LotV Candy Winner

Good morning all, and hope you are enjoying the weekend.

 

Many apologies to my visitors that I have been rather a long time in posting the winner of my birthday candy, but I have had a lot going on in real life which has rather made me put crafting and blogging to one side for the time being.

 

Anyways .. thanks very much to everyone who entered, and at last have a winner ....

 

 

... and that's you Lorraine B.

 

Please send me an email with your postal address, and I'll order the voucher to be delivered to you as soon as possible :-)

 

I hope to be back before too long with a card.

Hugs,

Birthday Blog Candy!

This is a sticky - please scroll down for more recent posts.

Good morning everyone and welcome to the weekend. Hope the sun is shining where you are and it's not too cold.

 

Next Saturday (4th May) is my birthday, so I thought it was about time for a bit of blog candy :-).

 

Here's what's on offer -
 £20 online store voucher for Lili of the Valley.

 

 

So what do you need to do to get your mitts on this yummy giveaway??

 

Just post about this candy on your blog (sidebar is fine), with a link back to this  post; and leave your name in Mr Linky below.

 

If you want to you can also now follow me on Twitter  (link in my sidebar) :-) .. and even tweet about my candy if you fancy!

 

Please feel free to become a follower of this blog if you like my work, but it's not a requirement ... only join if you think you'll stay after the candy draw is over.

 

No candy only blogs please - these will be deleted.

 

This candy will stay open for 2 weeks until midnight UK time (BST) on Saturday 11th May. I will then draw a random winner from the Mr Linky entries.

 

Good luck!!

Penny Black Saturday May Challenge - Anything Goes

 

Good morning Penny Black lovers, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Monthly Challenge.

 

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last month's sketch challenge - we really enjoyed looking at all your wonderful entries! Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won any of our prizes.

 

This month we have the easy-peasiest theme possible, yes it's

 

Anything Goes

 

To be eligible for any of our prizes all you need to do is use a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project .. and this month our prizes are

 

 

 

 

 

 

$20 online store voucher!

 

The DT have been working hard to create some wonderful inspiration cards - here is mine for this month.

 

 

I went in a slightly unusual direction with this card, as I coloured the image with Marvey watercolour markers rather than stamping with black ink and then colouring in with my alcohol markers. I was quite pleased at the time, but then I fell into the classic trap where I just couldn't leave it alone!!

 

When the card was almost complete I decided to add sparkle to the flowers ... normally I do this with a glue pen and glamour dust, but as the card was already assembled I decided to pop some Stickles straight onto the flower centres. I must have been overtired as I completely overlooked the fact that this would make the water-based ink run ... and sure enough that's what happened!!

 

Luckily it is flower centres so I could argue the impressionistic smudging is a "feature" - well it was so late by this time that the card just had to stand, as I definitely had no time to make another one!

 

 

Stamps: Penny Black "fanfare" (3946K);LotV "Everyday Grungy Messages";

Media: Marvey watercolour pens;

Papers: LotV "promises";

Supplies: flowers various, mostly Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from The Ribbon Girl; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: Martha Stewart "doily lace" PATP punches; Magnolia Doohickey "heart swirl branch".

 

 

Challenges:

Live & Love #11 - 50 Shades of Lilac!

Simon Says - Happy Mail!

Stampin' For The Weekend - Die Cuts &/or Punches

ABC - M is for Make it Sparkle

Southern Girls #68 - You Can Say That Again!

Bearly Mine #84 - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays #118 - Anything Goes

 Fussy & Fancy Friday #88 - Anything Goes

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes

 

Hope you can join us this moonth - can't wait to see your creations.

 

Don't forget you have still time to enter my Birthday Blog candy of a £20 LotV voucher, which is running until May 11th - go here to enter.

 

Hugs,

Lili's Little Fairies DT - inspiration picture

 

Hi there Lili lovers, and welcome to another Lili's Little Fairies Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in the Seeing Double challenge last week - fantastic entries as always.

 

This week Team B is hosting the challenge, and our theme is an absolutely gorgeous inspiration picture.

 

 

Looking at that you could almost be forgiven for starting to think about spring!

 

The rest of the DT have produced some beautiful inspiration cards - here is what I did.

 

 

I was really helped with this one by the fact that I managed to secure a little freebie piece of heather, as I outlined in my previous post here.  I decided to go for this absolutely darling teddy image watering the flowers, and of course had to include a bit of fencing in line with the pic!!  :-)

 

 

Stamps: LotV "Watering The Flowers" and "Everyday Grungy Messages";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Paper: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: flowers form Wild Orchid Crafts apart from heather - from Edwin Allen craft shop; gems by Papermania;

Tools: Fleur-de-Lys Square nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "Lovely Fence" die; X-Cut small butterfly punch.

 

 

Challenges:

Kaboodle #168 - Spring

Creative Belli #168 - Spring

Crafty Calendar (April) - Sunshine & Showers

(Sunshine in sentiment and shower of water from watering can)

Whimsy #58 - Pretty In Pink

Passion For Promarkers #195 - Animals

Stamp With Stampavie #192 - Lots Of Die Cuts

I ♥ Promarkers #165 - A Square Card With Something Round On It

(gems)

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Colour

(Promarker and Flexmarker)

Party Time Tuesdays #177 - Tic-Tac-Toe

(glitter, flowers, die cuts)

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Penny's #124 - Anything Goes

 

 

Really looking forward to seeing your creations this week.

Wishing You Luck and Love in All You Do

Good morning ... just a very quick post from me as I have just realised one of the challenges that I particularly wanted to enter with this card (Cheery Lynn) closes in 2 hours ... so please excuse the terrible articially-lit picture - I'll post some decent photographs tomorrow!!

Edited: updated to add daylight pics :-)

This card is for a friend of mine who has taken volunatary redundancy from her job ... I thought the sentiment was perfect for this rather specific occasion!!  I also got lucky 'cos I was looking for some paper heather for this and for another card ... and my local craft shop Edwin Allen had a single sprig in their tray (it should have been a bunch) ... when I asked if they had any more the lady retrieved a couple more sprigs from sample cards in the shop and let me have them for free - so that's my recycled element!!

Stamps: LotV "Fairies - On Tiptoe" and "Everyday Grungy messages";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Promises";

Supplies: flowers mostly from Wild Orchid Crafts, except purple cherry blossom from Hobbycraft and purple heather which was a freebie from my local craft shop Edwin Allen :-); ribbon from Hobbycraft; lace from John Lewis; pearls and button from The Hobby House ; wooden butterfly from my stash;

Tools: small, large and classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "lace corner deco B" die.

Challenges:

Dream Valley #55 - Things With Wings

MAWTT - Fantasy & Fairies

Joanna Sheen - Recycle  (heather)

Crafty Boots - Recycle

Passion For Promarkers #194 - Button It Up!

Southern Girls - Button Up
ABC - L is for Lovely Lace

Cheery Lynn #76 - Pretty In Purple

Stamping Sensations (April) - Special Occasions

Corrosive #172 - Life's Special Occasions

That's all for today - thanks for visiting.
Hugs, 

Bella Bouquet

Good afternoon everyone. Here's a simple card I made using a gorgeous new Memory  Box die which came into stock in my local craft shop - I just so love these dies, and I had to have it!!  This card was driven by the this week's Crafting For All Seasons challenge to make a card without using stamps - this one is made entirely with die cuts.

 

Paper: LotV "Bonnets & Bowties";

Supplies: Papermania gems, ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Bella Bouquet" die; Floral Ovals nestabilities; La La Lands corner flourish die.; die cut sentiment from Cuttlebug Cut 'n' Emboss set.

 

Challenges:

Crafting For All Seasons #50 - No Stamps Allowed

Papertake Weekly - One Paper Taker

Paper Crafting Journey - Use A Sentiment

Crafts & Me #129 - Bling it Up!

Everybody-Art #232 - Bling

 

I definitely spoke to soon yesterday about the spring weather ... should have been off out this afternoon to get a bit of culture in at the Liverpool Maritime Museum and Tate Gallery, but given the rain is pelting down a d there is nowhere to park near there, I didn't want to be walking round after my sore throat an ear ache in soaking wet clothes! So, mission aborted - guess I'll have to stay in and craft instead ;-) ...

 

 'Til later :-)

Annabelle's Meadow

Good afternoon everyone - hope you're all enjoying the weekend. This is my first post for 9 days as I have been suffering from a distinct lack of mojo ... had a sore throat and raging earache this week so I've felt more like curling up in front of the TV after work rather than crafting! Anyhow I have eventually got myself slightly into gear, and here is a card.

 

 

not a great picture I'm afraid as everywhere in the house is either glaring sun (yippee!!) or in shadow ... the greens on this card are not really true but alas it's the best I can do!  I decided to have a go with this extremely pretty stamp "Annabelle's Meadow" by Wild Rose Studio, which was a freebie in this month's Quick Card Made Easy magazine.

 

 

 

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Annabelle's meadow" (free with issue 112 of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine); LotV "Everyday Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Perfect Pair";

Supplies: all flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; berries by Magnolia from The Glitterpot; pearls from The Hobby House; silky crush ribbon from The Ribbon Girl; doily from my stash;

Tools: martha Stewart "monarch butterfly" punch.

 

 

Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #152 - Sketch

 

Allsorts #203 - A Passion For Flowers

Bearly Mine #82 - Spring Flowers

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (April) - Blossoms & Bows (2nd entry)

Divas By Design - Butterflies and Birds

Oldie But A Goodie - Make It Girly

(sentiment stamp and pearls are over 6 months old)

Crafty Ribbons #43 - Pink & Green

Top Tip Tuesday #99 - Say It Isn't Sew! (non-machine sewing)

Live & Love #10 - Bingo! (pink, 2 papers, pearls)

 

That's all for today -  hope you're enjoying the long overdue spring weather we're having :-)

Hugs,

Lili's Little Fairies Team B Challenge - Clean & Simple

 

Good afternoon Lili lovers, and welcome to the latest Lili's Little Fairies Challenge. It's another challenge hosted by Team B - thanks to everyone who entered last week's Team A challenge :-)

 

Thanks once again to all our loyal supporters for sticking with us through our recent turmoil - our DT call has produced some fabulous applications and the new DT members are nearly finalised. And although we still don't have any challenge sponsors we are working on it ... so watch this space!!

 

In the meantime back to this week's challenge, and the theme is

 

Clean & Simple

 

So it's time to step away from the multiple flowers, ribbons, bows, lace trims, pearls, gems, butterflies, cheescloth, tulle, charms (phew!!) that we so often enthusiastically cover our cards with, and to leave a little clean space!!

 

The rest of the DT have made some fabulous samples as always - here is my effort.

 

 

This is a birthday card I made for a male friend ... pretty easy to stay focussed on the CAS concept for a man's card !!

 

I also kept the colours fairly clean and simple, as I had been dying to have a go at colouring this stamp in monochrome shades - I just coloured the furry dice to match the paper :-)

 

Stamps: LotV "Mini Bear" and "Everyday Tags";

Media: Promarkers;

Paper: from my stash;

Supplies: pearls by The Hobby House; adhesive stitched ribbon from my stash.

 

 

Challenges:

Stampavie & More #191 - For A Boy

Oldie But A Goodie - Transport

(old items are my ribbon and paper form stash)

Dream Valley #54 - Happy Birthday

Stamp With Fun #206 - Birthday

OSCC #223 - Birthdays

Gem Of A Challenge #74 - Animals

Bearly Mine #181 - Anything Goes

Ready Teddy Go #21 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #177 - Anything Goes

 Creative Inspirations #209 - Anything Goes

 

Look forward to seeing all your CAS creations.

 

Hugs,

Springing into Spring

 

Hi everyone - hope you are enjoying your week. At last!! - a bit of sun and some weak indications of springtime on its way .. yes I know it's still really cold, but hey the daffodils are finally out in the garden so hopefully warmer days will soon be here!

 

I felt enthused by the perkier weather and the prevalence of spring-themed challenges around to make a spring time card yesterday ... and I so enjoyed playing with an old Miss Anya image last week that I thought I would do another one. I don't actually own any Anya stamps but I do have a small stash of images sent to me back in the mists of time ... and I was drawn to this one of Miss Anya holding a basket of tulips - what could be more spring-like than that?? Teamed with a piece of LotV paper covered in what look like tulips to me, I was on a (spring) roll lol!

 

Stamps: Miss Anya; LotV Everyday Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Bonnets & Bowties";

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; berries by Magnolia (from The Glitterpot); heart gems from Hobbycraft; ribbon and doily from my stash;

Tools: decorative labels eight nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "Queen Anne's Lace" border die; Magnolia Doohickey "heart swirl branch".

 

 

Challenges:

 

I actually made this card following the sketch for Bearly Mine challenge - but then realised the challenge closed sooner than I thought and I'd missed it - doh!

 

Joanna Sheen - Spring into Spring

Corrosive #171 - Spring Fling

Allsorts #201 - Spring Has Sprung

Divas By Design - Spring Colours

Crafts & Me #127 - Spring Flowers

Penny Black at Allsorts (April) - Blossoms and Bows

Ribbon Girl Card Challenge (April) - Just Add Flowers

Crafty Creations #216 - Flowers or Fairies

Totally Papercrafts #161 - Birthday Girl in Pink

In The Pink #18 - Let's Fly Away (with pink)

Kaboodle #166 - Use Any Shade of Pink

I ♥ Promarkers #162 - What's Your Favourite Colour? (pink!)

Simon Says - Happy Birthday / Celebrate (2nd entry)

Cheery Lynn #75 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

 

 

Thanks for visiting today :-)

Hugs,

Penny Black Saturday - Sketch!

Good morning everyone and welcome to April's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Well - what a month it's been weather wise ... snow and freezing cold - Easter been and gone and still very little sign of spring! Despite all this we had some wonderful entries into last month's Spring Into Spring challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won a prize.

 

This month we've got a real treat for you - our lovely teamie Helen has produced a sketch .. and here it is.

 

 

Pretty versatile to work with, I'm sure you'll agree ... so we're really looking forwards to all your creations. Don't forget to be eligible for any of this month's prizes you just need to use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project.

 

This month we are sponsored by our fabulous regular sponsors

The Ribbon Girl

J&C Creations

1-2-3 Stitch

with a $20 store voucher.

 

the DT have produce a fabulous selection of samples for your inspiration - here's my interpretation of the sketch.

 

Stamps: Penny Black "Crossing Bridges!" (3206J); LotV "Everyday Grungy Messages";

Media: Copics and Promarkers;

Papers: LotV "Petal Fresh";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; wooden leaf and butterfly shapes from Windsor Crafts (gift from my friend Lil); pearls from The Hobby House; lace from John Lewis; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and classic scalloped circle nestabilities.

 

 

 Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #150 - Sketch

ABC - K is for Kraft

MAWTT - Let's Get Krafty

Creative Inspirations #208 - Let's Get Krafty

Shabby Tea Room #160 - Blue + Cream + Kraft + a Sentiment

Simon Says - Happy Birthday / Celebrate

Party Time Tuesday #114 - Ribbons & Blooms

Sweet Stampin' - Scallops

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

 

 

That's all for today - enjoy your weekend!

Hugs,