TLT - Catherine's Challenge - Bingo and Nikki Goes Digi!!!!!

Hello Ladybug fans! We've got a bit of exciting news today but before I tell all I want to thank you for your wonderful Photo Inspiration entries for our blog hop. Speaking of hop...wasn't it fun! To see if you're the winner of the hop, overall challenge, challenge using an LCI image or a top three pop on over to the Challenge Blog.

If you've read the title and you're confused well be confused no more! Six Nikki images are now available to buy as digi images and more will be added as they sell out! That should keep some of you pretty happy :-D 

This fortnight's challenge is courtesy of our lovely Catherine who has chosen Bingo and we're all using one of the 6 Nikki digi's

Die Cuts	Pink Gems	Butterflies
Pink Ribbon	Stitching	Pink Buttons
Swirls	Pink Flowers	Lace

I've used Bride Nikki as I had a commission for a wedding card so it fit in perfectly with our challenge....dontcha just love it when that happens :-D

I've gone for diagonal top left to bottom right...Die Cuts, Stitching and Lace. After I finished my card I realised I kinda forgot the lace lol BUT if you look real close perhaps the embossing can double for lace??? Am I stretching it a bit far???? Well I'm the boss so I say it's ok lol...here's my card....

Surely you can see the lace right???!!!

Although I really like the last boxed wedding card I made using grey's I still think I'm partial to WOW wedding cards. Something pure about them :-D

Sadie and I are on day 2 of our holiday and I hope we're having a good time lol. As long as the sun is shining we'll be happy :-D

Hope to see your fabulous Bingo creations...make sure you tell us which row you've used.

Catch ya later x

Blowout Sale!!!

Just a quick post for today...I'm off on my holidays with Sadie tomorrow for a week in Tossa de Mar in Costa Brava for a bit of sunshine and I have loads still to do. We certainly need it after all the rain and cold we've had lately. You can see our last jolly here.

To celebrate my hols Ladybug Crafts Ink is having a massive cling stamp sale while I'm away. How massive you ask? How about 60% massive!!!!!!!! It starts tomorrow and finishes Sunday 30th. Fingers crossed it works...I've been known to have technical hitches with my sales as some of you know lol. But if the discount doesn't come off, I'll sort it when I get back. 

Here's a card I made for my friend's son who went to school with Ryan and has just had a pretty big op. It's quite bright so hopefully will cheer him up....

I haven't coloured up Cat Flu Magnum in ages which I guess is good because that means nobody I know has been ill lately :-D I paper pieced the chair and the cool hat thingamajig (name please!!!), shaded the chair with my Copics, added Glossy Accents to Lily's thermometer and Magnum's nose. I was VERY tempted to glitter up the kleenex box but managed to contain myself lol. 

Ok...must get finished packing. I'm hoping I'll be able to check in while I'm away and maybe post a picture or two. I've warned the Ladybugs to behave but if you hear of any parties can you let me know in an email please!

Catch ya later x

Blog Hop Midway Reminder

Howdy Doody Peeps...hope you had a great weekend and your week has started well :-D I got a bit of crafting done at the weekend...THREE cards!!! {patting myself on the back} That hasn't happened in a LONG time but I just said to myself "Kerry, you're a long time dead and the house won't collapse if it hasn't been tidied for a day or three so why not do something that makes you happy?" Who am I to argue with myself rofl!!!!

This is one of the THREE cards I made. I haven't put a sentiment on it yet...the jury's still out which one I want. It's a pretty simple card...nothing fancy...well apart from the spotty scarf on Snowman #3 ;-D

Enough waffling...have a look and see what you think....

I love love LOVE this Snowman Delight image...actually I love them all...very little coloring is required which makes them super quick. As always I've printed Let It Snow onto PTI cs and colored it in with my Copics. When I was looking in the garage for all my Sizzix dies to put in the sale (see page above) I spied some pads of paper I bought in Walmart when I was home years ago. There are about 5 or 6 pads in different sized squares and rectangles but with all the same pp which is pretty smart really because all you need to do is tear a piece off, mount it on some matching cs and voila...no cutting!!!

See that smudge of red beside the tall snowman's hat? (I'm pointing this out so you know that I know I boobed and won't be saying to yourself...look, Kerry made a boob lololololol) I put the glue on the wrong part and as quick as I could wiped it away with my finger. Thought I got away with it but obviously not lol.

Close up of the smudge ;-D

And a peek at the inside. I punched a border using a Martha Stewart punch...not sure what it's called but it is a row of pine branches.....VERY cute.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Fashionista Challenge - Anything Goes Christmas & Bloghop

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Stamp and Create - Anything Goes

Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Anything Goes

Creative Craft Challenges 2 - Anything Goes

The hop is on for another week so why not join in? You could win the whole collection of Snowman delight or be one of 5 winning a Snowman Delight of your choice :-D

I've got a date with my craftroom today...I got another commission for a boxed  wedding card and I'd like to make another Christmas card or two.

Thanks for stopping by

Catch ya later x

What happened to Wednesday-Saturday?

Feels like today should be Wednesday instead of Sunday...where did the week go? I had every intention posting before today but I never got a chance to craft until yesterday :-( 

Judging by your comments Snowman Delight has been a big hit! The DT and GD did a phenomenal job with their creations and I hope filled you all with inspiration :-D You've still over a week to join in the hop starting at the Challenge Blog with the chance to win the new images!

I finally got to play with the images yesterday...what fun....those snowmen just BEG to be glittered. I can't show any to you today because they need finishing touches but I do have a boxed wedding card a friend commissioned. She wanted a picture of the couple on the card which takes a lot of the thinking out of the way. The only way I can describe the invitation was organic...it was made of kraft cs and had jute tying it together with the wedding instructions. I thought it best to use this as a guideline so this is what I came up with.....

I have a stack of pre-cut and scored boxes (from Craft Creations)...all you have to do is fold and crease and you've got your box...lazy I know but oh so handy lol. At one point I did toy with the idea of making a box out of kraft cs but decided to go with the white box to save time. I used a soft peach Bazzill and Papertrey Ink kraft cs...I LOVE their kraft and white cs. I ran a piece of kraft cs through the Cuttlebug with a heart embossing folder to give a bit of texture and made a large rolled rose from a Die-namics die. I made the leaf from green burlap cut out with another Die-namics die. The invitation has the same colour green detail so thought this tied it together nicely.

I normally use white tissue paper as a liner but found some pretty heart embossed mulberry type paper which follows the organic theme

I made a gatefold card and the jute kept it tied shut. 

I tied twine through the center of tiny Lasting Impressions buttons (after blowing the dust off first lol) and glued them to the center of the rolled flowers and added another burlap leaf. I'm really chuffed with how it turned out and just hope my friend AND the happy couple will like it too :-D

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Anything Goes

DYSU - Kraft & Twine

MilkCoffee Challenge - Use at least 2 shapes

ClearlyiStamp - Leaves

Joyful Stamper - Anything Goes

A couple of bits of news...I found out during the week that Ben (my son in law) has been nominated for Maitre D of the year award for Glasgow restaurants. He's the manager at Yo Sushi in Frasers downtown and I think he fully deserves to win...I'm not biased lol.

Also I got the final total for my Teenage Cancer Trust Pampered Chef fundraiser back in August...we raised a total of £366.16 between sales, donations and the raffle!!! I was gobsmacked and so grateful to everyone for supporting such a great cause. Sophie had a great week and was keeping well but was back in hospital yesterday with an infection. She only has 2 more treatments and the results of a biopsy to get and hopefully she'll have beaten her cancer. I know she still has a long way to go after her treatment ends but it's been a long 6 months and Sophie and her family will be looking forward to getting their lives back to some kind of normality. 

I've now got a Pampered Chef website where you can order any of their fabulous products and a Facebook page where I try to post most days with little bits of information and tell you which products I can't live without! I'm also having another fundraiser...this time for breast cancer. It's going to be on Saturday October 6th at 1pm at the tennis club (read that as porta-cabin lol) just up the street from my house. I'll be posting details in my FB page and here soon and would love if anyone local to me could make it :-D I'm going to do another cooking demonstration and will have fabulicious raffle prizes

I think that's all my news though might just have something up my sleeve for the very near future!!!

Hope you all have a great week :-D

Catch ya later x

TLT - Blog Hop & New Release!!!!

Morning all you Ladybug fans! Hope all is going well for you this week. We Ladybugs are very excited to share our new release with a bloghop. It's extra busy as we have not one but FOUR Guest Designers. Please give Jane, Gemma, Kathleen and former Ladybug Mary J a bit extra Ladybug Love when visiting them along the way. Grab a coffee cuz this is a long one lol!

Before I go into the bloghop details I want to thank everyone for entering our Paper Piecing challenge last week. Make sure you check the challenge blog to see if you're one of the winners :-D

Ok, before I implode with excitement lets get on the the hop. As usual there are a few boring but necessary rules which are as follows:

1. Leave a comment on each of the DT posts as you hop. 

3. Leave a comment on the Challenge blog letting us know which image you like best

4. Display our badge in your side bar to spread the word. But don't worry if you don't have a blog and want to enter to win. Just email me at lcichallengeblog@aol.com saying you don't have a blog (as well as leaving a comment on the challenge blog)

There are 6 images in the Snowman Delight set and the winner of the hop will win ALL 6 and there will be 5 runners up winners of 1 image of their choice.

There is a theme to the hop which is a photo inspiration chosen by Lisa

This is the first time I've done a photo inspiration challenge so I hope I got it right. I know I'll be told if I haven't lol. 

Before I forget you should have arrived here from Sue and if you're all mixed up you can head back to the Challenge Blog to start at the beginning :-D

Here is my card...

I've used Happy Holidays Snowman Delight. Snowmen are my FAVOURITE Christmas image...I used to love building snowmen when I was younger :-D I printed Happy Holidays and coloured it in with my Copics. I've also used Echo Park Winter Park 1 digi pp. Notice my card isn't SQUARE!! I did a bit of stitching...ok I did a LOT of stitching lol. Don't know what I'll do when one of the Ladybug's chooses NO STITCHING for a challenge :-S

These images scream out for glitter and I did use a lot of Glamour Dust. It's a shame the pictures don't show how sparklicious it is.

Now I'm not sure why this picture is here...maybe to show how to colour OUTSIDE the lines lol or maybe it's the snowballs. I left it in anyway...hang on it could be the Jet Swarovski crystals I used for the snowman's buttons!!!! I get there in the end lol

I'll add a sentiment later

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Cupcake Challenges - In Stitches

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes

Pile It On - Patterned Paper

The Squirrel and The Fox - Anything Goes

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - Early Christmas

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Christmas

The Snowman Delight images are available from today and priced at £1.75 each :-D

So....do you like??? I LOVE and Jan has done another amazing job with her illustrations. I hope you enjoyed the hop and drew some inspiration from the DT and GD's work. I can't wait to see what the girls have come up with!

On a sad note I'm afraid Ladybug Pam is handing in her wings. This will be her last post for LCI which makes me VERY sad {sniff} as Pam is one of the original Ladybug's which doesn't leave very many of us left!!! Thank you Pam for EVERYTHING ... you have been magnifilicious and I wish you nothing but good things in the future. 

Catch ya later {sniff} x

Here Comes The Bride

Well happy Saturday Peeps. Hubby and I are off to a wedding in Berwickshire today...it will be nice to be on the other side this time lol. It's a few hours drive away so we're staying the night leaving the boys in charge of Rocky and Ruby. Or maybe it's the other way around ;-D

I've spent the last 3 days running around getting preened, buffed and tanned. I had another mad moment when I was getting a spray tan. Those darn paper pants got the better of me again lol. I got them on the right way eventually but I had them on and off I don't know how many times!! 

I finished the card late last night and this is what I came up with...

I was inspired by a card Ladybug Laurie made. Normally my wedding cards are WOW but I thought it was time for a change and I think grey (not 50 shades lol) and white are quite stunning together. 

I love Bride Nikki....all you need is a bit of colour and a lot of glitter and your done!  

I added a bit of Glossy Accents to her bouquet and the flowers in her hair. Unfortunately I glittered the flowers in her hair and you can't see they're pink.

Gorgeous flowers made from felt

And a peek at the inside.

I'd like to enter the following Challenges please:

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Handmade Flowers

Shelly's Images - Anything Goes

Craft Punked - Tying the Knot

Delicious Doodles Challenges - Celebration

Did you see my post the other day about the new release and blog hop??? You will not want to miss it. We have cute new images and 4 fabulicious Guest Designers joining in the fun. Make sure you check in on Tuesday for a chance to win some prizes :-D

Have a great weekend

Catch ya later x

New Release & Blog Hop Coming Soon!!!

DLS's B'day Card

So my DLS (darling little sister...little because she is 11 years younger and 4' 11 3/4" {that 3/4" is VERY important lol} of loveliness..) had her birthday August 26 and before you all give your screen the knowing 'bet she was late' look I'd like to say I was NOT late...in fact I was EARLY!! Get the balloons and confetti out lol!!! I'm just late posting her card on here so without further ado here's her card...

I stamped Lily and the balloons from the Add On set to create this little scene. My idea was Lily and Magnum were walking carrying balloons and Magnum fell into the hole thus having Lily getting one up on Magnum yet again lol. I probably should have had magnum's head poking out of the hole but I need to get my card done quickly and I thought of it after it was winging it's way across the pond safely tucked in my friend Sharon's suitcase. 

The Add On set is just fab ... you can intermix the images with other stamps. For this one I've stamped Lily then the balloon so it looks like she's holding it. I removed the # on the balloon by placing a piece of tape over it before tapping it in my ink pad, removing the tape then stamping the balloon. Because the stamps are clear it's easy to place the images exactly where you want 

them :-D

I've a long way to get my bunting like the Bunting Queen Julie but I think it's better than my first couple of attempts. I've added little pink nailheads (soon to be added to the store) in between the flags.

Glamour Dust to the balloons makes the card sparklicious!

A peek at the inside

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Catered Crop - Anything Pink

Scrapper's Delight Challenge Blog - Birthday

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Stamp and Create - Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant - Use Patterned Paper 

We've got some exciting news here at LCI Central so make sure you stop by tomorrow ;-D

My baby is coming home tomorrow for good. Steven's 4 month of 'work' in Spain is finished so it will be great to have him back though not looking forward to all the washing. Think it's high time I start delegating and washing just might be the first on the list lol.

Hope you have a great week

Catch ya later x

Oooh...Top 3 and Anonymous who???

 Well did I wake up this morning to a lovely surprise or what??? I received an email from Ashely, owner and Design Team Leader of Made Especially For You telling me I'd made the Top 3 in their Paper Piecing Challenge with my Nikki card from last week...woot woot!!! I enter these challenges but never expect to win so I am over the moon :-D Now all I have to do is figure out how to put it on my side bar and I'm all set lol.

Remember my moan about my inbox filling up with Anonymous comment emails? Well it's sorted yayyyyyyyyyyyyy! My lovely blogging buddy Jane emailed me with a solution and it worked. So although I'm feeling less popular I'm not getting anymore Anonymous emails :-D If anyone else is having this problem this is what Jane told me to do. Go into your blog settings then Posts and Comments then scroll down to Who Can Comment? and click on Registered Users and voila! I'd never changed my settings so I'm not sure why all of a sudden these emails were going into my inbox instead of my spam where they used to go. I'm sure it must have been Blogger when it changed things recently hmph! Thank you Jane :-D

The honeymooners arrived back on Saturday morning from their most fabulicious trip to South Aftrica and Mauritius. They look fantastic and had an amazing time though home with a bump. A nail in their tire meant I was back to one of my old jobs...mom's taxi. Ben had to go up North to Aviemore for a friend's stag so I dropped him into town to catch the train then Nicole was going to the corresponding Hen party so after dinner I dropped her into town. As Ben was staying over night she was going to come back and stay with us. I left the key out for her in the usual place but a buzzing in my ear from my mobile at 4:55 am told me she hadn't found it! I dragged myself out of bed and downstairs to let my giggling girl in...I had to laugh as she'd obviously had a great time and was a little more than tipsy but when she kept demanding chips and cheese I put my foot down and packed her off to bed lol.

Here are a few stunning pictures from their trip...

I'll never complain about my butt again lol

For some reason when going through their pictures last night I didn't download any of the stunning scenery from Cape Town but the animals on their safari more than made up for it. The last 3 are from Mauritius. 

That's me for today...nothing crafty but I'll be back tomorrow with my DLS's birthday card.

Thanks for popping in and I hope you have a crafty week ;-D

Catch ya later x

Catch ya later x