Jasmine and Oliver launch…

Good afternoon crafters, well I spoke too soon didn’t I when I said in my last post that we’d escaped the lurgy this year!

I’ve just completely lost a week, I’m not exaggerating I have never felt so weird in all my life. I just felt like my body wouldn’t work, zero energy, cold then clammy, starving hungry but couldn’t face food…  it was very strange. Keith and Joe had it too but hopefully we’ve seen the back of it now. I’ve heard people say they’ve been ill for 6 weeks so I’m really hoping that’s not the case as I do feel a bit better today

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So, consequently I only managed 1 sample for the new LOTV launch. Popular teen images Jasmine and Oliver are back with new designs and some old favourites available in different formats

This is Oliver Texting, I like Jasmine Texting and have used it a lot so I hope this male version will be as useful

Cloud background, fence and grass are all Lawn Fawn and the speech bubble is Spellbinders. I’ve had that set for years and never realised it was stitched, there are a few different shapes and sizes and I’m pleased to have rediscovered it!

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This is a card I made last year so I thought I’d add it to the post as this is another very useful stamp from the range… Oliver Kicking About

 

I used an embossed background for this and die cut clouds/sun

If you visit me regular you will know I love adding clouds and sun, I think it creates such a quick and cute scene

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Right I’m going to catch up on a bit of tv from the last week. Still don’t have the energy to do much more and it’s been snowing this morning here so a good excuse to get cosy on the sofa with Manny!

Enjoy your day all, thanks for stopping by

Good morning…

Morning crafty friends, I’m back from my holiday and we had the best time, just loved Italy

We went to Tuscany and spent time in Florence, Pisa, Sienna and Lucca – I’ve never walked so much! We used the trains which were very good but despite the horror stores I think I’d like to drive next time and explore a few of the smaller places. I’d love to visit Venice and the Lakes and also Rome and the Amalfi Coast – Keith had better get some overtime in

…oh, and I ate my own body weight in gelato!

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I have some cards to show you today that I did for a magazine a while back. I designed a Sketch and then made 3 cards using it…

I thought it was a good time to share these because the images are newly available on Simply Print sheets from Lili of the Valley

If you liked the Art Pads you will love the Simply Print sheets, they are great for a quick card

I used the stamps and coloured them with Copics, the papers are from my favourite ‘One Birdie Lane’ collection from NitWits

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I have a few things on this week and catching up after the holidays but I will get together some candy for a giveaway as promised and also carry on with my stash pictures

Have a great week everyone

May challenge…

 

 

 

Evening crafty friends

We have a lovely sunny week forecast but can you believe this is what we woke up to last Friday morning… snow!

It said on the local news that there was 6 inches at Leeds/Bradford airport which is near us and they had to close it which wasn’t a good start for those travelling away for a bank holiday weekend break. I was worried about all the poor little lambs out in the fields but luckily it soon melted and disappeared

 

 

Not that I need an excuse to stay indoors! I don’t generally watch daytime TV but before I take Manny for his walk I do like my morning fix of The Pioneer Woman (I’m a bit obsessed with life on the Drummond Ranch).

I’ve been doing quite a lot of magazine work the last few months which is keeping me out of mischief and my next big job is to paint my kitchen - I don’t know how I ever found time to work!

 

 

 

Lili of the Valley are having another Facebook challenge and this month we have a Sketch…

 

 

 

I rotated the Sketch for my card and I’ve  used the Oliver ‘skateboarding’ stamp again - this and ‘kicking about’ are going to be such useful images for me

 

 

I did it first without a sentiment and then tried printing it directly onto the green paper but neither looked right so I added it even though it’s an extra element (hope that’s not cheating!)

I like using sketches, sometimes if you’re stuck for a layout or maybe just wanting a bit of inspiration they can be just what you need

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Here’s where you can enter the challenge and find all the details, there are vouchers up for grabs and the closing date is May 15th

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We were out yesterday for the May bank holiday so I missed the 2nd episode of Game of Thrones, I’m just going to watch it now – can’t wait!

Enjoy your evening everyone

 

 

The Queens Birthday and new Oliver…

 

 

Good evening crafters, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are well…

I’ve had a great week, Jess has been home so we’ve had a few days away at the coast, cinema, races etc. Keith booked the week off work too and we’ve been lucky with the weather, it’s been really lovely to have some family time which is sadly quite rare these days

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It’s the Queens official 90th birthday today so I’ve just sneaked in this card which I made for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012…

 

It’s always interesting looking back at cards you made a while ago and see the changes. This stamp is Tea Party, and the papers are called ‘Tour of London’ from NitWits

 

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Onto today’s card - I always have a lot to make in March and April for friends and family and the new Oliver images from LOTV have been very useful for the older boys, it’s hard to know what will suit that age group…

 

 

This is Oliver Skateboard and the papers are Candles and Cake. I’m still digging around in my bit box (to try and justify saving them for years and years !) and these are some scraps I had left from the printed pad which is now discontinued. It’s a useful collection with bright red and green that you can use for Christmas too and it’s still available to download from NitWits

 

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I’ve been at sixes and sevens this week having everyone at home, I like it when it’s just me and Manny and we have our daily routine!

I took him to the vets today by the way and he’s recommended a course of anti-inflammatory injections that they give to dogs with arthritis so we’re going to give that a go. He seems ok at the moment so the vet said to wait and see if he has another episode like we had at Easter or seems to be uncomfortable and then take him straight in

Carol you mentioned Noel Fitzpatrick, I have to say that man is my hero, he’s amazing. Manny is 8 and when I asked about it they said a referral can take months, even years. I think he’s too old now to go through such a huge operation, I’ve watched him straighten legs like Manny’s and has to literally chop the foot off and pin it back on in a better position, he would need both doing and I think it would be too much for him. Here’s a quick piccie, I’m indulging because I love him, and its my blog so I can lol…

 

 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave me a comment, I love to read them and I do appreciate it. I’ll be catching up with all your blogs next week so if I don’t get another post done in the next couple of days have a lovely weekend all

 

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

 

 

 

Father’s Day card

 

Hello lovely crafty friends, another month has whizzed by and my good intentions of posting more regularly have fallen by the wayside yet again. Can you believe we’re midway through June already, it’s scary

Dawny has invited me back onto the Papertake Weekly team so I’m hoping if I have to make a card every week for that then I’ll be able to do at least one blog post a week – that’s the plan anyway! Thanks for all your lovely comments on my card last month too, I really appreciated them all especially after I’ve not been the best blogger in town!!

The EVERYTHING GOES WITH AN IMAGE challenge over at the Ribbon Girl this month is to CREATE A MASCULINE PROJECT. You can use any image you like and we're looking forward to seeing them on this 'everything goes - use any image' challenge. Make you you take a look at what the DT have made too if you need a bit of inspiration. It doesn’t have to be a card, we like to see all your shaped cards, boxes, candles and projects of all kinds!

As usual we have two fabulous prizes, the first is a stamp of the winners choice from Lili of the Valley and then a £10 voucher from The Ribbon Girl for the randomly chosen winner

 

I stuck with a card because I had to make one for Father’s Day. The Lili of the Valley Vintage Boys is my favourite of their Art Pads and I use it for all my male cards when I don’t have the time or inclination to colour…

 

 

I mixed and matched my papers from two different Lili of the Valley pads - Always & Forever solids and Baskets & Bunnies

The frame is stuck on with foam pads and then you can’t really see on the picture but I shaped my little golfer round an embossing tool before I stuck him on with Pinflair so he has quite a bit of dimension

I did the ‘Dad’ sentiment on the computer and then stamped the blank tag from the Christmas Sentiment tags set (which is very useful!)

I used a ‘lil Inkers stitched circle die and Memory Box clouds

The rest of the goodies I used are of course all from the Ribbon Girl: ivory jute mesh ribbon, chocolate brown and ivory button twine, chocolate heaven flat back pearls and a charm. They have a huge selection of charms and I think they’re such a lovely embellishment, especially for male cards when you can’t always use flowers and sparkly bits

 

I hope you like my card, I’m going to do a bit of gardening now while the sun is still out – my garden is a bit neglected at the moment so needs a good tidy up before I get my bedding plants in

Enjoy your Monday evening whatever you’re up to…

 

 

 

For The Boys…

 

 

 

Good morning crafters, looks like it’s going to be another lovely day here. I finally managed to get my pots planted up last night, I love to have flowers around in the summer when we sit out and I have lots of assorted tubs with different flowers and solar lights in them. I have intended to get a window box for the last few years and never got around to it, I finally got one for under the bay window and I think it will look lovely when it’s in full bloom. I even put a few marigolds in as it’s high up – I’ve tried them a few time unsuccessfully as the slugs and snails always find a way to get to them, greedy little beggars   …knowing me I’ll get the spider man of the snail world and he’ll find a way up and have a right old feast!!

 

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Before my card I have to share this funny that I saw on Pinterest last night…

 

 

omg isn’t this just the truth!!

 

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This weeks theme at Papertake Weekly is…

For The Boys

I made a card using the James and Jenny art pad from Lili of the Valley and their Father Knows Best papers

 

 

 

I wasn’t sure about this pad at first they looked a bit dark for my taste but once you get using them they are really FAB for male cards

This other card is one I did a few months back for another challenge so I thought I’d put it up again for comparison, same image and papers just a different layout, I think I like this second one the best

 

 

 

Hope you like them, you can check out what the DT did and find full details for the challenge on the Papertake Weekly blog here, as always there is a smashing prize up for grabs

 

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Right I’m off to work, have a great day everyone and thank you so much for your comments, I love reading them and really appreciate you taking the time to leave them for me

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

PTW Sketch, Man’s Best Friend …

 

 

 

Hi everyone, can’t believe it’s a full week since I posted on here – where on earth does the time go?

I had a lovely weekend, I went to the Harrogate flower show with my Mum. I do love gardening but any spare time I get is usually spent crafting so the garden does get neglected a bit. I don’t think the awful Summer helped last year so hopefully if we get a bit more sun this year I’ll be out there doing some planting and pottering about

Keith cuts the grass and the hedges but he does that out of necessity, he doesn’t have any interest in it at all. Some of the show gardens on display were beautiful and it’s got me fired up a bit to get it all sorted out!

 

One thing I did spend a lot of time looking at were Bonsai trees, something I’ve never really taken notice of before. Some of them are amazing, what a lovely hobby (although not too good if you like to see quick results as some of them were 200 years old!) I bought a small one that is 7 years old so I’m going to see if I can manage not to kill it!

 

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The challenge over at Papertake Weekly this week is a sketch, I like using these, they’re great for when you’re struggling with a layout…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my card, I’ve done a sneaky peek for the new Lili of the Valley Vintage Boys that are out this weekend…

 

 

 

 

 

 

This image is called Man’s Best Friend, what a cutie patootie! This is definitely one of my favourites from this release and will be so useful for the mens and boys that I need to make cards for

 

I printed the sentiments on the computer onto my patterned paper which is My Minds Eye and then cut them out and backed with black card

I embossed the red core’dinations card and also the clouds which were cut with a Memory Box die

The buttons, ribbon and button twine were from my stash but I think you’ll be able to get them from The Ribbon Girl

I coloured him in with Copics

You can’t really see on this picture but all the layers are stuck on with foam pads to give a bit of dimension

 

Hope you like it, thank you so much for the lovely comments on my last card    …I always enjoy reading them

It’s been a while since I’ve given away some candy so I’ll do a random draw from the comments that I get left on this card just to say thanks to my visitors

 

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Thanks for stopping by

 

 

 

Weather with you …and a sneaky peek

 

 

Good morning all, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the lovely comments you’ve been leaving for me  ..I love to read them and appreciate any feedback

I was up bright and early this morning! I always set off to bed with good intentions of an early night but seem to end up faffing about (usually stroking a few papers or tidying my ribbons etc etc…) and before I know it’s midnight

I’ve been making an effort to go to bed a bit earlier and I feel a lot better for it!

 

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The challenge at Papertake Weekly this week is…

 

Weather With You

 

This is an interesting one, you need to feature some weather on your card; could be raining, snowing or a lovely sunny day!

 

Make sure you go and have a look at the fab examples the design team have made if you need a few ideas, as soon as I saw this new stamp from Lili of the Valley I knew what I was going to do

This is a sneaky peek of the new boys that are out at the beginning of May …this image is called Playing Golf and I’ve made a little scene, I think it’s a lovely sunny day!

 

 

 

 

 

I cut papers to make the grassy layers and used the Memory Box village die along the top (love this die!)

The clouds are a Memory Box die stuck on with pinflair for a bit of dimension

I coloured the little golfer with Copics and then cut him out and tucked his feet under one of the paper layers. I think he would have been quite nice decoupaged but I’d taken so long to colour it that I couldn’t be bothered to do another layer, the new art pads will be great for that as you get 3 of each image

 

Golf is a really popular sport, I’m sure a few of you are golf widows lol and I think this stamp will be really useful!

 

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Have a lovely day everybody

 

 

 

Playing guitar…

 

 

Good evening everyone, I’ve not been on for a few days – life seems to have a nasty habit if getting in the way of blogging sometimes doesn't it!!

This card is one I made for Lili’s Little Fairies. I love the Lili of the Valley boy designs, they’re so cute and this card was perfect for my nephew.

 

 

These fabulous papers are from the Best Creation ‘rock star’ pad, they’re perfect for boys cards.

The star border is magnolia doohickey and I used core’dinations card.

That’s it …easy!

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Time to play….

 

Hi everyone, thanks again for stopping by.

I hope the weather is better where you are than it is here, it’s been chucking it down and blowing a gale all day – British summer at it’s best!!

 

Lili of the Valley has a little competition over on our facebook page this weekend. All you have to do is ‘like’ the page and on Sunday night we’ll draw 3 winners at random from the people who ‘liked’ us. Those 3 winners will each get the brand new set of Summer bear stamps which is released on Monday. It’s a great prize for not doing much …but you’ve got to be in it to win it!

 

If any of you go on Facebook it’s a good way to keep updated on Lili of the Valley news. We put something on there most days, you can ask questions and you can also put your cards on – we love to see what everyone is making with the stamps and die cuts and we’ll always leave you a comment.

 

 

This is a card I made for our showroom at work and it was perfect for this weeks challenge over at Lili’s Little Fairies which is ‘time to play’

 

The image was coloured in by beautifully by June and I made it up into a card.

Isn’t he cute off for his first day at school – and the best part of the school day has got to be playtime!

 

 

 

 

I used Spellbinders Labels 12 and ribbon tag dies, Tim Holtz brads, Core’dinations card, K & Co backing papers, distress ink’ dried marigold’, twine and ribbon are from The Ribbon Girl and I did the sentiments myself on the computer.

If you put a couple of spaces between each letter then when you print the word there is enough room to cut them separately and then just stick behind the image – I like this effect and they also look great going round a circle.

 

That’s it from me, have a lovely weekend everyone

 

Anne xx

LOTV designers mini hop – Walk the Plank

 

 

Welcome to the Lili of the Valley Designers Mini Hop!!  By popular demand we have reverted to the original way of doing the hop - we are all going to use the same stamp again as we did with the first hop so you'll get various  different ideas on using the same stamp.

This month we are sponsored by The Ribbon Girl and Lili of the Valley, each have supplied two prizes, and as there are only five DT members taking part this month all five blogs will have a prize up for grabs!!

 

 

 

Today we are showcasing "walk the plank" from the latest release from Lili of the Valley and here’s the card that I’ve made to share with you today…

 

 

 

 

I put a diagonal piece over the front which makes a little pocket to hold the matching tag

 

 

 

 

I’ve just used the little dog from the stamp for the tag, I love making these using my doohickey dies, they’re so cute!

 

 

 

 

I also used doohickey dies for the cloud and the star border, Magnolia patterned papers, Tim Holtz brads and the little charm is from our generous sponsors this month The Ribbon Girl

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the shadows on the pictures, I didn’t realise how bright it was until I looked at the photos tonight! 

 

All you have to do to join in the fun is leave a comment on each of the DT's blogs. We will draw a winner on Friday 19th May and announce the winners on our blogs so make sure that you check back then to see if you won a prize!

 
The DT taking part in this mini hop are:

Fleur

Pops

Anne (that’s me!)

Dena

Bev

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day x