Get Me ... and Thank You!

Look at me ... Blogging on a Tuesday ... for the first time in a gazillion years ... and even more impressive ... Blogging two days running! Well I am impressed ... Hands up all those that are impressed too!
It was a sad day last Saturday ... I taught my last class at LB Crafts ... many of you know that the wonderful Lin is retiring and sadly the shop is closing ... could be sooner than expected too ... apparently the shelves are beginning to look very bare indeed! So ... if you want a bargain ... you better hurry up!

I did manage to finish on a high ...with a sell out class and a fabulous group of ladies ... mind you ... all my ladies are always fabulous ... so ... if you ever attended one of my classes ... Thank you ... I had a ball! A big THANK YOU to the wonderful Lin too ... for having faith in me and the lovely Karen ... for being lovely ... always!
Now for the card ... Shabby Shutters Distress Stains ... Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink ... a spritz of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls ... Some Pool and Lettuce colour wash all mixed up with some The Wendy Vecchi stamps ... and a few glorious PaperArtsy flowers thrown in for good measure ... and Bob's your Uncle! Nearly forgot ... the Lord Tim of Holtz clock die ... you know Tim ... the man that determines the weather worldwide on a daily basis while creating all the waves in all the seas with just a long legged brad and a mini paperclip.
I must way ... you can put your hands down now ...
Laters!

**Halo Alert**

It's true people ... today I will mostly be wearing a halo! I banned myself from my IPhone this morning ... and my lap top ... all technology really ... in a bid to get through a load of things on my to do list ... and on the whole I was quite successful and I am feeling rather smug!
If I am entirely honest ... most of the jobs I have crossed off said list still need the I's dotting and the T's crossed but a big chunk of them is now done!
So before I snuggle down to watch some TV ... I have taped the first two episodes of The Apprentice ... so don't tell me what happens ... I thought I would indulge in a spot of blogging!

The stamped flowers on the card are Dark Room Door and they are coloured with Lord Tim of Holtz's Wild Honey and Vintage Photo Distress Stain. You know Tim ... the man that can walk to the Moon while performing three kidney transplants on kitten triplets with just a Tiny Attacher and a Fragmented Doll!
I even got my Martha Stewart punch out on this card ... I have n't done that in a while! Yeah ... I know ... I should stop now because I am just rambling ...
Righty-Ho then ... I think that is me ...
Laters!

Green Overload!

Hello everyone ... I have now blogged everyday for the entire week! Are you impressed? I want to Thank you all at this point for popping in and visiting me! It is you that makes this whole blogging thing so rewarding ... and fun ... your comments do make I smile ... and I probably don't say Thank you enough! So Thank you! Oh and ... Welcome to all the new followers I picked up this week too! Great to see you all!
I should apologise too ... I don't get around to leaving as many comments on your blogs as I used to ... I do visit ... but usually on my IPhone and I don't always have time to say anything! Which is completely unacceptable really seeings as I LOVE comments so much! Note to self ... Must try harder!

Mmmmm! I think I may have over done the whole green thing on this card! I LOVE the design ... but the colour ... well ... I am not entirely sure! In fact ... I am nowhere near sure! What say you? John was n't very complimentary either ... in fact ... he was quite rude ... one of those times when I really wished I had n't asked!
Maybe the Peeled Paint Kraft Resist Stash background is just a little bit too busy for the rest of the card! I should say Lord Tim of Holtz's Kraft Resist Stash ... you know Tim ... the man that can make the sun shine in the darkest of caves while performing neurosurgery on a mosquito with just a long-legged brad and a distress tool.
So ... What you up to? ... crafting anyone? I am! All day! Not being quite as productive as I would like ... but I am getting there slowly! Talking about being productive ... I ought to get back to it!
Laters!

Happy Birthday!

I thought I would join in the Simon Says Stamp challenge this week as it is in honour of Lol's Birthday! Lols runs the site ... and I had the pleasure of lunching with her at CHA ... So Happy Birthday Lols! I would sing at this point ... but as you all know ... I am completely tone deaf and sing like a football hooligan ... and it would be just plain cruel to put Lols through that ... especially on her big day!

My card is packed to the rafters with Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers and stamps ... I totally adore their 8 X 8 pad ... which is the perfect size for making cards and all manner of other  things ... but also being far easier to cut into than a pristine sheet of 12 X 12 ... don't ask me why ... that is just the way it is! I have distressed the edges and blended in some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to add to the whole aged effect! The Old Orleans badge is indeed a Lord Tim of Holtz Salvage Sticker ... which fitted in rather nicely! You know Tim ... the man that can win the Cricket world cup single handedly while nailing down the Grand Slam ... alone ... with just an edge distresser and a philosophy token.

Talking of Birthdays ... it's mine next week :0) I thought I would just mention it :0) Anyways ... I have a whole present worrying thing going on here! John ALWAYS asks me what I want and I ALWAYS give him a humungus list ... do you remember last year? ... he got me the whole set of THE  Wendy Vecchi stamps ... well this year ... he has n't asked! Which means one of two things ... one ... that he has forgotten my birthday completely ... in which case I will kill him ... slowly and painfully ... or two ... he has got me a surprise ... YIKES! Bless him ... he tries ... but the boy ain't great on surprises and I am frantically trying to work out what I may/may not have inferred that I needed! You know like make-up ... underwear ... clothes ... coz to  me ... they are necessities ... and not worthy of the whole surprise present thing ... they are just stuff that I have to buy on non-birthday days ... and to be truthful ... the first year we got together ... he bought me a surprise ... clothes ... and it was very surprising just how awful they were ... OH MY WORD ... he should have a sensor implanted ... you know that like buzzes when he goes in a woman's clothes shop ... his taste is that bad!!

Enough with my waffle already ...

Laters!

Tuesday ... Tuesday!

Is that a song? Or ... Did I just make it up? :0)

Okay ... Who stole Tuesday ... I spent half the day looking for my list of stuff to do and the other half of the day avoiding the list that I found ... coz there was n't much on it that I really fancied doing!

Now I am rushing about like a loon ... trying to catch up before bed and I start all over again!

I thought I would just quickly share this card with you ... Lord Tim of Holtz's Crushed Olive Distress ink ... you know Tim ... the man that can walk on the Thames while carving Pumpkins for all the world's under privileged children with just an Idea-ology Bauble and some Hobgoblin Tissue Tape. The stamps are indeed Darkroom Door. I should apologise really for the reflection on the Ghetto Blaster ... that is a result of all the Glossy Accents I have applied ... Yes ... I am still in my Glossy Accent phase ... as for Ghetto Blaster ... now I am showing my age too ... What do you call it?

Well ... that is me for today ... I am off to play with some dye inks ... cool huh?

Laters!

Time for a Challenge!

The truth is ... I don't really have time for a challenge ... but what the heck ... a girl has to have some fun ... right?

The "Spring has Sprung" theme has been set over on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and it is open this week ... so you can use any make of stamps you want!

This was just too much of an opportunity to miss and gave me just the right excuse to try out some of my new Wendy Vecchi stamps :0) and get mucky with Distress Inks which is always fun ... everything else can just wait! I say it can wait ... I actually mean I am going to be up even later tonight now ... because it can't actually wait that long! Hey Ho!

Can you see the flower centres? ... don't tell anyone but they are not actually ... erm ... Tim's ...You know Tim ... the man that can ski across the English channel on one ski ... without using his hands and make a full scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of matchsticks at the same time! I feel really really bad ... but the poppers ... or whatever you call them were only 80p for 20 pairs ... and that's like 40 flower centres ...  and they were black ... I just had to get them ... whatever you do ... don't tell him ... pleeeeease!

Best I get on with my list :0)

Someone Stole Tuesday too!

Oh yes siree ... the person or persons that stole Monday morning have only gone and nicked Tuesday too! Why do they do that when you have a list of stuff to do as long as your arm? I say ... your arm ... and I don't actually know how long your arms are so I shall be more precise ... John has very long arms ... abnormally long ... in fact I think he is only one evolutionary step away from the monkeys in terms of arm lengths. Well my list is as long as his arms ... oh yes ... both of them :0)

This card is a double whammy challenge wotsit ... tis my entry for Sunday Stampers which is celebrating it's 2nd birthday and the challenge is a birthday card. It is also my entry in today's Passion for Promarkers challenge where the theme is girls.

So that answers what I used to colour the very lovely Mabel Lucie Attwell image with ... the background is a dotty stamp embossed in white and coloured using old paper and worn lipstick distress inks. That is my favourite name ... ever ... for a colour of ink ... I bet Timmy ... the man that can walk across a tightrope with just one leg and a empty alcohol ink bottle ... named it ... in fact ... he probably named that one especially for me :0)

That's it then ... see you with my desk in the morning :0)

Simply Stamping!

I describe myself as a challenge junkie ... and these days nothing could be further from the truth! I used to complete a challenge almost every day and recently ... once every few months! So today I am going to start to rectify this misleading description and have taken part in the Allsorts challenge ... which is ... I think ... a good start.

The theme is brown and pink and since I have n't had Tilda or my Promarkers out for ages ... well I thought I would rectify that too. I had forgotten just how therapeutic colouring in is. This card was made using the snow cap dabber as a resist with the lovely Agapanthus stamp ... I still find it amazing what you can do with a few stamps some ink and a bit of white card! I actually left some ink on the white dabber too because for this card ... well ... the white was just ... in ya face!

On a different note ... Thank you for all your warming comments on Thursday :0) ... the heating and hot water was restored finally at 6.30pm and it seems to be working better than ever at the moment ... I did n't resort to putting my coat on ... just a few well timed ... do be quiet looks at John did the trick! Mind you ... when Mr Heating chappy left ... John said ... Blimey he could talk could n't he? Amazing! The poor chap was n't speaking to himself!

Losing the Plot!

I know many of you think I lost the plot sometime ago ... but today ... I really think I might be!

I have been merrily getting organised ... making my January birthday cards early and playing quite happily in the knowledge that is was ... erm ... Sunday and I did n't need to post for Bubbly Funk until tomorrow ... being ... erm ... Monday!

I had such a smug look on my face when at about 3.30pm I started drafting my post for the blog ... usually it is a mad panic and it is around 10 pm on a Sunday night ... so you can imagine said look when I thought I would draft early and maybe snuggle down to watch Christmas telly all night. I really cannot stress enough ... how smug ... smug ... smug I was feeling ... in fact I was positively oozing smugness!!!

Well ... I was about to save the page when I looked at the day ... I was n't early ... I was erm ... about 7 hours late ... Doh!

I am now hoping to regain the plot ... sooner ... rather than later ... but for now ...

Have a good Sunday ... erm ... Monday evening people :0) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas ... and don't forget to tell me what Santa bringed you :0)

Nawty Blogger!

This time I am not the nawty blogger either ... tis blogger ... I wanted to post this card yesterday ... but blogger went down for hours and hours ... for me anyway! It was most frustrating ... and I hope somebody somewhere is doing their utmost to prevent it happening again ... ever :0)

Now I have got that off me chest I can tell you about this totally cute stamp ...

I have used most of the lime green promarkers on my card and I have added some paper flowers which were made using Basic Grey 6X6 Sultry range and the Artistic Stamper's flower power stamp. The totally cute stamp is again from the Artistic Stamper ... but this time from the Mabel Lucie Attwell range.

John has got man flu ... I am not good at sympathy ... so I am hiding in my craft room ... he is still managing to cook the dinner ... so you can all rest assured ... I won't starve :0)

Enjoy the last little bit of your weekends ... Byeeee!

Blogging on Another Blog!

I am a member of the new Design Team at Creativity Boutique ... I have had sooooo much fun playing with Stampendous stamps and the other goodies I got to mess around with! Which I can't tell you about yet :0)

Totally yummy goodness!

But there is a scary side too ... I blog on their blog ... now ... you know me ... I ramble about all kinds of nonsense here ... well it's home ... and I can do what I like ... but now on a Friday ... I shall be appearing there too! Do you think they are expecting a grown up?

Later today is the first day and I am a little bit terrified ... I drafted my post yesterday and have checked it somewhere between one and two thousand times for spelling errors ... I keep making sure I have added my card ... oh the trauma!!!

You know what's coming ... don't you? ... please pop over and say Hi to me on there ... I don't want to be a "Billy no mates" as well as traumatised!!! Oh ... the shame!!!

You can read all about this card over there too ... My first ever Thanksgiving card ... I could do with a fanfare as well as the hard drugs that it is going to take to stop me worrying all night!

Do you know that is pretty Bonkers when you think about it ... well now I have typed it actually... so it does n't post when scheduled at 7am U.S time ... I can just publish as soon as I realise it failed ... so there is a typo ... so I shall just correct it ... so no one comments

... Well ... That will be YOUR fault won't it :0)

Have a good Friday everyone ... and don't forget ... you have another 24 hours exactly to register for this candy!

WOYWW!

I have n't gone mad ... I will show you my work desk in a mo ... it is just that the picture was pretty naff so I thought I would show the finished card first :0)
This is my entry for the Passion For Promarkers challenge this week where the colour challenge is Poppy red and Forest green.
Those Distress ink fans amongst you will also spot an abundance of Peeled Paint ... I have got a thing about stamping my own background papers at the moment ... I am sure just like all my other things ... this one will pass in time too :0)
All stamps used are by The Artistic Stamper ... the backgrounds and the Mabel Lucie Attwell chappy in his car!
The stitching is faux ... I am loving that word ... faux! I used my inkessentials white pen and my Timmy ... the man that can walk on hot coals with bare feet while making a souffle and grunge paper flowers at the same time ... ruler and pokey tool :0)
Now to the extremely bad piccy of my desk ... this card was on my desk when I entered my craft room this morning in an unfinished state ... along with my ATG gun ... that I LOVE ... and a load of other half finished embellishment things ... that will probably remain half finished until the end of time!
I am off to look at other people's desks now ... with the magic of the tinternet and if you all fancy a nosey then just visit Julia's blog ... where every one links up! And if you fancy joining in this week ... well please do ... the more ... the merrier :0)

Cooking Up A Card!

John would be proud of me if he was here right now ... I managed to follow a recipe :0)

Some of my friends out there know that I don't cook ... ever ... well I have about three times in the 10 years we have been together :0)

So today when I saw the recipe challenge on The Pink Elephant Blog ... I had a minor panic attack ... on closer inspection I saw that all I needed was a punch, some polka dots and a tag ... Now that is the sort of recipe I like!

Mabel Lucie Attwell provided the image ... with the help of The Artistic Stamper of course along with the larger flowers from The Flower Power range and the rest of the card is either Bazzill or distress inks or a small flower punch without a name ... the holes from a hole punch ... a tag and some spotty ribbon.

For those of you that wanted to know what I did with my art ... the answer is ... some of it is DT stuff and has to be submitted ... I make most of my own cards for friends, family etc., ... the rest of the cards I sell for charity ... I keep the odd few bits I make ... that I actually like and the rest just gets dumped in plastic containers that I go through from time to time and shudder ... wondering what on earth I was thinking when I made them!

I am keeping my beer mats though ... even the ones I don't like ... they will be a colour chart for my distress inks to use as a reference.

That's all folks! Thank you for popping by!

New Stamps!

These new Artistic Stamper stamps take me right back to my childhood and a well-worn annual I used to own. They are the new Mabel Lucie Attwell range and I have had such a good time working with them. They were launched yesterday which is why my desk was shrouded in secrecy on Wednesday ... so now you know... the secret has been revealed! This cute little lady is called Rainy Day.

The stamps and loads of other yummy things are  available at Ally Pally this weekend ... I hate not going! I usually always go ... but this time I had just too much on and other plans ... I may go spend lots of dosh online ... just as a small consolation for myself you understand!

If anyone does go to Ally Pally please come and tell us what you saw and what you bought and if anyone else uses online retail therapy ... tell us all about that too.

Our friends in the US have a truck sale this weekend ... millions of Stampers Anonymous stamps being taken to a shop in St.Louis ... with Wendy Vecchi book signing ... I wanna be there too ...

And finally this is my card for the Allsorts Challenge this week where the theme is Autumn.

Aargh There Be a Sketch!

There is probably a law somewhere that says "Thou shalt not blog two pirate cards in one day". If there is I should imagine that somewhere in the small print it says "Unless one of them there pirate cards be for a sketch challenge". So you don't need to report me ... I am quite sure I am within the law!

I can hear you groan though ... and I am a bit sorry! It is just that I still had all the pirate doings on my desk when I decided to join in the Saturday Sketch Challenge this week. Plus the fact I had stamped enough of Edwin's skulls this morning to sink a small battle ship!

The pirate is a Sugar Nellie stamp and the skull does belong to Edwin and the papers are all Rusty Pickle. I have however used a different map stamp ... this time by Rubber Stampede and Edwin is coloured using Pro Markers.

I promise my next post will be pirateless :0)

Pirates Beware!

It has been one of those days today! You know ... one of those days! John and I were going to have our first lay-in in ages! I woke at 7.30 and snuggled down knowing I did n't need to get up for anything in particular. At 8am my sister rings up 'Are you up yet?' NO! So I tell her to call back at a more respectable time and lo and behold at exactly 8.15am the plasterer arrives ... you know the one ... due on Thursday evening ... No lay-in for us then!

This afternoon has been nice though ... I have been mooching around the local festival with the afore mentioned sister and picking up books and pictures and things that could do with an alter ... they will probably sit in the accumulating pile of stuff that all needs to be altered ... but you just never know when the mood will hit do you?

This card is mainly Rusty Pickle with a Sugar Nellie pirate and Edwin's skull ... In case you were wondering ... I can make other cards but I have kind of promised myself that I will use this set of papers up before I start on another one ... That will be a first!

Anyways I will leave you to enjoy your Saturdays in peace!

Permission To Come Aboard!

Doh! I'm a pirate ... I don't need permission!

Did ya see? Huh? Did ya? My last pirate card won a top five spot on the allsorts challenge blog ... How cool is that? I get to put one of their blinkie things in my side bar! Which I did within two seconds of finding out I could ... Shallow? Who me?

And ... and ... I won the August challenge on Paper Bag Studios blog with my CD book ... Cool huh? I did n't get a blinkie for that though ... I got a stash coupon ... which is also very cool! It seems rude to go back and ask for a blinkie as well ... but I am tempted :0)

Same product on this card as the last one ... if you want the details just click here!

I am just wondering whether to put the heating on or not ... flippin' cold here I can tell you! But putting the heating on is kind of like admitting you are ready for the winter ... and I am soooooo not ... I am still hoping for an Indian summer :0)

So who's watching Dirty Dancing tonight? I am ... I want to pay my respects to the wonderful Mr Swayze.

Well ... that's me ... all done ... Enjoy your evenings!

Cap'n Jack He Aint!

But the papers are! Oooh Aargh!

He is in fact a Sugar Nellie ... the only one I possess ... have had it yonks ... only got it out of the bag this morning ... and discovered that he came with an adoption certificate ... I may send him back ... he does n't say much!

This is my first ever entry for the allsorts challenge which I found today via Shaz's fabulous blog ... and thought I would give the theme of 'Something for the boys' a go!

The papers, the ribbon, the chipboard shape are all Rusty Pickle. The Jolly Roger is a clearly defined stamp from Printworks ... and I have stamped a Penny Black greeting over the top of it. The map is an oldie from Hero Arts!

Ahoy me hearties ... a big Thank you to everyone who joined the big Tilda debate ... I had a good chuckle over many of the answers and I really appreciated your honesty.

Shiver me timbers is that the time? ... I have treasure to find!

Getting Organised!

I am determined not to get caught out by Father's Day again this year!

Every year I put off making these cards until the last minute and every year I make a promise to myself that I won't get caught out again.

So here is my first design.

Sorry if I have confused you into thinking that I have lots of Dad's ... I don't ... but I do get a lot of orders for Charity cards ...

This is my first ever Edwin stamp from Magnolia and the paper is from the Basic Grey Periphery collection.

I made the 'Hats Off" topper on my computer and I found the ickle top hat charm in my stash.

Too Pink? Too Girly?

Indeed! Is there such a thing?

The jury is still out on that one for me! I was asked for a pink and girly card for a friend's sister and this is what I came up with!

The card was also designed to fit in with this week's Penny Black challenge which is buttons.

No prizes for guessing then that the stamp is indeed Penny Black! The stamped image and the cotton was coloured using Pro Markers [colouring cotton is a neat little trick and saves you a fortune on coloured cottons] The paper is from the Basic Grey 'Sultry' range.

I hope you are enjoying your Bank Holiday weekends - whatever you are doing!