Fantabulous Pro Markers xxx

These babies just get better and better - no wonder I lubs 'em so much xx.

I was at Creative Pastimes this morning demo-ing these fabulous pens so I thought today I would share a couple of the demo cards I did.

Firstly, I have to thank the uber talented Sharon for her inspiration for these - you can see her fabulous tutorial here.

The pink striped 'design paper' at the bottom is not really design paper at all, but lines drawn a piece of card with the thick end of the PMs in 2 shades of pink. Then of course, true to form, I had to bling it up a bit didn't I. So I sprinkled Glamour Dust along the gaps in between the pen lines - you can see it better on the little flower possibly. I think it looks so pretty and I will be using this technique again for sure.

That beautiful fairy stamp is from Willow Designs and it was coloured with the PMs in the usual way. The little flower I stuck on the ribbon is punched from a scrap of the pink stripey card at the bottom (Woodware green flower punch). And as it was such a girly card, I had to use the old border punch again - God bless Martha Stewart and all who sail in her lol xxxx

Hope you can see the fab striped gorgeousness better here ...

So nicking Sharon's idea again (thanks chick, mmmwaaaahhhh xxx) I made a flower. This one is made in the same way as the smaller one on the fairy card but using the large Woodware (blue) flower punch. I drew the leaves (you can probably tell cos I don't think I will be giving Picasso any sleepless nights loxxx) and stuck them onto a piece of grey striped card made again with 2 PMs. The dinky button and ribbon was from the old stasho.

A close up

And again :)) x

Incidentally, I ran out of black thread so I cut a sliver of black card and threaded it through the button instead - ingenious or what!! That's quite good for dippy old me :))).

The demo went well and there were quite a few lovelies there, so if you were one of them and you are reading this (and some told me that they do visit the pink pig sty!!), thank you so much for coming along, cos I'd feel ever so silly talking to meself lol xxxx

Right, I am off to see to the roasties. We decided we would have roast beef today and I wish I could let you all share the delicious whiff that is coming from the kitchen. It better get a shift on cos I am soooo hungry!!

Back tomorra for the fabulous Papertake Weekly and don't forget Dancing on Ice is on later - I'm sad I know, but it's one of my faves and I sooo like Philip Scofield.

Have a great evening wontcha xxxxx

Card for Kyla xxx

I think this is soooo sweet xxx
Yes, the birthday girl is 3 today and I can hardly believe it, bless her.

As I told you yesterday, I hadn't got her card made and I still hadn't at gone 10 last night - shameful I know. Don't know about you, but if I am going to get a block, it is usually when I really want to do something nice. Maybe I just try a bit too hard and it doesn't happen, I don't know. But it is sooooo annoying.

So I was in and out of my room last night, looking at this and looking at that and none of it was quite what I wanted.

Then ............ eureka - ka - ka - ka!!!!

I remembered that I had got a Pollycraft download, the Phoebe and Maude Spring Kit, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that this baby was gonna save my bacon. So, together with my ever fave PP Little Fleurs and Mini Little Dots paper (plus a bit of fab doodle stripes I had left over from the other day), some ribbon and buttons from my stash, I set to work. The only thing I was missing was a sentiment and 5 minutes on the old puter and Word Art soon sorted that one.

Et voila.

You will notice that one of the usual suspects is missing from my 'what I used' list, and you'd be right.

Ayy, I have made no mention of PMs (although there is Glamour Dust on here). That's cos these beauties are already coloured!!
Marvellous :)))

So the whole thing couldn't have taken me more that 15 minutes, and I don't think it's turned out too bad considering the piddly amount of time spent .

'Ere's the funny angle again lol xxx

So she opened it this morning and I think she liked it, but she probably loved her giftage more I susect lol xxx

And I just had to share this with you. The other kids in her pre-school class made this card for her. They have all made a little piece of it and the nannies have stuck them all together.

Awww how sweet, cos they are only dinkies after all, bless them.

I'm orf to have a play with some fabulous new stamps I got this morning, plus get me stuff sorted cos I am demo-ing tomorra at Creative Pastimes (Pro Markers at 11am if you are about) so have a great day and a brilliant weekend.

Luv 'n' hugs xxxxx

Some Firsts Plus A Double - But Is It Right? xxx

After the challenge fiasco of yesterday, I thought I'd try again!! And it was even more of a fiasco when I realised that the Cuttlebug challenge was to do a mainly WHITE card.

It clearly wasn't and I'm clearly very dim (either that or I've lost the ability to read lol xxx)

There are a few 'firsts' here, with possibly the biggest one
being that I have got it right lol xxx

The stamp I used is a LOTV Moggi stamp - oh sooo sweet -so this fits nicely into the LOTV challenge which this week is 'Anything Goes'. I think I'm right in saying that this is the first time I have had a go at this challenge but there is a nagging doubt in my befuddled brain that I might have done something with an eskimo once (ohh matron lol xx).

But no matter!!

This is also my card for Cute Card Thursday which is to use something you got for Christmas or if not, use something you bought over the holidays, so in this case, the stamp, and this is it's very first outing.

I coloured it with Pro Markers and there is a liberal sprinkling of glamour dust there today, and the old fave MSBP punch has made yet another appearance (that babba has to be my buy of the year 2008, dontcha think???) The spotty-licious ribbon is Poppicrafts and those cutie lil heart buttons are from the very depths of my button stash which is now almost as big as my ribbon stash.

But not quite lol xx

There is a first with the paper as well cos the pink dots and frames paper is from Willow Designs. This is the first thing I have ever bought, but it won't be the last for sure, cos they are beee-you-tiful :))

Of course, I couldn't do a card without something PP, hence the fabulous black and white doodley border paper which is from the Rainbow Doodles collection, and again this is one of the very first PP things I bought but I use time and time again, cos it is sooooo doodlicious lol xxx

Have a better look xxxx
(I'm not sure why I started doing this funny angle thing but I kinda like it so I might just stick with it).

So that, my lovelies, is that for now. Possibly I might see ya later, but it's our Kyla's birthday tomorrow and being the disgraceful grandma that I am, I haven't even made her a card yet!! Shame on me!! But I will get it done.

I cannot believe she is 3 already cos it only seems like yesterday when we were washing all the teeny tiny clothes (ohhh those ickle vests and socks) ready for her to be born.

Have a fab day and stay warm xxxxxx

Pretty Pink Friends xxx

Little cuties xxx
Well I am writing this with a bit of a red face.

I wasn't going to say owt, but you know me, warts and all and I'm nothing if not honest!! The challenge over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is embossing. So I thought I would do a pretty pink card and use a couple of Cuttlebug folders.

You are probably one step ahead of me, and let's face it, it wouldn't be hard sometimes lolxx but there is only one problem. Great big dopey dizzy dimwitted half brained bimbo (ha, I wish!!) that I am, I used a Whipper Snapper stamp!!!

Doh!!!!

The clue Dawny is PENNY BLACK Saturday challenge.

The sad thing is that this is not the first time I have done this, and I suspect it will not be the last either!! I am blaming it on the cold weather and also my age even though I have been doing this sort of thing all of my life and even when it has been warm and sunny lol xxxx

But all is not lost cos I didn't realise that there was now a Cuttlebug Challenge - see I told you I was slooooow :(( I only realised when I popped over to Dawn's blog and saw her card (which is fab!!). So, no harm done, I will use it for that instead.

Paper is PP of course (Little Fleurs which is one of the first downloads I bought but I still just love it) and well, you know what the stamp is!!! I coloured it with PMs - no glamour dust this time though. And the Cuttlebug folders are hearts and the buttons one from the borders folder - verrrrry cute. The sentiment is Pink Cat and the bloom is Poppicrafts. The button is salvaged from one of our Kyla's outgrown things.

And zooooom xxxx

Well I am off to do me work now but have a fab day y'all.

Huggiest of huggles from the dippy one xxxxx

How Gorge ......

... is the new PP download?

I am so 'hearting it' and I bet I'm not the only one :)

It was one of those 'I HAVE to have this' things as soon as I saw it and it is absolutely utterly gorgeous.

So I couldn't resist using it for this week's Spoonful of Sugar Challenge which is based on a faberoonie sketch by Nikkie and I really enjoyed doing this one.

The image is a Sugar Nellies Leanne Ellis beauty which I got from Funky Kits and coloured with PMs and highlighted with lots of sparkly Glamour Dust. The gorgeous ribbon is from a past Raspberry Ribbons kit and the sentiment is very very nice but I lost the back to it during the clear up operation so I don't know where it's from, sorry chicks!!!

Well this is a short post here but if I get time, I will be back later with another!!

Off to Birkenhead now to collect the post and then back to do a spaggy bol for dinner - with a bit of help from Lloyd Grossman !!!! Someone once said he has irritable vowel syndrome which cracked me up and I think about it every time I see his name!!!

See ya later and have the fabbiest of days xxxx

Black & White & Seeing Spots xx

Back to normal again now - so it's time for the first Papertake Weekly challenge of 2009, which is Seeing Spots.

All you have to do is use circles or spots on your card and that's it.

The DT have made a plethora of spotty wonderfulness, so nip over and have a nosey :))

This is my spotty creation lol xxx

I was in a sort of black and white mood as you can probably tell. I used to use these colours a lot once upon a time and I do still love them, espesh with an accent colour thrown in for good measure, although there's not one on here!!!

The image is Blossom, one of the new Sugar Nellies Leanne Ellis stamps (I'm loving her spotty frock lol xxx) Papers are a mixture of PP and also a set by Marieke which I bought a while ago but they are fab. The spotty ribbon is Poppicrafts, (sale on girls, so fill yer boots xx) the old MSBP came out cos it has rested for long enough and the teeny bit of colouring was done with my beloved black PM pen. You probably can't see from the pic but there are tiny black beads on the flowers but being the dippy boot I am, I cannot remember where I got them from - doh!!!

It was our first card club of the year last night - the new club in Ellesmere Port. I must say that I thought nobody would turn up as the roads were lethal. Torvill and Dean could have done Bolero on one of them near here, I kid you not, and I did a spectacular skid at one point, which was a bit scary!!!

However, 20 lovelies turned up and I was soooo chuffed, including Shell who came all the way from Birkenhead, bless her.

The room was really cosy and toasty warm and we had a great evening. Poor Jan missed it cos she went flying on some ice yesterday - I think secretly she has been practicing for Dancing On Ice which starts soon and which we just love (we call it Skating On Thin Ice lol xxx). Hope you are ok soon Jan cos we missed ya xxx

I have made 3 resolutions this year, 2 of which will no doubt be broken
by then end of next week.

The first one was to re-organise the tip that is my craft room, cos peeps it was BAD. And thanks to a really ugly but sensationally practical storage unit thing from Costco, I have done that one - woohooo!!! I cannot tell you how virtuous I feel, and I get this sort of sickly smug smirk now when I go in there.

The second one which I hope I will stick to is to try and blog / blog hop a bit more regularly (mmm, well I will try!!)

And the third one which has about as much chance of being stuck to as me winning the lottery, is to lose some lardage (again!!). I did lose nearly a stone last year but due to my greedy girl antics and love of all things buttery, creamy, and generally unhealthy (you know, the sort of stuff that clogs up your arteries just by looking at it) well it all piled on again. Although in my defence (your Honour lol xx) I am still 3 pounds less than when I lost weight last time, so it wasn't a total disaster!!!

I might go back to fat club and I might not.

It sort of put me off when I hadn't been for 3 weeks or so and they send me a letter sort of saying that I was not to beat myself up for putting the weight back on, and basically they forgave me for being a weak willed fat bloater of a failure!!!!!

Ha!!!!!

What did they know, cos I was still losing it without having to fork out 5 squid each week, so Mrs Slim Jim Marjorie Dawes, if perchance you are reading this, there was nowt to forgive.

But there is something about getting weighed each week by a scowling stranger that sort of keeps you on the straight and narrow a bit.

So maybe I will waddle down there next week.

But I probably won't cos I will probably be too busy stuffing my face with chips and cheese and Lurpack butter and bacon sarnies. Or even better, all of those things together on one humungous big butty lol xxx

Be back later with some cardage cos I am starting to feel the crafty thing again after the pooey last few weeks xxxx

Love and Best Wishes xxxxx

No cardage peeps, but I just wanted to wish everyone who has visited me and made me so welcome during my first year in Blogland the most fabulous of fab new years. I hope it is a good year for you all. Thanks to you all for stopping by and leaving me a comment or 2 which always brighten up my day xxxx

Thank you also to everyone for your nice words and supportive e-mails etc following the horrible events of Christmas Eve. They have meant so much to us all and it is nice to know that there are so many nice, caring people out there.

A PS to the drunk driver saga is that basically he has told the police a shed loads of porkies about us, along the lines that we virtually forced him into our house and that Richard, (who really is the most mild mannered, quiet bloke you could find and wouldn't say boo to a goose), kept on at him saying that once the police arrived, he was basically done for (I've cleaned it up for on here but you can use your imagination as to the words he actually used, the potty mouth!!!). This is why he ran away he says.

Is that right? Ohh diddums!!!!.

How a seven stone slip of a girl, a middle aged batty old trout (can't believe I just wrote that about myself!!) and a man who has crippling shyness managed to force this healthy strapping mid 20 year old healthy lad into our house is beyond me.

Must have been my black ninja pjs!!

Ohhh, don't mess with the pink pig when she has those babies on lol xxx

He has also denied telling us that he had been drinking. So that would have been our cat then, cos someone said it and it wasnt me, or Rich or Emma, so that only leaves our Saffy cos Kyla was in bed.

I am sure that the police know we didn't do or say the things he is saying we said but I just think how bloody dare he and I am rather hacked off about it as you can probably tell, cos I just hate liars. At the end of the day, we could have been stroppy with him for basically making a right mess of our garden, but instead we just tried to be kind to him, knowing the predicament he was in.

Well no more Mr Nice Guy matey boy!!!!!

But anyway, I am not wasting any more words and energy on the lying pillock of a toad. I believe in karma and one day it will all come back and bite him on the backside. It will, it sooo will for sure!!!!

There was a first in this house today - no Kyla didn't do as she was told first time, yea Gods, that would be a 'praise Jesus' miracle if ever there was one lol xxx No, my lovely OH got me Photoshop Elements for crimbo and today I did my first digi layout. I feel a teeny weeny bit chuffed with myself even though I know it is nowhere near perfect on lots of levels, and I was really only fiddling about. But at least I got the picture and the elements onto the paper - no mean feat for a techno dumbo thicko dunce like me - doh xxxx

I'm not defecting to digi cos in my heart I am a cardmaker and like to feel the card and pens and ribbons etc, but I have so many fab papers and stuff which are just dying to be used and also I see it as a sort of extension of the creative thing. I wasnt going to put this on here but then I thought that in a few months time it will be nice to compare and see if hopefully I've improved lol xxxx

Your constructive comments would be most appreciated my little chickadees, cos I am just eager to learn xxxx

And so as the year draws to a close, I hope that everyone has the bestest and craftiest new year and I wish you all lots of love and peace. And as a thank you to all the lovelies that follow this blog, watch this space - something nice will be winging its way to one of you in the new year to celebrate my one year of blogging - ohh how marvellous :)))

xxxxx Happy New Year xxxxx