TLT - Mary J's Challenge - Anything But a Card!

I don't know about you but time is just flying by at the moment! Is it because we're trying to cram as much as we can into our day or is because when we were younger we wished we were older and now we're older we wish we younger??? Does that make sense?

Before I get started with TLT I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderlicious entries to last weeks challenge. You are all stepping up your game and it's been wonderful looking at all your creations. Make sure you swing by the Challenge Blog to see if you're a winner!

Today is the flabulously gorgeous Mary J's turn and her challenge is 'Anything But A Card'. It was a really nice change to do something other than a card. This is what I came up with....

This is how my project started TLT life....

.....and this is how it ended up! Whadya' thunk? I'm pretty chuffed with it though as usual the picture doesn't do it justice. The colours are so vibrant and yummy...just like those cupcakes lol.

I started with Core'dinations cs, stuck it to the mini clipboard with my snot gun (ATG!) then trimmed and sanded the edges. I even managed to do the top bit :-D I had a strip of Doodlebug cupcake pp left so added that and a cupcake punched border on top finishing it off with ribbon and a button (the colours do coordinate, honest!)

I stamped and coloured Cupcake Cutie - Stack of Cupcakes with my Copics. Added some Fluffy Stuff, beads, pearls and glitter to the cupcakes, a few crystals to CC's dress and a brad to her hair (I cut off the back so it wasn't bulky).

I promise you won't be disappointed when you visit the rest of the DT...they're all scrumalicious!!

Next week is going to be really special. It's a blog hop with a new release and I can't wait for you to see the new images and the samples the Ladybugs have come up with! We'll have more details for you throughout the week but in the meantime grab the banner for your blog (though you don't have to have a blog to win) and spread the word!

Thanks for taking the time to pop in today ... I hope you have a great TLT!

Catch ya later x

Will you be my Valentine?

I hope you all got a Valentine from someone special. For some reason I thought Valentine's Day was tomorrow so last night I'm sitting with Nicole and hubby watching DOI when Nic mentions something about VD being Monday. Well that caught my attention didn't it lol! It was on my to-do list but nearer the bottom as I thought I had another day so once DOI was finished and Nic had gone home I nonchalantly made a beeline for my workroom and started the hubster's card. Phew...made it in the nick of time lol. This is what I came up with...

Thank goodness for Magnum Add-Ons...they've come in VERY handy lately! I loved the layout I did for Steven's card so much I more or less copied it with subtle changes. I inked up the heart in a box , coloured it with my Copics and cut and embossed it with my Nesties. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug embossing folder and die cut some more gorgeous felt for the border and heart. The sentiment is from SU!

The colour of the felt and button IRL is more fuschia than strawberry...lovely and lush :-D

I usually just give hubby a card but these are what arrived for me from him earlier today. He loves sending me flowers. In fact he arrived on our first date with a huge bouquet....so big I couldn't see him lol. Ahhhh....so romantic but I guess it did the trick because we got married 6 months later!!

Thanks to everyone who entered our challenge last week. As usual you came up with some amazing work. Make sure you check in to the Challenge Blog tomorrow to see if you're a winner and to see what my amazing DT have to inspire you this week. This weeks challenge is lots of fun so I do hope you'll take the time to enter.

That's it from me for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

A teenager doesn't live here any more...

No, Steven hasn't moved out but he turned 20 today and I'm feeling slightly sad because  1) I don't have any teenagers left 2) it makes me feel old!! I know at 47 there's a possiblilty I could have another baby but do I really want to go there??? NO lol!!! I'll just have to be content and wait for my grandkids to come along :-D

Up until late yesterday afternoon I hadn't even started making Steven's card...isn't that always the case! I'd had a pretty full day and I was seeing Sadie last night so it was a case of throwing something together pretty quick. Quick??? Well, as quick as I do quick lol. I made most of it before I left for Sadie's and finished it off when I came back. I'm really chuffed with the way it turned out. I used Nesties that were covered in a thick layer of dust and now I've seen the result I'm definitely going to use them more often.

So here it is...what do you thunk?

I had planned to use my CB birthday embossing folder but when I spied the BG Max & Whiskers pp so cut that up though still fully intending to use my embossing folder then I forgot to lol. I love the colour combo...in fact I love anything that has brown in it :-D You're probably wondering where the LCI image is but hey...you're looking at it. I used the birthday cake from the

Add-On Magnum set mainly because I didn't have a lot of time, it didn't need much colouring and it shows the versatility of the set.

I've got some beautiful felt that I've been harbouring for months. Michele has been using felt a lot lately so I dug mine out and created this scalloped border with my PTI die. The felt is so soft and the colours wonderfully bright. I'm going to be selling it on my website soon so keep an eye out for it.

I stamped the image in the Indian Ink and it still didn't smudge when I coloured it with my Copics :-D I think I'm loving this ink over my Momento but I won't abandon it just yet.

I cut the happy birthday sentiment from Sentimental Numbers so I didn't have to fiddle with trying to get the words on different stars. It will be easy to line them up if I want them side by side again.

Finally a close up of my wonky stitching and the gorgeous felt. I think Steven was more interested in what was in the card but he said he liked it.

I'll be growing a few grey hairs over the weekend. He and a bunch of his friends are heading to Liverpool this afternoon to celebrate his birthday. Why he couldn't stay in Glasgow I don't know! They'll be back Sunday so I'll have a worrying weekend :-S

I hope you have a good weekend...what will you be up to?

Catch ya later x

Boy do I feel stupid!

Ok...I'm a dumpling!! Remember this picture?

I couldn't remember who this lovely lady was and put out a call for help. Well, I've had emails and comments from a few (4) followers across the pond telling me the lady in the picutre is Sandi Genovese. I went and had a look at her blog and OMGoodness she's big! Ok, that didn't sound right...I don't mean big as in personal size but big as in her status in the craft world lol. This is her bio:

DIY Scrapbooking host, Sandi Genovese, is a multitalented author, artist and educator who travels around the country demonstrating the latest in scrapbooking and paper crafting. A frequent contributor to national magazines, she is also a familiar face to many viewers due to her numerous appearances on such television shows as Good Morning America, The View and The Carol Duvall Show. Genovese has helped develop innovative crafting products, workshops and die-cut designs and is currently working in education and new product development for Mrs. Grossman's Paper Company. She shares her creativity in several books, including Creative Scrapbooking, Creative Greeting Cards, Memories in Minutes, Simply Sizzix and Sandi Genovese's Three-Dimensional Scrapbooks.

 I feel very honoured that Sandi took the time to stop at my stand and look at Annette's Cupcake Cutie album. I watched the video Sandi made at CHA but unfortunately it looks like we ended up on the editing room floor lol. Not to worry...it was a flabulous experience :-D

Amber S left a comment in yestedays post saying she found me through Capadia Designs blog. Of course I had to have a look and OMGoodness...this is what I found!!! How exciting it was to see the stand from someone else's lens. It's a shame Diane didn't manage to airbrush the top of my head out of one of the pictures but it looks amazing all the same. Thank you so much Diane...it was great to meet you, Many and Enfys.

I'm WAY behind so this is a quick post. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and leave your lovely comments. I appreciate every single one :-D

Catch ya later x

TLT - Hayley's Challenge - Love Is In The Air

Hello and welcome to another TLT. Today's challenge comes courtesy of our Lovely Ladybug Hayley and her theme is Love Is In The Air.....awwwww. But before I go on I want to thank everyone who entered last weeks challenge. We had some flabulous entries and I'm glad I didn't have to pick the winners this week! Check out the Challenge Blog to see if you're a winner.

Just to shock Lisa I'd like to enter my card in:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Love is in the Air (great minds lol)
Dare to be Sassy Thursday - Love is in the Air (again!) Use a heart
Sarah Hurley - Use Die Cuts
Raise the Bar - Hearts

Ok, so on to my card. Love is in the Air...I suppose the first person you might think about it your husband/boyfriend/partner but I decided to make a card for a friend. Now I suppose that might raise an eyebrow or two but who says we can't love our friends? They are there for us when we need them in the good times and bad. They make us laugh and feel good about ourselves. They'll be honest when our 'bums look big' but in the nicest possible way lol. I thought the perfect stamps to use were Add On Magnum and Lily from the Add On's set....after all, they are best friends :-D

 

Now before you think Lily's picking the wax out of Magnum's ear she's actually giving him a kiss on his cheek ROFL (you can blame it on the jet lag). I was given a sample of an ink I've never seen before called Indian Ink. I thought I'd give it a try along with my new PTI white cs (recommended by my Lovely Ladybug Anita) so I stamped Magnum and Lily then coloured them with my Copics. All I can say is I LOVE the ink.... and LOVE the cs (thanks Anita!!!). The cs isn't as smooth as the ones I usually like to use but the image stamped perfectly with the ink...nice and crisp and the Copics were flabulous. I borrowed Gaynors trick of running the image through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder...I really like the way it turned out. I used one of my favourite EK Success punches for the border and some flabulous Bakers Twine gifted to me from another Lovely Ladybug Michele ... I've been dying to use it and it matched the cs perfectly :-D I've had the acrylic heart stone for ages and thought it finished off the twine nicely.

 

Here's a close up...what do you think?

 

I also picked up the new MFT's Die-namics Mini Rolled Roses. You get 2 dies which are slightly smaller than the Rolled Flower and have a scalloped edge. I used 2 sentiments from the Magnum Sentiments set and punched them with my SU! Word Window punch.

I'm not sure if you can see but I've sprayed the whole card with SU! Shimmer Ink diluted with water and put in a mini spray bottle. It looks shimmalicous lol!

So that's my card...let me know what you think and make sure you visit the other Ladybugs to get some inspiration. I hope to see lots of entries this week cuz I've got some exciting news and you'll only get to know it if you enter.....nah...just joking...but not about the exciting news lol!!!

Catch ya later x

ps I took the pictures this morning as the light was bad last night...don't know why I thought it was going to be any better at 7:30am! Will try and retake them later :-D

Bumpy landing

BFF and I weren't too sure if we were going to make the landing at Heathrow. Everything seemed to be going well until we landed when I think a gust of wind came at us from the side and we actually were skidding from side to side before we skidded to a stop! I don't think we were in any danger as the pilot seemed to be in total control but there was a stunned silence when we did stop. All the passengers just looked at each other as if to acknowledge we had a lucky escape. Luckily for Karen Heathrow was her final stop...I still had to get to Glasgow. I'd heard the weather had been horrendous...snow, sleet, wind, rain...you name it they had it. It wasn't until we started our decent that the turbulence started and we were tossed about like rag dolls. VERY scary and I was surprised at how gentle the landing was. Well done and thank you to both pilots!

I thought I'd show you the rest of the pictures from CHA and afterwards. I PROMISE I won't mention those 3 letters again...till next year lol.

This post is a bit long so you might want to grab a cuppa before you begin!!

This was the opening day...do you think it was for my benefit lol

Team Ladybug ready and waiting!

Do you like the uniforms?

My neighbor...the lovely Debbi Moore and an extremely gross picture of me

There was an exhibitor selling body paint and glitter. Karen disappeared and came back with a sparkly ladybug. I went off to get one myself and look what I came back with....

...a ladybug on my face!! It didn't feel like I had anything on my face and I soon forgot it was there. I couldn't understand why I was getting funny looks and then remembered lol.

Here was Tracey's tattoo...

Now I mentioned that someone famous from the crafting world in the US came onto our stand and was filmed admiring Annette's Cupcake Cutie chipboard book. Well here she is but I can't find her card to tell who she is!!! If anyone can name this lovely lady please let me know so I can give her the credit she deserves :-D

I took pictures of some of the amazing stands...I thought my little 10 x 10 look flabulous till I saw these lol. This one is Doodlebug

Bravissamo

This one's for Hayley....Bo Bunny!!! Check out the ribbon to the left of the picture...yummy! Please get the 5/8" spotty ribbon Hayley!!!!

The Girl's Papiere

Ranger...I saw Tim Holz!!!

DCWV...

EK Success - think Martha Stewart punches!!

Another one for Hayley!

Me and BFF fooling around

Ladybug love between Shelly and Karen

Look who I found on set up day...Emily from Stamping Bella!!! I'm afraid I did have the 'can I have a picture' moment lol.

On the first day I had a bit of an embarrassing moment when 3 lovely ladies appeared on our stand. I was chatting away to them when I noticed one of them was Betsy Veldman. Before I started LCI and I had more time, Betsy's blog was one I visited daily. She designs for PTI and just does the most amazing things with paper, stamps etc. Well, when the penny dropped I looked at her and said 'I love you Betsy'...{cringe} I'm sure she couldn't get away fast enough lol.

With the show over early on the Tuesday Team Ladybug headed for a spot of retail therapy. Karen and Shelly did their homework and found this little jewel...I think it's called the Americana in Glendale (please correct me if I'm wrong!). It was a stunning place to go shopping with lots of outdoor stalls and fabulous shops and a cinema. I loved it here and could picture it at Christmas with snow falling (I know they don't get snow but it would be stunnalicious if it did) and twinkling lights

This was the dancing water fountain

Our next shopping trip was Wednesday and we went to The Grove...apparently Monday through Wednesday were the days the stars shopped or appeared as the paps weren't allowed in. We weren't disappointed....look who we saw....

All you Star Trek fans will recognize William Shatner. He's in a new sitcom that Tracey and Shelly say is hilarious.

We had some lovely weather...this was the best day so the sunnies came out!

We went to The Cheesecake Factory twice. The first time we didn't have room for dessert so when we went to the Grove we made sure we saved room. I chose Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake...yummalicious!! No wonder I've got such a round face these days lol.

Karen's was yummalicious too...it was Dutch Apple Caramel Struesel

Shelly and Tracey left for the airport first...this was us before they left in the shuttle bus {sniff}

Team Ladybug!

 Hope you enjoyed our little trip as much as we did....we had a blast! We met some wonderful people from all over the world including Aruba (believe it or not they have 5 craft stores!!), Hawaii, Mauritius, Korea, Australia, South Africa, Spain, France, Germany, Tasmania, Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil and Canada

My next trade show will be at Stitches in Birmingham February 20th - 22nd. I'll be in the Bright Sparks Pavilion again....Stand BS16 so if you're attending make sure you come and say hello.

That's it for tonight....thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x