A Girlie Christmas …

 

 

It’s the turn of team B over at Lili’s Little Fairies this week but I couldn’t resist joining in when I saw the theme…

 

…it’s ‘Girlie Christmas’ so a nice easy one if you fancy joining in

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made this using one of our new Mini Masterpiece sheets. The image is also available as a stamp, she’s called Christmas Candle and you can find her here on the website

The papers are from my new favourite Papermania pad ‘mistletoe kisses’, the poinsettias are done with a Marianne die and the ribbon is from our showroom

I love the new Marvellous Squares from Spellbinders and I’ve been using them quite a lot on my cards. Finally the greetings are from the very versatile Christmas Sentiment Tags

 

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I hope you’re going to join in with the challenge, as usual we’ll pick our favourite top 3 and there will also be a prize winner drawn at random

 

Have a lovely weekend, and if you’re able to visit us at the Lili of the Valley open day make sure you say hello!

 

 

Mini blog hop winner …

OOOPS  ...I just realised that I had one of the hidden prizes on last weeks blog hop (where does the time go?) - so better late than never here’s my winner(s) …

Heather and Bronwyn http://purplecat64.blogspot.co.uk

Well done girls, email me with your details and I’ll get your prize sent off to you

I’ll be back tomorrow with the Lili’s Little Fairies challenge for this week – enjoy the rest of your evening

Anything goes …

 

 

 

 

Good morning everyone, I hope you’re going to join in with the challenge over at Lili’s Little Fairies

 

 

It’s an easy one this week …

 

‘ANYTHING GOES’ 

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I’ve been playing around making tags, this is one I did using Mr Snowman which is one of our older stamps but still very popular

 

I stamped him and then cut his top half using a circular nestie as I didn’t want the full image. He’s coloured with distress inks, I’ve only had a couple of goes at this and wish I had more time to practice because I like the painted effect rather than the markers

 

The background was done using Stampers Anonymous snowflakes stamped randomly in distress ink, then I embossed over the whole area with a clear powder to make it shiny. I did the same for the backing circles but this time stamping the snowflakes in silver on dark card although you can’t really see them on the picture

 

The greeting is from the Christmas Circular Sentiments set, I tied the seam binding through the circles but didn’t stick them together so you can see the snowflakes on the one underneath

 

The lace and seam binding are from The Ribbon Girl and then it’s finished with a few dots of stickles (can’t resist!)

 

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Make sure you pop back later to see if my blog had a prize from the blog hop   …meanwhile have a lovely day x

 

New Mini Masterpiece sheets out now ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning everyone, hope you enjoyed our little blog hop yesterday. Thanks for all your lovely comments and don’t forget to pop back later in the week to see if my blog had one of the hidden prizes.

 

Note for Marjorie  …the little snowflakes on my card yesterday are from a Martha Stewart punch around the page set!

 

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The new Mini Masterpiece sheets were launched last night on the Lili of the valley website, there are 40 designs in total now and it’s a lovely mix of Christmas, boys, girls and occasions

 

Here’s another card I’ve made using them, I’ve been doing a few for the showroom and I’ve really enjoyed using them

My favourite part of the whole procedure is putting the card together, I love choosing the papers, the layout, dies and embellishments. I do like to colour but sometimes after spending 2 hours colouring an image I’ve lost interest in the whole thing

These are fabulous because you just pop out the images and you’re ready to go!

 

If you visit my blog regularly you might recognise this card, I posted it a while ago and wasn’t entirely happy with it

I’ve taken it to bits and remade it using this little wedding couple and I’m pleased with it now  …although I think it could do without that piece of lace in the middle. I hate throwing cards away and couldn’t bear to waste those lovely papers!

 

 

 

 

The papers are from a Tilda pad, they’re not cheap  but they are lovely. I think I’ve got a bit of a problem with patterned papers to be honest – I LOVE them and keep buying them despite having more than I could ever use  ….and now I’ve discovered digital papers too which is a whole new world of loveliness. If you haven’t been to Raspberry Road then take a look – amazing!

The flowers were made with a Crealies die which again I love at the moment  …and the lace is from The Ribbon Girl

The little swirls are a Memory Box die and I made the frame around the image using Spellbinders Labels 1

 

The little ‘today’s the day’ tag is from the Sentiment Tags sheet which I use all the time. I don’t always have room for words when I’ve done a card and I think sometimes you see sentiments that look like they’ve been stuck on as a bit of an afterthought. I can usually find a little space to tuck one of these in  …and they look lovely peeking out from under your flowers

 

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That’s it from me for today, I’m going to get ready and it’s chucking it down outside and very dark and miserable. I don’t want to leave the house when it’s like this …but I’m a lucky girl in that I always look forward to going to work!

 

 

Have a good day

 

 

It’s mini blog hop day …

 

 

Good morning everyone, it’s the 15th of the month again which means it’s time for another of our Lili of the Valley designer mini hops

This time the stamp that we are going to showcase is  Delivering The Presents

 

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The following amazing DT members are all taking part so make sure you hop along from one blog to another and see what card the girls have made using this cute little stamp;

 

Anne (that’s me)

Dena

Elise

Fleur

Mindy

 

 

The aim is to to show you some different ways to use the same image  …and hopefully give you lots of ideas!

 

We have some prizes up for grabs again this month from our generous sponsors, most of the team have used some of the fabulous shaped cards that you can get from Which Craft? so do go and have a look at their website to see the full range;

 

 

 

 

 

 

All you need to do to be in the prize draw is to leave a comment, don’t forget that you’ll need to visit and comment on all the cards to have the best chance of winning as the prizes are hidden along the way and we don’t know where they are!

 

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Here’s the card that I made using the image …

 

 

 

 

I’ve used some gorgeous papers from the 12x12 Papermania ‘Mistletoe Kisses’ pad which I love, I do tend to usually use traditional colours for my Christmas cards but I liked these for a change, something a bit more contempory. There is a full page of the letter tiles so I just popped them out, distressed and inked the edges and then stuck them on with foam pads

 

The seam binding and snowflake charm are from The Ribbon Girl

 

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Don’t forget to pop back in a few days to see if you were a prize winner, the winners will be drawn at random from the comments that were left on the lucky blogs

 

 

Have a lovely day

 

 

 

 

PS> I’m not sure why the date is showing as Sunday?? I was trying to schedule the post last night to go live this morning and it was just putting it straight on as though it was already the 15th. I’ve just done it this morning and the posting date is showing as Sunday the 14th

New Mini Masterpiece sheets out soon ….

 

 

Good  morning everyone, thanks for all your kind messages, I slept last night for the time time in nearly a week so I think I’ve turned the corner now. I’ve not had the energy to do anything, I’ve not even ventured into the attic all week to make a card (“blimey, you really must feel ill” my husband said!!)

 

The challenge over at Lili’s Little Fairies this week is a lovely one  …Classic Christmas …so do go and play along. The DT is quite large now and been split into teams so I didn’t have to make a card this week (thankfully!)

 

We’ve been sponsored by Mary and Andrea over at The Ribbon Girl this week so the winner (drawn at random) will win a £10 voucher to spend in their  delicious online store

 

 

 

 

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I have great news for all you Lili of the Valley mini masterpiece lovers because the next 16 sheets will be launched on the website at midnight UK time next Tuesday 16th October (that's the midnight between Monday and Tuesday!)

 

 

Here’s a little peek for you of one of the new designs …this little munchkin is one of our best selling boy images and he’s called Abracadabra! (click on the link to see the stamp)

 

 

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I know a few of you (myself included) struggle with using the darker colours so this sheet will be very popular I think  …all the hard work has been done for you by our fabulous Bev so you can get straight on with making your lovely card without worrying about the colouring!

 

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I used black and white embossed card from the Core’dinations Tillie dot pad, I edged it with a white adirondack dauber and then used some of the frantage aged white powder which I’m putting on everything at the moment.

The ribbon is from  Crafty Ribbons and I’ve fastened it with the Tim Holtz mini staples which I’ve also been using a lot.

The star border is a doohickey die and the image was cut out and layered using Spellbinders circle nestabilities

  The white spiders web is for sale in the Lili of the Valley showroom, we have some lovely new ribbons and lace for you if you’re able to visit us (sorry but they’re not available online) and finally I just put a bit of black soot distress stickles along the bottom of the white card

 

Looking at it now I think I will put a bit of a blue shadow around him …but I didn’t think of it until I looked at the picture!

 

 

Have a lovely day

 

 

Christmas Icons …

 

 

Hi everyone, just a quick post tonight as I’m not feeling very well. I’ve got the most horrendous cough and chest infection that has just floored me.

I’ve not moved from the sofa for 3 days which is very unlike me and can just about manage to muster up enough energy to sit at the computer …so you may be getting comments on your blogs in the middle of the night as I’m not sleeping!

 

This card was on the Ideas to Inspire blog last week and I promised to put the list of supplies on here for those that might be interested

 

 

 

 

I’ve used the tree and snowflakes from our new Christmas Icons set, stamped them in versamark and then embossed with silver powder

 

I made the hill from the Frosty Christmas pad  and the sentiment is from Christmas Handwritten Phrases 

 

I cut out along the bottom of the tree so it overlapped the paper

 

All the edges are inked with distress inks and the line of gems along the bottom is from Dovecraft

 

Apologies for the awful picture – white cards are so hard to photograph

 

 

Night night x

 

 

Boy’s Christmas …

 

 

Good morning everyone, time for another challenge over at Lili’s Little Fairies, and this week it’s ‘Christmas Card for a Boy’

 

The only rule of entry is that you have to use a Lili of the Valley image (stamp or die cut)  …I don’t think that’s hard to understand or unreasonable but every week we get a few random entries that don’t comply. I had a couple of emails from concerned crafters saying it wasn’t fair but rest assured that these cards don’t go in the draw for the winner even if we don’t get time to delete them from the list  :o(

 

Cards for boys and men are notoriously tricky for most crafters so the fairies have come up with some lovely inspiration for you

 

 

Here’s the card that I made;

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve used James The Bear Big Star for my card and credit where it’s due he was coloured in by the fabulous Dawny in a demo at work. I had to make him up into a card for the showroom which tied in nicely with this weeks challenge!

 

I’m still using the My Minds Eye Christmas papers which I’m loving. I’ve cut him out and all the different layers are on 3d tape so it’s got a nice lot of texture which you can’t really see on the picture

 

I’ve distressed the edges and inked them with Walnut Stain then finished off with Walnut Stain distress stickles round the edges and under the bear. This is brilliant stuff if you haven’t seen it, it comes in all the distress ink colours and just gives a bit of colour and texture if you don’t want glitter. I like clear glitter but tend not to use coloured – this is a great alternative. Finally I’ve popped a bit of stardust stickles on his hat and the star

 

The sentiment is from the Christmas Handwritten Phrases set which again I’ve been using a lot

 

Hope you’re going to enter the challenge, we love seeing all the entries  …and if you do, good luck!! 

 

 

Have a lovely day

 

LOTV - new release

Good morning, hope you're all well

Thanks for your comments on my little penguin card, they're all much appreciated

The new Geisha Girls are out now on  the Lili of the Valley website and they are scrumptious!

The design team have done some beautiful cards with them which I''ve been showcasing on the Ideas To Inspire blog for the past week so if you haven't seen them do go and have a look

We're also launching some new Christmas stamps at the same time, there's a fabulous set of tags with Christmas images which you will find so useful ...and also a sheet with Traditional Christmas Icons

I've used the tree from that sheet on this card...

I tried to keep to traditional colours, I like brown and red for Christmas

I stamped the tree and inked all the edges of the My Minds Eye papers with Walnut Stain distress ink

The dots on the tree are done with liquid pearls and then I've speckled it with gold frantage powder - I love these powders at the minute

The twine is from Creative Expressions and the sentiment is one of the HUGELY popular Grungy Christmas Messages

 

Sorry for the bad picture, the light was terrible!

Enjoy your day!