A Barn Dance Style Card!!!

A friend at work asked me if I could make her a Barn Dance Style card for a Bridal Shower and like a mad woman, I said yes!! EEK.

I faffed around for ages trying to find inspiration but my mojo has, I fear, gone forever. I did however manage to tidy my craft room a little bit more. (At least the huge pile of 12x12 papers have found a new place and I can see some carpet!)

Eventually I felt I hit jackpot with some of the BasicGrey paper that I won on Facebook from a Cardmaking & Papercraft competition. The fabby "woodgrain effect papers" are from the Life of the Party collection and were just what I needed to get the ball rolling with this card.

I downloaded a couple of free "Western style" fonts and made my up a little Wanted Poster type sentiment, backed with a distressed piece of BG Mortifica and a little paper doily I attacked with some inks and glimmer mist. A few rustic touches of natural rafia "lace" and a bit of gingham ribbon hopefully complemented the theme. Finished of with the fabby image from the Charming, Holly & Madison Around the World Collection.

My card was made with the following in mind:

BasicGrey Challenge - Mix and match (I also used brads from the BG Suigared collection)

Creative card Crew - Anything goes

My Time to Craft - Use a die cut

Copic Colour Challenge #49

Another Wednesday, another Copic Colour Challenge and this week the colours are very, very versatile, the colours are;

I used E00 and R02 for the skintones and E33 for tones on the little teddy bear! Pop over and play along for the chance of yet more scrummy candy!

I haven't used this stamp for ages and thoroughly enjoyed colouring her, you can find "Annie and Ted" HERE!!!!

Dottie gets all romantic!

Sorry everyone but it had to be done! When I noticed I had to set the challenge over on Dottie's World today I just couldn't resist it.

I can blame it all on the stars, I am a dreamy, head in the clouds, Piscean after all!

Who said Romance is dead!

Today is my 12th Wedding Anniversary and I want to see that romance isn't dead. I adore making cards but making cards for those people in my life who are truely special to me is the best type of cardmaking of all! So show me hearts and roses, flowers and swirls, just whatever makes you picture dreaminess and romance! Hmmm...now don't forget to include a Charmed Download of course....I cannot wait to see what you all come up with!Here are a few dreamy examples from the Design Team, make sure you play along too and show us that Romance ISN'T dead!

Grab your Charmed downloads and join in the challenge.

Copic Colour Challenge #19!

Goodness number 19 already! How time flies when you are having fun!

The colours this week over at the Copic Colour Challenge are;

Aren't they totally scrummy! Now a few weeks back when these colours were released to the Design Team, I checked and realised I hadn't got any of them! I was going to treat myself but with all the pressure of my NVQ and life, I just didn't get around to it! How sad! So I did have to improvise a bit with alternative colours!

Here is my card using "Forget me not" image from Pixie Chicks #1 and "Believe" sentiment from Pixie Chicks #2.

Instead of BV00 Mauve Shadow I used BV02 Prune and BV04 Blue berry.

Instead of G00 Jade Green I used G21 Lime green and BG93 Green Gray.

Instead of RV02 Sugared Almond I used R20Blush and RV42 Salmon Pink.

I used Y21, Y17 and YR23 for hair and BG10 for the wings!

I hope you like my first card from the new Pixie Chicks collection of Downloads- I took so long deciding which one to use first -I truely love this colloection.

Now grab thos Copics, pop over for some inspiration from the rest of the Copic Colour Challenge Deesign team and get colouring to be in with a chance of this weeks fabby candy!

Oh my goodness..have you seen......

....what's going on at Dottie's World?

If not, just go and check it out NOW! Stunning, fabby, absolutely beautiful new collection on the horizon....and for those harden stampers, some fairy special new Charmed Delectable Stamps too!

Copic Colour Challenge #17

Well it's Wednesday, it's Copic Colour Challenge day once again an this week our colours are;

I love these soft sugary colours and decided to use one of my Annie stamps.

This week Elaine is offering some blog candy from her new shop, to one lucky entrant so make sure you get those Copics out and play along. Remeber, you don't need the exact colours, just choose, 1, 2 or all 3 of your nearest colours. Loads of inspiration from the rest of the DT so check it out!

Copic Colour Challenge #13

Today the latest Copic Colour Challenge was blogged and this week Maddy set us a sketch.

I ended up with this card using one of my new Annie stamps. But only now have I noticed I have missed an element of the sketch out...OOPS...sorry, lots going on in the Dingle house!

Pop over and take a look at the wonderful creations the rest of the DT have come up with and then get those Copics out and join in the fun, we would love to see what you come up with too!There is some scrummy blog candy up for grabs this week from Toodles and Binks so even more reason to grab the Copic blinkie,join in and get your name in that candy hat.

My first Charmed Stamp-meet Annie!

With the arrival of my first Charmed stamps this week I managed to push the paperwork and decorating to one side for a little while to play!

Now I really don't get much time to join in with challenges at the moment so I cheated and combined two together!

Now the first challenge I made this card for was Colour Create....I am SO loving the colour challenges. Not that I need an excuse to play with my Copics! The colour inspiration this week is:

and the other challenge I joined in with was the ABC Challenge which this week is M for Metallic.

Here's my card. I LOVED working with these colours, somehow made me think of Christmas!!!!! Hmmm and as for the metallic I have been doing a bit on online window shopping for a few fancies...my credit card is itching a bit now! LOL

Crafty goodies!

Got home from work/school run yesterday to find a few new craft goodies on my doorstep. Yeah! Just what I needed after an afternoon with 11 2year olds! LOL

First of all there was my first two Annie stamps from Charmed Delectable got kiddies sorted with a snack and drink, kettle on and I had to run up into my craft room to try them out straight away. Bit dissapointed in the fact that I have still only got as far as stamping 4 imges, cutting out two of them and colouring in the skin colour on one!!! Got so much to do today, lots of paperwork for work/NVQ and school meeting for Amelia...then work....then this evening we plan to PVA the plastering ready for painting at the weekend......no rest for the wicked!

Also on my doormat was the lovely blog candy I won from Creative Treasures! I couldn't decide which flower kit to have, so Tracy gave me some of the March kit and some of the new May kit.

Thank you so, so much Tracy! I cannot wait to try them out.

Easy as A,B, C....Dottie!

Well, it's Madison (with attitude) actually, rather than Dottie but I made this card last night to show on Dottie's World today. I used the image I coloured a while back for the coloured collection of Holly & Madison and decided to play along with this week's challenge over on ABC challenge. It's been a while since I found any time to join in any challenges apart from those on the Design Teams I am part of. I'd like to say things are on the up but it's absolute chaos here.

Anyway back to the card! This week the ABC challenge was L is for list. We would like to see the following contained somewhere on your card or project.

1 ribbon
3 flowers
6 brads

Here's what I ended up with;

Dottie's World- Hand Made challenge

Happy Easter everyone-hopefully the sun will make an appearence later but at the moment it looks a bit murky out there.....we will have to do our Easter Eggs hunt indoors at this rate!

Right, another Sunday brings another challenge over on Dottie's World and this week it was Nicola who put us through our paces.

I want to see completely hand made cards, no bought backing papers or embelishments, the odd ribbon is fine though, but if you're gonna use backing papers I want you to have made it, if you use embelishments I want you to have made it,not just bought and stuck on and of course a Charmed Card and Crafts Download.

Now once again, my mojo and confidence has vanished, perhaps it's lurking somewhere with my missing kitchen cupboards.....but I struggled, dithered around nearly all day yesterday and just couldn't decide what to do...then I decide to use an image of Holly I had already printed and coloured and some text paper that I had previously attacked with some distress inks and perfect pearls.

The handmade flower embellies were stamped using a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine a few months ago, then I noticed the similarity in one of my Hero Art stamps- Pocketful o' posies, so I stamped a floral border across the bottom. To give a bit more depth and interest I added a bit of colour with a copic marker and a bit of depth with some liquid pearls.

Some great inspiring ideas over at Dottie's World, make sure you go check them out.

Once again, I'll wish you a very Happy Easter.

Wowwwweeee...CANDY!!!!

AS you may have read on my blog a couple of days ago, there is a brand new range of rubber stamps being released soon. Designed by the lovely Louise and soon to be on sale at Charmed Cards & Crafts.......pop over HERE for some sneak peeks and to be in with the chance of some smashing candy.


Impatient........yep, me too!

Just keeping afloat....

......somehow! Our new kitchen is looming closer, we should be ordering all the units, a range and a new tumble dryer in the next week hopefully.....in the meantime we have got one or two new units to make a little start on the whole...HUGE process. At the weekend we resited the washing machine, and replaced the old corner cupboard that was miraculously still standing after the buildres wrecked it in the build for the extension. I am sorting cupboards and generally having a good declutter in prepation for the chaos fitting a new kitchen will cause our already chaotic lives!!!

Crafting is rather sparse however I did manage to make a card yesterday in preparation for the Copics Colour Challenge....today however I need to work on some policies and procedures for work, inbetween running around after Jack and Amelia!



For now I can show you a card I made last week.

Lots going on in the crafty world. Toodles and Binks have moved blog...you can now find them HERE ...blog candy up for grabs so make sure you pop along!

Don't forget the release of the wonderful Sally Ann Hancock stamps over at DewDrop Craftz and the challenge running at the moment to make something other than a card, some papers up for grabs there too!

My last bit of news is the launch...or should I say big tease....of some new stamps from Charmed!
Look here!!!!!!!

Right, that's it from me for now.....some paperwork is calling me!!!

Copics Colour Challenge #7

Things are as hectic as ever here, got so much paperwork and so many phone calls to catch up on for Amelia but nothing seems to be progressing at the moment. Yesterday I had my NVQ assessor around for a "professional discussion" and manged to mark off and complete 2 whole units....LOL.....only another 7 to go now! (EEEK!)

During the visit I recveived a phone call from our credit card company who advised me that our card details were used in Malaysia yesterday! We use our credit card for everything and pay it off every month....we were just about to order a range cooker and a new tumble dryer so we could start renewing the kitchen......but now everything will have to be put on hold while a new account is set up and cards are issued!

Right, no more waffle, lets get on with a bit of crafting before it's time to leave for work!

Today the latest challenge was released over on Copics Colour Challenge and this week the colours are;

Now once again, I dithered over what colours to substitute but eventually I decided on!

Instead of R22 Light prawn I chose R02 Flesh, and blended some YR16 Apricot in too!

I had E47 Dark Brown but also used E57 Light Walnut too.

For B12 Ice Blue, I opted for a mixture ofB32 Pale Blue and B45Smoky Blue.

Additional colours used were C3, C5, Y17 and YR23 plus skintones.

Sarah Kay stamp and K & CO paper both from Charmed.

Make sure you pop over and join in with the Copic Colour Challenge to be in with a chance of some fabby blog candy!

Copics Colour Challenge #5- Inspiration!

Today sees the launch of our fifth challenge over at Copics Colour Challenge - how quickly it has gone. This week we had a photo for inspiration.

I struggled deciding what image to use and eventually decided on Hamish and his tractor by Sugar Nellie. Not quite sure you wiull be able to see the inspitation but here is what I ended up with. LOL.

Pop over to the Copics Colour Challenge see what fabby example the rest of the DT have come up with and join in the fun this week to be in with a chance of yet another great prize-this time from Charmed Cards and Crafts!

Playing catch up again!

It's a been another long and stressful week in the Dingle household. I have only done a few sessions at work, but been playing catch up on my NVQ again as well as updating and typing out ALL our policies and procedures at work. It's been a slow process but bit by bit I am getting there.

Not much time for crafting at all this week although I have just finished a last minute order from a friend, will take pic and blog that later hopefully.

For now I wanted to share a few beautiful cards I received for my birthday last Saturday. I have blogged the "Charmed" cards on Dotties world today, but just couldn't miss out the card from Juliet! Thank you ladies they are beautiful!

Got so much to do in the way of crafting, I so want to get ahead of myself for some of the Design Team work. I also have Mother's Day coming up AND my mum's birthday next week. I have all these idea's in my head but just no time to do them!

I have been thinking of doing the cards for Mother's Day with a flap/pocket to enclose a voucher. I have seen some lovely designs doing this but I just haven't had the time YET! I have been looking at some of the vouchers over at Red letter Day, wouldn't it be great to receive something like that on Mother's Day....CHRIS....are you reading this? Hint, hint! LOL

Best get on, still have so much to do.

Another 18th card!

Just completed the card for the other 18yr old twin, I wanted to keep them along the same lines but still keep them unique to each of their interests. This time I went for a footie fans team colours and a George download!

and here are the two cards together.....still not really sure of them but hopefully they will like them.

Sunny Monday News and a card!

News...well more waffle probably but there is some news as well!




Firstly, you MUST pop over to Dottie's World for news of another great download collection just released. Holly and Madison - The World Tour, we have been seeing a few teasers for the last week and I have a few images prepared and all ready for the Copic attack!!! Fantastic collection.

Don't forget about the sketch challenge over on DewDrop Craftz, there's a £5 voucher up for grabs so don't miss out.

Also for you Copic fan, don't forget to join in this week's Copics Colour Challenge, it's a sketch challenge over there too with another prize up for grabs.....you have to be in it to win it.

Right, that my news/waffle and here's the card. This is one of a two card order for twin 18yr old boys....I am so unsure of cards for boys/men. I had to revert back to my prismacolor pencils for this one as the image was from a rubber stamped image swap and was stamped in Versafine....felt really funny NOT using my Copics...how quickly things change.

Dottie's World Challenge.

Before I tell you about this week's challenge I just want to say what a fabby, fabby birthday I had yesterday. I got a beautiful bunch of red roses, choccies, wine, socks, toiletries, a scarf, a CD, a DVD, money.....but the biggest surprise of them all was my very naughty hubby Chris who got me a fantastic ipod nano!!! (and some little speaker dock...sorry don't know the right termonology. Spent a bit chunk of the day yesterday playing with iTunes and organising my music. Yesterday evening my mum and dad looked after the children for a few hours and we went for a quick meal before mum got on her dialysis machine. A perfect day, feeling very relaxed now, just hope it can last a few days before the pressures of schooling crops up again!

Right that enough waffle I will come back later to show you some of the fantastic cards I received but for now,, lets get on with Dottie's Challenge!

This week it was Nicola's turn to set the challenge on Dottie's World!

Get the Feeling!

I would like to see some kind of fabric incorperated in the card or item, it could be felt,ribbon,lace,cotton etc and ofcourse a Charmed Cards and crafts download.

Loved this, despite having no mojo with the draining effects of the week, I love felt so I decided to dig out the bag from the depths of the cupboard and make up some simple little flowers. I really enjoyed the basic sewing on them too! Thank you for the challenge Nicola!

I used papers from Basic Grey, Sugared, lace from a RAK from the lovely Carole, hearm charm from Charmed Cards and Crafts, my new Nesties -label 1, and the wonderful Lady Pusskins Download from the Animal Magic Collection.

Coloured with my Copics of course: E33 sand, E35 chamois, E53 raw silk, E47 Dark brown, Y17 golden yellow, YR23 yellow ochre, YG95 pale olive and G99 Olive.