December must be my lucky month! Not only was it my birthday and I received some beautiful cards, gifts and good wishes from my family and friends, including a gorgeous sewing box from my very good friend Sue. I also was lucky enough to win a box of amazing artisan lampwork beads from Sarah at FlameForceFive, thank you Sarah : )

Then I was so pleased to discover that I’d won the Artist of the Month challenge over on the UK Beaders forum with my Dark Twist necklace! As well as all that, my Enchanted Earrings project is in the latest issue of Bead Magazine (issue 19). I haven’t been too good healthwise lately with one thing and another, so all of this has cheered me up immensely : )

It’s been a while since I made any cards but I got the urge to make some this week. I’ve stuck to a very simple style; stamped Pollycraft Winter Elves and a polar bear by Anita’s coloured with Promarkers and glittered, Shabby Princess backing papers, some ribbon and sentiments printed on the computer. Hope you like them.

And here’s another of my Fairground Attraction pendants that sold before I had a chance to show you! I adore the colour combination in this one, based around the shades in the mix of cubes called Serenity, consisting of blue, purple, green and white.

I know, you’re probably as shocked as I am…lol! This card is for two challenges. The sketch is from Sketch and Stash (the new stash is the Gorjuss Girl, thanks Sue) and I’ve included spots and stripes which is the theme for the Secret Crafter challenge.

The new April/May issue of Bead is in the shops now and I’m very pleased to say that my floral charm bracelet is on page 14 – my very first published project! I’m not sure if I’m allowed to show the page so here’s a photo of the bracelet instead.

Here’s my card for this week’s Dutch Dare challenge. I’ve used a Paper Artsy stamp, DCWV floral papers and some Auntie Sarah’s Bloomers.

Here’s my card for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, where this week you have to use your favourite colour scheme. I’ve chosen purple and green which is one of my all time favourites and made a card for my Nan for Mother’s Day. I’ve used a gorgeous Wendie Rhodes stamp coloured with Promarkers, Papermania papers, some Auntie Sarah’s Bloomers with some more flowers, brads and ribbon from my stash.

This card is for the Colour Create challenge, which is red and green with a wings option, and I’ve used this weeks Ismaki sketch with the flower option. The papers are Pink Petticoat and Papermania, I’ve coloured the butterfly images with Promarkers and cut and embossed my ‘flower’ with a Nestabilities die  and Swiss Dots in the Cuttlebug.

This card is for the Sketch and Stash challenge. I love this challenge, not only do you get a great sketch to play with but you’re also encouraged to use your new, unused or neglected craft items. Nothing neglected on this card, I use my Mucha stamp all the time! But the new things I’ve used are the Paisley embossing using my new Cuttlebug machine and the little white flower, which I’ve inked to match the image. I’ve used Papermania paper and some ribbon from my stash.

I really enjoyed this week’s Ismaki challenge sketch! The stamp is from a Grab Bag that I bought from Third Coast rubber stamps, coloured with Promarkers and I created the text on the computer. I’ve used Papermania papers, a button and brads from my stash and the shapes were cut and embossed on the Cuttlebug. Yes I finally treated myself to a Cuttlebug machine – no more rolling pin for me!

Wow two cards in one day, I am doing well! This one is for Mojo Monday’s challenge 77 and what a great sketch it is – definitely one I’ll be using again. I’ve coloured the image with Promarkers and glittered her wings in Crystal. The dotty paper is from Pink Petticoat, green paper was a magazine freebie and the floral paper and brads are from Papermania. I’ve also added a metal ’dreams’ embellishment which has been in my stash for so long I can’t remember where it came from!

This card is for two challenges – I used Friday Sketcher’s great sketch and Colour Create’s orange-yellow-green colour theme (although I passed on the option and just made a card). I thought I would really struggle with the colours but I was saved by the bell – well actually by the email – with the new freebie download from Shabby Princess. I love these Happy Go Lucky papers! The braid, flower and brad is from my stash and the image is from Pink Petticoat, coloured on the computer. Here’s a tip…..open both your digital images and papers using your graphics program so you can pick up the colours from the papers using the eyedropper tool to colour in your images, they’ll match perfectly!

I love chandeliers so I couldn’t resist the gorgeous new image stamps from Pink Petticoat! This card is for the Sketch Saturday challenge and I have to say I really enjoyed this week’s sketch. I’ve kept it simple with two contrasting papers, the black & white is DCWV Retro paper stack and the purple dot is Papermania. I used a couple of Prima Esprit flowers, a bit of Art Institute crystal glitter on the chandelier and the sentiment is from a See D collection.