NEW - LOTV Art Sheets

Good afternoon bloggers, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying the weekend

I’m indulging and sharing another picture of our sweet Rolo. It’s 2 years since Jess got him and Facebook cruelly keeps throwing up memories for me of my posts from that time saying how excited we were for him to arrive. She has his ashes back in a lovely little box and now has to decide where to put him. It’s her decision of course but I’d take him back to where he loved running and playing and that would be the moor in Middleham. They lived there for most of his short life

I have a card today using one of the new Lili of the Valley art sheets

If you liked the art pads that they used to do then you will love these; there are 4 coloured toppers on each A4 sheet and they are beautiful quality. The simply prints are great but not everyone has the facility to print at home so now you can order the printed sheets again to be delivered to you ready to use

This is one my favourite images and is available also as a digital stamp and a simply print. It’s called ‘a hand to hold’ and is so adorable, it can be used for many different occasions

The papers are from a forever friends pad that I’ve had for years

This is from number 9 of the new art sheets, there are quite a few different ones with more planned. You can find them all on the LOTV website

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That’s it from me…

enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and if you can take the time to leave me a comment I would appreciate it, I love to read them

LOTV Birthday Hop

Good morning crafters, an early post from me today on this sunny Tuesday as we’re having a blog hop… ooooh!

It’s a while since I did this, the Lili of the Valley ones used to be hugely popular so as part of their 14th birthday celebrations we are having a birthday hop with some wonderful inspiration from the Design Team

If you’re on the hop you’ll have come here from Jen’s blog

If you just stopped by to visit me and want to join in the then follow the next link to Gaynor

You can see lots more cards on the facebook group today from some of our previous DT and visit the Lili of the Valley website here for Birthday offers

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I used Rosie and cake for my cards today, one of the earlier images and still one of my favourites…

I made a rocker card for a change, it’s a while since I added ribbon and flowers to a card but I liked it, very girlie!

I printed a few of the Simply print sheets at once and I did this quick eclipse card too so thought I’d share at the same time…

Hope you like them, this is the Simply Print sheet but you can also get a digi stamp too if you haven’t got this cutie in your collection

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Here’s a list below of the blogs on the hop so if you get lost you can start again

Be sure to leave a comment on each blog as there is a £10 voucher hidden along the way at one of the blogs and don’t forget to check back tomorrow night to see if I had the prize here

Marianne - https://mariannescraftroom.blogspot.co.uk/

Kat - http://cornishkat.blogspot.co.uk

Jen - http://thetinybluebutterfly.blogspot.co.uk

Me! - http://learningtojive.blogspot.co.uk

Gaynor - https://designsbygaynorgreaves.blogspot.co.uk

Donna - http://myhappyplace-donna.blogspot.co.uk/

Debs - http://debsatfrecklesplace.blogspot.co.uk

Andrea - http://andreagourley.blogspot.co.uk/

Lorraine - http://lorrainebailey.blogspot.co.uk

Mary - http://playingwithribbon.blogspot.co.uk

Karen - http://moreplease-ko.blogspot.co.uk

Yvonne - https://phoebeez.blogspot.nl/

Have a great day everyone, but of gardening for me I think while the weather is nice!

Lots of news…

Hello crafty friends, I have a lot to tell you tonight so I hope you’ll stick with me…

 

First the weather, I can’t not mention the ‘Beast from the East’ seeing as it brought the Country to a standstill. Joe went on a short break to Amsterdam with his friends and got stranded for 3 days. They were flown to Germany to get a UK flight and then they were all cancelled so it was a fiasco and a bit worrying (and very expensive!!)

It was proper deep powdery snow like we used to have when I was a kid, we had a few lovely walks and Manny loved it...

 

Also… Jess got engaged, her boyfriend proposed when they went to Rome so all very romantic. There won’t be any wedding plans for a while as they are saving up for a house but I think when they do tie the knot it will be pretty low key, she’s like her Mum and won’t want any fuss!

Doesn’t seem like 2 minutes since I was planning my own wedding and it’s our silver anniversary next week, I might share some piccies to mark the occasion if I can dig them out!

 

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I’m on a new Design Team for a fabulous stamp company called Mama Makes. Loti makes the stamps herself and there are some lovely sets at a great price.There are some new stamps just launched and they are the cutest foxes and rabbits with an assortment of sentiments by a fantastic new artist called Tracey Hey…

 

 

I used the new fox for this card, it’s called Woodland Friends. The images are also resized and available as small planner stamps. Planners is not something I’ve done but the girls on the team produce some amazing spreads so I think I could really get into it (I just need 48 hours in a day!)

 

 

To celebrate the Mama Makes 1st birthday there is a fantastic crafty workshop day. Full details are here if you’re in the Peterborough area

 

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New stamps and news from Lili of the Valley too; at the end of March the images will only be available as digi stamps and simply prints. Rubber stamps are not viable for the Company at the moment and it will be reassessed in 6 months. Some customers have been disappointed but if you haven’t tried digi’s do them give them a go, you’ll be converted!

 

There are 12 new ones and this lovely is called Freckles. I thought colouring that skirt would take forever so I did a bit of paper piecing for her clothes and shoes and I think it looks quite pretty…

 

 

 

I added the little flowers and dragonfly, they are Woodware stamps and the papers on both cards are from the First Edition ‘Bella Rose’ pad

 

All 12 new images are available as digis and coloured simply print sheets, the 4 fairies are adorable and there are some lovely older more modern girls too

There are some launch offers so if you’re wanting any, now is a great time to get them

 

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Are you still here? thanks so much for stopping by I really do appreciate it

 

I have a tutorial on the Mama Makes blog for this card so I’d be so grateful if my lovely visitors could take a minute to pop over there too, and do remember to say that I sent you!

 

 

 

 

Its my birthday tomorrow so I’m having a girlie day with Jess and we’re going to see The Greatest Showman, I’m looking forward to it as I don’t seem to spend enough time with her lately

Have a great week everyone

News, and Modern Misses…

Good morning lovelies, it’s a beautiful day and I’m going to try and spend a bit of time in the garden later to get some winter pansies in and cut things back before the brown bin collection stops. I’m always a bit sad when the bedding plants die off, I love the garden to be full of colour but there was a mild frost this morning and it looks to have killed the last of them

I’ve had a busy few weeks, we had a lovely break in Venice; what a beautiful place. We didn’t have enough time to see all the islands so will definitely go back next year to do what we missed

Then we had Rolo for a week, my Daughter’s dog. He’s a sweet little thing but he’s a monkey – Manny went to my Mum’s for a rest! He likes going to his Grandma’s, he gets her undivided attention and lots of treats

Keith had an operation on his foot on Wednesday; he had a bunion but he’s never ill, never been in hospital and is a terrible patient. He’s in a lot of pain and they’ve said to try and keep it up for 3 weeks until his stitches come out. I’d happily sit there with a box set and some chocolate but he doesn’t generally watch much tv  so he’s very bored – he’s even been watching Jeremy Kyle!! I didn’t realise what a routine I have until he’s here upsetting it, we’ll be driving each other mad after a few days!

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Something different today, LOTV have brought out some new Thoroughly Modern Miss images, there are 12, one for each month and they are a bit different from their usual style. They’re not in rubber yet until they see how popular they are but you can get digi’s or Simply Print

I’ve done a couple of mixed media workshops with Kate Crane so I thought I’d put it into practice and try a journal page, I printed the image large and paper pieced her then layered the page with inks, stencils, stamps and papers. It’s bit busy, that’s the intended effect but it’s hard to know when to stop so I’m interested to know what you think. The flowers under the cloud were an accident but I quite like how it looks like it’s raining flowers on her!

There is also a little card that I made with one of the Simply Print sheets…

Hope you like them, you can get the images and some extra bits on the LOTV website now

That’s it from me, thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend crafty friends

My dies, and Lazy Daisy…

Morning lovely crafty friends,  I can’t quite believe it’s the weekend again, the time seems to go faster with every month that passes

I’ve shown you my stamps in the last few posts and I’m on with the indexing of those (although it’s a slow job!) so now it’s onto my dies…

Nesting and basic shapes are hung on rails above my desk, this has definitely made me use them more now they are not hidden away

These little A7 binders were the ones we used to sell in the shop for stamps. I put magnetic sheets in them and they are perfect for dies but although they are small they are heavy when they are full 

They fit perfectly on this tall Ikea unit and I have my 6” papers on the rest of the shelves (I’ll show you those when I get to papers)

Some larger dies and sets are in these Tonic folders

…and then I have this binder full of Sue Wilson dies. I have a few of these from Staples, they are very sturdy and the stamp index I showed you last time is in one of them. I keep meaning to make a cover sheet for this and never got round to it!

Finally I have this basket with the biggest dies and my Sizzix  are in here because they come packaged in a nice storage wallet. There are also a few that haven’t got a home yet because the folders are full

They started out quite well organised but as I’ve bought new ones the older ones don’t get used and I don’t know what I’ve got. I seem to have them everywhere and as with the stamps I need to index them and get rid of what I don’t use

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Sorry for all the pics, you did say you were interested in seeing my stash!

Onto my card, and the June LOTV challenge is ‘Summer’ so it gave me an excuse to use my clouds and sun dies which you know I love

This is for Jess, although if any of her horses were asleep on the job there would be trouble I think!

The stamp is Lazy Daisy which you can also get as a digi and a printable topper sheet

The horseshoe embossing folder is by Darice, I was glad of a chance to use it and it’s a good match for this image

Other supplies; One Birdie Lane papers from Nitwits, stitched clouds are Memory Box, large stitched sun from ‘Lil Inkers and I printed the sentiments

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Hope you like it, you can find all the details for the challenge on the Facebook page here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend everyone

Stamp folder and using my dies…

Good afternoon all, what you up to?

I’ve been working on some samples for a Leonie Pujol show next week on Hochanda and we had the puppy for a few days last week when Jess was away so I’ve been busy!

I made a start on my stamp indexing at last, this in an A5 binder so I will need a bigger one for the rest of them but I thought I’d put my LOTV, Magnolia, h’Anglar and Stamping Bella in here as I use those most often

I was going to use a book but I think this will work better as I can add and remove pages when I need. I will just photocopy the cover sheet for those that have one but these didn’t so I stamped them

I haven’t managed to get rid of any yet…  but I’m working on it …

I have a couple of cards to share today. I’m going to sort through my dies when I’ve done the stamps and for now I’ve promised myself to put one on each card that I wouldn’t usually have used

I would have normally just opted for a square or a circle on these so I’m going to make an effort to use my shapes and labels more as I do like them and rarely get them out

This is one of the new LOTV images called Milkshake, isn’t it adorable!

The papers are from NitWits, One Birdie Lane

The die I used on here is Spellbinders Labels 34 and the matching gold labels

My second card today is one I shared a while ago but I wasn’t happy with it so I pulled it apart

This is a Stamping Bella image called Huggy Squidgies and the papers are also from NitWits, these are Pastel Dreams

The die I used on this one is Spellbinders Labels 1 and matching decorative elements

The ‘thanks’ is a stamp and die set from Altenew and the flower buttons I used on both cards is a die from Crafters Companion

Hope you like them, thanks for leaving me feedback everyone I love to read your comments

Right, I’m going to brave the rain and take Manny for a walk. I’ll have to drag him out of his bed – he doesn’t like getting wet!

Have a good Tuesday crafters

 

Squidgies, and facebook challenge

 

 

 

Good morning everybody, I hope you are having a lovely weekend

We’ve been enjoying some glorious weather the last couple of weeks and it’s been nice to get out in the garden. I hope it hasn’t peaked too early though, this has happened before and then we don’t get any Summer so you have to make the most of it!

My neck is finally feeling a bit better so I’ve been doing some crafting although I still can’t spend long colouring, I get engrossed and end up looking down for too long!

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I have 2 cards to share today, the first is another of the new stamps from Lili of the Valley which will be released on the 20th so not long to wait

There are some really adorable images and this one is called Ballet Shoes…

 

 

I used NitWits papers from the ‘Romance and Roses collection, the heart embossing folder is Sue Wilson (it’s my new favourite!)

The border die is Tattered Lace, the leaves are Noor design and the sentiment is Lili of the Valley

It’s a long time since I’ve put flowers on a card but this little girl is so pretty they are perfect with her; you can get the flowers as well as lots of other gorgeousness from the Ribbon Girl 

 

A final call for the May Facebook challenge as it closes tonight so just time to sneak in if you’re quick, the theme is ‘Happy Birthday’ so a nice easy one

There are some great prizes as always, you can enter and see all the details on the Facebook Page here

 

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My second card is using one of my favourite stamps from Stamping Bella; these Squidgie characters are adorable and this one is Huggy Squidgies…

 

 

The background was stamped Halftone Circles by Altenew which also includes some great sentiments and matching dies. I cut the ‘thanks’ 3 times in card and layered them together to create a dimensional embellishment

I used Pastel Dreams papers from NitWits, Spellbinders labels one with matching decorative elements, and the cute button flowers are Crafter’s Companion

I can’t wait for the latest designs from Stamping Bella and Kitty will have them in soon at My Mum’s Craft shop so keep an eye on the website

Now I’m looking at this I don’t like the heavy strip across the middle so I think I’ll be changing it. I always lay my cards out before I stick them and then inevitabley change my mind about something the minute I’ve glued it!

 

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Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave me a comment, I love to read them

Enjoy your Sunday crafters

 

 

Four Legged Friends and new LOTV

 

 

Good afternoon crafty friends

Sorry for being MIA for a while, I’d actually got myself into a nice regular posting routine this year so far. I stupidly went and got a stool that was too high so after I’d sat at my desk for a few hours I felt like I was back to square one with my neck. Luckily it seemed to correct itself which tells me that the treatment I’m having is working

I’ve been busy too, if you’ve been coming here a while you’ll know that my craft room is in the attic. Since I left work I feel guilty going up there and leaving Manny downstairs because he wants to be with me all the time. I did consider making a craft room in the conservatory but changed my mind about that. So, now Jess has moved out I’ve compromised and put a desk and some units in her room and I’ve moved some of my paper crafting things into there

It’s taken a few weeks and a lot of trial and error, you can guarantee whatever I needed it was left in the attic but I didn’t want to end up bringing everything down. There is still a lot of stuff up there (I’ve got 25 years worth of stash!) but I think I’m winning now, I’m going to use my desk in the attic for messy stuff and painting and I still have a table up there for sewing

Manny is happy with the new arrangement, he just sleeps on the bed behind me while I’m making cards. I’ll take a few pictures sometime but not yet because the attic is like a bombsite, moving things around has inevitably led to a big sort out which is very much a work in progress at the moment!

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I have 2 quite simple cards to share today…

Kitty has the cutest new stamps from My Favourite Things at My Mum’s Craft Shop… 

 

 

The set is called Four Legged Friends and is also available with an optional die set too, they are adorable

I used the Crate Paper ‘Heart Day’ papers which I’ve been using a lot recently, it’s a really useful pad

The die is Die-namics Stitched Interactive Window Trio and the banner is my new favourite because it cuts the outer frame too, I find these so hard to cut straight! Those are also by Die-namics and it’s Fishtail Flag Frames, you get 3 sizes in the pack each cutting an inner and a frame

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My second card is one of the new images from Lili of the Valley which are due to be released on the 20th…

 

I did some paper piecing on this for a change, the image is called Warming Up and the dies are all Sue Wilson

The papers are from the Country Meadow collection at NitWits

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Hope you like them, I’ll try and have a catch up on all your blogs over the weekend. Hopefully this lovely weather we’ve been having will stick around for a few more days

Have a great weekend everyone

 

 

Paper Nest Dolls…

 

 

Good afternoon lovely crafty friends, Friday again can you believe it? these weeks certainly do pass quickly

Rolo came into our house like a whirlwind and left a trail of devastation. He is such a cute little thing but blimey is it hard work, he is into everything! Manny has always been so good and eager to please even as a puppy so I’m never quite prepared when the little terror comes to stay. I could fair see Manny today thinking “thank goodness he’s gone!” He was at my Mum’s for most of the week as I told you but he’s getting old now and one day racing round was enough for him

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I have something new to share today (new to me anyway) These adorable images are Paper Nest Dolls stamps and they are exclusively available in the UK from My Mum’s Craft Shop

I used Rainy Day Emma for this first card, very sweet image and I found it easy to colour which is a bonus at the moment with my bad neck…

 

 

The sentiment is one of the stamps from the Altenew Label Love set which I’ve been using a lot recently, in fact it never leaves my desk

I used some glossy accents on the puddle and for the rain although you can’t really see it well on the picture – I love that frog!

These pretty papers are from a Tonic pad and I used my favourite memory Box clouds put through a dotty embossing folder for a bit of texture

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This second one is Hugs & Kisses Emma…

 

…and this image goes perfectly with the Crate Paper ‘Heart Day’ papers. The sentiment is from the pad too

I just noticed that I forgot to colour the string on her bunting – oops!

Take a look at the other designs in the range, and don’t forget if you are in the UK you can’t get them anywhere else at the moment

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I’ll be round having a blog catch up over the next couple of days and see what you’ve all been up to

Have a fantastic weekend everyone

 

 

 

 

My art, and new LOTV

 

 

Good morning lovely crafty friends. Did you all have a nice weekend? the weather has been beautiful here but it’s a bit cloudy today. Jess has gone off to Portugal so we have Rolo here for a week. Manny was running about with him too much and started limping so I’ve sent him to my Mums for a few days pampering, he’s getting old (aren’t we all!!) and can’t keep up with a puppy even though he tries his best and doesn’t know when to call it a day

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As promised here are my makes from the Art Workshops last weekend. I really enjoyed this, it was so different from anything I’ve done and I love that there aren’t really any rules. Everyone followed the same instructions yet each piece was completely different. Some did their own take on it but because it was a first for me I followed quite closely with what Kassa did, she’s amazing…

This is the example in progress, the light is good here so you can see the texture

  

Onto my effort, you start the rainbow of colour with pink, orange and yellow and then build it up adding in different colours. I was a bit scared when it came to adding the black but there are so many layers of paint and wax that it all blends in

 

Even the embellishment has so many little elements and layers

My finished heart, I went a bit overboard with the gold but I love it!

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This is my other make and this is deceiving too as to how many stages and layers there are, I love the bright colours. We did it on the first day and I never thought to take any pictures of it in progress – I wish I had now

 

Who knew an embroidery hoop could be used like this!

 

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Onto my card today and this is a new image from LOTV, this is the popular Jasmine and this time she’s shopping. I think this image would be great for a teen…

 

Clouds again sorry, I just love them and this time I cut the sentiment into one of them. I was going to add a sun too but it was looking a bit cluttered

The flower border die is a DooHickeys and I used Dress Shoppe papers from NitWit Collections

There are 2 new Jasmine images and some girls through the decades which are going to be on Simply Print sheets and they are a bit different.

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Phew, that was a long post! Thanks for staying with me and thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment and let me know what you think, I love reading them

Right, time for some puppy training, he’s a little monkey and he’s clever… but he likes his own way a bit too much!

 

 

Have a lovely day everyone

 

Creative Girls…

 

 

Good morning crafters, hope you are all well and that you’ve had a nice week

I can’t wait for the weekend because I’m going on a workshop with the fabulous Kassa Hayselden. I’m still new to Mixed Media and Kassa does the most amazing things with paint and colour so I’m a bit nervous in case I get in a muddle but I can’t wait to learn the techniques she uses

This is what we’re making on Saturday…

and this is Sunday’s project….

 

how exciting, I’ll be sure to fill you in next week!!

 

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Meanwhile back to cards and I have a couple to share using a new Stamping Bella Creative Girls stamp called Until Olive

 

 

I love these images, they’re just a bit different and perfect for those hard teens who have grown out of cute

This was the first version using one of the included sentiments and a printed greeting …

 

 

Then I changed my mind and added another printed circle to personalise it…

 

 

The scrummy papers are from a Carta Bella pad called Flora and I coloured the image with Copics to match

I finished it with some die cut clouds and hearts

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You can get everything from My Mum’s Craft Shop. There are new arrivals coming in all the time so be sure to have a browse through the latest releases. If anything is out of stock just drop Kitty an email and she’d be happy to add it to the next order for you

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That’s it from me, wish me luck on my Mixed Media adventure!

…and have a lovely weekend everyone