Back to School, Awards and a little reminder!

Good morning

It is a beautiful sunny day and Chloe and Jamie went back to school this morning.  It's going to seem very quiet here today and I will miss them lots.  I was reading Fleur's blog this morning and she had also mentioned how she misses her daughter when she goes back to school so i'm glad i'm not the only one :o)

I took a quick photo of them before we headed off for school.  They both look a little nervous about going back but i'm sure they will be full of it when I collect them this afternoon.  It is Chloe's last year at Junior School and Jamie's last year at Infant School as they will both move up to new schools next September.  Chloe to High School and Jamie to Junior School.  Where has the time gone?

I have recently received 2 blog awards from the lovely Leann so thought I should get my act together and pass them on to my blogging buddies.  Thank you Leann! x

I have to pass this award on to 7 of my favourite blogs and this award is going to my fabulous teamies at Oldie But A Goodie

Annie

Clare

Debs

Fleur

Francesca

Liza

Tracy

The rules for this award are you have to explain why you started your blog and then pass it on to 10 other trendy blogs you love.

The reason I started my blog is I wanted to share my love of crafting with like minded people.  Little did I know how addictive it would be!

I am passing this award on to ...

Brenda

Chloe

Coops

Christine

Dianne

Lynsey

Mandy

(A Sprinkling of Glitter)

Mandy

 (Crafty Fox)

Marianne

Shirley

I would also just like to remind you that the brand new challenge blog 'Oldie But A Goodie starts tomorrow and this means I will be drawing a winner for my candy.  If you haven't entered my candy then you had better be quick because it ends tonight at midnight!  I will announce the winner in the morning when I post my DT card.

I think that's all (thank goodness for that I hear you cry lol!)

Crafty Calendar Challenge ~ Blue & Flowers

Good morning

It's the first Friday of the month so that means a new challenge has been set at Crafty Calendar Challenge.  This month the theme is Blue and the optional extra is Flowers.  As so many of us crafters love flowers i'm sure the optional extra won't be too hard to include this month :o)  Our sponsor is Some Odd Girl and the prize is 3 digi images of the winner's choice.

Image ~ Bridesmaid Tilda

Papers ~ Papermania Henbury Lane

Flowers ~ Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls ~ Stash

Tools ~ MS Garden Trellis punch, Quickutz photo corner die,

Labels 4 nesties, Nellie Snellen branch punch

Challenges

Craft Your Days Away ~ With Wings

Crafts and Me ~ Gems and Sparkle 

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight Challenge ~ Glitter and Sparkle

Crafters Companion DT 'After the rain'

Good morning

This month at the Crafters Companion Monthly Challenge there is another fab sketch and a fantastic prize as Sara has kindly donated a £30 voucher to spend on the Crafters Companion website for this month's prize!

I also have some exciting news because I have been invited to become a full time DT member!

This month the rules are changing, although the DT will all be using Crafters Companions images it has been decided to open up the entries to any image from any company, so that gives you plenty of scope, but for those of you who do use a Crafters Companion image you will be entered into the Candy Draw twice, so you have two chances of winning!

I adore these sweet SWALK images and this one is definitely one of my favs.

Image ~ SWALK 'After the Rain'

Papers ~ Dovecraft 'Back to Basics' (spotty) and Kars 'Country Rose'

Pearls ~ Stash

Flowers ~ Wild Orchid Crafts

Challenges

The Crafty Pad ~ Simply Pearls

Crafty Emma's ~ Anything Goes

Alphabet Challenge ~ R for Roses

I am now going to finish my DT cards and then I am taking the children into the town for some lunch :o)

Teddy Stampers GDT

Good morning

Just a quick post with my Teddy Stampers GDT card because I am off to work shortly.  This fortnight at Teddy Stampers there is a fab sketch and I decided to use this cute Forever Friends stamp which I bought last Christmas but never got round to inking up.  I love traditional Christmas colours but for a change I decided to make a non-traditional Christmas card in Pink & Brown. 

Image ~ Forever Friends

Papers ~ ? from my scrap box

Sentiment ~ LOTV

Challenges

Forever Friends ~ Easel Card

Just Cute Bears ~ Pink and Brown

Aud Sentiments ~ Anything Goes

Tanda Stamps ~ Beautiful Borders

Now off to link the challenges and then i'm off to work.

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Wishes

Good evening

Hope you are all well and having a good weekend.  Chloe is having a sleepover with the Brownies tonight.  She isn't far from home because they are having the sleepover in the village hall which is just round the corner from our house lol!  Chris has been busy entertaining Jamie in the garden and they are now putting foortball stickers in Jamie's world cup album.  Not sure who is having the most fun lol! 

Anyway this meant I had a little crafting time so decided to make another Christmas card so I could use my new Memorybox papers that I bought from Crafty Emma's Store (link in sidebar). 

Image ~ LOTV 'Christmas Candle'

Papers ~ Memorybox 'Spiceberry'

Flowers ~ Prima

Holly Leaves ~ Not sure

Pearl Brad ~ The Hobby House

Pearls & Ribbon ~ Stash

Challenges

LOTV ~ Bev's Sketch

Cupcake Craft ~ 2 Papers, 2 Ribbons and 2 Flowers

ASFOS ~ Christmas in August

Charisma Cardz ~ Die Cuts
The Pink Elephant ~ Ribbon & Sparkles
Crafts and Me ~ Petals & Pearls
Kaboodle Doodles ~ Add a little metal
My Time To Craft ~ Glitter & Glitz
Stampavie and More ~ Christmas in Summer
Stampin' for the Weekend ~ Anything Goes
The Creative Cottage ~ Christmas

PS:  I have added some new items to my Craft Sale Blog

Christmas Angels

Good afternoon

Well the sunshine didn't last :o(  It's wet and windy here today which is typical because we have the week off to go out and about.  Hopefully it might dry out later so we can go to Wells-next-the-Sea for a walk along the beach.  We will definitely have to wrap up warm!

This morning Chris and Jamie were playing racing games on the Playstation and Chloe was on her DS so I had some crafting time :o)  I decided to make a Christmas card ~ think the weather was my inspiration!  In fact once I got going I made two cards and matching tags.  I used some LOTV die cuts which are perfect for making quick and easy cards. 

Image ~ LOTV die cuts

Papers ~ Dovecraft

Pearls ~ Stash

Sentiment ~ Craftwork Cards

Challenges

ABC Christmas ~ Q is for Quick and Easy. 

(I have also done the optional extra which is to

make more than one card using the sketch provided)

Winter Wonderland ~ Tag it!

Bah! Humbug! ~ Angels and Fairies

Lili of the Valley ~ Four seasons (I chose Winter)

Teddy Bears' Picnic

Good morning

For the month of August I am the Guest Designer at Teddy Stampers.  This week the challenge is Teddy Bears' Picnic.  It does not have to be a stamp of teddies around a picnic - it could be a teddy with some food, bringing it to the picnic or it could be a teddy bear doing something after the picnic like fishing or taking a nap under a tree etc. 

When I saw this week's challenge details I immediately thought of the Teddy Bears' Picnic song and that got me thinking back a few years to when my daughter Chloe used to do ballet.  One year when Chloe was about 5 her ballet group put on a show and Chloe and a few of her friends were dressed as teddy bears and they danced to this song.  They were so sweet :o) 

Image ~ Penny Black 'Kickin'

Papers ~ Papermania 'Rose Garden'

Flowers ~ Prima Caboodles, Mulberry Crafts & Wild Orchid Crafts

Butterflies ~ MS Punch

Pearls & pearl sprays ~ Stash

Sentiment ~ Papermania element sticker

Challenges

Sunday Sketch & Stamp ~ Sketch

The Pink Elephant ~ Summer Fun

Creative Card Crew ~ Cute & Girly

ABC ~ A is for August

Charisma Cardz ~ Easel card

One Stop Craft ~ Summer Fun

Tuesday Taggers ~ Sunshine

By the Cute and Girly ~ Animal Antics

Craft Your Days Away ~ Favourite things (Teddies and Flowers)

Flutter By Wednesday's ~ Open theme

Crafty Catz ~ Animals

TGIF!  I am off to work shortly but only until lunchtime today :o)  I am looking forward to tonight and next week.  Tonight I am going out with the girls from work for a meal and a few drinks and next week Chris and I are off work so we are going to spend a few fun filled days with the children :o)  I only work 2 days a week but it's still great to have the whole week off.

Hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you have planned.

PS:  Just in case you are interested I have blog candy here!

'Around the World'

Good morning

It's the first Friday of the month so a new challenge has been set at the Crafty Calendar Challenge.  This month we have a fab sketch designed by Laura and the added option is 'Around the World'.  Our GDT's for this month are my daughter, Chloe, and Donna's daughter, Sophie.  If you get time please hop over to their blogs to check out the gorgeous cards they have made ~ I am sure they would appreciate any comments you leave :o) 

Laura's sketch

I have gone with an Hawaiian theme for my card using this cute Fleur Anya image.

Image ~ Fleur Anya

Papers ~ DCWV 'Mango Frost'

Flowers ~ Can't remember (will add later)

Leaves ~ Mulberry Crafts

Ribbon ~ Stash

Gems ~ Prima

Challenges

Quixotic ~ Life's a beach (I can just imagine cute Fleur on the beach in Hawaii)

The Crafty Pad ~ Ribbon & flowers

Crafty Cardmakers ~ Punches

Allsorts ~ Dressing up

Sir Stampalot ~ Bring on the bling

Exciting News Candy!

Good morning

I have some exciting news to share with you today.  There is a new challenge blog starting on Tues 7th Sept and I have been invited to be on the DT.  The challenge is called Oldie But A Goodie and the idea is you have to use a stamped image and the stamp must be at least 6 months old.  I am sure we are all guilty of buying new stamps and neglecting the older stamps in our collection.  I know I am!

The challenges are starting on Tues 7th Sept and will be fortnightly.

There are already 4 DT members but we need a few more people to join us so we are running a DT call from today until 20th August.  The new DT members will be announced on 27th August.  So if you would like to dust off your older stamps and join our team please check out the challenge blog for all the details. 

I am giving away some blog candy to celebrate my new DT position. 

Penny Black 'You are the bestest' slapstick stamp
Papermania 'Summer Bloom' 6 x 6 paper pack
Papermania 'Henbury Lane' A5 paper pack
2 rolls of Anita's Everyday ribbon
Papermania Capsule Collection Petals
Papermania 'Henbury Lane' brads
2 packs of flowers
2 packs of self-adhesive flat beads
Papermania glitter pots

So for you chance to win the above candy all you have to do is:

1)  Add the candy picture and link to this post on your sidebar
2)  Become a follower of Oldie But A Goodie
3)  Enter via Inlinkz below
4)  Check back on 7th September to see if you are the lucky winner.

Crafters Companion GDT Card

Good morning

Today I am showing you my first GDT card for the Crafters Companion Monthly Challenge using one of Bev's fab sketches.  It is not necessary to use Crafters Companion products but you must use an Image from the great range of Crafters Companion CD'/Stamps or any stamps sold on the website (that includes ALL stamps not just Crafters Companion).  As this is a monthly challenge you have plenty of time to enter so hope you can join us.

Here is the sketch

I have just noticed that I didn't follow the sketch exactly (I have a layer missing) but think you can still just about see the original sketch. I had to place the sentiment at the top because there wasn't enough space at the bottom.

Image & Sentiment ~ Crafters Companion Bundle of Joy stamp set 

Papers ~ Craftwork Cards 'Sugar & Spice'(spotty) and

Papermania 'Summer Bloom' (plaid)

Ribbon ~ Stash

Flowers ~ Wild Orchid & Mulberry Crafts

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp ~ Going Dotty

One Stop Craft ~ Patterns (spotty paper)

Secret Crafter ~ Hot Wheels

Paper Play ~ Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations ~ Animals