I've got great news!

In fact I've got two pieces of great news!  First up, I got featured over at the Little Red Wagon with my circle shaker card that you can see here.

My second piece of news is even BIGGER!  If you've seen my FB page you'll already know this - I got a job offer to New Zealand for a 12 month secondment!  Once we're over there (we'll be living in Auckland), I'll then be looking for a permanent job.

Most of you will know that I've been trying for years now to get a job so when I got the offer on Thursday, we were over the moon!  Now I've got to get my sh*t together as I start in June - eeek!

Alical Bel inspiration time!

(Please scroll down for my very last La-La Land Crafts DT post!)

The Alicia Bel design team is giving you some inspiration from the fabulous digi stamps available in the store.  I decided to use the fabulously fun Super Chica...

We all know a Super Chica, don't we?!  I love this image and thought she'd be perfect for a girlfriend achieving just like Superwoman would!I used My Favorite Things sun ray die and alpha dies and I hand cut the yellow "pow" piece (I have no idea what to call it, lol!).

I got out my Promarkers to colour this lady in so I could enter it into this week's Passion For Promarkers challenge and I chose S for Super!

You can see more gorgeous inspiration over at the blog here.  That really is it from me today - see you again soon!

Bye bye La-La Land Crafts!

Bit of a sad day today - this is my last card and post as a design team member for La-La Land Crafts.  I've been on the team for 10 months and decided that it was time to go and stretch my creativity elsewhere.  I will definitely miss playing with the gorgeous goodies and I will miss the team even more - what a great bunch, so friendly and supportive.  I know I have made some very good friends and will keep in touch with them.

So for my last week, the design team were asked to follow a sketch.  Now as most of you know, I don't like using sketches - they feel too restrictive to me, but I actually enjoyed following this one. Here is my DT take on it...

La-La Land Crafts goodies used:

Sweetheart Marci stamp

Open Hearts Doily Border die (for the hearts)

Stitched Nested Circles die

Hanging Hearts and Love Word Set

Copics used:

Face: E000, E00, E21, R02, R05

Hair: C03, C05, C07, C09
Outfit: C01, C03, C05, C07, C09, R20, R22, R25, R27

Isn't she a cutie?  I used some Doodlebug papers and finished it off with some teeny weeny white buttons.  Check out the rest of the DT creations over at the blog here and I will be back later with my Alicia Bel DT post - see you then!

Nothing's better than special delivery

Well, of course there's chocolate and champagne but getting a handmade card through the post feels really good too!  I made this card using some gorgeous SugarPea Designs goodies...

I this this set is great for guys - cute but not too cute!  I used the Happy Mail stamp set and the paper planes are from the Special Delivery set, cut with the die from the Special Delivery Accents die set.  I created the frame using two different sizes from my Nesties squares dies.  And do you like the blue and orange background?  I can't tell you about them yet, but consider it an unofficial sneak peek!!

For the background I used one of the borders from this month's freebie stamp set (you can get if you spend more than $60 in the store) called Build-A-Background - Basics.

That's it from me today.  Thank you for visiting and I'll be back later in the week so for now - have a great week!

What a nice surprise!

I had completely forgotten that I had completed a magazine commission last November for Lili of the Valley and it was being published this month so what a nice surprise I had when I saw it on the shop shelf today with one of my cards making the front page!

Yep, that's my girlie card on the front - I am sure Christine will be very proud of me using so much pink!  Here's a peek at the cards I made...

I used papers from the Country Meadow and Snow Princess pads and you can find all of the girl stamps in this section here.  I used my new Polychromos pencils and lots of My Favorite Things dies.

I'm off now to do all of my post holiday ironing and later going for a family dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday with my SugarPea Designs DT post.  Ta ta!

Alicia Bel new release

The Alicia Bel new releases for this month is now available in store and the design team are showcasing them over at the blog today.  I decided to use the beautiful Elegant Bride...

A very girlie card for me!  This lady is so beautiful.  I coloured her with my new Polochromos pencils and added some Glamour Dust on the roses, her tiara and earrings.  The papers are called Dearly Beloved by NitWit Collections and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.  I also used the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside border die to create the curved border.

Check out the rest of the design team's creations over at the blog here.  I will be back soon - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Ready for Spring?

The theme over at La-La Land Crafts blog this week is Ready for Spring.  And as we all know, Spring means showers!  So here is my DT take on it...

LLLC goodies used:

Paper Doll Marci - Spring Showers stamp set

Stitched Sun and Clouds dies

Copics used:

Face: E000, E00, E21, R02, R05

Hair: E31, E33, E35

Outfit: Y11, YR31, Y26, BG10, BG72, R83, R89

Yep, those macs are needed to keep the rain off!  I love making shaker cards although the sequins get really static and stick to me - which I find very annoying!  But, hey, I love how this one turned out so it was worth it!  I used papers by My Minds Eye.

I'm entering my card into the Little Red Wagon challenge for Round and Round We Go.

Check out the rest of the DT creations over at the blog here!  I will be back later with my Alicia Bel DT post - ta ta for now!

Floating hearts and beautiful butterfly

Hi everyone!  In case anyone had wondered if I had disappeared, I am just back from a two week holiday to Thailand.  Glad to see my scheduled posts worked while I was away.  We'v had a rubbish return though - first off we went to pick up our car from the long stay car park at the airport and found that the suspension had broken so we had to wait around for hours for a tow truck.  We didn't get home until 3am!  And then we went to pick up the dogs from the kennels in the morning and our poor Poppy has been unwell - really listless and not eating so I'm very worried about her.  And then to top it all off, went through our mail and found that someone had cloned my credit card and went on a £3k spending spree!  Our punishment for having a fantastic holiday!

But anyway, back to my card for today!  Bit of a soppy title for this post, but it's exactly how I'm describing my card using some of those gorgeous Docrafts goodies!  See what you think...

The Docraft goodies I used were:

Blue Daisy paper collection (free download here)

Xcut Heart Nesting Dies set

Xcut Falling Hearts embossing folder

Xcut Butterflies A5 die set, 

Xcut Kushgrip Craft Knife

Papermania Monochrome Adhesive Stones 

I usually add a sentiment to my cards but I didn't think I'd need one for this card as it could be used for many different occasions.  Perhaps I'll stick on a sentiment on it when I decide to use it!  I think I'm going to give this one either to my mum or my mother-in-law.

Okay, I gotta go now.  If you like any of the goodies, you can find a Docraft stockist here.  I'll be back tomorrow with my Alicia Bel and La-La Land Crafts DT posts - see you then!

Shake your thang!

There's a new monthly themed challenge starting today over at SugarPea Designs and this time the theme is Shake That Thing - yep, we want to see those shaker cards!  Yep, they're very trendy at the moment and so much fun to make that I hope you will join us!  Here is my DT make...

I really enjoyed making this card!  It can be used for any soppy occasion like engagements and weddings, but I think I will use it for an anniversary card.

I first die cut a fishtail strip of cardstock and then lined up the heart strip die from the SugarCuts Heart Journal Card die set.  I then glued a piece of acetate to the back and then used foam strips around each heart.  I filled each heart with Amercian Crafts glitter along with various sized smaller hearts from the SugarCuts Heart Journal Card die set.  I then glued a piece of silver mirri cardstock behind the hearts.  The hearts surrounding this are from the SugarCuts Notched Heart Journal Card die which I stuck on with foam pads to give some more depth.  Lastly, I die cut the arrows from the SugarCuts SugarCuts Heart Journal Card die set with some more silver mirri cardstock and stuck these on with some more foam pads.

Here's a closer look at the shaker hearts...

Remember that you don't need to use SugarPea Designs goodies for this challenge but if you the prize will be bigger - instead of $10, the Gift Certificate will be $15!

Visit the SugarPea Designs blog to get more shakey inspiration.  I'll be back tomorrow with my Docrafts DT post so see you then!

Cupid is here!

Over at La-La Land Crafts blog this week the design team were asked to make a project for Valentine's so I decided to make this card for it...

La-La Land Crafts goodies used:

Cupid Marci stamp

Feathers die

Hanging Hearts and Love Word die set

Stitched Nested Circle die

Copics used:

Face: E000, E00, E21, R02, R05

Hair: E50, E53
Outfit and wings: C01, C03, YR31, YR24, R22, R25, R27, YG01, YG17

I love those feather dies - so beautiful!  I added lots of Stickles Stardust glitter glue to the centres of the hearts and also over the love sentiment to make it pop a bit.

Check out the rest of the DT creations over at the blog here and I will be back later with my SugarPea Designs DT post - see you then!

With heartfelt thanks

Hi all - I hope you've all had a great weekend.  I'm just popping in to share a thank you card I made with some of the gorgeous SugarPea Designs January release goodies.

I love this little dude!  He's from the Foxy Friend stamp set and I also used the SugarCuts Heart Journal Card and SugarCuts Notched Heart Journal Card die sets.  I used Bazzill kraft cardstock for the base and Bazzill Bling black cardstock to give it a little sheen.

I'll be back later in the week with my La-La Land Crafts and Alicia Bel DT posts.  Until then, have a great week!

Card for an amazing guy

Here is my first design team card for Docrafts which some of you may have already seen if you're a Docrafts Club Member and get access to stuff before everybody else...

Not relying on stamped images is pretty hard - it's usually the main focus to work around so having to create a different type of focal point was pretty hard for me!  Once I had come up with an idea though it was quite easy to put together.  I think this card would be great for a male birthday card or even a congratulations for something card! What is for certain though is that I want to give this to my nephew!

Here are the Docraft goodies I used:

Stars A6 3D Embossing Folder

Kraft Pocket Tags 

Kraft Gift Tags & Jute 

Sentiment Collection download (free, get it here!)

Precision Scissors

Solid Black Adhesive Stones set

You can find Docraft stockists over at the website here.  I hope you like my card as much as I do!  I'm always pleased when I can make a male card as they are usually so hard to do!  Thanks for visiting and I'll see you again soon!