Favourite Animal that can be a Pet

 I have been fortunate to have New Forest Ponies in my life for 25 years and at 32 Surprise has been there to supervise lots of events. She knows all my secrets and has been a huge support through good times and bad. Wills has taken her place as riding pony since her forced retirement, two and a bit years ago, and at 11 years old will be my last. If he ages as well as Surprise I will be well into my 70's!!

 Why is she going on about her animals I hear you cry...well it's new challenge day at 

As You Like It Challenge

and we would love to see a project featuring your favourite animal that can be a pet with a little explanation why and, on this occasion, would really like to see a picture of your pet too.

The image I used here is a freebie from Making Cards that I coloured with my Promarkers to compliment the rustic papers from Crafters Companion. I also discovered some rustic style stringy stuff and seed heads that went really well with the hessian ribbon. The message on the pin was part of a journalling kit that I had left over and fitted just right.

and here they are Wills on the left and my darling Surprise on the right

I think she is sticking her tongue out in this one!! She might be an antique pony but is still as cheeky as ever!!

It would be wrong of me to exclude my other hairy kids so here are Bowie and Bumble too doing their best sealion impersonation after a very wet walk!!

Can't wait to see your projects and photos xx

Clean & Simple christmas Cutie

 Hello everyone, there's a Christmassy vibe going on here today. With only five months until the big day I am really steaming ahead with my Christmas cards. Today is the start of the new challenge at

where we are looking for your Clean and Simple Cuties. We are sponsored by Just Me and the DT images were so gorgeous that I made cards using ALL of them!!

They were all coloured with Promarkers and I used a couple of  Christmas sentiment dies cut twice and stuck together for a bit of interest. It was soooooo hard not to add more though!!

I think the time thief has been pinching days again, I was shocked to see that it's been over a week since I posted anything!! We have been busy here doing some repairs to the barn roof and replacing some cladding that we intended to do "one day" which turned out to be several days, last week. Still, we are now watertight once more and safe in the knowledge that the several hundred bales of hay being delivered next week will stay nice and dry when the wet weather comes.

I hope that you are all managing to stay safe and well. Masks are still a requirement for me at work and, to be honest, we will still continue to wear ours out and about for a while yet. 

That's all for now. See you later in the week xx

No squares or rectangles

 Morning All, hope you are keeping well.

Don't these Thursdays roll around quickly, it's time for my DT piece to tempt you to join in at 

As You Like It Challenge.

This time we are looking for your shaped cards, other than square or rectangle.

I love using my Presscut Stepper die for special cards. There are lots of lovely spaces to add a bit of interest and they look so fabulous on the mantelpiece.

My picture is rubbish but, trust me, it's quite crisp in real life!! I coloured the adorable LOTV image with my Promarkers to match a book of papers that came with a magazine many moons ago. I finished off with some Wild Orchid flowers.

Looking forward to seeing your unusual shaped cards.

The bike riding is becoming easier and we have found a route that is far less hilly, tell you what though, the saddle is far less comfy than on the pony!!

See you soon xx

Paper Piece It!!

 Hello crafty friends, hope you are all keeping well.

It is time, once again, for a new challenge with The Cutie Pies. The theme is paper piecing and I had truly forgotten just how fabulous this particular technique is. Doesn't her dress look gorgeous!? It was a tiny piece that I had left from another Julie Loves, Craftwork Cards collection.

She is, of course, a Pure Innocence stamp, the rest of her was coloured with Pro/Flexmarkers and the  textured paper came from my bits and pieces box too.

Looking forward to seeing your paper pieced makes xx

Coolest Chick Ever

 Hello all. I am such a bad human being, the card I am about to share should have gone live yesterday and for some reason, probably old age, I had it in my head that it was next week.

So, without further ado here is my DT card for

Our Sponsor is Angie Blom and I chose an image from her Coolest Chicks Ever set.

I coloured her with Promarkers and added a touch of white pen to highlight her feathers.

Here she is close up!!

We have been very productive chez Wills. For many years we have been intending to replace the cladding on the barn that houses the stabling and this week was the week. I have also been on the hunt for a second hand bicycle so that I can accompany Martin on his jaunts around the local villages. When I arrived home from work on Thursday there was a lovely bike (with panniers!!) in the drive, my darling Hubby had only gone and found one, local too, and collected it for me. We went on our maiden voyage yesterday afternoon, only three miles mind you but hilly...it darn near killed me!! Turns out I am not quite as fit as I thought I was!!

Lovely to have your company...see you soon xx

Sailing by...

 It's raining again, so tinkering about in the stables has met an abrupt end so what else can I do but craft!! It is my Uncle Dave's Birthday at the end of the week so I made this. 

It is two thirds of a very old Woodware stamp that I coloured with Promarkers and mounted on some coordinating card. It looked a little flat so I added a bit of sparkle pen to the waves and used glossy accents to add some sheen.

Honestly, that tile looks orange but it is actually the same red as the mat, how does a camera do that? 

Thank you for dropping in xx

Some Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #631 - Sun, Sea and Sand

Crafty Calendar July challenge - Anything Goes

My time to Craft #460 - All things Beachy

Stitching

 I'm like one of those buses me. Nothing for ages then two posts in a week!! 

This time I am sharing a card featuring "stitching", my way. It's for our new challenge at

As You Like It Challenge

where we always ask you to showcase a favourite and tell us why. This time we would love to see your favourite way of adding stitching to your cards. 

My favourite way of doing stitching myself is by using my piercing ruler to first prick holes in the card using a piercing tool. I then join the dots with a black fineliner, I think this actually looks quite authentic. I am in awe of anyone that can machine/hand stitch their cards and despite following the lovely Jules' stitching masterclass I still manage to make a pigs' ear of it!!

Shamefuly everything on this card is Never Before Used Schtuff, the paper is from  YNS Winter Knits paper pad and the cute rabbit from The Cat's Pajamas. Not sure how long they have been "items in waiting" but a couple of years or more I should imagine!! While I was having a sort out, as you do, I found a pan of watercolour paints so had a dabble and painted for a change. 

I hope to be here soon xx