I didn't get round to making my Christmas cards today as the weather was just too lovely to even be thinking about it1

Instead I have entered a draw for Bev's Blog Candy (along with over 400 other people! lol) - she has lots of fantastic ideas and lots of links to other fab things, why not go and have a look?!

http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/

I can't believe it...

my 'chocolate and caramel' cake card has won a prize! And even more exciting is that the goodies I have won are going to come all the way from America! I think I need to go and find myself some more challenges to enter now!

The latest card in my collection (which is being given to a friend for her birthday as she has just got married 2 weeks ago) was made for a challenge, following a sketch. More information can be found here ~ http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/08/week-70-sketch-by-dawny.html on the Just Magnolia blog. I LOVE Tilda stamps and this challenge made me go and get out one of my new stamps that I haven't used yet. I'm really pleased with the result and have used colours I don't often use in my cards. The reason I have used these papers is because they are similar to the colour of bridesmaid dresses they had at the wedding.




Tilda With Flower is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, her hair and skin are coloured with Copics, the rose and trim on the dress are coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, I have added Aqua Stickles to the middle of the flowers on the paper (which is Wild Rose Studios Spring Fling), the flowers are Prima paper flowers, the ribbon is from a piece I bought at Hobbycraft and the sentiment has been placed onto the smallest of my petite ovals dies (I think that's what they're called, without going to check!!)

Oldie But A Goodie Challenge Blog

I have just come across this blog and given that over on the MAC forum we regularly have comments about stamps that have been sitting in drawers/boxes/on shelves unused and unloved I thought this might be a good challenge blog to follow!

http://oldiebutagoodiechallenge.blogspot.com/

Hopefully some of you will join me as followers over there!


And given our recent obsession with Lili of the Valley stamps, I thought this might be useful too:
http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

Ooooh, how exciting... I have just received my first ever award and hopefully I've added it here! Thank you SO much to Andria at http://iona-rose.blogspot.com/



There are a few rules to go with this award so here goes...

1) Thank the person who gave you this award ~ THANK YOU Andria, I'm amazed you've given it to me, I know I need to keep my blog up-to-date more often and promise I will try hard!!
2) Place the award on your blog ~ Done.
3) List three things you love about yourself ~ I have a fantastic husband, I have lots of friends and I am going to be a mummy in January (that's the thing I love most!!)
4) Post a picture you love ~ this one is easy, I just have to figure out how to get it on here!

The very first time we saw our baby at our 12 week scan on 14th June 2010. We are now 21 weeks and 3 days - 18 weeks and 4 days to our due date!

5) Pass this award onto 5 other people ~
This is also a bit tricky because I don't have many followers and I don't follow a lot of blogs. One of the ones I do follow is Andria's (where the award came from!) and 2 of the others were given the award BY Andria so I'm a bit stuck with this one!
Anyway, here goes...
1. Gemma at http://makedoandgem.blogspot.com/ - I can't remember how I why I ended up following her blog (as is usually the case with me!!) or she mine but never mind!
2. Sandra at http://stamperontheshore.blogspot.com/ - again not sure how she ended up being a follower of my blog but she is!
3. Lisa http://crafty-moments.blogspot.com/who I recently bought some stash from through the DoCrafts forum (even though I'm not supposed to be spending money any more!!)
4. Emma http://emmalouisecards.blogspot.com/who I also bought goodies from via the DoCrafts forum!
and 5. Sarah and who was one of the regulars at our crop here in Chirk until the shop closed. Fingers crossed we will be restarting at Froncysyllte Community Centre in September or October! http://craftamongthelandrovers.blogspot.com/

In the last week or so since my last post I have made a couple of cards - 18th birthday, wedding and birthday, which I will add here later. In the meantime here is a card I started earlier this week and wasn't quite sure what to do with to make it better. A friend of mine is hosting a challenge on scrappers delight http://scrapersdelight.blogspot.com/2010/08/sweet-as-candy.html and this card fits what they're looking for so I'm going to try and link it (this could take a while!!) Anyway, here it is...



It fits the challenge on both counts
1) it features cakes in both the paper and the topper
2) it is made using stash in chocolate and caramel colours

The cupcakes paper is from a Dovecrafts stack; the ribbon is Anita's spotted ribbon in Cream; the embossed paper is Black Magic Coredinations run through my new Sizzix Texture Boutique (I HAD to get it - it was only£17 in the QVC shop and I find I only really use my Big Shot for die cutting, particularly Nesties! and not for embossing, have done more embossing in the 2 weeks since I bought it than I've done all year I think!!) and sanded, with glitter glue added randomly to some of the dots; the cake itself is from a cardmaking kit my mum bought me a few years ago and the brad is from my general stash!

It's something a bit different to my usual cards so perhaps that's why I'm not so sure about it!

Following my posts on Facebook last week and this, I have had 2 orders for A5 size cards - one for my cousin's little boy to give to his nursery when he leaves to go to 'big school' and the other for an old schoolfriend's little boy's birthday...


I have entered this card in 2 blog challenges, my next challenge is to figure out how to link to those challenge pages, here goes with the first one:
and http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/

A long long time ago

I started my blog... I knew I wouldn't keep it completely up to date but hoped I would manage to update it once a week or so. As you can tell from the date of the last post I really did fail at that! Since the last post on here I have found out I am pregnant, baby Rowlands is due on 2nd January 2011 and we have been very busy getting things organised ready for him / her!

As I am now not working, I am hoping to increase my card sales so I will be making a more concentrated effort to keep my blog up to date in order to show off my cards! If you would like to order any bespoke cards, please email me - tali1981uk@hotmail.co.uk

As well as making my cards, I am still going to be babysitting for as long as I can manage up to Christmas, and when I am ready after the baby is born. The same contact details above can be used for babysitting enquiries!