Saturday 30 May 2009

Dawny P's sketch at Dies to Die for!

Tracey has some fab candy on offer this week over at Dies to Die for. There are 3 super prizes to be won including the new Rain, Snow, Shine Anya stamp set by The Greeting Farm. All you need to do is make a card using the fabulous sketch by Dawny P, but you'd better be quick it ends tomorrow! This is the card I made for my entry! It also meets with the challenge at My Time To Craft this week which is 'Pink to make the boys wink'.


I have used yet another of the fabulous Anya images, I just can't get enough of her! I gave her a little bob cut after seeing a card Julie had made, genious idea! Love her versatility! I coloured her with my distress inks before adding her with 3D dots to a matt cut from nesties labels 1. CS is from coredinations and the checked paper was free with a magazine {found it tucked away in a pile I'd forgotten about}. I have inked all the CS edges with pink ink. The sparkly flowers are from the candy I won from Bev, and the sentiment is from hero arts cut out again with nesties label 1! I love this sketch and will definately be using it again!

Well what another beautiful day we're having. My OH is at work today, bless him {he's a fireman so he hates weather like this when he's at work, it gets so hot for him!}, so I'm going out with my friend for lunch and a catch up this afternoon, then when my OH finishes tonight we are going round to her house for a BBQ, the first of this year for us! I love BBQ's, the smell makes my mouth water!

Hope you all have a sunshine filled weekend! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Friday 29 May 2009

New Beginnings Card!

The challenge over at Secret Crafter Saturday this week is 'New Beginnings'. A friend of mine at work is getting married in a few weeks so this was the perfect opportunity to make her a card!

The image is from Stampendous and it's the first time I've inked up this stamp. I love the modern feel to it and it was a real bargain from e-bay!! I've coloured it with a mixture of distress inks and whispers pens. I also added some glitter to her dress {not sure if the picture captures it}. Not many embellishments on this card, I like to keep wedding cards simple. Silver mirri card used to matt and white CS embossd with Divine swirls, pearl brads from papermania. The sentiment is from a See D's set and I centralised it with my stamp-a-ma-jig {I seriously don't know how I managed before I got this I LOVE IT!!}. Adhesive pearls added either side of the sentiment to finish!

Well it's finally friday evening and I've a few days of work, I so need them! :-) Lot's of glorious sunshine as well! Yay!

For all those who left me such kind comments the other day, me & my OH are now speaking again. I think he just needed to calm down overnight and realise he was over reacting! It's only a TV programme. Plus I got some invaluable me time in my craft room! :-) I found out yesterday that a friend of mine's husband has Leukaemia, it just puts everything into perspective!

Well I hope you all have fabulous weekend and enjoy the sunshine. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, vicky -x-

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Colour create & sketch saturday challenge!

I wanted to use another of my gorguss girl images that I got recently from Funky Kits {they have set's 1 & 2 now in stock} so I set about making a card for this weeks sketch saturday. I was also inspired to make a card using the colours over at colour create this week as I have never used this colour combination before. So I ended up with a 2 in 1 card!

I coloured my gorguss girl in with a mixture of distress inks, watercolour pencils and my trusty whispers. As soon as I saw the colour challenge at colour create I knew which papers I was going to use. I have a few scraps of these papers leftover from the papermania retro floral pad. CS is DCWV. The sentiment is from hero arts, adhesive pearls / pearl brad from papermania and flowers from prima and making memories! I love these felt flowers from making memories, I've only got a few left though! :-( I finished off the card by inking the edges with a pink inkpad.

Well I had a really good day at work today and wish I had stayed there to be honest!! When I got home I accidentally deleted the first episode of Lost from the Planner on sky {I don't know what I was thinking, it was a total acccident and stupid mistake!} and my OH has gone absolutley mad at me & is now not speaking to me! I don't know what he wants me to do apart from apologise, it's not as if I did it deliberately. I'm angry with myself as well for doing something so silly, but lets keep it in context here, it's a TV programme, no one's died and it's not the end of the world!!

Sorry for ranting it's just it's upset me a bit. It's my DO tomorrow as well and I hope the silent treatment doesn't spill over to tomorrow and spoil it!! :-(

Hope you are all well, I've been hopping around to see you all these past few days and there are some stunning creations. All the sunshine we had over the BH weekend must have kicked your mo jo's into overdrive!! :-)

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Monday 25 May 2009

Stamp Something Sketch Challenge!

Evening all. Hope you've had a fantastic BH weekend and enjoyed the lovely weather. Well I've finished work now and have tomorrow off so looking forward to a lie in in the morning and hopefully some craft time! This is the first time I have entered the Stamp Something challenge after I stumbled across it this week! Loved the simplicity of the sketch, I tend to sway towards the CAS approach so was perfect for me!


I have coloured the 'gorjuss' image in with my distress inks. She has been cut out and mounted onto 3D foam. CS is coredinations and was cut out with my nesties. The pink CS is embossed with swiss dots. The stripey paper was an off cut I had in my scrap box and I think it's papermania double sided CS that you can get from The Range. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and a few papermania pearl brads to finish. I am loving these pearl brads at the minute, I seem to be using them on everything! :-)

Well I've just got in after having a lovely family meal. My mum, Dad, Grandma & Niece came over to see me after I finished work and we went out for sunday tea {I know it's not really sunday but as it's BH and I've been working it has felt like one all day to me!}. I just want to say hello to my niece Millie as she sometimes reads my blog with my mum and would love to see her name on here! She is 10 and is also very much into her card making!! I think I have passed on the bug! Lol!

Well thanks for stopping by. It's my 1st bloggoversary in a few days and I am trying to get some candy together so watch this space!!

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Saturday 23 May 2009

Sugar Nellie Double Challenge Card!

Evening all. I hope you are all enjoying you BH weekend. I made this card to meet 2 of this weeks challenges! I used the fabulous sketch over at The Sugar Bowl, when I originally saw this I thought it looked too complicated but I am so glad I gave it a go as I loved every minute of making this card. You know when things just come together?! I will definately be using this sketch again! It also meets this weeks ASOS challenge which is to make a card for a celebration, and I though as this card say's 'celebrate' it covers a multitude of occasions that you might choose to celebrate!! :-)


I have used this gorgeous image designed by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie, available at funky kits, I just adore these! I paper pieced her dress with the paper I used for the background, before colouring the spots and stripes in with black ink. I also added an adhesive pearl to the flower in her hair. The DP I have used is from the BG Wassial pad. It just goes to show that Wassail is for life, not just for christmas! Lol! I also used Black Magic CS and ran it through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder to get the white spotty effect. The photo corner is from a Brenda Pinnick scrapbook kit I got from QVC ages ago and I just added Glossy accents to it. The sentiment is from a see D set and cut it out with my nesties. I also got out my chalks, which I haven't used probably in over a year to add a bit of smudged colour around the edges. The flowers are a mix of prima and making memories, and I have added pearl brads to the centres which also meets with the challenge at The Sugar Bowl which is to include pearls somewhere on your card.

I don't know if the picture looks any better today than it normally does but I have used a new camera, I think it looks a little clearer, especially when you zoom in on the picture.

I have had such a busy day at work today, I was so glad to get home. To top my day all off I hit my head on the catch of the boot of my car this afternoon and cut my head open. Not too deep, thankfully, but big enough to bleed, give me a headache and be quite sore. My poor patients must have wondered what had happened to me. They are the one's who are supposed to have bleeding wounds, not me!! Lol!

Wow, I've just realised how long htis post is {sorry!}, I hope you're still awake! :-) I'm off now to have a lovely cup of tea and my weekly chocolate treat whilst I watch ER that I've taped, I just can't get enough of it, I can't believe it's the last episode this week!! :-(

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your BH, and I will be around to see you all soon, if I haven't stopped by already!

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Thursday 21 May 2009

Storage solution!

Thought I would share with you a little box I made last week to store my stamped images in that have been sent to me by my kind blogging buddies!! I hope to make one of these boxes for each range of stamps I have. I cannot take credit for this storage solution though. I borrowed the idea after seeing it on Kerry's blog and you can find the tutorial here! It is in German, but there are lots of pictures so it's easy enought to follow!

I have made this box to store my Bella images in! I used a cereal box for the frame and covered it in brown parcel paper. I then decorated the front panel with BG paper. I made 5 dividers which are made from thick Brown CS and a tab template I have.

I now have a home for my images. Just need to make about another 15 of these now! Lol!!

Well I had my last day in uni today and handed in my final essays!! Yay! More time for crafting now! :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Vicky x

Wednesday 20 May 2009

Michelle's Birthday Candy!!

Afternoon all. No card from me today I just want to let you all know about some fabulous candy Michelle is giving away to celebrate her birthday in 5 days! Head on over and look at her fabulous blog {if you don't know it already!}. I love Michelle's CAS style!

She is also showing some sneak peaks of the fab new Elzybells stamps due out tomorrow so make sure you take a look at them as well!

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Tuesday 19 May 2009

You're Fabulous Anya!!

Morning all. It's my DO today, but my brain still thinks I've got to get up for work hence why I'm up so early! Oh well now I'm up I can make the most of my day and get on with some crafting!! I made this card last night using the last of my Miss Anya stamps, I've made a card with each of them now, not sure which my favourite is though! It's so hard to choose, they're all so cute! I am going to enter this card into two of this weeks challenges. Firstly I have used the sketch from this weeks PTW challenge. It's a sketch set by Dawny and I love it! I will definately be using this one again! The colours I have used meet this week colour create challenge to use, Tan, sky blue and ecru. Now I wasn't eactly sure what colour ecru was when I started making this card so I don't think I have followed the colours to the letter but I hope the DT will forgive me and let me enter anyway! :-)



I have coloured Anya with distress inks and whispers pens before adding some gloss to her headband and bobbles {this also meets with the extra colour create challenge to add gloss glitter or glaze}. The DP is BG Granola. The blue paper has been embossed with swiss dots. Flower is from my stash. I cut out one of the flower motifs from the BG paper and added to the center of the flower with a pearl brad from my stash. Raffia ribbon was given to me by my mum, she brought me this back when she went to Germany last year and this is it's first outing!! The sentiment is from Studio G.

I am really pleased with how this card turned out. I would never have normally put these colours together, so I am pleased I decided to go with this weeks colour create challenge. I suppose that's what the challenges are all about, trying different things and stepping out of your comfort zone!

Well I'm going to have some breakfast and then retreat to my craft room for a few hours!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day everyone!

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Monday 18 May 2009

I've been given a Love Award!

I have been given this award from the wonderful Jan. Thanks so much Jan. I'm glad you enjoy visiting my blog and I enjoy reading your comments! If you haven't visited Jan's blog yet be sure to pop over and take a look at her fab creations, she stitches each and every one of her cards on the inside and out! I would like to pass this award onto the 3 following ladies. I enjoy visiting each of your blogs and your creations always make me smile!

This award is given for those who brighten your day. Ladies you should pass this award onto 3 blogs that make you smile and brighten your day..

Michelle

Sandra


Kim

Hugs, Vicky -x-

Sunday 17 May 2009

All that Glitters - Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, !

Morning all. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend! I went out to a 50th Birthday party last night and didn't get in unitl 2am this morning so feeling a little under the weather! :-)

Well I've been playing with my Miss Anya's again for this challenge card. I am entering it into this weeks secret crafter saturday challenge which is to use 'glitter' on your project!

I coloured my image with my distress inks before adding glossy accents to the headband and shoes. I wanted to give her some patent shoes! Although I don't think you can see it very well in this picture! I have also given her some glittery pink eyeshadow, which you can see if you click on the picture! I have cut her out, embossed and framed with curved rectangle nestabilities. DP is from the DCWV christmas stack. CS is cordedinations and DCWV. Glittered brads are from making memories. The sentiment is a rubber stamp I got from Stamp Magic craft fair last year, don't know the make sorry! Pink adhesive gems are papermania. Flowers are from prima and the glittery pink flowers are from the Candy I won from Bev!

I followed the sketch over on Stampin chic this week, but I don't have any of CCSR so I can't enter it into the challenge, I still enjoyed using the sketch though!

Well I don't have many plans for today. I suppose I should do some of that dreaded word HouseWork!! But there's some football on TV this afternoon so I should gets some time to retreat to my craft room! I'm also going to have a visit to all your lovely blogs and see what you've been creating!

Thanks for taking the time to visit me and leave such lovely coments, I really appreciate it!

Hugs, Vicky

-x-

Thursday 14 May 2009

Dad - You're a star!

This is the card I have made for my dad for fathers day. I know, I'm being quite organised! :-)
It also meets 2 of this weeks challenges as I have used the sketch from Sketch Saturday and it also meets the animal antics theme for papertake weekly.


This is my favourite stamp to use for male cards and has definately been a wise investment! Coloured with my distress inks. I paperpieced the sign they are showing and used Doodlebug rub on's for 'dad'. All DP is from the BG Granola pad. Blue CS is coredinations. I ran the strip of paper at the bottom through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder before distressing with an emery board to make the white spots pop! Sentiment created with my dymo machine {also a favourite of mine on male cards}. The stars are handmade. Inner stars punched out from Granola paper and matted onto handcut white stars, with a little brown ink around the edges!

I quite enjoyed making this card, which is surprising as I usually HATE making male cards. Only because I'm usually stumped as to what to do without my cute girly images, sparkle and flowers! Lol!

Hope everyone is well. Just sat with my OH watching Leeds United in the play offs. They are currently one goal down! Please let them score another goal otherwise my life won't be living if they have to stay in league 1 for another year! :-)

Big Hugs, Vicky x

Wednesday 13 May 2009

First Miss Anya card!

Well I couldn't wait to delve into my stamps and start playing with these yesterday so this is the card I made with them last night. This is what I call a just because card, I didn't follow any sketch or challenge and made it 'just because'!

I coloured Anya in with my distress inks {adding a little pink and sparkle for her eyeshadow!} and then cut her out and made a frame with my curved rectangle nesties. It wasn't until I'd finished this card that I realised I haven't used any DP! The CS is from DCWV and I have embossed the green CS with the swiss dots folder! Scalloped edge created with my SU scalloped border punch and holes added with my cropodile. The sentiment is a papermania freebie (with this edition of creativity) matted onto a scalloped circle cut with my nesties. Flower is from prima and the sparkly flower in the center was part of my blog candy that I won several months ago from Bev!

I also want to deidicate this card to Bev. If you are a regular to her blog you will have noticed that she creates a lot of pink and green cards, but has recently announced she is taking a break from this colour combo, so Bev, this one's for you!! :-)

Well I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with my Miss Anya's so far, I wonder when I'll get bored of them! NEVER!! Lol!

Hugs, Vicky x

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Papertake weekly challenge - Dawny's sketch!

Morning all! I have just come to upload this card I made using papertake weekly's challenge sketch and have realised it ended yesterday and there is now a new challenge! Durrr, I really don't know where my brain is these days! Well here it is anyway, better late than never!


The cupcake image and sentiment is from Inkadinkado and I have paper peiced the cupcake before adding a legless brad {from craftwork cards} for the topping! Glossy accents to the 'topping' and glamour dust to the cupcake frosting! DP are from papermania 'sweet nothings' range. CS is DCWV.

Well I have been busy creating a little box to keep my stamped images in this morning. I got the idea from Kerry who posted her's yesterday with the tutorial link. I love it and will be showing you it really soon {if I share it today I'll have nothing to show you next time!} :-), so thanks for the tip Kerry!

Well I'm off now for a run and then I'm going into Leeds to do a bit of shopping!

Hugs, Vicky x

Update! My Anya stamps have just landed on my doorstep!! Yay, I am so excited. I've wanted some of these for ages but everywhere was sold out! I ended up getting them from Canada from a seller on e-bay. With my 10% discount voucher that e-bay was giving away last week they only cost my £11.48 for the set and that's including p&p! They only took 5 days to come which I thinks fantastic!! So watch this space for the enslaught of Miss Anya cards that are now going to follow! :-)

Sunday 10 May 2009

Colour Create Challenge!

This is the card I've made for this weeks Colour Create Challenge where the challenge is to use the colours blue and green with the added option of using some paper piecing on your project.

This Maggie with flowers image (by sugar nellie at funky kits) was my first ever stamp purchase and is still one of my favourites! Coloured with my distress inks and I paper pieced her dress with this gorgeous spotty paper from the DCWV christmas paper stack. CS is coredinations. Scalloped edge was created with my SU border punch and holes added with my cropodile. The sentiment is a papermania freebie with this edition of creativity magazine. Flower is from prima with a home made one to match the spotty paper, pearl brad to finish!

Now this card is more like it, and I am much happier with it than my last one! Back in my comfort zone! :-)

Well I hope you have all had a great weekend. I'd better get off and start preparing for work in the morning! Got an early 7.15 start! I'm still going to try and have a little hop around though before bed and see what you've all been up to!

Hugs, Vicky x

Saturday 9 May 2009

Vintage Baby Card!

I was inspired to make this card after reading an article in this months Craft Stamper magazine. The very Talented Kim Costello made some beautiful cards using only black and white or sepia images! So although this isn't my usual style (I prefer clean simple lines) I though I would give it a go and this is what I came up with!

The image is Baby Millie from Sugar Nellie at Funky Kits and I coloured her with my Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink. I really went to town distressing the edges of the image as well, adding a bit of creasing and little rips to make it look a little more tattered! DP is from Cosmo Crickets Jitterbug range which I got from QVC ages ago and have only just used! Background DP is from BG Sugared pad and I have embossed it with the swiss dots folder. Scalloped edge created with my SU punch and holes added with my cropodile. Sentiment is from a HOTP clear set. Flower made from die cuts also from CC Jitterbug pack and pearl brad added to the center.

Well it was a real challenge for me to make this card and let me tell you it didn't come easy! But I suppose that's what crafting is all about, being able to try different styles. The jury is still out on this card though. Not entirely convinced I like it, so not sure I will be trying this style again in the near future. I think C & S is the way forward for me! :-)

I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you lovely ladies (and the occasional man!) who takes the time to visit my blog and leave me such lovely comments, they are so very much appreciated. I can't believe my 1st blogoversary in fast approaching in a few weeks and I have recieved over 13,000 hits in this time so thank you very much. Watch this space as I will be getting together some blog candy very shortly by way of a celeration and to say a big thankyou!

Hope you're all having a lovley weekend, whatever you're up to!

Big Hugs, Vicky x

Some great blog candy on offer....

.... at the minute. Firstly Jacqui has some fab candy to celebrate nearing 90,000 hits! Wow, congratulaitons Jacqui, her blog is fab so not surprised really!

Marcea also has some candy on offer to celebrate her birthday on May 11th, happy birthday Marcea!

The fabulous Caz has some wonderful candy not only to celebrate her birthday on the 12th May but to also celebrate reaching 200000 hits! Wow!

If you haven't already visited these blogs (which I'm sure you have) take some time out this weekend to go and have a look, such fantastic, inspiring creations!

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine. Have a great weekend!

Hugs, Vicky x

Thursday 7 May 2009

Quick and simple card!

Here is a quick and simple card I made using the off cuts of paper from my last card! I love this paper so much I had to use every scrap of it up! :-)

The image is from the new Smirk range by Dovecraft, the Love and Friendship clear set. Coloured in with my whispers pens. I saw these stamps in papercraft essentials last month and had to give them a go! Cute and simple! The sentiment is also from Smirk. The papers are off cuts from the last card I made, from the papermania retro floral pack, I distressed the edges of the paper with my craft knife! CS used to matt is from the coredinations range. The three blue pearl adhesive gems are from papermania.

I enjoyed using these stamps and I think they are so handy for quick, cute cards! I hope you like it??

I've been a busy bee today! I should have been in uni but I had directed study so I spent all day preparing a powerpoint presentation that I have to give to my team at work next week. I even managed to add some pictures to the slides which I was really proud of myself for (I'm a bit of a technophobe when it comes to powerpoint!)! I hope it makes the grade as it counts for 20% of my final mark!

I hope you're all well. Thanks for visiting and for any comments you may leave, I really appreciate each and every one of them!

Hugs, Vicky x

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Missed the boat with this one!

Evening all! This card was inspired by a challenge over at stampin chic a couple of weeks ago. However, me being me I missed it! The theme was to you use turquoise and yellow.

As soon as I saw the colour theme I knew which paper I was going to use! I adore this spotty paper, it is from the papermania retro floral pack. CS is coredinations. The image is from Elzybells, I've coloured it with my whispers and have added glitter to follow the bee's trail! Sentiment is from a Studio G mini clear set which I have paper pieced. Ribbon is from Dovecraft.

Well it was back to work for me today after 10 days off! No easy task believe me but it was made a lot easier when I found out my SU stash had arrived from Julie. I can't wait to have a play with my new stamp set that I got 'Simply Said'.

I hope that you are all well and enjoyed your BH weekend, plenty of time for crafting what with the rubbish weather!

Thanks for stoppping by!

Hugs, Vicky x

Sunday 3 May 2009

Birthday card for my H2B!

This is the birthday card I gave to my hubbie to be yesterday. I think he was more impressed with the money that was inside it, but then that's men for you right?? :-)

I am also entering it into this weeks A spoon Full of Sugar challenge which is to use blue and green.

The image is Chef Hamish by Sugar Nellie at Funky kits. He is just perfect for male birthday card I think!I have coloured him in with my trusty whispers pens, I added a sliver gel pen over the whisk to make it look more authentic! Lol! I also added a tear drop shaped adhesive gem for the candle flame. I cut him out and mounted with 3D foam. Circles cut with my nesties, embossed with spots and dots folder and distressed with an emery board to reveal the inner core colour. DP is from K&Co Hopskotch pad. Sentiment is from a See D's set.


I also quickly decorated the inside with a little sentiment from the SU 'congrats' set (I masked off the 'on' that was before the rest of the sentiment). Cut out with the curved rectangle nestie shapes. He smiled when he read this sentiment! Bless him!


On the left hand side of the card I made a simple pocket with co-ordinating Hopskotch paper to hold the money!
Well that's all from me today. My mum has just gone home and I need to think about starting tea now ready from my OH coming home from work!

Hope you're all having a great day!

Hugs, Vicky x

Sorry I've been MIA....

... for the past few days. It was my better half's birthday yesterday so we have had some time off the last few days to celebrate. We went to Alton Towers on friday and spent time with friends and family yesterday, then rounded a fab few days off with a yummy curry last night!

Just a quick post as I'm off to the White Rose for a few hours to indulge in my other passion, clothes shopping!! Then my mum has just phoned and said she's coming round for a few hours this afternoon so we will probably be getting a bit crafty!

Hope to pop back again later with a card to show you all!

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday, hope the sun is shining where you are!

Hugs, Vicky x