It's nearly 2014!...

Good evening, dear Blogger friends and a Happy New Year's Eve to you all!  I can't quite believe where this year has gone to - they seem to get quicker every year!  I wanted to end the year by sharing a card with you as I can, at last, sit at my crafty table once more!

...I was quite happy with this whilst I was making it, but now I'm not so sure!?  (My photographic skills don't do it much justice either - one of my resolutions should be to try and take better pictures!)...

...It is, however, my one and only New Year's card and it is made to say a BIG 'Thank you!' to all of you who have visited me over the last year, despite my very sporadic and often dismal blogging!  I am hoping that the New Year will allow me some more crafty time and have managed to sit and do some colouring over the Christmas holidays - something I have missed doing - there's nothing more therapeutic than sitting down with an image and a bunch of colouring pens!  I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that 2014 brings you health and happiness!  I will raise a glass to you all at midnight!  Once again, thanks for being there and sharing in my crafty creations, and I'll see you in 2014!!!!
Big hugs,
Lisa xx

Happy Christmas!...

Good morning and a very Happy Christmas to all you lovely Bloggers!  I hope that Santa brought all that you wished for and that the day brings much happiness and time to spend with family and friends!  Fingers crossed that the turkey is cooked, the sprouts aren't hard and the roasties are crispy, then it's time for a glass of fizz, a boardgame or two and settling down to watch the Dr Who Christmas special!  (farewell Matt Smith!)  Wishing you all a fabulous day filled with fun and laughter, too much food, a little drink and a generous serving of Christmas spirit! (not the liquid kind!?!)  HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERBODY!
Hugs,
Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers Mega Christmas Challenge....

Good morning, dear Blogger friends and a very Happy Christmas Eve to you all!  Can't quite believe that the big day has come around so quick - I hope you are all ready for the man in the red suit's arrival! 

Today is Team 1's turn to show you our card inspiration for our current Mega Christmas Challenge at Passion for Promarkers - the challenge runs for a whole month and ends on January 7th 2014!
Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is a nice easy one “include a sentiment”.  You are welcome to make Christmas cards but as the challenge will still be running after the ‘BIG’ day you can of course make any type of creation as long as it includes a sentiment of some kind.  As time is precious for our DT at this time of year we are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge.  Please remember to be eligible for our prizes you must use your promarkers, flex markers, tria markers, metallic or aqua markers...

 

For my card creation, I decided to use the ever so cute Isla fairy from Emerald Faearies.  I love this little imp and thought she would be sweet coloured in frosty colours and hanging from a snowflake instead of her usual dandelion seed head!

...I coloured Isla with my Pro and Flexmarkers and glittered her wings with Crystal Glamourdust glitter...

...I had to put this card together at the end of our last workshop as all my crafty stuff was still at Mum's due to the ongoing work at our house!  We are now able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and are getting things back where they belong and can actually start to live in our house again!  I promise I will post some piccies over the festive holiday (after I've tidied a bit more stuff up!?!) and I hope to be back creating and blogging again in the near future - not to mention doing a bit of crafty shopping in the January sales! 

So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!

Letraset are generously offering one lucky a winner a pack of their Autumn/Winter promarkers Ltd Edition set!

DigiStamp Boutique are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of a £10 voucher to spend in her store.

Bugaboo stamps are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of 10 digis of their choice.

Polkadoodles is offering one lucky winner a prize of a copy of their Bonbon Belles Double CD collection.

Clearly Besotted Stamps is offering one lucky winner 1 stamp set of their choice.

Dies to Die For are offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store.

Bearly Mine Designs are offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store. 

Don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what amazing inspiration my wonderful teamies have to share with you (A very Merry Christmas girls!) and it would be great if you could join in with our fabulous challenge this month!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year brings you health, happiness and a lot of crafty time!  Many thanks again for your patience with me during this time of upheaval, your support and kind words make it all worthwhile and I look forward to seeing what inspiration 2014 brings! All the very best, big crafty hugs,

Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers Mega Christmas Challenge...

Good morning, dear crafty friends! I hope you are all enjoying the festive season and are a little more organised than I am for Christmas! I am still trying to get the house decorated and have eventually managed to get my craft/computer/dining room painted and my new desk assembled! With any luck and a bit of hard graft, I should be finished enough by the weekend to get the rest of the furniture in and maybe even the Christmas tree up!

Anyway,  back to business! Today is a very special day over at Passion for Promarkers as it sees the launch of our Mega Christmas challenge which runs for a whole month and ends on January 7th 2014!  Both design teams have worked extremely hard once again this year and so we are having a little break to catch up on our last minute gifts and cards.  However to make up for the lack of challenges we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs.

Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is a nice easy one “include a sentiment”.  You are welcome to make Christmas cards but as the challenge will still be running after the ‘BIG’ day you can of course make any type of creation as long as it includes a sentiment of some kind.  As time is precious for our DT at this time of year we are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge.  Please remember to be eligible for our prizes you must use your promarkers, flex markers, tria markers, metallic or aqua markers.

So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!

Letraset are generously offering one lucky a winner a pack of their Autumn/Winter promarkers Ltd Edition set!

DigiStamp Boutique are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of a £10 voucher to spend in her store.

Bugaboo stamps are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of 10 digis of their choice.

Polkadoodles is offering one lucky winner a prize of a copy of their Bonbon Belles Double CD collection.

Clearly Besotted Stamps is offering one lucky winner 1 stamp set of their choice.

 Dies to Die For are offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store.

Bearly Mine Designs are offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store.

We have asked both design teams to share some inspiration with you but as it such a long challenge we will be posting the inspiration from Team 2 today and then in two week’s time we will be posting inspiration from Team 1. So here are the links to the gorgeous cards from team 2 (please click on their names to visit their personal blogs):

Andie

Anna

Donna

Jane B.

Kelly

Lotta

Sue

We’re sure you’ll agree that their cards are stunning.  So to re-cap the challenge will run until 7th January 2014 and you can enter a maximum of 3 times.  Unfortunately during the Mega Christmas challenge we will not be choosing a top 5 passionista but this will re-commence for the first challenge in 2014.

We can’t wait to see your creations and look forward to visiting your blogs. We’ll be back on 24th December to share Team 1’s gorgeous selection of cards, so don’t forget to stop by for more wonderful inspiration!

I hope you can find the time to join in with our fantastic challenge and wish you all good luck in the prize draws,  as there are some wonderful prizes to win! We look forward to seeing all your fabulous creations!  

Crafty hugs,

Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Check it out...

...Hello, dear Blogger friends!  Well, it's already the middle of November (where did last month go?!) and time for a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week, it's my turn to play host and I chose the theme 'Check it out!', so I would like to see some gingham (yee-haw!), checks, plaids or tartans (och aye the noo!) on your projects....easy!!  This week, we are sponsored by the fabulous Digi Stamp Boutique, who are offering one lucky winner the chance to win a £10.00 voucher for their store and with so many amazing digistamps to choose from, I'm sure it will easily be spent! 

 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.

...For my card, I had permission from the ever so talented Katina Killey, to case one of her cards!  I saw this fabulous card for her granddaughter Molly and fell in love with the CAS style!  I have to say, I love Katina's cards for her fabulous clean and simple layouts, great paper piecing and brilliant colouring, and I always find some sort of inspiration when I visit her blog!  Thanks so much, Katina!  So, here it is...

 

...I decided to go with a pink and green colour combo and used a green gingham paper from Nitwits Cherry Blossoms papers matted onto pink cardstock...

 ...I added a few embellishments to my design with pink gingham ribbon and bow, metal flower charm, pearls and a hint of glitter on the roses...

 ...The gorgeous image is Whimsy stamp's Wee Florist (I just adore this digi!) and she was coloured using my Pro and Flexmarkers, as usual!  Here's the list of colours I used :

Skin - Satin, Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink & Coral

Hair - Linen, Champagne, Sandstone, Nutmeg

Top - Muted Pink, Tea Rose, Watermelon, Meadow, Leaf & Bright Green

Trousers - Pastel Beige, Soft Khaki, Khaki

Shoes - Antique White, Tan, Shale, Umber

Bucket - Cool Grey 1, 3 & 4

Roses - Pear, Olive Green, Cerise, Vermillion, Burgundy

 ...I cut out my image, leaving a small white border and attached using foam pads for a touch of dimension...

 ...I added an insert inside and decorated it to match with the gingham paper, sentiment and bucket of roses image!  Et voila!

Hope you like my little CAS card and that you can join in with my theme this week - I look forward to visiting you all and seeing your wonderful creations!  And don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what wonderful inspiration my talented teamies have come up with!  Thanks for dropping by!  

Hugs,

Lisa x

Progress...well, sort of!...

Good morning,  my dear Blogger friends!  As you may have gathered from the blog title,  things are beginning to move forward...in places! I have managed to decorate and carpet the boys' bedrooms,  so they are completely OFF LIMITS to the workmen! We have, however, got the plasterers back again to tidy up the walls, so just as I feel we're moving forward,  we take another step back!  I now have a bathroom suite fitted, though the bath has been put back in the wrong way!  I sort of have a kitchen (without appliances - the fridge and freezer are still in the front room and the washing machine is in the living room!) The tiler came at the end of last week and tiled the kitchen, but they might have to come back off again! I will be so glad when this is all over, though I'm not sure if it'll be finished by Christmas!
Anyway,  I will leave you with the positive pictures of my achievement and try not to think about the rest!...

Thanks for dropping by to see me and I just hope that the pace of progress begins to speed up,  before I go completely stir crazy! Take care and have a great week!  Hugs,

Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Geeks...

Good morning, dear Blogger friends!  Today sees the start of another new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week, the lovely Lou has set us the theme of 'Geeks' (images wearing glasses)!  This week, we are sponsored ny the fabulous Letraset, who are offering one lucky winner a 6 pack of Flexmarkers!

 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.

Looking through my digistamps, I discovered that I don't have any images wearing glasses, so decided to create my own!  I began by opening Saturated Canary's Hugs and Kisses in my graphics program and pasted the lineart sunglasses (that I found here) on top, resizing them to fit her face.  I printed off, coloured with my Promarkers and fussy cut her out, cutting away the box of hearts, heart frill and cutting out her hands, as shown by the red line in the image below :

...I then made a little book in PS and attached it to her front, then glued her hands into position over the top, so that it looks like she is holding it!

Here's the Pro/Flexmarker colours I used for all you Letraset fans :

Skin : Almond, Blush, Sunkissed Pink

Hair : Sandstone, Caramenl, Cocoa, Walnut, Umber

Glasses: Red, Berry Red

Skirt : Glacier, Dolphin, Denim, Cadet Blues

Tights : Red, Berry, Crimson, Burgundy

Boots : Soft Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue, Muted Pink, Tea Rose, Watermelon, Antique Pink

Book : Berry, Crimson, Burgundy

The cherry paper I used is from Nitwits Cherry Blossom paper set and the others I made myself.  I love this aqua and red combo and added some red satin ribbon loops and a couple of the Memory Box Precious Heart die cuts that were coloured red then glittered with Xmas Red Stickles...

I cut the sentiment using a SB circle die and layered onto SB Eyelet Circle in aqua (all my mats were white cardstock with the edges coloured in coordinating Promarker colours) and created a little arrow shape.  I finished the inside with an insert printed with the words 'Many Happy Returns' and a small pile of books in the bottom right corner.

Don't foget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog see what my lovely Teamies have created for your inspiration and I hope you can join in with our challenge this week!  Thanks for dropping by, crafty hugs,

Lisa x