Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello today to all my friends and followers. I had hoped to be able to do one more post before Christmas but I think I have to admit it to myself, it's just not going to happen. as even though I have now broken up from work I have such a huge list of things to be doing I am still rather drowning in the pre Christmas jobs.
So I'd like now to wish each and every one of you a restful, peaceful and very Merry Christmas-I hope you all have the best time. Best wishes too for a very Happy New Year.
I'll be back with a new post very early in the New Year, hopefully with things a bit more back on track too with a bit more time to craft and blog again.
I'd like to thank everyone for their support of my blog over the last year too, each and every visit and comment means the world to me.
See you all in 2016-big Christmas hugs from me.
Until next time
Aloha
Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 24

 

Hello friends and followers I hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to Christmas.
This post is to let you all know that a new challenge begins today over at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends.
Our challenge as always is Anything Goes and we must give thanks go to our fab sponsors this time who are:

A Day For Daisies

Prize ~ $12 Gift Certificate

Concetta Kilmer

Prize ~ 3 Images

Fresh Brewed Designs

Prize ~ 3 Images

I got to play with this fab image called Bug Hug from Fresh Brewed Designs which I coloured with Promarkers. I decided I wanted to make a more CAS style card for this one so it could be used for a male or a female and I went with a neutral colour scheme too.  The paper is from my stash and I generated the sentiment on the computer. All I added were a few card candy:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:
(This is a scheduled post so I will link up later)

That's Crafty -anything goes
Simply Papercraft #20-anything goes
Crafty Friends #21-anything goes
Challenge up your life #30-polka dots
Allsorts challenge #342/343
Crafting Musketeers #32-use a sentiment
Crafty Gals Corner #50-anything goes

Well thank you so much for stopping by my blog today, don't forget to come and visit us at the Lil Patch and play along with our challenge with us.
This will be my last post for 2015 so I'd like to wish all of you a peaceful and restful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you so much for all your support of my blog over the past year I really do appreciate each and every one of you.

Secret santa card swap

Hello all I hope you are all feeling well and are not too stressed out with all the Christmas preparations.
I must admit I am feeling a little bit more on top of things this week and think I am a bit more back on track now, although I still haven't managed to make time to spend in my craft room. I break up from work next Friday and have earmarked some craft time in the following week when everyone else is still at work! Lets see how that works out!!
This card was made to send to one of my DT teamies over at the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends as a Secret Santa swap. I know she received it ok so am able to show it to you now.
I used a cute little stamp which came with a magazine and coloured it in with Promarkers. I added a small glitter covered chipboard Christmas tree that I bought at a local craft fair and punched the top strip with a Martha Stewart punch. The paper was from a Forever Friends set and I embossed a white panel for the bottom of the card and tore the edge to give a snowy effect. I punched some snowflakes adding gems to the middle and lots of glitter finished it all off:

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

CRAFT -christmas
Creative Card Crew #102-holiday season
Cut it Up #869 -winter
QKR #169-snow scene
Crafty Catz #305 -sparkle & shine
The Stamping Boutique -sparkle
Cute Card Thursday #403 -add glitter
Love to Scrap #67-its beginning to look a lot like christmas
Dream Valley #121 -dies & punches

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Have a lovely and stress free week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Christmas Guinea pig

Hello today to all my friends and followers, hoping this finds you all well.
So, another weekend has flown by and Christmas is just around the corner-decorations went up yesterday. I always love this time of year as it reminds me of when my Nan used to come and stay for the holidays when we were little. My sister and I used to spend the journey to collect her counting houses with decorations up-happy memories!
I am so behind though with everything and am beginning to feel a little bit under pressure now-I haven't even made it to my craft table for days and have slipped very far behind with all my blog visits and comments so I hope everyone forgives me and bears with me for now as I will get myself back on track I promise!
My card today is for a guinea pig keeper and I just thought this image was so cute-I found it on a kids colouring website and coloured it in with Promarkers, adding some glossy accents to his nose and glitter to the box. The papers are from Nitwit and the little wooden star is from Hobbycraft. I punched out four corners from Kraft card with a hobbycraft punch and reversed them to put into each corner and added a die cut Christmas tree using a metal die I received from a magazine. I added a couple of red gems to finish off:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers # 325  -christmas tree
Cute Card Thursday #402-festive
Robyns Fetish #293-christmas cards
My Time to Craft#310-christmas animals
Crafty Friends #20 -christmas
Jo's Scrapshack#117-christmas joy
That's Crafty-seasons greetings
Simply Papercraft #19-anything goes
Come and Get It -anything goes christmas

Well thank you so much for stopping by my blog today and for any comments you may wish to leave. Off now to catch up on the dreaded ironing.
Have a fab week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

A Bit More Time to Craft- My 1st DT post

Hello to all my friends and followers today.
I have some exciting news to share with you all- a little while back I did a GDT spot over at A Bit More Time to Craft and shortly after, I received an email from Lozzy asking if I would like to join the team permanently. Well I was so honoured to be asked and was thrilled to accept Lozzy's kind offer.
So, this is to let you all know that a new challenge has begun today and this is my first DT post!
The challenges are always 'Anything Goes' so lots of scope to get creative and there's a chance to win some beautiful papers which are created by Lozzy too!
For my card I decided to use this digi image from Morgan's Artworld that I won in a challenge recently and coloured it with my Promarkers. I thought it would team perfectly with some of Lozzy's papers so the Navy strip is from the Reach the Stars set and the light blue is from the Micro Dots set. I punched the corners with my new punch from Hobbycraft and added some punched snowflakes and gems to finish off. The sentiment is from a magazine freebie set:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:
(this is a scheduled post so I will link later)

The Crafters Cafe -use dies/punches
Unicorn challenge #4-winter
Time Out #45-snowflakes are winters butterflies
One Stitch at a Time  #251-winter
Crafting from the Heart #88-anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge#257-dies & punches
Come and Get It-anything goes with a sentiment
Crafting with Friends #11 -anything goes
Star in my Pocket-lots of layers

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you wish to leave. Don't forget to pop along and take a peek at the gorgeous cards made by the lovely ladies on the Design Team for this challenge and if you're feeling inspired then why not join in with the challenge too- we'd love to see you.
Huge thanks to Lozzy and ladies for making me feel so welcome.
Enjoy your week and until next time.
Andree

Sugar Skull

Hello all, hope you are well today.
I've had to have a day off work today as I seem to have done something to my back and am having real trouble in doing anything. As I have quite a physical job there was no way I was going to be able to spend a day running round. I'm hoping that a full day resting it will make things much better tomorrow.
I'm sharing a card today that I made last week for my niece's birthday. She's a no frills kind of girl and she loves all sorts of crazy and odd things. When we were on holiday last year she bought one of these skulls as an ornament so I thought I'd incorporate one on her card. Her favourite colour is green so hopefully she'll like this.
I used an image that I found on the internet and die cut a fancy corner, adding a computer generated sentiment at the bottom and that's it-nice and simple.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Inspiration Destination #61-anything goes
Craft Your Passion -anything goes
Create & Inspire #34-anything goes
Crafting from the Heart #87 -anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #47 -anything goes

Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave. Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

The North Pole Take 2

A very good afternoon to all my blogging friends and followers today-I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. We were promised a little snow yesterday and that's exactly what we got!! It was a case of blink and you miss it!!
I am back today to share my second card made with this cute Pink Gem image but this time it's the one I coloured up and not hubbys.
This time I used some more papers from my stash -I think the stripey paper is from a Dovecraft pack and the spotty red paper is from a Wild Rose pack. I die cut a poinsetta with my Marianne die and also cut a pretty nordic heart with a magazine freebie. The little wooden heart sentiment is from Hobbycraft and I added a few red pearls and some glitter to finish off:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #158 -christmas song or carol (I believe in Father Christmas Greg Lake)
Creative Craft Cottage #52-christmas
My Time to Craft #309-snow
Spellbinding challenge-include a digi element (digi stamp)
4 Crafty Chicks #273-christmas song (I believe in Father Christmas Greg Lake)
As you like it -favourite season (christmas-snow, presents and family time)
I Love Promarkers #295 -traditional christmas
Creative Inspirations #336-festive fun
Inspiration Destination #60-anything goes

Well that's all from me for now, thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Have a wonderful week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

The North Pole

Hello to all this dark rainy afternoon, I hope you are all well.
I am trying to get back to normal after two weeks jury service which I just loved. I really didn't want to go back to work at all. It's a game of catch up now though both at home and at work, I'm only three days into the week and I'm exhausted!
I have treated myself to a couple of evenings of crafting though this week as I had a couple of images I wanted to make into cards-well, the same image but twice actually. At the weekend I really wanted to colour this lovely image when hubby said he liked it and wanted to colour it up for me. I really loved this image and wanted to colour it too so I decided we could both do it and I'd use them both for two different cards.
This is the first one-I've been wanting to have a go at a shaker card for some time but never really got round to it. As soon as I saw this image in my folder I knew it'd make a perfect one.
This image was a freebie from Pink Gem some while ago and it is coloured with Promarkers.
I embossed the front panel with a magazine folder and cut out the hexagon shapes with an X cut die set. The little snowflakes in the corners are done with a little Xcut punch. I had an awful job trying to photograph this today as it was soooo dark outside so ended up holding my daylight lamp up in front of it-not ideal but it kind of worked!! I'll be back in a few days to show you the card I made with my image!

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly -let it snow
I love Promarkers #295 -traditional christmas
Crafty Sentiments -anything goes
Robyns Fetish #290-embossing
Glitter n Sparkle - #163-dies/punches
CRAFT #337-christmas
Pennys Paper Crafty challenge #254-anything goes
Inspiration Destination #60-anything goes
Creative Inspirations #336-festive fun

Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave. Time for dinner now I think-just why do the evenings fly by so quickly??
Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 22

Hello friends and followers, I hope you are all well today.
This post is to let you all know that a brand new challenge begins today over at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends. The theme as always is Anything Goes and we would love for you to come on over and join in the fun with us.
Our thanks go to our fab sponsors who for this challenge are:

Faery Ink

Prize ~ 3 Images

Bugaboo Stamps

Prize ~ 7 Images

Ching-Chou Kuik

Prize ~ 1 image

For my card I chose this gorgeous image from Bugaboo Stamps called Ornaments Bear and coloured him with my Promarkers and a little gold gel pen. I used my new Nitwit Christmas papers and cut him out with my oval die, adding a couple of extra oval shapes to go round the image. I punched a large snowflake and added a couple of my new christmas flowers:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges;

CRAFT #337-christmas
Inky Impressions #277 -furry friends
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge#255-red & green
A Gem of a Challenge #157-xmas critters
Cut it Up-book/movie/song (song-I wish it could be Christmas every day)
Inspiration Destination #59-anything goes
Crafting for all seasons #114-anything goes
Craft Your Passion #287-anything goes
Lemon Shortbread #2-anything goes

Don't forget to pop on over to the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends and take a peek at the gorgeous inspiration cards that the rest of the DT have been busy making.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and until next time-

Christmas Carolling

Evening all, I hope this post finds you all well.
I am struggling with trying to juggle everything at the minute and so desperately want to spend some time crafting-I have my eye on the whole weekend coming up so fingers crossed nothing changes and I get a little 'me' time that I so desperately want!
I managed to make this card just recently with a freebie stamp set that came with a magazine last year and I never got round to using it as most of my Christmas cards last year were very last minute.com.
This year I was determined to do better and I have been making them since the summer holidays.
The image is coloured with Promarkers and the papers are a new set I bought from Nitwit as I was so very short on Christmas style papers. I thought if I treated myself to some lovely new papers it would inspire me to get some more Christmas cards made.
 I fussy cut the image and layered him on an oval shape cut with a Nellie Snellen die, embossed with a freebie snowflake folder.
I added a tag bought from Poundland and some flowers bought from there too-I'm so glad I got them when I did as I've never seen them in any other store I've been in since. The little wooden snowflake was found in a shop on a weekend away in the summer. I added some glitter to his lantern and also on his hat and the sentiment is a clear stamp also from a magazine. I have been using so many digital elements just lately I really wanted to get back to using some physical stamps:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Inky Impressions #277-furry friends
Melonheadz-tic tac toe-(sentiment, die, bright colours)
That's Crafty-tag it
Gems of Inspiration #157-christmas critters
Crafty Catz #300-winter
Simply Papercraft #17-anything goes
Crafting with Friends #10-anything goes
Digi Choosday #45 -Christmas sparkles
Papertake Weekly -christmas critters

Well thank you so much for your visit today and for any comments you may wish to leave me, I do so love to read them.
Hope you have a good end to your week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Lacy Sunshine GDT Tic Tac Toe challenge

Hello today to all my friends and followers I hope you are all keeping well.
A little while back I applied to be on the GDT for the Lacy Sunshine challenge blog-I just adore these gorgeous images and use them quite often. Well, I was thrilled to be picked, and the new challenge begins today right here.
The theme is tic tac toe and there are some fab elements to choose from-for my card I decided to go with the 'use a digi, hand coloured image and die cut' line but to be honest I threw in some of the other elements as well as I couldn't decide between them as they were all so fab.

I asked to use this gorgeous image called Sparkletini from the Happy Hour collection which can be found here and coloured her in with my Promarkers. I recently bought a great new paper pad from The Range and wanted to use it for my card so matched the colours for my image. I cut the image with my Nellie Snellen oval die and die cut a swirl flourish for behind the image. I punched a large snowflake and a couple of little ones and added some little blue gems. The sentiment is from Netty's cards and I added lots of glitter to the glass to finish (not sure that shows up too well as it was such a dark day I had trouble with photo):

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafty Calendar -sparkle, bling & embellish
Digi designs -tic tac toe (die cut, digi, hand coloured image)
Creative Corner Challenge-Christmas no red or green
Craft Rocket #3 -pearls or gems
Whoopsi Daisy-lots of layers
Creative Inspirations#334-sparkle
Fab n Funky #280-dies & punches
Inspiration Destination#58-anything goes
Come and get it #94-lots of sparkle

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave, don't forget to pop by the Lacy Sunshine challenge too and take a look at the gorgeous cards that the DT have been busy making. I also want to say a very big Thank You to Audrey and the team for allowing me to be a part of the DT for this challenge, I had huge fun taking part.
Have a fab week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Teddy with Flowers

Hello to all today, I hope you are having a lovely week up to now.
I've started my jury service now and am really enjoying it-beats crazy days at work any day, although I am struggling with getting home later than normal.
So what with that and the big party on Saturday which went really well,  I haven't really had too much time to get any crafting done at all and I'm really missing it. I've recently bought some new papers and some new bits and pieces from Hobbycraft which I'm itching to use too!!
I made this card last week and this is the first opportunity I've had to get it posted.
I used an image from Morgan's Artworld that I recently won in a challenge, coloured up with Promarkers and layered with papers from Nitwit called In the Meadow Too. I die cut a heart shape with a tonic die and added a sentiment from Netty's cards cut out with a circle punch, a paper flower and a couple of blue gems:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Creative Ladybirds #9-anything goes
Glitter n Sparkle #161-anything goes
Craft Rocket -anything goes November challenge
Not just Cards#26-anything goes
Craft your Passion #286-anything goes
Crafting from the Heart#84-anything goes
Where the HeArt is #3-anything goes
Papertake Weekly-anything goes

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Have a fab week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Be my Bridesmaid?

A very big Hello today to all my friends and followers.
First of all I'm so sorry for not being around to comment much over the last week or so, first of all I went away on holiday to Minorca and didn't get back until late Monday night, then spent two days feeling so ill I spent the whole day in bed yesterday which isn't like me at all. I've also now got a huge engagement party to plan by Saturday for my daughter-so no pressure then. Needless to say my crafting and blogging have had to take a bit of a back seat. I'm hoping that after this weekend things might be able to get back to normal but from Monday I've been called for Jury service so goodness only knows what that'll mean time wise. Just lately my life is just one thing after another!!
My daughter asked me to make her a couple of Bridesmaid request cards ready for Saturday-apparently they are the new thing to give to your chosen bridesmaids??? The brief was, use cobalt blue and keep it as simple as possible-nothing fussy or fancy! Well I looked for ages for a suitable image and in the end I chose this one which I found on the internet. I cut it with an oval die and simply added layers in her chosen colour and a few little gems to match. The finished cards measure 9cms x 12.5 cms. I must admit I do find it hard to do such a CAS style, I kept wanting to add some pretty papers or some more embellishments but just had to stop myself. Sorry about the quality of the image but the weather was so bad I really struggled to get a clear picture:

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner #43-anything goes
Creative Moments #80 -anything goes
Inspiration Destination #57 -anything goes
Shopping our Stash #225 -go paperless
CCC digi creations #35 -anything goes

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave. I'm going to try and get round to visit all your lovely work later tonight.
Take care and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 20

Hello today friends and followers, I hope you are all well.
This post is to let you all know that a new challenge has started today over at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends. Our challenges are always Anything Goes, so why not pop on over and take a peek at the beautiful cards my fellow team mates have been busy making.
Huge thanks go as always to our fab sponsors who for this challenge are:

Karleigh Sue Digis

Prize ~ 3 Images

Lemon Shortbread 

Prize ~ 3 Images

Oddball Art Co

Prize ~ 3 Images

I got to choose this cutie called Autumn Moon from Karleigh Sue digis which unfortunately has now been retired but there are still heaps of other images to choose from.
I coloured my image with Promarkers and fussy cut her, placing her on a die cut circle which I thought looked a bit like a moon. I used some gorgeous papers which were a freebie from Art by MiRan and added some paper flowers and leaves and some little yellow gems. I also found a gorgeous image of a Dream Catcher which I thought went really well so cut out two of those and placed them on a fishtail banner which I cut myself. The strip in the middle is cut with a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is from Netty's cards:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:
(this is a scheduled post so will link up later)

Melonheadz -halloween or harvest
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #107-autumn colours
Digi Choosday #41 -sentimental
Inky Impressions#275-make it krafty
Ruby's Rainbow #115-autumn leaves
I Love Promarkers #290-anything goes
Wags n Whiskers #164 -fall colours
Suzy Bees Bloomin Challenge #102-any thing goes with autumn Colours
Star in my Pocket -Halloween or Harvest

Well that's all from me for today, why not pay us a visit -we would love to see you join in our challenge this time too!

A Bit More Time to Craft-GDT spot

Hello today to all my friends and followers, I hope you are all well.
My post today is to let you know that a fresh new challenge has begun today over at A Bit More Time to Craft. I applied to be a guest designer a little while back and I was so thrilled when Lozzy contacted me to ask if I would like to join the team for this time around.
The challenges are always an Anything Goes theme so loads of scope to get crafty and make something so you can join in too.
For my card I got to play with this super cute image from Delicious Doodles called Pumpkin Witch.
I also got to use some of Lozzy's gorgeous papers-these are from the pack called The Classic. Why not take a peek at all the other gorgeous designs there are to choose from too-some really fab designs.
I knew how I wanted my card to be so cut across the front diagonally to make the shape.
I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some glitter to the pumpkin. I stamped and cut out some little bats to go around the top of the card, adding gems too. I found a cute black cat image and cut it out for the front of the card, adding some glitter to maker her eyes sparkle!!

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore -halloween
Naughty or Nice#20-feeling witchy
Crafty Calendar- halloween
Crafty Gals Corner #41-witches, ghouls, goblins
Try it on Tuesday -it's frightening/halloween
Simply Create Too#96 -halloween colours
That Craft Place -halloween
Scrap Creations  -pumpkins
Crafting by Designs -halloween

Well I do hope you manage to pop by the challenge to take a look at the fab inspiration cards made by the DT and maybe have a play along too. A very big Thank You to Lozzy and the team for allowing me to join them this month as guest designer-I had loads of fun!
Thank you so much for stopping by to visit today, enjoy the rest of the week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Stripey suit

Afternoon blogging friends and followers, hope you're all well today.
We've had a really full on weekend again this week-Mum and Dad for the day yesterday and today we have been out for a lovely day at the seaside and were treated to lunch by my daughter which was really fab.
Am exhausted now though so enjoying a well earned sit down with tea and scones!!
I've been trying to sort out all of my computer files as I've been a bit lax over the last year or so, and I've come across a few cards which I realised I never shared here so will be doing so in the next couple of weeks.
The first is this one-a friend at work asked me to make a card for her son which I did using this stamp set from Docrafts and while I was at it I decided to make a smaller card to put in my box at work.
The papers are also from Docrafts -Heritage Press, and I added a few card candi and a punched button using a Hobbycraft punch. The sentiment is computer generated:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafting with Friends #8-anything goes
Crafty Gals corner #40-Dude
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #106-2 papers
Create & Inspire #31 -anything goes
A Crafty Mess #3-anything goes

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Have a wonderful week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Dimples

Hello today to all my friends and followers, hoping you are all well and enjoying your week so far.
I'm having a really busy time at work as it is our Open Evening tomorrow so the work load is beyond crazy and my poor machines are working so hard-I'm sure they will breathe a sigh of relief when it's all over too!
I've not got too much energy in the evenings for crafting at the moment, hope that changes during the next couple of weeks, but I did manage to make this card up at the weekend as I wanted to use some more of my new papers from Nitwit.
I'd seen the sketch over at Creative Inspirations and I thought it was just the sort of thing I like so decided to follow that for my card-just a shame I didn't realise it closed yesterday lol!!!.
I've coloured up my image with Promarkers, I keep seeing other people using pencils to add definition so must try that soon. The papers are called In the Meadow Too and I've layered them with some Kraft card which I haven't used for some time. I die cut a heart shape using a tonic die and punched a strip for the middle with a Martha Stewart punch. I added some paper flowers and pearls to finish off:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges;


Whoopsi Daisy -hand coloured
Crafty Sentiments-anything goes
Shopping our Stash #222 -birthdays-oldest stash (my little pearls which I've had for ever!!)
Wags n Whiskers #163 -use a die
Crafting from the Heart #80 -anything goes
A Crafty Mess #3-anything goes
Craft your Passion #282 -anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage #49 -favourite colour (blue)

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Shelby's sea mint

A very good afternoon to all my friends and followers today, I hope you are all having a lovely restful weekend.
I have spent the morning out shopping with my daughter, we had a lovely time strolling round the shops looking for winter clothes and bits for my holiday. We also grabbed a coffee and had a little look through the wedding brochures she picked up-all very exciting!!
Then this afternoon I've had time to myself so spent it up in my room at my craft table-just where does the time go when you're crafting, it's just flown by.
I'd seen the new challenge which started on the Lacy Sunshine page and as I'd been sent the loyalty digi from last month I kind of wanted to have a go. I've raced to get the card finished so I could photograph it still in daylight and managed it -just!! Luckily everything went to plan and there were no mishaps.
I love the Lacy Sunshine images and this cutie is no exception. I decided that I wanted to go with a red and blue theme so dug around in my box of Christmas bits and found these papers which I've had for ages which came with a magazine. I coloured my image in with Promarkers to match and cut her out with a Nellie Snellen oval die and made a faux nestie by cutting it out with deckled edge scissors. I ran the red paper through a corrugater as it made me think of waves and then die cut a poinsettia and some leafy frond shapes and punched some snowflakes with an xcut punch. I added some glossy accents to the bubbles, some glitter to her shell and bead and finished off with some blue gems. The sentiment is computer generated:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Lacy Sunshine #68-Christmas under the sea
Wags & Whiskers #163 -use a die cut
Die Cuttin Divas #235-anything goes
Inspiration Destination #53-anything goes
Julia Spiri #3-anything goes (with bling)
Jo's Scrapshack #108-anything goes
Penny's paper crafty challenge #247-anything goes
Star in my Pocket -add a sentiment
Sisters of Craft -anything goes

Well that's about it from me for now, I'm off to make a nice cup of coffee and have a well earned sit down.
Thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you wish to leave-have a lovely week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Gypsy Flower

Hello, I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. I have spent the whole day thinking it's Thursday, which is never good on a Wednesday!!
I am now counting down days until the next half term-boy do they come around quickly! We have booked a cheeky last minute break to Minorca for the first week of the holidays and I really can't wait for it to come around now. I've never been there before and keep hearing really good things about it.
So onto my card for today then, enough dreaming!!
I used a really lovely freebie image from Moonflower digis which I've coloured with Promarkers. I bought a few paper sets from Nitwit and this is one of them, called Lady Folk Too-they are all so gorgeous it was a hard choice which to use. I die cut a butterfly and added some paper flowers, glitter on the flowers and leaves in her hair, and little gems. The sentiment is a computer generated one:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs -anything goes
Inspiration Destination #53-anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #39-things with wings
Pennys Paper Crafty Challenge #247-anything goes
Scrap Creations-birthday
Addicted to Stamps # 110-butterflies
Digi Choosday#39 -use something new (papers)
Cute Card Thursday# 392-things with wings
Little Miss Muffet #121-bingo (die, sentiment, glitter)

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Enjoy the rest of the week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

There's a penguin in my cocoa

Hello friends and followers, I hope you are all well today.
I am a little snowed under with everything at the minute-so many things I need to get done and somehow these darker nights aren't helping me want to craft at all. Also it seems to be one of those times when life is getting in the way at the minute and I can't seem to get enough time for my blogging either so huge apologies if I haven't left comments in the past week-hopefully things will get better next week.
I sat and coloured an image by artificial light the other evening, thinking it went well with the papers and then when I looked at it the next morning by daylight it didn't look right at all!!
My card today is made with a really cute penguin image from The Paper Shelter-which was coloured by daylight luckily.
I coloured him with Promarkers and layered him with a scalloped die cut circle and some Dovecraft Christmas papers. The edging strip at the top and the little stocking were cut with dies I was sent from a magazine for helping with an article last year and the poinsetta was cut with my new die-I was thinking it would be smaller than this but I guess I can just about get away with the size it is. The sentiment is from a freebie set:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafting with Dragonflies #44-anything goes
Digi Designs -animals acting like humans
Crafty Friends #15 -pick a tune (we wish you a Merry Christmas)
Polkadoodles #39 -favourite shape card (square definitely)
Crafty Girls -anything goes
Aud Sentiments  #141-Christmas
Little Miss Muffett -(bingo) die, sentiment, glitter
Fab n Funky #274 -cute critters and/or Christmas
Papertake weekly -it will soon be here (Christmas)

Well thank you all so much for visiting today and for any comments left, I will try my best to get round and visit this evening.
Have a wonderful week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Alf's autumn BBQ

Hello to all my friend and followers today I hope you are all well and enjoying your week.
We've had some really good news this week-my daughter who is on holiday in Florida at the minute called us late one evening to tell us that her boyfriend had got down on one knee on the beach and proposed to her-she was so excited as were we all and there were a fair few tears as well!! They've been together for nearly nine years so about time eh?? So now I've got to start planning a card for their return.
This card today is one I made for the box at work as a couple of people asked me for male cards and there weren't any as I was having so much fun making flowery girly cards!! As I  try to keep my work cards a little more on the CAS side this one doesn't have lots of embellishments. I cheated a little as I already had this image coloured up so it was a nice quick card! I coloured him with Promarkers and added a computer generated sentiment and a couple of card candi. The papers were scraps in my 'odds' box and I rounded off all the corners with a punch to add a little more interest.
The weather last weekend was so lovely this would have been quite fitting but looking out the window today I think poor Alf might need a brolly!!

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers #315-one for the boys
2 Crafty Girls-September photo inspiration
Inspiration Destination #52-anything goes
Crafting from the Heart#78 -anything goes
Craft your Passion #280-anything goes
Love the Scrap #62-anything goes

Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 18

A very good evening to all my friends and followers today, hope you are all well.
This post is to let you know that a new challenge has begun over at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends today.
 Our challenges are always Anything Goes, so easy to play along and we now have no limit on how many other challenges you can enter along with ours.
Our thanks go to our sponsors who for this challenge are:

The Stamping Boutique

Prize ~ 2 or 3 Images if use TSB

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That Craft Place Ltd

Prize ~ 3 Images

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Drawn With Character

Prize ~ 3 Images

For my card I got to play with a really cute Christmas image from Drawn with Character, called Reindeer with Christmas lights which can be found here.

I knew straight away the sort of card I wanted to make and set about choosing the papers which are from a Raspberry Road Christmas collection layered with Kraft card

I die cut the image with an Xcut circle die and layered it with a scalloped circle of Kraft card, colouring my image with Promarkers and adding some glossy accents to his very red nose!

I die cut some fancy corners and added a red gem to the centre of each and made a banner to go across the front of the card. I finished off with some little punched snowflakes.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge -(P) patterned papers
Sisters of Craft -anything goes
Crafting for all Seasons #110-layer it up
Christmas Stampin all year Long #56-lots of layers
Simply Create Too #94-early holiday wishes
Penny's paper crafty challenge -bow/christmas
Creative Inspirations-favourite occasion (christmas)
Crafty Gals Corner #37-anything goes
Papertake Weekly -animal magic

My fab team mates have all been very busy making some gorgeous inspiration cards for you to see so why not pop on over here to take a look at their gorgeous work. We'd love it if you joined in with our challenge too, so hopefully see you there.

Until next time.

pickles present

Hello friends and followers, how is your week going? A lot better than mine I hope!
I am having serious issues at work with my machines not working since we have been back from the holidays. Several call outs, one involving two engineers in my room for the whole day yesterday have hopefully now sorted it all out (I won't hold my breath though just yet!!)
I have had the whole evening to myself now though so have spent some time playing with my new poinsetta dies which arrived today.
I don't quite know what's come over me this year-normally the words 'Christmas cards' have me heading for the hills and I have been known to resort to buying them in previous years as for some reason I just can't get in the swing of them, despite it being my most favourite time of all.
I don't know what it is-maybe it's a lack of Christmas themed papers as I never seem to buy them. This year though is a completely different matter and I can't seem to stop wanting to make them-I only usually make them for immediate family and am almost there now with my batch made!
This one is made with a cute clear stamp from Wild Rose Studio which I've had for a couple of years now. I coloured him in with Promarkers to match the papers from my stash, they came from a magazine but not sure which one I'm afraid.
I die cut him with a Nellie Snellen circle die and mounted him on a scalloped circle and added lots of glitter to his hat and bauble.
The large wooden snowflake was bought on our weekend away in the summer in one of those quirky little shops you sometimes find, full of all sorts of everything and they were in the sale for 50p a box-just why I didn't buy up more boxes I don't know!! The sentiment was from a magazine set and it was stamped onto a little tag punched with a Woodware punch. A couple of little red star gems finished off:

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Inspiration Destination #51 -anything goes
Papertake Weekly -animal magic
Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
Crafty Your Passion #279 -anything goes
A Bit More Time to Craft #4 - anything goes
Creative Inspirations #327 -favourite occasion (Christmas)
Crafting by Designs -lets celebrate
Pennys Paper Crafty challenge #245 - use a bow/Christmas

Thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave, I do so appreciate them.
Take care and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Patchy Penny

Hello today to all my friends and followers, I hope you're all having a fab weekend.
I got to have a few hours to myself yesterday afternoon so spent some time at my craft table as I have been suffering a little bit with a lack of mojo just lately.
 I've had this cute image from Lacy Sunshine all coloured up for a while so thought it was about time she made it onto a card.
I fussy cut the image which was coloured with Promarkers and layered her onto a haxagon shape cut with  an x cut die.
I used some papers and a sentiment from a Tilly Daydream pack from Hobbycraft and added some punched leaves and an apple made with a punch from Poundland coloured with Promarkers and glossy accents to add some shine. I had a complete nightmare with the apple as I accidentally put my finger straight onto the first one and then threw some spare card onto the second -enter apple number three!! I cut a little fence for the bottom of the card using a Die Namics die and finished off with a couple of green buttons:

    

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps #109-autumn
Lacy Sunshine -winds of change
Glitter n Sparkle -#154-letter G
Digi designs -fabulous fall colours
Allsorts challenge #328-buttons
Crafty Friends challenge - B is for
That's Crafty -leaves
Crafty Catz #292-autumn colours
Passion for Promarkers #313-add a sentiment

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
I hope you all have a wonderful week, until next time.
Aloha
Andree x