What a Lovely Surprise!

Just thought you might like to see the new additions at Redmoss!  One of our lady pheasants gave us the great honour of being introduced to her new brood of 10 (I think) chicks.  She brought them out last evening onto the terrace where we feed all the birds.  In this photo they are just making their way  back, after tea,  into the woods nearby.  This is what it is all about!  Marvellous!

Crafty Ann's Challenge #42 - Use More than 1 Image

Over at Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog Ann has challenged us to use more than one image in our design.

I have made a notelet gift box which holds four A6 cards very nicely. The sides to the box are concertina folds and so the box is quite roomy inside. The instructions can be found here.

The lovely peacock digi is coloured with Sakura pens and shimmers beautifully and the lotus blossoms have been decoupaged. The fancy edge on the box was cut with a Tim Holtz On the Edge die. The gorgeous blue backing paper is from Ann's Mottled Stone collection.

Do come and join us over at Crafty Ann's, you will be made most welcome and we love to see your creations!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #155 - Sunrise/Sunset

Talk about use it or lose it!  I haven't used my brayer for yonks and didn't I find out today!  My offering for Rainbow Lady this week is a rather romantic seaside ATC of someone walking their dog along the beach. This little silhouette stamp was a prize purchase at Ally Pally this year from StampScapes along with a little guy rowing a boat.  The pier stamp is from a wonderful set by Rubadubbadoo.  The grass stamp is from Creative Expressions.  I have used Soothing Sunset Big and Juicy inkpad for the background and the very lovely Paris Dusk  by Memento for stamping the images.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate them all very much.

DragonsDreamTIO #81 - Timepiece

What a wonderful theme to dream on this week!  Dragon Frankie has chosen timepieces and my mind was soon dreaming gardens and nodding off to sleep in a lounger under the trees.  What better to measure the time, in a leisurely way, than by than a sun dial?

My main image and sentiment is by Serendipity and has been stamped in Walnut Stain DI and watercoloured with reinkers.  The background stamp of a weeping willow is by StampCamp and has been inked up with a variety of green inks. The background is a combination of Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint DI.

I do hope you will join us at DragonsDream TIO this week (see sidebar for link) and I look forward to seeing your wonderful creations. 

CD Sunday Challenge - Say It With Scallops

At last I can join in challenges!  My inspiration for this card came from a lovely dress and jacket in the window of an Italian Bridal shop nearby.  The skirt of the dress was layers of scalloped organza and would look absolutely scrummy on someone small, petite and thin - both of which I am definately NOT!

The lovely backing paper is from DebbeesCD's Spring Butterflies and Lace.  The scalloped parchment has been punched with two different punches, one Martha Stewart and the other Stampin'Up.  The flowers were punched with the Boho Blossoms punch from SU and sponged with Brocade Blue ink, which was a perfect match to the backing paper. 

So glad I can, at last, support Guest Designer Jen and I do hope you like my card.

Paint Fusion Workshop

Here are my efforts from the Paint Fusion workshop I attended at Port Sunlight last Saturday.  I had a great time and Sheena Douglass is a wonderful inspiration.  I would have liked to have crackle finished the mirror base in a lighter colour but time was precious.  For all you Paint Fusion virgins out there (I was one) have a go.  If I can paint bramble leaves anyone can!!

No Broadband, A Workshop and a Train Crash

We have had no broadband here at Redmoss for the past 6 weeks so I haven't been able to blog or join in challenges as I would normally have liked.  It has been very frustrating as we haven't been able to do our banking either which makes bill paying rather difficult.  BT have got it working now but the service is patchy due to our rural location.  Apologies to all my blog pals for not commenting and keeping in touch for such a long time.
My friend Wanda invited me to stay and go to the Port Sunlight Happy Stampers North West Show and book for the Sheena Douglass Paint Fusion workshop the following weekend.  I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would be able to attend one of Sheena's workshops due to living very near the end of the world but I got a place and had a ball!
I had great train journeys to and from Wanda's in North Wales except for the last 25 miles of my journey home when the train I was travelling in hit a tree on the line and everything came to a grinding halt.  Fortunately no one was hurt but the impact tore off the driver's door and smashed the front of the train up.  You can see all the bits of tree still stuck underneath the carriage.  As there was no mobile phone service at the accident location, it was quite a while before we could contact folks to tell them we were ok.  Too much excitement for me!  Glad to be blogging again though.