It's not easy being green...

How can it be March? March!

For our March offering over at Naughty Or Nice Challenges we're going GREEN! Yes, green for St. Patrick's Day, Shamrocks, recycling, the great outdoors, St. David's Day and all things spring-like!

For me this was a great excuse to use one of my favourite froggy friends in the shape of this adorable little guy from All-Night Media. I picked him up on eBay a few years ago and his cheeky little grin always makes me smile.
After choosing my stamp I hit a brick wall with the layout for my card so went blog hopping to track down some inspiration. I spotted the lovely Jen's super cute creation here and finally the cogs began to turn.

This card has been made to hopefully bring a little cheer to someone who has just had a hip operation. I'll write something suitably corny like: 'hope you are leaping around very soon' on the inside.

I hope you can join us this month over at NON #13 for naughtiness and niceness in equal measures. As always my uber-talented teamies have created some gorgeous inspiration cards to get you started.

I'm also linking-up at LIM Week #213 because this little frog certainly '...makes me happy!'

Happy crafting everyone!

Fifty shades of... Black!

Don't worry, this post isn't X-rated: you don't have to shield the screen from your children, your partner, your granny or your cat. Let me explain... I tried to make this card using more black card than white but discovered I only had scraps of black and none of them matched! Ever had this problem? Yup, thought so.

Its half-term break AND the sun is shining AND I've had the chance to make a few cards. Unfortunately, I'm not too happy with a few of them as my mojo also seems to be taking a holiday but I am enjoying some quality crafting time.

I thought I'd play along at WOYWW today and share a view of the sunlight streaming onto my desk. I am amazed to find that its WOYWW 298. Well done, Ms Dunnit  that's some achievement!

My card has been made for the CASology Challenge Week 134 which is Monochrome. There are some beautiful cards on show from the DT girls and the crafters who have linked-up ahead of me. Any mention of 'monochrome' and I immediately start thinking of the race scene in My Fair Lady. I adore black and white but feel that my card is too plain so I may have another try with the same die and different colours later today.

Finally, here's a picture of my favourite little bit of monochrome: the amazing Mr C!

Have a happy day everyone, I hope its bright and sunny where you are too!

So glad you are my friend!

Honestly, my blog posts are like buses... you wait ages for one and then a whole bunch turn up at once!

A good friend is leaving the school where I work at the end of the week. I'll be very sorry to see her go as she has helped me so much during the time we've worked together. To watch her working with the children on their phonic skills has been nothing short of inspirational and a real privilege. When someone really cares about the job they do its very special.

We share a similar sense of humour so hopefully she will enjoy the wording on this card!

The image is called Asha and friends from Lia Stampz. The 'sentiment' is another Google find and I love how well it goes with this super fun digi.

Well, the sun is shining brightly so I'm going to stroll to the supermarket to enjoy it. Have a great Sunday everyone!

National Libraries Day!

Just wishing everyone in the UK a very happy National Libraries Day!

I dropped in at my local library today to take a selfie or 'SHELFIE' to upload to the NLD site. This caused considerable amusement for the staff and also added to my 'crazy-lady' credentials with my husband. I've challenged the children at school to do this so couldn't NOT do it myself!

I'm not going to get all political on you but during my career in public and school libraries I've been humbled again and again to witness the power of books, reading and access to information to change lives for the better. John Lydon aka Johnny Rotton sums up what libraries meant for him as a child recovering from a life threatening illness in this message of support for public libraries. Some of us may go through an entire lifetime without ever passing through the door of a public library but for many others they are a sometimes unexpected lifeline for relaxation, lifelong learning, creativity, support and friendship.

Please love your library, please use your library. Libraries and all they offer are one of the corner-stones of our society... they are special and they are ours. Let's not belong to the generation history remembers as the one that let this precious resource slip away...

January Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Its Card Chain Challenge reveal time! Once again Deborah's been hard at work forging the links of a chain of creativity and friendship to wrap around the globe!

Here's the card I sent to Becca in North Dakota.

You can't tell from this picture but the die-cut portion of the card is covered with Glimmer Mist and sparkles beautifully! This sentiment was chosen especially for the lovely Becca as I feel she brings true 'sparkle' to Blogland with her fabulous, inky creations and sweet, friendly personality!

And now onto the card I received. I must admit I actually squealed with delight when I opened this fabulous waterfall card from Dagmar in Germany.

Am I one lucky recipient or what! The picture really doesn't do this gorgeous card justice and if you visit Dagmar's blog post here you can see it in all its wonderful waterfall-ing glory.
You can check-out the rest of the reveal here: there are some very special cards in the January Chain.

Sign-up here for the February Challenge.. we've got thirty-three ladies playing already and there's still time to join us before the linky closes.

Oh, so CAS! NON#12

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Naughty or Nice Challenge post!

For Challenge #12 we are celebrating the month of love and romance in true Naughty or Nice style and asking whether YOU feel the love??? Some of you may... and some of you may not.

Unusually, I've gone for a NICE card this month; despite finding some fabulously snarky quotes about love, marriage and all things romantic when I searched the internet. I had several ideas for a card but kept coming back to my original idea of something very CAS in red, white and black. In the end I went with it and created probably the most CAS card I've ever made. The stamps are from two Mama Elephant sets: Love Quotes and Purrefect Pair purchased from Make The Day Special. Some simple layering and matting created a crisp, clean card that needed two tiny gem accents as a finishing touch before I was happy with the result.

I love Danielle's graphic for this challenge, don't you?

I'm not sure if this will be my hubby's Valentine's day card as I've got an idea that (strangely) involves a dinosaur or a dragon...

So, whether you are feeling naughty or nice about February 14th why not play along and join in the fun!