Sunday again!

Now, I don't know if this is a common occurence worldwide - it's certainly not around these parts, but one night this week I woke up several times during the night and it just didn't go dark!!! At around 12.30am I got up to get a glass of water and I couldn't believe how light it still was outside. And then on Friday I realised I hadn't imagined it as I read in the paper that it is a rare phenomenom called Noctilucent, or Night Shining. It's got something to do with droplets of water in the atmosphere being so high up and the sun's rays catching them..... don't ask me, I don't do science, but it was fabulous to witness!!

And now, onto something that I DO do - Christmas!! Yay!! Over at Winter Wonderland this week, we're feeling Blue - but in the happiest sense of the word! And here are a couple of blue projects that I made using my new Sugar Nellie stamps - and if you fancy owning one of these stamps (plus some stamped images of the others!) get over there and play along and you will be in with a chance of winning one in next Saturday's draw!

So if you made it here, I'd like to thank you for popping by and wish you a great week ahead!! :o) xx

Aaaah Summer...

Don't you just love it!! But heck, what's with all the greenfly??? And where have all the ladybirds gone??? I put a citronella candle outside a couple of days ago - it is absolutely black with deceased greenfly now!! YUK!!! But summer has more up-sides than down-sides - tall glasses of Pimms being one of them, and earlier this evening I had my first Pimms of the summer! Sighhhhh.... LOL!!! Before that though I had a chat with my friend on the phone - she was feeling proper sorry for herself because her DH was going to be home later than normal and she was sitting outside with a cup of tea, so I quickly whizzed a Pimms kit together for her, drove it up the road, rang her doorbell and drove off!! LOL!! She texted me a very happy response!!! LOL!!

So here's a few offerings from me this week. I've been playing with my Monotone markers and although I'm far from perfect yet, I love playing with them and I LOVE the effect they give. This first one is my offering for Saturday Sketchers.

It was actually my second attempt - this was my first tryout,

and this was my third go

Winter Wonderland is proving to be a lot more popular than any of us anticipated this early in the year, and we are having such a fantastic time with it, and the enthusiasm from all the talented players is very encouraging, making it such a pleasure to be a part of. This week our theme is Let It Snow! The title speaks for itself really!!! This was my sample card which took me an age to make but I truly cannot remember enjoying making a Christmas card as much as this one. It is sooooo lovely being able to make my cards at this nice slow and steady pace and hopefully I will have a collection at the end of it that I will be proud to distribute. So pop over there and play along - we have some really fabulous projects and lots of wonderful giveaways line up too, and we have some very exciting news we're going to share soon about a fantastic regular sponsor!!!!

Hope you're having a great week and enjoying the sunshine - if you have any, of course!! Thank you so much for popping by! :o) xx

Winter Wonderland, Week 2

OMGosh, it's Wednesday already and I haven't blogged!!! It's week 2 over at Winter Wonderland - week 1 proved to be a brilliant success and it was very reassuring to know that there are plenty of other people out there who want to get ahead for Christmas too. I had a big twinge of excitement yesterday thinking about all that spare time I'm going to have to plan for Christmas knowing that making cards isn't going to be a headache for me this year!

So, A Christmas Carol is this week's theme - basically, just sing a Carol or two and be inspired by them. Here is my "We Three Kings" card which used a stamp that I'd bought about 4 or 5 years ago and haven't ever used yet!! I think it might feature again on my Christmas cardmaking this year!!

Whatever you're doing, I hope the weather is being kind to you (it's horrid here!!!) and I wish you a great week! Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Off we go!

I've had a busy ol' week with one thing or another, but I shan't bore you with the details because I am sooooooo excited to remind all blog-challenge lovers that today some fabulous blog-buddies and myself have launched our Winter Wonderland blog. And if you love Christmas, but would prefer to do it without all the stress that goes with it, then this is the place for you because we're going on a slooooow journey to the festive season, but preparing for it well in advance. So come along for the ride, join in the fun and get yourself into the spirit of things - come November, you'll be so glad you did!!! ;o) And Teri has a fabulous stack of blog candy to giveaway to one lucky winner too - what more incentive could you want!!!


So, to kickstart, here is my first offering for our first theme - Oh Christmas Tree:

And just for the fun of it, I also made a contemporary one as well - a bit out of my comfort zone but I got the idea from a card I received from a lovely forum friend last year and I really liked it, so this is my version:

And then I also used this week's Saturday Sketch to make this little gift box. There's nothing like crafting for Christmas in the sunshine, let me tell you!
So I hope to see as many of you over there joining in with our weekly themes. They're not all going to be cards, we have a few crafty tricks up our sleeves too ;o)


Thanks for popping in, see you in Winter Wonderland! :o) xx

Half Term is here!

It's half term! Hurrah!! I've got a stinking cold! Booo! Typical, just as I was about to catch up on some domestics I get struck down with this awful bug! Still, at least I've got a week off, and a pack of Beecham's All-In-One so with any luck, this thing will pass soon enough!

I have a couple of goodies to show off again this weekend. First here is my offering for this week's Friday Sketch:

And then here is my Saturday Sketch card:

I did make another twinchie too but for some reason blogger doesn't want to show it so maybe I should take that as an omen!! LOL!! I bought some gorgeous little pots in Hobbycraft today so I'm going to go and see what I can make with them now! Thanks for popping by and have a great weekend! :o) xx

End of another weekend

Oh well, that's another one over with - and this one seemed to go quicker than any other in recent weeks - where do they go? I have been quite productive though this weekend. I have another couple of Christmas cards out of the way - I'm not going to show these yet though but I'll give you a teaser - this one is for the new Winter Wonderland blog which the girls and I are VERY excited about:

I also joined in the usual weekend sketch challenges - here is my offering for Friday Sketchers:

And here is my Saturday Sketch card

Well that's my lot for this weekend. Thanks for popping in and have a great week! :o) xx

Something completely different

And here it is - my first ever twinchie! Actually, that's a big fat lie because this finished product was about my 25th attempt at getting it right, and I'm still not convinced I succeeded! Whoever would have imagined that two little inches could give you so much grief!! (stop it...!!!!!) When I saw that Carol had launched her new challenge blog I decided that I would embrace the concept of trying out something completely difference - I didn't realise I'd end up ripping my hair out!! LOL!! But not to be deterred, I soldiered on and came up with this:I know that twinchies have been doing the rounds for aaaaaages, but I've never fancied trying them out before, but despite all the aggro I had with mine, I did in fact enjoy making it so I will be tuning in again next week to see what the girls have in store. Check it out for yourself! ;o)

Back soon...... :o)