Spot the difference

It's my turn to dare this week, and it's...Journalling spots. They're used all the time in scrapbooking where it's extra personal to read someone's words and memories in their own hand. Use a journalling spot, be it stamped, premade, handcut, digital or doodled, to frame your handwritten message on your card.

I used BG Boxer, some of that new Core-denations cardstock embossed with a cuttlebug folder and sanded with a nail file, and a new set of Papermania stamps, they've really come a long way with their new designs! Finally some ribbon, teeny prima's and brads finish it off.

Thanks for looking :)

Happy Day

I was inspired to make a card by this sketch here. I'm loving bright summery colours at the moment, and the BG Gypsy papers are still a favourite, even though in crafting time they're old enough to draw their pension!
Felt die cut letters & flower, BG Gypsy paper, scallop scissors, cuttlebug embossing, ribbon and a papermania brad. Thanks for looking :)

Birthday Boy

Matt's Birthday card this year, all supplies by Zanny Zinnia, which is also where the flowers from the card a few posts down came from. I love that you don't have to commit to a subscription and their kis are yummmy! The only things I added were the white card blank, the cuttlebug embossing folder for the birthday and a pen for the faux stitching :)

Christmas in June!

Yep that's what Jo has dared us to do this week. After digging the Christmas Craft box out, which was buried right at the bottom of the pile, this is what I came up with.Super simple, Rubber Soul paper, Swiss dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Grosgrain ribbon, Hampton Stamp and the star charm from a charity shop, if I remember rightly it was part of some sort of charm/dangly thing!

The Christmas box is now safely tucked away again until Autumn :)

I've also been tagged by Lavender Rose

TEN YEARS AGO

I was at Art School in Aberdeen in my second year. I was living the student life in my first proper flat with a fab friend and partying hard. I thought I spent the summer working as a Trolley Dolly on the trains but thinking about it I think that was the Pizza Shop year. It seems so very long ago now, I hadn't even met my husband then and to be honest it's hard to remember what happened when, lol! I mean I was a teenager then, well just!

FIVE THINGS ON TODAY'S 'TO DO' LIST

Laze about for the morning, I love Saturday mornings lounging in PJ's.
Update my blog- done!
Get some washing on the line as its gorgeously sunny with a good drying breeze.
Watch Doctor Who, I love it :)
Hmmm I can't think of a fifth, I try to do as little as possible on a Saturday, does order takeaway dinner count?!

SNACKS I ENJOY

Twiglets
Worcester Sauce crisps, I'm so glad they brought them back.
Humous and crunchy crusty bread
Cake, any kind, I'm not fussy when it comes to cake!
Tesco's version of Milky Way's, I think they're better than the real thing.

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WAS A MILLIONAIRE

First would definitely be buy a house, or buy a plot and build a house, and go on a long holiday somewhere sunny and hot, actually maybe while the builders were getting on with it. I'd help out my family, buy Matt his dream car, then I'd probably try and be sensible and invest the rest for a good return, actually I'm not sure there would be any left by then.

PLACES I HAVE LIVED

Aberdeen - Silver when it's sunny, grey the rest of the time
Pembrokeshire
Isle of Lewis
Angus - Which is now home

I'm not going to tag anyone mainly because I haven't had the chance to do much blog reading (sorry) but if you haven't done this one then do it and leave me a comment and I'll come and see!

Happy Saturday :)

Just a quickie

This weeks dare... a quick card! It took about 10 minutes in all, but that didn't include picking what I was going to use, and finding it. Cosmo Cricket papers, K&Co sentiment, Papermania brads and a sizzlits corner die.

Cake!

Well the shaped card dare was weeks ago, but since that week I've had a JCB knock out my phone line, only to find out that it couldn't be put back up without a new pole... which needed planning permission... leaving me internet-less, and also moved house. I had to dig through boxes to find new batteries for the camera tonight!

But cake's good at any time, so here's my shaped cake card!

Buttons, ribbon, blonde moments papers and a template I drew myself using a roll of tape and some one inch punched shapes :) Thanks for looking :)

It's been a while

Since I've updated here! But I am still here, and getting occasional time for crafting, even if I am forgetting to photo most cards before I send them... oops.

Here's a couple of cards I've made, this one as a Thank You, it uses cosmo cricket papers and american crafts vinyl thickers. And this one for colleague's new baby daughter using Blonde Moments, loads of ribbons and K&Co alpha stamp set.
I've also got a brand new project online at the Wedding Crafter using gorgeous vintage goodies. Delish!

Hopefully I'm going to have time to catch up with DCM again soon too, my hectic timetable meant something has had to give but I see the other girls have been making some gorgeous creations while I've been AWL (Absent WITH Leave!)

Thank you

Both for visiting and for your lovely comments. Here's some thank you cards I've done recently for some brilliant people. I've used the delicious K&Co Urban Rhapsody papers, yummmm.

Oooo Juicy!

Juicy Lemon and Orange colours are the inspiration behind this weeks little extra! Slurpable!Stamps are Autumn Leaves and Firefly, PP is DCWV posies pad and some cutting, inking and ribbon finish it.

1000 miles...and another two weeks

Another two weeks of not uploading! I'm not going to say sorry though as I've been doing important stuff. My fantastic Mother in Law lent me her car to go and see Grandma and Grampy. Grandma's still poorly after her stroke but I think Grampy enjoyed the company and home cooking, he's really pining for her, they've not been apart like this for 60 years, that's a long time. The 1000 mile round trip left me shattered though.

As my Grampsies are 86 and 84 they don't have internet so although I took my laptop (to share the wedding dvd) I wasn't able to find anywhere to plug it in and get online, hence the disappearing act!

Anyhooo, as they say, Rachel and Keryn sponsored this weeks Dare... To use SU products to make a love or friendship themed card. I do love the way everything matches, the inks are the perfect tone for the card and the patterned paper, it's all very clever
Everything is SU except I used a pair of Scallop scissors. I love the little seal stamps, soooo cute!

Hope you had a lovely Valentine's day and was showered with lovely thoughts and feelings, I'll have to borrow my card back from Matt to get a pic to share!

2 weeks!

I can't believe it's been that long since I updated here, phew....

Things have been a bit manic, as well as the normal busyness I had the news that my Grandma's had a stroke and is poorly in Hospital. I've managed to wangle things around and I'm going down next week to see her and Grampy (who wants to know how to cook scrambled eggs!). So cardmaking has been right off the agenda apart from a couple of get well soon cards for Grandma, the first one didn't make it to the first hospital before she was transferred to the second. There should be photo's of them...er...somewhere...

Thanks for the lovely You cheer me up awards :) You cheered me right up! I'll return them when I actually have time to get some reading done... hmm now is it worth taking my laptop down south in case I can get a signal from somewhere...

Due to getting up mega early this morning I managed to do this weeks dare. I had to see if there was snow as soon as I opened my eyes... but no, again the weather people have been winding me up and there'll be no sledging today (sigh)

Here's my card
Stamps by Doodlebug & Duo Designs, Sizzix tag, K&Co Paper ribbon, brad, ribbon and button from stash, and finally gorgeous Pink Petticoat paper, from Lola Rose Rainbow collection.

Hope I'm back before another 2 weeks!

Hide and Seek

I just love Fridays, it's DCM day :)

I'd like you to make a card which has a hidden component of some sort - the hidden part could be a tag, a concealed photo, message or something along those lines, maybe a pull-out or pop-up. Anything goes as long as there's something extra for the recipient to find on your card that's not immediately visible when they open the envelope.

Here's my card as it comes out of the envelope...

And with the star popping out...

And a close up of the greeting...

Papers are American Crafts, Cuttlebug star die, Sizzix Bigz Flourish die, Woodware buttons, Ribbon from Little Silver Hat (I'm going to miss Liane's shop so much), corners scalloped with BG Notch & Die tool and dotty doodling by me.

Two for the price of one

Wow what a challenge Jane set us for this weeks Daring Cardmakers Dare! To make 2 cards with the exact same ingredients! This is what I came up with using new sizzix dies, the cupcake and swirl, some brads and the delish Tinkering Ink Botanicals papers.
The Design Team really came up trumps, and we're really lucky to have the talented Sue Hyde with us as a guest for a couple of weeks. Have a looksie here!

Other exciting news, I got a message to say was that my card in Simply Cards and Papercraft Readers Gallery in the feb issue... so I went out and bougt it and YES! It's one of my competition entry cards
And if that excitement wasn't enough I also received a fabulous pile of goodies from Melonie as a RAK, what a star you are, thanks so much. It's amazing how many lovely, kind and generous people there are in the world, it really lifts my spirits. How gorgeous are those little keys and the wood panels are just so cool, I can't wait to have a play. I'm a very lucky girl. Thats going to have to wait a couple of days though as I have other, boring, non-crafty stuff to do. Such is life.

Happy Crafting and I'm so sorry I'm not making it round all the blogs at the moment, I just seem to run out of time and whenever I set an hour aside to indulge it gets swallowed up by something else. I hope I can catch up soon, I'm missing your news and wonderful creations.

Happy New Year!

Wowee 2008! How did that happen? 2007 was a fabulous year for me with some massive stuff like getting married - how much fun was that. and starting my own business. I hope this years just as fun. Here's my favourite two wedding pics. Just let an old married reminisce...

Did you watch Heroes Series one... Recognise the composition? It was the first thing we thought of once we knew it was going to rain.Here's a piccy of some Notebooks I made as stocking fillers which I can share now. I did make quite a few things but some of the photos came out so badly...pah. Still, we're getting an extra 2 minutes per day of light now according to bbc sunrise and sunset times, wooot!
And finally, I have a tradition not to set New Years Resolutions, which is why it's ok that I'm late for DCM... again! It may be a New Year but some things never change. Fab cards on the blog as always and hopefully I'll have time to come and see your gorgeous creations.Here's to a happy, healthy and creative 2008.

4 of the best

Buttons, Frame it, Handcutting and Ribbon, all together in one card, phew!
Now remind me not to say why don't we do all four together next time before actually thinking about when I'm going to do it myself, oops.The sentiment is inside the card like the Pirate card below but you can't really see that in the photo, I'll try and get a better one in the daylight tomorrow. Stamps are new Autumn Leaves, scrummy! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas :)

Inside Out

Gillian set a fab Daring Cardmakers dare this week, inside and out! To treat those card insides with the same love as the outside.This is my pirate princess creation! Other exciting news, I ran out and got Simply Cards and Papercraft yesterday as I'm in as a runner up in Card Designer of the Year 2007! A huge congratulations to Kim who's the winner and Sarah who's alongside me as a runner up! What a small world eh!

My first Tilda!

These Tilda stamps didn't appeal at first but the more I see beautiful cards made with them the more I like them. The lovely Nic let me stamp a load out last week and I had a play last night, they really are nice to work with and wonderful to paint.The colours are actually a much better match than in this photo. I had to use the flash despite it being the middle of the day. The Christmas tree is up and making the whole place a bit brighter, and just another week and the days will be getting lighter. Meanwhile I've a to do list longer than Santa's, ok perhaps a slight exaggeration!

Christmas boxes & Randomness

I've been making these dinky boxes for a while now, the perfect way to wrap diddy things. This one's inspired by a tutorial on Splitcoast but I made up my own measurements cause they're deigned for american sized paper. Actually I didn't measure at all, just guessed the lines on my scoreboard and it worked. I can do a 'how I do them' if anyone gets stuck.
This one is inspired by Lauren, but again, I adapted it to my scoreboard for ease. Both are made from one sheet of A4 card, printed with Pink Petticoat and the edges trimmed (my laser wont do edge to edge printing) and finished off with ribbon. Now I'm not going to tell you what's going in them incase you're getting one lol.
I've been tagged by the lovely Kim, 7 random facts! This is a difficult one, m sure I've done it before so I'll try to think of another load of random facts.

1. I love a real log fire, it really makes a house a home for me, I love the smell of burning peat too, reminds me of growing up on the island where we dug our own peat.
2. I went to Art college in Aberdeen and got a degree in Design and Craft - 3D design. I made lamps from clear cast resin, I'll have to share some pics sometime - they're prints though as we used film then so I'll need to get the scanner out.
3. I'd love to get into scrapping but I just haven't been able to yet. I have put our wedding album together now though, no decoration just a print a page - so I may scrap some of those pics soon.
   
4. I am not named after the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon, I was born before it was released... just!
5. I can't abide this 80's fashion trend, I like flares and funky 70's patterns and remember skin tight jeans with zips on the ankles first time round. Yeuuuch!
   
6. I love snow, it brings out the big kid in me, not too keen on driving in it though.
7. I'm a last minute minnie and have my own unique organisation system which looks chaotic but there is method in my mess somewhere!

If you're reading this and haven't done it... YOU'RE TAGGED!!!

Cake & Cats

Thanks for your messages of congratulations, I'm still well chuffed! Its been another dreary autumn week so far here, lots of rain or cloud or mist or a combination meaning its getting dark and half three, roll on spring! Lots to do and not a huge amount of time but I've been planning work stuff around Christmas time and think I'm going to manage a nice long break, where I can eat loads and watch films in my PJ's. Stuff like that! A couple of Cake cards to share today.
Both use a Two Peas Dingbat font, DCWV paper and ribbon from Ribbon Oasis, and I can't believe the sparkle actually showed up in the photo. They're painted with pretend H2Os, which come in a little pallette of 10 colours from the works. You can mix them with normal watercolours too for more colours and they're a bargain at £2.99 - up with the artists stuff.

The poor cats are really hating the rain, they seem to want in two seconds after they've been let out and have managed to get themselves soaked in that miniscule amount of time. Then of course they want a cuddle straight away, hmmm nothing like a cuddle with a soggy cat eh. I got a set of stamps recently from Rusty Pickle, the one that made them have to have stamps was a quote...

Dogs have owners.
Cats have staff.

So true!

Playing with Paperclips

Fancy improving your vocabulary and helping with world hunger? This is pretty cool!


Thanks for all your encouraging messages about my crochet, I am definitely no pro though, I'll take some pics to prove it but the lights gone already, ahh well. I had a go at the flower and bingo... another cat toy!

I've been playing with paperclip embellishments, great fun, and Staples do packs of a hundred 3 inch paperclips for £2.49... bargain! Simple cards both using Rubber Soul papers. I love the quality, its great to have a lovely heavy paper to play with.
What else... Oh yes! I can share this card now its arrived safely, everyone needs a hug when they're having a tough time, so hugs if youre reading this and thats you.

Papers and frame by the fabulous and very talented Marieke, congratulations on being a covergirl!