Better in real life (but only just)

Time, yet again, to make excuses for my latest "creation"!!!looking like its been to every Christmas and New Year party in town. I made it for the Two sketches for you challenge and sitting with it here in front of me while I type, I think it looks quite good, well perhaps not bad, or maybe ok would be more appropriate, but the fact is the piccies have come out *r*p. I have read of so many of you having the same problem and cant wait for "daylight" to come back into my life, so I've binned all the piccies I took and will have again tomorrow morning, whats that saying about "a poor workman ............."?

So back to the card, I have used a dl size card with a strip cut off the front piece and Funky Hand papers. I used my Cricut machine to cut the hearts out and the row of gold edged hearts have been decoupaged on foam pads (which wouldnt have shown up even if David Bailey had taken it) the heart "half on" the inside of the card means it would need a C5 envelope but - what the heck, hang the expense, and I have used the negative remains of the hearts for the back of the card. So thats it -a very simple card - so why did it take so long to explain - hey ho (hope you like it).

PS. Did the piccies again this morning, STILL not happy, but I need to move on (before I miss the deadline). Jen x

Dotty about the PTW

Hi everyone, thanks for dropping by. I finished my Papertake Weekly Challenge card yesterday by which time it was too dark to take the piccies, so I took them this morning. As a photographer, I make a good window cleaner!!! I'm afraid the first one is out of focus slightly but it shows how the card looks when fully closed. The papers and sentiment are from the fabulous new papers by Pretty Petticoat and the gorgeous doggy image I found whilst blog hopping, designed by Sally-Ann and her blogspot is: http://www.Lovetodoodle.blogspot.com/ she is a very talented young lady with some fab images and well worth a visit. I used black gems as spots on the dog and have a funny story to tell you about the Cricut shape of a dog face on the inside of the card which is there to write the greeting on. After I had placed it on the card (before giving him any eyes) I started to wonder if it was obvious what he was, so what do us girls do in a situation like that - we show it to the other half and thats were I made my first mistake, "Sweetheart, can you tell me what the shape is on the inside of this card?" to which the reply was "Yep, its a woollen sweater"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Well its my own fault, I shouldnt have asked and those of you who read my post about the card and 16 shaving mirrors will know that when youre looking for some artistic input, my Ken is not the one to ask - hey ho. I do waffle dont I, so I'll go now, if any of you are in agreement with "My Ken" let me know and I'll have to admit the mistake and swap it for something else - did I say I was going now? - sorry, bye. xxx

Alphabet Candy

Just to let those of you who love your alphabets know, that Kath www.kath-allthatglitter.blogspot.com is giving away some fabulous stash. So off you go, give her a visit and see if you can win it, but dont forget to pop back after.
Jen x

Daring Cardmakers Challenge

This challenge has been made with both old and new stash, the ribbons are new, everything else I have had a long time. I used my Cricut machine to cut out three tags, two peel off stickers: one for the hat and one for the top of the dress, a feather, a few sparklies and if you look close enough, a little heart shaped blob of bright pink marker in the shape of a tiny heart to respresent her lips (hard to spot). There are three different coloured ribbons, I hope you'll agree, it's far better to have shades of pink than try to match them up, which is almost impossible. I hope you like it, thanks for looking.
Jen x

A lovely surprise

And a great begining to the New Year - I got two awards from the lovelyTerrieB at http://www.terriebaileys.blogspot.com/ .

Dont laugh, but at first I didnt know how to "pick them up" I knew it was an honour, but didnt think I needed to wait for the next BAFTAs, and the posh party frock doesnt fit anymore (well not since 1967!). Anyway, after hopping from blog to blog I decided I would be able to copy and paste them(great) but then came the bad news - I've then got to give them away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I'm sorry but I think that sucks, I want to keep them (theyd look really good on the mantlepiece and what a conversation piece). Then I have another problem (boy oh boy winning awards isnt as easy as it looks) - I dont know who to give them to, so, if its ok with you Terrie and not against the rules, I'll keep them a bit longer before passing them on.

I'm really enjoying my new found hobby and all my new found friends, a big thank you to all of you who have visited my blog and left your lovely comments I really appreciate it and it has given my designing a new dimension, there are a lot of very talented people out there.

Sophie sends her love, I gave her all the love and hugs you sent to her and she's walking around now as if she's Lassie (ok, I bet there isnt one single person reading this who knows who Lassie is - hey ho).

Well, I'm off now to complete another challenge, dont know how you lot manage to keep up with them all, that Kath's a real task master :-)

Speak again soon - happy crafting

Jen xxxx

Say Hello to Sophie

'Mornin All, thanks for dropping by and hope you're well. For those of you who called yesterday, I want to introduce you to the lovely, no FABULOUS Sophie.

Sophie is a rescue dog (Dogs Trust) she is two years old and has been with us since last March. As you can see from the photo she is a very, very pretty girl, extremely affectionate, intelligent and articulate!!!! Isnt she just cute as a button?

Sophie loves to go walking and has four of them a day, which means by the time we get back from one walk, its time to go for another, which leaves little time for crafting and absolutely none for housework.

So next time I'm late with an assignment or "blogging on" dont blame me - blame Sophie.

New Year - New Start

Well, here it is - 2009 - and I for one am happy to embrace it. 2008 was good for many things but it also brought heartache as I'm sure it did for most of us, but nows the chance to remember all the good things with pleasure and to put all the bad things behind us. What a wonderful chance to "start again" the new year gives us.

I am very new to blogging but it doesnt take a genius to realise there are a lot of lovely people out there and I am really looking forward to getting to know you all, I have already been inspired by the work of many of you and I hope to improve my cardmaking as a result, but at the end of the day - it's a hobby and an addiction and as such should mainly bring alot of pleasure.

I've made two cards "this year" one is for the 2 sketches 4 U challenge(I hope I didnt cheat too much by subsituting circles for hearts and I stuck on three heart brads top left instead of bottom right) but I have just downloaded the new Pink Petticoat papers and couldnt wait to use them, such an impatient girl. The second card has been made using Funky Hand papers which I downloaded, a big thanks to Kath cos I found their site through her blog. The card was actually made for Terrie as a belated birthday wish but mainly cos of another reason which now escapes me!!!!!! a little quiz for you Terrie:- the dress image (courtesy of Pink Petticoat) has something missing, can you guess what it is? Is it possible I've used digital software to remove it - shame on
me :-)

Tomorrow (now that we know each other so well) I'm going to tell you about Sophie - Who? - well pop back tomorrow and you'll find out. Have a great day.

It's not brill but I did my best

(And God loves a tryer). Well I started to blog and loved it, then I looked at the presentation of my blog compared to "you lot" and decided to do something about it. So I havent made a card or looked at any blogs for days, I've spent all my time on this stupid computer, although looking at the results, you wouldnt think so. So I've had enough, I'm ready to blog again and cant wait to make a card (especially one that doesnt have Rudolph on it 'cos I'm all christmas carded out) so I'm sorry the blog appearance isnt up to much but it was the best I could do, I promise to try harder with my cards :-) I'm now off to look for a challenge, visit lots of blogs and leave my calling card along the way. I hope you all have a great Christmas and a very very crafty New Year.

There IS someone out there!!

Good morning - I've done it, I've managed to entice someone into my blog by entering the Daring Card makers Competition and I am delighted Kathy liked my card. So now that I'm buzzing with excitement (you'll learn it doesn't take much) I am going to try, and I do mean try, and make my own blog heading. So if anyone has any advice I would be truly truly grateful.