I have been very good this morning and done the ironing and there's another line of washing on the line drying - it's not too bad a day here - some blue sky and a little breeze - lots of cloud about though so am keeping fingers crossed no rain for a change....!

As I didn't manage the Less is More challenge last week - (made my card then forgot to post it...... can an MRI affect your brain cells?????? LOL - my excuse anyway!) - I sat this morning and did this weeks as quickly as I could!

The theme was to take inspiration from the LIM blog banner - which consists of music, flourishes, flowers and script - I normally sit for hours when the LIM challenge is set desperately seeking some mojo, but this time it all came together pretty quickly... I hope it didn't come THAT quick that you thinks it looks terrible!!!

I knew what I wanted to do but realised I don't possess any music script stamps (note to self - BUY SOME!!!) - I do however have some images of sheet music saved so printed one out onto linen cardstock. I thought about tearing instead of cutting but opted for clean lines to make sure I kept in with the spirit of LIM - which is all about CAS cards and lots of white space. 

I used a Hero Arts stamp set bought a couple of weeks ago in a craft shop closing down sale (bargain at a fiver!) - stamped the two circles in Black Onyx Versafine and cut out with nesties, then stuck them both onto the music layer. Masked the largest circle off and stamped again with the flourish stamp from the same set.
I resisted the temptation to add any Kraft type colour to the card as I thought it would be too much.
As the LIM banner has a bit of bling too I didn't need any excuse to dip into the embellie box - I thought the pearl and diamante tiny circle fitted quite well.
I finished off with 3 tiny gemstones and a stamped sentiment which I think is from Papermania and reminded me of the script on the LIM banner.
Am entering this also into the CASual Fridays challenge this week, which is to use two circles.

Hope you're all having a beautiful day and as always, thanks for having a peep at my latest offering! x

Another die cut card

Had a busy weekend then spent yesterday working myself up to a bit of a state before I went for an MRI scan. I am not a lover of confined spaces and was a little apprehensive to say the least - when I got there they lay me down and put this cage thing over my head - cue time to panic! The Doc was really nice - cage thing taken off with a promise from me that I would lay as still as a statue during the scan... lay down again, shut my eyes, stuck in the earplugs and didn't move for 20 minutes! Needed some help to get me up off the trolley - talk about seized up!!!
So today I have relaxed a bit after doing the ironing (yuk!), and finished off putting inserts into several sympathy cards - it's one of the least things I enjoy about cardmaking -inserts are a nuisance!! But the cards were ordered so it had to be done!

I then had a play with the dies again - I had several cut off strips of linen card laying about on the desk and used it up by cutting out lots of flower petals, some tags and some flourishes. With the little pile cut out on the desk I thought I'd better do something with at least a few of them - and here is the result - once again this has been inspired by something similar seen elsewhere during a trawl - but overall am happy with the way mine has turned out.

The card measures about 6" square.
I used white linen textured card and the Anja die from Marianne. This is the first time I have used this die and confess that it hasn't embossed as well as I had hoped - so I need a bit more practice to get the 'embossing sandwich' right, but it looks OK.
I made it into a gatefold and put some dark sandy coloured cardstock inside.
The rose was made with the nestie blossom set and it's layered onto a nestie fancy tag with a couple of Marianne flourishes.

All the edges of everything were inked with versacolour Bisque and some Glamour dust put on the rose for blingy!
I received two butterfly punches for my Birthday so made good use of the smaller one, cut two out, coloured them completely with the versacolour and added a couple of tiny pearls to the bodies and glamour dust to the wings.
Inside I put another of the same shaped tag to use as a space for the greeting.

Challenges -
Allsorts - To Die For
Crafty Calendar - Flowers in Bloom
Crafty Cardmakers - Create your own flowers
Whoopsi Daisy - Things With Wings
Craft Your Passion - Things with Wings
Fashionista - Winged things
Squirrel and the Fox - Make it sparkle
2 Sisters - Anything Goes 

Hope you're all enjoying your day - and thanks for visiting - !

Have been sitting this morning thinking of warm sunshine, blue skies and gentle breezes rocking a hammock - 'cos we've just paid for our holiday! Certainly wasn't looking out of the window - rain, wind, grey skies... typical British Summer really!!!

I decided I needed to do something soft, gentle and soothing - couldn't afford a pamper day at a luxurious spa - so made a card instead.....................
I adored this Cheery Lynn Lace Faerie Queen die as soon as I clapped eyes on it.
I also saw it made into a beautiful card along similar lines to this and decided to give it a go.
Using just dies without images gives me an opportunity to use up some of the pieces of card that I have left over too.
The whole thing is made with centura pearl card.
I used Nestabilities dies for the fancy square frames, and inked the edges with versacolour Petal Pink ink, then layered them with 3d pads.
The 'lace faerie queen' was also inked lightly then given a little dusting with glamour dust for some sparkle and 3 soft pink pearls stuck on the body.
The flower was made using several layers of  the smaller of the Nestabilities Blossom dies and again it was given the ink and glamour dust treatment.
I had originally intended not to add any sentiment on the front at all but whilst I wanted to achieve 'clean and simple' - it looked 'bare and stark' -  (well according to me anyway!!) - so a greeting of some sort was needed.
This sentiment came from TLC -  and it's simple statement I thought meant the card could be used for any occasion. I  altered the colour in Serif and then cut it out with another fancy tag die, adding another pearl.
Tied some white organza ribbon round the side and popped a couple of pearls at the top. 


Challenges -
PaperPlay -  Use a Die
Crafty Ribbons - Clean and Simple
Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - To 'Die' For
Whimsy Stamps - White on White
Use your Stuff - Make it by Hand
The Crazy Challenge - recipe - and I chose Ribbon, Pearls, Dies

As ever, thanks for visiting - off to get a jumper 'cos it ain't very warm here at all! x

Sunshine!

It's been a lovely couple of days here - the sun finally decided to come out and stay for a couple of days! (Forecast from Thursday onwards ain't so bright but hey ho, make the most of it while it lasts!)
I've been busy with a couple of projects and have a few finished cards, pics all taken and saved but thought I would post this one tonight, before I go in to watch the footie... Don't know why I'm watching - they make me real frustrated when they give the ball away and real nervous as I never believe they're going to win!!! But in true patriotic manner I shall be shouting at the TV as per usual!So before all the manic behaviour I am sharing a serene card!!!!!!!!

Oh dear, look who's been shopping at Wild Rose Studio again??? I am soooooo ill disciplined.....lol

This one is called 'In the Meadow'.  Image was stitched onto a die cut frame cut from Coredinations cardstock.

The backing papers are from Imagine and were what were left from the 'Rose' post (see below) and just seemed perfect for the image. I stitched them onto the same pink card after distressing the edges a little.

The beautiful sparkling white lace was a present from Alessandra - isn't it gorgeous? Was gritting my teeth as I used it! I added the fabric flowers from my stash.

I coloured the seam binding with 'Pink Carnation' promarker, tied it into a bow and secured with a pearl buckle, adding 3 pins and a couple of pearls.

The sentiment was a freebie (and I'm really sorry I can't remember where from but thank you whoever you are) and I mounted it onto another die cut frame with a couple of flourishes.

The base of the easel was made with the rest of the polka dot paper and the scrap remnant of the pink card was cut using an MS punch (one of my birthday pressies from dear husband), and i stuck a couple of tiny pearls onto the flowers and some larger ones onto the prop.
This wasn't made for anything specifically - sometimes it's just nice to make to make if you understand what I mean!

Challenges -
Craft Your Passion - Flips and Folds
Cheerful Stamp Pad - In the Garden
One Stop Crafts - Pink, Green and White Easel
Sketch and Stash - Free choice of previous sketches - Sketch number 8 (tilted slightly)
Creative Card Crew - 1,2,3 - 1 image, 2 papers and 3 pins   
Papertake Weekly - Bingo and I chose Ribbon/Free/Blooms
Card Crafters Circle - Include a Sentiment
Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Lots of Layers 

Hope the sun has shone in your part of the world and thanks for stopping by to see me. x

A card and a thank you

A card to share today which I made a couple of weeks ago for a family celebration. 
This week's challenge at LIM is 'Something Shiny' and I am going to submit this on the basis that it has lots of white space and yes,yes I know, it's got embellishments but there's not a lot.... well I don't think so anyway!! Am sure if I have exceeded the boundaries I'll be told.......... and I shall go on the naughty step!

Made using my basic white linen textured card with two strips of silver mirri attached to another white linen panel.
The die was an early birthday present to myself and I am afraid I am now well into fancy dies........ I thought this was such a versatile one that could be used for anniversaries if cut with different coloured card, Christmas, Sympathy, etc - all ocaasions really - well that was my excuse for buying it!!
I think the embossing effect on the flowers is lovely - am not sure though that you can see it on the photo - 'cos of the mirri card.
Stuck the die cut onto the centre panel and then I silver embossed the wooden numbers from my stash for more silver effect!
The silver organza ribbon was simply wound round the centre panel and secured with a suitably blingy heart buckle from my fave blingy site - Imagine.
 Shiny it is, and am hoping it's LIM enough for LIM!!!

Other Challenges -
DL Art - Recipe- 2 colours (Silver and White), Ribbon and Embossing
My Mum's Craft Shop - Clean and Simple
Unstampabelles - Ribbon

And finally - just want to say a great big THANK YOU to all my blogging friends who sent me birthday wishes, gorgeous presents and fab cards yesterday. It made me very happy!!!

Roses grow on you

Firstly, a huge welcome to all my new followers - Lynda, Berni and Sheryl - it's lovely to see you and I hope you enjoy visiting me - and thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments you leave me - I'm so happy that you take the time and I love reading them!
Today is yet another grey, cloudy and damp day, so don't be surprised if there's more than one post!
I recently won a whopping £25 voucher from Imagine and of course didn't wait long to spend it - I cannot resist all the blingy stuff on that site but they also have some gorgeous papers, so spent some of my prize on the lovely touchy feely designs.(Like I need more papers????!!!!!!!!!)

The ones that I used for this card are heavily linen textured and I think they're really pretty.
This was a really quick and simple card to make and I also used up some of the stuff laying about on the desk - stitched the papers and added a remnant of white vintage lace.

The 'rose' was made from pink tissue paper (another bit of recycling as one of my birthday pressies was wrapped in it!) cut with two sizes of scalloped nesties and scrumpled up to give a ruffled appearance. (idea for this came from my bloggin buddie Lynne). I had a bit of white lace from an old net curtain that had a flower pattern on it and a scrap of fuchsia pink slub linen so cut out two of the flowers from the lace and used a larger nestie to cut out from the pink material. I secured it all together with a pearl brad, then mounted it onto a fancy nestabilities tag cut from pearlised card.
The sentiment was computer generated printed onto the same pearl card and I coloured the punched butterfly with a promarker.


Challenges - 
Lollipop Crafts - Flowers In Bloom
Love to Create - Recycle (my net curtain and tissue wrap)
Bearly Mine - Dies/Flowers/Sentiment
Creative Card Crew - Inspired by a Song (Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson)
Everybody Art - Roses
TIOT - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Truly, Madly, Crafty - Monochrome


Well the rain is drizzling down again - so instead of pulling up the weeds I will have to  sit here and watch them grow! Have a great day! x 

I am managing to keep my promise to myself of doing as many LIM challenges as I can. This week's challenge was a one layer card and to use a flourish.
I am still not 100% sure about one layer cards but think I'm getting better - slowly!
There's not a lot of sympathy cards in my stash - in fact their sum total is 2 - so thought that this one layer CAS challenge might help increase the numbers - also slowly!

Plain white card and I embossed two straight lines a third of the way along - (still can't get my head round completely plain!) - The Elusive Images stamp was inked with Dusty Concord DI. I know that DI doesn't give a crisp finish to stamped images but I wanted ethereal rather than sharp and thankfully it turned out OK.

I masked off the butterfly once the ink was dry and used pastel chalks to colour the background - the colour IRL is a pale violety/pink shade and I quite like it.

I used yellow and blue pastel chalks for the butterfly which doesn't show up very well in the pic but looks just fine on the card (!), then some glamour dust for a tiny bit of sparkle and to give the winged thingy some definition without going overboard - this is a sympathy card after all!

The pearls are from my stash and the sentiment from Dovecraft also stamped with Dusty Concord.

After all the feverish glueing and assembling of embellies, flowers, die cuts and layers of the last few days making this this gave me a feeling of serenity - sounds daft I know but I DID find it quite relaxing - even though i had my usual panic of stamping straight onto card at the beginning!

A BIG warm welcome to all my new followers - it's great to see you -and I really love your comments - love visiting you all too - you're a talented lot!! Have a nice day whatever you're all doing. xx

Mono

Have been fiddling with this card for a few days! It's been one of those were I probably tried too hard to incorporate stuff instead of just making it the way I wanted - but - it is an order so the customer is always right - well not always (LOL) -but I thought I needed to make some sort of effort to put on SOMETHING that she wanted!
That said, I didn't do exactly everything although I did make it an easel card like she asked for - she said the 'birthday girl' liked music, did some beautiful cross stitch - oh and was the local methodist minister!
Not having any suitable images of lady vicars with dog collars I opted for the music and sewing theme.... wrong decision number 1. After a few attempts at incorporating both themes I decided to do only one - opted for sewing - wrong decision number 2! There are literally HUNDREDS of images of ladies with sewing machines, ladies sewing quilts but could I find ONE that just showed a woman cross stitching that I could use? NO!

The old music sheet paper was staring at me from the desk whilst I contemplated (well actually I was now beginning to get annoyed....lol) and I nearly succumbed and went back to pianos etc but  I found this silhouette from the Crafty Pad.

Printed it onto pearl cardstock, then clear embossed and layered onto a black scalloped oval. The spots on the backing paper have a wee bit of sparkle which I hope lifts the austerity of the monochrome a bit. I used the fancy oval die again too as a backing for the image.

The heavy white lace is one of my faves from my stash and I added a triple organza bow secured with a pearl buckle, a couple of die cut flourishes and some black, white and clear pins.

The roses were made from the same pearlised card.  
The sentiment was pc generated and I found this little cotton reel and silver thimble in a bag of unused buttons!
On the base I used the same DP, another die cut oval as a space for the greeting, a couple of pearls on the 'prop' and two more items from the unused button pack - a rather large lethal looking sewing needle (!) and a pair of scissors. 

Challenges -
Addicted to stamps - 1 or more pins
Robyn's Fetish - Add Lace
Just Some Lines - Black and White
CYDA - Bingo (Glitter/Lace/Pearls)
Card Crafters Circle - Monochromatic
4 Crafty Chicks - Monochromatic
Crop Stop - Monochromatic
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Flowers/Ribbon
My Mum's Craft Shop - Bingo (Flowers/Pearls/Die Cuts)
Truly Madly Crafty - Monochrome

As ever my desk is like the proverbial bomb site so suppose I'd better go clean up! But before I go I thought I'd share this with you - sent to me by fellow crafter Alessandra who saw them live (lucky girl) - just click on the link - hope you enjoy it. x
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usADINi17cI&feature=BFa&list=UUkfcMwocGcoeP5V3vJzH5nw

A try at something different

Have been continuing finishing off some cards that were ordered by a relative when I've had some spare time this week.
I decided to try something a little different for me and steer clear of images, stamps and flowers!
I even managed to not use any ribbon!
There are so many fabulous dies out there now and I have come to the conclusion that I want them all - I've seen some beautiful cards made using fancy dies and although I don't own many I thought now was as good a time as any to make something using some of the ones I had.

So here is my finished card.

I used centura Pearl card (which is my excuse for the poor qaulity photo) and first embossed with the trusty old Swiss Dots folder. Then I cut four corner flourishes and two of the larger fancy ovals after printing out the sentiment. I also cut a tag from one of the fancy tags sets and cut it in half.

The die cuts were all sponged lightly with VersaColor pigment ink in 'Bisque' colour. It's a pretty sandy/peachy coloured shade and am a wee bit upset that the pic doesn't actually show the true colour but am sure you get the idea!

I layered the 'cut in half' tag first then added the two fancy ovals so that the fancy edge of the tag was just visible. I stuck some pearls onto the ends of the tag and four very tiny ones onto the oval frame.

The two butterflies were given the same ink treatment, a little pearl each and a liberal dose of 'Diamond' stickles - well of course it was too good to be true - having resisted everything else I was not able to resist the 'bling'!

Am quite pleased with myself with this one, turned out better than I hoped and I've enjoyed making it - only trouble is, I now have to have more fancy dies - Definitely!
Challenges -
Southern Girls - Things with Wings
Lia Stampz - Things with Wings
Freshly Brewed - Pop It
Creative Belli - Sentiment Only
Ladybug Crafts - Big Birthdays
Crafting for all Seasons - Layers
Whimsy Inspirations - Things with wings
Emergency Crafters - Anything With Wings
Stampin for the Weekend - Bugs or butterflies
Once again we are blessed with wet, windy, cool weather! Think we had our Summer last week! Thanks for calling in - off for a cuppa! x

Fashionista Challenge - Simply Summer

Happy Monday! 
Am sharing this with you and you need to be gentle with me.. cos i'm very very scared at posting this...... this is my effort for my guest designer spot over at Fashionista. This is the first time I've ever done a GDT and was real pleased to be asked. I hope I've done a reasonable job and that my card inspires you to join in!
The theme for the new Challenge is 'Simply Summer'.
You can create any type of paper crafting project  and you may use any image and enter as often as you like! Just link back to the Fashionista Challenge in your blog post and then upload your entries to the Fashionista blog. The "Top 5" will be announced on June 18th, then the voting begins! The "People's Choice" winner, announced June 25th, will receive a $12 gift cerificate from this month's sponsor:-A Day for Daisies
How good is that! And if you cast a vote you too could be in with a chance of winning 2 digis from Saturated Canary.
So here it is - big drum roll pleas for my first ever GDT card......

I used this stamp called 'Collecting Seashells' and I think it's so lovely - reminds me of many hours with my Mum on the beach holding shells to my ear to hear the sea...
I coloured the image with promarkers and stitched it onto a nestie frame. The papers Nitwits 'Land Ho' collection and I stitched them onto a sandy coloured card base.
I had this striped ribbon in my stash and used it over a punched shell border, and popped on some tattered muslin type fabric, all frayed at the edges 'cos I wanted to give it a 'washed up beachy' feel. I tatted some more of the fabric and threaded through a pearl buckle to make a bow.

All the shells are real collected from the beach (I have a huge bag and it will probably take me forever to use them which is probably why there's so many on this card!).-
I glued a little pearl in the centre of the razor shells by the pc generated sentiment - which made me smile when I was doing it cos each time I asked Mum if there was something precious inside any shell she told me the mermaids had already been and taken it to keep it safe!  To me the sentiment is particularly poignant and oh so true.
A couple more pearls, a tiny 'post card', a couple of tags and a silver metal flip flop charm finished the front.

Inside was decorated with the same papers, a shell stamp (which was a freebie), and a metal embellie with shells on it.
Am entering this into the following challenges -
Joanna Sheen - Remember When
Crafty Boots - Anything goes
Wags N Whiskers - Summer Fun
Pixie Dust Studio - Summer
Paper Pretties- Summer
Raise the Bar - Hello Summer
Aud Sentiments - Any Sentiment
Inky Impressions - Summer Fun
Allsorts - Beside the seaside

Thanks for dropping in today - a big welcome to my new followers, and am wishing you all a good week! x

Vintage

What a dreadful day for the Jubilee celebrations - it's been non stop rain here in my part of the country all day and looking at some of the pics the rest of the UK has been much the same.
I have spent the day in the craftie space - a relatvie has asked me to make a few cards for special celebrations that are coming up this year in her family, a silver wedding and three 70th birthdays!
Have done the 25th anniversary card and will show it sometime in the future but wanted to share this one with you instead.

The stamp is a corset one by Hampton Arts. I cut off the bottom! For the stand I used another stamp from a dress form  which was a freebie from a magazine. Why not use the whole dress form stamp I hear you ask? Well it had flowers on it and it wasn't what I wanted!

So stamped the two in Versamark Sepia onto cream card and cut them out then stuck them together, then added a few tiny pearls down the front.

The papers are by K and Co and are a really lovely soft green. I stitched them and used a nestie to cut out the shape for the layer.
I really love this heavy lace - I thankfully still have quite a bit left in my stash in both cream and white  and used the cream for this card.

The seam binding ribbon was scrunched, dampened then dried with a heat gun and I used rather a lot to make the bow but I think it works. I secured it with two pearl pins.
The sentiment was PC generated and I sewed on a small pearl button then decorated the inside to match.

Challenges -
Corrosive Challenge - Not too Shabby
Pan Pastel UK - Something Vintage
The Crafty Pad - Ribbon
The Ribbon Girls - Use ribbon/lace
Secret Crafter - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Buttons and Bows

So that's all from me for now - am going to brave the rain and run back to the house to make a cuppa! As always, thank you for visiting. x