SUNDAY'S MUTTERINGS

Well I feel like I've done a full day and its only 10.30 a.m.! Hubby and I have treated the family to a spa/hot tub - when we left the States and had to leave our lovely pool we promised the kids we'd at least get a hot tub - well that was three years ago and we decided that rather than have a holiday this year abroad we'd go for the hot tub. Its so relaxing - and hubby and I were out there at 7.30 this morning - clear blue sky, no kids, it was so nice.

DS has gone out already - Andover has a new cinema and he and his friends have gone off to see a movie - DD is yet to stumble out of bed, and I'm blog surfing.

I've found some more blog candy on my travels - http://scrapmetalsretreat.blogspot.com/ - pop along here and leave a comment and a link.

And some more here at Enjay's blog

And more - at Martine's blog

And even more here - a must for Stampin Up Fans -

ANd more here at Michelle's - check out her lovely miniature donkeys

Has anyone taken up the This Thursday challenge of working with beads - if you like your beads you'll love the prize! Although I found beads quite challenging to work with - especially the little fiddly things - I did put some on another card today - these were a lot easier to work with. I've been playing with some inks today making some backgrounds.

There's something afoot on the inchy blog too - you'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out what though!

Well, I'd better throw in a few cards for you to look at! I've done a pocket card here with my SU stamps - I love this colour combination of the green and the black - what do you think? I could do with some good white ink - any ideas?

I've been playing with some inks making some backgrounds - can you spot the Tiger's Eyes on here?

DAHLIA FOLD

An example of a Dahlia Fold card - if you would like to have a go you'll find the instructions on my Stampin Up blog - here

Some more blog candy being offered here at Cambiel's blog

The challenge over at Arty Girlz this week is Nature - I've used some of my Cherry Pie stamps for this one.

THIS THURSDAY ITS ALL ABOUT BEADS!!!

We're on week 2 of our This Thursday challenge - thank you to all of you who entered last week.

This week was a difficult one for me - but then that's why its a challenge. We're doing beads and my first reaction was OMG!!!! I must admit beads are not my favourite but I love what everyone else did with them.

Our Guest Designer this week is Marina of Cherry Pie Stamps - thanks Marina for agreeing to be a Guest Designer for us - we've even tried to persuade Marina to start a blog! LOL!

Here are my beaded entries: Apologies to all beaders! LOL!

Wow - it must be the sun or something cause there's loads of blog candy

Susie has some blog candy up for grabs - http://whiteribboncards.blogspot.com/

Emma also has some blog candy - http://elf-creations.blogspot.com/

Dana also has some blog candy:http://mytreasuredcreations.blogspot.com/

AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT MINE TOO!

10,000 HITS - BLOG CANDY

WOW - I'VE REACHED 10,000 HITS ON MY BLOG

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SPENT THE TIME BROWSING ON MY SITE AND LEAVING ME COMMENTS - ITS LOVELY TO READ WHAT YOU ALL PUT AND TO MEET SO MANY NEW FRIENDS THROUGH BLOGLAND.

AS A THANK YOU I'M OFFERING SOME BLOG CANDY. SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE TO WIN IT ?

Here are the rules:

LEAVE ME A COMMENT AND A LINK ON YOUR BLOG AND TELL ME WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO DO WHEN CRAFTING - MINE IS DEFINITELY MY RUBBER STAMPS. I WILL CHOOSE A WINNER AT RANDOM ON 4TH JULY. NOW WHY DOES THAT DATE RING A BELL - LOL!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK! AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A LINK

NEW CRAFTERS DIRECTORY

DO YOU HAVE A CRAFT BUSINESS YOU'D LIKE TO ADVERTISE OR A BLOG - THERE'S A GREAT NEW CRAFTERS DIRECTORY OPENED BY SALLY AND RICH OF AUNTY'S FORUM.

YOU'LL FIND ALL THE DETAILS HERE

Crafters Directory

SKETCH SATURDAY/CD HOLDER

CD HOLDER

Here's a great idea I think I saw in an old Stampin Up catalogue. If, like me, you have parents or grandparents that live away from you and you send them pictures on a CD disc - here's a great way of sending them. You could even do a whole catalogue of them by month or whatever.

I made a load of cards last night all using my Stampin Up stamps for a change. I must admit I've not been playing with them lately as there has been so many other things to be playing with - but here are a few - more on my SU website - here

SKETCH SATURDAY

This was the Sketch Jo gave us to work with this week and here's my take on it.

I've used Stampin Up here again - the background paper is Brocade Background, the stamps are from the Carte Postale set.

Happy Solstice Everyone

There seems to be a bit of a debate raging as to when Solstice is this year - we will still be celebrating it this evening. We live only 10 minutes away from Stonehenge but it just gets so busy - apparently there are 30,000 there this year - the largest gathering for 5 years so they say.

I'm sharing with you some canvases of Stonehenge that my daughter did for her GCSE in Art last year. She chose not to do art for her A levels which I think was a shame - her horse art is just fantastic. I'll put some of that on here another day.

Wishing you all Brightest Blessings.

STORAGE IDEAS

Whilst chatting away in the chat room on Aunty's Forum someone asked about storage for all those little bits we need for our crafts and I mentioned my spice racks - so I thought I'd put a picture of them on here in case anyone else needs some inspiration. As you can see I have two of them - I got them from ebay. And they are great for finding those fiddly bits really quickly and as they are clear you can see whats in them.

P.S. - the eagle-eyed among you might see my shadow box of ATC's from one of our very first ATC swaps on Aunty's sometime last year.

AFTER THE FIRE.....

Something a bit different from me today - a sort of scrapbook page called After The Fire.

THIS THURSDAY....ITS THURSDAY LOL

WOOHOO - We're live today over at This Thursday so do pop along and join in - you may be lucky enough to win those lovely Colorbox inks! You'll also find a tutorial and a free downloadable paper - so what are you waiting for?

I found a new skinny saturday challenge as Caroline has had to close hers for a while - this week they wanted us to use the title Oh to be Queen - what a fab challenge. However I chose to do mine a bit different from all the rest - so I chose a Queen Bee!

The chipboard B was made using Stampin Up's Heat & Stick Powder and SU Glitter to make it sparkle!

The challenge over at Crazy Amigo is song lyrics. This is my first time playing along with this challenge - I've done a skinny. I love this song by Randy Crawford and think it goes so well with this stamp.

Pop along to Beckys blog to be in with a chance to win some blog candy. All you have to do is tell her the last crafty thing you bought!

Have you tried.....???

I've just made a card -not for a challenge, not for a bet, just for fun!!! Wow - that doesn't happen very often LOL!

Here's my tip for the day - have you tried stamping on your blooms or prima flowers? I thought it looked a bit plain so stamped the flower image on the inner flower. I think I'll do a few more of these. Stamps are papers are Stampin Up.

CREATED BY HAND/ARTY GIRLZ

Created By Hand want us to use patterned paper and Arty Girlz want us to use pink so I've combined both.
The paper and Butterfly stamp is Stampin Up.

ONE MORE DAY TO GO until the launch of This Thursday - come along and take the challenge and a great chance to win some fabulous inks.

Twinchies (?) - 2" squares are the order of the day over Wednesday Stamper - here are mine, all made with Cherry Pie stamps.

CAT HANDS

I've been doing some more hands - they are so addictive! And I've just been on TGIF who want to see some cats - there's lots on here to see.

Dovecraft Competition - Sassy Crafts Blog

Emma at Sassy Crafts is running a Dovecraft Competition - she asks that you do a project with at least three Dovecraft products on it.

I've used the Dovecraft Laura Ashley tin which includes the flowers, chipboard pieces, ribbons - all sorts of goodies. I've used the flowers, chipboard piece and ribbons on this card. The stamps are Stampin Up.

2 DAYS LEFT

THAT'S RIGHT - Only TWO days to go before This Thursdays launch.

Don’t forget that you can enter our challenges with anything arty or crafty.

At 8pm GMT every Thursday night the Design team will be available to answer any questions about their examples or just to chat in our chatroom. So we hope to see you there.

Some weeks there will be a free downloadable paper or a free downloadable project . We have great sponsors , prizes and guest designers for our first 9 challenges so make sure you come along and join in. The winner will be picked by draw and will be posted on Thursday Night at 8pm along with a slider of a selection of our favourite entries from the last weeks challenges.

THEME THURSDAY - FAIRIES

Theme Thursday are doing Fairies this week - I've just done a Fat Swap on Auntys Forum for fairies so this is a good one for me.

And here's a fairy inchy (sorry its a bit blurred)

Leonardo in Green

I found another new challenge blog on my travels today - Sunday Postcard Art - are looking for a postcard of your favourite artist - you'll find it here.

I've done Leonardo In Green - all stamps are Cherry Pie. If you like the look of the green inks - pop along to This Thursday this Thursday 19th June as these are the first prize up for grabs!

They are Colorbox Queue inks.

I'M HOOKED!!!!

Whilst surfing today I came across Chris' blog and , as mentioned below, she has a challenge running to do with Hands. She wanted us to draw around our hands and fill in with stamps. I'm hooked - I loved doing this one and will probably be doing so many you'll be sick of seeing them.

This one is called WITCH HAND?

All Stamps Cherry Pie, of course!

HANDS

Hands are the order of the week over at TMTA. I used this gorgeous stamp from, yep you guessed it - Cherry Pie.

I also found another blog challenge that was asking for HANDS - you'll find it here. Chris is asking us to draw around our own hands and in fill with stamps - what a great challenge - I'm off to do mine! I'll let you know when I'm finished!