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 :)

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!)

Shrink to Fit (aka how small is 5x5cm!)

Kathy set a stonker of a dare this week, and, although I finished my card on Tuesday, I've only just had a moment to photo it and upload.
Papermania embellies, K&Co papers, Sizzix Corner die and clear stamp... I can't remember but if you really want to know send me an email!

Fancy a cuppa?

Mel's turn this week to set the dare, and I really could have done with time to relax and take a break, lol.
A simple little card really, all papers are Basic Grey Periphery, sizzlits tags, circle punch, papermania brads, hero arts alpha and embroidery thread. I didn't have any fancy teabags with strings on or pretty packets so I made a little pouch to keep the teabag safe with one of those officey style windey-roundey-closey-things!

Now who's turn is it to put the kettle on?

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.

I am Woman

What a hectic week... New job, new car, and loads of other stuff to be done too. All which has left no time for blogging any of it! We ended up getting a Citroen C2 from a local garage 18 months old and super cute, we went to see a few second hand cars and met some colourful individuals that gave us no faith in the cars they were selling, so after a few test drives in Dundee from pushy salesmen the lovely local Citroen dealership got our business instead. I'll take a pic of her soon, she's so very new and all the inside lights and stuff work which is a totally new experience for me :) I may become a petrolhead!

On to cardmaking, this weeks dare was set by Lythan, I am Woman, to celebrate Women and Girls. Now I've had this paperartsy stamp of a woman for years and years and never used it. It came on a plate with the sewing pattern background which I used for the background and I love so I challenged myself to use the woman too. She does look a bit grumpy I have to say but there you , we all have off days!


Other bits and bobs used : K&Co Bailey Papers, Sassafras lass bracket stamps, Watercolour Pencils, Papermania brads, Teeny buttons, Lace from a haberdashers nears where my grandparents live and BG notch tool to make the scallops.

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!

This is not the greatest card in the world (This is a tribute)

If you don't know the Tenacious D song that will make no sense at all, I love it, definitely worth a listen and this video's quite funny too! Wishing both Gillian and Lynne a fond farewell from the Design Team is the theme of today's Daring Cardmakers Little Extra. I chose to make a card inspired by Gillian, her style is wonderful and very different from mine.Supplies are K&Co papers, a key from my wonderful Rak from Melonie, Ikea paper string, a sheet from a book, distress ink and a faux stitches, I'd like to say that I planned them to be like that but I've mucked up the tension on the sewing machine and haven't quite got it sorted out yet.

Thank you both for your inspiration while you've been on the team, you're both stars :)

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.

Birthday star

Just popped in to share a card I made for my FIL. All the pics came out so badly, this was the best and its slightly out of focus! Papers are Chloe's Closet, so are the 2008 card ones, I love their muted tones.
It's icy cold here, but no proper snowman building snow yet... fingers crossed it arrives when I don't have to drive anywhere. Hope you're having a contented crafty day :)

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 :)

Merry Christmas!

Wow, what a hectic week so far! I had a birthday with gorgeous cards and pampering, a surprise visit from my Dad and plenty of Christmas preparation. I have been creating but nothing I can share as its all wrapped up ready to be opened tomorrow. Have a fantastic day whatever you're up to. Here's another Christmas card, a tilda cutie.
Now we're past the shortest day theres going to be more light, so hopefully the photo's will improve from now on. Seasons Greetings Everyone!

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!

Candy Stripes

Where did the last week go? I don't seem to have had time to do anything much. I did manage a bit of time for Saffa's latest dare over at DCM though, and I double dared myself to keep using birds for it!


I just adore these Mellow papers, I think I'm going to have to get the collection pack before they get too hard to find over here. The bird stamp is the same as before and the sentiment is A Muse. I bought it recently with a few other stamps in a final clearance of one of the two Bricks and Mortar craft shops in Montrose. Its a real shame to see it go but there is just so much competition out there in the craft market now, and with the net we've all become really savvy shoppers, but nothing beats actual shopping where you can see for real what you're getting. The branch is hand cut as is the wave and the edges are inked.

I've been tagged too but thats going to have to wait til later. I'm being used as target practice by the RAF jets and the cats are going crazy!

Tweet Tweet!

Well we've got some exciting news at DCM this week! Welcome to Rachel and Mel who are joining the team, fab to have you here with us!

It's my turn to dare this week...

and the theme is to do with our feathered friends!

(Are you remembering to feed them now it's chilly out)
Robins, love birds, cartoon birds, stamped birds, paper pieced birds,
dingbat birds.Its up to you. I dare you to make a card with a bird or birds on,
it doesn't haveto be a real species, the more weird and wonderful the better!

I love the colours and patterns on the periphery paper pad, I thought this band of brown looked a bit like a branch so I perched my birds on there. I drew round the chipboard birds and cut them out of paper, I was going to use them but... well the excuse is they'd make the card heavy to post, the real reason is theres one of each in the pack and they're adorable.
Supplies: BG Periphery, BG Rubons, Doodlebug Stamp, Magistical Memories Chipboard, Ranger Walnut Ink

As I'd managed to make my first card by tuesday, unheard of for a last minute mini like me, I had another play and came up with something all together brighter in cheery colours. I love these paper designs, funky retro with totally unexpected colours.
Supplies: Cats Life Press stamp, Rubber Soul Paper, Berisfords Ribbon, Rob & Bob Clip, Scallop Scissors, Buttons from stash and doodling.

Piles of Parcels

Thats the theme for this weeks Santa's Little Extra Helper! The pics not 100% true to the colours of the gorgeous Figgy Pudding papers as I had to use the flash. They're great but you only get one of each in the 6x6 pack, making them hard to start using!
I've also been playing with Marieke's gorgeous papers, such Fab colours, I love them. I made this for a pal who's just got her very own place with no flatmates, oh the joys! I remember my first solo flat really well, only your own mess to contend with!
Thanks for looking and keep warm, it's still baltic here and even crocs with socks aren't keeping my toes warm!

Brrrrrr & Cardboard

It snowed here last night don't you know! It was blowing a hooly too, still at least most of the traffic was driving sensibly on the dual carriageway when I went to work last night, and the gritters are out in force too. Actually snow may be exaggerating slightly, it was more like an occasional 5 minute flurry that got blown into the hollows but it was still the first snow of the winter. Matt laughs at me getting excited about snow, it brings out the big kid in me. I had a hot water bottle last night, not that I needed it with the central heating but it was so snuggly.

So, onto cards now. This week is Jo's turn to dare us all, and she wants us to use Corrugated cardboard. Now I'm sure I had loads of this at one time but its disappeared and only left a teeny bit of red behind, so I had a go at Jo's suggestion and tore up cardboard boxes too.

I was going for a naive look with this one, you know like kids draw the sky at the top of a picture and the grass at the bottom with no middle! Elsie fabric for the sky, sizzix hearts, handcut felt & house.


I also learned that not all cardboard boxes are alike! Some are easy to tear and get the crunckled bit but others are stuck together really well. My way round this for the really well glued ones apart is to steam iron them , making the top layer all soggy and easy to peel. I suppose you could just use water and leave it but I had the iron out at the time I was thinking about it! This card uses Cuttlebug Paisley die, scalloped punch, brads, torn cardboard, a little hampton stamp and lots of inking.

Have fun ripping up your cardboard boxes, its great fun!