Bloom & Grow Tilda

What a busy day... but I can relax now, the house has been de-Christmassed and cleaned through, washing up to date so that leaves me free to craft all weekend :D

I made this card for a very special friend who celebrates her birthday today. I was hoping to enter it into 4 challenges but as I am late posting, I've missed the Magnolia deadline :(



Not sure what this image is called but it was from the Autumn Magnolia kit in 2009. I used MME Bloom & Grow papers, I bought loads of these as I love the colours, so still working my way through them!
The 3 challenges I am entering this card into are
Totally Gorgeous - Someone Special
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes - lace option, hope my raffia ribbon counts!
Create 4 Fun - sketch.

Have a great weekend.

Back in the swing of things.....

Its been a long time since my last posting, where have the last few weeks gone?
We had a holiday in Devon, at the Manor House Hotel in Okehampton. A great place to go, craft, sport and pampering with the odd bit of alcohol thrown in.... what more could a girl ask for?
I've been back at work a week now, things are still a bit hectic, trying to remember where I left off at the end of July!!

I thought it was about time I made a card and entered a challenge or two.... I've been trying to avoid my craft room as its a bit untidy :( I did a bit of tidying, or should I say cleared a space to craft and here is the result.



The image is a Lili of the Valley image I have been admiring for a while, so treated myself while I was off work, along with some of the new Christmas stamps. I inked up some images and they had a lovely trip to Devon and back but never saw the light of day!! Anyhow, I've coloured some of them now so expect to see them on a card here sometime soon...
I coloured the image with copics, the papers are from stash and an MME paper stack I think, label has long gone! Sentiment from Stampin' Up! The ribbon was tied round a throw I bought recently, buttons are from stash.

I am entering this card into the Lili of the Valley challenge this week which is 'One for the Boys' and Sketch Saturday as I used this week's sketch.

Hope to catch up with some of your blogs soon

Just a birthday card.....

I hope you are all having a lovely Mothers Day, the weather has been gorgeous here and I've had a wonderful day. I had some lovely presents from the children and went out with my daughter to do a spot of craft shopping, managed to fit in a visit to Starbucks for a yummy vanilla latte.....while the boys went to football.

Here's a card I finished off yesterday during my tidy up.... I found some images already coloured, this is one I started last week at the demo at the local library.

Love this cute CC design stamp, and just had to bring out the MME Bloom & Grow papers seeing as the weather has been spring like here over the last couple of days. Prima flowers finished off with a matching pearl brad and a cute lil' bead cap I bought from a bead shop in Devon, must get some more of these. The layout is from the challenge at Just Christmas and Birthday cards. The edges are distressed with spiced marmalade distress ink, one of my favourites, sentiment from Cuddly Buddly and punched shaped made with SU! punches.

Am off now to enjoy a lovely roast dinner, have a great evening.

xx

Spring is in the air

The glorious weather this afternoon inspired me to make this card.



I treated myself to some new stamps recently and this is one of them, I have admired them on other people's blogs but would prefer to stamp rather than using a digi download. Coloured with copics, just treated myself to some copic sketch markers, so you will see a lot of auburn haired characters on my cards for a while, just humour me!!!
I am supposed to be on a stash diet, but a girl has got to have new stamps from time to time, a few new punches and more copics, the only thing I haven't bought recently is papers, I have my very own paper mountain and I am determined to make inroads into it before buying any more.... watch this space!

I am entering this into 3 challenges
Get Sketchy - sketch
Dutch Dare - Summer in Winter
ABC - N - New, stamps and border punch

Miss Anya blooms and grows

I've been fortunate enough to have the last 3 days off work due to the bad weather, the only one at home who hasn't had to go to work, how lucky am I? The boys have still had to do their paper round which surprises me. I had hoped to make a lot more cards but seemed to have spent the time doing jobs which I didn't get done over the holidays like clearing cupboards and the kids rooms :-s I have also done a bit of quilting, watch this space for the finished article.

I made this card a couple of days ago but didn't want to post it before as its for a friend who looks at my blog.



The papers were still on my desk from the previous card and the image is from a RAK from my lovely bloggy friend Susie, thank you so much those images which are gorgeous and the prize which I won from the 'Touch of Gold' challenge at Susie's challenge blog. Just look at these lovely goodies.



I am entering this card for 2 challenges, Just Christmas and Birthday cards which is a sketch challenge and Roses on Paper which is to use your favourite colouring medium - I used copics and distress ink.

Hope you are all keeping safe and warm in this chilly weather. We have just slipped down to the local Waitrose to top up on essential supplies, I've never seen it so busy...

Just wondering if the snow forecast for this weekend will happen or not, got mixed feelings about it, would like life to return to normal but am also enjoying the unexpected time off work :-)

Creative Card Crew - Distressing

The challenge this week at Creative Card Crew is 'distressing'
I saw a card in blogland this week which was using the MME Bloom & Grow papers, so I dug mine out as I haven't used them in ages.



The image is one I got before Christmas which hasn't seen ink yet, I think she is just so cute. Coloured with copics and distress inks, I distressed the edges of the textured card, although its not too clear in the picture unless you get a close up!
Love the colours on this card, one of my fav combos and it was great to make a card that's not Christmas!

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with this week.....

Magnolia kitchen door hanger

I am lovin' the Magnolia Fall kit, just in case you hadn't noticed ..... LOL Its out on my work surface, not found a home for it yet so a couple of the images found their way onto this project!

I got some door hangers recently from my bloggy friend Susie, who runs an online shop Die Cut Dreams why not nip over there now and check out the fantastic goodies she has on offer there, all at very reasonable prices and super speedy delivery.



Barry and I tend to share the cooking so this gave me the idea for this door hanger. I decided to have the Tilda Chef on one side and Edwin Chef on the other.



I used the Swiss Dots and D'vine Swirls CB embossing folders, MME Bloom & Grow papers, I'm sure they do bloom and grow as I use them quite a bit but the pile never seems to get any smaller! I coloured the images with copics, this is the second Edwin image as I managed to drop my Memento Black Tuxedo ink pad on the first one leaving a couple of black marks on the image - perhaps it would help if my desk wasn't so cluttered - yep I still haven't managed to tidy it yet :0

I've had a fantastic weekend, great weather and lots of crafting, hope you've had a great one too.
Can hear my pillow calling me now, so off to bed.

Another obsession!

I'm gonna blame Bev for this new obsession of mine - distress inks... thanks very much sweetie!
I had no interest whatsoever in these inks until I saw Bev colour an image with them at Newbury - well I just had to have some to have a play with - I bought several reinkers rather than the pads to try, no prizes for guessing whats coming next - yup you've guessed, had to buy some of the ink pads, some cut n dry foam, now on a mission to collect the set - I just love working with them, need some more practice tho!



Anyway onto my card which I am entering in for 3 challenges - its the only way to go these days with so many challenges about.

The challenges are:-
- Just Magnolia, distressing
- Sunday Sketch and Stamp, wasn't too keen on the sketch at first but it's grown on me
- Dutch Dare, to use lace

I used images and a sentiment from the Lazy Summer Magnolia kit, MME Bloom & Grow papers and of course distress inks. I don't usually do messy, if you look at the state of my craft room when I have got my stash all over the place you may not agree with me there but generally I like everything neat and tidy so this wasn't too easy for me. I used a Heidi Swapp distressing tool for the edges on the green layer but could only bring myself to distress the edges on one layer, didn't want it to look scruffy - daft thing is I love it when I see all the other distressed edges out there in blogland. I used cut & dry felt to tint the edges of the other layers and am really pleased with how this turned out.