Sketches & Challenges

Just a little foghorn for my fellow Funky Hand DT mate Carol who has launched a brand new sketches and challenge blog where she will not only be setting sketch challenges (my favourite!) but also sharing templates and ideas. Have a look here.

What a good idea eh?

So pop over, say hello and become a follower!! And tell her I sent you!

PS - It launches on Wednesday 3 June at 9am and a new challenge will be set every two weeks!

WIP - The Last of the Place Cards

Now, with a bit of luck, this shall be the last of the Wedding Place Cards that I have to make for some time! I made 105 of these, and now have just completed 101 of the ones below. The Place Cards will complement the Wedding Invitations and the Evening Invitations and are for the August Wedding.



And even though I bought 91 metres of the 16mm brown satin ribbon from Ribbon Oasis, I ran out! So have just bought some more - fantastic service and a lovely pouch of freebie ribbon too - thank you Ribbon Oasis!


So, what is left to do for the July Wedding? I need to complete the four Bridesmaid Thank You cards (virtually completed) and then make 100 Order of Service and then the Table Plan. Should keep me out of mischief for a while eh?!

Polkadoodle Challenge #2 - Sketch

It's challenge two on Polkadoodles Challenge Blog - and here is some (I hope!) inspiration for you! This week it is another fab sketch. Sorry the pic is a little small - hop over to the blog and it should be there too. And once again, you can use what ever stash you like as long as the basics of the sketch is followed.

The entries for the first week were stunning and we were totally overwhelmed by the popularity of our launch - so thank you to all those who left encouraging messages and submitted a card based upon the sketch. The top three entries will each get a special little blinkie to wear with pride on their blog!

As part of the Design Team, I get to work with Nikky's fab papers. Which, I understand are due to be released soon on a cd so you too can drool at them!

I decided to make a card for one of my cousins who is moving house (should be right about now I think!) and I thought the birdies looked so cute and fitted perfectly!

Everything, with exception to the dark blue card, ribbon and buttons are from the Sugar Birdies collection.


The flowers have been carefully cut out, edges inked and then slightly ruffled. The sentiment backer has had the same ruffled treatment and the little letters have been added with 3d foam pads. The letters actually were a lot bigger but I reduced the size down so I could print 4 copies onto a sheet of A4 - great if you need smaller letters!

The image was pre-coloured and I simply cut it down to fit the card and then glittered the birdies wings and the little dangly hearts.

Better remember to post the card to her now!

Hope you can join in on the Polkadoodles second challenge - click here for more details!

Good luck!

• All backing papers and image: Sugar Birdies cd - to be released soon (honest!)
• Ribbon & buttons: From my stash

More Blog Candy!

More Blog Candy from me!


In celebration of becoming part of the very fab Polkadoodle Design Team (thank you Nikky!), reaching 50 followers (am I really that interesting?!) and also to celebrate my 500th post (yeah, I talk too much!), I am offering some more Blog Candy!


Actually, I am a little out in my timing for the celebration as at the time of writing, I've been on the DT for 2 weeks, I have 53 followers and over 500 posts....




Anyway! Everything is included in the picture and in detail:

• 6 x 6 Dovecraft Kitten Heels paper pack
• 6 x6" Papermania Amethyst paper pack
• 8 x 8" Papermania Rich Blues paper pack
• 3 x sheets of Forever Friends Christmas stickers
• 4 12 x 12" sheets of blue textured thick paper
• 2 A4 sheets of dense green vellum with a hint of gold running through
• 1 A4 sheet of golden sparkly vellum
• 1 A4 sheet of translucent / clear vellum
• 12 5 x 5" (approx) pieces of thick pearlescent card (2 copper, 2 silver, 2 pale pink, 2 fuchsia pink, 2 bright blue, 2 lilac)
• Some small pieces of glittered lilac card ideal for layering
• 3 x Studio G acrylic stamp sets (2 Christmas themed, 1 Spring themed)
• 1 x Dovecraft Snag 'em Duo Stamps (Fairy)
• 1 x Dovecraft 'Blast Off' wooden stamp
• And a selection of stamped images (not shown)

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to leave a comment on this post no later than midday GMT on 12 June. For a second chance, link me up in your sidebar or on your blog. The winner will be announced on 13 June and I will ship worldwide.

Good luck!

The Tooth Fairy

I know that this will be the first of many. I reckon a further 21 from Samuel and then 22 from Jacob. That's if I've done my sums right. So at a £1 a tooth that will set us back £44 over a period of about 8ish years.

The tooth started to be wobbly in the car on the way to Ilfracombe a week last Saturday. And this morning I got a phone call from Samuel whilst I was at work to tell me, quite proudly, that it has come out! And does he have to think of what coin he wants?!

Yeah, think of a penny.

So here are some pics of the gap


(He is not normally a sweaty and hot child - he'd just got out of the bath)

And to show just how tiny the tooth is - I've taken a fuzzy photo of it next to a penny coin.

I've put the tooth in a small grip seal bag so at least we have a slight chance of finding it under his pillow.

Just one problem. We only have 80p. Will have to see what I can find......

PS - His first tooth appeared during his first week at nursery at the end of February 2004 when he was five and a half months old. I didn't even know until it was pointed out to me as he didn't suffer from teething. Hope he doesn't with his big teeth either.

28 May - PPS - Forgot to let him put it under his pillow so Tooth Fairy didn't appear. Nothing to do with only having 80p. Of course. Better luck tonight eh?!

What I Sent - Silkie Sue Swop

And here is what I sent to Nicola as part of the Silkie Sue Freestyle Swop.

I made a set of generic notelets and matching thank you cards. All backing papers are from the Patti Picklicious cd and I've used some lovely cream felt card.

I rounded all the edges and inked them with the exception of the dotty cards which have not been inked, but I've lightly doodled around the edges. The titchy alphas are also from the cd.

And its really surprising that I had ribbon to match each colour collection that I used!

On the dotty thank you's, I've added two rows of silver seed beads for a little bit of texture and a focal point.

And below, I've made the sentiment from the titchy alphas.

On the more ornate backing designs, I've used ribbon and pearl headed pins - two different sizes of pins with seed beads.

The co-ordinating colours both print onto one A4 sheet and as I only used an almost A6 size for each panel, I have some left overs. But not for all as made a few schoolgirl mistakes (like inking the wrong bits with the wrong ink....)

I've some sympathy cards to make and I feel that the more ornate papers are suitable and probably will use the pins, beads and ribbon too.

Oh how I like this cd!!

And I hope Nicola likes them too!!

I Am So Lucky!

Following on from my recent WIP post earlier in the month (part of the Silkie Sue Freestyle Blog Swop), my parcel arrived whilst I was on holiday. I managed not to open it immediately, but waited until I had unpacked and loaded the washing machine three times and put the boys to bed. Then I sat down and carefully unwrapped my bubble envelope.

I knew that my swop partner was Nicola from Murano Silver and we had exchanged a few emails discussing what to make for each other. I'd supplied my wrist measurements (they are skinny as you will see further down!) and more or less left it up to Nicola to create!

So you can imagine my excitement when I realised there were two packages within the envelope. I opened the ivory organza bag first - the item was carefully wrapped in pink tissue paper.



This is what I opened.

A beautiful and stunning silver bangle (which yes, I can get on without taking my hand off!) and the most wonderful little dangly thing (sorry, don't know the technical name!) with a turquoise like stone in the middle.

After admiring it on my wrist for about 15 mins, I decided to open the box. On the back of the business card, Nicola had written a little note - "Just in case you didn't like the bangle". No, you are right, I don't like it - I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

And inside was a multi coloured charm like bracelet with all different coloured blocks of (I'm guessing) acrylic or glass of which the pattern runs end to end - the other sides show a single colour. This also fits perfectly on the skinny wrists.

And also this funky ring! Again, fits perfectly!

And I didn't realise until I was packing everything back up that there was another layer to the box and inside was this matching pendant necklace:

I am totally stunned by Nicola's generosity and the beautiful workmanship. And I cannot thank you enough. I've never had any jewellery made for me before (well, except for my Wedding ring as it needed to be shaped to sit next to my Engagement ring) so this makes it all the more special.

I've got two Weddings to go to this summer so will be wearing it all to both! And same frock heheheh!

Thank you again Nicola - you really made my day!

And if you like what you see - go and visit her website - she gladly takes commissions!!

I'll share soon what I sent Nicola as I was really pleased how they turned out!

Holiday

Well we are back, and if Mr Blogger is playing nicely, I shall be able to show you a few photos from the holiday!!

On the way to Ilfracombe we stopped off at Slimbridge so the boys could have a run around, plus it was not much of a detour for us. We set off back on our way only to find that all the traffic was at a standstill and telephone wires and such like were being taken down. We then realised that a large load was coming our way. And this is it:

Yes, that is a Micra and a Transit Van, dwarfed by the big things (we didn't actually know what they were!)

Watermouth Castle was once again (for the third year!) wonderful! The boys enjoyed all the rides and the times in the pool (virtually twice a day every day!) And the weather was not too bad - it did pour down a few times in the morning but by early afternoon, the sun came out. The rainbow photo is taken from our apartment window, looking out over Watermouth Bay.

The gardens were as well kept and beautiful as ever.

So onto the black eyes. Jacob fell onto a ride on car when in a play room and caught the corner of his eye. This was Monday evening - and the ice cream photo was taken Tuesday afternoon. Nice big black eye!

Then Wednesday evening when in the pool, he needed to go to the toilet, which is situated just outside the pool in its own enclosed cubical. However the floor was tiled and wet, and I just didn't manage to catch him before his head connected with the toilet bowl.


So cut above the eye and a bigger black eye than before. Fortunately it was the same eye, otherwise he'd have looked a right mess! Any other discolouring you see around nose and mouth area is purely food or snot related!

We visited Exmoor Zoo again for the day and met the Alpaca and fed the Wallabies. And I must say that the sandwiches in the cafe were freshly made and were excellent!




Thursday afternoon was really warm, and kids plus water equals water fights and getting soaking! So Batman and Superman along with their new friend Ben (he was in the apartment next to us and a similar age to Samuel, so they got on really well) got soaked! Luckily we are only a 2 minute walk back up the path so they didn't have to stay wet for ages!
No holiday is complete without a visit to a beach. On Friday we went to Hele which is just between the Castle and Ilfracombe. The beach is quite rocky and not at all sandy, but armed with spades, buckets and fishing nets (the boys were adamant they were going to catch some fish) we spent a few hours exploring. And digging. And finding two dead crabs and a dead jellyfish.
For the more observant of you, yes this crab is upside down. The right way looked boring!

And Jacob loved the pool this year and managed to do quite a bit of swimming whilst ordering us around. If I manage it, I'll add a video of Jacob jumping into the pool. That's if technology lets me....

And Boo Bear from nursery came with us again. Great. Cos its me that has to write its diary every day.....

So that was our holiday! I think we will be going again next year!

Fancy A Challenge?

A Polkadoodle Challenge?!

Then click here to be taken to the first Polkadoodle Challenge and to kick it off, a fab sketch! And there is a mega load of goodies to be won - £80 worth!!! Now you've just got to try it!!

Good luck!

I'm Back!

Just a little one to let you know that we have arrived safely back home (a little later than anticipated due to M6 closures, traffic and stupid sat nav (not me this time hehehe!)) So, will get all the photos uploaded onto the pc and then will share the highlights.

Highlights include 2 black eyes, lots of blood, lots of water, new friends and Wallabies.

That should keep you in suspenders eh?!!

Coffee Anyone?

This is the last sample I made for the launch of Funky Word Books - this is using Coffee Anyone? collection. I've individually cut out all the letters and added them to acetate pages - so a word book with a bit of a twist! It still opens like a conventional word book but the letters stand out more.

Flowers cut from a Cuttlebug flowers die with added card candy. Ribbon from my stash.

Hope you have liked seeing my samples - the cd is fantastic, which is what you would expect from Anice, but its great seeing all the different collections and the word books that you can make with them! The best bit is that each collection has numbers 1 to 9 so you can now make number word books or use them as card templates. So, why don't you give your imagination some fantastic papers - go and buy!!

Buttons, Glorious Buttons!

This will be a post of few words so that the loveliness of these buttons will not be spoiled!

All are vintage and are sold as colour themed or as sets. You can buy them here and last time I checked these were still available and more had been added!

And if you do buy - mention you came from me!

Funky Flower

Another card made with For The Lads colour collection on the new Funky Hand cd Funky Word Books.


Quite easily made - I used a compass for the circles, roughly ripped the shape, feathered the edges and then inked them. Then layered up the flowers and added the wire embellishments and the button to hide what was underneath!


The curled paper was easy to do - cut thin strips and then wind them around a pencil or something thinner. The 'beads' on the wire were made by shaping some offcuts and then wrapping them again arounda pencil with the end glued.

The stems have been stamped with an acrylic Studio G stamp which is really for ornate corners but I picked the stamps that looked more like stems and just layered them up.

So go and buy your copy of Funky Word Books - its been on sale 5 days!!

By the time you read this, and if Mr Blogger is playing, I shall be on my holidays! I have a few posts scheduled for whilst I am away, but I shall be back on Sunday 24 May with hopefully, some holiday photos to share!

Polkadoodle!

Knock me over with a feather! I am part of a brand new weekly challege blog called Polkadoodle and it launches on 22 May!

There are some very talented ladies on the Design Team - just look at this line up!

Jozza

Enfys

Kirsty Wiseman

LuLu

Krista

Saskia

Vanessa

Lakul

Maggie

Michelle

Sue

I am touched and proud to be part of such a talented bunch of ladies!

So watch out for the first challenge on 22 May! I won't be able to take part in this one due to holidays but I will be there for the second one!

Well, Hello Dolly!!

Sorry - just could not resist! But this is a big

WELCOME

to the newest Funky Hand Design Team member Dolly!!

Go and check out her blog - stunning work and I have a feeling she will fit it with the rest of the mad team!

There were lots of excellent entries and I know Anice had a very hard time choosing - not something I would have liked to do. Commiserations to those who were not successful, but thank you for wanting to be part of a wonderful and supportive team - it means a lot to us!

Christmas Cards All Year Round - May Challenge

Yep, its the dreaded C word in May!! But it really is quite nice to make Christmas cards all year 'round! The Challenge this month is to:

Use Flowers on Your Christmas Cards

And here are my 5. Very much influenced and inspired by the design team creations so thank you ladies!

You'll have to excuse the dodgy photos - I have had a very hectic week (hence lack of posts) with a lot of meetings and travelling and have been shattered, so I've not managed any challenges so far this week, although there is still tonight and tomorrow night to make amends! We, as a family, go on holiday on Saturday for a week, so in between trying to write a diary for a giraffe called Buttons, (that's another story!) work full time, get everything washed and packed and try and do some challenges, something has to give, and I'm afraid it is the challenges.

Anyway, all the papers used are from the Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection (8 x 8 papers) and the brads are from the same collection. The flowers are generally from the lot Jozza gave me a while ago (not got many left now!) plus I've enhanced them with either folded red raffia, cut red raffia or white gift ribbon. Card candy from Craftwork cards and the sentiment is a Studio G acrylic stamp which I have coloured in with a black pen.

• Backing papers : Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho 8 x 8 collection
• Brads: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection
• Flowers: Mostly from Jozza
• Enhanced bits around the flowers: From my stash
• Sentiment: Acrylic Studio G stamp
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards