Lilybean Fairies....come and meet Clover - I believe

Lilybean Fairies {Day 3 preview} at Tales from Pollycraft





She is totally adorable, I would love to know what she is thinking. Once again the DT have made some stunning cards using her.....go and have a look for yourself and see....xxxxxx

A card....just because!

Evening all! I had some new images come through the post this morning and thought this one would be perfect for a card for my best friend, Sue, so I made her a card....just because!..... just because she is such a special friend and because we were popping out for a little walk and to get some fresh air and I thought I would make her a card......I had to throw it together VERRRRY quickly though and it took about half an hour( okay, I know thats not quick for most people, but I am a world class *faffer* and believe me, that is superfast lol)
I used an 8 x 8 pre embossed card blank, bits of BG, my ek success ash branch punch, retro daisy punches, prima hydrangea, some crystals and some dark brown ink. Oh yes and some scraps of lace and choccie brown braid..
We went for a walk at Raystede, which is a local animal welfare centre. They have a couple of large lakes, with hundreds of ducks and geese. They also have a lot of various breeds of chickens and a rather large and ugly turkey. lol. They also have a lot of dogs, cats, aviary birds, goats, ponies, rabbits and small rodents.
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Its free to visit and there is a nice tea room and also a charity shop to have a look about in and maybe pick up a bargain.

I think it has done both the girls good getting some fresh air today. Lauren seems to be a lot better today and Chloe is definately on the way up too, thank goodness. She is however getting fed up already with her antibiotics....whoops, there is still another 5 and a half days of doses left....he!he!he!

Lilybean Fairies- Day 2 Reveal

What a lovely way to start the weekend, I popped over to Tales from Pollycraft just now to see the latest reveal of the beautiful Lilybean Fairies....and her name is
Primrose ~ Flower Fairy . There are some more beautiful examples using her made by the DT, pop over and have a look.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Dipping her pretty lil toes....

I thought this image was so cute, but I don't think I have done her justice on this card, I don't think the balance is right with the flowers/embellies. Having said that, she must be ok as my sister took a liking to her and has given her to a friend today lol.

I have 2 poorly little peeps at home today :(. Chloe has been poorly on and off since last friday( I was out for the day and got called home to collect her from school) she was ill still over the weekend and on monday but felt better and went back to school tues. As the week has gone on she has been up and down and then during the night she got a temp again and was grizzly with earache. I managed to get a docs appointment this morning and found she was right on the verge of an ear infection......BUT worse than that the doc found that her right lung is all congested and got a lot of infection in it, no wonder the poor little mite is feeling off colour. So she has antibiotics( and some choccie as that ALWAYS works lol) and has been snuggled under the duvet on the sofa for the day. Lauren has been feeling pretty rough for most of the week, coldy,cough,achey etc and this morning she could hardly move, so she has spent the day all wrapped up too....so hopefully the weekend will bring a big improvement all round.

Sue, if you read this Hun, it shows it was a good job we didn't make arrangements for today eh LOL..xxxxx

Have a great weekend everyone...

Warmest wishes

Anitaxxxxx

Do you believe in magic?

Well after seeing the unveiling of the 1st of the new delightful stamps, The Lily Bean Fairies, I cannot wait to see the rest of them. The work created by the DT is wonderful, all so different, but all beautiful. Why not pop over to Tales from Pollycraft and check them out for yourself, I am so glad I did.xxx

Simply Irresistable........

.....thats what she is! Today I came home from work, took Chloe to school, came back home again and made a cuppa and then......had the overwhelming urge to scrap!!!!! Yes, scrap! And not a class page either, nope, I wanted to actually scrap just because! I cannot remember the last time that happened.

So I pulled out this photo of Chloe from a loooong time ago and pulled out a mix of papers in teals, turq, winter white and browns and then had a good long rummage through my stash for lace, brads, leather thong, string and crystals....and the odd blossom( which I just HAD to ink LOL)

I have punched, layered, hammered, threaded and glued....stabbed my fingers on brads( being careful not to get any red on the page!) If it hasn't moved I have inked it LOL and then....

Just when I thought it was finished.....I spied my bag of lushious Ice Stickles that my best friend Sue gave me for Christmas( waves to Sue ..xxx) Soooooo I had a bit of a Stickle Fest and this page just sparkles with THE most beautiful tones now. Have you tried ICE STICKLES yet?
If not, do yourself a favour and pop over to Jill's at Cardinal Colours
where she has an absolute rainbow of them...they really are truly scrumptious.

Well, I have to say I am truly in love with this layout and I think I might even pop it into a box frame and hang it up instead of packing it away in an album.

So, what have YOU been up to today then? Anything exciting?

Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Birthday Boy....

I love this colour combo, turq and lime just has to be one of my all time favourites. I bought some of these images the other day and just loved this little boys face, then when I was rummaging through my stash and saw these papers I just knew he needed to sit on them LOL. I think I might be using some of my smaller AC Thickers in the not too distant future and popping a certain special little boys name on this card as he has a 4th birthday coming up.

Tomorrow night Dale is having his birthday pressie early, he and Lauren both watch a lot of stand up comedians on the tv and they particularly like Steve K Amos, well tomorrow night he is appearing on stage at The White Rock in Hastings, so I bought Dale a pair of tickets to his show. they have both been counting down the days since I got the tickets and I have to say they are both suitably excited. Hope they have a good time.

My first time at a card challenge!

Whoo hoo! I have had a lovely morning sitting playing with a card, I have made it for the very first ever card challenge that I have ever entered( I hope its good enough!!) I have recently become a follower on totally awesome blog that belongs to a very, VERY talented lady called Elaine. You should check out her colouring skills....they are breathtaking! Anyway, she has a challenge blog and this week it was to ink up an old stamp and make a card.




Well, I only own 2 single stamps( one swirl and one is the new personalised stamp I just got) and a set of sentiments that I bought just before Christmas,( crikey, I sound like a right saddo don't I? LOL) So I borrowed one from my Mum's crafting box( it says Judikins on the side of the stamp) and have made this card. I have used some Basic Grey 'Blush' on it, some Prima blooms and pearls, a strip of glittery lace and some lushy Ice Stickles. Anyway, i am quite pleased with it, but I know it won't be anywhere near as good as the other entries....but hey, we all have to start somewhere don't we :)

Have a smashing evening,
Warmest wishes
Anita..xxxx

Flutterby Cakes and a card that's charmed.

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday? I have had quite a busy one so far, but plan to sit and chill this evening. I fancied doing a little baking earlier and anyone who REALLY knows me knows I am no Delia Smith! So I thought I would make some Flutterby Cakes after Lauren was talking about them earlier on in the week.

Now I am not one to normally read and follow instructions properly he!he!he! and these buns were no exception!!! I guess I should really call them 'Chuck it all in and hope for the best cakes'!!! I know I was *supposed* to cream the marg and sugar together first....and I know I was *supposed* to sift the flour to make it 'light and airy' and beat the eggs before adding.....but I didn't do any of that! Oh no! I just chucked all the ingrediants and a spoon full of hot water into a bowl and mixed it till it looked ok. Well I don't know about you, but, I think they came out just fine....and more to the point they ARE delish and they are light and fluffy.....and nearly ALL GONE!!!!Dale and the girls thought they were pretty delish too, so its not just me being biased! I didn't measure for the butter icing properly either, just mixed till it looked ok....to be honest it was a little soft, but hey, the wings stayed stuck!
I thought i would share this card too, I actually made her on thursday but haven't had chance to upload her.

I pulled out my jewellery making bag and made the little charm to hang below the ribbon, I thought it finished off the card nicely.

I hope you all have a nice evening.....me....I am going to go and serve up dinner and then chill for the evening....and hopefully watch Being Human later....have you seen it? Its fab!..xxxxxxxx

Don't Miss out on this Wonderful Opportunity!

How exciting is this? What a wonderful opportunity for all you other papercrafters out there to treat yourself to some well deserved *you time*, good food, good fun and good company and all at wonderful venue and most of all at a fabulous price.....go on, you deserve it :)











COME AND RELAX AT OUR SEASIDE RETREAT!

Cardinal Colours is absolutely delighted to invite you to our very first retreat on the south coast. We are having a crafty weekend with something for both scrapbookers and cardmakers alike. In fact anyone fancying a relaxing time away with like minded, crafty individuals will have a great, fun break.

We will have the run of The Chatsworth Hotel, right on the seafront at Eastbourne, from 2.00 pm Friday, 17th September through to 4.00 pm Sunday 19th September.

What an ideal time to recharge your batteries if you’ve exhausted yourself looking after children in the school holidays. All meals and refreshments are included - full English breakfasts, buffet lunch on Saturday and roast lunch on Sunday, two 3 course dinners and teas/coffees mid-morning and mid-afternoon. There will be a vegetarian option available too.

We have a full timetable of classes, with separate ones for scrapbooking and cardmaking, demonstrations and make & takes running from the Friday afternoon right through to Sunday.

The fabulous Karen Burniston will be designing a class especially for us and you can get a feel for her work on her blog here

You will have the choice of 3 classes with kits being provided and there will be raffles and games throughout the weekend too, with the Grand Raffle Prize being a Cricut Die Cutting Machine. It’s a free draw so any guest will have the chance to win this

The cost for all this is just £259 per person for a twin shared room and £289 for a single occupancy double room. We do have a limited number of small single rooms at £239 per person . We also have 3 twin rooms with an extra bed so 3 people could share at £245 per person You can reserve your place on payment of a £39 non-refundable deposit and payment terms are available. Some places have already been taken so to express an interest and find out more about the classes and teachers, please contact Jill at jill@cardinalcolours.co.uk We are really looking forward to seeing you.

Teachers will be confirmed soon but we are proud to say that Zoe Pierson and Shimelle Laine will be amongst our talented teachers

Some more of my old pages

I have been doing some spring cleaning and found some old pages of mine, I thought I would share a few on my blog.
My first layout is one I made 3 years ago and is all about how I tried and tried to teach our youngest Daughter to tie her laces but to no avail.....then my best friend Sue gave it a shot and Hey Presto, next thing you know she was tying them just like that! I just love the pure concentration on her face.xxx

Don't you just love this toothy grin? She has always been ( and I hope always will be) a proper little character, she is a little minx and I just love her for it...xxxxxxx




Those of you who really know me know I really don't *do* cardstock very much, infact I perish the thought of scrapping with it and much MUCH prefer to use patterned paper and LOTS of it lol. Well, this page tested my boundaries, its just a sheet of white bazzil and a small peice of Basic Grey....and thats it paperwise! The other bits are either printed onto acetate, rub ons or dry brushed acrylic paint ( oh yes and some flowers and I made the wings from feathers lol) I made the title by sticking down some alpha stickers and then painting over them with acrylic paint, then once it was dry I peeled the stickers up. This is about Lauren, our eldest( she went through a *Gothy* phase from the age of 10 to about 12)....and the title is just self explanitory and prefectly sums her up....xxxxxxx


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Happy Birthday Liz

Wishing you a lovely day and hoping its filled with lots of good things Hun.

Fondest Love....xxxxxx

What a fab stamp!

Good afternoon bloggers, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far? I am glad to say all the snow has now disappeared from down this way and, after yesterdays downpour, we woke up to beautiful blue skies this monring.

Looky what I received in the post yesterday

this wonderful personalised stamp was purchased via Nikki, a really lovely lady who owns bunnyzoecrafts http://www.bunnyzoescrafts.com/

you really should pay her site a visit, she has the most fabulous stamps, flowers and charms.

I am chuffed to bits with it and can't wait to start stamping it on my creations ( Liz, I shall be needing your card back Hun lol)

so, I guess I better get making then! But first I need to prepare the veg and sausage cakes for tea, cut my hubbys hair and catch up on emails....have a smashing evening..xx

Sweet Strawberry Wishes

I am fed up of dark days and no sunshine at the moment ( the same as everyone else lol) and I know of someone special whose birthday is coming up soon and so thought I would make a cheery bright card. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't get a better shot than this one, so apologies about the colours, they are much prettier in good light.

I used a mix of papers( doodlebug and Basic Grey) based onto some Bazill dotted swiss. I coloured the image( from ebay) with my Promarkers and finished with various flowers, ribbon, Ice stickles and a gorgeous strawberry charm from http://www.bunnyzoescrafts.com/.

Some old layouts revisited.

This layout is about 3 years old now, I have used my sewing machine on it quite a bit and also I made the round embellishment. It made using a hot glue gun and rubber stamp. You need to squeeze are big blob of glue from the straight onto a heat resistant surface, I used an old kitchen tile. The ink you chosen stamp, any ink will do, it just needs to create a barrier between the stamp and hot glue. Stamp into the blob and leave till its cooled down, then gently remove the stamp. I then covered the seal with acrylic paint and then rubbed off as much as possible, leaving it in the grooves from the stamp.

I finished it off by rubbing some mettallic cream over it all

LOL at Lauren, this is her doing her 'Edna'( from The Incredibles) impersonation . Chloe,My youngest girly got these joke glasses on holiday 3 years and we all had such a hoot trying them on and larking about. I have layered various papers and added a few brads and stickers. The chipboard swirl I have coated in a mix of teeny beads and I also used them in the centre of the flower

Lovely in lilac.....and a birthday jar.

I have been playing with cards for a couple of days and only just managed to get some decent light for the photos. This lilac and pink one is rather glittery and very girly and has a lovely little silver flower charm suspended by fine silver chain. Its based on some pink bazill bling and has various scraps of papers plus some primas and other blossoms, just edged then with some punched out ash leaves.







I made this big card a few days ago and blogged it then, but today I decorated a gift jar to match the card. Its for a very good friend of mine who I am spending the day with tomorrow. Its actually her birthday today, so we will be celebrating a day late....but whats a day between friends.

I filled the jar with chocolate truffles and an organza bag which contains a murano glass heart on a silver chain, which matches a pair of earrings that I made her for Christmas. Hope she likes it :).xxx

Home Delivery Service!

Despite the continuing atrocious weather conditions, certain supermarkets still give first class service with their Home Delivery....oh yes indeedy!

Lean on Me!

Just look at our poor old snowman LOL. This is what he looked like this morning when I came home from work! Definately a bit sorry for himself.

These following photos were taken yesterday. I took Chloe for a walk, well, it was a drag really as I towed her halfway round our town on her sled. Today I ache in places I didn;t know I had though. This was soon cured by taking her out across town yet again being towed on her sled. Hey, its good exercise....just call me Husky!
Anyway, this is the Common Pond, which was pretty much frozen over. thankfully there was still a nice open patch in the middle for all the feathered friends.

Chloe decided we hadn't got enough snow in our garden so she insisted on bringing some back from the pond!

The light had faded fast but just as we neared the top of our estate I snapped this piccy, sorry its not very good quality. If you look in the distance you can see the South Downs and the snow covering up there.


Once we had emptied out all the snow, rolled a biiiiig snowball and then Chloe had trampled it down we strolled down the road to where there is a short, but steep slope. Chloe came down it so fast this is all I had chance to catch lol!

And STILL it falls.

I just couldn't believe the fresh snowfall we found when we woke up this morning, soooo much fell overnight and all day long it has snowed here, some of the downfalls have been really heavy too. We all walked up the town this morning to get some food shopping done. I was rather amazed at how some people are shopping, they were literally filling their trolleys, just like it was at Christmas. But how they were all carrying it home I don't know. There were not all that many cars in the car parks as the roads were pretty bad and although there were long queues fortaxis there didn;t seem to be that many on the roads.. We never even got our car off the estate today, its just too dodgy out there and not worth the risk. So, after shopping we thought we would go and play again.....so off we went to sort out our boots.
Well Dale couldn't find his to start with....but after a while I hear a ' Oh b---er, I have found them! Yep, this is the said wellies.....sitting on the patio......full of and covered in snow! Hmmm, wonder how long they have been there for?


We have had some real fun again today and although I really have had enough of the snow now( especially as it meant we had to postpone our crop today. I LOVE getting together with all the girls and spending time with them, really missed that today), it was however lovely playing outside all together. I have uploaded several pics, but they have come out in the wrong order, so bear with me.

Chloe and the "cool dude" she met in the garden.

Dale trying to use the little bay tree as camoflage....FAIL!!!!

Hmmmm, not a lot you can say about this one is there? I think our snowman has a little bit of an identity crisis, bless him/her.

Anyone fancy a snowball fight then?

Can you see the snowflake caught in the cobweb, they were amazing, I just wished my camera could do a lot more magnifying, they are just amazing, so tiny, pretty and delicate, but just look what they can do when they stick together, almost bring the country to a halt!

I don't think the little birdhouse can take much more of this weather, it looks like an icy thatch now!

Chloe trying to sneak some big snowballs away as stash for a snowball fight!

Daddy floored Chloe with a giant snowball!!!

Chloe was a pretty good shot with the snowballs herself!

Lauren could hardly do anything for laughing, she was a reluctant snow angel!

Chloe's snow angel, I thought she was going to sink when she first fell back in the snow as its fairly deep!

I just managed to snap this little fella before he flitted off.

Lauren, looking beautiful as always, such a shame about the stray hair across her face though!

Our local church, St Marys, this is where we were married and both our girls were christened.

And then we came in and all enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate and sat and had a movie evening with Ice Age 3 ( very apt I thought lol)

And guess what??? Yep, its still bliddy snowing!