Winner of Papertake Weekly Blog Hop Prize

The winner of the £10 voucher to spend in the Ribbon Girl online store is you

Magagi

Please contact me to arrange your prize

and there is a new challenge on the Papertake Weekly blog which is to make a card using 3 shapes

 - here is my card

This cute image is from LOTV and I coloured her with Copics.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, printed onto Safmat before sticking to plain white card matted onto a scrap of the striped paper from the semi circle.

I used a square for the background, a semi circle at the left hand side, and a rectangle in the centre - also added my favourite magnolia doohicky swirle and made a pretty little paper flower by punching plain white paper then adding a two tone purple pretty blossom and tied a lovely bow with the 25mm orchid large spot satin ribbon - flower and ribbon both from Ribbon Girl 

So what are you waiting for -  pop over to Papertake Weekly to see the awesome projects from the Design Team and to find out if you have won a prize in the birthday blog hop!

Mary G x

A little sewing project ........

I fancied sewing something so had a look through our fabric and fat quarters and chose a pink flower fabric from here for the outside and a pink and white stripe cotton fabric from John Lewis for the inside.

It's a while since I stitched anything apart from stitching on cards, but got the hang of Andreas sewing machine and was quite pleased with my first effort.  The pattern is from a Tilda book and I finished off this little needle case with a sparkly flower button and a scrap of 7mm pink satin ribbon, both from Ribbon Girl.  Inspired by my needle case, I attempted a make up bag, picture later in the week ....

I'll be back later with details of who won the Papertake Weekly Challenge Blog Birthday Hop prize from my blog and a new challenge for you!

Mary G x

Gently falling snow ......................

'Let it Snow' is the current LOTV challenge and I used one of their very useful die-cuts showing a bird house with snow gently falling for this Christmas card in traditional clours

I added Stardust Stickles to the snow on the image, a 38mm gold glitter mesh ribbon and some 12mm gold lame ribbon (both from the Ribbon Girl)

The background paper was left over from last Christmas and I used a LOTV stamp for the sentiment which was cut out with a nestie.  The white Christmas rose and tiny leaves are from WO and the red berries, small roses and pretty blossoms are from Ribbon Girl.  The last embellishment I used was a few self adhesive gems - I do like a bit of bling and shimmer!

I will enter this card into the

LOTV 'Let it Snow'

Hannah and Friends 'Glimmer, Flowers, Dies'

The ABC Challenge 'Anything Goes'

and here's a sneaky of my little sewing project - more tomorrow

Mary G x



Calendula - the flower of October .....

This weeks challenge over at Daring Cardmakers is flower of the month - Calendula and Cosmos - I decided to make a card based on calendular (pot marigold) and coloured up my image with Copics (not promarkers as previously written, I think I've been reading too many blogs this evening lol .......)

I added plenty of Stardust Stickles to the centre of the flower.

As this wasn't a 'less is more' type of card, I managed to squeeze on loads of bits, including a medium orange polka dot button, some Berisford orange delight satin ribbon in two widths, 5mm orange gingham ribbon, tiny orange ric rac, orange and white Divine bakers twine, cream guipure flower lace and a gorgeous bronze colour dragon fly! (all available from Ribbon Girl) and three self adhesive pearls from stash.

I've had a busy but enjoyable weekend card making and sewing - it's a while since I sewed as you will see when I put the pictures on! I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the LOTV challenge and a sneaky peak of one of my sewing projects.

Mary G x

Hello (in Japanese) .... I hope .....

The challenge over at Daring Cardmakers is to make a card which features foreign language - I am just hoping that this Japanese writing is acceptable (I just noticed the word European ...... oh dear) and that it is the right way up!!     I looked up the Japanese word for Hello on the internet, and hopefully I have spelled it correctly.    The papers are Tea House by Dovecraft, and the ribbon is Posie Seam Binding from The Ribbon Girl.

Mary x



ps  please scroll down for the Papertake Weekly Birthday Blog Hop

Papertake Weekly Birthday Blog Hop .... and a new challenge ....

Humphrey is plodding through the snow to wish PTW a very happy birthay - he's all wrapped up with his warm coat and scarf - he's so cute - (I know it isn't snowing yet, but it soon will be and I couldn't resist using this image from the new Christmas collection available from Crafters Companion )

I cut around the image with my new deckle edge die and matted it onto elephant grey/blue card, then onto a white background to make it stand out from the patterned paper.

The Papertake Weekly challenge this week is anything goes with the option of using punches - I punched a large snowflake which I covered in glue then glittered annd added an 18mm sparkly button and tied it on with ivory button twine.. Then I made the very pretty snowflake lace border, using a Martha Stewart punch.  I used the pieces which were punched out to decorate the card - the rest of them decorated the floor, the sofa, the dog - you get the picture?  While I was finishing off the bow of white satin ribbon I accidentally tore the corner of the punched snowflake lace but  found making the lace very fiddly - it took a couple of attempts before I achieved a piece long enough for my card so wasn't inclined to remake the whole card!!  Sparkly button, button twine and white satin ribbon all from here.

Papertake Weekly celebrate their birthday this week with a blog-hop and there are super prizes to win from Sir Stampalot, Lili of the Valley, The Ribbon Girl, Dies to Die For plus manhy other prizes which are shown on individual blogs. 

The prize on my blog is a £10 voucher to spend in the Ribbon Girl online store

You should have arrived here from Jo's blog  and the next blog to hop to is Andrea

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning on of the great prizes is to leave a comment on each of the blogs you visit, and of course, enter this week's challenge!! but most of all, have fun

Mary x

A christening card - and a baby elephant ..............

Here is a christening card using the gorgeous LOTV stamp which I coloured with copics.  I added white guipure 38mm lace beneath the image and the magnolia swirl was diecut from plain white card.

I finished the card with stardust stickles, and white silky crush ribbon, adding narrow purple satin ribbon and  5mm Berisford orchid gingham to the knot in the middle.  Lastly, I threaded plum divine twine through an 18mm sparkly button and tied it to the bow - this card is for the LOTV Thursday Challenge 'button it'.

The ribbons, lace, twine and button are all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/    I found it very difficult not to add a whole load of flowers, but restrained myself!

It was very rainy this afternoon, so I had a go at making a 'less is more' card - not my usual type of card at all - this week the challenge is to make a card based on the colour of your eyes - mine are greeny grey so here is Humphrey's baby brother, Jack (from the new Christmas collection).  I got the shaped cards from the papercraft exhibition at Harrogate a few weeks ago. I used green copics sparingly, added loads of stardust stickles to the wings, mounted the image onto green card and added a scrap of celery twill stripe ribbon.

Some PTW news and another Christmas card ............

I was gobsmacked and chuffed to bits when I was invited to join the Papertake Weekly Design Team recently - thank you ladies - I am so looking forward to making all those projects and progressing and improving my papercrafting skills! (and of course, best of all, I can be like Andrea now and say 'oh sorry, can't help with the ironing/shopping/housework etc today  -  I've got to finish my project for PTW lol .....)

The card above is my first project and I used a LOTV stamp coloured with copics (I will try and remember to write down the numbers from now on lol).  I made a flower arrangement using leaves punched from green card with my Martha Stewart leaf and branch punches.  Following a tip from Bev, I decanted my glue into a small screw top jar and use the handle of a crochet hook, (how naughty am I?) and I feel much more in control of the sticky stuff!.  The snowflake was punched from white card and I added glue and glitter plus a stick on gem in the middle.

Recipe:

White 16mm Grosgrain Ribbon; 12mm White Cotton Lace;  13mm and 30mm White Mulberry Roses; White Mini Rosebuds; 15mm White/White Pretty Blossoms;  Image and Sentiment  Stamps are from LOTV

(Mulberry flowers, lace and ribbons are all from the Ribbon Girl)

The card was finished off with Stardust stickles and I can't remember where the papers were from, sorry

Hope you go and visit the Papertake Weekly Challenge Blog and I'm looking forward to seeing all of the entries from the sketch this coming week!

Mary x

New Jingle all the Way Challenge .......

Over at The Ribbon Girl Blog we have a new monthly challenge which will begin on 25th of every month and inspire you to get all your crafting organised for Christmas.

It certainly got me in the mood for making Christmas cards and here is one I made yesterday and which I will enter into the Lili of the Valley Challenge 'aqua, white and glitter'

A Christmas card in aqua and white - the background paper was plain white card stamped with a Papertrey Ink snowflake stamp using hawaian shore ink to match the copics I used to colour in the gorgeous Lili of the Valley image.

I cut the circle and the scallop mat with a nestabilities die and I added some 22mm guipure lace.  The sentiment stamp was also from Papertrey Ink.  Plenty of stardust stickles were added to the wings, snowflakes and the scarf to make them stand out.

I used 30mm, 25mm and 13mm white mulberry roses plus mini rosebuds which also got a dusting of Stardust Stickles, then Berisford 25mm peacock blue satin ribbon plus a snowflake charm tied on with aqua Bakers Divine Twine which completed the card.  Roses, buds, ribbon, lace, twine and charm are all from Ribbon Girl.

------------------------------
Don't forget that the Ribbon Girl monthly colour challenge still has another week to run, so if you haven't entered yet, there's still time and I can't wait to see your Christmas projects - cards, knits, sewing, crochet, felt, anything you fancy - and of course if you use ribbons, buttons, lace or bling on it, then so much the better!
Mary

Red Poppy Birthday Card ....

I have often admired this lovely poppy stamp on Kath's blog and she kindly gave me the name of it and whereto buy one (Delicate Blossoms by Hero Arts which I bought from the Glitter Pot - I was really pleased  with it and coloured it with Copics.  I mounted the stamped area onto black card with a strip of black and white spotted paper behind it, plus some gorgeous red ruffle edge sheer ribbon from Ribbon Girl.

The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat and was printed onto Safmat then adhered to card.
I finished the card with stardut stickles on topof the black flower centres - I will enter this card into the challenge 'anything but square' at Totally Gorjuss

Mary

Cute LOTV boy putting up his Christmas Tree ......

I coloured in this cute LOTV boy putting up his Christmas tree at the Middlesbrough crop a week past Saturday, but only made it into a card this afternoon.  I used Papermania and Echo park papers, plus a doohicky die swirl (my favourite) 

I added a 30mm white rose, 13mm whitee roses, white pretty blossoms, some shiny red berries (all from Ribbon Girl) holly leaves from WOrchid.

Lastly I added a sumptuous bow made from 38mm red faux silk - feels and looks gorgeous!, with a large clear acrylic round button and a christmas tree charm tied to the button with dark green button twine - again, all from Ribbon Girl.

I will enter this into the LOTV challenge 'red, green, white' and also into Lets Craft and Create

and now I'm off to watch Downton Abbey!!

Colour Challenge No 11 at the Ribbon Girl Blog .....

There's a new challenge over at the Ribbon Girl blog - the theme is browns and greens and this is my DT card.  Please check out the other projects made by the mega talented Design Team - this month we are joined by our new teamie Tab and we welcome back our lovely Guest Designer Jane.

I used a Molly Blooms stamp (available from our friend Jean) and coloured Maid Molly with prisma pencils.  The frame is craft card cut with a nestabilies die and I used 25mm cream satin ribbon for the bow.  I finished my card with 30mm, 25mm and 13mm roses and pretty blossoms, all from Ribbon Girl.

The prize is a Limited Edition Halloween Mini Ribbon Kit

a £5 voucher to spend in the Ribbon Girl online store

and a £10 voucher kindly provided by the lovely Laila and Lisa of Lili of the Valley to spend in their online store - and they've just introduced their new Christmas collection so you will be spoiled for choice!!

Gardening God's Way .......

Our good friend Joe popped this through our letterbox this afternoon - I thought it was so nice that I would like to share it with you just in case you hadn't read it before.

GARDENING GOD'S WAY

Plant three rows of peas:

Peace of mind

Peace of heart

Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash grumbling

Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:

Lettuce be faitful

Lettuce be kind

Lettuce be obedient

Lettuce really love one another

It would be no garden without turnips:

Turnip for meetings

Turnip for service

Turnip to help one another

Water free with patience and cultivate with love

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow

To conclude, we must have thyme:

Thyme for God

Thyme for study

Thyme for prayer

Spicy Red Tomato and Fruit Chutney ..............

The recipe for spicy red tomato and fruit chutney is:

1.5kgs of ripe red tomatoes

250g onion

250g cooking apples

200g sultanas

100g ripe plums

100g chopped dried dates

750g white or brown sugar

425mls white or brown vinegar

1 level tablespoon of salt

1.5 level teaspoons of ground black pepper

1 rounded teaspoon of ground ginger

1.5 rounded teaspoons of allspice

2 or 3 large cloves of garlic

0.5 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

or more if you like it hot hot hot!!

Place the tomatoes in two large bowls and pour boiling water over them and leave for 5 to 10 minutes.  Carefully drain off the hot water then stab each tomato with a very sharp little knife and peel off the skin - a messy job but worth it for a nicer texture of chutney.

I used the mincer on my Kenwood Chef to prepare everything so it was quick and easy but if you like to chop, just finely chop all of the fruit and veg - if you have just decorated your kitchen, use a knife and chop - I managed to add red splodge marks to everything within reach but still quicker than chopping by hand lol

When everything has been chopped or minced into the pan, you can add the spices

then the sugar and vinegar

when everything is in your largest pan place on a medium heat until it begins to boil, turn down to a reasonable simmer and stir often so it doesn't stick.

After a couple of hours (may take longer) the chutney will have thickened to jam consistency and the colour will change to a dark brown (the wider the pan the quicker it will be ready, so if you have a preserving pan use it)

While the chutney is cooking, wash the jars (I filled 12 of the small 8oz jars from The Jam Jar Company) rinse well and place in the oven to dry/sterilise - at least 15 minutes at 250deg.  Turn off the oven and leave them to keep warm, meanwhile, place the clean lids into a large bowl and pour over boiling water.  Leave for 10 minutes and extract with tongs upside down onto clean kitchen paper to drain.  Dry with more clean kitchen paper and leave on a clean cloth.

I always ladel the chutney from the big pan into a Pyrex jug so it is easier to pour, and I always use a jam funnel which helps to avoid splashing with near boiling chutney, because it will burn you!

Top up the jars to almost the top, then place a wax disc on top of the chutney (the wax melts to help form an airtight seal) then carefully screw on the clean lid - use a cloth as the jar will be very very hot.  When the jars have cooled slightly, tighten up the lids once more

When the jars have cooled label them now if you wish or wait until you want to decorate as a special gift for someone, and place them in a cool cupboard for at least two weeks, preferably a bit longer, so the flavours mature  -  this home made chutney makes a really nice gift for your friends and family.  ps  I hope I haven't missed anything out - please tell me if I have, as I would hate anyone to go to the trouble of making it only to find it doesn't turn out well!!

Mary x

A Happy Bearthday Card ....

I made this boy birthday card is for the Lili of the Valley challenge sketch here - I coloured the very cute bears with prisma pencils.  The green button, apple green divine twine, celery green twill stripe ribbon and black dewdrops are all from the Ribbon Girl - I had to restrain myself from adding piles and piles of flowers lol and instead went for a strip of paper lace which I made with a Martha Stewart punch - several attempts were needed before I got a perfect piece and the floor was littered with the punched scraps!!

And don't forget ladies, Lili of the Valley are launching another set of Christmas stamps tonight 5th September at midnight .... don't miss it!

Mary G x