Christmas animals…

Good morning everyone, I’ve been such a bad blogger and didn’t realise how long it had been since my last post!

We went to Tenerife, it was lovely just to get some sunshine and relax but I’ve come back and it’s Christmas, and I haven’t done a thing!!

I promised myself I would make all my own cards this year and despite good intentions I only had about a dozen done (which admittedly is better than usual) so I’ve frantically been trying to get them all made over the last couple of days. I’m not good under pressure and when I know I have a deadline my mojo goes out of the window

These are a bit of a change for me, the challenge this fortnight for AYLI is your favourite Christmas animal so I looked at some Polkadoodles collections as they are our sponsor this time

I’ve used the images in them quite a lot but never really taken notice of the design sheets which are included. What a revelation, they are fabulous! You just print the A4 sheets and all the toppers and embellishments are ready to cut out and use, I printed the matching backing papers too and was really pleased with the results

The first one is my challenge card, my favourite Christmas animals have to be polar bears and penguins so this image is perfect…

The snowflake background I used is a Marianne die

I thought I’d share this one too as I made quite a few…

There’s still time to enter the challenge and we have a fab prize up for grabs from Polkadoodles

The bundle I used for my cards today is Winnie Winterland. The prices are very reasonable anyway but if you want to buy anything do it on a Tuesday when they usually publish a fab discount code on their blog

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Thanks so much for stopping by, I’ll be trying to catch up on all your blogs later this week when I eventually get myself sorted for Christmas

LOTV new products…

Good morning everyone, I’m here again…

two posts in one week, I think that must be a first for me!

I need to let you know that the latest product launch from Lili of the Valley is now available to buy on the website. There are new Art Sheets and Paper Pads and also some rubber stamps (both new and old designs)

I love the Art Sheets as you know so I used one of the printed images with some of the new papers for this card, it’s for my friend who recently became a Grandma…

Here’s what I used;

Art Sheet 39 – Little Ones (pink)

Soft Cuddles (pink) backing papers

Celebrate – Elizabeth Crafts stamp and die set

Tattered Lace essential pearl rectangle dies (I used the largest one to make the borders)

There’s some sparkle pen on the clouds too which doesn’t really show on the photo

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I bought this the other day when I got my halloween pumpkin, for no other reason than it’s so perfect and cute (and tiny!)

 

What can I do with it though? I don’t like pumpkin but do like butternut squash so am guessing it might be somewhere in-between. It’s not big enough to make soup really so if anyone has any ideas or has used it before I’d love to know because I don’t want to waste it (and I can’t just keep on admiring it!)

…by the way thanks Kate for the Scotch Broth recipe, I’ll be trying that now the weather is colder

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I guess I’ll be sat in for most of the weekend with Manny climbing on my knee while the fireworks go off. He’s a quivering wreck and much as I love going to a bonfire I’d never leave him on his own knowing he was frightened

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great weekend and take care everyone  

Halloween or Autumn?

Good afternoon crafty friends, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by

Another beautiful day here, we really have had some gorgeous Autumn weather the last couple of weeks. I’m going to tidy up the garden, my neighbour has a huge oak tree and we seem to end up with all the leaves!

Then I think I’ll take Manny for a nice walk, I love it when it’s breezy and chilly and sunny, my favourite sort of day

I thought I’d share this picture today with it being Halloween, my Great Niece went pumpkin picking and carried this one round the whole time! she’s such a cutie…

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The As You Like It challenge for this fortnight is to share your favourite Halloween or Autumnal colours

I do like to add black to my cards but it has to be subtle which is why I’ve gone for Halloween. As much as I love Autumn and all the colours that come with it I feel that Halloween sort of gives permission to use lots of black and it looks great with green, purple, orange or yellow

I’ve had this Tim Holtz die a while but never had chance to use it…

The little stamps and sentiment are from the Mama Makes ‘Monster Mash Up’ set

You can find all the details for the challenge here

I thought I’d just add this shaker card too while I’m posting…

These are also Mama Makes stamps and there will be a step by step for it on the Mama Makes blog

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That’s it from me for today, I’ll be back soon with news about the new product launch from LOTV

Have a great day everyone

A new challenge for me, and LOTV news…

Good morning everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend

I have a few bits of news today to share and also a new DT challenge for me…

as you already know LOTV had to stop selling digital products until they can sort out some new EU reporting rules. I appreciate that many crafters didn’t get on with the digis so if that was you, you’ll be pleased to know that they are bringing back rubber stamps (as well as the papers and printed sheets that I told you about before). Hopefully they will be able to get the digi issue resolved soon and then everybody will be happy!

We have a new Facebook group, it’s run by the DT and is the only official LOTV group

We love to see what everyone is making and get your feedback on the products so please do join even if you are not a regular Facebook user, it’s very easy to use and really friendly

We had over 500 members in the first week so hopefully it will turn into a fantastic go-to place for us to show sneaky peeks and news as well as you being able to share your own makes and ask any questions. Just click on the link below to take you straight to the group page and then you just need to click ‘join group’ and answer a couple of questions (these are just to filter out the spam requests). We’d love to see you there and please don’t forget to tell all your crafty friends too!

WE LOVE LILI OF THE VALLEY

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Onto my own news, I’m joining some of my lovely crafty friends on the As You Like It DT (thanks for asking me girls)

The challenge has stood the test of time when so many others have closed down, it’s a fortnightly challenge and they have some great prizes up for grabs

The theme for the current challenge is a fun one, CAS or Full of Frills

I do love CAS but find it very hard to leave white space. I can’t resist loading up layers of patterned papers and dies so I guess my card for this challenge would have to be classed as Full of Frills!!

I used one of the new LOTV printed Art Sheets…

The papers are the new Frosty Christmas (grey) and the lovely cross stitch circle die is from Swedish House Crafts

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Hope you like it, thanks so much for stopping by and do be sure to check out both the AYLI challenge blog and the new Facebook group

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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday

Mama Makes on Hochanda…

Hello crafty friends, I’ve been AWOL but I’ll be round catching up on your blogs this week

I don’t know what’s going on with my blog but some of you could only see 1 card or no cards on my last post (there were 4). I was looking at the page earlier and I can only see 1 picture now but they were fine when I put the post on, I always check the page for spelling etc. I have no idea how to rectify it, I’m not doing anything different from my side so I’m sorry about that

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I had a few days away with Jess last week. She had to take some horses to Chelmsford and the girl who was going with her was ill, so I packed a bag and jumped at the chance of a road trip… the joys of being retired!!. The weather was lovely and it was great to spend some time with her. She’s a slip of a thing but thinks nothing of driving those huge horse boxes all over the Country

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I have some cards to share today using Mama Makes stamps. Loti is on Hochanda tomorrow with the latest release so make sure you tune in at 8 am. There are some fab samples from the team and a lovely new collection of stamps

I actually added a few more elements to this Z fold card; another flying witch on the inside panel, some more cobweb and another sentiment to the right - but then I forgot to take a picture before I sent it to Loti for the show!

I don’t usually do Halloween but these were fun and it gave me chance to use some Echo Park papers that I’ve had for years

The little characters are adorable and they are by a new artist called Bella Hijabi from the Modest Cat. This set (Monster Mashup) is available on the website now

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Hope you like them… just to let you know there are 4 pictures in case its playing silly beggars again!

I’ll be back later in the week with news of a new DT challenge and something exciting for LOTV fans too

Enjoy your Monday folks

Lili of the Valley news…

Hello bloggers, thanks so much for stopping by

We had a lovely time in Rome, what an amazing city. I’ll share a few piccies another time I haven’t had chance to sort through them yet. I love taking photographs but I think with all the digital technology now you just snap away at anything and I took 1000’s. When you had a film in your camera you were more selective, now I take about 20 from every angle and then when I get home they all nearly look the same! Mind you when the Truprint envelope dropped through the door in the old days I was inevitably disappointed because out of every 24 there were probably only about 6 decent ones!!

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Onto the LOTV news…

due to some new EU VAT reporting regulations it’s proving difficult for them to sell digital images at the moment. I did mention the new Art Sheets a few weeks ago but they’re also going back to selling printed papers and stamps which I know will please many of their customers

If you are new to Lili of the Valley they have 2 fantastic bundles offering their whole collection of digital images or Simply Print sheets for an unbelievable 90% off. If you already have some of their images (which I think most of you will have) then there are still some great offers if there are any you are missing. They are only on sale until tomorrow so don’t wait or they will be gone

Here are a few simple cards I made using the new Christmas Art Sheets and some of the new papers…

This is the Christmas Pugs Art Sheet and the papers are Scandi Christmas

The circle die is Reverse Confetti from Dies to Die For

This is the Christmas Friends Art Sheet and the papers are Vintage Christmas

This is the Snowy Friends Art Sheet and the papers are Frozen Snowflakes

The square doily die is Tattered Lace

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Hope you like them

I have a question before you go…

if any of you lovely crafters are subscribed to my blog feed could you let me know if you are still getting an email when I do a new post? I don’t always get a notification now from a few of the blogs that I follow and one of my followers emailed me to say she wasn’t getting any notifications. I know things changed a while back with the new data protection rules so I’m interested to know how it’s affecting the blog and if I need to do anything

Thanks so much, enjoy the rest of your weekend

Copolop Christmas cards…

Good morning everyone…

I’ve scheduled this post and hopefully while you are reading it I’ll be on my way to Rome. We’ve never been before and I got some great recommendations of where to visit,  thanks so much if you commented on my Facebook post

Carol… you really make me want to go and tour around Italy in a little sports car, maybe next year!

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Despite good intentions at the start of the year I’ve hardly done any Christmas cards, I had a free day so bit the bullet and did some batch making. I love these Coppoloppolaro stamps from Mama Makes, they’re quirky and a bit different

I didn’t want to spend hours colouring so just did a loose dot technique which was so much easier and quicker…

The stamps are mixed and matched from the following sets; Copolop Christmas Hug, Copolop A Beary Good Christmas and Copolop Christmas Pals – all available from the Mama Makes website

The cross stitch frame is Memory Box

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There are more pictures and a quick step by step for these on the Mama Makes blog so I’d love it if you would leave a comment on there and say you visited from here

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a good day everyone

NEW - LOTV Art Sheets

Good afternoon bloggers, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying the weekend

I’m indulging and sharing another picture of our sweet Rolo. It’s 2 years since Jess got him and Facebook cruelly keeps throwing up memories for me of my posts from that time saying how excited we were for him to arrive. She has his ashes back in a lovely little box and now has to decide where to put him. It’s her decision of course but I’d take him back to where he loved running and playing and that would be the moor in Middleham. They lived there for most of his short life

I have a card today using one of the new Lili of the Valley art sheets

If you liked the art pads that they used to do then you will love these; there are 4 coloured toppers on each A4 sheet and they are beautiful quality. The simply prints are great but not everyone has the facility to print at home so now you can order the printed sheets again to be delivered to you ready to use

This is one my favourite images and is available also as a digital stamp and a simply print. It’s called ‘a hand to hold’ and is so adorable, it can be used for many different occasions

The papers are from a forever friends pad that I’ve had for years

This is from number 9 of the new art sheets, there are quite a few different ones with more planned. You can find them all on the LOTV website

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That’s it from me…

enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and if you can take the time to leave me a comment I would appreciate it, I love to read them

More Leonie…

Good afternoon lovely crafters, nearly the weekend again!

I’ve been tidying up my garden so thought I’d share a few pictures…

The chap in the garden centre said this was a new colour and I thought it was a bit different, never had any black flowers

It’s been like this since May with still so many buds, the photo doesn’t do it justice. There are only 2 plants in here along with a marigold and a lobelia, I think it’s got quite a few weeks left in it yet, I love it

This is my Wisteria, I’ve been nurturing it for over 10 years with no sign of a flower

I nearly missed it, but there this Summer, was my first one! I was so excited that I can forgive it for being a bit scratty and I’m expecting big things next year lol

Next my agapanthus…

I’m not a gardener, I enjoy it but am guilty of just planting things anywhere and hoping for the best. I bought this at Castle Howard about 5 years ago and never had a flower. When I visited my lovely friend Lou last year I was chatting to her hubby who is a horticulturist and he said put it in a pot as they like the roots to be contained. I split it into 3 and put them in pots and I can’t believe my eyes, all 3 of them are like this with about 20 flowers each – I am thrilled

Finally I was washing the window sill and brushed off what I thought was just fluff, when I touched it it exploded and (what seemed like) millions of teeny tiny spiders came scurrying out. I’ve never seen anything like it but they’d nearly all gone by the time I found my camera , I think you get the idea…  ewww!! 

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Onto some makes and here are a few more of my Leonie cards. This tree stamp is unusual and again a bit outside my comfort zone, I think it would be good for using on journal pages… 

A couple of you asked if she was leaving Hochanda and the answer is no as far as I know. When she designed her previous products it was through Crafters Companion so now she’s doing something similar and collaborating on a Mixed Media range with Clarity. I love watching her craft on the Wednesday shows, I wish I could do it ad hoc like that instead of taking hours to do a card… is it just me?

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Thanks so much for dropping by, have a fabulous weekend everyone and you take care now

…oh and I’ve added my original signature this time, could you let me know if you can see it below or if there is just a cross?

…thank you x

 

Leonie projects…

Good morning crafty friends, I hope you had a good bank holiday weekend

The weather was a bit rubbish here but I had a visit from my precious Great Niece Tayla. She’s nearly walking now and got her first shoes which is a big milestone…  I know!! how is it even possible, I was only just telling you that she had been born?

She’s such a joy and I try to see her as often as I can, I’m excited to be a Grandma but can’t see it being anytime soon so Tayla is getting all my attention (and money) for the time being!

You may have heard that Leonie is moving to Clarity so the current DT is being wound up which is a shame. I enjoyed using her products, they were a bit different for me and really took me out of my comfort zone. I have quite a few cards and projects that I never put on the blog so I thought for my next couple of posts I‘d share them…

As you can see, completely different to what I usually make but I think it’s good to try new things sometimes. I have a drawer full of mdf shapes which need decorating and it’s fun so I might do a few more of them (I’ll put it on the list lol)

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Thanks so much for stopping by today and for taking the time to let me have your feedback – I love to read them and always try to return the visit

Enjoy your Tuesday everyone

Anne x

PS. I don’t know what’s happening to my blog, I’m just seeing a cross where my signature was and pictures on some of the previous posts. Is it just me? I’m going to leave it for now in case it’s just a glitch but it’s annoying me because I like things to be neat!

Fairies…

Good evening everyone, thanks so much for stopping by

How was your weekend? we didn’t do much really just some tidying up in the garden and had a ride out in the car while the sun was still shining. I think it’s sad when the bedding plants start dying off, I like to have lots of colour in the garden over Summer and they are starting to look a bit tatty now

It’s been a funny couple of weeks really, just feeling so sorry about our sweet Rolo and not quite believing what happened. Thank you so much for all your comforting words, we all love our fur babies don’t we x

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I have a set of 3 cards to share tonight that I did a while ago for Cardmaking & Papercraft. I’m always happy when it’s a LOTV commission, you know how much I love them!

 

The commission was to design a Sketch and make 3 cards using it. I’m liking hexagons at the moment, they make a nice change from the usual squares and circles

The papers are from one of my favourite pads ‘Bella Rose’ by First Edition. The sentiments are a Bo Bunny stamp set and of course the images are Lili of the Valley 

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That’s it from me for now, I hope you all have a lovely week

Anne xx

Devastated…

Good afternoon lovely crafty friends, thanks so much for stopping by

I have really sad news today...

... if you follow my blog you will know that my Daughter Jess has a little dog, Rolo, our Grandbaby who we all adore

He ran out of the gate on Sunday and was hit by a car, we are devastated.

They were right behind him but were so shocked they didn’t get chance to look at the car before it sped off. How could anyone do that, just drive off and leave him there?

He died on the way to the vets but even if he’d got there sooner they said they couldn’t have done anything because he had internal injuries, our poor little Rolo

Jess is absolutely heartbroken, he’s her baby and they just moved into their first home last week - he was so excited to finally have his own garden

It seems so surreal, we’ve had dogs all my life but they have lived to a ripe old age and had a peaceful end, this has been such a terrible shock

…he was Manny’s little mate too

I’ve been helping Jess to move over the last couple of weeks and get the house ready so crafting has taken a bit of a back seat

These are a couple of cards that never made it onto the blog…

Papers - DoCrafts Forever Friends ‘New Arrival’

Lawn Fawn sentiment die

MFT border die

Babygrow - Sue Wilson (I think, maybe Fuzzy Lemon?)

Tonic Nuvo jewel drops

This die set was one I bought from someone on ebay

I saw the sentiment on Pinterest and loved it so just printed it on the computer, I like mixing fonts

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Thanks so much for listening my lovely friends that live in my computer

Enjoy your Wednesday whatever you are doing

Anne xx