Sketchie Free For All …

 

 

 

Good morning crafty folks, what are you up to today?

We’ve had a busy week at Lili of the Valley getting all the goodies packed up and ready for Ideal World

Our Dawny is limbering up ready for her two shows on Create & Craft tomorrow so make sure you don’t miss them. It will be nice to see something different on there from Crafters Companion and HunkyDory if you ask me!

Make a note of the times, the shows are 12pm and 4pm

 

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Onto this week’s challenge at Papertake Weekly and as it’s the last one of the month there is a new sketch

 

 

 

 

 

We’re having another ...

 

Sketchie Free For All

 

…which means that this sketch is just an option and you can use any Papertake Weekly sketch that takes your fancy

It MUST be one of ours and to make life a bit easier we now have a sketches page at the top of the blog with lots to choose from

Just add the number of the sketch you’ve chosen when you post your entry

 

As always you can resize, flip and rotate the elements - as long as you can still see the sketch it will be fine

As it’s the last challenge of the month we are sponsored by those fabulous Simon Says Stamp and the lucky winner will get a $20 voucher to spend in their store

 

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I chose Sketch 65 from the list for my card this week and the image is one of the new Lili of the Valley Christmas stamps, this is Red Squirrels Christmas Tree …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the Classic Christmas papers, it’s nice to do some different colours sometimes but I do love traditional red and green for Christmas cards

Here’s a list of everything else I used on my card;

Christmas Handwritten Phrases

Cheery Lynn Mini Snowflakes

EK Success border punch

Adirondack Snow Cap paint dabber

Stardust Stickles

Tulle and flatback gems from the Ribbon Girl

 

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Hope you like it, enjoy your Wednesday everyone

 

 

 

Flower Power …

 

 

 

Morning crafters, thanks for stopping by!

I have a few bits of news for you; Jess is home this weekend hooray and I’m so pleased to see her. I was a bit worried about her driving all that way as she is quite a new driver but she got here safe and sound yesterday afternoon and promptly fell asleep! She seems to have settled in a bit better now and can laugh about it, she really can’t explain why she was feeling so sad so I think all it needed was a bit of time.

We got Joe enrolled in college during the week, he’s doing catering and seems genuinely excited to start. He didn’t like school and couldn’t wait to leave and although he got the results he needed to get into college they weren’t great. He managed to get a job in a lovely local restaurant too which is great, it’s 1 night a week to start which suits him fine for now, hopefully he’ll be able to pick up another couple of shifts when he’s been there a while.

 

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I hope you enjoyed the Lili of the Valley blog hop, the winner was picked from Fleur’s blog and announced last night on Ideas to Inspire. The new stamps go on sale at midday today so not long to wait!

There are so many cute stamps in this set that I can’t choose a favourite, I’ve always loved the older Nativity images so I think if I had to pick it would be the Nativity Angels  …I do love James the bear though …and the new squirrel images are a bit different

 

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I’m really late with my Papertake post this week, but it’s a lovely challenge and you still have plenty of time to enter

The theme is…

Flower Power

…so a nice easy one, just add something floral somewhere on your card!

 

Our sponsors are The Ribbon Girl so there’s a fab voucher up for grabs for the winner

 

 

I used an image that had already been coloured so I can’t take the credit this. Dena did it a while ago for advertising purposes, and it seemed such a shame for it not to be made into card…

 

 

It’s one of the gorgeous Lili of the Valley Little Mermaid stamps and I’ve used the new Always and Forever papers, I love these – very girlie!

Here’s everything else I used;

LOTV Simply Sophisticated sentiment

EK Success border punch

Magnolia DooHickey heart tag

Pearls, tulle and mini beads from The Ribbon Girl

Some of these flowers were a pressie, thank you lovely Elise!

 

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Hope you like it, have a fab weekend everyone xx

 

 

LOTV Christmas blog hop …

 

 

 

Morning all, thanks for stopping by!

Time for another Lili of the Valley design team blog hop to celebrate the launch of the second set of their 2013 Christmas stamps

Jack, Patch and Puss are back, as is everyone’s favourite bear – James!

Get saving girls because you are going to love them all, not long to wait now because you can get them on the website from midday on Sunday August 25th (UK time)

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As always you need to ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card, hopefully we can give you lots of ideas and inspiration along the way for using the new images

There is a fabulous prize up for grabs on the hop, we don’t know where it is hidden so do make sure you that you visit and comment on every blog

You have a couple of days to join in, we will let you know on Saturday evening which was the ‘lucky’ blog and a winner will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on that blog

 

The prize is a whopping full set of the 20 new stamps   …that’s sure to keep you busy and help get you well on the way with your 2013 Christmas cards!!

 

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part, and remember that you will need to visit them all and leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning;

 

 

Ideas to Inspire

Anne (you're here)

Becky
Dawny

Debbie

Dena
Elise

Fleur

Gretha

Jen

Kathy

Kim

Lou

Mary J

Moni

 

 

Here’s my card and I’ve used one of the Jack, Patch and Puss stamps

This one is called (aptly) Snowball Fight…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve also used the Krafty Christmas papers and a sentiments from Christmas Handwritten Phrases

The snow is done using DecoArt Snow Tex. It’s the first time I’ve used it and in hindsight I think I was a bit heavy handed with it, it’s quite a good effect though especially on the snowballs

 

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Next stop on your hop is the fabulous Becky, and if you get lost you can always go back to the beginning and pick it up from there

 

Don’t forget to stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog on Saturday evening when you can find out who the lucky winner is of that great prize

 

 

Enjoy the hop everyone!

 

 

 

 

A colour challenge …

 

 

 

 

Good morning everyone, thanks as always for stopping by. These weeks are sure flying by aren't they, I can’t believe the end of August is in sight already

Jess is a bit more settled in her new job which is a weight off my mind, we’d hoped that all it needed was a bit of time and it’s looks like that’s exactly what it was. She’s coming home this weekend, it’s a long drive so I’ll be worrying about her being on the motorway but I can’t wait to see her. I’ve no doubt she will come bearing lots of lovely dirty washing for me to do!

Joe has enjoyed the Summer break, he’s had a bit of a free rein because he worked hard for his exams and will start college soon. I’ve told him he will have to find a little job come September though, he’s having fun but it’s costing us a fortune!!

 

 

 

Time for another lovely colour challenge at The Ribbon Girl and for August it’s…

 

RED

 

The fabulous inspiration picture is very summery …

 

  

 

…but I couldn’t resist doing a Christmas card!

 

We’re smack bang in the middle of our 2013 Christmas collection at Lili of the Valley so my mind is in festive mode at the minute!

This is one of the more traditional of the new images and it’s called Holly Tree

Holly Tree is also included in the Festive Foliage art pad which contains 10 fabulous Christmas images all pre-coloured and ready to use. The pads are great if you don’t like to colour or just want a quick card,  I made my card today using one of the sheets from the art pad…

 

 

Sorry the picture is not great, the lights in my attic keep blowing and I only have 2 bulbs out of 6 lit at the moment, it’s like crafting in a cave!

Here’s a list of all the gorgeous Ribbon Girl goodies I used on my card;

Flatback pearls

Tulle

Red velvet lace

Zig zag cotton lace

Kort & Godt rolled paper roses

Medium red berries

Ivory beaded berries

Stickles glitter glue

 

I also used Tim Holtz papers, Cheery Lynn holly die and a greeting from Lili of the Valley Simply Sophisticated set

 

Do go and have a peek at the The Ribbon Girl blog because as always there is some amazing inspiration from the very talented design team

 

Have a lovely evening all

 

 

 

Occasion-ally!

 

 

Hey everyone, seems like ages since I last did a post (that’s probably because it is!)

We got Jess home from college, I did about 15 loads of washing over the weekend and then she was packed up again ready to go to Cheltenham

We got her sorted out and unpacked and had a lovely couple of days. The area around Stratford upon Avon is just beautiful and hopefully if we’re going to be visiting her regularly we’ll get a chance to explore the area

We’ve had a few hiccups because she’s not settled in very well, she’s spent quite a lot of time away from home on and off over the past couple of years so her being homesick was the last thing we expected. She says she loves the job and everyone is really nice so I think she’s probably just missing her friends. They were a very small group of 6 and lived and worked together for 3 months so became very close. I think when you start any new job you’re like a spare part for a few weeks, everyone knows each other and is familiar with the routine and you feel a bit out of it so I’m hoping some time is all she needs

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Needless to say I’ve not had much time for crafting!

The PaperTake Weekly challenge this week is

Occasion-ally

…so we want to all see your lovely cards for Special Occasions

I’ve cheated this week and not made a new card, I did a few of these all similar when I had a run of 40th and 50th birthdays last year. This Art Impressions stamp is perfect although it does take ages to colour!

 

 

I cut the numbers out on my Cricut machine which is rather neglected. The lovely bright papers are from a Cosmo Cricket pad and red Grosgrain ribbon from The Ribbon Girl

 

Hope you like it, make sure you go and have a look at all the lovely DT cards on Papertake Weekly if you want a bit of inspiration!

 

Have a good day everyone!