Sweet As Candy

Well I'm back.....almost!
My laptop is alive and well. Saint Phil has loaded the majority of my files back on it, he still needs to load the software for the printers, Microsoft Word and I-Tunes needs loading as a matter of urgency! I use my I-pod on a daily basis, I'm always plugged into to it when I'm in my craft room. Singing merrily (badly) away at full volume.
The only problem I've found so far, is that I can't get on about half of the blogs I follow. I've always used Internet Explorer simply because it's what I'm used to but I think I need to change browser.
Oh My Oh My, you know what happened last time I pressed a button. So I thought I'd better post this first!

Although I made this card weeks ago I couldn't post it at the time because I'd followed a Sugar Bowl sketch, the current sketch to be exact. I'd made my card for the challenge and loved the sketch and so made another card with it, so I had to wait until the current sketch was posted. Then I'd had the problems with my laptop.

The image is from the Home Grown Country Cousins range and called 'Sweet as Candy' available to buy HERE, the gorgeous DP is from Norway and a gift from the lovely Maria Therese (who's blog I also cannot get on!) *Thank you Sweetie, I love these papers* She's coloured with DI's. A few pearls, a bit of twine and 2 snowflakes that were a gift last year from Katy which I've been hoarding ever since.

A little question: Does anyone know a good place to buy Distress Re-inkers cheaply in the UK? I've got all the ink pads, but I now need to buy the re-inkers. I've seen them at roughly £4 each, but I need all 36 of them.
Right, I'm going to get off and TRY to change my browser. Wish me luck!

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

Saint Phil the Patient has Prevailed.....almost!

Thank you to all of you who asked if I'm still alive, or if there's a large "Elaine" size mound in the back garden. I'm still here and almost back in action.
My DH can have the patience of a saint. This trait is most evident when in the presence of small children and troublesome wives! This week has been a true test of his patience. The short version of the laptop story is that Phil ended up copying the files down to his hard drive and completely wiping all the data off my laptop.
At last my laptop is functioning and Phil just needs to re-load all the programmes and my files back onto it, which I hope he will do over the weekend.
Then I can get back to blogging and commenting and replying to all the emails sitting in my inbox!
I have still got my Simply Sassy candy to post, but the photos are......yes, on my laptop.
Thanks for looking and I'll be back with the candy.
Love Elaine xx

PEBCAK Fault

I'm frantically tapping away on hubby's work laptop whilst he's in the shower. Actually, he's probably trying to drown himself as I type! I thought I'd better explain my MIA status, and my total lack of blogging since last week.
My laptop is poorly. Very, very poorly. My husband is slowly losing patience with said laptop and wife!
"All I did".....that's how I started to explain to hubby what I'd done, he's rolling his eyes and praying for strength already, and I've not even got to the good bit! All I did was to click on the 'Download Now' button for the latest AVG anti-virus software. Now in my defense, I have done this before and it worked a treat. Not this time. My laptop is completely, utterly bug****d and won't do a blasted thing! This started on Friday night, so I've been 'puterless all weekend.
Saint Phil had to work over the weekend, then couldn't wait to come home to his adoring wife and her dead laptop. He's uninstalled AVG, tried re-installing, uninstalled, re-installed, you get the picture? He's restored the data to last Thursday before I even pressed that fatal button. He's restored to factory settings.
But the good news is we know what the fault is. Apparently it's fault code PEBCAK.
So if you're as dumb as me, which I seriously doubt that anyone could be, that means Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard, that would be me then huh?

There's been a lot of sighing, a fair bit of swearing, and a "If you touch one more bl***y button without my express written permission, I shall chop your chubby fingers off !" Charming, but in this instance justified.

The biggest problem I have is that all my photos and such are on......yep, my laptop.
Note to self : Remember to back up laptop to external hard drive. That is, after all, the reason you have one!

Saint Phil is working relentlessly to try and rectify the problem and repair the havoc I've caused. I will be back as soon as is possible.
If I shouldn't come back, please can someone call around to my house and check that Saint Phil hasn't buried me in the back garden?

My little blog will be 6 months old tomorrow, and I was thinking how I was starting to really get into the swing of things and feeling relatively confident HA! Serves me right I guess.
I'll be back.......

Love Elaine AKA The Technophobe and general trouble maker extraordinaire xx

Sugar Bowl Challenge ~ 46

The sketch for challenge 46 has been provided by the multi-talented Marlene and it's another fabulous sketch. The option, should you choose to follow it, is 'One for the Boys'.
Now I ALWAYS like to include the option.

So now you're thinking hmmmmm, it's a Christmas card, it's pink and sparkly, but is it 'One for the Boys'?
I can assure you it is! I've made this Christmas card for........my hairdresser Damian, and I can assure you that it's right up his street and he will love it! Maybe I'm pushing the boundaries here, but I do not like making men's/boys cards. I like pink and glitter and flowers!
This gorgeous image is from the Home Grown Country Cousins range and she's called Make a Wish, available to buy HERE. She's perfect not just for Christmas cards, I've got this little fairy earmarked for my nieces birthday too. DP's are Dream Street Wonderland, a Nellie Snellen punched flower, a few pearls and a charm. As always she's coloured with DI's.

Another fabulous prize is on offer for the lucky winner of this challenge, a set of Nestabilities dies and a pick 'n mix set of 6 Sugar Nellie stamps of the winners choosing.
All the details are available on the Sugar Bowl Blog, and please pop by the other sweeties blogs for some inspiration, and don't forget we have all the new Sweeties taking part now, I can't wait to see what they've all made!

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

Sugar Nellie Latest Release.

Good morning everyone and welcome to a little fun blog hop that the lovely Dena asked me if I'd like to take part in along with some of the other Sugar Nellie DT ladies.
Sarah sadly couldn't join in the little hop as she'd been whisked away by her husband for the weekend. Hope you had a fantastic time away Sarah and were thoroughly spoiled xx

We are going to showcase some stamps from the latest release from Sugar Nellie.

This little beauty is Goosey Gander from the Country Cousins range of Home Grown stamps, available to buy HERE.  Another very simple card from me, seems to be what I enjoy making the most. DP is MME I Believe range and she's coloured with Distress Inks.
Have a little hop by the rest of the DT and check out what these extremely talented ladies have made with their Sugar Nellie images.

* DENA *

* DONALDA *

* JUDY *

Thanks for stopping by this morning, and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Simply Sassy High School Student.

I'm back with my sixth Simply Sassy card. You can now purchase these little beauties HERE. I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with all these images and I still can't decide which one is my favourite.

I've kept it very simple using MME So Sophie DP, two flowers and a few pearls. She coloured with distress inks. Do you like her tinted 'Reactolite Rapide' glasses? Very clever huh? Ha! I coloured her eyes perfectly, then I wanted to make the glasses glossy like real glasses. I tend to get in such a mess with Glossy accents and the like, so I used a clear Sakura glaze pen and added a few layers to get some depth.
All looked fine until it had completely dried when I realised the glaze pen had mixed with the DI's making the whites of her eyes very creamy coloured Grrrrrrrr!

My hubby is now back from his travels along with all his dirty clothes, thank you darling! He's had the most wonderful time away and will definitely go back to the Isle of Skye. I've seen some of his photos and I must say that the scenery is breathtaking.

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

Simply Sassy Pillow Talk

I can now post the remainder of the cards I made with the gorgeous Simply Sassy stamps from Sugar Nellie. I can't decide which one I like the most. Today I will say it's this stamp, but every time I use a different image I change my mind.
I simply adore the eyes and their faces, such beautiful faces and they colour so nicely too.

I wanted to colour this little lady in softer shades to match with the papers. The stripey one reminded me of PJ's I used to have as a child. As always she's coloured with Distress Inks, the DP is Prima Jack and Jill, a few pearls and a........what?? Since I always use punched flowers I thought I'd try something different and use a butterfly instead. Bad idea Elaine!
Miss Sassy would be terrified if a butterfly that big was fluttering around her head. Even worse, because of my stupid placement of the butterfly in relation to her hand, it looks like the butterfly has just flown off her finger! Blimey, I'm dumb some days.
I can't wait to see all the amazing cards that everyone in blogland will make with these little beauties.
I believe Funky kits will be sending out the pre-orders soon. I did order a set myself, thought they'd make a nice little candy for someone.

On the husband front, he is somewhere unpronounceable, begins with the letter Q, but I can't for the life of me remember where. His view on the Isle of Skye is that a lifetime wouldn't be enough time to spend there.
I can see he's missing me badly - not! But after the ear hole bashing he got on Sunday he has phoned me at least once a day!

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

LOTV Wedding Card

I'm going to try and make this a quick post, I'm absolutely shattered and need to get my backside in bed.
The hubster left on Friday evening to spend a week in Scotland taking photographs with his buddy Ron.
Ron is actually a professional photographer and they met when Phil took a course tutored by Ron in April 2009 over in Murcia. Phil enjoyed it so much, that when Ron ran another course in October 09 Phil went on that one too. They've been good friends ever since. So when Ron phoned Phil and asked him if he fancied a trip to Scotland, the Isle of Skye to be exact, Phil jumped at the chance. And there's no charge either.
So the hubster left home on Friday at 5.00pm to drive up to just outside Glasgow to collect the motor home he'd hired for the week. Phil wasn't too excited about Ron's idea of sleeping in their cars! And the hubster said he'd call me on Saturday when he met up with Ron. Well I waited all day and all night. By midnight I was at throwing-up point, sick with worry. Phil's mobile was going straight to answer phone. My logical brain says he can't call home because he can't get a signal. My heart worries that something bad has happened.  I was up all Saturday night. Phil phoned home on Sunday afternoon when he managed to get a signal and of course he couldn't work out what the fuss was all about.
I was so tired on Sunday, but could I go to sleep? Not for the life of me, overtired I think?
Tonight I will be in bed before 11pm, come hell or high water!
I needed to make a wedding card, but I've only ever made one card before and I have no wedding images.
Looking thru my blog list I saw THIS beautiful card on Judy's blog. Ha! I've got that stamp, and the sentiment too and even the papers so I pinched Judy's idea to make my own wedding card - Thank you very much Judy for the inspiration and jogging my memory as to which stamps I actually do own.

Same image, same sentiment, same papers.....different layout. Unfortunately it looks rather washed out in my photo. I just need to give it to the happy couple who got married last Saturday! I delivered the gift just not the card tut tut.
I'm off to bed before I fall asleep on the settee again.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Sugar Bowl Challenge 45

Morning folks, I'm back again! That'll be three postings in three days! Don't worry, it won't last : )
The sketch for challenge 45 has been provided by the very talented Tiets and the option is 'Autumn'. This gave me a chance to use one of the designs from the autumn kit.

The beautiful image is available to buy HERE. If you don't already have this kit then now is a good time to buy as it's at a very special reduced price. I'm sorry to have chopped her off at the legs, but the stamp is quite a long one and I just couldn't fit the full image in with the sketch.
DP is Basic Grey Pyrus. Not really my sort of colours, but I felt they looked Autumnal. The flowery thing is my new Doo Hickey die, the jury's still out on whether I like these flowers or not!
She's coloured with DI's, a few pearls and that's it.

Another fabulous prize is up for grabs. One lucky winner will receive 2 sets of Marianne Design flower dies AND a set of 6 Simply Sassy stamps.

All the details for how to enter can be found on the Sugar Bowl Blog, and don't forget to visit the other Sweeties for some inspiration.
Congratulations again to all the new Sweeties who will be joining us on the next challenge. I can't wait to see what these talented ladies bring to this team.

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

Just When You Thought It Was Safe.....

.....to wander around blogland knowing that I wouldn't be lurking around a corner....and I'm back again! Since I've seen that Karen has posted this card over on the The Sugar Nellie blog then I thought I'd better pop it on here. This is the 4th one of my cards that Karen has shown, but I have to admit that I actually coloured this one last. Because of all the HAIR!!! When I'm buying stamps I really do check to see how much hair the image has, and if it's a lot - I don't buy.
But sometimes it's good to step outside your comfort zone and I think I'm getting over my hair phobia, so thank you Karen for making me push my boundaries.

This little beauty is called Artistic Goddess. As is usual for me I have coloured her with DI's. The DP is Basic Grey Wisteria. A Martha Stewart border punch, I chose this punch as she's painted little hearts at the end of her rainbow. You know I keep buying new border punches and in reality there's a favoured few that I always come back to whilst the rest hide in the bottom of a box.

Before I go: Carol you asked about the nestie I used on the previous post. It's code S5006 Mega Curved Rectangle, and it's huge! The largest die is approx 10cm x 15cm, with the smallest size being 4cm x 5.5cm.
Hope this helps Hun x

Right, I will be back in the morning with my Sugar Bowl card!
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Hey! Hey!

.........it must be a good day. I'm actually sat on my bum and it's only 9pm! Hubby is working away for a couple of days at a hydro-electric power station, so that cuts down on the cooking. Whilst I was doing the ironing tonight, Hal very kindly made his own tea, and I had a M&S ping meal, chicken and mushroom risotto, very nice too. So I'm typing really quickly then I can go a-blogging tonight and see what you've all been up to.

I haven't made any cards this week, but I made this one the last time I was off work on my jolly's, for a VERY old friend. Good job she doesn't read my blog else I'd get a good slap for calling her old!

Image is a Crafters Companion SWALK, sentiment was from Elzybells, DP is Memory Box Gossamer and she's coloured with the usual DI's.

I did make quite a few cards last week, three of which are the fab new Simply Sassy's from Sugar Nellie.

I have to admit, I nearly fainted when I saw these stamps, there's a LOT of hair on those gals, and I dread hair. I find it so difficult to colour! But I do so love these images, I think they are my favourite Sugar Nellie stamps so far, a little bit different from the other ranges. 

I'll be back on Thursday for the next Sugar Bowl challenge.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.

Love Elaine xx

Hals Birthday Blog Candy Winner

A big thank you to everyone who entered Hals 16th Birthday blog candy, and thank you for all your good wishes for him, and all your jokes, which certainly made ME laugh!
Hal has read each and every comment, and here is his blog post with the winners name:

Hello it's Hal here :D I'd like to start by thanking everyone who entered the candy and say that I love each and every one of your comments :) Picking a winner was a hard decision but only one comment could win and that special comment was posted by........................KIMMI :D ( Poppy Petal Designs ) her winning post was....

Kimmi said...



Hi Elaine.. Wow - amazing candy. How ever makes Hal laugh his socks off will be laughing all the way home with these goodies!
Happy Birthday Hal... I hope you have a brilliant day and even though your only 16, have a few drinks and go crazy. One night only pass I'm sure! (yeah right)...
I'm no good at jokes, but I wonder if you will like the following and know what I'm on about!
The REMNANTS of my memory following my time in the ASYLUM are hazy. I remember THE INFECTION and the WARRIOR fighting for ANOTHER WAY TO DIE. But NEVER AGAIN! THE ANIMAL within CRUCIFIED himself. That scaly SERPENTINE of mine, MY CHILD, my SACRIFICE!
Have a wicked time.


Kim
p.s. can I have some birthday cake - I LURVE cake! haha!

This comment really made me smile (the words in capital letters are the titles of the songs on the latest Disturbed album - Asylum) I thought it was very creative of her to make a sentence using said titles and I thought it worthy of this candys wonderful prize :). Finally I'd like to thank everyone who entered the candy and I'd like to thank my surrogate mother Gayle for my wonderful birthday presents and card :)


WELL DONE KIMMI !

good bye to all :)

Hal Livesey \m/___<[^^]>___\m/
 
Both myself and Hal couldn't work out at first how Kimmi had come up with this idea, but back in June when I did another candy and Hal picked the winner (this time it was Shirley) I posted this photo:
 

And Kimmi had made a comment on that post about his hat with the Disturbed logo.

Very clever Kimmi and congratulations!!
If you could please email me with your address then I can post the parcel out to you asap.
Thank you again to everybody who entered, much appreciated.
Love Elaine xx 

Hals Birthday Blog Candy ~hAnglars!

This Candy Has now Closed.
This post will stay at the top until the candy has ended, please scroll down for newer posts, thank you.
As promised, I'm back with a little blog candy in honour of my boys 16th birthday next week.
Also, between having no internet connection and having a very full work schedule, I haven't commented very much recently, which makes me feel very bad and sad. I appreciate everyone who pops by my blog and leaves a comment, and I like to do the same in return. So instead of the planned candy which was to be some hanglar stamps, I've added a few little extras as my way of saying "Thank you", I do appreciate all your lovely comments.

Candy comprises of:
1 x hAnglar and stAnglar limited edition kit.
2 x Tickled Pink stamps - Lil Lolita Willow and Ivy.
4 x Crafters Companion S.W.A.L.K stamps.
1 x Kaisercraft Christmas sentiments clear stamps set.
1 x EK Success border punch arch scallop.
1 x Memory Box Frond 6 x 6 pad - sadly discontinued but one of my favourites.
1 x Nestabilities Lacey Squares.
1 x Stickles Star Dust.

Rules of entry:
Candy is open worldwide, but please note that I will not be liable for any duties/tax that some countries charge, I will mark the parcel as a gift.
In order to enter you must be a follower. The only exception to that rule is for those who don't have a blog but who regularly leave comments, they can still enter.
You can post my candy on your blog if you wish but it's not necessary in order to enter.
Candy will run until Sunday 3rd October 2010 and end at 9pm BST.
After which, my boy will pick the winner.
In order to enter please leave a comment after this post.
The boy wants to read all the comments and pick the winner himself, so I suggest making him laugh  (No bribes allowed!) or just wish him a Happy Birthday.
Since he doesn't know any of you, then there's no favouritism, he'll just pick his fave comment.
(Gayle is not allowed to enter, she's Hals surrogate Mum and therefore has the advantage.)
Thanks for looking and good luck.
Love Elaine xx

Waffle!

I thought I'd better post something just in case you all thought I'd disappeared! The week has just whizzed by, and I've not had a chance to go on blogger. Sadly, I've not been having a fun time living it up, not making cards either, just work, work and work.

Thank you to everyone who has entered the boys birthday candy, and taken the time to wish him a happy birthday, it's very kind of you all. I have enjoyed reading your comments, and had a good belly laugh at some of them! I'm very glad that Hal will pick the winner and not me, for I couldn't choose.
His birthday is tomorrow - Saturday - and we have a full day planned out. After the initial gift opening ceremony we are going to Bolton to spend the day with his Grandparents, my Mum and Dad.
In the evening we are going out for a meal with his other Nana, his godparents Auntie Tracy and Uncle Tony and their children, and his Uncle Jeff. We don't see much of Jeff as he lives in South Africa, but he's flown in today to spend a week over here visiting family and friends, so it'll be nice to catch up.
My Sunday will be spent catching up on the cleaning/ironing etc, and once the candy has closed at 9pm Hal will sit down and read all the comments ready to pick his favourite. He even wants to write the post himself but I will proof read it before posting!

My congratulations go out to all the new Sweeties for the Sugar Bowl. I didn't envy Gayle's task of picking the competition winners. There were so many beautiful entries that it must've been so hard to pick just 5. But Gayle has done a fab job, as always, and we now have Ali, Erika, Maria Therese, Kiki and Pat added to our happy little family (I will pop the links to their blogs under my Sweetie banner shortly)

Right, I'm off to bed because I will bet my bottom dollar that someone will be up early in the morning. He might be 16 tomorrow but he still gets excited about his birthday.
Have a fab weekend everyone.
Love Elaine xx