ABC Christmas Card Challenge

Good morning everyone, very dull and drizzly here, so apologies for the photo as it`s pretty dark here.

Today i`m going to enter my first challenge after the christmas period and enter this card for the

abc christmas challenge

This is a great challenge for me personally as I seemed to be rushing around trying to make all my christmas cards as well as my boys and MIL, this christmas.

The beutiful image is from karens doodles and I just added a bit of colour using my promarkers on her dress, wings and hair. I used stickles around the edge and mat and layered onto the papers. I added some flat gems to the centres of the flakes and threaded some tiny beads onto wire and dangled these from the large flake on the top corner of the card.

Papers Dovecraft winter wonderland

Image came from karens doodles.

Snowflakes were sizzlets and woodware 1" punch

Gems, tiny beads and ribbon from my stash.

Hope you have a great night tonight and see you all in the new year. Bye for now, Val xxx

Happy New Year!

Good afternoon everyone!

Well what a Christmas we had, lots of fun and games and plenty of visitors over the festive period. Too much food and drink (hic!) as usually, so looks like a detox once the kids go back to school, but we`ve all had such a fantastic time.

I had just a few little pressies, not too much, as we had a couple of electrical things go over the hols, but I had a fabby pressie from my christmas swap partner over at the crafty place. Debbie (padstar)gave me some fabby stamps, which i`m so thrilled about and can`t wait to use. So a big thankyou girl, a thankyou card is in the post.(unfortunatly didn`t take photo of it to show everyone else).

Anyway, hoping to get right in there again with the crafting, once the kids and hubby are all back and I can get back to my old routine, so first blogged card after the festive period is this fun boys card.

I used basic grey papers

image was from doodle palace

sentiment was from some letter stickers that were in my stash.

Any way hope everyone has a fabby evening tomorrow and catch you all in the new year.

Val xxx

Merry Christmas and a happy 2010.

Good morning everyone. Just a quick post today as I think this will proberly be my last post until after christmas. I just want to wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy crafting 2010!. It`s been so much fun hopping from one blog to the other and there is so much talent out there. I`ve picked up so many tips, I don`t think I would have pick these up if I wasn`t hopping from one blog to the other. So a BIG BIG thank you to everyone. Right i`m off to do some more christmas prep. Hugs Val xxx

Good morning everyone, well another freezing day and still no real sign of snow. I haven`t ventured out yet, so have decided to complete a card that I had started yesterday, using a lovely freebie digi stamp from karens doodles. She has some really lovely images, why not pop over to her blog and see for yourself. The card and papers were all from my stash I brought last year, so sorry I can`t tell you what they are as I never kept a note. ( note to self for new year, make sure that I record where my papers come from )The sentiment was die cut from quickutz dies(a bit fiddly)The flowers are mulbury paper flowers and the little gems in the centres of the flowers are from kanban. I die cut the swirls using a large sizzix # 655008 corner design. Bigsby the mouse is such a joy to colour, I really enjoyed colouring him in with my promarkers.

Now hubby has taken my two, christmas shopping, so it`s just me and the dog. But will take him for his walk when we go and pick up the scout christmas post, to deliver all the christmas cards. Catch you all later, Val xxx

Last of the Christmas cards.

Well hoping these will be the last 3 christmas cards for my MIL. For the top one I used peel-offs, which i`m not really keen on now, I used to love using these, but I really don`t like them now, for some reason. On the middle one the sentiment went a bit awol, but hoping it doesn`t look too bad. I`m hoping that I can now put my christmas papers etc away for a bit and make some other cards.

Just to let you know that I have a little candy for the New Year. Just click on the image on the top of the right hand side bar and it will take you to the original post.

Catch you all later, Val xxx

More Christmas cards.

Good morning everyone. Just when I thought i`d finished the christmas cards, my MIL phoned me yesterday afternoon to see if I could do 6 more for her, so of course I said yes. So here are the first 3 that I started last night. Hoping to finished the others later today. Catch you all later. xxx

Sketch and stash challenge 25

Well good morning everyone. It was soooo cold this morning, iced up everywhere, but the boys and dog enjoyed the skating around up to school today.

Anyway what a wonderful change not to have to make anymore christmas cards(famous last words ho,ho,ho!), so I thought I would do a challenge, as i`ve been a bit naughty and haven`t done any for a bit. This one`s for the sketch and stash challenge. i`ve kept to the layout they`ve asked and used some new, old or never loved stash. so my ingredients are:
NEW - `my minds eye bloom & grow` paper
Personal impressions cute characters #1
OLD OR UNUSED - orange ribbon and buttons.

Hope every one else is doing o.k and not letting the cold get them down too much.

A little bit of candy for the New Year.

As a thank you to all you lovely visitors out there, I thought I would offer just a little candy for the New Year. I`ve enjoyed myself so much with the blogging and hopping from one blog to the other, it`s been so much fun and so many talented people out there.
I have included a Laura Ashley 6x6 tradition pad, some scrummy Laura Ashley tradition fabric brads, pack of jewel brads(for extra bling!) and some mulbury paper flowers.
A small bit of candy, but a BIG! BIG! thankyou to every one.
The only rule is, please could you leave a comment and maybe add my candy to your sidebar, for others to see.

The winner will be drawn out of the hat at 8am GMT on Monday 4th January 2010, by one of my lovely little assistants.

SORRY NOW CLOSED

Not a card in sight.

Good morning everyone, it`s a fine and sunny morning here, but still chilly. I think i`ve finally finished the last of the christmas cards, including the boys cards for the friends at school, beavers, cubs and football. Think I will try to make a few each month next year, saves me rushing about trying to do these aswell as all the other things that needs doing.
Well not a card today, but thought i`d share the christmas display for the mantlepiece I did and the sweet christmas decoration William(the eldest) did at cubs for the table. I brought some cut-offs from christmas trees that the local garden centre were selling off for charity and some candy canes from the corner sweet shop, so the total came to £4.00.

The Greeting Farm christmas card.

Good morning everyone, I was up at the crack of dawn, thanks to my youngest. Once i`m awake I can`t always get back to sleep, so I managed to finish my lovely hubbys card, before he woke up. The image is from The Greeting Farm and is so cute, the papers are paper adventure holiday joy ornamets and multi stripes(i`ve had for ages). I layered green then red card before adding the papers and finished off with mulbury paper flowers, brad from my stash and ivy leaves from the paperdoll cricut cartridge, the sentiment I hand wrote.

Hope you all have a great weekend, i`m off to finish yet more cards for the aunts and uncles and to do some christmas decorating. Catch you all later, Val. xxx

A few more mini cards for kids

Just a few more mini cards that I made this morning for the boys to take to school tomorrow. I don`t mind doing these really, because they are sooo quick to do and use up alot of scrap paper that would otherwise be stored in a draw or box until, who knows when. The only problem is that I don`t have envelopes, so to be very quick, i`m just using a piece of white paper and wrapping around the card to cover it and sealing the edges together. don`t think the kids will mind really as they`ll just rip the envelopes up anyway.

Back to finishing off the last few, I hope!

PINK CAT STUDIO DIGI STAMP

Good afternoon everyone, just a quick post today. I managed to get hold of a fairy digi stamp as I had my orders from the boys yesterday to make some fairy christmas cards for some of the girls at school. I managed to get a great image from pink cat studio which I think suits the girls ages just right (7-10)and quickly made the 4 cards this morning with some of the mountain of scraps that I have. These are suppose to be in tomorrow at the lastest for the boys post boxes in the school, so really a bit of a rushed job, but think the girls will like them.

Too many kids christmas cards to make.

Good morning everyone!. Hope you`re all fine and dandy and coping with the run up to christmas. I have been given my orders from the boys to make the rest of their christmas cards for school, cubs, beavers and football club ahhhhhh!!.

Bless them, they did make some, but I think they have now given up, with everything that`s going on at the moment, they`ve got other things to do.

So I found a great santa digistamp from digi stamp boutique he was a lot of fun colouring him in and have managed to do 20 of these so far, only another 60 to do. I was told this morning, just before leaving for school that christmas fairys were also needed for some of the girls. So now i`m on the hunt quickly for the fairy.

Anyway, i`m not sure if I will be doing any more challenges until the new year, which is a shame, as I wanted to try the cards for men challenge that they have just started amonst some of the others, but never mind.
Bye Bye for now.

Christmas fun gifts.

Firstly, can I just say sorry for the picture. It`s very dull here and no matter where I take a picture it`s still bad, so hoping you can just make out my christmas fun gifts that I made yesterday instead of cards.

I haven`t made anything today and proberly won`t until next week now, as I am trying to get most of my christmas goodies out of the way.

Anyway, a couple of years ago, I put my foot down and told everyone that I was only buying for the kids in the family,(boo, humbug, I hear u cry!)To be honest it was getting harder every year to please some people and some adults would suggest or would expect expensive gifts when I asked what they wanted, which really is not what christmas is about.

Anyway, this year I have decided to create some fun gifts, that aren`t expensive and you can have a bit of a chuckle. These are not my own ideas, but what i`ve managed to grab hold of from other people. Sorry I can`t remeber exactly where I got some of these ideas from, i`ve been searching all over the web and just can`t rember now.

First the little bear figure is my idea of a dammit doll or `adults frustration toy`, with a poem that reads "When you want to kick the desk or throw the phone and shout, here`s a little dammit doll you can not do without. Just grab it firmly by the legs and find a place to slam it and as you whack the stuffing out yell DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT"

I also made some pots of gold, with a gold lottery ticket, crunchie bar, gold choccie coins, you get the idea. This was from the M.S.E site, with the poem "This pot of gold is just for you to wish that all your dreams come true". Finally some snowman kisses, made from tic tacs and poem reading "he`s cold and wet and full of wishes, he wants to give you these snowman kisses."

By the way i`m after a poem for a sock monkey if anybody could help me. I did see one somewhere, but for the life of me I can`t remember where.

Anyway just incase I don`t manage to get on here until monday, have a great weekend. Val xxx

3 Challenges in one card.

Well good morning everyone! We seem to miss alot of the really bad weather in this little corner of the country, but I think winter is finally here. It was very, very cold along the seafront this morning, so a quick brisk walk was needed with the fur baby and 2 squirts to school. I love the walk back from school, as there`s no real rush or time keeping and the dog gets his daily dose of sniff and play with the other dogs.



Anyway as the title suggest, I managed to make a card for 3 challenges( I hope). This is my easel card, I love doing these, they are so easy, now I know how to do it.
I used: Red and green cardstock, papers from dovecrafts contempary christmas, the christmas tree I paper pieced(no pattern), stitched around the edges and embellished with silver gems and fabric sticker from lakeland(1 or 2 years ago)


mojo monday - Sketch

cup cake craft challenges -red and greens

lexis creations - Shaped card.

I found another challenge, so that makes 4 challenges.
sas project tuesday -Easel card





Apologies if the picture is bad, my photography is not that great.

So sorry for the lack of posting, but have been busy all weekend, I didn`t even get time to complete any challenges. I only managed to make 2 things this weekend, christmas card for SIL and a wallet for the theatre tickets we brought for gifts.

One good thing is I spent a lovely time with family, so it was well worth it. Sorry the photos didn`t come out too good, the light wasn`t very good when I took these.

This card is for one of the SIL`s The background paper is DCWV Christmas wishes, the stripy paper is holiday joy by paper adventures and the image/sentiment was free from a docrafts mag, ribbons, flowers and brads were from my stash.

This wallet, I made to put some theatre tickets inside. I used red cardstock as a base added DCWV christmas wishes paper(layered ontop of green card) The white and green card I punched a scalloped edge. The seasons greetings sentiment is a fabric sticker from lakeland(1 or 2 years ago) and the stamped sentiment is from see-dees fun christmas stamps.

Hope you all had a great weekend and catch u all later, Val xxx

Good morning everyone!


Well I haven`t anything to show you at the moment, sorry!. I`ve been trying , I promise, to get around to do aleast just one project, but with kids clubs and parties etc etc etc it`s been a bit hectic.

I`ve tried to get away to my little space in the corner, but as soon as I start something, somebody needs driving somewhere or something crops up. With the christmas season upon us, it`s going to get worse, i`m sure.

I`m going to try my hardest to get one challenge done over the weekend, so hoping I can show you something on Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Val xxx

A spoonfull of sugar challenge #79 colour combo

Good morning all!

Well the sun is finally out..YAHOO!!!.

I didn`t do any crafting yesterday, but have been trying to catch up with reading all of you bloggers out there. I made this card for 2 challenges

1...aspoonfullofsugarchallenge. colour combo of brown and either blue or pink.

2..mojomonday sketch layout #114

For the card I used:

1. light brown bazzil card

2. layed blue/white/brown card (think this was from DCWV)

3. punched two scalloped boarders in blue and brown card.

4. layered blue patterned card(DCWV?) onto brown card.

5.coloured in digi stamp from pollycraft with promarkers and layered this onto brown and blue card.

6. added ribbon, bow to top of card, ribbons and buttons to mat and stitched around the card and mats.

Anyway, hope everyone is fine and dandy and catch you all later.

Wendys Mrs Tilly Claus challenge # 2

Good afternoon everyone, well I managed to get around what I needed to do and as it was chucking it down again, I decided to look for another challenge, before the school run.

I found challenge #2 by wendy at digital-doodling and so got to work. There is some lovely candy up for grabs for the lucky winner, so why not have a go.

Ingredients used for the card:Mrs Tilly Claus digi stamp(free download from wendys digital doodling), Pink bazill card, DCWV christmas wishes paper, Brads glitter snowflakes and fibres from my own stash.

Just to add a quick note to Wendy, that I didn`t follow a current sketch, just the image and glitter.

The secret crafter saturday challenge# 59

Good morning everyone. Just a quick post today, as i`m very behind with everything. Didn`t it just chuck down over the weekend, I feel so sorry for people who have been flooded and lost everything. Not good, with christmas coming up aswell.

I made this little calendar for my in-laws for a little tree gift. They are very much into their caravan and when it warms up, they try to grab any chance they can and go caravanning. I`m also going to put this into the secret crafter saturdaychallenge # 59, make a calendar.

Ingrediants etc.:

1. I layered green bazzill cardstock and some green backing paper for the backing

2. next chalked green and blue for the sky and grass onto white card.

3. stamped the car and caravan onto another white piece of card coloured with promarkers, then cut out and glued to the chalked card.

4. Marked where the shadow for the car and caravan would be and added 2010 from my stash of stickers.

5. Added a calendar.

6. Added 2 buttons with beige fibres to the corners.

Anyway hope everyone`s doing o.k and catch you all later.

Charisma cardz challenge # 46-a sketch

Good evening everyone. I`ve been kept busy, so haven`t had time to read up on the blogs, but hoping I will catch up in a mo.

It`s my nephews birthday at the beginning of December, so being 17 it`s a bit hard to decide what to put on his card. The boy stamps that I have seem a bit young for him and the few other stamps that I have are either too girlie or too old. So off I trotted to the local craft shop and came across some halloween stamps by inkadinkado. The skull was just right for him and the double sided paper by black market paper society, suited the stamps.

I inked around the edges of the paper and lightly stamped the bat, that was included with the skull stamp. I added 4 brads(2 either side) to the top corners, then layered a strip of the other side of the paper across the bottom half. Added eyelets and threaded fibres through the eyelets, then added the sentiment in the punched circle. The skull was stamped in black, but the card I used changed the colour to a grey.
I used the charismacardz layout sketch #46 for the layout of my card, so will be forwarding this to her blog. Hope everyone is doing o.k and catch you all after the weekend. Bye for now.

Lexis creations blue and silver challenge.

Well, it`s a wee bit windy down here in the south, but at least no rain, YET. So it was a speedy walk to school and then back to finished this card.

This is going to be for my mum as she`s into the blue and silver theme at the moment, but I thought i`d put this into the blue and silver challenge over at lexis creations. (if you click on the title of this post, it will take you straight to Lexis creations) This is her first challenge that she is setting for everyone and this will be my first challenge into blogland.

Ingrediants used: white cardstock(base)

Silver mirrorboard.

Papers from last years Dovecraft winter wonderland

stamp from` stamps happen, inc`(hobbycraft-trees)

stamp from see-ds `christmas messages#50319`(sentiment)

Snowflake, button and fibres from my own stash.

Anyway, of to do a bit of christmas shopping. Have a great day everyone, catch you all later.

Boys birthday cards.

Good morning all. The sun has finally shown his head, but it`s very blowy here, so a quick brisk walk to school, to keep warm.

2 birthdays coming up on Saturday, twin boys, both 8 years old.

So I decided to create 2 different cards for them. Very simple ones, but still happy with them.

The little footballer was a digi stamp from Pollycraft and just want to thank Paula so much with her help and the little skateboarder was from the jolly nation range. The papers used were offcuts from my mountain of leftovers that I never seem to throw away( I`m such a hoarder). Anyway must get on and do the housework :0( have a great day, catch you all later.

Good morning all!
Just a quick card today, that I made late last night. This is for no one in particular, but i`m enjoying my cardmaking soooo very much, that I just love to muck around and see what I can come up with.
Sorry I can`t remember what papers these are, as i`m trying to use some of the papers I already have, but I know there are soo many new touchy feely papers out there that I really want, but have to stop myself. The mulberry flower and brad are also from my own stash and the sentiment I handwrote. i`ve also stitched around the 2 mats at the back.
Hope you`re all doing o.k and catch you all later. xxx

Second post of the day, so I thought I would show you a scrapbook page that I had completed. The papers were from DCWV, I think(i`ve had them for some time, so not sure) and the giraffe I paper pieced myself without any templates. Paper flower and button embellishments from my own stash and the letters were cut on my cricut, using the george and basic cartridge. Then zig-zag stitching around the edge of the page and photo mat. Quite a simple page, but very effective I think.

In my haste this morning I posted my cp card for the card swap and forgot to take a pic, so sorry can`t show you this.

Good Morning all.
Well what a weekend it`s been, rain,wind,rain,wind etc etc.... I didn`t get too much crafting done as I was busy with family, but managed another teachers` christmas present. Just like the other one I will add a choccie bar and hot choc or herb tea.
Anyway off to do my card swap challenge over at the cp site. I have one made up already, but want to try something else and then decide which one to send. Hope you are all o.k and catch u later, Val.

Gooood morning everyone. Today is another wet and windy day, so hoping to do some more cards :0) and maybe another teachers christmas gift. As I was up early I decided to make these 2 cards to go into my christmas box, so hoping I will eventually have enough cards to send off.


This card was created using a tilda stamped image that I brought as a set. As I have just started stamping, I brought some images already stamped for me. I used 3 different DCWV christmas papers, stitching, ribbon and present embellishment from my own stash. The sentiment was embossed using a free stamp from the do-craft magazine.

This card I used Dovecraft winter wonderland papers, bazzil pale blue cardstock and stamped 3 christmas penguines using the few stamps that I have, from hobbycraft. I embellished the card with fibres, snowflake tile and gems from my own stash.

What a morning!, rain, rain and yes you`ve guessd it..... more rain!. So looks like a day of crafting for me :0). Just finished this card this morning, i`d started before taking the kids to school, so managed to just finish it now. I`m really enjoying getting back to my cardmaking at the moment, especially the stamping, which I hadn`t tried before last week and also using buttons and ribbons and sewing onto the cards. Now I must get back, but will catch u all later after the weekend. Have a good one ;0).

Good morning everyone. Just to a quick one to show you what I made yesterday for a christmas gift for one of the teachers. It`s not complete yet, have to add chocolate bar :0) and maybe a hot choccie or herb tea, but most of it`s complete as you can see.

The ideas are not mine, I have sarah (rainmac) to thank for the calendar idea and also Helen(its all a fiddle fart) and sarah again for the fridge magnet peg idea. The post it note holder came from Emma(lady and the stamp). BIG BIG thanks go to these lovely ladies, for sharing their ideas.

Well was up at the crack of dawn this morning and almost finished the housework, I say that but there`s always something lurking around the corner with my 2 little angels (bless them !)

So thought I just do a bit of blog hopping(think that`s what it`s called, but still new to this blogging larky!) and came across a lovely lady called lesley. Her creations are fabby and what a bonus, she`s got some blog candy YUM YUM!(shown above), which i`ve put on my side bar. Anyway I finished my first challenge from the crafty place site late last night, called "anything goes", but can`t show it just yet as it`s not due to be sent off to the recipent for a few days. So will show it to you in a few days, once i`ve sent it off. Off now to finish housework, catch u all later.

Just a quick one today. I popped down to the town this morning and dropped into the local craft shop. Although not massive and they only seem to have a few selected lines I managed to get hold of a sheet of acrylic stamps and this flower lady was one of them. I used scraps of papers that I already had and stitched around the edge of the card and around the edges of the 2 mats. Then used buttons for some of the corners and scraps of ribbons for the bottom of the card. I haven`t put a sentiment on yet, as I only have a limited amount of stamps, so will wait until I can get hold of one on-line.

Another 2 christmas cards finished this morning. The first red one I layered 2 patterned papers and sewn around the smaller mats edge onto the larger mat and stamped merry christmas. I stuck ribbon down the edge of the paper and placed the stamped image on top. Finished off with 3 gem stones along the bottom.

This card I dry embossed the top half with snowflakes and dots around the edge, chalked light blue over the top. Then covered the bottom half with blue snowflake paper, sewn around the edge of the paper with a zig-zag stitch. The added silver and organza blue ribbon across the middle and placed my stamped penguine image on top. Finished off with gemstones along the bottom and side.

My first stamped card.

Good morning everyone. Have been busy over the weekend with family, so didn`t get much crafting done. Over the weekend I created my first stamped card, which i`m pretty pleased with. I`d never tempted to stamp before as i`m not exactly the best of artists, so didn`t think my inking and colouring would be up to much scratch. I have been inspired by so many beautiful cards using stamps and inks, that I took the plunge and this is the result.

Afternoon all, finished another christmas card, this one is going to be for one of the teachers at the end of term. Although i`m not to sure about how the sentiment on it, turned out. Sorry the picture isn`t very clear but I had stitched and inked around the edge and the gingerbread man is a handcut pattern that I did using a paper template from http://www.myscrapchick.com/