Happy New Year!!

It is Hogmanay here in Scotland and I have followed my mum and grandmas tradition of sweeping out thde bad luck from this year out the front door (rough translation I did a bit of  a clean!) ready for a fresh start in the New Year!

So before I settle down to wait for the bells I wanted to wish everyone where ' er they be a Happy and healthy year.

Take care and enjoy the festivities tonight

Cheers

&

Lang may yer lum reek!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

xxx

Allsorts

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope that your pressies from Santa included plenty of crafty goodies ??he brought me a Cricut mini but we cant get it to work wont get past the initializing page :( but will get in touch with their support and see what they say...fingers crossed that we can get it up and running soon!

I would like to thank those people who continue to visit my page even though I have been such a poor blogger lately but aim to change that after the holidays if not before!

Starting with......

The Allsorts challenge,they have a theme of 

LAST MINUTE GIFTS

and as in Scotland it will be Hogmanay on the 31st and it is tradional to givea small first footing gifts to the people you visit after midnight I decided to make some last minute gifts for it .This year I have made a selection of cards in a box (made by my new SU envelope puch board)nthe tutorial for the envelope box for C6 size cards came from Lizys house of Cards video tutorial you can find it on her sidebar and it worked a treat ..except my dots went off slightly ,promise there was no wine partaken when I was making it !

The paper for the box and some of the cards are using SU products and the rest are using W9,loving these flowers you will be seeing more of those I can promise you that.

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Festive Friday and Allsorts

I am shocked to discover that it is nearly a month since I last posted!! My fibromyalgia has been playing up and at one point I found it difficult to grasp and hold a stamping block or even use the computer .But the most frustrating thing about it is when your head is so buzzing with ideas and you can't use them....then by the time you can you've forgotten them again!! hee he

But thankfully my meds have finally taken affect and as you can see have made a simple double length Christmas card to fit in with the challenges over at Festive Friday with this beautiful inspirational photo 

I saw the parcels and especially the white one with the red ribbon beside the fireplace and this idea popped into my head.(First tried it in pink,but looks more like a birthday present so will keep that idea for another day ...if i can reemember!)

The Allsorts challendge is 

No Designer Paper

 and my card doesnt have that, in fact it has very little on it except that great Christmas sentiment from FLonzcraft that I won the in one of the previous Allsorts challenges... I chose a few prizes and one of them was a sheet of different Christmas sentiments and they are brilliant!,and used an old holly stamp and some cherry cobbler twine from Su to finish it off .

Off to have a look at your takes on this weeks challenges,and thanks for taking the time to look 

xxx 

cas(e) this sketch and festive friday

I can't believe it is November already, the months are flying past !
This weekend I met up with a friend that I started school with 50 years ago omg did I just say 50 ????...its not only the months that are flying by!!:-),she was one of my bridesmaids and she moved to Winnipeg 27 years ago,worked and married over there but comes home to see her mum once every two years ,but what surprises me is that we always just take up from where we left off and we had such a good time that we both felt quite tearful saying good bye :-(

So what is a girl gonna do to cheer herself up ...make cards of course!

As you can see I am combining two challenges with one card ,had been really struggling with the Festive Friday photo inspiration this time.Think I couldn't see past the presents and then when I saw the sketch for CAS(E) this sketch, it was a light bulb moment.Think this sketch is going to be used a lot -  I love it ..there is endless possibilities!
This was one of those cards that evolved as I went a long ,sketch first then colours from photo and when I spotted the bauble the rest was history as they say! There was meant to be a bow on top of the bauble to match the bows in the pic - but I lost the stamp it slipped out of my hand and no amount of searching has made it turn up ,but if I do will make another one with the bow and post it.
Thanks for taking a look hope you've had a great weekend!
xxx

allsorts

This week on the ALLSORTS challenge it is a masculine theme and I must admit I do like doing male cards. I love how they  can be no fuss just plain and simple .

Well this one does have a fussy kind of stamping on it I must admit,but it is for my great nephew who will be fourteen next month and at that age they are into game boxes etc so when I saw this paper smooches stamp set it was a no brainer!  

Stamped some of the images as a background then stamped a small SU happy and a Uniko Studio large birthday sentiment on top before  fussy cutting out the controller image .

Coulours used were:-

  smoky slate,sahara sand and cherry cobbler all from SU

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and hope you have had a good weekend

xxx

Cas.ology

I couldn't believe it when I saw this weeks CAS.ology cue card... because this was the card I was going to enter for last weeks challenge - candy ( we call candy sweets over here) but missed the deadline, so was delighted that i could still take part using the card, how great was that??

I made this card for a work colleague who will soon be moving into her first home and as you can imagine is very excited about it :)

The house I made using a square punch and the sentiment is computer generated - and printed on my new printer and boy do I love it the cardstock is linen textured and quite thick but it printed beautifully as you can see.

Supplies used :-

cardstock SU melon mambo

Square punch and heart SU

flower punch well its been knocking around the house since before I took up card making!

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Addicted to CAS, CAS on Sunday and Allsorts

I haven't played for a wee while as we have been a way for break in Pitlochry, but when I saw the challenges for Addicted to Cas was vellum and Cas on Sunday was for embossing as was the Allsorts challenge just knew I had to play along as have been dying to try these techniques that I saw on Jennifer McGuires blog. 

The techniques are to make your own sparkly embossing powder  then heat emboss as usual ,mine is a bit patchy but not too noticeable in RL as the ink shines through it ..handy :)...I chose to do it on vellum using SU's reason to smile gerbera set and then used another technique where I coloured the back of the vellum in different shades so that it shines through. Jennifer's looked fantastic ,mine well first tried it with promarkers didnt work too pale so used SU markers instead better but not enough shades but ok, then I fussy cut it out and stuck it on to a panel that I had stamped with a partial SU flowering flourish (love this set sooo versatile!) added a sentiment as close to the blues colours that I could.

Here is a close up of the flower hopefully you can see the vellum and the sparkle a bit better!

 

Thanks for taking the time to look 

xxx

Festive friday

Isn't the inspiration picture this week from Festive Friday so beautiful? My card started off being largely white with the Noel in red to mimic the chairs but it just seemed  to be lacking something.So  thought I would layer it up mmm no matching red paper / ink ( and anyway wasn't doing the letters again ! All the rest went on in one go -  the letter L took at least 20 goes I kid you not!) then I noticed the red wine and I did havea darker red ....

 finally a sprig of holly to bring a touch of greenery to the card  and the card was done,if it wasn't such a faff with that one leter would mass produce these!

Supplies were all stampin up except for the holly .

We are off for a couple of days to Pilochry,not sure how I'll get on walking as my leg is fine round the house but outside it struggles after a wee while so might have to have a lazy holiday with plenty of stops in teashops....  :)

And before I go just wanted to share this photo of my  son and his first car which he got a couple of  weeks ago ....

In Scotland you have to sit a theory test before you can sit your actual driving test unfortunately he kept failing by one mark, so he was well chuffed to pass the driving test first time  I am really proud to say he is a canny driver and I know that first hand!

He is delighted because this also means that he can now apply to join the police .Fingers crossed we hear soon if he has got to the first interview stage.

For me this seems to be a very long post so if you have stuck with me...thanks!:)

xxx

Muse # 88

This weeks challege over at Muse is a beautiful card by Vicki Dutcher and whenever I saw it,this idea popped into my head.

All the round doileys just called out to me as too did the colours and the vellum hee he.... and so I got out my Uniko round in circles set and first stamped a couple of concentric (is that the right word??) circles in black then stamped the gold stripey ones in versamark and heat embossed them and then did the same with the sentiment ,Vicki's sentment seem to be one of gratitude so stuck with that idea too.I'm fairly new to using vellum but loved the look of it,except for getting it to stick down without it gaping!Finally added some black and gold sequins.But on the cardbase  it didn't pop out at you as much as I hoped so added an edging of black and went with it down just two sides(but maybe should have made it slightly thinner now that I see it...) to keep it in line with the graphic look of the card.
Really enjoyed making this and so thanks Vicki for getting me to try something new.
Off now to have a peek at what the others have done!

Thanks for taking the time to look 

xxx

The Card Concept # 20

When I saw The Card Concept challenge I had to have a little think as these are not colours that  I would normally work with, and I like making cards that I will use ,well if they turn out ok :) and not just fit in to a challenge.

  In Scotland Hallow'een and trick and treating are becoming much more popular now but we don't actually exchange cards yet in fact I all I can remember doing is dookin for apples (bobbing),and eating my dads homemade toffee apples, and my poor dad had to make lanterns out of a turnip or swede .-ouch - pumpkins are sooo much easier :)  and we didn't go round the neighbours or have even have a party as such...  ah those were the days hee he.

Then light bulb moment, because of the moving of rooms it makes it so much easier to see my stamps and I saw this one from SU called Giggle Greetings that I bought a couple of months ago and had yet to use.It has  a cat,(hallow'eeny), stamped in black and coloured orange , matted on orange card stock (SU pumpkin pie!)on a white card base and think it would fit in the Clean and Simple catergory.

Ok as you can hear I'm feeling pretty pleased with  myself but don't you just love it when things come together like that :) 

Just noticed that I can join in too over at the Time Out blog as their challenge is for ..

STAMPING with the optional twist of APPLES

Off  to do a bit of commenting as being laid up with this leg means no housework for me -YAY!! and with a well placed stool for my leg I'm able to carry on cardmaking,and with the rain batering on the window bliss!

Thanks for looking

xxx

Festive Friday and Merrry Monday

Hi there I have been very lax with my posts and my commenting lately, but there has been a reason for that I promise you! The change of working hours and a redecorating project upstairs where there has been a switch around of bedrooms (which means I get a bigger crafty room!!!) have meant less time to craft but this weekend I hope to begin moving the computer and my stuff into their new home fingers crossed it all goes smoothly......
Well I started to write this on Wednesday evening and yes the move went smoothly mostly due to my hubby! as on Thursday I tripped over one of the children in my work and fell flat on my face!  but to avoid squishing the poor wee thing I twisted as I fell and have managed to sprain/tear a muscle in my calf  and having great difficulty getting up and down the stairs,so the poor man did most of it himself  - with myself in supervisory mode of course :)

But on to my card, I made this earlier in the week and can now get posted for the Festive Friday challenge which had this inspiration photo....

I took inspiration from the sledge as you can see ,love this wee man a bargain bin buy but have used him loads of times and it just stamps beautifully. I tore some scrap paper to make the snow drifts and then I stamped a few SU snowflakes from their new endless wishes set in baja breeze ink and the sentiment is from Uniko Studios Stunning snowflakes set
I am also going to add it to the Merry Monday challenge which is..

.....and he is wearing a stripey scarf!!!! :)
 Thanks for taking the time to look
xxx

Happy Birthday Bev!!

I might not know Bev as well as some the others that have posted a card for Bev's birthday but what Ido know is that whenever I post a card for a challenge that Bev has joined in with to ,she always has a kind commen for me.So bev this is just to say thanks and hope you had a lovely day!

Festive friday

I'm sorry that i have beeen MIA for a while  but have had infections and antibioticsone after another lately that have had me bedded and fair wabbit (washed out) as they say here in my part of Scotland, and then to top it all my husband decided to make a start on decorating Fraser's room so that Russell could move into the bigger room.....well that has led to a whole slew of things because then I decided that I could have Russell's room for my card making but still needed a room for Fraser for when he stays over so now the computer is moving in with me so that we still have a spare bedroom, keeping up so far :) ? so now the whole of upstairs is in turmoil and  there is boxes every where!!!

But managed to make a path so that I could join in over at the Festive Friday challenge and that picture just is so full of girly bling and sparkle that  I decided to make a sparkly card using simply gems stones and glitter paper (think this one will suit one of my god daughters she loves a bit of bling!)  and then found a SU sentiment that went perfectly and finally mounted it on SU pretty in pink card stock

Thanks for looking 

xxx

Cas on Sunday

I anm sooo excited and kinda nervous with this post ,as this is the week that I get to join in over at the Cas on Sunday challenge blog after winning the challenge for week 39.

I have never done this before and the theme I was told for my week ,was to be black and white and one other color.I had a few ideas (and a good few of them ended up in the bin as you can imagine!!!) but finally came up with one. Originially did it in  this  soft lilac ....

But thought it was too much of the 'other colour' so with a little bit of tweaking, settled on the black and white with yellow at the top of my post.The idea for the colours came from a multitalented friend ,Susan  of Cant Stop Crafting have a scroll through her blog and you will see how talented she is!

Finally I would like to say a huge thank you to the talented ladies over at CAS on Sunday for letting me join in with the fun this week...its been a blast! :-)

Have a great weekend,and thanks for looking

xxx

The Cutting Edge # 8 and Allsorts

 I'm not very good at seeing a card and taking inspiration from it only ever get the inspiration when i see other peoples cards and think 'thats just a perfect take on this challenge why didnt I see that myself!' so I have been challenging myself  by doing more of these type of challenges and it has been challenging I must admit (frustrating too!),but there was something about Kays card at the Cutting Edge challenge blog that got me thinking and so came up with this one ....not sure about it because this is a really bright card by my standards !!

Decided to go with making the flowery panel  first and used a retired SU daisy die and their little leaves die too.Had intended to put it on a white card but it seemed to pop more on the orange card stockcard and finally added a black sentiment hoping it tones it down a bit!

Also as  was browsing through some other peoples blogs foundanother challenge that matches this card the Allsorts challenge is looking for....

Bright sunshiny colours!....well got the bright right and hopefully the sunshine colours too!

:-)

Thanks for taking the time to have a look

xxx

card concept # 17

 I am so  chuffed and if you look at my side bar you will see why ...I was one of the winners for the Wedding card  challenge  here on the Card Concept last week WAHOO!!

And when I saw the photo inspiration on the The Card Concept loved it, the colours are so fresh don't you think ? Then yesterday through the door popped this memory box die (been looking for it for ages.. ever since I saw it on Ardyth's blog  here. ) Its really versatile,which you'll see if you scroll through Ardyths blog!! and for this card I cut it out in the green pearilised card ,I know it is hard to see the shine, and then cut it out in the white and popped out the white petals (heaps of them now for another project) and layered it up over the green a couple of times .Added a white candy dot and the SU sentiment .

I am sooo pleased with this card I love the clean and graphic look, and Ardyth I'm pretty  sure it CASes one of yours and if it does I apologise!!

 Its been a busy week with the schools going back and the changes to how I work my hours ,but the biggest change has been my oldest moving into a flat with a uni friend :-( ....and my youngest who has left school and is working longer hours at his part time job until he can apply to join the police has also turned 18 on Thursday. In Scotland that means he is legally able to drink and he has a weekend of celebrations planned with a few drinks with workmates on the day and as a friend shares the same birthday week , they are planning a joint  birthday do tonight, and somehow he even managed to squeeze in a family meal out last night! 

Think though I'm suffrerng from empty nest syndrome our house is sooo quiet now....but hoping that cardmaking will fill the gap :-) ! 

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Festive Friday

Hi thought I would join in with this weeks Festive Friday challenge and as you can see the inspiration photo is not the traditional Christmas colours ! but the minute I saw it an idea pop into my head  and then as I scrolled down it popped out again as I realised it was too much like Ardyth's card :( 

So went back to the photo and then I noticed the little bird and we all know that there is only one bird (apart from Turkey!)that means Christmas ...a robin of course! so using  a freebie that I love and use quite a bit at Christmas,coloured with promarkers . Then layered up a few snowflakes and stuck them down (forgetting that I was going to put a Merry Christmas sentiment above the robins doh!) Added some glod stickles to the centre of the snowflaked ...and if you look closely you might notice that they are a bit squashed as when the card was drying my husband threw something on top of it!!!! tried to repair it but it didnt look right so took it off again....men!

So a really simple card but hopefully you can see where the inspiration came from!

Thanks for  looking 

xxx

Pinstripe wedding card

This week at CAS.ology the cue card is stripe and had a few ideas that were floating about but it wasn't til I saw the challenge at The Card Concept -to create a wedding card, that it all came together... at weddings you see pinstripes ,morning suits  - well maybe not here in Scotland where it does tend to be kilts ,though have to say that my husband wore a morning suit for our wedding 27years ago.

So to get back to the card as friends will tell you I do tend to wander of the point at times!...thats where I got my idea from for the stripes on my card.Paper pierced around the hearts so that hopefully they pop a bit more on the card. The flowery flourish and the sentiment from SU I thought fit neatly into the card concept challenge photo inspiration but not sure exactly what style of card it fits in ...clean and layered ? I would love to think it would fit in the Classy and Elegant one,never done one of those before!

Realise that the photo is a bit on the dark side but when I used Picasa it turned the card base pink!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks for looking

xxx

Blue and yellow butterfly!

Hi everyone from pouring  rain yesterday to beautiful sunshine today don't you just love the Scottish weather!

Hooray I think I've discovered the secret to unblocking cardmakers block ...WINE!! ,doesnt cure the menopause but it sure does makes it more bearable...especially if you drink it straight from the fridge  -ah bliss,cools you down in no time...no more sweaty paws hee he 

It must have kicked started the old brain cells because when I was browsing and looking for challenges came across the CAS on Sunday , and the Fusion one and I thought - I can do a blue and yellow butterfly,The butterfly is the theme for the Cas on Sunday challenge and the colours are from the photo inspiration from the fusion challenge,dont you just love it when things work out sooo well ???

Whizzed throught housework (ok I wiped the glass table with my sleeve sssh as its the only one to show the dust!) fed the budgie (don't ask,long story!) and barricaded myself into my crafty space

Ok the cards not brilliant but after this last few months it was a eureka moment for me!!!

The butterfly I'm sure is a hero arts one and used distress inks to colour it .the background  and sentiment is from SU French foliage and flowering flourishes and as I'm loving all the sequins I'm seeing in blogland just now so decided to gave them a try and think they finish it.

Off to have a peek at your creations but think I might have another butterfly card brewing may need another glass of wine to help iy along!  ...... :-)

Cutting edge challenge

Hi everyone has a spare hour or so so decided to check out the challenges on blog land and

found this fun challenge called The Cutting Edge , whe I was browsing Ardyth blog - she always seems to find  great challenges! and thought it was a fun challenge and thought that I would give it a go.I was inspired by the colours  and the flowers and even the little dots ended up being incoperated too..... Not sure about the card in the photo but love it in RL it is so cheery with all those bright colours, will definitately being using them again!

 Supplies Used :-

 Die-namics flowr die 

 SU melon mambo ,daffidol delight adn pool party card stock and sentiment

Thanks for looking ! 

xxx

time out

 Schools out and I'm on holiday YAY!!

We have been away for a few days it was meant to be longer but my poor hubby became really unwell ,think it was something he ate as it came on so quickly so we decided to come home and cancelled the next part of our holiday. So while my hubby slept off the effects I went to my crafty space and saw this weeks challenge at Time Out is a picture inspiration and knew straightaway what 

I would take from the picture ....

The colour of the stripes caught my eye first and then the triangles and the banner effect that they made,so brought and a SU sale-a-bration stamp set ,it had stripes and triangles and chevrons galore and as it is that time of the year again where I need loads of thank you cards for the mums at work made up a set of these.

Supplies used:-

SU

Baja breeze ink 

Banner Blast stamp set

Spencer diecut letters

(memory box)

Xcut small daist punch

liquid pearls 

Thanks so much for looking 

xxx

Muse # 73

I had one of those nights that I just couldn't sleep so decided to get up and make a card, and have struggled all week with the challenge over at Muse. Quite a few cards have been put in the recycle bin! But came up with this idea using a Tonic butterfly punch and putting some melon mambo behind  which has been stamped with a hero arts butterfly,did it in black so it would show through the butterfly better.

Then added the strip of paper down the side and sentiment before finally added liquid pearls (love these! great fun to do)

Once it was finished I went back to bed and slept straight through ..ah bliss!This menopause is a right pain :-)

Looks nothing like the muse card does it ,but the muse card gave me the inspiration to do 3 white  butterflies the colour pink and the craft cardstock(thoughI only had SU's sahara sand)  

Festive Friday

While having a peek through Ardyth's (Maskerade) blog for inspiration came across this challenge called Festive Friday, and thought what a good idea I am always last minute with my Christmas cards! but then as usual went to work and forgot about it but for some reason the red stripey parcels in the picture just kept popping into my head!! until today I  just had to pop upstairs and do this simple card  - eh four goes and nearly and a hour and a half later I finished, and can finally post it on their challenge site ! :-)

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Card concept - Nautical

The  card concept challenge threw my this week as I didn't think I had anything nautical at all but come across this when I went to make a baby card ....am I stretching it here?? It is a boat (of sorts ) and it is on a sea!

The stripey paper is from the pink petticoat and the Ark is from SU coloured using promarkers .I think this style is of the  clean and simple variety don't you as there is lots of white space and minimal embellishments.

Really simple card to make (thankfully as thought I was going to miss the deadline!) but chose to do it a double length size so you can get the full effect of the stripey paper and thats it really ,not much else you can say!

Thanks for looking 

xxx

CAS(e) this sketch and LIM

Here is my third card that I made this weekend and it is for the challenge over at CAS(e) this sketch and when ever I saw it I thought of snowflakes.Original idea was to make silver embossed snowflakes but as you can see from this picture

 embossing is just not my thing I try it every now again and it never comes really sharp and clear as everyone else seems to ,so had to go back to the drawing board and went for... you guessed it Su Baja Breeze and Versa magic sea breeze inks.Then diecut two snowflakes ( and isn't that handy as the Less is More challenge is asking for diecuts) and covered them in 'snow glitter' - thats what the kids in the work call it ,and it suits it perfectly I think-  added some gems and there you have first Christmas card of the year done!

Oops forgot to say that the fan stamps are by Uniko Stamps.

Really a simple make, so pretty sure that this one will be the one that I will be doing in numbers .

Thanks for looking and I know I have been a very lax commenter (is that a word???) of late but as I appreciateall your comments will promise I will be better in the future.

xxx