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,

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,

Fabulous Frantage - & 77 Years of Hurt ...

... are finally over as Andy Murray has lifted the Wimbledon Men's Singles trophy - woo hoo and congratulations ... a fantastic day for British sport!!

(picture from BBC Sport)

I have spent this afternoon glued to the TV ... Murray put us through it with those 3 missed match points, but what a brilliant result in the end, and Djokovic was a great opponent and gracious loser.

Somehow in amongst all that excitement I managed to make a card ... and it is something completely new and different for me. I have for some time been admiring the shabby chic/vintage look with frantage and have been keen to have a go ... so I ordered a few supplies from Live & Love Crafts which arrived (very promptly!) yesterday.

Here is my first effort - I stamped my image and sentiment in "London Fog" Memento rather than black to give a softer look, distressed all my paper edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool, liberally frantaged the papers and flowers, and did a bit of faux stitching.

I think I need more practice with the frantage (I think I went a bit mad!!) and I only have a certain selection of suitable embellishments to use with this vintage style; but we all have to start somewhere, and I'm not too displeased with this for a first attempt. I should mention also that the blue ribbon is nowhere near as bright as the photo suggests .. it is in fact almost the same shade as the tag!!

Stamps: Elusive Images;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers on flower; Stampendous "Shabby White" frantage embossing on papers and flowers;

Papers: Maja Designs "Sofiero" (from Live & Love Crafts);

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; large pearl brad, pearl gems and charm from The Hobby House; iridescent blue ribbon from The Ribbon Girl; pink twine by Papermania; pink ribbon, rose lace and pearl spray from my stash;

Tools: Magnolia Doohickey "vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Live & Love Crafts #13 - sketch

Sparkles #45 - Steampunk or Vintage (I have chosen vintage)

Charisma #26 - Lace

Whimsy #61 - Ribbon & Lace

Creative Romance - Ribbon or Twine

Ribbon Girl (July) - Add A Bow

Creative Craft #13 - Stitch in Time

Try It On Tuesday - Show Us Your Metal

ABC - Q Is For Quite A Few (lots of layers)

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Well I think that's enough excitement for me for today ... back to work tomorrow after a week's leave, so my excitement quotient will definitely be heading south :-(

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

Lili's Little Fairies DT - Peaches & Cream

Good morning Lili fans, and welcome to another Lili's Little Fairies Challenge. Once again it is team B's turn to host the challenge, and we hope you'll be able to join us this week. Thanks to everyone who joined in last week - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are the winner.

This week's challenge theme is

Peaches & Cream

Pretty or what??

I'm running late today, so please do check out the main challenge blog for details of this week's fabby prize and inspiration from the rest of the DT.

Here is my card for this week.

As you can see I've gone in a rather different direction for me, and certainly for LotV. I have had this stamp (which is meant to be a background stamp) in my collection for 2 or 3 years and never used it before, but this time it just somehow beckoned to me, helped by the fact that I didn't have a single piece of peach coloured paper in the house with which to make a cutie card!!

Stamps: LotV "Grunge Letter" and "Everyday Grungy messages";

Media: Tim Hotz "tea dye", " marigold" and "antique linen" distress inks;

Paper: Papermania "Vintage Notes";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; berries and cheesecloth fromThe Ribbon Girl; pearl hearts from The Hobby House; ribbon from Hobbycraft; doily, lace and pearl brad from my stash;

Tools: Simon Says "Meadow Rue" die.

Challenges:

Fab 'n' Funky #160 - Pastel Colours

Crafts & Me #122 - Dies or Punches

Simon Says Stamp & Show - The Stamp You Love ... But Don't Use

Crafty Ribbons #40 - Anything Goes With Ribbon

Divas By Design - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Bearly Mine #75 - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays #109 - Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy #38 - Anything Goes

Last but not least, don't forget that Lili of the Valley is having it's 9th birthday celebration this weekend with an Open Day at the shop in Farsley plus competitions on the Ideas To Inspire blog and Facebook. I'm hoping to go with a friend for my first ever visit to the shop ... I'm really excited and saving my pennies!!

As I won't have time to make another birthday-special card (I'll be at work til Friday and then out visiting the shop all day Saturday) I'd also like to enter this card into the LotV 9th Birthday card competition - hope they really will have a day filled with sunshine !! :-)

Have a great week and look forward to seeing your creations.

Hugs,

Rushing to catch up

Hello everyone - I'm back again after almost three weeks of non-crafting due to work and having been away for a week in Devon. It was lovely to get a break, though having been back a week it already seems like a semi-distant memory lol! Still, at least we now have the excitement of the Olympics .... I was totally blown away by the Opening Ceremony on Friday night and thought we really did ourselves proud, and managed to show the world that we've still got it when it comes to creativity (even though alas we haven't yet found it when it comes to striking gold in the medal table !!).

Anyhoo, I haven't had much opportunity to unpack my crafty stash recently, but there were a few challenges I really wanted to enter which close today at the end of the month; so here are two cards which I made last night.

First up, a card I made for a fabulous challenge by the lovely Brenda, which is to use poppies or poppy colours on your card.

I had quite a few ideas for this one; but the card I actually made was heavily influenced by my need to use my current favourite Memory Box die, and some vintage style papers I bought from Crafty Devils Papercraft in Barnstaple while I was away.  Not sure whether this is what Brenda is looking for as I see most of the other entries are more traditional poppies, but this is certainly a bit different lol!

Don't forget there is still time to enter for my Penny  Black blog hop candy which is a brand new "prim Poppy" die - you can find the post here

Stamps: Penny Black sentiment from "Salutations" transparent set (stamped in "London Fog" Memento);

Media: butterfly distressed wtih TH "spun sugar" distress ink; 

Papers: August Moon;

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; doily, lace, pearl brad and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large classic circle nestability; Memory Box "Prim Poppy" die (decorated with glamour dust);  Cuttlebug cut 'n emboss butterfly.

Challenges:

Brenda (Floral Fantasies) Challenge - Poppies

Penny  Black & More At Allsorts - Summer Blooms

Shabby Tea Room #125 - Sweet Summertime

(colours from inspiration photo + flowers + a stamped element)

Paper Pretties Monday #50 - Two or More Papers

Stamptacular - Patterns Galore (I have used 4 papers)

Top Tip Tuesday #82 - Focus On The Ribbon
Crafty Pad #181 - Things With Wings

Fussy & Fancy Friday #68 - Vintage With Distressing & Lace

Totally Gorjuss #142 - Pearls

Fab 'n' Funky #131 - No Stamped Image

My  second card today is a Christmas card - still not made too many of those yet (I think a bout 6 in total!!) so this design may form part of my "production line".

Stamps: Hero Arts (background Christmas text);

Media: stamping and distressing with TH Vintage Photo distress ink;

Supplies: gems from The Hobby house; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Flowering Christmas Tree" die; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" edge punch.

Challenges:

A Gem Of A Challenge #51 - Kraft At Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Christmas In July

Creatalicious #36 - Christmas in July

Crafter's Companion #26 - Ho Ho Ho Christmas

Cute Card Thursday #227 - So Distressing

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #94 - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesday #79 - Anything Goes

J&C Creations #3 - Anything Goes

That's all for today ... hope to manage a bit more crafting this week and that I will be back soon with another card :-)