Lilac and Pink Colour Challenge

This is the card I made for the new Colour Challenge No 8 over at the Ribbon Girl Blog - this months colours are Pinks and Lilacs - there's a fab prize of a collection of ribbons, lace, felt and embellishments from the Ribbon Girl shop plus a £10 LOTV voucher from the lovely Laila and Lisa over at Lili of the Valley - and if you missed the launch of their new boy stamps, get yourself over now before they're all gone!

I wanted to make a pretty thank-you card for the Marie Curie Hospice where my late brother-in-law received such wonderful care in the last months by the very caring and devoted staff and I decided to attempt an easel card with heaps of flowers, bling, ribbons etc. As we're still crafting out of plastic boxes while the building work continues, I spent most of the time walking back and forth looking for just the right paper or embellishment!  I used one of our new Molly Blooms stamps - this one is 'Molly Sitting' which I coloured with copics and carefully cut out.  I added Stardust Stickles to enhance Molly's dress and I used a nestie to make the lacy background, then embossed a circle of white card with roses using a cuttlebug folder and used digital papers (Christmas Kitsch) from Sweet Shoppe designs.  I love our new rhinestone and pearl  flourishes and choose the very sparkly rhinestone flourish for the front of the card.

and spent ages arranging the Wild Orchid roses, blossoms and rose-buds with punched foliage from Martha Stewart punches and also added 25mm satin ribbon. I must say that I am having more success placing my flowers and leaves now that I am using incredibly tacky glue from Wild Orchid - it allows me to move everything around until I'm happy with the result.

I used one of the straight lengths of diamante from the rhinestone flourish to make the 'stop' on base of the easel card and added more Wild Orchid flowers (pretty blossoms and rose buds) plus some leaves from my facvourite Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Inks.

I had such fun making this card, and those who know me won't be surprised to learn that it took me nearly a full day to complete and the rest of the day to admire! lol

Molly and Haggis ......

Our 2 year old Westie Haggis was a little star when we tied red, white and blue ribbons to his harness for his pre-wedding walk and he was as good as gold while we were glued to the television for the big day - wasn't her dress gorgeous? and they looked so happy ......

I had great fun inking up my new Ballerina Molly Molly Blooms stamp which I coloured with Copics - if you like Molly Blooms we've just added a whole lot more of them to the Ribbon Girl shop.   I added a wide celery-green silk ribbon to go with the green in the October Afternoon pink and green background paper, then a silver coloured charm (ballet shoes) tied on with candy pink Divine Twine - all from Ribbon Girl.  The sweetheart blossom and the ornate silver corner is from Wild Orchid and the swirl is cut with a Magnolia Doohickey die

I added stardust stickles to her dress and hair ribbon.

The inside of the card was decorated to compliment the front and I managed to squeeze just a little bit more stardust stickles on and another Magnolia doohickey swirl.  The happy birthday sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and the pink stick on gems are from http://www.3djean.co.uk/

Big birthday wishes from Sailor Boy..............

So sorry my DT red/white/blue card is so late for the Ribbon Girl colour challenge No 7  but better late than never, so here is my offering with the new HAnglar sailor boy stamp which I have coloured with copics.  I followed the sketch from this weeks Just Magnolia and HAnglar & Stanglar challenge and will enter my card in their challenge

He is rather large to fit into a circle, so I had to cut him out and have put him on top of a circle cut from a map.  I was itching to add some flowers, but as it is a man card I thought it better to add a nice red heart pin which I made into a flag by stamping the sentiment, inking the edges and curling it a bit then glued it to the pin.

For a boy-type ribbon I used white saddlestitch ribbon with black stitching and added a bronze boat charm fixed to hang from a small red polka dot button tied to the ribbon with ivory button twine.

All of the papers I used were matted onto white before assembling my card. (sorry, other than October Afternoon and My Minds Eye I'm not sure which other books I took the papers from)  The white background for my map circle was made with a nestability die.  The saddlestitch, pin, charm, button twine and the polka dot button are all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

ps did you know we have put some items in our 'SALE' section at the ribbon girl shop - if you need coloured stickles, wide ric rac, centre spot grosgrain, striped buttons, reversible spot ribbon and mini glossy accents - pop over now so you won't be disappointed!

A Perfect Wedding Day .........

It's been rather busy recently preparing everything for a family wedding in just three weeks, due to health problems all of the arrangements were done at break-neck speed, and the bride and groom (who is very, very ill) thoroughly enjoyed their special day, the weather was fabulous, the ceremony was perfect and the receptions (day and evening) were very enjoyable.  The bride's neices made two excellent buffets, one for the day time and another for the evening and around 150 friends and relatives had a great day! 
Andrea has been very poorly with a chest infection (she's getting a bit better now, thanks ti penicillin), so I was allowed to gillotine, stick and tie paper, ribbons and embellishments!! Quite a few went into the bin, but practice makes perfect!!

I did a three-tier cake, but the bottom tier was actually polystyrene which I iced and decorated like the the other two.  All of the flowers were silk and the ribbon and silver and white cord were from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/.  My sister (Jackie) made the top arrangement and we added in some pink crystal stalks and pearls.

The separators between tiers started life as empty plastic ribbon spools - I cut some big circles on the grand calibur using nestabilities and glued about 6 pieces of thick paper together and stuck top and bottom of the ribbon spool.  The silk flower heads were all cut off the stalks and I glued them in - I used 22mm guipure lace on the bottom separator and the entire cake had tiny hearts cut from icing sugar dotted around at random.

 The bride's bouquet was made by my sister (Jackie) and I was allowed to wire and gutta the individual flower heads and leaves - wow, my finger ends were so sore!!  We think the bouquet looked as good as fresh flowers and the bride loved it.

The handle of the bouquet and the large bow was made from pale pink faux silk again from the ribbon girl.

The bride's mother's corsage was made with the same flowers as the bride and the cake, and was trimmed with 15mm satin ribbon, as were all of the carnation buttonholes.

My hubby (who was also the Best Man) printed out the photographs on Sunday and mounted them on purple/pink/lavender cardstock and we put them in this plain album which we tied with 25mm satin ribbon, plum purple divine twine and an ornate heart charm - all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

Well be taking it easy for the next week or so!

Rainy Day George .......

Meet George - one of our new range of Molly Blooms rubber stamps - they are really cute!  George has been coloured with Copics and matted onto green card.  The background paper is October Afternoon and the ribbon is twill stripe in Celery Green.  I tied a bronze umbrella charm onto the bow with natural button twine.  I don't do many boy cards and would rather have stuck on some lovely flowers and pearls but I finished the card with some pale lime green polka dot buttons and button twine instead!  Molly Blooms stamps, ribbon, charm, buttons and button twine are all from here. I am entering this into Totally Gorjuss Challenge 'Button It', Creative Card Crew 'Something Green'; This is my DT card for Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge No 6 'Green and Yellow' ; For Fun Challenges - A Bit of the Green

Birthday card for my sister

This is a birthday card for my little sisters' 60th birthday.  The background papers are from Clip Art Fairy and I coloured the Magnolia image with copics.  The inside of the card was also decorated.

The flowers are all from Wild Orchid, as are the small pearl hearts which I've used on each corner.  The leaves have been cut with my Martha Stewart Punch. The diamond swirl is from stash and the cream lace, peach sheer ruffle ribbon, Stardust Stickles and May Arts string/loop ribbon are all from Ribbon Girl.  I will enter this for the Wild Orchid Challenge 'anything goes' and The Pink Elephant Challenge ' Buttons, Ribbon, Lace'

Love ......

I distressed all edges with antique linen distressing ink and used an MFT die from Dies to Die For to make the doily from brown kraft card. The backing papers are from the Floral Fantasy digital range from Bearly Mine mounted onto brown kraft card. 

I coloured the image with copics, the gorgeous metal corners and pink roses are from Wild Orchid.  I punched leaves with my Martha Stewart leaf punch and branch punch and added some Stardust Stickles, pink satin ribbon, and a pink crown pin keeps the butterfly charm (from stash) in place.  NB:  Ribbon Girl will have a large selection of charms available in the next few days.  Stickles, Ribbon, Pin all from Ribbon Girl

This card is for the Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge No 5 (pink/cream/brown) and I am also entering this card into the Just Magnolia challenge 'love you'

have a wonderful day .......

I love this little hedgehog lying on a bed of flowers  ...... he looks as if he's just had a huge meal! I stamped him onto kraft card and coloured him with copics.  The image was mounted onto white then navy plain card, then I stuck it onto more plain kraft and adhered to a plain white card.   (I have to say that Andrea was most impressed at my restraint - I usually go for 'more is better' approach to cardmaking and I love adding as many embellishments as possible.

All it needed was a tiny piece of peacock blue ribbon pencil stripe ribbon and a small piece of natural button twine to finish, both from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

This is for my husbands umpteenth birthday on Tuesday and I am also entering it into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge

note:  considering the weather this morning is GREY, wet and miserable, I am amazed that the photo has turned out so well (taken in the back garden first thing this morning by Andrea still wearing her pj's)

Take it easy ........

I made this card using the Just Magnolia sketch by Mina and will enter it for the challenge.  The backing papers are from a Christmas pack, sorry I can't remember which one and plain green card from stash.  Copics were used to colour the cute little image who is taking a rest in the garden (you can tell she's in a garden because her stool is ever so slightly crooked  (ahem, my fault - I will try harder next time)

I punched leaves from the green backing card with my Martha Stewart leaf and branch punches - I love these little punches.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid and the green satin ribbon and white cotton lace is from the Ribbon Girl, as is the Stardust Stickles.

The gorgeous butterfly is from our stash, but I see it has lost one of the little gemstones - not to worry, I put plenty of stick on green gems around the scallop oval which I cut on the sizzix using a nestabilities die

Cupcakes and Seam Binding Give Away ...

15th February 2011  -  Over at the Ribbon Girl blog there is a chance to win the gorgeous cupcakes (above) made by our very talented friend Gail together with 4 packs of seam binding - better hurry, the winner will be chosen on Saturday evening because the Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge begins on Sunday 20th February!

Inspired by violets .....

6th February - At last, I've found time to make some cards!!  I coloured one of Andreas' Hanglar stamps with Copics at the Durham crop last Friday night - this little gardening girl with her cart and gardening equipment has been mounted on some green card which tones with her boots! The background paper is by Wendy at the Clipart Fairy.

I added some 22mm guipure lace above the strip of green card and added some 25mm mauve satin ribbon.  I added quite a lot of Stardust Stickles to enhance the image. Lace, ribbon and stickles all from Ribbon Girl

Violet coloured flowers from Wild Orchid have been placed on top of green leaves made with my favourite Martha Stewart leaf punch - I also used the leaves as 'corners' and enhanced them with a violet coloured rhinestone.  I will enter this card into the Daring Cardmakers challenge and also the Just Magnolia and Hanglar & Stanglar challenge 'with ribbons'
Oh dear, it's so long since I made a card, I've just noticed I didn't shape the ends of the satin ribbon before photographing the card lol!

Ribbon flower

This is my first attempt at making a ribbon flower - this one is approx 2 inches across so would make a nice hair ornament if I stitch a clip onto the back of it.  This is made with silky crush (ribbon girl is still waiting for more stock of 'champagne silky crush, but pink, blue, white and teal are all available from stock), gathered up and tightened, then I cut 4 'petals' from the same ribbon and stitched them to the back, added a few pearl strands then finished with some oloroso seam binding and a little cream button which I covered in Stickles Stardust.  I hope to make a few cards at the weekend and some more flowers small enough to add to my cards. Ribbons, buttons and stickles all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

Give us Our Daily Bread .....

I don't seem to have had time to craft  recently (with the exception of colouring a few magnolia images in with copics at the Durham crop last Friday night) so I thought I would take a photo of the granary bread I made this afternoon ..... nothing too strenuous, I let my gorgeous new Kenwood Chef (a Christmas gift from Andrea) do all the work of kneading then I covered the dough with a clean towel and let it rise while I did a spot of paperwork.  I knocked it back, filled my tins, let it rise again, then baked it in a hot oven - smells gorgeous and tastes fab - as you can see, most of the first loaf disappeared before it was cool enough to cut!!   By the way, don't miss the seam binding give-away over at the Ribbon Girl blog -  ends Sunday

Colour Challenge No 4 Pink and Green over at the Ribbon Girl Blog

Ribbon Girl blog has just launched Colour Challenge No 4 - pink and green and you can win this great prize of ribbons and embellishments PLUS a £10 voucher generously donated by Lili of the Valley to spend in their online shop

The Pink and Green challenge is open until midnight on Sunday 30th January - check out the fabulous cards from the Design Team

Happy Birthday to my lovely Daughter

Happy Birthday Andrea!  It doesn't feel like 35 years since you were born - I don't know where the time has gone! I made this special card for you using this Cath Kidston type paper matted onto plain card.  I added some 32mm rose pink pure silk ribbon from here.    The silver Thickers numbers from stash were adhered to a nestie tag then glittered with Stickles Stardust. 

I typed the sentiment, printed onto white card and matted onto plain dark pink card then added more Stickles.

I finished the card with a selection of pink flowers and rose buds from Wild Orchid (the ones Andrea bought me for Christmas) and some green leaves punched with my new Martha Stewart Punch.  The final touch was a couple of tiny pearl bead hearts from WOC.  Happy Birthday Andrea, love from Mam xx (I like this card so much I might enter it into a few challenges)