A sweet birthday card

Today, we are going out to celebrate another friend's birthday - talk about being party people LOL.

This card I did using the latest sketch from the Sugar Bowl :)

I used one of my favourite Sugar Nellie Stamps from the Gorjuss girls range. An oldie, but a goodie :) I coloured the image with ProMarkers.
Papers are from My Mind's Eye - Darling Dear - another bargain 6x6 pad.... The sentiment is a Paula Pascual stamp from Personal Impressions. I went to town again with the distressing tool - I am a bit obsessed with things distressed just now...lol.

And as a gift for this friend, we went and bought Birthday cake flavoured Vodka - yep, that's right. And it tastes just like cake too, with a bit of an after shock of course, if you catch my drift...

I foresee a few sore heads in the morning....

Una tarjeta de cumpleaños para Monica

.... otherwise known as - A birthday card for Monica.

Mark is off to Jacksonville on Monday, for work purposes and also to have a good nose round our new city. He is going to check out schools and areas to live, and meet his new colleagues in the US Navy.
A British colleague put him in contact with an American family who live in the area we want to, and whose children go to the schools we are interested in. They got in touch, and invited him to a birthday meal while he is here, so I thought I would make a card for him to take with him. Monica comes from Chile originally, so I got my Google out (!!!) and found a couple of Spanish phrases to put inside her card...

I used the sketch from The Sugar Bowl, and would like to enter this for their latest challenge. I decided when I saw the sketch, that I would do something a bit different, and made the front part of the card a triangle.

Here is the inside of the card. A quick translation - "Dear Monica, Happy birthday, Hope you have a great day". Unfortunately without Google, my Spanish is limited to Dora the Explorer...

I used Bella Bunting on my card, coloured in with ProMarkers. The papers come from the PaperMania Summer Bloom set.

Now I hope that a) Mark remembers to pack the card, b) he remembers to take it to the meal, and c) that she likes it!!

Off to work now, TTFN

xxxx





Sugar Bowl challenge 66

I used to make a lot of cards. A lot. Now, I don't make so many. But every now and again I get a card making itch that I just have to scratch. And I like to use a sketch for my cardmaking as well as my scrapbooking. The latest challenge over at the Sugar Bowl took my fancy. Marlena has done a great sketch, and the theme of "for the girls" fitted in  nicely as I wanted to make a card for my sister-in-law's birthday.

My sister-in-law has a thing for rabbits - they have several bunnies, as well as guinea pigs, in hutches in their back garden. I had exhausted my Little Cotton Rabbits stamps over previous years, so decided to invest in a new Sassy - Bad Hare Day.

I coloured her in with ProMarkers, and played with the new fine nib set I got last week. I am not the neatest when it comes to colouring in, so these fine nibs are just perfect for me especially when it comes to the more detailed images. I think I made her look a bit Amy Pond-ish LOL

The patterned papers are from the PaperMania "Summer Bloom" collection, and the cardstock is from Bazzill. The circle behind the image was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The buttons are also from PaperMania, and the sentiment stamp is from Personal Impressions.

TTFN


xxxx

Playing in the Sugar Bowl...

This week is the Mother-in-law's birthday, so as a dutiful daughter-in-law, I made her a card...

I was taken by the sketch and colour theme posted on the Sugar Bowl Challenge blog this week, and was inspired by Erika and Kiki's examples as I came up with this card.

Doilies seem to be the rage right now, and since I picked a couple of packets up at my "local shop for local people" aka The House of Sugar on Saturday, I thought I would use them!
The image is Fairy Tale, one of the Simply Sassy stamps, which I coloured in with ProMarkers. I covered the image in a 3D Clear Gloss, and when it was dry, I cracked the gloss and swiped some brown ink over it to make it look like an old tile.
The script paper is a Prima stamp, and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions. The lace and ribbon is from my ribbon box, and all the cardstock is Bazzill Basics.
This card also qualifies as one of my Card from Scraps, as the blue paper is an unknown scrap from my scraps folder.

The weekend has been full of work, sleepovers and a little bit of crafting. On Saturday, Jemma and I went to see our friend Erika demo-ing at our local craft shop, affectionately known as The House of Sugar (seeing as it is the home of Sugar Nellie stamps). Jemma stood the whole time next to the demo table, taking in everything that Erika did. Needless to say, when she got home, the craft box came out, and I now have various felt and paper flowers strewn about the house, all Stickled within an inch of their lives! Me, on the other hand did a bit of heckling with some of the girls from the Hopeman Crop - life would be boring without a bit of banter!
We did a little retail therapy, as it is rude not to, and I came out with some more Distress Inks, some Stickles and a couple of new rubber stamps. Jemma used some of her pocket money to buy some card toppers and a bottle of Stickles. So a pleasant afternoon was had by all!

Apart from making a birthday card, I have been working hard on my next DT sketch - it has been a challenge, but then that's part of why I wanted to be on a DT in the first place!
Talking of Sassy Lil' Sketches, the new sketches are up today on the layout and card blogs, and the girls have created some fabulous pages and cards! I can't wait to play with the layout sketch myself!!

So, all that is left is to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day, and I best get this card down to the Post Office.....

TTFN



xxxx

Birthday cards

The busy social life of my 8 year old!! Tom has 2 parties this weekend, so I needed to make 2 cards. I saw a beautiful card on the Simply Sassy blog, and had to google some instructions, as I had never made a Stair Step Card before. I found some great ones here.

The cards were made with scraps, naturally! For the boys card I used some BasicGrey, and I am not sure what the paper was that I used for the girls card. The image stamps are both from Sugar Nellie - Manga boy, and Purrfect friends (without the cat!). I coloured them in with ProMarkers. Sentiment stamps are from Studio G (For my friend) and Elzybells. I cut the 8's out using my cricut and SCAL. A couple of buttons and a flower and I called them done :)

I've spent the afternoon chatting and crafting with my pal Erika, mainly chatting, as we haven't caught up in ages!

TTFN

xxxx

SLS 14th Jan Sketch

Cherie provided another fab sketch over at Sassy Lil' Sketches last week.

Another chance for me to use up some scraps, and this time it was the Jillibean Soup scraps leftover from my Shoulders layout that were put to use!

I inked up one of my Sugar Nellie Gorjuss girls for this card, and coloured her in with ProMarkers. The sentiment stamp is from PaperTrey Ink. I found an oddment of trim that went perfectly with the sketch, and added some machine stitching and a button to finish it off.

From February, Sassy Lil' Sketches will also have a card challenge blog - and will be posting more card sketches, on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th, just like the layout blog! There is an awesome DT lined up, who are ready to inspire you with their work, and some great sponsors with amazing prizes to offer! I can't wait!!

TTFN

xxxx

Get Sketchy #70

Time for another card! I used this weeks sketch over at the Get Sketchy card challenge blog for this card. And I also used the Add on sketch over at Sketch Support. Two sketches on one project, never managed that before!

The stamped image is one of Sugar Nellie's Simply Sassy stamps - delightfully called Luv a Latte. I coloured her in with ProMarkers, and punched her out with a 2.5" circle punch. I added some chalk ink round the edge for a background. The mug is the add on sketch at Sketch Support. I followed the measurements given on the sketch, and then added a chipboard heart instead of a snowflake. I added a heart tag to make it look like it had a tea bag in it! I added some swirls out the top using Stickles for the steam.

This is another one of my cards made from scraps, all the papers are from the scrap box again. I don't know who makes the duck egg blue polka dot paper, but the other paper is Echo Park. I used my sewing machine to add some stitching around the edge. The sentiment stamp is from a Personal Impressions set.

I think this card is going to a friend of mine, who has just found out her 8 year old daughter needs open heart surgery, to correct a hole in her heart. This little girl was Tom's first girlfriend at nursery, and her misses her lots, especially as she now lives the other end of the country.

TTFN


xxxx

Sugar bowl challenge 45

As well as it being my parent's wedding anniversary this weekend, it also happens to be my Dad's birthday. I thought I would play along in the Sugar Bowl this week, especially as it had a great sketch by Tiets.

I used the Sugar Nellie Rock Star Manga stamp - my Dad loves music, and every now and again busts out his 12 string acoustic guitar for an airing... I stamped it with Memento Black Tuxedo ink, and coloured it in with the 5 Cool Grey shades of Promarkers.
I used up a load of scraps too, mainly Doodlebug papers. The stars are Maya Road chipboard, and the button on top is from Paper Mania. The sentiment is an Elzybells one. I added some stickles for a bit of glam.

Colouring is not my strong point, but I am pleased with how this has turned out, and I know Dad will love it too.

So we are off on our "Around the Country in 8 days" trip tomorrow... Should be lots of fun. See you on the other side...!

TTFN

xxxx

September? Already???

Crumbs, surely it can't be September AGAIN? It was only 5 minutes since the last one, right?

September for me means 2 things - getting older, and Learning Something New Every Day!
For the past 3 years I have signed up for Shimelle's class, the first year I started with all good intentions, but fell by the wayside - primarily due to a tragedy that happened in our community the first week of September 2007. But for the past 2 years I have produced an album - a 4x4, and a 6x6.
This year, I think I am going to try something new. Things have changed for me over the past year, we bought a house and I now go out to work - so I am looking for a quicker way to record this September. So I thought I would blog it. I am also quite interested to see how easy the digital templates Shimelle is providing this year are to use, as I could quite happily do a little digital album. It's all about learning after all!
How far I get is another matter, September is going to be busy - especially at work, where the store is getting a new re-fit, which means night shifts for me... So without further ado, here is my lesson for the 1st September...

Today I learned that you can make more than ratatouille with courgettes...

I have been growing vegetables for the first time in the garden this year, and the 2 courgette plants have gone mental and produced a endless crop of courgettes. Now I am not a fan of the courgette, but Mark loves a bit of ratatouille, so I grew some to see what would happen. They like it here in Hopeman, it seems.
So, seeing as the freezer has a years supply of ratatouille in it, I looked for something different.... and found a recipe for Chocolate Courgette cake on the BBC Good Food website. I made it, and wow, it is really yummy! Waiting to see if the kids will try it - although I will probably drop the courgette bit, and just call it chocolate cake....
If you look closely at the photo, you may even spot me....

Crafting and creating have been scarce this past week, but I did make a birthday card last week to send to my UKS team mate Margaret. I used a Sugar Nellie stamp and coloured it with ProMarkers. The patterned paper is Chatterbox, and I used Bazzill card stock. The script paper is actually a Prima stamp, stamped onto My Minds Eye paper. The sentiment is an Elzybells stamp, and the flowers were in a Sarah's Cards bargain box that I ordered last week. I was inspired by Marlene. Her cards are just beautiful, and this is a lift of a card from a couple of years ago.
Well, that's all from me for now, hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with another lesson learned. Maybe I should be more positive and say I WILL be back tomorrow with another lesson :)

P.S. A shout out to my friend Jo, whose album cover made it into the first prompt of the month!

TTFN

xxxx

Coffee and a chat...

The summer holidays are almost over, and one of the things I am looking forward to doing when the kids have gone back to school is to catch up with friends over a coffee. But over the summer, I have lost a few friends who have been posted to bases in England, a downside to Forces Life :( One of them in particular, I will miss the most. I was in Starbucks a couple of weeks ago, and spied their VIA coffee sachets, and thought, "hmm I'm sure I can do something with this", followed shortly by, "I know I have a stamp that is perfect for this", followed again by "I must pop by my LSS and pick up the perfect Sugar Nellie stamp for this"... So, armed with my stamps and a kit I have had for donkey's years - not even sure whose kit it is, it could be a Sarah's Cards kit, or even a ScrapaGoGo kit - I set to make a little something to send my pal through the post :)

The Sugar Nellie stamp is called "Coffee Time", and I coloured her in with my ProMarkers. The papers are Jilly Beans Soup - Minestrone. I used Bazzill kraft card for the base. I card lifted from one of my favourite Dutch cardmakers - Tiets - I love all the layers she uses. The flowers are Making Memories.

Inside, I punched out a 2 1/2 inch circle from another coloured image, and layered it onto a 3 inch scallop circle. And then I added the sentiment stamp from Elzybells that I have owned for years, but never inked up onto the front of the second flap.

I made a little pocket from kraft card to house the coffee sachets, and then covered the front with patterned paper. To keep the symmetry, I added some patterned paper to the other side, and added a square of kraft card to add a message.

On the back, is another of my Elzybells stamps, I don't always sign the back, but seeing as I was happy with the result, I thought I'd put my name to it LOL. I added a bit of blue organza ribbon to tie the card/booklet together.

I'm sure my friend will like it, and I hope that she enjoys the coffee too, although it's not the same without the chat :(

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Not unlucky for me at all, in fact 13 crops up a couple of times in our family, and never in a bad way. Today is our 16th wedding anniversary, and no we got married on a Saturday, not a Friday! Also my daughter was born on the 13th April, and no not on a Friday, although many times I have thought that she should have been, and have searched endlessly for the 666 sign on her head....

TTFN

xxxx

New supplies and new projects...

I like a nice bit of stash shopping as much as the next scrapbooker, and this week I had a double whammy! On Monday, I found some lovely Making Memories stuff and an American Crafts D ring album in TK Maxx of all places... Then on Wednesday, I went to my LSS for a quick Sugar fix and to generally have a nose around. Of course I left with a bag of goodies, including Prima stamps, Bo Bunny papers and Personal Impressions stamps. Oh and the Sugar Nellie stamp I went in for in the first place...
As it is the beginning of August, the new PageMaps are out, so after printing them out, one caught my eye and before I knew it, I had delved into my new stuff and came out with this...


Mark took these photos of Jemma doing a spot of harbour jumping. Now Jemma is a bit of an adventure girl, an adrenaline junkie. Anything remotely dangerous or adventurous is real magnet to this girl. She was really up for harbour jumping, but when the time came, all of a sudden she was really reluctant to do it. Even after a few visits, she still faffs and delays before jumping in. Very odd. She is a confident swimmer, and has jumped into pools from rocks before, and off diving boards. Not sure what the deal is with the harbour. Anyhow, these photos were taken last weekend, using the continous mode on my camera.
The papers are BoBunny Abbey Road - I love double sided papers. I used punches for the scallop circles and journalling spots, and my threading water punch. Title alphas are Sizzix Nouveau for "leap" and Papermania mini foam stickers for "of faith". The script paper is actually a Prima stamp, stamped onto Bazzill card.

Then, I did an unusual thing, I made a card from my scraps! I know I should do this more often, but alot of the time I am just plain lazy LOL.

This card is for a friend over the pond.
I used brown Memento ink to stamp the Sugar Nellie Manga stamp onto cardstock, and then coloured her in with ProMarkers. I used the BoBunny papers again, and then cut out a flower from one of the papers, and layered it with some Making Memories felt, paper and voile flowers. I finished it off with a pearl brad. The sentiment is from Elzybells. I added some Stickles to her hair, just for fun!


I can't believe it is Friday again, another week has flown by. The kids have had a whale of a time at Funtazia, and Tom especially is thoroughly worn out. It's my weekend off work this weekend, so I am sure that will fly by too. We need to get Jemma's camping kit sorted, as she is off camping with the Scouts next week. And they want to go to the library, so they can get the next stickers at the reading scheme. I think Karate Kid is on the agenda too, and probably a bit of gardening (weather permitting) as there are a few jobs that need doing.
Me and the boy have to go shopping for uniform and shoes, I seem to have left it a bit late this year, as next week is the last week of the hols, so no doubt will be a hellish experience. But that'll be a job for when Jemma is at camp - taking one child shopping is just that little bit easier...

TTFN

xxxx