White plus 1 …and candy!

 

 

Afternoon everyone, thanks for stopping by

Manny has been on his holidays this weekend, he went to stay with Jess in Middleham and even went to work with her, she said he just pottered about the stables as good as gold and had a lovely time. The house has been so empty without him, it’s not the same when he’s not here

….although, I had a hot cross bun and didn’t have to share it, that was a treat!!

We’re going to collect him tonight so Keith will have a moan because the car will be full of dog hairs …but I can’t wait to see him!

 

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I’m going to get some candy together today so if you leave me a comment on this card I’ll draw a winner and announce who it is on the next post, I appreciate you taking the time to write your all your lovely comments and I enjoy reading them

 

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Onto this week's Papertake Weekly challenge and our theme is …

White + 1

… so, all we want you to do is to use white as your base colour and then use one more colour as well.
This can be different shades of your chosen colour and it doesn’t include hair and skin if you are using images.

This week we are very pleased to introduce a brand new sponsor…

 

 

You can read about the prize and see the challenge details on the Papertake blog

 

I had a boys card to make so used blue as my extra colour with the white

The cute little chap playing his game is called Computer Fun from Lili of the Valley, you can get it as a stamp or this is from one of the art pads – a very useful image for your male cards

 

 

The sentiment is from Handwritten Phrases and I used Petal Fresh papers

The star border die is Doohickey and the chipboard stars are from Maya Road

The little corners are an EK Success punch, I use this a lot

 

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Don’t forget there’s candy today for the lucky comment, enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone

 

 

Lemon/Yellow colour challenge…

 

 

Good evening crafters, I hope you’ve all had a lovely Easter weekend. The weather had been mixed here after a glorious start on Friday but today has been nice and I cleaned my conservatory. I hate doing it and keep putting it off but Keith was pottering about in the garage so I thought I’ll get it out of the way while it’s a warm day. I had hoped to get some crafting in today but for the first time this year it was really hot in the attic so I’ve left it until now and it’s cooled off a bit

 

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There’s a new colour challenge at the Ribbon Girl and we would like to see your Yellow/Lemon projects. As always there is some fabulous inspiration from the design team so do go and have a browse at their work on the Ribbon Girl blog page. You can also find the full details for the challenge on there and how to enter

 

I made another one of these little baskets, they are so easy, just a 6 x 6 piece of paper scored into 9 and then cut and fold the sides up…

 

 

 

 

I used some gorgeous goodies from the Ribbon Girl store to decorate my basket and you can find them all on their website…

Yellow/gold glitter organza

 Darjeeling white mini blossom flowers

Lemon teeny tiny pompom trim

'Anne' antique white lace

Heart pinwheel

Pearl trim

 

…and, how cool is this, they now have a beautiful lace called ‘Anne’ which of course I had to use!!

 

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Hope you like it, thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my Easter card I really do love to read them

Enjoy the rest of your Easter Monday everyone

 

 

Happy Easter…

 

 

 

Hey everyone, what are you up over Easter?

I tagged a couple of days off onto the Bank Holiday so it’s made a nice long weekend. Keith had some time to take so we went to York on Thursday and then up to Middleham to see Jess yesterday.We didn’t see much of her because she was working but each year on Good Friday all the stables are open for people to visit. There are about 20 racing yards in and around Middleham and Leyburn so it’s a really good day out. The weather couldn’t have been better and in the town centre they have a big screen with live racing (2014 is the first year that there has been racing on Good Friday) and there is a market with a hog roast. It was a really great day, we got there a bit late so only saw 5 yards, next year we will make sure we are there early and can get round to see everything

Here are a couple of piccies…

Jess with one of the horses she looks after

This horse was retiring after racing for 12 years, it was the most successful winner for this yard we visited with over 20 wins. Race horses are very highly strung so if they are restless and pacing around in their stable they put a goat or a sheep in with them and it calms them down, who would have guessed that? This goat had been the companion of this horse for so long that they can’t be parted – how sweet!

This horse kept looking at me, he was saying ‘come on then, take my picture!!

This foal was only 5 days old, it was so cute, all legs!

 

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Righty, this weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly is (what else!)…

Happy Easter

Nice easy one, we want you to include an Easter theme or something egg shaped / oval on your work

 

I used one of the cutest Lili of the Valley stamps on my card, this is called Easter Sweeties…

 

 

I added my favourite memory box ‘puffy clouds’ and embossed them first in a dotty embossing folder

The gorgeous paper is K & Co and I put some gems in the centre of each leaf on the pattern

The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley’s Simply Sophisticated set and I finished of with some delicious fuschia pink ruffle edge sheer ribbon from the Ribbon Girl who are our sponsors this week

Hope you like it, I don’t tend to send Easter cards so don’t think I’ve actually ever made one before!

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, I love to read them and will get some candy arranged soon as a little thank you

Enjoy the rest of your weekend crafters, don’t eat too much chocolate!!

 

 

 

 

Fairy Friends hop…

 

 

Morning crafty friends, thanks ever so much for taking the time to stop by!

Lili of the Valley have some new fairies coming out for their 10th birthday event in May so the DT have been using some of the older fairy images. There are some super cute stamps and today we are doing a fun hop using the adorable Fairy Friends

We’ve all used this same stamp and have come up with very different makes!

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You know what to do, just ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each post, there will be a couple of prizes hidden along the way so make sure you leave a comment as you visit each blog
We don’t know where the goodies are so make sure you visit and comment on every blog

The winners will be drawn at random from all the comments left on the 2 blogs where the prizes were hidden

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part;

Ideas to Inspire

Anne (that’s me!)

Becky

Elise

Fleur

Jen

Lou

Mary J

Mindy

Pops

 

 

These little pop up card boxes seem to be everywhere at the moment so I thought I’d have a go at making one…

 

   

  

 

   

 

 

 

 

I used Bonnets & Bowties papers and some of the fab new matching solid colours

The fairy sentiment is from Set 6 Dreamy Days

I got the flower die at the Harrogate show, it’s a brand I’d not heard of but I love how the centres of the petals lift up, I have so many flower dies but these are a bit different and I think I’ll be using them a lot

 

Hope you like it, next stop on the hop is the super talented Becky who’s sure to have something very pretty to show you… and if you get lost you can start again at the beginning and pick the links up from there

The winners will be announced on the Ideas to Inspire blog next week

Enjoy the hop everyone, good luck!

 

 

Tug Of War…

 

 

Morning crafters, what are you up to this weekend? Keith is going out on his bike today so my Mum is coming over and we are going to get the the garden tidied. It’s full of colour at the moment and all the spring bulbs are in flower and they look so cheerful. My lovely friend Gretha brought me some bulbs over from Holland when she visited, they are the best in the world and the flowers have been spectacular

It's time for another challenge at The Ribbon Girl and this week it is our 'Lovely Lili' LOTV challenge. It's very easy this week as it is 'anything goes' There are some great prizes up for grabs and as always some fabulous inspiration from the design team

 

 

I used one of the new Annabel images (this one is called Tug Of War) and also one of their useful circular sentiments. The dots around the image are from the grunge elements set

The gathered tulle is a new product from the Ribbon Girl, Mary and Andrea have added some scrummy new things to the website lately so do go and have a look

Here’s all the other gorgeousness I used from them; Melissa Frances organza pink pouf ribbon, jute mesh ribbon, aster daisy, lily, pretty blossom, beaded berries, pearl button mixture, button twine

The papers are Prima and the lattice in the background is a Spellbinders die

 

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Hope you like it, thanks so much for stopping by today and for all your lovely comments. I appreciate you visiting and I’ll put some candy up next week as a little thank you

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone x

 

 

Spring Has Sprung!

 

 

Evening all, we’ve had a lovely day here today – sunny and windy and I got 2 loads of washing dry – hooray! I’m turning into my Mum, little things etc etc…

This weeks Papertake challenge is…

Spring has Sprung

It’s the perfect theme after today’s weather and we want to see some lovely Spring cards this week or cards using bright and cheerful Spring colours

There is a fabby prize as always and some great inspiration from the DT so make sure you pop over and have a look

 

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I used one of the images from a Lili of the Valley art pad, this is one of my favourite stamps Balloon Bunny and it’s available now as a pre-coloured topper in the Bunnies pad

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

The shaped front was a bit of an accident but I quite liked it. I cut a couple of elements from another topper (you get 3 of each design in the pads) and decorated the inside

 

Here’s what else I used;

Handwritten Phrases

Circular Sentiment from Set 7 ‘For You’

Grunge Elements stamp

Magnolia Doohickey banner die

Prima Papers

Spellbinders blossom die

Flatback pearls and Cream Cotton Lace from the Ribbon Girl

Flowers from Wild Orchid crafts

Pine cones from our local park!!

 

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It’s the final of the Great British Sewing Bee tonight so I’m looking forward to that. I find it hard to believe that they were the best 10 amateur sewers in the Country out of 1000’s but I suppose it makes good tv if some of them can’t even follow a pattern! I’ve still enjoyed it though, I did a quilting class a few weeks ago and was hand sewing for the first time in many years… I loved it! In fact I’ll take some piccies of what I made and show you shortly

 

Have a lovely evening all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Treat Holder…

 

 

 

Morning bloggers, thanks for stopping by, I hope you’re all doing ok?

It’s ‘Anything Goes’ for the latest Papertake Weekly challenge and there is an optional extra this week to make an Easter treat holder

My lovely pal Dawny has already made a couple of these little paper baskets and we’ve had so many comments on them in the shop that I thought I’d have a go…

 

It’s such a simple idea, just made from a sheet of 6x6 paper and I used my favourite Heartfelt papers

 

 

I have so many punches and dies in different flower shapes, in fact I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many (!!) I would never have chosen these Woodware punches, it’s such a basic shape but when I saw what our clever Dawny had done with them I had to have some! They come in different sizes and she’d just snipped to the middle and then folded one petal over another to give it depth, she’s so clever…  you get such a pretty and very different flower just with this simple little trick! I used beaded berries from the Ribbon Girl for the centres and then layered up the different sizes

I made the handle with a Doohickey Swiss lace die and some gorgeous velvet ribbon again from the Ribbon Girl

 

I used the same velvet ribbon along with some white grosgrain for the bow and then just finished it off with one of the LOTV sentiment tags tied with a scrap of button twine

 

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Hope you like it, full details for the challenge are on the Papertake blog along with some fab inspiration from the rest of the DT

I’m off to work now  …have a good day all!