A birthday card for my husband .............

My husband likes nothing better than watching a cricket match, listening to a match on the radio, sitting in the cricket ground watching his home team Durham, reading a Wisden or looking through his vast collection of sport autographs and so on - so this LOTV image of the little cricketer was perfect for his 64th birthday card! (my hubby used to have hair a bit like that colour many years ago - not now!!)

 It pains me not to use flowers and sparkly bits, but I made do with a red brad I found in the brad jar which I thought looked just a little bit like a cricket ball!  My only other embellishment was some natural/brown saddlestitch from here.  I used a LOTV round sentiment stamped in cocoa brown ink and cut with a scalloped nestie.  The numbers were die cut with a Papertrey Ink die.

My card is based on this weeks' challenge sketch over at Papertake Weekly, where there is a fab prize up for grabs - please try and make time to pop over and check out the fabulous work by the DT - you've got a whole week to make your project based on the sketch and enter the challenge.

Romantic pinks, reds, hearts and doilies ....................

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring this weeks' Just Magnolia & hAnglar stAnglar challenge which is: Romantic Doily - Andrea and I were thrilled to ber invited as guest DTs and this is my card -  thanks for asking ladies!  I used various background papers in pinks/reds matted onto dark browncard.  The doily was die cut then lightly distressed with tea dye ink, the tags stamped with a LOTV sentiment then distressed with tea dye ink, as was the edge of the image and the lace. 

the lovely image was coloured with copics and I added stardust stickles to the pink heart.  A magnolia doohickey swirl and a red rose plus some white lace

I used 30mm red roses and some Stardust Stickles from my stash, then added a 25mm shocking pink satin ribbon with an 18mm round acrylic button tied with chocolate brown button twine plus a hollow heart charm

Lace, ribbon button, twine, Stckles, charm all from here

I woud like to enter this card into Simply Magnolia challenge of pink & red

There are some lovely prizes to win over at the Just Magnolia & hAnglar stAnglar challenge, a fab collection of ribbons, flowers, pins and charms etc from Ribbon Girl and also a gift voucher for

Jacobi - and the projects from their Design Team are beautiful

See you soon Mary G x

Get crafty with kraft ..........

My DT card for this weeks Papertake Weekly challenge (Get Krafty)  is this 4 inch mini card on kraft card featuring these very interesting papers with birds on which were free downloads from the very generous and talented Astrid -   thanks Astrid!!  I hope you like what I've done with them?  The papers were stitched to the kraft card using cream top stitch thread. I added 16mm vintage style fine cluny lace and limoges blue seam binding. some pink pleated satin, part of a Zva pearl flourish, pale blue tiny ric rac.  I cut the part of the paper that had the birds on it with a nestie label die, then did another piece from a blank coaster and distressed the edges with tea dye.  Lastly, I added blue and pale pretty blossoms anda couple of small pink roses with some brown mulberry leaves.  The edges of the little card were distressed with tea dye ink.

I made a matching box and decorated it with vintage style cream lace, limoges blue seam binding, pale blue tiny ric rac and some gorgeous crepe paper - looks like ribbon doesn't it?  The little kraft tag was cut and stamped with Papertrey ink die and stamp in cocoa brown ink.

I added some little left over pieces of Zva pearl swirl to the lid and glued the lace to the sides of the box lid with 6mm red sticky tape

Pleated Satin Ribbon, Zva Pearls, Ric Rac, Seam Binding, 6mm Sticky Tape, Vintage Style Cream Lace, Mulberry Flowers and Leaves and Blank Coaster are all from The Ribbon Girl

I hope you will have time to check out the mega talented PTW Design Team projects - I don't know how they keep coming up with such fabulous work week after week!  It seems to get better every week!

see you soon, Mary G x

Pink, brown and cream birthday wishes .......

A birthday card for my little sister who celebrates her 61st birthday this week - I made a 4 inch easel card with a drawer underneath - it took me quite a long time to make and Andrea and I had great fun figuring out how to make this type of card without a template or instructions.  Well, after much measuring, cutting, scoring folding and glueing, I was as pleased as punch and will make more (in far less time than this one took me! and I hope my sister likes it too!  I used Pion papers (my favourites) for the card and also for the inside and outside of the 'drawer'.  All paper edges on the card were sewn with pink top stitching thread.  I added a little bit of Liquid Pearls to the top left corner of the card, but will have to practice a bit more to get my 'pearls' evenly sized.

The shaped plaque which holds the mulberry flowers was die cut from a blank coaster with a Labels nestie and I distressed the edges with tea dye ink then stamped in cocoa brown ink with a Papertrey Ink stamp.  I used 17mm cream vintage style cluny lace, pretty pink loopy trim and narrow chocolate brown velvet ribbon on the top and bottom of the easel card then made a nice bow with 32mm pale pink pure silk ribbon then added a white leaf pin and a pink teardrop pin.

Mulberry flowers, silk ribbon, velvet, loopy trim, cream lace, lquid pearls, pins, blank coasters are all from the Ribbon Girl online store

I love that gorgeous handle (from stash) which is a 7 gypsies but seems to be discontinued - unless anyone can point me in the direction of more?    This is my DT card for the Ribbon Girl 16th Colour Challenge of Pink, Brown and Cream - please go and look at the fabulous projects by the very talented DT ladies - I know you'll be impressed and I hope they inspire you to get crafting!

There is a fabulous prize of silk, satin, organza, pleated satin, mulberry flowers, leaves, gingham, and vintage style lace from The Ribbon Girl plus a £10 Voucher from the very generous girls over at Lili of the Valley (who incidentally are launching a brand new range of stamps available from 20th February - don't miss them!)

I will enter this card into the Deep Ocean Challenge of Pink and Brown

Dies to Die For Challenge - Anything Goes (with a die cut)

See you soon, Mary G

Black and White and Red all over .....

I love this colour combination - it reminds me of that old joke 'what's black and white and read all over? ..... a newspaper!'

This is my card for this weeks Papertake Weekly challenge ' Black and White and Red all over' ....... the image was part of a vintage style newspaper background paper and I cut it out then mounted it on a black nestie shape.

I used 15mm red satin ribbon, black crazy mesh to add more detail, a diamante heart then I cut a white doohickey swirl but to be honest, it took longer to find the best place for the swirl than the rest of the card put together - finally I was happy with it looking like this.  The sentiment is computer generated and all paper pieces were stitched with black top stitching thread to add to the colour theme.

I hope you have time to pop over to Papertake Weekly to check out the awesome DT projects and we look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you come up with!

Satin ribbon, diamante, mesh, top stitch thread are all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

The Terrible Twos ...... no, she's as cute as a button .......

Inspired by the Just Magnolia & H S challenge this week, I have made this number two birthday card for my great neice who will be 2 years old on 17th February - she's a gorgeous little girl and has such a sunny smile!!  My card began as a computer generated number 2, then the fun started when I had to cut the white card and the dark pink card with a very sharp craft knife - could have done better, but not too bad I think.

I coloured my image with copics and added stardust stickles - she looks as if she is balancing on that lace lol.  I used white 30mm zig zag lace plus a doohickey swirl and a heart branch cut with magnolia dies.  The pearls were part of a Zva self adhesive flourish

I added pink/white mulberry roses, buds and pretty blossoms plus leaves cut with my MS punch.  Lastly, I added a couple of butterflies from a decoupage sheet which I embellished with more stickles.

I am entering this into the Just Magnolia & HAnglar Stanglar Challenge 'pink, pearls, lace'
and Lets Craft and Create (use flowers)

Lace, Zva Pearls, Mulberry Flowers are all from www.ribbongirl.co.uk

see you soon Mary G x

Be my valentine ..............

This weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly is  'Anything Goes' - optional extra is to add a heart or do a 'love' theme' sponsored by Lili of the Valley  - this is my DT card and I've added a heart and gone for a valentine theme.  The background papers are all from Pion - I hate cutting into the double sided papers 'cos I don't want to cut up whatever is on the reverse side - nail biting!! but I do like them!  The central 'heart' image which was cut from a Pion tag.  All of the papers were stitched to dark purple card with pink top stitching thread.  I used 18mm cream vintage style lace and a Zva clear crystal flourish together with some beautiful wide mauve taffetta ribbon which ties really nice bows and goes perfectly with the papers and background card.

I added green leaves cut with my good old Martha Stewart punch, a pink/white 30mm rose, purple pretty blossoms, pink rose bud, small and medium purple two tone rose buds plus a couple of burgundy rose buds (these were from my stash) which pick out the red of the central heart.  The purple 'leaves' are actually petals taken from a Magnolia flower cut from the dark purple card - I think it ties everything together.

I made a box for the card featuring the same lace on all edges, plus the mauve ribbon on the top, more vintage style lace, a purple mulberry pretty blossom and a magnolia flower cut from the dark purple card and highlighted with stardust stickles.
I'm entering this card into Charisma Cardz Challenge 'Vintage'
Deep Ocean Challenge 'Love'
ABC Challenge 'Pairs' (2 hands, 2 burgundy rose buds, 2 purple pretty blossoms
Scr@p Cards Challenge Blog

Taffeta ribbon, mulberry flowers, Zva Crystal Flourish, Cream Vintage Style Lace are all from The Ribbon Girl online store

My valentine and I have been married for just over 40 years and I'm sure he'll like this card!

Keep warm in this freezing cold weather and I'll be back soon

Mary G x