New Stamps and Papers out today …

 

 

 

Good morning, thanks for stopping by and thanks also for all the lovely comments that you left on my blog hop card. My blog wasn’t one of the lucky ones with a prize so sorry about that – but congratulations to the 2 winners that were chosen from Dena’s and Gretha’s blogs

 

 

 

 

The new Lili of the Valley Spring stamps are out at midday today (UK time) along with 5 new NitWits paper pads

 

 

 

This is one of the Romantic Couples and this stamp is Over The Threshold …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The papers I used are from a K & Co pad. I just bought this and was a bit disappointed when I opened it as I didn’t like some of them …but as I got cutting they’re not so bad and I’ll use the ones I’m not keen on for the bottom layers

 

The scrumptious lace, velvet ribbon and crystal hearts are from The Ribbon Girl

 

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts

 

The sentiments is Lili of the Valley Handwritten Phrases

 

I used Distress Stickles round the edge, it’s great for adding a bit of texture without loads of sparkle and all the colours match the inks so I used Pumice Stone which I’d used to ink around all the edges of the papers

 

 

 

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Hope you like it, have a good day

 

 

 

 

Sneaky Peek blog hop …

 

 

Good morning crafters, and thanks for stopping by, hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Today we’re holding a Lili of the Valley sneaky peek blog hop to celebrate the launch of our gorgeous new Spring stamps!

The first 6 were released last week and the remaining 11 will be available on the 30th January

There are 9 more super cute rubber stamps and also 2 new clear sets (an alphabet and some stitching borders)

You will be able to buy all the stamps on the website from midday on Wednesday 30th (UK time) and you will also be able to get them at our showroom in Leeds on the same day if you are near enough to visit. More details can be found here

The fantastic Design Team are all taking part, you just need to ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card. Hopefully you will pick up lots of ideas and inspiration along the way for using the new stamps

We don’t know where the prizes are so make sure that you visit everyone. We will let you know tomorrow evening which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and 2 winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those 2 blogs

Each winner will get the 2 sets of clear stamps and also 6 rubber stamps of their choice from the new designs

 

Here's a list of the blogs that are taking part  ...and remember you will need to visit them all to have the best chance of winning;

 

 

Ideas to Inspire

Anne (you’re here)

Bev

Dawny

Dena

Elise

Fleur

Gretha

Lou

Mindy

Moni

Pops

 

 

Here’s my offering, and the stamp I used is called Springtime Bear…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How cute is he! …I used the Magnolia tree stamp so that he wasn’t swinging in fresh air lol

The papers are some I got from  Create and Craft – they are by Hot Off The Press

The sentiment is computer generated and then cut out with Spellbinders labels one, I fastened that behind the piece of card and the whole thing is then stuck with 3d tape so it’s raised up, you can’t really see on the picture

I made the little flowers with the Spellbinder cherry blossom die and they’re again stuck on with 3d foam pads to give a bit of dimension

The grass is a Magnolia Doohickey die and the flat back pearls are from The Ribbon Girl

 

 

Hope you like it, head from here over to Bev's blog and don’t forget to leave a comment as you pass by to be in with a chance of getting your hands on some of the new stamps before anyone else!

 

 

Have a good day

 

 

 

New Magnolia challenge, and sneaky peeks …

 

 

 

 

Evening everyone, hope you’re all having a good weekend

First I have some news about a new challenge over at The Ribbon Girl for all you Magnolia lovers…

 

 

 

 

 

The first challenge is an easy one, simply create a new project and 'use ribbons or lace'

Because it’s a Magnolia challenge …of course you must use a Magnolia image

 

There are 2 prizes for one randomly selected entrant;

A £10 voucher towards a spending spree at the Ribbon Girl online store and a Magnolia stamp

 

 

There is loads of scrummy inspiration from the design team so make sure you go and have a look

 

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Here are 2 sneaky peeks of the new Lili of the Valley stamps with, as promised, a list of everything I used

 

 

 

 

 

This first image is called Flower Arranging and you can get this stamp, along with the papers and the stitching border stamp when they go on sale next Wednesday at midday

I love these papers, they are so bright and cheery  …and, they will be perfect for those tricky boys cards!

I used Spellbinders Labels 18 to mount the bunny on and the border die is Magnolia Doohickey

The flowers were made with a Crealies die which I do use quite a lot, I like to make flowers but can’t quite get the hang of the rolled ones – I think I need to talk to our Fleur who’s a bit of an expert at them!

The stitched Grosgrain ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons, the lovely girls over there sent me some samples to try and there are some gorgeous ones (and they have some that are exclusive to them too) so do have a look at their website if you get the chance

The brads in the middle of the flowers are from The Ribbon Girl

The greeting is from the Lili of the Valley Vintage Sentiments – Just To Say set cut, out again with Labels 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

This second stamp is The Charleston which is one of the 6 romantic couple images which went on sale last Monday. You can get all 6 for a special offer price of £24 at the moment

The papers are again from one of the new pads, this one is my favourite colour combination of pink and green and I think will be a firm favourite

The greeting is from the useful Everyday Grungy Messages set

The leaves were cut with one of the new Noor design dies from Joy Crafts that we have available in the Lili of the Valley showroom.There are so many dies out there now it’s hard to come up with something new but Noor have managed it I think with these and there are some lovely ones

The divine silk ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl. I’ve looked at this for ages but couldn’t bring myself to use it ….it went so well with the papers that I had to brace myself and cut it ….yikes! It’s a bit of a big bow for me but the ribbon is so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist showing it off!

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, also available from The Ribbon Girl and we do have a lovely selection in the shop if you’re visiting

 

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Think that’s it, make sure you pop back tomorrow for the Lili of the Valley DT hop, we all have cards to share using the new stamps so there’s lots of ideas and inspiration to be had  …as well as a couple of prizes along the way!

 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x

 

 

 

 

The Lost Balloon …

 

Good evening, thanks for stopping by. It’s Friday tomorrow and another week nearly over, can you believe that!

This has seemed like a short week with not getting to work on Monday because of the snow, it’s not too bad here now but there is more forecast for tomorrow night. The kids will be happy that it’s come again on the weekend and they can spend all day sledging!

 

Not long now until the launch of the rest of the Lili of the Valley Spring stamps, they will be on sale on Wednesday 30th at mid day UK time. This is one of my favourites and it’s called The Lost Balloon …

 

I used these divine papers from one of our 5 new NitWit pads, they will also be available with the new stamps

 

The scroll is from the Geisha Companion Set and the words are the accompanying sentiments

 

The gauze was given to me by our lovely Fleur to try and I really like it, it just gives a bit of something extra to the card when you don’t want another layer

 

The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl as is the little wooden heart button. I love these buttons and can see me using them a lot, they come in a natural colour so I just tinted it with a bit of distress ink to match the paper and then tied through some button twine

 

The gorgeous rosebud trim is from our showroom

 

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Hope you like it, enjoy the rest of your Thursday

 

 

 

 

Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge …

 

 

Good morning everyone, hope you’re all having a nice relaxing Sunday!

 

The Ribbon Girl Design Team is back today with a fabulous full team colour challenge to kick off a new year of fun on the Ribbon Girl blog

 

There are going to be some changes to the challenges this year, they will now run for 1 week each to make room for a fabulous new Magnolia only challenge. All the details are on the blog here

 

Today’s challenge is a colour challenge and judging by the beautiful projects that the Design Team have created it seems that everyone likes creating with…  Pink and Ivory!

 

 

There is this gorgeous photo to inspire you…

 

 

…and, the prizes will be a £10 voucher from Lili of the Valley

 

 

 

 

plus a £10 voucher towards a spending spree at The Ribbon Girl

 

 

 

 

 

The challenge will run for 1 week until Saturday January 26th (9PM UK time)

 

 

 

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I decided to try something a bit different and not use a stamp on my card (eeek) but to just focus on the colours…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used all these scrumptious Ribbon Girl products   …pale pink pure silk ribbon, ivory button twine, ivory loopy trim and diamante heart charm

 

 

The papers are from Craftwork cards, I’ve had them absolutely ages and never got round to using them. A few of the designs in the pack are a bit boring but this one is just lovely. I cut out some of the flowers and leaves and stuck them on with PinFlair to make the arrangement

The verse is from the useful Lili of the Valley Set 10 Verses set

 

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Hope you like it, as always any comments are much appreciated, I do enjoy reading them and it’s nice to know that I’ve had a few visitors!

 

Don’t forget there are 6 new Lili of the Valley stamps out tomorrow at midday

  …enjoy the rest of your weekend

 

 

 

Sneaky peek …

 

 

 

 

Good morning crafters, we’ve had a heavy snowfall overnight but I think compared to the rest of the Country we’ve got off quite lightly. I hope it’s not affecting you too much and that you are able to stay in keep warm. Good that it’s on a weekend really when there is no work or school so I think the disruption is slightly less than it might have been

There was a story on the news about a headmaster who slept in his school on Thursday night so that he could keep it open   …I bet he was really popular with the kids lol

 

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You probably know about out new Lili of the Valley Stamp launch on the 30th January, well we were able to get them ready early so Lisa and Laila thought it would be a nice idea to release 6 of them early so you can get them in plenty of time for making your Valentines cards

There are 6 super cute Romantic Couples and you can get from Monday midday on the website. If you buy all 6 they are on special offer for £24   …and we still have free postage for a limited time so don’t miss this great deal

 

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This one is called Carriage For Two and is one of my favourites…

 

 

 

I’ve been having trouble uploading my pictures and had to switch to Google Chrome, it works fine now but the pictures don’t seem very sharp   …or maybe it’s just me that needs to put my glasses on lol

 

I’ve used some tags from our Sentiment Tags set

The papers are K & Co Smitten which a fabulous collection, I do like the weight of the K & Co papers, they are a bit more expensive than some others but really lovely quality. Because they’re double sided you use them all because if you don’t like one (which is inevitable with a pad I find) you can always use the other side

The chipboard hearts are Maya Road, they were pale pink and just inked over them with Worn Lipstick so they matched the papers

The flowers are a selection from Wild Orchid Crafts and you can also get them from The Ribbon Girl or from our shop in Leeds if you are near enough to visit. We’re the only actual shop in the UK to stock them and I know not everyone likes to shop online

The flatback gems and the little heart charm (which you can’t see very well) are both from The Ribbon Girl as is the organza ribbon. The ribbon goes round the back and then ties at the side, the front of the card is narrower than the back

I can’t resist adding a bit of  glitter just to finish off and I used Stickles on this one

 

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That’s it from me, I’m hoping to spend some time crafting today and I’m just itching to get using these new stamp designs they are so cute!

Don’t forget to check out the Ideas to Inspire blog and also the DT blogs for more sneak peeks 

 

I’ll be back tomorrow with my card for the Ribbon Girl January colour challenge   …enjoy your Saturday!

 

 

 

Another challenge …

 

Good evening bloggers, the weekend nearly gone already I just don’t know where the time goes

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last card, I was sorry to hear that I’m not the only one who was ill over the festive period

 

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We had a little hiccup on the last Lili’s Little Fairies challenge and the post wasn’t done so this week we are combining the 2 themes in case anyone made a card already

 

Last week it was use 2 backing papers and this week is charming so you can use either the backing papers or a charm  …or both!

Because both teams have done cards there is loads of lovely inspiration to get you going!

Here’s the card that I made this week using an adorable little scooter charm from The Ribbon Girl which went perfectly with this stamp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts some of which you can get in the Lili of the Valley shop

The lace is some I got from Indigo Blu at a show and it matched perfectly with this K & Co paper

The sentiment is another Lili of the Valley stamp, this one from the handwritten phrases set which I use a lot

The narrow grosgrain ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons 

 

 

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Enjoy the rest of your evening, I will try to visit some of your blogs this week and see what everyone has been up to over the holidays. Christmas seems like a distant memory now doesn’t it!!

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year ….

 

 

Hi everyone, and a BIG Happy New year to you all

I hope you had a lovely Christmas, I ended up up in bed for 4 days with some horrible virus. I’ve never really been right since I was poorly a couple of months back and this hit me worse than anyone else in the family, I feel ok now but everyone I speak to seems to have been ill over the holidays which is such a shame

We’d promised Joe a party for his 16th birthday on New Year’s eve. I can’t believe how naive we were in actually agreeing to it – 16 year olds don’t really know how to PARTY do they???

The first rule   …a few drinks were allowed but NO spirits ...was broken after about 10 minutes when I saw an empty litre of vodka in the bin and it went downhill from there

Joe had instructions to be sensible, stay in charge and make sure his friends respected our house. We’d wasted our breath as he was hardly able to stand up by 7.30   …I can always rely on Joe to be front of the queue when there are rules to be broken

Keith and I were sat in the front room with all the lights turned out like vigilantes for 4 hours watching for gate crashers, we had toyed with the idea of going out for an hour and leaving them to it, thank goodness we didn’t or we would have had half the village in our back garden. Another mistake, giving him a number and thinking he’d stick to it and that no-one else would bother about the party!

Most of them thankfully did behave themselves apart from being very rowdy, they’re all so big – it was a bit of a reality check that our days of children's birthday parties are over. We had a gazebo and a patio heater which was the best idea we’d had as it did keep them outside a lot of the time. Mud was the biggest problem after the torrential rain we’d had all day so Joe wasn’t happy when I gave him a scrubbing brush the next morning and told him to get to work on my rug and carpet. I was tempted with the nail brush (or even a tooth brush!!) to teach him a lesson but I think he felt bad enough, he couldn’t remember a thing about the whole evening – makes it all worth while!!

 

So that was my Christmas and New Year  …has to be one of my worst ever, I hope yours was better!

 

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Time for the first challenge of 2013 over at Lili’s Little Fairies and it’s a lovely one  …use 2 backing papers

 

We’re sponsored by NitWits this week so I’ve used some of their gorgeous papers on my card…

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

These papers are from one of my favourite collections called Apple Butter Charm

The flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts and the loopy trim is from The Ribbon Girl

The image is Cake Glorious Cake coloured with Promarkers and finished with some stickles on her wings, her skirt and the cake

Finally the sentiment is from the useful Simply Sophisticated set

 

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Hope you like it, I think I need to do another blog header and get rid of my Merry Christmas one!!

 

Have a good day