Black and White.....and a splash of colour!

Hello there!

I hope you are well and have had a lovely week!

This week has seen three different work Christmas celebrations and my mum's Birthday.....I'm exhausted!! I only have two more work days left....and lucky am able to work at home on those two days, so no more nasty 6:30am commute this year! I am so pleased to type that!

This is my last Sweet Stampin challenge of 2014 and we have decided to leave you with a colour combo challenge....we want to see your black and white cards with a splash of colour on them. It can be any colour....but it must only be a splash!!

I decided to end the year with a trademark cupcake card....

I love this stamp, it's pretty and I think it looks great both coloured and also in back and white. Because there is that lovely berry on the top of the cake, I decided my splash of colour needed to be bright red. To match the elegant cupcake I decided to use a black and white striped backing paper, along with some plain red paper to continue the colour theme.

There is of course some sparkle on the card too!

For more inspiration pop by the Sweet Stampin challenge blog and take a peek at the gorgeous DT cards that Team Abi has created this week. While you are there you can also read all about our fab sponsors this week....

We can't wait to see what you've been creating!

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Red for Remembrance

Hello there,

I hope everyone is well and have had a lovely week. I can't believe that we are well into November already and I have just seen the John Lewis Christmas advert - where has this year flown by too? I do love this time of year, there is so much going on - lots of Birthday celebrations to look forward to (including Sweet Stampin's birthday!)  and of course Christmas too!

However, this time of year also brings about the time for remembrance as we approach Remembrance Day. I haven't had the opportunity to see the poppies at Tower of London myself, but I have been amazed by the photos I have seen online. One thing I learnt about the Tower of London's part in World War 1 was that over 1,600 City workers swore an oath of allegiance at the Tower to join the ‘Stockbrokers Battalion’ and serve in the war - they called themselves "ditchers" as they made their oath standing in the dry moat.

Not quite the same as being there in person, but here are some of my favourite images from the internet....

Taken by MPS Helicopters - @MPSinthesky Twitter

Taken by BBC News - @BBCNews Twitter

In honour of Remembrance Day, this week at Sweet Stampin we'd like to see cards featuring red for remembrance....and if you'd like to feature poppies too that would be brilliant! Inspired by the wonderful images I have seen online, I have found my poppy stamp for this challenge.....

I've gone for a CAS card, to let the poppies shine. I have used a plain red paper in the background, topped with white card. I have stamped my poppy image twice and added the petals from the first image to the second with 3D sticky pads to add a little dimension to the card. 

My poppies were coloured with my Promarkers and I have added a little doodling to the card with a fine black pen.

For more inspiration pop by the Sweet Stampin blog to see the fab cards that Team Abi have created this week. While you are there you can also read about our fab sponsor this week....

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Poppies

Passion for Promarkers - Inspired by a Beatles song - Penny Lane ("The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray")

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Thank you for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Hellooeeee!

Good Morning!

I hope you're well and had a lovely weekend. I'm sorry to say that the drifting that I went to see on Saturday was a little bit of a wash out.....Joe's car broke before he even got a practice go on the track! So, he didn't get to qualify this round...it was very disappointing considering the amount of time and money he has spent so far.....lets hope round two is much better! It was a bad day all around really as our friend who was also competing also ended up with a broken car!!

Joe's drift car has had a bit of a makeover this season....here it is in all its glory.....

 

I'm not sure about the colour personally, but he loves it!

 

Soo....you might be wondering what I'm doing here on a Monday morning posting on my blog...shouldn't I be at work?? Well, no...I'm pleased to say that I'm on annual leave this week! Woo hoo! And tomorrow is my Birthday! Woo hoo! So today I am going to a day spa with Becca.....we can't wait...a day relaxing and being pampered!

 

But first I thought I'd do a little crafting!!

 

 

Isn't he a cutie??

 

For this card I have used the fab sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday and a cute bear image which has been coloured with my Promarkers. Here is the sketch that I used.....

 

 

 

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Allsorts Challenge - use a letter from your name - R for ribbon and the colour red (Rachel is my real name!!)

Di's Digi Design - all about bears

Cupcake Craft Challenge - cute and cuddly

Make it Monday

 

Pop by all these fab blogs if you've got a spare minute to see the gorgeous DT cards that have been created.

 

Right, I'd better get going....I've got a day of lazying around a pool ahead of me!!

 

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Christmas is just around the corner!

Hello there! Hope you've had a good Tuesday!

Soooo....can you believe that it'll be December on Saturday? Where has this year gone?? Christmas is getting close now and I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet...everyone else who I've spoken to recently seems to be all ready for the big day!!

Anyway, I have a festive card for you today....

 

Hee, hee! I love this image and I can just imagine them singing christmas songs!!

 

I've gone with a traditional red, green and white colour combo for this card, using festive patterned papers along with a pretty doily. My image has been stamped and then coloured with my Promarkers. I'm really pleased with how this one has turned out!

 

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

Tuesday Throwdown - lots of layers

Crafty Sentiments - red, white and green

I Heart Promarkers - singing/dancing

 

Pop by all these blogs to see the fab cards that the design teams have created!

 

Finally I thought I'd share some of my Christmas baking with you....these are rather yummy butter biscuit christmas trees! I've iced them with green icing and added some sparkle too!

 

Thanks for popping by today, hopefully I'll see you again soon!

Wedgie xxx

No Design Paper Was Harmed in the Making of this Card!!

Hello Folks - Happy Monday!!

Hope you've had a good day. I had a meeting with some IT consultants at work today....I was with them for an hour and a half and I think they might have sucked all the knowledge from my head! It was an intense meeting!!

Now I'm home.....and its craft time!!

Now I'm not happy with this card....it seemed like the more I did the more I disliked it!! So I stopped.....and here is the finished card! I love the colours, but I think I've struggled with the lack of design papers here. I've used pink and cream papers, a lovely piece of cream lace and a cute Polly Craft image (my favourite!!).

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenge - a Birthday card with no design paper

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - colour inspiration...pinks, reds, cream & white

Make it Monday - Linky party.....pop by to see all the gorgeous makes!

Now remember yesterday I said I'd been baking.....well I forgot to share a photo with you!! Here they are....pretty swirly vanilla cupcakes....with pink sprinkles and a little pink glitter dust! I think I might eat one with a cup of tea now!!

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Best of British!

Evening Folks, hope you're all well today.

So, its another Monday and its May tomorrow....where is time going this year?? One good thing that comes with every Monday is a new fab challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenge and this week they have a fab "best of British" photo inspiration challenge for us. Here is the photo....isn't it fab...

We've got a traditional red telephone box, some scrummy fish and chips and my favourite.....afternoon tea!

Soooo....heres what I came up with....

I took the red from the telephone box and then I focused on the tea bit! I've got my teapot and cups....all I need now is the cakes!

Pop by the Cupcake Craft blog to see all the gorgeous DT cards this week.

I'm also joining in the fun at Make it Monday again this week....pop by and see all the fab cards that have been created this week....its great inspiration!

Talking of inspiration...a month or so ago I saw some fab little paper birds in a craft magazine which I loved. Tonight I finally got around to making some myself....here they are featuring on a leaving card that I've made for someone at work....aren't they cute with their googly eyes!!

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Colour Challenges!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I hope you're all well and having a lovely weekend. I've had a fab day today, Joe's been at work and so I decided to spend some time in the kitchen. Several hours later I have lemon cupcakes, dotty butter biscuits, homemade crisps (made in the microwave) and pimms ice lollies! What a fab afternoon!

As well as baking, I've also spent some time at my craft desk.....something that always helps me relax! Today I've created two cards for two different colour challenges. I love colour challenges because they push me out of my comfort zone....you know me I love pink and purple....I can't get enough...but colour challenges make me look at other colours that I often neglect.

First off we have the "Black and White" challenge over at Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge:

I've kept this card very simple, using some new cute stamps that I got free with a craft magazine, a little dotty paper and a little black paper.

And secondly I have a card for the "Red card" challenge over at Allsorts this week:

The cupcake tier is another free stamp from the craft magazine, this time I've added one of my favourite sentiment stamps, along with red paper, the cute dotty paper and some red stickles for a little sparkle. Pop over to both blogs to see the gorgeous DT cards.

Right, I told you at the beginning of the post about my kitchen exploits today...well here are my goodies!



I can't believe how easy the crisps were to make...they took a little while to do and they're still crisping up at the moment...but the couple that I've sampled are delicious!

Thanks for popping by today,
Wedgie xxx

British thanks!

Wow - its a white wonderland out there again! Although there isn't as much snow as before the roads are rather chaotic this morning! Its funny how all this white stuff grinds the UK to a halt so effectively! In try British spirit I think most people are trying their best to get on with normal life this morning - hence all the traffic jams!!

A friend of mine has some American visitors with her at the moment, I wonder how they are enjoying their wintery visit to London! She has asked me to create a thank you card with a British theme that will be going back to the States with them. I had to have a think about this make as there is so much you could put on a British themed card - the obvious being the Union Jack maybe (or at least thats what I found when I searched the internet for inspiration).

In the end I decided to use the Union Jack colours as the base for the card, although as you'll see I didn't actually use the flag itself as I wanted something slightly more unique. Instead I used blue and red paper in the background and some white ribbon. I also added a piece of map showing a bit of cenral London.

I opted for a red bus as a topper, as you find these in lots of images of Britain. I've used red and black paper for the bus and printed my thank you message on the windows using my computer. Although looking at it now I'm not sure that anyone else will realise its a bus!! Hope my friend approves!

I also wanted to add the Queen onto the card some how.....after thinking about my artistic skills I decided that trying to create the Queen out of paper would be a big mistake and so used some old postage stamps instead.

I know there are loads of other items I could have used and I'm sure people would argue this isn't British enough or question why I didn't include certain images, but I didn't want to overcrowd the card and I'm happy with how it looks - just hope my find likes it too!

Anyway, I've got to go outside and brave all this white stuff in a minute - better wrap up warm! If you're out and about today take care!

Thanks for stopping by,
Wedgie xxx