Candy with a Twist IV

THIS CANDY DRAW IS NOW CLOSED,

THANK YOU ALL FOR PLAYING!

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Whoohoo..
It’s time for the last draw of  my Blogoversary Candy..

How would you like to be in with a chance of winning this set of Ciao Copic pens?
But that is not all..
As I’ve been blogging for 3 years,
THREE runners up will each win a surprise stamp of the hAnglar variety!
I love surprises.. don’t you?

But..
before I get into details there is the little matter of announcing Candy III winner,
and that lucky person is:

HEATHER, or Hev to her friends 😉

Congratulations hunnie!
Please contact me by email with your details so you can stroke your goodies!

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This Candy will close on Sunday 30th of January,
To join in.. please leave a message under this post.

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For the Bonus Candy players
[Only the bloggers that have played all along please!]
The word is “Fairy“

Fingers Crossed and Good Luck!

Marlene x

The Larakins

meet the Larakins.. Ashton & Boo
They are the two cheeky little elves from the Emerald Fairy collection.

When I seen these cuties at Debs Creations..
I had to have them straight away!
As a girl that likes to get inky.. I prefer rubber to digi images,
but I couldn’t even wait for these to be shipped to me
and the download was near enough instant, so I could get colouring asap!

I coloured my image with Copic sketch markers,
Face: E000, E00, E11 and R21
Browns: E42, E17, E25, E27
and Blues: BG10, BG11, BG72
I then touched up the shadows with W1,W3 and T3

I’ve coloured the background by totally covering it with E40,
then adding shadows with E41, E42, T1, T3 and T4.
To finish I added lots of dots with fine liner marker pens.

The sketch I’ve used for my card is last weeks
Create 4 Fun sketch
and the challenge over at ASFOS is a recipe:
3 PP, 3 Buttons/Flowers and 3 Gems

Thanks for looking 🙂

Hugs, Marlene x

Swing tag card..

Happy Saturday all..

Started this card this morning after seeing the lovely sketch provided by Bev for the new challenge over at

JUST MAGNOLIA

so cut the image out with an oval surround [like in the sketch] and started colouring.
Added finishing touches with my newly filled E43 copic marker and disaster strikes…
big blob of ink all over..
that will teach me to fill it up full to the brim!!

Luckily it was on the outside lines
and there was no way me throwing this image away and start afresh,
so cut it out and added it to a tag,
then imagination took over and cut another 2 tags
to make this swing tag as the centre feature 🙂

Happy mistake after all I think!!

*****

The papers I’ve used are FancyPants ‘Botanical’
and the sentiment strip comes from the coordinating tag sheet.
Used the MS valentine lace heart border punch
and used the offcut hearts as little embellishments
[paper is double sided, so had the choice of blue & pink]
The tiny tags by  the ribbon are made with my new SU! punch, they are soooo dainty!
The flower is made up with Marianne design die cuts
and as the challenge over at

CUTE CARD THURSDAY

is ‘Make your own..’ my card fits in nicely there too.

*****

Thanks everso much for looking and any comments you might leave,
Have a wonderful Bankholiday weekend!

Big hugs,

Marlene x

Honey..

Happy Friday!!

The JUST MAGNOLIA challenge blog is celebrating their first Blogoversary this week
with a big Hop & lots of goodies..
so I would be mad to miss it!

There is a sketch to follow,
provided by Mina and it is gorgeous!
I wanted to use this cute Honey Tilda and I had her masked and sitting on the honey pot..
but that made the image way too long to fit the sketch so I’ve cut and added her onto the ovals in 3D.
She is coloured with Copics and added lots of sparkle,
can’t see it very well in the picture but you can click on it to see the full view.
Also added a couple of little magnolia bees..
cutting them out was a challenge in itself with my nails!!! lol

I just had to use one of my new MS border punches,
couldn’t choose which but love this delicate looking one 🙂 [Tear Drop]
Used Tall Tales paper from Stampin Up! and edged with Choc Chip textured card stock.

Thanks for looking and any comments you might leave,
off to hop along to see all the gorgeous DT projects,
have a fabulous weekend all!

Hugs, Marlene xx

Gift set for 4 challenges

Good Morning!

Oh my.. I have been busy, seems like I had some catching up to do right?

When I visited Janneke’s lovely blog yesterday
she was displaying a gorgeous box that was the new challenge over at the
DOUBLEDUTCH challenge blog.
It looked so cute, just had to make a start straight away!!
It might look quite big in the picture,
but in reality it is only small and I couldn’t really use the boy image I wanted to use for it [way to big]
so I decided to make a card to go with it 🙂

The card fits in with 3 other challenges..
First the sketch is from the
SPOON FULL OF SUGAR
challenge blog provided by Nikki.. just yummie! Thx for sharing!!
Over at PAPERTAKE WEEKLY the theme is ‘CUTIE PIE‘
Well, if this little fella isn’t cute, I don’t know what is.. lol
Then lastly when I finished my card I noticed that it also fits in with the challenge for
ANYONE FOR ANYA
by chance where they would like to see 3 shapes [1 of 1, 2 of another and 3 of yet another] and I’ve got 1 star, 2 square panels and 3 rectangles.

The papers are once again by PINK PAISLEE and this time Bayberry Cottage was used.

The boy with doggie is from the TGF Buddies set from SILLY MONKEY CRAFTS,
I have paper pieced the boys hat, top and shorts,
everything else was coloured with COPICS

*****

Sentiments on box and card are SU!, as is the star punch.

Thanks muchos for looking and have a fabulous Thursday whatever you may be doing..

Big hugs,

Marlene x

Distress ~v~ Copics

As promised I’m back today with the copic version of my card from yesterday..

You might say…
I thought you used the same image and papers? why do they look so different then?
The papers are from the same MME Bella, bella pad only the blue section..
This pad is my alltime favorite at the moment and I can’t stop using it!!

Tilda has been stamped onto SU! whisper white with Memento tuxedo black
and coloured with Copic Sketch markers.

So… what about the difference??

My thoughts on this are as follows:

COPICS:

* Quick to apply
* Harder to blend
* Large colour choice [well over 300]
* Can be used with airgun for backgrounds
* Are a bit pricey [specially if you want them all!]
* Makes you feel like a kid colouring
* Easy storage

DISTRESS INKS:

* Easy to blend, little mistakes are easy to rectify
* More intense colours when applied in several layers
* Colour choice more restricted [24]
* Makes me feel like an artist instead of ‘kids play’
* Reasonable price for inks [or re-inkers]
* Good paper & brushes make all the difference, these are expensive!
* Easy storage

Conclusion???

I like working with both mediums,
I don’t think I’ve got a favorite and enjoy both in their own way.
I’m afraid you can expect to see projects in Copics or Inks on my blog for a while to come! 😉

Please let me know what you think.. love to compare notes =)

*****

For those of you that are new to Distress inks I’ve got a tutorial on how I use them
You can find it HERE,
It is quite an old one but hoping to update it when I have a few spare hours.

*****

I would like to wish each and every one of you a very happy Easter!
Have fabulous family time & lots of chocolate!!

Big hugs,

MARLENE xx

Sugar Nellie ~ Web Knitter

Today I would like to show you my card with one of the digital stamps from
SUGAR NELLIE
available at Funky Kits

She is called Web-Knitter and she’s sooo pretty!

Using Digital stamps is still pretty new for me..
this is only about the 3rd time I’ve ever used one.
Am I the only one who is having trouble getting these images printed out in the correct size?
And also does it always take ages for the ink to dry?
I think I definately still prefer the old rubba..
good job too as I’ve got hundreds of stamps all eagerly waiting to be inked up again soon!

***

I’ve followed the sketch that was put up today over at
PAPER TAKE WEEKLY
and as usual it is another cracker by Dawny..
Thx for sharing sweetie!!

The papers are from Breezy design,
flowers from my stash drawers and lots of doodling with a white opaque pen.

Thanks for looking and have a great evening!

Hugs, Marlene x

Ally Pally update & Anyone for Anya?

Happy Sunday all,

soooo… here I am with my update on Ally Pally..

Jo was lovely enough to send some fabulous piccies over this morning.. *thanks a million!!*

fltr: Jo, Me, Chris, Caz, Kim & Kim

fltr: Kim, Caz, Me, Bev, Jo

It really was a huge pleasure meeting up with all you ladies..((( big hugs)))

Now.. what did I buy? .. Yes, I can hear a few impatient voices shouting at their screens!! lol

Hmmmm, sure does look like alot when its all crammed on a picture like this!!!
But, it’s not all for me 🙂 …
I’ve got a Birthday Candy give away coming up so that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking with it!!!! LOL

At the moment I’m trying to put everything away in my craft room..
this then became a big problem as I didn’t have space left to put as much as a sheet of rub-ons..
so now my daughters are thrilled to bits with a big box of ‘older’ stash each that they now have to play with 🙂

On to my card!!

This is the first time I’m entering the ANYONE FOR ANYA? challenge blog..
This week it is a lovely sketch by DawneyP
[So sorry we didn’t get to meet up yesterday sweetie!!!, can’t wait for Birmingham!]

My card is made entirely from Caz stash that I kindly was allowed to use while I was at Caz’s house 🙂
[Thanks hunnie!!!]

I’ve stamped Miss Anya first and masked her, I then stamped Ian slightly behind her to make the couple.

They are coloured with Copics, loving this colour combo!

Used a nestie label die to cut the couple out and handcut the border around it.. finished my card with the sentiment and sticky pearl dots.

Thanks for the challenge and thanks so much for looking,

Have a fabulous day all,

Sugar Bowl ~Sketch by Judy~

Yay.. It’s time for another challenge over at the

SUGAR BOWL

This time we have a gorgeous sketch by Judy..
Love, love this one! Lots of layers and ideal to get the creative juices flowing!!

Have a look at the SB blog for all the information as we have another great prize up for grabs..
Its the new release from Mary Hall ~ Teenage

The DT have amazing cards to show you for inspiration, check them out HERE

For my card I have used:

• Stamp: “Upside Down” by Diane for Sugar Nellie
• Medium: Copic sketch markers
• Paper: MME \Peaceful
• Tools: Scalloped border punch [SU!], Floral punch and swirl [EK]
• Embellishments: Ribbon and bling dots from stash.

Thanks for looking and hope to see you over at the challenge

************

Enjoyed Ice Age last night, was expecting a little more though.. but the kids enjoyed it very much and that is what mattered.

Spending as much of today outside as I can and get roasted.. well, I need to pre-tan for Florida right? LOL

Hope to catch up tonight,

Hugs, Marlene xx

Friday Sketchers

I’ve just had the most fun doing the Sugar Nellie Blog hop yesterday! Loved seeing everyone’s creations, they were stunning!! each and every one of them 🙂

We’ve got Caz and Georgia over today and while I was waiting for them this morning I started this card for the Friday Sketchers challenge.

This cutie is called “Follow your Heart” and I just had to team her with MME smitten papers.

The image is coloured with copic markers and paper pieced with left over scraps.

It’s turned out a bit too pink[y] but that is very fitting to my mood of late..haha

On the photo above you can’t see any of the 3D details.. hopefully this is better visable on the closeup.

Thanks for the fabulous sketch.. enjoyed it!!

Have a fabulous evening all,

Hugs, Marlene xx