The perfect combination

Hello there,

I hope you are well today!

I'm back with another challenge from Sweet Stampin but be warned - its a lovely dovey one! As February is fast approaching (where has January gone??) we thought you better get ready for that special day of the year....yes, our theme this week is Valentines.

As many of you know I love nothing better than a spot of tea and cake....to me this are the perfect combination....and so I decided to feature my favourite things on this week's card....

I've gone for a simple design, layering my kraft card and adding some stitching as a border. My image has been coloured with my Promarkers and I created the sentiment on my computer.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and hope that Joe likes it too!

For more Valentines inspiration pop by the Sweet Stampin challenge blog and take a peek at the gorgeous DT cards that have been created. While you're there you can take a peek at our fab sponsor this week....

We can't wait to see your creations!

I'd also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Lemon Shortbread Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Passion For Promarkers - CAS

Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes

Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes

I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Thank you for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

A little bit of paper piecing

Hello there,

I hope you are well and have had a good week.

As some of you know I have been here, there and everywhere with work recently. Just this week I have managed a trip to Cheltenham and Manchester, as well as time spent in our head office in Epsom. I've been really busy and exhausted a lot of the time, but I am pleased to report that I've had some brilliant news from work recently. I have been promoted! I am so proud of myself and I just wanted to share with everyone!

Anyway, enough of that...onto this week's challenge from Sweet Stampin. This week we would like to see your paper piecing skills....so grab your favourite stamp and papers and get crafting!

I've kept it nice and simple for this card, letting my images do the talking.....

I've taken two of my favourite stamps and a selection of pretty patterned papers. I have used my Promarkers to add a little details, as well as a little sparkle on the cherry with my Stickles.

I have finished the card with some faux stitching around the edge.

I'm really pleased with how this card has turned out and will probably make some more to send to family.

For more inspiration pop by the Sweet Stampin challenge blog and take a peek at what Team Abi have created. While you're there you can also read all about our fab sponsor this week:

There is also still a little time left to enter my fab afternoon tea competition over on my other blog. To find out more take a peek at Tea With Me and Friends!

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Happy Easter!

Hello there,

I hope you've had a good day and a great week!

No card from me this week, but I just wanted to share with you the wonderful Easter inspired afternoon tea that Lorna and I held for our friends this afternoon. As you might know we've been baking and hosting our own afternoon teas for a while now and love baking for our friends.

Easter afternoon tea

We stayed with tried and tested sandwich fillings like egg mayonnaise, roast chicken and cheese, using both white and brown bread. These were followed by Lorna's scrummy scones - topped with cream and homemade blackberry jam.

The sweet treats were made by myself, Lorna and our mum.

We had sheep meringues, chocolate and raspberry cakes, passion fruit and white chocolate tarts, lemon madeleines and chocolate and orange cakes with a chocolate glaze.

Easter sweet treats

I also made some little chocolate tarts with chocolate ganache, topped with little mini chocolate eggs. This is the second time that I have made this chocolate pastry, and I was pleased with how light and crisp it turned out - perfect with the chocolate ganache.......

Easter chocolate tarts

Next time I make these tarts (and I definitely will be making them again) I will add a layer of salted caramel under the chocolate.

Everything was washed down with rather a lot of tea - both black Ceylon tea and yellow tea. I also made a bottle of blackberry lemonade which was rather popular.

I'd like to enter my Easter chocolate tarts in The Pink Whisk Easter Make and Bake Competition, run inconjunction with Two Little Fleas.

If this afternoon tea has got you in the mood for more sweet treats pop by my afternoon tea blog Tea With Me and Friends!

Thanks for popping by today,
Wedgie xxx

A Little Favour Please....

Hello there,

I hope you are well and are ready for your Christmas celebrations.

This is a slightly different post from me today, as its a request for a vote from you! If you have stopped by hear below you will know that I also run a little afternoon tea blog with my sister Lorna which is called Tea With Me and Friends.



Afternoon Tea Treats!

On the blog you can read reviews of afternoon teas we've enjoyed, see afternoon teas we have created and drool over lots of scrummy photos of cakes! Take a peek here if you haven't seen it yet!

One of our favourite afternoon teas of 2013

Anyway, we have entered our little afternoon tea blog in the UK Blog Awards 2014, which we are a tad bit excited about! The awards will be judged by an official panel early next year...but to get to that stage we need a successful public vote....and that's where you come in! I'd really appreciate your support....if you are able to vote for us you just need to click on the link below and leave your name and email address.

 

http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/blog-entries/tea-with-me-and-friends/

 

Every vote counts at this stage and we'd be so grateful for your vote!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this post....I know there isn't a card in sight!

 

Our homemade Halloween afternoon tea

I'd also like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

 

Best wishes,

Wedgie

xxx

Bold and Beautiful!

Hello there,

Happy National Afternoon Tea week! I hope you've had a spot of tea and cake this week to celebrate!

As well as a host of different posts on our afternoon tea blog this week, I have also celebrated the wonderful tradition of afternoon tea with my work colleagues by taking some of my tea cups and homemade mini Victoria sponges into the office!

 

So, onto this week's challenge over at Sweet Stampin....this week we have an interesting theme for you.....we want to see your bold and beautiful creations! Now this got me thinking for a while...bold and beautiful...that could be so many things! Then it struck me...in my eyes there is nothing more beautiful than a perfectly laid afternoon tea table....so with this in mind I got crafting.....

 

 

It is definitely bold with that fab backing paper and I also think its quite beautiful! I have stamped my images and coloured them with my Promarkers. I also added a little bit of sparkle to the cakes with my Stickles. I have fixed my backing papers in place and then arranged my stamped afternoon tea images in place using a combination of glue and 3D sticky pads.

 

Pop by the Sweet Stampin challenge blog to see how the other DT members have interpreted the theme this week. While you're there you can find out about all our fab sponsors this week....

 

 

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

Make it Monday

Allsorts Challenge - use your new stash (the fab paper was bought this week!)

 

So I hope wherever you are in the world you have indulged in a little tea and cake this week, and maybe a scone or two!

 

 

Thank you for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Nothing like a cuppa!

Hello there...Happy Saturday....I hope you've had a lovely week!

Sooooo....we have a fab challenge for you this week at My Time to Craft....its one of those themes that I always love to see on a challenge blog. This week's theme is "food and drink"...you can create anything as long as there is some food or drink in the image.

Now usually I'd go with a cupcake image...you all know me, thats an obviously choice! But this time I decided to do something a little bit different....

 

Ok, probably not too different from the type of cards you'd expect to see on my blog.....but at least there are no cupcakes to be seen (although she is probably holding a cupcake in the hand we can't see!!).

 

I've coloured my cute image using my Promarkers....and then I got really girlie with my backing papers and embellishments! I'm really pleased with how this card has turned out, it really reminds me of springtime with the soft colours and cute flowers everywhere.

 

Pop by the My Time to Craft challenge blog to see what food and drink features on the gorgeous cards that the DT have created this week!

 

I'd also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Cute Card Thursday - spring fever

Pop by these fab challenge blogs to see what the DT have created this week!

 

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

A little bit vintage

Hello there...hope you've had a fab week!

Mine has been another busy one with a big consultant event mid week which I organised for my work. We brought together medical consultants from across the country for the meeting in London...I've been working on it for ages and I'm pleased that it went well.

In fact I've been so busy with this meeting that I nearly didn't have a card for you today! I headed off to work on Wednesday and hadn't planned to go home until fairly late on Friday evening (I stay with either my mum or my sister, both of them live much closer to my office than I do!). When I got to mum's on Wednesday evening I suddenly realised that I needed to make my card for Sweet Stampin this week! Luckily I had my laptop with me and so I had some digi images to choose from. Then I discovered mum's little craft cupboard....and manage to find enough materials to make this card....

 

Isn't that ribbon fab?? Mum's cupboard is technically full of things for our Brownie meetings, so I am really pleased that I could find these bits and pieces!

 

Sooooo...you might be wondering what the actual challenge is this week at Sweet Stampin!! We have a theme close to my heart this week....we want to see your vintage cards! If you'd like some more inspiration, pop by the Sweet Stampin blog to see all the gorgeous Team Abi DT cards!

 

I think this is a bit more shabby chic than vintage, but the sentiment definitly fits the bill and I love this Pollycraft image (it reminds me of me!!). I have also used some brown parcel paper and some gorgeous backing paper that I found in a craft magazine. I've coloured the image with some colouring pencils that I found!

 

We are joined this week by

 

as our weekly sponsor....and we are joined this month by

 

as our monthly sponsor!

 

I'd also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

Love to Create - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

 

Pop by these blogs to see all the gorgeous DT cards that have been created!

 

Thanks for popping by today,

Wedgie xxx

Happy Tuesday!

Evening Peeps!

I hope you are well this evening....I'm back with another card for you this evening....

Ok, ok....I know I made a similar card to this recently, but I love the layout...I think it looks really pretty! I've used some brown backing paper, along with some pretty patterned paper for the background. I've added a pretty punched border across the middle. The sentiment has been created on my trusty computer and I've added a mug of tea (or coffee) because every mum deserves a cup of tea! The mug has been coloured with my Promarkers, I wanted it to look like china so I have used an ivory coloured promarker.

This card is for the "for mum/female relative" challenge over at Passion for Promarkers this week and the "anything goes" challenge at Papertake Weekly.

Don't forget to pop by these blogs to see the gorgeous DT cards that have been created for inspiration.

Thanks for popping by this evening,

Wedgie xxx

A nice cup of tea!

Yuck...what's with this drizzerly rain?? It's the worse type of rain isn't it?! You seem to get very wet, but there isn't much to show for it...I suppose I should be grateful that we're now not all flooding again!!

I got some fab news today, my physio has said I can try driving again! I haven't driven in mid-November when my stupid knee decided to blow up like a big balloon! I'm so excited! I know I have to take it easy, but hey its a step towards getting my independence back! Woo hoo!

Thought I'd celebrate by sharing a new card with you....

......this pretty card combines several of my favourite things in life...pretty colours, flowers, afternoon tea, pretty bone china cups, cute sentiments, photography and of course yummy cupcakes!

It also fits in nicely with Cupcake Craft's Challenge this week, the theme is food and drink! What a brilliant theme to have!! The DT have created some gorgeous cards to fit the theme, take a peek at them here.

I've used a beautiful blue and pink backing paper to start with on this card. I found the quote on the internet and thought that it is just brilliant for any tea lover out there. The picture is actually a photo taken by me at an afternoon tea held by my sister....if you've stopped by my blog before you might remember our obession with proper afternoon teas!! The bone china all belongs to my sister (a gorgeous set) and I made that wonderful looking cupcake......and yes it tasted just as good as it looks there! For a little more girliness I decided to back the photo and quote with some bright pink paper, and I left the cutting a little uneven to give it a shabby chic feel.

As you can probably tell I love this card and I'm very pleased with how it turned out! I came across a lot of other tea quotes and so I think I might do some more tea themed cards!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Wedgie Xxx