Jeanie does it again!

When Jeanie sent me her latest LCI creation I must admit to doing a little clappy dance...you know the one...you know you've done it yourself at least once lol.

I was really pleased to see Ironing Nikki on Jeanie's wish list ... it is so me standing there looking slightly bemused with all the ironing she's done! Maybe if I had a pink iron I might enjoy the job more...not LOL.

I just love the pp (check out her blog to find the details) Jeanie used...I told her it reminds me of Licorice Allsorts (my favourite :-D). And check out the sentiment...maybe I should be doing that rolf.

I can't wait to see what Jeanie has up her sleeve for her next card...all I know is it will be F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!! Make sure you leave Jeanie some ladybug love :-D

Catch ya later x

Sunny Sunday

Howdy everyone...hope you're enjoying your weekend. For some strange reason we've had 2 days in a row of sunshine here in Glasgow...somethings gonna happen...guaranteed...I might just start getting the Ark ready lol.

I found out yesterday it was a friends daughter's 18th today so I thought I'd better rustle up a card for her. I wish it was that easy! I can't remember the last time I made a 'quick' card...an hour is quick for me these days lol. Four hours later this is what I came up with...

I know Rebecca's 18 but I couldn't resist using Birthday Cake Robyn. I think posting Gaynor's cards the last couple of days put me in the mood.

Now you can't tell from these pictures but I have 2D'd the green balloon...that's about all I could manage lol. I hope Rebecca likes chocolate cake :-D I went a bit crazy with the glitter...again!


What do you think of the 18 on the balloon? I'll let you in on a little secret....I designed a set of numbers a while back specifically for this image though you can use it with any image you want. I wanted some numbers to fit in the balloon and I got the samples last week and have been itching to try them out. There is 0 - 9 in these linear numbers, 0 - 9 in bubble numbers and 4 sentiments in the set and I think it will be a set that I'll be reaching for again and again. It will go perfectly with the Robyn and Jack images :-D

I'm liking how the photography is turning out though I'd like to have a fuzzy edgearound the picture but haven't quite found the button to do it. I'm sure it's not as simple as that so if anyone has Photoshop Elements 8 and know what I mean and how to do it can you share with me?

The Magnum & Lily card has been in the works for about a week and I finally managed to get it finished yesterday. Now that's definitely not a quick card lol. I'm not sure I've done the image justice...I think I should have made the card bigger but I had it all sewn up and didn't want to waste it. I've used my Copics and Promarkers on this one...it's funny but I like to use the markers for different things...or maybe it's a case of not wanting my Copics to feel left out with the new markers in town!




The twill was originally white and I didn't have any ribbon to match the pp so I coloured the twill with a Copic marker and it now matches perfectly :-D

Look at Lily singing her little heart out ... maybe Magnum has his earplugs in lol.

I remembered I bought these tiny little bells from Mei Flower one or 2 SECC shows ago...ok I didn't actually remember...I was looking for something else and found them lol...and thought one would look a nice addition with the button. I printed the sentiment on the computer and punched it out with my SU! window punch.

I think I'm slowly catching up. I'll have some news for you tomorrow on the new Christmas Nikki's...I think you're gonna love them!! There's also more Jack's that are waiting in the wings :-D

Ok...that's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

Thank You

First I want to thank you for your emails and comments of sympathy and hugs regarding the loss of my uncle Johnny. I really appreciate your kindness and I feel extremely lucky to have all of you thinking of me at this time.

I made a little trip over to Craft World today to deliver their new stamps. The girls really like them so fingers crossed they'll do well :-D I took back the Original Nikki that found it's way into my bag and onto my receipt the last time I was there and got some new (to me anyway) Basic Grey papers called Capella...it's really pretty. They're pretty smart at BG...they made the same design on three of the papers but each with different colours. They must know that I would have to have all three lol.

Here is another beautiful card from Gaynor that arrived yesterday using Teddy Bear Robyn. I like how Gaynor kept the bear white for a change.

So many layers....so much patience!!!

Do you remember this card? I wasn't too happy with it because I ran out of the Bo Bunny violet cs to mount Martini Nikki and used a turquoise instead.but I managed to order some from Hayley along with a few other things. I'm a lot happier with the colour change but felt it was still a bit boring. Seeing Ann and Gaynor use the Prima Flowers on their cards I thought I'd dust mine off and have a go and putting them on this card.

What do you think? Is it any better? I'm not going to hang on to it for much longer otherwise Karen will get it for her birthday next year!

I've had these flowers so long that even though they've been in a box I think they've faded slightly! Gaynor sent me some of these gorgeous metal daisy flowers with the cards and I think it really finishes off the flower along with the light amethyst Swarovski crystal.

I love this flower :-D

Hope you're having a good Saturday ... thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

High and Low

TGIF...that's all I can say! What a week it's been...I've had more highs and lows to keep me going for a long time. Where to do I start? Oh yeah...my cousins! That was defintely a high :-D Like I said, I'd never met Kerrie and her kids but I feel like I've known them all my life now! Isn't it funny how you just click with some people. I met them off the train (it's 30 seconds from my front door!) and from that moment we didn't stop talking lol. Her kids are gorgeous...Amanda 12 and Gordie 16...and are going to break a fair few hearts! And so well mannered :-D Kerrie's mom's mom was my Grandma's (on my dad's side) sister and I guess because they lived quite far away and my parents divorced when I was 5 we didn't get to meet.

I brought out a scrapbook that Shelly made for my 40th and it brought back a lot of memories for Kerrie seeing Aunty Billie and Uncle Jack from way back. She came across a picture of Tracey and I sitting on Santa's knee when we were about 3/4 wearing matching turquoise velvet dresses that Grandma had made us and Kerrie squealed and said she's got a picture of herself and her sister wearing those dresses too!!! My mom had passed them down when we'd outgrown them . We had a great night and we're definitely going to keep in touch :-D

The next high was the stamps arrived and I had a busy time counting them and getting all the pre-orders packed up and mailed. The new images look fantastic and I love the new inserts for Jack, Buttercup and Christmas Ruby :-D

So then I came down with a mightycrash for my low and boy is this a low. I went out Wednesday night with 2 girlfriends and when I came back Pierce said my mom had called. When I asked if everything was ok he said no. I thought he was going to tell me my mom's dog Bailey had died as she'd been hit by a car a few weeks ago. But it wasn't Bailey, it was my Uncle Johnny, her brother...he died of a massive heart attack. I was and still am so shocked. He was goint to be 70 this year but he was so active and fit. Only the other week when I was speaking to my my I'd asked after him and she said he was great and off on another ball tournament (he played softball and ice hockey all my life) and I said 'at his age?!' and we had a laugh. He only got back the day before. I'm really upset for my mom as he was her only sibling and both my grandparents died years ago. This is when living so far away really sucks (apart from missing them of course). I did ask mom if she wanted me to come home but she said no. I think because it was so sudden everyone is walking around in a daze.

I took Rocky and Ruby to CB this morning for a good walk. They were pretty pooped out and had a good sleep. This is how I found them and couldn't resist taking a picture. Rocky hasn't picked the best place to rest his head LOL!!!

I got a lovely package in the mail today from Gaynor and Ann...some more fabulous samples. I think these are Gaynors best 3D's yet...take a look at this little beauty...

OMG...there are no words to describe how cute this cup and saucer with Robyn is and I adore it!

The teacup is a Sizzix die and I remember seeing it at the tradeshow in February.



Robyn looks so cute!!!!!

What do you think of the photography? A bit of an improvement? I had asked Jeanie how she takes her pictures of her cards as they always look fabulous and she told me about a light 'box' she had and step by step how she did it. I managed to track down the light box take it out of the box and immediately put it back in lol. I figured I might need a degree to work it out but I got it back out today and and a bit of a play. I'll admit to not following Jeanie's step by step instructions as it would have taken me days lol but I thought I did an ok job and I do think the pictures look much better :-D

Ok, I think I've made up for my absence so I'm gonna love you and leave you. Don't forget to sign up for the DT if you're interested. There's a link at the top left that will take you to the posting. Don't be shy and don't think you have to have years and years crafting experience to be on the team.

Thanks for stopping by...have a fab weekend and...

I'll catch ya later x

Getting nowhere fast..and great news and more great news

I'm struggling to get a card made today...I struggled to get a card made yesterday...I'm hoping I'm not going to stuggle to get a card made tomorrow! The rest of my day is filled with cleaning and cooking because I've got some very special visitors today. My cousin (3rd I think) is coming over for dinner tonight with her two kids and guess what??? I've never met them!!! She's over visiting family and my big sis (she's only met her once years ago) gave her my details and she's staying just 30 minutes from me. I've spoken to her Kerrie...yup same name as me but spelled differently...a couple of times and she sounds lovely so here's hoping it will be a good night.

I've got some really great news to share with you. You know how Jeanie aka The Spotted Chick is now my Guest Designer? Well, when I was going over her comments I noticed one from Meahni. Now there's not too many people I know (none!) with that name so I knew it could only be Meahni from Animal Factory and she left a lovely comment for Jeanie's Magnum card. I mentioned in an email to Jeanie how pleased I was to see Meahni's comment because I love her work. Well didn't Jeanie tell me they were good friends and if I wanted she would suss Meanhni out to see if she wanted to be a Guest Designer too!!! IF...hello Jeanie???!!!! So my great news is......Meahni is on board to be a Guest Designer!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! Make sure you go on over and check out her blog. Not only are her cards beautiful she is a lovely, funny, warm person and I'm so happy she has agreed to design for LCI :-D Both Jeanie and Meahni are part of my DT but will be doing so at their own pace as both have a lot of committments and full time jobs!!

So as not to leave you without some eye candy I wanted to show you a 'card' that Lisa emailed to me last week. She made this fabulous replica of a Channel handbag and look who's got pride of place on the front...it's only Shopping Nikki!!! You can check out Lisa's blog Mess2Magic to see how she did it.

It was originally Tams that planted the DT seed with Lisa putting her two cents worth in so I've them to thank for this. I've already had a few 'applicants' for a DT position...LOL...sounds like you're applying for a high powered position in a major conglomerate (000h...isn't that a big word lol...not sure where that came from rofl)!! Thank you to everyone who has sent emails. If I haven't replied to you I promise I will in the next day or two. Hmmm...maybe it's not a DT I should be looking for but a PA....any takers??!!!

Catch ya later x

PS More good news...the stamps are arriving tomorrow so you should get yours Thursday/Friday!!!

Feeling Crafty?

I've had a couple of people (hello Tams and Lisa!) suggest I have a DT. I suppose in a way I do have an unofficial one as Gaynor and Ann have been making beautiful samples for me for a while now and Jeanie is a Guest Designer and will be popping up now and again. If you're a regular reader to my blog you'll know that I'm always complaining that there aren't enough hours in the day and I thought this would be a great way of getting to know some of you better AND get some help with samples.

So how about it? Do you think you'd be interested in being on Ladybug Crafts Ink design team? Are you up for the challenge? If you are this is what you need to do:

Email me at ladybugcraftsink@aol.com with some information about yourself, why you'd like to be a DTM for LCI with a link to your blog and submit 3 of your favourite cards you've made to me by Sunday August 22nd.

This is all new to me so we'll be going gently gently at the beginning then I'll start cracking the whip lol... we'll work our way up to the Challenges!

All going well I'll post a card later on...it's another busy week but I'm hopeful lol!

Catch ya later x

Sunday Sunday da da dadada...

Another week is over and another about to begin. How did we get to August so fast?! I want to know who stole May, June and July lol. I read on Jeanie's blog on Friday that there are only 148 days till Christmas....Holy moley...how did that happen??? Is this what happens when you hit 30....time just flies by? Thirty for me was 16 years ago but it feels just like yesterday {sigh}.

Anywho, I managed to get one card and my huge pile of ironing done yesterday woot woot. That's not nearly enough cards as far as I'm concerned and something's got to be done about it. Actually...something IS going to be done about it but I have an important call to make first and hopefully tomorrow I'll let you in on it :-D

Ok, here's my masterpiece from yesterday. Pierce asked me to make a card for a colleague who's wife had twin girls a few weeks ago. I dug out one of my favourite SU! sets and went to work....

This set is called Baby Firsts and there are 8 stamps in the set...I just stamped this one twice...lol aren't I clever! The pp is Lasting Impressions which I sewed onto some Bazzill then stuck down on a white card blank. For a bit of detail I put Swarovski crystals on each corner around the image. I wanted to do something a bit different with the ribbon so went for the

wrap-around-the-corner-then-tie-in-a-bow look lol. I'm not sure I did the right thing putting crytals on the bottom part of the bow but it's too late now! I hope they like it.

I coloured the images with my Pro Markers and Copics and cut it out with my Nestabilities.

There was a slight delay with the stamps (my fault) but they should be here on Tuesday and I'll be mailing them out as soon as :-D All competition winners are accounted for and have chosen their stamps so now I have to think of something for the next one!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Thanks for stopping by :-D

Catch ya later x