Zoe's Birthday Candy

My daughter Zoe has some cute candy over at her blog to celebrate her 9th Birthday.

High Hopes Challenge 19 - Sponging

Our challenge this weeks over at the High Hopes blog is Sponging. This fun challenge was set by Amy. I didn't think I would get a card done for this challenge as the end of last week Gary was off for a couple of days while the girls were on half-term. It was bugging me that I had missed out as I have never missed a challenge before and was itching to join in! This is the first time I have ever sponged a background before and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Thanks Michelle for the great tips and advice!

I stamped Odie and then stamped him again on a post-it, cut around and masked him. I then stamped the three clouds on post-it's, cut around and positioned them on my paper with Odie. The clouds where from a Magnolia kit I had bought last year. I then used SU Classic pad Bashful Blue for the sky and SU Classic Garden Green for the grass. I applied the ink lightly with an SU Sponge Dauber building up the colour gradually. I really like the subtle effect and much nicer than a plain white background. Odie is coloured with Prisma colour pencils with sansodor and paper stumps to blend. I added a little extra shading around his paws.

The text was cut on my Cricut Expression using the Mickey and Friends cartridge. The papers are from the DCWV Pet Stack. I added co-ordinating fibre for a little texture.

There is still time to join in this fun challenge and by playing you have the chance of winning a stamp prize!

I think most of you know by now that my eldest daughter Zoe loves to stamp but it seems that my 3 year old Danni is also getting the bug! I can't believe my little sweetie ;-) coloured my new Miss Anya's before me! She has even coloured in her very own Odie.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you Sunday!
Hugs,

The Winners are....

For anyone who missed my earlier post with the list of my blog candy winners here is the link - Winners.

Tom and Jerry ;-)

You remember my farm animal card I made a couple of weeks ago? Well this cute stamp and the sentiment was also in the fabulous McSplendid Farm set by The Greeting Farm. Silly Monkey Crafts have a great range of these stamps including the very cute Anya and Ian. The bright paper is by Cherry Arte and is called Bold Spots. While colouring this image I couldn't help but think of Tom and Jerry hence the colours I have chosen to colour them ;-) For more details of the products used please see below.


I would like to thank sweet Jodi for the above award which she awarded me yesterday.

Before I go I just wanted to let you know that this month my Pink Cat DT buddy Vicki is our hostess for the DT challenge on Paper Craft Planet. I hope you will play along!! You could win a grab bag of PCS stamps! Here is the link to the challenge post on PCP where you can post your cards and ask any questions.

Hugs,

Card details:
Stamps: The Greeting Farm McSplendid Farm
Ink: Momento
Papers: Cherry Arte Bold Spots, DCWV The Blossoms & Butterflies stack
Technique: Prismacolor Premier Pencils with Sansodor and paper stumps for blending. Image stamped on Concord card.
Embellishments: Flowers, button, brad, Goodwear Heart button
Equipment: Wizard, Oval and Scalloped Oval nestabilities, SU Corner rounder

And the winners are.....

I would like to thank everyone who entered my blog candy and was overwhelmed by the number of entries... Wow 680!! Thank you all for helping me celebrate my Blogoversary!

I have used the Random.Org generator Timestamp: 2009-02-25 11:58:09 UTC

The winners are:

Prize 1 - 302 Ladypou (3 new High Hopes Release Stamps - Ally Rose, Miss Zoe and Brayden)

Prize 2 - 659 Elenor (Gorgeous bright card kit from Bryony at Silly Monkey Crafts)

Prize 3 - 232 Sonja - Kreativ-Raum (A gift certificate from Melissa at Pink Cat Studio)

Prize 4 - 327 MaryNSC (Yummy set from SU which is exclusive to Sale-A-Bration. Also this prize will include at least 30 different Hanglar images.)

Prize 5 - 284 Taija (High Hopes stamps - Small Easter Bunny, Small Easter Chickadee, Lil' Chirp and Lil' Peep)

Congratulations! Please email me with your address details and I will arrange to have your prizes sent to you - nichola.fairbairn@googlemail.com

Once again thank you to all my wonderful sponsors Tina - High Hopes, Melissa - Pink Cat Studio and Bryony - Silly Monkey Crafts.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 40 - Shape Shifters

Our challenge this week is called "Shape Shifters" and we would love to see all different shapes of cards. We welcome two new designer to our team - Caryn & Karen. We also welcome Bev as our fabulous Guest Designer this week. Please pop over to these ladies blog and admire their gorgeous creations.

We have a great prize of the two cute stamps below (Easter Jar & Chick in Egg). These have been kindly donated by Helene from Alota Rubber Stamps. Aren't they just adorable!

For my card this week I have used my new SU Top Note die to cut the main design of my card shape - thanks soooo much Kelly! The cute little stamp is a Riley from Hanna stamps and is called Ballet Sophie G. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this stamp will go to the Kelly Laude Cancer Fund. As well as making this for our own challenge I am entering my card for the Hanna Stamps SCS challenge where this week Vicki is asking us to add metal to our cards.

I have used papers on my card today from Designer Digitals. I would just like to shout out to Claudette - Islander Girl and thank her for mentioning her friend Mindy Teresawa in a recent comment. I think you have all guessed how much I am love with Imaginisce papers. Mindy is the designer of some of the cute papers I have been using. I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I see her fabulous range of online papers. I was always a little scepticle of downloadable papers but I think you will agree they look pretty fab! I am converted!

See you in a couple of days!

Hugs,

Card details:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps - Riley "Ballet Sophie G"
Ink: Momento
Papers: Designer Digitals by Mindy Terasawa - The Love Bandit Collection
Technique: Prismacolor Premier Pencils with Sansodor and paper stumps for blending.
Embellishments: Velvet ribbon, pearls, adhesives stones, Prima Hydrangeas, SU Hardware
Equipment: Wizard, Square nestabilities, Cuttlebug, SU Top Note die

Pink Cat Studio - Enchanted Lily Release day!!!

Hi Everyone and it's the day you been waiting for Pink Cat fans... Yay.. Release day! The gorgeous Enchanted Lily stamps can be all yours.. just pop on over to the store to order. Here is the full stamp set in it's entirety. EDIT.. This is just way too cute and have just read over at the store that you can personalise this set by having your little girl's name on the packaging. For example "Enchanted Zoe stamps" or "Enchanted Danni stamps"! What a great gift this would make! There is a small fee for this service.


Here are another couple of pages from my book. Isn't Lily on her swing adorable? The picture of my girls was taken in December 2005 which was Danni's 1st Christmas. I think you know by now that my girls just love to dress up!

The chipboard frames were purchased from Artbase and covered in co-ordinating dp. Again the words were cut on my Cricut Expression using the Walk in My Garden cartridge. The glittery flowers are K&Co Stickers

A bit of a toot and I was so happy to see that my Fairy Castle had been showcased on "Card of the Week". While looking through Susanna Boyd's blog I also noticed she had showcased my High Hopes Easter Egg box a couple of weeks ago and I didn't even know. Thanks Susanna!

I just love this photo of my girls gazing at each other which was taken the same day as the picture in my album.


Before I go I would like to thank Caryn for the above award. Thank you for thinking of me!

I hope you have enjoyed my sneak peaks and the rest of the Pink Cat Design team did fabulous job with their creations. Use the link to the bottom left of this post to see what delights they have for you today! See you tomorrow with my Spoon Full card.

Hugs,

Pink Cat Studio - Enchanted Lily "Sneak Peak Day 2"

Thanks for popping by and today is Day 2 of the Pink Cat Enchanted Lily Sneak peaks. Today I am showing you another two gorgeous Lily's. I have added the name of the release for my 2nd page. It also happens to be very appropriate as Enchanted is one of my 3 year old Danni's favourite films. The letters were cut on my Cricut Expression using the Mickey's font cartridge. I embossed the letter using my cuttlebug and CB folder Birds and swirls. The gorgeous flowers are Prima Hydrangeas.

Isn't Lily just adorable with her cute froggie friend. I just love his little face gazing up at Lily. The envelope was cut on my Cricut using the Happily Ever After cartridge. I should get this wonderful machine out more as it has so many great things to cut for my cards and projects.

A close-up of Lily and metal butterfly charm

I also have a card to show you and again I have used these adorable Imaginisce papers. These are from the Twitterpatted range. The punch used is Martha Stewart Zig Zag. I think this Lily has to be my favourite from the release with her cute little ladybug or ladybird. I know everyone says this different. The corners were cut with an SU Photo corner punch.

I hope you enjoyed my sneak peaks today. I would like to apologies if I haven't made it to your blog over the last couple of days. Please do know that I really appreciate the sweet comments you leave.


Before I go I just want to thank sweet Didi for making my day yesterday and passing me the above award.
Also a big thank you to Martha for the above award.

Have a great Sunday and only 1 more sleep until you can order these little babies for yourself! Don't forget to use the links to the bottom right of this post to check out the teams wonderful creations.... Oh and one last thing..

Happy Birthday dear Agnes! I hope you have a great day!

Hugs,

Thank you Kristine!

I received this gorgeous card in the post today from my good friend Kristine. Isn't this scene just adorable and I just love the colours and papers. Thank you Kristine and it was such an unexpected surprise! Don't you just love it when that happens?

Kristine's card is currently showcasing on ScrapNWin so if you get a chance please pop on over and vote for her by leaving a comment!

Hugs,

Pink Cat Studio - Enchanted Lily "Sneak Peak Day 1"

Please click the photo for a larger view

Thanks for stopping by and you've come at a great time as it's Day 1 of the sneak peaks for Pink Cat Studio Enchanted Lily. I bought this Kaiser chipboard castle back in September at Ally Pally and knew it would be perfect to showcase these gorgeous stamps. The first character i'm showing you is Leaping Lily which you may have used as a download for a recent PCS competition but you know if your like me the downloads are great but I do like my rubber!

I covered my Castle using these beautiful Imaginisce Fairest of the All papers. The edges were then sanded and chalked with VersaMagic Pixie Dust. Isn't that a cute name for a chalk! As you can see I added lots of tiny flowers, buttons and pearls around my door. The ribbon used for the window ledges is also by Imaginisce.

Lily is coloured with a mixture of Copics and Prismacolor pencils with sansodor and paper stumps to blend. The gems on the turrets are from ELC. To finish off I tied lots of co-ordinating ribbons to the book rings. You can see there is another cutie peeking through the window but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see pages 1 & 2 ;-)

Don't forget to check the links to see the fabulous work from the rest of the Pink Cat Design Team which can be found to the bottom right of this post. We also welcome our Guest Designer Suzanne Dean for this release. I'm off to look now as I can't wait to see what they have created for this release!

Before I go I would like to thank Claire for passing the above award to me earlier in the week.

See you tomorrow and have a great Saturday!

Hugs,

EDIT: This Chipboard Fairy Castle Album is by Kaiser Scrapbook and is part of their beyond the page range.

New Pink Cat Challenge on PCP & Crafty Monkey's new Challenge!

Heather is hosting a fun new inspiration challenge on Paper Craft Planet. Click here to check it out.

If you are interested in hosting a challenge on PCP please visit the Pink Cat Studio group page and leave a comment to let us know you would like to be a host. We would like to have one challenge hosted by a group member per month as well as one hosted by a design team member.

Crafty Monkey's the challenge blog for youngsters under 16 has just started their new challenge. They have a fabulous sketch for you to follow which has been designed by a very talented 12 year old - Didi. They also have a great stamp prize from their sponsor Nikki at Dewdrop Craftz. Please tell your crafty kids!

See you tomorrow when I will start showing you the sneak peaks for the Enchanted Lily set which is released on Monday. I can't wait to show you!

Hugs,

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 39 - Sketch by Debbie

Our Challenge this week over at A Spoon Full of Sugar is a sketch by our very own wonderful Debbie!!! Thanks Debbie and it was a great sketch to use.


Go on you knew it wouldn't be long before you see my Miss Zoe and Gemma in colour :-) I was just itching to ink her up! This card is going to a very special little girl.. I think you know who ;-) You may remember that I had saved some buttons from Zoe's jeans from when she was little. Well the largest heart is the last one of these and will be staying in the family.

The fun paper used on my card is from the DCWV Pets stack. Even though I didn't get flowers for Valentines my husband was a gem and ordered me the new Miss Anya's and treated me to a couple of DCWV stacks!

The very cute fimo cat button is from my friend Stephanie. The paw print ribbon along with the teeny heart buttons can be purchased from Silly Monkey Crafts. I think you know that my image was coloured using Prismacolor pencils with Sansodor and paper stump for blending ;-). The background was copic airbrushed.

We have a great prize this week of the below $12 gift certificate which has very kindly been donated by Summer from Roses on paper. Thank you Summer!

Our wonderful Guest Designer this week is my friend Kelly - Crafting Creatively. Thank you for joining us this week Kelly and for your gorgeous creation!!


Blog Candy Alert: My friend Lacey is celebrating 50,000 wonderful hits and has some super yummy candy for one lucky person including some of the new release HH stamps. Be sure to stop by and admire her gorgeous creations while your there. Closing date 22nd Feb.

As you may know the kiddies are on half-term this week. My brother is coming to visit today and we are taking the girls to the cinema to see Bolt. Also Gary has a few days off later in the week as it is his birthday on Thursday. My next post will be Saturday when I will be showing you the sneak peaks for the new Pink Cat Studio Enchanted Lily release. I've still got a little more work to do on this so will still be busy beavering away in my free time.

Have a great week!

Hugs,

Friends

I received this fabulous award from Tracie, Paula Sanne, Ruby & Britt and Lainy. Thank you so much sweeties! I would now like to pass it on to my blogging buddies who have made my first crafting year so special. Some of them are newer friends but some there right from the start. This is a long list and in no order :-) Heidi, Debbie, Kelly, Jakki, Christelle, Ila, Marlene, Lim, Agnes, Karin, Kristine, Heidi, Justine, Maria, Heike, Jill, Gill, Dawn, Claire and Stephanie.

I hope I haven't missed anyone and you know I love all my friends and visitors.

Hugs,

Blogoversary Celebration!!! - NOW CLOSED

Wooo Hoooo it's my first Blogoversary and 1 year since I started stamping!!! I have also just checked my counter and it is just over 51,000 so another great reason to celebrate!!!

I would like to thank my blog friends and visitors for all the wonderful comments you leave. Also thank you for your continued support and encouragement. I have made some special friends over the last year. I have just received an award from Tracie so will be back later today to pass it on to them! I would also like to thank three wonderful ladies - Byrony, Tina and Melissa for having me on their DT teams.

Now onto the celebrations... I have 5 prizes to give away and will use a random generator on Tuesday 24th February to pick the lucky winners. High Hopes Rubber Stamps, Silly Monkey Crafts and Pink Cat Studio have very generously provided some of the prizes and I thank them again for their kindess.

Prize 1 - 3 new High Hopes Release Stamps - Ally Rose, Miss Zoe and Brayden. Prize 2 - The below gorgeous bright card kit from Bryony at Silly Monkey Crafts.
Prize 3 - A gift certificate from Melissa at Pink Cat Studio to use on any stamp set in her store. Isn't this certificate just the coolest! Thank you Melissa! You may want to use this to buy the new Enchanted Lily set which is released next Monday 23rd!

Prize 4 - Yummy set from SU which is exclusive to Sale-A-Bration. Also this prize will include at least 30 different Hanglar images.

Prize 5 - Get a head start on Easter projects with these cute High Hopes stamps - Small Easter Bunny, Small Easter Chickadee, Lil' Chirp and Lil' Peep
What do you need to do to win... leave a comment on this post. If you would like to post about my candy on your blog to help spread the word that would be great. If you would also like to add yourself as a follower of my blog that would be fantastic...!! As a follower you will be first to hear any High Hopes, Silly Monkey Crafts or Pink Cat news and release information.

This candy is open to all players worldwide and if you don't have a blog please email me your details so I can include you in the draw - nichola.fairbairn@googlemail.com

Again thank you so much for visiting my blog and Big Hugs to you all!! Good Luck!

NOW CLOSED!