Copic blog candy

The lovely Karen of 'Charmed cards and Crafts is giving away a second set of Copics-it doesn't get better than this!

Karen's blog 'Crafty goings on' is always worth a visit-she's really talented and nice too, so a great place to pop by.

Not long to go on the Copic candy-so hurry. Having said that, maybe take a v..e...r..y....s....l....o....w..d..a..u..d..l..e.. over there perhaps next week sometime, even the week afetr????

Oh-can't be mean-ends 9th August so go NOW!

Apologies, a winner and a special birthday

I'm back. Sorry about going missing. It was a combination of me not being very well and blogger not being very well. We both seem to be Ok now so let's get on!

First of all a winner for the blog candy. As promised, I put all the entrants into a hat as no idea how to do the random number thingie. Basil cat then chose the winner (he loves bits of paper)-photos to follow when camera battery re-charged (why do camera batteries run out just when you need them most?).

So..da..da..de..da...da...da..

The Winner is:

Me

who said:

'Hi,Just popped by to congratualte you on being a clever clogs lol and thank you for your kind words.You were spot on about the band and title. I think your going to be good at this. Will be doing a few more.Lovley blog candy by the way x'

Me is Emma so congratulations and thanks for entering. I'll email you too so if you can send me your address I'll get your new goodies off to you asap. It's been very exciting having entries from all sorts of places in the world-thanks everyone.

The card by the way is a birthday card for my Great Aunt, always known as Auntie Else. Auntie Else means the world to me but sadly is in a care home with a form of dementia and general old age problems. It's her birthday on Saturday 30th May and as Auntie Else always likes to say, she's as old as the Queen! We honestly never thought she'd be here for this birthday as things have been really bad several times.

I had to make the card early as I need to post the card to my auntie Julie who will then be able to take it to Auntie Else on her birthday. It's highly likely Auntie Else won't remember who I am but hopefully she'll like the card anyway. She does remember who I am sometimes as my Auntie Angie (who along with Julie have taken wonderful care of Auntie Else over the years) has said that she's mentioned me and asked Auntie Else if she knows who I am and Auntie Else will say yes.That always makes me cry!

So, hopefully Auntie Else will like the card-I made it bold as her eyesight isn't very good-that's why the sentiment is so large too. The card itself is large too-A5 so she can hold it better and so the details on it can be big. I've 3d'd the roses and put some Stickle and gems on them so hopefully she'll be able to see it Ok and like it which is the main thing of course.


Ingredients:
Stampin Up stamp set 'Roses in Winter'
Stampin Up ink pads -'Pale Plum' and 'Perfect Plum'
Stampin Up ink pad 'Certainly Celery'
Stampin Up card 'Pale Plum' and 'Perfect Plum'
Stampin Up card 'Whisper White'
Stampin Up white taffetta ribbon
Stickels
Gems & Pearls-Kanban
Sentiment Computer generated

Quick!

Just a quickie-winners of blog candy to be announced shortly.

Shimmerz paints are re-launching on May 20th 2009 and they have some fab blog candy. You need to be quick as it closes today at 11.69 Mountain time (no idea when that is guys sorry so just hurry)!

http://shimmerzpaints.blogspot.com/2009/05/spritz-is-back-win-some.html?commentPage=2

It's a fab blog-with loads of info about the Shimmerz range which believe you me will be the talk of blogland very soon and on all our blogs if I know us crafters!

So quick-you can win some fab goodies and see what the new must have is!

Are you ready for The Next Level

Wow, this is exciting! My absolute favourite cardmaker Ann otherwise known as 'Madgesty' has joined up with the amazing Dawn 'All Pink Girl' to form a new challenge blog.There's masses of challenge blogs out there, but this promises to be something different-a fresh approach to challenge blogs with information and advice as well as challenges!

It all starts soon and to celebrate the launch there's some fab blog candy to be won on their new blog The Next Level.

It promises to be amazing, with all sorts of tips and information on offer including some digital work. As the challenge blog isn't linked to any specific brand it's undoubtedly one of the most realistic challenge blogs-after all most of us use bits from all sorts of manufacturers.

Ann uses lots of digital papers and makes the most breathtakingly gorgeous cards ever. I can't wait to see what tips she has to offer. If you're unfamiliar with her work (shame on you!) head over to her blog which is on my sidebar or here!

You must go and see her cards-she really is worthy of her title 'Madgesty' though that relates to her not carrying money but it should also relate to her being the Queen of cardmaking! Dawn's skills are legendary-this is an incredible team.

Right, I'll stop gushing now...head over to the Next Level and see what's going on-I am absolutely certain you won't regret it. Dawn and Ann are real Masters at this crafting game-I'm so excited about this!

Launch day is the 1st June 2009 but if you want to know more now (and who wouldn't) and/or want to check out the blog candy get over there asap!

Finally some blog candy!

I've been thinking about doing some blog candy for a while but struggling with what to offer as a prize. Blogging has made such a difference to my life, I've met some genuinely wonderful people and my cardmaking and confidence has come on leaps and bounds.

I confess to being a bit susceptible to 'blog envy' but was shocked when I realised I also suffer from 'blog candy envy'!!

I have done my best to offer some rather humble blog candy and though it does not contain every single Copic available (nor even one of them!), nor a years supply of Basic Grey paper nor even a days crafting with Tim Holtz, I hope that nonetheless at least one person fancies winning it for the sake of my pride at least!!!

As my photography is notoriously poor I'd better translate! Basically it's some ribbons and lace, a pack of paper flowers, some Anna Griffin stickers-one sheet of flowers and two sheets of alphabets-with Upper and Lower case, a pack of pearlised square card blanks and envelopes, a few bits of Maya Road chipboard in paisley and key shapes,a sealed Memories ink pad in 'Port Red', some 'Strawberry Ice' Ice Stickles, a roll of American Crafts ribbon and a chipboard mini book with heart designs. Sorry it's not the most exciting but I've tried to get some nice bits with a bit of variety.

As I believe blog candy to be a gift and gifts should be freely given there's no jumping through hoops involved here! Just add a comment below and if you could mention it on your blog just in case someone else might fancy winning it too, that would be great!I won't be checking up on you but I will pop over and visit-I LOVE bloghopping!

If you don't have a blog that's fine though I still can't work out how to add a 'contact me' button nor do I know if merely adding a comment will provide enough information for me to track you down again should you win. I will try and sort out a contact me button as the more the merrier!

I'll ship anywhere (with a bit of help from Royal Mail) though preferably not to a space station though as I fear the P+P would be a bit pricey!

I'll draw a name out of the hat (and it will be a hat as not tecky enough to figure out the random number thingie) and post the winner's name on here. I will also contact the winner directly-the winner's the winner and you won't lose the prize by not contacting me within 24hrs or whatever-oh I'm such an anarchist aren't I with no rules!

The blog candy will close at 12.00 midnight on 18th May 2009-a week from now. I'll post the winners name the next day.

Assuming at least one person enters and I'm not left sobbing and feeling a bit 'Jennie no mates' I'll try and do a bit more blog candy now and again. There's no way of ever adequately thanking those who have specifically made such a difference to my life but they know who they are.

Right, off to blog hop a bit more....!Good luck.

A Passion for Papertrey challenge :Recycle

I've been utterly useless and missed a week (sorry girls) but here's my attempt at the latest challenge on 'A Passion for Papertrey' which this week is 'recycle'. This means using a spare button off a top, or a tag off something new or even as Steph has done, using household items.

I've used a ribbon from a Molton Brown gift box which is a really thick grosgrain masquerading as chocolate chip! I didn't have enough to tie a bow so knotted it instead. I forgot to take a photo of the ribbon before I stuck in on the card so here's the leftover bits anyway! The writing is on the back of the ribbon on the card!




I haven't got the right raspberry coloured Copic which is a bit annoying and I have thought and thought and still can't figure out how to colour in the bottom of the glass sundae bowl. None of the colours I have look right so I've left it rather regretfully...

Good luck everyone-can't wait to see what everyone's used and recycled.Oh by the way the 'yum' doesn't relate to the ice cream sundae...nope..I mean 'yum' Raspberry Fizz!!!!

Ingredients:
Papertrey white card
Papertrey Raspberry Fizz paper
Stampin Up stamp set 'Sweet Treats'
Stampin Up Barely banana and Chocolate Chip card
K & co rub on alphabet
Copics
Sharpie in red
Fuschia Pink Stazon ink pad
Gems from stash
Small round punch
Molton Brown ribbon-recycled

The loveliest dress in the world..?

(Stupid, annoying, horrible, mean..OK you get it-BLOGGER is messing me about AGAIN! Sorry about the sore necks-I have a sore head from trying to mend it believe me and if I don't 'step away from the PC now' I will probably kill it. Sorry.)

Not long after I first started making cards I saw a card in a magazine that I absolutely loved. The card featured this gorgeous dress stamp (though it wasn't identified makerwise) and it was just wonderful. rather helpfully, the name in the magazine matched someone on a forum I visited. I PM'd the lady in question and gushed about her card (alot) before asking her if she'd mind giving me the details of the stamp as I had to have it!

As is prone to happening in this very kind craft world of ours, the lady offered to send me some stamped images. This is one of those images. I still don't have the stamp (though still am desperate for it) and I've never used the images as I still feel so intimidated by the memory of this lady's amazing card all that time ago.

Last night I decided to use the image and to make the prettiest card I possibly could in an attempt to show the beautiful image in all it's glory. I didn't dare use my Copics on it as didn't think the ink would handle it (and anyway Copics would be too bright for this card) and was cautious with watercolours though to my relief it turned out OK.



I wanted a soft, delicate effect; essentially I wanted to create the sort of card you could imagine finding in an old shoe box wrapped in tissue paper at the back of your Granny's wardrobe.





I've never used vellum in this way but desperately wanted it to work so as to truly soften the effect of the image. I had to use the gems as the vellum needs to lie flat in order to see the dress image clearly and couldn't see another way of making the vellum lie flat. Pleading and begging didn't seem to work! I think the gems are OK but it was scary as I kept having to add more to keep the vellum flat and I thought I'd ruin the card...hope I haven't.




I received my new Fiskars border punch in the post yesterday so perfect timing.I'd ordered it a while ago but the shop's been really busy so it's been delayed a bit. To me, it's perfect for this card and I'm really chuffed with it though another craft shop did tell me it could be used on card and thus it was nearly killed within 5 minutes of entering the house when I tried it out on SU card! The moral to this tale-NOPE, not even the new Fiskars punches work on card.

Anyway-hope you like it...

Ingredients:

Stamped image

Stampin Up Pretty in Pink card, ink & taffeta ribbon

Stampin Up designer paper

Fiskars 'Lacy days of Summer' border punch

Sentiment stamp from Anna Griffin

Vellum from stash

Gems c/o Steph

Pearls from Stampin Up

Lace from Scandanaivian shop in my town

Paper flowers from craft shop

Pin, beads etc handmade by me!