New Digi's now available

Good morning everyone! :-D

New releases at Bows and Berries for the month of March. Circus mania has hit and there's now a new fashion section too. Woohoo! Check them out here.

Enjoy!

Totally Tropical Birthday

Don't ask me where this one came from, have never done anything like this but i'm in love with it. No image but sure where could I have put one! LOL!! 

The circle/dot/square pattern was cut out by my Silhouette SD. This poor machine i've had since last Christmas and could never really use it because i'm on a mac but they released new software and I'm in heaven. Vinyl all over the house and pretty much any sentiment/shape that I want for cards I now have. I used a hot pink flocked Doodlebug paper for the dot fillers and just plain cream card for the top layer. Then coredinations, some flowers and ribbon and voila! 


Entering into the following challenges:
Res-q Challenge 71 - Make a project that make you happy
Simply Create - No. 37 - Bright
Card Makin Mamas - No. 15 - Happy Birthday
If the shoe fits scrap it - FF. 67 - Happy Birthday
Scrap Creations - Going Grey it's your Birthday Challenge

I'm baaaaack...

Hello Blog World!!! 

I'm back in blogger land and boy how i've missed ye all. 

Had to take a break, everything was becoming too much and I was feeling constantly under pressure but things are back to normal, family are all healthy and happy and i've just so much that I want to share with everyone that I had to start up again, plus I missed my daily fix of blog stalking. Yes, yes, i'll be back to the mad commenting and updating you with nonsense. :-D

Lots to share but will start off with the biggest news of all, my fantastically, talented, craft bud Robin has started her own range of beautiful digi stamps. There's everything in the shop, literally every occasion is covered and she has new designs in the works every single day. She's uber talented and i'm so very proud of her. You can check out her images here in the shop and have a look here at the blog for some inspiration. Also check out the DT call we're having at the mo here. (enough links for ya yet!)

So for the challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime we chose a baby theme and good old Robs has said she'll sponsor this fortnight too and is also offering everyone 25% off in the shop, just use this code BB25 at the checkout. I picked 'A Star is born' from the shop and had to force myself not to make it a boy card. LOL!!

I used my Copics on this that Robs got me for my birthday, (yeah, she's the bomb!) Still learning with them, haven't mastered the hair yet. Don't worry still have the promarkers to play with too, don't think I could ever fully end my relationship with them. I paper pieced the star and the sentiment stamp is from the curly verses Stampin' Up set. Flower is a Prima i've been saving, think this card deserves it and finally the flourishes are Marianne dies. 

Hope you can all join in the challenge and would love to see some Bows and Berries digi's too, mainly cos i'm nosey and wanna see how y'all use them :-D

Entering into the following challenges:

Scrapbook Sisters - Challenge 23 - Baby Baby

Your Next Stamp Challenges - Challenge 36 - Paper Piecing

Paper Crafting Journey  - Challenge 4 - Anything Goes

Glad to be back peeps!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 70

Can't believe it's Wednesday again! Madness! My Dad reliably informed me last night that there are only 11 weeks until Christmas. Woohoo! So in honour to this fantastic time of year here is a fantastic image from Di's Digi Downloads called Going Home for Christmas for this week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Arlana created this fantastic sketch for us to work with.

Hope you can all join in the fun this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. The lucky winner this week gets 5 digi images from Di's Digi Downloads.

Hop over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check out my DT's work,

which as always is fantastic. ;-D

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 69

Hello Wednesday! Has been an eventful week to say the least, little man is nearly over the tonsillitis, he's in school today anyway, he wanted to go, I didn't make him. I have contracted yet another head cold and my poor computer screen is getting a wash every few minutes. LOL! Anyway Arlana has produced the goods again and here is this weeks sketch for Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Our lovely sponsor this week is Sweet 'n Sassy stamps and the prize this week is a $10 Gift Voucher.

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is a Christian digi stamp company offering a wide variety of hand drawn digital stamp designs and sentiments for the digital stamper or scrapbooker. We started out as a clear stamp company back in November 2007 and made the change over to all digital in February 2010. We have hundreds of fabulous digis to choose from starting at just $.99. Check us out here!

Here is the little gem that I got to play with this week.

I have a confession to make about this. LOL! I was colouring away and had it nearly finished when I looked at the pic and realized the bear was probably a polar bear, I had gone for the grissly kind and had to start over. Oh well. The dp is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, my new addiction. The image is coloured with Promarkers and a smidgen of chalk behind it and glitter below. 

Hop over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check out the rest of the DT's work. Great ideas as always. 

Au revoir! (",)

My Partner in Crafting Crime Challenge 12 CAS

Sorry dudettes I'm a day late. Have a sick little man at the mo. He has tonsillitis and is not coping well. He's in a bit better form today. This week's challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime is Clean and Simple. It's quite hard if you think about it too much like I did so try not too. :-D

I used a Laura Ashley paper and another from a DCWV stack. The teapot is actually a post it note thing that Mam had in the shop and brought home about a year ago, forgot I had it and in the recent clean up found them again. I mounted this on some coredinations, added a sentiment from CWC and ribbon from stash. This is also my first card to make it onto the blog with stitching on it. Still a bit wonky but better than the first few attempts, believe me. :-D

Hope you can join us this fortnight at My Partner in Crafting Crime. 

TTFN!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 67

Wow can't believe it's week 67 already. Go Sweet Sketch Wednesday and in particular Lady Arlana! She comes up with the fabulous sketch every week how talented is that lady! :-D This week is of course no exception and here it is. I just know you'll have fun with this one.

Our fantastic sponsor this week is Sally-Ann from Digi Stamp Boutique. I adore everything that is DSB and one lucky winner is going to get the chance to pick 10 images for themselves. How cool is that. 

Start your wishlist now peeps!;-D

This week I used an image from the new Coco Winter collection

The papers are all from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses pad and are mounted on Pesto coredinations. The snowflake is a Marianne one that i covered in glossy accents and dipped into diamond dust, added a flattened bead cap for the centre. Velvet ribbon is something that was dug out of the endless ribbon stash box and the snowflake brads are also from another wee stash. The super cute Coco image is coloured with Promarkers and some fluffy stuff was added to his hat and the snow falling around him. The snow beneath him is Doodlebug glitter. Small bit of chalking behind him too. Et voila!

Now hop on over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check out my fellow DT's creations. 

Remember you can also win the new Top 3 Badge too.

My Partner in Crafting Crime Challenge 11 Recipe Time

So this fortnight at My Partner in Crafting Crime we have a little recipe to get you in the mood and it has a little twist.

The Recipe:

3 Embellishments

2 Designer Papers

1 Non-Traditional Element (i.e. something you would never use on a card)

We had to make it a challenging challenge so there it is, get those thinking caps on and get busy.

For some ideas check out my fellow Partner in Crafting Crime Robin's work here and also are lovely Guest Designer Mary's work here. Very clever ideas there too.

So I used; 3 Flowers, 2 Papers, (1from DCWV and 1 from MME) and the 1 item I would never use on a card is the wire and beading under the top flower. The wire is taken from some wired ribbon and the beads are something I've had in a drawer for far too long. The image is one of my favourite Whiff of Joy images and i've coloured her with Promarkers and chalked the background.

Hope you can join in the fun and I'm looking forward to seeing all those unique ideas.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

1.  4 Crafty Chicks Colour Challenge:  Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise Old Olive
2. Paper Sundaes No. 35 Use at least 3 Embellishments
3. The Colour Throwdown: No. 109 Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight.
4. Whiff of Joy Challenge No. 87 - Layers

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 66

So i'm extremely late posting my card for Sweet Sketch Wednesday, we've had a power cut today and it has messed up my broadband badly, have been using my phone for emails and I'm now dreading next month's bill. Oh well, at least i'm back online now and ready to update you all on this weeks sketch. Arlana has  given us another beauty. Check it out.

Our sponsor this week is: 

Meljen's Designs is a lovely stamp company owned and illustrated by Melissa Jenkins. She illustrates whimsical digital images inspired by her kids and family. The Meljen's Designs store officially launched on April 1 and is steadily growing! Meljen's Designs has new releases along with a new challenge every Thursday, freebies every Monday and a Guest Designer each month at the Meljen's Designs Blog. Please visit the Meljen's Designs line of stamps at the Whimsey Stamp Store to browse and enjoy Melissa's wonderful images!

The lucky winner this week will get to pick four of Meljen's Designs. Yummy!

I got this cutie to play with.

I used promarkers to colour him and added some chalking behind him and around the candle. I tried to get the glow of the candle right on his fur by using the Mustard promarker as my lightest colour instead of Raw Sienna and it sorta worked, his belly is a bit off maybe. The papers are from the Silent Night Papermania pad, (Yep, it's still going strong!) The flowers were punched out from the back paper using the big Nellie Snellen flower punch and embosser. I added a little bit of fluffy stuff to his socks and hat bobble. Check out my fellow DT's work this week, it's fantastic as always. See ya at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 65

Can't believe it's September already, that summer just flew by way too quickly! It's time for another Arlana special. This week Arlana provided our lucky Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT with this sketch to play with.

Our fantastically generous sponsor this week is Jodie at Bugaboo Stamps. Jodie is offering a huge prize of 7 digi stamps. That's $21 worth of yumminess! (Yes, that's a word!) :-D Check out Jodie's images here:

This week I gave myself a right challenge and picked a snowman! What fun I had!

This is actually my third attempt at this snowman. The first one I went too blue, the second I tried to flock it and obviously had issues with the lines so third time lucky and I think I got it looking like snow. I adore snowmen probably because it never snows here in Ireland so I never get to build one, although last Winter we had a couple of days of snow and I got a three foot snowman made in the front garden. Back to the image, I used the Ice Gray range in the Promarkers to colour, oh so gently. I added some white gel pen to his top hat and bow tie. There's a smidgen of flock underneath him for the ground. I chalked the background to make him stand out some more. The snowflakes behind him are a new embossing folder i've been itching to try out and the papers are from two old books from last year that had no cover so I can't inform, sorry! :-D 

Now I had a little construction project over the weekend and built myself a homemade lightbox. I was not happy with the pictures I was getting, I'm now semi-happy, need a few more lights and i'm sorted. I followed these instructions but changed the cardboard box to mount board as I had it here and the muslim to an old white pillow case, again cos it was here. This also folds flat so it's easy to hide away.

This is a picture of what it ended up looking like with the card above inside. The lightbulb has to be a daylight bulb or it will look yellow. Trust me on this, i've tried them all! :-D

Anyways hope you can join us this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and be sure to check out my fellow DT's work. Amazing as always girls! ;-)

Vintage Heaven

This fortnight at My Partner in Crafting Crime it's Vintage time. We also have our first Guest Designer Angie Hunt taking part in our challenge and in our Interrogation Room.

I've been wanting to create a sign for my room for ages now and this was the perfect time to get it done. I used the Vintage Market Alphabet from Tim Holtz as well as the elegant flourish die too. The paper is also from his book and i've distressed it with Old Paper. The edging, swirl and wording have all been coated with Picket Fence crackle paint. The metal bits are also from Mr. Holtz's Ideeologogy colletion. Yes I'm an addict!

For my card I used the Basic Grey pad Capella. I paper pieced her coat and hat and added a few pearls for her buttons. She's coloured in with Promarkers and then the edges are chalked. I got to try out my new Sizzix swirls and I have to say i'm in love. The pearly lace is something Mam's had in the shop for years that i've taken proud ownership of.

I'm entering this into the following Challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room Week 25 - Something Old Something New

The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog - Something Old Something New

My something old is the pearly lace, think it's going on five years now

and the something new are the Basic Grey papers and Sizzix swirls.

Simon Says Stamp and Show....Your Layers.

Don't think I could have put anymore layers onto this. LOL!!!

Creatilicious - Vintage (snap!! :-D)

Crafty Emma's Store Challenge Blog Challenge 1 - Anything Goes.

Now hop over to My Partner in Crafting Crime and get those entries in! :-D

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 64

Well hello darlings! Feeling much better this week thankfully. Some retail therapy helped out a lot with the recovery ;-) I've a few things to get through this week so bear with me it could be a long one. First off the most important thing about today, it's Sweet Sketch Wednesday. YAY!!! The great Arlana has provided us with this fantastic sketch.

Our lovely sponsor this week is the lovely Heather from Digi Stamp Characters. She is offering one lucky winner three FREE images. Yum! Go have a goo for yourselves.

I got to create two cards this week using two uber cute images.

The first one is a cutie. I wanted to create a baby card that wasn't for a boy or a girl and could be used for either but I think it ended up looking decidedly male. Oh well, live and learn right?

Papers used here are the trusty Victoria & Albert collection. Finally got to use my new MS Scroll lace punch, gotta love ebay! Added an embossed gold, flattened, bead-cap as my embellie, gonna finish my secret card tonight and get it up here, the aforementioned bead-cap thing will make sense then. LOL!!!

The second card has an adorable little mouse. I love her! Coloured her in with Promarkers and added some chalk on her ears. Another MS punch used here, thanks Mam!!! The flowers are from a My Minds Eye pad and the coredinations i've had for ages and never used but really like it now so it may be featuring quite heavily in the near future. ;-)

Check out the Design Teams work this week, a lot of us did two so you'll have oodles of eye candy to inspire you. I really love our DT, we are one of a kind. Nancy from Mulberry Station gave me this fab award this week.

The very kind Jenny at My Inky Hands also gave me this award so guess what I'm gonna do?? Bend the rules a wee bit! :-D

Ok so here are the rules: 

1. Thank the person who sent it to you 

In my case it's two so thank you Jenny and Nancy you made my week! 

2. Put it on your blog - Check!

3. List 3 things about yourself  - 

A - I am a fully qualified sound engineer.

B - I have a secret addiction to making floral embellishments

C - I grew vegetables successfully for the first time this summer. Pic below shows some peas, lettuce, carrots and the big red strawberries. :-D

4. Post a favourite picture: 

This is me with my little man on his first trip to Avondale way back in 2007. 

It was Autumn and the colours were amazing. 

Had to put the second picture in to show the colours.

Got these printed onto Canvas for the Grandparents for Christmas. Tears were shed. :-)

5. List 5 people to give this award to. In this case i'm doubling. :-P

Robin

Shirley

Elaine

Deanne

Stacy 

Genevieve

Jackie

Linda

Jeannie

Melissa

I wish I could give it to you all me dears.

Wow that was a lot of linking!

If you're still with me after that mammoth post thank you! 

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 63

Ola! What a week I'm having and we're only half way through. Internet went down again, rang Eircom and they said the broadband box it too old to work anymore, so spent the morning on the phone with them and they said they'd send out a new one but it would take 2-3 days to get here. I hung up and it started working again. Funny.

Then I set up the laptop as I'm a bit ill today and dropped it, the charger is all wonky on it now... To top things off have a horrible dose of food poisoning, hopefully nearing the end of it now though. Had an interrupted night and a delivery guy at the door told me I looked rough. Nice of him I know, but it's shockingly true. I couldn't even open the package because that would have involved bending over to carry it and I can't do that yet without feeling the urge to throw up some more.

Anyway enough gruesome talk and onto this weeks fantastic Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge. Arlana has given us another beauty to work with.

It's the third Wednesday of the month so that means it's Digi Stamp Boutique week. The always generous Sally-Ann is giving our lucky winner TEN images of their choice! Now that's my idea of a a great prize!!! 

Hop over there now for a goo at all the loveliness.

This week I went Christmassy again and used Rocky Robin.

Had to use this image as it reminded me of my card buddy Robin!

Coloured him with promarkers and added some flocking on his hat and the icing on the pudding. Also added some glitter for the snow underfoot. Used the Silent Night papers again, in love with these at the moment, may have to get another pad ;-) My fantastic team mates have come up with some stunners this week too. Check them out at Sweet Sketch Wednesday . 

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 62

It's Wednesday again and here's what our fantastic Arlana at Sweet Sketch Wednesday has come up with for us all to play with this week.

Our very generous sponsor this week is Kathy from Pixie Dust Studio. Kathy is giving our lucky winner two digi images of their choice from her fantastic store. Check it out!

This week I got to use my friend Robin's copics on this image. Have to say i'm in love and my credit card might be feeling some pain at some stage this week. I used the Copics on the bear and promarkers for everything else. I had this little cutie playing on grass which I chalked in but I actually think he's supposed to be at sea. Oh well. I used a star gromlet as my element this week and added a glitter brad to the centre to match the other three glitter brads at the top.

The DT have amazed me as always, hop over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday to check them out!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 61

Busy week again and the long weekend has thrown me all together, keep thinking it's Tuesday but it's actually Wednesday so that means it's Sweet Sketch Wednesday time! This week Arlana gave us this stunning little creation to work with.

Our fantastic sponsor this week is Diane from Di's Digital Downloads. Diane is giving the lucky winner 5 images this week. How cool is that!?! They are all so beautiful, I found it very hard to chose. Be sure to pop by for a look.

I got to use these two cuties kissing and yes it's Christmas card your eyes are not deceiving you! :-D

I used the new Silent Night papers from Papermania and coloured it in with Promarkers. The flowers were from the trusty stash and the pearl brads were actually white and I just coloured the tops with the Moss green promarker to match the image. This also works on plain pearls and diamante's and white or ivory ribbon so you'll always have an embellishment to match now. Woohoo!!

I added glitter on Mr. Mouse's hat and on Mrs. Mouse I used some flocking. I added some flocking to the ground too to resemble snow. There's a teeny bit of glitter pen to outline the 'snow'. I also used chalks on their ears and cheeks. It just sits better on the promarkers than trying to put red on grey. Well for me it does anyway. 

The Design Team this week have totally outdone themselves, the cards are all fantastic as always! There's a few more Christmassy ones there too so I'm not barking mad after all! Check it out at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and join us for some sketchy fun!

Au revoir for now! :-D

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 60

Well hello Wednesday! Time flies when you're having fun eh? Turns out our summer is over here in the "Sunny" South East of Ireland. It's either just rain or excessive heat with the chance of rain at any minute. The sun just cannot seem to get through the clouds anymore :-( Anyway here's something to cheer me up, Sweet Sketch Wednesday's Arlana's new sketch! I had great fun with this one!

 

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Shirley's 2 Girls 

 

and the fantastically talented Shirley is giving us a $10 prize for the winner to go digi shopping mad with!!! Kinda jealous girlies!!! LOL!!

I got to use Schnapp's Close Up this week and you can find her here. 

Of course with a fantastic hat and coat like that I just had to vintage her up. Promarkers were used to colour madam and her pooch and then the papers were all from the Victoria & Albert collection. The ribbon is actually champagne in colour, well that's what it says on the label but I think it suits. There is some Antique Linen distressing around the image too, just subtle enough that hopefully now i've told you, you'll see it! :-D Added some pearls to the 'champagne' ribbon because every Lady must have her pearls! 

Hope you can check out my fantastic teamies works. They're still surprising and inspiring me every week! Hop over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check them out.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday No. 59

It's Sweet Sketch Wednesday time folks and it's Digi Stamp Boutique week too! Woohoo!!! I'm currently trying to outdo Sneezy from Snow White, I've racked up 22 sneezes so far this morning and i've only been up for two hours. Gonna be a fun day. On the bright side, the sun has finally remembered it's supposed to be summer here in Ireland and has made an appearance for the first time in weeks!! Hope he stays around a bit longer this time. Here's the sketch our lovely Arlana created this week.

Now for the prize, the continously generous Sally-Ann from DigiStamp Boutique is going to give the lucky winner TEN free digis. How sweet is that! Check out the store, I had a little shopping spree there last week and got the cutest of cute images. Sally-Ann is continously creating masterpieces every month, including some seriously cute penguins this month. Check out my DT mates to see what other fab images you can use!

This week I used Tallulah from DigiStamp Boutique and I love her!! 

She's coloured with Promarkers, tried a different combo on the skin this week. Instead of Dusky Pink, Blush and Ivory, I went for Coral, Pastel Pink and Dusky Pink. Think they're a bout more visible in the photo. I was going to go all Pink on her dress but I'm having a blue phase at the mo so she got hit with that. I used some blue stickles on her wings, wand, crown and dress. The papers are from the Papermania pad Henbury Lane and Pink Petticoat. I tried the "Out of the Box" technique that Jenny from My Inky Hands gave a tutorial on and I have to say Jen, I love it!!! 

Looking forward to seeing all your sweet takes on this weeks sketch for 

Sweet Sketch Wednesday!