Update...

Good morning, dear crafty friends!  All I seem to be doing lately is apologising for my lack of posts and unfortunately, I must do it again!  We are still no further on in the refurbishment of our house due to more delays!  It is now getting to be a bit of a millstone and it is the not knowing that causes the most upset - it is now 12 weeks since the work was first supposed to have been started!  After discovering that our gas connection hadn't been ordered (because a survey hadn't been carried out prior to works), I waited the 8 weeks that was estimated for a connection to be scheduled.  I then contacted the council, who told me that they would 'chase things up', a week later and with no reply, I asked our TLO if she knew anything...no joy there either!  I then took it upon myself to get in contact with the utilities provider who told me that they were awaiting the council to accept their quotation!!!!  So I have now sat for over 10 weeks waiting for a gas supply to be connected only to find out that the damn order hadn't even been completed!  It is so frustrating and there's nothing we can physically do about it...we now have to wait a further 4-8 weeks for the gas supply to be connected and then see if works will be carried out before Christmas!  If they would just give me a month to work towards, it would be better than wondering when or even if the work is going ahead - we still have things packed away in friend's garages, hubby's work and our sheds and it's really starting to grind now!  I don't mean to moan, but feel that I should explain my absence to you all...

...Anyway, enough of that!  I am here to share something crafty with you - this is a little card I managed to make between some card orders (I have a friend's wedding coming up and have been doing invitations, order of service, table plans, etc not to mention all the card orders to make for her from friends and relatives in the village!)...

...I used my First Edition paper pads, Love Letters and Dreamcatcher and went for quite a summery pallette.  I love mixing lots of different colours together (though it doesn't always work), especially since using my Promarkers to make my coloured matts, as it means I can have any colour I like!...

...I love this sweet little Wee Kitty and decided to try and give her a bit of a tabby stripe - didn't work out too bad, but needs a bit more practice I think! (No colours written down for this one, sorry!)...

...I added a fresh yellow, organza ribbon and bow and a touch of Glamourdust to highlight the image.  I hope you like my little creation and that it gives you some inspiration in some way!  Thank you so much for dropping by to see me today and persevering with my sporadic blogging...your visits and comments always mean so much!  I'll be back again tomorrow with a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers, so until then have a great Monday and take care!  Big crafty hugs,
Lisa x

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Divas by Design

Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons Challenge

Anything Goes with Ribbon

Creative Craft Challenges 2

Use Ribbon

I Love Promarkers

Anything Goes

Passion for Promarkers - Perfect Pets

Good morning, my lovely Bloggers!  Well, it's Tuesday again, which sees the start of another fabulous Challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week, the lovely Shelly is playing hostess and she would like to see your Perfect Pets (so use a pet animal image).   This week we are sposored by the wonderful Michele R Designs who is offering one lucky winner $10 worth of digi papers from her online store.

Don’t forget you must use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.

I decided to go with the theme of our pets, which only consist of a couple of goldfish, called Fish and Chips (what else?!)...

I just love CAS cards at the moment and I thought the style would be perfect for this fun fish colouring page that I found here...

 ...Of course, I coloured the image with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the colours for all you Letraset fans :

Orange fish : Honeycomb, Pumpkin, Mandarin, Blue Grey 1, Dove Grey

Yellow Fish : Primrose, Buttercup, Tulip Yellow, Sunflower, Gold

Brown and blue fish : Satin, Tan, Dusky Pink, Tea Green, Aquamarine, Surf Blue

Starfish : Light Fawn, Soft Peach, Rose Peach

Seaweed : Lime, Pear, Olive Greens

Coral : Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink, Coral

Water : Glacier Blue

I used my markers to create the coloured matts, choosing colours from the image to compliment, added some Glamourdust to the bubbles and fins and finished with a simple sentiment.  A nice easy one today!  

I hope you can join in with our Challenge this week and don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what my lovely teamies have been up to...Thanks for dropping by to see me today...Happy crafting!  

Lisa x
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

A Creative Romance

CAS Style

 Simon Says Stamp

Animal Antics

Eclectic Ellapu

Family Pets

September's here!...

Good afternoon, dear crafty friends!  Where has this year gone to?  I can't quite believe that it is September already - it was Little Man's birthday on Monday and he was 10...so never mind where this year has gone, what happened to the last 10?!  Today saw the boys back to school and the house is rather quiet without them, though it's nice to get back into some sort of routine!  Jase is now in his last year of secondary school, with his GCSEs next year and Josh is now in year 5! (He just misses the school term as his birthday is at the beginning of September, so he is the oldest in his class!)

It was our village Gardening Show on the weekend and it was the first time that I could enter anything as it is usually on the Bank Hoilday weekend when we are away.  I entered a couple of the garden produce classes, 2 of the floral art categories and of course a couple of the crafts, plus my little man entered the children's photography competition.  We did very well, really and the show was said to be one of the best for a long time, with a fantastic number of entries!  In total, I came home with 3 firsts and 2 thirds and Josh got first with his photo, so not bad for a first attempt!
We are still none the wiser as to when our house works are supposed to start (it's getting a bit tedious now!) but I have managed to get a bit of crafty time in this morning to complete a card commission for a wedding.  I don't normally post commission cards, as they are personal to the recipients, but thought I would share this one with you and just remove the names...

...I kept the colours quite soft with a white on cream colour combo, inking the  edges with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain DI.  I used a selection of flowers that I found in my stash (which is really getting low these days!), pink organza ribbon, heart charm, Cheery Lynn butterfly and a pretty MS clay frame.  I highlighted the image with a hint of Promarker colour and added some Glamourdust for a touch of sparkle.  The edge of the card base is made using the Spellbinders Parisian Accents border and corner - just love these dies!
So, that's it from me for today and I hope to be back again soon!  Thanks for dropping by to see me, it really does mean a lot, especially as my blogging is so hit and miss at the minute!  Hope you're enjoying some early Spetember sunshine, take care and crafty hugs,
Lisa x

I'd like to enter my card into the following challeneges :

Papertake Weekly

Anything Goes

ABC Challenge

U- for Unlimited (Anything Goes)

Natalie and Amy 

Embossing

Passion for Promarkers - Recipe

Good morning, dear Bloggers!  I hope all of you here in the UK had a good Bank holiday weekend?...ours was wonderful!  We had a well earned weekend away with family friends in South Wales, the sun shone brightly, we ate out most days, visited fabulous places, saw beautiful scenery and finished off with a bit of off road Segway-ing! So much fun! I didn't think I'd get the hang of it as my balance isn't the best, but soon got to grips with controlling it and thoroughly enjoyed our trek!
It's very nearly the end of August (and the children's Summer holidays), so it'll be back to a more normal routine next week!  These holidays seem to have flown by, though it's always a challenge to keep the children occupied!  Speaking of Challenges, today is Tuesday which means we see the start of a new Challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  Our lovely Nic (aka Coops) is in the hostess chair this week and she has a fabulous recipe for us to follow - 3 papers, 1 image, 1 sentiment and 3 embellishments.  This week we are sponsored by the wonderful Bugaboo Digi Stamps, who are offering 7 digi images to the lucky winner picked at random!  Wow!

Don’t forget you must use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.

...I decided to go Christmassy this week, using one of the fab Paper Shelter images called Snow Angel - isn't she adorable?!  I went for quite traditional colours, which is unusual for me as I normally like the lighter, frosty colours for Christmas...

...The papers I used have been in my stash for literally years - I think they are from a Dovecraft pack and all the coloured layers are white cardstock with the edges coloured with markers.  (I began doing this method because of my crafty stash being packed away in the shed, but it has become second nature now and means I can have any colour card I like to match my image!)  I coloured my image using Pro/Flexmarkers and here's a list of the colours I used :

Skin : Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink

Hair : Linen, Champagne, Sandstone

Hat and Skirt : Red, Crimson, Burgundy

Jacket : Meadow, Leaf, Bright Greens

Scarf : Muted Pink, Tea Rose, Watermelon

Tights : Ivory, Vanilla, Tulip Yellow

Boots and Gloves : Sandstone, Caramel, Cinnamon, Umber

...My 3 embellishments were 3 Marianne Snowflake die cuts, highkighted with Glamourdust and pearls.  I created a sentiment in PS using a couple of different Serif fonts - one of which is a favourite of mine - Holiday Springs...

...I then finished the inside with my usual insert with the black and white line image and the sentiment, 'May your days be Merry and bright...'

I hope you can join in with our fun challenge this week and don't forget to check out the fabulous cards that my wonderful teamies have created, by hopping over to the Passion for Promarkers blog.  Crafty hugs,

Lisa x

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody

Anything Goes

Creative Creations

Bingo

(sentiment, image, pearls)

Creative Inspirations

Christmas in August

Fashionista Challenge #19

Christmas Week 2 

ABC Challenges

No flowers

In limbo...

*If you're looking for my Passion for Promarkers DT card, please scroll down a post!*

Good morning, dear Bloggers!  Well, firstly, I must apologise for my absence - I was hoping that it would be because of the fact that the house would now be nearing completion, when the harsh reality is that they haven't even started yet!!  It is the school summer holidays and I, as the title suggests, am in a total state of limbo!  Half of our belongings are packed away in various places and my crafty stash is still partly in the shed, and with not knowing when the work is likely to start, I am reluctant to unpack it all!  I had been so good, getting ahead with my DT cards and making sure that all my card orders were up to date and now, I am back to square one, trying to get ahead again in case work suddenly does start!  We are waiting for the gas board to come and connect us to the mains - our wonderful council only put the order in about 5/6 weeks ago, despite knowing since last August that we wanted to switch (as you can imagine, not very happy with our local council at the moment!).  So, I'm afraid that it means I will likely be sporadic in my posting for the near future!

On the plus side, I have managed to sit and colour in a few of the CAS cards that I printed out when work was first supposed to start, so I do have a little craftiness to share with you all today!...

Card number one is using the ever so cute Wee One from Wee Stamps...

...I coloured her as a little girl this time, using brighter pinks than I normally would, but I quite like the results.  Here's the colours I used :

Skin : Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink

Hair : Linen, Buttercup, Champagne, Sandstone

Pram : Tea Rose, Cocktail Pink, Watermelon, Antique Pink, Primrose, Buttercup, Tulip Yellow, Sandstone, Caramel

Bird : Glacier Blue, Cloud Blue, Sunflower

Horse : Tea Green, Soft Green, Blossom, Sorbet, Ivory, Vanilla

I used Stickles Frosted Lace on the trim around the hood and added some pearls to the wheel centres and top corner...

...Card number 2 was using the fabulous free image from MayZArt.  We are big Doctor Who fans and the tenth Doctor (aka David Tennant) was probably one of my favourites, so I just love this image!  I forgot to write the colours down for this one, but I think that they were :

Tardis : Midnight Blue, Navy Blue, Blender for highlights, Tulip Yellow, Gold, Ivory, Champagne, Cool Grey 4, 5 & Black

Skin : Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed

Hair and Jacket : Cinnamon, Cocoa, Umber

Trousers : Pastel Beige, Soft Khaki, Khaki

Tie : Crimson, Burgundy,

Shoes : Cool Grey 1 & 3

...Card number 3 uses the sweet Alyssa Relaxing from Digi Stamp Boutique.  I decided to colour the bath this time, rather than paper piece and am not totally convinced on the result - I used my blender to add some polka dots and added Frosted Lace Stickles to the bubbles.  Here's the colours again for all you Promarker fans :

Skin : Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink (my usual combo at the moment)

Hair : Nutmeg, Saddle Brown, Auburn, Rosewood

Pillow : Tea Rose, Watermelon

Bath : Tea, Pastel, Soft Green, Ivory, Champagne

Bottle : Aniseed, Lime Zest, Pear Green

So there we are, like buses, you wait ages for one and then 3 come along at once! (Unless you live where we do and then you're lucky to get one every 2 hours!! lol!)  I do hope that work starts soon - most people will be glad when it's finished, I'll just be glad when it starts!  I will try to post when I can and I do keep dropping by you all to see what you're up to.  Enjoy the rest of the Summer and hope to see you soon, big crafty hugs,

Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Lou's Sketch

Hello again, lovely Bloggers!  As you are reading this, it will be almost 2 months since I scheduled this post!  I'm hoping that by now, all of the messy work that is due to take place on our house will be completed and we will be back to some sort of normality...or organised chaos, in our case!  If all has gone to plan, we should have a new bathroom, kitchen, central heating and complete rewire and I will hopefully be picking out paint colours and wallpaper by now!  I'll let you know if it's any different!


Anyway, today sees the start of a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week, the lovely Lou has set us a nice and easy Sketch...

...and this week, we are spospored by the fabulous Saturated Canary who is offering one lucky winner the choice of two digis from her store...

Don’t forget you must use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.

...I decided to use a new image that I bought today (well, I bought it 2 months ago now, but hey ho!)...

...This is sweet Oklahoma and the lovely Krista offered her for just a dollar in her shop, for one day, with the proceeds going to a family who were affected by the recent tornado in Moore, Oklahoma (how cool is that?!)  The card was made using First Edition Boho Chic paper pad and this tulip paper is one of my faves...man, I say that a lot, but it is!!

...I coloured Oklahoma with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the colours I used :

Skin : Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkisssed Pink

Hair : Rosewood, Firebrick, Saddle Brown, Spice

Dress : Light Fawn, Soft Peach, Rose Peach, Spice, Ivory, Vanilla, Mustard, Red

Wellies : Meadow, Leaf, Birght, Forest Greens

Bow and puddle : Soft Aqua, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue

Umbrella : Ivory, Vanilla, Mustard, Light Fawn, Soft Peach, Rose Peach, Spice, Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink, Meadow, Leaf, Bright Green, Pumpkin, Mandarin

Shadow : Sea Mist

I cut some cloud shapes from white card and glittered then used the waste from the bows on my Precious Stars die to make the raindrops.  I chose the sentiment as I thought it fit the image perfectly and cut out using standard and eyelet SB circle dies...

...As always, I finished with an insert with the black and white line image and the sentiment ' May your day be filled with sunshine'  I'm giving this to my BF for her Birthday which is (was) in June!

It's a bit weird writing my post for the middle of August in June, but I had to get ahead in order to keep up with my DT duties and to have some inspiration to share with you!  Hope you're all having  a wonderful Summer and that the fickle British weather is being kind!  Crafty hugs, Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Summertime Blues

Good morning, my lovelies!  My, where are these weeks going to?  It's time for another Challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week, I am playing host, setting the theme 'Summertime Blues' - so I would like to see your creations with Blue and one other colour (not including skin and hair)  Our sponsors this week are the fabulous Whiff of Joy who are offering a prize of 1 stamp of choice to the lucky winner!  

Don’t forget you must use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.

...I decided to go with the colour theme Blue & Green as I haven't used this colour combo for ages - probably because my First Edition Up, Up and Away paper pad is almost finished, I just had a couple of pages left to use on this card and I teamed it with greens from Love Letters and Boho Chic...

...I love this card shape as you can use a larger image than normal, which allowed me to do a bit of paper piecing on this sweet Pink Gem Designs image, Chloe in the Rain...

...I coloured Chloe with my Pro/Flexmarkers and paper pieced her coat using the green flower paper from Love Letters and her umbrella with the blue cloud paper from Up, Up & Away.  I added some shading to the patterned pieces to give them more depth and here's the colours I used :

Skin : Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink, Coral

Hair : Sandstone, Caramel, Cocoa, Henna, Umber

Coat and bow : Meadow, Birght, Forest Greens

Umbrella and collar and cuff : Glacier, Dolphin, Cloud Blue

Boots : Glacier, Dolhpin, Cloud, Cobalt Blues, Sapphire

Handle : Cool Grey 3 & 4

...I freehand drew and cut out some small cloud shapes and added a spotted satin ribbon and bow.  Then finished the inside with a panel to write on, with the black and white line image in the bottom right corner.

...The sentiment was cut with a SB circle die and matted onto a Marianne sunburst circle die from my doily die set.
I'm hoping by now that the only Summertime Blues we will be having is that of beautiful, blue skies and not of rain!?!  I'd love it if you could join in with my challenge theme this week and look forward to visiting you all and seeing your fabulous creations!  Don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what my wonderful teamies have been up to aswell!  Thanks for dropping by, crafty hugs,
Lisa x