Mary Hall sweetness :)

Ok, so i couldnt resist sharing a few more creations using the new Mary Hall images - i loooove them, they really are the cutest lil things ever!!!

Two of the fabulous DT girlies Dena and Janiel have set themselves a mini blog hop where they are featuring some of these sweet designs. I just loooove looking at two cards made with the same stamp and seeing how different they are - I think it proves that there really are endless possibilities with stamping sooo ... here you go ....

Bold, bright and beautiful from Janiel ..


Soft, subtle and sparkly from Dena.


Seriously how different do the two cards look - the way they have both stamped the fairy at different angle makes such a difference too!! Oooooh i do love this fairy - she reminds me of a fairy godmother. Her actual name is Fairy Dust and you can grab her here, while you are there go take a peep at the other Mary Hall yumminess - you know you want to!!!

We really are soo lucky to have the fabby design team that we do. I loooove them all!!

Sugar Nellie Spotlight

Yey!! Its Tuesday again so that means that it is time to have somebody new in the Sugar Nellie Spotlight!!! - Have i told you before how much I love doing it?!?!? - Oooooh but i dooo - I always find such fabulous people - something that is really not that had to do when im looking at the Sugar Addicts blogs - seriously you ALL ROCK!!!!

Today I am soo excited to be able to introduce you to .....

Julie Baker from http://catchmecrafting.blogspot.com/ - What a fab blog addy!!!!!!!

Soooo, her she is ....

and this is what she has to say about herself ...

"Hi, I'm Julie and l'm a London gal born and bred, where I still live with my hubbie Nick, and my three lovelies, Holly, Harry and Emily. I started making cards "properly" as I call it, about 4 years ago when I truly got bitten by the bug. I've always been a maker of something though - whether cooking, knitting or crocheting. However, I am now completely obsessed with card-making!! I work as a payroll administrator for an investment bank in London, which as you can imagine is the complete opposite of this brilliant hobby - you can't be creative with payroll and tax, although someone might tell me differently! Every spare minute I have - lunch hours, evenings, weekends, I think about making cards or finding new stash to make them with. I adore colour - love my Promarkers, closely followed by Distress Inks - and try as I might I can't make a card without lots of colour!! Other than that, I love to try all sorts of different styles and techniques but I totally love stamping - colouring an image is totally theraputic. I can't draw to save my life but who needs to when there are so many gorgeous images out there! I've 'met' so many wonderful, creative people through blogging, who inspire me again and again. I've even met one or two in real life who have become firm friends - here's to many more!!"

Now for the bit im sure you have all been waiting for - the yummy cards - you are going to LOVE them i promise!!!!! Julie has an amazing selection of cards i could share with you today, so i have chosen to share creations using images from different Sugar Nellie collections showing you that Julie is awesome working with all styles of images.

This first card that i have to share with you is pretty in pink and features one of Gorjuss Girlies. A great card to share first with the Hello Friends sentiment dont you think!! I love the way that Julie has coloured the dress in the two different tones, it matches the background beautifully. Love it sweetie!!


How amazing is this tent card!! I have never made one myself, but just looking at this little beauty i am not sure if i can resist it for much longer. The purple and green look gorgeous together, and it soooo lovely to see some of the older stamps being used. Its too easy to ink up the new releases as soon as we get them - I know that i have a TON of neglected rubber!! Such an amazing card and I am sure it was gladly received!!


This next card is a STUNNER!! It has a simple layout but has tons of impact. I love the way that Julie has inked around the image, along with the papers it gives the whole card a vintage feel. Soo gorgeous. Isnt the missing you sentiment just perfect for that lil beauty sat waiting at her window - Im kinda presuming its a window now but still she is soo deep in thought!

The last creation that i have to share with you today is this gorgeous gift box. The attention to detail on this little basket is just breathtaking!! Look at the handle not only does it have the white decorative strip, Julie has added the pink floral border and then pearls on top of that. Its fabulous her colouring is awesome and those roses - well just want them - no wait .. NEED!!! hehe!!

I told you i had fabulous creations to share today didnt I!! They are all soo sweeeeet!!! Julies blog is awesome, I strongly recommend that you all go and visit her blog - I know i will definitely be going back!!! Thank you soo much Julie for agreeing to be in the Sugar Nellie Spotlight today! x x

Something tote-ally different

Ok, so that was my lame attempt at humour lol!! Today I thought it would be nice to share a fabulous creation with you by the looovely Sarah. Some of you may already know, but for those that are unware, our fabby DT sweetie Sarah is super talented and has creater her own templates which she sells via her blog.

Beckie the winner of the blog candy with a twist has let me know that she would like Daisy - lets face it who doesn't want Daisy - she is one of my favourites!!! I thought today then would be perfect for sharing one of the fab projects Sarah has created. Below you can see the backpack tote when closed. Its fab - I love all the details that she has added - look at the buckle detailing and the little straps at the top!!!


Here is a picture of the inside of her tote - I loooove it - you can see Daisy now lol - i wasnt totally mad when writing the post see - Daisy is connected!!!



If you think this is a tote-ally cool creation - head over to Sarahs blog here, and you can pick up the instructions and make your own. These would be fab to make up and sell at craft stalls etc, i can think of soo many uses for it - how cute would it be with crayons in one of the pockets and a little colouring book in the other!! It would make fab back to school projects too, or end of term presents for teachers!! Oooooh, do pop over to Sarahs blog and take a further peep - you can purchase the backpack tote in her side bar.

Blog Candy Winner :)

Firstly i want to thank all the entries that i had in to the blog candy!! I was not sure if people would actually enter with you having to 'work' a little bit to win it. Im sooo glad that you did though - sometimes i think its nice to have to think a little bit!! I tried not to make it tooo hard - but i am thinking it must have been really easy as TONS of you were emailing me the right answers!!

I have just checked over my emails again to make sure i didnt miss anyone and have updated mr linky before using Random.org to pick a winner .......
Congratulations .... Beckie from http://www.lilaclemondesigns.com/ I make you the winner!!! If you would like to email me with your choice in stamp and your address i will make sure you details get passed on to Funky Kits to get is posted!!!

Since there have been re stocks of the quick to sell out Mary Hall range here is a reminder of some beautiful cards made by Janeil and Dena, thank you girls your blogs is full of inspirations and ideas.

Challenge 32

This week challenge 32 was posted over on the Sugar Bowl, if you like BIG prizes, join Gayle and the sweeties and make something sweet to win a treat.

The treat this challenge is the SIX new stamps from Leanne Ellis which will launch in April, its just around the corner, where did March go?

Here is a beautiful card Marlene put forward for this challenge and as it was one of Leanne's designs I thought it the right choice for today's post.

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

Now on another note, I had an email from a Sugar addict saying she missed me on the blog!
Really?
Many of our readers have been with us since the start and have watched me as I have learnt the ways of the stamp world from the other side of the fence. I know that I am not the best with words and struggle sometime to say what I want because the typed work is difficult to read with out hand gestures and face pulling IYKWIM. Being Scottish I do not have much DNA that allows me to waffle on about fluff and if I can say it in two words instead of three, I will.

So who do you want to listen to on this blog, me, Zoe or Mark, yes the man over on Funkykits is going to start writing to you once a week, we want a little humor on the blog because we have bucket loads of it in the House of Sugar and a laugh is better than a scowl any day for us oldies with wrinkly faces. ;P

That's way more than two words..............time to go.

Have a great weekend, join in at least one of our two challenges after all, you love to craft don't you?




Karen

SCS card challenge

Pop over to Split Coast Stampers where we have our own little forum for you to chat and show off your creations with Sugar Nellie stamps.

The forum is way under used and before I make up my mind as to why we need it, I have posted a little challenge. There is a good chance you could win a nice bag of rubber as there is only one entry so far! Hey I know there are loads of sugar addicts out there and the challenge may show you something new.

Come on over and join in.
www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=484798


Karen

Some saaaad news :(

I have some sad news to share with you all today, the super talented Carole and also Rowena, have decided that its time they stepped down from the Sugar Nellie design team!!! Two of the sugar babes leaving at once - booohoooooo!!!! Each of them have their reasons for leaving and although I would LOVE for them to stay on, sometimes - and I know this is VERY hard to believe, but there are indeed other things in life more important than stamping - I know i cant believe I said it either!! They will both be VERY much missed on the design team!! I did have a different post planned today, but I thought it would be nice to share their very last DT creations with you today.

From Carole, I have this stunning card featuring coffee time - and that sentiment - well, she could not have used a sentiment on her card that was more appropriate for me to share today!!!! I am indeed soooo glad we're friends sweetie!!!! Im gonna miss you sob sob!! I love the shades of green on this card - its just screaming spring to me - perfect hun - i looooove it!!!


Now, from Rowena i have a STUNNING canvas!! Its completely delicious and i LOVE IT!!!! Its always lovely to see the design team use the images on things other than cards, and I am soooo glad that i have such a special project to share with you as Rowenas last piece. It is super sparkly too - always a winner with me!!!


I loooove it soo much i am going to share another piccy of it with you - seee it is a canvas really and a scrummy one at that!!!


Thank you soo much girles for all the wonderful work you have done for us, and on a personal note - thank you for being soo lovely to me when i joined the team bringing all my crazy with me!! We will all miss you dearly!!!!! Mwwwaaaah!!! x x x

Shaped card tutorial by Tiets!!

I had lots of comments and emails saying how much you loooved the card Tiets had published in the magazine so i asked her if she would provide a quick tutorial to share her with you and she agreed!!! Yay!!

Are you ready ........

1. Cut 2 pieces of cardstock to 13.5cm x 27cm then fold each piece in half giving you two 13.5cm square card blanks.

2. Using the fold lines as central reference points, cut one piece of card diagonally from the bottom of the fold to the top right corner and cut from the bottom of the fold to the top left corner on the second piece of card as shown in the below picture.

3. Glue the two middle square pieces of the cardstock together.

4. Cut another piece of cardstock to 13.3cm x 30.5cm. Fold 8.3cm in from each end of the card.

5. Stick this new piece of cardstock behind the one we just glued lining up the folds we made either size of the ‘square’ shape formed as shown in the picture below.

6. Now is the time to decorate the inside of the card with pretty papers, stamps, images, flowers, greetings etc.

7. Cut two nestablilities the same size from cardstock. Glue them either side of one of the triange shapes with ribbon inbetween ( this step is a little hard to explain but you can clearly see in the fab picture Tiets took!!! - one nestie either side with the ribbon in the middle)


8. This is the basic card shape!! We now need to add a piece of ribbon to the other side of the card so it can close. In the image below you can see that Tiets has stuck the nesties to the triangle on the right, and has a piece of ribbon next to the triangle on the left.


Stick one end of the ribbon straight onto the left side of the card and then cover over the join with your pretty papers. You should end up the ribbon coming from behind the paper so you can tie it up with the ribbon from behind the nesties - as shown on Tiets funished sample.


Thats it!! You can now make lots of fabulous card too!!! Here is a picture of the decorated inside.

Gorjuss isn't it!!! Ok ... now you know how to make it i would love to see your cards!!!!!!!

Sugar Nellie Spotlight

Yay, its Tuesday again which means its time to put one of you in the Sugar Nellie Spotlight!! I looooove this day sooo much. Its soo lovely to be able to let our lovely followers and fellow sugar addicts shine every now and then!!

I am really excited about my post today too!! Today I am featuring Debbi aka Wiccabbe!! You can find her here at http://wiccababe.blogspot.com and when you do go and pay her visit you will not regret it i promise she is awesome i promise!!! Dont believe me .... scroll down and see for yourself!!!!!

"Hi, I'm Debbi, a.k.a. Wiccababe (nothing more exotic than an obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the explanation behind that nickname). I'm thirty-something and live just south of Aberdeen on the NE coast of Scotland with my partner Graham, my 3 kids Scott, Willow & Faith (there’s that Buffy thing again!), 2 cat, 10 koi carp and a Cavalier puppy . I am self-employed as an Accounts Service Provider and am also co-founder, secretary/treasurer of Extra Special Parents, a support charity for parents and carers of children with additional needs. But I still manage to squeeze in a little crafting time now and again.
I started crafting about 2 or 3 years ago, first with card-making then got hooked on scrapbooking. Then in January 2009 I saw the Daisy stamp from Sugar Nellie and was instantly hooked on rubber-stamping, and Daisy is still my absolute favourite rubber stamp. Not long after I bought my first stamps, I invested in some Promarkers and found my wee niche.

I was chuffed to bits to be chosen for the first DT position I applied for at Passion for Promarkers where I get to indulge my 2 favourite passions: rubberstamping and Promarker pens which has also led to me designing artwork for the packaging of some products for Letraset and teaching some Promarker technique classes which I thoroughly enjoy. "

Now for the bit I am sure you have all been waiting for .... some fabulous creations!! Yey!!!! I looove sharing other peoples work here on the Sugar Nellie blog with you all!!! I have STUNNING samples to share with you today!!

Now I am sure you all know that Debbi is a PRO with her promarkers - If you ever really doubted her ability check out this card!! How fabulous is that hair!! I LOVE it!!! One perfectly coloured and fabulously blended manga girl sitting pretty there in her little frame!!! Gorgeous card perfect from spring!!

And how fabulous is this pink and brown creation ... each time i look at it i think mmmm hot chocolate with yummy marshmallows, you just KNOW that is what she is drinking dont you!! Such a girly card and i LOVE the ribbon flower Debbi has creted behind the sentiment!!


I was soo excited when i found these creations on Debbis blog - looook a RAINBOW of gorjussness!! How cool are these little beauties!!! I LOVE them!!!! So bright and cheerfull!!! Stunning hun!!!



I mentioned earlier in the week when i shared Tiets shaped card that i LOVE how different they are .. check this one out!!! How awesome is this!!! I really do need to sort myself out some tutorials and give these fab cards a try!!! I love how Debbi has offset the image on the front of this one, then balanced it out with the ribbon. Its really gorgeous and such a special unique card to receive.


My last creation i have to share is this STUNNER!!! How fabulous is this little basket container!! I looooooove it!!! Again, that lil gorjuss cutie has been coloured perfectly and i am loving the fact she is sitting on one of the lines in the paper.


Thank you soooooooooo much for letting me share your creations here with everyone on the Sugar Nellie blog Debbi!! You are AMAZING!!! I love each and every one of your creations!!! I am sure all the sugar addicts will too!! Please do go and check out Debbis blog, i honestly couldn't decide what to share with you today, all her work is fabulous, i promise if you do head on over there you will spend hours and hours browsing her gorgeous work so you better make yourself a nice cuppa first :)

Hey Chic-a-dee!!!

Firstly I want to thank you all for your entries into the guess the stamp candy!!! I have just caught up with the emails now - I have emailed you all to let you know if I have entered you into the candy or if you have the answer wrong. So if you have not heard from me now can you please email me again as i never received your entry!!! A few people have been getting the answer slightly wrong to the second stamp. I do have to accept the correct name for the stamp as is listed on Funky Kits just to make it fair, its not that I dont want to enter you into mr linky - but lots of people have got the answers exactly right and it wouldnt be fair on them if someone was to win with the answer not quite right!!! You are all more than welcome to enter until you are right though!!!

Enough of the boring details .. lets get on to some cards!!!! I have had some lovely emails and comments after my lil white rabbit post letting me know that they had completely forgotten this stamp could be used for spring / Easter creations , so I thought i would share another stamp with you that can be used in the same way!!

I have two cards featuring the gorgeous Chic-a-dee to share today. Now one of the things I love about the Sugar Nellie DT is that each of them member can use the same stamps and create COMPLETELY different creations - thats what the design team is all about!! Look at this beautiful spring card by the talented Tiets. She has used a sweet colour pallet of pastels on her card and i LOVE it!!


Now look at this stunner by Marlene!! Completely different right? I just LOOOOVE the DT soo much!!! How amazing is this lil beauty by Marlene - I think its just gorgeous and i am loving Chic-a-dee used with the muted pinks and browns - proving that its not just an Easter stamp too!!!


Well, if you have read through all my chit chat and made it to the bottom of this post then thank you lol!!! Tomorrow it is time once again to put one of you in the Sugar Nellie Spotlight!! Keep the entries for the candy coming too!!!!

Brand new Mary Hall!!!

Do you remember last week that i showed you a little peek on Rowenas blog of one of the new Mary Hall images being released? I have just checked over at Funky Kits and they are now up for you all to see!! I say to see and not buy because at the moment I am afraid they are out of stock :( - you should go and check them out though and start writing those wishlists - they are gorgeous images! Lots of fabulous little fairies and elves.

I have been snooping around the Sugar babes blogs and i found these two little sweeties to share with you. Dena has made this gorgeous card using Two little Elves. I love the softness of the green against the pink. Such a sweet little creation.


Donalda has used this stunning fairy - Fairy Dust for her card. Such a beautiful fairy and a fabulous sentiment that Donalda has teamed up with it!!


Do go and check out the stunning new releases!! I shall be checking for when they are back in stock and i will keep you updated on when they are available again. I just KNOW that these are going to be popular!!!

I found a couple of white rabbits!!!!

Last night I finally got around to seeing Alice in Wonderland!!! Wooooooooo!!! I loooved it!! I have never seen a film in 3D before and it was fabby!!! The film still fresh in my mind, and having promised you some scrummy Elizabeth Bell samples i searched through the DT blogs and found the PERFECT samples to share.

Today I have a card to share from Marlene and one from Donalda featuring Peek a Bunny - perfect right? These are ooooold samples from the DT, I hope they dont mind me posting them - I always hate it when I look back at my old cards - clearly not problem for these DT girls - fabulous creations to share today!

Both Donalda and Marlene have both used shades of green on their cards - and of course, we have white bunnies - gotta have a white rabbit!!


Gorgeous creations Im sure you will agree - and what a perfect image for spring/easter creations - not long till easter now you know .... mmmm think of all those choccy eggs!!!!!!!


I hope you looove the lil Peek a Bunny samples - you can grab this lil cutie here at funky kits. Why you are over there check out the other Elizabeth Bell designs - we are lucky enough to have several gorgeous stamps just perfect for those spring creations. I will be sharing more over the next few days but just couldn't resist these cute lil white rabbit samples after watching Alice!!!!!!

Thank you all for your blog candy entries - I am getting LOTS of correct answers - I am thinking next time it will have to be waaaaaay harder!!!!! I am slowly working my way through them and I will email you back once I have added you to mr linky letting you know if you have the answer right or wrong!!!

Candy with a twist!!!

The last few weeks, i seem to have shared lots of creations using the fabulous Diane Duda images, so i thought it only fair to feature a different artist for a while. Im not sure if all you sugar addicts know this - those of you who have followed all that is Sugar Nellie since the beginning will I am sure, but for those that are new to us .. Elizabeth Bell used to design stamps for us first!! Before she went on to design stamps for other companies, Sugar Nellie was the place to go to get your Elizabeth Bell rubber fix!!! Unfortunately she no longer designs new images for Sugar Nellie, this naturally means that she doesn't often get to feature on our little blog, so i thought i would share some of her creations over the next few weeks - she has some gorgeous spring stamps released with us!!

I know what you are all thinking ... thats all lovely but what about this candy .... well ... i thought i would try something a little different. Everyone can pop their name into mr linky to get a stamp, its easy .. to be in with a chance of winning this candy i thought it would be fun to play a lil game :)

Below are some little peeks at 3 of the fabulous Sugar Nellie stamps designed by Elizabeth Bell. If you can correctly tell me what stamps they are, i will add your name to mr linky and randomly pick a winner next week. PLEEEASE dont put your answer in the comments section as if you get it right other people can then copy you and it will make your chance of winning smaller!! Email me your answer to zoe@craigandzoe.co.uk and if you are right i will pop your name into mr linky. - I will pop your names on in order i receive correct answers via email.

Stamp no1

Stamp no2

Stamp no3

So there you go ... three little snippets of three fabulous Elizabeth Bell stamps. Whats the candy? Well ... the person that i pick next Friday via random org will win an Elizabeth Bell stamp of their choice :)

Once again ... please EMAIL me your answers and blog address and let me put you in mr linky, I will then know that all the linky entries have the correct answer and are eligible to win!! If entries are added themselves I am afraid I will have to delete them to make it fair on those that have played by the rules!! Have fun!!! - I have tried not to make it tooo hard :P

A sweet colouring tutorial!!

Well, as soon as i found this colouring tutorial over at the Passion for Promarkers Workshop blog, i haaaad to ask if i could share it with you all here!! I am just getting to grips with colouring using my alcohol pens, and can NEVER pick up enough hints and tips and I am suuuure that I am not on my own with that one!!! I find it really hard knowing how to blend and shaddow etc so was thrilled to have found this tutorial showing how to colour monochrome - woohoo!!!

This tutorial has nothing to do with the Sugar Nellie DT, but the wonderful Debbi has provided permission to share it with you here on our blog - how sweet of her!!!!!! All credit is therefore with Debbi and the Passion for Promarkers Workshop blog.

Soooo wanna see how Debbi can colour Coffee time? ....

Firstly here's what I used: Stampin' Up, Whisper White cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad, Coffee Time stamp from Sugar Nellie and Ice Grey 1,2,3,4 and 5 promarkers

Stamp your image onto the cardstock

Using the Ice Grey 1, I coloured where the shadowed areas of her skin would be, e.g. under the fringe, under her chin, the bottom side of her hands

Then I used Ice grey 1 again to colour most of her hair, leaving a small section in the middle white

I then took the Ice grey 2, and coloured over most of the area I coloured in the previous step, again leaving a small section near the middle in Ice Grey 1

Repeat this with the Ice Grey 3, then 4 and 5

I then used Ice Grey 1 in small circular motions all over the hair to blend the hard lines, you may have to do this more than once to get rid of the hard lines

For her tights and sleeves, I coloured the whole areas with Ice Grey 2 - using small circular motions

I used Ice Grey 4 to colour lines on either side of alternate stripes on her tights and sleeves

I then used Ice Grey 3 to colour the stripes in between, and then Ice Grey 5 on either side of these darker stripes - this makes the legs and arms look more rounded.

Using the same blending techniques as before, I coloured the dress, coffee cup and shoes

And the finished image...

Now how fabulous is that!!! I know that i for one will definately be trying it out!!! Thank you soo much Debbi for letting me share this tutorial here on the Sugar Nellie blog!! Debbi has even made a printable tutorial for you all which you can grab here. If you have found this tutorial useful, PLEASE do go and leave some love here, and if you give the technique a go i would LOVE to see your results!!!