CAS at Allsorts

 It's Saturday and time for a new challenge at

where our optional theme, chosen by Helen, is

Clean and Simple

I don't mind admitting that I would normally run for the hills BUT my lovely blogging buddy Lisa gave me some lovely stamps for Christmas that just cried out to be used on a CAS card...so here it is!!

The stamp set I used is from MFT named Geometric Greenery and I coloured the leaves ombre style with Promarkers. Sorry to the die hard CAS fans but I had to add a sequin or three!!

I hope that you have a lovely weekend and that you will find some time to join in

Three prizes from Oakwood Direct, A5 stamp set, coordinating stamp and die and stencils

As this goes live I am planning to be walking on the beach at Weymouth. It's been a dire week, weatherwise, so promised a fine and crisp day we are going to make the most of it. I hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are.

Until next time, take care xx

Feathers, Fur or Scales?

 Good Morning peeps. Well what a scorcher it has been here in the UK. Thank goodness it's cooled down a bit, I was panicking that my HRT patch might slide down my leg and out of my sandal while I was in Aldi!! 😄 Our poor animals weren't very impressed either. Martin was hosing down the ponies on Monday while I was in an air conditioned office (small mercies!!) and Bowie and Bumble just didn't know what to do with themselves. Anyway, it's passed and, lets be honest, us Brits do love to chat about the weather!!

I have a furry squirrel to share with you today. It's my  AYLI DT inspiration for you.

Our theme is Feathers, fur or scales? I am not a big fan of the former. I think I might have mentioned before that my Grandma used to let her budgies fly free around her living room. They used to scare the life out of me so feathers is definitely out. Scales.....Yuk!! So something warm and furry suits me just fine. I love my Sprollies' silky ears and there is nothing quite like the smell and feel of the velvet muzzle of a horse. I have never been in close proximity to a squirrel but I imagine that tail is soft and furry!! The cute image was from our Sponsor, Lee Holland Illustrations, and I coloured him with my Promarkers. The ombre pad jumped into my basket while I was wandering around in The Range looking for something else!!

That's all for today. 

See you soon xx

Simple Starts

 Hello you lovely people. I hope this new week finds you well and happy. 

It's my pleasure to be hosting the first challenge of 2022 over at

and we are breaking you in gently with a SIMPLE START, which basically means we are looking for a Clean and Simple card featuring a cute image of your choice.

Here is my inspiration for you using a really cute digi image from our sponsor.

I coloured this little cutie with my Promarkers and the Thank You was simply typed. It looked a bit flat so I added some creamy pearls and then mounted the coloured image on a snippet of some similarly coloured card that I had used to die cut a circle, previously. Much better!!

If, like me, you are hoping to be a little more crafty in 2022, I hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and join in. 

Lovely to have your company, as always. See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Crafty Catz #577 - Anything Goes +/- CAS

I Love Promarkers #501 - Anything Goes +/- Get Well

Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes

Snippets playground #419

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

Delightful Digis

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. I had a haircut on Friday...oh my days, it feels amazing and I will never take a good hair cut for granted ever again!!

Anyway, on to the matter in hand. I am here to shout about the latest challenge at

As always we want to see your cute images and this time a digi image.

Here is my card using an image from our sponsor.

Little Mia was coloured with Promarkers to match the Craftword Cards paper that I used. Since the mojo was lacking I paid a visit to Jules' sketch vault and chose #49 this time...she really does have some fab designs that she is happy to share.

On Saturday, armed with face coverings, we headed south to the coast. We had seen in the local paper that there were cruise ships anchored off the beach in Weymouth so went to have a look for ourselves. Never having been on a cruise, we were astonished by their size...gargantuan!!

There are actually six of them "parked up". What was most alarming was how quiet Weymouth was. We had our reservations about whether to go or not but need not have worried, it was like a ghost town. We treated ourselves to a picnic lunch from M&S where it was well organised and we safely got around the food hall following the arrows!!

And here are before and after hair cut shots. I did take the scissors to the fringe during lockdown!! I am embracing the natural highlights this time as I seem to be blessed with an even sprinkling of grey, so we'll see how that goes!!

So, that's all the news. I am thankful , as always, for your visits and words of encouragement.  It is a comfort to know that there is no social distancing here and we can come and go as we please!!

Take Care xx

Happy New Year and Thank You!!

Hello everyone and a great big 

Happy New Year!!

 I hope 2020 brings health, wealth and happiness to you all.

My card today is some inspiration for the new challenge at

We have made Thank You cards. 

I have been busy with needle and aida since Boxing Day and made this...

it was a free pattern from the amazingly talented Durene Jones that I adapted to suit my own thread stash and time constraints!! The stitched panel is just short of four inches, so I made a whopping eight inch card with a small silver inner frame and a lavender pearl board embossed mat. Nothing more needed.

So, that is my crafty year started off nicely and I hope you will have time to join in.

See you soon xx

Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #551/2 - Anything Goes

Love to Craft Challenge Blog #42 - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards December Challenge - Anything Goes

Antiques

Hello everyone. In case you didn't know Squirrel is holding another of her fabulous Challenges and this time it's Antique Roadshow.

 Like all of us I have long forgotten gems hidden beneath all the latest dies, stamp collections and assorted paraphernalia that we really don't need (cough splutter)!! So here is what I made using one of the very first stamps and die sets I ever bought together with a card design that I haven't crafted for absolutely ages.  

The stamp is Bild Malarna Mimosa Chicken ( not sure why but feathered friends seem to be featuring a lot lately!!) I coloured her with pencils to compliment the  MME Fine and Dandy Girl paper. She was die cut using SB Labels 18. 

The side shot shows how the label holds the card up. 

The white leaves were cut using Marianne LR0226. The pretty flowers are by Petaloo, the tag from an IO set and the sentiment from a Clearly Besotted sentiment set.
See, not a new item in sight!!

While on the subject of Ornithology, we had a super lunch out last Saturday and as we were waiting for our main course to arrive spotted a seagull furtively casing the joint, the cheeky devil then hopped onto the bench and devoured the crisps that had been left behind!!

Oh and while Surprise and I were out on Sunday morning I heard the cuckoo for the very first time, which always pleases me enormously as I know summer is on the way. Not so pleasing though is that I shall have to remember to keep the garage door closed so that the naughty cuckoo doesn't throw out another nest of house martin babies...nature can be cruel :0( ...actually so can I...bear with I am in a bit of a chatty mood today!! We used to have hanging baskets at the front door, however, several summers ago unbeknownst to me Mr & Mrs Blue Tit built a nest among the bedding plants and it was only by chance that I discovered it, one morning as I was watering, complete with seven eggs !! I was so worried that I had saturated them and that they wouldn't hatch but lo and behold they did, all seven. I had to let the flowers die though because I was terrified I would drown the babies!!  Needless to say we now have plants in troughs and the baskets are redundant!!

I'm off to link up at Squirrel's World and a few others!!
Addicted to Stamps #104 - Spring with Birds/Eggs
Allsorts #310 - More than two die cuts
Through the purple haze - Spring Colours

Hope Wednesday is good to you xx

Which one are you?

Hello you lovely people and I hope you are well today, if not, I hope tomorrow is better for you.

I am here this morning with my DT card for

As You Like It and our question for you this time is

CAS or Fussy?

Me? I'm not actually sure. I like to keep my cards flat for posting which (usually) means little in the way of embellishments, therefore not fussy.  BUT I do use layers, and  patterned papers are my favourite thing so lots of "white space" (as in the true meaning of CAS) goes out of the window too!! Oh dear what a conundrum...I know...you decide!!

Anyway my offering is a thank you card made with a cute little stamp that came with a recent magazine. I coloured with SN pencils and blending solution and used scraps of paper for the scalloped border and that, my friends, is that.

One or two challenges to play along with

Winter Wonderland - KISS
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 163
Crafty Gals Corner #6 - Anything Goes


I do hope you will come and play along, you will be most welcome.


Thanks for coming by and for your kind words. It means a lot xx

Thank You!!

Happy Weekend crafty peeps.

Just popping by today to share another Cuddly Buddly digi stamp
  Lilyboo's Thank U.

I am so fond of this little lady probably because she reminds me of me when I was little!!

I was inspired by some scraps from my bit box and went with the purple palette which I was rather pleased with. My colouring was done with SN pencils and spirit to match the pretty papers (Nitwits).

Some challenges

Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #82 - No circles
Crafting From The Heart #42 - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations #296 - Anything Goes
Pennys Paper Crafty Challenge #210 - Anything Goes

Hope you have something crafty planned!! See you soon xx