A Little Bit Different

Was up the town this weekend and I noticed that Christmas trees are coming in all colours and shapes now, red, pink, black, square, circle etc.

So to try and incorporate the more "traditional" tree with modern day brighter ones I made this card. The tree is a cut from a larger stamp from Stamps Happen Inc, the orange glitter card from my stock, the diamond paper is from DCWV. Added a few holly brads from Fiskars and some spare ribbons.

Coloured the tree in using cosmic shimmer and sakura pens, a few gems on the stars and a sticker from goodness only knows where ..... finding a lot of things that I didn't realise I had (shush don't tell the OH).

What do you think? Definitely bright ain't it?!

Quick Christmas cards

Well as promised, here are a few of the cards that I made last night for our church Christmas Fair. They were quick and easy as the members of our GFS will be making some also and these are girls aged 3 and older.

I really like the Christmas tree one, used some glitter rubbed onto double sided tape, a few off cuts from DCWV paper and 3d foam pads with glitter, lastly a little piece of ribbon to tie onto the base of the tree with a little diamante - dead simple but effective.

The pink & black one has a candy cane heart on the bottom right hand corner, this was a "happy" accident, so I 3d the canes and hey presto, a heart appeared and with some glitter doesn't it shine!

Took a picture of my bargain of the week, the candle, burning time 100hrs price £4.99 - couldn't believe it and its cinnamon, my favourite Christmas scent.

Well hope to be back later tonight with a few more pics for you.

Karen

I've been busy making Christmas .......

.... cards, decorations, table settings, you name it, I've been doing it this past week. We hold a Christmas Fair every other year to raise funds for the up keep of our church and this year the GFS have decided to enter a craft stall - no problem said me. Little did I realise just how much work I had let myself in for as the fair is on the 22nd November and not only do I have a wee operation next week that will put me of my feet for about a week, but this morning I have just received a letter telling me that Joe's operation will be on the 8th November. Isn't the timing of these appointments just brilliant.

So I have been up to past 2am the past two nights trying to finish off orders and get started on some crafts to sell on the stall. I will post some pictures of the finished products once they have dried, hopefully later on today.

Keep smiling only 60 days to Christmas - but hey who's counting? LOL

It's been a fairly ......

scrap booking day to be honest with you. Trying to get through the 100's of pictures that I have taken over the summer, tell me this do you think that when you start blogging and scrap booking that you take pictures of everything and anything? Or is it just me?
Hope to get the pages finished tonight/tomorrow and then I will post them of for you to comment on. C u soon, Karen xoxoxo

2 sketches 4 you challenge

This is my entry for Kazan's challenge over on 2 sketches 4 you. As its my niece's birthday in December and with the Christmas card orders starting to stack up, I decided that this sketch was a great way to sort out Caitlin's birthday card. I used K & Company paper as the background and some Heidi Grace for the panel.
I absolutely love these butterflies and I know Caitlin will love the bright colours that I have used in this card. Hope you are all keeping well, and that this glorious wet weather isn't making you craft more than usual, any excuse ;-)

Magnolia challenge

This is the first challenge that I have entered in a long time and I decided to try the Magnolia challenge this week which is to use metal in your creation along with one of their images. As I don't have any shinny metals I decided to use brads - well they are made from metal :-) I love this image of the little girl holding a bird in her hand and as its coming close to Christmas (11weeks but who's counting) I decided that the little bird be a robin. I have used my cosmic shimmer paints and some water colour pencils to colour her in and the back ground it 4 large hearts punched out of green pattern paper. I'm quite happy with the way this card turned out, just hope the girls over in magnolia land like it. Will try and get another challenge finished tonight. Karen

Meet the new family member

This is Ben, Ben the Bin as I like to call him as he eats none stop and oh boy does he ever love posing for the camera. Ben came to us as a stray 5 weeks ago and he is only about 4 months old. He has settled into the Monaghan clan very well and him and Monty get on like a proper brother and sister. He has the cutest we face with his wee goatee moustache and the softest fur I have ever felt. Just thought I would share a picture or two of him with you all. Just finished the samples of my Orange Order cards, they are going to the Lodge meeting this Monday night and I have sent samples to other Lodges so hopefully I will get a good order for them, had over 100 last year and this year I'm a bit late, but we live in hope. Have a big day this Saturday, I am doing a workshop in our new town hall for children, its based on the theme of T-shirt designs so I'm up to my arms at the minute with t-shirts, paints, stencils etc you get the picture. Will let you know how it goes ..... fingers crossed. Karen

I'm all alone .......

on my 2nd wedding anniversary ;-( as my hubby is in hospital having his tonsils removed. So what's a girl to do but craft, ye ha. Managed to get a few scrapbook pages finished, but I'm trying to stay awake for QVC's craft day which starts in 40 mins as I've been advised that their TSV is exceptional quality, thanks Kath. Well it's really hard to believe but Trevor and I have been married 2 years, I can remember the day like it was yesterday, and boy did we have a brilliant day. Here are a couple of pics for you, my hair is no longer dark, and I got it all cut of last Tuesday, its hard to get use to short hair again after so many years. Hope you are all keeping well and that this cold weather is not bothering you to much. See ya soon, Karen xoxo

A wee quickie

My neighbour ran across last night asking me to make a wedding card "no problem, when for?" her reply was "10 minutes!" Oh my word me standing in my pj's slumming myself watching The Bill so this was my Just Married card made in 10 minutes. I used my new Jasmine cartridge for the cricut to cut out the words in holographic paper and the shadow in red. Used a large punch for the heart and some DCWV paper and ribbon. The lower stripped paper is glittered but you can't see it very well in the photograph. Ah well I like the way it turned out and my neighbour was delighted with it, just hope the happy couple were impressed. Of work today, so my plan is to have a filled soda, yummy, as breakfast, turn on the radio and get my downstairs dusted and hovered before I lift Joe from school at 2pm. He has football practice today after school and with my hubby being a massive Tottenham fan guess what kit Joe got, no not spurs (didn't like the colours) he went for Liverpool ......... nothing to do with the team or anything, he like the colour and their crest on the shirts, oh if life was so simple wouldn't it be great!!!!

Summer 2008

Well of the summer that we did have, I managed to take a few pictures and put into this scrapbook page. The papers are from DCWV it was a TSV on QVC 3 storage system and mum and I opted to go for the 3 seasons package. These papers are from the summer collection and we are impatiently waiting for their christmas collection.

7 years and look at the difference

Well although its been quite a while since I posted on here, I have been busy and here are some of the things that I have been up to. Clearing out my garage and computer room as the builders start the extension in a couple of weeks (fingers crossed) and I came across some old photos of Kelsey in her P1 class. So out came the 12 x 12 and her and I made a scrapbook page, its not finished yet as we are going to put all the names of the other kids in the photo, just can't remember them all ..... old age me thinks. The last picture is Kelsey on her 1st day at Ballymena Academy, how proud I am of her and yes I did cry when I see my wee girl all grown up ready to embrace what life holds for her.

Schools Back

Happy days are here again, kids went back to school last week, and now my house has returned to a normal habitable state, well kind off :-) Joe is only staying in to 12:20pm for the next 2 weeks so if I have to do anything kids free, I need to be quick. Kelsey started her new school and on her second day she fell and cut the leg clean open, only my daughter could do that.

So 1 more week then Joe is in until 2pm and I will have more time on my hands to craft, is it to early to start the party now?

Anyway I am going to try and complete at least one challenge this week and maybe make a few more scrapbook pages with the 100's of pictures that I have found.

Speak to you all real soon, Karen

I'm still here :-)

Hi everyone, just been so busy with wedding invitations and Christmas card orders that I haven't been able to enter into any of the challenges as while. I hope by the end of August to get back into the swing of things, so don't worry I haven't left the country, just been really really busy ..... I suppose I shouldn't complain really.

See ya all soon, Karen

I need your help

Hi everyone, I really need your help at the moment. I am looking for some "faces" to stamp onto my cricut dolls to create a better expression. My dolls are 7cm or 2 3/4" tall. I don't like the face that the cricut cuts out as it's very unclear so I'm looking for stamps that I can stamp their own faces onto (hope this makes sense).

If anybody knows of anywhere in the world that these can be bought, please leave a comment or email me with a website address.

Many thanks everyone, Karen

2 sketches 4 you challenge

OK it's not very often I go into fits of laughter when I'm making a card, but I must confess when I was making this card my OH thought my head was cut. As it's my younger brothers birthday soon, I decided to use Kazan's sketch over at 2 sketches 4 you to make his card. Now there is something you need to know about my wee bro, he is 5 years younger than me but he is 6' 2" and looks down at me and thinks that because he is taller he is older, so hence the card. I love the decoupage on this card its from a company called Little Adventures and they have some different images. Anyway, I picked this image because the character has a beard, and as you can see from the picture of my brother there are similarities there ........... oh he is going to kill me!!!!! Even got his knobbly knees!!!!!!

My 1st Penny Black challenge

Well I recently purchased some Penny Black images as I wanted to enter their new challenge blog. This is my 1st entry and I'm rather chuffed with it. The challenge over on Penny Black this week was "let it snow" theme, and as I am rather stressed out at the minute with the kids being of on school holiday, I decided to make a card for my hubby, that him and I can go and hibernate ALONE ..... don't think this will happen some how. On the image I used my cosmic shimmers to colour in the umbrella and the pressies, water coloured the hedgehogs themselves and used a clear shimmer glitter for the snow effect, if you look closely enough they have even got snow on their spines (so cute). I also used some funky fibers, punched snowflakes, some heart punches and lastly my letters using my cricut expression. Hope you like my card as I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Any comments are gratefully appreciated. Karen

The time is 04:05

and my body clock is completely up the left. Sorry I haven't been about as few weeks, with various things going on in my life at the minute I couldn't find any time to craft, I know a deadly sin to a crafter but it's just the way it goes with me sometimes. Anyway I hope to get back to my normal craft self very soon, once I get my clock sorted. Think I need new batteries, does anybody know where I can buy some??????????????????

And the Winner Is ....................

LORRAINE

please email me your postal address, thanks

A BIG THANK YOU for everybody taking part in my blog candy give away. I had great fun reading all about your school memories, some made me laugh, others cry...........

It's a real good feeling when you know so many people out there in this big old world, come to my little blog and comment on my cards, it's just brilliant :-)

If you didn't win this time, don't blame me, blame Kelsey as she was the one who picked out the name, but I hope to be giving away some more candy for my 100th post which will be pretty soon, I hope. Until then, happy crafting everyone xoxox

Magnolia Challenge sketch

This is the sketch for this weeks Magnolia Challenge blog. Another great sketch to work of this week. As I had an order to make a card for a young man who is due to come back from his around the world trip "lucky for some to have the opportunity" I decided to use this sketch. I inked up my wee Edwin and cut off his wings (sorry) painted his using my new cosmic shimmer paints and layered up his orange bits of his jumper and jeans. Cut of the balloon and put proper wire as the string to give some more dimension. Layered the image onto some textured card and mounted onto some travel pages which were in a DCWV text prints stack. Next I used some bright orange ribbon down the side and across the bottom, with some more paper I cut a scalloped circle and ordinary circle using my cricut accent essentials cartridge, "Just Arrived" rub on and a brad in the center of the sentiment. Lastly I had some button on a travel theme that I mounted onto the ribbon. Rounded of the corner to give some more focus onto the card. The base card itself is a pearly green. Really happy with this card and my customer was delighted with it. Just hope her son likes it when he comes home next week, he will notice a big difference in the weather.

2sketches4you challenge

Hi there, over at 2sketches4you Laura has drawn this sketch for her challenge this week. I thought long and hard about this card as I wanted to use some of my new goodies that I bought with Mum on Monday in Belfast. So this is my finished result. I inked up some pink/brown paper that I bought recently at The Papermill (they have some fab colours at the mo) as my base card, next I "bubbled" some pink card using my new texture tiny bubbles plate for my cuttlebug. Stamped onto the pink card with pink embossing powder the text "It's your day ... spoil yourself Silly!" which was in my new Penny Black Bubbly stamps, put some ribbon around the card and stuck on some pearly flower sequins. For the image itself I used my new cat in the bath stamp that was in the Penny Black stamps that I bought, painted the bath with cosmic shimmer, colour the images in using whisper water coloured pens and for the bubbles I used the clear Sakura stardust pen. Did you notice the cat is drinking pink champagne? Very posh! Just to add a little more dimension to the image I decoupaged the little mouse and had him bathing in grapes as something a bit different. Inked the edges of the whole image using chalk cat eyes. I am really really happy with the finished card and as it's my Great Aunts birthday soon, I will be giving her this card and I know she will just love it :-)

Daring Card Makers Challenge

Over at DCMC they are celebrating Christmas! yes I know it's only June but we all need a little bit of the Christmas spirit throughout the year, well here is my entry. I used a snowflake template and chalked various sizes in different colours to give a subtle background, next I glued on some chipboard flakes, metallic flakes and some sticker flakes. Lastly I "wrapped" the card with a Christmas text ribbon. I really love this card as it is not of a "traditional" Christmas scene and is very easy to do, might even get the kids to make these for the school pals this year!! Karen

2 sketches 4 U challenge

Well here is my entry for this weeks 2 sketches 4 u challenge. I know it has taken me nearly a week to finish this entry, but for some unknown reason every time I finished a butterfly it seemed to fly away !? (2 culprits, Kelsey & Joe and neither know anything). Anyway for this card I decided to create an aperture card, firstly I layered on some water coloured paper that I won from Sammi as some blog candy (thanks Sammi), next I used my Cricut expression and the Accent Essentials cartridge I got to work, cut out the aperture in a scalloped circle, measure the center of the card and selected my "center" button and cut out a shadowed 9cm scalloped circle in multicut option 2 as I had 2 layers to cut through. Next I decided to cut French Filous Flowers (think that's what they are called?) option Accent 16 in the hand book! Coloured in the French things (?) with my orange souffle sakura pens then painted the whole image with my new cosmic shimmer (love these going to Belfast on Monday with Mum to buy some more). Next I stamped out 2 butterfly images, (sorry don't know the maker) one on white card and the second onto velum. Coloured the butterflies in using my souffle pens. Lastly for the sentiment I used a silver peel off and coloured in again using my souffle pens (didn't think this would work, but it did :-) So what do you think of the finished card? I quite impressed with it as I haven't used my stamps in ages and never tried my cricut before to create an aperture card. Hope you enjoy, any comments would be very much appreciated. xox Karen xox

Other Blog Candy

Here is the link Dana's blog candy, yet more fantastic candy, you have until Sunday the 28th June to enter. Take a look over, this stuff is FAB.

Rene is also offering some fabulous candy, go over and try your luck. It's worth a go!!!

You know I'm amazed as to how generous some people are in the world, makes me happy :-)

School's Out

Well, this week my son "Graduated" from nursery school, can't believe that Joe has finished a whole year of school and he is really looking forward to starting "proper" school in September. Well at his graduation party all the children were presented with lovely scrapbooks of their work throughout the year. Lots of paintings, colouring in, and pictures of my wee man, need to scan a few and let you see how cute he looks. He is very good at painting flowers and they are all for his mummy!
Kelsey finished primary school on Wednesday and didn't shed a tear, all the other girls in her class were sobbing away, but not our Kelsey, oh no she couldn't wait until she had finished as she found P7 quite boring with not very much going on after they had finished their 11+ exams. As she got an A grade, she will be going to the Ballymena Academy, the best grammar school in the area and it will be a shock to her as her timetable has 15 subjects, most new and exciting things. Kelsey is a very academic girl and enjoys nothing more than sitting in her bedroom reading a good book or drawing, colouring in , making cards etc..... I know she is going to do very well in her new school.
As a result of the kids finishing school and starting a new one in September, my to-do-list has got awfully long with new school uniforms, school bags, books, shoes etc so I'm trying to work as many hours as I can to try and save some pennies for them as it's quite expensive for Kelsey's uniform, as a result I have to try and reduce, notice I didn't say stop, the amount of crafting products I buy. I am seriously thinking about selling some of my crafting goodies on ebay to try and turn some money around to buy new things, if I do put some on the auction site, I will let you all know as there will be plenty of bargains to be had. Hope everyone is keeping well and that your weather is a lot better than it has been here as few days, rain, thunder, rain ..... you get the picture:-(

I've Been Tagged!!!

Well guess what, I've just been tagged by Kath (thanks mate?!). I need to answer the following questions:-
WHAT WAS HAPPENING 10 YEARS AGO?I had not that long moved from my 1st matrimonial home and was living in a house nearer my parents, no money, no furniture a 1 year old child ..... things weren't good, then my parents decided I needed a break, booked me a flight and accommodation to go to Crete for a week on my own. I loved it, no partying, just me doing things that I've never done before, scuba diving, mountain climbing. Had a ball and meet 10 Welsh boys who had a scoring system going and it was fun watching them the next morning, scoring the females from the night before - and no I WASN'T on their score sheet thank you.
NAME 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY:Things I have to do today, take the kids to school, have a shower, collect Joe from nursery, hang out some washing, collect Kelsey from school, and ooh that's 5 and it's only 3pm.
SNACKS I ENJOY: Ok if your easily turned in the stomach, look away now. I love love love dulse sandwiches, if you don't know what dulse is well it's dried seaweed. Can't get enough of it, dulse tea, dulse sandwiches, dulse on its own. This was something my grandad got me into and my kids love it to. A bit chewy and very salty, but its LOVELY, yummy
THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE:If I were a millionaire, I wouldn't tell a sole. I would continue in my normal life, pay off the mortgage, clear any of my family debts, my hubby would probably leave work (well if I told him anyway), open my own craft shop and run children's workshops, give quite a bit to worthy charities, oh yes and have plastic surgery!!!.
PLACES I HAVE LIVED:I have always lived in Northern Ireland, mostly in the Ballymena area but when I was foolish and in love (cough loudly) I lived in Larne for a few years, although it was only 22 miles from my parents house to mine, Scotland was closer! I did however have the opportunity to go and live in Canada when my first marriage split up but I couldn't leave my family and it was to soon after my life was turned upside down. I love where I live now as we are about 10 minutes drive from the town center, only 5 minutes walk from unspoilt countryside and although we live in a small park because the house numbers are all up the left, nobody can find our house - ye ha!!!!
Hope you have all found something new about me, now I have to pass this onto 5 other LUCKY people..so here goes........1st is Georgie, one of my Fiskar buddies, 2nd is Sammi a lovely girl who send me some blog candy, 3rd is Jami who has got the most adorable little boys, 4th is Alison another person who I met through Fiskars and lastly Ana another crafter who lives in Northern Ireland.

Tilda Dotty Challenge

Over at the Magnolia challenge blog, this weeks challenge is to go Dotty, well I'm half way there in the head anyway. On this card I decided to bite the bullet and use my Heidi Grace "Let's Party" papers. Why is it that I feel so horrible when I cut into lovely papers? Why else did I buy them if it wasn't to use them? Anyway, back to my card. Soon it will be Erin's birthday and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to make her something. I stamped out my little Tilda and coloured her in using permanent pens on the trousers, and watercolours on her top, the reason I did this was to show the different tones in the colours (hope it worked). I purchased some cosmic shimmer on Friday and used this on her wings as Erin is a little angel, well at times!!! Used larger chipboard circles/dots with smaller letter circles/dots to spell out her name down the right hand side, used some of my dotty ribbons to make a "flower" on the top left hand side and added an adhesive star. Lastly put some rub on birds under Tilda's feet as I feel in this stamp that she is looking at something. This is a very cute, girlie card and as Erin will be 9 she is still a baby (in my eyes anyway) but not quite into makeup and proper girlie things. Well what do you think? Is is suitable for the challenge? Do you think my card could win? Watch this space :-)

Jami's blog candy

Jami is giving away some wonderful stamped High Hopes Stamps images, all you have to do is click here leave a comment like this on your blog and post a comment on her's and you too could win, give it a go, you never know. Karen

Hint Of Pink

Ok girls, another new challenge that I've entered into tonight, it's Artygirlz challenge. This week they are asking for cards with a hint of pink. Here I have used a chocolate base card, layered on some baby pink handmade mulberry paper, cut another piece of the chocolate paper and punched two holes so that I could thread some ribbon through, decided to add a small bead to bring the card to life a bit more. Lastly using my Fiskars wire bender, made 3 flower heads and stuck some baby pink flowers onto with small gems to highlight the center of the flowers. I have never used chocolate brown and baby pink papers together before, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

2 Sketches 4 you challenge

This is the first time that I've entered the challenge over a 2 sketches 4 you I used a blank card stock, matted and layered some paper, with smaller pieces of paper I made a teabag folded embellishment, added an adhesive gem to the center of the teabag. Next cut a piece of co-ordinating paper, punched the edges and tied a small piece of ribbon. To finish the card I put a sticker saying " True friendship is seen through the heart not through the eyes." Unfortunately the picture doesn't do the card justice, but I think it's a good 1st time effort.

BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, well as promised I am going to giveaway some blog candy to celebrate over 2000 hits on my blog. I can't believe that so many people have come to see my work, I'm really chuffed and overwhelmed by the res ponce, so as a THANK YOU I'm giving you all the opportunity to win some candy.

Now to enter I would like you to leave a comment and also post a link from your blog telling everyone about my candy.

As it is coming to the end of the school year here in Northern Ireland, I would like to know what your most memorable moment of school was.
The closing date for entering this candy giveaway will be Monday the 7th of July 2008 and I will get Kelsey to draw out a name of the winner. This candy is open to international bloggers also, so please don't be shy tell us your most memorable school moment!!!!

I will add further things into the candy, just need to find everything first (oops KELSEY!!!!!!!)

No 1 Dad

Hi everyone, well this is the card that Kelsey made last night for Father's Day. She enlarged the number 1 on the computer and then cut it out using the Fiskars shape cutter, inked the edges to give it more definition. Next she used some of my peel offs, coloured them in and layered them. Lastly she used my eyelet setter tool and put 3 weird eyelets in that I had sitting about. Only on weddings or funerals does her Dad wear a shirt and tie, oh and big band parades, but he does look sexy when he's all smartly dressed I must say (scrummy even), the rest of the time when he's not working he's out the back kicking football with both Joe and Kelsey and they enjoy themselves messing about while Mummy is doing all the housework, gives me peace. Anyway, I've tried to upload this onto the Fiskarettes blog for her to enter their competition, but needless to say I've had no luck. I've also entered this card into the blog candy that Lainy is giving away, and I've promised Lainy that if the card wins that I will give the candy to Kelsey. She is getting very good at this card making business, she is picking up a few tips from my fellow Scottish card makers and really enjoys reading what they've been up to. Hope you all have had a good day, it's rained here most of the day so no doubt its heading over to Scotland and England tomorrow, enjoy it a wee pressie from Northern Ireland xoxox

The smell of lavendar

Bought some new lavender plants today for my new levelled garden and all I can smell is lavender on my hands, yes I have washed cheeky!! Anyway I think this aroma has affected me in my card making as I seem to be on a purple theme at the moment, well this first card was using one rub on transfer that I bought in a packet for 99p a bargain I think, mounted it onto white card and then carefully cut/ripped an oval shape from purple handmade paper, backed the card with some free downloaded paper and added a small peel off.



















The second card I used some backing paper that my Mum bought for me ages ago, used 2 butterflies peel offs, mounted onto white card and started colouring them in. To try and "lift" the card slightly, I cut around the images of the flowers and I think it really complements the softer colour tone of the base card itself.


I haven't forgotten about the blog candy, and yes Lorraine you will have plenty of time to enter when you return from your travels.

I'm Back !!!!!

Sorry I haven't been about as last week, my life has been completely MAD with hospital appointments, working, sorting plans out etc. For those who know me, the little Op that I had at the end of last year, well it turns out that it has caused a "little problem" with my kidneys as I have been at Causeway Hospital trying to sort it out - no joy yet, but the doctors are still working on it (I won't hold my breath). Anyway I had great joy today opening some candy that I won over at Sammi's blog, and was delighted with what I received. There are over 20 papers, 3D tag kit, theme eyelets all in a boys theme (great timing for fathers day me thinks!!!) and eyelet tool and shapes, and a lovely card folder containing some of the cutest images I have ever seen, so THANK YOU Sammi so much I can't wait to get playing with them.
Anyway as it appears since I have been away I have had over 2000 hits so as a thank you to everyone I am going to be offering some candy of my own. Hopefully I will get a picture and details of the candy posted within the next couple of days, so please come back.
Got to go now and take my tablets, hate tablets and these ones are like something you would give to a horse, they are massive. LOTS OF HUGS AND KISSES TO U ALL, Karen

My Good News :-)

Well for those of you who have been texting or emailing me (you know who you are) here is my good news ....... I've got a new job!!!!!!!! Ye Ha, after looking for quite a few months as I wanted a job that could work around my OH's shift patterns which still allows me to have sometime with the kids, and obviously making cards. So today at 2:45 pm i went for a job interview, I use that term slightly because as soon as I walked through the office door, the MD of the company asked if I could start there and then, happy days I thought. So I've just finished working at my new job a part time Financial Controller for a Eco-energy company, I'm chuffed to bits. Good holidays, good pay, great hours, work what I want when I want, and if the work load is to much, they are going to buy me a laptop so I can work at home. I know you will be all so happy for me as I am, its been a long time since I've worked and I hated being dependant on state benefits, they are 3 months behind anyway, so I'm now officially EMPLOYED :-)

Lil Deb's blog candy

Here is the link to a wonderful blog candy that Deb is giving away to celebrate 2,000 hits!!!!!!!!! There are some fantastic prizes up for grabs here girls and boys, so go over, leave a comment and a link from your blog onto her's. GOOD LUCK

Teddy Bears

I came across these decoupage teddy bears that I forgot I had, oops and decided to make a few cards with them. The A5 card is for a "New Mom" as I thought that the image of the mummy bear holding the flowers while cuddling the baby bear was so apt for that type of card. I mounted her onto some Karen Forster Pink Patchwork paper that I had, layered onto pastel rainbow paper and then onto a softly embossed paper. Used some pink organza ribbon and tied it into a small bow. To highlight the flowers I used some of my flower soft that I have. On the A6 card I used a "Thinking of You" peel of as the little teddy looks like she is going to write a letter, mounted again onto pastel rainbow paper and then onto yellow card, put 4 brads in the corner and hey presto another one done. Wanted to use a bright card to lift the whole image, I think it worked. Lastly my square card, the teddy in this card reminds me of a granny with her lace frilled nightie on, used some Papercraft 4 You paper 1 sheet 6x6, but the boarder of the end as it was to big for the card and glued in on a bit closer to the image, again some flower soft around the door frame and the flowers at the footstep just finish this card of nicely. Hope you are all having a lovely day, its suppose to rain here later so I'm trying to get all my clothes dried before it comes, speak to you all soon. Karen PS Don't forget about my big news tomorrow (fingers crossed)

Shy little Tilda

Here is another one of my Tilda cards. Coloured in using water coloured pencils and some sakura pens. Mounted onto K&Company Classic K paper. Cut some circles using my cricut, got that idea from my mate Kath, mounted using foam squared (hate those small ones as I can't get the backing off :-() Deckle edged the side of the card using my Fiskars template and mounted a small greeting onto the bottom corner. Love the way these colours work together, there is the blue background in the flowers, hope you can see if from the picture. Got some good news today, but unfortunately I can't tell you until Wednesday at the earliest, so please come back to find out what it is !!!!!!