'Easel' yourself into Christmas in July !!

Yippee - I've got a lovely new mini laptop.

In reality, hubby has been bleating on about this thing for months, since one of his students got one and showed him how "incredible" it is.  He then came home to tell me how much he we needed one too and I had to persuade him realise that we really didn't need to trade up, as he'd only just bought a new one and I've got one supplied by the office to enable me to work out of hours (very thoughtful of them !!!).

Anyhow, when hubby saw a 'not to be missed' deal he decided to persuade me to get it for him myself, because it would be just perfect for him me.  So I reluctantly pandered to his desires and let him order it with my credit card, suspecting that I probably wouldn't get to see much of it as soon as he got his hands on it, but it would keep him happy.

However, he got bored of it after 3 hours of putting in software activation codes and soon went back to his large laptop.  So it's MINE !!!  And I admit it's flippin' lovely!!!   So I'm happy.  Until next week when he says that he's taking it away with him for his visit to see his folks "up North" - but he's kindly said that I can use his laptop while he's gone.  For now though, I'm making the most of it.

Anyway, I suspect  you're really here because there is a new challenge today at Stamp Fairy Challenge Blog, and the theme to play along with this week is Christmas in July, but with a twist ...  it has to be an easel card too!

I've decided to try something that I've not done before, which is a twisted easel, and it was actually really easy.  However, I don't really feel happy with the card; it just feels unfinished, or possibly not thoughtfully laid out. There is something about it that I'm not happy with.  But since I love the cute images of Al the Penguin, love the pinks and blues, love the glittered snowflakes and the cute 'falling snow' papers, I gave up trying to alter it any more. So here it is.

Card Recipe:

• Images - Al Welcome Winter and Al WinterFun2 from Stamp Fairy
• Papers - Summertime Designs
• Colouring mediums - Promarkers, Copics, Dovecraft Shimmer chalks.
• Nesties - Labels 16
• Scroll - DoHickey Leaf & Swirl
• Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Swiss Dots
• From my stash - Ribbons, glitter, liquid pearls, Snowflake punches

Please pop on over to the Stamp Fairy Challenge Blog to see the other creations by the talented design team, and to enter our challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations this week.

There is also a new release out today, Lenny Back to School. Here's a preview of the new images to whet your appetite.

Don't forget there's a sale on at StampFairy too, 50% off to celebrate Gerda's birthday later this week.

I've been inspired by:

• Really Reasonable Ribbon - Cool It
• Creative Card Crew - Animal Antics
• Creative Inspirations - Around the world (South Pole)
• I Love Promarkers - Christmas in July
• Delightful Sketches - Christmas in July
• Christmas Stampin - All about you (my fave colours pink & baby blue)
• Simply Create - Christmas Time
• Totally Gorjuss - Punch or Die
• Fuzzy Wuzzy - Get Punchy

Happy crafting.