Double-Post Sunday!

Yup, as usual, I find myself having to post twice today to avoid missing tomorrow's deadline for two of my challenges this week.  Oh hum! One day I'll get ahead of myself properly.  Mind you, it's been such a lovely weekend here that I've had to do some housewifey things, like laundry, whilst the weather was good, so that has eaten a little into my weekend crafting.  I'm not complaining, mind you - the laundry basket is now empty of clothes for the first time in months and I feel very virtuous.

So, the first pair of challenges are:

Cupcake Craft Challenge: Childhood memories
Isabella's Challenge: Sketch (which I have rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

 When I was a little girl, I used to go and stay with my grandma for a couple of weeks in the long summer holidays, which was a great treat.  We would often walk up the village to visit my great-grandma, who was a wonderful old lady - I could sit and listen to her stories about her own life forever.  I miss them both much.

Great-grandma lived in a small bungalow, with nothing but the tiniest patch of garden at the front (although there was plenty of room to play in the back garden).  One of my best memories is of being able to tend this tiny front patch, which meant removing the seed pods from the pansies once they had flowered, taking out what very few weeds there might be, and being given a large pair of (mostly blunt) scissors with which I was entrusted to clip the tiny section of privet hedge that grew there.  Then I would water the garden and feel very proud of myself for being such a good gardner!  (That didn't last by the way - I could kill silk flowers now!)

So, my entry for these two challenges looks like this:

Image: Isabella's Sketchbook, 'Feeding The Earth'

Paper: October Afternoon

Other: A little ladybug given to me by my OH.

Isabella's Challenge requires the use of an Isabella digistamp from her store, 'Isabella's Sketchbook'. When I came across this little image, I knew it would be perfect for these challenges. 

I wanted the whole thing to have a muted, retro vibe, so I coloured simply to give a 1930s feel to the image and chose this gorgeous grey polkadot paper as my only DP for this project.  The addition of red matting and the ladybug just picks up enough colour to bring the whole thing together (I hope).

So, before I completely run out of time on this one, I'll pop over and link up, then I'll be back with the second post in just a moment.  Talk about feast or famine!

Happy crafting.
xx