Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Welcome to The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge Blog Hop. Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker loves to colour and she is hosting her fifth 30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE. The premise of the challenge is to colour something everyday even if it’s for just five minutes. It doesn’t matter what you colour or what medium you use. It's such a fun challenge and a brilliant way to make sure that you take a relaxing break for yourself during the day.

Even if you can't get to colour every day you can join in at any time while the challenge is on. You will find that Kathy encourages you along the way to stretch your creativity a little bit more and to feel successful with your colouring. You will learn so much from Kathy and pick up lots of tips and techniques. More details on the challenge can be found in Kathy's blog post here and in Kathy's video here.

I first got to know Kathy through the Hero Arts group on Flickr and from the start she has amazed me with her sheer creativity and fabulous colouring skills. Today Kathy has assembled a blog hop to give your creativity a jump start. Along the hop you'll meet Hero Arts artists, friends and Hostesses.

You should have arrived here from the blog of my very talented friend Linda - can't wait to see what she has coloured and created! A full list of all the blogs on the hop can be found here on Kathy's blog. At the end of the hop you will find a fantastic GIVEAWAY from my favourite company Hero Arts - two shopping sprees of $25.00 each! Winners will be randomly picked from the blog comments of the blog hop - good luck! I have comment moderator switched on so please don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately.

Often when I stamp an image for a card I stamp off a few extras for the future in case I need to make a card in a hurry. I have a drawer full of these stamped images ready to go. For when I'm out and about I also keep some stamped images in one container and in another container I have images that I've fully cut out and are ready to colour along with others that have just been coloured. It makes it easy to grab some things when I have the opportunity to cut out or colour. Often when I'm sitting in my car waiting for my kids to come out of school I'll be cutting out and/or colouring. It's amazing how much you can get done when you're just waiting around!

From the time I got Hero Arts Spice Market Large Petal Background I've had great fun colouring it and have used it again and again on cards. Below is a card I posted a while ago which shows what the full image looks like on a kraft base and coloured with pencils.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & Type (Hero Arts)

This time I wanted a brighter look so stamped part of the image on a scrap of white card and coloured with Promarkers. After cutting out the piece I adhered it to the top of the card. The sentiment was die cut three times and layered.

Stamp - Spice Market Large Petal Background (Hero Arts)
Dies - Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Well after making that card it seems like I was bitten by the colouring bug and went on to stamp the image again using up more card scraps.

I went with cool blues and greens for the first card

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

and then used a mix of warm colours for the second.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

I have to say I really enjoyed taking some time to lose myself completely in colouring and would encourage you to do the same and join in on Kathy's The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge if you haven't already done so.

Now it's time to pop over to the next stop on the hop where you'll be visiting the very creative Cheiron. Enjoy the rest of the hop and I'm looking forward to going hopping too!

Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Hop, featuring fabulous stamps from the new 2014 release!

You should have arrived here from the blog of my friend, the super talented Sally Sherfield. If you come across a broken link, you can find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

Don’t forget to leave comments as you hop. Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning. I know Hero Arts prizes are always fantastic, so best of luck! I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.

Every year I look forward with great anticipation to Hero Arts’ new releases and the 2014 catalogue is packed full of so many wonderful products! Thanks to the generosity of Hero Arts, I’ve had a chance to play with some of the new stamps and oh my goodness what fun I’ve had getting inky with them since they arrived!

For my first card I started off by using the cute owls and a sentiment from the Lil Hoot set. I think the Lil Hoot set is so adorable, with super cute images and a lovely range of sentiments. This set also happens to be one of Hero Arts Operation Write Home stamps. Hero Arts donates 25% of the profits from the sale of its OWH stamps to the Operation Write Home organisation. The frame for the owl was made from the outer part of the main image from the A Little set. On this card I also used the Tiny Flags and Tiny Star backgrounds which are such great background stamps and are ones I know I will use over and over again.

Supplies: Stamps (Hero Arts Lil Hoot, Hero Arts Tiny Flags, Hero Arts A Little and Hero Arts Tiny Star Background), card (white, kraft, blue & pink), VersaMark, white embossing powder, black ink, distress inks (antique linen & faded jeans), ProMarkers and glossy accents.

For the next card I again used the A Little stamp set. Although I've only had this set a little over a week, I have already lost track of the amount of times I’ve inked it up – I LOVE it so much. The other day I used it to make a wrap for a chocolate bar and I’ve also made numerous gift tags, using a variety of the sentiments, for use at a later date. This time I made another card and went on a bit of a pink rampage as you can see!

Supplies: Hero Arts A Little stamp set, pink & white card, pink Core'dinations card, Hero Arts pale tomato mid-tone shadow ink, VersaMark, white embossing powder, Sizzix dotted lattice embossing folder and heart rhinestones.

As I mentioned, there are lots of fun sentiments included in the A Little set, but I decided to add a different one to the little tag below:)

Stamp: Hero Arts A Little

Coming up to my birthday and Christmas, I may just have to strategically place the catalogue and tag somewhere in my house as a subtle, or maybe not so subtle, hint;)

Because I love all of the critters in the Lil Hoot set so much, I couldn’t stop at making one card and ended up making a little set of cards. It's hard to tell from the photos but parts of the images are layered on foam pads for some extra dimension. This was a really quick and easy process because of the way that the critters are drawn. I pulled the Tiny Flags background back out again for a bit of embossing on the backgrounds.

Supplies: Stamps (Hero Arts Lil Hoot, Hero Arts Tiny Flags and Hero Arts Be Happy), card (white, kraft, yellow, orange, green, blue and pink), black ink, VersaMark, clear embossing powder, glossy accents, ProMarkers, Nestabilities (circles and inverted scalloped circles), sewing machine and threads.

I just want to say thanks a million to Hero Arts for their generosity and yet another release packed full of must haves. A great big thanks to you too for visiting and to my hosti sisters who are so much fun and so inspiring! Now it’s time for you to hop to your next stop where the sweet and very talented Arlene McClung awaits your visit.

A Little Chocolate Makes Everything Better

I can’t believe it’s a little over three weeks since I last posted - I nearly had to dust the cobwebs away from the blog!

I was so excited the other morning when the A Little stamp set by Hero Arts arrived! Since then I've had a great time making little tags and cards using it. To say I'm smitten by this set would be an understatement! Besides using all the great sentiments that come with the set, it will also be fun to add other sentiments to the main image either using stamps I already have or sentiments from the pc.



For this project I used the "chocolate" sentiment. I started by embossing the main image and added sentiment on brown and kraft card. To make the wrap for the chocolate bar, I embossed a piece of pool card, added punched scallops to the edges and adhered it to the cellophane wrapped bar. Then I adhered the chocolate panel to the wrap using foam pads. I'm submitting this project into the Simon Says Stamp Emboss It Challenge and the A Blog Named Hero New Year, New Stash Challenge.

I just want to let you know that the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop will start at the Hero Arts blog next Monday.

From Monday to Friday next week, the Hostesses will be showing projects made using new stamps from Hero Arts’ 2014 catalogue. Each day next week the hop will start at the Hero Arts blog. I know we are all having a brilliant time playing with the new stamps. I can't wait to go hopping with my Hosti friends next week and see what everyone has come up with! I hope you'll come along and join in on the hopping fun!

Now I'm off to test the theory on the bar of chocolate - I'm sure it must be right, but I better check just to make sure ;-)

Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop

I'm delighted to be part of the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop, to celebrate and thank the moxie fab Cath Edvalson, former editor at Paper Crafts Magazine and brilliant blogger at Moxie Fab World!

You should have arrived here from sunny California from the blog of the very talented and sweet Nancy Krueger. If you didn't begin at the start of the hop, you can go to Moxie Fab World where the hop begins. A list of all of the stops on this blog hop will also be listed there.

Cath has been such a big part of the paper crafting world so needless to say I was very shocked and saddened when I read Cath's farewell post over at Moxie Fab World. So today I'd love to say thanks a million to Cath for everything and let her know I'll miss her so much.

In her farewell post Cath quoted Winnie the Pooh, and today I have to say to Cath, also in the words of that wise bear, I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen. And what adventures I've had since I came across Cath's wonderful, inspiring, eloquent, fun and intriguing posts in Moxie Fab World. Because of Cath, visits to Moxie Fab World have always been a must for me. I've also thoroughly enjoyed playing along with the Tuesday Trigger and the amazing variety of challenges Cath has come up with over the years. Cath has always been so generous with her kind words of encouragement to paper crafters. She has even managed to keep me, a non trendy person, interested in and abreast of all the latest trends. My online “visits” to CHA with Cath have been fantastic. Often because of her I’ve ended up with a very long shopping list indeed!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Exotic Bloom & Dolls (sentiment)

Cath, this card was made for you and about you. The panel represents all the colour you have brought into my life, something for which I will always be thankful. I want to wish you all of the very best in your new adventure in life. I'm sure many, many exciting and fun experiences lie ahead! As the blog hop banner says, Cath, you'll always be moxie fab! Hugs and best wishes :)

Thanks so much for visiting today and now why don't you join me as I hop from here in Ireland over to Switzerland for the next stop in the hop. You will be visiting the lovely and talented Isha Gupta . Happy hopping and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next picnic spot on the Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!

If you’ve been following along the picnic trail, you should have just arrived from the blog of the talented Kryssi Ng. In case you come across a broken link or didn't begin at the start of the hop, you’ll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also please report broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning - best of luck! I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.

Recently we’ve been enjoying the most glorious weather and have had lots of days out in some of our local scenic areas. Each time we’ve loaded up our wicker picnic basket, so for our virtual picnic today I thought I’d make a picnic basket shaped card.

Hero Arts Stamps – Picnic CL599, Designer Woodgrain S5208 and It’s a Day for a Cupcake AR171 (Archiver’s exclusive)

I die cut the basket using my Silhouette and stamped the outer layer and handles with the Designer Woodgrain stamp. The sentiment was heat embossed in white. Then I made a little tablecloth/blanket by repeatedly stamping the strawberry from the Picnic set on a triangle of white card and coloured it with ProMarkers. The borders were made from scraps of card left over from other projects. After stamping and cutting out the cupcakes, I added some dimension by adhering the “cream” topping with foam pads. Some swirls of stickles were applied for added sparkle and the “chocolate” and strawberries on the cupcakes were covered with a layer of Glossy Accents.

All week I’ve been enjoying this calorie free picnic and want to try out all the mouth watering recipes my Hosti sisters have provided. So now it’s my turn to come up with something for our picnic. One of my favourite summer time combinations is strawberries and cream, so pavlova is one of the (many!) desserts I love.

Hero Arts Stamps - Remember & Picnic

As well as being a cool and refreshing dessert, pavlova is also easy to make. If you’re having a garden picnic, the pavlova can come straight out of your fridge or if you’re going on a picnic out and about, just pop the pavlova or elements needed for the pavlova into your cooler box to keep chilled. With the recipe below you can either make one big pavlova or a batch of mini pavlovas as I did.

Since we have a coeliac in the family, it’s great to have this delicious dessert that can be enjoyed by all of us, even those on a gluten free diet. If you are making pavlovas for a coelic, please just ensure that the cornflour and white wine vinegar do not have any added gluten or have not been on a production line where they could have been contaminated by gluten. If you live in Ireland, just to let you know the Coeliac Society of Ireland produces a wonderful booklet that is an invaluable source of information and provides a comprehensive list of gluten free manufactured products on sale in Ireland. Anyway here is the recipe if you’d like to make mini pavlovas:

Mini Pavlovas

Ingredients

3 egg whites
6oz caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
½ pint cream
2 teaspoons icing sugar
Strawberries and cherries (or any other fruits) to decorate

Method

1. Line baking trays with non stick baking parchment.

2. Whisk egg whites until stiff. Whisk in the caster sugar a third at a time, each time whisking until the mixture is stiff and very shiny. Fold in the cornflour, vanilla essence and the white wine vinegar or lemon juice.

3. Spoon dollops of the mixture into small round shapes on the baking parchment. Form a hollow in the middle of the round mounds.

4. Bake at 130 C (250 F) for approximately 45 minutes or until pale brown and dry but a little soft in the centre. (If you are making 1 large pavlova, adjust the cooking time to 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours). Leave to cool slightly and peel off paper.

5. Whisk the cream until thick and fold in icing sugar. Spoon cream onto mini pavlovas and decorate with strawberries and cherries (or any other fruits).

6. Now sit back, relax and enjoy!

I've made my card and my dish so now it's time for me to find a lovely picnic spot. I'd dearly love to have all my Hosti sisters right here with me, so we could enjoy a little hike and picnic together overlooking the lakes at Glendalough, Co Wicklow.

I'd like to say a great big thanks to Hero Arts for letting us loose having us on the blog this week and of course for all the fab must have goodies it produces! Also a great big thanks to Deborah, who has put in an amazing amount of work behind the scenes for the hop and has had us all in giggles as she's let the cat out of the bag over on the Hero Arts blog about our shenanigans at the picnic!

But for the moment why don’t you join me in hopping over to the next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop where we'll visit the lovely and talented Kathy Wade – I can’t wait to see what she has lined up for us! Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of the hop!

I'm submitting this card into the Simon Says Stamp Summer Food and/or Drink Challenge.

Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Hop, featuring fabulous stamps from the new 2013 release!

If you’ve been following along, you should have just arrived from the blog of the ultra talented Lisa Carroll. In case you come across a broken link, you’ll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also please report broken links to Tami at blog@heroarts.com.

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning - best of luck! I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.

The Hero Arts 2013 catalogue is packed with the most wonderful stamps! I can tell you after browsing through the catalogue many times, my shopping list is very, very long! Thanks to the ever generous Hero Arts, I’ve had a chance to play with some of the new stamps, before my shopping order arrives. When the stamps arrived from Hero Arts I was like a kid on Christmas morning and have had so much fun playing with my new “toys”!



The New Baby set is one of the most adorable baby sets I’ve ever seen! The images are so cute and I love the stitching details on the stamps. Not only is the set brilliant for making baby cards but I know I’ll be using some of the images on cards for kids and also for cute cards for adults. Anyway above is the first card I made using this set and the gorgeous new Looped Circle Pattern stamp – oh I love all the possibilities for this stamp!

Hero Arts Stamps – New Baby & Looped Circle Pattern
Other Supplies - Card (white & blue), broken china distress ink, VersaMark, white embossing powder, baker's twine, tag punch, gems, glitter, paintbrush and water.



On this card I again used the Looped Circle Pattern but in a different way to my first card, by using an embossed strip and cutting out pieces from the pattern. Along with this stamp, I used the Fantastic Birthday set which contains beautiful sentiments and lots of yummy, calorie free images – I can’t resist sweet things and I certainly couldn’t resist this sweet set!

Hero Arts Stamps - Fantastic Birthday, It’s Your Day and Looped Circle Pattern
Other Supplies – Card (cream woodgrain, white & brown), white embossing powder, VersaMark, patterned paper, shabby shutters and tumbled glass distress ink, markers, pearls, label die, glossy accents and diamond stickles.



I’ve always loved patchwork and my first attempt at patchwork involved cutting out lots of hexagons from card and fabric and piecing the hexagons together, using the card as backing for the fabric. So when I saw the Hexagon Background, I knew I had to have that stamp! I just love it and can again imagine using it in so many different ways – love when a stamp does that for you! My good friend Linda included the fab It’s Your Day set in a wonderful bundle of goodies she sent me at Christmas – thanks again, Linda:) Talk about being spoiled for choice for birthday greeting with this set! Anyway to make this card I did a lot of embossing, a lot of paper piecing and a lot of stitching too. I had great fun making my mini paper quilt!

Hero Arts Stamps - Hexagon Background and It’s Your Day
Other Supplies - patterned paper, VersaMark, white embossing powder, pink card, thread, sewing machine and gems.

Thanks to Hero Arts for another fab release of new stamps, to Deborah and Tami for all the work they put into organising the Hop and of course, the Hero Hostesses for all the inspiration they provide me with on a daily basis. Also thanks a million to you for visiting and best of luck in the draw – I know Hero Arts prizes are always fantastic!

Now it’s time for you to leave Ireland and take a big, big hop across the Atlantic to Canada and your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop where you’ll meet the super talented Tracey Kuzniak. Brrr snow is forecast here, I wonder if Tracey has any in her neck of the woods! Enjoy the rest of the Hop and I’m off to join you hopping with my hot chocolate in hand!

Edited for questions I've been asked in the comment section or by email

1. Quite a few people have asked me what tool I use for cutting. I just use a curved nail scissors that I bought in Boots Chemists when I first started card making a few years ago. I've never tried any other type of scissors as these work well for me.

2. A few people asked me if I really did emboss, cut and stitch all those hexagons. The answer is yes! I embossed a mix of patterned papers and also a backing piece of card stock, cut out the patterned paper hexagons and adhered them to the backing card. Then I just used a tiny zig zag stitch setting on my machine and stitched away. It did take a while to do but I really enjoying cutting and sewing when making cards:)

Thanks so much to you for all for your lovely comments, I really appreciate each and every one of them:):)

Rainbow of Thanks

I recently received a wonderful parcel of new goodies from Hero Arts, which included the fab Looped Circle Pattern background stamp. This is another Hero Arts stamp that I just can't seem to put down, as soon as I've cleaned it, there it is all inked up again!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Looped Circle Pattern & Celebrate Everyday

Today I decided not to use it as a background stamp but as the focal point on my card. I rummaged through my scrap stash for some rainbow coloured card and embossed these pieces. Then I embossed a panel of black card and randomly paper pieced the coloured card onto it. I trimmed the panel and added pearls. To get the sentiment I wanted, I just inked up the Thanks part of Thanksgiving from a sentiment in the Celebrate Everyday set. I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp Black/White + Splash of Colour Challenge and the New Year, New You Challenge over at A Blog Called Hero.

I'm so excited about next week as.....

....the annual Hero Hostess Blog Hop is taking place all next week! I know all of us Hostesses have had a brilliant time playing with the fabulous new stamps from Hero Arts' 2013 catalogue. So from Monday to Friday there will be 5-6 blogs to visit each day. The Hop will start off each day at the Hero Arts Blog. I can't wait to go hopping to see what everyone has come up with! Hero Arts will have fantastic prizes for some lucky, randomly picked hoppers who leave comments on the blogs. I hope you'll come hopping along with us and you never know you could be one of the lucky winners!

Hope you have a fun and inky weekend!

Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to the Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop!



You should have arrived here from Karin’s blog. I’m so delighted to be celebrating the 1st Birthday of Lily Pad Cards and to be part of this Blog Hop – congratulations and thanks Deborah and Vicky!

There are three prize packages with a total retail value of over $300 to be won! These prizes will be awarded by random draw. To be eligible, you need to “like” Lily Pad Cards on Facebook. To increase your chances of winning, you can leave a comment on each of the blogs participating in this hop (including the Lily Pad). Your name is entered in the draw each time you comment on a blog (but only one comment per blog, please). To be in with a chance to win one of these wonderful prizes, comments should be left by 12:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 8. Good luck!


The Dream Team!

Well for my cards today, I wanted to use colours inspired by lily pads and a certain fabulous frog – yes Frederick duPonde you know that’s you, and honestly, George Clooney isn’t a patch on you! In honour of the equally fabulous Vicky and Deborah, I also made sure I included the colours of the Greek and U.S. flags.

So below is my first card.



Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps (Friends Definition, Wild Flowers and Birthday Messages), faded jeans distress ink, VersaMark, white embossing powder, card (cream & navy), upholstery fabric, baker’s twine and gems.

Of course I had to make a card especially for Frederick....



...and here it is



Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps (Froggy, Be Happy, Write Your Message,Friendly Flags and Heart Owls), card (white, blue, green & red), inks (black, green & blue), Happy Birthday embossing folder, blue ProMarker, Glossy Accents, white pen, baker’s twine and gems.

Since it’s a day of celebration, I have some brownies and baklava at the ready and am now ready to enjoy lots of hopping! The next stop on the hop is Lidiya’s blog. If you hit a bad link, you can always go back to Lily Pad. to view the master list of blog links. Please report any bad links to aris@inlinkz.com. Thanks for visiting and have fun hopping:)

Hero Hostesses Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to your next stop in the Hero Arts 2012 Catalogue Blog Hop with the Hero Hostesses!



You should have arrived here from Anita’s blog. She is so talented and fun, I can’t wait to go hopping myself and see what she has created! If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, if you happen to come across any broken links, please report them to Tami.

Don’t forget to leave comments as you hop! Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning! Good luck!

The Hero Arts 2012 catalogue is packed full with fab stamps to suit every style you could possibly imagine. I had so much fun getting inky with the stamps the ever generous Hero Arts sent me to play with. Usually I give details of how I’ve made a card, but I’ve omitted that today as my post is quite long as it is, so please feel free to email me if you have questions about any of the cards. Now on to what I got up to with the new stamps!

I love flowers and knew I had to get the Newspaper Tulips K5576 stamp as soon as I saw it. Tulips come in so many colours and I’ve had a great time trying out lots of different colours on the Newspaper Tulips, so quite a few of my family\friends will be recieving tulip cards soon!



Hero Arts Stamps:
Newspaper Tulips K5576
Flourish Background CG119
Four Hearts CG425 (for the punched heart sentiment piece)

Other supplies - inks (dried marigold distress ink, VersaMark & VersaCraft Celadon), white embossing powder, cream card, cotton upholstery fabric, string, gem, heart punch and Labels 8.

I'm submitting this card into the Die Cutting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and the Around the House Challenge in the Moxie Fab World (used upholstery fabric).


Hero Arts have created three new clear stamp sets in collaboration with Operation Write Home. Hero Arts will donate 25% of the profits from these sets to that great organisation – love that! One of these sets is Right at Home CL583 which I love and used on this card along with lots of other Hero Arts stamps.



With all the great elements in this adorable Right at Home set - the house, picket fence, framed picture, kite, cloud and sentiments, I just couldn’t resist it and will be using these images on cards for all different kinds of occasions.


Inside card

Hero Arts Stamps:
Right at Home CL583
Dot Flower Pattern CG335 (wallpaper on inside)
Cloud Background S5215
Be Happy CL377
Adorable Baby Girl CL265

Other supplies – distress inks (tumbled glass, shabby shutters, broken china & antique linen), patterned paper, white & red card, colouring pencils, heart gem and string.



I absolutely LOVE the new Greetings set CG414 and can imagine using both stamps in so many different ways. On this card I teamed the butterfly thank you stamp with a background stamp I use over and over again – Old Letter Writing S4878



Hero Arts Stamps:
Greetings CG414
Old Letter Writing S4878

Other supplies - Ribbon Lace CH231, distress inks (tumbled glass, shabby shutters & antique linen), cream & white card, VersaMark, white embossing powder, pearls, thread, button, seam binding, patterned paper.



I want to send a great big thanks to my favourite company, Hero Arts, for a wonderful new catalogue brim full of fabulous products and for inviting me to take part in this blog hop!


Hero Arts Stamp – Four Hearts CG426

A big thanks too to Tami and Deborah for all that they’ve done in organising the hop and of course the Hero Hostesses for all the amazing projects they have created – girls you’ve been so inspiring and have made my shopping list a lot longer!!

Last but not least, a big thanks to you too for visiting and now it’s time for you to go hopping again. At your next stop you will visit the super creative Tracey! Enjoy the rest of your hopping, I’m off to do some hopping too!

WELCOME LILLY! - Blog Hop

Welcome to our blog hop for Paula and Lilly!

Little Lilly aka “Bug” was very excited about meeting her mum, dad and big sis. So she decided to arrive a little bit early and was born on Friday 4th June weighing 7 lbs and 13 1/2 oz. I’d like to send big congratulations and best wishes again to mum Paula, dad Doug and big sis Em! There’s nothing like having a new baby in the house, exhausting at times I know, but just wonderful too!



Back in April, Deborah and Hannah hatched and organised a plan for us to send cards to Paula once “Bug” had arrived. Paula’s friend Helen was also involved in the planning and we all sent cards to her to pass on to Paula. Deborah also put a lot of work into organising today's hop. Oh Paula, the things that have been going on behind your back!


Stamps (Hero Arts):- Adorable Baby Girl & Precious Baby Boy

As Paula is a moderator at the Die Cut Divas group on Flickr, I decided to go a little bit Cuttlebug crazy on both cards and of course being me I just had to put a bit of gingham fabric on the first card!


Stamps (Hero Arts):- You’re the Best, Clouds & Birthday Messages (used back of balloon stamp)

Well Paula as you already have your little cutie Em, I probably don’t have any tips to pass on to you that you don’t know already. But here’s something we used to do when our kids were babies. At the weekend my hubby and I would have a morning each. So whoever was “on duty” would get up when our baby woke (usually very early!) and let the other do what they wanted until 11am/12 noon. It could be sleep (often!), breakfast in bed, go for a walk, read a book, meet a friend etc. Having those few hours was just brilliant for recharging the batteries.

Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland

Just to finish here are some words of wisdom I’ve come across:-

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behaviour, and I'm not talking about the kids. Bill Cosby

When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out. Erma Bombeck

Be nice to your children, for they will choose your retirement home. Phyllis Diller

Hopefully you will have arrived here from Hannah’s blog in the US and now it's time to hop from Ireland over to Indonesia and Fika’s blog. If you think you have missed any stops on your travels or if there have been broken links in any of the blogs you can go back to Deborah’s blog where you will find the full list of links.

Again, welcome Lilly and congrats to Paula, Doug and Em! Thanks everyone for visiting and hope you all have a wonderful weekend!