New Downloads available!

Can you tell I'm excited? Finally the two downloads I have been working on are on my website!
First up is my brand new download Paper Blossom. It contains 20 papers, a full upper and lowercase alphabet and matching numbers and a set of sentiment buttons and sentiment backers. There is a flowery theme to this one and the pinks, greens and browns always prove a popular choice. You will not find these Funky Hand papers anywhere else as they are only available on download and will not be included on any of my CDs..so no doubling up if you have Funky Hand CDs to worry about. Heres a hint of whats on..to see all the papers visit the website here





The second one is a companion download to my latest CD
Now that's Funky, it's 18 lowercase alphabets one for each of the colour collections on the CD. I created it after being asked for them by one of my customers, so I hope they are just what everyone is looking for. Take a look at them here.



It's been a busy weekend as I have been making cards with the Paper Blossom Download as well so I will share them with you as soon as I have photographed them. Now I think I am going off for a well earned cup of tea! Speak again very soon!

Fridays DCM Challenge

When I saw the Daring Card Makers challenge last Friday I couldn't believe my luck!

It’s all in the Game
Tiddlywinks, playing cards, dominos, jig saw pieces…….the list goes on and I’m sure that most of us have a drawer somewhere that has the odd one or two of these lying around in.Well now’s your chance to use them because I dare you to make a card using some of those pieces.Oh and no, you don’t need to throw a double six to start playing.

I was trying to come up with a birthday card for Ian my long suffering other half and techie guy! As well as web designing he is a bit of an online poker fiend! Thankfully he is reasonably good and he knows when to stop so he makes more money than he loses! It's his birthday today so a couple of days ago I made this card, but of course I haven't been able to join in with the dare until now..he reads my blog!



The papers are all from my CD Now that's Funky the circle of paper I then embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a black ink pad to highlight the embossing a little bit. I created the poker cards using Photoshop..I suppose that is a bit of a cheat as they are not real cards but I wanted the hearts and clubs etc to match the papers and I wrote on happy birthday and his name. I did print them onto card and cut them out so they are actual cards now! I think I can be let off in the circumstances!! I hope I can !!

Happy Bank Holiday!

I hope you have all had a really great Easter, I have to admit to being the laziest I have been in months! Ian and I have just sat around eating chocolate and doing stuff we enjoy..no thoughts of work, but today I need to get back into the saddle! Over the last few weeks I have been working on a couple of new downloads to put onto the website. They are nearly finished so they should be available soon. Hopefully the odd download here and there will keep everyone happy whilst I work on the next CD. I can reveal I have a name first this time..no trying to come up with something at the end like last time! This next Cd will be my seventh! So I want to try to make it extra special, keep an eye out here and as I complete things I'll give you a sneak peek!

Before I get bogged down with new designs for the next CD I have to finish the latest new download, this morning though I just played with a couple of papers and made this Digi scrap page. The pictures are from the night out for my birthday last year so all my friends were together which doesn't happen that often anymore as we are all so busy with families, work, doing up houses and running our own businesses!!



We have big plans ahead for some serious changes to the website which I am really excited about. There is still loads of planning to do and I'm sure all the big ideas I throw in will be thrown out again by Ian as he has to actually make the changes!! But I will try just the same!

I have some card making to do today as I have three male birthday cards to make..oh no tough ones! Especially as one of them is for my wonderful Ian, eek! his birthday is on Wednesday so I had better get my skates on.. better get surfing the web to get some ideas!! Speak soon.

Another Challenge!

Isn't it just great when you have to make a card and then you see that you can get lots of inspiration because that's exactly what is being set for the challenge on DCM ! Ians nephew lives in York and I needed to make a card to send to him and his Mum, but I've left it a bit late so, it needed to be a quicky!!



You couldn't make a card much quicker actually, I printed a paper from my CD Now that's Funky straight onto cream card and scored and folded it to be the card base then cut three egg shapes from three co-ordinating papers from the same collection. I few bits of ric rak, prima flower and ribbon later I have three Easter Eggs! The Happy Easter sentiment stamp is by Penny Black. Phew! lately all my card making has been at a break neck speed!! I'm looking forward to getting a chance to actually take some time over a card..when that will be is a mystery though!!

Daring Card Makers Friday Challenge.

I haven't had a chance to take part in any of the challenges on Daring Cardmakers Blog for ages so I made sure I was ready to have a go today. Todays challenge is from Rachel

"Well I thought we have had plenty of flowers and hearts and girly things so I would like some cards with some teen spirit please."

Oh dear, trust me to try one that I would find hard! I decided to think back to when I was a teenager.. ummm the the 80's.. I'm afraid I was a bit of a goth always going round in black and trying not to smile too much! So my card design is a bit grungy and has the word on it that I always thought I was..but really I was just the same as all my friends!! Ahh the ignorance of youth...



The papers are from my latest CD Now that's Funky. The lowercase letters are a new download that I am working on which hopefully will be available soon, so if you have Now that's Funky and fancy lowercase letters to match the large alpha on the disc keep an eye out here I'll announce the download release once it's on the website.

My crafting mojo seems to have returned!!

Recently I have been really struggling with coming up with new ideas for papers and cards..I think it's because I have been so busy with trade shows and TV shows that all my creative energy just got up and left!
The last couple of days I have actually had some inspiration for designing and I am almost half way through designing a new collection of papers that I will be releasing as my first 'all new' download. If things keep going like this they might even be ready for the weekend! Ssshh I'd best not say it too loud as I am sure to fall on my face when it takes another two weeks!!

This afternoon I had a go at making my first Exploding box..it's a mini one which means there wasn't much room for decoration but it was my first go so I thought I'd leave it relatively plan.




The papers are from my new download, the colours are a nice mix of pinks and greens with a little bit of brown thrown in. I had some fun making doodle brushes and I'm quite pleased how they have come out so far!!


Ian is out for the evening with his work collegues so I have the house to myself tonight. I am looking forward to sitting infront of the TV and eating lots of sweeties! It's only 4pm now though so I still have to get more work done before any of that can happen!! ho hum!

It's been a busy weekend..

Well, it's always pretty busy here at Funky Hand Towers but this weekend has been especially so. Firstly I want to tell you about my lovely new stash order that arrived on Saturday. I was just having a look around last week to see what new things were in my favourite craft web shops and my fingers just slipped and these items accidentally went into my shopping basket...



I have been needing a new craft knife for ages and I couldn't resist this lovely green one from Doodlebug. I also have been coveting the precision file set by Basic Grey for ages as I do find it difficult to sand the fiddly parts of some of my chipboard letters and flowers, once I'd put that in my basket then the Doodle bug chipboard flower bouquet set was the perfect purchase to test it out on!! I already have two Doodlebug chipboard houses that I haven't had a chance to make up as yet..more than likely the flower bouquet will join them but one day I will get time to cover them with some of my papers..how cool will they all look then? As you can see from the picture I also treated myself to a couple of new stamps and I got to work with them straight away.

I can't believe it but I haven't mentioned here that over the last three weeks some of my CDs have been featuring on Alan and Barrys Crafts website as part of their pick of the week specials for their members. They have been doing a fantastic job showing what is on the CDs and really going in depth on how the CDs work. If you would like a look go to their website www.alanandbarryscrafts.com look under Funky Hand CDs and take a look at the web shows that they have produced. This Friday they are launching my first two CDs The Funky One and Yule Be Funky together in a special package. Well, I need to get some new card examples to them to photograph so I have been working away this weekend making cards with The Funky One. I have to admit I haven't made cards with my first CD for a very long time but I had great fun coming up with new ideas, I thought I would share some of them with you.









Now I have to go off and make some sample cards for Yule Be Funky..I have to admit I don't feel that inspired to make Christmas cards at the moment but I have to get moving on them..wish me luck!!

Thanks everyone..you're all great!!

It wasn't until I re-read my last post did I realise what a moaner I was yesterday! Thank you all so much for your kind comments and the emails that I received about feeling a little off yesterday they all really made me smile. What a wonderful kind group of people you are. I'm pleased to say that I feel fine and dandy today and have been catching up with all my work!! Though I am having another injection of the new 'super strength' drugs tonight (three times a week..what joy!!) but I'm all prepared, it wont catch me out again!!

I grabbed a few mins to pull together this quick and rather simple Digi scrap page to remind myself that I do like being me, even with all the extra troubles!! I thought I would share it with you whilst I was saying thanks.



I created it using papers from Now that's Funky I was especially pleased with the digital ribbon as I created it to be printed but I think it looks fine in a digital layout too.

Right best get back to it, I hopefully will have some new cards to share with you next time I post as I really need to get back into my craft room, if I can climb over all the rubbish/stock and left over bits of paper covering it. I dream of a beautifully organised craft room where I can put my hand on anything I need in a moment rather than hunting through loads of boxes hoping the next one has what I want hidden in it. I'm sure I'm not the only one! Oh well, looks like it might be a dream for a while longer!

Oooh my head...

I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself today, I increased the dosage of my MS medication last night, something I should have done ages ago but have put off for one reason or another. Oh dear I feel so awful today. You get flu like symptons and boy have I got them. I have to admit to being a bit gung ho about my drugs because when I started on these injections a couple of years ago, on the lower dose mind, I didn't really suffer at all. I'm getting my just desserts today I'm afraid. I always have so much stuff to be doing that it really is an inconvenience when I don't feel well. But today I really think it is going to have to be that I get all the really important stuff done and then get out the sicky blanket and curl up on the sofa! I know I am not myself as I embarrassed myself by calling my MS nurse for some advice about my side effects and when she answered the phone I announced that it was 'Anice from Funky Hand' luckily they only have one Anice so she knew who I was!! What an idiot!! She did have a laugh at me though..my MS nurses are a great bunch!!

Rather than just moan about how ill I feel today I thought I would share with you one of the demonstration cards that I did on my Ideal World show last week. It was such a busy show I only got to demo two of my CDs. At least it means I have a card demo for V.Funky all ready for next time so I don't have to try to come up with something new!



This card was made with papers and elements from my all new CD Now that's Funky.

I think I am going to trudge off and get some paracetamol now and see if it makes me feel any better. Speak soon!