Christmas with the Cuties!

Hello my lovely blog chums, I hope you're having a great week......I hadn't used much of my annual leave from work during the summer months this year, so I have been fortunate enough to have a week off here and there over the last two months, and I am off again this week....I was very happy not to be getting up at 5am on Monday morning after our works Christmas do on Sunday night!!!! I have had plenty to do at home though, with preparations for Christmas, and at the moment, I'm feeling quite organised!

So it's time for our last challenge of the year at

Christmas with the Cuties

and to keep things very simple, our theme is

CHRISTMAS CUTIES

My  DT card was made especially for our granddaughter, Erin!

My DT card features

• Bobbi, with gift....a gorgeous oldie from DigiStamp boutique
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Sentiment features Champagne and Limousine fontfont
• Plaid paper is from a oldie pad from The Range
• Glittery enamel gumdrops from YNS
• Bow from stash

I would like to enter these challenges,

Passion for ProMarkers mega Christmas Challenge

Di's digi challenge winter holidays

Alphabet challenge S is for snow

Before I sign off now, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very

I hope that this festive season will be a happy, peaceful and blessed time for you all and your loved ones xx

A Winter Palette with Crafty Friends

Hello my lovely blog chums, hope you had a good week. It's been another busy one here! 

So it's the last challenge of the year for CRAFTY FRIENDS

and we have a colour theme

You can make a card for any occasion but you should use colours from this colour palette

As you can see I've focused on the grey and purple, which I've never really put together, but actually quite like. I've used the Carol singing Dog from LOTV, which is becoming something of a favourite of mine, and have used ProMarkers to colour. The sentiment is my own creation, the dotty card is from Limetree crafts, card completed with holly die cut and sticky pearls.

I would like to enter these challenges:

Allsorts challenge Inspired by a song
 The sentiment used on my card is one I use a lot, and every time I type it I find myself singing along....it always takes me back to one of my favourite childhood Christmas memories was the Perry Como, and the Andy Williams albums being dusted off. I hope this is what my dog is singing along to
Christmas at Sweet Stampin Christmas Critters
Passion for ProMarkers mega Christmas Challenge
Merry Little Christmas Challenge

MLCCB #17 - December Anything Christmas Goes

Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

Christmas Cuties!

Hello my lovely blog chums, hope your week has got itself off to a good start! 

Can't believe that it's just two weeks now, until Christmas.....most of the gift shopping is done, as usual I am struggling with ideas for my hubby!! The decorations came down from the attic this afternoon, but everything this year has to be "high up" So that our crazy dog can't get his paws on them!!!

So it's time for the last Cutie Pie challenge of the year, and our theme could only be......

⛄ CHRISTMAS CUTIES 🎄

Our lovely sponsors for this challenge are our good friends at

We're all friends here, so I'll let you into a secret.....I made my DT card, using a Crafty sentiments image, it was pink and pretty and I was really pleased with it....I had uploaded it and was in the process of adding my watermark, when I had the D'oh moment.....it was a flipping birthday card NOT a Christmas one!!!! Ooops.....back to the drawing board!

My Second Attempt at a DT card features:

• Carol singing Dog from LOTV, one of my Black Friday treats
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Cut with faux stitched square dies, The Works
• Enamel dots from YNS
• Snowflake paper is a magazine freebie, tweaked the colour tone using Serif
• Sentiment is Firenze font

I would like to enter these challenges:

Di's digi designs challenge. Animals acting like humans

Winter Wonderland Challenge Anything Christmas Goes

52 Christmas Card Throwdown Pick a previous 2019 Theme.....I'm going back to June, and the CHORAL theme

 Thank you so much for your visit xx

Decorating The Tree

Good Morning my lovely blog chums.......I hope you're having a good week so far! I did partake in a little bit of Black Friday shopping this year, a few Christmas pressies and a new frock for our work Christmas do.....but my favourite Black Friday sale was half price digi stamps from Lili of the Valley! I did splurge on a couple, and I am using one on today's card.......

This little bit of yumminess is called Decorating The Tree, there is just something so adorable about the wee faces that the LOTV characters have. I used ProMarkers to colour, with the addition of Gold Stickles glitter glue. The stocking die is the smallest one of a set of Christmas stockings nesting dies from First Edition. I got the set a few weeks ago with an idea in my mind of using the largest die to make an advent calendar, which will be an on-going project for next year. I have a Gold themed challenge in mind when I planned this card, so I dug out a sheet of gold glitter card.....which, I then discovered to be the hardest thing in the world to take a decent photo of.......I just couldn't get the light, "right"!!!

Anyway, I would like to enter these challenges:

Cute Card Thursday  Good

Christmas at Sweet Stampin November challenge - Trees

Sisterhood of Crafters Trees

Keep warm, and enjoy your day xx

Christmas Post!

Hello again my lovely blog chums......hope the weekend is going well for you. In my post yesterday, I mentioned my intentions to pop along to a winter fayre yesterday, well I did just that......and after sitting for about 10 minutes in the car park of this particular community centre, wondering why it was so quiet.....I checked on Facebook, only to discover that I was a week late!!!!! 

Anyway, another Christmas card to share today.....

I used a super adorable image from Di's, have coloured with ProMarkers, and an assortment of papers from my off cuts box. Once again I am using enamel gumdrops from YNS, these have to be one of my favourite embellishments, as they always look fantastic, plus they don't add too much "thickness" to a card if you want to be sending it away in the post!

I would like to enter these challenges
Di's Digi Designs Animals acting like humans
Passion for ProMarkers 3 or more layers

Enjoy your day, whatever it may bring.....hubby wants to hear out and do some Christmas shopping today, I don't much fancy the crowds on a Sunday, so we'll have to see!!!

Return of the Mac!

Good morning my lovely blog chums, and what a cold, foggy morning this is! Not too much planned for the day, as Alistair will be back from his trip to Scotland this afternoon...I may drop in on a Winter Fayre nearby this morning.

I am here, today with a little bit of inspiration for both of the current CUTIE CHALLENGES

The Cutie Pie challenge,  where our theme is

Add An Animal (this challenge runs until Monday lunch, so you'll need to be quick)

And

Christmas with the Cuties, where our theme is

Show Us Your Santa Hats

The adorable Mac, was always one of my favourite images from DigiStamp boutique.....not least because he looks sooo much like my boys! I have used ProMarkers to colour, and have cut with a faux stitched square. I kept the design fairly simple, I love red and kraft together so added an  off cut of polka dot paper. The sentiment is a magazine freebie embossing folder, finished with a couple of enamel gumdrops from YNS.

I would like to enter these challenges:

Crimbo Crackers - challenge198 animals
abc christmas challenge W is for wreath/ X is for faux
fab n funky challenges challenge 459 christmas
the holly and ivy christmas challenge 61 anything christmas goes
crafty catz weekly challenge 485 A.G with optional CAS
christmas cards all year round november challenge stockings or other

We all like to dabble in other craft activities from time to time, I recently got a packet of Air Dry clay to do just that! I have been enjoying making a few Christmas decorations and fully intend to do more of this.....just wanted to share a few photos of my makes, so far......

cut and drying!

I have made wee Holly brooches for myself and the girls at work

 Christmas pudding, this was a bit more of a freehand effort

a doggy bone Christmas tree dec, in memory of our lovely Daisy

 another little doggy bone Christmas tree dec, this will be a gift for my mum from her dog Tilly!

Thank you so much for visiting, enjoy your day xx

Show us your Santa Hats!

Hello my lovely blog chums.....I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, if you are in that part of the world! 

This week has whizzed by,  hubby has been away in Scotland visiting his daughter and helping out with arrangements for her up and coming wedding, in January....one of his tasks was to order his Kilt, which I cannot wait to see him wearing!!! I will share photos here.....

I took my Mum out, this afternoon, for a lovely mooch around a local garden centre, looking at the gorgeous Christmas decorations and enjoying a yummy hot chocolate (with Marshmallows....obvs!)

So I am a few days late with my DT card, but never mind.....

We have a brand new challenge at

CHRISTMAS WITH THE CUTIES

and our theme is

SHOW US YOUR SANTA HATS 🎅

our lovely sponsors for this challenge are

they have a great prize for our lucky winner, and also very kindly provided some gorgeous images for the team to play with.

Co-incidentally, my card is for my step daughter and her fiance, and the sentiment finishes inside, with "and very soon, you'll be Mr & Mrs". I thought that this adorable, Winter Couple image would be perfect.I added snowflake papers, a doily and die cut hearts.

I would like to enter these challenges:

I Love ProMarkers #396 A.G optional Circles

Christmas cards all year round November theme Stockings or other winter clothing

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #16 November A.G

Thank you visiting me today xx

Chillax-ing on a Saturday

Hello my lovely blog chums, I do hope that you have had a great week. I have had a few days off from work, and it has been nice  to have a few days of not getting up at 5:00am! We've not done an awful lot this week, we did go out for a nice pub lunch, we had a trip to the cinema to see "Last Christmas" , and yesterday afternoon was spent with my lovely step daughter and her gorgeous twin boys....cannot believe that they are nearly 11 months old already, they are such a funny little pair to watch crawling around and  pulling themselves up and shuffling along the edge of the sofa

I am back today, with my second DT card for the

CUTIE PIE CHALLENGE

to remind you, the current theme is

ADD AN ANIMAL

and that's exactly what I have done here, with the gorgeous Odd Dog from LOTV. I have used ProMarkers to colour. I used faux stitched squares dies, and a faux stitched label die. The sentiment came from DigiStamp boutique. The gingham paper was a free download and I tweaked the share of blue, using Serif s.e, to match the mug and button. I have finished the enamel dots.

If you haven't joined us for this challenge yet, don't panic.....there is still plenty of time, I do hope you will though xxx

I would like to enter these challenges, please:

I ❤ ProMarkers #397 A.G/real or faux stitching
YNS FUN FRIDAY #127 Mad for Plaid

ADD AN ANIMAL.....WITH THE CUTIES

Hello my lovely blog chums....hope your week has got off to a good start. I've got a few days off from work this week, so we took my Mum out this afternoon to give her an opportunity to do some Christmas shopping. You may know that she took a tumble and broke her hip, back in August. She has done really well with her recovery and is now just reliant on her walking stick to support her walking around, although she isn't too confident about going out shopping on her own anymore, so we do our best to get her out and about.

Anyway, I am here to share my Cutie Pie DT card with you.....

Our theme is

ADD AN ANIMAL

and you  can join us here

Our lovely sponsors for this challenge are

My DT card features

• Santa and Rudolph stamp from Wild Rose Studio
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Fancy circle die from spellbinders, holly die, tag die, mini scalloped square
• Red polka dot card, green gingham card
• Scalloped border punch
• Sentiment stamps
• Button and ribbon

I would like to enter these challenges:

Animal Friends Reindeer

Brown Sugar #295 November A.G

Jingle Belles Baby it's cold outside: scarves, mittens rtf

Winter Wonderland use holly and/or ivy

As You Like It cute or traditional Christmas???

Nothing against traditional, but for me it's all about the cuties (as DT owner of Christmas with the Cuties, lol)

Cute Card Thursday Festive

ABC Christmas Challenge W for Wreath/X for fauX

Faux stitch on circle die

My Time To Craft Christmas Animals

It would be fantastic if you join us for this challenge,

I enjoyed this theme so much, I made two DT cards, and I will be back later in the week with the other card.....

Saturday sketch....on Sunday!

Hello my lovely blog chums, hope you had a lovely Sunday. It has been a fairly chilled day here....it was quite mild and bright out this afternoon, and we made the most of it by taking the dots to a local park....there a several trees dotted around the park which meant lots of leaves for the dogs to play in. I often see the most glorious photos of Westies out for an Autumn stroll through the leaves, I did attempt to take a few piccies, but Harvey being a lovely 6month old, was far too busy to pose.

When we got back I decided to have a bit of crafting time, whilst dinner was cooking.....to minimise my faffing about time, I went straight to a sketch, 

which was based on this week's Sketch Saturday challenge

The digi is a very old oldie, I think from DigiStamp boutique, and it was lovely to dust her off. I haven't paper pieced for a while, so this was fun to do. The papers are from an older stack from The Works. I also used a Martha Stewart border punch, a label die, stamped sentiment, button and ribbon.

I would like to enter these challenges

Sketch Saturday  #590

pennys challenges #456 anything goes

Christmas with Crafty Friends!

Good Morning to you all, my lovely blog chums! 

Hope you had a good week...we treated ourselves to an evening out, earlier in the week, and went to London to see Les Miserables - the staged concert. Oh my word, it was amazing. It has been one of my favourite shows for some time now and it was a treat to see Alfie Boe, Michael Ball, Matt Lucas as well as a splendid cast. I had been looking forward to it for ages, and it really was a memorable evening.

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at

Crafty Friends

and it's a lovely, easy peasy theme.....

CHRISTMAS

Our lovely sponsors for this challenge are

I have used an older All Dressed Up digi on my card......there are so many stamps around featuring sweet little girlies with armfuls of gifts or cute animals in fluffy knitwear, so it was lovely to use an image that reflects the story of the first Christmas. I have used ProMarkers to colour, the sentiment is my own creation and I thought it fit the image, nicely.

I do hope that you will hop over and join us for this challenge, we also have some fabulous inspiration from the DT to share with you!

I would like to enter these challenges:

Daring Card Makers just cards, Christmas songs and carols (I've used a line from O Come All Ye Faithful)

the holly and ivy christmas challenge 60 anything christmas goes12

A Little Sunday Sweetie

Good Morning to you all, I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend. I have been jobbing about since first thing, so I could get the house reasonably tidy and then sit down to watch the Remembrance Day coverage from the Cenotaph. My Grandad was in the Air Force, and was even stationed in Canada for some time, and my Dad did his National Service in the Army. So this has always been an important occasion to me.

I did share here, last week, that we were doing a craft fair last Saturday.....and I happy to report that, considering the weather being a bit rubbish, and the rugby being on the TV - it actually went ok! There wasn't the biggest turnout, but we sold a fair few cards, one of my Mum's beautiful crochet blankets and pretty much all of my Christmas tree decorations which were pom-pom Christmas puddings and felt Brussels Sprouts......I will add a little photo at the bottom of the post!

I am hoping to do another event in February, so I need to get the card box topped up......

Today's Card Features:

• Little Friends, from CRAFTY SENTIMENTS
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Pink dotty card from Limetree Crafts
• Green card, paper scraps
• Faux stitched square dies from The Works
• Flower button also from The Works
• Sticky pearls and twine from stash

I would like to enter these challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 November

crafty calendar challenge. Cute & Girly

Crafty sentiments anything goes

I appreciate your visit today xx

Time to get MY skates on!

Hello my lovely blog chums, I hope you had a good week, and maybe something nice planned for the weekend.

I am doing a craft fair, at my Mum's church today. If I am honest, I don't know how well we are going to go, as much of my stuff is Christmassy, and I think it's maybe a little early for some people to think about that yet....plus, there is also a certain Rugby game on television, which may have an impact on attendance....but anyway, I am thinking - turn up, make the table look as interesting as possible and hope for the best!

The car is all loaded up, and I am off in a while, but first a card, and I think this image has been a good representation of me this week, lol

She is an older LOTV digi, that I've had for some time....and I really should use more as she is a great to colour. I have used the ProMarkers to colour, if course. I used a digi download paper from Digi Rainbow (etsy), together with blue dotty card from Limetree Crafts. I die cut a couple of clouds, and added a button and wooden bone (this has been sitting in a little pot for ages waiting for me to make a doggy themed card!)

I would like to enter:

Cardz 4 Galz something beginning with S - skates

Passion for ProMarkers use something old - digi  stamp, button and wooden bone

......and now, I really must get my skates on!!!

Personalize It, at Christmas with the Cuties

Good morning to you my lovely blog chums, I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

So it's time for a new challenge at

Christmas with the Cuties

and our theme this time is

PERSONALIZE IT

as we are almost in November, I'm sure most of us now have started making our Christmas cards....but what about those special cards for the important people in our lives - that's what this challenge is all about!

Our lovely sponsors for this challenge are our good friends at

who also have a great prize for our lucky winner

My DT card was made with my in-laws in mind, and I used this sentiment as I thought it would be easier than saying.... "Sister, brother in law, aunt and uncle, selfie buddy and fellow marmite lover"!!!

Again, I decided to use a pre-coloured image for this one......

My DT card features:

• Holly Pudding - from Di's
• own sentiments
• papers from Serif paper stack
• faux stitched square dies from The Works
• Holly die
• button, mini bow, card candy and stickles glitter glue

We have some amazing cards from the DT, and three lovely new teamies to introduce - so I do hope you will hop on over and join us!

One For The Other Half!

Hello my lovely blog chums......hope you had a great Sunday.

Trying see be super organised, and inspired by a challenge sketch, I have been working on Alistair's birthday card today.

He isn't one for cards at all, really, but would be the first to complain if I didn't bother, lol! I kept things simple with a design I created using Serif page plus. I used a heart shape, then tweaked the colours, I then added an overlay with the sentiment. 

I would like to enter these challenges:

case this sketch #345

Perfectly CAS #2 birthday

I will be back tomorrow, with my DT card for Christmas with the Cuties

Cute, Simple and Sparkly!

Good Morning, to you my lovely blog chums.

I hope you've had a  happy Saturday, my morning started with an early walk around the park with the dogs, whilst the weather was still fair, and it was lovely to be out and enjoying the autumn colours. We got back in time to watch the Rugby, which was very exciting and the rest of the day has been spent catching up with some housework. Alistair decided he wanted to make a batch of vegetable soup today, but then settled in front of the tv watching a cheesy Christmas movie......and no sign of any soup!!

I do have a card to share now though, with one of my favourite Christmas digi's

this is Claudia Loves Christmas, and she came from Little Miss Muffett. I wanted to make a very stripped back, clean and simple card, and I think when you have an image as gorgeous as this to work with - what else do you need!!! She is colured, of course, with Promarkers and I have added Stickles Glitter Glues to her bells and baubles. I used a

n older paper from my stash box, that wasn't overtly patterned and matched the colours I'd used. The sentiment is my own effort.

I would like to enter these challenges:

passion for promarkers challenge week-516 clean and simple

addicted to stamps challenge-364 cas.

christmas at sweet stampin challenge  October - A.G 

i love promarkers/challenge-395  A.G with optional CAS

cute card thursday challenge-605 sparkles

crimbo crackers challenge 196 anything goes

Winter wonderland challenge merry and bright.
freshly made sketches 408 sketch by jen

thank you for your visit today - hope to see you again very soon xx

Anything Goes (as long as it's CUTE) with the Cuties

Good morning to you my lovely blog chums, I hope all is well with you, so far this week. Is it just me, or is really getting chilly out?

Have you joined us yet, at the Cutie Pie challenge????

 Our current theme is

ANYTHING GOES

(AS LONG AS IT'S CUTE)

Our sponsors are our good friends at

who also were kind enough to give the team, some yummy images to play with, and showcase!

I decided to treat myself to a few precoloured digi's, to have a few cuties readily available, if I am pushed for time.....

My DT card features

• Lucky Present, too cute from POLKADOODLES
• The papers are from an older Forever Friends Christmas stack
• Ribbon and button from stash

I would like to enter these challenges:
polka doodle..week 42 A.G

Digi Chooseday A.G 43
sweet sketch wednesday 2

thank you for stopping by today xx

Crafty Friends Embossing Challenge

Good morning to you my lovely blog chums, hope that you are fine and well! We just got home yesterday from a short break to the Isle of Wight. For pretty much most of my childhood, we had family holidays there, so the island holds very special memories for me and it has been a wonderful opportunity for me to go back, revisit and feel very nostalgic.

Now, back to today, and it's time for a new challenge......

CRAFTY FRIENDS CHALLENGE

Our theme is

EMBOSSING

(wet or dry)

our lovely sponsors for this challenge are our friends at

My DT card features:

• Carol singing Mouse digi stamp from LOTV (doesn't it look, like he is really giving it some welly.....and it reminds me of one of the quotes from my 2nd favourite Christmas movie "Elf"...." the best to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud, for all to hear" ......anyway, I digress
• Image coloured with ProMarkers
• Dotty paper from Limetree crafts
• Dotty embossing folder
• Dies used are faux stitched square from The Works, Scalloped edge square from X cut, snowflake from Marianne cutables
• Sentiment is my own creation using "Lavandenta" font....I have tested singing the fa la la bit with my head flung back...and it is perfectly plausible!
• Sticky pearls and dotty ribbon to complete

I would like to enter, please,

As You Like It favourite stitching style - although I do dabble in hand stitching when using felt, as far as my cards are concerned it must be faux, and preferably die cut.....sooo much neater than anything I could attempt

Cute Card Thursday spots and dots

I ❤ ProMarkers add a sentiment

Holly and Ivy  #57 anything goes

Winter Wonerland challenge Merry and Bright

Thank you for stopping off here today, hope you will join in with us over at Crafty Friends and also check out the other gorgeous DT cards xx

Wedding Invitation Samples

Good morning to you my lovely blog chums!

I wanted to share something slightly different with you today....at the beginning of this year my step daughter and her fiance announced their wedding plans and asked me to make the invitations. I hadn't done anything on this scale for ages but, caught up in the romance and excitement, how could I refuse!! Obviously we are down in Kent, and Kim and John are in Fife, Scotland, so the easiest way was to make a batch of samples that could be "interchangeable" to suit their tastes .....

And these are the samples.....

And this was what they went for!

60 Invitations, plus further 20 tailored for the evening reception, so quite a task, and I must admit, it was a relief to finish!