Six Year Blogoversary Candy

Hello there, on the 4th August 2007 I started this blog. I didn't know if I would get any views or if anyone would like my cards but I wanted to give it a go. Six years later and here I am. I have had over twenty eight million views to this little blog. I cannot believe it! 

Thank you to all my visitors, whether you pop in occasionally or follow me regularly; whether you have been with me since the beginning or whether you found me recently. I am grateful to every one of you. 

If you do follow me regularly, you will know that I haven't been well the last month and a half, which is why this is late. I am still not recovered and on sick leave but I am hoping I will be back soon. To celebrate my six years in this blogging community I am giving away a little candy ...

Up for grabs is some Clearly Besotted goodness: Building Blocks, A Little Sentimental, Butterfly Wishes, Butterfly Wishes addictions stamp sets and Butterfly Wishes die set. Plus a couple of extra items that are not pictured (apologies for the poor quality of the photo it was taken on my iPhone!)

I am aware that CBS are very popular so you may already have these and for which I do apologise. If you do have them please still enter but leave me a comment below and I can sort some other sets or something else out for you!

This giveaway is open worldwide and will close on 10th September 2013 at 09.00 BST. Only one entry per person please. Please leave your link below using the blue InLinkz frog, URLs are not mandatory for those who do not have blogs so shouldn't be a problem, but please link your blog if you have one so I can visit you!

Thank you again for all your support as well as all the wonderful get well wishes I have received. You guys are great! :o)

CBS Teasers

Hello there, as you have probably seen already the Clearly Besotted Stamps Teasers are well on their way. Unfortunately I am not able to participate this month as I am still not well (seems to be a long recovery sadly) but I wanted to let you know that the stamps will be released on Tuesday 6th August and teasers are going on until then. 

Please visit my teamies blogs to see their gorgeous creations - Stephanie, Aimes, Caryn, Debby, Mandy & Maureen plus Guest DT's this month - Rebecca and Tracy

I hope to be back soon with some samples but until then I hope you enjoy seeing their work.

MIA Update

Hello there, sadly my chest infection turned to pneumonia and I got a lot worse. The last two days I have been feeling slightly better and hope I am now on the road to recovery. I am not sure when I will be back in my craft room but I hope so soon. Thanks so much for the lovely messages and emails I have received, they really are most appreciated. Hope you are all well. 

MIA

Hello there, I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I'm likely to be missing in action this week. I have a severe chest infection and its making me feel quite ill. I'm now on strong antibiotics so hoping to feel better soon and be back card making as quickly as possible.

Hope you are all well and keeping cool if you are in the UK (and elsewhere too but we are having a heatwave here at the moment!). Please remember to drink lots of fluids and use that sun protection on any exposed skin - sorry that's the nurse in me there!

Summer Card Camp 10 Minute Challenge

Hello there, the challenge for day four of Summer Card Camp 2 was to make a card in 10 minutes or under. After doing this for the first time for the Craft Dash Challenge, I knew kind of how long I had this time around. I wasn't able to film making the card but here is my desk before with the supplies ready ...

and here is the after ...

The card I made using the weekly colour combo:

SUPPLIES:

I made it in 8 minutes 69 seconds! I was a bit calmer this time around. I think maybe because I wasn't being filmed! Still had fun making it though. Thanks so much for visiting me today, have a lovely weekend!

Happy Birthday!

Hello there, I am currently participating in the OCC Summer Card Camp 2. The challenge this week is to use the provided colour combo and sketch. There are various other challenges on the different days and the card I am sharing today is inspired by day 3 and a card by Laura Bassen.

My card uses various background stamps from Clearly Besotted Stamps (stamped using Versafine ink) as well as the You Are set and co-ordinating dies. 

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Thanks so much for visiting me today, I am having some problems with my PC at the moment so my posts may be a little sporadic the next couple of days. please bear with me, thank you!

Hi There Butterfly - DTDF

Hello there, today I have a card to share with you that I made for the DTDF Blog using products from the shop. I have used the gorgeous MFT Blissful Butterflies again, this time the butterfly is cut from some pretty spotty Echo Park paper. The beautiful label is a Memory Box die that my friend Ruth gave me for my Birthday :0) Thank you Ruth!

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Thank you so much for visiting me today, I really appreciate it. Have a lovely day!

Clearly Besotted Challenge #2 - Seeing Spots

Hello there, today starts a new Clearly Besotted Challenge, this month it is 'Seeing Spots'. we would like to see your creations using spots. For my card I have used the newly released Shine Bright set. I have made a mask from Eclipse Masking paper and inked this using yellow ink to make the light rays fro the lamp. They have also been given the glitter treatment, a bit difficult to see in the pictures but I think it adds a little something. The polka dotted lamp shade has been die cut using the co-ordinating die collection.

SUPPLIES:

For more information on the challenge and to see my teamies cards please visit Stephanie's blog. Thanks so much for visiting me today, hope you are all well.

Papertrey Ink Haul July 2013

Hello there, today I am back sharing with you my Papertrey Ink haul. If you follow my blog regularly you will know that I have been on a quest to find an alternative to Papertrey Ink's white cardstock. If you missed the post you can see it HERE. Since I didn't find one that completely matched my needs I decided to do one last order from Papertrey Ink.

 

Here is what I got ...

 

 

To say I bought a lot of cardstock is an under-statement but I am hoping it will last me a little while. Shipping was a fortune but like I say in the video, this will be the last time I order (cardstock at least) from them so it was worth it (just about!). Thanks so much for visiting me today. I will be back tomorrow with a new CBS Challenge (yay!). Have a lovely day!

Papillon Potpourri

Hello there, it was my lovely friend Julie's Birthday last week and here is the card I made for her. Since Julie is my Stampin' Up! demo I just had to use some of SU! products on her card! I used my Papillon Potpourri set for the first time and it so pretty! I love that you can get a co-ordinating punch too.

SUPPLIES:

Thank you so much for visiting me today, hope you had a lovely weekend. A little too hot for my liking. I know I shouldn't complain about the heat but my body just doesn't like it. I wish I had a swimming pool in my back garden, that would make it better! lol. Have a great day!

Storage Sunday - Rubber and Clear Stamps

Hello there, today I have another Storage Sunday to share with you. Today I am focussing on rubber and clear stamps.

First up is my clear stamps - I have two ways of storing these, the ones that come in packets i.e. SSS, MFT, Paper Smooches etc. I leave them in their packs and store in Acrylic CD Boxes from Muji. I like that they are see-trough so it is easy for me to find what I want. I also keep my Clearly Besotted Stamps in their original packaging but keep these in a larger DVD box as I have a lot of them.

I store my Papertrey Ink stamps slightly differently as they used to come in CD cases and now just in boxes. I have them stored in Tim Holtz Unmounted Stamp Refill; Pockets and then in DVD Boxes from Rymans.

Here is a video showing them up closer:

For my un-mounted rubber stamps, I first mount them with black EZ Mount foam and then store them in Kling-On Storage Cases. I have them all labelled. My Stampin' Up stamps stay in the cases they come in.

Here is the video showing that:

Sorry the videos weren't great but I hope you get the idea. I don't have that many wood mounted stamps now but those that I do are kept in two drawers in my Ikea Helmer units.

How do you store your stamps? I would love to know. Thanks so much for visiting me today. Hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Clearly Besotted Stamps July Release Reveal

Hello there, I hope you have enjoyed Teaser Time. All the products will be available tonight in the shop at 12 midnight BST. Here is the video to show you the products in full and close up ...

So what do you think? Will you be buying any? I think my favourite set is 'It's Clearly Sentimental', although I didn't use it in my teaser time cards, I think it is so versatile. Please pop by Stephanie's Blog for more details on the release and a chance to win some yummy candy. Thanks for visiting me today, have a lovely weekend!