My Little Mermaid

I couldn't resist this gorgeous new stamp from Lili of the Valley.  I've always been fascinated by seahorses, such unusual creatures.  My card follows the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches:

A5 card blank

Image stamped in versafine and colour with a mixture of Cosmic Shimmer drawing inks and coloursoft pencils, blended with baby oil.

To get the 'water effect' around the image I used Tumbled glass and Faded jeans distress inks, applied using bubble wrap.

Shell backing paper from stash and core'dinations card embossed with D'vine Swirls.  Ribbon from Joanna Sheen ruffled across the join in the backing papers.

Marianne die used to display the image (the edges looked a bit like scales!)

I die-cut some scalloped circles and attached them to a length of bakers twine.  I added a seahorse charm to the centre circle, and shells to the other 4.

I would also like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Texture

Hanna and Friends Challenge Blog - Pets/Animals

Cute Card Thursday - Girls Only

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge - Anything Goes

Stampin' For The Weekend - Texture

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

A Birthday Rose

Good Morning

My card for today features one of the delightful  images from Lili of the Valley.  I followed the sketch over at Creative Inspirations and here is my card:

One thing's for sure - it's definitely pink!

6 x 6 card blank.

Pink sorbet card from Papermill embossed using a Beatrix Potter embossing folder from Crafters Companion.  For a change I decided to use both the embossed and de-bossed side.

The papers are from some old copies of Making Cards Magazine.

Mirror board from my stash.

Spellbinders label 5 dies used to create the image and sentiment mats.

The white flourish is a Marianne die.

I used Cheery Lynn's fanciful flourish mini die with green card, and then added mulberry paper flowers from my stash.

My card is also for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - My sentiments exactly.

Diva's By Design - Add texture

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - Die-cuts and/or punches

Delicious Doodles - Flowers

Challenges4Everybody - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges - Go Pink

Sentimental Sundays - Anything goes (plus a sentiment)

Thanks for visiting my blog, and for all the lovely comments you leave me, I love to read them all.

Willow Sketchie Challenge

This is my card for this weeks' Willow Sketchie Challenge, this week I have followed the sketch but not the theme:

6 x 6 card blank

Image - LOTV cute squares

Backing paper from Making Cards

Martha Stewart edge punch used.

Sizzix embossing plates used on both backing panels

My card is also for the following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenge - Summertime

Creative Craft Challenge - Summertime

Totally Gorjuss Challenge

My card for today follows the sketch over at the Totally Gorjuss challenge:

6 x 6 card blank.

Image - LOTV squares.

Frame around image, Nellie Snellen die cut into pearlescent card.

Cheery Lynn Polynesian Sails Oval die, cut into cream pearlescent card, inked with Antique Linen distress ink.

Backing paper Papermania Capsule Collection, inked with Antique Linen DI.

Glitter flowers Papermania.

Ribbon Papermania

My card is also for the following challenges:

The Cutie Pie Challenge - Glitter and Bling

Creative Inspirations Challenge - Bingo - Glitter, flowers, ribbon

Whimsy Stamps Challenge - Monchromatic

Ooh La La Challenge - Whiskers

The winner of my recent blog candy hasn't yet emailed me with their details.  If I haven't heard from the winner by the end of Sunday, I'll draw another winner on Monday morning.

Willow Sketchie Challenge - Summer Florals

The current challenge over at Willow Sketchie gives us a sketch to follow plus the option of Summer Florals.  I have chosen to use both the sketch and the theme and here is my card:

6 x 6 card blank

Pre-stamped LOTV image from magazine, coloured using coloursoft pencil and Distress inks.

Backing papers from Making Cards magazine.

Spellbinders floral oval die used with Core'dinations cardstock.

Martha Stewart scalloped dot punch.

Ribbons from my stash tied on the Bowdabra, flower charm from Pink Gem Designs attached to bow using bakers twine.

Joy floral flourish die, flower from Making Cards magazine.

My card is also for the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Gardeners World

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Pastel Colours

Sentimental Sundays - Bingo - Twine, Die-cut, Charm

Make It Monday - Papercraft

Clear It Out Challenge - Anything Goes, use something yellow.

Crafty Creations Challenge - Free for all

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - Anything Goes

Willow Sketchie Challenge

Good Evening

We were given another fab sketch to follow at Willow Sketchie Challenge and here is my take on the sketch.

The image is Lili Of The Valley, the backing papers are printed from the SWALK 1 cd-rom, and the die cuts use the Fleur De Lis dies from spellbinders.

My card is for the following:

Willow Sketchie Challenge - Sketch.

Craft Challenge - Children

Creative Inspirations Challenge  - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Jo x

Lili Of The Valley Challenge - Happy Birthday

Good Morning

The card I am sharing today is my entry for this weeks' Lili Of The Valley Challenge. The theme for this week is 'Happy Birthday'.

I used one of their cute squares on my card, which I trimmed down a little and matted onto some blue holographic card. The backing paper is from Crafter's Companions Boys cd-rom. I used my Martha Stewart trellis punch on some of the holographic card, the idea is it looks like a football net. I cut the label using a spellbinders die and the sentiment stamp is LOTV. A button and some card candy were added to complete the card.

Thank you for having a look.

Jo x

Best Wishes

Good Afternoon

I'd like to start off by thanking all my lovely followers, it's so nice to have other crafters interested in my cards. You are all very welcome here.

Today's card is my entry into the following challenges.

Lili of the Valley, Challenge 86 - Sketch

The ABC Challenge - P is for Pearls

The Crafty Pad Challenge - use ribbon.

The image is from Lili of the Valley, which I cut into an oval and then matted on to a scalloped oval cut with a Nellie Snellen die. The papers I printed from the SWALK cd-rom. The flowers are made using my Nellie Snellen punch and embossers, made from the same backing paper. A pearl from my stash was placed in the centre of each flower and a few more on the oval. The flourishes were cut from silver linen card using Marianne dies.

I used white and dark blue organza ribbon, thinking dark blue would be a bit of a contrast. I ran little stitches down the centre of the ribbon with invisible thread, and then gathered it up until I got the length that I wanted. Finally, I added the Best Wishes sentiment to the card.

Going Round In Circles

Good Morning

The sun is shining here, although it's bitterley cold, but still a much better start to the day than depressing rain!

I ended up spending most of the weekend in bed with a migraine! They're such horrible things and really floor me. I think it's gone away again now, so I'm playing catch up!!!

It's World Book Day this Thursday, and so pupils are invited to go into school dressed as there favourite character from a book. Well Emma is a huge Mr Gum fan so that is who she is going to dress as. Today's challenge is to create her a beard and moustache :0). I'll show you then end result.

Anyway, todays card is my entry into the LOTV challenge which this week is Circles.

For this card I used one of their cute squares, I love this image. I cut a circle of silver linen cardstock to layer the image onto. I printed off a couple of the papers from one of the SWALK cd-roms, which I then ran through my big shot with a Marianne Doily die. The flowers were made from the same paper, again using a Marianne die, and then little gems added to the centre. The leaves were made using a x-cut embossing punch.

Details of the challenge can be found here.

Have a good day - I'm off to make a beard :-D

Jo

Two To Share

Good Morning

I've two cards to share with you today.

The first one is a birthday card for a friends dad, she particularly likes paper embroidery. I hadn't done any for a while and really enjoyed making it.

The pattern was from stitching cards, and it was stitched using metallic threads.

The next card is made using an image from the SWALK range of stamps from Crafters Companion.

I coloured her using Derwent Watercolour pencils and put her onto some white glitter card using 3d glue gel. I cut four corners using a Marianne die, and then inked through the die using Big and Juicy Soothing Sunset. The corners remind me of a tiara, so were just right for this card. The backing paper is printed from the accompanying SWALK cd-rom, printed onto Centura Pearl paper.

The flowers are made using the same backing paper and a Marianne Die, and the centres cut onto white glitter card. A pearl was then added to the centre of each of the flowers. A couple of flourishes were cut, again using a Marianne Die, and added behind the flowers.

The Princess and Heart charms were from ebay, and attached using narrow ribbon. The sentiment is from LOTV, stamped using silver ink and then embossed with clear detail embossing power. A few pearls in the opposite corner completed the card.

I'm sorry about the quality of the photos, very dull here again today, so I had to use a flash and it bounces off the centura paper.

This card is being entered in the following challenges

Crafters Companion Monthly Challenge

Raise The Bar Challenge

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge

Yesterday was my lovely mum's birthday. She loved her cards.

Thanks for your visit today.

Jo x

Lili Of The Valley Challenge 81

Hello again.

I can't believe I forgot to enter last weeks LOTV Challenge!!  So as not to make the same mistake again, I am posting this now.

The image used on this card is one of LOTV's cute squares, the sentiment is made using one of their stamps.  The backing papers were printed from the SWALK 2 cd-rom from Crafters Companion.  The flowers were made using Nellie Snellen punches, I spritzed some left over backing papers with some mica, but unfortunately that doesn't show up particularly well in the photo.  Finally, I added some pearls to the top right corner because it looked a bit bare without!

Details of the challenge can be found here.

Thanks for having a look.

Jo x

More Calendars

Good Morning

I hope you've had a good weekend.  I spent a lot of time infront of the tv and laptop watching Joanna Sheen's and Sheena Douglass's new products.  Weren't they great?  Just my cup of tea.

I have very nearly finished all my thank you calendars now, I got another 4 made over the weekend, there are only 3 in the photo because I made 2 the same!!!

 

I had a bit of trouble getting decent photos again because it is still do dull here, but hopefully you get the gist.

I made 2 of the middle calendar, made using these lovely LOTV cute squares, mounted onto a die cut oval.  I then just made up a tiny flower plate to fill the rest of the space.

The other 2 calendars are made with images from Joanna Sheen's latest cd-rom Enchanted Dreams.  For the calendar on the left, I printed the image onto glossy photo paper and printed the accompanying backing paper onto Centura Pearl paper.  The flowers (which aren't showing up very well in the photo) I made in an attempt to echo the poppies in the image, and the butterfly I punched out from the backing paper and applied tiny pearls.

The Calendar on the right was made in pretty much the same way, minus the flowers.

Thanks for your visit today, I hope you have a good day, whatever your plans.

Jo x

Lili Of The Valley Challenge 79

Good Afternoon

I've not posted for a few days.  I've not been at my best, my pain has been particularly bad, even with all my painkillers, and this has been causing my blood pressure to be too high again.  I'm hoping it will settle to a more manageable level again very soon.

I thought I'd have another go at the Lili of the Valley challenge.  I decided to incorporate the sketch into some of my 'Thank You Calendars' that I'm still working my way through. 

I used one of the cute squares that I'd got for Christmas (this is one of my favourite images). The backing paper I printed from one of my craft cd's onto Centura Peal paper.  The circular mat is made using a Marianne Die in a co-ordinating cardstock from PaperMill.  The mat across the centre I chose to pick out the colour of her hair and the stripes on her socks!!  I punched the edges with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The corners and vertical mat are made from cream pearlescent cardstock.  I don't have a corner die, so cut out a decorative square and then cut it in half diagonally.  Then finally, I cut out a couple of swirls/flourishes using a Marianne die, I have become addicted to these swirls!!!!

Full details of the Lili of the Valley Challenge can be found here 

Thanks for calling in today.  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Jo x

First Card of 2011

Happy New Year!

I hope you enjoyed last nights celebrations.  I stayed put and watched some films with Emma, then at midnight we let off a Chinese lantern.  I'd never seen these before and it was fun to watch it take off and then eventually disappear into the clouds.  There were a lot of them travelling across the sky last night, I much prefer them to fireworks!

I was determined to make a card today, and I've only just got it finished!!  You know when you set off with a vague plan, change it dozens of times and then end up with something completely different - well that's what happened today.

The card I was making was for my niece's birthday later this month.  I had decided I was going to use Patchwork Julie and my new Marianne Creatables frame die and that was my starting point.  This is the finished card and now I'm really not sure if it's all a bit 'too much'.

I used lilac cardstock from PaperMill as my base card.  I took some white pearlescent paper, stamped some flowers using versamark and then heat embossed using clear detail embossing powder.  I then placed a Big N Juicy hydrangea ink pad face down on my craft sheet, spritzed it with water, and then covered the paper in the ink.  I applied the same ink to the Marianne frame, this time using Cut n Dry foam.  The circle that Julie is mounted onto I ran through my big shot with a flower embossing folder.  Julie and the patchwork dog are coloured using watercolour pencils.  My background paper was then matted onto silver mirri board.  The sentiment is from LOTV, I love these sentiments, I stamped in silver and then embossed with clear detail embossing powder.  This was then matted onto silver mirri board which had been punched out using a scallop circle punch.  I then used another of the dies from the same set to die cut the feathered shape in the top left-hand corner, as I felt it needed something to balance it out.

When I was looking for this stamp set earlier today, I found a number of stamps which I haven't yet used.  So, I'm determined, instead of keep buying new, I'm going to start using craft goodies that I've already got.  How long that will last, who knows????? 

Jo

LOTV Challenge

Hi

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas.  I can't believe after all the preparation, it's over with so quickly.  We've had a lovely time, we spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family, we all got some fabulous presents and we're now enjoying some 'free and easy days'.

Needless to say, Murphy was in the thick of the celebrations and he got some new toys and doggy treats.  The wrapping paper was more of a temptation to him, as you can see from the following photos!!!

 

I was a very lucky girl this Christmas.  I got a big shot machine and lots of dies and embossing folders, some Lili of the Valley cute squares, and a set of their circular sentiment stamps, to name but a few of my presents.  Today I've had a bit of a play with the big shot, and must admit I'm quite nervous using it at the moment, particularly for cutting, but I'm sure I'll get more confident with time.

My new presents meant I could enter this months Lili of the Valley Challenge and here is my entry.

The base card is my favourite pearlescent card from PaperMill.  I added to this some lovely quality backing paper that came in a magazine, which I distressed round the edges using fired brick distressed ink, applied with cut n' dry foam.  The red card, again from PaperMill, I ran through my big shot using a birthday embossing folder, and I used the same card, this time with Martha Stewart Scallop Dot edger punch, and again to make the flourishes.  The image is a LOTV cute square.  I stamped the sentiment, again from LOTV, in black ink and then matted this onto some white glitter card, punched out with a scalloped circle punch.

I enjoyed making this card and following the sketch made it much easier for me!!

Have a great day.

Jo x

Sparkly Butterfly

Hi 

I've been thinking of setting up a blog for ages, and finally took the plunge.  It seems such a lovely way of being in touch with other crafters, and if anyone should leave me a comment, even better! You are very welcome here.
 

This is the card I have made for the LOTV Anything Goes challenge..  I used a set of stamps I got from the Dimension Fourth Project Club and enjoyed having a really good play!  The colour on the card is from Big and Juicy Hydrangea ink pad (my fingers are all lovely colours now lol).  I had my first go with Fantasy film for the butterfly - this one is Krista's Eyes and in between the layers I used Violet Pearl Angelina Fibres.  It looks lovely and shimmery in real life!  I coloured some white pearlescent paper using the big and juicy again, and used this for the flowers and leaves, punched out with Nellie Snellen punches.  I used a few gems for the flower centres to add a bit of sparkle and then to finish off, made a bow out of 3 different ribbons.

This is the first challenge I have ever entered so am quite excited (not because I expect to win, although that would obviously be a real treat, but because I've managed to enter and link to my blog!!!!).

Have a lovely day and thanks for looking.

Jo x