Sunday Stamper wk 318 - A Winter's Tale: Thursday 31st July 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Thanks for all your visits yesterday, both here and over at Sam's blog..the shaker card was fun to make, took ages as there was a lot of stamping and I hadn't made a shaker in a while, but I was pleased with the end result!

Yesterday on my WOYWW post I showed the little  MDF shelf unit I'd made from a kit and decorated with the Tilda papers. I don't usually say where I source things on the WOYWW post, but I'll usually say the next day on mine and a few of you asked where I got it from: well I got it in kit form from www.clevercut.co.uk (Ali Reeve). The two lanterns I have show recently, that I am making into Halloween and Christmas projects also came from there and I am also working on a little cabinet and a clock. They are great kits, very easy to put together, designed by Ali's husband I think....need to have a word with Tom...

Talking of my lovely hubby, I am about to make a public apology...remember those wooden offcuts that had been made into pencil holders that I said his dad made? Well I stand corrected, Tom made them...ooops! Sorry Tom...I am so used to him being so not 'hands on' and it was quite a while ago, that my memory had played tricks :)

Sunday Stampers week - 318 - A Winter's Tale

I didn't get time to make anything for Sunday Stampers last week, and I do like to join in...I was very pleased with the theme of Christmas/Winter that Hels set this week, as I do need to get on with my own Christmas cards.

For anyone who doesn't know, Sunday Stampers is a weekly challenge set by Hels Sheridan..just click here for all the deets...

For this little card I used kraft card and stamps from a lovely stamp set by  Anna Marie Designs. I've been a bit of a fan of her stamps and papers for quite a few years..if you ever go  Ally Pally or any other craft event she attends, check out her stand because it is always so beautiful and she's a lovely lady too. I really like this 'Skating on Ice' set from her Christmas range (and she has some fab MDF art parts too!).

I stamped the ice skate twice on to custard Foundation card and cut them out; then I added a little colour to the checkered parts and the pine branch using promarkers. I inked the edges using Rusty Hinge distress ink and coloured the blades with a silver promarker.

I really can't remember when I last used a rectangular/oblong card shape, much preferring a square, but for the design I had in mind square wouldn't work.

The hessian was adhered to the card: I used cosmic shimmer dries clear as well as red line tape. The first boot was attached with cosmic shimmer and the second using Scrapbook Adhesives 3D sticky squares to give depth.

Finally I stamped the greeting (from the same stamp set) and added twine, a rusty bell, berries, a cone and a button. I inked the edges of the card with rusty hinge. I also dusted with Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels for a little sparkle

The scroll I used inside also comes with the stamp set, but the snowflakes and Christmas Wishes came from a set amongst  my Christmas stamps that has no packaging, so I'm thinking it came with a magazine!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits...that's the last Christmas card this week!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

WOYWW 269 - Wednesday 30th July 2014

Hi Friends,

That teaser yesterday....

Before I begin my WOYWW post today, a big thank you to those of you fabulous regular friends who popped over to Sam's blog yesterday to have a look at my DT card...sorry for 'teasing' you with the sneak peak....looking at your comments on my blog, I think I managed to confuse some of you into thinking I would be revealing the card here, but as with every Tuesday, it was 'over there' all the time! I'd love it if you'd pop over and have a look and here is the link:

http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/blue-christmas

WOYWW 269

This is the chance we get to share our desks with the rest of our lovely craft world, courtesy of Julia over at Stamping Ground...just click for all the deets and why not join in this week?

As some of you know, I am lucky to have two little craft spaces...a spare room in our house, where I do all my paper craft and a little summer house, kitted out for my art parts, paints and all the other 'arty' stuff. I call it the craft barn :). This year we totally 'gutted' it and began to remodel the inside as it had become so 'sad' that I just wasn't using it...I have painted one of the shelf units so far and updated a really tired old desk that I picked up for very little money and quite honestly, especially with the good weather, I have been spending a lot of spare time out there these last few months...

..these are the projects I have been working on....

 The box above was a plain MDF pen holder, but it never worked for me using it that way, so I painted it to match my desk and am using it to store my little wooden shapes.

 This was an MDF shelf kit I got recently (very easy to put together): I gave it a base coat of the same paint used for the box unit and then decorated it with these Tilda  Spring papers - they are from a pad that I loved so much that I didn't want to use (you know what I mean!), so this was a good way of holding on to some of them! 

 I used the left over scraps to cover my brush pots

...and finally, I know my regular blog friends like to see our 'girls', so this was a view I had from the 'craft barn' last week...Cara, our Black Rock and Bella our Bluebelle...Cara (lying down) is not flaked out, quite the opposite - she was actually enjoying a rather vigorous dust bath! Bella was waiting her turn: they have a large, shady garden to enjoy and they both chose to bathe in the same and rather warm place...must have wanted a spa experience. 

After losing two of our girls this year, I still find it very strange to only have two little hens (or in the case of these, rather large ones!) gracing our garden but goodness are they spoilt!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I so much appreciate it!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Shaker Card Teaser - Tuesday 29th July 2014

Good Morning Friends,

I can't believe I've been awol from here since Friday! It was such a lovely weekend that my little craft room in the garden beckoned. I don't think I touched the computer between Saturday morning (very early) and yesterday... and not the iPad either. It was lovely being out in the 'craft barn' doing some painting on MDF shapes...I'll show you what I got up to tomorrow. 

It was a great way of being outside without being 'outside' because this 'prickly heat' is certainly taking a time to go away...and I tried everything!..then one of my very 'out doorsy'  American friends suggested I try baking powder mixed to a paste with white vinegar or water, as they use it for Poison Ivy rashes...I tried it with water and am pleased to report the calming was instantaneous!  As I type the rash seems to be on the retreat!

Well I may be a bit of an old romantic, but do you remember the Peacock butterfly that got stuck in the craft barn last week? When I was working in there at the weekend, one came fluttering in and landed on my hand..it stayed there ages, so beautiful...of course I told myself it was the same one come back - mindless of the fact that these last few weeks our garden has been a pure kaleidoscope of butterflies, I've never seen so many!

Apart from painting, I did have a play with some pop up box cards, as our group is going to be making them at our next workshop.

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's my post for Sam Poole's Creative Studios...thank you so much for all your comments last week, I certainly seem to have sparked a debate both here and there about CAS cards!

I do hope you will spare  a few minutes to pop over there today and have a look at this week's card...it's a Shaker and that's all I'm saying...here are a few sneak peeks:

Ha! Not giving away much I'm afraid!

Here is the link: http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/blue-christmas

Many thanks and I'll be back tomorrow for WOYWW,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Oldie for Friday - Friday 25th July 2014

Hello Friends,

I think I finally caught up with all of your lovely blog posts...yesterday was  an 11 hour day at work, so I didn't  feel much like looking at my computer when I got home - don't feel sorry for me, it was my choice! I'm on the library's committee, made up of library users, Councillors and those of us who work for community organisations with an office in the library. I don't much like meetings, but I always enjoy this one - a nice bunch of people. The meeting didn't start until 7pm, so there was no point coming home and it was a chance to catch up with a few things.

Anyway,  today I thought I would join Patricia and Hazel and take part in Oldie for Friday which is run by, Erica,   deets at http://snappycrafts.blogspot.co.uk

My oldie is last year's summer door wreath, which has lasted through to this year and is adorning our front door again My regular blog friends will know that I always have a wreath on my front door, sometimes I made new ones,  often I'll reuse them and I change them for seasons and/or Holidays.

  
I made all the flowers from ribbons and the leaves are felt; it was actually one of my DT creations for Fantastic Ribbons.

So folks, hope you enjoyed my little revisit! 

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

WOYWW #268 - Wednesday 23rd July 2014

Hello Friends!

I hope you are still enjoying the fine weather! Thank you for your comments yesterday and especially for popping over to Sam's blog and leaving a comment. Quite a few commenters mentioned that they can't make CAS cards...well neither can I!!! Honestly I was determined for that post to make three cards from the stamp, that had the same kind of 'theme' but were different. I knew the only way I could do that was to make three CAS cards...well those cards took me much longer that one card using stamping techniques, dies etc would have taken!

The thing is that I really like CAS cards, I follow some of your blogs where you make them regularly and I am in awe of them, honestly. I love using all the 'techniques' on tags, plaques, canvases and art work, but I definitely want to practice more CAS on cards...here's a thought to end on...I showed those cards to a friend who isn't a crafter and her remarks were that they were gorgeous and must have taken me ages to make....I told her that they did, because I took a while to design and  get them right, but I could replicate them quite quickly now...so she asked me to make her some..doh!!! So there you go! I need to get quicker with my CAS!!!

Anyway...on to my WOYWW post... 

WOYWW is our weekly chance to show what's on our desks courtesy of the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground.

Last week I unveiled the old desk that I had been transforming into a new desk for my craft room out in the garden...I must say that especially with this weather it is nice to have a separate space just for artwork, away from my card making - and I can be close to our hens..bliss!

Just to prove that I am using it...here is my current project:

What is it you may be asking? Well it's going to be a lantern...I'm making two, one for Halloween and one for Christmas. Once I have finished painting this one I will 'rust it up' , decorate it, hang it from the stand and add a battery tea light! What fun!!!

Thanks for stopping by my desk today....I'll be doing my WOYWW rounds later!


Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Holiday Wreaths - Tuesday 22nd July 2014

Hello Friends,

Thanks for your visits yesterday, I always love to read your comments..Hazel, thanks for reminding me about Aloe Vera: I used to always keep some in the house (or a plant!) but didn't have any..I still have a few patches of the prickly heat irritating me, so when I go to work today I'll be getting some!

As it's Tuesday, I'm back with another Design Team post for Sam Poole's Creative Studios...this time I have used Sam's new and really pretty Festive Wreath stamp in three different ways...here is one of them...last week's card was quite OTT in colour and design for me, so I've gone a little more CAS this week!

There are two more and I have decorated the insides of all of them...please pop over to Sam's blog to have a look! I would be so appreciative.

This may look like a simple wreath stamp, but it really is very versatile to decorate! I think I will also be using it for a wedding card pretty soon...

Here is the link: http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/a-country-christmas

Thank you so very much!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Gone Fishin' - Monday 21st July 2014

Hello Friends,

I hope you all had good weekends! We had a lovely day on Saturday once the storm had cleared in the afternoon: lunch in Bristol, a wander round the Harbour Festival, off to see the Rat Pack and out just in time to watch the fabulous Festival Firework display from the roof of the car park - wonderful view!

The Rat Pack was a very enjoyable evening, but whilst the 'cast' had superb voices, with the exception of the guy playing Sammy Davis, who was superb, they didn't really 'get into character' as they have done when we have seen this type of show previously. Still it was a packed house and such a mixture of ages in the audience, including some very young people, which was nice. My Mum was a big Sinatra fan (she saw his concert in Bristol in the 50's), Dad preferred Dino, so I grew up listening to the Rat Pack and always liked it(I may not have admitted that until much later in life though!)...when I think of the totally eclectic music tasted I 'inflicted' on them!!! Really, I had and still have so many musical likes it's quite confusing!!!

Anyway, yesterday I woke up with an attack of  Prickly Heat, so boy was I suffering with that yesterday...I just had to keep the skin cool and moisturised all day and it's not anywhere as near as bad today...it was all over my arms, throat, back.... I have only ever had it about three times and never as bad..horrible!

Now to today's card, which I made for one of our friends who loves fishing...

 The Fisherman and background stamps are by Woodware. I stamped the background stamp using Versafine ink on to green card and then heat embossed with clear powder, just  to make a 'raised background paper, which I matted and layered on to a kraft card blank. Sorry it doesn't show up so well in the photo.

Then I stamped the background again on to white card, using Versafine Sepia ink. I stamped the fisherman and greeting over this using Versafine black ink, then I inked the edges slightly using Vintage Photo distress ink. I matted and layered on to green card and kraft card.

I finished off with a piece of string tied in a bow and topped it with a litre fish, which was one of the off cuts from the images I had stamped - I coated it with glossy accents to finish.

 This above photos shows the inside of the card...I love tent fold cards, but they are so hard to photograph inside! I stamped the background again and but a strip to fit across the centre of the card. I stamped the greeting, which comes with the fisherman set and matted and layered on to kraft card.

Just a simple card for a guy!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits and comments..tomorrow is Tuesday so I will be back with another DT post for Sam Poole.

Love and Hugs,
Carole  Z X

Fairy Dreams - Saturday 19th July

Good morning Friends,

Well I certainly didn't sleep through last nights thunder and lightening, I think the last time I saw anything so spectacular that lasted so long was in Italy several years ago....in fact it's still rumbling on as I type this at about 8.30am! We aren't the only ones though, my dear friend Paola who lives near Venice sent me a photo she'd take the other day of hailstones that literally were the size of golf balls!

Today I am back with another 'Lavinia' card,  which I would like to enter in the following challenge:

Scrapology: Dreams and Delights, July Challenge

http://scrapology-adventuresinscrapbooking.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/julys-card-challenge-lavinias-dreams.html

 What I love about Lavinia( apart from the images) is creating the backgrounds (though I do have a monotone one still to share with you!). For this card I used my brayer and the following inks to create the background:

Distress: Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves
Adirondack: Currant, Purple Twilight

To stamp the fairy and foliage I used Black Onyx Versafine ink, shadow stamping for background image effect.

The card is an 8x8 deckle edge, matted and layered using shades of lilac and purple card from Paper Mill. To finish I added stickles glitter and a little bow.

I thought you might also like to see these two candles I made as demos when we did our recent workshop using Lavinia stamps. The technique is really easy and I did explain it in a recent nautical DT post for Sam Poole, which most of you will have seen...here it is briefly again:

You need:

Pillar candle (mine cost about £1 in a local supermarket!)
White tissue paper - the kind you wrap presents with
Wax kitchen paper
stamps of your choice
ink
heat tool

All you do is stamp your image on the the tissue paper; these stamps are just black, but if you are using a stamp you want to colour, you can use any of your colouring pens, such as Promarkers. All you need remember is that it will transfer lighter than it looks on paper, so use darker colours.

I used Versafine for these candles and Memento for stamps I colour. I've tried different inks and they've all worked well.

Once you have stamped your image, cut or tear around it carefully, then place it where you want it on your candle. 

Take your wax paper, it needs to be long enough to wrap around the candle with enough left to form a 'handle' for you to hold at the back. Take a tight grip and then transfer the image to the candle using your heat tool..voila! You have a pretty candle, which you can decorate with ribbons, beads, whatever you like.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment! Is anyone doing anything nice today? We are going to a Rat Pack show in Bristol tonight (my Mum was a big Sinatra and Dino fan and the music rubbed off on me!), but it's the Harbour Festival, so we were planning a nice afternoon stroll at the festival, a meal...and after all this wonderful weather and almost 9am, it's as dark as can be and pouring with rain! Such a shame for all the organisers and participants as it's probably Bristol's biggest annual event, along with  the Balloon Fiesta.

have a good day, whatever you are doing!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X 

Sunday Stampers week 316: Altered note book - Friday 18th July 2014

Hello Friends,

So did any of you experience those storms last night? Apparently we did, but we slept through it, lol!

Before I start my post properly I would like to say a massive welcome to my 80th follower

 Angela Radford. Angela is celebrating her first year of blogging this month, do pop over and have a look at her fabulous art work - here - 

Thank you so much for following me Angela! 

Sunday Stamper week 316 - Everyday I write the book

For those who don't know, this is a weekly fun challenge set by the uber talented Hels Sheridan. All the deets are here

This week Hels has set the theme of Books, to be interpreted at our will -- alter a book, use book pages, make  a book...as always time is short, but I do like to participate in this challenge if I can. I love to alter note books/make note books and this is probably my quickest project ever! To be honest, it helped get my creative juices flowing as I've been struggling a bit this week...

This started out as a plain 16cms x 20cms exercise book, which (of course) I forgot to photograph in its original state, but believe me it was very ordinary!

I first of all covered the book with this paper by Graphic 45, from a 12x12 French Country design pad. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. All the stamps, except for the blossom are by Graphic 45. The blossom is by Jofy for Paper Artsy.

I stamped the word ' Creative' and heat embossed to give it a little lift and shine. I then stamped the script on to a piece of kraft card and inked the edges, then I over stamped the ink bottle. I adhered it to the book, tucking it under the last that I had added to the top.

Next I stamped the 'sign' on to the same paper, rolled one side and a corn and adhered to the book. I stamped the flower  3 times on to the reverse side of this paper using  left over scrap pieces (can't waste any of this paper!), cut it out and layered it. After placing it on the book, I added a metal button.

I decided to add these ideology memo pins, thinking it would be a useful addition, but wanted to show how they could be used. I had stamped this phrase on to card but not used it, so I cut it out roughly and added it to a pin.

That's my offering for this week - thank you so much for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

The Bear's back on the beach! Thursday 17th July 2014

Hello Friends, 

Thank you for your comments on my WOYWW post yesterday...in answer to some of your questions..no the little 'craft barn' will not remain tidy for long! The main problem is that I am so pleased with the way the top of the desk turned out (all those hours of waxing paid off!) that I'm almost afraid to use it!!!

A few of you asked me about the wooden pencil holders on the desk...well, yes they were custom made by my very handy father-in-law. We picked up the odd cuts of wood at a Tree Festival at our local arboretum. Tom's dad drilled the holes for me and I varnished them and hey presto, customised pencil holders! The paint brush holder at the back was actually made by my dad, many many years ago and gave me the idea for the pencil holders.

Now for today's card...

Remember the bear that surfed? Well he's made a return to the beach on new card...this time the card was made for a guy who's birthday was this week and who loves to surf (well they  do live in Cornwall). He loved it and says he didn't stop chuckling. I am going to have to make one like this just to send to one of my Californian cousins who virtually lives to surf...I think it will appeal to his sense of humour.

I started with a layer of yellow card on an 8x8 blank. The fishy paper is by Pink Petticoat as are the beach huts, which are digi stamps. I block coloured them using Promarkers and made the bunting to match. Although it doesn't show on the photo, the beach huts have all been given a coat of glossy accents.

The bear is a stamp by Sam Poole, which I stamped using vintage sepia versafine ink on to cream card, heat embossed with clear powder and then coloured with Promarkers. The raised embossing gives the image a rough surface and therefore a more textured, less perfect effect when coloured.

The surfboard is a digi stamp from McMahon Five Designs, again coloured with a Promarker and coated with glossy accents. The 'seaside' quote is  by Pink Petticoat and the 'surf Dude' was computer generated.

Inside the card:

For the inside I made another surfboard and cut out two smaller beach huts. The greeting is computer generated.

Thank you for stopping by, hope you are all liking the hot weather! It was very hot in the office yesterday, but having the door wide open sent a gentle breeze through from the outer door, so it wasn't too bad really. 

I am blogging very late...highly unusual for me but Tom had to go out with some clients after work, so I'm home all alone, nothing on TV (well I'm watching the Masterchef final in the craft room), so decided to write tomorrow's blog today!


I'd like to enter this card in the Allsorts Challenge week 267 : Splish, Splash, Splosh!

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/week-267-splish-splash-splosh.html

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

WOYWW - Wednesday 16th July 2014

Hello WOYWWers and regular blog friends!

I've haven't shared my WOYWW desk for a few weeks, but now I'm back and I'm revisiting my outside craft space for those of you who have either popped by before or are my blog friends.

First of all however, if you don't know about WOYWW, it's when we all get the chance to share our desks (and have a snoop around others!), it happens every Wednesday and all happens courtesy of Julia over at Stamping Ground   - click the link for full deets...

As some of you know I am a lucky gal and have both a craft room indoors and the use of a little summer house in the garden, where I decided that I would keep all my art parts, paints etc. I picked up a really old and sad looking desk for very little in an antiques/second hand shop and painted it up with chalk paint, which I then waxed. A little photo reminder is below...

We spent last Saturday doing some clearing up in the craft barn (as I have renamed it!), getting rid of rubbish and tidying up so that we could move the desk into it's rightful place...

 I painted the old chair too, but forgot to take 'before' photos... for first time visitors, the prim style hens were painted on there because we keep pet hens and I am just 'hen' mad!

In the little basket on the desk are some mdf parts to make a clock....that will be my first project in here...

 These are the shelves...I painted one of them to match the colour theme, the other still has to be painted (when I get the time and before Summer is out!). I've got all my little paint pots on one set of shelves and art parts on the others..together with boxes and cardboard I've collected to use in projects.

That's the story so far...except for.... when I went out to take these photos this morning a beautiful Peacock Butterfly was on the inside window behind the desk.I guess it may have got in there when the doors were open yesterday. I tried to take a photo of it, but it was right in the sun and to be honest, I was more concerned about opening the window and setting it free...and what a beautiful sight that was! I had to coax it  a little before it spread it's gorgeous wings and fluttered off into the breeze to enjoy the flowers as it should. As I didn't take a photo and wanted to remember it when I looked back on this post, I borrowed one from google...

Thanks for stopping by today...I'll get around some of you later, promise!

Finally....Thank you so much to all my blog friends for your comments here and over on Sam Poole's blog yesterday. I have to say that it's the first card I have made in a long time that I haven't been sure about! I was probably a bit out of my comfort zone with the colours and I think that in a few weeks I will make a similar card but very toned down and see if I like it better! 

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Introducing Mr Pickles - Tuesday 15th July 2014

Good Morning Friends!

Today it's my Design Team post over at Sam Poole's Creative Studios. I really loved Sam's wild animal stamps that she brought out earlier this year...well now we have more and this time with a mostly Christmas theme. Do check out Sam's post for last Saturday to have a look at all the stamps in the collection.

I have only just started using them and I love them! This week though is just a bit of fun and a design that I had to get out of my mind before I could make any more!  I chose to work with Pickles, a really cute hedgehog and of course, hedgehogs aren't just for Christmas!

 I've really struggled to get my Christmas Mojo working so far this year...I always do...I wouldn't normally use these colours, but I wanted to follow through with the colours of the tree lights.  I  had remembered a House Mouse stamp I have, where the little meeces are entwined in tree lights and that inspired me with this card...so I just had to make it...and I think I got a little carried away...well it started out as a really CAS card of simply 'Pickles'. I look across the blogs and see some amazing CAS cards and I love them..can I make them? NO! I really struggle :)

Full details, plus the inside of the card, which I also decorated are over on Sam's blog and this is the link:

http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/mr-prickles-in-a-pickle

Please do pop over and have a look and leave a comment; you are all so wonderful to do so very week and you have no idea how much I appreciate it. I have lots of non Christmas ideas for this stamp and some of the other stamps in this collection, so keep looking !

Thank you so much,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X 

Christening Card - Monday 14th July 2014

Good Morning Friends,

A quackish post today as I have a big crafting day ahead. Before I start though, I wanted to mention Emergency Crafters to you, as I know some of you have taken part in their challenges in the past. I have been a Design Team member for about 2 years now (it was my first DT) and enjoyed it very much, so I am sad to say that Josie, who runs he challenge has had to take the difficult decision to close it, at least for the foreseeable future.

Some of you may have noticed that the site hasn't really been 'active' for a few months now. Anyway I know we all wish Josie well, I am still in contact with her and  some of the other DT members via Facebook.

Now to today's card: The image is by Mo Manning from Mo's Digital Pencil and I coloured it with my Inktense pencils. I embossed the background using the twisted hearts M-Bossability folder. I then used a mask which was free with a magazine and the new Cosmic Shimmer Sparkle Texture paste in Aurora Sparkle for the next layer.

The card is being personally give and not posted, so I made a wrap - papers are by Pink Petticoat

A short post today, I have been around and hopefully caught up with all your wonderful blogs...now I'm off to make some Christmas cards....using Sam's new stamps and they are fabulous! Please check back tomorrow for my DT post for Creative Studios!

Love and Hugs,
Carole Z X

Workshop Photos - Saturday 12th July 2014

Good Evening Friends..from a very tired gal, so excuse me any spelling errors! Have you all had a fine weather Saturday? It's been really hot here!

First of all, I want to welcome two new followers - Annie, who's known on here as Aussie Annie and has a blog with gorgeous designs posted...click here to take a look! Also June Macfarlane...welcome June, I hope you like what you see and will visit often. I can't see that you have a blog, but of you do please let me know so that I can come visit!

I've had a hectic and tiring week, with some crafting achieved, but mostly to meet deadlines such as our workshop, a few birthdays and a few commissions and I still have a lot to do..thankfully I have Monday at home this week, work days back to normal!

Today was actually a lovely, productive day...we began with a visit to the bird farm to get some food for our ladies. I was chatting to James, the owner about losing Lacey, so now we were down to two.He was surprised that we had lost her so young too and we both agreed that it could have been bacteria picked up whilst free ranging or a tumour. 

We always wander around the coops after making our purchase, I didn't really want to today, but we did...the first little group of hens we saw, free ranging on the grass included a Lacey, then they had some more Orpington Chicks (by now I was welling up!) and then the run that always gets me going, the ex-battery hens, lacking in feathers but so happy to be in the fresh air...honest if we had the room I'd have them all!

I don't know if we are going to stay with just Bella and Cara now, or get two more. I would love two Orpingtons, but I'm not going to push for it. Our two girls seem very happy and relaxed, so maybe it's best to leave as it is. We need to decide before September though, as a don't want to be introducing new hens when the weather starts to change and the days are shorter.

This afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the weather and clear out the craft barn (okay...Summerhouse) to get my newly shabby chiqued (is that even a word!) desk into it's proper place. I should have photographed the lawn with all the furniture and bits of craft stuff and paint tins on it...you'd think we were having a 'lawn sale'. I am happy to say that Tom made two trips to the local Recycling Centre (tip) and we got rid of quite a lot - there weren't too many spiders and no big ones.

 Just some rearranging and tidying left to do now and I'm good to use it for my mixed media/altered art work - how exciting! I am really pleased with the way the desk looks and there are a few other  small pieces of furniture in there I need to paint - I'll take photos when it's all complete!

Workshop Photos

This week's card for my group was posted here on Thursday...here are some of the cards made by the ladies on my group. They all seemed to enjoy it and as always there were different 'takes' on the original card. There were some new techniques and materials to use, such as the paints, which they were all very taken with. We have a repeat of the workshop this coming Thursday.

Leeann made the last card- she always comes up with a really different and effective design...she was also the only one who managed to finish the butterflies inside...fabulous!

Sorry I've been a bit wordy today, I'll be back Monday with another card...the rest of my craft time this weekend, I'll be playing    working, with new stamps from Sam, can't wait to share my first post using them on Tuesday!

Love and Hugs for a great Sunday..hope the sun shines!

Carole X