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!!!!

Who the heck is Anonymous????

Is anyone else getting 'Anonymous' blog comment emails? My inbox is full of them...I must get at least a dozen every day. It's getting VERY annoying as when my phone says I have 12 emails I think I'm very popular then realize I'm clearly not hmph!

I thought it was time I made Sophie another card (You can read about Sophie here) . She has had a bit of a time of it of late with recurring infections and high temperatures which leads to hospitalization (and delay her chemo) until the doctors can stabilize the infection.  She underwent a colonoscopy yesterday and should get the results in the next few days. Fingers crossed the doctors will find out what causes these infections and get her back on track. Her treatment is due for completion at the beginning of October and we all pray for good results.

Sophie loves to bake so the most logical stamp to use was a Cupcake Cutie. This is what I came up with....

I stamped Wagon Full of Cupcakes and coloured most of it in with my Copics. Then carrying on our Paper Piecing Challenge theme I stamped the image on 3 different pp's and paper pieced the cupcake wrappers. I think they look rather cool!

I really hope Sophie likes pinks and purples as I realized afterwards I'd used the same colours as the last card I made her!

A cupcake isn't a cupcake unless it has fab toppings so I've used Fluffy Stuff and micro beads on the top cupcake, Gossy Accents and glitter on the next and Fluffy Stuff and glitter on the bottom two. Good enough to eat me thinks lol.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Crafting For All Seasons - Stitching Real/Faux

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - Sparkle (Cherry, dress) & Shine (cupcake frosting)
Scrapalicious USA - Anything Goes
The Perfect Sentiment - Anything Goes
Bearly Mine - Anything that Sparkles
Crafty Sentiments - Sparkle
Through The Craftroom Door - Diva or Anything Goes (CC could be a Diva wanting all the cupcakes but if not Diva-ish enough Anything Goes)

I want to thank those of you who have already sent Sophie a card. She has loved and appreciated every one. If there is anyone else that would like to send Sophie a card to help cheer her on her way to full health email me at ladybugcraftsink@aol.co.uk and I'll give you the address where to send it.

You can still get Cupcake Cuties Wagon Full of Cupcakes or any of the cling stamps at 1/2 price until midnight tomorrow!

Nicole and Ben get back from their honeymoon tomorrow...it feels like they've been away for ages and I can't wait to see them! We've had a couple of Face Time conversations though we kept getting cut off. Here are a couple of pictures I took while we were talking....

OMG...didn't realize how awful I looked lol. No time to Photoshop myself...as long as they look great that's all that matters :-D

That's me for now...have to get Rocky to the vet's for a check. Hope you have a great weekend.

Catch ya later x

Pampered Chef Debut

Well what can I say except I survived lol!!! Monday was my first ever show which I did in my house. My kit only the Friday before so it was head down and practice practice practice and try and retain as much information as possible which is a real challenge for me! I woke at 4 on Saturday morning which I think was a combination of nerves and the fact that Steven was home and out on the tiles. I don't know if any of you do this but when any of my kids are out at the clubs I seem to have a 6th sense and wake not long before they come home. Sure enough at exactly 4:20 I heard a key in the door and Steven was safely home. But could I get back to sleep..oh no. I lay in bed tossing and turning...went to the loo at 5 then lay in bed till 6:30 by which time I figured I'd be better up watching my training dvd. On Sunday night I had the Olympics on mute, my laptop with training dvd playing, my ironing board up and was taking notes all at the same time...talk about multi tasking ;-D   

My guests started arriving at 7:30 on the dot and they kept coming and coming...and coming!!! I'd had a few cancellations and confirmations throughout the day so wasn't sure how many arrive...turned out to be 25!!! They all crammed into my kitchen and the show began...or it was supposed to but my mind went totally blank .... I totally forgot what I was supposed to be doing and ended up making the recipe in the wrong order lol. I found my groove albeit it a shaky one and had a great time involving some of the girls in the prep. We made Smoked Salmon and Tomato pizza and I made a Chicken, Tomato and Rosemary pizza earlier so there was plenty for everyone. 

Suzy Q was the official photographer and in no particular order here are some of the pictures she took...

This was a very funny moment above. After the pizza was made I was showing my favourite products I couldn't live without and one of them was the Crinkle Cutter. Hubby likes turnip but it's a REAL pain to cut...I've seen myself hammering it on the countertop with a knife well and truly stuck and the groans from the gallery reassured me I wasn't the only one lol. I demonstrated the CC and there were audible gasps but none more louder than Nicole's friend Jules so I invited her to try so she didn't think it was made of styrofoam ... needless to say she ordered one lol.

Here is Elaine doing her best game show pose ;-D

Me with the most amazing rice cooker...I made a cake in it!

Me warning Susan with my Mix 'n Scraper

Microplane Adjustable Coarse Grater (VERY sharp...my thumb got in a fight with it and lost!)

My youngest guest but Finn didn't seem to impressed with my show as he slept through it all lol

The amazing food chopper

Chicken, onion and rosemary pizza (uncooked)

Smoked salmon and tomato pizza

Mary demonstrating the forged utility knife

Nicole rolling out the pizza dough with the Baker's Roller on the Medium Round Stone

Hilda measure the puree with the Adjustable Measuring Spoons and Mix 'n Scraper

The aftermath!!! I couldn't go to bed knowing I had this to face in the morning so I stayed up till after 1am to clear it away. I should have got those plastic wineglasses after all lol

It was a super night...the girls seemed to enjoy it and they loved seeing the products in action. Try before you buy is definitely the way forward :-D Most importantly we raised money for The Teenage Cancer Trust and can't thank everyone enough for supporting me and this worthy cause.

Away from PC I have a card I made for Ladybug Catherine way back in June. She loves pink and I tried to make it as pink as possible....

I stamped Cupcake Cuties Make a Wish and coloured her in with my Copics then cut out with my Nesties. I embossed a piece of cs with a birthday embossing folder, stamped the LOTV circle sentiment and mounted it on a scalloped circle. The ribbon is totally fabulicious :-D

I used MP's favourite microbeads for the frosting on the cupcake

And the inside

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

Catch the Bug - Anything Goes

Come And Get It Challenge - Adult Birthday

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Creative Mondays - Food

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Paper Pretties - Scallops

The Pink Elephant Challenge - Ribbon Galore

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes with felt optional

Steven went back to Spain yesterday but will be back at the end of the month so I didn't get too teary at the airport. I'm not sure what his plans are when he gets back...he seems to have picked up a lot of contacts while working away so watch this space lol!!!

The 1/2 price stamp sale is still on till the end of the month so make sure you grab a bargain while you can :-D

That's it from me, thanks for stopping by

Catch ya later x

Happy Birthday Pam!

We had a little break from Ladybug birthdays but they're starting up again...today in fact! It's the lovely Ladybug Pam's birthday....rumour has it she has a hot date AND a brand new pair of shoes for the occasion...Have a fabulicious day Pam :-D

One of the entries from last weeks challenge was from Joyce who entered THIS card and I just loved it. I've seen this 'technique' ie cutting around the image with a Nestie (other dies are available) but having part of the image  stick out from the main part of the die on a few occasions but never quite got to grips with it...ok...I cut the sticky out part off...so I was delighted after leaving a comment on Joyce's blog she emailed me with the instructions on how to do it. And to top it off she's a fellow Canadian which just shows how nice we Canucks are lol.

I had to try it straight away otherwise I'd forget and since it was Pam's birthday thought this was the perfect opportunity. After many practice runs and a few sweary words I managed to come up with this...

I think the Cupcake Cuties are perfect for any age. There is a lot going on with this card...I threw everything but the kitchen sink at it but I think it works....kinda lol! I got the pp when I went to Dunhelm with Sadie one Thursday night. I was buying a duvet and on the way to the checkout I was stopped in my tracks by a new craft section! I didn't NEED anything really but it would have been rude not to pop one or two things in my basket lol. I picked up two packs of pp from Dovecraft...Sugar & Spice and the one I used here, Tea House. See...I did NEED that pp as it went perfectly with CC :-D

I used another few new things for Pam's card...I picked up two MS border punches I had my eye on for ages and I loved the flower die Jeanie used on one of her cards a while back and bought the die from Tracy at Dies to Die for....this was the first outing for both of them.

I used FS on the bottom cupcake sprinkled with micro beads then fluffed up with a heat gun. The middle cupcake was coloured then micro beads added with GA and the top cupcake was coloured, lime glitter added to the topping and then I GA'd the icing so it's nice and shiny. Cupcake Cutie's tights were glittered, her shoes GA'd, Swarovski crystal in the flowers in her hair and dress and tiny nail heads for buttons on her straps

This part is supposed to be the technique Joyce used but I think I defeated the whole thing by 2d'ing the top cupcake and you can't see the effect well at all hmph.  I have sort of done this before with my Lily card HERE but I chopped off the balloon when I put it through the Cuttlebug. It has the same effect but I think the way Joyce did it looks much better. I'm wondering if I was wearing my glasses when I was cutting this out...look at all those jaggy edges! Also, I normally colour the bottom image as well so it doesn't look as bad as it does as this from the side.

Love this flower die! I was gifted the flower charm and would love to get more. If anyone recognises it and know where I can get them please let me know. I GA'd a Swarovski crystal in the centre to finish it off. BTW...what do you think of the colour of felt of the bottom flower...isn't it gorgeous! It's new to the shop....Marvelous Mushroom along with 4 other colours.

This is the flower on the inside of the card (I told you everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at it!)

Finally, the inside. I hope Pam likes it...I love all the colours...especially the new Marvelous Mushroom felt :-D

I spent over 2 hours on the phone last night with my can't-live-without coordinator Lisa plotting and planning something for next week. That's all I'm going to say...you might get some more info out of me at the weekend so make sure you check back. What I will say though is I'm unbelievably super excited about it!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Catch ya later x

Whose Birfday is it?

Today should be a holiday...an international holiday... because it HAS to be THE mostest specialistist day of the WHOLE calendar year. I think it might even outshine Christmas it's THAT special. So I'm sure you're wondering what is so special about today? Well I'll tell you..... it is Mary Poppins aka Ladybug Michele's birfday!!

Can we all join in and sing please....

Happy birfday to you, happy birfday to you, happy birfday dear MPee-eeeeee, happy birfday toooooooo youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray!!!

ROFL...Michele has been telling us Bugs on a DAILY basis for the last MONTH that her birfday was coming up...she's been the biggest kid EVER!! She's obviously still a young thing to be that excited lol. Of course her card will be late (it is on it's way) but I'm posting it here today so she knows it's coming. For several reasons there was only ONE image I could use for her card and that was a Cupcake Cutie because if you haven't noticed she uses it a LOT and she loves the frosting and sprinkles I use when I make mine. She's ALWAYS hmphing cuz she hasn't got my fabulicious tiny microbeads.

Here's your card Michele...I hope you like it ....

What do you think of these toppings...yummalicious or what! We've got Fluffy Stuff and micro beads at the top, next Glossy Accents and Glamour Dust with a GA'd cherry and the bottom two are coloured with copics, then GA'd and sprinkled with micro beads. Also two of the liners are paper pieced.

Just in case she forgot lol

I do hope you have the bestest of birfday's Michele. I am exhausted from all the prep and I was so worried I'd forget...not a chance lol! Please do go over and visit Michele and wish her a happy birthday :-D

Catch ya later x

BTW...in case you didn't get it...that was my news lol

TLT - Tam's Challenge - Numbers

Hey everyone, welcome to another TLT! We have a doozey for you today but before I start my blurb I wanna thank everyone who entered our Male challenge last week (all 112 of you!!!) and congratulate last week's winners. Have you checked to see if it's you??? Well if you haven't...what are you waiting for??? Oh yeah..don't go just yet..stay with me for a bit and then skedaddle lol.

It was Tam's turn to chose the challenge which is Numbers. Now it can be a birthday, anniversary, clock whatever...as long as there's a number on it somewhere.

I try and do something a bit different every week...don't always succed but I do try! I think I managed this week...what do you think of this...

Well??? I think it's kinda funky... are you wondering which LCI image this is? Before you go trying to find it you won't...well, not on it's own anyway. This cupcake is from a Cupcake Cutie called Blowing Out Candle (how original...not!) and I've just used the cupcake (duh!) I managed to ink just the cupcake (did I say it was a cupcake lolol) and stamp it without too much trouble. I coloured it in with my Copics and for the icing used my favourite Fluffy Stuff and micro beads.

Good enough to eat?

I stamped the numbers from the Sentimental Number set...I LOVE this set...coloured it and applied Glossy Accents

I don't seem to be able to make a card without smartening up the inside anymore.

These next two pictures are for my Ladybug Michele as I know she LOVES these micro beads

The rest of the Ladybugs have got some flabulous makes to inspire you. I've got an amazing team and it's great to see how different we all are.

The blog candy is going great guns...hope you like what's in the pot so far :-D I had a surge of new followers the last couple of days...hi Debs (glad you got it sorted!), Ana, Larissa, Hlora, Sue, Jo and Kaye. It's great to have you on board...thank you to everyone for your lovely comments :-D

Ok, that's it from me today. No stories...thought I'd give you a break lol.

Thanks for stopping by

Catch ya later x