Halloween kitties and pumpkins

Hello lovely people,

I have been enjoying a day off work today as I worked at the weekend and I have barely emerged from my craft room all day!

Despite working, I did find time to play with one of the latest LOTV images and the Design Team have been getting spoooooky because it will soon be Halloween!

I don't usually make Halloween cards so don't have any specific Halloween paper pads, but I had a rummage around and came up with some great Halloween coloured papers...from 3 different collections!  I have one from Maja Design (orange stars), one from Graphic 45 (spotty) and one from MME (black), but don't they all go nicely together?!

I acquired some fab border dies from a lovely friend (thank you!) and couldn't wait to put one of them to good use on this design :-)

Oh, and the stars are a new die set too!

I've used the digi image and sentiment for this card, and I do like that I can resize them to suit my card design, but they will also be available in rubber very soon.

In case you were wondering, here's a little pic of some more of the great Halloween images available from LOTV...

Gosh, is it only Monday still?  Oh well, I wish you all a good week :-)

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

Card recipe;

Image: Halloween cats - LOTV
Sentiment: Scary sentiments - LOTV

DP: various

Ribbon: from stash

Dies: Scalloped borders two - Spellbinders, Star flourish - Xcut

Copic colours;
Pumpkins: YR21/23/24/27
Leaves: YG95/97
Grass: YG93/95/97
Cats / frame / spider: T5/6/7/10
Spiderweb: T0/1/2
Background: B0000/000/blender

A 70th birthday weekend

Hello lovely people,

You may remember that last weekend I was celebrating my Father-in-law's 70th birthday and we had a brilliant family weekend away in a lovely hotel in Weston-super-Mare.

Here's the gang of us enjoying a stroll along the beach in glorious sunshine, which I was not prepared for as I was wearing a jumper and had forgotten my sunglasses!

That's me in the middle, Dr. Hubby also near the middle in jeans and the birthday boy in check shirt on the left.  There are a couple missing from here, which would be Dr. Hubby's Mum and one of his sisters who were taking the photos!

The kids went to play further down the beach where it was basically just mud and this is what they looked like afterwards...including the big kid who went to play with them AKA Dr. Hubby!

In the evening (after cleaning up!) we had a gorgeous meal in the hotel and since it's a rare event to get a nice picture of me and Dr. Hubby, here we are :-)

Of course, I also have the card to show you that I made for this special birthday and I have to say that I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I was also rather pleased to use these stamps since I bought them some months  ago but hadn't used them until now- oops!

I drew a circle in pencil to help me stamp all the elements then rubbed it out.

The numbers were cut with my Cricut and I layered up 3 of them, then popped the greeting on top.

I was thinking this would be lovely as a girly design too...with pretty flowers of course!

I hope it's been a good week for you all and that you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are getting up to; I am sadly working :-(

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

Card recipe;

Stamps: Drills 'n' spills - Card-io

Numbers: cut with Cricut (Lyrical letters cartridge)

Sentiment: A little sentimental - Clearly Besotted

An unusual cuppa!

Hello lovely people,

I seem to be in one of those phases where I am making quite a few cards but my blog is being sorely neglected; must try harder!

Today I have a card to share with you for our new challenge at As You Like It and our theme this time is...

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

Our sponsor this time is Wild Orchid Crafts with a £12 voucher

My fave colour combo is pink (of course!) and anything along the green/turquoise/aqua spectrum because they really make each other pop and can look great in vintage or modern style.

I have gone for a more modern style with nice bright colours on this card and used some die cut flowers for a change to my usual paper ones.

This card was for my Mum's birthday and she does love her tea so this image seemed perfect.

Now, I am not a tea drinker, but I'm pretty sure this is not the correct way to make tea...but it might just be the cutest teacup ever!

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

I will do my best to share a few more cards with you over the next week!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Maisy and Madeline have some tea - Stamping Bella

DP: Pastel Dreams - LOTV (paper pad now retired)

Dies: Flower die sets - Joy! Crafts

Sentiment: A Little Sentimental - Clearly Besotted
Nuvo crystal drops (gloss white) - Tonic Studios

Copic colours;
Mice fur: T0/1/2/3/4
Mice ears: R0000/000/00/01
Teacup / saucer: B000/00/BGF53/45/57
Flowers: R81/83/85 & YR30/31/Y35
Leaves: YG03/17

Winter is coming!

Hello lovely people,

I am spending this weekend at a family celebration for my Father-in-law's 70th birthday but am just popping in quickly to tell you about the new challenge at The Ribbon Girl.

It's our 'Anything goes with an image' challenge so you can make any project you like as long as you have an image on it...easy peasy!

I've made a card to add to my very small pile of Christmas cards and I've used some of my fave Christmas papers but just for a change I've swiped a little white acrylic paint round the edges rather than inking them,

I have chosen to use the gorgeous Winter Season girl from LOTV, which would also be fab for Winter birthday cards, and I've coloured her with Inktense pencils.

I added tiny spots of Nuvo drops to the snowflake centres.

I used a few of my new goodies from The Ribbon Girl on here, including the lovely soft faux hessian ribbon, and the beautiful chipboard snowflakes, which I coated with white acrylic paint.

If you like those chipboard snowflakes then may wish to pop on over to The Ribbon Girl because all Scrapiniec chipboard is 10% off AND there is also 10% off all WOC/mulberry flowers until 20th September...just thought you'd like to know ;-)

I wish you all a wonderful weekend whatever you are getting up to :-)

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Maja Design Home for the Holidays 6x6" paper pad
Scrapiniec chipboard Christmas snowflakes
25mm faux hessian natural
Ivory button twine
Miniature white blossoms

Other products;

Image: Winter Seasons girl - LOTV

Other flowers: from stash

Inktense colours;
Skin: will add later!

Vintage floral heart

Hello lovely people,

This past week I have not got a huge amount done, mainly because I have been glued to the Paralympics any chance I get; what amazing athletes and so many fantastically exciting events to watch.  Team GB also seem to be doing pretty well ;-)

I did drag myself away though to tell you about the new challenge at In The Pink and this time we have a photo inspiration for you...

There's loads to inspire you here from the gorgeous vintage style to all the pretty embellishments but 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

I finally got around to decorating another MDF heart and it's just a dinky one at approximately 8cm square.  I painted just around the edges with white acrylic paint, then covered both the front and back with DP, sanded the edges and sponged a little ink round it.

I did the sentiment on my computer, using a well known quote and mixing up 2 fonts for what I hoped was a stylish look!

I cut all the flowers on my Cricut, so I could make lots of different sizes for variety, and of course, I had to add some pretty pearls and lace :-)

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.

I hope your week is going well and you know the weekend is not far away now!

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

Card recipe;

DP: Scraps from various Maja Design collections (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Cut with Cricut (Create a Critter cartridge)
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Lace: 8mm 'Rebecca' ivory vintage style fine scallop lace - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Bloomers greenery - Taylored Expressions

Beautiful day

Hello lovely people,

Can you believe that in just 4 days I will be back in work after my year-long career break?!  I know I can't and although I am actually looking forward to getting back into it, I will miss having so much time to craft.

I can't feel sad though because it was a fantastic opportunity and I have had an amazing year off :-)

But now it's time for a new challenge at As You Like It and our theme is...

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

Our sponsor this time is Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps with a $10 gift certificate

Dr. Hubby and I are not the biggest romantics, but when we got together in 1997 there was a song that we both really loved and that we listened to loads, so I think I would have to say that it's 'our song' and is therefore, my favourite song :-)
It's called Flower by Eels, so lucky me that making a card to fit with this is not really hard - lol!

I took the opportunity to have a little play with a new stamp set...and not a lot else...it's pretty CAS!

The stamped wreath and sentiment are from the set but I used die cut flowers on top rather than stamping ones from the set.

I was so pleased with how cute this turned out and am really hoping I have time to play some more with this set soon!

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

I hope you all have a beautiful day!

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

Card recipe;

Spring wreath stamp set - MFT

DP for flowers: Summer Crush - Maja Design

Memory Box perfect petioles die set

Tonic Studios Nuvo crystal drops in Gloss white

Bottoms Up!

Hello lovely people,

I'm flying by today with a DT card for The Ribbon Girl and you can find a list of all the gorgeous products I used at the end of this post.

This design was entirely inspired by the cute new wine bottle charm and I knew I had the perfect large sentiment stamp to go with it.

I chose to give it a pretty vintage floral design...really just so I could use these totally scrummy papers!

Do you recognise the die?!  I used it recently and commented that it wasn't one I use much but I found a new way to use it by cutting it up and using it as a cool loopy detail tucked under the flowers :-)

Since it was the inspiration for the whole design, I thought I'd share a close up of the fab wine bottle charm.  Yes, it probably says something about me that I fell in love instantly with a wine bottle charm - lol!

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Pion Scent of Lavender 6x6 complete set of designer papers
45mm Eleanor white embroidered tulle lace
15mm Heliotrope No7 Berisford satin ribbon
Silver wine bottle charm
Ivory button twine
Lilac 10mm open roses

Other products;

Large sentiment: Statements (fabulous) - LOTV

Other flowers: from stash

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Twisted swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Hello lovely people,

I'm here to showcase some LOTV products today as part of the Design Team and I fancied a little coffee date with Jasmine!

I definitely go 'ahhhhhhhh' when I get served a really really good cup of coffee, preferably a cappuccino.  This actually happened today as, unbelievably, I hadn't had a cappuccino for a few days and it tasted sooooo good.  Plus I had a slice of amazing chocolate orange Jaffa cake with it, which may have helped ;-)

But enough of me so here is Jasmine with her coffee...

I realised after I picked the papers that I had chosen the same colours (pink and grey) as the last time I used this image (here), but in much softer shades, and using my Inktense pencils this time.

It seems that quite a few of you are interested in me sharing my thoughts on colouring with Inktense so I will hopefully have a few posts coming up with that; it's nice to know you are interested!

This was originally going to be a CAS card but I gradually added a few extra bit and pieces until it wasn't CAS any more!  Like the pretty die cut borders and the swirly bits - these are 2 of my favourite dies :-)

I shall be continuing my love affair with cappuccinos and cake all week since I am on holibobs; it's a good job Dr. Hubby and I shall be doing plenty of walking too!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Jasmine Coffee - LOTV

DP: Nyhavn - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiment: For you circular sentiments - LOTV

Dies: Heart flower lace & heart swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys

Inktense colours;
Skin: Baked earth, Saddle brown, Carmine pink
Hair: Mustard, Tan, Willow
Dress: Crimson, Shiraz
Cup / saucer: Crimson
Chair: Oak
Tablecloth: Neutral grey
Book: Sepia Ink

Elephant with flowers

Hello lovely people,

I have been mostly beavering away in my craft room over the past week, although I did come up for air on Saturday to go to a beer festival and I have popped outside to enjoy the sunshine once or twice...with an ice cream of course :-)

It's a CCC (coffee, cake and chat) day for me today and I am hosting Sue and Debs at mine, so keep your fingers crossed that my cake has turned out ok!

While I am enjoying some fabulous company, it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

BUTTONS and/or BOWS
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

My card is a little something I made for a lovely friend's birthday and yes, it's another elephant...well, I did warn you!

I've gone for a faux button made by layering up 3 die cut buttons and sanding the edges.

For my previous creations with these elephants I used a single elephant with one of the balloons added but this time I went for a meadow scene using the daisy stamps.

I used a combination of flicking strokes and dotting with my Copics to give the look of grass.

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,

Card recipe;

Image: Adorable elephants - MFT

DP: Country meadow (?Nitwit collections)

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tags: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Stitched scallop edges - MFT Die-namics, Buttons - Impression Obsession

Copic colours;
Elephant: T0/1/2/3/4 & R000/00/01
Flowers: R81/83/85 & YR31/Y21/35
Grass: YG03/25/17