Finally - a card ...

Good grief, considering that I am on holiday there is a lack of craftyness going on in this house but here I am with a card to share, I might even share two!

My first card us made with my new favourite Nitwit kit, From The Sea and is for the current Papertake Weekly challenge - to use dies. Last week I spent ages sorting out all of my nestabilities and other dies, some I had forgotten about and some that had ended up in the wrong drawer but now they are all neat, tidy and organised.  On this card I used MFT and Papertrey border dies

My second card was made for The Ribbon Girl using the new super sparkly and gorgeous glitter organza as well as a Lori Boyd digi stamp and a few other Ribbon Girl goodies

It's Tuesday so it's Papertake day again and this week the challenge is to play 3-in-a-row from the gameboard Dawny had created. I chose to play on the diagnol and picked lace, ribbon and a free square which I turned into charm.  All my papery stuff came from a gorgeous Nitwit Collections kit called Thimbles n' Threads. I love all things Nitwit and have done for a long time, Mary Fran is so creative and always comes up with ideas that are just perfect for cards and hybrid papercrafts

The silk ribbon, pompom trim, cluny lace, pin and charm all came from Ribbon Girl

Birthday Balloons ...

I made this card using the newest digital kit over at Nitwit Collections. It's a circus themed kit but is just perfect for birthdays and the papers are simply gorgeous, suitable for any occasion.

(digital kit from Nitwit, ribbon and twine from Ribbon Girl, stamp from Papertrey)

Little Ballerina Card ...

Have you seen the latest Nitwit Collections digital kit? Mary Fran released this at just the right time as I needed to make a card for a special 'soon to be 5' little friend of mine - a soon to be 5 little friend who loves pink and sparklyness :)

Not only is the kit totally perfect for making any girly papercrafts but there is additional papers, little bits and even ballerina digital stamps

So, I used one of the digital stamps coloured with Copics and paper pieced with paper from the kit, together with a large star element and some papers from the additional paper kit and letters to spell out my little friends name

And of course I just had to try this gorgeous ribbon that is new into the Ribbon Girl shop together with lots and lots - and lots! of Stardust Stickles glitteryness. It's always difficult to photograph sparkleyness (especially on a dark and wet February day) but you can see how sparkly her ballet slippers are in the next photograph

My 2011 Calendar (tutorial) ...

Hi, today I want to share my gorgeous 2011 calendar that I made - with the help of Nitwit Collections!

I used the digital calendar kit that Mary Fran designed here and supplemented it with a few pieces of patterned paper and some white cardstock. I don't know about you but we tend to use our calendars as mini filing cabinets :lol: Tickets to concerts get clipped to the appropriate month page, hospital appointment letters get paper clipped to the back etc. So really we need more than just a calendar, we need somewhere to  keep all those important pieces of paper safe too. I have adapted Mary Fran's calendar slightly to incorporate some cardstock pockets on the reverse of each month to store the documents and tickets.

Download the calendar kit, unzip and print out each month - I printed at 90% so that they would fit on an A4 piece of paper - then I cut them all out

 I used a sheet of A4 cardstock for each page of the calendar and scored about 4 inches from the bottom

When I folded it over it created a pocket (well at least the beginnings of a pocket) and I made the fold nice and crisp by using a bone folder to smooth along the edge

I glued my pages to the cardstock and then trimmed down one edge leaving a narrow border all around

I glued down each side of the flap and then folded it back over to secure the pocket

This is where I added some extra pieces of patterned paper to make the pockets look a little prettier (even though they won't be seen as they are on the back of each page, but pretty is good!)

I repeated the process of gluing, trimming and sticking for each calendar month

the fronts:

the backs:

To join the calendar pages together I used my Bind-It-All (but you could use bookrings and punched holes or even tie pretty ribbons through the holes)

From start to finish the calendar took less than 2 hours and it is so pretty, the pockets on the back just make it even more useful - we won't lose those important pieces of paper now!

Winter ...

Over at The Pink Elephant blog we have a team challenge to create a Winter themed project. For my project I created this cute snowman shaped card

The snowman is from the Nitwitville digital kit from Nitwit Collections and the sentiment stamp is from Lili Of The Valley

Sunday Sketch

There is a new Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge at Karen's blog today, fab sketch and this is my take on it.

My card is for a lovely friend who had a baby girl last week, I couldn't fit the First Christmas sentiment onto the front of the card - I just *had* to use that gorgeous rose pink silk ribbon as soon as it was delivered this morning - so the sentiment is inside

The gorgeous papers and the fairy are from this new Nitwit Collections digital kit and that beautiful silk ribbon is from the Ribbon Girl. Lots of scallops, stickles and layers to finish it all off :)

Sending You Truckloads of Love ...

This little truck is so sweet :) and I love my new extra large Nestabilities dies too :)

From the Nitwitville digital kit by Nitwit Collections

More Cards, More Challenges ...

Well I went back to school today after a week of snow closures, I have some time to make up from when I didn't get in last week but I when I looked at the box of cards that I created during those snowy days I was really pleased. The snow where I live is mostly still here but it has also been joined by its friend thick ice and it is so cold that I can imagine it will be here for several weeks yet. Anyway, onto the cards that I wanted to share.

This first card is for the current Just Magnolia challenge, to add sparkle. Well sparkle should really be my middle name and I used my favourite stardust Stickles on all the edges as well as pretty Doodlebug glitter on the chipboard star. The little Magnolia was stamped with Jane's stamp when we got together for a crafty weekend with some friends. The red and white Divine Twine bakers twine, gingham ribbon and teeny tiny silver bells are all from Ribbon Girl and the papers are from this Nitwit digital kit

My second card for today is my entry into the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge, I loved the sketch and decided to use a little giftcard pocket on the front of the card so that it becomes a giving card.

The papers are from this Sweet Shoppe digital kit and the silk ribbon, Stickles, pink Divine Twine bakers twine and more of those teeny tiny bells are from Ribbon Girl

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow ...

I think we've had our years ration of snow during the last few days. I can't remember ever having this much snow in November! We've got about 8 inches of the chilly white stuff sitting in our garden and the weather forecast is for a lot more through the night and tomorrow

So, what's a girl to do when she is snowed in? Spend the day in her pyjamas making cards of course :)

I've had a lovely day watching the snow from the window of my den whilst making cards with a new Nitwit Collections digital kit and ribbons and twine from The Ribbon Girl

Between the blizzards the sun came out and I kept dashing in and out to take quick photographs, I'm a pro at welly boot removal now! :lol:

End Of A Holiday ...

It's the last day of my half term holiday today, back to school tomorrow for seven weeks of fun as we zoom along to Christmas. I've been getting into the Christmas spirit myself this weekend and have made several Christmas cards including this one which is my entry for the Charisma Cardz challenge and I used the brand new Nitwit digital kit, Mooey Christmas that I love

The challenge is to create a matching set and I have made a card with it's own box

I added a bubbly bow using the wide satin ribbon and a heart pin from the Ribbon Girl and a truckload of Stickles just because you can never have too much glitter :)

WaltzingMouse Sketch Challenge

This is my second post of the day, scroll down for my earlier post about a new challenge at The Ribbon Girl blog.

The sketch at Waltzingmouse this week is lovely and simple and inspired me to use this fab digital kit from Nitwit Collections. I printed out several small pieces of paper, cut into squares, inked and then glittered all the edges before adhering them to a black cardblank to make the colours really pop.

The ribbon is new from the Ribbon Girl, gorgeous saddlestitch ribbon which is exactly the same as some that I have been buying from a US rubber stamp company - I am such a happy bunny about that!

Nitwit Collections ...

Another catch up post, this time with some Nitwit cards

(In The Woods)

(In The Woods)

(Great Expectations)

(Great Expectations)

Life Without A Computer ...

... is very quiet!  But hopefully mine will be fully repaired and back with me this weekend and I shall be back to crafting, blogging and chatting to my friends who live in my computer!

Anyway, I've jumped onto my Dad's computer to quickly post my card for this weeks DCM challenge as well as to say that my little Westie pup Haggis helped me pick a number for last weeks draw - he plonked all 4 paws onto my tummy as I lay on the sofa watching television earlier squishing all the air in my lungs and then proceeded to pin  me down whilst he gave my face a good wash with his licks!  So I had to pick comment number 4 which was left by Effie (I shall be in touch with your prize)

The challenge this week is to make a card that is inspired by snow and ice. Think snow sports, snowy mountains, icy colours, icy emotions etc.  Here is my card

Those little frosty birdies are from a Nitwit kit and I used Diamond Dust Twinklets glitter from The Hobby House to make my branches super frosty

Dare You ...

Yesterday (yes I know I'm a day late) was a new dare at the Daring Cardmakers blog and this time it was Lythan who set the challenge which is to make an Anniversary card.  I used a couple of elements from a digi kit to create my 'perfect pear' anniversary card and added some more of those gorgeous Dewdrops that I love so much that Jean sells

I Dare You ...

Goodness, a whole week since my last blog post but I do have a good reason - a very nasty throat infection that came out of nowhere last weekend. I've been completely floored by it all week and just starting to feel better yesterday and today. I've done hardly any colouring or cardmaking and haven't been in work all week either so it's a bit of a miracle that I have a card for this weeks Daring Cardmakers Challenge let alone two!!

This weeks challenge is all about cards for boys and I've used stamping and my lovely Copics on both of these.  My first card uses a sweet little Hanglar boy riding a bike and papers from the Happy Go Lucky digital kit at Sweet Shoppe Designs and the second features a Lollipop stamp in digital form from Lori Boyd together with papers from the Away We Go digital kit from Nitwit Collections.  I have two cards for this weeks challenge because I couldn't decide which one to use :)

I'm hoping to continue to feel better during this weekend and get over this throat infection so I can get back to work, get back to cardmaking and get out of this house!

Pretty Pink ...

I fell in love with this lovely pink patterned paper from Nitwit Collections, it's really pretty and I just had to use it to make a card. I've left it without a sentiment because to be honest I didn't have a reason for making a pink card so thought if I left it blank I can just quickly add a sentiment when I need it.

The Sun Is Shining ...

Hopefully this might be the start of Spring, keeping my fingers crossed because I bought some pretty new clothes at the weekend and they definitley look their best in the sunshine instead of hidden under several layers of sweatshirt, scarf and padded jacket!

I have made some sunshiney/spring inspired cards the other week using the Spring Breeze digital kit from Nitwit Collections. I love the colours and I do have a soft spot for ladybrids :)

I used some gorgeous black glitter on the spots of the big ladybird shaped card which you can't see very well in the photograph but it lookds very sparkly in real life and those little polka dot buttons are a recent purchase from Paper and String