Favourite stamp brand

Hello everyone, thanks so much for stopping by even though I'm hanging my head in shame at the way I've neglected your blogs this past month

I haven't put my holiday pics onto my laptop yet, I took so many and the thought of sorting them out keeps putting me off doing it!

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I just had a lovely weekend away doing a workshop with Tracy Easson. If you haven't heard of her she is the artist behind the Wonky Tonk stamps that Paula at Which Craft! sells.

Tracy has a new range now on her own Etsy store and they are just adorable. I'll take some pics of my makes and post about them shortly

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This fortnight's challenge at AYLI is to use your favourite stamp brand and why?

I LOVE so many brands and have a huge stamp stash but I didn't have to think about this one really because it has to be Lili of the Valley...

This is one of the Spring images, Happy Birthday bear...  I put him on a tag and printed out a few extra flowers to decorate. Really simple card but I think it's pretty so I hope you like it

The dotty border die is Tonic

Just in case you aren't aware, LOTV have moved to digital products only now and you can get them in their Etsy store. The original website will redirect you there

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Don't forget to enter the AYLI challenge...  the prize this time is a guest spot on the DT so it would be fab to have one of you join us!

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Have a lovely week everyone, got my fingers crossed for an improvement in this awful weather!

Favourite animal...

Good evening crafty friends, I'm sneaking in a quick post before the Easter holidays are upon us otherwise I'll forget and it will be another week! 

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post, I'm very grateful that you are still stopping by when it's been weeks since I caught up with your blogs, I promise to be round shortly to see what you've all been making

I've been watching Game of Thrones again from the beginning, I was so excited for the new season which started this week. None of my friends or family watch it but I think it's got to be one of the best things that has ever been on tv, for me anyway

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The latest challenge at AYLI is your favourite animal and why, I love all animals and I think dogs would probably have to be number 1 but closely followed by cute woodland furries. I used this sweet image from Lili of the Valley called Party Parade which has 3 of them...

This one was made for the recent Spring swap which we held on the we love Lili of the Valley facebook group. Another adorable image from the Spring release...

 The dies are Doohickey (scalloped frame) Waffle Flower (loopy frame) and Memory Box (clouds). The sentiments are LOTV and images coloured with Copics.

You can enter and find all all the details for the challenge on the AYLI page here

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Thanks so much for taking the time to  pop by and have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone

Floral Alphabet...

Hello everyone, are you having a nice weekend? 

Here are a few more photos from amazing Iceland...

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I was away when we started sneaky peeks for the fab LOTV spring release so didn't get chance to make what I wanted. They are all SO adorable and I can't wait to get more done but for now I used the pretty new flower alphabet for these 2 cards...

Hope you like them, the full alphabet is available in rubber and digi

The papers on the first card are Raspberry Road 'family ties' and the others are discontinued LOTV (sorry, I'm just using them up)

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I've been sorting and having a clear out of my craft stash so if any of you didn't see my group on Facebook and would like a peek then here is the link. I'm not good at parting with things, I'm taking pics of items I haven't looked at in a year and still thinking oooh I might use that!

Thanks so much for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend

Pearls or Buttons?

 

Good evening lovely crafty friends, did you have a nice weekend?

 

I went to see the new Mary Poppins film with Jess, it wouldn’t have been my choice but she wanted to see it. I actually really enjoyed it – good old fashioned family entertainment!

 

We used to go to the cinema often… maybe we are just getting old and grumpy but after an altercation with some yobs who were running riot and people chatting/phone screens/bags rustling etc we usually end up deciding it’s easier to watch in the comfort of our own home!!

 

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Must mention before I get onto my card that our lovely Loti from Mama Makes is expecting a precious baby boy

To celebrate she’s offering a fantastic 30% discount across the store until Feb 1st

 

 

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The new AYLI challenge is Pearls or Buttons; which is your favourite and why?

I do like to use both but recently have been using pearl drops instead and I love them. The Nuvo drops come in a great range of colours and you can make them any size you like – no fiddly gluing them on either!

This is one of the new Lili of the Valley fairies, the colours were dictated by the papers which were in my scrap box. I have years and years of bits that I can’t bring myself to throw out so I’m trying to actually use some of them…

 

 

 

Stamp – LOTV Lily Sparkle

Sentiments – LOTV large magical set

Flowers/leaves - Simon Says Stamp

 

The pearl drops in the centres of the flowers were done with Nuvo ‘bubblegum blush’ and ‘simply white’ crystal drops

 

You can enter the challenge and see all the details on the AYLI page

 

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Thanks so much for stopping by, have a good week all

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Good afternoon everyone, a very happy new year to you all and I hope you had a lovely Christmas. We went to my Brothers which was nice. The kids are all getting partners and houses of their own now so I think this will probably be the last year we are all together as a family on Christmas day

 

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I decided to take a few weeks out over the holidays, I’m in so many groups on Facebook now and I do like to comment on everyone’s work but it takes so long that I can’t get round my favourite blogs. Before you know it 2 hours have gone by and I’ve sat on the laptop and not made a thing! So I’ve decided just to stay in the LOTV and Polkadoodles groups which are my favourites and I’ve unfollowed the rest. I halved my friend list too, if you’re not interacting I don’t see the point and I had a lot of friends who just added me because we had another 100 crafty friends in common. I’m hoping this will free up some time and if not I’ll have to re-think and maybe move my sharing to Facebook and stop the blog. I know this has been well discussed but I do like my blog, it’s a bit of a diary I enjoy looking back on and I love to visit others too

 

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It’s a new year and a new challenge at AYLI so we’re kicking off with a nice easy one - ‘Anything Goes’

 

LOTV have a new launch and they are also sponsoring us. They have the cutest new fairy called Lily and I used her on my challenge card…

 

 

The heart string is from another of the stamp sets and the sentiment is snipped from one of the new circles which I love. It’s so long since I used flowers on my cards but it made a nice change

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I have this one to share too using another of the fairies, there are 4 different images on the rubber sheet. You can see the new sentiment circles on here too, I printed this one quite small…

 

 

Sorry about the pictures, the light is so bad at the moment it’s hard to get the colour right

 

Hope you like them, the challenge is open for 2 weeks and you can enter and see all the details here

 

The new Lili of the Valley stamps are available in rubber on their website and in digi from the Etsy store

Enjoy your weekend crafty friends, thanks so much for stopping by

LOTV new products…

Good morning everyone, I’m here again…

two posts in one week, I think that must be a first for me!

I need to let you know that the latest product launch from Lili of the Valley is now available to buy on the website. There are new Art Sheets and Paper Pads and also some rubber stamps (both new and old designs)

I love the Art Sheets as you know so I used one of the printed images with some of the new papers for this card, it’s for my friend who recently became a Grandma…

Here’s what I used;

Art Sheet 39 – Little Ones (pink)

Soft Cuddles (pink) backing papers

Celebrate – Elizabeth Crafts stamp and die set

Tattered Lace essential pearl rectangle dies (I used the largest one to make the borders)

There’s some sparkle pen on the clouds too which doesn’t really show on the photo

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I bought this the other day when I got my halloween pumpkin, for no other reason than it’s so perfect and cute (and tiny!)

 

What can I do with it though? I don’t like pumpkin but do like butternut squash so am guessing it might be somewhere in-between. It’s not big enough to make soup really so if anyone has any ideas or has used it before I’d love to know because I don’t want to waste it (and I can’t just keep on admiring it!)

…by the way thanks Kate for the Scotch Broth recipe, I’ll be trying that now the weather is colder

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I guess I’ll be sat in for most of the weekend with Manny climbing on my knee while the fireworks go off. He’s a quivering wreck and much as I love going to a bonfire I’d never leave him on his own knowing he was frightened

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great weekend and take care everyone  

A new challenge for me, and LOTV news…

Good morning everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend

I have a few bits of news today to share and also a new DT challenge for me…

as you already know LOTV had to stop selling digital products until they can sort out some new EU reporting rules. I appreciate that many crafters didn’t get on with the digis so if that was you, you’ll be pleased to know that they are bringing back rubber stamps (as well as the papers and printed sheets that I told you about before). Hopefully they will be able to get the digi issue resolved soon and then everybody will be happy!

We have a new Facebook group, it’s run by the DT and is the only official LOTV group

We love to see what everyone is making and get your feedback on the products so please do join even if you are not a regular Facebook user, it’s very easy to use and really friendly

We had over 500 members in the first week so hopefully it will turn into a fantastic go-to place for us to show sneaky peeks and news as well as you being able to share your own makes and ask any questions. Just click on the link below to take you straight to the group page and then you just need to click ‘join group’ and answer a couple of questions (these are just to filter out the spam requests). We’d love to see you there and please don’t forget to tell all your crafty friends too!

WE LOVE LILI OF THE VALLEY

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Onto my own news, I’m joining some of my lovely crafty friends on the As You Like It DT (thanks for asking me girls)

The challenge has stood the test of time when so many others have closed down, it’s a fortnightly challenge and they have some great prizes up for grabs

The theme for the current challenge is a fun one, CAS or Full of Frills

I do love CAS but find it very hard to leave white space. I can’t resist loading up layers of patterned papers and dies so I guess my card for this challenge would have to be classed as Full of Frills!!

I used one of the new LOTV printed Art Sheets…

The papers are the new Frosty Christmas (grey) and the lovely cross stitch circle die is from Swedish House Crafts

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Hope you like it, thanks so much for stopping by and do be sure to check out both the AYLI challenge blog and the new Facebook group

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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday

Lili of the Valley news…

Hello bloggers, thanks so much for stopping by

We had a lovely time in Rome, what an amazing city. I’ll share a few piccies another time I haven’t had chance to sort through them yet. I love taking photographs but I think with all the digital technology now you just snap away at anything and I took 1000’s. When you had a film in your camera you were more selective, now I take about 20 from every angle and then when I get home they all nearly look the same! Mind you when the Truprint envelope dropped through the door in the old days I was inevitably disappointed because out of every 24 there were probably only about 6 decent ones!!

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Onto the LOTV news…

due to some new EU VAT reporting regulations it’s proving difficult for them to sell digital images at the moment. I did mention the new Art Sheets a few weeks ago but they’re also going back to selling printed papers and stamps which I know will please many of their customers

If you are new to Lili of the Valley they have 2 fantastic bundles offering their whole collection of digital images or Simply Print sheets for an unbelievable 90% off. If you already have some of their images (which I think most of you will have) then there are still some great offers if there are any you are missing. They are only on sale until tomorrow so don’t wait or they will be gone

Here are a few simple cards I made using the new Christmas Art Sheets and some of the new papers…

This is the Christmas Pugs Art Sheet and the papers are Scandi Christmas

The circle die is Reverse Confetti from Dies to Die For

This is the Christmas Friends Art Sheet and the papers are Vintage Christmas

This is the Snowy Friends Art Sheet and the papers are Frozen Snowflakes

The square doily die is Tattered Lace

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Hope you like them

I have a question before you go…

if any of you lovely crafters are subscribed to my blog feed could you let me know if you are still getting an email when I do a new post? I don’t always get a notification now from a few of the blogs that I follow and one of my followers emailed me to say she wasn’t getting any notifications. I know things changed a while back with the new data protection rules so I’m interested to know how it’s affecting the blog and if I need to do anything

Thanks so much, enjoy the rest of your weekend

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

Fairies…

Good evening everyone, thanks so much for stopping by

How was your weekend? we didn’t do much really just some tidying up in the garden and had a ride out in the car while the sun was still shining. I think it’s sad when the bedding plants start dying off, I like to have lots of colour in the garden over Summer and they are starting to look a bit tatty now

It’s been a funny couple of weeks really, just feeling so sorry about our sweet Rolo and not quite believing what happened. Thank you so much for all your comforting words, we all love our fur babies don’t we x

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I have a set of 3 cards to share tonight that I did a while ago for Cardmaking & Papercraft. I’m always happy when it’s a LOTV commission, you know how much I love them!

 

The commission was to design a Sketch and make 3 cards using it. I’m liking hexagons at the moment, they make a nice change from the usual squares and circles

The papers are from one of my favourite pads ‘Bella Rose’ by First Edition. The sentiments are a Bo Bunny stamp set and of course the images are Lili of the Valley 

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That’s it from me for now, I hope you all have a lovely week

Anne xx

A new home for Digistamp Boutique…

Good evening crafty friends, another week nearly done, how is it possible?

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I’ve never watched so much sport as I have the past few weeks!

I like Wimbledon and the Tour de France but the World Cup had it for me, I loved it! It’s so many years since England had a decent team and it was fab how the Country got behind them. Gareth Southgate seems like such a gentleman and it was all about the football this time instead of the egos and the WAGS. I think inexperience was their downfall in the semi final, they missed a few chances in the first half and in the end Croatia were the better team, they can absolutely come home with their heads held high though and hopefully can just get better with time

I saw this on Facebook, this is so me!!

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I was glued to SKY news watching the rescue of those boys from the cave in Thailand, I’m very claustrophobic so caving would be my worst nightmare, add water into the mix and I have a panic attack just thinking about it. It was a miracle that they got them out and so sad that one of the divers lost his life. How anyone could do cave diving for fun is beyond me, why, just why would you want to dive through miles of tunnels filled with water that you could hardly fit through and there’s no way out, just madness

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I have news, Digistamp Boutique are coming to live at Lili of the Valley! The owner wants to concentrate on her artwork so all the images will now be available to buy from LOTV. It will take a while to get them all on the website but quite a few are ready and there are some adorable new mermaids and hippos too

This is one of the hippos called Tons of Fun… how cute!

I used my favourite Bella Rose papers and Memory Box puffy clouds

I was going to die cut some flowers but only wanted teeny ones so I snipped some from a scrap of the paper and stuck them onto the grass, I like how they match the paper

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Thanks so much for stopping by and I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment

Enjoy your Thursday evening everyone whatever you are doing

LOTV on Hochanda

Hello crafty friends, another hot day here so I’m doing a quick post and then sitting out for a while and enjoying my garden

I have an appointment in Wetherby next week so we had a drive out this morning in Keith’s little sports car just to see where it is and for parking. I thought he was a bit mad when he got that car but I have to admit it’s really good fun and he’s certainly felt the benefit of a convertible the last couple of months. We called and had breakfast on the way back (I love eggs benedict so don’t even look at the menu) so that was a really lovely Sunday morning

I’m not really a big sports fan but I do like Wimbledon so I‘m excited for that to start tomorrow, and I’ve been enjoying the World Cup too so fingers crossed for a good result on Tuesday. 

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If you haven’t seen it on Facebook already I need to tell you that Lili of the Valley are back on the TV tomorrow. They have new Christmas images for 2018 that will available in rubber, I know many of you have missed the rubber stamps

There are some fabulous samples from the team and my lovely crafty friend Lorraine will be demoing some of her pretty cards on air using the new stamps

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Here are some of my makes, I used old favourite James the Bear…

and this is one of the new images, penguins are always top of my list at Christmas…

These papers are on the LOTV website, Laila made a few different coloured versions of their hugely popular frosty Christmas in digital format for you to print at home, this is the pink one and you can find them here along with some other designs

The lovely swirly sentiment on the 2nd James card is from a new set that will be also available tomorrow

The mountain die and ‘let it snow’ are Lawn Fawn, scalloped frame is MFT

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Hope you like them, do try and catch the shows tomorrow at 11am and 3pm on Hochanda

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Have a wonderful Sunday everyone whatever you are doing

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!

New beginnings, and retiring images

Good evening lovely crafty friends, hope you are all well

Not much to report tonight, it’s been a pretty quiet couple of weeks but I’m not complaining because I finally found some time to get in the craft room!

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Lili of the Valley have a lovely new release with some of the cutest baby images, sentiments and alphabets

I made this pop up box card for a change, I wanted something special for a precious new arrival. These have a bit of a WOW factor but are quite easy to make from a piece of A4 card, it folds nice and flat for posting too

I used one of the new digital images called Polka Dots, also available as a simply print…

The baby sentiments are lovely, there are 12 in the set and they each come in 5 different colours

I also used the new toy box alphabet which again has 5 different colourways included

The papers are Country Meadow from NitWits and the heart banner is Penny Black

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Some of the older images are being retired on May 4th and there are some fantastic deals on them. Take a look to see if there are any you missed before they are gone

Finally I know a few of you stampers have struggled with using the digital images (Debra, are you here??)

There are a couple of guides on the website which you may find useful

That’s it for now, enjoy the rest of your week everyone