Challenge 15- Christmas in July...

It is Spyder's turn to choose the theme this time. She has chosen Christmas in July. I know the weather has been totally pants.....but we are not at the dreaded Christmas time already...are we???
Our sponsors this time around are Stitchy Bear, and as usual we have had some lovely images to work with.
When I am forced into Christmas mode I like the more traditional card, you know the Holly and the Ivy sort of thing, so my choice of stamp was easy. I went for The Holly Bough.

I have decoupaged this image to within an inch of it's life, and it looks really realistic in actual life. There are 8 or 9 layers here, all cut by hand, coloured with promarkers and then 3d with foam pads. The image is then mounted onto white base card which has been sent through a Grand Calibur using a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I love this background as it never detracts from the image you are using. The whole thing was mounted onto a deep red mat to set it off.

If you are in the Christmas Spirit already pop over to Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog and join in. We have a prize to give away of a 10$ Stitchy Bear certificate. See you there!

Quirky Crafts Challenge 14- Make Us Laugh!

Now there is a challenge for you Make Us Laugh!

Caro's turn to set the challenge this time, and it is a great choice for the sponsor we have....Bugaboo Stamps.
Of all the sponsors we have, and they are all great, Bugaboo has quickly become my favourite just because of the variety of the images they produce, the quality  of the images they produce, and their quirkiness! if you are looking for something a little different, check them out...especially the Gus and Stella range....LOVE THEM!

So back to the challenge. As soon as I heard the theme I just knew we would have some fun with this one. my Husband thought I has taken leave of my senses. I was all alone in my craft room browsing the images to choose what i would like to work with....and i was giggling away, just couldn't help it!

after a lot of thought I chose Stella and Gus Tidbits - Grumpy. This is going to become an anniversary card for my In Laws in August. Without any disrespect to them, Gus and Stella remind me of them so much....so the choice was easy!

I made this Pull Up Card template for my cutter some time ago. I have cut it using a fill pattern of a backing paper by Shery K Designs. I use a lot of her papers. This one reminded me of the sort of wallpaper an older couple might have on their bedroom walls (sorry Mum!). The image was printed three times, coloured with promarkers and then decoupaged. The sentiment inside is also from Bugaboo. I do feel that this card is maybe a bit too plain, but I don't have any room left for lots of embellishment. What do you think, dear readers?
come join in our challenge and MAKE US LAUGH....go on, I dare you!

Challenge 12- Hand Made Flowers and Ribbons.

My turn to set the challenge over at Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog this weekend. A very simple theme this time. I am looking for Hand Made Flowers and Ribbons. You can make anything you like, it doesn't have to be a card, any craft project is just fine....but I must be able to see Hand Made Flowers, either from die cuts, punches or hand cur shapes, and I want to see a ribbon. Apart from those rules your imagination can run riot. We had loads of entries to the last challenge, which was lovely, and such high quality entries too. Let's see if we can get lots this time too....
Here is my example.

I used the Blossoms and Butterfly image provided by Paper Pretties, who are one of our sponsors this week. We are also sponsored by Crafty Ribbons. Our first prize winner this time will win a bundle of lovely ribbons from them, and our runner up will win 6 digital images of their choice from Paper Pretties. Come to the blog and see the other design team examples, and join in, we would love to see you.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 12 - Up Up and Away

Set by Caro this time around we have a theme of Up Up and Away (or the sky is the limit). Cutting Cafe, our sponsors for this challenge have given us two sets of digi images to work with. They were all lovely, but I chose the Birthday Balloons from the Up Up and Away set. When I was thinking about what I was going to make for this challenge my head was full of ideas, but my Mojo went Up Up and Away too. I actually started 4 different cards using this stamp, but this was the only one I liked enough to use. I don't quite know what happened with the rest......hey ho! Here it is anyway....

Really brightly coloured to be attractive to kiddies of all ages...... hope you like it.
Come over to The Quirky Crafts Challenge blog and check out the other designers entries ...perhaps have a go yourself??

WOYWW

I am really, really sorry, but as you can see below I have had a tidy up. I decided yesterday that as I no longer needed the second works computer on my desk it should go, no point wasting space. So it is now stashed under the desk out of the way. My Techie Son suggested using the spare monitor as a second screen on my machine. A machine that is so old it is started by crank handle! Apparently, once you have a second screen to drag and drop onto you will never go back to one. Well, once I get the second one connected ( I need a wizzy cable??) I will let you know. So a very disappointing desk for you all to see really. You can just see on the floor my unmounted stamp collection, I am in the middle of stamping them all onto card to make an indexing system. A long job, made longer by the fact that there are, frankly, more interesting things to do in life.....but I will get there. I am wondering whether to go the whole hog and scan the images too...your thoughts please?

The only other things of interest are the printout of our holiday place this year. We haven't been able to have a holiday for three years due to the business problems, so we are going to this year, we have booked a lovely looking cottage.
In an effort to save a little face, there is a card I have made for my Daughter's Flute teacher using a cutting file from Birds Cards. Fantastic site with lots of freebies.

I just know that there are far more interesting desks to be seen at Julia's blog....The Stamping Ground. Come and have a look.....