Blog Hopping - candy!

As if there isn't enough blog hopping to do with OWOH I found another one today - at Tuesday Taggers - you'll find them here

Some gorgeous tags on there that the girls have done - their theme this week is Hearts n Flowers - I did a heart tag last week but will do a fresh one for this challenge

BRB x

CAN YOU SPOT SPRING????

Think Monday Think ATC have the theme expressive today - here's my offering:

Out in the garden with the dogs this morning and I spotted the snow drops out in full bloom - makes you think of lovely warm mornings, spring flowers and the promise of long days.

My dogs have a play day today - I'm looking after a friends field spaniel Coco - so my youngest Tegan is having a whale of a time and the older dog Tara just can't be bothered with all these young pups. The cats take Coco with a pinch of salt - when they are in the house the dog is very respectful of them - if she sees them outside though its a different matter and she thinks they are something to chase - some cat training is in order!

As you can see Oscar is not really bothered about the new dog and has decided that my craft chair is the best place to be - how on earth am I supposed to get on with any crafting then?

I've found a new craft forum to hang out at - Craftymess - and they seem to have lots going on - I've started up an inchy challenge with them - and I've put myself down for a tag book swap among other things - here are my tags. I can't remember where I got this owl from - isn't he cute though!

IMBOLC BLESSINGS

I want to share this gorgeous image with you to wish you Imbolc Blessings. It is by Wendy Andrew and you can find her gorgeous website below.

BRIGID WOLF MAIDEN

BY WENDY ANDREW

FIND HER WEBSITE AT www.paintingdreams.co.uk

I've found another inchy challenge blog - also on a Monday! How strange! I'm kind of missing the little things so its nice to join in with another challenge - their word this week is Mirthful. If you want to join in - you'll find them here

Someone had used a photograph of their grandson and it reminded me of a picture of my own son when he was 6 months old that I had made into a scrapbook - not quite a 1" - more of a 12" x 12"

LEAVES AND PODS

Wednesday Stamper has the theme of leaves and pods this week - you can check it out here .

I did some leaf drying back in the autumn, having a play with what I could do with them and this is what I came up with

The image stamped on the leaf is a Cherry Pie stamp. I'm going to put it in a frame and hang it on my wall in my craft room.

Craftymess

For a chance to win this great blog candy from Craftymess click on the badge in my sidebar or click here

WOYWW

I'm sure you all know what this stands for - Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday - I haven't been able to join in for a while because there really has been nothing on my desk - but now thanks to OWOH I've got the crafting bug again. I'm such a messy crafter - I have a fairly big desk and a 1" space to work in - well I did used to run inchy challenge blog but this is taking things a bit too far! I'd love to be one of those tidy crafters who knows where everything is and everything is in its place - are there any out there?

On my desk you can just about see a Home Wall Hanging I am working on - its going to be Prize No 2 for my OWOH giveaway - if you haven't joined in yet - what's keeping you - a chance to win goodies from all over the world!

PAPER SWAP

Over at UK Stampers Sam has organised an old paper swap - take a 12 x 12 piece of paper and play with it - jazz it up a bit with ink, stamps, anything - and then cut it into 9 4x4 pieces and do a swap. I used some Cherry Pie Stamps and some Tim Holtz. I really need some new inks as my Tim Holtz ones are nearly all dry - can you get reinkers for them? I'll have to have a look and see. Here's the before:

and here's the after

What a great way to use up an old boring piece of paper - I can't wait to get all the pieces everyone else has done. I'm going to go and do a few more pages and maybe cut them up into inch squares ready for some inchies.

Saying that though I may not get time - this One World One Heart blog hopping takes up so much time - so many blogs to get through and so few spare hours! I feel guilty sitting here so long with the dogs looking at me wanting their walk! But its cold and raining and its much more fun sitting here finding new artists and crafters and making new friends - oh ok - just a quick walk then!

LOVE TAG

Can you believe that, having stopped the inchy challenge blog, I've signed myself up with UK Stampers to do an on-going inchy swap! I just miss the little things! The swap is Continents and this week's was Africa - a tricky one as I had no African stamps so I amended a cat to look like a tiger! If only I'd taken a picture of them before I'd sent them off - but when I get them all back I'll upload them on here.
In the meantime here is a Valentines Tag I have done - also for UK Stampers for a competition they are running. I'm hoping I'll get back into doing some crafting if I join in. The stamp is one of Tim Holtz's - I love this family scene, especially as our family isn't complete with Emma at Uni and Jonathan having to work away - makes you treasure the moments that we are all together even more now the children are growing up.

The theme over at Sunday Stampers challenge is Sentiment - so I'm including my tag for that one also - Love does remind us that nothing else matters.



Tomorrow is the start of One World One Heart and I have been busy making my piece to be given away - Check again tomorrow to see what's on offer - especially if you like inchies!


My youngest Welsh Springer Spaniel Tegan is never far from me and this is her favourite place to be when I am on the computer - under the desk beside my feet. I often trip over her because she's so close behind me - its like having kids again!



My friend owns a wonderful meadow in the village in Hampshire where we live and last week we took a walk around it with the dogs - the sun was shining and it was almost spring - it gave us both such a lift to be watching these swans and listening to the river.







FIONA
x

ONE WORLD, ONE HEART

This is the final year for One World One Heart - the blog hopping event of the year - I did this a few years ago and even won something which was a bonus. I'm going to join in again this year - hopefully all that blog hopping will give me the motivation I need to get crafting again.

You'll find all the details here and the starting date is 30 Jan.

FINAL INCHY CHALLENGE

It's our final inchy challenge over at inchy blog this week as I've decided to close the blog - not an easy decision but I think it needs fresh legs. My choice of word for our final one is BLUE. Here's my inchy :

On a brighter note - my hubby and I went out with some friends to Winchester last evening for a skate around the ice rink and then some dinner. I'm not a very confident skater but I did enjoy it - and enjoyed watching those who can skate whizz by me! I'm just so grateful I didn't fall over!

White Glitter and Christmas Markets

This is a card I did for some of my Christmas cards last year and I really enjoyed doing it so thought I'd do some more this year - I'm also putting it in for the theme of White Glitter over at Gingersnap Creations

I met my friend Karen today (Missy K) and we went for lunch in Wincester and had a good old natter and put the world to rights. Its also the time of year when the Christmas Market is held at Winchester Cathedral and they also have an ice rink. We will be enjoying the delights of the Ice Rink on Monday evening - gulp!

Check out Erika's fab blog candy she's offering - you'll find it here

INCHY BLOG CHRISTMAS TAG SWAP

Here are the tags for our last ever inchy swap on inchy challenge blog - we had a gorgeous and varied selection of Christmas Tags all sporting an inchy.

BRRRR - COLD

Our challenge word this week on inchy blog is Cold - couldn't be anything else this week here in the UK. I hope you are all coping ok with the bad weather. Global warming - got to love it! lol!

Here's my inchy for the challenge - only one more week to go on the blog before it closes - although it may be taken up by a few of the other ladies - I wish them luck - it will be nice to play along and not have to do the thinking!

WINTER ANGELS

Whilst blog hopping this week I came across a gorgeous Winter banner and was inspired to make my own. The theme at Wednesday Stamper this week is Angels and my little angels on the banner fit the bill.

You can download the banner with the kind permission of Inka - you'll find her blog here

SNOW DAY

My son was so pleased this morning when he woke up to snow and could have a snow day off college. They're never too old! Here are some snowy pictures of Hampshire:

This is the Christmas Tree in our back garden - when we moved in 4 years ago it was tiny - but now look at it - it looks so pretty.

This morning I helped out at our village pub to put up the Christmas Decorations - there was a real festive atmosphere and we all stayed much longer than we should have - this is the pub with the snow on it - the thatch also looks very pretty at this time of year.

...and another

Meredith Scraps is also holding a Christmas card challenge - as she's in Australia though she doesn't want any snow cards! Here's a present card - inspired by Kristina Werner again.

MORE CHRISTMAS CARDS

I came across a new challenge blog today - called Christmas Cards All Year Round - their challenge was to do cards with the word Santa or a picture of Santa on - and if you do 5 you get entered into a monthly draw. I looked through the cards I've done recently and indeed had 7 with Santa on them - I've had to use my camera to photograph them as the scanner isn't working very well: