Did You Win?

Hi there sweet peeps and a very Happy Tuesday.
The weather is dire here, yet more rain and I'm beginning to feel like a duck!!

I'm afraid there's no cardage from me today as I'm busy with the samples for our next Create & Craft Show on February 10th - not long now, and you are going to love the new papers etc that we are taking to the show :)

So who won my gorgeous giveaway from last week then?

Yayyyyy, Susan Stacey, it's you chick :)

Please email me your snail mail addy and I'll pass it on to Mary & Andrea and the hugest of thanks to the fabulous Ribbon Girl for the giveaway xx

Thanks also to everyone who took part xx

Now, we all like a freebie, right?

Well how about this one then, and just in time for Feb 14th as well.

Over at Lili Of The Valley there's a fab stamp deal on ....

.., so if you buy any two clear A5 stamps sheets - and there's loads to choose from - you'll get  Set 22 - Love Sentiments absolutely free :)

This offer finishes on Friday midday UK time or while stocks last, so best be quick if you want to get your freebie.

Right I better be off.
I have a date with some rather yummy paper pads :)

Have a great day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

A Gorgeous Giveaway ..... & There's a Card Too :)

 

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

It's time to head on over and catch up with the Papertake Weekly girls and this week our theme is

Bow Dies

which is me trying to do a play on words ie bow ties - what a poor attempt old Piggy chops!!!

All you have to do is add a bow or use a die or both - simples.
If you get a sec, nip over for a mooch and it would be fab if you could join us.

 

      

And this is what I did.
I used both a bow and dies, although one of the dies is a bit disguised.

I stamped the sentiment, which is  from  Lili of The Valley Set 62 Quotables-Friendship (and aren't those words just so lovely),  onto a Tim Holtz Baroque die cut and then stuck it over a panel die cut using a Spellbinder Fancy Lattice due and a sheet of Country Gent paper (LOTV natch!!).

Then ...

.. I added me embellies :)

The beautimous bow is made from 38mm Ivory Tafetta Ribbon - oh this is gorgeous and it feels heavenly. I topped it with a sweet little Wooden Heart Button tied with Chocolate Brown Hemp Twine.

Oh and there's some white tulle tucked behind it.

 

The arrangement is made up of  Darjeeling White Mini Blossom Flowers, Darjeeling White Blossom Flowers, Mixed Dahlia Eastern Spice Flowers,  Brown Winter Cones (aren't they completely FAB) and some good old Martha Stewpot punched leaves.

All the blooms and ribbon etc are of course from

 

Here's a close of of one of the cones.

 

 

So that's the old card done and it's time for the first

Gorgeous Giveaway

of 2014, and there's a ...

... up for grabs.

There's so much lovely stuff in the shop so if you want to be in with a chance of winning it, all you need to do is follow this blog and then leave your name with Inlinkz at the bottom of this post.

And that's it.

I'll draw the winner next Tuesday and good luck to all who enter and of course, hugest of thanks to Mary & Andrea at The Ribbon Girl for sponsoring me xx

Production is cranking up, ready for the next Create & Craft show which is on Monday 10th February.
Now I am literally sitting on my hands here because I am dying to tell you what's on the show ... but I can't.

But what I CAN tell you is that its all utterly gorgeous.

Well, you'd expect nothing less from LOTV now would you :)
So get your tellies all set cos you won't want to miss it - we're on at 9am and then 3pm.

WOOOHOOO, HUGELY EXCITED :)))))

AND if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, I've been having a play with my new Fiskars Fuse as well.
I'll put some cardage on here once I've got it all sorted. This machine is one heavy duty bad boy and just the sort of thing I need for workshop prepping etc. I've never used anything that is so easy to turn, cuts with one pass (none of yer too-ing and fro-ing and moving stuff around until it's all cut out) AND it cuts most dies which I'm so glad of because before I was switching machines like a crazy fool some days!!!

I'm really impressed with it.

Did you see Corrie last night?
It was really sad - I had to keep eating crisps to stop meself from blubbing lol!!! I'm worried about Roy now - how will he cope without Hayley? I think it was handled really well and it has opened up the discussion hasn't it.

Right I better be orf.
Have the fabbiest of days and don't forget the giveaway peeps.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Not So Blue Monday :)

Hi there sweet peeps.
Hope you all had a fab weekend and that you are all OK today

No cardage from me BUT I had to stop by to let you know that there is a  quick sale from midday today until midday Wednesday (UK time) over at  Lili of The Valley so if you get a sec, nip over and check it all out.

There are  140 stamps on offer and you can choose any 3 for £10. So if you have any missing from your LOTV collection, this may be a good opportunity for a top up :)

To go to the right place on the website, just click RIGHT HERE

Righty-oh I'll be back tomoz see see you all then and enjoy the rest of your day.
And don't forget the tissues for tonight's Corrie - ohh it's going to be the mother of all tear jerkers, I can just tell!!

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

A Simple Thank You :)

Hi there possums and hope you are all OK today.
What a nice Spring-like day it is here in Chester 0 it makes a nice change!!)

So it's Tuesday which means that it's time to nip and check out what's happening over at the Papertake Weekly challenge and this week our theme is

New Year, New Stash

and all we want you to do is use something new that maybe you got for Christmas.
Or if you're like me and the fat boy in the red suit didn't bring you any new crafty stuff (cry cry!!), then just use something from your stash that you haven't used before.

Which is exactly .....

 

... what I did.

The sentiment is of course from one of the fabulous statement sets from Lili of The Valley - this is Set 44 - Statements - Just to Say. Now it's time for a bit of a fess up here. This isn't exactly how I planned this card to turn out but my sewing machine was playing all kinds of silly beggars and to be honest, and not to put too fine a point on it, I think it's knackered!!

So onto plan B!!

The papers are from a Country Lady 8x8 paper pad. I LOVE these papers with kraft card - you may have noticed  :)

 

The bow is made from 25mm Black/Cream Rustic Gingham Berisford No 10 ribbon and I coloured one of  those beautimous 14mm Acrylic Gems Aurora with a good old R59 Copic so that it matched.

Both of course from The Ribbon Girl.

 

 

I use a mixture of rolled and punched flowers and leaves with some Cream Kort & Godt Chrysanths (I popped a gem in the centre), and a White Beaded Stamen.

 

 

Here's another view.

It isn't my finest arrangement.
In fact, it's a bit of a dog's dinner, but never mind!!!

 

 

So there we have the old card for today.

Kyla had a fab day on Saturday.
They went to the pictures where they ate loads of sweets and sugar,  then they added to the sugar rush with lunch including ice cream and fizzy pop (help yourself and they sure did)  at Frankie & Bennys!!!! I guess it's the eight year old equivalent of getting a tad on the tiddly side and going for a kebab or a curry!!  Anyway they had a blast and Kyla was so excited when they brought her cake and everybody in F&Bs sang Happy Birthday to her. Emma, bless her, had them all back to her house where they played twister and watched a One Direction DVD. Then they all had tea before they went home. She (Emma)has more patience, not to mention stamina, then us!! We lasted until about 3.30pm then we came home for some peace and quiet (what a pair of BOFs we are hahaaaa!!)..

Right I'd best be orf and get me work sorted.
Enjoy your day and I'll see you very soon.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

A Utterly Mahoosive Indulgence

 

Morning sweet peeps and hope you are all OK today xx

This is one of those totally indulgent posts where I go all 'proud Grandma' on you so I hope you'll forgive me!!

It was Kyla's birthday yesterday - she is now 8 and I just cannot believe where the time has gone.  I have a special bond with this kid for several reasons really. Some of you will know all of this already but, I never ever thought I would be a Grandma. My eldest is sadly not able to have children and my youngest always told me she didn't ever want any.

Famous last words!!!

So when Emma told us that she was pregnant, well I was almost lost for words (almost but not quite!!). Then when she told us that her due date was 10th January, I was sooo thrilled that she was due to be born on what would have been my Mum's 73rd birthday.  But babies being what they are,  they arrive when they're good and ready so although we hoped, we didn't really expect it would happen. It was also a sad time for my eldest because a few weeks earlier, she had had another miscarriage and this was to be her last pregnancy. Life can be so cruel at times.

Emma went into labour late evening on 8th January so we kind of expected it would happen on 9th, but midnight came and went, and at 03.10am our precious little bundle finally arrived. I was there at her birth and it is one of best moments of my life, as well as being one of the scariest and I feel hugely privileged that I saw her take her first breaths. And I have always felt that she was sent to us - a gift really. There were lots of 'if onlys' especially concerning my mum and I still do feel deeply sad that she never got to share in the joy that Kyla has brought us. But you can't change these things so you just have to accept that sometimes things don't work out the way you would like them to.

Kyla has been nothing but a constant source of joy to me from the moment she took that first breath and has turned out to be a really sweet, caring, thoughtful and well mannered child (and Emma is a fantastic mum as well and her Aunty Nik is amazing with her).  She has her moments of course and is quite spirited at times but I think this will stand her in good stead when she is older. She makes friends very easily and there is a little group of 6 of them who call themselves the BFFs (bless em!!), and you never know - the may all stay friends forever. Emma has a group of friends that she had since school, and these include her best friend and her partner, so it does happen.

Kyla and Emma lived with us until she was just turned 4 and the day they left was very emotional for me.  On the one hand I was so happy to see Emma settled but I missed them so much - still do - and it was very strange not waking up hearing her singing (every morning she did this) and snuggling up after her night time bath for a last cuddle before bedtime. But she stays over lots and it's always nice when she is in residence again.

So you probably guessed that I just love this kid to bits. It's quite weird being a Grandma because grandchildren are like your own - you feel the same love for them as you would if you gave birth to them - and yet they are not your own. Not in the truest sense. You get the odd flash back as well when they do something that reminds you so much of their mum (this is especially true with little Thea) . But the good thing is that when they act up etc, you just hand them back!!! So it's the best of both worlds really.

Anyway, here's a snapshot of those last 8 years, including her first journey home form hospital, Sudocrem-gate (we still shudder), her first time out on her new bike, her first day at school and the last pic I  have of her taken at Christmas.

  

            

 

 

 

       

            

Thank you for these last wonderful 8 years sweetheart ( I wonder what the next 8 will bring). And thank you for being the best granddaughter I ever could have asked for, bless your little heart. We love you lots and lots xxx

Later on today, we are going out for lunch. Kyla and the BFFs and a few others are going to the pictures with Emma and we will have Miss Thea,  then we will go and meet up with them all.

I hope that you have a great day, whatever you are doing and thank you for bearing with me - I don't do it too often but sometimes I just can't help meself lol!!

I'll see you soon as soon and huggiets of hugs to all xxx

A Hearty Hop Hop Hop :)

 

Good morning everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Time for another Lili of The Valley design team blog hop and today we’re celebrating our first launch of 2014 - yayyyyy - and if you've come here from our lovely Becky's blog then you are in the right place.

There are 10 adorable new stamps in the set featuring the hugely popular James the Bear and some more of our newest cute characters; Jack, Patch and Puss

The stamps will be available to buy on the website from midday (UK time) on Monday 13^th January and also, the shop in Leeds is open this Saturday 10am -  4pm and you will also be able to buy them there is you are going along. If you've never been, you really are in for a treat because its chock full of stuff that just makes you want to get crafty.

So 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 :) 

There are 2 full sets of the new stamps to give away so 2 lucky winners will each get all 10 new designs.
That deserves a woohoo for sure.

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
Kim
Lou
Mary J
Mindy

So what did I do then?

Well I did .....

 

... this. I am so loving this cute bear and this image is James Big Heart.

He's adorable.

 

I coloured him in with these Copics -

E30, E31, E34, E35, E39, E580, R02, R17, R27, R59, YG00, YG03,YG95

I thought for a change I would paper piece the heart and the papers are all from the Country Lady paper pad. These papers have a real fabric feel to them which goes really well with this image I think.

A Magnolia lace die, some heart buttons from my stash and some beautimous Ribbon Girl  25mm Brown/Cream Rustic Gingham Berisford No 25 ribbon.

Lovely :)

So that's what I did and the next stop on the hop is the fabulous Debbie  and 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 on Monday morning when you can find out who the lucky winners were of the prizes before the stamps go on sale

Enjoy the hop everyone, good luck!

And if we've inspired you, why not have a go at this month's don't forget that there is the ...

... and there's a nice easy theme for January because it's

Anything Goes

Click the pic and it will take you straight there.

Have a fab day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Sneaky Peeky James & Giveaway News :)

 

 

Hi there sweet peeps and a very Happy New Year :)

I hope that you all had a fab time over the holidays and also that you are managing to stay safe and warm and dry with this rotten weather we're having. It's all gone a bit Pete recently, and on both sides of the Atlantic too :(

On the plus side, we can stay indoors and get the crafty stuff out, yayyy :)

So this is my first card of the year and it's also a sneaky peek - more in a sec - and over at the Papertake Weekly challenge, we have our usual first of the month

Anything Goes

theme and this week our option is to make something to celebrate something new.

So this is what I did -

The papers are from the Country Gent and Perfect Pair paper pads.

And here's where the 'new' bit comes in for the challenge cos for the image,  I used one of these .....

... from the brand new  Lili of The Valley release which goes on sale on Monday 13th January at midday - so not to long to wait.
This release features that lovable trio Jack, Patch and Puss and there's also our fave bear, James.

I went for super sweet  James Daisy and I coloured him with these Copics -

E29, E30, E31, E33, E35, Y99, YG0000, YG00, YG03, YG95

He is such an easy image to colour I think.

 

I added a few embellies which I got from The Ribbon Girl and they are -

White Kort & Godt Chrysanths (I coloured the centres orange)
Small Peach Beaded Berries
White Beaded Stamens

I also added a couple of punched flowers and some leaves made using a Memory Box Lavish Branch Die.

 

 

The big beautiful bow was made using 38mm Orange/Ivory Striped Grosgrain ribbon which I topped with a 14mm Clear Acrylic Gem (you can colour these to match your project).

There's also some Apple Green Tiny Ric Rac and 25mm Orange Delight No 42 Berisford Satin ribbon as well.

Don't you just love these colours on a miserable damp day - they're like a burst of sunshine!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Now did I mention a giveaway?

Yes, I think I did and it's over at the Ribbon Girl challenge blog :)

They have some gorgeous new bronze/brass colour charms in stock and one lucky reader can win the selection shown above. And all you have to do is leave a comment and say which 5 other charms - either silver colour or bronze/brass colour that you would choose from our website to complete your prize,  mention this give away on your blog and link to the store

(Ohh yes indeed I do!!)

The giveaway will close on Saturday 11th January and the winner will be picked at random - you can enter from anywhere in the world

Changing the subject did you see Dancing on Ice on Sunday?
Ooh wasn't Sylvain a grouchy beggar - mon dieu, how unprofessional!! Philip Schofield's comments went down like a lead balloon with him - it is clearly a touchy subject and presumably things were most definitely not right at home  - and he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. That was quickly followed by a well hacked off  look and it looked like he was wondering how in the hell he was going to solve a problem like Maria!!

Oh well, if you live by the sword then I guess you die by it as well.

Right I'll stop being an old gossip (oh I say, slap slap) and go and get some work done.

Keep your eyes peeled for some more LOTV DT sneak peeks this week and I'll be back here soon as soon.
Have the best day and huggiest of new year hugs to all xxx