Blog candy!

Happy blogoversary to me, happy blogoversary to me, happy blogoverary dear me -ee, happy blogoversary to me!

What better way to celebrate than with a little candy for all my lovely blogging buddies out there!

Included in the candy are three new stamps that have recently caught my eye: one by Mary Hall for Funky kits and two cute manga style stamps from the gorgeous new range over at The Secret Crafter. (A big thank you to the lovely Wendy for donating Jack and Mollie). There will also be a few other fun bits and pieces in the final package.

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is post a link to the candy on your blog and leave a comment for me on this post.

I'll make the draw for the winner on Monday next week, which is a bank holiday here in the UK. Don't forget to drop back to find out the result!

I just want to say a very big and heartfelt 'thank you' to everyone who follows my blog or who drops by. You are all just amazing and never fail to cheer me up and make me smile!

Happy crafting everyone!

My oldest friend!

Actually the post title really should read: 'the friend that I have known the longest' as my friend Sue has just turned 45, not 145!

When I made this card I was feeling in a clean and simple mood, and also wanted to use some spring colours.

This gorgeous digital image was a freebie over at the fabulous Some Odd Girl. She's called Mae and if you pop on over to Some Odd Girl you will find that there are lots more Mae's following Kristy's April new releases day last week.

I love Mae's slightly odd proportions and gorgeous eyes...

Anyhoo, back to my 'oldest friend'...

This is Sue and her gorgeous daughter, Katie. I first met Sue on the climbing frame at playgroup, which was a very long time ago. We haven't managed to meet up for ages but always keep in touch with cards and letters, and recently by email.I made the card featuring Mae for Sue's birthday and am delighted to discover that it perfectly fits the current challenge over at One Odd Girl which is no patterned paper!

Finally, please don't forget to drop by tomorrow as I will be celebrating one year of blogging here at Dotty Pudding's Place, with a little candy giveaway!

Happy crafting everyone!

Rach has got candy!

Rach has got some fabulous candy on offer over at her shiny, new blog .

Somehow she has managed to snag a set of Hanglar & StAnglar (set 2) stamps and has paired it with the new 12x12 paper stack vintage shabby papers by Tim Holtz!

Her candy giveaway will stay open until Sunday 2nd May at 10pm, so why not head on over and find out how to go into the draw!

April Card Chain Challenge.

Good morning everyone, it's a lovely, bright sunny morning here in the UK!

I finally got the 'thumbs up' from my April Card Chain Challenge recipient that her card had arrived. This means that I can now share the card that I sent to the lovely and oh, so talented Kelly Booth!

No prizes for guessing that I used a LOTV image. I decided to go with Deborah's theme of 'Friendship' for this month's challenge as I couldn't get a close enough match to her yummy colour combo to make it work. I hope Kelly liked the card as I felt under huge pressure sending one of my little creations to one of my card making heroines!

As I have said before part of the thrill of playing along with Deborah's challenge is that you actually receive a card!

I was lucky enough to get this little beauty from the lovely Simone in Perth... I have such a crush on kraft, brown and pink as a combo! She sent some chocolate too, yum!

Here's a picture taken in the sunshine so that you can appreciate the sparkle of those gems.

Thanks Simone, I love it and feel very lucky to have your lovely card on my noticeboard!

If you haven't joined in a Card Chain Challenge yet there will be another one along for May.

Deborah kindly takes care of all the admin side of things and all you have to do is sign up and have fun!

Happy crafting everyone, I'm off to try out some new stamps today. I think this will result in a very different look or style of card for me, so wish me luck!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Oh dear... and guess who hadn't the heart to move him!

Check out all the workdesk fun at Julia's blog Stampin' Ground.

Konnichiwa Midori!

When I spotted these cute Japanese girls over at Mamidoodles I just fell in love!

They are work of the talented Elisa and belong to her gorgeous and very affordable set of images called 'Midori', which means "Green" in Japanese.

Elisa has created this kit especially with us cardmaking girls in mind. You can get sweet little Midori in three different outfits, and she also comes as a template for paper piecing.

Elisa has just announced her new DT and has opened her first challenge over at Mamidoodles.

I couldn't resist playing along and really enjoyed using the yummy colour combo of 'wheat, pale blue and red' inspired by this picture.

This little tri-fold card is my entry for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #79.

The theme for this week has been chosen by my super talented friend Vicky... so there was even more incentive than usual for me to play along!

Vicky's theme is 'A Day Out', and originally I was thinking about a day out in the country such as a picnic or a visit to a farm. However, after seeing cute Midori I knew that I wanted a little group of girls in their beautiful kimonos taking a day trip to see the cherry blossom or Sakura. I loved the book and film 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden. The beautiful cherry blossom scenes made a big impact on me and inspired the idea for this card.

I used this beautiful traditional Haiku, translated by Robin Gill in 'Cherry blossom Epipthany', to set the scene:

cherry blossoms

with the morning moon

still in the sky

Japanese people believe the Japanese cherry blossom captures and defines all that is vulnerable about being human. They believe that the brief Sakura season gives a timely reminder, once a year, that life is fleeting and time is precious. For them the cherry blossom season is a time to take stock and evaluate what they have achieved, and what they are going to do next, on their life path. People travel from all over Japan to see the best displays of blossom.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge #55 - April flowers or April showers

Ginger Snap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Growth (personal growth!) and

Raise the Bar - Movie Mania: Memoirs of a Geisha

The cherry blossom on this card was created using flower soft. The additional stamps that I used are a flower border clear stamp and the gorgeous 'Leaf Flourish' stamp, both from Hero Arts. The leafy border stamp is from Hobby arts and was stamped using Distress Inks.

Happy crafting everyone, and don't forget to drop by next week as I'll be celebrating my 1st Blogoversary with a few little candy giveaways!

Feel better soon...

The challenge this week at The Secret Crafter is to make a get well card.

I thought that I was going to struggle with the theme until this crazy little idea popped into my head! I always appreciate a card that makes me laugh when I'm feeling low, so I went with a little comedy number using my favourite piggy from Stampin' Up!

The papers are all from the gorgeous Cosmo Cricket early bird pad. I love using these papers, but I always 'sigh' as the cutter zips them down to size. I added lots of 'Old Paper' Distress ink and some cute Stampin' Up! linen thread to complete the 'Homespun' look that I was trying to achieve. I hope that this little pig feels better soon as he looks very, very sick indeed!

Happy crafting everyone!

A challenging challenge!

Those fabulous girls over at Crafty Cardmakers have set a 'challenging challenge' this time.

The idea is to get us to stretch ourselves and try something new, or to go for it and finish a project that has been trucked away gathering dust because it seemed too difficult to complete.

Today I have conquered my fear of Tilda!

For such a cute little girl she has caused me considerable stress and anxiety. Don't get me wrong I always love seeing Tilda images on other people's cards but I really struggle to colour her... everyone else does such a great job, but I find her oh, so tricky.

My friend Vicky kindly let me borrow her entire Magnolia collection last week (oh the responsibility), so I decided to knuckle down and get to grips with Tilda. That's the first part of my challenging challenge.

The second challenge was to make a certain style of aperture card. I've been trying to make one of these for a few weeks, but with little success. I know a poor craftsman (woman) always blames his (her) tools but none of the images that I had tried seemed to work. In amongst the lovely Magnolia stamps on loan from Vicky, was Tilda's swing! At last I could tackle this style of card and thus challenge myself for a second time.

After alot of stamping and colouring and cutting, I created an aperture with my Cuttlebug.

I had to make sure that Tilda and her swing would fit nicely across the gap before picking the right size cutting die. Then I fixed Tilda's swing with foam adhesives and sat Tilda on the seat. Again I used foam adhesives to give a 3-D effect. I added the foliage and a few Hero Arts butterflies cut with a perfectly sized Woodware punch. I used Diamond Glaze on the butterflies and the cute little mushrooms, and actually managed not to get glaze all over my fingers this time!

If I ever make this style of card again there are lots of things that I would do differently, but I am quite pleased with the overall effect. I think Tilda looks very sweet on her swing, with her spring meadow in the background.

Finally, I was surprised to discover that my Blog is nearly 1 year old, so please remember to drop by around Wednesday 28th April as I will be having a little giveaway!

Happy crafting everyone!

Flutterby butterfly!

Flutterby Wednesday Challenge #104 is looking for some sparkle to accompany your butterfly, angel or fairy this week. Admittedly the girls will have to look carefully to find it on this card but the butterfly has Stickles on it's wings!

I wasn't going to share this simple little card. However, after I photographed it I changed my mind as it looks quite pretty!

I think this image has been drawn by Elisabeth Bell as it looks like her style. I stamped it when I visited my mate Vicky a few weeks ago and I can't remember the details.

It's chicks in baskets and origami bunnies at the library tomorrow. When I rang work this morning they said there were 25 children's names on the list for the session... that's a whole lot of bunnies to make!

Happy crafting everyone!

How does your garden grow!

I wasn't going to share this project until later in the week but the little watering can looked so sweet in amongst the spring flowers that I couldn't resist posting it today!

A big thank you to Dolly aka Vicky over at Blush for sharing the links back to the template for this little gem.I had plenty of fun making this sweet little watering can and enjoyed working on a non-card project for a change.

The double-sided scrapbook paper is by Scenic Route and is called Charlotte/Canal Street Floral by Sarah Milne. The distressing looks way OTT in the pictures, but thankfully in real life isn't so apparent. The gorgeous mushroom coloured roses and the hat pins are from the amazing Wild Orchid Crafts. If you haven't visited their online store you are in for a treat as their selection of mulberry flowers is stunning.

I plan to re-arrange the roses before I give this to my Mom as I'm not quite happy with how they look... I think I'll centre them up a bit more.

Edited to add:

...and sometimes less is more. Actually, I think I prefer this simple look!

No surprises that I am entering this at the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - How does your garden grow.

Happy crafting everyone!

Fairies, banana bread and bunny ears!

Ok, so I've used a Lilli of the Valley image again.... but what's a girl to do when they are just sooooo lovely!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Easter break.

Hubby is at the football, so I'm indulging in a little bank holiday crafting. I also found time to try out a new banana bread recipe this afternoon and I have to say that it smells fabulous! I'm looking forward to tucking into it later with a big cup of hot chocolate... yum!

This simple little Nestie card was so quick and easy to make. I coloured the image earlier in the week and just added the finishing touches today. I think that Nestie cards make a fabulous 'fallback' when you need a cute card in a hurry! I swooshed a little silver Versacolour over some D'vine Swirls embossing for a quick and simple background.

It's 'Blue and silver' for week #50 over at the Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog and the Flutterby Wednesday Challenge is for 'Blue, white and green'.

I'm also linking this card to the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Open week.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #53 - 'Sugar and spice and everything nice'

Crafty Creations girls - 'Anything goes'

One stitch at a Time Challenge #7 - 'Anything goes'

'Shapes Galore' at A Spoonful of Sugar.

One small card... so many challenges!

Just before I sign off I hope you don't mind if I share these latest pictures of my niece.

Guess who didn't really want Auntie to photograph her wearing bunny ears!!!

She'll love these pictures when she's 21!

Happy crafting everyone!

Amazing candy!

Follow this link to take a look at a fabulous candy giveaway!

Kellie is giving away the entire Spring Swiss Pixies Kit (Copyright to All That Scraps) to celebrate 100,000 hits on her blog! In this kit you will receive 8 Swiss Pixies, 6 accessory stamps, and 3 Spring Sentiments... isn't that just brilliant!

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all enjoying the Easter break!

Before I get started I just want to say a big thank you for all your helpful ideas and kind comments on my previous post. I guess we've all experienced that feeling when you really want a card to be perfect but it just doesn't quite happen. Thank you all soooooooo much!!!

I have let my hair down and had a bit of fun with the cards that I am posting today. This little bunny just stole my heart when I spotted him over on Mami Doodles. The talented Elisa has some lovely images available and all are very reasonably priced. Don't be surprised to see more of these cute digi's putting in an appearance here as I am really taken with her sweet designs.They do say that the camera never lies but this card is actually a lovely lilac colour rather than lavender blue. Those tiny butterflies are from Hero Arts and took ages to cut out!

I am entering this card over at Cute Card Thursday as Challenge #106 is 'So egg-citing'.

This second card is another outing for that sweet Lili of the Valley bunny.The paper is from a Laura Ashley collection and the colour can only be described as 'Germoline pink'. Thankfully it looks really sweet paired with Kraft card stock. I think that I spent much of my childhood smeared in Germoline ointment as I was always falling off my bike or tripping over my own feet. Does anyone else remember that oh so distinctive Germoline perfume?

So have a great weekend everyone, don't eat too much chocolate and I hope that you'll all find a little crafting time along the way!

Something is missing...

This card was made for a work colleague who retired yesterday. Christine has been my 'locker buddy' since she started at the library and I have to say that it was odd opening 'our' locker this morning and not finding her blue work clogs in there. I had a real feeling that something was missing...

I also have the same feeling about this card. I am not sure what else I could, or should, have added but it just seems to need something additional to give it some oomph - but I don't know what!

The gorgeous girl image is from a set called 'Shining light' by Penibear for The Stamp Bug Ltd. This was an eBay purchase and I have to say that I felt super thrifty as I got it at a very good price. I used other images from the set to decorate the inside, but foolishly forgot to take any photographs.

I got to work with my Versacolour cubes in shades of pink and lilac to create the background, before stamping the main image in black ink. The butterflies are Hero Arts digital stamps coloured with Promarkers, and then slathered in Diamond Glaze. I loved adding the antennae with black cotton and could just hug the wonderful Jennifer McGuire for demonstrating this gorgeous technique a few weeks ago.

The background stamp is that lovely new swirly cling from Hero Arts, and I highlighted the tips of the swirls with silver gel pen. I sprayed the image with Glimmer Mist a few times and then added some Diamond Stickles for extra sparkle and interest.

To say 'goodbye' to Christine a group of us went out for lunch yesterday in the rather swanky Bar Estilo in the Birmingham Mailbox. I had a yummy Tapas meal and then the most amazing chocolate ice cream. I don't go out for lunch with the girls very often so I really enjoyed myself.

A little window shopping in Harvey Nicholls afterwards just finished the afternoon nicely!

Happy crafting everyone!