Happy wedding anniversary ....

My DT card for this week's Papertake Weekly - sketch challenge - I have used sketch number 82.  I made a card for my nephew John and his lovely wife Joanne's 20th wedding anniversary which is in a few weeks time- wow, how time flies!! it doesn't seem two minutes since he was born and now he's in his 40's!   I used my last sheets of Pion papers Lily of the Valley so must get some more.  I used walnut ink to distress all edges.  The lace is 20mm ivory lace/pearl trim and the ribbon is 15mm pale lime Berisford - I think it goes so well with the paper

I added punched butterflies in the top right corner and a nice flag banner with hearts.

My flowers include Wild Orchid ivory gardenia, hip rosebud and 20mm open roses, plus ivory beaded gypsophalia and stems from an ivory and crystal branch

More flowers and a computer generated sentiment - I added some 8mm ivory silk self adhesive hearts to the corners

I even decorated the inside (and the back !!) of  this special card

I hope you will have time to check out the fabulous cards by the rest of the design team and please try to join in with your interpretation of sketch 82 or any of the other great sketches you can choose from and there is a lovely prize

I knew exactly how I wanted the card to look - most unusual for me as I am such a ditherer when it comes to choosing paper and trims - and I was delighted with the finished project!

Flowers, lace, ribbon, pearls are all from 

see you soon, Mary x

Tilda on a girlie scooter .....

The Ribbon Girl Magnolia Only challenge this month is 'girlie' so I coloured up Tilda on her scooter and added lots of Stardust Stickles to make it even more girlie and sparkly.  I used ivory rose organza ribbon, white silky crush, 20mm scallop guipuire lace, scooter charm, a selection of pink 30mm, 20mm, 10mm WOC paper roses and Ribbon Girl white beaded  stamens .  The sentiment is computer generated onto safmat and the little wooden peg is from my stash.

I hope you will have time to visit the Ribbon Girl blog to be inspired by my teamies fabulous Magnolia projects - you have a whole week to get your project entered and there are two fabulous prizes!

Ribbon, lace, charm, flowers, Stickles are all from

see you soon, Mary x

Flower power ......

This week's challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'Say it with flowers' and I chose to make a criss cross Christmas card using my absolute favourite Pion papers which feature St Nicholas and poinsetta flowers, some 'Joanne' ivory vintage style lace and ivory faux silk ribbon.  I am always inspired by the criss-cross cards made by Teresa Allday and I was determined to make a really lovely card even if it took me all day :-)

For my flower arrangement I used WOC ivory wild rose and hip rosebuds, Kort & Godt cream chrysanths, ivory gypsophalia, medium red berries and some stems from a ivory pearl and crystal branch

For the card inside the pocket, .  I distressed the edges of all the papers and added walnut stain.  I added 75mm 'Abigail' flat lace, more of the 'Joanne' lace, a piece of natural colour faux hessian ribbon which I frayed, medium brown hemp twine, Kort & Godt cream chrysanths and a snowflake charm.

All of the lace, flowers, berries, ribbon, twine, charms and embellishments are from

Please pop over to PTW - you have a whole week to enter your card and you could win a lovely prize!

see you soon, Mary x

Red Flower Fairy ....

My DT card for the Ribbon Girl August Colour Challenge 'Red' - I used 'Flower Fairy' one of the new LOTV summer rubber stamps coloured with copics and sprinkled with Stardust Stickles.  The papers are Pandura and I added a red fabric hydrangea (and stitched black sequins in the centre), white daisy, 15mm red roses, a limited edition white wooden picket fence, 7mm red satin ribbon and 30mm white cotton lace. 

I hope you will have time to pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog to be inspired by my teamies wonderful creations and enter your own - you have a whole week and there are some great prizes!

Ribbon, lace, flowers, fabric hydrangeas, picket fence, stickles are all from

see you soon, Mary x

Cute fairy birthday card ....

  The Ribbon Girl August card challenge is to make a birthday card and I used one of the new summer stamps from LOTV - this one is 'Cute Fairy'  and coloured it with copics.  The sentiment is from one of their art pads - love these, so quick! 

I added 'Emily' 50mm embroidered tulle lace, 15mm pale peach satin ribbon, Autumn Gold 20mm and 10mm open roses, peach cherry blossoms and ivory hip rosebuds plus a little bit of Stardust Stickles.

I hope you will have time to see the fabulous cards by the design team and be inspired to make a birthday card for this challenge - there are two lovely prizes for the winner.

Flowers, ribbon, lace and stickles are all from The Ribbon Girl

Hopefully this scheduled post has published ok as I will be on holiday.

Mary x

Sketchy time at PTW .....

It's sketchy time at Papertake Weekly and this time I used sketch number 80 and made a birthday card for my great-niece Gemma who will be 15 in a couple of weeks time.  This is my first attempt at colouring  a Saturated Canary stamp 'Baily and Bosco' - I love those eyes!!  I coloured with copics and added stardust stickles to her shoes.

I added turquoise organza rose trim, white 'Sophie' lace, a 15mm sparkly button, aqua bakers twine and aqua twill stripe ribbon.

Ribbon, lace, rose organza, button, twine, stickles all from

Magnolia Only and some lace .....

The July Magnolia Only challenge at The Ribbon Girl is to add lace - I used 'Emily' lace, 'Deborah' ivory lace, ivory pleated satin, a Barley Sugar dahlia flower, ivory beaded gypsophalia, Kort & Godt cream chrysanth, WOC ivory hip rosebuds, ivory 20mm open roses, white sweetheart blossoms, stem from an ivory pearl and crystal branch, and some Stardust stickles all from The Ribbon Girl

There are some fabulous cards by the design team so I hope you will have time to pop over for some inspiration and we really look forward to seeing your creations!

As usual there are two fabulous prizes for our randomly chosen winner:

A Magnolia stamp all the way from the home of Tilda and Edwin kindly donated by Magnolia of Sweden

A £10 voucher towards a spending spree at The Ribbon Girl online store

Mary x

In the garden ...

We had a lovely evening on 24th July - this is my hubby and I in the back garden just before we went out for a family meal in our local italian restaurant to celebrate our 42nd anniversary - you don't realise how big the shrubs and evergreens are growing until you see them in a photograph - wow, I think we need to trim a few feet off that greenery  -  the funny thing about this photo is that we had just had a heavy rain shower between bursts of really hot sunshine - Roy walks around without shoes in the house and when he was called out to stand on the wet lawn for a photo he put his bright red crocs on so Andrea had to make sure she only took a photo of our top half :o)

Mary x

Happy anniversary ..

Today's challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'die-ing for a punch' and I've managed to use punched butterflies, leaves, a tiny tag with the date of our anniversary on and punched-out corners, then die-cut ovals on this 42nd wedding anniversary card for my husband  for tomorrow  24th July (he doesn't read my blog so won't see it)   For a change I haven't used an image and used flowers instead.  I embossed white paper andI inked all edges with walnut stain and added bridal white satin ribbon, Deborah fine cluny lace and 8mm self adhesive ivory pearl hearts.  I added a tiny silver heart with flower charm and a pearl button tied with natural button twine to finish the card.  

My flower arrangement includes ivory and cream 30mm, 20mm, 10mm roses and hip rosebuds

Flowers, ribbons, lace, pearls, button, twine, charm are all from

I hope you will have time to pop over to Papertake Weekly and be inspired by the wonderful projects by the design team - there is a lovely prize for you to win!

I'm entering this card into A Creative Romance - no designer papers - see you soon, Mary x

Ho Ho Ho ....

Ho Ho Ho, I thought I would get ahead by making a Christmas card for my DT project for the July Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge of 'blue and white' as a Christmas card.  The background paper is from LOTV as is the cute diecut image.  I added 32mm white guipure lace, 9mm blue/white saddlestitch, acrylic flower button, natural button twine, a snowflake charm.

My flower arrangement incudes ivory 30mm, 20mm and 10mm mulberry roses, 15mm red paper roses and a couple of my favourite white beaded stamens.   I finished my card with Stardust Stickles and a few clear self adhesive gems

Please pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog to see what my talented teamies have made - fabulous work - and find out what the prizes are for this challenge - there is a £10 voucher from LOTV and a £10 voucher from The Ribbon Girl - well worth winning! and you've got a week to get your project in  - it can be anything at all, not just cards!

Ribbon, lace, button, charm, twine, flowers, stickles and gems all from

have fun, Mary x

Buttons and bows ......

This weeks Papertake Weekly challenge is 'buttons and bows' - the rest of the design team have made some lovely cards and I hope you will be able to join us this week.

I managed one button and a double bow on this feel better soon card which I made for a friend.  I used a topper (Wee Suzie)  from The Hobby House, then addedsiam pink seam binding topped with a pale pink striped button tied on with pink divine twine and some 5mm pink pearls.

My flowers include Wild Orchid 10, 20 and 30mm roses, cosmos daisy, sweetheart blossom and aster plus Ribbon Girl white and pink beaded stamens

All flowers, buttons, twine, seam binding and pearls are from

see you soon, Mary x

aaww how cute ...

Today's challenge at Papertake Weekly is anything goes with the optional extra is to include and an animal / creature or you could use animal print paper. Sponsored by LOTV, I used one of the images from those extremely handy art pads from Lili of the Valley then added a deep pink trellis rose, carnations, white beaded stamen, pink asters, pink sweetheart blossoms, pink and white pencil stripe ribbon topped with a 15mm diamante and pink crystal embellishment finished off with som 15mm ivory hearts.

Ribbon, flowers, heart and diamante embellishments are all from

The Ribbon Girl

see you soon

Mary x

Magnolia only challenge ...

This is my DT card for the Ribbon Girl Magnolia Only challenge - use two backing papers - I also added pink microdot ribbon, white zig zag cotton lace, a clear crystal flower button tied with natural button twine, white daisy with a sparkly centre, 20mm opn roses and some hint of pink hip rose buds.  I slathered stardust stickles on her wings, inked all the edges with walnut ink and added some 5mm pink pearls to finish.

I hope you have time to pop over to thw Ribbon Girl blog to be inspired by the DT creations and you've got until Saturday to enter your card

Ribbon, lace, button, twine, pearls and flowers are all from

Sketchie time at pTW .......

It's sketchie time at Papertake Weekly - I used sketch No 80 for my DT card.  The image in the centre is one of the new stamps from LOTV as is the sentiment.  I inked over them with walnut to distress them.  Lace is 'Claire' used with natural faux hessian mesh - I cut off the wired edges and frayed the ribbon.  I love the golden diamante butterfly charm - just lovely.  My flowers include dahlias from Ribbon Girl Barley Sugar Mixed Dahlia pack, ivory beaded stamens, a stem from an ivory and crystal branch, WOC hip rosebuds and 20mm open roses - all from The Ribbon Girl

I hope blogger behaves and publishes this on time as I will be cruising around the Greek Islands with my lovely husband to celebrate his 65th birthday

Mary x

Don't be square .....

I was delighted to be asked to be a GDT for today's Creative Romance Challenge 'Don't be square ...' and here is my card

I used our new dies we bought at the Doncaster Dome a couple of weeks ago and inked the edges. I added oloroso seam binding and Rebecca 8mm ivory fine vintage style lace topped with some 5mm ivory flat flower bead trim.  The sentiment is punched from a LOTV pad and inked too.

My flower arrangement includes a dahlia from the Barley Sugar pack, some 20mm WOC open roses, ivory beaded stamens and pink/white beaded berries.

More seam binding and lace topped with a 20mm open rose

I hope you will find time to enter the challenge, I really enjoyed it.

Mary x