Lili's Little Fairies Team B Challenge - Buttons & Bows

Good morning Lili fans, and welcome to the latest Lili's Little Fairies challenge. Thanks to all our supporters for bearing with us ... we've had a bit of disruption and upheaval over the past few weeks with Mummy Fairy being indisposed and several departures from our happy band; but we're hoping to get back on track now, and for the time being we're in the capable hands of Aunty Fairy Squirrel (be afraid, be very afraid!!) - we also have a DT call in progress so do check it out on the main challenge  blog if you'd like to join our happy throng!

So, onto business with this week's challenge, and our theme is

 

Buttons & Bows

 

You can interpret this to your  heart's desire - the only rule is that you should use a LotV image or die cut topper on your creation :-)

Our DT is a little short on numbers right now, but the ladies have more than made up for it with the quality of their samples -  here's my effort.

I do so adore LotV teddies and this one is just soooo sweet peeping out from his box :-)

 

Stamps: LotV "Patchwork Teddy"; "Everyday Grungy Messages" and "Everyday Tags";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Nitwits - promises";

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from John Lewis; button and pearls from The Hobby House; doily from my stash;

Tools: small, large and classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "Queen Anne's Lace" die; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #73 - Buttons & Bows

Cheery Lynn #73 - Celebrate!

Simon Says - Anything Goes

I really hope you can join us this week - we've a long Easter weekend coming up so hopefully everyone should find some time to play!

Hugs,

LotV - Anything But a Christmas Card

What with the Christmas rush I don't seem to have made anything other than Chrimbo cards recently. However my best friend from school has her birthday coming up this next week; so this week's LotV challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to use my fave LotV fairy, and also some very girly but slightly eclectic papers I bought at Port Sunlight craft fair a couple of months ago and haven't yet had chance to use yet!  :-)   I also decided to follow the fab sketch at this month's Quixotic Paperie challenge - I flipped it vertically as I felt that was more appropriate given the way the fairy is facing,  but I hope you can still see the basic layout :-)

I absolutely adore this pretty fairy and never tire of colouring her - probably because I also adore fluffy dandelion clocks. As this card was for my oldest friend I did rather go to town on it, so I hope you'll excuse the large number of photos.

I also decorated the inside which is rather unusual for me nowadays - here's a pic.

Stamps: LotV "Dandelion Clock";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on dandelion clocks and fairy wings;

Papers: Crafty Individuals "Springtime";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Crafts4u2Do; lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls and large pearl brad from The Hobby House; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; two-tone organza ribbon from my stash.

Tools: Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP edge punch; X-Cut small butterfly punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges::

LotV #123 - Anything But A Christmas Card

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (December) - Happy Birthday
Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers

DYSU #48 - Ribbon (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes
Quixotic Paperie #2 - Sketch

Crafty Pad #150 - Give It A Punch (at least 3 punched shapes)
(not sure whether this meant 3 different shapes ... I have 2 small butterflies, 2 larger leaves, 1 smaller leaf, and 1 edge punch flower ...)
Thanks for visiting. Hope you're having a great day :-)

Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ...

While I was making my first DT card for I ♥ Promarkers the other day, it occurred to me that I could really do with some colouring practice, esp. with my new Flexmarkers ... so I practiced on several images of the cute Robyn's Fetish snowman that I used for my DT card. I also pulled out a stunning brand new pad of paper which I bought from Hobbycraft a couple of weeks ago - Crafter's Companion "The Snowman" -  must be one of the most gorgeous Christmas pads I've ever seen!

The result was the following three similar but different cards:

Stamps: Robyn's Fetish "Carl The Snowman"; LotV sentiment circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on scarf and mittens;

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: white sparkle-edge ribbon from Hobbycraft; gems from The Hobby House; peel offs from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake corner" die (card 1); Martha Stewart edge punch (card 3); Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" punch.

Challenges:

Delightful Inspiration - Snowmen

Paper Sundaes #97 - Winter Wonderland

Anything Goes #55 - Decorative or Altered Corners

Creative Card Crew - Monochromatic

Crafty Catz #111 - The Colours of Christmas + Sparkle

DYSU #48 - Ribbon (cards 2 & 3)

Fab 'n' Funky #101 - Anything Goes

Divas By Design #16 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All (2nd entry)

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (3rd and final entry)

Back tomorrow with a new Penny  Black Saturday Challenge ... here's a sneaky peek.

Penguin Fun

I absolutely adore this cute Pickle stamp from Wild Rose Studio - he looks like he is having so much fun delivering his sleigh full of presents. This image is one of several I coloured in a few weeks ago and I have been gradually working my way though them since. A few days ago while having a bit of a crafty clear out I found several squares of embossed pearlised white card sitting ready to make up into cards ... so I quickly put the two together to make another Chrimbo card. I tried to add a bit of interest with these yummy poinsettas from my local craft shop Crafts4U2Do, who are now stocking their own fabulous brand of flowers called "Sweet Lilac", and finished off with my new Cheery Lynn die which is just sooo gorgeous and I'm really pleased with it :-)

Not the best light for photos again ... for some reason I have a real problem getting a true colour when photographing red, as  it always comes out far too bright. I have photo-edited it to calm it down although it is still too light, but that has made my green go a bit off-kilter lol!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sleigh";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust all around!

Supplies: poinsettas by Sweet Lilac dusted wtih Stickles; gems from The Hobby House; ribbon and peel off my stash;

Tools: Cheery Lynn die "holly flourish"; Cuttlebug Snowflake folders.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge #1 - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pollycraft Monday #120 - Christmas Fun

Stamptacular #140 - Anything Christmas

Craft Your Passion #86 - 'Tis The Season

Ooh-La-La #94 - Lots of Sparkle

Dream Valley #21 - Sparkle
Colour Create #85 - Red, White and Green
Cooking it Up With Katie #86 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Scrapbook Sisters #62 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #146 - Picture inspiration

(I was inspired by the red for the flowers, the green holly wreath, and the wood for the sleigh)

Thanks for looking - have a great day.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

(Laurence Binyon, "For The Fallen").

Today is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day), a day originally set aside to commemorate the signing of the Armistice at the end of the First World War in 1918, but today an occasion to remember the sacrifice of the fallen in many conflicts around the world. This year is a once-in-a-lifetime Remembrance Day, as it falls at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year - 11-11-11-11.

I have made a card today to enter into some challenges that are marking this occasion. I will be at work this morning, but am scheduling this post for 11:00am.  I will pause at that time to remember all those who gave their lives or were injured in conflicts over the years so that we can live today in a democracy.

Stamps: poppy from Penny Black transparent set "flowers and wishes"; sentiment from PB transparent set "hugs!";

Media: Promarkers;

Supplies: ribbon and tiny heart gems from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Photo inspiration (poppy field)

Cute Card Thursday # 190 - Red is for Remembrance

Less Is More #40 - Red & Orange

Creative Craft - Minimalist

My Partner In Crafting Crime #35 - Use A Freebie

(I won the transparent set of stamps including the poppy)

Thanks very much for visiting today. I'll be back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

All Things Bright and Sparkly

Hi there and hope you are all well. Today I would like to share another card I made at the weekend using one of my latest LotV Christmas stamps. The whole concept of this one was to tie in to the theme of bright and sparkly over at this week's LotV challenge.

I had so much fun with this, cutting out trees and snowflake flourishes from glitter card and dusting glamour dust around ... again the pic was taken in a fiarly poor winter light but I can tell you that irl this card is REALLY sparkly !!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and snow;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: gems from The Hobby House; Craftwork Cards sentiment; button from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Christmas Tree" (LR0136); Memory Box "Frosty Border" die.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #119 - Bright & Sparkly

Marianne's Design Divas #2 - Dying To Die Cut (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Buttons

PaperPlay #44 - Button up!

Crafty Calendar (November) - Winter Wardrobe

Top Tip Tuesday #59 - Anything Christmas Goes

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Use Your Favourite Sketch Challenge (see  below)

Sketch Saturday #180 - sketch

At last I'm starting to make some real inroads into my Christmas card makes, though it's still a long way to go!! ...

Penny Black Saturday #175 - Nat's sketch

Good morning, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week - how adorable were your spooky cards??

We know you all love sketches, so this week we have got a brilliant one from our teamie Nat.

Plenty of scope for you to make some fabulous creations with this one - can't wait to see what you create!

This week's prize for one randomly drawn winner is 4 rolls of ribbon of the winner's choice from Fantastic Ribbons - woo hoo!

Don't forget to be eligible for this yummy prize you need to submit a new piece of work with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

All the rest of the DT have really rocked this sketch - this is what I did.

Stamps: Penny  Black "Cheesecake Wish" (1652J); Whimsy ticket from "Friendship sentiment tickets" set; sentiment from Penny Black "Party Critters" transparent set;

Media: Copics (fur); Promarkers (flower); stickles on image and flowers;

Papers: ??

Supplies: flowers from Hobbycraft (large rose); Wild Orchid Crafts (cherry blossoms); Sweet Lilac (the rest); lace from The Ribbon  Box; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilities; Marianne D creatables dies LR0130 "Designer Doily" and LR0150 "branch forest"; cuttlebug embossing folder "birds and swirls" (on doily).

Challenges:

Marianne's Design Divas - Dying to Die Cut

Totally Papercrafts #90 - Glitter It!

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Scrapbook Sisters #58 - Anything Goes

Charisma #43 - Anything Goes

Have a great weekend, and hope you can join us this week.

WRS Candy Showcase - and a reminder

I'm currently offering some Christmas candy until midnight Saturday (details of how to enter are here) ... so I thought I would make a card using my version of the adorable Wild Rose Studio Pickle stamp (my candy winner will of course get brand new one!)

I actually coloured a few images from this stamp - he suits both contemporary and traditional colour schemes. Here he is in a vibrant funky colour scheme of lilac and green (made specially for the Ribbon Girl colour challenge !! :-)  ).

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sledge"; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Medium: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Pickle's hat decorated with Polar White flowersoft mixed with glamour dust;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: sparkly gems from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake Border" die from Dies To Die For.

Challenges:

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas!

The Ribbon Girl #12 - Lilac and Green

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Sparkly!

Ooh-La-La #91 - Let It Snow!

Secret Crafter #157 - Wrap Up Warm

Christmas Card Challenge #47 - Recipe: 2 DP's 1 ribbon and a bird

Simon Says - Anything Goes
(with optional use of Bo Bunny)

Here's a close up of my fabulous new Memory Box die - when I bought it last week I also received some little die cuts of others in the range (no doubt to tempt me to further purchases lol!) and they really are amazingly intricate. This pic also tries to capture some of the sparkle of the glitter card ... the whole card is very sparkly but alas the poor light hasn't shown that up at all well.

And talking of candy .... Charmed Cards and Crafts is giving away this absolutely AMAZING mega candy here .... you don't want to miss this!!

They are asking people to follw their blog and link back to one of your own projects where you have coloured an image - well this card shows an image of mine coloured using my latest pens - I'm quite pleased with the blending :-)

That's all for today - hope you will hop over to my candy post and enter. Thanks for visiting. 

Sunlight and Snow

I had a happy afternoon on Saturday wandering around the stalls at the Happy Stampers North West craft fair at Port Sunlight.

By far my biggest splurge was with Jill on the Hobby House stall where I worked on a “needs and wants” basis – ie. I visited early to buy the things I “need” such as Neenah card and a whole variety of pearls, gems and charms ... and then I called back later for my “wants” in the form of some Whimsy ticket stamps, a couple of sweet Fizzy Moon stamps and two yummy paper pads!

I also managed to call by the Lili of the Valley stall where I had a nice little chat with the lovely Dawny P, and I was really good as I managed to come away from there with only two stamps in my basket (how did that happen lol??!!).

Finally I said hello to the lovely Jayne from Stamposaurus, who had given me very quick and personalised service when I NEEDED a new set of newly released Flexmarkers to arrive quickly before my holiday .. she had an excellent show offer on including a couple of free Ellie stamps, and when I mentioned  I must have been her first phone order on the day of release she very kiudly let me have one free Ellie stamp - fab!

However I couldn’t wait to start inking my LotV purchases (even though I realised when I got home that I was out of EZMount and had never thought to buy any at the fair – doh!).

Here’s the resulting card I made for this week’s LotV challenge – very pleased as this stamp is actually not too intricate and therefore reasonably quick to colour :-). I deliberately chose the papers to fit with the theme at Paper Sundaes of “favourite colour combo”. Mine is pink and green – admittedly I would normally use more pastel shades, but the concept is still there!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and "Christmas Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, glamour dust and a li’l bit of polar white Flowersoft forming snow on the ground;

Papers: Wild Rose Studio “Milton’s Christmas”;

Supplies: sparkly gems and large gem brad from The Hobby House; pearls and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart “eyelet lace” punch; Marianne D “miniature poinsettas”.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #115 – Let It Snow

Wild Rose Studio – Festive Frolics (+ blog hop!)

Paper Sundaes #90 – Favourite Colour Combo (Pink & Green)

Jingle Belles – I’m Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Marianne’s Design Divas #2 – Bloom & Grow (2nd entry)

Top Tip Tuesday #55 – Use DP’s & Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says – Sparkle & Bling (3rd entry)

Pretty Little Ribbon (October) – Anything Goes

By The Cute & Girly (October) – Anything Goes (+ blog hop!)

Sketch & Stash #72

Well that's me done for today - off to catch up with some ironing now, but hope to colour some images later :-)

Penny Black Saturday #172 - Age ... is just a number

Woo hoo .. it's Saturday and so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks very much for all last week's fabby entries - don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we are celebrating, as Thursday was our lovely teamie Nat's 21st birthday ... happy birthday hun!!

So in honour of this momentous occasion this week's challenge theme is

Age ... is just a number

Yes we would like to see any birthday cards with a number on them. It doesn't have to be 21, though many of us in the team took the opportunity to make Nat a card :-)

This week we have another fab prize from one of our regular sponsors - 1-2-3 Stitch has donated a $20 gift voucher for their online store.

Don't forget, to be eligible for the prize you need to submit a new piece of work which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

All my fellow teamies have really done themselves proud this week - here is my 21st birthday card which I made for Nat.... I masked the PB stamp as she was originally holding a handbag, so that she could hold the "key of the door" instead!

Stamps: Penny Black "light the night" (3687K); LotV calendar circle;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; deocration with glamour dust;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts and Sweet Lilac; pearls from The Hobby House; lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; heart gems by Papermania; ribbon and charm from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Sparkle & Bling (2nd entry)

Cooking It Up With Katie #78 - Fabulous, Fun and another F

(feminine, funky, fashionable, flowers!)

Birthday Sundaes #29 - Ribbon

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Look forward to seeing your creations this week!

If you're reading this Saturday morning, I hope I'm trawling the crafty goodies at Port Sunlight craft fair as we speak ... back soon with news of my crafty purchases and hopefully some playtime with whatever I buy!