A quick Dottie card.

Life is just so hectic at the moment-it's not good at the best of times but I am really trying to step up a gear with my NVQ. I started it about a year ago and I am making snail-like progress. It is supposed to be online training but I am having one technical problem after another and have had no access to their online tutorials or assessment system since May!

Ths month saw the start of my third assessor and I have really been given a boost. This week I handed in a small batch of assignments and had feeedbake last night. I am make progress again at last, only a little, but progress all the same. I have gone from being 11% complete to 17%! Whoooppeeee!
As well as my feedback I was given another 23 assignments to complete!!! EEK!

With time being a REAL issue, last night I decided to try out a pre-coloured Dottie! FAB, so quick and easy. Thanks Lou!

I made this for the Crafts by Carolyn Pocket challenge.

Roll up, roll up, only a few more days to go!!

Do not forget the challenge going on over on DewDrop Craftz- you have a few more days to get your entries in for the chance of winning the lovely "flower girl" stamp.

The challenge is........to create any item, be it a card or layout.. even an altered art project.. but whatever the item, it must contain something from DewDrop Craftz shop.. be it a stamped image, ribbon or download..The theme... each item must depict something 'new' as we are now starting 2009.. this could be a new baby, new house or something else..

Here are a few pics of a flower girl card I made previously.

Got to be in it to win it!!

Hello Strangers- time for a Dottie Challenge!

Sorry it's been a while since posting, it's just been one of those weeks where everything has happened. Jack falling down stairs, work hectic, NVQ assessments, assessor visit...poorly children AGAIN. A little bit of crafting has been going the scenes but not a lot!

I did my first ever Magnolia image swap over on the Crafts by Carolyn Forum - it was such fun organising all the images and now I have a little bundle of brand new images to play with too- if only I get some time to play!! Thank you to all those who took part.

This week also saw the release of a brand new Dottie and George Download collection and if you haven't already seen it- IT IS FAB- it's called Back 2 front and is such fun to work with. Thanks Lou it is great!!

Right, let's get on with this week's Dottie's World Challenge. It's Juliet who set us the challenge this week:

The challenge today is a recipe:
1 of the downloads

1 ribbon
3 buttons
1 flower, but it has to be handmade (not a shop bought one, oh no!)
Chuck it all together and see what you come up with!

I used "Oh so pretty" Dottie, back and front for this. AS soon as I saw it I knew I HAD to try it first. I love it. I cut around both images, used my Nestabilities- large circle to cut a circle through card and patterned paper, sandwiched an embossed sheet of acetate in between and stuck the Dottie images front 2 Back!! LOL.

I had to question what to stick Dottie onto the acetate with as I am a novice at using acetate I will happily admit, I was pleased to hear theat my old favourite Glossy Accents does a fine job for this....what better excuse for needing a new bottle soon!

I finished off with a little flower my darling mum crocheted for me ( I cannot crochet to save my life!) and 3 little pearly buttons I salvaged off an old bloused years ago!

Papers/brad are from my bargain Basic Grey - Sugared.

Pop over to see the rest of the Dottie Team creations and don't forget we need a new Guest Designer for February too!

Precious time!

Life is hectic this week and I seem to have so much to do and no spare time to do any of it. I am plodding my way through 5 assignments for my NVQ but taking a crafty break every now and then. I just can't help it!

I am working on a little project for Nikki at DewDrop Craftz and have all these ideas floating around. Don't forget you have 'til the end of the month for a chance to win a Flower Girl Stamp, pop along to the DewDrop Craftz blog to find out how!

Lou has just released another fabby Dottie and George download collection and I have an image all printed and cut out, sitting on my desk calling for me to colour it in! you can see a few examples of the Back 2 Front collection here.


Having a few images in need of colouring I was delving through my Prismas when I had this brainwave. I tend to decide on the image I want to use, choose my papers and then sort my prismacolors to match. I ofthen end up with these little scribbles of colour on scraps of card to find the best colour match. So today I took it one stage further.


I had already got myself a basic list of Prismacolor codes and names so I adapted it a little into an Excel spreadsheet and made myself up a colour chart. It won't be complete as there are plenty of colours I haven't got (YET) but I tried to make it as comprehensive as possible at the time I made the origianl list.


Hopefully it will save me a little bit of time trying to colour match.

My first Rachelle Anne Miller card!

With the arrival of my bargain stamps yesterday I just couldn't resist a bit of "crafty time out" just playing. I decided to go along with the sketch challenge over on Papertake Weekly but just couldn't decide what papers to use. Desperate to start colouring I chose to work with some basic white card, embossed in a CuttleBug folder.

I had fun trying to work with a bolder mixture of bright colours but not quite sure of the overall effect of the finished card!

...and yes, the glossy accents are still wet!

Dottie's World - Tutorial Challenge!

Over on Dottie's World Lou set us the challenge this week;

Everywhere I look these days I find fantastic tutorials which suggests that everyone must love them. For this challenge I want you to make something (it doesn't have to be a card) following a Charmed Cards & Crafts Class or Tutorial and of course a Charmed Download.

The Online classes are here
The Design team quick tutorials are here

I didn't realise there was so much information over there and after a lot of dithering I decided on Lou's Herringbone-Fold Pocket card because it suited a challenge over on Crafts by Carolyn's perfectly too. (Pocketful of Posies!)

Great challenge-Thanks Lou!

papers used are Basic Grey, Sugared Collection; Cherished and Delicious

Thank goodness for Mr Postie!

Had a really rotten morning! All tired, Amelia must have woken us 6-7 times on Friday night. A trip to the dentist followed by a mad dash up to Speech & Language, where Amelia wasn't very cooperative shall we say!! I got back home about midday feeling like I had just run a marathon but good old Mr Postie came to the rescue with some goodies for me.

I had placed a little order from The Glittter Pot, how could you resist stamps at that price!!! Only downfall was the scrummy Basic Grey Paper Pad and brads....if only I had ordered MORE!

Sorry about awful lighting on this!)

Then I opened up a gorgeous little sampler tag that Calv very kindly sent me. I want to try out some Distress Inks and was trying to decide which colours to go for first- only problem is they all look so wonderful it has confused me even more.

Waffle over- going get a glass of wine and do a bt of stamping!

Tilda meets Basic Grey!

I locked myself away in my little room tonight with a few choccies and a large glass of wine and made another card. This time I decided to go for the Basic Grey Challenge for some inspiration.

For this weeks challenge we would like to see you use some chipboard in your creations, fear not if you don't have any chipboard though, a good alternative is to recycle think cardboard that is usually found in boxes, simply cut some shapes from it, decorate it how you please and your good to go, and of course not to forget to use at least one item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creation.

I used scraps of Basic Grey (Nathan I think) together with Larkspur (oh Baby) and Cannon (Oh Baby! Boy) for my Chipboard flowers and bookplate I covered my board in offcuts before running through my Sizzix machine. Inked the edges and finished with a light covering of metallic rub-ons.

And Yeah....another card off my to do list!

Take three!

This week has been awful! It started with both the children off school again with this tummy bug, Tuesday & Wednesday I was at work, Thursday I spent most of the day at school for Amelia who had a Speech & Language assessment. I have VERY reluctantly let the school move her down a year for Literacy and Numeracy. I am really not happy about it and I just can't switch off. Now at the end of the week I am one very tired, very grumpy, very stressed Dingle.

Today I had my only free day, to catch up on housework, paperwork..etc...and I at long last dusted of my crafty mojo and managed a little time for ME this afternoon. I decided to try the challenge over at The Sugar Bowl where you need to;

use three different design papers and three different types of embellishments on your cards! No more, no less. (by types of embellishments we mean, buttons, brads, flowers, ribbons, beads, bling etc)Of course, you can use any amount of 'plain' card stock!

I used 3 Papers from Basic Grey and for my 3 embellies I used lace, flowers and brads.

Hope that's Ok!

Pure & Simple!

It is my turn to set the challenge over on Dottie's World today! Here's what I said!

Last time I set a challenge for you back at the beginning of December I asked you to use texture, lots of ribbon, lace etc..... The lovely Ruth left a comment that got me thinking!

"Thanks for the challenge, Adele - I'm usually a bit scared of adding too much to my cards so this will be a good opportunity to stretch myself a little!Ruth xx"


For me I have gone to the other extreme almost, I see a blank bit of card and I feel I have to cover it, glitter it, stick a flower on it....whatever...but I need to add that detail. Right, no more waffle and on with the challenge. This week I want your creations to be

PURE & SIMPLE!

No patterned papers, just clean, fresh and simple. I don't want any fuss on our creations this week. You can include any Charmed download, the choice is yours!


It was actually weeks ago I decided on what cahllenge to set (yes I know it's very unlike me to be organised!) but when it actually came down to creating somthing I really struggled. Eventually I used gool old Scruff (Number 4!) on a plain white background embellished with a bit of stitching and some little white blooms!

The rest of the team have come up with some stunners as usual so make sure you pop over and take a look!

Dingle's Friday Waffle!

It's been a funny week: Snow, Chris back to work, kiddies back to school, me back to work, NVQ being kickstarted with yet another assessor, it seems more and more "issues" with Amelia at school as the week has gone on, trying to chase up appointments/therapies......and it has felt like I have got absolutely nowhere. Not exactly the fresh start to the New Year I had hoped for but with positive thoughts and the strength I somehow find I will batttle on.


On a much more positive note I can happily say that this month I went "into print!" Nikki from DewDrop Craftz approached me a while back to see if I would make a project and do a little write up for Craft Stamper magazine! PANIC!!!!!!

Of course I said yes but I am so not a stamper...I just stamp and colour...I am more of a colourer than a stamper! But I rather nervously set to work and submitted my little card which has a 2 page spread in the February issue out now in the shops! It may not by a great article for a hardened stamper but I am still rather proud of it.

Here is a little peep!

You may also remember my attempt to get organised by printing, cutting and colouring 4 copies of Scruff from the Animal Magic Collection! This vain attempt at organising came in quite handy this week as I have had very little time to even think let alone craft. I took inspiration from the wonderful list that Louly posted on Monday and made a card with the "ave a laugh" challenge in mind. Don't forget, join in with this challenge to get you freebie download image of Scruff in the tub!

A Blooming bargain!

I had a little bit of money sitting, burning a hole in my Paypal account so when I saw some blooms, reduced and with free P&P I went for it. I didn't get all the colours I would have liked but this little lot cost me just over £10!!!! A BLOOMING BARGAIN in my little opinion!

I am supposed to be studying for my NVQ but got distracted by the postie!!LOL.

Adam- You're so Tweet!

Poor little Adam, he has been sitting on my desk half done for ages!! Just popped him quickly onto a card before I lost him completely and had to start all over again.

I made this for a challenge over on Crafts by Carolyn where...." We'd like you to create a project using more than one way of adding colour. " I have of course used my beloved Prismacolor Pencils, a dash of gel pens, a coffee bean Brilliance pad to ink the edges and a Burnt Sienna Fluid Chalk to ink my Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I must get on, Kay has A Little Challenge going on over on the Toodles and Binks blog and I want to play before time runs out!! I have just the ribbons I rescued from the Christmas Crackers that will be perfect for the job!!

'ave a laugh!! Dottie's World!

This week over on Dottie's World it was Karen's turn to set the challenge.

"Start the New Year with a Laugh" I simply want to see "something funny" on your

project, what you use and how you make it is up to you.

Time got the better of me AGAIN, but eventually I got something complete...not exactly "funny" a bit quirky perhaps...but I was quite pleased with the card regardless.

This was the first time I had used Donald Donkey from the Animal Magic Collection and he was such fun to colour in. I used K&Co Wild Saffron paper, I just love the colours on this paper.

You simply MUST join in with the challenge this week as Lou is giving away a wonderful freebie of Scruff in the tub! Pop over to Dottie's world to find out how to get your hand on him and also see the wonderful creations the rest of the Design Team have come up with!

A challenge from DewDrop Craftz!

Yesterday Nikki over at DewDrop Craftz released the details of a new MONTH LONG challenge. Pop over to find out details of how you could win a Flower Girl stamp of your own.

The Design team have been busy making creations using the stamp and here is the first of my designs. I love colouring this design, the skirt is such fun to shade!

Nikki is also starting to enter names of entrants into a "hat" for randomly selected winners...you've got to be in it to win it, so pop along and join in the fun. Yes, you have a whole month, but make sure you don't leave it all 'til the last minute like I do!

Another sneak peek for DewDrop Craftz!

The Design Team over at DewDrop Craftz has been working on a little project due to be revealed shortly....here is another sneak peek of a card I have recently made....loved colouring this one in!!!

I will show the rest of the card as soon as I can!

Scruff Number 2 and a bit of waffle!

I tried to make this Scruff a little bit more masculine than the last, left off the girlie pink ribbon and coloured his studded collar with gel pens and highlighted details with glossy accents.

I am loving the inking technique on the embossing folders, something that I had never tried up before and it is just so easy to do.

I am rushing off the WHS today to get Craft Stamper magazine as Ihave a card in there for the DewDrop Craftz design team....LOL...still quite nervous actually. I am so not a stamper!

Happy New Year!!

Well, it's here 2009...how time flies. Wishing all blog hoppers who happen to pass this way a very healthy, happy and crafty New Year! It was a quiet night for us, got the kiddies to bed,had a nice meal, followed by snacks, a bottle of bubbly and a large box of Thorntons choccies!!!

Amelia woke up with the noise of all the fireworks, so we had a nice sleepy little cuddle, wished each other a Happy New Year and settled her back into bed....but she was still up before 6am!!

Hmm...A very sleepy start to the the year!

No more waffle,, let show my first card for the year....the fabby charmed download Scruff number 1!!

I used some of my wonderful new K&Co papers (after I eventually decided which one to use first!) and got to work. I used Sketch # 19 from Sketch Saturday for inspiration and also decided to have my first attempt at inking my Cuttlebug Embossing folders as inspired by a challenge over on Paper Craft Planet.

I want to try out a few different techniques this year.....will be back later, hopefully with another card and a list of resolutions, both crafty and otherwise! Have you made yours?