Sketch and Stash 1st 2010 Challenge :-)

It seems such a long time since the last Sketch and Stash Challenge ,, a whole 4 weeks ! It was my turn to choose a GD from all the entries ,,, and I have to say that although it was lovely to visit all the entries it was really difficult to choose just one, but I had to !!! :-) My final choice was Andrea from Andrea's Inspirations ;-) If you haven't visited her blog you really should go and visit :-) Her work is absolutely fabulous :-) Andrea is fairly new to blogland and am sure would welcome some new friends so go and say hello :-)

Becky has made another fabulous sketch for us to follow this week :-) For my card I used a new Wild Rose Studio image,, isn't it cute :-) This one is called Cat in Tree :-)



I coloured the image with copics and added stickles and copic spica pens for sparkle :-) The papers are printed on my comp using my lovely Wild Rose Studio Spring Flowers CD :-) The sentiment is from a Simon Says Exclusives set and I thought it was just perfect with this image :-) The buttons are from my stash and I bought the flowers from the craft fair in Holland :-)



Here's a close up and a piccy of the sketch below :-)



Thanks for looking :-) I know the DT have made some gorgeous cards for you to see so pop over to the challenge blog to see them :-)

Happy New Year to all :-)

My new Tilda ;-)

I made this card following Simonne's fab sketch on the Sketch Saturday Challenge :-)



The lovely Tilda is one of the new ones that I pre ordered a whila ago. I have no idea what she is called ,,, :-) I coloured her with my fave copics and used a frame to try to make it look like she is holding onto it ,,, not sure I achieved that ,,, but I think it looks OK ! :-)



The papers are Basic Grey from the Wassail paper pad. The corners are spellbinders die cuts that were embossed and then stencilled with gold ink ,, to make them look 'verdigris' I also inked the frame with gold too, then threaded a ribbon through :-)
the sentiment is a WOJ one ,, which I masked part of as it says 'Celebrate the Everyday' which I can never quite understand ,,, ! :-/

I used some lovely gold lace ribbon ,,, prima flowers and a lovely charm that was a gift from Heidi at Simon Says Stamp :-) These lovely new Magnolia stamps will soon be availabe to order at Simon Says Stamp ,, I will keep you posted ! :-)

I am entering this into a few challenges :-
The Charisma Cardz Challenge ,,,, whose theme is Celebrate ,, they are celebrating their 1st Birthday ,,,woo hoo CONGRATULATIONS !! and they have a blog hop too ,,, love them ! will be hopping later :-)
The Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge ,,, who have their very first Challenge and have the theme 'New Anything' I used my new Tilda stamp :-)
The Roses on Paper Challenge who ask us to use our favourite mediums ,, 'Copics !! :)
The Stamp Something Challege whose theme is New Somethings :-)
The Crafty Anne Challenge who are asking for something 'New' I used my new Tilda :-)

Thanks for looking :-) I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-)

Ok just going to link this to the challenges and go on the Charisma Cardz Birthday Hop :-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS :-) x x

Thank You Curt :-) Ist card of 2010 !! :-)

I just had to use this stamp :-) I was the lucky winner of the candy draw on Curt's blog a couple of weeks ago and this stamp was the candy ,,,, how cute is this !!! :-)
Thank You so much for this Curt I love it and am so glad it is now mine :-)

I will be entering this card for a few challenges ,,, will get to those in a min ,, but the first one has to be the House Mouse Monday Challenge,, of which Curt is a DT member, the theme is Winter Wishes :-)



I followed Anne-Marije's fab sketch on the Create 4 fun Challenge ,,, hope I am still in time ,,, I didn't even let the stickles dry properly I am hurrying so much lol :-)

I coloured this lovely SNOW MUCH FUN image with copics and added icicle stickles and polar white flower soft for snow, aren't they cute catching snowflakes :-) The papers are My Mind's Eye and the snowflakes are various punches and die cuts. The sentiment is from a Simon Says Exclusives sentiment set



I am also entering this intoThe Crafty Calendar Challenge whose theme is Keeping Warm ,,, well these mice have lovely warm scarves on :-)

Thanks for looking :-) I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-)

Happy New Year to all :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR :-)

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year :-) Here's to another year of frienships and meeting new blog buddies :-)

I have really enjoyed this last year in blogland :-) I have made some lovely friends ,, some I have met and others not yet ,,,, but hopefully I will get to meet many more of you in the coming year :-)

Hope you all have a lovely evening ,, whatever you're planning :-)

Please Read This Post :-)

I have just visited Curt's World blog and I have copied this from his Wednesday evening Post ,,, I hope he doesn't mind x x

As many of you are aware there are quite a few of us that dislike the word verification for a number of reasons ,,, but the primary reason in my case is just the amount of time I waste trying to get the letters in the right order ,,, invariably gettiing it wrong and having to start all over again. It really takes me ages to do and I would much rather be spending more time seeing other people's wonderful creations :-)
Just read now what Curt wrote and please follow his instructions on how to check that yours is turned off ;-) I am sure you would like us to enjoy our visit to your blog and I am sure you like to recive a comment ,,,so don't make it difficult for us to visit you !!!!


As we visit our favorite people's blogs, we are asked to jump through hoops (sometimes many) just to leave a comment on a blog. First you have the word verification, then some have it set when you leave a comment and hit submit it takes you to another window where you have to do word verification and then click another button just to leave your comment. Then there are others that you have to scroll down past all comments before you get to leave your comment. This is very time consuming, and I personally feel that if our visitors are kind enough to want to leave us a comment, we shouldn't make them work so hard to do it.

On some blogs that are joining this movement, some folks are stating that they will no longer leave comments on those blogs that make them jump through these hoops. I don't subscribe to being that over the top. I'll leave a comment on everyone's blog no matter what. But I would like to ask that you at least think about changing your settings so that you can make it easier for people to leave you comments. Here is what I have done (have for a while now) and these settings make it the easiest for people to leave comments while giving you complete control:

1. Click on "customize" at the top of your blog (in Blogger).

2. Click on the "settings" tab.

3. In settings, click on the "comment" tab.

4. Look for "Show Word Verification" make sure "no" is checked.

5. Look for "Comment Form Placement" and click "pop-up window".

6. Look for "Comment Moderation" and click "always". Then make sure you enter your email address in the box provided so that you are notified when there are new comments waiting to be approved.

7. Click save settings.

It is so simple to do. I changed mine a few months ago, and I've had absolutely no problems. The annoying posts that idiots try to leave can easily be rejected when you moderate your comments. The advantage to the pop-up window is that it allows the commenter to see your post or scroll to a place in your post without having to come back to the comment window. This makes it easy for them to comment while looking at what they are commenting on.

Please listen to this plea ,,, all of you ! From experience more than 50% of you have it turned on,,, so please double check your settings :-)

Thank You and Happy New Year :-)

The FIRST ABC Christmas Challenge :-)

Oohh isn't this exciting !! I have been asked to be GD on THE FIRST ABC CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE :-)

The theme this week is ,,, can ya guess ????

A for Angels :-) With the additional request to use a charm and/or beads on your creation :-)

The Challenge is being sponsored by Charm Supplies so for a chance to win some lovely charms just join in !! :-)

For my card I really wanted to use one of my new Magnolia stamps that I pre ordered :-) I do think Edwin is often overlooked ,,, maybe that is why he looks so miserable !!! :-) ha ha, not looking very 'Merry Christmas' is he !!!! :-)



I coloured Edwin with copics and decoupaged him onto his piano :-) The papers are My Minds Eye and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts set. The ribbon and charm are from my stash :-) I also used some stickles and a few Basic grey gems to sparkle it up a bit :-)



I don't know why, I have tried several times to get some decent photo's but they're all looking 'blue' ,, maybe to refelct his mood ,,, :-) I will try to adjust the settings on my camera and get better piccy's later :-)

The DT have made some fabulous creations for your inspiration ,,, so pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge blog to see them :-)
I will be doing the random draw thingy later to see who won the Tilda stamp from the Hop so pop back later to see if you were lucky ! :-) A list of winners will be published on the Challenge Blog later today ;-)

This is a fortnightly challenge ,, so you have 2 whole weeks to enter !! I am determined to get better organised for next Christmas so I will be definitely joining in this one ,,, and the other Christmas challenges over the coming year :-) I have even bought a nice Christmas box to put them in !! :-)

We are requesting that you turn off the word verification option on your blog,,, some of you may not even realise it is switched on as it is set to 'ON' by default ! It takes us sooo much more time to leave comments and it is so unnecessary. You can use the owner approval option instead to screen your comments :-)
Thank You for your co-operation :-)

Happy New Year to you all :-) x x

Creative Inspiration Challenge GD card :-)

This is my last week as GD on the Creative Inspiration Challenge :-) I would like to thank the girls for having me along so this card is dedicated to them :-)

The theme this week is Thank You :-)

For my card I followed a sketch on The Pink Elephant Challenge ,,, we have a choice of 2 ;-)



For my card I used a lovely image from The Wild Rose Studio This one is called Cat and Flowers ;-) I coloured the image with copics and added a little stickles around the edge for sparkle. The papers are from the Wild Rose Sudio Spring Papers CD




The ribbon and charm are from my stash and the sentiment is a WOJ stamp. I added some pink Papermania glimmer dots too ,, I love these :-) The flower was made using papers from the same CD which were cut using a Spellbinders flower die cut :-)

Thanks for looking :-) I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-)

Happy New Year :-) x x

Papertake Weekly Sketch Challenge ;-)

We had some lovely Thank You cards to see for last weeks Papertake Weekly Challenge I really enjoyed popping by your blogs to see them ,, :-)
This week Dawny has designed a fabulous sketch for us to follow :-) I really like this one ,,, simple !! :-)
We are sponsored this week by Simon Says Stamp



For my card I used a new House mouse Stamp ,, well ,, new to me !! This one is called GENTLE RAIN
I coloured the image with copics and added stickles glitter for sparkle :-) The papers are from a Basic Grey paper pad, I think it is the June Bug one ,,, not sure tho ! :-) the sentiment is from s Simon Says Stamp SIMPLY THE BEST SENTIMENTS set, I use this one ALOT !! :-)
The flowers are prima which have been sprayed with pearl glimmer mist,, I use this alot too :-) I added a few Robins Nest dew drops and some yellow ribbon from my stash :-)



I made this card for my hubby's Aunt who is not too well at the moment so this will be sent along with a letter and some photo's,, hope she recovers quickly ! :-)

OK ,, so this is the sketch ,, as you casn see I rotated it for my card :-)



I have seen the FABULOUS cards the DT have made ,,,, all of them are gorgeous and we have 2 Guest Designers joining us too :-) Carmen and Victoria :-) Welcome aboard girls :-)! :-) Pop over to the Papertake Weekly Challenge blog to see them and please leave them a nice comment too :-)

You still have a couple of days to join in the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop :-) All the DT have some lovely candy on offer so pop by and join in :-)

Happy New Year to you all :-)

Wild Rose Studio meets Friday Sketchers Challenge :-)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your family and friends :-) ,,, and of course I hope you all received a nice gift ,, or 2 ! :-) My children bought me a lovely cat ornament ,,, they know me well ,,, and hubby gave me a cheque ,, just what I wanted :-))) lol :-) So a shopping spree is imminent !! :-)

I love these stamps by the super talented designer Dulcie at the Wild Rose Studio ,,, sooo cute ! This one is called Louis in the rain



I followed Claudia's fabulous sketch on the Friday Sketchers Challenge. I coloured the image with copics and matted it onto a Nellie Snellen frame. The papers are all from the Wild Rose Studio Spring CD
The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp exclusives set and the flowers are Prima that have been sprayed with pearl glimmer mist :-)
I used a few tear drops and loads of stickles,, a charm ,,, and think thats about it !! :-)



Thanks for looking I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-) I am now going to link this card and join in the Friday Sketchers Challenge blog hop !! :-) I love a blog hop ,,, the ABC Christmas Challenge have one too ( I am a GD for that one :-)) so if you haven't joined them yet ,,, what are you waiting for !!! :-) There are some fabulous prizes on both !!! :-)

Happy New Year ! :-)

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop :-)

Have you been on the ABC Christmas Challenge hop yet ???? Lots of prizes to be won ,,,, not much time left so get hopping :-)

I have been asked to be a Guest designer for the ABC Christmas Challenge's FIRST Challenge ,,, which will be ,,, err probably 'A' ,, what do you think ?? Well I have made my card for it and thought I would give you a sneak peek ,,,:-)




I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and we hope to see you on New Years Eve for the launch of the FIRST Challenge :-)

luv
Lols x x x

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop Candy winner :-)

Hi everyone ;-) I have pressed the button on the random generator and the number chosen is ,,,,,,,

Here are your random numbers:

30

Timestamp: 2009-12-30 09:47:36 UTC


The winner is Zetti
;-) Congratulations Zetti ;-) If you email me with your address I will get the lovely Tilda stamp sent out to you :-)

Thanks to everyone for joining in the hop :-) Hope you all join in the FIRST challenge now too :-)

Happy New Year :-) x x

Simon Says ,,, PARTY !! :-)

Oh WOW !! what a fabulous response to the Merry Christmas Challenge :-) We were amazed at how many entries we had last week ,, Thank You all so much for taking the time to enter our challenge :-) We know how very busy you all are x x

Before I go any further we have some sad news, Anna has decided to step down from the DT, we are all very sorry to see her go but fully understand that she has many family and work commitments at the moment.I would like to wish her all the very best and hope she will pop back and visit us often x x

We are going to take a week off now so you have until 6th January to enter,,, loads of time :-)

This week the prize is EXTRA special ,,, it is all wrapped up waiting for Santa to bring it on Christmas morning ,,, so you will have to pop by the Simon Stamp Challenge blog on Christmas Day to see what is in it !!! :-)

Christmas is all about children and we love to encourage children to join in our challenges :-) We have a special designer in the spotlight:-) GEORGINA , she is only 9 years old and has made a lovely card for our challenge ;-) Thanks Georgina :-) x x Pop by her blog to see her card and don't forget to leave her a comment. She only just started a blog a couple of days ago and am sure she would appreciate lots of visitors :-)

For my card I used my new Happy Hoppers Girly Girl FANCY PANTS
, this one really makes me smile ,, soo funny ! :-) I coloured her with copics and added liquid pearls to her necklace ,,, Amy tells me pearls are 'IN' ,,, well she has to be trendy so pearls it is !! :-)

I followed Aud's fab sketch on the Friday Sketchers Challenge :-) Lovely skectch Aud ,, thank you x



The papers are My Minds Eye, I also used some gorgeous glitter card ,, so sparkly ! :-) The flower is prima ,, sprayed with pearl glimmer mist. The brad is a papermania one. The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp Wise Owl Once Said set,, I just thought it was perfect for this image :-)



I am entering this into the Cupcake Crafts Challenge too whose theme is 'A Time to Celebrate' well she is going out celebrating eh !! :-)
I am also entering this ( almost forgot !!) to the By the Cute and Girly Challenge whose theme is lets Go to the Movies :-) My film title is ,,, 'Pretty Woman' :-)

Thanks for looking :-) I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-) Pop by the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog to see the wonderful creations from the DT :-) AND leave them a nice comment too ,,, :-)

I will be back tomorrow with a blog candy sponsored by Simon Says Stamp :-) I will be linking it with the new ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop ,, so you will have to enter that too :-)

On behalf of the Simon Says Stamp team, Heidi ,the designers and the office staff I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :-)

Creative Inspiration Shaker Card Challenge :-)

This week the Creative Inspiration Challenge are asking us to make a shaker card :-) I love these ,, especially for children and weddings ,,,, it just makes them that extra bit special eh !



I used my new High Hopes Snowlady isn't she cute ! :-) I bought this one in the sale at Bunny Zoe's Crafts when she was 25% off ,, now you can get her with 40%off !! what a bargain !!! :-) I coloured her with copics and decoupaged her onto some lovely papers from Digiscraps 3 these papers are from the Winter Magic set the frame was made using a Martha Stewart punch set from Simon Says Stamp



I used Polar White flower soft for snow ,,, it looks real,,, and even falls gently when you shake it :-) As you can see I used loads of stickles ,, well you have to dont you !!! The snowflake was made using a spellbinders die cut and the sentiment is a hero arts set :-)

I am entering this into the Our Creative Corner Challenge whose theme is 'Let it Snow' :-)

I am having a lovely time being the GD for this month, such lovely themes :-) It will be my last week next week and I must say the team have been lovely :-) Pop over to the Creative Inspiration Challenge and see the wonderful creations the DT have made ,,, and please leave some comments for them ,,, :-)

Merry Christmas to you all I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends :-) I will be back tomorrow with the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop :-) You should pop over to the new challenge blog to see it and become a follower so you don't miss anything !! :-)

My Weekly Blog Candy :-)

Hi Everyone ,,,, have just got home from a lovely lunch. The place is lovely, right next to the Gozo Cathedral, a very historic place. The cafe serves traditional cheeses, bread, olive oil, capers etc ,, all washed down with lovely local wine :-) Yummy :-)
So I am feeling in rather a good mood now ,,, and feel like passing this on to my followers ,, ;-) Hope Heidi doesn't mind BUT I am going to make this a special candy ! Well it IS Christmas !!! So what I am thinking is to enter this candy you have to enter our Simon Says Stamp MERRY CHRISTMAS Challenge AND leave me a link to your blog with Mr Linky AND leave me a comment telling me what you would like as a candy ! Go to the store and choose a candy maybe I should put a price limit on this ,,,, shall we say up to $15,,, is that OK ?? I think so !!! :-)
Leave me a comment telling me what you choose and if you're the lucky winner that's what you'll get ! ;-) MERRY CHRISTMAS !!! :-)

p.s, as from next week my candy will be every fortnight so please copy my new blinkie for your blog :-) x x

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop :-)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE !!!! :-) and Welcome to the brand new ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop :-) I was thrilled when Samantha asked me to be a GD for this very special occasion and would like to take this opportunity to with the DT the very best of luck with their new challenge :-) Not that they need it !! I am sure it will be a popular challenge !! I for one intend to be better prepared for next Christmas ,,, this one just sort of crept up on me ,,,, :-)

If you arrived here from Jan's blog then you are going in the right direction :-) If not then maybe you should head on back to the begining at the ABC Challenge blog :-) From here you have to go to ,,,,,, not tellin ya yet !! You have to see what I made first !! :-) See if you can guess what my letter is !!! :-)



For my creations I used the Tinsel Tilda and a Magnolia Christmas Tree :-)

I followed Mina's fabulous sketch on the Just Magnolia Challenge



I masked Tilda and stamped the tree behind her,, not that you can tell because then I decoupaged her anyway,,:-) The papers are Magnolia ones that I bought in Holland ,,, I almost cried cutting into these ,,,, lol :-) The charms are from my charm jar and the flower is Prima :-) I also used a Martha Stewart Icicle punch and a spellbinders snowflake :-) The Time For Tinsel sentiment was printed on my comp :-)



I also made a Tree candle !! :-) Did you guess my letter ???? YES it is T :-) From here you need to go to super talented Jane's blog she has made a wonderful creation but before you go if you would like a chance to win a little candy then you need to leave a comment here :-)

Would you like a chance to win this TILDA WITH CHRISTMAS TREE ?? This is the stamp I MIGHT have used ,,,, had I had one !! :-)
This is my fortnightly candy sponsored by Heidi at Simon Says Stamp :-) For a chance to win this you must complete the hop :-)



The winner will be chosen by the random generator on the 30th Dec. The hop will finish at Midnight on the 29th Dec and stopped and I will draw the winner on the 30th when the FIRST ABC Christmas Challenge will be launched ! :-) I will be GD for that too !!!! YAY !!! :-)
The ABC Christmas Challenge DT are allowed to enter this candy too :-)
Just link your blog with Mr Linky, I would appreciate a comment too ,,, :-)

Good Luck to you all :-) I hope you enjoy the hop and have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family :-)

I am entering this into :
The Allsorts Challenge too whose theme is Anything But A Card
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge whose theme is Last Minute Gifts :-) I have actually made 5 of these candles so far ,,, have a production line going !!! :-) Quick and easy last minute gifts :-)
The Stamp Something Challenge whose theme is 'Holiday Somethings'

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :-) X X

Papertake Weekly 'Thank You' Challenge :-)

Oohh it will soon be Christmas !! only 3 more sleeps !! Are you all ready for the red guy ?? :-)

This week on the Papertake Weekly Challenge we have the theme 'Thank You'. Hopefully we will all be needing LOADS of these cards for all the yummy pressies we will be getting,,, she says hopefully !! :-) At the top of my wish list is a laser prnter ,,, my digi images often smudge so I generally avoid them ,,, hopefully that is about to change ,, if not I will be shopping SOON !! :-)



I used my lovely HM Berry Full stamp and a HM text stamp too ,, cute eh ! :-) I coloured the image with copics ,, and added rangers Rock Candy for sparkle ,, love this stuff !



The frame was made using a Martha Stewart around the page punch set . I have no idea who the paper is by, will check and add later ! :-) I also used a panel of coredinations that was embossed with a Thank You folder. I also used a couple of buttons ,, a bunch of grapes and a wine glass ,,, you can hardly see them so have a closer look lol :-) I used loads of stickles around the frame and a few pearl gems,,,thats about it I think ! :-)



The ribbon slider is a spellbinders die cut and the ribbon was from my stash :-)

Thanks for looking, I appreciate your comments so please leave me one :-) I have a blog candy at the top of my blog which is sponbsored by Heidi at Simon Says Stamp It is a particularly special one this week ,,,,, :-)

I hope you find the time to enter our challenge this week ,,, we know everyone is busy but it is always nice to fine some time to hide away in your crafty area eh ! :-) Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas :-)

TURN IT OFF !!!! PLEASE !!

I have just been leaving comments ,,, and what should be a nice blog hop turns into a nightmare with all the word verifications !! It takes at least twice as long to leave a comment ,, and quite frankly I would rather not bother and go to see someone elses creations ,,, this messing about with silly letters is a complete waste of valuable time ,, Use the owner approval option instead !!! I am really hating visiting blogs with it on ,,,

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop :-)

I am thrilled to have been asked by Samantha (aka Penrith Crafts) to take part in the brand new ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Blog Hop :-)

I have copied this from the challenge blog :-

Come and join us on our New Challenge blog
for an exciting Christmas Eve Blog Hop!
Please Add our Badge to your blog
and tell everyone about the Hop!
Check back here from 8am on Christmas Eve
to see what you can do to join in the fun!
GREAT prizes on offer!
Don't miss out!

Pop over to the challenge blog ,,, and become a follower so you don't miss anything :-) I am lucky enough to have had a sneak peek behind the scenes and it is a hive of acyivity ! It will be loads of fun :-) YAY !! :-)

I am making it a resolution to enter this challenge every fortnight ,, and the other Christmas challenges out there, I would love to be better organised next year than this !!!! :-) I am sorry to say I have had to buy most of my cards ,,,,, :-)