Sugar Bowl Challenge ~ 52

It's my favourite day of the fortnight and time for the next Sugar Bowl Challenge. The sketch for this challenge has been provided by the very sweet Maria Therese and the option is 'Love'. This sketch had me scratching my head and pulling my hair out for days! I had the image coloured and the majority of the card made, but there was just one little bit that I could not get right no matter what I tried. I'm sorry Maria, it wasn't your sketch at all, it was me being....well me!
And a wonky photo too, but I am rather good at taking wonky photos!

This gorgeous image is called Elise. She's another of my favourites that I keep on coming back to, from the Home Grown Country Cousins range, available to purchase HERE. She's been coloured with the usual DI's, and I've dotted glamour dust on her dress to look like sequins, possibly? The papers are another favourite that I keep on coming back to, Ella Blue. A few pearls and 2 little pearly heart embellies from Jill at The Hobby House.

It was the wingy thingy's that had me stumped! So I'll apologise now as I'm not really sure that I totally followed the sketch?
The Sugar Bowl always offers the best prizes and for the lucky winners of this sketch for there will be TWO prizes, with TWO lucky people winning their choice of 6 Sugar Nellie stamps! Who can resist a bit of pick'n'mix eh?
All the details can be found on the Sugar Bowl Blog as well as plenty of inspiration from the other sweeties.

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

Sugar Bowl Challenge ~ 51.

I had taken a little break from the Sugar Bowl over Christmas, but now I'm very glad to be back in action!

The sketch for challenge 51 has been provided by the lovely Kiki and the option is a nice and easy one - Birthday.

I needed to make a birthday card for a very special little girl who celebrated her 5th birthday yesterday and I hope she liked it. My regular readers will know that I tend to keep my cards pretty simple, but I think this one is a little TOO simple. 

Out came my favourite Christmas stamp of 2010 called Make a Wish, available to buy HERE. I always said that although perfect for Christmas I knew I would also use her for birthdays too. She's coloured with the usual DI's, the papers are Pink Paislee and the sentiment is a LOTV and there's nothing else except a few pearls!

The prize for the winner of this challenge is........A Mystery Prize! And because the prize is from Sugar Nellie I can guarantee that it will be fabulous, as always!

All the details can be found on the Sugar Bowl Blog as well as lots of inspiration from the other Sweeties.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.

Love Elaine xxx

Sugar Nellie Country Cousins

I made this card a couple of weeks ago and I've only just realised that I haven't yet posted it on my blog.
It is of course a Sugar Nellie stamp, from the Home Grown Country Cousins range and she's available to buy HERE and she's called Outdoor Adventures.

She's coloured with the usual DI's, the papers are Dream Street, a Doo Hickey swirl and a couple of flowers.
Very simples.
I know this is very short by my usual standards but I'm off to bed now. I'm still full of this horrible snotty cold and I don't feel at all well. I think this blasted cold has got squatters rights!
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

Sugar Bowl Challenge ~ 48

It's Thursday and time for the new Sugar Bowl Challenge. This sketch has been done by the gorgeous Sweetie Marlene. It's a beautiful sketch and I really haven't done it justice. The theme for this one is black, white and one other colour, so a nice and easy option too.

I've gone for the additional colour of mint green, but no matter how many photographs I took, and I took a lot of them, the papers still look blue and really washed out. I have to say that the card looks considerably better in real life. I don't know whether it's because by the time I get home from work I'm taking photos when it's dark? I also tried out a different range of inks, like the Tim Holtz re-inkers but a different manufacturer, and I found them much more difficult to blend.
Anyhow, this lovely image is from the Home Grown Country Cousins range and is called Going Places, available to buy HERE. DP is Memory box, punched flowers, a butterfly and a bit of cord.

I rotated the sketch as my image was vertical and not horizontal.

The prize for the winner of this challenge is a set of Spellbinders classic scalloped Square Nesties AND a sheet of Leanne Ellis 'Alice in Wonderland' stamps. These are as yet unreleased!!!
All the details can be found on the Sugar Bowl Blog and there's always lots of inspiration to be found on all the other Sweeties blogs.

Thank you for all your advice with the linky thing, it's much appreciated. I'll try and get the next candy on tonight if I've time, but failing that it will be the weekend as I'm out all day tomorrow.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.
Love Elaine xx

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

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