Birthday Cake - Week 1

Some photos from Saturday at my parents where we had a Birthday cake for Jacob. He is really good at blowing out the candles and I had to relight them 4 times so I could get more than one shot!
His older brother, on the other hand, is terrible! A lot of effort and not much action from Samuel! It took him longer to blow out 6 candles than it did for Jacob to do 4 x 4 candles!

Could not resist this photo opportunity! Jacob had the knife (blunt) in his hand as he was insistent he cut the cake and I asked him how much cake he could get in his mouth. I know. He looks like a potential mad man. Heheheheh!

Round two is on Saturday - both will have cakes and it's party time!

PS Yes the ribbon from the cake came safely home with me!

Snowman

The current Winter Wonderland challenge is a double one - the sketch below and also to use a snowman.

So, I've used elements from Polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas and the rubber stamps which are being premiered on Create and Craft on Tuesday at 9am! I've used one of the sentiment stamps and also two of the snowflakes - stamped in blue and silver.

I've added gems to the centres of the snowflakes and also some glitter glue around the edges of the snowman. The ribbon is from my stash.

Apologies for the harsh photos - it doesn't seem to have got light properly over the last few days - its still sort of dark when I leave for work and its the same when I get home. So these photos are taken with the kitchen lights on... Winter is certainly on it's way!

For some reason, time is just not on my side this week and I have a long long list of things to do (mainly all before Saturday!) and just can't seem to get any ticked off my list..... Could do with an extra couple of hours in a day, ideally when everyone is in bed and its nice and quiet so I can craft in peace!

• Backing papers and snowman: Polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas cd
• Sentiment and snowflakes: Jingle Jangle Christmas stamps
• Everything else: My stash
  
  
  

I Should Concentrate More!

I'm just about on time with the current challenge sketch from the wonderful Carol! I've just been caught up with lots of other things (making up party bags, wrapping pass the parcels - who said kids parties were easy?!) so this sort of went by the wayside. However, an early start on Sunday made sure I got to grips with the sketch!

I've used printed papers from It's Funky Too (I'm pretty sure it is!) which I have lightly inked and then doodled a line around. The red card is from my stash. The image is Dustin Pike which I have coloured with my trusty Tesco felt tips and a little white gel pen - the clouds got the glitter glue treatment!

The sentiment stamp is from my stash and I cut the number 4 with my Sizzix Round-a-Bout alphabet dies. I'm fairly organised with this card as its is for a friends little boy who will be 4 at the end of the month - we were both pregnant at the same time and work together too!

So why should I concentrate more? Well, I'd completed the card and then came to open it out, and realised I'd stuck it all on upside down...... so had to trim it down and stick it all on another card blank.... in my defense, I was up rather early and was only on my second cup of tea!

• Backing papers: It's Funky Too from Funky Hand
• Image: Dustin Pike, coloured with felt tips and white gel pen
• Sentiment: Stamp unknown from my stash
• Dies: Sizzix Round-a-Bout alphabet dies
  

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Jacob from being a few months old to his Birthday party on Thursday at nursery! Still looks at me as if I am gormless!

I hope the weather is better today so you can have a go on your Birthday present!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Jacob!!

C is for Circles

The current ABC challenge is:

C is for Circles

And I have circles!! The card is actually 4 circles layered together with the letters cut from the top - it is a template on Jingle Jangle Christmas and I ran out of time to complete the card before Nikky launched the cd on Create and Craft in August, so I thought this challenge would be perfect to finish it off!

I've doodled over the stitched effect on the card and have added the white gel dots around the edges of the black borders. The three baubles across the centre are part of a lovely stamp set which will complement the Jingle Jangle cd - there is also one for Candy Doodles. Both stamp sets will be launched very soon on Create and Craft - so you saw them here first!!

The ribbon line is actually straight in real life - I've just taken a dodgy photo - I think it was the euphoria of realising it was actually daylight when I got home and not chucking it down and black clouds!

The NOEL template can be printed onto any card as it only prints the black lines so you could have it in much more traditional colours than I choose!

• Backing papers and NOEL template: Jingle Jangle Christmas from Polkadoodles
• Baubles: Stamps to complement Jingle Jangle Christmas from Polkadoodles
• Everything else: My stash
  

Polkadoodle Challenge 16 - Spots & Stripes

It's Friday again and we are already upto week 16 on the Polkadoodles challenges! And for the duration of September, I am setting the challenges. Yes, Nikky has let me loose!


So, I set the Design Team a challenge of

Spots and Stripes

And they could use any of the Polkadoodle cd's or downloads to interpret the theme. Pop over to the challenge blog to see what the DT made!


I've used the Halloween download - purely because I liked the grungy feel to the papers and also because I had the brainwave of using spiders for the spots!


I printed the papers off at A5 size so I retained the text and roughly tore the strips, inked the edges and added them to the front of the card. I've added a doodled line around the edge of the card and the sentiment as well as the usual inking.

I made the spiders from fimo - really easy to make - a squashed ball for the body and then I rolled some thin strips to make legs and then added them to the top of the body by squishing the middle down. Then after I'd baked them in the oven (closest I ever get to cooking!) I added the wobbly eyes.

I hope you can join in with my challenge - click here for more details. You have until 12noon on Sunday 13 September to enter - so what are you waiting for?!

For the remainder of September, the challenges that I am setting will be accompanied by a little tutorial on how I made my item, so watch out for those! You may see a little helper that I acquired during the making of one of the tutorials!

• All paperbased elements: Halloween download from Polkadoodles
• Spiders: Made by me from Fimo
  
  
  

Frosty Polly

The current Sketch Saturday challenge is:



And I've made a frosty Polly card! The backing papers and the digi image of Polly are from the Polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas cd - I've coloured Polly with felt tips and a bit of white gel pen and some glitter glue (hence the slight bleeding of colour on her dress!)

The snowflakes are from my stash (I think they came from the pound shop originally with some gift tape stuff) as are the gem centres. The present that Polly holds and the sentiment are actually stamps and you are having a very sneak peek of them! The stamp sets, by Polkadoodle, are due to be launched very soon on Create and Craft (more details will be added to my sidebar) - one Christmas set to complement the Jingle Jangle cd and one to complement Candy Doodles cd. I've seen the designs, and they are fab!

Sorry about the slightly blurry photos but its hardly got light properly over the last few days as the weather has been terrible. And I didn't want to use flash.

• Backing papers and Digi image: Jingle Jangle Christmas by Polkadoodles
• Present and sentiment stamps: Jingle Jangle Christmas stamps by Polkadoodles
• Everything else: My stash
  
  
  

All Digital! (Mostly)

I have found a new challenge site - Bee Crafty which runs a challenge on alternative Saturdays; the current one is:

To use digital papers and a digital image

So, I have used, a quickie digital card by the lovely Kirsty Wiseman - really really easy to use - simply print it out, cut it up and stick it on! Everything you see, with exception to the ribbon, wire and birdies is from the download. The two little birdies are from the Polkadoodles Candy Doodles cd and I've simply added a little bit of glitter (well, a great big blob of glitter to be honest as it came out rather fast!) to their wings.

Great simple card!

• Backing paper & elements: Kirsty Wiseman
• Birdies: Candy Doodles
• Everything else: From my stash
  
  

Get Funky! Challenge 2 - Two Little Boys

Is it really September already?! The year has flown by and September is always a busy month for me as both boys have their Birthdays in the first two weeks. And this year is even more special as I am the Guest Designer for September on Get Funky! challenge blog!

So, in honour of Samuel and Jacob's birthdays, I set the challenge which is:

Two Little Boys

Both my boys have their Birthdays in September - Jacob will be 4 and Samuel will be 6.

So my challenge is to make a boy themed card, layout, project or what ever you fancy as long as it is aimed at a boy and uses a Funky Hand paper or extra.

For Samuel's card I have used papers from It's Funky Too. I used a football template from an old issue of Papercraft Inspirations and cut the white parts from hammered white card and then layered it over the black card. A bit of chalking and light doodling and it looks like a football! I've inked the edges of all the papers before doodling a fine outline on them.


Samuel's name has been cut from black card and I've dotted the edges of the letters with white gel pen - the alphabet is Sizzix Round-a-Bout. Not sure if you can see, but the silver card has been embossed with a Cuttlebug folder - I think it is the brick one (well, I don't keep the packaging and the name of it is on that!) Samuel really enjoys football, however his school trousers and shoes disagree and I'm hoping that Year 1 will be kinder on his uniform than Reception year!

For Jacob's card I used Now That's Funky. I'd already printed the papers off a while ago as I had the idea of making a robot, however, I made a slight error and stuck the backing paper to the card blank and then realised that the robot was going to be a little bigger than it should be! I've used a corner rounder for all the edges and layered the printed papers onto some shiny silver card (made it a bit more robotic!) Basically, I made it up as I went along, adding bits of wire here and there and punching silver circles with a hole punch.

I used Pritt Gel glue for the wire as it sticks anything I've ever tried and dries virtually clear (unless you dollop the glue too much). Of course the robot had to have wobbly eyes, and is it me, or does he look a bit scared?!

The tiny nuts came from the Scrap Store a while ago and are perfect for little projects like this.

And because I'd made the robot a little too large for the card, I decided to give him jointed legs so I've used some silver jump rings. The lower part of the legs I went a bit flashy and made them concertina style but the silver card was having none of it so they just got stuck on as they are now.

Hope you liked my cards and pop over to the Challenge blog for more details on how to enter and to see the rest of the Design Team's creations - you won't be disappointed! Don't forget, you have the whole of September to enter - as long as you've linked your creation back to the challenge post before the end of the month, you stand a chance of winning a £20 gift voucher to be spent on Funky Hand products!

Good luck and I look forward to visiting you to see how you've interpreted my challenge!

• Backing papers: It's Funky Too and Now That's Funky
• Template: Football from Papercraft Inspirations
• Dies: Sizzix Round-a-Bout alphabet set and Cuttlebug embossing die (I think bricks)
• Tiny nuts: From the scrap store
• Everything else: From my stash
  
  
  

Crafty Downloads - September Challenge - Sports & Leisure

It's a new month and a new challenge over on Crafty Downloads! For September, the challenge is:

Sports and Leisure

It's really easy to enter the Crafty Downloads monthly challenges - you simply follow the theme and use a Crafty Download image (you can find one here for free!) and anything else you want! The challenge is also open for a month, so plenty of time to get creating! To enter, leave a comment on the relevant post on the challenge blog and I can then pop by and visit you to see your creations!

My only dilemma this month was which image to use! In the end I decided on Soccer Star Thomas as I had just printed off the perfect backing papers for a little boy! The papers have been designed by Funky Hand for Craft4Charity (Boys and Girls collection) - you can only buy the cd from the charity. Lots of other designers contributed but I do like the Funky Hand papers!

I've simply layered up the papers (printed off to A5 size), inked and then doodled a border around the edges. The sentiment is handwritten. Thomas has been coloured with watercolour pencils and he was a joy to colour - really easy! I do like it when a card is easy to make!

Hope you can join in with the September challenge - would love to see your creations!

• Backing papers: Boys and Girls Craft4Charity collection by Funky Hand
• Image: Soccer Star Thomas from Crafty Downloads, coloured with watercolour pencils
• Sentiment: Handwritten