CELEBRATE!

Hello lovely people,

I didn't have a Dies to Die For DT card to share last week as I was on my holibobs and am so disorganised so didn't manage to schedule it before I went - oops!

I had an amazing week skiing in Austria with Dr. Hubby, my parents and some friends; it was so funny to hear of all the snow in the UK while we were away!  We did have extreme temperatures of -25 degrees in Austria but managed to cope and had one of our best week's skiing ever I reckon :-)

Ok, so I'll get onto my card and it's a simple but very cute and colourful affair...

I just had to have the adorable birthday chicks from the February MFT release and have plans for lots more cards with them...if I can just find the time - lol!

Now, what do you do when you make a design you really like?  Make another one in different colours of course!

So, which do you like best?!

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;
Chicks: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y19
Cupcakes: YR30, E50, E51
Cupcake cases: T0, T2
Orange icing / hat: YR12, YR14, YR16
Green icing / hat: YG23, YG25, YG17
Pink icing: RV32, RV34, RV09

Lovely things I've used from Dies to Die For;
Birthday chicks stamps - My Favorite Things
Birthday chicks dies - My Favorite Things
Celebrate speech bubble - My Favorite Things
Itsy bitsy polka dots 6x6 paper pad - My Favorite Things
A2 stitched rectangle STAX 1 - My Favorite Things

Other ingredients;
Stripy DP - from stash (old MFT pad)

Pretty little fairies

Hello lovely people,

Do you ever have those days when you rush around and get loads done but still feel like you should have done more?!
That was yesterday for me :-(
So now I'm grumpy because I didn't get to do any crafting yesterday and Dr. Hubby has been away for a few days as well so I am missing him *big sigh*

Ok, time to stop feeling sorry for myself and tell you about our new challenge at In The Pink where we have the theme...

SO CUTE
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our sponsor this time is The Paper Nest Dolls with a $10 voucher

I have a lot of stamps in my collection that fit the cute theme but these little fairies caught my eye and I thought it would be 'fun' to make a CAS design - lol!

A very big thank you to my fellow Pink Ladies for helping me to be brave and leave off the stitching for a change!

The border along the bottom is my bargainous new Martha Stewart punch...so pretty!

I added a subtle sparkle to the wings and star with Wink of Stella...it's so subtle you can't see it!

I liked the design so much that I made 2 more in different colours.
I still love the pink one the best but shhhh, don't tell the other fairies!

Here's a lilac one...

And one in aqua...

Card recipe;

Image: Little Fairies - LOTV

DP: Pastel Dreams, Snow Princess and Romance & Roses - available as digi downloads from Nitwit Collections

Punch: Floral lace - Martha Stewart

Sentiment: A little sentimental - Clearly Besotted

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/59
Pink fairy: RV0000/000/R81 & R81/83/85
Purple fairy: V20/22/25/28
Aqua fairy: G0000/000/00/BG32/13
Socks: W00/1
Wink of Stella (clear) on star and wings

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.

I hope your week is going well and roll on the weekend I say!

Thanks for visiting and for all the lovely comments that you leave me.

Romance in an umbrella

Hello lovely people,

I've been in Bath studying for a couple of days and Dr. Hubby has been working away for a few days so we are now re-united and going to enjoy a day together...I think it's coffee date time!

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

YOUR FAVOURITE...1 LAYER OR MULTI-LAYER
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Crafts-U-Love with a £10 voucher

I love to make multi-layered cards as I enjoy combining lots of pretty papers and it works well with the slightly vintage style that I like.

Sometimes I find it hard to achieve a soft look when colouring with Copics but I was delighted with how this turned out :-)
The umbrella was tricky because BG70 is so much lighter than BG72 that it is really hard to blend it nicely but I used a bit of 'tip to tip' technique and it worked a treat.
If you haven't come across this technique before, I coloured the image as I usually would but then touched the tip of BG70 on to the nib of BG72 to pick up a bit of the darker colour and applied this to the image to smooth out the shading between these 2 colours on my image.

I finished off by adding a couple of random lacy edges, some flower clusters and a little metal charm...ah, so romantic :-)

Card recipe;

Image: True love - Everyday in Moonbeam meadow - Crafter's Companion

DP: Summer Crush - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

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

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Old Swedish lace - Magnolia Doohickeys

Charm: Delicate hearts - The Hobby House

Copic colours;
Umbrella: BG70/72/75
Mice: E40/41/42/43
Roses / butterflies / heart: R30/32/35
Leaves: YG61/63/67
Wrapping: W00/1/3
Moon: YR30/31
Water: BG70/B25
Shading round image: BG0000/000

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,

Hard to choose a favourite!

Hello lovely people,

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

YOUR FAVOURITE RUBBER STAMP / IMAGE

Or one of your favourites if you're like me and could never pick just one!
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Bunny Zoe's Crafts with a £10 voucher

I have been playing with my new floral frame dies to create a shaped base for this card and I cut down the card blank to fit the back of the shape, leaving the back section longer so it matches the height of the frame on the front.

This image is a real favourite of mine because it's so glamorous and involves wine - lol!
I like the name too...Opal the Optimist is clearly a glass half full lady and I like that.
I don't think she is sharing that bottle with anyone though from the way she is hugging it!

Since I was going for proper girly on this card it had to be finished off with a touch of sparkle on the dress and a few flowers but I like that it's still relatively simple.

Card recipe;

Image: Uptown girl Opal the optimist - Stamping Bella

DP: Till Mor - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

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

Dies: Triple floral frames - Spellbinders

Sentiment: For you circular sentiments - LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E41/43/47
Dress: RV11/R81/R83
Wine bottle: YG93/95/97 & 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,

A pre-coloured celebration!

Hello lovely people,

It's fast approaching the end of another weekend and once again it has been a good one :-)
Saturday was spent with my sister-in-law, her OH and our 2 nephews and we had a fun day including a fabulous maize maze, tasty ice cream and some crafting.
Today has been a day of crafting, making tomato sauce from our home grown plum tomatoes and watching The Imitation Game in our home cinema...which was an absolutely brilliant film.   Love love LOVE Benedict Cumberbatch :-)
Oh, and I made some chocolate and hazelnut biscotti for good measure...yes, I was inspired by The Great British Bake Off!

Food and baking seems to feature regularly on my blog but I do have a card to share with you as well...

I am forever putting off doing male cards as I always feel a lack of mojo for them but I have to say that this one was actually quite a quick make and I love how the design turned out.

The speed was partly due to the pre-coloured image I used...it is *not* cheating ;-)

I bought some word dies a while ago and I love to add dimension to them by cutting them 3 times and layering them up.

Card recipe;

Image: Jack, Patch & Puss Art Pad - LOTV

DP: Special delivery (baby boy) - Pebbles

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Birthday words - Paper Smooches (from Dies to Die For)
Border punch: Martha Stewart scallop dot edge punch

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, whatever you were up to :-)

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

Challenges I am entering;
Fussy and Fancy (birthdays)

Cake and flowers

Hello lovely people,

Today was spent celebrating my Mother-in-law's 65th birthday but you'll have to wait a bit to see her card!

Instead I have another birthday card to show you, made purely for a few challenges and for fun :-)

One of the challenges I am playing along with is As You Like It and they are asking us to use our fave type of stamp - rubber or digi.
I use both and love each type for different reasons but if I had to have just one it would probably be rubber.
Using a digi means fiddling around on the computer and then waiting for the ink to dry before I can colour it and well, I'm far too impatient for that sometimes!

Stamping Bella are one of my favourite rubber stamp collections as they are so stylish.
I cropped this image to fit my hand cut polaroid frame.

Then I loaded it up with girly embellies, including some yummy lace from my latest shopping spree at The Ribbon Girl :-)

Card recipe;

Image: Ava loves to celebrate (Uptown Girls) - Stamping Bella

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

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Lace: Lyra - The Ribbon Girl - currently unavailable :-(

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Charm: Dragonfly charm small - The Ribbon Girl
Dies: Tea tags - Magnolia Doohickey

Sentiment: freebie stamp set with magazine
Pearls: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20

Hair: E41/43/47
Dress: BG53/45/57/09
Pink bits: R81/83/85
Cake: YR30/E41/42/43
Tray: T0/2/4

Tonight I am going to chill out and watch a film with Dr. Hubby (who has a really awful cold, poor thing) and tomorrow I shall be crafting and baking :-)

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

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

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Papertake Weekly (Mum's the word / any girly card)
2.  Cute Card Thursday (celebrate)
3.  As You Like It (fave type of stamp - rubber or digi - see above!)
4.  Sweet Stampin' (cakes)
5.  The Ribbon Girl (birthday)