My Favourite Things

Well this one will either sink or swim, and I'm so hoping swim, as it's Mrs Duck's theme over at MAWTT and she has really excelled in picking

My Favourite Things

as our latest challenge theme - BUT read on my friends - Mrs Duck never does things by halves - don't follow the theme literally instead think of Mary Poppins and the song...

"These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things"

the lyrics are on the MAWTT blog and they are the theme - how creative is that! (I'm lovin this one - aren't you???)

So sing along as I did till you reach your favourite thing and surprisingly... I went with... "whiskers on kittens!"

I rummaged through all my cat stamps - and quite a few are whiskerless, but then as luck would have it, a challenge win and the chance to gather more Bugaboo images and low and behold, this little Christmas number appeared!  Isn't he gorgeous - even if a tad grumpy!  He's called Crabby Cat Christmas and is available here.

So, colouring was by Promarker, papers by First Edition - Festive Treat and tags by LOTV and there we have it!

Challenges;
CHCE - Anything Goes
A Gem of a Challenge - Christmas Critters
Catch The Bug - Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Kitties - Wasn't sure if this cat believed in gifting ...his face says it all!
Brown Sugar - Tag Your it - sentiment tags
ABC Christmas - W - Wild Thing - well my cat is!!!
Crafty Catz - Winter
Christmas Card Challenges - Anything goes
Come & Get It - Lots of sparkle - hat as glamour dust & glossy accents
The Glory of Christmas - Glitter or shine - glamour dust & accents
Papertake - Christmas Critters
Jx

Torch: A case to carry old batteries!

Today's card is one that I've been meaning to make for a while.  The image has been sitting all coloured for weeks, but it never quite made it onto a card!

Today however, under the pretence of tidying, I have now managed to clear said image off my desk!

So my card uses a Bugaboo Gus image, coloured with Promarkers, and LOTV tags and gems.

Challenges;
Little Red Wagon - All About Boys
Creative Card Crew - Masculine
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Passion For Promarkers - Spots or Stripes
Come and Get It - For The Boys
Catch The Bug - Anything Goes
SSW2 - Sketch 70

Hats & Scarves

Morning all

Today I'm hosting the challenge over at MAWTT and I have chosen

Hats & Scarves

as the current theme to run for the next two weeks, hope you all approve?

So for my card, I'm using a new stamp that I bought from Hazel when she was having a clearout!  Isn't it a beauty - and so up my street with that gorgeous cheeky cat!  So I've gone with Autumn colours and LOTV papers and this is what I've come up with, with lots of layers and ribbons to complete my card.

Challenges;
Creative Card Crew - Fall
Papertake Weekly - Animal magic - Well it had to be a cat didn't it!
Tuesday Throwdown - For a child
Our Crafty Corner - Autumn Colour
Penny Black & More - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensation - Sew special - Faux stitching
Crafty Catz - Autumn Colours
Ribbon Girl - Anything Goes
Passion for Promarkers - All the trimmings
I Love Promarkers - Autumn

Just won at The Ribbon Girls Challenge - thanks guys!

Santa Claus

It's a lovely sunny morning here and I've been up since 5 as I heard ice-cream boy get ready for work!  I did try getting back to sleep, but that just wasn't going to happen, so instead, I disappeared upstairs and popped Santa onto a card!

He was the Friday Freebie over at Bugaboo a few weeks back, and I'd already coloured him, so all I needed was to paper piece the bauble and assemble my card.

Challenges:
Catch The Bug - Bingo - Button/Paper-piece/Bugaboo
Creative Knockouts - Paper piecing - the bauble
Crimbo Crackers - Something cute
Crafters Cafe - Christmas in July
Crafting for All Seasons - Christmas in July
I Love Promarkers - CAS

The Bugaboo 5th Christmas in July Challenge - Day 7

Last day today of the Bugaboo Christmas in July event, and what a busy fun week it has been!  Seven cards in seven days - a challenge for sure, but luckily I was home based this week and could join in each day.

Today's closing challenge was to use the Friday Freebie and to pick a present from the penguin parade below!

Greedy me, I chose 2 presents - Animal/Fabric/Image and Ribbon/Image/ Stitching
- I am a bit of a rascal when it comes to presents!

Friday Challenge - Friday Freebie & a Penguin Present - Day 7
 - and this is what I created...

So for my makes I used The Rudolph image, coloured him with Promarkers then stuck a little version onto my jar of marmalade and tied it up with gold ribbon.  The marmalade lid was covered in checked fabric as was the base of the card - it's not paper, it's material with a sewed edge and a frayed border!  The card is kept simple and just finished with a fish tail tag buttons and a sentiment.

Challenges;
Catch The Bug - Day 7
Christmas Stampin All Year Long - CAS
Crafting With Friends - Anything Goes
Daring Card Makers - Christmas in July
Winter Wonderland - Traditional Christmas Colours( red & green )
CRAFT - Christmas
Cutie Pies - Cute as a button
Christmas @ Sweet Stampin - Oh Deer
ABC Christmas  - N - Not a card - I did do a card, but I also did a jar of marmalade with fabric hat and matching tag.  (Marmalade homemade this week, yum!)

The marmalade was home made this week from a tin of mamade (- I so love homemade marmalade it's so much nicer than shop bought!) It is a little gift to accompany my card, so as well as receiving gifts, I also enjoy giving, Jx

The Bugaboo 5th Christmas in July Challenge - Day 6

Afternoon all, day 6 of the Bugaboo Christmas event and my penultimate card for the challenge! Today we are working from a photo for inspiration, so for me, cards couls have gone in one of two ways, beach or snowmen.

So guess what went on my card?

...Snowmen!

Today's design is a simple stepper using a Bugaboo image and Ooh La La papers again - I do like these snowflake sheets from the Shawn Jenkins Collection and if you hadn't already guessed, I love my stepper card die too!

Thursday Challenge - Photo Challenge - Day 6

Challenges;
Catch The Bug - Day 6
Come And Get It - Christmas
Papertake - Don't Be Square
Holly Jolly - Winter Wonderland Jx

The Bugaboo 5th Christmas in July Challenge - Day 4

How are all my fellow crafters doing today?  Any more of you joining in with the Bugaboo Christmas in July week long challenge?

That's us just over half way now and with a different theme each day, by the end of the week we should all have a nice varied selection of cards all ready for Christmas.

Today we are working with a recipe challenge which is to include, 3 embellishments, 2 design papers and 1 piece of either ribbon or twine.

So, bearing all this in mind, I went with, an old favourite of mine a Bugaboo Reindeer with Candy Cane. LOTV papers and tags and card candi embellishments.

Tuesay Challenge - Recipe - Day 4

Challenges;
Catch The Bug - Day 4 - Recipe
Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Oh Deer!
Passion For Promarkers - Candy Crush - Christmas candy cane
SSW2 - Sketch Jx

The Bugaboo 5th Christmas in July Challenge - Day 3

Day 3 already and I have now doubled my Christmas card total for the year - Thanks Bugaboo for getting me going on these!

Also, the party's growing! Buddies Sarah and Wendy have shown interest now and will hopefully jump on to the Bugaboo band wagon! Love it when all my friends join in - it's like DT friends re-united!  I wonder who else I can get involved!

Back now to the challenge and today it's colours - not really your traditional Christmas ones, but hey it's a challenge so we weren't really expecting reds and greens were we!  Instead we got,

Monday Challenge - Colour Challenge - Day 3

So, that got me stumped for a bit... but then I found an elf and a stack of presents and I got to action with my Promarkers.  And this is what I came up with;

So, for this little beauty, I went CAS.  Just brightly coloured and cut out my elf and popped him on top of a Merry Christmas die cut sentiment.  Obviously glossy accents and glamour dust were again involved...well it is for Christmas!

Challenges;
Catch The Bug - Day 3 - Colours
Sweet Stampin - Christmas
Digi Choosday - Christmas in July

All That Glitters

Welcome everyone to the latest Challenge over at Ooh La La, and it's a first time for hosting by the lovely Deborah.  She has gone with the lovely theme of

All That Glitters

So this one is wide open for both birthday and Christmas makes - in fact any sort of makes as long as they are glittery!

For me, I decided to make a start on Christmas cards - shamefully this is my first Christmas card of the year! I used a fantastic image form the CD Festive Funnies, layered it up them sprinkled with glamour dust.  The result...

and a close up,

Trust me, there was a lot of glitter on this one - perhaps more on me now, but it was added!

Challenges;

Crafty Calender - Christmas in July
CHCC - Include a sentiment
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Kitty Bee Designs - Christmas in July
Winter Wonderland - All That Glitters
4 Crafty Chicks - No stamping
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes Jx

Prize from Craftybren's Embroidered Embellishment

Plain Jane

I've got a new toy - two actually all because of Sarah  (not Debs this time!!!)

It's a stepper card die used to make the card below only the die was too big for my big shot so I needed to buy the bigger plates - but plates are boring so I got the new teal coloured Grand Calibur instead and I love it!

So, back to the card - kept it simple with a few dies and paper piecing. The stamp is a beautiful All Dressed Up one which I love, well actually I love most of their stamps!  And the papers, LOVT Country Meadow.

As for what's new, well Colin is now back working at Mackie's Ice-Cream and Alan is loving working with the oil company Nexen - both just Summer jobs.  And as for me, well the phlebotomy went well last week, real blood has now been drawn and my training is ongoing.

Challenges;
All Dressed Up - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Oh so Pretty
Passion for Promarkers - No squares allowed
Top Tip Tuesday - Cut it out
Crafting When We Can - Paper Piecing
Glitter n Sparkle - Include a die cut
Crafty Calender - Fancy Folds
Chocolate Coffee & Cards - Pearls
Crafty Catz - CAS
Stamping Sensations - Dies & Punches Jx

Spring/Easter

So, Spring has sprung and we are now into British summertime, brrr! Hope you all remembered to change your clocks.  Not so hard to remember nowadays with mobile phones automatically moving the time over for you, but I know in the past, when the boys were little I was caught pretty and couldn't understand why Corrie wasn't on at it's usual 7.30pm - so it took me till then before I noticed! Oops

Anyway, back to the latest challenge over at Ooh La La and this time it's Michelle in the driving seat, and she has chosen

Spring/ Easter 

as our theme, and as I'm doing a Birthday card I chose lovely tulips, they are a Spring flower right??? Hmm, will have to check that actually cause that's us into Summer and still no tulips, so forgive me if my gardeners world facts are not quite accurate!

My card today uses a gorgeous Shawn Jenkins art set again from his lovely Collection CD.  All that was added was a ribbon, pearly flower and sentiment.

Challenges;
Crazy 4 Challenges - Lets think Spring
Speedy Fox & Friends - 255 - Birthday card with butterflies
Creative Corner - Spring has Sprung
Crafty Ribbons - Anything goes with ribbon
Creative Knockouts - Spring is in the air
In The Pink - Lots of layers - The layers aren't pink but the paper & flowers are, hope that's enough?
Crafters Cafe - Spring flowers
Crafty Creations - Chevrons or stripes - stripes
Paper Shelter Challenge - Blooming
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Add A Little Dazzle - 67 - Spring Inspiration
Jx

Crafty Creations Challenges Winner! Thanks ladies and thanks Beccy's Place for my prize.

Inspirational Challenge

So, it's back to the "A" Team over at MAWTT and Carole is hosting this week with a lovely inspirational photo for us and here it is,

It's up to you whether you use the colours or image as your inspiration... or both!

I went with the colours, and picked the following Promarkers as my starting point ;

Soft Green/Ivory/Baby Pink/Salmon Pink and Warm Grey 4/5 - not sure how helpful that was though as once the image was coloured, finding papers to match was a bit tricky!

Got there in the end though with a double sided sheet from MME - The Sweetest Thing and a sheet from my MME Lost & Found pad.  The image is a gorgeous kitty one from LOTV.

Challenges;

Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Dies & Punches - Filigree and fishtail dies
Creative Card Crew - For a child
Papertake - Anything goes  Jx