Happy Halloween!!!

Just a quick post from me today to tell you about this weeks challenge over at Craft Punked.  With the witching hour almost upon us what better theme than Halloween?!  Here is my creation:

I have brayered the background with a big an juicy ink pad and the image is from the fabulous Octopode Factory.  I am hoping to find time to add a bit more to this post later when I have time - I have to admit that kids + halloween = busy time for me!! 

Thanks for stopping by - hope you like my creation xx

Finally moved and getting back to crafting!

Hello all - it has been such a long time since I blogged, but I do have a good reason....we have finally moved house - yippppeeeee.  Crafting stash is still in a bit of a mess but I am getting there slowly with the organising.

I managed to drag out some stash to make my entry for Craft Punked - recipe challenge.  The challenge is to  use the following recipe:

Brown, Orange or Cream

with

Green, Purple or Red

with

Ribbon, Flourish or Flower

with

Glitter, Gems or Candi(brads)

Here is my DT creation:

Apologies for the bad photograph - I could not seem to get the light right.  I hope you like it and it makes you want to join in with the challenge :)

Thanks for stopping by - Vanessa x

Flower Power

Its challenge time over at Craft Punked and this weeks theme is Flower Power - here is my card:

I have used a 5 and a half inch square card base.  I used a Stampin' Up flower stamp and coloured using various promarkers and cut into inch squares.  I then cut squares from white card and coloured to match the corresponding flower.   Its plain and simple but I am pleased with it :)

Thanks for stopping by :)  Vanessa x

Back to School

Well its that time again - school holidays are over and kids back to school.  Its exciting times for my 3 as they are starting a new school and nursery.  We are going to be moving house soon and rather moving schools after only 2 weeks back we decided just to move them to the new school and just have to commute.  Luckily it is not too far and it only adds 20 minutes on to the journey.  It means getting up even earlier though and I am not sure how my body will cope without the long lie's :D  Its only for 2 weeks though as we are moving to the new house on 7th September.  I am really excited now - it has been a long process.

On to crafting - my hands are still pretty numb but I think I am getting used to it now.  I have not really been in the mood for crafting but I had 3 commissions to do and did not want to let the customer down.  She asked me to make cards for children that are starting school.  Here they are:

The school colours are yellow and black so I have used those colours for the school uniform.  I was not sure how to finish off the cards and wanted to put the children's name on the card, so I came up with the idea of the pencil with their name on it!  I just cut two pieces of card one in cream and one in yellow.  I used zigzag scissors to make the pencil look like it had been sharpened, inked the edges and stamped their names.  I then curled them around a pencil to give them some dimension.  I must admit I was quite pleased with the result :)

I am going to enter the top card into the challenge over at Get Funky - this months theme is anything goes.  As long as your entry contains a Funky Hand Product then you are in with a chance of winning.

The backing paper for the top card was printed from Colour Me Happy - Funky Hand cd and it fitted the school colours really well.  The images are from LOTV and I coloured them using promarkers.  The backing paper on the bottom card is DCVW.

Well that's it for the moment although I will be back tomorrow with my DT card for Craft Punked's Friday challenge.  Thanks for dropping by.

Vanessa x

Embossable!

Well its challenge time again over at the Craft Cupboard Trilogy and this months theme is embossing.  Whether its heat embossing or dry embossing is up to you or why not try a mix of both!!

I am still struggling with numb hands at the moment so my crafting is very limited so I had to come up with something that was not too complicated and fiddly.  It certainly was a challenge for me but this is what I came up with:

Materials used: Stampin Up - French Foliage Stamp Set
                        Stampin Up - Old Olive and Chocolate Ink Pad
                        Chocolate and white cardstock.
                        Green and Chocolate Satin Ribbon
                        Cuttlebug embossing folder
                        Olive Embossing powder

I started by stamping the leaf with versamark ink and using the Olive embossing powder.  I was really pleased with the detail that I got from the embossing powder:

I then used the french words stamp with Chocolate ink and stamped onto white card stock and inked around the edges of the card with the same ink.  I matted this onto some chocolate card stock.

I then used a cuttlebug embossing folder for some dry embossing.  Again I inked around the edges but with both Old Olive and Chocolate ink this time.  A bit of inking really brings out the embossing:

Again this was matted on to chocolate card stock and finished off with the satin ribbon.

It is a very simple card but I am pleased with how it turned out.  Thanks for stopping by.  Vanessa x

Summer time!! Well it is over at Craft Punked

Dare I say it.......*whispers* it has not rained today - wow - well to celebrate we are having a summer theme over at Craft Punked and this weeks challenge is sponsored by the fab Bugaboo.  Here is my DT card:

The image is from bugaboo and has been coloured using promarkers.  The papers are DCWV Boys Stack.  Superman is discretely hidden behind the image as I thought the paper looked like rays of sunshine.  I cut the embellishments using my Cricut cart 'Life's a Beach' and coloured these with promarkers to match the digi image.  The card has been finished off with a LOTV sentiment.

Well I am hoping this sunny card will entice the sun to stay out a little bit longer - well at least for the next week or so as we are going on holiday!  As long as we have fun though!

Well thanks for stopping by - why not pop over to Craft Punked and join in the summer fun.

Vanessa x

Its all in one colour

Morning!  Its Friday again which means only one thing....its challenge time over at Craft Punked and this weeks challenge is Monochrome!  This is my DT card:

As you can see I have chosen pink for my single colour.  I created the sentiment using Wordart and layered it on to some pink card.  The buttons were cut using a sizzix embosslit, in various colours of pink and stuck using pinflair glue to add a little bit of dimension.  If you fancy a challenge and the chance to win some blog candy, why not pop over and have a look :)  Thanks for stopping by :)  Vanessa x

Short and Sweet!

Well I have a few friends on Faceboook that have gone Twinchy mad and have set up a blog called Show Us Your Twinchies!!  So what are twinchies?  Well there are 2x2 inch pieces of art - simples!!  Well kind of you would think that being so small that it would be easy to decorate, but its not as simple as it looks but they are very addictive.  Well today, despite my hands being numb (and getting worse), I was determined to do some crafting and thought that I would have a go at some more twinchies so here they are:

I photographed the top one alongside a whispers pen - just so you can gauge how small they actually are!

Well if you fancy a Twinchy challenge why not pop over to the Twinchy Blog and have a go :)

I can't wait to make these in to cards now and its great to have a ready made topper ;)  thanks for stopping by.  Vanessa x

The Cupboard Trilogy Blog Challenge

Wow its the 1st of July already and today is the launch of the new blog competitions on The Cupboard Trilogy blog - the challenges for this are going to be set on a monthly basis, which gives you lots of time to get your thinking caps on to come up with an entry.  To kick start the challenges the DT were given a colour palette and we had to pick at least 3 colours from the following:

Here are my DT creations:

I have chosen to to make two cards - one for the men using the greens and beige colours.  The other using the pink, raspberry and beige and an image from Pollycraft which has been coloured with Promarkers.

As you will see when you pop over to the blog, there are 3 teams of crafters.  Card Makers, Scrapbookers and Digi Scrapbookers.  I am part of the card making team, however, we have the chance to make a DT creation for the other teams too if we are feeling inspired and have the time to do so.  I have never tried Digi scrapbooking but I recently downloaded a free program from Daisytrails and had a go - here is my digi page:

I must admit I have got quite addicted to it and am considering buying the full program.

I hope my creations have inspired you and please head on over to the Trilogy Blog to see all the other stunning creations by the DT.  I can't wait to see all your entries.  Thanks for stopping by xx

Feeling Crafty

I was in the mood for a bit of crafting today and I had some digi images all ready for me to colour in.  So I got out my trusty promarkers and had a go.  Unfortunately I am having a numb phase at the moment and I cannot feel my hands!  It made for interesting colouring to say the least.  Finding it quite hard to grip a pen at the moment and my fingers keep locking!  I am really hoping that this passes soon as I hate being restricted as to what I can do :(  I even struggled to cook tea last night and most of it ended up on the floor.  However this might be a good excuse to get out of the cooking!  Well here is my effort for the day and yes it was a major effort but I am pleased with it:

There is no sentiment on it yet as I like to wait until I know who its going to before I do that.  Might try some more crafting this evening once the kids are in bed as hubby is away with work again :( I have some images that I have already coloured (below) that are waiting to become a card.  Thanks for popping by xx

My First Digi page!!

Oh wow - how much fun are digi scrapbook pages!  I blame you Tracy (in a good way of course) after you told me about the free Daisytrail sample for Craft Artist!  Ohh you are right this could become very addictive :)  So here it is:

I thought this layout (one that came with the freebie) was great and summed up my three little monsters perfectly.  The top picture was my son hiding under his sisters bed waiting to scare her.  I get the feeling that there will be loads more of these coming your way.  Thanks for dropping by I would love to hear your comments please xx

Father's Day

With it being Father's Day on Sunday the theme over at Craft Punked this week is... yup father's day :)  The challenge this week is sponsored by Bugaboo and I have used their images on my DT card this week:

I have coloured the image using promarkers to match the colour in the backing paper which is DCWV.

Sorry this is going to be a short post from me as its Thursday evening and I have an operation on my knee to prepare for tomorrow (Friday)  Hope you like my card and find the time to enter the challenge.  Thanks for popping by xx

Promarker Daft

I have been busy, busy colouring in the last few days whilst hubby has been working away from home.  I was lucky enough to grab hold of the 100+ digis that Pollycraft were doing in a bundle as part of her closing down sale.  I hope that she will come back to doing digi's as they are fab.  Here are some of the images I have been colouring:

There is something very relaxing about colouring and it passes the time very quickly and I now have a number of images ready to go in case I get asked for a card at short notice.

As this is only 3 out of the 100+ images that I bought I have a few more to be playing with ;)

I hope to be back soon with cards that I have made from these images.  Thanks for popping by xx

Craft Punked is live!!

Good morning - its ffffffffriday yippeee :)  This week seems to have gone so quickly, which I am really pleased about as my hubby has been working away from home :(  Its also been a hard week with the kids and will be so glad to have another adult in the house :D

Well Glitter Geeks has now changed its name to Craft Punked.  Not quite sure why the change of name but I love it and the new blog is fab :)  Everything is pretty much remaining the same and there will still be a weekly challenge which this week is all about Birthday's.  An easy one for the first as Craft Punked.  If you want to have a go at the challenge you will find it here.  Why not pop over and have a look at the new blog and follow to keep updated on the challenges.

I decided for my card this week that I was going to do a male themed card.  I always find it hard to make cards for men and I think that its probably because a lot of the images do not inspire me.  However, I recently won a competition on facebook and was lucky enough to get a $10 voucher to spend at Kenny K where I bought the image on this card:

I coloured the image with promarkers and the papers are from DCVW Boys paper stack.

The other images I got were these beauties:

I am having great fun colouring them, but I am still trying to find the best card for the job.  Most of the card I am using seems to bleed quite a lot :(  but I am determined to find the perfect one :D

Well that's it for me today.  Thanks for popping by and I hope you join us at Craft Punked for out first competition.

TTFN xx

Superhero's

Good morning - well its Friday again, which can only mean one thing.....its challenge time over at The Glitter Geeks  This weeks challenge is all about Superhero's and here is my DT card - hope you like it :)

The Batman image and the backing papers were both downloaded free from google.  I have printed the batman image twice and coloured it using black and the cool grey collection of promarkers.  I cut around the mask and layered it to give a little bit of dimension.  The sentiment was created using Word and a little bit of Word Art.  With a little bit of matting its done :) So once I had sourced the images it did not take too long at all.

Well that's it for me today - need to go an get myself pretty as my hubby is taking me out for our belated anniversary meal!!  It takes a while so if I start now I might just look ok for this evening :D

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Vanessa xx

Happy Anniversary

Just wanted to post a picture of the card I made my husband for our 10th Wedding Anniversary which is today!  Can't quite believe that we have been married for that long but it has been a great 10 years :)

The image is from Tiddly inks which you can find here.  I always struggle with anniversary cards but this image really appealed to me.  I have coloured it with promarkers, which I am determined to get the hang of. I recently joined 2 fab groups on Facebook called Digi galore and Promaker Paradise and have been in awe of the fantastic colouring so this is the result of studying the fab 'YouTube' demo's and with some fab advice from the lovely peeps on the above groups.

Hope you like it - I must admit that I was pleased with this one :)

Well I am off to get ready for a nice meal out with the family - thanks for popping by - Vanessa xx

Patriotic papercrafting

Good morning.  Just a quick post from me at the moment as I have people coming today to view the house (keeping fingers crossed that they are interested).

Right on to the DT sample for this weeks Diamond Jubilee theme over at The Glitter Geeks.  My card was inspired by a card made by Marianne Fisher which I spotted on a Facebook page called Promarker Paradise.  This is not a patch on her creation but here was my attempt :D

The image was downloaded free from Saturated Canary and coloured using promarkers.  The flag was downloaded from google images.  I have finished the card off with some Navy grossgrain ribbon, red brads and navy card candy.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

Thanks for stopping by - Vanessa xx

New houses, wings and dots!!

Firstly I need to apologise for my lack of bloggage :(  We are currently in the process of purchasing a new house and I have been finding it all very stressful and have not been able to concentrate on anything other than getting tidy and all the things that need to be organised for the new house, but I am please to tell you that we have now picked a house and now its just all the boring legal stuff to go through and hopefully we will get a date to move in soon :)

Well on to my DT cards this weeks challenge over at the Glitter Geeks is polka dots!  Here is my entry

I am not sure where the image came from as it was included in a pack of goodies that I had bought from someone on facebook.  I lovingly coloured it with promarkers to match the polkadot backing paper which is from Dovecraft.  I was quite pleased with the shading on this image - I think I might just be starting to get a hang of it :).  The buttons came from the Works.

Last weeks theme was teddy bear's picnic and we had a mahoosive number of entries - so thank you to all of you who entered and also big apologies for not commenting on all of the delicious entries.  I hope to do better this week as I should be past some of the stresses of home buying :-/  here was my DT entry:

I have not yet added any sentiments to my cards because I like to leave that until I know who they are going to, so that I can match the sentiment to the recipient.

Thanks for stopping by - hope to be back soon with some more crafty creations for you.

Vanessa xx


OOPS can you tell that my head is elsewhere!!  I have posted about the Teddy Bear's Picnic instead of last weeks Glitter Geeks challenge which was Wings and Things.  I really worry myself sometimes :-/ and its made even worse by the fact that this lovely teddy is featured in the post below!  Someone please hand me the white jacket please! lol

So here I am to try and get it right this time :D.  Here is my DT entry for the wings and things challenge:

As you can see I avoided the fairies and birds option!  This stamps used on this card are from Stampin' Up.  The birthday banner was made using the word art on Microsoft word and just cut out and inked around the edges.  The background to the plane was made by making cloud shaped masks and then I have inked around the clouds with blue ink to make it look like the sky.  Then there is just a bit of matt and layer.

Well I think I am sorted now!  So I can now go and have a strong cuppa and get my head sorted too :D

Hope you have a good day.

Vanessa xx

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Well its friday again (yippee).  This weeks challenge over at The Glitter Geeks is all about Teddy Bears.  Here is my DT inspiration

I have had the papers in my stash for ages and I can't remember where they are from :( sorry!  The image is from Digi Stamp Boutique.  I have coloured the image using promarkers and have added dimension by decoupaging the balloon and the bear :)

I was hoping to post pictures of two more cards that I made this morning for my mum.  She is going to an 80th Birthday party tomorrow and asked me to make a card.  In true ditsy style, I forgot to take photo's!!  They were the most fantastic cards ever - honest :D

Going to head off now as hubby and I are mulling over some new houses which we are going to view tomorrow.  We have a tape measure at the ready, trying to work out if  our furniture will fit!!  Very stressful, so I might just have to have a wee drink to calm me down!! 

Thanks for popping by - would be great to see your entries over on the Glitter Geeks blog. 

TFFN  x

In Stitches

Hello - well its friday again and there is a new challenge over at The Glitter Geeks.  This weeks challenge is to create something with stitches on it and they can be real or faux.  Here is my DT card:

As you might me see I have done some faux stitching on the handbag topper and on both the backing paper and sentiment.  I love the stitched look on cards and I often use it to finish off around the edges.  The papers I have used are from Polka Doodles Paper Boutique and have finished off the bag with a Stampin Up flourish.

Hope you like it :) - thanks for looking.

Vanessa x

Funky Hand DT Call!! Worth a try!!

Well I have just seen the most exciting opportunity over on Anice's blog Funky Hand Thoughts!!  Anice is looking for new members for the Get Funky DT.  I have seen a few calls for their design team but I have never had the courage to apply, but I have now decided to give it a go - got to be in it to win it :)  To enter Anice has asked to post photo's of cards/crafty makes that I am most proud of and that show of what I can do - so here goes:

As you can see - my style is plain and simple with not very much in the way of embellishments.  I like clean lines and for the papers and stamp to be the things that stand out about my card.  Also I have tried going down the lots of embellishment route and I never seem to get it right!  I do like to try different techniques and mediums, but stamping whether digital or rubber is my first love and I always go back to it.

I know that this is not papercrafting but I am very proud of it :) I took up crochet just over a year ago and am hooked (pardon the pun)

Well I hope that the photo's above are enough to show Anice what I can do.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Vanessa x

Red and White

Good morning!  Can't believe its friday already :) this week has gone so quickly.  I have been rushing around trying to get my house in order as we are trying to get our house ready for selling.  We are rapidly outgrowing it and are in need of a little more space, and a room each for the not so little ones :D.

 I was so busy I almost forgot to make my DT card for this weeks challenge over at the Glitter Geeks Challenge Blog - but I managed and got it posted in the nick of time and here it is:

This weeks challenge is sponsored by the fabulous Octopode Factory and I really enjoyed working with the images - sooo much fun.  This is an ATC and I have used the direct to paper technique.  I decided to make a couple of ATC's with the theme of out on the town.  Here is the second one:

As you can see I still have not got the hang of colouring hair, but I think I am slowly getting better.  As they say practise, practise, practise - well if I must :D

I have decided as this fits with the current Blog challange over at Polka Doodles which is to make a card with red and white and to use a stamp from your stash - that I will have a go!!

Thanks very much for stopping by and taking the time to read my rambling.  Hope you have a lovely weekend.  TTFN xx

Getting all Nautical!

Hi there - just a quick post to let you know about the current challenge over at Glitter Geeks Blog the theme this week is anything nautical - here is my DT card:

I say card, but its actually an ATC!  I have never really thought about making them before but the lovely Lisa Mason  (her work is fantastic - I will link her blog soon) posted an ATC swap in a FB group that I am in and I had a go now I am hooked! 

I have made lots more and will post some pictures soon, but its time for tea so I better go and feed my hoard :D - thanks for reading and please take a look over on the Glitter Geeks blog and join in with the challenge.  TTFN xx

Easter Holidays

It always surprises me how quickly time seems to pass these days.  I promised to come back to tell you all about my trip to the GNPE in Harrogate but it seems to have passed me by again!!  Kids are off for the easter holidays so trying to keep them entertained is taking up more time too, also the long lie in's while nice, are eating into my day!!  Must do better at getting up when the alarm goes off :D.

Now on to all things crafty.  Well the trip to Harrogate - we had a lovely trip down courtesy of the lovely Tracy and we stopped in at Tebay services on the way for yummy coffee and cake, this travelling is hard work you know :D.  We did oooohh and aahhh over all the lovely villages we passed through when we came off the motorway and into yorkshire.  It is such a lovely part of the country.  I was lucky enough to live in Leeds for 5 years and loved every minute of it.  The people are lovely and the countryside is too. 
Anyhooo we arrived at tea time at a lovely hotel just in time to drop our bags off and go down to the bar for a wee (ok large!!) glass of wine and then on to a scrumptious tea - Starter of whole Camembert with crusty bread to dip into it, followed by garlic king prawns on crusty bread (I like my bread).  It was delish..... After tea we made out way to the bar and there was lots of chat, mainly me as I had a few to many to drink (apologies ladies).

Due to the copious amount of wine I had drunk I fell asleep very, much to my room mates disgust as I was snoring very loudly :(Sorry Gill) but in my defence and much to her delight (but only as I woke up) I woke up at 5am due to pain as I had developed a very bad dose of tonsillitis :( I took some painkillers and had a warm cuppa and eventually fell back asleep, but the rest of the trip was a bit of a wash out as I really was not well :( I was living between painkillers.  But despite being poorly we made it to the GNPE and had a lovely few hours wandering around the various stalls and spending a little bit of cash.  Here is what I bought:

The K and Co kit was a real bargain and I have been tempted to buy the papers on a few occasions :) the usual stamps (as I am addicted) and some marino wool tops for my needle felting.

To be honest we did not stay as long as we could have, but I think Tracy and Gill could see I was struggling and we cut the trip a little short - sorry girls hopefully we can do it again sometime xx

With some of the papers from the K and  Co kit I made my DT card for the April Fools/Humour theme and you can see that below with the House Mouse image.  Last weeks challenge was to make something which represented easter.  I am not a religious person and do not send easter cards, however I set myself a challenge to make a card with an egg shape in it and this is what I came up with:

I cut an egg shape out of a bit of copy paper and inked through the aperture and then stamped through it too.  All the stamps come from Stampin Up.  I was quite pleased with the result, however my OH decided that the egg shape could have been better :D

Well I think this is a long enough post for just now - I will be back later to show you my DT card for the next Glitter Geeks challenge.  TTFN and thanks for reading - Vanessa x