A Glass of Champagne anyone?

Well, this is the first card that I have made with my new stamps that I won from the magazine and have teamed it up with a Tim Holtz swirl.

I love the purple and silver combination and suppose the stamp with its 2 glasses of champagne could be used as a wedding, engagement or even a special birthday card

I'm going to enter this into the new Little Claires Anything goes challenge and Make it on Monday.

Lucky Me - My Card is in a Magazine

Ages ago I sent in a card to the Readers Gallery of Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine and this month was delighted to see it in print! Its the pink Sugar Nellie girl in the bottom right hand side of the page and the gift from them was this fabulous Romantica set of stamps from Elusive Images that arrived yesterday.

I am going to have such fun using these - they look so beautiful!

It's just not right!

We've all had this problem - the card that just won't go together! I know this looks awful and tried so many different ways to put it together - none of which looked right

I got fed up in the end and stuck it down thinking it might look better later - but it doesn't! I will just have to keep it as an example of what not to do.

Also my hubby tripped and fell against the china cabinet smashing most of my Swarovski cystal collection, Christmas and birthday presents for the last 15 years! I will have to claim on insurance but most of them are now discontinued pieces.

Get them (recycled) Jeans on!

This is a very recycled card - the girl is stamped on to the back of a Christmas card, the teal blue paper was originally an envelope and the silver trimmed ribbon was the handle from a Christmas gift bag, I even reused the scrolls punched out from the border!

Feeling very good about using up old stash and stuff and resisting the temptation to go out and buy some Nellie Stellen dies and and Lily of the Valley stamps that I really, really want but don't really, really need!

I'm entering this into the Something for the Boys challenge at The Crafty Pad and the Allsorts Recycling Challenge

A cup of Tea and Piece of Cake!

These yummy papers are free with this months Papercraft Essentials magazine.

I highlighted the icing on the slices of cake with a bit of stickles glitter and used some of the ribbons and bows that I bought in The Range last week to embellish the cards - and they have made me so hungry, I fancy a piece of Victoria sponge now!!!

Purple Tartan Schnauzer Doggie!

This cute schnauzer dog shadow stamp is from Personal Impressions and I have teamed him up with a slightly unusual purple and black tartan combination.

I've got a builder coming round this evening to give me a quote for a new bathroom, fingers crossed it will be within our budget!

Fancy a Free Craft Retreat Weekend???

Well, all you have to do is enter this fabulous candy giveaway - one lucky person will win

2 FREE places on the
Lovin Ink CRAFT RETREAT on 26th - 28th March 2011
at Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire worth £330 !!!!!

That has got to be one of the best candy prizes ever! I would love to win it, as there is no way I could afford such a crafting break at the moment.

Penny Black Hedgehog Card

Another card that has made use of some of my stash that has been hanging around for ages.

I think the red/black/white colour combination is quite striking - I'm going to use this more often now!

Craftrak has disappeared !

I made this card and sent it via Craftrak last week but the site has now crashed with this message

The Craftrak website has suffered from a fatal technical problem and is closed for the foreseeable future.

We do not know if we will ever be able to fully restore the Craftrak System.

We apologize for this and thank you for using Craftrak.

What a shame - I loved sending off cards around the world and getting little surprises back in return. I really hope they can fix it - especially as I have just bought 2 new packs of cards!

Hanglar Congratulations Card

I made this card after looking at the latest Inspirational Card Sketches blog. This is a layout that I have never tried out before but works really well!

I decided to use the little Hanglar girl holding a glass a champagne. The corners were made with an x-cut punch and the little flowers came from a bargain pack of shapes from Poundland yesterday!

Winner of My Blog Candy

Thanks to everyone who joined in my blogiversary candy and I hope you all enjoy blogging as much as I do! Unfortunately there can only be one winner and it is

Congratulations to no 13 ♥♥ rosa- kreattiva ♥♥ who has contacts for loads of other blog candy giveaways - she must spend ages bloghopping to find them!

please e-mail me at dawneaster@hotmail.com to claim your prize within 5 days

ps I just edited my post due to a typo and the number disappeared but was 13 - honest!

Molly Blooms Freebie Stamp Cards

I'm just loving the cute Molly Bloom stamps given away free with this months Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine! I couldn't wait to ink them up and get out the promarkers.

The Sunflower and picket fence are from Papermania and I have been waiting for inspiration to strike so that I could use them in a card.

Vintage Baby Boy Digi Card

I made this card with a cute vintage image from the Digital Two for Tuesday site, I've downloaded the image a while a ago but thought it was ideal for my cousin whose partner is due to have a boy soon. It was coloured with promarkers with a piece of lace behind the silver mirri card layer. I think the roses paper is from Papermania

I'm going to enter this into the New Beginnings challenge over that the Do it with Digi's blog

Marianne Bird on Branch Sympathy Card

A new sympathy card I've just made with a silhouette of a bird on a branch from a Marianne Creatables die. I've layered it on a scrap of green card and black cardstock with an old piece of black lace to set it off .

The 'Thinking of You' sentiment is a Woodware stamp with 3 pieces of black card candy in the corner.

I've entered this in the 'Just us Girls' sketch and the Papertake 'Anything Goes plus lace' challenges

Sugar Nellie Boys Best Friend Card

I've had this sweet Sugar Nellie stamp of a boy with his dog for ages and my new years resolution is to use those bits of stash that are lingering at the bottom of the pile!

The papers are about 6 months old and came from Making Cards magazine I think so that is another tick in the box! Back to work tomorrow so not so much time for crafting now, shame.

I couldn't resist the New Docrafts Lemon Goodie Bag

I went shopping to The Range in Ipswich yesterday hoping for a few crafty bargain but was very disappointed - very few things were reduced and most of those were tatty or damaged.

But I did pick up the latest yellow themed goodie bag and copy of Creativity magazine. I love the new 'build a cake' stamps in it and had to try them out straight away! The Papermania Lemon Sorbet Capsule papers are lovely too - very spring like.

Cuttlebug & Blossom Nesties

I'm having a play with my Cuttlebug, so embossed the cream card with swiss dots then layered a coffee coloured co'ordination paper over it. I then made a little flower using the blossom 2 nestie set which has been sitting unused at the bottom of my stash for ages!

I've just had a Chinese takeaway and I shall now sit back with a bottle of wine and wait for the new year fireworks

Happy New Year to you all!

Using up Scraps - Serendipity ATC's

Like most card makers, I have loads of odd scraps of paper but found an idea of how to use them up making serendipity paper at the Go Make Something blog. This is my version made with a green theme, bits stuck randomly then stamped with a large script stamp in red.

I then embossed a flower stamp in silver and swirl stamp with green glitter embossing powder before cutting the paper into ATC shapes (2.5 x 3.5 inches).

I then raided my stash for odd pieces to embellish them and voila - some unique OOAK ATCS ready to swap - great fun!

Popcorn the Bear Mens Collection Cards

I finally got around to using the free papers that came with last months Papercraft Essentials magazine - Popcorn the Bear Platinum mens collections. They will make great cards for any gardeners although they are a bit too cute.

I've got to start packing away all my craft stuff now or their won't be room on the table for Christmas meals! I'm hoping Santas going to leave me some money so I can treat myself to a few crafting goodies - I'm not sure I trust him to buy the right bits.

Starting to build up a stockpile again

Having concentrated on Christmas cards for so long, my store of general cards is rather depleted . I won a set of sentiment stamps from Woodward in a magazine giveaway so I am going to start making some general cards to keep in reserve. This is my first attempt!

Getting back into ATC's!

After spending the last 3 months immersed in Christmas cards I feel the need for change and so an making some atcs for the swaps on Docrafts. These 2 are for the butterfly bling swap that closes at the end of December but with the weather, I thought I had better get them off soon.

It's A Vintage Christmas

Yet another - and probably one of my last - christmas card with a vintage theme. I just love the 2 little girls sewing up holes in their stockings so the presents don't fall out. Can't believe that any children nowadays would do that!

Well most of my cards are written, presents wrapped and the freezer is filled - and I hope you all are prepared for Christmas too. All I want is for the snow to disappear by Sunday so that I can make the 4 hour trip to my sisters to drop off her presents!

A different colour scheme...

for a change - pale blue and pink. This is one of those cards that has been put together with left over bits and pieces. Go and have a look at Prairie Fairy blog, she has moved back to blogger and is offering some fab goodies as candy. It closes on Christmas Eve - what a Christmas treat for the winners!

Christmas Wren

My mother just loves wrens and had a large collection of them - figurines that is, not real ones. So her Christmas card just had to feature a wren on it, didn't it!

I teamed up the photo with more of my gold snowflakes and swirls on a rich red background.

Just the Weather for Penguins!

Despite taking a couple of days leave from work because of the weather, I haven't been in the mood for crafting until now. Instead I sorted out daughters bedroom and 'lost' some toys to make room for the ones that Santa might bring!

This is a cute digi image of penguins coloured with promarkers and layered against snowflake paper with additional snowflake brads scattered around. I'm going to enter it into the Winter Wonderland penguin and polar bear challenge.