CAS babygro

Hello lovely people,

It's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

FOR A CHILD OR BABY
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Little Miss Muffet Stamps with a £6 voucher

I enjoy making fussy & fancy cards but sometimes it's nice to do something a bit different so it's a super simple design from me today.

I used foam pads under the central circle and babygro but for the main white panel I added 2 extra squares of card with apertures underneath as it gives a neater and flatter finish than ton of foam pads!

Card recipe;

Babygro: cut with Cricut (Straight ffrom the nest cartridge)

DP & twine: from stash

Dies: circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Heart of hearts - Impression Obsession

Sentiment: A little sentimental - Clearly Besotted

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,

Mini caveman #2

Hello lovely people,

It's Creative Inspirations challenge time and this week we have the theme...

FOR THE BOYS OR SOMETHING SPORTY

We are sponsored by Crafty Ribbons with a £10 voucher

I have made another card using the awesome Sticks and Bones collection from Polka Doodles.

I had to make this card in a little bit of a hurry so chose a really simple design and the digital papers included in the collection were just the thing.

These little chaps are so much fun to colour and I especially love doing the messy hair :-)

I finished the card with a classic combo of twine and tags.
The little bones are also digital images from the collection and I added a little extra shading to them.

Card recipe;

Image, little bones and DP: from Sticks and Bones collection - Polka Doodles

Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Tag: Family sentiment tags - LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04
Hair: E53/57/59
Leaves / loincloth: YG93/95/97
Dinosaur: YG93/95/97/99
Quiver: W2/3/4
Quiver strap / round thing he is holding: E41/42/43
Arrows: W00/1/2 & E43/44
Bone / dino claws: YR30/31
Rocks: W3/4/5
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3

The DT have made some wonderful samples to inspire you so pop over to Creative Inspirations to take a look :-)

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

A sneaky peek at a shed

Hello lovely people,

It's just wall to wall excitement for me at the moment!

I had a totally fabulous Friday starting with coffee and cake with lovely Debs and Sue and then sampling rather a lot of tasty beers at the Gloucester beer festival and finishing with a scrummy Nepalese meal :-)

Now I am excited for my holibobs in just 1 more sleep and I'm almost all packed!

So, let me share a little excitement with you in the form of a sneak peek of the forthcoming release from LOTV.
This time we have some fantastic images for the men in your life, although I bet the ladies might like these too!

My sneak peek today is a wonderful garden shed design and I've used one of the new LOTV sentiments...what a perfect combo!

The images are quite detailed so will look good whatever level of colouring skills you have; I really enjoyed adding texture to the wood, foliage and stone wall :-)

Card recipe;

Image: In the shed - LOTV (coming soon!)

DP: Country Gent - available as digi download from Mitwit Collections

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Teenage boy - LOTV

Copic colours;
Shed / ramp: E42/43/44
Shed roof / window frame / spade: W2/4/6
Trough / pots: E97/YR27/E99
Watering can: W1/2/4
Sack: E40/41/42/43
Wall: W00/0/2/3/4
Trees: YG61/63/67
Lighter bush / grass: G40/YG61/63
Small darker plants in trough: YG63/67/G99
Frame around image: E43/44
Sky: B0000/000/blender

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

My favourite little bear

Hello lovely people,

It feels like a long time coming and has been a lot of work but I have finished my prescribing course :-)
I won't find out if I passed the practical exam and case presentation for a few weeks but for now I am just relieved that I made it to the end!

So now it's....

2 sleeps until coffee and cake date with my lovely friends Sue and Debs followed by beer festival

5 sleeps until holibobs

12 sleeps until my birthday

In the meantime we have a new challenge for you at As You Like It and our theme is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...ANIMAL
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Crafty Ribbons with a £10 voucher

My favourite animal in a crafting sense is the one and only James bear because he is so utterly adorable and I always enjoy colouring his fur.

I thought I would see how he looked when coloured with Inktense pencils and it's certainly very different to colouring him with Copics but a lovely soft effect I think.

I kept the embellishments fairly simple so they wouldn't overshadow sweet James or cover up those lovely papers too much.

Card recipe;

Image: James - daisy - LOTV

DP: Flower frames (Rosa) - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Tiny butterfly set - Impression Obsession, Lavish branch - Memory Box
Pearls - Kaisercraft - The Hobby House

Inktense colours;
Fur: 1740 Saddle borwn, 1730 Oak, 2010 Sepia ink
Flower: 600 Shiraz, 220 Sicilian yellow
Leaf / grass: 1560 Fern, 1540 Light olive

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

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

Celebrate with a cupcake

Hello lovely people,

If you have been following my countdowns you will know that today is the day I head to Bath to undertake my practical exam for the prescribing course.

Then I have a case presentation to give on Wednesday but I'm not worried about that as its only 10 minutes and I'm quite relaxed about giving presentations.

I'll be fine as long as don't drink a big cup of coffee immediately beforehand as I talk quite fast even without the added caffeine...yes, I have made that mistake before - lol!

Onto the crafting and today I have a Paper Nest Dolls card to share, using a paper pad that I have had for a while and somehow haven't used before.

I thought I would use it for wedding cards but it seemed to suit this image really well and even had the perfect sentiment topper for me to use :-)

I think I should treat myself to a cupcake this size after I finish my exams!

Yummy!

I felt that this card needed some bunting to complete the celebratory feel so I made my own using co-ordinating paper from the paper pad.
I cut the little flags by hand, folded the top of each flag over a length of twine and glued them down.  I attached it to the card with foam pads on the back of the flags and trimmed the ends of the twine and covered them with flowers.
I do love bunting; it makes me smile :-)

Card recipe;

Image: Cupcake Avery - The Paper Nest Dolls

DP: Save the Date - Teresa Collins

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/59
Pale aqua: BG10/11/32
Dark aqua: BG13/15
Pink: R30/32/22
Cupcake frosting: R000/00/30
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

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

Game on!

Hello lovely people,

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath for an update so I won't disappoint...

2 sleeps until the final exams for my prescribing course - double eek!

5 sleeps until beer festival

5 sleeps until my next coffee and cake date with my lovely friends Sue and Debs (date moved so now I get to have cake and a little natter followed by beer festival all on the same day!)

8 sleeps until holibobs

15 sleeps until my birthday

I hope you have all had some sunshine over the weekend; I have certainly been enjoying it, especially with a fab trip to Bourton-on-the-Water today for lunch with some family :-)

It was perfect weather for driving in the new car with the roof down and my new sunglasses :-)

Ok, ok, crafting yes...I do have a card to share!

I have been playing with another of the awesome new images from LOTV and after making a few cards with Jasmine, I thought it was Oliver's turn!

I wanted a softer look to the image to match the papers so I stamped the image with dark grey ink and used my Inktense pencils.
I was pretty happy with how it turned out, given I'm still a beginner with these pencils.

Card recipe;

Image: Oliver game boy - LOTV

DP: Home for the holidays - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Twine: Natural hemp twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Block sentiments - LOTV

Dies: Notebook edge die - Clearly Besotted

Inktense colours;
Skin: 1800 Baked earth, 1740 Saddle brown
Hair: 1720 Tan, 1740 Saddle brown
T shirt / hat: 840 Iron blue, 1100 Deep indigo
Computer / game pad / earphones: 2020 Indian Ink
Pad buttons: 400 Poppy red
Table: 1740 Saddle brown, 2010 Sepia Ink

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

Flowery thanks

Hello lovely people,

No time for countdowns today as my little grey cells are entirely focussed on getting my coursework finished and submitted by the end of Friday!

While I am working hard on that last essay, it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

PEARLS

Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Live and Love Crafts with a £10 voucher (excl. p&p)

I'm back to CAS with this card.

This was one of those occasions where I had a clear design in my head and amazingly it all came together how I wanted without any faffing around...that doesn't happen often with me and CAS cards...

...maybe I'm getting better at them!

It's wonderfully rewarding to make a card with so few elements and I do think you can never have too many word dies and little flower dies in your stash!

Card recipe;

DP: Romance and roses - available as digi download from Nitwit Collections

Dies: Thanks word - Paper Smooches, flowers - Joy! Crafts
Pearls: Hot pink pearls - Kaisercraft

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,

These are a few of my favourite things...

Hello lovely people,

I'm glad so many of you are enjoying my running countdowns; if you missed the latest update it's on my previous post!

Time is just flying by and it's Creative Inspirations challenge time again, and this week we have the theme...

TWO (or more) FAVOURITE THINGS

Our sponsor for this challenge is Crafty Charlie with a £20 voucher - wow!

I think I have used more than a few of my favourite things on this card!

Firstly, I chose to use use my favourite colour combo and some of my favourite pretty papers.

I have also added some of my favourite dies and flowers on my design, and of course I finished my card in my favourite way with a bit of hand stitching!

I have used a favourite image too...any fairy image is pretty much guaranteed to be on my favourites list!

Oh, and of course I have used my favourite colouring medium; my Copics!

Card recipe;

Image: Time Flies - LOTV

DP: Roses and Romance - available as digi download from Nitwit Collections

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Happy birthday banner - Taylored Expressions, Old Swedish lace - Magnolia Doohickeys

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: Y21/YR23/E53
Top / socks: BG10/11/13/15
Skirt / shoes: R81/83/85
Wings: RV0000/000/R81
Dandelion: YR30/31 & E41 & G21/24
Ground: G40/21/24/28

The DT have made some wonderful samples to inspire you so pop over to Creative Inspirations to take a look :-)

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

Pretty Jasmine

Hello lovely people,

Happy Monday everyone and the countdowns continue;

8 sleeps until the final exams for my prescribing course - eek!

10 sleeps until my next coffee and cake date with my lovely friends Sue and Debs

11 sleeps until beer festival

14 sleeps until holibobs

21 sleeps until my birthday

My countdown list seems to have grown a little bit and all of it apart from the first one is terribly exciting :-)
I promise I won't share that huge long list on every blog post - lol!

Back to the crafting, and today I have another of the gorgeous new Jasmine images from LOTV to share with you.

This card is to support the LOTV April card challenge which is running on facebook, where we want to see your creations using any 3 or more colours as inspired by the month of April, so that's Aqua, Pink, Red, Ivory and Lilac.

There are 5 absolutely amazing prizes on offer from LOTV plus a fabulous £10 gift voucher prize from The Ribbon Girl so plenty of incentive to join in with us!

Apart from red, these are some of my fave colours and I have gone for aqua, pink and ivory on my card.

I can't tell you how much I love this fab image and I know she's really aimed at the teenage girl market but honestly, this could just as easily be me!

I have used one of the new LOTV sentiments and popped it on a sweet little memo pin tucked in with the flowers.

Card recipe;

Image: Jasmine phone - LOTV

DP: Paris flea market and For Mother - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Dies: 0357 border die - Joy!Crafts - Noor! Design
Ribbon: 7mm bridal white ivory satin ribbon - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Teenage girl sentiments - LOTV
Memo pin: Mixed memo pins - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/59
Hoodie / skirt: BG10/11/72
Skirt / shoes: R81/83/85
Phone: W0/2 & W5/7
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

Don't forget to come and join in our LOTV April facebook challenge and you have until 6 p.m. on Sunday 17th to enter.

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

Caveman gift

Hello lovely people,

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Gloucestershire so Dr. Hubby and I are off out for a spin in the new car with a pit stop at the Lavender Bakehouse on the way back for coffee and cake :-)

While I'm out and about I thought I'd share a pop-up design that I made for one of my nephews.
You can see it was a sunny day when I took these photos too!

I totally fell for the cute little cave people in the Sticks and Bones collection from Polka Doodles and bought the whole lot of them; there are loads of cute cave girls, boys and dinosaurs too!

How adorable is this wee chap with his gift basket and stone envelope?!

I took a more angled shot so you can see the fancy fold design; it's such an easy and fun card shape I think.
Probably should have done a tutorial - lol!

Card recipe;

Image and DP: Sticks and bones - Polka Doodles

Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Dies: Circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Leaf & swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys, Alphabet soup - Memory Box
Bone stamp: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04
Hair: E50/35/37
Glasses: W4/6/7
Loincloth: E33/35/37
Bones: YR30/31/W0
Gift basket / bow: YG95/97
Gift: E41/42/43
Gift tag / envelope: W6/7/8
Rocks: W2/3/4/
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3

I hope you all see some sunshine today and have a lovely day :-)

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

Easter gift baskets

Hello lovely people,

Are you ready for a countdown update?!

13 sleeps until the final exams for my prescribing course

19 sleeps until holibobs

Oh, and of course... 26 sleeps until my birthday!

We now have our new car (a beautiful red Mazda MX5) and I totally adore it!  I'll try to remember to take some pics to share although some of you will already have seen it on facebook :-)

But I'm really here to tell you that we have a new challenge at As You Like It and our theme this time is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...
ANYTHING BUT A CARD
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Lawn Fawn with a stamp set and 6x6" paper pad of the winner's choice

 My favourite non-card projects are gift bags or boxes, or in this case...baskets!
I made these a few weeks ago to give to my parents and my brother and his girlfriend for Easter.

I found a template for the basket on Pinterest but didn't print it out as it was pretty easy to see how to make each basket up, and I amended it a little to have one handle instead of two.
Then they just needed decorating with my fave flowers and swirly die cuts.

This is the other side...the 'back' if you will as the front has the tag on it, and the arrangement of flowers and die cuts is slightly different.

This is what they looked like once filled with a mixture of chocolate eggs.  The bright colours of the eggs clash with the pastel papers for me but I can't imagine the recipients were bothered by that!

Basket recipe;

DP: Vintage Spring basics - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Heart flower swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

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