Cards and a fancy Ball!!

I've had a really busy weekend, well when do I not? but this weekend has been busy and fun, not just work, which is a nice change!

On Friday Ian and I attended a Charity Ball at the Gosforth Racecourse to raise money for Skin Cancer. It was an opportunity to get a bit dressed up..and drink rather a lot ! Here's a picture of my friend Vic and I towards the beginning of the evening so we were not in too much of a state!!



I'm afraid I had rather a headache most of Saturday but it was a nice change not to be tied to this keyboard in Funky Hand Towers!!

I've also been really lucky again, one of my customers Terri sent me some fantastic images of a few cards she has been making with Funky Hand CDs so I thought I would share a couple with you.




Aren't they just great, they were made using the Funky Seasons and Yule Be Funky CDs. I love receiving cards and images of creations from my customers as it always inspires me to see what other crafters do with the designs! Thank you Terri.

As well as partying the night away, I have been busy designing this weekend and I am now on the home straight of finishing a new download. Crossed fingers it will be available at the weekend..but I probably shouldn't say that as something will get in the way. I'll be back to let you know how I'm getting on!

And the winner of my Blog Candy is.......

(Drum roll...)

Seedlings Mum

Congratulations! Your name was pulled out of my altered tin by a rather hung over Ian this morning. Please email me here support@funkyhand.com
with your postal address and your choice of Funky Hand CD to be included. Take a look at my website www.funkyhand.com to get an idea of what's on each one.

Thank you everyone who took the time to leave a comment. Here's to the next 10,000 hits!!

DCM Challenge - Most Distressing!

Well it's Friday again and I am pleased to be able to fit in another Daring Cardmakers Challenge.. though I probably shouldn't have been making cards when I have designing to do, card demos to create and three magazine adverts to get done and sent out..oh well it's the weekend I'll get it all done then!!!

Heres this weeks challenge from Keryn:

it's my turn to Distress you all, or at least your cards with this weeks dare. You can make a card for any season, any holiday, any occasion but you need to use either a fingernail, curled edges, sandpaper, tearing, anything you like really as long as looks like it's had a fair bit or wear and tear.

This something I don't do that often so I had fun getting my Basic Grey precision file set on to this card!




I used black card for the base and then printed three papers from my download Paper Blossom onto white card then I got to work with the precision file set around the edges and just generally over the paper! I added the Hey! sentiment from the matching alphabets on the download and didn't cut them out that carefully, which was quiet liberating!!, so they looked a bit distressed to. I like the effect of the black base card against the colours, it's something I'm trying out for one of my demos on the next Ideal World show..we shall see!.

Today is the last day you have to have a chance of winning my Blog Candy to celebrate hitting 10,000 views so if you haven't left a comment yet get going to the blog candy post and get your comment down. Ian is going to draw the winners name tomorrow!

Well I'd best get back to real work I suppose, I haven't got that much time left to get things done as we are going to a 'Ball' tonight and I have to start getting ready early so I have a chance of even looking reasonable!! Wish me luck with the new high heels..I'll take the camera in case there are any moments worth sharing.
Enjoy your weekend!

We've had some very good news!

Ian's Mum, who has been ill in hospital for three weeks really started to improve over the weekend, so much so that her Consultant let her come home yesterday! We are all very relieved. Ian and I are going over to visit her this evening so, I made this card to let her know how glad we are that she is back home.





I've been designing new papers this afternoon for my next CD and I made this card with three of them. The CD wont be available for another couple of months. The flower was cut with a large punch and I attached it to the card using 21 guage wire threaded through the button. I'm really quite pleased how it turned out. I hope she likes it!

I have been playing around with ideas for demo cards for my next appearance on Ideal World on May 9th, I have decided that I need to up 'my game' as my new design team members are producing some amazing sample cards using the CDs, take a look at their blogs to see what they have been upto the links are all on the side bar. I don't want to look bad on live TV so I'm getting started on the demos now!

Oh, don't forget my Blog candy is still on offer..just leave a comment on the Blog Candy post to have a chance to win. Get your entries in before the weekend when I will get Ian to draw the winner from all the entries.

Roll up..Roll up..get your Blog Candy here..

Much to my surprise and pleasure I can now celebrate that I have had over 10,000 views of this blog. (Well since I started counting anyway!!) So I thought it would be appropriate to offer my first blog candy. I have been rooting around in my craft room this morning and pulled together this little collection of stash..



In there are some Funky Hand acid free papers, a few wire embellishments, chipboard flowers, a collection of various Prima Flowers, some ribbons and some double sided pads. I've also included my latest CD Now that's Funky. If you are the winner of the candy you can choose any one of my CDs if you already have Now that's Funky or just fancy a different CD..it's completely up to you! Take a look at my website to get an idea of what's on each different CD. www.funkyhand.com

Right what to do to win..I wanted to make it as simple as possible so..all you have to do is put a comment on this post and I will randomly select a winner next weekend. Easy peasy!! During the week if I find anything else interesting I will pop it in with the stuff in the picture so there could be some surprises in there too!

We have had some great news this morning, Ian's Mom, who has been very poorly in hospital for the last three weeks has made loads of improvement this weekend and her Consultant has said this morning that she can go home on Wednesday!! Hurrah..it has been a very stressful time for all the family so it's really great news that she will be coming home. Now all I have to do is make her two cards for the Doctors and Nurses who have been looking after her..so the stress doesn't stop for me, I'll fit it in somehow!!

Don't forget to leave your comment to have a chance to win the candy.

Double challenge Di Hickman & Daring Card Makers

You know when you make a card sometimes and it doesn't matter what you do it still doesn't feel right..meet my combo card for the current sketch on Di Hickmans Blog and the mid week Doodle challenge on DCM..





I've used a colour collection from my CD V Funky that I never use so I thought I would give it a go. The doodle tutorial is fab on DCM so make sure you take a look. I will definitely be trying that technique again. Infact I will be doing both the technique and the sketch again..just not together next time!!

I'm off now to try to re design the covers for my CDs ready for a new print company to print, oh joy, recreating stuff a few millimeters smaller to look exactly the same.. Speak soon.

What a little sweetie!



I told you in my last post that we had a new member of the family and yesterday we popped over to see her now that she is safely home from hospital. I created this Digital scrap page this morning from a picture we took whilst she was sleeping. The papers, ribbon and capital letters are all from my CD Now that's Funky and the lowercase letters are from the Now that's Funky lowercase letter download available on my website. Ians Mum is still in hospital unfortunately with no real sight of improvement at the moment. It is very worrying and upsetting to see her so ill. All we can do is hope that things will improve soon. At least as Steffi was born in the same hospital Grandma was able to be wheeled down by her wonderful nurses to see her when she had just been born which was a real boost.

I have just received todays post and the two letters I received have made me smile for different reasons. One was a cheque from Royal Mail in compensation for a box of 82 CDs that they 'lost' on the way to Ideal World in Feb..now they just have to compensate me for the late delivery..grrr. The other parcel was from one of my favorite online craft shops Craft Obsessions. I am now the proud owner of some of the new Queen and Co, Felt Fusion scrolls and flowers. See what I'm talking about here and here. I can't wait to get crafting with them..that's not the only thing I received in my stash order of course...more brads because I NEEDED them and some bind it all covers and inside pages. Maybe now I have these I will get my bind it all out of its box!

I have just realised that my blog has almost received 10,000 visitors..I think that calls for a bit of blog candy. I'll have a look around in my craft room and see what goodies I can come up with, I'll be back with some tempting details soon!!

Drum roll please...

After much consideration, hair pulling, changing of minds, tears and finally decisions (which I don't do well!) I have chosen my new Design Team members..

• Gerry Strongman


• Jozza (Jo Hopkins)


• Carol Houghton


• Enfys Cashmore


• Kath Stewart


• Tip Top (Ruth Cuniliffe)


• Allison Yates


• Heather Fraser (Craftling)

They are joining my current Design Team members Samm Livett and Shirley B and I would like to extend my congratulations and huge welcomes to them all!! They are a very talented group of crafters and I can't wait to get started working with them all!

Choosing new members for my design team has been a much harder job than I anticipated. I received a huge number of applicants, many more than I ever imagined I would, and they were all of a very high standard. I wish I could have included everyone who applied but it just wasn't practical. I want to thank everyone who took the time to apply, I loved looking at your creations and getting to know a little about you. I wish you all the very best.

Now, I've had quite a weekend, not only dealing with choosing a new Design team but we have had a new member of the family join us! Ian's sister, Sandi, gave birth to a beautiful new baby daughter Steffi Rose she's a healthy 9lb and an absolute little beauty. She has a shock of red hair to match her brother Adam who is 5 years old and is still a bit amazed that 'she' came out of Mummys tummy!! It's a lovely bit of good news for the family as we have been having a rather hard time over the last few weeks with Ian's Mum being very ill in hospital, the new arrival certainly lifted her Grandmas spirits when she arrived. It's a very worrying time for us here whilst Ians Mum is so poorly, but we are crossing our fingers that things improve in the very near future.

Well, that's my news from over the weekend, I had best get back to work or this new design team will have no new papers to work with!
Speak Soon

This weeks Daring Card Makers Challenge

'Oh No' I thought when I saw this weeks challenge on Daring Card Makers Blog from Jo..

I seem to like butterflies at the mo. This week therefore I would like you to put some butterflies on cards. Stitched, felt, shiny, bright, plain, paper pieced, stamped, drawn... you get the idea :) any theme of card but it must have a butterfly somewhere on the card!

I really don't 'do' butterflies..it's just never been my thing so I thought this would be a bit of a nightmare for me but, I was up for the challenge so I thought..how do I make a butterfly card but with a Funky Hand twist??? So I came up with this..





I think he's got a really cute look to him! Must be the button I used for his head, the holes look like his little eyes! I wanted to make something very 3D, something that probably wouldn't go that well into an envelope. I cut the shape of the butterfly out of one paper from my CD Now that's Funky and then printed a co-ordinating paper onto vellum and cut out the butterfly shape again slightly smaller. I attached the two of them together at the body and covered that with a piece of brown ribbon with a knot tied in the bottom to give it some shape. I shaped his antenna from 21 gauge black craft wire and added the brown button for his head..and to cover up where everything was attached! The background of the card is another paper from the same collection from Now that's Funky and I just doodled the stitching around the edge with a Sakura jelly roll glaze pen. I have realised that I wrote 'fluttery by' instead of 'flutter by' on the sentiment..doh! but I don't really care..I like him anyway! Now this should be a lesson to me..never say you don't 'do' things in you card making..you just never know!!

Everything here at Funky Hand Towers is as busy as ever, yesterday I wasn't feeling too well so, today now I feel a bit better I have loads to catch up on! The most exciting thing happening today though, is the closing date of my Design Team applications! I have had loads and they are all SO AMAZING! I can tell you, I am not looking forward to trying to decide between the applicants.. I'll be back over the weekend to announce my new team. Wish me luck with the choosing.

Oohhh more stash has arrived!

I love it when the postman comes each morning. Sometimes he brings me orders or lovely cards from my customers but the best days are when he delivers me new stash! Today my order of two new Bella stamps arrived and at the same time a wonderful collection of ribbons that I ordered over the weekend from Ribbon Oasis. My friend Helen has a birthday tomorrow and this stash delivery is just what I need to get my mojo moving and make her a card.



The picture isn't fantastic as the light here is a bit rubbish today but it gives you the general idea. I used one of my new Bellas stamps called 'Huggy Bellas' which I coloured with Twinkling H20s. The backing paper is from one of the Summer Collections from my CD Funky Seasons, the sentiment button is from Now that's Funky so this card is a bit of a mix and match from two CDs! The ribbon is gorgeous pink and black polka dot..I'm afraid have bought rather a lot of ribbon so I think you will be seeing it a bit more on my cards in the near future!

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has contacted me about my Design Team, there are some amazing card makers out there and I am honored that you would like to join my DT. The opportunity to apply is open until Friday 11th April so if you fancy finding out more contact me on the email address mentioned in the last post. I will be contacting everyone who applies over the weekend and hope to announce my new team after the weekend. I'm really excited!! Oh well, I have to stop playing and get on with some work..my new accountant is coming to meet with me this evening, I really need to get everything ready for that.. don't want her to think I am totally unorganised!
Speak again soon..

DCM challenge and a Funky Hand Design Team Call out!

Wow two posts in one day! what is going on with me?? First up I have my Friday challenge card for this weeks Daring Card Makers challenge. Here is the dare:

this week I'd like you to think small - not small cards, but small spaces of embellishment on regular sized cards.
You are allowed to cover no more than a 5x5cms area of your card with paper or embellishment - the rest of the card must be left plain...but because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to let you add a SIMPLE greeting as extra to your 5x5 allowance! :-)

Here is my take on the dare:





I really enjoyed this dare, I'm afraid I never leave much space on my cards as I am so keen to use my papers all over the card! It was really challenging thinking of making an interesting card with only 5cm square. I printed a paper from my CD Now that's Funky on to card and cut a 5cm square and inked the edges. Then using two pieces of pink ribbon I made a simple bow/flower and attached it to the patterned square with a brad. Then I got a length of 21 gauge beading wire and formed the curl and added it to the patterned square. It's not glued on just formed around it and the square was then put on the card blank with small foam pads to raise it up and to hold the wire in place. The sentiment is a stamp that I bought ages ago when I was in America and I don't think I have ever used it before. I think it will be coming out more often now I have re discovered it amongst all my stash!!

Now, would you like to join the Funky Hand design team? What on earth does she mean you may be asking yourself..well I am looking for a couple of new card makers to join my design team making cards with papers from my craft CDs and downloads. If you get involved you will see your card designs on my website, blog and have them shown on my Ideal World/Create Craft TV shows. If you would like to know more information and get details of how to apply please email me here: support@funkyhand.com I'll email you back with details about how you can apply for the team. I'm really looking forward to hearing from you and getting this team properly off the ground! Oh I should have said..please contact me before Friday 11th April to get details I'll be making the team decision over the next weekend.
Speak again soon...

Fab cards made by Jules

I am so lucky to have such talented and lovely customers. Over the last couple of days I have received these wonderful images of cards that Jules has made using my latest CD Now thats Funky and my new download Paper Blossom and she has kindly allowed me to share them with you..







I think they are just great and I'm especially pleased that she has now been introduced to the blogging world. She's been having a look around at all the great blogs that are out there and has realised that there is so much crafting talent about all available for you to be inspired by. Now you're part of it Jules!

I know I said I would be back soon to put a call out for new design team members..but things have taken me over here as usual and I haven't had time to get it sorted! I will be back soon with details! Now I'm off for a nice cup of tea, I boiled the kettle for it about an hour ago.. boy do I get caught up on the internet!!!

A few cards that I created..

I thought I would share a few cards with you that I made with my new download Paper Blossom, the first one was inspired by the fantastic weekly card templates over at Di Hickmans blog. This blog is a life saver to me when I am trying to come up with designs for demos etc.. this is my version of the template from 26th March..just sneaking in before a new one tomorrow!



The paper and sentiment are from my Paper Blossom download available here, and the ribbon is from a lovely box of Thornton chocolates that we had at Easter! The ribbon was a perfect match for the paper and as a usual hoarding crafter I couldn't throw it out once I'd opened the box. Ian can't believe the things I will save for crafting.. but I just say it saves me money. Little does he realise I just spend the 'saved' money on some other stash instead!! Then, maybe he probably does!!

I also had a bit of a 'Bella' tastic time stamping this weekend. I got out all my Bella stamps and had a play..then I realised that I didn't have as many as I thought and ordered two more ! I'm waiting with baited breath for them to arrive..oops thats the saved money spent then! Here are a couple of them..





All the papers are from Paper Blossom and the Bella stamps are available to buy here.

I have decided that I need to get more organised with my design team, so I am in the process of pulling together details of a Design Team call out, keep your eyes peeled here and I'll be back with more details over the next few days. Oh well..back to work!