Hi there and welcome to a soggy Thursday!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was pretty much craft free so I was determined that today should be a bit different. Of course, nothing goes according to plan and it was one o'clock before I got the chance!

Hubby was at the dentist first thing, then I got a letter from my super duper neighbour, Sally, in the U.S. who informed me she now has a notebook and (more importantly) INTERNET so I (quick as a flash) decided to send her an e-mail so that she would see it when she woke up . . . then hubby was trying to decide what he wanted to do for his birthday in February. He's thinking "theatre break" and was looking at London, nice, New York, better, or Bristol (?!) - hmmmm - jury hasn't yet reached a conclusion on that but I'm suspicious that it might turn out to be Bristol! Hmm - ScrappyJacky has suggested BRIGHTON as there's a craft show!! I'm LOVING that idea but thinking my hubby might be just a smidge less keen!!! Wonder why ...

And THAT was the morning gone - are we STILL sure there are sixty WHOLE minutes in each hour?

Anyway, I was trawling some of my regular blog haunts and then Brenda from Bumblebees and Butterflies announced she was presenting the challenge over on MAWTT and the theme this week for challenge #81 is "DREAMS" and we are advised to interpret as we see fit . . .  I decided it was time to make an ATC as I've not made one since returning from Florida - and that was NOVEMBER!!!! - so, here it is! Fancy having a go yourself? Then follow the link above and check out the details - Good Luck

Materials used:

• Kraft card ATC blank and a scrap of white card
• Distress Inks in: Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Black Soot
• Main image stamp by Crafty Individuals sentiment stamps by Inkadinkado and Dragon fly by Magenta
• Other materials: Dye cut black fancy circle, 3/8" hole punch and various fibres, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Crystal stickles applied with a cotton bud, silicon glue

What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday

Not very much as it happens!! I took a photo this morning of what was in progress and intended to post a before and after ....... but there is no after YET!!! A funny old day for me and I found I couldn't really settle to anything. I tried reading, watching a movie, crafting - nothing "did it for me" consequently all I have to show you is the slightly pathetic started (but not finished) project - maybe it's because I'm not really sure what it's going to be . . . will it be altered art, will it be a card or will it be . .  something else entirely. Watch this space. So far . .  it's chipboard heart which I've outlined with gold microbeads and allowed to dry (using glossy accents to attach the beads. What you see in the photo is the next stage which is where I've infilled one side of the heart with glossy accents and then poured a mix of fine glitter and bits with microbeads too (in about three colours) - it's in the drying stage here! If you have any brilliant suggestions for use - then please post in your comments.

It's been a horrible day weather wise - wet and wild again overnight and chucking it down in stair rods (remember those?) all day - again, not a day for an umbrella - too darn windy!

Appointment with the beautician this morning for a wonderfully relaxing facial and massage - feeling well sleepy the rest of the day which probably explains my lethargy on the crafting front!

Anyway, hope you've all had a good day - I hear some of you have had further snowfalls - take care out there.

2nd post for Tuesday - please scroll down for the earlier post

Here's my 2nd post - thought I'd better do some quick crafting before getting ready for dinner!

My Crafty Individuals stamps prompted me to make Christmas cards (wot? in January? Give it a rest - I hear you cry!). They are so nice that I couldn't wait until later in the year to get them all inky. I don't like the finished result of this one as much as yesterdays but hey - I did want to use as much of the red card as possible as it was a new sheet and I really did NOT want to add to my pile of offcuts! This was the DCWV white core red cardstock which I then ran through my die cutter inside one of my new Tim Holtz embossing folders. I stamped the C.I. Christmas stamp in memento tuxedo black ink and then matted on to gold DCWV shimmer metallics card. Narrow satin ribbon in red (courtesy of Michaels @ 50c a reel) was tied in a bow around the red embossed card before attaching it to my base card and then adhering my layered sentiment panel. I then stamped up my Impression Obsession individual holly leaves and berry using Brilliance Ivy and Crimson on to white card and cut out before adhering using dimensional silicon glue and then highlighting with crystal stickles. I stamped a co-ordinating holly image on the insert and envelope.

If you've read my earlier post then you will know we have a dinner guest this evening and I thought I would make a place card to reflect her personality - so this is Debbie the diva!!! I used an ATC blank and creased it in half lengthways. On a separate piece of white card I stamped my Paper Artsy "Harlow" star using memento ink (grape jelly) and then cut out and adhered to the "front" half of my folded ATC. On to my ATC I then stamped a scribble star (unknown but probably Anitas) and then alphabet stamps from the unbelievable Costco kit -again using Memento grape jelly. I coloured the skin using skin white copic marker and then my Sakura clear glitter gelly roll pen (which is more platinum). Hope you, and Debbie, like it!

Now, since my dinner guest is due at seven I'd better get a wiggle on and go lay the table etc! Catch y'all tomorrow - have a splendid evening!

Wild and woolly Tuesday

Strewth, another blowy night and gusty morning here at the purple palace!

Also had an e-mail from my brother (he and my SIL and nephews) are in Thailand for a wedding/long holiday and it would seem like they are having a fab time kayaking, swimming, riding elephants - we're told the girls (Alex' girlfriend went too) had a fish pedicure - eeeeuuuuuwwww! apparently the wedding went of very well so I can only assume bruv got his cream shirt made in time - they all had instructions about the required attire and my bruv reckons you cannot get a cream shirt currently in the UK - at one point he was talking of laundering a white shirt and a T-Bag!!!!

Anyhoo, several of my crafting buddies had expressed curiosity about the contents of my Crafty Individuals order so here it is in its entirety . . . . well, actually I haven't photographed the delightful array of freebies as it's just rubber and sometimes hard to distinguish the design without a piccie - there is one circular sentiment about seashells, a rather nice plant collage and (of course) the Dream a little Dream which I used yesterday.

Think it might be time to head off and do some crafting!!!

I hope you are all having a good day and are not too windswept - we have a guest coming to dinner this evening so have been food shopping and I suppose that, at some time this afternoon, I really should tidy up and then go lay the table ready!! Perhaps I should make a place card for her .......

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post

Bah Humbug January challenge

Well, I took delivery of some fab new stamps from Crafty Individuals and a few of them were Christmas stamps so what better than to get started on a Christmas card!! Over at Bah Humbug the first challenge of the year is Fairies and Holly . . . first of all I thought it had to be both but some of their own design team just used one so I thought this one was just perfick! to get me started on my 2010 Christmas card stash!!! I had some envelopes that I had brought back from the U.S. so cut and folded myself a card to fit, cut some pearly green paper ever so slightly smaller than the white base card and then some red DCWV "white core" cardstock slightly smaller again - ran that through a Papermania snowflake embossing folder before sanding to reveal the white core. I stamped my Crafty Individuals with Brilliance Green ink on the holly and memento tuxedo black on the sentiment and set aside for the Brilliance to dry whilst I adhered the larger panels to the base card. Whilst it was still drying I stamped the holly sprig on my envelope and insert (left side) and my C.I. sentiment again on the right side of the insert and I also used a red Atyou Spica glitter to colour the berries. I then mounted the sentiment/image panel on red card (offcut of the DCWV white corn) and then on the green pearl paper before finishing off with the small gold bows. Voila! One of the first cards towards 2011!!!

Welcome to the start of another week then folks ...

How's it working out for you so far? Blooming windy here in Bristol so you don't really notice the fact that it's so much warmer than of late. It's a positively balmy 9° here but very gusty - not umbrella weather (as we're rain forecast - oh joy!) unless you happen to be a certain Ms Mary Poppins!!!

Out this morning to meet my friend Andrea for coffee and a doughnut - Andrea had the jam for both of us as there wasn't a trace of it in mine!! I feel cheated! It was nice to catch up with her though as we've not seen each other since last year!!!! Actually about two weeks before Christmas!

I'm getting ahead of myself . . . . yesterday I had a lovely surprise as fellow crafter, Wynneth, was heading in our general direction returning her dad (also a crafter, Andy) home as he'd been with her and Tom for Christmas so imagine my delight when she rang and said "Put t'kettle on!". They didn't stay long but long enough for a quick play a lot of chat and a photo opportunity - skillfully edited (?!) to remove some excess Christmas "blobbiness"!!!! - don't we look cheery though?

Anyway, back to today . . . having returned home from gallivanting with friend Andrea and with lunch over I set about the Sunday themed challenge , set over on Craft Mad & Loving It by Karen - this week the theme is BLUES and BROWNS! Now these are not two colours that I would normally put together and I needed to think about this for a while, so imagine my surprise (again!) to discover mine was the first entry of the week! Hmmmm. Anyhoo, whilst I was out this morning the postman had delivered my order from Crafty Individuals and the fab college-y stamp I have used for the main image just cried out to be used on this vintage card. I stamped it in memento tuxedo black on to white card and then using my blending tool added Tea Dye and Vintage Photo distress inks and then Faded Jeans to watercolor the cyclists shirt. I cut a pearly brown piece of DCWV natural stack paper and then a slightly smaller textured blue card and then smaller again panel in a sort of light rust colour (which I'm already now wishing I had distressed the edges on, but hey . . .). I remembered a spool of ribbon I had with several colourways of ribbon on it and sure enough, brown with blue thread and blue with brown thread on it!! YAY - I went with the brown with blue thread. The collage stamp says "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams" down the left side and Crafty Individuals had very kindly sent me a freebie stamp which said "Dream a little dream" so this became the text on the insert and envelope and I used a clear stamped image of a bicycle (which I THINK is Hampton Art) to finish off with - hope you like it.

So, that's where I'm at today - have a great day peeps - don't get blown away if its windy where you are too and please DO leave me a comment as you pass through this way.

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

The sun is shining - it LOOKS lovely out there, but still only 2° - so I'm in no particular hurry to rush out there!

As you know, Saturday's are sketchie days and Sunday's are themed challenge days over on Craft Mad & Loving It. Well, yesterdays sketch and "pearls" theme obviously struck a spark in me as I have now completed THREE!! The adorable (in my eyes) purple one from yesterdays post and I ran up these two little beauties last evening - there was nothing on the TELLY!!! The pink one used another image sent as part of an image swap and is simply "gorjuss"!, the blue one uses a large Inkadinkado clear stamp and the smaller butterflies are a wooden stamp from part of the Costco Scrapbook kit - honestly it came with SOOOO much that I'm still discovering hidden bits and bobs in the kit! The papers are more from the Card Making and Paper Craft freebie and, although they are well out of character for me, I am coming to love them! Putting these two on here together does rather show how differently two cards can look despite using the same paper range AND the same sketch!

The themed challenge hasn't yet been set so you might want to check back later . . . . just in case! But if not, do have a wonderful day and enjoy the sunshine (those that have it) and, if you still have snow then do take care.

Sketchie Saturday!

Hi everyone and welcome to the weekend,

The weather looks a bit chilly but a really nice day out there - must be because hubby's gone flying!!! First chance this year! Shan't see him again till it starts to get dark! - Yay, so now I can craft.

Over on Craftbubble's Craft Mad & Loving It it's Sketchie challenge day today and it's been set this week by Karen and it's a lovely one this week, with the twist of PEARLS. so . . .  here's the sketch

And now for my take on the sketch. I took a C6 card and covered the front with one of the pad of free papers from Card Making and Papercraft (the base card was part of a CM&P prize too and one of the last three of the hundred I won). I used my Martha Stewart double border punch on white card to create the border which I then stuck to the offcut piece (how lucky was I with the color eh?) of Coredinations card using very narrow DST - to cover the exposed sticky bits I used ultra fine crystal glitter thus giving extra twinkle! I die cut a scalloped oval which I then roughly edged with a pinkish pad which I got from the dollar bin in Michaels (brand unknown). The dress up Maggi image was donated to me as part of an image swap (my thanks to the donor - she's just fab) and I coloured her using pro markers and used liquid pearls for well, her pearls! Once my card was assembled I added four grey faux pearls to finish it - like it? I do.

Friday Funny

Evening,

Bet you all thought I'd forgotten today's post! Well I hadn't - I was just waiting for something interesting and/or crafty to happen . . . . not much did - sorry, so I'm going to bore you with my day!

First of all - we were told it was going to snow overnight . . . did it? That'll be a no then - but don't get me wrong as I am SOOOOO not sorry about that. What it DID do, however, was rain . .  for much of the day.

Since hubby had gone out yesterday and topped up on the groceries (in readiness for the much vaunted SNOW) but had failed to get my all important alcohol free baby wipes - for cleaning my stamps as my work area is nowhere near a sink! So I thought I'd best head out to get them as I was down to my last three. SUCCESS . . . in Tescos so, whilst I was out, I thought I would have a mooch round the other stores and went in to Poundstretcher and bought two storage boxes for . . . . no, not the £1 you might expect but £7! Still, it will allow me to take my plain and patterned card and paper offcuts out of the drawers (which no longer shut because there is so much in them) and in to one of these storage boxes. Next problem was to tidy my craft area and move stuff around now I've got this extra space. So I've primped and vacuumed and its all looking lovely AND I found my mica tiles - whoopee. I've decanted some stamp pads to take to Accrington and will give some to Lauren for her friend (Mary) who is new to crafting and some to my fellow bubble crafters (if they want them) as I cannot possibly use all the ink pads I have!! TRUE.

Looks so pretty, doesn't it?

Hubby asked me - since the sun was clearly over the yard arm - if I would like a little drinkeys (does the Pope have a balcony?). We were given an interesting gift for Christmas - from Australia - a Hardy's sparkling Chardonnay and a little jar of wild hibiscus in syrup. Anyone ever tried this confection? Apparently the hibiscus is both edible and tasty (we're warned to expect raspberries and rhubarb!) and, allegedly, the  bubbles in the chardonnay cause the flower to open.... much like the forecast snow - WRONG! but it does look real pretty in the glass! CHEERS!!!!

Can you see the hibiscus opening? Me either!!

 Anyway, it tastes just great so now ..... on to the Friday Funny.

Subject: Research

A man doing market research for the Vaseline Company knocked at the door and was greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet. 'I'm doing some research for Vaseline. Have you ever used the product?'

She said, 'Yes, my husband and I use it all the time.'

'If you don't mind my asking,' he said, 'what do you use it for?'

'We use it for sex,' she said..

The researcher was a little taken aback. 'Usually people lie to me and say they use it on a child's' bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex.. I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been so frank so far, Can you tell me exactly HOW you use it for sex?'

After a slight pause the woman said, 'I don't mind telling you at all. My husband and I put it on the doorknob and it keeps the kids out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you've all had a good day and, if you have snow, have managed to keep warm too - take care.

3rd post for today - just a quick update - don't forget the earlier posts if you haven't already!

And I'm pretty sure it will be my last of the day!!!

Steve went to Sainsbury's instead of me - YAY (btw I HATE grocery shopping) - but was totally unable to find alcohol free baby wipes but came back with ½ bottle of Famous Grouse and ½ bottle of Jamesons!!! Ah well, it wasn't a totally wasted journey then!

Of course this left me free to craft and, on the blog site I found this morning with the OLW challenge I also found one for cards using the "kissing" technique - now I've never really played with this technique so thought it seemed like a good idea and best to strike whilst the iron (aka inspiration) was hot. I decided to try a Christmas card . . .  using my docrafts squared background stamp and my FABULOUS pine bough so I gaily stamped up my background stamp using Brilliance Beige and then "kissed" the background stamp with my clean pine bough stamp - STRIKE ONE! - it didn't work. I did it again using Brilliance Rust and my clean pine bough stamp - STRIKE TWO! - it didn't work. Back to the Brilliance Beige and this time stamped my pine bough with Brilliance Thyme - STRIKE THREE! - it didn't work. Hmm - must be the combination of stamps, it's not that the technique didn't work but I was not pleased with the results. PLAN B) - take said Docrafts background stamp (now it's recommended for a solid background stamp but the only solid background stamp I have is too big to fit on a C6 card - hmmmm) and stamp with Distress Ink Spun Sugar then take my Hero Arts Swirl stamp and ink it with Victorian Velvet - WOO HOO, it worked!!! So I then inked up my Paper Artsy silhouette stamp (a particular fave of mine) with memento tuxedo black and stamped it off centre and then took my sentiment stamp (I THINK it's also Hero Arts) and stamped my sentiment. Another challenge card completed AND it will fit in a standard stamped envelope being only one layer - a success - hope you like it since there are card corpses all over my lounge floor! BUT when I went to upload it to the splitcoaststampers site - boy oh boy - I must be getting really thick in my old age as it sounded like a very convoluted way to go about it - maybe I won't enter their challenges too often! DUH

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post

Me again!

Since I was so determined to enter One Layer Wednesday here I thought I'd best have another go. This week's challenge, set yesterday, was YELLOW. I used the fabulous post it technique I am so fond of (in it's original form) and distress inks in Mustard Seed with just a hint of Wild Honey around the edges. Once I removed the post its I inked up my fab Paper Artsy stamp in memento tuxedo black and stamped slightly off the bottom of the previously masked area and then added (again in black) my Stamping Up sentiment. This is the first time I've entered the One Layer Wednesday challenge, normally preferring a number of layers - it's quite liberating and will most definitely NOT be requiring a LARGE stamp when the time comes to post it properly!!

Welcome to Thursday - how's it working out for you?

Morning all,

but only just - not entirely sure where the morning has gone but it's gone just the same. No post again for me today so no new stash to play with - boo hoo - not like I don't have plenty to be going on with.

Anyhoo - checked out a couple of blogs this morning and the card below sort of happened as a result. Joanne Wardle's blog featured a variation on the post it technique I so love and also featured a challenge called "One Layer Wednesday" - now, as it happens this weeks OLW challenge is YELLOW so my card's no good for that  but hey . . . now I know it's there!

I have, however, entered this card over on the ABC Christmas challenge where the current years challenges are A-Z and A is for "Anything for Christmas" and I hope you like it.

I used an Inkadinkado clear stamp for the image and the flourish is Paper Artsy. I also used distress inks in bundled sage and peeled paper for the post-it border, stamping my tree in memento tuxedo black before highlighting with platinum stickles (thanks to crafting pal, Wynneth, for introducing me to this wondrous stickle shade). You might spot my "mistake" but I'm hoping the ultimate recipient will forgive me as I like the card otherwise. Oh, and another bonus is that being only one layer, it will happily go through regular mail without attracting too much attention or requiring a LARGE (for large read rip off!) stamp!

We're forecast for snow later today so I might even have to head to Sainsbury's to top up supplies but, other than that, currently no plans for the remainder of the day so, who knows? I might just have a go at the YELLOW challenge!

Whatever you good people are doing then I hope you will have some fun doing it, catch y'all later.

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post

Right, back again and I've been working on my hot choccie tin. It started out as a recycling excercise which I had planned to enter in the recycling challenge over on I Love Pro Markers but it just sort of grew organically and I ultimately decided that Pro Markers weren't appropriate and water coloured with Brilliance inks instead! I used distress inks in Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Tea Dye  and Brilliance inks in Rust, beige, cocoa, and lightning black and versamark in sage and gingerbread. Stamps used were ALL by Paper Artsy from three Hot Picks sets (one received for Christmas) and I was lucky enough to have the matching flower die with this present too.

Welcome to hump day Wednesday - it's WOYWDW too!

The days seem shorter - they must be because it doesn't seem like seven days since the last Wednesday!

It's What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday over on craftbubble's Craft Mad & Loving It where everyone photographs their current projects. My desk was looking conspicuously tidy last evening but I aim to fix all that shortly. I went to make some hot chocolate yesterday only to find the choc powder was one solid lump in the bottom of the canister so I chiselled out what I wanted and threw the rest away and cleaned the container out thinking - "hmmmmm recycling!" So here's how my desk's looking today ...... I realise that it's probably going to end up as just another pen holder but hey - aren't those ALWAYS useful?

A lot of peoples thoughts over the Christmas break turned to vacations (especially with all that nasty snow and cold) and my hubby's no different - we've had brochures strewn all over the place and copious notes on bits of papers. We've had discussions about so many possible locations - I think the only one that hasn't come up is Richard Branson's SPACE option!!!!! We've spent quite a while on the phone, several times, with our friends in Blackpool as we had mooted another vacation with them in 2011. It is Mary's 70th this year (she won't mind me telling you for two reasons - 1) she never comes on to my blog and 2) she looks about 55!!!!) and they were planning a Danube cruise in July and had asked us if we might like to accompany them. We'll pass on the Danube but would be more than happy to vacation with them again as they are such lovely people, if we can all agree on location!. What about you lot then readers? You got any plans? I love to hear about other peoples vacations so please ..... do share.

Anyway, nothing arrived in the post today, except a Land's End Sale catalogue - when will they learn? The last time I ordered from them has to have been almost ten years ago!! but they still send them regularly and I just rip off and shred the back page (with my name, address and account number) and recycle the rest - isn't that what most people do with most catalogues? Nett result? I'm STILL waiting for my Craft Obsessions order and one from Crafty Individuals - neither is overdue, I'm just getting excited! Doesn't everyone ALSO love new stash?

It's been VERY windy here since yesterday evening and raining for most of this morning too and, at only 6°, it's not overly warm either - it's 15° in Champions Gate, Florida (and only 08:30) - making me wish I was there!

Have a good afternoon and evening peeps and do try to stay warm/dry/safe/all of the above.

Tuesday Jan 4th and most people are heading back to work . . .

Morning all,

I guess many of you are heading back to work, some for the first time since before Christmas - I hope your first day back isn't like that of my friend who was in work last week but the heating in the building had failed over the break - she was wearing every ounce of clothing she had been able to lay her hands on!

Well, what about this weather then? Yesterday saw powdery snow falling for much of the day. Luckily for us though, it didn't really settle anywhere and I for one, am not even a little bit sorry.

Stayed in because there was no reason to go out and didn't see the point in dressing like Nanook of the frozen wastes and getting cold and wet in to the bargain - more time for crafting too.

Got cracking on writing the birthday/anniversary cards for January so I now have a nice little stack waiting to be posted. The thank you letters are awaiting posting today - being the first "proper" posting day since Christmas although we did have deliveries on Thursday and Friday of last week.

Yesterday, I was given an award and had to share some "stuff" about myself - one was that I used to be a bit of a biker . . . . and, frankly, some of you were just a tad sceptical. I don't actually have any photos of me on said "bike" but here's a layout from a mini family album I did a few years back and it shows my late father "test driving" Hagar the horrible (my mum's name for my bike)!! It wasn't the biggest bike I ever rode but it was sure amongst the heaviest at just short of 500lbs and yes, I did have to pick it up off the road on one occasion and I can tell you I felt every one of those pounds!!!

Hubby was out at a meeting last evening which gave me the chance to crack on and craft with a movie of MY choice on - Sunday night saw us watching "Sptifire Women" because everything else recorded was "for me" - mind you I have to grudgingly confess to enjoying it!, AND he had a point - "Meet the Santas" is not really a very "guy" movie!

We cardmakers all, sooner or later, have to make a sympathy card or two and they never get any easier to make. What's the right image to achieve just the right level of sobriety without being too much? Well, I was trawling blogs recently and came across Joanne Wardle's and she was reflecting on her card making year - June saw her making a sympathy card and I thought it simple and sensitive with just the right tone - I also had the set of Paper Artsy stamps containing both the image and sentiment so set about making a similar (but not identical card). I used Brilliance starlight black ink for my image and memento tuxedo black ink for the sentiment which I also stamped on both the insert and envelope. I used narrow organza ribbon twice round the panel and a separate length tied in to a knot where the two lengths crossed. My thanks to Joanne - do check out her blog here where you can catch many other clever ideas and tips. Now, with hubby still out at his meeting I set to thinking that it would make a very nice non sympathy card so I grabbed some blingy ribbon, some green faux gemstones, some Brilliance green (I think its Thyme) and some Versacolor Lime geen and a couple of shades of green card and VOILA!!!! It has to be said that the blingy ribbon, though FABULOUS, makes the card very definitely a HAND DELIVERY!!!

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post - AN AWARD for 2011

I was given this award by Dawn - check out her blog here

As you may already be aware, this is not just ANY blog award! This one comes with a fab $5 Gift Certificate! How cool is that????

In order to qualify for the $5.00 Digi's With Attitude! Gift Certificate you must state 3 things that make you different from everyone else and you must nominate 5 blogs, then let those 5 blogs know you nominated them. Lastly, you must display the Blog Award Badge (above) in your sidebar and link it back to the Digi's With Attitude! Challenge Blog

For all the details please visit THIS LINK

3 things then that make me different from everyone else:-

1. I'm OBSESSED by all things purple!!! Mind you - you probably already knew that!
2. Both my husband and brother have the same name (Steve) - how confusing is that?
3. I'm an ex-biker chick but no longer have the legs for it!!!

 And now to nominate five blogs to receive this award:

KarenL

BlueBertie

StampingGrandma

CardsbyJacki

AmIaDreamer

Morning readers and welcome to the start of another week

Well - I felt such a complete plonker with yesterday's upside down themed card that even Rodney Trotter would have been proud of me!! I couldn't let that defeat me now, could I? So, I took another C6 card, some more of the Grey, the black and the number paper/card and set to work. BTW, for those of you interested the sentiment on the front and the inside are both by Inkadinkado. I do hope you think this RENEWAL of an otherwise ruined card has improved it in some way!! Thanks for looking.

Have a good day and do feel free to check back to see if I've made anything else today!! One thing I won't be making today is ...... a trip to the sales, having decided that there can be NOTHING in this World I want quite THAT much!!!

It's the first Sunday of the New Year .....

and my decorations are, mostly, taken down and put in boxes and bags ready to return to the hidey hole in the loft till November ..... just the outside lights which need to dry out before putting away. Everywhere looks so bare - least it will once I've vacuumed up the tinsel and lametta bits! Guess I should put away the Christmas CD's too - who knows? next Christmas I might even have an IPod with it all on! Hey, I can dream - can't I?

Sunday has brought a new challenge and, once again, this has been set by Lauren over on Craft Mad & Loving It and Lauren has selected RESTORE, RENEW and RECYCLE as her theme for the week - interpret it as you will. Fancy having a go? Well follow my earlier link to Lauren's challenge.

As for me, well I've not had much chance to have a go yet but ...... here's what I DID come up with, bet you can't guess what it is I've recycled!!! YEAH .... RIGHT! It's actually a piece of our old computer that hubby didn't want to trust to the recycling facility! As the eagle eyed readers I know I have will spot - this also features yesterday's challenge sketch - two birds one stone - how's that for recycling too!

I used a numbered sheet of DCWV paper and an offcut (literally cut the last inch off the exact piece) of glittery black and white DCWV card, some silver holographic card run through an embossing folder for a previous project and a leftover piece of grey and piece of black card and there you have my recycled card . . . . . sad to say that the card will also have to be renewed at some point - because, dummy that I am (and speed of light crafter!) I stuck it all on upside down and it opens to the left - DUH!!!! However, what I MIGHT do is stick another card to it to make it a zig zag fold out guy card - whaddya reckon? that would certainly RENEW it!

Crafts International have birthday candy - closing on January 6th with the winner announced on the 7th pop along here and register to win.

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post

Wotcher,

Done a fair bit of tidying up following the Christmas festivities and the boxes are back down from the loft - a sure indication that Christmas is virtually over.

I hope anyone feeling a smidge delicate following last evening's celebrations has recovered - since we were early to bed it wasn't us!!! I've even managed some crafting today. Obviously a sketchie, which I'm also entering in the "ANYTHING GOES" challenge over on ILPM's. I used a white C6 card and cut a piece of DCWV Shimmer card stock slightly smaller than my base card. I stamped on this card using memento ink in tuxedo black and using my Inkadinkado dot flourish clear stamp. I also had a small offcut of DCWV embossed spotty card for the top panel and some toning Coredinations. I attached velvet ribbon (a Christmas gift from my crafting Secret Santa so thank you Cindy). I stamped my docrafts sentiment on white card and cut closely round it before mounting on a piece of the coredinations and then the DCWV shimmer and adhering to the velvet ribbon. The Crafty Individuals image was also stamped on white card in memento ink before colouring with Pro Markers. I do hope you like it.

The second piece of work today started life as an offcut from a piece of 12" x 12" paper - left over from cutting the sheet down to my 8½" x 11" format. I used an edging punch all along one end and then scored in each "valley" of the punched image before folding "hill", "valley", "hill", "valley" along the length. I then stuck the two ends together and cut two zig zag circles for top and bottom (basically to hold it flat!). I die cut a tag from DCWV shimmer card in green (the same as I used for the top and bottom circle) and then attached a length of narrow satin ribbon (the wonderful Michaels at 50c a reel!) and then (using my glue gun) attached to the rear of my "flower" and there you have a nice little embellished gift tag, as really rather simple to make too!

Hope you've all had a good day - now I'm off to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

New Year, New Sketch!

Morning all,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

I hope you enjoyed your New Year celebrations, whatever they were whether quiet evenings in or noisy bustling parties and I hope that your heads feel fine this morning!

Hubby and I had no plans for last night at all so we cracked open a bottle and watched a bit of TV, some recorded TV and headed for bed pretty early. We found ourselves awake at 11:58 so turned the TV on to watch Big Ben chime, wished one another the Happiest of Years to come and went right back to sleep!! - how's that for excitement then, eh?

I wish you all, dear readers, the same as I wish for myself - a Happy and Healthy 2011.

It's sketchie day again and, over on craftbubble's Craft Mad & Loving It, it was Lauren's turn to present the sketch - what a hero that woman is! After partying till stupid O'Clock she was still up in time to present the sketchie - though we're told she only came down to make a cuppa and headed right back to bed!!! The twist today is think "THANKS". So, without further ado, here is Lauren's sketch - if you want to see what people have made of this sketch then why not pop over to CMLI using this link here, and maybe even have a go!! Go on . . . . . you KNOW you want to!

Do check back later to see my take on this sketch - I'm not up and dressed yet so do give me a while!