Back to Work Syndrome ,Cupcake and Sketch & Stash Challenge

Hi

What a day! It was back to work today after the summer and it was such hard work. I have really enjoyed the break this year after a manic year last year. This summer I have managed to spend time with family and get to know Paul's family even more I know his mother drove me spare last week but at 83 I suppose she is entitled to. I have come to the conclusion that at that age you know what you like and you like what you know and pasta isn't necessarily one of those things as its too bland!!! That's with a mascarpone cheese and tomato sauce but hey I'm no Nigella (except in chest size and the fact we both own a kitchen!)

So this evening I have frantically being making a card for the

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Let's get Digital

http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/

and the

Sketch & Stash Challenge

http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.com



My stash well was most of it.

The digi stamp is called Hollie, that was a freebie.

Coloured it with promarkers.

Paper was a digi- paper from Clipartfairy CD - called Totally Christmas CD

The tag was from a Craft Clear -out buy I made last year and never really known what to do with.

The snowflake stickers were from A Hobbycraft sale at Christmas.



I embossed some old card to put behind the image, and cut it out with spellbinders.

Challenge Cards

As this is the last day of my holiday I thought I would have a go at a challenge card before it becomes a challenge to even get a card made!

There is a challenge on Docrafts website called the SSC Challenge. It was great this week as you had to watch a youtube excerpt and then using the technique illustrated in the video make a card. I decided to marry this with Clare's Sketch Challenge also.

The video clip showed inking over an embossed image so after a number of tries this morning I managed to get a card done. My first attempt was on linen card. I had some scraps left over from the wedding card I made so thinking I was being frugal I used this. Unfortunately it did something to the ink and I couldn't see the image. So here's my entry to

The SSC Challenge on Docraft.com and Clare's Sketch 25/8 - 1/9

Wedding Card TPE

Been busy today trying to make a wedding card for a couple at church who are getting married on Saturday. They are both in their seventies and the most lively couple you could meet. Helen finished the Coast to Coast last year!! I've been to a spinning class this morning and that as rendered me useless for most of the day and I'm only in my 40's!!!!!



Whilst surfing blogs i came across the most beautiful card and contacted the maker. She put me on to the Clipartfairy website. Here you can buy some excellent Cd's. So I purchased the Book a Easel Card CD and have had a go today. The CD arrived a few weeks ago but I didn't have any linen card or pearlescent paper so have had to wait to do it.

Its different from the original as I didn't have the flowers etc and had to improvise but actually even if I say so myself I am quite pleased that it has turned out so well. In fact I am going to enter it in The Pink Elephant Challenge of 'White' for this week!

http://theclipartfairy.blogspot.com

www.theclipartfairy.com

Christmas Bear Card.

Hi made this card for the Just bear Challenge and then forgot to add the embossed card. Found it later!!!! Dizzy Blonde or what!!!

So i am entering it for an Winter Wonderland Challenge, 'Anything Goes Challenge' and the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge instead.

I have the Winter Wonderland challenge down the right hand side on my blog and I thought that would be what they meant when they said link your blog and card to their site but apparently not.

So I am going to try this:

The above card is being entered for the Winter Wonderland Challenge at

http://christmasblogchallenge.blogspot.com

The challenge runs

I havent yet worked out how you get banners to link unless the url is under the banner on the site I want to take it from. Can anyone help me with this?

Create4fun Candy

hi

Over at Create4fun they are offering a Martha Stewart Punch as a candy. Its a beautiful punch. She has over 1500 followers. The site is great but you need to hit the translate button as it is in dutch.

I can't get the picture to link so the address is:

http://create4fun.blogspot.com

Just returned from Seahouses and now face the horrible task of washing and ironing. Wouldn't it be great if as you drove home the washing fairy started on the dirty laundry in the boot and then when you pulled up on your drive it was clean!!!!!!

Why has no-one designed a car that washes on the move ?

Holiday in Seahouses

We have been on holiday for a week in Seahouses Northumberland. It is a gorgeous place. Bamburgh Castle is one of my favourite places in the world. this picture was taken from a great distance. On Monday we walked from Seahouses to Bamburgh Castle along the beach it took 1 1/2 hours as we had our 5yr grand-daughter with us. She was brilliant never complained at all.

Today we took a boat from Seahouses out to the Farne Islands where we saw seals and dolphins, fantastic time. The grand-daughter thoroughly enjoyed herself. She is having a great time, spending the morning either walking or depending on the weather in rockpools. Her great grandma is with us as well this is the first time I have been away with her so I have made quite a few cards!!!!!

I bought a craft room clearout from ebay and it had some Little Claire Design Kits is it. I made them up as they come with most of the stuff. I added some glitter using a Sakura 700pen.

Pink Gem Candy

Hi



Over at Pink Gem they are offering this amazing candy, it includes Promarkers and two great stamps.
Its availanle up until the 1st of September.

Challenge Mad

Oh boy am I hooked!!!

I put this together of the ABC Christmas Challenge that gave you a sketch and challenged you to do 2 or more cards using the same sketch. This is my first attempt.

Challenges

Hi

Had some time yesterday afternoon and decided to make a card for some of the challenges that are around. Being the summer holidays and the weather not being great it has given me a chance to have a go at some blog cards.

I have just purchased some Pink Gem stamps and decided to use one of the images to make a card for both their new challenge and one on http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.com/. It must have been late or I was being true to my name - Dizzy Blonde but I sat for hours trying to get a diamond around the design and still get it to fit on the card. I have just checked on some of the design team cards all I can say is what a bozo! People just stuck the image -cutout- on top of a piece of diamond shaped card. Do you know they allow me to teach as well!!!!!!!!!!

The one on Christmascardchallenges asked to you used a border punch. Well I don't have one so had to improvise and make my own using a punch I had. Anyway the end product looks like this:

It gave me chance to use my promarkers again and also an embossing folder with the cuttlebug. In fact I got so involved in making it I forgot the time and we were going out for a meal for my husbands birthday, with tow other couples. The three men all have their birthdays within a week of each other. So being harassed at the lack of time I then hit the 'I have nothing that fits me any more situation.' Bless him my husband then replies well we''ll just buy some new clothes. You know when you are in that spiral - or maybe its just me- the reply he received was ' I am not buy clothes that are a bigger size etc etc!!!' In all honesty he was in a no-win situation.

I resorted to a huge blouse and a big cardy and off we went the situation got worse as one of the Ladies , who you would mark absent if she turned sidewards then proceeded to say she wasn't having a starter as she needed to lose weight!!!! In the end we had a great evening. the best duck starter I have had for ages. Justified it to myself in that duck fat is the kindest kind of fat you could eat!!

Using a Sketch Challenge

I have spent the week making cards for people and then uploading them. I belong to the Docrafters site and I have a little gallery on there. Then look in the general gallery and think Ohmigod! Some people are so talented. They have the same sketch and come up with the most amazing creations. There are times when I wish I had won the lottery so that I could spend the time just craft making!!! An awful waste of money when there are some many with problems I know, but we all like to fantasise.

My cousin told me once that to be rally good at something you had to dedicate 10 years to it!!! In 10 years time I'll be lucky to be able to take the lid off the glue stick let alone cut things out!!

I tried one of the Sketch challenges and tried to kill two birds with one stone and use the card as my Friendship Swap card. A few months ago I fell upon the LOTV site and bought loads of their stamps, mainly Christmas but also one of a small girl dressed up pouring tea. As I only drink water or tea I have a soft spot of tea-like things!

This gave me a chance to really try hard with my Promarkers and get them to blend and be able to show shadow etc. Being clever -or so I thought- I then put the image through a spellbinder circle die and tried to emboss it like they did on Create and Craft earlier in the day!!! On the first I missed a leg off and on the second she had an open topped hat!!!!! in the end I did the honorable thing and simply matted it on green card!!!!!!

Other cards i made yesterday were for a family friend who is 60 today, not knowing his interests I went for a simple masculine papered stepper card with birthday balloons. I added metallic -like scrabble tiles to spell out the sentiment which just added something.

The third card I made was for my Husband's friend. He is a motorbike fanatic. On this I cheated a bit by buying a die-cut pyramige image of a bike.
Using my promarkers I drew a road down the centre of the card. What I didn't realise was that the promarkers soak through the card hence I had to back the inside of the card!!!

Busy Busy

What an afternoon. My other half went off to play golf and off I set. My secretary is 40th on Saturday and I wanted to make a flashy card for the occasion. I few weeks ago I bought a 'Craft Clearout Box' from eBay and it contained lots of different papers and toppers I wouldn't normally buy. One was a large A4 preprinted card and a Art Deco topper.

I tried my cuttlebug and some spellbinders that I had bought. Unfortunately I don't own a Tan Mat so found I had to do quite a bit of experimenting before I managed to cut out a scalloped shape properly. I have since ordered one off Ebay!!!

Once I had finished this card I started on one for my Godson who is 7 on Friday and a Lego nut. Someone on the Docrafts site directed me to a 'coloring papers' site that had some lego images. I shrunk one and printed it out. Using my promarkers I managed to colour it in. Luckily Lego people are all solid colours making it easier to colour in than the other stamps I have!!!!

I used the Colossal Range called For Him. There was a paper that had the blocks on that could look like Lego if like me your eyes are starting to forget what their job is!!!!

I was playing with my scoreboard and tried the tri-fold markers and ended up with the oddest shape. There is obviously a knack but I haven't found it yet!!

My office now looks like a bomb's gone off in it and I am off to bed. Can't face trying to sort it now its too late.

Back From My Jollies

Arrived back from Scotland last night after admitting defeat with the torrential rain. It was the first time I had spent time in Scotland and loved it. Some of the places we stayed were gorgeous, especially Corrie Choille and another B&B we stayed at in Drumnadrochit along the side of Loch Ness.

We had been in only an hour when the golf club rang and asked if my other half could play in a competition today. Got the feeling he may have warned them he was on his way home!!!! then again. Anyway it has allowed me to spend the today moving from the ironing board ( what joy!!!) and card making. I have a list a cards that need making in the next two days all for this weekend. They include 3 male cards - a 50, a 60 and a nearly 70 card which are proving challenging along with a male 7 and a female 40 along with a wedding card.

This is my attempt at the Male 5oth Birthday card. My printer started playing up half way through and stopped printing blue so everything came out with a 'red/ sunburnt' look!

Corriechoille Lodge Spean Bridge

I have found heaven on earth. Only this time it is not a craft shop!!!! Its the most beautiful B&B I have ever stayed in. A renovated fishing lodge in Spean Bridge Scotland called Corriechoille Lodge. My husband thinks its too quiet but I am in heaven. wasn't sure whether to share its location but think people should know about it. At the moment the weather is not sure what it wants to do so we are waiting a few minutes to see if its worth going for a walk or just staying in admiring the view through the mist and reading.

http://www.corriechoille.com/

We have a magnificent bedroom with a window seat through the trees you can see the mountains. During the night you could hear what I think were night-hawks. Bliss. Just wish I had bought some crafting to do if the weather does turn completely inclement.

Whilst reading blogs I follow this morning came across this one offering promarkers as a blog candy. What a fantastic and generous candy. Check it out at

The blogsite is: http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com

Oh suns out better go. Enjoy your day I am sure I will here.

Penrith Crafts

Today we set off on our holidays. My husband has booked two nights in a hotel in Strathyre Scotland and another two nights in a B&B up past Fort William. The idea being to just drive and stop where we want for in total a week. Our track record with airports this year has been chronic so we thought we would stay in the country.

Our SAT-NAV sent us west across the A66 into Penrith before going north round Glasgow. Having missed breakfast we stopped in Penrith. Here I happened upon Penrith Crafts in St Andrew's Yard. What fantastic shop the staff were great - so helpful and friendly. Sandra was brilliant. She showed me how to use my Cuttlebug using Tan Mats and even gave me the card she had cut out and embossed.

If you get the chance drop in and talk to her. I ended up buying a Sakura 700 pen from her after she showed me how to add sparkle to images without glitter. Even my husband was impressed with her service.


www.penrithcrafts.co.uk

blog is www.penrithcrafts.blogspot.com


We came up with the idea of travelling the country finding great Craft shops with excellent Real Ale pubs nearby. Making it easier for women to spend time - lots of time & money!!!- in a craft shop without the guilt factor, comfortable in the knowledge her other half is being babysat close by!!! Do you think it will take off?

Temper Tantrums

Well as usual I am supposed to be doing something else. In this case packing for my holidays tomorrow but as I was flicking through my favourite blogs I came across this candy from Create4fun. She has had 80,000 visitors amazing but I suppose it helps if you actually put creations on for people to look at. Mine is more the ramblings of a very disturbed mind!!!!!!

Pop over and have a look. Its in dutch but if you scroll down the side there is a translation button.

The link is: http://create4fun.blogspot.com/

Yesterday afternoon a parcel arrived from Create and Craft with the RainyDays Diary Kit in. Its the first time I have bought a kit and had really liked some of the images when I show it on the website. Well all fired up and raring to go I opened it. I must admit my temper frayed quickly and all my craft things were going on ebay after about an hour. I had - rather unusually for me- followed the instructions. I cut the required aperture leaving a 2cm border in the front of the card and then finally got to the sticking of the patterned frame on the front. However the frame doesn't quite fit in the right place and the white card was showing through in certain areas. The double sided tape had stuck this patterned frame down as if its life depended on it and there was no way I was going to be able to remove it. Whilst I am not proud to say this that card was thrown across the room towards the bin. Eventually - a number of cups of tea later- I returned to try again. Again the same thing happened only this time it dawned on me it wasn't my inability to measure or cut but that the frames were out slightly. So I improvised and added a co-ordinated ribbon along one edge and domed- waterdrops along the other to hide the card showing through!!!

Experimenting

Have been experimenting with different pens and the effects they give. The reason being I have bought lots of promarkers and the new- to me- aquamarkers. Not quite got the blending and shadowing right!!







Made these two cards a few months a go and found them when looking for my pens. Was supposed to be tidying my office but have found other things to do!!! If I only put as much effort into doing things as I do into not doing them I would be a top something!!!!



I love this card even if i say so myself. I tried pink ink with pearlescent white powder and then used a metallic pink gel pen to colour inside the stamped image.. then i cut round it and matted onto cream card and cut the same outline. Down the side of the card I added holographic peel offs and a sentiment.





With this card I used a water brush and whisper pens. For the middle matted piece I used a make-up sponge and distressed ink. First attempt at both techniques.