Elphine House Australia Challenge - Around We Go!

Welcome to the last challenge of 2011 from Elphine House Australia!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas! Today the weather here is awful, we have strong winds and rain. Just miserable. Its certainly a day for crafting!

So onto the challenge. Over at EHA the challenge this time is "Around we go". We are looking for projects with circles somewhere on there. Whether it a round card, or round mats and backgrounds, circular sentiments...you decide. As always you can use any Elisabeth Bell image from any Company. There are hundreds of EB fans out there so pop by and join in our last challenge of the year!!

For my project i have made a circular calendar using one of my favourite images of all time..."Dasiy".  I coloured her using Distress Inks. You can buy her here at the Elphine House Australia Store.

Here she is close up.

I used My Minds Eye paper for the top circle layer and the die circles are my Marianne design die. This was a very quick make but worked out great. The ribbon and gems were from my stash and the calendar is from Hobbycraft.

I would like to enter my calendar into the following challenges also,

My Mums Craft Shop - Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter - Tied Bows

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Thats it from me tonight. I wish you all lots of love and wishes for 2012! I do hope you can pop by and join in our challenge!

Hugs,

Elphine House Australia Challenge - White on White!

Good Evening...how cold is it out there?? The wind is like ice and the rain makes it worse! At least the snow has gone! Well for now it has but we are due more soon i heard.

Anyway onto the Elphine House Challenge details. This time round its all about...

WHITE ON WHITE! 

I love playing with white on white cards. They make fab wedding cards and Christmas cards as well as every other occasion.

Here is my "white on white" creation with one of my favourite image from Elphine House Australia called Laura, Flower Girl. She is just gorgeous.

My Card Recipe..

Image - Laura, Flower Girl from Elphine House Australia.

Cardstock - White plain card.

Dies/Punches - Cheery Lynne flourish die and Marianne Design Circle Die.

Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug floral folder.

Flowers from Wild Orchid Craft.

Ribbon, gems and charm from my stash.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges also;

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Embossing.

Paper Creations Ink - Bling it up!

Paper Pretties - Ribbon.

Thanks for popping by. Hope you can join in with our challenge at the Elphine House Australia blog.

Have a great night!

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Cold and Frosty!

Just a quick one today, Well thats us had our first snow fall in Central Scotland. Sitting watching X Factor and the snow falling, hoping its not going to lie! The roads are quite wet from the rain today so fingers crossed it will just melt away

.

Anyway, Its time for the new challenge from Crafty Calendar. This month the theme its Cold and Frosty. 

Our sponsor is the talented Ruth from A Passion for Stamps! You must check out her store, lots of fab images.

Recipe for my card:

Image ; Nellie Snellen -  Hokey Pokey coloured with distress inks.

Designer papers/card - Bo Bunny Snowfall, Teal and white cardstock.

Dies and Punches - Spellbinders ricrac edgeabilities, Marianne design die for frame and small snowflake. Large snowflake from Cricut potpourri cartridge.

Ribbon, gems, brad from my stash and i made the charm myself.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch..I love this one!!

One Stop Craft Challenge - Let it snow

Sweet Stampin challenge - Snowflakes etc

Fairy Tale Challenge - Christmas

Totally papercrafts - Let it snow

That all for now! Have a great Sunday..Its now pure white outside...go away snow!

In the Blue and New Promarker Storage!

Good Afternoon! I have just stopped in to share my very first attempt and colouring with Distress inks with you. I am really quite pleased with the results. I had tried previously but stopped after i had done the skin as my card was awful. I got my new Fabriano pad in the post yesterday so spent the day colouring. This thought was the very first try..just shows that anyone can do it!!

My Belles n Whistles stamps called "Patches and Braids" is new too. I had a bit of a shopping spree last week! She is so she cute and is a great image for all occasions i think. Looking close at my colouring i can see bits of shading that are not that great but overall i was happy with it. Practice makes perfect and oh my god, colouring with the inks is very addictive!

Card Recipe

Image - Belles n Whistles, Patches n Braids coloured with distress inks

Papers/cardstock - MME Lost and Found, Portobello Road and blue and white Cardstock.

Dies and Punches - Various Marianne design dies and TimHoltz "On The Edge".

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

Embellishments - Charm, gems ribbon from stash.

Sentiment - Personal Impressions

I also got myself a new storage system for my Promarkers while on my shopping spree. Check this out... 

It looks impressive with them all set out like that. Its so easy just to  Only thing it it only holds 60 pens and i have over 100 so for now i have some in the wicker box beside my Flexmarkers. I am going to buy another rack the same but having the two of them will take up some room so going to need to get a shelf put up for them. I didnt realise i actually had so many. I dont think i have that many Promarkers left to get but i am in love with the Flexmarkers at the moment.
EDIT - Lots of people asking where i got the storage from. It was on Ebay. They do lots of sizes. Its a lady who's husband made her it because she couldnt find a storage system she liked and because its so fab they have started to sell them. Just Fab!

Back to my card... I would to enter it into the following challenges; 

The Sweet Shop - Sketch

Paper Sundaes - Beautiful Bows

One Stop Craft - Colour challenge - Blue

Totally Gorjuss - Swirly whirly!

One Stitch At a Time - Anything Goes

Thats me for now. I have got another card to share later tonight but for now i better get helping with dinner!

Hugs

Elphine House Australia Challenge - Sketch!

Good morning. Its time for another challenge from Elphine House Australia.

We have got a fab sketch to follow this time...here it is!

For my card i used my Elphine House Australia stamp called "Laura, flower girl. She is just gorgeous! There is now quite a collection of wedding stamps available from Elphine House Australia and very one of them are adorable.

       

Here is the card recipe;

Image - Elphine House Australia Stamp, Laura-flowers girl coloured with Promarkers.

Papers - Papermania Creative Tones and blue and brown cardstock.    

Die cuts - Tim Holtz On the Edge die and Marianne Swirl die.

Embellishments - Lace, gems, charms are all from stash.

Sentiment -Forever Friends Black and Gold

Here is a up close view of that adorable image from EHA

                                    

I would also like to enter into these challenges also;

Cards and More - Blue Pearl

Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Pearls and Lace

Craft Your Days Away - Embellishment Bingo! (Lace, charm, gems )

Stamp With Fun - Lace, 3 DP, 3 Flowers and Swirl.

Well thats me for now. I am off to check out the new Cricut Craftroom that has just been launched. I have never bought the Design Studio and glad i didnt, this just looks much like what the DS did. I love that we can now buy digital images and receive them right away. I dont use my Cricut Expression as much as i should but this will make it much better and more versatile.

Hope you can pop by the Elphine House Australia blog and join in with our sketch challenge!

Take Care,

Elphine House Australia Challenge - Get Well!!

I cant believe its been two weeks since our "Welcome Back Daisy in Fall" challenge. 

I have been trying to get this posted from yesterday but had a few problems with Blogger...dont know if it was just me or is others having problems??

Anyway the new Elphine House Australia challenge is up and going and this time the theme is...

Get Well

I bet we all know someone that has flu or a bad cold, sore throat or the winter sickness bug. Why not cheer them up with a card or a gift..or anything handmade project you like. 

You can use ANY ELISABETH BELL IMAGE...it doesnt have to be a Elphine House Australia stamp but if you have one we would love to see what you do with it!

On my card i used Nursing Boo Boo, who i love and you can get her here.

I have found my new and latest addition to my "cant be without" tool! When i was at the Hobbycraft show i was watching a demo from the girls at Inkylicious and they were using there Ink Dusters brushes. You can use them to cover large areas of your card but also is great for just edging just like a blending tool does but it is way much easier and gives a really even coating. With my blending tool i sometimes get areas where the ink is uneven...i have been using the Ink Dusters since getting them and its been perfect everytime. Will never go back and have ordered more. I would say that these were one of the "hot" selling items at the show last week. Everyone that saw the demo were picking them up! I used them to ink the edges on this card.

Card Recipe ;

Image ; Nursing Boo Boo from Elphine House Australia

Card/Papers ; White & pink cardstock and Fanciful Pink Dots form Paper Adventures

Pink and Yellow checked one from Papermania Sweet Nothings - all machine stitched.

Large flourish - Little Claires flourish die

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

Lace and ribbon - Hobbycraft

Charm and chain - Totally Beads

Gems - e-bay

I would also like to enter the following challenges ;

Crafting Lifes Pieces - Sketch

Anything Goes Challenge - Stitching

Desert Island Crafts - 3 things off list - Bling, Stitching and Lace

Craft Your Passion - Bingo - Flowers, Free, bling.

The Cutie Pie Challenge - Use a Charm

The Ribbon Carousel challenge - Anything Goes (using something off a spool)

Well thats it for me tonight. I hope you can join in with us at  Elphine House Australia challenge blog and i look forward to your Get Well creations.

My Memories Givaway and discount!!

FANCY WINNING YOUR VERY OWN COPY OF "MY MEMORIES SCRAPBOOKING SUITE" AND DISCOUNTS FROM THE STORE....READ ON.... 

Hi, Hope your all having a lovely weekend. I am here today to show you what i have been up to this week.
I was asked to review My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Suite. Now those of you who know me will know i have never been into scrapbooking whether it be digital or not, but i tell you what...i am totally surprised and now hooked.
 This software is absolutely brilliant. Easy to use with so many features. There are also many ways in which to use this software, its not just good for scrapbooking but also, cards either digital or printing seperate elements out and using them on your cards, photobooks, calenders, add movies to projects, turn your creations into DVD's..the list goes on!!!
 One of the things i loved about it is that you can make your very own fabby blog headers and making layouts using my favourite hand stamped and hand coloured images. I use a different photo editing application to get the images ready to use but this was also easier than i thought and only took 5 mins. Maybe i will do a tutorial on this one day as i know we would all love having our favourite stamped images up on our blog headers. I also found it great for creating watermarks, editing photos for displaying on our blogs and even to design sketches for cards. These are the things that i will use a lot! Oh i also made little design for my stickers that i use on my cards. 

I have made a few projects using the software. Below is a layout i created myself from a blank page which i had great fun doing but adding all the embellishments, papers and elements which is just a case of dragging and dropping and adding a Elphine House Australia image, Laura; Flower girl. 

Then i had a go at creating my own blog headers. These were also simple and again used my own images from Elphine House Australia along with all the lovely embellishments already on the software. What i find great is that you dont need to buy anything else to get started. There are a huge amount of embellishments, papers and backgrounds. Some are set into themes such as babies, birthdays etc. You can also use digi papers and upload other digi goodies to use along side the software.

There is also a massive amount of freebies to download in the My Memories Store but also has full designer packs from prices that are so cheap. You can get them from $0.99 which is 61p! 

Right onto the details! I have been given a copy of My Memories Scrapbooking Suite to give away to one of my followers. 

To enter for this you just have to follow these simple rules;

1. Firstly be a follower of my blog. I will have lots of freebie giveaway

2. Head over to the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking kits. and come back and leave me a comment letting me what kit you liked the best so i can check them out also. This comment will get you into the draw.

3. If you want a second entry then head over to the My Memories facebook page and "Like! them.

Please leave a separate comment for this so you will have double the chance of winning!

I will be closing the draw on Sunday 13th November at 8pm. Any comments after this wont be counted and i will announce the winner that night. 

If your not the lucky winner or you cant wait till the 13th to see if your a winner then i have a promo code that will get you $10 of the My Memories software suite which makes it a fabby price of £24.78 in British Pounds. You can also use this promo code to get $10 off in store for new kits, making them even more of a bargain!

Here is the special promo code to use for the above offers ;

STMMMS83427

Just put this into the coupon section at the checkout.

Good Luck in the draw and i hope you find the My Memories software as exciting as i did! 

Thanks for joining in and remember to get your comment added..you have nothing to loose!!

                                                                  

What a Star!

At last its Saturday! This week has been a long week for me. The kids are off school and the weather is rotten and wet. We have had a lazy day today, i seem to be just going on circles and not getting anywhere fast!

Anyway i better get on with sharing my card with you as i am making the dinner at the same time and dont fancy having it burnt!

I have been playing with another Saturated Canary digi stamp called "Nevaeh! Krista's images are just fab. I coloured her with Promakers. The sketch is from Stamps & Fun = Creativity. Its a fab sketch and i have just angled some of the layers but can still see the sketch clearly.

My papers are Papermania capsule, Boysenberry. My flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, lace from Hobbycraft and my sentiment was computer generated and all the other embellishments are from out my stash.

I would like to enter my card into these following challenges;

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Sketch

Passion for Promarkers - Stars

Tip Top Tuesday - Layer it up

Sweet Stamps - Lots of Layers

Totally Papercrafts - Layer upon Layer

Paper Playtime - Sentiment and Buttons and Bows

Thanks for taking the time to look at my card! I really do appreciate all the lovely comments!                        

Elphine House Australia - Welcome back Daisy/Fall Challenge!

Good Morning! A quick post to let you know that there is a new challenge over at

Elphine House Australia.

The challenge theme this time is "Fall Colours".

We decided that with the release of Daisy we would all use Daisy to show her off and were wondering if any of you have Daisy from the first release or one of Elisabeth Bells other sitting girls. There are quite a few such as the EB digital image of Rapunzel, Sweet Art Ebony's Girl sitting with Teddy or Strawberry Tea. Thats just the ones i can think off hand. You can use any Elisabeth Bell image for our challenge so lets see how many little sitting girls we can find. 

You can find Daisy to buy over at the Elphine House Australia Store!

You wil also find us on facebook where you can show us your creation using your Elphine House Australia Stamps

For my card i used Bo Bunny papers and MME Lost and found papers. I coloured Dasiy with Promarkers and inked the edges with Old Paper Distress ink.

My flowers are from WOC, Lace, ribbon, beads etc are from my stash.

I would also like to enter this card into these challenges also;

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Sketch and Stash - Sketch and new lace and stamp

Paper Sundaes - Fall or Halloween (i obviously went with the Fall option)

Thanks for looking and i hope you can join in with our challenge at Elphine House Australia and spread the word to any of your friends who also love Elisabeth Bells Images about our challenges, there are much more EB fans out there, i know it!!

Feeling Blue?

I hope you are all having a lovely day. I am so mixed up with the days., I have had it Sunday all day! Our schools are off for the week ...AGAIN! Dont get me wrong, i love having the kids about. There is no alarms, no pulling Sean out of bed, no trying for ages to get Carrie up therefore a relaxing morning.

I am still not great with water retention, i had to have the day in my PJ's as my jeans wouldnt go over the calf of my legs. I am usually a size 10 but there is not way they jeans were going anywhere. Really felt  fed up and feeling rotten. Thankfully the kids were here to keep me company and on my toes. Roll on my appointment for the Kidney Physician. 

Anyway enough about me and onto my card. I was over the moon last week to find that Krista Smith has opened her Digi Shop on Etsy and her images are amazing. I have got myself a few to start with my my wish list is long! I have a teen birthday coming up so i will be heading there for my image!

 Here is my card for the SC challenge;

The challenge over at Saturated Canary is to have stitching on your project so i got the old sewing machine out and gave it a go. Last time my stitching was all over the place but with practice my lines are getting straighter. I am still having the problem of some stitches are missed. I think its to do with the tension..anyone any suggestions??? I coloured my image, called Poppy the Circus Girl, with Promarkers. I love her expression! Reminds me of my Carrie when she is all dressed up in her fancy dress outfits and looks at me as if to say "what you looking at?!" She also goes about with her hamster on her too so its like just like her!

My papers are ones i have had for a really long time, Papermania, creative tones. I have the blue pad and black pad and not used the much, i dont know why, they look great once layered up. 

The made the oversized handmade flower by running a stitch along one side of the wide ribbon and then gathering it all in and stitching the ends together. I thought it looks like Poppy's flower in her hair and but when Carrie came and looked she said it was also like her skirt! She is quite right but no matter what you might think its more like, i like how it brings a element of the image onto my card.

The ribbon, gems, button and handmade pins are just found among my stash. The bunting has been embossed with my Cuttlebug embossing folders and inked in blue and all the edges have been inked with Stormy Sky distress inks.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

 Saturated Canary Challenge - Stitching

Charisma Cardz - in Stitches

Cupcake Challenge - Buttons and Bows

The Squirrel and the fox - One for the girls

Thanks as always for having a look, i really do appreciate your kind comments!

Look who is back..its DAISY!!!!

Well i am so excited to be posting this card, not so much the card but the stamp! Yes, Daisy is back and after a few years of constantly being outbid on e-bay, i have her!

As some of you will remember Daisy, who was illustrated by Elisabeth Bell, started of as a Sugar Nellie stamp. 

She was very popular but was discontinued and since then crafter's have been searching for her.....Well search no more, she is back and can be bought from Elphine House Australia! If she is not in the store yet she will be very very soon so keep checking so you dont miss out. She will be going like hotcakes!

Isnt she just adorable! I could colour her all day long! I am thinking you might see a lot of her on my blog from now on. I coloured her with promarkers and inked the edges with Stormy Sky distress ink.

The sketch i followed is from The Sweet Shop. I love their sketches and use them lots!

My papers are yes, you guessed my favourite faithful pad Vintage Shabby by Tim Holtz, i hate to cut lovely  papers but they too nice to keep in my drawer.  My flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, gems, ribbon, bakers twine are from my stash. I made the two pins that are sitting in the knot myself. The vines.leaves are from my Cricut Potpourri cartridge.

Below is my little Daisy up close and personal! Isnt she a cutie! If you think the same and want her here is the link the the Elphine House Australia store.

Over at My Mums Craft Shop the challenge is to be inspired by a song, well as soon as i got the stamp in the door this song has been stuck in my head..you will be glad you cant hear my awful singing but the words are;

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.

                                I'm half crazy all for the love of you.

 It won't be a stylish marriage, 

   I can't afford a carriage.

       But you'll look sweet, 

               Upon the seat, Of a bicycle made for two!!

Just a reminder that we also have got our Elphine House Australia Challenge Blog up and running and our current challenge is called "Tasty Treats" 

You can use ANY Elisabeth Bell image at all for our challenge so go on and have some fun and the chance to win a 2 brand new stamp of your choice from Elphine House Australia!!

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Belles and Whistles - Your Favorite Elisabeth Bell image. (This has to be my fav so far!)

My Mums Craft Shop - Inspired by Song - Daisy, Daisy!

The Sweet Shop - Sketch

I Brake for Challenges - Girl Power

Crafty Creations Challenges - 3 papers, 2 embellishments (pins and flowers) and 1 image

Craft Your Passion Challenge - A card for all occasions.

Thats all for me tonight. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and remember to pop over to the Elphine House Australia store to check out all the new Elisabeth Bell stamps they have for you!

Goodnight!

Sleepy Sundays!

Hi, Hope you had a lovely weekend! Its a was the typical Sunday night here in my house. Ryan "found" homework that has to in tomorrow, not just any old homework but really hard Mandarin translation for which he needed a Mandarin Dictionary! Dont we all have a spare one on our book shelf!! There is always a bit of drama in my house on a Sunday night!

Anyway i am here to show a card i made using one of Jens Digi Stamps. Jen kindly gave me some of her digis to play with but because i am not keeping great i hardly seem to get round to making some cards just for fun..so at last here is one i made last night.

I used Teddy Sleeping on Pillow and coloured him using Promarkers. This image is just fab! He looks as tired out as i feel!! My sentiment reads "Do Not Disturb...Its My Day!" 

My card base is made from Kraft card stock and the paper is from Forever Friends. The lace and Ribbon are out my stash and the handmade ribbon flower was made by running a stitch along one side of the ribbon and gathering it in and tying the ends together then add a button in the middle. The vines are cut from my Potpourri Cricut Cartridge. Again the pearls are from my stash.

I would like to enter the following challenges ; 

Allsorts Challenge - Bear With Us

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle -Round/Circles

Raise the Bar - Furry Friends

The Stamp Man Challenge - Circle it

Wags and Whiskers -Handmade (Handmade Flower)

Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes + Sentiment

Thats it from me tonight. Thanks to Jen for the Digi Stamps and i will show another one in the next week.

Have a good week...Take Care.

Elphine House Australia Challenge - Tasty Treats!

Good Morning! What a horrible day. The weather here in Scotland is raining and cold and just to make the day even more misserable i have the dentist today for my Root Canal Treatment...i hate dentists, i am terrified and would rather have my eyes poked with needles than have to go..but i have made my mind up that i am going to be brave and just go and get it over with...watch this space! 

Anyway, Its that time again for another Elphine House Australia Challenge!!

The theme this time is............

"Tasty Treats"

This might be a teat bag, a recipe card, a choc gift box or just a card with a "tasty" image on there!

You can use ANY Elisabeth Bell image at all.... doesn't need to be a EHA stamp but if you have one then we would love to see what you have done with it!

                                                

For the challenge this time i have made a recipe Birthday Card. I followed the sketch from Crafting Lifes Pieces Challenge but the layer behind the image i put the recipe on and made it so it just lifts out.

This image is called "Daisy Hugging Dolly" and i coloured her with Promarkers.

The papers are Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby. the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the sentiment was computer generated and ribbon, lace and gems are just out my stash.

I would like to enter my Recipe Card into the following challenges also;    

Crafting Lifes Pieces - Sketch

My Partner in Crafting Crime - Sweet Treats

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes plus Ribbon

Papertake weekly - Anything Goes + optional of something punched - (Happy Birthday Girls!)

Paper Sundaes - Lots of Layers

Thats all from me just now. Remember if you have ANY ELISABETH BELL IMAGES at all then you can enter our challenge over at our Elphine House Australia Challenge Blog!

Thanks for popping by and for the lovely comments that are always much appreciated!

I am off to get ready to go to the dentist!
Lynne xx