A Challenge Or Two

Evening all you lovely Bloggers. Friday again and the forecast looks gorgeous for the weekend. I hope you all get to enjoy the sunshine.

I've been out of circulation with all the challenges I enjoy lately and started out to make a tag for Frankie's Tag It On challenge which is Embossing of any kind this week.


My head was buzzing with ideas and I started with blending Brushed Corduroy DI around my tag and stamping a Crafty Individuals text before adding the swirls in Vintage Photo which I clear embossed.

The butterflies (Graphicus) were stamped with Brilliance brown, clear embossed and painted with Brilliance sage green. Liquid pearls were added for the body. I really love using this at the moment. It has been in my stash for ages unused, but now I've found a use for it, there's no stopping me!!

The flowers were punched and then cuttlebugged and a touch for DI rubbed over before I added a gem for the centre. The flowers were a second attempt, the first ones were brown but I've been making cream roses for a Wedding card and decided they worked better with the tag so the originals were pulled off and replaced.

I added some fake stitching around the edge just to finish it off and while browsing Blogland tonight found I could also enter it into the Allsorts challenge "In Stitches" (just) and also Simon Says Stamp "Things With Wings" so I feel I've been quite productive this week.

Thank you as always for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments. I always enjoy reading them.

Key To My Heart

Well, after rain and dullness yesterday the sun is back out but the wind is really chilly. It's definitely sun to enjoy behind glass.

The other thing I have noticed is that we live very near to Leeds Bradford airport and I don't notice the steady stream of planes going in and out normally, but I have certainly noticed their absence, it's soooo quiet, I almost miss them, how strange is that? I am thinking of you if you have friends or family stranded anywhere around the world at the minute.


I have been playing with my Graphicus Key stamps again, I just love them at the minute. It was my Sister and BIL's 13th Wedding Anniversary on Monday and this is the card I made for them.

The key was stamped with archival black and clear embossed and then coloured with my new promarkers. I added some gems for a bit of bling. The edge of the topper and card was stamped with the top part of one of the keyholes and the greeting was from Dawn Bibby.


I never have any excuse to forget their anniversary because I met my Hubby at their Wedding so it is also our Anniversary of sorts too. He was the Best man and I was a Bridesmaid and we got married 18 months later when the roles were reversed as my Sister was my Bridesmaid and her Husband the Best man, talk about keeping it in the family!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Tuesday has gone well.

Petals and Pearls

Hello on this beautiful sunny Saturday. Isn't the weather spoiling us at the minute?

We have been making the most of it, as you can probably guess from my lack of posts, but while the children are on holiday time is precious.

I had every intention of joining the Allsorts challenge of Petals and Pearls last week and had everything in my head and bits cut out but didn't actually finish it until very late last night when it was too dark to take any photos and so I missed the deadline.


Never mind, I thought I'd still share it with you. I made a hanger for my new craft room door. It's very simple but I'm quite pleased with the results. I cut a scalloped circle with a Nestie and stamped some text all over it from the Graphicus Key themeplate and inked all around the edge with some darker pink pigment ink. Large Ruby Tuesday Graphicus flowers were stamped onto bits of paper from my scrap box, cut out out and layered adding some card candy and liquid pearls. The little flowers were made from various flower punches and liquid pearls added in the centre. The leaves were stamped again from the Ruby Tuesday stamps onto more scrap and cut out.


Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are having a great weekend.

Tag Love

Happy Monday to you all. I hope the sun is still shining in your part of Blogland. It has been absolutely gorgeous here again today. I feel really spoilt and we even ate our lunch in the garden. How is that for April?

I've missed my Tag challenges lately and was determined to get one done for Tuesday Taggers this week, who made life nice and simple and just wanted a Tag!! Perfect for someone whose brain is not capable of thinking too hard at the minute! They are also being sponsored by Georgina whose beautiful blog is well worth a visit.


I was given a beautiful set of Graphicus Key stamps for Mothers Day which hadn't seen a sniff of ink so I was desperate to give them an airing. This is what I came up with. The key is actually coloured with a silver gel pen and shines nicely although the photo hasn't picked this up. All the stamps were from the same themplate and I used various colourbox Q inks. The sentiment was done using Shrink plastic to look like a key ring.

I love these stamps and have got an Anniversary card to make this week for my Sister and BIL so you may well be seeing them again shortly.

Thanks for stopping by and for those of you with a special fella in your lives, go and give them an extra hug tonight. We should not take them for granted. I am not prone to sentimentality but recent news has just made me grateful, I shall say no more.

Out and About

Well isn't this sunshine just gorgeous. I hope you are all getting to enjoy it, I know how fickle our weather can be.

Sorry to have been a bit quiet again this week. What with the Easter hols and the good weather, crafting and blogging time has been scarce.

Thank you to all those who left me advice on colouring after my last post, I really appreciate it and shall be following up all your tips. Hopefully I will have another attempt to share with you soon.


In the meantime I thought I'd share some photos of our first trip of the year to The Lakes today. My regular followers will know what a soft spot I have for The Lake District. It is just one of those places that feels like home, I can't really explain it! The sun shone for us and everywhere looked lovely. We went to a little village called Elterwater at the foot of The Langdales and walked through to Skelwith Bridge, which has a wonderful cafe, so it was tea and cakes in the fresh air ready for the walk back. It wasn't a hike of any distance or very strenuous but we watched the lambs and looked at the flowers and skimmed stones in the beck . A really lovely day out.


Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying whatever you are doing this weekend. I shall be back with some crafting next time.

Loving Shaped Easels

Hello everyone in Blogland and A Happy Easter to all those of you who celebrate it and Happy Holidays if not.

Like so many crafters at the minute, I'm totally in love with the shaped Easel cards, very much inspired by the wonderful creations my blogging buddy Debbie makes, take a look at her blog, if you haven't already. She really is a master at them.

I don't normally make Easter cards but decided it would be a good excuse to have a play. I have also just invested in my first pack of pro markers. Not being a colourer in, I'd not really considered buying them before, but I kept seeing lovely things done with them and although still getting to grips with them am certainly pleased I succumbed in the end.


Anyway, this is the card I came up with. I know it's quite simple but I was quite pleased with the results. My colouring in leaves a lot to be desired but hopefully will improve with practice. The stamp of course is a Sarah Kay, the shaped card was cut with a labels Nestie and the papers were all from my bit box. The flower was stamped on patterned paper using an Inkadinkadoo set and I just coloured in the centre and then cut them out. The greeting was done on the computer.

Thank you as always for stopping by and for the wonderful comments you always leave. Enjoy the Bank Holiday if you are lucky enough to be off.