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Hello and welcome to my blog. Here I will be showcasing all my design team work, general crafting and digital scrap booking.I hope you enjoy seeing my creations and listening to my ramblings. If you leave a comment I'll know you've been and be able to visit you in return. I read and appreciate all comments which are left - good or bad! Thank you for taking the time to visit me. Pop back soon. Carol xx

Saturday 30 May 2015

Just a Note

Good morning all.

Domestic goddess duties dispensed with yesterday so today I hope to fit in some playtime with my Gelli Plate and some new stencils.

Sharing a quick make today which I managed last night.


Stencils and music stamp from STAMPlorations, sentiment from Wild Rose Studio and die from Spellbinders. Using clear matte textured paste I stencilled one of the butterflies from the Flutterby stencil onto the die cut. Once dry I masked off the edges and stamped the music from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds set and my sentiment using tan ink. I then used peacock feathers DI to ink around the butterfly. Gridlocked stencil was used to emboss the base card, topper was added with foam tape and I was done!

Challenges entered:
STAMPlorations - flash linky party
link up any project you've made since April 1st where you used a stencil (any brand)...lots of prizes to be won.
CAS-ual Friday - white, tan + one
Simply Create Too - keep it simple
Crafty Gals Corner - critters
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes - twist add texture

Friday 29 May 2015

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

Friday once again so I'm off over to see Erika to share another golden oldie. Following on the tiger theme today I'm sharing a jumper I knitted many moons ago.


I don't have the jumper any more alas, nor can I find the pattern but I did find this picture of it on the internet. I think it was from a magazine, most likely The Women's Weekly.



And this is a photo of me wearing it....oh to be that young and skinny again!! This photo dates back to 1985 so was taken a few months before my first date with hubby....I think it was the jumper he took a fancy to lol! Whilst I don't have the jumper I do still have the wellies...they were a darn good buy!

Thursday 28 May 2015

Secrets of the Garden

Good evening all....running a tad late today!

Sunshine and showers has been the name of the game today and waiting for the refridgerator engineer who turned up at 6.30pm!

This has been lying waiting for words on my desk for weeks now but I finally got it finished this afternoon.


My May page in my Art Journal. Lots of stamping and stencilling...main focal stencils from Imagination Crafts and Prima. Sentiment stamps from Bo Bunny, Paper Artsy and Mucky Paws. Background stamps from Artistic Stampers and Crafter's Companion.

Challenges entered:
Mixed Media Mojo - tic tac toe (May, stencil, stamp)
Artistic Stamper - journal your heart out
Stamps and Stencils - three of a kind (flowers)
Crafting with an Attitude - anything goes/spring fever
Inspiration Destination - anything goes
Not Just Cards - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Crafting for all Seasons #103 "1-2-3 Recipe"

Good morning all.


It's time once again for a new challenge at CFAS and this time the theme is a "1-2-3 Recipe", so 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments. We're looking forward to seeing all your makes. We're being sponsored by ArtbyMiran who gave the DT images to work with.


I've opted not to use a sponsor image this time as I need to get ahead with some Christmas makes! Topper is a pre-coloured one from Wild Rose Studio. Papers are from Tilda. Dies are all Spellbinders and punch is from Martha Stewart. Sentiment from LOTV. My three embellishments...ribbon, nail heads and gems (on the sentiment) are all from my stash.

Fabulous Sponsor 2015

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the other girls, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:
Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes
CHNC - die cuts or punches
Crimbo Crackers - anything goes
CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Sew Simple

Good morning all.

Another lovely day yesterday to round off the holiday weekend. Hubby was building a shed so I did some cooking, cleaning and washing!

Sharing a card made for a card swap today, the theme of which was "Sew Simple".


Backing paper is from Webster's Pages and was either a magazine freebie or candy win. Stamps are all from Visible Image. Twine and charm are from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Dream Valley - anything goes
Love to Scrap - anything goes
Not Just Cards - anything goes
Scribble and Scrap - anything goes
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes/make it girly
Visible Image - FB May show and tell

Monday 25 May 2015

Go After Your Dreams

Good morning all.

Hope you're all enjoying the Bank holiday weekend...not sure who's on holiday here in Scotland as the kids aren't off school today. We've had lovely weather so far which makes a change!

Sharing today one of the projects I made for my STAMPlorations mixed media design team application.


All the stamps and stencils are from STAMPlorations. I used acrylic paints and a brayer to build up the layers of colour and used texture paste with the stencils and distress inks with the stamps. Sentiment and rose stamps were stamped onto tissue paper with archival ink and applied with gel. Cheesecloth is from my stash.



Challenges entered:
Our Creative Corner - April showers bring May flowers
Scrap Around the World - mood board, I used the gorgeous colours
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything goes
Mixed Media Monthly - May flowers
Simon Says Stamp - stencil it

Sunday 24 May 2015

Christmas Card Club "Gifts"

Good morning all.

We had a lovely day yesterday...the birds were certainly enjoying the garden...splashing in the bird bath, dust baths in the borders then gathering up the husky hair to line their nests! We've had a lot of starlings this year and yesterday we had dunnocks for the first time...they were sneaking up within a foot of Freya to pick up the fur lying on the grass. I did take some photos but discovered the memory card was still in the computer!!

Another two weeks have passed and it's time once again for our little Christmas Card Club to reveal what we've been up to. This time the lovely Zoe got to choose the theme and she's asked for "Gifts".
Here's my offering:


Another very simple card made using the second embossing folder in the Sissix pack I used last time round. White card was cut with a Spellbinders pierced die before I embossed, then mounted to the card base with foam tape. Sentiment was a magazine freebie. Pearls, gems and stickles were added to the tree to finish.

You'll find a list of the other girls on my sidebar if you'd like to pop around and see their makes, you won't be disappointed I'm sure.

Challenges entered:
CHNC - use something die cut or punched
Crimbo Crackers- anything goes
CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes
Holly Jolly Christmas - clean and simple
Simply Create Too - keep it simple

Saturday 23 May 2015

Tiger Take Two!

Good morning all.

As promised here is hubby's birthday card from yesterday. He used to have a thing about tigers and even made himself a Readicut rug with a tiger's head on it before I met him.


Unintentionally it is very similar to the oldie I showed yesterday! I recently bought a tiger stencil with the aim to use it for his card but after two failed attempts I gave up and resorted to a CD image...luckily I chose a different image from the one on yesterday's card! Image is from Joanna Sheen's Jayne Netley Mayhew CD and I've printed onto ice blue decoupage paper then matted and layered onto orange and black card. I do love the images on this CD.

Background has been embossed with the distress folder from Crafter's Companion then inked with DI. The inks used match the original colour scheme and as this part of the card was already made I couldn't add any more ink to it...and at this point I really couldn't be bothered to start again!!
Happy birthday sentiment is from Lawn Fawn, gemstone from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Simply Papercraft - anything goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes
Seize the Birthday - anything goes
Time Out - grunge with twist embossing
Inspiration Destination - anything goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes
Cardz 4 Guyz - world wildlife
Creative Card Crew - embossing wet or dry
Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes
Not Just Cards - anything goes
Oh La La Creations - pre-coloured image
We Love to Create - anything creative/mixed media goes

Friday 22 May 2015

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

Hubby's birthday today, although we don't have any grand plans! In fact I don't even have a pressie for him yet eek...I do have a new card though which I will show you tomorrow.

Friday has magically appeared once more so I'm off over to Erika's to share an oldie.


This is the card I gave hubby in 2009...image and papers are from Joanna Sheen's Jayne Netley Mayhew CD.

Enjoy your weekend!

Thursday 21 May 2015

Birthday Girl

Good morning all.

Summer arrived back yesterday thank goodness after we had everything thrown at us on Tuesday!

Sharing a birthday card for the little girl next door who is four today.


Square nesties and number dies from Spellbinders. Dinosaur stamps, dies and sentiment from Clearly Besotted. Clouds and sun dies from Wplus9. Grass and hills dies from Lawn Fawn. Sky and grass were inked with DI. I inked some waste card with various greens before stamping and die cutting the dinosaurs then added some detail with promarkers and a white gel pen. Googly eyes are a recent purchase from Pretty Pink Posh - I love these. I should have used pinks and purples to ink up the dinosaurs...maybe next time!
The Clearly Besotted and Wplus 9 goodies are all being aired for the first time.

Challenges entered:
Country View Challenges - simply scenic
Craft and Smash - animals
Crafting Musketeers - use a die cut
Crafty Time - anything new
Mema's Challenge - anything goes 


Monday 18 May 2015

Merry Christmas

Good morning all.

Hope you've enjoyed your weekend...we've had a quiet one, a bit of football on Saturday (watching not playing!) and a lazy day yesterday. Some time spent helping eldest prepare for his upcoming trip to Iceland which is just over three weeks away now!

A clean and simple Christmas card to share today.


I masked off the top of the card base and stamped snowflakes with versamark and heat embossed with white detail EP, then inked with DI. Sentiment was also heat embossed. Stamps are from STAMPlorations. Snowflake die from Spellbinders, gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - die cuts and punches
Sweet Stampin' - clean and simple
Crimbo Crackers - die cuts
Holly Jolly - clean and simple

Friday 15 May 2015

Exciting News!!!

Good afternoon all.

I've been jumping up and down for several days now waiting to share my news.


I'm delighted to say that Shery from STAMPlorations has asked me to join her new mixed media design team and I'm so excited! We don't start until July but I can't wait to showcase Shery's fabulous stamps and stencils which can be found here.

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

Well I finally made it into the craft room last night and managed a couple of hours of messy fun, the results of which you will see sometime soon.

As it's Friday once more...who pinched my week!! I'm off to join Erika to share a golden oldie.


The original post for my card can be found here. Stamp is from LOTV, die is from Cheery Lynn. This was my first (and probably only!) attempt at ribbon weaving on a card which ended up as a birthday card for my Mum in 2011.

Challenges entered:
Throwback Thursdays - Mother's Day/Background technique

I'll be back later with some exciting news!!

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Crafting for all Seasons #101 "Birthdays with Four of Something"

Good morning all. 
Is it just me or is blogger/Google Chrome playing silly beggars again not showing images properly...it's exceedingly annoying and time consuming!!

The weather has been quite nice so far this week...between the showers! Yesterday we went to view a property which has potential then carried on to see hubby's brother whose birthday it was, so not a lot of crafting going on here.

I was running very late getting my DT project made for today and it didn't help that I'd picked an image intending to make a Christmas card...realising too late I'd set a challenge of birthdays!!
It's our fourth birthday over at CFAS and we're celebrating with lots of sponsors (listed below) and a theme of "Birthdays with Four of Something".

Here is my offering...I went quite literal and made a small gift card for a "birth" day!


I've used Cuddly Critters Penguin from Dr Digis, coloured with promarkers and fussy cut then pieced back together after adding a nappy which I found in my stash. Dies are from Spellbinders. Four stars from my stash.

Our wonderful sponsors:

Challenges entered:
Sweet Stamps - things with wings
2 Cute Ink - bird theme
Dream Valley Challenges - things with wings
Whoopsi Daisy - things with wings

Sunday 10 May 2015

Christmas Card Club "Village Scene"

Good morning all and welcome to my new followers.

Another two weeks have flashed by and it's time once again for our little Christmas Card Club reveal. Rita picked the theme this time and asked to see a "Village Scene".


I opened the Christmas drawer to check out my dies and this embossing folder was sitting looking very neglected so I decided to put it to good use. The folder is from Sissix and came in a pack of two. I added some Sparkle Medium into the recesses of the folder then embossed direct to my card base. Sentiment from Clearly Besotted and gems from my stash. Insert added "et voila" one very quick card! Apologies for the pink glow..a quirk of the camera!

You'll find links for the other girls on my sidebar if you want to pop over and see their makes.

Challenges entered:
CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes
Just us Girls - embossing
Less is More - one layer + water (snow being frozen water!)
Winter Wonderland - oh Christmas tree
Holly Jolly Christmas - white + one

Saturday 9 May 2015

Hello my Friend

Good morning all.

A friendship card to share today, made for a swap.


Background has been created using the Alcohol Marker Marbling Technique with Hot Pink and Fuschia Pink promarkers. The filigree background die is a Signature Die from Joanna Sheen. Tags and sentiments are from LOTV. Ribbon and gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Alphabet Challenge - f for friendship
Simply Papercraft - anything goes/CAS
Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes
I Love Promarkers - anything goes
Inspiration Destination - anything goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers - make your own background

Friday 8 May 2015

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

I've had a busy couple of days...my sister decided to end her 50th year as she started it by having a day at the races, so it was off down home first thing on Wednesday to join her along with her staff and several customers. We had a fabulous day at Kelso with a lovely meal, good company, a few drinks and a little win. There were canapes waiting for us when we got back to her hotel and a convivial evening was spent in the bar. Yesterday I spent most of the day with Mum and we made a start clearing the family home ready to put it on the market later this year. I came home with a small bag of bits for the craft room including my favourite teaspoons from my childhood which will be appearing on a canvas near you very soon hopefully.

I'm off to join Erika with a golden oldie today.


Made in 2009 as a commission for a regular customer. The stamp is one of my favourites which I have de-blocked and can't for the life of me remember the make! Stamped and heat embossed with gold onto pearlised card, bow and gems added, a bit of embossing and some peel offs...et voila!

Monday 4 May 2015

Happy Birthday...again!

Good morning all.

Hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend despite the weather. The forecast is good here today so going to make the most of it.

Today's card is very similar to Saturday's one.


Stamps from Unity Stamps and sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Nail heads from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Less is More - use opposite colours on the colour wheel
CASual Friday - birthday  and colours
Happy Little Stampers - dies/punches
Simon says Stamp - anything goes

Saturday 2 May 2015

Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

A quick card from me today. I've not done a lot of crafting this week...been trying to sort out holidays!


Background stamp is from Unity Stamps, sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Cord and gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Unity Stamps - Friends with Flair
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Polka Doodles - anything but square
Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes
That's Crafty - keep it simple
Simon says Stamp Monday - anything goes