I am still alive, honest!

Hello bloggers! Yes, I know i've been not blogging for over a month... shame on me! But there were other things taking priority and I didn't even have much time to craft at all :-(

As you might have seen before, I am a huge fan of Papertreyink and as I also like doing other papercrafts than cards, I love their box designs/templates. Now, call me a cheapskate, but I really don't like forking out for a template I can make up myself easily! So when I saw the latest release sneak previews (due out this saturday) I sat down and did some designing myself...

Have made similar boxes before so all I did really was create a printable template for them and away I was.

Here is one I created yesterday. I have a few more in the pipeline, but not ready to show just yet ;-)

Have a great day, whatever you are up to!

Backpacks and a little secret....

I am just about packed to go away tomorrow morning, but wanted to let you see a couple of backpacks that I made after seeing a tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers. It's really easy, but tiny, so for the second one I adapted it a little to be able to fit a little notebook and pencil in. I want to give a few of those to the teachers at my sons Preschool as they are just so lovely there and my oldest is leaving to go to big school in September!

The flaps close with magnetic snaps from Basic Grey and I think they are sooo cute! Let me know what you think, ok?

Also, I have been keeping it a little quiet as I didn't really believe it would happen until I had proof *lol* but little me will get her 5 Min. of "fame"! The lovely Clare from DoCrafts who I met at the Glitterpot a while back has asked me if she could feature me in her Talent Spot Corner!

How amazing is that? I am so chuffed! They sent me some lovely goodies to make some cards with for their next issue which I believe is out in September. It's all christmassy and I have to say I struggeled a bit seeing as it was blistering hot and sunny when I had to make them. I won't show anything yet, as you will all be able to see them in the Mag.

Hope you have a lovely week and I hope I can share a few more pics of our extension when I am back!

Back from hols and going again....

...no, not really on holiday again, but our building work is going into a crucial part now and it is safer for the kids to not be around. So, I decided to take them to my parents for a week as we found cheapo flights. Barely had time to settle back in after coming home from the North sea, but there you go...
Sorry for being a bad blogger, but things here are a bit hectic!
I leave you with a few pics from our time at the sea and will come back later to show a few projects and share a little secret!

Going on holiday...

Hello everyone! We are going on a quick holiday to Germany tomorrow so I need to finish packing and do a few things, but I thought I share a few pics with you before I leave.

I made some gift boxes for a friend to give to her tutors and also my friendship swap card for this month on the DC forum. Hope you like them!

And before I go I just want to share a quick piccie of our house mid-transformation. We are having a loft extension done and they started taking the roof of and building a new gabel... exciting!

Amazing blog candy!

Sarah on Fluff's Creations is giving away the most amazing blog candy!! Until 14th of June you have a chance to win this fab candy.

Have a look, there is both sets of the Miss Anja stamps in there!! I would SOOOOO love to win this!

And the other bits aren't to be sniffed at either, so hop over and have a look, her blog is one I follow anyway as Sarah has some amazing things to show!

And the winner is....

First of all I want to thank all the entrants for your fabulous cards and stories/jokes! I really enjoyed looking at all your work and laughing about your jokes.

Sorry I am a little late with the announcement but the weather here was just too good to miss and we spent most of the weekend on the beach, chilling! As for the winner...

... well, I just couldn't choose as all the entries were great so I decided to have a draw and the lucky winner is

...

....

.......

..... Ann from Annies place! I am really pleased as I know she needs some cheering up at the moment! So Ann, congratulations!!

But, wait for it! I also decided that I am giving away a little surprise for someone else. As the winner has done a card I did another draw for the ones that did jokes and anecdotes only.

And the winner for this is: Sweetdesigninc! Well done you!

Could the winners please contact me so I can send your prizes out to you!

My Blog Candy with a twist!

Hello there!

As promised earlier, here is my new blog candy with a twist! I wanted to do one for a while and couldn't think of anything special as a reason, so now it's just like that. But to make it a bit more interesting for me I want you to do something to win my candy!

You can either make a card following my sketch underneath and link to it in your comment.

Or if you don't want to do that, make me laugh. Out loud! Tell me a really funny joke or an anecdode (spelling?), it doesn't matter what it is, but it has to be really funny!

Please let others know about my candy, too, by posting on your blog about it!

Here is my sketch then if you decide for the card :

Well and this is the price:

- A set of Nestabilities large plain Octagons

- A paket of designer Gromlets from We are Memorykeepers

- 5 pink glittery crads with envelopes

- A pack of flower shapes

- A 2x12 Papermania Oriental Spice Border pack

- 24 A4 sheets from the new Papermania Signature range Blueberry Hill and Regency (12 each)

- 20 6x6 sheets of Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock

- 1 Autumn Leaves Butterfly stamp

- 4 reels of American Crafts Ribbon

- Bottle of Silver Metallic 3D paint

- A wallet with Hanglar images

Hope you like my prize and I look forward to your entries!

Oh, this will close Saturday 30th of May!

Blogoversary Candy from Lorelie @ My Paper adventures

There is a lovely blog candy up for grabs on http://mypaperadventures.blogspot.com/ and it's only open til tomorrow, so go there now and have a go to win this fabulous candy! I keep my fingers crossed for me as it is lovely stuff!

Some quick cards and a box

Hello everyone,
no I haven't vanished from the face of this earth... We are in the last stages of planing for our loft extension and due to start building in 2 weeks time, so life is hectic in our household.
So I keep this short an sweet... I have a few cards to share that were made with the new Papermania kit in black and teal .

Also a card made for the Magnolia challenge over on DC which was to use yellow and pinks and a bit of sparkle.

The box is inspired by Lauren Meader who designs for PTI and I love her work.

I saw her new template and as it will only be available from tomorrow (15th May) and I thought it looked pretty easy to put together I had a fiddle on the computer and made my own template. Lo and behold, it works perfectly. Happy bunny :-) I made the pretty floral paper with a PTI stamp set as well. I stamped in 2 colours onto pearlized blueish paper and edged with the same ink and a sponge.
Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the visit!

Quick couple of cards...

I made these the other day and I quite like them. Tried a bit of distressing edges on the Tilda card and the other was to use up some scraps I had and try out a tip I saw online about using the 5-petal flower punch from SU to make different flowers. I liked it a lot, very easy to do and you wouldn't know it is from the same punch...

And I noticed that my Versafine inkpad has taken a beating. I forgot to put the lid back on a few nights ago and only replaced it the next morning *oops* and now it won't stamp that well anymore. Might have to buy a new one which is unfortunate, I am on a buying ban until I complete 50 cards! So far I have 6...

Well here they are, hope you like them:

I used Basic Grey "Urban Prairie" papers, Sizzix leaf stem die, Nestabilities Labels 3, Papermania brad, Craftworkcards dome paper circles and a sentiment from a set by My sentiments exactly (You can see my Versafine packing up there...)

I used the Urban Prairie papers again for this, edges distressed, Tilda image is coloured with pencils and blended with Sansador, flowers are Prima and attached with Papermania brads, a charm from my stash is hanging by a chain from one. The butterflies are cut out of a sheet of the paper and I added some faux stitching.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Just Magnolia challenge...

The Just Magnolia challenge blog has launched with a fab prize for their first sketch challenge! I thought I give it a go as the sketch is really lovely.

I did turn the sketch on it's head but I think it works just as well that way.

And this is my card...

Hope you like it, I am quite pleased with it. I used Basic Greys Scarlett's letter paper, a patterned card blank I got sent so unfortunately I don't know the make, some Prima flowers with bead spacers and brads for the centers, Bazzil Basic and Bazzil Bling for the base, ribbon is from stash, sentiment from Hero Arts clear Design set stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia, Tilda is coloured with Copics.

Thanks for looking!