Buttons and Bow's

Hi everyone, How many of you have this little stamp? Isn't it cute? I just love the freebies and who doesn't? especially when they are as nice as this little set is. For those of you that haven't a clue what I'm talking about, they came free in February's Issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. Well, I made this little card as a sample of this weeks One Stop Craft Challenge, the theme has been set by Nikki and it is 'Buttons and Bow's', I know what your thinking..........you can't see my button, well thats because there isn't one, It fell off and rolled away........no, only joking, Nikki has left the challenge as you can use both buttons and bows or you can choose to use just one of the elements, so Its up to you. And of course, like every week, we have a fantastic prize on offer for one lucky crafter which has kindly been donated by the One Stop Card Craft Online Shop, I hope you can join us this week, I look forward to seeing your creations. Enjoy your weekend. x

Items Used To Make This Card.

Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inkpad (Azurite)

Blue Ribbon

Stamps (Free gift with magazine)

White Textured Paper

Nestabilities (Labels)

Baby Blue Stickles

Blue Eyelets

Peel Off Sentiment

Oriental Forever Friends

Quickie post as I'm off to work, had great fun with this weeks Forever Friends Challenge, which was oriental, I didn't think I would be able to come up with anything but I surprised myself, I'm quite happy with this one. Oh electric is still on.............fingers crossed it stays that way.

My Magnolia Card.

Brrrrrr its cold over here, who thought it was a good idea to live ontop of a hill? lol. I'm getting this card posted before I'm left with no electric. Its very windy outside and that usually means the electric will be off, so I have the candles at the ready, the kids nintendo ds's are charged and I'm going to light the fire. I'm being prepared after the last time, its no fun trying to look for candles using a mobile phone for light and 2 squealing children holding onto your trousers lol. Anyway, I made this little card last night for the Magnolia Vs Stampavie Challenge, I got these lovely images sent to me by a blogging friend but for the life of me I can't remember which one, so thank you all who have sent me images over the last year, they have been a great help. The theme for this weeks challenge was to use 2 images, I have coloured them with my distress inks, layered onto black card then red textured paper which has been scalloped with my su punch. Hope you all have a wonderful day (with your electric and all lol) x

Frame It.

This is a little card I made last night for this weeks Penny Black Challenge the theme is 'Frame It'. So I have cut out some olive cardstock to make a frame then added cute little flowers and pearl beads to it. The penny black image is coloured using distress inks and the designer paper is K&Co, sorry for the rushed post, I'm being chased off the comp by my daughter Rebecca who has a very important task to complete (putting music onto her phone, even though she is off school with a cold and should really be in bed!!!) Enjoy the rest of your day, I might be back on later with another post. (If I'm allowed)

Paula's Candy.

I have just been to Paula's blog/ Tales from Pollycraft and 'Oh my goodness' she has the most amazing Candy, 9 fantastic stamps and the most beautiful handmade box to put them into, someone is going to be a very happy crafter. Pick me random org! Pick me!

kaths Candy

Just want to tell you about Kaths amazing blog candy, wow you have to check this out, Kaths blog is fantastic, full of inspiration but you probably know that already but did you know about her fantastic candy? Thanks for the chance of winning this Kath. x

Little Maggie. Sugarbowl Challenge.

Good Morning Bloggers. I just had a look at my quitting smoking counter and I can't believe that I HAVEN'T smoked 308 cigarettes, oh my goodness, I didn't realise I smoked so much. The savings is good too but to be honest I've been spending it quicker than I have been saving it lol, but I have a nice collection of distress inks now, 10 in total and will be buying two more at the weekend. Its starting to get a bit easier being off them, I'm not thinking about them as much as I was, the evening's are still the hardest but I've been able to make a lot of cards to keep me busy. This is a little card I made last night for the Sugar Bowl Challenge, the requirement was 3 designer papers and 3 embellishments, I seem to have put my watermark over the design papers so I'm not sure if you can make it out but they are there, the papers were a gift so I'm not sure of their make, I have added a gem, flower and ribbon for the embellishments and I have coloured my sugar nellie image 'Maggie with Dotty Scarf' using.......................of course............my distress inks lol. I still need a good bit of practise with them but I'm starting to get the result I want, I'm still not very good at the shading, I never was good at art but I'm getting a bit of help with my daughter Rebecca, who is very good at art, don't know where she got her talent from lol. Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday. x

Eighty Today.

Its my Aunt Annie's Eightieth birthday today so I made her this little card using some freebie stamps from the cardmaking and papercraft magazine, I also got this idea for triple embossing the heart from the mag too. I have to confess, I didn't clean my stamp before I pushed it into the embossing powder so its not supposed to be black but It looks ok doesn't it? Well it will have to do now as I have already given my aunt her card lol. I've picked this card to use for the Crafty Pad Challenge as this week the challenge is 'mixed media' any stamp, any technique and any craft, fab eh?

Take a Pic. Tagged.

Phew, I was dreading this lol. Let me explain.....Steph sent me a tag, these were the rules:

The instructions are to go to where you keep your photo's on your PC, choose the 6th folder, then the 6th picture.....post on your blog and explain.

So, this picture was taken about 2 years ago, at portrush. Its my son Kalen and daughter Jessica, Jessica wasn't too impressed about going on the baby ride with her brother and she'll be even less impressed if she finds out I put a picture of it on the internet lol. Ah bless, the things you do for your little brother.

Ok, I would love to pass this onto Paula, Sharon, Nikki, Linda and Liza, can't wait to see your pics ladies lol. Don't need to thank me. x

Loads of awards.

Wow, more awards from my lovely blogging buddies, thank you so much,Sally, Paula, Sharon and Liza. I'm trying to type this out with my son on my knee, having a bit of difficulty, he doesn't appreciate my awards I guess lol. Now to pass them on, I really don't like this bit because everyone deserves them, so fill your boots bloggers lol. You all deserve them. I love to visit you all and you inspire me so much, all in different ways, so thank you all. x

'Charmed'

Its time for the this weeks One Stop Craft Challenge and this week Maggie has set the theme 'Charmed'. I wanted to make something other than a card so I went with a little bookmark, which was 'swiped' by my friend as soon as I'd made it lol which I took as a compliment. I have used Kate Knights 'Hint of Pink' papers for this project and I got the idea for the paper beads from the Sugar Sugar Challenge where Marlene has gave a fab tutorial on how to make them. They are a great way to keep your hands busy if your trying to quit smoking and the kids love making these too. I hope you can join us this week for the 'charmed' challenge, we love to visit your blogs and see your creations and as always there will be a prize for one randomly picked crafter. Enjoy your weekend. x

Scraps, Newton and Charisma.

I have made this little card using the scraps from another project. (you will find out tomorrow what this is) Well, I was just about to tidy my desk from my last project and I thought to myself, I'm always putting the scraps into a box but never use them again, so instead of putting them away I just matt and layered them and used this little freebie 'Newton Bear' stamp for the main image. I love these colours and think this will do as a fab valentine's card. I just added a little black punched heart to the bottom and left it unfussy. Well.....the theme on charisma cardz just happens to be 'Love' so I am entering this little card for their challenge. Enjoy the rest of your day. x

Sugar Sugar

Good Morning. I had a little fun with the Sugar Sugar Project of the Month Challenge last night, this month Marlene gave a tutorial on Paper Beads, the team wanted us to give these a try and I have to say I'm glad I did, they are so easy to make and look beautiful on cards, something the kids would have fun with too. I have used K and Co paper (Roam) for the beads and for the card, a little sugar nellie stamp coloured using distress inks. (still experimenting with the inks) I'm in need of a new paper cutter as you can probably see on the card lol, still trying to find out which one would be best as the last one I bought was such a disappointment. Right, off to do some housework (yawn) was hoping I would wake up and the fairies would have done it but........no, no sign of them, think they prefer to hide things from me. Enjoy your day. x

Its Candy Time.

This candy is now closed. Winner will be announced later this evening.

As promised I have now some blog candy to give away, only about a month later than I expected but hopefully it was worth the wait. As a big Forever Friends Fan and with Valentine's Day coming up I thought this little stash would be nice for all you crafters.
Forever Friends 'For You' Rubber Stamp.
Forever Friends 'With Love' 6x6 Paper Pack.
Anita's Dimensions 'Heart' Stickers.
3 Pack of Forever Friends 'With Love - Hearts and Flowers' Stickers.
Pack of Lilac Buttons.
Tub of Gems.
All you have to do to be entered into my candy is to put a link on your blog to mine telling others about my candy, leave me a comment to let me know you want entered and to follow my blog, as easy as that. I will draw a winner out of a hat on the 21st January. Good Luck. x

And the Winner Is................

Thank you all so much for entering, I really enjoyed visiting all your blogs, only sad that there can only be one winner. I printed out all the names, took out the doubles, numbered them all and used a random number generator and the lucky winner is......

Tracy/ Addicted to Craft

Congratulations Tracy, could you e mail me with your address details and I will get your candy out to you as soon as possible.

Faith goes Bright.

I know what your thinking...............Donna's really into this yellow and green colour combo lol. I get like that sometimes and I use the same colours for that long I sicken myself of them. But this weeks Crafty Pad challenge was 'Nice and Bright' so I couldn't resist using them AGAIN. I have coloured Faith with my prisma colours and sansador, some beautiful textured papers and scalloped them using my S.U. scallop punch, One peel off sentiment, some brads and some white ribbon and ta da.

I will be back later this evening with the winner of my blog candy, sssssssooooo many entries, thank you all so much. I have loved visiting your blogs and I will continue to do so as I have been inspired by so many of you, wish I could give you all a prize but until I win the lottery just one of you will have to do. Good Luck. x

Elzybells Cuties.

Hi everyone. I had a bit of an Elzybells addiction last night, this is the first time I have used any Elzybells stamps and I just love them, aren't they so cute? I think more money will be getting spent on these adorable little stamps. I have managed to make 3 cards for 3 challenges which has to be a record for me. The first is for the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge, the them is 'Valentine Color Challenge' No red or pink.

The Inside. (A nice Valentine's Voucher would be nice, eh Ladies?)

My second card is for the ABC Challenge, W is for Wallet Card. Again I've used my Elzybells Stamps, I have coloured them using my sakura glaze pens and stamped them onto Label Nestabilities.

The Inside

And last but not least one for the Papertake Challenge, 'Shape Up' the team wanted to see 3 different shapes on your project, I have used the labels for one shape, the square card and a triangle inside.

Have a nice day. x

Award Ceremony

Oh my goodness, so many lovely awards from so many lovely bloggers, thank you all. Now this is the scary part, trying to remember everyone who gave me what lol, my memory isn't the best at the minute, lack of nicotine. My good friend Paula has sent me one, thank you Paula (Chicken lol) and the lovely Debbie gave me a few, your an angel, thank you. And I'm going to check through my posts as I know there was someone else but I have had so many posts to read through due to my blog candy I can't remember who it was. I will be back .......

I also would like to give these awards to all bloggers that visit me that hasn't got them yet, I am now visiting that many blogs I couldn't pick 5.

Stamp Something Birthdays

Hi everyone, What a weekend we've had here, the electric was on and off all day yesterday with the storms, the younger one's didn't like it at all, thank goodness I love candles and had a huge supply on hand. I'm still off the cigarettes, Yay for me, It has been difficult and at times felt like bursting into tears, sounds silly doesn't it? I'm stronger throught the day than I am in the evening but playing 'Viva Pinata' has helped lol. Well, I have treated myself to some 'Distress Inks' I only have a couple so far but plan to build my collection and I love them, I coloured this little guy while the electric was on last night and although the colours aren't what I would usually use for the forever friends bears, I love the effect, not bad for my first time with these inks I thought. I have made this card for the Stamp Something Challenge, the theme this week is 'Birthdays'. Right, off to do some shopping, hope your all having a wonderful weekend, catch ya later.x

Oooo La La Paris

I can't believe its challenge 12 of the One Stop Craft Challenge already, the time has just flown by. This week Eleanor has set the theme which is 'Craft Like an Egyptian or Countries that Inspire You'. I have chosen 'Paris', I love making these little corset cards, they are so simple to make using just peel offs and card stock, I have actually made these in bulk lol. One of those type of cards you can make while watching television. Well we can't wait to see if you are going to craft like an Egyptian this week or be inspired by a country you have visited or want to visit, as usual we have a great prize on offer for the lucky winner, just pop over to the challenge blog to see what you can win and be inspired by our fabulous design teams crafts.

For all your 'Peel Offs' at fantastic prices visit the One Stop Card Craft Online Shop.

Cuttlebug Hearts Challenge.

Hi everyone, Its nearly the weekend! Yay. Time to relax, to have that 'lie in' and then to spend the rest of the day crafting...........yeah right lol. Anyway, I made this little card for the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge, this is the first time I have ever entered, the theme is 'Have a Heart'. When buying the dimentional stickers for my candy, I decided to treat myself to a packet, one for you, one for me sort of thing, so that is what I have used on this card, the ribbon is from a christmas present I got, Do you all do that too? Take the ribbons off everything? lol. I have embossed red card with my 'Swiss Dots' folder, scored along the top to neaten it and added this to pink cardstock. Really quick card to make but quite cute I thought. I'm still off the cigarettes, its been 4 days, 14hrs and 24 minutes lol, having quite a bad day today, I hoped it would get a bit easier but for some reason I keep thinking about them, I'm going to tidy the house again now to keep me occupied and eat another half a dozen packets of mints. I'm glad I'm saving money by not smoking because my dentist fee's are going to cost a fortune. Enjoy your weekend whatever your up to. x

A lovely Award.

I have received this lovely award from the even lovelier Sharon, thank you so much, I will be back after tea to pass it on. x

New Addiction.

Hi everyone, haven't posted from Sunday so thought i'd pop on and say hi. Its my 3rd day of quitting smoking and my head has been all over the place, can't even concentrate on making any cards lol but I got my new elzybells stamps through the door today so might make something tonight, I have so many challenge's to catch up on. Guess what i've been doing? Besides scrubbing every inch of my house to keep my hands busy, I have been addicted to a silly game on the x box lol, I never play the x box but the kids were playing 'viva pinata' and when they went to bed they left it on ........... so i had a wee look............ and now i am a proud owner of a beautiful garden lol, i've been weeding, watering and everything and now i can't wait till the kids go to bed to get another go, IT'S THE LACK OF NICOTINE THATS DONE IT!!! lol. Oh what am I like? Am i the only 'secret viva pinata player' ? I was up to 1 am trying to get a new shovel and a couple of chickens! and now I can't afford a coop, will have to grow more vegetables so i can sell them and buy one. Its hard work I can tell ya. x

Please Help.

I have just been on Gina's blog, She is trying to help raise funds for a lady called Steph who has been told she has around 5 Months to live and is desperate to try to prolong her life by having special treatment in Germany that she can't recieve in the U.K. Please pop over to Gina's blog to read more about Steph. x

Little Lovins

Hi everybody, hope your having a nice relaxing Sunday. I have a terrible headache that just won't disapear, don' t know if its this miserable weather thats caused it or maybe the stress about giving up smoking tomorrow lol. Anyway, I wanted to show you my card that I made for the One Stop Card Craft online shop. Looks abit like I've taken a black and white photo of it but Its colour lol. I used a black prisma pencil and sansador to colour this cute image which is one of the new ranges of stamps called 'Little Lovins' to find out how I made this card and the products that I have used take a look here. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and before I go I want to wish Nikki all the best for tomorrow as she is joining me on my 'Quitting' Journey. WE CAN DO IT!. x

I have just found out that Jacqui is stopping too, Fantastic Jacqui, good luck and stay positive. x

Take a Punch.

What? Saturday already! This week has really flown in hasn't it? Well, it was my turn this week to set the theme for this weeks One Stop Craft Challenge and I would like you to 'Take a Punch' at it. This could be a simple hole puncher, shape punch, even some stitches, as long as somewhere on your creation some sort of 'punching' has occured. I made my sample for my daughter Natasha who will be 23 on Thursday, now I haven' t added photo's to it yet as I'm waiting on some photo paper but I had so much fun embellishing it. For my punch I have used my crop a dile and added eyelets and brads, I think I've been getting a bit carried away with my new toy and can' t make a card now without using it lol. You have to check out the Design Team's creations, they have come up with some stunning crafts this week they are sure to inspire you. And as alway's we have a lovely prize up for grabs, so all you crafters that have promised to cut down on your craft spending get over to the challenge and WIN your goodies. We are all really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Embellishments used can be found Here.

The Crafty Pad Challenge.

A little card I made last night for this weeks Crafty Pad Challenge, the team this week wanted to see a bow on our crafts, well I'm not the best at tieing bow's so its just a ribbon tied but to me its a bow lol, I'm sure it will be fine. I decided to give Faith a patterened coat and hat this time so I have paper pieced them using K and Co papers, I love doing this technique. I'm not the best at distressing but that doesn't stop me trying, one of these day's I'll get the result I want. Right, off to make the dinner and then to work for a while, hope your all having a lovely day. x

Secret Crafter Sketch

Wow I'm on a roll this week with the challenge's, can't you tell the kids are back at school? lol. I'm just loving these pocket cards too, what a happy little accident that was. Someone asked me where I got them, well a little shop in Ballymena and I have threw the packaging out so i'm not sure of the make, If I find out I'll let you know. Anyway, this is a card for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge and this week the theme was a Sketch, I have used a lovely stamp my good friend Linda sent me for Christmas, thank you again Linda and I have coloured her using prisma pencils and sansador, oh and a drop of sakura too. The papers I have used are K and Co 'Roam'. Right off to get the cookies out of the oven, What a great wee mummy I am today lol, Just call me Donna Walton.

Penny Black Challenge Card

This weeks Penny Black Challenge is 'Embossing' so I have used my 'Swirls and Birds' Embossing folder on this little card. The image is Penny Black 'Lazy Days' and I have coloured it with my Marvy pens and water, I have also used my Labels Nestie's and embellished the card with brads and flowers. I have made this card for a friend who recently got some bad news, I just want her to know that I'm thinking of her and wishing her all the best. I'll be putting a big 'Squeeze' In the pocket for her.

Forever Friends Challenge

This weeks challenge over on the Forever Friends Challenge is 'Your Favourite Colour'. Well, my Favourite colour's change all the time but this year so far it has been Pink, so I'm sticking with pink for this challenge. As far as cards are concerned I don't really have a fav but clothes wise, i'm very boring, black usually, or blue as in Jeans and sometimes red but you didn' t really want to know that did you? lol. Anyway, I have coloured this forever friends image with my Marvy pens and used my swiss dots cuttlebug folder for the embossing, I think these little dot's go perfect with baby cards. I cut the square with a cuttlebug die and added some eyelets, paperclips, ribbon and peel off's to jazz it up a bit. Oh can't forget about my SU scallop punch for the bottom of the pink card.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge.

The Inside Of My Card.

There is a brand new challenge In blogland called The Sugar Bowl and wow what a prize they have on offer to launch it, I have my fingers, toe's and leg's crossed for this one lol. Not 1, not 2 but 3 boxes of promarkers!!! So last night I got out all my crafting goodies, put up a 'Do not Disturb' sign and made my card, the sketch by Tiets, was 'fantastic' I loved how my card turned out and will def use this sketch again. Hey what do you think of my card blanks? These were actually bought by accident but it was a happy accident when I realised they were 'Pocket Cards' great for sending images or vouchers. The papers I have used are one of my favourites, K and Co 'Classic K' and my image is of course Sugar Nellie 'Maggie with Dotty Scarf'. I have coloured her with prisma pencils and sansador. Good Luck everybody. x

Thank you Susie and Lisa. x

I received this beautiful award from Susie and Lisa a couple of day's ago, what a lovely way to start the new year, thank you so much ladies for thinking of me. I have neglected my blog a bit over the last month and my blogging friends but from Monday hopefully everything will go back to normal and I'll be a good blogger again lol. I have now to pass this on to 5 friends, oh no, I don't like this bit because you are all fabulous. Oh and I have to list 5 things I'm addicted to, so I'll do that first.

1. Crafting (Obviously)

2. Buying Craft Goodies (Obviously lol)

3. Something I'm not proud of 'Smoking'. (Which I plan on changing in the next couple of weeks)

4. Something I will then become addicted to when I get rid of number 3. 'Eating' lol.

5. My Family. (Ahhhhh)

I now want to pass this on to

Paula. ( For being totally crazy and making me laugh)

Linda. ( For being a beautiful person and friend)

Sharon. ( A friend and super DT member who always keep's us right)

Nikki. (Who is hopefully becoming my 'Stop Smoking Buddy')

and last but not least Steph. (My longest blogging buddy)

One Stop Craft Challenge. Shelley's Sketch.

Hi bloggers, hope you have had a great start to the new year, any new's year's resolution's? Well, I have one which I haven' t started yet, I'm psyching myself up to it and waiting until the house has gone back to normal before I start/ stop lol. Yep, I'm going to stop smoking and hopefully this time I'll last longer than 5 months. I haven't yet set my date but it will be in the next few weeks so If anyone want's to join me then let me know, we can keep each other motivated.
Anyway, our first challenge of the new year on One Stop Craft Challenge is a sketch by Shelley. I have chosen a baby card and was able to use my new nestie's that santa brought me, they are the 'Labels, set two'. If you are interested in buying nestabilities you can purchase these with 15% discount at the One Stop Card Craft online store, which also has many products to clear at 50% discount. Well I hope you can join us in our challenge this week, as usual there is a fab prize on offer for the lucky winner. Look forward to seeing all your craft creations. x

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year Bloggers

Wishing you all a year filled with good health, fun and happiness.