Congratulations & Teddies

Here is a sweet Congratulations card, very pink and girly!

I started with a kraft card base and matted and layered various elements onto kraft card so it would all tie in. The image is from LOTV - one of their cute squares. Don't you just love those bouncing teddies.

The design papers are a mix of Dovecraft and My Mind's Eye. Ribbon, paper flowers and gems from stash and I used Spellbinders circles and ovals for the matting & layering.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley September Facebook Challenge
The Ribbon Girl Blog September Challenge: Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations: Challenge 257 Anything Goes + Option Sketch
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge: 294 - Anything Goes
ABC Challenge: O is for Open

Thanks for looking

Engagement

Here's a recent commissioned card to celebrate a happy couple's engagement and is destined for Spain although I'm told the proposal took place on the London Eye when they were here in the U.K. for a short break.

I used an 8x8 card blank and DPs from Dovecraft (pale pink) and the dark pink is Love Letters from First Edition - the tag is from this pad also. I used a Martha Stewart Heart Edger punch to add detail. The image is from a LOTV Art Pad and was cut into a heart shape and I used Stickles around the edge to add sparkle.

The flowers, ferns and leaves were cut using a Tattered Lace Midi Blooms die which is so versatile and the large and small Congratulations were cut with Britannia dies.  Gems and ribbon from stash.

Some close up details

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

In The Pink Challenge #85 - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl Blog: January Any Image Challenge
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: January challenge - Hearts
Inky Chicks Challenge #61 - Anything Goes
Create and Inspire: Challenge #37 - Anything Goes


Thanks for looking!

Where's the Sun...??

Where indeed! Well, what another miserable Bank Holiday weatherwise - such a shame for all those events planned. I read in yesterday's paper that we're going to have an Indian Summer so let's keep our fingers crossed.

Today's card features a cute LOTV fairy who is certainly enjoying her summer - love those sunglasses!

Image is matted and layered with Tonic Deco Geometric Layering dies onto Dovecraft DPs. I used Glossy Accents and Stickles to add some bling. The flowers were cut using a Tattered Lace Midi Blooms die.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Try It on Tuesday - Sending You Flowers
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart Challenge 75 - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie Challenge #90 - Cute and Girly
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #242 - Girly
My Time To Craft Challenge #303 Flowers




Thanks for looking!

Lilac romance

Here's my entry for December's Lovely Lili challenge on the Ribbon Girl Blog.

I used one of the pre-coloured Romance squares which I matted and layered onto Spellbinders Plain & Scalloped Ovals. Backing papers are Dovecraft's Back to Basics IV. The ribbon, flowers and gems are from stash and the pins and dazzler are by Creative Expressions. The ivy leaves were cut with my Cheery Lynn die.

Finished card size 8x8 inches

close-up of the florals

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Ribbon Girl Blog - Lovely Lili - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - #87 Anything Goes
A Creative Romance - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

Just for a Change ...............

I've made a Male card!!  This is a card I was asked to make by a friend who this week celebrates 59 years of marriage (I'm already booked for the 'Big" card next year). My friend worked as a Librarian and so this LOTV image seemed ideal.

As you can see it's a very LOTV card. I used a For You Circular Sentiment which actually says On Your Anniversary but I managed to 'un-ink' the 'Y' - it took several attempts though.  I also used papers from the Petal Fresh and Bonnets & Bows pads. The yellow paper is, I think, Dovecraft Back to Basics IV. Everything was matted onto Centura Pearl and the image is matted onto a frame cut with Spellbinders Captivating Squares S4-414.

The raffia ribbon (which I should use more often) and gems are from stash and the paper bow was very kindly given to me by a crafting friend. (I think it is the Sue Wilson Classic 3D Bow).

Bow detail

So sweet!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley Monthly Challenge - Male or Sporty
Clear it Out Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Country View Challenges - Only Men Allowed
Bunny Zoe's Challenge - Layers
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Thanks for looking!

Dandelion Clock

Here's my card for this month's Lili of the Valley challenge and the theme for May is Fairies. This is Dandelion Clock, one of the older stamps but my favourite (I think, until I see another favourite!!). I used a ready-coloured topper which has been cut using a Spellbinders plain circle die and then mounted onto a Cheery Lynn Large Sunflower Die (DL181). The butterflies are also Cheery Lynn (B266) and the LOTV sentiment is mounted onto a Nellie's Multi-Frame die (MFD 005).

Design paper is from Dovecraft and the flowers and gems are from my stash. I added plenty of Glamour Dust for extra fairy sparkle. Card size is 8x8.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

LOTV Monthly Challenge - Fairies



Thanks for looking!



Birthday Fairy

I treated myself to a Tonic sentiment die set and this is its first outing. I used a LOTV Cute Square fairy image called 'On Tiptoe' which I cut with a Spellbinders circle and layered on to this gorgeous Cheery Lynn sunflower doily die. I absolutely love it but it does need to go through my machine 3 or 4 times. It's worth it though! I used an 8x8 scalloped card base, some Dovecraft papers and matt gold mirri card. Gold ribbon is from stash.

Butterflies cut with Cheery Lynn die B266 - Tiny Things with Wings

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Spring has Sprung
Crafting for all Seasons - challenge 74 Dies and Punches
Lili of the Valley Monthly Challenge

Thanks for looking!

LOTV 10th Birthday

Lili of the Valley are celebrating their 10th birthday in May and their latest blog challenge is to make them a birthday card. Here's my make (and it also fits in with April's Ribbon Girl challenge).  It's very lilac - LOL - hope you like it.

Decorative front made with Martha Stewart PATP punch

I used one of the Fun-Time Teddies images and added Glossy Accents to his shirt and plenty of Glamour Dust to her dress and headdress. LOTV sentiment matted and layered with Spellbinders to match the image matting and layering. The flowers are punched from Dovecraft papers using  a mix of two punches; the smaller one is Nellie Snellen and the larger is Martha Stewart. All covered in Glossy Accents and finished with a gem centre. I tied the butterfly ribbon into a double bow and finished it off with a lilac dazzler from Creative Expressions. The three tiny butterflies are made with an old punch which I think was from Hobbycraft. 

close up of the ribbon bow and flowers 

another shot showing the butterfly printed ribbon

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

LOTV Ideas to Inspire Monthly Challenge - 10th Birthday
The Ribbon Girl Blog: April Lovely Lili Challenge

My Mum's Craft Shop: challenge 16 Anything Goes
Challenges4Everybody - challenge 40 Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

Posy Trio Teddies

Brrrrrr  - what a cold and miserable day! So just to lighten things up, here's a cute trio of teddies courtesy of Lili of the Valley! They stamped beautifully and I used Promarkers to colour them in. I matted them up onto a pale pinky-lilac spotty backing paper, using plain and scalloped circles, a flower plus a small length of ribbon left over from another project and there's my version of clean and simple.

I used:

LOTV -Posy Trio stamp (ST326)

Spellbinders Plain and Scalloped Circles

Promarkers

Dovecraft DP

Ribbon & Flower from stash

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Lili of the Valley Ideas to Inspire Blog - Anything Goes

Passion for Promarkers - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

Pretty In Pink

This is a recent card I made for a Grandma to give to her granddaughter. The request was for the card to be pink and feature a little girl.

I started with an 8x8 scalloped edge card blank. I did my matting and layering using Dovecraft Back to Basics papers and silver mirri card. Image is 'Busy Doing Nothing' by Sheena Douglass, coloured with Promarkers. Dress/sash have been paper pieced using My Mind's Eye and Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose papers and matted onto Spellbinders Labels 8 shape. Sentiment is from magazine freebie paper pad. The larger flowers were made with a Nellie Snellen medium flower punch and the small ones with a Papermania Midi punch. The flourish is Marianne Creatables Swirl Leaf die. Ribbons and gems from stash.

Apologies for the blurry photo - photos 2, 3 and 4 are clear shots!

                                             Close-ups of flower & swirl detail

Box made from Centura Pearl with Memory Box Butterfly Vine border detailing

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Crafty Little Fairies - Pretty in Pink

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use a Rubber or Clear Stamp

Live & Love Crafts - Use Pink

A Creative Romance: Pink

Thanks for looking!

Sunflowers and Sunglasses !!

Definitely sunglasses required for this card. Not quite sure what came over me, LOL, as this counts as a very bright card for me. Anyway, the theme at this week's Crafty Fairies is 'A Numbered Birthday' and as I needed to make a 70th birthday card it fitted perfectly. I've also used the sketch from the latest Sketch Saturday challenge.

Supplies used:
Image & Sentiment - Lili of the Valley
DPs - Dovecraft Back to Basics IV
Yellow card, gems and brads - all from stash

Dies used:
Spellbinders S5-158Timeless Rectangles; Plain & Scalloped Circles
Cheery Lynn B259 Daisy Strip and B304 Ivy Strip
Cuttlebug - Olivia Alphabet

I'd like to enter these challenges

Crafty Little Fairies - A Numbered Birthday
Sketch Saturday - challenge no. 277

Thanks for looking!

Cute & Cuddly

Here is today's card and it's just right to enter the first Crafty Little Fairies Challenge as the theme is Cute n' Cuddly Critters.

Old habits die hard and I've used a LOTV stamp. This cute teddy is part of the Posy Trio and has been coloured with Promarkers and layered up under apertures cut with scalloped Nesties. Card size is 6x6 and everything used is from stash. The DPs are a mix of Dovecraft and Vintage Rose from Pink Petticoat. The tiny butterflies are made with an X-cut punch.

                                                       Close up of bow and butterflies


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:


Crafty Little Fairies - Cute n' Cuddly Critters
Challenges 4 Everybody - ch. 28 Anything Goes
Just Inspirational Challenges - Anything Goes Monthly Challenge
ABC Challenge: U is for Unlimited
Country View Crafts' Challenges - Layers



Thanks for looking!



Cupcakes !

This is such a fab image and sentiment from LOTV and so I just had to use it again for a recent girlie birthday card. I used my ProMarkers to colour in the image and added plenty of Glamour Dust sparkle to the icing.

Image matted onto the gorgeous Cheery Lynn DL181 Large Sunflower Die

Close up of bow/flower detail

The DPs are from Dovecraft and the ribbon, gems, button and twine are all from stash.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Lili's Little Fairies - Here Come the Girls
One Stop Craft Challenge 237 - Keep It Simple
Paper Crafting Journey: Punches and/or Dies
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers 1, 2, 3
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
Anything Goes Challenge Blog 98 - Coffee Break and/or Food
Cheery Lynn Designs Blog - challenge 92 - Anything Goes


Thanks for looking!

Red, White and Blue challenge card

I needed a birthday card this week and thought it would be fun to make it to a challenge instead of my normal routine - i.e. make a card and then see if it will fit a challenge. Have to say that this way is much easier LOL.

I used one of my LOTV cute squares and just darkened the red with a Promarker. I cut a 6x6 base of white linen textured card and covered that with Dovecraft blue spotty paper. Some red ribbon and a red brad from stash and the red doily was cut with a Marianne die. I used my La-La-Land banner die again with a paler blue Dovecraft paper and added a few gems for some sparkle. Oh and a few touches here and there with my trusty glitter pen.



I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:


Lili's Little Fairies - Red, White & Blue Challenge
One Stop Craft Challenge 233 - Anything Goes


Thanks for looking!

eBosser and a Challenge Card

Two postings in one week - Go me, LOL.

I thought I'd share a photo of my new toy which I absolutely love. I was very happy with my Calibur which is only a little over a year old but was finding it hard to use (my fault nothing at all to do with the machine).  I've recently been told I need a shoulder replacement and my lovely DH agreed with me that I deserved a treat! It cuts and embosses beautifully and crafting is so much easier now. Thanks D. xx

On to today's card then - I used one of the lovely Lili of the Valley Coloured Art Pad images. This is from Set 3 Wild Flowers. I cut it out using the largest sized Spellbinders Lattice Rectangle die. I used an 8x8 ins pre-cut scalloped edge card base onto which I layered Dovecraft Back to Basics IV blue dotty paper and topped that with white card which had been embossed using the Regency Embossing Folder which comes with the eBosser. I added blue ribbon diagonally across, then added my image, a Cheery Lynn butterfly. I made a rosette which I finished off with a double twine bow and gem and finally stamped my sentiment with the same blue ink I'd used to ink all the edges and a sprinkling of Glamour Dust to complete the look.

Good Luck

close-up of the rosette and twine bow



Glamour dusted Butterfly

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lili's Little Fairies Challenge - Good Luck
Crafty Calendar June Challenge - Things with Wings
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy Friday - Challenge 90 Bling It On
The Ribbon Girl blog - June Challenge-Add a Die Cut
Allsorts Challenge 209 - Here come the Girls

Thanks for looking!

Bouquets & Butterflies for Mum

This was actually made as a Mother's Day card but would, I think, work equally as well for a birthday. I was very keen to try out my new Memory Box Butterfly Vine border. It is so pretty and cuts beautifully in the Grand Calibur.

I used an 8x8 inch scalloped card blank. I then matted the four squares of Dovecraft DP onto one square of deep pink card and fixed that to the card base. The topper was made with a Lili of the Valley Cute Square which I matted onto the largest sized Spellbinders Lacey Square*. The letters were cut using a Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet and the butterfly border and gems added to finish off.

                               
 Close-up of the Butterfly Vine border

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Dream Valley challenge 55 - Things with Wings
Divas by Design - Butterflies and Birds
Oldie but a Goodie Challenge - Make it Girly  (*used old Lacey Squares die)
Crafting for All Seasons challenge 50 - No Stamps Allowed


Thanks for looking!

Lilac Criss Cross Card

Oh dear, we're now into February and this is my first post of 2012. Time just seems to fly by and I don't seem to be back into card-making mode as yet so this share is one I made before Christmas.  Speaking of Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive some lovely crafting goodies (which haven't been touched yet) including five LOTV stamps and three Martha Stewart punches.  Am hoping to have a good sort/tidy-up of stash next week and take it from there.

DPs - Dovecraft Back to Basics & magazine freebie stack

Image - LOTV Cute Squares

Lilac card, ribbon, flowers & buttons from stash

Cupcake Stamp

Tools used:

Shapeabilities Fleur de Lis Pendant

Nellies Multi Frame Die MFD027 2-corners-1

Thanks for looking.

Kick Stand Card

Here is my first attempt at a Kick-Stand card. I really liked this style of card when I saw it on Bev Rochester's fantastic blog and I've added a link to her post  HERE  which includes a video tutorial.

I'm also loving my new Memory Box die which is so intricate but well worth the effort. Just had to use it twice!!  I managed to salvage the LOTV image from a previous project that didn't work out and have 'hidden the join' by framing it with Labels Eight. A bit of Martha punching, some ribbon, roses and Glamour Dust to finish off.

and a sideways view

White Base Card - Core'dinations Linen

Lilac card, ribbon & flowers from Stash

Image - LOTV Cute Square

DPs - Dovecraft Back to Basics II

Gems - Papermania Mosaics

Tools used:

Memory Box Die - Valerian Flourish

Martha Stewart Border Punch - Eyelet Lace

Nestabilities - Labels Eight

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Lili of the Valley - Anything Goes - week 122

Thanks for looking!

LOTV Challenge 118 - A Sketch

Here is the card I made at the weekend for this week's Lili of the Valley challenge. I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Promarkers. I inked the edges using a Tim Holtz distress ink - Brushed Corduroy (I need to practise more with the blending tool and foam) which I also used to stamp the sentiment straight onto the DP. Very brave for me!

DPs - Dovecraft Masculine (8x8)

Image - LOTV Zooming Along

Sentiment - Papermania

White & Copper card from Stash

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley Challenge 118-A Sketch by Bev

Sweet Stampin Challenge - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking!

JULES' CRAFTY SNIPPET CHALLENGE - WEEK 43

Evening.  Hope this has been a good weekend for you and that the extra hour has been beneficial - I know I enjoyed a lovely lie-in this morning!

So here I have an entry into Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge - check her wonderful blog here .  This is my first time of joining in and I really enjoyed using up the 'left-overs' from a card I made yesterday for this week's LOTV challenge. Hopefully I'll blog that one tomorrow.  The two cards are very alike but I intended that as I need two male birthday cards for the 5th and 6th November. I do struggle somewhat with male cards so this worked out very well for me.

I made up three matted layers for the background from my snippets which just covered my card base. The buttons were cut using a Nellie Snellie die and I tied them with embroidery cotton remnant from my cross-stitching days. Image was coloured with Promarkers and I added Glossy Accents to the goggles and the headlights. Sentiment stamped in Memento Cocoa using magazine freebie stamps.

DPs - Dovecraft Masculine (8x8)

Image - LOTV Zooming Along

Sentiment - Molly Blooms (freebie-Simply Cards & Papercraft mag)

White & Copper card from Stash

Tools used:

Nellie Snellen Flower Die MFD 020

Thanks for looking!