You passed!

Hello lovely people,

I'm here to showcase yet more images from the upcoming LOTV release on 15th January...yes, more!

We have a couple of fabulous images of Jasmine and Oliver passing their driving tests, which will only be available as digi stamps and simply prints.

I thought I'd share both cards in the same post so first up it's Jasmine, and I appear to have chosen the same colour for her car as mine - lol!

I've used a similar style but different layout for the Oliver image, and used the shortened form of the sentiment.

I also appear to have chosen the same colour car for Oliver as Dr. Hubby's - lol again!

I think these will be really useful images to have in your stash, and don't be put off by colouring the car as it is broken up into sections so you can colour each one by one.  Also, my top tip is just don't print it too big; I printed these images at 5.5 x 8.5 cm, and the card base is 12.5cm square.

I also thought I'd share a little tip that I used when designing both these cards;

I wanted to mount the image onto a stitched rectangle but didn't have one that would leave the same width border all round the image, which would have irritated me!  So, I chose a stitched rectangle that was the right width and just hid the bottom end under the sentiment strip so you can't see that it is actually too long at the bottom.

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

Lovely things I've used;

Jasmine driving test and Oliver driving test - LOTV (coming soon!)
Dots and Stripes 6x6 paper pad - Echo Park
Let's polka in the meadow 6x6 paper pad - Lawn Fawn
A2 stitched rectangles set 2 - My Favorite Things
Essential sentiments - My Favorite Things
Essential sentiments Too - My Favorite Things
Blueprints for sentiment strips - not sure which ones!

Copic colours for Jasmine;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: Y21, YR23, E35
Top / shoes / hairband: R81, R83, R85
Trousers: E40, E41, E42, E43

Copic colours for Oliver;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: E21, E27, E29
Jumper / shoes: N0, N1, N2, N3
Jeans / T-shirt: B93, B95, B97

Car and frame colours for both images;
Car: R24, R27, R46, R39
L on L-plates: R24. R27, R46
L-plates background / number plate: N0, N2
Car grill / tyre: N4, N5, N7
Headlights: YR30, YR20
Windscreen: B0000, B000
Frame: N0, N1, N2, N3, N4

Oliver texting

Hello lovely people,

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

It's been a quiet one for me, just catching up on a few household jobs...ok, mostly crafting!

Today I have another card for Lili of the Valley using the fab new Oliver images.  If you saw my earlier posts, then please note that the release date has now changed to 15th January, just to make sure there's plenty of stock ready for you all!

If you are thinking this looks familiar then you are right because it has been available previously but only as a digi image so you can now get it in rubber too :-)

I really enjoyed making this trio of Oliver cards and coming up with simple modern layouts that would work for masculine cards...and I never thought I'd find myself saying that - lol!

I still have a couple more cards to share with you from the new release, and of course the rest of the Design Team and Design Collective have also been sharing some fab samples.

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

Lovely things I've used;

Oliver Texting - LOTV (coming soon in rubber but available as digi here)
Beachside 6x6 paper pad - Lawn Fawn
Stitched alphabet - My Favorite Things
A2 Stitched rectangles set 2 - My Favorite Things
Nuvo crystal drops in Caribbean ocean (gloss)

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: E53, E35, E59
Jeans: B93, B95, B97
Top: W3, W4, W5, W6
Orange details: YR14, YR16, YR07
Phone: W00, W0, W1
Ground: W00, W0, W1, W2, W3

Oliver Music

Hello lovely people,

I'm cracking straight on with sharing my second card with an Oliver image from the upcoming  Lili of the Valley release on 10th January as there is even more I have to show you after this!

Here's another fabulous image with Oliver on the decks...

You will see that I kept the same colour scheme for all of my Oliver cards, but no Nuvo drops this time because I added the little music notes instead.

The die/stamped sentiment combo is from a set that I just *had* to buy, I think about 6 months ago, and yes, hadn't used until now!  As so often happens, I think this will now become a firm favourite of mine and get used loads!

I'll have a little break from Oliver tomorrow and then share the last one at the weekend.

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

Lovely things I've used;

Oliver Music - LOTV (coming soon!)
Beachside 6x6 paper pad - Lawn Fawn
A2 Stitched rectangles set 1 - My Favorite Things
Sentimental Too stamp set - Avery Elle
Sentimental Too die set - Avery Elle
Music notes dies - from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: E53, E35, E59
Main section of top: W3, W4, W5, W6
Arms of top: B93, B95, B97
Mixing deck: W0, W1, W2, W3
Orange details: YR14, YR16, YR07
Headphone band / records: W5, W6, W7
Table: E30, E55, E35

Hello 2018!

Hello lovely people,

So, it's that time again...to make New Year's Resolutions, right?!

Nope, I really don't need to make resolutions that I will break or resent, so as we all embark on our journey through 2018 I am just aiming to be happy, do lots of what I love (crafting of course!) and spend time with friends and family :-)

One thing I definitely love is all the fun I get to have as part of the Design Team for Lili of the Valley and I'm happy to tell you that the first release of the year will be here soon!

There are some fab new Oliver and Jasmine images, and seeing as I often go for the girly images, I thought I'd change it up this time so here's Oliver...!

Well, I think Oliver is looking very stylish here, in fact I think this image is sooooo bang on trend and would suit many a teenage lad!

The teenage boy sentiments also from LOTV are the perfect partner for the new Oliver images.

I've added a few Nuvo drops and I think I may be starting a new love affair with them as they are so perfect for adding a little touch of detail...as long as I can decide where to put them - lol!

I'll be sharing more of the new images over the next week or so, and do check out what the rest of the DT and Collective have been making too!

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

Lovely things I've used;

Oliver Cool - LOTV (coming soon!)
Teenage boy sentiments - LOTV
Beachside 6x6 paper pad - Lawn Fawn
A2 Stitched rectangles set 2 - My Favorite Things
Nuvo crystal drops in Caribbean ocean (gloss)

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: E53, E35, E59
Jeans: B93, B95, B97
Jacket: W3, W4, W5, W6
Orange details: YR14, YR16, YR07
Glasses: W5, W6, W7 & B0000, B000
Shoes: W00, W0, W1
Ground: W00, W0, W1, W2, W3

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

A Very Merry Thoroughly Modern Miss

Hello lovely people,

From midday today you can get your hands on the Thoroughly Modern Misses from LOTV!!
They will be available as digi stamps and Simply Print sheets.

There are 12 modern girly images, one for each month, and today I have used the December image.

I love how stylish this little lady is and I do really enjoy colouring red so she absolutely had to have a red coat!

One tip I have for these images is to make sure you add a teeny little bit of pale blue to the eyes which helps to stop them looking flat...even white should be coloured - lol!

I've added tiny spots of Nuvo drops to the wreath.

I keep finding great ways to use my stitched rectangle dies and for this card I discovered that they look lovely with a frame layered on top!

Now, why is this is the first time I have used those tiny stitched tags when I have had them for ages?!  I guess they were waiting for just the right project - lol!

I've just been working this weekend so am enjoying a day off today and a spot of crafting!

I hope you all have a great week :-)

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

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Eyes: B0000, B000
Hair: E53, E35, E59
Coat: R37, R56, R39
Belt: W7, W8, W10
Leggings / hat: W0, W1, W2, W3
Boots: W7, W8, W9 (& W00, W0, W1 for fluffy bits)
Wreath / ribbons: YG93, YG95, YG97
Presents: E41, E42, E43
Ground: W00, W0, W1, W2, W3

Lovely things I've used;

Thoroughly Modern Miss December - LOTV (coming soon!)
Jingle 6x6 paper pad - Lilybee Design
A2 stitched rectangle STAX 2 - My Favorite Things
Stitched rectangle scallop edge frames - My Favorite Things
Stitched scallop edges - My Favorite Things
Stitched tiny tags - My Favorite Things
Snow globe sentiments - My Favorite Things
Hemp twine
Autumn red Nuvo Crustal Drops

Thoroughly Modern Misses from LOTV

Hello lovely people,

I have something very exciting to share with you today...we have NEW images on the way from LOTV so myself and the rest of the Design Team will be sharing some sneak peeks with you over the next week until their launch on Mon 23rd October.

We are introducing the Thoroughly Modern Misses; there's one for each month of the year so I thought it appropriate to start with November!

WARNING!!!  They are a little bit different so I'll just show you my card and then we can talk...

Now, I know some of you will be a bit taken aback by the lack of facial features other than eyes but I have totally been won over by the gorgeous modern style of the images and the fabulous clothing and am loving them.

I've given this little lady a long coat but it could just as easily be a jacket over a skirt/dress, and you could give her tights instead of bare legs...so many choices!

Oh my goodness...I nearly forgot to mention that there are some beautiful new sentiments coming out too, and you can see one of them on my card here.

Watch this space for more sneak peeks and do check out the samples from the rest of the DT too.

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

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Eyes: B0000, B000
Hair: E50, E53, E55
Coat: E41, E42, E43
Scarf: YR21, YR23, YR24, & R05/E07 for stripes
Pumpkin: E97, YR24, E99
Jumper: B91, B93, B95
Hat: YR21, YR23, YR24, YR27
Shoes: E42, E43, E44
Ground: W00, W0, W1, W2, W3

Lovely things I've used;

Thoroughly Modern Miss November and sentiment - LOTV (coming soon!)
Autumn Spice 6x6 paper pad - Lilybee Design
Stitched jumbo fishtail banner STAX - My Favorite Things
Ivory hemp twine - The Ribbon Girl

LOTV Celebration Bear

Hello lovely people,

I'm just popping in with a reminder of our LOTV October Facebook challenge as you have just a few more days to come and join in as it ends on 15th October.  We are going all retro, so would like you to share a project using your first ever LOTV stamp...or one of the first if you can't remember exactly!

I am about 99% sure this was my first LOTV stamp, and it is certainly one of my most used, although sadly it's now retired so I'm glad I hung onto it!

I've used some beautiful papers, ribbons and sparkly things from The Ribbon Girl to give this a gorgeously girly feel.

I hope all is well in your worlds and if not, sending hugs.

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

Copic colours;
Bear fur: E40, E41, E42, E43
Dark pink daisies: RV19, RV09, RV55
Mid pink tulips: RV09, RV55
Light pink tulips / daisies: RV52, RV55
Aqua flowers: BG10, BG11, BG13
Foliage: G40, G12
Envelope / plastic wrap / tag: RV0000, RV000
Ribbon: RV09, RV55, RV52
Ground: W00, W0, W1, W2, W3

Lovely things I've used from The Ribbon Girl;
Daydream 6x6 paper pad - Lemoncraft
38mm Pale pink sugar sprinkles sheer ribbon
15mm Pale turquoise No.48 Berisford satin ribbon
7mm Pale turquoise No.48 Berisford satin ribbon
Round 14mm diamante buckle slide
Lucy's Princess Sparkly Shaker Selection
Lucy's Aquamarine Sparkly Shaker Selection

Other card ingredients;
Celebrate and enjoy dies - The Greeting Farm
Stitched mini scallop square STAX - My Favorite Things

Time to sparkle

Hello lovely people,

Today I have a DT card for The Ribbon Girl and I wanted to use some of the gorgeous sparkly things to make a Christmas card.

I don't use gold a lot in my crafting but these papers are absolutely gorgeous and I have heat embossed the sentiment in gold to match.

I don't think the photos do the ribbon justice either!  It is simply stunning; the shade of gold and the subtle shimmer is so elegant.

I'm rather taken with the hemp twine as an alternative to the button twine I often use too.  I was going to tie a small bow with it but the long ends fell onto the card like this and I thought it looked pretty so I left them long!

Don't forget we also have our October Card challenge running over on The Ribbon Girl blog at the moment and we'd love to see you enter...all you have to do is make a card - easy!

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,

Lovely things I've used from The Ribbon Girl;
Time to sparkle 6x6 mini paper pack by Dovecraft Premium
25mm gold pearl sparkle ribbon
Ivory hemp twine
10mm silver jingle bells


Other card ingredients;
Traditional Christmas Greeting - Lili of the Valley
Stitched rectangle scallop frame - My Favorite Things

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

LOTV: Christmas woodland scenes

Hello lovely people,

It's release day at LOTV so from midday you can get your hands on a huge range of stunning new Christmas images, available as rubber or digi stamps, or simply print sheets.

So I have my final Design Team creation for you, or should I say creations because I got carried away and ended up making a trio of cards!

I have used the Woodland Scenes collection and I've teamed them up with some of the newly released digi papers.

I think a lot of people are delighted to see the beautiful LOTV papers back in digi format, and the Kraft ones were always popular...well, they are so stylish!

This first card is 12.5cm square and uses one of the robins from the collection...

I've used my stitched dies together to create the circular aperture within the square.  I just lay the square and circle dies down, measure to make sure the gap around the circle is even on all sides and tape them together so I can run them through my die cutting machine as one piece.

This is the other robin in the collection...

I have used the digi stamps for my cards, but have printed them at the rubber stamp size so you can see what size they are.

For my last card, the image is a little bigger so I adapted the design slightly to make a 11.5 x 15cm card and added a sentiment on this one.

The new sentiment stamps are fabulous but I have to say that the sentiment tags are ones I go back to time and again, so if you don't have these I highly recommend them....sorry, I know I'm enabling again - lol!

I haven't even shown you the gorgeous little fox and squirrel also included in this set!

I have now got the rubber versions of these so am looking forward to using some of them together to create a scene...how cute will that be?!

I know I could create a scene by merging the digi images too, but it takes me a while and I just prefer to do it with the rubber stamps!

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

Lovely things I've used;

Woodland Scene digi stamp collection by LOTV
Krafty Christmas digi papers by LOTV
Christmas sentiment tags by LOTV
Circle STAX 1 - My Favorite Things
Inside and out stitched circle STAX - My Favorite Things
Inside and out stitched square STAX - My Favorite Things
Blueprints 13 by My Favorite Things (for the large rectangle panel on the owl card)
Twine, Crystal Glamour Dust from stash

Copic colours;
Robins / outer edge of owl: E23, E25, E47
Face & tummy of owl: E30, E31, E33
Wood: E30, E35, E55
Leaves: YG61, YG63
Snow: B0000, B000
Red details: R24, R27, R39
Green details: YG61, YG63, YG67

LOTV: Fairy Post

Hello lovely people,

I'm back as promised with another sneak peek of one of the brand new LOTV Christmas images, and it's release day tomorrow!

Yesterday I had a very traditional feeling Christmas card but today is a totally different kettle of fish with bright colours and a more modern feel.

These little fairies were probably the first image I wanted to colour from this release...adorable doesn't even begin to cover it!

Again, I've opted for a simple design because that image really needs to take centre stage, but I had just the perfect little embellishment in the form of the letters from an MFT mailbox die set...too cute!

The sentiment is from the recently released Snowflakes and Christmas Trees LOTV set which contains several cute sentiments which are perfectly sized for fishtails and you know I love a fishtail banner, right?!

That's not the end of it because there are just so many images in this release that I wanted to play with so I'll have yet more to show you tomorrow on release day :-)

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

Lovely things I've used;

Fairy Post digi stamp by LOTV
Snowflakes and Christmas Trees by LOTV
Merry and Bright 6x6 paper pad by Carta Bella
Large Frilly Frames #10 by Go Kreate
Circle dies by Tonic Studios
Inside and out stitched rectangle STAX by My Favorite Things
Mailbox Dienamics by My Favorite Things
Fishtail banner from one of the MFT Blueprints...not sure which - lol!
Crystal Glamour Dust

Copic colours;
Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04
Hair: E53, E57, E59
All red sections: R35, R37, R39
All green sections: YG23, YG25, YG17
All aqua sections: BG11, BG32, BG34
Fairy wings: BG10, BG11, BG32
Shoes: T5, T6, T7
Letters: YR30, E40
Fluffy trims / pom poms: W00, T0, T1, T2
Postbox base: T4, T5, T6, T7
Blobs on top of mushroom postbox: YR30, E40, E41, E42
Ground: B0000, B000, B00, B41

LOTV: Christmas bird house

Hello lovely people,

It's time for MORE amazing Christmas designs from LOTV and I feel unbelievably lucky that as part of the DT I get to play with them all...and maybe tempt you all a little!

This release has so many different styles of image so I think I am safe to say there is something for everyone.  I am absolutely loving all of them so have made quite few samples, and I'm starting with this beautiful Christmas bird house...

This image appealed to me because I really enjoy colouring foliage and wood...for some odd reason - lol!

Oh, and it's just adorable too!

With such a gorgeous detailed design I knew I wanted to keep the card design fairly simple so I created a double frame design, with the inner green frame raised up on 1mm foam pads and then the red spotty frame raised up another 1mm on foam pads.

The holly berries are Nuvo drops, which I dropped separately on a piece of acetate and allowed to dry before gluing to the card; this way the three berries stay nice and separate rather than merging into one as they would if I dropped them directly onto the card.

I will be back tomorrow with another of the new images in a completely different style, so until then, I hope you are enjoying your weekend :-)

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

Lovely things I've used;

Christmas Bird House digi stamp by LOTV
Jingle 6x6 paper pad by Lilybee Designs
Christmas circular sentiments by LOTV
Inside and out stitched square STAX by My Favorite Things
Turtle doves die set by Creative Expressions (for the holly corner)
Autumn red Nuvo crystal drops by Tonic Studios

Copic colours;
Wood: E30, E55, E35
Holly / stocking: YG95, YG97, YG99
Ivy / tendrils: YG91, YG93, YG95
Robins: E27, E47, E89
Hats / robin breasts / stocking / berries: R37, R39, R59
Stars / robin beaks: Y21, Y19
Hat trims / pom poms: W00, W1, W2