Monday, 10 November 2008

The mess I face today!!

After a mad attempt to put up more cupboards and completely paint my craft room yesterday (and failing) this is the chaos I face this morning.


I was still painting at nearly 11pm last night-then I gave up and soaked in the bath for half an hour! The biggest issue I had, apart from pass the parcel with all my stash as I moved around my little room was the fact that I had no-where to store the paint that I had made up in a bucket by mixing "dregs" from paint in the garage!! Chris ended up up pouring it into an ice cream tub so I can finish the last few bits today.

I am VERY pleased with the result so far and the lighting really does not do my Dulux impression any favours. I still have a HUGE way to go before I am finished but I an idea in my head now of what it will look like-eventually!!

Sunday, 9 November 2008

Colour me Silly!

It's Juliet's turn to challenge us over on Dottie's World this week.


"Hi, Juliet here again today hoping to find you all eager to get crafting!The challenge this week is inspired by fireworks and, as we were limited to one colour last week, this week I want to see LOTS OF COLOURS on your cards - the more the merrier! As usual, you must include one of the Charmed Downloads too, so get those papers out and start creating!!! "


Pop over to Dottie's World to see some of the stunning creations the rest of the Design Team have come up with-I am really loving the new Animal Magic Downloads

I struggled with this one, had the ideas again but just couldn't decide on papers- you know when you have something in your head but you just haven't the right stuff on your desk to get the look. I must have changed my mind over what image to use 3 or 4 times and eventually finished my card approaching 1am this morning!


LOL-even then I struggled as I couldn't find half the things I needed in my wrecked craft room..including my Quickutz holly fasteners die...if it's still under that pile of stash...will I EVER see it again I wonder.


Right, enough waffle lets get on with it-here's what I eventually ended up with.





Not sure this actually works but I used We R Memory Keepers with a strip of BG Colour me silly-Wonder as a ribbon effect ( the colours matched perfectly and it was the only Colour me Silly paper I had.) I tried to used all the colours in the paper picking out the turquiose blue for the flower and fasteners. I sat a little Xmas hat on the dog, but I wasn't happy with it and at that time I was lucky enough to still have my eyes open so I left it!
I am happy with it as a card- but don't feel it's Christmassy enough-I might add a little something....just not sure what yet. What I do know is that this image "Scruff" has got to be one of my favs. Isn't he adorable?

Saturday, 8 November 2008

My craft room....a work in progress!!

A leisurely Saturday crafting I thought.....then the DIY bug hit again. Hubby went off to the DIY store and I set to clearing all the junk/stash that I have shoved onto the makeshift shelfing unit
we got a few years back.

Hmmm, where do I put it, the workbench is already loaded and that needs to be cleared too!


My little workspace under the window is my fav, but my Dottie Design Team card for tomorrow morning is half finsished...underneath this lot!!

Hubby came back with two base units for me and a 3 metre worktop for the bargain sum of £99. The worktop should have been £50 on it's own so we were well pleased. I haven't got any doors YET. Not sure what I want I might make something up myself and save a few pennies as we still have so much to do in the house-including the expense of a new kitchen.

I dismantled the PC for the afternoon and we set to work!

My poor little room has moved on a bit from the last picture...but not much. I do now have my two new cupboards in place with a worktop across and the PC set back up. Now ALL I need to do is re-organise everything, find my little desk and complete the half made card.

LOL- I think it's gonna be a late one.

Hmmmm....what colour paint shall I go for?

Another fold card!

As I said when I posted my previous 2 cards, whilst I was cutting and measuring for one card...I went ahead and made another at the same time...made sense to me as I was cutting a sheet of A4 in half. Little did I know then that Challenge 4 over on Crafts by Carolyns would be to make another fold card.....LOL, I should have kept quiet and held one back!

"Make your second Challenge Fold Christmas card. YOU MUST HAVE EMBOSSING ON IT ALSO IT MUST BE A COLOURED CARD"


This time I decided to go with a Dottie Download and double up with this weeks challenge over on the Daring Card Makers where this week they are asking you to "Sparkle and Bling!" A challenge you just HAVE to try out as this week there are some fab sponsor prizes up for grabs-pop over for details.



Here is what I came up with, I haven't put any wording on the inside yet as I am not sure who I will send it to. I LOVE these little fold cards!







I used Magic Princess Dottie from the Dress Up Dottie Collection.

Friday, 7 November 2008

CBC-November Challenge 3!

Challenge 3 has been set over on Crafts by Carolyns;

"Just what you need for the table at Christmas (PLACE NAMES) They don't need to be for CHRISTMAS they can be for any occasion. They can be any design you like but, YOU MUST MAKE AT LEAST 4 "

I found this one quite tricky to do as I had loads of fun ideas but I don't know what's happening for Xmas yet, where we will be, who will be there....or what colour scheme...oh life is so complicated! LOL

I eventually decided to stick to something very basic and easy to duplicate. I took the larges of my Scalloped square Nestabilities, scored down the centre and stuck a glittery snowflake on them along with our names. Told you-simple-like me!

CBC-November Challenge 2!

H asked us to "Make a Challenge fold Christmas card. IT MUST INCLUDE ONE OF THESE WORDS ON THE FRONT MERRY GREETINGS SEASONS ALSO MUST BE A COLOURED CARD

Here are the instructions on the fold:

1 - Cut a piece of card - 11" x 4¼"

2 - Mark from the end 2" and then 3¾" make a score, then do the same working from the other end, then bend creases a few times so they move easily.

3 - Cut 2 pieces of fancy paper for the front flaps, 4 x 1¾ (stick on)

4 - Inside 4 x 3 ¼ (stick on) 5 - Front image layered to your own taste, just close the card and place central (remember only to use DS tape on the one side or it won't open)"


As I was cutting and folding one card, I decided to go ahead and make another. I cheated a bit for this as I had already cut and coloured a Tilda, and Joel from the Stamp Galaxy was already stamped and half cut out too!!

I love this great little fold card, thanks H!

CBC-November Challenge 1.

The first challenge:

"A easy one to start with As with most of the challenges you could make this for a christmas pressie. I would like you to make a Key Ring, this can be made with a plastic key fob bought from a crafty shop or you could alter one you have already. Or even just use layers of a cereal packet stuck together with a eyelet at the top with a hoop. YOU MUST USE A STAMPED IMAGE OR IF YOU DON'T OWN A STAMP YOU CAN USE A PRINTED IMAGE "

I decided to have a go at the Post it note key rings that I have seen scattered around on blogs and forums. It was rather trial and error as I didn't have many small post it notes, I don't have a cropodile so had to punch smaller batches of notes...and then I couldn't find my keyrings anywhere. ( I did warn you I was not prepared!) I settled for using a little ball chain for the time being.


Great fun to make and a fun little stocking filler, must make some more and improve on the design a bit.

Stamp used; Swirl Set 3 from DewDrop Craftz

Weekend Challenge!!!

A weekend full of challenges is just about to start over on Crafts by Carolyns Forum!!! I am not sure what exactly the challenges will be or how many but I do know that if you need a boost in Christmas preparations or crafting you need to be there!!!

I am NOT prepared, not organised, not tidy......and expecting a visitor any minute now. Thought I'd try to do a quick tidy in my craft room beforehand.....now where did I leave my desk!!!

Thursday, 6 November 2008

Meet Fairy Love!

This poor little fairy has been sitting on my desk for days and at long last I have finished the card!! Meet my first Fairy Love from DewDrop Craftz. She is so cute and great to colour and layer...I love her little dangly legs!

I made this combining 2 challenges- the first over on Cute Card Thursday where the challenge was simply to use fairies or angels on your cards and the second was this week's sketch over on Friday Sketchers.



I have been dithering over this card order for ages now-thank you for the inspiration.





Wednesday, 5 November 2008

"Lady" Pusskins!

There has been a discussion going on over at Charmed as to whether or not "Lady" Pusskins from the new Animal Magic Download collection should have been a girlie cat or a tom cat....so I took Karen's resizing/reshaping tip from Monday and created 3 different cats. A large fatter tom cat, a medium slim girlie cat and a bubby kitty....and ended up with this!
Sorry, lighting is awful but hopefully it will give you some indication of how versatile these downloads can be. I had such fun making this card and colouring the images in was just a treat.

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Ooooo...lookie, lookie!!!

For all you hardened stampers....or for novices like me pop over and take a look at the brand new Craft Stamper Blog!!!! They are launching the blog with some sweet blog candy too!

One to add to my favs, me thinks!

Monday, 3 November 2008

Stop, breathe....relax...craft!

It has been non stop for us here in the Dingle Household. What with it being "half term" last week, Amelia's Birthday, Halloween, Family party......and a bit of decorating and crafting if I get five minutes in between.

I was up 'til gone 1.30 am this morning typing out a letter to the school regarding Amelia's support. Quite apprehensive at how it will be taken but it's my first step of "rocking the boat" I suppose. Still not long now before I have to collect her so I can test the waters out then...and boy, looking out my little craft room window it is so wet, moody and miserable- I will be well at home!!LOL.
I thought I'd share a few pics from the weekend with you.
My feeble attempt at carving pumpkins. I ended up using my craft knife as I couldn't find the pumpkin carving kit. The following day, what did I find!!!!
My two little horrors!
and now for the snippet, and it is only a tiny snippet, of crafting.
Here is who I have sitting on my craft table!!!
My new stamps from DewDrop Craftz.........cannot wait to play!!!

Sunday, 2 November 2008

Dottie's World Sunday Challenge!

It was my turn to set the challenge over on Dottie's World this week!

Black, white and a splash of .........COLOUR!!!

I want your creations this week to include one or more of the Charmed Download images and to be only 3 main colours. Black, white and one colour of your choice. You can use as many tones of grey and of your chosen colour and you can obviously use a skintone and haircolour ( I am feeling generous! LOL )but that's it.
Here is my attempt;




The DT have worked wonders again so make sure you pop over and have a look!!! Join in this week to earn yourself a FREE Fairy Dottie Download.......I cannot wait to try this image out.