Fairy time again

Good Morning evenyone, hope you are all having a great weekend.

Before I move on to my share for today, can I say a great big thank you to all the guys over at the Crafty Pad for selecting my Venetian Mask as one of their Top 3. I was really not sure about it as it's not my normal style of crafting and the peeloffs were so alien to me and a faff to work with, so that makes it all the more special.

On to my share which is my DT work for this weeks new challenge at Stamptacular Sunday where the theme is "Who said three was a crowd ?".......use 3DP's, 3 ribbons and 3 flowers.

A chance for me to use one of my latest Sweet Pea fairies.....whose name I seem to have lost temporarily. Anyhow, I can tell you what I did to create my card which was to stamp the image with Adirondack black, then mask her and a moon and brayer over with Big and Juicy Hydrangea. I then coloured the image with Copics, glittered her wings and framed her using a Nestie. The DP is American Crafts from a pack I had for Christmas.....they are gorgeous and most are glittered and foiled. The border and corners were punched using Martha Stewart doubler loop, then ribbons, flowers and a swirl cut with a TH die. This is also for the following challenges:

Moving Along with the Times - Sketch and flowers

Glitterbabes - Sparkle and pink gems

Lets Ink it Up - Anything Goes

Crafty Emma's - Angels or Fairies

Fairy castles

Hello peeps, winter has returned and a really hard frost this morning, I guess that's the penalty we pay for the sunshine, but I would rather have that than the rainy dull weather of last week.

I managed to have a really good play last evening minus the sling impediment....although my arm is complaining a bit now and the osteopathy visit left me a bit sore this morning, but it is definite progress.

Some inky shares but first I need to say a big thank you to Isa in Spain for passing on this award to me, it was so kind of her. You all know my rotten track record with passing on awards as I never can choose, so this is for all of my lovely blogland friends, please lift off to your own blogs with my love.

Now for my makes, the first one up top of this post involved making a simple mask with an oval aperture and sponging TH marigold, stormy sky and peeled paint. With the mask still in place, I stamped the castle F40047M by Stampalot and a mixture of Lavinia stamps to create the little scene. Then simple matting onto coordinating cardstock and a border punched with MS Vintage lace and of course a liberal helping of glitter to finish. This card is for the following challenges:

ABC Challenge - M is for magical

Flutterby Wednesdays - Anything goes

My second card using the good old speedball brayer was inspired by the beautiful evening sky here in the Fens yesterday..............a bit of artistic licence thrown in as we don't have hills, just flat landscapes for miles as far as the eye can see.............absolutely beautiful mind you, but an aquired taste and alien to those who come from more undulating parts of the Country.

It was a really magical sight with beautiful oranges topped by dark cloud and the setting sun was almost colourless against the vivid sky. I used Adirondack eggplant, butterscotch and meadow for the brayering and the stamps are Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grass and Art Impression G1045 Geese both stamped with Adirondack Espresso. This card is for the following challenges:

Bee Crafty - Ray of sunshine

Creative Card Crew - For Men

My final share is yet more fantasy, this time Sweet Pea Fairy of the Night. available in the UK from Crafts and Me (link on sidebar). A moon of course........sorry for the monotony but all good fairies deserve a moon or sun.......... masked and brayered with Adirondack cranberry. The image is heat embossed with detail clear then coloured with Copics and some paper piecing for her dress and crystal ball. Lace, flowers, beaded pins, a border punched with MS garden trellis and the easel card was cut on the Cricut. The My Minds Eye DP is a really old one, all lovely and glittery. This is for the following challenges:

Simon Says - Bingo (lace, flowers and embossing)

Crafts and Me - Monochrome

Creative Cottage - Shaped card

Papertake - Ribbons and pearls

Fantasy all around

It's a very special day here in Fantasy world as when I logged on this morning I realised my followers had passed the 1,000 mark, so welcome to my new followers and a great big thank you to each and every one of you, old and new.

Now a quick heads up that we are having a Blog Hop at Stampalot Challenge on 1st January, a perfect start to the New Year and a bit of activity to dust off all those overindulgence cobwebs. As you would expect, we have some great prizes lined up and hope you will all join in the fun. Please grab the logo above to help us spread the word. And there is still plenty of time to enter this months challenge 'Travel the World'.

My first share at the top of this post is another one using Sweet Pea Fairy of the Night which I stamped onto a doily circle cut with a Magnolia die, then did some paper piecing for her dress and crystal ball and coloured her hair and skin with Copics. The DP is from stash and I cut the easel card on the Cricut welding the circles on the DS. I have no idea the make of the sentiments, they are some unmounted ones I came across the other day, still unused but minus the packaging. I added gems, flowers, stickles and glitter to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

OSAAT - Anything goes

Totally Papercrafts - Paper piecing

Paper Sundaes - Anything but square or rectangle

Bunny Zoe - Sparkle and Shine

And some quick and easy cards were the order of the day with these ones which are a couple from a collection I made using Penny Black 3880K Fantasy which I simply stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear. The back panels are embossed through the Cuttlebug, a Nestie label threaded with ribbon, mirri card mats and stickles to match. These cards are for the following challenges:

Incy Wincy - Non traditional Christmas
Cupcake - as above
Pollycraft - White Christmas

Crafty Pad - Embossing (I used both dry and heat)

Tip Top Tuesday - Christmas inspired

All aglow

Good morning everyone, time for a new challenge at Allsorts where Helene would like us to 'Light up the Night'.

Afraid my blogging is still restricted to short five minute bursts so I've not got very far in visiting you all. They tell me resting my eyes especially from the computer screen, is the only cure as far as the muscle imbalance goes, so I have been testing their theory all week and doing what I am told. Although nothing was stopping me from my demo day at Stampalot today, even if it's more talk than demo and we are off shortly........hubby is driving me as I dare not test my eyes that far. The Ultimate Rubber Stamping event is becoming a regular in the crafty calendar and always great fun.

I confess to a huge blast of inspiration from Barbara Gray on this card. I always find her inspirational and her use of the Clarity Stamps lamp post and lady really cast a spell over me and this is my take on what she did.

I started by inking the lamppost and lady, with the lady stamped a second time onto some scrap DP. I used a very large makeup brush to swirl Adirondack archival black in circles round the lamp to give the impression of fog, then sponged some Tim Holtz mustard seed to create a glow from the oil lamp. I added some JudiKins snow glitter and a couple or corners.

I added a fence using Art Impression F3047 and leaves using Art Impression F2055, Lavinia fantasy houses, but I just inked the tops of these stamping off first so I ended up with a mist rooftop look in the background.

My vision if this card is a lady on Christmas eve, just leaving Church after midnight mass looking into the village in the distance.......I've never made any secret that I like in a fantasy world have I ? This card is also for the following challenges:

Cupcake - Light it up

ABC - Ice is for ice and snow

One more share using Sweet Pea Poinsettia Fairy. Another easel card stamped and embossed image, coloured with Copics, decoupaged and glittered wings, a Spellbinder frame, Magnolia DP, flowers and lace. This card is for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

Sweet Pea - Silver, purple and white

Moving Along with the Times - Someone special (For a Granddaughters Christmas birthday)

Stamp Insanity - Lace

CRAFT - Christmas Birthday (see above)

Let it Snow

Mojo missing...............if found please return a.s.a.p.

Oh my goodness, it's hard going no inspiration and Mr Mojo nowhere to be found. Last night I must have spent an hour looking at a collection of lovely new stamps from Teresa at Crafts and Me and nothing gelled. As they were all fairies something is definitely not right.

But before I launch into my cards, I want to say a big thank you to Bee Crafty for selecting me as their winner last week, this is a fairly new challenge so do check it out, they have a super sketch this week and fab prizes. And also the girls at Creative Cottage who selected the card I made for my Grandson as one of their Top 3.

So here are my meagre offerings from a Mojoless craft room. The fairy on the card above is Sweet Pea Hiding, equally as lovely as all the others and I just feel I have not done her justice. She is coloured with Copics and her wings decoupaged and glittered. The DP is Magnolia, Martha Stewart punched snowflakes, ribbon and a flower. This is for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Dreaming of a White Christmas - snowflakes

Creative Cottage - Untraditional Christmas

Charisma Cardz - One for the girls

Ladybug - Sketch

My next card, also one of last evenings efforts, uses Hero Arts F5075 Sparkle Poinsettia, inked with Tim Holtz dusky concord and bundled sage and spritzed with water before stamping. The DP is My Minds Eye and the flower is mounted onto a 'doily' cut using the Magnolia die - this is a half circle and takes a bit of getting used to lining up, but once mastered worth the effort as it is so pretty. I tend to cut several at a time once I get the technique going. Some adorable lace which was part of a prize and a single flower and pearls to embellish. This is for the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles - Anything goes

Bee Crafty - Sketch

My final card is a Stampalot sample which I shall be delivering tomorrow.........I have prepared instruction sheets for making a tri fold card which will be available at their Third Ultimate Rubber Stamping Day on 4th December 10am through 4pm with free eats and drinks all day. I will also pop the instructions on my blog shortly.

I masked a piece of cardstock to create a moon by sponging distress inks, then stamped Art Impression U1562 Rooftops which I coloured with TH ink and added a liberal amount of glitter to the rooftops. Through the moon I stamped Magenta 02045-6 Santa......this is a silhouette wood mounted stamp and if you go looking for it you will see the actual image is straight, but I 're-assembled' it to curve the sleigh. The DP is October Afternoon and he snowflakes a Martha Stewart punch. This card is for the following challenges:

Scrapbook Sisters - Let it Snow

Simon Says - Let it Snow

ABC - I is for Ice and Snow

Moving Along with the Times - More than one fold

Grown Up Christmas Fairy

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, lots of crafting to stave off the miserable weather outside.

More fantasy indulgence with another of the new Sweet Pea stamps this one called Poinsettia fairy, isn't she devine ? Or "provocative" as my hubby always says about these images......dream on, the ones at the end of the garden are nothing like these ones.

She has been stamped and embossed twice, coloured with Copics and decoupaged. The DP is October Afternoon, a Martha Stewart punched border and holly, poinsettias made from punched vellum and basically lots of titivation. This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea - Sketch

C.R.A.F.T. - Use some vellum

Glitterbabes - Easel card

Bee Crafty - All that glitters

Crafty Pad - Red and green

One Stitch at a Time - Season (Christmas)

A bit more indulgence in favourite things and this one what I really enjoy most of all...........getting inky fingers. This is a card I used for a couple of classes.........I'm so generous and like to make sure the girls get inky as well ! A background created with Tim Holtz broken china and olive, then stamped with a variety of Her stamps, then the edges have been well roughed up and inked with Adirondack gold dabber and heated.............if you have not tried this technique please do, it's such fun as the heating makes the ink bubble and gives a lovely finish. The piece has been simple matted and layered and a butterfly added. This card is for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - wings (sorry, never quite got to the optional sketch
Lots to Do - Favourite technique (getting down and messy)

Me, like fairies ?

I woke up at 5am sneezing, by 8am it was a full blown cold and by lunchtime I look like Rudolph.

Must be something to do with the rumour of decorating, so I decided not to go into the office today and take it a bit easy with some craft. And has that been slow going, just one card completed, one finished from yesterday and a sample from stock, so here they are.

A couple of easel cards as I have a bit of a glut of them right now thanks to the one and only puppy from hell, Daisy. I had all my nice new cardstock from the NEC laid out on the sofa in my craft room.......200 cards and envelopes in total.........in comes Daisy fresh from the stables with hubby and literally launched herself onto the sofa, muddy pawmarks everywhere. Dog's don't do sofas in our house, lets fact it, if they did we would be the ones sitting on the floor.

So the only option I could see to salvage some of the ruined cards was cut off the muddy fronts and assemble some easel cards. In fairness to Daisy, the ruined ones were in the minority, but think she learn a hard lesson there. And for you peeps, a few more easels to come still......but I do love the shape so not too fussed if I am honest.

The top card is sheer indulgence with another of the new Sweet Pea Stamps from Crafts and Me (link on sidebar) called One and Only Heart. Isn't she the sweetest ? She is stamped with versafine and embossed with detail clear, then masked so I could add a sun.........I know I am a bore but all fairies need a moon or sun in my fantasy world. I decoupaged her glove, flower and heart, coloured with Copics and glittered her wings and the heart. The DP is a really old piece from my stash, the two white hearts are made with glittered card using an Martha Stewart punch, the border another MS punch and feathers and a based pin used to embellish along with some roses and beads. This card is for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Glitter

My Time to Craft - Rhapsody of Roses
Flourish Timeless Tuesday - Glitter

My second card, another of the reassembled easel cards stamped with Hero Arts CG179 aptly named Rose Background and coloured with Twinkling H20's. The sentiment is Hobby Art GR1353, such a lovely sentiment, stamped with versamark and embossed with detail clear. The bottom section is Magnolia DP, Tim Holtz Bigz swirl dies and two roses made from plain purple paper and dipped into hot UTEE to give a lovely glazed finish. This card is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - Gold, silver and purple

Anything Goes - Embossing

My final share today using this lovely little Sarah Kay girl, whose name I'm afraid I don't remember........my biggest problem with unmounted stamps as there is no wood block with the details to remind me. She is coloured with Copics and mounted onto a pretty embossed circle using the Magnolia die. The DP is My Minds Eye, a MS punched border and some punched flowers.This card is for the following challenges:

Fab 'n Funky - Going round in circles

ABC - Holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving etc)
For Fun - Dry embossing
Scrapbook Sisters - Christmas colours

Queen Hatshepsut

It Monday folks and it's raining and blowing a gale outside.

So how was your weekend ? Who watched the reality programmes.....I'm meaning Strictly and the X Factor of course. So what's it all about then, there was me thinking it was all about the dancing and singing abilities and here we have a 'blue' female who quite frankly is an embarrassment to watch and a so called Brazilian 'vocalist' whose singing abilities defy comment. My hubby reckons it's a mockery and we should all show our disdain by switch off our TV's..........so who does vote for them I wonder........or is it all fixed ?

OK moan over, onto some craft. Not a lot going on there though as things need doing around the house. We have just had new wood floors laid from the utility room, right through the hall and into the dining room, so of course now the decorations all look shabby and as the skirting's are all off, hubby wants to replace them, so some decorating is in order first. Had a quick visit to Laura Ashley yesterday......no surprise with my style of craft that I love their designs and have used them for years.

So advance notice, my blogging activity might be a bit slow this week.........I'm not actually sure if I can even wallpaper anymore with my rotten balance and fumbling fingers, but going to give it my best shot so it does not all fall on hubbys shoulders.

Just a few shares, mostly previously finished work. The card at the top of this post used yet another beautiful Egyptian Sweet Pea fairy from Crafts and Me who looks rather like Queen Hatshepsut on one of the papyrus's we brought back from Egypt on one of our trips there. The background paper is created using the JudiKins cube with hieroglyphics on it which I stamped with Tim Holtz broken china onto some blue DP. The image itself is stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured in with Twinkling H2o's using the traditional Egyptian colours that adorn the tombs. A border punched with Martha Stewart zig zag and some gold emblellies. This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea - Dry or wet embossing (fairy heat embossed)

My second card is using the lovely Penny Black slapstick stamp, which is stamped and embossed with detail clear, the masked so I could stamp in the Magnolia fence and coloured all with Copics. I also stamped some grass with the tiny Art Impression stamp, some bees to complete the little scene and also decoupaged the little boy. The DP is Nitwits, a couple of Tim Hotz adage tickets and tied them with raffia. This card is for the following challenges:

Stamp With Fun - Sketch

Lets Ink it Up - Create a scene

Cards for Men - Animals (froggy and 'something' peeping out of other bucket !)

Alice in Wonderland - Tickets

For my third card I used Penny Black 3877K An Afternoon stamped with versafine onto a background distressed with Tim Holtz mustard seed. I stamped the image a second time into vellum, then tore it in half and laid over the main image and fixed with brads. The border strip across the middle is stamped randomly with the same stamp and again inked with the TH ink, then ribbon, a button and lace added.This card is for the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers - Topaz

Cupcake - Sketch

Gingerloft - Button/s

My final card is a really quick and simple one using October Afternoon DP and one of the little houses from Hero Arts CL464 which is simply coloured with Copics and glittered to add snow to the roof. The mats were cut on Cricut Storybook. This card is for the following challenge:

Something Completely Different - Houses

Paper Sundaes - Let it Snow

Moonlight madness

When I saw the new challenge at Scrapbook Sisters Card this week it was a must............you know me.......any opportunity to incorporate a moon somewhere into my work. So two for the price of one, a full moon and a crescent moon.

But before I move on to how I made my cards I want to say "La ringrazio molto" to Sadia and "Thank you" to Sandra for passing awards on to me this week. You all know I've got a rotten track record passing them on so I would like to say it's for all my lovely blog friends, please accept with my love.........I'm sure this is not what the rules say........but when did I ever follow rules ?

Both are stamped with Stayzon onto masked and brayered backgrounds, the fairy one using the centre colours of Big and Juicy Happy Birthday and the Santa one using Adirondack eggplant.

The fairy Sweet Pea Midnight Waiting has been coloured with the same B&J ink pad and Aquamarkers and the wings liberally glittered......as all good fairy should be. The DP is October Afternoon, flowers from stash and the sentiment computer generated. This cards is for the following challenges:

Scrapbook Sisters - Full Moon

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

Creative Inspirations - Birthday theme

Everybody Art - Sketch

The house stamp on the Santa scene is Art Impressions V1562 which has been lightly coloured with Tim Holtz inks and the rooftops glittered with Judikins snow glitter. Santa is Magenta 02045-6 stamped with Adirondack eggplant and some punched snowflakes to decorate. This card is for the following challenges:

Anything Goes - Christmas has come early
Glitterbabes - Anything goes

And one final share using a favourite Penny Black stamp............well yes I know, I love them all........Penny Black 4078K Reach for the Starts and the matching sentiment 4057F. The image is coloured with Copics and decoupaged, the DP is Magnolia, the border Martha Steward doily lace trim and a rose made from the same DP with punched leaves. This card is for the following challenges:

CRAFT - Shaped card
Cute Card Thursday - Make your own

Wings and things

Hello everyone. How's the weather you way ? We have rain again just for a change, but at least it's not too cold and the lovely dewy morning this last week have brought the paddocks on a treat which make the horses very happy campers.

A few shares today. My first card uses one of my new stamps from Sweet Pea called midnight waiting. She has been stamped and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I stamped the wings and top of the fairy twice, glittered the wings and decoupaged. The DP is Magnolia and the borders punched with Martha Stewart floral vine. Some lace, roses and punched leaves to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

Moving Along With the Times - Use at least three ingredients from the menu (I used 2 DP's glitter, leaves and heat embossing)

Flutterby Wednesday - All Winged Things

Charisma Cards - Anything Goes

The next one is this lovely slapstick stamp Penny Black 40-020 fly away, I think he's just adorable. I coloured with Copics and matted using one of the new Nesite shapes labels 17, I just love the shape of this ones. The DP is October Afternoon and the sentiment the first line of Penny Black 4075F. I cut the stars on Cricut assent essentials, added some rik rak and gens to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

Simon Says - Sketch

Cupcake - Transport (the plane ?)

My Time to Craft - Kids at Play

My final card today is my favourite Autumnal colours. I created a background using Tim Holtz barn door, rusty hinge and frayed burlap. I overstamped with Hero Arts H2365 old French writing, then Hero S5449 fabulous flourish using versafine sepia. The mats are cut on Nesties and the leaves are X Cut punches which also emboss the leaves making them really come to life when you ink over them. The corners are punched with Martha Stewart double loop and finally I added some lace across the middle and raffia round the stamped image. This card is for the following challenges:

Crafty Creations - Falling Leaves

Creative Inspiration - 2 or More Stamps

Dutch Dare - Birthday Bash

Fairies and flowers

How is everyone ? Have you all got this rain as well ? If they talk about droughts now, I think I'll throw something at the TV, to have such green lush paddocks in August is unheard of and utterly bizarre.

I have two shares today, the first is one of the very special birthday cards I have been making for Anysia's 18th on Sunday..............45 peeps coming for a barbie, well that's the plan anyway. Thankfully my mate Mark Spencer.......for those of you not familiar with him he also goes under the guise of M&S......... is doing most of the catering so it just needs collecting and the boys love cooking barbies, so I figure all that leaves for me is to do is make a bowl or two of my famous punch. Why is it famous you ask......nobody can ever remember drinking it !

So the card, another of the gorgeous Sweet Pea Stamps called Black Rose, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured with Copis and generously glittered and embellished. The DP is Kaiser and the border punched with my new Martha Stewart floral vine punch.

I added lace and vellum butterflies cut with Martha Stewart small monarch. The flowers are a mixture of Magnolia and from stash, plus liberal helpings of pearls.

This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stamps: Lace and Pearls

Stamp with Fun: Card for a Girl

Flutterby Wednesdays: Open theme

Charisma Cardz: Hot Hot Hot

C.R.A.F.T: Milestone Birthdays

My second card above is a really quick plain and simple one but I quite like the clean lines. I cut squares on my guillotine and stamped a variety of stamps using Tim Holtz olive and stormy sky and embossed with iridescent powder. I distressed the edges slightly and matted onto blue and green co0ordinating cardstock.

This card is for the following challenges:

Cupcake: Blue and Green

Cut Card Thursday: Dieing for a Punch

New Christmas Hero Arts has landed

Monday again and I seem to have missed the weekend somewhere.

All the best laid plans and all that...........very little crafting but an awful lots of pupsicle loo runs. Both girls had their first inoculations this morning and the big weigh in, Daisy is 4.75 kg and Lily 3.85 kg, pretty much as we expected as Daisy is a bit of a hefty unit...........sorry folks, that's a real Fen saying for those of us that are shall we say a little way off a size '0'............compared with delicate Lily.

So just the two cards, but at least one of them allowed me to break out the new Christmas Hero Arts delivery from Sir Stampalot that I need to get creating with for the BIG Christmas Demo Weekend at the end of the month.

The first easel card is using this absolutely gorgeous Hero Arts S5449 Fabulous Flourish. It's a bit of a biggie at 5.5" x 4.5" but just lovely and a joy to work with. Me thinks there will be a few samples going Peterborough way with this one.

I created a background with Tim Holtz broken china and tea dye, inking a non stick craft sheet, spritzing liberally with water and Glimmer Mist pearl and swishing the card about it in. When dry I stamped with Hero chalk ink soft pool using good old trusty Hero H2365 old French writing. Next I inked the flourish stamp with TH tea dye and spritzed with water before stamping. The DP is October Afternoon, the border Martha Steward double loop, some punched leaves, two ribbons, a beaded pin, pearls and Magnolia flowers.

This card is for the following challenges:

Friday Sketchers - I promised Claudia I would make an effort to enter as it's been far too long since I joined in.

The Stamp Man - Easel Card

Cupcake Challenge - A recipe for their second birthday - 2 DP's, 2 ribbons and 2 flowers (there are two different ribbons on the bottom but hard to see)

My second card uses a favourite stamp from Sweet Pea called dandelions. Stamped simply with Versafine black and embossed with detail clear twice, cutting a spotlight with a Nestie and colouring just that section with Copics. The DP is Kaiser, the border punch Martha Stewart embossed scallop, sizzix swirls and Magnolia flower and pearls to embellish.

This card is for the following challenges:

Stamp for Fun - Sketch

Sweet Pea Stamp Challenge - Swirls and flourishes

Crafty Cardmakers - Spotlight

By the Cute and Girly - Animal Antics - hope the moggy on here is having enough antics with the fairy to fit the theme, if not sorry girls

DT vacancies, challenges and puppy update

Little and Large

Good Afternoon folks and what a wet one it is here in the Fens, but much needed and I guess I will have to put up the the sub zero temperatures, or at least what fees that way after the Med heat.

Might be a bit of a long post as lots to tell you about. First of all I am looking to expand my DT over at Penny Black at Allsorts. We have just started our second month and after a wonderful first month I think the time is right to spread our wings a bit and incorporate a bit of new blood. So if you love your Penny Blacks, can commit to submitting a piece of artwork each month and commenting on entries and feel you have what it takes to join our little gang pop over to the Chalenge blog now to see what you have to do.

So hows it going with the puppies ? Up and down is probably the best way to describe it. Two rather noisy nights eventually led to desperate measures by 3am this monring when no amount of pacifying was going to settle Daisy. We remembered the old trick of giving puppies something smelling of their Mother, well we did not have that so as Daisy has spent most of last evening on hubbys lap he gave her his trousers to lay on in her basket.......I did say drastic measures and at that time of the monring anything goes.......not another peep out of her till almost seven, so I figure he can say goodby to a decent pair of linen trousers.

Apart from that all is going well considering how young they are. And the star of the show has to be Bernie the St Bernards, he is being an asolute darling with them. It's nigh impossible to get a picture of them all together but I did catch the one above earlier.

I also want to thank the team at Crafts and Me for selecting me for their Top three last week.

I have somehow managed a couple of cards, taken me almost two days, but here they are. The first is my saftey net style using My Minds Eye DP's, some of the beautiful lace I bought in Cadiz and the main image Penny Black 3877K an afternoon inked with Tim Holtz dusky concored and peeled paint, spritzed before stamping to bleed the colours a bit and stamped onto linen cardstock. The flower is made with punches from the same DP's scrunched up to age and spritzed with Glimmer Mist dazzling diamonds. The sentiment is Penny Black 4070F Dreams. The butterfly is also punched from the same DP and glittered.

This card is for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesday - must have a butterfly or fairy

Cupcake Challenge - Use lace

Crafts and me - Purple and green

Stamp Man - 2 colours

My second card uses one of my lovely new Sweet Pea stamps called Poppy Love which I stamped and embossed with detail clear and then masked to create a sun over the rays whch are part of the stamps using Tim Holtz mustard seed and dried marigold, then coloured with Copics. The double sided DP is Crate Paper, some lace, a magnolia flower adn swirl cut with a Sizzix die. This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stamps Challenge - Carnival colours

Charisma Cards - Easel card

Tuesday Taggers - Sunshine

Busy packing and a bit of craft

How is everyone, enjoying this weather I hope.......we never did get any volume of the rain we were promised here in the Fens so the paddocks are still parched and the garden looks pretty sorry for itself.

The last few days have flown by, a bit of crafting, a lot of work in the office and a tiny bit of packing sums it up really. But this time next week I should be lazing in the sun, glass in hand. As I told you last week I have a surprise or two lined up for you when I am away so don't forget to keep your eyes peeled on Friday to see what's in store.

I have a card for a challenge or two, it was the perfect opportunity to colour up one of the lovely images my buddy Sarah sent me using one of the beautiful Sweet Pea images. I coloured with Copics, used Kaiser DP and created the easel card on the Cricut DS. The border is punched with Martha Stewart eyelet lace, some lace, gems and roses and the obligatory liberal helping of glitter to the fairy and flower and there you have it. A really quick and easy card thanks to Sarah.

Cupcake Challenge - Cats and Dogs
Crafty Cardmakers - Easel card

Craft Den - Sparkle and Shine