Cute Card Thursday # 97 - Blooming Gorgeous......

Hi folks!

This is a quick visit to blogland today as I'm feeling poopy....... self inflicted, serves me right and I totally blame that bottle of Baileys I found in the cupboard last night, lol! A big group of us went out for an Italian meal to celebrate two friends turning 40 and I was on my best behaviour for most of the night...... but then you know what it's like, you get home and feel like a nightcap...... and the rest is history!!

So I'll quickly show you a card I made yesterday for this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge 'Blooming Gorgeous'. I was going to add lots of flowers to my card as embellies but then found this sweet Lili of the Valley stamp which I bought last year from the NEC and decided the bloom on the image could do the talking. All papers and die cut shapes added to the card were part of an MME paper pack I bought last week from Elaine's fabulous store here. Let me tell you, if you really need something right away and can't wait to play with it then this is the store to visit...... your goodies will arrive sooooo quickly and the choice is always amazing..... a big thumbs up to Quixotic Paperie from me ;o)

Right then, I'm off to curl up somewhere warm and feel sorry for myself, hee hee!

Toodles my friends and big hugs, Tara xxx

Just Magnolia - Jay Jay's Sketch.......

Good morning folks!

Hope you are all enjoying the week so far? I'm dashing off to work shortly which is why this is a very short post! I just wanted to share the card I made for this week's Just Magnolia Challenge where Jay Jay has provided us with a gorgeous sketch to follow.

You know when you're saving a paper for something and you're not sure why? Well I've had this one in my stash for an age but when I saw the sketch I knew it was the right one to use as the flowers look so effective cut out and layered. I used my scrummy MS punch for the middle border again and coloured with ProMarkers for a change. The ticket sentiment is by Tim Holtz.

Sorry to be brief but I'm sitting here with wet hair and time is marching on.

Have a great day and toodles for now!

Hugs Tara xxx

Everybody Art Challenge # 75 - Blue and Brown.......

Good morning everyone!
Here's a card I've made for a male friend celebrating his 40th birthday...... there are quite a few of us in my group of friends turning 40 this year..... me included, EEEEKKK!

I'm entering the card into the latest Everybody Art Challenge where the theme this week is blue and brown, perfect for a man's card. I also think the easel shape makes a male card a bit more interesting when you can't overload with too many embellishments.

I picked one of Mo's fantastic images because I wanted to emphasize the old age thing, hee hee! He was such great fun to colour in with my Poly pencils. The papers are Basic Grey and the sentiment is a Penny Black stamp.

Well I hope you all have a nice day today...... it's a bit chilly again so wrap up warm if you're out and about!!!

Catch you later then......

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

Basic Grey Week 12 - Animals........

Afternoon peeps!

Welcome to another Basic Grey Challenge where the theme this week is animals..... as always there are some amazing cards for you to take inspiration from and a scrummy prize kindly donated by our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp.

Well I took a step right out of my comfort zone for this card..... my inspiration comes from our lovely teamie Chris.... she creates some lovely shaped cards and I always admire the way she uses ribbons and ties bows..... so I thought I'd have a try and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I cut the heart shape out myself!!! I'll let you into a little secret..... shhhhhh..... this is the card I'm giving to my hubster for Valentine's Day! I used paper from the Blush range (spotty) and the Tweetie letters are from a sheet which came with Wassail papers. And do you see the fabric brad? Well it's by Laura Ashley and our lovely boss lady Martine sent it to me recently(thanks hun)......

The little birdie (my contribution to the animal theme) is an Autumn Leaves stamp and I picked up the gorgeous ribbon from my local market.

So go on, join us this week at Basic Grey...... I'm sure you all have some gorgeous animal stamps lurking around just waiting to be inked! I look forward to seeing what you create and hope you have lots of fun!!!

Have a super duper weekend ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

And the winner is........

....... drawn by my nine-year-old son who insisted on getting in on the act........

Aunty Sue!!!!!!

Huge congrats to you hun and I'm so sorry there could only be one winner as I would love to send the prize to everyone!! Thank you so much to everyone who entered my candy and for the lovely comments I received, I am truly touched ;o)

If you send me your details via email Sue I can get your goodies posted.....ENJOY!!!

Have a lovely day everyone and I'll be back shortly with my Basic Grey DT card......toodles!

xxxx

50,000 Hits Blog Candy!

This post will remain at the top until 10am on 23rd January, please scroll down for my latest card posts........


Hi there folks!

I thought I'd offer some candy today as my hits have now gone past the 50,000 mark and I would like to thank everyone who takes time out to stop by and see what I've been creating. I love blogging and can't imagine life without it now...... I've made so many friends and I adore visiting other people's blogs to see the amazing talent on offer.

To enter the candy, all I ask is that you add a link to the sidebar of your blog if you don't mind..... there's no need to follow me, just leave me a comment on this post so I can come and check out your blog ;o)

I will draw a winner next Saturday, 23rd January at 10am, so you don't have long to enter!

Here are the contents of my candy in more detail:

Latest issue of Creativity magazine
Lasting Impressions Flutter Paper Collection Pack
Papermania 'Thank You' Rub-ons
2x Papermania Vinyls stickers
Anita's Cupcake Silhouette card shapes
Papermania Embellishment Trio
White fabric flowers
2x Pixie Cottage stamps
Pack of white doily circles
2x coloured pin sets
Red gingham frilly ribbon
Pink gingham frilly ribbon

Thanks for entering and good luck ;o)

Hugs Tara xx

Sophisticat Challenge # 18 - Spring.......

Good morning everyone!

I'm entering this card into the latest Sophisticat Challenge as the theme for this week is 'Spring'. I think the colours fit in nicely and I've added the daisy border, dragonfly and butterflies which are also appropriate. I used on of my new Miss Anya stamps (love these) and coloured her with Poly pencils.



This is actually the card I sent to my matey Jo for her birthday last week...... hope it made you think of Spring when you saw it hun ;o)

Sorry for the short and sweet post...... just wanted to thank everyone who has entered my candy so far and your lovely comments are a blessing, MWAH!

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xx

Just Magnolia Challenge - Thank You......

Hiya peeps!

Firstly I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the lovely comments you take time out to leave and for those of you who stop by my blog for a peek at what I'm up to. Things are a bit stressful for me just now both at work and at home, which is making regular blogging more difficult and so I can't always get round to commenting on your wonderful creations. It's nothing that won't get sorted in time but I just thought I'd explain as I hate being behind with stuff on here. Making cards is my therapy though so I expect you'll still see plenty of things from me!!

I'm entering this Magnolia easel into this week's Just magnolia Challenge which is 'Thank You'........ okay so it might not be totally obvious that this card has anything to do with giving thanks, but I think it fits because I've decided I'm giving this to my mum for Mother's Day and that's all about being thankful, isn't it?

I used a Tilda image from one of last year's releases because I think she's very sweet and pretty..... and I think this is one of my fave colour combos too, pink and green. The papers are Kay&Co and the flowers are Prima. The extra sentiment stamps are all Magnolia and the butterfly is a punch, but I'm not sure who makes it. I had one of the lovely deep Martha Stewart punches for Christmas so that's what I used to create the scalloped panels. Do you like the leaves? Got myself a new Sizzix die and I really like the unusual shape of these..... well you know me and my leaf fetish, lol!!!

Well I'm dashing off to Tesco now to get some bits and bobs for making a curry..... hope to sneak on later for a bloghop and I wish you all a fab weekend!

Take care, TTFN and TFL......

Big hugs , Tara xxx

Charisma Cardz Week One - A Colour Combo

Hiya folks!

Thought I'd enter the Charisma Cardz Challenge this week with a card I made to give to a really close friend who has just left my place of work. It really isn't the same in the office without her and I miss her lots ;o(

The colour combo for the challenge is pink, cream, chocolate and toffee.......mmmmm, just the mention of those colours makes you want to make a frothy mug of hot chocolate filled to the brim with mini marshmallows! I used the last of a scrummy set of papers which I think are Bo Bunny and chose another gorgeous Hanglar image holding the tag which I stamped with a Studio G sentiment.

I'm quite pleased with how the card turned out because I had to make it in a bit of a hurry...... sometimes I spend ages on a card and then don't like the end result, so maybe this is the way to go...... throw it all together and you'll be happy, lol!

Have a great day everyone and stay warm..... that wind sure has a bite today!!

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

Basic Grey Week 11 - Photo Inspiration....

Good morning peeps!

Here is my DT card for the first Basic Grey Challenge of 2010 and we have a gorgeous photo for you to use as your inspiration. I really enjoy this type of challenge as you can use colours, patterns, textures or something specific in the picture...... for my card I went for the colours. My teamies have provided some wonderful examples and I really hope you get the chance to check out!

I also wanted to work from a sketch so I had a look around and came up with this wonderful layout over at Mojo Monday..... they always come up with the most amazing sketches and this one was perfect to use. I'm never very good with rectangle cards so I made the sketch work as a square in this case.

My papers are from the Nook and Pantry range and the image is Hanglar. I was itching to add more embellies to my card but didn't want to lose sight of the layout, so I behaved, lol!

I'm off for a shower now and then dashing out for a haircut before we get any more snow...... apparently it's on the way!!!

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for stopping by ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx

At last a card.......

Good morning friends and a very belated Happy New Year! It has taken me a while to get back into the swing of things since the Christmas break and I think the old mojo has been suffering from frostbite, lol!

I have enjoyed doing all things crafty this week and seem to be hooked on making easel cards now...... thought I'd share one of them with you today and I'm entering this week's ABC Challenge which is layering. I must say my mind is focused on making a few Spring and Summer cards just now because most of my family and friends celebrate their birthdays during the first half of the year, which is why I chose to use this particular Tilda image and the scrummy Basic Grey Wisteria papers.



I think the great thing for me about making easel cards is that it forces me to decorate more than just the front of a card. I know lots of you are dedicated to decorating the inside of your creations but I can never be bothered...... now at least I make the effort as it would look a bit daft it the bottom of the card was left blank!!! On the downside though, you do end up using more paper than you would perhaps have liked....... we all know how difficult it is to break into certain collections, let alone use multiple sheets, lol!



Whilst looking through my stash I came across some gorgeous Tim Holtz sentiment tickets which I haven't used in a while and thought these would look perfect on the card. Not sure who this one is destined for yet but you can bet it'll be someone special!

Right ho, I'm off ot make a start on my DT card for this week's Basic Grey Challenge which is due to be announced on Saturday...... don't forget to check the theme as it's another brilliant one!

Have a fab day and keep warm ;o)

TTFN and TFL, hugs Tara xxx