My next TV appearance looms!

Yep you will be able to see me again live with my three latest CDs It's Funky Too ,Funky Seasons and V Funky on Ideal World on Wednesday 2nd January at 11am
this time the show is on Ideal World rather than just Create and Craft so it can be seen on all the following channels Sky Digital Channel 634, Freeview Channel 22 and Virgin TV Channel 747. I hope that you can take a look if you are about..It will help with my nerves if I know friendly faces are watching!!!

I have been working away on new demonstrations for the last week but I have to admit that with Christmas I am a little behind! I have one more to complete today and then I'm all done! I'm also behind because I bought some great chipboard blanks from a seller on Ebay (very good prices!) and I have been playing with them rather than getting on with my demos! I thought I would share one of the creations with you to justify not having my work done!!




The chipboard circles are 6" and I covered them with two co-ordinating polka dot papers from my CD Funky Seasons I spent a terrible amount of time rubbing down the edges with a file to then not be sure what to do with them! I finally decided on decorating the front with a circle of co-ordinating paper and adding one of my new bazzill flowers (Xmas pressie from Ian!) and putting a picture of me at my Birthday bash inside. As I am wearing a lovely paper crown I might add 'Birthday Princess' inside we shall see if I have the time! I joined them together with lovely spotty ribbon which was RAK from Samm through holes I punched with my hammer and eyelet tool (great amount of fun making so much noise late at night, my neighbors must love me!!)
Well time is marching on and I have work to get finished. If I am not back before New Year have a great time.

Hello again..I've just arrived back from Christmas with my parents. My poor Dad was really ill all Christmas Day but we still had a great time. I've eaten far too much and after the three hour drive home we stopped off at the little Tesco extra nearby and bought yet more to eat this evening!! We have to get as much eating in as possible before New Year as that is when the dreaded diet begins!!!
I have lots of work to do over the next few days as I get ready new demonstrations for my next Craft hour appearance on Ideal World on the 2nd Jan. When I have completed some new samples I will share them with you and give you more info on the show. Well have to go, my pizza and garlic bread wont eat itself!!! Hope you had a great Christmas Day and are still enjoying the holidays. x

Happy Christmas everyone!



I just wanted to send seasons greeting to my customers old and new and to everyone who I have been lucky enough to meet this year through this wonderful thing the 'internet'!! It's been a mad year for me with loads of exciting things happening. 2008 looks like it's going to be just as exciting! I have another show coming up on Ideal World TV which I will tell you about in my next post but for now..I have to get ready to go out to dinner. How posh are we??!! Enjoy yourselves whatever you are up to. xx

New Papers, New Cards...

Ian went out for a Christmas get together for work last night so I designed some new papers for my next CD. I was so pleased with how they turned out that I was inspired to make our parents Christmas cards, thank goodness something got me going!



They are a bit Funky and retro but I am pleased how they turned out!!

Blogging two days in a row..what's going on?!

I was a busy bee yesterday making Christmas cards and I also had to make a birthday card with a mobile phone theme (!) Here is the result



I have to admit it didn't take very long and wasn't particularly inspired. Luckily I had a few of these Lily of the Valley toppers left in my craft box so I layered up two (my pathetic attempt at decoupage!!) The paper is from the Black and white Collection from my CD Funky Seasons The happy birthday stamp is a well used Penny Black that comes out for pretty much ever birthday card these days. Note to self 'buy some new stamps in the new year'!!

Why do us crafters change our minds so much?

Or maybe it's just me!! I had pulled together a quick idea for Christmas cards this year as I have been so busy and couldn't put as much effort into them as I would have liked. Today was the final day for getting them done, otherwise I would be missing Christmas. I sat down in my craftroom.. and then thought 'maybe I could do something different'..over an hour of precious Christmas card making time later I was still messing about with other ideas!

Here are my final cards and I have loads of them drying all over the craftroom and office so this is it..no more changes!







The paper designs are all taken from my CD 'Yule Be Funky which I'm amazed is still selling well..maybe I'm not the only one who is leaving making their cards to the last min!!

Yesterday I did the last of the Christmas shopping, it was a pretty nightmare day. I drove into Newcastle city centre and then sat in traffic queuing to get into a car park for over an hour! I'm not the calmest car driver at the best of times so I have to admit to a bit of subdued road rage. In the end I was out of the house nearly two hours just trying to park! I ended coming back home and calling a cab to go back in! I got everything done thank goodness but I was two cab fares lighter in my purse.

All this trouble and stress for one day..makes you wonder why we bother really!!

Now I have to make a card for Ian's nephew we have bought presents for but to make up the gift are giving cash for him to use on his mobile (he's only nine..who's he calling you wonder!!) and I have to make a 'mobile' themed Christmas card..why do I do this to myself?!!

I need to get a bit more 'Christmasy' around here!

So here's a little Christmas Tree I made earlier!


I have actually had time today to start back on the designing track for my next CD..but then I didn't get very far because I started playing with this Christmas Tree. I can get so easily distracted when I am working in Photoshop! Anyway I thought I would share it with you and get my blog looking at little more Christmas like!
I am waiting for Ian to get home from work and we are off to the Metro Centre to get our Christmas shopping done. Life has been so busy recently that we are really really behind this year. So, we are going shopping and we have a pact that we are not coming home till it's all done... I think it might be a late night as I haven't a clue what to get everyone yet! Wish me luck!

This is my 100th blog post!

I suppose I should be doing something special but I have just been so busy recently I haven't had a chance to think of anything exciting! Maybe I'll come up with something for the 200th!

One exciting thing I have done today though is make cards! Wow!..I hear you say isn't that what you do? But recently all my cards have been business related, I haven't made cards for an occasion. So today I got to make my first Christmas cards and a Birthday card for Ian's brother who lives over in the US. Even though I have made cards they unfortunately have had to be made faster than the speed of light so they are pretty simple.
Here are a couple colour ways of this years Christmas cards. The card has been printed onto directly from one of my papers from my CD 'Yule Be Funky' and I threw the topper together on photoshop in about five mins flat!












The birthday card has the same basic theme (I'm embarrassed to admit!) I printed one of my papers from 'V Funky' straight on to card and made the card base and then added a 'BRO' topper from the same CD. A simple Happy Birthday stamp by Penny Black and it was all finished.



I'm hoping to be able to get back to making more cards and joining in with a few more challenges soon.. but with my next TV appearance looming I think that might be a bit of a dream.. Oh well no rest for the wicked!!!

Phew! This last week has been hard work!

Since my appearance on Create and Craft my website has been mad with orders and I was completely unprepared for the overload!! All the orders are completely up to date and in the post now so if you are one of my customers and have been waiting for your order..please accept my grovelling apologies for your wait. I promise that I will be better prepared next time. I've already started..I have 3000 jiffy bags being delivered this afternoon! Where, you might ask are you going to store 30 boxes? Well my lovely Smart Roadster has been thrown out in the cold on the street and they are going in the garage. My Smart wont like that as it's used to being safe and warm..but needs must!
On the life front (as I haven't had much of one for about two months) I can finally start looking forward to Christmas with my parents. Last year we went on a Caribbean cruise for Christmas and while it was very glamorous and great fun to be with our friends..I did miss the whole Christmas tinsel thing! So this year I intend to get an overload of sparkle and Christmas songs. Ian really doesn't like all the Christmas stuff but I love it! My big problem now is that I haven't even started making any Christmas cards never mind Christmas gift shopping.. I think I have my work cut out for me over the next few weeks. So it looks like the hard work isn't over yet!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Well that terrible time of year has come around again..I'm one year older ! Last night I went out for meal with a gang of my pals and whilst the company was great the service at the restaurant left a little to be desired! I have to admit though as they sold Cherry beer I can't remember too much of it! Here are a few pics of my birthday night out...





Yes I am afraid in the last photo I was trying for the Victoria Beckham 'pout' look and I think I pulled it off!! Ian disagrees but I thought I'd add it here for the laugh!!
I had some great pressies this morning, my favourite being a new left handed keyboard which I am using this moment to write this blog!! Thanks Ian! Unfortunately it hasn't been a fun filled day as I have had loads and loads of orders since my appearance on Create and Craft and they all needed processing, so that was my day today..Oh well who said being self employed would be a bed of roses??!!

Wow! What a couple of days!!

If you didn't already know I had my first experience of appearing on Create and Craft shopping channel on Thursday morning!! I am told it went great..as I can't bring myself to watch more than a couple of mins of it I wouldn't know! It was a mad day, we were up at 5am and at the studio for 7am. The time flew by till 9am and we went live. It seemed like about 10 mins rather 60 and then it was all over!

Here I am about an hour after we had finished just as we were about to start the four hour trek back to Newcastle.



I want to thank everyone who has been so brilliant whilst I have been preparing for this show. Samm and Shirley (Hi Mom I know you will read this!!) for their fantastic cards. I could never have made enough in the time..or them be as good as yours are!
The brill buyers at Ideal world..poor Amanda has had to put up with alot more from me than she should have!! and of course Ian, who is NOT my husband no matter what you hear on television, who I couldn't have even started to think about this company but for his technical know how but more than that his total support.
I also want to thank all my fantastic 'virtual' friends on all the forums who have been so positive and just great when I was feeling like everything wouldn't come together. Virtual or not you are really mates!
Finally I want to thank all my customers past and future who make this job a pleasure because you are all so enthusiastic about your craft.

Right that's the end of the oscar speech I promise! I have some serious work to get done today but tonight I am going out to dinner with all my friends because tomorrow is my birthday..oh no 39 has come around so fast!!

Create and Craft tomorrow 9am..be there or be square!



Can you tell that I am a bit hyper? Well finally, here it is..my second attempt at presenting three of my CDs on Create and Craft shopping channel. I have checked and double checked everything and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that everything goes ahead this time. We will be setting off to Peterborough this afternoon so hopefully we can get there before the England match starts as Ian really wants to watch it!! I have to do a bit of ironing, so my clothes aren't totally creased on TV and re check my craft tote to make sure I haven't taken out anything I need for my demos.
Well I had better get started it's already after 9.. I'll let you know how it went, but then you might have seen it before I do!!!

Sorry it's been so long...

Once again I have been side tracked by my work from posting on my blog so it's been ages since I updated you on anything I have been doing. Well, work really that's about it! Not particularly interesting for a blog entry I know!!
Everything is in place for my appearance on Create and Craft on Thursday (Thursday Favourites 9am, Channel 661)so I am crossing my fingers that it all goes ahead this time!!
Today I am visiting the hairdresser again to get my roots done. It's such a pain having to have my hair coloured every four weeks, but I should be used to it by now I have been grey since I was thirteen (yes, thats 13 years old!) so thats a few years of colouring!! Most people see grey hair as a sign that they are getting older..it's just always been part of my life, thanks Mom and Dad for giving me 'grey early' genes!! Though I have to admit I am getting older now.. it's my birthday on Sunday and I'm going to be 39. Oh dear, I always thought that by this age I would be a stylish older woman who oozed confidence and wore classy clothes... nope I am still me, sitting here in my scruffy PJ's covered in glitter! Oh well best get dressed to go the hairdressers. The best thing about my hairdressers is that they have all the trashy Celeb mags, that I look down on as 'rubbish' out here but love to read when I am covered in brown hair dye with a plastic bag over my hair!! How strange is life!

Wanted to share a new Digi scrap page with you.

Life has been a bit 'lively' here at Funky Hand Towers this week and I just haven't had a moment to visit my blog so I thought in a spare 5 mins this evening I would post a digi scrap page I created a little while ago.



It reminds me that however busy I am I should take time to spend time with Ian... and on that note I will go downstairs and watch TV with him!!

How embarrassing !!!

I'm sitting here in a hotel room in Peterborough waiting to head off to the TV studios for my big debut. Except I'm going to be waiting a bit longer as they've gone and postponed it! Can you believe it? 2 hours before I'm due to go on I get a phonecall delaying the show. There's nothing I can do, I have been given a new date but as you can imagine, after telling you all to look out for me today it's rather humiliating. So sorry to disappoint everyone, you're all going to have to wait until Nov 22nd @ 9am to see me.

Had an early start this morning!

I was wide awake at 5.30am this morning so I got up (quietly!!) and processed my days orders and planned some more demos. I sneaked back into bed at 7pm for the alarm to go off practically straight away! So I got up again !
I realised that with all this excitement over Create and Craft I had forgotten that it is my Dads birthday on Sunday so I created this card for him this morning.



The paper is from my next CD which I have been working on for a little while. It's amazing what you can get done in a short amount of time if you need to!

I'm off to have some well deserved breakfast and then I have to start all over again. No rest for the wicked! Hopefully I will be back later to let you know how I got on as the count down continues!!

Well so much for blogging every day this week!

Sorry I missed a post yesterday, things were just mad here and I didn't realise that I hadn't written anything until I was going to bed!

With the end of the month has come the end of my competition with Card Making and Papercraft magazine. I had hundreds of entries.. 777 to be exact! How amazing is that? I have drawn the eleven lucky winners so their prizes will be in the post next week. Pictures of me picking them out will be posted later in the week when I have worked out how to use the new camera!!

I have been working away on getting ready for Monday all day again, but I did get to make some cards and I thought I would share this one with you..as I haven't had any to show for a while.



Tomorrow I am going to have an early birthday pressie from Ians parents, a luxury manicure..looking down at my nails at the moment I think the beautician will need to be a miracle worker to get them in any decent state !

Well until tomorrow...

Boy am I getting through some ink!

Well here I am again, one day closer to my Create and Craft debut and a whole lot of ink lighter! I have been printing example papers..not just a few papers though..reams and reams of them!! I have also been spending most of the day trying to arrange the papers in an attractive way for presentation. Whether I have succeeded will be judged by the viewers I suppose!
As well as printing papers I have also been designing an advert to go along with my card design which will be included in the next edition of 'Designer Cards' to be given away with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine, but not until next February I think so don't go looking for it anytime soon!!
I really should carry on working this evening but I think a nice cup of tea and a sneaky watch of the last part of Silent Witness that has been on Sky+ for ages is more appealing!! Well 'tomorrow is another day' as Scarlett O'Hara once said and I have loads more things to get done. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted!

As you can probably imagine it's a bit of a mad house here at the moment as I now have less than 7 days to finish off getting ready for my debut on Create and Craft. My craft room looks like a bomb has hit it! There are half made cards and half ideas all over it. When I will finally decide which demos are the ones I am going to be settling on is anyones guess..probably Sunday morning as we are packing up to go down to Peterborough!! I'm afraid I am always better when I haven't got too much time to change my mind 50 times..

I was a sight to be seen this morning when I took a whirlwind shopping visit to the metro centre to get some last minute paper supplies from good ole' WH Smiths (copier papers) and the trusty Papermill shop for my craft card and paper. In the end I was carrying what equalled five reams of paper through the shopping centre to get back to my car. As I only have one good hand for holding anything, I looked like some hunched up poor old woman stopping every ten steps to rest my arm!! Thankfully the lass behind the counter at the Papermill shop let me put the copier paper behind her till so I had hands free for spending in her shop, maybe it would have been better if she hadn't..I wouldn't have bought so much!!

Wish me luck for getting everything ready, I think what I will try to do is update you on my progress each day this week..you can tell me off when I am slacking!! Until tomorrow!

Thanks Cheryl for nominating me for the 'You make me smile Award' !



Now I have to nominate 10 other bloggers who do the same for me..this might be hard as this tag seems to be everywhere at the moment!! But here goes, everyone on this list makes me smile everyday, enjoy your award!
Samm
Lyndsey
Amanda
Incywincytogs
Lisa
Lou

Oh dear didn't do that well..only six but that's better than nothing I suppose!

Happy Birthday Daring Cardmakers !

It's the wonderful Daring Cardmakers Blogs birthday and they have challenged us card makers to make a card with a Friends theme, here's the full challenge:
The subject is, as in our original dare "friends", but this time the title is
CIRCLE of FRIENDS and we'd like you to incorporate at least one circle into your card.

I really enjoy joining in when I can with the challenges and get lots of inspiration from the wonderful cards that the other darers create so I couldn't miss out on this special one now could I!



I am frantically making cards and designing demos for my impending Create and Craft debut and this fitted wonderfully into an idea I had had earlier in the week. The papers are from my CD Funky Seasons they are from one one the summer collections. I used three different papers two to layer up as backgrounds and I cut a large circle from the third. I decided that it needed to be a bit more interesting so I cut around it with some fancy scissors, it ended up not being as circular as it originally was due to my bad cutting skills but with a bit of inking and faux stitching it fit the bill! The letters are cut from the matching large Alpha that goes with the paper collection that is going to be released on the new updated versions of the CD to be launched on C&C.
My parents are visiting us this weekend so I have loads of cleaning up to do..bathrooms are calling but so is my craftroom.. I wonder which one will win??!!

Di Hickman sketch

This is the first time I have joined in with the sketches on Di Hickmans blog but I needed some inspiration to make a birthday card for my friend Lisa and this sketch was just what I was looking for!



It's very plain and simple just three circles cut out of papers from my CD It's Funky Too I inked the edges and then added faux stitching with a grey Sakura Souffle pen. The flowers are Prima with a large papermania brad. I hand wrote the Happy Birthday sentiment just to keep it very plain. I am happy how it has turned out..hopefully Lisa will like it too!

Life here at Funky Hand Towers is frantic at the moment with trying to keep up with orders and designing demos for my Create and Craft live show. Wish me luck I have three weeks left and so far have only come up with one decent idea! That leaves me with about 5-6 left to do... best get back o it!!

My big news!

I've been hinting that I had something exciting happening for ages and I can finally let the cat out of the bag! On the 5th November at 1pm I will be guest presenting on a live show on Create and Craft Shopping Channel.

On the show I will be premiering three of my CDs
It's Funky Too, Funky Seasons and V Funky

I've been working hard over the last month updating the CDs content and I have added lots of great new extras and papers. The new updated versions of the CDs will be launched on Create and Craft and then on my website.

It's been such a busy time getting everything ready over the last few weeks and then last Friday I had to go down to the Ideal World studios in Peterborough to do a screen test before my appearance was confirmed. I was pretty nervous but, thankfully, it all went well and you will have the dubious pleasure of seeing my ugly mug on the telly talking about my CDs and doing a few card demos in November!

I thought I would share the card that I designed and made for my screen test, unfortunately I wont be able to use my Bella stamps in the live show as I don't have the copyright to do so..and Create and Craft don't sell them so I will be using other things but for the screen test I could do what I liked so this is what I came up with.



I now have to start designing cards and scrap pages for the show so wish me luck!
Luckily for me though I have had some amazing help with making the cards as examples to have on the show and I would like to say a really big thank you to Samm Livett (see her fantastic blog By Samm) and Shirley B, for creating the most fantastic cards with the papers from my CDs. Having these great examples will make me much more confident about showing my designs to the crafting TV viewers!

I'd also like to thank my wonderful techy partner Ian for all his hard work since we started the business, I think he got a little payback on Friday when we were sat in the Green room at the studios waiting to be called for my screen test and three models came in and sat next to him on the sofa..next time he will be taking his camera to have his picture taken to prove to all his geeky work mates what he was upto on his day off.. bless!

I never seem to be able to catch up with everything that I need to get done.

Well that's how I have been feeling but today I seem to have been able to find time from somewhere and I have been able to join in with last Fridays Daring Cardmakers challenge. Here are the challenge details:

This week I’d like you to use a FRAME or FRAMES on your card. You can use any type of frame you so wish. How about a die cut frame or a hand cut frame. You can frame your card with brackets or flowers or how about some doodling - the choice is yours.



I hand cut a 'frame' (hence it not being perfectly straight but I thought it would just add to the card!) from a paper from my CD V Funky I used the same paper to cover the chipboard letter that I used as the main letter of the 'angel' sentiment. The chipboard letter is from Maya Road. I finally got round to using my new Tilda stamp 'Tilda with a Heart' which I coloured using twinkling H20 paints. I finished off the frame and letter with prima flowers. It's a pretty simple card but..that's the way I do them!!

It has been a real surprise to me how many entries I have already received for my competition in Card Making and Papercraft magazine. I was worried that I wouldn't get enough entries to cover the prizes available.. now I am beginning to worry where I will keep them all as they just keep coming and the competition doesn't close until the 30th October!! My postmans face was a picture this morning as he had to come back to my door when he realised that he had a separate bag just with postcards for me and the two boring bills he had already posted through the door were not the only thing I was getting this morning!!

Here it is.. my first competition in a craft magazine!




This is Issue 45 of Card Making and Papercraft Magazine, in the shops on the 2nd October but subscribers will have received it this weekend. It's pretty exciting to see my papers all laid out. I advertise regularly in mags but it's different when it's not just an standard advert. I hope you will try out for the competition! I'm giving away 11 sets of all 5 of my CDs they are already sitting here waiting to be sent out to the lucky winners at the end of the month!

I have a super busy week ahead of me..and I hope I will have some exciting news to share with you next weekend..we shall see! Ian is working away at the moment fine tuning the new version of my website which hopefully will go up this weekend, it has a great new look and customers will be able to create an account and track orders they place. With this new website I will be able to start to move into lots of new areas like downloads etc..so keep your eye out for all the changes over the next few days!

I am hoping to be able to get some crafting done this afternoon, if I do I will share my creations later. Enjoy your weekend!

I received my new Bella stamps last week and today is the first chance I have had to play properly. I couldn't resist this 'Click-a-Bella' stamp when I saw it as I'd like to think this is just how I look when I am designing!! (I wish!) She's even left handed just like me!!



The image is stamped with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder then I coloured it with Twinkling H20 paints (that never really show up that well in a scan) The backing paper is from my CD V Funky I inked the paper and the image and added chalk around the edges to grunge it up a bit. The ribbon has been attached with a brad from a set that I won on Ebay last week. I don't know who they are by but they have a little ring off the brad head where you can tie the ribbon through. I was a little fiddly but I like the effect!

I had an entertaining morning this morning as I was helping out a friend who needed a lift to get his car to a garage to be mended. I needed to visit our local Hobby craft..as you do.. and Neil was kind enough to let me go there before dropping him back home. He'd never been in a craft store before and I was worried that he might be really bored. Actually I think he quiet enjoyed it.. though I don't think I will be getting a new card making buddy just yet! I spent rather a large amount of money on stash that I 'needed' of course. It's getting a bit stupid in my craft room at the moment I can hardly move! Right I had better to get back to it my other Bella stamps are calling me and I need to clear up before Ian gets home!!

I know you have probably all done it. Started a craft project with lots of excitement and enthusiasm only to want to throw your project in the bin after two hours of crafting from hell!! This morning I decided that I was going to try Iris folding for the very first time. I am not the most dexterous person ever as I have a dodgy right hand but I convinced myself that as long as I took my time it would be OK. All I can say is it's a good job there are no children in this house..the air has been blue all morning!!
I didn't give up but I really wanted to! Here is the result of about two hours hard labour.



I'm not particularly proud of it but as I have wasted most of my morning trying something new I thought I would share it with you. I think I need to have some late lunch and chill before trying to go back in the craft room again today!!

Two posts in one day..what is coming over me?!! I couldn't resist taking part in this weeks dare over at Daring Cardmakers as I am in the middle of making sample cards and this fitted in just perfectly with what I was working on!

Here's the dare:
This week I dare you to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do!

Here's my card..



At the moment I am working so hard that coffee is pretty much what's keeping me going!! The paper and letters are from my updated CD 'It's Funky Too' which will be available at the end of October. The ribbon is by Dovercraft and the flower is a Prima (of course!) the large brad is from K&Co and it actually says 'Time' as it's not that clear on the scan. You know what..I think it is coffee time, bye for now!!

Hey I've been tagged by Samm

I haven't ever joined in with a tag before but I have decided not to be so boring!! and join in with this one. Thanks Samm!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Joey Smart (not very rock and roll sounds like I should be singing in the local working mens club!)


2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Ginger (once again not much of a cool 'Gangsta' more local council ASBO!)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) Amcn (Errr!!)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Cat (Sounds more like an evil villain name to me!)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Marie Birmingham (oh dear more daytime telly soap that primetime I think!!)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Mcnan (Is that the same as having a Mc-Job? A Mc-Nan is that just a really rubbish Grandma??)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The") The Black Cherry Beer (Ohhh Super!!)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Denis Eric (Cool!)

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)Eternity Thorntons (Oh I think I would be working in a pretty high class place with that name don't you?!)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ) Ann William (Good name for not being noticed..ever again!!)

This was fun! Now I have to find some friends to tag..hopefully I'll be back!!

Here is a digital scrap page that I pulled together this afternoon when I should have been designing! It was inspired by the No5 September Challenge over at Just Bex the challenge was to make a card or layout including stripes, spots and waves.



The stripes and spots are papers from my CD V Funky and the waves are digital ric rak.
The picture is Ian and I a few years ago when we visited our friends in the US for New Year..we were a little worse for the wear in this picture as we had partied into the early hours on New Years Eve!!

I am trying to emulate some fab layouts that I have seen on a few American Digi scrap websites where less is definitely more. It's hard to leave spaces and I think I still have alot to learn but I'm relatively pleased with this attempt!!

I had the lovely opportunity to actually make cards over the last few days and today has been no different. Ian's brother moved to America with his wife and two boys earlier in the year and finally they have been able to buy a lovely house to live in. This card is for them to congratulate them on their new purchase. Luckily for me it tied in nicely to the little extra challenge over at Daring Cardmakers Here's this times requirements

Big & Little We'd like you to use items in pairs of Big and Little - so you need to have both sizes on your card ie big & little buttons, big & little die cuts, big & little hearts, big & little circles etc The theme of your card can be whatever you like this time, so that's nice of us, isn't it?



The papers used are both from my newest CD V Funky and the little house is cut with an original Sizzix die. The two pink buttons are my 'big and little'

Things are just as busy here as ever and I am frantically working on new designs to update a couple of my older CDs. I am hoping to be able to tell you about some really exciting news I had today soon but I think it is going to have to wait for a few more weeks.

Oh! I hear Ian shouting downstairs seems England have scored in the match and Michael Owen has got them both as he's a big Newcastle United fan that is extra good obviously!! I think I will just hide up here and craft a bit more till it's all over!!

I have been in such a good mood the last few days..I think it must be because the weather has been so nice. It could also be because my designing is going so smoothly..watch me jinx it now!! I have been working on up dating some of my CDs with extra items to improve them and I have been really pleased with the outcomes! Luckily for me I had an opportunity to use some of them because Ian's nephew, who now lives over in the USA, has a birthday. I made this card to send to him.



The large letters are one of the new additions to my CD 'It's Funky Too' but they wont be available for a while. I will post here and on my website when the updated version is available. Meanwhile I get to play with them all by myself!!

I can't believe it..I never make Christmas cards before late November, but todays challenge on Daring Card Makers was to do just that!
Here's the challenge: So, we'd like you to make and show a Christmas card which,incorporates the following: Some Paper Tearing,The colour Purple AND It has to have at least one hole somewhere in the design!

I knew I wasn't mad designing Christmas papers in purple and lilac I knew they would come in handy one day! I am not altogether happy with the scan of this card it really needs to be photographed as you can't see the sparkles etc..but I bought an all new, singing and dancing camera a week ago but I still can't get it to work yet!! I have to set some time aside to get it sorted..when I do I will take better photos of this card but until then you have to imagine that it does actually look better than this!!



The papers used are all from my Christmas themed CD Yule Be Funky The sentiment is one I bought last year which is cute as it is silver embossed writing on a foam pad which gives it real texture. I added a piece of shaped purple wire which took me a while to get in a smooth curl but I love messing with wire it's just attaching it to the cards that's the hard part!! The extra snow flakes are cut with a punch I have had since I started card making and had forgotten all about and found hiding in the back of a drawer!!

I have just had a delivery of stash arrive so I am all excited about my new goodies! I have bought a mini craft sewing machine so expect to see more stitching from me in the future..but if it's anything like the camera..you might have to wait a while!!

Well I have finally made some time this afternoon to catch up on some cardmaking for family birthdays. Once I had completed this one I realised that I could use it as a VERY last minute entry to this weeks extra challenge over at Daring Cardmakers

The challenge was "You Big Softie" We want you to use something soft on your card feathers, velvet paper, fluffy fibres all that soft, strokable stuff counts for this one and that's it, easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!



You might not believe it looking at the scan but I have got some lovely fibres wrapped around the topper that were a nice little extra that was added into my order of stash that arrived last week from Craft Obsessions The papers used are from my CD It's Funky Too and the big letter is from some new additions I am working on to upgrade the CD, I think they have turned out quite well!! The rest of the letters have been printed on vellum and attached to the card with a brad. To finish off I've added two Prima flowers. The Grandma in question is actually Ian's and she is going to be 94 years old at the weekend! She's a very stylish lady and always loves things to be matching and toning..hopefully she will approve of my card!!

Now I had best get back to my craft room as I have a little boy birthday card to make and then get in the post to the US, nothing like leaving everything to the last min eh!!!

There has been so much going on lately here at Funky Hand Towers that I really don't know which way to turn!! I keep hinting at exciting things that are in store over the next few months and finally I can tell you about a couple of them.
First off, I would like to welcome Samm Livett to the newly created Funky Hand Design Team. There is so much happening at the moment that I am not able to produce enough examples of cards and scrap pages on my own so Samm has kindly agreed to join me and help out. Visit her fantastic blog By Samm and see why I am so pleased to have her on my team, she is a fantastic card maker and an all round lovely lady!

Card Making and Papercraft Issue 44

My second bit of news is about a competition that I will have running in the next edition of Card Making and Papercraft Magazine.(Issue 45) I'm really excited to be offering sets of all five of my backing paper CDs to eleven lucky winners who answer a simple question correctly and send it into the magazine on a post card. It's very exciting to have the opportunity to offer my products to the readers of this magazine and if you want a chance of winning, the edition with the competition will be on sale on the 2nd October.
I have a few other exciting things under my hat at the moment but I will have to save them for later! I had best get back to work or I will never get everything done!!

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted anything new. I have been so busy with work I haven't even had a chance to think never mind craft! Who would have thought running a business involved with crafting would keep you away from doing it!!
Anyway I found time last night whilst Ian was out watching Newcastle United playing football.(Don't know what game..you can see I am really up on football can't you!!) to make a birthday card for a good friend who's celebrating getting one year older on Friday.



The backing papers are from my CD Funky Seasons and I used a co-ordinating paper to create the topper with her name on. The flowers are Primas (of course!!) It's quiet exciting really as we are all going out to a very posh restaurant on Friday night and I haven't a clue what to wear. Something that fits will probably be a good idea. Oh, I'm on a diet by the way hence the grumpy comments about what fits..prepare for my mood to worsen over the weeks as I love my food and not being able to eat what I want makes me vile..but hopefully slimmer!!

I'm back from my travels to Tamworth and straight back to work as usual! There are a few exciting things ahead for Funky Hand which I know I keep hinting at..I promise I will tell you once everything is all signed sealed and delivered..all will be revealed soon!
I have been working on my new CD this week and already have 170 papers designed..though how many will go the distance in the end is anyones guess, on a normal CD collection there will be about 500-600 papers but I will have designed hundreds more than that and the others are consigned to the trash when I review them and realise they are rubbish!!
Oh, I was very naughty last week and spent rather a lot of money on my current 'must have' craft item Prima Flowers. Though it could have been alot more money as Craft Obsessions had a sale on..so I bought one of everything! Oopps, lets hope Ian doesn't read this post too soon!!
As well as all this designing (and spending!) I couldn't resist having a break and trying another challenge from the Just Bex forum this challenge was to use Big Numbers on a card so I have used a paper from my CD It's Funky Too which I printed directly onto card and made the card base from it, so the design goes all over the card. I wanted to keep it pretty plain as the paper design sort of says it all! Just a bit of layering, a bit of wire and a few beads and the now required Prima Flower to finish it off. Taking part in these challenges really makes you think about your card making and seeing what everyone else comes up with is really inspiring..I recommend this site wholeheartedly!.

Big Numbers

Well enough chatting, my designing wont do itself I had best get back to it. Until next time..

It's that time of year again, Ian is off to the V. Festival down south this weekend and instead of staying here this year I am off on my travels as well.. I'm going to visit my parents! It wont be a boring experience because my Mom is a major crafter and has the largest stash I have ever seen!! I might just get lucky if she is feeling generous and come away with items that she has bought and never used..he he..she reads this this blog regularly so she might get the hint!!
Even though I should be washing and packing for my trip I am afraid I have discovered Just Bex and that means I have just had to make a couple of cards for two of the challenges for August on their great forum.


A Family Affair

Tantalising Tangarine


Both cards have been made with papers from my new CD V Funky and using my current favourites Prima flowers!

Well cross you fingers for dry weather for Ian at the festival!

Sometimes life can be a pain..literally! I have MS, but day to day I have to admit it doesn't rule my life, yes I have a right hand that doesn't work that well anymore and I have to take large numbers of pills and injections to ward off problems but the positives I have in my life really do outweigh the negatives.. well usually. For the last week I have progressively been having more and more problems with my feet then my legs and today I am pretty much numb from the waist down.. don't be too worried I can still walk around and do everything that I normally do but it just feels dead strange! It's times like this I have to admit that having MS is a pain, I want to get on with stuff but my Doctor tells me I must rest. Well my body wants to, but my poor old brain wont stop planning the next thing to be done and then making me feel guilty for not doing it!! So I decided as a compromise I would do something that I enjoyed which meant I could also sit down for a while. This is card is the result.



It's made with strips of co-ordinating papers from my latest CD V Funky that were left over from another project I had made. The flower is from my newly purchased Primas that I can't stop getting out of their bag and looking at..I think it's love!! The large brad is from a set I have from Basic Grey that have single words on them. This one I thought was perfect for today 'LIVE' That's what I am going to keep on doing even though this stupid condition I have sometimes tries to get me down..I'm not going to let it. x

It's Friday again so it's time for another card challenge from Daring Card Makers
This weeks Dare is set by Tracie (Bondgirl) and is titled Photo Finish....
This week I want you to make a card for any occasion but it must include a photograph somewhere! The photo subject can be people, items, locations, flowers, absolutely anything so get snapping.



This is a card I have been meaning to make for ages, the pictures are me and my friend Corrina and I wanted to give her a card just to say thanks for being my friend and this challenge pushed me into doing it! The photos are of me and her, my picture was colour so with a bit of messing in Photoshop I changed it to black and white to match Corrinas. The backing paper is from my new CD V.Funky and the sentiment is printed onto vellum.You can probably tell that I have just got lots of new Prima flowers as they are used in abundance on this card!

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday when I found out that I had won a prize on the fab blog OliviaGraceDesigns


How gorgeous is this tote bag? I can't believe that I won it..I never win anything! Debbie hand makes all the totes and bags available on her website Olivia Grace Designs go over now and see the lovely stuff available!

Right I think it's time for that nice sandwich that I have in my fridge and a sneaky watch of the TV..

The sun has been shining all day here in Newcastle which is a nice change..Summer may have finally arrived! With all this sun it inspired me to do something with a great picture that my friend Sally took when we were on a Cruise for Christmas last year. The water was so clear..



The papers are from my new CD V.Funky
Well think it's time for bed!

I had my first order from an Australian customer yesterday which is pretty exciting. To think that someone from the other side of the world was able to see my designs and buy them so easily..isn't the internet amazing!!
I haven't had much time lately to post any of my creations so here is a Digi scrap page I made recently from when we were in Rome..wow that seems like years ago now! The backing paper is from one of the Autumn collections from my Funky Seasons CD Well, I'd best get back to work as I have lots to do. I have an exciting thing that will be happening in the next month or so..but I will keep it to myself until everything is finalised..let you know the details soon!

Is it really Friday again? Where do the days go? As it is Friday it's time for the DCM challenge again:

OK, Absolutely anything goes this week as long as it's on the theme of TIME."It's About Time"So you can use clocks, calendars, quotes, sayings, pictures, nursery rhymes, or altered art-type stuff, whatever takes your fancy - just take some time out to play and have some fun; remember, time flies when you're having fun!

Here is my take on this weeks challenge,



The card hasn't scanned as well as I had hoped.In real life it much more shiny! But my poor old camera died a couple of days ago so I can't photograph it I'm afraid!
The backing is one of my papers from my CD It's Funky Too which I printed onto vellum and attached to the card with brads. The clock hands are fashioned from gold coloured craft wire and a few beads to give it a bit of bling and attached to the clock face with a large jeweled brad. The numbers on the clock are stick on jewels but they haven't really shown up that well on the scan. To finish off I just printed the sentiment on white card, matted it with matching brown card from the clock face and added another small wire embellishment. I really should tell my partner Ian how much I love him for putting up with me so, this is for him!

I have been able to find time this week to join in the dare over at DCM. This weeks dare is from Jane 'For my dare you can choose any theme for the card BUT it must incorporate 'Checks', whether it be gingham paper or ribbon or squares, any thing really as long as it incorporates some kind of shape with 4 equal sides.'




Well my cards colours were inspired by the Dream embellishment which is a chipboard sticker from DCWV's Far East Sticker stack. The backing papers are from my CD Funky Seasons and to finish it off two Prima Flowers. It was nice to work in colours other than pink which has been what I have been doing recently, thanks DCM great dare again.

I have a great afternoon today, I have actually made cards and I really enjoyed doing it! Recently I just haven't had time to make anything other than examples for the website and so making cards actually for people today was really nice! This card is for my friends Corrinas' birthday next week.


The paper is from my first CD The Funky One and the stamp is a cute Bella,painted with H2o paints. The hair is quiet like Corrinas that's why I decided to use it!! I then just chalked the edges of the stamped topper and the layering to grunge it up a bit and layered it at angles. (Means I don't have to try to line them up perfectly!!) To finish off I added three Prima flowers and made a simple wire embellishment with a pearl bead at each end. Now I just have to think about what to buy her for a pressie..going out for a drink tonight with her so I will try to get some ideas..wish me luck! Oh and with the Cherry beer that they sell at the pub as it's a bit of a favourite!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO FUNKY HAND!!
Sorry, I am celebrating Funky Hand has been going for one year today which is very exciting as when you start a business you never know what is going to happen. It's been a great year, with plenty of ups and downs..but more ups so that's hopefully why we are still here! We have big plans for the next year of trading..new products, updated website amongst lots of other things. But for now I will just get todays orders processed and in the post, maybe I will treat myself to a nice mocha coffee at Starbucks when I go out to buy new printer inks later.. business life goes on!!