Make It Monday #73 with Cupcake Cards and Craft

Hi

Well, that last six weeks certainly zipped past pretty quick!!

My boys are back at school today after six weeks school holidays. We had a wonderful time just doing nothing in particular. That is just the best part isn't it? Just taking each day as it comes, no rush to be anywhere or do anything. And truth be told not having to wash drink bottles and make packed lunches is a pretty good holiday to me, lol.

I didn't get to craft much with the boys home but I did manage to make this card for this week's Make It Monday linky party which is open now.



It uses an old SU stamp set and papers.

The rose is coloured with Copics

R20, R22, R24, R27, R29 and R46 (if I remember correctly)


Our sponsor this week over at Make It Monday is the lovely Mandy at

 Cupcake Cards &Crafts

http://www.cupcakecardcraft.co.uk/

The wonderful prize this week is £5 worth of paper collections in downloadable form!

If your mojo has taken some extended leave you really should stop by and check out the weekly Make It Monday linky parties. There is a huge variety of creations and styles that are shared each week and the inspiration is just endless!

Of course the tough part for me is having to choose just one entry from last week to feature on my blog today.  Again I was having loads of trouble viewing many of the entries because of the blogger issues (I really should just bite the bullet and try Google Chrome as some say that seems to fix the problem) but from the fabulous entries I was able to visit this one really stood out for me.

Created by

Sharon at Colouring For Pleasure



Thank you for sharing this with us at Make It Monday Sharon, it is just gorgeous. Such a sweet image and I love her pretty little outfit too.

Make It Monday #73 is now open.

Head on over and check out what the fabulously talented design team have created for you this week.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Making good on New Year's resolutions

Hi

Happy Wednesday to you, hope you are all well.

Today was my first day back at work after having five weeks at home with my boys during school holidays (BLISS!). It was nice though being back at work, catching up with everyone and hearing about what the got up to over the holidays.

I have been going really well on my New Year's resolutions, how about you?

I decided to focus this year on losing weight, eating healthy, posting more often on my blog, creating more masculine cards and to start using some of the fabulous stamp sets I have gathering dust in my craft room.

So far so good!! I'm down almost 4kg in the last five weeks and I am posting for the third time this week and with a masculine card too!! So all in all I reckon I'm doing pretty good, lol.

My card tonight uses an old Stampin' Up! set that my Mum sent me ages ago called "For Father" pretty sure it is retired now.

Papers are also from Stampin' Up! called "Well Worn".

I don't know about you, but I find creating masculine cards really difficult. They never seem finished to me and always look terribly plain. I guess its the lack of pearls and flowers, lol.

Hopefully I will be back again soon with another card to share with you this week.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #72 with Meljen's Designs

Hi !

Always good to have you call in.

It's been a really frustrating week in blogland this week hasn't it? Or was it just me? Blogger seems to have been having a whole world of trouble and I'm not sure it has completely cleared up yet either.

It was good to see though that you were all back in your full creative swing, with over 200 fabulous entries to the Make It Monday challenge last week!! What a shame I was not able to visit very many of you (Grrrr...blogger!)

Let's hope things are better this week as I am so excited about our new sponsor for this week's Make It Monday linky Party #72.

Meljen's Designs

I created by card this week using the incredibly sweet "Cuddle Cloud Baby" image.

If you think this image is adorable then you really need to check out the rest of the fabulous images available over at Meljen's Designs.



I managed to restrain myself and use just a little bit of glitter (spica pen) on the cloud, hearts and stars. I have used a Nestabilities circle, scollop circle and the Stampin' Up! Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to create the image panel.

Sentiment tags are made using Stampin' Up! Jewelry Tag punch and Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

 

Papers are from Stampin' Up but I think they are discontinued now and ribbon is made up of pieces from my stash.

Our fabulous sponsor for this week's Make It Monday linky Party is the every popular

Meljen's Designs

http://shop.meljensdesigns.com/

and they are generously offering a lovely prize of the winner's choice of 4 single digis!

How Awesome is that?!

To be in with a chance to win this week's fabulous prize, all you have to do is leave a comment for another entrant in the Make It Monday linky Party #72. Be sure to mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!!

The Make It Monday linky party is now open and the fabulously talented Design Team have created some positively gorgeous cards to help get the party started!!

Before you head on over please check out my favourite entry from last week.

I wasn't able to visit very many of then entries, but of the ones I could visit this one really stood out for me.

Created by

Tracy from I Wanna Build A Memory

Seriously?! Isn't it just the most stunningly beautiful card EVER?!

Tracy, I absolutly LOVE IT! Thank you so much for sharing with us at Make It Monday this week.

I hope you will all head on over to Tracy's Blog and say hi and let her know you saw her here.

Thank you for stopping by today.

I look forward to coming to visit you and seeing what you have been creating.

Michelle :o)

Annabelle Stamps Exciting New Release!!

Hi

Wow, I know, don't fall off your chair!

Two posts from me in one week, this will send shock waves around the world, lol.

But I just had to pop in and let you know that the super talented Andrea from Annabelle Stamps has released a brand new set of stamps that you just have to check out.

I am thrilled because included in this exciting new release is a new set for my most favourite Lil Monster

There are so many others that you will absolutely be adding to your must have list.

And to kick off this exciting new release Andrea is generously offering a little something extra  when you place an order.

Head on over to Annabelle Stamps for the full details.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #71 with Bugaboo Stamps

Hi, nice to see you here again.

I'm kind of 50/50 with my New Year's resolutions, how about you? So far I am on track with my goal to exercise and lose weight this year but as far as my posting more regularly on my blog.............not so good, lol.

Still it's early days yet, there is still hope.

The weather has been brilliant (quite unusual for us this time of year) and I have been spending loads of time with the boys in pool and not so much time creating. I did get to make a quick card for this week's Make It Monday linky party though.

I have to admit to being quite excited about the new sponsor we have this week. We are lucky enough to have BUGABOO STAMPS sponsoring us!!

Bugaboo Stamps is one of the most recognisable names in digi stamps and I had so much fun using this fun image called "Gus Birthday Optional" for my card.

This is my first attempt at a step card.

Took me a few goes to figure it out (still not sure I got it completely right). Of course I could have googled for a tutorial, but where's the fun in that, lol.

Just love the sentiment, dont you? This is so perfect for my Dad.

Supplies list:

Designer Series Paper - Stampin Up! Well Worn

Cardstock - Stampin Up! Not Quite Navy

Buttons - Stampin Up - Nuetrals

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00 and E11

Hair - N0, N1 and N3

Hat - B21, B24 and B26

Shirt - YR61, YR63 and YR 65

Shorts - YG91, YG93 and YG95

Scooter - R22, R24, R27 and R29

Ground - C1, C3 and C5

Shading - B0000, B000 and B00

I would like to enter my card in to the following challenges:

Dare to be Sassy - something new (patterned paper & Image)

Cute Card Thursday - something new (patterned paper & image)

Little Miss Muffet - something new (patterned paper & image)

Card Makin' Mamas - something new (patterned paper & image)

Crafty Emma's Store - anything goes

Catered Crop - Buttons

Creative Inspirations - Something Old (old man image)

Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes

Squirrel and the Fox - Something New (image and papers)

The Make It Monday #71 Linky Party is now open.

As I mentioned before we are sponsored this week by the awesome

Store

Catch the bug Challenge blog

And they are offering a very generous prize of winner's choice of 7 single digis!

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment for an entry in the Make It Monday linky party. Be sure to mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!!

The fabulously talented MIM Design Team and created some awesome cards this week to get you all inspired to join in the fun, so head on over to Make It Monday and check them out!

Before you go though have a look at the entry I chose as my favourite from last week's linky party.

There were so many to choose from and it is a hard ask each week to pick a favourite but in the end I couldn't go past this one from

Frea

Isn't it just so beautiful?!!

You can see more photos of this gorgeous creation here.

Thank you for sharing with us Frea.

Now go on, head on over to Make It Monday and get your daily dose of inspiraiton. I can't wait to come over and see what you are sharing this week!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

MIM #70 with Digi My World

Happy New Year!!

Wow here it is 2012, hard to believe!

We are still enjoying our summer school holidays with three more weeks to go. The weather has been pretty good considering this is our tropical wet season. Let's hope that it continues and that we don't see a repeat of last year's devastating  floods.

I have found a little time this week (while the boys have been occupied with their newly aquired lego, thanks granddad!) to get my card made for this week's Make It Monday linky party.

Make it Monday's first linky party for 2012 is now open.

There were still an amazing number of entries for last week's link up considering the Christmas/New Year holidays.  Please see my favourite pick at the end of this post.

For my card this week I have used an image from our sponsor Digi My World called Sk8r Boy

This is such a fun image to colour and just perfect for any young boy.

Papers I have used are from Stampin Up! (Thanks Mum for my awesome pressie!)

DSP - Well Worn -  SU

Cardstock - Not Quite Navey and Very Vanilla - SU

Sentiment - So Happy For You - SU

Image is coloured with the following Copics

SKIN - E000, E00 and E21

PROTECTIVE HELMET AND PADS - B91, B93, B95 and B97

HAIR - Y21, Y23, Y26 and Y28

SHIRT& SHOES - YG91, YG93 and YG95

SHORTS AND SHOES - E30, E31, E33 and E35

CONCRETE RAMP - N0, N1, N3 and N5

Image was printed on Express It  blending cardstock and as this is a very stark white I wanted it to blend in more with the tones of the DSP so I used my E50 Copic marker to shade around the image to make it look a little more like it was printed on the Very Vanilla cardstock.

I am linking my card up to the following challenges

One Stitch At A Time - Use A Digi

Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes (must have a sentiment)

This week we are delighted to have a brand new sponsor Digi My World! The wonderful artist and owner Annie is offering the prize of a $10 gift certificate to spend in the store! And they are in sale at the moment so you may want to pay the store a visit! ;)

To be in the running to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment for another entrant in this week's Make It Monday linky party. Be sure to mention you saw them at MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!

Ok now, let me share with you my favourite pick from last week's Make It Monday linky party.

It had to be this adorable Christmas card by Marjorie

I just love this cute little bear and Marjorie's colouring really brings him to life.

Thanks for sharing with us Marjorie.

If you would like to see a whole heap more inspiration, head on over now to Make It Monday  and check out what my super talented teamies have whipped up for you this week.

You have a whole week to link up and I can't wait to see what you've made!

Even if you don't have a new creation to share this week, don't forget you can revive an old post from way back and share an old favourite with us.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)



Make It Monday #69 with Di's Digi Downloads

Hi, how are you?

Did you survive the Christmas craziness with your sanity in tact??

Chaos reigned supreme in my house but I wouldn't have it any other way. I just know that the days of my boys being caught up in the magic of the twinkling Christmas lights are numbered so I am more than fine with being woken up at just after midnight by my middle son (seven) who is TOTALLY sure that Santa woke him up when he sat on his bed to fill his stocking.

My eldest son (now eight and a half) mentioned just before falling asleep on Christmas Eve that he remembered that last year he thought it quite interesting that the gifts from Santa had been wrapped in the same wrapping paper as the gifts from his Dad and I..........hmmm mental note to self to remember that next year!

How will I spend my Christmas Eve in the future when I don't have to put out the "magic" key and fill a glass with milk to place beside the cookies and carrots and write that letter from Santa? I choose not to think to much about it now but instead draw every inch of love and happiness from the moments now.

Well, enough of my sentimental mushiness, lol, and on to the reason for my post today!!

Even with the fesitive season mayhem so many of you still managed to find a little creating time and shared your beautiful creations with us over at Make It Monday this week.

It has been so much fun these past few weeks seeing all the fabulous Christmas creations. But I must admit with this week's Make It Monday linky party now open, I am really looking forward to seeing more of the non seasonal projects you can come up with.

I found a little time to create a card this week to share with you using an adorable image from our sponsor this week.

Image is called "Birthday Rascal"

isn't it just adorable?! I'm a sucker for a cute image, I can't deny!

I would like to enter my card in to the following challenges:

Scrappy Frog Challenges - Stitching

Marks Finest Papers - Anything Goes

Secret Crafter - Anything Goes

Hotshot Craft - Easle Card

This week's Make It Monday linky party is sponsored by the fabulous

Di's Digi Downloads

and they are offering a $10 voucher to the winning commenter this week.

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment for another entrant letting them know you saw them on Make It Monday. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning.

Each week the MIM Design Team choose their favourite entry to feature on their blogs. Let me tell you, this is so much harder than it sounds. When you think we have a couple of hundred entries each week it is pretty hard to narrow your choice down to just one!!

For me this week, it had to be

This amazing Christmas Lantern by Loz

Wow Loz, this is absolutely STUNNING!

 

Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

Please head on over to Loz's blog to see it in more detail.

 

Ok everyone, now let's see what you have to share with us this week. The Make It Monday linky party is now open. My incredibly talented teamies have shared some gorgeous cards this week to help get you all inspired. Hope on over to Make It Monday now and take a peek and then get creating!! You have a whole week to link up and I can't wait to see what you've made!

 

Even if you don't have a new creation to share this week, don't forget you can revive an old post from way back and share an old favourite with us.

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #68 with Crafty Emma's Store

Well hello there!

Long time no post hey!

I'm sorry about that and I have really missed being creative too. But I'm sure you all know how it is when life just seems to get in the way.

It is the end of year school holidays here in Australia now, so my boys are on six weeks holiday and that is keeping me pretty busy to say the least.

I'm popping in today because a new Make It Monday linky party starts today and I actually have something to share this week, yay!

A few weeks ago I was madly making up dozens of gifts for my son's teachers and teacher aids and some for the lovely ladies that I work with in the school office.

I had almost given them all out when I suddenly realised I hadn't taken any photos of them, eek! Luckily I had a couple left and I quickly snapped a few shots so that I could share them with you this week.

I made a whole swag of these refillable (has a flip top lid) coffee bag dispensers. They are so quick and easy to make.

Ok now, you've seen what I'm sharing for Make It Monday this week, let me see what you have been busy making.

This week's MIM linky party is sponsored by the lovely Emma from

Crafty Emma's Store

and she is generously offering a £10 voucher to her store.

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment for another entrant letting them know you saw them on Make It Monday. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning.

The incredibly talented girls on the MIM design team have created some gorgeous cards to help get you all inspired this week and you should definitely head on over and check them out, but before you go let me share with you my favourite entry from last week's linky party.

It has to be this fabulously fun card from

Kerry

I love the fun image and the pretty colour combo!!

Thanks for sharing with us Kerry!

Please head on over to Kerry's blog and let her know you saw her here!

So come on, share your paper creations with us over at Make It Monday this week! New or old it doesn't matter. It's all about sharing the inspiration and making some new blogging friends along the way.

Happy Holidays!!

Michelle :o)

Winner - My Memories free software give away.

Hi

Sorry I have been away from my bog so much lately and I am late getting back to you with the winner of my My Memories free software give away too!!

So with out any more delay here is the winner

Scrapalajen aka Jennyfer

Congratulations Jennyfer I will be in touch with you soon to let you know how to claim your prize.

Happy Holidays

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #63 with Pollycraft

Hi

Another week down and and just that bit closer to Christmas!!

So far I have made no Christmas cards and there has been no Christmas shopping done, so it would seem I am on track to continue my usual pre Christmas routine of pulling my hair out and cursing my lack of organisation skills a week out from Christmas, lol.

It has been a great week though apart from the annoying cold I have picked up. I had lots of fun checking out the hundreds of entries linked up  to Make It Monday last week!! You guys just continue to wow the MIM design team with your awesome creations.

Speaking of the MIM Design Team we now have a new member

Karen

We are so thrilled that Karen has agreed to join our team. She has been a regular participant in the MIM linky parties for a while now and is just the sweetest, friendliest lady EVER! Not to mention super talented too, so she will be sharing her creations each week to help get you all inspired

Please join us in welcoming Karen to the team and pop by her blog to say hi.

This week's Make It Monday #63 is now open

For my card this week I have used this fun Monster image from our sponsor called "Fluffy"

Our wonderful sponsor this week is

http://pollycraft.co.uk/

and they are generously offering this week's winner five digi's of their choice!

To be in with a chance to win this week's fab prize all you need to do is leave a comment for one or more of the entries this week and let them know you saw their creation on Make It Monday. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!

Now on to the hard part each week...........choosing my favourite entry

This week I chose

This beautiful easle card from Dorcas

The colouring is just amazing, don't you think?

Thanks for sharing with us Dorcas!

Thanks for coming by today. I look forward to seeing what you create this week.

Michelle :o)



My first Digi Scrapbook Page and a GIVEAWAY

Hi, how's things?

This is a long post but if you make it to the end there is a fabulous giveaway !!

I don't know about where you are, but here in Queensland Australia we are on countdown to the end of our school year. My boys have exactly 20 more school days to go, not that any ones counting, LOL.

Oh the bliss, six weeks of freedom to sleep in, lounge around in our Jim Jams all morning and basically just go with the flow.

One thing I am planning on doing during these upcoming holidays is to spend a little time experimenting with a new Digital Scrapbooking Software I have come across. 

My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software

Now even though when I first ventured in to paper crafting a couple of years ago, the idea was that I was going to make some scrapbook albums (paper ones) and so far to date I have made the grand total of ....

O pages

Nil, None, Nada, not a single one, lol. I guess it is because I could never quite figure out what theme I wanted or find just the right embellishments etc and truth be told I am an instant gratification kind of girl which is why card making became my thing.

This is why I was so excited to come across this fabulous Digital Scrapbooking software from My Memories.

I mean take a look at what I was able to put together in half an hour on my very first attempt!!

I am thrilled with this!!

It was so easy to use. There are hundreds of page layout templates, embellishments and background papers.

The easy-to-use features for creating or editing albums from templates or from scratch make this software an absolute breeze to use. And it is not just limited to scrapbook pages either, you can create cards,invitations, calendars, photo books etc, you are only limited by your imagination.


Loads of templates to get you started



even free ones!!

 

Me being a jump right in at the deep end kind of girl (well, not really as I can't swim properly but you know what I mean) I decided that I didn't want to use a page layout template, rather I would just go right ahead and create something from scratch.

It really was so very simple to use and I could of kept playing and creating way in to the wee small hours.

Ok, I know, you want to know about the giveaway now!!

Well here it is......

One lucky Pink Paper Paradise reader, chosen by random selection, will win the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software! You read it right,  it will be all yours FOR FREE!
Here is the how to........ you get an entry in to the draw for each of the steps
1. Follow my blog

2. Go to My Memories website and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout. Come back here and leave a comment which should include your name, email address and name of your favourite digital paper pack or layout.
3. Follow My Memories on Twitter here


4. Like the My Memories Facebook page found here

Be sure to leave me a separate comment for each of these steps as you have done them so you get extra chances to win.
 
Winner will be drawn on 16th December.
 
For those of you who are instant gratification people like myself
 
*My Memories is giving a $10 discount on their My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software to Pink Paper Paradise Readers!!*
 
If you want to buy the software now, you can get it at a discounted price. My Memories is giving a $10 discount on their My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software to readers of Pink Paper Paradise!
Simply enter the code below (copy and paste it) upon check out to receive the discount:


STMMMS82705

I will be back during the course of this giveaway with more fabulous ways to use the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking software.

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #62 - with Annabelle Stamps

.

Hello, how are you?

Are you feeling all bright eyed and bushy tailed on this Monday morning? Full of get up and go and ready to face the week ahead?

No.......me either, lol! But a good strong coffee (from the fab new coffee machine my parents bought my Hubby for his birthday) and I shall be right to go!

Actually my problem might just be a little too much of that fab coffee, lol. The novelty of making cafe style cappachinos hasn't quite worn off yet and I discovered that drinking them at 10pm keeps me going till around 1am!! Gee, who knew hey, LOL!

Still wasn't all bad, managed to visit quite a few of the amazing blogs linked up to Make It Monday last week while the rest of my family slumbered peacefully. Over 250 lovely creations were linked up last week, how awesome is that ?! I do hope you manged to visit a few of them.

This weeks Linky Party is now open and I found a little time over the weekend to create this cute little boy's birthday card to share with you today .

Perfect for any little Harry Potter fan don't you think?

I have coloured this image with Copics and used my Spica pens to add a little shimmer to the starts on the hat and coat as well as the wand and chrystal ball.

I am linking my card to the following challenges:

One Stitch At A Time - Use A Digi
Color Me Creative Classroom - Boys Boys Boys
CES challenges - Song or Film (I'm going for the Harry Potter films)
Paper Craft Journey - Use A Digi

Out of all the fabulous creations linked up last week I had to try to choose just one to feature here on my blog this week. Talk about a tough ask!

It took a while I can tell you, but in the end I couldn't go past this entry from

Quilling by Manuk

Absolutely incredible don't you think? The time this must have taken!

I need to get me some of the patience that is required to create this piece of art.

Thank you Manuk for sharing this with us. I do hope we get to see more of you amazing creations.

Make It Monday #62 is now open

This week we are sponsored by the fabulously talented Andrea over at

http://www.annabellestamps.com/

who is generously offer a $20 voucher to this week's random commenter.

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment for an entrant in this week's linky party. Make sure you mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!

Please head on over to Make It Monday to check out the gorgeous cards created by the MIM design team to help get you all inspired.

The Make It Monday #61 linky party is now open.

Its a great way to show case your favourite card or project to new people.

You can even revive an old post. It may be old news to you but there are so many new blogs coming online every day that it is NEW to them. So come along link up and check out the other submissions and remember is all about just sharing the creativity and you may even find yourself making some new blog buddies.

And you just never know, next week's featured blogger may be you!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)