Mrs J's Creations

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #34 - Basic Grey

2009-06-03T13:30:00.003+01:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are all well? I must say that I've missed posting my Be Inspired challenges the last few weeks, and apologies if you stopped by expecting to see them, but as I mentioned previously life has been a little upside down recently! Anyway, normal service has just about been resumed and so without further ado here is this weeks Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired card - Cuttlebug and Basic Grey.

I made this card for the lovely Mr J who's birthday was on Monday. I used some Core'dinations Whitewash card for the 6x6 card base then layered on some silver mirri board and Basic Grey Offbeat papers. The frame was cut using an old Sizzix die, first using some more Whitewash card then some of the Offbeat paper. I embossed the outer frame with the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder and gently sanded it to show the gorgeous orange core. The cool silver letters where from a local bargain store and the little alpha stickers are My Little Shoebox, and the glitter heart is Melissa Frances. The little 'studs' on the middle band are actually the leftover bits of the silver B's - a perfect finishing touch don't you think! Oh, and not forgetting a bit of faux stitching with a black pen!

I hope you'll be inspired to join in this weeks challenge as I'm sure all of you out there have some scraps of Basic Grey squirreled away somewhere in your stash! We'd love to see your creations so make sure you link them up to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog where you can also check out the gorgeous creations from the other DT girls

I'm back!

2009-05-31T22:00:00.001+01:00

Hi there everyone! Apologies for my recent little extended leave of absence from blogging! Unfortunately my Stepfather suddenly passed away a couple of weeks ago so life has been a little bit upside down for a while, but things are returning to normal now and I have some 'sweet' cards to share with you. These were made using the Sweet Stuff shaped card set from The Cutting Cafe - Regina really hit the mark with these beauties, I love how they have turned out, they are so cute!

Here is the full set of 5 shaped cards which I made using just one 12x12 sheet of Imaginisce Blue Raspberry Ripple double sided paper, along with some plain Papermania card stock for the card base. I left the embellishments quite simple - Melissa Frances rub-ons, Papermania blue adhesive rhinestones and glitter brads, paper ribbon and flowers from stash.

Cupcake.

Lollipop.

Popsicle.

Cake on a stand.

Ice cream cone.
I love how these have turned out! They've made for such a cute set of cards that I think will get lots of use some how! You can buy the complete set of 5 shaped cards and matching envelopes for $6.99 or if there's just one in particular that catches your eye they can be bought individually for $1.99 each. So make sure you head on over to the Cutting Cafe and check them out!

Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully now I will be getting back into the swing of things and back to regular blogging!

Cuttlebug Altered Frame

2009-05-14T11:45:00.001+01:00

This weeks challenge over at Cuttlebug Challenges is 'anything but a card'! The sponsors are Create and Treasure Publishing who very generously provided the design team with some gorgeous board books to alter. Unfortunately mine didn't make it to the UK from America, or to be more precise, only the envelope arrived, so I couldn't join in the fun this week which I was very disappointed about :o( The DT have done an amazing job in transforming their books so make sure you pop along to Cuttlebug Challenges to see what they have done.

Anyway, so that I didn't miss out altogether on this challenge I thought I would share with you a frame that I altered a few months back that I hadn't posted about. This was created for Ready, Set Create E-zine and is my first offical published item (hence the wait before I could post it here), yeah!!!

I'd bought this frame which was pretty enough in it's own right, but you know us creative types, we can't leave things alone and have to alter them a little!

I traced around the heart shape onto some chipboard which fortunately enough was just the right size to be 'bugged'! I used the gorgeous Textile folder and embossed each piece differently, one completely embossed and the other two just partially.

I then used the wax crayon resist technique to colour the pieces, using a brown wax crayon then cream acrylic paint to cover. This was then gently sanded once the paint was dry.

I then simply adhered the chipboard hearts to the fronts of the frames and decorated using some American Crafts Greenhouse felt flowers and button, hemp, pins and Swarovski crystals from my stash. And here's the transformed item.

A little different now and a whole lot prettier I think!

It's amazing how with some very basic materials and a little imagination you can completely transform a rather plain item into something quite beautiful!

I hope you'll be inspired to join in this weeks challenge - anything but a card, so any plain and dull items you have lying around, get your thinking caps on and see what you can do to them! Don't forget that there are the most fabulous prizes up for grabs this month at Cuttlebug Challenges. If you participate in any (or all) of the challenges on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog during the month of May, you will be entered into the drawing for either one of these prizes:

An Epson Artisan 700 All-In-One Printer plus three months' supply of ink cartridges
A Cricut Expression with an additional cartridge (along with the two that is already included with the machine!) plus a caddy from Scrapcessories.

WOW, How amazing is that?!?! Winners will be announced on June 1st so you have the rest of the month to participate. Just be sure to add a link to your project for each challenge you complete onto the Mr. Linky widget in the appropriate challenge post. The more you participate the more chances you have to win! I sure wish I could take part in this!

So, get creating, post your entries and good luck!!!

The gift of friendship

2009-05-08T17:16:00.007+01:00

I can't believe it's Friday already! So glad though as I'm looking forward to a lovely relaxing weekend with Mr J and Daisy, with nothing planned except maybe a bottle of Champagne as Mr J and I are celebrating 15 years together (ahhh, sweet memories!).

So, just a quick post to share with you my Inspirational Card Sketch for this week. I'm getting marginally better at posting these before the deadline, lol! Another gorgeous sketch from Dawn and beautiful creations from the DT as always, so here is my interpretation.

A rather soft and feminine card for change but I really like how it turned out! I am seriously loving these new papers from Papermania, they are the Blueberry Hill collection and are the prettiest blues, pinks whites and creams, crammed full of gorgeous roses! Beautiful! I used my Nesties labels 4 (and I think I'm getting the hang of them now in terms of the embossing, lol!) Here is a closer view of the bow and flower.

The blue and cream card is from my stash (and matches the paper rather well don't you think!), ribbon from Hobbycraft where I also picked up the fab glittery leaf, the flowers are from Dunelm (bargain - £1.49 for a Hydrangea bloom full of petals!), crystals are also Papermania and the rub-on is Melissa Frances.

Well, I think that covers everything! Just need to link this post then I'm done. Just time to take Daisy for a walk before Chinese Take-away for dinner - yum!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a lovely weekend!

Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired # 30 - Weddings

2009-05-06T13:30:00.002+01:00

Well, I know I usually express disbelief each week at how quickly the weeks are flying by, but it's true! I can't believe we're already into May and that the amazing Cuttlebug Challenge Spa weekend has been and gone! Ans wow, what an amazing weekend it was! I can't wait for the next one, lol!

Anyway, on to business and this weeks Be Inspired challenge is all about weddings, summer being the season of weddings! We have been sponsored by the wonderful Creative Cuts and More who stock the most amazing range of die-cuts, and who have very generously offered 15% off all orders from their store for one week starting today. I chose to go with the wedding gown. Here is what I did with it along with a card I made to match.

As soon as I saw this I knew I wanted to play with my Fusible Fibres again! This time with the gorgeous Cuttlebug Textile EB folder. Here it is in a little more detail, I hope you can see how much it shimmers.

If you haven't seen these fibres before check out this post. They are the easiest thing to use with stunning results don't you think?! I completely covered my box with the embossed fibres, side flaps included, and to decorate added some lace trim from my stash, Kaisercraft crystals and narrow cream ribbon, also from my stash. Here is the back view of the box.

Pretty similar to the front but I left the tails of the ribbon long to trail down the back.

I know that these favour boxes are usually used on the tables at a wedding reception but I think that these would make the cutest gift boxes too! Especially for a romantic groom to give to his bride, with some jewellery in! To complement the box I also made a card using the gorgeous Lola Rose bride image from Pink Petticoat (but unfortunately I don't think this image is available anymore).

The dresses match perfectly! And I think this photograph has managed to capture the shimmer quite well!

Card Details; Card stock from stash, Stardream paper printed with Pink Petticoat Boudoir flourish in Oatmeal, Fusible Fibres, Satin ribbon from Hobbycraft, flower and pins from stash, Kaisercraft rhinestones, sentiment printed from computer, Fiskars Effervescence border punch.

So, now it's your turn - we'd love to see your beautiful creations for a wedding! Check out the Cuttlebug Challenge blog (if you haven't already) for loads of inspiration from the rest of the DT, there are going to be some stunners there I'm sure! And don't forget the AMAZING prize that's on offer this month.

Grand Prizes for the month of MAY - we will be giving out an Epson Artisan 700 All-in-One Printer with 3 month supply of ink Cartridges. To win all you have to do is participate in any of the Challenges all month long to be entered in the drawing. Prizes will be awarded June 1st. The more you participate the more chances you have to win! The runner up will receive a Cricut Expression, with 1 extra cartridge in addition to the 2 that come with Cricut Expression, and a caddy from Scrapcessories. Participate in any of the Challenges all month long to be entered in the drawing.

WOW, I wish I could be included, tee hee!!! Such amazing prizes! So, what are you waiting for? Get busy creating with your Cuttlebug and who knows, you could be the lucky one! Good luck!

Blog Candy Winner!

2009-05-05T17:30:00.002+01:00

And the winner of my Bath time Spa Blog Candy is......

....drum roll please....

...drawn by random.org is # 99 jinxi ~ aka angi. Congratulations Angi! Please e-mail me your address (my e-mail address is on my profile page) and I can get your prize sent off to you a.s.a.p.!

Well, it certainly sounded as though you all thoroughly enjoyed the first annual Cuttlebug Challenge Spa Retreat weekend! I definitely did! I'd just like to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to all of you - to those that took the time to visit my blog and leave such lovely comments, to those of you who already followed my blog and to those who became new subscribers! I wish I could send you all a little thank you gift but I don't think Mr J would be too happy about that, lol!!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your lovely comments and especially hearing how much you were all enjoying yourselves with the blog hop and challenges! I know I certainly had a blast visiting the blogs of all of those that took part in the different challenges - such great talent out there and it's a blessing to know that we have inspired so many of you! I can't wait to see who have won the prizes!

Anyway, after the wonderful events of the Spa weekend I just thought I'd leave you with a couple of photographs that I took on Sunday. We visited our local bluebell wood and this is the sight that greeted us -

Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! I do love this time of year when everything is in blossom and bloom and I always have to see the bluebells at their best! Even Daisy enjoyed herself too!

So, that's it for today but I do hope that you'll stop by tomorrow as it will be time for this weeks Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired challenge, and hopefully you'll all be inspired to take part too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cuttlebug Challenges Spa Weekend - Bath Gift Set

2009-05-02T23:00:00.000+01:00

Hello again! Thanks for stopping by my blog on this fantastic Cuttblebug Challenges Spa Weekend! I'm going to show you an idea for a beautiful bath gift set that would make a fantastic pampering gift for someone special.

To start with I bought some pampering products that in particular had very little detail on the bottles (but still smelt gorgeous!), and set about making them into beautiful gifts with the help of my Cuttlebug! I went hybrid with this project using the gorgeous August paper collection from Marks Paper Company as I felt these had a real 'spa' feel to them and really suited this sort of project. Oh, and of course I used Cuttlebug embossing folders to beautify these otherwise plain bottles and jars. I used both the Cuttlebug Textile and Swiss Dots embossing folders here. Here is the complete basket.

I picked up the bamboo basket from a bargain store and thought this was again a perfect fit for a spa theme! I decided on the papers I wanted to use and printed these off on slightly textured paper and card (I used the beautiful Accent papers and card available here). Then it was a case of setting to and decorating the jars and bottles.

For the bottles I made a belly band using the Bonus Paper 1 (actually from the Old Fashioned Kit), embossed this with the Textile folder, cut it to size and fastened it around the bottle. I then wrapped some hemp around on top of this. I used the Scalloped Brown Frame for the centre panel and embossed this with the Swiss Dots. The centre panel is the Ice Cream Cone paper and I just added my titles before I printed it. The flowers are fussy cut from the Snap Dragon paper with a little green Papermania adhesive pearl in the middle.

I kept the jars a little plainer as there was less area to 'play' with! The soaps already came in a little box so I just printed and embossed some of the brown paper and covered the existing box. I removed the acetate lid and simply tied some hemp around the soaps. Oh, and a little flower and pearl for decoration!

For the body brush and flannels I added some removable adhesive to some paper, laid on some cotton twill tape then ran this through the printer so that it came out printed with the Wildflowers design. Simple but effective don't you think?!

A pampering session wouldn't be relaxing with interruptions so I made a door hanger to be hung on the bathroom door! The flourish is the Sizzix Decorative Accents #10 and the stickers are MM tiny alpha's. I also decorated 3 glass votives to hold tealights or candles by simply wrapping some hemp around, securing with tape and adding fussy cut flowers and adhesive pearls. The accessories for ultimate relaxation!

The bamboo box was also simply decorated with a strip of textile embossed paper that was edged with the Fiskars Effervescence border punch, brown velvet ribbon (although it looks more like suede in real life) from Hobbycraft, hemp and a green label from the August digital kit.

And finally to complete the set I made a matching birthday card!

I hope that this has given you the inspiration to create your own spa gift set for someone special. Or for yourself even, as you are very special too! It's so easy to take the plainest of bottles, jars and accessories and transform them into real luxury items that will make someone feel very pampered and spoilt!

CUttlebug Challenge Spa - Nestibilities Fabric Flowers

2009-05-01T17:00:00.002+01:00

FOR MY BLOG HOP POST CONTAINING MY FAVOURITE FLOWER PLEASE SEE HERE

Over on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog there is a post from Allison, Christine and Nathalia showing how you can create your own beautiful flowers from fabric. They have made some absolutely stunning creations that I can't wait to try out myself! I thought I would share with you one of my recent discoveries, making fabric flowers using Nestibilities!

With the new dies that have recently come out you already have your own flower shape straight away. Here I have used the new Blossom dies. Did you know that you can cut felt with your Nesties? And did you know that you can also cut denim?!

Cutting felt is simplicity itself running it through your die cutting machine as if you were using paper or card. You get a perfect cut every time. You can see an example of Nestie felt flowers here. Now denim is a little bit tougher to cut but I found that adding an extra shim of thin card gave that little extra pressure to cut through it. Of course this will vary depending again on which machine you are using so it will be just a case of trial and error.

This shows my piece of denim after I have cut it and you can see that in some places it hasn't made a clean cut. By simply pulling the cut line apart or even using a small pair of sharp scissors, it easily comes apart.

For denim I think that this really adds to the effect, giving some slightly frayed edges. So, by simply now layering these together you have some beautiful flowers - how easy is that!

Here is what I made using my new blooms!

I was inspired by Eva's card that you can see over on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. The card base comes from this idea, however for mine I changed the measurements to make mine slightly bigger. I've made this card for a young teenager and I think it works perfectly! I also cut some denim for the flower pot and hand stitched the edges with some pale pink embroidery floss.

The base of the card was made from Core'dinations whitewash card and the border was embossed with swiss dots, sanded to reveal the core, edged with the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch and finished with a pink gingham ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is a Melissa Frances rub-on and a gingham punched butterfly with Papermania adhesive shimmer dots to finish.

I simply added buttons to the flower centres which were stitched in place to hold the layers together. The green felt leaves are cut from Sizzix flower, petals and centre die.

This shows the pull out section of the card.

I'm so happy with the results I've achieved here. Hopefully you can see how easy it is to create your own flowers with a little imagination and some fabric! Who knows what you can create! I'd love you to let me know what you do create though!

I hope you're enjoying our Spa event and blog hop! I know I've had lots of fun creating my goodies for it. And there's still loads more to see! Wow! So keeping checking back there regularly and I'll also have a couple more things to share with you over the weekend.

Happy hopping!

Cuttlebug Challenge, Relax, Rejuvenate, Be Inspired!

2009-05-01T13:00:00.007+01:00

Hi there and welcome to my blog which you have hopefully arrived at from Allison's blog, on your way through the Cuttlebug Challenge Spa Blog Hop! I hope you're having fun and feeling nice and relaxed, enjoying all the beautiful flowers and relaxation tips on your travels!

Talking of relaxing and rejuvenating I have a few favourite ways I like to relax and unwind. Card making is obviously one of them which I especially enjoy when Mr J is in the 'craft' room with me doing his oil painting, with a nice relaxing CD playing in the background! Another way is that I also love to take my little dog Daisy out on a walk with Mr J, especially to some of the gorgeous woodland that we have in this little corner of the UK. But for me the ultimate is definitely a trip to my favourite day spa where I can completely switch off, be pampered and spoilt, and come away feeling like a new person! Ahhhhhhhh, heaven!

So, onto the reason you are here, my flower. There are so many flowers that I love but my absolute favourite flower has to be FREESIAS.

I just love their delicate blooms and I adore their beautiful sweet fragrance. Freesias are named after the German physician Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese and they are said to symbolize innocence and friendship. Just imagine a beautiful vase of Freesias next to your bath tub, with some candles, for the ultimate addition to a fragrant, relaxing bath! Heaven!

By now I'm sure you've realised what you need to do to complete the blog hop and be in with a chance of winning some beautiful prizes from our sponsors! And not forgetting that some of the Cuttlebug Challenge Design Team girls are also offering up their own 'Spa' Candy as a treat too, that you will find as you visit their blogs! And that includes me! I'd love you to subscribe or sign up to follow my blog (if you haven't already that is) and also leave me a comment telling me what your favourite flower is, then on Monday 4th May I will use random org to select one lucky winner who will win this little package (that I will send anywhere in the world). The winner will be announced here and also on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog on Tuesday. So, my little spa treat is this -

A goodie bag containing a Wild Freesia highly fragranced candle, a Lush English Countryside Bath Ballistic (complete with real petals!) and a Lush Amandopondo Bubble Bath Bar, all decorated and packaged by myself!

So, now that you have my flower FREESIA to add to your list it's on to the next blog which is Nathalia's. Don't worry, it's not a race, you have all weekend to collect your flowers, and once you have all 30 flowers collected list them in an e-mail along with their relevant blog owners name, and send them in to the address on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. Good luck!

Before I go though I just want to say I hope you're enjoying yourself! Remember there is so much more going on over the weekend at Cuttlebug Challenge Blog so keep checking back regularly. I'd also love it if you would pop back here over the weekend as I will also have some little bits of inspiration to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by and have fun!

More exciting news!

2009-04-30T16:50:00.001+01:00

This post will stay here at the top until 1st May, please scroll down for new posts. Thank you!

The Cuttlebug First Annual Spa Retreat!

How exciting does this sound?!?! I know I'm very excited to be taking part in it! There is going to be so much going on that weekend with amongst other things a blog hop, lots of great prizes up for grabs (yes, you read correctly, including Cuttlebugs!), a celebrity guest appearance, and tons of inspiration! So make a note in your diary for Friday 1st of May for a full weekend of Relaxing, Rejuvenating and Creating, and I hope we see you there!

For all the latest details of the weekend keep checking back at Cuttlebug Challenges and grab yourself the Spa blinkie from my sidebar to add to your blog too!

I'm a little bit earlier this week!

2009-04-30T10:39:00.005+01:00

Woohoo!!! I managed to get a card made for this weeks Inspirational Card Sketches Challenge #14, well before the deadline! Things are looking up, lol! And at last my mojo seems to be well and truly returned and is raring to go, phew!

So, it was another great sketch this week from Dawn and here is what I came up with - be warned you might need some sunglasses for this one!!!

The papers are from this months card kit from Sarah's cards, I love these! So bright and sunny, they are Pebbles Inc Merrily papers. Everything on the card apart from the Papermania pearls and blue rhinestones are from the kit and the gorgeous cupcake and sentiment are fab printable stamps from The Cutting Cafe. I also used my Nesties Labels 4 for the white panel (gorgeous!). Here is a close up of the cupcake to show the dimension to it.

This paper piecing technique was used by the lovely Danni, one of my fellow Cuttlebug Challenge DT members, and she explains it perfectly here. It works perfectly for this cupcake with just a little bit of Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing to enhance it further! I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and Dawn's great sketches always allow for you to add that little bit extra to your card that finishes it off perfectly!

Well, I'm going to head off now as I have a few bits and pieces to see to ahead of the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot first annual Spa event. I can't believe it's just about here already! Things kick off tomorrow at 8:00 am EST, 1:00pm GMT with a fab blog hop with tonnes of great prizes, then it's a weekend packed full of wonderful inspiration and more amazing prizes to be won! So, clear your diary and make sure you don't miss it, it's going to be so much fun!!!

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #29 Mother's Day Cards

2009-04-29T08:00:00.001+01:00

Good morning all and welcome to another Wednesday Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired post! Wow, I can't believe we're up to number 29 already! Just where do the weeks go?! Anyway, on to my card for this week, oh, and envelope too! This week we have been sponspored by My Grafico and the DT were given the cute Shopping Boutique digi stamps to work with to create a Mother's Day card and co-ordinating envelope. (Apologies for the quality of the photograph but the weather was dire when I took the picture!)

I decided to use the cute pair of boots in the set and printed them out onto some Bo Bunny Alissa paper, fussy cut around them, mounted them onto 3D foam pads and diamond glazed them. I also used the reverse of the paper to create a central panel for my card which I embossed with the little hearts folder from the Cuttlebug Love Language cut and emboss set, and trimmed the edges using my Fiskars Apron Lace punch. In a little more detail...

I cut and embossed the white panel with the Nestabilities Blossom die after I had printed the sentiment onto it. I love this, it's from The Cutting Cafe All about Mom set. You'll hopefully be able to see in the above photograph that I also embossed the 2 outer edges of my card blank with the little flowers from the With Love border set, which I then highlighted the centres with little dots of Stickles. They look so pretty in real life! Of course a card for Mum would not be complete without beautiful blooms and a beautiful bow!

Onto the co-ordinating envelope and I simply replicated the central panels and the little boots (but didn't mount these with 3D foam pads this time).

And as a final finishing touch I embossed the back flap of the envelope with the With Love border folder.

I really enjoyed making a matching envelope for this challenge and loved the impact that it had seeing both the card and the envelope together, I think I'll be doing this more often now! So I hope you'll feel inspired to join us this week and create your own card for Mum with a matching envelope too! I know Mother's Day has been and gone here in the UK but with a little careful planning and a choice sentiment (like the one above), I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something! Make sure you check out the gorgeous creations that the other DT girls have come up with, they are all stunning and will provide you with bags of inspiration! There is a prize of a set of digital stamps up for grabs from My Grafico so have a go, you might be lucky!

And just another reminder that there are only 2 days to go to the start of the Cuttlebug Challenge first annual Spa event. I do hope you'll be joining us!

My first Basic Grey Challenge

2009-04-28T14:44:00.005+01:00

I've often stopped by the Basic Grey Challenge blog and admired the lovely work created by the very talented DT there, but never actually got round to taking part. Well, I've just spent the past hour 'pottering' and this is what I've come up with for this weeks sketch challenge (with just a little inspiration taken from DT Kim's card ;o)).

This covers one of the many male birthday cards (urgh!!!) I need in May, a rather tongue in cheek little number for a dear friend (but don't tell Mr S that if you're reading this Lesley, and act surprised when he opens it, lol!!!). Apart from BG Arcahic papers I've also used one of the new Chunky Praise Phrases from The Cutting Cafe which I printed onto the BG paper then cut around and mounted onto foam pads. I also added part of the phrase to the 'image' panel. I hope the humour will be appreciated here!!!

Details; Bazzill card stock, BG Archaic papers, Fiskars Effervescence punch, Doodlebug simply sweet beetle black rub-ons, buttons from stash, Nestabilities Labels One

Anyway, before I go, first of all thanks for stopping by! And secondly I'll just leave this little reminder for you to check out!

By the skin of my teeth, again!!!

2009-04-27T17:57:00.005+01:00

Okay, so I'm cutting it fine again! Just in time (I hope!) for this weeks Inspirational Card Sketches challenge #13, and here is my card.

Not the best of pictures but the weather is dire here at the moment! Such a grey, miserable, wet day, yuck!! Hope it's better where you are! I really enjoyed this card once I got into the flow of it! I was trying out one of my new toys, can you guess what it is? The following picture might help you!

Yeah, I got me some Nesties!!! And I love them!!! Here I've used the new Blossom die, isn't is gorgeous?! It cuts felt perfectly to make these gorgeous flowers! Oh I can see I'm going to have lots of fun with these! I also used my Sizzix Decorative Accents #10 to cut the brown felt flourishes. The colour inspiration came from this weeks Colour Create challenge, orange, green and brown, which I think I've managed rather well don't you, lol, but I didn't quite manage to make it a masculine card!

Details; Card stock Papermania, DP Scenic Route Market Street, corrugated card from the bin, Dew Drop chalk ink Jumbo Java, felt from The Range, American Crafts Buttons, MM tiny alpha stickers, embroidery floss from stash, Swarovski Fireopal crystals.

I seem to be on a bit of a roll creatively at the moment, but unfortunately I can't share it all with you just yet! But hopefully this means my mojo might be back from it's long leave of absence! Oh I hope so as I've really missed it!

Anyway, before I go, I'd just like to remind you that this weekend sees the first annual Spa weekend at Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot so I do hope you'll be joining us! The fun starts this Friday at 8.00 am EST, 1.00 pm GMT with a blog hop, then the weekend will be packed full of inspiration, relaxation and loads of great prizes to be won (over $1000 worth including Cuttlebugs and folders, a printer and a Cricut Expression!). So check your diaries and make sure you join us, it's going to be so much fun!

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #28

2009-04-22T13:00:00.000+01:00

And this weeks Cuttlebug Challenge is Cuttlebug and Home Sweet Home, sponsored by the very lovely Marks Papers Company.

Hmmm, home sweet home, there are lots of ways to go with that one so I decided to do a home makeover! Here is the finished result...

I have to say that these papers are absolutely gorgeous! I actually used the Old Fashioned Courtship digital kit that you can download here. Excellent value for money, $4, which equates to approx £2.80 and you get so much! I printed my papers out on Alabaster Accent paper (available here), which has a slight texture to it, and the results were stunning! So, to start with, this is how the bird house looked. I think this is the most garish and frightening (for the birds) bird house that I have ever come across but for £3 from Asda, I saw it had potential!

So, it was a very simple process of printing off the papers, cutting to size, adhering using Mod Podge and of course a little Cuttlebugging! I used the gorgeous little hearts folder from the Love Language cut and emboss set, to emboss the bottom plain red section. I used my new Fiskars Apron Lace punch (that I was so thrilled to get my hands on!) to add a bit of interest to the edges, a Melissa Frances rub-on and glitter heart, and flowers, string and buttons from my stash to finish. I didn't go overboard on the embellishments as I didn't want to overshadow the papers. I must admit that it was a bit of a rush job to get this finished and I wasn't too sure about it at first but then Mr J saw it and commented that he thought it looked good, so I was happy then!

As always, we would love to see your creations for this challenge and this week one lucky winner will receive a paper pack from Marks Paper Company. So, check out the gorgeous and inspiring creations that the DT have come up with, then get your thinking cap on and get creating!

Thanks for stopping by but before I go I'd just like to remind you about the upcoming Spa Weekend at Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot, running Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd May. It's going to be such a fab weekend of creativity, inspiration, relaxation and rejuvenation, I can't wait! I hope you've put the date in your diary! The weekend kicks off at 8.00am EST (1.00pm GMT), Friday 1st May with a fun blog hop, then there is a full weekend of events. To see full details and a list of the fantastic prizes up for grabs please go here. There are lots of gorgeous spa goodies to be won along with a Cuttlebug machine and folders to be won every day, an Epson printer and a Cricut Expression machine!!! How brilliant is that?!?!

So, help us spread the word and I hope I see you there!

Just in time...

2009-04-20T22:54:00.004+01:00

...to enter this card into this weeks Inspirational Card Sketches challenge #12! Another gorgeous sketch from Dawn and this is my interpretation.

I flipped the sketch 90 degrees. All of the papers are Pink Petticoat and the image is from the Chandelier brush set from scrapNfonts. I've had this for some time and not got round to using it before now, but so glad I've used it here as I love the result! I printed it onto white card and cut it using my Sizzix ornate frame #2. The sentiment I added myself on the computer. All finished off with some large red crystals from Sarah's Cards, black organza ribbon and black crystals from Hobbycraft, and flowers from my stash.

I gave this card to the lovely Mr J tonight, just because he deserved it!

An elegant monogramed stationery set

2009-04-19T12:56:00.004+01:00

Today I have another Cutting Cafe creation to share with you. This time I decided to create a monogrammed stationery set for my Stepmum, Margaret. Using the Stationery box set and the Monogram printable stamps set here is what I came up with, an elegant box containing 6 note cards and matching envelopes

The box was simplicity itself to make by simply printing the template directly onto the card and cutting and folding were directed. To decorate it I simply cut out some panels of DP slightly smaller than the box dimensions and adhered these to the top and sides of the lid.

This photograph shows the lid removed and the cards and envelopes inside. I simply embellished the lid and the cards with the monogram printed onto the same card, some grey satin ribbon and adhesive pearls. I made the note cards to the American quarter fold size cards, which are slightly shorter and wider than the UK A6 cards, which meant I could then make the matching envelopes using the template in the stationery set along with the envelope liner.

How elegant do these look?!

I made 3 cards in each of the 2 designs of paper, 1 set with the framed monogram and the other with the circle monogram.

I'm really thrilled with how this turned out and I think my Stepmum will be too! Regina's templates are just so easy to use that it means making a simple gift like this can be put together in no time at all with such elegant and personalised results! If you want the opportunity to try something like this yourself make sure you rush on over to The Cutting Cafe as there is the most amazing offer on there at the moment. Regina has just released a brand new set, All about Mom huge printable stamp set, which features 41 different images (which does contain 'Mum' for those of us here in the UK) and if you purchase that before midnight (PST) on Tuesday April 21st 2009, you can choose another 2 sets absolutely free! Yes, you read right, another 2 sets for free! How great is that?! So head on over there straight away and grab yourself some great kits to play with!

Details; Card stock Papermania, DP Laura Ashley Traditonal, satin ribbon Hobbycraft, Papermania adhesive pearls in Gun metal

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #27

2009-04-15T08:30:00.002+01:00

Boy, the weeks are just flying by don't you think?! We're onto another Wednesday, so that's another Be Inspired challenge for Cuttlebug Challenges and this week the challenge is Cuttlebug and Numbers. Here's what I came up with.

It took a little while to come up with this as I'm struggling a little to find the inspiration at the moment, but thankfully I got there in the end! My first thoughts with this challenge were to do a card, as I have a 40th birthday to make for next month and then it's my eldest brother's 50th birthday in July, but they just didn't happen! You know how it is sometimes! Anyway, after rattling my brain around for a while and thinking what numbers were significant, inspiration struck with phone numbers! So I dug around and found this Paperchase address book and set too to transform it.

I think Shannon's great Kraft/black/white clean and simple challenge must have been at the back of my mind when I got my materials together for this! I first of all printed some Pink Petticoat black polka dots onto some kraft card and cut this to size, rounding the corners in the process. The white section is Core'dinations embossed with Swiss Dots. The plain chipboard numbers from my stash were stuck to some Black Magic Core'dinations that had a Kraft coloured core, cut out, run through the Swiss Dots folder, then the dots gently sanded to reveal the core before finally being stuck in place on the cover. Finishing touches are MM black felt alpha, MM tiny alpha stickers, Papermania flowers and felt trim, button, string and ribbons from stash. In a little more detail...

All in all I was very pleased with how this turned out considering my mojo has gone A.W.O.L.! If anybody sees it on their travels will they please send it back my way! Thank you!

So, now it's your turn to see what you can come up with Cuttlebug and numbers! We'd love to see what you create and don't forget that there is a lovely prize for the winner from Elles Studio, a great set of calendars.

Hurry on over to the Cutting Cafe this Easter weekend...

2009-04-11T19:40:00.003+01:00

... there is a fantastic offer on - The Cutting Cafe is having a 2 for the price of 1, so for every set you purchase, you can choose another set of equal or lessor value for free. How great is that?! So rush on over there as this special will be good until midnight Tuesday the 14th of April. Go on, treat yourself this Easter, you know you want to!!!

My first 'official' Cutting Cafe Creation!

2009-04-09T17:00:00.001+01:00

Good afternoon everyone! Hope you're having a nice day? It's quite a blustery and wet one here today so I'm glad I'm nice and warm inside!

Well, as I mentioned back on Sunday I have been invited to join the amazingly talented design team over at The Cutting Cafe (woo-hoo!), so I couldn't wait to get started on a project! So, here it is, my first official Cutting Cafe DT contribution!

This is a wedding card that I have made for a wedding we have been invited to in a couple of weeks time. As soon as I saw the printable Calendars I thought this would be such a sweet and personal thing to do, putting the date on the card! I also wanted to try something a little different by doing a circular card too.

I was even inspired enough to dig out and set up the sewing machine! I'm really pleased with how this has come together and see me using the calendars a lot more in the future!

So, thanks for stopping by and I'd just like to say many thanks for the lovely comments left about my new DT position!

Details; White card stock from stash, DP Laura Ashley Traditional, Lace from Hobbycraft, Adhesive Pearls and crystals, and White flowers Papermania, Green flowers from Sarah's Cards, X-Cut butterfly punches, White Glitter paper Kanban, Melissa Frances Frame, MM tiny alpha and white Glitter Alpha, Cutting Cafe Square Calendar and Circular shaped card

Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired #26, Cuttlebug and Vellum

2009-04-08T13:30:00.002+01:00

Happy Wednesday everyone, and Happy Easter wishes for this weekend!

This week for the Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired #26 we are focusing on Cuttlebug, Vellum and Easter. I think that the Cuttlebug embossing folders and vellum are a match made in heaven and, to be honest, this is something I don't play with as often as I should! But I think I will be now! Here is what I created for this weeks challenge.

A sweet little treat box and Easter card for my Niece.

The Maya Road Treasure box I managed to pick up for half price at my LSS. It had a frosted acetate window in it which I thought would be perfect to replace with some embossed vellum. I carefully set to and removed it and used this as a pattern to cut my Papermania pink vellum. Thankfully the window was just a little narrower than the Cuttlebug Bloom Dots embossing folder so it worked out as a perfect fit! To decorate the box I first of all painted it inside and out with some white acrylic paint. I then measured the lid and sides of the box and cut out some white Windsor paper to size, to cover 3 sides and the inside and outside of the lid. The side panels I embossed using my Swiss Dots folder and stuck to the sides of the box. For the lid I cut the cover into 4 pieces, diagonally at the corners, marked in the centre line across the middle of each piece, lined it up in the dotted border embossing folder from the With Love set, and embossed each piece. It was easy to then just match the pieces up and stick to the top of the box. The embossed vellum was then stuck to the inside of the lid and the inside cover (left plain), stuck over this.

Then I set too decorating it. The pink bobble trim and pink flowers were from a card kit from Sarah's Cards, the cute bunny rabbit from Hobbycraft and the pink alpha, white flowers and pink sparkle adhesive gems are Papermania.

I just love the soft look and texture of the embossed vellum!

The inside of the box was just filled with some pink shredded paper from Hobbycraft and filled with some mini eggs. The idea being that when the eggs have been finished my niece will have a cute box to display in her very pink and girly bedroom!

And here's the cute mini card to match! The card was again from my card kit as mentioned above with Doodlebug Mini Simply Sweet rub-ons in Bubblegum. The window in the card was cut using my scallop square punch and I embossed around the edges of this with the dotted border folder.

I really enjoyed making this cute set and it was great to emboss the vellum too. So, make sure you check out what the other girls have created for the challenge over at Cuttlebug Challenges and I can't wait to see your take on Cuttlebug, Easter and Vellum!

Exciting news....

2009-04-05T20:06:00.002+01:00

...I've been chosen to join the design team over at The Cutting Cafe, woo-hoo! I received a lovely e-mail from Regina this afternoon telling me the exciting news! If you haven't been over to The Cutting Cafe before head on over there and check out the wonderful downloadable printable stamps and cutting files on offer. They're all fantastic so I can't wait to get stuck into them!

Cuttlebug Challenges Spotlight Sunday

2009-04-05T08:47:00.000+01:00

Good morning! Hope you're having a lovely weekend? The sun is still shining here so I'm feeling very happy!

I just wanted to share with you my Spotlight Sunday post over at Cuttlebug Challenges. I was inspired by the fact that spring has definitely sprung and I wanted to pretty up my kitchen window sill, so I gave a few items a 'Cuttlebug Makeover!'

It definitely looks a lot prettier now when it comes to washing the pots, lol! I'm really pleased with these turned out so if you check out my post here at Cuttlebug Challenges you'll see how quickly, easily and cost effectively I was able to do it! Hope this inspires you too to use your Cuttlebug for creative things other than just card making!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A couple of cards to share and some awards

2009-04-04T18:00:00.001+01:00

Hope you're enjoying your weekend and also enjoying glorious weather as we have been today? It certainly feels like spring has well and truly sprung!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today. The first is my entry for this weeks Inspirational Card Sketches challenge, #10. It took me a little while to pull this card together and it's ended up nothing like I had planned it to be, but I'm very pleased with the result!

I used one of my Craftwork Cards clear card bases again, I'm loving using these! Instead of putting some paper inside the card I actually painted the inside of the card with first, some white acrylic paint and then brushed over this with some pale pink. Taking a lead from the lovely Terrie Bailey, who is the Queen of all things layered and textured, I used a strip of black lace from my local haberdashery store. The half journal panel is Bo Bunny, Alissa, with a Melissa Frances rub-on and black organza ribbon bow finished with pins, again from my local haberdashery store (where would I be without that place, lol!). The bird and bird cage are a Doodlebat from ScrapNfonts, DB Ladybird, which I just fussy cut around and mounted onto 3D foam. And finally to finish some blooms from Sarah's Cards and a black crystal from Hobbycraft.

The next card and matching envelope were made for my Stepmum for Mother's Day, 2 weeks ago. As you can see it's a little bright but I love it! The card base was made from card from my stash, embossed with the Cuttlebug 'with love' border folder and topped with half a scalloped white card that was embossed using the little hearts folder from the Love Language set. The gorgeous paper is Sassafrass Picadilly which was fussy cut and layered for a little dimension.

I embellished it with Swarovski hot fix flat back crystals, white satin ribbon from my stash, a Melissa Frances frame, MM tiny alpha stickers and MM Gold glitter stickers .

It was a nice change to make an envelope to match too!

In other news I was very excited to learn earlier this week that I had won a Scor-Pal, just how happy was I?!?! I had left a comment over at The Cutting Cafe the previous week and was amazed that my name was randomly picked, woo-hoo!!! Thank you so much Regina and Diana from Scor-Pal!

I have over recent weeks been awarded some lovely awards from some very lovely people. Thank you so much ladies for thinking of me for these, I really appreciate it!

The first one is from my dear friend Lesley over at Lesley's Creations.

The second is from my fellow DT member over at Cuttlebug Challenges, Meda.

And the final one is from the sweet Beth, over at Nana's Memories.

Thank you, thank you and thank you again lades! I am very flattered and honoured that you have all thought of me! I know these all come with rules and I'm supposed to pass them on to a certain number of other blogs that I find creative and inspiring but I'm finding it impossible to narrow that down as I find every single blog I visit is creative and inspiring in it's own way! So I'm going award the first award to Martha, who is one very talented and creative card maker over in Holland, the second one to Eveline, who's also over in Holland and is also very, very talented, and the final one goes to the uber creative and talented Terrie B, who is a star!

Anyway, that's me done for today! It's my turn this weekend to post the Creatively Yours Spotlight Sunday over at Cuttlebug Challenges so I hope you'll stop by to see what I've been up too!

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #25, Intersite Challenge

2009-04-01T10:31:00.003+01:00

Wednesday's just seem to come around so quickly each week! Maybe that's because I look forward so much to showing you my latest Be Inspired creation for Cuttlebug Challenges! And this week is extra exciting as it's an Intersite challenge with SheetLoad!

...SheetLoad is owned by Alicia, the creator of Shortcuts. If you have not seen SheetLoad I suggest you run not walk to SheetLoad and download your free copy.What is SheetLoad? Quite simply if you are a busy crafter, shortcuts helps you create tons of cards base on a scheme and few sheets...

The design team got to play with the ShortCuts clear and frosted card bases, which was so much fun! As part of the Intersite challenge we had a sketch to work from and the super talented DT over at ShortCuts will also be taking part so I'm looking forward to seeing what they came up with too.

Okay, onto business! This is the sketch we had to work from...

and here is what I came up with.

This was the first card that I created using the frosted card base. I used my Swiss Dots folder on the actual card base along with the sentiment from the 'With Love' border folder. To make the sentiment stand out a little more I filled in the de-bossed side with my white Sakura Souffle pen. The papers used are by Bo-Bunny and are from the gorgeous Alissa range. I cut a piece from the Twirls paper which I adhered inside the card (unfortunately you can't see that too clearly on the photo), along with a piece cut for the front using my Sizzix Bigz frame, Ornate #2. The image used is taken from the Cut Out sheet and framed with a chipboard frame from my stash. Instead of a second piece of DP as the sketch suggests, I used a gorgeous satin bow and pins, again from my stash and finished it with some chipboard flowers from The Range, coloured with my Whispers pens, some black Papermania adhesive crystals, faux stiching and MM tiny alpha stickers.

So pleased with how this turned out I decided to play some more (as you've probably gathered I sometimes get a bit carried away with these fab challenges!). This time I used one of the clear card bases, but again embossed it with the Swiss Dots and to highlight these I 'coloured' the dots in using my Sakura Souffle pen, a little time consuming but the results are worth the effort I think! Again using the Bo Bunny Alissa papers I cut a piece of the Twirl paper for the inside of the card and half of the gorgeous journaling block from the Cut Outs piece. More chipboard flowers from the Range which were this time painted with white acrylic paint and covered with white glitter (a freebie from a magazine). I then used black teardrop crystals and round crystals from Hobbycraft, MM white glitter alpha, Melissa Frances Rub-ons and ribbon and pins from my stash.

I must admit I really enjoyed working with this sketch and the gorgeous ShortCut acrylic bases. I hope you will feel inspired to take part in this weeks challenge too. Don't worry if you don't have any of the clear bases, we would just love to see your interpretation of the sketch, of course incorporating Cuttlebug, and you never know you could end up winning some of these fab products yourself! And if you haven't already, head on over to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog to see the gorgeous creations that the other super talented DT girls have come up with!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week!