Shaking those tail feathers

Hi there,

We have some much needed rain at the moment, but it has put a halt to me doing any more painting on the fence, and I only went out and bought a wire brush to wash the next bit of fence yesterday! Grrr. Oh well, maybe tomorrow - or maybe I will just craft all day! None of the eggs have hatched out for my red-rumps this time, which is a shame but I wasn't overly convinced that they had been fertilised anyway.

I have a new card to share with you today. I got these stamps free with a magazine and had a great idea to use them with my feather stencil, however when I came to make the card I couldn't find my stencil! Not to be beaten by my own craft stash I found a leaf stencil and improvised. I am not sure it looks quite as good as I was hoping, but it does kinda work lol.

The base card is a preprinted one that was designed for patching a cross stitch onto, but I think it looks better for using with stamps or stickers due to the high quality of the printing.I created the leaf using green glitter paste and then stamping the peacock eyes onto thisin blue and purple. The feathering is not there for the edges, although I did try, but the eyes are obvious. I then simply stamped the sentiment on the opposite side. I think the sentiment works well with the pre-printed design.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
ATSM #239 CAS
CCEE 1717 Gardens
Hanna and friends #272 Glitter
inkspirational #133 Graffiti

Here is my fence so far - just in case you care lol:

Yup it is quite orange - it wasn't supposed the be quite this bright but I am hoping once the whole fence is completed it won't look so bright!

Here is a dino update too (about 25hr I think):

And finally, as I am not listening to audio books much at the moment (have to figure out what my password is for the library books!) I thought I would do a film review instead.

Star Trek Beyond
This film is another Captain Kirk based Star Trek, taking them back to thier roots of actually going where no-one has gone before. They travel into a nebula to help a refuge, only to find they are under attack from something never before seen. They have to move fast, using the aid of somebody who has had direct experience with the enemy, to prevent the space station from being destroyed.
I thought the story line for this film was very good, however right from the start it lacked the seriousness of Star Trek. I cannot put my finger on exactly what the problem is, but it seems to be more comic book style than is expected from these films. There is a certain finesse lacking that we have come to expect when watching Star Trek.

Thank you for checking out my blog - check back next Sunday for a new Quirky challenge!!

Hugz Tinz

Simple Congratulations

Well the weather has gone all grey and wet again today, which is probably good for the garden. I have had a look at the planters and they seem to have enjoyed the little bit of rain we had earlier. I have also potted on the first of my tomato plants - Garden Pearl, which are a cherry tomato. There are seven plants repotted and a few shoots still appearing, so I may not have room to plant them all without an allotment lol. I popped some new potatoes in a grow bag at the weekend also!

Anyway, here is my CAS congratulations card:

I have made this card to play along with the CASE challenge #3 at City Crafter, which is this card:

 

My version is made simply of peel-offs. I am never sure whether I have put enough on a CAS card. To me the left side of the card looks a little bare - any tips?

I would also like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Craftingbydesign - Anything Goes

allsorts #412 Something beginning with B (Balloon)

Here are some of my planters out the front of the house at the beginning of the month:

 The Acer growing back

 See little leaves!!

 What to put in this pot, as I don't think those two Geraniums will fill it

 Tree!

This is supposed to be a Globe Artichoke - I think it may be dead

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz

Hanging the Wreath

Today I have a Christmas card to share with you. I received a Popcorn Cd-rom a couple of years back from a friend and I haven't really used it as yet, so I decided to have a go with the images and other items on there. It turns out you can make loots of different things from one image, so I made a backing paper and matching insert. I also printed out a pyramage, but it was slightly too large for my card.

 The stamp is a papermania cling stamp which I coloured with watercolour pencils and the sentiment was one I got from my mother.

I would like to enter this for the following challenges:

Merry Monday #244 Wreath

ATSM #238 Holidays

CRAFT #412 Christmas

Winter Wonderland - Cute Christmas

ABC Christmas - H for Home (bird house) and I for Informal (sentiment)

Christmas @ Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes

I would also like to say RIP to our little Munchkin mouse. She will be very much missed - not least by Ditto! Scurry free over the rainbow bridge little one!

I also have another fish tank update (I will get back to giving you the time taken I promise!):

And a dino update too:

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz

For the best Dad

Hi there,

Time for a new challenge over at Aud Sentiments - our challenge theme this time is to use a stamp for the sentiment - no digital sentiments. Our sponsors for this challenge are Inspired By Stamping.

I decided to use some Anita's rubber stamps that I got from my mum as she is reducing her craft stock. I loved the fact that these two stamps worked together so well!

I used black momento ink for the frame and red for the sentiment panel. I then coloured the frame using watercolour pencils. They were sttamped onto a pale lilac base card.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

My Time To Craft #343 No designer papers
inkychicks #81 Use purple

I also have some more green things to share with you:

 Purrdy's planter

 My little Tulip - got one this year as it was well out of reach of the rabbit. I think I may have to reasses this planter though as it is a little overcrowded with Spring bulbs with nothing for later in the year.

 My Spirea!

Newly planted Snakes Head Fritillary

Thank you for looking,

hugz Tinz

Spring Flowers

Welcome back - I now have a whole side of a painted fence AND have done some Cross Stitching. whoop. Now to the new challenge over at Creative Moments, with the optional twist of Spring! Yup it is actually Spring now guys, and the weather seems to be figuring it out too. I am looking forward to lots of days in the sun! (Although I am in Wales, so maybe lots of rainbows lol.)

Our lovely sponsors this time are - Bugaboo, Sheepski and Sparkle N Sprinkle. I have used Wild Roses from Sheepski for my card this time. I coloured the image with promarkers and then spent quite a while trying to decide how I wanted to show the image off. Then when I went to look through my card blanks I found this one with the pre-printed floral circle, which was just the right size to pop the image into. I then found a lovely quote  in my peel-offs which finished the design off nicely.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

CASology #245 Grow

SOS #299 A Rose by any other name

Simon Says Wednesday - Showers/Flowers

Deep Ocean #153 Spring

TIOT - Add a quote

Addicted to CAS #109 Rainbow (Colours of flowers around the rose)

Crafty Calender - April Showers/Spring (I did the Spring flowers after the April showers :D)

I would also like to share my recent Geometric colouring:

And here is a fishtank update at about 142 hours:

Thank you for looking at my blog,

Check back tomorrow for another new challenge post!

Hugz Tinz

In the Garden

Welcome to a lovely sunny Wednesday - I am off work today for my Leui day (ok I think that is spelt incorrectly but hey-ho). We have a new challenge for you over at I Love Promarkers with the challenge theme this time being an easy one - Anything Goes. Just remember to use your Promarkers/Aquamarkers/Triamarkers or Flexmarkers to qualify for the challenge.

Our sponsor is Dr Digi's House Of Stamps who have some lovely unique digital stamp designs. I have used Toolshed Ted for my design:

The photograph is not very good. I couldn't get the lighting right to show the sentiment off properly, but it is easy to read in person! The sentiment says 'GARDENERS Never grow old They just go to seed!' which I thought was just perfect for this image! I fussy cut around the image after colouring him with Promarkers. The card base is from the Geometric range by Papermania, and the cherries are made from fabric leaves and two red pompoms that I have had in my stash for ages without knowing how I would use them!

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
Inkspirational #132 Spring
Deep Ocean #153 Spring
Crafting by designs - anything goes

 Doris is looking quite fluffy and is now feeling it when the sun comes out. We have had to move her run to an area that gets a bit more shade during the hot period now lol.

 I have some pretty little white flowers among the spikey greenery now!

Thank you for looking - pop back later for my next DT post. I am going to head out and do some planting first - and maybe paint some more fence!

Hugz Tinz

Wormy wormy worms

We are halfway though the challenge over at Quirky Crafts challenge, with my Quirky pets theme. For my mid-way inspiration post I decided to use this little worm digi. I have a womrery in the back garden, so I do technically keep worms as pets - although I do have to say they are not very cuddly, or easy to spot lol. Not like this little guy on my card.

I used some of the X-cut self adhesive glitter sheets that I bought myself a couple of months ago - they work brilliantly! I used Spellbinders fancy oval nesting dies for behind the worm and X-cut large oval nesting dies for the worm itself. I coloured the worm using promarker pens, and he is stripey to match my worms.
I then layered an Apple Blossom wild flowers die cut from some scrap patterned paper, and a Joanna Sheen flower border die-cut, to make a floral border for the worm. To finish I added a sentiment topper to a Papermania Bloomer flower.

I would also like to enter this card into the following challenges:
PFP 390 Flower Power
SOS #298 Use punches/dies
ATSM #237 Make your mark
CCEE1715 Humour
craftycatz #366 Animals
catch the bug - BINGO (die - sentiment - texture)



Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog, and we hope to see you joining us for our Quirky Pets challenge too!

Hugz Tinz

In Bloom for Easter

Ok so Easter cards are not a normal creation for me. I do not really celebrate Easter, although I am never going to complain about getting chocolate eggs!! I am aware however that Easter is not all about eggs - honest. However I do celebrate the beginnings of new life that we are able to see everywhere at this time of year, and for me this is where the Easter Egg symbolism lies. So they do have a meaning.

I did not use eggs on my card however wanting a more general Springtime feel for my card:

So I layered up blooms die-cut from several different patterned papers in my scrap box using Spellbinders build a flower dies. I added Papermania diamantes and some blue paper roses to the floral arrangement and then finished the card off with a peel-off sentiment.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
SOS #298 Use punches/dies
Die Cuttin' Divas #312 Easter/Spring
Crafting by design - girls or flowers (mine is flowers, just in case you couldn't tell) :)
CAGI - In the garden
Deep Ocean #152 Easter
Cute as a button #33 Easter

Here is an update on my Dinos (time taken will follow as I left my diary with a Mr Chucky who has gone to beddy-byes).

And I have a lovely strawberry growing too:

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz

On the Road

Hi there,

What a lovely weekend we had. A very full one for me too lol. I won tickets to the Bath Craft for Crafters show which we went out to on the Saturday. It was only an hour and half away so a little bit of travelling, and then we also went to the reptile show afterwards to get lizard and spider food. Spent more money than I actually could afford, but then doesn't that always happen at places like that?? lol
Then yesterday I did some general tidying around the garden and in the pet rooms. Problem is that you don't realise how hot the sun actually is until you get back inside and see yourself in a mirror!! Very red upper back and neck - ooops. That looked really great alongside my little white cardi that I sent out in last night hehehe.

I did also manage to make a crad using some of the bits I collected from my mums house when I was visiting. So here is what I have made:

For this card I used an aperture card blank in a mottled lilac colour. I added rub-ons to the corners and in the apeture. I added insect stickers around the edge, under the apeture and also overlapping to give some depth. I stuck the apeture panel down with foam pads to raise the front slightly. I added a cat and sentiment stickers and stamped a vintage car onto white card. I coloured this using my pastel brush Papermania markers and then fussy cut before adhering over the bridge using foam pad for the back and normal double sided tape for the front.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
CCEE1714 - Read a Road Map
AsYouLikeIt - Favourite card base shape - I chose a basic rectangular card base, because I went through all the different card bases, and almost chose an Easel card, but then I thought about all the different things you can do with a blank rectangle base!
MTTC #343 no designer papers
Animal friends #49 Spring

Say hi to Tubs our little cute old man! Two and a half years old now this little guy!!!

And for the growing stuff - my new viola planter:

and my Daffs:

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugz Tinz

Butterfly Blooms

Hi guys,

I have a couple of ATC's to share with you today - although I nearly didn't make it because my parrot made me laugh so hard I was crying!!! We had a squeaky toy for him that he had destroyed the tummy on so hubby removed the squeaker to prevent Chucky from eating it. So just now he was squeaking the squeaker at Chucky who was getting all over excited. He let Chucky get the squeaker and he (Chucky) lets out a loud and very squeaker like squawk. That was it - I was in hysterics. He obviously hadn't realised it was the squeaker making the noise and thought that he had to make the noise when squeaking it lol. If only I had been able to record it!!

Anyway on to the ATCs.

They are pretty simple this time. I bought an ATC pack a couple of years ago at the Manchester Stitch and Crafts show and haven't really used them much. Then my mum gave me her bits when I was visiting at the weekend and it inspired me to get mine out and actually use them. So the white base cards were pre-cut and then I used a golden pearl paper with rounded edges on the one and a rose themed backing paper on the other (both from the set). To finish the cards I simply added a felt butterfly to each. As the butterflies are quite intricate I decided that adding anything else would just look a little OTT. I used colours that matched the backing, so using a dark purple for the darker background and a paler lilac for the lighter background. In the picture it does look like the second card is washed out, but it really is just a paler version.

I would like to enter this collection into the following challenges:
C4C380 Animals
crafting by designs - Anything Goes
dragonfly dreams - Anything Goes
Country View #50 Rust (the back panel of the darker card is rust coloured)

Here is another of my colouring pages completed:

 And some of my seedlings too:

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz

Dodger Birthday

Hi there,

Time for another DT post from myself. It is time for the new challenge over at Aud Sentiments - a fortnightly challenge blog where you MUST use a sentiment on your card. It is the 7th birthday of the challenge blog and to celebrate we will be having two winners. So our theme this time is to use a Birthday sentiment, or the number 7. We are giving each of the two winners a gift certificate for the on-line store of their choice - so it is a brilliant prize.

I have gone for something a little different this time. As I am in an ATC group in which we are exchanging birthday cards, and I have been in the group for a few years, I decided I wanted to make a special card for each of the ladies birthdays. So my creation for this month was a card for one of the group, with an ATC to match.

I used a very colourful card blank for the base and cut it into an apron shape. I made the cross stitch and added the recipients initials to the coffee cup to personalise it (8hrs work here). I patched the cross stitch onto a pink 'pocket' with faux stitching round the edge and added it to the card blank, leaving the top open.
For the ATC I used a Popcorn and friends CD_Rom. I added the image onto the patterned paper, printed onto card. I then added soem self-adhesive lace across the top and finally a Papermania sentiment.
The ATC sits nicely inside the apron pocket!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Calender - April showers/Spring (the colours are sping themed, and the base card looks like a watery floral scene)

OLL #225 Layer it up

Simon Says Wednesday - Happy Birthday

Dragonfly Dreams - Anything Goes

My parrot got the wrong idea when playing whose got your nose. He didn't realise that I hadn't really stolen his beak and it was my thumb between my fingers, and so he tried to steal my nose -

ok not quite true something startled him and he jumped lol. It wouldn't stop bleeding and is swollen on the left side now :(

And some growing stuff now. Here are my planters a month on from potting them up:

 Atlas planter

Meeces planter

And finally - at long last - a new audio book review for you lovely people:

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

This book is another fun story, based loosely around Charles Dickens and where he got the ideas from his stories, as well as some other influential men of the time. The main character in the story however is entirely fictional, although taken from Charles Dickens stories to some extent. Dodger finds his whole life changes when he rescues a young lady from a pair of ruffians driving a cart with a very squeaky wheel. Dodger is a ‘tosher’ which means he is considered a lowlife by the upper classes as he makes his fortune in the sewers. However, he soon shows he is more than capable of holding his own with those upper classes and at the same time has to devise a plan to save the lady from those who would wish her harm.

All in all this is a good, fun book to listen to with lots of giggles. I think part of what makes these books good to listen to is the author understands the story and relays is so well.

Thank you for reading my blog,

Hugz Tinz

Easter Lily

And we also have a new challenge over at Creative Moments for you today - as always it is Anything Goes, this time with an optional twist of Easter. Our lovely sponsors are Creative Bug and QKR Stampede. Check out the challenge blog to see what they are offering the winners.

I used Easter Lily for my simple, one-layer card:

I printed the image directly onto the card blank and coloured with Promarkers. To finish I added a butterfly corner punch and central punch, and then peel-off sentiment and egg.

Promarkers - bright orange, apple, slate, dusky pink, Pastel beige.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
CAGI - Easter
Kort 'o' mania #174 Spring
CCM #185 Spring into spring
Deep Ocean #152 Easter
TIOT - Botanical
613 Avenue Create #196 Spring

I would also like to share an update of my christmas fairies with you all:

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz