Sugar Bowl Challenge 40

It's Thursday so time for a new Sugar Bowl Challenge. This fortnights challenge is to pick your own sketch from the Sugar Bowl archives. There are so many gorgeous sketches that the hardest part will be choosing which one to follow.
Being a newcomer to the team,( I've only made 4 cards so far) I thought it would be nice to show a card I made for the challenge before I was on the team.

The one I've chosen is sketch 34 provided by the lovely Tiets, the option was to use punches.

I had to rotate it to accomodate the image. I had great fun with this sketch, it was one of the first challenges I'd entered.
The image is Manga Tiny Tiddler available Here, DP is BoBunny Jasmyne, the punches I've used are MS Arch Lattice and Valentine Lace, and the flower is a Woodware punch and a Nellie Snellen. The sentiment is from a Just Rite set.

The prize for one lucky winner is amazing! As the challenge is to pick your own sketch then the prize is to pick your own choice of 6 Sugar Nellie stamps plus a set of Letraset promarkers (rubberstamping set 1) OR the set of 12 aquamarkers. So that's 6 stamps and 1 set of pens!
As usual you will find all the details on the challenge blog and don't forget to visit all the sweeties.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Poppy Update

A most heartfelt THANK YOU to each and every one of you who left a comment yesterday. After reading your comments I realised that Poppys condition was not unusual at all. I wish the hospital had been as forthcoming with that information! I always said the best thing about blogging was all the lovely people I've met, and the friends I've made. Today I will add to that the generosity of you all for taking the time to leave a comment and pass on your knowledge so freely. By the time I'd read your comments my worries and fears had been put into perspective.
So todays news is Poppy had another scan and the valve has closed! How amazing is that? I think it must be the power of all those positive vibes! The hospital want to keep her in for monitoring for a few more days as sometimes when the valve does close it causes a decrease in blood flow to the lower organs, but things are looking much much brighter today.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, not just from me but from ALL of us.
I'll be back tomorrow with the Sugar Bowl Challenge.
Love Elaine xx

Chunky Monkey Update and a Card

Sorry I've been missing for a few days! Chunky Monkey was supposed to leave hospital last Friday, but when she was examined prior to being discharged they discovered a heart murmur. Apparently, when a baby is born there is a valve in the heart that closes. In the womb the valve is open as they don't breathe oxygen via their lungs but when born this valve closes and it hasn't done. So she had to stay in until Saturday. The consultant assured Jon & Sam that there was nothing to worry about but booked them an appointment at the children's hospital for Monday.
So yesterday following the appointment, she was admitted and has to stay in for constant monitoring. It can take up to 10 days for the valve to close and they want to keep her in until the 10 days are up. If it still hasn't closed she may need surgery. I was so upset last night, not only because of this but there was no where for them to stay at the hospital so they were told they had to go home, and they were heartbroken to have to leave her. Jon couldn't speak on the phone he was so upset.
But the hospital staff are all wonderful and she is being well look after.
So the good news is we have a name!

                                               Poppy Sophia
Thank you everyone for all your congratulations and good wishes.

Onto the card, I took a few photos and then sent the card without looking at how the photos turned out. That'll serve me right for not checking!

The colours of the DP are fine but that flower! It's a lovely delicate pale pink and matches the bazzill cardstock not the garish bright pink it looks in the photo. And it looks like all my papers are stuck on wonky!
Image is a High Hopes Meljen's Design from Bunny Zoes, DP is Kaiser Craft Wish Upon from Jill at The Hobby House, all the hearts have been thoroughly glossed, and the little pearls around the image have been made with a Viva Decor pen from Elaine at Quixotic Paperie.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

hAnglar Winner

The hanglar candy is now closed and my boy has done his job and picked a winner. I had to put the names in my paper bin as there were too many to fit in a jar this time.
A big Thank You to everyone that entered, and as always, I wish I had more of them to give out.

                           

Look at those bitten finger nails!!
Congratulations SusieLou. If you can email me with your address then I will pop them in the post.

As a bit of fun, I asked Hal to pick another name out of the bin, there are NO hanglars in this little candy, it's just a little goody bag, so Maria Therese, if you can email me with your address and I'll get your goody bag sent out to you.
Thank you again for entering, and thank you for all your lovely comments on Chunky Monkey and yes, she's still called that!
Love Elaine xx

Chunky Monkey hAnglar Candy

ETA Candy now closed.
Trying saying that one fast!
As promised, I'm back with the little hAnglar candy.

In honour of today being such a great day! My middle step-son Jon and his wife Samantha, have today brought into the world their much wanted and long awaited first child. Weighing in at a whopping 8lb 15oz is a healthy baby girl. We've been calling her Poppy for months, but today we're told they are still not sure of her name, so until then she's called Chunky Monkey.

This candy is open to my commentors and followers only. Please leave me a comment if you wish to enter.
I'm only running it for a few days, so it will end at 6pm BST on Sunday 25th July 2010.
I will post anywhere worldwide, but please be aware that I am not liable to pay any import duties/taxes which may have to be paid in other countries.
Thanks for looking.
Love Elaine xx

Chunky Monkey Baby Photo

Just a quickie. Thank you for all your lovely comments on Chunky Monkey.
This photo was taken when she was just a few minutes old, it's taken me all this time to get it to transfer from my mobile phone to my laptop!

I can't say who she looks like. Sam is so very pretty, but I've not seen any photos of her as a baby.
When I first met Jon, almost 20 years ago, he was the sweetest and most adorable 9 year old.
But when I saw his baby photos I didn't recognise him at all. He was the ugliest baby you've ever seen!
It was such an old and wizened face, like a 90 year old mans face on a babys body.
Phew! I'm sure glad she doesn't look like her Daddy!
Right, I'm off to see if I can manage to sort my blog design.
Love Elaine xx

Look at what I've got!!

Well I've no cards to show, simply not had any time again this weekend. But take a little look at what arrived in my post bag last week.

Actually, I got two of them! Bit strange that though, as I don't like them, yet I've bought 5 various sets off hAnglar so far! One set is all parcelled up with it's passport at the ready as it will be leaving home to move in with my sweet friend up in Scotland. Don't worry, I've sent them off with a little umbrella and some wellies too as I hear the weather has been bad recently.
So that leaves me with a spare set. I think I shall have to do another candy with them shortly, I just need to think how to do this one? Followers or commentors or open to anyone? I shall have to sleep on it!
I did also get a lovely collection of LOTV stamps, which I much prefer to hAnglars, I just need some time to play with them.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend, and that the weather is better than it's been here, flippin' rain, rain and more rain again!
Thanks for looking.
Love Elaine xx

Sugar Bowl Challenge 39

Morning folks. It's my favourite day of the fortnight and it's a Thursday so it must be time for the new Sugar Bowl Challenge. The sketch for challenge 39 has been provided by the very Sweet Lilian and the option is to use some BLUE. My first thought when I saw the sketch was 'brilliant Lilian' a nice and quite simple sketch but my first problem was that I don't actually have much blue paper. Shocking I know, but true!
 Hubby said it was totally unbelievable considering the amount of paper I do have. I know the option is just that, an option, but I really do prefer to include it if possible.
Then when I started to make the card I decided that I did not like the sketch (sorry Lilian, but please read on) because the layout covers a lot of the card and doesn't leave much room for my embellies.
But boy, when the card was finished I loved it and believe me, I never say I love one of my own cards.
No glitter, no flowers but the image is the real focal point, and I LOVE the sketch, Lilian you're a genius!

The fabulous prize for the very lucky winner is 4 new 'fun & fairytales' Manga stamps which are due for release very soon and a set of 12 new Letraset Aquamarkers. I can't wait to see the new Mangas!

The image is a Sweet Art Ebony stamp called Chick-a-dee available Here. I have to confess that this is the first time this little girl has been inked up, but I do so love the older Elizabeth Bell designs.
DP is Basic Grey Periphery and she's coloured with my usual DI's.
Apart from a few pearls that's it. I don't think I've ever made a card with so little embellies.
I look forward to hearing your views on this one!
Don't forget to visit all the Sweeties for some more inspiration and I hope you'll all join in with this challenge.
Before I go, I would like to tell you that Tiets has stepped down from her sweetie position just for a little while, and we are eagerly awaiting her return.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Waffle & A Birthday Card

There is a card below all this waffle, so please scroll down if you don't want to read my ramblings, otherwise make a brew first as it's gonna be a long one!
I thought I'd better post something today in case you all thought I was still wallowing in my own self pity and drowning in a sea of salty tears! Not so. Thank you everyone for all your comments, I know I'm not alone and reading some of the comments, there are a lot of you who work obscenely long hours. I think I was just overtired - still am overtired actually - and I needed a swift kick up the backside!

I have been experiencing some Blogger problems this past week, you know when you've visited someones blog and then you close it, and it opens again on it's own, then again and again etc? Well last week was a real nightmare, every blog I went on ,when I closed it would open again, but it was opening the same blog over and over again and so quickly that it crashed my laptop. That happened so many times that I just gave up in the end. I also had problems leaving comments, I kept getting an error message and error code, so please accept my apologies if I haven't left you a comment in the last few days.
And then over the weekend my laptop kept freezing, then turning itself off, so I've got my fingers crossed that it behaves tonight.
Lastly, before I get to the card, I went onto Craftwork Cards today to order my card blanks. I have always bought them from there and I love the quality of them. They used to be sold in 10's 25's 50's etc and I buy either 100 or 200 as the more you buy the better the price.Well now they only sell them in packs of 10 so to buy 100 will cost me £60, with my discount that's £54 but the last time I got 100 for £36. That's an £18 increase in price, a whopping 50% increase!! I was gobsmacked, so I emailed them and apparently they only sell them in 10's now. I was so miffed. I do love CWC and I've recommended them to anyone who's asked but 50% is a lot in my books. I think I shall have to have a little scout around for another supplier.
Right, onto the card, at long last I hear you cry!

One of our engineers asked if I'd make a card for his Mums birthday. At this point I usually cringe and politely decline. I hate making them when I don't know who I'm making the card for. But since Steve is such a lovely lad - I could quite happily adopt him as one of my own - then I couldn't say no.
Image is Whiff of Joy Melinda helping angel, DP is MME Quite Contrary, charm off Ebay. I had picked out some flowers to use on the front of the card, but by the time I'd got to this stage I didn't think it needed anything else.
I hope Steves Mum likes it!
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave, hope you've not nodded off with all my waffling!
Love Elaine xx

Meltdown!!

I think I'm in meltdown! I don't know whether I need to change my job or just get a cleaner. I really do like my job but working for an air conditioning company during the summer months is very stressful. We are so busy that I really don't know whether I'm on my head or my elbow. The days just pass in a blur. I know that I can't moan about it, in the economic climate we live in I should be very grateful to have a steady, reliable and certainly at the moment, a secure job. The downside is that I feel life is all work and bed and there's not much time left for anything else. I work all week, and rarely sit down at home before 9pm, then my weekends are spent catching up at home with the cleaning, washing, ironing, food shopping etc, like most women I suppose! But it leaves so little "me" time left. Am I being selfish?
I did manage to get 2 hours playtime last weekend, so I tried to make a card, but I was so darn tired and the card was horrendously awful that it went straight in the bin.
So I found an image I had coloured in months ago and made a really quick and simple card.

The image is a Bildmalarna stamp available from Bunny Zoes's Crafts ,DP is Cosmo Cricket Earth Love from the lovely Elaine at Quixotic Paperie, pearls and swirl from stash. The swirl is a lovely coppery colour and very shiny but my legendary photography skills have come in to play again!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Sugar Bowl Challenge 38

Ooooo it's my favourite day of the fortnight, time for a new Sugar Bowl Challenge! The sketch has been provided by Sweetie Judy and the optional theme is 'Scallops'. Fab sketch Judy, thank you very much and another sketch I loved playing with, although I had to rotate this one to accomodate my image. I've had this stamp for far too long without using it, and my poor little cheerleader was feeling very neglected.

The prize for the winner of this challenge is absolutely amazing, I so wish I could enter!
A purple Leanne Ellis Candy Box full of stamps, ribbons and other goodies and a 'Trinkets' bracelet!  I want one!

The image is a Home Grown Manga stamp called cheerleader available Here, the DP is Bo Bunny Jazmyne and she's coloured as always with DI's. Not much in the way of embellies on this card, only the pearls, but I didn't think it needed anything else.
All the details on how to enter can be found on the challenge blog, and please visit all the other sweeties, these girls ROCK, they are all so mega talented.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx