Stampin' at the Weekend

I've been trying to get ahead with my DT cards this weekend, but things kept going off in a different direction .. .. you know how it is .. .. I am sure once I've stamped an image it takes on a life of it's own when I start colouring! I coloured the image with my Copics (sorry no list as I kept mixing them up and blending shades so it's hard to tell) but when it became obvious it wasn't going to work for my DT creation, I popped it onto a small 5" square card base as I have piles of envies this size that need to be used up! Some of the newer stamps coming out are far too big for small cards, fortunately this is an older one from LOTV called Emma with presents that just about fits.

I've used a piece of freebie magazine paper, but couldn't say who it is by, inked the edges and layered a horizontal strip onto cream card where I've used a MS lace border punch to make it pretty. I also added a length of cream gross-grain ribbon across the layer and created a little button from a LOTV sentiment and a couple of Marianne diecut flower shapes. The flower embellishment is more little bits cut from Marianne dies: LRO105, LRO112, LRO142 & LRO116.

Stampin' for the weekend have a bingo card challenge and with a little bit of artistic licence I can enter with either the ribbon, pearls, pink line - or the pearls, lace (punched paper lace), polka dots (on the present) - or flowers, polka dots, die cuts - or ribbons, lace, die cuts - or flowers, lace, pink! Had I added a little sparkle and a few butterflies I'd have had all the options covered!

Marianne's Baby Boy

Marianne's Design Divas are feeling the Winter blues this month, but your creation doesn't necessarily have to be a winter design - just blue! I've used papers and the cute baby by Eline Pellinkhof together with a sentiment by LOTV, coloured with a few of my Copic pens: blues B21 & B24, plus C0 and B60 for shading. I've cut a white doily layer with Marianne Craftable CR1203, and created my floral embellishment with daisy flowers LRO106 and leaves from LRO156, finishing with little blue buttons tied with white floss and a couple of ribbons.

And here is the card. We have friends expecting their first baby in the summer, but it might not be a boy so I will have to make another card just in case! The Crafty Catz blog have an eye spy theme with the letter 'B' - I have blue, baby, basket, buttons and blooms.

Afternoon Tea

Ah to put your feet up in the afternoon when work's all done and enjoy a nice cup of tea, and a cake! The theme this week on Lili's Little Fairies is, afternoon tea and the sponsor is Nitwits. We are very sorry that we missed last week's challenge, our poor Mummy Fairy has been very ill and we are all a little lost without her.

I've used the LOTV 'time for a cuppa' stamp, coloured with Copics and edged both the image, mats and papers with Pumice Stone DI. In addition to my usual Copic skin tone colours I've used E71, 74 & 77 for the touches of brown; E50, 51 & 53 for the creams; V01, 12 & 15 for the violet pink touches, and R81, 83 & RV32 for the pinks. I've gone over the flowers on her dress, the cherry on top of the cake and the zigzag on the cup with a glaze pen to add a little shine, but it doesn't show up in the picture.

Here's the card. I've added white stitches to the Nitwit freebie magazine papers and dots around the scallop mat, cut diecut elements and finished off with gems and organza ribbon. The lace border die is by Nellie's Choice, the flowers and sprays are all Marianne dies and the butterflies are Joy dies.

The Allsorts challenge is an anything goes theme this week, and the Stamp With Fun challenge is for shapes.

Winged Things!

This week's challenge on Cute Card Thursday is for Winged Things, so I expect there will be lots of butterflies and fairies around in blog land! Please stop by the CCT blog to see the beautiful DT creations and read all about the challenge and our sponsor for this week.

I've gone for a couple of little love bugs, they are designed by Sylvia Zett for Wee stamps and she actually calls them sympathy bugs but I thought they would make a cute card for my son and dil who will be celebrating a wedding anniversary next month. My fellow DT friend Debs has used the same image for her card, it is a gorgeous creation, and the stamp is now available from Whimsy Stamps! I've coloured the image with Copics: bugs with E50, 51 & 53 plus R0000, 000, 00, R20, 21, 22 & 24; cotton puffs with E0000, 000 & 81; and green shades YG61, 63 & 67. And, to add a little sparkle I've gone over the cotton balls with Stardust Stickles.

Here's the card, my papers are more of the freebie Nitwits from a magazine matted with soft pink card, and I've inked all the edges with pink petunia Versamagic chalk ink. I've used a pretty Martha Stewart punch to edge a layer and threaded through satin pink ribbon then added little soft pink star gems. To embellish I've added more gems, a pretty bow and various diecuts along with the stamped greeting.

The Totally Papercrafts blog challenge is to include ribbon and bows, and the Charisma Cardz theme is 'love is in the air' - I think my card fits the theme.

I've had a few comments and emails asking how I am coping with all the changes going on here, thank you dear friends for your concern and well wishes. I did have a doctors appointment a couple of weeks ago as I felt I wasn't coping very well at all. I reluctantly agreed to try HRT - having avoided it since I went through the menopause relatively easily many years back now. But the hot flushes both day and night, and resulting exhaustion were really getting to me, and along with palpitations and dizzy spells I was wondering if it was me with the heart problems. Now, a good 2 weeks into the pills I can report that I've seen a great improvement in the flushes - hardly any during the day now and some nights almost flush free. My energy levels have also shot up, I'd never have been able to do the gravel path a few weeks ago, although I still have to take time to recover from anything physical. I have begun to wonder if I was miss-diagnosed with ME .. .. it is hard to tell. I certainly have physical problems that are nothing to do with ME and now it seems that many of my 'other problems' may be due to lack of hormones .. .. time will tell I guess!

Less is More

It's been really wet today, far too damp to finish painting the wood around the patio doors - honest! So instead I've had a bit of a play and created a couple of cards for the Less Is More challenge to use diecuts and punches. Of course, you also have to keep things CAS with a fair amount of white space.

On my first card I've stamped the text with black Momento then diecut the various Marianne bits and pieces, layered them up with foam pads and finished off with a big pearl. The black skeleton leaf base and white flowers are from LRO128, and the black centre is from the snowflake set LRO123. I had originally created the card on a plain 4" square white base but it wasn't doing it for me, so I cut it out, layered onto black and fixed it to a 5" square scallop base.



On the second card I used a Martha Stewart punch to edge the 4" square card, stamped the text then punched the flowers and diecut the butterfly. Finishing off with pearls, and little black dots to link the flowers together and pick up on the dots between the letters of the text .. .. I thought that was enough.

It's been a bit weird creating a card without a coloured image, but I've had fun and I think they have turned out ok. Back to the colouring for the next one though .. .. ..

Love is gone

'Love is gone' is the title of this stamp by Ching Chou Kuik - it's one I've had for quite some time and had even stamped up and coloured most of the image. Those blue violet shades do have a tendancy to fade however, so I went back over her hair and added in the icy blue background, it does mean I'm not sure of the exact colours I used. I have a coloured in chart that I refer to rather than sticking rigidly to numbers in a colour family group - sometimes I find that gives you a better contrast and helps make some areas pop, like those roses.

It's a simple card with scraps of freebie magazine papers by Nitwits, edges inked with spring pansy Versamagic chalk ink, then matted with lilac cardstock. I've added dimension by matting the image with 3d foam pads, and doing the same with the stamped text (does anyone know who has the dimension challenge - I'm sure I've not dreamt it up?). The embellishment is a couple of Marianne diecut leaves, satin ribbon tied in a bow, a pearl rose button and 3 little Nellie's Choice butterflies finished with tiny gem bodies.

I didn't dream it .. .. the Moving Along With The Times challenge is for layers so I can go and enter my card.

And, I'll enter the Paper Sundaes and Incy Wincy blog challenges as they each have a birthday theme this week.

I managed to finish shovelling the gravel onto the path yesterday - and have discovered muscles in my arms I forgot I had! Fortunately hubby had done the bulk of the work on Sunday so I didn't have too much to do - it's looking good but I'm not going out in the rain to take a picture. And talking of taking pictures, I've tried several times to snap the kitchen roman blind that is now hanging at the window - I am pleased with it, although the Laura Ashley sale fabric was a bit of a pain with the print and the warp/weft not lining up. In the end I stayed with the pattern and cut by the selvage edges rather than trying to line up with the weave across the fabric. I have quite a bit left over but can't decide whether to make oven mits or place mats .. .. .. I've also tried snapping a cross stitch flower picture I've moved into the 'green' dining area - I made it several years ago and discovered it goes quite well! Every time I try to take a picture I'm getting reflections in the glass or it's too dark to show up the delicate flowers - oh well, you'll just have to stop by for a cuppa and see it for yourselves!

Flower Power

This week the theme on Cute Card Thursday is Flower Power! I've inked up my LOTV stamp called Emma's Rose Garden and coloured with my Copics .. .. I didn't make a list, but if I remember rightly, in addition to my usual skin tones her dress is coloured with the pale warm grey shades, her cardi with B60 and B63, her hat with E 30, 31 and 34 plus the darker E37 for her hair. The greens are YG03, 25 and 67, and for the pinks I've used RV00, R81, 83 and 85. The little butterflies are a mix of touches of V12, V15, BV01 and BV02. For the background I've coloured with B0000 and B000.

On the card I've used a piece of flower paper from my freebie magazine stash, inked the edges with Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink, matted with green textured card and trimmed with another paper that looks like ribbon plus a length of real lace. To embellish I've diecut Sizzix corners and a Marianne leaf swirl, then punched Martha Stewart hydrangea flowers and Nellies Choice mini butterflies before finishing off with the pearls. Mum has chosen this card to send to my sister for her birthday.

Sorry this is late posting - I forgot to change it from edit to post .. .. duh! and I've been busy with the paint to try and get at least one wall finished before the weekend. And the postman has just delivered the lawn edger stuff and the builder's merchant delivered a ton of gravel yesterday, so I'm going to be busy this weekend (well hubby is, although he doesn't know it yet!)

The Stamptacular Sunday challenge is to use pearls and lace on your creation, and the Crafty Catz challenge is to use your favourite things - well I love my LOTV stamps and colouring with Copics, plus I love my punches and pearls.

Anything Goes!

Time for another challenge on Lili's Little Fairies blog, and it's an easy peasy anything goes! Our sponsor for this theme is Wild Orchid Crafts, so a wonderful prize!

I've inked up a stamp called 'The Little Things' and it comes with a sentiment as well, but I've not used it this time. I've used a soft muted pallet of Copic colours to colour my image, shades of E40s for the brown tones, BV20 & 23 along with cool greys, and BV01, 02 & 04 for the violets. In addition I coloured her skirt with B91 & 93, used RV63 & 66 for the flowers and touches of green that I can't remember.

The paper and sentiment are a magazine freebie by Hunkydory with the edges inked in Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink and matted with Kraft cardstock. I've embellished with Marianne diecut flowers and leaves, LRO156 & LRO142, pearls and a length of wired shimmery organza ribbon I've tied into a bow.

I've not been able to catch up very much, but have come across these challenges to link up to: Allsorts challenge is a free and easy month, By The Cute and Girly with love is in the air, Crafty Catz with a Valentine theme, and Fussy and Fancy Friday wanting some love.

LOTV update

Well, my pc is connected back up - across the room and slower than ever but at least working! I've been trying to catch up and thought I'd drop you a last minute reminder to enter the LOTV candy draw to win all the new stamps coming out soon - see it here and you can also enter the weekly candy draw at the same time! My favourites are those two cute little babies, they certainly will be joining my collection.

The kitchen window roman blind is almost made, just need to get some more rings to sew on for the cords to go through, then finish the painting before hanging it. As the weather man said we would be having a reasonably dry week I've been sidetracked into digging up part of the lawn to make a wider path so Mum can get outside, and hopefully sit and enjoy the sunshine. Tomorrow I hope to get the lawn edging in, start on the sand and membrane and order the chippings to be delivered Thursday or Friday .. .. then shovelling to get it done before the weekend and the rain arrive. We have several projects in various stages of completion now .. .. and waiting for builders quotes and building regs to make a start on the main extension. I'll take pics once there is something worth showing you .. .. but now I'll try to kick this pc into action and stop by some of my crafty friends.

Pink Valentine

Hey! what a shock .. .. no coloured image on my card for Cute Card Thursday's challenge this week for a pink Valentine! Every time I started to colour something it ended up blue .. .. so I gave up and created this pink card just with die cuts and stamps instead. The base is a white scallop card and the paper is more of the Nitwits freebie matted with pink cardstock. I've added a length of ribbon and a piece of my precious lace, then lots of pearls. The heart is a Nellie's Choice die whilst the flowers and swirl are from Marianne - little bits from LR0112, LRO122 & LRO157. I've stamped the text with Coral Brilliance pearlescent ink and then added a couple more stamps inside, text and heart from Elusive Images who are sadly no more.

In the end I quite liked the way this one turned out, and so did my son who's helped himself to it! A few more Valentine/love challenges I can link up to: The One Stop Craft, Let's Ink It Up, Everybody Art, For Fun, and Oldie But a Goodie with a challenge to use lace.

Valentine sketch

This week on Lili's Little Fairies we have a sketch designed by Jacque for the challenge. I've used the cute little teddy bear carrying balloons that spell Mum - why not send Mum a Valentine? I've coloured with Copics: teddy and beige tones with E50, 51, 52, 53 & 55; blues with B91 & 93; pinks with RV00, 63, 17 & 66.

To keep to the sketch I've cut out teddy with a Nellie's Choice fancy circle then hand cut around the balloons to add them outside the rose embossed heart (another Nellie's Choice die). To link them back to the image I've used embroidery floss and threaded it behind and below teddy's paw to make it look like he's holding them. My papers are more from my freebie magazine stash and I've inked the edges before matting with kraft card. I picked up on the little flowers in teddy's bouquet and punched out little blue flowers then added kraft sprays cut with a Marianne die. To finish I've added gems, pearls made with my pearl maker pen and a stamped text cut out with the smaller Nellie heart die, then finally a pretty pink bow.

There's lots of Valentine/Love challenges around, and I've chosen these to link up my card: Addicted to Stamps, Stamp with Fun, Sweet Stampin', Party Time Tuesdays and The Secret Crafter Saturday challenge.

I've not had much time for the computer this week, and my craft stash is now back in the cold conservatory whilst I get stripping - and that wallpaper has been stuck on with some very sticky glue! It's taking me a good 3/4 washes with bleach and soapy water to get the wall glue free and will need more than a couple of coats of paint to even things out. I hope to get it finished over the weekend so I can get back to a little crafting again next week. In the mean time, sorry for not stopping by my friends. I've scheduled this post and my card for tomorrow (and next week's too, just in case) and will try to get back to do the links and catch up with everyone who has left me a comment, but now it is getting rather late so I'll say night, night!

Spring Fling!

This week at Lili's Little Fairies we would like to see some fresh Spring colours on your creations. I've gone with Spring green and purple crocus shades for my Easter card with this cute bunny. I've coloured my image with Copics: bunny and cream shades in E50, 51, 53 & 81; the greens are YG61, 63 & 67, while the purple shades are V000, 12 & 15. I've shaded my background with BG0000 & 000.

Here's the card. The papers are by Nitwits and I've inked the edges with Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink then matted with Coredinations cardstock and sanded the edges. The butterflies are Nellie's Choice cut and emboss sets layered up and the flower embellishment is from Marianne dies LR0112 and LR0142. I've finished with a stamped text by High Hopes, ribbon and gems.

The Sweet Stampin' challenge theme is animals and over on the Party Time Tuesdays it's anything goes.

I'm scheduling this post as I have to take Mum to the doctors for a blood test/check up this morning and then to do some shopping as our cupboards are getting empty! Catch up with you later and keep warm this weekend!

Buttons and Bows

For this weeks theme of buttons and bows on the Cute Card Thursday blog I've coloured one of Marianne's new Don and Daisy stamps just released, this is Daisy knitting a nice warm scarf, or maybe it's a jumper, hard to tell! I coloured with Copics but put them away before noting down the colours, sorry about that.

The papers are from my stash, originally used for Christmas but equally at home for any time of year. I've run a dark green ink pad around the edges of the image and the papers instead of adding mats, and I've covered up most of the green stripe paper with my embellishments. The white layer is Marianne's new Craftable die CR1203, the flowers are made with the mini poinsettia set LR0142, the red sprays are from LR0106 and the skeleton leaves are from LR0156. I've finished with a red gingham bow and white button, 3 little red hearts, and because I'm out of round red gems I added blobs of red to the centres of my flowers with the pearl maker pen - but I'm not happy with the red pen as it tends to spread rather than giving me a nice round pearl effect.

Fussy and Fancy Friday have a polka dot theme running, and the Lollipop Crafts and Diva's by Design blogs have an anything goes theme, so I'm entering my card with them too.

I hope you can stop by the Cute Card Thursday blog to see the rest of the DTs creations, and read more about our sponsor and prize for this week. And, over on the Don & Daisy blog there is the opportunity to win the stamp I've used for my card today.

Bloomin' Daffs

As I wasn't sure that Mum would like the snowdrop card I made yesterday for my Uncle's birthday, I made a couple of others with the Elusive Images daffodil stamps. I've stamped the daffodil script with brown Momento and coloured with Copics, then kept things very simple to create the card. For the yellow tones I used Copics Y11, 13, 15, 17 & Y38 (I haven't got the Y18 yet), I'm sorry I can't remember the greens and forgot to take a note before tidying up! For the background I used B0000 & B000.

Here's the first card, it's a square white base with a piece of digi paper from my stash and a textured green cardstock to mat both the paper and the image. I've inked the edges of the image and the paper with Aloe Vera Versamagic chalk ink and stamped the text with the brown Momento.

For the second card I've stamped the bunch of daffs onto kraft card and coloured with the same Copics, then highlighted with a white pencil. I took the picture last night and it's looking rather dull in the close up - I should have tweaked it!


This is the card that Mum chose, it's a little smaller than C6 to fit some envelopes that I've acquired somewhere along the line. I've done a version of the WOW - a KOK! I used the Argyll embossing folder to create some interesting texture and inked the edges of the layers with dark brown chalk ink, plus added dimension with 3d foam to the central image.

The For Fun challenge is to make a male birthday card - check! and Stampin' for the Weekend want to see some embossing.

Mum is doing much better on the new meds and has been able to get up and about today. Although it's been a lovely sunny day here in Cornwall, it's a little too chilly for her to sit outside just yet, and with a clear sky we might even see some frost tonight!