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

Little mice

Hello lovely people,

I did warn you that I could well be back for a third day in a row and here I am!

I survived another day in work yesterday and now have another couple of weeks off before my full return.  I popped out at lunchtime to get my new glasses and am really pleased with them; well, they are purple!  Much as I love pink I'm not sure about it for my glasses - lol!  Dr. Hubby commented that they were very 'sexy schoolteacher!' so I think that's a compliment!

Enough of that though because today I have a card to share with you that I made with some gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl.

We Ribbon Girls are allowed a little break in August, but I couldn't resist having a play with these beautiful new papers that are newly arrived at The Ribbon Girl; they have such a lovely vintage style and beautiful soft colour palette.

I was drawn to my Inktense pencils again for this image and was pretty happy with the result.  I am thinking I might do a little post dedicated to Inktense to share my insights so far into using them, such as they are!  Anyone fancy that?

I do love making criss cross cards, and that's another potential for a tutorial so I can show you the stand that I make for them and share my tips for attaching lace across the front.

I've made a large pull out tag; just a sweet and simple one with some little die cut hearts.

One more peek at the gorgeous flowers that I used and that scrummy lace, which I ended up covering quite a bit - oops!

I hope you all have a super bank holiday weekend :-)

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Galleria Papieru - As if in a dream (retro) 12x12" papers
12mm Donna creamy ivory fine cotton lace
Heart charm with side loop
Ivory asters
Natural colour button twine
White cherry blossom

Other products;

Image: Hugs and kisses (Everyday in moonbeam meadow) - Crafter's Companion

Other flowers: from stash

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Nesting hearts mini die - Xcut

Sentiment tags - LOTV

Inktense colours;
Mice: 2100 Charcoal Grey & 0310 Mid Vermillion, 1530 Crimson for feet
Flowers / waistcoat / bow: 0530 Crimson
Leaves / grass: 1550 Spring Green, 1510 Beech Green
Mushroom top: 0310 Mid Vermillion, 1900 Willow, 1740 Saddle Brown
Mushroom stalk: as top plus 1730 Oak, 2010 Sepia Ink

Snug Christmas bunnies

Hello lovely people,

I post nothing for nearly a week and now it's 2 posts in 2 days...and yes, I may well be posting again tomorrow!

Today's post is my DT card for the new challenge at As You Like It and our theme this time is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...Shaped or standard card base
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Sweet Stamp Store with a $10 voucher

I probably make more large square cards because I find it so easy to reach for a pre-made square base, but I always find that my favourite designs are the ones where I have used a shaped base, and it does add interest.

Regular visitors to my blog will know that this lovely shape is a favourite of mine, and the only reason I don't use it more is that it's just a bit small for a lot of images.

I thought it was about time I added to my very tiny stash of Christmas cards so I reached for my fave Christmas stamp, which I'm delighted to say is available again at LOTV and of course, you can now get it in rubber or digi format :-)

I tried a few sentiments but none of them looked quite right, maybe because of the DP with text on it, so I just left it without.

I also played with some flowers on this design and decided I liked it better without so hunted through my dies instead and chose this bow swirl; another die that I love but don't often use!

As you can see, I had another play with the cheesecloth too!

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;

Image: Christmas bunnies - stocking - LOTV

DP: Glad tidings - Dovecraft

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Twisted swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys
Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Cheesecloth fabric - The Ribbon Girl
Snowflake 1 - The Hobby House

Copic colours;
Rabbits: E40/41/42/43 & R000/00/01
Red: R27/46/89
Green: YG95/97/99
Branch: E37/39/29
Fur: W00/T0/2

Quick floral card

Hello lovely people,

It's another busy week for me but Dr. Hubby and I did squeeze in a little coffee date this morning.  I decided not to have cake...don't worry, I'm feeling perfectly well but it's nice and sunny so I'm holding out for an ice cream this afternoon!

Now, despite keeping up well with visiting all your lovely blogs I haven't done so well with actually posting anything on my own blog - oops!

So, I have a sweet little CAS card to show you, using a new floral stamp set, which I fell in love with and just *had* to have...and then when it arrived I suddenly realised that I had no idea what to do with it!

After a little brainstorming and Pinterest searching I came up with several ideas, so this is the first of a couple of cards I made using it.

I have simply stamped the flowers in 2 shades of Versacolour ink (lilac and heliotrope) and added the dot stamp around them in silver.

I used my MISTI for this and it was especially useful for adding that sentiment - no more 'eek!' moments for me :-)

I hope you are all having a good week and it's all downhill to the weekend from here !

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

Card recipe;

Flower stamps: Water blooms - Mama Elephant

Sentiment: Oh Happy Day - Avery Elle