Lili's Little Fairies DT - and some exciting news!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another challenge this week with Lili's Little Fairies.  Thanks as always to everyone who rocked last week's challenge of All About The Boys - fabulous entries as always!
 

Now before we get onto this week's challenge we have a few bits of news ... so grab yourself a cuppa and a biscuit and settle down for the goss!!

Firstly ... we are waving farewell to Fairy Nanda this week. So sad to see her go and offer our biggest thanks for sharing all her wonderful work with us.

Also ... we have a Fairy Birthday today - Lorraine is 21 (again!) - Happy Birthday hun.

And now for our really exciting news .... Times change, and we Fairies are changing with them. This will be the last ever challenge as Lili's Little Fairies. No, please, don't be too sad ... read on.

We have had a fantastic time as LLF but it is time for a new start, so from next week (5 September), we are becoming Crafty Little Fairies, with a new look. We will soon be moving to a new blog address too, but we'll wait until you've found us with our new look for that!!
 

 

Something else new and, we think, very exciting - we are opening the challenge up to use images other than LOTV. So, you can still use your Lili's and we would love to see them, but you can also use other images too. How cool is that?! I am sure the Fairies will continue to share their love of Lili with you all but this does mean more of you will be able to join in the challenges with us.

So, we hope you are as excited about all this as we are - see you next week for the first ever Crafty Little Fairies Challenge!

And so to this week's challenge - it is the turn of Team B and our theme is
 

No Flowers

 

And our lovely sponsor this week is Natali from Iva Nova Chest with a goodie bag of loveliness.
 

Don't forget - this is the last Lili's Little Fairies challenge, so to be eligible for this yummy prize you will need to use a LotV image or die cut topper on your creation.

And because it is our last LLF challenge, the ladies at Lili have offered us not one, but TWO £10 prize vouchers, as a good luck in our new venture.

Thank you Anne and LOTV xx
(the winners of these vouchers will be drawn by Random Number Generator)

 

The rest of the DT has made some wonderful examples to inspire you - here is my card for this week.
 

A card with no flowers suggested immediately to me a Christmas card - goodness knows I've made few enough so far this year!! So here's James the Bear ... and way hay!! my brand new LotV James the Bear Christmas stamps were waiting for me when I arrived home from work this evening, so I hope I'll soon have time to play with them! Not that I could ever ignore this darling stamp - it is one of my favourites!

Stamp: LotV "James Bear - In The Snow";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on James's hat and liquid pearls on the snowflakes;

Papers: Docrafts "Tilly Daydream";

Supplies: gems by Papermania; ribbon from The Ribbon Box; peel off greeting from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake Corner" die; Joy Crafts snowflake die.

Challenges:

Sketch 'n' Stash #120 - Sketch

Papertake Weekly - Sketchie Free For All

(sketch rotated to the left)

Lili of the Valley - Make it Festive

Crafty Boots - Christmas In August

Ooh La La - Inspired By A Song

("I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas")

Crazy 4 Challenges #200 - Animals

Ready-Teddy-Go #25 - Die Cuts & Punches

Creatalicious #54 - For The Boys

Pile It On #34 - Designer Paper

Cutie Pie #51 - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays #135 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Well that's all for today. Hope you can join us this week for the last ever Lili's Little Fairies challenge ... and will still be with us next week when we become Crafty Little Fairies.

Hugs,

Hello Cupcake!

 

Hi everyone - hope you are enjoying the long weekend if you're here in the UK.

 

Now I would be the first to admit that I'm no cook (luckily my darling husband can cook so we don't starve!) and nor have I ever been interested in baking. However for some bizarre reason, since my mum passed away I have started to have a strange urge to bake something ... and specifically cupcakes! This first came over me about three weeks ago - I didn't even own much in the way of baking equipment, so I spent about two weeks looking around the supermarkets and one or two specialist shops in order to get the necessary bits and pieces together. Having got that far I had a bit of a delay as I had a rotten cold for a week and a half, but last week I finally got down to business and made my first ever cupcakes - vanilla with raspberry buttercream icing.

 

So today I thought I would celebrate this success (I took a few in for my colleagues and they seemed to go down well) with a pic of the cakes, and a card to match :-)

 

First ... the cupcakes ....

 

I made them in rather large cupcake cases so the recipe for 12 only made 7 lol! (and I had to sample one to make sure they were cooked before icing!!)

 

 

The icing is a bit amateurish as it was rather soft for piping so I lost all control of my piping bag, but hey they still tasted the same!!

 

And now here is the card I made.

 

 

I just love this adorable image - I just hope that people will continue to reach their hands out eagerly for any future cupcakes I might make!!

 

 

Stamps: LotV "Hello Cupcake"  and "Sentiment Tags"; Penny Black sentiment from "Bubbly" transparent set;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; "Shabby White" frantage in image and paper;

Paper: Docrafts "Vintage Notes";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from Hobbycraft; heart pearls from The Hobby House; lace from John Lewis; rose printed ribbon and doily from my stash.

  

 

Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #171 - Sketch

 

 

Shabby Tea Room #181 - Picture Inspiration + Flowers and a Tea Theme

 

 

Crafty Creations #236 - Shabby Chic

Papertake Weekly - Flower Power

Crafting For All Seasons #59 - Tag It!

Totally Papercrafts #181 - Tags & Hearts

Gem of A Challenge #94 - Anything With a B

(Bow)

Totally Gorjuss #198 - Bows

Bunny Zoe's Challenge (August) - Bingo!

(tag / sparkle / flowers)

Crafty Ribbons #58 - Anything Goes With Ribbon

 

 

That's all for today ... back to the Christmas cards now ... and maybe I'll bake a few more cupcakes ... :-)

 

Hugs,

Holy Light

 

Good evening everyone - here's a card that I made yesterday with another of my new LotV Christmas stamps - "Holy Light". How cute is this little angel??

 

 

I decided to go with a more traditional colour scheme for this one, and found some yummy vintage-style papers lurking deep in my stash.

 

Stamps: LotV "Holy Light" and "Christmas Grungy Sentiments";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; matting distressed with Brilliance pearlescent ivy ink;

Papers: Papermania "Silent night";

Supplies: Papermania "Vintage Notes" lace; pearls from The Hobby House and Basic Grey; cheesecloth from The Ribbon Girl;

Tools: Decorative Labels Eight nestabilities; Marianne D "Poinsetta Straight" die; Cheery Lynn "Holly Flourish" die.

 

 

Challenges:

Passion For Promarkers #211 - Sketch

 

Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge (August) - Red

Winter Wonderland - Red & Green Should Be Seen

ABC Christmas - P is for Anything Beginning With P

(Poinsetta, Pearls)

OSCC #239 - Add Stripes

Penny's Paper Crafty #140 - Lace &/or Ribbon

A Gem Of A Challenge #93 - Punch It Out

Our Creative Corner - Words, Words, Words

Allsorts #220 - Use your New Stash (2nd entry)

 

 Oh well ... another weekend over - thanks for visiting today.

Hugs,

Snow Family

 

Good afternoon everyone - at last the weekend is here again and opportunity for a bit of crafty time. The weather here in Liverpool is absolutely atrocious today with heavy rain, so all the more reason to stay indoors and play with my newest crafty stash.

 

I ordered a couple of the latest lotV Chrimbo stamps recently, and also treated myself to a couple more new Joy Crafts dies in the shape of a couple of snowflakes. I decided to go for a monochrome theme as that fits a couple of challenges at the moment - this is what I made.

 

 

Stamps: LotV "Snow Family" and "Christmas Grungy Sentiments";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; liquid pearls on the snowflakes and Stickles on the groud and snow children's hats :-);

Papers: LotV "Krafty Christmas";

Supplies: gems by Papermania; sparkly snow pearls and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Frostyville Border" die; Joy Crafts "Winter Wishes" snowflake dies.

 

 

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley (August) - Make It Festive

Crimbo Crackers #48 - It's Snow Business

Divas By Design - Christmas In August

CRAFT #220 - Christmas

Creative Inspirations #227 - Monochromatic

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Monochromatic

Dream Valley #63 - Monochrome

Allsorts #220 - Use Your New Stash

Totally Gorjuss #197 - Die Cuts & Punches

Charisma #32 - Ice Cream Flavours

(coffee and vanilla)

 

That's all for today ... I guess the Chrimbo cardmaking will be starting to ramp up from now on :-)

 

Have a great weekend, whatever the weather's doing.

Hugs,



Lili's Little Fairies Challenge - Vintage / Shabby Chic



Good morning everyone and welcome once more to the latest Lili's Little Fairies challenge. I'd like to start by thanking everyone who left me kind messages and good wishes last fortnight following from my post about my mum passing away ... of course it is still very new,  but things are settling down now a little.

Thanks also to everyone who entered last week's challenge - gorgeous projects as always - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won our prize.

This week our challenge theme is
 

Vintage / Shabby Chic

 

As the DT have perfectly demonstrated, there are numerous ways you can interpret this very fashionable theme with your LotV stamps and/or die cut toppers ... don't forget you need to use a LotV stamp or die cut topper - and please no backlinking!

So here is my vintage / shabby chic creation.

This is a special card that I made for my friend Julie at work, who has suddenly found herself to be "fabulous at fifty"!!  I deliberately wanted to combine a "vintage" look with a very feminine card, so this challenge theme was perfect for me this time !! :-)

I recently bought the "handbags" stamp from the "Pretty Vintage" release and it hadn't seen ink yet, so I though now was the time! I was also able to bring into play my yummy Maja "Sofiera" papers and throw around a bit of frantage and edging with my distressing tool.

Stamps: LotV "handbags" and "Everyday Grungy Sentiments";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stampendous shabby pink frantage embossing powder;

Papers: Maja Designs "Sofiera";

Supplies: flowers mostly from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; lace from John Lewis;  ribbon from my stash;

Tools: "floral ovals" nestabilities; Joy Crafts "vintage flourishes" butterfly die; Magnolia Doohickey "heart branch swirl" die; numbers cut using Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet.

Challenges:

Papercrafting Journey - Distressed / Vintage

Stamping Sensations (August) - Wings & Things and a Touch of Vintage

Live & Love Crafts #14 - Warm or Cool Colours

(I have chosen cool colours)

Papertake Weekly - Occasion-ally

Simon Says (Monday) - Make The Cut

OSCC #238 - Pastel Colours

Fussy & Fancy Friday #95 - Bingo Board

(pearls / free / lace)

Southern Girls - Things beginning With F

(Flowers, Frantage, Fifty)

Bearly Mine #99 - Anything Goes

 

That's all for today - looking forwards to seeing your creations for the Lili's Little Fairies challenge!

Hugs,

90 Years Young!

 

My uncle Bill is going to be 90 this coming Saturday - wow, what an achievement!! It's good to have a happy family occasion after all our recent sadness, and hopefully it gives my dad something to look forward to (Uncile Bill is his brother) ... So in honour of this auspicious occasion I just had to make a card for him ... and here it is.

 

 

I decided to go with a fairly vintage look on account of the occasion, so I used a LotV vintage boy image, went with fairly rich vintage colours, and distressed all my  paper edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool.

 

Image: LotV  Sketch Pad 1 "Vintage Boys";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; image edge distressed with TH "tea dye" distress ink;

Papers: LotV "Country Gent" and "Country Lady";

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; hessian ribbon from The Ribbon Girl; sentiment from LotV Art Pad 8; gingham ribbon from my local craft shop Edwin Allen; peel off numbers from my stash;

Tools: La La lands "Heart Banner" and "Filigree Corner" dies; Tim Holtz distressing tool on all paper edges.

 

 

Challenges:

The Ribbon Girl (August) - Birthday Card

Corrosive #180 - It's Only A Number

Oldie But A Goodie - Boys/Male

(papers, pearls and peels offs more than 6 months old)

Creative Card Crew #42 - Banner / Pennant

Heck Of A Challenge (August) - Summer Holidays

Sparkles #46 - Autumn Colours

Creatalicious #53 - I ♥ My Pet!

Creative Inspirations #226 - Something Old, Something New

(old - peel offs, new - heart banner die)

Totally Gorjuss #195 - Anything Goes With Pearls

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

 

Well that's all for today .. thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Bright & Sunny

 

Good evening everyone, and a rather belated welcome from me to this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Sorry to say that following recent events I'm still a bit at sixes and sevens, so I only managed to make my card this afternoon. So straight to business ...

 

Thanks to everyone who entered last month's challenge - sorry I didn't do any commenting last month due to obvious reasons, but I'm sure all our entries were wonderful as always! Don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if youa re a winner.

 

This month our entry is in tune with the season, and so apt for the recent weather we have been having ... it is

 

Bright & Sunny

 

You can interpret this however you like, so long as you use a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as the focus of your project.

 

This month we have two lovely prizes on offer:

 

 

and

 

$20 store voucher.

 

Don't forget to check out the sun-tastic creations by the rest of the DT - here is my rather belated effort.

 

 

Stamps: Penny Black "Sweet Catch" (3832K); LotV "Grungy Everyday Sentiments";

Media: Promarkers;

Papers: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; gems from Hobbycraft; lace from The Ribbon Box;

Tools: Labels Four nestabilities; Joy Crafts "vintage flourishes" butterfly die.

 

 

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday #270 - Sketch (rotated by 90 degrees)

 

 

My Mum's #8 - Summer Sun

Creative Belli #175 - Summer

Dream Valley #62 - Summer Days

Simon Says (Monday) - Ode To Sunshine

Crafty Boots - Animals

Papercrafting Journey - Punches &/or Die Cuts

Cute Card Thursday #280 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (August) - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

 

 

That's all for today - thanks for visiting, and hope you can join in with this month's challenge.

Hugs,

A Sad Heart

It is with a very sad heart that I am posting today for the first time in 3 1/2 weeks. I have been away from blogland for that time because my dear mum passed away on Saturday 13th July after a long battle with cancer.

 

She first had cancer in 1999, but this illness had dated from 2007 and had been particularly traumatic and disressing because it was maxilo-facial cancer which required extensive and intrusive facial surgery. Despite having a lot of problems from the time of her surgery in 2007/8 mum battled on with incredible bravery - she was diagnosed as being terminally ill in summer 2008 but five more years were able to pass by where she was still with us.  However in May this year the specialists said it had returned and was untreatable, and since then she had a couple of hospice visits and grew increasingly weak. In the end mum deteriorated very suddenly and quickly which was merciful, and passed away in her local hospice where she had received fantastic care from the dedicated staff.

A few people who know me have sent some wonderful messages of support, though I haven't really felt up to posting until now. I have set up  the Jean Miles Tribute Fund in mum's memory to raise funds for the wonderful work of Ashgate Hospice where she was cared for - if anyone would like to show their support you can donate by:

•  go to the Ashgate Hospice - In Memory Giving page,
• click on "Donate securely with justgiving",
• make your donation with a comment that you would like to donate to the Jean Miles Tribute Fund.

I still can't face going back to work although I plan to return in the next few days. However, today I thought I had better look to the future and try to dip my toe into cardmaking once more ... mum always loved the cards I made. So here I am with my first card for soooo long ... and it is my DT card for this week's Lili's Little Fairies Challenge.

This week our challenge for Lili's Little Fairies is

Here Come The Girls

... so we would like to see your LotV images or die cut toppers of little girls, fairies or female bears.

 

We are sponsored by Crafty Ribbons with a £10 gift voucher.

 

Please check out the main blog for the fab girly-whirly creations from the rest of the team... here's my effort.

 

Stamps: LotV "Flower Fairy" and "Everyday Grungy Sentiments";

Media: image coloured with promarkers and Flexmarkers; edges of image distressed wtih "Milled Lavender" distress ink; image also sprinkled with "Shabby White" frantage embossing powder. and glamour dust on fairy wings;

Papers: LotV "Promises";

Supplies: flowers and lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from John Lewis; wooden butterfly shape (covered in frantage) from my stash;

Tools: "Floral Ovals" nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "heart swirl branch" die; La La Crafts "Filigree Corner" die (also covered in frantage).

 

 

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Sketch

 

 

Sentimental Sundays #165 - Anything With Wings

OSCC #236 - Add Flowers & Ribbon

Totally Papercrafts #177 - Use Lace

Whimsy #61 - Ribbon & Lace (2nd entry)

Papercrafting Journey - Punches &/or Die Cuts

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays # 131 - Anything Goes

 Creative Creations #15 - Anything Goes

 

 

That's all for today. As I start to settle down to what I guess is now going to be my new normality, I hope to be back before too long with more cards .. and I look forward to seeing your entries for this week's Lili's Little Fairies Challenge.

 

Hugs,