Creative Cottage Challenge Blog Week 2 - Flowers

Happy Wednesday morning, Wednesday again, can you believe that? where did Monday and Tuesday go? It was a gorgeous spring day yesterday, with lovely sunshine and no need to wear a coat! unfortunately today hasn't started off so well, its much cooler, and as yet the sun has yet to make an appearance.

I have to do the grocery shopping this morning, lucky me - NOT!!! why does everyone eat so much??? Might have to treat myself to some nice cream cakes, to lift my otherwise low mood. Comforting eating isn't good for you - but it tastes nice!!!

I can not believe we are half way through March already, and i have lost my urge to get ahead with my christmas cards, i must find some inspiration somewhere, please help!!! otherwise i can see it being another mad dash in December, with me having to buy some ready made brought cards - gasp, horror!!!

Right im rambling, onto business,

Its week 2 at the Creative Cottage Challenge Blog, we are thrilled with the response that we have had so far to our new challenge. Becky has done a marvelous job at getting this blog up and running and we hope to see you join in with us each week. As you know you do not have to use the Creative Cottage products, but of course it would be a bonus if you do!

I have used one of my favourite Creative Cottage Kits called Bags of Style. Available to buy here.

These papers are just great, in tones of pink and black! my favourite combination.
I have made this card for my friend Sally's birthday which was yesterday. She loves bags and shoes, this card has a bit of a twist!

As you know i love these easel cards, who doesn't?


If you life the handle of the bag, you pull out another small bag/purse.

The first bag has been put on 3d pads to give dimension and to take the additional bag/purse!

This purse opens and has been embossed with my cuttlebug embossing folder to make it look like leather!


And although i havn't shown it here, ive added a Marks and spencers voucher inside.




I hope you like my card this week, and will join us with week 2 at our challenge blog.

I look forward to visiting you and seeing what you come up with this week, enjoy your week, hugs Linda x

Creative Card Crew Challenge #46 - Going Dotty

Good morning its week 46 at the Creative Card Crew Challenge, and this week our challenge is called "Going Dotty" interpret this however you wish.

We would love to thank everyone who joined in with our birthday celebrations last time, we had a ball looking at your creations.

Also a big thank you to everyone who entered my blog candy. I am sorry you can't all be winners, but my daughter chose My BLOG CANDY WINNER therefore is Bev from Bev's Creative Crafty Moments. Please can you contact me via my email littlepopits@aol.com so i can get your prize out for you. Thank you. If i do not hear from Bev by Saturday then i will draw another name.

Onto another fabulous challenge this week for which I have used one of these dragon image which i think is High hopes, but may stand to be corrected! Have used some MME papers i believe, and used my prisma colour pencils to colour the image and distress inks round the image.

Well its tuesday and i have to get ready for walking rocky bear and the school run. Its my friend Sally's birthday today so we are having a light lunch out. Im sure it will do me good when i get there, but as i feel at the moment i would much rather stay tucked up indoors and asleep! im so tired, and this awful low mood has returned, although maybe it never really went. Finding it very hard at the moment to stay motivated, but hey ho, on with the day!

Hugs for now Linda x

Week 58 JCBC Challenge - Karins Sketch

Happy Monday morning to you all. I hope you had a lovely Mothering sunday yesterday for all my UK visitors. I have to say we had a nice relaxing day, we were going out for lunch but could not get in. So hubby cooked a roast lunch for me and my mum and the children of course, it was lovely. Had lots of nice cards and presents and feel totally spoilt, unfortunately no crafting goodies - sob! sob!

I didn't get much crafing done over the weekend, ran out fo time. Have a couple of DT cards to get done today so after ive done the morning school run will be getting my thinking cap on.

I have already walked Rocky bear this morning, Jasmine came with me we were out the door by 6.45am this morning, i think Bear thinks its his birthday!

Right must be getting ready for the school run, so down to business.

Week 58 - JCBC Challenge - Karins Sketch

Can not believe its week 58 at the Just Christmas and Birthday Card Challenge, thank you for all of you who are supporting us. I hope you are all getting ahead with your christmas cards this year. I am still behind, so thought i would use this sketch to get myself a head a bit. Unfortunately i ran out of time, so i only managed to get one card done, but will be back later with some christmas samples using Karins fabulous sketch.

Using the wonderful birdie image from Sally-Anns digi-stamp boutique store.
Go take a look for yourself there is sure to be something you will fall in love with. Again papers are from the DCWV Latte stack which i just adore!

Right, must dash, hopefully back later with my christmas cards, have a fabulous day , hope the sun is shining where you are.

Hugs Linda x

An award thank you

Good morning ladies. I want to say a couple of thank you's this morning, firstly to Helen, who gave me this lovely award. Thank you hunny it means alot. Things are still hard at the moment but having such good friends really does help!

Secondly thank you to Katrina, who sent me a surpise RAK yesterday totally unexpected and much appreciated, it really did bring a smile to my face. Thank you.

I will be back later with the CCC challenge for this week, enjoy your day hugs Linda x

Cards for Men Challenge 5 - Paper Piecing

I dont know about you but i always struggle with cards for men. I love the Cards For Men challenge Blog for this reason. This week they have a fabulous challenge - Paper Piecing! and you have the chance to win some of the fabulous downloads bythe Digital Boutique.

At the moment i am loving the digi downloads by the talented Sally-Ann. Anyone who has been to my blog recently will know how much i am loving these designs. Go check them out for yourself here. I love this image, great for that special little boy in your life!

This is such a fun image from Sally-Ann, and i have paper pieced the rocket. Hope you like the layering and the easel style card.

I have filled in the helmet with glossy accents to give the appearance of the glass. Double click the image so see this more clearly.

Decorating the inside of my card with my Martha Stewart zig-zag punch and stars cut from my nestabilities.

Another Easel Card - and Sally Anns download

I've absolutely fallen in love with this owl image. I have paper pieced the owls body and then coloured the rest of the design with my pro markers.

What an adorable face! i have glossy accented his cute little nose and the hearts.

Again the inside decorated with the heart nestability die cuts and some ribbons from my stash.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog again, i always appreciate the kind comments you leave me. They mean so much.

Hugs Linda x

Happy Friday and some Cards

Happy Morning to you all. Thought i would share with you a few cards ive been putting together this week , not for any challenge, but to use up some of my oddments of papers and some odd images! I am trying to clear the decks (so to speak) to make way for all my crafty others day gifts! Lol - wishful thinking!!!!! my hubby and children refuse to buy me any crafting goodies this year as they say i have too much already - now im sure you will all agree this is an impossibility!!!!! I am however waiting delivery of a new Carl cutter, as my beloved cutter of 4 years has started to cut out of line, making it impossible to get even matting!

Hope the rest of you will be lucky enough to get some nice new crafting stash, there is certainly enough out there to be tempting the tastebuds. I see that the lovely Kimmie stamps have some new releases later this month, and that Lili of the Valley, are not leaving us alone, with yet more gorgeous releases in mid-April.

I have also been buying some more of the gorgeous Sally-Ann downloads from Digi-stamp Boutique. I will be back later with some cards made with these beauties!

Well enough rambling for me, and onto the cards.

Firstly, i have no idea where this image came from, but its the last one i have, and if anyone can enlighten me i would be thrilled, as i would love some more of these adorable bears!!!

Papers from a Dena closset Colorbook stack, i hated cutting into it, but now am almost finished with the pad, what gorgeous papers, and delicate colours!

Absolutely adoring these easel cards still, and have seen some variations to try at the weekend!

A quick card using up some of the remaining Lili of the Valley die cut images i have, simple card, but im loving simple at the moment!

Finally using up one of those gorgeous Sally-Ann downloads that i have had printed off. I just adore her style, what a very talented lady she is. Please go check out her boutique, if you havn't already done so. Loving this DCWV pad, this is the last of the 8 x 8 pad i had, but still have a smaller stack to use up!

I have more cards to show you later, hope i havn't bored you from coming aback.

Have a wonderful day, big hugs Linda x

Scrap Pile Saturday Challenge 2/Sketch Saturday and Lili of the Valley Challenge

Happy Thursday morning, where did Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday go???? Hope you have had a lovely week so far. I am scheduling this card as i intend to be doing my grocery shopping first thing in the morning (if i can face it!). I must make my apologies for not being visiting your lovely blogs as much as i should do. I am struggling with motivating myself at the moment and finding that extra time! As many of you know i have had lots of ongoing personal problems for some time now. Last night we had for the first time some promising news, so i am keeping my fingers crossed that things are finally turning round for us. I am almost too frightened to allow myself to heave a sign of relief, but here's hoping! I know many of you have also been having a hard time of it recently, and i hope things are on the turn for you too.

Spring is on the horizon and i believe we can all do with a ray of sunshine! those bright long days can truly lift your spirits, roll on Spring!

As my motivation and MOJO is not residing with me at present i ave been looking for inspiration from some of the wonderful sketch challenges. Hope you like what ive done.

Enjoy your day and here goes.

Sketch Saturday

and

Lili of the Valley Challenge 40 - An easel card

Can you believe its mothers day on sunday? where has the time gone this year? I have combined this mothers day card for my Mother-in-law with two fabulous challenges. Loving these fairy images by Lili of the Valley and decided to give it a vintage look.

Coloured in with my pro-markers. The papers are from a colorbook range called "Dena's Closset" just love the colours. Lilac is my MIL's favourite colour! Love flat back pearls and my stickles as you can tell!

Scrap Pile Saturday No 2

Loving the Scrap Pile Challenge by Maria, it makes me use up those scraps of paper ive been sitting on! Also using one of the fabulous Sally-Ann downloads that i've had printed off for some time. Have a blue image too that will be making up tomorrow for another challenge.

I have glossy accented the leaves and printed the sentiment. More pearls and fabulous double satin ribbon. Papers are some scraps from one of my favourite DCWV stacks!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and i will hopefully be back with more challenge cards! Have a lovely day , big hugs to you all. Linda x

Creative Cottage Challenge Blog Week 1 - NEW

It's the launch of the Creative Cottage Challenge Blog, we hope you will all join us this week. The challenge for you this week is to use something new. That means to use anything you have new in your stash. It is not necessary to use downloads from the Creative Cottage, but it would be lovely if you could. There are some lovely free downloads available here. Or to browse the Creative Cottage shop for other downloads look here.

This week we have this fabulous prize up for grabs the lovely Bags of Style download. You will adore the papers in here.

I decided to use some of the new papers from the soon to be released downloads Little Monkeys Pirate Adventure. The images are perfect for little boy cards and fabulous matching papers to go with them. I have used only ribbon and card from my own stash, everythng else is donloadable from the kit! Back with more samples from this fabulous kit shortly.

I am really loving the easel cards at the moment and can't resist using this style for just about anything i can!

HOME SWEET HOME

I also made these cards using the fabulous Creative Cottage Download kit called Home Sweet Home, and is available here to buy for the bargain price of £1.99

Another easel card, using the birds to hold it up. These papers are just gorgeous, i love the pink and brown combination, so these are right up my street.





The flowers on this card have been printed from the kit , cut out and glossy accented. Have only used my martha stewart leaf punch additional to the kit, and a couple of pearl flat back gems.



Have actually used a punch for these flowers and leaves, and added diamantes on the top right hand tree. The sentiment is in the kit.




Ribbon from my stash.



Again flower has been printed and cut out, the only addition not included in the kit is the ribbon and gems.



I hope you will enjoy our new challenge blog and we look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful creations.

Have a happy day hugs Linda x

Week 92 at Friday Sketchers

FRIDAY SKETCHERS WK 92

It is week 92 at Friday Sketcher and what a fabulous sketch this week too. Here is my attempt. Its my nephews birthday Wednesday so decided to make this for him. I love this greeting farm image, fabulous for the boys in your life!

Happy Monday to you all, where did that weekend go? i have no idea, im sure i must have slept through it or something! Can't believe we are back to Monday morning again. I had not done much crafting over the weekend, just a DT card ready for Wednesday. But this morning i had to get my skates on as its my nephews Birthday wednesday and i hadn't yet made a card. As he is a little special to me, i didn't feel i could use a card already in my stash, so the decided to use the friday sketchers sketch to inspire me. The papers are from Making Memories, i just adore them.

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend, with some lovely weather, i hope spring has finally arrived. Its lovely and bright here albeit still very cold. But no rain, and im grateful just for that.

I an really struggling to motivate myself at the moment, i think ill have to do some blog hopping to get my creative juices flowing again. Have my sister arriving any minute, so best get this posted, and put the kettle on. Enjoy your monday, big hugs Linda x

Simon Says Challenge and an Award

Simon Says Challenge - Mothers Day/Girlie Card

The Simon Says challenge wanted to see some girlie cards, so i decided to use one of my favourite Lili of the Valley images again, and a simple layout. Im loving these more simple layouts at the moment.

Finally, another male card for my collection. Using one of the die cut decoupage sheets and some Greeting Farm papers.

AN AWARD - Thank you

I received this lovely award from Nina. I have recently discovered Nina's blog and she makes the most amazing cards, please go and take a look for yourself, you are sure to be impressed. Thank you so much for this award Nina, it means alot .

Enjoy your evening everyone, and maybe back tomorrow. Hugs Linda x

Happy 40th Birthday (Quixotic Challenge) and my Candy

Happy Wednesday to you all, what a great week it has turned out to be weatherwise. So okay, the sun isn't out today and its a little cooler than the last two days, but not a drop of rain in sight!!! so yippee, spring is on the horizon!

Now dont forget we are celebrating our birthday on the Creative Card Crew Challenge this week, and we would love you to join in with the celebrations.

I will have some fabulous candy up for grabs, however to enter you must join in with our challenge this week, and leave a link on this post to your card. Your card/project must be a new one and not one you have previously posted. I will be picking a winner on the 16th March.

I look forward to seeing your creations!

This morning i have been concentrating on my friends 40th Birthday card. I have been thinking about it for weeks, but as per usual left it to the last minute to actually make. The mojo has gone walkabouts, and apart from knowing i wanted to do an easel card, i hadn't a clue what i was going to do!

I had the lovely Rose Garden paper pad from Papermania unopened, and decided to use this as my inspiration. As our CCC challenge theme this week is celebration i looked for an image to tie in with this. I love this whiff of joy mouse and cupcake, one of my favourite all time stamps. I have coloured with my pro-markers and highlighted with glossy accents and stickles.

The Quixotic Challenge this week is called "Leave it Out" and the challenge is to use leaves on your card/project. So i am entering this card into this challenge. Ive used the Marth Stewart fern leave punch.

Forgive me for such a terrible photo but the light in here is not good today.


I have personalized the card with chipboard letters from my Brenda Pinnock set that ive had for ages, im so pleased to actually be using up some of the components!
Also using the martha stewart punch that i received in my QVC pick of the day last month, and decorating with liquid pearls.

Flowers are punched from my Nellie Sneddon flower punches and accented with prima pearls and stickles.

To complete i have made a matching box to house the card, a little more impressive than my usual envelopes.

I hope my friend will like her card. Now have to go and wrap her presents.

I hope your all having a good week so far, can you believe how quickly the weekend is approaching? I am struggling to keep on top of things at the moment the days just fly. It will soon be spring - yeah!!!!

Hugs to you all, Linda x

Creative Card Crew Birthday Challenge # 45 - Celebration!

Creative Card Crew Challenge

Birthday Celebrations

Its the CCC challenge number 45 and its also our Birthday! can't believe the challenge blog has been running for a year. We are so pleased to have so many followers and to celebrate we have set this weeks challenge as "Celebrations" this leaves it wide open for you all to interpret however you see fit. We hope you will join in the fun.

Because its our birthday we have several sponsors to the challenge this week including the fabulous Simon Says Stamps, Bunny Zoe's, and Sunshine Stamps.

CCC BIRTHDAY BLOG CANDY

Some of the DT have some blog candy to celebrate our anniversary. Now my blog candy is going to be a surprise, but lets just say if you havn't seen the delicious "Sweet Pea" designs yet go take a look here where you will see works of art made using these fabulous designs. I feel sure you will fall in love with them like me, just as soon as you see them.

To be in with a chance of winning my blog candy you have to join in with our CCC challenge this week and leave a link on this post with your card. I will draw a winner on th 16th march.

Please go visit the other DT members to check out their cards and blog candy:-

Barbara

Claire

Janna

Linda C

Maria

Paula

Pauline

Sam

Sharon

Victoria

For my celebration card i have made this card using the fabulous Greeting Farm image, and papers. As many of your will know i always struggle with boys/male cards and am trying to stretch myself, and build up a supply of them, as there are far more males in our family.

Also done this quick male card using just a single Lili of the Valley image, i believe this is now discontinued, but i am trying to use up my older stash. The stars are brads again very old stash!





Have fun, hugs Linda x

JCBC Challenge Sketch #57 Simone March 1

Good morning to you and another week ahead. Whats the weather like with you today? I trust you all had a fabulous weekend, i can never believe just how quickly they pass by. I always have tons of plans, but they never quite come to pass, is it just me, or are you the same?

WEEK 57 AT JCBC CHALLENGE - Simones sketch

Its another week over at the JCBC challenge and this week we have a fabulous sketch from Simone.

You wont be surprised to learn that i have once again used a die cut topper, this time one from a bumper QVC set great value at just £5.99 for 24 sheets. Pa[ers via a rak and die cut flowers.

Sentiment from my stash, not sure where that came from!

Would be great to have you join us again this week, please head over to the Just Christmas and Birthday Card Challenge blog for more inspiration from the fabulous DT members.

Hugs Linda x