Anything Goes with Crafty Friends

Thank you so much for visiting, hope you have enjoyed a lovely Christmas! We have a very happy, and peaceful time family time together, which was a real blessing for us after the last two years. I will wish you all a very Happy New Year too,

So we are closing this year with a brand new Crafty Friends Challenge

our theme for the fortnight is....

Anything Goes

we are sponsored by our lovely friends at

who will be offering a wonderful prize, and with some amazing inspiration from our DT, it's well worth hopping over for a visit!

Being somewhat  *cough*  forgetful, I am planning on keeping a stash of Belated Birthday cards - just in case! 

My DT card features:

• Sugar Nellie Digi Stamp - Picket Post (you can buy this here)
• coloured with promarkers
• this really pretty paper, was in a stack from The Works
• sentiment features Rhumba script font
• MB Fremont Crest Die
• sticky pearls and doily

I would like to enter:

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Brown sugar challenge - Anything goes

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - use a previous sketch

Simon says stamp - anything goes (wednesday challenge)

Merry Christmas from The Crafty Friends

It's third time lucky with this post......someone I mananged to schedule a post with just the picture of the card but no words, another with just words and no picture....hoping now that this one works, lol!

Anyway, we are celebrating the festive season in style at the Crafty Friends Challenge, the theme for our new challenge is

Merry Christmas

we have two lovely sponsors for this challenge

and

both are offering terrific prizes, and together with some amazing inspiration from our lovely DT.....it's well worth popping on over - we would love to see you.

My DT card features:

• I chose this adorable "My Besties" images to work with (this was a first for me, and she is an absolute treat to colour)
• coloured with promarkers
• pudding and holly embellishments were from a Forever Friends Christmas bundle
• sentiment from LC designs
• ribbon was attached to a gorgeous gift from a very special crafty friend

I would like to enter:

My Besties color it create its how it off - December challenge

crafty calendar challenge - christmas time

Di's digi designs - traditional christmas colours

crafty ribbons challenge - Christmas, add a ribbon

moving along with the times - christmas anything goes

Holly Jolly Christmas - anything goes

I have got a week off from work now, going to be quite a busy one though, Christmas shopping to do,  getting the house clean and tidy before the tree and decorations go up, off to the hairdressers this morning to get a trim in readiness of our work Christmas party next weekend - busy, but a nice kinda busy! Have a great week yourselves!

Easel-ly Does it!

Hello....thank you for visiting today....hope you're having a great week, hasn't it turned chilly though, and how can it be that it is now December already. It is Mum's birthday this week, so the Christmas prep has been popped on hold for a couple of days at least.

I had been very excited to see that Lili of the Valley now have many of their amazing stamps available in a digital format, I was still to buy any, but that was until an email about the latest releases dropped into my mailbox and as soon as I saw them, I was smitten.

I went for "a hug in a mug"....I will be back for more though!

Haven't made an easel card for ages, so really enjoyed making this.

My card features:

• A Hug in a Mug from LOTV
• coloured with promarkers
• both dp's Sweet Pea paper collection from Kaisercraft
• Baby Lexi font
• lace from local haberdashery
• wooden embellishments

I would like to enter this into:

Passion for Promarkers - Eat, Drink and be Merry

ooh la la creations challenges - birthday celebrations

Aud Sentiments - anything goes

Our brand new challenge, Christmas with the Cuties has got off to a fantastic start, and I am absolutely delighted, if you've not popped in for a visit, come on over - we'd love to see you xx

Welcome to Christmas with the Cuties #1 ANYTHING GOES

Well, I'm not sure that I could be anymore excited......today is the day, for the very first challenge from

Christmas with the Cuties

we are starting off with a really simple theme of Anything Goes, and as I'm sure that you are all now super busy with your cards, I do hope to see lots of you joining in with us and getting behind this new adventure......don't forget that your card MUST feature a Cute image though.

I thought long and hard about what to make, for our very first challenge.....obviously looking for the cutest and most adorable image, but I wanted to highlight what Christmas is really all about -  I think this absolute beaut from Digi Stamp boutique fits the bill perfectly!

My DT card features

• Cute Nativity Girl and Boy
• coloured with promarkers
• Spellbinders fancy edge oval die
• Plaid DP from Nitwit at LOTV
• embossed Kraft using  embossing folder
• The Ribbon Girl gingham ribbon
• lace from The Works
• sentiment uses Baby Lexi font
• wooden stars from stash with acylic dome stickers

I would like to enter:

digistamp boutique - November customer competition

aud sentiments - anything goes

moving along with the times - anything goes with Christmas

christmas at sweet stampin - anything (Christmas) goes

christmas card challenges - anything goes
crafty hazelnuts christmas challenge - use a sentiment

Thank you for visiting me today, I really do hope to see you over at Christmas with the Cuties,,,,,feeling a bit like a nervous parent, when their child goes off to nursery for the first time today, lol

No DP's but a whole lotta cutie-ness!

Good Morning....hope you had a lovely weekend!

So, we're now in week 2 of the latest Cutie Pie challenge, so that means it's time for 

A Little Extra Cutie-ness

and my own little DT card,

As I mentioned last week, the theme for this challenge is NO DESIGNER PAPERS

and our lovely sponsor is 

who are offering TWO of their adorable digi stamps as a prize for our winner.

My DT card features:

• Little Reindeer - from 2Cuteink
• coloured with promarkers
• mini sentiment from LC designs
• acrylic dome stickers
• kraft card stock
• Spellbinders die 

If you haven't joined in yet, there is still plenty of time to hop on over and join in with the fun!

Catch Up Monday!

Hello there, lovely blog friends, hope you had a great weekend!

Over the last few weeks I have been a busy bee getting ready for a craft fair last weekend, and also with lots of "behind the scenes" stuff for our new Christmas with the Cuties challenge which starts very soon......before that though we have a brand new Cutie Pie challenge today and our theme is

No Designer Papers

my own DT card will pop up here next Monday, but our amazing DT have once again worked their magic with some amazing inspiration, so hop on over for a wee visit, 

So, I somehow found myself with a little bit of time on my hands this afternoon, so I couldn't resist getting inky......

....and this inkiness came in the form of this cute lil bear who was a very old magazine freebie!

Today's card features:

• Magazine freebie stamp
• coloured with promarkers
• Frosted Lace stickles added to furry areas
• Raspberry Road papers
• Joanna Sheen snowflake die
• docraft christmas stamp, used X cut scalloped edge square die
• gingham ribbon and sticky gems from stash

I would like to enter these challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - lime green and real red

di's digi designs - hand coloured images

Winter Wonderland - add ribbon/lace

christmas at sweet stampin challenge - anything goes

As I mentioned earlier in the post, the weekend before last I did a craft fair at my Mum's church, so just wanted to share a couple of photo's of my table

I was quite pleased with the way my Reindeer food turned out this year, after I found some really cute little jars in Aldi a few weeks ago (they did have Ardennes type pate' inside them, which my poor hubby got fed up with after a few jars!!!)

Anyway thanks again for stopping by today, cheerio for now xx

Someone Special....with the Crafty Friends

Hello there, and thank you for visiting me today, I hope you're having a lovely weekend. I know quite a  few folks are doing Craft Fairs today, myself included, so I wish you all success and Happy Selling today. We all put such a lot of time and effort into preparing for these events, so I hope they go well.

It is also time for a new challenge with

Crafty Friends

and our theme of the fortnight is

Someone Special

I thought this was a lovely theme and it provided me with the opportunity to make my hubby's birthday card.

our sponsors this time are:

and 

and also

so there is lots to play for and some fantastic DT cards to inspire, so hop on over and join in the fun!

My DT card features:

• Poppy and Henry from Crafty Sentiments (if Henry was just a bit taller, they'd look just like Alistair and I)
• coloured with promakers
• Krafty card stock and a very old papermania dp that hasn't seen the light of day for many-a-year, but I thought was a lovely match for Poppy's frock
• sentiment features Unkempt font
• ribbon from The Ribbon Girl
• twine from Homebase
• wooden heart 

I would like to enter this into:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes

As You Like it Challenge - Teddies or Fairies - Teddies, all day long - did you ever try to cuddle a fairy? Nuff said!!! and if we're talking images, trying to get a shimmery looking wing, is beyond impossible.....

thank you again for stopping by, cheerio for now xx

Feeling Colourful!

Hello there my lovely blog friends, hope your week is going well. Feeling much better in myself now, as I mentioned earlier in the week, I went back to work on Monday - only to be sent home again as I was told by our HR lady that I needed a further letter from my Dr to confirm that I was well enough to return (as I was going back prior to my sick note expiring). It took several phone calls on Monday and Tuesday to confirm that this is actually no longer the case, so I actually went back this morning - I must admit, I did indulge in a bit of crafting time yesterday afternoon.

To be fair, this was actually prompted by seeing the latest Passion for Promarkers challenge theme pop up in my news feed, and when I noticed that the colour theme was a perfect match for delicious Bo Bunny paper in my stash, it seemed rude not to play along! As it was a Welly related theme image too - what better image could I use then this fabby Pink Gem image.

Today's card features:

• Hedgy from Pink Gem
• coloured with Promarkers
• Papers from Bo Bunny
• flower die was a magazine freebie
• acrylic dots and sentiment stamp from stash

I would like to enter
Passion for Promarkers - #369 inspiration challenge

A Gem of a Challenge - #180 Autumn colours

Anyway, this isn't getting my lunch washing up done, so will love you and leave you now xx

Pink, Cute and Sketchy!

Thank you for taking the time to pop in today.......so is there anything more annoying than making a card for a specific challenge, then leaving too late to enter when you get round to blogging it....grrrrr, already done that once this week, so not going to miss out again! ( have less than 8 hours to go, till the Sweet Sketch challenge closes, so better get a wiggle on)

Today's card features:

• Image - origin unknown - found it in my scrapbox (any ideas folks?)
• coloured with promarkers
• papers from a stack from The Range
• ribbon from Wilko's
• heart button and pearls from stash
• used Memory Box Precious Mitten dies
• based on Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch 100

I would like to enter:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - #100

crafty boots challenges - pink
In The Pink challenge - ribbons/bows

visiting a few old friends

Hello there....hope you've had a smashing weekend, maybe even enjoyed a little autumn sunshine! I've been feeling a lot better, thank you for your Get Well wishes, and am back to work this morning - but not before I share a little card with you.......

I will be having a table at an Autumn fair at my Mum's church in a few weeks time, so I thought I'd better make sure I have a good variety of cards in my box, so for this card I put the cute images and promarkers to one side, and dusted off a few old favourites.....

Today's card features:

• Cuttlebug flower embossing folder
• LC designs mini sentiment
• sticky pearls
• gingham ribbon from The Ribbon Girl
• paper from a Papermania stack that I got, possibly a good ten years ago, when I first started card making. At the time I couldn't quite believe that I'd spent that much on a stack of paper - little did I know then!!!!

I would like to enter this into:

tuesday morning sketches 

374

brown sugar challenge - anything goes

crafty ribbons - ribbon or lace

hope the week gets off to a great start.....bye for now xx

Let It Snow (but not just yet, please!)

Hello there my lovely friends, hope your week is going well. I'm still off from work at the moment, and whilst I'm still feeling under the weather, this morning I did feel like a bit of crafting, so well take that as a good sign!

A wee while ago, I was very lucky enough to be a winner of the Digi stamp boutique challenge, so I thought I'd share a card with you, featuring one of the images that I got........perfect one for me, as it is both Cute and Christmassy, given that my new challenge that features both of these things, will be starting very soon!

Today's card features:

• Bobbi and stocking from DSB
• coloured with promarkers
• sentiment uses Baby Lexi font (loving this one at the mo!)
• Cheery Lynn tag die
• lace from The Works
• Frosted Lace Stickles glue

I would like to enter these challenges:

Digistamp boutique - October challenge

a snowflakes promise - anything goes

crafty sentiments - anything goes

Holly Jolly Challenge - Snow or Snowmen

crafty hazelnuts christmas challenge - cute

Di's digi designs - add a sentiment

Thank you so much for visiting today, bye for now xx

All the Fives with the Cutie Pies!

Hello, my lovely blog chums....hope you are fine, well and have had a great weekend.

Sadly, I have been a little under the weather of late, after 10 days of on and off diarrhea and sickness on Friday I took myself off to the Dr and was told that it was most likely a nasty bout of gastroenteritis, and was signed off from work!!! Still not feeling 100% but hopefully will be firing on all cylinders again very soon.

It is time for a Little Extra Cutie-ness today - this is the Inspiration post from The Cutie Pie challenge, and if you've not been over for a peep yet, our current theme is

Five of a Kind 

we are sponsored by our lovely friends at

                                                                

who also provided some amazing images for the DT to play with.

My card features:

• A star is born from ADU
• coloured with promarkers
• pink dotty card from Annamarie designs
• 5 mini brads, plus 1 big 'un - I think these go way back to the old days when Lakeland had a craft range 

Our DT have made some amazing cards for this challenge, so hop on over for a visit, and if your hopping about, why not hop over to visit our brand new Christmas with the Cuties blog too

I would like to enter this card into:

Allsorts challenge - lets make it pink

Alphabet challenge  Q for Quick and Simple

i love promarkers - anything goes

thanks again for visiting xx

Anyone for a Brand New Blog Challenge?????

Oh my goodness, I have been so excited about writing this post, to tell you all about our brand new blog challenge........

I have been thinking for a while now that I wanted a new challenge in life, I love being involved with challenge blogs, so that seemed to be the way to go, but I looked and looked but couldn't really find what I wanted....I couldn't shake off the niggling little voice at the back of my mind that kept saying Make it yourself then.........Soooo, that is pretty much what I have done.  As leader of the Cutie Pie challenge, I love, love, love all things Cute and some of my favourite challenges to play along with are Christmas one's, so I set to work, and the result is.........Christmas with the Cuties.

I am delighted to be joined by Sue, who is my lovely friend and second-in-command at The Cutie Pie challenge, and we will be joined by other members of the Cutie Pie team as guests and permanent teamies

As you can see from my badge above, Christmas with the Cuties, is a monthly challenge, we have some fantastic challenges planned and are being supported by some amazing sponsors. Our first challenge kicks off on 28th November, but if you hop on over to check out our blog, we have a yummy bundle of candy up for grabs for our new followers.....we also have a DT call too!!!!

I have been itching to tell you all about this......I do hope that you'll pop in for a visit 

All very Autumnal with Crafty Friends

Hello, thank you for stopping by here today....hope the weekend has got off to a great start.

Its time to for a new Crafty Friends Challenge today

and our theme this time is

Autumn Colours

we have two wonderful sponsors for this challenge, and they are

and

both were very generous in providing gorgeous images for the DT to play with!

My DT card features:

• Girl Mouse - from Bugaboo
• coloured with Promarkers
• Sentiment made with "AmandaRae" font
• DP is an oldie, I think from 7Gypsies
• section of embossing folder
• wooden embellishment and sticky pearls from stash

Our CF DT have made some gorgeous cards using these gorgeous rustic and snuggly feeling tones, so I hope you will hope on over to visit - see you there xx

I would like to enter:

Sweet Stampin challenge blog - Autumn

aud sentiments challenge blog - anything goes (with sentiment)

cute card thursday - anything goes

i love promarkers - anything goes

crafty sentiments - anything goes

Crafty Boots Challenges - Autumn

Merry Mac!

Hello there, thank you for visiting me today....so much has been going on here recently, which hasn't left me with a lot of blogging time so I hope there are still some of you out there.

So, Saturday saw the day I've been dreading for the last few months....actually no, for the last 19 years....as we took Megan off to Uni. Gosh, what a day that was, it was so hard to drive away and leave her there, we generally get on ever so well, and I am blessed to have such a special daughter. We had a few tears in the car before we even left our driveway but that was on the back of saying goodbye to the dogs. She isn't the most outgoing of people, and it can take her a while to come out of her shell, and she also suffers with a "nervous tummy" which unfortunately has played her up a little over the first few days. But she is getting on well with some of her new flat mates and people on her course, so I keep reminding her (and myself!) - Baby steps!!!

I was lucky enough to have an evening out with her last night, as she'd treated herself to tickets to see Wicked (again!!!) 4th time for her and 3rd for me, but it was the 10th anniversary of the London show, and it was a marvelous evening. The encore featured many former members of the cast, which was real treat.....If you have never seen this show, I would highly recommend!

Anyway, back to today's card, and I decided to find a sketch to kick my mojo into gear.........

Today's card features:

• Christmas Mac from Digistamp boutique
• coloured with promarkers
• papers are random scraps "from the box"
• dovecraft doily
• original sizzix parcels die
• LOTV mini sentiment
• pearls from stash

I have a few challenges that I'd like to enter......

Winter Wonderland Challenge

a snowflakes promise - anything goes

Passion For Promarkers - spots and/or stripes

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge/Anything Goes

Digistamp Boutique - September 16 customer competition

Going to finish now, as I've got to take Cameron off to the orthodontist, bye for now xx

Guest DT at I love Promarkers

Hi all.....thank you for visiting me today, so this is my second spot for September as guest designer at

I love Promarkers

the theme for this challenge is

Flowers/Nature

are the sponsors of this challenge, and I was lucky enough to be given one of their adorable images to play with, I chose, "The Sweet Gardener" which I've coloured with Promarkers.

The whole team have made some amazing cards for this challenge, so why not hop on over for a visit.

As the Cutie Pies 5th Birthday Party Continues.....

Hello there, and thank you for your visit today!

So last Monday saw the start of the Cutie Pies 5th Birthday Challenge, and now its time for our "A Little Extra Cutie-ness" Inspiration post.

If you haven't hopped over yet to see the amazing DT work, or joined in with the challenge, you can do so here

My DT card features:

• Amy with Balloon from Robyn's Fetish
• coloured with promarkers
• papers from Papermania capsule collection
• sentiment created using "Quirlycues" font
• lace and pearls from The Works
• balloon die, coated with diamond stickles

We have FIVE fabulous sponsors for this challenge

 have a wonderful prize for our DT chosen winner

have a $10 online store voucher for a randomly chosen winner

have a prize of three digi stamps for a randomly chosen winner

have a prize of three digi stamps for a randomly chosen winner

has a special prize for the special person that leaves a comment and a lil' bit of love on both of our challenge posts....how simple is that!

We can't wait to see you over there, will save you a bit of birthday cake!

Wanna come to a Birthday Party..........

Can't believe how quickly the time has passed, but the Cutie Pie Challenge is celebrating FIVE years of Cuteness, we would love you to join in the fun......so hop on over!

Monochromaticalness!!

Hope the weekend has started well, it has been a busy few weeks here for me, so a bit of a lack of blogging time. I have been making the most of spending time with my daughter before she heads off to start a new adventure in two weeks. She did really well in her A levels and will be studying Mathematics at University of Hertfordshire. Massively proud of her, at what she has achieved but am obviously feeling emotional about her leaving too......we have had lots of shopping trips, coffee shop afternoons, walks out with the dogs and movie afternoons! Will miss her enormously, but if I'm honest our bank account could do with a little recovery time, lol

Ok, so I'm not entirely sure that Monochromaticalness is actually a "thing" or indeed a word, but we'll go with it, as it I think it sums up the new Crafty Friends Challenge

the theme is

Monochrome

we have three lovely sponsors:

We were lucky enough to be provided with some adorable images from our sponsors for the team to play with, I couldn't resist Daisy Mae from Angie's Digital Stamps.

Our DT have made some amazing cards for this challenge, do hop on over for a visit!

My DT card features

• Daisy Mae with Flowers from Angie's Digital Stamps
• coloured with Promarkers
• border die from Memory Box
• backing paper from The Range
• sentiment features "Baby Lexi" font
• pearls and box from stash

I would like to enter this into these challenges:

brown sugar challenge - anything goes
aud sentiments challenge - anything goes
In The Pink - Buttons and/or Bows

A Guest DT Spot....and a few Stripes!

Hello, thank you so much for visiting today!

I am very excited as I was given the  opportunity, by the lovely Ginny, to be a guest DT at

I Love Promarkers

the theme for this challenge is

Spots and/or Stripes

there are two lovely sponsors

and

My GDT card features:

• Cute Fox Cub - from Fabrika Fantasy
• coloured with Promarkers
• papers from Craftwork Cards stack  (magazine freebie)
• ribbon from The Ribbon Girl
• sentiment from LC Designs
• wooden tree and pearl from stash

Why not hop on over to I Love Promarkers for more inspiration and to join in with the fun!

I would like to enter:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - #97

A Snowflakes Promise - anything goes
crafty hazelnuts christmas challenge 2 - anything goes
christmas card challenges - anything goes