Tag Archives: SU

Addicted to Stamps Bingo Challenge 3

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Hello my names Marie and I’m addicted to ……..no not gin stamps !!!!!! There’s a nasty rumour going around that I’m a little too fond of the “sauce ”  I think I may have started the rumour myself , albeit in a desperate attempt for attention, hoping to distract you all from the fact that I’m a naff card maker ! It seems to have worked , even my own sister Karen at Tricky Little stitches is fueling the fire !!!! Another attention seeker in the making  ! I would just like to point out that although I do occasionally partake of the ” waters ” I am far from vacationing at the Betty Ford clinic and this is all purely for your entertainment. I know that Florence from Florence and Freddie and the lovely Lynne from Adorn are having great fun maligning my name,  don’t let all that lovely lace and prettiness fool you ! Now before Suze Bain jumps on the bandwagon and says that denial is part of the illness I just want to assure you all that my recent injuries are not alcohol induced just me being clumsy !!

Its time once again for a new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and our theme this week is Bingo so have a peep at the little card below and choose your line you know the drill

I chose score, grey and circle but I see that as chance would have it I also have score , free and purple !! so I don’t know whether  I win a prize or am disqualified !!!!

Basic Grey Dp for the background , Spellbinders circles for ……the circles duh!!!!!  Tim Holtz mini and maxi paper rosettes dies and  what looks like a Rowntrees blackcurrent fruit pastel in the centre was made by I with one of my handmade moulds filled with clear acrylic and a few drops of alcoholic , sorry I mean alcohol ink for the lush colour. Leaves courtesy of SU and Melon Mambo ink. Oh and the curved sentiment is from my cameo did a little bit of magic to curve the sentiment and all done !

Right if your still with me please pop over to Addicted to Stamps  and have a peep at what the DT have made , there are some gobsmacking tricky cards for your viewing pleasure and then there is of course mine.

Before I leave just wanted to show you a piccie of  Ziggy my friends cat who shares my new craft studio, I had just bought this little basket to keep some of my tat in and the furry feline was in it in a flash !!!!!

For the eagle-eyed amongst you that whisky and coke in the background is not mine !!!!!

Right am off  into the night , hobbling home in my flip-flops in the rain( still can’t get my shoes on )

Take care

Oh and a word of warning am going for the  ” Triple ” three posts in three days you lucky, lucky , people !

Marie

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 75 Stitching and Lace

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It seems like someone has put a curse on me lately, you may remember a few weeks ago I sliced the top of my finger off with a sushi knife and although it is healing nicely its still very painful and quite sensitive. Well Friday night I had a little altercation with the corner of my bed which just happens to have a metal frame. I whacked my foot rather hard on the corner and have broken my little toe !!! this is the third time I’ve broken the damn thing ( and no Florence gin was not involved ) although I have to say am having a few scoops for purely medicinal purposes you understand ! I ‘m now hobbling ungraciously around in my flip-flops and of course the weather has turned rotten and as my craft room is no longer at home  I had to brave the elements dressed like a bag lady in the teeming rain in order to get this post done !! Now theres dedication for you !!!!!!

Its time for a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers but before I go any further I would like to thank everyone who joined in my ”  Winged Things ” challenge so many fabulous entries and you really made it difficult for me to choose a winner. Our hostess for the next fortnight is our lovely boss Lin who is asking us to use lace and stitching on our creations and here is what she has to say :-

I would like to see some stitching, either hand, machine or faux on your project as WELL as some lace, real not faux.
I really wanted to create something simple for this challenge ( again ) ! lately I’m in a very CAS frame of mind and I knew my teamies would all come up with lots of  fabulous lacy gorgeousness and I was right, so  I thought I would leave it up to the experts.
I wanted to give the impression of a pattern and so stamped
my image onto velum and then again onto some lovely DP and paper pieced the image. Added a little pocket and some lace and a button. I used my Cameo to cut the scissors and then triple coated them with UTEE  which I inked up first with SU Melon Mambo ink and added a little leather to the handles.
I would also like to enter this card into Pile it On Challenge no 38 ” Its a Stitch Up ” who are asking us to use some real or faux stiching on our project
We have a wonderful sponsor once again Hobby ArtStamps
This is the Fab prize on offer
I’m sure you will agree definitely worth entering for.
Please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers to see the wonderful creations by my team mates and do hope you will find the time to join us.
I would also like to enter this card into Pile it On Challenge no 38 ” Its a Stitch Up ” who are asking us to use some real or faux stitching on our project.
Right time for me to hobble off home now sniff,sniff.

take care

Marie

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 74 ” Winged things “

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Good day fellow crafters. This is a scheduled post as lots of crafty things going on in my life at the moment and am unable to be at my desk all will be revealed…….

Over at Crafty cardmakers I have the honour of being your hostess for the next fortnight ( drinks trolley coming round at noon, six and eleven ) and have chosen ” Winged Things ” as our theme. So my lovelies anything with wings be it animal, vegetable or mineral ( would love to see a vegetable with wings ! ) in other words anything goes as long as I can clearly see those wings, could be a tag, ATC, altered art, box , wall hanging, use a digi, get your paints out go mad ! Please do check out our crafty rules in order to be eligible for one of our super prizes by our lovely sponsors

We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are offering the winner a £10 voucher for their store, you can spend this online, in the shop or if you’re lucky enough to see them at a show! They have a ton of items in store, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud.
We are also sponsored by
I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part-time but my love was always drawing. I started card making about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a card making kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with like-minded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and it’s just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!
Even though I set the challenge it was a toughie as I had so many ideas swirling around in my little pea brain but decided to keep it nice and simple. Of course I used my Cameo to cut out this lovely little angel. I used the negative space for the base and the cut out part was  triple embossed with SU gold embossing powder and replaced  into its original place with black card underneath to give a little contrast.
Mr Holtz’s on the edge die was used for the side panels one in black and the other in mirror card which was embossed and then matted and a little resin flower added for balance. The sentiment was computer generated.
Made a matching butterfly envelope for my little angel , once again using my Cameo and some lovely vellum paper.
Do pop over to Crafty Cardmakers to see the rest of the DT’s amazing creations and hopefully you will play along !
Right am off to carry on with my secret crafty mission !!

Take care

Marie

Addicted to Stamps ” Gold “

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Helloooooo you lovely crafters hope you are all tickety boo, fit as fiddles and such like. I myself have just had a bit of a tiff with a very sharp Sushi knife and instead of finely slicing my salmon have managed to slice the top off  my finger. Needless to say the Sushi is in the bin , I didn’t think my dinner guests would appreciate the outrageous red colour ! I’m going to keep this short as am in a fair bit of pain and am sporting quite a large bandage luckily on my left hand……looks like my Sushi party has turned into a pizza party !

 

Its time once again for another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and our theme this week is GOLD being a jeweller I just love working with the stuff so I made a couple of cards and here they are for your perusal.

 

 

Looking back on some of my recent posts I’ve noticed that I am somewhat addicted to hearts of late and most of my cards feature them, please bear with me as I’m sure it’s a passing fancy . For this card I used the dreaded gilding flakes, I really love the effect but boy how I hate the mess, the mutts and I tend to become blinged up on the rare occasion that I use them and this time was no exception , even hubby got a little unexpected bling as he was quite curious about the process and stuck his finger in the flakes and sent them flying  all around the house. He was really amused by it all and quite impressed I have to say until he went to work sporting a bit of the shiny stuff on his forehead. He phoned me a little later when he reached our shop to inform me of how gorgeous he looked !!! I used the Indigoblu heart stamp which I lathered up with flitter glue and then added the gilding flakes ….and well made a mess rubbing them into the glue and generally getting all sticky and blingy. I wont bore you with the rest because A. it’s obvious what I did next and B’ my likkle finger wreally wreally hurts . Stamped sentiment by SU with their lovely gold embossing powder .

Yes I know another heart , your lucky I’m only sharing two as I made six variations on this card ! I used some gorgeous DP from a 12 x 12 paper pad that i have that was really expensive and fabulous and up until now I couldn’t bare to cut it up, of course the cover is hiding from me so cant tell you the name of its creators. The butterfly  is a Hero Arts Sizzix combo stamp and die cut stamped onto Rich Razzlebury card by SU and embossed with SU gold embossing powder and the same again for the sentiment.

Thank you all so much for supporting us at Addicted to Stamps we are a new challenge and its great to see so many of you wonderfully talented crafters joining in. Not only that but my fellow DT members are amazingly talented and lovely ladies  but dont  just take my word for it pop over to Addicted to Stamps and see for yourself !

Right I really must go as I”m in dire need of medication for pain relief ( gin ) and my dinner guests are due any minute, he he they think they are getting Sushi , wont they be surprised when the pizza guy arrives .

 

Take care

 

Marie

 

Get Creative August 5th Card Sketch

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Good morning ladies and gents hope you are all fighting fit and enjoying your Sunday where ever you are. Another short post from me as the internet here is still rubbish and have been trying for the last hour to post this . The ” lecky “man is due to pull the plug on us here in the city within the next hour ( at least we get a warning ) so will try to make this quick , you lucky things !

Over at Get Creative its time for our card sketch challenge which has been created for us by our lovely and talented leader Irini and here it is

Here is my take on the sketch

I took a little liberty with the sketch and instead of adding a sentiment I stuck this cheeky little owl in the centre. I made him with one of my Sizzix embossing folders and cut around him, added the googly eyes and painted his little beak. The wood grain stamp is SU coloured with Espresso ink by Adirondack and matted onto green cardstock, I used my Spellbinders square dies for the centre ( just kidding wanted to see if you are paying attention ) popped up with foam dots for dimension and attached some tiny weeny dry leaves,  all done and dusted.

I do hope you will take time out from your busy schedules to join us at Get Creative this month and as we are still in holiday mode we will be having only one layout and one card challenge , why not pop over to see the wonderful and inspiring creations by my fellow DT members and for you scrappers have a peep at our current sketch challenge,  our sketch DT once again have produced more stunning layouts. You have until the 30th of August to upload to Get Creative and you could be one of our lucky winners. We have been sponsored by Get Creative Embellishments who will be offering our two challenge winners something amazing from their Etsy shop.

Now wasn’t that quick and painless ! nothing to do with the fact that i’m off for lunch by the sea with a girlfriend !

Ta ra XX

Addicted to Stamps ” Clean and Simple “

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Not only is our theme this week over at Addicted to Stamps entitled ” Clean and Simple ” but this post is going to be the same ! Due to my lack of internet over the last 24 hours and it taking me just as long to post this  I am keeping this super quick.  My nerves are frayed and jangled , not a pretty combination in anyones book ! ( I do love a bit of drama now don’t I ) so without further ado let me show you the CAS card I made .

 

 

I coloured my cardstock with Pan Pastels to give this lovely pale pink and blue effect. Cut the hearts with my Cameo and taking a lovely crackle stamp from IndigBlu and without using an acrylic block inked up the stamp and pressed it randomly on top as I didn’t want full coverage. The sentiment is from Stampin Up’s  Vintage Love set. Popped the hearts up with a little foam and there you have it CAS… I decided it looked a little too simple so  made a fancy heart envelope to go with it and coloured the lacy part with pink Pan Pastels .

 

Still not satisfied I made a tiny envelope again with my Cameo and embossed it and filled it with lots of tiny pink and blue hearts once again coloured with Pan Pastels , these little buggers took longer to make than the card as I had to colour both sides and they kept floating all around my craft room and disappearing when I sprayed them with my fictive spray. Needless to say the mutts were locked out during this process as they have been known to eat many a crafty creation which finds its way onto the floor !

 

There are tons of hearts still in the envelope but I couldn’t be bothered to get all of the little suckers out  !

Please pop over to Addicted to Stamps to see what the rest of the talented Design team have made for your viewing pleasure and thank you once again to all of those who played along last week, once again some fabulous entries.

Before I go just wanted to say that I will be missing for the next week as I celebrate my birthday on saturday 52 !!!!!! yes I know I don’t look it lol ! Hubby has arranged a holiday to the beautiful Greek island of Lesvos    for us , its been quite a while since we managed to have a holiday together so barring any health issues I will be leaving friday morning. Please excuse me in advance if my visits are a little erratic, this Island is quite mountainous and although I will have my I pad with me am not sure about the internet connection, I mean I can’t even get a good one slap bang in the city !

Wishing you all a wonderful week and especially to all of my lovely but very soggy UK blogging friends am off to the post office to mail you all a little sun !!

Ta ra

Marie

 

Addicted to Stamps colour challenge ” Blue “

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If you have come here expecting to see more photos and hear more gossip about the terrible twosome and I dont mean Florence and Valerie ( although Valerie is still trying to stir it up ) then you will be sadly disappointed. I do feel the R & B saga has run its course at least for the time being so you will just have to put up with plain old boring me ! Thank you all for your well wishes for hubby and I we are both on the mend well I am at least but you know what men are like and they do like to drag it ou a little now don’t they girls. Why is it that the male species when ill with something simple and petty always insist they are at death’s door and revert to being five years old. Now it is no fluke of nature that men don’t give birth can you imagine it ! they would be intolerable. We ” the weaker ” sex however can have a baby in the morning  be home in time to cook  dinner , clean the house put the washing on do the shopping and then ask  them how their day was,and still have the energy to listen to what a hard day they had at the office/golf or whatever  it is they get up to outside of the house. I’m not saying that my Teo is faking it I just think he’s enjoying watching rubbish TV in the morning and seeing how the other half live, his knowledge of the current soaps and tv trivia is a little alarming to say the least.

Over at Addicted to Stamps we had some fantastic entries  for our Christmas in July challenge last week, thank you all so much for joining us. To be honest we could do with a bit of a cool breeze here its soooooo hot  but it’s not the heat that’s the problem its the humidity and the mossies the little buggers are quite dastardly and are immune to every kind of repellent known to man. It’s not so much them biting its the buzzing noise they make in your ear  just before they dive bomb you and  take a chunk out of your wotsits! yes my wotsits are out in all their glory. Sorry for going off at a tangent , now if I was a man I would say it was due to the malaria after being bitten so many times but as I’m just a mere woman I will put it down to having too many things whirling around in my lovely little brain.  Right before you all start yawning and getting itchy fingers let me tell you about this weeks challenge which is a colour challenge and the colour is blue. Come and have a peep at my little ( actually it’s not so little ) creation

Yes the theme is blue !!! not white but it does have blue on it doesn’t it. I cut the frame on my Cameo used this lovely new stamp by memory box ( new to me ) I coloured the flower and stems with copic markers and then added glossy accents to the buds and matted it onto Marina Mist by SU. The first ever challenge a few weeks ago at Addicted to stamps you may remember we were asked to use markers on our cards well I had about 3 mangy ones as I never use them , so after that I went out and bought a ton of the things ( thanks Kylie ) aren’t they expensive !and you can’t just buy three colours now can you ! So I have been practicing, not that you can tell by this effort and I don’t think I will be ready in the immediate or even distant future to get a Copic certificate, not that I could get one here even if I wanted. Sorry off on that tangent again ! oh Malaria is a terrible illness.

Yes that’s it , one lousy photo from me and too many words,  so if you want to see some real talent why not pop over and see the wonderful inspirational cards by my fellow teamies a lovely and funny ( and I mean that in a nice way ) group of gals if ever there was one.

On another note some of the turncoats have suggested that the mutts start a blog of their own so if anyone one is interested …hands in the bucket !!!

Right am off now for a rub down with my various mossie repellents as the little blighter’s are nipping at my bits

Ta ra !

Get Creative July 5th Card Sketch Challenge

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I am a little miffed in fact I am a lot miffed !! and why you may well ask, well if the truth be-known certain so-called blogging friends have shown their true colours,  Florence and Valerie  being just two of the turn coats. It seems their allegiance lies with Rosy and Bailey my two little mutts and not only have they taken theirs sides but have been corresponding behind my back ,  Florence has even invited them to move in with her and Freddie in Malaga !!!!! you can image my surprise,  apparently seats have been booked on doggyjet and the little so and so’s are quite happy to go. There is one little hitch Florence as they are both under age they need an adult to travel with them so if you are prepared to come and get them then you can have them,  little traitors the lot of you !!!

On another note I would like to thank the lovelier and more honest blogging friends amongst you for all of your well wishes for our holidays unfortunately they were not meant to be. After arriving at our summer-house and spending the whole day cleaning it from top to bottom we had to return home as hubby was suffering badly with his back , let me just say I did the cleaning so it was not as a result of that ! He was unable to work in our shop so we packed everything up and returned back to base. Upon our arrival I also started having problems with my shoulder ( have  little problem with my spine and it flares up when I do too much housework ) its true it’s not an excuse. Needless to say we are both drugged up like two zombies but because I have use of my legs I drew the short straw , not only have I had  my holiday cancelled but  I’m working all day long everyday , looking after an invalid and two traitorous dogs !!!!.

Anyway……. over at Get Creative its time for another card sketch challenge and our lovely leader Irini has generously given the DT a little break,  so for July and August we will be having only one card and one sketch challenge.

This was the gorgeous sketch we were given to work with

I made this shaker card and I can honestly say I wont be making another one in the near future ! Why is it that the simplest of cards always seem to defeat me ! The treat cup  from SU that holds those pesky teeny-weeny seed beads was a real so and so to attach mainly because I was a meany and didn’t buy the matching circle punch . I thought one of  my Spellbinders circle dies would surely be the same size but nope no siree , trying to align the treat cup with a larger hole was very annoying indeed. As for the beads….. I think most of them ended up in the dogs as they kept escaping and spilling out all over the place  ( the beads not the dogs ) I stamped the love image using a  Waltzingmouse stamp which fitted perfectly in the aperture,  cut out a circle of orange felt with my Spellbinders and attached the sunrays which I cut with my Cameo, a couple of stick pins and there you have it. I also flipped the sketch cos the rest of the DT had made such wonderful cards so I thought no one would notice how mediocre mine was if it was upside-down !

 Over at Get Creative we have a new and extremely talented member of the card Dt Puccarina, apart from being an outstanding artist she also writes the most amazing blog posts and is a regular contributor to our challenges. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome her to the team and look forward to working with her.

Our sponsor for the card challenge is also a member of the Dt , Channa who has a fabulous e shop  Crafts and Pieces with lots of gorgeous goodies , I know cos I bought some lovely resin flowers from her recently,  just look at what our lucky winner will receive

Please do pop over to Get Creative to see the fabulous inspirational cards by the other DT members and who knows you could be our lucky winner. Right before I go after this marathon whingeing post let me just leave you with this photo of Rosy who after being told that her plans had been foiled and she was not going to live with Florence in Malaga decided she would try to smuggle herself into one of my travel bags but Bailey being only two kilos could not lift or drag her to the airport !!!!

Right off to work

Ta ra

Marie

Addicted to Stamps Challenge No 3 Christmas in July

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Hopefully while you are reading this I shall be sunning myself at my summer-house in Halkidiki that’s if WordPress does its magic. There was a huge kerfuffle  ( no idea how to spell that neither does spell check…...Vicky ) in the crafting cave last week as the dogs got wind of my plans to replace them with felines. Not  wanting to point any fingers but I will anyway, I  think that Valerie of Bastlemania is the guilty party as she said she was going to send them an email  and spill the beans,  don’t  know how she got it as even I don’t even have it ! The beans have been spilled and now I’m left cleaning up the mess ! After much whining and growling and that was just me ,we have decided that if there is to be any future in our relationship then we need to get away from it all ( crafting ) and try to work through our feelings and see where our priorities lie. So I am packing up the doglets their toys and such like and leaving my crafty supplies behind for a few days. I have managed to smuggle the I Pad into one of my bags while they were getting their swim suits ready and hopefully will be able to do some sneaky commenting when they go to bed. Valerie if you tell on me I will be very annoyed !!!!l

I do hope we can work things out as I do love them dearly and this little break will give us the opportunity to explore our inner most feelings. Another thing is that many of you shared you feline experiences with me and its rather put me off……better the devils you know !

Goodness got all carried away with the R & B saga and nearly forgot to post my card !!!! Over at  Addicted to Stamps its time once again for our new challenge and our illustrious leader  Kylie has chosen a corker !! Christmas in July. My heart sank when I saw it I mean it’s about 38 here today and I had packed up all of my Christmas stash and of course I can’t find it ! Its most probably went the way of lots of other valuable crafting items in other words,  the bin,  so I am making do with what I could find .

 

I created the yellow ( well it is Christmas in July ) frame with my Cameo and  cut out the central circle with a spellbinders nesting die. Stamped old Santy Clause there with one of my lovely Waltzingmouse stamps and embossed with SU grey embossing powder. Framed the image again using red card cut with Spellbinders. Used one of my TH on the edge dies to cut the top piece of red felt and attached to the card, added some red pearls and a lovely yellow resin flower and that’s me all done !

This is especially for the visually challenged among us so you can see how naff my embossing is.

Do please pop over to Addicted to Stamps to see what the other talented and lovely ladies have created to inspire us all and thank you all so much for taking the time to pop by  it really is appreciated. Must dash as I have to finish packing and  find Rosy’s water wings otherwise all hell will be let loose. Did you know that French Bulldogs can’t swim ? If you are really well-behaved while I’m away I might just share some holiday snap of the mutts frolicking in the waves .

Ta ta

Marie

Addicted to Stamps Eyes Down For A Full House ” Bingo “

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I want cats !!! yes you heard me I want cats !!! if there is anyone out there who is willing to trade then please send an email to buns@otenet.gr In exchange one porky French bulldog that goes by the name of girly girl and a small but feisty mini pincher Bailey bail . We  are at an impasse ,  as much as I love the dastardly duo it seems that they have had enough of me and have asked ( in their own special way ) to be transferred to a non crafting environment and who could blame them. Now I love my pets and I thought that they loved me but a complaint has been lodged and they are demanding certain rights .I did hear mention of the RSPCA being discussed between them which of course we dont have  here in Greece,  me thinks leaving the Mac un- attended and open while I am at work is not such a good thing after all ! so my dogs want out and I need something to cuddle during the times when the internet is down or blogger is mis- behaving,  so this time I would prefer a feline friend who is independent and can amuse itself, . I look forward to hearing from the interested parties and for those of you who have not seen R & B here is a photo of the little ” darlings ” oh and by the way refunds and returns are not accepted !

Right on to more important matters , its time for our second challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and I would like to thank everyone both old and new blogging friends who supported us in our first ever challenge , it was so lovely to see so may new and wonderful entires and I thank you all. Our new challenge for this week is  “Bingo ” and here is our little bingo chart for you to look at

We would like you to  choose a line either diagonal or horizontal, here is my take on the theme.

I chose, buttons, free and red for my line. The flowers have been cut with Paper Arsty dies the patterned paper I have no idea as to whom it belongs as the cover has long come off ( whats new ) the sentiment is SU and the HUGE button I bought at a crafting exhibition I attended recently in the UK. Looks like a simple card and it is but it took me about ten goes to get the cut outs exactly where I wanted them ! If you want to see some real talent and some beautiful inspirational cards then please head on over to Addicted to Stamps where you will see some fabulous creations by my fellow DT members who are obviously avid bingo fans !

Right am off to bed all of this dog trading business has worn me out plus the fact that the two terrors are yapping at my heels !

Take care and don’t forget my doglets

Marie