Photo Inspiration

Where is the summer? 24th July and the school holidays are romping by and we still haven't seen much of the sun. We didn't even see much of it in Berlin either which was a bit disappointing!

Anyway, Lisa has a lovely summery inspirational picture for us all to focus on for the current Oldie But A Goodie Challenge, so we can look at it and dream of sunny days!

The challenge this time is sponsored by The Digi Doodle shop and one lucky winner will receive a $10 spend in their shop if they are the chosen winner. Remember though that as well as following the theme, you must also include an item older than 6 months on your card, and let us know what it is.

For my card I went with a Designed2Delight from months back, old papers & an old ribbon, gosh even the sentiment stamp was over 6 months, so this card really is a golden oldie!

Challenges;
Dream Valley Challenges - Summer
Our Craft Lounge - Sunny Days
Patties Creations - Summertime
Poodles Parlour - Use A Digi
The Stampman - Anything Goes/Summer Colours
Fussy & Fancy - Photo Inspiration - Beach pic
Come & Get It - Bingo - Ribbon/Free/Punched Shapes - Orange Ribbon/Candi/Punched Flowers.
Crafty Ribbons - By The Sea
Passion For Promarkers - Feelin Fruity - Fruity images or colours - Tangerine/Orange colour.

Now please head over to the main blog page and check out the other DT cards - there are some beauties there this time so I think we have all really jumped on the sunny theme. Jx

Bugaboo Xmas In July Day 7

Almost finished - if it weren't for the fact I skipped day 4!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 7 - Add a bow, Jx

Bugaboo Xmas in July Day 6

Loved doing this one as I think the image is fab!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 6 - Sparkle & Shine
Willow Sketchie Challenge - Christmas In July
Divas By Design - Anything Goes
I Love Promarkers - Sparkle
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Include Holly or poinsettia - I chose holly. Jx

Bugaboo Xmas In July Day 5

Oops I've jumped this one!

Would you believe it, the family wanted fed & told me to stop making cards - the cheek of them eh!

So, oversight rectified and the next Christmas card of the day is a funny one. Like most Bugaboo images, they are humorous, but this little reindeer in particular just brings a smile to my face!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 5 - Humor,
Stampin With The Dragon - Christmas In July
Clear It Out - Use Red & Green - papers are from last Christmas
Crafters Companion - Ho ho ho, Christmas
Cards For Men - Christmas In July Jx

Bugaboo Christmas In July Day 4

I'm struggling with this one as it's to be a tropical Santa & I don't think I have papers to suit - will move on and come back to it hopefully if time allows! Jx

I made it, I'm back to upload my final card in the week long - day long challenge!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 4 - Tropical Santa - sorry don't have any very tropical papers or embellishments and as the card had to be made to day, I had to use bits I already had! Jx

Bugaboo Xmas In July Day 3

I'm on a roll now, think I deserve a cup of tea once this post is up! Made in under an hour - perfect!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 3 - Use a Non- Christmas image for a Christmas card.
Passion For Promarkers - Down On The Farm Jx

Bugaboo Xmas In July Day 2

This is going to be hard, 3pm, 2 cards made - 5 more to do in under 22 hrs!!!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 2 - Stella Says Sketch
Paperplay - Christmas In July

Bugaboo Xmas In July Day 1

Throughout this week, Bugaboo have been holding their Christmas in July Event, with a Christmas card challenge for every day of the week. As luck would have it, I was on holiday at the beginning of the week, so I was going to give it a miss, but the pull of Bugaboo was too great, & I decided to give it a bash and try for 7 cards in one day!

Is this possible? Who knows, but here's my first card to kick things off!

Challenges;
Christmas In July Day 1 - Kids card
CHCC - Stars - On top of the tree,
Crimbo Crackers - Penguins
7 Kids College Fund - Things With Wings
Die Cuttin Divas - Christmas In July with die cuts - snowflakes & circles.
Cards Galore - WoW Jx

Made Especially For You

Today I am lucky enough to be a Guest Designer with the Made Especially For You team and I'm joining in on there current challenge which is to

Use Three Colours

Sponsoring this challenge is a company called Verve Stamps. If like me, you hadn't heard of them in the UK, check out the link - they have some beautiful products.

So onto my card, I chose the colours Brown/Green & Yellow and made my card using the Bugaboo image "Thanks a Latte". I then generated the sentiment on the computer & added it to the card as a tag.

Colouring as always is by Promarker, papers are MME, Six by Six & the edges were inked with TH distress brushed corduroy.

Finally, to add a bit of dimension to the card, I re-printed the image & layered it with foam pads.

Challenges;
Stampin For The Weekend - Tag
Our Craft Lounge - Tags
Totally Papercraft - Lots Of Layers
CRAFT - Summer - Probably not your typical Summer image, but for me Summer Holidays mean hotels and lovely long breakfasts with lots of latte's!
The Secret Crafter - Food And Drink

Finally, a huge thanks to MEFU in asking me to be a GD, have loved joining you guys and am heading over now to check out you're lovely cards.

** If you are reading this, then it's down to Mr Blogger - we are still on holiday in Berlin at the moment, & no I didn't pack my crafty bits and make this over here! Jx

Typical Tourists!

The last few days, we have gone to places in Berlin we haven't previously visited, but today we decided to do the old favourites.

We started off at the Sony centre - boy that roof always amazes me!

then it was a train ride over to Brandenberg Tor...

By this time the sun had appeared, so we sat for a bit taking in the sights and sounds before buying an icecream and walking all the way back to Alexander Platz. Part of that took us along by the River Spree and all the museums, & look here we both are!

Sadly however, this is the last picture I have of my umberella as not long after this shot was taken, Craig left it behind! Hope it doesn't rain the next few days! Jx

Fri 13th in Berlin

Not a very long post today, and already I have failed on my daily holiday update. That however is obviously a good sign, as it means I haven't been bored and so started blogging!

Today the weather hasn't been so good, it's still lovely and mild, but there has been more rain. It hasn't stopped us getting about though as there are trains to take you all over Berlin. So, armed with our 5 day pass we have ventured into new areas and seen a whole lot more of Berlin & I even found a lovely craft shop - well Craig did!

Below is a pic from yesterday of a street entertainer. He stood for ages smiling and turning the handle of his music box as people passed by and we sat & had coffee. The question is tho... which one's me and which one's the monkey?

Summer Time & The Livin Is Easy

Well it is if you are this little dog!

For today's card, I've used a PB stamp, & some brown wrapping paper which I stamped over with a paw print image. I then Cuttlebug embossed 3 boxes and set them behind the main PB image.

Challenges;
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Summertime - & that relaxing dog
Cards For Men - Happy Birthday
Creative Mondays - For Men
Truly Madly Crafty - Animals
Card Crafters Circle - Summer Holidays - Relaxing!
Stampin Dragon - Dog Card
Top Tip Tues - Male Card

Berlin Wednesday

It's actually quite difficult for me to upload photos from the hotel - surprisingly the computer defaults to German, so a lot of the time it's key position rather than command that pulls me to a button!

Anyway, today has been lovely, 23C and sunny with the occasional light shower - sadly the forecast is for colder and wetter tomorrow.

So today, we headed out on the trains and went to places anew!

This is the Oberbaum Bridge a double deck bridge, for cars below & trains above. It crosses the River Spree and links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former boroughs divided by the Berlin Wall.

And these are the Molecule Men - there are actually 3 men here but the angle of the shot only shows two. They were created by an American artist and appear in other cities too. They symbolise a coming together of men and molecules and a unity within the world.

Flower Power

I'll make this post short and sweet, cause I'm very excited...this morning we fly to Berlin for our summer holidays & I can't wait to get all that airport bit behind me and into our lovely hotel!

Hopefully I'll still have internet access in one of the lounges, so the plan is to keep you all up to date on our travels with a nightly post - I tried this last year when in New York then stopped about 3 days in to our break - my sis & Mum were not impressed so this time I'll try and keep going the whole week!

So, onto the next challenge at An Oldie But a Goodie and it's set by Francesca and it's

Flower Power

A perfect theme for the time of year, & the prize for one lucky winner is 7 digi's from the brilliant Bugaboo. If you aren't lucky enough to win this time, all is not lost as throughout July all their stamps are half price, so join me over there and we can shop together!!!

For my card I used the Bugaboo 5 Flower image and simply coloured it with Promarkers. It's a simple card to match the simple card maker who made it! My Oldie is the ribbon - bought over a year ago. Jx

Challenges;
Catch The Bug - July Anything Goes Challenge
Papertake - Anything Goes
Chocolate Coffee & Cards - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - Here Comes Summer - Summer flowers
Willow Sketchie Challenge - Summer Florals
Di's Digi's - Pile On The Flowers
Just Some Lines - Clean & Simple
One Stop Craft Challenge - Summer Flowers

Crumbs!

From time to time, you get asked to make cards for people and they give you details of what all they want and you go gulp! How on earth can I get a card that ties in with all that. Well I do anyway!

This 50th Birthday card was case in point! For a guy who was fanatical about a tidy kitchen, hated crumbs oh and the ruder the better.

With that remit, this card kept slipping to the bottom of the to do pile, till Colin my son showed my a funny on his iphone - & that's where the image is from. Once picked, the rest of the card was easy!

Challenges;
Fetch-a-Sketch - Another lovely simple on to follow. Jx

A Christmas Star

By now it should be no secret to everyone that I love Bugaboo stamps! I had none last Christmas and now I have loads, thanks in part to their generosity in sponsoring loads of challenges, but also down to the fact they regularly have huge sales - there's one on throughout July where all stamps are half price. That plus Fri Freebies means there's no excuse not to add them to your collection.

A particular favourite set of mine are these lovely Reindeer with their little jumpers and cute faces. Several have already appeared in my blog and today I have tried the monochrome look - minus the nose - it HAD to be red! The papers this time are Winterland by Fancypants and edges have again been distress inked.

Challenges;
Winter Wonderland - Monochrome - I went with brown
The Secret Crafter - Xmas
Stamp n Plus - Anything Goes
Christmas Card Challenges - Monochromatic
CHCC - Funnies - Well I think he's kinda funny/cute!
One Stop Crafts - Coffee & Cream
Crimbo Crackers - Anything Goes
LCI - Christmas In July
Holly Jolly Christmas - Reindeer & Stars

Race For Life

Just wanted to post a big thank you to everyone who supported me in my fund-raising efforts for Cancer Research UK.

So far I have collected in a whopping £202, which I am absolutely delighted about.

The race itself went really well, I wasn't running with anyone, but you don't feel alone when in a field of 4500 competitors.

I am also delighted to say, all my training paid off - I beat my previous race time from a few years back and came in at 32.06 mins.

Now the camera crew for the day ended up being my lovely husband Craig - the boys split off and decided that shopping was more fun than watching the race. Unfortunately however, other than the still shots before and after the race, he missed the lot!

(Why is my body longer than my legs Craig? What angle was this one taken at???)

When I emerged from the links area onto the esplanade, I saw him and shouted - he noticed me as I passed & here is the first action shot, hmmm, no sign of moi!

I then plodded my way along the prom & back & was heading for my usual sprint finish, saw him just before the finish line... & nope, nothing, despite waves & shouts...I was passed & he was still gazing up the field awaiting my finish!!!

(Magnifying glasses out you guys if you want to see me - but it's a lovely pic of the sign don't you think?)

His defence was, well you were all in pink so I couldn't pick you out - instead he took what he called atmospheric shots capturing the scale of the event!

...We all had a lovely day out tho, & I'm chuffed I got off my bum and did something. Jx