Trick or Treat?????????????

.....this is what I ve been hearing since 4.30. Yep that's right that is the time my little ghosts,Dracula's, Frankenstein's and all the other gory characters started knocking at my door for some teeth rotting material and gosh they are still coming as I type this, where are they coming from? I only live in a small village with about 250 houses or so. Every Halloween I decorate the front of the house a little, is one tradition I have embraced since coming to the UK and I always play a prank at the door and end up making my visitors jump, I kinda feel sorry for the really little ones though. This year I haven't prepared anything new but used one trusty witch that I bought in post Halloween sales some 5 years ago, she is sound activated and gives out the most frightful witchy laugh ever( this laugh is bad enough to freeze your blood in your veins mwahahahaha) so I dangled her in front of my door tonight and as soon as they knocked at the door all I had to do is lift the flap of my letter box and let it drop in a loud BANG!! and presto the witch started... of course everyone is taken by surprise and gives a little scream or you can just see a little jump.....so funny. As far as treats go I normally bake them myself and they are as gory as they can get, imagine green almond biscuits shaped as fingers with whole almonds as finger nails stuck to the fingers with blood red icing, or eyeballs decorated as realistically as they get, unfortunately there was none of that this year as my SU business keeps me a bit too busy (today only my DHL man dropped 4 boxes full of yummy stuff ready to be sorted and distributed) so I'm afraid it was some shop bought lollies which I quickly made over by wrapping some white tissues around them and using a elastic band to secure, then with a black marker draw some eyes and a mouth. Boooohooooo hoooo

I also went out there and took a picture of my front door, I knew you'd want to see it. Lol

A very HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all my blog readers. Hugs Monica xxx

Wedding Anniversary....

....no no no is not my wedding anniversary again!! LOL. I have actually made a wedding anniversary card, for no one in particular but just because I like to have different occasions cards on hand. Like you probably know I sell some of my cards( although now a days I make less and less for sale as I just don't have the time) then also sometimes my neighbours head for my house when they need a card at the last minute too so yeah all good excuses to make cards plus the fact that I like to do nothing more in my *ME* spare time. LOL

And here it is, I have used a new combo after I have set a new challenge for myself, to work with lilacs and purples a bit more. So today's colours are Pale Plum, Chocolate Chip with a hint of Old Olive. The image is from the *Mr and Mrs* set and it has the most beautiful coordinating mini wheel . I am working on some wedding invites samples using this set to promote them in a local bridal shop near me so keep watching for them. The Pale Plum layer and the Whisper White have been scalloped and then layered on top of another I also got my piercing tool and template out and pierced a delicate border in the scallops. The image was stamped in Basic Gray and coloured using markers in Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and OldOlive for the stems and leaves. Choc Chip wide grosgrain ribbon was tied in a lush bow and some punched put circles topped with some pearls from the Pretties Kit were added for a fun accent. What do you think? M xxx

Go go go !!!!

Yay!! Is Gogo time! Hello is that time again where I am showing you my latest design team projects. October's kit was a fabulous one, filled to the brim with latest CHA releases from October Afternoon and it was perfect on so many levels. Very easy to work with which is why I love kits so much somebody is doing all the hard work of finding a selection of fab coordinating stuff and all you have to do is PLAY with them. EASY PEASY!
And just to show you how versatile this kit was this is the evidence
I have made a Christmas card
















Love the vintage feel of this card, the colours are beautiful together.
I have also made a man card




















I played on words a bit here not sure if is right or not, the paper was so nice I had to use it whole.
I have also made a ladies birthday card






















The white ornate strip was actually made from a rub on border, the beautiful felt flowers and the trims were also included in the kit. I am not a blue person but I like this card (well course I do, I ve made it LOL)


And I have made a Halloween invite and a little treat box to match.























Made the envelope for the invite out of some black core dinations card stock which I scored and sanded to reveal the underneath colour, and simply made the pumpkins from some oval punches layered on top of each other. Embellished further with rub ons and different accents( all from the kit). The ghost on the box was simply traced freehand with a black marker onto white card and cut around. The gorgeous bobbly trim was used to act as my handle, and please note that I have spent ages separating the different coloured M&Ms. what/ what did you say? ... oh what happened to the other colours... I guess is fair to say they didn't survived the next day. In fact neither thos ones in the photo. *giggles*
I have even managed to scrap some photos I took of Luca a few weeks before his first Birthday. This was made with a selections from the Create kit and Greetings.


We went shopping that weekend and we got him some pre birthday toys, well he spent hours discovering the new things his new toys could do and I just couldn't resist taking some photos. Just look at him smiling, love those two teeth.

Well thanks for stopping by and if you think you would like a kit subscription for Christmas check the website for details and while you there check out November's kit, is a stunner. Hugs Monica xx

Clubs, clubs and more clubs

Hello ever wondered what a Virtual Hostess club entails? here is a bit more info

A Virtual Hostess club is an opportunity for you to build a nice collection of NEW StampinUp! product over a period of time while spreading the cost and ensuring you are still receiving the fantastic hostess benefits associated with a qualifying order. A qualifying order has a value of minimum £150. For this the hostess is eligible to the following FREE benefits

-£25 worth of free product to be spent as you wish in the catalogue, you can choose between exclusive hostess sets or merchandise you decide. The bigger the total the bigger the benefits.

So here's what happens with our Virtual Workshop: 10 people get together ( I advertise for those people you don't have to provide 10 of them yourself, although of course if you know a crafting buddy who will love being part of this please let her/him know) and form a club, the club runs for 10 months, each member agrees to place a minimum order of £15.00/ month plus p&p. This will give us the minimum qualifying order we need every month. Each month a DIFFERENT member in the club gets to be the hostess and collects all the free benefits associated with that month's total. By the end of the 10 months all the members in the club will have had their turn to be the hostess.

Is as easy as that and each month a box of goodies will drop on your doorstep.You will also get a FREE copy of the catalogue and any mini catalogues released throughout the club duration Fancy taking part? email me NOW at telemech01ataol.com

Apart from your regular hostess benefits like free stamp set and free merchandise, I like to spoil you a bit too. You get FREE postage in your hostess month plus, If this was a regular workshop you would get the chance to make a very simple card, because we are not time restricted in a Virtual club sometimes you will get a kit to make up a cute project yourself along with a video tutorial, sometimes I simply send you a ready made project again along side you will have a video tutorial for it, other months you will get a sampling of new and exciting product and every month you will get an exclusive video just for you my club members. 

I will also set challenges and competitions where you can earn prizes, in other words I am keeping things fresh and exciting each month.

Fancy taking part email me NOW to secure your place. Thank you Monica xx

Delicate snowflakes.......

......is what today's post is all about. This was my bonus project for UStamp Holiday 2008 and it looks like it was very well received by the participants so I thought I would share it with you guys as well , I just love how easy they are and how very pretty, so is my mission to make loads of those this year all sort of sizes for my house, laden with shimering glitter of course. Enjoy and have a wondeful weekend . Hugs Monica xx

At last.....

.... I have managed to do the long promised scallop edge video tutorial. I know you've been waiting a while for it and I am sorry I've kept you waiting but here it is and I hope you will scallop your socks off now LOL> I wanted an easier way as all I've seen so far have been a bit more complex ones that involves a lot of careful measuring and lining so I'm hoping this will simplify things a bit. I also have a card to share with you and I got clever with some ribbon on it. What do you think? isn't it cute?























Crazy for cupcakes was the stamp set and Sweet Always the designer paper used, gorgeous colours and I went for a mixture of choc cupcakes with vanilla frosting and vanilla ones with strawberry frosting which one is your favourite? LOL. The image was coloured with my Stampin'Write markers, Bashful blue was used to add some shading. Now I've been inspired by the canopy cards I've often seen over on SCS and wanted to have a go at making one myself, only I didn't want to use the scallop punch so came up with the idea of ruffling some of the double stitched wide grosgrain ribbon, to do this I have simply pulled on the white thread. Looks very pretty IRL. Sentiment from Circle of Friendship set was layered using 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1" circle punches. Now enjoy the video and let me know what you think. Hugs Monica xxx

A bad boy.....

that's what Nico is lol. Hello and if you stopped by to see another stamped creation sorry I haven't got one for you today, but I am sharing with you my best friend. Nico is our 5 year old German Shepard and in spite his age he is still very much still a puppy in fact we often still reffer to him as puppy. This last week or so the weather's been so glorious and I kept thinking every day that it would be a good idea to take my camera with me on one of our daily walks so that I could take some photos of him as is been ages since he posed for a shoot. (I don't do it often as the blooming Nikon D200 weighs a ton.) So I did just that one day last week, we set off from home had a 35 minutes walk after which I decided to have a quick grooming session to ensure that the boy looked his best. Another 10 minutes doing that then a quick walk to find a perfect spot (you know how it is) and before I knew it he was playing hide and seek.... in the DYKE !!!!!!
Yep nicely brushed and fluffed up and he dived straight in.

Look mum, look what I can do !!!!!
















Oooh I know let's play hide and seek, can you see me??????????
















Yes Nico I can see you, now get out !!!!!! Ho hum ok ok I'm coming...





















Oh NOOOOOO !!! I ve got my hair WET !!!!!!

















Honestly I could kill him, he does this every time we're out and every time he catches me by surprise I never see it coming till he actually does it, like here I was playing with my settings and before I knew it he was heading down towards the dyke, so just snapped away so that I don't miss it, not brill photos but I wanted to share his adventure with you.


















Needless to say after this he just had to pose for some head shots, wet shots mind. Isn't he such a gorgeous boy????
Have a good evening Hugs M xxxxx

A rose is a rose

Hello I hope you're enjoying the weekend and that you are blessed with same glourious weather that we are experiencing up North, is just beautiful out there crisp but the sun is shinning and it very much feels like autumn, I just love this time of the year providing the weather's like this and not wet damp and cold. I have received yet another box full of yummy stuff from SU, I know I always say **You do not need everything!!!** but then I never practise what I preach and I get sucked right in and always cave in and buy everything . So if you want to see me using something in particular let me know and I will be happy to oblige.

My inspiration for the next card came for the beautiful flowers I have received at work on my anniversary, hubby is very generous and spoils me often and on the day I got to open my card and present in the morning and I didn't think I was going to get flowers as well, so it was a really nice suprise when I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers along with a box of beautifully wrapped belgian chocs. delivered. They are so beautiful and the lilys are starting to open up and fill my lounge with their delicious heavy scent. Here s a photo of the flowers

Gorgeous deep red velvety roses with lime green Alchemilla mollis and my faves Stargazer Lily's. And so my combo for my next card was born Real Red, Old Olive, Blush Blossom.

I have used the A Rose is a Rose and I am quite sure you don't need me to tell you just how beautiful this set is. This is one of the Two Step Stamping sets do you know what this means? It means you instantly become Picasso, honestly those sets are so very clever, what you get is you get 2 stamps for each image a solid and an outline, so if you look at my roses and you're wondering how I've ended up with this detail on them well let me tell you, the solid stamp I ve inked with Real red and stamped on my Whisper White card stock, and then using my Stamp-a -ma-jig I ve stamped the outline stamp inked with Bravo Burgundy on top of my first image, it is that simple and look at the result, incrediblly detailed looking flowers. The Blush Blossom card stock was stamped with a small flower from the same set, Old Olive paper from Haiku collection, B. Burgundy ribbon, the dotty circle was cut from Kraft patterned paper (level 1 hostess set), and the scallop border was made with my scallop border punch. Sentiment from the Sincere salutation and that beautiful frame is from Frames with a Flourish ( I will be using this one a lot I LOVE IT!!)

And a close up just to show you that I've got 3 d pads and I'm using them LOL. Hope you liked my beautiful rose and hope you will have a wonderful weekend>

ps. My Christmas wish list is proving popular, and if you re wondering what I m on about scroll down check this post out then get in touch and let me have your details. xxxxx

7 years ago.....

......................I became Mrs. Gale, and every year I end up making a card the night before our anniversary and this year was no exception ( why do I do this? I had 364 days to get it ready why did I ended up staying up till 12.30 am to get it finished??) Oh well, never mind is how things work. I also needed to make a male card so did those both last night as well as my project for UStamp. For Mr Gale's anniversary card I have used The level 3 hostess set Window Dressing ( WOW you need to spend big bucks to get this level which is a shame ) but I loved working with it, so cute and you can do so much with it. Colour scheme is Old Olive, Ruby Red, some chocolate chip wide double stitched ribbon. I have coloured my window using markers and ink pads and I have used a reverse image stamp to make two birds facing each other ( all together now...Awww!!!). A stamp from the Pocket Silhouettes was used to add the leaves behind the window( I wanted the greenery to be like a house plant trailing, but ended up like a tree !!!???/!!) The sentiment was perfect and it reflects how I feel about my hubby, I am a very lucky girl indeed .























For the next card I ve used the star from the Fun and fast notes set , basic phrases to spell Birthday Wishes, Short Order Alphabet was used to spell son and a frame form the * Frames with a Flourish was used to keep it all together, that s why I love having a big collection of stamps you can mix and match to suit you. A couple more stars from the Perfect presents set and job done, hope my customer will like it.

Colours used Really Rust, Choc. Chip, Brocade Blue, linen thread, really rust button and can you see what I did to the white stitching on the ribbon? I ve dyed it to match my star with a Bashful Blue marker. Hugs M xx

Same stamp set.....

.....different image was used for today's card. The colours used are Really Rust, Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip. The set is called * Bloomin With Beauty*, I have used my SU ink pads and markers to watercolour this hydrangea head, firstly with Bashful blue and then with Ballet Blue for the darker colour and to add shading( click on the picture to see a close up). The terracotta pot was coloured using More mustard and Really Rust. The sketch with the three panels is one that I found on Beate s blog I think is number 59, and I used some Bashful Blue designer paper backed with Choc. Chip. There is a gorgeous blossom definition stamp in this set and I have used it to stamp on the lower half of my card with Really Rust, the sentiment was stamped using Choc Chip. What do you think? oh and have you spotted the little bee? he has glittered wings you know lol

I also wanted to tell you about a little something I am offering for Christmas, by now you will have all seen the new catalogue and you will have made your wish lists right? and if money was no object this lists would include the whole of the catalogue if you're like me lol. How would you like on this Christmas Day to get exactly what you want from that list but not knowing what exactly you are getting? Confused? let me explain. I am starting to offer a Christmas Wish List Service, you make a wish list from the catalogue and you email it to me along with your name, you then give my email address ( or my phone number) to all your loved ones that are asking what would you like for Christmas, between us we will then arrange your Christmas gift that I will ship to them nicely wrapped up with a lovely hand made tag ready for them to sign it and offer it to you on Chirstmas Day. Fabulous don't you think? takes the stress out of Christmas shopping for your loved ones and it ensures you will get something you love but it will be a total surprise as you don't know what from your list you will get. Interested? get in touch at telemech01@aol.com and I will add you to my wish list service. Gosh I really feel like Santa s little helper although I m not that little, which is why I embarked on the diet of all times, hmm will see. .. Hugs Monica xxx

I ve been playing

With new yummy stuff. I am still waiting for my delivery of new stash but had a few bits came with my customers preorders this week so I just had to try some stamps out. The set I ve used is called Bloomin Beauty and is bloomin gorgeous, is perfect if you like water colouring as it gives you the opportunity to show off your skills, I have used my SU markers to watercolour this bloom. Now often before I start on a card making session I need some inspiration and I always head off to SCS, a few minutes browsing the galleries on there and I am ready to go, I never like to take my computer upstairs as I don't want to be influenced but what I like doing is either jotting down a favorite combo or a favourite sketch or a element that caught my eye, and then I just take it from there. Last night I did just that went throught the challenge forums and looked for colour combos and I found this one Blush Blossom, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa but I substitute it with Choc Chip. Of course at first I thought hmm ODD combo, but boy oh boy I love it. Here s my card, the sentiment is a Level 1 hostess set called Best Yet.

So soft and a very elegant combo. My base and the main panel are Blush Blossom an extra piece of blush was stamped with the paisley background in chocolate, and check that ruby layer!! it was scalloped using the infamous scallop punch !! and if you own both the threading water one and SU one you will see the quality difference, SU is so much better!

Now you will have noticed that I have changed my photography background, as the days are getting duller and the nights longer I need all the extra light so weather permitting I will be using the outside a lot more, I do however need to find something to work on, at the minute I m using my stainless steel rubbish bin. **shock**. Also UStamp Holiday 2008 has started not officially yet but the first bonus project has been posted and is so lovely, I am going to make some this year for sure. If you don't know what I'm talking about and you would like to find out more about UStamp go here .

Hope you had a lovely weekend, I ll see you very soon with more cards Hugs M xxx

Kristina s 25 th colour challenge

Yes I am mad look at the time but I ended up blog surfing and then decided to have a go at Kristina's colour challenge so I need it to post it before the deadline The colours were So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Ruby Red and Ballet Blue. The little buterflies are from the Level 2 hostess set called Cause for Celebration and the sentiment comes from the Level 1 Best Yet. Oh ok I can go to bed now night night lol. M xxx

ETA> I have changed the photo as the previous one was taken in the middle of the night so it wasn't very good . xx

I m seeing scallop border punches

.........and I will probably see them in my sleep tonight as well. LOL. My preorders have been delivered today so it meant I had to do a lot of packing, the good news is that if you preordered them from me they have all been shipped today so fingers crossed you might get yours tomorrow. Now if you preordered from your local demo and they ve not arrived be patient, they will arrive, the new catalogue is full of fab product and a big numbers of orders have been placed so far, SU warehouse is working like crazy to get those orders out so I am sure it won't be long, trust me it is worth it!!! I thought you might like to see this

I knew you guys would love those lol, I really loved seeing so many of them on my kitchen table if only for a few hours( oh and this were the contents of one box only I had two of them * smiles*) I have also been busy stamping a card for each of the pre orders so your package will contain one of those little gems. I wasn't so fond of them by the time I finished I have to say lol but I love how they turned up and I hope you will too.

I have chose an old favorite combo, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Rose Red and Old Olive, the stamp set is called * Live Your Dream* and is a new one for 2008-2009. I have used my markers to colour in the flowers, for the heads I ve used Regal Rose then went around the outside with the Rose Red marker, Bravo Burgundy for the center, Old Olive for the stem and leaves, Bashful Blue for the butterflies and Bravo Burgundy for the sentiment.

Here s a close up so you can better see

This technique adds depth to your image and really makes it pop. I love my markers and I use them a lot, just look at the coverage they give.. perfect every time, this is what's so great about SU the quality is second to none.

Ooooh I also have got some big personal news to share with you, not crafting related but wanted to share as I want to remember the date forever, tonight in my regular chats with Luca ( we speak every day he loves to hear voices over the phone and gets very excited) he called my name for the first time...Do you know just how happy that made me????? VERY !!!!

Ok it wasn't on his own accord he just repeated what his mummy said when she asked him *** Who s that darling, Moni?**** and he repeated a very clear Noni, me and my sis both shrieked at the same time ** Did you hear that??*** I definitely did and it filled my heart with joy, my little nephew is learning names...too cool.

Hugs Monica xxx

Do you emboss ?

Because if you do I have a challenge for you all !! Like you probably know I was asked to do a demonstration at a recent event hosted by Stampin'Up! and I demonstrated a technique called emboss resist, well since then I have had some requests to shoot a video of this and you know me by know, I aim to please so here it is Enjoy!!!!





Of course you can do this with any stamp and in every colour, here I have used the same technique but I stamped and embossed in clear over white card stock then rubbed bashful blue all over it. The stamps are from the gorgeous set called * Baroque Motifs* and is available now email me at telemech01@aol.com.

Right then so are you up for a challenge? if you are I would like you to give this technique a go and let me know what you think of it? Hugs M xxx

World cardmaking day

Hello, how are you? It was WCMD yesterday and wanted to update this blog, but a change of plans meant I had to work, there should be laws against working on Saturday's but I know I ve got it easy really with only one Saturday/month. So to celebrate WCMD a number of challenges have been set on the In Love With Stamping forum and the card I m going to show you today is one I have made for a sketch challenge, I will try more of them today as they do look super also there s prizes to be won so if you ve got a quiet Sunday try some out yourself, the deadline is 11 pm tonight.

The card uses a new set from the new catalogue it is called rightly so *A Beautiful Thing* and the colours used are Choc Chip, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie. I have used my markers to ink my sentiment.
Also I wanted to post a link to the video I ve made for UStamp using punches. Enjoy!! M xxx

HAPPY 1 st of OCTOBER !!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!! Finally the day where the new catalogue is launched is HERE, I was up bright and early this morning getting all my pre orders ready to be placed into the system by 11 am. So if you ve pre ordered something from me you need to know that the mission is completed order is with SU and I will update you as soon as the status changes to Shipped, also I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support. Of course I can now change my picture in my side bar and start work on more inspiring projects using the fantastic new product!! And my God have I got a lot of new stash coming from the new catalogue due to my promotion bonus. ( yes you get money to spend on yummy stuff when you reach certain promotion levels) EXCITED!!!

So I m showing you a card I have designed for my downline organized shoe box swap at High Wycombe last month. Is a simple card( we had to allow 15 min/project) and it was inspired by the old catalogue cover, over this last year with SU I wanted to case a few of the cards in the catalogue and never did so now was the time, the colours used are very autumnal and one of my favorites. Really Rust, Old Olive and Choc. Chip and the set used is the ever so beautiful Simply Said.

My next card features one of the new sets *True Friend* and it was made for a German friend and demo Irene. Irene is the German dream team member for UStamp has won a prize in one of my weekly UStamp chats, she got in touch saying she would rather have one of my cards than the prize and said that she could buy any SU product but she coudn t buy one of my cards anywhere (isn't that so sweet?) So here it is the card I made for her, colour combo is So Safrron and Basic Gray, the ribbon is Basic Gray taffeta. Two background stamps were used to make the background of this card, Paisley was stamped in So Saffron over Whisper White and the Sanded was stamped in Versamark and white embossed over the saffron layer, try this if you have the Sanded background the effect is just lovely. Pearls from the Pretties kit finish the card off.

Ok now I ve got some exciting news!!!!

I am so excited to let you know that Heather and Dawn are going to be hosting another round of UStamp......UStamp 08 Holidays which is "The 12 Gifts of the Holidays"!!!!! You guessed it, Holiday themed projects, that of course can be altered and modified to suit your needs!
The classes will run from October 13th to November 7th. During this almost four week time you will receive at least 12 PDFs from Dawn and I, bonus projects from from the Dream Team Members, videos, photos, chats and prizes!!!! I had so much fun the first round and i m sure we will have the same if not more the second time round, I am definitely missing those weekly chats and I ve got to make so many new friends from all over the world, if you re one of those that joined my chats, mwahh to you!!!!

Like the last time I have put together a selection of *Hot Picks* for you to purchase from myself at a exclusive price to go along with those classes and here s the content ( I will upload photos as soon as my goodies arrive)

STAMP SET SEASON OF JOY( set of 8 wonderful stamps).....................24.95

EARTH ELEMENTS A 4 ASSORTED CARDS TOCK ( full pack)...................6.75

HOLIDAY TREASURES DESIGNER PAPER ( full pack of 12 x12 double sided)......7.75

GOLD ELASTIC CORD ( a full reel)..........................3.50

DOUBLE STITCHED CHOCOLATE CHIP RIBBON ( full roll)....................6.95

SCALLOP EDGE PUNCH ( MUST HAVE)...................10.95

DAZZLING DIAMONDS (every girls needs diamonds)........3.25

OLD OLIVE INK PAD....................4.25
RUBY RED INK PAD.....................4.25

CHOCOLATE CHIP INK PAD..........4.25

Grand total.............76.85 plus £3.95 p&p

ORDER FROM ME AND GET THIS WHOLE BUNDLE FOR A SPECIAL PRICE OF £ 66.00 PLUS POSTAGE, ALSO EVERY ORDER WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL PROJECT STAMPED BY MYSELF.

Also if you're part of one of my clubs you can order this towards your monthly minimum at the same special price and if you ve already have those ink pads or any items from the list you can swap and change them just get in touch. Email me to order one of those packs at telemech01@aol.com !! Hugs M xxxxxxxxx