Anything Goes Team Challenge…

 

Morning everyone, it’s been really cold this past week and today it’s pouring down with rain so I don’t think I’ll be going far!

 

Some of you probably know I had a hip replacement about 8 years ago and after 8 amazing trouble free years I’ve very suddenly been having a lot of pain. I don’t know what I did or what happened but I didn’t expect this for another 10 years so it’s a bit worrying

 

It’s taken us over a year to find a date that fitted in with us and the kids for a holiday and we were going to book it next week for the end of March. Now I daren’t book anything because there’s no way I could go on holiday like this …which is so disappointing

 

Keith’s Mum has been in hospital on top of that, she’s 92 and generally in very good health but she’s had some heart problems and a chest infection so poor Keith is running around after the both of us!

 

Jess is home for the weekend as she’s swapping her car, it’s always lovely to see her but 2 minutes after she walks through the door the house is like a bombsite! Joe decided he was leaving home last week after we wouldn’t let him spend £200 on some furry pet in a cage so he’s been making a point at his friends for a few nights …..

 

….happy days!!!

 

 

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Needless to say I’ve been struggling to get in the attic to do any crafting, I can just about climb the ladder and sit in my chair as long as I don’t twist and some days it’s better than others. I made this heart in plenty of time for the new Ribbon Girl challenge and then Keith brought it down for me yesterday to take a picture

 

 

The team challenges start again next week and to kick off the 2014 challenges this week is an Anything Goes theme with the whole team joining in and there is also a brand new blog….this one is a dedicated space for our challenges so that our other blog can be kept for sharing inspiration and giveaways so make sure you have them both added to your favourites

 

 

As always we have a lovely prize and this week it’s some goodies from the Ribbon Girl online store

 

 

The lucky winner will get a Prima Park Bench & Bridge Set, White Mixed Dahlias to colour yourself, a metre of 10mm flat back ivory pearl square trim and a packet of ten aurora borealis hearts

Full details and some fabulous inspiration from the full Ribbon Girl team can be found on the challenge blog here

 

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I decided to try something different for this one, this heart was hung in my conservatory, I love things like this but it was a bit boring as it was just cream…

 

 

Here’s what I used;

 

Lili of the Valley Country Lady papers

Treasure Gold wax

 

and from the Ribbon Girl;

Old rose pleated crushed organza

Tulle

Pink pearl bead string

Diamante heart stick pin

Key heart charm

Button twine

 

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Hope you like it, I’m going to try and do other things than cards this year and I enjoyed making this for a change

I’m trying to rest a bit so I’m going to grab the chance to do some blog hopping and see what you’ve all been up to. A few of you regularly leave me a comment and it’s very much appreciated

 

Have a good Sunday folks x

 

 

Another giveaway …and Bows or Dies (or both!)

 

 

 

Evening all, it’s a week since I posted yet again, my good intentions are not really going to plan so far in 2014!

I’ve had a hectic week, more about that when I have some time but for now I have a new challenge at Papertake Weekly and there’s another giveaway at the Ribbon Girl

For the last giveaway before our regular challenges begin next Sunday there is one each of the new vintage style bronze frames, 3 charms, 10mm ivory flatback pearl braid, 10mm ivory flatback pearl flower string, and pink satin ribbon

 

 

 

 

Pop over to the blog for full details if you want to enter the draw for this fab bundle of goodies

 

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Onto the Papertake challenge and our theme this week is…

Bow Dies

All we want you to do is to add a bow and use a die

You can do one, or the other, or both  …it’s up to you!

This was an easy one for me, I love bows and I love dies so of course I put both on …

 

 

 

I used 2 scrummy ribbons from the Ribbon Girl; red silky crush and 16mm aqua open weave

I can’t resist adding a bit of ribbon even when it’s not a requirement, I adore it!

 

Here’s everything else I used;

Lili of the Valley art pad from Party And Cake

This image is called Rosie With Cake and is available as a stamp too

Simply Sophisticated sentiment

K & Co papers

EK Success corner punch

LaLa Land heart banner die

Stickles glitter glue

 

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Thanks so much for stopping by, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a quiet weekend so I will be catching up with all your blogs and seeing what you’ve been up to

 

Have a lovely evening

 

 

 

 

 

Prima giveaway …and new stash challenge!

 

 

 

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by

We were overwhelmed by the response to our blog hop hop last week, thanks for joining in and for all your lovely comments  …it’s so nice that you all take the time to actually read the post and look properly at our cards rather than just whizz round with a copy and paste of ‘lovely card’ to get you in the prize draw!

My  blog was one of the hidden prize blogs too so well done Keeley, her comment was drawn from the ones left for me and she won the full set of new stamps. They’re on sale now and there is a special offer if you buy all 10 before Friday

 

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There’s another fab giveaway at The Ribbon Girl this week, not long now until the challenges start again

 

 

 

 

There are some Prima embellishments now in stock with more to come soon! If you would like to win this gorgeous Junk Yard Findings 'Ballet' set plus one metre of pure silk ribbon just visit the blog for full details

We'd like to know what you would do with this pink and girly collection and we'll pick one winner at random.  Winner will be announced on Saturday 18th January

Good luck!

 

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Onto this weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly and the theme is…

 New Year, New Stash!

We just want you to use something new that you may have got for Christmas. If Santa was mean and you didn't  get any new stash then feel free to use something that you haven't ever used before (and we all have plenty that fits in this category don’t we!!)

I went completely out of my comfort zone for this one. I needed to make a 21st birthday card for my nephew and I’ve been trying to find a use for my lovely new ‘on the edge’ star die from Tim Holtz

I also used a Tim Holtz embossing folder that I’ve not used before to give a bit of extra texture

 

 

 

 

I cut out the letters on my circut - ooh, by the way, I really like the look of the new Brother scan ‘n’ cut, did you see it?

 

That’s it really, there’s one of the Handwritten Phrases and I used foam pads and pinflair for the layers so it’s quite dimensional

 

 

 

 

 

It looked a bit bare so I thought of adding the brads after I’d stuck it all together (don’t you just hate it when that happens!) I broke a few nails pulling all the little legs off but I stuck them on with glue but it looks better I think

I always buy cards for the men in my life as I enjoy making pretty cards so I’m interested to know what you think of this as it’s very different for me

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I was glad to see this theme come up as I’m still on a  bit of a mission to use all the stash that I haven’t used yet, in fact I’m trying to use something new on every card I make!

 

 

That’s it from me, enjoy the rest of your evening everyone

 

 

Sneaky Peek Blog Hop …

 

 

 

Good morning lovely crafters, how are you today?

 

We’ve got the first hectic week back at work nearly out of the way, the trimmings are packed up until next year and everything is back to some sort of normality. Now I need to get back into healthier eating habits and lose the few pounds that crept on over Christmas!

 

We have the first Lili of the Valley stamp launch of 2014 this weekend. Our fabulous design team have all made cards to show them off and we’re having a hop with 2 chances for you to win the full set

There are 10 of the cutest new designs featuring everyone’s favourite James the Bear and some more of the adorable Jack, Patch and Puss

The stamps will be available to buy on the website from midday (UK time) on Monday 13^th January and also in the shop this Saturday if you’re near enough (we’re open 10 – 4)

 

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Just ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card, hopefully we can give you lots of ideas and inspiration for using these cute new images

As always we have some hidden prizes along the way, we don’t know where they are so do be sure to visit and comment on every blog

We will let you know on Monday morning which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and the winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those blogs

We have 2 full sets of the new stamps to give away, 2 lucky winners will each get all 10 new designs

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part, and remember that you will need to visit them all and leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning;

 

Ideas to Inspire

Anne (that’s me!)

Becky

Dawny

Debbie

Dena

Elise

Fleur

Gretha

Jen

Kathy

Kim

Lou

Mary J

Mindy

 

Here’s my card and I used one of the Jack, Patch and Puss stamps

This one is called Let’s Celebrate and I wanted to use some bright cheerful colours    …they look like they’re having such a fun time at their party!

 

 

 

Here’s everything I used;

Handwritten Phrases

K & Co papers

Kort & Godt rolled roses

My Minds Eye gems

Doohickey border die

Penny Black heart string die

Tulle (lots of it, you can’t really see on the picture)

 

I’m still practising with the distress inks, I actually cannot believe how long I spent colouring this one image, I daren’t tell you, but I think I’m getting a feel for them now. I was trying to blend them like the markers which I’ve used for so long but it’s a completely different technique and it’s taken a while to get used to…

Right, enough chit chat I know you’re itching to see what else we have on the hop …next stop is the fabulous Becky

 

If you get lost along the way just go back to the Ideas to Inspire blog and pick it up from where you were

Finally, don’t forget to stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog on Monday morning when you can find out who the lucky winners were of the prizes before the stamps go on sale

 

Enjoy the hop everyone, good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

Sneaky Peek …

 

 

Hey everyone, happy new year to you! I hope you all had a wonderful  Christmas, where on earth did the holidays go?

I didn’t get much crafting done (best laid plans and all that …) but I did do a few jobs that I’d been putting off and caught up with some friends which was nice. I think it’s good sometimes to just do nothing although the days seem to go even quicker when you have no purpose

Jess started her new job so she was home which was an unexpected bonus, but both her and Joe have their own agendas now and it takes a bit of getting used to not having to think about what they want to do before making plans!! It’s the first Christmas for ages that everyone has been fit and well, there’s usually some lurgy going around just in time for the festive season!

 

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Mary and Andrea at the Ribbon Girl have got an exciting new blog! The old inspiration blog will keep going and there is now a new one just for challenges which you can find here challenge blog

They have a smashing giveaway at the moment so do pop over there if you’d like to win these lovely brass charms. They are some of the new goodies which they are stocking, brand new for 2014!

 

 

There’s a little banner too for you to put on your own blogs;

 

 

 

Time for the first challenge of the New Year over at Papertake Weekly 

It’s the beginning of the month so it’s Anything Goes and the optional extra theme is to ‘celebrate something new’

I’m celebrating the brand new stamps from Lili of the Valley which go on sale next Monday, everyone loves James the Bear and this one is called James – Daisy

 

 

 

I made a bit of a mess of the colouring to be honest, he looked ok and then I couldn’t leave well alone and decided to add some prismacolour pencils and sansodor. All the bloomin ink smudged so I used copious amounts of stickles in a very bad cover up job lol – he’s seriously sparkly!!

Here’s everything I used;

Handwritten Phrases

Grunge swirls (the dots around the image)

K & Co papers

German glass glitter

EK Success retro flower punch

Tim Holtz idealology brads and film strip

Liquid pearls

Doily from stash

The gorgeous butterflies came all the way from Holland with my lovely friend Gretha, they are fab!

 

Some of you who visit my blog regularly will remember me deliberating over wether to throw away the teensiest scrap of lace a while ago – you all said NO, don’t do it!!  ...so I kept it. You can’t see very well on the picture but it’s tucked in front of the film strip behind the paper flowers!!

 

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It’s Tuesday so I’m off to see my friend next door now for a sneaky glass of wine!

I hope you all enjoy your evening whatever you’re doing

 

 

 

Only me ….

 

Is there anybody there? …I hope you haven't all abandoned me for being such a ridiculously bad blogger!

I had such great plans for last week, no work, no family, I was going to craft ands blog all week  …I didn’t venture up into the attic for 5 whole days and the week just whizzed by in what seemed like a blur of cleaning and visiting

Last weekend we had our Lili of the Valley Christmas trip to London, we had a brilliant time and packed such a lot into a couple of days including theatre, shopping, museums, Christmas markets  …and of course lots of eating, drinking and girlie chat!

 

This first pic is on our balcony overlooking the London Eye, we had amazing views over the city…

 

 

…and this one is near Leicester Square on our theatre night to the Donmar Warehouse

 

 

 

I also went to visit my friend in Settle during the week, she moved away to the Lake District a few years ago but we still like to keep in touch, we’ve been friends since college days and it’s always nice to have a good old catch up. We always used to go and stay up there when our kids were little but now tend to just meet for lunch and shopping just the 2 of us

 

I have so many cards to show you because I’ve not been on for a while, I’ll put a couple on today but first news of a great Christmas Challenge at the Ribbon Girl, something a bit different…

 

Kids Christmas Craft Challenge 2013

 

Just for kids aged 16 and under

We know lots of you like to make cards or do various other crafts when your Mums, Aunties, Grandmas, Nanas, carers and big sisters and so on are all making cards or colouring in so we thought it would be nice to have a special challenge JUST FOR KIDS!   The challenge will run until 9pm (UK time) on Saturday 28th December

The winners will be announced on New Years Eve - we're sure you will have some time to fill in before Christmas and maybe some spare time between Christmas and New Year - you might even be hoping to get some new craft things in your stocking and this is a great opportunity to put them to good use

 

         

There will be 3 prizes of crafty goodies and the challenge will be judged by 3 popular UK crafters:

Dawn Phillips, Kath Stewart and Andrea Gourley  

The winners will have their project displayed on the blog, on The Ribbon Girl Facebook Page and on the front page of The Ribbon Girl online store website on 1st January 2014

You can enter any type of project, for example you could make a card - could be a thank you card, a birthday card, a get well soon card, you can do a drawing or painting, a piece of knitting, crochet or sewing - in fact, any type of craft you like to do as long as it is your own work

This challenge is open to all young people under the age of 16 years whether or not they are a relative of the Ribbon Girl Design Team or Guest Design Team Members, you an see the full details of how to enter on the Ribbon Girl blog

 

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Next is a Crafty Ribbons Christmas event running throughout December. Lili of the Valley are sponsoring one of the days and Elise and I made a card each

There are some fabulous giveaways and you still have time to enter so make sure you go back over the posts, there is uggins of inspiration and you can find it all here 

 

This was my card and I used one of our Art Pads, they are so great if you don’t have time to stamp and colour. This lovely image is in the Christmas Angels pad and is also available as a stamp called Little Ivy

 

 

I chose to make an easel card for a change, here’s what I used;

 

LOTV Christmas Handwritten Phrases

Doohickey poinsettia die

EK success corner punch

LOTV Krafty Christmas and Classic Christmas papers

Tim Holtz ideaology brads

Lace and twine from the Ribbon Girl

Red and green stickles, had these years, I never use coloured glitter but they look amazing round the bottom of her dress and on the ivy

 

 

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I’ve missed a couple of Papertake Weekly posts (sorry Dawny!)

I did have cards ready so I’ll show you those over the holidays

This week the challenge is to choose your favourite theme from 2013. It was hard to pick but I chose…

old, new, borrowed, blue which was from July

I had a new baby card to make for a friend so this was perfect…

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve again used the Lili of the Art pads, this little cutie is in the Toddlers pad and you can also get him as a stamp called Baby Boy

The papers are from the new Winter Wishes pad, I love the colours and will use these papers all year round

I made some tags with his name and date of birth on and then the lace, pearls, charm, twine etc are from the Ribbon Girl (where else?)

 

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Thanks for stopping by, I will find time over the holidays to visit all your blogs and see what you’ve been up to

Jess is home unexpectedly for Christmas, she had an offer of a job in a North Yorkshire racing yard which was too good to miss so she moved last week and gets a couple of days off over Christmas as the rotas were already done so that was a lovely surprise. It will be great to have her nearer home, I didn’t like her being so far away and missed her a lot as you know

 

I’ll be sharing some of favourite 2013 cards from the Lili of the Valley design team on the Ideas to Inspire blog tomorrow and then the rest of them on New years day so do stop by if you get a spare minute (I know, I know  …turkey and pressies, you’ll be up to your eyes in it!!)

The girls have been doing a great job running the blog and there is still a new card every day while I am off

 

We’re going to the cinema now and although I’m setting off with good intentions I know I’ll end up with a huge tub of popcorn and scoff the lot  …it’s the law I think  …and it’s Christmas!!

 

Have a a fabulous Christmas everyone

 

Big hugs and sloppy festive kisses for you all, my lovely crafty friends xxx

 

 

 

 

Nativity Angels

 

 

Hey everyone, what are you up to over the weekend?

I had planned to nip into town today for a bit of last minute shopping but I saw the rain and changed my mind, I’m such a wimp! I did most of my shopping when we went to Stratford Upon Avon, it’s a lovely place and the rest I’ve ordered online so I’m quite organised with my pressies. I’d love to make my own cards but I’ll end up buying them (again!) as there just aren’t enough hours in the day at the moment.

I had to laugh at all your comments about the scrap of lace, it’s back in my box and I’m happy to know that everyone is as frugal as me with their stash (except you Mary, shame on you!)

 

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As it’s the first challenge of the month we have our usual Anything Goes at Papertake Weekly

The optional extra is to make a clean and simples (CAS) or less is more card, I fancied trying this and spent 2 nights faffing about   …it’s harder than it looks and my efforts ended up in the bin

I wanted to try but this is only an option and if you don’t want to use this theme then you don’t have to

I told Dawny I’d have to give it a miss this week so I haven’t got a card on the blog but then I remembered this one that I did for Creative Stamping magazine a while back, I think it would be classed as Clean and Simple so thought I’d show you…

 

 

 

I used Nativity Angels, Lili of the Valley of course, and a Marianne stitched border die

That’s about it really and I like it, it made a change not to do a square card!

The sentiment was done on the computer and I just finished it off with some little gems

 

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Hope you like it, have a fabulous weekend everyone