Pollycraft Pen Pot - Another Prezzie Finished

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all having a great Friday 13th! Its been a good day for me - my hubby had the day off so we went out for lunch at a lovely cafe - which was fantastic.

When we got home he settled on the sofa for some zzzzzzz's (getting old you see!!!) and I decided to do some more crafting (as you do!!!!).

I decided that I would enter Pollycrafts challenge.

Ages ago I bought some plain cardboard pencil pots knowing that one day I would craft them into something of beauty and today is that day.

Here are some pics of my creation:-

This is the front of the pot. I painted the whole thing using some of the paint we had left over from painting up our daughter's room and have used the Up and Away digi stamp from Pollycraft. It is included in one of their bargain bundles at the moment which I highly recommend. I printed our the image three times (once onto plain cardstock and then twice on to patterned paper scraps in order to paper piece the balloon. The rest of the image is coloured promarkers.

This is the back of the pot. I decided that rather than try stamping directly onto the pot itself I would stamp the words (using a Studio G 99p alphabet set I bought a while ago and had never used!) onto scraps of paper and then cut them into cloud shapes to echo the hot air balloon on the front. Finally I had to add a heart which I cut using Xcut Funky Heart dies and also a tiny butterfly made using two tiny hearts cut using a Martha Stewart heart punch. I doodled the body and antenna using a black fineliner pen from Letraset.

Both sides of the pot are the same as this. The clouds are hand cut from scraps of patterned paper (which I used for balloon) and again I added a few butterflys using the heart punch above.

I finished off the whole creation with dabs of a Versa Magic chalk ink pad in Aqatic Splash just to add a bit of an aged feel to the piece and some beautiful ribbon I had "been saving for a special project" from my stash and also made a bow for the front.

I love it and also know that, as it matches my daughter's bedroom's colour scheme (and the Teddy Bo picture I previously showed) that she will love it too (well I really hope so). Its a surprise though so don't tell her yet!!!!

Hope you like it too xxxx

Another Day - Another Challenge - Docrafts Bear 'Christmas Recycled ' Challenge No.6

Hi all,

Well I have entered as many times as I possibly can for the Teddy Bo goodies and every part of my body is crossed hoping that I will win something.

Its now been 11 whole days without me spending a penny (or even pounds!) on craft stuff and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. The only trouble now is that I am getting serious withdrawal symptoms and am finding myself just having sneaky peaks on craft website shops I love like PInk Petticoat, Create and Craft etc.

I nearly bought something again yesterday - I wanted to use my Craft Robo cutting machine (another rash crafting buy which I have hardly ever used in the almost two years I have had it!!!). I could'nt find my carrier sheet so hopped onto Ebay and almost purchased a set of two. But no, I managed to restrain myself and decided that I might be able to make one with I had already. A quick bit of laminating with a cardboard sheet in the middle and then a good coat of Stick N Spray from Crafters Companion and I had one perfectly useable carrier sheet for my machine - result - no craft spend and I saved £9.99 - yippeeee.

Yesterday must have been a good day 'cos I also resisted the super adorable Crafters Companion Pick of The Day from Create and Craft. I know I should'nt have been even watching the channel but old habits are very hard to break!!!!! I decided that as I have never even used any other Crafters Companion stamps I had already bought (like the Popcorn, Swalk and Humphrey - to name just a few!) that I really did not need anything else from them yet - and anyway they must still be available at the start of 2013 - mus'nt they?????

Anyway I have been busy crafting over the last few days and my newly super tidy craft room dose'nt really look that tidy anymore!!!! Oh boy, I'm a super messer crafter - but al least I'm a super messy crafter who has'nt spend any money craft duiring 2012 - yet!!!!

What better way to take my mind off buying crafty goodies than to enter a challenge - so yesterday I made another card, this time to enter into the Docraft Bear Challenge No 6. You can find it here:- http://http://www.docrafts.com/crafttalk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=4135662

Here's my entry:-

The whole challenge was about recycling something left over from Christmas and making something else from it (it could not be Christmas themed). The creation also had to contain a bear.

Now I really love the kraft look - but unfortunately had run out of this type of cardstock. However when I used up a roll of christmas wrapping paper I found some brown kraft type card inside and decided to keep this ready to use on some crafty projects. So this challenge was what I had been waiting for. I used the card to make the scalloped oval mat (which I cut using Xcut Nesting Dies) and also the brown flower embellishments.

The bear stamp was a freebie I had previously found on the internet (although I can't remember where - sorry!!!).

I hope you like it. xxxxx

Ooohhh I'm so excited - Teddy Bo are having birthday celebrations!!

Well if you read my last post you will know what a huge fan of Teddy Bo (and Bea of course) I am. And now I'm really excited as they are having a first birthday blog hop with some amazing blog candy to be won. Look:-

Oh I so want to win this. Ithink I love Teddy Bo almost as much as my kids (well actually I don't think I could love anything as much as my kids - not even crafting - so maybe my husband (only kidding Martin love you tooo!) but I do adore the digi stamps as they are so beautifully drawn and are a pleasuire to colour in.

So go ahead and take a peek - theres a great blog hop taking place to so check it out:-

http://http://teddybochallenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/teddy-bo-tuesday-first-birthday.html

Just remember though who sent you if you win the prize cos' I so hope its all mine xxxxx

New Challenge Entry - Teddy Bo Birthstones

Now I absolutely adore Teddy Bo digi stamps. He is just so cute and cuddly and I just have to have as many of teh stamps as I possibly can. So with my no craft spend imposed on me these are one of the many things I will really, really miss.

However I decided to enter a challenge of theirs so that I may win some free digi stamps of the adorable bear and possibly one day be able to enter their design team and get free stamps to fill my Teddy Bo crafting addiction!!!

The only problem was the challenge this week was birthstones. Now me being born in September meant that the my birthstone is Sapphire so the colour was dark blue. This is the one colour I really do not have much of and obviously I cannot spend anymore cash on craft so I had to think of another way. I found one piece of blue cardstock and decided that I could make a picture to go in my little girl's bedroom.

Here's the challenge:-

http://http://teddybochallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/teddy-bo-tuesday-birthstone-colours.html

and here is my entry:-

I am quite pleased with it even though I do say so myself and know that my daughter will absolutely love it!!! However she can't have it yet as I've decided it will make a nice birthday present for her.

Hope you like it too xxxxx

Challenge Entry - DYSU Challenge #52 - Rainbow of Colours

Me again back with another challenge entry card.

This time I am entering the Do You Stack Up Challenge for the first time. The challenge can be found here.

Now I don't usually use lots of bright colours in my creations but this challenge really inspired me and I loved getting all my bright cardstock out to have a go.

Heres my entry:-

Again I used a Craftwork Cards scalloped square card blank and matted a black square of cardstock directly onto the card. I then cut four widths of different coloured cardstock slightly smaller than the original black mat and added these to the already matted black square.

Using my new (I purchased them at the end of last year) Xcut Homespun Hearts die set I cut the largest size heart using black cardstock and my much loved Sizzix BIgshot and matted this on top of the rainbow mat.

Finally I added a super cute image which I purchased from Stretch & Bubbles a little while ago (sadly the image is no longer available as Stretch N Bubbles no longer sell digi stamps (I feel like I should be in mourning as their stamps were just super cute!) which I coloured using Promarkers (again!) and matted onto the card using foam pads to give a bit of depth.

I finished the card by using punched flowers with added gems in the centre, two message tabs (again from Craftwork Cards) and the small die cut heart from the set.

Hope you like it. I love it even though I do say so myself xx

Sadly though I missed the deadline to add my card to the collection - whoops - nevermind at least I have a card to add to my basket for sale!!.

Challenge Entry - Pollycraft Challenge #121 - Punch It

Hello everyone,

Well I'm sorry for being quiet for the last couple of days but I have been busy making challenge entries and making a start on tidying up my craft room. The good news is though I still have'nt spent any money on craft at all - so thats somewhat ofa record for me!

Anyway here is my first offering which I am entering into the Pollycraft Challenge #121 - Punch It Challenge :-

The rule was that you had to use a punch somewhere in your design. Now I straightaway reached for my flower punches (which I seem to using on everything at the moment!) but then decided to stretch myself a little further. I found a great Pollycraft digi stamp I had already purchased and found two cute balloon punches which seemed to match the image.

I coloured the image using Promarkers (my favourite!) and used Bazill Basics cardstock and a Craftwork Cards scalloped edge square card.

Hope you like it xxx

Happy New Year - 364 days seems an awful long time!!!

Happy New Year to everyone. Lets hope 2012 is a good year for us all.

Well my no spend challenge officially started yesterday and it got off to a slightly wobbly start. I got really excited by the Mad About Cards sale which had loads of dies and stamps etc reduced which I just HAD to have. They were all just so pretty and I would use them all the time (because I always use the 100+ dies and 400+ stamps I already have - NOT!!!). I happily added £35 worth into my basket and got to the checkout. Just about to enter my card details I realised that I was "not allowed to spend" so closed the site as quickly as I could.

Well at least I stopped myself before actually spending the money!!!!! I can't help it I'm a crafty-shop-aholic!!! 364 days seems an awful long time now!!

Plan for today:-

Finish making our thank you cards, post pictures of challenge card made on here and maybe enter a few more challenges (using items I already have - of course!!!).

DAYS WITH NO CRAFT SPEND - 1