I'm back

Good grief, that was a long 2 weeks without my computer! Anyway, I'm back online now and can share some of the cards that I made during my enforced absence from technology :)

This card I made using a digital stamp that I had already printed and have had in my 'ready to do something with' drawer :)

Lori Boyd digital Lollipop stamp and Crystal Wilkerson papers, Prima flowers, Papertrey twine and a corrugated card star completely inspired by my friend Jane who makes lovely cards :)

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

The dare over at DCM this week is a bit different as there is a sketch and a sponsor!  Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker is the sponsor and I have a goody bag to give to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this post.

This is the card I made using Nikki's products

Hopefully I might get back to blogging regularly soon - my laptop died at the weekend and my school got an Ofsted inspection on Wednesday and Thursday so it's been a stressful few weeks

A Very Special Digi Stamp ...

My lovely friend Lori Boyd, the designer of those Lollipop stamps that I love so much, has designed a very special digital stamp to raise money for a very special little girl. 

She has her story on her blog here and if you would like to purchase this rather gorgeous stamp all you have to do is email Lori  byloridesigns@gmail.com with your paypal address and she will invoice you via paypal, then send your Macie's Rainbow Digi!!

For a donation of $5 you can have her!!

100% of the proceeds will go to Mission 4 Macie

This is the card that Lori made using the Macie's Rainbow digi stamp

I hope that you'll all visit Lori's blog to read about Macie's story and of course buy her digital stamp

A Card Tutorial ...

Today was my turn to post on the Scattered Scarlet blog and I have done a tutorial to make this card.

If you'd like to see how I made it check out the blog here

DCM Challenge ...

The challenge this week over at the DCM challenge blog is to create a card using pearls (June Birthstone) and it certainly was a challenge for me as I'm not really a pearl person - I'm more of a glitter and bling girl :)  Anyway, I was looking through my embellishment draw for anything vaguely pearl-like when I spotted these adhesive Kaisercraft pearls that I'd bought from Jean, then I found some paper doilies and decided to make a flower.  That was really easy - I just scrunched up the doilie a bit and punched a few layers of cream tissue paper with my small scalloped cirlce punch. I joined them together with a pearl brad and scrunched the layers up before covering in several layers of golden Shimmerz Spray

Those pearls - I stuck them all on individually which I found strangely theraputic and I had to add a teeny tiny bit of bling in the form of two strips of sequins down each side of the paper panel. The papers are from a digital kit at Sweet Shoppe Designs and the stamp is from Papertrey Ink

A Birthday Lollipop ...

I used some more of those Delovely papers from Cosmo Cricket for this birthday card and teamed them with this ever so sweet digital Lollipop stamp by Lori Boyd, I adore these stamps and I am so pleased that Lori has started selling them in digital form (although I do have almost the full set in rubber from Stamping Bella too)

An Engagement Card ...

I needed to make an engagement card and I was thinking very classy and elegant but actually when I started I kept being drawn towards the Delovely papers by Cosmo Cricket. I bought the 6x6 paper pad from Jean last week (well I guess it's on loan as I haven't paid you yet Jean!) and there are some of the designs that are just simply gorgeous and I know I'll want to use them again and again. So yesterday I met some dear friends at The Scrapbook Shop for some chatting and shopping (yummy muffins too) and I bought a few of the larger 12x12 sheets in my favourite patterns.

Anyway, I did use the Delovely papers for the engagement card and I really love how it came out.

I used my favourite Nestabilities heart dies (so pleased that I bought those as I've used them so often) and the large scalloped die from Papertrey

With Love ...

I think this is my favourite Huggabugg image and I love to colour her. I seem to have a 'love yellow' thing going on at the moment too, no idea where that has come from but these October Afternoon papers are certainly helping to fuel the yellow phase. I'm using the 8x8 October Afternoon pads that I bought from Jean (she has both the fly a kite and the thrift shop pads)

Sweet Summertime ...

Well last weekend the weather was gorgeous and hot, temperatures hit 29 degrees, summer was on it's way and life was good. What a difference a week can make, I've taken my gloves back out of the cupboard for walking Haggis this week as the temperature has dropped back down to 10 degrees and it's grey, cloudy, wet and windy.

So, I've tried to tempt the weather by making some pretty cards inspired by the colours of summer and all using a new kit by Crystal Wilkerson called {Sweet Summertime} Now Crystal just released the kit in traditional paper form under the Echo Park label but you can also get it in digital form plus a stack of extras and I think Crystal has 25% off her entire store for the day on Monday

A few details - those metal tab clips with the embossed words are Making Memories and were reduced to 99p this week at Hobbycraft and the scalloped edge with the tiny scallops behind it? Two new dies from My Favorite Things, I think they are my favourite way to create pretty edges at the moment and this week they are bringing out some more - can't wait for the new designs :)

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

Cute!

I followed a link and then another and then another (as you do when you are blog hopping and wasting a few hours) and found myself at the blog of the Baby Buds. Their stamps are just so sweet that I had to shop (digital stamps for immediate gratification) and play almost straight away. This is the card I made and it is so cute. I even used real paper from October Afternoon and my new dinamics scalloped dies from My Favorite Things

...and thanks to Mary Anne and Krista my card was featured on their blog today :)

Digital Lollipops ...

Have you heard the news? Lori Boyd's Lollipop stamps are now available in digital versions... whoohooo! ... I loved them in rubber but I love them even more as digi stamps and have used them already to make a couple of cards including this pretty one. I thought she needed a set of fairy wings so added the wings and the star from this SSD digital kit, attached everything with foam dimensional sickers and added a generous amount of glitter too :)

A Different Challenge ...

I'm a regular reader of Lucy's blog and today she posted a challenge that was just perfect for me - to use digital elements on a card. It was made for me and even better was that I just downloaded this rocking digital kit from Sweet Shoppe designs. So I spent a little while this evening fiddling around with bits of paper and prettiness (sorting through my Basic Grey brads and matching them to my Papertrey ribbons) and cutting, sticking and generally enjoying myself and came up with this card - and I LOVE it!

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!