Super exciting news!

Hello lovely people,

I can now share my very exciting news with you and tell you that one of my cards has actually been published in a magazine!  It's all down to All Dressed Up being featured in Complete Cardmaking Magazine, the UK's first magazine dedicated to digital crafting.  Each issue comes with a CD ROM packed with digital goodies including papers and images.
This latest issue (#51) contains 5 digital papers and 9 digital stamps from All Dressed Up, 2 of which are exclusive to the magazine.
As one of the Dressy Girls I was asked to make a card for the magazine using one of the digital stamps and as you can imagine, I jumped at the chance.

Now you guys all know how much I faff around with my cards trying to get all the bits in exactly the right place.  So, you can imagine how long it took me with this one knowing it was actually going to be published! I walked away from it and came back to it quite a few times but I'm happy with the end result - phew!

I used pretty pastel shades to complement the cute image - my fave combo of pink and green in fact!

Card recipe;
Image: Love my cuddly toys - All Dressed Up

Front Porch paper pad by Pebbles

Seam binding (pink tulip) from Wild Orchid Crafts

Ivory button twine from The Ribbon Girl

Tag: sentiment tags from LOTV

Martha Stewart edge punch - Cherish

Magnolia Doohickey Leaf and Swirl die

Stampendous Frantage in Shabby White

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30

Hair: E50/53/35/37/57

Dress: RV0000/000/81

Bunny: T0/2/4

Dog: E40/41/42/43

The rest of the cards created by the Dressy Girls for the magazine will be fatured on the All Dressed Up blog over the next few weeks and you can buy the magazine from Moremags, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury and Hobbycraft.

I really wanted to get a copy of the magazine to show you as well but haven't managed to get my hands on it yet... so you may hear about this again when I do!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

 

Challenges I am playing along with;

1. A Gem of a Challenge (spots and stripes)

A little bit of love

Hello lovely people,

I hope you are all well and not wilting too much in the heat!  It has been a little uncomfortable at times especially when working but I absolutely will not complain that it is too hot as it seems waaaay too long since we had a decent sunny summer here in the UK :-)

Now I've done the British thing and discussed the weather I can move on to our new challenge at In The Pink where our theme this month is...

ANIMAL ANTICS

Cue James bear!  I'm sure I have other cute critters in my stash but I really only have eyes for James :-)

It's a cleaner looking card from me today with no inky or distressed edges, just a little sprinkling of Frantage and sparkly edges (Stardust Stickles) to the little heart stems.
The big heart has been paper pieced.

Card recipe;
Image: James - big heart - LOTV
DP: Yours truly & Special delivery (girl) - Pebbles (available at Hey Little Magpie)
Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Seam binding/twine: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: heart stems - Impression Obsession
Frantage: Shabby pink frantage - Live and Love Crafts

Copic colours;
Fur: E40/41/42/43
Rose: R83/85 & G21/24
Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am playing along with;

1.  Simon Says Stamp (emboss it - I used Frantage embossing powder)
2.  As You Like It (fave sentiment = 'with love' because it works for a range of occasions and is just a lovely thing to say to someone to make them feel special!)

Pearl anniversary

Hello lovely people,

It's time for a new challenge at Top Tip Tuesday and our theme this time is...

MATERIAL GIRL

So, using some kind of fabric on your card would work for this theme or maybe you can come up with something a bit more out of the box?!

I am afraid I have been a little predictable with my material as I have used a hessian strip; it adds a lovely texture and bit of a rustic feel.
I have made an easel design as this is a 30th wedding anniversary card and I always find it easier to add the text in this way so it doesn't clutter up the main section!

And yes, that's a few of my Copics in the background of the photo because I didn't realise that the angle was going to make them visible even once cropped and I am not going to re-take the shot!  The cotton buds are for cleaning my Copics, which I have only recently realised is VERY important on a regular basis :-)

Ok, sorry, enough waffle and here's the card...

Since a 30th wedding anniversary is traditionally represented by pearls I chose pale ivory coloured DP and scattered a few pearls here and there.  Can you see them all? There are absolutely no prizes for guessing correctly... just pride, and I warn you some of them are very tiny!

This image is so cute for anniversaries, weddings etc. and I think it looks lovely done in really pastel shades.  I added some glamour dust to the bows as a girl's gotta have a little sparkle right?!

Here's a little close up of the beautiful flowers and just some of those pearls!

Card recipe;
Image: Love balloon - LOTV
DP: Shoreline treasures - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Dies: Tilda lace - Magnolia doohickey
Hessian / seam binding: The Ribbon Girl
Pearls: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11 & R20
Hair: E42/44/47 (girl) & E42/44/47/49 (boy)
Dress: BG70/B41/91/93
Dress frill / socks / shirt / bows: W00/BG70/B41
Trousers / hat: E40/41/42/43
Braces / shoes: E43/44/47
Balloon / roses: R000/RV10/RV30
Leaves: YG91/93/95
Ground: W0/1/2/3/4/5

I hope you will pop over to Top Tip Tuesday and check out the fabulous designs from the rest of the team; they have been ever so creative with this theme :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

 

Challenges I am playing along with;

1.  ABC (P for pearls)
2.  Sweet Stampin' (fave stamp - I have many but this one works for several occasions and is so cute!)

At the beach

Hello lovely people,

I had a lovely relaxing and mostly sunny weekend but oh dear., it seems like such a long time to wait for the next weekend :-(  So, to take your mind off that, here's the new challenge at All Dressed Up and this time we have this fabulous sketch for you to work with...

I am a huge fan of sketches as they are a great starting point for a design, although I usually can't resist putting my own little twist on it!
In this case the circular layer has become a square and my set of 3 embellishments has become some bunting... yes, bunting again, but it's so cute!

Given the gorgeous sunny weather we have been having I just had to use one of the 3 little summer girls and some papers that make me think of the seaside.

Card recipe;
Image: 3 little summer girls - All Dressed Up
DP: Shoreline treasures - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Bunting stamp: freebie with a magazine
Sentiment: Clear mini stamp set - Kaisercraft
Twine: The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/55/57/59
Dress: V91/93/95
Leggings: W00/1/3
Bucket: B91/93/95/97
Spade: E55/57/59
Sandy ground: YR30/E40/41/42/43

Do pop over to All Dressed Up to see what the rest of the Dressy Girls have created; they are all stunning! We'd love to see you join in for a chance of winning 3 images of your choice!
Don't forget to swing by our Facebook Group to share your creations and chat to fellow All Dressed Up lovers :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am entering;

1.  Live and Love Crafts (by the sea)

2.  Cute Card Thursday (pretty papers)

Happy Friday!

Hello lovely people,

It's Friday!  And that means it's time for me to pick the winners of my candy :-)

But first let me say a HUGE thank you to everyone who is now following me on my new blog, both the familiar faces and quite a few new ones.  Your support means a lot to me :-)

Ok, without any further waffle from me, here are the winners which have been drawn using randomhusband.org...

Pamela (bright candy)

and

Mandz (pastel candy)

Please contact me via e-mail button on the sidebar of my blog with your postal addresses and I will get the goodies off to you :-)

I didn't make it to the 100 followers mark so I guess the mystery prize will have to wait a while longer until I do!

Thank you again all you very lovely people and I hope you have a smashing weekend.

Get well flowers

Hello lovely people,

I can't believe how fast time is flying by at the moment despite the long hours of daylight.  There's another Wednesday flown by in a whirl of washing, shopping and painting skirting boards.  Oh yes, we have new carpets for hall/stairs/landing and 2 bedrooms arriving on Friday and I can't wait.  Is is just me or is there something really lovely about brand new carpet?!  Apart from the fluff that it sheds for weeks afterwards!

Ok, that's enough about our home improvement project and it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink where our theme this month is...

GET WELL SOON

This needs no explanation but just to make it even easier for you to join in, any 'thinking of you' type card or something suitable to cheer someone up will do... as long as it has plenty of pink on it!
I never have any get well cards 'in hand'  so it was a really nice theme to do so I have one just in case!
Oooh, and check out these lush new papers from Pion :-)

Given that it was a pink card I wanted something girly and floral for the image and despite the small size of my Tilda collection I was spoilt for choice!
I was happy with the skin and hair colouring but not so much the dress.  Perhaps I'd better get on with that clothing colouring class at Kit and Clowder!
You can probably just make out the little dots of liquid pearls that I added around the flowers.

Card recipe;
Image: Tilda loves flowers - Magnolia
DP: My precious daughter - Pion (available from Live and Love Crafts)
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Lace: Rebecca - The Ribbon Girl
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Sentiment: generated on computer (font is Cinnamon Cake)

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E33/37/59
Dress: RV32/34/R85/89
Flowers: YR30/20/Y32
Branches: E31/33/35
Leaves: G40/21
Socks: T0/2/4
Shoes: E33/35/37
Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

Well, I seem to have been quite chatty today so all that is left for me to say is please do pop over to In The Pink and check out the inspiring creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Oh no, that's not quite all because I should just say that I will post the winners of my candy on Friday evening as a lovely weekend treat for two lucky people :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am playing along with;
1.  Midweek Magnolias (anything goes +/- summer fun)
2.  Sweet Stampin' (pretty in pink)
3.  Totally Tilda (anything goes)

Welcome along and some candy!

Hello lovely people,

*This is a sticky post and will stay at the top so please scroll down for my cards *

Welcome to my new blog!  You may be wondering why the new blog address and not just an update of my existing blog.  Well, it's all down to my new 'brand name' of Paper Firefly to link in with the Etsy shop I have set up to sell my cards; everything *must* match in my world - lol!

I have imported all my old blog posts so you can still find all my previous cards on here too.

To thank everyone for (hopefully) joining me on my new blog and my new adventure I am going to have a little giveaway :-)
And since it was my birthday in May I am going to have a two prizes up for grabs as a belated birthday giveaway!

I have two little bundles of pretty ribbon and flowers, one in pastel shades and one in bright shades to give away...

If by some miracle I get to 100 followers on this new site I will add a 3rd mystery prize as well!

I will draw the winners of the candy from all my new followers on this blog on Wednesday 9th July, so you have 3 weeks to join in.  All you need to do is become a follower although I would love it if you shared this candy on your blog too :-)

Thank you to everyone who follows me and for all your support :-)

 

Magical

Hello lovely people,

Can you believe that with all the various sport on TV over the weekend I watched almost none of it!  Instead I had a lovely relaxing weekend with my brother and his girlfriend, including several long walks and two cream teas - with homemade scones and jam :-)

But now it's time for a new challenge at Top Tip Tuesday and our theme this time is...

MAGICAL

We are sponsored by Whimsy Stamps, prize as below;

I absolutely love fairy images and have quite a few in my collection from various designers so what did I do for this challenge?  Bought a new one - lol!
Once I had coloured her up I really felt she needed to be front and centre so have gone with a CAS design leaving lots of white space around her so she 'pops' off the card. Well, I hope that's the effect anyway!

Many of you know I am taking the skin and hair colouring class at Kit and Clowder and that's how I cam across this gorgeous image.  She was created in honour of the lovely Alyce who is the creator of the classes and a huge colouring inspiration to me.
I have to say I was super happy with how she turned out :-)

Card recipe;
Image: Alyce - The Stamping Chef
DP: My Girl - American Crafts
Twine: The Ribbon Girl
Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: Y21/YR23/E15/E18
Eyes: BG0000/000/10/11
Dress / tights: BG10/11/53/45/57
Wings: RV0000/R81/83
Tights / bow: R81/83/85

I hope you will pop over to Top Tip Tuesday and check out the fabulous creations and of course, the top tips from the rest of the team.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

 

Challenges I am entering;
1.  A Little Bit Crafty (It's magic)

Big hugs

Hello lovely people,

Yay, it's new release time again at All Dressed Up and once again we have a fabulous selection of images for you.  If you don't believe me, take a look for yourselves...

A Cuddle Makes it all Better

Country Girl

Hop It

Hop to It

Summer Swing

I have gone for the girly option today but with only a splash of pink against  the soft blues of what I think is my fave collection of Maja paper EVER :-)
I cut the fishtail bunting by hand and added a little dusting of Frantage to pretty up the corners of the card.

I didn't use the wording that comes with the image but I did think it would make a nice card for someone in need of a hug hence the tags I chose to add.

Card recipe;
Image: A Hug Makes it All Better - All Dressed Up
DP: Coffee in the Arbour - Maja Design
Tags: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Edge: Martha Stewart edge punch
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Chunky white frantage - available from Live and Love Crafts

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E21/25/29
Dress: R81/83/85
Dog: E30/31/33/34
Bow: B91/93/95/97
Ground: W0/1/2/3/4

To see what the rest of the Dressy Girls have done with these cute images head over to All Dressed Up. While you're there, check our our current 'Anything Goes' challenge and we'd love to see you join in for a chance of winning 3 images of your choice!
Don't forget to swing by our Facebook Group to share your creations and chat to fellow All Dressed Up lovers :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

 

Challenges I am entering;
1.  As You Like It (which is your fave - animal or people?  Can I have both? Lol!  It is actually people but if there happens to be a cute animal too then it's a bonus!)

Summer fun

Hello lovely people,

Here we go again with a new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies and our theme this month is...

SUMMER FUN

Once again we have a lovely selection of prizes on offer from these lovely sponsors...

The Ribbon Girl - £10 Voucher

Whiff of Joy - Stamp of the Winners Choice

Delicious Doodles - 4 Digi's of Winners Choice

Little Claire - Prize TBA

Stamp and Create - Prize TBA

This theme gave me the chance to use some gorgeous bright colours and my new Annabel stamp from LOTV in another simple design to let the cute image stand out.

These new Annabel designs are fabulous and she looks like she is having fun in every single one with her little doggy friend but this one really brings a smile to my face :-)

Card recipe;
Image: Annabel upside down - LOTV
DP: Stella & Rose 'Mabel' - MME
Tags: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Twine: The Ribbon Girl
Flower: Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearls: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E51/55/25
Dungarees: E41/42/43 & E44 for buttons
Top / bows: YR12/14/18
Branch: E57/59/49
Leaves / grass: G12/21/17
Dog: E34/35/37 & E30/31/33#
Shoes: E43/44

For lots more summer fun head over to Crafty Little Fairies and check out the fabulous creations from my teamies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

 

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Lili of the Valley (take two - use 2 LOTV products - image and tags)
2.  Sweet Stampin' (summer fun)
3.  Papertake Weekly (anything goes +/- Christmas)