Bluebird 2

Good afternoon,
back again with the last of my samples for last weekend using the Letraset Flexmarkers.
Yesterday was a busy busy day - had lined up a photo shoot for the kids seeing as they were off school, so we trotted off to Deeside Photographics in Banchory. I'd asked for Logan to do the shoot because he is fantastic with kids, and he always puts everyone at ease. I personally hate my photo taken, and always feel really awkward when asked to smile, but Logan did my engagement and wedding photos many moons ago and my cheeks were hurting with the amount of smiling I'd been doing. So I would highly recommend him - although be warned, he can be a bit cheeky, so if you're easily offended you might want to choose someone else lol
Anyway, Willow did her usual and came over all shy - but Logan managed to coax her into it.
So after that it was home for lunch then off into town for Willow's consultants appointment which ended up taking much longer than I'd planned, but hey-ho.
And then home to wait for my Tesco grocery delivery which never arrived. After a few phonecalls it turns out that the driver fobbed the customer services team off by telling them he was on his way when in actual fact he had already taken the van back to the store! So I had to reschedule the delivery for this morning.
Today has had a little less drama though, some guy from some agency came round to look at the insulation in the loft, so we're going to get more fitted next week. I've had to cancel Willow's hospital tooth extraction appt tomorrow because she's developed a chesty cough, and now Graham has a cold.
Don't ask me what I've done today - it just seems to be a day spent making phonecalls, paying bills and sorting out paperwork.
Anyway, here's a wee cuties to look at...

Image: Bluebirds Proposal - Gorjuss stamp by PI coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
assorted ribbons and twills all coloured with flexmarkers all woven to make the background.
prima e line flowers, american crafts and papermania pearl brads coloured with flexmarkers

My Birthday Girl

Willow, as you probably already know is my middle child and the last of the kids birthdays this year. Yesterday she was 7, she had a fantastic day. She's been on a bit of a downer for the last week or so, and every time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she told us that she didnt want anything, and then went around with a face like a wet weekend.
So I was working blind when I went to Toys R Us at the beginning of the week - but I think I managed to get everything she likes...

The birthday girl ...

So she was highly delighted with all her presents - and her diva cake from M&S, aren't Markies cakes just yummy!!

I ended up making 2 birthday cards for the little madam - I made a pretty one with a Gorjuss stamp, but she came through to my room and decided she wanted me to use a different image, so she chose the image for this card...

 Image: Janessa from Saturated Canary Digis, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
card blank is Craftwork Cards, paper is Tim Holtz, La Blanche flourish stamp, Papermania daughter stamp, Prima e line pearls and white organza ribbon from stash

I'd like to enter my card into:
The Stamping Boutique - Someone Special 
Tuesday Throwdown - Think Pink
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday

The Sew Room

Time is running away from me again, so I'm playing catch up once more... 
Had a pretty busy weekend, haircuts all round on Saturday morning, then a flying visit to The Papeterie on the way out to the grand opening of The Sew Room.
Kath shared some more pics of the shop the other day and it really is a beautiful shop, full of wonderful things. The girls managed to empty my purse for me, so the next time I go I think I'll be leaving them at home so I can buy some goodies for myself :)
Anyway, I made a wee shop-warming gift for Anne...

I used Kaisercraft - Black and White Timeless papers coloured with Distress Stain (spun sugar)
Tim Holtz -  Sewing Room die (cut from Papermania Kraft cardstock)
Prima - butterfly alphabet stamp, PI stamps, EK Success button border punch, Claudine Hellmuth sticky backed canvas, memento and distress ink pads
I'd like to enter this into... 
Lexis Creations - Pink for Boobies
Make It Monday with Kraft Outlet - to die cut
Stamptacular Sunday - so distressing


A wee bag to put it in...

Image: Sizzix/Hero Arts - Antique Flowers & Butterflies stamp and die
stamped with Memento Angel Pink on the bag and tag, and Memento Tuxedo Black for the main image then coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers
I'd like to enter it into
Make it Monday - anything goes
Touch Twin Challenges - floral
Lets Ink It Up - think pink


And a good luck card..

Image: Stitched Hearts from Stampavie coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers
core'dinations card, background stamped with PI stamps and Angel Pink Memento ink, greeting is Inkadinkado, EK Success button border punch


I'd like to enter this card into:
Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes
Sentimental Sundays - anything goes
One Stop Craft - anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - in stitches
Totally Papercrafts - animals

Happy Birthday Kerri

Today is Kerri's 39th birthday, I've known Kerri a long time - 27 years to be exact, she was also my bridesmaid 13 years ago. Happily, our friendship lasted a lot longer than my marriage :)
Kerri is also the lovely lady I made the Home Sweet Home gift for that I showed off the other day.
Anyway, because she was at Rockness the other week, this image reminded me of hippies and festivals and so I thought it would be quite cool for her birthday card.
And what a stroke of luck that Letraset sent me their ultra-fine nibs just in time for me to colour this image properly! Scroll down to the day-before-yesterday's post to see the ultra-fine nibs review.

Image: Boho Chic from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and cut out with Labels 10 nesties
the brown base card is from The Papeterie, the larger cogs are cut with Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets from Spellbinders and the smaller ones are laser cut chipboard from Make it Crafty. the greeting is PI stamped onto the waste from a Bigz XL ornate box die, the clocks paper is from my stash and the black pearls are Prima e line.


I'd like to enter her into
The Sugar Bowl - sketch
I ♥ Promarkers  - anything goes
Passion for Promarkers - park life (clearly she's walking in the park)
Papertake Weekly - Here comes the sun
Stamptacular Sunday - Fun in the Sun

A Dash of Scarlet

Well I think I'm coming skidding in by the seat of my pants for this week's MIC challenge - or I've completely failed to work out the time difference between Scotland and Queensland :) And I should apologise for the photo, it's now stupid o'clock and I've had to photograph the card under my daylight lamp rather than actual daylight.


Just a wee head's up.... remember to enter my candy here - it closes on Tuesday.

Image: Butterflies & Pigtails from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Cool Greys, Warm Greys, Ice Greys, Burgundy, Crimson, Poppy, Lipstick Red and Pale Pink.
craftwork cards card blank, kanban gingham cardstock, black and white cardstock, EK Success Punch from The Papeterie, Prima e line pearls


I'd like to enter her into:
Make It Colourful - Black with a splash of red


I'm off to bed now, in the hope that I've caught the deadline for MIC - we'll no doubt be up at the crack of dawn as Faith has a little friend staying for the weekend. Thankfully this little friend is quite easy to look after - he's a teddy bear that the nursery class made at the build-a-bear-workshop and he gets to stay with each of the class for a weekend. Muggins here has to write in his journal about all the things they get up to together (bit of artistic licence there methinks) and I have to add pics too... her are the first 2...

 Faith & Willow with Bertie the Bear

Faith all cuddled up with Violet on the left and Bertie on the right

Some Thankyous

I can post a couple of thankyou cards that I sent off to 2 of my lovely bloggy buddies recently - I'm hoping they received them ok by now so I thought I'd share them here as they are using things I don't usually use.

 I don't own any Sweet Pea stamps but the lovely Tina gave me a few stamped images with my birthday card back in January and this is the first chance I've had to get colouring - and I like them.... a lot!
I stamped some white card with Prima script background stamp, embossed another panel with a cuttlebug folder and inked the edges of everything with Brushed Corduroy distress ink. That gorgeous trim is from Simply Create. And the obligatory glamour dust :)
I'd like to enter her into..
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
A Spoonful of Sugar - Tons of Texture
Crafts & Me - Glitter

This one is made with Basic Grey - Lemonade papers and LOTV Dandelion Clock stamp coloured with promarkers, plus of course a MS arched lattice border punch and Craftwork Cards greeting. This is one of the stamps Elaine very kindly sent me for my birthday.


I'd like to enter her into..
Flutterby Wednesdays - open

More catching up

Well, the lurgy is still hanging around like a bad smell here - I'd like to thank everyone who left get well wishes, I appreciate them.


I have managed to fit wee sneaky crafty moments over the last few days - so I took the opportunity to catch up some more with the Sunday's with Santa Facebook group - this first one is for the Week 12 - No Green challenge...

I have stamped the Penny Black - Fantasy stamp with Versamark then heat embossed with detail white, onto this lovely spice coloured linen card from The Papeterie. I used a shaped card blank and greeting from Craftwork Cards and used the MS Cherish punches to shape the spice card.


Now, I'm not sure if it's my bug addled brain that's the problem or if it's just old age but this card started out as being for Gayles choice of Week 13 - Vintage, but halfway through it became Week 11 Snow/snowflakes - so I'll just enter it for both, yes I know that's kind of cheating, but if I have time I'll do another for Snow/snowflakes. Now I have a very loose interpretation of vintage...

White card is all from The Papeterie, embossed with swiss dots cuttlebug folder and Tim Holtz Bricked texture fades folder. The PI church image was stamped with SU Crumb Cake inkpad, and I blended Pumice Distress Ink around the edges of all 3 panels. The snowflakes are MS punches, prima e line adhesive stones, and glamour dust on the church image.


I'd like to enter both these cards into Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Xmas in Spring

Fabulous Darling

Firstly I'd like to apologise to all those who went along to The Papeterie last Saturday to see my demo - I finally succumbed to the horrible bugs that have been doing the rounds and spent the majority of the day on the toilet with my head in the sink. But the good news is it's rescheduled for this Saturday instead - so if you're at a loose end on Saturday morning come and see me.


Secondly I want to apologise to all my bloggy buddies, I haven't been very well since Saturday and so haven't been doing any blog visiting. But fingers crossed, we are past the worst of it and I'll get back to normal soon.


So here's a wee card that I've done for a few challenges that I wanted to enter..

 Image: Fabulous Darling from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
Patterned paper is Basic Grey, Lime Rickey, I embossed some green core'dinations card with a Country Companions folder, added some velvet ribbon from Craftwork Cards, paper flowers are Prima e line and papermania, pearl brads are American Crafts

 I took this angled pic to show you the areas where I used a clear star sakura pen.
And the one below is a close up of her hair..

For some reason there's a kind of Irish/St Patrick's Day thing going on here - it was purely accidental.
Anyway, I'd like to enter my card in...


Sugar Bowl - sketch & Spring
Sugar Nellie FB Group, week 7 - embossing
Papertake Weekly - Triple Tastic - 3 flowers, 3 brads
Allsorts Challenge - Luck o the Irish

SWALK samples 2

It's day 2 of my SWALK samples - as I said yesterday, I'll be demoing from 10.30am at The Papeterie this Saturday 12th March so pop along and have a nosey, the class in the afternoon is full, but I have a class on the 16th April which still has places available.
Here's another of the samples I've made...

This little lovely is "Get Well Soon" and she's coloured with promarkers
the papers are all Kaisercraft "Magic Happens" and matted onto black card, the pearls are Prima e line


I'd like to enter her into...
ABC Challenge - P is for pearls
Fab n Funky - Make it Girly

Prep & Sanding

Still up to my eyeballs, doing a few last minute samples for tomorrows classes, and putting together some step-by-step sheets to take along.
In between I'm trying to keep the kids from completely trashing the house now that they're on holiday.
So thought I'd rattle off a quick post before I make some supper for the masses.


As promised I'm back with the red-haired Sassy that I started at the Ellon Craft Group on Monday. We decided there that it would be good to do the rest of her in shades of grey to really emphasise her hair colour so, what do you think?

 Image: Pillow Talk from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
the background paper is just plain white card stamped with Prima script background stamp and versafine ink, layered onto black card. And I was inspired by the Ellon Craft Groups heart honeycomb challenge to make the wee heart in the top left corner
**Edited to add** I used the following promarker colours: 
hair: Burgundy, Poppy, Lipstick Red, Baby Pink. 
skin: Burnt Orange, Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush. 
eyes: Denim Blue, Midnight Blue
clothing: Ice Grey 1-5
cushions etc: Warm Grey 1-5

It's a joy fold card to fit in with the Sugar Nellie FB group's challenge this week, and I'd also like to enter her into...
Stamp Something - something for your valentine
Crafty Catz - Valentine
Totally Papercrafts - CAS
CRAFT - valentine
Passion for Promarkers - let there be love
Papertake Weekly - have a heart
A Spoonful of Sugar - love
Crafty Cardmakers - hearts
Cupcake Craft - Seeing Red
Pear Tree Designs - Free for all
Stamp with Fun - love
Crazy Challenge - lots of love
Allsorts - love love love
Secret Crafter - valentine
Stampin' for the weekend - St Valentines Day
ABC Challenge - N for Neutrals
Fairy Fun Friday - all in the fine print




Faith got her glasses this week, she's been so excited about it, and we've tried to keep up that excitement for her because she is supposed to wear them all the time. So far she's been quite good and has been asking to wear them..

So, no rest for the wicked, better get back to it, hope you all have a great weekend

Sugar Nellie on Facebook

My candy is now closed, keep your eyes peeled tomorrow as I'll be drawing the candy then and we'll see who the lucky winner is. A huge thankyou to everyone who has entered.
Some of you may already know that Sugar Nellie has it's own group on Facebook (if you're not already a member then just send me a message and I'll add you) and Fiona is in charge of setting the weekly challenge there. So Karen and Fiona decided the challenge this week was for a side-step card. Well, I've done a couple of these and found them awfully fiddly - BUT they've provided a link to a super template (which I altered to simplify) and I had no trouble with it at all.

Image: Dexter Bear from Sugar Nellie coloured with promarkers
brown and pink card is all core'dinations, flowers and pearls are Prima e line, pearl brad is American Crafts and greetings are Hero Arts CL497
Faux stitching was done by piercing card using Tim Holtz design ruler and then joining up the holes with a Rich Cocoa Memento marker.


We're waiting for BT to fix the fault on our line. We've had no landline since Thursday afternoon, although we still have broadband so it's not actually bothering me too much :) Apparently they're aiming to have it fixed by 5pm on Wednesday. 


I'd like to enter my card into
Passion for Promarkers - let it shone (pearls, glitter on flowers and sparkle sentiment)
Peartree Designs - flowers
Stamptacular Sunday - whateva
Saturday Challenge - hot chocolate (and the pink is for the marshmallows)
Simon Says Stamp - animal antics

Birthday Blog Candy

This candy is now closed - winner has been announced


As promised, I'm here to tempt you with some fabulous candy in celebration of my birthday on the 27th January - yes, it's no great surprise that I'm an Aquarian, is it?


So what have I got to give away? well the lovely Paul at Letraset has very generously given me not 1 but 2 of the new Promarker sets - these are just soooooooooooooooo cool. The packaging doubles as portable storage, I just think it's incredibly clever. So here's some piccies for you of the 2 Promarker sets, each contains 12 colours plus a blender pen. 
The packaging opens out and the unique ‘carry-case’ design features a hand-grip and individual snap-fit holders for securing each marker in place. Printed ‘how-to’ tips are included, there’s also a special link to online content providing more in depth information on ProMarker techniques. And of course you can always come back to my Promarker tutorials here.

But that's not all, I also have some Sugar Nellie stamps. You all know that the very first rubber stamp I bought was Daisy and she's still my favourite but Karen is constantly bringing us new and even more gorgeous stamps so there is something for everyone.
So these are the stamps I'm giving away...
Firstly, I use this Gorjuss Girl Sitting a lot when I'm teaching and demonstrating, she features in a lot of my tutorials, so I thought I'd give her away (not my one of course, it is a brand new, unopened stamp)
Next up... Blossom and Faraway Thoughts by Leanne Ellis, Curtsy by Diane Duda, and Little Artist (Home Grown)


And I'm still not finished, there's more...
Prima - "Believe" frame stamp and bling
Papermania - Mosaics
Hobbycraft - Square clear bling
2 Anita's gem wheels 
All of these goodies from Craftwork Cards: Cupcake Album, Scalloped Squares, Elegant Card Wraps, Alpha Tots, and Build A Bun Template


I've also bought another Tim Holtz Design Ruler to give away - I was so impressed with it when I bought mine at the SECC, I think every crafter should have one.


And finally a large organza bag stuffed full of chipboard flowers, die cut shapes, plastic shapes, prima and other paper flowers and blooms.

So the important bit - what do you have to do....
1. copy this pic and post it with a link back to this post on your blog - sorry only people with blogs can enter
2. I'd prefer it if the candy went to someone who comments on my blog now and again rather than somebody who is just here to enter the candy, so please feel free to have a look around. I'm not going to rule out new followers, so long as you comment now and again
3. If you like my blog then please follow me - but don't follow me if you intend to stop following as soon as the candy is drawn.


So, good luck and remember to spread the word, the candy will close at 12 noon GMT on 31st January