Cute Card Thursday - In the water!

This week on Cute Card Thursday the theme for the challenge is

In the water!

Okay, you may be confused but we decided to allow frozen water too, I did manage to find another watery stamp but am so pushed for time this week that I recycled an ATC I made a while back and transformed it into a Christmas card!

This week the challenge is sponsored by Helene at Alota Stamps, she very generously is offering 3 amazing stamps to one lucky winner! Pop on over to the blog to see them!

Make sure you check out the design team's creations too, they are fantastic!

Tools: SU tab punch

Stamps : Magnolia 'snowman', Studio G 'let it snow'

DP : Basic Grey 'Figgy Pudding'

Embellishments : Primas, bling from stash, 'for christmas' rub-on

Got visitors and a birthday party to organise this weekend so I may be missing until next week, look forward to catching up with you then and thanks so much for visiting! Have a great weekend!

Sugar Nellie

Look what was featured on the Sugar Nellie blog yesterday! I made this a while back so was so surprised to see it and so thrilled to read such fabulous things said about me, it so made my week! If you missed it look here! Somebody pinch me I think I am dreaming!

Have to keep checking to make sure it really is there!

A Spoonful of Sugar ~ 3 different ribbons

The challenge on A Spoonful of Sugar this week is 3 different ribbons!

I decided this week to make something a bit different and wanted to play with my ScorPal, many thanks to my good friend and SBS sister Seleise for some fabby links!

As it is my eldest's birthday soon I decided to make her a little extra pressie, she is such a chocoholic like her mum so I found a square chocolate bar and made a cover for it. The measurements and more pictures are below!

Check out the challenge this week for fantastic cards from the design team and also some fabulous candy thanks to our sponsor this week Silly Monkey Crafts.

We also have a guest design team member for the next month, the very lovely and super talented Jacqui of Cats Whisper, welcome aboard Jacqui!

As it happens it was Jacqui who sent me this gorgeous image, thank you so much they are adorable! The DP is Basic Grey Lily Kate.

Here are the measurements I used...a piece of card 8.5 inches by 5 inches

score at 4 and 4.5 inches
The folder with the chocolate inside, ready to decorate
The decorated folder with the chocolate inside!
Thanks for looking!

RAKS

I got this fabulous card from my SBS4 sister Seleise, isn't it just gorgeous? I love the amazing stamping that Seleise adds to all of her cards and the colours on here are my favourite, how sweet is she? Thanks so much Seleise, you are a pal! It was a belated card and I have been holding onto it a while before photographing it, I haven't just had a second birthday!!

This gorgeous card is from Jacqui, she was so kind and sent me some Precious Moments images, thanks so much Jacqui, so appreciate them and love your pretty card!
and last but not least, my amazing blog candy! Only Debbie's fantastic Jungle stamps from Spiral Whisper! They stamp up a dream, I haven't got around to painting any of them yet but can't wait, so cute!

Cute Card Thursday ~ bright colours

This week on Cute Card Thursday the challenge is to use bright colours!

This seems to be as bright as I go, so this was quite a challenge for me as I tend towards more muted tones and distressed finishes. The paper is Kaisercraft, I only discovered them recently but the paper is fabulous quality! You can buy it from TracyJanecrafts along with more beautiful papers and embellishments.

This is the first outing for this sweet stamp by Sugar Nellie, it is the gorgeous Sweet Art Ebony 'sitting with bear' designed by Elisabeth Bell.

This week we have two fabulous stamps to give away from Kitty at

Spiral Whisper

they are from the fantastic Max and Milly range designed by Janet Roberts

Pop on over to see the stamps and also the fabulous cards created by the design team!

Supplies: Stamp ~ Sugar Nellie 'sitting with bear' coloured with watercolour paints

DP ~ Kaisercraft 'Bloom-bouquet'

Embellishments ~ Kaiser adhesive pearls, Prima leaf, Scissor Sisters flower, rub on from stash and charms from Jeneca Beads.

A Spoonful of Sugar ~ sketch

Make sure you check out the challenge on A Spoonful of Sugar this week, Debbie has designed the sketch for the challenge and its a goodie!

Not only that but you can now use any image you like!

And if that wasn't enough, the multitalented Katharina has sponsored the challenge this week and is offering one of her fantastic Whiff of Joy stamps to one lucky winner!

I needed a new home card for today so I decided on this sweet Bella image holding flowers, very appropriate as I took them a large bouquet of flowers complete with vase, well you can't find a vase when you first move in can you?

Supplies: Tools ~ sewing machine, ribbon slot punch

DP ~ Basic Grey 'Perhaps'

Stamp ~ Bella Basic Grey 'wintertime'

Embellishments ~ Prima flowers and leaf, Cricut swirl, Organza ribbon, brads, wire and rub on from stash

blog candy shout

Debbie (Crafting fairy) has some fantastic blog candy to celebrate her 10,000 hits! Go and check it out, she is offering some fabby christmas stash and a sweet Whiff of Joy stamp!

Trina also has some pretty amazing blog candy, you have to make a card using her scrummy sketch to be included in the draw!

Shary has another sweet Alota stamp to give away as blog candy, hurry it ends friday 22nd August!

Cute card thursday~Soft furnishings

This week on Cute Card Thursday the theme is

soft furnishings

you can use fabric, ribbon, stitching, buttons etc anything you can find on your soft furnishings in the home.

I don't need any excuse to get the sewing machine out so this one was an easy one for me!

Also, I was so excited as my Whiff of Joy stamps arrived earlier in the week so I just had to stamp up the sweet 'Charlotte decorating the tree' stamp drawn by Alison Acton!

These stamps are fabulous, they stamp beautifully and are a dream to colour in!

This week we have fantastic blog candy to give away to one lucky winner, Shary very kindly provided us with 2 fabulous Alota stamps given to her by Helene.

Supplies: Tools ~ Sewing machine,

DP ~ Love Elsie 'Noel'

Stamp ~ Whiff of Joy ' Charlotte decorating tree' coloured with watercolour paints

Embellishments ~ pearls, ribbon and ribbon slide from stash

A Spoonful of Sugar ~ Boo!

There is a great challenge over on A Spoonful of Sugar this week, it is to have a secret message on your card.

Do check out the challenge, there is fabulous blog candy on offer and the rest of the design team have come up with some fantastic ideas!

I thought my Halloween stamps would be good for the challenge this week and used this fabulous Sugar Nellie spooky character!

And so onto my secret message.....
Just look at this fab wood look paper, I only had to add score lines and some ink! I have had it ages but think it came from the Paper Mill Shop.
Supplies~ Tools ~ Scorpal

DP ~ Laura Ashley

Stamp ~ Sugar Nellie 'Halloween'

Embellishments ~ Prima flower and leaf, spacers from Jeneca Beads, Dovecraft brads, Kaiser Rub-on.

awards

I have been given this fabulous award, thank you to Jacqui, Sandra, Nikki and Bernie, you have all really brightened my day!

The rules of the award are:1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.2. Link the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Put links of those blogs on yours.5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

Now I am not good at nominating others as I always feel bad that I might have left someone out so I will get back to you when I am feeling braver!

I was also given this Wylde Women award from Gisela last week, thank you so much I love this award!

Friday Sketchers #14, Bea's sketch

This is the first time I have managed to play along with Friday Sketchers but couldn't resist this sketch, it is right up my street, just love the distressed edges! I can't believe it is sketch 14 already, where did those weeks go?

This is the adorable Sugar Nellie 'Honey with Gifts' designed by Elisabeth Bell.

I love these stamps and am so glad they were released so early as I am nicely getting on track with my christmas card making! I need to have a large batch made by October as we visit family then and can leave a load to be distributed by hand later. If I am not organised in time it leaves me with about 100 cards to mail!

With my new Whiff of Joy stamps flying over to me right at this moment I am sure there will be a few more Christmas cards made in the next few days!

Supplies: Tools ~ eyelet setter, stapler

DP ~ unknown, got in a lucky dip pack from TracyJanes crafts

Stamps ~ Sugar Nellie 'Honey with gifts' Studio G sentiment stamp

Embellishments ~ Charms from Jeneca Beads, lace from RAK from Camilla, eyelet and brad from stash, flowers are both Prima

blog candy

Blog Candy

What lucky bloggers we are with all this fab blog candy about, check these out:

Chris has candy which ends when her counter hits 10,000!

Debbie has blog candy including her own fabulous Safari stamps, ends 14 Aug

Camilla is offering fabulous Magnolia stamps until 10 Aug

More fab candy offered by Hilde, ends on 10 August!

Mueppi (Gisela) also has fantastic blog candy ending on 21 August

Many thanks to Gisela for the awards too I haven't got around to posting them

unfortunately.

Just found some more candy on Claudia's blog, go and check it out, it will be fabulous as always!

Cute Card Thursday ~ The two of us

The theme this week on Cute Card Thursday is 'The two of us' you have to use 2 characters on your card, either 2 people, 2 animals or one of each!

This is the first time I have used my new Sugar Nellie stamp 'Christmas Kisses' designed by Elisabeth Bell. They are so sweet, I had to use them for this theme!

I haven't made a DL card for such a long time but I was inspired to make it this shape by the trees on the fabby Basic Grey 'Figgy Pudding' paper.

I made the gingham flowers using the technique here once again, this time using already patterned paper. The sentiment stamp is a studio G.

Supplies ~ DP ~ Basic Grey 'Figgy Pudding'

Stamps ~ Sugar Nellie 'Christmas kisses' Studio G Christmas sentiment

Embellishments ~ Prima flower, Dovecraft brads, charms from jeneca Beads

Katharina's blog candy

Katharina is offering some fantastic blog candy to celebrate her 100,000 hits on her blog! She is giving away a full set of the gorgeous Whiff of Joy Guardian Angel stamps designed by Elisabeth Bell!

You can check out the details on how to enter here

A Spoonful of Sugar ~ Recycling

This week on A Spoonful of Sugar the theme is recycling!

I used a brown paper bag as my card base, used scraps of card and DP from my shoeboxes full of leftovers. I made most of the flowers out of scraps, the small cream ones were Kaiser bought from TracyJane Crafts but the others were punched out flowers that I doctored, see the tutorial below for details! The bling are recovered from an old pair of jeans.

The ribbon on the front is from a box of Thorntons we were given at the weekend, the chocolates were yummy, the box is going to be recycled and I used the ribbon on here, no waste!

The flowers on the front are primas! The rub on is Memory Accents.

The fab image is of course the adorable Simon and Lola from Sugar Nellie, on here they remind me of Babes in the Wood!

the flourishes are Basic Grey 'Winterland' clear stamp set.

Do check out the rest of the design teams creations, they have had some amazing ideas for recycling!

Also you there is a fantastic prize for one lucky winner to be picked at random next week!

Make great flowers!

for my Spoonful of Sugar 'Recycling' card I used some scraps to make my own flowers, these came out better than I anticipated so I thought I would share it with you!

First punch out your flower shapes.

Next stamp on them (I used a script stamp) and ink around the edges.

Snip into the middles (but not right into the centre) with a pair of scissors.

Sit your flower on a spongy surface, I use a soft stamping mat but a thick mouse mat would do.

Use an embossing tool and make circular movements on each petal to give the flower some dimension.

You can see there is quite a difference with not too much effort!