Vintage floral heart

Hello lovely people,

This past week I have not got a huge amount done, mainly because I have been glued to the Paralympics any chance I get; what amazing athletes and so many fantastically exciting events to watch.  Team GB also seem to be doing pretty well ;-)

I did drag myself away though to tell you about the new challenge at In The Pink and this time we have a photo inspiration for you...

There's loads to inspire you here from the gorgeous vintage style to all the pretty embellishments but don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Live and Love Crafts with a £10 voucher

I finally got around to decorating another MDF heart and it's just a dinky one at approximately 8cm square.  I painted just around the edges with white acrylic paint, then covered both the front and back with DP, sanded the edges and sponged a little ink round it.

I did the sentiment on my computer, using a well known quote and mixing up 2 fonts for what I hoped was a stylish look!

I cut all the flowers on my Cricut, so I could make lots of different sizes for variety, and of course, I had to add some pretty pearls and lace :-)

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

I hope your week is going well and you know the weekend is not far away now!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

DP: Scraps from various Maja Design collections (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Cut with Cricut (Create a Critter cartridge)
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Lace: 8mm 'Rebecca' ivory vintage style fine scallop lace - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Bloomers greenery - Taylored Expressions

Bottoms Up!

Hello lovely people,

I'm flying by today with a DT card for The Ribbon Girl and you can find a list of all the gorgeous products I used at the end of this post.

This design was entirely inspired by the cute new wine bottle charm and I knew I had the perfect large sentiment stamp to go with it.

I chose to give it a pretty vintage floral design...really just so I could use these totally scrummy papers!

Do you recognise the die?!  I used it recently and commented that it wasn't one I use much but I found a new way to use it by cutting it up and using it as a cool loopy detail tucked under the flowers :-)

Since it was the inspiration for the whole design, I thought I'd share a close up of the fab wine bottle charm.  Yes, it probably says something about me that I fell in love instantly with a wine bottle charm - lol!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

The Ribbon Girl products;
Pion Scent of Lavender 6x6 complete set of designer papers
45mm Eleanor white embroidered tulle lace
15mm Heliotrope No7 Berisford satin ribbon
Silver wine bottle charm
Ivory button twine
Lilac 10mm open roses

Other products;

Large sentiment: Statements (fabulous) - LOTV

Other flowers: from stash

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Twisted swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys

Make a wish

Hello lovely people,

*thump*
That was me coming back to Earth because I have actually been to work for the last 2 days!
I haven't quite finished my year off but thought it was a good idea to work a few days before going back properly just to get back into the swing of things.
So, I am working 2 days a week for 3 weeks before another 2 weeks off and then back to normal working - eeeek!

That is one reason I am later posting this than I intended, and the other is that I got a little distracted by the Olympics for the last couple of nights...well, it's all just too exciting!

I do have a project to share with you though, using some gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl and I was in my shabby chic place again when creating this.

This started off as a totally different design but it was not going well so I scrapped it and picked out this sentiment stamp, which led me to thinking about candles and before I knew it, I had completely snatched this card from the jaws of failure - yay!

The original design had some cheesecloth which didn't make the final cut, but I added some Frantage instead...still a good shabby chic staple!

The candles are simply rolls of paper with a teeny snippet of twine inside.  This is something I have done before but more as a focal point rather than an embellishment.
I think these are so super cute!

I hope your week is going well, whatever you may be up to :-)

Don't forget that there is a fab giveaway over on The Ribbon Girl blog and also 15% off the whole store to celebrate their 6th birthday...click on the pic below to go straight there and enjoy!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

The Ribbon Girl products;
Maja Design Vintage Spring Basics 6x6" paper pad
Irene lace (discontinued but Ivory Matilda still available)
Ivory button twine
Ivory 10mm open roses
Ivory 20mm open roses
Star charm
Bakers Divine twine (ivory/natural)

Other products;

Sentiment: Sentiments (fabulous) - LOTV

Other flowers: from stash
Frantage - Stampendous chunky white

Shabby chic with The Ribbon Girl

Hello lovely people,

This is a great weekend!

Reason #1 - I had a fab time with friends at a small beer festival yesterday; I do love to sample some real ales :-)

Reason #2 - I am soooooo very excited to announce that I am guesting on the DT this month at The Ribbon Girl!!

I get a guest badge and everything :-)

 I'll have a few projects to show you over the next couple of weeks and first up is my card for the new 'Any Image' challenge.

The Ribbon Girl now stock some utterly gorgeous DPs alongside the amazing selection of ribbon, lace and embellishments.  I have used some Lemoncraft papers, which are really pretty and they inspired the shabby chic style of my card.

I thought a spot of Inktense colouring was called for with to tie in with the lovely soft, vintage feel of the papers.

Thank you to a very special crafting buddy who gave me this stamp; it's one I had my eye on for a while and I totally adore it :-)

I've used a few goodies from The Ribbon Girl on here (listed below), all chosen to work with the shabby chic style.

The little stars were plain wooden ones before I coated them with white acrylic paint, crackle glaze and inked the edges.  It's not often I alter bits and bobs like this but I was rather chuffed with how these turned out :-)

The Ribbon Girl products;

House of roses 6x6 paper pad - Lemoncraft
Cosmos daisy flower, white
Aster, ivory

18mm cream zig zag cotton lace
Ivory button twine
Wooden star buttons

Other products;

Image: Tiny Townie Penelope has a pencil - Stamping Bella

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Other flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Embossing enamel: Stampendous Fran-tage, shabby white - from Live & Love Crafts

Inktense colours;
Skin: 1800 Baked Earth, 520 Carmine Pink, 1740 Saddle Brown
Hair: 1900 Willow, 1730 Oak, 2010 Sepia Ink
Dress / bow: 1600 Leaf green
Pencil: 530 Crimson, 600 Shiraz & 1900 Willow & 2100 Charcoal grey & 310 Mid Vermillion

That's 4 days of blogging in a row so thanks to you all for leaving me such lovely comments :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Floral romance

Hello lovely people,

I can't say I have been entirely as productive as I would like this week and my crafting mojo seems to be a little hit and miss right now.

I actually think I have too many ideas floating round in my head and can't quite decide what to do with myself!

A challenge can sometimes be a good way to get the mojo going and making something for the new challenge at As You Like It did get me focused, with our theme of...

YOUR FAVOURITE...
DIE
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Bunny Zoe's Crafts with a £10 voucher

I have to admit that my favourite die changes quite often depending on my mood but this is my current favourite because I got it really cheap after having my eye on it for ages.

This die is the largest from a set of heart dies and I think it looks gorgeous framing the sentiment.

Some pretty flowers and lace complete the romantic look and I have tucked in a few die cut heart stems too.

Card recipe;

Sentiment: Statements, congratulations (Discontinued) - LOTV 

DP: discontinued paper pad - Always and Forever, available as digi from Nitwit Collections

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Lace: Chantilly cotton lace (Jane) - Crafty Ribbons

Dies: Heart vines base, affections die set - Tonic Studios, Heart stems - Impression Obsession

While I had these dies out I challenged myself to make a few more cards with them so watch out for those over the next couple of days!

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Vintage layered wedding card

Hello lovely people,

Yes, I am still here!
Some of you may be forgiven for wondering where I have been and I'm sorry I haven't been visiting your blogs much of late but things are so hectic right now.
I have decided to stop beating myself up over it, get on track with everything else and hopefully I'll soon be able to get back to checking out all your lovely creations :-)

For now, it's time for a new challenge at As You Like It and our theme is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...LINE (from the bingo board)
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

This is the board and I have chosen fussy & fancy, lace and pearls, which is probably no surprise because you know how much I love to layer up pretty papers and details :-)

Our sponsor this time is Wild Orchid Crafts with a £12 voucher

I chose a vintage style layered design which enabled me to use a few new bits of stash, starting with the gorgeous DP and one of my new scallop dies.
I really like the combination of shaped layers on this design.

The flowers are also new and are a fab (and flatter!) alternative to my beloved 3D flowers.

Card recipe;
Sentiment: Statements (congratulations) - LOTV

DP: Vintage wedding - Pion Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Lace: Faye - The Ribbon Girl (unavailable but Astrid is the same design in cream)

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Large scalloped circles - Presscut, flowers (no name) - Joy! Crafts, Lavish branch - Memory Box, Beaded swirl flourish - Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

With love

Hello lovely people,

Eeeeeek, the Friday coursework deadline is fast approaching and I still have lots to do so it's just a quick post from me I'm afraid.

We have a brand new challenge for you at In The Pink and our theme this time is...

WITH LOVE
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Little Miss Muffet Stamps with a $6 voucher

I piled on the romance with this one using some of my all time fave Maja Design papers; they even come with cute sentiment strips along the bottom as a bonus :-)

This is another Tilda from my collection of Tildas that have never seen ink...well, at least the collection is smaller now!

Ooops, predictable Kat again with the flower, swirl, charm combo...but it looks so pretty I hope I can be excused!

Card recipe;

Image: Tilda with a big rose

DP: Coffee in the Arbour & Sofiero - both Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Lace: The Ribbon Girl but discontinued in white - ivory Matilda available

Dies: Heart swirl - Magnolia Dohickeys

Charm: Heart with side loop - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/37/59
Dress / shoes: RV32/34/R56
Pocket / rose: RV0000/000/32
Leaves: YG61/63/67
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Christmas angel

Hello lovely people,

It's December!  I have no decorations up, a grand total of 18 Christmas cards made and 2 presents bought - eek!
Ok, that last one is not really a problem as this year we decided not to do Christmas presents other than a small token gift if desired and that could be handmade.

Today, I am sharing one of the few Christmas cards that I have made and I have used lots of lovely LOTV products.

I recently got some larger size circle dies and knew they would pair well with my favourite fancy shaped base.



I think this little cutie is now discontinued...so sad as she is beautiful and really lovely to colour...I do love rich red against Kraft.

I kept the flower detail sweet and simple to complement the design.  I had a little restock of 'essentials' from Wild Orchid Crafts last week and popped a few new items in my basket too...the teeny little white flowers on here are my new favourites :-)

Card recipe;

Image: LOTV (discontinued)

DP: Krafty Christmas - LOTV

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Family sentiment tags - LOTV

Tag: Christmas sentiment tags - LOTV
Lace: Sylvie Chantilly cotton lace - Crafty Ribbons

Dies: Circle layering die set - Tonic Studios, Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: ??? (probably E51/55/57)
Cape / headband: R27/29/46/59
Wings / dress / candle holder / ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4
Candle: YR30/31/Y35/YR18
Stars: YR33/Y35

I know some of you will already have seen this on facebook but I am over the moon that I passed part 1 (of 3) of my prescribing course :-D
Now for part 2!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Winter warmth

Hello lovely people,

I have come to the conclusion that I need a time machine and then maybe, just maybe, I could be ready in time for Christmas ;-)

Ok, not going to happen so I'll just crack on with those Christmas cards and meanwhile...

..it's Creative Inspirations challenge time and this week we have the theme...

ANYTHING GOES
with the option to use a sketch

Here's a lovely new sketch for you, or you can use any of the sketches from the Creative Inspirations sketch page

Our sponsor for this challenge is Time for Tea Designs with a prize of 5 digis of the winner's choice

I have done my usual thing of using the sketch but tweaking it a little...so my embellishment cluster grew a little bit and also migrated over to the opposite corner!

The papers I chose are such soft pastels that I wanted to keep my colouring a little paler than normal, which I find quite tricky with Copics.  So, I just did one layer of each colour rather than my usual two layers and I think it does look a little softer.

I always find myself reaching for my little letter stamps when I want to personalise cards...although in this case 'Felicity' is entirely fictional and can be replaced with any other name as and when I need to!

Card recipe;

Image: Winter warmth - Time For Tea Designs

DP: Vintage frost basics - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Lace: Teresa - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Letter stamps: magazine freebie set

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E41/44/47
Coat / boots: R81/83/85
Hat / scarf / boots: B91/93/97
Hand warmer / pom poms: W00/1/3
Boot soles: W6/7/9
Ground: W00/0/1/2/3/4

The DT have made some gorgeous samples to inspire you so pop over to Creative Inspirations to take a look :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am entering;

My favourite colour

Hello lovely people,

This is an exciting day for me as I was asked to join the wonderful ladies at As You Like It and of course I said yes immediately!

This is a challenge I have enjoyed playing along with many times so I am delighted to be part of the team now :-)

My first challenge with the DT has the theme of...

YOUR FAVOURITE SINGLE COLOUR

We are sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps with a $20 voucher

If you know me at all you will know what my favourite colour is....
PINK of course!

Pink comes in so many lovely shades and just goes so well with the pretty, girly style of cards that I love to make.

It is also an essential for new baby girl cards!

I am totally in love with the Vintage baby papers from Maja Design and the little strips at the bottom of each sheet are so useful...you can see a bit of one I used here for the 'It's a Girl' banner.

I had been looking for some cute baby feet charms for a while and came across a fab selection pack of baby charms from The Hobby House; aren't these feet adorable?!

Card recipe;

Image: Congratulations sentiments - LOTV

DP: Vintage baby - Maja Designs (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Lace: Chantilly cotton lace (Jane) - Crafty Ribbons

Charm: Baby time mixed charm pack - The Hobby House

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It to check out the fabulous projects from the rest of the team and see what all our favourite colours are :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am entering;
Papertake Weekly (don't be a square)
Moving Along With The Times (baby baby)
Simon Says Stamp (get in shape)
Fab 'n' Funky (flower delights)