Christmas Glitter

Hiya everyone.  I'm running so late today its untrue!  I'll be glad when I've got my dining room all finished and my new work surface and storage in!  Hopefully I've only a couple more weeks to go before I can take a trip to Ikea for the furniture - though I felt very tempted to go tonight after work lol.

We have another fortnightly challenge for you over at the Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge.  This time what we want is ........

GLITTER - the more the merrier lol. 

I've used a rather elegant rubber stamp from Whimsy Stamps.  Its from Chrissy Armstrong's superb "Vintage Christmas" collection of stunning floral designs available HERE.

I've matted using my trusty nesties and the sentiment is by CraftWork Cards.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

Mel X

White and one other colour

Morning everyone.  We have lovely sunshine here in East Yorkshire though its a bit chilly and I think rain is forecast.  Pet and the kids are off to a music festival today, I just hope the rain holds off!  My plans to visit Crafty Emma today have fallen through so I'm going to be at my craft table and having fun whilst everyone's out - and I'll be dry lol. 

Today we have another challenge for you over at Craft Your Days Away but first I'd like to give a HUGE welcome to our new DT members

MARI

CATHY

ANGEL

SHAZ

SARAH

GAYNOR

It's so lovely to have these ladies joining us and I'll be popping along to their blogs later and leaving some love.

Our new challenge has this time been chosen by the lovely Lesley and her challenge for you is...

'WHITE + ONE'

So it's white with just one other colour, you can use as many shades of your chosen one colour as you wish.  It is ok to use skin tones and a different colour for hair if neccessary.

 

I cannot tell you how many times I changed my mind about which image and colour I was going to use - I simply lost count lol.  Eventually I settled on one of the new images from Meljen's Designs out this month.....

 

 

How cute is he?  Titled "Beardy Gnome", he's available exclusively from Whimsy Stamps HERE.

We welcome another new sponsor to CYDA for this challenge...Heart Song Designs

The winner will receive 3 digi's of their choice. 

 We do hope you can join us this fortnight and can't wait to see your fantastic creations.  My DT buddies have come up with some awesome cards to keep you inspired and you can check them out on the challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a lovely weekend.

Happy Crafting

Mel X

Whimsy March Digi Release and Hop

If you have arrived from Cheryl's Blog you are in the right place - if not, please start at the beginning HERE.

Today sees the release of some new fabulous new digi sets from Whimsy Stamps.  You can find them in the store HERE.

Our blog hop will run from 12 noon EST Tuesday 1st March and will close on Tuesday 8th March 2011 at 12noon EST (or 5pm UK time).  Please leave comments along the way as there will be two Mystery DT Members who will each be choosing a winner from the comments left on their hop posts! These winners will each win a Whimsy digi image of their choice.

The Grand winner of the hop, chosen from the very last stop, will receive FIVE new digital stamps of their choice from Whimsy, and will also get a chance to use those new digital images as a guest designer for Whimsy for the entire month of December.......why not take part in the Whimsy Monthly challenge, you can read all about it here.

I've used two rather adorable images by artist Chrissy Armstrong.  I'm developing quite a soft spot for her lovely designs.

I used "In the Doghouse" printing directly onto the card and combined with another of Chrissy's beauties - "Whatzup Dog!" to create a little CAS card.  I didn't attempt the sky as I soooo need more practice!!!! 

Please hop along to the wonderfully talented Heike's Blog,

REMEMBER - Please leave some love along the way for your chance to win! 

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Mel X

Whimsys - October Blop Hop

If you have arrived from Debbie's Blog you are in the right place - if not, please start at the beginning HERE.

Today sees the Halloween/Fall blop hop, showcasing the fabulous, recently released new digital images from Whimsy Stamps.   With exclusive designs from Crissy Armstrong, Melissa Jenkins ,Katie Sowa and Ann Vento All will be available for download upon completion of purchase. Each download will contain a zip file with 3 versions of the image, a JPEG, TIFF, and PNG all at 300dpi resolution. Images can be flipped, rotated, or resized to fit project needs.

Our blog hop will run until 12 noon EST 22nd October.  Please leave comments along the way as there will be two Mystery DT Members who will each be choosing a winner from the comments left on their hop posts! These winners will each win a Whimsy digi image of their choice.

The Grand winner of the hop, chosen from the very last stop, receive 5 new digital stamps of their choice from Whimsy, and will also get a chance to use those new digital images as a guest designer for Whimsy for a month ......and why not take part in the Whimsy Monthly challenge, you can read all about it here.

There were some corkers in these recent releases and I was spoilt for choice - again lol!  I finally decided on using not one, not two but SIX digi images for this project!

I decided against a card as we don't really celebrate Halloween to much in the UK.  It is however becoming more popular and this year I'm taking the children "Trick or Treating" and we're having a party at ours afterwards for some of their friends - so invitations and little table decorations were top of my list!!  Here's what I came up with....................

 and in close up....a haunted house, designed myself - and I forgot the chimney (darn lol)

Here I used four Halloween sentiments from Anne Vento's Raindrop Echo range (available HERE).  Aren't they just fab - two form the images in the little windows - PERFECT!!

Just caught on camera is the "Witches Broom" by artist Katie Sowa's Big Hugs range - available HERE.

Next I made a little box shaped house for candy and sweets, decorated with another of Ann's fabulous Halloween sentiments with a brad for the door handle.

I discovered a template HERE for this little box whilst searching the internet.  The roof isn't fixed so you can fill up with treats. These were a HUGE hit with my children (aged 10 and 7) and both creations provoked a resounding "WOW!" from each of them. Its really added to their excitement for hosting their first Halloween Party and we've since had loadsa fun making more together as part of our party preparations.

 Don't forget to leave some love along the way as their will be 2 random blogs chosen among us, these 2 chosen blogs will then pick a winner.

Now you need to head over to Heike's Blog to continue the hop. 

I do hope you like my efforts, thanks for stopping by and good luck.

Mel X

Meljen Madness

Hiya everyone.  I'm soo excited that the children return to school tomorrow - looking forward to a bit of R and R time lol.  Some of you may have noticed I've been AWOL from recent DT challenges - thats because I've had to take a week off from my DT commitments to help me get the children ready and spend some quality time with them.  Like most parents I've been working and juggling the headache of childcare but then Ethan started to play up a little with it all so needed to nip that in the bud.  Touch wood, he seems to be settling down and went to his friends house this morning as reward for good behaviour so I've taken full advantage by making some cards for various challenges out at the moment.

For the first one, rather appropriately, I've used Meljen's Designs' Teddy Bear Teacher.

Making this card felt quite cathartic - couldn't stop smiling - I'm probably not the only parent counting down now to the new term starting judging by these challenges lol.

Creative Card Crew - Back to School

Fussy and Fancy - Back to School

Allsorts Challenge - New Beginnings

Crazy 4 Challenges - Books

Just Cute Bears - Lets Go Dotty

Incy Wincy - Back to School

The Pink Elephant - Back to School

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My second card is Meljen's Rodeo Boy

I've some gold glamour dust here and some sparkly gold twine I found in my stash which I've used to make a kind of lasso.

Create for Fun - Sketch (just noticed I put the sentiment in the wrong place sorry)

 Papertake - Just the One (Lasso) 

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My third card is made with Meljen's Apple Beary Fairy.

Meljen's Designs - Stripes

Ooh La La - Stripes

All Meljen's Designs images are now available exclusively from Whimsy Stamps HERE and more arereleased every Thursday - HAPPY DAYS!!!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

Hugs

Mel X

Whimsy September Release

If you have arrived from Anneke's Blog you are in the right place - if not, please start at the beginning HERE.

Today sees the release of some new fabulous new digi sets from Whimsy Stamps.  .

Our blog hop will run until 12 noon EST 7th September.  Please leave comments along the way as there will be two Mystery DT Members who will each be choosing a winner from the comments left on their hop posts! These winners will each win a Whimsy digi image of there choice.

The Grand winner of the hop chosen from the very last stop, receive 5 new digital stamps of their choice from Whimsy, and will also get a chance to use those new digital images as a guest designer for Whimsy for the entire month of August.......why not take part in the Whimsy Monthly challenge, you can read all about it here.

There are some absolute crackers coming out of Whimsy at the moment.  Again this month I was spoilt for choice though finally decided on....

and here's a close up....

These images are available exclusively HERE

 Don't forget to leave some love along the way as 2 random blogs chosen among us, these 2 chosen blogs will then pick a winner. The winner can then choose a Digi of their Choice, there will also be a grand prize of 5 digi images of the winners choice which will come from the last one on the hop which is Chris’s blog,this winner also wins the chance to be a GD for the month of September.

Now you need to head over to Debbie's Blog to continue the hop.

Before you hop on I would just like to tell you about what will be Available from Whimsy stamps Next week Ann Vento and Denise Have come up with the most gorgeous custom rubber stamps,there are going to be 35 separate designs, so far there, in 5 different categories: Frames, Simple, Animals, Zodiacs, and Whimsy Characters.there is also an "Address stamps" category with 3 different choices of address labels: one with 3 lines, one with 4 lines, one with 5 lines. These address labels will let you choose a graphic and let you input all your necessary information. Whimsy also hope to add many more designs in the future!

Thanks for stopping by

Mel X

Introducing "Miss Innocent" and an old friend.

Hiya everyone.  (Scroll down if you're here for the Whimsy Blog Hop)

I've been busy crafting whilst packing to go camping tomorrow - there's a pretty good chance Pete'll open his case looking for his toiletry bag and find my pencil case full of copics and promarkers instead lol. 

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We have some new stamps being released today at Whimsy and there are some right crackers!!  They are being released today and we're having a blog hop to celebrate  - whoo hoo.  If you want to join in then you need to start HERE.

I was had massive difficulty in choosing just one for the hop so did three rofl but could only use one in the end - these two will be entered into the following challenges

"Miss Innocent"

Created by the very talented artist that is Chrissy Armstrong, isn't she GORGEOUS!

Sweet Stampin - Sketch

Fussy and Fancy - Pink and Black

Daring Cardmakers - It's a Girl Thing

Simon Says - Going Dotty

Digital Tuesday - Dazzle Me
StampInsanity - Pink and Black

Also, the lovely Denise over at Whimsy is planning to release some of the older rubber stamps into digital format - HAPPY DAYS.  They have some gorgeous stamps of which I have some and now - I can't wait til they are digis lol.

This next image is one of my favourite original stamped images by Katie which is now available as Katie's Digital Critters.

"Here Fishy Fishy"

I cannot tell you how long I have wanted this image and just never got round to it until now!!  

Dare U 2 Digi - Sketch

PaperPlay - Anything Goes

CRAFT - Hot and Spicy Colours

One Stop Crafts - Patterns

Both these images are available from today and you can purchase them HERE. Thanks for stopping by, take care and happy crafting.

Mel X

SNEAK PREVIEW - Whimsey Stamps

Afternoon everyone, have finished my nights this morning but feeling pretty cream crackered due to sleep deprivation lol.  I'm waiting for the mobile dog groomer to arrive for little Dylan, bless him!  His coat is so thick he looks sooo uncomfortable in this heat - so I've booked him in for a little "puppy cut" which I'm sure he'll feel much happier about.  I'm struggling to sleep in the heat during the day but thankfully thats my nights finished now!!

As promised I have a special little something for you now - a sneak preview of one of the new digital images by Whimsy Stamps to be released on the 1st July.

Isn't he just adorable!  This is called "Love Me Anyway".  I've also used one of the new digi sentiments also due for release on 1st July.

If you haven't been over to Whimsy yet then you are missing out as the number of digi images now available is MASSIVE with more being released on the 1st of every month.  They also have a super collection of exceptionally high quality unmounted stamps!

I started off using a sketch from Sketch Saturday but then only really did half of it as the card started to look too busy for my liking lol!  I therefore won't submit this into their current competion.  I will however be entering it into these;

Everybody Art - Pink and Green

Pollycraft - Pinkalicious

If I don't go to sleep too early tonight I'm hoping to have a preview of another new image tomorrow.

 

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

 

Mel X 

Something Exciting

Hiya everyone, I just wanted to share some news with you.  I am so very proud to say that I was chosen as a new DT member for  Whimsy Stamps.

I received the news about Whimsy a few days ago but was just waiting for the details, Whimsy Stamps now have a new DT just for their Digital Images and I was chosen as one of them.  Never in a million years did I even imagine that my creations would be good enough, I am sooo chuffed and excited to be working with some amazingly talented crafters and some totally gorgeous images - so watch this space.

I just wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone for all your support and kind words of encourgagement.

Mel X