First Ever Challenge Win

Having a great few days in Dubai and still trying to get caught with emails and blogs, couldn't believe my eyes when I read on Funky Fairy's blog that I was the winner of the Black and White Challenge. Needless to say I am just chuffed to bits and can't wait to play with my prize.

Thanks for popping by and I'm off to collect my reward.

Tourists in Dubai

Seeing it has been a wee while since I was last in Dubai - 10 years ago - thought it was about time I did a return trip and what a lot of changes there's been. So on Sunday, Sarah and I headed off to Dubai deciding to be more like tourists than shoppers. Having said that we did do some shopping.

For the touristy side of our trip we booked trips on the Big Bus Tours. For anyone going I would say it is well worth booking their trips. The first trip was on Monday, doing the Red Bus City Tour. Although we saw a lot of sites, don't think this time of year is the best time to do it as lot was of the sites were outside and it was really hot and humid, by the end we felt like two damp grease spots. However it was an interesting tour.

Raffles Dubai

Dubai Creek

So headed back to the hotel for a quick refreshing shower before heading out again to join the Big Bus' night tour. I would say that one of the best sights on this tour was the Burg Al Arab Hotel all light up.

Burg Al Arab by night

Tuesday morning saw us on the Blue Bus Beach Tour. There were several good photo ops on this one, again the Burg Al Arab, Souk Madinet Jumeriah and Atlantis Hotel and its aquarium. At today's tour had a lot more indoor stops so didn't end up as damp grease stops.

Burg Al Arab by day

Atlantis Lost Chambers

Watching the Jellyfish

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Funky Fairy - Black & White

I think I must be going through a black, white and cream phase just now, lol.

Over at Funky Fairy this week, the theme is black and white. For the card base itself, I thought I would try a new technique - A Side Step Card - having seen a few cards in Val Craftroom's. The next stage was to have a look through what Funky Fairy papers and digital images I had to see if any fitted the bill. As soon as I saw the star backing paper everything seemed to fall into place. I resized Funky Fairy 8 then printed her off, then trimmed off the excess card at the right hand side then mounted it onto the left hand side of the card base. For some embellishing added some brad from my stash.

Oops nearly forgot, here are the instructions on how to made the Side Step Card, thanks to Jackie over at Addicted to Stamping.

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Sketch & Stash

I really love the new papers that I bought this week when I met up with Pinklilac for lunch. Have used them for a second time this week for Sketch & Stash's challenge. This week's layout is one which I feel is going to very versitile and suitable for all sorts of occasions.

Onto the card. As I said it is the second time I have used these papers from BoBunny's Unforgettable range. The flower image is from Inkadinkado's Doodle Flowers stamp set and I used my Whisper pens to add a bit of colour to the proceedings. The floral embellishments were punched from the Unforgettable Love paper and mounted on foam pads. The ribbon was from my stash and the sentiment was a 'homemade' one using a set of letter stamps that have been hiding at the back of my stamp drawer for ages.

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Candy from Creations by Penny

For those of you who love digital stamps, Penny over at Creations by Penny has some fabulous digital stamps as a candy. This what is on offer.

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Simon Says Candy

Hands up who would love the chance of winning $100 to spend on some fabulous crafting goods.

Well, you need to pop over to Simon Says and become a follower of both that blog and the challenge blog and write about Simon Says on your blog. There is an added bonus, if you link your blog posting to your comment over at Simon Says, you get an extra entry.

Thanks for popping by.

Cute Daisy May

The word over at Cute Daisy May this week, is the one word that most of us cardmakers tend to dread. Yes, the word is Christmas. I have to admit that I have been giving it some thought recently, particularly what theme I wanted to do. I did have a colour in mind but think that this year I might just do a cross section of card styles and colours.

For the challenge I thought I would try out one design and see how it came out and hopefully it might give me some direction as to what to do with my own cards. For the image, I used the reindeer from Anita's Stamps and coloured it in with watercolour pencils. The mats used cardstock from BoBunny. For the tag wording I used Word and the brad is from my stash.

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Secret Crafter

As I enjoyed using the doodle flower stamps for yesterday's Sketch Saturday card, I thought I would use them againg for another challenge, this time over at Secret Crafter and coloured the flower in with my Whisper pens. The papers are another set from BoBunny, this time the Alissa range. The star buttons are from my stash pile.

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Sketch Saturday 62

Was out for lunch yesterday with my crafting buddy on the island, Linda aka PinkLilac, to our 'favourite place' - Piece of Cake and which has a wee craft shop attached to it - Celebrations. As usually I left with a few wee purchases, some new 12 x 12 sheets and a few other bits and bobs. The other bits and bobs, I think will be used in some other challenges, but for this week's Sketch Saturday challenge I have used some of the sheets that I bought.

For the image I used a stamp that I bought a few weeks ago, but which I have used yet, Inkadinkado's Doodle Flowers which I think compliment the doodlish style of flowers on the papers. Oh which by the way are BoBunny's Back to Backs range - Unforgettable. I coloured in the doodle flower with Whisper pens and mounted on the mat and card with foam pads, as were to the two square mats. Finished off all the layers by running a black Whisper pen round the edges.

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New Challenge On The Block

There is a new challenge on the block. Pop over to Get Funky to have a look. If you happen to be the lucky winner there is a wee shop over at Funky Hand where you can spend your winnings.

For the card I used the freebie set that is on offer. Threaded one of the freebie ribbons which I topped with a ribbon from my stash through BossKut's Journaling Ribbon Slide and popped it onto the stripey backing paper. For the sentiment I used one of the freebie sentiments that comes along with the ribbons. For a final touch added a couple of flowers, each flower made from two flowers held together with a brad.

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Birthday Smirk

Another card I wanted to get done out of the way, is the one for my eldest daughter (don't think she checks Mum's blog, so hopefully it will be safe enough to post it just now). For some reason I always find it difficult making her cards.

How did the finished card come about? The inspiration for the layout came from two challenges which I am putting the card forward for. The layout came from Sketch Saturday and the recipe ingredients, 3 buttons, 2 designer papers and 1 ribbon came from Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge.

The striped and mini floral paper came from Say it with a Smirk as did the image. The mats are from K&Company's Recycled Remake Berry Pinks paper pad. The flowers were punched from the same mini floral paper and the buttons and ribbon are from my stash.

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Yesterday's card

Got caught up in other things yesterday so didn't manage to post yesterday's card. As usual I am trying to get ahead of myself on the birthday and anniversary front, more so just now as Sarah is arriving on Sunday for a holiday and while she is here we are heading off to Dubai for a few days, with both of us then heading back to Scotland together, before I have to be back here to start back at school on the 1st of September. Just after I get back to Scotland it my father-in-law's birthday.

When I saw this image in a template in Greeting Card Factory, I just knew I had to use it for FIL's card. He will be 92 this year and his amibition is to see his 100th birthday. I have to admit it was quite an easy card to do. Printed off the image and the sentiment and layered them up and popped the layers on a piece of brown cardstock.

No doubt he will have some comment about the words, but I am sure he will see the funny side.

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Summer Fun Challenge

One of the thing that for me is synonymous with summer are BBQ's and suits the theme of Bee Crafty's latest challenge and I had a digital image that would fit the bill. For some reason I thought it was one of Bee Crafty's images but when I went to print it off I discovered that it came from Digistamp Boutique, but I hope that Bee Crafty won't hold it against me!!!!

Although not entering the challenge over at Anyone For Anya I was inspired by their challenge sketch.

Onto the card. The base card, 6 x 6, is made from K&Company's Recycled Remake Ocean Blues cardstock, as are the two rectangular mats. The backmost mat and the photo corners were from Imaginisce's Go For Baroque - Blue Blooded. The image, BBQ Jim, as I said before is from Digistamp Boutique, and was coloured in with my copic pens and the edge of the mat soften with an inkpad from Stampabilities, the color being Royal Blue. Rounded off two corners of the base card and two on one of the rectanglar mats.

The card is for my neighbour's birthday on Sunday. The birthday celebrations are being held early, as his family are here just now but will be leaving to head home to Scotland on Saturday, so Thursday is party time. Thought the image was quite appropriate as there is to be a bbq.

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Cupcake Birthday

Spent the morning buried in my wee crafting corner, working on a card for a couple of challenges. The first challenge is over at Funky Fairy and had to be something girly. Well what could be more girly than pink. The layout came from the second challenge, Sketch and Stash.

One of the rules of the challenge over at Funky Fairy is that you must use a Funky Fairy download. I decided that I would use everything from there, well apart from the brads. The papers and images come from the Cupcake Crazy and Just a Bit ranges. Resized the images and papers to get the components for the layout. For the cupcake decoupage, I cropped and resized one of the cupcake frames to a suitable size and then made three copies. The bottom layer being all three cupcakes, the second layer two cupcakes and the top layer a single cupcake. Apart from the very pale pink mat, all the components were mounted using foam pads.

With all the challenges I enter I try to make a card for someone on my birthday list and this one is no different. This one will soon be winging its way to my great-niece, Abbie.

Thanks for popping by.

Fred, She Said Challenge

I seem to be going challenge mad just now. As the schools are out for the summer I have plenty to sit and play.

I love Fred, She Said designs and regularly drop in to see what is on offer. Her latest design is a freebie, what more could a girl ask for. In return for the download thought I would throw my hat into the ring, or should I say card. The only stipulation being that to enter the challenge you had to use her latest freebie image.

Now down to my card, the base made from K&Company's recycled range - Remake Rose Reds. The image was coloured with copic pens which were then cut out using my trusty 'Bug' and Oval Nestabilities dies. The two mats, scalloped and square came from the same piece of double sided cardstock by Imaginisce, from the Go For Baroque - Ooooh La La!. The fancy string/ribbon was from my stash, it was originally used to tie up a present that I got. Well we crafters find a use for everything!! Finished off the card with some gems and a stamped sentiment.

Thanks for popping by.

Opening Soon!

When : Wednesday 12th August

Where: La-La-Land

Although not open yet, the shop window is tempting us with some sneek previews of what will be on offer from opening day.

By taking a wee peek, leaving a comment on the shop noticeboard and letting your followers know about the new shop you stand a chance of winning some fab candy.

Thanks for popping by.

Will the 31st of July be my lucky day?

I hope the 31st of July will be my lucky day. Why I hear you ask. Well Tracy over at Epiphany Art has some fabulous candy on offer. I do hope I am lucky.

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A Couple of Minutes to Spare? - Help out Incy Wincy

A call for support has gone out from Incy Wincy, as they haven't had a lot of support for their challenges. This week's challenge is an easy one, even I could do it, lol, and it took less than a couple of minutes - answer 3 simple questions and become an Incy Wincy follower.

The prize is the entire Incy Wincy range of digital stamps. You have to have a wee peek to find the answer, which can be found here and here.

Thanks for popping by.

Two Challenges in One

Met up with my crafting buddy, Linda, for tea and scone earlier this week, handing over some goodies I brought back from the UK for her and in return I got a wee pressie too. A wallet of stamped images. Thank you very much Linda.

Maybe some of you don't know it but Linda is one of the Design Team over at Cute Daisy May. By way of a thank you I thought I would use one of the images that Linda had given me in the latest Cute Daisy May challenge. Which one would I use? When I saw the Orange Bush and knew that was it as I had exactly the papers that would go along with it. The papers came from K&company Citronella collection.

Onto the card, the base, 6x6, was made from another K&company collection, this time Recycled Remake Grass Greens. The image was coloured in with copic pens, with the background being, for the want of a word, muddied with the lightest of the Warm Grey copic pens. Finishing it with a few flowers with brads for the centres.

Also included it into Secret Crafter's challenge as this week's challenge asked for stripes and dots.

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An Award

My crafting buddy, Linda, here in Bahrain has presented me with The Circle Of Friends award. Thanks very much Linda.

Passing it on to a couple of friends

Liz
Louise
Cazz
Val

Thanks for popping by.