Christmas?

It's time for Lavinia's new challenge theme today, and to get you started on those Christmas cards, the theme is 

"Christmas"

For my first card I used the Holly stamp, after several attempts at creating a wreath with the sprig, I ended up drawing around the inside of a circle die, adding a freehand doodle then tapping the stamp with two shades of green ink pads to give a more variagated look. A twine bow twisted amongst the leaves and glitter to the leaves completed the look.

For my tag, I masked the top and bottom sections, lightly adding colour to the background using pale pink and blue, I then randomly stamped the beautiful "Zen snowflakes" in pink, lilac and blue adding the seasonal words, I wonder why I ended up singing songs from "Frozen" .

A pierced edge, a bit of bling and glitter complete my tag.

Now, I struggled a bit with my final card, I toyed with not sharing it but I just love this Santa stamp! The card originally was just the Kraft section but a longer piece of card, then a little voice in my head said,"how can a brown card with a bit of gingham ribbon say Christmas?" so I trimmed it down and mounted it on a red card base, still wasn't happy so I cut off the back and mounted it on a white card. Am I happy with it? no! I wish I'd not listened to that little voice and left it as a longer Kraft card.

For future reference, what do you think, is a Kraft card acceptable to send at Christmas?

I'm entering the following challenges:-

Allsorts 335, Christmas,

C4C310, Christmas,

Polkadoodles, Sparkle Bling or glitter,

RRR128, Christmas,

WW, Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Hot, Bright Colours With Lavinia.

The new challenge starts today with Lavinia Stamps, and the new theme is 

"Hot, Bright Colours"

I stamped the frame using "Background Script" then inked the edges with orange and pink, the "Zen flowers" were stamped and shaded with the same inks. "Thank you" looked rather harsh when I'd stamped it in black so I softened the look to suit the rest of the card by dotting over it using a white chalk pen.  

I used the same "Background Script"stamp on my tag along with two stamps from the 

Gorgeous newly released stamps

,"Dragon pods" and "Seasonal words".

I'm using these for the following challenges:-

CCAM, No patterned paper,

GCC22, No patterned paper,

WLTC18, Anything creative.

If you fancy the chance of winning the £40 prize voucher, all you need to do is get creating using your Lavinia stamps, Lavinia digis or Lavinia dies, you don't even need to have a blog to enter as email entries are accepted.

Thanks for stopping  by,

Julie.x

Lemon And Lime

It's time for April's Challenge at Lavinia and the theme for this month is

"Lemon and Lime"

I made two items using the theme this time using a selection of Lavinia stamps on my card.

I trimmed into my "Alura" die cut to create my tag adding some stamping to the background, in my head I envisaged that the gorgeous fairy is collecting dew drops falling from the branches above her, I do love this die!

I would like to enter the following challenges:-

CFAS99, Animals,

LRW283, Animals,

Simon Says, Happy Birthday,

TSOC, Fly with me,

Cards and more, Tag,

TIOT, wings.

If you fancy joining in with the challenge this month, all you need to do is follow the theme and break out those Lavinia Stamps or Dies, you could find yourself winning a

£40 voucher!

There's no need to have a blog to enter as 

email entries are accepted!

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Anything Goes!

I know, I know, it's a bit like buses here today, see none for ages then several turn up at the same time!

These cards are all for the new challenge at

 Lavinia where the theme is

 "Anything Goes"

I've been playing with my latest crafty buy, Brushos.

If you've seen some of the amazing creations that many of the Lavinia ladies have made using them you will be forgiven for not realising that I'd used them in 4 of today's creations.

I've a lot to learn and if you were a fly on the wall when I made this collection, you would have (in the words of Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman) "Peed your pants" I was ooing and ahhing, gasping and holding my breath, amazed at the gorgeous colours appearing on my paper and my hands and the area surrounding my craft mat. 

LOTS of baby wipes and paper towels were used in the creation of these items !

For the first two items I simply shook the tiniest amount of powder onto my mat, so tiny that I didn't realise there was any there until I touched it with my damp brush, I then just used it to paint my stamped  Hanging Lanterns.

I just LOVE the strong colours that can be achieved!

It's a good job that Tracey couldn't see what I was doing with my stamps for the next two items, I took my experimenting to a new level for me, Eileen was in my ear saying "Go for it" well actually she wasn't but I know that she would have been egging me on lol! 

I tried spraying my stamp with water and adding a sprinkle of powder, this didn't create what I wanted as the water was too wet if you get what I mean, the stamping just spread it's way into an unrecognisable splodge on the paper.

Then I remembered my bottle of glycerine, I added a tiny drip to my craft mat, added a light spray of water and painted this onto my stamp, I then sprinkled my stamp with different powders and brushed across the stamp with a dry brush. I love the look, especially on the first one here, I made the mistake on my second one of spraying the edge of my card after which caused the pigment to start to bleed, won't make that mistake again! I'm looking forward to experimenting some more. I've yet to try some of the techniques that Eileen demos on YouTube.

I wonder if she has any tips on how to remove the colours from my stamp lol! 

The last card was made after my tidy up, stamping one of my favourite images for a man's card, the Large Deer. "Happy" was cut using the ScanNcut.

If you fancy joining in with January's challenge, you can make anything you like using your Lavinia stamps or dies, it isn't necessary to have a blog to enter as email entries are accepted. You could be lucky enough to win a £40 voucher to spend at Lavinia.

I'm entering the following challenges:-

LRS132, Something old something new,(Brushos, piercing wheel)
ESC121, Something old something new, ""  ""  ""
CUYL5, Kraft,
LIM203, Family.

Thanks for stopping by,
Happy New Year!
Julie.x

Autumn, My Favourite Time Of Year!

I just love autumn, the smells, the cooler weather, being able to get out the jumpers again and open up my scarf drawer.

I never get bored with looking at the changing colours of the leaves, I just love it!

I wish I'd had more time to create this months DT contributions for Lavinia stamps, I made these a few weeks ago and now that I see them again, I realise that I didn't capture the true beauty of the season.

It would be lovely if you could join us in this month's challenge theme,

"Autumn Colours"

Email entries are accepted and with a prize of  a

 £40 Lavinia spend up,

 it's so worth entering!

So if you've got any Lavinia Stamps or Digi's, you've got nothing to loose!

I'm entering the following challenges:-

Inky Impressions, Flowers and leaves,

Chocolate Baroque, Colour recipe.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Just Add Some Ribbon, You Could Win £40

The challenge for September at Lavinia Stamps is

"Add Some Ribbon"

Now that's a nice easy one for you Lavinia lovers!

You don't need to have a blog to enter as the challenge now accepts email entries!

It could be worth £40 to you, all you need to do is ink up those Lavinia stamps!

I found the most perfect addition to

 my Bullrushes ,

 some tiny seed pearls and a teeny tiny sprinkle of flock for them to stand in.

I thought it'd be fun to give the fairy something to dangle from her outstretched hand so I masked the surrounding area and stamped just the one set of wings from the washing line.

I wanted to add a sentiment but my printer had other ideas, scanning my eyes over the pages of an old, broken book, I found some that I felt  suited the stamped scene.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
TSM99, Special Occasion,
TCCB207, Boys,
TPP211, Tic,Tac,Toe, Top line.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Lavinia Tag!

Morning, just thought I'd share a tag I made a few weeks ago, I'm pleased that the mica powders and stickles show up in the photo for a change otherwise it would look like I'd put in no effort at all!

If you have any Lavinia stamps and fancy joining in with this month's "Add a Flower" challenge, you've still got a couple of days left, it's worth it to be in with the chance of winning a £40 spend!

Talking of winning, check out the gorgeous wooden button by"Craft-Shapes, Torbay" It was included in a Challenge prize that they sponsored, they're worth a visit, they lazer cut all sorts of gorgeous shapes!

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

Artistic Stamper, Autumn,

Crafts and Me, Lace,

Memas Crafts, Lace and flowers,

Sisterhood of Crafters, Tag,

Craft Room Challenge, Wooden,

Use it Tuesday,Use 2,(Hoarded paper scraps, Lace)

Eureka Stamps 58, Tag,

MIM159, Anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Lavender Tag.

Seems like I'm always saying "Just a quick post", but I'm saying it again tonight.

Just a quick post to share a tag I made for a special lady!

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

LS4, Lavender,

NAA10, Fantasy,
BZC, Wings,
FSC49, Tag,
SS261, Purple,
MIM144b, Anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Baby Bunting!

There's a new theme at Southern Girls,

"Waving In The Breeze"

That says Bunting to me,

 you know how much I love bunting :)

There are some amazing sponsors for this challenge, the badge on my tag came from one of them, 

"Life in Bits and Pieces"

Check out the Southern Girls blog for full details of the challenge and it's sponsors.

I printed out the sentiment on the computer, spacing out each letter to allow room to hand cut the triangles. I layered up twill, paper ribbon and sticky backed ribbon, placing a flower to the side and using a badge for it's centre. 

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

TT208, Use red,

TTCRD, Anything goes,

TTT, Tag,

MIM128, Anything goes,

PLRSB19, Anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Pink Plus One

It's time for another challenge with the Ladybugs and this time is the lovely Laurie who's hosting and has set the theme,

"Pink Plus One Other".

Kerry has treated us again with yet more new digi's!

check out my "Billie Bear" (I think Kerry must have eaten too much of a certain meat product as a child.) My children used to beg me for Billy Bear ham when they were little.

I know it doesn't show in my rubbish photo but I made a tag requested by a friend for a maternity leaving present.

I am so disappointed with how the colours look, that's the trouble with taking photo's in artificial light. 

I'm using this for the following challenges:-

MIM 127, Anything goes,
DCD102, Red,pink,purple,white,
Whoopsi Daisy, Tags.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

p.s. a big hi and welcome to my new followers. :)

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!

Fiddle De De!

I thought I'd do a different kind of project for me today and so enjoyed fiddling with all the different elements. I'm rather pleased with the outcome even though it's nowhere near the standard of the Lovely Linda's tags her gorgeous works of art are amazing! I cut out the tag and the shadow tag using the Cricut and Plantins Schoolbook, various TH distress inks and a Lavinia stamp. The image was cut from "This &That" Red Floral paper by Echo Park. All of the other elements I found rooting around in my jars. Oh except the sequins which I bought the other week, I just couldn't resist the jam packed bag of assorted shapes and sizes but all in the most gorgeous ivory. I plan on using them to alter a photo frame. BTW does anyone have any tips when it comes to sequins, I'm generally a "high static area" lol, it took my for ever to remove the charged sequins from my finger tips !

I'm, using my tag for the following challenges:-
CCCB97, It's all natural,
MMCS45, Ribbons and buttons,
Papertake Weekly, Get krafty,
The Kraft Journal, Fantastic Finds, (my jam packed bag of sequins for less than £2)
Crafty Bloggers 14, Shabby Chic.
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