Cards time again... and the chance to win some Blog Candy!!!!

Lately, I've had some odd flashes of inspiration. Funnily enough, these have come at moments when I've had to create a card in a hurry. Like the two following... I think I'm safe blogging them, because the first one should have been received by now, and the second one, well, the recipient is unlikely to browse my blog (not impossible, but unlikely!).

This first one definitely has an air of the black and white movies. Prompted by the "Oh Gawd, got to make a card now!" type sentiment, I dug in my box of tricks and came up with the pink edged card pre-stamped with the woman's face. 15 minutes later, I'd teamed this up with the black card, the monochrome background paper, and some silver peel-offs. Add a simple sentiment, et voila!



The second card was again born from speed, partly cos I knew my beloved would be fed up with watching TV on his own, and I need to post this card tomorrow. So what can you do with two stamps, one colour of ink and one colour of embossing powder, a small piece of rainbow coloured vellum, and a plain, purple pearlescent card?

This.....




Hope you like them!


In fact, I've had an idea.

Using the same criteria, I'd like to see YOU make a card. A maximum of two stamps, one colour of ink, one colour of embossing powder (can be the same or a tonal one). No pre-printed background papers!

And I'm even going to offer up some blog candy. Come back tomorrow, and see what's on offer.....

Then go and make your cards, stick them on your blog, and link back to mine. I'll then pick a winner out at random.

And the deadline is....... ooh, let's have a long one! Midnight on Saturday the 18th October!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

More Inchies

Ok - a little late, but as promised, here is my other Star inchy.....




And here is one for the new Rain challenge!



Hope you like them!

Oooohhhhh - Changes!!!!

Well, whaddya fink?


I found this AWESOME site that allows you to pick up templates and attach them to your blog to add a bit more bling to it. It's bugged me for AGES that I had these blank panels either side of my blog, and now they're gone.

This template is a little bit full on for my liking, but was preferable to any others I saw on their website (see little tag, top left, for details). Once I can get my head round their "how to" template, I will have a stab at making my own on PSP. And if that fails, I shall have to sweet-talk an acquaintance of mine, the fabulous Inchy at Siggi Shop, to extend her range and maybe make something that matches my header. My fabulous header. Which she made.

Star

Over on the Inchy by Inch blog, the latest challenge is "Stars".

I went away, did mine, came back..... and realised that I'd done something almost identical. I'm just going to have to go away and do another one, aren't I?

Anyway, here's the one I've done for now... LOL

Arty Girlz

I made a last minute card for the challenge on Aunty's, and then after having a wee tiny surf around blogland, suddenly realised I'd done something that would count for the Arty Girlz Red Challenge! Yay!!!

So here it is....



The stamps are all from The Netherlands (thanks Anette!), apart from the alphabet which is Studio G. I did the background with perfect pearls, and the stamping was done with blue ink that came with the set, embossed with clear powder!

Oh, and the answer to the question.... "how do you build a home?"

Inside it says.... "With Love"

My favourite friends

I just had to share these pictures with you. I WAS going to use them on an Aunty's Challenge, but just didn't have the time to do the layouts. Hopefully I will sometime soon!

The challenge was, "What makes your house a home?"

I think the pictures say it all....

The end of summer for sure....

LOL

After all that - we've had more good weather. So it's the end of summer, take two.

This isn't exactly going to be a long post - I'm here mainly because I know one or two of you often check in to keep up to date with what's going on in my life.

Well, there's not much happening, if I'm honest.

My world mostly exists of staring at the ceiling at the moment. Any other position ranges from just uncomfortable, to downright agony. I'm not complaining - don't get me wrong about that - it's just a fact of my life right now, though how long for I don't know. I am still working - though I got sent home Thursday lunchtime and forced to take some extra time out of my holidays. That's ok as I still have plenty to take!

As mentioned in my previous post, my back is playing up. In fact it's creating merry hell, so sitting at a computer for any length of time is not good. Shame my work basically is all done on a computer, eh? ROFL. Ouch.

So I'm on Diclofenac Sodium, as much rest as I can get, and a healthy dose of physio that I had to crawl into the local hospital and practically beg for. Ho hum.

So my sincere apologies for not being here when I should have. I have no obligation to blog, but a desire to. And I miss it.

There you have it.

I will try and come back again soon!

The end of Summer.....

Hello readers!

Sorry I've not been around for a while. Life kind of caught up with me - since I last posted we've had a long weekend in Cornwall (all fabulous, gorgeous weather and icky sunburn), spent 12 long days in Shropshire with Wolfshead Bowmen in the (mostly) pouring rain, and been to the Great Dorset Steam Rally.

I figured it was high time I shared some of this with you.

Here is a picture of a beach in Cornwall. Wa-hey. Thrilling, eh? We're the little shelter at the far end. Yes, a Cornish beach with no-one on it. Amazing for late July. Which I why I though to share it with you. It was like this for about 45 minutes after we got there, at about 12.30pm, but didn't exactly get packed. I think that was cos only locals knew about it. The reason we went there was that it was the only beach in about a 30 mile radius that was both clean, safe for swimming, AND allowed dogs.




By complete contrast, here are a couple of photos from our stay in Shropshire. Note the pouring rain. Note the rain, pouring off all the canvas. Note the mud. It was like that for about 8 out of the 12 days we were there. And all the while my back was playing up too. Ho hum. It did dry up towards the end of our time there, so it was fun in the end.....

Cards.....again..... LOL

I only ever seem to upload pictures of cards or ATCs these days. The cards following are for this month's challenge on Aunty's Forum (Yep, novel eh? Like you haven't heard THAT before!) which was set by "Full of Scrap" team and is "Things with Wings". HOWEVER. Whilst I uploaded them into the members gallery there, I didn't put any info about them. A cunning plan. That way I get to impart the information here, instead. And also, I didn't show a picture of the inside of the Oriental card - so there's also an exclusive here! PMSL

OK. Card Number One.



For a start - it's A5 sized, cloud 9 style in a duck egg blue. Or green, depending on how good you see colours and what you think is blue and what you think is gre.... I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry. OK, to continue. On the right hand half of the card I stamped a stars and moons background (manufacturer - Anita's) using Brilliance Pearlescent Lavender ink. On the left side of the card I layered some lilacky-purple (ya like that word???), textured giftwrap, and edged it with a silver peeloff. I then put a mat of one of the sheets from the DCWV "Once Upon A Time" Mat Stack (gorgeous, drool). The Fairy is one of the Faerie Poppets die cut decoupage range. They're lovely, especially as all the cutting out is done for you! I felt she needed a "proper" background, so I watercoloured a blue and green background, and then tapestry-stamped a scene using a few random Clarity Stamp stamps that I own (small bare tree, grasses) in different shades of pigment greens and brown. Finally I layered this onto lilac cardstock, edged the picture in more silver peeloff, layered Madam Fairy up, and tied a spot of organza ribbon in a bow round the spine of the card. I think she's lovely!

Onto Card Number Two - the Oriental One.....





This one came about because it's my Mum's 77th Birthday tomorrow.... (Hi Mom)... and she loves all things Oriental. The eagle eyed amongst you may well have spotted that the pictures used are from the Papermania Oriental collection. I was lucky enough to acquire a boxed set of this from my local Range store at a bargain 33% off. It's been lurking on a shelf, waiting for me to visit Hong Kong with work (like that'll ever happen! Sheesh.... ) so I thought I'd use some of it to make a post pop-out card for Mum. The red and gold paper, I'm afraid to say, is actually gift wrap I bought in a craft shop in France. Sorry ladies....

I used a WS designs large popout rectangle template to make the card (I can do a tutorial if enough people ask, but it's too longwinded for now)and then basically decorated it with the gift wrap, some gold peeloffs and both the 3D and the flat stickers from the Oriental collection. Ta Dah! Done. Oh, and I added a verse behind the window... It reads:

Take a little pinch of comfort
Add warmth and kindness too
Throw in some love and tenderness
And the end result is you.
With all these fine ingredients
It's very plain to see,
Why you are extra special
The best Mother There could be

Not one of my own creations, I'm afraid - it came from Verse Writer by Kaz.

Good Grief....

Where DOES the time go? It's simply not on, you know! Somebody stop the world, I want to get off - at least for a little while!

There's nothing particularly exciting to report at the moment, so I thought I would do something I promised a long long while back. Remember the "Time" ATC swap I did ages ago? Well - here's the long awaited picture of the ATCs I received back...



Fabulous, aren't they???


Actually, what AM I saying??? Not much to report!!! I'm sure my pal Debs would be getting huffy right now because I went and stayed with her for the weekend in Cornwall (much to DHs disgust, LOL), and this photo was one of many taken over the weekend. But by far the funniest. There's a long story behind this, but I won't bore you all - you had to be there.



What I will say is - We love you Storm!

What else of note is there to impart to you, my humble readership? Not much, I spose, but if I remember, I will indeed return, and report!

Adieu.....