The great Newcastle flood and a sunshiney card .....

Just after 4pm yesterday afternoon Andrea and I set of in the car to take Haggis our little Westie, to his regular grooming appointment about 2 miles away from our house. Within five minutes of leaving home we were in the middle of the worst storm I can ever remember - it felt like we were driving through a car wash - pitch black dark, very noisy with thunder, massive lightning flashes and very,  very scary and it was like 'The Day after Tomorrow' It was hard to take in just how quickly the roads turned into rivers with torrents of water.  Andrea who is always calm in any emergency negotiated floods, made many detours and eventually got us back home - we are very fortunate - no flooding at our house but hundreds of others have been flooded, had roof fires with lightning strikes, electricity off, no metro trains, no trains, cars stuck for hours and hours on the journey home from work, many schools are closed this morning due to flood damage - I'm sure many of you will have seen pictures of the Newcastle area on TV this morning and here are a few I copied from our local newspaper website taken in Newcastle and Gateshead - the third photo shows the road under the Tyne Bridge - it looks like the river! 

  

and here is todays card

My guest DT card for this weeks Just Magnolia challenge - to add a banner - I coloured Tilda with distress inks on watercolour paper. I added ivory pearl organza rose ribbon, orange delight satin ribbon, Zva crystal flourish, peaches and cream pearls and some white and tangerine pretty blossoms from here plus some cherry blossoms from stash

See you soon, Mary G

A pink rose and big birthday wishes ......

Couldn't resist sharing this photo I took yesterday (notice it is NOT raining!!) but we're back to dull and wet weather today!  This repeat flowering rose by David Austen which we have in a large pot on the back patio is called Gentle Hermione - Dad bought it for Andrea and as well as being gorgeous, it has the best rose scent we have ever had the pleasure to smell - we are very fond of Kath Kidston rose hand wash and hand cream, but this rose is even better!! and this pot of freesia bulbs standing on the patio table smells heavenly -

A clean and simple birthday card for my little brother in law who celebrates the big 50 on Thursday - instead of cutting the numbers out of patterned paper and sticking them on Andrea suggested I cut the numbers out of the middle of white card. added sticky pads to raise it up and placed the patterned paper behind - good job she's there to keep me on track otherwise I'd never try anything new :)

  

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, and I added a single 5mm crystal

See you soon, Mary G x

Shall we dance?

The new challenge over at Papertake Weekly is a sketch -  the design team have made some fabulous projects to inspire you and there is a lovely prize to win!

I stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured the gorgeous dancing bears from LOTV with distress inks and added some Stardust Stickles.  The top right corner piece is cut with a Memory Box die - I love these dies, they are so sharp and you get a lovely clean cut

I added old rose mauve satin ribbon and 22mm white guipure lace then arranged a pink flower from my stash plus a couple of roses from a piece of pearl organza rose ribbon and instead of using bought leaves or punching some from green card as I usually do, I cut individual patterns from a piece of 22mm guipure lace to match the piece on the bottom of the card.  The background paper is Tilda winter garden from Panduro - bought the pad at the NEC earlier in the year.

Satin ribbon, guipure lace, Stickles and pearl organza rose ribbon all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

Strawberry Beatrice Tag ... and a fabulous give away!

This digital strawberry Beatrice image from All That Scraps is so cute!  I coloured this one with Copics and the actual tag was cut with a nestie.  Andrea and I each made a tag and we used the same image and the same paper pad so we could compare the tags side by side.  I used red microdot and red pencil stripe ribbon plus 12mm flat lace and strawberries and cherries bias binding with red lace edge.  The tiny kraft tag was cut with a papertrey ink die and the sentiment is from their mixed messages set stamped with cocoa brown ink.  I'm joining in with the Cute Card Thursday 'Here comes Summer' challenge and Allsorts Challenge ' Any die will do'

We've eaten so many strawberries these past few weeks we were inspired to have a Strawberry Red and Cream coloured give away over at the Ribbon Girl blog - look at this fabulous prize!

There is a whole lot of inspiration at the Ribbon Girl blog today - gorgeous creations by the Design Team and a reminder that you still have a whole week to get your project into the Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge of pink/purple/green

See you soon, Mary G x

Tilda with Flower tag ......

Inspired by the current TOMIC challenge to make a tag using a Magnolia stamp with flower - I chose Tilda with Daisy and after stamping her onto watercolour paper, I coloured her with distress inks and cut her out very carefully.

I used label dies to make the tag, inked the edges with white and set Tilda onto some toning Pion paper.  I added ivory pleated satin ribbon and 12mm blue zig zag cotton lace, then enhanced with blue and white flowers, a Zva pearl flourish, doohickey swirl and limoges blue seam binding.  I cut a tiny tag out of a blank drinks coaster and the sentiment is in brown from a a Papertrey Ink mixed messages stamp.  I'm also entering this into the Cute Card Thursday 'Here comes Summer' challenge, also Midweek Magnolias ' Anything but a Card'

Ribbon, seam binding, lace, zva pearls, mulberry flowers, drinks coaster and Stardust Stickles all from Ribbon Girl

See you on Sunday for news of a fabulous give away over at the Ribbon Girls blog!

Mary G x

You make my heart bloom .......

Another Tilda card, this time in burgundy - painted with distress inks (however, face and hair are coloured with Copics). I added burgundy satin ribbon, engraved heart charm, pastel heart pin, white organza pearl rose ribbon, 40mm cotton lace and white liquid pearls all from Ribbon Girl.  I also added die cut leaves and a swirl made with Magnolia doohickey dies.

The challenge over at Papertake Weekly this week is a game of bingo - I chose to use diecut, Free (charm), Glitter - why not pop over now and see what the design team came up - there are some fabulous cards to inspire you and this weeks prize is a £10 gift voucher from Ribbon Girl
I am entering this card into Deep Ocean Challenge 'Summer' and an Oldie but a Goodie Challenge to add a banner or bunting; Simply Magnolia Challenge 'Garden Blooms'

see you soon Mary G

Purple and white birthday easel card .....

An easel card in shades of purple and white for the Just Magnolia challenge - I stamped onto Bockingford watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks. I feel that I am getting the hang of the inks now and prefer them to copics!  

This card is for my cousin's daughter  Hannah who has a birthday this week.

I used: Microdot ribbon, mother of pearl sequins, daisy guipure lace, purple daisies, pink carnations, purple cherry blossoms, Stardust Stickles and liking lilac pearls all from here and some chrysanthemum flowers and rose buds from stash. Leaves punched with my Martha Stewart punch and swirl made with a Magnolia doohickey die.

See you soon, Mary G x

Pink, purple and green ......

I used one of our new Magnolia stamps - Tilda with a daisy stamped onto Bockingford watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks. I added cotton lace, mauve twill stripe ribbon, plum jute mesh, white tulle (on the tag), pink cherry blossoms all from here and a couple of green pearls which you can't see very well 'cos my watermark is so big! :-) The tag is Magnolia and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink

I made this card for the new colour challenge over at the Ribbon Girls Blog - this month the colours are 'pink/purple/green' and there is a lavender mini kit from us and a very generous £10 gift voucher from the lovely ladies Laila and Lucy at Lili of the Valley to spend in their online store. 

 

My teamies have made some fabulous creations for this colour challenge so please go and have a look at them and we're all looking forward to seeing what you create!

See you soon, Mary G x

In the garden .........

The challenge over at Lils Little Fairies this week is 'In the Garden' and I was delighted to be invited to be a guest DT - I have used a LOTV die cut - those adorable little mice planting up their seeds! I added white guipure lace, white pearl rose organza ribbohn, green faux suede leaves and lavender open weave ribbon all from here.  I stampeds the sentimen straight onto the paper (second attempt, first one is in the bin) and I'm so embarrased as I have just noticed one of my green suede leaves has slipped!! sorry about that :-(

There are some fabulous cards by the Lilis Little Fairies Design Team and a prize of a green mini ribbon kit from

Mary G x

   

3, 2, 1 challenge and another circus project ...

The new challenge over at Papertake Weekly is '3, 2, 1'  - you need to use 3 of one thing, 2 of another and 1 of another and what you use is entirely up to you :) so I used 3 cherry blossom flowers, two green pearls and one small polka dot button on my card. 

I stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks then added raspberry velvet ric rac and 38mm white guipure lace with ots of stardust stickles on her wings - looks really sparkly in real life!

Botton, ric rac, lace, pearls, flowers all from here

There are some fabulous cards over at PTW and I hope you can find time to pop over for some inspiration before you start making your card

Here is a photo of my other Molly Blooms circus project which I started at the class with Claire Rowlands last Saturday

The ball was decoupaged and the top hat, ball and shoes had glossy accents to make them shine - this is a terrible photo - the light was very poor.  There is a card inside the envelope which has been enhanced with a button, twine and some tea dyed ribbon.  I love the bunting - Olivia stood and die cut hundreds of the little flags for us - I have added this die to my wish list as soon as the crafty budget is in funds again! I love the litte notches cut out of the side - very effective. 

See you soon, Mary G x

Sweet Magnolia, the circus and some foxgloves ..........

I was lucky to be asked to be a Guest DT for this week's Lovely Hanglar or Sweet Magnolia challenge - this is my card which uses one of my favourite colour combinations - pinks and creams. Ribbon Girl are sponsoring - please pop over if you can and have a look at the fabulous projects made by the Lovely Hanglar & Magnolia design team - well worth a look!

I coloured Tilda in with distress inks on watercolour paper and added old rose pleated organza, old rose 16mm satin ribbon, cream riny ric rac, cream jute mesh ribbon, stardust stickles, ivory rose organza ribbon and liking lilac self adhesive pearls - all from here

Andrea and I spent Saturday at a Molly Blooms crafting class in Middlesbrough taught by the designer Claire Rowlands - we had a fabulous day and finished off our two circus  projects today - well, we had to spend some time yesterday sampling all of the delicious goodies Jean had baked with the help of Olivia - thanks girls!  Here is a photo of one of the projects, almost completed -  it really needs another Molly Blooms 'sitting' stamp colouring up and positioning in front of the horse.  I'll post another later in the week.

The inside of the 3-d card, it took ages to colour and cut out the carousel! We had such fun making the actual card and steps - some ladies worked in cms and some in inches - you can imagine the giggling as we kept getting mixed up and couldn't tell our left from our right lol!

This shot shows the 'doors' at the side

I also wanted to include a photograph taken this morning in our back garden - so much rain has fallen recently that the foxgloves have shot up like wildfire - they are beautiful though and as is usually the case, I didn't plant them - seeds from a long ago foxglove must have fallen in the soil, or a bird must have dropped seeds in the garden!

See you soon, Mary G x

the sky is the limit .................

 I hope everyone in the UK is having a great Diamond Jubilee weekend - we are.  The challenge at Papertake Weekly is to make a card for Fathers Day or for a man or boy.  You won't fail to be inspired if you pop over to have a look at the work by the very talented Design Team and you have a whole week to get your card in - there is a great prize too. A boy card for a change - it is a birthday card for my great nephew Jack - I used the gorgeous new image from Lili of the Valley and coloured it with distress inks. He's got two scooters, one at home and one at his Grandmas and a dog called Louis so it is just perfect for him! As it is a boy card I resisted the temptation to add flowers and instead added three colours of twill stripe ribbon, a scooter charm tied on with red bakers twine and a couple of red and white polka dot buttons - all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

Birthday wishes in pinks and reds .....

I quite like putting pink and red together.  The papers are Tilda from Panduro bought from the NEC earlier this year. The image has been stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks - however, I still use copics for face and skin.  I used our new MS punch around the page punch set to make the square doily

I added 22mm white guipure lace, dark raspberry velvet ric rac, pink divine bakers twine, 5mm pearls, an engraved heart charm all from here, and a red rose from my stash. 

The Ribbon Girl have launched a new Card Challenge on their blog which will begin on the first Sunday of every month and run for 2 weeks .  There are some truly fabulous cards and projects from the mega talented Ribbon Girls - you must pop over and have a look!
There is a super prize for the winner:  A £10 gift voucher and a red mini ribbon kit from Ribbon Girl

 

and the lovely ladies over at Lili of the Valley have very generously offered the winner their choice of a small stamp from the LOTV website! This weekend LOTV are having special Jubilee offers which end on 5th June so why not check them out as soon as you can and you might get yourself a bargain!

See you soon, Mary G x

Celebrating 30years ........

I made this card for our good friends Val & Bob who celebrated 30 years serving the parish of All Saints Church (now known as Hillside Church) and on Wednesday evening our congregation was joined by the Bishop of Durham  and many friends of Val and Bob for a fantastic celebration - the band played all our favourite worship songs and there were messages, cards, gifts and flowers plus a nice buffet to round off a most enjoyable night.

I used Pion papers from 3djean, plus mauve taffeta ribbon, 25mm cream fine cluny lace, lilac pearls, a diamante stick pin and some lilac pins all from here

See you on Sunday for the Ribbon Girl card challenge,

Mary G x