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 :)

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 :)

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!

It's all in the game

Sue's wonderful dare this week is to use a game piece on a card, here's what I did.Papers are Fancy Pants, quote and paper ribbon are K&Co, Papermania brads, Key from Panduro, Domino altered with Ranger alcohol inks and other inking with distress inks.

Thanks for looking :)

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?

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.

Plastic Fantastic

It's dare day, and I get to set the dare too..whooohooo!

This week I'm on a recycling mission. I dare you to look again at the plastic packaging around you and transform it into a brand new card. It could be food packaging, craft packaging or just something plastic that's destined for the bin or recycling. Trim it, die cut it, alcohol ink it, crop-o-dile it, give it a new lease of life then share it via your blog for us all to see. Happy Recycling!


I've used these - clear stamp packets from my Autumn Leaves stamps. I kept them with the vague thought that if I ever passed the stamps on to anyone else they might come in handy. Yeah right! Like I'm going to let my beloved AL stamps go anywhere! Anyways, chopped up each side of plastic makes a fabaroo see through card blank for the best price of all... nothing! I added handcut paper from the K&Co Addison range and a couple of brads. I used those sheets of sticky dots to attech the swirly bits to the acetate and they hardly even show on the reverse. The paper is all sparkly and lovely in the light - what little of it there is as its blowing a hooly out there and tipping it down.
Other news from the north east, well our car is finally dying, poor old Punto's done us well but is feeling every hour of her 12 years of hard graft and is crying oil. Any top tips on buying second hand cars? It's such a confusing world especially when you just want something to get you there as cheap as possible rather than be flash! I'll keep you updated on the exciting car saga...lol

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.

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.

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!

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!

Golden Brown

It's Keryn's turn this week to set the dare, and it's to use golden highlights. You know how you go through phases with colours, well gold's not been one of my colours recently so I found this a real challenge. In the end I picked brown to go with the gold and they work really well togetherIt's an olde gold rather than a bright bling one and I like the subtleness of it.

Other exciting news, I've learnt to crochet! I found it really hard only having one needle, not that I would count myself as a knitter since I can only do plain stitch at the moment. So far I have made lots of tangled bits of wool with lumpy bits that the cats love playing with but I've also managed to make a sort of square, okay it looses stitches and gets thinner but its a start. I'm going to try this pattern next and see if I can make a flower!