Merry Christmas

TLT - Anything Goes and a break

Hello Ladybug lovers...are you all ready for Christmas? I'm not...no surprise there lol. I finally put up my Christmas trees on Sunday...took 6 hours! I've got a 6 ft tree in my tv room and a 10 ft tree in my hall...why I felt the need to have a 10 ft tree baffles me. Do you know how many branches I had to fluff up??? Made me think that maybe having a real tree isn't such a bad idea as long as I have a vacuum to suck up the needles. I really believe there's a need for an umbrella Christmas tree..you know...that goes up just like an umbrella, lights and decorations included lol. I kid you not...watch this space ;-)

Apologies if your entry from our Sparklicious challenge hasn't yet received a comment from a Ladybug. We are trying our best at this busy time of year. As always the quality of entries is second to none...you are all fabuliciously talented :-D

Our last challenge for the year is perfect...ANYTHING GOES!!! It's also going to be our last challenge until February. The Ladybugs have worked so hard over the year to bring you fabulicous inspiration and I think they deserve a little rest to recharge their creative batteries. We will still be crafting but at our own leisure and without the pressure of deadlines so please keep visiting and leaving your lovely comments. I have lots of fabulicious ideas I hope to bring you in 2013 so I'll be busy busy busy!

This is my card for our Anything Goes Challenge...

I've used Christmas Robin Delight digi and colored it with my Copics adding glitter for lots of sparkle though you can't really tell from the picture.

I haven't forgotten about my birthday present for one of you...tree trimming took over on Sunday but I will get a winner posted this week :-D

Thanks so much for popping by. I hope the rest of this week isn't too stressful for you :-S

Catch ya later x

Midway reminder...late!!!

When I was younger my dad used to say 'call me anything you like but don't call me late for dinner' and it took me years to figure out what he meant lol. Now I think I should have been called Kerry Is Always Late instead of Kerry Louise!!! I can't even blame it on extended birthday celebrations but then again I might have gotten away with it lol. Let's just say that one of my New Year's resolutions is to work on my time management ;-D

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes through my blog, email, Facebook, text and the old fashioned telephone lol. My birthday has started the same way every year since I arrived in Scotland with a phone call from our friend Peter. He works at the Vancouver airport and when we moved here Peter managed to get myself, Nicole (remember she was 3 weeks old) and 42 pieces of luggage (hubby arrived the week before with two suitcases hmph!) to arrive at the same time!!

 I really did have a great day and did what I wanted. We went to see Silver Lining with Bradley Cooper {swoon} and although it was a bit slow at the start it was a fantastic movie and I would thoroughly recommend it even if it was just to drool over BC lol. Nicole did take a picture of me blowing out the candles on my cake but I think she deleted it :-( The X Factor was brilliant and although I wanted Jahmene to win I was equally happy that James did and I LOVE their mentor Nicole Sherzinger...she did a fantastic job and think she had a bit more freedom to be herself on the UK show than the US one. She's one crazy chick!

I don't have a new card to show you but thought I would reprise one from last year using Nikki Running with Buttercup. I was really happy with the way it turned out. Let me know what you thunk....

This is an acetate tent card and boy oh boy is acetate tricky to work with...especially when glitter is involved!  It was really hard to get the stray glitter off the acetate and I gave up in the end. I stamped and coloured two images and cut them out with a Nestie, glued them together (so there's no 'back' to the card) and they're hanging by a thread....literally lol.

Another NRWB card I'd like to show you is one BFF made for a magazine a couple of years ago...I LOVE this ...

Isn't it fantastic...I love the way she's put a frame round the image and the flower is fabtastic.

I'm getting on with my Christmas cards...almost finished but now I've got to make Sadie a birthday card for Thursday. I know exactly what I'm going to do and I'm going to use one of my birthday presents :-D If I don't have too many interruptions I'm hoping to show you on Thursday. 

I'd better get a move on. Thanks for popping by :-D

Catch ya later x

**If you'd like to win birthday candy click here**

Happy Birfday to me...A prezzie from me to you!

I bet you're wondering how I kept that quiet after last years 4 month 'it's my birfday' campaign lol. I think I've been trying to forget about it since it's my last year of my 40's...how the heck did that happen??? I can remember my 40th as if it was yesterday and here I am 9 years later hmph!

To celebrate my birfday I've got a little prezzie to give to one of you. All you have to do is leave a comment... preferably a nice one to cheer me up...and I'll pick a winner December 16th. Easy peasy :-D

I had planned making myself a birfday card just in case but as usual ran out of time so I'm posting the one I made last year which I LOVED :-D

Apart from being my 35th birfday ;-D ... at exactly 8:30 am 28 years ago today, Nicole (who was 3 weeks old) and I landed at Prestwick airport to start our new life. Who would have thunk we'd still be here ..not me that's for sure lol. I think I cried every day for the first 7 years...it's not been easy not having any family nearby so having an addition to our family next year is going to be amazing!!

I'll be walking the dogs this morning then Nicole, Ben, hubby, Steven and I (Ryan is on his way back from Leeds after having his teams Christmas night out) are going to the movies in the afternoon, getting a chippy for dinner then settling down to watch the X Factor final with a piece of cake...what a perfect birfday!

If it's your birfday today (that includes you Donny, Val and Lewis) I hope you have the most fabulicous day.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Sparklicious!

Good morning Lovely Ladybug Followers! Hope your week as started well...I'm sure you're busy with all things Christmas. Me? Haven't bought a present, haven't started my cards (apart from the ones for challenges) and most importantly...haven't started my Christmas baking!!!! This was actually on purpose as last year I started baking at the beginning of November and ended up eating most of it and felt like the size of of a house :-S I plan on going to Costco this week to get the pecans for my Turtles (also waiting for my shipment of Kraft caramels from DLS) and Craisins for my Rocky Road :-D Everyone waits impatiently for my Turtles...they are just so yummy :-D

Thanks to everyone who entered our Snowflake challenge a fortnight ago...apologies for those that haven't received a comment from a Ladybug. We are short staffed at the moment but we're trying to get to everyone  :-D Make sure you check the Challenge Blog to see if you were one of the winners.

Today's Sparklicious challenge has been brought to you by the gorgeous....ummm, well, I don't know lol! But it was one of our gorgeous Ladybugs and whoever it was picked the perfect challenge for me....I LOVE sparkle! Along with the Sparklicious challenge we've all used Nikki Running With Buttercup which you can still get in the 70% off cling stamp sale!

Here's my efforts...let me know what you think...

I stamped NRWB and colored her in with my Copics and paper pieced hers and Buttercup's scarves. I used my fabulicous Echo Park Winter Wishes paper pad. Believe it or not the colors blend perfectly IRL...I think the lighting has changed the tone of the colors a bit :-(

I've really sparkled Nikki up...her hat, boots, fur trim and pocket as well as the falling snow and the snow on the trees. You can't see it but I've added some Wink Of Stella to the scarves for a more subtle sparkle.

Here's a closeup of all the flaws...sack the hairdresser, the colorist and the paper piecer lol.

Now this stunning snowflake came from my BFF. It's made from acrylic and I've added an amethyst Swarovski crystal to the center. I can't remember who their from but I'll find out for you. 

I finished the inside off by adding a piece of pp to the left edge of the purple cs and zig zagged it in place.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes

Divas by Design - Snow

Freshly Brewed - Christmas

Ruby's Rainbow - Christmas non traditional colors

Copic Marker Europe - A Christmas Card

Delightful Challenges - All about Christmas

Apart from being TLT it's also Doggy Daycare day which means total peace and quiet and all day to craft without interruption! The plan is to start on my Christmas cards...I saw a card on Inking Idaho's blog which I love and can mass produce pretty quickly...I hope!

Have a great Tuesday

Catch ya later x

Stop the world I want to get off!

Holy cling stamps Peeps....what's happening to the time??!!!!! First of December...REALLY??? I don't know about you but I could do with an extra 6 hours in my days and even then I don't think that would be enough. I haven't bought one Christmas present or even thought about shopping. I've had a couple of Pampered Chef table tops recently and had a fundraiser in someone's house last night. MIL, SIL and niece arrive early today (9am) from Dublin for one night and then I guess once they've left on Sunday I can really start panicking lol. Crafting has been happening in fits and starts...I haven't had a good run at making my Christmas cards yet though I have found a design (no coloring) that I think I can mass produce in a day or two and will hopefully not line Royal Mail's pockets!!

Today is my mom's 74th birthday....happy birthday mom!!! Here's a picture from her 70th and the most recent picture I have of her from Nicole and Ben's wedding (did I mention I'm going to be a grandma???!!!)....I hope I look this good at her age. Hardly any difference in 4 years hmph!

This isn't her card as she hasn't received it yet {I KNOW!} ... yes I've made and sent it but it just hasn't landed yet. This was a friend's card from last month...

I've colored Coffee Delight from the Floral Delight Too collection with my Copics and cut it out with my fancy scalloped Nestie. The pp is from Bo Bunny's gorgeous Little Miss pad...could be my new favourite! I wasn't going to stitch but when I laid the pp down it looked boring so I went a bit crazy and even stitched the fishtails!!

A little peek at the inside

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Digi Galore - Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes

The Corrosive Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Great Impressions - Anything Goes

OSAAT - Anything Goes

The Crafty Pad - Stitching real or faux

We're going for a collective birthday lunch today (Niece Oct 21, MIL Nov 6, SIL Nov 7, Nic Nov 16 and mine) and then possibly MIL and I will get to stay home while the rest go to Ryan's game then after dinner we can settle down to Strictly, X Factor and I'm a Celebrity....bliss!!!

Hope you have a fabulicious weekend.

Catch ya later x

Midway Reminder - Snowflakes

I'm back with a midway reminder for our Snowflakes Challenge using another clear box. This is the one I told you about last week...I made it for a magazine and used an image I meant for the Christmas Delight release but forgot and put another one in doh! Story of my life really lol.

Anywho, here it is....

I used the mid sized square clear box covering the front and back with green Bazzill and made a belly band to fit around it. The pp has been in my stash since the beginning of time lol.

From the side you can see there are 4 cards and envelopes inside

This is the forgotten image....do you like? 

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

The Paper Shelter - Christmas

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Embossing

Copic Marker Europe - Christmas Card

Crimbo Crackers - Anything Goes, must be Christmas

Cute Card Thursday - Snowflakes

Simply Create - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Do you fancy winning the image? It hasn't got a name so all you have to do is leave a  comment with the name you think suits it best and I'll choose the winner and post it on here Monday December 3rd. Make it a good one...mind you anything's better than the one's I make up lol.

 Rocky and Ruby are in Doggy Daycare today which means I can craft in peace woo hoo!!!

The sale 70% off cling stamps is still on and Christmas is getting closer (too close!) but you still have time to get a few stocking stuffers for your crafting buddies or yourself.

Catch ya later x

Thump thump...thump thump...thump thump

Nicole had an appointment at the hospital yesterday for blood tests and an ultrasound. Ben videoed the ultrasound on his phone and Whatsapped it to me....Cue the tissues lol. It's been a lot of years since I've heard a baby's heart beat...23 to be exact...and it was the most amazing thing and brought back memories of the scans I had with my three. My grandbaby's heart beat was so strong and rhythmic and that's when I fell in love...silly huh. We're at just over 15 weeks and now we can talk about Nic's pregnancy time is going by a bit quicker :-D

Today's card was for my SIL in Dublin ... the last of my run of cards of November 4, 5, 6 & 7!!!!

I've used Celebrate from Floral Delight Too...colored with my Copics. I love these papers from MME's The Sweetest Thing :-D

Lots of Glamour Dust

I used my Die-namics Pretty Posy die and crumpled the flowers before layering them and adding a wooden flower button. I prefer this look to crisp and smooth as it adds a bit of dimension and I feel  a bit devilish adding a crumpled flower to an otherwise pristine card lol. 

I tucked the computer generated sentiment under the image after die-cutting it with Die-namics Fishtail dies

A peek at the inside...did I mention I love these papers lol???

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Crafts and Me Challenges - Circles

Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Divas by Design - Use at least 2 different patterned papers

The Paper Shelter - Birthdays

Cute Card Thursday - Girls Only

Simply Create Challenges - Must be digital or papercraft/follow/anything goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

I'm trying out Power Hoop this morning at the suggestion of Suzy Q...not sure exactly what it's all about apart from using a weighted hoola hoop. Now I loved playing with my hoola hoop when I was a kidlet but somehow I think I might change my mind after today lol. Wish me luck and if I survive I'll tell you all about it!

Have a great Thursday....catch ya later x

Last....

but not least!!! All I can say is I'm glad I'm the boss cuz I can get away with murder lol!!!! Apologies to all my fabulicious Ladybugs for being late today. Not sure how it happened...I WAS on schedule to have my project ready yesterday but it all went pear shape :-( I do have a project in reserve but when I looked at it I realized I'd used an image not yet released hmph! I might use it next week and have a little mini competition to win the image...

Thank you to everyone who entered Sally's In The Office/Stationery Challenge ... it proved to be well, challenging lol. We didn't have as many entries as we usually do BUT I was so happy when 1/3 of the entries used an LCI image woot woot!!!! So a BIG thank you to all of you LCI image lovers and make sure you check out the Challenge blog to see if you've won a prize :-D

Today's challenge is brought to you by Lovely Ladybug Diane which is perfect for this time of year...Snowflakes. To make it a bit more challenging for the Ladybugs I gave each of them a clear box to use. I bought these a few years ago for the website and came across them recently. They are funtastic and can be used for many things and the Ladybugs have been busy creating lots of inspiration for you. It wasn't all smooth sailing...one Ladybug had a strop ( 1 1/2 actually) and one was so engrossed in making her project she forgot to check what the challenge was so there's no snowflake to be found but all is forgiven because the end result is stunnalicious as is Ladybug Strop's!!!

The boxes come in 5 sizes so I'm sure there's one to suit your needs:

4 1/8" x 4 1/16" x 1" - 45p each

5 5/8" x 5 1/2" x 1" - 60p each

4 7/8" x 6 5/8" x 1" - 60p each

6 1/8" x 6 1/16" x 1" - 70p each

4 1/2" x 5 7/8" x 1" -  60p each

This is what they look like before they've been pimped!

And this is what mine looks like after...

I've used the 6 1/8" x 6 1/16" box which was the perfect size for the hankies I bought at Poundland! I found some 12 x 12 Craftwork Card cs I've had for yonks in pink and lilac with glittered snowflakes/flowers. I cut the pink at 3" deep and the lilac at 2 1/2" then tore one edge to look like snow and wrapped them around the box (I used one strip of 12" for each color then another 6" of each for ends to meet). I stamped snowflakes directly onto the acetate box AFTER I'd finished lol so I had to figure out how to stamp without taking everything apart. I removed the hankies and put 4 paper pads inside to give me a solid surface to stamp on :-D

I printed Let It Snow Delight, colored (do you like my pink and lilac striped scarf and hat?) with with my Copics then cut it out. I added Fluffy Stuff to the hats, Glamour Dust to the earmuffs and scarf and Judykins glitter to the snowballs and snow BEFORE I adhered it to the box. I learned from past experience to do this as it's VERY difficult to remove glitter from acetate :-S

In hindsight I think I should have used white trees but I'd already stuck the trees down when I realized. I added pale pink and amethyst 2mm & 3mm Swarovski crystals to the trees for a bit of bling.

I added a handle by punching a hole in the sides of the box with my long neglected whatchamacallit (I'm looking at it but can't remember it's name... big hole punch...pink handles??) and the ends of the handle and fixed it in place with giant brads I made with my other long neglected whatchamacallit... i-top tool! Does anyone have one of those? I'm sure Ladybug Laurie has one somewhere lol. 

Look...isn't it fabulicious!!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Anything But A Card - A Stitch In Time:use any time or stitching element (I've stitched)

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes

Hooked on Crafts Challenges - Christmas (no red or green)

House of Gilli - Diecuts

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

The Pretty Little Ribbon  - Diecuts

Totally Stampalicious - Non Traditional Christmas Colors

Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Diecuts/punches

This would make fabuliciously inexpensive gift for a teacher.....box 70p, hankies £2 (I bought 2 packs but used only 5 of the 6 hankies) plus scraps of paper = £2.70! To see some other fabtastic ideas check out the other Ladybugs projects.

The sale is still on and we have sold out of a few stamps BUT they are now available as a digital download. These are Coffee Nikki, Dogwalker Nikki and Buttercup with Bird.

I think that's all for today. I'm off to finish a few more cards I abandoned and hopefully with have them to show you later this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

Happy Birthday Nicole!!

November 16, 1984 at exactly 12:58am Nicole Elizabeth entered the world. I am finding it hard to believe she is 28 today...'specially as I'm only 34 rofl ;-D And of course my baby is having a baby of her own :-D Who would have thunk it???

I started her card yesterday...'started' being the operative word! I shuffled more papers and embellishments than I care to count but just couldn't get a groove going. The image I wanted to use wasn't doing it for me so in the end I opted for a Cupcake Cutie...Make a Wish and I'm so glad I did! I just love these little cuties and I especially love embellishing the frosting! When I was shuffling everything about  and getting no where I went onto the MFT blog for a bit of inspiration and and came across a card Jodi Collins had made which I've followed but added a MFT fishtail for a bit of added interest...

I stamped Make A Wish on PTI cs and colored her with  my Copics. I stamped the case of the cupcake on pp and cut it out so it coordinated. 

I can't get enough of MFT dies at the moment. They've had a new release recently and I have a wish list a mile long...maybe Santa will see it ;-D

You can just see the beginning and end of the Fishtail die in the floral pp....I've also used the Pretty Posy Die and Mini Tab Quartet for the sentiment.

You can't really tell but I've added Glossy Accents to the candle and Glamour dust to the flame, her shoes and dress

This is the AMAZING Fluffy Stuff! It looks almost good enough to eat lol. Before I fluffed it with my heat gun I sprinkled a pinch of GD...again you can't really see it but IRL it looks sparklicious :-D

I found an MFT die I hadn't used {shock horror} so added a border to the inside...it's the Wonky Scalloped Border...love it!!!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge - Stitching (Real or Faux)

Celebrate the Occasion - Must use a Cupcake!

Craft-Room Challenge - Punches & Dies

Paper Pretties - Buttons

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

I thought I'd show you a picture of Nicole's first scan...this is Baby McLeod! I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those Grandma's that will be boring everyone with pictures of my grandbaby...whether they want to see them or not ! In case you're wondering that's it's LEG sticking up lololol. Nicole's next scan is at 20 weeks on Christmas Eve so everything should be a lot clearer and defined. She's still really tired but hopefully that will end soon and she's starting to get a bit of a bump. She called me the other day from work to say she felt the baby move!!!!! 

Ryan has a game in Dundee (1 1/2 hours away) tonight so hubby and Steven are going to watch him leaving Nicole, Ben and I enjoy Nic's birthday dinner. She's requested Butternut Squash Risotto (YUMMY) and since she's craving anything with tomatoes I'm surprising her with my Tomato Soup En Croute and a birthday wouldn't be a birthday in our house without an M & S cake!!

That's me for today....I hope you all have a fabulicious weekend and get some crafting done....maybe even enter our In The Office Challenge. The entries so far are fabtastic with 1/4 of them using an LCI image...we love that!

Catch ya later x

PS You can get Make A Wish Cupcake Cutie in the 70% off Cling Stamp Sale!!!!

In The Office - Midway Reminder

I'm a little bit late today. I had planned on making my card for today yesterday but ran out of time and when I woke up this morning my back decided to play up on me and I'm now leaning forward and to one side!!! It's made crafting a bit uncomfortable but I managed to make a card to remind you of this fortnight's In the Office Challenge.

Here's what I made...

It's been a long time since I've stamped an image as I've been loving all the new digi releases but it reminded me why I got into crafting in the first place. I stamped Jack & Robyn's Bless This Tree (which you can purchase in the 70% off sale) with MomentoTuxedo Black in and colored it with my Copics. The pp is MME's Winter Wonderland 6 x 6 pad...gorgeous! The notebook page die was a gift from Mary J last year and the Baker's Twine was a gift from M Pee 2 years ago!

I decided to go subtle with the sparkle (not like me at all) and instead of glitter used my Wink Of Stella glitter pen on the baubles, lights and Robyn's slippers and bow.

You know I love my felt...this snowflake is so pretty with the pearl

I was looking for my snowflake charms when I came across these bells I bought at the SECC from Mei Flower years ago....I KNEW I needed them lol.

I carried the notebook page die to the inside of the card. Hmmm...looks like I need to press the cs down on the front!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes

Great Impressions - Holidays

Penny Black and More - Any Die Will Do

Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Anything Goes

The Crazy Challenge - Decorate inside of card

Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas Anything Goes

My back is twinging a bit as I sit here so I'm going to lie down on the floor for a bit before tackling dinner. 

The Ladybugs are loving your entries for this challenge so keep them coming!

Thanks for stopping by today

Catch ya later x