AYLI Sketch

 Happy Thursday everyone the weekend is just in reaching distance!! Before that though it's time for a new challenge at 

As You Like It Challenge

The theme is Favourite Sketch.

My long time followers will know that I LOVE Jules' sketches and I always visit her Sketch library when inspiration is lacking. She has tons of wonderful designs and there is sure to be one that takes my fancy. On this occasion I chose Square #56 

It was the perfect design to show off the lovely Doodlebug Designs Frosty Friends paper pad which perfectly compliments the adorable penguin (Crafters Companion Snow what fun). The sweet little penguin was coloured with Promarkers and I added lots of sparkly glitter too.

My team mates have some lovely inspiration for you so please go and take a look.

See you next time xx

Lots of Layers

 It's my pleasure to be the chooser of the optional theme at Allsorts Challenge this week.

I would be thrilled to bits if you would support my challenge and share your cards featuring 

Lots of Layers

I used one of my many paper pads and put this card together to inspire you.

I used a Doodlebug Designs pad and coloured the adorable Stanley (from the no longer trading Digistamp Boutique) to match. I had a lovely time cutting and layering the different papers on to kraft card. This card was CASed from this one that I made in 2015 and I used the same paper pad and image too. It was lovely trawling back through my makes and I am going to have a go at making more of the same but different!!

Anyway I hope that you will play along whether you are tempted by my theme or take the Anything Goes option. There are always lovely prizes up for grabs.

See you Soon xx

Summertine

It's Summertime at 

so we would love to see your projects featuring anything summery or, if you prefer, you can opt for the Anything Goes option.

For the month of July Prizes are from Oakwood, Sizzix, AALL and Create and Craft Stash, please visit our Patrons page to read more about each.

Here is my own Summertime inspiration for you.

 I am mighty chuffed with myself as there were no new purchases required for this card!1 The pretty papers are Doodlebug Designs "Sunkissed". The sweet image and sentiment stamp is from a very old one from Crafters Companion and was coloured with Promarkers. 

Well, I had a lovely week off that (as predicted at the beginning of the week) included riding, cycling, a visit to the seaside and lots of naughty food (cancelled out by the cycling!!). I really don't want to go back to work on Monday 😢😢

Here's a cheesy grin for you!!

Lyme Bay

I hope you all have a good weekend xx

Plain or Patterned?

Plain or Patterned papers is the new theme at

Come on now, you know the answer to that if you've paid me a visit before!!

I LOVE patterned papers and if I live ten lifetimes would never ever use the paper pads I have appear to have collected over the years!! 

My inspiration for you today shares one of my favourite paper pads Doodlebug Design Frosty Friends that I teamed with a super cute image from one of Amanda Jayne Designs Collections Christmas Cuties

I coloured the adorable bear with Promarkers and added some Star Dust Stickles and purple glitter for a bit of festive twinkle.

I hope that you will have a look through your paper pads, or not, and join us this time.

See you on Saturday xx

Thank you Fairy Friend

I took a little break away from craft leading up to Christmas but golly I missed it and it's good to be back!

So for the second time this week I am here to share another DT card.

 Over at 

 we want to see your favourite reason for making a card.

Those of you old enough will remember that Post Office sets were popular Christmas presents in the 70's and Mum and Dad always made sure we used the paper to write our Thank You letters. Not much has changed for me here in my 50's and I still send Thank You cards at this time of year.

This one is with thanks for the stamp set that I used to make it! I have everything crossed that it will have been received by the time this post goes live!! 

Thank you for dropping by today, your company is always appreciated xx

A Blue Christmas

 Hello everyone. Long time, no see, well a couple of weeks!! I am pleased that Flu Clinics are a thing of the past in my working life so I am looking forward to getting some Christmas crafting done. I am cross stitching for my work colleagues this year, which I am enjoying, but find it difficult to do in the evenings now that it's dark so early and my vision is not what it once was!!

We have a new challenge starting today at

we are sharing our cards using our favourite Non-Traditional Christmas colours. I have gone for blues and purples. Blue for the frosty wintry skies and purples just to add a little bit of warmth.

 I have used a favourite Christmas paper pad from long ago, there's not very much of it left now but it's made a lovely background for the sweet LOTV cat. I used my lovely Winter Wishes snowflake die again (another favourite for this time of year). The cute kitty and wreath was coloured with Promarkers and it was the perfect oppurtunity to use some lovely blue pearls to adorn the snowflake frame. 

That's all for now folks and, I think, I am back again on Monday.

Before I go though I wonder if anyone can share any information about the lovely Mary from Carolina Crafts. She has been in my thoughts for the last couple of months while we have been enjoying the final series of Doc Martin. I recall her being a big fan of Martin Clunes. I think her Husband became poorly very quickly and she popped back into blogland once or twice but just wondered of anyone was in touch with her.

xx

 

Traditional or Modern Christmas

 Well autumn has finally arrived here in Dorset. We've had frosty, cold and crisp days and also  warm and blustery wet days. The Summer clothes have been packed away and my Christmas Shopping list has one or two gifts ticked off already. Once again I am trying really hard to buy local, at the very least within Dorset and so far, so good!

On the subject of Christmas over at

we are itching to see your Traditional or Modern Christmas cards, with an explanation too.

My blogging buddies will know that I love nothing more than a cute image, bright colours and some snazzy paper so it's a Modern type card from me, featuring the aforementioned.

It's a dinky 4x4 card base, covered in a Doodlebug Design scrap. The penguin is part of an MFT set, Sweet Holiday Penguins , as is the sentiment that was stamped on to a Lawn Fawn, Wavy Banners. Oh and the penguin was coloured with Promarkers.

Lovely to have your company here today. Keep well everyone and stay safe, in our part of the country the Covid cases are rising steeply again.

See you soon xx

True Love or Fabulous Friendships

 Hello everyone. So January has been and gone and lovely February is upon us and my promise to craft more has well and truly gone by the wayside. I don't generally ride very much in the winter when it is wet, cold and dark but it's been so lovely and dry that I haven't really stopped. Saying that we are sure to get some nasty weather sooner or later. 

Anyway, I did find the time to make the card I am sharing today. It's my DT piece for

As You Like It Challenge

where we are full of love with our theme of True Love or Fabulous Friendships.

I love receiving a nice envelope through the door so spread the love by sending thinking of you cards to friends that I've not seen for a while. This is one such card that I recently made. She has a labrador so the die cut shape is perfect I think,

I started with a snippet of black Foundations card that I trimmed to fit the 4 x6 card base and then cut the aperture. The die is from Crafters Companion and all I did was backed it with some Doodlebug Designs paper and added a green ribbon. My trusty Mama Elephant sentiment and tag die set came up trumps again to finish it off.

It would be lovely to see your makes over at the challenge blog.

Thank you for dropping in and I hope you stay well. See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Snippets Playground #420 -Rubys Memory

Kindness Matters

 Hello everyone, it's been a while hasn't it!? Nothing personal I can assure you, just a lot going on here and not enough hours in the day!! I hope you had a peaceful Easter and are all keeping well and enjoying a bit of dry weather, wherever you are in the world. 

This post is to shout about the new challenge starting at

...it's all about Embossing or Stencils this time.

I have gone down the embossing folder route, I seem to have rather a lot of them in my stash and had a leisurely browse before making my choice for this card. They are really good for adding texture and interest to a card without adding bulk.

I chose a woven textured folder to, kind of, echo the textured appearance on the sliver of Doodlebug Designs paper. I coloured the adorable LOTV digi image with Promarkers and used the sentiment from the Grace bundle.

Looking forward to seeing what you make of this theme.

See you soon xx

Summer or Autumn at AYLI

Hello everyone, don't be shocked but it's me again. 

I am getting a bit ahead of myself with a little autumnal number as my DT piece for

where the theme is Summer or Autumn. As always you can interpret the theme as you wish but do remember to tell us why.

I am most definitely an autumn person. I marvel at the glorious colours of the season and love nothing more than riding or kicking my way through the crunchy fallen leaves on a misty morning. 

I just happened to have the perfect paper pad  to use with the sweet Tracey Hey fox (an early set from Mama Makes) that I coloured with Promarkers. The message and hearts are from the current Rhino Rascals set and I finished it off with a spotty orange satin ribbon.

I hope you will join us.

Have a good weekend, when it arrives. See you soon xx

Some challenges

Stamping Sensations - All Creatures Great and Small

Passion for Promarkers #551 - Animal Antics

Crafty Calendar - Add a ribbon

Animals or People

I have the cutest card to share that I hope will encourage you to join in the new challenge that starts today at

Animals or people (remember the reason too)

That sweet rhino dressed as a bumble bee is from Tracey Hey's Rhino Rascals. I love her characters and unusual sentiments. Anyway the image was stamped in Versamark and then black embossing powder was heated for a lovely shiny outline. I am not great at colouring hair so, by choice,  find animals a much easier option. This cutie was coloured with Flexmarkers. I happened to find some sweet bumble bee paper in my stash which, I think, may be from a Doodlebug Designs pad.

I hope you enjoy the Easter Weekend, albeit not what we are used to but necessary nonetheless. 

See you soon and stay safe xx

Autumn with the Cutie Pies

Hello and happy Monday to you all.

I have an autumnal card to share with you today to,
hopefully,  inspire you to join us at 

We would love to see your cute cards in autumn shades.

Here is mine

I used my Mama Makes stamp set again, coloured with Promarkers, and Doodlebug Designs paper. The little tag and stamp were magazine freebies.

Nature hasn't really put her autumn dress on quite yet here in Dorset but the mornings are quite chilly now when I muck out and walk the dogs so I expect the colours will soon start to change.

I hope you will join us for our seasonal challenge here.

I will be back later in the week xx

Some challenges

Dream Valley Challenges #185 - Autumn Colours 

Dis Digis - Happy fall y'all

 Crafty cardmakers #217 - All creatures great and small

Bear Hugs

Helloooo!! It's time for another challenge at

So, the intention was to use a rather cute digi image from my stash but unfortunately I talked myself into pre-ordering  one of the latest releases from Stamping Bella so I just had to use that instead!! 

Now tell me that's not cute!!

I coloured them with Promarkers to match the scrummy papers from  Doodlebug Designs (Milk and cookies). My new (longed for) Tattered lace dies got their first airing too which was exciting!! I just think crafting is fab, in that so much pleasure can be gained by some paper, metal and a bit of rubber!! Designer shoes and handbags? Not for me!! Actually it's more like horse shoes and rugs!!

Anyway, you have a few weeks to dig out your bear stamps, papers, toppers or dies and join the Cuties...look forward to seeing what you make!!

See you later in the week with more Christmas!! xx

Some challenges

Christmas Card Challenges #25
Crafty Friends #70 - Christmas
Craft Rocket #43 - Christmas is coming
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #8
Crafty Animals #8

Christmas Animals

Hello blog land buddies.  It's new challenge time at

where your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to inundate us with Christmas cards showcasing cute animals....easy peasy!!

Here's mine, featuring a really cute polar bear from our sponsor

PINK GEM DESIGNS

I coloured the little darling with Promarkers and I think I am right in saying that the backing paper is from a Doodlebug pad. My glittery snow is by Marianne Designs and the sentiment from a new Crafters Companion stamp set.

I will see you on Thursday, until then, have a good one xx

AYLI Feathers or fur?

Hello crafty friends Hope you are well and looking forward to the weekend. Before that though it's challenge time at

Yes, it really has been two weeks!! This time the theme is

Feathers or Fur?

It has to be fur for me, I love the soft silky fur of our sprollies, the downy fur of Mo the yard cat and the smell of Surprise is intoxicating (strange but true!!). We have had hens in the past and Declan had a sweet budgie called Paddy,  who stayed with us when he left home but sadly you can't cuddle a bird!!

Anyway, here is my card featuring a furry fox!!

The image was part of a prize from Just Me and I had a lovely time browsing the images there. Do take a look if you have a spare moment. I coloured him with my Promarkers and used some Doodlebug paper that were perfect in colour. I used a tiny scallop edged die on the black mat under Mr Fox and I was pleased to find a wooden button in the exact same colours of the paper too.

So, I hope I have inspired you to join us with your furry or feathery creations!!

On the subject of fur, thank you to those of you who left such lovely comments about my Surprise. She had her seven weekly visit from my Farrier and as he is the person I trust the most in relation to her legs and feet, I was thrilled when he said that a full recovery is probable as long as I introduce work slowly, so I am back in the saddle at the weekend...yay!! Can't tell you how much I have missed it.

Thank you for dropping in xx

Some challenges

Allsorts # 429 - Forest Friends
Dragonfly dreams - Animals
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #5 - Anything Goes but must feature a creature
Crafty Animals #5 - Anything Goes

Birthday Cake

Hello friends I am here today with a cute CAS card from

She is called Birthday Cake and who wouldn't love one that size?!!

She was coloured with Promarkers and the pile of pressies are various Doodlebug papers. The message is from a Purple Onion set that was a gift from a crafty buddy.

You might like to know that there is a DT call for both the Sasayaki Glitter Inspiration Team and Challenge Blog. If you have time to make a couple of extra cards a month then please consider entering the call, believe me, they are a great group of ladies to work with!! All the details are here.


 Before I go I must bore you with a snap or two from our visit to Lyme Regis last weekend. Meryl Streep was seen there in 1982 windswept along the cobb  in the French Lieutenant's Woman!!
The weather wasn't great but the black cherry ice cream was delish!!

See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Cute Card Thursday #479 - CAS
Crafty Gals Corner #124 - 2+ patterned papers
I Love Promarkers #335 - Girls Birthday
Pennys paper-crafty challenge #330 - Anything Goes

AYLI Favourite Colour

Hello friends, it's Thursday which means it's time for the latest challenge to kick off at

Another easy one  your FAVOURITE COLOUR

I am one of those people that really doesn't have a favourite colour as such so I did the sensible thing and trawled back through my cards to have a bit of a tally. Shock...horror...PINK is my favourite/most used colour!! So I made this just to prove the point!!

I was in a CAS mood and just had to play with my new Hunky Dory stamp set, Doodlebug paper pad and Lawn Fawn die set. I was so pleased with the result and have just the person in mind to send it to when the time comes.

I have a bit of time on my side as I am waiting for the end of year reports to print so am able to have a chat and share some photographs.

Spring is well and truly under way here in Dorset, our daily walks/rides are fragrant by way of the lovely bluebells and wild garlic that has started to appear. The pheasants are much bolder now that the shooting season is over and there are deer all over the place which is a worry because they appear through the hedge causing Surprise to jump and the dogs pick up the scent and get giddy with excitement!! Our rabbit family have come out of their winter burrows and are now making themselves at home on the lawn, again causing much excitement for Bowie and Bumble and frequent coffee spillage for me as I tend to throw it all over myself when they bark...little b*ggers darlings!!

Bumble and Bowie very wet from the morning dew.

Hope to see you soon xx

Some challenges

Little Red Wagon - April Showers

Creative Moments #116 -Anything goes 

Happy Birthday Cuties!!

Hello friends lovely to see you. As it's the second Monday of the month it's time for a new challenge at...

...and this time it's a special one. 

The Cutie Pies Challenge is 5 years old so the theme is 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To mark the occasion we have FIVE...yes FIVE sponsors (full details on the challenge blog here), and I used an image from one of them Bugaboo. She was coloured with Promarkers and the the papers are Doodlebug Designs again, I think!!

I hope you will help us celebrate in style by sharing your cute Happy Birthday cards with us and as an extra treat one random person leaving a  comment on our challenge post and on our Mid-Month reminder will also be in with the chance of winning some digital images...go on...what are you waiting for!!

See you soon xx

I am playing along here

I love Promarkers #317 - Spots and/or stripes

Favourite paper?

Hello bloggers. How the devil are you? Well I hope. I am beside myself with excitement as Martin and I are taking ourselves off to Cornwall for a few days later today. But before that I am equally excited to tell you that the new challenge is starting today at

the theme for this coming fortnight is

Favourite Paper

It will come as no great surprise when I tell you that patterned paper is a bit of an obsession with me and asking me to choose a favourite is....well....impossible. However I do tend to use Doodlebug Designs paper pads quite a lot as they are such great quality, vibrant in colour and are so versatile too, as in this case, turned into a background scene.

I coloured this sweet Crafters Companion stamp with my Lyra pencils for a change.

Right, better go get organised before Hubby gets home from work. Connor and Laura are in charge of Surprise, Mo the Cat, Suzy, Bowie and Bumble...not sure they know what they've let themselves in for!!

Thank you for your continued support and lovely comments. I am afraid that time is still very much in short supply due to the new family members, but they are growing by the day and learning really quickly so hopefully I shall soon be able to get into my work room and have something to share with you. I have been checking in on all of your lovely work when time allows!!

See you soon xx

Cute Monkeys

Hello friends thank you for visiting me today. 

I am showcasing an image from

They are Cute Monkeys, by name and by nature!!

I coloured them with my Lyra pencils and teamed them with Doodlebug papers for a bright fresh look.
I'm afraid I'm not really happy with it, I just wasn't in the "zone"...too much puppy brain I think!!
Anyway, don't let that put you off...it was me not the monkeys!!

Better luck next time Sarah!!

See you soon xx