Summertime

The theme for the challenge on the Crafting Muskateers' blog for the month of July is 'Summertime' and we are very lucky this month to be sponsored by the Hobby House and the prize is a £10 voucher to spend in their store.

and here is my contribution to our challenge.

I love pink and orange together so I thought I would go down that route for my new challenge card and it sets off the lovely Penny Blank stamped image perfectly.

Don't worry if you don't have a blog as you can upload your work onto our Facebook page. 

Thanks for dropping by :) x

Crafting Muskateers Challenge #14

Hi, crikey I can't believe we are on Challenge #14 already! Thanks to everyone who played along with us on the last challenge and congratulations to the winner and top 3, there were some amazing entries as always.

Sad news again in this post, we have said bye to Avril and Kathy-Jo who have both decided to step down from the team, we're going to miss you girls.

We have a couple of new ladies joining our team though and they are Nichola Welham and Cheremane Smith.. Cheremane is our GDT for this challenge and then joins us permanently in July. 

The theme for this month is "Stamped Image" (this can include a digi stamp) and it has been sponsored by the wonderful  www.polkadoodles.com The prize on offer is 4 Digi Images from the sponsor which the DT have used for their projects.

As well as the Polkadoodles image I have used backing paper from the "Words For Him" A4 paper pad #20846 by Aspire Crafts train and image are from the wonderful Clearly Besotted Stamps

If you don't have your own blog , you can join us on our Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafting-Musketeers-Challenge-BLOG/320703981385124

Thanks for dropping by

Happy Birthday....

Crafting Muskateers. Another month has passed us by in a flash and it's May already! It's also time for the Crafting Muskateers new challenge and we are celebrating our first birthday....where has the last year gone!?!.So onto the challenge which this month is sponsored by Katie Sue Designs.
This is their prize for the winner 

For our birthday celebration , we will be doing our usual prize for the winner, but also there will be small mystery prizes for the top 3. 

The top 3 will also have the chance to be guest designers with us, with us along with the winner.

So, the challenge for this month is "anything but a square" and this is my card

 I used a Nestabilities Grand Decorative Oval die #1 for the card blank, Mr & Mrs stamps by Woodware, hand rolled flowers, silver mirri card and white satin ribbon. My card was part of an order and this is the matching keepsake box I made....

using the same hand rolled roses, die cut leaves and white satin ribbon. My client loved it. :)

I hope you are enjoying the lovely sunshine we are having in the UK at the moment. 

Back soon, take care xx

Challenge cards and DT call

I know I've been absent for a while so without going into too much detail, I'm back. My story involves bad backs and crappy lap tops but I won't bore you with the details, I just hope I can get some posts done and get caught up with challenges etc before the lap top packs in again! :)

I have loads to catch up with so I will start at the beginning of this month with any news, challenges etc and once I'm up to speed with April I will start on March (assuming I don't get stuck again!)

So the new challenge for April from the Crafting Muskateers is a good one. The theme is "Monochrome" and the sponsor is Anice McNamee from Funky Hand who has very kindly donated a £10 download voucher which can be spent on the Funky Hand web site. Here is an overview about FH..... 

"Funky Hand started with the launch of our first backing paper CD 'The Funky One'. Things have certainly moved on since then and I would like to thank all of our wonderful customers for making our time in the craft business such fun!

There are a lot of exciting things ahead for Funky Hand so keep popping back to see what we are up to. Anything that I want to let you know about will be added to my blog Funky Hand Thoughts as soon as it happens. I update it regularly with new card designs to inspire you, exciting news that I want to share and just general day to day chat. I look forward to you visiting me there! Don’t forget to leave me a comment so I can drop by your blog if you have one.
If this is the first time you have visited Funky Hand or if you are a Funky Hand customer and friend I am sure you will find something to inspire your paper crafting projects amongst our CD-Roms, downloads, stamps and stash. Don’t forget to take a look at the examples of cards, scrapbook pages and word-books for each CD or Download collection, new ones are added regularly. My thanks to my design team members Kathy, Jackie, Amanda, Jenny, Lou, Allison, Debs, Ni, Belinda, Debbie, Samantha and Ruth for all their hard work creating fab new card designs to add to the ones I pull together when I have a spare moment! As well as making cards for this website and my TV appearances, the Funkettes also run a monthly challenge blog - Get Funky! where there are Funky Hand goodies to be won. Why not have a go yourself?"

Here is my challenge card

 Anice very kindly gave the CM design team a download of their choice to work with and I chose the limited edition "Mother of Mine" download kit. I used shades of pink (apart from the bits of green on the flowers ;)) from the kit.

Why not pop over to the Crafting Muskateers challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous DT cards and entries? You have plenty of time to join in as the challenge runs for a month! We are also looking for a new member to join our wonderful Design Team as Sheena has decided to step down from the team due to other commitments. 

Look forward to seeing you, good luck xx

Happy Birthday Mum

Thank you to everyone who took part in the February challenge over on the Crafting Muskateers challenge blog.

It was my lovely Mum-in Law's birthday on 23rd last month and I decided to make her birthday card for this challenge which is sponsored by Debbi Moore Designs. Debbi's was the first ever DT I was on way back and I actually designed for them for about 3 years altogether. The only reason I left was because I felt as though I was getting into a rut and needed to spread my wings a bit. I shall always be grateful to Debbi, Lynn and the team though :)

My card

I used a Pyramage topper from the Glitter & Glitz cd and added a bucket load of glitter and diamantes. The leaves are cut with a Joy Ccrafts die and the rolled flowers are from the Bebunni Love Collection from Crafters Companion

This is what is on offer to the winner this week 

Don't worry if you haven't got a blog of your own as we have a Facebook page and you can pop your card up there.

Good luck :) x

Special Valentine

I made the following card from a couple of different Kanban A4 paper pads, Sugar Buttons and Birth & Celebration 901558

I added silver mirri card with a punched border, Kanban myself and that is it.....so easy but so effective (imo). As my card has hearts on I'm going to add it to the Papertake Weekly challenge which this week is....you've guessed it....hearts :) Don't forget that there is a sketch challenge for you to take part in over on the  Kathy's Waffle sketch file and a challenge for an item which uses hearts on the Crafting Muskateers blog. 

Thanks for looking and I'll see you soon. xx                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Butterflies Flutterby

A pinch and a punch on the 1st of the month! Right that's got that out of the way so that we can move on with things!! I realise that this is the 2nd of Feb but I actually started rewriting this post yesterday morning as I wasn't happy with the one I wrote last week....I got a bit side tracked though which is why I'm just finishing it now lol (I've been weather watching on the Watering Hole  web cam in Perranporth. It's quite frightening as a huge chunk of sand was removed from the beach in the last storm last month which left the Watering Hole, the pub on the beach, very exposed and not far from the edge. I just hope that it's still standing in the morning after more terrible tides have hit on yesterday morning as predicted.

So yes, let's now get the ramblings in check so that you understand what I'm talking about :) It is new challenge day on the Crafting Muskateers blog and the theme this month is

"Butterflies"

and this month we are sponsored by Dreemees and here is a bit about them

"Dreamees is run by mother and daughter team Carol and Hayley Bignall."Founded in 2010, Dreamees has grown from strength to strength over the past months. We've managed to secure stands at shows around the country (venturing from Worcester up to Sunderland and across as far as Manchester & Hull!) and have recently decided to aim for larger shows including Whichcraft and the NEC (Nov 2012). With over 15 CD Roms and a range of polymer stamps that grows weekly, Dreamees has successfully featured in many leading papercraft magazines such as 'Complete Cardmaking with your PC', 'Papercraft Essentials', 'The Complete Guide to Digital Crafting' and soon to be 'Creative Cardmaking'.
Dreamees became manufacturers of Polymer plates in January 2012 and have since supplied growing and established businesses, along with providing custom stamps for paper crafters.
As of November 2013, Dreamees have appeared on Create & Craft TV multiple times and continue to do so."

My card

Made using 

 Kanban Ruby Anniversary Toppers #901537

Gold mirri card

Acetate Butterflies

Lace & Gems were from my stash

I love this card and I hope you do too.

Thanks for looking.

Grunge

I love that word :) G R U N G E, it make me feel a bit Miranda Hart'ish when I say it like that 
ha ha.  I can't do grunge or shabby chic or anything that is supposed to look a tad untidy (if you saw my craft room you wouldn't believe a word of that lol)! However, that is the new challenge over on the Crafting Muskateers blog this month. Can you believe that it's challenge #9 already? It doesn't seem two minutes since we started!

Anyway, this month we are sponsored by the fabulous Visible Image:

" Visible Image is a clear stamp designer and manufacturer based in South Wales, UK, and is run by Mark & Helen. Our stamps are hand poured and hand cut using high quality photopolymer. Every stamp is very deeply etched, 4mm thick, to ensure crisp perfectly stamped images. Our designs include unique characters, brilliant backgrounds that match up perfectly for repeat stamping, original sentiments and verses written by Helen, stunning stamp sets and much more! Mark is a complete perfectionist and puts so much passion and love into every single stamp he designs! We are known and loved for the quality of our stamps, the efficient customer service we provide, and for doing something that’s a little bit different! ".

                                                     

And here is the fantastic prize, worth £16, that you could be winning.

                                    

How cool is that? Don't worry if you don't have a blog of your own as we have a Facebook page too, just pop on over and add your card. Please don't forget to read the rules and if you want to add our Blinkie to your blog then feel free to grab it off our blog.

This is my sorry attempt at "Grunge", I told you I couldn't do it!!

All of the papers, image, Dekromount frame and words are from the Vintage Bloom collection from Aspire Crafts and are all available from the shop, either in person or on line.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you join us in our challenge.

Happy new year

Good morning everyone, I hope everything is ok on this very miserable (the weather in Scruff's Corner!) last day of December 2013. Will you be making any resolutions this year? I haven't made any for years except for a couple which I kept to myself in case I broke them lol....do they count or do you have to tell people what they are? One thing I would like more than anything (except for the obvious one's like no more rain on the poor flooded people, jobs for all etc) I would really like it if someone could make the year go a little slower than this year, I can't believe how fast 2013 disappeared!

y

Happy

New Year

2014

 t 

Before I disappear again to make a seating plan for the Holiday Inn's Gala Night tonight I would just like to let you know that the winners have been chosen over on the Crafting Muskateers blog....why not hop over, it might be you :)

I hope you have a lovely safe and warm night tonight and that 2014 is your year to make your wishes come true. xx

  

New challenge

 We are now onto Challenge 6, can you believe it's 6 months since we started?  The theme this month is Christmas In October and is sponsored by Bridlington Stationers who is non other than Darren, the hubby of our very talented Nicola and here's what they are about

"Bridlington Stationers is owned by Darren Saul. Established in 1986, Bridlington Stationers Limited is a company brimming with experience. We are a customer focused business supplies company delivering over 30,000 products available on a next day delivery basis on a local and national scale.

Our commitment to personal and friendly service ensures a high level of continuity. We are here to advise, recommend and supply the office products that you need to assist in the smooth running of your business. Our aim is to save you money, save you time and give you the opportunity to buy all your office needs from under one roof."

Oh, I almost forgot, the prize for October is a pack of Promarkers.

Now for my card using my favouritest stamps :)
                                               
The stamp is from the Merry Little Christmas stamp set by Clearly Besotted Stamps, the papers are from a freebie My Mind's Eye pad which came with a magazine last year (I think), the poinsettia is a Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Flower, Mini Daisy with gold gems in the centre and everything else is from my stash.

Thanks for dropping by and good luck with our new challenge. :)

And the winner is

Hi everyone, thank you so much for taking part in the Crafting Muskateers challenge for September, we had some fabulous entries. It was my turn to choose my top three and it was so difficult, I think I changed my mind about four times lol, still, I got there in the end.  Well done to Avril B, the winner chosen by Random.org, I hope you enjoy your fabulous prize with was donated by our very own Nicola.

 My top three are (in no particular order) Emily Shroom, 

Tina 

and  Susan I

your projects were all amazing! I hope you've contacted CM for your badges.

Thank for dropping by.

Crafting Muskateers

Hi folks, how are you? I have started this post so many times and drew a blank and didn't know what to say but this time I am going to plough on! 

I know I have been absent again but I have a good reason. I have been on my lovely hot, sunny and relaxing holiday to Zakynthos and I have come back this time not only rested but with a lousy head cold and a hacking chesty cough. I also had two birthdays last week, hubby's last Thursday and my baby girl's last Saturday and to top it all I went to town last Tuesday to get hubby's prezzies and promptly fell over!!

 My bruises have just about gone on my hands but my left hand is still sore and I can't kneel at all. My left leg is really painful just below my knee.

The holiday was just fabulous as always and we had already booked to go back next year so I'd like to say a big thank you to Stratos, Maria, Tasos, Lol, Spiros and Nicos (and everyone else) for making our holiday brilliant as always.

So, have you taken part in the Crafting Muskateers challenge yet? The theme for this challenge is "Vintage"

 and it has been sponsored by one of our fellow team members Nicola Saul , you can find Nicola here ,http://pinkdelightcraft.blogspot.co.uk/. She has donated a very generous prize for the winner, so a big thank you Nicola :) .and this is what is up for grabs.

You still have a couple of weeks to enter and it's my turn this month to choose a winner, that job is so difficult as we always have loads of fabulous entries. Add your name to Mr Linky then we can come over and see what you have made.

My card

made with Kanban stamp and bits and pieces and the sentiment stamps are from the very wonderful Clearly Besotted.

Thanks for dropping by. xx

Delicious Doodles

Have you been over to the Crafting Muskateer's Blog for the new challenge yet? Yes, we are already on challenge number 4!! It doesn't seem so long ago since we were all getting giddy about it starting up lol Anyway, the challenge this month is sponsored by Teri over at Delicious Doodles who will be giving the winner four of her "delicious doodles" :)

Click on the header to be taken over to Teri's shop, there are some lovely images over there. We were given a selection of images to choose from and then had to follow the sketch below

and here is the card I made.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and the papers are from The Just Happy collection on the Dreams Come True cd by Funky Hand. This has to be one of my favourite cds as there are some really yummy papers and colour ways to be had...this lilac pattered paper is a particular favour although this is another left over piece from my mountain :)

Also this month we are having a DT call as we have lost our lovely lace lady Sarah Wright so we are having a DT call. We don't want you to send us copies of your best work, we want you to enter our challenge then when you upload your project add DT next to your name. We will then choose from those of you who have added the DT.

Good luck to you all and thanks for dropping by and showing us all your support, we are very grateful. Don't forget that the challenge runs until the end of the month so there is plenty of time yet. :)

Crafting Muskateers

Firstly I would like to say a big well done to Lisa Sparkle & Stamps for winning the June challenge on the Crafting Muskateers blog and a big 'well done and thank you' to the top 3 and everyone else who took part.

We had out third challenge go live yesterday lunch time and it's another good one! The  theme this time is to use RIBBON & PEARLS on your project and it is sponsored by our very own  DT member, Sarah and here is what she has offered as her prize

We have three guest designers joining us this month and if you enter then next month it could be you :)
Here is my card

KB 190

White 8 x8 pre folded card blank (a cheat I know but it does save time)

A4MRGO Gold Mirri card

PCT1904 Bella Fiori - Aster Memories

CRD1466 Bella Fiori - Lauretta Pink b/g card

Sentimental Labels - Verses 

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with the challenge, I can't wait to see what fantastic projects we have entered this month....we are all (the DT) bowled over with your support, thank you.

Have a lovely evening. x

A stamped image

Before we go onto the second challenge from the newly formed Crafting Muskateers Challenge team I would like to thank everyone one of you who took part in the first challenge....all 235 of you! The DT are so pleased with how it went and there were some fantastic entries. It was Sharon's turn to choose the winner using Random.org and that lucky person is Kellylou, congratulations!

So now onto Challenge #2 which is to use a stamped image. I chose to use a gorgeous image (Super Striker - stamped with black Memento and coloured with Promarkers) from Lili Of The Valley as I was making a card for my nephew who's birthday it is tomorrow.

The backing paper is a freebie from Papercraft Essentials I think and the sentiment was found in a box ready printed!

We would love you to join in with us again this week and who knows, you may just be the winner of a fantastic prize  

which has been donated by (click on the picture below to take you to Chloe's web site)

Good luck. Take care and enjoy your day. x

Nappy Cake

First of all, please accept my apologies for my absence over the last 3 weeks but the reason is that I have done loads of work that I haven't been able to show at the time which makes it a bit awkward as I'm not one for waffling about nothing, although you wouldn't say that after meeting me in person a couple of times :). Usually I have work backed up ready for something like this but this time I haven't as I've been really busy. The odd time I have found half an hour to blog, the internet has gone down! I thought I would write my post then when the net comes back on then I can post it. I might even be like buses and do two or three posts lol

So onto my nappy cake. I have wanted to have a go at these for a couple of years now but didn't know anyone who was having a baby and then my best friend came down with the news that she was going to be a nana so I had the perfect opportunity.

It turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought it would and it cost me a lot more than I thought it would as I just kept seeing things and sticking them in my trolley while out shopping and I love the smell of a Johnson's baby! lol I photographed it in the making so you could see what was inside.

Baby Cora was born on 15th May and was a very good 8lb 6oz, well done Amy and Lee. 

Thanks for dropping by :)

Ps The Crafting Muskateer's first challenge is drawing to a close (29th May) so if you haven't entered yet you had better get a wiggle on :)

New Challenge

After all the weeks and weeks of misery and hype we are finally  ready to play :) The Crafting Muskateers are here with a fabulous new challenge blog with some brilliant challenges and some gorgeous prizes from some lovely (and very generous) sponsors! We also have a Facebook page for you to follow especially if you don't have a blog, you can add your work to the page.

The Crafting Muskateers is borne from the old Kanban Design Team. When Kanban folded we were all gutted as to be expected and then we decided that, as we were a strong team, we wanted to stay together especially as some of us had been on the team together for over a year. There have been a few changes to the team however. Craig and Toni left then so did Emma and Karen. Sarah Wright came back to join us and the newest DT member is Nicole Bretherick I'm sure there will be a lot of Kanban stuff to be seen on our challenge projects but it's not necessary to use it, it just means that we have got loads of stuff left over lol.

The first challenge has been sponsored by Creata International owned by the lovely Carley Duff and what a prize we have up for grabs!

The theme for the first challenge is

Anything Goes

So now the rest is up to you....give us your best work and upload it to either our FB page or use Mr Linky on the challenge blog and keep your fingers crossed :) Don't forget to pop over to the blog to see what the wonderful DT have made and we would love you to comment even if yiu don't want to take part.

I suppose I should show yoiu my card (I forgot about that bit!)

Materials used:

8 x 8 card blank

900835 Gone Fishing b/g card

900806 Catch Of The Day topper

Card Candi

Craftwork Cards sentiment

Thanks for dropping by and I really hope that you will come and join us at 12 noon for our first challenge. :)

Kanban Thursday

Yes folks, I am still doing my Kanban Thursday posts which surprisingly will be posted on a Thursday :) Last week just sort of caught me on the hop with it being a bank holiday and being away, I didn't know where the heck I was. However, I shall attempt to catch up and stay caught up for the time being! mmm I wonder how long that will last lol,

So now onto my cards

 KB179

6 x 6" pink pearlescent card blank

901540 Sugar & Spice topper

901550 Christening Day toppers (sentiment)

901558 Birth & Celebrations pad

3mm pink pearls

white cotton lace (Sarah Wright)

KB180

6 x 6" pale blue card

901543 Slugs & Snails toppers

901558 Birth & Celebrations pad

901550 Christening day toppers (sentiment)

Blue buttons

Blue twine (Ribbon Girl)

That's one post down  and four to go and then I've caught up my blogging again :)

Don't forget that the new Crafting Muskateers challenge blog begins at the beginning of May. We have some lovely challenges with prizes from some fabulous sponsors so you have to join in with us (please) The design team is the 'old' Kanban design team including the lovely Mrs Smith and an 'ex' DT member has come back to play with us and that is Sarah Wright. Craig and Toni-Marie have left us as they both have other commitments to keep them busy.

There is a Crafting Muskateers Facebook page for you to like and also to add your projects to if you don't have a blog so we look forward to seeing you on 2nd May.xx

New challenge blog

It's good news time folks!

For all of you who have missed the old Kanban blog we have good news! The old DT have decided that as we all got along so well we were going to stay together if possible and bring on a super duper new challenge blog. So with Sharon and Fran doing all the hard work  at the helm here we are again, now known as the Crafting Muskateers! :) We have some fantastic challenges lined up for you and loads of fantastic sponsors offering wonderful goodies as prizes and we will go live on 2nd May. I'm really looking forward to the months ahead and working with the team again. We also have a Facebook page so you can pop over there and see what's happening, also if you don't have a blog you can still enter our challenges by posting your goodies over there.

See you on the 2nd May :) xx