Day Four Cherryblossom Lane

Here we go again, day four and another chance to win either a Cherryblossom Lane CD or a stamp set. Go HERE to see photos of the prizes, and scroll down to enter all the other giveaways this week. You must comment under every post to go into the draw for that day.

A very very quick card today, we had new neighbours move in today, and I thought it would be nice to pop a card through their door. The whole scene with the lovely tree and cute mushroom house was printed out already coloured. I printed it out twice onto the same sheet of card, then cut out the house and used foam pads to pop it over the base card. I added some beads of liquid pearls to the blossoms on the tree....

The foam pads gave it a bit of dimension....

and I couldn't let the second tree go to waste, so I cut around it and stuck it to the inside of the card. The sentiment was printed from the CD as well....

After all the hoo-ha at the garden center, I had to take a photo of my new planters (I should have weeded the drive before taking the photo though. Never mind..)

and at last there is some summer colour in our tiny patio garden...

and just look at my honeysuckle - it has never bloomed so late in the year before, but it is bursting with blooms now....

Who said I didn't have green fingers? Oh yes, it was me...

See you tomorrow x

Day Three - Cherryblossom Lane Giveaway

Day three, are you ready for another chance to win? To see the lovely Polkadoodles gifts for you that are up for grabs this week, look HERE and you still have plenty of time to put your name down on Monday and Tuesdays posts too. Only the comments under that day's post will go into the random draw, so keep popping back this week

Todays card is the gorgeous little 'pawly sick' rabbit from the CD, poor little chap, he does look sorry for himself. I coloured him with ProMarkers. The denim/eyelet trim is one I picked up ages ago on clearance in Jo-Ann - I knew it would come in useful someday

I loved reading your comments yesterday, it would seem we are pretty evenly divided into larks and owls, at least I know I have company now when I am burning the midnight oil

I was back at the garden center today buying more pots for some pricey box topiary balls I bought - at that price I thought the pots they were in would be terracotta, but no, on inspection they were plastic. So back I went. I saw a guy working there and asked if he could help me. 'Of course madam.....' So I plonked a similar topiary to mine in his arms and got him to hold it over every tub in the place, while I stood back and looked at the proportions. I think he wished he had hidden behind a hydrangea when he saw me lurking. I must have changed my mind a dozen times. At one point, I saw some pots with old labels at the bottom of a huge pile, they were £5 cheaper than the ones on the top of the pile. 'oh, look, can I have those please?.' So the poor chap climbed up a ladder, removed all the top expensive ones until he reached the
ones with the labels I had spotted. Down he came, and put the plant in.......there was a long silence. 'You don't like them, do you' he said in a sad voice. His shoulders slumped and he looked so defeated. I felt terrible, poor man, I was ruining his day. In the end I bought two made out of lava rock (lava rock? Who would have thought...) that I had rejected because of the price - well I had to buy something, the guy looked as if he had lost the will to live......

See you tomorrow

Second Chance to Win Cherryblossom Lane.....

Okay, day two and another chance to win a CD or a stamp set from Polkadoodles - don't forget you have to comment on EACH days post this week to be put into the draw for that day. Go HERE to see the prizes, a CD and a stamp set for each day this week.

Here's a card I made using the CD, I printed out the background, already beautifully coloured with watercolours, then printed out the digi stamp and coloured her with ProMarkers. I cut her out and popped her on with foam pads.

 How much energy do those little birds put into their dawn chorus - it seems to get earlier every day, and I swear they try to outdo each other 'listen to me, I can sing louder than you' 'oh no you can't.....' The grumpy person with a pillow over her head saying 'enough now' is me. Mornings and me don't mix. How about you - Lark or Owl? I am at my most creative at 1 a.m! See you tomorrow, about noon will do.....

Cherryblossom Lane Week - win EVERY day

I have a treat for you this week, every day for five days, thanks to the generosity of Nikky, the designer of Polkadoodles, I am giving away a Cherryblossom Lane CD, and another prize of a A6 polymer stamp set, so that's ten chances to win. All you have to do is leave a comment EVERY DAY and your name will go into the draw for that day. If you have a blog, it would be great if you could share.  The CD has a theme of whimsical rabbits, you get papers to print, digital stamps - both coloured and black and white, scenes, embellishments, sentiments, and so much more. Here is a taster of some of the elements on the CD.............

and the winners of the stamps will get one of these sets - 

and to start the week, here is a wedding card I made with the CD, the background is actually one of the card insets that I printed (yes, you get inserts and envelopes to match...) and the bride and groom were already coloured, so it took no time at all to make...........

What about the tennis then? What a match! I got quite emotional when he won - we have been waiting a long time for a British winner. Well done Andy
I used to play tennis for my school at one time, but I was never a natural athlete, my interest in the game focused more on how cute the clothes were than the game itself. I always enjoyed the bit in the middle when we were given quarters of oranges to suck more than the game itself. So my admiration for these athletes who dedicate their lives to training and aiming for perfection is boundless. They don't even give them an orange to suck at Wimbledon, I doubt if I would have lasted long......

See you tomorrow, when there will be another chance to win a CD or stamp set

Sunday Morning Chat...

 I don't have a card to show you today, but popped here for a bit of a chat about this and that - new cards coming this week, I promise!

Look what Pat, who won the Craftwork Cards bundle made for me, she was so delighted with her prize that she made a card, took a photo and emailed it to me - thank you Pat, it's just gorgeous....it made me feel really special to have a personalised message

and here is why there aren't any cards today, the flowers don't look much do they? After spending an arm and a leg, this is what I came home with, and I have been busy replacing the soil in the tubs, and planting them. It took me all day, I'm glad we no longer have a huge garden, a few tubs is enough for me..... 

and today is the Wimbledon men's final, and we have a Brit to cheer on. Come on Andy - I shall be tucking into my strawberries as I watch.......

and totally off the crafty chat, I have been looking for a new cover for my iPad for ages, this is my second Apple one, and they seem to be a dust magnet, and worse, I don't think they protect the iPad that well.....look how dirty it's got! 

So although it's not a stamp/pens/glitter or gems, after loads of research I found this, and I am so thrilled with it, I'm sharing.....

SNUGG - US site
SNUGG - UK site

it's baby blue leather, my all time favourite colour....

 and a really neat way of propping it up.....

So if anyone is looking for one, just passing this on....small things are making me happy today - a lovely card by email, newly planted pots, a blue cover for my iPad, tennis, strawberries and lots of sunshine. I hope you are having a lovely weekend as well, I'll be back tomorrow with some giveaways - In fact, I have two prizes a day for five days next week, so be sure to drop in - see you then x 

Pretty Prints Downloads

I have GREAT news for those of you overseas. I have so many enquiries about Craftwork Cards products from those of you in the USA and Canada that I know loads of you will be happy to know that they have started doing downloads of their paper collections. You can pay by Paypal or credit card, and once you have the downloads on your computer, you can print out the papers over and over again. Each collection has twelve papers and they only cost £1.50 ($2.25 US) for each collection. Even better, Craftwork Cards are offering a £15 download voucher to one of you, that's worth about $22.60 US. They are going to be adding to the download collections on a regular basis.

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post, telling me which are your favourite papers,  and I will pick a random winner next Tuesday, to be announced on Wednesday. You can enter from any country in the world 

I have been busy with design team and other stuff that I can't share with you just yet, but have picked out a couple of my favourite cards made with papers from the collections. The first two were made with my all time favourite tiny peach rose paper - it reminds me of an English country garden.  I love the fresh colours, and the design is so perfectly scaled for cardmaking, lots of flowered papers are just too big - that's a feature of all CWC collections, they understand cardmaking, and their patterns are perfectly designed so that they don't swamp your designs.....

 

and this next card was made with the fabulous Moorish collection - another favourite of mine.....lovely soft lavender, hot pink and jade....






and here are a few more of the available collections......to see the full range go HERE

                       

                       

Good luck!

The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hip hooray! I need to go and buy some summer flowers for the garden today, planting them this late in the season means I won't kill them until they are ready to die anyway (I have an unfortunate tendency to kill all living plants in the house or garden a very short time after they come to live here, it may be that I am so busy playing with paper that I forget to water the poor things.....)

See you tomorrow, and next week I have a mega, bumper week of surprises for you...x  

Win some ProMarkers

It's my turn to post over on the Letraset blog again today. If you go over there and leave a comment, then come back here to leave your name, I will pick a winner from all the comments to get a 6 pack of ProMarkers - go HERE to see the sets, and see which one you would choose if you win

Here's a sneak peek at what I have been up to over there........

I will pick a winner from all those who commented on Tuesday 9th July and announce the winner on Wednesday 10th. Good luck!

Next, I must wish all my American friends a very happy 4th July, I hope your flags are fluttering proudly and that you have a great day

We are promised a heatwave at the weekend - at the moment it is a bit grey and quite cold. The heatwave will bring the temperature up to 26C/80F (okay, those of you in hot countries, stop laughing), and I will personally take a swipe at the first person I hear saying 'oh, it's too hot......'
I have a theory that with our unpredictable climate (caused by the Gulf Stream), every so often someone in power has an emergency meeting and says 'tell them it's going to be a heatwave at the weekend'
This has two profound results:
The sales of sausages and burgers go through the roof
and
It stops the entire population of the UK hurling themselves off the white cliffs of Dover in despair

See you tomorow x

The Winners Are.........

Right, I have been a busy bee sorting out the winners of the giveaways held over the past couple of weeks. The winner of the Craftwork Cards mystery box is number 17 

NanaPat

who said: So hard to choose, they are all so lovley. My fave is the Red Carpet wreath by Mars. Thanks for the chance to win Enfys. Pat x

Next we go to the winner of the Letraset fine tips and the (lightly used) storage wallet. The winner is number 10:

Denise Bryant

who said: Denise Bryant June 20, 2013 at 3:51 pm # 

Great ideas! Love the ombre look that’s so popular!

Lastly we go to the winner of the Polkadoodles Cherryblossom Lane CD

the winner is number 20:

Carol 

who said:

Thank you Enfys, for another chance to win the Polkadoodles' Cherryblossom Lane CD, it looks like such fun!

Hope your trip is delightful and that you come back smiling and completely refreshed ... and, of course, with lots of pics to share!

Wow, all low numbers this time! Congrats to you all, please email me with your full address and I will get your prizes in the mail. Bad luck to those who weren't lucky this time, pop back tomorrow when there will be some more Letraset pens up for grabs...

Look what arrived, here's a sneaky peek at the very latest products from Craftwork Cards, hot off the press, I can't wait to use them.....

Well, it's taken me two hours to sort out this post, I need to go and lie in a dark room to recover! See you tomorrow x

I'm Back!

Well I bet you are reading this post hoping to see the names of the prize winners, that will have to wait until tomorrow, I have been so busy unpacking and doing all the laundry and tedious stuff like that......

In the meantime, some photos for you, I spent hours just looking at the sea, I love the way you get all these different shades of blue and green with the white foam.....

and in true cruise tradition, there was a little towel animal in the cabin each night.....

the ship was very glitzy......

 but there were some rather nice pieces of art to look at......

Barcelona is always a favourite with us, this was taken at the start of La Rambla, one of the most famous streets in the world.....

where they sell every flower you can imagine......

and I love looking at the markets where the locals shop, the displays of fish, and fruit were quite beautiful.......

then just look what caught my eye, I was hopping around with excitement.....

oh boy, did I enjoy this! 

Here is Monte Carlo taken from the sea........

the tender moored next to this gorgeous boat, I was intrigued to know who
would possible afford something like this (there was a full staff of dozens keeping busy on there, so I googled it.....

It turned out to be owned by the third richest man in the world, a billionaire who owns Christian Dior, Guerlain perfumes, Moet & Chandon, Louis Vuitton....and dozens more similar companies. A guy who likes luxury obviously. I was quite tempted to stowaway on there, but then Google informed me that Tony and Cherie Blair often holidayed on the boat, so I went off that idea.....


Gibraltar is such a funny little place, a tiny bit of rock that Spain gave to the UK centuries ago (they want it back now, tough). The currency is the British pound, there are pubs selling English beer everywhere, the post boxes are red, and the policemen wear the lovely traditional police helmets that the police at home don't wear any more.....

and the prize for the most tacky souvenir of the holiday goes to this plastic statue of the Queen, spotted in Gibraltar, She is battery powered, so that hand is constantly going back and forth in the Royal wave. So tacky (I was tempted to buy one and had to be dragged away by Mike).......

There are no funny stories to tell you, despite two weeks of people watching, but a couple of observations:

If you suffer from seasickness, it's probably best to look for a nice hotel on dry land rather than a cruise. That way, you wouldn't go green every time the ship rocked a tiny bit (astonishing how many regular cruisers spent half their holiday in their cabin being sick! Why? Beats me....)

Women over fifty really should think twice about tiny mini skirts and six inch heels, something about the gait makes you think they have gout

Three huge meals a day (four if you count afternoon tea) is probably two huge meals too many....

Are we  the only people on the planet who don't know all the arm movements to Agadoo (doo doo) and YMCA? Worse still, are we the only (grouchy old) people who don't want to learn them. I can twirl a napkin with the rest of the world when it comes to the chorus of 'Delilah', but that's my limit!

Sigh - it's nice to be home. That makes it sound as if we didn't enjoy ourselves, we did, it was just what the doctor ordered, relaxing and sunshine. Perfect! (but it's still nice to be home...)

See you tomorrow when I will have sorted out some winners x