Mr Fix-It

Next weekend is Father's Day in the UK and I am racking my fuzzy little brain trying to think of something special to get my dad.

I'd already made him one card, which I will show you nearer the weekend, but I made another one for Vince to send to him.

Dad is the family Mr Fix-It so this Laurence Design stamp called, funnily enough, Mr Fix-It, seemed perfect.

Papers are really old ones that I've had kicking around in the stash for ages and I've no idea what make they are. 

Sorry if I have not gotten round to visitng you lately - my life seems to be in a chaotic spiral at the moment and time keeps slipping away from me.  I will catch up with you one of these days!

Hugs, Sxx

LIM # 19 In The Frame - and some sad news, sorry

Morning all, hope you are ok.  I've been reading this morning that a couple of my bloggy pals, Clare and Vicky, have been in the wars so sending you both tons of love and get well quick wishes.  I had something similar many years ago and thought I had broken my back, the pain was so awful.  Big hugs and mwahs to you.

Before I move on to my card, I have some sad news for those of you who have been so kind about my mate Ali and her darling cat Teddy.  Despite the very best efforts from a superb team of vets and Teddy being allowed home last Monday, the brave little chap lost his fight yesterday morning.  It was as if he had lost the will to live and really didn't want to go on.  So the hardest decision had to be made. 

I said on Thursday, very briefly, that I would explain my LOTV card - well, yes, it was made with so much love because I knew what was coming and my head was so full of thoughts and feelings - oh lord, I've started myself off again.  Pass a tissue someone please.  OK, enough - onto my card for today.

This week's LESS IS MORE challenge is a One Layer Card challenge with the theme of In The Frame.  I actually really like these OLCs but today my heart isn't really in crafting so that could explain my first two attempts at being inky-messy ending up in the recycling.  However, on ferreting through my stamps I found this little love from LeLo Designs by Stampavie

So, I gave up on trying to be arty-farty-creative and just stuck with the character stamps that I love.  Lightly coloured in distress inks with Prisma shading.  Pawprints and Miaow are from Wild Rose Studio.

Hugs, Sxx

LOTV 100 - Anything Goes

This week, LILI OF THE VALLEY are celebrating their 100th challenge with a theme of Anything Goes.

This is a very simple card but an awful lot of love went into the making of it - I'll explain more at the weekend.

LOTV image Me And My Cat, distress ink painted and Prisma pencils, LOTV sentiment, Basic Grey Max And Whiskers papers, EK Success retro flower punch and pearls.

Hugs, Sxx

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Things With Tails

A flying visit this evening - trying to do about eight things at once - had a bonus hour at home this morning (waiting for dentist appointment) so managed an entry for this week's CUPCAKE CRAFT CHALLENGE which is Things With Tails

Visible Images bear (and sentiment), distress inked, Wild Rose Studio polka dot papers, photo corners and butterfly from stash.

That's it, whoosh, I'm gone.

Hugs Sxx

Teddy Update And A Few Cards

First of all, I must thank you for all your kind wishes to Teddy and my friend Ali.  The news is better but not wonderful.  Yesterday afternoon the vet, Rachel, had to lightly sedate Teddy to put in a chest drain to try and get rid of some of the fluid on his lungs - she pulled off 100 ml (that's about 4oz in real money), and said that this amount would make a human being feel very ill, let alone a medium sized cat.  He was put in an oxygen cubicle overnight to rest.

This morning, he's eating, purring and much more comfortable but ....... Rachel tells Ali there is still some fluid which she could not get with the drain and has put Teddy on duretics to try and shift it.  She has been unable to get a clear xray of his heart and may not be able to do so until the fluid has cleared.  However, he has been a good lad and just sat happily on the table while she xrayed him.  The more sinister news is that she has discovered a "white spot" on one of his lungs.  This could simply be a collection of fluid, something that he has inhaled or something we don't want to think about.  It could be that Teddy has been too greedy with his biscuits and one has gone into his lung, which could also explain the fluid build up.  Rachel wants to keep  him in for another 24 hours for observation so we will know more during the day tomorrow.

In the meantime, Twinks is wandering the house like a little lost soul wondering where he is.  I thought she'd be partying by now as Teddy's favourite game is "Let's Attack Twinks".

So, onto today's cards - three for you to see.  Here's the first:

This one started life as another entry to this week's LIM Monochrome challenge but I got distracted and it ended up different to intention!  LOTV Clear Additions stamps for the postcard, the roundel and the text, Martha Stewart border punch, Papermania cardstock, Joanna Sheen script paper and a domed stamp that has been in stash so long the vinyl has curled, but it stuck down ok.

For card number 2 I must say a BIG THANK YOU to my wonderful blogging buddy SARAH WRIGHT - I won Sarah's blogoversay candy recently and the most exciting parcel of goodies arrived yesterday morning.  One of the stamps is a Hero Arts "Brushstrokes" shadow stamp which I used on this very simple little card

I inked the shadow stamp in Angel Pink Memento, and then I overstamped it with Penny Black's "Aspire" stamp in Paris Dusk Memento, and added the Woodware sentiment in the same.

And last but not least (are you still with me? awake?) is the little fella from the top of this post.  He is a Lili Of The Valley from their latest release:

Coloured with Distress Inks and a touch of Prismacolour.  Papers are Dovecraft Back To Basics II, corner stamps are LOTV Clear Additions, peel-offs and holographic dots for the shower of magic sparks are from stash and the gold glitter letters are Anita's.

And just to really send you over the edge, here's a larger, clearer version of my magician!

That's All Folks!  You can take a well deserved rest now if you ploughed through that lot!
Hugs, Sxx

Less Is More # 18 - Monochrome

Just a short one before I set too and get dinner started ..... but a couple of quick links for you first:

Today's earlier Penny Black card can be found here

And my Summertime Surprise Candy (closes 14 June) can be found here

So, on to this week's LESS IS MORE challenge and it's a colour theme, sort of - Monochrome!  I've made two cards - one is definitely more less than the other one!   Here's the first:

Using two Tim Holtz stamps, masking technique, and a Woodware tiny greetings stamp, all stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa - the photo doesn't show the lovely chocolately brown very well.

And the second:

There is a school of thought that character stamps don't work well for either LIM or Monochrome but I think this fabbie little Laurence Designs bunny really does prove that theory wrong (or am I totally deluded?).  Stamped in Danube Blue Memento ink and painted in Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  Central border stamp is an old unmarked one, no idea where I even got it from but it may have been Lakeland when they did craft stuff.  Sentiment and little flower are Hero Arts, again in Danube Blue.  The matting card is Coordinations and IRL it tones in much better than the photo shows.  Corner punch for final detail.

That's it for me for today (promise) so I'm off to chop some onions.  Anyone got any goggles I can borrow?

Hugs, Sxx

I'm Exhausted !!!!

Afternoon all!  Hope you are ok.  Well!  What a day so far - we had planned a simple, quiet weekend, just me, him and the hairy thing, but you know what happens to plans .....

I'd done a bit of challenge browsing this morning and decided to combine a card for the PENNY BLACK AT ALLSORTS June Challenge "You're My Favourite" (sadly I didn't make the DT but Clare who was chosen will do them proud, well done Clare) and this week's PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE of "Doodlebug".  So far so good.

For me, the challenge was actually having to CHOOSE a favourite Penny Black!  They are all my faves, so it was a hard job to narrow it down.  In the end I selected a few and did a blind pick - but it was a good result as I love the stamp I chose.

Anyhoo, before I could do any more than stamp the image, my mobile rang.  It was my mate Ali, in floods of tears and I could hardly make out what she was saying.  Turns out that she was calling me from her vet surgery where she'd had to take her cat, Teddy, as an emergency.  The surgery told her to get over to the vet hospital near me - but she doesn't drive.  So she called me - but Toad was out in his car and the other car is temporarily dead in the drive.  The poor love had to get a taxi 10 miles across town with a very sick cat.  She called me when she arrived and I walked up to meet her there.  Teddy is a very ill boy - the vet says he has fluid on his lungs which will need to be drained.  She suspects his heart, but cannot rule out a mass, so they are keeping him in for 24 hours, he's on oxygen, he's got to have an xray, and we'll know more later.  Ali came back to mine and when Toad returned I nicked his car and drove her home.

I know none of you know Ali or Teddy (one of two cats she adopted from a rescue home) but I would be grateful if you could all keep her in your thoughts and say a prayer or two for them.

Anyhoo, back to the card ........ after Ali was returned home, I got back to some crafting and here it is.

And of course I forgot to write down the name of the stamp!  Painted in Distress Inks.  Papers are Basic Grey from the Wander pad.  Martha Stewart picket fence punch.  Pebbles Inc Candy Dots - I coloured a white one with a Lime Green ProMarker to get the shade I wanted.  Have doodled around the red matting circle, the image circle and the bottom of the fence strip.

Thanks for popping over.

Hugs Sxx

Simon Says Stamp + Lili Of The Valley

Evening all, bet you didn't expect to see me tonight!  To take my mind off another cruddy day at work, I've been thinking about some challenges today that I wanted to take part in - so when I got the offer of a lift home rather than having to slum it on the bus, I grabbed the chance with both hands and was home in half an hour instead of the usual hour!  Which has given me time to play, yay!

So, for this week's SIMON SAYS STAMP (Father's Day/Male Card) challenge and this week's LILI OF THE VALLEY (Punch It Up) challenge and the CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS (Cute Bear/Animal) challenge, here is my card:

So, what have I used?  Here's a list for you:

Image:  Lili Of the Valley No 7 Bear

Papers:  Dovecraft Masculine Collection - I cut a few of the stars out to use as embellies too

Die Cut:  Nestabilities Stars

Medium:  Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Other:  Peel-off borders (black and gold) from stash and ProMarkers for matting star

I used an old cosmetics brush and the DI Antique Linen ink pad to distress the background behind Bear, I quite like the aged, mottled look.

Not sure now if the papers are just that bit too busy but I'm still quite pleased with it!

Hugs, Sxx

Squirrel Stew

I've had a few queries about Squirrel Stew (which we often have at weekends as it is quick, wholesome and oh so tasty) so here is the recipe.

When I say recipe ...... well, this is a dish that has evolved and I've just sort of tweeked it as we've gone along so this is probably the nearest you'll get to it without actually having me there to cook it for you.

SQUIRREL STEW

(or Skwirrel Stoo if you come from Suffolk)

Serves
3 to 4 normal people or 2 greedy ones

Ingredients:
250 gms minced beef
6-8 large closed cap mushrooms
1 medium fresh onion
1 handful of sultanas
1 small can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon garlic puree
3 good shakes of Tabasco bottle
1-2 teaspoons dried oregano
Generous sprinkling all over mince of garlic salt
1 sprinkle of paprika
1 sprinkle of ground black pepper


Method:
Chop mushrooms into little chunks and if using fresh onion finely chop that.

Lightly fry onions until translucent – I use butter with a dribble of Olive Oil to stop the butter from burning.

Chuck the rest of the ingredients (except the tinned tomatoes) into a large pan. Cook on hob until mushrooms golden and mince cooked through. Should take about 10 – 12 mins. You will need to stir to make sure it cooks evenly and you don’t get dollops of puree in one place.

Turn off the heat. Empty tinned tomatoes into mixture and stir through. If mix seems a little dry (very much depends on your mince) add a little cold water if needed and continue cooking.

Cook enough rice for personal appetite. You will need enough each to make a nice comfy mattress for the mixture.

At 7 minutes before rice is ready, turn heat back on to meat mix and heat through thoroughly, giving it a good stir.

We use pasta bowls for this but plates are just as good so long as they are big enough.

Side dish of garlic bread or ciabatta works well.

Grated parmesan or fine grated cheddar to dress the Stew once dished up.

Don’t worry if you have too much mince mix, you can always freeze the leftovers. Mince mix also works very well with salad in fahitas.

So there you go!  Would be interested to know if any of you actually give it a try.

Hugs, Sxx

Candy Time

I think it's about time for some candy don't you - 1 June and all that - here comes summer!

So, the candy will be summer themed, and will definitely contain some rubber and paper ...... but other than that, it'll be a surprise!

What to do?  Easypeasy:

1.  Leave me a comment below

2.  Sign up to follow (but only if you intend to stay on as a proper follower!)

3.  Add to your sidebar

Candy will close at midnight BST on 14 June, winner will be chosen at random by Vince, and the winner announced on 16 June.

What are you waiting for?

Hugs, Squirrel xx

Tilda Plays Hop Scotch

Ugh, it feels like Monday morning!  But thankfully it's only a four day week at work and then it will be the weekend.  Can't wait.

What should have been a very productive crafting Bank Holiday didn't turn out that way, in fact, I made very few cards over the weekend at all.  Here is one I made yesterday using my new Tilda Plays Hopscotch stamp.

Painted in distress inks (what else these days!), papers are Basic Grey, matting card is Bazzil, sentiment is LOTV and flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts.

Hugs, Sxx

The Sky's The Limit

Morning all.  Hope you have lots of lovely plans for your Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK.  We're having a pottering about day - off to search for some bedding plants and a tootle over to see the Oldies later.

As I've been awake since Owl Fart, I got my sneak peek card finished and here it is

I've used the Aeroplane stamp from the latest Lili Of The Valley release - isn't he such a sweetie?  Painted in distress inks.  Papers are a mixture of Basic Grey from various pads.  Sentiment is handwritten so I hope it doesn't spoil it too much.

Hugs, Sxx

No Card Today But A Sneak Peek Of Tomorrows

Hi All!  Hope you've had a good Sunday.  Now, because today has been such a huge event in the Formula 1 calendar, I've been a total petrolhead and have spent most of the day glued to the BBC for their FANTASTIC coverage of this year's Monaco Grand Prix - shame the race ended the way it did, but well done Jenson for a wonderful and totally brilliant drive.  You woz robbed mate!

So, because I've been such a couch potato (do potatoes jump up and down and scream I wonder?) I haven't had time to make a card but I have got an image and all the papers ready for something for tomorrow. 

Here's a tiny sneak peek .......

We've had a very late dinner today, I'm full of herb roasted butternut squash, loin steaks and cabbage, so am back downstairs in a mo to flump out to watch Disney's Tangled on DVD!  What a lazy Squirrel I am!  See you tomorrow ......

Hugs, Sxx

Two Very Important Questions

Right, first things first, today's two card posts can be found here JUST MAGNOLIA and here LESS IS MORE

So, I have two very important questions for you:

1.  Do cats have a prescribed number of miaows to use up in a day?

2.  Does anyone know if you can freeze cheese (Cheddar) and how long does it keep for?

Hugs, Sxx

Less Is More # 17 - Recipe - Pick A Square

An interesting challenge from LESS IS MORE this week, Pick A Square - devilishly hard to describe but basically if you imagine your card quartered, you then choose which area (top left, bottom right, centre etc) that you are going to work in and the remainder of the card stays white!  Pop over to the challenge for a look if you think I'm losing the plot ......

Anyhoo, had a little play or three - and you can tell from the deteriorating quality of the photos what sort of day we've had.

House Mouse, coloured with Prismas, Hero Arts sentiment

Nitwits Collection stamp, paper pieced with scraps, Hero Arts sentiment

Nitwits Collection stamp, Prisma coloured, Hero Arts Sentiment

Hugs, Sxx

Just Magnolia - Friends

Morning all, how are we today?  Had a bit of a sudden start to the day with the Parcel Force man ringing the doorbell at stupid o'clock and Vince has not stopped miaowing since 5.30. 

I wonder sometimes what goes on between those hairy little ears - I think if you could see inside all you would find would be a huge plaza, empty except for one lone pigeon wandering around and the occasional ball of tumbleweed rolling past.

JUST MAGNOLIA AND HANGLAR AND STANGLAR have a theme of Friends for their challenge this week and I've been itching to have a go since it was posted yesterday.  However ........ you know that situation where you have your card all planned out in your head, but what you get on paper is nothing like what you had intended?  Yep, it is one of those!

I started off by masking these two H&S images, but they both have wings, and the wings got in the way too much so, started again, stamped and cut  out this time.  For a change, coloured with Copics.  Sentiment is Hero Arts and the papers are Bo Bunny Ad Lib and Basic Grey Lauderdale.  Martha Stewart border punch to finish off.  It is soooooooooooo not what I had in mind, but I kinda like it in a quirky sort of way.

Hugs, Sxx

Do You Believe In Fairies?

Well, that low-down, sneaky, rotten, miserable, poor excuse for a MoJo has been hiding away from me for far too long now - any tips on giving him a kick up the bum?  To be fair to him though, I've not been the kindest, working stupid hours (oh boy, does that take it's toll on creativity) and not sleeping well.  Hey ho, here's hoping that this three day weekend will be just what the MoJo needs!

Anyhoo, enough of my waffle - I found two fab challenges to combine today .....

LILI OF THE VALLEY - I Believe In Fairies

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Pale Pretty Pastels

I had a rummage through my stash of old sketches and found this one from February 2010 from Penny Black Saturday Challenge - can't believe I've only used it once before! 

Image is Pom Pom from Lili Of The Valley.  Isn't she a sweetie?  I've painted her in dilute Distress Inks (looks like I could have done with Bev's and Jacquie's MasterClass!) and matted her on to a pale yellow card by Bazzil.  The little circular sentiment is also LOTV from the Calendars stamp sheet.

Papers are all Pink Petticoat from a pack that was free with a magazine recently.  It is just so pretty that it hurts to use it.   I think the blossom one has to be one of my favourite all time floral papers.

My small EK Success Retro Flower punch for the little blooms, an ordinary hole punch for the dots, and gems from my stash.

Relieved to say (thanks to Chrissy and Pops) that I think I've sorted my commenting problem and have been trying to get round to see you but there are so many wonderful creations I've missed that it may take me some time to catch up!

The Toadster has just crawled into the bath after a Wii Fit session, so best I go and sort out some supper, otherwise my name will be Mud, not Squirrel!

Hugs Sxxx

Commenting Apologies

Hi Guys, just popping by to explain - I am having horrible problems with commenting at the moment.  I sign in, check the Reading List in Dashboard, as I normally do, and then pop over to your blogs.  Unfortunately, when I arrive, apparently I'm not signed in!  I try to leave a comment but just keep getting shuttled between the comment box and the sign in page.  I sign in again but Blogger either isn't recognising me or it is our IT system at work being a pain.

The blogs that have commenting pop up on a separate page seem to be ok, it's the ones with the comment box embedded at the bottom of the post that I'm having problems with.

So, even though I've not left a comment this week, chances are I have been to visit you!  Hope this resolves very soon!

Hugs, Sxx

Less Is More # 16 - Butterflies

Afternoon all, hope you are all fine and dandy.  I think the knock-out juice from the dentist yesterday must have been quite strong as my head's all over the place today - what my boss' son refers to as "a bit space cadet".

This week's LESS IS MORE challenge is another iffy one for me, butterflies!  And looking at some of the stunning entries already uploaded, I am hanging my head in shame at my effort.  You win some, you lose some!

Background paper is from scraps box but I think it is a Nancy Watt paper that came with Making Cards.  The smaller of the two paper pieced butterflies is Hero Arts and the larger one is Penny Black.  Sentiment is Hero Arts also.

Right, off to write 100 lines of "must try harder next week".

Hugs, Sxx

Just Magnolia and Dentist!

Evening all, bet you didn't expect to see me tonight!  I won't be blogging tomorrow as in the morning I shall be on my way to the dentist for treatment under sedation.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Needless to say, I won't be fit for anything for the rest of the day so hopefully I will catch up with your blogs and challenges on Sunday.

Anyway, here's a little card to be going on with - this one is for this week's JUST MAGNOLIA AND HANGLAR AND STANGLAR challenge who have a fab sketch by Donalda.

Love this H&S boy image, he looks like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't!  Papers from Dovecraft and sentiment from Craftwork Cards. Oh, and of course image painted in distress inks.

Keep me in your thoughts for tomorrow.  Please!

Hugs, Sxx

Ribbons & Bows and A Fizzy Moon

Happy Sunday all, hope your weekend has been a great one so far.  Two cards for you this afternoon, the first one for the LILI OF THE VALLEY CHALLENGE with the theme of Ribbons & Bows - it's a bit bright so you may want to stand back a bit .....

Don't say I didn't warn you - think I was trying to make up for the lack of sunshine today!  I've used the LOTV I Baked A Cake stamp, painted with distress inks, the sentiment is from the new LOTV Additions range, the papers are Echo Park Summer Days, and the stamped ribbon and bows are also LOTV Additions.

Now my second card is a total contrast in tone, but similar in that it has a bear!  I've had my eye on these Fizzy Moon stamps for quite some time (always was a tail-end-charlie) and when I finally got around to trying to buy some, you would not believe it - even my favourite on-line store said they were no longer stocking them!  Thankfully, my good mate Zippy said that her local craft shop had them in stock so she very kindly tootled off to get them for me (I did pay her for them!).  Hard to choose a favourite as they are all so sweet .......

Sorry for the lousy picture - the Doodlebug spots and stripes papers are actually chocolate brown, not black!  Love Fizzy with that enormous bunch of delicate flowers.

Hugs, Sxx

Less is More # 15 - OLC Embossing

Oh my goodness, how long is it since I got the heat gun out?  Far too long, in fact, it's so long that I can't actually remember the last time I used it.  This week's LESS IS MORE have a one layer card challenge with the theme of embossing (dry or heat) so I've done both.

I've dry embossing a square in the centre of the card using my Martha Stewart score board, then I stamped using VersaMark and this wonderful skeleton trees stamp by Kodomo.  I sprinkled randomly with opaque red, transparent blue and detail silver embossing powers and then turned the heat gun on.  Oh my, the smell of burning dust and cat hair!  The sentiment is simply stamped with a Hero Arts message.

Hugs, Sxx

Shape Up!

I love that old joke about being in shape - after all, round is a shape isn't it?!

PENNY BLACK AT ALLSORTS have "Shape Up" as their theme for the May challenge, and there is also a DT call out.

As some of you may be aware, around Christmas time I took the difficult decision to step down from the three DTs that I was on.  It was getting harder and harder to juggle all three and an increasingly hectic and demanding work life.  However, five months on and I am missing DT work but don't think I could cope with going back to doing it weekly or fortnightly, so when I saw the Penny Black @ Allsorts had a call out for their monthly challenge, I thought I might give it a try.  After all, Penny Black stamps are what got me into papercrafting in the first place, and I have so many of them that have been sadly neglected of late.

I should have know that all would not go smoothly!  Here's my card:

I cut the card base using a Nestabilities die, and the two smaller layers also.  Papers are from Pink Petticoat, a pad that was a free gift with Papercraft Essentials magazine this month.  And this is where the trouble started - for some reason, my Pinflair glue (which has been superb until now) soaked straight through the paper - maybe the paper isn't coated in the same way as others or isn't as thick but I ended up with what looked like great big smudges - hence the semi circle of flowers to cover up the worst of it.  I used Penny Black "For You" stamp - this one is coloured with ProMarkers, because the first one in distress inks went blotchy (aarrrrgh), the sentiment is Hero Arts, and the pearls are from stash.  Beginning to wonder if this card wasn't meant to happen!

Anyway, it's made and I will enter it in the challenge, but I don't hold out much hope, lol!

Would also like to enter it into this week's TOTALLY GORJUSS challenge of "Not Square".

Hugs Sxx

Oh Mr Blogger, What Have You Done?

Well, it was only because I was looking for this week's LOTV challenge that I suddenly realised that anything posted since sometime Wednesday night/Thursday morning has been wiped off the face of Blogland!  Including my white on white card for the LESS IS MORE challenge.  It was here, honestly, I even had some nice comments on it .......... anyway, here it is again.

Thank you to everyone who did leave me a comment - I just wish I could retrieve those as well.

Hugs, Sxx

Less is More - White-On-White

When I saw the challenge from LESS IS MORE this week, I nearly ran screaming for the hills.  White-on-White is one of those things that I've never got the hang of and tend to avoid it like the plague.  I even considered not entering the challenge at all this time round!

However, a tiny germ of an idea popped into my head last night so I dashed off to the craft room and made this:

They don't come much simpler I'm afraid.  A 5x5 card base, half rolled through the Cuttlebug using the daisy folder, a lace-edged square Nestie, and two punched hearts which I put through different folders in the Bug.  And that's it.

Hopefully Chrissie and Mandi will be nicer this week and come up with a challange that has some colour in it!

Hugs, Sxx

Sunday Sketch And Stamp

There's a super sketch from Claire over at this week's SUNDAY SKETCH & STAMP CHALLENGE that I could not resist having a play with. 

The lovely clean lines of the sketch show off the papers perfectly so I wanted to keep it clean and fresh without any fluff so this is a very simple card - the sketch, the image and a sentiment.

The image is LOTV's Together Forever stamp, painted in distress inks, the papers are from Dovecraft's Sugar & Spice collection, the matting card is Bazzil and the sentiment is Hero Arts.  And that's it - told you it was simple.

Hugs, Sxx

Just Magnolia And Hanglar & Stanglar Challenge

Happy Sunday everyone!  Getting myself into Grand Prix mode here this morning, ready to park my bum in the armchair and scream at the tv for the Turkish Grand Prix ....... some people might think this an odd way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday but I've done it for so many years now that it's just become a way of life in the Squirrel household.  It took the Toad some while to adjust to this insanity when we first married but even he joins in these days!

Anyhoo, over at JUST MAGNOLIA AND HANGLAR & STANGLAR CHALLENGE (isn't that such a mouthful?) there is an Anything Goes challenge with the option of stitching.  I took the plunge this week and ordered a Bee My Honey kit direct from Hanglar and it plopped onto the doormat yesterday morning - I couldn't wait to have a play.

As this little love has stitching on her frock, she seemed perfect for the challenge .... I simply echoed the stitching onto the papers and flowers.

Isn't she such a little cutie?  Painted in distress inks with a mixture of papers from stash.  EK Success medium and small retro flower punches and Card Candi to finish.

Off to cram in a couple of chores before the start of the race so catch ya later!

Hugs Sxx

Animal Antics

Morning all, hope you are having a good weekend so far.  Had a bit of a lie-in this morning - I was so tired after only three days back at work this week and still being somewhat snuffly so I took advantage of the opportunity!  Mind you, the temperatures have risen quite a bit compared to during the week - there we were with a couple of frosts in the mornings and today I was having to peel the cat off my legs!

Today I have one card for you but for two challenges:

LILI OF THE VALLEY - Animal Antics

SECRET CRAFTER SATURDAY CHALLENGE - Dust Off Your Stash

So, what do we have, well the image is LOTV Gift Wrapped and painted in distress inks, the sentiment is LOTV as well.  The blue cardstock is from stash, the pink cardstock is Coordinations, the flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts, the leaves are Martha Stewart branch punch, and the three blue patterned papers are all from an absolutely ancient pad, the DCWV Paperstack Matchmaker 2 collection.  This must have been one of the first pads of paper I bought when I started papercrafting, and it is never ending - much better value than some of the 24 sheet jobs on the market now!

So that's me for now, might be back tomorrow, we'll see.

Hugs, Sxx

More Of A Waltz Than A Side-Step

Afternoon all!  I am pleased to say that I actually slept last night ....... for THREE HOURS without coughing!  Wheeeeeeee!

When the alarm went off this morning, I fell out of bed, crawled downstairs for a coffee and to make sure Toad left for work and then crawled back up again for a shower, with every intention of trying to go to work.  But then the bathroom started spinning and the floor got closer, so I changed my mind.  Oh well, try again tomorrow I guess.

Having spent the morning napping and catching snippits of television, I thought I really ought to try and do something productive.  Washing up?  Nah.  Ironing?  Nah.  Crafting?  That'll do it.  I've had the urge for a while to make a side-step card but never really got round to it.  Actually, that's not quite true.  I did try, but got in such a piggin' muddle with my measurements that it all went in the bin in a fit of squirreliness.  So, fuzzybrain here, thought she'd try again.  Found a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers (how wonderful is that place?) that looked straightforward enough so got to work.

First attempt went in the bin as I wasn't seeing straight and managed to score and crease a line a quarter of an inch out.  Hmph.

Second attempt went better and here it is - it is by no means perfect, I am well aware of that!

So what did I use?  Base cardstock and green card are Bazzil - not sure if the base card is thick enough, the card seems to want to splay open so I may have to reinforce it.  Martha Stewart border punch for the grass edging.  Dovecraft green spotty paper from the Back To Basics II collection.  Trees are Lavinia stamps, Little Sleuth and Watson are both High Hopes stamps painted with distress inks.  Sentiment is LOTV.  Peel-off sparkle letters coloured with a black ProMarker for "Birthday?" and square black gems from stash.  If you look closely at the storm cloud sky, you might see that these are fingerprints in distress inks!

I'd like to enter this attempt into four "Anything Goes" challenges this week:

1.  HIGH HOPES

2.  PAPERTAKE WEEKLY

3.  HERE COME THE BOYS (a new challenge) and

4.  MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES

Thanks for all your kind words and get well wishes, pleased to say that they seem to be working.

Hugs, Sxx

Less Is More # 13 - Thank You or Congratulations

Hi All.  Sorry that I've been MIA since last week - I've been really poorly and have only in the last twenty four hours crawled back to life.

I already had a cold at the start of the week so when I woke up Wednesday feeling a bit clammy, it just seemed part of the cold thing.  However, I lost my appetite as the day went on (unheard of) and by the time we got home from a day out I felt totally bushed.  Not any brighter on Thursday, and then the sickness started.  I know it is very rare for anyone to ever die from being sick but honest to God, there was a time in the early hours of Friday morning, sat on the loo with an old washing up bowl in my lap, that I thought I was going to meet my Good Lord Jesus there and then with my knickers round my ankles and my hair a sticky up fright from sweating so much.  Friday and Saturday were spent curled up in a whimpering heap in bed with Toad dashing around asking if I wanted him to take me to the out-of-hours clinic.

I'm still full of catarrah and coughing like I've been smoking 80 a day for 50 years and my legs feel like jelly but at least I'm out of bed.  Supposed to be back at work tomorrow!

It's totally ruined what had been a much needed holiday, but the upside is that I've lost 7-10lbs!  Mind you, I guess that can happen when you don't eat.  Anything.

My only attempt at crafting has been this quick little card for this week's LESS IS MORE challenge.  Optional themes of thank you or congratulations - I've gone for thank you.

I stamped the rose bud (Penny Black I think) onto a sheet of antique looking Basic Grey paper and then masked it with a Post-It Note, overstamped with the Hero Arts "thank you" definition, peeled off the mask and added colour to the rose with Prismacolors.  Deckled edged Nestie for the shape, which I aged the edges down with a golden brown pencil, Martha Stewart border punch and three toned pearls to finish.

Thanks for popping over.  I'll do my best to catch up once I'm feeling more squirrelly.

Hugs. Sxx