Monday ! Monday!

Another grey and wet start to the week and sadly, today is the last day of the school holidays. This Summer has been one of the wettest I can remember and I feel quite sorry for the kids as we've definitely not had much in the way of T~shirt and shorts weather over the last 6 weeks.

Forgot to show this card the other day, made with another of the cute English Paper Company papers. Don't you just love those bird's faces.

Once again my scallop punch was used ... this time to mount the image behind the aperture.

Saw the LMC Issue 17 magazine the other day and decided to buy it.

The kit is quite pretty with lots of cute baby bits'n'bobs, so made this card for a baby boy.

Gave me a chance to play with pop out parcels on the inside too. Cute huh??


By simply changing the paper these pop out parcels would work for Birthday Cards and Xmas too.

Apologies for the blurry photos ... will replace them with better ones if I get a chance.

Quick MaxMakes

Here are a few Quick'n'Easy cards made using 8" x 8" papers from the English Paper Company which I bought a lifetime and a half ago.
Love the little chubby bees and the wobbly stripes.

The epoxy flower stickers were free with a magazine and the flower stems are just silver peel offs which have been coloured with permanent markers.

I discovered I had a Daisy Squeeze Punch in a box, (who knows when I bought it LOL), so had a wee play with that too.
I quite like how the petals are not perfectly symmetrical ... makes it quirky ... and the addition of some silver mirri card behind the punched section and matching coloured adhesive gems are enough to complete this pretty little card.

This Thursday It's ... Guest Designer

Well today is the day I can finally reveal my submissions as Guest Designer for the "This Thursday It's All About ..." Challenge, which was based around a quote by Monet about 'COLOUR'.

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment " ...

Lisa's Altered Art was the challenge sponsor and Patty kindly supplied a lovely selection of collaged images for the Design Team and myself to play with.

Project 1 :
Pink and green are one of my favourite colour combinations at the moment, so I made a gate fold card using K. & Co. text paper ...


... and lovely textured material scraps from my stash, matched the triple girl images quite well.
Green ribbon embellishments were added as a finishing touch.

Project 2 :
I used the cute Breast Cancer pink ribbon images for my 2nd project to make a "Reveal Hanging" ... (basically a 'hanging' which has bits to reveal LOL!) ... and adopted the Think Pink slogan.

My trusty scallop punch and various brads from my stash gave me the idea for the moving parts. The photos show it closed, (with all the bits hidden), and then fully open.

Apologies for the camera flash reflection ... it's the glossy photo paper I used for printing and my awful camera skills.

If you click on the images you should be able to see more clearly that all these cuties are carrying, or wearing, a pink ribbon.

I would like to thank the This Thursday Challenge Team for inviting me to be a Guest Designer and the sponsor Patty from Lisa's Altered Art, for allowing me to play with her collage sheets.
I only wish my time management skills had allowed me to do more than 2 projects.

An Award ... or 2

I confess to being notoriously naughty when it comes to Awards.
I always feel very honoured to receive them, but find it very difficult when it comes to passing them on, as many of my friends have already been nominated by the time I get around to dealing with them.
Once again I find myself to be the lucky recipient of 2 fabulous awards ... one from Jude at Crafts International

The purpose of the award is to send love and acknowledgement to women who brigten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy. Isn't that just a lovely gesture, xx
1) You can give it to 1 or 100 or any number in between, it's entirely up to you
2) Make sure you link back to their blog from your post
3) Also link back to this blogsite

... and the other one from Susie of White Ribbon Cards.

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

I did a quick scout in an attempt to find blog friends who are 'award virgins' but once again find I am too late and would simply be duplicating awards already given.

So all I can do is say a huge 'Thank You' to both ladies for the moment and hope that when time permits for a full blown search of blogland, I can pass them on to other worthy bloggers who deserve a special reward and recognition for their talents.
Thank you for understanding.

Bad Blog Buddy

Just wanted to apologise to my Forum Friends and Blog Buddies for being so neglectful of you all recently. I hope to visit your spaces soon but at the moment my time management skills are sadly non existant ... please forgive me.

**Birthday Girl Update**

This weekend Naomi and I collected and delivered all the fabulous works of art that were created at Claytime last weekend at her birthday bash.

I had intended to take photos of them all before delivering them, but sadly lack of time on Saturday meant this wasn't possible. So you'll just have to trust me that the finished results were fabulous.

However ... I can show you Naomi's unicorn and my wee elliebank ...

......
.....

and as a permanent keepsake, Naomi received this lovely plate ... decorated with all her friend's thumbprints on it.

Isn't that a super reminder of a wonderful occasion?

Xmas Cards ~ A Start!

I know ... I know ... it's only August, but believe me I am late getting started compared to some of the more organised in the craft fraternity.
Here are a couple of cards as a start for my Xmas 2008 box.

I literally have hundreds of cards to make and many of them will be much more basic than these 2, but I wanted to make a start on some 'special' ones for close family and friends otherwise they'll be getting 'basic' too ... and that just wouldn't do.

The gatefold one uses scrapbook papers left over from last year which is very simply adhered to a mirri card base and secured with ribbon.

I have yet to add the personal message which will be hung from the brad inside.

The ZigZag card also uses pretty snowflake paper from last year's supplies along with silver mirri card, but this time the personal message will be tucked into the pockets.

Black and White Challenge

Blimey ! Where has this week gone?
I seem to have blinked and missed it.

Anyway ... I haven't been idle ... far from it ... but some of what I've been busy with has to stay secret for a while longer. However, I can show this Black and White birthday card I made which fits the criteria for the Black and White Challenge over at White Ribbon Cards.
Susie is celebrating her upcoming wedding and 20,000 hits and has a super prize on offer. Pssssstttt .... I'd really appreciate it if you didn't enter so I have a better chance of winning LOL!

The paper is from the DCWV 'All Dressed Up' stack and the pretty black daisy embellishments are from a scrapbook kit in my stash.
A large scallop punch gave me the large daisy for the greeting ... I just cut into it to create the petal effect and then mounted the stamped greeting on top. Cool huh?

Thanks for looking.

**Birthday Girl**

Thought I'd show some photos of The Birthday Girl ... enjoying her special day.

This is the gorgeous horse stamp I recently bought to make her card.
She absolutely loved it as I knew she would. Whispers brush markers were used to colour it and Papermania papers provide the background.

Her brother chose this teddy bear card from my 'Grab'n'Go' box ... made from a Create and Craft card kit so a bit of a cheat really.
Her cake was, (of course), horsey themed ... absolutely delicious it was too!
All Chocolate cake and filling and very very Yummmy!!

Her party at Claytime was a huge success with all her pals ...

... we'll go back next week to collect all the items when they have been fired and glazed and believe me they will look even more gorgeous.
Can't wait!
I had a wee play too and did an 'Elliebank' LOL!

Here she is on the phone to one of my precious CB friends, saying thanks for this gorgeous card ...

Sarah aka Tiggertastic is one of the kindest, most generous ladies I have ever known.

... and this is the card received from another CB friend Natalie aka Sequin.

As you can see it is beautiful and perfect for our horse loving daughter. Thank you so much ladies. Once again you have made a young lady feel even more special than she already is.

The Pony Show

Took this photo at the Pony Show on Wednesday.


As I videoed her actual events I haven't got any photos of Naomi in action, (couldn't manage both cameras at the same time I'm afraid LOL), but here she is before her dressage wearing her new gear.

She didn't get placed in the dressage which was a bit disappointing, but went on to win a 2nd place in the show jumping so she was pleased at the end of the day.

Well done Naomi and Sparky. The speed and accurancy of your round was really exciting. Had no idea you were so brave!

I would love to show you some of the horses but I didn't think to ask permission from the owners so I'd best not. You can't be too careful these days.