Top five!

Look what I got! My dragon notes were a hit last week! Thanks Sarah (the lovely lady who gave it to me). That's twice now I've been in the top 5! Whooo hooo! Unfortunately I am not able to join in this week as I have no apricot. It feels like that song gone wrong...'Yes! I have no apricot...! Never mind! I can do the rest that are now up on the site.

I thought I would post a card that has been in bits on my table for about a month. I'm still not sure if it works, but I was tidying and I wanted the space! The layered flower (Graphicus) was coloured in with promarkers whilst we were in Wales (more than a month ago!), The paper is from an Artylicious cd (Floral fantasies). I added the rainbow drops and the punched border (Martha Stewart).I still feel the need to use it on every card!!!If my posting gets a bit erratic you will have to excuse me, as I've got heaps to do for work. I just have to keep thinking that its all earning money to buy new stash!

Autumn Days

I've had days of feeling mojo-less whilst surrounded by the gorgeous stamps I bought at Harrogate. I eventually gave up mid week and put them all away - they will get plenty of use eventually. Instead I turned my thoughts to Autumn, inspired by Brenda and Jules. They are both on the design team for the Allsorts challenge and have created stunning cards on an Autumn theme this week. I eventually made two very similar cards and I couldn't choose between them, so I've posted both.They both use the 'Stampin' up!' Lovely as a tree stamp, the dots (leaves) are a Lavinia stamp and I brayered with Kaleidacolor fresh greens and blue breeze, masking off the other half each time. The leaves were stamped in Adirondack Butterscotch, Rust and Espresso. On the card below I got a bit carried away with the dotty leaves, making it look very windy, so I added the Inkadinkado 'Fall Season' leaf swirl, highlighting with white gel pen on the coloured panel.
As they were inspired by Brenda and Jules it seems only right that I enter them into the challenge, so thanks both of you for the inspiration and for helping me rediscover my mojo, because for the first time in a couple of weeks I'm happy with the result!

A bit like buses...

No posts for days and then three come along at once! Well, this is only the second, but there might be another between now and Sunday night. My first card is a digistamp image by Mo Manning, coloured with promarkers including my brand new Burgundy one. The papers are from Summer Driggs. The quote and sentiment are both computer generated. Steve's Dad adores his trains and given half the chance this would definitely be him!
The second card is my entry for this week's DU2DS challenge which is Punched shapes or die cuts. The images are the Jim Series from Digistamp Boutique. I coloured them with promarkers and put them onto an 8x8 card generously given to me by my good friend Lynne (They are huge and a bit daunting!) The papers are from Summer Driggs again. Thanks for looking!

Passion for Promarkers - Emerald and Marine - anything but a card

These are the colours I used on this week's passion for promarkers and below you can find my post-it note holder/ notebook.
The image is a digistamp from Dustin Pike and is called Dragon Fly!!!
Couldn't seem to find the best angle to photograph it from. Now I just need to put it on my desk at work, or maybe my desk at home, or maybe write notes in it to Steve or Meg! The possibilities are endless!!!
Thanks for looking!

Where oh where is my Mojo?!

I've managed to make a couple of cards over the weekend, but again I feel my mojo isn't all there. The first is very like some we saw on the Stampman stand at Harrogate, where the Funky Flower stamps are available. I coloured them with my promarkers and used my martha stewart punch and retro flower punches.
The second card has a border across using the Craftwork cards Graceful Grasses and Martha Stewart punch. I added 3 inkadinkado inchies form the 'Spring is Here' set, but now they are stuck on I am not sure about them at all!

So Proud!

I am such a proud Mum today! Back in July Megan entered a short story writing competition with New Writers UK and the Nottinghamshire Library service. About a fortnight ago she received a letter telling her she was a finalist. The award ceremony was today at County Hall . It was rather tense and the moment when Meg realised she wasn't a runner-up was a picture I didn't manage to capture. She was awarded the silver medal by Des Coleman and was able to attend a writer's workshop with an Author. The stories written by all the children are to be published in a book in the new year by a company called Author House with any profits going to the Danielle Beccan memorial fund. As soon as I know more I will post the details.
It was a great event with lots of authors promoting their books and chatting about how they write. Des Coleman was great with the youngsters and very generous with his time, and so many people were eager to sign the books we bought. I will be on the lookout for the next event that New Writers UK organise.

Graphicus Challenge - Autumn Leaves

Apologies to those of you who have seen these before, but these cards are going to be my entry for this month's Graphicus challenge. The stamps are all from Graphicus, using the Nature's table plate, the Wild meadow plate and the Arboretum plate. I couldn't decide which I liked best, so posted them both. They were made for Steve's birthday back in January. They were done Michelle Zindorf style, starting with colouring the mushrooms and clear embossing them, adding the background later, mostly with Adirondack inks. I hope you like them, and thanks for looking!

Two Challenges in one

I know, lots of other people do it, but this is the first time I have managed to combine two challenges. The card is for Passion for promarkers, which is polkadots this week , and Dare you to Digistamp Challenge 21, which is a sketch. These are the colours of promarkers I used.
The main image was a gorgeous freebie from Dustin Pike and the papers were from My Mind's eye. I used my lovely new big retro flower punch with the same papers and some craftwork cards card candy for the centres. The sentiment is from Digistamp boutique. It came with my Bernard set of digistamps. Links to all of these can be found on my sidebar.
I'm surrounded by some lovely new stash and I have so little time to do anything with it, but maybe it's a good job as my mojo has gone walkabout. Thanks for looking!

Wonderful!

Yesterday Lynne, Megan and I went to Harrogate to the Great Northern papercrafts extravaganza. We had a wonderful day. The weather was glorious, the shopping was fab, we met up with a couple of blogging friends and we had a lovely picnic in the sunshine! It was lovely to meet Debbie and Lisa for the first time. I hope they are both getting some 'playtime' with new goodies today. I have spent a bit of time playing with my new stuff and have come up with two cards. The first features 'Funky Flowers' stamps I bought from the Stampman. I stamped onto the base card with versamark and brushed over with pearl pigments from Blonde Moments. I coloured the main image with my promarkers and added some diamond stickles
I'm not sure about this second card, but I am so in love with my Martha Stewart Doily lace border punch I wanted to try it out straight away! I did a happy dance when I found it! The 'Graceful Grasses' stamps are by craftwork cards. They are stamped onto paper that I coloured with adirondak colour washes.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what people make with their lovely goodies. Does anyone fancy an ATC or tag swap made with their latest goodies? Leave me a comment if you do.

Passion for promarkers - Pearl blue and Sandstone

This weeks Passion for Promarkers colours are Blue Pearl and Sandstone, and I finally remembered to photograph the other colours I used too, only I forgot to include Cinnamon! The card is going to be for Steve's parent's wedding anniversary - 55 years! I had to buy this digistamp (Mo's Digital Pencil) when I saw it, because the guy looks just like Steve's dad!
The papers are from Summer Driggs and the sentiment is computer generated. Thanks for looking!

Big flowers

I've finished my planning for next week and decided to give myself a little craft break. This is another flower I stamped and took on holiday to colour with my promarkers, so I just needed a card to put it on. The stamps are all Elusive images (Graphicus) from the Ruby Tuesday, Butterfly poppy and butterfly daisy collage sheets. For the backgrounds I used distress inks in Antique Linen, Dried marigold, spiced marmalade, tea dye and brushed corduroy. I also used Vintage sepia versafine. I put the glitter on after seeing Glenda's beautiful creation here.
Work has been great so far, although very, very busy. I have a wonderful class with only twenty children in it at the moment, but I am expecting numbers to go up as we are the only school in the area with spaces in the infant classes. I'm hoping I can do things like planning etc mid week next week to leave the weekend free for Harrogate. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to going as it is the only show I will have been to this year. Off to plan Tuesday's staff meeting now. Have a good Sunday!
P.S. I've just found out Sunday Stampers theme is Life, and I think this fits the bill, so I'll enter it on there too!

Passion for Promarkers - Girly and Glittery

Here is my entry for Passion for Promarkers this week. The digistamp girl is Sophie from Digistamp boutique and the flowers are from the Elusive Images big flower plate (Graphicus). I used mainly cool aqua and lilac, with ivory, blush and dusky pink for skin tones. The blonde hair was done with ivory, pastel yellow and sandstone. The flower centres were canary and gold. I used diamond stickles for the glittler. The papers are from the artylicious floral fantasies cd and the sentiment is a rub-on freebie from a magazine.
I coloured it whilst I was on holiday, so it was just a case of putting it together this evening and adding the glitter. I am pleased that I manged girly without any pink!

Birds and a feather...

I've made these over the past few days. The first was an experiment to see what sort of effect you get colouring with promarkers on pearlised card, and it's quite good. You need to use darker colours, but the sheen does show through. The stamp is from the Elusive images Peacock Glory themeplate.
You know that saying 'a stamp in the hand is woth 2 through the post'... well I found the butterflies and birds inchies (Inkadinkado) on Victoria Market in Nottingham, and although they were probably £1.50 more than I would have paid elsewhere I had to get them. Don't look too closely. It isn't very straight.
Finally, here is Bernard (Digistamp boutique) teamed with my mind's eye papers and leaf stamp.
Well, I'm back to work tomorrow so I've been rushing around a bit today. I turned up the sleeves on Meg's blazer, made a cake, made a box, printed out timetables, planning and Data for the school and wrote down what I want to talk about in tomorrow's meeting. I completely forgot about Passion for promarkers (might get round to it later in the week). I'm really nervous about tomorrow. I know, I've been a teacher for 20 years - I should be used to it, but I am acting deputy until Christmas, and there is that little bit more pressure. Still, the extra money will help my new car and craft funds, lol!