An Oh So Sweet Blog Hoppity Hop :)

 

Good morning everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Time for another

 Lili of The Valley

design team blog hop to celebrate the launch of our 10 new utterly adorable new Baby stamps

The stamps will be available to buy on the website from midday Monday 2nd December  and also at our  Christmas party in Leeds on Saturday if you are able to go along - and it would be fab if you could drop by and say howdy :)

You know how to play along sweet peeps - just ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card, hopefully we can give you lots of ideas and inspiration for using these cute new images

As always we have some hidden prizes along the way, and we don’t know where they are so do be sure to visit and comment on every blog.

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

We have 2 full sets of the new stamps to give away, 2 lucky winners will each get all 10 new designs and there will be a 3^rd prize of a clear set of our baby companion stamps

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
Kim
Lou
Mary J
Moni

So what did I do then?

Well I bet some of you thought this would be a bit of a pink fest over here, and it so nearly was, but ...

 

... I thought I'd go for a boy's card just for  change!!

Please excuse the grainy pics me darlins - the light here is just awful at the mo.
Dontcha just hate this time of year for that!!

This sweetie lil sausage is called

Bang The Drum

and I coloured him with the following Cop0ics -

Skin - E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02
The rest - B000, Boo,  B02,  B15, B93, E31, E33, E35, E39,  E50

I also outlined the image with Glamour Dust  - you cant really see it on here thanks to my amazing photographic skills (hahaaa) but IRL it doesn't half make the image stand out :)

The papers are from ...

 

.. the Winter Wishes paper pad.
The pad was on my desk and I thought they were perfect for a boy or male card as well as winter cards.

 

I got the ribbon from the LOTV shop and the punch is a really old Martha Stewart Embossed Zig Zag punch.
You can still get it from Simon Says Stamp and the link is right here

 

If you are wondering, the base card is 6" x 7.5"

I am so into different sized base cards at the mo and they are really easy to make yourself. - you just need to cut a piece of card to the size you want the base card to be, then cut another card but add an extra bit to the length ( so this was cut at 6" x 8").  Then score it at the correct length (here it was 7.5"), fold it and glue the two pieces together.

OK now back to the hop and the next stop is the gorgeous and ever so talented Miss Debbie but as always, if you get lost 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 tomorrow morning when you can find out who the lucky winners were of the prizes before they go on sale

Enjoy the hop everyone and good luck.

Right, I better get back and finish off the prep for the workshop tomorrow - I cannot wait cos I LOVE meeting up with other crafty bods and there are 5 really lovely projects which we will be making :)

Enjoy your day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

'Love-ly Little Hanger (& An OMG Moment!!)

 

Morning sweet peeps and hope you are all OK today - blimey it's windy out there but no sign of the dreaded white stuff as yet.
Just as well cos I am driving to Leeds today and then over to the Trafford Centre with Nik to do a bit of Chrimbly shopping :(

I HATE shopping.

I HATE Chrimbly shopping even more  - bah humbug!!

And going there with our Nik fills me with dread cos there are so many shoe shops and she is a nightmare when she goes shoe shopping.

Ah but you said Christmas shopping I can hear you say.

Well yes, but it won't stop her checking them out.  I did ask her if she would be getting any shoes,  she said not particularly but she would go and have a look - just in case.

Well my heart sank.

She said that I should consider it payback for all the times that I  have dragged her around craft shows and the likes.
Fair point I guess so I won't moan (well not to her face lol!!)

And now back to me card!!

A lovely lady called Gina emailed the shop to ask about the hanger I made for Create and Craft so I thought I would put it in here, and ...

  

... here it is (Gina I hope this is the one chick).

I love making these and they are so easy peasy.

You make up the three panels and then hang the with ribbon or card strips from a piece of dowel ( I got mine from B&Q ).

Please excuse the wonky pic btw - the only place I could take the pics was in the lounge - I had to hang it on a nail in there which is quite high and I had to stand on a chair to take the pic and the pic wasn't the only thing wobbling let me tell you!!!  I only just noticed that the bottom section wasn't straight!!

Anyway, you can see what's going on with it hopefully.

The top section is made using Anniversary Surprise and I coloured it with good old Copics. Now I did this a while ago so I am not 100% sure if the colours but I THINK these are what I used -

Skin - E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02
Hair - E31, E35,
The rest - E09, E30, E31, E33, E35, E39, E40, E41, E42,  E50, E97, R05, R17, R27, R59

The papers I used for the hanger are from 2 of the 8x8 paper pads - Country Gent and County Lady and I used them to paper piece their little hats.

There's glitter as well (surely not!!).

The middle section is made from the papers and some hearts die cut from Kraft card. I also added a bow made from 25mm black and white gingham ribbon which I got from The Ribbon Girl, and a little heart button and some twine

 

And the last section is just a sentiment stamped onto Kraft and matted onto a scalloped circle. The sentiment I used is actually a smaller version of the Set 42 - Congratulations statements set.  This was made  for Create & Craft and I think there may be some left on their website.

If you make any, do let me know - I am such a nosy mare and I would love to come and have a look :)

OK so I said in the post title that there was an OMG moment.
Well that my sweet friends is an understatement if ever there was one.

Because I have only been nominated in the ....

 

... woop woop!!

I was idly flicking through one of me mags and saw the page and went to see if Lili of The Valley were nominated there and yes, they are,  woop, woop and woop again!!

But then I saw a name that was familiar... and it was mine.

Now I kid you not, at this point I was sat there totally agog and practically speechless (although not quite cos that  rarely happens!!). I have been nominated in the 'most inspirational craft blog' category, along with our Ideas to Inspire blog.

I showed Nik and she was thrilled of course, but then she noticed that I was nominated in the 'favourite card designer' category as well.

WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP

At this point I really was speechless.

OMG - I had no clue at all.

So from the bottom of my heart a mahoosive thank you to the very sweet and lovely peeps who nominated me and thought that I was actually worthy. I am utterly thrilled and still a bit shocked to be honest!! I don't think that I will win but you know what, that really doesn't matter because the fact that I was even mentioned has made me so chuffed.

And on that lovely note I am off to pack up the car for the trip and psych myself up for the hours of shoe shops I will be visiting today!!

I will have a bet with you now that she doesn't buy any!!!

Enjoy your day and stay warm and safe and huggiest of shocked hugs to all xxx

 

A Rather Fab Day :)

Hi there me darlins and hope you are all OK xx.
Winter is creeping towards us isn't it - it's quite dark and gloomy here today

Did anybody go to the NEC at the weekend?
I managed one day only this time and went on Saturday. It was a really nice afternoon though cos I was taking part in the

Great Fiskars Craft Off

which was a hoot - I LOVED it

The idea was that in true Great British Bake Off tradition, we were given a pack of bits and bobs (including some Fiskars dies) and we had 15 minutes to make a Christmas card' from scratch which would then be judged by Mel & Sue (aka Kath - aka my cyber twin - & Hina from Fiskars).

Taking part were .....

the sweetness that is Barbara Gray ....

...  the newest member of the Granny Club, Joanna Sheen .....

... my FABULOUS friend Enfys and .....

... yours truly, cutting a dash in her leopard print jumper!!!

Here's a pic of our Kath .....

...oh sorry, I should say Mel!!!
She was sorting me out with some narrow ribbon, bless her!!!

And showing no signs of a soggy bottom, we even had our very own Paul Hollywood ......

...although you will know him as Rob aka MDF Man.

He was hilarious - we all had forfeits and mine were the hobnail boots which he dumped on my desk - you can see them in the pic. En had a life jacket (no idea why),  Barbara had one of them dust mask things and I'm not sure what he gave Joanna!!

Anyway how lucky were we because we got to have a play with the new Fuse and I tell you folks, it is one seriously good piece of kit. And by 'eck it's a REAL sturdy boy AND it cuts through all sorts of stuff in no time at all. Kath said she did 38 sheets of paper in one pass. That is amazing and I am thinking how much time this will save me if I can cut that many things out at once.

Plus it turns with very little effort - all very smooth.
And you can use it with your other dies as well. I cannot wait for mine to get here so that I can fiddle away - wooohooooo!!

So what did I do with me 15 minutes then?

 

This is the old card and it's not like me to use Kraft card, I know lol!!!

I wasn't unpleased with it considering I didn't have time to fuss and faff like I usually do ( and also not choosing the stuff I used meself).

Here's some more pics ....

 

I used the Fiskars Scalloped Circle and Snowflake dies.
The snowflake die can also overstamp an image onto it as well but I used glittery paper so I didn't do that bit, but it would look fab in silver etc

 

 

 

That circle is actually quite thick plastic - like plasma. It went through it like a hot knife through butter.

 

 

A cute lil snowflake punch and a bit of bling :)

 

 

 

So there you are and that's me done for today and major thank yous to everyone who came to watch and cheer us on. It was a bit scary I can tell you !!!

And also,  a massive thank you to those lovely peeps who came and said well done for the telly on Saturday. It was really nice of you, bless your hearts, and I do truly appreciate it. It makes things a lot easier knowing that there are so many friends out there xxx

I will be back soon as soon so enjoy the rest of your day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

 

The Most DELISH Colours :)

 

Hi there me darlins and hope all is well with you today xx

The weather seems to have picked up a bit here inasmuch as it isn't raining and it isn't windy. In fact, to be fair, it's actually one of them lovely Autumnal days which make me just want to put on my snuggly coat and warm boots and go for a nice walk.

I won't of course cos I am still in the crafty zone!!
But the thought was there ....... for all of 10 seconds!!!

So I'm back today to share another sample with you and today I thought I'd share one the cards I did for last week's show and also a bag we did on one the last but one workshop. I used the beautimous  Beach Bliss papers and the colours in these papers are just so pretty. I love putting them with Kraft card (I am so into Kraft at the mo) and it seems to highlight the blues in the papers to perfection.

So .....

 

... here's the card.

It's such an easy one to do but it looks lovely I think and this would work for anybody really, although I would possibly lose the bling if it was going to a bloke (unless it was for my nephew  in which case I'd add more cos it would be right up his strasse lol!!).

I added some glitter to the diamond shapes and went to town with the old sewing machine (which has never seen a scrap of material in it's life!!!).

A couple of die cut stars, a die cut button, a sparkler and a double bow made with Royal Peacock Seam Binding from The Ribbon Girl (which goes beautifully with these papers IMHO) and that's pretty much it.

 

 

 

Don'tcha just LOVE cards that are easy to put together but look the biz when you're done!!

I decided to do something different for the all day workshops that we are holding at LOTV HQ and one of the projects we did at the last but one workshop was to was to decorate a bag - these are the bags that you get if you buy any stamps etc from the shop or at shows.

Louis Vitton et al, eat your heart out!!!

The papers all but cover the front so they are perfect for this and again because of the colour of the bags, they coordinate really well.

I added a border which I glittered again for the sake of all things bling - I LOVE blingy (probably where my nephew gets it from!!).

I also love the fact that there is so much detail at the bottom of the paper and it looks really pretty.

Magnolia swirl and peony petal dies, plus punched holly leaves and more bling :)))

 

A cheeky little sentiment from the SET 33 - Christmas Grungy Messages - uber cute.

Ok so that's me done for today and I hope you like my Beach Bliss post. Also, just to let you know that we are back on the telly next Tuesday at 11am - hope you can join us for an hour of crafty fun.

Take care and see you back here soon as soon and enjoy your day xxx

Quelle Surprise, A New card & A Sneaky Peekie!!!!

 

 

Hi there me darlins and it's another wet and windy day isn't it :(
Hope everyone is OK and not suffering too much with this awful weather.

So today I have a new card for you - wooop wooop!!!

Over at Papertake Weekly it's time for a new sketchie ....

.. and this is the very chap here.
Of course, you can fiddle about with it to your hearts content and as long as we can still see the sketch in there somewhere, then all is fine and dandy-o !!

But if you don't want to use this one then you can choose any Papertake sketch cos it's

Sketchie Free For All

We are sponsored by the sweetness that is Heidi  and the one and only and utterly fab

Simon Says Stamp

There is a $20 voucher up for grabs for you to spend in Heidi’s shop , yayyyyy :)

So what did I do then?

Well I went with the new sketch and I stayed pretty true to it which isn't like me!!!

I used one of the brand new soon to be released Lili of The Valley images and this is

My Favourite Friends

Is this seriously sweet or what!!!

 

I coloured her in using the following Copics -

Skin - E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02
Hair - E31, E34, E35, E39, E50
Clothes - RV000, RV10, RV34, RV69
Teddies - E31, E34, E35, E50
Chest - E30,  E41, E42, E43, E47, E50

And I've edged the image with Glamour Dust

 

The papers are all from the very delish Always & Forever paper pad and once again I've made a little dimensional flower complete with fringed middle, in an attempt to justify the silly dosho I paid for those fringing scissors, which I've now used twice!!!!!!

The sentiment is from the ever so useful and really pretty Sentiments to Fit Scroll set (I LOVE that font).

 

This is typical me, I just cannot help fiddling!!

I scrunched up some some Ivory Jute Mesh Ribbon then stuck on a double bow made from 15mm Mermaid Pale Pink ribbon, then I wrapped  a little bit of 25mm Pink Velvet Lace around the middle, all from The Ribbon Girl. :)

I also added some punched leaves made with  Magnolia Spruce Twig dies

 

 

So that's me all done for today and if you get a sec,  do nip over and check out the challenge. We also have a GDT call for the next three months and we would love to have you join us :)

And while it's in this sieve of a brain of mine, make a date for next Tuesday at 11am as we are back on Create and Craft, woop woop (lots of woop woops today!!).

Take care and see you soon as soon and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

A Bit of Casing & A LOT of Pics :)

 

Hi possums and hope you are all OK today, and more importantly that you are all safe after these rotten storms that some of us have had. The weather is so unpredictable and destructive at times and these storms have caused chaos, especially around Devon & Cornwall.

Please take care won't you xxx

So today I have another card from t'telly  to share - in fact I have 3 but only 2 of them are mine.
Well if I am being totally fair, none of them are mine really!!!
Well 2 of them are but not in the strictest sense at any rate.

Sorry, I hope that makes sense and now I'll stop me waffling lol!!!

So what happened was this.
A couple of weeks ago I went into the shop at LOTV HQ in Leeds and I saw .....

 

... this totally gorgeous card.

I cannot tell you how beautiful this is - a real work of art -  and this has been done bv our very own Kathy.  Her work is out of this world and she has that little touch (which I think is a real gift) that makes her work so very special. Nobody quite does sentiments like her - I am totally in awe, and if you ever come to the shop and se her work in person, then you will see exactly what I mean.

Kathy has used Country Lady papers and SET 33 - Christmas Grungy Messages for this card btw - you can read her post here.

Now I looooong to make cards like this but it isn't my natural style and, well, I aint very good at it, cry cry. But I thought I'd have a go to see what it would look like using different papers so I'm sharing these with you today.

So here's my first attempt, and you will see that it is more or less a straight copy, and even then I don't quite get it to look like Kathy can :(

 

This first one is using the oh so beautimous Antebellum 8x8 papers.

Now get me peeps, I distressed those edges with me scissors like somebody possessed - I even inked them lol!!! The papers well and truly stood up to my abuse and as you can see, they look pretty fab.

As I did yesterday, I made some little dimensional flowers using a 6 petalled flower punch, and did a bit of general tarting up using added some scrunched up raffia,  some Ivory Jute Mesh Ribbon and  some Summer Rose Seam Binding, all from The Ribbon Girl.

I also added some punched and die cut leaves and bling.

An inspirational quote from Set 64 - Quotables - Life's Journey - it's wonderful :)

 

Ooops I just noticed one of me blingy bits has fallen off - I must sort that out pdq!!!

 

So onto the other card - same layout etc ....

 

.. and this time I used Woodland Wishes papers.

 

Same raffia, same flowers but this time I made the bow using some ivory lace.

 

The sentiment is from SET 33 - Christmas Grungy Messages and I just added a cuppla heart buttons :)

So that's what I did using Kathy's card as inspiration.
I am quite pleased with how they both turned out, even though it isn't my design, because it's something different for me and of course I got to play with the papers again, which I am loving at the mo.

I think it's quite nice to see the same card made using different bits and bobs,  and the colours etc can totally change the look of your work.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing these today and I'll see you soon as soon with some more cardage etc.
Have a great day, stay safe and warm and huggiest of hugs to all xxx