Lovely Saturday.

Hi girls, I don't have anything to show for my day's work but what a lovely day off I had. I went to a crop at my local craft shop with my friend. Most of us were making cards although some did some scrapbooking. I only actually finished one Christmas card. But I stamped and watercoloured lots of Penny Black and House Mouse images. I also made a sympathy card. Of course I forgot to take piccies of them when I came home. It was a beautiful day, lovely and sunny and warm and 11 of us were indoors all day. I think we all bought lots of gorgeous new stash. I got a few sheets of Bo Bunny Christmas papers and 2 stacks of MME - laundry line and signature Christmas which is all yummy and glittery. I also got some lovely new ribbon and the most beautiful velvet ric rac.....! We really had a great time. Some people were very organised and then there were the rest of us. I took some clear stamps but forgot a block to put them on. I also managed to forget a trimmer and cutting mat. But I managed to lend my friend my lovely Martha Stewart snowflake punches and a nesties snowflake set. Oh well I'll know better next time. Now I must see what I can finish now that I have so much lovely new Christmas paper. It was great to have a Saturday off, really unusual for me and even better I have Monday off too - fantastic. Next week I also have Saturday and Monday off as I need to use up my holidays. I'm hoping to have a nosey in Stampaholics in Perth next Saturday on my way to visit my daughter in Crieff - if I've got any money left after going to a Stampin Up party on Friday.

I'll try and post piccies of today's work tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Kat xx

Soon be the Weekend!

I've been naughty again! After I fed and walked the dogs and hung out my washing I've been making this card. My excuse is that I'm working this afternoon and when I come home from work it will be too late and this card fits 4 Saturday challenges.

I used this great sketch from Sketch Saturday. It was really easy to use - even for me! I've used the lovely lemonade papers from Basic Grey and for the other part of their challenge I put some of the dark pink through the bug in the divine swirls folder. I used nesties to cut out the ovals, coloured one of my new Penny Black stamps with Promarkers and used a Sakura clear gel glitter pen on the hearts. The Pile it on challenge wants flowers so I punched out some with my EK Success punches and finished them off with stick on pearls. To complete the Penny Black challenge I add a piece of paper lace and buttons from my stash for the Whimsy challenge. The edges of the background paper have been distressed with Distress Inks for the http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/. I added faux stitching for the Simon Says Stamp challenge. And it looks like a girl's card so I can enter the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge. If I can get round to decorating the inside I could also enter the Creative Card Crew challenge too.

Just another view of the card to show that I put the image up on sticky pads to give a bit of dimension.

Not sure what work will be like this afternoon.....! My colleague just phoned to say that the printer wasn't working and the engineer had until Monday to come out to fix it!!! There are so many things you can't do in the Post Office if you don't have a printer. I guess I could have a quiet afternoon if the engineer doesn't appear lol!! I should be so lucky. Good thing it's Friday and not Monday or we would be really popular. On the bright side I am off tomorrow and I'm going to a crop at my local craft shop and I'm also off on Monday - just because I want a day off.

So I'm off to post this now and see if I can do some housework before I leave for work.

Hope you like and please let me know what you think if you have a minute to spare.

Kat x

It is now Sunday and guess who forgot to post a photo of the inside of the card!!! I'm probably too late now but here it is anyway. I'm never sure what to do with insides. Some are easier than others - can be difficult if you have a 6x6 pad and only two sheets of each paper. Never mind her it is.

Just Magnolia 23.

Hi girls it's me again with another card. I always like to enter the Just Magnolia challenge if I can so I managed to do this quick card and hopefully I will be in time to enter it. I love this Tilda with Ladybird which I coloured with Promarkers. I used this spotty DP from Basic Grey june bug and the floral is from American Crafts. I edged the floral with my Martha Stewart floral lace punch and put a piece of plain red through the Cuttlebug in the swiss dots folder. The flower is made up of 3 stackies from Polka Doodles and I stickled the centre of it. The spotty ribbon is from my stash.

Not sure if I liked it while I was making it but now that it is done I like it a wee bit better lol!!

I'm off to post it now and enter the Just Magnolia challenge before it is too late! I'm also going to enter the Polka Doodles challenge for the first time.

Kat x

By the way has anyone heard of a new challenge blog that is starting soon. You will find all the details at http://totallygorguss.blogspot.com/. It is for challenges featuring the Gorjuss Girls and they are looking for DT members.

Die Cut Dreams DT Call.

Die Cut Dreams challenge blog are having a DT call. They are looking for two people to join their team. The call is open until midnight on Friday 25th September and the new team will be announced on Sunday evening 27th September. You have to make a "pink" card or project and post it on your blog with a link to Die Cut Dreams challenge blog and then leave a comment over on Die Cut Dreams with a link to your work. If you go over to http://diecutdreams.blogspot.com/you can read all the details of what is involved.

As you can see from the fact that the DT call ends tomorrow I was not sure about trying for the DT. But hey nothing to lose and I do like pink lol! I did think about trying it last week but with pressure of work I just didn't have the time. So I have been faffing about all morning trying to get it done.

I used the lovely sketch from http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/ and DP from DCWV. I used Promarkers, including some of the new ones, to colour this lovely Christmas Manga fairy from Sugar Nellies. Isn't she cute? I used my Martha Stewart embossed snowflake edge punch on some of the DP. I sewed round the edges of the rest of the DP. I went over the fairy's wing and the star on her wand with a Sakura clear glitter gel pen. The snowflakes were cut out using a Sizzix die for the larger one and a punch for the other two and then I edged them with a Promarker pen to match the fairy and put them in place with raised glue dots. Since they are cut out from white glitter card they have turned out a different colour!!I finished off with some brads and ribbon from my stash.


I love this fairy, she is so easy to colour. I'm not really one for using fairies a lot but this one is sweet without being too sickly! Hope you like my card and wish me luck with the DT call. I'm not that hopeful but maybe one day I will be lucky enogh to join a DT, you never know.

I'm off now to see what I can do before it is time to feed and walk the dogs and finish making our tea. It's been lovely here, hope it's been nice where you are.

Kat xx

Sugar Bowl 19

Seems ages since I managed a post but I think it was only Sunday. I was out on Monday night at the Guild. One of our own members gave a talk entitled "Granny goes to Base Camp." And if you think that means Everest you would be right. She did actually get to base camp when she was in her 50s in 2001. We were well impressed especially us younger ones!! She certainly is pretty adventurous. Last year she told us about her trip to Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately she is now very ill and in fact she was brave enough to get out of her bed to come along and show us her photos and tell us about her trip. Amazing lady!

This is the card I made yesterday evening for the Sugar Bowl challenge. I love this image from Sugar Nellies, she is so sweet. I have used her a few times and she is so easy to colour. Even for me to colour with Promarkers!! Isn't this a lovely sketch from Marlene and I have included pink and brown as required. I used some lovely papers from Basic Grey. The base card is pink and I matted the DT onto brown and pink. I did some faux stitching round some of the edges. I used my nesties to cut out the circles and rectangles.
I inked the edges of the flowers with brown and pink and used some brads and jewels from my stash.

I'm not sure about this card. I don't think it's what I meant to make before I started!! If that makes sense. I wish it was a bit more cheerful looking but it's too late now to worry about it.

Thanks for looking.

Kat x

Christmas Present.

I made this card this afternoon using the great sketch from Mojo Monday. I coloured this sweet House Mouse image with promarkers and stickled the pompom and brim of the hat. The sentiment, ribbon and sticky ribbon are all from Papermania. The DP is from Forever Friends from last year. I cut out snowflakes from white glitter paper with Sizzix dies in my Cuttlebug and used nesties to cut the circles. The DP has snowflakes on it which unfortunately don't show up very well even on the first photo which was taken outside! Black jewels are from my stash. All the edges are inked with black. The next photo is not much better and just reminds me that the Merry Christmas could have been stamped better!!

But this is not a Christmas card it is a gift card holder. This House Mouse image was also coloured with Promarkers. The corners to hold the gift card were cut out using a punch. I think this fits the Cute Card Thursday challenge for hidden treasure. I think I might be pushing my luck with the Pollycrafts challenge for black, white and one colour!!

So the challenges I hope to enter are:-

Mojo Monday:- Sketch.

Sophisticat Challenge:- Make anything to hold something eg gift voucher, cash etc.

Pollycraft Challenge:- Black, white and one colour.

House Mouse Monday Challenge:- A challenge from the past year - #50 gift card holder.

Cute Card Thursday:- Hidden Treasure.

Allsorts Challenge:- Snowflakes.

I'm off to post this now and enter the challenges.

Thanks for looking and please tell me what you think. It makes my day to read your kind comments.

Kat x

Autumn Breeze.

I'm a bit surprised at how quickly this card came together. I spent ages looking at the Basic Grey Indian Summer papers because I wanted to do a couple of Fall/Autumn challenges but somehow I couldn't find the effect I wanted! Then I settled on some MME bloom and grow papers. Not sure if they are right for autumn but they fit with what I had in mind lol! I edged the papers in frayed burlap and antique linen Ditress Inks and also added faux stitching. I used Promarkers to colour this sweet image from the Whiff of Joy Fall set. As embellishments I added a flower, a leaf and a button. The leaf was cut out using a Martha Stewart punch.



I am planning to enter a few challenges with this card:-

Crafty Cardmakers:- Sketch
Whimsy:- Autumn (Fall) colours.
A Spoon Full of Sugar:- Autumn.
http://lalalandcrafts.blogspot.com/:- 3 different embellishments - a flower, a leaf and a button.
Simon Says Challenge:- 3 embellishments, 2 papers and 1 image.
Stamp Something:- Favourite colours or papers - favourite papers - MME bloom and grow.

It's a beautiful morning here in Aberdeenshire. The kind of morning that makes you glad to have dogs to walk and washing to hang out lol! I seem to have a small problem uploading images this morning so I am going to leave this just now and come back to it later.

Everything seems fine now so I have uploaded my photo and now I need to go off and enter the challenges before I forget!! My daughter has been brushing one very hairy chocolate Labrador and now she (the dog) is lying down tired -poor thing - because she had a daft turn and started running about as only a Lab can. You know how they do it back legs in front of the front legs they are going so fast.

Hope you are all having this gorgeous sunny weather today, for September it is really fantastic. And what am I going to do now - well carry on crafting of course cos tomorrow is a full day at work and then I am out in the evening for a couple of hours at the Guild. I might manage another post later if I can get another card done before the light goes.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Kat x

Stamptacular Sunday 24

I made this quick card for http://stamptacularsundaychallenge.blogspot.com/ this evening. I thought it might be a good idea to get another Christmas card done as I only have about 5 so far.

Sorry about the weird photos. Evening again - do I never learn! I stamped this lovely Clarity stamp with Versamark and embossed it with silver. The papers are DCWV rose tinted Christmas. The sentiment is from Penny Black (think it is a bit small) and I stamped it with raspberry Vivid ink and embossed it with detail clear embossing powder. I used my Martha Stewart embossed snowflake edge punch on the pink card under the snowflake paper. I added some silver bling dots from my stash.

The colour looks a bit nicer in real life but I was probably lucky to get any photos at all. Must get a daylight lamp organised as the days are getting shorter all the time and it is only going to get more difficult to take a decent photo.

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Kat x

ABC Challenge DT Call.

The ABC challenge blog are having a DT call. You have to choose 3 of your favourite cards and post them on your blog with a link to them at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ Not sure that my work is good enough to try for a DT place but there's nothing to lose so I'm posting these three cards anyway.

This is a new baby card I made using some gorgeous DP from Basic Grey and a Forever Friends stamp. The image is coloured with Promarkers. Do you like the cute little pram charm?

I decoupaged this cute Tilda image which is also coloured with Promarkers. The lovely DPs are wild raspberry from K & Co. I stitched round some of the papers with my mini sewing machine.

The third card is a cute House Mouse image and again it has been coloured with Promarkers. I also coloured the chipboard letters to match. The DP is from Sandylion. Again I did some sewing with my mini machine.

Not sure that these are good enough to apply for a DT post but they are among my favourites and I enjoyed making them. It was quite difficult to choose 3 favourites as sometimes you get quite attached to your cards because you like the image or the colours or the DP.

Thanks for the opportunity to try for your DT and thanks for taking the time to look at these cards.

Kat x

Fed Up Working!

Thursday evening.

I am so fed up working full time. I still have to get through Friday, Saturday and Monday before I get a morning off and even then I have to do housework before we disappear under a pile of dog hair. My Labrador is very considerately casting and she is a very big dog lol!!

I used the lovely sketch from the Penny Black Saturday Challenge to make this card. I coloured the cute Penny Black image with Promarkers. I was inspired to use these colours of Basic Grey wisteria papers by the photo on the Basic Grey challenge. I added some faux stitching and some faux lace - I used paper lace. The flowers were cut out from scraps of the DP using Martha Stewart punches. Brads were added to two of the flowers and a button to the other. I used a tag punch for the sentiment.Ribbon, brads and button are from my stash.

I hope to enter a few challenges with this card!

Basic Grey:- Inspiration from photo - inspired by the colours in the photo.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge:- Sketch.

Passion for Promarkers:- Polka dots and any colours.

Paper Maniacs:- Ribbon.

creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/:- 2 papers, 3 flowers, 2 brads, 1 button and 1 ribbon.

Papertake Weekly:- Faking it - faux stitching.

Creative Inspiration:- Animals.

Paperplay:- Tag it.

Charisma Cardz:- Flowers.

Hope these are ok.

It is now Friday evening and I hope I am in time to enter the two Saturday challenges after all this work!

Kat x

Halloween....

Well this is something I have never done before! This is the first time I have ever made a Halloween card. Not sure how I came to decide on a Halloween card but here it is. I think it may have been because I wanted to take part in the white, black and one other colour from Pile it On and Pollycraft. I also wanted to do the Just Magnolia challenge and Halloween seemed the only theme that fitted. I don't usually think of Tilda in terms of black and white but I thought one of the Halloween Tilda's would fit the bill.

I used the great sketch from Creative Inspirations and coloured this lovely Tilda with her spider's web and broomstick with my Promarkers. I used the lovely Halloween papers from MME. The black paper says "BOO"!! I also used some Core dinations whitewash paper which I put through the Cuttlebug in the divine swirls folder and then sanded to show the underlying green it has also been distressed and inked with black and matted onto black. The black "BOO" paper is matted onto green which has been distressed and inked with black. The image has been edged with lime green Promarker (which unfortunately looks a bit yellow) and then inked with black as has the sentiment. I added some leaves that I cut out with a Martha Stewart punch.The green ric rac, green pearls, cat charm and eyelets are from my stash.

The challenges I am entering are:-

Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge:- Sketch plus brads or eyelets.
Colour Create:- Neon green and black plus leaves and charms.
Just Magnolia 22:- Embossing.
Cupcake Craft Challenge:- Pearls and Swirls.
Pile it On:- White, black and one colour.
Pollycraft Challenge:- Black, white and one colour.

I've just realised I will need to take another photo of this card in the morning as there is something missing lol!! Trust me, I'm to busy thinking I need to get this posted to enter Creative Inspirations challenge before it is too late and then get my Tesco order finshed for tomorrow. I also have a card to finish before I go to my friend's house with it tomorrow. It would be finished but she decided to stamp a greeting inside and I made a mess of it so now I need to decorate the inside so as to hide the mess. In spite of the fact that rock a blocks are supposed to make a perfect image I can usually make a mess with them.

I'd best go now and do the things I really need to and maybe I'll be back tomorrow with something else. With my track record with photos I may not be back till Thursday!!!

Kat x

Wednesday evening - I've changed the photos now.

Second Post today.

Me again! I used this great sketch from A Spoon Full of Sugar to make this card. The lovely fairy is from Sugar Nellies, isn't she cute? I coloured her with my Promarkers and inked round the square with sandstone Promarker. I added star shaped jewels to her dress and hair. The stars on her wand and belt are stickled and I covered her wings with a Sakura stardust gel pen. I added some gel pen to her dress and belt too. Not too much bling I hope lol!! I made the flowers from scraps of the three papers with 3 sizes of EK Success punches. Then I inked round the petals with a Promarker and added a brad to each. Nearly forgot the DP is the lovely wild asparagus from MME.Hope you like her! I was quite surprised to make two cards yesterday evening. It's wonderful how sometimes it all comes together and you can make a card in no time and other times you spend ages trying to find the right image and papers and all the extra little bits you want to add!

Challenges for this card:-

Passion for Promarkers:- Sandstone and blue pearl.
A Spoon Full of Sugar:- Sketch.
Creative Card Crew:- Fairy nice day.
Paper Blooms:- Bling.
Stamp Something:- Favourite embellishments - flowers.

I'm off to post this now and maybe get an update on blogs and challenges. What I really ought to do is finish my ironing and phone my Auntie to see how her birthday went. She's fantastic for 93. I hope if I have to get really old that I'm like her. I don't think she crochets now but she still knits and does Sudoku and crosswords and gets out a lot and lives by herself. Not to mention if you phone her you can be on the phone for about an hour.

Have a nice evening and I'm off to enter some challenges!

Kat x

Sketch Saturday DT Call.

I can't believe I was outside at 7.45 this morning taking photos of cards. Just shows you how blogging and challenges get a hold of you!!

Sketch Saturday are having a DT call which ends tonight at 8pm. I haven't posted about it before because I wasn't going to try for it. But last night in the middle of making another card I suddenly decided that I would!! How's that for daft? I ran the risk of having neither of them made in time. But somehow the Sketch Saturday one came together and surprise, surprise so did the other one. It meant I was a bit late doing my ironing (well some of it!). But hey it's only ironing.

This is a great sketch from Sketch Saturday. At first I thought it looked a bit complicated but like most sketches it is fine as long as you take your time and think before you stick lol! I watercoloured this lovely image from Sugar Nellies. I have only just got it and I think it suits these papers and vice versa. The papers are a favourite of mine - wild raspberry from K & Co. I added some ribbon from my stash and some paper lace but apart from that it is a very simple card. Well ok it's got lots of layering. I think with these papers you don't need a lot of embellishments.
I think that's about all I need to say about it. Except please wish me luck girls. I would love to have the chance to be on a DT. Not sure if I have enough talent though but nothing to lose by having a shot!!

See you all later as I have another card to post but not enough time as I need to leave for work in about 15 mins.

Kat x

Stamptacular Sunday 23.

I've just realised that I forgot to post my card for the Stamptacular Sunday challenge where they want something funny. I think this image is pretty funny!! The card is sitting on the table looking at me. What an idiot. It suddenly occurred to me that this is Saturday and I need to enter tonight for a Sunday challenge. Maybe I've been working too hard lol!

Anyway this is just a very simple card. I watercoloured the very cute House Mouse image - isn't it adorable? I edged it with pink and layered it onto silver card. The flowers are cut out using punches and glitter card and a brad added to the centre. I just stamped the sentiment straight onto the card. Very simple and very quick. Sometimes I like to do simple and quick it makes a change from some of my marathon length cards lol.

I think that is my last post for tonight now. I think I might check out some of my favourite blogs now. I must check out Passion for Promarkers, I hear there is to be a blog hop tomorrow to celebrate the new colours.

See you all tomorrow.

Kat x

Some Challenges.

I used the great sketch from Mojo Monday and watercoloured this cute House Mouse image to make this card. The DPs are anonymous! I really have no idea what they are!! The main dark brown one actually has some random flowers on it. I stitched round it and the plain brown ones which had been put through the cuttlebug in the swiss dots folder. Then I distressed round the edges and the dots and rubbed over them with orange chalk. Everything was matted onto the same orange card as the base card. I used my Martha Stewart heart edge punch to edge the lower piece of DP. The spotted ribbon, flowers, jewels and brad are from my stash.

The challenges I am entering are:-

Mojo Monday 103:- Sketch.
House Mouse Monday Challenge:- Song title/lyrics "Love me do"
Die Cut Dreams:- Chocolate and orange.
Whimsy:- Sewing.

I love House Mouse they are such cute stamps. I was struggling to find a song title or lyrics in the ones I have. Most of them are Christmas stamps and I think only one features a Rudolph type, then I found this one and another which seemed a bit big for a card this size!! In real life this card is quite a nice colour, a bit more colourful than the picture implies.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately when the weekend is over I have to work full-time next week. For the last time though because I think my colleague will have had all her days. I've got four sets of Saturdays and Mondays still to take and possibly more days when my daughter has her baby. A friend text me and asked if I wanted to go to a crop later this month. Naturally I would lol! I thought I could go on the Saturday afternoon after work but by great good luck I am off that day and so is another friend so we can both go all day - fantastic!!

See you tomorrow.

Kat x

Sketch Saturday 67

Just a quick post with a last minute card for Saturday Sketchers. I don't think it was one of my better ideas to decide to make a card for a challenge at nearly 10 o'clock at night!! Dreadful picture again but I'll replace it tomorrow. This was a good sketch to follow and isn't Tilda lovely with her pot of strawberries. I have to admit that I got some colour outside the lines when I watercoloured her hair and that is why she has a flower shaped jewel in her hair lol. I used some DPs from the Paper Company and jewels, flower and little pearls are from my stash. Nesties have been used to cut out the rectangle and circles and I added stickles to the flower.

Hopefully I can try to get a better photo tomorrow. I seem to say that all the time. I really need to mend my ways and not be at the last minute all the time. Well maybe not all the time but often enough. It's worse when you don't always know when the closing time is. OK if it is UK time but worse if you have to try to figure it out for another country. Also not all challenge blogs tell you when the closing time is, sometimes just the day. Would be handy to know for definite. Does anyone else agree? Also it would be handy if there was a clock with the time for whatever country the closing time was for eg USA or wherever.

Best go and post this now and enter the challenge and quit prattling!!

Have a good weekend girls, maybe see you tomorrow.

Kat xx

Saturday now and I've changed the photo. Maybe not much better but I think the DPs are quite difficult to get a good photo of!!

More Candy!

If you go over to Sonia's blog at http//www.scraps4fun.com/2009/09/blog-candy-open-sep-1-till-sep-30.html you can find out how to enter and maybe even win some fabby candy. Sonia is very talented and has some lovely work on her blog.And here's more candy on Rach's blog at http://papercraftsbyrach.blogspot.com/. Check it out it's great candy and Rach has some gorgeous work on her blog. She is very talented!

Check out these two blogs I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Kat x

Joanne's Birthday Candy.

I just checked my bloglist and discovered that Joanne is having surprise candy for her birthday. If you pop over to her blog at http://craftingjoanne.blogspot.com/ you can see what it's all about . Just thought you might like to know.

Kat x

Just Magnolia 21

Just a quick post for now as I think I will have to replace the photo tomorrow. That will teach me to make a card so late in the day and think I will be able to get a reasonable photo!! I really wanted to do this challenge as I liked the look of the sketch at this week's Just Magnolia challenge. I used Cloud 9 DPs which are lovely soft colours. I watercoloured this lovely Tilda with her bicycle - isn't she cute? All the edges are distressed and then edged with shabby shutters and tattered rose Distress Inks. I also did faux stitching round all the edges. The pink parts of the flowers are cut out using my new Martha Stewart punch. The rectangle for the image is cut out with nesties. The ribbon, green flowers, brads and spacers are from my stash.

The challenges I hope to enter are:-

Just Magnolia 21:- Sketch.
Cute Card Thursday:- Pink and green.
La La Land:- Distressing.
ABC :- D for die cuts or punches.
Cute Daisy May:- Pink and..something else.

That was a bit of a rush to get the Just Magnolia challenge entered in time!!! Now I will go and enter the rest before I forget.

I have been off craft shopping today. I decided since it was a nice day I would nip off to Just Create at Alford. Needless to say I didn't manage to leave as early as I would have liked so I didn't get home again until about 2 o'clock. Then I have to mess around deciding if there are other challenges that would fit too. Then I have to decide what image to use and what papers to use. Sometimes this can take ages because no matter how many papers you have nothing seems to jump out at you. Still it's done now and entered. I always like to enter the Just Magnolia challenge if I can find time. I saw a new type of flower on a card Jacqui had made and she told me how she had made it so I think I will have a shot at that before I forget what she told me. I bought some Martha Stewart punches today and some lovely Christmas papers from Making Memories and a couple of Penny Black stamps. I've been very naughty but I'm going to behave now....unless I manage to go to my local shop Miller's Moments near Peterhead at the weekend. Not much chance of doing much next week as I am at work every day. Must go now and find a card suitable for my favourite Auntie Jean who will be 93 on Sunday. I've ordered her flowers so all I need to do is find a card. I have lots of cards but maybe not many suitable for a chirpy 93 year old lol!!

By the way has anyone else a hit counter that seems to have lost the plot? I had a quick look at my blog this morning and the counter was registering over 11,000 hits. I have over 5,000 on Wednesday so I don't know what has happened. I've got used to the idea that sometimes you can't see your followers and sometimes when you go to the dashboard blogger tells you that you are not following any blogs. These are usually just temporary blips but this counter is just crazy and still has too many hits!

I need a coffee now! Not sure if I'll have anything tomorrow. I need to do some housework before we disappear under dust and dog hair.

Kat xx

Friday morning now and I've replaced the photo but I'm not sure it looks any better......!

Pile it On etc and Sugar Bowl 18.

Good morning everyone. What a miserable day it is here after a lovely day yesterday. Great for crafting but not so great for taking photos!! The first card is one I made yesterday for a few challenges. I used the lovely sketch from Simon Says Stamp and used Promarkers to colour this lugubrious looking dog from Funstamps. Isn't he cute? The papers are from Prima and I think they are just right for a male card. I sewed around all the edges again - really getting into this sewing on cards lol. I cut ovals with my nesties and embossed the one behind the image with a Cuttlebug Script folder. The square metal brads, buttons and ribbon are from my stash.

The challenges I hope to enter are:-

Pile it on:- Birthday.
Allsorts 17:- Something for the boys.
Busy Becs Creatalicious Challenges:- For Dad plus brown and metal.
Simon Says Stamp:- Sketch.
Paper Maniac Challenges:- Embossing.
Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge:- Blue and brown.
Whimsy 18:- Sewing.


Then this morning I realised that I had to do the Sugar Bowl challenge now or I would not have time to do it at all lol. I was dying to use my new MME Colourful Christmas papers. They are gorgeous, lovely and bright. I'm not sure if this card's too busy lol!! I coloured the lovely Honey with Gifts from Sugar Nellies with Distress inks and also used them to ink all the edges. I got a parcel of goodies I had ordered from Elaine at Quixotic yesterday so I decided to use my new jute ribbon. I also got a parcel from Crafts U Love so I had to use my new Martha Stewart punches to make the flowers. The blue ribbon and buttons are from my stash.

Please tell me what you think girls - is it too busy? I was going to use the other side of the stripey paper which is blue with swirly doodley lines but it just didn't work the stripey side seemed to work better. (To me) In the same way the other side of the orange with coloured dots is much quieter and it didn't seem to work either!!

Well I should have my lunch now and get ready for work. tomorrow is balance day in the Post Office and I like to get organised for it on a Tuesday afternoon. Maybe I'll have time to check out some blogs this evening - hope so!

Kat xx

Lazy Day!

It has been a lovely day so far for my holiday. We didn't get the Bank Holiday last week but today is a local holiday.I'm not proud - if it's a holiday I'm happy to have it whatever it's for. I'm glad it's nice today because we are surrounded by farms and the harvest is taking a while this year. We used to have a farm until my husband saw sense and realised it was not worth killing himself with work. Our son would help, when he was still at home, but there was no way he wanted to be a farmer. Smart move if you ask me. Our lovely Westminster Government does not make it easy to be a farmer nowadays!

But enough waffle. I have been busy this morning blog hopping before I thought maybe I should get some crafting done. I had a slight diversion as a parcel of goodies arrived from Elaine at Quixotic. But I have been very good I have put the goodies aside until I get this post done and challenges entered.

I coloured this lovely Tilda with my Promarkers and used a Sakura clear glitter gel pen on her wings. I used wild asparagus DP from MME. Nesties were used to cut the circles and scallops as usual. The semi-circles at each side were made by drawing round a plate! Flowers and gorgeous velvet ribbon from my stash. The butterflies are also from my stash and I used them because the 1st Sophisticat challenge had butterflies on the sketch so I thought I'd add some to my card!

So here's the card.
To be honest while I was making it I hated it!! Even when I finished it I didn't like it. I think I'm getting used to it now but it's not one of my favourites.

Challenges entered:-

Papertake Weekly:- Angels and fairies.
Sophisticat Challenge:- Sketch, butterflies optional.
Flutterby Wednesday #73:- Fairy or butterfly.

What do you think? Is it really awful? I don't mind if you think it is, I don't mind if you don't like it since I am not keen on it myself lol!!

Almost forgot - I won some candy on Kath's blog today. That was a good start to the day wasn't it?

Kat x

Sketch and Stash 18 and more.

If you are guessing that I haven't done my ironing yet you would be right lol! I might be too late for the Sketch and Stash 18 challenge but it fits other challenges too and I like the sketch. It was really easy to use. Sorry about the dodgy photo, this time of night is not the best to take a photo. I've discovered that if I take a photo sort of from above it is almost viewable but I will replace it with a better one tomorrow! I watercoloured this sweet Penny Black image. My DP is wild raspberry from K & Co. It is neglected not because I don't like it but because I do!! I'm sure you all understand this. The paler DP has hearts on it which might not be obvious in this photo. Do you like my heart brads - I think they are really sweet. I used the lovely Martha Stewart heart punch for even more hearts. The flowers and jewels are from my stash and I inked round the DPs with Vivid ink pads. Monday morning now and I've replaced the original photo with a slightly better one. You might well wonder how bad the first one was if this one is better!

Challenges for this card:-

Sketch and Stash 18:- neglected DPs and heart brads.
Penny Black Saturday Challenge:- Hearts desire - DP, heart brads and heart punch.
Secret Crafter:- Hearts and Flowers.

This time I really need to do my ironing!! In spite of the fact that I have a day off tomorrow I will be out two evenings this coming week and probably going to my friend's house again on Wednesday afternoon to get some cards done for our sale of work. So I need to be able to do some crafting tomorrow.

Kat xx

Mojo Monday, House Mouse 50 etc.

Good afternoon everyone. I have spent the afternoon quietly crafting. Just me - great. I have made this card following the lovely sketch from Mojo Monday. I have used a couple of my favourite House Mouse stamps and made a gift card holder. I thought it might be a bit difficult for me lol but I'm quietly pleased with how it turned out. I used a punch to cut out the fancy corners and my EK Success punches for the flower. I used some of my favourite MME bloom and grow papers. Jewels, brad and ribbon are from my stash.This is the inside of the card with space to write a to, from and space to put a gift card.

I hope to enter these challenges:-

Mojo Monday 102:- Sketch.

House Mouse Monday Challenge 50:- Gift Card Holder.

Stamp Something:- Favourite stamp and punches or die cuts.

Stamping for the Weekend 14:- Orange, teal and pink.

Hope you like and I'd be really pleased if you tell me what you think.

Might go and do my ironing after tea. I've got a day off tomorrow as it's a local holiday here. How lucky am I?

Might be back later if I'm naughty and don't do my ironing after all.

Kat xx

Stamptacular Sunday 22

I decided to make a card for Stamptacular Sunday 22. I thought it would be quite simple as the theme is scallops and I often use my scalloped nesties lol! The DP is supposed to be black and pink and white. Not sure the black looks very black though. I have used both sides of the same DP as both sides fit the colours I wanted to use. The image is a Clarity stamp, coloured with Promarkers and then I went over the flowers and flowerpot with a Sakura clear glitter gel pen. The Prima flowers are from my stash and I added some stickles to the brads. Ribbon and jewels are from my stash.This fuzzy close up shows the stickled brads!

I am going to enter the following challenges:-

Sunday Stamptacular 22:- Scallops.

Creative Card Crew 26 :- Pink, black and white.

If the shoe fits...scrap it:- Polka dots.

Pink Elephant:- 1 ribbon, 2 squares and something sparkly.

I think that's all for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Kat x

Saturday Challenges.

I'm just ready to run out the door to go to a very boring meeting so I'll be back later to explain what this is all about!

The challenge this week on Create4fun was to make a milk carton. I made the template as big as my programme would allow but it is still not very big. It is cute though. My daughter says it wouldn't hold many Lindor choccies lol! I used some Penny Black stamps for two sides plus the sentiment. I watercoloured the images and added some stickles for snow and on the doggie's hat. I cut out two snowflakes with a Sizzix die. I used my nesties to cut out scalloped squares and the plain squares of DP. I actually printed the template onto plain paper first so that I could figure out how to make up the milk carton! When I was sure I knew what I was doing I printed onto red card. It was actually quite easy to make and fun. You could make one up with a little gift for any sort of occasion.

Challenges:-

Penny Black Saturday Challenge:- Christmas.

Create4fun:- Milk carton.

Pollycraft 23 :- Furry Friends.

Secret Crafter:- Wings.

My photos are even worse than usual! We have had such awful weather here. I even went outside to try to get them - if I had had it finished before I went to work in the afternoon I would have got on better as it was sunny then. But I was good this morning and did my housework before going near my craft area.

My meeting didn't last too long, that is the best I can say about it! Have a nice weekend everyone, hope the weather is better than it has been - especially yesterday!

Kat xx