Feeling Rather Guilty!

Last month I decided that I fancied keeping an "Art Journal"

I'm not entirely sure where the idea came from and I had no idea how to go about starting one so I googled. Anyway,you know what it's like, you get taken on a journey,finding ideas you like, and some you don't and before you know it you've lost a few hours but have a head full of inspiration.

One of the blogs I stumbled upon was

Julie Kirk's

"Notes On Paper"

I lost hours, picking up ideas and read of that she was starting a series "A Month Of Sunrays" spreading cheeriness and Virtual Sunshine!

To cut a long story short I won some rather scrummy candy! sponsored by "The Ribbon Girl"

Oh my goodness,this little packet was packed full of scrumminess! How lucky was I !

Check out Julie's blog,it's cram packed with inspiration!

I promised Julie I would blog a "Virtual Thank you" 

I'm sorry it's taken so long!

The Sunshine is what was left from here and I used some of the ribbon,lace,a button, string and the dewdrops that were in my candy, Thank you so much Julie, I promise to show you a page of my journal when I gain some confidence!

With a table full of Sunshine treats I was in the mood to colour some sunny blooms and settled on

"Sunflower Delights Digi" I used a strip of yellow polka dot papers and stamped the top of my card blank randomly using a Lavinia Stamp before cutting around the vase and placing the image as if on a table cloth.

 I'm entering the following challenges:-
Crafty Catz 126, Use a digi,
Inspire Me Fridays 52, Anything goes,
Jellypark, What's the weather,
Lily Pad, Flowers,
Poodles Parlour, Going Dotty,
WnW 76, Flowers.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Got Something To Say?

Morning! not like me to be late with my Southern Girls DT card but I was out gallivanting last night so didn't get time to write my post.

If you read this Mrs P.. thanks for a lovely evening!

 Anyway on to the challenge.

"Got Something To Say ?"

For my card I used digi papers "Paisley Fleur" by "Eiglassing" (this is the first time I've ever used digi papers and I was surprised at how easy it was)
 The fab image and Sentiment are
"JJ housework,cook" from "Bugaboo" both of these companies are amongst the sponsors of the challenge, check out the challenge blog for full details of all of the sponsors!

I coloured JJ using Copics and cut her out,placing her over the aperture cut using Nestabilities.I added glossy accents to her specs and the wine glass.

Isn't the image fun! not sure JJ would be much of a cook though lol!

Used a Sizzix florish under the sentiment and then decorated the back adding somewhere to write my greeting. The papers were printed on to pearlised white paper.

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

DTC153, Use your favourite colour,(pink)

PTT61, Anything goes,

MIM82, Anything goes,

CCH12, Add a sentiment,

CMCC, Anything goes,

DSC85, I'll drink to that!

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Happy Wednesday!

Spring is here, yay!!!!!  It's been great to see some bright weather for a change!
What an amazing amount of entries there were for the last challenge at Scrapbook Sisters! We are hoping that the same will happen this week, it's another theme that is sure to be popular, Easter! I got my spots out again and inspired by the flower pots around my door step I decided to use a selection of die cuts to form a simple daffodil and potted it a hand cut flower pot. The Ladybug was made using a long neglected QuicKutz set.

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

Crafty Boots, Easter,

GHWI17, Wings,

Lexi 61, Easter,

Lollipop Crafts73, Anything goes,

My Grafico 124, Easter,

PCI21, Wings,

2 Sisters 84, Spring is in the air.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things!!!

It's Totally Ladybug Tuesday!  and before we go any further, what did you think of the new Teenager Digi's? pretty cool don't you think! and what talent we saw and an amazing amount of entries there were last challenge too! Kept the ladybugs pretty busy commenting I can tell you! 


The new challenge starts today "Spots and Stripes" and I found it really hard, not because I didn't enjoy the theme but more because I have a bit of a thing for spotty papers! I have piles of them, if you come to the fortnightly scrapbooking classes that I attend you will already know this lol! You'll see the look of panic if I'm supposed to cut into any for layouts, polka dots are kept exclusively for my cards(well almost) In fact, as I've previously been seen rooting in the bins and retrieving the  cast off edge strips from other ladies papers, my lovely class mates have now taken the hint and some even cut off their edge strips and pass them straight to me! The yellow spotty strip here was one of those donations lol! 

I used my lovely Magnum, don't think I'll ever tire of using him, he's such a cheeky chap, I've even left Lily on this time for him to watch instead of feeding him cake like I did here! I coloured him using Copics,used my Nestability and Nellie Snellen dies and layered up some flowers and buttons and tied them with Hemp. Thought I'd leave it there but a birthday isn't complete without a bit of Bunting the spots and stripes kind of course lol! I added spots to the inside of  my card too. 

 

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

Kaboodle Doodles 112, Circles and squares,

MIM82, Anything goes,

SFC1212, Anything goes,

CCH112, Add a sentiment,

CMCCC, Anything goes,

Totally Gorjuss 124, Spots and stripes,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

The Birthday Girl

It's my Mum's birthday today, me and the girls have just returned from having a lovely birthday lunch with her, it seems like ages since my eldest has been able to come out on a Saturday, it was a nice surprise for mum to spend some time with her too. When the children were little mum got to see them most days but work and homework get in the way a bit these days.

Thought I'd share the card I made for Mum with you.

The image is Tea cup delights, one of the Garden Delights digi images by Ladybug Crafts Ink. Love the papers, thought they were a bit fussy but when I layered them up with the gold they look gorgeous! They are Red Floral and Flower Box from the "This & That collection from Echo Park" 

A simple, layered card set off with a large bow and sizzix diecut letters.

 Mum's a bit like me and dislikes having photos taken but I said she had to as it's her birthday! When the girls get together they're full of mischief, poor mum was oblivious as to what was going on behind her back, good job too lol! 

                            I hope I look this good at 84!

                                Happy Birthday Mum!

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

Digi Days 29, Add a sentiment,( look hard it's stamped on the patterned paper)
DD15, Wonder of life,
Hotshot 5, Ribbon,
Patties 40, Anything goes,
Polka Doodles 12, Mothers Day,(hope mum's Bday counts!)
SNSDC 46, Celebrate spring.

Thanks for stopping by,
 enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Julie.x 

The Day Has Finally Arrived!!!!!

It's been a New release fortnight  at Ladybug Crafts with two new names joining the LCI image family.

                                   "Josh and Jess" 

 If you're wanting to make a card for a teenager you are sure to find a suitable image amongst them!
The rest of the team have made some amazing cards so far and with only two more days left to go I'm thrilled that you've called by to see my cards. I have been so excited about today, it's been agony for me waiting patiently for my day to come!

 If you would like the chance to Win one of today's images, all you need to do is leave a comment on today's post on the challenge blog and wait patiently like I did but only till tomorrow lol! that's when the winner will be revealed!

There is still time to join the TLT Anything Goes Challenge. 
and more amazing prizes up for grabs!

I coloured Xbox Josh Using Copics, fussy cut him out,

Layered  up my papers and cut an aperture before placing Josh over it.

I used various dies to make my star badges,echoing those on the image. I also used Sizzix dies to cut the numbers.

 On to my second card using "Coat of Paint Jess". I paper pieced the wallpaper in the image, coloured Jess using Copics and did an out of the box cut using Nestabilities and xcut dienamiques.

I also made little bottles of nail varnish using nestability circles to match the colours used in the image.

I embossed my card blank before adding all the elements.

The acetate is recycled packaging and the sentiment is an LCI stamp.

 Hope my card was worth the wait!

I'm using these cards for the following challenges:-

CPF37, Anything goes,

DTBST117, Paper piecing,

MMCS49, Digital,(2 entries),

Paper Shelter, Paper piecing,

Scrapalicious USA, Fussy Cut,

Sisterhood Of Crafters, Birthday.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Anything Goes

It's  time for a new challenge at Scrapbook Sisters it's Anything goes so I made my dt card for my lovely crafting friend whose Golden Wedding Anniversary it was last Saturday, hope you had a lovely day Carol and Bob, congratulations to you both ! I've a confession though, she won't be receiving it till this evening at class so I'm hoping she doesn't visit my blog today.

 Carol loves to use glitter in her crafting so I couldn't make her a card without using some sparkle, not the loose glitter that Carol so likes to share around but glitterfilm which I stuck onto my gold card before cutting it out using Plantin's Schoolbook on the Cricut.

I coloured my gems using Copics to match the card.

Happy Anniversary Carol and Bob!
I'm using my card for the following challenges:-
Karen's Doodles 100, Something Special,
Nettie G4,What's the Occasion,
Lia Stamz 3, Anything goes plus sentiment,
Mema's Crafts March, Two of us,
Crafty Pad 162, Perfect Pair,
Allsorts 146, 3 In a row,
CCC14, Pot of gold.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

A Slice Of Cake.

Morning Campers, can you believe that we are already half way through the "Anything Goes" TLT Challenge, how are you all enjoying the New Teenager Digi's? I'm hoping that you are all taking the time to visit every day, or even occasionally, with one quick visit and a comment you could find yourself winning one of the day's new releases, Simples! 
I'm itching to show you my "New Release cards" it's been agony watching what the other Ladybugs are showing,knowing that I still have to wait till Friday! Please make sure and visit on my day, I want to have lots of comments to choose my winner from lol!

Anyway, as it's a Tuesday, I have a little TLT creation to share with you. You know how much I love Magnum, I thought that this time I would combine the Tiptoeing Lily Stamp and the cake from Add on Magnum I stamped the cake and placed a snippet of a post it note over it. I then inked up the other stamp,covering over Lily so that she wasn't inked, I then just stamped Magnum before removing the post it revealing Magnum peeping at a slice of birthday cake. Not bad eh? What do you think of Tabby Magnum? I enjoyed mixing up with the copics.
I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
LTCCB7, Anything goes,
MIM81, Anything goes,
Heidi's March, Animals,
BTCAGC March, In the Kitchen,
Sunday with Crissy 27, Animals,
Birthday Sundaes 48, Animals,
Scrappy Frogs,Spots.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Garden Delights

Evening, How are you doing tonight? It's been a lovely bright day today,spring is just around the corner that's for sure.
I thought I'd share with you the card that I made for an elderly gentleman. I used the LCI Garden delights digi, Wellies Delight, coloured using Copics and distress inks for the sky. The layout is really simple, I just wrapped some hemp around the card and tied a button onto it. The little tags are hand cut, and added to the card with a brad. I then wrapped a tiny piece of hemp around the brad. The sentiment is a stamp also from LCI, actually, To You was stamped by inking up parts of different stamps.
 

The inside is also very basic with just layers and inky stitching. Don't forget to check out the Ladybugs TLT blog today for a chance of winning one of the latest Teenager digi releases.

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

CBN17, Floral,

CSF47, Spring,

IWD137, Things with wings,

MIMwith Kraft, Anything goes,

CCH111,Green,

TPE40, Kraft,

CWWC14, For the boys,

GL36, Birthday,

KKKG, For the boys,

CYDA41, Men& Button,

C4C128, Green.

That's it from me for now,

 thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Evening!

Well, firstly I thought I'd share that Kerry, aka (Queen Ladybug) has now started to add this week's New Teenager Digi's to the shop, secondly,have you seen Pam's cards today? oh my goodness,they are amazing and if you thought that the images so far were good, you'll be major impressed with today's! You have just got to call by the challenge blog to see them and grab yourself the chance of winning one today's Teenager Digi's for yourself!

Onto my card today, a real quick one layer card made with this week's LIM theme. I just used a nestability die to cut circles from a couple of post-it-notes to use as  masks. First I used a mask  to ink the lilac circle, lifted the mask and used the die cut circle to mask the ink. I moved the mask and inked the pink circle then placed die cut circles over both of the inked areas. Using the other mask I inked the purple circle also stamping purple hearts over the area before removing the mask. I then doodled strings and stamped my greeting.
Have a great weekend,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x
  

I Can't wait Any Longer!!!!!

But it's more than my Copics are worth for me to spill the beans lol! So instead I'm going to share a sneaky peak.

Or maybe two! Don't tell anyone! Just get yourself over to the challenge blog, take a look at Laurie's stunning cards and leave a comment to be in with a chance of joining the three winners so far!

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Me Again

Back with a card for Southern Girls Challenge. It's Trace's team's challenge but I just couldn't resist joining them this time as I won some rather gorgeous Meljen images last week. Meljen are one of this fortnight's sponsors, please call by the challenge post for full details of the challenge and also the rather impressive list of sponsors this time. The theme for this time is a colour challenge, to use Red Blue and Yellow on you project.

Guess who forgot a birthday this week? The Meljen snail ride was just perfect for the job,a strip of snipped card  looks just right, setting him off  a treat along with a computer generated sentiment . The only other thing I did was to add some glossy accents to the shell's of the snail and Ladybird and a thin trail of stickles for the "snail trail"  and the card is ready to post.

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

Belli Challenge 139, CAS,

Digi Makeover 27, Critters,

Lollipop Crafts 71, White with a splash,

MIM80, Anything goes,

OLLCB100, On the move.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Don't forget to check out my earlier post!.x

This Is Getting Exciting

I don't know about you but I'm loving the new releases so far and can't wait to see what today brings! Remember to call by The Challenge Blog , leave a comment to give yourself chance of winning one of today's New Releases.
I'll be back later today with a card to show you!
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Scrapbook Sister's Challenge.

There certainly are a talented lot of crafters out there in blogland and many of them entered last week's challenge at "Scrapbook Sisters" It was lovely wandering round and taking a look at all of the entries. Wednesday means there is a new challenge theme, not one that I was happy with as it's an occasion that I myself don't give cards for preferring to speak in person or send flowers if that's not possible.
The theme is "Sympathy Cards" I made a 3x3" Thinking of you card, one that could be sent on a plant or with flowers at such a time. (Although the cardstock looks blue here,it is actually a deeper,mauve)

The sentiment is Jane's script by Woodware and the Pansy is a Papermania stamp, coloured with Copics and shaped,mounted on the card using Pinflair Gel.

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

Make It Monday 80, Anything goes,

SSS&S, Anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by,

 please scroll down for my earlier post,

Julie.x

A Quick Reminder

Just a quick reminder to check out today's "New Release" creations, I wouldn't want you to miss out on the chance of winning the daily prize!

Hope to see you later when I'll be back with my second post of the day!

Julie.x

What Ever's Going On With The Ladybugs?

It's a bit of a different fortnight going on with the Ladybugs this challenge, so exciting and I don't know how I'm ever going to keep my "Secret Creations" under wraps for the time being!

What more can I say, except get yourself over to the TLT Challenge Blog and see what all the excitement is about!

But seeing as you're here, you might as well take a look at what I made using one of the rather gorgeous  LCI Floral Delights digis. I admit to having a bit of printer trouble the other day and somehow managed to print out on photo paper, oh well,I thought I'd see what happened when it was coloured. You can't blend the copics but I still rather like the look. The colours look so bright and the glitter in the stickles looks...well, glittery. Then I coloured up the same image on "Neenah" cardstock for a gift tag , I used my Martha Stewart edge punch along the pink bazil and snipped into it allowing it to shape around my circle, getting sidetracked with a phone call from my mum I stuck the pink before I'd embossed and inked my diecut, it looked so flat and boring so after messing up the edge by trying to ink it I thought that the glittery film would mask the imperfections. I does the trick and looks glittertastic lol! That'll teach me for chatting and crafting at the same time!

I'm using my card for the following challenges:-
Crafty Boots,Glitter,
Digi Makeover 27, Critters, (Can you spy the ladybugs in the flowers?)
DD55, Tie it up,
Lexi's 60, Mothers day,
MMM40, Mothers day,
Oldie But Goodie, Mum's the word,(MS punch),
Papertake Weekly,For the girls,
Totally Stampalicious, flowers.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x
Now head on over to the challenge blog to give yourself chance of winning some prizes!

With Script

Hi everyone, no time to chat tonight,it's my usual quick weekend LIM card. I used "Funstamps" Butterfly dreams, stamped it onto copy paper then onto my card, cut out the image leaving the outside in tact so that I could use it to mask the outside area and use Distress inks to add colour to the image. I then stamped it again onto DP, cut it out and added it to my card using Pinflair gel, a little stickles and Bobs your Uncle,Fanny's your Aunt! 

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
LIM58, Script,
Guylous, Things with wings.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Hanging On A Thread!

It's time for another challenge at Scrapbook Sisters, I can't believe how the weeks fly by. 

The theme for this week is Mother's Day, and as the day is just around the corner it's about time we all started getting prepared. I used some recent magazine giveaway stamps and teamed them up with This & That Papers by Echo Park,using some of the scraps to paper piece the clothes. I used twill over the  the stamped thread and glossy accents to the needles.

 Isn't the "stitched with love" sentiment adorable, MUM was cut on the Cricut and I added Stickles, stitching and tiny twill knots.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Paper And Such, Paper piecing,
Top Tip Tuesday 71, Stitches,
Lexis 60, Mothers day,
Stamp and Create November, Paper piecing,
Stamps & Fun 89, One bow,
TPE138, Lots of layers,
TCCB144, Paper piece,
CI Paints, Family.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Retrieved From The Bin!

What a grotty day it's been again today. the wind has been so strong and it'd been drizzling on and off all day. I nipped out to my cabin quickly to take photos of a DT card for later in the week and glanced in the bin at one of my weekend's disasters, an idea came to mind so I whipped it back out, set about cutting it up and this is what I ended up with. Not so bad after all! mind you, the task I went out to do failed as when I looked at the photo of the other card I noticed that I'd left out a necessary item! Oh well, I'll have to go back to it tomorrow now, I really am in need of an early night tonight. 
 

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

Lollipop Crafts 70, CAS,

LIM57, Neutrals,

Sweet Stampin, Nature Bugs and Bees.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x