PURPLE PEONIES

A Year of Flowers - Gina K

2012-01-15T23:41:00.002Z

Last week I saw on Melanie Muenchinger's blog that she had a new book published with her stamp set A Year of Flowers - you can download it at Annies Attic - and this set is one of my favourites. I have set myself a target to try a version of each of the samples in the book and here are the first two.

It felt good to get my Copics out after far too long!

The blue best wishes card is stamped as a continuous trellis and then cut out (not easy/very fiddly!) and popped up on foam dots. The sentiment is from There She Goes.

I haven't put a sentiment on this lily and tulip card as yet - just waiting for the right occasion! I think it may work as a sympathy card to have in reserve as I never feel like making one when I need one. Note to self to use a stamp positioner next time to get the stems in the right place!

Have a good week and thanks for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #150

2012-01-05T21:52:00.000Z

So I am sitting at my craft desk aka my dining table and I am trying to come up with some inspiration for this year's calendar and I am struggling. So I go to my file and pull out last years to try and kick start myself and I remember that I had made all the pages with my Flourishes Year of Flowers stamps and coloured them with copics. Unfortunately I lost all the photos of them when we were burgled last year but it suddenly struck me that I could use the images again as they are in perfect condition.

So then I hopped over to the Flourishes blog and the challenge this week is to make a tri-fold card; so here we have January's Crocuses .......

I used Anna Griffin pale green card stock with Papertrey plum pudding dp (although it looks blue in this photo) and the same plum ribbon.

I stamped the inside sentiment especially for my friend Betty - it has been so lovely to have her here in the UK for Christmas visiting her family - hope it makes it safely over the pond for you!

Quatrefoil!

2012-01-05T21:27:00.002Z

I must admit that I had never heard of a quatrefoil before Papertrey Ink bought out this new die but as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it! I have used it so much already and here are two that I managed to photograph in decent light these last weeks.

The first is cut from Harvest Gold card and mounted on Kraft Bitty Dots paper with some copic coloured dahlias and a few copper pearls.

Above and below are two Maile Belles inspired (cased!) cards both using the Background Basics:Circles which I am now officially in love with! I'm not sure why my ribbon on the friend card looks so creamy as it isn't in the flesh.

Finally a card that I made using the Papertrey Simple Sunflower set and a half and half die for my friend Penny for her birthday last year - sorry Penny, not much white space left!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Post Christmas Catch-Up

2012-01-05T20:14:00.000Z

Long time - no blogging! I am not sure where December ran off to but it sure disappeared fast! Time to wish you a very Happy New Year and thank you for stopping by since I last touched base here.

First up is one of the Christmas cards I made this year using the Peaceful Poinsettia stamps and dies.

I stamped the flowers in pink pearlescent ink and matched it up with some Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel card stock. I got my inspiration from this card by the very talented Deanna - my new favourite blog to browse!

I also whipped up some little decorations from an old pack of Basic Grey Christmas papers they were really easy to make once I had worked out the dimensions of the triangle I wanted!

Here are two I remembered to photograph before I gave them away ....

and another with lots of glitter!

I'll be back shortly with some new cards - it's been so good to have a couple of weeks off to do a bit of crafting.

Make it Monday meets A Passion for Papertrey

2011-11-06T21:37:00.000Z

Whilst I was in background stamping mode I had a go at the challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this fortnight - to create with the colours below....

I used melon berry, spring moss and chocolate with Turning a New Leaf and Flower Fusion number 9 - the focal is from the 2011 Holiday Tags set and it's mounted on some melon berry felt - I know I'm in the minority but I love melon berry!

I needed a few tags so knocked up a few with the same colour scheme using the tag die and the flower fusion no. 9 die.

Here is a close up of the new formula ink in spring moss - it stamps beautifully - much better than the last spongy formula but I now have 3 spring moss ink pads!

Many thanks for stopping by this weekend - hopefully yours has been as relaxing as mine!

Make it Monday

2011-11-06T20:30:00.000Z

Or in my case it's Make it Sunday!

I haven't done a Make it Monday before but I love to make a big sheet of background paper and cut it up and for this card I used my new Christmas Poinsettia stamp set.

Although the red poinsettias are the traditional kind I like the pink and white versions that are in the shops for the last few years - so I stamped mine in raspberry fizz with metallic gold centres. The leaves are from Turning a New Leaf stamped in the new formula spring moss ink - I really love it but is anyone else having a real problem getting the lids off??

Right - it's the last episode of Downton Abbey tonight - I'm going to miss my Sunday night fix!

Simple Silhouette

2011-10-31T00:04:00.000Z

At A Passion for Papertrey this week the challenge is to include sillhoutettes and as I have hardly used my Iconic Images I pulled it out for this card as a last minute entry.

I used veracolour inks to stamp the background and tried to match the Autumn Rose cardstock. I just love this colour and the ribbon is so pretty!

I hope you had a great weekend - I went off into town today to the Degas exhibition at the Royal Academy - it was just fantastic and a real treat to see so many fabulous paintings and now I "need" to have a bronze ballerina!

October PTI Blog Hop

2011-10-25T19:13:00.001+01:00

Such a great inspiration photo for this month's blog hop that I fished out some supplies and had a crack - it's been ages since I joined in.

In my recipe for this card - Daydreamer stamps on stampers select white card in Persimmon versacolour ink, Autumn Abundance dp and terracotta tile ribbon. Simply Chartrause card base and some orange card to match those lovely pumpkins from my stash.

Now I look at it I wished I had stamped some flourishes on the card base to match the orange and white pumpkin but it's done now!

Thanks for popping by - enjoy the hop!

Daisies and Doilies

2011-10-24T20:44:00.001+01:00

I managed to drag myself out of the crafting doldrums this weekend and get my crafting goodies out onto the table for a play.

Seeking inspiration to kick start me I went over to Melissa Bickford's blog to look at her flower fusion samples - I love this one where she has stamped a sheet of daisies. I don't have the same # 9 as it's on its way over so I used the flower from Floral Frenzy stamped in plum pudding, hibiscus burst, spring moss and summer sunrise.

There is a feast of die cutting on this card - nestabilities, Parisian lace doilies, sending you leaves, photo finishers and bloom builders # 3 - no wonder I needed new plates for my little cuttlebug! I am saving my pennies for a Grand Calibre machine - or maybe Santa might take an early hint!

DT Inspiration Challenge at APFP

2011-09-18T22:33:00.000+01:00

"Our new challenge for the next fortnight is to find a card or project created by one of the amazing Papertrey Ink DT members and let it inspire you to create something from it".

I love to go straight to the Papertrey DT's blogs when I get new stamps and usually have a go at one or two as my jumping off point - I'm sure I am not alone!

I didn't have to look far for my inspiration for the first card below as I am a lucky girl and I have the original on my inspiration cork board which Dawn gave to me when I met her and Bartley in London earlier this year.

and here is Dawn's card....

Second off is a case of Maile Bells' lovely Simple Sunflower card. I was attemping to do a rock and roll technique with the inking of the flowers with versacolour chalk ink but it's not too obvious from the photo. When I first got the vine boarder I cut loads of strips with odd bits os card so they came in handy for this card. This is off to Hawaii to a dear and generous friend!

and here is Maile's infinitly better card.......

Right - cards blogged, family fed, ironing for our holiday finished - it's time to settle down for Downton Abbey - so pleased it is back tonight!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely week ahead. I'll be back when we get back from our jollies!

Morning Glories and Asters

2011-09-05T21:57:00.001+01:00

My friend Sharon who is on the DT of Daring Cardmakers said they were having a dare over there to use September's flowers - Morning Glory and Asters and she was sure I had some of those! How right she was.........

Morning Glory stamp by Flourishes, sentiment by There She Goes and Papertrey card and ribbon. The layout is from Clean and Simple blog - FTL 156.

I thought that the pink flowers on the card below looked a bit like asters - spiky petals - but after I had spent ages choosing buttons for the centres and sticking them down I googled asters and found they had yellow centres so along with the black leaves I used some artistic licence!

When our Papertrey parcel arrived Sharon and I had a big die cutting session with each others dies - the lovely large one here is one of Sharon's that I love - I think it's by Tim Holtz - all other supplies from Papertrey.

Thanks as always for stopping by.

All Bagged Up

2011-09-02T23:36:00.000+01:00

There's a lot of Papertrey goodness going on tonight especially the new bloom builder die that I have been itching to play with and have been on a bit of a die cutting frenzy all week. I used four dies here - apart from the bloom builders there is the favour box, leaf and mat stack die. My poor cuttlebug has suffered though and I have snapped two B plates and curled an impression plate in a perfect arc - I don't think it's meant to do that!

I used hibiscus burst dotty paper for the bloom - just one layer of each size - but having experimented later with two layers of each size it does make a fuller flower. The script is from Half and Half and the leaves from Turning a New Leaf.

It looks like we are set for a good weekend here at last - have a good one whatever you are up to - I am off to slip this into the latest challenge over at APFP!

Plum Mums

2011-08-30T22:28:00.000+01:00

My lovely friend Betty is such an enabler! She told me that Copic were having a price rise and would I like some before they went up? Never one to say no I ordered some of the new Copic marker colours and she posted them over to me. So I had to make a thank you card using those same new colours - it is such a pretty set!

The plum pudding cardstock is stamped with Damask Designs in Versamark and the flower in Memento Tuxedo black ink. A slip of ribbon and a sentiment from the same stamp set (love that font!) finished it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Sweetie

2011-08-30T20:01:00.000+01:00

I think the cherries from Papertrey's Fruit Fusion stamps are just about my favourite in the collection - small and fiddly to stamp on the die cut but cute.

I tried to get a better impression with the impression plate by buying a new rubber mat - no more shims - but even with Paul pressing down the sandwhich and me cranking the handle of the cuttlebug we couldn't get it to go through - so frustrating - so it was back to thin mats and cardstock.

The poppy cardstock is stamped with the gingham background but it's a bit hard to see in this photo.
Over at A Passion for Papertrey there is an Anything Goes challenge - so if you have some Papertrey supplies it is well worth having a go and being in with a chance to win some Papertrey Goodies.

Purple Peonies for CASE Study

2011-08-01T22:55:00.000+01:00

I got some new Copic markers last week and was searching around in my lunch break at work for an image or two to colour and came across these beautiful digital peony images from a great site called Paper Garden Projects. I didn't have fun trying to print them off on cardstock at home on our printer as it decided not to go wireless that evening but I was impressed how the ink stayed in place and didn't run when coloured!

I was also cruising blog land at the weekend and discovered the CASE Study blog - they have a challenge on right now to case this beautiful card by Dawn Woleslagle below and I wanted to make a card for a friend to pop in a parcel and I thought that will do nicely! Very simple but shows off the flower well.

Whilst making the first card I thought how the last two times I have needed a sympathy card I have had to rush and make one so this is for keeping tucked away until next time! The peony is coloured with Copics and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, mounted on ripe advocado and royal velvet card.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great week!

Stamps-a-faire Challenge #3, 4 and 6

2011-07-23T23:37:00.000+01:00

For my last hurrah tonight I thought I would combine three challenges in one. Challenge number 4 was to use " Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores & Enchanted Evening". Now I have always thought blue and green should never be seen or I think that's how the saying goes, but if Lisa Johnson can have blue and turquoise flowers then I'm game!

For number 6 "Your challenge this afternoon is to use the little notch technique to hold twine or ribbon in place across the cover of your project. You can use a circle punch of any diameter to create a round notch or a square punch for a square notch".

Here I used a small circle punch to notch out the ends and wound around some twine and popped on a ripe advocado button.

And finally challenge 3 - "Punch a window from you card cover and tie ribbon or twine from the window to the side of your card"

I used the die from Sending You and popped it all up on foam squares. The stamp set is Botanical Silhouettes.

That's it from me tonight - have a lovely evening if you are still crafting away!

Stamps-a-faire Challenge #2

2011-07-23T21:01:00.000+01:00

" We would love to see your take on pairing up a hot pink, like Raspberry Fizz, with a charcoal grey (like Smokey Shadow)."

My next card up for the Stamps-a-faire challenge is my take on a Clean and Simple blog sketch. I made some flowers from Raspberry Fizz felt and buttons and as the only bit of grey that I possess is Smokey Shadow ink, I used that to make the diagonal lines from Distressed Stripes.

It's getting dark here so I think I will have to call it a night - I'm looking forward to seeing the other challenges - maybe I'll have a go tomorrow but I know there will be lots of inspiration to be had!

Stamps-a-faire Challenge #1

2011-07-23T16:18:00.000+01:00

Today over at Papertrey Ink there is a Stamps-a-faire going on - it's times like this when I do wish money was no object and I was able to just hop on a plane and join in - but that's not possible right now (but it may not be a dream anymore - Fliss has just got her dream job with Virgin Atlanic and I plan on being front of the check-in queue when she qualifies for her free flights in 6 months time!!) so instead I thought it would be fun to join in the challenges today!

Enough rabbitting and onto the challenge -

"Create a project featuring patterned strips that are created with some of your favorite decorative elements"

I had this old Mojo Monday sketch printed out on my desk so went with that for my card - the carnation image is from Year of Flowers collection with Melon Berry ribbon and buttons - my favourite design elements!

I coloured the carnation in Melon Berry colours with Copics. The base card is white stampers select and the decorative strips of paper are from an old pack of SU papers that I discovered whilst having a sort out!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend!

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop

2011-07-11T22:29:00.001+01:00

I'm popping in tonight to let you know about a wonderful online ribbon shop that my friend Sarah has opened today -

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop

please do go have a look at the lovely ribbon that Sarah has stocked - I am in love with the pretty seambinding colours, the great twine and divine silk wrinkle ribbon especially!

Good luck Sarah!

Anniversay Pair

2011-06-26T23:34:00.000+01:00

We've had a pretty awful week in the Blanshard household - on Monday in the early hours we were burgled whilst we were asleep. After they had cruised downstairs and picked up handbags, laptops and camera equipment they drove off in my lovely new VW Tiguan.

It's taking us a while to get straight and replacing lost bank cards, filling out insurance forms is taking time and energy none of us have - I keep remembering things that were in my handbag - like driving licence and super sunglasses, favoutite lippy and nail varnish - but we are all safe which is the most important thing!

It's mine and Paul's 24th wedding anniversary tomorrow so we thought we would have a bit of a treat to cheer ourselves up. I was given a gift last year before Christmas for a tour of Kennsington Palace and champange afternoon tea at The Orangery so off we drove into town - the gardens were packed with families sunning themselves and it was a lovely walk through the park.

Here is Paul standing in line - I don't think I've ever queued for a cup of tea before!

We were lucky to get a table outside - it was a beautiful day and the champagne slipped down a treat. We had finger sandwiches, orange scented scones with clotted cream and pretty pastries!

When we got home there was time for me to get out some new stamps and have a play at making an anniversary card - I've kept it simple as Paul doesn't do fussy and I haven't felt much like crafting this week. Fruit Fusion - Pears, stamped in white snow ink onto craft cardstock and then the die cut pears were stamped in summer sunrise and new leaf ink.

Some better news to finish the post - my car was found down in Kent with new number plates on and the police say it is in immaculate condition - phew! I love that baby - it was my pride and joy and I am so looking forward to getting it back when the forensic people have had a dusting on it! When I can get the name of the Officer who spotted that the plates didn't match the tax disc I am going to make him the best thank you card I can!

A Few Quickies

2011-06-26T22:54:00.000+01:00

Here are a few cards that I made last week - I just got some new stamps and my Papertrey anniversary sets were in there too - result! Many thanks again to the lovely Betty for bringing them over for me.

The first two flowers are from the Year Of Flowersset and coloured with Copic markers - I am loving the blues I got recently! Both sentiments are from Botanical Silhouettes - great script!

This last one is after a recent Mojo Monday sketch and the flowers from Botanical Silhouettes stamped onto Sweet Blush cardstock - it's a pretty effect.

A Recipe Card

2011-06-12T22:07:00.001+01:00

The challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this week is a recipe -

A dollop of colour (3 colours - plus neutrals if required, e.g black/white)

A sprinkling of buttons (2 buttons)

A pinch of ribbon (1 Ribbon)

and here is my take on the recipe - summer sunrise, harvest gold and spring moss with a couple of sunrise buttons and the same in ribbon! Just what I need on this wet and chilly weekend.

I die cut the doily from bitty dots paper - I wasn't too sure at first but it's grown on me. Thanks for stopping by this weekend!

Round and Round

2011-06-05T23:01:00.000+01:00

Here are two variations on the same theme - little round cards made from large scallop nesties. I was on a cuttlebugging fest with these two! Impression plate, turning a new leaf die and blossoms dies - all from Papertrey as is the felt and stamps.

A Song Challenge

2011-05-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

This weeks challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey is to make a card inspired by music or a song. I was thinking of what I could make with two new stamp sets that I was given last week by a very special lady I met in London ;) when the word celebrate on the Hello, Friend stamp made me think of this song by Kool & The Gang! An oldie but goodie.

I stamped some antique cream cardtock with the background basics: sheet music in Chai ink, the leaves are stamped in versamark and the celebrate flower in berry sorbet. The felt and the cardstock are melon berry!

There is still time to join in the challenge so do go have a peek at what everyone has done too!

Papertrey May Blog Hop

2011-05-26T00:27:00.000+01:00

This is a last minute entry for May's blog hop - we have just got back from a concert at the Royal Albert Hall seeing Roger Hodgeson - do you remember him as the lead singer and songwriter of the band Supertramp? Well he was just fantastic and Paul and I were so glad we got to see him and we had excellent seats too. The last time I saw the band was in about 1979 - how time flies!

So here is my In Bloom card using my rather neglected dies and touched up a bit with copic markers on the flowers to give a bit of depth.

Thanks for stopping by as always!

Pretty Petals

2011-05-11T22:42:00.000+01:00

I was looking at Dawn McVey's blog yesterday where she is showcasing her new stamps for the Papertrey release and thought that her wedding wishes card that she made reminded me a bit of SU's Pretty Petals set. I have taken out Pretty Petals a few times to add to my selling pile and today I am glad that I never let it go!

So here is card number one where I used Dawn's layout and changed up the stamps. I think my lack of photo editing skills has made this more pinky than it is in real life!

All the supplies apart from the flower stamps are from Papertrey.

I went square for my second card and added a bit of embossing on the bottom portion like Dawn's.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Spring Daffodils

2011-05-11T21:38:00.000+01:00

The challenge over at a Passion for Papertrey this fortnight is a sketch challenge and I love a sketch to kick start the old mojo. I stamped on the Pretty Pastels paper which I used a copic or two as a highlight and loaded it up onto a Parisian lace doily.

The card base is Harvest Gold with stripes of bitty dots paper and a tag from the new tiny tags dies.

Do go over and see what the other girls have done and if you enter you could win a great Papertrey prize!

Mother's Day Cards

2011-04-29T14:36:00.001+01:00

I am a bit late in posting my Mother's day cards mainly as we have just got back from a lovely break up in the North Yorkshire Moors. I had two cards to make - for my dear Mum and my Mother in Law - so to save any problems I made the same design in both lilac and pink colourways!

The stamp set is the CHA set called Four of a Kind and the little sentiment is from the Siberian Iris stamps by Flourishes.

Make It Monday

2011-04-29T14:14:00.001+01:00

Its been so good to have a nice long break this Easter - with the Easter weekend followed by our Royal Wedding today (did you watch? wasn't it spectacular? what did you think of The Dress?) there is no work until after the Bank Holiday. Plenty of time to try my first Make it Monday - you can see Nicole Heady's video of how to do a line frame here.

I used some flowers made from the Beautiful Bloom dies, stamped with the Beautiful Blooms II and Sending You stamp sets in hibiscus burst, berry sorbet and sweet blush inks. The leaf stamp and die are from Turning a New Leaf and the sentiment is from Think Big Favourites number 1.

Thanks for stopping by today - I hope you are having a lovely long weekend!

Ribbon Shopping

2011-04-17T00:45:00.001+01:00

I have to share this great shop with you! V V Rouleaux is in a little road just off the bottom of Marylebone High Street in London and I have been planning a visit for ages but not got around to it - and as shopping is always more fun with a friend it made part of a good day out last Saturday.

I took along a bag of Papertrey card stock so I could match up colours that I was running low on and I wasn't disappointed! There was so much to choose from I was like a kid in a sweetie shop. Just look at all that satin ribbon in every size and colour.......

They don't just sell ribbons - there's everything you need to make beautiful fascinators, wedding headdresses and cushions are there - you can check out their website here as they also do mail order :)

VV Rouleaux

Catch Up!

2011-04-17T00:12:00.000+01:00

It's been a while I know, but with all the lovely weather I have been spending as much time in the garden as I can. All the borders are now clear and the lawn mown - all ready for planting over the May bank holiday weekend - my best time for planting out.

My friend Pam came over for a few days of crafting and shopping and whilst she was here she said how the papers I have used here were "just her colours" so I put this card together for her birthday! I saw this great card by Teresa Kline and had a chance to use some Verve stamps to case it. I'm not sure who makes the papers as Pam was given them by another friend but they sure are pretty.

I had a little time today to play and as the same papers were still on the table I made this card using some new Papertrey goodness - the mat stack 4 die which a new Papertrey buddy Sharon gave me stamped in lemon tart with the woodgrain backgound, some flowers cut with new dies (been waiting ages for them to come back in stock) and harvest gold and pinefeather felt - the pinefeather felt looks black in this photo but in reality is a very dark green.

Also in my parcel was the Sending You stamp set and die which I've used here with some dotty biscotti paper and more flowers - just a quickie but I like the colours together.

Finally some Modern Basics - I am having so much fun playing with this set and I'm so glad I got it - stamped in navy and pale blue versacolour inks onto white card and made for Pam's husband Terry who is recovering from surgery this week.

So there you go! Hope you are having a great weekend too.

How to keep your partner busy!

2011-03-14T23:37:00.002Z

I thought it might be fun to show Paul poking the holes out of the doilies for me - he is very patient and did all the ones that my friend Betty sent over for me!

I'm playing catch up here as I haven't posted for a while so here is one card headed off to a friend for her birthday made with the new royal velvet colour cardstock and ribbon from Papertrey along with the Parisian Lace die cut with white - boy it takes an age to poke out all those holes - a perfect in front of the tv job!

I also made this card this weekend - it features the new Flower Fusion No.1 stamps from Papertrey - a real little bargain at $5 and lots of fun to play with. I dug out my versacolour cubes to stamp the flowers - they give great coverage on acrylic stamps - and used a Martha Stewart punch for the fence.

Pretty Sweet Peas

2011-03-14T22:59:00.000Z

I made a couple of cards with the lovely Sweet Peas stamp set from Flourishes - they are so easy to stamp and colour. The flowers are coloured with copic markers and the papers are from my stash - I think they may be SEI. I got the inspiration for this card from Becca Feeken but mine isn't half as classy! (I did correct that ribbon before I sent it off as it looks awful in the photo!)

This card and the one below fits well for the latest Flourishes challenge which is to use cut edges on your card - here I have used different nestabilities.

In this card I stamped the smaller flower image as my background in PTI's scarlett jewel ink and really like the pattern it made. The sentiment is from Verve stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and not deserting me since I have been awol!

Waltzing Mouse Challenge

2011-02-22T21:41:00.001Z

I haven't played along with the Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge before as I only have two WMS sets and one of those is a Christmas set and the other is Frame It, but my friend Sharon set a little challenge to join her this week so here is my very clean and simple try!

The star were die cut with Papertrey dies out of ocean tides felt and paper with a little embellishing! You can see all about the challenge here.

Big Bold Valentine

2011-02-12T21:56:00.000Z

Tonight I am taking things big! The challenge today for the next anniversary giveaway is to create a project that incorporates something unexpectedly mega-sized!

I think this is the biggest card I have ever crafted but then my DH does like a big card (he always buys me a larger than A5) and so I thought I'd try and please this year! The card base is a whole sheet of pure poppy cardstock folded in half with the craft card topped by some of the large images from Heart Prints stamp set.

The hearts and sentiment were stamped in versafine onyx and I hand stitched the hearts to the craft card with black embroidery floss. The edge is cut with a Martha Stewart round the page punch that hasn't seen much love this last year.

Thanks for stopping by this weekend - I hope you are having a good one!

Papertrey Frame Tags

2011-02-11T23:00:00.000Z

It's the frst time this week that I have had a chance to take part in one of the Papertrey anniversary challenges - today it is to make a tag with a frame and the prize is a fantastic set of fillable frames!

I only have one tag die and one of the fillable frames so that's what I went with. I double cut the tag so I could slide it open for a message. These are now just waiting to be added as a gift tag to birthday presents.

Apologies for the lousy photo - it's very late and dark and I'm a useless photographer!

Birthday Delight!

2011-01-30T00:00:00.003Z

Here's a simple little card that I made for my Mum using linen vellum and melonberry colours from Papertrey and the Delight in Life stamp set from SU - Mum doesn't like fussy so I kept it simple!

I cut the openings with the limitless layer dies - that was tricky as you can't fix the die down onto the vellum to keep it in place as it tears the vellum, so I had to judge the distances by eyeballing it! This photo is not a good one - no decent light here at the moment!

Buckets of Love

2011-01-29T22:40:00.010Z

I thought that I would try out some There She Goes stamps after seeing the lovely cards that Julie Lacy who is on their DT makes. I was really impressed how quickly they came over - less than a week - with very reasonable postage charges too which is always a big bonus. They are clear stamps and this set comes with lots of interchangable sentiments.

I thought I would have a try at sketch challenge 91 on the TSG blog and use the new stamps. I have had the Spellbinders die for ever but have hardly used it so I challenged myself this weekend to give it a go!

The base and frame are in pure poppy from Papertrey as is the ribbon and punched slip both in hibiscus. The hearts go well with the cookies over at a Passion for Papertrey challenge so I'll throw my hat in the ring for that one too!

I coloured the image with copic markers and whilst I was colouring I did another image and made it up in sunny yellows below -

It's freezing cold here in London right now - a really good excuse to stay in and play! Have a great weekend....

Out of my comfort zone!

2011-01-17T21:51:00.004Z

The challenge this fortnight over at A Passion for Papertrey is to make a project out of our comfort zone! I love to look at my Hawaiian Shores cardstock but I rarely make anything with it as I just can't seen to make it work - so I tried hard with this one! I have also had my Star Prints stamp set in the cuboard for ages - I bought the set as I always love what Aimes does with it but so far my efforts have only been bin worthy!

I clear embossed the flourish and when I stamped off the stars it occured to me that one matched the Dot Spot stamps so I pulled that out to make the white panel. Now its finished I quite like the melon berry and blue mix - but so not me and not a flower in sight!
All supplies are by Papertrey.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday 100th Challenge Blog HOP!

2011-01-15T21:21:00.006Z

The challenge for the 100th anniversary challenge is to use favourite things in the card or project - so here are a few of my favourite things:-

the rose from A Year in Flowers - Flourishes make the most beautiful flower stamps and I had a hard time choosing which one of the sets to go with!
coloured with copic markers
my large scalloped circle nesties
ribbon, card and pearls in pink
a little doily

I was trying for a Victorian valentine type card with the lacy doily but I forgot to distress it before I included it and so rather lost the effect - still, I love pinkiness of it even if I did go a bit OTT with the pearls!

The dp is by Papermania and the cardstock and ribbon is from Papertrey

Thanks for stopping by tonight - have lots of fun hopping round the other great creations!

Stamping With Friends

2011-01-09T21:09:00.007Z

I was so lucky this week when three friends came over to craft with me - it was such a lovely day that I thought I would share the photos with you - thank you for letting me indulge myself!

I was joined by my long time friend Pam and two ladies I met more recently - Mary at Pam's daughter's wedding last year and Betty through this blog and our love of Papertrey. Betty is over here from Nebraska visiting her son in London and it was just great to have her join us!

So here we are all together - (L-R me, Betty, Pam and Mary)

Betty bought over some PTI dies and after Betty had cut two bookmark dies side by side Pam used the negative left to make a card - inspired! Here she is holding her card which has a Penny Black bloom stamped through the frame and brads over the reinforcing hole gap - so pretty!

Betty and I didn't actually finish anything on the day - I was busy die cutting the banner border set in every colour cardstock and Betty was background stamping and inspiring us, so I got her to hold up a card that she sent me recently - a beautiful Alice in Wonderland card! You can check out Betty's gorgeous cards here

Mary is new to stamping but not to papercrafting as she makes some beautiful cards too - here she is holding her card cased from one of Dawn McVey's using scarlett jewel colours and one of the doilies that Betty bought for us to play with. I think a cuttlebug is now on Mary's wish list now!

Thanks girls for a wonderful, fun day - lets do it again soon!

More Mums

2011-01-08T22:13:00.002Z

I made this card for the weekly sketch challenge over at Split Coast Stampers - I love a good sketch to kick start me now and again!

The Mums were still out on the table so I used them again and made the card up with some pink and kraft card.

The sentiment stamp is by Penny Black and I used one on my little strip embossing folders for the leaf pattern.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

If you are going to case a card......

2011-01-04T23:07:00.004Z

....... then case the best! Especially when you need a card double quick!

I think it was this card on Nicole Heady's blog that sold me on adding to my Year of Flowers collection and so I went for it. I wouldn't normally show a card like this but it turned out so pretty that I thought you might like to see a slightly different version.

I coloured the Mums with Berry Sorbet and Ripe Advocado colours of Copic markers and mounted it onto kraft cardstock. I can see this layout working with other flowers so that is now on my to-do list!

Tea for Two Gift Card

2011-01-04T22:37:00.003Z

For Christmas we bought Paul's Mum a gift voucher for traditional afternoon tea for her and a friend at the Compleat Angler in Marlow - it is a beautiful spot right on the banks of the River Thames and the tea there rivals any I have been lucky to try out in town. So I needed a card to pop the invite in and here is what I made - not Christmassy so she can use the card in the future to invite the friend.

The background papers are matted on terracotta card and I used orange zest ink on the tea pot. A mat stack die and some ribbon finished it nicely! All supplies apart from the Kaiser pearls are from Papertrey Ink.

Favor It for Christmas

2010-12-31T18:44:00.005Z

I love these little favor (or favour if you are over here!) dies - although they are rather small and I only managed to fit a couple of chocolates in them (I was good though and gave the recipients the remainder of the boxes of chocs!)

The container - is it a bag, is it a box? is the Favor It from Papertrey with the Mat Stack 1 die overstamped with a sweet little set of clear Basic Grey stamps that my friend VikkiJo sent me in matching PTI colours.

Fliss was great and as I made each bag she stuck the bling on - she was complaining she was bored so I asked her to help and we got them completed double quick!

Birthday Frames

2010-12-30T21:54:00.004Z

Here are two recent birthday cards for close friends, Jenni and Sharon who both have their birthdays on Christmas Eve.

I used the Frame It set from Waltzingmouse Stamps as my theme and I was trying to get a trelliswork effect for the background using the Papertrey background basics - Tin Types. It's really easy to mask off the frame with post-it notes - what did we do before repositionable pads!!

The first one up has the background stamped in Smokey Shadow ink and the flower set from PTI's Four of a Kind is stamped in Chartreuse and Raspberry Fizz.

This one is background stamped in Chai ink and the dahlias and leaves coloured with copic markers. I used my dahlia die set to cut the leaves and flower - so much easier than cutting them out by hand.

Did you have a great Christmas? We had a very relaxing one and I intend to spend the next few days playing with some new stamps that my friend Betty bought over from the US for me - I have a whole two weeks off work - bliss!

Amarylis for December

2010-12-30T21:15:00.008Z

I am shockingly late in showing my last calendar page. Possibly my favourite one of the lot - I have a beautiful amaryllis blooming right now in a pot here at home - all four trumpets are out and it is stunning.

I went with deep red colours - well it is December!

Here's a close up of the flower - coloured with copic markers. Thanks for stopping by this week - I hope you have enjoyed the Year in Flowers.

Tea for Two Birthday

2010-12-19T23:07:00.007Z

Tea for Two came across the pond for me recently and I couldn't resist getting the matching dies. For its first outing I made a birthday card for my friend Penny in aqua and chocolate.

I used lots of bits and bobs on this card - Pretty Pastels paper, aqua and chocolate card, aqua ribbon along with pearls and die cuts. I also stamped the woodgrain background stamp onto the mat stack die but it's hard to see in the picture.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the card edge and made it into a tri-fold card.
As there are a few pearls on this creation I'm putting it in for the lastest challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey which this fortnight is to use pretty pearls!

Cyclamen for November

2010-11-15T22:48:00.004Z

It's hard to believe that there is only one month to go and the Year of Flowers is complete. My Mum and my MIL always have pretty cyclamens on their kitchen windowsills and so took my inspiration from them. I broke into my new Dotty Biscotti paper pack - love the colours - and choose raspberry fizz for my theme this month.

Here is a little close of the blooms which I coloured with the copic markers that match the raspberry fizz and ripe advocado colours.

Look out for Amarylis next month!

Climbing back on the crafting ladder!

2010-11-15T21:48:00.004Z

Sometimes life just jumps up and bites you in the bottom on occasions and this last month has been one of those! A quick visit to Romania on work business and a health scare for my dear Mum (who is fine now) put my crafting on a back burner so to celebrate finding my JustRite stampers that I thought had gone out with the rubbish when I had my new storage units, I made some notelet sets.

The ones above use the Dot Spot stamp from PTI along with the matching Bitty Dots paper and ink for my friend Jeanette.

These ones below are a gift for Nina and Graham whose wedding we went to a month back, this time using Friends to the End.

Thanks for stopping by today and not giving up on me! The November installment of the calendar pages is coming up next!

Big & Bold Wedding Card

2010-10-03T23:53:00.006+01:00

We are all off to a dear friend's wedding on Sunday and Nina's colours are teal, cream and gold. I used Ocean Tides from Papertrey and gave my Big & Bold Wishes it's first inking. The patterned base uses Background Basics - Petal Power. If you follow Dawn McVey's blog then you will recognise the layout of this card which I have shamelessly cased!

Chrysanthemums for October

2010-10-03T23:06:00.008+01:00

It would be hard to think of a better flower for October - there is nothing like the colour of Mum's to brighten the garden when all the Summer bedding is on its way out.

I used Papertrey's Summer Sunrise and Terracotta Tile for my colourways this time around - just right and Autumnal!

Here is a little close up of those Mums!

Only two months left to go - better start thinking about 2011!

Thank You in Aqua

2010-09-26T20:52:00.004+01:00

A simple but pretty little thank you card that I made for the lady that made Fliss's birthday cake. I did post it off on time but forgot to show you here.

I made the card from a scrap of stamping that I was practicing on ages ago with Giga Guidelines using spring rain, aqua mist and enchanted evening. I was playing with with I thought were manly colours but I got that all wrong!

By the way - I did trim that ribbon tail before I sent it off - nothing like a photo to show up your errors!

Four of a Kind

2010-09-12T20:54:00.013+01:00

I was a very lucky girl when the lovely Taheerah let me buy one of her Papertrey CHA sets that were exclusive to the show called Four of a Kind. I love how versatile it is with 4 different flowers. I whistled off a few like the one above but forgot to photograph them.

The one above is a one layer card stamped in Chartreuse and Raspberry Fizz. The one below is all in Plum Pudding and Chartreuse again - love the new inks even if they do stamp a bit unevenly!

I used Plum Pudding DP (Dots and Squares) from Papetrey with a little strip of old Anna Griffin DP. I haven't decided on a sentiment yet - if I use one at all as in life I think this card looks a lot prettier that the photo! The roses are popped up on dimentionals to give it a bit of a lift.

The challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this week is to make a square card and so I think this fits the bill!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have had a grand weekend!

Asters for September

2010-09-12T20:38:00.007+01:00

Here is the page for September - pretty Asters. I always remember my Dad growing Asters in many colours. I have used a bit of poetic license here with berry sorbet colours!

Here is a little close up of the colouring.

I used Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush card and paper for this month

Peonies and Roses

2010-08-29T22:06:00.008+01:00

I love my Lockheart flower stamps and don't really use them enough. They are lovely to colour and have such detail although they are quite small. Lockheart stamps are hard to get hold of in the UK but I found a lovely online shop in the US which will post them over for under $10 - a bargain! See them here at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. They arrived super fast too which made me very happy!

The challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this week is to use polka dots and there is an abundance on these cards!

First off we have peonies (naturally) and they are coloured in melon berry colours - I don't think I have ever come across peachy peonies so forgive me the artistic license.

Next up is the Daisy and Roses stamp - so pretty and fun to colour. I did go around the flowers with a yellow marker to highlight the white of the flowers but it was too bright and Paul (ever helpful!) said it looked cartoon-like so I toned it down a bit with some grey.

I wasn't sure where this next peony one was going but I like the black and pink combination!

All supplies are by Papertrey and Spellbinders.

It's Bank Holiday tomorrow - what could be better than extra crafty time!

Linen Vellun Note Cards

2010-08-22T23:06:00.008+01:00

I took my idea for this set of note cards from Nicole Heady's intro to the Year of Flowers - Daffodils that she made.

I really enjoy stamping on the linen vellum - here I stamped the flowers and dots in matching inks onto the vellum and added a bit of stitching, ribbon and fillable frames to finish.

Summer Sunrise...

Plum Pudding ....

Lavender Moon....

Raspberry Fizz...

Looking at that ric rak die - I have made a great discovery for the long dies and the Cuttlebug. I bought a set of long plates called Big Up Your Bug from here - well worth the investment if you use the long Spellbinders or PTI dies.

Morning Glory for August

2010-08-22T22:47:00.005+01:00

A bit late posting this - see details below! I actually had this done well before August and it was the most challenging one yet. Much as I love flowers, Morning Glory isn't really on my radar so I googled them and decided on the bluey purpley ones. That was great until I came to match card and papers and since I didn't have the blue I needed I went with PTI Simply Chartreuse.

I still don't think I am as happy with it as the others I have made - a bit of a could have tried harder on this occasion!

Here is a little close up of the flowers which were coloured with copic markers.

Thanks for stopping by this weekend - hope you have had a good one!

Enjoy The Ride

2010-08-22T22:16:00.007+01:00

Goodness - it's a month since I have shown anything - mainly due to my laptop playing silly whatsits with me (Daisy chewing through my charger TWICE and the battery giving up the ghost completely) but I am now sitting with an old model from work and back in business! Bliss!

The challenge at A Passion for Papertrey this fortnight is long and tall so I broke open my new bits and bobs that haven't seen ink yet - A Little Argyle and Enjoy the Ride - stamps and die.

I wanted to make a card for my husband's oldest friend - they have both hit 50 this year and have known eachother since they were in nursery school. This is what I came up with....

and this is how I changed it after Paul made a few suggestions! He thinks the car is a definate Herbie and so he added the 50 instead of 53 and suggested the car went at a jaunty angle, oh - and don't forget the indicator lights!

All supplies are by Papertrey and the card is a DL size.

To "Die" For

2010-07-25T13:52:00.009+01:00

I love the challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this fortnight so I'm doing another entry (really I'd just like to win that stamp set!).

I bought quite a few of the Papertrey dies some months back but have not shown them much love so I got them out to play this weekend.

I stamped off a whole sheet of linen vellum with Dot Spot in shades of Aqua Mist, Spring Rain, Hawiian Shores and Spring Moss and just cut into four. The stamps are from fillable frames, round and round and Verve.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all having a great weekend!

I think this one is my favourite - buttons and bling!

Year of Flowers - Roses

2010-07-22T22:29:00.005+01:00

This is my first card with last months new PTI Year of Flowers Rose and it owes more than a few shakes to this gorgeous card of Maile Belle's. As soon as I saw it I had to try it.

I coloured the rose and leaves with copic markers and the sentiment comes from Damask Designs.

Here is a little close up of the rose - I have many roses but this is my favourite so far - it's just so big!
As I used my circle nestabilities to die cut the white circle (love that white space) I'm slipping it in for the latest challenge over at a Passion for Papertrey - please do go check out what the girls have made!

Tigerlilies for July

2010-07-17T23:07:00.009+01:00

I am a bit late sharing my calender page for July - lots going on! I will share some photos of the other weekend with you shortly.

I stamped the flowers in memento black ink and coloured with Copics. I love the melon berry colours on the tigerlilies. These lilies always remind me of the day my daughter was born and my Mum and Dad sent us a massive arrangement and their sent filled the cubicle - I still resisted calling Felicity, Lily, after my Granny even with such gorgeous flowers!

Here's a little close-up of the tigerlilies

I always like to stamp a few extra images and with one I made this little card for my dear friend Penny who sadly lost her Mum 3 weeks ago. As I have used my Nestability dies I'm putting this in for the latest Passion for Papertrey challenge.

Projects at A Passion for Papertrey

2010-07-03T21:24:00.007+01:00

I have another project over at A Passion for Papertrey as my last post as the featured stamper for June (yes I know it's July but we have been a bit busy around here of late)!

If you would like to see this and the rest of my set of aperture cards please do pop over and have a look.

There is also a Summertime challenge on too for the next two weeks so why not join in and you could win some Papertrey goodies!

Here is my card for the Summer theme:

Happy Birthday Felicity!

2010-07-03T20:50:00.009+01:00

My baby turned 18 last week - please can someone tell me why time races by so very quickly! She has become a very lovely young woman and we are so very proud of her.

Here are some photos of family and friends especially for those family and friends that couldn't be with us on her special day - we missed you!

Proud Dad alert!

Paul and I felt under-dressed when presented with all Fliss's glamour!

With Rachel - her best friend since they were about 4 months old - don't they look so gorgeous!

A Challenge at A Passion for Papertrey

2010-06-28T22:52:00.005+01:00

I have set a little challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey - please do go check out my cards which are featured there and if you take part and enter a card you could win a nice stash of 30 sheets of Papertrey designer papers! It doesn't matter where you live in the word on this occasion so please have a go if you have time!

How about this then...........

Take Note!

2010-06-28T22:35:00.004+01:00

I've been having a play with my Take Note set - it hasn't seen much love since I bought it! I was also lucky to share some papers with a fellow forum member from the Papertrey forum and so I was on a mission to use some and not hoard it for ever.

This first one features papers from the Autumn Abundence pad and I've paired it with terracotta and scarlet jewel.

The blue one is more funky and I was able to get my order of Haiwan Shores out of the grip of the customs pile and use it here with aqua mist bits and bobs.

It's been a mad week here in the Blanshard household - I'll be back later with some photos!

A Passion for Papertrey - One Layer cards

2010-06-16T20:39:00.007+01:00

Over at A Passion for Papertey this week the challenge is One Layer cards.

I am over the moon at being invited to be the Featured Stamper for the month of June, so please do pop over there and see what everyone has designed and join in the challenge to win some Papertrey goodies.

Roses for June

2010-06-06T21:07:00.008+01:00

It's the (almost) the beginning of the month and time for another page of my Flourishes calendar pages.

I think the rose has been my favourite so far to colour and I used the same copic markers as the Pure Poppy colour from Papertrey - nice and rich!

Here's a closer look -

Ribbon Inspiration

2010-05-31T22:29:00.004+01:00

When I unpacked my last Papertrey order I pulled out these three ribbons in one handful and thought they looked so pretty together that I determined to make a card with them as soon as I got home. Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise and the newest colour Simply Chartreuse.

I wanted something bold to reflect the colours and so went to one of my older PTI sets - Beautiful Blooms. They are not colours I would think to put together but it's good and sunny!

I'm very glad that PTI are sending free re-inkers with their new formula inks right now as although the Chartreuse is a lovely colour the pad is very patchy - you can see that the leaves look more like they have been coloured with Copics rather than stamped in a solid colour - still I suppose it gives a bit of variation!

I hope you have all had a good holiday weekend - we have spent most of it in the garden planting out the bedding plants - well at least they are getting a good watering!

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms, Butterfly Dreams, Fillable Frames #1

Papertrey Pixies

2010-05-31T21:52:00.004+01:00

Over at Papertrey Pixies, Teresa set us a challenge for May to create our own background paper - as you can see I took the easy option!

I used Sweet Blush and Ocean Tides along with my Butterfly Dreams and Background Basics: Retro stamps and I have stopped hoarding my Kaiser pearls and splashed out with three on each butterfly! I think I'll recover!

Favourite Colours

2010-05-23T23:14:00.003+01:00

I would use Aqua Mist and Melon Berry all the time if I could - there is just smething about them together! This is for the favourite colours challenge over at a Passion for Papertrey this week and fitted well as I needed a little note card to send to a friend. I couldn't choose between the two colours so used them both!

The layout is from an old Mojo Monday sketch - last December I think, and all the papers, ribbon and card are from Papertrey with the stamps from Verve.

I hope you have had a great weekend - it's been so beautiful and hot here in London and I hope it stays for the next Bank Holiday weekend.

Round & Round No.1

2010-05-09T23:14:00.005+01:00

The challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey this week is to make something with a friend in mind. I broke out my anniversary set for this one tonight.

I don't often use Spring Rain and Enchanted evening even though I wear a lot of blue - it goes with my eyes don't you know! I do love the In Bloom paper but not my Enchanted Evening ink cube which is another cube that refuses to stamp nicely on the cardstock - so I resorted to versacolour Night Sky instead.

Such a cute little butterfly stamp in the set!

Poppy Background

2010-05-09T21:47:00.011+01:00

When I saw this stamp I just had to buy it - I've loved every example that I've seen made with it. When I got it though, and stamped it off, I felt really intimidated by it and I put it to one side.

This weekend I felt it was time to get over my fear and get busy! Here is what I came up with first -

I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and then coloured in with the Copic markers below. The sentiment is from Through the Trees by Papertrey and the cardstock is Hibiscus, Dark Chocolate and Spring Moss.

Whilst I had the stamp on the table I also made a quickie set of notecards to send to a friend - not a great picture but you get the idea! They were stamped in Papertrey's new inks - great for big stamps.

Thanks for stopping by this weekend and I hope it's been a good one for you!

Irises for May

2010-05-09T21:02:00.004+01:00

It's May and so it's time for another page of my Flourishes - A Year of Flowers calender.

Still staying with the theme, this month is a mix of Papertrey papers and cardstock (Sweet Blush), copic markers and a touch of hodge podge hardware.

Here is a little close up of the flowers - I really like these colours!

Sweet Peas

2010-05-02T23:01:00.004+01:00

After peonies, sweet peas are my next favourite flower - my Dad and I grow them every year on wig-wams in our gardens and there is nothing I love more than cutting bunches of them and having them all around the house - the smell is just wonderful!

That made this new set from Papertrey an absolute must for me and it was hard waiting for them to cross the pond after they got delayed by that volcanic ash somewhere over Iceland. I couldn't wait to play and even inked this up before the new anniversary set - shock, horror!

I went right out of my comfort zone with this red one - I hardly ever use red but I think the best sweet peas that my Dad grows with great long stems and the best perfume are red - Winstons I think they are called.

I used the Pure Poppy collection of Copic markers to colour these and married it up with Pure Poppy bits and bobs.

So I'm sitting on the sofa with Felicity on Saturday night watching a weepy film (My Sister's Keeper) she is painting her nails and I'm colouring the sweet peas below. Paul comes back from his blokes night out and sits himself down and says "Which direction is the light coming from then?"

"Pardon" I say, "What light?".

"On those flowers - which direction is the light coming from as some of those petals on this side look dark and dark on the other side too".

"Have you been on a Copic certification course lately?" says I.

"What's a Copic certification course when it's at home then? " he queries.

I reply "If I could get on one here in London I would, but I can't as they don't do them, so that's why the light is coming from the wrong direction"

Forgetting for a moment that he is a trained draughtsman and a design engineer I go off in a huff. He promises me that he will show me how to do it "properly" sometime soon! Well that will be cheaper than a course I suppose!

So after boring the pants off you with my ramblings here is the offending colouring made into a card with matching Sweet Blush card stock and a hint of spring moss and ripe avocado!

Both of these cards were made from sketches in the Paper Crafts Go to sketch book - I'm still loving them!
I think they go well with the Passion for Papertrey pretty petals challenge so do hop over and see the other beautiful cards here.

If you are visiting form the UK have a happy May Day holiday tomorrow. I haven't seen any Maypoles to dance around this side of London so I'll be crafting away instead and trying to work out which way the b***dy light is coming from......

Blue Dahlia?

2010-05-02T22:27:00.003+01:00

Is it allowed as I don't think I've ever seen one in nature?

I just love this layout that Debbie Olsen used here to make a card with the Violets Year of Flowers set and thought I'd give it a try with the Delightful Dahlia set and dies. The flower is stamped onto the Bitty Box dp in memento ink and touched up with copic markers.

The little words along the scallops are from the mini scrapbook series: tabs - fun aren't they?

Waiting for Butterfly Dreams

2010-05-01T23:59:00.007+01:00

I have the die but not the stamp set - it was constantly out of stock when I wanted it! So I decided to go ahead and play with the die using some pretty pattened paper as I have seen on many blogs of late.

The paper is from a really pretty pack from Papermania that my friend Lynn sent me and the quote is from a set by Stamp Camp.

Funnily enough the stamp set arrived this week after a little delay because of one volcanic ash cloud - so watch this space for many more butterflies!

Pretty Petals Challenge

2010-04-25T22:50:00.004+01:00

Another great challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey - pretty petals. Just up my street with all my floral stamps ;)

I managed to put in to acrylic and make something with one of my newer Papertrey sets - A Year of Flowers: Daffodils.

I stamped the lemon tart and summer sunrise bitty dots paper in spring moss ink - it doesn't show too well in my photo - before cutting out and popping up on foam dots. I love the spring moss patterned paper but it is nearly all gone - I seem to have made it last for ages but unfortunately not forever!

Do pop over to the blog and see all the lovely other entries - you won't be disappointed!

Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop

2010-04-25T21:15:00.006+01:00

Thank you for stopping by my little corner of blogland this evening.

I wasn't going to join in this month as I had no tissue paper - I can distinctly remember wrapping a gift in my last delivery of tissue with my stamp order - but then I needed a bit of retail therapy yesterday to cheer myself after a tough week at work so I went to my favourite shop in Beaconsfield and bought a lovely pink linen shirt. Guess what they wrapped it in.........

In fact the shirt is a slightly paler colour than Raspberry Fizz so I went with that for my quickie card.

I cut loads of layers of the tissue with my Dahlia nestability in different sizes and found this pretty pink brad in my stash.

The stamps are all from Giga Guidelines and inked up with Raspberry Fizz and Dark Chocolate on to Craft cardstock. I finished it off with some dark chocolate ribbon.

I took my layout from another of the Go-To sketches - just love that book!

Have a great evening - it's getting a bit late here so I will spend the rest of the evening hopping around the great inspiration of the hop!

PaperCrafts Magazine - Sketches

2010-04-11T21:25:00.007+01:00

I have subcribed to Paper Crafts magazine for some time now and so when they bought out this Go to Sketches edition and I saw what people were doing from it I ordered a copy from the US. It came in a week and I am really chuffed that I got it! It's well worth grabbing a copy if like me you love a sketch to kick start your projects. My copy has already got yellow post-it's stuck all through it - well I have to justify buying it.

So first up I made this card - very simple and very little stamping but I like how it came out. I chose pastel (ish) Papertrey colours on antique cream cardstock and stamped one of my butterfly sentiments from a Stamp Camp set that I have had for an age.

This is the sketch I followed

Secondly I made a patchwork card based on another design. I used Anna Griffin dp's and some pretty lemon flowers that Tilly sent me for Christmas. I cut the squares at 1 and 1/2 inch on another Papertrey antique cream base - the sentiment is also from Papertrey.

and this is the cute design from the magazine that I used -

We've had a beautiful day here in London - sunshine all day. I hope you have had a good weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Material Challenge at A Passion for Papertrey

2010-04-08T20:15:00.010+01:00

The challenge this fortnight over at a Passion for Papertrey is to use material. I thought about cutting a flower or two from my stack of old patchwork fabrics and then remembered that I have a whole pile of different fabrics that I use for embroidery and wondered how that might work. I tried stamping on loads of samples before I hit on this very fine antique white linen that I used for my Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding sampler.

I used Papertrey's spring moss bitty squares and scarlet jewel in bloom dp along with scarlet jewel card and ribbon. The buttons are all from the scarlet jewel jar but one looks very light in this photo! I'm thinking I would like a new camera but that will have to wait a while!

The sentiment is from the Delightful Dahlia set and the ink that worked best on the linen was SU's Old Olive craft ink. All the other colours just faded into the linen! I adhered the linen with a tiny touch of scorpal tape in each corner.

It's been such a beautiful day here, Spring has finally arrived - a fitting end to my week off. Back to work tomorrow - sigh....

Distressed Dahlias

2010-04-06T16:48:00.008+01:00

I was so pleased when my Papertrey order made it over last week in double quick time - and it didn't get caught at Customs either which was a huge bonus! My Angel must have been watching over me as I also won and unexpected 4 balls on the lotto last week and so that paid for my order!

So in the order were Delightful Dahlia and matching dies and Distressed Stripes. I had lots of fun playing with colours over the weekend and this is what I came up with....

Firstly a mixture of aqua mist, sprin moss and spring rain. The flower was coloured with the aqua mist Copic trio and I cut this flower out rather than die cut it. The sentiment on this card and the next is from Signature Greetings.

Secondly is a combo of lavender moon, spring moss and plum pudding, with the die cut flower coloured in lavender colours and I added some lavender moon buttons.

Before I leave you I thought I would show you how I have stored my Dahlia dies - on a square of sticky backed lightly magnatised sheet - the same way I store my Nestabilities. They are so slim that I can still close the jewel case and have them right at hand when I need them - easy peasy!

I hope you have had a lovely Easter break - many thanks as always for stopping by.

Dad's Birthday

2010-04-05T14:58:00.005+01:00

This card for my dear Dad owes more than a shake at Debbie Olsen's card here - but when you need inspiration quick there is no better place to go IMO!

The tree stamp - from Through the Trees was double stamped in spring moss and advocado inks, and the backing paper is from the bitty squares collection overstamped with one of the little stamps from Turning a New Leaf.

First Dahlia

2010-04-05T12:55:00.009+01:00

When I first got my Delightful Dahlia stamp set I just played around with my Copics - trying out PTI colours and this is my attempt at making berry sorbet colours without the full set! Anyway although it's a bit dark I made up this card using the pack of berry sorbet paper which is nearly all gone now unfortunately. I feel another order coming on!

This went off to my friend Cathy for her birthday.

All supplies are from papertrey ink (surprise, surprise!).

April Calendar and Card

2010-04-02T22:39:00.011+01:00

It's the beginning of April and that means another page of my Flourishes - A Year of Flowers calendar. Nothing screams Spring at me more than daffodils and this little bunch is really pretty. After all the scares of their being no daffodils for Mother's Day in March they are out in full bloom everywhere now - so pretty and cheerful!

I used Papertrey Lemon Tart and Summer Sunrise papers and ribbon and my little used Dahlia nesties. The daffs are coloured with Copic markers and I added a bookplate from SU.

Here's a better look at the flower itself.

Whilst I had all the supplies out I made a card too - I used the lemon combo again with some spring moss bitty paper and some tile red card from SU.

The challenge this fortnight over at A Passion for Papertrey is Easter/Spring. Do pop on over and see what the other girls have made.

Have a lovely Easter and thanks for stopping by!

Violets Take Two

2010-03-21T23:41:00.006Z

I had a bit more time to make this card using the Year of Flowers - Violets - it's such a pretty set and easy to use either paper piecing as here or colouring in with markers.

This little card caused me quite a few problems - first off I couldn't decide on one or three flowers and dithered for a day adding and taking them off, and then I stamped my sentiment on the tin-types background and hit the ribbon with my block and only got half a sentiment! I know I should have stamped it first before adding the ribbon but I was so pleased with my bow I didn't want to shift it! So I ended up stamping it on some plain white and adding it over the top of the half stamped bit - phew you still with me?

Anyways I liked how it came out - my favourite colours after all - lilac, plum and spring moss make me happy and I hope it does for it's recipient too!

First Violets

2010-03-21T23:18:00.002Z

This was a first real quickie using the Year of Flowers - Violets from Papertrey. I stamped the flowers onto Lemon Tart card and went over the centres with two copic markers. I mounted them onto some Kraft cardstock and added a sentiment from Damask Designs set - voila!

Mojo Monday 127 and A Passion for Papertrey

2010-02-28T21:48:00.005Z

It's been such a miserable wet and windy weekend here that it's been just the excuse to stay in and make a few cards.

Over at A Passion for Papertrey the challenge this week is Black and White one of my all time favourites. It's so striking but I know people either love it or hate it - a bit like Marmite! I like both. Mojo Monday has a great choice this week - round or square -

I went with round as I don't make many round cards. Here is my black and white version - it uses Papertrey's Bitty Dots and In Bloom papers and the sentiment is from Floral Frenzy.

I haven't attached a back to the card as yet as I have a fancy to make it into a tag - I did cover the back in white and stamped the matching sentiment from the set so it is all ready to go!

Whilst I had the gear out on the table I made another one - this time in Raspberry Fizz colours - although the light was fading by then and the photo isn't much cop!

The sentiment is by Verve stamps and the little flower from Floral Frenzy again.

Thanks for stopping by as always. If you fancy entering the challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey you coud be in with a chance to win some Papertrey goodies!

Quick Cases

2010-02-21T22:28:00.008Z

It's been a tough couple of weeks without access to all my crafting bits and bobs but all will be well later this week as I slowly get everything back into the house from the greenhouse and start unpacking again!

I just loved this card of Amy's over at A Passion for Papertrey and had to give it a go - it came together real quick with just some versafine ink, aqua mist cs and some buttons and twine. Mine isn't as classy as Amy's but I like how it came out and good for what I needed it for.

Every time there is a new Papertrey release I have a good look through the DT's blog and see what I could make with stamps I already have. This card of Melissa Bickford's sang to me so I had a go with one of my background basics sets and came up with this - you can tell my PTI stamps and inks were the first thing I unpacked :) Simple but pretty!

So now I have a dinning area again - we got rid of this big old computer cabinet which we didn't need any more (it was never as clean and tidy as this until we came to sell it!) ...

and replaced it with this arrangement which DH put together. So much space for my crafty bits and we have a table clear now to eat off and lots of cuboards and drawers to hide everything away in.

One day I will have a craft room but until then this will suit me fine and dandy!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Valentine Roses

2010-02-07T17:31:00.007Z

I so wanted to take part in Melanie Muenchinger's challenge to make a card using her just wonderful "A Year of Flowers", as the prize is to win a copy of her new stamp set that is just about to be launched by Gina K Designs (and also a change to be a guest designer on her blog!). I think this also makes a late entry for the challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey too.

I knew I wanted to make a Valentine's card and use the roses as they are my favourite in the set, so when I had them all coloured up I hopped over to Mojo Monday blog for some inspiration. This is for Mojo Monday 124.

The roses were stamped onto Gina K luxury heavy white cardstock and coloured with Copic markers (does anyone know of a Copic certification class near London by any chance?). I thought the Papertrey Background Basics Text Style II went really well - if you read the tiny writing it talks of delight, ectasy and dreams - very good for a Valentine's card :)

All the other supplies are by Papertrey and the sentiment is from Heart Prints.

Here is the sketch from Mojo Monday this week

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a great weekend!

March - A Year of Flowers

2010-02-04T21:06:00.009Z

I have managed to get a little bit ahead of myself with my calender with limited supplies - one day my new dresser will be finished and my stash returned to its new home!

I tried this pansy in a few colour combos - I was trying to get the effect of those beautiful dark purple ones with a yellow centres that always look like little faces to me but I just didn't have the right Copic colours so I went for the ones that I did have that matched PTI Spring Rain instead.

I used PTI enchanted evening as my base card and matching ribbon - the little pearls are from Kaiser and so pretty IRL.

Thanks for stopping by this week!

February - A Year of Flowers

2010-02-02T23:15:00.008Z

How did February arrive so quickly? Nearly all my crafting material has been stored away whilst my dear hubbie is putting together some new units for our dining area - and all to store my stash as it's morphing itself across the house!

The first calender page went down really well and so I am continuing with the rest of the year!

Luckily the challenge over at a Passion for Papertrey blog this fortnight is Nature and I think this fits in well. The stamp is from Flourishes, coloured with Copic markers and all other material is from Papertrey.

Here's a little close up of the primrose for February.

Mojo Monday 121

2010-01-14T21:46:00.006Z

The snow was so bad again yesterday that I couldn't get down the road in the car - it was quite an experience sliding along - I do so miss my old bus of a Jeep!

So a play day was in order and I had another go at a Mojo Monday challenge. I also had the Passion for Papertrey challenge in mind and managed to slip a bit of embossing with my nesties on the sentiment circle.

It's my Mum's birthday next week and so this is for her. She loves flowers and I think this is a pretty card for her as she is the sweetest person in my life.

I coloured the flowers with copic markers and added some old Anna Griffin paper that really does match the PTI spring rain card but I just cannot get my balance right on the camera. The birthday sentiment is from a Verve set called circular sayings - fantastic service from Verve, the stamps arrived over here so quickly and they were in the sale too!

January - A Year of Flowers

2010-01-10T22:41:00.005Z

I work for a civil engineering company and we specialise in land remediation and helping to build new motorways. Every year we get sent lots of calenders from our suppliers and clients and we help ourselves from the pile. The problem is they are not very pretty and are mainly of dozers and diggers and excavators and big trucks! OK if you are a boy who likes big toys but my lovely colleague Mia came back from her holiday last week and had no option on a desk calender, so this is my first prototype for a calender for her.

The crocus flower is from A Year of Flowers from Flourishes and they were a late present from Santa! If you are like me and just love flowers you must check out these stamps. I've only had a couple inked up so far but they are really finely drawn and smashing to colour. I used copic markers and some Papertrey papers, ribbon and cardstock

The calender pages can be printed off from the Flourishes site - free if you buy the stamps!

Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge meets Mojo Monday

2010-01-10T21:52:00.008Z

I always feel it's more like a mojo Sunday for me as that's my day for crafting but as the light fades so fast of an afternoon it's more of a challenge to get it photographed than to make the card!

Anyways, I was inspired by two challenges this weekend, Mojo Monday 120 and Dawn McVey's latest Raspberry Suite colour challenge - my favourite colour challenge on the block. This week is such a pretty colour combination.

I used my new Blooming Button Bits again for my card with all the colours in the photo along with Turning a new Leaf - love that set too! I popped the urn up on dimensionals just to give it a bit of a lift.

It's been good to stay indoors and play all day!

Mercy's Tuesday Sketch 54

2010-01-10T21:28:00.007Z

I made this a week or so ago for Mercy's Tuesday challenge but couldn't get my head around popping a sentiment onto it as it looked bare without one.

This is what I finally came up with!

My new Blooming Button Bits arrived over the pond when the postie eventually got up the road through the snow - we are so unprepared for snow here! It was a good excuse to break them open for this! I used plum pudding, lavender moon amd spring moss - those colours make me happy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a great weekend.