DCM '4 OF THE BEST'

"HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE"

This cute little birdie is one of the new items i received for Christmas, and i decided to use it in my design today for the year end team dare over at DCM which asked for buttons, ribbons, frames, and cut' as their four most popular dares in 2007.
The stamp is called 'Sweet Bird' and is from Hero Arts new 2008 range, tiny, at only 43mm square, but very cute! I have used some scraps of 'Roxie' Love Elsie that i had left to cover my slide mount 'frame' and for the centre of the Prima flowers i decorated with chipboard 'buttons' and tiny 'ribbon' from the same range. I also placed some strips of the fabric paper in the gorgeous turquoise colour and finished off with a little sentiment from HOTP stamped onto white card and edged with the turquoisey colour from the Colorbox 'chocolate and blueberries queue. Black ink for the bird and greeting is Ranger archival jet black.

I would like to wish everyone a very "Happy and Healthy New Year" and also to thank you for visiting me and for all your kind comments :) Whatever you are doing tonight, have great fun and hopefully i'll chat with you in 2008! ((((ENJOY))))

SANTA'S BITS!!!

!!!!Pardon the title :) these were the crafty bits that Santa left for me!A much needed new paper trimmer(my current trimmer is about six years old!) two fabby giga punches, i've wanted these for ages but as they say 'good things come to those that wait' :) Some sweet little stamps from Hero Arts 2008 and one of the sets from Basic Grey 'figgy' collection.

My lovely husband and daughters asked Santa to bring these for me, and i can't wait till this horrid sore throat and cold has gone so i can play!!!

Also, i thought you might like to see our oldest cat 'Juzzy' enjoying the festivities!!!

GIFTS FOR RHIANNA

My daughter Rhianna has just turned 18 (17th Dec.) and she really loves the things i make, so i decided to make these for her :)Inside the pail, amongst all the shredded tissue, i hid a French Manicure kit, her old one was going a bit 'sticky' so she needed a new one and was very pleased to find it hiding in there!
Her main present of some new curling irons for her hair, have yet to arrive as after doing some web surfing we have ordered them from the states! You can buy them here in England, but they are £120 and even with the p&p and the surcharge they work out at about half price!! getting them from America!

She absolutely adores her niece Danielle, so the concertina album was a must! I used the same papers as on the pail, and they are both on display in her room :)

supplies used :- Crate paper Crush collection, Prima flowers, Craftwork Cards chipboard flowers, Stampendous pail, Quote is from Cloud Nine design Woodstone collection Crate Crush ribbons and some from stash!, Chipbard letters and numbers from stash, Stickles in 'Platinum and Colorbox ink to colour the concertina album!

MY BABY IS 18 !!!

Yes, my youngest daughter is now 18,..... gosh it makes me feel old to say that, the years have flown by, but luckily we have loads of pictures and of course the memories will hopefully last forever(need to stop right here otherwise i won't be able to see the keyboard!!)

She loved this card i made for her, although she was horrified by the hair! She spends lots of time on personal hygiene and her hair is one thing that has to be just perfect! In this photo she was about 8 months old and whatever i tried to do to make her hair look girly, it was all in vain as it just insisted on sticking up on end!!! I wrote inside the card 'whoever thought this spiky haired little girl would turn out to be so beautiful' Happy 18th Birthday Rhianna' lots of love from Mum & Dad. Look at her now....our very own princess!!

I'M BACK AT LAST!

I have been away from this little place for a while, having got a bit bogged down with all the Christmas preparations,shopping etc etc. It seems like such a lot of effort for a small amount of time, but i am a bit like a 'big kid' when it comes to Christmas!! and my family do appreciate my efforts, so it's all good!

I would also like to take a little moment to thank everyone that has visited so far :) and for all the wonderful comments you have left me, they are much appreciated :) :)

SPARKLY SWIRL CPS#42

I didn't realise just how many products i use sometimes to create a card!! I print off the sketch to work from, and then when the card is complete i make a list of everything i have used before i start my posting!

The sketch over at CPS this week has a lovely big swirl, and for my swirl i decided to use Maya Road chipboard which i painted with Ranger 'snow cap' paint dabber and whilst wet dusted with some DecoArt glamour dust. For the main image i used my much loved bauble stamp from Penny Black inked up with Adirondack in Raisin, Lettuce and Wild Plum. My Dove brushes were used to create the background, taking colour from the inkpads and also a couple of Laxmi Designs texture stamps.

other supplies :- Colorbox cats eye Charcoal, HOTP acrylic sentiment stamp, corner rounder punch, 1" circle punch, Basic Grey paper, 5 x 7 card blank, and a partridge in a pear tree :) Sorry! couldn't resist :)

STELLA RUBY FLOWERS

I had resisted this collection from Basic Grey until very recently, because as you may know it has markings on it that resemble old dressmaking patterns. But after seeing the wonderful creations of Leslie Miller with her Ruby Tuesday spot, i knew i had to buy it! The standard of her work is totally inspiring... check it out for yourself!

Now, this card is for the mid week sketch at Scrap Dribbles(hope you are feeling better soon Rae!) I have used some of the Stella Ruby papers to cover the chipboard flowers, and after cutting around them with my craft knife i have sanded them down using my precision file set, also from Basic Grey! I added some very pale pink gems to the centres, although in the photo they are reflecting what's around them so look a slightly strange colour!! The centre flower is raised on 3D foam, for some added dimension.

other supplies :- Hero Arts sentiment, Basic Grey papers from 'Blush' and 'Fruitcake, Heidi Swapp edge distresser!

BLITZEN SQUARES!!

If you have visited my little corner of the blogging world before, you may be aware of my love for Basic Grey papers, so much so that i cannot bear to discard even the printed sheet that comes at the front of a collection pack!!!

This card was made using the squares from the front of 'Blitzen' 12 x 12 from last year! and even better once i had carefully cut out most of the squares they fitted perfectly on the front of my 148mm square card! ( Some of them were unusable as there was too much printed on them ) :) This is my entry for the Challenge#11- Squares over at Arty Girlz

other supplies:- Heidi Swapp ghost snowflake, DeNami sentiment stamp, Stamps Away journaling block acrylic stamp, snowflake brad, Ranger paint dabber Snow Cap, Colorbox cats eyes in Warm Red and Dark Moss and some fluffy fibres from stash!

WE THREE......ANGELS!

I have been wanting to show you this all week, and now here it is! This is my entry for the Papertake weekly challenge, whereby you were asked to use three images on your card. I love the Angel that's having a little peek at what's going on, with her crossed toes and slipping halo!

'Stella Ruby' papers from Basic Grey have been used to cover the front of my card this time, and although they aren't 'Christmas', i think they look fine with the colours i've chosen for my angels. The angel images are by JudiKins and are stamped onto some pale BG paper and then watercoloured using Lyra wax crayons and my waterbrush. I used some PSX diamond sparkles on the wings and halos and also on the edge of the scallop.

other supplies :- Paper Cellar bubble sticker, Offray white dotty organza