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 :)

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.

Sing a song of sixpence...

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with cold toes. I had to de-ice the car at 5 O'Clock yesterday evening to go to work. It was a shock that it frosted up so quickly after dark. I hope I can manage to get some good photos of ice and frost, I love the patterns it makes.

It's Lythan's turn to dare us all this week and shes got us singing! Yep, the dare is to make a card inspired by a song without using the words on it. Sheesh! It's had me scratching my head for ages but I do love a good challenge. I used Figgy Pudding papers and not much else.... Can you tell what it is yet? (Done in my best Rolf Harris voice)



Here's another Christmas card too, using last years DCWV Christmas pads and a 2peas dingbat font. I coloured it with a mixture of watercolours and pretend H2O's, a shimmery paint set from The Works. £2.99....bargain!

Now if you haven't guessed the Dare song yet.... O Christmas tree! I'm so looking forward to seeing the entries for this one!

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!

A tag and a card

I don't think I shared this card before. It was for a BG contest, using Obscure, funky papers but quite difficult to use. Great fun to make this one, and lots of handcutting too!
Also I've been tagged by Kate! Thank you :)

4 jobs I have had

Dental Nurse a long time ago
Workshop Coordinator of a Social Enterprise
Pizza Chef ahh those student jobs...
Craft Tutor

4 places I have visited
Malmo in Sweeden
Lyon in France
Quite a few places in Greece
Camden in London

4 places I have lived
Rural Wales
Isle of Lewis
The big city of Aberdeen (a metropolis to me!)
Rural Angus

4 faovourite foods
Sushi
Twiglets
Sunday Roast, any of them, we're having chicken today.
Creme eggs

4 places I would rather be
My craft room
On a warm beach
By the fire
Snuggled in bed when there's a storm outside

And I'm going to tag... Lisa, Lynne and Nic, in honour of making friends made on the internet and living to tell the tale!

Another JB challenge

Phew, a mega busy day here. Not much I can share though and a load of admin *insert sleepy yawning smiley here*, but I can share this card I made for one of the challenges on the Just Bex forum. To make a fastening card with some sore of closure.

Mine uses BG Blush, which Im feeling ok about using as Mellow is lush and my new one to keep for stroking! And I used 5 pieces out of my 6x6 pad cause I decided to cover the inside and back too which is stripey like the front. Stamps are the same as the previous post, delicious, I love them, and the papermania pearl brads look so antique wardrobe/ belt buckle!Its foggy and cold here tonight so I think a spot of sofa snuggling and telley watching is in order!

Tenuous Link to a Tempting Template!

All the friends cards are amazing! I'm doing my best to get round every single one of them posted this week, its a bit of a challenge, there's just SO many cards being shared! But if you've done it alreadsy and are looking for something else then this weeks, Daring Cardmakers Little Extra is a fab Template! I think I've used lots of artistic licence with this card, it does vaguely fit with the template but it's a good few steps away!


Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Purple Onion and Penny Black stamps, BG Blush paper.

Circle of Friends

Happy Birthday DCM,
Happy Birthday DCM,
Happy Birthday Daring Cardmakers,
Happy Birthday to us all!

Wow I can't believe it's been a year since we launched our first Daring Cardmakers Dare. Its amazing that only a year ago there were no challege blogs for cardmakers and so Daring Cardmakers was born!

What a year it's been, there have been babies, weddings, ups, downs but most of all, loads of creativity in a friendly welcoming place. It's fantastic to see the huge amount of responses each week to the dares, thank you for taking the time to post your creations, I'm only sorry I don't have an extra few hours each day so I could read and respond to every single comment, but between us we do visit every single blog.

So one year on, we are revisiting our first dare in honour of the amazing CIRCLE OF FRIENDS that spreads all across the world, making DCM the friendly, creative fun place it is!


Supplies: BG Infuse, Doodlebug & Dimension Forth Stamps, Scallop Scissors, Cropodile and Lots of inking.

I can't wait to see the cards you make for this, and thank you for making Daring CardMakers what it is.

Rhi x

In The Frame

What an eventful evening yesterday, I had car problems at 5 past 5, always just when the garages are shut, lol. So I phoned my students and luckily managed to catch them all before they left their houses for the class. I didn't know how long I'd be or whether it was serious. Still, it could have been worse, it didn't actually break down the exhaust just fell off and made an awful noise. I had been wondering what that funny noise was on my way into town too and thinking I'd have to get Matt to have a look. Anyway, the nice man from the rescue service came and took the hanging half of the exhaust off and I could drive it tentatively, and noisily, home. The joys of having a car of a certain age!

So instead of teaching last night, I started going through my storage boxes in my craft room to have a clear out. Of course now its a huge mess but I do have a big charity shop pile and the bin's a bit fuller.

Back to cardmaking, which quite frankly, is much more interesting than cars or tidying up.

Lynne set the fabuloso dare this week to use a frame... and I'd just got my paws on some delicious frame stamps from doodlebug. This is my favourite from the set, I just love its doodle appearance. I also used BG Recess papers, Dovecraft brad and stamps from Duo Designs and Hampton.
A Christmas one too, even though I'm in disbelief at the shops being full of Christmas nonsense already.

DCWV paper, cuttlebug snowflake embossing die, bosscut reindeer and Studio G sentiment stamp.

Right, I'm off to the garage now!

Vroom Vroom

This weeks Little Extra is trains, planes and automobiles, anything with transport! Meanwhile isn't it cold and windy, going to have to get the wooly jumpers out very soon. Still, when it's raining I don't feel like I'm missing the sunshine by being in my craft room. Back to the card...

Shash : Cuttlebug dies, a Hero Arts stamp, Recess BG Paper.

Basic Grey... Joy!

Whoohoo! I made it into the Basic Grey Gallery! I love their papers so much, what a buzz! This is the card I submitted and it's shown here, using the gorgeous Phoebe papers. It makes cutting up those papers worthwhile... This was actually made for Jo's frills dare ages ago, *blush* but better late than never eh!

Time

I could really do with some more time at the moment, about 4 more hours in a day would be good! Two weeks tomorrow til the big day, I have some things to share on that front but it'll have to wait til I get some photos taken, time is short!

This weeks Dare is set by the wonderfully talented Kathy who has given us the challenge...

"It's About Time"
So you can use clocks, calendars, quotes, sayings, pictures, nursery rhymes, or altered art-type stuff, whatever takes your fancy - just take some time out to play and have some fun; remember, time flies when you're having fun!

I had a bit of a creative block at first, nothing would work, but after a busy day I had two ideas at ones. See, just like buses!

The first one uses Basic Grey Sublime papers. One of the older collection pads I have but such lovely warm colours. The border is cut freehand on one side and with those decorative edge scissors I never thought would see the light of day on the other. The clock hands are Papermania photo turns with a Making Memories Brad. The ribbon is from my local craft shop, inked to tone it in with everything else. The ribbon slide is trimmed down from a cuttlebug die cut, all on a kraft brown card blank.


I was less happy with this one to start with but its growing on me. Rusty Pickle Papers, Stamps by Hampton, Graphicus and Leave Memories. The border is cut with my new favourite toy the Basic Grey Notch tool, I love it!

It's actually black and cream whereas the pic makes it look black and white, I need a photography lesson, anyone doing any up this way?

The Daring Cardmakers Design Team have, as always, come up with some stunning examples of things to do with this theme. I hope you dare too!

Tuesdays Little Extra

Over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog we have a fab sketch for this weeks Little Extra and some gorgeous cards to get you inspired. Here's my effort!I used some of my brand spanking new BG Perhaps papers I got the other day, they are just gorgeous, blooms and Papermainia pearl Brads. A simple little card really, I didnt want to cover up too much of that droolable paper.

And guess what the postie brought me! Some new stamps and Prima's from Bargain Garden off ebay, recommended by Lynne. What a fab seller! I have to say I was a little dissapointed with the number of blooms in the little Prima tins til I realised the tins have a magnetic base, Cool mini fridge magnet scrapbook altered thingys here we come! Now if someone could find me an extra few hours in the day to play that would be perfect!

CPS#9

I had to make a Thank you card last night and as I had no inspiration, (thats what making a gazzillion wedding invites does for you!) I had a look round some of the fabby sketch blogs that are going. This is the Card Positioning Systems sketch of the week and it's lovely and simple, so nice and quick for me!

Thank you is printed using 2peas Garden Girls font and papers are Basic Grey Blush, a few primas and brads and thats it!