Pretty cupcakes

Hello lovely people,

It was another lovely day yesterday so Dr. Hubby and I enjoyed a walk in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside.  I did miss all the gorgeous rolling green hills and woodlands while I was away; you can't beat it IMHO.

The only downside was that we both acquired a tick while out and about (note to self: stop wearing shorts no matter how hot it is!) but I managed to remove them safely with tweezers - phew!

Ok, let's move on to something a little nicer...

It's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and for this challenge we have an inspiration photo;

Aren't these just gorgeous...almost too gorgeous to eat!
You can use any element from this photo such as cake, bows, pearls, flowers.
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is The Ribbon Girl with a £10 voucher

I took this theme very literally and made a cupcake shaped card!

In keeping with the inspiration photo I added a topping of plenty of flowers and pearls!

Card recipe;

Cupcake shaped base: cut with Cricut (Cartridge = Straight from the nest)

DP: Vintage baby - Maja Designs (available from Live and Love Crafts)

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

Dies: Tea label tags - Magnolia Doohickeys

Sentiment: from Happy Bears stamp set - LOTV

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,

It's Summer!

Hello lovely people,

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my happy news from my last post; it's so lovely to be able to share it with you and to have your support :-)

My first aim when I got back from holibobs was to do some crafting but the gorgeous sunshine put paid to that plan, in the best possible way!

Instead I have been tidying the jungle where my garden used to be - lol!

I did eventually do a little crafting yesterday evening because it is Creative Inspirations challenge time and our theme is...
SPRING INTO SUMMER
So we want to see any creations with a Spring or Summer feel

Our sponsor for this challenge is My Mum's Craft Shop

I'm continuing to challenge myself to try new styles so I was having a play with this pretty flower stem die and discovered some freebie papers on my desk that provided the perfect backdrop for them; isn't it great when that happens?!

 I love how striking the black borders and die cuts look against the white card and pretty DP :-)

The sentiment stamp is an ordinary straight line stamp but it's really easy to curve it as you stick it down on the acrylic block and I used the edge of the circle die as a guide to make sure it follows the curve of the aperture.

Card recipe;

Dies: Circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Tall Chloe stem - Memory Box, Butterfly dies set - Impression Obsession

DP: freebie with magazine

Sentiment: from Wire roses set - Woodware

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,

Feeling happy

Hello lovely people,

Things I am happy about today;

1)  I have had an utterly amazing 38 day holiday in America but am actually happy to be home again to sleep in my own bed and catch up with all my friends and family

2) I passed my course and am now a Pharmacist Independent Prescriber (so I can prescribe medicines just like a doctor!)

3)  It has been sunny today so I was able to do a little tidying in the garden; still LOTS more to be done though!

4)  While I was away, this happened...

I had to sit on this news for ages and then I was unable to get my hands on the actual magazine until I got back to the UK so I am super excited to finally share it with you.

I even got a little bit of my colouring on the cover!

I thought I'd share all 3 cards at once rather than spread them out but I won't do all the extra shots with close ups and details as this post would be unbelievably long if I did, and I kept the cards fairly simple anyway to show off the images.

 #1 - my favourite card of the trio :-)

#2 - that sentiment is so true!

#3 - yum yum...anyone fancy ice cream now?!

Card recipes;

Image: Sand castle Ellie, Surfer Avery, and Ice cream Ellie - all from The Paper Nest Dolls

DP: Country meadow, Pastel dreams, and Bonnets and bowties (solids) - all from Nitwit Collections

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Tilda lace - Magnolia Doohickeys

Charms: Shell mix - The Hobby House
Sentiments: various from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair (ice cream): E11/15/18
Hair (sandcastle): E53/35/59
Hair (surfer): Y21/YR23/E35
Turquoise bits: BG000/01/02
Pink bits: R81/83/85
Yellow bits: Y23/35/YR23
Sand: YR30/E50/E51/YR31/E53
Water: BG0000/000
Shell: E41/423/43
Stick: E55/57
Ice cream cone: E50/51/53

I hope you have all had a beautiful day, sunny or otherwise!

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

Good times

Hello lovely people,

I'm still on holibobs and loving every moment of this epic trip :-)

It's great that I am still able to share cards while I'm away though and today's card is one I made for a lovely friend who enjoys cycling.

I have prettied the bicycle image up with an explosion of flowers....I don't think you could actually ride this bike though - lol!

I used some Card-io peg stamps for the flowers and added spots of sparkle to each flower centre.

I treated myself to these stamps at the last Hobbycrafts show and haven't had time to play much with them but they worked so beautifully for this design.

Hopefully you'll see lots more with them in future as I really love them :-)

Card recipe;

Image and sentiment: Good Times - discontinued, but you can get Good times 2 - Clearly Besotted
Flowers: Pottery petites Majestix stamp set - Card-io
Sparkle: Nuvo glitter drops (White blizzard) - Tonic Studios

DP: from stash

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

Cute CAS bunnies

Hello lovely people,

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

YOUR FAVOURITE: BIG OR LITTLE BOWS
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Sweet 'n Sassy stamps with a $10 voucher

I am a huge fan of bows but you will see that they are almost always tiny because I mostly use them to tie on sentiment tags.

My design is CASEd from my lovely blogging buddy Christine and you can find the gorgeous card that inspired me here!

I used part of a pre-cut scalloped card base to create a panel which I layered onto a square card base, using a few extra layers of card behind it to add dimension.

I made a few of these designs with different bunny images and different sentiment tags.

I cut the frame using a scalloped die and a circle die and added foam pads behind to raise it up a little, and popped on a sentiment tag at a jaunty angle.

Card recipe;

Image: Bunny wishes trio - LOTV

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Circle stax - MFT Die-namics, scalloped circles - Spellbinders Nestabilities
Twine: from stash

Copic colours;
Bunnies: W00/0/1/2/3/4
Bunny ears: R000/01
Pink: RV10/11/34
Yellow: YR20/21
Aqua: BG10/11

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,

Gamer Andy

Hello lovely people,

Today I have another commissioned card to share with you and this one was for a little boy who loves playing computer games.

I have to admit that stars are my 'go to' for adding detail to boys cards but in this case they worked especially well to match the stars on the DP.

I had a few images in mind for this card but this one was the winner and oh my gosh, isn't he adorable?!

Card recipe;

Image: Polka dot pals Andy - Little Miss Muffet Stamps

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

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Teenage boy sentiments - LOTV

Dies: Cosmic star set & Precious stars - Memory Box
Paperclip: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/57/59
T-shirt / stars / socks: R27/46/39
Pyjama bottoms / T-shirt circle: B23/26/29
Lightning bolt: Y23/35/YR23
Game controller: W1/3/4 & W7/G07/B24 for buttons and W00/1 for joystick
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

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

Fairies make me happy!

Hello lovely people,

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

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

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Dies to Die For with a £10 voucher

This card is to celebrate the happy occasion of a birthday and in addition it makes me very happy because it is so pretty and girly, and PINK!

This is one of my most used Saturated Canary images because it is so beautiful, fun to colour, and works well for all ages I reckon.

The hair colour combo I have used is a real favourite for me at the moment as it has a nice high contrast and gorgeous warm tones.

Hopefully you can see the sparkle I added to the star and frill of the dress :-)

I can't resist showing you a close up shot of these scrummy flowers because I love them so much especially the teeny rosebuds and little white bobbly things (yep, that's the technical term!).

Card recipe;

Image: Fairy wishes by Saturated Canary - from Dies to Die For

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

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

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Lace: Chantilly cotton lace (Jane) - Crafty Ribbons
Stamped letters: Magazine freebie stamp set

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/59
Dress / shoes: R81/83/56
Dress frill / wings: RV0000/000/R81
Star: YR30/31

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,