Merry Christmas!!

So the veg has been done, final presents wrapped  and I am taking a few minutes to sit quietly and send this card to my lovely blogging buddies!!

I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas with your loved ones, near and far, and send special thoughts and prayers for those that are sorely missed. 

Thank you for sticking with me and for your words of kindness and encouragement throughout the year. It means a lot.

See you soon xx

Favourite Die - AYLI DT

Hello everyone. Just a quick post to share my DT inspiration for

We would love to see your Favourite Die this time.

I have several in my crafty arsenal that I reach for time and time again, my Presscut Stepper Die is one of them.

One pass though the Gemini and it's done, no measuring scoring and cutting!!
Once again I have used a James rubber stamp. Coloured with markers and some pencil as he looked a bit flat. I lacquered the baubles and added sparkle to his tinsel although the photograph is "pants" photographing mirri board is a nightmare!!

That is all for now peeps, see you when I do xx

Christmas with The Cutie Pies

That was a busy weekend!! We collected wreaths for our Dad's graves on Friday and then went to visit them. My Dad "made" Christmas for my sister and I when we were small and I think it is probably the time of year that I miss him the most, by now he would be playing his beloved Johnny Mathis Christmas Album on the music centre. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas still brings a tear to my eye. Anyway I have started rambling!! 

We are having a Just for Fun Challenge at

so I took the opportunity to ink up some of the MFT Christmas Selfies that fell on my doormat earlier in the year...not sure how that happened!! Here is the first...

I really enjoyed colouring these sweet stamps and the modern look went very will with one of my paper pads, this was a Lawn Fawn one I think.

The photograph is shocking, so I am very sorry about that!!

Well, the tooth came out last week. Thankfully it had settled and hadn't given me any more pain and the dentist assured me that it was the right thing to do. Apparently I was a very good patient!!

Whatever the week has in store for you I hope it is a good one. See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Make My Monday #111 - Anything Christmas
Try it on Tuesday - Christmas is coming
Creative Moments #182 - Anything Goes
Passion For Promarkers #523 - Mega Christmas Challenge

Christmas Cuties

Hello and welcome. 

Today is the start of a new challenge at

and unsurprisingly it is Christmas Cuties!!

Here is my card using another of my LOTV rubber stamps...I really should use them more often. Perhaps that should be my New Year Resolution!!

This card came about as the result of a Christmas card swap on the We Love Lili of the Valley Facebook Group. I made this for the lady I was paired with. I looked back to my early blogging days for inspiration and decided to replicate this one here

Again, I used Nitwits Collection papers this time Patchwork Christmas, slightly different to the original card but as they mix and match so beautifully, it works very time.

We are due some horrendous gales over the next day or two so I am not looking forward to that at all. Fingers crossed it will not live up to expectation...or is that just wishful thinking!?

Stay safe wherever you are in the world xx

Some challenges

Let's Craft and Create #154 - Anything goes =/- Snow
Winter Wonderland - Anything Goes
Tales From the Craft Room #11 - It's Christmas
Cardz 4 Galz #112 - Cute Christmas
Cute Card Thursday #611 - Anything Goes

CASE a DT member

Hello friends, we have something very different for you at As You Like It Challenge this time.

We want you to CASE a card by one of the Design Team...yes, we are positively encouraging copying!! Takes me back to the boys on the school bus hunched over exercise books copying work on the way to school. 

Now I love all my DT Sisters and their work but I just had to copy Annette, I have known her the longest and have watched and loved her style as it has evolved over the years. I consider myself to be very lucky and have quite a few Netty "originals" in my posession too.

So, here is her card...

and here is mine...

I used Toasty Greetings by MFT, coloured with Promarkers, I did consider (for  authentic forgery purposes!!) trying my hand at painting but came to the realisation that I will never be as good with the paintbrush as Annette so stuck with what I know!!

So, there you have it a pretty good copy I think!!

See you soon xx

Some challenges

Cardz 4 Guyz #234 - Christmas Critters
Passion for Promarkers #522 - Christmas Critters
Dream Valley Challenge #215 - Christmas

Oh my stars...and a wreath!!

Hello friends!! So, December is marching along already and I am pleased to say that all my Christmas cards have been made so I have been industrious making little gifts for my colleagues. I started this years ago and have, so far, managed to make something different each year. 

While browsing on pinterest I came across lolly sticks projects so decided to make some hanging stars, decorated in different ways using bits and pieces that I had been "saving"!! I also discovered many, many wooden curtain rings so decided to make something with them.

This is what happened...

I painted the sticks with pearly paint, glued them together in formation and then decorated, each one a little differently. The curtain ring I crocheted using this tutorial and simply added some snowflake buttons, a bow and some red sparkly glitter domes.

They happen to be perfect for the current challenges at Allsorts #548, Christmas gifts and Fab 'n Funky are Anything but a card

I haven't shared any photos lately so this is what I have been up to...an evening out with my lovely friend Kim to an audience with  Anton du Beke...get me!!

 and some lovely crisp walks. The dogs come back with frosty legs and have to thaw out!!

That is all for now, I am back tomorrow, so see you then xx

Christmas Shopping

Hello peeps, hope this week has been good to you and that you have something nice planned for the weekend. Special wishes to our friends over the pond who will be enjoying Thanksgiving weekend.

Yet another Christmas card to share today, this time my DT piece for

it is always Anything Goes as long as the image is hand coloured.

Here is what I did with our Sponsor's image, Christmas Shopping.

Coloured, as always, with Promarkers  matching the backing paper and satin mirror board.

I was so pleased with my effort that I had to share a close up too!!

Thank you for visiting me today. Hope you have a good weekend xx

Show off your Christmas hats

I always think the big countdown starts today with just one whole month of preparation to go!! I am doing pretty well with gift buying, have made my Christmas cake and have been making Christmas cards all year so am doing pretty well on that front too. I intend to settle down and write my cards at the weekend so they can be posted during the first week of December...in theory!!

Here is another to add to the pile, it is my DT inspiration for

where the fun challenge is Show off your Christmas hats.

I have used the lovely James from LOTV. Mine is rubber but the digi is still available here. He was coloured with Promarkers to match the lovely Nitwits papers. As it is a Christmas card the addition of Star Dust is mandatory!! For once the blue mirror board actually photographed well.

So, that is me for today. I hope you have a good week xx

Some Challenges

Cardz 4Galz #110 - Getting ready for Christmas
Crimbo Crackers #198 - Animals
Penny Black and More November - Christmas
Cute Card Thursday #609 - Winter

How do you add snow?

It's snowing over at As You Like It Challenge today and we would love to know how you add snow to your handmade cards.

I use different methods depending on the style of card I am making and on this occasion used torn paper as I always think it gives a nice fluffy, snowy edge!! Otherwise it will be Star Dust Stickles or a Memory Box die set that I have.

You would not believe how long it took me to put this card together. I had the idea in my head that it would be a good design for batch making...not a chance...this one alone was enough!! The cute Santa suit is  Joy Crafts die set. I cannot tell you where the layered Christmas tree die came from though!!

I am looking forward to seeing your snowy designs xx

The holly and ivy Christmas challenge #60 - Anything Christmas goes
Dragonfly Dreams November Challenge - Christmas/Winter
Christmas Crafts All Year Round - Stockings or other winter clothing
Creative Fingers #175 - Anything Goes
Cardz 4 Galz #109 - Let it snow

A bit of White on White

'Tis me again and unusually it isn't a DT card. I appear to have made lots and lots of cute Christmas cards and was lacking in those with a more traditional style. Spurred on by the latest Allsorts Challenge I made this...

...liked it so much I made two more!!

The white is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver card which was embossed with a snowy embossing folder. The die cut scene was adhered to a circle, finished off with a Sue Wilson sentiment. They were really quite quick to make, the longest time taken was poking out all the little bits from the scene...quite therapeutic actually!!

We are having a fun filled week so far!!
Yesterday the car had a service in the morning and my saddler visited in the afternoon to adjust Wills' saddle, he has been working hard and has become trimmer as a result. Shame it hasn't had the same affect on me...I am probably just more toned!!!! Today we refashioned his stable by moving the door which, at first, seemed like a relatively simple job...that took three and a half hours!! Amazingly there was no swearing involved and all measurements and subsequent cutting were accurate!! Yay!!

Tomorrow we are planning a trip to Dorchester, there is  a lovely market held on Wednesdays where we always buy our hanging baskets, they are beautiful and cost less than planting up our own. I am determined, where possible, to source and buy local for Christmas gifts this year so I hope to add some ticks to my list. 

If you have indulged me for this long...thank you!! See you later in the week.

Some challenges

Allsorts Challenge #545 - White on White
CAS Christmas Challenge - November
Christmas kickstart Challenge #23 - Snow

Add an animal

Happy Monday everyone!! After the manic last few weeks I have had I am so glad that this one has arrived as I am on annual leave!! Chance to recharge the batteries hopefully and catch up with friends and family and perhaps some Christmas shopping!! 

I am sharing my Cutie Pie DT card today where the theme is ADD A CUTE ANIMAL. I am still in full on Christmas production so chose Highland Christmas from our Sponsor Di's Digis.

Oh bother...I have just noticed the camera mark on Christmas!! Never mind, it can be our secret!!

I wish you a good week whatever you are up to and I will see you on Thursday with another Christmas card. Until then take care xx

Cute or Traditional

We are in a Christmassy mood at As You Like It Challenge this fortnight and would love for you to show us your cards in either a cute or traditional style. 

My longstanding blog visitors will not be at all surprised to see that my card is

 CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!! Why? Because I love them...that's all!!

I ended up using another LOTV digi and coloured it to match the very old LOTV papers. I found some lovely sand coloured stickles (another bottle that I had completely forgotten about!!) so used that to add some glittery dots. My trusty Whimsy "Happy Sayings" stamp and die sets came out again.

Well, that is almost another week over!! The tooth is feeling much better although extraction is likely in December. Work has been full on again this week and today will be the last Flu Clinic...hoorah!! It is quite the event...we hold it in the Village Hall and some local ladies provide tea, coffee and biscuits which is rather nice. Not quite sure why I felt the need to tell you that...but there you go!!

Anyway, I hope you will share your Christmas cards with us, cute or traditional they will be most welcome together with your reason. Look forward to seeing you there.

See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes +/- Stars
Passion for Promarkers #518 - Christmas is coming
The holly and ivy Christmas challenge  #59 - Anything Goes
Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog #16 - anything Goes

Winter Wishes

Thank goodness it's Friday!! Another hectic week for me, Flu Clinic at work and the associated admin that goes with it, face ache from smiling at patients and a painful tooth as well!! Still we are planning a visit to West Bay tomorrow so that will blow the cobwebs away!!

Before that though I have yet another Christmas card to share in support of

you can share any kind of card at all, just as long as the image is hand coloured.

My card features a gorgeous digi stamp from our sponsor Polkadoodles

My lovely Paper Boutique Winter Wishes die set was used for the base and the sweet little image was coloured with Promarkers.

Thank you for your visit xx

Christmas with The Cutie Pies

Hello fellow crafters. To kick off the week I have a cutie for you today.

Over at

we are persinalising our cards and this is one that I was asked to make for a friend.

I used my favourite colour combo, pink and green, for this sweet card. The image is an extremely old digi stamp that I found, among others, while I was having a crafty tidy up!!

I hope this post finds you all well. Crafty time is still in short supply here!! Wet weather, animals, work and family matters are taking up precious crafty time at the moment and just when I think there is a glimmer of opportunity on the horizon...along comes another spanner in the works!! On the plus side, I have actually made a start on the Christmas shopping and have a reasonable stack already. So together with my Christmas cards things are looking good!!

Toodles for now xx

AYLI Favourite Designer Paper

We are all about your Favourite Designer Papers at

This theme is right up my street I LOVE Designer paper pads and have more than I am ever going to use in ten lifetimes. Still I keep buying them, can anyone explain it?!!

On this occasion I am showcasing two MFT paper pads. What I love about this brand is the ability to mix and match them so well, added to which they also suit the cute stamps and images that I am so fond of using.!!

A sweet LOTV rubber stamp was coloured with Promarkers and I used my Mama Elephant companion stamp and die set for the tag.

I can't wait to put the clocks back an hour on Saturday night, it will mean lighter mornings again for a little while at least!!

See you soon everyone xx

Some Challenges

Dream Valley challenges #212 - Add a sentiment
Lil patch of crafty friends #116 - Anything Goes
Penny Black and More - October Pretty in Pink
( I shan't be offended if it isn't pink enough!!)

Cutie Pie Challenge

Hello. It's a cute one from me today...no change there then!!

is ANYTHING GOES, as long as it's cute.

This cute little lady is Winnie from our sponsor

I used Promarkers to colour her to match the pretty papers which are from one of my many "Julie Loves" sets. As usual the design is quite simple but I found myself with a large white area, top right, so used my companion die and stamp set from Whimsy, which filled the space perfectly. The "everything" was heat embossed in white.

Have a good week xx

Some challenges

Stitching

Hello friends. I hope this finds you well. Yet another Christmas card to share today, this time for

where we are all about stitching and how you add it to your cards.

My nod to stitching is usually by way of dies and on this card the bauble has a stitched edge, as does the circle mat in the middle. I tend to use dies these days for stitched detail mainly for the convenience and speed. 

It was unintentional but I seem to have used a lot of products from our sponsor, Lawn Fawn, on this card, the bauble shaped tag and the stamp and companion dies. It is a dinky little 4x4 card that was coloured with Promarkers.

Thank you for visiting and if I have not visited you recently please accept my apologies. Free time has been in short supply of late what with one thing or another going on here but all will be well in the not too distant future.

See you soon xx

Some challenges

Winter Wonderland - Merry and Bright

Crafty Friends #120 - Christmas
I Love Promarkers #394 - Anything Goes =/- Halloween

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge

Another Christmas card for you today. This time to invite you to join in at

where we just love seeing your hand coloured cards, the theme is always Anything Goes and this time our sponsor is Bugaboo. I used Christmas Moose Ornaments.

As you can see I went down the delicate girly route this time and even added some ribbon for a bit of texture, it is still fairly flat for posting though. The moose was coloured with Spectrum Noir Illustrator pens and I added a touch of sparkle pen to the baubles on his antlers.

I hope you have a good weekend. Fingers crossed the rain will hold off for a while here in Dorset!!

See you soon xx

Some Challenges

Crafting by Designs - October Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #399 - Anything Goes
Penny's paper crafty challenge #450 - Anything Goes

Favourite Style

Do you have a particular cardmaking style or are you like me, a bit unsure? 

That is the question for you at AYLI this fortnight. Remember that we are a nosy bunch and like to know why you create how and/or why you do.

I don't really fall into the CAS or frilly and fancy category. I love patterned papers but don't usually tend to add bulk to my cards. I am an inbetweeny!!

This is what I made...

The paper from The Range was the starting point here and I coloured the cute Elf and his presents to match. I used my lovely Sue Wilson Christmas Wishes die again and there you have it a neither Clean and Simple or Frilly and Fancy card!!

Apologies for not being very active with my commenting this week, it has been a busy one. Hope to catch up soon xx

Some Challenges

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #20 - It's a gift
Chistmas at Sweet Stampin'
Passion for Promarkers #512 - Christmas in September

Ribbons & Bows - Christmas Cutie

Hello all. I hope you had a good weekend and that the week ahead is just as good!! 

It is Christmas with the Cutie Pies Challenge time again, boy don't these months roll by!??

This time we would love to see your cute Christmas cards adorned with ribbons and/or bows.

Here is my card to inspire you...

I have no idea where the image came from (shout if you know!!) but it was in my digi box. I coloured it with pencils for a change to match the lovely Echo Park papers which included the sentiment strip too which, I thought, was perfect.

So if you make a card over the coming weeks that is cute, for Christmas and has a bow or ribbon, you know where to come, you will be most welcome.

See you later in the week with another Christmas card xx

Some challenges

With Sympathy

I have one of those necessary but not nice cards to share today. It was made  for my Aunt following the loss of my Uncle.

No cute image today only lots of rubber and ink. On a whim, I bought this stamp set a while ago and kept picking it up and putting it back down again with lots of head scratching!! The wreath alone just wasn't enough so I hunted through my stamps and found the flourish in an old Banana Frog Christmas set, which worked a treat with the leaves around the edges. It also fits the theme at these two chellenges.

Crafty Catz #474 - Anything Goes - +/- With Sympathy

Little Red Wagon #514 - In Memorium

It was a lovely weekend here, lots of sunshine and really quite warm during the afternoons. I love walking the dogs early before it gets hot and it was actually a chilly 6 degrees so a fleece was necessary yesterday morning.


An interesting web.

The pups on the lookout for newly released pheasants.

Wills Wills (on the right) catching some early morning rays. Surprise was still in bed!!

I hope you have a good week. See you when I do xx

Twofer

I always have good intentions when I spot challenges that take my fancy but, more often than not, fail to make time to create a worthy entry. A planned visit to hospital meant that I gained an extra day at home this week so actually managed to make these to take along to Darnell's Twofer Challenge where the theme is "Critters".

It was the first inking of one of the stamps in the Tracey Hey set, Rhino Rascals that has been sat on my desk for several months now. They really are adorable and come with lots of "different" sentiments and lots of diddy filler stamps, the heart background being an example. They were coloured with Promarkers.

I used three different shades of red ink to create the background on the panel above. It wasn't until I had finished that I realised that there are actually four different heart stamps and I only used two!!

The paper panel on this one made the card look unfinished so I dug out a long forgotten tube of yellow glitter to weld the paper and white space together. The sequins were inspired by the current

Passion for Promarkers Challenge #510 - Sequins, pearls or gems.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. The forecast here in the UK looks rather good for now so we will be making the most of it while it lasts.

See you soon

More challenges that inspired me

Penny Black and More September - Animals

Polkadoodles #37 - Anything Goes

Crafting by Designs September - Anything Goes

Santa or no Santa? AYLI

Another Christmas card from me today. I am hosting at

so I really hope you will pop over and take a look at what my team mates have made too.

It's Santa or no Santa? 

I have to be honest, over the years I have struggled to find Father Christmas stamps, rubber or digi, that haven't given me the willies!! They either have a sinister look or are just too cute to be authentic so for me it's no Santa.

I was enchanted by the Christmas bunnies from LOTV and bought a couple of them back a long so thought it was time to print and colour.

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and used, I think, a First Edition pad. It cried out for a bit of gingham!!

I hope you are having a good week. I am taking it easy after a bit of minor surgery yesterday so hope to spend a bit of time quietly colouring.

Looking forward to seeing your Christmas cards featuring Santa or not!!

See you soon xx

Celebrations at The Cutie Pie Challenge

The theme at The Cutie Pie Challenge this week is

CELEBRATIONS 

so we would love to see your cute cards for any event with cause for celebration.

I am using Christmas Banner Grace from our sponsor Pink Gem at Polkadoodles. I intended being lazy and using the pre-coloured version but since a Windows update a week or so ago, I can only print grayscale or black and white so a coloured image it was!! I also spotted a wiper card tutorial so decided to put Grace on the front of one. In my haste I think the wiper works the wrong way but never mind!!

The holly papers were free with a magazine many years ago and I coloured the image with Promarkers to match. It is a miracle that I managed a card at all, I had got my DT diary all back to front last week...nightmare!! Still, all is well and here I am.

I think I am back later in the week so see you then xx

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #55 - Anything Goes
Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge

Hello lovely people, hope this finds you well and looking forward to the weekend. I have had a hectic week, workwise, so am looking forward to a lie in, in theory!! My word the mornings have been so dark and as Surprise is stabled at night all year round I have really noticed the drop in temperature this week as I have been mucking out. Still, it has been a lovely summer.

So, something a little bit different from me today. My longstanding visitors will know that my style is normally  cute. The image I have used was given to us by the sponsor (Ikes Art) of the latest challenge at




This is the gorgeous Athena looking very regal so I used purple (not a big fan really) and teamed her with gold for a touch of opulence. I was so pleased with the finished result. Even the hair was okay!!




In fact...here is a real eyeful!!

Since the "accidental purchase" of #2 pony earlier in the year I have tried to be good and restrict my crafty spends on essentials only...I fell off the wagon a bit and "invested" in some Hunkydory flower dies and boy, am I glad I did, they are sensational!! Lots of mileage in these I am sure!!

It would be lovely if you could join us, always Anything Goes as long as you share a hand coloured card...simples!!

I hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to having a catch up with you soon xx