READY FOR ST PADDY's DAY

Hello Peeps and happy weekend.
I have popped in with a little St Paddy's card that I will be sending to a friend in the UK.
I used St Paddy Digi Papers  and  Irish Birdie  from DOODLE PANTRY. I edged the card with green  ink and also stencilled through a doily with the same green.
I printed the birdie 4 times and fussy cut him and then layered with foamies to make him 3D. Afterwards I glossed him with Glossy Accents.

The Birdie comes with some Irish sentiments and I used one on the front and another on the inside.

I followed the Sketch shown at Just Add Ink.

Just Add Ink Challenge #300 - Sketch      
                                                                                           
Crafting With Friends Challenge #15 - Anything Goes
Crafting When We Can Challenge #113 - Use A Digital Stamp

HIPPY HONKY CAT

Hi Peeps,

Here I am with a piece I have made which has been inspired by the song " HONKY CAT " by Elton John in 1972. :-)
This is a very Hippy Honky Cat as I have given him a psychedelic background and he is a glorious, drug induced pink colour :-D  I suppose he could be called 'Lily' after the song 'Lily The Pink' by The Scaffold in 1968 ....... Showing my age now hahahaha :-D
He has been coloured with Spectrum Noir pens.

I was well into my psychedelic period in Art at school at this time and also very much into Elton John :-) Sometimes we were allowed to bring records into art class to play whilst we worked - such a cooooool Teacher we had :-D

This piece really took me back to my school art when I was really into weird patterns and colour block changes etc. LUV it :-)

Oh yeah - and I lived just a few streets away from David Bowie :-D Who'd have known he would become such a mega superstar ?!!!!

This guy is from SLS Lines and he's called 'REBEL CAT'.

OK - that's me for the moment. Thanks for dropping by xxxxxxxxxx

Challenges I am entering:

SLS Lines Challenge #17 - Inspired by Move/Book or Song  **** TOP 3 ***
Crafting With Attitude Challenge #12 - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon Challenge #330 - Furry Friends
The Mod Squad Challenge - Animal Fun
Moo Mania Challenge - My Favourite Pet...... Cats... I have 17  :-D
The Paper Shelter Challenge #237 - Animal Magic

POCKET LETTER SWAP

Hi Peeps,
I have popped in to show you a Pocket Letter I made a while back. I couldn't post about it before because it was for a Swap and I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but I know it has safely arrived now - so here it is :-)

FRONT

BACK

RONI from INK STAINS arranged it all for us and we swapped directly with our partners.  

I used lots of different rubber stamps and digital images and obviously, the theme I chose was ALICE.

I did put lots of trinkets and stuff in there as well, but I packaged them up separately in my parcel. :-)

The only thing I forgot was a little letter with stuff about me !!!! Hey-ho :-)

Thanks for dropping by. xxxxxxx

SNIPPETY SNIPPETS

Hello Peeps,
I am not doing much at the moment as my Carpal Tunnel has flared up again AND I've got thumb Tendonitis in both hands too  (oh, puleeeez !!!!) so I am posting bits that I made last weekend.
I used up some snippets to make little cards that I could put in parcels when I am sending gift-ettes or Swaps.
I used the left-over bit from cutting hexagons with placed on a snippet of cream card. Then I used more snippets to make a butterfly. I stamped in the holes for my greeting :-)

I used:

Tonic Studios Butterfly Die Set - " Ringlet Rest "

Marianne Designs Extra Die + Emboss Set DF3404

Whispers Archival Ink - Port Wine

Studio g mini alphabet set

Mini jewels from stash

Thanks for dropping in :-)

Challenges I am entering:

Snippets Playground Week 217

Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge #48 - Butterflies + S is for Stamping

SHOCK, HORROR .... I'VE STARTED AN ART JOURNAL !!!!!

Well hello there Peeps - are you gearing up for the weekend ???!!

Would you believe it.... I have started an Art Journal. !!!! I was inspired recently by a page made by my mate SARN, using her Gelatos she got for Christmas. I held onto my old dairy from last year because I thought it might be just the right size for me to start with. It's 7 x 9.5 inches, so not too big to frighten me off. :-)
It has a lovely blue material, slightly padded cover and I wasn't sure what to do, whether to cover it or leave it and just hide the 2015. Maybe I should have done that before starting my first page, but hey-ho !!!

My first page was made on watercolour paper. I've always adored Daffodils and decided to do a piece to celebrate the Wordsworth poem.

I cut shapes for clouds and hills and I used them on the background by chalking around them to make a pale scene.

Then I printed William Wordsworth himself up on the top left, but made him very transparent.

I made a little clipboard with note paper and stamped the Dills onto it using a lovely rubber stamp I got the other day with my Pocket Letter from RONI at INK STAINS. I made a couple of masks so that I could over-stamp them to make a little cluster.

I coloured them with Promarkers, then I wrote out the first verse of the poem onto the note paper.

I decorated the side with die cut Dills :-D

Well - there it is !  I am not sure if it needs a title or something up the top right or some sort of embellishment around the edges, - do my die cut Dills need some leaves ????.... but I guess I could do something with that at another time. 

I am still a bit "yaaaaarrrrrggggh" about this journaling mallarky as I tend towards very precise, fiddly work with my art and I want to try and get myself to be a bit freer and wilder so that's why I am going to try this Art Journal. Hmmmm - let's see how long this lasts eh ?!!!  LoL

Thank you for dropping by anyway, and I hope you are going to have a lovely crafting weekend:-D 

Thanks to SARN for the inspiration.  xxxx

Challenges I am entering:

YAY !!! THE MAIL BOAT CAME IN :-)

So excited today Peeps - the mail boat obviously came in last night cuz this morning my mailbox was stuffed with goodies !!!! :-D
It's all Happy Mail so here's some pictures of my fabbo new things...

Firstly, my absolutely stunning Pocket Letter I got from RONI of INK STAINS.  She kindly organised a Swap and this is my one from her. Look at that awesome water colour painting on the flowers, and I also got some pretty fabbo  gifties in the backs of the pockets. There's a daffodil stamp that I am just dying to have a play with. :-)
If you click HERE you can see all the gorgeous creations :-D

This one is my Prize for winning a Challenge over at CONNIE CAN CROP.

This one I bought from XxJULESxX who is having a craft item Sale  HERE .  Can't wait to have a go with that later :-) Soooooo pretty :-)

and these are all the gorgeous Swaps I received in return from the ARTSY FARTSY POCKET CARD KIT SWAP - JANUARY which is held every month over at YOUR PAPER PANTRY.  Hosted by the lovely Linda Lapotka. :-)

Well, I can't wait to play with some of these and it's great to know that DonkeyMail is still actually alive and kicking............ albeit only just  !!!

Thanks for dropping in. xxx

FITNESS ANYONE ???!!

Good morning Peeps,

Well - there are ' Watchers '  and ' DO-ers ' in anything in life , right ?!! 
I had a bit of fun with the image to be used in GERDA STEINER's Progressive Challenge for February.
I went over to the Shop and bought him and a couple of others, so that I can join this Challenge. I think next month I will get an image to play with for Free.
This little image is called  " Jump Rope Bunny ", and it's the image for February.

I printed out the jumping bunny several times, and I also bought from the Shop  " Nerdy But Nice Bunny" and he is the Fitness Instructor, and sneeking a peek around the corner is another that I bought today.. " Peeking Panda " cuz he's obviously the Watcher not a DO-er hahaha  :-D

I used Spectrum Noir pens and a lead pencil to colour my creation.

I hope you got a giggle at my creation. :-D

Challenges I am entering:

GERDA STEINER's Progressive Challenge for February *** TOP 3 ***

Ellibelles Critters & Creatures Linky Party - FEB

Through The Craftroom Door  Challenge TTCRD 16 - 22 Feb

POCKET LETTER # 2

Hi Peeps,

I am here with my second only Pocket Letter. I have made it for the FAERY INK Competition over on their FB page.
All the images are from Faery Ink and are coloured with Spectrum Noir pens.
The idea was to make a 'Themed' PL so I went for FAIRIES.

I made a stick pin for the side and attached beads and charms to the ribbons.

I am still not sure exactly what I am doing with these PL but I enjoyed my colouring in :-D  LoL

Challenges I am entering:

Faery Ink FaceBook Pocket Letter Competition  *** WINNER ***

NO MORE VALENTINE's SMOOSH... OK ? !!!!!

Happy Sunday Peeps,

I am here with my piece for a Progressive Challenge that is going on at Sandra Caldwell's FB Fan Page. I have used  "Bee Fido Puppy " for my creation. I printed him 3 times and then coloured him with Spectrum Noir pens. I then fussy cut him and mounted the pieces with foamies to make him 3D.
The background papers are from a set by FLOPPY LATTE called ' Love Blooms' but it seems that this one is no longer available.  Other digis by FL can be found at STITCHYBEAR STAMPS.
I put glossy accents on the bee bodies and Stickles on their wings.

The honeycomb is done with a Marianne Design Extra embossing folder complete with die cutter :-)

I used my tiny Studio G alphabet stamps for the wording.

That's me for Valentine's now..... NOooooo more !!!!!

Thanks for popping in xxx

Challenges I am entering:

Sandra Caldwell Designs FB Progressive Challenge #1 - Round 2 

Susan's Blogaversary Candy Contest 

FLYING THINGS

Hello Peeps,

I am back in today with another piece I made for Challenges.

I tried playing around with that masking tape and ink pads technique that I played with the other day. This time I remembered to put the tape in both directions. I inked it up using 3 different shades of red.
Then I removed the tape and used my Rubbadubbadoo stamps set called "A Bank Whereon". I stamped the poem several times and then stamped the bird on the right.
The main image is a rubber stamp from De_Stempelwinkel but I don't know what she is called as it was given to me by a friend. I coloured her with Spectrum Noir pens and then cut her out. I added some Stickles on her wings but it doesn't show much on the picture.

I folded the card to make a small Z fold on the right. I used my Big Shot to cut some ferny leaves and then used the negative part to stamp through onto the card with green ink. I stuck the ferns on and added some flowers that I bought the other day from my local haberdashers :-)

The Poem is by William Shakespear from A Midsummer Night's Dream :

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and nodding violet grows

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania some time of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight......"

Thanks for dropping in - I'm off out with the dog now :-D  xxxxx

Challenges I am entering;

De_Stempelwinkel Stampers Challenge #3 - Things That Fly
Challenge up your Life #34 - No designer paper

TEENSY INCHIE ART #3

Here I am with another INCHIE for the latest Challenge over at EVERY INCHIE MONDAY and the Theme this weeks is "Slippers". This would actually be week 5 and I have every intention of doing weeks 1 - 3 so I can keep up my collection. I will post them all together at the end of the year :-D
This week I have used 'Bunny Slippers' Paper & Digi pack from DOODLE PANTRY. This cute little set is actually on the FREEBIES page !! :-D  

I made a little black card easel-ette to display my inchies on for photographing, as they are pretty hard to do otherwise :-D

Here's a close-up......

This is the Digi Kit that I used.............................

Thanks for dropping in :-)

Challenges I am entering:

Every Inchie Monday Feb 8 - Slippers

THOSE DARN CATS !!

Happy Saturday Peeps,

I am still on my mission to use Freebies that I take and here today I am using one I got from Angie Addison. She has a FB Group HERE.
I printed out the cupcake several times and then coloured them with Copics and Spectrum Noir pens. 
Then I drew a cake stand on a piece of acetate so that it looks like it's made of glass.
My background was made by smooshing an ink pad onto a perspex stamp block and spritzing with water. Then I slapped it onto a piece of card :-) I went around the side panels using the stamp pad direct onto the card.

I think you might be able to see my attempted glass effect in this one.....

So anyway - whilst I was doing this, I was making some cookies for friends to have with coffee later. I took them out of the oven and put them on a rack to cool. Then I popped down to my craft room to photograph my card.

Would you believe it ????!!!!...........................................

I go back upstairs and 3 of my Kitties are up there, helping themselves to fresh baked cookies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Aaaaarrrrggggggh !!

Well - I guess I will open a packet of biscuits then !!

This small inconvenience produced my second card.................................

I bought this Penny Black stamp from a friend and had coloured it up with Copics to use on something else, but needless to say, they were slapped onto this card instead !!!!  :-D

Hey - Ho !!!

Thanks for dropping in.

Challenges I am entering:

Angie Addison FaceBook Group Challenge - Love

A Gem of a Challenge #162 - Love is in the Air

Creative Fingers Challenge #102 - AG

Kitty Bee Designs Challenge #65 - Valentine's / Love

QKR Stampede Challenge #178 - Yummy Yummy

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge #37 - Dogs & Cats

BRRRR... ARE YOU CHILLY ?

Hello Peeps,
I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend ?
Is it chilly where you are ? Here I am sunny today and it's a warm 18 degrees :-) The almond blossoms are all popping out so I hope we now don't get a cold spell down from the North to nip them all off !!

It's weird doing a chilly card today, but I have coloured up my monthly freebie I got at FROM THE HEART STAMPS. It is called  " Snowman & Cocoa " and he is part of the monthly progressive freebie Challenge. If you use the free image in the Challenge -  you get a new free one the following month for the next Challenge. :-D I must say he looks very cozy in his outfit and with a cup of hot cocoa. Not for me though - he can keep it as I hate that stuff !!!! 

I coloured him up with Promarkers and used a snippet of blue card to make a frame. I went all around it with the wedge end of 3 different colours of blue Promarkers and then dragged the Blender all round in lines to see what effect I got.
The snowflakes were a little giftette from a dear friend. :-D
The background was made using my Crafters' Companian "A Little Bit Nordic " 6 x 6 embossing folder and I lightly ran a blue ink pad over the top to pick out the pattern.

Thanks for dropping by xxxxxxxxx


Challenges I am entering:

FTHS Progressive Freebie Challenge - February
DRS Designs Challenge #213 - Hot or Cold colours
Christmas Sweet Stamping February  Challenge - Snowflakes
Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge - Warm Thoughts
A Snowflake's Promise Challenge #16  - Christmas or Winter
Snippet's Playground Week #215

MORE STAMPING + SOMETHING NEW

I am on a roll this afternoon and feeling very creative. I have seen some great techniques and ideas the last couple of days that I am just busting to try....... so many things - so little time!!!! :-)

I saw this afternoon, a great technique of using Masking Tape in different ways over on CLUB SCRAP and I decided to have a play with that and my new clear stamp set " LOVE BIRDS " from Woodware Clear Magic sets.

I tore up the masking tape and stuck it down and then used ink pads in different shades of yellow to smear over the top. Then I used the flower from the stamp set on top of that. The little bird was stamped onto card and coloured with Promarkers and then cut out and mounted on foamies for a bit of pop.

Looking back at the examples now - I think in my rush and excitement to try this, I made a couple of errors - I should have had the masking tape running across as well as up and down, and I should have stamped the flower after I took the tapes off.

I quite like the effect I got though :-)

Challenges I am entering:

Club Scrap - February Technique Challenge.

K IS FOR KISS :-)

Me again Folks,

Here I am with a little snarky Valentine's card - cuz I don't do that slushy stuff.
I have used  " Kitty Butts " from MELJEN (no longer trading as the family moved to Alaska !!! Brrrrr ) and  the dogs are from NICE CRANE DESIGNS (who also appear to have ceased trading) and the image is called "Merry Party 7 ".

Here is the front.............. relatively conformist :-D .......... everybody go "Aaaaaah ".....

and now for the non-conformist snarky inside........... 

I have used a couple of punches for the borders and the background on the front is the latest Freebie from Create With TLC - Word Art and you can snag yours HERE.  So that's another used Freebie that I have snagged, so I am working well with my promise to actually use stuff I take :-D

I coloured the kitties and dogs with pencils and blended with baby oil (smells nice... mmmmmmm)

I am entering this baby into the Sisterhood of Snark K is for Kiss Challenge :-)

You know - I run a Cats only Challenge but what about one for just DOGS ????? Any dog lovers out there fancy that ???? If there's enough interest I could start one  :-D 

Thanks for dropping in xxx

Challenges I am entering:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers  SoSS #52 - K is for KISS

Crafty Sentiments Challenge - Dies or Punches

Creative Card Crew Challenge #106 - Love

Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge #123 - AG with a Twist... LOVE

Inky Chicks Challenge #62 - Love Letters and/or Hearts

Try It On Tuesday Challenges - A Fine Romance 

The Unicorn Challenge #6 - Lots of Love

HAPPY MAIL TODAY :-D

Hellooooo Peeps,
I am just popping in to show you my lovely goodies I got in Happy Mail today.
The first is from my mate SARN - she was selling off some craft goodies and I bought these 2 really cute kitty stamps,  but look at the fabulous card she made to go with them :-) She was also kind enough to get me a supply of  artificial sweeteners, so I now have a few months supply of those !! :-D Thank you Sarn. xxxx

My second surprise was from BAD KITTY - I got these wonderful cards from FIKI and one from her sweet daughter PAOLA, and such a super cute kitty shaker :-D Thank you Girls xxxxxxxx

A LITTLE BIT OF STAMPING UP !

Hello Peepsies,
Today I have firked out my plastic gloves to go play with some rubber stamps :-)

I have some great sets from STAMPIN' UP and my friend SHELLEY  - who is now a  UK STAMPIN' UP  Demonstrator - did a  Video tutorial yesterday and used one of the sets I actually have to do a card demonstration !! WooHoo. :-) Only trouble was that because of the rain and wind, I kept getting power outages so I couldn't actually link into the lesson :-(

Anyhoo - I got them out today and made this little card up - virtually 'CASE-ing' what Shelley did, but I stamped and then used the matching punch to do all my shapes as I was bold enough to stamp directly onto the card like she did !!!!

Oh Dang !!!! Having just watched the Video throughout - I think  I was supposed to be doing a THANK YOU project !!!! Oh bums !!! :-(

Stamps used : Six Sided Sampler + matching Punch from Stampin' Up.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Scrap It With A song - I went for Adele's HELLO

A TOUCH OF CUTESINESS :-)

Hi Peeps,
Today I am having an "Aaaaaww" moment and still exploring my 'cute' side. :-)
I am also continuing my promise of using up the Free digis that I snag from different Blogs/People.
This one uses a very new one that is drawn by ANGIE ADDISON. She has a FaceBook Page HERE and there is also a Challenge site.
The image is called "Little Lila Picking Flowers", and I coloured her with Promarkers. Still trying to get a grips with hair colouring - I might have to go to one of those on-line classes LoL :-D

The background paper is from a very old CD of 'Crush Papers - Be Mine' which I got from Crafty Downloads yeeeeeeeeaars ago (no longer available).

I made some strips of tiny tickets using 2  digi stamps from Stitchy at STITCHYBEAR STAMPS called 'Valentines Tickets' (I can't find it in the Shop now)

The die cut frame is from the Sizzix Labels #20 set.

I used a Sketch available HERE.

Thanks for stopping by for a little 'cute' fix :-)

Challenges I am entering:

Dream Valley Challenges #124 - Valentine's Day

CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge #158

Crafty Gal's Corner Challenge #57 - Love Is In The Air

Crafting For All Seasons Challenge #119 - Love Is In The Air

A Gem of a Challenge #162 - Love Is In The Air

My Time To Craft Challenge #134 - Love Is All Around

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #116 - Anything Goes with a Twist - LOVE

OSAAT #255 - Anything Goes + Love is in the Air