Take time to smell the flowers....

It's a grey day here but not cold thank goodness! Had a wander round the garden this morning after I'd done the dreaded house work and the crocus, miniature daffs and snowdrops are all blooming - so spring is definitely on it's way - so thinking about Spring here's a little beauty from LOTV taking some time to smell the flowers!

I stitched the image onto the die cut frame and added some glamour dust bling onto her wings and the skirt. I keep forgetting I bought a white gel pen and hardly ever use it, but found it to dot a few pearly dots onto the flowers and in her hair.

The backing papers were from my stash and I matted the polka dot paper onto some lilac card, distressed and stitched it.

The square lacy doily was a present and I have been wating for an opportunity to use it - It seemed a shame to cover it really as it has a pretty design in the centre but I liked it layered behind the frame so used it anyway!
I coloured the hand made flower with a Promarker and punched out some leaves using the same lilac cardstock.

I tucked in a triple pearl pin and a pearl spray behind the organza ribbon and inside I continued the same colour scheme and used a scrap of the ribbon secured with a pearl buckle onto the die cut frame for the greeting.

Challenges -
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Crafty Bloggers - Spring Time
Pixie Cottage - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie - Flowers
Pan Pastel - Use Ribbon
Kaboodle Doodles - Shades of Purple

Thanks for visiting me today - have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

Mojo has sailed away............

My mojo has seriously deserted me this week - I've had other things on my mind and have been a wee bit stressed out so consequently have not done any crafting other than to sit and shuffle pieces of paper about!

I made this 'man' card the week before last and as I haven't posted anything this week thought I should pop it on to share.

Not very inspiring is it?? LOL
Think it reflects how I feel!

Anyway, image stamped with Versamark and some light shading with promarkers. Two pices of black card put behind it in a 'fan/sail' type layout and mounted onto K and C striped paper.
I used some twine and a little fish charm on the top.

There are some 'Man' challenges about so am entering -
Sweet Stamping - Masculine 
Hotshot Crafts - One for the Boys
Wags N Whiskers - Masculine Birthday
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Manly
Whimsy - Monochromatic
Creative Card Crew - Masculine

Am off now to shuffle some more paper!!!
Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day whatever you're doing! x

Punches (not the boxing sort) LOL

Morning bloggers!
Am quite cheerful this morning despite the old neck and mid back giving me a bit of a reminder that things are not all that they should be!!
BUT - the sun is shining brightly here today - although cold I always think just seeing the gorgeous blue above you makes you feel good.
Have a couple of things almost completed - am doing projects in dribs and drabs rather than finishing one before starting another - consequently the desk is not the tidiest (again!).
Am trying to enter as many LIM challenges as I can and have a sneaky feeling that I may try and sumbit more than one this week as the challenge is for Dies and Punches. 

But here's the first one - the stamp is by Elusive Images and I inked it with Onyx Black versamark then added some holographic powder onto the silk art card. Was quite pleased with the finish this gave - made it sparkle a little in certain light but not overdone the blingy.(Will I get extra marks for that???? LOL)
I coloured it with promakers and then used a Nellie Snellen die to frame it. The piece that I cut it from I layered onto some pastel blue cardstock so that when I mounted the frame you could just see small parts of the backing colour coming through.
I used a Martha Stewart trellis punch for the edge and added a very thin piece of ribbon.
Quite pleased with this one!
No sentiment added as yet - can't decide on a 'Thinking of You' - then it could double as a sympathy card or Best Wishes - then it could be used as a 'get well'...............

Anyway, here's a little close up of the flowers as I've tried to show the sparkly... not sure if you can see or not!

Thanks for visiting me  - have a lovely day whatever you're doing and I hope the sun is shining where you are! x

Romance

Thanks for dropping in today and a warm welcome to my new followers.

Have been meaning to post this for a couple of days and the time has just gone as always. I am feeling very smug as I am continuing my resolution to use up some of this huge paper stack that I own and never cut into - so here's the latest offering using more of my Graphic45 Curtain Call papers. 

Can you feel the steamy passion??LOL

 

To coin a phrase -   they don't make 'em like that anymore'!!!  

All dark and smoulderingly broody with the odd sound of a bodice ripping thrown in for good measure!!!

And you weren't allowed to let both of your feet leave the floor during the 'passion' scenes never mind exchange mouth to mouth kisses!!! 

How times have changed - and not always for the better - now nothing is left to your imagination....  

   

Enough reminiscing! Back to the card - distressed,stitched and layered (yes the sewing machine is still out!), some old cotton lace from my stash, a couple of black card swirls and a doily inked with Antique Linen DI.

The satin ribbon kept fraying so I ended up using the pinking shears and I hope it hasn't spoilt the overall vintagey feel. I added the blingy buckle, a black pearl pin, two diamante pins and finished with two tiny sparkly hearts.

Challenges -

Dutch Dare - Distressing

Crafting 4 All Seasons - Love
The Crafty Pad - The letter 'B' - and mine is for Blingy Buckle!

Ruby's Rainbow - Vintage

Crafty Bloggers - Love is in the Air

Hooked On Crafts - Hearts

Friendships Garden - Love and 3 embellishments (no stamps allowed) 

Creative Craft - Valentines
Southern Girls - So Distressed

Have a lovely day whaever you're doing! 

Not happy......

but I decided to share with you anyway!
I have discovered I am deinfitely NOT a stripe person!
Oh the pain and the agony of my poor hurting head................
Here is the source of my anquish -
One Layer and STRIPES????????????????? How much can a body bear... I thought acetate was bad but STRIPES???????
I am putting myself in detention for the production and publication of this week's effort for the Less Is More challenge - and I'll let you into a secret - I wasn't going to show you but Maureen made me....

so brace yourselves - here it is.

Have you ever had an idea that seemed so simple and then when you tried to do it , it develops into the most difficult thing in the world?
Not helped by the teeny weeny fact that I don't posess anything remotely like a striped stamp.. (small detail???)

I vaguely remember seeing something like this on someone else's blog about a year ago - no idea whose blog it was and because my attempt is not as good as I wanted it to be that's probably a good thing as I wouldn't want anyone to think I'd made such a mess of their perfect idea!!!

So back to the stripes... I sat and cut 20 tiny strips from the sticky part of post it notes to create my grid... only took me about an hour! Then I had to position them so they were (reasonably) spaced.
The first three attempts went in the bin -(the ink was too dark, the spaces were too wide, I made a mess of taking off the strips...) and eventually arrived at something which is (just about) passable.
The stripes were done with Brushed Corduroy DI and the vintage car stamp and sentiment was inked with Vintage Sepia Versamark. 

I always think CAS are good for men and I wanted to do a 'man' card as I don't have many in my stash.... but am not sure this card will end up rectifying that or not..... depends on what you all say!!!! (Go on, I can take it.... I think!!!!!)

More Shabby!

Another very chilly and grey day here - have the heaters on full and am still not warm enough - need some fingerless gloves I think! Cold I may be, but I want to give a warm welcome to my new followers! It's lovely to see you!
Have a couple of unfinished projects laying about on the desk - mostly images which I've coloured that are waiting for assembly! Am trying to get round to making them up but I keep getting distracted by boring things like ironing!

Anyway here's one I DID manage to put together - this is another image from the Stempelglede Vintage Garden plate - just love these stamps!

Flowers were stamped  then painted with watercolours. I dusted some Spun Sugar DI round the edges, then distressed and layered onto dark pink linen textured card. I put some pale green linen textured card behind it and then ripped off some scrim and dyed it with the DI.
The other DP is from K and Co, layered onto the same pale geen and dark pink linen cardstock.
All the layers were stitched together - am going mad now with this sewing machine!!!!!!
The dark green cotton lace is from my stash as are the pink organza ribbon, pearl and pins. The flourish and the flower were coloured with promarkers.

Inside I used some more of the pale green and pink and just stamped onto the remnant of the K and Co paper. Stitched it to make a pocket and put a tag  inside the pocket which has a plain background to write a greeting. 
I am becoming hooked on distressing and stitching cards - hope I'm getting better at it with all this practice........

Challenges -
Just Traceys - Female with Lace/Ribbon or Tulle
CES - Lots of Layers
Anything Goes - Bingo (and I chose the bottom line of Swirls & Pearls, Flowers, Stitching, Ribbon & Lace)
Allsorts - Free and Easy
The Crafty Pad - Spring Colours
Our Creative Corner - Flower/Friend 

Thanks for dropping in today - have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing. x

PS - Over at Just Inspirational Challenges this week they are allowing you to backlink a February project for their challenge. They have 3 fab images to inspire you and I chose this one here of these gorgeous pink roses which fits in with my shabby card. Go check it out! 

Where did you get that Hat?

Woke up this morning to a wonderful pea souper of a fog - Looked like someone had stolen the world when I looked out of the window!
Has cleared a little bit now but not a day for doing a lot although I do need to do a bit of shopping for boring things like window blinds and a light fitting.
Have another distressingly stitched creation to share before I go spending money -
my previous stitched cards have been done on a tiny battery operated machine bought for about a tenner! I have long been the owner of a rather large fancy Brother portable machine and am also the proud owner of a Singer machine complete in a solid wood drop down table that belonged to my grandmother and was bought for the princely sum of £5 4s 11d over 50 years ago - both work perfectly and I used the Singer machine a lot to make my own curtains and stuff when I couldn't afford to buy ready made or have someone else do them for me!
The Brother, sadly, has seen the light of day 3 times in the last 5 years - but I made a resolution to use is this year - and yesterday I did.

So here is the finished project (she says smugly!) complete with a fancy stitch -I ignored the comments of DH about getting dust on the card etc etc etc

The image is of course from LOTV, mounted onto a brown cardstock frame cut with a nestie then layered onto a doily.
The papers are part of a pile of Candy stash I received from the lovely Debby - they're called 'Isabelle' by First Edition.
Distressed them all, stitched together, added a sentiment stamped in Vintage Sepia versamark and a flourish cut in co-ordinating card.
Finished off with a couple of bronze pearls, lightly glittered flowers and a couple of pearl pins.
 Here's a little peep at the inside too! 


Challenges -
Pixie Dust - Girly Girl
Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy - Polka Dots
Craft Your Days Away - Get Stitchy
Hotshot Crafts - Flowers

Thanks for visiting - have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

A first!!

It is Sunday isn't it???? And here I am with my entry for this week's Less is More challenge.
A record!!! After last week's flurry of activity just a few hours before the challenge finished, I have today managed to make a card with a whole week to go!!!
LIM are celebrating their first birthday and although I haven't managed all the weeks have enjoyed taking part and I have REALLY enjoyed visiting everyone else's (even on the weeks when I didn't submit anything!). So congrats to Chrissie and Mandi - and STOP EATING THAT BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! LOL

So - here it is -
I don't normally do DL cards but fancied one for a change. The cardstock is white pearlised card.
I have had a Viva Decor flourish set for a long time and rarely used it but saw it whilst looking for something else and thought it might fit the bill.

Finding the stamp was easy - the ink not so simple! After scrabbling about in several drawers and boxes, I found a pigment ink called 'Robin's Egg Blue'. I stuck my finger on it to check the colour and decided it was the right shade. (the front of my jumper also bears testament to that too cos I forgot I still had wet ink on my finger and pulled down the bottom of my sweater - which had in fact started off it's life as pink........................)

Anyway - after stamping the flourish twice I used some holographic embossing powder - this gave it a bit of luminous sparkle instead of just raised clear embossing.
The butterfly I inked using a tiny paintbrush with Spun Sugar DI and some of the Robins Egg pigment ink and then the same embossing powder. The butterfly wings are raised with 3d foam pads.
I thought the three pearls were a great shade match and I can't do a card without a teeny bit of bling!

Am also submitting this into Flutter By Wednesday - Open Challenge, Paper Sundaes - Clean and Simple and Pixie Cottage - Clean and Simple

After I'd done, I wondered about  whether the butterfly was a bit 'lost' being almost the same shade so I have taken a pic with a black pearlised one sat on the card - I may do another with a black butterfly, and stamp the sentiment in black ink and a few black pearls instead. What do you think?


Thanks for visiting - a big hello to all my new followers - it's lovely to see you.
I'm away to do a bit more paper distressing on a half finished card!
Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Queen of Hearts or Queen of Last Minute!

Definitely the latter! Here I am at 8.35pm and just posting my entry into this week's Less Is More.
The flippin thing isn't even dry - and because of the light the pic is pretty damn awful too... but has to be linked before the Head Girls pull the plug on Mr Linky - so  I will taker a better pic tomorrow! Update - Tried again this morning but pic still not the best!!
The rules this week were really specific (and stern...LOL), Landscape with a panel and the panel had to be positioned exactly where the sketch said....
So I have!

This started off life as a free digi stamp and fortunately was 'panel shaped'!!!

I printed it out twice then stamped over one of the images with a large Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection grungy background stamp I picked up in a bargain bucket for about £2 about 3 years ago that has seen ink only once in it's entire life....(shame on me....)
I then cut out the hearts, coloured them with a promarker and mounted them onto the panel using foam pads to give them a bit of dimension.
I used some glossy accents on the largest heart (which isn't dry....yet). The whole panel was then layered onto red and black card before putting onto the white cardstock.
The sentiment stamp is another I have had for years.

OH and I don't exchange Valentine's cards - who needs a special day to show someone they're your whole world????!!!
BUT - it's his birthday on Valentine's Day  so this year he'll get a card with hearts on!


Other Challenges -
Cardmadfairy  - Hearts
Simply Create Too - Red Hot
Sweet n Sassy - Valentine
Digi Doodle -  Love is in the Air
MAWTT - At least one heart
Cheerful Stamp Pad - Romance is in the Air
Thanks for visiting - have a lovely weekend, whatever you're doing. x

Well I think I blinked and missed the weekend!
The last few days have simply flown by  and I have no idea where the time went - or what I did whilst it was going!!!!
Here's my share for today (and the last few days! LOL)-
I am sooooo unsure about the colours on this card. The papers are by Raspberry Road and if my Mum was still with us, she'd have described them as 'sludgy green colour'!!!
I just wanted to do something a bit different from my normal colour schemes but am not sure if I achieved the objective - which was after all to create a  card that someone would be happy to receive...........!

Anyways, this LOTV stamp was one on my shopping list for the NEC in November - I didn't go but my friend did! She says she bought more stuff for me off my list than she bought for herself........ little fibber - don't believe it for a minute!

So back to the stamp - it saw ink for the first time on Friday and I coloured it with watercolour pastels after duster brushing the edges with crushed olive distress ink. Think these little mice are the scrummiest things ever!  

I added a little bit of sparkle to the rose bucket I mean BOUQUET.... which probably doesn't show up the best in the pic but looks OK  'IRL'.
I used a paper doily(duster brushed with crushed olive distress ink) , some pearls and a length of lace from my stash and finished with a scrap cut off from the lace box, a couple of punched out card flowers and leaves and a sentiment which was a freebie stamp in a craft mag.

Stitched, layered, distressed (several times!) onto dark green cardstock - oh and the inside is decorated to match the front!

Challenges -
One Stop Crafts - Stitching
Crazy Challenges - Flowers
Sweet Stamping - Animals
Crazy 4 Challenges - Layer it On
Craft Your Days Away - Distressing
My Time to Craft - A is for Adorable (and I think the mice are just that!)

Thanks for dropping by today - am off for a coffee so I can then sit and catch up on all your newest creations. x

Watercolours

Sun shining here at the mo, but wintry showers forecast - it's quite cold despite the sunshine.

I finished this card yesterday afternoon and it was too dark to take a decent pic - but at least it means I have something to share with you this morning!

I fell in love the minute I saw this Stempelglede stamp set last year and have used all of the stamps on the plate (which is unusual for me! - Normally I buy a set, use one and the others gather dust!!)

This beautiful birdie though is my fave.


I duster brushed 'Tattered Rose' distress ink around the edge of a piece of scrap cardstock grading the colour to the centre so it was barely visible when it reached the middle. I then stamped the image in Versamark and spent a glorious couple of hours with my watercolours.
All the papers used apart from the first pinky/peach base are by Raspberry Road.


The birdie was distressed and layered onto co-ordinating cardstock and stitched.
I then distressed, layered stitched, distressed, layered, stitched and distressed-layered-stitched again with all the other paper and card. The birdie was mounted onto foam pads.
The pink lace piece peeping out from behind is from my stash.


I used the same distress ink on the flourish and stamped a sentiment onto co-ordinating card and cut out with a nestie and finished the front with yet another button from Mum's box and a scrap piece of shabby ribbon.

Here's a close up of the birdie  so you can click on it to enlarge if you want to and a peep at the inside.

Challenges -
Cheerful Stamp Pad - Birds of a Feather
Creative Stamp Friends - Old Fashioned/Antique
Crafty Bloggers - Distressing
My Mum's Craft Shop - Flowers
Craft Your Days Away - Distressing
Crazy Challenges - Vintage
Alphabet Challenge - 'Y' for 'YOU choose'
Moving Along With the Times - Bloomin Marvellous

Thanks for visiting me today, have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

Holes!

Well Apertures to be a wee bit more precise!
Apertures are the challenge at Less Is More this week. I made this card on Saturday but am sidetracked in making another 'shabby,fancy,vintagey, distressed' creation at the mo and only realised this morning I hadn't posted it!
So in complete contrast to the previous post (and no doubt the next one-LOL) here's a clean and simple card in an attempt to get at least a 6 out of 10 from the Head Girls!

The image is called 'Spring Rain' from DZDoodles.
I separated them and printed the Umbrella onto the front of white linen cardstock. The sentiment was also PC generated.

I used an oval nestie to cut out the aperture positioning it outside the frame of the brolly so that the handle would sit in the centre. It was a bit fiddly cutting round the handle of the brolly and I maybe should have stuck an acetate piece into the 'hole' to give it a bit more strength but hopefully it'll stand up OK the way it is.

I lined up the wellie boots and printed on the inside of the card - there is a 'Get Well Soon' sentiment underneath.

I took the pic of the inside before adding some glossy accents in an attempt to imitate raindrops!

I like CAS cards but have always found them difficult to do - the ideas I have in my head never quite turn out the way I think they will! Temptation is a terrible thing and I deliberately sit at the end of the space well away from the drawers and boxes containing all the embellies when I'm making for LIM - can feel detention looming if my hand strays towards the flower box!!! LOL

I'm also entering this into the One Stop Craft Challenge of 'Under the Weather' this week.

Thanks for dropping by - have a lovely day whatever you're doing - I'm back to the distressing tool and the sewing machine! x 

Shabby

Morning everyone!  The sun is out here at the mo - let's hope it lasts although the forecast is for showers....

I have been wanting to make this for over a week once I got the stamp and finally finished it yesterday. I cannot tell you how much I actually enjoyed making it - fiddling about with lace, scrim, paper and of course distress inks - I was in heaven!!
I used  Broken China, Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive and Spun Sugar on the stamp and I am beginning I think to finally get the hang of the duster brushes.
The papers are all from the delicious Raspberry Road 'Moments in Time' collection.
There are a lot of layers on this card and was panicking a wee bit as I didn't think the machine was going to co-operate! In the end I didn't stitch the actual stamp but mounted it with 3d foam pads!

So- 4 layers of papers all distressed, edges dusted with broken china ink and stitched.
Some cream and pale blue antique style lace from my stash.
Some scrim which I dyed with the distress ink and the flourishes were cut out with my new dies (a christmas present from Maureen). 

The little Eiffel Tower is shrink plastic. (Don't you panic when it first starts to shrink???!!!LOL). I added a couple of pearls in the top left corner, a tiny sparkly dragonfly and a piece of fabric stamped with 'Paris' which I again dyed.

I absolutely adore shabby ribbons and this length was a present from Maureen. It was cream so out with the distress ink again! The button is another from my Mum's button box - its got a beautiful pearl centre and has a real antque vintage look to it. I hand stitched the ribbon and button . I am really pleased with this bow - it just seems to look 'right'!

I followed the colour scheme and theme into the inside and waste not want not, used the ends I cut off from the ribbon with a ribbon slider to frame the space left for the greeting.

Challenges -
Sugar Creek Hollow - Go Girly
CardMadFairy - Ribbons and Bows
Paperplay - Ribbons
Crafty Catz - Ribbons and Bows
Gingersnap Supply - Ribbon
Digital Tuesday - Romantic Card
Crop Stop - Shabby/Distressed
Penny's Paper Crafty - Ribbons and Buttons
Ladybug Crafts - Bows
Allsorts - Needles and Pins
   

Blanket of Security!

Some friends of ours have recently had a baby so I took the opportunity to make a card using one of my favourite LOTV stamps - (actually I love all LOTV stamps so I can't choose a favourite - so they're ALL my favourites - LOL!)

But I like the simplicity of this baby stamp which looks equally at home on a clean and simple card as well as a more fussy and fancy one.
All the papers used on this offering are from Raspberry Road.
I coloured the stamp with promarkers and brushed some distress ink around the image. I thought at first I may have been a bit heavy handed with the ink but when I'd layered the image onto the blue and yellow die cuts and stitched it, decided it looked OK.
I paper pieced his little blanket and the sentiment on the front is a freebie from TLC which I cut out with one of my 'christmas presents to myself' nestie dies and I thought it just fitted perfectly with our little boy who is obviously getting lots of comfort from his blanket!

I confess that I have stitched everything in sight on this card!

Not content with decorating the front I carried on the theme into the inside.
Please click on the pic to enlarge it for a better view.
The ribbon under the space for the greeting is from my stash. I have had it for at least 5 years and have never used it - how bad is that?
The ticket sentiment was printed out and I used the duster brush on it again to make it a soft shade of blue. It says -
'Other than a dimple in a cute little chin, What is more adorable that a toothless grin?'
I considered the usual flowers, pearls, organza ribbon etc that I always end up putting on my baby cards but decided to just leave the front as it is as for a change.
Those who know me know I am most definitley NOT a baby person - but I really like making baby cards!!!

Challenges -
Crafty Boots - New Beginnings
Ooh La La - New Beginnings
By the Cute and Girly - New Beginnings
LOTV - Favourite Stamp
Freshly Brewed Monthly Challenge - Use Something New (my nestie labels)
CYDA - New Beginnings
One Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting - a big hello to my new followers, it's lovely to see you! And to all of you who call in regularly and leave comments, i appreciate each and every one of them.

Enjoy the rest of your day whatever you're doing.  x

Curtain Call part 2

Following on from last Thursday's post, here's the second in my set of cards using those papers which I gritted my teeth to cut into!

Papers stitched and layered as before onto beige and black cardstock.

I really liked this part of the collaged paper - I can imaging someone being outrageous in the 1920's and dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower!

This time I added a die cut flourish coloured with a promarker and messed about the the promarkers and coloured up some prima flowers in the same beige colour and black.
I punched out a small flower from a scrap of the spotty paper from the last card.

Added a large pearl in the centre and two pearl pins to finish the outside.

Inside I added a border from the same paper and layered up some co-ordinating card onto the black background to make it easier to write a greeting.
There is a few more to come from these papers!

Challenges-
Unstampabelles - Anything Goes
Crafty Emmas - Vintage Dahling
Dream Valley - Anything Goes

and this week Cupcake Inspirations have this scrummy cupcake  pic to inspire 

Thanks for visiting again - have a lovely day. x

Second Go and an apology

Apology first - I am having problems leaving comments on a lot of blogs.I know this is not just me as others have said they're having problems too.
The blogs that have 'embedded comments' enabled  will not open the comment box - instead it just goes to a blank white screen. If you have the 'pop up' comments box then there isn't a problem. If you can change, please would you? Then I can leave a comment to show you that I've visited and admired your creations!
In the meantime I would like to say sorry to the blogs that I follow or visit regularly if you haven't received a comment - I am trying but the white screen keeps appearing! I will still be dropping by and hope to be able to leave you a comment soon.

OK - that done with, here's an offering from me for this morning (there may be more later as it's cold here and tum still growling so am not planning on doing very much in the shape of 'real work'!!!!)

This is my second entry into the Less Is More 'Birds- One Layer' challenge for this week.

I used my favourite linen textured card.
The stamp is coloured with watercolour pastels - it's been a while since I did any painting with watercolours and I enjoyed the relaxation that I get from a paintbrush and palette!

The CAS thing sometimes leaves me thinking there should be 'more' not less on some of my efforts and this is no different. But CAS it has to be, so I opted to put on three tiny black pearls at the bottom and knotted a length of ribbon across the top

I haven't added a sentiment yet. I may remove the ribbon and stamp a sentiment when I come to use it!

Thanks for visiting - I might be back again a bit later!
Have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

New inks!

For a change I have been able to do this week's Less is More Challenge on the day that it's posted instead of the usual middle of the week/last minute Friday entry!

This is the first of two one layer cards (other one isn't dry) for the Birds theme.
Had a poorly tum this week so in between feeling sorry for myself I indulged in a bit of retail therapy and bought some distress inks.

(Bargain at £18 for 6! And great service from the company who are based in Lincoln -on e-bay they're called 'The Mad Crafters' (which is where I got the offer) but I think they have a store called ali-craft.co.uk on the web - they were here within 48 hours of ordering....it's the first time I have used this company but it definitely won't be the last.)

So was quite happy when I saw the challenge this week cos it was crying out for inky things!

I used an Elusive Images stamp from a set I have had for a while - can honestly say there isn't a stamp amongst the plate that I don't like (which is unusual when you buy a complete A4 plate cos there's usually one teeny one that you will never use!)

The birdie clinging on reminds me of the wheatfields we had this summer in the field opposite.
I stamped him in Versamark Onyx Black and masked off the area around him before playing with some new (and some old) inks. Colours used - Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Stormy Sky for the top and Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage and Crushed Olive for the bottom.
The sentiment stamp is from Papermania I think.
Other Challenges-
I Brake for Stamps- Simple
Bloggers Challenge - Wings and Things
Crafty Creations - Something New
City Crafter - Back to Black

It's a beautiful day here - but very cold so I hope the sun is also shining where you are and thanks for visiting. Have a lovely day! x 

First one

One of my promises this year was to use up at least a tiny amount of the paper I buy and hoard 'cos it's 'too nice to use'.  We buy the stuff because we like it then  put it away and don't use it, and some are even known to take it from the drawer every now and then and stroke it!
So - I used some of this before Christmas when I made a music themed Gothic Arch for a swap and was determined that the rest of the sheets (couldn't afford to buy the whole book so just bought four sheets!!), were going to be used up now that I had steeled myself to cut into them.

Be warned now - this will not be the only card made with this paper!

Yummy Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers stitched onto cream and black cardstock then mounted onto cream base card.

I cut out a piece showing some dancing ladies and stitched this onto the same card base combo.

Used Versamark Ink in Black for the Eiffel Tower and Dove Grey for the postage stamp and stitched again.

The lace is from my stash. I made a paper flower and stitched a button centre.

The Moulin Rouge ticket is from the same paper and I used a strip to co-ordinate the inside. I will probably add a cream square to the inside to make writing a greeting a bit easier! 

Challenges -
MAWTT - Spots and/or Stripes
My Mum's Craft Shop - Girls
The Pixie Cottage - Stitching
Incy Wincy - Vintage
Truly Madly Crafty - Anything Goes
Anything Goes - Anything Goes
PaperPlay - In Stitches
The Poodle Parlour - Button Up

Thanks for visiting - hope the sun is shining where you are! x