Ripening in the late summer sunshine

And so our glorious summer continues for another week. Despite the chillier mornings and darker evenings the temperatures have been getting up 26c most afternoons. 28c is forecast for Thursday and yes it is my non working day!. My veg have been loving it and are really ripening well now. I have already picked lots of ripe tomatoes, this is my 2nd delicious flush.

 My green peppers are turning red

I have a second flush of aubergines too

There are still masses of runner beans

and we have been constantly harvesting the chillies. We hope to dry lots and use them over the winter

and someone else was ripening out there too...

well actually it got a bit hot for Billy so he found a shady spot ;0)

There is nothing like the taste of home grown is there? All this sunshine has inspired my card making as even though I have still been in sunshine and gardening mode I am still making Christmas cards. I recently bought the nativity stamp for the brand new Lili of the Valley Christmas 2013 range and I had to ink it up straight away. I went for really bright but traditional green, red and gold/yellow and this is what I made.

***squeal*** isn't it the cutest stamp! I coloured the image using my Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils. The card has been cut using my new Go Create large die cutters which I bought as part of my amazing prize from winning the Hobby House challenge last month ;0) **thanks guys**
Here is that image in close up

I used my favourite Cheery Lynn Holly die cutter for the holly leave and pearls for the berries. The tiny tag sentiment is LOTV and the other one is a Whimsy stamp. I have also used a Marianne candle and a Memory Box precious stars die cut too. I also added a lovely gold coloured snowflake charm from my jewellery making stash. You can see how sunny it was when I took the photo...no need of any enhancement with these photos just the natural sunlight.

I would like to enter my cards into the following challenges;

Lili's Little Fairies (there last one but they are reforming...hooray as a fairy challenge;0) No flowers
Winter Wonderland add a charm
Country View Craft Challenges Layers
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge Get inky there is lots of inking going on here
Stamping Sensations photo inspiration I was inspired but the shades of green in the photo and the bright poppy red and used these in my card.
Christmas Card Challenges Something new my new are my Go Create cutter and this gorgeous stamp
Pan Pastel Spots/dots my spots and dots are my pearls/berries on the leaves and the back papers and my round gems
Loves Rubberstamps Anything goes
Bearly Mine anything goes
Creative Card Crew things with wings
Die cut Divas Celebrate
A+T Emerald Fairies magical creatures
Designed to Colour anything goes
Ladybugs Craft Ink Winter Wonderland...my buddy Kerry has a cute new snowman release today...there is a link in my side bar.
Make it Monday Linky party 156

I am off to meet my buddy Karen for ladies' lunch in a mo. That hour is never enough time to catch up all our news but it's always so good to see her. Can I give a warm welcome to my new followers, it's great to see you joining me here. Also a virtual wave and thank you to everyone who reads my posts. Last but never least thanks for the kind, encouraging comments you leave me here..I think my last card was quite popular...and yes I will be using that stamp again. I just wish there were more hours in the day ;0) This blogging world is such a positive fun thing to be a part of...I just love it! Thanks everyone out there you really are the best.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x