(Crafty) Friends and Family!

Hello, lovely blog friends.....hope you're having a great weekend. So this time, next week it will be Christmas Eve....eeek, how exciting! Later today, we are going to the Carol Service at a local Church. This is always an important part of our Christmas celebrations, to pause the hustle and bustle for a while and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.

Moving away from the festive season for a mo, to tell you about the latest challenge with

Crafty Friends

and our theme this time is

FAMILY & FRIENDS

My Mum's birthday is at the beginning of December, and this was just the opportunity to make a card for her......this really was the perfect image to use on my card - honestly, it is Mum to a tee!!! She is a very keen knitter, she has a pair of pink slippers, she loves stripes and even has a top very similar to this, so paper piecing was an absolute must. She absolutely adored this card, and has since put it up in a picture frame.

This challenge is sponsored by

If you are our lucky winner of this challenge, you will receive the following fabulous prize... 2 "SINGLE" digital stamps of your choice (NO sets or personalised watermarks or sentiments) from Pink Gem Designs Store

My DT Card features:

• Knitting Molly, from Pink Gem - thank you so much for providing these adorable images
• coloured with promarkers
• sentiment used Ziptydo font
• Papermania paper stack - bargain from The Works
• Doily from Joanna Sheen online store
• flower die was a magazine freebie
• buttons, lace and pin from stash

I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge - AG

i love promarkers - AG

passion for promakers - add a sentiment

Do hope you will join us for this challenge, I will be back with another DT card later in the week

Snowflakes, Stars and Cutie Pies

Hello, my lovely blog chums......hope all is well with you! Hope you're keeping on top of your Christmas preparations at this busy time of the year. My gift shopping is just about done, the Christmas cards to be posted away are also just about done, we got the tree and decorations up last weekend and we will be cracking on with the food shopping over the next few days - so we are just about "getting there" here!

If you still have Christmas cards to make, and do have time on your hands - why not hop on over to The Cutie Pie Challenge and join us for our last challenge of the year

our theme is

Stars and/or Snowflakes

we are lucky enough to have two lovely sponsors for this challenge, so huge thanks go to

who have an awesome digistamp prize for one lucky winner

and

who will be offering some yummy goodies from their online store for one lucky winner

My DT card features:

• Avery with Snowflakes - digi stamp from PND
• coloured with promarkers
• snowflake dies - joanna sheen signature collection and marianne 
• star embsossing folder
• sentiment embossing folder was a magazine freebie
• acrylic dome sticker

Why not come and join in - we would love to see you!

Before I go just wanted to add a photo of myself and my gorgeous Megan - this was taken at the work Christmas party last Sunday.....

and our Christmas Tree 

I would like to enter:

passion for promarkers - add a sentiment

i love promarkers - anything goes

the holly and ivy christmas challenge  - anything goes

allsorts challenge - snowflakes

the paper nest dolls challenge - December challenge

Santa Claus is coming to town......finally!

Good Morning my lovely blog chums....hope this post finds you well.

It's been all go in the OHLC house for the last few weeks. We had a long weekend up in Scotland, for a bit of a pre-Christmas trip to see the family - we did encounter a bit of snow too, but actually got more snow when we were driving through Yorkshire last Saturday on the way to visit my in-laws in Huddersfield on the way home. We are having a new boiler fitted tomorrow, and this has left me with lots to do clearing space in the cupboard  under the stairs where the current one lives and rearranging my kitchen cupboards to accommodate the new one - and then there's the matter of preparing for Christmas......so this is briefly explaining why I am almost a week late posting this DT card, but ho-ho-ho, better late than never!

We have a fun new challenge at

Christmas with the Cuties

and for our first December challenge as a fully up and running challenge, what else could our theme be......

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

this challenge is sponsored by our lovely friends at

If you're using a super cute Santa image on one of the cards you've been making.....why not hop on over and join in - we'd love to see you!

Challenge #126 - Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2

Hello, my lovely blog chums - this is a much busier week, blogging wise, for me and this is a scheduled post as hubby and I are on a flying visit to Scotland, to do a little bit of family visiting and Christmas pressie delivering.

It is time, today for a new challenge at

sweet sketch wednesday

my card features our fantastic sketch:

I have used, what is without a doubt one of my fave Christmas images this year - Christmouse Pudding from LOTV - I must apologise to the other two wee mousies that I cropped out, but this one is soooo cute, I thought he deserved the chance to shine, lol. Used Promarkers to colour - the papers are oldies from my scrapbox and used Kraft for layering. The Snowflake die is from Joanna Sheen and card is finished with card candi from Craftworks.

We have ooodles more fab inspiration from the team, together with the prize details - so why not hop on over and join in the fun.

I would also like to enter:

Anyone for a Bear Hug???

Good Morning, my lovely blog chums.....hope you enjoyed the weekend - did you get any Christmas prep done? 

The latest Cutie Pie Challenge kicked off last week, so today it's time for "A Little Extra Cutie-ness"......

and our theme is

BEAR HUGS

For me it had to be James the bear  from LOTV! I used this adorable image to create the birthday card for my Mum, from the kids

I have donated this prize for this challenge, so how would you like to get your inky mitts on this adorable House Mouse Set:

So, if you haven't joined in with this challenge yet, where've you been!! click here

MY DT CARD FEATURES:

• James with sign, from LOTV
• coloured with promarkers
• papers from Trimcraft stack
• doily from Joanna Sheen store
• MB precious hearts die
• Go Kreate border die
• pearls

I would like to enter:

aud sentiments challenge -AG with a sentiment
simon says stamp blog.wednesday challenge - Furry Friends

Thank you so much for your visit here today - have a great day xx

Add a Sentiment - with CRAFTY FRIENDS

Hello, my lovely blog chums - hope you've had a great week, and your weekend has got itself off to a pleasing start. Another busy week here, but we have been able to make a start on the Christmas shopping, yesterday, with a trip to Lakeside in Essex (with a bit of lunch at Ikea too, which was nice!)

So, it's time for a new

crafty friends challenge

and our theme this time is

Add a Sentiment

this provided me with the perfect opportunity to make Hubby's birthday card, not least because this image, "relaxing Dave", suits him to a tee, lol

We are sponsored by the lovely folks at

If you have never used a Pink Gem Digi before, then I highly recommend you take a look, as they are amazing and adorable.....or If you havent visited their store in a while, why not hop on over!

http://www.pinkgemdesigns.com/catalog/

We do hope that you will join us for this challenge - click the link and join in the fun...

Have a great Saturday xx

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #125

Hello there, my lovely blog friends and thank you for stopping by today - hope your week is going well.

Had a trip to the Cinema last night with the hubby, to celebrate his birthday, we saw the new "Murder on the Orient Express" film, which I very much enjoyed. Didn't really know to much about the story, and it had me gripped!

So, its time for a new challenge with Sweet Sketch Wednesday

here is my DT card, which features this fab sketch

we are sponsored by 

 www.adayfordaisies.com 

who also provided some adorable images for the team to play with - I couldn't resist "Hot Cocoa"

Hope you will be inspired by our lovely sketch, why not hop on over and join in the fun

Tags - Christmas with the Cuties

Good Morning all, hope you had a great weekend - thoroughly enjoyed my extra hour in the day yesterday, meant that I could be up, get a fair bit of housework done, get to my crafty cupboard in the afternoon, and without feeling like I had to get up super early to accomplish everything - could do with one of these additional hours every week!!!!

Anyway, its time for a new challenge at 

Christmas with the Cuties

and our theme is

TAGS

we are sponsored by our lovely friends at

for my own DT make, I decided to "Go Large" - the Tag I choose to use was actually a wall hanging that I grabbed several of, when they went cheap in Homebase earlier in the year - I wasn't too keen on the cheesy inspirational quote, so painted the tag with some Crown Heritage paint (Promanade). The image used is actually from Wild Rose Studio, and was coloured with Promarkers, edged with Frosty Lace Stickles, and mounted onto a Spellbinders Fancy Oval die cut. The gorgeous polka dot backing was the glossy cover of a magazine freebie paper pad. Added self adhesive ribbon and lace and finished with a couple of wooden tree embellies from The Works.

I would like to enter this into these challenges:

allsorts challenge - Christmas Creatures

Christmas Card Throwdown - use canvas or wood

as you like it challenge - People or Animals (I have a love of images that feature Animals doing "People" things, so I am going to cheat and say BOTH!

moving along with the times - charms or tags

the merry christmas challenge - anything goes

I'm sure most of you now are starting to think about making some Christmas cards - if you haven't already started, so I do hope you will join us for this challenge!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #124

Hello to you, my lovely blog chums - hope you've had a terrific week. 

I am a teeny bit late with this card, but nonetheless, we have another fab sketch for you at

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

this is my DT card which is based on this fab sketch

our lovely sponsor is

who also provided the most adorable images for the team to use, couldn't resist - Florence!

MY DT CARD FEATURES:

• Florence with gift - from DSB
• coloured with promarkers
• red gingham ribbon from The Range
• embossing folder
• kraft
• sticky pearls

I would like to enter:

crafty catz weekly challenge - .A.G, with twist, Girls just wanna have fun

i love promarkers .- birthdays

digistamp boutique - october17 customer competition

http://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/challenge-206-ribbon-and-pearls.html?m=1

have a great weekend, whatever you're up to xx

Think Pink - with the Cuties

Hello my lovely blog friends - now things are getting back to normal at home, I am on catch up mode, and today I am sharing a card that is a wee bit late, but better late than never as they say.....

So, our current theme at The Cutie Pie Challenge is

Think Pink

we are sponsored this time, by our lovely friends at 

My DT card features:

• Kiki with Bloom from Little Miss Muffet
• coloured with promarkers
• own sentiment 
• ribbon from local drapery store
• craftworks card candi
• cuttlebug embossing folder

We've already had some gorgeous entries, but there is still some time to play along - we'd love to see you!

I would also like to enter:

little miss muffet - challenge 74, AG

in the pink challenge - #126 ribbons and/or bows

i love promarkers - #345 birthdays.

All very Cute, with Crafty Friends

Hello, my lovely blog friends -  If you are a regular visitor here, you may know that we have been doing some decorating here. We have redecorated two rooms (our living room and bedroom) but it has been such an upheaval that I actually feel like I've moved house!!!! That work has now been all completed, and I am just going through to last few boxes of "bits and bobs" that have been stashed in Megan's bedroom for the last couple of weeks. We have a lovely built in cupboard in our bedroom that I even decided to overhaul and this has now been transformed into my new craft corner - it's looking fab and I will add some piccies later, when I have a little more time - for now it's just lovely to have the opportunity to blog again!!!

Anyway, for today's post I want to tell you all about our latest Crafty Friends Challenge

our theme this time is

CUTE (a popular choice with me, lol)

our sponsors this time are

who also provided the team with some amazing images to play with.

I was delighted to be able to use A Star is Born

with such an adorable image, I kept the rest of the card fairly simple - using Nitwit papers, string and kraft and brown card stock for matting.

I do hope you will join us for this challenge - just click HERE

 I would like to enter:

all dressed up challenges - anything goes

thank you so much for your visit today xx

SSW2 - Challenge 122

Hi Blog Chums.....hope you've had a great weekend - we started decorating our living room last week, and this has led to days of chaos! How can it be that decorating one room can leave the whole house upside down, lol....I have to admit that having power tools, buckets of wallpaper paste, boxes of screws and the like all over the place, is starting to test my patience, but we are getting there - and I get to "escape" back to work this morning. 

Anyway, I am a few days late with this post.....but we have a great new sketch for you to play with at

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

my DT card is based on this sketch

our lovely sponsors for this challenge are

who also provided some adorable images for the team - I am using "Rabbit"

I do hope you will join us for this challenge, we'd love to see you.

Apologies for the short post this time, normal service will be resumed soon xx

Christmas with the Cuties - Animals!

Hello lovely blog chums, hope you've had a great weekend. It's been all go here, we took Megan back to Uni yesterday......that really is a tough journey home and, even though this is her 2nd year, I still felt very teary. For the second year running "moving in day" also fell on her birthday, we had all gone out for a meal on Friday night to celebrate, but I don't think that made leaving her any easier. Not much chance of sitting round, feeling sad though, as our friend is coming to our house to start decorating the lounge today, and I will be escaping the mayhem and chaos as it is our annual stocktake at work, so its and extra long shift for me - joy!!! 

Anyway, enough of my waffle and onto challenge news - yep, its time for a new challenge at

Christmas with the Cuties 

and our theme this time is

Christmas Animals

our lovely friends at

are our sponsors this time and have a great prize up for grabs!

Thank you also to Pink Gem for providing the team with some awesome images to play with - I couldn't resist "Mistletoe Jingles" and have used the pre coloured image here - I love his snowflake sweater, I would actually wear that one!

We really hope you will join us for our challenge - maybe you've only just started to think about this years Christmas cards, well why not hop on over, we'd love to see you!

I would also like to enter:

Christmas card Throwdown - colours: Pink, Red and Green (hoping that his pink rosy cheeks will suffice) 

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - anything goes

the holly and ivy christmas challenge = anything Christmas goes

Just to add, I had also been given the task of organsing a week of bake sales at work, for the Macmillan Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning - I have a batch of Malteser Cupcakes ready to take into work today, Alistair is going to make some of his yummy cheese scones for tomorrow, and I am planning to knock up some Choccy brownies for later in the week......if you are involved in these events this week, then I wish you every success and happy fundraising!

Ribbon, Lace and Crafty Friends......

Hello my lovely Blog Chums, Happy Saturday! Hope you've had a good week.

So, it's time for a new Crafty Friends Challenge and our theme this time is

Ribbon/Lace

we are sponsored by the lovely

who also provided some adorable images for the team to play with

My DT card features:

• Avery, with Birdhouse banner from PND
• coloured with promarkers
• ribbon from local haberdashery store
• lace from The Range
• doily from Joanna Sheen online store
• papers from Papermania Capsule collection
• Birdhouse die cut was a magazine freebie
• pearls from stash

You've only got to browse a few blogs to see that both Ribbon and Lace are still very popular embellishments, so we do hope that lots of you will join us for this challenge - you'll be very welcome xx

I would like to enter these challenges:

The Paper Nest Dolls challenge - challenge-9
i love promarkers - anything goes

Birthday Double Whammy!

Hello Blog Chums......hope you've had a great weekend.

Sooooo, last week I mentioned that it is our 6th Birthday, over at The Cutie Pie Challenge - and now it's my turn to share a little further Cutie-ness and Inspiration with you, that might even put you in the Party Mood to join in with us!

We have a fabulous four sponsors for this challenge

all of whom are offering some amazing prizes - so why not hop on over and join in!

As it is a special occasion, I couldn't resist making two cards for this challenge

Featuring Ballerina Emma from Paper Nest Dolls

coloured with promarkers

papers from Limetree Crafts

Baby Lexi font on sentiment

 twine 

charm 

Boy Sitter with Dog from Bugaboo

coloured with promarkers

gingham paper from stash

Xcut star dies

Piece by Piece font on sentiment

Had to finish this post with some Thank You's - The Cutie Pie Challenge wouldn't still be running after six years without the help, support and fantastic creativity of some amazing Teamies, our generous and amazing sponsors and to those of you that participate regularly.....Thank You so very much xx

Sweet and Simple!

Hello there my lovely blog chums.....hope all is well with you. It's been a busy week for me, blogging wise, I actually can't remember when I posted as many times in one week - Thank You so much for your visits and lovely comments - am back today with another little, Just for Fun card.....

I have been a fan of Heather Ellis' artwork for a while now, and adore these Pure Innocence images - when I was a little girl I loved the "Miffy" books, which very much remind me of these images. I do love a bit of paper piecing too - and this one is just perfect! Image is coloured with Promarkers, the papers are from a pad from The Works. Loving the new sentiment dies, available in The Range....got a couple so far, will maybe get a couple more when I'm there at the weekend. The die for the balloon is a magazine freebie, added a black dome sticker to complete.

I would like to enter:

Simon says stamp wednesday challenge - CAS

allsorts challenge - use at least 2 dp's

thanks again for you visit - have a lovely day

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #121

Hello there my dear blog chums, thank you so much for visiting me today - hope the week is going well for you.

So I'm back with a DT card today, and it's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday

which is based on this fab sketch

our lovely sponsors are

who will be offering four lovely digi's for our winner!!!

I couldn't resist using this "Doghouse" image frrom Bugaboo - I thought the shape of the roof and the doggies pointy ear would be a great way to recreate the Pentagon shape, and I had a great deal of fun putting this card together.

My DT card features:

• "Doghouse" image frrom Bugaboo
• coloured with Promarkers
• Blue Gingham card and green dotty card from Limetree Crafts
• MFT sentiment
• Magnolia "lovely fence" die
• cloud die
• woodware corner punch

I would like to enter:

crafty sentiments - dies and/or punches

a gem of a challenge - use kraft

allsorts challenge - use at least 2 dp's

catch the bug - cheer up buttercup

i love promarkers - animals

I want to Thank you all for sharing with me, my thoughts and prayers for those affected by Hurricane Irma - I have a very good friend from work who is currently on holiday, visiting family in Williamsburg, Florida. She posted on Facebook, earlier in the week, so we know that she is fine and safe - so very thankful for that. 

Got to drop Cameron off to School soon, and then on to work myself - so will say Cheerio now xx

The one with A Lick of Paint and a Birthday Party!

Hello my lovely blog chums......hope you enjoyed your weekend.

We have been planning, for a while, to redecorate our lounge - and I think I may have made some headway into converting "Mr Must have Carpet Everywhere!!!!" towards going for laminate flooring instead (with two dogs and a cat the hoovering is not fun!!). Hubby is no longer physically able to do the job himself, but we have a family friend who has offered to do the whole lot for us. I have had this LOTV image stamped and ready to colour all weekend, with a particular challenge in mind - so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make this ready to pop his "wages" into.

My card features:

• A Lick of Paint from LOTV
• coloured with promarkers
• dotty card stock from Limetree crafts
• sentiment uses a cuttlebug folder
• dulux colour strips from Homebase
• card candi

I would like to enter:

Passion for Promarkers challenge - all in a days work
so pleased that I managed to make entry #3

A Gem of a Challenge - use Kraft

Cardz 4 Guyz - Something beginning with D - Denim Dungarees

Oh, and I did mention a Party too......Well, you are all Invited to join us for our 6th Birthday Party at

we have some wonderful cards from our DT to share with you and some fantastic prizes up for grabs - so what are you waiting for

Mix it and Make it!

Hi, me again! Hope your weekend is going well.

 I went into a wee bit of a panic yesterday, when hubby reminded me that it's his daughter's birthday on Tuesday (yep, I had forgotten - oops!) but this did give me a valid excuse to leave cutting the grass in the back garden, for another day - not gonna say no to an impromptu card making sesh!!! She loves to bake, so this seemed the perfect opportunity to use this LOTV digi stamp

Today's card features:

• Mix it and Make it digi from LOTV
• coloured with promarkers
• birthday recipe stamp also from LOTV
• blue dottty paper from stash
• doily from Joanna Sheen online store
• ribbon and lace from local haberdashery store
• craftworks card candi from The Glitter Pot

I would like to enter:

passion for promarkers - all in a day's work

 (2nd entry, this wasn't the image I was planning to use for my 2nd entry, so if time allows today there may even be a 3rd!)

Di's digi designs challenge - ribbon, lace, twine or cord

i love promarkers - animals

have a lovely day - thank you for your company xx