A bit under the weather!

Stamps: Lizzie Anne Design's Gettin' Hitched & Just Words

Ink: SU Markers & Basic Black

Cardstock: Bazzill Bling scraps! (aren't I a good girl!) the white is SU Whisper White

Tools: Marvy Mega Scallop Oval Punch & Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl

Embellishments: Buttons from Making Memories Embellishment Jar

I made this card a few days ago when I was feeling happy and well. Since Thursday afternoon I have been getting poorlier and poorlier :( I ended up with the flu! Which I don't think I have ever had before - well lets just say I have never in my life (apart from when I had sunstroke maybe) felt this ill before . I had a fever of over 104 and back pain like I was in labor!!!! Anyway I feel a bit better now but I am trying to rest. Of course this is the weekend that my husband decides he wants to paint all the cabinets in the kitchen! Hahaha!

Swirly Friends!

Stamps: Lizzie Anne Design's So Swirly & Simply Sentiments

Cardstock: Red with pink envelopes

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black & Moonlight White

Embellishments: Making Memories Embellishment jar, Doodlebug paper ribbon, Stampendous geo shapes, Satin Pearl emboss powder & Etched Elegance Pewter by Imaginisce oh and also Pebbles Shimmer Chalks

How can such a simple card contain so many parts??? I started to list what I had used and am shocked at how many items were actually used!!! I thought I would try embossing straight onto the pewter and I quite like how it turned out :) I lightened up the swirls with white chalk. I am off to take my girls to the park, it's a lovely springy day and I can no longer stare at in from inside! I'm sending good sunny vibes your way so that you may receive a little sunshine too :D

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge

Stamps: Lizzie Anne Sketched Sentiments and Floral Frenzy

Cardstock: Pink with red envelopes & Basic Grey Gypsy

Ink: Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson (YUM!)

Embellishments: SU Ribbon & M&MBI Icons (bling)

I wanted my ribbon to punch and knock you over...I think I acheived this!! Hahaha! This was made for the Lizzie Anne Design challenge this week. Meridith (Anne) had a FAB idea of stamping extra lovelyness onto the patterened paper so I gave it a go and my oh my it's nerve-racking! Especially because this was my only piece of this gorgeous cardstock! I have been wanting to use my 'YOU ROCK" stamp for a while so I am VERY happy that I have finally used it :) I hope the sun is shining wherever you are, it is a little chilly here but the sun makes ALL the difference!

NEW PRODUCTS COMING SOON!

I LOVE SHOPPING!!!!! I had SO much fun shopping at CHA. I had an idea of what I would like to find before I went which helped a little but it was hard not to get TOO overly excited! I started with Paper. I knew I needed something that could be used in making cards. Of course I headed straight to Basic Grey and was handed a colour coded wrist band with a number on it too which they told me would be the order in which the orders would be shipped which told me that they were planning on have a LOT of orders and sure thing they were busy non-stop. I remembered Meridith (Anne of Lizzie Anne) mentioning how much she LOVED Cosmo Cricket so I took a look and completely fell in love! Their Cogsmo paper alone got me hooked! My new friend Joslyn took a photo of me making my very first purchase. I can't wait for it all to arrive :D I also wanted to stock some nice markers and whenever you ask "wow what beautiful colouring in, what did they use?" the reply would come back "Copics" so I ventured over to see them and who should we bump into but Debbie Olson of Thinking Inking. She is SO nice and took the time to show me the benifits of the markers and how to use them. HOOKED! I also bought from Spellbinder - their new Nestability tags and rectangles along with a few of their other items. But my biggest purchase HAD to be RIBBON! I just couldn't stop myself. I actually took Joslyn, Meridith and Tricia to see which ones they liked best (as we all have different tastes) and after making purchases at 3 places I had to tell myself NO MORE! I'm excited to start selling it though, it means I get to play with it too ;) The one other place I ordered from was all about the glitter, Glitter spray and also a fantastic glue pad by Palette - I was sceptical about this at first but after seeing the demo I was convinced that this is what I needed. NEEDED. I'm still in a bit of a trance from lack of sleep!

I'M HOME!

I'm exhausted!!! Not only did we work VERY hard we played extremely hard too :D Here we are on our first day. This is after practically 2 crazy days at Disney!!! So before the day even started our feet were crying!!! The booth turned out beautifully. We gave out a LOT of Catalogues too. VERY exciting! Joslyn and I walked around the show floor to see what was new and a 'MUST' have. CHA is HUGE! Very easy to get lost. I made some purchases for my store which I am excited to tell you about later (SOON!).

Erm...Soarin 7 times in a row baby!!!! Yes you read it right. We went to a CHA dinner dance at California Adventure Tuesday night and we got to ride Soarin exclusively for 2 whole hours, I dare say we made the most of it! 3 times in a row we were able to stay on - IN THE FROM ROW! I love Disney! We really needed it too, we needed to de-stress and this was PERFECT!

I think we were all in agreement that Space mountain was one of our favourites. We waited about 30 mins, what a fantastic ride. When the ride had finished I said "AGAIN AGAIN" and guess what...they got a bit muddled and ended up sending us again! Hows about that for positive thinking!!! We were SO happy we were cheering SO loud! When the ride finished again I thought I would try my luck again but alas it only works one time! But then later that day (at least I think it was the same day) we got in the loooong line to ride Splash Mountain and got chatting to one of the cast members and he gave us a group fast pass!!! How fabulous is that!!! What great luck we were having! We had a LOT LOT LOT of fun. Disney at night is beautiful.

I have some fabulous items that I had purchased before I went to CHA which I will get in my store some time today. Yes I caved and now sell the Crop-a-dile and also some of the Making Memories tools, the new set ;) I will tell you soon about my new purchases too...SO exciting. But first I think I need to have a cup of tea and maybe take a little nap. We haven't stopped for 7 days!!!

Fun to be Floral!

Stamps: LAD Fun to be Floral

Cardstock: Bazzill Bling & SU

Ink: SU Choc Chip

Embellishments: Button from MM Embellishment Jar (from Tricia's jar actually ;))

So I have been trying to make a few masculine cards lately and it's HARD!!! Even this one still has PINK on it hahaha! Well I fly to California with Tricia (Lizzie) today and I am SO excited :D

This is the longest time I have ever been away from my girls! I know they will have fun with their Daddy though and I will be kept very busy either working hard at CHA or playing hard at Disney ;) I am hoping that I come back with some new fabulous goodies for my store! I will share my findings when I get back. My Husband will be controlling my business for this week so wish him luck! He's already such a busy man I hope he manages to juggle it all! I'll be back Valentine's Day :D

Swirl Swirl Swirl

Stamps: LAD So Swirly & Simply Sentiments

Cardstock: Red cards & Envelopes set & Basic Grey 6x6 Gypsy pad

Ink: SU Basic Black

Embellishments: Making Memories Love Story Ribbon & flower from Embellishment jar. Fancy Pants Pin and the blue flowers I have had for a while and cannot remember where from!

A very basic card for me! I'm still wondering if it needed a little more to it. Hmmm, I'll have to think about that one! Hope you are all having a nice Tuesday. Todays my day to help out at my daughters' schools. I bet I have a mountain of Math to mark!!!

So very Swirly!

Stamps: LAD So Swirly & L'Amour

Cardstock: Deep red card & Envelope set, Bazzill Bling Black tie

Ink: SU Basic Black & Brilliance Starlite Silver

Embellishments: Doodlebug Paper ribbons, Making Memories Flowers from Ava Embellishment Jar. Heidi Swapp Bling

So so VERY Swirly! I wanted this background stamp set to take center stage and I think I managed it :) Whilst I was making this card my daughters (now 6 & 8 years old) wanted to play outside with their friend. Hmmm, they wanted to play on the bridge at the bottom of our road. I said yes (reluctantly) because I know I need to let them explore and be kids but it's hard to let go when you hear so many horrible stories on the news! My heart was in my throat until they came safely home - PHEW! Silly me!

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge

Stamps: LAD In the Treetop & Celebrations Sayings

Cardstock: Red/Pink card & envelope set, Bazzill Bling Black Tie, SU Whisper White & Bordering Blue (I think!)

Ink: SU Basic Black

Embellishments: Making Memories Love Story Ribbon, Sweets

& Mini Brad Value Pack

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge for this week is this layout but you had to make it a masculine Valentine card...I don't do masculine normally so this really WAS a challenge for me! I like how it turned out though :) I love love LOVE that ribbon! Not sure if it's really masculine though! But I tried!

Punch Storage Solution

FINALLY! I have my punches off of my desk! I Googled 'Craft Punch Storage' and came across the idea of using towel rails!! BRILLIANT! Only one problem, I only had about 16" to play with and most are 21"w or bigger. Anyway I found some smaller ones at Ikea (link to product) and guess what! They were only $4.99 AND they came with a shelf and some extra bits too - a cool idea AND a bargain, I was in heaven! So as you can see I have my punches on the towel rails and of course I made sure I had room for more ;) The Shelves are on the right near the window and are doing a fabulous job of holding all my everyday goodies. This all started because I wanted to get at my Cricut and it was always buried under stuff but now it has pride of place but is not in the way because it is sat on top of a shelf which is normally used at the back of your kitchen sink! Genius! Anyway, just thought I would share.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Stamps: LAD Once Upon a Time & So Swirly

Cardstock: Bazzill Smoothies

Ink: SU Forest Foliage & Basic Black

Embellishments: Ribbon - May Arts & Heidi Swap Bling

Oh here she is again! I Love this Princess. The bling is just the right amount of sparkle she deserved :) I've been having a good sort out of my crafting area (again!) and found some really neat shelves in Ikea (available online too) that I was able to store my punches on and it also came with shelves too...SO reasonable priced - I love a bargain! I will put a photo of it all tomorrow, I have a few bit to finish off. Hope you had a lovely weekend :)

NEW LIGHT BOX!

Stamps: LAD Fun to be Floral & In the Background

Cardstock: SU, Ink: SU

Ribbon: May Arts

Tools used: SU Oval Punch

Embellishments: Making Memories small circle clips

I got my new light box today! I am SO thrilled! I have been playing with it a bit, still need to figure out which buttons on my camera will help out the lighting, I think I have it sussed though :) Hmmm, maybe it's still a bit bright! I took the photo of this card using my light box and the fairy one below was using my flash (no light box for that one) I can tell the difference can you? I got 3 rooms in my house organized yesterday which is quite an achievement, I am hoping to get a couple more done today. Happy Thursday everyone :D

My Hearts a Flutter

Stamps: Lizzie Anne's Simply Single Fairy & L'Amour set

Cardstock: Red cards & Envelope set & Basic Grey GYPSY 6x6 Paper Pad

Ink: SU Markers & SU Basic Black & Real Red

Embellishments: Making Memories Pebble Clips & Diamond Stickles

Tools: Marvy Mega Circle punch

Ooooooh LOVE this card! It turned out so nice - even if I do say so myself ;) I am so in love with this fairy stamp! I am having one of those days when everything goes wrong, like when you crack an egg open and somehow it ends up on the floor!! (yes it actually happened!) it doesn't help that my house is in such turmoil! I have been trying to get organized which ultimately means that the house gets trashed! It's driving me nuts!
On a brighter note my lovely precious friend Bridget has been kind enough to let us have her beautiful Roland digital intelligent piano on a semi-permanent loan :) THANKS BRIDGET! You made my day...now I just have to find somewhere to put the old keyboard, my daughter had tears in her eyes when we said we might sell it - bless her. So we are going to put it away for a while. Tomorrow is a new day, lets hope I have the umph to climb out of my mess!

Wedding Wishes

Well after all that Blog Candy excitement (a great big THANK YOU to everyone who took part) I am now getting back into making cards :) This one is very simple (not like me!) but I saw this crimped technique in a magazine and just HAD to try it! My photo isn't brilliant but I am happy to announce that they should get better pretty soon, yes I caved and have bought a little portable light studio - in fact it was Lizzie (of Lizzie Anne Designs Stamps) that spurred me on, she showed me a picture of the one she had just purchased and so I drooled for a few days before I bought my own...I have ZERO will power! She's such a tease!
It's not long now until I go to CHA with Lizzie Anne Designs to help them at their booth. I am SO excited. I helped out last year when they were newbies and had a LOT of fun, I only stayed 2 nights that time though, this time I'm going for 6 nights!!! All I can say is that I am very thankful that it is SO close to Disney too...work hard and play hard...that's my plan ;)

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.........

....and the winner is.....NUMBER 23 Becky! Congratulations! My daughter had a lot of fun choosing a random number, she felt VERY important :) Becky please email me at Zee@StampnSparkle.com with your address so that I can get your fabulous Lizzie Anne set out to you ASAP! I think you chose Petite Phrases. Let me know if you have changed your mind or if you would still like the same one.
I enjoyed this SO much I will be doing another one in a couple of months with a different question so keep coming back and checking :D
Thank you to everyone who took part and gave me GOOD ideas on where to get some inspiration. It's nice to see how many people pass by my blog! 49 comments, I was AMAZED!

BLOG CANDY!

Okay so I am celebrating reaching 4,000 hits!!! WOO HOO! (it's at 3,993 as I am writing this) My blog was born September 13th and I had NO idea what I was doing. My fabulous friend Tricia (Lizzie) took the time to show me the ropes...Love ya Tricia! I have met some wonderful ladies through my blog. Marlou was my first regular visitor, thanks to everyone who visits my blog often...you will now have a chance to win some Blog Candy!
As you may notice my blog contains 98% of cards which have Lizzie Anne Designs Stamp on them - I love Lizzie Anne Designs SO much I decided to use one of their sets as my Candy. Now instead of telling you which one you will win I thought I would let YOU decide which one you would like to receive. To win the Candy all you have to do is answer this question...
Where do you get your inspiration for your cards/scrapbook pages from? I would also LOVE to know what your favourite product or embellishment is right now. Don't forget to mention which Lizzie Anne set you would like (click here to see your choices) and also number your replies. I will get my daughter to pick a number from a hat on Monday 21st Jan! GOOD LUCK!

In the Valentine's mood!

Stamps: Lizzie Anne L'amour set

Cardstock: Paper Accents Card & Envelope set

Embellishments: Making Memories Heart brads, Love Story Trim and Sweets

Tools: Scallop corner punch

We have BEAUTIFUL sunshine here today...along with some snow of course! The schools are running 2 hours late so my daughters and their friend are having fun sledding. I have been having fun playing with my new Valentine goodies from Making Memories, they outdid themselves this year I think! I'm quite impressed. So impressed I have ordered more ;)
Please feel free to share your latest and greatest embellishments/tools. I'm normally a little behind on what's hot and would love to know what you are all playing with right now :)

NEW Valentine's items

No new card to post yet today...I have been busy busy making sure I get all my new stock on my eBay site.

Check out my newly listed items! I have added a Valentine's Category to make it easier to shop :) My shipping is FAST! I go to the post offive EVERY DAY!

Dreaming of Dots

I have to give credit where credit is due, I took this idea from the Stampin Up catalogue...HOW CUTE! I used Lizzie Anne Designs Dreaming of Dots and the sentiment is from their Heart to Heart set. The background hugs and kisses are from their L'amour set. I used SU markers to colour in the flowers and the pink flower is part of the making memories Noteworthy jar...oh my goodness that jar is FULL of cuteness. Tricia brought it to our card making night last night and I was drooling all over it! I will be stocking them in my store and the best thing is they match the Noteworthy ribbons I already have there. The photo isn't very good as we have zero light today...VERY overcast and dark here!

Spot the difference!

Okay so this is what I have been doing today...Playing with my camera. A friend of mine mentioned in passing that I needed to play with the White Balance, hmmm, I had no idea what that meant but her cards look FAB (I'm talking about Lizzie of course). So I have been searching the internet trying to find tips on this very subject and found this place - Digital Photography School - I thought I would share my findings as it helped me SO much. Of course I love anything that describes things visually. So I got my manual out and found which buttons I needed to press and voila...what do you think? The one on the right is obviously the one with the White Balance adjusted. I did the manual - show the camera a white piece of paper and then take the picture. I'm quite happy with it. It's much better than the one on the left which was taken in a white washing up bowl with an Ott-lite shining at it!

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge

Here is my card based on the Lizzie Anne Design challenge this week. They gave me a great template to work with (I love being given templates!) I used Lizzie Anne Design's NEW Ballerina and Ballerina saying stamps and also the flowers from the In the Background set. I used my SU markers to colour it all in and a Giga Scalloped Circle punch although I think the Mega may have been big enough! I added Star Dust sparkles to complete her fabulousness...got to have some glitter! (Apologies on the photo, I'm still trying to figure out my new camera Nikon DX40, might have to get one of those light boxes!) ANY TIPS ARE VERY WELCOME!

Lizzie Anne Designs new set NOW IN STOCK!!

Oh my! Lizzie Anne Designs have definitely outdone themselves this time! They have released a bunch of new sets and singles and they are Out of This World!!!!!! I NEED THEM ALL!! I now have them in my eBay store. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! I ship all around the world and if you don't see the one you want let me know...I live about half a mile away from Lizzie herself so I am able to get my orders FAST ;) (location, location, location)

I already own the Once Upon a Time set and I think my next set may be Dreaming of Dots although I really do like their new Petite phrases...SO cute! No I think In the Treetop may be my next purchase, I love the 2 step stamping! Oh it's SO hard to choose! I wish it was my birthday. Keep posted as I will be giving away my first BLOG CANDY. Details coming soon :D

Princess

I am LOVING this Once Upon a Time set, I have a use for ALL the cards I have made so far with it! I will have some in stock to sell at my eBay store first thing tomorrow morning :D
Here's what I used...
Patterned paper - from the DCWV Christmas Glitter Stack
SU Markers - Real Red, Positively Pink & Chocolate chip
Ribbon - SU Turquoise grosgrain
Punches - Marvy Super Jumbo Circle, Mega Circle and Giga Scallop circle.

Once upon a time...

...there was a beautiful princess. Lizzie Anne Designs are releasing their BRAND NEW sets VERY soon and to top that they are giving sneak peeks before they are even available to buy. I am lucky enough to be on their design team so I got my hands on this outstanding set early! I can see me having a LOT of fun with this set. I have very girly girls and my eldest daughter LOVES dragons and this set has a cute waving dragon in it!

Waving Dragon!

This has to be the cutest dragon I have EVER seen! Oh my! My eldest daughter is overjoyed with this 'cool' dragon and can't wait to get her hands on the set (nope, I haven't let her yet). This is Lizzie Anne Designs new Once Upon a Time set which is being released next week! I'm sure I will be posting many more cards using this set so come back soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

We had a New Years Eve party at my house last night and boy did we have fun. As you can see we had a chocolate fountain, it didn't work but who cares it's melted chocolate!!! My friend Bridget is in this photo she's the culprit that brought the HUGE tub of cream puffs!! That's me eating my completely covered strawberries and angel food cake.

Here I am singing with my good friend Tricia (Lizzie of Lizzie Anne Designs). I think we were singing Erasure. We were doing battle and I think she won, my daughter Chloe turned to us though and said "No, you are both winners" bless her. Her glass is ALWAYS half full.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge

This was a VERY hard challenge, the only rule was NO LAYERING! Hmmm, very hard. I made a few cards before I settled on this one...not brilliant but hey, I tried :D Now back to my girls, I promised them tea and biscuits today as a treat.

Where are the days going??

The days are FLYING by! I have been elbow deep in making cookies for a cookie exchange at my daughter's school and also making sure all of the Christmas prezzies are wrapped! As my family are so far away they ask me to buy the girls things and so I get to wrap quite a lot of presents! It is good though as I get to decide what toys come into my house, no chance of an Aunty buying a drum set!!! She chose to make coconut macaroons as she LOVES coconut and she made mince pies last year so she had to chose something different this year (she's in a multi age classroom). Hope you are all having a lovely Holiday season :D

Simple Snowmen Card

Simplicity! I don't normally achieve such a thing!!! This is hard for me but I like it :) This is using patterned paper from the Figgy Pudding 6x6 stack and of course the cute little snowmen by Lizzie Anne Designs. I also used Cuttlebug Snowflakes emboss folder and also the Giga Scalloped Rectangle punch. A lot to this simple card!!!!

Dear Old Santa

STAMPS: Lizzie Anne Design's Santa & Holiday Cheer

CARDSTOCK: Bazzill Bling & Basic Grey Figgy Pudding

INKS: SU Basic Black pad & Real red marker & Brilliance white

TOOLS: Marvy Giga scallop oval & Mega oval

OTHER: 1/4" Terrifically Tacky Tape & silver glitter from MM's Cityscape

Talking of Santa, I took my 2 little girls to go and see him last night. They got all dressed up and put their letter to Santa in an envelope each. Santa had time for a jolly old chat (about 10 minutes!). The girls were able to give him their letter and he opened them and read them both while they were still sitting on his knee!!! It was fabulous, Santa was lovely. I told him that when he comes to our house Christmas Eve night to expect a mince pie and some wine ;) This is the British tradition. He said he was looking forward to it :D

When Santa got stuck up the Chimney!!

I love this stamp set by My Favorite Things. It's called Home for the Holidays. I have to say I bought it purely fir the Santa legs coming out of the fireplace, very cute idea. I used Lizzie Anne Design's Snow flurry for the background and the Ho Ho Ho is from their Holiday Cheer set, I have used this stamp SO much this year! The sparkles are Making Memories Cityscape I added the silver sparkles by using 1" Terrifically Tacky tape. The cardstock is from my scraps draw...trying to use it all up on Christmas cards :D Oh and I cuttlebugged the red cardstock! It's my new toy!

Ooh La La!

I desperately need to invest in one of those light boxes!! I now have a fab Nikon D40x but have no light as I live near Seattle, famous for rain rain and more rain! This card was made using Lizzie Anne Design's Ooh La La set and So Swirly set. The cardstock is Stampin Up. The black ribbon is doodlbug and the Bling is Heidi Swapp circles. Ooh La La!

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge

I love it when they give you templates to work with, it takes a lot of the hard work out of it! I have been itching to work with this Lizzie Anne Santa stamp and I finally got my chance! The patterned card stock is Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey, the cream cardstock is Bazzill Bling from their Black tie set, the ribbon I think is May arts. I stuck red flocking onto Santa's hat and then coloured in the rim of his hat and his beard with liquid applique and heated it with my heat gun and it popped up like a fuzzy hat...perfect!

Glitter, Glitter and MORE glitter!!!

Okay so I thought I would try a new technique that I found on the Splitcoast website. I can't remember what the technique was called but it was using some of the sticker paper from your Xyron and then getting and exacto knife and making the wave effect, then peel off one at a time and pour over your favourite glitter, this way you can have several different colours of glitter. The Poodle is from Lizzie Anne Design's Ooh La La set, I used the Extra Jumbo Scalloped Oval and also the Mega Heart Punch. The cardstock is Stampin Up. The stitching on the heart was done with the Stampin Up white pen. I like to try out new techniques just wish I had more time to play!