Amigurumi frog

I had a fab book for Christmas about making amigurumi creatures. Now it has been a long, long time since I have done any crochet. ( We're talking childhood here!) so I thought I'd have a go at it and see if I could still do it! Unfortunately my efforts make him seem a little overweight, but he is  perfect for all us new year dieters! We can look at his body and instead of saying " Phwor" we can all say " I must stick to that diet,!!" Well, he'll come in handy for singing "hmn, hmn said the little green frog one day"http://www.singup.org/songbank/song-bank/song-detail/view/150-little-green-frog/ at work and if I make four more I'll be able to use him for five little speckled frogs as well! I also need to get the right sized crochet hook because that should help with his weight loss!! If only New year diets were that flipping easy!!!!

Penny Black new acquisition.

Oh who can resist a new Penny Black stamp? Not me, by all accounts! I just had to have it and it's even better when it's in the sale! I have hardly embellished this one because the stamp is so cute I didn't want to distract the eye from it.

Sweet Crazy Love.

Here's one I made today whilst looking through my Maggie's collection. This little pretty came with the latest stamp club kit. I just love her curly, wild hair!

The light is terrible in this photo...makes everything have a  bit of a greeny tinge! So Sorry about that!

Last Christmas cards of 2011

Hope you've all had a Merry Christmas. Here are my last three Christmas cards of 2011 that I made yesterday. I don't plan on making any more this year, but I just couldn't resist making them before I put my Christmas craft box away and I had printed out these digis before Christmas and I wanted to start the 2012 box off with a couple of cards. It makes me feel like I have something to work with! I am entering these for Di's digi download challenge blog as these little beauties are all her digi downloads and their last challenge of this year is Christmas, so it's the perfect excuse! My lovely images have of course been prisma coloured!

I am sorry if you are sick of my Christmas cards, but I promise that I think I am done now and I plan to put this all away today!  ........BUT never say NEVER!!!!!!

freebie My minds eye papers

I haven't used these little freebie jobs from Cardmaking and Parecraft magazine until now and I have to say that I love, love, love them! The little robins go perfectly with this cute lili of the valley image. This image has been prisma coloured , but was in my " first aid" box. The snowflake charms are really sweet and I got those on eBay. The glittery strips came form somewhere, but I can't remember where and I have almost used all of these up. I quite like this card, so will struggle to give it to somebodyelse!! Oh aren't I mean?!!!

A Big Purple hug

Promarkers again? Well, yes but sadly this is another "first aid" one, salvaged from my pre-coloured box and quickly put together with scraps of this and that and a sentiment from the box. Countdown to finishing those pesky cards is almost there and I'm on the home stretch!

Sledging first aid!

This one was promarkered! Have I fallen back in love with promarkers I hear you cry? Err no actually! This one was coloured last Christmas before my broken right wrist and was put in my emergency coloured images box; for those times when you start panicking because you still haven't made quite enough Christmas cards and you are in fact getting sick at the sight of them! Oh, do you not have one of those then? Hmnn I have almost depleted the stock of mine...things are getting desperate and I'm not going to let this happen next year! Once this batch is finished, (and I am getting there.....)I'm going to start colouring in new stuff to make up for next year's box of pretties " first aid" . Button is made from my sizzix scraps, emergency first aid box. Papers are nitwits ones! I am out of the office this weekend and away from my work desk. I have a big family get together for my little brother's 40th, his partner's 40th and their son's 1st. Might need the first aid box again.....but more likely to be in search of headache pills than coloured images!!

Domestic Goddess

Awh isn't she a sweetie? This could almost be a photograph of me in the kitchen....NOT!! She's far too clean and tidy, unlike myself!

Pretty Roses

Here's one I pre-coloured earlier! It's been sat in my pre-coloured box for ages and so this was quick to run up! Papers are trimcraft ones I think and they are all glittery and sparkly! Die cuts are magnolia ones and look, a button form my box....shock horror.....espcially as this is one of my favourites because it's spotty!

Easel nice shepherd!

Another unfussy card today! Time is running out for Christmas card making and I need to make lots more!!

Holly Wreath Tilda

Isn't she a cutie? I just love that little wreath she is holding. I have opted for plain and simple on this one, one backing paper which is glittery, one tag, one ribbon and a piece of pretty lace. Simples!

Christmas skater.

This was me being very " over embellished" I got out a whole heap of craft stuff and just played, played, played! The background stamp is by Alota and I masked Tilda before stamping the background. I used a Martha Stewart icicle punch for the bottom and the ribbon was cheap stuff from the works, which actually was very high quality! There was also plenty of it. I punched the leaves and used lots of glitter and sparkle and flowers from Wild Orchid crafts. The button was prised out of my button box...with great difficulty! For those who know me they know how particular I am about my button box!!

Blue, chilly Christmas.

Shiver and shake, it's a cold Christmas! Well these two little fellows certainly think so! Love their little hats and these were a joy to colour. Thanks to Lauren who sold them last year with the proceeds going to Clare for the breast cancer appeal.

Nephew's Christmas card

Here is my Christmas card for me little nephew. I saw this wooden stamp on EBay and got it for 99p plus postage. A veritable bargain I say! It's not an overely fussy card, but perfect for a very cute little boy who happens to be a bit poorly at the moment and will be turning one on December 12th! xx

Nephew's first birthday.

My brother's little boy is going to be one next month and I can't believe how quickly he has grown into this little active boy who loves coming to see his auntie and sorting through her DVD collection! I am glad he has impeccable taste as he sorted out the classics ( costume dramas) and posted the rest under the cabinet! His little face lights up when he sees me and he gives me the most gorgeous little smile. You can't help but melt...anyway this doting auntie has made this little card for his birthday and bought him some books and some new dungarees and a top for the impending birthday. The stamps are from the cute companions range form Crafter's Companion.

Buggy 40 card!

My sister-in-law celebrates her 40th birthday in the same week as my bro, so I have been busy making her this buggy card. She is a hairdresser, so I think this card will suit her perfectly!

CMLI craftbubble challenge.

I set the challenge this morning over on the CMLI group on Craftbubble. My challenge was to be inspired by this poem and use blue and white.


Cute Christmas Poem

I made myself a snowball,
as perfect as can be

I thought I'd keep it as a pet,
and let it sleep with me

I made it some pajamas,
and a pillow for its head

then last night it ran away,
but first it wet the bed!!!

Fall challenge on Di's digi download blog.

I think I'm on a bit of a roll here with my crafting , all these cards, but hardly any Christmas ones! I'm going to be so behind!  I couldn't resist buying this little chap though from Di's digi downloads in order to enter this fortnight's challenge over at Di's digi challengeblog. I loved colouring him in and I used the dovecraft sugar and spice papers for the fall colours. The cute heart buttons I bought on Ebay and they really are delish in real life! The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the ribbon is from my stash. I have to say that I so totally adore Di's digis, they are so well drawn and the detail on this one is amazing. If you aren't a digi fan I see Di also sells some polymer stamps as well! Tempted?!!

Little female footie fan.

My offering today is for my Niece who plays football for the girl's county team. She gets mentioned quite frequently in the local newspaper and is doing really well. Her birthday is coming up very soon and these stamps are from the Magnolia winner takes  all collection. Papers are from nitwits  and colouring is of course prismas!

Lady luck!

Well what a day I have had in the luck stakes! I won Di's digi challenge with my pink card, then I won her blog candy, then I logged into my lottery account and found I'd won a tenner! So to celebrate I made this cute Edwin card with a lovely stamp I won on EBay from a lovely lady called Diane, who has lost loads of her stamps to me!! Poor lovely lady, I bet she's crying now as she's packaging up her little beauties!  Well Diane, if you're reading this hope you won't mind that I slapped your Edwin in an inky pad, coloured him in in my choice of coloured clothing and sewed some pretty papers ( freebies from cardmaking and papercraft) and stuck him on top! He didn't complain much and I think he likes his new adopted Mummy!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Karen set the challenge this week over on the Craftbubble CMLI group. Our challenge this week was to make a card depicting a Christmas Carol/song. I have gone with Santa Claus is coming to town and raiding my ever growing collection of Magnolias I came across this little lovely. Hope you likey!

My card for a fellow Craftbubble friend.

I struggled to part with this card because being a Tilda I loved it, but fortunately it went to a very lovely person, so that made me feel better! This Tilda is bubbling Tilda. I think I should start another blog just for my Tilda addiction alone!! Har har!

Totally Tilda challenge.

Well I confess to owning quite a large Tilda collection which will be getting bigger thanks to a lovely lady called Diane who sold me a couple more to feed my addiction! Oops! So I just happened to swing by Susie's totally Tilda challenge blog and my oh my, those entries there are amazing and mine certainly doesn't come into that league, but nothing ventured, nothing gained! So this little cutie is going to be entered into the challenge at Totally Tilda because I need to give them something to smile at! I tried very hard to capture the light of the candle but it was harder than I thought and I need to go back to the colouring board methinks! Well 'Tis the season to be merry and I can certainly drink to that! Papers incidentally are Pink Petticoat printed on linen card! Pretty aren't they?!!

Last minute, That's me!

Well this week's Pollycraft challenge had a sketch to follow. Feeling in a "bearly there" kind of mood I have gone with this little chap. Papers are downloaded from Nitwits and no prizes for guessing my colouring medium choice, which must be boring you now! I have definitely quit promarkers for the forseeable future and it may be some time before I feel the love for them again! It's prismas all the way for me now! Just can't get enough of them! Did I say, I was in love with my prismas? Ok, ok! the promarker groups are at my door.....gotta go!

Di's digi downloads.

Well, here in all it's glory is a second fabulous digi from Di's digi downloads. Isn't this one a darlin? The challenge over at Di's  Digi challenge is ribbon and bows and so I'm going to enter this one there. My papers are Pink petticoat and the die cut is a cuttlebug one, which I had been after for years and finally managed to acquire on EBay this week, so I'm really happy about that :) Hope you like my little  card and if you are thinking about buying any of Di's digis, then do, I highly recommend them  because they are so sweet and beautifully drawn.

Di's digi downloads.

I was fortunate enough to win some downloads the other week for my entry into the House mouse challenges. I won three digis from Dis digi downloads. They are all so very sweet. I chose this one and two others. I thought this little fellow would be perfect for my brother's 40th birthday in December.

New Craftbubble challenge.

This week's Craftbubble challenge has been set by the ever lovely Lauren! This week she provided us with a fab sketch and a theme of warm and cosy. Here's my little effort, with a warm and cosy Tilda singing her heart out tokeep warm!

Pollycraft Christmas

I have quite a few digistamps and really don't use them very much as I prefer to stamp my images these days, but looking through my digi collections I found this very cute Pollycraft image and so I printed out some pink petticoat papers on linen card ( which I have discovered adds an extra special touch to these papers and I love it!) and had some fun with some glitter and glossy accents and a very sweet sentiment stamp that came in my Magnolia stamp kit. I am entering this one in the new Pollycraft challenge, which is anything goes.

Spooky goings on!

I am just about going to make the Pollycraft challenge deadline with my spooky card! Pollycraft have all their Halloween digis at half price at the moment. I'm not really fussed about Halloween, but I thought that this ittle image might just do for other wizarding cards and at 49p it didn't break the bank. Hmn, I'd forgotten how fab digis are. The papers are from my Pink Petticoat collection.

Louise's Christmas recipe challenge.

Louise set us the Christmas recipe challenge over on the CMLI grroup on Craftbubble this week. She wanted us to use some kraft card, a Christmas story image or sentiment, a knot, flourish and a brightly shining star. I dug out my Christmas Elzybells stamps and a sentiment and I found this brad star that shouted " USE ME" to me! I had to cheat a bit with the kraft card and had to print it from a Pink Petticoat selection! Hope I get away with this!!

Morning all!

This week's challenge on the craftbubble group CMLI is about dusting off and inking up an old stamp! Here's mine using the free papers that came with Quick cards this month.

Let them eat cake.

Today's offering is a Penny Black image that I adore! Love these little mice! I'm having a bit of a run on using Penny Black images as I love them so much! No prizes for guessing my colouring medium of choice! I can't seem to get enough of these either! Ho hum!

Passionately Pink

I thought I'd try a bit of pink today for a Christmas card, with a nice bit of chocolatey brown and gold.. This stamp was a recent bargain acquisition from EBay and it hadn't been used! How pleased was I? My image has been coloured with prisma pencils ( of course) and the papers were a Christmas present form hubby several years ago! Snowflakes are Martha Stewart's! Ok they are mine really, but I couldn't have done it without her!!

Penny Black Hedgie

Now I confess to owning quite a few Penny Black stamps. Well they are seriously gorgeous! Here's a christmas card to add to the growing collection!

CMLI challenge

This week's CMLI challenge has been posted on the CMLI group and it's blue Christmas. Blue is one of my fave colours for Christmas cards and I know it's somebodyelse's favourite too! This week I have been playing with my new Magnolia stamp kit that arrived not so long ago. My image has been coloured with prismas and the papers are old ones form my stash that I don't wnat to use up as I love them so much, but unfortunately as I love them so much they are depleting rapidly! Ho hum!

Card for Emma.

My friend Emma is having a birthday very soon. I chose  a nice simple card that's not too fussy and a gorgoeus Penny Black image which I have coloured up with prismas. I bet you are fed up of me using these!! The sentiment is a pink petticoat one and the papers were free with a pad on a magazine. Papercraft essentials I think it was, but don't quote me on it!

Simon says stamp challenge.

Here's my entry for the Simon says stamp challenge. I have used another gorgeous house mouse image which has been coloured wth prismas...( of course) The challenge is for sparkle and bling. The photo has washed out the sparkle and bling a little, but I promise you that it is there!! The flowers have been stickled and the bling is placed around the sentiment and in the corners! Thanks for the heads up on this challenge on the comments on my last sparkly card! xx

Penny Black moment.

It's my niece's birthday and she completely adores hedgehogs. I just love this Penny Black hedgehog. It's so cute! My image has been coloured with prismas and the backing papers are Christmas ones!

House Mouse challenge.

This week's house mouse challenge on the house mouse challenge blog is Christmas sparkle. I had great fun making the sparkly flowers on this one. I am also entering it for the lothian crafts challenge of "anything goes". Image has been prisma penciled and the flowers were made using nellie snellen punches covered in glamous dust which I just love!

Lili of the Valley challenge.

This week's Lili of the Valley challenge is " Let it snow". I just love this very cute snowy scene with the snow on the postbox looking so precarious!

New Craftbubble CMLI challenge

The lovely Lauren set the challenge this week on the CMLI group. She posted this sketch for us to play with. Here's my interpretation using this pretty Tilda.

Christmas Penny Black

I am still in love with my prisma pencils, you may have guessed! I have made this one for my festive recipe on the CMLI group which you can find on Craftbubble. Do pop over and take a peek!

Craftbubble CMLI challenge.

It seems like for ever since I last posted on here...oh it is! I have been so busy, that my card making has been somewhat neglected! This week I set the challenge on the CMLI group. I found this fab photo and have decided to use it as my starting point for inspiration.

It's such a fabulous Autumnal photo. I love the colours and textures, the shades of brown and touches of green, plus that gorgeous shiny conker!

Here's my take on it. I have used a gorgeous house mouse image and coloured it with prisma pencils. For me the only thing to colour house mouse images with!

A RECIPE!

Here is a recipe for Christmouse Pie! Take one Christmas mouse, add traditional colours and a sprinkling of glitter, all coloured with a medium of your choice! Here's what I came up with!  I did some real digging around of my older stamps to find these little cuties from the Cute companions range form Crafter's Companion. I coloured these with promarkers and stamped the branch with promarkers. Make sure you get the PMs off of the stamp quickly though as they do stain! The glitter is stickles and it's still a bit wet, so the photo doesn't do it justice! Anyway, a glass of Baileys and I'm dreaming of a white Christmas certainly set the scene for me and my pile of Christmas cards is beginning to grow slowly!

Three of a kind Sunday Challenge.

The DT have taken a bit of a break from the Craft Mad and loving it group over on Craftbubble, but this week we're back and we kicked off with two fab challenges from our lovely Guest designer, Clare.. Today's challenge is three of a kind and here's mine using the new clear stamps from DoCrafts. the little bears have been decoupaged and coloured with prisma pencils.

Another Magnolia stamp kit

Hi, another Thursday and this time I have used the fabulous Christmas 2010 kit. The great thing about these stamps are that they don't just shout Christmas. They can be used all year. This image has been pulled out of my drawer and hence coloured with promarkers. The papers were form Crafts too and the ribbon and stuff was from my stash.