Cheers!

Good evening friends!

There's now only 1 day left until Christmas, and I'm so pleased that the term has now finished. I have a list as long as both arms, and I'm rapidly running out of time to get things done and sorted!

Once again, I missed (with some style!) the start of this week's new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs ... sorry girls! But I'm here now to share my belated card with you. But firstly, you'll want to know both the theme of the challenge, which this week is Christmas - Mistletoe or Holly.

Our lovely sponsor this week is the team from Bugaboo Stamps, who have kindly provided some images for the DT to work with. Thanks guys! Make sure you head over there because as well as the goodies the girls and I have been working with, there's always a "Friday Freebie" ... and who doesn't like a freebie?

And here is my card for you this week:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, cut, scored and folded to make a 12cm square card
• Design Papers - are by Paulette at Create with TLC and are called Christmas Royal Snowflakes. They were a freebie on Paulette's blog a few weeks ago, and I love the rich colours she's put together
• Image -  is called JJ Christmas - Cheers. I brought this rather tipsy one to life courtesy of my Spectrum Noir Pens and my Silver Gel Pen
• Sentiment - is alo by Paulette at Create with TLC. I think it was a freebie last year, but it could have equally well been part of one of the Christmas clubs.
• Snowflakes - punched from Centura Pearl in Snow White and then I stuck a clear gem from stash to the centre of each.

Do check out the Incy Wincy Designs blog and see the other gorgeous Christmas cards featuring Holly or Mistletoe by my talented team-mates. Then come back and show us your seasonal projects - due to my total ineptitude, you've only got a few hours left to get your creations linked up. This is our last challenge for 2012 and we're taking a break for a couple of weeks - we'll be back with our first challenge of 2013 on 7th January!


I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas ... I hope that Santa is very kind to you!


Hugs,
Helen x

Make new friends and keep the old ...

... One is silver and the other gold.

This is one of my favourite vespers that I have sung around a campfire at many national and international Guide events and is a nice reminder that we can keep what we hold dear. You may wonder why this post has started in such a thought provoking way. Well, this morning I bring sad news.

Today is the launch of the final challenge at The Crafty Pad as our lovely "boss" Debbie has reached the difficult decision to close both The Crafty Pad Shop and the blog. Whilst everyone at The Crafty Pad Blog is sad that we're closing, this is the right path for Debbie to take at this time. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have realised that I normally post for The Crafty Pad every fortnight.   However for our final hurrah, Debbie and Leesa & Dawn (our wonderful DT Co-ordinators who keep us all on the straight and narrow) have said we can all come out to play ... whoo hoo!!!!!!!!!!! And our final challenge theme is perfect for the occasion ... Friendship, Keep In Touch and Goodbye!

Our sponsor for you this week is the the fabby team from Joanna Sheen who are offering this week's lucky winner a £10 voucher to their online store ... just in case Santa misses anything off your Christmas list!!!!!



Debbie (our lovely Crafty Pad boss) has let the DT loose in the store for one final time, and here is the card I've made for you this week using one of Debbie's gorgeous images, and a very apt sentiment:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Paper - is called My Sister's Quilt 2  and it was one of goodies from Paulette's May 2012 Club at Create with TLC.
• Image - this beautiful scene is called Girl at Wishing Well by Debbie at The Crafty Pad. I hope that she's making a great wish as she tosses those 2 silver coins into the well! I've brought this sweetie to life using my Spectrum Noir pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Dress - LV1, LV2, LV3
• Shoes - True Black
• Wishing Well - EB1, EB2, TN7, TN8, DG2, DG4, BGR1, IG2, IG4
• Sky - Chalk in Light Blue
• Grass - Chalks in Green and Dark Green
• Sentiment - is also by Debbie at The Crafty Pad and it's perfect for this weeks theme. It is called Imprints Sentiment and to keep things simple, I have just drawn round the inside edge of the ticket with my silver gel pen.

• Metal Heart Embellishment - this is a great "cheat" and I made this following this Faux Metal Tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers. I used an offcut of Neenah Card, onto which I heated 4 layers of silver embossing powder, before imprinting this little heart stamp. The embossing powder and stamp came from a bargain 50p bag of stamping bits and pieces that I bought at my Church's Autumn Fete!

Now's the chance for you to grab your favourite Crafty Pad images whilst you can. Everything is on sale in The Crafty Pad Store at 25% off until 6th January 2013 ... so go and grab yourself a bargain or two!

Please do hop over to The Crafty Pad and see the gorgeous creations by the rest of Design Team and please leave all the girls some blog love for all the fabulous creations they've shared week in and week out. Then come back and show us your creations. You've got until 8pm (GMT) on Saturday 22nd December 2012 to link your cards up and we'll be announcing our final winner and Top 5 on Thursday 27th December.

I would just like to add a huge "Thank You" to Debbie, Leesa and Dawn who invited me to join the Crafty Pad team in the Spring. It's only been a very short 8 months, but I've had a ball and I've loved showcasing the wonderful images. And, using my opening lines, we'll all go on to make new friends in Blogland, but I will keep in touch with all my 'old' Crafty Pad friends. And do pop in to visit me from time to time won't you ... you'll be very welcome!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

• Challenge #200 - Wise Words at Crafty Creations

Have a great Sunday!

Helen x

A Snowy Recipe

Good morning friends,



Welcome to another Sunday morning, and new challenge time at The Crafty Pad. Tina is this week's hostess, and her challenge for the Team A girls and you this week is A Recipe - 3 Snowflakes, 2 Ribbons and 1 Sentiment.

The wonderful team at Robyn's Fetish are our sponsors this week, and they're offering this week's lucky winner 5 Digis of your choice! They've also been kind enough to provide the DT with images to showcase.





And here is my project this week:

My tag recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Kingfisher (which came in a Brights pack from Crafter's Companion, which they don't appear to have on their website at the moment). I embossed this using the largest tag shape on my Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats and I then very carefully cut out round the scalloped edge.
• Image - this lovely snowlady is called gorgeous  Bella Da Snowlady by Robyn's Fetish... how cute and cool is she? I have brought her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Hearts - CR11
• Nose - OR1
• Coat - BT1, BT2, BT4, BT5
• Scarf & Hat - BT1, BT2, BT5, BT6
• Shading of Snow - IG1, IG2
• Outline - IG1
• Sentiment - by Debbie at (Crafty Pad Designs) and is one from a set of 11 Christmas Sentiment Tickets. There are various sentiments in this collection to suit most occasions. I took the sentiment into my word processing package and changed the colour to an aqua shade, to match with my tag and colouring. As you may have seen in my post of last week, Debbie has taken the difficult decision to close her store in the new year, and currently everything is on sale at 25% off until 6th January 2013 ... so go and grab yourself a bargain or two!
• Snowflakes - punched in two different sizes from Centura Pearl card  in Snow White
• Ribbons - from my stash and threaded through a hole in the top of my tag which I made using my smaller snowflake punch. The Sparkly Merry Christmas ribbon is truly scrumptious and is gold flecked as well as having this lovely sentiment printed through it ... I'm sorry that my photo doesn't really do it justice!

In the meantime, do hop over to The Crafty Pad and see the gorgeous creations by the rest of Team A. Then come back and show us your creations using our Recipe! You've got until 8pm (GMT) on Saturday 15th December 2012 to link your cards up.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Red and Blue at Winter Wonderland
• #166 Technique Challenge - Embossing at Just Us Girls
• Challenge #34 - Label/Tag Big or Small at Crafty Ribbons 
• Challenge #11 - Tags at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge

Have a good weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

NB: Links to product and store removed in February 2018 as it was brought to my attention that the store has closed and domain name now suggests inappropriate content .... 

What Cuties!

Hello friends!

This is a very special post as it is my 100th! Who would have thought just 18 short months ago that a) I would still be going strong with cardmaking and b) that I would still be blogging? Thank you to you all, whether you follow me regularly or occasionally, for your encouraging comments and your friendship!

Over the last couple of week's I've been a very bad blogger and missed some challenges. We're coming to the end of decorating our study (aka my secret craft room) and for the last 2 months our computer has been in the dining room, which has been proving exceedingly problematic as I need to keep my card addiction away from my other half! However, a new carpet is being fitted later today and we'll be bringing the furniture back from storage, so very soon the house of Mamma Mia should return to an even keel and be more crafty!!!!! :o)


I missed the start of this week's new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs which was unveiled yesterday. However, I'm here today! Our challenge theme for you this week is Non-Traditional Christmas Colours.

 Our lovely sponsor this week is the exceedingly talented Krista from Saturated Canary who has very kindly provided some of her gorgeous images for the DT girls to work with this week. Thanks Krista!

And here is my card for you, using burgundy, lavender and jade green as the colour scheme:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, cut, scored and folded to make a 13cm square card
• Design Papers - are from the recently completed Winter Club by Paulette at Create with TLC. They are Better Watch Out Paper 6  and Bells on Christmas Day Paper.
• Image - this gorgeous image is called Snow Blower and the image comes with 3 sentiments, although I haven't used them here. I have brought this cute pair to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS6
• Eyes - DG6
• Hair - GB8, GB10, LV2
• Scarf & Mittens - DR7, True Black
• Jacket - LV1, LV2, DG3
• Leggings - DG3, JG6
• Socks - LV1, LV2, DR7
• Boots - DR7, True Black, DG3
• Elephant - PP3, PP4, PP5
• Snow - EB1, Chalk in White
• Outline - GG1
• Clouds - Chalk in Light Blue
• Sentiment - by Debbie at (Crafty Pad Designs) and is one from a set of 29 Merry Christmas Sentiments. There are sentiments for family members as well as more generic ones like the Merry Christmas Snowflake that I've used on this card. I have edge distressed the sentiment using Chalk in Dark Green. Debbie has taken the difficult decision to close her store in the new year, and currently everything is on sale at 25% off until 6th January 2013 ... so go and grab yourself a bargain or two!
• Holographic Embossing Powder - from my stash, which I applied and heated with my new acquisitions, a Versamark Ink Pen and a proper heat gun thanks to the voucher I won in October on the Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog!

Do check out the Incy Wincy Designs blog and see the other gorgeous Christmas cards with Non Traditional Colours that have been created by my talented teamies and this week's Guest Designer (and former teamie) Annette Then come back and show us your projects - you've got until Sunday 9th December 2012 to link your creations up.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

• Challenge #189 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours at Digital Tuesday Challenge
• Challenge #44 - Holiday Cheer at Love to Create
• Challenge #68 - Bingo at Aud Sentiments - I'm claim the top line of Use the word "Merry", Embossing and Snow
• Winter Holiday Creations at Pixie Dust Studio

Hugs,
Helen x