Welcome to Parenthood

Hey everyone - Happy Friday to you All!!!

Well, this week has been THE most exciting time for my family in such a long while ..... my Daughter & Son-in-Law's little 'miracle' baby has finally arrived!! Yay!!!  Shay Daniel-Jay arrived into the world on Tuesday morning weighing in at a very healthy 7lb 13.5oz!

 We have awaited this moment for years now and now we all have to keep pinching ourselves that the Nappy News has finally happened!  I blogged a post back in January detailing the journey my amazing Daughter & Son-in-Law have been through to make this day happen and, if you fancy taking a peek, you can read it HERE.

My card today is using a new image from the fabby Redonkadoodles called 'Welcome to Parenthood'.  I made this up for my little boy to give to the proud parents - it's a fun, light-hearted card to match the super fun image, but has a double meaning ....

Isn't this the most funniest image ..... and so very true!  You have to feel for the one who pulls the short straw LOL!! Of course, the sentiment speaks for itself ..... but I also wanted it to portray that, yes, their turn has finally come to delight in their new baby joy!

I decided to use 'unconventional' colours for my card - I tend to go towards more pastel colours when creating baby cards, but, hey! .... I am being LOUD & PROUD with this one :)

I coloured the image with Copics:
Skin:  E000, E00, E11   Blacks tones:  C0, C1, C3, C5, C7  Turquoise/Blue tones:  BG01, BG05, BG09

The bp's are from Wild Rose Studio and called Wintry Christmas.  The fab die is Spellbinders Nestabilites Decorative Elements and the roses are all from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The Rhinestone Sparklers are from The Hobby House and the ribbon & charm are from my stash.

A little touch of glitter around the edges and voila! A card fit for our little Prince ....

..... and here's the little man himself .....

I'd like to enter into the following:

A.R.T. Card Challenge Ch #7 - Anything Goes & Guest Designer
Creative Card Crew Ch#41 Baby - Dominant color of Blue or Pink
Creative Creations Challenges #15 - Anything Goes
Digi Makeover Challenge #98 - Color It
Make It Monday #151 Linky Party

Thank you so much for popping by today and sharing in our baby joy!
Big, NAPPY hugs to you all!

Babies and Butterflies

Hello lovelies!  Huge apologies for not being on here of late only I have been knocked out with an extremely unpleasant mouth infection!  I had a wisdom tooth extracted last Tuesday, was absolutely fine on Wednesday and then ..... oh yes!...... Mr Infection himself decided to pay a visit!  Oh my days!! How painful is he?  He takes no prisoners!  Well, as you can image, I've been feeling very sorry for me!  I've taken my antibiotics like a good girl ..... and the flipping thing is still lurking .....

Anyhow, onto a much brighter note ..... I was so thrilled to be invited as a Guest Designer for CMC Challenge.  Their challenge this fortnight is *SPRING COLORS* I always think of Spring with beautiful blue skies and lush green grass and so here is my take on the Challenge:

I have used the adorable 'Babies and Butterflies' digi image from Redonkadoodles.  I have coloured these two cuties up in Copics and, for the background, I was inspired by a fabulous tutorial by Alyce Keegan of  Kit and Clowder  .  You can find her amazing tutorial here.  For my first attempt I don't think I did too bad :)  My beautiful papers are called Petal Fresh from Lili of the Valley.

Copics:   

Skin:  E00,11,21, R11  Hair:  E31,51,53  

Dress: B00,24,32,45  Top: E31,33,35,51

Sky: B000,B00, C1,C3,B60  Grass: G21,94,99, YG63 

I would like to enter these babies into the following:

Celebrate the Occasion Ch 103 - Spring is in the Air

Crafting for all Seasons - Spring into Spring

Crafty Sentiments Designs - Hello Spring

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - Springtime

Flutter By Wednesdays - Any Winged Creature

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - Spring 

Stampin' for the Weekend - Child's Play

Twisted Tuesday - Spring into Green

Thanks so much for popping by today :) xx

Wacky Birthday

Hiya all, hope you're all well and that you've all had a fab weekend!  I have a quick post for you all today as I am super duper busy, but I thought I'd give you all a giggle with this little cutie.

Here is a new, hilarious image called Funny Face, created by the extremely talented Sheryl of Redonkadoodles.  I couldn't wait to colour this bucket full of fun up ..... 

I've been doing a fair few fussy, fancy cards just recently (bet you can't say that in a hurry!!) but, for this one, I let the image take centre stage .... I think she can handle it, don't you? :)  The teal & brown colour combo is one of my all time favourites and I reckoned they'd be perfect for this gorgeous chick.

I've layered the backing papers at angles and added faux 'glitter' stitching on each mat. I then added a simple layering of flowers to add dimension.  The greeting was computer generated then glittered.  I layered three strips of ribbon under each side of the greeting - each ribbon folded over. 

I have to say, I've pulled this face on many occasions - but never once have I looked as gorgeous doing so!! LOL ...

Card Ingredients:

Copics:  Eyes E00, 11, 21, R11  Hair  E37, 35, 33, 53, 51  Dress  BG49, 23, 15 & YR 23, 31

Papers: My Mind's Eye - Paris & Co from Dies to Die For

Flowers - under layer - Prima

Flowers - roses - The Hobby House
Metal corner (coloured with Copic) - LLC

Ribbon from stash

I'd like to enter this babe into the following:
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes - Optional 'Pile it On'
CMC Copic Challenge - Girly
Creative Card Crew - Birthday
Inky Chicks - Mother's Day or Birthday
Lacy Sunshine Challenge  - Favourite Colour Combo
Sentimental Sundays - Flowers, flowers & more flowers
Totally Gorjuss - Happy

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I do hope this li'l lady brought a smile to you all!
Big hugs,

Sassy Sweet Tooth

Hi everyone! Don't know about you all but the snowy heavens definitely opened on Friday around our way - the little fluttering of snow I was expecting turned into an all out blizzard!! (Well, not quite ..... but there was certainly lots of it! ) The little ones have had an absolute whale of a time :) We've built a snowman with a little wall around him to protect him from the wind; had a go at snow trampolining; been sledding and, of course, the all important snowball fights .... my son's aim is not the best so most of his snowballs ended up in next door's garden or on my windows!! Oops! ;) All good fun though and, this morning, there appears to be more on the way ........

On to my card now and, today, I'm sharing with you another brand new design by the fabulous Redonkadoodles and this little sexy chick is called 'Sassy Sweet Tooth'.

How fun is she?! I've once again used up a mixture of Christmas paper pads - as long as there are no Santas or Snowmen on there I figure I can get away with it :)  The sentiment is, of course, the words from the well known song ...... it popped into my head as soon as I saw her with her heart shaped lollipop and thought it would be kinda cute to put it alongside her.

I coloured Sassy Sweet Tooth up with Copics and here's my list of ingredients:

Skin: E00 E11 E21 R11

Hair: E31 E35 E37 E47

All blue tones: BV08 BV17 BV29

All green tones: G94 G85 G21

Lollipop: R59 R37 R11 + a touch of glitter to make it sugar coated :)

I'd like to enter this cheeky little number into the following:

ATC's and Cards With Attitude - Ch 31 Add a Tag or Sentiment/Anything Goes
Copic Marker Europe - Ch 13 Anything Goes
Craft us Crazy - Ch 35 Celebrate Love or Are you seeing red
Lady Anne's Challenges - Friday sentiment - Anything Goes
That Craft Place - New Year New Goodies

Hope you all have a fun rest of the weekend!  Thanks so much for popping by!
Big hugs xxx

Miracle Baby

Hi all, hope you're all keeping warm what with all of the white stuff falling everywhere! Apparently we're in for a big flurry this weekend too!!

Before I show my card I'd just like to share some amazing news with you all .....

My beautiful eldest daughter & son-in-law are, at long last, expecting their second baby!   They already have a gorgeous little boy who is now almost eight years old and they feel absolutely blessed that they have him, however, they sadly lost a baby four years ago and, after months of trying, which ultimately turned into years,  were told that their only hope to fulfill their dreams of having another child was to undergo IVF.  It's been an absolute rollercoaster for us all and they have truly felt every emotion you could possibly feel but, after deciding to go ahead with the IVF in October last year, I am so proud and delighted to tell you that all went as perfect as can be and they are expecting their little miracle baby in July of this year!  My daughter had her second scan today and baby is as bouncy as ever :) Eeeeeek!! Soooo super excited!!!

So, onto my card and today I'm sharing with you all the most beautiful new image created by the very talented Sheryl of Redonkadoodles.  This one is called Pregnancy Glow and I squealed with joy when I saw her!  The timing of this release was absolutely perfect!  I made this card especially to congratulate them on this fantastic news and the very apt sentiment was a free stamp last week from Create with TLC, which I merged with Pregnancy Glow.  

I coloured this gorgeous gal up with my Copics - think I went a bit heavy on the red but hey, I'm still practising with these new markers - am sure I'll get the hang of them soon :)  My copic ingredients are:

Skin:  E00, E11, E21    Cheeks: R11

Hair:  E35, E47, E53 E57

Eyes:  B97, B95, B12    Lips:  R37, R11

Top:  R59, R37 (Copic) & DR7 (Spectrum Noir)

Skirt:  B39, B97, B95

I used some old Christmas backing papers from my stash, added cheesecloth to the back of one of the mats and coloured the cute little feet charm with copics.  Ribbon, brads and chipboard flower were also from my stash and, I've gone copic mad as each of them had a little copic colouring added to them all :) 

I really hope you like my take on this gorgeous image and thanks so much for popping by today and sharing our good news with me!  I would also like to say a massive HELLO to my lovely new followers too - it really does mean so much to me to have you on board :)  

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

By the Cute and Girly - Cute and Girly
Creative Creations Challenges - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - Make it Girlie
Inky Chicks - Anything Goes
Stampin for the Weekend - Anything Goes
The Squirrel and the Fox - Anything Goes

Huge, happy hugs to all :)

Shy Fairy

Good evening lovelies! Yay!! My FIRST Christmas card this year - and it's for my gorgeous little Granddaughter, Lola Blu :)

I couldn't wait to get home from work tonight to show you my latest make which features the beautiful, most adorable little 'Shy Fairy' which is a brand new digi by the very fabulous Redonkadoodles.  I have merged her with 'Gift Way' digi stamp from the just as fabulous Make it Crafty to create a little Christmas scene.  I asked permission from both designers prior to merging and I would like to say a big THANK YOU to both Sheryl and Zoe for allowing me to do so :)  Of course, Shy Fairy can be used for various occasions - I just fell in love with her and immediately thought of our little Lola for Christmas!  

 I used promarkers, copics and spectrum noirs to colour up little fairy and spectrum noirs for the posts.  I glittered fairy's gorgeous wings - sparkle is a must when using this image! Actually, any excuse for me - I would add it everywhere! ;) 

I also added sparkle to her dress ..... well, as I said, any excuse ......

The snowflakes are Marianne Design Dies, which I rather foolishly decided to add Snow-Tex to - oh my life .... how long did it take me?? Have you seen how intricate those little snowflakes are?? Of course, I had to finish once I started so, as you can imagine, it took a while! Quite pleased I did it afterwards though as I think it looks quite effective :) 

In fact, I think I got a little carried away with the snow ..... the Nellie Snellen Christmas tree got it; the posts got it; even the floor around the presents got it - there was quite clearly a blizzard going on in the making of this card!!! 

I added some gorgeous flowers from WOC and added a few scattered stamens around them and a little sentiment from Pink Gem Designs, which I printed in my chosen colour to match. 

The blue papers are Xmas Bella from Wild Rose Studio and the beige snowflake paper is It's Christmas Time by Maja Design.  I paper pieced the parcels .... just because I LOVE paper piecing :)  I added gorgeous jute, ribbon from my stash and a few flat backed pearls coloured up with my SN's!

The Maja Design papers, jute and snow-tex all came from my new found favourite online store at Live and Love Crafts.

Well, I hope you like my little Christmas card - one down .................. handfuls to go!!! Best get a move on otherwise it'll be summer before I know it ...

I would like to enter my card into the following:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 24 - Anything Goes

Live and Love Crafts - Christmas Challenge No. 5

Thanks so much for popping by today and your comments mean so much,

Big hugs,



xx

Sweet 16

Hiya all!  Well, I think my crafty mojo has finally revitalised herself ...... about time too!! She was obviously quite at ease with her bikini and shades on even though I was desperately prodding her to get motivated again ;) 

Today I thought I'd share another fabulous design by Redonkadoodles called 'Goth Birthday'.... and here she is .......

I thought I'd colour her up in my favourite colours and wanted to make a statement with her beautiful hair! Initially I was going to just colour black with a touch of colour but then thought I'd reverse it and add colour with a touch of black instead!  I would have loved to have had my hair like this when I was younger ..... would never have been brave enough though hehe! 

I used Spectrum Noirs for her hair and clothing plus accessories and I used Promarkers for her boots.  I know Goths don't necessarily 'do' sparkle but I couldn't help myself and HAD to add a bit of glitter to her headband and cushion :) 

For the background papers I printed each separate mat from my various Pink Petticoat downloads.  I die-cut the 'Sweet' sentiment, added glitter (of course) and some little liquid pearls around it. 

I didn't want to make the card too flouncy this time by adding ribbon and bows etc but I do hope I've done this fabulous image some justice ...... although, I think she could quite easily make a card look fab just as she is naturally in black and white!!

Spectrum Noirs - Teal colouring:   BT3, BT4, BT5
Spectrum Noirs - Purple colouring:   PL2, PL4, LV1, LV2
Promarkers - Boots:   Black, Cool Greys 5, 4 and 1

Thank you so much for popping by today and I'd love to hear what you think of my colourful Goth :) 

Big hugs to you all and Happy Crafting!! 
xxx

Sisterly Love

Hi ladies, today I thought I would share a card I have made from my little boy (who is 6 years old) to give to his sister (who is 26 years old today).  I cannot believe I had my gorgeous girl 26 whole years ago ..... how quickly time flies!! I am as proud of her today as I was the day she was born and she has blossomed into the most beautiful, caring and most loyal woman you could ever wish to meet and, boy oh boy, her little brother absolutely means the world to her! No sibling rivalry here at all ...... I guess that may have something to do with the 20 year age gap hehe ;)

When I saw this image from Redonkadoodles I knew it would make the perfect card from a little bro to his big sis!  The image is called 'Mother and Son' but, of course, can be used in a variety of ways and I chose this one :D

I have coloured their hair in Copics - I so need to get me some more colours in these fab pens!!... and the remainder I coloured in my trusty Promarkers.  The beautiful papers I got from Lili of the Valley and they are called 'Promises'.  They are so beautiful that I just HAD to add them to the forefront via paper piecing as well as in the background! The flourishes were cut from my Spellbinders flourishes set and the beautiful flowers, yet again, are from WOC.  I added a variation of ribbon behind the image and popped a tulle bow at the side to add more texture.

I made up a little sentiment from my PC, added some flat backed gems and, voila!!! All done and ready to give .... well, after little one finished writing his own birthday message inside it (which usually also involves a couple of hand-drawn love hearts, flowers and a mountain of kisses) hehehe! :)

Big hugs to all,
xxx

Birthday Seduction

Hey all, hope you've all had a fab Saturday so far!  I'm back with my 2nd male card of the weekend ...... phew! I clearly want to make life difficult for myself this weekend :) The other half better flipping like it after all my hard work, blood, sweat & tears! Well ..... little bit of a fib there ..... there was no blood!!

For my Fiance's birthday card this year I chose the adorable 'Seduction Suzie' digi stamp from Redonkadoodles. When I saw this gorgeous girly I just knew I had to have her!  I think Mike'll appreciate her too - seeing as she looks so much like me :o)  (okay, in my dreams ....and probably his too) ha, ha, ha!  Anyhow, I usually do the fishing ones, or football, or fishing and yet more fishing cards for Mike but, for this year, I thought he could do with a change ;) ..... I'm kind like that!! And it has absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that I soooooo wanted to make up a card with this image! Nope! Not at all ......

and here she is ......

I coloured her hair and skin with my usual promarkers, and, for a change, I paper pieced her dress, shoes, hair bows and pressie bow! I haven't used this technique in a fair while now - not really sure why I haven't as I just LOVE cutting out and sticking :) The gorgeous papers are called 'Man About Town' and, yep, you guessed, it ..... I got them from my local craft shop!  They are made by a company called Wild Rose Studio. 

I had a weeny accident whilst doing up this card and spilt glitter on the pressie and her little hair accessories .... Oopsie!!! Silly me!!! ...... ;o)

I had so much fun making this card and enjoyed every minute! Have now got my beady eye on another Redonkulous Design ...... watch this space!!

Anyway, ladies, I'm off now to chill and watch a bit of X Factor! Don't usually get much time in front of the box so I'm gonna treat myself tonight!  Enjoy the rest of your day whatever you are up to and big thanks for popping by today!

Hugs,

Love is in the air …

Hi all, today I thought I’d share my recent Wedding card (plus candle, of course), which I made for my boss’ son & his new wife as a little token keepsake of their beautiful day! …. and what a gorgeous day it was again on Saturday! Oooh! I do love a bit of sunny brightness in a clear blue sky! 

The card/candle I made was using a digi stamp from Redonkadoodles called ‘Wedding Couple’ ……. and here it is ……..



This is the very first Redonkulous image I have used and it was great fun to colour up – what a super beautiful couple!  I used promarkers to colour them up – adding a reddish tint to the groom’s hair and a darker brown to the bride’s to reflect the ‘real’ happy couple!



The gorgeous flowers I added from Wild Orchid Crafts, the beautiful flat backed pearls are from Joanna Sheen and the ribbon and lace were from my crafty stash!  The backing papers were actually a freebie from a craft magazine and have been sitting in the cupboard for a while just waiting ….. and waiting some more …… to be used with the perfect image!



Lastly, I added the all important glitter! I do love a bit of shimmery glitz!!

I am proudly entering this into Unique Crafters Challenge: September Challenge - Anything Goes

Hope you like my newest creation …….. am just off now to continue with yet another wedding card!  You gotta love weddings ……..
Thanks for taking a peek, lots of hugs
Tracey xx