Let It Snow

I know the title of this post is let it snow - but please don't.  A few years back it did start snowing in Nov - and the ground remained white till the following March - what a nightmare so no thank you! We did have a covering of the stuff this weekend too, but luckily it hasn't hung about.

It is however acceptable to feature snow on cards, as that is what Debs is after as she picked the challenge theme of

Let it Snow

over at Ooh La La.

The image I've used this time is not off an Ooh La La CD but is infact printed from the digital download section of the Ooh La La site - there are other sheets too, so if you haven't checked them out, it's worth a visit.  Last time I used this image I just used the topper, but this time I asked at HQ if there were papers to match... so Wendy made me some! (Thanks Wendy, what a star!)

So here is my latest offering...

I printed the image twice, layered up the candle inset, then added sparkle to it by clear embossing the oval. Tags are LOTV and the twine and pearls are from a favourite of mine, The Ribbon Girl, and were infact part of a prize a month or so back, so thanks Mary & Andrea for my goodies.

Challenges;
Alphabet Challenge - t  - Tis the Season
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Shades of Blue
Papertake - Let it Snow
Creative Craft Cottage - 52 - Christmas
Winter Wonderland - 1,2,3 - 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embs - pearls
CD Sunday - Sprinkle of snowflakes
My Time To Craft - Let it snow

Finally I'd just like to say this is the last Ooh La La challenge of the year as we all take a well earned Christmas break.  Look out for us back again next year when our new challenges starts back on Mon  4th Jan.

and finally finally I just want to thank all the ladies over at Ooh La La for a great year on their DT, I really have enjoyed it, love the CD's and can't wait for the new releases next year.  Happy Christmas Teamies! Jx

Tree Trimmers

As Christmas is fast approaching I thought I better put a bit more effort into making some cards, so today I set about a batch of thin colourful CAS cards ideal for posting.

The image is a new one to me, by Sassy Cheryl - I paid full price for it a few weeks back, but if you're quick you may be able to snap up a bargain as it's on special just now!

Colouring as always is by Promarker and my sentiment added directly to the card front using Serif Draw, (thanks Colin for the lesson!)  Finally the card is finished with my festive favoutites, glossy accents and glamour dust.

Challenges;
CHCC - Red & Green
Brown Sugar - No DP's
Christmas Stampin All Year Long - Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs - Frosty Snowmen
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Christmas Trees
Sparkles Forum Christmas - Christmas Decorations
Cutie Pies - CAS/Cute/Christmas
Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Stars
Jx

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

Pearls & Lace

Morning all and welcome to the latest challenge over at Ooh La La - chosen by Avril and it's

Pearls & Lace

A lovely feminine theme and perfect for the decoration of the card I made to celebrate my son's, girlfriend's 21st!

So, in a change from the norm, I did not use an Ooh La La image, instead I used a family photo then co-ordinated it with papers off 2 Ooh La La CD's. ( The Shawn Jenkins Collection and The Paula Oakley Collection to be precise available here.)

I love making cards using old photos, but it can often be the hardest bit getting papers to match, that's why it was so handy having so many CD's to hand.

My card also encorporates lots of die cuts for the embellishments and obviously the compulsary pearls and lace.  Then to finish off the birthday set, I made a little gift bag to hold a Nomination charm.(Tutorial Link Here)

So that was my take, the DT ladies have some beauties on the main blog page so do check them out too.

Challenges;
Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Fab n Funky - Die cuts and/or punches - die cuts
Papertake - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Challenge 51 - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girls - Nov - Anything Goes - with lace

...and just for completeness, here is a photo of the birthday girl at her 21st party;

Alan's Scrapbook

Once Upon A Time...

Baby Days

Brothers

Sun, Sand & ...Snow!

School Days

Happy Days

Sports Man

Action Man, Birthdays & Christmas

Dressing Up

Happy Holidays

So that was my bit, then it's over to Alan's girlfriend who was going to complete the book with pages from school & Uni. Jx

Happy 21st Birthday Alan

Today's post is all about Alan, our first son, born on the evening of 27/10/1994, and today he turns 21 and we are off out for an Indian meal with him tonight along with Colin, Christy & Chloe - so more photos of that later.

First, a pic of action man on a card, this time play surfing at Banff beach.

and next, 3 studio pics of him at the milestones of 3, 6 and 12 months.

Sorry picture quality isn't the best - it's photos of photos - never the best!  Later this week, I'll share some more pics with you as I upload scrapbook/photo album pages I laid out for him.

Shadows of the Skies

I'm working a bit ahead of myself here, card made and post written and its not even October!
It is however the start of a new challenge over at Ooh La La and by now it's almost the end of October! (Hope you are keeping up with that irrelevent intro!)

So todays challenge is set by Allison and it's

Embossing 

One of my favourite crafty techniques - probably cause it's so easy!

So my card uses another gorgeous image off that great Paula Oakley CD (the one I'm always using!)  This time I've used, Shadows of the Night Sky.  The image is decoupaged and the papers are also off the CD. Finally a ribbon and sentiment complete my card.

Challenges;
Alphabet Challenge - R for ribbon
Brown Sugar - Anything goes
Creative Corner - No stamps - CD image and papers and computer generated sentiment
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Dream Valley - Use Blue
Jx

Halloween

Half way through October now and that can only mean one thing when it comes to challenges...

Halloween

Yup folks, Amy have chosen Halloween as the latest theme over at MAWTT.

Not a type of card I have much demand for I have to confess, but it gives us all a chance to play with some of the lovely witchy images that are out there.

For my card, I chose to use my Ooh La La CD - Without Words and a super little witchy.  The only thing this little image lacks is a cat - otherwise she is perfect!

Challenges;
Artistic Inspirations - AG + Halloween twist
Dream Valley - Halloween
Get Creative Challenges - Halloween
That Craft Place - Halloween
Crafty Calender - Halloween
Creative Corner - Halloween
FabnFunky - Make it square   Jx

Pretty in Pink

Today's challenge over at Ooh La La was chosen by Wynn and she's looking for

Pretty in Pink.

And after looking through my various Ooh La La CD's I decided to make a baby card using this lovely stork and papers off the Yesterday's Memories CD.  There's a matching blue stork which I will need to make up to complete the pair.  

It's a simple card with an added charm and lots of decoupaged layers.

Challenges;
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Not Just Cards - Anything Goes
Crafting When We Can - Whimsical with wings - whimsical enough? Storks don't really deliver babies!
My Sheri Crafts - Pretty & Pink
Glitter n Sparkle - Use some pink
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Cutie Pies - Pink  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

Let's Get Krafty

Hi everyone, my DT duties seem to come like buses - nothing for 6 months then one hard on the heals of the other!  This time its my Ooh La La DT hat I'm wearing as I tell you about my latest challenge there, which is...

Let's Get Krafty

And by that I mean use kraft card somewhere on your project. Below you will see my effort, with kraft tags, border trim, 40 and tags - along with it as the mount.

My image and papers today come from The Shawn Jenkins collection - one of the older Ooh La La Cd's, but it's still available to buy here.

Challenges;
Crafting for All Seasons - Layering it up
Paper Shelter - Birthday Card with a sentiment - sentiment tags
Cute Card Thursday - Things with wings - all those butterflies
Crazy 4 Challenges - Blue Jx

Good Luck

What's this??? A card and it's not DT work!!! Unheard of this year I know as there has been a lot going on in my little life, but I wanted to make a card for my son's girlfriend who is just starting University and I wanted to wish her all the best.  Like me, she loves her cat, so this All Dressed Up image seemed perfect for the job.

So, my card again uses that amazing stepper template, a sheet of Ooh La La printed paper and LOTV tags.  Colouring is by Promarker & the letters are Doodlebug.

Challenges;
All Dressed Up - Challenge 41 -Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Anything goes
CCC Digi Creations - Anything Goes
Cute as a Button - Anything Goes
The East Wind - For Little Ones
Crafting For All Seasons - Layer it Up
Creative Moments - Anything Goes + Sentiment
Paper Shelter - A card with many folds
Simon Says Stamp - Die Crazy

All the best Christy, I hope you enjoy your course and living in Aberdeen as much as Colin does.  Jx

Good Luck Colin

Good News & Bad News...

We'll start with the good!  Colin has landed a part time job at Apple and starts training today, a job that I so know he's going to love!

But that brings me onto the bad...it means he won't have nearly as much free time at Uni this year so he won't be popping home nearly so often. So going to miss him as he's been such a help these past few months whilst on holiday.  (Won't miss his washing and mess quite so much, but sadly I will actually miss that too!)

So onto the card - well I couldn't have Colin starting a new job without wishing him all the best could I?

Firstly, I found this lovely apple image from Craftville.com by doing a Google search - couldn't really think of anything else to put on the front!

Next I found a sketch - thought this weeks one at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 looked the business then finally papers - went for my old MME Lost and Found pad which has been lost and now found at the back of a drawer!

Challenges;
Chocolate Coffee & Cards - Celebration - New Job
Crafty Catz - Special Occasions - New Job
SSW2 - Sketch

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!

Ribbons & Bows

I so love this image, it's of an Agapanthus and it's off the Paula Oakley CD.  I've used it before when I just pulled on the blue and purple shades, but this time I've included a green mat and I'm really pleased with the end result!

My card is for this fortnight's challenge at Ooh La La.  The theme was chosen by and she went with;

Ribbons & Bows

and again, I've done an insert - off the CD - just print & fold and trim.

Everything used on the card is off the super Paula Oakley CD except for the ribbon and tags.

Challenges:
Crafty Ribbons - Happy Birthday with ribbon
Crafty Calender - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Chicks - Birthday
Crafty Girl Creations - Anything Goes
Pile It On - Birthdays
Chocolate Coffee & Cards - Fancy & Feminine Jx

Signs of Autumn

31st August already and two Birthdays that I know of today, my Mam's and a past work friend, so Happy Birthday Mam and Noreen, Jx

It's also the start of a new challenge over at Ooh La La, where Pauline has gone with the seasonal theme of...

Signs of Autumn

Now there are lots of Autumn images out there and for me I went down the Harvest route and thought a nice crop of apples turned into a yummy apple pie fitted the bill nicely.

So for my card, I pulled my image and papers from the Shawn Jenkins Collection and simply added ribbon and a sentiment.

Challenges;
Crafty Gal's Corner - Lots of Layers
Fab n Funky - Things with wings - butterflies
The Paper Shelter - Come fly with me
Crafty Ribbons - Butterflies and/or birds
Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
Chocolate Coffee & Cards - Use a sentiment
Fussy and Fancy - Birthdays
Polkadoodles - Things with Wings
Jx

As for Autumn activities - well that's the annual hedge trim done again!  Huge thanks to Colin for assisting with the chain saw and reducing the overall height again - hopefully that won't need done again...EVER!

One For The Boys

Today's challenge over at Ooh La La is hosted by Michelle and she has chosen

One for the Boys

as the current theme.

So for me, I headed back to my Paula Oakley CD and chose this lovely farm scene for the focal point on my card.  Matching papers are also from the CD.

Looking at the image, I think it could well be painted this time of year. Clearly the image was not painted this year though as we have yet to see a blue sky!!! lol!

Challenges;
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Crafters Cafe - The great outdoors
Crafting by Designs - 3 or more layers
Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Snow in Summer

It seems like ages since I've done a MAWTT blog post - that's cause it has been ages, and it will be ages again cause we are still running on monthly challenges.

Today's challenge was set by Hazel before she left the team, but with a bit of luck she will join us as we follow the theme,

Snow in Summer

& I can honestly say that although we haven't had snow this Summer, it has been the coldest, wettest summer I can remember in a long time!  So heaven help us when we reach Winter!

Anyway, back to my card and just for a change, I've gone Bugaboo!  Papers are LOTV and the card is finished off with pearls & a ribbon.

So I haven't gone too snowy with this one, just a layer on the branch and some snowflake papers, but it's up to you whether you go for an all out blizzard or just a smidge!

Challenges;
Winter Wonderland - Songs - "When the Red Red Robin comes Bob Bob Bobbin Along!"
As You Like It - Fur or Feathers - Any other time of year it has to be fur (Cats) but at Christmas Mr Robin steals the show!
Holly Jolly Christmas - Feathered Friends
Top Tip Tuesday - Ribbon & Pearls
The Ribbon Girls - Just add ribbon Jx

Nautical

A change from Bugaboo, and back to another crafting favourite of mine, Ooh La La and CD crafting as its the start of a new challenge over there today.  Lynn, has chosen

Nautical 

as the current theme and, as I grew up beside the seaside and loved collecting shells when I was little, I chose this shell image for my card.

My card uses my new, super de duper stepper card die from Maddy-Lisa available here. Now by the time this card posts, I'll have probably used this die loads of times, but this is my first make with it.  I think we can all see that the image used was a tad too big to fully appreciate the steps, but I made it whilst we were staying in Aberdeen the other month and I had limited cardmaking bits with me so I had to make do with what I had - still love the card though!

Challenges;
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Summer Breeze - Blue sky's & beaches
Crafty Boots - Beach/Summer vacation
Kitty Bee - Ocean/ Water Animals - Sea shells and other sea creatures
Polkadoodles - More that one fold

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