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!