

Morning everyone...
The rain has arrived here,
just in time for the start
of the Great Yorkshire Show!
The roads near me will be chocka-block,
so I will be staying indoors most of the week.

This is my second Christmas card this year -
I'm building momentum slowly... lol**

I used a smaller card base than usual,
12cm x 12cm,
but made it slightly bigger, by adding the nestie circle at the top.
The stamp is a digital Whimsy,
3D'd and coloured with Copics, stickles glitter
and some glossy accents on the stars.
I sponged the area around the stamp in blue chalk,
but the camera doesn't pick this up very well.

I would like to enter my card for this fortnight's
Magical Crafts Challenge,
where the theme is 'Christmas in July'.
It's my fist time joining in at Magical
and if you haven't come across their blog before,
head on over there
and check out the fabulous DT work.

Stamp - Whimsy Digital - Stars and Stripes Dove.
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye - Signature Christmas
Letter Stamps - MSE Adrienne's
Blooms and leaves XCut Punch
Buttons and adhesive pearls from my stash.

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I CAN DUKAN !!!

I am a happy bunny this morning...
I have lost my first stone on the Dukan Diet.
I have been on the 'attack' stage of the diet for
28 days, so I am pretty pleased with that loss.

This is definitely one of the best 'diets' I have ever followed,
and I have tried most of them at some time or another!!
The great thing about it, is that I don't have to buy
lots of weird ingredients
and I can prepare the same food for everyone.

I have cheated occasionally..
with the odd glass of wine -
but it doesn't seem to have done any harm.
I am even happy for the girls to call me 'saggy bum',
now that none of my jeans or trousers fit me...
and I have warned hubby that he will be
seeing LESS of me in the future..
lol**

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New Online Craft Store

Roll up.... roll up....
for the opening of Emma's new online craft store.

Pop over there and have a browse.

If you spread the word about the new shop
you could win a £10 voucher.
Emma's blog has all the details.

I would just like to wish Emma all the best with her new venture,
and hope that you will all support her
and fill your baskets!!
xxx

Football Crazy

I have gone with a football theme today,
as this weekend sees the final of the World Cup.
It's been a good tournament, with lots of surprises,
just a shame our lads didn't fulfill their potential.
Can't say I will miss those vuvuzelas though!!!

I am entering this card for the
Lili of the Valley Challenge,
so I have used their cute stamp 'Football Crazy',
and followed Dawny's sketch.
The stamp is coloured with Copics,
I paper-pieced the little guy's top
and the football is 3D'd.

Football design paper is Forever Friends.
Blue dashed paper is Daisy & Dandelion 'Picnic Patch'
Ribbon and brads from my stash.
Text is a papermania sticker.

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Comment problems.

Is anyone else having trouble with comments.
When I click to publish a comment, I get an error code
and the comment disappears, never to be seen again!!!
It's not the first time this has happened either.

I then tried to publish the comment from my email,
but it tells me the comment has already been moderated!!!

Hopefully it's just some glitch that will sort itself out.

So sorry if you've taken the time to leave me a comment and it hasn't appeared.
For now, any comments that go astray,
I will copy from my email and see if I can post them myself.
xxxx

Totally Papercrafts #24 Swirls and Pearls

Morning everyone.
It was my first time hosting the Totally Papercrafts challenge last week,
and I want to say a huge thankyou to everyone who entered.
We had an amazing amount of entries,
so make sure you check out the blog to see if you were the lucky winner.

This week's host is the lovely Joanne,
and she has chosen the theme of

'SWIRLS AND PEARLS'

Our sponsor for the week is
Squigglefly
and the winner will get to choose 3 of their gorgeous images.

Check out the blog for some inspiration from our lovely DT.

When I saw the Squigglefly image
Shybear - beary-go-round,
I knew that I wanted to make a carousel.
Easier said than done..
There was lots of swearing during the making of this project!!
lol**

Below is a picture of the basic items I started with...
I used the cheese triangles box as the base,
wrapping ribbon round an old felt tip pen for the centre,
and round 3 skewers for the poles.
I stuck my coloured image to the poles with tape.

The roof was much trickier..
I made a cone shape from card and added some smaller cones at the top.
For the edging, I cut a long thin strip of scalloped edged card,
then cut tabs half way into it and stuck it round the inside of the cone.
Finishing it off with some coloured adhesive pearls.

I have to hold my hands up and say
the poles are all stuck to the roof with blue tack!!!

I didn't want shy bear hiding behind all the horses,
so I trimmed him off 2 of them.
They are all coloured with Copics and stickles glitter.

Design Paper is My Mind's Eye - Magnolia
To finish the carousel off, I cut out a little flag,
glued it to a cocktail stick and stuck it in the roof.

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Sending Donkey Smiles

There is a special event over at A Spoon Full of Sugar this week.
They are hosting a 'Kickin' it for Michelle' card drive and would like you to create a card dedicated to Michelle and mail it off to her.
Michelle - one of their DT members - had an accident a few weeks ago, which has left her with the loss of her right eye.

Whimsy Stamps have made this fabulous donkey image and sentiments
that you can dowload for free, to use on your card/project.
And, Spoon Full of Sugar have some amazingly generous sponsors, supporting this card drive.

I hope Michelle's postman has to carry cards by the sackful to her,
and that they help to cheer her up and let her know that we are all thinking of her.

Digital Stamps - Whimsy Stamps - Sweet Little Donkey,
coloured with Copics and Stickles glitter.
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye - Pretty Please
Adhesive Pearls

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Cuthbert Bear

Silly me... I decided this morning to cut all my nails nice and short
and now I can't get the backing off my double sided tape.
It's driving me crazy!! lol*

This week the challenge over at Sketch and Stash is to make a
CIRCLE card.
A great excuse to attempt my first circle easel card.
using my largest scalloped nestie.

The new stash I used was the cute Cuthbert with Balloons,
which was a freebie from Pollycraft.
Cuthbert usually holds two sets of balloons,
but I trimmed one set.
He is stuck on with foam pads, for that 3D look,
coloured with Copics and some added glitter.

Design Paper is Forever Friends
(but it's lost it's cover so I'm not sure which one it is)
'Thank You' stamp is Personal Impressions 'Mixed Sentiments'
The little heart is a Sizzix die - 'Hearts,Paisley'
Button, ribbon and card candy from my stash.
xxx

Where did the weekend go??

Is it Sunday night already?
Where did the weekend go?
It wouldn't surprise me if David Cameron has made Saturday one of his 'cuts' !!

Having come across the fabulous, Just Us Girls, last week,
I thought I would join in with their challenge again.
This week it's a great sketch to follow and their sponsor is
JustRite.
If you can include a JustRite stamp on your card,
you will also be entered into a second draw.

I don't have any of their stamps,
but that could change if I win this week...
fingers crossed!!
lol**

I went for another 'guy' card,
'cos I need to build up my stock of them,
and chose this cute Forever Friends stamp,
coloured with Copics.
I also made use of those cute Woodware Tool Brads
that I picked up at my local craft store.
I chose the spanner and saw,
but the packet also includes scissors and a hammer!!

Stamp - Forever Friends, coloured with Copics.
Design Paper - Papermania Hampstead
Text Stamp - from the Papermania 'Stamping for Him' set.
Woodware Tool Brads
String, button and card candy from my stash.

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Christmas in July

I am a bit out of practice with Christmas cards,
but seeing as there are only 175 days 'til Christmas Day (eek!!)
it seemed like a good time to start making some.

I managed to dig out my box full of Christmas papers and stamps,
but I definitely need to buy some seasonal embellies.

I came across some mulberry paper (the dark green)
that I haven't used in ages.
If you wet the edges and carefully tear it,
you get a lovely feathered effect.
I 3D'd a couple of mice with foam pads,
coloured them with copics and added some stickles glitter.
I used a green chalk around the image and some yellow,
where the lantern is.
It doesn't show up too well in the photo though.

I finally found a great leaf punch.
My last one - I had to stamp on to get it to cut through anything,
and then it would completely jam!!
This one is from Xcut and it embosses as well.

Challenges I am entering...
Stampin' For The Weekend - Christmas in July and Sandie's Sketch
Fussy and Fancy - Christmas in July
Winter Wonderland - Punch It Out!

Recipe -
Stamp - Penny Black Christmas Critters.
Design Paper - My Mind's Eye - Signature Christmas.
Leaves - XCut Botanical Embossing Punch.
Blooms - Wild Orchid Crafts
Sentiment - Craftwork Cards
Star Charm - The Hobby House
My Stash - adhesive pearls, brad and ribbon.

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Totally Papercrafts Challenge - One For The Girls

Morning everyone... hope you've all had a lovely week.
I managed to get my girls moved in to their new digs yesterday..
and apart from a fridge that frosts up all the time,
a cooker that doesn't work properly,
a leaky boiler and the narrowest, steepest staircase
I have ever come across,
things look great!!!
lol**

I can see us reaching for this bottle of Archers well before the 8th!

I am the host for this week's Totally PaperCrafts Challenge and
I'd like to say a quick thankyou for all your fantastic entries last week.
Pop on over to the blog to see who was the lucky winner,
and the Top 3.

This week the theme is

'ONE FOR THE GIRLS'

So you can get out all your pretty papers,
gorgeous ribbons and girly embellies.

This week's sponsor is the lovely Jules from Daisy Doodles
and she is offering the winner a digital stamp set.
Not only can you get some inspiration from our awesome DT,
but we have also been joined by some of the Daisy Doodles DT.
Please check out their amazing cards.

I chose to do a little project, designed to make my girls come home and visit!
Who could resisit a girls' night in with alcohol and popcorn??
:-)

For my invitation I used the Daisy Doodles image 'Tropicana'.
Coloured with Copics and some stickles glitter.
I made the 'Girl's Night In' text, on my computer.
I also used the image to make little glass charms,
with a small scalloped nestie.
That's the luxury of digital images -
you can resize them to fit your project.

Design Paper - DCWV, Nana's Nursery, Baby Girl.
Card Candy and ribbon from my stash.