It's all rosy !

This week it is time for a brand spanking new challenge over at papercrafting journey.

For this challenge we want to see cards and projects for the ladies in your lives - perfect for mothers day !

We have another fabulous sponsor this week with Stitchy bear stamps who were kind enough to let the DT play with some of their stamps - don't forget to check out what my DT buddies have made here - you will not be disapointed.

I paper peiced the watering can and then coloured the flowers and leaves with promarkers. I burnished the flowers and leaves from the back of the image so they are raised in areas - looks very effective in "real life !" - makes you want to run your finger over it !
I then flooded the background with glossy accents and sprinkled over some diamond sparkles - it is super blingy !!

I would like to add my card to the following challenges;

My Time To Craft Challenge - Mum's the word
Jac-Inks Papercraft Challenges - Colour Challenge
The crafty Pad - Mothers day
Easy Craft projects Challenge - For mum
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - Inspiration photo
Sketchy Colors - Pink/orange/white
Tuesday Throwdown - Florals
The ABC Challenge - R is for roses
I {heart} Promarkers - Emboss it

I hope you will join us for our challenge this fortnight at papercrafting journey and share your cards for the ladies in your lives x

((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Sparkle and shine with my fav' colours x

Good morning hope you are all well x

Today is of course time for another yummy recipe with coooking it up with Katie.

Here is the ingredients that you'll have to include to play along this week

Sparkle
Shimmer
and Shine

Our sponsor this week is pizzazz aplenty who is very kindly giving the winner a $10 prize pack crammed with goodies !
So jump on over to Cooking it up with Katie and play along with us for your chance to win x

For my card this week I used a Teddy Bo image - I have just been longing to use another of these little cuties ever since they sponsored our challenge a few weeks ago and this image seemed perfect for my mum and dads anniverssary card - that was all the excuse I needed !

I have coloured the image with promarkers and added some stickles for some sparkle and shine.

All the papers came free with this months Simply cards and papercraft magazine - I am lovin' the fresh spring colours and print.

I would also like to add this card to the following challenges;

Paper Cutz Challenge - 3 patterned papers
Claudia & Company - Colour challenge (I've used them all !)
Craft Your Passion - Grin and bear it
Incy Wincy Designs - Sparkle and shine
The Shabby Tea Room - Inspiration photo
Totally Papercrafts - Cute and cuddly
Fairy Tale Challenge Blog - Green and pink (my fav colour combo xx)
Creatalicious Challenges - Two tone card

Thanks for taking a look at my card today - I do hope you will join in with us this week at cooking it up with Katie
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Caps off to the creative cottage challenge x

Good morning all I come armed with good and sad news this morning.
The good news is that it is time for a new challenge over at the creative cottage challenge blog but the sad news is that this will be our last challenge.

But not to worry as we will be having a monthly challenge over at the creative cottage blog (you can find it here) where you can still enter to win creative cottage goodies using creative cottage products (including Tracy's fab freebies).

So back to our last {sniff} challenge and this week Mandi has set the theme. She wants to see your cards with lots of white/blank space.
I love this look it's so clean and fresh and really makes the image and sentiment the star.

For my card I have used this months freebie papers - this is where digi papers come into their own as you can resize not only the papers but also the print making them perfect for any project.
I love gingham and these papers are especially fresh for spring.


The super cute (and very small !) bikini's were cut using my new sizzix die and I adore the way they look with the gingham.
I made the sentiment using microsoft word and printing it straight onto my card and added some yellow sparkly bling as my final flourish !

I would like to add this card to the following challenges;

CES Challenges - Die cut crazy
Paper Playtime - Anything goes
Woodware USA - Clean and simple
Gingerloft Challenges - Die cuts/punches
Fun With Shapes And More - No designer paper
Clean And Simple - Sketch

Thanks for visiting me today I do hope you will all join us for our last challege at the creative cottage challenge blog x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Hip hippo hooray !

Good morning to you I hope you are well this fine wednesday - actually it IS fine here - I even went out without a jacket on yesterday !!!!!!

This week at cooking it up with katie we are super pleased to be sponsored by meljen designs - even more so when we all got to play with more of Melissa's adoreable digi's. Don't forget to check out what the rest of the DT created here at the cooking it up with Katie blog.

Our recipe for you this week is

Include an animal
add a button or two
make it colourful

I have used some of my fav colours at the moment using orange with blue and these are some of my fav papers too - you know the ones I like to look at and find difficult to cut into !
They are from the little yellow bicycle's baby safari paper pad.

I used the masking technique on the backing DP to make more clouds and highlighted them with my white gel pen - which I also used to make my hippo more spotty !
I love the way the orange paper really makes that little birdie "pop".

I would like to add this card to the following challenges;

The Color Throwdown - Colour combo (orange/blue/green)
The Crafty Pad - Use a digi
One Stitch At A Time - For the boys
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - Fab sketch - thanks x
Totally Gorjuss - Button it
Wee Memories - Cute & Cuddly (I went for cute not sure how cuddly he'd be !)
Card Making Mama's - Animals
My Partner In Crafting Crime - 3 or more buttons

Thanks for looking I do hope you will join in with us this week, at cooking it up with Katie, to be in with a chance to win another fantastic prize x

((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Hooray for blue skies and sunshine !!!!!!

Well although the kids woke me up super early this morning it wasn't quite as difficult to get up as usual as the sun was streaming in my bedroom window.
Oh what a difference it makes ! It should be clear and sunny all day so we're off out into the garden to make the most of it today as I'm pretty sure that it'll be grey again tomorrow !

With the sun streaming through patio doors I couldn't resist photographing this card in full glow so sorry about the shadows and the glare but I am celebrating the sunshine no matter what.

I made this card last night for my lovely Mum (who will be banned from my blog until after mothers day now !) I found this and another stamp from Hels Cuppleditch and stampavie still in the packaging - I got them in a sale last year and totally forgot about them - how bad is that ?!
This made me realise that I really need to spring clean my craft stash. Not having a craft room means that I have bits and peices stored all over the house and it's hard to keep on top of all that stash with it spread around !
I hate getting rid of stuff because you can guarentee that the weekend after I give it away I'll find the perfect use for it !

Anyway back to my card I used a lovely sketch from fuzzy wuzzy challenges who also require your project to feature and animal - I'm guessing my bear counts ?!

Isn't it a lovely sketch ?

I coloured my stamped image using Aidan's crayola pens and my water brush ! I haven't used this technique of "water colouring" for ages and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. There is something about it that is so therapeutic for me - it was one of my first loves in crafting and stamping so it was nice to rediscover it.

My Dp's are from the basic grey sugar rush paper pad. I stamped the vertical panel with a little crafters companion clear stamp (xoxo) with a really light orange ink then went over one of the xoxo's with a darker orange to make it "pop".
For the next layer up I embossed a peice of velum with swiss dots and lightly inked it for a barely there look.
The pink layer is embossed with a sizzix folder and inked up with the same orange ink pads and wrapped around with a piece of velvet scalloped ribbon.

I loved making this card it's got all my fav things - embossing, glitter, ribbon, butterflies, flowers and even a cute little tag.

I hope you like it too x

I would like to add this card to the following challenges;

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges - Sketch - great sketch girls x
Annabelle Stamps Blog - Say it with a tag
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Mothers Day
Raise The Bar - Photo inspiration (the colours and flowers inspired my creation)
Stampin' For The Weekend - For Mum/Mothers day

Thanks for popping in today, I hope it's sunny wherever you are and that you enjoy your weekend whatever you're doing x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Up, up and away !

Good morning to you - thanks for popping in x

Well today is time for a new challenge over at papercrafting journey and this week the challenge theme is "Up in the air".

We are lucky enough to have another fantastic sponsor this week and that is MyGrafico.

The DT were treated to a fabulous set of images from Sanqunetti designs called up and away - perfect for our challenge !

When I think of hot air balloons I think of those aged prints that you see on the walls of pubs and hotels and wanted to recreate that with my card.

I paper peiced the actual balloon with a freebie digi paper (from canon I think) and coloured the basket with promarkers.

My background paper is from pink petticoat and I "aged it" by distressing with ink. The sentiment, also in the up & away kit, was printed and diecut with my nesties and I created the soft cloud effect by cutting a piece of scrap card into a rough cloud shape and using it as a mask. And added the little birds with a biro !
I also aged the fabric button and added a crystal brad to the ribbon criss cross.

I would like to add this card to the following challenges;

Mojo Monday - Another fabulous sketch
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Up in the air
Jac-Inks Papercraft Challenges - Masking
Crafty Cardmakers - Fabric
I Did It Creations Challenge - Masking technique
C.R.A.F.T Challenge - Paper piecing
Stamping Vacation - Nestabillities


Thanks for looking - I hope you will join in with us at papercrafting journey - don't forget you've got 2 weeks to get a project completed x

((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

super clean and simple !

I had a bit of time this afternoon and used it wisely - no I did not do the ironing - I made a card for the res-q challenge who this week want to see our cards with just a touch of pink.

This is super clean and simple but I love the result.

I paper pieced the stamp with a scrap of one of my fav' creative cottage papers from the poppy delight paper pack - you can check it out here.
Then just added a little pink button threaded and tied with some embroidery floss.

The simple sentiment was made on my computer in microsoft word - see simple !!

I am sorry for the terrible photo it is very dull here today, if it's brighter tomorrow I'll retake the photo and update it.

I would also like to add this card to the following challenges;

Paper Sundaes Challenge - Keep it simple
Clear It Out Challenge - Buttons
Freshly Brewed Blog - Pink and paper peicing
One Stop Craft Challenge - Clean and simple

Thanks for taking a little look x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Spring or sprung ?!

Good morning to you I hope you are well.
I am finally beginning to believe that spring is def' springing ! I have miniature tulips and daf's opening in the garden and the nights are beginning to pull out a little - AND we have actually seen some blue skies and even sunshine !!

So rather suitably our lovely Donna has chosen "spring has sprung" as our challenge theme this week over at the creative cottage challenge blog. As always you have 2 weeks to complete your spring project and post it on the blog to win some gorgeous goodies AND you can enter more than once - so what are you waiting for ?!

For my card I have used papers from the Easter joy paper pack available here in the store and a lovely digi stamp, coloured with promarkers, from Zlatoena designs you can find her etsy shop here.
I also used the lovely sketch over at get sketchy - simple but loads of scope and I'm hoping to get to use it again before the deadline closes x

I would also like to add my card to the following challenges;

Get Sketchy - Fab sketch - thanks girls x
Karens Doodles Challenge Blog - Spring
Lexi's Creations - Easter
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday - Spring has sprung
Sweet Stamps Blog - Think spring

Thanks for stopping in today, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Hip, hop, hooray !

Hello again I'm back with my second post today - you know by now that Wednesday's are busy around here !
If you are visiting for the first time - welcome x !

Today at cooking it up with Katie it's time for another recipe challenge and here is the ingredients you'll need this week

Start with an Easter theme
Add a little Green
Make sure it is Cute!

This week we are joined by yet another fabulous sponsor - Digital Delights who treated the DT to a fab image each - aren't we lucky girls !

How could I resist this little cutie ? She was a delight to colour too.

Why not check out the other great DT samples here on the blog where you can also see who won last week's challenge and get more info for this week.

I would like to add this card to the following challenges;

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Use 3 of something (3 lengths of embroidery floss)
Lexi Creations - Easter
The ABC Challenge - Q is for quote (use a quote or sentiment)

Thanks for popping in today - hope you enjoy the rest of your day x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

Yay my first guest design position !

Before I start I must apologise that this post is about 24 hours late !
This is my first card as a guest designer and I got so excited about it I actually forgot to post it !

So as I said this is my first guest designer position and I am very pleased that it is with quirky crafts challenges - thanks so much for having me girls x
Who this week have a fabulous sketch here it isI was treated to this gorgeous tulip digi stamp from stitchy bear digital stamps which I coloured using a new (to me) technique.
I coloured the images with pencils and then blended with baby oil then highlighted with glitter.

My papers are from basic grey and I used one of my embossing folders and my bigshot to emboss the panel.
I love this sketch it's so very versatile and it's def' one I'll use again - why don't you pop over to quirky crafts and join in with us this week ?

I would also like to add this card to the following challenges;

Pals Paper Arts - Easter/spring
Karens Doodles Challenge Blog - Spring
Paper Playtime - Use pink and glitter (challenge choice #2)
Woodware USA - Spring is coming
One Stitch At A Time - Glitter and gems
Totally Gorjuss - Pearls and lace

Thanks for stopping by to see my card if you are new here I do hope you will come again and if you've been before thanks for popping back again x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo

PS before I go I would like to send my sincere thoughts out to anyone who has been touched by the tsunami in Japan.