Happy Halloween!

I haven't anything new to show you (that's not strictly true ... I've got loads...just can't show you yet!) so thought I'd post the Halloween card Lisa dared me to make last year lol. I bought this stamp from Elzybells when she was having her closing down sale and it was super fun to colour in.

 

 

Steven and his friend Marcus went out on Saturday night dressed as Zombie Geeks...

Whatever happened to witches, ghosts and goblins lol??? A friend of Ryan's did their makeup...pretty amazing huh.

And finally today is the last day to purchase October's SOTM for 1/2 price

Hope you have a great week...thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

TGIF

Yesterday was non stop. I dropped Ryan off at a pickup point, then Rocky and Ruby at Doggy Daycare then picked up my friend Gayle... Mrs Teddy Bo herself ... and headed off to the SECC. We were chatting so much we missed our exit but eventually got our bearings (no pun intended Gayle!) and found our way back :-D

 

Once upon a time I would leave the craft show layden down with bags and an extremely empty bank account but I was super good yesterday (or maybe I just have everything lol) and only spent about £25 at the show. It was very crowded at some stands and as CW was only 5 minutes from the SECC we headed there afterwards to shop in peace!

 

I posted on LCI's FB page I was going and anyone who saw me was to grab me and say hi. Well it didn't take long before I was grabbed by my lovely friend Val who I hadn't seen in at least 2 years. It was great to catch up and we've agreed to meet up more often.

 

These are the goodies I came home with including 2 of the Grand Nesties I wanted....

 

 

Bazzill cs, Grand Nesties, Art Institute glue, snow, iridescent glitter chunks, shaker cups and mounts, 3 Copics, Sizzex embossing folders and a mini aperature box card kit from Papermania. I'm going back with Suzy Q tomorrow as she had childcare issues and I might just pick up a punch I was lusting after!

After CW I dropped Gayle off (non stop talking again but car was on on auto lol), picked up Ryan, came home. Nic came over and we talked wedding invitations for a couple of hours. Picked up dogs, went to CB, home, cooked dinner for hubster, picked Sadie up, went to Equi's for dinner and a pokey hat, went to Rosso for a coffee, back to Sadie's to do some odd jobs ie attach phone to wall, change her clocks back, back in the car, call BFF for chat and arrive home at 10:30 in time to walk dogs then get to bed! Thankfully I don't have too many days like that lol.

Still on the theme of Oh Baby, I made this card for my friend whose daughter had a baby girl last week....

I used my fabby new JT (no problems so far!) and my Grand Scallop Nesties

Marvellous Mushroom felt could be called Krafty Mushroom as it's a perfect match :-D

Thought I'd show you where I 'signed' it on the back.

Since I never got a chance to play yesterday I'm leaving this short (phew says you lol). I hope you have a great weekend.

Remember you only have a few more days left to get the SOTM for 1/2 price!!

Thanks for stopping by...

Catch ya later x

 

TLT - Tam's Challenge - Oh Baby!

Welcome to another TLT...yup it's that time again! Did you know there's only 7 days left of October? Scary!!

A big thank you to those of you who entered MP's Circle/Pink/Chocolate challenge last week...you all did a flabulous job! The winners are on the Challenge Blog so make sure you check to see if it's you!

I also want to say a BIG Woo Hoo...our challenge blog has hit 301 followers!!! Thank you EVERYONE that has taken the time to come along and joined in our challenges. With so many Challenge Blogs out there, your taking part with LCI is greatly appreciated :-D

This week is Tams turn to choose the challenge which is Oh Baby! I LOVE making baby cards...especially using the Baby Baby stamps. I received a commission for a baby boy card way back in September...that's how long my card has been waiting to be posted. But wouldn't you know it...I was typing this at 11pm last night lol. Anywho this is what I did....

I hope you're not getting bored with my WOW cards (I've another couple waiting in the wings!) ... I can't seem to get passed them for baby or wedding cards...something pure and innocent about them. I also love making the quilted background with my ScorPal...it lends a coziness to the card IMHO.

I inked up this little guy and coloured him in with my copics adding the dots with my gel pen.

I guess Marvelous Mushroom isn't the first colour you'd think of for a flower but I grab it first time everytime these days.

The inside Mary J'd

I was told that the mom of Harry loved the card so I'm very happy ... job

done :-D

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

CES Challenge Blog - New Beginnings

One Stop Crafts - No DP

Craft Sentiments Designs - No DB

Wee Memories - Free For All

My Time To Craft - Quite White

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Make It Monday Kraft Outlet - Must include kraft - Anything Goes

The Ladybugs have got some flabulous inspiration so please go by their blogs and leave some love.

Just a reminder that you've only one week to take advantage of this month's SOTM...1/2 price...snooze you lose!

Thanks for stopping by today....have a great day.

Catch ya later x

Chocolate anyone?

Hope you've had a great weekend...mine's been a bit of a roller coaster!

 

We had an entry to our tag challenge from Wendy which I absolutely loved. In my comment I asked if there was a turtorial and it wasn't long (next day) before an email from Wendy appeared in my inbox with the link to the tutorial. Thank you Wendy!

 

Now this isn't anywhere near as good as Wendy's but for a first try I'm quite happy lol. You can let me know what you think....

 

Do you know what it is? All will be revealed shortly....

After humming and hawing I finally decided on Birthday Robyn to be the star. I coloured her in with my Copics and added some GA and GD to the balloon, her party hat and cake/candle. I paper pieced two of the balloons (stolen from MP!) and added spots to her dress with my Inkssentials white gel pen. Ok...are you ready.....

It's an easel card with a drawer!! Cute huh :-D

Guess what's in the drawer...

I can tell you there aren't many of these chocolate eclairs left lol. A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips hmph!

See this border? It was a gift from a friend but it's actually not the end result border from the die but the remnants. I decided this would suit the project better and I just added the tiny pearls which I think are pretty lush! I used more of my felt for the gorgeous flowers and carried the pearl theme to their centre.

Yummy :-D

Short and sweet...thanks for stopping by

Catch ya later x

 

Happy Birthday Julie

Happy birfday to you

Happy birfday to you

Happy birfday dear Jewleeeeeee

Happy birday to yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

 

Yup...it's another Ladybug's birfday and that's our Julie's...only one left this year..... mine!!!!! I started making her card EARLY and ended up scrapping it at the 11th hour cuz I wasn't happy with it. Made another which I mailed yesterday only to fiddle with the first and now wish I had of sent that one hmph! I'm showing you the second one today cuz I made it with my NEW TOY!!!

 

First things first...this is what I've been teasing you about....

 

Ta dah!!! What do you think? Do you know what it is? It's only the Joy Trouvaille die cutting machine! I've got the Cuttlebug and the Big Shot but you can't use any of the larger dies in them so I've been hankering after one of the Big Guns...The Grand Calibur or the Sizzix Big Shot Pro. Only problem is the GC hasn't been getting great reviews and the SBSP is too expensive and too big to store. After seeing Laurie's card on TLT though I knew I had to make a move.

I met up with Lynn and Elaine for a coffee then a quick trip to Craft World. When I was discussing the GC with Donald he mentioned the JT which I'd never heard of. He said Gaynor and Karen loved it and would use it ahead of the GC. Throwing caution to the wind I bought it and the Grand Big Scallop Circle dies.

I know it's not the prettiest of things...in fact it's pot ugly! But it's all about the performance right? When I got it home I googled JT for reviews and it all started off pretty good then went rapidly downhill. I found Ikki's Cuttlebug Cupboard who has been reviewing JT since January and she's had problems with cogs breaking and embossing folders not going through. The cog problem was similar to the GC's and was fixed early on but the main problem since seemed to be certain embossing folders were to thick to go through. It was looking pretty bleak...I hadn't even taken JT out of it's box. I emailed Gaynor and she reassured me that if I wasn't happy I could exchange it so with that in mind I got a couple of embossing folders of different thicknesses and ran them through and guess what? It didn't break! In fact the impression was very impressive.  Once I got started there was no stopping me and I broke out the dies and started on Julie's card and this is what I came up with...

 

 

It's not square...yay me lol. It took a while to love it but now I do. Ideally I would have had a brown border of some sort beneath the pp but I didn't buy the Grand Circles and the large Nestie circles were too small.

I'm not sure what has impressed me more...the JT or my circle sentiment!!! I've failed miserably in the past trying to make one but when I saw Gaynor's card it inspired me to try again. After almost 2 hours of googling and playing I gave up...failed again. I emailed Gaynor and she pointed me in the direction of this blog. It was the best tutorial I've seen for circle sentiments...so easy and if I can do it anyone can. Thank you Gaynor :-D

 I'd love a few more of the Grand dies and I hope to pick up another one or two (but they're silly expensive so probably just one) at the craft show at the SECC next week :-D I've only used the JT for a couple of days and so far so good. The only negatives at the moment are the plates aren't clear and the the suction works great on my kitchen table but not on the work surface in my craft room. But those aren't enough for me to exchange it....yet! I'll let you know how I get on but if any of you have got/had a JT I'd love to know what your experiences are.

Ok...that's it for today...I'm off to play some more with JT (shame it wasn't Justin Timberlake lol) so hopefully I'll have more to show you soon.

Thanks for stopping by...hope you have a great weekend.

Catch ya later x

You get less for murder!

 

 

I hate to disappoint you but this is going to be a quick one today so no need to get the kettle on lol.

 

I met up with Lynn and Elaine for a quick coffee yesterday with a bonus trip to Craft World where I bought myself a new toy. I'm now desperate to get it out of it's box (although when I got home I googled it and the reviews went from good to pretty awful pretty fast so now hyperventilating hmph) and have a play hence the quick post.

 

A friend ordered a couple of cards a few weeks back and this was one of them...

 

The people this card was for are only slightly order than myself but I wanted to use this Wrinkley so I hope they weren't offended lol. As you can see on the outside I put the sentiment '25 years married???' and on the inside I put 'you get less for murder!'

I paper pieced the love seat and coloured them in with my Copics. Think they're gonna have to lay off the fake tan!

That's it from me...I'm expecting a Facetime call from Tams...she wants to see me open my new toy lol.

Have a great Thursday

Catch ya later x

 

TLT - Michele's Challenge - must use a circle shape on the card OR make a circle card, include pink & chocolate within the card/image/design/paper/layout - SOMEWHERE!

Phew....did you get the title lol??!! Yes it's TLT and it's the magical Michele's (or as we lovingly call her MP...short for Mary Poppins...long story!) turn. First I want to thank everyone who entered last weeks Tag It! challenge...they were all fabulicious! As always the winners are posted on the Challenge Blog so make sure you check to see if you're one of them :-D

As I was saying it's MP's turn to choose the challenge. I don't know anyone who doesn't like pink and brown together OR who doesn't like circles. Put them together and that's this weeks challenge! As long as you've got some of the criteria on your card/project you can enter...seemple lol.

I wanted to use a stamp I hadn't inked up in a long while and it was a toss up between two but Robyn won and this is what I came up with...

It IS a square card but there's plenty of circles AND brown and pink! I used a Nestie to cut out the flower (circle!) then ran it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder keeping the patter to the right. I then stitched it to a piece of brown cs. It looked a bit bare so I decided to stitch around the flower as well! I stamped Robyn in Momento Tuxedo black ink and coloured her in with my Copics. I used another Nestie to cut and emboss the image (circle) and using sticky foam pads stuck her to the inside of the flower. When I was buying the balloons for Ben's birthday I bought the megalicious brown and pink ribbon I used on the card tying it in a bow. I stuck the whole shebang on a pink card, cut out Monty Mushroom felt flowers (circle) using my MFT die and finished it off with a pink spotty button (circle).

I totally regret giving Robyn brown shoes...don't know WHAT I was thinking?? To make it up to her I glittered her socks :-D The glitter on her dress doesn't look much in the picture BUT is sparklicious IRL.

I adore Monty Mushroom felt...I think it has to be my favourite :-D

I bought the ribbon in two widths and will have it on the website shortly. I used my tiny tag punch and sentiment

I cut a piece of brown cs and ran it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder and used the flower I cut out of the front of the card for the inside and will put a sentiment on it later.

I'd love to enter my card in the following challenges:

Little Miss Muffet - Girly Girl
Stamptacular Sunday - You Choose
Forever Friends - Use a Sentiment
The Squirrel and The Fox - One For The Girls
Scrapbook Sisters - Anything Goes
Polly Craft - Girls Girls Girls
The Stamp Man - Circle It

I see you noticed my stunnalicious signature on Saturday...I LOVE it!!! My amazing coordinator extraordinaire Lisa made it for me ... now all I need is for it to sparkle a flash lol. I think you may be seeing a few more of Lisa's creations in blogland soon!

That's it from me for today. Just a reminder that you still have time to take advantage of the SOTM and purchase Nikki Running with Buttercup for 1/2 price (£3.25)

The Ladybugs have come up with some amazing inspiration for you so do drop in on them and let them know what you think.

Catch ya later x

Happy Birthday Ben!

It's my future son in law's son-in-laws son in-law's sons in law, it's Ben's 30th birthday today lol! We're all going out for dinner including his parents and one of his sisters to a restaurant in a hotel where we lived for the first 3 months after arriving in Scotland almost 27 years ago. The name has changed as I'm sure all the staff but it will be interesting to go back.

I mentioned Ben was the manager in Yo Sushi and had a lightbulb moment when I was thinking about what to do for his card. I thought I would use Add On Magnum with the can of tuna from the Magnum Add Ons but felt there was something missing so asked Moira (Magnum's brilliant illustrator) to draw a chef's hat for me and this is what I came up with...

Apologies for the pictures...they're not getting any better are they lol. I had to take them quickly and didn't have time to set up my tent (not that those pictures are any good these days either hmph). I saw a card on Mary J's blog yesterday and decided to 'borrow' the idea...she has a great way of cutting out the image and mounting it on a circle/square/whatever and I thought it would be a bit different from my normal boring square/mount/mount/etc. I'm really pleased with the result. I made a background of the fish scales from the Add On set for the border and did a bit of distressing on the edges.

LOL...I love his chef's hat!!! This will be available soon to purchase as a

digital :-D

Don't think I was getting too fancy with the inside...the Magnum you're looking at was supposed to be on the front of the card but I thought it looked to small so put it inside so as not to waste it.

I love making sentiments this way...it kinda looks like a flag. I curl the middle up and the ends down and put a sticky fixer in the middle to keep it raised and use my snot gun to tack the ends down.

Time to fly...I'm on balloon duty. Nicole has booked a couple of booths in a nightclub for after dinner (no I am NOT going!) and she hasn't had a chance to get them decorated.

Hope you have a great weekend. Don't forget to take advantage of purchasing the SOTM for 1/2 price...you'll kick yourself if you don't!!!

Catch ya later x