Is This A Card I See Before Me?

It certainly is and about time too!

I got a gorgeous DT pack from Elaine over at Quixotic Paperie and in it was this sweet Whimsy Giraffe and scrummy DCWV Citrus papers. The jute is very versatile. I cut mine in half and threaded a piece of raffia through it. The flower is from the Petaloo Dahlia Retro Orange/Burgandy kit and I was blown away by the quality. I've not used these flowers before and they are beautiful, you get gems in the kit as well (think they might be falling into my basket from time to time!).



But these are not the only things in my DT pack - Elaine sent me an absolutely glorious card with so much detail, you can see it on her blog here. It has pride of place in my craft space (well will have when my craft space is finally sorted out!).

Right I have to get a wiggle on, I was meant to pop into town (Oxford street for my sins) two hours ago before the crowds really kicked in - Oops!

Materials:
Stamp - Whimsy Giraffe
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Colouring - PrismaColor pencils; Koh-I-Noor pencils; Sansodor
Papers - DCWV Citrus Stack
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Double sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Petaloo Dahlia; Jute; Raffia

Wahoo! Cable Found

Okay so it was a bit touch and go but the camera cable has been found and it was of course in a safe place that I had totally forgotten about. Now I remember that as I put it away I said to myself 'I must remember where I've put this!' So that really worked. LOL!

A little photo diary of last week's DIY (apologies to all!). The bit that took the longest was shifting everything from room to room, I still haven't unpacked everything.

A happy David as we start - that didn't last :)




But look at these wonderful floors.




And the chaos that we shifted around? There is floor to ceiling bags behind the door!



Just be glad I did not show you a piccy of the moth infested carpet we ripped out - it makes me feel icky just thinking about it.

All worth it. Right better get on with some work :)

D'oh!

Ok so you know how when you are packing things up to move them around you always put those important things in a specific, easily locatable place?

Yeah right!

Well I still haven't found the cable for downloading piccies to the computer. I'm not panicking, I've not lost it, I just haven't located it yet :)

Back later with photos - I hope :)

Almost There...

We have almost finished, the floor is down and we are now in the process of sorting out where everything goes. I still haven't got my craft desk up and working again but we are getting there. Hurrah.

I would post some piccies of the new look but I have no idea where the cord to download from the camera to the computer is! Hey-ho it will turn up.

On some upsetting news it seems that someone is trying to pass-off Shimmerz paints as their own product, Stacey is completely understandable furious and is going to follow this up seeing as Shimmerz is protected by intellectual property rights. But it is just unbelievable what some people will do to to earn a fast buck.

Anyway I have a Shimmerz card to cheer us all up :)



Ask me if we will be DIY-ing again, Er- NO!

Materials:
Paints - Shimmerz Sunflower; Blingz Spiced Cider
Papers - K&Co
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; double-sided tape
Other - Seam ripper

DIY-ing

Hi there all, no card for you today but a couple of scraps of news.

First off Craft Critique is spotlighting Shimmerz and there are Shimmerz giveaways to go with it so hot-tail over there for a chance at some yummy sparkly :)

Second bit of news the lovely Elaine from Quixotic Cards has asked me to be on the DT for her new online shop Quixotic Paperie. How exciting is that? Wahoo! Carole from Stardust, Gems and Ribbon is also on the DT, go send them both some lurve :)



Sorry for the quick post but it is operation floor change day 4 and as you can imagine my head is as chaotic as the flat at the mo...LOL

All the Frills

Hey all, day three of operation floor change in our household and David and I are exhausted, but we have done the bedroom - Hurrah and are moving into the lounge. Isn't it frightening how much stuff (craft) you accumulate? LOL!

On to the card for today, I have a frilly My Cute Stamps card using the pressy stamp from the Birthday Numbers kit.

Have a lovely Monday.

Materials:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps
Ink - VersaFine onyx black; Versacolor red
Paper - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; double sided tape
Other - Ribbon; fiskars border punch; Nesties; Cuttlebug; circle template

And It Is Father's Day In The UK

Happy Father's Day all. Hope that you have a lovely day.

I've had to pack all my crafting stuff away :( The success of changing the flooring in the bathroom has motivated us to get rid of the carpet in the rest of the flat. Now this will be a challenge as we do not have a lot of room to maneuver. We are moving furniture from one room to another (we only have two rooms anyway! Well four if you include the bathroom and kitchen.) so it will be a climbing frame in here whilst we get it all done.

Fun, Fun, Fun! I've scheduled some cards over the week and hopefully I'll get time to keep up with some blog hopping, well after I have snatched the computer away from my OH. Poor boy his holiday this year is a DIY special!


Materials:
Paper - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Double sided tape; Silicone glue; Paper trimmer
Other - String; Stapler; Fabric brad; String; Paper Crimpler; EK success border punch

Just A Quicky

Have you seen the candy over at Elaine's blog Quixotic Cards? She is giving away a £15 gift voucher for her shop Quixotic Paperie and she is so busy at the moment loading new yummys into her online store.

Laters :)

More Cake Anyone?

Mmm Cake... And this cake is from a new Cupcake kit over at Krista's shop Designs By Krista. Guess what? This kit is on sale with 25% off making it $2.25 (about £1.40) Wahoo! I love the papers in this kit and of course the yummy cupcake makes a fab embellishment.


Materials:
Papers - Designs By Krista Cupcake Kit
Usual Suspects - Double Sided tape
Other - Fiskars border punch; Embroidery thread

Sugar Nellie Duda Daze Blog Hop

I am so lucky to be part of the Sugar Nellie's new Duda Daze stamps release blog hop. Karen asked for some volunteers for the new range designed by Diane Duda and I was awfully lucky to put my hand up in time. My new stamp arrived a while ago and I've had to sit on my hands until now before I could show it to you all!

If you have come to my blog from Ali's blog then you are doing well, if not you need to start at the Sugar Nellie's blog.

Here is my effort with these fab new stamps:



So your next blog to hop to is April's All Eyes Are On Me Now

Happy Hopping

Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellie
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Colouring - PrismaColor pencils; Koh-i-noor pencils; Derwent pencils; Sansodor
Papers - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Doublesided tape

Shimmerz Blog Hop

Still hopping At This Post. You still have time to bag loads of Shimmerz paints, last day is Friday.

Trim Galore

Trim for you today with some more yummy cake. This cake is from the My Cute Stamps set Birthday Numbers and I've paper pieced it. This set is just so versatile, it has number candles that you can use instead of the set of candles if you like, it also has a ballon and this yummy cake, the sentiment is from the kit as well.

Sorry it isn't a real cake though like my last post :) That cake did not last very long I can tell you!


Materials:
Stamp - My Cute Stamps
Ink - Versafine onyx black
Paper - Papermania
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Scissors
Other - Corner rounder; trim; Button; ribbon; Cuttlebug; Nesties

It's The Shimmerz Birthday Blog Hop

Hey Guys, the Shimmerz Blog Hop has started and you can be in with a chance to win $80 worth of yummy Shimmerz products.

To get you in the mood here is my Shimmerz Birthday make:

Happy Birthday Shimmerz

So you need to start at the Shimmerz blog and blog hop in sequence through the design team's lovely Birthday Makes. Which means you should have got to my blog from Karen Taylor's blog. If you haven't then go to the Shimmerz blog to start your hop.

We are blog hopping until Friday 19th June which gives you time to hop and comment on all of the design team's blogs and then on the Shimmerz blog. Why do you need to do this? Well you remember the $80 Prize draw? To enter the draw you need to:

• Hop in order through the Shimmerz design team's birthday makes
• Comment on everyone's blogs
• Collect the 'special' word from each post
• The 'special' words will make a phrase and the last hop post will let you know what to do with that phrase!

Ok so the next blog to hop to from here is Kim Ross.

And the 'special' word from me is BIRTHDAY

Have a wonderful hop.

Materials:
Stamp - Stamping Bella; Woodware Sentiment
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - PrismasColor pencils; Koh-i-noor pencils; Shimmerz Paints Sunflower, Fire engine red, Angel wings; Shimmerz Blingz Spiced Cider
Paper - Home made Distressed Ginham
Usual Suspects - Silicone Glue; Paper trimmer; Double sided tape
Other - Ribbons; Chocolate cake LOL!

Geometric Dad

The Creative Card Crew have a Geometric challenge this week and I thought I would have a go. I needed some inspiration for some Father's Day cards and what a perfect challenge - thanks guys :)

Materials:
Papers - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Double-sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Cuttlebug; Nesties; Sizzix embossing alpha; Clear buttons; Copper metal sheet; Sewing machine; Thread.

It's A Party

Pencil Tuesday in your diary as on Tuesday the Shimmerz First Birthday Party Blog Hop starts and you could win $80 worth of yummy Shimmerz products. There will also be other blog candy around as well.

Just thought I would give you folks a heads-up :) More details on the way.

Tuesday Shimmerz Darez

This week the Darez is a wood Darez, the DT have made some wonderful projects with wood so go take a look at the Shimmerz blog and of course that is the place to go to enter your own lovely make.

Here is my humble wood example and it is an altered coat hook I got from one of the many 99p stores that have popped up in my region. I've used the Shimmerz Spritz Terra Cotta and Eucalyptus for this project.

Looking forward to seeing your projects.

See No Evil

Three little Monkeys playing on a card for you this Monday and I thought that this would be a good card to fit the challenge over at Creative Card Crew blog which is about 'Child's Play' this week.

These little monkeys are from the My Cute Stamps Circus Animals set and what a cutie he is.

Have a good Monday.


Materials:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps; Stamps Away Alpha
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Koh-I-Noor Pencils; Sansodor
Paper - DCWV
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Paper trimmer; double-sided tape
Other - Kraft card; Red card; Nesties; Cuttlebug

Straw For The Strawberries

Strawberries anybody? Hope you are all having a good weekend and that the weather is better with you than it is here in London.

I have some news for you, Claire and Jo over at Making Handmade Cards have launched the New Club for subscribers today and you can find it here.

There are a few fabby benefits for early subscribers:

- The 1st 200 people to join the Club will
get the Fizzy Marine eKit (worth £14.99).
- The 1st 100 people to join the Club also
get the Glam Bags 'n' Heels ekit (worth £13.99).

- And the 1st 15 people to join the Club also
get the Refresher eKit (worth £14.99)!

- And let's not forget that gorgeous
Love To Shop eKit (worth £14.99) that
you get too!

I've been lucky enough to be able to play with some of these kits and they are beautiful. Well worth a look :)



Materials:
Stamp - Whiff of Joy
Ink - VersaFine Onyx black
Colouring - Promarkers; Copics; Marvy Le Plume watercolour pens
Papers - HOTP
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; double-sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Jute; Charm; Cuttlebug; embossing folder; White gel pen

Voting Day In The UK

Ok, Question for you - Is there a limit to the number of blogs you can follow?

Every time I blog hop I find more wonderful blogs I want to follow but today I got an error message saying that I had exceeded my limit of 300 blogs and needed to 'un-follow' some before I could add new ones.

Shock. Horror!

Well as you can imagine I also RSS a fair few to my google reader but it is just easier to follow isn't it? So I've been signing up through the 'follow' tool recently. I shall just have to go back to adding via RSS.

Hey ho.

Well anyway here is an experimental ATC for you. I've used a rub-on on fabric which I then distressed a touch. The background was made by some watercolour stamping onto some tea-stained (as in real tea!) card. The string is coloured with Shimmerz Spritz Truffle, Purple Passion and Shimmerz paint Lilac.


Materials:
Stamp - The Artistic Stamper
Inks - Marvy Le Plume Watercolour pens
Paints - Shimmerz Spritz and Paints
Usual Suspects - Silicone Glue; Paper trimmer
Other - Fabric; Vintage rub-on; Leaf Skeletons; Button; Tea (any excuse for a cup of tea); String

Wednesday, Oh Wednesday

Happy Snail Wednesday to you all! Here is a card for you using the lovely snail from the My Cute Stamps Little Forest Friends Kit. He is a sweet heart. Have you checked out Holly's (My Cute Stamps) blog recently? There are some lovely things on the blog including some great fabric rose hair clips. Holly has some beautiful digi-kits as well. (Oh to be that talented!)

So what are you guys all up to today?



Materials:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Koh-i-Noor; Sansodor
Paper - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; Double sided tape
Other - Ribbon; Button; Thread; Cuttlebug; Nesties; Shaped Scissors

Our First Shimmerz Darez

Shimmerz is daring you to get funky with your Shimmerz. Every week one of the design team will post a Shimmerz Darez for you to have a go at and win some more Shimmerz products.

What a great way to build up you Shimmerz Stash and there is a fabulous blinkie to adorn your blog with. So pop along to the Shimmerz blog to join in.

So this week the Darez is Frames and here is my DT piece.

I found an old shadow box frame in a local charity shop and painted with some white acrylic paint. Some Baby's Breath Spritzing and allow to dry then I used some old peel-offs as masks for the alphabet and sprayed again with Bed of Roses Spritz.

You can see the shine from the Shimmerz at the top of the frame in the picture - Shimmerz-y :)

The DT have mades some amazing makes so don't forget to go take a look at their work.


The cute ickle kitty is from My Cute Stamps Circus Animals stamp set.

Materials:
Stamps - My Cute Stamps Circus Animals
Inks - VersaColor; Colorbox Chalks
Paints - Shimmerz Spritz Bed of Roses, Baby's breath
Papers - HOTP
Usual suspects - Silicone glue; scissors
Other - Shadow box; Thread; Peel-offs; Button

Flowers For Monday

A new week and a new card. Today's card is inspired by the 'Pretty Flowers' challenge over at the Creative Card Crew. The image is one of the Whiff of Joy Summer stamps and the papers are freebies from UK Simply Card and Papercrafts magazine.


Materials:
Stamp - Whiff of Joy
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Promarker; Copic
Papers - Freebies from Simply Cards and Papercrafts UK Mag
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Double Sided tape
Other - Nesties; Cuttlebug; Black Marker pen; white gel pen