Pigs in blankets anyone?!

One of the best parts of Christmas lunch is most definitely pigs in blankets, they just don't taste the same at any other time of year. Nor do they look as cute as these...

The new challenge starts today at

and the theme is Clean and Simple.

I know, my cards aren't quite that but there is a fair amount of white space so it's a pretty good interpretation!! I bagged the cute stamp set from Clearly Besotted in a sale a while ago. Coloured all the different piggies with Promarkers and fussy cut them and stuck them on little plaid bits of MFT paper.

 They are all matted on silver mirri but, as you all know, that does not photograph well!!

I hope you will be inspired to join in.

Thank you for visiting xx

Stencil at Allsorts

I am way out of my comfort zone with my card today. Dena is hosting at 

Allsorts Challenge and her optional theme is Use a stencil.

I don't have very many in my crafty arsenal but this Funky Fossil one has been used a couple of times.

A lovely crafty friend gifted me some DI pads so I used those to create the delicate background in pink and lilac shades. The adorable little hippo is Trouble in a Tutu by Clearly Besotted (sadly retired but there are other cuties available!). I coloured her with Promarkers and popped her on the Whimsy Birthday die using foam tape. 

 Prizes from Oakwood (2 x A5 stamp sets) and Highlight Crafts (3 x A5 stencils)

Thank you for your continued support xx

One for the Girls

 Well, the weather hasn't been exactly kind for my week off but we have still been out and about. Cake, coffee and ice cream was involved!!

It's One for the Girls at Allsorts #727 this week should you choose the optional theme.

Prizes from WOWVOW, Oakwood Direct and Craft Stash (note for DT: prizes for 20/5 our Birthday week will be display separately)

Here is my offering, girly and cute, just as I like my cards!!

The card evolved around the pretty paper (from The Range) that reminds me of rhubarb and custard sweets...remember them?!!

Anyway...I used a sweet stamp from Crafters Companion and used Promarkers to colour the sweet kitten and paper pieced the flower pot.

We have an extra long weekend here in the UK as it's May Day so I hope we get some May type weather!! Perfect for some re-seeding that we are planning today!!

See you soon xx

Summer

 Evening All!! I know, it's unusual for me to be here a) on a Wednesday and b) in the evening. But, as we are currently enjoying Summer, here in the UK, it would be rude not to join in with the current Summer challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge blog. 

I made this...

I just knew that I had the perfect stamp set for this card. It was a Clearly Besotted magazine freebie from waaaay back. The leaves were stamped in two shades of ink and then clear embossed and the flower heads coloured with my Promarkers. I have quite a lot of fuschias in the garden, they seem to be one plant that Bowie doesn't lie on or dig up!

 The one that I used as a backdrop to this card has special significance. When we opened as a livery yard back in 2001 one of our first clients was a formidable lady called Jenny who was as tall as she was wide and was the typical Pony Club Instructor type. Sit up and kick on...B you will know the type I mean!!  Anyway, despite her loud voice and firm opinions she was a darling and when she split plants in her garden always gave us some. This Fuschia being one of them. 

She stayed with us a few years and it was her mare that bore the first foal at Mallows Farm, Delboy Trotter he was called!! She left us when she found a field closer to home but we still kept in touch. As well as her horses and garden, she loved her dogs and had three, Juniper, Gingham and Pumpkin. She was walking her lovely girls one morning when she had a sudden, fatal, heart attack and was found, by a gentleman, with her beloved pooches beside her. I think of her throughout the year when her primoroses appear in the garden, when the snowdrops that she gave us pop up in the lane and when this old fashioned fushcia shows off.

If you are still with me, thank you for your visit and I shall see you when I do xx

Some Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #686 - Summer

Jingle Bells and Snowflakes

 Jingle Bells and Snowflakes sounds like the title of a Christmas film but in this case it's my chosen Christmas Embellishments as per the Challenge that goes live today at

We would love for you to share your projects showing off your favourite Christmas Embellishments.

Those of you that have been long suffering followers will remember that I make small Christmas gifts for my work colleagues each year. This is the 2021 offering!! I have covered MDF baubles with pretty Maja Design papers. Each one has a different sentiment and they all have bells and snowflakes.

Jingly bells take me back to my childhood when the local Fire Brigade used to transport Father Christmas to the local villages. Somehow the front of the Fire Engines were made to look like his sleigh and had reindeer and everything. I have to confess that my Sister and I were terrified!! And the snowflakes...well no self respecting card or home decor would be seen without a snowflake or two. 

There are also more in festive colours too, so you might get to see them another time.

Thank you for calling and I look forward to seeing your projects. See you soon xx

Wild Animal

 Hello friends. Hope you are all doing okay and it's lovely to see you.

Another DT card to share with you. This time for our new challenge at

this time we are looking for your favourite wild animal. 

For me it has to be a giraffe, there is something about their faces that I find really appealing. It's their eyes that make them so beautiful. My dear little giraffe, and the sentiment, is from a Clearly Besotted set that was a gift. 

Coloured with Promarkers with just a snippet of paper and a scalloped edge for a little bit of interest.

That's all for now. For those of you in the UK, I am hoping that the weather will stay fair for the August Bank Holiday and that you can enjoy it. We have been quite lucky for the last week or so, although the mornings are feeling chillier and are certainly darker as I go about my horsey chores!!  

See you soon xx

Digi or stamped...you decide!!

Good Morning everyone and I hope this finds you well.

In an attempt to continue making festive cheer throughout the year I have another christmas card to share with you today. It is my DT inspiration for

As You Like It Challenge

where your mission, should you choose to accept it is....

Digi or stamped.

I could not choose as I have vast quantities of both, however, there is nothing nicer than a package containing happy mail falling onto the door mat so on this occasion I went with stamped.

I used some super cute stamps from Clearly Besotted that I bought following a challenge win.
I heat embossed the stamped images with a a holographic embossing powder and coloured with Pro/Flexmarkers.

Lookig forward to seeing what you share!!

See you soon xx

Favourite Flower AYLI

Hello crafters, I have a floral number to share with you today.

Favourite Flower is our theme at AYLI this time.

I love these little white beacons of hope when they appear in our lane. It is a hint that spring is on the way!! The clumps we have were given to us by a lovely lady whose horses were some of our first guests when we opened our stable doors at Mallows Farm. Jenny was a formidable lady, as round as she was tall, a brilliant horsewoman who taught me a lot actually but at the same time scared the living daylights out of me!!  Horses and dogs were her passion and sadly while walking her dogs one day suffered a heart attack and was found with Pumpkin, Juniper and Gingham watching over her. She had a lovely garden and most seasons split something for us to plant that we now have here forever. Sorry...that was a bit of a tear jerker wasn't it!? 

The stamp and sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted set that I heat embossed with white powder. The leaves and stems were coloured with Promarkers and the flower heads with white Lyra pencil and a touch of white Sakura pen. 

It would be lovely to see your favourite flowers if you join in.

Thank you for stopping by xx

Some Challenges

Crafty Cardmakers #251 - Embossing

Clean and Simple

Hello all, hope you are getting into the swing of 2020. I don't mind admitting that I have written 2019 on one or two appointment cards during the past week, never mind I'll get there!!

So today I have a cutie for you. We are going all Clean and Simple at 

I went for a DL card for a change. Looking for a 6x6 card blank I came across a pack of mixed coloured DL that were given to me by a friend. I chose the lovely turquoise and the combo developed from there.

I coloured the sponsor's image with Promarkers and added some Star Dust Stickles to the peachy coloured hearts. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted, where I was lucky enough to have won a crafty spend just before Christmas.

Here's hoping this week will be good to you. See you again soon.

Thank you for taking the time to pay a visit, it is much appreciated xx

Some challenges

Crafty Friends Challenge Blog #126 - Something New ( Digi stamp)

My time to Craft #413 - New Stash ( Digi Stamp)

Craft Rocket Challenge #66 - Something New ( Disig Stamp)

An interesting kind of sketch!!

Hello lovely peeps. I hope you had a good weekend. Dare I say it, but it looks like the months of rain may be coming to an end here in the UK and I was able to go dog walking, do horsey/field stuff  and gardening without waterproofs yesterday...bliss!! This was our lane water feature on Wednesday morning!! I had been waiting for the hairy kids to say that they don't want to get wet but they never did!!!

Anyway the inspiration for today's card came from here, such an unusual and striking sketch, I just had to play.

The papers were free with a magazine ages ago and the stamps are from a Clearly Besotted set,
Rockin' Robin, coloured with Promarkers. Another Christmas card for the box!!

I hope to see you soon xx

Some Challenges

Winter Wonderland - Cute Christmas Critters
Daring cardmakers - Animal antics
CRAFT challenge #463 - Christmas
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

Sending you love

Oh my word what a horrid day it is here in Dorset, pouring with rain and blowing a gale...yuk!! Surprise decided to have a duvet day. When the weather is bad, and on days that I am not at work, I open her stable door and let her make up her own mind...she is 28 after all!!

Anyway, I am here to share a Sasayaki Glitter with stamp today and this time it is LOVE, available here.

Although she is perfect for a Valentine card I decided to add "Sending you" to make her more of a general card. She was coloured with Promarkers to match the pretty papers.

Thank you for stopping by today xx

Some challenges

Dream Valley Challenges #171 - Love
Passion for Promarkers #428 - Lots of layers

More coffee anyone?

Hello everyone, hope the week has started well for you.
This wasn't intentional but I appear to have a bit of a theme emerging with my beverage related cards of late!!

I was sooo pleased with myself and managed to buy just two stamps from the new LOTV range. I absolutely LOVE Jasmine (along with many other crafters apparently!!) and thought she deserved to be teamed with my "look only" Coffee in the Arbour paper pad.

She was coloured with Promarkers and I added a touch of white pen to highlight some areas. The pretty mat was done using a Sweet Dixie Circular die set, My Cheery Lynn Fishtail banner die set had an outing and I stamped the sentiment on a hand cut banner to sit on top. I cut the frantaged frame using little tags from my Tattered Lace Decorative Stepper set and the little sprigs behind the flowers were from the same set also. The banner does actually tuck in and out of the frame but then I went and covered it with flowers....doh!!

Some challenges

Sweet Stampin' - Paper piecing
The Ribbon Girl April Challenge - Anything Goes
Little Miss Muffet #135 - Anything Goes
In the Pink #91 - Dies and/or punches

Right, best go and get gorgeous!!

Have a good day xx

Snowdrops

Hello everyone, hope the week has got off to a good start for you.

I managed to have a play at the weekend while it was raining...no change there then!! 

Apologies for the dreadful photograph, couldn't get a good one to save my life!!

 I decided to give my embossing powders an airing and rather than emboss the sentiment decided to heat emboss the image in white and then colour it in. The Clearly Besotted set ( Winter Florals...now retired) has been in my stash (unopened) for a year...how naughty, so technically it's new!! Anyway, it will definitely be used again. The sentiment is from the set and I stamped it in black for balance. The spotty paper is a scrap from my stash and I made the frame using various circle dies.

Some challenges

Moving along with the times - Spots and dots
Pile it on #99 - First initial 'S' for snowdrops
Stamping Sensations - Anything goes with a die
Crafting when we can #110 - Something New (stamp)
That's Crafty - Winter but not Christmas
Creatine Inspirations #342 - Florals
A gem of a challenge #160 - Female Birthday

Thank you for sharing your day with me xx

  

Santa's Doggy Welcome

Hello crafters I hope your week is going to be a good one. No work for me today as I am enjoying the May Bank Holiday that I had in hand. I started off with a ride which was a tad chilly to say the least. Surprise has morphed from sleek and shiny to a furry monster in a matter of days, a sure sign that the season is on the change, which brings me nicely to my card...a Christmas one!!

 I have drooled over Lynne's (Ruby-Dooby-Doo Crafts) samples of Eat Cake Graphic Stamps for ages and back along decided that I had to get some.

 This is one of them...

...Santa's Doggy Welcome. I used another of Jules sketches and coloured with SN pencils. The papers are from an older Doodlebug pad. The fur trim on his costume is flower soft and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

Some challenges

A bit more time to craft #3 - Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew #95 - Christmas

Pencil Case #1 - Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland - Add a sentiment

Crafty Catz #291 - Anything Goes

Christmas Stamping all year long #55 - Anything Goes

As the sun is shining I am going to make the most of it and burn off some calories before an evening out with the girls to wish a colleague farewell. 

Have a good day whatever you are doing xx