Friday 27 March 2009

And the winner is........

Erin!!! who's comment was the 9th as chosen by the random number generator.... many congratulations to you. I hope you enjoy playing with these lovely Doodlebug goodies. I am ever so slightly reluctant to let them go, but I will!

I'm completely overwhealmed at the response I had to my blog Candy. Thank you all so much for entering and leaving such kind comments, each and every one is very much appreciated.

Thank You.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Its my Blogoversary Today!!! so I have candy to give away!!!

**THIS BLOG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED**
**THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED AND LEFT SUCH LOVELY COMMENTS**
** THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TOMORROW MORNING**

Today is my first Blogoversary! I can’t believe its been a year since I first started my blog. I've had so many lovely comments which are all greatly appreciated! So as a way to say thank you to you all, I thought I would offer some candy! I’ve actually been planning to offer some blog candy for a while now. Originally I was going to do it for my 30th birthday back in October, but never quite got around to it. Then I thought I’d do it at 10,000 hits which I’ve since passed and still not done it!

I thought I’d go with the Doodlebug theme as I absolutely love everything that is Doodlebug! As you may have noticed by now!
Included is:
1 Paper Potpourri set
1 Pack of Boutique Brads
1 Pack of Silk Flowers
1 pack of Boutique Trims
A Mini Accordion book and
A pack of clear dome stickers.
I will also include some stamped images too, so if you take a look through my blog and chose the ones you like I will send 20 Images, mixed or all of the same design, printed onto high quality cardstock using Stazon Ink.
If you would like to be in with a chance of winning, all I ask is that you leave me a comment and a link from your blog. You have until next Friday, 27th March at 10pm to enter. I will announce the winner on Saturday morning! Good Luck!

Saturday 21 March 2009

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day everybody! My hubby bought me a nice cup of tea in bed this morning and I was given a lovely bunch of tulips and a little magnetic bookmark that my little boy, Adam made at pre-school. I've then spent the morning at my Mum's this morning out in the garden as the weather is lovely again, but a little cooler than yesterday! My parents are coming round so we can have tea together tonight, so I'd better get the oven on soon! I've been dying to share these with you, they are what I've made for my mum for Mothers Day and now she's got them its safe to post. Knowing that she comes on and reads my blog now, I have to be a bit more careful! I decided to try out the criss-cross card and this was the first one I made. The papers are Basic Grey, Sugared Collection and Doodlebug Tickled Pink cardstock.
I decided that I would have a go at making her a gift this year instead of buying the usual flowers & chocolates. I spent a bit of time over at Splitcoast Stampers looking for Ideas when I came accross the Stationery Box in the Gallery and thought it would be perfect! I've used the same card and paper as I did on her card and also the same Tilda image.
Inside I've made 6 notecards, at the back, 6 matching gift tags and 3 small love notes. There is a little holder for stamps and a small notebook. Here are some instructions if you want to have a go at making one. The lady has also done a video tutorial which is about 20 mins long, but really useful. The box itself was suprisingly easy to make, it was the contents that seemed to take the most time.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and Mum likes it too which is the main thing! Hopefully I'll be making a few more of these as gifts now I've done the first one.
Also, just a quick Thank You to everybody who has entered my blog candy and for all the lovely comments I've been receiving. They are all very much appreciated!
Hope you all enjoy the day, and the rest of the weekend!

Sunday 15 March 2009

Not really sure where to start.....

.....so here is as good a place as any! I've had quite a productive card making week this week. I've spent quite a lot of time looking through my Stampin Up catalogue, not that I can afford to buy anything, but it doesnt cost to dream! And that led me to spend a lot of time over at Splitcoast Stampers. I've tried a couple of new techniques, for me anyway, and I'm actually really pleased with the results, which makes a refreshing change.

First of all I've made a criss-cross card. I've also made a little stand for the card as I think it looks better when its all together. I'm really happy with this card and was suprised at how easy they are to make and how effective they look. This is the first time I've ever used these papers, they are part of a making memories set I got when I was in America in 2007!
Whilst I had the papers out, I thought I'd make more use of them with another Edwin image and this time I've tried the joy-fold card. This is a great layout, and one I'm sure I'm going to use a lot more. Its quite hard to get a clear picture of how the card opens, but basically the Edwin image opens to the right and then the red panel opens up to the left. It's like a card within a card.I saw a card on SCS which really inspired me. It basically had a stamped tree/leaves image in a circle with a sentiment and that was the main feature of the card. Immediately I thought that I could re-create something similar using the magnolia stamp I got in the Christmas sale, and here it is! This was my first attempt, using a pink and black colour combination which I really like. The sentiment is from a 99p Studio G set.And here is another attempt, only this time I've printed the sentiment from the pc before stamping and cutting out the squares with my nestabilities. I really wish I had some more sentiment stamps, they are at the top of my wish list but the pc ones will do for now, it can be a bit of a pain having to print them off though. I love this colour combination of dark brown and a sage green. To colour the images all I've used is my Whispers pens and a blending pen.

And again, but this time in burnt orange and dark brown, lovely!

These cards were so simple to make and yet they are some of my favourites so far. I think I'll be using these colour combinations on a lot of my cards from now on. Also on the last three cards I decided that instead of making my usual A6 card which opens from the side that i'd flip them to a tent fold. I've made a few more in different colours, so I have a whole set of them, but these were just a few of my favourites, I didnt want to bore you with all of them!

As I said I've had a very productive week and there are even more cards that I'd like to share with you, but I'll save some for another day. I didnt realise until I started blogging them, quite how many I'd made.

Thursday 12 March 2009

Buttons, Buttons and more Buttons

It's Sunday evening, 15th March! I actually started to write this post a few days ago now! oops! but I got carried away with more card making so it got pushed aside. I think I've used up my mojo for this weekend though, so thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up with my blog.
I saw a card in a magazine a year or so ago now and I kept the image thinking that one day I would have a go at that as I really liked it. After raiding my mum's button jar the other day, here is what I came up with. All of the buttons are threaded onto a white ribbon, which was a little bit fiddly but I quite enjoyed doing it. I really like the combination of the orange and greens. I've done a pink/brown/yellow version too, but I think I prefer the first one.
I'm not really sure what inspired me to make this next card, but it didnt go the way I had intended it to, but it seemed to turn out ok in the end. The papers are Pink Petticoat. I think the pink and black combination is really striking. The sentiment is one that I've printed myself using paintshop pro, and I've then added a flower and a brad to the centre.

I was asked by a friend to make a Ruby Anniversary card. As soon as she asked me, I knew that I wanted to re-create a card that I made for my mum's wedding anniversary back in August. I bought these little red roses from ebay, and they are the most perfect little paper roses I've ever seen. I've layered the card using gold mirror card and a deep red doodlebug cardstock.I had a day a couple of weeks ago, where I sat flicking through some old magazines looking for inspiration, when i came across a card which featured a little paper pieced computer. And here is my version! i cut it all by hand and eye, nothing was measured! I think the grey/red has quite a masculine feel to it. This card reminds me of the office where my husband used to work and all the furniture was red and grey. It had a real 1980's feel to it! I've re-created the little computer for another card to but this was my favourite!

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Blog Candy Alert

Viv will be celebrating her Blogoversary on Friday 13th and is offering some yummy candy, pop on over to her blog if you want to be in with a chance of winning!

Caz is also offering some fab Birthday Blog Candy, check out her blog, its fab and a great source of inspiration to me!

Monday 2 March 2009

Handbags & Gladrags

Hi everybody! I've got a few cards to share with you today. I have two of my Nephew's birthday's within 5 days of eachother, and wasnt sure what to do for either of them! I had stamped this Sugar Nellie Pirate previously and just needed to colour him in. I'm not really sure about this card, but I think he liked it which is the main thing. The map is part of an Epsom kit which I've tried to age and distress slightly. The background paper is from the DCWV Rockstar Stack, which I absoloutely love but don't like to use! I have distressed the edges around the pirate, its my first attempt at this, I used the edge of my craft to do it but I think I may well have inhaled some of the dust!This card is a copy of a design I used last year. I thought I'd keep it reasonably simple and it only took a few minutes to make.And here are the Handbags & Gladrags! I was flicking through my Pink Petticoat Folder on my PC the other day thinking that I'd hardly used the Lola's Boudoir collection that I so desperately had to buy last year! So I printed off a few sets of shoes and matching handbags. I've also used one of the Pink Petticoat papers which I've just re-coloured to co-ordiante with the different coloured shoes. Each handbag and pair of shoes has been cut out and stuck on with foam pads. I've used my trusty scalloped edge punch too and simply added some ribbon and some adhesive stones.
I think this first one is my favourite. I love the combination of lime and pink together. It feels very fresh and spring like!
I really like this burgundy and grey one too. Not a colour choice that I would normally go for but i think they actually go well together. And finally a bit of a red and black spotty one!

I've admired this Penny Black stamp for quite a while now and it is on my "Wish List" but I thought I'd try it out before I make the purchase so I bought a few stamped images from ebay to have a bit of a play with. My colouring is not great though! I love the look of these baby cards. I don't normally like to leave too much white space on a card but I think thats what baby cards need!

Well my aim for this week is to get some Easter cards made along with a few Mother's Day cards, which is coming up on 22nd March. I have a couple of Ruby Anniversary cards to make to which I'm looking forward to making. I've just received a delivery with the supplies I needed so I'd better head off and start creating!