Loves Me. Loves Me Not.

 It's my challenge this week at Ladybug crafts Ink and the theme is "Loves me, loves me not" so I used one of the "love and Marriage" digis,cutting out only part of it to show through my heart frame cut on the Cricut using Plantin's schoolbook.

The papers  are from a pad called Simple Stories they are a rather scrummie pad that also includes lots of sayings and sentiments, I think they are really for scrapbooking but you know me and polka dots, just had to have them.

I bought two different pads from the range as they were mix and match colours. I even found the cutest little heart to add inside.

There's so much excitement coming up at Ladybug Crafts, you really dont want to miss out!

Sorry this is a short and sweet post and I apologise for not getting round to visit everyone's blogs at the mo, I've a bit of eye trouble and the computer really is aggravating it.
I'm using my card for the following challenges:-
DMC21,Digi Valentine,
DDcc52, Valentines,
Stamps R Us, Valentine,
TCC141, I heart you,
PSC105,Valentines,
TCPD155,Love,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Where Did The Day Go?

Oh my goodness,I had so much to get done today, so many cards that I need for next week, how many did I make???? Only three lol!  My husband decided that he should take me out and treat me to some new stash, who was I to argue ;0D This was my first make of the day, I'd actually forgotten that I needed an anniversary card, the LIM sketch fitted my needs perfectly, my card is even a one layer card even though that wasn't a requirement for this week. The card is cream pearlescent though this doesn't show in the photo, I masked both ends of the card,used a brush to add colour to the panel and stamped the two hearts,making a mask to cover the first as I stamped the second.

I'm using my card for the following challenges:-
LIM 52,Sketch,
Crafts for Eternity 56,CAS.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Star Male.

Here I go again,removing bits from my cards lol, it's quite addictive! I find myself planning entries for the LIM challenge when I'm desperately trying to sleep. This card however happened when I got cross that the planned card wasn't going right,spat the dummy and started throwing bits away and piling up my offcuts,  it's surprising what a black strip of card and a green star can spark off. 

So I layered up my card, used an long forgotten Anita's stamp and Bamboo Momento, a large sentiment which I stamped in black. I cut a green star using my Xcut nesting and removed the centre with a smaller star in the set then removed a star from the black strip which happened to be a tiny bit smaller than the Xcut die (still with me?) this gave the nice black frame to my green star. I then just remove a small circle from my card front making it easier to place the star in the correct place. You can see that I placed a green star on the inside of my card to mask the circular cut. I thought it would be in keeping to add a star to write on.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

TTT26,Text Me,

Truly Scrumptious 72,Something forgotten,

Celebrate The Occasion47,Male,

TSB24, Die cuts,

LIM 51 Theme.

Off top pop this card in the post, why do I always leave making cards to the last minute.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Happy Wednesday!

 It's time for another challenge at Scrapbook Sisters and this week it's a sketch for you to play with, a nice easy one too.

I bought this gorgeous Sweet Pea Stamp image "Lisa Victoria's Tea Party" the other week using a voucher I won in a challenge at Sketchy Colours. Isn't she gorgeous,I have to say that she was a dream to colour and I'm thrilled with the results.

I cut around the wings to leave them outside the die cut then used papers from my drawer to follow the sketch.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
MIM73,Anything goes,
Victorine Originals, Anything goes,
Lets Ink It Up 19, Anything goes,
DCD49, Buttons,Bows or bling,
MTTC171, Favourite embellie,(buttons)
TSB24, Diecuts,
OSC3, Favourite Technique, (Colouring with Copics).
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Waste Not Want Not.

Happy Monday, I've had a strange day today, my heads not been my own, feels like someone has filled it with cotton wool and has left me with only half a brain. Still my work day flew and as I've lots to get done later I thought I'd do a quick post before I cook tea. This week's LIM challenge has really got the creative juices flowing and the flowers punched to create my last two entries sat tempting my on my craft bench to use them in another entry. I had trouble with my camera angle but I'm sure that you can get the gist of it. I used a large sizzix flourish to remove the swirl from the front of my card, placed green on the inside then shaped and placed my flowers on the edge,slightly overhanging the edge. Three gorgeous Crystals, some gentle sponging to the edge and the card is complete, oh except for the sentiment which I wish I hadn't done. (Was convinced by my daughter to add it so I'll blame her)   

LIM51,Cut it out. 
Have a good evening,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Bloomin Marvellous

I was going to keep this entry till tomorrow,But then I thought why wait!

 I first used these die cuts to remove the larger flower from the 3x3" card blank then used the next size flower down to remove the flower from the pink square. I did centralise the cut origionally but prefered the look of it off set. I placed a square of purple to the inside back of my card and a green diecut circle to the centre.

I'm using this card for LIM 51, Theme.
That's it for today, Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Right Up My Street

It's time for my first, weekly entry for Less is More challenge and this one is right up my street,especially as I treated myself to a new set of dies yesterday Xcut Dielicious,Petal Posy. There are 12 different dies in the set,various sized flowers, tiny circles and scalloped circles.

Week 51 is a theme week, the challenge is to cut an aperture in your card. I cut 3 using my new dies then stamped the leaves and stems using part of a magazine freebie flower and momento bamboo ink. I then used circular puffy stickers to the centres of the cut then glued a small punched circle to the inside,just to make the centres a little more secure. The grall was origionally just the one layer and I have to say I prefered it but in true Julie style, I knocked an ink pad off the shelf and it landed minus the lid on the edge of the green, hence the slightly overdone scalloped lawn. The next photo shows the card open to show off the apertures.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

LIMWeek 51, Theme,

Totally Papercraft, Make your own flowers,

Colour Create 88, Pink and green,

PCJ1, Floral.

I might be back later with another entry.

Have a great weekend,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Lemon Drizzle Cake.

 A good friend of mine who is also a mobile hairdresser was telling me yesterday as she cut my hair how one one of her customers had offered her a piece of home made lemon cake. Being on a diet she really didn't want to give in and accept one of her favourite naughty treats but finally agreed to a wafer thin slice, she has way more will power than me. I was so pleased with my hair and usually I treat her to a bar of chocolate but thought better of it so decided instead to treat her to a different kind of "Lemon Drizzle" this time without the cake.

The bath and shower gel is called "Lemonade Days" I buy it from Tesco and it's one of my favourites and by Treacle Moon, it's one of those smells that really makes your mouth water. I Cut a tag on my Cricut before stamping Bathtub Nikki over the edge, I then used the Magnum add on cake,masking the candle when I inked it up. All cling stamps at LCI including these are available at half price till the end of this month, I'm thinking I'm going to be making some more of these  tags to put on Easter gifts as Body Shop are soon releasing a Chocolate range, Mmmmm!!!!! The Butterfly was a magazine giveaway that I stamped onto yellow paper. I would have wrapped the bottle in tissue usually but the blue in my drawer didn't look so good!

     
I'm using this for the following challenges:-
Alphabet Challenge Y, You choose,
FBW186, Open to Include Wings,
PPCCB71, Ribbons and buttons,
Anything goes 58,Anything goes.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Said I'd Be Back!

The usual request from my son,this time the day before the party instead of the usual few hours before, he's learning!

I thought I'd try to use up some papers I've had for ages,remnants from a pad of K and Co 12x12. I always find these papers hard to use as they are more muted in colour as apposed to the bright shades that I prefer. I got out my distress inks and gave them the works,completely changing the orange checked tones and after embossing the muted stripes,I inked them up some more.

I started off with just the square layers and couldn't make the numbers look right but then an idea sprung to mind, I cut a ring of the striped paper and a ring of the orange, it was fairly simple to do this after setting a "Centre point" on the Cricut and Plantins Schoolbook, I was a bit chuffed with my ingenuity.

I raised this on foam pads then used a double layer of foam pads to raise the numbers, a couple of different sized brads,a stamped sentiment,corner punch and some fake stitching and the card is completed. Oh, except for the inside where I used the centre of the orange circle for my son to write on and used my replacement circle punch to add some co ordinating interest to th edge. Should have left it there but I went a step too far and doodled some lines in the corners, I might make some photo corners to cover these up if I get time before it's needed.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

CRAFT , Use numbers,

Crafty Purple Frog, Anything goes,

DYSU55, Patterned paper,

STC January,Distress,

Pixie Cottage 104, Embossing,

PTT51 Birthday,

Stamp and Doodle, Birthday.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Owl Be Back!

Just a quick post for the LIM 50 challenge before it's too late,I haven't used this Owl stamp by "Personal Impressions" before, the florish is also part of the same set and thought for another entry for the "Birds" challenge it would be perfect.
it's another 3x3" card, I like to have a few made up to put with gifts.

I used some of the gorgeous Ladybug Crafts Ink Amethyst Swarovski Crystals that just fell in to my basket when I ordered a few cling stamps at HALF PRICE!
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Sweet Valentine

It's edging towards that time of year when some crafters decide to dust off those heart shaped punches. Perfect,because the theme for this week's Challenge at Scrapbook Sisters is "Sweet Valentine" 

So out came my most favourite piece of paper,I know that it sounds a bit odd but it even smells delicious!,well it did to me when I found myself rubbing it against my cheek lol! It's "Echo Park's For the record, Table Cloth"

I thought I'd use my freebie Country Companions Hedgehog stamp for my DT card and make him a little banner of hearts ,cut using my Cuttlebug and a Quickutz die. I stood him on top of my sentiment from an old Midnight Media set from at least ten years ago,it should say "I love you" but I masked the I.

The script I thought went perfectly with my "Cricut" Heart cut using the Calligraphy cartridge. I looped some lengths of ribbon to the edge,added a few of the scrummiest, twinkliest Crystals ever and placed it on the card using foam pads. I actually stitched the buttons in place to keep them perfectly secure.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
GG135, Favourite DP,
Penny Black at Allsorts, Hearts,
Alotas 75, Hearts,
Crafters Companion 20, Love,
Just Tracys,Love,
PLR6, Valentine,
RRR40, Valentines,
TSB24, Die cuts,
IWD129,Bold and bright,
My Graffico 119,Love,
Paper Cupcakes,Frome the heart,
Polly Craft 123, Bingo,Top line.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Totally Ladybug Tuesday.

Happy Ladybug Tuesday! and what a fortnight it's been. There were some fabulous crafters showing us their new crafting goodies but unfortunately flippin Mr blogger gave us a challenge of our own. He decided to make it extremely difficult and time consuming for us to visit your blogs and post comments on your lovely creations. I did my best but I'm afraid I ran out of time to comment on everyone.
It's Sue's turn to host this challenge and if you're familiar with Sue's style, it won't be too difficult to guess what she has in store for us all this week. The theme this fortnight is "Bows"

I used my gorgeous new Magnum and Lily.(Don't forget all LCI cling stamps are half price for January) Check out the gorgeous pink ribbon, available also at LCI,scrummilicious! I used the narrow version of the same ribbon on my coordinated gift tag but this time I used the cake add on from my other Magnum stamp.

I've actually bought the Magnum stamp for the recipient of this card, she is going to love it I'm sure. What do you think of my gorgeous watermark? The lovely Designer Diva has made one for each of the Ladybugs,thanks Laurie.

Hopefully Blogger will behave this week.
I'm using my creations for the following challenges:-
CCC5,Happy Birthday,
MIM72, Anything goes,
S.S.S.a.S, Anything but a card,
KKKG 76,Bowdacious,
Sentimental Sundays 85,Ribbon.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

A Quick Recovery!

I didn't realise I had so many bird stamps. After making one entry for LIM week 50 I just had to ink up another image and make another  entry.

I didn't realise until I looked at the photo I'd taken that I must have lent my card on an open ink pad on my desk.I was about to cut it up and use it at a later date for another challenge but thought I'd save it by making a couple of tiny daffodils using a flower punch and adding a paper rolled centre. What do you think?

I think you might be seeing a few more LIM entries from me as I've not inked up my 2 favourite bird stamps yet!
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

A Tweet Little Card.

Just a quick post with a tiny one layer LIM card and lol it's a Christmas card, I did say I was going to try to make one a week didn't I. The Robins on a branch came free on a magazine a few years ago, this is the first time I've coloured them up.

I'm Using this card for the following Challenges:-

LIM 50, Birds,

ABC Christmas, A for Anything goes,

Crafts and Me,Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Scrapbook Sister's DT call and Challenge.

There's a design team call going on at Scrapbook Sisters at the moment if you fancy joining the crew for a weekly card challenge, the full details are over at their blog if you fancy taking a look, all you need to do if you're interested is choose some favourites from your already blogged cards that meet the requirements stated.  
Anyway, now let's get to the first challenge of 2012, the theme for this challenge is "Snow" this is one that might help meet a few New years resolutions to make 1 Christmas card a week,it was the resolution that I broke three weeks in last year lol!  For my card I removed a  large circle using a Nestability die from some scrap card the size of my card blank, I then brushed an ink pad just into the edge of the aperture leaving a delicate frame of colour when the mask was removed. (Does that make sense?) I then used some punched snowflakes round part of the circle and used a Sizzix Alphabet to cut letters in the same design paper and white card stock,gluing them together to great a shadowing effect. I added some sparkly appoxy dots to the centres of each flake. In the words of a Meerkat,"Simples"

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
AGCB58, Anything goes,
CAC, Winter colours,
 CCC1, Snow day,
CCC, Resolutions, (Make Christmas cards weekly)
SCCB97, Let it snow,
TT80, Baby it's cold outside,
Paper and Such, Colour challenge,
RCC35,Photo inspiration,
Make it Monday 71, Anything goes,
PCI16, Die cuts and punches.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Quick Reminder.

I haven't a card this morning but I thought I'd show you some scrumminess from Ladybug Crafts that I bought last week and guess what, I'm expecting another delivery too! You just can't go wrong with the stamps being half price at the moment, Look how cute my lovely new Magnum looks coloured up! Can't wait to put him on a card!

My next delivery will include not only another Magnum but some gorgeous Swarovski Crystals too, I can't wait!
Catch you later,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.
  P.S don't forget that there's still one week left of the "New Stash" challenge!

Just Suit Yourself!

I don't know about you but sometimes I do a challenge,look at my card and think I don't feel comfortable with it, I felt like that with my card for this week LIM challenge so tonight I'm putting it right, I'm making another and it's more my style. Hope you like it. Sorry for the dodgy glare from the flower, I'm test driving a new lamp.

I don't know if you saw Scrapbook Sister's post yesterday, but if you fancy finding out about me, Julie W. is "introducing" the design team and if you fancy joining us DT ladies,I believe there's still time to apply.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

 LIM 49, Predominately purple.

Awwww!

This little Country Companions cutie is adorable and can you believe was a magazine giveaway! I saw him on the lovely Sally's blog the other week and I knew I just neeeeeded to get him.

I've been hoping for the chance to colour up this little cutie, I've seen him on several blogs lately, I think lots of crafters were happy to find the lovely set of stamps on the front of 
January's Papercraft Inspirations magazine.

I coloured him with copics,paper pieced his shirt and added glossy accents to his boots and nose. After I'd finished the card I realised that I'd forgotten to add the recipients age so I used a tiny Nellie Snellen die cut and a hollograhic paperchase sticky padded dot and placed a number sticker on it to make it look like the mouse is wearing an age badge.

I added a button to the centre of  a die cut star and used a pen to ink stitches to the papers.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Birthday Sundaes 38, Birthday sentiment,
Allsorts 136, Paper piecing,
Catch The Bug January, Anything goes,
CUYL60, Bingo,Centre horizontal line,
Sweet Stampin, Spots
SCT4, Layers,
Ruby's Rainbow 19, For a child,
SSW 135, Sketch.
Have a good week,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

A Right Quick Post!

I really meant to add this card yesterday but ran out of time.

This is a quick LIM card following week 49's theme, Predominantly Purple.
I'll be back in a while with another post,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Hedge My Bets.

I thought I'd share a card that I made using a recent Magazine giveaway and some gorgeous goodies that my Secret Ladybug Santa sent me. It's surprising how easy it is to make a card when you've got a pile of scrumminess to use! The Papers are Making Memories Boho Chic,they are one sided so there was no feeling of guilt at choosing one design over another. 

I got out some Quickutz dies for the numbers and the butterfly,adding some glossy accents to the body.

I'm not big on embellishments usually but I was so excited to add a charm for the first time EVER! Thank you Santa,YOU DID GOOD!

At this  angle you can see the glossy accents on the nose and wellie boots of the hedgehog.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
CCT 198,New,
LMMC26, New,
DTBST 106, Something New,
TTT,Out with Old,in with new,
Flutterby Wednesday 184,Include wings.
Happy Thursday,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

The Southern Girls Make It Sparkle!

It's time for the first challenge of the year with the "Southern Girls" and the theme for this fortnight is "Make it Sparkle", I for one need no excuse to get out a bottle of stickles and glitter it up!
I used the rather cute image "Bathtime Baby" by Pink Gem Designs,one of this fortnight's sponsors, Check out the rather gorgeous,new look Southern Girls Challenge Blog for full details of all the sponsors and challenge rules.

I made a small, Nestability card, punching out various sized circles in shades of white and acetate,shaping them and making a frame which I raised on foam pads to surround the cute image, I then added highlights of stickles to my Bubbles. 

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
CIU86, Anything goes,
MMCS 38,Something new,
RR19,Baby or child,
Whimsy 20,New beginnings,
Bearly Mine 26, Anything goes,
EKEF96, Birth,
GGWSC,Something Old,Something new,(new baby,Old punch which I broke punching the circles :( )
Papertake Weekly,New,
Sassy Cheryls 96,New,
Bling it on, New Beginnings,
 BTCAG,New beginnings,
Card and Scrap 23, Baby.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Show Us Your Goodies!

Well,the festivities are over and it's time to get back to the normal routine but before we do, let me share with you some of the crafting goodies that I got for Christmas. I must have been on the good girl list because I was lucky enough to get a new set of Copic Ciaos, 72 new colours to play with, aren't I a lucky girlie, my secret Santa bought me some scrummie papers and charms too. Just before Christmas I'd also bought myself some new Xcut Nesting Dies but hadn't got round to using them till this week. 

The Totally Ladybug Tuesday challenge this week is an "Anything goes using new stash"  So I coloured up Magnum using my new pens.

Used the Stamp die for a matt and used the star die which I folded and raised on foam pads.

After cutting an aperture here is the assembled card.

If you fancy treating yourself to Magnum or any of the  Ladybug cling stamps with your Christmas money,you are SO in luck, you can get more for your money in the January sales! (that's if the Ladybugs haven't wiped the shelves).

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Heartsong 29, Anything goes,
House Of Gilli, Anything goes,
IWD127, Anything goes,
Lawnscaping 25, Birthday,
MIM 70, Anything goes,
StampsR us,What you got for Christmas.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x