Excitement in the land of Ambrosia & Iron

How excited am I today? VERY excited! In fact, so excited that I’m going to do this in three parts: news and project, blog hits and giveaway…

I’m excited, Part One: I am absolutely thrilled to tell you that Sandy Redburn invited me to be Guest Designer for Crafty Secrets this month. Wow! Did I mention I’m thrilled ;o) I’ll be sharing Crafty Secrets projects with you on the blog during May and Sandy will have some on the Heartwarming Vintage blog, too. Here’s one to get us going...



This came together quickly because the paper (from the Crafty Secrets Radiant pad) does most of the work here. I just added a stamped sentiment from the Sweet Kids set and the ribbon/lace/stitching. The girls on the Bubbly Funk forum may remember my recent exploits in dying silk ribbon – this is the first outing for my natural dye experiments! These were dyed with blackberries; the paler one stayed in the dye bath for an hour or two; the darker one stayed in overnight.

Supplies: Radiant Paper Pad and Sweet Kids Clear Art Stamps (both Crafty Secrets), vintage lace edging, 1” silk ribbon, Clearsnap Deep Green Fluid Chalk ink, sewing machine and thread.

I’m excited, Part Two: My blog has just gone through the 10,000 visits mark since I installed a counter on it. Wow! Thank you very much to all my visitors, new and old, regular and occasional – it’s only worth doing if people enjoy their visits and the fact that so many of you keep coming back really means a lot to me: thank you!

I’m excited, Part Three: add together One and Two and I think a celebration is in order so I have blog candy! Crafty Secrets just released four booklets combining vintage images and journalling spots so they’re great for scrapping as well as cards or altered projects.



I have a full set of four booklets to give away, so the winner will get Homemade, Summertime, Childhood and Birds & Botanicals to play with. You can see them here (click on each booklet to get a more detailed view of them).

So, what do you have to do to win? Firstly, this is open only to UK and European players so that we get to spread the fun a little. Sorry if you’re not in those locations but hopefully you’ll find it easier than us to get hold of Crafty Secrets stuff and Sandy has details of other giveaways on the Crafty Secrets blog that are open to everyone so check those out if your location means you’re not eligible for my draw.

Looking at the little Pierrot in the Childhood booklet got me thinking about the dressing-up box most of us had as kids. So, if you’re in the UK or Europe and would like to win the booklets, just leave a comment on this post to tell me your favourite memory of dressing up as a kid. Make sure there’s a link to your blog or other way to contact you so I can let you know if you won!

Please leave your comment by midnight (GMT) on Wednesday 14th May to go into the virtual hat and I will announce a winner on Thursday 15th. Of course I’d love to hear from you even if you’re not entering the draw, so please do say “Hi!” (you could put ‘no candy’ in your comment if you want to make my life easy).

My favourite? Probably the cone shaped Christmas tree hat, decorated with a spiralled fringe of green crepe paper and real tiny glass baubles! The lion with full mane, eyebrow pencil whiskers and swishy tail (thoughtfully attached with a large press stud so there would be no embarrassing mishaps in the event of a naughty boy pulling my tail – thanks Mum!) runs a close second, though ;o)

Thanks for your visit today, hope you had some fun!