Over at Just Bex! they had a big challenge....and all the entries in the, I believe 15, challenges, due to commitments else where I wasn't able to join in them all, and not in time :) but here are two of my efforts Christmas Blooms and Christmas Tags, along with two cards that I made based on normal challenges during October!



























My dearly beloved is being a little bit grumpy at the moment,well know let me rephrase that, I had to reattach my head 3 times since last night:( ***hmm*** Who know what is wrong but apparently I am always telling him that he has done stuff that he hasn't like ....seen a tv program before (which he has seen before *wink*) and I was having my haircut at home last night and he came into the kitchen and looked like he had been having a doze in front of the tv (nothing wrong with that he works hard) so I simply commented that he looked like he had been asleep.......and then this morning he demanded (never a good thing to do to me!) that I sort out MY pile of paperwork,when I had said most of it was his , he insisted he had been through it and none of it was his ....(hmmm not a good thing to do to me either!) and when I removed the one letter that was mine at the top of the pile.....yep you guessed it the rest is his...............................MEN don't you love them....!

Normal Service has resumed! well if Blogger has finished playing up!

I recieved a You Make Me Smile Award yesterday! which I was very happy and delighted to get! Thank You Andrea .

I have made two cards for Challenges over on Just Bex! One is from a Template designed by Sue, the other one set last month that I did but decided to have another go at.

October Christmas Template information.
Patterned cardstockand little button/Star embleshment used is Brenda Walton for K&Co Maison Scrap Pad to go.
The matt cardstock is Bazzill card stock.
The Stamps are from See D's Christmas range - the angel is in the Magical Christmas #50317 set,and the sentiment is from the Christmas Messages #50319 set.
The ink used is Gold from COlorbox
THe faux stiching is done with a gold Mon Ami 0.7 pen.
The template is from Just Bex!Sue Watkinson.

October Stripes,Dots and Waves
K&Co Brenda Walton Scrap Pad to go! patterned cardstock and Embleshments.
Peeloffs from Papermania.

Its all a bit dull and overcast here in Northamptonshire today,it looks like it doesn't know what it wants to do, rain or stay dry so it's in between!

I am over tired today with getting to bed late and then getting up very early this morning but my mind is working away on things that just aren't important...its driving me nuts! Bob is at work so I have a nice quite house with just me and Monty,which means I get to play lol!

I made these cards last night for the Just Bex! Friday night challenge to make Christmas cards that use patterned paper that isn't designed for Christmas. As it was dark I had scanned them for the forum but they came out a bit pants so I photographed them this morning in daylight (such as it is today!).

All very simple cards using HOTP Paper Flair Gold Patterns paper,added to which I used some ribbon that I had from Crafty Ribbons and the dreaded peel offs are DoCrafts. I know that there is great debate about Peel Offs but I for one believe that they can work ....well I would say that 'cause I use them!lol

Well I have been playing today (in between working obviously) with my Corel Draw X3 suite....I have never really played with the Photo part of it when I Corel Draw 9 so I got some online tutorials and had a bit of a play...god can't computers be frustrating sometimes! but then a workman always blames his tools and I have no doubt it was the nutter behind the mouse rather then the software that was the problem! Anyway I have now manged to create my Copyright signature for my pictures of my cards! Not that anyone would want to claim them as theirs lol but 'cause I think its kinda groovy!
I made two cards for the Old paper and New paper Challenge ..the idea being to use up some of the old paper that you have around.......I have quite a bit of that! but I decided to use some Punch Studio paper - its a vintage set...and it is beautiful but I just don't know how to use it, and I don't like this card! anyway I might try again with a different approach and see if I come up with something better. The Second Card is my 'newer' paper I have had it a while but not as long as the Punch Studio paper **wink**. This card is made from the DCWV Scrapbook in a stack Winter collection, I added some star brads, glitter and mirri card and the rest is from the stack.

Well its the morning after the night before!

We had a lovely time last night at C'mon Everybody....those people are so talented honestly, singing, playing amazing riffs etc. We went to Pizza Hut first, which is a nightmare when you are on WW but I was very good....and when dessert was being ordered, I didn't have any (felt a bit holier then thou :)) I managed, also to have a great nights sleep. One of the joys of owning an old dog who is male is that he has to go out and pee a couple of times a night and its muggins here who gets up with him, while someone else stays fast asleep! but because he was away for the night I slept right through! yippee

I have Andrea my friend and hairdresser coming round at 10 this morning to cut colour and highlight/low light my hair....going for chocolate brown base and some rather vibrant highlights! will keep you posted on the results!

Yesterday I was have a nose around some other crafters blogs and I came across http://andreabrownjohn.blogspot.com/ now Andrea (not my hairdresser!) is one talented artist! Andrea did a challenge for DCM about Golden....and you can see it on her blog dated Wednesday 18Th of September...........and it just took my breath away!

I am ploughing my way through the challenges on Just Bex! and this one is Make a Card for a Man, it cant be for a boy or baby it has to be for a man...............ahhhhhhh

I just sat there think what the heck am I going to do, male ahhhhhh, like buying them presents cards are a nightmare..........and then a little light came on.....stamp onto acetate........so off I went and found some acetate then I was rummaging around for my stazon ink pads, when I came across some Colorbox petals (never been used!)....again another little light came on...I could use these on the acetate as well......then off to find some male stamps....luckily a few weeks ago I had the brainwave to stamp all my stamp images into a book (over 1000!oops) so a quick flick through I found a background stamp and a main image and a sentiment! And here is the result, and you will see that Andreas fantastic card obviously left its impression...

Recipe:-

Matt Black Card

Copper and Burnished brown eyelets - making memories

Black Stazon and Colorbox in Gold, Brown, Chianti and Antique Pewter

Gold Mirri Card - Kanban

Stamps -Hero Arts, Paper Inspirations and Unknown

Thank you Andrea for the inspiration!

All excited! we are going out tonight!

Anyone would think that we had 10 children under the age of 5, based on how much we actually go out, but no, we just have an old beagle who has panic attacks if we leave him on his own. As OH and I work long hours and I travel with work, Monty goes into kennels(aka 'school') everyday, where he is looked after by the lovely kennel maids and boys, and OH or I collect him each evening. Now if you are not a dog lover, or are not insane you will think this is crazy, but we would rather he was looked after each day and gets to woof and bark to his hearts content then be at home stressed because his mum and dad have abandoned him! lol ok I know we are crazy!



Anyway Monty is staying at the kennels tonight (boarding school :) ) and OH and I are out with friends to go see C'mon Everybody at The Castle in Wellingborough, its a tribute to the 50's type of thing....and we are going to Pizza Hut first, but I am going to be good, and have already volunteered to drive...because 2 glasses of red wine and I will stuff myself with pizza!


Yesterday afternoon and this morning I have been making some cards using the Challenges on Just Bex! I hope you like them, I have really enjoyed making them.



The first one was a challenge to use a diary/calender on a LO or a card....I made a card for my SIL.

Recipe:-
Calender created using MS Excel
Papers from HOTP - Icy Rainbow
Tag and border from HOTP - Icy Rainbow Card Art
Sentiment, Brad and Arrow from Brenda Pinnick Designs

The second challenge was to create a card using Stripes, Spots and waves!

Recipe:-Papers - HOTP - Icy Rainbow

Papers - Making Memories - Kids Collection - Ethan

Stamps - HOTP

Ink - VersaMagic - Cloud White

Little Creatures - Craft for Occasions

Ribbon - Making Memories

Accent Beads -Creative Crafts Limited

Pride, is it such a bad thing?

What a week, I have been very good (which is unusual for me :)) and been doing an awful lot of jobs around the house that I have been putting off, like pulling the airing cupboard out and sorting it, sorting clothes out, hoovering the car, washing floors.....and my old favourite IRONING! but you know it kinda feels good now that its done, because I feel I have achieved something....normally those jobs look at me with accusing eyes, I ignore them and I feel bad 'cause I know I should have done them and they are so much easier then I thought they would be!

Then I was looking on the Just Bex forum and there was a challenge on there do decorate/alter a coaster.........hmmmm....I don't even know if I have a coaster, and anyway what would I do with said coaster once it was 'done'.......but I went and hunted a Guinness coaster down... what other kind would it be in my house being Irish! Then came the most challenging thing.....what 'theme' or 'reason' would I use to decorate my coaster..... and I got to thinking about achieving.

I recently, well 9 days ago, managed to pass the 2 stone mark on how much I had lost with weight watchers. Now in scale of how much I still have to lose its the first step, but for me it was a big step, I have been 'playing' at losing weight for years and joined (Again!) WW in January and between then and about 5 weeks ago I was still 'playing' I lost a stone but I was gaining and losing the same weight every few weeks, anyway about 5 weeks ago, I managed to kick myself up my own behind (yoga experts eat your heart out!lol) and since then I have lost 16lbs.........and you know what I am proud of myself!

So I decided to alter the coaster to celebrate my achievement and I am going to keep in my office/craft room to inspire me to keep going!

Recipe:-

1 Coaster

Basic Grey paper from the Infuse range

Stazon ink - Saddle Brown

Stamps - See Dee's Large Swirl Letters #50697

Ribbon - Hot Off the Press

Chipboard Lettering -Provo Craft Alphaletterz 2 1/4" chipboards

Flowers -Sen Plus

Brads - Hot Off the Press

Eyelet - unknown

One Coaster

Using my Cropodile I punched a whole in my coaster!

I used some sticky stuff and covered the coaster with some Basic Grey PaperI then cut it out with my trusty Precision Knife

And a bit of embellishment, stamping and ribbon and this is the final product!

Its Thursday!

What a beautiful day it is here in Northamptonshire, the sun is out and the sky is blue with the odd cotton ball cloud! Only problem is that the farmers are enriching the soil in their fields with pig manure so the option of the windows being open is not available!

Another birthday in the family...it comes from being 1 of 6 and having 17 nephews and nieces :) I used the September Challenge 2 from JustBex as my inspiration.

Recipe

Paper from Papermania
Stamp is from Bang On The Door range – Groovy Chick
Card that I stamped on is pale lavender and is from Craftwork Cards
Inks were Brilliance Graphite Black and Pearlescent Sky Blue Dew Drops
Colours from Staedtler Triplus fineliner range and Crayola Coloured pencils
Base card from docrafts.
A birthday wish diecut is from Lets Make Cards

and another one!

Oh I am on a roll....another card ...another challenge from JustBex ...Friday Night challenge this time.....

The picture doesnt really pick up that this is done on acetate!

The recipe:-

I have layered silver mirri card, then blue glitter card, then pale blue card, on which I placed a Indian inspired peel off. I then used some other little peeloffs to 'hold' the card onto the acetate. On the inside I covered my tape by backing mirri card to face into the inside of the card, and then on the bit you write on I put the pale blue card, slightly larger so that it looks like part of the layering on the front of the card.....and finally on the back of the acetate I put a large square of silver mirri card so that it again covers my glueing and sticking but also looks like part of the layering of the front of the card....clear as mud

Oh I think I might be on the mend!

Well I have had Flu......not Manflu aka a little cold, but full blown shivers, hot/cold, achie, snotty :),head hurting not fun FLU...........................and 2 weeks on I still feel rough....but much better then I did......so much so that I actually feel like making some cards!!


Looking for some inspiration for a card that I have to make for a birthday card group I am in, I turned to JustBex ....and I created a card using the SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE 1 TEMPLATE 0's and X's.


The recipe for the card is as follows:-


Papers from DCWV Teen range, the coloured ladybugs are from a kit from Create IT that I got years and years and years ago :), the chipboard greeting is again from another kit that came from QVC sometime this year unknown manufactor. I used a bright pink card as the base, covered it in bright orange (well its a creamy orange if you know what I mean), then cut strips of paper that have varying degrees of colour on them and placed on top of the orange card to form my 0's and x's and then a harliquin paper on top followed by the chipboard greeting, and then 3 little ladybugs in the bottom right hand corner.

Good friends of ours had a baby last year and I can't believe that James is 1 this coming weekend! its scary. I again turned to JustBex for some inspiration, I have lots of ideas in my head but sometimes I just cant get them down on paper/card, and I just need a nudge in the right direction and some inspiration from others ....and then off I go...........normally completely off on a different tangent lol!

Challenge 12 EASY AS 1 2 3

The recipe for this card is as follows:-

Craftwork Cardstock, paper,lettering, and images all from From Boys to Men paperpack from HOTP, blue glitter card, and some glue and some foam sticky pads!