Box of dreams

Hello lovely people,

I have a little non-card project to share today using some gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl.

As you can see, this box originally had some extremely scrummy gin truffles in it and since they are sadly now all gone, I thought I'd pretty up the box!

I painted the outside with white acrylic paint then covered the sides and top of the lid with pretty papers, sanding and inking the edges to give a nice vintage feel.

I don't often use pearl string but it was absolutely perfect to put around the edge of the lid :-)

I've finished the top with an inspirational quote and lots of lovely flowers.

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 thumbnails 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;

Sofiero - Maja Design	10mm white square pearl trim	White cherry blossom	20mm pale pink open roses
small baby pink and white blossom	Pink miniature blossom flowers	Tiny white rosebuds	cream hip rosebuds
10mm tiny star charm	3mm pale pink pearl stamens

InLinkz.com

Other card ingredients;
Live your dreams - Visible Image
Freebie butterfly die

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,

Butterfly wishes

Hello lovely people,

My holibobs is in full swing and I'll share some pics soon but for now I just wanted to stop by and share a card.

For ages I have been wanting to try out some card designs using just die cutting and large sentiment stamps and I finally did it!

I didn't even use any DP, just white card and aqua pearl card with a little embossing and some pearls to add some more texture and detail.

I got to use lots of my favourite dies especially the pretty butterflies and of course, I had to sneak in a little stitching too!

Card recipe;

Sentiment panel: cut with Cricut (Lacy labels cartridge)
Dies:Trellis square base die set - Tonic Studios, Leavenworth butterfly trio - Memory Box, Leaf and swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys
Embossing folder: Flowers - Crafts Too!

Sentiment: Wonderful day - Inkylicious
Pearls: from stash

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

Flowery thanks

Hello lovely people,

No time for countdowns today as my little grey cells are entirely focussed on getting my coursework finished and submitted by the end of Friday!

While I am working hard on that last essay, it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

PEARLS

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

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Live and Love Crafts with a £10 voucher (excl. p&p)

I'm back to CAS with this card.

This was one of those occasions where I had a clear design in my head and amazingly it all came together how I wanted without any faffing around...that doesn't happen often with me and CAS cards...

...maybe I'm getting better at them!

It's wonderfully rewarding to make a card with so few elements and I do think you can never have too many word dies and little flower dies in your stash!

Card recipe;

DP: Romance and roses - available as digi download from Nitwit Collections

Dies: Thanks word - Paper Smooches, flowers - Joy! Crafts
Pearls: Hot pink pearls - Kaisercraft

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,

Vintage layered wedding card

Hello lovely people,

Yes, I am still here!
Some of you may be forgiven for wondering where I have been and I'm sorry I haven't been visiting your blogs much of late but things are so hectic right now.
I have decided to stop beating myself up over it, get on track with everything else and hopefully I'll soon be able to get back to checking out all your lovely creations :-)

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

YOUR FAVOURITE...LINE (from the bingo board)
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

This is the board and I have chosen fussy & fancy, lace and pearls, which is probably no surprise because you know how much I love to layer up pretty papers and details :-)

Our sponsor this time is Wild Orchid Crafts with a £12 voucher

I chose a vintage style layered design which enabled me to use a few new bits of stash, starting with the gorgeous DP and one of my new scallop dies.
I really like the combination of shaped layers on this design.

The flowers are also new and are a fab (and flatter!) alternative to my beloved 3D flowers.

Card recipe;
Sentiment: Statements (congratulations) - LOTV

DP: Vintage wedding - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Lace: Faye - The Ribbon Girl (unavailable but Astrid is the same design in cream)

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Large scalloped circles - Presscut, flowers (no name) - Joy! Crafts, Lavish branch - Memory Box, Beaded swirl flourish - Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions

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,

Heart of flowers

Hello lovely people,

Aaarrrggghhh!  It's deadline week!
I have to submit all my coursework for the first part of my prescribing course by the end of the week so not much time for crafting this week:-(

While I crack on with my essays, it's Creative Inspirations challenge time and this week we have the theme...

WHITE ON WHITE

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Live and Love Crafts with a £10 voucher

I have had the idea for this design in my head for a while and by some miracle it turned out just like I wanted!
I created the embossed background using my score board.
And no, I haven't lost my needle and thread but I just felt this design didn't need any stitching...shocking I know!

I drew a very faint pencil heart outline and arranged all the flowers before shaping them slightly with a ball tool and sticking them down.

Card recipe;

Dies: Perfect petioles, Fancy blossoms, and Adorable posies - all Memory Box
Pearls: from stash

It's a little bit different for me isn't it?  Hope you like it :-)

The DT have made some wonderful white on white 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,

Sparkle bubble tree

Hello lovely people,

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

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

Our sponsor this time is Sweet and Sassy Stamps

My favourite season for card making is winter because I love all the festive images, beautiful snowflakes and of course, adding lots of sparkle to my creations.
I only usually start making my Christmas cards in October/November but I LOVE doing them and always end up with way more Christmas supplies than I need!
This fabulous stamp I got at the NEC Hobbycrafts show is a case in point because I really didn't need any more Christmas stash but I fell in love with it and *had* to have it!
I think this image could be used all year round for other occasions too so it was totally worth getting it ;-)

I made the card candy dots myself using a new die and teamed them with glittered Copic coloured dots, pearls and Nuvo crystal drops; I really love this mix of different textures :-)

I am so excited to try this in some different colours...pink maybe?!

Card recipe;

Image: Bubble bloom festive tree - Woodware

DP: Winter wonderland - Joy Crafts (from Noor! Design)

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Lovely fence - Magnolia Doohickeys, Dotties - Presscut
Sparkle: Crystal Glamour Dust
Blue pearl dots: Wedgewood blue Nuvo crystal drops - Tonic Studios

Copic colours;
BG70 & BG72

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,

Challenges I am entering;
to be added

Pink snowflake wreaths

Hello lovely people,

It's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and since October is breast cancer awareness month we thought it was only fair to have this theme...

USE A PINK RIBBON
(and of course, we still want to see more pink than any other colour except white/neutrals!)

We have a fabulous brand new sponsor this time; it's The Paper Nest Dolls who are very generously offering a $15 voucher to one winner chosen at random from our Perfect Pnkies

I have seen several beautiful cards on Pinterest with snowflake wreaths so really wanted to have a go myself.
I had a shabby chic style in mind for it...but despite having a HUGE stash of pink ribbon I simply couldn't find the right shade!
So I switched the DP for a bold polka dot so I could use this lovely little scrap of raspberry ribbon :-)

I layered the snowflakes up quite heavily to create a nice full wreath.  I had no particular plan for this, just made it up as I went along, although I did draw a circle on the DP to use as a guide to placing the first layer.

Now, I really couldn't leave the idea of a shabby chic version alone so I ended up making a second card!

This one doesn't have pink ribbon though as the twine fitted better with the shabby chic style

Oh well, at least that's another 2 Christmas cards made!

Card recipe;

DP: Pink spotty - from stash, 2nd card background layers from Vintage Frost Basics and snowflakes from Vintage Spring Basics - all Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Christmas tags - LOTV
Dies: Small snowflake die set - Impression Obsession
Pearls: from stash

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,

Challenges I am entering;

Papertake Weekly (Two by two - I made 2 different styles of the same card)
Fab 'n' Funky (make it square)

CAS flowers on Kraft

Hello lovely people,

I have a pair of cards to share with you today that I made a few months back when I was having a play with some new Clearly Besotted stamps.

I thought these stamps would be perfect for cute CAS designs, which I would really like to do more of as a change to my more fussy stamped and layered cards.

I have always loved the look of colouring on Kraft especially with white embossed lines.  It can be tricky to choose colours that work well as lighter colours just look a bit muddy on Kraft, so the first one I did was a nice hot pink...are you shocked?!

I decided these would make perfect birthday cards for a couple of wonderful blogland friends so I did another one in blue...to better suit the recipient!

I also made the blue one up slightly differently with a white border and think they both look good.

To get the flower stems all lined up at the bottom, I just masked off the bottom of the Kraft card with some scrap paper.  TOP TIP: Do not do this with a Post-it note if you are going to emboss...the powder will get stuck to where the note was...Doh!

When it came to stamping the sentiment, I just moved the scrap paper down a little and used that as a guide to placement.

Card recipe;

Image: Scribbled flowers - Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: A little sentimental - Clearly Beostted

Embossing powder - Opaque bright white - Wow! - from Clearly Besotted
Pearls - The Hobby House

Copic colours;
RV17/34/69
B04/06/37

I can hardly believe what a long post that was for such CAS cards!
I think a lot of us crafters find that CAS designs take a lot longer than you think because the placement of the elements has to be just right, and also there is no room to hide any mistakes so everything has to be done really carefully!

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

Challenges I am entering;
Papertake Weekly (embossing)