Wild Orchid Challenge

The challenge this time on Wild Orchid Challenge is Love is.  I struggled with this card, my heart just was not in card making as I was so worried about Amy. I just can’t decide what went wrong and had no time to make another card.  Hope you will check out the challenge blog, the DT’s creations are  simply stunning.

I decided to ink up one of the new Sarah Kay stamps that Stampavie are releasing at the CHA.  I am not sure of the name of the stamp yet.  I just love how she is gazing at her puddy tat, so sweet.  The paper is Bo Bunny Love Bandit, the border and doily are both new in stock My Favourite Things Die-namics dies, aren’t they gorgeous! 

The flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts natch – I used trellis rose, poppies and 15mm roses. 

The sentiment is an Autumn Leaves ticket stamp and the Sheer Ruffle Edge ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl.

I have some Lili of the Valley candy to give away this week, and very yummy it is too so keep your eyes peeled girls.

hugs

Simon Says Stamp candy winner

Before I announce the winner of this weeks Magnolia candy I would just like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart that sent messages, left comments and phoned with good wishes and prayers for our Amy.  She is still a very poorly little girl but is slowly on the mend.  I truly am honoured to have such caring wonderful friends xxxx

This week's winner of the Tilda with snuggly blanket is

Sandiblu

Congratulations sweetie, please email me to claim your prize, and put Tilda with snuggly blanket in the subject line

Friday Sketchers Fairy

This week My Favourite Things is sponsoring Friday Sketchers with a $25 voucher, and Jorunn is hosting with a fabulous sketch.

I have used a Sweet Pea stamp – Glam Goth that I got from 3D Jean.  Isn’t she gorgeous!  I made a bit of a boo boo with this card, after it was done I realised the ribbon should have gone over the image, not behind.  Just as well as it would have hidden this gorgeous fairy.  So, as I had no intention of starting the card over I just ran a piece of chain across the image to under the flower then dangled a charm from there.  Phew, problem solved lol.

The white poppies and 15mm roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the little blue ones are mini rose cabochons that I painted with a coat of Shimmerz December Sky.  The twinkle is so pretty.  The cabochons feel like porcelain and the detail on them is amazing.  The image has been coloured with Copics – can’t remember which colours I used and I have lost the bit paper that I wrote them down on, sorry.  The paper is Onirie Sweetness of Living.

I distressed some seam binding with Tea Dye instead of Walnut Stain for a change, it’s much more subtle and perfect for the soft blue colour.

I used the Concentric Tag Die from Go Kreate for the sentiments, and the die cut borders are a MTF Die-Namics Dainty Lace Border die.  Love love love these dies, the detail is amazing and they cut beautifully AND they have little holes in so you can get your die cut out easily without poking the thing to bits!!  Sound familiar???  There’s also a Doo Hickey swirl die popped in behind the flowers.  Think you can see the cabochons better in the pic below.

Bea, Jeanette, Claudia, Tanja, Jacque, Janneke, Jorunn and Inge have made some brilliant cards from the sketch so if you get a chance do pop across to their blogs to take a peek.

Back later tonight with the Simon Says Stamp candy winner.

hugs

Simon Says Stamp Saturday Surprise

This week the lovely people from Simon Says Stamp have given me Snuggly Blanket Tilda to give away.

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning all you need to do to enter the draw is leave a link to your blog (or your email address if you don't have a blog). There are NO silly requirements or rules, you do not need to be a follower or even blog about the candy if you don’t want to. The winner will be announced on Sunday evening.

Going dotty for Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar

I am not with it today, my little granddaughter Amy was rushed into hospital last night with Streptococcus A infection and is on an IV drip and is very poorly.  We’re waiting for blood test results and it’s so scary.  It’s a deja vu of two years ago when we nearly lost her to meningitis due to Ecoli.  Same ward (different room because she’s a big girl now and doesn’t need a cot bless her), same fabulous nurses and same amazing paediatricians and consultants.  Please God let our little girl get well, and please say a little prayer for her xxxx

I really struggled with this week’s Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar challenge, and had papers everywhere trying to find some dotty papers.  This craft room looked like a bomb had hit it.  Then my order arrived from Dies to Die for and in there was some Tilda pads I had ordered and problem solved.  I used papers from the Tilda Angel Love pad, love the strong contrast between the white and brown.  The beautiful silky crush and  organza spot ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl.  I used a corner flourish stamp from the Stempelglede Grunge Flowers set on the corners of the image then realised I had also used the fancy corners on the same side – that wasn’t good planning Bev!



I have coloured Tilda with many hearts with copics:
Skin:  E21, E00, E000, R20
Hair:  E79, E74, E70, E40
Dress: R81, RV000, RV0000
Hearts: R85, R83, R81
Shadows: W5, W3, W1, W0, W00



The gorgeous flowers are all as usual from Wild Orchid Crafts – Trellis Rose, 15mm roses, 10mm roses, poppies, and Iused a Doo Hickey die behind the flowers.  The little charms are from Ebay.



The heart border punch (that is just peeking out) is a new Martha Stewart punch that I got from a lovely lady in the US.  Thank you  sweetheart xxxx.



The DT have come up with amazing creations again this week, so stop by the Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar challenge to take a peek. 

This card is available on Ebay

hugs

Quick button tutorial

This was going to be a video but I didn’t get organised till late so I’ve done a quick photo tutorial for those of you that asked for one.  Apologies for the bad lighting.

You can either punch out or draw the shape of the button you want out of chipboard or card.  I tend to draw mine freehand because I am always in a hurry lol. 

You will need your punched/cut shape, a small pattern/text stamp, dye ink pad and blending tool, Versamark (or similar) ink pad, UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder), a 1/8th” punch or a pokey tool to make the holes for the button, tweezers and a heat gun.

Stamp the pattern/text on your shape and ink the edges.  Punch out two holes

Press the shape onto the ink pad and coat with UTEE.  I find holding the shape with a tweezers in the two holes helps to keep the holes clear as the UTEE melts and also saves burnt fingers lol.  See how chunky that UTEE is?

Heat the UTEE till melted.  Don’t worry about the patches that have no UTEE on, by the third application of ink and UTEE this will smooth out.

Nearly there

After the 3rd coat the button is lovely and domed and shiny (except this one has my grubby fingerprints all over it because I didn’t clean them off before I took the last photo hence it not having the lovely glossy shine that it does have after a quick rub with a cloth!)

hugs

Lili of the Valley challenge

The Lili of the Valley challenge this week is Anything but Square.  So, you know me and easy … well I got out the fab XXL dies from Go-Kreate and whipped up this card in next to no time.  I cut out the shape using the largest die then just scored and folded it in half and matted and layered using the smaller die.  Simples.

Edited after lots of messages lol- you need an A4 die cutting machine to cut the biggest dies in these sets.  I have a Grand Calibur that I use for the bigger dies but if you want an A4 cutter that takes all dies then the Grand Calibur is not for you - it does not take thicker dies like Sizzix, which sadly I only discovered after I had bought the machine (I should have checked first instead of just assuming it would).  An expensive assumption as I am going to replace this with a cutter that takes all dies so I don't have to faff on with having to use different machines for different dies.  However, Go Kreate do the same shaped dies in a smaller size and these do go through the Big Shot and Cuttlebug - 180002 XL frames - Frilly #2



The gorgeous paper is a Tilda Pad – Frosted Bluegreen.  I just adore the colours in this pad (okay in all the Tilda pads).  The lace is from The Ribbon Girl, so pretty.
I made the button by stamping the Love sentiment on a scrap of white card with Walnut Stain ink, cut out a small heart (approx 1/2”), inked up the edges then punched two tiny holes to thread the twine through.  I then triple embossed the button with UTEE (any Ultra Thick embossing powder will do or you can use clear embossing powder but will have to emboss several times to get the nice domed effect).



I distressed the seam binding with some very diluted tea die ink spritzed on randomly then I dabbed tea die ink on whilst it was still wet, scrunched it up and left it to dry.
The Mr & Mrs stamp from Lili of the Valley has been coloured with Promarkers  from Letraset 
Skin: Oatmeal and blush (with a touch of baby pink for the cheeks)
Hair: Him – Walnut, Almond; Her - Pastel Yellow, Ivory
Clothes: Him – Cool Greys 1 – 5, Marine,  pastel green; Her – Ivory and blender pen, Marine, pastel green


hugs

Stampavie Sneak Peek – a new look to Sarah Kay

Today is my turn to show a sneak peek of one of the new Stampavie stamps that are being released at the CHA this year.  So, I’ve chosen to show one of the new Sarah Kay stamps – isn’t she just stunning!  A whole new look to Sarah Kay (but don’t worry there are plenty of her usual style in this release as well).  Each day the DT are showing cards on the Stampavie Blog so if you can’t wait to see all the stamps on the website then pop across each day to see what’s going to be released.

I have used My Minds Eye lost and found papers that came in my DT kit from Stampavie .  The sentiment is My Favourite Things Die-namics and stamp set – love this set, the sentiments and fonts are beautiful and I love how the frame works in that you can stamp it out in a colour to match your design.  The blooms are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the brads are American Crafts from Sarah’s Cards.

The image was coloured with Promarkers from Letraset, I do love how easily they blend.  And get me – I actually braved using a stapler on the lace for the first time.  Soooo brave rofl.  The seam binding started off life as white till I attacked it with the old distress inks.  I used the XXL dies from Go-Kreate for this card,

Apologies for the grainy photo’s, they were taken before I sussed out the camera card was causing the problem and I had already sent the samples to France to make their way to the CHA with Heidi and Stuart from Stampavie.

hugs

Seam binding winner

We have a winner of the blues/greens seam binding …….. and that’s you

TERI

Congratulations sweetie, please email me your address so I can pop it in the mail for you

 

hugs

Best Friends

I’ve another Lili of the Valley card to share today, using those gorgeous So Berry Precious digi papers from Nitwit Collections.  I love their digi papers, and even printing on fast normal (HP printer) gives a fabulous finish – the quality is superb.  This sweet stamp is called Best Friends, absolutely love this image.  The sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley.

The lace and flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts – poppies, 15mm roses and 10mm roses with a few stamens dotted in.  I coloured this image so long ago I honestly can’t remember which colours I used.

Now then - seam binding ….. fancy some in blues and greens???  I got a bit carried away the other day and distressed loads, so leave a comment below and I will draw a winner later tonight.  (The colours are a lot more subtle IRL, the lights don’t give a very good colour match *sigh*).  Winner now drawn

hugs

Little winged friends

I have discovered another new passion lol, Bildmalarna Little Winged Friends stamps!!   They utterly adorable.  I got mine from Tracy at Dies to Die For along with the Tilda Winter Garden papers that I have used on this card (edited post with updated links - stamps and Tilda pads are now on the website woohoo).

I used German Glass Glitter in pink on the butterflies, I just wish the photo’s showed the true bling this delish glitter gives.   The flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts – 25mm tea rose, 15mm roses, 8mm semi open roses.

Isn’t the sentiment just FAB!  It’s a die and stamp set from My Favourite Things Die-namics, this set is called Polka Dot Greetings Die and Stamp Set.  I stamped the dotty frame with Stampin Up’s Pretty in Pink ink after cutting out the shape.  Really quick and easy to use and so pretty.


I got this gorgeous Sheer Ruffle Edge ribbon last week, love it!  The ruffled border really makes the ribbon pop, even though it is sheer, and teamed it with the lace that I was hunting down a couple of weeks ago and a little angel in the US sent to me, thank you sweetie mwah xxxxx

I have coloured the image with Copics.  Skin E21, E00, E000, R20; Hair E53, E51, E50; Clothes RV34, RV11, RV10, RV00, RV000; Teddy E33, E31, E30
This card will be available on Ebay this evening.
hugs

Simon Says Stamp candy winner

This week’s winner of the Ballerina Tilda is

That’s you Mary Marsh. 

Please email me to claim your prize.  Please include Ballerina Tilda in the subject line.

Isabelle and her puppy

Have you seen all the sneak peeks of the upcoming CHA releases that have been going on daily on the Stampavie blog?  If not pop across and take a peek, they are amazing!  No sneak peek from me today, it’s my turn later in the week so I have used one of the Sarah Kay stamps from last year – Isabelle with her puppy.  Loving the hat lol

She has been coloured Copics and Prismapencils
Skin:  E21, E00, E000, R20
Top:  R39, R35, R32 & warm grey 90% Prisma pencil
Jeans and Hat: E47, E44, E42, E40 & warm grey 90% Prisma pencil
Dog: E17, E15, E11
Grass: G94, YG93, YG91, G20
Ground: E42, E40

 

I have used Papermania papers, seems like I have been using this pink and burgundy combo for a while now.  Just peeking out you can see the gorgeous Tafetta ribbon I got from The Ribbon Girl this week, it’s absolutely stunning and has a sort of irridesecent sheen to it, amazing stuff.  I was going to put my usual bow on but it was too much with the flowers and I gotta have my flowers lol.

 

I made some pearl swirls using a Bazzill Bling template and some self adhesive pearls in two sizes.   The border die just peeking out is My Favourite Things Die-namics Open Scallop Border die.  Tracy has got all the new dies on pre-order and they are fabulous, already spent a fortune!   The flowers are small flat gardenias, gardenias, 15mm roses, 8mm semi open roses, 4mm rose buds and then I popped some pieces of pearl spray in-between the flowers.  The little heart is the result of a bit of playing, I rolled out some clay, stamped into it using black memento ink then baked it, inked it up with Tattered Rose distress ink then spritzed it with Radiant Rain gold mist, not too bad for a first attempt – now I need to find something to roll the clay out properly with lol).

 

This card will be available on Ebay later on today

This week’s Lili of the Valley candy is up on the Ideas to Inspire blog and runs till Wednesday.  I’ll back later with the Simon Says Stamp candy.

hugs

Promarkers candy winner

 

The winner of the Promarkers/stamps/seam binding candy is:

Rach.  Congrats sweetie, please email me to claim your prize

I have more seam binding to give away, I will try and get it distressed and photographed so I can post it up here tomorrow

 

hugs

Friday Sketchers

At last here’s my card for Friday Sketchers.  I didn’t get a chance to post it on my blog yesterday.  Jeanette has provided a brilliant sketch, I had to get the trusty old circle cutter out for this one.  Bea, Jeanette, Claudia, Tanja, Jacque, Janneke, Jorunn and Inge have made some brilliant cards from the sketch.

I have used another new Tilda from the You’re so special collection, this little sweetie is called Will you be my Valentine Tilda and has been coloured with copics, the same colours I used on my card yesterday.  The papers are also from Nitwit Collections, called From the Heart.   Loving the envelope sentiment that is from the kits.  I reszied it down quite a bit to fit in with the sketch and again I have combined the pale blue with red, I really do love this colour combo.

Roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, Magnolia Doo Hickey dies and some lace and grosgrain ribbon and job done.  I’ll let you into a secret lol, I have been having problems with my back this week and added to this the old mojo went gallivanting again so I did pretty much nothing all week, then realised about 7pm on Thursday night I had both cards to do for Friday morning, boy did I move to get them done.  I was like a whirling dervish in this craft room on Thursday night lol.  I really hope that mojo comes back, I have a couple of big commissions that I really do need to get done.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

hugs

Bev x

Simon Says Stamp Saturday Surprise

First up I must apologise, I said in my post yesterday that I would draw the winner of the Promarker candy last night, but the Inlinkz is not closing till tonight so I will draw the winner then.
So this week the Magnolia candy kindly sponsored by Simon Says Stamp is Ballerina Tilda (one of my all time favourite Tildas)

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning all you need to do to enter the draw is leave a link to your blog (or your email address if you don't have a blog). There are NO silly requirements or rules, you do not need to be a follower or even blog about the candy if you don’t want to. The winner will be announced on Sunday evening.