Bailey Christmas

Bailey Christmas is this weeks digi image over at Hambo Stamps this week and is free if you played the Hambo Hoedown last week, if not then you can purchase it here. If you want to play in the hoedown and get in the loop for free digi images every week but dont have a hambo image then you can get a freebie image here. I decided to make a tag with the Bailey Christmas image, I wrapped my present with some paw print paper, made the tag by printing Bailey, then decoupaging his bone, colored it in with promarkers,  then stuck it on a spellbinders scallopped circle die cut, I added a ribbon and some swirly stringy stuff,  put the sentiment that comes with the image onto a dog bone stamp that I already have. Bailey is Monica's dog (Monica is the owner of Hambo Stamps) he is such a cutie.

WT405 "What's all the fuss about" Challenge

I am entering this easel card (surprise surprise) in this weeks SCS challenge " WT405 What's all the fuss about " it is Ravengirls challenge for us to make a card or project with some form of fussy cutting on it, well I wish I had known that last week, I would have put my 'Pig Tangle' card up for it, boy! the fussy cutting I did on that card was waaaaaay over the top, but I set to work on another card I had in mind using Skater Girl, a rubber stamp made by Hambo Stamps and can be found here. I have made this card for my two gorgeous little Step- Grandaughters aged 8 and 10, who have recently been involved in an ice skating Christmas production.

Pig Tangle

At the Hambo Hoedown this weeks image is Pig Tangle, a digi image by Hambo Stamps, it is free if you entered last weeks hoedown, but if not, then you can purchase it here. The challenge is to make an easel card!!!!! well.... these are my favorite cards to do, but, Oh the pressure when you HAVE to make one, hee hee. I must admit that I did far too much fussy cutting on this card, around the pig image with all the lights wrapped round him, then on the tree lights, phewwww, but I have realised that I find a serenity while I am cutting things out.

Be sure to hop over to Hambo Stamps,  new stamping supplies have just been added to the store, wobble springs, talking tags and inks OH MY!!!  (plus lots more)

Team Squeal changeover

Afteer working with Hambostamps rubber stamps for two months, it is team squeals turn (that's me, Jan and Carolyn)  to change over to the digi team.....and as it is Wednesday it is Hambo Hoedown time!!!! YeeeeeHaaaaaa, The image is "Southwest" and can be found here The challenge for this week is to make a masculine card. I have to admit that when I saw the image nothing came to mind as to what to do with it, I was wracking my brain as I took the hour long drive to my dance lesson, I just couldn't wait to get back home and start playing with it and hopefully get some inspiration from somewhere, so as soon as I got in, I started to color the image, Im not the worlds best at coloring in, so I used my Derwent fine art pencils as I didn't really want any harsh lines and I thought I could blend it slightly with the thinner I have (similar to your gamsol magic I think), anyway as I was coloring the sky, I glanced to the side of me and noticed a card with an oval apperture in one of my MANY boxes of stash, that's when I had a flash of genius to make a diorama card with my southwest image, I love dimension on cards and always have a problem with one layer cards, I just love them when other people do them but I cant seem to manage it somehow, anyway, I printed the image twice again, each one slightly bigger, colored them in, making the nearest image bolder than the muted background image, pulled the card stock to pieces and made a concertina side to give the dimension, and the ability to close flat, stuck the original image to the back of the card and cut the other two out putting one layer in the middle and one to the front, I had the sentiment stamp from working on the rubber team, the whole of the rubber stamp says "you rock my world" and can be found here on the Hambostamps website, I just masked it so that it reads "you rock!" quite fitting I think.

 

I do hope you will join us at the Hoedown this week, remember that you must use Hambo images to play along but there are some freebies here if you dont have any, if you play along this week you will be sent next weeks image for FREE... Howzat!!!

Hambo Hammock Pig

Well.... this is the final week for me, Jan and Carolyn of team squeal to be working on the rubber stamps design team at Hambo Stamps, next week we start on their digi image design team. I have loved my time working with Hambo's rubber stamps, after trying and trying for ages to be able to get a crisp outline, and never quite managing it, I almost gave up on rubber stamps, finding them frustrating, (and I have OCD on wasting any paper) but truly, Hambo stamps have restored my faith, perfect images every time, I love them. So here is my last card before I switch over to the digi team.....I have used Hammock Pig - 3417 which can be found here, and Stay Cool - 1516 sentiment which can be found here.

WHEE......1st Christmas Card

Well.... I can't procrastinate any longer, with four weeks to Christmas I think it's about time to think about making my Christmas cards, so I started with the Skater Girl - 4311 and Whee Wish You - 4718 both of these rubber stamps are from the fabulous Hambo Stamps  and can be found here on their website. I made a concertina style card base, stamped and colored the cute skater girl with promarkers then cut her out, then added fine glitter to her dress. The diecut snowflake border is the frostyville border by Memory Box and I added a few layered up Martha Stewart snowflakes, I wanted to give the illusion that the skater girl  is doing a jump so I placed her higher up on the card. I love it and in real life it is so much more bling.

Sty-lish

I have to admit that I got the idea of using this lil inkers bow as a dickie bow tie from a card I saw made by the fabulous Debby Hughes of Limedoodle, and I thought it would be so fitting for the gorgeously cute Cool Pig - 1909 rubber stamp image and Sty-lish - 1922 sentiment, both from Hambo Stamps, which can be found here. I added some gems for buttons and Voila!  Isn't that pig just adorable!!

TLC403 Folded Tree

This week at SCS the Mondays Try A New Technique Challenge is all about making a folded tree out of a half circle of paper, if you use double sided paper you get to see both sides, so easy and yet very effective. the Skater Girl and the "Whee...wish you" sentiment are both  Hambo Stamps rubber images and can be found here.

MOM you rock my world

Well... I have still been playing around with Hambo Stamps rubber image called Globe - 2917 which can be found here. I cut out the world globe and positioned it between two Dienamics die cut M by the letters die cuts. I finished it off with the Rock My World - 2910 sentiment which can be found here.

Happy Birthday Tim

 

This week the design team at Hambo Stamps have secretly been making cards for Tim, the owner, even his wife Monica was kept out of the loop, so it will be a surprise for her too. As I am on the rubber team for the first two months I haven't used the assigned digi image for this week but instead have used the rubber stamp Cool Pig - 1909  and the Stay Cool - 1516  sentiment. I know it looks like the pig is standing on a tin of paint but it is suppopsed to be an ice cube, hee hee!!. so Tim, I hope you have a very happy birthday, lots of hogs and kisses from me.

I am also entering this card in:
Anything goes challenge (anything goes)
loves rubberstamps challenge (anything goes)
lexis creations (special birthdays)

Mower Love

Well.... here is another card made with the adorable lawn mower and mower love sentiment, both from Hambo Stamps. I just cant stop playing with this image, as yo can see, it is good for a valentines card, the mower can be used for a masculine birthday, gardener, fathers day, fabulous!!! The image Lawn Mower - 0711 can be found here, and the Mower Love - 0710 can be found here.







I just have to share a bit of news with you, and a chance to brag a bit!!!  I entered the IDTA Nationwide Medalist Competition in Blackpool at the Winter Gardens this week, it is an annual event, you are put in a category of age and not ability, my age group is 35 to 49 years, which means I am usually competing against dancers who have been doing it for 30 to 40 years, not easy when you have only been dancing for 4 years, anyway I got a recall.... then got into the quarter finals....then the semi finals......THEN THE FINAL!!!!!! Yippeeeee my first trophy.

Rock My World

As I was trying to think of some different way to use this globe stamp and "you rock my world" sentiment, both from Hambo Stamps, apart from the obvious stamp and color, I remembered a tutorial at Splitcoaststampers a few months ago where you folded a few of the same shape, then stuck them together back to back to create in effect a bauble shape, and so I thought it would be perfect for this, I know it is pretty CAS compared to my usual cards but that is how I swing sometimes, I love CAS for its simplicity, even though I find it extremely hard to do, and I also love my other type of card that is waaaaay over the top. The stamps are Globe 2917 found here, and Rock my world 2910 found here.  Hambo Stamps are having a huge HOGTOBERFEST SALE where you can get their wonderful stamps, For one week - Thurs. Oct. 25 thru Wed. Oct. 31 - ALL stamps will be discounted 30%.Digi stamps are included in this sale with the special code "hogtober12" AND they are taking an additional 30% off the sale prices on their retiring stamps too!  Rush on over to Hambo Stamps and grab yourself  a definite bargain, their rubber stamps are an absolute dream to work with, deeply etched to give a real crisp image every single time.

SCS FS298 challenge

This weeks featured stamper at Splitcoaststampers is Marcie, aka Disaster. The challenge is to CASE one of Marcies cards, I chose her Ohhhhh Baby card, I changed the ribbon for a grass die cut, I stamped the sentiment, which is from Hambo Stamps  called Mower Love 0710 but I masked out the last word, then used it as my main focal point in big letters, then I  added the cute little mower also from Hambo Stamps, entitled Lawn Mower 0711

A Little Mower

How cute is this little " Lawn Mower" !!!!! I love him, he is from Hambo Stamps and can be found here , and the "Mower Love" sentiment can be found here. I had to stop myself from doing yet another easel card, but I find it hard to do just the normal square or rectangular cards so I opted for this circular shape instead. the grass is from a scrap pieced of felt and the sun is a lil inkers die.

Monster Mash "working in the lab"

Over at Splitcoaststampers, Judy Rozema is hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness "Hope You Can Cling To" challenge, which is to share creations inspired by the "Monster Mash"...... well, the first line of the monster mash song  is "I was working in the lab late one night" (and I should know!!! I used to play the song, on vinyl then!!!! when I was a young girl, it was my mums, along with Dion Warwick, Elvis, and Max Bygraves "Im a pink toothbrush" ooooohhhhh I loved them all, lol, so I decided to use my newly acquired stamps from the wonderful Hambo Stamps, using Witch's Brew, that I colored with promarkers, Spooky Day, which I stamped on the little book of spells I made from the Spellbinders labels 7 die, Spider Web, that I stamped all around the frame,  and Spider. I had the most fun time making the witches broom from a paper clip, pva glue and ink, I got the instructions from magic boxes.com, I finished the card off with some angelina fibres to give it that eerie feel.

Hambo Halloween Card

Well, this is the very first Halloween card I have ever made, I am a bit arachnophobic but just couldn't resist the creepy but cute spiders and the wonderful web from Hambo Stamps, I had started leaning more towards digi stamps because of my lack of skill to get a clean image with rubber, but boy oh boy, Hambo's rubber stamps give such a crisp image, they are fabulous quality and great to work with. I stamped and embossed the SPIDER WEB several times with holographic embossing powder and cut them out, arranging them around the inner oval of my new spellbinder dies, I then stamped the SPIDER a few times, added glossy accents then fussy cut them and arranged them on my card. My other love is distressing paper so I had so much fun ageing the base of this card.

New Hambo Stamps Design Team Member... ME!!!!

Well... today I can finally reveal that I am the new member on the design team for Hambo Stamps....I am SOOOOOO excited I could burst. I have been joining in the Hambo Challenges each week now for a few months and thoroughly enjoying them, the added bonus is that if you participate, you get the next weeks digi FREEEEE!!!! how great is that!  anyway I was so surprised when they asked me to be on the team, I feel honored, so thank you to Monica and Tim of Hambo Stamps for this opportunity, I am ready for the challenge...... Speaking of challenges, here is my debut card for this week, the digi image is "Bailey Devil" and the challenge is to use glitter and sparkle on your project. As my most favorite card to do is the easel card, i thought I would start with one of those, (I'm sure you will be seeing many more) the easel mechanism on this card is actually a spellbinders heart shape but I have slid the bottom part under the top layer of the base so that you cant see it, I then stuck my images onto the heart shape and used the cute little skulls as a stopper, I love it and would love to know what you think.

Hambohoedown84 harvest bunny

OMGEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I can hardly believe it, my Hambo Stamps  Broadway Bound Blog Hop Challenge card WON!!!!!! I absolutely loved participating and I thoroughly enjoyed blog hopping, seeing other peoples creations fills me with awe as I am reminded that we all think in very different ways, it is wonderful.                                                                                                                                     Now on to this weeks Hambo hoedown challenge, this week is a sketch challenge using this cute "Harvest bunny" digi image, given free if you entered last weeks hoedown challenge. This was a fun card to make, I have seen cards done using the pumpkin design as a shaped card, so I did a smaller version to use it as my topper, I love how the stamped leaf turned out, and I made it more autumnal by coloring it in with promarkers metallic pens.

Broadway Bound "THE SOUND OF MUSIC"

Welcome to "Broadway Bound!" a blog hop sponsored by Hambo Stamps!  Today Hambo customers and the Bacon Bits Design Team are bringing you fun creations that depict Broadway show titles! If you arrived here from Jen http://jetstudio.blogspot.com/ you are in the right place! If not, you might want to start back at the beginning at the Hambo blog to make sure you are eligible for the hopper prize! there will be a prize for one random hopper who comments on all of the blogs along the way, and a prize for one participant. The winners will be announced on the Hambo company blog, Talk to the Ham, on Tuesday, September 25th, the deadline for prize entry comments is Sunday, September 23 at 5 PM CST.

Here is the order for the hop

Talk to the Ham - Hambo blog http://hambostamps.blogspot.com/

Mary www.mystampinhide-away.blogspot.com

Lyn http://mypurplehouse.wordpress.com/

Carolina http://cardolinascrapolina.blogspot.com/

Kaylee www.104cards.blogspot.com/

Deborah http://beadnstampn.blogspot.com

Sarah http://sarahvaitstamps.blogspot.com/

Dawn http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com/

Sherry www.bitsofcheer.blogspot.com

Jan http://www.jans-gonestampin.blogspot.com/

Libby http://stampinlibby.blogspot.com/

Jen http://jetstudio.blogspot.com/

Jane http://janeelizabethssworld.blogspot.co.uk/  You are here

Kecia http://stampingdeets.blogspot.com/

Melissa http://melissascreations.blogspot.com/

Kris http://purplenightowl.blogspot.com/

Deanne http://littlebitopaper.blogspot.ca/

Paula http://heyheypaula-heyheypaula.blogspot.com/

Loll http://www.stampingwithloll.com/

Judy http://jarfullofjoy.blogspot.com/



The theme for my card was so easy to think about for a couple of reasons, firstly, The sound of music, which was filmed in the year I was born,1965, is absolutely my favorite musical, I have it on DVD, and still watch it on telly when it is on every Christmas, I never tire of watching it, especially the part where Maria and the Captain dance the Laendler, and they look into each others eyes (ooooohhh Im going all shivery), Secondly, the fabulously cute NUN image I have used which can be found here was the image I used for my very first challenge ever which was way back in June, I didnt even have my own blog then, (but got this pretty much after) ......So here is my card...I know!!!!! it is way too fussy, but once I started I just couldnt stop, I knew in my head I wanted to do something with the theatre dressing room mirror idea, I started by sticking some spellbinder stars to red card, then just got carried away.The words say " climb every mountain til you find your dream, so it could be useful as an inspirational kinda card.  Anyway I hope you like it.
Now hop over to Kecia http://stampingdeets.blogspot.com/ to see another great Broadway show! 

Hambohoedown83 bird balloon

The challenge over at Hambo Stamps this week was to use the "bird balloon" digi image (given for free if you played the last hoedown challenge) and incorporate chevrons, I like how this card turned out, the image is cute and the card is not too fussy.

Hambohoedown82 panda gift

This is my entry for the hoedown over at Hambo Stamps, the digi image is "Panda gift", and is free if you entered the last hoedown challenge, this week the challenge is anything goes, well!! you would think it is so easy when you can do anything you want, but my brain goes into meltdown if I have no restrictions, is anybody else like that or is it just ME?!!!! I was originally gonna keep the card just black and white, staying with the panda theme, but it just looked way too boring so to cheer it up I added some die cut flowers, the fabulous small bow die from lil inkers is so adorable

Paper Smooches Bee Happy

This week over at the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge we are inspired by these sketches. As soon as I saw it I saw a pencil, but as one of the design team had already thought of that (and I hate it to seem like I am copying) I came up with this idea, The little bee is one of several digi images you can download for free, yaaay. The gem in the centre of the flower is from my dance dress, (I do classical sequence competitions) and am in the middle of taking some gems off, but making a hash of it GULP!! my dance teacher will go crazy, but on the plus side, I have lots of aurora borealis gems for my cards now, lol.

Paper Smooches OWH

Paper Smooches is doing a sketch challenge to celebrate Operation Write Home's Birthday, here is the sketch and the card. I thought that as it is for the troops I would take the inspiration from the flag, so I did the cute little professor from the smarty pants set holding a flag,  I also paper pieced his tie to make that patriotic too, cuuute, even if I say so myself. By participating in this challenge, the paper smooches set Circle Of Honor could be up for grabs, soooo gonna keep my fingers crossed.

CAS-ual Fridays CFC69 embossing

Boy oh boy!! I have so many embossing folders that I bought when I first started cardmaking, and as I have progressed I have forgotten all about them, so when this weeks CAS-ual Fridays challenge was to create a project using embossing, either dry, heat, or both, I suddenly remembered that they were tucked away in one of my very many drawers, so I dug them out and made this card. The white card and the dry embossing is actually very crisp but as usual I dont take very good photographs... sigh.

Hambohoedown81

I just love the new digi image from hambo stamps this week, mouse painter is soooo cute, and the challenge word was SPLATTER, well, thats not too hard when an image of a painter is involved, so I splattered red paint all over the little mouse and over the sentiment, added glossy accents to it to look wet, and of course, did my favorite of cards, the easel, voila!!!.

Paper Smooches trend watch challenge

At Paper Smooches this week it is a trend watch challenge, and the subject is "retro fab", Well I love anything from the 1970s era so I decided to stamp a few shirts from the squeaky clean set onto bold 70s looking patterned paper. love it.

Hambohoedown80

Yaaaaay!!!!! how fantastic, I won best in show for last weeks Hambohoedown challenge with my lighthouse card, I am really addicted to these challenges, when you win it gives you such a high,  and Hambo Stamps give you an incentive by giving you the next digi image for free if you participate in their challenges. This week its all about Wee Henry Karate image and the challenge is to use torn paper on your project, the image made me smile because my partner is a 5th Dan in Karate and he has just about as much hair as Wee Henry LOL.

PS picture perfect challenge

This week over at Paper Smooches it is a picture perfect challenge, this is the photo for the inspiration, I looked through my DP and saw this paper that kinda reminds me of the colors in the sofa. I stamped the hexagons from the geographic set onto my card, then onto my paper and then cut the hexagons out individually adding a couple of red ones on the top and bottom sections, then added the cute vaccuum from the squeaky clean set.

Another Hambohoedown79 card

I have still been playing with the woodgrain card that I used for my last  Hambo Stamps lighthouse challenge and I came up with this little creation, I cut out the frame with spellbinders dies, cut the corners, inked round the edges and then put it back together. I coloured the lighthouse with derwent pencils and then used a bit of thinner (I think it is like your gamsol magic in america) to soften the pencil line.

Paper Smooches Cool Shades Challenge

WOW I am absolutely on cloud nine, and feel proud as a peacock, because my peacock feather card was ShowCASed on the Less Is More fur and Feather challenge, I feel so humbled after being chosen from the huge amount of entries on these challenges and always totally admire other peoples creations on these sites. Over at Paper Smooches it is a cool shades challenge, paper smooches stamps have a way of making your cards look really cool, clean and simple, I just love them.

HamboHoedown79

O.M.Geeeeee yesterday I won last weeks hambo Stamps snake challenge, Yayyyyyyyy, what a lovely birthday surprise for me. This weeks Hambo Stamps challenge is to use the lighthouse image, or any other hambo stamps image and create a project that features woodgrain. Well I have got some woodgrain card that I have never used and would suit this challenge, so I used the cute boat and sailor image along with the lighthouse, I paper pieced his little boat with the woodgrain card and made a circle frame with it also, inking the edges up with some brown ink to fetch out the raised grain effect in the card.

I Dig You

It always amazes me how sometimes an idea for a card comes in a flash and at other times it hurts my brain, CAS cards usually do the latter to me!!!!!  This weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to create a project featuring something you might see in or at the ocean. I thought of the usual, fish, octopus, etc, but then I remembered I have this cute little spade image from Whimsie Doodles, I added a bit of sand (yes the real thing all the way from Spain), I added the clouds, took them off, added them, took them off, added, off, added, off......... lol. after doing that for about fifty times I decided to keep them on, who knew clouds could be such a pain!!!!

HamboHoedown78

The challenge over at Hambo Stamps this week is to use "Rattler" or any other Hambo image, digi or rubber, and create a project that features a knot. Well, a snake image definitely calls for snakeskin paper to be used, so I covered this little gift bag with some snakeskin paper I have in my huge stash, and after coloring the image with promarkers, I tied a knot with red ribbon round his rattle.

Paper Smooches

WoWeeeeeeeeeee what a great couple of days I have had, firstly my "cheeses" card got favorited by LilyLynn over at Splitcoaststampers, then my peacock feather card has had some lovely comments left (even tho I forgot it was a one layer card challenge and went and put a layer on it, Oops, so it will most likely be disqualified) Then....... and best of all, I WON LAST WEEKS PAPER SMOOCHES TREND WATCH CHALLENGE, I feel on top of the world, I mean..... Paper Smooches!!!!! wow, only my favorite images at the moment, although I wish they would go digi cos they are really hard to get here in the UK, and I only have three sets so am limited, but with the $30 I just won, I can get some more, yippeeeee.

So on to this weeks Paper Smooches challenge, It is a designer drafts challenge that looks like this. Straight away I saw a crescent moon, so I went with that theme, then tried to make it look like the little astronaut was saving himself from falling with the broom.

Peacock feather

How wonderful it is to be off work for two weeks, apart from the odd bit of housework, I have spent the whole first week in my craftroom, (yes I am very fortunate to have a room to myself instead of having all my craft things dotted around the house like I used to in my other home) ahhh luxury. I have started to stick to my first thought when deciding how to do a card, or else I can analyse to death for ages and that is so much hard work, anyway, when less is more announced that this weeks challenge was fur or feathers, I immediately thought of a peacock, so voila. I am also entering this card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week which is square cards, these clean and simple challenges are really helping me as they are not usually my thing, but I totally admire people like Debby Hughes of Limedoodle and Lisa Lara of Lisa's Life Lines, their work is always inspiring.

Hambohoedown77

As soon as I got this "cheeses" digi image from Hambo Stamps I knew that I wanted to put holes in the card, I must admit that at first I thought, " cheeses !!!!! on a card!!!!!" but I absolutely love how this turned out. The challenge (as it is the Olympics) was to take two (or more) of the olympic ring colours,  red, black, blue, green and yellow, I chose red and yellow, I made the little label with a jewellery pin I had and stuck it in the centre of the cheese, Inside it says "SOME things!"  lol.

On Cloud Nine

Oooooooohhh CAS-ual Fridays challenges always stretch my brain, I suppose it is because my favorite kind of cards to do at the moment are easel cards embellished with paper flowers, so it is hard for me to make a statement with not much on the card, even tho I absolutely love CAS cards, and when I see other peoples creations they never cease to amaze me. Anyway, this weeks challenge is to do a project featuring things you would see in the sky. I am also entering this card in a challenge over at Less is More, where this week it is a blue and green challenge, I have just discovered this site and I am sure I will be visiting it regularly.

Paper Smooches "trend watch challenge"

Hiya all, this week over at Paper Smooches it is a trend watch challenge with this image as the inspiration

so I couldn't wait to get out my absolute favorite paper smooches image, the professor from the smarty pants image, and the planets from the space cadet set, soooooooo cute.

HamboHoedown76

This week Hambo Stamps have given us free (if you played the challenge last week) is this cute little octopus to play with, it is a tic tac toe challenge and I have chosen orange for the octopus, shimmer and sparkle for the sea, created with stickles, ( it is sparklier in real life than this bad photo) and the hardest of all to think of was the buttons, so I made a bow tie and a bow for the girl octopus with a button in the centre, but what I like the most is the gorgeous little fish popping out of the water with the saying "inking of you". Phew, took some thinking of this week.