Holly Angel…

 

 

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a nice week so far

We went to see Jess last night, it was her 21st birthday so we took her out for a lovely meal. It’s a long drive there and back but we couldn’t let her birthday pass without seeing her – I can’t quite believe she’s 21!

She’s just started back at work after her accident, she’s on light duties for a while until she builds up the strength in her arm and she’s hoping to ride again in a couple of weeks. We arrived to a visitor in her flat, she found a tiny injured duckling and took it home with her – it was so cute and fluffy. It looks like a bird attacked it because it’s poor little leg was damaged, they cleaned it up and put a bandage on it. She put him in the sink and he was swimming ok so hopefully he’ll recover. There is a rescue centre in Malton which is not too far so she was going to ring them today and see if they would take him, he’s only very young so wouldn’t survive on his own

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Time for another challenge at Papertake Weekly and it’s Take Your Pick week

The last challenge of every month has several themes and you simply take your pick from them
There’s a sketch, a colour theme, a product theme and a technique theme to choose from

You can use any theme and if you want to or you can combine two or more

The themes for July are  -

Colour

Blue & green  – either or both

Technique

Make or include a tag

Product

Use lace

Sketch

Sketch #103

But don’t forget as always,  if you would prefer to use another sketch, then please feel free to use any Papertake Weekly sketch you fancy

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I chose to go with the new sketch and I used one of the new Lili of the Valley Christmas stamps that are launched tomorrow along with the gorgeous Calendar Fairies

I love these wavy sentiments but I wasn’t happy with this on here so I’m going to change it for one of the Handwritten Phrases which I think will look better. I’ll swap the picture when I’ve done it but just ran out of time

 

 

Apologies for the rubbish picture, my laptop died and I lost my recent albums so this was a quick one with my phone in not very good light! Thankfully because it’s been on the blink for a while I had most of my documents backed up but I still think I lost a lot of stuff, it was a Sony Vaio and they don’t make them any more – I’ve had it years and its been fabulous so I’m sad to see it go

This stamp is called Holly Angel, a really lovely image for your Christmas cards I think – not too cute. To save time I paper pieced her dress, the papers are from the Simple Joys pad and I cut it out with a Spellbinder pierced square die

The lovely little cross stitched edging border is a new die (what another??) from a set by Lawn Fawn, I’m loving the American dies that are finding their way over here and I’ve bought far too many recently. The poinsettias are Marianne and the pine branches are Doo Hickey

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You can find all the details for the challenge on the Papertake Weekly blog well as some lovely inspiration and details of this weeks prize which is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp

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Enjoy your evening crafters, it’s Thursday already and another week is nearly over – they just fly by don’t they!

 

Build It Up!

 

 

 

Evening all, I have another card to share because it’s time for a new Papertake Weekly challenge

This week it’s a nice one…

BUILD IT UP!

…so, we don’t want to see any flat cards, lots of lovely layers is the way to go!

There’s a fabulous Ribbon Girl voucher for our lucky winner and as always some great inspiration from the girls to get you started

 

 

 

I sat for ages with these new Landscape Art pads from Lili of the valley, I didn’t have any any ideas at all for using them so I put them to one side for a couple of weeks. The next time I picked them up I made about 6 cards and really liked them all. They’re a bit different, not what I would usually use but I think they’ll be really useful for cards when ‘cute’ just won’t do

 

This one is inverted layers, just cut the images with different sizes of squares and then layer the apertures with foam pads

I did the sentiment on the computer and then tucked it in between the layers

 

 

A few die cut clouds and some distress stickles and it’s done. Quite a simple card for me but I was pleased with how it turned out

 

 

  

 

Hope you like it, you can see full details for the challenge on the Papertake Weekly blog

Enjoy your Tuesday evening, I’m just watching the obsessive cleaners in the dirty old Country houses – love it!

 

Don’t be a square!

 

 

Hi everyone, what are you up to this weekend? I’m having a lazy day today, I went to the Great Yorkshire Show on Thursday and although we had a fabulous day I think I did a bit much and my hip has been hurting. There’s so much to see there, it’s a long day with an awful lot of walking so I’m trying to take it easy for a few days and hopefully it will settle down

This weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly is…

Don’t Be A Square

It’s a simple one, no square base cards are allowed this week

As always there is some lovely inspiration from the team to get you started and we have a great prize from The Paper Nest Dolls.

 

 

This is one of my favourite Lili of the Valley images ‘Gone Fishing’ and I used the topper from the Vintage Boys Art Pad because I needed to make the card in a bit of a hurry

The papers are from Father Knows Best and I finished with some Sentiment Tags

The lovely satin ribbon and twine are from The Ribbon Girl

 

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Hope you like it, thanks everyone for the comments - I love to read them!

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday crafters

 

 

 

Any Image Challenge, and a Tilda…

 

 

Hello crafty friends, did you have a nice weekend? My Brother was away for a few days fishing so I went to stay with my Sister-in-Law. She’s such a wuss (woos,how do you spell that??!!) and hates being on her own. It’s so rare that I have the house to myself that I love it, I enjoy every moment. Anyway we went shopping and for a meal and stayed up all night chatting so it actually made a lovely change. A take away and a film in my onesie is a lot more appealing these days than the upheaval of getting ready to go out – I know, I’m getting old!

Today I have a card for the new Ribbon Girl challenge…

It’s an 'Any Image Challenge' on the blog and it’s a nice easy ‘ANYTHING GOES’

As always there is some lovely inspiration from the clever girls on the team to get you started and there are prizes from Lili of the Valley and The Ribbon Girl online store

 

Since we got the lovely Design Collective at work I’ve had to spend less time making last minute cards for the shop and have had chance to dig out some of my other stuff. I have quite a few Magnolia stamps and rarely use them but I do like them

 

 

I’ve forgotten what she’s called but I’ll add it later if anyone wants to know. These lovely papers are from the new NitWit Daisy Collection, there are some scrummy papers in this set and although I have drawers and drawers full of paper there never seems to be many that are a nice blue. They also brought the same collection out in pinks and green called Pink Daisies so I’ll be having a play with that soon – they’re very pretty

I used the new Set 93 Someone Special sentiments from Lili of the Valley, this is a great set with lots of handy words

And, of course, because it’s a Ribbon Girl Challenge I used lots of gorgeousness from their shop: white tulle, embroidered tulle lace, pearl and rhinestone self adhesive butterflies & dragonflies (LOVE these!), flatback pearls, limoges blue seam binding, vintage cream tiny blooms which I coloured with my Copics, stardust stickles and white cherry blossom

Full details for the challenge are on the Ribbon Girl blog

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Hope you like it, thanks as always for taking the time to leave a comment I appreciate it very much and love to read them

Have a lovely evening all

 

 

Anything Goes…

 

 

Hello everyone, hope you are all ok?

Did you have that lightning storm last week – it was amazing. I don’t think I’ve told you yet but Jess has been back home for a while, she was kicked by a horse and has a dislocated elbow. She came home for some TLC from her Mum and Dad and boy is she milking it, she’s running us ragged! Anyway, she and I were hanging out of the bedroom window for over an hour, the sky was just lighting up and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it in my life, certainly not in this Country.

 

Onto my Papertake Weekly card and as it’s the first one of the month it’s…

Anything Goes

… this month’s optional extra is to do Christmas In July and make a card or something for the festive season. I know that many of you are on with your Christmas cards already but if you can’t face the ‘C’ word yet it’s only an option!

I chose to go with Christmas in July and used my favourite James the Bear. This is from the Furry Christmas art pad and is also available as a stamp called James Santa Stop here.

I used the new Sunny Side Up papers, they’re not meant to be Christmassy but I thought the little chicken feet looked like footprints in the snow!!

 

 

 

I embossed the backing paper and then put a layer of tulle between the layers. The little snowflakes are done with a Cheery Lynn die and the sentiment is from the Lili of the Valley Christmas Wishes set (very useful set) I finished as always with some stickles, got to have a bit of sparkle!

Hope you like it, I love to get your comments so let me know what you think

I’m off to start my food now, my friend next door is coming round for a meal later with her Husband. They move house on Thursday so they’re surrounded by boxes and it’s a bit of a goodbye (although they’re only moving to the next village!) I always notice things that need cleaning though when anyone is coming so I’ve got poor Keith on his hands and knees doing the kitchen floor lol

Have a lovely week crafters, see you on Sunday for the new Ribbon Girl challenge,

 

 

Take your pick…

 

 

Hello everyone, how are you all? My friend next door has been away so I haven’t had my Tuesday wine night for 3 weeks. I think I’m going to have sneaky glass and sit in the garden when I’ve done this post!

While I was taking a break, the last challenge of the month at Papertake Weekly changed. Instead being Sketchy week it’s now a fabby…

Take Your Pick

The last challenge of every month now has several themes and you simply take your pick from them, there’s still a sketch if you enjoy using them, a colour theme, a product theme and a technique theme to choose from - so, there’s something for everyone!

You can use any theme - and if you want to you can also combine them

Here are this month’s themes  -

Colour theme  - Pink & red  - either or both

Technique theme - Covering or using chipboard

Product theme - Use pearls

Sketch – Sketch #102

(don’t forget as always you can use any of the Papertake Sketches if you don’t fancy this one, just make sure you put which one it is on your entry)

As it’s the last challenge of the month, we are sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp

 

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I chose to use the products option for my pick, I love putting pearls on my cards and I used some of the new Lili of the Valley papers – these are from the Dress Shoppe pad

The wavy sentiment is from one of two new LOTV sets and I think these are going to be such a useful addition to your stash

 

 

I’ve been making a few of these cute smaller cards lately and I like them. I cut out an oval aperture and then put one of the patterned papers behind it

This LOTV image is available as a stamp (Mirror Mirror) and she’s also in an art pad. I cut it out and shaped it round a pokey tool then stuck it on with Pinflair to give a bit of dimension

The flowers are cut with an EK Success retro flower punch and the leaves are a Sue Wilson die, as always can’t resist finishing with some stickles

 

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Hope you like it, thanks as always for your comments, I love to read them

You can find all the details and some gorgeous inspiration from the team on the Papertake Weekly blog

 

Enjoy your evening crafters