DT Inspiration Challenge at APFP

"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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

 " 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

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

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

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

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

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!