Quick post from me tonight, I've been such a bad blogger but time has got away with me again!

This fortnight's AYLI challenge theme is to showcase a project using your favourite style and why

My style has definitely changed over the years, I think CAS is harder than it looks but I love making clean'ish' modern cards and I always use dies

I used Lee Holland's adorable fox image for my card and some Tattered Lace frames...

This is quite a large card and is a bit different for me so I'd love your thoughts

I'll be back later in the week as I'd like to share some pictures from my photography day out with Lou

Santa... or no Santa?

Hello everyone...

I've been out and about again visiting friends, this time a trip to Spalding to see lovely Lou and Fleur

Lou and I spent a day in the woods with our cameras, the weather was perfect and we managed to see some deer (quite a few in fact) which was amazing

If you haven't seen Lou's fantastic pictures then do have a look on her Facebook page. I was really into photography about 15 years ago but it was side lined when I started papercrafting seriously. I have a very expensive camera that I have no idea how to use - it only comes out to take pictures of cards and Manny!

The latest challenge at AYLI is to share a project either using Santa or not, and don't forget to say why. I love penguins, snowmen and cute winter animals so rarely use Santa on my cards...

These are some of the new snowmen from LOTV. I actually did this when my printer was playing up and would only print green. The others went in the bin but I coloured this and I think it turned out ok. The lights are done with Nuvo drops and I used Frantage for the snow

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This is another new cutie from the latest LOTV release called Starry Penguin...

The image is coloured, cut out and stuck onto the background. I made a distress ink night sky then die cut the tiny stars and layered it onto yellow card so it shows through

You can get all the LOTV digi images from their Etsy shop and the AYLI challenge finishes tomorrow -  the prize this time is a Guest DT spot for October so worth a go if you'd love to join us!

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Hope you like them, thanks as always for stopping by and enjoy your week

New LOTV and favourite text style...

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by

I've had a busy couple of weeks...

I went to visit my lovely friends Mary and Andrea in Newcastle for some crafty time and a catch up, always great to see them

Then I'd just got back and Jess asked me if I wanted to go up to Carlisle and Hamilton with her to take some horses to the races. It was a quick turnaround but a benefit of being retired that I can go without notice, so I was going back up the A1 before I knew it! What a lovely run though when you turn off the A1 at Scotch Corner going to Carlisle, I haven't been on that road since I was a kid and we used to go camping in Scotland

I haven't had  much chance to play with the LOTV Christmas images because my printer died. I got a new one but only just managed to find the time to set it up and install it so got a quick card made with the new Gnome Simply Prints and Hand Drawn Sentiments...

I'm hoping to find time in the next couple of days to make some cards with these and also the new ones which will be out next week, I'm a bit behind!

That's it from me,  thanks again so much for taking the time to pop by...

 and enjoy the rest of your week

Pink and Green...

Good afternoon crafty friends, I'm late with my post for the AYLI challenge as I've been away but there's still time to enter and it's a lovely theme

Our sponsor is Lili of the Valley and we want you to showcase a project using either pink & green or blue & orange - don't forget to say which is your favourite and why to be in with a chance of winning

It was an easy choice for me, pink and green has always been one of my favourite colour combinations, I think they go so well together

This cute image is a Simply Print from Lili of the Valley (Dressed Up) and the papers are NitWit collections (Butterfly Dreams)

The sentiment is from the Lili of the Valley Everyday Greetings set

Hope you like it, I'll be back in a couple of days to tell you about my weekend

Favourite flower...

Hello everyone, what are you up to this weekend? It's absolutely pouring down here so a crafty day for me

I'm doing a small craft fair next weekend and having a bit of a panic because I've not made much! The advice from crafty friends was keep it simple, I was spending far too long on them, so I've made a pile using old LOTV art pads and some simply prints

These 2 fitted in nicely with the current AYLI challenge which is your favourite flower (and why!)

Daisies are so pretty, I love the way they open their little faces up to the sun and we used to have a lot of fun with them when I was a child making daisy chains and playing he loves me...he loves me not (although I wouldn't pull the petals out now like we did back then!)

These cards are very simple, the LOTV image is called delightful daisies and I did the sentiments on the computer. The scalloped frame dies are Papertrey Ink and the daisy die is from a Sue Wilson set

Hope you like them, thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave me a comment. The AYLI challenge finishes on Wednesday and as always there is a great prize up for grabs and some lovely inspiration from the team

Enjoy your weekend 

Birds or Beasts...

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by

It's been longer in between posts (again!) than I intended but...   you know, life got in the way and before I knew it another month had whizzed by!

There's still time to enter the current AYLI challenge and the theme is your favourite bird or beast and why

I'm loving these new stamps by Tracy Easson, I did a workshop with her a few weeks back and made (amongst other things) this cute little cushion...

My painting on fabric needs some practise but I really enjoyed trying a new technique

You might have seen Tracy on Hochanda last week, if not do watch on catch up and see the full range. She is an amazing lady and a fantastic artist, check out her super cute mouse images on etsy here

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Enjoy the rest of your week whatever you're up to

Mama Makes on Hochanda...

Good evening everyone, it's been another lovely day here and Keith is putting some steaks on the bbq as I write! I love eating outside and we haven't really much so far this year

Just wanted to let you know that Loti is on Hochanda in the morning (8am) with some fab Christmas stamps, papers and other goodies from Mama Makes

You know I love patterned papers and I made a few little projects with them for something different...

The colours are really lovely and most of them could be used all year round

I hope you'll tune in, the new stamps are great too and I'll share my samples with those next week

Have a great weekend!