I've been given an award!

Good evening, peeps!
My good friend, the lovely Alison has passed on an award to me - apparently my blog has attitude! So that's what the problem is!! Seriously though, mwah, mwah hun and thanks for the award. This is no ordinary award either because it brings with it a $5 gift certificate to spend in the shop on their fabulous digis. To find out all about it go here.
In order to qualify for the $5.00 Digi’s With Attitude! Gift Certificate you must state 3 things that make you different from everyone else and you must nominate 5 blogs to also receive the award. Lastly, you must display the Blog Award Badge in your sidebar and link it back to the Digi’s With Attitude! Challenge Blog.
OK, first things first, what makes me different from everyone else? I asked my wonderful hubby for help with this and I think he's wearing his rose tinted specs so we'll skip what he said and think again!
1. I believe honesty is definitely the best policy but not to the degree of cruelty
2. I'm something of a perfectionist - not always easy for me or anyone else to live with!
3. I think that laughter is the best medicine and try to put laughter into every day
Now to choose 5 blogs. I get lots of inspiration from so many wonderful blogs and I really appreciate those who leave comments on my blog and it's these two areas that have affected my choice. Not everyone is into Digital Images but I'm passing this award on to:
Mina of Pinkpuds
Dana of Dana's Inspirations
Mindy of Stampin' Mindy
Annika of Another Messy Crafter
Donna of Bearly Mine Crafts
If you haven't seen these ladies' work already, do pay them a visit because they all do wonderful work and you'll find their blogs very inspirational. Also, don't forget to enter the Digis with Attitude Challenge each Friday.
See you soon!

Birds' nest tea?

Good morning,peeps!
Well, you've heard of birds' nest soup I expect, but on my card today the birds are making a nest in a teapot!!

I made it for the new challenge on Digi Doodle Shop's Best, which is to use buttons on your project - a nice easy one so I hope you'll all come and join us!
I think this is a great image that can be used for anything from birthday to anniversary and new home, a truly versatile one that can be used over and over again and you can find it here and while you're in the store, have a look around because the 50% off offer has been extended for another 2 weeks!
I coloured this image with Copics and Prismas and I'll leave the Copic numbers at the bottom of this post. The DP's can hardly be seen on the outside of the card but I have used the lovely Basic Grey Kioshi collection again. You can see them better on the inside of the card:

The ribbon and button are from my stash and the lace is cut from a Magnolia Doo Hickey die. The leaves are from a Marianne D die that I bought just before Christmas and was very glad for the opportunity to use because I just love the shape of these leaves! The flowers are from Prima and the pearl brad and spacer bead that form the centre are from The Hobby House. On the left side of the inside of the card, I used a MS Around the Page punch that I think is called 'Cherish' that I got from Oyster Stamps. The butterflies are also MS punches and the circular sentiment is from LOTV.
The 'purple haze' around the image and on the greeting tag inside was created with VersaMagic 'Spring Pansy' and a make-up sponge.
I'm also entering this card in the Papertake Weekly Challenge, which is Anything Goes with the option of adding lace to your work.
Copics used:
Main part of teapot: E40/41/42/43
Base and front of teapot: YR21/23/24
Flowers: V01/12/15/17
Leaves: YG93/95/97
Roof: R11/21/22
Birds: B12/21/23/24
Flower centres and birds' beaks: Y13/15
Well, that's all from me for today....loads of stuff to get on with and might also have to do some work in between - bummer!

The very last Christmas card for 2010 and an announcement

Good morning, peeps! Well, it's New Year's Eve and tomorrow we'll all be starting a brand New Year, which is an exciting thought - I wonder what it will hold for us all? One thing I know that it holds for me is the opportunity to work with the fantastic DT over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog so how good is that? I've been so excited about it and have been bursting to tell you all for ages! We've got some really great challenges coming up over the next few months so I do hope you'll join us. The first project you'll see from me as a member of the DT will be on Friday 14 January but I have a project on my desk at the moment that I shall enter in the challenge starting today, which is to make a celebration card and a 3D item to go with it so I'd best get busy and get it finished! Before I go, I thought I'd show you this card that I made for my wonderful hubby for Christmas - the picture looks a bit blurry so I'm sorry for that: It's the Christmas Hottie image from the wonderful Kenny K. I know her hair is longer but don't you think she looks just like me (not!)? Anyway, I don't think he's been taking much notice of the card because he went down with 'flu' on Christmas Eve - not just man 'flu' but the real aching, burning proper 'flu'! What good timing is that and my wonderful hubby turned into a bear with a sore head! As you can guess, it's been a very quiet Christmas but, thankfully, he's better now and I can stick my head out of my craft room without getting it bitten off! Here's the inside of the card: The wonderful sentiment on the front of the card is from the talented Lynne at Sentiments 4 You and it was a freebie so, thanks Lynne, it was perfect for this card. The grey DP is from Papermania and the red is an anonymous sheet from my stash. The rest of the ingredients are fairly standard and came from my stash and the colouring was done with Copics. All in all, a really simple card to make. This post seems to have become much longer than I intended so thank you for staying with me this far and a wonderfully happy and fulfilling New Year to all of you and to those you love and I'll see you next year!

Papertake Weekly GDT spot

Well, hello again! I said I'd be back and I don't think I've ever posted twice in one day before but how lucky am I to have two GDT spots this week? Woo hoo!! Anyhoo, this card is for the Papertake Weekly Challenge, which this week is 'Be thankful' and, at this time of year, we all have thank you cards to send. Here is my offering that uses an image from Lili of the Valley. I'm afraid that I don't have the Copic colours for you on this one because it's been coloured for a while. I just finished it off with some Prismas to create depth and hand wrote the thank you message on the tag on the flowers. I cut the image out with Nesties and distressed the shape with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the DPs are fro the Prima 'Annalee' paper pad. The little sentiment is another from the Pink Petticoat Girly Curly Sentiment Collection of endlessly useful digital sentiments. The pink pearls are from The Hobby House. I'm also entering this card in Phindy's Place Challenge. I should be back before the New Year is with us so I'll see you then and thank you for visiting with me today!

An Oldie but a Goodie Sketch Challenge

Good morning, peeps! and how are you all after the rush and bustle of Christmas? Where did those days go? Every year we spend so much time in the build up to this celebration and it's gone in a flash!
This will be the first of two posts from me today. The first being this card for An Oldie but a Goodie Challenge, which this week is to use this lovely sketch:

Of course, since the idea of the challenge is to use an image you've owned for more than 6 months, that sets the little grey cells working that bit harder! and here is what I decided to go with:

I think Tilda looks a little blurry in this photograph but I spent ages trying to get a decent piccie - I do hope my camera isn't on the blink!
Anyhoo, this little cutie was part of the Hoppy Easter Collection at the beginning of this year and I believe she's called 'Tilda with three flowers'. I do find the images of Tilda with a scarf tied around her head in this way so appealing and I don't know why! She's coloured with Copics and the shadows are deepened with various coloured pencils. The DPs are all from the Basic Grey 'Kioshi' collection (love those papers!) and the CS is Bazzill. I cut the circles with Nesties and then stamped with Penny Black 'Scrolling Along' in Aloe Vera Versamagic on the central one, which I embossed with detail clear EP. The flowers are all from Wild Orchid crafts, the leaves are punched with the Leonie-Em Maidenhair Fern punch and the sentiment is from Whimsy Stamps.
Copics used:
Skin: E000/00/21, R11/20
Hair: E50/51/53/55
Tilda's lilac outfit: V000/01/12/15/17
Flowers: R11/20/32, Y13
Leaves: YG93/97
This is my final card as GDT for this challenge site and I do hope you like this over-the-top flower bower of a card - I think I went a bit berserk after all the snowflakes of recent efforts!
I'll be back later with another GDT contribution.

Digi Doodle Shop Challenge #39 - Anything Goes

Good afternoon, peeps!
Well, it hasn't got any warmer here in the North of England and my card for this challenge is looking pretty frosty, too!

This is the fabulous 'Christmas Door' image and you can download it here from the Digi Doodle Shop Store. In fact, why not get yourself some more Christmas images ready for next year while they're on at half price. You can get some inspiration from my teamies at DDS Challenge site. This challenge is an 'Anything Goes' one so not all the images are Christmas ones but that's OK because all the images are half price at the moment!
Anyhoo, back to the card. It's coloured with Copics and Prismas and here are the colours:
Blue bows and glass: BG18/72/75
Wood: E15/25/27/29
Leaves: G24/29/99 & YG67
Door & bows: R22/24/27/29
Bells & baubles: YR21/23/24
Glass: C1/3
Shadows: W1/3/5
The DP I downloaded from Websters Pages and the small sentiment is a Stampington one. The snow/frost is created with Glamour Dust and the brads are from my stash.
I'm entering this card in the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge, which is to show some snow and in the Papertake Weekly Challenge, whcih is another 'Anything Goes'.
I'd like to thank you all for visiting me and for your wonderful comments over the past year - please come back again soon. I wish you and those you love a very peaceful and joyous Christmas and a New Year full of happiness!

The Penultimate

Good afternoon, peeps! Well the snow is lying frozen outside and I'm in the warm colouring away....feels good to me! I'm just sorry for the poor people who have to go out in this freezing weather. Still, it's definitely seasonal - especially for this card, the last but one of my Christmas renderings! I'm sorry about the lighting on this one, which isn't quite right - I didn't use flash but it rather looks as though I did. This dull and gloomy weather isn't kind to our card photography is it, peeps? It's fairly unusual for me to buy a stamp soon after it's released but I quickly decided that this Tilda was my favourite from the latest Magnolia Christmas collection. I coloured her with Copics and Prismas and cut her out to mount over the Magnolia Silent Night music image, which I stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia and distressed with Old Paper Distress Ink. When that was dry, I added Stardust Stickles to the edges for a bit of bling. I've been itching to use some of this paper from the Memory Box 'Mistletoe' paper pad and this card seemed like the perfect occasion. I kept the design simple because I think the paper does the work. I added some corners die cut from gold card with a Quikcutz (I think!) die. Well, this card is in the post now, winging its way to an old friend from my patchwork and quilting days. There's only one more Christmas card to show you now and the image is still on my desk being coloured. Needless to say, that won't be going out this year! I'm sorry I don't have the Copic numbers for this one but I'll do better next time....promise! Keep warm!