A Lil Sketchie :)

Hi there sweet peeps and hope you are all OK today :)

It's that time of the week when we head on over and catch up with the Papertake Weekly girls and this week it's sketchie time, and our featured sketch is ...

 

.... this one here - sketch #87.

Of course, you don't have to use it but I did lol!!
I quite like this one :)

If you get a sec, do nip over and check it all out.
It's a very special post today and if you go over there you will see why because it's dedicated to the lovely Gourley family.

So what did I do with the old sketch then?

Here you go.
I used some papers and one of the Art Pads from the new  Lili of The Valley release.

The image is from Art Pad 20 - Pretty Girls and it's also available in stamp form (she is called Millie Hello).
I also used some of the brand new Baskets & Bunnies papers.
They are quite simply delish!!!

 

 

This is a blast from the past - some prima flowers that I scrunched up and made into a sort of chrysanthemum.
I have a big bag of these which I rarely use so it was nice to do something a bit different today.

The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl - it's such a lovely pretty pink.

 

 

 

Another blast from the past - a punched border made from an old Fiskars punch that I have had for donkeys years.
I don't even know what it's called, I'm so sorry :(

I stamped directly onto the image (I am verrry brave hahaaaa!!) and I used one of the LOTV Sentiments to Fit Scroll stamps. Love this set as you may have noticed!!

 

 

Somebody has been at the liquid pearls again :)
I'm obsessed!!

 

 

So that's me done for today.
I'll be back soon as soon so until then take care and enjoy the rest of your day.

Huggiest of hugs to all xx

Bloomin' Peachy :)

Hi there peeps and hope you are all OK today.

Today is the day that you can at last get your mitts on the brand new release over at Lili of The Valley :)
It'll soon be midday, yayyyyy :)))

Have you picked your faves yet?

The DT have been sharing their fabulous makes over the last few weeks so hopefully you will have gotten oodles of inspiration and your crafty hands will be itching to go lol!!

I'm sharing another telly make today and this time I've used papers from the beautiful Pressed In Time paper pad.
I cased the layout of this card from one I'd seen around and about and wrote down the creator so that I could credit her but I cannot find it any anywhere. So apols if it was you xx - I'll keep my links somewhere a bit safer next time, dope that I am.

 

 

So this is what I did.

I think perhaps next time I'll use a kraft card base but I still quite like it with a white base as it picks up the Cheery Lynn doily and the sentiment strip. I've also done a fair bit of edge inking in here as well - I seem to be doing this all the time now.
I wonder if I'm going from fairly CAS over to the shabby side lol!!!

 

 

The flower is made from Sir Tim's Tattered Florals Dies.
I have to say that the papers are perfect for this sort of project as they stand up to a bit of abuse without  being too bulky.

And they look very pretty as well :)

 

 

 

Lots of 'natural' stuff here.
The hessian ribbon and button twine are from The Ribbon Girl as is the sparkler which I coloured with a Copic to match the papers.

 

 

 

I added some liquid pearls (again!!) and a few dabs of Diamond Stickles in the centre bit of the flower.
IRL it looks better than it does here - they look like bits of snow lol!!!

 

 

 

So that's me done and I will be back tomorrow with a very special post for Papertake Weekly.
Enjoy the rest of your day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Nearly There Plus A 'Shelfie' lol xx

 

Morning possums and a very happy Sunday to everybody - I hope you are all enjoying your weekend :)

Are you all excited about the new Lili of The Valley release tomorrow?

Check it all out .......

... and as you can see, there are 6 gorgeous paper pads, 5 new art pads and also another set of the popular sentiments tags for all your family members so in just over 24 hours you will be able to get your mitts on them.

I have to say that this has been one of my fave ever launches.
The papers are so lovely - every single pad - and the new Art Pads are stunning.
And of course we all love those little tag sentiments :)

I thought I'd also share  another card that I made for Create & Craft and this one features  the beautiful Timeless Victorian papers and an image from the  English Charm Art Pad.  This was one of those times when I knew as soon as I saw the image what I wanted to do with it - don't you just love it when that happens - and I had planned to demo this on the old telly but it took so long that it wouldn't have worked there.

But I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I thought the image was perfect for a shelf card  as the pots of lavender are already sitting on a shelf and the dimension created in the image is stunning. The background wooden panels on the image match one of the papers in the pad perfectly ....

 

... as you can see here.  
You can almost smell that lavender :)

 

 

I made the shelf from card and  covered it with the paper.
Then I stuck it onto the front of the card and added the trimmed down image which I stuck on with lots of silicone glue so that it almost hung over the edge.

I carefully cut out the little tag from the image so that it actually did hang over the edge, just as it would if it was really on a shelf. I made the scalloped borders using a Spellbinders die and cut 2, one from the papers and one from white card and glued them together

I made another one for the top of the image and then went to town with loads of punched leaves and little flowers .....

 

... as you can see lol!!

I added some liquid pearls as well.
This card was lots of fun to do  - it isn't too difficult and you just need to use loads of silicone glue to hold it all in place :)

 

 

You can see how I made the shelf a bit better on this pic.
A beautiful lilac bow and sparkler which I got from The Ribbon Girl.
The shop is closed for a short while but it will re-open once Mary feel able to deal with it following the sad death of her beloved husband Roy.

Right that's me done.
I'm off to finish a commission then I better start the dinner. My lot are in residence so it's an almost full house. We are minus Nikkie though because she is travelling down to Brighton today for a week with work.

Enjoy the rest of your day and don't forget if you haven't taken part in the Lili of The Valley blog hop from Friday, there's still time to do so and you can find the deets right here.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Who Fancies A Hoppity Hop Then :)

Good morning everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Time for another Lili of The Valley design team blog hop and today we’re giving you some inspiration for using the latest products which will be available to buy on the website from midday (UK time) on Monday 24^th February

There are 6 gorgeous paper pads, 5 new art pads and also another set of the popular sentiments tags for all your family members.

You know how it works peeps - you just need to ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card. As well as being in with a shot of winning the fab prize or prizes on offer, you're bound to get oodles of inspiration while you are on your travels.

Now talking of prizes, as always there's some hidden along the way. We don’t know where they are so do be sure to visit and comment on every blog - you have to be in it to win it me darlins :)

We have a full set of the 6 new papers to give away, 2 lucky winners will each get 3 pads .and there will be a 3^rd prize of a set of the new family tag sentiment stamps

We will let you know on Monday morning which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and the winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those blogs.

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part, and remember that you will need to visit them all and leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning;

Ideas to Inspire
Anne
Becky
Dawny (that'll be me then!!)
Debbie
Dena
Elise
Fleur
Gretha
Jen
Kathy
Mary J
Mindy

So what did I do then?

Well I did .....

... a sweet birthday planner.
I based it on the recipe box that we did last year at one of the workshops and also from inspiration from our lovely Dena who did a birthday planner recently so I must give her some the credit here - it would be very wrong not to!!!!!

The  papers I used here are from the Heartfelt paper pad.
I love that they are so contemporary  but vintage at the same time - they are fabulous..

 

 

I've been using the good old paper punches loads recently to create my own flowers.
It's good because they will always match your work if you make them from the same papers.

Love this crackle paper - can you tell lol!!!

 

 

This is the back and that paper really does look like distressed wood.

 

 

I added some strips which I'd faux stitched to all the edges - it not only looks a bit neater but it gives it additional strength as well.

 

 

The inside was decorated as well and I kept the inserts simple.
I just printed these out on the compute using a rather snazzy font :)

Ok now back to the hop and your next stop is our Debbie  and if you get lost along the way, you can start again at the beginning and pick the links up from there.

Finally, don’t forget to stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog on Monday morning when you can find out who the lucky winners were of the prizes before the new products go on sale

Enjoy the hop everyone, thanks for joining in and  good luck!

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Bit Mean With The Pics But I Really Like The Project!!!

 

Hi there possums and hope you are all ok today.

Please excuse the strange post title but I think I'm having a bit of a brain freeze cos it was the most imaginative thing I could come up with lol. That said, it's actually true - there aren't as many pics today and I do really like this project.

So here's another little something I took to sunny Peterborough last week - ooh it seems so long ago now.

 

This came about quite by accident really.
I was having yet another one of me major craft room clear outs, like you do,  and I came across a box of chipboard stuff I'd forgotten I had so I thought I'd do a little Mother's Day plaque. I was quite pleased with the result and I'd forgotten how much fun this stuff is to work with.

The papers are once again from Lili of The Valley Baskets & Bunnies paper pad which will soon be on sale.

The colours are just beautimous :)

 

There isn't a lot to this really - it's so easy to do .
I made the flowers up out of the papers but you could  use anything you had to hand I guess.

 

 

 

Time to fess up here.
I only had one 'M' and one 'U' so I had to use the negative from the 'M'. But I think it looked OK and possibly adds a bit more interest.

What d'ya think peeps?
What is it they say?
Necessity is the mother of invention. 
Well it was true in this case lol!!

 

Right it's another quickie again today - still not 100% but better than I was yesterday which is good.
Emma, Tim and the kids are moving in with us tomorrow while they sort out some jobs on their new house. It isn't 'new' new and needs some work doing to it but it will be fab once it's all done. So they are all in residence for a month or so  until it's sorted.  I am sooo looking forward to having my two little treasures about the place again, woohooooo :)

I'll be back tomorrow with something a bit special so till then, enjoy your day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Lovely Layers

 

Hi there peeps and apols that I didn't get around to posting yesterday.
I was a tad poorly and spent most of the day flitting between the loo and my bed :(

Normal service is slowly being resumed so hopefully whatever it was is on the way out, yayyyy!!.

So the card I'm sharing today is for this week's challenge over at Papertake Weekly where this week it's all about

Lovely Layers

I'm featuring some of the brand new papers that are due out next Monday .....

... and these are all from Baskets & Bunnies.

I really like the sagey greens and muted shades in this pad and I've made a few projects with them which I will share over the next few days. Hopefully you will have lots of ideas ready for when you get yours if you are ordering any.

So what did I do then?

I did this card which has so much dimension - you can't really see from this pic but it's there.

I also did something I don't do very often and rounded off some corners just for a change.
I also inked and glittered the edges :)

 

I used one of Sir Tim's rosette dies which I am loving at the mo and also did one of those lace things again like I did yesterday. The lace and sparkler are both from The Ribbon Girl but as most of you will know now, Mary's husband sadly passed away on Monday so the shop is closed for a few weeks.

My thoughts are with the Gourley family at their very sad time.

 

    

You can hopefully see the dimension here ....

 

 

... and here as well :)

I also used one of Sir Tim's little memo pins.
I've had these for ages but don't use them very often, but they are perfect for popping on a sentiment.

I'm rather taken with them actually!!

So that's me done for today cos I am as weak as a kitten. 
I'll try and get back here tomorrow and share another project with you, if my stomach allows me.

Enjoy your day and apols for the shortie and huggiest of hugs to all but don't come too close cos I don't want you catching my lurgy lol xxx

A Vase A Day .... :)

 

Good afternoon sweet peeps and hope that you are all OK today and that you are safe and warm and dry xxx.

Firstly I have to say a huge thank you to everybody that voted for me in the Craft Awards xxx
I didn't win but I was in the top three fave designers with Joanna Sheen (the winner), and our Leonie Pujol. This was a huge shock because I was really thankful just to be nominated in the first place  so when they said my name, well you can imagine that I was gobsmacked, not to mention pretty humbled to be in such illustrious company. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you sooooo so much xxx I was really hoping that LOTV would pick up a much deserved award but again we came in the top three against some very stiff competition. But onwards and upwards and there's always next year :)

And of course a huge congrats to all the winners.

Righty-oh I thought that over the next few days, I would share some of the samples that I did for last week's Create & Craft show which was a huge success and well done to you if you managed to get the beautiful new papers and/or Art Pads. If you weren't lucky due to the sell out, then you can get them from the Lili of The Valley website in a week's time so not too long to wait.

 

If you ordered them from C&C and they've arrived, don't  forget to share your makes with us on our Facebook page because we love to see what you do with these fabulous products :)

So I thought I'd kick off with the vase that I made using the Heartfelt papers.
This would be nice for Mothers Day but really you could change the sentiment and use it for  any occasion.
It started out in life as a tub for hot chocolate  ...

 

... this is the one (well not the actual one but a similar one lol)!!

An added bonus is that you will love getting through the contents before you start to make your project cos this is NICE stuff.

Yayyyy :)

   

 

I basically just covered the tin with the red crackle effect paper.
It really does look the biz IRL and please excuse the  pics cos I am rubbish without the light tent thing I use and this was too tall to fit in it :(

When you cover the tin, you will need to add a strip around the back but the paper and pattern are so good that unlike Ernie Wise's wig, you cannot see the join lol. And you should be able to cover the tin using just  one sheet.

 

I made the blooms out of some Tim Holtz rosette dies and one that I made myself using a 2" strip of paper which I just accordion folded. It's truly a rubbish pic but I hope you can see what I did.

The lacy bits were just made by hot gluing some strips of cotton lace onto a punched or die cut circle, pinching and squashing it down  as you go. It's really easy to do and they look nice I think.

The glittery centres are just some rhinestones sparklers which I got from The Ribbon Girl. I can't link at the mo cos the website is down for some maintenance but you should be able to find them and also the lace.

 

 

Here's a different view.
The other papers are from the same pad and the sentiment is from  SET 8 Happy Circular Sentiments

 

 

A beautiful faux silk ribbon bow and some pearly lace, and again these are from The Ribbon Girl.

Right that's me done and I will be back tomorrow.
Take care and stay safe with this rotten weather even though it's actually not rained here for 2 whole days now!!!

Enjoy the rest of your day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Sneaky Peeky Create and Crafty :)

 

Hi there peeps and hope you are all OK today.

I'm in full production mode at the mo getting all my samples ready for next week's  Lili of The Valley Create & Craft show.
Ohh my life, there's some beautimous new papers and stuff, not to mention world launches - all very very verrrry exciting. If you are about at 9am and 3pm on Monday 10th, it would be fab if you could join us.

But before then, it's time to head on over to Papertake Weekly and catch up with  the gang.
This week, we have our very popular

Anything Goes

theme and the option is to make a shaped card.
But you don't have to if you don't want to - it's just an option for those who still like to have a challenge.
There's also a GDT call out so if you want to join us for three months, please do nip over and check it all out.

Not only that, but there's a LOTV voucher up for grabs as well so it's worth a look :)

So what did I do then?

I made a little apron card.
I love these cards and you can really go to town on them if you wanted to, but they also look nice quite unadorned.

I went somewhere in the middle!!

The papers I used are from the brand new Lili of The Valley Shabby Shack paper pad  - are those colours just totally lush or what!!!

 

    

Isn't this little Miniature Rolling Pin sweet.
They are available from Mary at The Ribbon Girl, as is the lovely 16mm Aqua Open Weave Ribbon

 

 

I'm really into me punched flowers at the mo.

And I'm not averse to a spot of Liquid Pearl-age as well by the look of it lol!!

 

The sentiment is from LOTV SET 26 - Simply Sophisticated and the lace border was made with a Cheery Lynn border die.

 

So there we are all done and it's a bit of a shortie today (phew, I hear you say!!). 

But before  go, don't forget to have a look over at the LOTV Ideas to Inspire blog.
Not only is it updated every day with oodles of inspiration for you, but there's also now a daily candy giveaway as well ......

... and here's a little banner for you to put on your blog ....

... you have to be in it to win it :)))

Right I better be off -  have a fab day and I'll see you soon as soon.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx