Sparkly Pink Fairy Christmas Card ....

I followed Bev's sketch at this weeks LOTV challenge to make this very pink and sparkly Christmas card!

The image was coloured using Copics and liberally glittered with Stardust Stickles - the white circle and pink background were cut with a nestabilities die.

I used white 18mm zig zag cotton lace and pink ruffle edge sheer ribbon to tie around the card and I hung a snowflake charm behind the bow with a piece of candy pink divine twine.  The flowers used were 30mm pink/white Mulberry rose, pink/whiter pretty blossoms and pink/white semi open rosebuds.  The foliage was cut from green card with Martha Stewart punches.  I added the sentiment matted onto pink card with plenty of Stardust Stickles and lastly added a couple of silver filigree corners.

I made a box from white card and added co-ordinating papers to the top and sides plus more of the pink ruffle edge sheer ribbon.

I was really pleased with how this card turned out - I even decorated the inside of the card and stamped the image again but didnt colour it in this time and I was especially pleased that my box-making skills are improving!  Less 'oops and oh no's and trips to the recycling bin, and more 'oohs and aahs'

I will now enter this into the LOTV challenge, and also Totally Papercrafts, see you soon

Flowers, lace and ribbon are all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

Sentiment from Pink Petticoat

Silver corners from WOC

 Mary G x

Flowers for you ....... and a clean and simple card

This was my DT card for this weeks Papertake Weekly challenge which is a sketch. Humphrey is so cute with his bunch of roses! I decided on a bright sunny colour and added 18mm white zig zag cotton lace, 25mm large check golden yellow gingham ribbon and a couple of heart shaped pins (all from Ribbon Girl)

The image was coloured with copics and I added plenty of Stardust stickles.

Instead of my usual bouquet of mulberry flowers, I made my own with toning paper, added one small flat paper flower then finished it off with a flower shaped acrylic button tied on with lemon Divine Twine (both from Ribbon Girl).  The flower was then liberally sprayed with sparkle from Crafters Companion. I added some stick on pearls to finish the card.

This is my entry for the Simply Less is More challenge, (to use polka dots) and I used polka dot paper which was cut with a die for the christmas ornament ........

and small red polka dot buttons as holly berries.  The holly leaf die and the sentiment stamp are from Papertrey Ink.  The only other embellishment is a 7mm red satin ribbon and a bit of doodling with a fine black pen!

Mary G x

It's 25th so it's time for a new 'Jingle all the way to Christmas' challenge ....

As it's 25th of the month there is another 'Jingle all the way to Christmas' challenge over at the Ribbon Girl blog and this is my card:

I used a LOTV image which has been coloured with copics and smothered in Stardjust Stickles!

I added 30mm white zig zag cotton lace and 12mm silver lame ribbon - the flowers are a 30mm purple two tone rose, 20mm large white rosebuds and white pretty blossoms.  Lace, ribbon and mulberry flowers are all from the Ribbon Girl. A doohickey swirl and a nice sentiment from LOTV complete the card. I will enter this card into the Totally Gorguss challenge 'Pastel Christmas'

A close up of the LOTV image

So please pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog and take a look at the fabulous projects made by the mega talented Ribbon Girls DT - we hope they inspire you to get cracking with your Christmas crafting and you could win a really nice prize, see above, if you enter the challenge which runs for two weeks until 8th November.

A cute Sugar Nellie ......

I love my new Sugar Nellie stamp - I made this card for the challenge over at the sugar bowl challenge blog, 'clean and simple' following the sketch. 

I coloured her with copics and added loads of Stardust Stickles

I usually add as much stuff as possible to my cards, but to comply with the 'clean and simple' aspect, I only used one small paper flower with one purple two tone pretty blossom (from The Ribbon Girl) and I cut two leaf and heart branches with my Magnolia die.  Then the whole card was lightly sprayed with irridescent sparkle!

See you all tomorrow with a new challenge at Papertake Weekly and the Jingle all the Way to Christmas challenge at the Ribbon Girl!
This card has also been entered into the PanPastel Challenge

Mary G x

Tilda is in the pink .............

Here is a Christmas card in a non-traditional colour  - yes, it's salmon pink!  I've coloured the Magnolia Tilda in with pink copics and used loads of stickles to make her glitter.  I've gone to town on this card and even stitched around the image and frame!

I didn't need any excuse to get out my brand new Magnolia heart branch die to enhance my flower arrangement (small rose and some white pretty blossoms), and even managed to squeeze on a gorgeous snowflake cut with my new Magnolia die (I got a mistletoe branch and the snowflake in one pack - it'll be beans on toast for the rest of the month lol!!)  The background paper looks like sheet music, but toned in with everything.

I used 38mm white guipure lace and pink twill stripe ribbon to finish the card, plus some self adhesive clear sparklies and a light spraying of irridescent glitter from Crafters Companion  - looks even better in real life!  I popped one clear gem into the middle of the delicate snowflake, it really is very pretty and I can see it will be used lots.

Guipure lace, twill ribbon, pretty blossoms all from Ribbon Girl

I will enter this card into the Just Magnolia challenge which is to use pink - I think this fits the bill!! Also into A Gem of a Challenge .

Wedding acceptance ... and a beheaded sunflower .....

I wanted to make an acceptance card for a wedding invitation and thought I might make it to suit this weeks LOTV challenge - bingo - choose any line so I chose ribbon, flower and jewels.  Actually, when I looked at the new challenge at LOTV which is set every Thursday before I started my card, I was gobsmacked to see I had made the top three! wow, I am thrilled to bits and immediately got my badge to put in the side bar.

I used this really cute die cut square from LOTV, and cupcake paper and added a bit of Stardust stickles to the bunnies and the cherries and cake stands etc.  I added a swirl cut with the doohickey die, fuschia ruffle edge sheer ribbon on top of silver glitter mesh plus a pink/white two tone 30mm mulberry rose, a pink crown pin and a pink heart pin (ribbon, rose and pins all from Ribbon Girl) and you can see I love pink almost as much as I love anything that glitters!

I decorated the inside to complement the front and added our acceptance note

I typed the sentiment myself to make the card more personal and you can see the sweet cupcake paper here (sorry can't remember which pack it is from) but I thought it was relevant as I'm sure there will be yummy food at the reception 

and here is the poor beheaded sunflower - my hubby managed to empty the pots on the back patio yesterday afternoon when the wind had gone down, and I passed him the scissors with the request to cut the flowers so I could pop them in water  ................... I should have asked him to leave a stalk ...... poor flower!

See you all tomorrow,

Mary G x

Warm wishes ............

Well I got the weather wrong yesterday, as it seemed calm and cloudless when I got up but a while later it was blowing a gale again and showered most of the day - hoping for calm weather soon to get the big pots on the back patio emptied and refilled with the rest of the winter pansies and primroses.

These three little cuties from LOTV are gorgeous aren't they? I kept the colouring very simple, just coloured the spots and stars on their little frocks with Copics in various greens to tone with the background paper, and added loads of stickles to the holly wreaths on their gingerish bonde hair. The 'warm wishes' sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley 

The image was matted onto red card then white and added a big, beautiful red silky crush ribbon and bow and I even managed to tie the bow using Andrea's patented method - she must have shown me hundreds of time and I've no idea how it worked this time, perhaps I've got the knack at last lol!  I added a silver filigree corner and some clear stick on gems from stash, plus plenty of Stardust Stickles.  You can't have too much bling on cards, especially Christmas cards!

The flowers today are a small poinsetta and white steph (WO) and some white pretty blossoms with green leaves (Martha Stewart Punch) and holly leaves in various greens cut with a tiny die from Papertrey Ink.

I made this card for the current 'Warm and Cosy' Lili of the Valley challenge here

Back tomorrow, and if you haven't popped over to the Ribbon Girl Blog yet, the challenge is Lilacs and Greens, and at Papertake Weekly it is Spooky Hues

Bye for now

Mary G x

along came a spider, and sat down beside her ......

So glad to see the gale force winds have died  down - much chillier this morning, but clear and calm, let's hope it stays that way.  Another little treat bag today - this time with the addition of legs  -  both from Papertrey Ink dies.  The eyes are a small circle of white card with a black dewdrop stuck on.  On the handle I used tiny orange ric rac; 5mm orange and white gingham; narrow satin and purple loopy trim, all from here

'Spooky Hues' is the new challenge over at Papertake Weekly this week - please take a minute to check out the fabulous work by the PTW Design Team - the prize this week is a halloween themed mini ribbon kit from

See you all tomorrow

Mary G x
Edited to say that I prepared this post early this morning and left it to publish at 12 noon - it was calm etc at 7am but as I write this it is lashing down with rain and the wind is howling!!

A little gift bag ...................

This gift bag was cut with a die from Papertrey Ink - I used green card then added white guipure lace and orchid microdot ribbon - this would make a wonderful wedding favour if made in appropriate colours and filled with some yummy chocolates!

The lace, ribbons, purple two tone pretty blossoms and 30mm two tone purple rose are all from Ribbon Girl, as is the plain orchid satin ribbon on the handle.  The leaves are from my Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is from LOTV

I made this little gift bag for the Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge No 12 which begins today - please pop over and look at the fabulous creations by our very talented Design Team - you could win either a green or a lilac mini ribbon kit.

Mary G x

Tarte au citron, a sleepy westie and a bunch of roses ........

Inspired by the Great British bake Off on BBC 2, I decided to try the Tarte au citron using the Mary Berry recipe which was featured in the September '11 Good Food Magazine.  I had already made one papercraft project so thought I could take some time out to bake something yummy for tea-time

175g plain flour, 100 cold butter cut into cubes, 25g sifted icing sugar - made into fine breadcrumb like texture in the Chef then added one large egg yolk and one tablespoon of cold water - pulsed to amalgamate

Followed the instructions for rolling out the pastry, lined the loose based tin, pricked with a fork, put in some greaseproof paper and my baking beans (mine are actually dried marrowfat peas, they last for ages) and baked for 15 minutes then removed peas and paper and returned to oven for further 10 minutes then left it to cool while I made the filling.

5 large eggs, 125ml double cream, 225g caster sugar, finely grated zest and juice (150mls) of 4 unwaxed lemons.  I poured the juice through my conical sieve to remove the pips. I had measured everything correctly, but when I poured the filling into the pastry case, I had too much filling - or was my pastry case not high enough?  I'll make it higher next time!  I poured the excess filling into a dish and baked it in the oven with the flan.

The finished tart - I sifted icing sugar over the top and left it to cool - looks nice but can't taste until tea time.  However, Haggis always lies as close as he can to the oven when any food is being cooked, just to make sure he gets a taste, but as you can see, it took so long Haggis lost interest and snoozed in a patch of sunlight!!

My little sister Jackie brought me a gorgeous bunch of pink roses when she came for her regular Friday evening visit - aren't they gorgeous?  I have one more card to make this afternoon then I'm going to get the sewing machine out - see you tomorrow for the Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge!!

Mary G x

A make up bag and plans for a pincushion .............

I'm sharing my little make up bag with you this morning - made in the same fabric as the needle case, and trimmed with 7mm satin ribbon and a flower shaped sparkly acrylic button, both from the Ribbon Girl.  The outside is a fat quarter from here and the wadding and pink and white striped lining are both from John Lewis. The patterns for both items are from the Tilda 'So Pretty Homestyle' book

I found the bag straightforward to make, except for the zip which caused me no end of problems - I think next time I try this I will make a rectangular shaped bag which I think will be much easier!

Well it's almost the weekend and I have plans to help plant up some new pots for the front of the house with pansies, primroses and spring bulbs, also for more sewing and card making - I ordered some new LOTV stamps and they popped through the letterbox yesterday and I have been looking around for some wooden rings which I need to make some pin cushions - suddenly realised I could use wooden curtain rings if I unscrewed the little hook!!  So many plans, so little time ............ see you tomorrow (oh and please pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog on Sunday when our new colour challenge begins!

Mary G x

A new baby card - and the River Tyne at Night .....

This card is for Sue and Joe who now have another grandson - congratulations!  Following the coffee and cream theme over at this week's Just Magnolia and HS Challenge I coloured the hanglar image with copics and matted it onto plain brown cardstock. I used oloroso seam binding and cream traditional cluny fan pattern cotton lace - both from Ribbon Girl.

The Hanglar baby boy was coloured with Copics and then loads of Stardust Stickles to make his wings and his hat sparkle!

I found two flat flowers in the stash drawer and added a jewelled brad ring (not sure what its called) which I remember buying from The Hobby House at last years NEC show, and a pretty jewelled brad from my stash, naturally I added just a little Stardust Stickles to make the flower shine!
I will enter this card into the Just Magnolia challenge Anything Goes with the option of Coffee and Cream

We went out for a meal to our favourite italian restaurant last night and walked along the quayside on the Newcastle side of the Tyne - Andrea took these photos with her phone, but the quality is not bad at all

The Sage - it looks like a massive ocean liner and isn't the reflection lovley - to anyone who hasn't seen this in real life, during the day time the Sage looks like a gigantic slug, the roof is rounded shapes of grey glass.

Most of you will recognise the Millenium Bridge - looks spectacular at night!

See you all tomorrow

Mary G x

Mid October in my garden .....

You might have noticed I am trying to be disciplined and blog every day - so no projects today but I thought I would show the back garden before the trees lose all of their leaves - we have a lot of evergreens so the garden never looks dull, but the recent strong winds and rain have encouraged the autumn leaves to drop fairly quickly and we'll soon have a mountain of them from the big trees behind the hedge

Just look at his gorgeous sunflower growing in the pot which contains our yellow climbing patio rose-  I didn't plant the seed - it must have been dropped by one of the birds after they had been to the bird table

This beautiful red begonia was a gift from our friends Sue and Joe for our ruby wedding anniversary back in July - still going strong even though it is mid October!  I'm hoping we can save the corm and replant next year

We're making the most of these pots and will enjoy the flowers until the first frost - then we'll replace them with the pansies and primroses in the blue box

Wow, just look at this crop of berries - enough to keep the birds going for a while!

I'll be back tomorrow with a baby card

Mary G x