Luscious Lime & Verryy Sparkly Too ;)

Hi lovely peeps and hope you are all OK today.

It’s that time of the week when we head across the water and catch up with our friends over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge and this week our challenge is ….

Emboss It

and you can either heat or dry emboss here, or even both if you fancy it!!

The design team have created some awesome projects for your inspiration, and this week we are all featuring Stampendous products. Of course, you don't have to use them to join in but we would love to see them used if you have them :-)

As always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a fabulous …

… for one lucky winner to spend …

…right here.

So …..

… this is what I did and please excuse the terrible pic peeps.

I had the prettiest glitter ever and just HAD to use it for this challenge and it’s from the Stampendous GLITTER KIT PRETTY PRINCESS Ultra Fine Sparkle kit. 

What a beautimous colour!!!

What I did was to lay strips of 1cm DST on a piece of card, whip off the backing strip and sprinkle with the glitter - it makes a nice background I think.

The dies I used are Spellbinders FANCY LATTICE Shapeabilities Expandable Pattern Dies and Spellbinders DECORATIVE LABELS 8 Eight Nestabilities. Both of these are new this year and they are newbies to me as well. I LOVE them, espesh the fancy lattice – no end of possibilities with this one.

I expect that this isn't the last you’ll see of them on here peeps!!!

Here’s where I did me embossing.

I die cut the bloom using a Spellbinders Rose Creations set then ran the pieces through a Cuttlebug  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder before putting it all together :)

So that’s me done for now and I’m off to do some more work. The pile is going down but soooooooooooooooooooooooo slowly. Why is it that it grows at a much faster rate I wonder?????

Have the fabbiest of days and huggiest of hugs to all xxxx

I Quite Like This One!!!!

Hi there peeps and hope you are all OK today. Please excuse the very drab and uninspiring post title but I could not for the life of me think what to call this today!! Suffice to say that I made a card that I quite liked – that’s it really (sad isn't it!!)

It’s that time of the week when we nip over to the jolly old US of A and catch up with our friends over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge

Before I get to the old cardio, just a quickie to let you know that we are running our annual  Children's Holiday Challenge  ….

…. and we already have some truly wonderful masterpieces,  so if you  know any crafty little bods ages 2-16 years old, why not get them to enter (Kyla you are NOT using my Copics!!)  It’s an Anything Goes theme so they can really get creative, and we would love to see what the little sausages do. PLUS there are 2 fabulous prizes up for grabs :). If you click the pic above it will take you to the right place on the website or you can read all about it here.

Right onto our challenge this week which is

KRISTINA'S INSPIRATION 

This is a photo which has been done by Simon Says Stamp's very own Kristina Werner.
Kristina is super inspiring, sweet as can be and uber talented and she is the one who gets to choose what goes into the Monthly Card Kits that Simon Says sell, plus she designed some stamp sets that can be purchased through the card kit and also in the store separately. But if that wasn't enough she is the designer of the exclusive dies that we featured last week. So all in all, she is one very talented girlie indeed :)

And this ….

… is the inspiration photo we have all used this week - it’s of her gorgeous kitty cat, Mannie, aww:).

The DT have all featured Basic Grey products but of course you don't have to use them to join in. But we would love to see them used if you have any.

As always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a fabulous …

… for one lucky winner to spend …

…right here.

So …..

.. this is what I did.

I used one of the new Turning Leaves Magnolia stamps – this is Tilda With Daisy & Mushrooms and I’ll do the close up and colours I used in the next pic.

The papers are all from the Basic Grey Little Black Dress  6 x 6 Paper Pack

    

I’ve really fallen in love with colouring again after Claudia's class and these are the Copics I’ve used  -

Skin – E0000, E000, E00, E11, E21, R00, R02

Hair – E15, E31, E33, E34, E35, E37, E50

The rest – C00, C1, G99, E43, E50, E81, R02, R05, R17, R29, R59, W00, W1, W3, W5, W7

Oops of the little gems has slipped here :(

Slap dash Phillips strikes again!!!

The little blooms are cut with the 3 smallest dies from the Spellbinders Rose Creations set. I found some tiny red sequins in my stash and popped them in the centre before I (badly) adding the gems.

2 of my old faves have put in an appearance as well – the good old Tilda Lace Die and Magnolia leaf and swirl die (minus the leaf bit – poor thing always gets left out!!)

So that’s the old card done and if you get a sec, do nip and check out the challenge peeps and also the amazing cardage for the DT. Till next time have a fab day and huggiest of hugs to all

And finally, well done to our two girlies this morning - our first gold and all that is left to say is ….

… come On Bradley Wiggins – you can do it !!!!!!!

 

Not Like Me At All!!!!!!!

Good morning loveliest of peeps and I hope that you are all OK today. 

Before I get onto today’s card, just a couple of things to tell you. Firstly I’ve been asked how long the baby jumper should be. Well mine is 26cm from the edge of the bottom rib to the top of the neck. But I guess that if you are using 4mm needles and DK yarn, then it’s going to be in the right ball park and if it’s bigger or smaller then it really won’t matter because the babies will all be different sizes.

And once again, hugest of thanks to everybody who has emailed me and  who is busy knitting away for these little souls  or who is tooting away on their blogs or forums for me – mmmwaaahhhh to every single one of your fabulous peeps xxxxxx . 

And just to remind you that there are still a few days left to enter Mary’s Ribbon Girl Sparkly Easter giveaway ….

… so if you fancy winning this beautimous pack of goodies, nip over and check it out me darlins )

Righty-oh then it’s  back to today’s card and it is of course my card for this week’s Simon Says Stamp Challenge and out theme is

April Showers Bring Spring Flowers

This week the Design Team are showcasing Bo Bunny and/or Basic Grey products so if you have either of these two products, we would love to see them in your projects this week but if not, please come and join us anyway !!

As always the lovely Heidi is giving away ……

…. a mahoosive voucher which one lucky girlie will get to spend …..

.. right here in the store.

Now for a change, I thought that I would not use an image for this card which isn't like me but I do like to try different things for this challenge and I think it’s good for your creativity.

So this……

… is what I did.

I used a Bargello technique which is easy peasy to do and a great way to use up any little scraps if paper you have left over. The papers I used are from Bo Bunny’s Crush Collection and this is how I made it. -

Firstly, cut up strips approx 22mm from your 6 x 6 pad – for this I used 5 different patterns

Glue them next to each other onto a piece of paper or card and make sure that all the edges line up

Now turn your paper through 90 degrees and cut strips that are 22mm wide. You will now have strips with little blocks of patterns on them

Now glue these onto another piece of paper or card and stagger them so that the patterns are really mixed up  - hope that makes sense.

I then trimmed this so that I had a piece that was  4 squares  x 5 squares

And that was then matted onto red card and then again onto black card.

By playing around with more strips or different patterns, you can get some lovely effects. If you want to see this technique  in more detail,  Split Coast Stampers have a great tutorial – you can see it here.

The big bloom was made using the largest Spellbinders Rose Creations dies  (I love this set of dies) and I popped a brad in the centre which you can just about see!!!!

A bit more detail for you :)

This technique is much easier than paper weaving I think!!

Ooops, the flower is sort of folded in so you can see the white underside of the paper in this shot.  You can see that I used my fave Magnolia leaf and swirl die … just for a change and soooo not like me lol!!!!!!

And that’s the card all done.

I’ll be back tomoz with my usual sort of card ie one with an image and coloured with Copics no doubt and also another Blast From The Past which I forgot last week - doh!!! So I’ll see you then and have a fab day.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

 

Something Completely Different :)

Happy sunny morning loveliest of peeps and hope you are all OK today.
We’re promised another lovely day here in the UK and it’s such a nice change to wake up to sunshine. We are so not used to it really!!!

Anyway it’s time to check out what’s happening over the water at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge and we have one of your fave themes today because

Anything Goes

This week, the DT  are showcasing products from My Favorite Things and as always, you don't have to use them.  But if you do have some then we would love to see what you do with them :).

And as always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a humungous …..

… which our lucky winner will get to spend ….

.. right here.

    

So I thought I’d do something a little different – just for a change  - and I think it’s nice to get away from the usual image / papers /embellies every now and then. These ‘Anything Goes’ challenges are perfect for pushing your creativity a little further or maybe just experimenting with things you don't usually use etc.

The papers are all from a Basic Grey Little Black Dress  6 x 6 Paper Pack and I used Wonky Rectangles nesties and Spellbinders Rose Creations dies.

To make the flower I cut 2 of the next to largest dies, 2 of the next size down, 1 of the next size down again and finally 2 of the smallest dies.

Take the largest cuts first and curl both sides of each petal using a bone folder. Run an embossing tool over the centres  so that the petals start to curl upwards and then glue together, offsetting the petals.

Repeat for the next size down.

Glue these all together.

For the next size down, just go over with the embossing tool again and then add this to the bloom.

Repeat with the smallest sizes but really go over them with the embossing tool so that they are all but curled closed then glue them together and add to the bloom.

Pop a brad in the centre and you’re done :).

I used my new MFT Leafy Flourish die which I am so loving at the mo.

And there you have it.

It’s quite striking with these papers and I think if you used all white papers / elements etc,  you would have a very different look again. I am going to have a fiddle when I get a bit of time so I’ll share when I do.

Right I’m off as I have a list as long as yer arm to get through and barely enough time as per usual. Plus I have to get all the prep done for card club on Monday so I want to make a start today. It’s non stop sometimes at chez piggy!!!!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my usual format and a helping of fairy-ness but until the, have the sunniest of days and huggiest of hugs to all xxxx

Where’s The Blonde???????

 

Morning sweet peeps and hope you are all OK today :)

It’s a tad warmer this morning thankfully – not quite tropical but at least it’s above freezing now.

It’s that time of the week when we hop over the pond and catch up with what’s happening at the  Simon Says Stamp Challenge

and this week our Domi has done a sketch for us ….

… and here it is.

As always, Heidi is giving a whopper of a prize …..

to one lucky winner which they can spend ….

… here.

So what did I do then?

Ta daaaaaa, it’s this bad boy here.

Like I said  on yesterday’s post, I decided to give this little sweetie darker hair than I usually do so she is a mid brown, sort of coppery colour. Which is quite like myself I guess, but the difference is that I am desperately trying to get rid of the brown / pink / red colours from my hair and go back to my own colour. I didn't realise that  it would take sooooooooo long to sort it out but hopefully before too long I will be there (pleeeeeeeeze hurry up!!)

So maybe this was a subliminal thing?

Anyhoos, enough rambling about me barnet – the image I used here is CC Designs Sweetheart Birgitta and I coloured her with these Copics -

Skin – E000, E00, E11, E21, R00, R11, R20

Hair – E25, E29, E35, E51, E71

Clothes – C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C7, Black, R05, R17, R27, R59

I also dabbed a bit of Glossy Accents onto her shoes so that they looked like patent leather – I made a complete hash of it if I’m being honest,  but never mind!!!

The papers are My Minds Eye 6 x 6 Life of The Party paper pack – love these :)

Not too much faffing with the flowers today and I think the simplicity of them is right for the card cos the colours are very strong and anything too fancy wouldn’t look quite right.

IMHO of course!!

I used dies from the Spellbinders Rose Creations set and just added a Hero Arts  little gem in the centre, and  I trailed some pearls along the side as well. You can find all them all here.

I cut the circle from a Grand Circle Nestabilities set  and edged it with some cut up bits of a strip of  paper lace made with a MS Eyelet Lace PATP Punch.

I seem to be getting slightly addicted to the sewing - you may have noticed lol!! 

So there you go and that’s me done for today. I’ll be back tomoz with some more cardage so I say toodle pip and see you then. If you get a sec, do nip over and check out the DT cards cos as always they are pretty darn good :)

Have the fabbiest of days and hugs to all xxx

Not What You Might Expect :)

Good morning lovely peeps and a very Happy Sunday to everyone xxx

It’s time for another  challenge over at The Ribbon Girl Blog and this month’s colours are …

… and what a fab combi too :)

Talking of fab, check out what’s up for grabs.

Firstly, there is this gorgeous ribbon kit ….

… which is made up of 5 metres of  beautiful cotton, guipure and cluny vintage style lace, pink satin ribbon, old rose tiny ric rac, pale blue pom pom trim, blue and white spot organza, blue loopy trim, pink mulberry roses, sparkly buttons, and rose petal pink seam binding.

And that’s not all because we are also sponsored today by the lovely Lisa & Laila from Lili Of The Valley and there is a …..

….  to giveaway  as well.

And it’s a fab month for me cos my lovely pal Lols is our special guest designer, so if you get a sec, nip over for a mooch and check out the amazing cardage. Like I always say about PTW, there is such a wide range of styles in this DT and I can’t wait each month to see what everyone else has done – and I am never ever disappointed.

So the colours this month are pink & blue and this may come as a bit of a shock cos you’d probably be thinking that I would do me usual pastels thing – and I had intended to do just that -  BUT when I saw the image I wanted to use, I just knew she wasn't a pastels sort of girlie, so I went for BOLD!!!

Oh yes, I am still a bit shocked meself lol!!!

The usual lighting issues are still ever present – roll on Spring / Summer -  but IRL this is bright and very zingy, as befits this sassy chicksie.

She is Queen of Hearts and she is of course an image by the talented Krista over at Saturated Canary. This is the first time I have used one of her images and I can safely say that it won’t be the last.

I coloured her with these Copics -

Skin – E000, E00, E11, E21, R00, R11, R20
Hair – E41, E42, E43, E50, E51
Clothes etc – B000., B12, B45, B93, B95, B97, C00, C1, C3, C5, RV0000, RV000, RV00, RV10, RV29

and I also added some polychromos pencilling  to add a bit of depth here and there.

All papers are from Pink Petticoat and I thought they matched the image really well.

It’s back again, the poor overworked Magnolia leaf and swirl die!! I added some bloomage in the form of a couple of pretty pink two tone blossoms from The Ribbon Girl, and I made some others using the smallest Spellbinders Rose Creations die and a rolled flower thing which I doused in Diamond Stickles.

Dies and Stickles are from Simon Says Stamp

I used some 16mm saddlestitch ribbon in hot pink and white. I love working with this ribbon because it goes just  how and where you want it to go ……  and then stays there!!!

The navy die cut was made using a Nellie’s Multi Frames Die  from Dies To Die For. 

So there we have the card all done.

I’m entering this card into the Colour Me Creative Copics Challenge which this month is Retro Fun – Hot Pinks / Blacks / Whites

The weather has turned very cold here  these last few days and everything is white this morning. It’s the sort of weather that I like to wrap up warm and go walking in. My old dad used to say that it kills off the winter germs,  and I think he has a point, and I like the feeling of coming back to a warm house with rosy cheeks and lungs fill of fresh air.

So maybe later I might venture out.

Before I go I must share this with you because for sure it will put a smile on your face. My good friend and fellow Papertaker Sharon posted it up on our DT blog and I have to say that it is just amazing. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to actually experience it but for sure it is a once in a lifetime thing. I do wonder if the chappie had to change his trousers after – I would have for sure – but it’s so sweet.

Here’s the link -

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69c_1324490734

So enjoy, and have a the fabbiest of Sundays and see you soon.

Huggiest of huggy hugs to all xxx