Agent Popcorn New Release at Little Miss Muffet stamps

Good morning!  I have another card for you today with one of Barbara's newest of new releases at Little Miss Muffet Stamps.  Meet Agent Popcorn from the Operation TREEHOUSE collection:

Isn't she cute?  I made this card for Bookie Bird's birthday yesterday because Agent Popcorn reminds me a bit of BB.  

The papers I have used are a mixture... some from October Afternoon, one from Cosmo Cricket and one from Webster's Pages.  The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl.  The button is from my stash and the charm is from The Secret Garden on Da Wanda.  The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks #60: Marker it up

Pixie Dust Studio #97: Happy Birthday

Shelly's Images: Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps Blog #37: Lots of layers

Update:  Oops!  I totally forgot that I used the Sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday challenge (number 177), so I would like to enter that challenge too!

Here are the copics I used:

Head on over to the Little Miss Muffet Challenges blog to check out the fabulous creations from my teamies and to meet Agent Popcorn Aiming!

Happy Friday!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

A little travel bug #4 Cabrera, Balearic Islands.

And with a little glimpse into Spain, I return to the blogging scene.  It's time!

My passionate venture into working for Ark is almost at an end, and I have a lot of free time in my schedule that has been freed up by not one, but two angels who come to my house to watch my little chick for a few hours a week.  I am in a new world of time for coffee, for writing, and for long talks with my friend Arabella, which have been sorely missed.

I have been truly spoiled this week with a grand dinner on Saturday night - one very excited little person and one very delicious Peking duck.  Fabulous company, a little pre-warming of a very nice new apartment, and a swanky cocktail and oh-so-delicious beef for a wee birthday celebration.

  

This sort of feeling is one to bottle.  Time management.  I might blog about it.

That, or parenting.   Hmm.  Are there already so many wonderful parenting bloggers out there?  Do the others have the answer to the great time management dilemma that faces new parents in foreign countries?   Perhaps I shall do a little thinking and see what I come up with.

Until then, I did want to share the most beautiful place with you that my former life as superyacht crew allowed me to experience.

The island of Cabrera is just off Mallorca, uninhabited and previously used to house French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars.  Not an enormous success with only 3600 surviving of the original 9000.  Cabrera is now a National park and marine sanctuary and in a sea which is not known for its marine life, this islet is a delightful refuge from the frenetic fishing ports of Palma de Mallorca and busy yachting anchorages surrounding all the Balearic Islands.

Boats are provided with permits for a maximum of two nights and there is a battle upon arrival when the bow of a large superyacht nudges into the small bay and is forced to negotiate in shouted, broken Spanish with much smaller fishing vessels that squat on the buoys.

The view from the fort is magnificent.

The water is a deep, bright blue and the fish contrast against it in black and flashes of silver.   When you jump from the bow of a very large yacht into the depths, you can only imagine the sea-bed.  It requires a big breath and a whole lot of bravado for those not so great at spontaneous water entry. 

 

It is a pure, quiet place.  

Bookie bird - in Voula, Greece.   On her birthday with a tummy full of decadent once-a-year chocolate cake made by her friend Arabella.

Mitten and Button at Little Miss Muffet Stamps

Good morning!  It's a beautiful but chilly morning here in Greece (if you ignore all the rubbish piling up on the streets and the rioters down in Syntagma Square).  The sun is shining brightly, there's hardly any wind and it's one of those beautiful crispy feeling mornings that you only get in Autumn.  It started out at 12 degrees C, but I think it's going to be balmy 20 degrees or so later today!  

This is going to be a quick post as I am in the middle of icing a decadent chocolate cake for my special friend BB who turns 30-something young today!  Happy Birthday BB!  What a beautiful day for a birthday!

This week it's New Release week at Little Miss Muffet stamps and Barbara has some gorgeous new images for us.  Today we have some lovely wee Christmas Animal Friends to show you and tomorrow you will get to meet the mysterious new Secret Agent Popcorn.

I decided to combine the two new release images for today onto one card... Meet Button (the kitten) and Mitten (the puppy):

I kept the card pretty simple as my image ended up being so huge.  The papers are a mixture from my collection.  The ribbon and twine are from The Ribbon Girl... I have had them in my stash for a while now.  The charm is from Telford's Direct (it's also been waiting in my stash for Christmas to get closer).  

Are they cute or what?!  I coloured Button in chocolate browns in memory of my beautiful Seal Burmese and the puppy in Golden Retriever colours in memory of our dogs.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge: U is for Unused Stash

Ruby's Rainbow #14: Cute and Cuddly

Forever Friends: Anything Goes but use an animal
Karens Doodles Challenge: Animal Antics

Here is a close up:

And here are the copics I used:

I do hope you get a chance to head over to the Little Miss Muffet challenge blog and check out the lovely creations from my teamies!

Ciao!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Karber Birthday cutie

Good morning again!  It's Tuesday today and things are shaping up to be pretty bad in Greece this week, so we are going to stock up on petrol and groceries today while the supermarkets and petrol stations are still open.  At the moment rubbish is piled up on the streets outside as the rubbish has not been collected for 3 weeks!  Hopefully that will get sorted out soon as I hear private contractors have been hired to remove the rubbish.

Today I have a card to share showcasing another Karber Digital cutie.  She is called Gift Millie.  I think she's adorable!

I seem to have a theme going lately with red and blue/green!  The papers I have used here are from Crate Paper.  I have had the background piece cut for a while (I cut it with my Spellbinders last time I was home).  The ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl and the crystal is from Maya Road.  I have added Glossy Accent's to Millie's eyes.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Make it Monday #59: Anything Goes

The Squirrel and the Fox #3: One for the Girls

Di's Digi Designs: Girly

Here's a close-up of Millie:

And here are the copics I used:

Happy Tuesday!

Arabella Chickie In Glyfada, Greece

I love my new cushions....

Hello!  Wow!  Second post of the day for me!  Well I just wanted to show off the new cushions that I made on the weekend... I took some pictures this afternoon when I got home from work (after I put our new duvet cover on that just slipped into my trolley while I was at Ikea the other day... my very lovely and accepting husband did not say a word about it).

The fabric is called suedine and it has the feel of suede... It's lovely and soft.  I used it to make curtains for our bedroom, but I haven't hemmed them yet.  The red fabric is from scraps that we cut off our living room curtains when I hemmed them last week.  The natural linen (it's actually a kind of oatmeal colour) is just some scrap fabric from Ikea I had in the cupboard.  

I bought the cushion inners first, then once I knew the sizes I needed to make I drew the patterns that were in my head on scrap paper and worked out the measurements I would need for each piece (the two different cushion sizes are 40 x 60cm and 50 x 50cm).  Then I cut, ironed and sewed, and sewed, and ironed, and unpicked a little bit and sewed some more.  

I put invisible zippers in the cushions just using a normal zipper foot.  It took a bit of getting my head around, but by the third cushion I was a pro!  Have a look:

I top stitched the linen strips only,  just for detail.  Both the red and the linen fabrics are interfaced with iron on interfacing.

I love how they look and feel!  It's nice to have something in the house that is not from Ikea and bit unique!

Have a nice evening!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Pollycraft Monday #115 Girls, Girls, Girls!

Good Monday morning!  I had a lovely weekend at home relaxing this weekend (apart from my little trip to Ikea and a lovely dinner out with friends).  Yesterday I made some cushions for our bed with some of the leftover fabric from the curtains and I love how they turned out.  I might snap a pic tonight to share.  I tell you what... I totally have those invisible zips sussed now!

Anyway, today we have a new challenge at Pollycraft for you and it's a super easy one!
It's Girls, Girls, Girls chosen by the lovely Cazza.   Our sponsor this week is Sew Sweet who are offering the winner a £10 voucher to spend in the store.

Here's my card:

I decided to use the lovely Lil Kitty from the Swings and Slides collection as I hadn't coloured her up before and she was so much fun to colour!  The papers I used are from Crate Paper and the Cat card is from My Mind's Eye.       The birdcage charm is from The Secret Garden on Da Wanda and the metal button is from my stash.  The ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl.  I added clouds with Distress Inks and a cloud silhouette I cut using my Slice Machine.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Squirrel and the Fox #3: One for the girls

By the Cute and Girly: Anything Goes

Di's Digi Designs: Girly Creations

Here is a close up of Lil Kitty:

And here are the copics I used:

Do head on over to the challenge blog to check out the gorgeous girlie cards from my fellow teamies!  We hope you can join us this week!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

My first Greek Pita Pastry

Hello!  It's Sunday here and it's lovely to have the weekend off work even though it is a bit cold and grey outside!  I just wanted to pop in and share a picture of my first attempt at making Greek Pita Pastry.  

Last summer on the boat, the boss's mother in law showed my how to make Greek spinakopita, but I was so engrossed in watching and learning that I didn't manage to record the details very well and I didn't have time to try making it myself while it was still fresh in my memory, so this summer I asked her to show me again and I wrote it all down properly.  She's so lovely... she even gave me a new rolling pin to make it with!  She will be chuffed that I have finally had an attempt to make it myself.

Here's how it turned out:

My husband loved it!  It was so nice to make my own pastry... and not have it as greasy as a lot of the bought pastries tend to be!  I think I will definitely do it again in future!  Next time I think I will add a touch more salt and I will baste the top before cooking.  I'm just so amazed that it turned out!  Making savoury flaky pastry was something that it never really occurred to me was possible by the average cook!

The filling I used was just something I made up... not very traditionally Greek, but it was rather tasty... It was poached chicken (I had some leftover frozen in the freezer), ricotta, sauteed leeks, bacon and red onion, some dried thyme and a dash of parmesan and a couple of eggs.

Anyway, that's it from me.  I'm off to make some cards and cushions for our bed!

Oooh and I hear that NZ just won their semi final rugby game!  Yay the All Blacks!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Boys will be boys

Hello! Good afternoon!  Well you would think I would have learned from my last expedition to Ikea on a Saturday, but no... I just had to go back today.  Actually it was not quite as bad as the last one, but I think that is because I went to a different store... it was still a madhouse though and definitely not advisable.

Anyway, enough about shopping... I wanted to stop by to share a card I made for the current Boys will be boys challenge at Tiddly Inks this week.  I had a quick look through my images to find something suitable and (shock horror) there were a few that had never even been printed yet!  I chose to use Geekatude because I thought he looked like a real boys boy.

I'm still struggling to find a good place in our new house to take photos without casting a shadow on them... I think I need to keep looking.

Here's my card:

I tried to follow this week's sketch from Dutch Dare Card Challenges, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded...The papers I used are from October Afternoon and Crate Paper and the ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl.  The Play sticker is from Crate Paper and I have coloured the image with copics (see details below).

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Tiddly Inks Challenge #68: Boys will be boys

Dutch Dare Card Challenges #134 : Sketch

Carisma Cardz Challenge #41: In stitches (real or faux)

Southern Girls Challenge #29: Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

Here are the copics I used:

And here's a close up of the image:

Happy Saturday!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Sweet Fairy...

Good morning!  Last night I had some free time and I made a couple of cards for some challenges.  I must be slow though as it took me about 5 hours just to make 2 cards!  

I just got my new Sugar Nellie Fairy stamps from Funky Kits this week and I had to ink one of them up, especially when I saw Joey's gorgeous card!  I had a quick look at the challenge blogs and decided to use the sketch from The Sugar Bowl this week and my favourite copic colour combos for the Mad for Markers challenge.

Here's my card:

The papers are from Crate Paper and October Afternoon and I have coloured the image with copics (see details below).  I have added Stickles to her wings and to the snow flakes.  The ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl and the charm is from The Secret Garden on Da Wanda.  The pearly blingy swirls are by Prima and the sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.

My favourite copic colour combos are the ones I have used here:
Reds: R30, 35, 37, 39 (I also love the 'Christmas red' combo of R21, 22, 24, 29 and 89)
Blue Greens: BG0000, 10, 53, 45, 49
Yellows: Y000, Y00, 11, 17
Blonde hair: YR30, YR31, Y28 plus I think I added a touch of YR24
Skin: E0000, E000, E00 and R20

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Sugar Bowl: Sketch #69 (I don't really like green so I had to pass on the optional theme)

Mad for Markers Monthly Challenge: Favourite copic colour combo

Here are the copics I used:

Gotta run... work is starting now!

Ciao!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Challenge #20 at Little Miss Muffet stamps

Good morning!  It's time for a new challenge at Little Miss Muffet stamps!

We have a fabulously easy challenge for you this round... it's Girly Girl!  Think pink, lace, frills, flowers... whatever says girly to you...

Here is my card featuring one of my favourites... Iris May Hatter:

I have followed the October Sketch from I{heart}2stamp.  The papers are from Craftwork Cards and Webster's Pages (I think) and the ribbon and lace is from The Ribbon Girl.  The swirly bling is by Prima and I have coloured Iris May Hatter with copics, but unfortunatly I forgot to record the numbers... from memory I think I used the BG70's for the dress and RV80's for the hat, purse and shoes.  The hat band, colour and frill are done with E50's and her hair is done with Y20's and Y000.  

We would love it if you could join us this week... and if Girly Girl is not your thing, then you can enter the challenge anyway using any Little Miss Muffet stamps image.  If you choose to do this, then the theme is Anything Goes.  Head on over to the challenge blog to check out the fabulous inspiration from the Design Team ladies.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
I{heart}2stamp: October SFYTT
Top Tip Tuesday: Use Designer Papers
Ribbon Carousel Challenge: Sparkle and bling
Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #70: Think Pink


Have a lovely Thursday!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece