Small But Perfectly Formed Tilda xxx

She's very small but verry sweet xx

I got her at the NEC earlier in the year from Mr Magnolia himself, and this is the first time she has seen ink - shame on me!!

She is a teeny tiny stamp and I think they were only selling them at the show - but don't quote me!!

Anyhoos, I thought I'd use her for this week's Papertake Weekly, which is one of me sketches. It's this one here -

It's also a bit special at PTW this week cos it is our first featured sponsor challenge. And our sponsor is none other than Simon Says Stamp!!! There is a $20 and free shipping voucher up for grabs so please don't miss it peeps cos Heidi has some fabulous stuff at her store.

And the fabulous DT girlies have done some brilliant stuff as always, so nip over and have a look if you get a sec. It's all good :))x

So this is my take on the sketch.

The mini image fitted it perfectly and I coloured it with PMs but no Glamour Dust tonight!!

It is a twinke-free zone lol xx

The papers are all PP - Little Fleurs and also Elegant Swirls and Mini Little Dots all in Pretty Pink (one of my fave PP shades).

The teeny pearls were from Creative Pastimes. They are having an open day this coming weekend cos it is their 6th birthday, so if you are in the area, pop in. There will be demos and all sorts going on.

Sadly I can't demo cos Emma is going to a wedding and she will be out all day and all night, so I am hooligan sitting!! There is no way on God's green earth that I am taking her with me. Too many little fingers and too much crafty stuff - not a good mix!!

The blooms were part of my prize from Simon Says Stamp and the buttons are American Crafts.

Big blooms ....

And little blooms.

And the delish ribbon is from the US.

And here's the funny angle.

A fair bit of dimension going on here.

It is actually for someone's birthday but I can't say who right now!!

Well hasn't it been hot!!

I can't really stand too much heat to be honest. I've got blue eyes and blonde hair (well it was before it went wishy washy grey and I went au L'Oreal), so I think I must have Viking blood somewhere, and they were used to cooler temps!!

There are fans going all over our house and it feels a bit like being in a wind tunnel, but at least we are fairly cool. Richard is insisting on salads - yuk, puke and bluh. It wasn't all bad however, cos he also insisted on the cherry pie which we bought at the Cheshire Show - Lime Pantry. If you've never had one, ohh you are missing a treat.

Here. have a butchers at this ...

You can buy them on line but they are a bit pricey to be honest, so we only have them when we go to things like the CS.

Mind you, if I remember rightly they were are the NEC!! The pastry is yum and the filling is yummier. Consequently, I am sitting here like a Buddha - except I'm not bald. I really must start (re-start) me diet again.

Thank God for comfy cotton pjs. The winceyette ones are strictly for winter months!!!

So on that blubbery note, I am off to do a bit more crafty stuff. I hope you are all having a fab night, and enjoying the tennis. What a match last night!!!

Stay cool and enjoy the fab weather xxxx

Sweet Tilda xxxx

Coloured with bad boys and Glamour Dust, just for a change lol xx

I thought she'd do nicely for Just Magnolia's challenge this week which is based on a gorgeous sketch by the one and only uber talented Bev
xx

So this is my card.

I was going to do the image coming over the edge of the nesties thing which Rach did the most fabulous tutorial for, but I wanted her to have a bit of dimension away from the centre of the card, so I ended up cutting her out and attaching her with dimensional pads!!

Now I have to confess that the paper is from my mahoosive box of 12 x 12's which I buy in droves but hardly ever use cos I can't bring meself to put the scissors near them. I don't know what I think will happen if I do, but it's just one of my peculiarities - bless me, it is a shame!!!

However, I've obviously had a bash at this one before and have cut off who it is by etc etc, so no clues peeps sorry!! I quite like it even if it is a bit busier than the papers I usually use.

These fabulous blooms were part of my prize from the lovely Heidi from Simon Says Stamp. Bit of a hint here, whatever you do, don't miss PTW next week cos we have some rather good news!!!!

The charm is a pink piggy special which you can get from here if you fancy one :)

In celebration of my new MSBP, I did a triple, layer of them and then added some Glamour Dust to make it really pretty. The ribbon was from The Paper Mill Shop.


And that's it.

Please excuse the awful editing again. The pink looks a really funny colour here but IRL it is a really deep cerise pink and it's gorgeous. It looks a bit too red-ish here :(((


I'm off for a lie down now cos I have pigged out on a real treat tonight and I am stuffed!!! One of Richard's friends is into the hunting - shooting - fishing thing and he goes sea fishing a lot. He brought us 2 HUGE sea bass today so I cooked one and froze the other.

On my life, it was fabulous.

I did it with a bit of a Thai twist - lots of ginger and lime and garlic etc. It's a good job you cannot smell me cos I must pong a bit after all the garlic I used.


Have a fabbytastic weekend and hugs to all xxxxx

Willow Sketchie & Spooky Pic xxx

And in that order lol xx

So, first things first -

This little poppet is Grace.

She is the star of this week's Willow Sketchie Challenge. You can see more of her here - she's sooo sweet!!!

So it was my turn to do the sketch this week and here it is -

The girlies have done some fabulous work with it so nip over and have a butchers :). And we have some new DT girls as well, so a big welcome to them xxxx

Hope you can join us as well - you can use any Willow products that you have :))xx

And this is my take on the sketch.

I did kind of like working with this one - sometimes they do just grab me, and this is one I will use again I'm sure. I coloured Grace with PMs but I also paper pieced her dress with some fabulous PP Little Fleurs stripey paper - I LOVE this collection.

The ribbon was from the US and the flowers, well they were part of my wonderful prize from Simon Says Stamp - they're gorgeous. And that beautiful jewel brad was from the very wonderful Poppicrafts. The double stranded charm was one of my creations - I added the second strand cos I wanted to use the butterfly to match the image.

The other paper I used is also PP and this is from the new Elegant Swirls collection. It's so pretty I think. And yes, that is a MSBP!! Oh yes, I have one again, so happy days lol xx There is more re the doily punch saga, but I am saving it for a later date :)

Et voila. Hope you likee xx

Now for the spooky pic.

On Tueday, the weather had been a bit weird here all day. About 9.30pm Richard was checking everywhere was locked etc and he shouted me to come out.

This is what we saw over the fields

Maybe I've been reading too much Stephen King, but it was really eerie.

You probably cannot see that well from this picture but the fog and mist was rising up really high off the fields. This was taken from upstairs but from ground level, it was quite a sight (and as I had my pjs on, so was I lol xx)

We live in a bit of a dip so it does get misty at times but I've never seen it like this.

Within half an hour of this picture being taken, you could not see the front of our garden. And then it just cleared - it was like it just vanished. It was verry strange.

Well have a fab day and I hope the weather is being nice to you. It was glorious here yesterday but it isn't quite as hot today. Thank God, cos it makes me wilt a bit.

And then I have to drink Pimms or G&T in order to revive lol xxx I think it's the mint in the Pimms and the lemon in the G&T that does it lol xxx It is such a ruddy hardship, I can tell you!!

Hugs xxxx

Love Birds For Papertake Weekly xxx

I love these.

These are the Love Birds from the very wonderful Sally-Ann at DigiStamp Boutique. There are 4 in the collection and they are all gorgeous. You can see them here.

Sally-Ann is our sponsor this week over at Papertake Weekly (thank you chick xx) so don't forget to pop over and check it out cos there is a nice something up for grabs :)xx

So this is my card.

I seem to have gone with the black and white theme again - but with a bit of red thrown in for good measure. It's funny, but I often make 2 or 3 cards along the same lines. Possibly cos the papers etc have not been put straight away so they are staring me in the face lolxxx

But I like the clean look of this little darlin :)x.

I added just a teeny bit of colour - red and grey PMs. Not too much though, cos I didn't want to overpower the image. Of course, there is a sprinkling of Glamour Dust, natch lol xx!!

The paper is Nancy Kubo So Sweet - it's a beggar to get hold of but I think you can get it here.

My wonderful friend sent me the ribbon from the US and the red button was from my stash. I coloured a bit of thin string with a black PM and tied it onto the button. I also got it all over my hands and a bit of the ink is still there on the button - ooops!!!


The sentiment is also from the collection - I cropped it off the image so that it went over the top of it.

Once again I used loads of dimension here.

I used the same LO as I did on my summer Tilda card, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it, and stupidly didnt write it down. So I cannot give credit - sorry. But I nicked it from somewhere cos it isn't one of mine!! Nice though I think.

Well the sun has come out again - hurray!!! Not that I am one for sunbathing, but I do like to sit in the garden and enjoy the peace and quiet (until Kyla gets home of course then bedlam returns lolxxx)

But the weather is fabulous for Wimbledon. No Rafa this year sadly. Maybe he heard we weren't going this time (cry, sob, sniff). It won't be the same without him - he is rather gorge isn't he, even if he does have one of the hungriest bums on the planet (it must be cos it always seems to be eating his shorts lol xx).

So me and Tricky Dicky are staying at home and stocking up, and no doubt (pink) pigging out, on Pimms and strawberries and cream. In some way it's nicer at home cos you can watch the match you want to watch. But there is something about the atmosphere at SW19 that is just fantastic.

I'll miss going for sure.

So don't forget to check out the challenge lovelies - there are some fab DT cards, as well as 2 fab guest designers. It's all happening over there.

Have the fabbiest of days xxx

Just For Sharing xxx

No challenges today, but I thought I'd share this with you.

It's the card I made for the girls to give to Richard for Father's Day. It's quite minimalistic but I kind of like the way it turned out - and so easy peasy it isn't true!!!

What you can't really tell from this pic is that the base card is a
mahoosive 8 x 8.

I got them from Craftwork Cards and I don't tend to use them a lot, but they are so gorgeous. The owl is also from Craftwork Cards and I just literally cut it out, matted it onto black card and that was that.

It is very VERY plain but Richard doesn't like clutter.

But as the meerkat says - simples!!!!

Before I head off for our lunch - we are out today so this lazy pink piggy doesn't have to cook -woohooooo!!! I took these of Fanny Craddock yesterday doing her baking thing (I cannot say her name without thinking of a naughty joke about doughnuts, and smutty minded sod that I am, I am tittering as I am typing this lol xx

Anyway, here she is decorating the said cakes ....

Talk about concentration!!!

And here is the end result ...

Yes, I did have one and no I didn't think too hard about what was in them cos she did lick her fingers once or twice, and the sharp eyes amongst you will notice that there are only 11 when there should be 12.

Alas, one got dropped onto the floor during the finishing process and as I was on quality control, it got binned!!!

Now to you and me they might look like a bit of a grand mess, but bless her, she was so proud of them. She took one up to Richard's mum this morning and to her credit (R's mum that is), she ate it there and then in front of her.

What a trouper!!

Well enjoy your Sunday and Happy Father's day to all the dad's out there!!

Hugs xxx

Summery Tilda xxxx

The challenge at Just Magnolia this week is Summer and I think Tilda looks very summery sitting on a log in the meadow in the sunshine.

Here's me card :))x

I did a bit of masking for this - 3 different stamps here, and this is the first time I've used the background stamp. I coloured most if it with the usual PMs and Glamour Dust combi, but I used chalks for the sky and I wanted a more subtle look.

The papers are Nitwits - Summer Breeze - and the ribbon is from a local floristry warehouse near me. I love the colour cos it is so fresh.


You can see the paper a bit better here, and also the little gems which I got from Creative Pastimes in Ellesmere Port.

Pretty aren't they :)x


The sentiment is from a Woodware set

Plenty of dimension here.
I doubled up the foam pads on the image so it was really raised.

And that's it.

I am quite pleased with how this turned out. I think mainly cos I like those colours.

Kyla is making cakes as I am doing this post.
I will have one of these cos we know that they are spit/snot/mucky fingers free. And I am so glad that I am not the only one who makes up excuses not to eat their 'not home made' offerings. These cakes are only out of a packet (Mary Baker meets Dora The Explorer!!) but she loves doing them. If I get chance, I'll treat you to a pic when I next post so you can enjoy them too!!

Bet you can barely wait lol xxx

I might be back later cos I have nearly finished another challenge card, but if events overtake me - as they often do in this house - then I'll see ya tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a fab weekend, despite the weather, which is grey and overcast here. Wish I was sitting in that meadow with Tilda cos the weather looks far far nicer there :(xx

Hugs xxxx

Bling-Tastic Card Charms xxx

No cards tonight, but a bit of bling instead.

I've had a few e-mails saying some nice things about the little card charms I've been making and using lately, so I thought I'd make a few up and put them on here and see if anybody would like to buy any of them.

They are all on silver plated chain and are made from Svarowski crystal, Bali silver spacers and glass beads. I have some other coloured crystals as well which I've not put them together yet, but if there is anything you specifically would like, colour wise, I'll do my best to make anything up.

Cost wise, they are £1 each plus p&p which you can pay via PayPal.

If you are interested, please e-mail me with the letter of the charm you want and your details. If you want an extra long chain, please also let me know.

If there are any styles you see here which you would like in a different colour, then also let me know and I would be happy to change the colours for you.

Hope you like them xxxx

Hugs peeps xxxx