Christmas at Sweet Stampin - No Red or Green!

 

Morning :) 

 

Back again today with a mid-month inspiration card for our challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin  where this time our theme is 'No Red or Green'.  We are sponsored by Flat Friends who are offering the winner 4 cute digis of their choice.

 

Now, not using red or green was harder than I thought it would be........  I used one of my fave LOTV images and followed a sketch I found from Starry Nights.  I loved using this sketch so much I think I will make a lot of my christmas cards using this layout, as it was really quick and simple.

 

I dug out some much neglected mirri board and used up scraps of Anna Griffin and MME papers.   The dies are a mix of Cheery Lynn, Memory box and spellbinders, and I added some gold card candi, wooden snowflake and a starry brad to finish.  

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and I will be popping along later

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate - Cheery Lynn Designs

Hi and Good Morning :)

Our new challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs is 'Celebrate', so what better excuse do you need to create something beautiful for the special people and times in your life.  As always the winner will receive a $20 voucher to spend online in the Cheery Lynn Store and over the next few weeks were are looking for guest designers too, with a very generous store credit to get you started!

 

Now, the DT at Cheery Lynn were presented with some wonderful Magnolia goodies recently, and I just couldnt wait to use this little sweetie! :)  I used a 6 x 6 blank card base, and stitched Magnolia papers onto white bazzil cardstock, and then set about my favourite part of card-making - die cutting!

 

I added the Celtic Heart and Fanciful Flourish to the base of the card, and then cut 2 strips of the Anastasia Lace Border layering them together and topping off with some pale blue ribbon.  I cut the really gorgeous Kiwi Spirit Doily (this matches the Anastasia border perfectly) and added my image slightly off centre.  The flowers were made from the Cutie Fringe borders, 2, 3 and 4 and I dipped these in some glitter for a bit of sparkle.   I decorated the border with the Two of Hearts and a butterfly, and I added some tiny forget-me-not type flowers to the flourish. 

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

B256 - Cutie Fringe II

B257 - Cutie Fringe III

B258 - Cutie Fringe IV

Kiwi Spirit Doily

B136 - Anastasia Lace Border

DL128 - Two of Hearts

B144 - Celtic Heart

B117 - Fanciful Flourish

D138 - Mini Dimensional Butterfly

DL112AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #1

B188 - Embellishment #2 - Tiny blue forget-me-not type flowers

B178 - Flourish Leaf Strip

L-4 - Silver Stacker Circles

XL-5 - Scalloped Stacker Circles

 

I hope you find time to join in this week, and I look forward to seeing more gorgeous entries!  Dont forget there is also daily inspiration from the other talented members of the DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog.

I wish to enter this card in the below competitions:

Tildas Town - Think Spring
Lovely hAnglar & Sweet Magnolia - Stitching
I ♥ Promarkers - Spring is in the air (I wish it was!) lol
By The Cute & Girly - My Favourite Stuff - Dies
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly
My Mums Craft Shop - Spring has Sprung
 

 

I hope everyone has a smashing week, and thanks so much for visiting today.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Stampin - Lots of Layers

Good Morning :)  Well its still blimmin freezing and snowing here - Bah and Tut!  Lets hope we get some respite from the grotty weather soon  :)

 

Anyway, onto my card - our new challenge today over at Sweet Stampin is 'Lots of Layers'.  As always we have 2 fabby sponsors - My Mums Craft Shop and The Ribbon Girl, so brilliant prizes!

 

I dont often make cards for chiddlers, but I thought this image would make a lovely card for a little girl.  I also thought it would be reasonably easy to paint with DI's! lol (although it was my 3rd attempt).  I won these gorgeous and pretty Wild Rose Studio papers in Vixx's Candy, and I love them, the flowers are WOC and the velvet ribbon and brad are from stash.

 

I am entering this card in the below competition:

 

Lili's Little Fairies - Spring colours.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today,  and I hope you have a smashing weekend!

 

Cheery Lynn Designs - Think Spring

Hi and Good Morning :) Well whats happened to spring??  We still have white stuff here in Scotland and its fffffreezing!

 

My card today is for our new challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs where this week our theme is 'Think Spring'.  This gave me a lovely excuse to create something light, warm and fresh.  As always our winner will receive a $20 voucher to spend online in the Cheery Lynn store, and over the next few weeks were are looking for guest designers too, with a very generous store credit to get you started!

 

For my card, I used a 6 x 6 white card blank, and stitched Prima Papers onto white American Crafts cardstock.  This same card, and aqua blue bazzil card was used for all the dies on this card, and they came out beautifully. :)

 

I cut the gorgeous Dainty Dutch Deco frame (I love this!) and added fanciful flourish and mini flourish die-cuts, before adding a cute Penny Black image matted onto Scalloped and Square stackers.  I then layered the victorian picket fence on top, and cut out some stunning daisies in various sizes from the daisy strip die - this is such a timesaver!  I layered the daisies and held them together with a brad and then use card-candi over the top to soften the look.  I finally added some smaller daisies, leaves, butterflies, dragonfly and tag, and finished the look off with some pearls and twine.

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

DL141 - Dainty Dutch Deco

B117 - Fanciful Flourish

B117S - Mini Fanciful Flourish

B259 - Daisy Strip

A196 - Darling Daisies

B261 - Layered Tags 2

B123 - Victorian Picket Fence

SF-1 - Leaf

DL113AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #2

D138 - Mini Dimensional Butterflies

B266 - Tiny Things with Wings (dragonfly)

L-1 - Square Classic Silver Stackers

XL-2 - Square Scalloped Stackers

 

I hope you find time to join in this week, theres still plenty of time to enter.  Dont forget to checkout the rest of the talented DT creations over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog.

 

Have a smashing week, and thanks so much for visiting today.

 

Stamp Basket - Mega Spring Sale

Morning :)

Just a quickie post from me today to let you know that there is a fabulous Mega Spring Sale on over at the  Stamp Basket.  There's some fabulous bargains up for grabs, so why not pop over for a browse :)

I hope everyone has a smashing weekend, and I will catch you later,

Cheery Lynn Designs - Easter

 

 

Good Morning fellow crafters and bloggers! :)

 

Todays card is for our new challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs where this week our theme is 'Easter'.  :)  As always the lucky winner will receive $20 to spend on the Cheery Lynn Website, so well worth joining in!

 

Now, I have been wanting to use my Lace Egg die for ages, so really enjoyed making this sweet card in layers of chocolate and cream cardstock.  I stitched MME papers onto rich brown bazzil card and sanded and distressed around the edges.  I used the gorgeous Polynesian Sails die to mat and frame my image, and cut 3 easter eggs from contrasting card and paper and decorated with pearls.  I added 2 delicate butterflies from the Tiny Things with Wings set, and finished off with 'Happy Easter' from the brilliant mix and match range of sentiment dies.

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

DL153 - Polynesian Sails Die

DL153A - Polynesian Sails Angel Wing

DL211 - Lace Egg Five

B226 - Happy

B228 - Easter

B266 - Tiny Things with Wings

 

I hope you find time to play along with our challenge this week, the DT love popping along to see all the creative ways you can use Cheery Lynn Dies, and there is always daily inspiration over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog too.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and have a smashing day!

 

 

 

Joanna Sheen - Mum's the Word

Good Morning :)

Back again today with another card!  

So....... today sees the start of our new challenge over at Joanna Sheen, where this time our theme is 'Mum's The Word'.  As always the lucky winner will receive a £15 Joanna Sheen voucher to spend online.

 

I used one of my favourite cutie stamps from the Little Suzy's Zoo range called Singing in the Rain, and coloured with PM's.  I stitched MME papers to white bazzil cardstock, and used an MS punch for the lacy border and added some sheer blue dotty ribbon.   The dies are a mix of Cheery Lynn (Tag, word and Corner), Memory Box and Nellie Snellen, and the flowers are WOC.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and I hope you have a smashing Sunday! :)

Its a Boy!

Hi and Good Morning! :)

Today sees the start of our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin, where this week our theme is 'Its a Man Thing'.  We are sponsored by Cuddly Buddly, and also our monthly sponsor - The Ribbon Girl.  Awesome prizes, so well worth playing along.

 

I dont make a lot of male cards, but this week was rather special - we had a long-awaited new arrival in our family (all the way over in Oz), and thanks to the wonders of modern technology (Facebook - lol) I was able to see baby pics within minutes of his birth and I was so proud !  Welcome to the world little Tom ! :)

 

I layered MME papers onto Kraft cardstock and coloured in this sweet Mo Manning image with PM's.  The mesh die and sentiment are Cheery Lynn, and the other dies are a mix of Memory Box, Marianne and spellbinders. The colours look a little less grubby IRL, but it was such a dark day when I took the photo, I just couldnt seem to get it in a decent light.

 

Now I want to apologise for being a bit of a bad blogger in returning my visits again lately :(  We still have the same problems with our internet, and its so slow its almost like pulling teeth.  It can take me an hour to get round just a handful of blogs, but I do try to catch up with everyone at least once a week.  Certain times of the month (and certain times of the day) we get throttled and its a real struggle trying to make our allowance last till the end of the month.   

 

I really do appreciate every visit and every comment :)

 

Hoping you have a smashing weekend!

 

Cheery Lynn Designs - Doilies

 

Hi and Good Morning - I hope everyone is having a fabby week so far!

 

My card today is for our new challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs where our theme this week is 'Doilies'.  As always the lucky winner will receive a $20 coupon to spend online at the Cheery Lynn Store. 

 

Cheery Lynn make the most amazing doily dies!  There are so many to choose from, all with a really different feel from traditional to fantasy, and all gorgeously intricate.

 

My card uses a 6 x 6 inch scalloped card base, and I layered some freebie papers onto white American Crafts cardstock and coloured a cute Mo Manning image to match.  I used the classic French Pastry Doily die, and added a strip from the Mesh Border die chopped down to size to make it narrower, and edged at the top with a strip from the Expandable Tiny Border dies.  The bottom part of the mesh strip is finished off with some red gingham ribbon and the Lady Kate Edger border tucked underneath to make a sweet frilly panel.

 

The flowers were so quick and simple using the Daisy Strip and look really bright topped off with red card candi.  The digi-sentiment was cut out with one of the lovely sentiment frames and I added a couple of red brads, pearls and a charm to finish.

 

All dies uses on this card are:

 

B259 - Daisy Strip

DL102 - French Pastry Doily

B254 - Mesh Border

B215 - Expandable Tiny Borders

B189 - Sentiment Frame

B278 - Lady Kate Edger

CM-2 - Card Maker Scalloped Rectangle

 

I hope you find time to join in this week and you still have lots of time to enter.  Dont forget there is always fresh daily inspiration from the rest of the talented DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog.

 

Have a smashing week, and thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheery Lynn Designs - Make Your Own Flowers

  

Good Morning fellow crafters and bloggers! :)  Well yesterday was a beautiful spring day here in Scotland, and I am sooooo ready for some sunshine!

 

My card today was featured in a recent issue of  Scrap & Stamp Arts Magazine showcasing the versatility of Cheery Lynn Dies, and in particular creating your own flowers.  This fits in with our new challenge theme this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs and what better excuse to add a little spring and summer to your projects than with some pretty hand-made paper blooms.

 

This card is 8 x 8 inches (so quite a big size) and I hand-stitched and layered K&Co papers onto some 300gsm cream cardstock.  The image is matted onto 2 layers of the gorgeous Italian Flourish Doily die with the back layer cut in half and elongated to create a different look.  I then added a couple of strips of my favourite Lace Light Deco Border and some beautiful butterflies before creating and arranging the floral spray.

 

 

 

As you can see I made some really pretty and very delicate Carnations using lots of layers of pearly apricot paper.  This paper was almost tissue thin and so was really quick to cut lots of layers and to scrunch up in a carnation shape.  I think there are approximately 20 - 25 petals to each flower and they are backed with a couple of layers of the Sweet Williams die to make them look really full and rounded.  I used a brad to hold the layers together and once assembled I coloured in some lines to give a variegated effect to the petals.

 

I created the fringey flowers using BAF#1 and the tiny buttercups were from the Embellishment set.  The cute image is the gorgeous Dandelion Clock - one of my favourite LOTV stamps ever!  :)

 

I finally added some leaves, pearls, pearl brad, and an organza bow with a charm for a finishing touch.

 

All dies used on this project are:

 

DL103 - Italian Flourish Doily

B133 - Lace Light Deco Border

DL113AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #2

DL112AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #1

D138 - Mini Dimensional Butterflies

L4 - Classic Silver Stackers

XL5 - Scalloped Circle Stackers

B178 - Flourish Leaf Strip

Olive Branches

B181 - Build a Flower #1 - Stamen/Fringe Flowers

B187 - Build a Flower #2 - Carnation Petals and Leaves

B188 - Embellishment #2 - Buttercups and tiny centres

D137 - Sweet Williams

 

 

I hope you find time to join us this week as I love to see hand-made flowers, and you still have plenty of time left to enter.  Dont forget there is also gorgeous, and fresh inspiration daily from the rest of the talented DT over on our Cheery Lynn Desings Inspiration Blog.

 

I would like to enter this card in the below competitions:

 

Lili's Little Fairies - Butterflies

Lili of the Valley - Birthday Celebration & Facebook

Bunny Zoe's Challenge - Flowers and Pearls (2nd Entry)

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

I ♥ Promarkers - Lace &/or Pearls

Crafts & Me - Dies or Punches

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and have a smashing week!

 

 

 

Sweet Stampin - Special Lady/Mothers Day

Good Morning, and Happy Weekend! :)

My card today is for our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin, where this week our theme is 'Mothers Day or Special Lady', so a cracking chance to get out those girly stamps, papers and embellies!  We are sponsored this week by

 

HobbyCutz

 

 

 

and our Monthly sponsor is

 

The Ribbon Girl.

 

 

The DT were all sent some fabby laser-cut embellishments from Hobbycutz to play with (Thank you so much Kobie!)  and I have to say I loved mine!  The toughest choice was deciding which ones to use :) 

 

I decided to keep this card relatively simple and just layered some gorgeous DoCrafts Vintage Notes papers (Thanks Nic!:) ) onto Kraft card and added Memory Box dies and mini doily dies by Cheery Lynn.

 

Now the image, well......... 'Dont look Ethel - as my mum used to say!' lol.  This little cutie was the 2nd image I tried to colour with DI's last weekend and again, it ended up in the bin. I am finding DI's a real learning curve!   Hubby fished this out of the fireplace and said,

 

'Well its not perfect, but its not that bad either',

 

. . . . . so there you are, I have used it!  Anyway, we cant all be perfect at everything - :D LOL! Definately more practise on these methinks ;)

 

I hope you find time to join us this week, and thanks so much for visiting my blog today - have a smashing weekend!

 

 

Ooops! - Not a Square Card in Sight!

 

 

Hi and Good Morning :)

 

Well our new challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs is 'Shaped Card - Anything But Square', however I got carried away in the moment and ended up making an entire Keepsake Gift Box! lol.  As always the lucky winner will receive a $20 voucher to spend online at the Cheery Lynn Store, so well worth playing along.

 

Now, one of the things I love about papercrafting and especially die-cutting the most is how you can start off with just a few sheets of flat card and paper, and end up with something totally 3 dimensional and created all by hand.  This box did take me quite a bit of time, but I enjoyed every minute of it. :)

 

I used 300gsm Ivory Pearl Centura card and 3 sheets of First Edition 12" x 12" papers to create this box, and all dies were cut with this too.

 

 

 

First of all I constructed a basic shape rectangle box, (approx 6 x 9 inches and 1" in depth) and covered the sides with paper and the Lace Light Deco Border.  I then sandwiched the box between 2 Horizon Coved Reflection Die cuts to decorate the box lid and base.  The reflection dies are so versatile you can adapt to almost any size - they are brilliant!

 

I then layered smaller coved rectangles, scalloped coved rectangles and the Chasing Rainbows Doily in alternate layers of card and paper, before decorating with flourishes, butterflies and flowers. I inked all the edges in walnut stain DI, added pearls, a pearl pin, wooden embellishments and ribbon, and finally sprinkled some glitter for a bit of sparkle. 

 

Details of the dies for different flowers are listed below.

 

 

All dies used on this project are:

 

DL193 - Horizon Coved Reflections

XL 11 - Scalloped Coved Rectangle

L10 - Coved Rectangle Stacker

B161 - Lace Corner Deco A - tucked behind the reflection die in the corner.

B133 - Lace Light Deco Border

B117s - Mini Flourish

DL229 - Chasing Rainbows Doily

DL128 - 2 of Hearts - layered with foam pads for dimension

B155 - Large Rose

B154 - Medium Rose

B152 - Miniature Rose

B147 - Olive Branches - Green leaves tucked behind the flowers

B256 - Cutie Fringe II  - Larger Fringed Flower

B258 - Cutie Fringe IV - Smaller Fringed Flower

DL112AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #1

DL113AB - Small Exotic Butterflies #2

B218 - Love

B188 - Build a Flower Embellishment #2 - Buttercups

B181A - Build A Flower Embellishment #1 - Small Fringey Flowers

B187 - Build a Flower #2 - Carnation

 

I hope you find time to join us this week, and I look foward to seeing your entries.  Dont forget there is also fresh inspiration daily over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog.

 

I would like to enter my gift box in the below competitions:

 

D2D4 - Flower Power

Divas By Design - Fancy Folds

My Mums Craft Shop - Love/Valentines

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Flowers & Pearls

 

Have a smashing week and thanks so much for visiting today.

 

 



Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Snowflakes

 

Morning :) 

 

First of all a moan........ yesterday we had so much snow, and it fell heavy all day long.  Poor hubby got taken off the road by a gritter (which wasnt even gritting!) and its written our car off :(  Luckily no one was hurt, but it took him hours to get home, and now we have all the kerfuffle and rigmarole (Keith Lemon brought this word back into my vocabulary - lol)  of sorting out insurance, claims and a new car! Tut and Bah!

 

Anyway, my card today is for our new challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin, where this month our theme is Snowflakes!  Our fabby sponsor is Funky Kits and they are giving the lucky winner 2 Gorjuss Girl stamps so a brilliant prize!

 

Now I would like to say this was my first attempt at colouring an image with DI re-inkers, but it wasnt - it was about the 8th attempt! LOL :)  But it is my first card made using them in this way though.  They will take a bit of practice I can see that now, and I think I need better brushes too.   The colours on this look much less dodgy IRL, but I am having a few probs with my wee digi-camera.

 

I stitched  MME papers onto cream DCWV card and used 2 different MS snowflake punches.  The dies are a mix of Cheery Lynn (tags) Marianne and spellbinders.  The laser cut snowflake was from very old stash and the wooden snowflakes were from Countryview Crafts.

 

Thanks so much for checking out my blog today, take care,  and I will catch you later :)

 

Ooh, I've been published! :)

Hi and Good Morning :)

I have been bursting to share this! :D lol.  My card today was recently featured in the 'Cutting Edge article in 'Scrap & Stamp Art Magazine', and I was so chuffed and proud when I found out it had been chosen. 

I thought it fitted this weeks theme of 'Frame It' over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge perfectly too as it uses one of my favourite frame dies - Polynesian Sails Oval. 

 

I started off with a 6 x 6 inch Kraft Card base and stitched and layered MME Paris & Co papers.  I framed this fun Lili of the Valley image with the top part of the Polynesian Sails die and used the matching Angel Wing to create the backing in Kraft card.  The border is the brilliant Pennant Die which I cut twice, once in Kraft and layered a 2nd cut in paper for contrast.  The embossing on this die is perfect and always comes out superb. 

 

I made the variety of flowers using a mix of Build A Flower dies and the larger tatty flower is BAF #2. I then added the tiny flowers using the Buttercups in Embellishment #2 set, and finished the card off with some pearls and pearly brads.

 

The corner metal embellishement was hand-made by me on a wire jig and the pins were hand-made by my blogging buddy Karen.  I printed the sentiment on my pc.

 

All dies used on this card are:

 

D103 - Pennant Die

DL153 - Polynesian Sails Oval

DL153a - Polynesian Sail Angel Wing

Spikey Flowers - BAF#1 - B181 - Stamen

Shabby Flower - BAF#2 - B187 - Petals for the large shabby flower

Buttercups - Embellishment #2 - B188 - Stamen and Buttercups.

 

I hope you find time to join us again this week, you still have lots of time to enter.  Dont forget there is also daily inspiration from the rest of the talented DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration Blog.

 

I would like to enter this card in the below competitions;

 

I ♥ Promarkers - One for the Girls

Moving Along with the Times - Only Girls Allowed

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Flowers & Pearls

DTDF - Dieing for a Challenge - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

 

 

Have a smashing week and thanks so much for visiting today!

 

 

Joanna Sheen - Black & White

 

Hi and Good Morning :)

 

I hope everyone has managed to keep warm and dry this week!  Not sure what the weather has in store for us today, but yet again we have snow forecast.... zzzzz..  :) lol.

 

Anyway, my card today is for our new challenge over at Joanna Sheen, where this fortnight our theme is 'Black & White'.  This is such a classy colour combo, and looks really effective whether you are feeling CAS, artsy or cutesy!  As always the winner will get a fab £15 Joanna Sheen voucher to spend online, and a chance also to be our GDT.

 

I used an adorable digi image taken from the Daisy and Friends CD and just coloured lightly with Flexmarkers and PM's.   This was quite a quick card to make, as the dotty paper and the MS PATP seemed to almost finish the card themselves.  I added Memory Box and Cheery Lynn dies, and a few black gems for some bling.

 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and I will be endeavouring to catch up next week.  We have had my dads dog to stay for some housetraining recently, and 4 mad dogs running round my feet has not been condusive to blogging or crafting - LOL! :)