Merry Christmas Everyone

 

I hope you all have a lovely day with your family and friends and I'll be back later in the week

Mary G x

Pom Pom give away ...

There's a pom pom give away over at the Ribbon Girl blog - it's open until 25th December

Ivory give away on the Ribbon Girl Blog ...

Day 2 and it's an IVORY giveaway over at the Ribbon Girl Blog - follow this link for more details

 

1 metre of ivory lace with pearls

1 metre of ivory silky crush ribbon

1 pack of ten 20mm Wild Orchid Crafts open roses

1 pack of 6 Kort & Godt ivory beaded roses

1 pack of ivory flower shaped flatbacks

1 metre of 38mm vintage style ivory fluted edge sheer ribbon

See you tomorrow Mary G x

Pick of the year at Papertake Weekly .....

 

 

This weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly is 'Pick of the Year' so you can pick your favourite challenge and re-do it!!  I chose 'anything goes' and made this tag which features a LOTV Mini Masterpiece coloured by Bev Rochester matted onto LOTV Classic Christmas paper and slathered in Stardust Stickles.  My flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts 20mm ivory open roses and a small ivory gardenia.  I also used two Kort & Godt ivory chrysanthemums plus Ribbon Girl red beaded berries; tiny red berries and medium red berries.

 

All of the flowers, red and silver ribbons and Stardust Stickles are from The Ribbon Girl online store

There are some fabulous projects by the PTW design team - please pop over and be inspired!
See you soon, Mary G x

 

 

Something new at LLF .....

 

This week's challenge at Lilis Little Fairies is 'something new' so I just had to ink up my new  LOTV mermaid stamp which has sat in the 'new stamp' drawer since October - I coloured her with copics -  isn't this a sweet little mermaid?  Even though I went for a pale blue/aqua combination, I think it still looks girlie.  I added blue velvet lace and a bow of blue silky crush ribbon, and a selection of Wild Orchid Craft flowers, plus blue beaded berries, a Kort & Godt chrysanth, an anchor charm and some 5mm clear gems.

 

 

My flowers include Wild Orchid Craft flowers, Ribbon Girl blue beaded berries, a Kort & Godt chrysanth.  My card was finished with an anchor charm and some 5mm clear gems.

Flowers, ribbons, lace, charm, gems all from here

 

I hope you get time to pop over to see the lovely cards made by the DT at LLF and you have a week to get your card in - new job, new home, new baby, anything new, or use something new etc

See you soon Mary  G x

 

all white ? .......

 

This weeks Papertake Weekly challenge is 'all white' or snow - I have to own up that I was so busy this was a 'last minute make' and I had to ask Andrea to help me out so we could take a photo before the light went!!  So this is a 'joint effort'

 

 I used our Westie die which we have used for our family Christmas cards this year (we think it looks like our little Westie, 4year old Haggis - yes, the one who eats Christmas cards - our front door opens onto a wall so we can't have a basket on the letterbox!)

 

We embossed white paper and made it into snow covered hills, die cut a white fence with our new fence die and used some sparkly paper we've had for years for the sky. 

 

The only addition is the nose and eye made with a black marker pen and a tiny scrap of 9mm white and silver snowflake grosgrain ribbon from here

 

I hope you will have time to pop over to PTW to view the fabulous work by the DT and join in yourself

see you soon, Mary G x

Anything goes at PTW ..... with the option of making a gift

 

The new challenge at this weeks Papertake Weekly is 'anything goes' sponsored by Lili of the Valley with the option of making a gift  -  I made an 'exploding' box which I thought would be mid-way between a card and a gift - I had a great time making it but I hadn't bargained on it being so difficult to photograph!

 

 

 

I used LOTV Classic Christmas papers, red satin ribbon and 12mm white cotton lace plus a LOTV Mini Masterpiece - the box and the lid weren't too bad to make, as long as I made sure I measured everything perfectly :-) and I managed to get the little wobbly bits stuck to strips of acetate and hey presto, it worked - I was amazed!

 

 

I went to town on the lid and used Kort & Godt beaded roses, beaded berries and chrysanthemums; Wild Orchid Crafts large rosebuds, hip rosebuds and Ribbon Girl berries - all the flowers are from here

 

There is some very inspirational work by the PTW design team and I urge you to pop over and have a look - I'm sure you will be inspired to join in!

See you soon, Mary G x

ho ho ho .....

 

There is a new challenge over at The Ribbon Girl blog 'ho ho ho' or 'Christmas' and your project can be anything at all - it doesn't have to be a card - sew, knit, papercraft, sculpt - anything you fancy making as long as you follow the theme. 

 

This is the last challenge of the year and both teams have come together to give you a fantastic display of fabulous projects to inspire you to get crafting.  There will be two prizes for the winner of a £20 voucher for the Ribbon Girl online store and a stamp of your choice from the very generous ladies at LOTV.

 

I made a special Christmas card - the image is a mini masterpiece from LOTV and I've used different shaped nesties to cut kraft card for each layer.  I used white liquid pearls, green velvet lace, 8mm ivory silk hearts, Kort & Godt beaded swirl branch, Wild Orchid Crafts white cosmos daisies and white sweetheart blossom, plus Ribbon Girl red beaded berries.

 

I hope you will find the time to look at all of the fabulous projects by the multi-talented Ribbon Girls

See you soon, Mary G x

A pastel card ........

The challenge at LLF this week is 'pastel colours' so I made this card as light as possible, and found some paper in my stash which matched the pink coat of this image (a LOTV mini masterpiece coloured by Bev Rochester) then left as much white space as I could.  I tied some rose pink silky crush ribbon around one layer of card and made a bow to the side.

 

For the flower arrangement I used WOC white cosmos, white hip rosebud, pink carnation, large pink rosebud, baby pink cherry blossom and Ribbon Girl ivory beaded berries and blue beaded berries and a Kort & Godt white beaded swirl branch.

 

Please pop over and look at the fabulous creations by LLF Team 'A' and you've got a whole week to get your project on your blog and entered into the challenge.

 

Silky Crush, Flowers, Beaded Berries, beaded Swirls all from here

 

See you soon, Mary G x

 

Please Father Christmas ........

 

 

First of all I just want to say that I'm thinking of everyone who has suffered flooding, discomfort and travel problems during the dreadful weather we're having in the UK this week.

 

This weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly is a sketch - this is my DT card and I tipped the sketch on it's side.  The background paper and the image is from Pion - the little girl looks as if she is praying for a nice gift or Father Christmas is telling her off and she's saying she's very sorry, I can't make my mind up which it is lol
I cut 3 separate frames with nesties which were distressed with tea dye.  Behind the frames you can just see some faux diamante trim - this was a 6-row piece which I cut into single rows.

 

 

 

 I added some gorgeous new box pleated satin ribbon - this one is ivory - plus some 9mm red velvet ribbon topped by a flower shaped sparkly button tied with silver metallic twine.  I used 6mm and 3mm double sided sticky tape to adhere the ribbons and the faux diamante mesh.

 

Please pop over to PTW to see the lovely examples by the Design Team - you're sure to be inspired to make a card yourself - you have a whole week to get your project in and you could win a nice prize!

 

Ribbons, button, twine, diamante, pearls, sticky tape are all from The Ribbon Girl online store

and only a month to go until Christmas woohoo!!

See you soon, Mary G x

 

Ribbons and pearls ......

 

This weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'ribbons and pearls'...... my favourite embellishments after sparkle!!   I used a Hanglar stamp and coloured him with copics, adding Stardust Stickles to make him sparkle! The blue paper is from the LOTV Frosty Christmas pad

 

I used 9mm willem blue velvet ribbon, 4mm white pearl bead string and 38mm white guipure lace.  I experimented with the gorgeous new beads by adding a strip of 6mm double sided sticky tape to my card above the velvet ribbon, removing the red backing and sprinkling on the blue and aqua mix beads - they look lovely and I'll be using this technique again!

 

 

As you can see, this card was to welcome new baby Harry  -  I strung the alphabet beads on some of the silver metallic twine and fixed it to the hanglar hands with half a tiny glue dot.  The other embellishments used were a silver butterfly (from a pack of 5) and some 5mm self adhesive pearls.

 

Please go and check out the outstanding work by the PTW design team ladies - I'm sure you will be inspired to get crafting - you have a full week to get your card in!

 

Velvet ribbon, lace, pearls, silver metallic twine,

See you soon, Mary G x

 

 

 

Shades of lavender .....

 

The November colour challenge over at The Ribbon Girls Blog starts today - shades of lavender - you can create any type of project (cards, scrapbookk layouts, knit, sew,  boxes, ornament etc using any colours from the lavender/purple colour range. 

 

I decorated a cracker (from Paula) using Lily of the Valley nitwit papers and the small squares from mini masterpieces No 24.  I die cut the little images and placed them on a pretty die cut oval mat, all edges were distressed with tea dye ink.  I added lavender tiny ric rac and ivory 10mm vintage style cotton lace, lilac gems and some pretty lavender/ silver metallic edge ribbon.  The flowers are WOC white cosmos, Kort & Godt beaded berries,  a white cherry blossom and some white hip rosebuds.  I used 3mm double sided tape to adhere the laceand the ric rac around the cracker. This cracker would make a pretty gift if filled with chocolates or a bag of fragrant lavender - crackers are for every day, not just for Christmas!

 

I hope you will find time to go and look at the inspiration of the super talented design team - and you have two weeks to enter your project.  Good luck and see you soon

Mary G x 

 

Food, glorious food ......

 

It's Thursday again and there is a new challenge at Lilys Little Fairies and the theme this week is 'food' - I used a ready coloured 'Christmas Kids'  LOTV die cut and used LOTV Classic Christmas papers.  I added white guipure lace, red satin ribbon, 5mm pearls and a snowflake No 4 charm.  The sentiment is from the hand written sentiment sheet - which very useful

 

I hope you will pop over to the LLF blog and check out the fabulous cards by the design team and be inspired to enter your own creation (which must feature a LOTV product) - there's a great prize to win!

See you soon Mary G x

Flower power at PTW .....

 

The new challenge at Papertake Weekly is -flower power -  I chose to add some flowers to my shaped card and I theaded 7mm satin ribbon around the edge of the card.  I added a little die cut butterfly which I glittered with Stardust Stickles - I coloured the body with a copics pen to tone with the card

 

 

I used Wild Orchid Crafts milky coffee and white cosmos flowers, ivory gardenias, white sweetheart blossoms and small brown leaves plus Kort & Godt cream chrysanthemums.  I added a piece of a Zva sclear crystal straight line underneath the die cut numbers

 

There are some lovely cards by the DT so please pop over to Papertake Weekly and be inspired!

Ribbon, all flowers, stickles and Zva crystal lines all from The Ribbon Girl

see you soon, Mary G x

 

 

A pink Christmas card ....

 

There is a new challenge over at Papertake Weekly  -  anything goes with the option of usingmaking a Christmas project  - I've had such a busy week and not much time to craft so I used a ready coloured image.  I love this gorgeous pink die cut mini masterpiece from LOTV - I added some stardust stickles to the fur on her hood and on the snow at her feet.  I used 9mm pink velvet ribbon, 22mm flat lace and some brand new gorgeous sparkly 3mm irridescent pink bead string - my new favourite!

 

My flowers are a couple of Kort & Godt chrysanthemums, WOC pink lily flowers, ivory rose, white sweetheart blossom and part of a crystal stem - the leaves are made with my Martha Stewart punch.

I used some of the new dusky rose pink fluted edge sheer ribbon from the store and held it and the gorgeous sparkly bead string in place with a 15mm clear sparkly button, tied with candy pink Divine Bakers Twine.  The sentiment is from LOTV

Flowers, Ribbons, Lace, Bead String, Stardust Stickles, Button, Twine are all from The Ribbon Girl

I hope you will find time to look at the inspirational projects by the PTW design team ladies and be inspired to enter your own project - you could win a lovely prize!

See you soon, Mary G x

 

Add sparkle ......

 

There is a new card challenge over at The Ribbon Girl blog - 'add sparkle'  -  I need no encourangement as I love sparkle!

 

I made a pocket card and there is an oval tag inside  - I coloured Tilda with copics and added plenty of Stardust stickles.  all edges are distressed with tea dye ink.  The lace is 38mm white guipure

 

 

My flowers are WOC ivory gardenia, a large yellow rosebud, deep cream hip rosebuds, white cosmos, white sweetheart blossom plus a Kort & Godt cream chrysanthemum and a beaded ivory rose all from The Ribbon Girl.

 

 

This is the ornate oval tag comprising two layers cut with nesties then distressed with tea dye - the ribbon is 40mm gold glitter mesh and 7mm gold satin

 

Please pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog to see the fabulous projects made by the Design Team - I hope you will be inspired to join in with this challenge - you could win a £10 voucher for the Ribbon Girl online store plus a stamp of your choice from Lili of the Valley

 

 

 

Snow is falling .......

This weeks challenge over at Lilis Little Fairies is 'snow is falling' - I used a die-cut of James the bear trudging through the snow pulling his sledge, LOTV Classic Christmas papers and sentiment then plenty of Stardust stickles.

My flowers are Kort & Godt chrysanthemum and beaded berries, WOC large rosebud and sweetheart blossom, Ribbon Girl red berries and an opal crystal stem. The tiny fir cones are from my stash, and I dabbed on some Adirondack white paint.  The ribbon is 16mm red snowflake grosgrain tied with a flower shaped sparkly button and some natural button twine

 

Why not pop over to LLF to check out the rest of the projects by the design team - I'm sure you will be inspired to get your project made this weekend - and you could win a lovely prize!

 

See you soon, Mary G x

 

Sleepy rabbits under the Christmas tree ....

 

These little rabbits are so sweet snuggled up under the Christmas tree!  There is a new challenge over at Papertake Weekly and this is my DT card.  I used a die cut image from LOTV and some lovely new papers I bought at the weekend called xxxxxxx.  I distressed all edges with tea dye ink and added some 10mm vintage ivory cotton lace, 15mm satin ribbon and plenty of Stardust Stickles

 

 

My flower arrangement includes WOC ivory open roses, white sweetheart blossom, milky coffee cosmos daisy, Kort & Godt brown rolled paper rose (with a 11mm crystal flat back in the centre) some beaded ivory/cream berries and some Ribbon Girl tiny red berries.

I hope you find time to look at the amazing work by the PTW design team and enter your own project - you could win a nice prize!

See you soon, Mary G x

 

 

Girls only ............

 

There is a new challenge over at 'Lovely Hanglar or Sweet Magnolia' which is 'girls only' and this is my guest DT card. I coloured Tilda with Copics and added Stardust Stickles.  I love our new and very ornate large oval shaped nesties - they make gorgeous cards when you fancy something a little different.

 

 

Ribbon is 16mm Pink Mermaid Sparkle and the swirl is from a Magnolia die, WOC flowers are deep pink trellis rose, two deep pink large rosebuds, a pink carnation, a deep pink cosmos daisy, a couple of pale pink lily flowers and a white hip rosebud. Leaves are cut with my Martha Stewart branch punch.

ps there is a lovely giveaway over on the Ribbon Girls blog and the October Colour challenge is still open

 

All of the flowers, ribbon, Stickles from The Ribbon Girl

 

A girly Christmas .............

 

There is a new challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies 'A Girly Christmas' and I hope you will all find time to take a look at the fabulous inspiration by the design team and enter your own project. 

 

I've made this  little easel card with a drawer.  The image is a Mini Masterpiece and the papers are all from the LOTV Classic Christmas pad.  The edges of all the pieces of paper and the box were distressed with tea dye ink before assembling it

 

 

This is what I added
WOC small gardenia, two white sweetheart blossoms, a white hip rosebud and a white lily
Kort & Godt white chrysanthemum and berries from a cream/ivory beaded berry bunch
Medium red berries
Berisford Red No 15 double sided satin ribbon. 
I glued a piece of white flat lace around the box to finish off and used plenty of Stardust Stickles and some 5mm clear crystals.  The feet on the box are made with 11mm ivory pearl flat backs stuck on with glossy accents.
Lastly I made a little hole in the drawer front with sharp scissors and put in a pearl brad from my stash to use as a handle 

 

See you soon, Mary G x

 

 

 

Fireworks ....................

 

The new challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'Fireworks' and this is my DT card.  I love this cute little ballet dancer image from LOTV - I used a ready printed die cut image and changed the shape with a nestie.  Can you see the sparkle behind the white circle?  It's actually a Christmas tree decoration sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Mist to match my colour scheme.  I fastened a diamante star ribbon slide to my ribbon bow using button twine

 

 

The paper is from a LOTV Nitwits pad, the ribbon is 32mm aqua glitter organza and I used half of a Zva clear crystal swirl for the 'fireworks' coming from the ballet dancers star wand! The silver corners are from my stash.

I have to say I was quite daunted at the thought of making a card on the theme of fireworks, but once I got my idea sorted out I really enjoyed making it.  I'm entering this card intothe Totally Gorguss challenge 'bling it on'

 

Please pop over to the Papertake Weekly challenge and have a look at the fabulous cards by the rest of the design team - I'm sure you willbe inspired and you have a whole week to get your project in - Ribbon Girl is providing a £10 voucher for their online store as the prize

 

Tilda in autumn colours .......

 

 

I coloured Tilda with Copics and added Stardust Stickles then used velvet ribbon, fine cluny lace, natural button twine, a pumpkin colour plain small button, small white gardenia, pale peach cosmos daisy, orange and coffee sweetheart blossoms, lemony cream hip rose buds, a white lily (all Wild Orchid Crafts) and a Kort & Godt cream chrysanthemum. In the corners I added Peaches & Cream pearls. The paper is Pion and I used three different nesties for the centre and added two Magnolia swirls. WOC and Kort & Godt flowers, ribbons, lace, buttons, stickles, button twine, pearls are all from The Ribbon Girl.   The October Colour Challenge begins today over at the Ribbon Girl Blog - the challenge this month is 'Autumnal Colours' and there is a £10 voucher kindly given by the generous ladies over at Lili of the Valley

 

 

plus an orange mini ribbon kit from The Ribbon Girl.  Please visit the Ribbon Girl blog to see the fabulous cards and makes by the multi-talented girls on the Ribbon Girl Design Team.

 

 

 

 

 

I am entering my card into the Lovley Hanglar Only challenge - 'ribbon and trim'; Midweek Magnolia 'Autumn Colours'

 

 

Happy Birthday Nicole .......

 

There is a new challenge at Lils Little Fairies 'Anything Goes'  I was so pleased to be invited to join their design team as I am a great fan of LOTV!  This is my first card as a proper DT member - a pink and girly birthday easle card for my youngest great-niece.  I used a die-cut image from the Fairies collection with some gorgeous Nitwit paper by Mary Fran.    The pretty trellis corners and the central background are from the new dies by Jolanda at Noor Designs - they cut really well.  I used Papertrey dies to spell the name of Nicole.

 

 

 

I added: Stardust Stickles, WOC deep pink cosmos, pink carnation, hip rose buds, a pink leaf crystal stem and a Kort & Godt pink rolled paper rose with a clear crystal gem in the centre.  I stuck lavender 5mm crystals around the image.  The ribbon is a mixture of hot pink microdot and plain satin ribbon plus pale rose pink tiny pom pom trim

 

Pom pom, flowers, ribbons, Stickles, gems are all from The Ribbon Girl

 

I hope you will pop over to LLF to look at the beautiful creations by the Design Team and be inspired to make a project to enter into the challenge!

See you soon, Mary G x.

 

 

All creatures great and small ....

 

'creatures, great and small' is the theme for this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge where you can find out who won the fabulous prizes hidden among the design teams blogs  to celebrate the 5th birthday of PTW - I've used this lovely printed image from LOTV featuring the Daddy Bear and the Baby Bear walking through the crisp, crunchy snow bbbbrrrrrr - my papers are 'Frosty Christmas' from the LOTV.  Early yesterday morning we had a nice coating of sparkly white frost followed by wall to wall sunshine - lovely!

 

I added a bow of 25mm Cornflower Blue ribbon, a 15mm clear sparkly button tied with ivory button twine and I used 5mm clear self adesive gems on the double scalloped mat behind the bears.

 

 

Flowers  Kort & Godt beaded roses, beaded ivory/cream berries, cream chrysanth, beaded swirl branch, Wild Orchid white sweetheart blossoms and hip rosebuds - and the white leaves are mader with my Martha Stewart punches - all flowers from Ribbon Girl

I've entered this into the 'one for the boys' challenge at Lils Little Fairies

 

Boy card challenge ....

 

There is a new card challenge over at The Ribbon Girl blog - create a boy card - not my favourite type of card, but it is supposed to be a 'challenge'.  I used a Lili of the Valley die cut and that football paper was in a pack I got from The Range ages ago - perfect for this image!  I stamped the sentiment directly on to the die cut square then added ivory jute mesh (reminded me of the goal post) black/white saddlestitch ribbon, a small red and white polka dot button, a pair of football boot charms and some licorice black divine bakers twine - all in stock at The Ribbon Girl.     I hope you will rise to the challenge and create a boy card - there is some fabulous inspiration by the very talented Design Team and there are two prizes for the winner

 

 

 

a stamp of your choice from the lovely girls at LOTV - thank you ladies!

 

and

 

 

a £10 voucher to spend in the Ribbon Girl online store

 

 

see you soon, Mary G x

Papertake Weekly is 5 Years Old!

It is our 5th birthday over at the Papertake Weekly challenge blog and we are having a fabulous party which you're all invited to - and there are prizes! Fabulous prizes I have to say from our very special sponsors:

 Lili Of The Valley

Nitwit Collections

Simon Says Stamp

Ribbon Girl

Sir Stampalot

Saturated Canary

Which Craft UK

J & C

Whiff of Joy

 

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning these fabulous prizes is to join in with the challenge which is an Anything Goes challenge with the option to make a card for a celebration then visit all of the DT and Guest DT blogs leaving a comment as the prizes are all hidden around our little community of crafters. You don't know where we have hidden the prizes so the more comments you leave the more chances you'll have to win the prizes!

 

This is my card - I made a 5th birthday card to celebrate our 5th birthday

 

I used:

Lili of the Valley pre-printed birthday girl image then made a number 5 badge using a brooch back from here.  I added plenty of Stardust Stickles,  5mm red gems, Kort & Godt beaded swirl branch, Wild Orchid carnation, cosmos, sweetheart blossoms and a large white rosebud

Here is the list of everyone taking part in the party, the time difference between the countries will affect what time people post to their blogs so if their post isn't up straight away then check back in a few hours as they may still be fast asleep in bed!!

Andrea B 

Andrea

Claudia

Dawny P
Debi

Jacqui

Jane

Jill

Katharina

Lisa

Lols

Mandy 

Mary

Sharon