frozen in time

I ain't getting anything done for the weather, I have not yet been in to work this week but will chance it tomorrow if we dont get more snow in the night. I have to drive the kids to school as the buses are not running so I might as well keep on going into the city and see whats on my desk.

Candy draw goes to Melly, Congratulations Mel email Mark with your address info@funkykits.co.uk

I fail with my usual Tuesday post, tools or technique's, sorry but once I get to my computer at work tomorrow I
will get a few post scheduled just in case I don't get back in this week.

For all you that are trapped at home, start writing those Christmas cards out! LOL My tree is up but that's as far as it goes, done a little online shopping but got plenty of house work to keep me going if I get board!

take care and stay warm
Karen

Competition Time

Would you like a Spellbinder Grand Caliber under your tree?

This is the prize I have picked for our SIMPLY SASSY competition.

I have been so pleased with the response to Kristas work that instead of running another advert in UK Magazine I have chosen to do a blog competition with a GRAND prize.

This will be judged and not a random pic, I have my reasons as I am also looking to expand our DT and will be offering more than one spot to those who enter (if you have left me a comment about a DT place in the past this is the time to show me what you can do)

RULES

Your card must be original and posted on your blog along with the banner about the competition, the last round will be public voting so you need your followers to know you have entered.

{Members of the DT and Sweetie may not apply, sorry girls but you already know I love your work and it would look like a fix if one of you were to win, but that does not stop your friends and followers trying out.}

The PRIZE is a brand new SPELLBINDER Grand Caliber and an offer of a place on the Simply Sassy DT

And for any of the rest of  finalist there will be a choice of any 12 SUGAR NELLIE stamps.

My say is final, my competition and my rules! :P

Round One

Do your cards have the WOW factor?

I am looking for you to show me how well you are at adding colour to our

SIMPLY SASSY designs.

WHITE ON WHITE = wow

That's right, no colour other than on the stamped image, everything else must be white,

 the focus is on the colouring in and shading.

you have almost 2 weeks to make your card, I will be back with details of where

 you need to load up you enter

Karen

Sunday Spolight & New stamps

I have a very special post today as not only have we a sugar addict spotlight but having won some candy earlier on I gave her a sheet of new stamps to play with.

So first of all I would like to introduce Julia or sometime its Juls other times its the gitter chick.
Local to the House of Sugar Juls is a great fan of Leanne Ellis and just the crafter to play
with the new SPECIAL EDDITION sheet of stamps designed for us by Leanne Ellis.

Given a free hand to play with this A5 sheet of six stamps this is the wonderfully inspiring work she sent me...

Alice and the Queen of Hearts

Mad Hatter wishing you a Mad and Crazy Day or just time for tea

White Rabbit, idea for "I'm Late" and "Time to....retire"

not quite a rag doll kitten but Purrfect anyway

The King of Heart would make a great card for a couple along with the Queen

check out the shrink plastic charm too cute!

This set of stamps can me found online HERE

Be sure to pop over to the gitter chick AKA Juls blog

espcially have a look at what she has done with Simply Sassy Stamps

***You can win a set of these stamps and nesties over on the challenge blog****

Something for the weekend

Penny Black stamps on SALE

"Something for the weekend" offer for this week is for Penny Black clear stamp sets.

I am offering 20% off all the Penny Black set we have in stock.

 This offer is valid from today Friday 26th until Monday lunchtime.

I prefer all the cat themed ones but then again I am biased having four kittens of my own!!

Happy shopping, regards Funkykitman

Candy & New Artwork

 

Dena gave me the heads  up that Krista had this new design up in her etsy store 

She has a 10% right now with code SATCANXMAS.

So while I was there I had a look at her blog to see what she's been up to

http://www.saturatedcanary.com/saturatedcanaryblog.html

where this new artwork and other were showcased.

I LOVE her Dena and yes we can have her in rubber if Krista agrees :)

Maria Therese

Pat

Here are two of the sweeties with there take on challenge 48 over on SUGAR BOWL.

Have the girls inspired you to create using your sweet Sugar Nellie stamps?

Why not? Its one of the biggest challenge prizes out there in blog land !

***********

Now last night we had the first fall of snow locally. As I was sat  next to a cozy coal fire, husband and son were both out curling. I am sure that staying at home with Megan was the better choice tonight.

But I promised you some candy today so which better stamp than this one used by Sarah

and another challenge card from Ali

If you would like to win this stamp, leave me a comment with a name for the Simply Sassy Girl with snowman at the top of this post. Good luck.

Karen

What am I working on this Wednesday?



 from Sarah



from Judy

Another two beautiful cards from the DT using Krista  SIMPLY SASSY designs

 from Sugar Nellie sold online at Funky Kits

or at your local stamp store.

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

                                          

SUGAR NELLIE WINNERS are

1st - Andrea Neville,  Guisborough,

2nd – Jane Brown, Berkshire,

3rd – Sharon Dunbar,  Belfast,

The Thank You card on last weeks post was from Andrea, but we are not allowed to say anything until the mag is published. I have no idea how many entries there were as I was unable to travel down to choose the winner, the girls at the magazine picked 10 and emailed me pictures to choose from. I never expected to actually know the winners! It was not until the names and addresses arrived

 for sending the prizes off that I found out who had won.

 Congratulations girls I hope all that sugar is good for you!

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

So with one competition done and dusted its time to move on.

I have a Spellbinder Grand sitting here waiting to be sent befor Christmas, where does the time go.

I will post the competition up on Saturday and you will  have until Sunday 5th to post your card for round one.

We  a blog hop on 4th December for the new SIMPLY SASSY #3, and if  you chat on Facebook you already know there are BOYS!

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

I am working from home today, I will be doing the packaging for the new stamps and playing around on desk top publishing. I have files full of DT pictures that need a tidy up, a new blog that needs attention and

new artwork that need watermarked.

Megan is taking part in the school craft fare and I have a few things to make for that.

And I am waiting to hear from Tesco's if they will honour my expired vouchers,  £300+, so glad I did not bin them! The others I will be swapping for double the value before the offer runs out in December.

take care stay warm and come back for a little candy tomorrow :)

Karen

Bows Buttons and Flowers

Sarah has had a busy time with all sorts going on but I was delighted to receive these in my mail box last week. Clearly these are fantastic and I am loving the style of these, all tent cards with a topper and its a real good way of turning out several cards at once. Ribbons Button and Bows, I love them all and know that these cards will inspire you to do something along the same lines as the formula is simple and very effective.

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

I would like to pass on our best wishes to Donalda who is in need of a hug, take care of yourself and we are keeping our finger crossed that all goes well, we will be delighted to see you crafting but only if its not against doctors orders!

Take full advantage of support from your family because you have always looked after them now it's their turn to look after you.

Chrissy has a family emergency and has had to be called away, I hope too that the out come is positive and that she finds the strength to get her though this difficult time.

I may never meet these girls in person but they are still part of our family here at Sugar Nellie, our love of crafting binds us all and even if email is our only connection I would like to think that they know we are thinking about them and wishing them good things.

Over the years there have been lots of people who have passed our way and some girls are still around today, from everyone I learn some  new, mostly good things and I appreciate all our friends and family for their loyal support, kind words and comments. I am sure that there are many of you out there fighting your own battles with health , family and life in general, there is nothing I can say to make things better but only hope that in knowing that other are thinking of you makes your day a little bit better.

((((hugs for all))))

Karen

Sunday Spotlight on....

My spotlight today is on a customer to Papercrafts Boutique in Elgin, also know as the  House of Sugar.

We are way up in the North East of Scotland and we are always surprised at how far customer travel to come see us. We have several International visitors in the Summer and many more local addicts drive 3/4 hours to come see us.

 While in holiday in Scotland with ther mother and daughter we have had a few visits

 from Andrea Neville who surprised me last visit by telling me that she had won

 card maker of the year 2009.

WOW what an achievement that is. Sadly at the time Andrea had abandoned her blog, a must for all active crafters, but today I see that she has started updating it again. Clearly she has a sweet tooth and Sugar Nellies are well used in her cardmaking and I am glad to see her joining in our Sugar Bowl Challenges.

I am sure that Andrea will agree with me when I say,

 YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IN.

Keep that in mind when I post our GRAND COMPETITION very soon.

Something for the weekend.....

Hello Ladies,

 For this weeks "something for the weekend" offer we have choosen the Greeting Farm range of stamps.

Above I have shown Miss Anya Dressy with some cards made by the greeting farm design team.

We are offering 20% off all Greeting Farm stamps from today 19th November until Monday morning 22nd November.. some of the stamps are almost sold out ... so hurry for this bargin offer.

Kind regards Mark (AKA Funkykitman)

Alice in wonderland..

New challenge over on the bowl (link at the top of this page) where Marlene has set a sketch and the Sweeties have all followed it using a Sugar Nellie stamp, go on over and see those samples , they were all so good I did not know which one to post here so I chose Marlene's one as it has a Leanne Ellis stamp and that is what the prize is.............

Alice in Wonderland  sheet of 6 stamps designed for Sugar Nellie by Leanne Ellis.AND nesties WOW!
Very different to the arty style we have been teasing you with, more in the line with the Annies which I know you love because they are so dam cute and easy to colour.
I cant show you this special edition sheet yet as I have a lovely guest DT member making up the samples, she is a huge Leanne Ellis fan and I thought that her work deserves to be in the spot light :)

So its a great prize, fabulous challenge and there is nothing stopping you going  for it!
Good luck
Karen

Congratulations

This card has been designed  for us by Sarah and she has used the new SIMPLY SASSY stamp named

I GIVE YOU MY HEART

There is no one in the UK who does not already know that Kate has given William her heart and I am delighted to see this young, beautiful couple full of wonder and dreams for their life together, they have known each over a long time and I am sure they have worked through a lot of extra issue that arise when you fall in love with someone who has such a public life.

 William will one day I hope be our KING and the beautiful Kate our Queen, I hope that it is in my life time that this mammoth event takes place for me and you to witness.

The Royal family, like any family have not had perfect life's and with each new generation, rules and protocol relax and they are more people friendly than they have ever been.

I wish them both a wonderful life together, it make me all mushy just watching them.

I LOVE a good romance, I am addicted to twilight fan fiction and read every day. How many story lines is there where Edward and Bella fall in and out of love, so many I lost count a year ago. I am tempted to break my addiction and read something that does not include those two twilight characters but I just cant let go, not just yet.


*****************
So whats on my desk this Wednesday..
..... in my top drawer we have artwork from Mary Hall and Diane Duda, we will not see those in rubber this year as our schedule is full.
There are a stack of parcels for our DT who get to play with all the new designs first, those will go in the post today girls so watch out for a little sugar coming your way.
Some sample back from the factory of the SIMPLY ADORABLE :)
A couple of cards from sugar addicts, thank you Sue and Moira who posted those to the house of sugar, beautiful work girls thank you.

And would  you believe it TABLET, yes Tina one of our local customers heard me talking about my love of tablet and went home and made me some. She had never made it before and it tested her to her limits by all account but she came back into town and presented me with this........

and a box to put the sweeties in.

 I am gobsmacked not only at the amount of time

 Tina spent doing this but the fact that she did it for little old me!

so a huge thank you to Tina for her kindness :)

**********

That's all from me today, I need to get to the postoffice soon so ta ta for now, catch you again soon.

Karen

Try something new

The Color Spritzer tool can turn a Stampin’ Up! marker into an airbrush. Use this technique to create beautiful airbrushed effects. It’s great for card making, scrapbooking, and all types of paper crafting. This is a must for your creative "tool belt!"

We all have pens by now right? Over on the FB Sugar Nellies page the girls have been showing us all their cards and Lynn used this in the back ground of her snowman card for the Sugar Bowl Challenge along with her promarkers. I have always wondered how they got a mottled effect backgrounds, I am a great admirer of Chris's work for the Magnolia Magazine, and she does backgrounds like no other.

SO would this tool be the answer to how to get that effect?
IS it available in the UK magazine? I am sure someone out there can tell me more, come on girls share your review on this tool and see if its something that I could put on my list for Santa:)
Thank you for all your good wishes, food poisoning is a great detox of the system, see there is always a silver lining LOL


Karen

Sunday Spotlight

Now that I have found how to view where the traffic comes from to this site I am surprised by the results. This weeks highest generator of visitors from her blog is Jacqui Dennis, as a thank you for showing our banner on your site Jacqui and we would like to send you a goodie bag with some of the new 

 SIMPLY ADORABLE stamps to you with our compliments.

{email Mark at info@funkykits.co.uk with your address Jacqui}

Make sure you have the above banner on you blog and maybe we will be shining the spotlight on you next!

As a little treat is one of the four girls which make up this adorable new stamps which will be available at the start of December after the DT Blog hop.

The four girls have been names, thanks to everyone who suggested names over on FaceBook > Sugar Nellies, its great to  be able to involve you all. Some extra peeks over there too :)

have a sweet Sunday

Karen

SIMPLY SASSY now available

Saturday selection from Dena, it show the diverse selection of artwork here at SN, lots of different artist adds variety to our catalogue. Dena recently came to the UK to the Birmingham Craft show, I hear that there were many international visitors to NEC, lots from South Africa and Russia too. I hope Dena has a fantastic time and met so many of you at the show.

Just to let you know that Funkykits have SIMPLY SASSY set 2 now.

The following for these designs from Krista are building up a strong following and I am loving seeing what you all make with these sassy girls, don't forget there will be boys in set 3 so you can do cards for couples too.

I have also been notified as to the winners of the SUGAR NELLIE category and will be sending out loads of rubber to the winner on Monday. I wonder if there will be a surprise waiting for you this week?

take care, keep inking

Karen

Something for the weekend?

SFTW will be a regular Friday posting  on this blog. Some of you many know the origins of this catchphrase and we think its very appropriate that Mark offers you some rubber for the weekend? LOL
OK I could go further but I will try to keep it PG.

So sugar addicts on a Friday Mark your friendly and very helpful Funkykits man will tempt you with one of his other brands of stamps that he has in his ever growing store. All brands have been carefully selected from the bounty that is now available to the stamp trade and he has cherry picked the best from around the world for his store.

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

Hi Ladies, Mark here, my "something for the weekend "offer this week  is  from Kanban. I offer you for this weekend only 10% off all Kanban stamp sets. Here are some of the most popular ones here in the rubber cupboard!  

THEE best seller in the Elgin store, Papercrafts Boutique is this one which sells out again and again

and that is because Kate (store manager) has taken the time to make these fantastic samples which have inspired many customers to replicate for there own crafting addiction. Even wedding cards have been done with this stamp set because the tree especially is so usable is so many colour combos, a simple embossed tree with coloured gems or pearls is absolutely stunning.

So if I can tempt you with something for the weekend, why not used SFTW code at check out and for this weekend only you will get 10% Kanban stamp sets. How sweet is that!
Mark