My Birthday, and Stamping Bella…

 

 

 

Good evening everyone, a quick post from me while I’m watching (and enjoying) Broadchurch

It’s my Birthday today so Keith took the day off and we went to the seaside with Manny. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely walk on the beach then a meal on the way home

 

 

 

 

We usually go to the East Coast but this is Redcar which is North East and a bit further up. It’s about an hour and a half drive for us but I’d love to live nearer the Coast. Manny doesn’t run much now with his poorly legs but he loves going to the beach so we take him a couple of time a year. He races about and burrows in the sand and chases waves. He’ll be limping tomorrow but I’m sure he’d say it was worth it he had such a lovely time

 

Last night we went to the restaurant where Joe works and he treated us to a meal…  and he’d had a special dessert made for me. It was a lovely surprise, he never pays for anything!

 

 

Tomorrow Jess is coming for tea with her boyfriend and my Mum is coming too so all in all I’ve had a great Birthday

 

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My card today is for My Mum’s Craft Shop and I’ve used a stamp from one of my favourite companies Stamping Bella. I adore their ‘Tiny Townies’ and don’t use them nearly enough. They have some new ‘Squidgies’ and ‘Creative Girls’ which are a bit different and they just came into stock - I can’t wait to get them!

This is one of the closeups range called ‘In Love’…

 

 

I made an absolute pigs ear of colouring his hair, I’ve always struggled with hair and the more I tried to correct it the worse it got. I was trying to add strokes with a fine nib but it was so saturated it was just soaking in. Stupidly I did that bit last otherwise I would have redone it all…  just don’t look too closely at that section!

The papers are from a pad called ‘Heart Day’ by Crate Paper which is lovely. The heart border is Memory Box and I printed the sentiment

 

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You can click on the product names to take you to them on the My Mum’s Craft Shop website, there are lots of new arrivals and there is some great stuff. If you want an item that is out of stock just email and Kitty is happy to add it to her next order for you

 

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Thanks so much for all your comments, I love to read them and will return the visit

 

Have a lovely week everyone

 

Out of the box… and quickly back in again!

 

 

 

Good morning all, two posts in two days… that’s a record for me I think!

I just made this card over the weekend so I thought I’d share it quickly before it is lost on my laptop with all the others!

I had two silver wedding anniversary cards to do recently. I thought I’d try something different now I have the time so I set off with good intentions and lots of ideas in my head for fancy creations using masks and silver, lace and embossing powder. I cut a big ‘25’ on my cricut and layered it up, I tried white on white and some of my Sue Wilson dies that had never seen the light of day. I added so many embellishments that they wouldn’t stand up and just looked a mess, they all went in the bin. Why do they never turn out the same as the picture in your head?

Needless to say I ran out of time so had to resort back to a tried and tested cute card which I made in about 20 minutes before we left for the party which was a ceilidh (pronounced caylee). I’ve never been to one before and it was a great evening, it’s hilarious when everyone gets the steps wrong and you’re all over the place but we had such a good laugh – I’ve told Keith I want one for our silver anniversary but I think one was maybe enough for him (I have a while to work at it!!) 

 

 

 

This is another discontinued Art Pad image, my friend and her hubbie both love gardening so this was perfect - I’ll be sorry when I’ve used them all as they are so handy.

The papers are from the lovely Mr & Mrs collection which can now be downloaded at NitWits

You can’t really see, it’s a terrible picture that I snapped as an afterthought, but it’s a cute 4x4 card so you can make a matching envelope from an 8x8 sheet which is a nice touch (in fact my friend commented on the envelope rather than the card!)

The centre square is stuck on with foam pads and the image is curved for a bit of dimension too and stuck with pinflair.

The tiny flowers are a Memory Box die, I thought it was called ‘petit fleur’ but when I googled that it didn’t bring up anything so it must be wrong -  if anyone wants to know I’ll check, just let me know in a comment

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Right, I’d better get my chores done, I was just watching the lady painting trays on Hochanda while I wrote this post so now I’m itching to get all my mdf things out that I’ve bought at shows and never used – another good intention!!

 

Have a good Monday crafty friends

 

 

 

Gorgeous new papers at the Ribbon Girl…

 

 

Hello crafty friends, I hope you are all having a nice weekend

I can’t believe that on my last post just over a week ago I was showing pictures of the snow we’d had because this last week has been glorious. I’ve been waiting for some nice weather so I could jet wash our drive and patio. It didn’t get done last year and the year before we paid Joe to do it so only got half a job! We have a path down the full length of the house at the side that doesn’t get any sun so it gets quite mossy after a while, it’s really satisfying seeing it all come up lovely and clean. I get my flip flops on and some old shorts and I enjoy getting stuck into a job like that, being all wet and muddy isn’t a problem as long as no-one sees me!

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Time for another 'use any image' challenge at the Ribbon Girl. Mary has got some beautiful new designer papers in the store, some of them are quite hard to get hold of in the UK and you will love them. Take a look at the full range here

We have a fabulous guest designer this month, the very talented Klaudia Szpunar – and as always there are some great prizes for the 3 winners:

First prize:  £10 voucher for LOTV

Second prize:  £10 voucher for The Ribbon Girl

Third prize:  dies from Marianne Designs

 

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I made a circle easel card for a change, two of my lovely friends got engaged last week so this is for them…

 

 

These scrummy papers are from a Craft & You 6x6 pad called Rose Garden, they are very pretty in quite a vintage colourway

I used white seam binding which I dyed with distress ink to match the papers and some useful button twine. I love these tiny vintage cream blooms although sorry they are out of stock at the moment, I’m sure they will be back soon. It’s finished (as always!) with some stickles glitter glue

The image is from a discontinued Lili of the Valley art pad and I printed the sentiment

The challenge is open for 2 weeks and you can see how to enter and get all the details on the Ribbon Girl blog

 

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Hope you like my card today, thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your Sunday crafters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring challenge–last chance!

 

 

 

Good evening crafters, hope you are having a lovely weekend

Just a quick post to remind you that if you haven’t already entered there’s just time to join in with our Spring challenge…

 

 

All you have to do to be in with the chance of winning one of fabulous prizes is to join the Spring Event on Facebook. It closes tomorrow and there are some great prizes up for grabs;

5 winners will be picked at random, the first 4 will have the choice of any of the following;
any 2 sentiment sheets or
any 5 rubber stamps or
any Cross Stitch Kit or
£20 to spend in our Ebay Store (where there are still many die cut sheets and toppers)
and, the lovely Ribbon Girl have also offered a fab £10 voucher for their store as an extra prize

 

Lucy has been putting lots of inspiration from the Design Collective over the past 2 weeks so be sure to go and have a look

 

I’ve used one of the old favourite stamps that has been brought back as a limited run for my card, this is Bunnies in Love… so cute!

 

 

Hope you like it, you can download the pretty papers from NitWits and this is from the Promises collection - and I added a layer of tulle from the Ribbon Girl

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I’ll be back in a couple of days with a sneak peek of the latest stamps and you’re gonna love them!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, we’re going to take Manny to the coast tomorrow if the weather stays fine so I hope you are doing something nice too

 

Anne xx

Sketchy Free For All…

 

 

 

Evening all, quick post tonight as there’s a new challenge this week over at Papertake Weekly and as it’s the last one of the month it’s a Sketch

I chose to use the new layout but it’s a ‘Sketchie Free For All’ so you can choose any of the sketches from the back catalogue (make sure you add the number of the sketch you’ve used on your entry so we know it’s one of ours)

There is a sketches page at the top of the challenge blog to make it easier and there are lots to choose from
Hopefully this will save you having to go back through the archives to find one that you like

 

 

 

Here’s my card, I stuck pretty closely to the sketch and used an image from the Lili of the Valley ‘True Love’ art pad

The papers are Country Lady and the sentiment is from Vintage Sentiments Occasions

 

 

 

The border punch is Tonic, my punches are much neglected in favour of dies and there are some lovely ones so I must use them more often

 

Hope you like it, pop over to the Papertake blog to see full details for the challenge and as always there is some fab inspiration from our DT

 

Thanks for stopping by, I’m hoping to catch up on all your blogs this weekend x

 

 

New Magnolia challenge, and sneaky peeks …

 

 

 

 

Evening everyone, hope you’re all having a good weekend

First I have some news about a new challenge over at The Ribbon Girl for all you Magnolia lovers…

 

 

 

 

 

The first challenge is an easy one, simply create a new project and 'use ribbons or lace'

Because it’s a Magnolia challenge …of course you must use a Magnolia image

 

There are 2 prizes for one randomly selected entrant;

A £10 voucher towards a spending spree at the Ribbon Girl online store and a Magnolia stamp

 

 

There is loads of scrummy inspiration from the design team so make sure you go and have a look

 

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Here are 2 sneaky peeks of the new Lili of the Valley stamps with, as promised, a list of everything I used

 

 

 

 

 

This first image is called Flower Arranging and you can get this stamp, along with the papers and the stitching border stamp when they go on sale next Wednesday at midday

I love these papers, they are so bright and cheery  …and, they will be perfect for those tricky boys cards!

I used Spellbinders Labels 18 to mount the bunny on and the border die is Magnolia Doohickey

The flowers were made with a Crealies die which I do use quite a lot, I like to make flowers but can’t quite get the hang of the rolled ones – I think I need to talk to our Fleur who’s a bit of an expert at them!

The stitched Grosgrain ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons, the lovely girls over there sent me some samples to try and there are some gorgeous ones (and they have some that are exclusive to them too) so do have a look at their website if you get the chance

The brads in the middle of the flowers are from The Ribbon Girl

The greeting is from the Lili of the Valley Vintage Sentiments – Just To Say set cut, out again with Labels 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

This second stamp is The Charleston which is one of the 6 romantic couple images which went on sale last Monday. You can get all 6 for a special offer price of £24 at the moment

The papers are again from one of the new pads, this one is my favourite colour combination of pink and green and I think will be a firm favourite

The greeting is from the useful Everyday Grungy Messages set

The leaves were cut with one of the new Noor design dies from Joy Crafts that we have available in the Lili of the Valley showroom.There are so many dies out there now it’s hard to come up with something new but Noor have managed it I think with these and there are some lovely ones

The divine silk ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl. I’ve looked at this for ages but couldn’t bring myself to use it ….it went so well with the papers that I had to brace myself and cut it ….yikes! It’s a bit of a big bow for me but the ribbon is so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist showing it off!

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, also available from The Ribbon Girl and we do have a lovely selection in the shop if you’re visiting

 

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Think that’s it, make sure you pop back tomorrow for the Lili of the Valley DT hop, we all have cards to share using the new stamps so there’s lots of ideas and inspiration to be had  …as well as a couple of prizes along the way!

 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x

 

 

 

 

Another challenge …

 

Good evening bloggers, the weekend nearly gone already I just don’t know where the time goes

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last card, I was sorry to hear that I’m not the only one who was ill over the festive period

 

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We had a little hiccup on the last Lili’s Little Fairies challenge and the post wasn’t done so this week we are combining the 2 themes in case anyone made a card already

 

Last week it was use 2 backing papers and this week is charming so you can use either the backing papers or a charm  …or both!

Because both teams have done cards there is loads of lovely inspiration to get you going!

Here’s the card that I made this week using an adorable little scooter charm from The Ribbon Girl which went perfectly with this stamp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts some of which you can get in the Lili of the Valley shop

The lace is some I got from Indigo Blu at a show and it matched perfectly with this K & Co paper

The sentiment is another Lili of the Valley stamp, this one from the handwritten phrases set which I use a lot

The narrow grosgrain ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons 

 

 

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Enjoy the rest of your evening, I will try to visit some of your blogs this week and see what everyone has been up to over the holidays. Christmas seems like a distant memory now doesn’t it!!

 

 

 

 

A touch of romance ….

Hello everyone, can you believe it’s Friday again, where on earth do these weeks go?

We had a lovely weekend camping and then a family meal for my daughter’s 18th which is this week (I feel old!)

We said she could do anything she wanted and she chose to go to the races so that’s where we’ll be on Saturday. McFly are playing afterwards, it’s a one off gig and was perfect timing because she likes them so it should be a really good day.

I was a bit worried about my Mum having to stay late after the racing to see a band but when I told her it was McFly she was thrilled, she said she’d loved Harry on Strictly Come Dancing last year lol  …so everybody's happy!!

The Lili’s Little Fairies challenge was very late last week as Jacqui has had other things on, there’s still time to enter and the theme is ‘a touch of romance’

Here’s the card I made, I just love these 2 bunnies in the bath making a toast

I used Lili of the Valley ‘bubble bath’ stamp, K & Co papers, Core’dinations card, Spellbinders scalloped oval dies and girlie grunge label dies, Martha Stewart punch, lace from the Ribbon Girl and Wild Orchid crafts flowers which you can now get in our showroom at Lili of the Valley

This image was beautifully coloured in by June for us at work, she’s a bit of a whizz with the Copics so credit where it’s due!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone, I will try and get round to visiting all your blogs, meanwhile I do read and appreciate every comment that’s left for me

Bubble Bath

Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed the blog hop yesterday and thank you so much for your lovely comments - they are all very much appreciated.

If  you're a new visitor then thanks for stopping by ...you can still join in the hop and you have until Friday to leave a comment on my 'walk the plank' card to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

I have a card to show you today that I made for my Brother's wedding anniversary. I had planned to use the bubble bath stamp from Lili of the Valley but left it until the last minute as usual so I used the die cut version of that same stamp, they are so great for a quick card.

The card is core'dinations and the lace is from The Ribbon Girl

The little wooden buttons were bought at the NEC and the flowers were in my stash, they are cream so I inked them with a bit of vintage photo distress ink.

I made a little tag using a doohickey die and stamped a sentiment on it from the Lili of the Valley love sentiments sheet.

Thanks for calling by and enjoy the rest of your evening x

Have you seen this card????

Hello bloggers, what fabulous weather we’re having – doesn’t everyone seem happier when it’s sunny!

The card I have to show you today is another die cut card that I made for our new showroom.

We took it to the NEC for the die cut stand  - but sadly somebody took a fancy to it and nicked it

:o(

…so if you see this card, it’s MINE!!!

I used Core’dinations card, Martha Stewart punch, distress stickles, flowers from Wild Orchid crafts and Spellbinders circle dies

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the lovely weather everyone xxx

Another die cut card ….

 

Hi everyone and thanks again for visiting, we’re getting ready for Birmingham so things are a bit hectic at work this week.

 

The brand new range of stamps is out for sale on the website on March 28th but will be available exclusively at the NEC this week so make sure you visit the Lili of the Valley stand if you go to the show. There are sneak peeks all week on the blog to give you a taster of what’s new!

 

This is another card using the die cuts, hope you like it. It was made to a sketch for a challenge on Lili’s Little Fairies, I found it a very hard one to follow but I think it turned out ok.

 

 

 

I used Core’dinations card, Magnolia patterned papers, Doo Hickey and Spellbinders dies, glamour dust, seam binding and Lili of the Valley grunge corners

 

Thanks for looking

 

Anne xx

Lili of the Valley mini hop ….and I’m finally up and running!!!

Hi everyone and thanks for visiting - what a lovely way for me to launch my blog with a Lili of the Valley Designers Mini Hop!!

We have a very special treat for you today because not only will we be showing you several different ways to use a single stamp, but it is also our very first sneaky peek day for the March Lili of the Valley release.

Yes, that’s right, another release from LOTV will be available for sale starting March 28th!!!

The image we are using today is called “Shall We Dance”. This release will be filled with adorable bears, cute couples, and some very new and different designs from Lili of the Valley. Keep your eyes on the Design Team’s blogs for more sneak peeks in the next few weeks.
Lili of the Valley AND WhichCraft UK are our sponsors for this hop and we will be giving away 4 fabulous prizes!! - WhichCraft carry an amazing variety of shaped cards and other paper products so make sure you take a look at their site.
All you have to do is leave a comment on each of the participating designer’s blogs. We will then choose 4 winners from our mystery prize blogs on Friday.

Good luck!

Here is a list of the designers participating in this hop:

Bev
Dena
Fleur
Anne (me!) 
Dawny
Pops

I decided to make an anniversary card with this cute image…

…and also some matching 'his and hers' gift tags

I usually tend to use the Lili of the Valley children rather than the animals but I really like this adorable pair and I enjoyed making these.

For your information here’s what I used; Core’dinations card, Doo Hickey and Spellbinders dies, Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils, ribbons and flowers from The Ribbon Girl, Maja Design backing papers, Tim Holtz music tissue strip, Stickles stardust

I hope you like my post today and have enjoyed the blog hop, don’t forget to leave a comment for all the designers to be in with a chance of the prize.

I feel very fortunate to be part of Lili of the Valley and to work with such a talented bunch of girls. I’d love you to follow my blog and visit regularly, I’m going to try and post something new every day and there will be plenty of ideas, tips and candy.

Bye for now

Anne xx