How lucky am I......

As you know I'm not blogging at the moment, but just had to share a delightful surprise with you all. When I opened my mail, what a surprise I had when I received this absolutely gorgeous card from my bessie buddy Kath . She already knows that I simply adore her designs & to be the recipient of such a piece is simply heart lifting. Didn't think I was due to receive another one from her until Christmas but no no no, as though she doesn't have enough on her busy schedule she took time to make this special card for me which I will treasure forever.

Thank you so so much Kath, the bestest friend that anyone could ask for. I'm truly honoured.

Lorraine xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi

Well some of you may have noticed that I've not posted over the last few days but I have infact been in hospital. Bit of a shock to the system, you know that sore stomach I had thought that I had pulled a muscle or two well turns out it was a lot more than that. I have infact been diagnosed as having a tumour so I have been allowed home until they decide what exactly is going to happen to me. Thus unfortunately I have not been crafting & probably won't be for a wee while. However, I am looking forward to it all being by with then I can hunt you all down again & see what I've been missing out on.

In the meantime you all have to craft a little more to make up for my lost time....

Happy crafting to you all & hope to be back with you soon.

Lorraine xxxxxxxx

"HERE" link

For the first time yesterday I managed to make a "Here" link on a challenge & yippee it actually worked first time. That was down to the fab instructions I was given. For anyone interested in doing this, please drop me an email & I will be happy to email you the instructions...

Many thanks to my dear friend Kath for giving me this information, no wonder I love her so...

Im getting ready now to go back to my craft group for the opening day after summer holidays so need to get my little craft bag all ready before heading off to meet up with everyone & hear all about their adventures over the holidays.

Back soon & happy crafting
Lorraine xxx

Tag You're It Challenge

The challenge this week over at "Tag You're It" has been set for Christmas. Well that's strange as my entry for last weeks postage theme was also a Christmas tag, so I'm getting well on my way to having all my tags ready for my pressies this year.

This week however I went for good old Santa as I so love this stamp. Colour has been added with Bruynzeel Aquarel pencils, the fur on his hat was done using a Sakura quickie gluepen then when tacky adding some cotton wool, some gems for the berries & a bell on his hat. Added some ultra fine glitter to the top of his hat & beard to represent snow lying on it.

Tag shape : Shapecutter plus & template
Image : Jolly Santa by Stamps Happen
Water colour : Bruynzeel Aquarel pencils
Gems, cotton wool, bell, ribbon & glitter : From my stash...

Ho Ho Ho not long to go now....
Happy Crafting :-)

Stamp Something

The challenge this week over at Stamp Something is to create an item card, atc etc that reminds you of summery things. Well I decided upon some blooms.... my garden is full of them in all different colours & I simply adore them. The main colours I used are blue, green, pink & orange with highlights in black.

Papers : Funky Hand

Stripey paper on the flowers : Doodlebug

Blue, pink & orange flowers : Bazzill card

Ribbon : Offray Microspool

Flower stamp : S for Stamps

Black Rub ons : Making Memories

Gems & Green wire : My stash

Hope you all had a fab weekend & happy crafting :-)

Blog Candy Give Away

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning this fab blog candy then pop over now to http://charmedcrafts.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-candy.html

All you have to do is leave a comment & if you post a link on your blog then you get entered twice. Better hurry as the entries are piling in as you can imagine...

Lorraine xxx

Penny Black Challenge

The challenge set this week over at Penny Black is to use ribbons... well I don't think anyone will have a problem with that as I think we all love our ribbon stash...

Stamped Image : PB Spring Air

Pink & Green Card Stock : Bazzill

White card stock : Create & Craft

Stripey Paper : Doodlebug

White Rub Ons : Doodlebug

Flowers : Prima

Ribbons : Offray Microspool

Button & wire : From stash

The image was coloured using water colour pencils, and a little bit of stitching & inking of edges to finish the whole thing off....

TFL & Happy Crafting :-)

Poppets Birthday

Firstly I do apologise for the layout of the pictures but I've never managed to figure out quite how this thing works when it comes to uploading numerous pics. If anyone can give me any hints or tips they would be very gratefully received.

However I've gone ahead anyway and done the best I can to let you all see what I have made for my friends little girls birthday. She turns 4 today and thought that I would do something a littl different to your normal everyday basic card.


The centre of the card flips over hence there are 4 views available for the centre depending if you are showing the back or front (there actually isn't any back or front, just depends how you position it). Both outside layers have been glued together for stability so they don't flip.

It has been decorated with a variety of papers & card varying from free papers out of a magazine, Funky Hand papers, Heidi Grace & Bazzill. The "4 TODAY" letters are all from Funky Hand and the chipboards are from a fantastic value pack that I bought from Create & Craft just over a year ago. They really were fantastic value for money as they worked out at about £1 per sheet & they retail in the shop for either £1.99 or £2.99, (can't quite remember) only know I made a massive saving.

The whole thing then folds together & is tied together with a lovely bright bow.

I didn't ink the edges or anything as she is only 4 so I decided to keep the colours & edges bright & bold for her. Still got some little
gems to add for that final bit of bling so off to do that now before I go shopping....

Happy crafting :-)

Daring Cardmakers Challenge

The challenge this week over at Daring Cardmakers is to use a wrap around your card of acetate, vellum or infact anything.

I have decided to use this card which is a piece of commission work I made for a show on Create & Craft put together by Cardology & Marking World. The base card has a heart appeture which I emphasized by adding 2 outer glittered hearts. Then an acetate wrap was placed around the card. The flowers were traced from a Cardology template sheet with a fine tip pen then decorated using a Sakura quickie glue pen & glitter. The "Just for You" sentiment was from another Cardology kit which again I highlighted with glitter & attached to the acetate wrap. To finish the whole card off I wrapped a stitched ribbon around the spine of the card & tied in a knot.

Nigel May loved the card & I hope that you do too.

Happy crafting :-)

Arty Girlz

The challenge set this week over at Arty Girlz was to create a project using no bought patterned paper. Here we go off to play & see how we can create our own. Well I fell back on an old favourite of mine but used different materials to highlight the design.

Started with a gold card base, then took some wine coloured paper & ran it through my big shot with a cuttlebug embossing die, then cut into three sections. Then using my sakura glue pen ran over the embossed design & once sticky highlighted this with metal leaf. Attached to the card using double sided tape.

Took a strip of gold card & ran that through the big shot with the same cuttlebug die & highlighted the design with stickles.

Now took another strip of the wine paper & created 2 paper beads to which I threaded through some gold thread, attached to the back of the gold strip using double sided tape & attached another strip of gold to keep it tidy & mounted onto the base card using foam pads.

To finish off attached a gem to the centre of the flower at the top right hand corner.

Hope you're all having a happy day crafting :-)

Penny Black Challenge

This week over at the Penny Black challenge we were given a sketch to work with. Wow, do we or do we not love our sketches. Yippee !!!!

Here I used the PB Pansy Bunny, some Bazzill card stock, vellum, black staz on, Prima flowers, watercolour pencils, MM rub ons, ribbon & gems...

Stamped the image with black staz on & coloured using watercolour pencils, cut a piece of card, used a fiskars corner squeeze punch & wrapped some ribbon around then once my image was cut out I mounted onto the card using foam pads, the whole tag was then mounted onto the base card using foam pads. Small gems were placed under the tag in the holes of the corner punch.

Tore some vellum & emphasized the edges with black staz on. Cut another piece of card to mount on this. Using the shapecutter plus & template cut some circles from the card. Mounted this onto the vellum & cut smaller circles from the vellum, done some embossing on the vellum & highlighted the edges with black staz on. Attached 2 ribbon stips & attached to card, added a small gem to the centre of the 3 circles.

Placed "With Love" on some vellum, highlighted the edges with black staz on, placed on top of some card & attached both together using my Fiskars eyelet setter & eyelet. Attached using foam pads.

To finish off added 2 prima flowers to the top corner & created the centre of the flower with some gems.

Oh what fun I had playing with this sketch & love the final result.

Happy crafting :-)

2sketches4you

Yet another fantastic sketch has been drawn up this week by Laura over at 2sketches4you if you've never visited the challenge pop over now & join in the fun.

This week I've went with fab K&Co papers, done some matting & layering with different papers, the section with the flowers attached is raised on foam pads for added dimension. A beautiful blue ribbon tied in a bow which I actually took off of a blouse. A few gems added to finish the whole thing off. The dark blue flower is by Prima, the other 3 flowers & the flower brads are by Cardology.

I'm quite happy with the end result on this one as I think it's pretty delicate & lucious at the same time.

Happy crafting :-)

Stamp Something

Becky set the challenge over at Stamp Something this week & what a fab choice it was. Pink, Green & Blue, any shade any combinations...

Here I layered some pink & green Bazzill cardstock & covered the joins with some self adhesive ribbon in shade of green & blue. Stamped & embossed a lovely image onto some blue Bazzill cardstock & layered onto a lighter shade of blue. The flowers were coloured with a pink brush marker. To finish the whole card off I added so gems & pearls in pink & green...

Happy crafting everyone :-)

Papertake Weekly

Another week, another challenge over at Papertake Weekly. This time we have been challenged to make a card incorporating a button or buttons.... Yippee how fun is this...

These were some fab free papers with a magazine last year so done a bit of a lay out with them. the sentiments were also free papers which I chopped down & added eyelets to. Got some yummy scrummy buttons & tied some fabric through them, attached using glue dots & voila one completed card.

Please pop over to Papertake Weekly & join in the fun.

Happy crafting :-)

Tag You're It Challenge

The challenge this week over at "Tag You're It" was set by their first guest designer Penny & she decided upon "Faux Postage". Well now I only had 1 postage stamp which was for christmas so hence the theme was determined for me.

Using my shapecutter plus & template & cut out the tag which I then highlighted with snow flakes rubber stamps using my glue pad & white glitter. Used red staz on to stamp my postage stamp which I then cut around & mounted with foam pads. Some red cord tied in a knot & attached to the gift using a red peg, then to finish off a nice poinsetta in the bottom corner.

Rubber stamps are all from one of the christmas clear stamp set available from Cardology. Everything else from my stash.

Another Award

Well how lucky am I as today I've received this fab new award from Holly, Sally & Cynthia. Please do pop over to their blogs for a look at some great works of inspiration.

The rules of the award are:
1.The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3.Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4.Put links of those blogs on yours.
5.Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

It's very hard to choose just 7 people as there are hundreds of you out there who provide just inspiration to everyone on a regular basis. Here goes I will do my best to name just 7, but if you are visiting my blog please also accept this award from me....

1. Gayle
2. Cass
3. Christine
4. Kerry
5. Bev
6. Carla
7. Terrie B

Happy Crafting to one & all :-)

Daring Cardmakers Challenge

The challenge set this week over at Daring Cardmakers was to create something that features a fruit that reminds you of a sunny summers day. What a fab challenge after all the nice sunshine we've had & especially good for me as it was raining here yesterday evening when I was making this so was perfect to be working with such bright colours.

What a lucky coincidence that Pink Petticoat just happened to have released their new download "You're one in a Melon". Just perfect for the challenge I thought & the papers are every bit as delicious as nice big slice of juicy water melon.

Started with a pale pink piece of Bazzill cardstock, layered a green scroll paper onto that, took another sheet which was black flowers & cut around some of the design then layered this on top of the green swirl. Cut an additional little flower which was partially raised with foam pads & placed in the bottom left hand corner. Cut out a large melon slice & attached flat to the card, then 2 smaller slices with the top slice partially raised to give a bit of depth to the melon. Finally cut out one of the sentiments, added some pink dots around the border & coloured in the word melon both done with my Sakura moonlight pens.

If you've not joined in before pop on over to Daring Cardmakers now & have a go yourself.

Happy Crafting :-)

Arty Girlz

The challenge set this week by Arty Girlz was "Vintage". Oh the mind boggles on what to do!!!
I've ended up working on the "Gold Rush era."

Ended up catching sight of my metal leaf & decided to run with that. The card is based around the "gold rush" era.... Tore & aged the papers by inking, used lots of my metal leaf, attached Prima flowers in the kind of colours that pretty town ladies wore as their clothing & created the centre of them again using my metal leaf.

Yesterday was a bit overcast although the temperature was okay, forecast for the weekend is rain & I'm suffering from PMS so I actually enjoyed making this card with all the ripping involved.

Off out for a little retail therapy today I think or perhaps just lunch with hubby, will see what I feel like when we leave, then back home for some more challenges.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, have a fab weekend....

Rainbow Ladys Challenge

The challenge set this week by the lovely Cynthia over at Rainbow Ladys Challenge is to incorporate spots & stripes along with "Smile" and/or "Be Happy". All the sketches I've been working on lately have got me into using different layouts & so this one ends up with a bit of a checker board effect. Green & Blue cardstock from Bazzill, spot & stripe papers from a paper & vellum pack I bought from Create & Craft last year, ribbon by American Crafts, Prima Flowers, Pearl brads from my stash, wire from my stash, rub-ons by Scrapworks. Finally some inking around the edges.

Why not pop over & join in the challenge at Rainbow Ladys Challenge.

Quick post

Hi folks, just a quick post to say sorry for not having managed to post any new creations today. I've had a rather busy day between the doctors, housework, hair dressers for a new dye job as the grey was starting to show a bit too much, dinner & tidy of my craft room. All animals tended to for the evening so off now to see if I can get at least one card made tonight.

Tomorrow morning I'm going on a little shopping trip to pick up some more Bazzill card stock as my stock is quickly depleting and that simply won't do.

Please visit tomorrow again when I will be back to normal.

Happy crafting to one and all....

Lorraine :-)

Rainbow Ladys Challenge

I happened upon a new challenge blog today by the lovely Cynthia aka Rainbow Lady so that's me got another to add to my weekly list. The challenge set by her this week for "Swirls & Flourishes", well one particular kind of stamps comes straight to mind and that is those of the fantastic Wendie Rhodes whom I just adore.

The design has been stamped onto textured card, with some matting & layering. A very quick & simple card to make & I had fun playing with my stamps.

Why not pop over & join in the challenge.

Happy crafting :-)

2sketches4you

This weeks sketch over at 2sketches4you is designed by the fab Kazan Clark. Week after week both Kazan & Laura continue to produce fab sketches to have us all wracking our brains on what papers & embellishments to use. Now they have a DT too so even more samples for us to feast our eyes on for inspiration.

They layout this week was 1st class as always & I decided to use for a card I had to make for my mums friend. For this task I opted for my lovely Laura Ashley papers (we can't use them all the time but hate the thought of them just sitting there too). Mounted the layers onto gold mirri card for some additional depth, added some green adhesive pearls & lovely prima flowers. On the centre panel I highlighted the design by adding Sakura clear stardust to the green stems & grey petals & the white petals were enhanced using a Sakura white glaze pen.

The card is for an elegant lady turning 50 so I'm quite pleased with the end result.

Happy crafting :-)

Papertake Weekly

This week we have yet another fab sketch over at papertake weekly . For this one I've used some funky papers which have been matted onto silver mirri card. My little Whipper Snapper doggie has been water coloured & a flower & circle puched from card to house my text...

I'm certainly in a bright & funky faze this week....

Happy crafting :-)

Tag You're It Challenge

The challenge set this week over at "Tag You're It" is to create a tag using the colours Teal, Lime & Black.

My background is teal which I have stamped on using black staz on, done some matting & layering with teal & lime card, cut a flower & circles again from teal & lime, inked the edges with black staz on, added some faux stitching & lime green rub ons with black ribbon to finish...

Happy crafting :-)

Stamp Something

The challenge this week over at Stamp Something is "Thank You Somethings", could be anything from cards or tags to gifts or cakes. The choice is completely yours.

I have opted for a card, as after my Maggies Centre Appeal my mother has now asked me to make some cards for our local St Andrews Hospice which I have happily agreed to do.

This little chappie is just so cute that I had to make him the centre attention of the card. Hope you like him as much as I do....

Happy crafting.

Penny Black Challenge

Well this is the first time I've entered the Penny Black Challenge and the rule this week is "No Pink" so what did I end up with but blue & orange....

Although it has rained from the heavens this weekend, all the sunshine of late has got me going with the bright colours & seeing as the little flower in the pot is blue that started me off, on thing led to another, a few spots, some ribbon & orange rub ons, all inked with pale brown to co-ordinate with the base & mirri card, prima flowers & button to finish.

This was such a fun little card to make...

I've got some more challenges to do, the sun is shining & I'm off out for lunch with mum today...
Happy crafting to everyone.

Tea for Four

This is a little party set that I made for my friends little girl to play tea parties with (she is only 3) but is such a socialite.

The table mats are made from foam which I have stamped on to using a lovely Fiskars stamp.

The napkins were old ones that I had lying around the house & I simply repeated the stamping.

The glass, well they are plastic & cost £1.00 for all four from the local supermarket. I thought this was a great bargain. Using my little stamp yet again to add the design on these too.

All this for £1.00 & as much time as it took to stamp (not long at all)..... Now little Laura can have parties all the time & mummy doesn't have to worry about anything being broken.

Happy crafting.

2sketches4you

This is my take of this weeks sketch from 2sketches4u. Loved the sketch & decided to use my K&Co papers for the card, even down to the paper ribbon. Ribbon weave was made using my Fiskars ribbon border punch, 3 little buttons, 2 corner peel offs, scrapworks rub ons, some faux gems & a lovely little flower in the corner with a brad & gem to finish.

I did enjoy making this card & this week especially as never managed to get time to enter last week.

Happy crafting....