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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May challenge…

 

 

 

Evening crafty friends

We have a lovely sunny week forecast but can you believe this is what we woke up to last Friday morning… snow!

It said on the local news that there was 6 inches at Leeds/Bradford airport which is near us and they had to close it which wasn’t a good start for those travelling away for a bank holiday weekend break. I was worried about all the poor little lambs out in the fields but luckily it soon melted and disappeared

 

 

Not that I need an excuse to stay indoors! I don’t generally watch daytime TV but before I take Manny for his walk I do like my morning fix of The Pioneer Woman (I’m a bit obsessed with life on the Drummond Ranch).

I’ve been doing quite a lot of magazine work the last few months which is keeping me out of mischief and my next big job is to paint my kitchen - I don’t know how I ever found time to work!

 

 

 

Lili of the Valley are having another Facebook challenge and this month we have a Sketch…

 

 

 

I rotated the Sketch for my card and I’ve  used the Oliver ‘skateboarding’ stamp again - this and ‘kicking about’ are going to be such useful images for me

 

 

I did it first without a sentiment and then tried printing it directly onto the green paper but neither looked right so I added it even though it’s an extra element (hope that’s not cheating!)

I like using sketches, sometimes if you’re stuck for a layout or maybe just wanting a bit of inspiration they can be just what you need

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Here’s where you can enter the challenge and find all the details, there are vouchers up for grabs and the closing date is May 15th

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We were out yesterday for the May bank holiday so I missed the 2nd episode of Game of Thrones, I’m just going to watch it now – can’t wait!

Enjoy your evening everyone

 

 

The Queens Birthday and new Oliver…

 

 

Good evening crafters, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are well…

I’ve had a great week, Jess has been home so we’ve had a few days away at the coast, cinema, races etc. Keith booked the week off work too and we’ve been lucky with the weather, it’s been really lovely to have some family time which is sadly quite rare these days

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It’s the Queens official 90th birthday today so I’ve just sneaked in this card which I made for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012…

 

It’s always interesting looking back at cards you made a while ago and see the changes. This stamp is Tea Party, and the papers are called ‘Tour of London’ from NitWits

 

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Onto today’s card - I always have a lot to make in March and April for friends and family and the new Oliver images from LOTV have been very useful for the older boys, it’s hard to know what will suit that age group…

 

 

This is Oliver Skateboard and the papers are Candles and Cake. I’m still digging around in my bit box (to try and justify saving them for years and years !) and these are some scraps I had left from the printed pad which is now discontinued. It’s a useful collection with bright red and green that you can use for Christmas too and it’s still available to download from NitWits

 

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I’ve been at sixes and sevens this week having everyone at home, I like it when it’s just me and Manny and we have our daily routine!

I took him to the vets today by the way and he’s recommended a course of anti-inflammatory injections that they give to dogs with arthritis so we’re going to give that a go. He seems ok at the moment so the vet said to wait and see if he has another episode like we had at Easter or seems to be uncomfortable and then take him straight in

Carol you mentioned Noel Fitzpatrick, I have to say that man is my hero, he’s amazing. Manny is 8 and when I asked about it they said a referral can take months, even years. I think he’s too old now to go through such a huge operation, I’ve watched him straighten legs like Manny’s and has to literally chop the foot off and pin it back on in a better position, he would need both doing and I think it would be too much for him. Here’s a quick piccie, I’m indulging because I love him, and its my blog so I can lol…

 

 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave me a comment, I love to read them and I do appreciate it. I’ll be catching up with all your blogs next week so if I don’t get another post done in the next couple of days have a lovely weekend all

 

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

 

 

LOTV April colour challenge…

 

 

 

Good morning lovely crafty friends, can you believe that it is April already, how did that happen?

We had an awful scare with Manny a couple of days ago, he couldn’t get out of bed one morning and was yelping when we even just touched his left leg. Keith had to carry him out for a wee and we sat with him all day - he kept trying to walk and kept falling over. He was limping so bad and obviously in pain that I really thought the time had come, I cried all night. The next morning he was trying to put it down and as the day passed slowly started to walk on it, 2 days later he is absolutely fine. I can only think he must have maybe slept funny or jumped off the sofa and twisted it. If you are not a regular visitor you won’t know that my fur baby has problems with his poor deformed front legs, I know we won’t have him for ever but I’m not ready to part with him just yet – I love that little dog so much

 

 

 

Onto my card and there is a new challenge on the LOTV Facebook page for April – this month we have a colour theme and want to see cards using three of the following colours: A - aqua, P - pink, R - red, I - ivory, L – lilac

The challenge runs until April 17th and there are some great prizes for the lucky winners

I used the new Jasmine Phone stamp again and this time chopped off her feet to fit her in the oval die (sorry Jasmine!) I like this image, she’s so pretty…

 

I used Pastel Dreams papers from NitWits which fit nicely with the APRIL theme – the papers have pink, red and aqua in the design and I added some ivory flowers too. These are colours I use regularly anyway and it’s one of my favourite NitWit collections

The greeting is from the new Teenage Girl sentiment set

Hope you like it, thanks for leaving me your comments I love to read them and appreciate you taking the time

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I’m off to the theatre this afternoon to see the Jackie show, remember the magazine from the 70’s that all the girls used to read? Should be a good laugh although it’s bloomin pouring down which means I’ve got to change the outfit I had all planned which will put me and 6’s and 7’s !!

Have a lovely weekend everyone whatever you’re up to

 

Anne x

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something different…

Good afternoon everyone, thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend, my hip’s been feeling better so we had a nice walk on Saturday while it was fine but boy was it chilly, you forget it’s still so early in the year!

 

Before my cards I want to show you this amazing amaryllis…

 

…Laila’s lovely Mum Anne bought me it when I left Lili of the Valley at the beginning of December and it’s been in flower ever since. I’ve had them before and they usually die off after one flowering or they grow too tall and need support. This has had 12 flowers and keeps coming back, it’s also on quite a short stem so is nice and neat – I’ve been thrilled with it!

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I have a couple of cards to share today that are a bit different for me, I’ve done a few in this sort of style recently and I like them

I’ve got a box where I keep all my scraps of paper, can’t bear to throw them away and they are from years and years of crafting (it’s quite full lol!!). I just took a piece out (the green) and challenged myself to make 2 cards with it so I had to be quite sparing as it wasn’t very big!

The images are 2 of the retired Lili of the Valley stamps that have been brought back for a limited run; Sailing Boat and Rose with Cake. Rosie with Cake was always one of my favourites and is one I use regularly

The cards are quite small at 4.5 inch square and I have to say I like this size

The sentiments are from an older set by MFT (my favourite things)

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That’s it from me, enjoy your evening everyone

 

 

PS. I haven’t been using my signature because suddenly and inexplicably it’s appearing with a black background instead of just the pink lettering and no background. I’ve put it on in case anyone can tell me why it’s doing this, I’ve used it since I started my blog and never had this problem before!

 

Anne xx

 

 

 

 

Jasmine Phone…

 

 

Hey everyone, what are you up to today?

I spent this morning organising and backing up my laptop, boring but necessary! I’ve had 2 laptops die on me in the last few months and it’s taught me a valuable lesson, it was something I just kept putting off. Thankfully I didn’t lose my pictures but I lost all my programmes, fonts and documents – and there were a lot of craft things I’d saved over the years such as digi stamps and papers – I’m gutted

Anyway, I’m not going to bore you with my tales of woe, onto the new stamps at Lili of the Valley which are available on Match 31st and you can also pre-order them now. There are 8 teen images featuring new characters Jasmine and Oliver and also some clear sentiments which are always popular…

 

…this is Jasmine phone, she’s my favourite and I think this stamp will be very useful

 

 

I used to make a lot of cards this size (A5 folded lengthways) until I moved onto squares but I think the tall narrow shape suits this image

The papers are from one of my favourite K & Co pads called Wild Raspberry

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Hope you like it, I’m just waiting for the plumber to finish servicing our boiler and then I’m up into the attic to finish another card I’ve started with this stamp!

Have a great Tuesday everyone, thanks for stopping by

 

Anne x