Sports Challenge…

 

 

 

Good evening crafters, hope you’ve all had a nice week – they certainly fly by don’t they. I think the time is actually going quicker now I am at home, I am certainly never bored that’s for sure!

Our problem with the floor is ongoing and we’ve got the workmen coming a week on Monday to treat the wet rot. The plaster and skirting in the bay will all have to come off as it has gone up behind it so we’re going to have a mess but luckily it hasn’t spread any further. There is a mix of carpet and tiles on our downstairs floors and we’ve considered replacing them all with wood. Manny was skidding about on the laminate that was under our carpet though so I’m having second thoughts now. He jumps on and off the sofa so I’d never forgive myself if he slipped and hurt himself, especially with his poor little legs. So we’ll just replace the front room carpet for now and look at it again in the future – hard floors are much easier to keep clean when you have a dog but I do like my carpet!

 

 

Time for a new LOTV challenge and because there is a great summer of sporting events ahead it couldn’t be anything else this month but… SPORTS!

There are some fab prizes on offer for 5 winners that we will pick at random and the challenge closes at 6pm UK time on Wednesday 15th June. You can enter and see all the details on the facebook page or click on the picture above

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This is another card from the set I did a few months back for Quick Cards and it seemed a perfect choice to introduce the challenge…

 

 

These are the Little Folk stamps and they are so cute!

I cut the images out and used pinflair on the boy to add dimension. The papers were a download from Etsy, if anyone wants to know what they are send me a message and I’ll dig out the link. They are very brightly coloured but a nice set

The full feature is in the April issue of the magazine if you are able to get hold of a copy

 

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We have a good forecast now for a few days so I’m going to spend some time in the garden and get my flowers planted into pots

Thanks as always for taking the time to leave me a comment, I’ll be catching up with all your blogs over the next few days

Have a fabulous weekend everyone

 

 

 

 

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

 

Something a bit different…

 

 

 

Hello everyone, I’m here again…

I’m having a sort out of my pictures and finding lots of cards that I never shared, these two are a bit different for me…

 

 

I never really intended to put these on the blog so I am interested to hear your thoughts on them especially as they are so far removed from my usual style

The wedding one is 6 x 6 and the thinking of you was actually a sympathy card that is 4 x 4 with a matching envelope

I have so many embossing folders, I love the effect but hardly ever use them and I don’t really know why. The same goes for the Sue Wilson dies, some of her designs are really lovely and I have to have them but then when I get them out I just don’t know what to do with them!

The sentiments are computer generated, oh, fonts are another little obsession of mine!!

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Thanks so much for your comments, I very much appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think

Have a good Tuesday all

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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