Bah! Humbug! day - Stitching...

Ooooooooooooooh stitching - enough to make the blood run cold!  I see stitching on everyone else's cards and it always looks amazing, but I am such a scaredy cat (plus the sewing machine is in the very deep dark recesses of a very overpacked cupboard).  However, no worries at Bah! Humbug! because any stitching counts - faux - stamped - drawn - embossed - any kind of stitching so even wooses (is that spelt right?) like me can join in.

The stitching on my card is faux blanket stitch created using a set of Elusive Images rubber stamps that are all Christmas images with a stitch effect on.  The other blanket stitch effect on the pink squares was created using one of the stitched square embossing folders by Cuttlebug and then sanding to make them pop.  The pink and blue papers are from an amazing paper pad by HOTP that Max gave me in York.  

Other challenges...

• Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge - different technique (faux stitching using embossing folders and sanding - hope that counts)
• The Secret Crafter - Stitching

Spring Bunny...

Just a quick post this morning as I need to get off to work.  Seem to be having a 'green' week at the moment as yet another card ended up with me using green card and paper this time from a set by Making Memories.  The stamp of course is a Penny Black and was coloured using my daughter's box of crayons and Sansador.  The pink was a bit scratchy but I'm still loving this method of colouring.  Three days without touching my Promarkers - sheesh!!

My card is for the challenges at...

• Penny Black - great sketch by Carole
• Crafty Calender Challenge - Love and Friendship
• Cute Card Thursday - Green
• The Cuttlebug Spot - Green - the new black (well it certainly is with me this week!)

Thanks for looking and the brilliant comments - it's just lovely to get home from work (doing a 12 hour shift today - more sympathy required) and read them.  Have a great day everyone.

Spring Birthday...

Another card made in York using Irene's Polychrome pencils and also Derwent Coloursoft.  So relaxing colouring in this way - I just can't believe I've only just learned how to use them and the best thing is that since getting back from York I've discovered that a huge box of pencil crayons that my daughter was throwing away work rather nicely too.  Needless to say they didn't get as far as the bin and are now safely stashed in my craft room.

Other materials used:

• Penny Black Stamp
• Swirl stamp from stash
• Papers, red pearls and glittery flower brad from Max's stash
• Die cut flowers by Spellbinders
• Rub on sentiment by Letraset (love their rub ons - so far 100% reliable - yeah!)

Challenges...

• Tuesday Taggers - Swirls and Curls sponsored by Crafty Individuals (fabulous craft site - amazing stamps)
• Creative Card Crew - Celebrate - yeah they are celebrating big time this week as it is their first anniversary - congrats to the team on a great challenge site.

Have a good day everyone whatever you are up to and if you have grown up daughters like me do check and see if they have any fab pencil crayons stashed away anywhere.  I'm sure you will be able to find a better home for them.

Dancing in the rain...

This is one of the cards I did at York after some brilliant tuition from Irene on the use of Polychrome pencils.  Ooooooooooh I really didn't realise how fabulous they are to use.  Think I can feel another addiction coming on!

The Nellie Snellen die cut scalloped circle and the stamp, which I believe is a Cuddly Buddly one, were all from Irene's stash that she took for us to use in York.  On the day I made this card if we had gone out instead of crafting we would have been splashing around in the snow not rain!

Other materials used...

• white card for base and matting and layering
• red card
• red pearls and white organza ribbon
• Swiss Dots folder and Scor-pal for embossed frame

Challenges...

• Cupcake Craft Challenge - Round and Round
• Crafty Ann's Challenge - new technique (using Sansador and polychrome pencils was completely new to me - everyone else is probably groaning and saying where has she been all her life?  Struggling with watercolours that's where!!)
• Alphabet Challenge - Red

Thank you for looking and all the amazing comments I receive.  So kind - hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Pink Elephant Day - going green...

Due to my computer's internet connection breaking down I missed last week's challenge at The Pink Elephant, but I am so happy to be back this week as it  really is a very special week.

We are being sponsored by Claudia and Company, which is great, but the extra exciting news is that the stamps we have used are from the Puddle Jumpers range designed by my team mate and friend Lori. 
How exciting is that?  
The little Puddle Jumper tiny tots are just fantastic.  I used super cute Daisy on my card, but do visit The Pink Elephant to check out the other cute characters on cards created by my team mates.  There is also the chance to win one of the new stamps.
The Pink Elephant  theme this week is to use green - lots of it! Quite a challenge really as I was tempted to go very pink on Daisy (must be Laura's influence rubbing off on me).

Materials used:

• Daisy - Puddle Jumper Stamp available at Claudia and Company
• Sentiment unmounted stamp - from stash
• green floral paper - DCWV Spring stack
• Fiskars Embossing Plate - to create paw print background - which hardly shows in photo, but is quite cool in real life - honest!
• gems, ribbon and green card from stash

Challenges:

• Pile it on - Lucky Me (how lucky was I to get my hands on this stamp before the release date?)
• Crazy4Challenges - 3 textures ( smooth paper, embossed paw prints and soft organza ribbon)
• Cute Card Thursday - Ribbontastic
• C.R.A.F.T. - Ribbon and sparkle

Have a great day everyone and I do hope you have time to enter this week's challenge.

Prima huge announcement and blog candy...

I saw this on Lorraine's blog and went to check it out.  I've done the same as Lorraine and copied and pasted the info from the Prima Marketing Blog :-)

Prima has something really big coming your way…. ..but we can’t reveal it just yet! We know you’re going to love it! And don’t worry-we promise to share the big news with you soon. It’s really hard not to spill the beans, but we are sworn to secrecy. So, in the meantime, we have an exciting opportunity for you to win BIG and it’s open to everyone! There are two fabulous prize baskets worth $100 up for grabs. Prima will choose one winner from the US and one International winner.

Here is what you need to do to be considered for the drawing:

• -Post about our Big Secret on your blog and include a link to our blog within the post.
• -Add a comment with a link to your blog.
• -You have until Sunday night to enter

If you have done all of the above-you will be eligible for the drawings.
The winners will be chosen and posted on Monday, March 1st!
Good luck!
Now go over to the Prima Blog to enter !! :-)