Catching up!

Hello hello and happy Friday everyone! I've been back for a few days from a fab long weekend away but haven't quite got round to blogging yet...so there's lots to catch up on! (Long post warning!! )

The WOMAD festival was fabulous, in spite of the rain. (Wouldn't be a true British musical festival if it didn't pour for hours though would it lol!) Tantalising sights, sounds and aromas from all over the world - saw some great bands, ate some fabulous food and even joined a dance workshop!

I didn't take many pics because of the rain but I do love this one - these two kiddies were loving the music, dancing on their parents' shoulders, how cute do they look holding hands - it just summed up the atmosphere to me:


I left the happy campers to their soggy tents and headed off to a lovely hotel (camping at festivals is so ten years ago for me lol! I do love camping though having said that!) I then had a fabulous few days visiting my best friend and her family in Wiltshire - it's so special spending time with her baby girl...we did fun things like eat chocolate cake:

...and went for a long walk:


So, back to stamping! I was working on my computer yesterday when I had an email from the lovely Debbie....congratulating me on winning last week's Hero Arts blog challenge!!! I had no idea so headed on over to see if she wasn't winding me up! Apparently not, and I was thrilled to see I'd won the fresh face winner prize (and $50 of Hero products - woo-hoo! Thanks Hero!).

The challenge was to make a monochromatic card - I was in a pink and shabby mood when I made this last week:

Recipe:

Stamps - Three Ferns/Dots and Flowers/Thank You Messages (All Hero Arts)
Ink - Hibiscus and Sweet Blush (Papertrey)/Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Card - Kraft/Vintage Cream/Hibiscus and Sweet Blush (Papertrey)
Other - sewing machine/adhesive pearls/Martha Stewart border punch/Prima flowers/pink button/linen thread(SU)/Tim Holtz Distressing Tool

It was my best blogging buddy Steph's daughter's second birthday last Sunday, and I reached for more of my Hero stamps to make her card:




The Hero Arts elephant is paper pieced with SU papers (Tea Party); the chipboard number 2 is coloured with Copic markers then covered with Glossy Accents for a shiny finish. 'Today' is spelt out using Papertrey's Fresh Alphabet.

Recipe: Stamps - Elephants (Hero Arts)/Fresh Alphabet (Papertrey)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Card/Paper - Sweet Blush (Papertrey)/Stamper's Select White (Papertrey)/ So Saffron (SU)/ Tea Party DSP (SU)
Other - Circle Nestbilities/sewing machine/So Saffron striped ribbon (SU)/ Maya Road chipboard number/Copic Markers/Glossy Accents

And here's a PTI card I've posted on A Passion for Papertrey, details over there :)




And finally...if by any chance you're still with me I want to thank a few lovely ladies for bestowing these awards upon me :)

Thank you Tina and Alex for this:


A big thank you to Sara for this:



And to Bev for this:


Thank you so much ladies - I'm so tickled you thought of me!!

Oh, and one more thing (honest!)...there's some fab candy around at the mo, up for grabs by some even fabbier gals:

Emma's:



Steph's:



Oh and we've got the following up for grabs on A Passion for Papertrey too :)



Phew.. that's me done! I promise tomorrow's post will be much much shorter!! Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Kate x