Is Summer Here?

Only me, still playing and learning - now worked out how to get photos on here (I hope I can remember how to do it next time!).  Now just need to retrieve the pictures from our old hard-drive but that will be another week or so.  In the meantime I thought I would share this little chick who obviously feels like I do today!

This is Helga The Hot Chick by Christine Grove from Stamping Bella - yes, the lovely Elaine at Quixotic Paperie keeps feeding my rubber addiction - if only I could say the same for my bank account!  The sentiment is from a Penny Black Easter clear set, corners are Whimsy Dies and the image is, of course, painted with Distress Inks (ReInkers).

Hugs, Squirrel xx

I'm Back (sort of)

Afternoon all!  Well we have a new laptop - whoooooohoooo!  Still got a lot to sort out - particularly how to get photos from my phone to the computer - before I will be blogging properly but at least I can get round and visit you all now.  What a relief.

Hugs, Squirrel xx

Lili's Little Fairies (DT) Easy As 1 2 3

Hello, remember me? Still no computer at home (sob) so this is a hasty post from work.
We are hoping to go laptop shopping at the weekend, and then (fingers crossed) get the data transferred from our old pc, so I might (underline might) be back properly by the weekend after.  I seriously hope so as I am getting twitchy now!!
 

This week's challenge at LILI'S LITTLE FAIRIES is EASY AS 1 2 3 so we would like to see

1 image

2 papers

3 embellishments

Told you it was easy!
 

For this card I have used LOTV stamp Surprise
Painted with Distress Inks (ReInkers)
Papers are Papermania Spots n Stripes
Sentiment is LOTV Scroll Sentiments
Stars are made from the same papers using peel-off outline stickers
 

My hugest thanks to Fairy Jayne for holding the Fairy fort while I am excommunicated
and to you all for not deserting me completely!

 

Hugs, Squirrel xx

As a doornail

This morning my darling Toad killed our computer.  I am unable to do anything blog wise other than short messages from my phone.

It is in Intensive Care now so we'll see what happens but no posts from me for a while.

Hugs Squirrel xx

Lili's Little Fairies (DT) Get Well Soon

Morning all, it's Thursday again (gosh, don't they come round quickly) and we all know by now that Thursday means it is Liliday and time for a new challenge over at LILI'S LITTLE FAIRIES!

We have a theme for you this week of Get Well Soon and the design team have made some beautiful cards to inspire you.  It would be brilliant if you have time to visit them individually as they do make such an enormous effort for you.

We don't have a sponsor this week but rather excitingly there is a 2 week GDT place up for grabs, so don't miss you chance to have a go at being a Fairy!

Here is my card:

I have used the LOTV Lilacs stamp

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Sentiment is from the LOTV clear set of Vintage Labels Occasions

And these delicious papers are Nitwits from LOTV Promises

I really do hope you will be able to make some crafty time to join us this week - all you need is a LOTV image, either a stamp or die-cut!

Hugs, Squirrel xx

I'm No Fool - I'm Just Upside Down

Just thinking of those lyrics by Paloma Faith makes me smile, what a fabulous upbeat song that is.  It definitely should have more airtime.

So where is this leading I hear you ask.  Well, knowing my mind, it could take us anywhere, Toad says he has never known anyone to make such rapid, obscure connections mid conversation and completely change the direction of it.  He might not be able to keep up, but it usually makes sense to me!

Anyhoo, where that lyric is actually leading to is my card for today - see, I'm not that obscure really, lol.

This is my second Tiddly Inks stamp and she is Hang In There which I bought from Quixotic Paperie but is also on pre-order at Bunny Zoe's.  This is a super mini set of stamps, the birds were with it, and the sentiment too.

As usual, I have painted the image with Distress Inks (ReInkers), and the matting layer is a sheet from the Prima Jack and Jill pad.  Gold border is from stash.

Hope you like!

Hugs, Squirrel xx

A Simple Christmas

Well, as we are six months into the year I thought it was best that I made a start on my Christmas cards!  Here are a couple of very CAS ones for you using stamps from Stampavie.

This one is by Gillian Roberts - Penguin With Tree, and

This one is a Penny Johnson - Holly Jolly

Both are painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Sentiments are Hero Arts and Woodware respectively

Gold borders from stash

Told you they were CAS!

Hugs, Squirrel xx

A Brief Burst Of Mojo

I am so pleased I cleared my head earlier because it has made room for a brief burst of mojo,

which has been sadly lacking for a while.

I decided to combine some of my favourite challenges for this one

Stamping For The Weekend - Cute

Sweet Stamping Challenge - A Sketch
Totally Gorjuss - Hey Baby

I am surrounding by weddings and imminent babies at the moment!

I have used the LOTV Sleepy Time stamp

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Sentiment is from a Hero Arts set

Papers are Papermania Pastel Spots & Stripes

Memory Box die Perfect Hearts using a piece of Bo Bunny Vintage Double Dots

Gold hearts and borders from stash

Being a naturally modest and self-critical little squirrel, it may surprise you to hear that I am

really pleased with how this turned out!

This is the sketch - I hope I will be forgiven for using an oval rather than a circle

The house is filled with the smell of roast chicken, the Canadian Grand Prix is a live one on the BBC (final practice and qualifying today, race tomorrow), Toad has bought the most naughty looking cake from Marks & Spencer, and all is well in this little world.  Hope your weekend is a good one.

Biggest of fuzzy hugs

Squirrel xx

Get It Out There

Morning all.  What happened to our beautiful sunshine then?  Woke up to a dull grey day.  It's brighter now but no real sun yet.  Mind you, that hasn't stopped the pigeons knowing it is spring - they have been squabbling on the conservatory roof, much to the annoyance of Vince.  Because the roof is opaque he can just see their outline but nothing else, but oh boy can he hear them!  His whiskers are straight out front.

Anyhoo, this week's Less Is More challenge is a one layer week and the theme is Need For Speed.  As soon as I saw it I had an idea, and I just had to get it on card.  It may not be the best idea but now it's out there, it will clear my head for other ideas to have room to move in.

Not sure why the photo came out so pink!  This is a Meoples stamp called Beep Beep.  Isn't she fabulous fun?  Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers) and paired with a Hero Arts sentiment.  Voila.

Now she is done, I can get on with other things.  I might even have a better idea for this challenge.

Hugs, Squirrel xx

Puffing Billy

Phew, it's Friday, thank goodness!  What a week it has been.  Although we have a busy weekend coming up, I am so looking forward to it.

 

One of the things that will be keeping us busy at on Sunday is our priest at Church celebrating his Golden Jubilee, having been ordained in 1963.  Obviously we aren't going to let him get away with not celebrating that sort of an achievement!  His is a huge fan of steam trains so the parish have all chipped in and treated him to a steam train trip on the Settle-Carlisle railway, one of the most beautiful train journeys in Britain.

 

And of course I had to make a card to celebrate the occasion:

 

 

I am going to enter this in the SIMON SAYS STAMP challenge which this week is Masculine/Father's Day

 

I have used:

Engineer stamp by Mo Manning from Penny Black

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Papers are Papermania Portobello Road

Diecut numbers using the Memory Box large typewriter set

Gold borders from stash

 

Hope you all have a super day!

 

Hugs, Squirrel xx

Lili's Little Fairies (DT) Good Luck

I hardly need to tell you that it is Liliday really - I am sure you can see me happy dancing, even from that distance!

Our challenge over at LILI'S LITTLE FAIRIES this week is GOOD LUCK - it can be a make for any occasion but we really do want to see the words Good Luck on there please.

Not quite sure why I went Oriental with this, but it was a lovely reason to use this pretty little girl

She is Aimi With Lantern from LOTV

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Papers, which made me think of cherry blossom, are designed by Lucy Cromwell

Fishtail banners made by me

Butterfly is a Cheery Lynn die

Lanterns are Memory Box

Sentiment is from the LOTV Simply Sophisticated set

And gems are from stash

Hope you will find time to join us this week - there is a superb £10 voucher

from Crafty Ribbons up for grabs!

Hugs, Squirrel xx

Without Words (DT) June: Hot Colours

Morning all.  Maybe, just maybe, flaming June is going to live up to its reputation of being a hot and sunny month which is why our theme at WITHOUT WORDS this month is HOT COLOURS.

Let's be seeing those oranges, strong yellows, reds, hot pinks this month.

This is a Stampavie stamp called Little Tobi Watering The Roses

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Papers are Nitwits download and Prima

Arched die is MFT Die-Namics Rounded Banner Stax

And my favourite Whimsy corners

Sentiment is Hero Arts

I do hope you will be able to find some time in June to come and join in the challenge - the rules are simple

Hand Coloured Image

Minimal or No Embellishments

Keep it CAS

Hugs, Squirrel xx

My Granny Was Called Gertie

Afternoon all - 1st June - can you believe it?  The day started with brilliant and beautiful sunshine but it has clouded over now to a dull blerrgh sort of day.  Fingers crossed that the sun makes it out again before dark.

Did you notice that I changed my squirrel header?  I was browsing squirrel images last night and fell in love with this little chap and just knew I had to use him.

Can I also welcome Aussie Annie and Louise as Followers 599 and 600 respectively - a hugely warm welcome to you both.  I hope I can keep you entertained so you stay with me for a while.

How many of you know who you were named after?  My grandmothers were Kathleen (on mum's side) and Gertrude (on dad's side).  They were known simply at Kath and Gertie.  Both were short, round, ladies which is I guess where I got the genetically doomed dumpy figure from.  But thank goodness I wasn't named after Gertie.  But I did get her middle name as one of my middle names - Ellen.  I like that.  It was my aunt's middle name too so there were no arguments because it came from both sides of the family.  To this day I still don't know what possessed my parents to choose my first name - I have threatened them many times to change it officially to Squirrel as that is what most people (included work colleagues) call me.

Anyhoo, I can hear you wondering what all this is leading up to, and it is my card to enter into this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge who are having one of their ever popular Anything Goes themes.

And this is Gertie (see, there was a link to my ramblings after all, lol)

from CC Designs Sweet November Stamps

This was my second go at it as the first time I got a duff sheet of Bristol Board and couldn't

blend the inks as they soaked straight in into a blotchy mess, grrrrr

Painted in Distress Inks (ReInkers)

Magical Floral Corners are LOTV stamped in Bundled Sage Distress Ink

Sentiment is from a clear set by Hobby Arts - Sentiments

Vintage matting layer is K&Co

Very thin holographic/gold border is from stash

Crafty Friends Challenge - Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss - Anything Goes, With Flowers

Right, got a nice piece of orange-glazed gammon roasting gently in the oven so I have got time to crack on with some DT work this afternoon.  No rest for the wicked.

Hugs, Squirrel xx