Recycling, and pie…

 

 

Hello all, what you up to on this Sunday morning?

My Brother is away for the weekend and rang last night to say “come on over for the day, there’s a great pub nearby that specialises in homemade pies and they’re amazing”. Instantly I’m thinking omg no, I’ve already had a bad week and I’ve got to get weighed tomorrow I can’t eat pie! Keith’s saying we can’t not go because I don’t want to have pie. He can’t understand why I can’t just not have any… not have any! can you imagine when they’re all sat tucking in, it’s just never going to happen is it. So we’re going, and despite good intentions this morning there’s no doubt I’ll be having pie later, and then just because I’ve had pie that of course means it’s a cheat day, so I’ll have a few drinks and some sweeties on the way home…

…and that’s why I’ll never be thin

…and I’ll regret it tomorrow when I have to confess my sins at Slimming World!

 

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Time for another ‘Use Any Image’ challenge at the Ribbon Girl and as always there are 3 lovely prizes up for grabs;

 

 

A bit of an unusual card for me this time, I bought a lovely Santoro heart embossing folder (which you can see I used) and these cute images were printed on the packaging…

 

 

Aren’t they sweet, I couldn’t bear to waste them so also made a little matching tag and the red dotty paper was also from the packaging (is that taking frugal to a whole new level?)

The border die is Magnolia DooHickey and I used some gorgeousness from the Ribbon Girl; cheesecloth, white seam binding, tulle, red button twine, 5mm red crystals, apple charm, dragonfly charm

You can see all the details for the challenge on the Ribbon Girl blog and of course lots of inspiration from the team

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That’s it from me, enjoy the rest of your weekend crafters

 

 

Any image challenge…

 

 

Evening all, I hope everyone is well

Just catching up on a bit of TV tonight. I’ve waited a year for Poldark to come back but I have to say I’m really enjoying Victoria; if I was only able to watch one of them I think it would have to be the latter

The nights seem to be drawing in so quickly now and you can always tell it’s Autumn when the new programme schedules start. I’ve been watching Game of Thrones again too, I’m still ploughing my way through the books (it’s a long job) but I’m seeing things in the show now that I missed first time around – I’ve tried to get Keith into it because I know he’d enjoy it but he’s not interested. I don’t really watch a lot of TV but there have been a few things on recently that I’ve enjoyed, I caught up with Cold Feet which I liked first time round and you can’t beat a good drama!

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Time for the new 'Use any Image' challenge at the Ribbon Girl which runs until Saturday October 1st

As always there are 3 lovely prizes up for grabs…

First prize:  £10 voucher for LOTV

Second prize:  £10 voucher for The Ribbon Girl

Third prize:  from Marianne Designs

 

I used one of the discontinued LOTV art pad images for my card and some gorgeous Lemon Craft papers which Mary now stocks…

 

 

The sentiment is from a useful Hero Arts set I have called ‘many everyday messages’ and the dies are Sue Wilson’s pierced squares, Spellbinders lacey oval and Spellbinders classic oval

Of course I used some gorgeousness from the Ribbon Girl website; Lemon Craft tiny miracles paper, Kate white vintage style lace,  white tulle, stardust stickles, small ivory pearl flatback hearts

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You can enter the challenge and find all the details as well as some fab inspiration from the team on the Ribbon Girl blog

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Enjoy the rest of your week crafters, thanks for stopping by

 

 

 

 

Baby Tags…

 

 

Evening all, how was your weekend? We had a few days away in Chester and it was a nice break. It’s a lovely city, lots to see and very historic

I had a couple of places on the Coast planned for today, I’d love to see the statues on Crosby beach, but the weather was so bad we just did a bit of shopping and headed back home after lunch

We just took my Mum out for tea as she’s been looking after Manny (and Joe, but I didn’t tell him that!) so I don’t seem to have stopped eating for the last 4 days – I’m stuffed and dread facing the scales next Monday, I’m going to need to starve between now and then!

 

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I made a couple of tags using the gorgeous Tiny Miracles papers from Lemon Craft which are available from the Ribbon Girl…

 

 

Sorry but the coloured images are discontinued I was just using them up, I printed the sentiments on the computer

All the lovely embellishments also come from the Ribbon Girl… tulle, stickles, flatback pearls, white seam binding, pink and ivory pearl flatback hearts, pink 23mm organza, ivory button twine, Charlotte Elizabeth vintage style lace, Leah scallop flat lace, ivory jute mesh ribbon

 

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Hope you like them, I’m going to catch up on the final Game of Thrones episode now, I can’t wait. We were away last night so I missed it (although I would have watched it on my ipad if I’d known the football was going to be such a joke!)

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone, thanks for stopping by

 

 

 

June Ribbon Girl challenge…

 

 

Good morning crafters, hope you are having a nice weekend

Time for a new 'Any Image' challenge at the Ribbon Girl

It’s a nice easy one, there isn’t a theme - just create a new project that has an image on it and blog about it… simple! There are 3 lovely prizes for our randomly drawn winners and the challenge will end on Saturday 2nd July at 9pm UK time

 

First prize:  £10 voucher for LOTV

Second prize:  £10 voucher for The Ribbon Girl

Third prize:  from Marianne Designs

There is some gorgeous inspiration as always from the team on the Ribbon Girl blog… and we have the lovely Kat Waskett joining us as our Guest Designer too so make sure you have a peek

 

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I used some more of the scrummy new papers that Mary has in stock, these are by a Company called Lemon Craft and they are divine. I used the 6x6 pad but some of the sheets are available in 12x12 too…

 

 

The pad is called Tiny Miracles, the images are from the papers too – they are really lovely and it was hard to cut them!

The doily frame is a new product too, Mary has a few different designs of these Scrapiniec chipboard laser cut shapes and you are going to love them

Here’s a list of the items I used, everything is of course from the Ribbon Girl shop; Lemon Craft 'Tiny Miracles' 6x6 paper pad, Scrapiniec chipboard lace doily round, cheesecloth, flatback pearls, stickles stardust glitter glue, white and pink cherry blossom flowers, two tone pink hip rosebud flowers, cream 20mm open roses, 16mm hot pink saddlestitch ribbon, clear crystal hearts, white pearl and crystal sprays, 45mm 'Eleanor' White Embroidered Tulle Lace

 

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Hope you like it, you can enter and find all the details for the challenge on the Ribbon Girl blog

Enjoy your Sunday everyone

 

 

 

It’s Monday…

 

 

 

Evening everyone, I’m excited because it’s Monday and nearly time for Game of Thrones

I think when this season finishes I’ll have to watch the box set again…  I love it!

I’m reading the books at the moment but I’ve been on the first one for weeks and weeks now and am only 46% of the way through it, 10 minutes before I go to sleep every night is about my lot so you can imagine how long it takes me to get through a book like this! That said I am enjoying it and the TV series seems to have kept quite close to the story which is good

I’ve started watching Billions too which looks very promising. I do like Damian Lewis and there has been talk of him being the next Bond. I’m a huge fan of Daniel Craig so I’m sad to see him hanging up his trunks but I’m intrigued to see who they pick; I love Tom Hiddleston but I think my choice would be Idris Elba, he’d make a great James Bond!

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I found this card when I was going through my pictures and don’t remember ever putting it on here – I think it was one I just showed on the LOTV blog

 

 

The card is a simple pop up which you can then decorate as you choose. The lovely papers are from a Cosmo Cricket pad and I used some lace, rafia and flowers from The Ribbon Girl

The image stamp is now discontinued – sorry!

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That’s it from me – its nearly time!!

…enjoy the rest of your Monday crafters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Folk, and a giveaway…

 

 

 

Good evening crafters, I thought I’d grab a quick ten minutes to myself and write a post while things are quiet here!

Jess is home for a few days and snuggled up watching tv with Manny - and Joe is away at a festival until Monday. Keith has just gone in the bath after spending all day pulling the floor up in our lounge. We have a big chest in the bay window so that area rarely gets walked on, I just lean over to wash the windowsill and draw the curtains. A few days ago I stood on the chest to clean the windows and felt the whole thing move, to cut a long story short we have wet rot under the floor and 2 of the joists have just rotted away – it was lucky I didn’t go crashing through!

 

 

So, my carpet has had to come up and there is laminate under that which is glued down so is a nightmare to remove. The local builder had a look and said replacing the joists is not a problem but we need to find out where the water is coming from that’s causing the mould. We’ve never had a damp problem and luckily it only seems to be in the bay so hopefully it won’t turn into a huge job. We’ve been toying with replacing the floors downstairs with wood for a couple of years so this might give us the push we needed to do it!

 

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Just before my card I have news - there is no challenge this week on the Ribbon Girl blog so Mary and Andrea are having a little giveaway instead. Just head over there and leave a comment letting them know what you would make with these gorgeous goodies…

One lucky entry will receive a pad of the gorgeous new 'Purple Rain' 12x12 paper by Galeria Papieru, 5mts of Mauve Mist Seam Binding, Bunch of 3 Lilac Ballerina Blossoms, 1mt of  'Jennifer' pale lilac lace and 1mt of 38mm Lilac Faux Silk!

The winner will be announced on Sunday 5th June when the challenge will be back

 

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This card is one I did as part of a series for the April issue of Quick Cards using the Lili of the Valley ‘Little Folk’. I was pleased when this one made the cover and I have had some lovely feedback about the whole set…

 

 

 

I would never have chosen such bright colours normally but I loved how they worked with the images once I started to put them together.

I used foam pads so there was lots of dimension, and my new favourite embellishment – sequins!

 

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Hope you like it, thanks as always for stopping by and for taking the time to leave me feedback. Have a lovely weekend everyone xx

 

 

 

 

 

From the heart…

 

 

 

Hello everyone, hope you’ve enjoyed the weekend

We’ve had a proper mixed bag of sunshine and heavy downpours here, it doesn’t know what to do and I‘m dizzy from putting the washing out and bringing it back in!

I’m waiting for the sun to come back out so I can finish the jet washing and then get some bedding plants in and all my pots ready. Keith cuts the grass and the hedges but it is definitely under sufferance, he doesn’t like gardening at all so it’s my job. I enjoy it apart from when Manny tries to help and runs off with all my stuff, he just want me to chase him and throw things for him to fetch and he never gets bored of it! I love playing with him really, it’s great when the weather is nice and we can spend the day outside

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I’ve made this card using some gorgeous goodies from the Ribbon Girl, I’ve been trying different styles as you may have noticed and I love this shabby chic sort of look (that’s what I call it anyway)

Mary has some beautiful new papers in stock and these are from a Craft & You 6x6 pad called Rose Garden

 

 

The card is another 4x4 square, I am liking this smaller size at the moment. All the Ribbon Girl products can be found in their store…  tulle, stickles, white rose organza ribbon, cream aster, blue sweetheart blossom, button twine, 6mm ivory pearl flatbacks, 25mm cream cotton lace, and 25mm faux hessian

The sentiment stamp is Hero Arts, the heart circle Sizzix and the small hearts Simon Says Stamp. Not sure about the butterflies, I have so many that I’ve forgotten…  but you all have butterflies I’m sure!

Hope you like it, thanks so much for all your lovely comments. I’m trying to reply as you leave them now just to acknowledge but I will try and visit all your blogs this week and see what you have been up to

Thanks for stopping by

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee in the Arbour!

 

 

Good morning crafty folk, it’s a beautiful day here today and I hope you are all enjoying the weekend

Thank you for all your lovely comments and emails about Manny, he seems to be fine now so hopefully nothing more sinister than a bad landing when he’s jumped off the sofa or the bed. That little dog makes me so happy and I can’t bear to think of him hurting, his legs don’t seem to stop him enjoying his life so hopefully he’ll be with us for a long time yet!

 

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Time for the April ‘Use Any Image’ challenge at the Ribbon Girl and you can make anything you like as long as you feature an image on your work – easy!!

There will be 3 winners and some great prizes up for grabs from Lili of the Valley, Ribbon Girl and Marianne Designs…

 

All the details for entering are on the Ribbon Girl blog and the challenge runs for two weeks. There is as always some beautiful inspiration from the Design team so do go and have a peek if you need a few ideas

 

Mary has started selling designer papers and they are the most beautiful I’ve seen. Some of the brands are quite difficult to get hold of in the UK so check the full range out here and I know you will love them

 

I used a Maja Design collection for my card called Coffee in the Arbour…

 

 

I have to admit it was quite hard to cut into these gorgeous papers, I already have a couple of Maja Design pads that I’ve had for a while and can’t bring myself to use (it’s mad, why??) but I bit the bullet and loved the result

There are some images and tags also in the pad so everything you need to make a beautiful card and they go perfectly with the pretty Ribbon Girl products… Maja designs 6x6 'coffee in the arbour' papers, top stitching thread, pale pink bead string, tulle, flat back pearls, seam binding, 8mm Rebecca ivory vintage style fine scallop lace, ivory aster, raspberry delights mixed dahlia, Kort & Godt rolled roses, butterfly charm, button twine, rose organza ribbon

 

Hope you like my card today, I love to read your comments so do let me know what you think

 

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Right, time for me to tidy the garden a bit I think, I like to feel as if I’ve been productive when it’s sunny! Enjoy your Sunday everyone

 

 

Ribbon Girl Challenge - Jasmine

 

 

Good morning crafty friends, hope you are all well. It’s a beautiful day today again here after a lovely week and it cheers you up doesn’t it!

Did any of you catch the new X-Files? we were looking forward to it after watching and enjoying it for many years but after a promising first episode it was disappointing, in fact one or two of them were ridiculous. We were loyal and stuck with it for the full 6 weeks hoping it might improve but I wasn’t sorry to see the end of it and I’m looking forward to Game of Thrones starting in April now - I hope that isn’t a let down but I don’t think it will be!

I’m loving having some crafty time, I do quite a bit of work for the magazines which I really enjoy as it gives me chance to go out of my comfort zone a bit and do something a bit different. Lili of the Valley have a new launch which is definitely right back in my comfort zone, the stamps are available from March 31st and you can pre-order them on the website now. There are eight fab teenage images, Jasmine and Oliver, and also some new clear sentiments

Time for another Ribbon Girl ‘use any challenge and there are, as always, some great prizes up for grabs;

First prize:  £10 voucher for LOTV

Second prize:  £10 voucher for The Ribbon Girl

Third prize:  Mystery prize from Marianne Designs

 

The team have made some lovely cards and projects to inspire you and the challenge will run until 9pm on Saturday 2nd April - you can enter and see all the details on the Ribbon Girl blog

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I used one of the new stamps for my challenge card and this is Jasmine Music…

 

…the greeting is from the useful teenage girl sentiments 

There are (of course!) lots of gorgeous goodies from the Ribbon Girl store on my card; tulle, flatback pearls, stardust stickles, tiny vintage cream blooms and some of their delicious new pale pink sugar sprinkles sheer ribbon

Here’s everything else I used:

Sizzix doily die, EK Success corner punch, Sue Wilson finishing touches flourish die and Heartfelt collection papers from NitWits

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Hope you like it, thanks as always for stopping by and any comments you take the time to leave me are very much appreciated

 

Anne x

 

 

Any Image Challenge…

 

 

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by. I made a card this week for the Ribbon Girl challenge that is completely different for me. I needed an 80th Birthday card for a special lady and the style I usually make just didn’t cut it -  I took some inspiration from the fabulous Kathy because her cards are exquisite

It's a USE ANY IMAGE anything goes challenge and I was so carried away using all the gorgeous Ribbon Girl goodies that I just realised I didn’t actually use an image …ooops, sorry Mary and Andrea! 

(you are supposed to) …use an image, it can be any of your choosing and we hope to see all types of projects including cards, boxes, gift boxes, candles etc

This challenge will run for 2 weeks ending at 9pm on Saturday 29th November. All the details are on the Ribbon Girl blog as well as some gorgeous cards from the team – and, there will be 3 winners chosen at random from the entries

 

 

There’s quite a long list of supplies, here’s what I used from the Ribbon Girl; 25mm cream cotton lace, tulle, stickles, pink and ivory button twine, 3mm and 5mm flat back pearls, rhinestone self adhesive butterflies and dragonflies, teardrop ivory pearlised pins, ivory 10mm and 20mm open roses, tiny pale pink rosebuds

…and here’s everything else; LOTV/Raspberry Road Always & Forever papers, Noor border die, Spellbinders rose creations die, Spellbinders oval and scalloped oval dies, Memory Box foliage die

There are a few things I would do differently next time but all in all I’m pretty pleased with it and will definitely make another. Kathy uses lots of pearl flourishes so that’s something I need to get as they are a lovely finishing touch

I’m curious to know what you think so leave a comment if you have a minute, I love to read them

Enjoy your week crafters

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by…

There’s another EVERYTHING GOES WITH AN IMAGE challenge over on the Ribbon Girl blog this week and it’s nice and easy because it’s everyone’s favourite ‘anything goes’ theme!

As usual there are two fabulous prizes, there is is a stamp of the winners choice from our Lili of the Valley and a £10 voucher from The Ribbon Girl towards a shopping spree in their store (the winner is chosen at random)

 

The Design Team have created some lovely projects as always to give you some inspiration, their work and all the details for the challenge can be found on the Ribbon Girl blog 

 

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I used one of the new Lili of the Valley ‘Calendar Fairies’ there is one for each month of the year and if you buy all 12 at the moment you get a fabulous FREE ‘Months & Seasons’ sentiment set

 

 

This is January Fairy and I made a Happy New Year Card. The star border die is from Noor and I used some lovely goodies from the Ribbon Girl store;

Celery green ruffle edge sheer ribbon

Silver glitter mesh ribbon

5mm self adhesive crystals

2mm self adhesive crystals

Stickles glitter glue

 

Hope you like it, I’ll be back in a few days with my Papertake Card  - thanks as always for your comments I love to read them x

Have a good week everyone

 

 

Ribbon Girl – Everything Goes with an Image

 

 

 

Hello crafters, hope everyone is ok and thanks for stopping by

We had a lovely break in Zante, it was very hot and since we came back I’ve noticed the change in the weather here – it’s definitely feeling Autumnal which is hard to believe! How did it get to September already? I think I must have missed a few months somewhere. X Factor and Strictly are back which means my Saturday nights are taken care of until Christmas    …much to Keith’s disgust, he hates reality TV ha!

Joe is back from India, he had an amazing experience after getting upset and wanting to come home the first week! I don’t think he was prepared for the poverty and hardship he saw and he really got attached to some of the children at the school they were helping in. They really had nothing and he couldn’t understand how they could be so happy, I think once he realised that he couldn’t compare their lives with his because they didn’t know any other way then he enjoyed it more. I sent him a box of crafty goodies over by courier which they loved, it cost me a bloomin’ fortune and I was so mad with myself because he only took about half his weight allowance. We could have filled his case with things when he went but it never crossed my mind at the time. He said it was all much appreciated, especially the huge chalks which I got from Hobbycraft so they could draw outside – he said they loved doing that, and loom bands too which were all the craze here last Summer!

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It’s time for another ‘Anything Goes with an Image’ challenge at the Ribbon Girl and as usual we have two fabulous prizes, the first is a stamp of the winners choice from Lili of the Valley and there’s also a £10 voucher from The Ribbon Girl

 

You can use any image you like so it’s a nice easy challenge and it doesn’t have to be a card – we love to see cards, boxes, tags, layouts… in fact projects of all kinds!

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I had to make a card for my elderly neighbour so didn’t want a cute image this time and I used a lovely topper from the Lili of the Valley English Charm Art Pad (wish my wisteria looked like that, it’s been in 5 years and never had a flower!!)

 

 

I wasn’t thrilled with this card and when I was halfway through making it and it nearly went in the bin. I love these Hot of the Press ‘Rosemary & Thyme’ papers but thought they were maybe a bit too heavy for the image I’d used. It was too late to make another though as I had to get it delivered so I carried on and once the flowers and sentiment were on it didn’t look as bad. I’m still not 100% sure about it though so I’m interested to know your thoughts.

The sentiment is Lili of the Valley from Set 7 and of course I used lots of gorgeousness from the Ribbon Girl store;

17mm Laila white vintage style lace

Stardust stickles

Tulle

Flatback pearls

 Cherry blossom (lilac/white)

 Sweetheart blossom (white)

Rose leaves

Princess pin (Green)

 Bead string (3mm ivory)

 

Aa always the details for the challenge and some fabulous Inspiration from the team can be found on the Ribbon Girl blog

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I’m hoping it’s going to be a bit brighter today and then I can get my garden cut back. It doesn’t seem like 2 minutes since I was putting my bedding plants in but they’re looking a bit ‘back endish’ now and I don’t think I’ll get much longer out of them. I got some chrysanthemums from QVC for the Autumn but I’m very disappointed with them as they are still quite small, maybe it’s still a bit early for them?

Enjoy your Sunday everyone whatever you’re up to xxx