Yay! I'm back with a challenge - Create4Fun

Yay! After a long absence I have finally felt able to return to my Craft Zone and start creating again. The reason for my absence has been family traumas and a bereavement but on a positive note we had a new Grandson born into the family on 11th December. I am now hoping to put 2010 firmly behind me and start afresh with positive vibes for 2011. So to kick off my pre New Year resolution here is my first challenge card for a while.

With comfort and familiarity comes Tilda, cradling a cute little ladybug. I've actually made this card for a lovely lady who has a birthday very soon but as she doesn't blog I know she won't see this. I've coloured Tilda with copics as follows:-
skin - E00, 21, 93
hair - E31, 33, 35
dress - RV000, 21, 23, 29
ladybug - RV29, C3, 5, 8
boots - YG63, 67

The DP are by Basic Grey 'Porcelain', and the text bellie is by Paper Heart

I hope you like it and the challenge link is below, x

http://create4fun-challenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-week-52.html

Altered Jigsaw

OK....Own Up....Who nicked the last week and took my MoJo with them???

Sorry bloggers for being AWOL but stuff has been going on and then I went to bed, woke up and hey, another week was here, lol

 My Mojo seems to have gone AWOL too but at least I had a fabby workshop on Monday to get some of those creative juices flowing again. I wanted to share my completed ... yes COMPLETED.... project that I did at Samuel Taylor run by the inspirational, and very lovely Kay Halliwell-Sutton.

We started off with a blank MDF jigsaw and gessoed the base and pieces before applying 3 toning colours of acrylic paints. Then it was onto good old fashioned Victorian decoupage with serviettes before stamping background images and text.

Probably the hardest part was lining up the photo and disguising  the exposed edges and of course attaching the hinges which were made from grunge board. As you can see from the photo above and below, the design lends itself to have 3 'doors' adding a bit of interest.

So as not to upset any grandchildren I chose a black and white piccie of my hubby's favourite blonde bombshell.

Hope you like it and I'll try and be back to regular blogging asap, x

Craft Your Days Away #4; Friday Sketchers

Good Evening everyone. Another cold and miserable day here in West Yorkshire. Hubby was away last night for business in London early this morning which I meant I got to do the early dog walk AND the afternoon dog walk which culminated in 2 soakings!!!

Anyway, to brighten up my evening I have created this autumnal tilda for the Craft Your Days Away Challenge which also asked for some doodling. I tried my hand at some leaves. Hope they're OK. I used a bronze glitter pen to blend with the other colours.

I've also followed the sketch for this week's Friday Sketchers.

The base DP is by Paper Pizazz and the foremost DP is Prima 'Fairy Flora'.

Tilda has been coloured with copics as follows :-

skin - E00, 21, 93
hair & boots - E33, 35, 37
top - R00, 02
jeans - YR00, 02, 04, 07
ribbon - R02, 05
leaves -YG63, 67
flowers - R02, 08
shading - W1, 3, 5

I hope you like it and the challenge links are below, x

http://craftyourdaysaway.blogspot.com/2010/09/cyda-challenge-4.html

http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/skettch-121-sponsored-by-simon-says.html

Just Magnolia #74; Copic Creations #35; Pile It On #38

Good Evening everyone. Another grey and miserable day. However, I'm back on the road with a courtesy car and mine is now with the Car Doctor, lol.

I made this card yesterday evening but decided it would cause blog overload if I shared it then so here it is now.

I'm really pleased with how its turned out especially as I'm just finding my feet with the 'grounding' aspect of shading. So, right on cue, I'm entering this in the Copic Creations challenge #35 which is 'shading in or around'.

I've done both and used copics:-

skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - Y21, 26, 28
romper and shoes - B00, 02, 05
socks - RV02, 04
grounding/shading - W1, 3, 5 + blender

The DP are Prima 'Fairy Flora'. The sentiment bellie is by Paper Heart. Flowers by Wild Orchid and the pearls by The Hobby House.

I'm also entering it into Just Magnolia #74 - Sketch and Pile It On #38 - Cute and Charming.

Hope you like it and the challenge links are below, x

http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-74-dawnys-sketch.html

http://copiccreations.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/challenge-no-35-shading-on-around-images/

http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/cute-and-charming.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PileItOn+%28Pile+It+On%29

Cute Card Thursday #131; Lili of the Valley #66

Here's the second card I've made this evening.

I really love this little image from the Lili of the Valley 'Boy Oh Boy' plate. I think he is so cute.

Anyway, Lili of the Valley are asking for an 'untraditional Christmas' in this week's challenge so I hope this fits the bill.

I've used the sketch from this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge, and spruced it up a bit with some snowflakes and a brad saying 'Christmas Wishes'. Those bits and the DP are all from my Christmas stash and sorry but I don't remember where from.

I've coloured the little lad with copics :-

skin - E00, 21, 93
hair - E33, 35, 37
top - RV25, 29
shorts - B95, 97
parcel - B93, 95
shoes - E33, 35
shading - W1, 3, 5

I hope you like it and the challenge links are below, x

http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-66-untraditional-christmas.html

http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-131-sketch-by-leann.html

Pixie Cottage #37; CRAFT #69; Creative Cottage #23

Good Evening everyone. What a miserable and dull day its been. Still its given me a chance to make some cards. That's after several hours of phone calls to sort my poorly car out. Its now an insurance job cos the damage is more extensive than we thought:(

Anyway, this card didn't exactly start out like this but I thought I'd still upload it and enter it for some challenges.

The image is a Lily of the Valley from the 'Boy Oh Boy' plate and the papers and letters are from a 7 Gypsies pack.

Hope you like it and I'm entering it in the following challenges:-

Pixie Cottage #37 - Sketch + Fun and Games
http://thepixiecottage.blogspot.com/2010/09/pixie-cottage-challenge-37-sketch-and.html

CRAFT #69 - Teenagers
http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/craft-challenge-69-teenagers.html

Creative Cottage #23 - Birthday Boy
http://creativecottagechallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-23-birthday-boy.html

Simon Says #74; Papertake Weekly; Theme Thursday; One Stop #99; CES #5

Yep, I know. I've gone into blogger overload today but I needed the distraction, that and FOOD!!! I'm a comfort eater....

This cute little image is by Kraftin Kimmie stamps - 'Just Skating By'. I've coloured the bears with copics: R00, RV23, 34, G21, 28, C3, 5, 7.

The DP is by Kars 'X-mas Collection'. The brads and snowflakes are from my Christmas stash box.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:-




Simon Says - sketch
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/simon-says-jay-jays-sketch.html

Papertake Weekly - Animals
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/2010/09/animal-magic.html

Theme Thursday - 2 things
http://themethursday.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/thursday-challenge-2-things/

One Stop #99 - Snowflakes
http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-99-snowflakes-in-september.html

CES #5 - Animal Antics
http://ceschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-5-animal-antics.html

I hope you like it, x

Truly Scrumptious #41; PDCC #48; Charisma Cardz #38; OLLCB #63; Allsorts #71

Evening everyone. I sort of had a bit of a craft moment in the process of making this card. I was following the sketch on theTruly Scrumptious Challenge but stamped the sentiment where the image should have been, duh! So I punched an image from the Crafty Individuals Miniature Christmas images pack and placed that where the sentiment should be. Hope I haven't broken too many rules, lol.

Anyway I also followed the blue and green theme which coincidentally was similar to the PDCC challenge which was to use dark blue, lime green and grey or silver. I chose the grey and stamped the 'Believe' sentiment by Paper Inspirations in Versacolor Indigo. All the papers/card is from my stash and I used nesties to frame the sentiment.

The miniature image is stuck into a flattened bottle top which I coloured with Copic B39 and then added glossy accents to finish.

So to summarise I am entering this into:-

Truly Scrumptious - Sketch + blue and green
http://trulyscrumptiouschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-41-blue-green-should-never-be.html

Play Date Cafe - Dark Blue, Lime Green and Grey
http://theplaydatecafe.blogspot.com/2010/09/play-date-cafe-challenge-pdcc48.html

Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes
http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-38-anything-goes.html

OLLCB - Sentiment
http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-63.html

Allsorts - Plain and Simple
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/allsorts-week-71-plain-and-simple.html

I hope you like it, x

Charisma Cardz #38

Yep, I'm back again. Like a bad penny, lol

I made this tri-fold shutter card following a reminder of the technique by the wonderfully talented Diane of http://inkymeanderings.blogspot.com/

Not sure where the DP are from but I've coloured Tilda with copics as follows:-
skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - E21, 27, 29, 08
clothes etc - R000, 02, 04, 06

I'm entering this in the current Charisma Cardz challenge which is anything goes.
Hope you like it and the link is below, x
http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-38-anything-goes.html

Three Little Fairies

Hello everyone. Hope you're having a better Sunday than me. My poor car needs to go to the Car Doctor thanks to someone jumping a red light!!! Fortunately its only the car that's injured, I'm just suffering from the shock and can't get warm. May have to jump into a hot bath.

Anyway, on a better note I wanted to share this cute little ATC which arrived yesterday from the uber-talented Vix of http://vixykins.blogspot.com/

She had sent it with my prize for winning one of the Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight Challenges. Check out the blog as there are some cool challenges in there http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.com/

So I guess you wanna know what I won.....

A fabulous pack of Funky Vintage 6 x 6 papers by Dovecraft. They'll need a lot of stroking before I can use them, lol. Also a really cute stamping bella image by Mo Manning called 'So Jazzed'. This is my first rubber Mo Manning as previously I have used digi images.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'll be back in a minute with another upload, x

Think Monday Think ATC

Good Evening Bloggers. Hope you are all having a good weekend. I've had some peace and quiet as DH disappeared to footie early this morning and has only just arrived home (11pm) and DS is away overnight. So crafting in peace while listening to Simply Red on the TV.

I'd actually made a series of these ATCs for a monthly swap on KCUK and then realised that the Autumn theme fitted this week's Think Monday, Think ATC.

The single leaf (Personal Impressions) was stamped with Adirondack Butterscotch, Terracotta and Cranberry and then masked to create the leaves background (sorry not sure of the make). I stamped this background with Versafine Vintage Sepia.

*** DOT - If you're reading this they'll be in the post on Monday ***

Hope you like it and the challenge link is below, x

http://tmta.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/herbst-autumn/

Sketch and Stash #44; Pile It On #37; Spoon Full of Sugar #122; Crafty Creations #86; Charisma Cardz #38

Good Evening Bloggers. I don't know about anyone else but here in West Yorkshire it has been freezing today. With the rain as well it has been a truly autumnal day.

Anyway, I've quickly cobbled together this card for a few challenges. The stamp is by Anna Griffin for All Night Media and I've used a Kaleidacolor inkpad (Fruitcake) to ink it up.

The base card is a piece of really yummy brown cardstock with a shimmer to it. The DP are offcuts from my stash, as are the new brown buttons.

Hope you like it and I'm entering it into the following challenges:-


Sketch and Stash #44 - Sketch (buttons from stash)
http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/sketch-n-stash-challenge-44.html

Pile It On #37 - Red, Yellow, Green and Brown
http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-37-red-yellow-green-and-brown.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PileItOn+%28Pile+It+On%29

Spoon Full of Sugar #122 - Anything Goes
http://aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-122-anything-goes.html

Crafty Creations #86 - Falling Leaves
http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-86-falling-leaves.html

Charisma Cardz #38 - Anything Goes
http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-38-anything-goes.html

'F' for Faces

Also 'F' for finally.....for today anyway

I stamped the Crafty Individuals faces in Adirondack Terracotta to the background and then using Stazon stamped a Judikins and Inkadinkadoo faces over the top.

Finally some masks, buttons and a letter to finish is off.

Hope you like this one, x

'E' for Egyptian

Bearing in mind that my first 3 pages probably weren't chunky enough I went OTT on this one, lol.

The background paper was a pressie. I stamped the Egyptian image onto a scrap of DP and then stamped again using memento so that I could colour it with copics as follows:-
E50, 51, R37, Y28, B24, YR16
I then mounted it on 3d pads and attached a chunky charm. The bling is a combination of gems, stones, and beads plus a few stickles dribbled. Hopefully to give the impression of treasures.

Hope you like it, x

Jumping for Joy and 'D' is for Daisies

Whoopee! Having a really good day today. First I heard that I'd won the recent Just Magnolia Challenge and then found out I'd won a prize in the Creative Cottage Blog Hop. This is on top of winning a challenge a couple of weeks ago. Can't believe it...

Anyway, down to business. Over on KCUK we have been challenged to make a chunky alphabet book by swapping pages with other participants. I've just completed my next 3 so here is 'D' for Daisies.

The background is one I had left over from a sheet I made a while ago. I stamped the Daisies by Australian Company 'Great Impressions' in Stazon and painted the leaves with watercolour. I then stamped the image again in Memento and coloured the flower centre with copics and decoupaged onto the first image.

Flower eyelets and brads finished it off.

Hope you like it, x

Blog Candy Alert

Good Afternoon bloggers. Just a quickie post to alert you to some yummy, fandabidozie blog candy going over on JoZart's blog.
Jo is a lovely lady and an extremely talented crafter. Click on the link below or on the candy in my sidebar to find out all about it, x

http://jozartdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-candy-distress-1000-bells.html#comment-form

Ruby Wedding Anniversary

Good Morning Bloggers. I know, its very unusual for me to blog in the morning but I intended to upload this card last night. However, bed was beckoning, lol.

I know its not everyone's cup of tea but I've made it 'to order' for a Ruby Wedding Anniversary. I've used the criss cross card format but allowing it to open to reveal the sentiment inside.

The stamp I've used is 'Heart Bouquet' by All Night Media and I've paper pieced the heart. The flowers have been coloured with copics: Y21, 26, B63, 66, G21, 28, YR15, R20, 24

Hope you have a good day and hopefully I'll be back later with another upload, x

Charisma Cardz #37; Just Magnolia #73; Totally Papercrafts #34

Good Evening everyone. Hope you've had a warm sunny day like we've had in West Yorkshire. I managed to get some gardening done. Not sure how many more gardening days are left.

I've made this card for my friend's birthday but I'm also entering it into the following challenges:-

Charisma Cardz #37 -Sketch

http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-37-sketch-it.html

Just Magnolia #73 - Lace It Up

http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-73-lace-it-up.html

Totally Papercrafts #34 - Happy Birthday

http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-34-happy-birthday.html

I've coloured Tilda with copics as follows:-

skin - E00, 02, 21

hair - E33, 35, 37

dress - RV21, 23, 25, 29

wings - RV21 + blender

The DP are Prima 'Annalee'

The butterfly charm is from my stash as are the flowers and beads.

I punched holes in the side panel with my Crop-O-Dile to lace the ribbon through.

Hope you like it, x

These 'boots' were made for walking

Evening Bloggers.

Sorry, not had time for a card today so I'm sharing another journal page with you. This time in relation to a walk along the shingle beach or The Jurassic Coast in unsuitable footwear, lol. These 'boots' or rather canvas shoes would have been far more appropriate.

Anyway, hope you like it and hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a card for you, x

Another Grandma show off blog!!!

Just got home from a lovely whistle-stop trip to Scotland to see the grandees. Here is Daniel, now 3 months old. Such a happy little boy and placid too. Not sure how long that will last with the ginger hair coming through, lol

And here's an updated piccie of Rose who will be 2 next month. She is always smiling and is a happy little girl, and very grown-up now as she's no longer in nappies. This will be such a blessing for her mummy who is due another babe in just over 2 months.

It was lovely to see them although sadly not often enough and there's never enough time. Still we have the wonderful photos to keep us going in between visits.

Hope you enjoy the piccies too, x

A bird in the hand is worth several on the canal

Yep. I know you don't find birds like this on the Grand Union Canal but who cares.....

This is a journal page from part of our recent caravanning trip when we were in Harbury, nr Leamington Spa. On the Sunday we decided to go for a cycle and dog walk along the Grand Union Canal. Just to explain: there were 3 of us on this trip - myself, DH and DS. We only take 2 bikes away with us so my 6' 1" DH shares my bike which is fitted for a 5' 1" midget, lol. And its pink!!!!! So DS cycles all the time whilst DH and moi share the doggies. It works even though we get some laughs. Unfortunately it rained a little during our trip out but when the sun came out it soon dried us out again.

The right hand side is just a little journalling on our arrival in Dorset.

I'm scheduling this post as DH and I are taking an overnight trip to Scotland to see our 2 grandchildren. Little Daniel is 3 months old today and I've not seen him since he was 1 week old, so lots of changes there. As usual doting Grandma is taking bags of goodies for the grandees, lol.

Hope you all have a good weekend, x

Final Tangier journal page

Not sure if I'll get time to blog tonight so I'm scheduling this in advance. DH and I are off to see the Bare Naked Ladies in concert in Leeds. We've seen them before and they are brilliant entertainers. Gents, before you get all excited no clothes are removed during the act and the group is all men....lol

Anyway, this is one of the final pages from my Moroccan trip, I won't bore you with any more. I took a postcard and cut it in half, the right hand side actually shows the hotel where we stayed, and then journalled around it.

Hope you like it, x

Cupcake #108; CES #3; Crafts and Me #13

As promised, here's the second card I've made this evening.

This time I've done an Easel Card to fit in with the challenges over at Crafty Emmas (CES) and Crafts and Me.

I also hope I've managed to incorporate the sketch from the Cupcake Sketch Challenge #108.

The DP are Blonde Moments and Tilda has been coloured with Copics as follows :-

skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - E31, 33, 35
clothes - R24, 27, 29
basket - E35, 37
ribbons - YG67
scarf - Y26, 28
wings - Y26 + blender












I hope you like it and the challenge links are below, x

http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-108-sketch.html

http://ceschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-3-easel-christmas-card.html

http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-13-easels.html

Corrosive Challenge; Allsorts #69; Spoon Full of Sugar; Creative Card Crew

Good Evening Bloggers. I should have been working this evening but at the last minute both clients' cancelled which gave me the chance to pop into the Craft Zone and throw together a couple of cards.

This is the first one. I have used the sketch in the current Corrosive Challenge and I'm also entering it into Allsorts #69; A Spoon Full of Sugar; and The Creative Card Crew challenges as they are all asking for Autumn/Fall colours.

The DP are Prima 'Annalee' (bit hooked on these at the moment).

I've coloured Tilda with copics as follows :-


skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - E31, 33, 35
clothes - YR00, 02, 04, 07
shoes - R05, 08
rose - R02, 05, 08
leaves - YG06, 09

I hope you like it and the challenge links are below, x

http://corrosivechallengesbyjanet.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-81-sketch-time.html

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/allsorts-week-69-colours-of-autumn.html

http://aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-121-fall-into-autumn-colour.html

http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/2010/09/autumn-or-fall.html

Fishes - Journalling and Crazy Amigos Challenge

I'd just completed this journalling page when I noticed the current Crazy Amigos Challenge. No stamping I'm afraid but plenty of writing and doodling.

The page was to record the mackerel fishing trips that go out from Lyme Regis, and probably other south coast resorts. We saw 2 amateurs returning from a trip carrying 6-8 mackerel each. I tried to persuade DH and DS to got catch is some tea but they were more interested in getting an ice-cream, mine was cornish vanilla and blackberry, mmmm, lol

Hope you like it and here's the challenge link, x
http://crazyamigochallenge.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/vissen-fishes/

Sketch Saturday; Craft Your Days Away #3; Our Creative Corner

 I've made this card for my son's respite carer who is 40 in a couple of weeks. I've glammed Tilda up with some 'diamond' earrings especially for the occasion, lol.

I've coloured Tilda with copics as follows :-

skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - E21, 27, 29
clothes - RV21, 23, 25, 29
rose - YR12, 15, 16
leaves - YG03, 06, 09

The DP are Prima 'Annalee' and I've added some doodling with a glitter pen around the sentiment.

The self-adhesive daisies are by Papermania, the pearls by The Hobby House, and I've added stickles to the petals and leaves.

I'm entering this into Sketch Saturday http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-120-11th-september-sponsored-by.html

Craft Your Days Away (CYDA) #3 - Girly and Glitter
http://craftyourdaysaway.blogspot.com/2010/09/cyda-challenge-3.html

Our Creative Corner - Fun with Folds
http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/2010/09/fun-with-folds.html

Friday Sketchers; Oldie but Goodie #1

Well, goodness knows whats going on but I hadn't scheduled this to post and I have just logged on to upload it to the two challenges and noticed there were 3 comments????? There's a gremlin in the works somewhere, lol.

Anyway, as some of you have twigged, this card is for the Friday Sketchers Challenge (I've rotated their sketch) and also the first challenge for the new Oldie But Goodie Challenge Blog asking for New Beginnings using a stamp you've had for over 6 months.

Can't remember where I got the stamp but its by the Australian Company, Stamp It and its called Christmas Love. However, I frequently use it for new baby cards.

I've coloured the image with copics :

skin - E00, 21, 93
hair - E31, 33, 35
blanket - B00, 02

The DP is Prima 'Annalee', and the pearls are by the Hobby House.

I know that some of you already like it but I hope others do to and here are the challenge links, x

http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/sketch-119-sponsored-by-7-kids.html

http://oldiebutagoodiechallenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/our-1st-challenge.html

Just Magnolia Sketch Challenge

Good Evening everyone. At last a card to share. I've made this Christmas card using the current Just Magnolia Sketch Challenge.

The DP are by Blonde Moments and Tilda has been coloured with copics as follows:-

skin - E00, 02, 21
hair - E33, 35, 37
coat, hat and boots - YH63, 67
scarf - Y26, 28
ribbons - R08
basket - E33, 35
wings - Y21 + blender

I've added a few stickles to her boots and hat bobble and also to the snowflakes.

I hope you like it and the challenge link is below, x

http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-72-dawnys-sketch-and-card-of-month.html

Journalling - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Still not had a chance to make a card today so thought I'd share a journal page.

This little chick sums up just how relaxing our caravanning holiday was especially on two particularly hot days when we just sat in our deckchairs doing absolutely nothing, except for a BBQ, lol.

Actually completed my first moleskin journal now, filled with journalling from Morocco and the caravan trip. So in other words 'Summer 2010'.

I'll upload some more pages over the next few days but won't bore you with them all, x

Toad of Toad Hall

 Good Evening Bloggers. Hope you've all had a good weekend.

Thought I'd share this piccie with you. We woke up one morning when we were away caravanning to find this little critter sat in our washing up crate. We leave the crate in the awning overnight and DH lifted it into the van without looking carefully and there it was. Made him (DH) jump, but not Mr Toad, he was quite happy in the crate and it took us ages to coax him out, lol.

Something Special

Thank you to everyone who's commented on my scheduled blogs while I've been away with hubby and #2 son in our caravan.
We know we have been extremely fortunate with the weather, only experiencing 2 days of rain in the two weeks we were away.
We stayed 6 nights near Bridport, Dorset via Harbury and Fareham and then home via Cirencester. A lovely break and helped me to enjoy our caravan again.
Anyway, while we were in Fareham at a beautiful site in the Forest of Bere my cousin, his wife and 2 grand-daughters visited us for the day. The 2 pieces of artwork below were done by their 4 year old grand-daughter, Madeleine. We had seen Madeleine only a few weeks before and I had been explaining to her about painting with baby wipes. These were 2 of her pages using this method. I think they are brilliant given her age.


I know Nanny spends a lot of time with her making cards and scrapbooking and so I am sure in the not too distant future Madeleine will be turning out even more stunning artwork. In the meantime, bloggers, watch this space as there is an artist in our midst.

Thomas the Tank Engine

A happy picture and a happy little girl taken on our recent visit to Knowsley Safari Park.

Should definitely be back home now and hopefully will see littl'un soon.

Thanks for tuning into my posts while I've been away. I'll let you have all the holiday news once I've unpacked, lol, x

Journalling - Flower Power

The colours on these pages and the sunhat on the lady really say it all. It was so so hot when we arrived in Marrakech. I hadn't appreciated how much hotter it would be as we moved further South and further inland.

Hope you're still enjoying the pages.

May be home today, maybe tomorrow so I'll leave you with one last photo tomorrow and then hopefully I'll be back to blogging, x

My adorable country Aunt

Thought I'd share a photo today of my lovely Aunties. The lady on the right of the picture is my Auntie Beat who lives in a quaint little village in the Cotswolds called Quenington. She is now 95 and still lives alone and manages to cook for herself every day.

My other Auntie, Olive, lives in the picturesque and touristy village of Bibury. She is a Bibury lass born and bred. She also happens to be my Godmother. I am so lucky to have family ties in this area of England.

The handsome young man in the middle is my youngest son, Mark. He loves his Aunties too.

I'm sharing this today as we will be visiting the Aunts while we stay for a few nights in Cirencester on our way home to Yorkshire.

Journalling - Don't go losing your head...

Another page really describing the manic nature of the passengers on our train from Rabat to Marrakech.

One Lump or Two?

This is a birthday card I've made and sent to a lovely lady in America. As far as I know she doesn't blog but there are other bloggers out there who will know who it is for.
The image is by Hampton Art Stamps and the DP is Prima Annalee.
 Hope she likes it, x

Journalling - Off to Marrakech

The swirls and psychedelic nature of these pages are meant to symbolise the frenetic nature of the train journey and the masses of people looking for seats.

This was our journey from Rabat to Marrakech. Fortunately we had booked our seats at the station. Have to say that if a country like Morocco can run clean trains on time at a cheap price then why can't the UK???

Journalling - Like a dog??? with a sore head

I really liked the combination of these 2 images and I'm thinking that a good long drink would be just the ticket after a very busy day sightseeing in Rabat.

We should, by now, have reached Bridport in Dorset which is where we will be staying for the next 6 nights. I'm hoping I can get the chance to go for a pony trek/hack.

Journalling - Is that a Satellite Dish???

This magazine image tickled me as I thought she looked like she had a satellite dish perched on her head.

It made me want to journal about the hundreds of journal dishes we saw, especially from train windows when we were travelling through the poorer areas of the Moroccan countryside.

Hope you like it, x

Journalling - Rabat

Another journalling page, this time from our visit to Rabat.

By now we should be pitched up in Fareham, Sussex having left Harbury in Warwickshire behind. Hopefully, if my long range forecast was correct, we should be coming into better weather.

I know I'm going to run out of scheduled posts so I may miss a day or two out. Anyway, hope you've all had a good bank holiday weekend.