Our new addition and Ryan's birthday

 Hi all!  Sorry I've been on the missing list again, I've had a bit of a tummy bug for a while, plus the addition of a new puppy means there's been no time for blogging!  So without further ado, please meet Miss Molly....

She's a 9 week old West Highland White Terrier and full of beans!  It's like having a wee rocket running round the house and then her batteries run out and it's snoozy time for an hour or two!  So she will be keeping us busy for sure!  Any training tips welcome!!! 

In the meantime we've had to totally puppy-proof our house!  I would always have had a box of crafty stuff, packs of card, guillotine etc sitting at my feet in the corner of the kitchen - Ruby would never have looked twice at but Molly would have a fab time trashing, so at the minute everything is everywhere out of reach of a little doggy.   

With all the fun and games my nephew's birthday card was a bit of a quick make!  (Reckon he was more concerned with the contents anyway 😉)  It's not very often I make a card using only dies and no stamping or colouring!

Pixies Snippets Playground challenge- it's a Ruby's Memory challenge and Kathy has donated some lovely Christmas goodies as a prize.  

Cardz 4 Guys #282 - any animal

Word Art Wednesday #513/514 - anything goes

Guest Designing at Christmas Kickstart

 Hi All!  I'm delighted to be guest designer over at Christmas Kickstart, run by my fabulous blogging buddy Jo!  This month's challenge is ...

Hahaha!  Or if you're not lucky enough to have a Greg 😉 you can ...

I know it's traditional for me to be sitting on Christmas Eve doing my usual panic-make for his nibs so it will be nice to look forward to a wee Bailey's and chilling out instead.  I hope you'll play along - Jo always has some nice goodies up for grabs too!  

So for Greg's card I have used this cutie from MFT along with an oldie die from Lil' Inker that I normally struggle to use.  (The black hearts to the side are actually silver)

New Home

 HI All, yes it's me again already, ans it not even 2 weeks since my last post 🤣. I've had a busy evening trying to get these cards finished for my mum's neighbour and trying to get ready for work tomorrow.  I'm back to my workplace in Belfast for the first time since last February so it will all feel very strange!!  

Anyway on to my cards... This first one was a super easy and super quick one.  The sentiment was from a never-used-newly-discovered set that I won such a long time ago, so I'm glad to get one of them inked!

I also used a new bit of kit on this.  i was very lucky to win a challenge over at Allsorts and got a voucher for Stamp Addicts - normally if I win some ££s I like to try something I wouldn't normally buy, so I treated myself to this Perfect Layers thingy.  I don't have a straight eye in my head so i think it's possibly one of the best tools I've ever used! 

AAA cards #200 - celebrate

Sweet Stampers #60 - stripes +/or dots 

CASology #396 - view - I've always fancied going up in a hot air balloon, the view must be lovely though I'm not so good with heights so maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea after all hahaha

And this second card uses an MFT Christmas set I bought aound this time last year; the sentiment is a real oldie, from one of the first LOTV sets I bought.  I stencilled in the grass and clouds bu could have been a bit more generous with my blue ink!

Retro Rubber Challenge #168 - tic-tac-toe - I used green / trees / punch

Floral Sympathies

 Hi All!  Gosh I hadn't realised it's been nearly a fortnight since my last post.  Time is whipping by so fast.  I'm back to my actual workplace for a day this week, it will be so strange!  It will be nice to see some of my workmates but I confess I am feeling a bit anxious about it... I'm not looking forward to my 2 bus journies to get there, nor setting an alarm to make sure I'm up and out the door on time!  It has been too easy just to rock up to work in my PJs 😉

Anyway I've a few sympathy cards to share this evening.  This first one uses an old fave from Taylored Expressions, I hadn't intended to make it so green but I think it turned out OK (??)

I coloured this one yesterday, so sharing it also on the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day post

Layout from MfT Wednesday sketch #561

Inspired By #189 - I was inspired by the metal bucket 

Pixies Snippets Playground challenge #413 - here's a wee pic of the tiny scrap cut from the end of my sentiment that was just big enough for those little die cut dots LOL...

My second card uses my old fuschia stamp from Clearly Besotted, coloured with watercolours.  I used to use my watercolour pencils all the time before I got in to my ploychromos and have kinda forgotten how to use them!  I did touch up my shadows with my pencils to darken them a bit.

Allsorts #644 - I lOVE... colouring is most of the fun of card making and I love the effects dies can add to a simple card

AAA Cards #200 - Clean and simple