A Jolly Little Snowman

This is another old stamp from a transparent Anita's set bought a few years back. I've combined it with papers from my Fancy Pants Designs pad called, Saint Nick.This card is for the current ABC Christmas challenge - V for vintage.

Now you may notice this one doesn't have the new Stamping- Mad watermark on it - that's cause I still can't do it & Colin is in bed so can't show me. However I also wanted to see if I could compose this tonight & get blogger to post it for me tomorrow - another new skill!

Anyway, if this appears Mon morning I can do it! If not...more help required I guess! Jx

Mr Snowman

This old stamp has been on the go for a few years now, but he's still lovely - well I think so anyway! I've coloured him very simply with Promarkers & added some gems to the snowflake. The card has lots of layers - some embossed in snow, all for this weeks Papertake Challenge using their lovely sketch. Jx

Bye Bye Lynn

A friend of mine is leaving work at the Sports Centre I used to work at to follow her career in nursing. I was asked by the staff to make her leaving card and as she worked a lot on pool side I thought these digi swimmers were perfect for the job.

The paper is craft companion's rippled water and colouring by Promarker. Goggles & octopus are glazed for a watery look. The image is from Digi Stamp Boutique so I'm entering it into their monthly challenge.

Finally, it's Alan's 17th birthday today, bought him a Top Gear cake with Stig on the front - his first shottie driving is tonight! Happy Birthday Alan! Jx

City Girl

This is my first card using the newish City Girl stamp from Sugar Nellie. It's one I bought at the end of the summer but never quite got round to using! She's coloured with Promarkers, & the alphabet tiles are Doodlebug.

Clearly this card is for Katie, my friends daughter who will be 17 at the beginning of Dec. It's also for the following challenges;

Saturated Canary - Stitching - around the image & card itself.
Sugar Bowl Challenge - Their Sketch
Crafty Catz - Happy Birthday
The Ribbon Girls - Lilac & green
Crafty Ann - Clean & simple
One Stop Craft Challenge - No Design Papers Jx

Tangled Rudolph

Last week, our family holidayed in New York & besides all the usual tourist attractions, I was advised by my crafty friends to visit The Ink Pad to do a bit of shopping! As luck would have it, they had items I needed to buy!

Even luckier than that, this weeks ABC Christmas Challenge has landed on the letter "U" for unused stash, new or old, so as I was dying to ink up my new stamp it seemed like a perfect fit. The stamp in by Stampington & Company and the papers Saint Nick by Fancypants Designs.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges;

ABC Christmas - U for unused NEW stash
MAWTT - Vintage - I'm hoping the old looking rudolph and darker shades count!
Winter Wonderland - Vintage Christmas - Again Old Rudolph & darker shades.
A Gem Of A Challenge - I so love this sketch!
The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way Jx

Happy Halloween

Well the holidays are over now and the boys are back to school. Don't think they are back to UK time yet as it was two sleepy heads who left for the bus this morning. I don't think I'm quite awake yet either and I can't find my usual camera for cards either - hence the rather washed out, over exposed offering below!

I love this PB Halloween image - pity it only comes out to play this time of year, but none the less, very handy for a number of challenges this week, including;
Crafty Cardmakers - Cute with a dark twist.
Papertake - Spooky Hues
I love Promarkers - Ain't it Cute
Allsorts - Halloween
PBSC - To Cute to Spook
A Gem of a Challenge - Their sketch
Pollycraft - Spooky Goings On.

Papers used are again a lovely freebie from Bearly Mine - Thanks, I love them! Jx

New York Days 4 & 5

Didn't quite manage to do my NY blog diary each day we were away - I did try, but it wasn't always possible to get on line. I will however share with you the highlights of our holiday week, these included;

A trip to the New York Natural History Museum - I liked it, but sadly the guys were a tad bored so we bailed quite soon into the visit. We did however visit the dinosaur floor and Colin and Alan had great fun trying to photograph themselves as if they were part of the display!

On Wed night we swithered between a show or the cinema. In the end, the cinema won as I didn't want to pay a fortune for the boys to be bored again. We went to see Contagion at the iMax. Huge comfy seats and a great film.

On Thursday we went to Ripleys - Believe it or not! A collection of odd quirks of nature and odd displays.

Highlights included the pickled heads - both boys are in jars and the fantastic image of Barrack Obama made out of bubble gum balls.

Thursday night was another highlight when we went back to the Rockefeller centre to go ice skating - great fun although I have really sore legs where the boots cut in - ouch!

Sadly Friday was going home day, so after a late breakfast we headed back to JFK for our flight home. All in all we had a great week in New York so now all we have to do is catch up on our sleep! Jx

New York - Day 3

What a great day today has been. We started off with a family trip to The Ink Pad - and boy did the guys like that! Actually it wasn't quite what I expected either, it was a lot smaller than I imagined and although they had all the big names they didn't have that many in each. That said, I still managed to make some purchases! From there, the day really took off, we walked to the spectacular Grand Central Station and from there headed to Brooklyn Bridge. There we hired bikes and cycled over the Hudson - ACE fun in glorious sunshine. Jx

New York - Day 2

...another busy day.. Started off getting the sub way down to South Ferry then the ferry past The Statue of Liberty to Staten island, then tonight we went to the top of the rock to see the New York skyline by night - very impressive, but a bit chilly without a jacket! Jx

New York - Day 1

Times Square, just up from our hotel.

Hi all, that's us had our first day in the big apple. Brilliant weather (68 deg F) so it was a day to explore on foot. First we walked from Times Square to Central Park. Then up to Macey's and some shops then we finished up walking past the Rockefeller Centre - will explore it another day. Off out for food now, more to follow later in week. Jx

PS We saw the protestors yesterday & the masses of police but they didn't affect us, just made traffic slow moving.

Bear Hugs

This is my final post before we fly to New York & it will have to be brief as I've still got loads to do!

I got this PB stamp from Simon Says Stamp in a prize a few months back, and it's perfect for a number of challenges this week using shades of Autumn.

The challenges I'm entering include;

Allsorts - Bear With Us
PB@Allsorts - Autumn
Fetch A Sketch - Their Sketch
Papertake - include 3 shapes - Circle, Heart & Square
I Love Promarkers - Autumn Colours Jx

Winter Olympics

Couldn't think what to call this post, but Winter Olympics is as good as any cause there are multiple skiers!

So the mini cards, PB stamp, cuttlebug embossed snow and some ripped peaks... & that's it!

Sorry about the shocking colour of the photo - another night shot to make the ABC Christmas Challenge - T for Tiny - 4 little cards. Jx

Christmas Angel No 6

My last angel card out of a set of 6 for a friend.

This time I've followed the Sketch Saturday Challenge layout.

Hmmm - another dark photo! Hope my camera isn't about to play up before we go on holiday! Jx

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

...glory to the new born king!

Using my LOTV Christmas angel, I've made this card for a number of challenges.

Including;
Winter Wonderland - Autumn colours - Gold & brown
LOTV - Let It Snow - Don't have a snow scent LOTV stamp so have included a snowflake.
Crafty Ann's - Inspired by a Christmas Song - I chose Hark the Herald Angels. Jx

Baby Bunnies

This is one of my favourite stamps for baby cards, it's Sugar Nellie Baby Bunny. I've used it to make a baby boy and a baby girl card using the sketch over on the Sugar Bowl Challenge.

Papers again are Craft Companion & colouring by Promarker. Jx

Pretty Sassy

Another Sassy card this week, this time it's Pillow Talk, coloured in pinks. The papers are Papermania, rich green & were a 99p bargain from Crafting Superstore.

I've followed the current sketch in the Sugar Bowl Challenge, so this noe's for it. Jx

More LOTV Angels!

LOTV Christmas Angel & Craft Companion papers - will have to go as I've to be at school for son in 15 mins!

Challenges;

Crafty Catz - Things With Wings Jx

Christmas Time

I have several orders for these Christmas angels, so they are going to be appearing quite a lot before we fly off on holiday to New York for a holiday. Again she's combined with Craft Companion papers and I've followed the sketch in this weeks Sketch Saturday Challenge. Jx

Purple Witch

I love this witchy image from Kirsta over on Saturated Canary & I love the new challenge!

As with my last card, I've coloured with Promarkers, used Bearly Mine papers and added a ribbon & a card candi spider. The flower is made using a Marianne Creatable die.

Challenges;

Saturated Canary - Their sketch.
I Love Promarkers - Spooky Jx

Another Chloe Card!

I thought I'd made Chloe's birthday card for this year, but Alan has decided to send it, so I've had to make another! In contrast to the last pink & girly one, I've gone a bit bolder & witchy - hope she likes it!

The image is a digi off Kirsta Smith's blog Saturated Canary and is of the Sassy range - & I love it!

So, the card uses digi paper too, downloaded (FREE) from Bearly Mine (Love the Halloween paper range - thank you so much for sharing), the spiders are my own invention using card candi, & the orange net band is... off a bag of satsumas! Challenges for this one include;

Papertake - Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons - Halloween
MAWTT - Halloween
Raise The Bar - Hats Off
Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes Jx

Engagement Congrats

This card is for my neighbour's nephew who got engaged a week or so ago and is my 3rd entry this fortnight into the Sugar Bowl Challenge - I do so love their sketches... & stamps! Jx

Football Ted

After my Willow Sketchie success of last week, (thanks Sharon), I was keen to use another of their lovely images in a challenge, so here's another card, this time using Bertie Bear - It's A Goal;

My card is an easel card and follows the sketch layout of the Willow Sketchie Challenge.
I'm also entering it into;
Cards For Men - Sports - Football
The Crafty Pad - One For The Boys
The Squirrel & The Fox - Make it Sporty Jx