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!

My Time to Craft Challenge-Cats!

I absolutely loved the challenge over at My Time to Craft and just had to complete it straight away! The challenge was 'Cats'! You could use stamps, stickers or photos of your cats-anything cat related really! I am a big cat lover and have recently bought these fab stamps from Elzybells and this was my first opportunity to use them! I coloured the image in with distress inks-what else! I coloured the cat in ginger as it reminded me of my Charlie cat who I am missing loads at the moment as I am at my Mum's. He is a long haired ginger cat and is sooo cute! Must put some pics on my blog of him-he is a bit of a poser! Lol! The backing paper I bought ages ago and had only used a little bit of it for a few ATCs a while ago, the image and sentiment I mounted onto gold mirri card and finished the whole card off with a bit of ribbon. Thanks for looking!xx

Another couple of challenges!

I have been very lucky this week as I have also been able to combine another two challenges! Here is my entry for the Papertake Weekly challenge and A Spoonful of Sugar challenge this week. Over at Papertake the challenge was to use a button(s) on your card which I have done in the form of a centre for my flowers. A Spoonful of Sugar's challenge was to include a secret message on your card. For this challenge I stamped the sentiment 'With Love' and 'Happy Birthday' that I got from cuddlybuddly, and attached one underneath the other with a brad so that when you move the 'Happy Birthday' circle, 'With Love' is revealed! I have used a gorgeous Hamish stamp where he is dressed up as a chef and have coloured him in with distress inks. I found this fab flower paper in my craft box-it really is a sin that it has been in there for so long-and mounted it onto a bit of Bassil card stock and finished it off with some Prima flowers. Hope you enjoyed looking and thanks for stopping by!xx

Friday Sketchers and Dottie's World Challenges!

With this card I have been able to combine two challenges! Over at Dottie's World the challenge this week was to multi-challenge-combine a dottie image with another challenge! This was so useful as there are so many fab challenges to join in with, combining them when you can makes it so much easier! I chose, therefore, to include my Dottie image wth the Friday Sketchers challenge which was this great sketch! This was a hard sketch as there was quite a bit to include but I enjoyed the challenge! I have used some bright Christmas papers that I bought in my local craft shop, some green organza ribbon twisted down the side, a DCWV sentiment and a Dottie and George image from the Christmas collection! The collection is soooo cute-it was really hard to choose an image I wanted to use but I settled for this one which is Dottie and George under the mistletoe! It was one of the black and white images so I coloured it in with Whisper's pens as I was going for quite a bright and bold effect with this card! At first I thought the papers I used were a bit busy but the card is steadily growing on me! Love the twisted ribbon-will definitely use that on my cards again! Thanks for looking!xx

Thanks Sammi!!

How exciting! The lovely Sammi has given me this award!! I love your blog too sugar!! It really made me smile when I saw it so thank you loads!

The rules are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog

2. Link the person you received your award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

As I am quite new to blogging I am only just starting to get to know all of you lovely people so I am going to pass this onto some people who really inspire me when I visit their blogs! It has been so hard to choose though and a lot of you already have the award as you are all so fab! So I am going to pass this on to...

Shary

Lydia

Meayla

Andrea

Arwen

Tracy (Ella Bella)

Broceliane

Thank you to everyone for having such fabulous blogs and for inspiring me so much!

xx

Tilda&Co Challenge-Christmas is Coming!

At Tilda&Co this week, the challenge was to create a Christmas card with at least one Magnolia image on it! Here is my entry this week. I have had the fireplace and the Tilda in my box for a while now and have been waiting for the opportunity-or plucking up the courage!-to try to do a scene with them! So this is my first attempt at a Tilda scene card! The backing paper is from Papermania (meant to look like wallpaper!), the tree is an Anita's stamp and they are all coloured in with distress inks! I finished it off with a bit of ribbon and a DCWV greeting! Hope you like it and thanks again for looking!xx

Cutie Sunday Challenge!

Here is my card for the Cutie Sunday Challenge this week! It was a fab sketch although quite challenging due to the jigsaw shape! I used some of the Anita Christmas papers again, a sugar nellie stamp coloured in with distress inks, finished off with a few flowers and a greeting from cuddly buddly! Again this card is on my blue theme for Christmas! Thanks for looking!xx

My Time to Craft Challenge!

I am quite late in having a go at this challenge this week, but as the theme was Christmas and I was making some Christmas cards I thought this one would be perfect for it! This is my card for the My Time to Craft challenge this week which was to try to get ahead a little and make a Christmas card or ATC, altered art-whatever you liked! For this card I used another of the Penny Black stickers as the main topper, mounted onto mirri board. I then used some of the new Anita Christmas papers and some old Dovecraft Christmas brads from last year. The sentiment is from DCWV, also from last year and it was finished off with a piece of ribbon to separate the two different papers. The layout is from the Penny Black challenge this week, as I enjoyed using it so much, I decided to use it again! I think I am definitely swaying more towards a blue colour scheme for the bulk of my Christmas cards this year! Thanks for looking!xx

Penny Black Stickers!

I have made this card with some Penny Black stickers that I also bought at the craft show last November! I mounted the gingerbread sticker onto a bit of mirri card and then used some of the new Anita and Papermania papers as backgrounds. I finished it of with a few flowers and a greeting. These stickers are great to use to make a quick card-perfect for all of those cards that you forgot to make that you end up making in December!! Love this image-gingerbread men are one of my faves at Christmas time!xx

Please don't shout...

Firstly, again, apologies for the photographs of my cards! Secondly, please do not shout at me when I tell you this... these gorgeous fairies from Lili of the Valley have sat in my craft box since....last November!!! I know, nearly a whole year! I completely forgot I had them until I was rooting around in a box of paper that I picked up to bring to my Mum's when I found them! Therefore I thought that they needed to be used! I mat and layered this image onto some cream card and then onto silver mirri board. (I am a bit obsessed with this at the minute as you will have seen!) The patterened papers are from a pack from Dovecraft and are lush! I had a go at hand writing the name of the fairy 'Iris' and the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment-not sure whether I like it or not...! The only problem with the card now is that it looks like a birthday card for Iris! Lol! Will have to rethink this when I do another one! Finally I finished her off with a bit of organza ribbon! Thanks for looking!xx

A Blog Facelift!

Everyone seemed to be giving their blogs a bit of a facelift so I decided to jump on board and do the same! There were so many gorgeous designs it was really hard to choose but I chose this background as it was pink and girly which describes me all over! What do you think? It is so easy to do-just click on the link in the top left hand corner of the screen and take a look!xx

Sketch Saturday Challenge!

This is my card for the Sketch Saturday challenge this week. It was a great sketch that I definitely will use again! I also enjoyed working with it as it gave me the chance to use my new Elzybell stamps! I love this image-it reminds me of when my friend Becky and I get together and have a good gossip over a cup of hot chocolate usually! However there is one thing missing....a huge slab of chocolate cake! I also used a sentiment I got from Elzybells which goes perfectly with this stamp! I 'borrowed' the papers out of my Mum's craft box as I am still on holiday at hers this week and she thinks they are a pack from Dovecraft. I coloured my image with distress inks and finished off with a bit of doodling around the edge! Thanks for looking!xx

Penny Black Saturday Challenge!

I have been busy catching up with my challenges over the past few days so here is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge! This week it was a great sketch which I really enjoyed working with. I have been making a lot of square cards recently so decided it was time for a change (for this challenge anyway!) and used an A6 card. I used one of the new Christmas Penny Black stamps which I bought recently which are gorgeous! I used Papermania Christmas papers and finished it off with a Penny Black greeting and some flowers! Hope you like it!xx

Cute Card Thursday Challenge!

Here is my entry for Cute Card Thursday challenge this week. The challenge was to create a card with 'two' of something on-two people, two animals, one of each etc. I made this card for my future sister and brother-in-law's first wedding anniversary. I love this Tilda stamp-it is so sweet and reminded me of them greatly! Hehe! I coloured it in with distress inks, mounted it onto some patterned paper and silver bazzil bling cardstock and finished it off with a bit of doodling and a couple of flowers. Thanks for looking!xx

Sweet Sixteen!

Here is my little sister's card that I made her for her 16th birthday! There are quite a few pics so I shall write a bit in between to break it up a little! Lol! It started off as a star card but then I made a big boo boo-I taped the spine together! D'oh! So it became a bit of a mini book! Lol!

I went for a pink and purple theme as some of the presents I had bought her were in the same colour scheme! Lol! I stuck 6 A6 cards together and strengthened them by using silver mirri board for a background! I used the Boys and Girls Crafters Companions CD for the background papers and for the small letters and numbers.

I stamped a few Maggies and Tildas and coloured them in with distress inks. These were images I knew my little sister liked and I can understand why! They are so cute!

I printed some big letters onto pearlescent paper and did a bit of faux stitching around each letter to make them stand out a little!

The card came out ok-not completely happy with it but I ran out of time! Looks a bit bare in places! Lindsay seemed to like it though which is all that matters I suppose!

Think I will use this type of mini book again though-might be nice to create a mini scrapbook or photocards!

Had to have a flower somewhere-here it is! Lol!

This is what it looked like standing up! Not quite a star card but near enough!

Thanks for looking! Hope you liked it-I really enjoyed making it! Not so 'little' sister I suppose now!

Apologies...

Just a quick post to say sorry for the bad photographs on my posts! I am having a few problems with my camera so my pictures are coming out really blurry! I have had a few tips from a few different people-thank you!-and shall be trying to get it sorted asap!xx

Sketch Saturday Challenge!

Here is my entry for Sketch Saturday which was this fab sketch! I bought these stamps a little while ago and have been looking for an opportunity to use them all together and this sketch allowed me to do that! This card is quite busy and my papers started to merge into one so I split the bottom panel up by mounting it onto gold mirri card to give it a bit of clear definition! I coloured them in with distress inks and added some velvet ribbon that I 'borrowed' off my little sister and a sticker that I found in my Christmas craft box! It was a great sketch and I will definitely use it again! Thanks for looking!xx

Penny Black Saturday Challenge!

Here is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which was to use no pink! This was a very hard challenge for me! I love using pink in my cards and a lot of my patterned paper contained pink so it was really hard to choose a colour scheme! I decided on these brown and beige colours as they matched my doggy image! Lol! Had a few problems with my water brush so my image isn't coloured in very well as I had to rescue him a few times! Hope he looks ok and will be ok for my entry for this challenge! Thanks for looking!xx

Funky Fairy's Challenge!

Here is my entry for the Funky Fairy's challenge this week which is 'Celebration.' It can be birthday, wedding, birth, anything really that you can celebrate! I decided to make a birthday card using one of my Funky Fairy stamps and have just finished it off with a penny black sentiment stamp. I have coloured her in with distress inks and just used a variety of patterned paper that I found in my craft box! I love these stamps-they are so sweet. Must purchase a few more I think! Thanks for looking!xx

Tilda & Co Challenge!

The Tilda & Co challenge this week was a great sketch! I used this gorgeous Tilda stamp again but coloured her in with red and pink distress inks this time! I popped some ribbon down the side to finish her off and added four brads in each corner-I may still add a greeting-not sure yet! I think I might make this into a gift card for someone for Christmas-I shall keep you posted! Thanks for looking!xx

Cutie Sunday Challenge!

Here is my entry for the Cutie Sunday Challenge. It was another great sketch and brill to work with once again. I finally got to use my Whipper Snapper teddy stamp which I coloured in with distress inks. I used some patterned paper that I found in my Mum's craft box-as I am at her house at the minute! I finished it off with a few flowers down the side. Thanks for looking.xx