Birthdays are good for you!

Hello lovely people,

It's a packed weekend for me as Dr. Hubby and I went out with some of our neighbours last night and are off to a Halloween party tonight.  I'm excited because I have a new Vampire Fairy outfit to wear...I might post pics in a later post but prepare yourselves because it's a bit risque!

Now to some crafting, and I have to admit to a growing fondness for using large sentiments as the focal point of my cards.
This is partly because they are quicker than colouring an image, but given how much I faff around with my cards it doesn't save me as much time as you'd think!
The main reason is that I think they look really good and allow me to add lots of pretty embellies without risk of overpowering an image.
And in the case of this sentiment, it's just fun and made me smile!

Talking of adding pretty embellies I have used lots of beautiful goodies from The Ribbon Girl on this card and all the links for these are at the end of my post.

I also made my own candles again :-)

I hope you are all having fab weekends and maybe enjoying some spooky fun!

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Pion Lavender Love 6x6 and Pion Lavender Bouquet 6x6 papers
Cheesecloth fabric
White cherry blossom
White sweetheart blossoms
Miniature white blossoms
Miniature lilac blossoms
Vintage lilac 10mm open roses
Tiny white rosebuds
Ivory button twine

Other products;

Image: Birthdays - Woodware

Other flowers: from stash

LOTV Hedgehogs for you!

Hello lovely people,

It's new release day at LOTV so I have another little DT make to tempt you ;-)

The digital images are now available with the rubber versions to follow very soon.  For my last sneak peek I used one of the vintage boys so this time I have used one of the super cute critter scenes.

All the animals are soooo cute but I found myself especially drawn to the little hedgehogs.  I don't think I have done much hedgehog colouring before but these were really fun to colour!

Are you tempted yet?!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Hedgehogs - For You (digi version) - LOTV

DP: from stash
Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

25mm faux hessian - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Bloomers greenery - Taylored Expressions

Copic colours;
Hedgehogs / branches: E53/55/57
Leaves: YG93/95
Grass: YG93/95/95
Flowers / heart: R46/59
Background: B0000/000/blender

Polar friends in pink

Hello lovely people,

I'm a little late with my DT post but this was sadly down to me being rather poorly with a vomiting bug on Wednesday.  I am not 100% yet but feeling a lot better so I was able to do a little gentle crafting today.

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

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

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Polkadoodles with a £6.75 voucher

I was itching to grab all my pretty embellies for this design but I really must try to keep my Christmas cards flat for posting so I resisted!

All the layers add plenty of interest anyway and a few die cut details and a smattering of Nuvo drops did the rest :-)

This is such a lovely detailed image that maybe adding embellies would have detracted from it anyway.

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: Winnie Winterland Polar Friends - Polkadoodles

DP: from stash

Dies: Stitched scallop edges - MFT Die-namics, Tiny snowflake set - Impression Obsession, Mini snowflakes - Xcut

Sentiment: Christmas circular sentiments - LOTV
Gloss white Nuvo Crystal drops - Tonic Studios

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: Y21/YR23/E35
All pink bits: R81/83/85
Green clothing: YG61/63
Tree: YG61/63/67
Polar bear: W00/0/1/2
Basket / saddle: E42/43/44
Penguins: W00/1 & W 4/5/7 & YR23
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3

NEW LOTV vintage boys and cute animals

Hello lovely people,

We have a wonderful treat for you at the end of this week because there are two fantastic sets of new images being released from LOTV on Friday 28th, and I hope you are ready for a whole lot of cuteness!

This time there are 3 cute animal scenes and 4 fab vintage boys and I absolutely adore all of them.

To me, the vintage boys are a real LOTV classic and they are just so good for making masculine cards, so that's what I used for my first project.

One thing I love about these images is the wonderful detail in them and yet they are really easy and fun to colour...just look at this adorable little chap...

I made the little typewriter text strips on my computer and added a sweet little hammer charm, but my favourite detail on this card is the corrugated card because I really like the texture and interest it adds.

This particular bit of card was recycled from some packaging and has a lovely soft colour and texture, so I am sad that I only have a very little of it.

If anyone knows where I can get some corrugated card that looks anything like this (I definitely don't want very rigid corrugation) then do let me know!

I hope everyone's week is going well so far :-)

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

Card recipe;

Image: The Workbench - LOTV (coming soon!)

DP: Vintage Autumn Basics - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Hammer charm - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: generated on computer

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04
Hair: E41/42/44
Workbench / hammer handle: E43/44/47
Box of tools / wood shavings: E41/42/43

Dungarees: B91/93/95/97

Shirt: W00/0/2

Hat / ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

Boots: W4/5/7

Tool handles: B93/95/97

Tools: W0/2/3

Feeling old?

Hello lovely people,

As I come to the end of another super weekend full of crafting and enjoying the company of lovely friends I thought there was just time to squeeze in a quick blog post.

I had so much fun with the double z-fold recently that I decided to make another one and also to revisit a favourite stamp set.

I added the die cut wording so that it lines up when the card is closed or viewed like this...

The inside is fairly plain but I love the bold colours and prints of the DP and I think the fold itself adds so much interest to this design.

I recently ordered the matching dies for these cute stamps, and they are such a pleasure to use instead of fussy cutting!

I hope you have all had as fab a weekend as I have :-)

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

Card recipe;

Image & sentiment: Party Grumplings - Taylored Expressions (and matching die set)

DP: Cottage Living by Jen Hadfield - Pebbles

Dies: Happy birthday banner - Taylored Expressions, Advent drawer deco set - Tonic studios (for the numbers)

Copic colours;
lost in the depths of my brain - oops!

I love new stash!

Hello lovely people,

It's full on crafting craziness in my world right now...ok, I know a lot of you will ask when it isn't?!

While I attempt to knock up around 70 wedding thank you cards by the weekend, we have a new challenge at As You Like It and our theme this time is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...NEW or OLD STASH
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Digi Stamp Boutique with a £10 voucher

I absolutely adore having new stash to play with as I find it always inspires me, and in this case it inspired me to try a new fancy fold; this is a double z-fold card.

There's a lot of new stash on this card too as the stamps, papers and gear dies are all new!
You will be seeing more of these fab papers as they are actually Christmas papers but some of the patterns work for any occasion.  There are some snowflake ones too which are lush :-)

I pushed the boat out and got the matching dies for these little bots, which made quick work of cutting them out so I could pop them on foam pads for extra dimension.

I couldn't choose my favourite from this adorable pair so I designed the card so that I could use both of them!

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,

Card recipe;

Images: Boom Bots - Paper Smooches (and matching die set)

DP: Christmas 12x12 paper stack by Galleria Papieru - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Gears - Craft Emotions, Advent drawer deco set - Tonic Studios

Sentiment: Block sentiments - LOTV

Copic colours;
Robot bodies: T4/5/7
Robot hands: T2/3/4
Red bits: R27/46/59
Blue bits: B45/37/39

Football on repeat

Hello lovely people,

I have a work colleague who asks me to make birthday cards each year for her granddaughter and grandson.  The grandson absolutely loves football and supports his local team, Forest Green Rovers, so I often try to incorporate that into my card.

It's a good job there are lots of football themed card images around and I haven't run out of ideas yet!

This year, as you can see, I went for a pair of football boots coloured in FGR colours.  Of course, I appreciate that the boots can be any colour, but I just thought it would be a nice touch.

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

Card recipe;

Image: Football kit part 1 - Time for Tea

DP: from stash

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Mini tags - Mama Elephant

Sentiment: Mini messages - Mama Elephant

Copic colours;
Uh oh...I tidied these off my desk before I wrote them down so no idea, sorry!

Tiny skater

Hello lovely people,

I have a lovely combination this weekend of catching up with friends and catching up on some crafting!

We have a brand new challenge starting over at The Ribbon Girl and it's 'Anything goes with an image' so you can make any type of project as long as it has an image on it.

As always there are some fabulous prizes on offer so do pop over to see the inspiration from the rest of the DT and I hope you will join in with our challenge.

My card could be a Christmas card or just a winter birthday card since it doesn't have a sentiment at present.  I couldn't find one that looked right so gave up, but I may add one later if I find the right one!

The image is one of the latest releases from Stamping Bella; isn't she the cutest little skater?!

I hope you are all having lovely weekends whatever you are up to :-) 

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Craft & You 'Frozen' 6x6 paper pad
White lace now unavailable but ivory available - 45mm 'Clarice' Ivory Embroidered Tulle Lace
FB 4mm pearl white trim
5mm sea charm mixed self-adhesive pearls

Other products;

Image: Stamping Bella

Dies: Whimsy snowflakes

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
others to be added later

CAS bauble

Hello lovely people,

This is going to be a 'love you and leave you' kind of post as I am flying by the seat of my pants this week!

We have a new challenge for you at In The Pink and our theme this time is...

RIBBONS and/or BOWS
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Di's Digi Stamps with a prize of a $12 voucher

I try to keep a lot of my Christmas cards CAS, and it's also a nice to way to show off this pretty bauble die set and beautiful scripty sentiment :-)

I really love the elegance of this bauble, which is one of my many recent Christmas themed purchases, so I'm sure this won't be the only time you see it!

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

Thanks so much for visiting and I hugely appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

DP from stash

Cotton Candy Bakers twine - The Ribbon Girl

Lexington ornament and Costello ornament background - Memory Box

Seasons Greeting stamp set - Inkylicious

Getting sentimental

Hello lovely people,

I hope you are all having lovely weekends and doing things you enjoy :-)

I was happily crafting away most of yesterday and had a most productive day.
We then went out to our favourite local Indian restaurant with friends in the evening and tried out a couple of new dishes on the menu which were absolutely gorgeous :-)

I think I shall be getting stuck into Christmas cards today but the card I have to share with you today is harking back to Summer I think!
I've used lots of gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl, including a beautiful chipboard piece as the focal point for my card

The chipboard lettering looks lovely just as it comes but I did pop a couple of coats of white acrylic paint on top of this one; I just sponged it on with a small piece of Cut-n-Dry foam.

The chipboard lends itself beautifully to a shabby chic style so I added lots of pretty embellies and just a hint of cheesecloth.

Enjoy your Sunday folks!

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Maja Design Vintage Summer Basics 6x6 paper pad
Scrapiniec chipboard Happy Birthday
7mm Pale Pink No.70 Berisford satin ribbon
Cheesecloth fabric
White cherry blossoms
White sweetheart blossoms
Miniature white blossoms
Tiny pale pink rosebuds
Tiny white rosebuds

Other products;

Other flowers: from stash

Dies: Timeless rectangles - Spellbinders

Published!

Hello lovely people,

I promised I would share some exciting news with you today and it's great to finally be able to tell you all because I have had to sit on this news for about 3 months!

I'll start by showing you this, and you want to be looking at the little bit in the very top right hand corner...

Yep, that's me with my very own Masterclass feature!!!

I have to say an enormous thank you to LOTV and Papercraft Inspirations for giving me this opportunity and although it was quite a tall order, I enjoyed it immensely and am brimming with pride :-)

I totally forgot to take any pics of the cards before I sent them off, but I can show you a little peek of them in the magazine.

And here's the other one;

If you want all the details then I'm afraid you will just have to buy the magazine :-P

Happy Friday everyone and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

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

My favourite flowers

Hello lovely people,

I'm still chasing my tail but did take some time out to go to the Great British Craft Festival with Debs and Sue on Sunday and oh boy, did we have a fantastic time!
Many pennies were spent and we all have lots of lovely new stash to play with :-)

Now it's time for a new challenge at As You Like It and we have the theme of...

YOUR FAVOURITE...DIE CUT OR BOUGHT FLOWERS
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is All Dressed Up with a prize of 2 digis of the winner's choice

I am a huge fan of any kind of flowers on my projects and although die cut flowers have lots of advantages, especially in the posting department, I think my 3D paper flowers will always be my favourites.
They are so pretty and I love to make little arrangements of them around my image to add dimension to my designs.

I used a new shaped base for this card, which was one of my brilliant bargains from the GBCF and it's perfectly shaped for a circular image...with flowers around it of course!

I coloured the uber cute Penelope with my Inktense pencils in slightly brighter shades than I have used before.

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 will be back tomorrow to show you something VERY exciting...some of you may already know what it is if you subscribe to a certain magazine ;-)

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

Card recipe;

Image: Tiny Townie Penelope has a pencil - Stamping Bella

DP: (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Ribbon: 15mm Sky blue No.3 Berisford satin - The Ribbon Girl

Tags: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Deco trellis base die set - Tonic Studios, Circle STAX - MFT Die-namics, Fancy flourish - MFT Die-namics

Inktense colours;
Skin: Baked Earth, Madder Brown, Saddle Brown
Hair: Tan, Willow, Oak
Dress / ribbon: Carmine Pink
Pencil body: Deep blue, Navy blue
Pencil tip: Tan, Willow
Pencil rubber: Baked Earth, Willow
Pencil metal band / desk: Charcoal Grey