Blue and white with buttons and bows ....

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring Just Magnolia & H S this week and we are giving a lovely collection of buttons!   You're in for a treat when you visit the Just Magnolia blog - the DT projects are fabulous!

 I was delighted to be asked to be a Guest DT - the theme is Buttons and Bows and I decided to do make a girly card but in blue and white which I think still looks girly and pretty.   I chose this image because she is holding a large heart shape button and there is also a button on her hair band and I coloured her with copics and added lots of Stardust Stickles.

I used white zig zag cotton lace with blue and white saddlestitch ribbon to contrast with the very flowery background paper.  I die cut a tag from a Magnolia die and tied blue twinkle ribbon through the hole and stamped a sentiment from Papertrey Ink.

 I made the flowers with a Magnolia flower die and added bright blue small polka dot buttons tied with blue/white divine bakers twine.  Couldn't resist adding a magnolia swirl and heart/leaf swirl as well, plus a spot of liquid pearls around the scalloped mat. 

Buttons, twine, lace, saddlestitch, liquid pearls, stardust stickles are all from here

See you soon, Mary G x

Soft spring shades ....

oh my goodness, I almost forgot to post my card for this weeks Just Magnolia & hAnglar challenge 'Soft Spring Shades' -   This is a new baby card and I chose this cute image to stamp and colour with copics.  I chose shades of green as I think that is the most dominant colour in Spring with all the trees and shrubs coming into leaf (and the weeds of course!!)

 My background paper is by Pion which I got from my friend Jean.www.3d-jean.co.uk  I used pale lime satin ribbon tied with an 18mm clear acrylic button tied on with natural button twine.  The pastel pale green heart and teardrop pins are from the new pin wheels here and I added a self adhesive pearl heart in each corner. 

This is the inside of the card - sentiment printed onto cream card then mounted on to the heart edge nestie with a magnolia swirl - the background is Pion lily of the valley paper again - one of my favourites!

Ribbon, pins, button, button twine, pearls and lace are all from the Ribbon Girl

See you soon, Mary G x - by the way - just in case you thought I was a little Westie called Haggis, I thought it was time I put a photo of me on my blog!

Shall we dance? .......

This is my card for the new challenge at Papertake Weekly - it's a sketch - so please pop over and have a look at the fabulous projects made by the DT ladies - I'm sure you will be inspired to get crafting and there is a fabulous prize to win!

I quite like following a sketch and decided on a pink and red colour scheme.  I used my new LOTV stamp (love it!) and coloured the cute bears with copics and added just a little bit of Stardust Stickles.  I used pale pink zig zag cotton lace, fuschia pink faux silk, white leaf pin and a medium ivory white crown pin.  I also added some white self adhesive pearls and a couple of swirls cut with my magnolia doohickey die.  I bought the paper when I was at the NEC earlier this year, it is  a Tilda pad called Winter Garden (?) by Panduro - really lush colours.   The pink lace, fuschia faux silk, Stickles and pins are from Ribbon Girl

See you soon, Mary G x

Diamonds and Pearls

I had a busy weekend making cards, and was inspired by the Daring Card Makers 'Tag You're It' challenge and Lils Little Fairies challenge to add  'diamonds and pearls' which was right up my street!! I used a die-cut image which I cut with a round nestie, popped it onto this very pretty nestie and slathered the dress and wings with Stardust Stickles.

  The sentiment 'make a wish' is a Papertrey Ink stamp - perfect for this image I think, and the tag was cut from white card with a punch we've had for many years.  I added heliotrope satin ribbon to the tag and the card

The lace I used is 20mm scallop venise lace and I used the new variagated lilac self adhesive pearls which are new in to the Ribbon Girl online store.

I used a Zva clear crystal flourish (diamonds), more self adhesive variagated lilac pearls and some lilac blossoms from stash.  The green leaves were cut with my Martha Stewart punch.

Zva flourish, lace, satin ribbon, Stickles and self adhesive pearls are all from here

I will enter this card into the DCM challenge in conjunction with Tea House Bridge and the Lils Little Fairies Challenge

See you soon, Mary G x

Thanks for bee-ing there ...

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring Less is More this month, and the current challenge is How Charming so I thought I would make a simple card and add a bumble bee charm - the image and sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, coloured with Copics with oodles of Stardust Stickles on the wings.  I added some natural button twine and then tied on the little bumble bee charm (twine, stickles and charm all from here)    I find making clean and simple cards very difficult, I'm the same in the garden, if there's a piece of soil showing I like to fill it with a plant!

See you soon Mary G x

80th birthday ....

A friend asked me to make a special card for her friend Mary who was celebrating her 80th birthday.  I used Pion papers (from here) cream satin ribbon, zva crystal swirl, cream pom pom, 38mm cream fine cluny lace, rose petal seam binding and various mulberry roses, all from  Ribbon Girl online store.

I will enter my card into the new sketch based Die-Ing for a Challenge  challenge - I die cut an oval frame for my Pion image rather than a round one as in the sketch, and I hope this is acceptable.

My friend, who is totally blind,  really liked the card because she could 'read' it with her fingers and could imagine what it would look like to her friend! 

See you soon, Mary G x

Spring Bringer with Stitching ....

There is a new challenge over at Papertake Weekly - to use stitching, real or fake on your project - I used saddlestitch ribbon with dusky rose pink tiny ric rac, a pink button from the baby girl selection which just happened to have stitching on the edge; and I also machine stitched around the background paper with white top stitching thread.

Isn't this image cute? It's a printed die cut image  'Spring Bringer' by Wee Stamps.  I added sugar and spice self adhesive pearls, pink/white mulberry rose and pink pretty blossoms.

Ribbon, ric rac, pearls, buttons, top stitch thread, mulberry pretty blossom flowers all from here and pink and white rose from WOC.  I will enter this card into the WOC Challenge 'Spring is in the Air'

If you have time, please pop over to check out the fantastic inspiration by the rest of the DT, see you soon, Mary G x

Lovely Lace ..... with love

I was inspired by this weeks Just Magnolia challenge which is 'Lovely Lace' my favourite embellishment after stickles!  I coloured the image with Copics, distressed the edges with tea dye in and used Pion paper as the background for this 'with love' card.  I added Rose Petal seam binding (which matches the Pion paper I used for the flowers) and 32mm very fine vintage style cream cluny lace which ties into a bow, and in the corners I have put some peaches and cream self adhesive pearls

The tag, swirl and flowers are all die cut with Magnolia doohickey dies. I added small white pretty blossom flowers to the centre of each flower.  The sentiment on the tag was stamped with cocoa brown ink and I used white opal liquid pearls for the buttons on her shoes and in the centre of the bow on her hair band.

Lace, ribbon, pretty blossom flowers, liquid pearls and self adhesive pearls are all from here

I was pleased with the way this turned out and will enter it into the Just Magnolia Challenge

See you soon, Mary G x

Wedding acceptance card .....

Our nephew Darren is marrying Louise in August and I made this wedding acceptance card to send off to Louise's parents.  I embossed white card then used a Memory Box die to cut some pink card - I stuck on ivory silk self adhesive hearts for added texture, added white vintage style fine cluny lace then a strip of double sided sticky tape so I could wrinkle up some white satin ribbon for even more texture.  Sentiment is computer generated

Ribbon, self adhesive pearls, white lace and double sided stick tape are all from here

See you soon

Mary G x

Mini teddy .....

The Ribbon Girl is sponsoring the new challenge over at Lils Little Fairies where the theme is 'transport'  and I was delighted to be asked to be a guest dt.  I coloured up this gorgeous image of teddy in his red mini car with a mixture of copics and prismacolour pencils.  I added white/black saddlestitch ribbon and tied on a scooter charm with licorice black Divine Bakers Twine.  I also added some plain small black buttons in the corners and fastened on some more of the twine.

Please pop over and check out the excellent projects by the DT ladies and you have a whole week to enter your project!

See you soon, Mary G x

April showers make May Flowers ........

It's ages since I inked up a Molly Blooms stamp, so here is George in his wet weather gear - love those wellington boots! and just right for the weather we've had over this Easter weekend - I coloured this image with Copics and the background papers are Papermania Capsule Collection al matted onto black card.  The only embellishment is a tiny scrap of  Berisford red satin microdot ribbon tucked behind the image.  

and here's a close up of George -  over at Papertake Weekly the new challenge is April Showers or project which has something to do with water - they'd like to see raindrops or the sea, that sort of thing - there's a great prize up for grabs so do pop over at have a look at the amazing cards by the Design Team

See you soon, Mary G x

Happy Easter ......

Instead of a card, I decorated some bars of chocolate - the purple one is for my sister, Jackie  (see her own creation further down) and I added purple satin ribbon, white 12mm flat lace, mulberry roses and pretty blossoms - plus the usual magnolia swirl - sentiment is by Papertrey Ink stamped onto a blank coaster cut with a nestie. 

The yellow one was a gift for a friend who keeps her own hens and chicks.  I used 28mm cream cluny lace, yellow pretty blossoms and golden yellow Berisford satin ribbon.  The paper is by Pion and the tag is cut from Pion paper too

On Friday evening, my sister Jackie and I had a great time decorating egg boxes (I can remember when we used to decorate hard boiled eggs!) - Jackie (no blog, no email) made this fabulous creation and she used some narrow cream picot edge cotton lace, golden yellow Berisford satin ribbon and yellow pretty blossoms.  Her butterfly was cut with one of our new dies and she covered it in Stardust Stickles - the tag was stamped with cocoa brown ink using a Papertrey Ink stamp.    All the ribbon, lace and flowers are from The Ribbon Girl online store

Over at the Ribbon Girl blog you can find out who won the gingham ribbon give away and to celebrate Easter we are having another fabulous give consisting of the most beautiful collection of white and sparkling ribbons, mulberry flowers, diamante, buttons and clear crystal and pearl flourishes!! There is also more inspiration from the Design Team 

Glamorous gardening - in monotone .......

There is a new challenge over at Papertake Weekly - sponsored by Lili of the Valley the challenge is anything goes with the option of using a monotone colour scheme  -  I really enjoyed making this easel card in shades of lavender - my number 2 favourite colour (pink is my favourite) and was amazed how it all came together.

 I used a LOTV 'glamorous gardening' die cut, which I trimmed slightly and matted onto lavender card cut with a nestie.  The lace is wide 40mm white cotton and the ribbon is sky mauve.

I added lilac and white 13mm saddlestitch on the base, hung a watering can charm on the top with plum Divine Bakers Twine and distressed the papers with some purple ink.  The flowers are from stash, all in shades of lavender and I added clear gems to the centre of each with glossy accents.

The sentiment was stamped in purple ink and is by Papertrey Ink

I always have problems finding pretty papers in lavender/lilac/purple shades but have got some on order and can't wait for them to arrive!

See you soon, Mary G x