Mousey Christmas and an update

Well today is the first day of my change of life. I left my job with Norfolk County Council yesterday after 22.5 years, the last 14.5 as an HR Manager. I have taken voluntary redundancy and am really looking forward to a new way of life. The first thing this morning was not getting up at 6am and getting straight into the shower in order to get ready for work. I am working on an online store to sell my cards and also exhibiting at my first craft fair on 4 December. My friend Lynsey and I are sharing a stand so we'll see how that goes.

I have been debating whether or not to go the NEC and have finally decided this morning that I will go on Thursday so if any of you are going to be there let me know cos I'd love to see you. I can't wait to get my hands on some of those new LOTV stamps. I recently said I wouldn't buy any stamps for a while, hah, that didn't last long.

Now onto my DT card for this week's Winter Wonderland challenge. Lynsey has set us the fun challenge of a Mousey Christmas. I used one of my new Pollycraft images only to find when I uploaded my card that Lynsey had chosen the same image. I chose this pinky lilac colour scheme and Lynsey used red and green and it is interesting to see the 2 cards together. My papers are some old ones, Papermania I think. The snowflakes were cut with a new Marianne die. I added lots of glitter flocking to the hat and glitter to the snowflakes and bauble.

I am also entering my card into the challenge of G is for Glitter at ABC Challenge and sparkly and bright at Papertake.

Two more Christmas cards

The weather has been awful here today and and as it has been so dark my photos are not the best I have ever taken. (Updated 27/10 with a photo taken in daylight.) I mostly colour bears yellow or brown but went with grey for a change. James in the snow is LOTV of course, lots of glitter for the snow and glitter flock for his hat. It's those lovely sparkly aqua snowflakes from Me and My Big Ideas again.
Challenges:
Lili of the Valley Winter fun
Friday sketchers Great sketch
Teddy Stampers Open theme
Totally Gorjuss Sparkle
The Crafty Pad Christmas

This sweet angel is from Penny Black. I used the MS snowflake corner punch for the corners on the fab sketch at Cute Card Thursday. Snowflakes are MS too with pearls. I am also entering this into the challenge of let's get punchy at A spoon full of sugar. The colour challenge at Colour Create is purple, aqua and white.

Autumn Birthday

What a busy time I am having at the moment which is not leaving me much time for blogging I'm afraid. I finish work on Thursday and am busy sorting out finances and trying to set up a blog for selling my cards plus getting stock ready for a Craft Fair. More of my plans in another post once I have finished work. This cutie is from LOTV and is Rosie Posy. I usually colour her in pink or purple but she looks good in these Autumn colours I think.
Challenges:
Sir Stampalot Autumn breezes, buttons and a bow
Crafty Calendar Autumn Birthdays
2 Sisters Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes A natural woman (female and nature)
Papertake Great sketch

I made the top 5 this week at Cupcake with my Grandpa card, thanks girls.

Two non tradional Christmas cards

I hope you managed to catch the Create and Craft programme at noon today. I had recorded it and watched it when I got home from work. It was so exciting to see the presenter holding up my granny and grandpa cards as samples from the stamps and CD. The SWALK collection is the pick of the week so if you want them get them quick before they sell out.

Now on to my DT card for Winter Wonderland where this week Kate has given us a recipe of 2 papers, 1 ribbon, 1 snowflake and 1 charm. The DT have come up with some fabulous cards this week and we have been joined by Lisa as our designer in the spotlight and she has used one of my fave LOTV stamps. My stamp was part of my Birthday pressy from Lynsey. I loved her last year and was so pleased to get her. I used the gorgeous Kars Xmas papers. I love all the colours on the striped paper and the sparkle on the snowflake paper which I cut with my MS snowflake border punch. I added some candy cane ribbon, a sparkly snowflake from Me & my big ideas, ticket sentiment and a snowflake charm from the Hobby House. I am entering this into the challenge at Totally Papercrafts which is stick a number on it.

My second gorgeous girl on this A5 card is from Kraftin' Kimmie. She is coloured with Promarkers with lots of glitter on her clothes. I went for a real pink girly look with this one. Papers and border are Papermania and the MS snowflake punches have been out again. The large snowflake is made up of 3 snowflakes from the Spellbinders die, coloured with 3 different pink Promarkers, covered with glossy accents and diamond dust. The other snowflakes are made with an MS punch and white glitter card and pearls. I added some lace and a Pollycraft sentiment.
Challenges:
Totally Gorjuss Pink
Kraftin' Kimmie Non traditional Christmas colours
Fussy and Fancy Winter Wonderland
Passion for Promarkers Pink and white Christmas card
Craft Garden Pink ribbon, lace or yarn

Quixotic Paperie Christmas is coming

Have a great weekend everyone. The sun is shining today but I think we are in for a cold and wet weekend. We're off out tomorrow night for a pizza and the theatre to see The Hollies in concert.

Sneak peek 4

Today is my last sneak peek of the wonderful new SWALK stamps and CD from Crafter's Companion. They will be launched tomorrow on Create and Craft TV at noon. These cute girls are sisters but of course you can use the image without the sentiment. The paper and border are from the CD. I used my MS heart border punch to match the heart paper and added some ribbon, Prima flowers, pearls, card candy, bow and a Sizzix cut silver glitter swirl. I also used the Crafter's Companion spray and sparkle on the image and flowers. I am entering this into the challenge at Moving along with the times of use Promarkers/anything goes who this week are sponsored by Letraset. I am also entering it into nursery rhymes at Crafty Catz and Tuesday Taggers. Here's the rhyme:

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"

Autumn

This is the card I made for blogging buddy Debby's Birthday. As I know she has opened it I can now share it with you. The image is from Squiggle and would be great for Christmas cards too. The leaves and swirl are die cuts from my never ending Autumn pack I bought in Michaels in the US last year.

Challenges:

Squiggle Stamps All things Autumn
Stampin' for the weekend Halloween/fall
Totally Papercrafts Autumn
Crazy 4 Challenges Autumn/Fall
The Shabby Tea Room Chocolate covered Autumn
I love Promarkers Autumn

Sneak peek 3

Time for another sneak peek and this one is a really girly image. I used the lovely spray and sparkle on the image and unfortunately I didn't realise that the flash caught the sparkle and of

course the cards had been posted after I had realised. The papers and border are from the CD. I punched flowers from the papers to match and added some punched leaves and gems. The gorgeous butterfly is from Flora Doodles and was part of a Birthday pressy from Lisa. If you are looking for the bog hop post check out Monday's post with the fabulous granny image. Don't forget to see more sneak peeks on the rest of the DT's blogs.

Sneak peek 2 and a Halloween card

I'm still catching up with stuff after my holiday but am gradually getting round to visiting you all. Thanks for all your lovely comments, you certainly loved the granny card and welcome to my 2 new followers.

Here's a second sneak peek at the new SWALK 2 collection from Crafter's Companion. If you are looking for the blog hop you can find it here. Yesterday's card featured Granny and today it's Grandpa's turn. The papers and border are all from the SWALK 2 CD. I cut up one of the borders and mounted it on card to make the squares. I used the MS zigzag border punch on the border.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Creations Show a number
CES Male Birthday card
Cards for men Happy Birthday
Cupcake Boys and their toys

I have a friend who loves Halloween so I always make her a Halloween card. This week there are a lot of Halloween themed challenges and this card fits them all. I am so grateful to Paula at Pollycraft for giving away this fab freebie a couple of weeks ago. I bought a pack pf mixed charms from Quixotic and was lucky enough to get this fab bat charm as part of the pack. I used Crafter's Companions spray and sparkle on the image. It gives a lovely sparkly effect to the image, which doesn't really show on the photo.
Challenges (deep breath)
Pollycraft Purple, green plus one
By the cute and girly Spooky
Kaboodle Doodles Let's go Batty
Moving along with the times Halloween
Fussy and fancy Halloween
Stamp Something Halloween
2 sisters Halloween
Bee Crafty Halloween
One Stop Craft Halloween
Crafty Cardmakers Use a freebie
Stamp with fun Halloween
A spoon full of sugar Boo
Creative Craft Trick or treat

Crafter's Companion blog hop

Good morning everyone. Here I am back safe and sound from my holiday in Washington DC. We had a lovely time there, great weather apart from the day we left when it poured with rain. It was so amazing to see the White House and the Lincoln Memorial IRL. There are some fabulous museums, most of which are free and a wonderful conservation zoo which is also free. We felt very privileged to see 2 Giant Pandas, the most endangered species in the world.

As my first post after my holiday I am very pleased to be part of the Crafter's Companion Blog Hop to Celebrate the Release of the SWALK 2 collection.

If you have landed here from Claire's blog then you are hopping in the right direction. If not then you need to pop over to Jacqui's blog to begin.

Our DT have had a great time creating with the New SWALK Collection from Crafter's Companion and to celebrate the launch of this stunning new collection on Friday 22nd October we have decided to give you a chance to see some Sneak Peeks and also have the chance of winning a fabulous prize:

A £50 GIFT VOUCHER TO BE SPENT ON THE CRAFTER'S COMPANION WEBSITE

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this great prize is visit each blog in order and leave your link on Mr Linky on the Crafter's Companion News Views and Inspiration Blog which is your last stop on the HOP. Along the way you will notice that each Blog will give you a letter so make a note of these as they will make a word which we will ask you for if your number is drawn by Random.Org on Friday 22nd October . DO NOT TELL US WHAT THE WORD IS ON THE CC NEWS VIEWS AND INSPIRATION BLOG , WE WILL E-MAIL YOU FOR THE ANSWER IF YOUR MR LINKY NUMBER IS DRAWN.

I loved playing with these new stamps and CD which contains a great range of digi papers, borders, inserts, flowers and more. So this is a sneak peek of the new collection. I love this fun image of granny impersonating the famous Marilyn Monroe picture. I punched some flowers from the digi papers to keep the co-ordinated look. The DT were also lucky enough to be given some new card to use, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 216gsm, which works so well with Promarkers and Copics. It is available now from Crafter's Companion and costs just £3.99 for 20 sheets or 3 packs for £10. There are lots of special offers this week too whilst we are celebrating.

My letter is Y and your next port of call is the last one which is The Crafter's Companion News Views and Inspiration Blog

Thanks very much for hopping by and enjoy the rest of the inspiration. Check back tomorrow for another sneak peek.

Vintage

Ha ha the wonder of scheduled posts. If you are reading this on the morning of Friday 15th October then my scheduling has worked and I am either at Heathrow or travelling home. This week at Winter Wonderland it's Janet's turn to host the challenge and she wanted the DT to give it a vintage look. For me that usually means old fashioned girls in bonnets but I decided to do something different and use this fab Father Christmas image which I won in some candy ages ago. I didn't colour the image but just added some glitter to the snowflakes. I kept to traditional red and green using Papermania Winter's Tale papers and an MS zigzag punch. The swirls and holly leaves, on which I used a white gel pen, were cut with Sizzix dies. I added some pearls for berries and a strip of Papermania ribbon. It's quite a different card for me but I am really pleased with it and it makes a change to try something different.

I've got the joy of a week's washing when I get home but will catch up with you all as soon as I can.

How cute

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me. Yes today is a special day as it is my Birthday and I'm heading off to Heathrow at lunchtime for an overnight stay in a hotel ready to fly out to Washington DC on Saturday. Of course it is also special as it is time for another Winter Wonderland challenge and this week the lovely Danielle quite rightly reminds us that Jesus is the reason for the season. Lili of the Valley have some gorgeous nativity stamps out this year and this is one of them. I used a new eyelet nestie to cut a silver circle and threaded through some turquoise lace to match the aqua papers, which are Papermania. I added a heart doily which was chalked to take down the whiteness and used my MS heart border punch on the diamond paper. Lots of glitter on the angel's wings, a gold star sentiment and some pearls to finish.

Powder puff

I couldn't resist using another of Bev's wonderful sketches at Lili of the Valley and decided on an easel card for a change using this cute bear. Papers are a mix of Papermania Summer Blooms and Rose Garden on a background of Prima paper with a scrap of striped paper. I used the good old MS doily punch, still a fave of mine. The glitter strip is Papermania and the flowers are a mix of Wild Orchid aster and cherry blossoms with flat head carnations from Mulberry Crafts with 2 types of punched leaf. Sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the acrylic flowers I found in my stash.

Here you can see the lovely glittery powder.

Other challenges:
ABC E is for easel
Secret Crafter Easel
Sweet Stampin' Punch it out
Creative Inspirations Birthday
I love Promarkers Think pink
Teddy Stampers Bear acrostic - mines Bear, Easel, Aster and acrylic flowers, Roses

Purple and blue Pollycraft

I'm just loving this new pack of Papermania Christmas papers, such a range of colours and some of them, like 2 of these ones are sparkly too, and love the blue and purple together. The image and sentiment are Pollycraft coloured with Promarkers and very glittery. It's the first time I've used glitter on the sentiment and I'm very pleased with the result. Flowers are Wild Orchid cherry blossoms. I removed the stamens from the blue ones and added purple gems. Some spotted ribbon, a bow and punched fern leaves to finish.
Challenges:
Friday Sketchers sketch
Pollycraft Anything goes
Moving along with the times Fairy or fantasy
CES Get ahead, get a hat
Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club Glitter, ribbon, gems
Magical Monday Back to nature (I have a snowflake, flowers and leaves)
A Spoon full of sugar Sparkle and shine
Papertake Choose a challenge from the last 3 years (Mine is 8/12/09. red and green must not be seen)
Digital Tuesday Ribbons, buttons, bling (any or all)

Autumn Leaves

Thanks for all your lovely comments on last night's post. If you haven't read my exciting news then look below. This week's challenge at Pocket Full of Posies is Autumn Leaves so we want to see leaves and of course flowers on your creations this fortnight. We are lucky enough to be sponsored by Craftbrulee so hope to see lots of you joining in. There are several Autumn challenges at the moment, must be the weather, so you can combine your entry too.

As I've made a few Autumn cards and I had this pic of me in New England I went with a scrapbook page. Luckily I'm hidden in the gorgeous leaves, lol! Normally I use a whole sheet of paper for my background but used the peach card a the background for a change. Papers are HOTP Mixed Jewels, K&Co Hopscotch and Papermania Hampstead. An MS border punch has been used on all the papers for symmetry. I added some leaf stickers and die cut word. The die cut leaf has been inked and faux stitched to match the faux stitching around 2 sides of the page. I punched the flowers from the same papers and added some pearls.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers Here comes Autumn
Simon Says Autumn
CRAFT Fancy floral
Totally Papercrafts The great outdoors

Marie Antionette, candy winner and some exciting news

I treated myself to a new Kraftin' Kimmie stamp from Quixotic Paperie and couldn't wait to use her. I just love these quirky images and this one is Marie Antionette. I used my fave colour on this one. I cut the Sizzix corner swirl twice and cut one up to use under the Wild Orchid flowers and pins.
Challenges
Creative Craft Glamour puss
Passion for Promarkers Vintage/shabby chic (Marie Antionette is pretty vintage, isn't she)
I love Promarkers Pearls and swirls
Everybody Art Friends
Stamp, scrap and doodle Saturday Open
Stamptacular At least 5 layers

And my exciting news is that I have been invited to join the DT at Crafter's Companion. This means not only the monthly challenge but also making samples for their television launches. Fame at last, lol! The invitation came completely out of the blue and I still can't quite believe it.

Thanks to all of you who entered my candy and welcome to my new followers. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog and continue to follow me. And the moment you have all been waiting for is the candy winner. This proves that it doesn't matter whether you are one of the first or last to enter as random org chose, drum roll, please,

Congratulations dear, please e-mail me your address. If you have any spare crafting stash Leigh will put it to good use for charity.

Birthday candy

This post will stay at the top until 2nd October. Please scroll down for newer posts. I said I would be offering some more candy as it is my Birthday in October and here it is. My laptop has gone off to be mended so I managing with the little netbook. It is a lot slower to open up pages as it is obviously a lot less powerful so I won't be visiting your blogs as much as usual for the next couple of weeks. Also as the screen is so much smaller it is more tiring to use but at least I have a computer to use.

I am offering:

60 8 x 8 sheets Dovecraft paper

Little Claire stamp - Dale's Bear, girl

Papermania stamp set - Retail Therapy

Journal stamp

EK Success border punch

2 packs of flowers

Bundle pink lace

Pepper & friends sticky ribbon

3 packs of crepe paper ribbon

4 pots of glitter

All you have to do is follow me, include a link in your sidebar back to my blog and enter below.

Closing date is Saturday 2 October.

Christmas card for a male

It's my good friend Lynsey's challenge this week at Winter Wonderland and she has set us the challenge of making a Christmas card for a male. I had this lovely Whiff of Joy image which somebody stamped for me about a year ago I would think and I have never used him. I used the sketch from Sunday sketch and stamp. Papers are Papermania Winter's Tale. I used both MS snowflake border and corner punches and added a gold star sentiment and some foam snowflakes from America.

Other challenges:
Stamp Something Celebrate
Charisma Christmas crafting
Cretaive Inpirations Christmas in September

Sorry I haven't been around much this week but work is very hectic and I have been trying to get ahead with my DT work ready for my holiday. If you haven't yet entered my candy you only have until tomorrow night to enter. Have a great weekend everyone. I'll hope to catch up with some of you this weekend.