Ismaki Sketch #21

I made this card using the current Ismaki sketch at the beginning of the week but I haven't been able to post it until now as I didn't want it's recipient to see it before she actually received it in the post!

This card was made for Beth as a thank you for the wonderful blog candy she sent me a couple of weeks ago.

I've tried to follow the theme of the candy that Beth sent me - black & fuschia. The paper is from the gorgeous Kate Knight Dovecraft pack that was part of my candy and I have used this matted upon coordinating pink and black cardstock, once again making good use of my 5p scalloping trick! The image is 'Cosmobella' from Stamping Bella. I finished the card with a sentiment printed from the PC and some clear adhesive gems.

I'm so pleased with the way this turned out as this is my first (successful!) attempt at an Ismaki sketch. I usually find them really tricky to work with but this one went like a dream!

Hope you are all having a super-dooper weekend!

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And Now for Something a Bit Different.....!

Some of you might remember that I was asked to make another card to go along with the Bratz one that I made last week. The brief was that it was for a little boy who loved soldiers and tanks. After getting myself in a tiz about what to do, I managed to find a digi kit which saved my bacon! I think it fits the bill don't you?!

The papers in the kit coordinated perfectly with each other so every bit of paper on the card came from the kit - which made life very easy! The only really time consuming thing was cutting out the jeep which proved very hard with large kitchen scissors! Must invest in some 'ickle dainty ones I think! The jeep and its matting are actually raised quite a lot on 3D pads but unfortunately, this didn't come out in the picture. I finished the whole thing with ribbon, star brads and a computer generated sentiment (designed to look like a military style typed message!).

My friend loved it. And, I was so chuffed with myself as I've never before made a card such a masculine card!

Actually, on that note.......

Please accept this as my entry for the super-dooper Dies to Dies For competition! Ooh, what I'd do to get my grubby mitts on all that lovely stash...........!!!

UPDATE: Lots of you have asked where you can get this fab digi kit. Check it out here. It's called 'Camo Kisses for Boys'. They also do a funky pink one for the girlies!

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Candy on Sharon's Blog!

Make sure you check out Sharon's wonderful blog as, not only does she have some stunning cards on there, she is also offering some lovely candy to celebrate friendship and 5000 hits to her blog.

All you need to do is leave a link on you blog and leave a comment in her candy post. If you would like to gain a couple more 'bonus' entries into the draw, simply make her a card with a friendship theme.

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I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by the lovely Beth!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. Ten Years Ago
Well, 10 years ago I would have been at the end of my first year of A-levels and so I would have been revising for my mock exams in English, Geography and Sociology. I now feel very old - surely that can't have been 10 years ago? It was only yesterday wasn't it?!

2. 5 Things in todays 'To Do List'
Umm, I think I had better do this for tomorrow as today is nearly over!
1. Make the lunches.
2. Deal with 100's of dissertations and exam scripts at work. I think I hate finals more than the students do!
3. Clean the house ready for Ali's Mum's visit on Saturday. I have a pile of clothes next to the bed which is now so high, Ali affectionately refers to it as 'Ben Nevis'. Think that had better go before the arrival of Mrs G........
4. Do the online Sainsburys shop. I don't do going to actual supermarkets - I much prefer the virtual kind!
5. Ring BT and tell them they are totally useless. AGAIN. It's a weekly chore.

3. Snacks I enjoy.
1. Houmous and pitta bread. Especially the new houmous with pesto that Sainsburys do!
2. Pancakes with sugar and lemon.
3. Muesli.

4. Things I would do If I was a Millionaire
1. Move my parents off the Isle of Wight and buy them a lovely house near to me.
2. Build our very own 'Grand Design', with a huge craft room stocked with goodies for me and a 50m swimming pool for Ali.
3. Buy an Aston Martin DB9 and a new style Mini to potter about in.
4. Hire a personal trainer.
5. Go on a super-dooper holiday.

5. Places I have Lived
Ooh, bad question to ask me. In my (nearly!) 27 years, I have moved 17 times! You could say I am fairly nomadic. As for the actual places I have lived, here we go: Brighton, Warnham, Isle of Wight (Sandown, Newport, Wootton, Shanklin, Yaverland, Lake, Ryde), Winchester, Chandlers Ford and now Southampton. Bet you wish you hadn't asked eh?!

I am now going to pass this fab tag on to some of my blogging pals - hope you haven't already had it!

Pink Gem
Scrappin with Mel
Kipper Craft
Shari-Anne
Saz's Cards

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Happy Birthday Dawn!

This evening I made the card below for my SBS16 Sister Dawn, whose birthday it was yesterday.

She had challenged us to make her a birthday card. In return, she was offering some luverly blog candy. Unfortunately, my effort has ended up a bit of a rush job as I've technically missed the deadline and I've been rushing to get the blighter on here before she does the draw!

So.......here you go Dawn, Happy Birthday for yesterday ....... and apologies for being a bit late!!! Further apologies for the dodgy pic, it's really dark and dingy outside tonight so getting a decent photo proved difficult!

This one is made of freebie mag papers, my only Tilda (sob sob, sniff sniff...!), a dotty sizzix embossing folder thingy, some ribbon, a flower (which I've just realised looks half dead!) and a Pink Petticoat sentiment. I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and adding faux stitching with a pink stardust pen.

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Bright 'n' Bold - It's What Comes Naturally to Me!

Well, after struggling yesterday with my Rubber Romance card, I was feeling a bit flat and useless so I decided to make something that I knew I could do fairly well! Yep, you know what this means - I've gone all loud and colourful again!!!

I dug out an old cupcake stamp and coloured it with Whispers and Stardust pens. I then matted this on to some pink card stock. As I won't be getting my Cuttlebug (& Nesties!) til my birthday (2nd July - not long to go!), I handmade my scalloped shape using a 5p! Quite effective don't you think?! This then got layered on 3D pads onto some freebie Epson papers. I doodled some black and white checkered borders, added a scalloped 'footer' and some black ribbon.

I was so much happier working in this style and it felt far more natural and altogether more 'me'. Hope you all like it as much as I do!

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Hard Work....

Although I LOVE both my Rubber Romance stamps and also my Basic Grey papers, I find both incredibly tricky to work with. Consequently, this card felt like fairly hard work!

I used my Girlfriends on a Bench RR stamp and coloured using my Whisper pens and a watercolour brush. Not sure how successful the colouring has been though....! I layered it onto Two Scoops papers. I finished this simple card with ribbon and a metal tag from Eyelet Outlet.

I'm not sure why I find the Rubber Romance stamps tricky to work with. I think I am fine with the simple designs - for example, Samantha and Fiona which I've already used. However, I seem to find the more complex designs a bit more tricky as they are so big and intricate that it is hard to match them with things that 'work' without the whole thing looking mismatched and cluttered. I think I'll have to keep practicing!

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Candy, Candy EVERYWHERE!

It never fails to amaze me just how many generous bloggy people there are out there! I was doing my usual blog surfing this morning and I came across 3 different blogs, each offering the most delicious candy that I just had to share my finds with you..........

Cathy is offering some lovely bits and bobs to celebrate the fact that she will no longer be a 30-something as of 31st May! Make sure you drop by check out her lovely blog and to wish her a 'Happy Birthday'!

To celebrate reaching 5000 hits (even though she is now on 6000+!), Michelle is offering some gorgeous stamped images, some blooms and stamps (amongst lots of other yummy things!). She is also the owner of a fabulous blog so make sure you check it out before 2nd June when the offer of candy expires!

Finally, Jennifer has some really tasty candy on offer as she has reached a phenomenal 40,000 hits to her blog. Once you check out her blog, you will see why though - she is an incredibly talented lady who inspires me on virtually a daily basis. AND she is really nice. Some people have all the luck don't they?! Her candy closes on 31st May so make sure you enter!

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Awards Time

Happy bank holiday weekend to you all! Hope you are all enjoying 3 whole days off work, I know I am - even if it is raining!

I've been incredibly lucky lately to have been nominated for a couple of awards!

Earlier in the week, I was nominated for the Circle of Friends Award by Janet, Sharon, Lainy and Jools! All four of these ladies have wonderful blogs - make sure you check them out! It is now my turn to nominate 4 other people who, since I have started blogging, have become part of my 'Circle of Friends' : Mel, Sam, Shell and Shiela.


Then, whilst I was still thinking about who to pass the Circle of Friends award to, I had some more messages to say I had been given the Kreativ Blogger award by 2 of my lovely SBS16 sisters - Rita and Caroline! I've had a think, and I have decided to pass the Kreativ Blogger award on to: Laura, Sharon and Zoe.

Congratulations girls!

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A Million Miles Outside of My Comfort Zone......!

My friend at work recently asked me to make 2 cards - one for her nephew (age 6, loves tanks and soldiers) and one for her neice (aged 7, pink & girly and Bratz obsessed!). I haven't started the soldier card yet but made a stab at the girly one last night.........

What do you think?! As you can tell, I decided to follow the Bratz theme. I mounted black and white matted card onto a bright pink card blank. I did a Google search and managed to find a load of Bratz colouring pages on the net. I printed one of them off and coloured using my Whisper pens. I then mounted the image on to the card using (hundreds!) of 3D pads. I downloaded the Bratz font (Funkhouse) and printed a out a '7' and the name 'Emma'. I coloured the 7 with Stickles and doodled a pink border to match the rest of the card. I finished the whole thing with some black ribbon and some black brads.

I am really pleased with how this card has turned out as I have never done anything like this before and it was a very big challenge. I was definately working outside my comfort zone! I was so nervous before I showed it to my friend but she absolutely loved it so I was very relieved!

I fear the soldier is going to be even more of a challenge.............!
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It's Been My Lucky Week!

For someone who is essentially an unlucky person, I have had an incredibly lucky week!

It all started on Monday when I won the 'Going Dotty' challenge over at Funky Fairy's Challenge Blog! I'm very excited about the whole thing and need to say a big THANK YOU to two Sharon's. The first Sharon I need to thank because she gave me the initial tip off to the challenge after seeing my dotty card. The second is the Funky Fairy herself who, as my prize, allowed me to pick a download of my choice from Funky Fairy's Papercrafts. I chose 'Pinkie Pops' and can't wait to start playing with it!

Things then got even better when I had a message from Beth to say that I was the lucky winner of the gorgeous blog candy that she had offered to celebrate her 100th post! It arrived this morning and I have to say that I am over the moon!



Not only did Beth send me some gorgeous coordinating paper, ribbon, brads and Stickles, but she also made me a really cute card which contained loads of stamped images! I am now itching to get crafting! So, another HUGE thank you to Beth for being sooo generous!

The week finished off nicely when I got a message from Glamour magazine to say that I had won some Paul Mitchell hair gunk in their daily giveaway that is running everyday in May!

What an amazing week?! As my luck seems to be in, I think I had better bung a few quid on the lottery tonight!

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First Somethings

The sunny weather has inspired me - I've gone very bright and colourful! But, there is a bit of a story behind this one...... This card started as the second attempt that I had at the Ismaki challenge. The first attempt ended up in the bin. This attempt nearly followed until I decided to abandon the sketch and just do my own thing. THEN, I realised that what I had done would actually qualify for a different challenge!

So, this is my entry for the Stamp Something challenge of the week which is 'First Somethings'. The reason this card is a 'First Something' is because it is the first time I've ever used the black and white doodling technique on any of my cards!

I used simple yellow card stock and cut a scallop shape around the outside. I coloured a lion from one of Scrap n Fonts doodlebat collections. The cage and sentiment also came from this collection. I matted these up with some blue and pink card, attaching the lion with 3D pads. I then printed off some of the jungle leaves featured in Kate Hadfield's Animal Doodles pack and mounted both them and the sentiment onto the card using 3D pads. The card was then attacked with my black and white gel pens!

I'm really pleased with this card. It's so funky! Ali actually commented that this was his favourite out of all of the cards I had made! Bless him, he is well trained!

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Blog Candy @ Foxy's Crafts

Don't you just love all of this blog candy around at the moment?! There is some on offer over at Foxy's Crafts if you'd like to take a peek :o)
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......and Samantha the Martini Girl!

Well, as you have probably guessed, this is the 2nd card to be made with my new Rubber Romance stamps. This is Samantha........

As you can tell, another very simple card.....! Firstly, I mounted some Pink Petticoat paper onto a black card blank. I coloured Samantha with Whisper pens and mounted her onto more black card. I wrapped white ribbon around the card and tied both a black and a white bow to tied it in to the rest of the card. I finished the design with 3 white brads from the Eyelet Outlet.

How sassy is she?!

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Introducing Fiona the Princess....

This is my first attempt at using my lovely new Rubber Romance Stamps. Meet Fiona the Princess. Isn't she gorgeous?!

I mounted some spotty paper from the Shabby Princess Spring Breeze collection onto a lilac card blank. I coloured Fiona with Whisper pens and mounted both her and the 'Ooh la la' sentiment on to some more lilac card. I tied an organza ribbon around the card and added a die cut corner. I also doodled on the fancy corner with a clear Stardust pen but it doesn't really show in this picture. Finally, I added an adhesive gem to her hand to give a bit of bling...... I think she deserves it!

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What's YOUR Favourite Rock Song?!

Well? What IS your favourite rock song?!

The reason it is important? Well, Over on Pour Some Sugar on Me, the lovely Cass is offering masses of tasty candy to celebrate 5000 hits to her blog. "How do I get hold of this gorgeous candy?" I hear you cry?! The answer is simple............you tell her your favourite rock song!



P.S. Just in case you want to know.......... mine is 'The Bends' by Radiohead. Think that counts as 'rock' anyway.......! Pin It

New Toys!

I had a lovely surprise waiting for me when I got home from work today - a whole pile of Rubber Romance stamps that I ordered from the States last week. Aren't they gorgeous?!

I have to say, I am massively impressed with this whole transaction. I ordered directly from the designer who uses Etsy to sell their product. Each of the unmounted stamps are approx $5 each (about £2.50) and are a really good size. In addition, postage to the UK no matter how much you order is $4 (£2) ! That's cheaper than a lot of UK sites! To top it all off, the designer was really friendly when I emailed her and even chucked in 1 small 'Diva' image stamp and 3 sentiments stamps for free! AND, the order was dispatched last Friday and arrived today........all the way from California! So basically, I have got myself 9 image stamps and 3 sentiment stamps including P&P for the grand sum of about £20. Isn't that amazing?! I would certainly recommend to a friend ;o) .

Anyway, enough talking........ I'm off to play! I guess you can expect to see a lot of Rubber Romance cards from me in the near future.

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Pink Polka-Dots - 'Going Dotty'!

Ahh, I love bank holiday weekends....... all that time to sit and craft! Here is something I knocked up out of some freebie magazine papers and my new cosmobella stamp.


I know it's quite simple but I love this card - it's just so bright and girly!

UPDATE: Sharon has just given me a fab tip off! It would seem that this weeks challenge over at Funky Fairies Challenge Blog is 'Going Dotty'! I have an inkling that this card may fit the bill (!) so consider this my entry! Thanks Shari-Anne! ~x~

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Card to Celebrate Beth's 100th Post

This is a card that I made today to take part in Beth's challenge to celebrate her 100th blog post. Beth posted a sketch and this is my take on it..................

I used my new Cosmobella stamp (mounted on 3D pads) and a gorgeous digikit download called Neopolitan. I coloured with my Whisper pens and highlighted with my Gellyroll pens. I embellished with adhesive gems and a metal 'Friends' tag from The Eyelet Outlet. I finished the card off by getting myself in a heck of a mess with lots of ink!

I'm really not sure about this card. I adore the papers. I like the image. Beth's sketch is fab. But something isn't quite right still......... any ideas?!

Hope you are all having a good BH weekend!

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Blog Candy Everywhere!

Blimey, everyone is offering blog candy at the moment............... isn't it brilliant?!!

Firstly, you should nip over to see Michelle at The Card Grotto as she is celebrating 40,000 hits to her blog. For those of you who aren't familiar with her work, she is an amazing cardmaker. She makes everything look so easy!

Secondly, Kitty is offering some scrummy candy to celebrate 20,000 hits to her blog. Make sure you visit by Wednesday 7 May.

Remember, you've got to be in it to win it!!!

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