Star part 2...

Woohoo!! Josh was Star of the Day again yesterday at school... We got to look after Nemo bear (again) overnight... Josh had a messy day at school yesterday, he had to wear old clothes and being messy tired him out!



My day was a little hectic yesterday, I had some magazine work to take to Bath and was pretty tired as stayed up to finish it! It is all done though and deadline was safely met :) Jared had fun once we had been to Bath to deliver it as we stopped at Nanny's for lunch...



We had a letter home from School yesterday complete with paper bowl... To help with the Tombola stall, we kindly ask you to fill the bowl with goodies. The bowls will then be offered as prizes to win on the tombola stall. Any ideas?....Answers on a postcard please .....

Star...

This week's little extra on the Dare blog is Star themed...



Making Memories eyelet word, coloured with pale pink water colour pencil, hand cut star, Basic Grey papers, doodling and inking....

Off now to get that annoying star song from Opportunity Knocks out of my head....

Busy Busy

Have been mostly hiding for a few days as have one million and one crafty things to complete and the festive season is almost upon us...
I have finally managed to crop and reduce red eye from the piccies that I took last weekend... I managed to leave the camera at Jamie, Claire and Toby's house - probably due to the excitment of going to the NEc or it could have been due to drinking a tinsy winsy amount of red wine with dinner lol

Jim and Neil stayed there for the weekend and pretty soon after we got there, Lee arrived with his gf Priscilla and her two children... a pretty full house!!!

and so after an initial standoff between the boys and girls, they got on really well, surprisingly it was easier with five children than the usual three...

There was...
Posing for photo's



Gaming action




and Singstar and Guitar Hero action...









A fabby day out :)

Sweets for my sweet...

So impressed!! Inspired by the challenge on the Dare blog, Jase made a card. His second ever!! And it is fantastic!!

Knit Your Own Balaclava

Just a quick update with a couple of links for you...

I was looking for a song to use as the title of this post and came across the bizarrely named song 'Knit Your Own Balaclava' by Chumbawumba. I suppose that is is vaguely relevant to the first link. I found it on UkScrappers but if you haven't seen it... here it is...

DAD DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!!!!! (it is slightly rude) *sniggers*

Knitted bits *sniggers some more*

and a slightly more sensible one...

DAD YOU MAY CLICK THIS ONE (although I guessing that you clicked the first one!)

See through PC Monitors

*Still sniggering*
May be back later....

Doodle Do!

My turn to be Daring this week... I thought that doodling would be a good idea. Well it was until tried to make anything, I think that I found this the most challenging so far. After a few attempts, I finally made these that I am quite happy with :)


I used a dark brown card blank, I printed a greeting using the outline option on word onto Pink Basic Grey paper. This gave a guide and I then went over it with black pen and coloured it in. Layered it onto Blonde Moments Pink paper and white copier paper. I doodled a flower and some flourishes, coloured in bits with a white gel pen and used a glue pen and embossing powder to make other bits blingy. Flowers are Angel Kisses and Poundland! Spotty ribbon is from Little Silver Hat A couple of brads, and eyelet, staples and hand stitching and inking to finish.....




Started with a white card blank, covered the bottom half in brown paper, the top in Blonde Moments paper and covered the join with spotty ribbon. Doodled some trees, stars, hearts and a flourish, colored with gel pens, cut out and inked edges. Added detail with a pricking tool and mounted onto white card. Adhered it to the card with foam pads...

I really hope that you have fun with the dare this week, the girls have made some fantastic cards to use as inspiration, they are all on the Daring Cardmakers blog Don't forget to let us know what you create, can't wait to see them :)

Say Cheese!

After the whole house feeling fluey (is that a word?!) at the start of the week everyone is mostly now on the mend :) Jared is definitely better and today decided to 'alter' the telebox with cheesestrings...




He actually did it whilst Lazytown was on but I had to wait for Jase to remove it cos cheese is evil and must not be touched sniffed or eaten (let alone used as an altering medium) (imo!)



So I'm guessing that he thought that it was time Sporticus needed a new moustache...

and onwards... a couple (or three) sites for you to peruse...

first up we have... UKScrappers. I was pointed in the direction of this very flattering yet at the same time a bit embarrassing thread...

Thank you Anita for posting my blog and thank you everyone for the really kind comments that you have posted. I feel all warm and special :)

And the next... is Anam's blog Anam is the most fabby scrapper, so talented , a DT member for Pencil Lines and a BOB winner :)

Finally... Gillian's blog, Gillian is an amazing crafty lady, her blog is just full of fantastic cards and layouts.

and that's it :) For those of you who Dare! (and those who don't) don't forget to check out the new challenge tomorrow. It be mine muhahahaha :) No actually not scary but really good fun.... if you are reading this... 'hello' *waves madly*... see you all tomorrow :)

For Sale

Made a few toppers to sell on that well known auction website :)

Razzledazzle!

Kathy gave a little extra challenge...

'We're giving you one word to play with this time. How you choose to interpret this is up to you, your card might have the word on it, or contain something to do with the word. It might be a quote or phrase with the word in it. It might convey a mood. So what is this word I hear you ask?'



And here is one I prepared earlier.... :)



So... printed greeting onto pearlescent paper, quickly sprinked with embossing powder as it emerged from the printer and heated, Tree cut from glitter card, Basic Grey paper, embossed 'snowflakes' and also around the edge of the text using fabby pink glitter to match the tree...

The other gorgeous sparkly cards are here on the Daring Cardmakers Blog.

Vote for Me!!

I am so excited!!... I'm a finalist in the Cardmaker of the year Competition!! !

For anyone who has the magazine, I'm on page 53 - number 15... If you would like to vote for my cards (no pressure!!) you may do here.... *VOTE FOR ME!!* (please!) - Mine is the one that says '15 Thanks & Happy Christmas by Jo Kill from Swindon'

and here are the cards that I entered...






I would like to thank you if you do vote for me :) and also thank the fantastic lovely people that have given me a mention on their blogs... It is such a brill feeling and you have made me feel really special :)

Jo x

Ribbons....

....for men!!!

Debbie dared us this week .... 'Make a card for a man using ribbon - the theme and technique are open - so it can be for Hubby, Brother, Uncle, Dad, Grandad, Friend but there is only one thing that must be included on the card - ribbon.'
Male cards are definately not my fav but here are my attempts...

I used yummalicious crate papers, the stars are sizzix cut,a stamped definition of the word Birthday and little alphabittie stickers over the top to make the word 'Happy' The white is tippex!! (I tried paint and gel pen and white pencil but they all smudged the background (can you tell I'm not a stamper :)!) Brown paper string is from Ikea, hardware is from skybluepink brads are from Rachie's shop and ribbon and ric rac is from stash :) I printed the word 'birthday' using Marrididdles font and cut out with a circle punch. Lots of inking to finish the card...




This card has Chatterbox papers and Bazzill matching card, hand stitching, more sizzix stars and a computer printed greeting and piccie, both are Beestings font. I used a tiny piece of grosgrain ribbon from Carolyn's shop to make a tiny tag accent.


Some of the girls were slightly more adventurous by incorporating pink into their cards :) All the cards are awesome and are here ... so have a go!! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog once it's done :) Have fun...

The Recipe

Simply take 1 tag, 2 pieces of ribbon or fibre and 3 pieces of patterned paper and see what you can create...

There is a mid week extra on the Daring Cardmakers Blog... here are my creations...


Square card blank turned to landscape, 3 pieces of yummalicious crate papers,(yes it did hurt slightly to cut into them!) 2 pieces of spotty ribbon and 1 tag. Hand cut flower, inking and hand stitching....



Square card blank, 3 yummy scrummy pieces of festive feast papers, 1 spotty ribbon + 1 eyelash fibre and 1 tag... hand stitching, inking, wooden button, bauble and tree top have been glossy accented....


Dad has v kindly taken photos for me and also of the stash that I purchased at the NEC...



and best of all, I can now share with you the signed picture of Alan and Barry....

Shopping

Had a fabby day Sunday, visited our friends Jamie, Claire and Toby and managed to sneak off to the NEC for the Hobbycrafts show :) I have to say that it actually took longer to get to the show from the car park than from J,C & T's house....I did however have a free ticketeroonie from the lovely people at Crafts Beautiful - don't remember entering the comp to win one but hey, anything free is good, right? :)

So.... What did I buy? .... Not that much actually, was a leetle bit shocked though as one of the first stands that I came to was the Simply Cards and Papercraft one and they had some of my cards - on display and everything!! They were the ones that I entered into the Card maker of the Year comp and I am very reliably informed that they will be featured in the next issue ... 'tis very exciting :)

Managed to leave the camera at J C and T's so no photos but here's what I bought...

7 pieces of crate paper
1 6 by 6 blonde moments festive feasts pad of paper
1 pack of queen and co lickle sprinkles
16 buttons
2 Danish pastries that as Josh informed me were as big as his head (and super yummy!!)
that's it...





.....The other things that I got were free ( maybe not all things free are good!?) and were.... A signed picture of Alan and Barry and a really fab badge also with their picture on it saying 'I love Alan and Barry. (Please note that I did not ask for these, they gave them to me as I was passing their stand....) I just wish that I had the camera so that you could share in the loveliness of the afore mentioned items... They are lush...

Superstar

Woohoo Josh came out of school yesteday having been made 'Star of the Day' again. I am so proud of him :) At times he seems too little to be at school already but he has done so well at settling into his new routine. We get to look after Nemo bear again for the weekend...

Off to Jamie Claire and Toby's house tomorrow... suddenly realised this evening that they live exactly 17.4 miles from the NEC.... *grins*

Speak My Language

Dare's up!! and what a fabulous one it is too :) Tracie (Bondgirl)'s amazing challenge to us all went a little something like this...

'Dont worry this weeks dare is an easy one! I want you guys to create a card which must incorporate another Language! See easy peasy huh? and sooo many choices.'


Hmmmm easy eh? Actually not too bad once I had a think about it...

Here are my cards...




Played around with fonts for this one, using the language of gamers, 'leet', main greeting is 'Pwnage' using hair of the dog font. I used dingbats for the symbols - face is Eller font, Gameboy is Tombats 6 font and Skull is Skullbearer AOE font, all printed, cut out with a circle punch and mounted using 3D foam pads. Printed 'Happy Birthday' using Bookworm font and added behing the main card blank on the bottom right to complete it.




Second card, using fonts again, slightly more sensible :) I used different fonts to create the word 'hi' in Japanese, Chinese, Greek, French, Spanish, Korean, Italian and English. I printed these on to a strip of Bazill card, layered it onto contrasting card and hand stitched it to the card blank.

The frame is just cut out and then coloured with pen to make stripes and the 'Hi' was made using cafe rojo font - I created the word with WordArt, filled in the colour and the superimposed a text box filled with the word 'hi' in different languages to create the background effect on the word...



Cut out, inked edges, stuck to card with foam pads and added an angel kiss flower with a brad to complete it :)

The other amazing cards that have been created by the Design Team are here...Can't wait to see what you come up with this week :)

Cupcake

Over the past 3 weeks Josh has only been at school for 5 out of the last 15 week days, half term, training days and more recently boiler breakages have left no room for lessons... Not surprisingly, he was a little releuctant to return to school this morning but decided that he would go if we could make cupcakes!



More Nigel than Nigella but yummy and we had lots of fun creating them and yes, the colour of them really is as vile as in the piccies...



Don't forget to check out the latest Dare tomorrow...

Birthday...

Today is Grandad's Birthday. Happy Birthday Grandad!! We popped over this morning to have tea and cake with him and Nan. Then onwards to Mum and Dad's for Lunch, had the addition of Josh as his School gave him the day off (again)...



I made this card for him - sewing still seems to be factoring in my card making :)(apologies for poor photo...) I thought that he would appreciate having his age on the card :)....



Also made this card for Mum and Dad to give to their friend Frank. Commissioned cards *may* be a bit like Mr Mann asking for a pirate memory game but this one was okay, just 'It needs to have Happy Birthday' 'Frank' '60' Bird Watching' 'The RAF emblem' 'Planes' 'and this fabby sticker that he uses on his woods at Bowls' Anyhoo... here's what I came up with... (*may* have forgotten to add the RAF and planes bit...)



I would like to thank the wonderful Anna who very kindly allowed me to base the drawing upon her cartoon...

Educated Idiot...

The Idiot Test -->

The Idiot Test Are you an idiot?

Check it out!

Quick update to add a card based on a template from the wonderful Kathy...

There are more fantastic cards made by the fabby Daring Cardmakers here
Laters :) x

Shes Crafty

Been busy making toppers this week - after couple of weeks off, listed a few bits on eBay this evening....

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

:)

In the Garden

Spent some time outside in the garden today...

Josh played football, picked some flowers and played hide and seek...


...and Jared wore his hat back to front and ate some mud...

Needles and Pins

Yay it's Friday which means that we have a new Dare for you!!

The wonderful Kathy set this week's challenge..."I want you to make a card on any theme, but it must feature "real" sewing - so no drawing little crosses and pretending it's cross stitch" lol

So here are my attempts :)


Papers are Scenic Route (the cream and black one), Making Making Memories and Basic Grey (the pink flowery one). and that's it :)

'Sew'... to make, tear paper into strips, ink edges, sew to card, cut flower out of paper, ink and sew around edges and adhere to card... et voila :) All stitching was done by hand :)




Hmmm this one looked better in my head but I think that it turned out ok. Papers are DCWV that I bought from my lovely Sister's shop. The flower is an Accucut Die cut and the squares and the flower have been backed onto cardboard to make homemade 'chipboard' (I used a ritz biscuit packet! Last weeks dare continues...). I think the ribbon is American Crafts and the button is from a charity shop... Greeting is hand written with a white gel pen and I added some hand stitching to finish :)

The Design Team have all made some amazing cards, there are here They are all so fantastic and all so different. Can't wait to see what you all come up with....

Are we there yet?

Almost time for this week's Dare :) Just time to show you a couple of comissioned cards that I made for Mum and Nan to give to Grandad for his birthday next week... He will be 92 so doesn't have many hobbies to build a card around :) Here's what I came up with...

Papers are Paper Loft, hand cut arrows, Sizzix Curlie Girlie Alphabet and printed greeting using Missed Your Exit font as it is the closest match to the die cut letters...

Chatterbox papers, and stamped image (yeah right :)) It's a dingbat that I enlarged and printed :) Writing is Blackjack font...

Should be in Josh's celebration assembly at the mo but they have not heating so have moved en masse to the junior school up the road... will be back later to show my dare cards :)