Oh Joy!

Happy Sunday all - OMGoodness, isn't it freeeeeeeeeeezing!!!!  Now I do love a bit of snow, but sadly, that's all we got - a bit!!  But the cold is something else altogether....Brrrr......  It doesn't seem fair to have all this cold with so little snow to show for it! LOL!!

Over at Keep it Simple this week our theme is Joy.  Now the idea is to keep it SIMPLE, and that's what I did with my original project.  I made a hangy thing using K&Co Die Cut shapes - dead simple and done and dusted in about 10 minutes tops.  However, when I left it to dry what I didn't realise is that there was a bit of glue one the Deer and when I lifted it, a big chunk of paper came away with it leaving a nasty looking gash on the bottom die cut. Boooo!!!  For the sake of the challenge I played around with my photo editing suite and managed to sort of disguise it, but I wasn't completely happy with it so I quickly customised this card I'd made by adding the tag with 'Joy' on it! Yay!!

The papers I used are from the Bearly Mine Christmas Fun collection and they are so gorgeous to use!  There are so many beautiful papers in these kits that there needs to be more than one Christmas a year!!

Well that's my lot for the time being - my fingers are like little blocks of ice and I'm making far too many typo's because I can't feel them - plus I can hear hubby's car engine running which is my signal that he's ready to drive me off to Tesco so we can all eat this week!!!

Have a fab (and hopefully, warm!) Sunday and thanks for popping by! :o) xx

Birthday Sale

If you've seen Donna's papers and really fancy grabbing yourself a bargain, this is a fantastic week to get over to Bearly Mine Designs!  To celebrate her birthday this month, Donna is offering 15% off all digi sets and CD's from today, right through to 19th November!  Check out some of these sets

These are just a small selection - there's tons more over at Bearly Mine Designs!  Enjoy!

Christmas came early!

Good morning bloggers.  Argh!  Someone needs to have a word with the TV Network Controllers - who in the right mind would pitch Bon Jovi against Robert Plant?? Huh?  What a dilemma I had to face last night when BBC2 had a Robert Plant evening, and at the same time ITV had Bon Jovi "For one night only"!!!  This was one of those extremely rare times that I wished I'd had the foresight to upgrade to Sky+! LOL!  Naturally the Golden God himself won, but I did flick across to get a Bon Jovi 'fix' from time to time - and Hey, Thank God for iPlayer!!! LOL!

Well, it really did feel like Christmas had come early for me this week when I arrived home from work on Friday to find my mailbox full of absolutely STUNNING digi papers from Donna and Amy!  OMGosh!  What a treat!   I have used one of the glorious soon-to-be-released Christmas Dreams papers on my Delicious Doodles DT card over on my other blog, and another one right here

I also made this card for the Keep it Simple theme this week which is Shape Up!  I used one of the many Simply Dots papers (OMG, the colours of these are just soooooooo delish!!!!) - my favourite shade of blue! Oooooh!!

Well now, that's my lot for today.  Please go and check out my uber-talented teamies gorgeous creations! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday!  See you soon. :o) xxx

WooHoo!!!!

I did it!!  I made it onto the Bearly Mine DT and I am SOOOO excited about it!  I am dying to show off some of the amazing papers that I have received over the last couple of days but there are so many of them that I have spent my time wisely sorting them out to make them easier for me to access!!  So watch this space because I will be back VERY soon with my first offering, with many more to follow over the coming days!

I would like to say a huge Thank You to Donna for having faith in me, and I cannot wait to get to know the fabulously talented bunch of ladies who will also be creating fabulous projects!  Take a look at my sidebar to see who they are and please go say Hi to them and marvel at their wonderful creations!

Ooooh..... Spooky!!!

Wooooo..... it's been a loooooong time since I visited here.  Despite my best intentions, I haven't had a lot of chance to play with my Maggies for a while.  I've been playing around with other stuff that you can see on my other blog .  Then this week I spotted that Donna of Bearly Mine Designs has put out a DT call for her gorgeous papers and I decided to take my chances and use some of her fabulous freebie papers!  They are gorgeous and work so well with my Digital Scrapbook kit too! 

So, over at Keep it Simple this week our theme is Oooh, Spooky! and, despite how this may look, my project this week was extremely simple!!  I got the fabulous Trendy Tote template from My Time Made Easy and I created mine for Halloween.  However, I now have Christmas sorted too because EVERYONE is getting one of these filled with some useful goodies!  It is so inspiring!!  They can be filled with yummies, soaps, tools, craft stuff..... So easy and very, very quick to assemble and customise too, I think this was probably my best buy of the year!

I'm also submitting this project to the Magnolia's Down Under challenge which, this week, is Halloween inspired.

Well that's my lot for here today.  Busy day ahead - we've just had a new suite delivered so I want to rearrange my living room a bit before I do the Tesco run!  Hope you have a great week and thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Ahoy there!!!

Happy Friday from a VERY frustrated me!!! I have spent way too much time today trying to get my pooter sorted out because I couldn't get internet connection. After many, many, many attempts I finally made a phone call to Sky who advised me to unplug my router, leave it 30 seconds and plug in again! Voila! Grrr.....Not impressed!!!!! Why didn't I do that in the first place?

So, here is my latest Magnolia offering - it's my first ever side-step card and I made it for the village show tomorrow but based on Magnolia Down Under's theme for this week which is to use Tilda AND Edwin on your project! So here they are together. Painted with distress inks and stickles, I think I was a little heavy-handed with the ink this week but it was fun! Thanks for the challenge girls! And as luck would have it, I also put a boat on my card and Tuesday Tagger's theme this week wants just that so I am going to add it to their player's list as well! Again ladies, Thanks for the challenge!!! :o)

Also, over on Just Magnolia challenges this week they want you to use a sentiment on your card and I figured my card just about qualifies there also, so I'm going to submit it to their challenge this week as well!

And thanks to you for stopping by - hope to be back soon! :o) xx

Monogram Tag

Happy Sunday folks! You know when you get an idea in your head but it doesn't always translate properly onto paper? Hmmmm.... well, that's a little bit how my tag went for this week. Our theme over at Tag, You're It! this week is Monogram, and I had this brainwave to make a letter into an entire picture/tag. So rifling through my Magnolia's for inspiration I suddenly hit upon the idea to use this Edwin stamp from a couple of years ago and make the letter 'O' into a lifebelt! LOL!! Not sure if it actually looks how it was meant to look but I thought it was quite sweet anyway, so here is my tag for this week!

And I've just had another brainwave - watch this space..........

Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Just..... a card!

Happy Sunday bloggers! Life is just toooooo busy right now! Loads of stuff going on and no time to stop for breath! It's been another rollercoaster week, lots of laughs and one or two tears but it's starting to feel a bit like the home stretch now and although there's still lots to do at school, you get the feeling that we're winding down a little. Phew!

Two weeks ago my eldest came home from school with a huge tear in the knee of his trousers! Argh!! Couldn't he just not fall over for 5 more weeks??!!! So with a grinding of teeth and a few choice words spat through clenched lips, I had to go and buy him a brand new pair. Then on Tuesday I spotted that his toes were looking really red and quite blistery! I was really bothered by this and figured that it must be the cheapo shoes I tried to get away with buying him from Tesco. Anyway, I couldn't let my boy go round with feet like that, even for only 3 more weeks - no way. So on Wednesday afternoon I went out and bought him a brand new pair of Clarks - OMG, he was 5.5 and the shoes he'd been wearing from Tesco were only 4.5!!!!! No wonder his feet were sore! So that was it - I put my foot down and said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE! Then he came home on Thursday - OMG, I could have cried for him. He's had ANOTHER fall in the playground but he must have landed really hard because all down his right hand side is cut and bruised and his arm has had a huge slice of skin completely sheared off, his shoulder was swollen and badly grazed and, yes, you guessed it, his knee took another bashing, along with his brand new trousers!!! However, this time they ARE going to be repaired and I'm going to get him one of those baby walkers to stop him from having any more trips before the end of term!!

This is a card I made for a Tilda Challenge over at Docrafts last week and haven't even had time to blog it yet!

Tomorrow is going to be the stress day from hell so if there is a God, I'm desperately hoping I've earned enough brownie points to have him smile on me for a couple of hours! If I make it to lunchtime I'm going to be laughing for the rest of term!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week. :o) xx

A couple of Good Luck cards

Happy Sunday peeps! I have had the very good fortune to work with two wonderful student teachers this year, both of whom are going to go on and become fantastic teachers and although I'm going to miss them both so much next year, I wanted to wish them both loads of luck when they leave us next week....sob..sob...!! So I made a couple of Good Luck cards for them and decided to use blog challenges to help me! This week over at Anything Goes they have set the theme of Buttons and Bows in Monochrome. Now, something I need to get off my chest.... I hate buttons! I passionately hate using buttons on my projects!!! I look at other people's cards and LO's and think "Oooh, that looks gorgeous" but when I try to use them......pants! grrr!

I came to make the brown tones card and I practically held my breath when I stuck the button on - I thought "There.... it's on - walk away...!" LOL!!! But when I came to do the blue tones card, I just couldn't bring myself to stick another button on - sorry - I faced my fears once, but I couldn't do it a second time! LOL!!!

So there y'go - two Good Luck cards for two lovely ladies - now, which one do I give to who???? LOL!

Have a great Sunday - hope the sun is shining where you are! :o) xx

Anything Goes & Just Magnolia

Hi folks and Happy Sunday! Very short post from me today.

Over at Anything Goes this week you're asked to make something Pink & Cream and include pearls and lace, and Just Magnolia have this fab sketch by Mina, so I've combined the two challenges and produced this:

Hope you like! Thank you so much for stopping by and I wish you a very happy week ahead!

:o) xx

MDUC Flowers

Late again!! I had intended to get this photographed earlier in the week but life just keeps ticking by and stuff isn't getting done! I cannot believe it's Friday already and the half term break is almost over :o( I've still so much to catch up with but today is going to be a chill day - it's too glorious outside to be racing around doing work, and hey, I am meant to be on holiday! :o)

So here's my offering for this week's Magnolia Down Under theme which is flowers - can you spot any on this! LOL!!!! The castle is a template which I dug out because that's our topic theme when we go back to school and I was playing with it to see if it was child-friendly enough, and I think it definitely is!

That's my lot for now - thanks for stopping by and to all of you who leave me lovely comments, I cannot thank you enough, I really appreciate them!

A Brand New Challenge Blog!

Hey, there's a new blog on the block - Anything Goes! Brilliant!! And their first theme is to make something with wings and use the colours Blue, Yellow and Brown! So here is my offering:

It may not look it because my photography is pants, but the spotty bg paper is meant to be the yellow part of this deal - I couldn't go for the really bright 'in-yer-face' stuff because it just doesn't work for me, I'm not a vivid colours person so I hope this is OK for the challenge!

I cannot believe that it's Wednesday already - the whole of yesterday was spent shopping for b'day pressies for my youngest - oops! That reminds me - I need to book a cinema trip..... must dash! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :o) xx

Just Magnolia - Hot n' Spicy!

Happy Saturday folks - OMGoodness, what a contrast to last weekend! It's bucketing down here and it feels more like February outside! Nevertheless, it's bank holiday weekend and we have a whole week off school which is something to sing about. I have a lot of plans for this week so while it will be nice to be at home, I am going to be very busy. I have an old dutch dresser which is currently sitting in my shed because I just went off it, but I have bought some gorgeous off-white gloss paint and I'm going to give it a makeover. I've also got myself a raised vegetable bed so I intend to do a bit of planting this week too - I'm very excited about that, I can tell you!

Anyway, at Just Magnolias this week, the theme is Hot & Spicy so I used some hot and spicy colours on this Pirate Tilda card. I've had the papers for such a long time and haven't done anything with them yet, so when my Pirate stamps arrived on Thursday I got very excited indeed and dragged the papers out. Here's my offering, hope you like!

Well that's my lot for the moment - off for a trawl around blogland now. Thanks for popping in and have a great weekend! :o) xx

Just Magnolia Sketch

....last one for today - my washing machine is going like crazy and the ironing pile is mounting and experience tells me that I need to get on top of it! (not literally, you understand!!! LOL!) I made this card for this week's Just Magnolia sketch challenge.

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by! xxx

Magnolia Down Under - Black & White

Phew! A real quickie here from me today - talking about 11th hour! I only just managed to finish this this morning though I started it about 3 days ago but other stuff just takes over! This is a card I made for the Magnolia Down Under challenge this week which is Black and White and a touch of another colour, so I went for blue (for a change!!!!!!!).

Busy, busy weekend ahead - both my boys are off on school trips on Monday so I have heaps of packing to do for them and I think I'm going to need to book myself in for Separation Therapy! I can't stand it - it's going to feel like retirement here!!! LOL! And tomorrow I am doing the Race for Life. I am expecting to need a lot of tissues for this one, according to the tales I've heard from friends who've done it in the past.

Have a great Saturday and I hope the sun is shining where you are too, it's glorious here!! Thanks for stopping by! xxx

Sketch Saturday & Just Magnolia

Hi bloggers! Well finally a couple of the new stamps I have wanted arrived this week - not all of them but enough (two!) to keep me happy for a wee while! This is a card that I made for this week's Just Magnolia theme which is One for the Girls, and I used Sketch Saturday's sketch to help me. Again, my tired braincells can't cope with thinking outside the box and I followed the sketch practically to the letter! This is what happens to me when I'm deprived of crafting time - I find that I am just so grateful to get a paintbrush in my hand that I stick to the rules rigidly in an attempt to finish anything! LOL!

Our annual passport to the Ironbridge museums expires next week so I think we're going to be taking a drive over to use up the unvisited places today. I must say, it was #54.00 well spent! Ironbridge is a beautiful old town steeped in industrial history. Blists Hill Victorian Town and Enginuity were two of the places we visited on our passport and without doubt worth the money paid on their own!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a happy week ahead! :o) xx

Just Magnolia and Tag You're It!

Happy Sunday! My offering for today is for two blog challenges. First of all, Just Magnolia have the theme It Takes Two and you're asked to use more than one Magnolia image on your project - so I used 4! And the theme tied in nicely with the one we have over at Tag, You're It! this week where the title is Key to My Heart! Hope you like!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and enjoy the rest of your weekend! :o) xx

Magnolia Down Under - No. 44

Happy Bank Holiday Monday folks! Not exactly a typical May day I was hoping for - blimey, it's so cold!!!! I bought some bedding plants last weekend. They'd come from Holland and were really well established so I did all my pots for the front of the house - I won't be at all surprised if they've died of frostbite overnight!!! I can't believe how cold it's gone!

Anyway, I've managed to take part in the Magnolia Down Under challenge this week. This is the first time I've taken part in this one and as it was a great sketch, I could hardly resist, could I? I've had these new papers by Tina Higgins from GCD Studios and I absolutely love them. I visited one of my most favourite craft places on Saturday, Paperworks near Alcester and I was really surprised to find it is under new management. The new lady who owns it, Sheila, is just the most lovliest of people you'd wish to meet! She and Pauline (the amazing designer and course tutor) are working really hard to make what is already a fabulous craft outlet into something even bigger and better and I am so excited for them (and for me as it's only 20 minutes drive!! LOL!). I think the website is currently being reconstructed to make it easier to navigate so bear with them. The shop will also have a name change but for the life of me I can't remember what that is - shocking memory. I think it's something like Pink Tulip Crafts???? (eeeek.....sorry if I got that wrong Sheila!!!)

Right then, plug of the day sorted, here is my card based on the sketch - hope you like!

All painted with distress inks (Weathered Wood and Vintage photo) but I made a gaff with her hair because I tried to get clever and paint it with H20's which is what I used to use - hmmmm... I won't be going there again methinks!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy your BH Monday! :o) xx

Just Magnolia Sketch

Happy Bank Holiday weekend!! Isn't it a wonderful feeling having that extra day to look forward to? Might be nicer if the weather was more compliable and I could get the Barbie out but what the heck, I'm sure I'll find something else to amuse myself with! LOL!!!

At Just Magnolia this week they have a lovely sketch challenge designed by Bev.

And here is my take on the sketch. All those gorgoeus stamps I'd ordered last week have failed to arrive and I'm gutted so I have to go googling again later! In the meantime I'm still having fun with 'old faithfuls' and I made this card into an easel card. It's painted with distress inks and stickles. It's quite a simple card - when it's sat here in front of me it looks very busy, but when I see it on the blog like this, it seems a bit bare to me. I wonder if others feel like that sometimes, that their card looks much better IRL than on-screen?

And here's a side-view showing a glimpse of the inside.

Hope you like and thanks for stopping by my blog. Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend and have a good week ahead! :o) xx