Joy to the World Angel Kisses

Hello to all my friends and followers today, I hope you are all having a lovely week so far.
I am doing a post today as we are off visiting the in-laws for the next couple of days and are then visiting Whitby which I'm really looking forward to. My son is staying home to look after the house and all the animals and I think his girlfriend is going to be keeping an eye on him!
I will be taking my tablet with me as we have wi fi in the guest houses we are staying in so hopefully I will be able to still visit and comment on your makes over the next few days. If I don't get round to everyone though please forgive me, I will do my best.
I have done a first for me - I've made a Christmas card in the middle of summer!!
Now normally I'm the sort that doesn't even stamp a Christmas image until at least the end of November. I don't make that many Christmas cards, only a few for close family which totals about 6. But, I have seen  nothing but challenges this past week for Christmas in July so I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a go!!
I'd won this gorgeous image from Lacy Sunshine in a facebook challenge so she was calling out to be made up into a card. I knew that I wanted to keep it quite simple and focus on the image so I was drawn to the sketch over at Sketch Saturday-a very CAS style. I'd also seen the challenge at Fab n Funky for no design papers so thought I'd try and combine the two. I used my Tim Holz distress inks to ink the edge of the layer and then mounted that onto silver mirri card I coloured the image with Promarkers to match, adding a little silver gel pen too. For the faux ribbon strip at the bottom I inked a strip of white card again with distress inks and stamped the snowflakes with a magazine freebie stamp. The sentiment was from another freebie set and it was cut and layered with Nellie Snellen oval dies.  I added a few little silver snowflakes made with an Xcut punch and lots of glitter to her wings:

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

Sketch Saturday -sketch#370
Fab N Funky -no Designer Papers
I love Promarkers #279 -CAS
Crafters Cafe-xmas in July
Tuesday Throwdown# 254 -xmas in July
Addicted to Stamps #154 -CAS
Die Cuttin Divas #225 -xmas in July
{Pin}spirational challenges #145 -xmas in July
Crafting for all Seasons #106-xmas in July
Lacy Sunshine -anything goes

Well that's it from me for today, thank you so much for stopping by and for any comments you wish to leave.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll see you all next Friday when I'm back home.
Aloha
Andree x

Rory lets down her hair

Hello today to all my friends and followers I hope you are all having a lovely week.
Well I am now into my first week off work for the summer and I think I have worked harder than when I go to work!! As we are off away for a few days leaving my son and his girlfriend at home I'm trying to make sure everything is neat and tidy and clean-not sure how long it will stay that way!!
I've managed to find a few hours each afternoon too to do a little bit of crafting and this gorgeous image from Lacy Sunshine was one that had been coloured but not made up into a card. I used my promarkers to colour and decided to use my Lili of the Valley paper pack (and am gutted that their postage has now increased to £2.50 per pad as it has now put them out of my price range sadly).
I die cut a swirl and a butterfly and punched some corners with an Xcut punch. I added some paper flowers and some gems and the sentiment was part of a freebie set:

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

Papertake Weekly -build it up
Passion for Promarkers #306-flowers
Creative Craft Cottage #44-anything goes
Crafty Sentiments -anything goes
Digi Choosday #29-all about the girl
The Corrosive Challenge -#229-to die for
Love to Scrap #58-anything goes
Craft your Passion #271 -anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #29 -do die for

Well that's about all for me for now, I'm hoping to be back on Friday to do a post and then I will be away for a week-I'd love to say 'soaking up the sun' but having looked at the weather for next week it's more like 'getting soaked' lol!!
Thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you wish to leave.
Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 14

Hello to all my lovely friends and followers today, I hope this finds you all well.
This post is to let you know that a new challenge has begun over at the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends today and our theme is always 'Anything Goes' which gives you loads of scope to get crafty and enter our challenge. The limit has been removed now on how many challenges you can enter alongside ours, so as long as you don't enter more than 3 projects you'll be in with a chance to win a prize from one of our amazing sponsors who for this challenge are:

Cottage Rose Graphics

Prize ~ 5 images up to $20

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Fresh Brewed Designs

Prize ~ 3 Images

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Ching-Chou Kuik

Prize ~ 1 image

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For my card I got to play with this gorgeous image from Ching-Chou Kuik called Girl in Spring. 

I coloured her up with my Promarkers and layered her with some gorgeous papers from Michele R called Butterflies and Hummingbirds and then with some silver mirri card. I added a doily behind the image and made a little tag from the papers. I added some paper flowers, adding a centre with a flower punch bought at my local craft shop several years ago. Gems and lots of glitter plus a die cut butterfly were added too and the sentiment is another from Netty's Cards cut out with a circle punch by Woodware:

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

(this is a scheduled post so I will link up later)

Oddball Stamps-die cuts

Creative Inspirations #322 -lets colour

Colour Throwdown # CTD 351-colour challenge

Fab N Funky #268 -flower delight

Crafting with Friends #2-anything goes

Digi Designs -hand colouring

Hiding in my Craft Room# 208-lots of layers

Crafty Friends-punch

Inspiration Destination #42 -anything goes

Why not take a peek at the beautiful inspiration cards made by the rest of the DT, I know they'd love for you to pop over for a visit.

Until next time then, 

The Big One

Hello friends and followers
How is your week going-well I hope?  Boy are we having the final push for the end of term, I'm going to need a sleep for a week to get over it all.
I've got several cards in my room all in various states of being completed so it will be nice to get them all finished finally.
This card today I made for my box at work as I quite often get asked for male cards and have a real lack of them. Most people at work seem to go for the more CAS style with lots of white space so I've tried to keep this one a bit more simple than I would normally and only added a few card candi.
I used a fab Stitchy Bear digi image that I won over at Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge. I used my Promarkers to colour him up and layered him with some papers from The Works. The sentiment is from a freebie set:

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

I Love Promarkers #297 -sport
QKR stampede #147-fishing
Crafts 4 Eternity #234-sport
The Male Room #14 -song (Bing Crosby, Gone Fishing)
Fab N Funky # 267-song (Bing Crosby Gone Fishing)
Craft Your Passion #270-anything goes
Crafting from the Heart #68-anything goes

Well that's all from me for today, thank you so much for stopping by to visit and for any comments you may wish to leave. I'll be back at the weekend if I manage to survive the rest of the week at work!
Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Muscle man

Good afternoon to all my friends and followers today. I hope your weekend is going well so far. In typical UK style it's red hot and sunny today but the forecast for our family BBQ tomorrow is mostly rain! We never can seem to plan one to fit in with the weather at all but we don't let it stop us.
I managed to sit at my craft table last night for a fair while and have a bit of a play with some new images and I've got to get some leaving cards made ready for school next week too so guess I will be busy for the next few evenings too.
This card today I made for my son's birthday-he's really into his gym and is doing a bit of body building at the minute too as he wants to build up his arms so I looked around for some clipart and found this which I thought was quite fun.
I used some papers from my stash which matched the colours on the image and I decoupaged the weights and added some stars at the top. The 'son' wording was made with my X cut alphabet set and the sentiment was computer generated:

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Naughty or Nice #17 -seeing stars
The Male Room #14-song title (Diana Ross Muscle)
Fab N Funky #267-song title (Diana Ross Muscle)
Crafty Boots -stars or stripes
Love to Scrap #57 -triple play (stars)
That's Crafty -wish upon a star
Papertake Weekly -anything goes
Crafts for Eternity # R234-sport

Well thank you so much for popping by today and for any comments you wish to leave.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Fae

Hello crafty friends and followers. I hope your week is going well, it's certainly going quickly and I'm really counting down now till next Friday, woohoo six whole weeks off. I always think it feels like it's going to last forever but boy does it go quick. I've got lots of odd days out and a few days away to look forward too as well as some much loved craft time all to myself without feeling guilty!
My card today was made with a Sherry Baldy image I won in a challenge-she really caught my eye and was a delight to colour. I used Promarkers as always and used some Michele R papers. I layered the paper and image with some card sponged with gold ink and made a panel which I also embossed and sponged.
I added a die cut and embossed leafy shape and punched some flowers too. I also used my new
D lites floral fence die which did make me laugh-I made the mistake of not checking the size of it before I ordered and was expecting a much bigger die, I did chuckle when I opened it up and saw the size of it. Must check all the details in future!! A little butterfly, lots of glitter and some pearls finished off my card:

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

Polkadoodles #27 -embossing
CRAFT #318 - embossing
Dragons Lair -shabby chic
Passion for Promarkers #304 -fancy that
Crafty Sentiments -sweet
Creative Card Crew #91 -dies
Creative Craft Cottage -layer it up
Scrapbook Stamp Society #70 -anything goes
The Butterfly Challenge -G for gems

Well that's all from me for today, thank you so much for stopping by for a visit.
Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Shoes!

Hello today to all my friends and followers, I hope you are all having a fab weekend and that all my USA friends enjoyed a lovely day yesterday.
As it's my son's birthday tomorrow we were all supposed to have a little trip to the beach, collecting my daughter and her dog on the way, but the UK weather had other ideas and we woke up to pouring rain!! No doubt once we go back to work tomorrow the sun will reappear!!
So onto my card then and for this one I used an image from Pink Gem that I won in a challenge. I coloured her with Promarkers and layered her with some Dovecraft Sweet Paris papers.
The  shoe  was a magazine freebie stamp and the sentiment came from a set I've had for ages but I'm afraid can't remember the make. Some card candi finished it off. This one is for my sister in law who doesn't go in for anything cute and fluffy so I needed to keep it a bit less fussy:

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

Inky Impressions #216 - pink & girly
CCC digi creations #28 -3 of a kind (card candi)
Crafty Friends # 9-anything goes
Jo's Scrapshack -# 95 anything goes
Simply Papercraft # 8-anything goes
Crafty Catz # 286-anything goes
Sister Act # 113-anything goes
Creative Fingers # 86-anything goes
Robyns Fetish #271- anything goes

Well that's about it from me for now, 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

Text Me!

Hello today from a very hot, sticky and uncomfortable Kent, I hope you are managing to stay cool this week if you live in the UK. Everyone tells  me I shouldn't complain but I figured why not??-I never did like the extreme heat and always say I am much more of a 'winter' kind of girl. Give me warm snuggly jumpers, thick pj's, hot chocolate and slippers any day lol!
I haven't done too much crafting so far this week, between the heat knocking me out and a late night at work I haven't really had the time. I did make this one recently using a lovely image from Time for Tea. I won this in a challenge some time ago and have never got round to using her as I just couldn't decide which colours she went with. Then I saw the challenge over at Time Out and when I saw the colours for the challenge it reminded me of a set of papers I had, but again, had not really used. The pack is from The Works and I coloured my image with Promarkers to match and punched some paper flowers for each corner. The sentiment is computer generated and apart from some orange gems I didn't add anything else as the paper is quite bold anyway:

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

Time Out #34-photo inspirations
Sweet Stamps #228 -bright colours
The Pink Elephant #305-anything goes
Crafting from the Heart -anything goes
Craft your Passion #268 - anything goes
Sister Act #112 -anything goes
Penny's paper crafty challenge #234-anything goes
Sisters of Craft -anything goes July

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave. Here's hoping tomorrow is somewhat cooler.
Until next time then.
Aloha
Andree x

Lili blowing bubbles

Hello today to all my friends and followers I hope you have all had a lovely weekend.
We have had a very full but nice one-it was hubby's birthday on Friday so straight from work we went down to the coast for a wander and dinner. Then Saturday he said as it was his 'boxing day birthday' we should treat ourselves to lunch in town. Today we went for a lovely drive in the country and passed a gorgeous country pub advertising a carvery so we just had to stop and try it. So all in all it's been like my birthday too as theres been no cooking to do! I'm just dreading looking at the bank account now lol!!
Well onto my card then and this one I made using a cute image from Inky Impressions that I won in a challenge. I coloured her up with Promarkers and layered her with papers from The Works which are lovely double sided 12 x 12 papers. I used some glossy accents for her bubbles and punched out some hearts and embossed them with a magazine freebie embossing folder. I also used a hobbycraft button punch to add a couple of faux buttons. The sentiment is computer generated:

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Digi Choosday -buttons
That Craft Place -layers
Come and Get It -cute
Creative Moments #71-embossing
Creative Inspirations #319- favourite item (my punches)
Clear it out Tuesday -your favourite (punches)
Glitter n Sparkle -sentimental
Inspiration Destination #39-anything goes

Well that's about all from me for today so I'll say bye for now. Thank you so much for stopping by today and for any comments you may wish to leave.
Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x

Rosette birthday

Hello to all my friends and followers today, thank you so much for stopping by.
I've been having a quiet week so far as my little baby (who's nearly 20!!) went off Monday on his first holiday abroad. He's gone to Spain with his girlfriend and I just know they will have the best time-he's already posted me a picture of their room overlooking the pool! Makes me want to go off somewhere nice too though!!
Instead I've been busy at my craft table making a card for my husbands birthday. When I made my Dad's fathers day card hubby said he would've liked a card with a rosette on too so I decided I would make him one for his birthday. I wasn't sure of the colour if I'm honest but it'll have to do now as it's his birthday on Friday and there's no time to make a different one. It made me realise though that after 28 years being married I don't know his favourite colour-how bad is that?
I used the freebie stamps from Docrafts again and paper pieced the rosette with papers from The Glitter Pot. The newsprint paper came as the backing card for the stamps-waste not want not eh??
I punched some stars from black card and added some card candy to the centres. The sentiment is another from Netty's cards punched out to fit the middle of the rosette:

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

Quirky Crafts #13 -rosettes

Creative Card Cottage #42 -spots/stripes

Glitter n Sparkle #142 -one for the boys

Shopping our Stash #207-for the boys

Cardz 4 Guys #76-use a die or punch

Allsorts #316 -use a stamp

Creative Inspirations #319 -favourite (punches, I've loved using punches from day one!)

So that's about all from me today, thank you so much for stopping by and for any comments you may wish to leave me.

Until next time.

Aloha

Andree x

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge 12

Good evening to all my crafty friends and followers. Todays post is to let you all know that a new challenge has begun today over at the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends.
Our challenge is, as always an 'anything goes' theme and we have the following fab sponsors who deserve our thanks:

Ppinkydolls Art -Prize: 3 Images

Flat Friends Boutique -Prize: 5 Images

Concetta Kilmer- Prize: 3 Images

I chose this beautiful image by Flat Friends Boutique called The Happy Couple which I coloured with my Promarkers and chose some beautiful papers from a Michele R paper pad which I recently bought.

I die cut the image on a slightly off centre oval using some Nellie Snellen dies and made a faux nestie. I embossed a panel with an X cut embossing folder and sponged some gold ink over to highlight the leaves. I added some paper flowers and a couple of die cut hearts which I inter linked. The little dragonfly has been in my stash for simply ages and I thought it was finally his time to be used.  The sentiment is a magazine freebie and was also cut with the oval dies. A few clear gems and a little ribbon finished it off:

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

Craft Your Passion #266 -anything goes
The Paper Shelter #208 -digital
CRAFT # 316-wedding/anniversary
Time Out -'happy is the bride the sun shines on'
As you like it -inspired by a book (The Wedding Girl Madeleine Wickham-my favourite author aka Sophie Kinsella)
Moving along with the Times -inspired by a song(UB40, wedding day)
The Crafters Cafe #121 -at the movies (My best friends wedding)
Love to Scrap #56 -anything goes
Hiding in my Craft Room-love is in the air

I do hope you find the time to come along and visit as the ladies on the DT have all been so busy making some beautiful inspiration cards for you to see. We'd love for you to join in with us this time and can't wait to see your fab entries.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today and for any comments you may wish to leave.

Until next time.

Andree x

DIY Alf

Good evening all,
just a quick post to share a card made recently for my cousin-it was one of those 'oh my goodness, it's his birthday tomorrow' moments!! I had to put a card together quick smart so chose this lovely image from Digistamp Boutique.  I coloured him with Promarkers and layered him with Kraft card and added a corrugated strip to the middle too. I used some papers from a pack I bought a while ago at
T K Maxx and added some card candi to the corners and a computer generated sentiment.
Apologies for the rubbish photo but it was such a dark day when I took the photo and as it had to go in the post the next morning I didn't have another opportunity to take a better picture:

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown #249 -Mr Handyman
Simply Create Too #87 -masculine
Come and Get It -it's a boy thing
Craftin Desert Divas -fathers day/masculine
One Stitch at a Time # 239-anything goes men
Creative Corner -just for boys
Kraft Journal #228-masculine

Well thank you so much for stopping by today. Until next time.
Aloha
Andree x