Favourite stamp brand

Hello everyone, thanks so much for stopping by even though I'm hanging my head in shame at the way I've neglected your blogs this past month

I haven't put my holiday pics onto my laptop yet, I took so many and the thought of sorting them out keeps putting me off doing it!

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I just had a lovely weekend away doing a workshop with Tracy Easson. If you haven't heard of her she is the artist behind the Wonky Tonk stamps that Paula at Which Craft! sells.

Tracy has a new range now on her own Etsy store and they are just adorable. I'll take some pics of my makes and post about them shortly

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This fortnight's challenge at AYLI is to use your favourite stamp brand and why?

I LOVE so many brands and have a huge stamp stash but I didn't have to think about this one really because it has to be Lili of the Valley...

This is one of the Spring images, Happy Birthday bear...  I put him on a tag and printed out a few extra flowers to decorate. Really simple card but I think it's pretty so I hope you like it

The dotty border die is Tonic

Just in case you aren't aware, LOTV have moved to digital products only now and you can get them in their Etsy store. The original website will redirect you there

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Don't forget to enter the AYLI challenge...  the prize this time is a guest spot on the DT so it would be fab to have one of you join us!

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Have a lovely week everyone, got my fingers crossed for an improvement in this awful weather!

Still here...

Hello everyone... I can't believe it's been so long since my last post so thank you for still stopping by!

I've been jetting off to Italy (Lake Garda) and had a lovely time, what a beautiful place. I haven't sorted my pictures out yet so I'll share some in my next post

Then when we got back Jess had an operation on her arm. If you've been here a while you may remember that she was kicked by a horse a couple of years ago and broke her elbow. To cut a long story short it was to correct some nerve problems resulting from that injury. Anyway she couldn't drive and was bored, she came to stay for a bit so I was taxi and entertainment! It was lovely to have her home but (and please don't judge me) I was glad to see the back of her!! She's fine and having physio now so hopefully back to work next week

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The latest AYLI challenge is 'His or Hers' - which is your favourite?

I would usually always say 'Hers' because I love making girlie cards and everything pink and flowery. But I thought I'd have a change and because we are sponsored by Polkadoodles I used the fab Horace and Boo digi kit to make a boys card...

I really enjoy using these kits, I love that you add in all the little extra elements - hope you like it! 

The paw print embossing folder is Marianne

There's still time to enter the challenge and as I said the prize for this one is sponsored by Polkadoodles

I'm entering this into these challenges too; Digi Choosday Blog, Polkadoodles Blog, Gem of a Challenge, We Love 2 Create challenge

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I'm finally getting back into my routine so I'll be round to catch up on all your blogs this week. Thanks to my lovely new visitors too who came from the AYLI 6th anniversary hop!

Have a great week everyone

Favourite animal...

Good evening crafty friends, I'm sneaking in a quick post before the Easter holidays are upon us otherwise I'll forget and it will be another week! 

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post, I'm very grateful that you are still stopping by when it's been weeks since I caught up with your blogs, I promise to be round shortly to see what you've all been making

I've been watching Game of Thrones again from the beginning, I was so excited for the new season which started this week. None of my friends or family watch it but I think it's got to be one of the best things that has ever been on tv, for me anyway

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The latest challenge at AYLI is your favourite animal and why, I love all animals and I think dogs would probably have to be number 1 but closely followed by cute woodland furries. I used this sweet image from Lili of the Valley called Party Parade which has 3 of them...

This one was made for the recent Spring swap which we held on the we love Lili of the Valley facebook group. Another adorable image from the Spring release...

 The dies are Doohickey (scalloped frame) Waffle Flower (loopy frame) and Memory Box (clouds). The sentiments are LOTV and images coloured with Copics.

You can enter and find all all the details for the challenge on the AYLI page here

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Thanks so much for taking the time to  pop by and have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone

I'm back...

Good morning everyone, where has the past month gone? I just haven't found time for my blog lately despite good intentions. I keep thinking I'll call it a day but I do love blogging and going round to see what you've all been up to so I am really going to try and keep up to it better

I've had a few trips out, went on a spa day with Jess, an AALL & Create art workshop and a trip to Newcastle to see my lovely friends Mary and Andrea

I've done quite a bit of crafting so I'll share a few cards today. First is the AYLI challenge, still time to enter if you're quick and it's your favourite colouring medium sponsored by the fab Lee Holland digis. This is one of his cute images and although I've tried many different colouring products I always go back to my alcohol markers, I used Copics on this and a die by Little B...

This is a card I made for Jess's boss who had a nasty fall from her horse. I love this Spellbinders tulip frame die. She broke quite a few bones so thinking of you seemed more appropriate than get well soon. This stamp is from a lovely MFT sentiment set which I've used a lot...

I've been having a destash as I said in my last post and found some CDs that I'd bought ages ago. This is from a Thelwell one and I can't believe I haven't ever used it, the images are adorable and perfect for Jess and her horsey friends! …

Hope you like them, thanks so much for stopping by. I will be having a catch up on all your blogs this week and I'm going to try and post more regularly

Enjoy your Wednesday crafty friends

Iceland...

Hello everyone, I've been AWOL again but I have an excuse as I've been away on a last minute holiday

It was a bit of a change for us, we went to North Iceland

It was absolutely amazing, what a fantastic place

The Northern Lights were weak and we couldn't go whale watching because of the blizzards but I think if those 2 things had gone to plan it would be my most favourite trip ever... and I've been on a few

The challenge this fortnight at AYLI is Christmas or Birthday and I went with Birthday.  I love making Christmas cards but because all our family birthdays and anniversaries are spread between December and March I don't usually get chance to make any until those are all out of the way.

These stamps are a bit different for me but I needed a couple of cards and didn't really want cute, it's a set from HunkyDory…

The sentiment stamp and scalloped border die are MFT, I use them both a lot

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You can enter the challenge and find all the details on the AYLI blog

here

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Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend

Pearls or Buttons?

 

Good evening lovely crafty friends, did you have a nice weekend?

 

I went to see the new Mary Poppins film with Jess, it wouldn’t have been my choice but she wanted to see it. I actually really enjoyed it – good old fashioned family entertainment!

 

We used to go to the cinema often… maybe we are just getting old and grumpy but after an altercation with some yobs who were running riot and people chatting/phone screens/bags rustling etc we usually end up deciding it’s easier to watch in the comfort of our own home!!

 

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Must mention before I get onto my card that our lovely Loti from Mama Makes is expecting a precious baby boy

To celebrate she’s offering a fantastic 30% discount across the store until Feb 1st

 

 

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The new AYLI challenge is Pearls or Buttons; which is your favourite and why?

I do like to use both but recently have been using pearl drops instead and I love them. The Nuvo drops come in a great range of colours and you can make them any size you like – no fiddly gluing them on either!

This is one of the new Lili of the Valley fairies, the colours were dictated by the papers which were in my scrap box. I have years and years of bits that I can’t bring myself to throw out so I’m trying to actually use some of them…

 

 

 

Stamp – LOTV Lily Sparkle

Sentiments – LOTV large magical set

Flowers/leaves - Simon Says Stamp

 

The pearl drops in the centres of the flowers were done with Nuvo ‘bubblegum blush’ and ‘simply white’ crystal drops

 

You can enter the challenge and see all the details on the AYLI page

 

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Thanks so much for stopping by, have a good week all

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Good afternoon everyone, a very happy new year to you all and I hope you had a lovely Christmas. We went to my Brothers which was nice. The kids are all getting partners and houses of their own now so I think this will probably be the last year we are all together as a family on Christmas day

 

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I decided to take a few weeks out over the holidays, I’m in so many groups on Facebook now and I do like to comment on everyone’s work but it takes so long that I can’t get round my favourite blogs. Before you know it 2 hours have gone by and I’ve sat on the laptop and not made a thing! So I’ve decided just to stay in the LOTV and Polkadoodles groups which are my favourites and I’ve unfollowed the rest. I halved my friend list too, if you’re not interacting I don’t see the point and I had a lot of friends who just added me because we had another 100 crafty friends in common. I’m hoping this will free up some time and if not I’ll have to re-think and maybe move my sharing to Facebook and stop the blog. I know this has been well discussed but I do like my blog, it’s a bit of a diary I enjoy looking back on and I love to visit others too

 

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It’s a new year and a new challenge at AYLI so we’re kicking off with a nice easy one - ‘Anything Goes’

 

LOTV have a new launch and they are also sponsoring us. They have the cutest new fairy called Lily and I used her on my challenge card…

 

 

The heart string is from another of the stamp sets and the sentiment is snipped from one of the new circles which I love. It’s so long since I used flowers on my cards but it made a nice change

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I have this one to share too using another of the fairies, there are 4 different images on the rubber sheet. You can see the new sentiment circles on here too, I printed this one quite small…

 

 

Sorry about the pictures, the light is so bad at the moment it’s hard to get the colour right

 

Hope you like them, the challenge is open for 2 weeks and you can enter and see all the details here

 

The new Lili of the Valley stamps are available in rubber on their website and in digi from the Etsy store

Enjoy your weekend crafty friends, thanks so much for stopping by

Christmas animals…

Good morning everyone, I’ve been such a bad blogger and didn’t realise how long it had been since my last post!

We went to Tenerife, it was lovely just to get some sunshine and relax but I’ve come back and it’s Christmas, and I haven’t done a thing!!

I promised myself I would make all my own cards this year and despite good intentions I only had about a dozen done (which admittedly is better than usual) so I’ve frantically been trying to get them all made over the last couple of days. I’m not good under pressure and when I know I have a deadline my mojo goes out of the window

These are a bit of a change for me, the challenge this fortnight for AYLI is your favourite Christmas animal so I looked at some Polkadoodles collections as they are our sponsor this time

I’ve used the images in them quite a lot but never really taken notice of the design sheets which are included. What a revelation, they are fabulous! You just print the A4 sheets and all the toppers and embellishments are ready to cut out and use, I printed the matching backing papers too and was really pleased with the results

The first one is my challenge card, my favourite Christmas animals have to be polar bears and penguins so this image is perfect…

The snowflake background I used is a Marianne die

I thought I’d share this one too as I made quite a few…

There’s still time to enter the challenge and we have a fab prize up for grabs from Polkadoodles

The bundle I used for my cards today is Winnie Winterland. The prices are very reasonable anyway but if you want to buy anything do it on a Tuesday when they usually publish a fab discount code on their blog

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Thanks so much for stopping by, I’ll be trying to catch up on all your blogs later this week when I eventually get myself sorted for Christmas

A new challenge for me, and LOTV news…

Good morning everyone, I hope you are enjoying the weekend

I have a few bits of news today to share and also a new DT challenge for me…

as you already know LOTV had to stop selling digital products until they can sort out some new EU reporting rules. I appreciate that many crafters didn’t get on with the digis so if that was you, you’ll be pleased to know that they are bringing back rubber stamps (as well as the papers and printed sheets that I told you about before). Hopefully they will be able to get the digi issue resolved soon and then everybody will be happy!

We have a new Facebook group, it’s run by the DT and is the only official LOTV group

We love to see what everyone is making and get your feedback on the products so please do join even if you are not a regular Facebook user, it’s very easy to use and really friendly

We had over 500 members in the first week so hopefully it will turn into a fantastic go-to place for us to show sneaky peeks and news as well as you being able to share your own makes and ask any questions. Just click on the link below to take you straight to the group page and then you just need to click ‘join group’ and answer a couple of questions (these are just to filter out the spam requests). We’d love to see you there and please don’t forget to tell all your crafty friends too!

WE LOVE LILI OF THE VALLEY

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Onto my own news, I’m joining some of my lovely crafty friends on the As You Like It DT (thanks for asking me girls)

The challenge has stood the test of time when so many others have closed down, it’s a fortnightly challenge and they have some great prizes up for grabs

The theme for the current challenge is a fun one, CAS or Full of Frills

I do love CAS but find it very hard to leave white space. I can’t resist loading up layers of patterned papers and dies so I guess my card for this challenge would have to be classed as Full of Frills!!

I used one of the new LOTV printed Art Sheets…

The papers are the new Frosty Christmas (grey) and the lovely cross stitch circle die is from Swedish House Crafts

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Hope you like it, thanks so much for stopping by and do be sure to check out both the AYLI challenge blog and the new Facebook group

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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday