Sketch time at Papertake Weekly ......

Time for a sketch over at Papertake Weekly - there is a great prize to win this week so please hop over and check out the inspiration from the Design Team - you have a whole week to get your card in!

I used one of the new printed die cuts from LOTV - this one was hand coloured by Bev Rochester before it was printed - great idea - and I have teamed it with green papers and some lilac butterflies which I snipped from one strip cut with my new border die (CC Designs Butterfly Border Die)   I cut a single strip from some faux diamante gem mesh and stuck a tiny strip of three onto each butterfly.

I added 25mm white fan pattern cluny cotton lace, orchid tiny ric rac, a single strip of faux diamante cut from a wider piece plus a nice bow made from 38mm mauve taffetta - then I carried on with my 'bling is best' theme lol, and added a 20mm diamante spacer with an Aurora crystal flat back gem in the centre.  The sketch calls for three items in a row to the left of the image, so I added three 5mm clear self adhesive gems.

Lace, ric rac, ribbon, diamante spacer, flat back gem, clear gems and faux diamante gem all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

The lion, the yawn and the giveaway ..............

I took this photo when we were at Longleat Safari Park last week - I used Andreas big digital camera and my husbands telescopic zoom lens - the photo was taken with the lens pressed up against the closed car passenger window - the lion wasn't actually growling - he was yawning!!!

I have some great photos of other animals and will post them later in the week.

Have you seen the great give away over at the Ribbon Girl blog and our Facebook page  -  there are two fabulous Rose Cottage Kits Mini Makes kits up for grabs - don't miss the opportunity!

see you soon, Mary G x

Christmas in July ...

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring ABC Christmas Challenge this week and I was chuffed to be invited as a guest designer - the challenge this week is 'O' for Open - this is the inside of my card - it has two doors which Open to reveal Molly Blooms George ready to throw a snowball!!  I added some red fruit bias binding with lace edge as it looked sort of christmassy and a Martha Stewart border punch of holly leaves.

This is the front with the two doors which Open - even the tag says do not Open ....... so I only stuck half of it to the left hand door and it can be used as a handle to Open the card.  I added a Christmas rose from WOC plus some holly leaves, then Venetian Red seam binding and some 10mm jingle bells tied with ivory button twine - I'm afraid the bells did not hang properly for the photo and I think they look rather odd!  The ribbon is organic striped cotton tape in cream and green

Red fruit bias binding, cotton ribbon, jingle bells, seam binding and glossy accents (on his wellies) are all from The Ribbon Girl online store

See you tomorrow with some photos from our recent visit to Longleat Safari Park!

Mary G x

Make it yourself ....

The new challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'make it yourself' so  made some felt and jute mesh flowers and added some gems to the centre tomake them sparkle. 

I added some purple tiny ric rac and two pieces of Zva clear crystal lines, plus a stampd sentiment - plain and simple, not my usual style at all, but I enjoyed making this card.

Please pop over to have a look at the lovely projects made by the DT - you have a whole week to get your project in and there is a nice prize for you to win.

Rainbow Felt, tiny ric rac, Zva crystal lines, jute mesh all from The Ribbon Girl

 

See you at the weekend, Mary G x

Something 'girlie' ......................

There is a new challenge at Papertake Weekly starting today - and the theme is 'Girlie' sponsored by the Ribbon Girl - please take a minute to check out the beautiful projects by the Design Team - I'm sure you will be inspired to get crafting!

My card was coloured with Copics and plenty of Stardust Stickles.  The lace is 30mm white cotton zig zag and the ribbon is siam pink seam binding.  I added a pink heart pin and a Pastel teardrop pin then die cut corners and a Magnolia swirl, plus some 5mm self adhesive clear gems.

The card base is from Craft work Cards and my flowers include pink and white mulberry carnations and blue pretty blossoms, plus some small pieces of 4mm pearl string.

Lace, ribbon, pins, gems, mulberry flowers, pearl string and Stickles all from here

See you soon Mary G x

Blue, aqua and terracotta ..... sounds like a summer holiday ...

This inspirational photo reminds me of summer holidays in Italy .... oh well, we can but dream .... it's the theme for the July Colour Challenge No 21 over at the Ribbon Girls blog -

BLUE/AQUA/TERRACOTTA

There are two prizes up for grabs, a £10 voucher for the Lili of the Valley online store generously given by Lisa and Laila, and an Aqua Mini Ribbon Kit from the Ribbon Girl.  

I chose Tilda to colour with  distress markers and added blue pleated organza ribbon topped with aqua 25mm satin; a small plain pumpkin colour button and 5mm self adhesive pearls

My flower spray consists of a white mulberry daisy, white carnation, three blue pretty blossoms and one white satin daisy with a diamante centre.  You can just see an aqua pin at the back of the flowers.  I made greenery with my MS leaf and frond punch then cut a Magnolia leaf swirl and the fancy rectangle on the Sizzix and lastly added loads of Stardust Stickles - I do like a bit of sparkle!

Ribbon, pearls, flowers, Stickles are all available from here

and by the way, have you seen the gorgeous new sparkly things in the store? I love them, and to celebrate having a new facebook page, we've got not one but two sparkly give aways so don't miss them!! Pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog for info

See you soon, Mary G x

So pretty in pink .....

Ribbon Girl are sponsoring this weeks Lils Little Fairies Challenge 'Pretty in Pink' with a £10 gift voucher and I was delighted to be a guest designer - I am sure there will be hundreds of entries this week - most of us like pink and Lili of the Valley images are so pretty.

This is my card - I used a pre-coloured die cut mounted onto pink bazzill card and added old rose pink crushed/pleated organza, old rose tiny ric rac - leaves are from my MS punch and the scallop edge card is from Craftwork Cards 

Flowers are pink and white carnations, pink pretty blossom an bewjewelled white flower (from Ribbon Girl) rose bud from WOC

I finished off my card with stardust stickles and 5mm self adhesive gems

Ribbons, ric rac and flowers as stated,  stickles and gems all from Ribbon Girl

See you soon, Mary G x

Strawberries and cream ......

There is a new challenge starting today over at Papertake Weekly - you can go for the strawberries and cream theme (as I have done) or red and white, or summer etc.  I used a sweet little digital stamp called Beatrice from 'all that scraps' coloured with copics.  I found the gorgeous strawberry paper from Sweet Shoppe Designs in Andrea's scrap pile and couldn't resist using it as it went perfectly :)  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink

I added red microdot ribbon, a white cherry blossom ( I thought it looked a bit like a strawberry flower) and some daisy venise lace all from Ribbon Girl

I hope you will have time to pop over  to PTW and look at the inspirational projects from the Design Team - they are all lovely and get your entry in - there is  a 10 Dollar gift voucher from the Stamp Fairy as the prize for the winner!

See you soon, Mary G x

Bee, butterfly, bloom, bow and bling ...

A card with a bow, butterfly, bee, blooms and bling  - all the 'b's  -  this card was inspired by the Just Magnolia challenge and the Midweek Magnolia Happy Birthday challenge; I will also enter it into the  addicted to Stamping challenge and the Cutie Pie Challenge

I really enjoyed colouring this gorgeous new Tilda stamp - distress inks on watercolour paper.  I added doohickey tag, swirl, leaves and flowers all distressed with tea dye ink.

I added stardust stickles, 28mm cream cotton lace, pretty blossom flower, mimosa seam binding and a large butterfly charm (It is silver coloured but I dabbed it with white  paint and added some gems) - all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

All dressed up for the dance .......

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring the new challenge of 'Anything Goes' at the Lovely Hanglar & Sweet Magnolia challenge blog and I was lucky enough to be invited to be a guest designer.  I stamped Tilda onto watercolour paper and coloured her with distress inks - I love her peep-toe shoes!!  I used one of the larger label dies to make my shaped card and used Pion papers from my friend Jean . 

I added ivory concertina ribbon, cream traditional fan pattern cluny lace, green loopy trim, pale lime satin ribbon and quite a lot of Stardust Stickles all from Ribbon Girl.   I made a spray of various ivory mulberry flowers from my stash - the green leaf fronds were with a Martha Stewart punch.   I hope you will find time to pop over to the Lovely Hanglar blog where you will see some beautiful projects made by the Lovely Hanglar & Sweet Magnolia Design Team

See you soon, Mary G x

Sending you sunshine ..................

Great news from the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - as from today, the first Saturday in July, the challenge will be going over to a monthly rather than a weekly challenge every first Saturday of the month - and to start things off there is a blog-hop with great prizes - just leave a comment on each of the blogs listed below and winners will be announced very shortly.

I was delighted to be invited as a guest designer for this first challenge - 'Summertime - and the living is easy' - well, it certainly doesn't feel like summertime where we live that's for sure but at least we can make nice summery cards to cheer us up, and there's nothing better than crafting on a wet and miserable weekend!! I am 'sending you sunshine' so please pop over to the Penny Black challenge blog and be inspired by the fabulous projects by the Design Team

Isn't she cute?  I coloured this gorgeous hedgehog image from Penny Black with distress inks on watercolour paper.  I added fuschia pink faux silk, dark raspberry velvet ric-rac and white flower guipure lace and a pretty white daisy flower - all from here

You should have arrived from Kath and after me you should hop over to   NAT -  these are all the blogs in the hop:

ALI

ANDREA

BETH

DEBBY

HELEN

JACQUI

JENNY

JULIE

KATH

MARY    (me!)

NAT

PAULINE

(If you get lost, just go back to the Penny Black Challenge Blog)

We hope you will join is for the challenge and best of luck in the blog hop!

See you soon Mary G x

A little bit of glitter .............

This week's challenge over at Papertake Weekly is Anything Goes sponsored by LOTV. Optional extra is to highlight part of your image either by 3d or glitter, Glossy accents etc.  You have a week to enter and the inspiration by the Design Team is fab so please pop over and have a look.

I love a bit of glitter and have used one of my new cute bear stamps from LOTV  - they were released last week and I ordered a couple for my collection.  I stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks.  I added glitter to the presents (so sparkly in real life!) but for good measure added a sparkly button to the pleated organza ribbon and also some 4mm pink pearl string above the pink loopy trim and 22mm flat lace.

The mulberry flowers are a pink carnation, white carnation, white cherry blossom with green leaves cut with a Martha Stewart punch.  Sorry I can't remember who made the sentiment stamp.  The button is tied on with candy pink bakers twine and I cut some white corners with my new dies.

Ribbon, lace, button, twine, flowers, loopy trim and Stardust Stickles are all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

Pink and girlie ...... and a new challenge at the Ribbon Girl

I have two cards today (there is a clean and simple card further down)  There is a new card challenge starting starting today at the Ribbon Girl - the challenge is make a girlie card - and the cards by the Design Team are truly fabulous so please pop over and be inspired!  There is a £10 voucher for the Ribbon Girl store plus a stamp of your choice given by the very generous girls over at Lili of the Valley for one lucky winner (and LOTV have just launched their new range of cute bear stamps!).

I fancied making a shaped card this time but it took a little while to figure out how best to add the image but I got there eventually.  I cut everything with the biggest nesty dies and our new Tilda stamp was a joy to colour.  I used distress inks and added lots of Stardust Stickles.

I added mauve (old rose) satin ribbon, pink carnation and 15mm daisy venise lace all from Ribbon Girl and the other flowers are from WOC.  Leaves cut with Martha Stewart punch.

I will enter this card into the Midweek Magnolias challenge 'lovely lace'

My next card is way out of my comfort zone - clean and simple - this is for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge 'two circles'

I cut a circle in the middle of some white card with a nestie, adhered with foam pads to dark brown card, then added some 60mm vertically pleated taffeta with a diamante circle buckle slide.  The sentiment is Papertrey Ink and there is a single 5mm diamante

See you soon, Mary G x