The mystery of the midnight snail!

Imagine my amazement when I opened the door to our lounge a few days ago and discovered my beautiful rug covered in a glittering, slimy snail trail!

I cleaned up and began hunting for the snail. I lifted the rug and moved the sofas but couldn't find him anywhere. I told my hubby about it when he got home and we both agreed that the snail had probably hitched a ride into the house on Custard the cat. The adorable Mr C. likes to bring little treasures into the house attached to his fur (thank goodness cats don't have pockets).

Since moving to 'Chez Nous' Custard has brought us a whole range of flora and fauna including mud, twigs, seeds, grass, small slugs, ladybirds and dried bread from the bird table. He surpassed himself with a small brown mouse who took up residence in the utility room. The mouse made himself at home in the hole for the washing machine water supply. It took a trail of cheese and a humane trap to evict that little visitor.

Anyway, back to that snail...the following morning I found a fresh trail across my lovely rug, and again I moved all the furniture after scrubbing the rug and the floor. Still no sign of that snail. The next day I found nothing except an unembellished caramel, terracotta and cream rug. I breathed a big sigh of relief. So imagine my horror to discover this morning that the snail had struck again and had graffited his way across my lounge floor once more.

I hate the idea of putting down pellets but this is war!

The card that I want to share today features the Sugar Nellie Manga girl that I used for Emily's birthday card a few weeks ago.


This card is for Hannah to congratulate her on her exam results (there may also be a little gift for her). While making this card I discovered that you can colour clear Stickles by using Versacolour ink! Not as good as the real thing but it seemed to work out OK and was the little lift that this card needed. I love this image and had great fun working with lilac and turquoise again. When I made alot of baby quilts these were my 'fall-to' colours. I added some little Hero Arts pearls in black and lifted the little girl on dimensionals. The spotty paper is a tiny scrap from my stash.

I will keep you posted on the snail situation!

A common thread...

I was blown away earlier this week when I visited Travelingmama Tina's blog and discovered her plans to help support a deprived Moroccan school through her newly opened Etsy shop.

For those of you not familiar with Travelingmama: Tina and her family live in Morocco and document and share their daily lives through their wonderful photographs and blogs.

Living in a country where 80 % of the women cannot read or write Tina was encouraged to hear that the government was to offer money to help repaint all of the public schools. However, Tina had heard about a school not too far from her own home that was in need of even more support.

To quote Tina 'The children walked miles and miles to attend school, but there was no fresh drinking water for them nor a restroom. Their school supplies were scarce and they had very few books to read'.

This is when Tina and her family decided to use their creativity to offer help to these children by opening an Etsy shop and by encouraging people to donate to their project.

If you want to read more of Tina's inspiring story or wish to make a donation please head on over to Travelingmama and the Travelingtribe blogs.

This week Tina has a new Inspiration Challenge running. It is based on these evocative pictures of the Medina.

Originally I was going to create a card inspired by the colours and textures of the picture above, but then I was drawn back to this amazing picture taken by Tina's son.

Look closely and you will see two tiny threads, which appear to run the length of the shop.

These tiny threads got me thinking about a poster that my Dad brought home for me when I was a teenager. I had this poster on my wall for years and it's message had a powerful effect on me as I grew up.

The poster depicted God 'knitting' all the people of the world from one long, unbroken thread. You may already be familiar with the quote which was 'We are all linked by the common thread of humanity. If we break it, we are all undone'. I decided to use that quote on my card as it seemed to fit with Tina and her family's story. I think that the way they are living their lives in Morocco is helping to keep those threads nice and strong.


After that big build up my card looks a little bit tame, but I wanted the quote to be the focal point and for it to be held by thin silver thread. I'm not going to send it to anyone, just keep it in my craftroom so that once again I can look at these words on a daily basis.

I just want to wish Tina and her family every success with this wonderful and generous project.

Some cute cupcakes!

I have been tempted to play along with a Mojo Monday challenge for some time. They celebrated 'Mojo turns 100' last week with a fabulous inspirational sketch every day.
I loved all of the sketches but was too busy to hit the craftroom. The Week 101 sketch really 'called' to me and as I am less busy now I decided to go for it and join the fun!

My first effort looked better without the snipped ribbon effect, so I added some gems and just went with it.

This is my second attempt, which is closer to the sketch.

Both cards have similar ingredients - Hero Arts Cupcakes Clear Stamp set, some Cuttlebugging, Stickles for added sparkle and Versacolour inking. I was inspired by Lucy's lovely colouring on kraft paper and decided to give it a go. It gives a very soft, muted effect and looks quite pretty.

...and here is the cutest cupcake of all: my beautiful niece at 3 months old. Is there anything as sweet as a baby taking a nap whilst wearing a fancy hat?

Her Mommy is still poorly, but we're all hoping that she will be able to leave hospital really soon.

I have just had a call from Hannah (my best friend's daughter) to tell me her GCSE exam results. She has done really well, especially in English and History. I am so proud of her!

It's been a while comma Crocodile!

How I wish I had added that comma to my little Croc card - I only realised it was missing after posting it on the Hero Arts Flickr group.

Last Thursday I got a text from my best friend Jacquie telling me that she was 'in the hood' and could drop by. She even had her kids, Hannah and Matthew (who I adore), with her. They were visiting their Grandma, who only lives a few miles from my house. What a shame that I was at work on the other side of the city!
Then Hannah called and I had to tell her that I wasn't home. She told me that was 'just rubbish' and I had to agree: not being able to see them really did feel 'just rubbish'.
On the Hero Arts blog last week Sally's challenge was to make a card for a friend and then 'mail it' to them. I decided to make this little card for Jacquie and the kids. The inside reads 'so let's get together... and make it snappy!'

I am on leave from work next week so plan to drive over to see them and catch up on all the fun and gossip! I will check that they are home first though.

Yesterday afternoon I discovered that I'd won the lovely green t-shirt that Sally was offering as a fun giveaway on her blog week. Woohoo and a Mexican wave!!! Well fancy that: a Hero Arts T-shirt and sweatshirt just 'washed-up' on California’s Doheny Beach on Friday. Thank goodness Sally (shown above) and Nancy were there to find them! So will they mail my shirt or send it in a bottle?

Finally I thought that I would share this cute little picture of Mr C.
Custard really does know that he shouldn't sit on the big blue bean bag, but it is oh so comfy and nobody else was using it at the time!

One little pink pig!

When I saw that the latest Caardvarks Challenge colours were pink, black and white I knew I had to play along!
I adore this little pig stamp from Stampin' Up! Elise created a totally wonderful card using this stamp, so I have had this little fellah on my mind for a while now.


I seem to be making alot of get well cards at the moment, so many of my friends and family seem to be poorly right now.
The pig is coloured with Vesacolour ink (Orchid pink) and the barcode stripes are from Daisy Bucket's Black Tie collection. The lovely swirly vellum is really old and I can't track down the details. The pink card is Swiss dots from Bazzil. The gems are from Papermania.

I will probably re-photograph this when the sun comes out as this isn't a very good picture.

There is a slight hint of Autumn in the air now. The fruit trees are heavy with apples and pears, the soft fruits look delicious and Custard is happy chasing the squirrels that have reappeared in the garden.
Enjoy the weekend!

Traveler's Inspiration challenge #5

Isn't this a wonderfully evocative picture taken by Tina's friend Katie while she was holidaying in Ireland?

I love the steely blue-grey of the river and the pink and green of the flowers.

My parents took many fishing holidays in Ireland before the 'Troubles'. They speak of Ireland with huge affection and have always said that the countryside was beautiful and the people warm and generous.

Here is my card, as you can see I went with the pink and green of the flowers and the white of the houses. The paper is S.E.I Kitty's place - Catnip. I love it, and am currently planning a card that uses the little kitty border that appears on another sheet. The chipboard shape is Maya Road and all the stamps are from Hero Arts. The teeny, tiny bling is from Papermania and I have added more gel pen then you could shake a glue stick at! (Bless you Kristina Werner, what did I do for finishing touches before you opened my eyes to the wonders of faux stitching?)

I have made this little card for my sister-in-law who is currently rather poorly. She had to be admitted to hospital a few days ago, but is back home now and seems to be improving.

I feel the need to give the Custard the Cat Worldwide Fan Club (Hi Elise!) an update on his recent exploits...

Two nights ago he had an encounter with a Kung-Fu mouse!

At first I thought that he was terrorising another frog, but it turned out to be a tiny grey mouse. This gutsy little fellah was repeatedly jumping at Custard. By the time I had run across the lawn Custard had backed off and was just sat looking at the mouse while it hopped up and down. He gave me a look as if to say 'aren't I supposed to be in charge here?' Needless to say the mouse escaped and Custard was left looking very confused and more than a bit embarrassed! I've promised not to tell any of his cat friends that he was outsmarted by a mouse...