Notecard - Nordic Floral Spellbinders

I just love this little die, from the Nordic Floral set by Lene Lok for Spellbinders, it is such a striking little graphic, and perfect for notecards for a clean and simple card

I often wonder how 'fashions' in cardmaking come about, all of a sudden, out of the blue, designers everywhere start using llamas, or peacocks, or yeti .....I mean, do they go to some designer's conference when they all decide what the next big thing would be, 'I know, let's start a craze for unicorns' 

So, for all my friends from overseas, (because my friends from the UK all know about this...) we have a rare heatwave here in the UK. This usually gives rise to headline news, train tracks are buckling in the heat, roads are melting into puddles of tar, (allegedly,  the roads I'm driving on seem just fine), and because of some gas problem, beer is in short supply, but it's impact is a bit diminished this year because it has to compete with a) football b) what the footballers wives are wearing c) the fore mentioned shortage of beer to celebrate football d) Brexit...... so despite the dire warnings on heatstroke, I am off to enjoy the sunshine in my garden, long may it last........ 

What a Wonderful World.......

This week on Daring Cardmakers, the theme is the song 'What aWonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. I picked up the line about rainbows, and made this card using MFT dies....I used the cloud die to sponge a sky background, then die cut the rainbow in white and coloured with Promarkers

Talking of rainbows.....did I tell you that my name is the Welsh word for rainbow? Quite uncommon even in Wales, and I have never quite understood my parents rationale when choosing it, but as I grew older I sort of grew into the name and quite like having an unusual name. Last week a friend from the USA who is a Star Wars fan had been to see the new film (called Solo I believe), and there is a new character who plays quite an important role in the film. Her name? Enfys Nest! I am quite blown away by the thought that after all these years of spelling my name out and telling people how to pronounce it, instead of people saying 'Envis? Like Elvis with an N?' Star Wars fans will look at me with respect saying 'Enfys? Like Enfys Nest? Wow! Cool name.........'
It's just a pity that apparently she is a baddie............

Anything but White - for Daring Cardmakers

This week on Daring Cardmakers, the challenge is to use anything but white - I took the easy route and went for a pretty pattern paper, and the brand new Posies and Pennies die set by Tammy Tutterow for Spellbinders. I also used the new Nestability circle dies, and the Sew Sweet Trims dies (these are lovely, everything from rick-rack to eyelet embroidery) 

I had a lovely afternoon at the Gardeners World show - snapped these photos to show you, but I hope nobody asks me a question as I have no clue what most of them are, apart from being very beautiful. I do know this first photo is Fuschia.........

and lilies in every colour under the sun.....

I bought some of these Allium - I have discovered that I am rather attracted to slightly off the wall plants.........

......like this one

but I do love the look of an English country garden 

and yes, I spent far too much, and am a bit hazy about where I should plant most of them, it's a bit confusing,....... shade, semi shade, full sun, partial sun, dry arid soil, loamy soil, protect from frost................who knows, I will dig a hole, stick them in where there is a space and hope for the best

Basic Shapes for Spellblogger/Spellbinders

One of the new sets that Spellbinders sent me this month is a new variation on their original nesting circles - this time the circles are scored and pierced. Find them HERE in the Spellbinders store.  I was determined not to use them simply as another element on a card, but to make them the star of the show, and this is what I came up with.........

I really like the look of the overlapping circles against the black background, do you?

Today I am breaking away from work for a couple of hours to go to a gardening show at the NEC. I already know that this means I will get totally carried away and come home laden with exotic plants that need specialist care, which means that the poor things don't have a chance.......But last week we had two large conifers that shaded our patio taken down, what a great decision that was, they were close to the house, and the light now floods in, and on a sunny day I no longer have to shift chairs around to find a sunny spot. So I am in full gardening mode, the enthusiasm won't last long, it never does. Have a great day whatever you have planned......

Tropical - for Daring Cardmakers

This week, Shabneez set the challenge 'Go Tropical' over on the Daring Cardmakers blog - I have a feeling my card will be lost among all the hot tropical colours over there. I chose to use the adorable baby flamingos by Clearly Besotted stamps, happily playing in pools of water - Splashing Puddles die by MFT. I kept the colours fairly subtle, I tried colouring them in a vivid pink, but somehow, that took away from their baby cuteness, so here they are.......

Do go over to Daring Cardmakers to see what the rest of the team have come up with, and please join in if you like a challenge.....

For Daring Cardmakers

This week it's an elemental inspiration challenge, which means we get to choose at least three elements from these pictures.......

I chose stripes, a frame and the pink flower. What would you choose? To see what the team came up with, and to join in go HERE 

Gosh, what a great reaction to my little mini house, thank you all so much for the encouraging comments and emails. You made my day....x