Blog candy up for grabs!

Tracey has a mystery blog candy over on her site! Go check it out! The closing date for entry is 31st October! What are you waiting for?!

Juliet also has a fab blog candy up for grabs! All she wants to know is why you love crafting! I have written her an essay in my comment! Lol! Well I am an English teacher-just happens naturally! Hehe! Check her blog out for other inspiational projects too!

xx

Wylde Women Award!!

Finally it's half term! Woohoo-I can get back to some blogging...hopefully!! I have been given this lovely award from the very kind Erin! Thanks Erin-you have definitely put a smile on my face after having a very tiring first half term at school! If you haven't had a look at her blog please do as she makes some gorgeous cards!

The purpose of the award is to send love to and acknowledge women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.
It does have rules attached which are:
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between
2. Make sure you link to their site
3. Link back to Tammy at http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/ so that she can visit all these great women
4. Remember the purpose of the award

As I had such a fabulous response to my blog candy and couldn't give everyone a prize, I award all of you who entered into my blog candy this award!!

xxxx

Blog Candy Winner!!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to announce the winner of my blog candy! Sorry for the delay in posting-the last few weeks have been a bit manic at school! So here goes......(drumroll please!)..... the winner is Claire(CraftyC!) Congratulations! If you could e-mail me then I shall get it off to you next week as it is half term and hopefully will get chance to organise myself! Steven also picked out another five names who will get a little surprise! Those people are: Jenni Stempelbude, Cathy, Karola-2008, Eve's Crafts and M.S.! If you could all e-mail me as well and I will send you your little surprise over the half term week! Thank you all so much for entering! There ended up being 83 of you! Wow! Amazing! I shall try to visit all you wonderful blogs next week when hopefully I can catch up on my blogging! Thanks again! Hugs xx

What a lot of blogging!

Can't believe how much I have blogged today! Phew! I shall try to get around to everyone this week as I know I have been neglecting you all since I started my new job! Shall try and get back on track this week-as I said my aim is to get organised! Becky has also kindly given me two awards! Wow! So shall be blogging them and passing them on to you all very soon! Thanks for visiting and happy crafting!xx

Blog Candy!

Recently I added a counter onto my blog to see how many people are visiting! I was so shocked when not too long ago I noticed that I'd gone over the 1,000 hits mark! Wow! How exciting! I haven't had my blog very long so was really chuffed that it had been visited at least that many times! It was also my 25th birthday the other day so I thought I would celebrate and have some blog candy! Below is a pic of what you will receive if you win (sorry about the poor quality picture!) Up for grabs:

• Forever Friends Balloon Stamp


• Forever Friends Celebration stickers


• Chipboard mini-book


• Halloween black peel offs


• DCWV Christmas black and white stickers


• Dovecraft Shimmer brads


• Papermania Colossal border pack


• Papermania Creative Tones border pack


• Dovecraft mini Christmas clear stamps


• Christmas tree stamp


• Snowman stamp


• 'Merry Christmas' stamp


• Selection of stamped images (not in photo)

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and post a link to this blog candy on your blog by the 12th October 6pm! I will then get my better half to draw a name out of a hat! Everyone is invited to join in as I will ship internationally! Nothing more complicated than that! Good luck and happy blogging!

Crafting on Sunday!

Well tomorrow it is Monday again and back to work but I decided this morning that I had to have a play with all my crafting goodies that I received for my birthday! Shall mark exercise books tonight! Lol! So here is what I have made today! I have also stamped and coloured in lots of stamped images with my new ProMarkers but you will see them as they get put onto cards!

This is my first ever Dinky Dots card! I love these images-they are so cute! I coloured this image in with my new ProMarkers, that I received from Becky, and love the effect that they give! I used Anita's blue Christmas papers in the background and the sentiment is one I received from Sammi for my birthday which I adore! I am sure you will be seeing that a lot more on my cards!

Here is one of the Milly stamps that Becky bought me which I have coloured in with my Whisper pens. I mounted her onto some silver mirri card and used DCWV Christmas papers in the background. I also had another go with my wire-what do you reckon Becky? I'm trying! Hehe! If any of you don't know, Becky is the master of using wire on her cards!

Here is another of my new Milly stamps! She is so cute! I went for a contemporary pink and purple theme for this card using DCWV papers in the background! I coloured the image in with Whisper pens and used some flowers and ribbon just to finish the card off!

I have had loads of fun crafting today! My aim this week is to get organised at school so that I can make some time to craft at the weekends-especially now I have all these wonderful things to play with!

Birthday Thanks-Pressies!

I decided that the last post was extremely long without putting my pressies on as well so have decided to put them on a separate post! I had such wonderful gifts! I had quite a bit of money as I wanted some new clothes-most of which has been spent now as I went to the Trafford Centre yesterday! I also got a couple of books, Alphabeat CD, Buckingham Palace bear, smellies, chocs, blouse, stationary, kitten keyring, two me to you figurines- one with a cat and the other is called 'Popping the question' where one me to you bear is proposing to another on a red beanbag-so cute! and Family Guy DVDs. If that was not enough....

... I received all of these crafting goodies from my bessie mate Becky! She was very naughty! She bought me three sets of ProMarkers, nine spiral whisper stamps, a book full of stamped images and a handmade candle! Amazing! Thank you so much Becky I love them all and have had loads of fun playing with everything this afternoon!! That's not all though...

...not only did my Mum send me some money for my shopping spree, her and Lindsay also sent me these wonderful stamps! So naughty you two! These are gorgeous! Have been playing with these too this afternoon! Thanks to you both! But still...

...another parcel arrived all the way from Australia! These gorgeous crafting goodies came from Sammi! She sent me two sets of stamps, a stencil, some embellishments and some stamped images! Thanks Sammi! I have had fun with these this afternoon too!

You have all really spoilt me! Thank you so much to all of you for giving me these wonderful gifts! You are so generous and I love you all to bits! You all really made my day so thanks again!

Birthday Thanks-cards!

Wow! What a birthday! I am only just recovering from it now! Lol! This is going to be quite a long post so apologies now! I thought I would let you see what I received-crafting wise!- and a look at my birthday cards! Before I start thank you to everyone that sent me cards and pressies! They are all fabulous! I have been very lucky! Firstly here are all my birthday cards! There is so many! I am on a birthday list so there are quite a few handmade ones!

Here is the first pic of my bday cards! Most of these are family and friends but there is one handmade by my little sister-the teddy at the front, and the hedgehog one at the front is from Dylan-Becky's little boy-and has a great pop out in the middle of the card-he is so talented to say he is only 2! Lol!

The 8x8 card here is from my bessie mate Becky! Fabulous as always and the other is from my fiance's Aunty who has one of those super duper sewing machines!

Here are a few of the cards from the Birthday list that I am on and they are all fabulous-thank you girls! The Tilda one is from Sammi who also sent me some lovely crafting goodies which I shall show you later! Such a cute card-thanks Sammi!

Some more of the cards from the birthday list-again all fabulous! The very cute Forever Friends card is from Becky again!

Some more of the cards from the birthday list-so lovely thank you to all of you! Two of these are from my Mum as she is also on the list-the cat and the tall fairy one! Thanks Mum! (The cat one is resting on the back as it wouldn't stand still! Obviously didn't want to have its picture taken!)

I seem to have a couple of themes regarding my cards-pink and girly or cats! Don't know where everyone gets that impression of me from! Hehe! The really pink one here is from my Mum and the one with all the flowers is from my sister-she was very generous with her flowers on this card! Lol!

More cards from my family and friends! Sorry about the poor photo!

Finally, yes finally-no more cards I promise! Here are some more cards from family and friends! There are also a few from work and from a few of the kids which was really nice! I managed to bribe most of the kids with sugar all day as I took sweets in for them all! However it did mean that I was eating cake and sweets all day! Oh well-diet starts tomorrow!

Wow! A 1,000 hits!

Oh my goodness! I have just looked at the counter on my blog and noticed that it is at a 1,000!! How exciting! Me thinks I may have to have some blog candy! It is almost my birthday so may have to sort something out....! Watch this space!!xx

And finally...Tilda+Co challenge!

The challenge over at Tilda+Co is to use envelopes in your project! It could be making a card with them, a gift card wallet or simply decorating an envelope! Anything really! I decided to decorate an envelope to go with my Tilda card for the Saturday Sketchers Challenge! As you will see I have used the same papers so that they hopefully co-ordinate! I have then coloured in Edwin the snowman-in quite girly colours but I needed him to match! I'm sure he won't mind! I then added a scalloped shape and put a white circle inside it to put someone's name in! Obviously it must be a hand delivered card! Lol! Really enjoyed this challenge, and their are some great ideas over at Tilda+Co as to how you can use envelopes in your crafting so go take a look!

This is probably my last challenge now for the week as I am back at school tomorrow but hopefully I will be able to catch up again next Sunday! Thanks for looking!
xx

Dottie's World Challenge-And Also...

Here is my entry for the Dottie's World Challenge this week! The challenge was to make something that had a bookmark, tag, notelet etc., that can be removed from the project. Had to put my thinking cap on for this one! I started off using the new Halloween collection which I have been dying to use since I bought them! I made a Halloween card with pumpkin Dottie on the front, coloured in with Whisper pens. The Halloween paper I got from Scrapbook Village.

Inside I covered the card with black card and used the same Halloween paper for it all to tie in. I made a little pocket to go on the one side in which I popped a little tag inside with George as a vampire on, again from the Halloween collection!

Here is the tag close up! On the other side I wrote the words, 'Come to my Halloween Party....If you dare!!' in a white gel pen. So my project is a cross between a Halloween card and a Halloween party invitation!

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to look at my cards!xx

Sketch Saturday!

Here is my card for the Saturday Sketchers challenge this week. I loved this sketch, it was great to work with-although I am having problems with my circles-am drawing around selotape and correction fluid and so on for my circles at the mo!-must invest in some templates or punches! I have used a Tilda image which I have coloured in with my Whisper pens. I have then used DCWV Christmas papers, added a touch of ribbon and a cuddly buddly sentiment. Thanks for looking!xx

Tilda+Friends ATC Challenge!

Here is the ATC I made for the Tilda+Friends ATC challenge this week. From now on you can use different images, not just Tilda, such as Hangler+Stangler, Cuddly Buddly etc. Have a look at the challenge for the new rules! I stuck with Tilda as I had this new Tilda image I wanted to use! She is so cute! I coloured her in with my Whispers pens as I was having trouble with my water brush-it was being very naughty and kept squirting water all over the place! So it has gone back into my cupboard to reflect on its behaviour! Hehe! The paper is some that I got from my local craft shop which I hate to cover up! So I tried to leave the lovely glitzy bits showing as much as possible! I finished her off with a bit of ribbon and peel offs which I coloured in with my peel off markers so that it would match my colour scheme! Hope you like it!xx

Cute Card Thursday challenge-Pretty in Pink!

Ooohh! How much did I like the challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week!!! I adore pink and love working with it so had to join in with this challenge! I have chosen to use a Hangler and Stangler image-coloured in with pink distress inks! I have used the new pink DCWV Christmas papers in the background which are just fabulous! I finished it off with a cuddly buddly greeting, some flowers and a bit of wire! My good friend Becky loves using wire on her cards and recently showed me how to do it! Today is the first day that I felt brave enough! Obviously it is not up to Becky's standard but I suppose it is not too bad for my first go! I will have to keep using it to improve my technique-or get in the professionals-Becky I need you!! Lol! Thanks for stopping by!xx

My Time to Craft Challenge-Animal Antics!

Finally I have been able to catch up with a few challenges! Made sure I did the majority of my work for school yesterday so that I could spend a few hours crafting today! Sorry about the poor photos! My camera is playing up once again! Here is my entry for the My Time to Craft challenge which was to include some sort of animal on your project. You could use stamps, photos etc. Anything with animals on really! I chose to use these very cute little elephants! The main image was from a 12x12 piece of paper that I have bought recently and the little elephant is a sticker that went with the papers. Couldn't resist the paper-it was gorgeous! I then finished it off with a bit of ribbon and some peel offs that I coloured in with my peel off pens so that it matched the card! Thanks for looking!xx

My classroom!!

I have just grabbed a few minutes between resource making, to pop a post on my blog! Here is my classroom at the school I have started teaching at! It is a brand new classroom in a 'posh hut!' It is a bit bare at the moment but I have managed to get some backing paper so will be able to decorate it and get my pupils work up this week hopefully! Have a beautiful aubergine colour scheme!

The coloured card around the room are English technical terms! All sorts of definitions so that when the kids say-what does that mean Miss?-I can just point them to the wall! Hehe! I hope to have them all the way around by the end of the week! We will see how it goes!

I like to have my tables in groups as I like to do lots of group work. My tables aren't brand new and my Year 7 form take delight in looking underneath them and seeing all of the chewing gum stuck to them! Yuck! Could be something I could get my pupils sorting whilst on detention...mmm...! Lol! I wouldn't really, I'm not that mean!

Here is my desk-already very cluttered! I don't have much storage at the moment so all of my files are in boxes behind my desk!

I am awaiting a fabby interactive whiteboard so at the moment I have a whiteboard on wheels! Can't wait till I get my interactive board they are great for teachers and the pupils love them! The desk with the books on is the 'naughty desk!' Haven't had to use it yet-have been close though! We will see what next week brings! Lol!

Hope you liked seeing my classroom! My new home for the next year! Lol! I have had a few requests to see these pics so thought I would put them on my blog! Am hard at work trying to sort this weeks lessons today so that I can craft tomorrow and catch up with some challenges! So hopefully will post and blog hop a bit more tomorrow! xx

Apologies!

Just wanted to apologise for not doing much blog-hopping this week! I shall try to do a bit this week but everything is a bit manic at the moment as I start my first teaching post next week! Scray stuff! So am in the middle of planning and making resources at the mo! Have had a very productive day though today so have rewarded myself with some time to come and upload my challenges onto my blog! These may be the last for a while but I am hoping to be organised enough to fit in a little crafting at the weekends so I can have a little 'me' time not thinking about school! So apologies but I shall try to catch up with everyone as soon as I can!
Happy Crafting!
Love Arline
xx

Dottie's World Challenge-Tags, flowers and hearts!

This week over at Dottie's World the challenge is to have some sort of tag on your project! Flowers and hearts also need to be included as it was Adele's wedding anniversary recently! It was a fab challenge and I loved making this card. This Dottie and George image is so cute. It is actually from the Christmas collection! I have coloured them in with Pro-Markers and love that colour on Dottie! The paper behind is one I got at my local craft shop and it was gorgeously glittered! I didn't want to cover it up! The tag part of my card is cut out of co-ordinating paper and threaded onto a bit of ribbon and I have left it loose so it can move wherever it pleases! Lol! Fab challenge Adele! If you haven't been over to Dottie's World then get over there! It is full of fab inspiration and a new Halloween download collection have just been released...which I have bought...oops my hand just slipped! I haven't had chance to have a play yet but have had a look at all the images and they are great!! Thanks for visiting my blog!xx

Friday Sketchers Challenge!

Here is my card for the Friday Sketchers challenge this week! Sorry all of my challenges are a bit out of order! I have used Tilda on skates and have coloured her in with pro-markers which really are lush! Love the finish they give your images! I mounted her onto a bit of silver mirri card, some embossed bassil bling and some Anita's paper. I love the sentiment which is one of the new Elzybells Christmas stamps! Had my delivery on Saturday and they are fab-go check them out if you haven't already! It went perfectly with this Tilda! Really loved playing with this sketch and will definitely use it again! Thanks again for looking!xx

Penny Black Saturday Challenge-No Cards!

Here is my very shiny (lol) entry for the Penny Black Saturday challenge this week. The challenge was to do any project other than a card! I chose to do an ATC! I used some mirri card that I embossed with Becky's new snowflake embossing folder as she was kind enough to bring it for me to play with on our craft day! I'm not too happy with this ATC-like the little hedgehog image but the sentiment didn't stamp very well and I'm just not too keen on it but hey ho! If I get chance I might make another one! Both stamps are Penny Black obviously! Lol! Love that little image-he is very cute! Thanks for looking!xx

Two challenges in one!

Here is my card for the Cute Card Thursday Challenge and for Sketch Saturday. Over at Cute Card Thursday the challenge this week is to use bright colours and I thought the strawberry paper I have used here was pretty bright! Lol! Sketch Saturday has also given us another fab sketch this week! I really enjoyed making this card! Becky and I had a craft day on Saturday and she brought her Pro-Markers for me to play with and I think that I am in love! Loved using them and that is how I have coloured in this image! Must get myself some of those! I also used Becky's new scalloped punch to mount her onto! Hope you like it! xx

A Spoonful of Sugar Challenge!

Here is my card for the Spoonful of Sugar Challenge this week which was a fab sketch! Again I'm not sure if I am in time again but thought I'd post it anyway. You can now use whatever image you like for the challenge so I chose to use another of Dottie from the Christmas collection. I love this image it is so cute! I mounted her onto some gold mirri board and used some gold ribbon to glitz her up a bit! Thanks for looking. xx

My Time to Craft Challenge!

Here is my card for the My Time to Craft challenge this week. Hope I am not too late as I have only just got around to making it and uploading it! The challenge this week was to follow a recip of 1 ribbon, 1 flower, 2 buttons and some glitter! I have used a gorgeous Dottie image from the Christmas collection and have mounted it onto some mirri card. I then used some of the new Dovecraft Christmas papers for the background, included my flower, ribbon and two buttons and glittered up some of the snow on the image. The greeting is an old vellum sentment from Papermania's Christmas collection last year. Hope you like it!

Beatlemania!

My future brother-in-law (that sounds very strange!) is a huge Beatles fan! Last year I bought this Beatles stamp with him in mind and finally his birthday has come around in order for me to use it! Just changing the subject a second-this stamp I got for the bargain price of £1.99!!! Wow!!! It had been marked down from £9.99, then to £5.99, then to £1.99!! Anyway back to the point! I wasn't sure how it would stamp but it seems to have come out ok I think! It even looks like an old black and white picture! I just stamped it with some Stazon ink and mounted it onto some black and white Bazzil bling cardstock. I was trying to create the look of records down the side of the card but it wasn't working so decided to spell out Beatles (couldn't fit 'The' on!) and put them in the centre of the black circles I'd already punched out. I finished it off with some peel offs of musical notes which I had coloured in black with peel-off markers and a penny black sentiment. Hope you like it!xx

Tilda&Co Challenge-Cold as Ice!

Brrrr......the challenge over at Tilda&Co this week is to use blue and white and try to show how cold your card can be! I have used some papers out of last years DCWV winter cardstack and have used this very sweet Tilda image holding her lantern. I coloured her in with distress inks but my water brush was playing up so am not entirely happy with how she turned out-bit patchy in places! I finished it off with a cuddlybuddly greeting stamped in blue, doodling that I did with a blue glitter gel pen and popped a bit of white furry velvet ribbon down the side. Makes me feel cold just looking at her! Lol! xx

Dottie's World Challenge-Pink Pink Pink!!

The challenge over at Dottie's World this week is Pink Pink Pink!! Perfect for me who is very pink and girly-well when crafting anyway! I loved doing this challenge and turning Dottie into a real girly girl all dressed in pink! I coloured this image from the Christmas downloads in Whisper pens using different shades of pink. I even coloured Dottie's ice skates and even a bit of the ice pink as you may be able to see in the close up! Lol! I used some Bazzil bling cardstock and some old Dovecraft Christmas papers from last year which also contains pink. The other part of the challenge was to add a bit of glam to your card! I decided to add a few adhesive stones, not only in the middle of the snowflakes on the patterned paper, but also as Dottie's buttons on her coat! I finished her off with a cuddlybuddly greeting! Thanks for looking!xx

Cutie Sunday Challenge!

Cutie Sunday had a fab sketch to try this week! I loved the tag feature of it! I have used some cuddlybuddly downloads, mounted them onto some green and red bazzil card stock. I stuck the bottom holly paper down by the edges so that it created a pocket so that the small tags could slip inside. I finished it off with a festive greeting and a bit of organza ribbon!xx

Penny Black Saturday Challenge-Ribbons!

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week was to include ribbons in some way on your card, ATC etc. I used one of Penny Black stickers that I bought last year and used some of the Papermania Christmas papers also from last year, mounted them onto different shades of blue card. I tied a bit of blue ribbon around the patterned paper and finished it off with a cuddlybuddly greeting and a few adhesive gems! Thanks for stopping by! xx

Sketch Saturday Challenge!

Here is my card for the Sketch Saturday challenge! Sorry about the poor photo! This week it was this fab sketch! I used some paper I bought from my local craft shop and used one of the bonus images of Dotty from the Christmas downloads. It was already coloured in-these are so great for quick cards! I mounted everything onto silver mirri board so that you can clearly see the different papers as it looked a bit busy without it. It was a great sketch, really easy to use and one I think I will definitely use again! Thanks for looking!xx

Friday Sketchers Challenge!

Here is my entry for the Friday Sketchers challenge this week. It was a fab sketch! I decided to use one of my Dotty and George images and coloured it in with whisper pens. I used some of the Dovecraft velvet ribbon and a penny black sentiment to finish it off! I decided to do an A5 card for a change but as I don't usually do this size card very often I'm not sure whether it looks a bit bare at the top?!? Love the Dotty and George Christmas collection-there are some fab images included-think they may feature in many of my Christmas cards this year! Thanks for looking!xx

Tilda and Friends ATC Challenge-Four Seasons

At Tilda and Friends, for the next four weeks, the challenge is to create four different ATCs to represent the four seasons. I have approached this challenge a bit backwards starting with Winter then Autumn (or Fall)! I still have Spring and Summer to complete but thought I would show you what I had done so far! Both images were coloured in with distress inks. The winter one I mounted onto some Christmas paper that I bought today-not sure on the make-and the greeting is from DCWV. I finished it off with a little bit of ribbon tied into a bow. My Autumn Tilda is mounted on some dovecraft papers, one of which I have torn. I then finished it off with a HOTP word and a maple leaf(?) brad. Really enjoyed doing this challenge and can't wait to get my Spring and Summer ones done to share with you all. Thanks for stopping by and having a look at my blog!