GINGERBREAD TWIST SAMPLE, DAY 1

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you are all enjoying this glorious weather we are having this week. I promised in my last post that I would show you some of the projects I have been busy with over the last couple of weeks. 

Over at Studio 12 Nikky Hall has just released the new Picknix 2 Gingerbread Twist CD. Us DT girls have been busy beavering away at samples and the CD made it's debut on Create and Craft this Saturday just gone. I am going to show you the first of four samples I made and promise to bring you another one tomorrow.

There are quite a few pictures to show you the different sides to the box.

I absolutely love this new CD and it is packed with wonderful images, paper's, sentiments and embellishments. It is so easy to work with and if anyone is scared of the thought of CD crafting don't be. I was the biggest phobic!!!. Through joining the Polka Doodles DT it has made me realise so many benefits and I just love it. 

I laughed so much watching the Create and Craft show as Nigel May was presenting and he started lobbing the sweets all over the set for the crew to munch on, think they went down well!!!. 

I would like to enter my creation into the following challenges;

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Anything goes
JOANNA SHEEN CHALLENGES - Going dotty
DREAM VALLEY CHALLENGES - Something old, something new (old ribbons from stash and a new CD)
ANYTHING CHALLENGE - Christmas
CREATIVE CARD CREW - Christmas
THROUGH THE CRAFTROOM DOOR - Anything goes
TUESDAY ALCHEMY - Anything goes
USE IT TUESDAY - Use that ribbon
MAKE IT MONDAY - Always anything goes
STAMPS & FUN - Anything but a card
THE PINK ELEPHANT CHALLENGE - Use patterned papers
TOTALLY STAMPALICIOUS - Anything but a card
LADYBUG CRAFTS - Anything goes
NATALIE & AMY - Anything goes
ANYTHING BUT A CARD - Anything goes
CHALLENGES 4 EVERYBODY - Anything goes
CHRISTMAS STAMPIN' ALL YEAR LONG - Anything but a card
INSPIRE ME FRIDAYS - Anything goes
PAPER CRAFTING JOURNEY - Anything goes

I will be back tomorrow with another creation.

Love and hugs Clare xxx

A CATCH UP WITH PIC'S!!!

Hello my lovelies. Do hope everyone is well. I finally have some time to have a bit of catch up. I have been doing a lot of creating I promise. I have managed to spend the afternoon catching up in blog land and made a start on visiting and commenting so bear with me if I have not got around to you yet!!!. I will get there. 

A lot of you have been asking about the animals!!!. Firstly my beautiful girl Simone is recovering well from her pancreatitus. Her fur is growing back to her neck and both paws where she had so many bloods, IV's and injections. The only thing is where she had so many needles to her scruff she developed really nasty sores, I guess where she was so run down. Simone developed a lot of stress through her ordeal and started over grooming so she has bald patches now in different area's. Poor little thing, everytime I go out or someone comes indoors she thinks she is being taken to the vets. I have invested in a Feliway diffuser/plug in which is meant to calm your animal down. I am also using Rescue Remedy in her water which is a natural medication to calm and relax. She does seem a lot more chilled. I am cringing today as Bert & Simone got their 6 monthly reminder letter to go have their flea programme injections done, aagghh!!!. Think I might let the diffuser well and truly kick in before I attempt to take Simone.

MY GIRL IN HER RASCAL TUNNEL!!!

MUSTN'T LEAVE OUT BERT IN HIS HIDEY HOLE!!!

At the moment I have two baby squirrel orphans I am weaning and I also have the 4 piggy girls staying while Monica is on holiday!!!. They are not too happy with me as I have had to bath them all as one of the guinea pigs has a skin condition which she can pass onto the other three. Luckily it is only a guinea pig condition. Had to take this pic of them in the bath yesterday!!!.

ALL THE GIRLS ARE LATHERED UP AND READY FOR A SHOWER!!!

It's such a shame as I have had a few baby hedgehogs which have not lived long. It has been a really bad year for hoglets and many of the rescue centre's have reported babies dying. All you can do is your best though and I have to keep telling myself that. We are the second best thing to them compared to being reared by their Mummies. Unfortunately this is not always enough. I like to think though that there are plans for them in their next life.

Meanwhile these two pictures were taken a week apart. What a difference a week makes in squirrel land!!!. One week eyes are tightly shut and the next they are wide open. They are such cute little things and they are now down to just morning and evening feeds. I have been tempting them with different foods and they definitely gave a thumbs up to Farleys Rusks!!!. 

ALL WRAPPED UP FOR A FEED!!!

IT'S A TOUGH LIFE BEING A SQUIRREL!!!

Right my lovelies I will hopefully be sharing a few posts with you this week as I can now show you the things I have been creating the last couple of weeks. 

Love and hugs Clare xxx

POLKA DOODLES FLOWERS CHALLENGE!!!

Good Morning friends!!!. I know, I know I have been AWOL since last challenge and I'm aware that is 2 weeks ago now!!!. I have been a very busy beaver and a lot of that is down to the boss at Polka Doodles!. So excited as we have all been busy making samples for the new CD Nikky is launching on Create & Craft this Saturday. Find the details towards the end of this post.

Well it is Friday so we have a new challenge at Polka Doodles which has been set by the lovely Norine and she has chosen flowers as the theme. Here is my card!!!.

I have used the gorgeous gingerbread papers and embellishments from the Here Comes Christmas CD. The pretty poinsettia flower dies are by Marianne Designs. I have used Red Berry Doodle Dewdrops in the centre of the flowers. Spellbinders Nesties Labels One on the inside of my card. The card that I have used is Bazzill. Finally the sentiment is a peel off from my stash. 

I do hope that you will all be able to come take part in the challenge as we love seeing you there and there's a great chance to win some super prizes. 

Don't forget to tune in to Create and Craft on Saturday morning at 10am and 4pm in the afternoon where Nikky will be releasing the new Studio 12 CD Picknix 2 "Gingerbread Twist". You can pre-order it now by popping over to the shop HERE. I am absolutely loving the CD and it's not one that you will want to miss out on. 

Ok guys I promise I will be back with some cards and from Saturday will be able to show you my samples for Gingerbread Twist!!! Can't wait!!!.

Big hugs Clare xxx

POLKA DOODLES TAG CHALLENGE AND DT CALL!!!!

Hello my lovelies. Wow what a gorgeous day it is out there today!!!. I hear the weekend is going to be glorious as well so we'd better make the most of it. So Friday means a new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week you have to make a tag or a creation with a tag on it. Here is my project.

I have made a gift box using paper's and the sentiment from the new Here Comes Christmas CD. The gorgeous little Santa image is from the amazingly talented Emma Canning and he is called Sooty Santa!!!. I have coloured Sooty in with Promarkers. For the sentiment I have used red & white Bazzill card using a Nellie Snellen die. The ribbon, berries and jewel are from my stash.

I would love to see you guys have a go at this challenge. You do not have to use Polka Doodle products but would be a bonus if you do so that you can give us DT girls a run for our money lol!!!. 

As mentioned in the title Nikky is looking for new DT!!!. If you click HERE it will take you to the details. It is such an exciting opportunity and know how talented you all are so if you have the commitment then go for it!!!. 

Don't forget Emma Canning also has her DT call too so click HERE to apply.

Thank you for all of your beautiful get well messages for me and Simone. I'm still in quite a lot of discomfort but I managed to do some colouring yesterday and started making a card up. Simone was sick this morning (she had eaten some grass though!) but she seems pretty chirpy. Will be keeping an eye on her. 

Big hugs from me, Bert & Simone xxx

EMMA CANNING DT CALL!!!!

The lovely Emma Canning has her very first design team call!!!. If you go over to her blog at Flat Friends Challenge Emma will explain all. You will get the chance to work with her amazing new images which you can also purchase over at the Polka Doodles shop. 

Emma is such a lovely talented lady and her digi images are a pleasure to work with and brilliant for colouring too!!!. Emma has just released her new Christmas images so go check them out too. I am busy making up samples at the moment to show you all on my blog so stay tuned.

Some of my recent creations using Emma Canning's gorgeous images below. 

Big hugs Clare xxx

A BIG THANK YOU TO MY LOVELY FRIENDS

Just wanting to say a big thank you to all of my friends for all of their love and kind words lately. I am so lucky to have you all and you have cheered me up no end.

Wanted to update you all on the little one. Simone is doing a lot better. I took her back to the vets on Tuesday and although she still has a temperature it has gone down to what it was. Hetty (the vet) explained that it can take some cats a long time to get through things like pancreatitus and she will need to be on a long course of antibiotics. Thankfully this week I am able to give these to her at home before we go back next Tuesday. Her eating has picked up although still not great. My poor girl has got a big bald patch now on the back of her neck where she has had so many injections in her scruff. She is sleeping a fair bit which can only be a good thing for her.

Ive had a scare this week as I have been getting a lot of pain in & under my rib cage and into my back. When I went to my GP this week he ordered x-rays and bloods fearing I may have a blood clot in my lung. I had all of the tests done on Tuesday and heard earlier today that I am all clear for that so I am mighty relieved. I am still awaiting the x-ray results to check any fractures etc but my GP thinks it is muscular but because of the Rheumatoid it has made the inflammation and pain a lot worse. I am living on oramorph at the moment as it even hurts to breathe, cough, move......I can't even think that I even did anything to bring this on which is just crazy!!!. So this week I have not been able to do much and no crafting going on. I am having a dabble in colouring today so that I can make up some cards so watch this space!!!.

Thank you all again, and sure I will be back to normal very soon.

Love and big hugs Clare xxx

SIMONE

Wanted to give all of my lovely friends an update on my girl. Poor Simone has been to the vet everyday since last Saturday but finally she will get a day off tomorrow (but back on Tuesday). She still has a temperature which they cannot seem to get back to normal. It is going down ever so slightly but not to a level they are happy with. They want to give her a day off tomorrow in the hope that she can relax a little more as the daily trug to the vet is very stressful for her. She is still hardly eating so I have had to take to syringe feeding her which she hates. She has managed to eat a little on her own today which is positive. 

Their concern is that the pancreatitus is masking something else going on and that is why her temp is still high so as a precaution they have put her on an additional antibiotic injection to cover other things. Simone is also having vitamin shots too as she is not eating good atleast they can replace the lost vitamins.

So at the moment we just have to continue the way we are and hope that a day off tomorrow will help her. 

Had to get a pic in of my Bert doing his super cat impression lol!!!. He is a bit lost without playing with his Sister so I am making sure I play and give him plenty of fusses.

Please carry on praying for my girl as I know that it is helping her. I will update you on her after Tuesday.

Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments, emails and phonecalls they mean the world to us.

Big hugs Clare, Bert & Simone xxx

KERRY'S CCC SKETCH CHALLENGE!!!

Finally getting caught up on some of Christmas Card Club challenges. This fortnight was Kerry's turn and she had a sketch for us. I am working backwards as I thought I would work from the latest as have two other challenges that I am working on dating later than this one. Do hope that makes sense lol. Call it worry and lack of sleep lol!.

INGREDIENTS

WHITE, GREEN & RED BAZZILL CARD

ALL BACKING PAPER'S FROM POLKA DDODLES "HERE COMES CHRISTMAS" CD

HOUSE MOUSE STAMP

KAISER PEARLS

RIBBON & SENTIMENT FROM STASH

DERWENT WATERCOLOUR PENCILS

SPELLBINDERS CIRCLE DIE

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

TOP TIP TUESDAY - Ribbon
TUESDAY THROWDOWN - On the move
PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Anything goes
FAB N FUNKY CHALLENGES - Use pearls or rhinestones
CRATY RIBBONS CHALLENGE - Spots & dots
CRAFTY CATZ WEEKLY CHALLENGE - Anything goes
BIZZY BECS STORE - Spots & stripes

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Huge hugs Clare xxx

A PANTS WEEK!!!

Just want to say a big big thankyou to all of my lovely friends for their kind words & support yesterday with messages and emails.  I spent most of yesterday blubbing my eyes out!. 

My beautiful Simone has been really sick too and was diagnosed with pancreatitus on Tuesday after falling ill on Saturday. She had to be hospitalised yesterday which was heartbreaking leaving her. She had to be put on a drip as her temperature has been high since the weekend and they wanted to flush it out of her system and hydrate her. Me and Dad have been taking her in to the vets for the last 6 days so has been a real stressy time.

When we had to leave her both Dad and I were crying our eyes out. She just looked so frightened.

My poor Bert was wandering around the bungalow looking for her when we got back home. I had to do my treatment yesterday which I could have done without. 

Please say prayers for my girl that she will get better soon. I will update you all on her progress.

Want to say a big apology for not blogging and visiting. Life is so hectic at the moment, no excuse I know but please do not think that I do not come and visit. It's the commenting which I need to get to grips with. Not getting a whole lot of time in the craft room at the mo apart from DT stuff. Hopefully soon things will settle down soon.

Hugs Clare xxx

A YEAR TODAY

Can't believe it is a year today since you have been gone Matthew. You have left a large gaping hole in everyone's lives who knew you, especially Helen, Jacob and Braiden's. 

Love you Bro and will never forget you xxx

BUNTING & BANNER'S POLKA DOODLE CHALLENGE!!!

Good morning camper's!!!. Do hope that everyone is fine and dandy today, especially as it's Friday. Friday means that it is another challenge over at POLKA DOODLES which is to include bunting and banners on your creation. This is what I came up with;

This is the first time I have made a rocker card and I know it's not going to be a last as it is sooooo easy to create and I love the look of these too. I have used another cool image from the lovely EMMA CANNING and this week I used the TAYLOR "I'M SORRY" DOWNLOAD. Just to let you all know Emma has just released her gorgeous new Christmas images which you can purchase HERE. I am sooooo looking forward to working with them. Please go pop over and see. Would love to hear what your favourites are. I am so loving the VW Camper Van!!!.

I have used the yummy patterned paper's on my card from the STUDIO 12 PICKNIX COLLECTION 1 CD. The bunting punch is from Stampin' Up (yes I have been waiting for this baby for sometime!!!). I have used BAZZILL CARDSTOCK, coloured in PROMARKERS and the bow, ribbon and eyelets are from my crafty stash.

I would love to see all of my friends pop over and have a go at this challenge. Just remember you do not have to use the POLKA DOODLE brand to play along with the challenges, although we would love to see what you can create from Nikky's collections. You can be in with a chance of some amazing prizes too if you win!!!. 

Will be back over the weekend.

Take care and big hugs

Clare xxx

WARNING A VERY LONG CUP OF TEA POST!!!

I am so sorry that I have not done an update in a while on the spikey babies. I have been so incredibly busy with them all and have been hand feeding some babies which has taken up heaps of my day & eve. 

Starting with baby Mo. She had to go stay with Monica for a while as she was not weaning and would not come off her milk. Monica having way more experience took over her care for a little while as she has plenty of weaning tricks up her sleeve!!!. Finally she was weaned. She is not a very big meat eater (I had no influence over that one I promise lol!). She loves her biccies and meal worms atleast and I know once she gets out there in the big wide world she will get into the insects and slug eating naturally (eeewww!). So Mo came back to me last weekend and I nearly fell off the chair when I saw her!!!. She is massive and is now weighing in at 520g. Going to share some pic's of her.

These pictures were taken by my friends beautiful talented Daughter Ellie when Mo was a few days old. 

This is our big girl today!!!!. Hasn't she grown!!!. I have done a video of her tonight which I just need to sort out and will get it posted over the weekend for you. I will take some better pic's too. It's been great as I have been getting her out in the garden in a big cage this week. Have had to wait till late afternoon though as it's been too hot. She is starting to adopt hoggy ways as I made her a cardboard box house stuffed with shredded newspaper and while she is out there she curls up and sleeps in there so she knows the sleep at day awake at night routine already lol!!!. Eventually I will keep her out there in the cage over night to get her used to that. You have to do it all in stages that she is comfortable with as she will not survive if you just dumped her out there. That would break my heart. It is so going to be hard anyway letting her go but really hoping she will stick around. I have got to handle her less and less as soon as she is out in the garden full time as she needs to get wild. Really don't think you would be human if you did not get attached. She still sucks on my fingers and all her quirky little ways I am so going to miss. Not so much the sucking fingers thing now as her teeth are getting sharp!!!. 

Feeling sad today as the two babies I have been looking after have contracted ringworm. It flared up 48 hours ago and I have had to give them back to Monica. They need treating but unfortunately they are too young and tiny to have the proper treatment yet. They are having antibiotics and will be bathed in natural things that their little bodies can tolerate. I feel bad as because of the treatment I am on for my RA my whole immune system is compromised so Monica will not put me at risk. Even when I cut myself now within hours it gets infected. Mostly I can treat it myself at home but sometimes I have to go on antibiotics. The risk of septicaemia is really high too which I definitely will not be wanting. 

So I am keeping everything crossed for them as they have had such a sad start to life. They were found in someone's garden and in the nest Mum had two dead babies and these two and the nest had been built on top of an ant nest so poor things were being bitten alive. Mum is in at the centre being treated and is doing good but far to weak to look after the babies. They all had puncture marks on them when they were taken in poor things. Monica named the babies HUFFY and PUFFY!!! this has been so appropriate as they continuously make huffy puffy noises and always curling up in a tight ball, very uncooperative little things!!! I am guessing now though that as they were being bitten by ants that was their protective mode and each time they are touched they think they are being attacked. I will keep you updated on these little babies. I have lots of photo's which my Mother in Law took in the week but she needs to download and email them to me so will post those too when they arrive.

So sorry for such a long post but I know many of you love reading about them and have received quite a few emails asking after them all. Bert & Simone are good, a little ratty with all of this hot weather though. I will leave you with a photo of the furbabies.

Ok so I left three!!!. They love to sit on the bench, Simone loves to watch the pigeons and clearly Bert loves sniffing the camera. 

Thanks for dropping in and for your support and interest in my animal antics.

Hugs Clare, Bert, Simone and Mo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

CATTUS LIBRUM

Hiya folks! hope everyone is well on this very muggy Friday night. Phew it's been a stinker today, even baby Mo has been too hot and has been stretched out flat on her tummy with front and rear legs in front and behind her!!!. 

I have made a card for my lovely niece who had to have surgery this week. I went to see her today and wanted to make her something to cheer her up. She absolutely loves cats and had not yet used my gorgeous Stampendous cat stamp called Cattus Librum. I adore this stamp it is so cool!!!.

I thought I would have a go at one of these bows on a card. I have seen this style on gifts and wondered what it would be like to make one and I am quite happy with how it turned out. 


I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;


PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Make your own (I made my bow)
SIMON SAYS - Anything goes
CRAFTY CREATIONS - Buttons
CHARIZMA CARDS - Monochrome
JOANNA SHEEN - Animal crackers
CUTE CARD THURSDAY - Distressing
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE VINTAGE - Anything goes
CRAFTS & ME - Anything goes
TRULY, MADLY, CRAFTY CHALLENGES - Animals
CRAFTING WHEN WE CAN CHALLENGES - Monochrome

I hope that everyone is looking forward to the weekend and whatever plans you have make it a good one!!!. I am busy in the craft room with cards and DT work. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Clare xxx

HERE COMES CHRISTMAS!!!

Hello everyone, wow another beautiful day!!!. I think it's set to be lovely all week and what a start to the kiddies holiday's. 

Sorry i've been absent for a couple of days as I know I had promised to show you my second Polka Doodle sample from the show on Saturday BUT I have another two baby hoglets which arrived on Sunday as did my baby Mo!!!. Mo is not quite such a baby now, she's a big girl and I have her for keeps now!!!. Going to take some pic's later when it cools down and do an update post for you all.

Ok so here is the card that I did for the launch of the brand new HERE COMES CHRISTMAS CD from POLKA DOODLES.

I absolutely love this CD. Digi crafting is totally new to me but I can definitely confirm I have been converted!!!. It is so easy and there is so much that you can do. Don't get me wrong I will never stop loving my stamps and they will remain a massive part of my crafting but I now have the bonus of CD's too!!!. 

Thank you for all of your lovely comments and emails regarding my recipe box in the last post. When I get the chance I am planning to do a tutorial as I know a few of you asked how to make it so bear with me folks.

Thanks for stopping by today!.

Big hugs Clare xxx

"HERE COMES CHRISTMAS" NEW POLKA DOODLES CD!!!!

Hope everyone is having a happy Saturday!!!. Well I am very excitable today as Nikky  at POLKA DOODLES has just been on the first show of the day at Create & Craft to launch the brilliant new Christmas CD "HERE COMES CHRISTMAS". 

The boss lady has been keeping us all busy hard working on samples for the show and I got very excitable seeing all of our creations!!! I even got a mention!!! this is all new to me not being on a DT before so I made sure I stocked up with the Tenna lady before the show came on lol. 

The new Christmas CD is amazing and so easy to work with. I am going to show you one of my samples today from the show so that you can see the gorgeous papers and images. 

I decided to make an accordian style recipe box. I was so excited as Nikky had printed and laminated some recipe sheets to put in the box for the show. I just did not get enough time to do that so was well chuffed. 

There is another show on at 4pm today so go check it out. I know I am going to be glued to the box again!!!. 

Thanks for stopping by today guys and have a great day.

Big hugs Clare xxx

LETS GO GREEN & RECYCLE!!!!

That is the challenge for this week over at POLKA DOODLES!!!. Really enjoyed this challenge as it really gets you looking around the house searching for those things to use. Here are my makes;

You all know how much I love my furbabies and a regular treat for them is a box of cat grass. The box is made of a good thick card and comes apart to good sized piece which can be used to alter. I had enough to make these three bookmarks. I cut them to size and covered the card with this yummy polka dot card from the Polka Doodles PRETTY TUFF CD. I used the three gorgeous images from EMMA CANNING which are Paige, Millie & Summer. The sentiment is from STUDIO 12 PICKNIX COLLECTION 1 CD. I coloured the images with PROMARKERS and distressed edges with Tim Holtz BRUSHED CORDUROY INK PAD. The pretty red beads are DOODLE DEWDROPS. All of these above items can be purchased from the Polka Doodles shop HERE.

The ribbon was from my stash and the gorgeous ribbon border punch is by Stampin Up.

I would love it if all of my friends would play along this week. Remember you do not have to use Polka Doodles items to play along. Just follow the challenge to win some awesome prizes!!!. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Big hugs Clare xxx