Something Shiny

 Three months today it's Christmas...Just saying!! Loads of time though to make Christmas cards and at

this month we are looking forward to seeing Something Shiny on your cute card.

My "shiny" is silver mirri that I cut using  Creative Expressions frame die and sentiment die.

The adorable stamp was coloured with Promarkers and I used a very, very old corner punch to add a little bit of interest.

You all know what a nightmare mirri is to photograph so apologies for the dreadful picture.

I hope that your week ahead is a good one.

See you soon xx

Four legged friends at Allsorts

Happy Saturday everyone and I hope you are well. I am beyond delighted to be sharing my DT piece for

because I have picked the theme for you and it won't be a shock to my longstanding crafty friends to see that it's

Four legged friends.

Prizes from Craft Stash, Anna Marie Designs, AALL and Create, Oakwood, WOWVOW

This time I am sharing a foal that I cross stitched

This year I have made a huge effort to complete all those unfinished projects that have somehow accumulated over the years and this is one of them. I was stitching like billy-o up until last week to get this finished. I find it easier to cross stitch in the summer months when the light is better. That said I do have a Cotton and Twine Christmas sampler from a couple of years ago, so I'd better get my finger out!!

 Thank you for sharing your day with me and I hope that you will join us at Allsorts for my Four legged friend challenge. Anything Goes is also welcome too.

See you soon xx

AYLI Harvest Colours

 Hello and Happy Thursday!!

I must apologise if I haven't visited recently, it's been a bit hectic here with both work and home life. Workwise it's been full steam ahead arranging Flu and Covid Clinics and we've had liveries on holiday so additional poo picking ( it's all glamour,glamour, glamour here!!) and horsecare. 

Autumn is certainly making her presence felt and harvest down here (in the sense of combining oats, wheat, beans and barley) finished last month. It's been many years since I have been in a combine harvester and  have fond memories of watching Hubby, back when combines didn't have cabs and he would look like he'd been rolled in soot!! Oh the excitement when we bought our first combine with a cab and then the realisation that I wouldn't see him until hundreds of acres of crops had been harvested!!  Happy days!! 

So, talk of harvest brings me nicely to the theme this time at

It's HARVEST colours.

I love the russets, deep reds and golds that are on their way and chose Doodlebug Designs Happy Harvest paper pad as my inspiration. A rummage through my stamps and I found MFT Sweater Weather in the Woods. I coloured the bear with Promarkers and fussy cut him to stick on the card.

Thank you for your visit. See you on Saturday xx

Masculine at Allsorts

 Happy weekend everyone. It's been a bit cooler in the UK this week and oh my, the mornings are darker and the nights are drawing in too. Anyway, weather report over and the real reason for my post today.

We are Masculine at Allsorts Challenge this week, a genre that fills me with dread when the need arises. However LOTV came to the rescue by way of one of their little, once available, Sketch books that you colour in yourself. I coloured this little fellow and his dog with my Lyra pencils.

In my part of the UK lots of properties are built of hamstone which is quarried from Ham Hill about eight miles from where we live. It's honey coloured so I tried a hamstone wall which really hasn't photographed well!! I was,however, very happy with his flat cap!! 

It's been a very long time since I've been happy with a man type card but I am happy with this one. I hope that you will join us and if, like me, you are not keen on cards for the fellas you can always opt for our Anything Goes.

As always, we have some fabulous sponsors and now that my laptop is behaving I can share a little teaser of what's up for grabs for this and the coming challenges and the links to our generous sponsors.

Prizes from Craft Stash, Anna Marie Designs, AALL and Create, Oakwood, WOWVOW 

Many thanks, as always, for sharing your time with me xx

The Cutie Pies Birthday

 It's our Birthday month at

and our fabulous Boss Lady Lisa has put together a bumper birthday present for the winner of this new challenge.

Birthdays and/or bears.

I used the lovely James and a sentiment from LOTV and teamed him with some old MME papers.

Super cute !!

We very much look forward to you joining in the celebrations and sharing your cute Birthday cards and/or bears.

See you there!! xx

Die Cuts at Allsorts

 It's all about Dies at Allsorts this week where the lovely Lynne is hosting.

Here is my card...

made using a newly purchased Sweet Dixie Stitched Winter Foliage die set and a Clearly Besotted Christmas sentiment. I cut the whole set in white linen card and coloured the individual elements with my Promarkers. The obligatory Star Dust Stickles added suitable sparkle and finished off this very grown up card!

Wishing you a good weekend xx

Autumn or winter at AYLI

So the kiddywinks have gone back to school and we are in the middle of a heatwave in the UK. Standard! Lots of hours at work this week and it's actually a blessing to be in the air-conditioned office. 

Speaking of weather the new theme at

is Autumn or Winter.

Being a Winter baby I love cold and frosty mornings and sitting in front of the log fire or snuggling under the duvet when it's dark and raining outside. I also happen to have more Christmas stamps and images than anything else so it's definitely Winter for me.

I made this...

I used an adorable Mo Manning digi that I rediscovered when I was making a rare attempt to tidy the workroom. Coloured her and her dog with Promarkers and inked a wintry background with various inks. I tapped a primed Posca pen on a Promarker to get the snow...result!! She was really easy to fussy cut and I added some Star Dust Stickles for snow.

  I am always pleased to read your comments. Thank you for visiting xx

Sunflowers

 Hello!! Hope all is well in your house and that you are looking forward to the weekend.

We have Sunflowers as your optional theme at Allsorts Challenge this week.

I used my faithful Inky Doodles Primitive Angel Stamp Set (Currently reduced in price) for the whole card, except the Happy Birthday that was from a Clearly Besotted sentiment set. I coloured the sunny sunflower with Promarkers and used some gorgeously sparkly bronze stickles to add a little bit of pizzazz.

I am afraid I am having issues so cannot put additional links using my tablet so please check out the Allsorts Challenge blog for this week's sponsor info.

See you soon xx

Something Snowy

 Welcome Friends and I hope this week has something good in store for you!!

I am on annual leave this week so I am praying for good weather. That said we are expecting

Something Snowy at

I am a little bit partial to the adorable characters at Amanda Jayne Designs and I coloured this little cutie with Promarkers to match my inky background that I made myself...yes I really did!! I also heat embossed the snowflakes using a stencil. The Wishes and accompanying stamp are, I think, Creative Expressions. That's it!!

We would love to see your snowy creations xx

Butterflies at Allsorts

Hello friends, hope you have had a good week.

It's summer here in the UK but there have been days where it's been questionable with driving rain and gales BUT we have had some sunshine too and visits from butterflies to the garden and house. 

This leads me really nicely to the optional theme at Allsorts Challenge this week which is

BUTTERFLIES and hosted by Dena

Now being a fan of cute stamps it was a bit of a tall order to find a butterfly in my stash but I had this beauty hiding away. I have a suspicion that it was a magazine freebie that I just knew I was going to need one day.

 I cut a Daisy Mae Designs tag and heat embossed the butterfly. I even made a mask and stencilled through a Funky Fossil Stencil using various inks. Then I coloured the butterfly to match. Oh and Chrissy....I splattered as well!! It looked a little bit unfinished so I stamped a couple of words from an old Paperartsy stamp set heat embossed in white and it finished off the tag a treat.

There are some lovely prizes up for grabs this month...

...provided by our generous sponsors Craft Stash, Anna Marie Designs, AALL and Create, Oakwood

I hope you have a good weekend xx

Favourite Animal

Lovely to see you here today. I am shouting about the new challenge at

As You Like It, and it's time to share your favourite animal, real or fantasy.

I took the eeny meeny miny mo route and horses won (please don't tell the dogs!!)

It's actually rather fitting as it was a year ago tomorrow that I said goodbye to my gorgeous Surprise.

 So this card is for her. I miss her.

 

Another favourite long ago snap of us 💖💖💖💖💖

 See you soon xx

Stamps and Stars

 Honestly don't Mondays roll around far too quickly which means I am at work by the time this goes "live". I hope you had a good weekend and that the week ahead is a good one.

I've a cutie to share with you today, my inspiration at

where the theme this month is Stamps and/or Stars.

I used a super cute digi image that is practically antique and I can't even remember where it came from!! Anyway, she is a cutie for sure and I coloured her with Promarkers. The sentiment and stars are from a Mama Elephant stamp set and that's it. 

Thank you very much for your visit today and I hope that I have inspired you to join us.

See you soon xx

All Creatures Great and Small

 It's easy for me to share inspiration with you this week for our next two week challenge at Allsorts. 

The theme is All Creatures Great and Small and an absolute favourite of mine.

As you can see, I've gone off piste and got a little bit inky!! When I can't sleep, which is often, I have been watching the fabulous Lavinia tutorials on You Tube and, as a result, I might just have bought some stamps. I inked the background with peeled paint and bundled sage Distress inks. Then I got really brave and splattered water which you can just about see. It was too subtle so I stamped the additional splodges aroundthe outside, and the frame, using one of two stamp sets that were new to me bargains (Altenew, Live Life in Colour and Watercolour Frames). The gorgeous fox is from Lavinia Stamps Fox Set 2. The sentiment is from an old Hobby Art Stamp set that has been upgraded to this one. 

I do hope that you will take inspiration from my card and join us. As usual there are some fabulous goodies to win.

Prizes, A4 stamp set from AALL and Create and £15 voucher from WOWVOW

Thank you for your time and I hope that you have a lovely weekend.

 See you on the other side with something cute!! xx

AYLI - Two Favourite Colours

 Hello friends, thank you for sharing your day with me. As always it's lovely to have your company.

It's new challenge day at

and we would love you to join us with your projects showcasing your two favourite colours and remember to give your reason too.

 

Last Minute Manda is our Sponsor and the team were given Gnome Friends in the Garden to showcase.

Here's mine...

My "go to" colours are often pink and green. Mother Nature goes such a fabulous job of putting these two colours together whether pastel or bright. This cute gnome suited my brighter pallete of Promarkers. It's for a colleagues 30th so it cried out for a die cut number!!

Thank you muchly for your visits and lovely comments, they are much appreciated xx

Anything but square

 Happy Saturday crafters and I hope this weekend is a good one for you. I am sending a hug to anyone that's in need of one.

So back to the business of Saturday and a new challenge over at Allsorts. It's a two week challenge this time so we are planning to make good use of the time by sitting in the sunshine drinking Pimms  or any other tipple that takes our fancy!!(who am I kidding?! We are in the UK!!)

The theme to tempt you is Anything but Square or you can opt for Anything Goes if you prefer.

Here is my card to inspire

It's been a while since I used a Tracey Hey product so I decided to go the whole hog and use one of her pretty paper pads - Rainbows Rule Again as well as a stamp. The adorable rhino and sentiment are from the Rhino Rascals set, which includes some really lovely words and messages. I coloured the image with Promarkers and fussy cut to sit on the paper, which looks like I stamped it but didn't!!

I really enjoyed making this card, another tick in the box for using supplies haven't seen the light of day for some time!!

See you soon xx

Gingham or Floral at AYLI

 Now here's a conundrum for you

Floral or Gingham Papers? Is the new theme at

My long suffering lovely blogging buddies will probably guess that I have copious amounts of both so believe me when I say it was a decision and a half!! In the end I went with Floral for two reasons...

1) I happened to buy a new floral paper pad in The works last week  

and

2) I love a good floral background paper so that I can colour a stamped image to match.

On this occasion though the paper pad had pages of sentiments and smaller "swatches" so I made the decision to utilise the contents instead of colouring.

I had a couple of die cut flowers, left over from this card, that were a perfect colour match so I added them too.

I hope that you will share your favourite gingham or floral paper with us to be in with a chance of choosing digi images or simply prints from Lili of the Valley who are our sponsors this time.

Take Care until next time xx

Something Green

 Hello friends and visitors. Lovely to have you here and I hope you had a lovely weekend. Ours was a bit disappointing as we had more of the wet stuff. Every cloud has a silver lining as we didn;t have to water the garden though!!

Anyway we are going GREEN (and cute) at

and this is what I made to inspire you.

I found a Scandi style First Edition paper pad that had just the shade of green that I had in mind. I die cut the frame and coloured my super cute Cats Pajamas stamp (Define Good - mine is a stamp but also available as a digi)  with Promarkers to match. The frame looked a little bit plain so I used glittery tonic drops as holly berries that actually worked very well. Finally I used a LOTV printable for the sentiment. I printed and cut out all the strips and they are really useful to have at hand to finish off a card.

That's all for now. I have an extra day off today in lieu of the August Bank Holiday so I think we are off out to find a nice toasted teacake and do a spot of sale shopping in Harts of Stur, a favourite haunt of mine. Whatever you are up to, I hope you have a good week ahead.

 See you later in the week xx

Summer Blues

 One thing's for sure it looks like a very different weekend to the last. We have finally dried out, although there are still a few muddy puddles down our track and Martin spent an afternoon collecting twigs and branches that were blown off the trees.

It's Summer Blues at Allsorts this week or if that doesn't grab you Anything Goes is also welcome.

I have gone for the CAS approach with this card, using only dies. Clearly Besotted for the sentiment, the little flowers are Creative Expressions and the branch is a very, very old Memory Box, I think. One of the first that I bought way back when!!

Prizes from Oakwood, Sizzix, AALL and Create and Craft Stash, please visit our Patrons page to read more about each.

I look forward to seeing your lovely makes and will see you the other side of the weekend with something festive.

Have a good weekend xx

Allsorts Summer Mood Board

 Happy Saturday everyone. Summer is still in full swing here in the UK so we have a Summer Mood Board for you at Allsorts this week. That said, we are expecting 50mph gusts of wind and heavy rain here today....eeeeek!!

Lots of things I love on here and the fellow in the middle actually looks a bit like our cricket loving youngest Son (it's not though!!). However I went with the beach hut vibe and the colour pink so that I could use an old die cut paper book that I bought from Buddly Crafts a very long time ago. Snipping off the paper pips took longer than it did to put the card together using good old Pinflair Glue Gel for dimension!!

Of course you can go for the Anything Goes option if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of these lovely goodies that will be drawn at the end of the month.

See you there xx

AYLI Beach holiday or not?

 We have a lovely theme for you at

Beach holiday or not?

When my Sister and I were children we were fortunate enough to spend most weekends and all of the Summer holidays at West Bay where Mum and Dad had a static caravan. We got to know the local beaches very well and have some very happy memories too. Once I became a farmers Wife things like milking, silage making and combining meant the seaside visits were put on hold for a year or two!! We are making up for it now though and enjoy the Dorset coastline whenever we can.

My card today was made using an old Little Claire stamp set. The sea is a little piece of paper from the Doodlebug Design, Sunkissed, pad that I still had on my desk from a previous make. I used my Promarkers to colour the image and the sky.

I hope you will find some time to join in.

See you soon xx

Simply Cuties

 Hello Friends. I hope this Monday finds you well, if not then I am sending you a great big hug. 

I have a cutie to share with you today in support of the new challenge

where the theme is Simply Cuties so, in essence, CAS. Here's mine

I used a super cute LOTV rubber stamp (available as a digi here) that I coloured with Promarkers and backed with a lovely rich purple card. The sentiment is also from an old rubber LOTV set.

Looking forward to seeing your cute CAS cards.

See you soon xx

Allsorts Embossing Folder

I don't know about you but I have many Embossing Folders, most of which were magazine freebies from long ago. I remember when I first started my crafty journey that I bought cardstock pads for  specific use with Embossing Folders, some with black core and some with white. Coredinations it was. The idea was that after embossing that you sanded back to reveal the pattern. Remeber that!?

Anyway, the optional theme at Allsorts this week is Embossing Folders. I used a pretty floral one as a background for the sweet LOTV rubber stamp (Little Friends Set).  I coloured with Promarkers and used a string of pearly daisies for a little bit of interest.

As usual there is an array of fab prizes (drawn at the end of the month) from our lovely sponsors.

Prizes from, Sizzix,Oakwood ,

 AALL and Create and Craft Stash,  please visit our Patrons page to read more about each.

Thank you for stopping by, your company is always welcome. Have a lovely weekend.

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