Bye Bye Grandad

Its a sad day for me today, my Grandad died this morning at the ripe old age of 89. He had been ill for quite a few months with several spells in hospital and a care home and had become a bit depressed at being unable to get out and about and do things, so at least I can take comfort that he is at peace now. I will always remember him as busy and active, he loved his fishing and chasing around after my girls and supplying them with an endless supply of quality street and little toys from the post office when he collected his pension. Further back, when I was little, I remember him peeling grapes for me, shopping for tins of 'shandy' that I never drank on a Saturday and trips to the seaside. I will miss him a lot.

Friday Sketchers #71

This card is for Friday Sketchers #71, as well as the sketch there was an extra option of using 'distressing' in the design.  Not sure who the papers are from as I won them in a lucky dip candy gieaway but the stamp is from La Blanche

Sharons Birthday Candy

Just found this wonderful candy up for grabs from a very generous lady called Sharon, to be in with a chance to win visit her blog here.

Sketch Saturday #70

This will probably be my last challenge card for a few days as DH is home tonight and no doubt he will need my undivided attention so he can tell me all about his weekend, although he may want to watch the F1 from Sunday so I may get an hour or so!

Its another sketch challenge, from Sketch Saturday and although I've changed the shape of the card and turned it 180 degrees it still follows the layout. I've used an adorable stamp from Tina Wenke (available here), coloured with PMs and all shapes are cut with Spellbinder dies. The rub on, flowers etc have all been lurking in my stash for quite a while so not sure where they are from.

Carol's Sketch Fun #15

I'm on a roll - I've completed another challenge card! My DH has been away all weekend so I've had a bit more time on my hands and who knows I may even manage another before he gets back tomorrow.

This one is for Carol's Sketch Fun #15. I've used Bazzill card, lilac mirror card, Anitas ribbon and a very cute Messy Rabbit stamp coloured with PMs.

Tanda Teaser

This card is for Tanda Teaser #117 - Text It! All the papers are K&Co 'Lifes Journey', I cut the flowers with a Sizzix die and inked all the edges with Colorbox Chalk 'Creamy Brown' ink. The brads are Papermania (I think!)

I had intended for it also be eligible for the Whiff of Joy Challenge #49 but I misread the recipe and used 3 flowers instead of 2, doh!

Skattykats Mid Week Make Challenge 5

This weeks Skattycats challenge was to use a sketch.

The flower background is velum and was free in a magazine and the stamp is Swiss Pixies 'Heidi' who is of course coloured with Promarkers (I didn't like stamping until I discovered Promarkers now there's no stopping me!) The sentiment was also a freebie from a magazine.

Birthday Girl

My little girl is 6! I'm sure all mothers say the same but I can't believe its six years since she was born. Anyway this is the card I made for her, she's a very girly girl so it had to be pink and Hello Kitty is a fav at the moment. I got the inspiration for the 'wiper' from a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers which has loads of inspirational ideas for novices like myself.

Skattykats Mid Week Make Challenge 4

This weeks Skattykats challenge was to use punches and I was inspired by Kats 'Trick or Treat' card which had a clean and fresh feel to it. For my card I used two Xcut punches, flower border and five petal flower and the lovely image is a Tina Wenke stamp (many thanks to Kat at Skattykats for so generously giving it away in her Mid Week Make Challenge 2) coloured with Promarkers.

Triple Challenge Card

This week I've managed to create one card for 3 challenges, I hope thats ok?

1. Passion for Promarkers - Any colours + polka dots
2. Truly Scrumptious - Sketch + use 3 stamps
3. Inky Impressions - Real or faux stitching



It is not my usual style but I think it just about works.

The papers are from Dream Street Papers, the flower and butterfly stamp are La Blanche, both coloured with Promarkers. The small stamp on the background is from Studio G. The stiching is fake as my sewing machine is not easily accessible!

Help I'm a blog addict!

I have only been in blog land for a week or two and I'm hooked! I'm spending hours blog hopping and I've found some really great ones with some excellent ideas but I run out of time to try any of them!

I did get around to doing this scrapbook page last night, it shows my two girls mastering the climbing wall at West Midlands Safari Park in August. The photos didn't turn out too well as the camera was on the wrong setting by mistake but I just had to use them because I am so proud of how well they did, Katie got to the top and Jess nearly made it on a more difficult face. The papers used are Basic Grey Archaic, I thought the ziz zag one looked a little bit like mountains. I hand cut the title and added a drawn stitch border and a fake shadow with a grey promarker to add a bit of depth.

Monochrome Embossing

I've made this card for 2 challenges, The Tanda Teaser - Monochrome Madness and SkattyKats Midweek Challenge 3 - Stamping and Embossing.

I stamped the background in lilac with a Heidi Grace stamp and embossed with holographic powder, the main flower is also Heidi Grace and it's embossed with silver pearl and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions. I've finished it off with ribbon and an adhesive pearl.

What has happened to the weather? It seems ages since we had a warm and sunny day. Typically I chose today to make a batch of chutney so I've been stuck in the kitchen for most of the afternoon peeling and chopping tomatoes and onions. Its a new recipe I've not tried before so hopefully it will be ok, I made some one year that was a little strange!

A couple of cards for Skattykats weekend challenge 2 'Feathered Friends', using a Sizzix die and a Rachelle Anne Miller stamp.

Sunday

I love Sundays, not being a morning person I get up late and do very little. It is also the day we spend time together as a family and I may even get some time to craft in natural light!

The card above is for the week 15 challenge on http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.com/ 'girly and glittery' . I struggled a bit as I didn't have any girly stamps so I found this digi stamp on http://www.digistampboutique.co.uk/catalog/ I also only have 10 promarkers so colour combinations were limited, I think it turned out ok in the end.

Hello

Hello and welcome to my blog

This is my first atempt at blogging so please be patient with me!

My aim is to show a few of my creations, share my thoughts and hopefully make some new likeminded friends... if anyone out there can offer me any blogging tips I would be very grateful.

Above is my first attempt at a blog challenge, for Skattykats, I just need to figure out how to leave a link and copy their side bar - wish me luck!