LOTV Polar bear

Hello lovely people,

It's time for another 'Use any image' challenge over on The Ribbon Girl blog, so you can enter with any type of project as long as you include an image.
There are some fab prizes up for grabs too :-)

It's a double whammy this time as I'm also giving you a sneak peek of one of the new LOTV Novem-bears which will soon be released, and this is the adorable Polar bear.

I've kept the shading really subtle, which also means it's super quick to do :-)

As I've previously mentioned and as I'm sure some of you will have noticed, my cards are a little more CAS these days but I still like to add details...just a very carefully curated selection of details and The Ribbon Girl have the perfect choice of pretty embellishments.

If you find yourself tempted by any of the pretty supplies I've used then you can go straight to the individual products via the links at the end of my post or just pop over to The Ribbon Girl and have a little browse around!

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

Copic colours;
Bear: N0, N1, N2, N3
Snow: B0000, B000, B01

Lovely things I've used from The Ribbon Girl;
16mm blue ruffle edge sheer ribbon
Silver metallic twine
10mm silver jingle bells
Lucy's Lagoon sparkly shaker selection

Other card ingredients;
Polar bear - LOTV (coming soon!)
Snow Queen 12x12 papers - Galleria Papieru
Inside and out stitched rectangle STAX - My Favorite Things
Layered snowflakes - My Favorite Things

Snowman love

Hello lovely people,

I have a Dies to Die For DT card for you today and I dived straight into my gorgeous new stash of Stamping Bellas for this one!

These Littles look so cute and cosy as they build their snowman, and I've added Nuvo drop snow in the sky and along the snowdrifts on the ground.

I finally got round to using the mod squares I bought and they are fab...so I can't wait for the stitched ones I ordered to arrive now!

I've just added a touch of detail with my favourite snowflakes...or at least they are my favourite for now but guess what?  I have some more arriving soon and they may soon become my favourites - lol!

If I've tempted you with any of the lovely supplies I've used then you can go straight to the individual products via the links at the end of my post or just pop over to Dies to Die For and have a little browse around!

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

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Girl's hair: E53, E35, E59
Boy's hair: E21, E25, E29
Snowman: C00, C0, C1, C2
Snowman hat: C7, C8, C10
Snowman nose: YR12, YR04
Snowman stick arms: E35, E59
Pink clothing: RV10, RV11, RV34
Blue clothing: B000, B01, B02
Mint green clothing: BG10, BG11, BG23
Snow: BG000, BG70, BG000

Lovely things I've used from Dies to Die For;
The Littles Winter Collection: Snowman Love - Stamping Bella
Winter Holiday Sentiment Set - Stamping Bella
Perfectly Plaid Winter 6x6 pad - Lawn Fawn
Mod square STAX - My Favorite Things
Stylish snowflakes - My Favorite Things

Other ingredients;
Tonic Studios Nuvo Drops in White Blizzard
pearls from stash

Creating a scene!

Hello lovely people,

So, did any of you get your hands on the lovely new Christmas images from LOTV?!

In my last post I said that I was going to have a play with creating a scene using the Woodland Scene collection and they really are perfect for doing this.

I also got to colour up the cute fox and squirrel which I hadn't previously used :-)

Check out how the stamps have all the animals in size proportion to each other, which is brilliant if you want to use them together.

I thought you might like to see how I created this scene using the rubber stamps, especially because they are not clear so you can't see where you are placing them.

I had decided on a circular scene so I cut a circle from scrap to the size I wanted then placed this underneath the top section of my MISTI (other stamp positioning tools are available!) and built up the scene I wanted using four different stamps.

I just put glue stick on the back of my LOTV stamps to stick them to the MISTI (or stamping block if I'm using one of those instead) as this is easily washed off with warm water afterwards.

So, you can see in this photo how I was able to position the stamps as desired, then I inked and stamped them all in one go...and yes, they all came out perfectly with just one single inking and stamping :-)

This turned out as quite a large scene so it really didn't need much in the way of detailing and I already had the paper picked out because I almost always choose my paper before I colour so I can co-ordinate everything!

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

Lovely things I've used;

Woodland scenes collection rubber stamps by LOTV
Snowfall 6x6 paper pad by Bo Bunny
Turtle Doves die set by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions (for the corner die cuts)
Circle die and Scalloped circle die by Tonic Studios

Copic colours;
Fox: E97, E99, E57
Squirrel / fox tail: W1, W2, W3, W4
Blue sections: B34, B95, B97
Dark teal: BG72, BG75
Light teal sections: BG11, BG23
Wood: E23, E25, E47
Leaves: YG45, G46
Berries: R46, R39
Snow: B0000, B000, B00

Simply snowflakes

Hello lovely people,

Bank holiday weekend...woohoo!!!  Except that I am working on Monday but hopefully not all day so it's still good.

I thought it would be good to share another couple of cards I made using some of the brand new LOTV stamps before the next lot are out...yes, that's right, there are MORE gorgeous Christmas designs on the way!

I wanted to do something a little different using the tiny snowflakes and some coloured ink pads.

I've stamped a strip with various snowflakes and mounted it on the card front then layered white card above and below on foam pads.

I added little crystal dots to the centres of the larger snowflakes.

While I had the snowflakes inked up I decided to attempt something a little more adventurous and made a wreath design.

I drew a faint circle to guide my stamping, which can easily be rubbed out afterwards, once the ink has fully dried so you don't smudge the snowflakes!

The sentiment on this and the first card are from the new stamp sets; there's such a variety of styles that there really is one to suit every card!

I mounted the wreath onto co-ordinating pearl card and again, I added crystal dots to the larger snowflake centres.

I hope you are all having a great weekend, whatever you are getting up to!

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

Lovely things I've used;

Retro Christmas Greeting by LOTV (I cut the snowflakes out to use individually)
Merry Christmas Greetings by LOTV
White Blizzard Crystal Nuvo Drops by Tonic Studios

Baby's first Christmas keepsake hoops

Hello lovely people,

Happy New Year!
I hope 2017 is full of wonderful things for you all :-)

This will be my last post with Christmas creations but there was no way I could resist sharing this pair of 4" embroidery hoops that I made for two little ones' first Christmas.

They are both for little girls but I didn't want to make both of them pink so one is in pretty aqua instead.

As soon as I got the commission for these I knew I wanted to use James bear images and now he is available in digi format, I could make them just the right size for the hoops.

As usual I have made the sentiments on my computer and then I finished off just with a few snowflakes, in die cut and metal charm form.

I made sure the back of the hoops also looked pretty and added a little tag to so that a message could be added but kept hidden.

I hope you have all had a good bank holiday...I have loved the extra crafting time!

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

Card recipe;

Image: James bear digis - LOTV

DP: Pink ones by Maja Design and Aqua ones by Galleria Papieru

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Circle STAX - MFT Die-namics, Stylish snowflakes - MFT Die-namics

Snowflake charm - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Fur: E40/41/42/43

Everything else: lost in the Christmas chaos!

Peaceful snowy church

Hello lovely people,

I wasn't planning to share any more Christmas projects now the big day has been and gone, but I am going to make an exception for two more posts...and here is the first one.

I found myself gravitating towards very muted colours when choosing the papers for this card and really liked the end result, plus it's a little bit different.

It's also one of the very few projects that I made using my gorgeous new snowflake dies; I hope to use these much more next year!

This beautiful church scene is from LOTV and this image makes me feel very peaceful...and it was very therapeutic to colour too with my Inktense pencils.

I added delicate lines of sparkle across the tops of the snow and trees and on all the snowfall dots, using a Quickie glue pen and loose white glitter, and the whole scene sparkles beautifully...IRL!

I hope you all have a lovely last few hours of 2016; I think a lot of people are going to be glad to see the back of it!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Christmas scenes - Snowy church - LOTV

DP: A gift for you - Maja Designs

Dies: Stylish snowflakes - MFT Die-namics
Sentiment: computer generated

Inktense colours;
Church stonework: Indian ink
Windows: Sicilian yellow
Trees: Light olive
Snow: Iris blue
Path / tree trunks: Tan, Oak

Let it snow hoop

Hello lovely people,

I had a busy morning of shopping and baking then took some time out to relax with my fabulous buddies Sue and Debs this afternoon; just chatting, drinking tea/coffee and eating scrummy soup and cake :-)

Now I'm just off to watch an old episode of Sherlock (catching up before the new season in January - excited!) with Dr. Hubby but thought I'd quickly share another Christmas project first.

This is another 3" decorated wooden embroidery hoop.

The sparkler on the snowflake is just gorgeous and I added a little more sparkle with some silver twine to hang it up.

The sentiment is computer generated.

Well, that's it from me..short and sweet!

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

Card recipe;

DP: Snow Queen - Galleria Papieru

Dies: Large snowflake - Noor! Design
Silver metallic twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sparkler gem: from stash

A gorgeous teddy

Hello lovely people,

I have been making the most of a couple of days off work to get ahead with all my crafty projects, although I have had to do a little housework too!  I also had a lovely coffee date with Dr. Hubby this morning and we shared a piece of amazing chocolate fudge cake - yum :-)

While I am back to work, it's time for a new challenge at As You Like It and our theme is...

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

Our sponsor this time is Dies to Die For with a £15 voucher

This is a tough choice as I love teddies and fairies and use both a lot on my cards, but the cute and cuddly factor of teddies makes them the winner for me.
I may also be heavily influenced by a certain little bear who has a special place in my heart, and always features on my Christmas cards... it's James bear!

I've gone for the easy option of a pre-coloured art pad image (not available any more) and a simple layout.  I distressed all the edges and added lots of Frantage and sparkle...which you can't see, but it's there on some areas of the image - lol!

I also added a couple of chipboard snowflakes which I have sponged with white acrylic paint, and a sentiment strip cut from the DP.

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 keep telling myself that it's only 2 days until the weekend - hurrah!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Furry Christmas art pad (DISCONTINUED) - LOTV 

DP: A Gift for you - Maja Design
Stampendous Shabby White Frantage

Chipboard snowflakes (DISCONTINUED) - The Ribbon Girl 

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

Feeling Christmassy

Hello lovely people,

I am starting to feel quite Christmassy as somehow it feels like it's just around the corner once we get into October, plus I have been buying some lovely new Christmas craft stash to play with :-)

Before I get into using that though, I knew just who would really make me feel even more super Christmassy...the one and only gorgeous James bear from LOTV!

The design is very simple but I liked the idea of the twine wrapped round the card looking kind of like a present.

I have used the rubber stamp version of this image (now discontinued) so I could colour it with my Inktense pencils but you can buy the digi stamp straight away from the shop if you can't resist lovely James!

There is also a challenge running at the moment on the Facebook page with the theme of Christmas so do pop over to the event page HERE and check out all the details as there are some fab prizes up for grabs :-)

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

Card recipe;

Image: James wrapped in tinsel - LOTV

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

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Inktense colours;
Hmmm, didn't write these ones down...sorry!

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!

Bauble gift bag

Hello lovely people,

Even though I am on my career break, I wouldn't dream of missing the annual work Christmas lunch at Pizza Hut which is happening today!
We always have the all-you-can-eat buffet so how many slices of pizza do you reckon I can eat?!
And how much exercise will I need to do to work it all off?!

While I'm off stuffing my face, it's Creative Inspirations challenge time and this week we have the theme...

WRAP IT UP

I have made a gift bag, which is designed to match a handmade present...but you'll have to wait until next week to see that!

As usual I couldn't resist the gorgeous Christmas papers from Maja Design; there are some lovely reds in the collection too but I have used just the brown and blue ones here.

The bauble die was a freebie with a card magazine and the border was a little something that fell in my basket a few months ago but hadn't yet been used!

Bag recipe;

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

Twine: Dusky blue button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Christmas sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Border die - Joy! Crafts, Christmas bauble - Marianne Design

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

Tune in again tomorrow to find out how much pizza I managed to eat!

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

Christmas angel

Hello lovely people,

It's December!  I have no decorations up, a grand total of 18 Christmas cards made and 2 presents bought - eek!
Ok, that last one is not really a problem as this year we decided not to do Christmas presents other than a small token gift if desired and that could be handmade.

Today, I am sharing one of the few Christmas cards that I have made and I have used lots of lovely LOTV products.

I recently got some larger size circle dies and knew they would pair well with my favourite fancy shaped base.



I think this little cutie is now discontinued...so sad as she is beautiful and really lovely to colour...I do love rich red against Kraft.

I kept the flower detail sweet and simple to complement the design.  I had a little restock of 'essentials' from Wild Orchid Crafts last week and popped a few new items in my basket too...the teeny little white flowers on here are my new favourites :-)

Card recipe;

Image: LOTV (discontinued)

DP: Krafty Christmas - LOTV

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

Tag: Family sentiment tags - LOTV

Tag: Christmas sentiment tags - LOTV
Lace: Sylvie Chantilly cotton lace - Crafty Ribbons

Dies: Circle layering die set - Tonic Studios, Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: ??? (probably E51/55/57)
Cape / headband: R27/29/46/59
Wings / dress / candle holder / ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4
Candle: YR30/31/Y35/YR18
Stars: YR33/Y35

I know some of you will already have seen this on facebook but I am over the moon that I passed part 1 (of 3) of my prescribing course :-D
Now for part 2!

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