Thursday 29 May 2014

Teacups...

Good afternoon, dear Bloggers on another grey day here in Wales!  I'm still making cards and projects using my latest disc and thought I would pop by today to share another little make for your inspiration!...
...This is another of my box frames, which I love making and now have a number of dotted around my house!  I printed the frame with the Telephone polka dot paper from A Play on Words and used the Lamp rose paper for the fishtail.  I printed four of the different patterned papers onto A6 paper ( I used the Lamp rose, damask and diamond plaid papers and the Telephone polka dot scaled to A6 to make the patterns smaller)  and then printed the teacup digistamp over the top and shaded with my Pro/Flexmarkers...
...I adde a Martha Stewart clay frame, WOC flowers and Cheery Lynn flower border strip die cuts in gold.  The little teapot charm was one I won from the Ribon Girl a while ago and have been reluctant to use until now!...

...I added 2 of the Kettle sentiments, a couple of MS clay corners and gold ribbon hanging loop to finish.
So that's another new project to go into the samples box which is now overflowing!  I keep thinking that there is enough samples now, but then get an idea to use for another card and can't help myself to make another!  At this rate, there won't be enough room on my little table stand next Saturday at Sincerely Yours Papercraft@Wrexham Show....check out their website for details and to book entry tickets online and you'll be entered into a draw to win £50 of vouchers to spend at the Show and get free tea and coffee!  Don't forget, if you come along to come and say hello to me, I'd love to be able to meet some of my blogging buddies and put names to faces!
Crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my frame inoto the following challenges :
Add some Metal - closes Saturday
Metal - closes 2nd June
Use a Metal Embellishment - closes 7th June
Anything Goes - closes 4th June
Anything Goes / optional twist Use Metal - closes 31st

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Passion for Promarkers - Pearls and Pins...

Good morning, lovely Bloggers!  Tuesday has rolled round again and it's time for another fabulous challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week it's the lovely Marie hosting and she's chosen the theme of 'Pearls and pins'.  This week we are sponsored by A Day for Daisies, who are offering one lucky winner a $12 gift voucher for their store.  We were lucky enough to be given a choice of image to use on our cards and I chose Miss Claire Clown...
...I used a fab Dovecraft paper pad, called Garden Party that I picked up form Wilko for £3...bargain!  I loved the pretty pink, green and peach colour tones and carried this through to my image...
...I coloured Miss Claire Clown with my Pro/Flexmarkers, though I apologise as I don't have the list of colours that I used :(  I added glitter to her hair and dress and Glossy Accents to a few of the more prominent balloons...
...I added some lime green polka dot satin and bright pink grosgrain with some pearl pins (to fit the theme).  I finished with a stamped letter sentiment and pearl accents.
Well, that's it - short and sweet from me today!  Hope you like my fun card and that you can find the time to join in with our challenge this week - hop on over to the PfP blog to see what my wonderful teamies have been up to!  thanks for dropping by and I'll be back soon with some more creations!
Crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Let's hear it for the Girls - closes 12th June
Anything Goes - closes today
For the Girls
Anything Goes - closes 5th June

Monday 26 May 2014

I have fallen in love...

...with Portmeirion!  Although only an hour's drive from our house, it has always been somewhere on my list of places to visit and after a washout of a weekend, with fair weather forecast for Bank Holiday Monday, hubby decided to take us out for the day!  And what a day!  The weather was amazing and just made the beautiful Italianate village of Portmeirion even more stunning!...
...On entering, you are met with a kaleidoscope of prettily painted buildings in every style you could imagine...
...My little man came along (Big man is on his way back from a football trip to Holland!) and posed for plenty of photos!  The gardens are just stunning and I could have just picked them up and brought them home - I was amazed by the use of colour, materials and decoration!  Everything is made to look beautiful, even the generator and electricity buildings have stunning facades!...
...You could easily have been in a little Italian village with the fabulous sunshine...
...and stunning architecture!  ( I know, I know, I am gushing a bit, but I never thought that I would love the place as much as I did!)...

...The village is set on the sheltered side of a peninsula, so it is almost subtropical in it's planting and climate.  We walked out to the lighthouse passing the lovely Portmeirion Hotel...
...The hotel pool...
...A view of the village from the little landtrain that tours the forest part of the gardens.  I think that the weather certainly helped to stir such strong emotions for the place, but it really is a beautiful place to visit if you ever get the opportunity!
To top it off, on the way home, well, via a bit of a detour, we stopped off at Llanberis (the village at the foot of Mount Snowdon) in the hope of taking litlle man on the Electric Mountain tour, but with the Bank Holiday weekend, they were all booked - so that'll have to be another outing one of these fine days!...
...We did wander up to Dolbadarn Castle and enjoyed the view out over the reservoir, then came home to tea and cake!  All in all a wonderful family day out and hopefully one of many - we have a number of places that we've seen along the way to visit, all we need now is the weather to play fair!  Thanks for dropping by to see me and i hope you've ejoyed my little tour of this wonderful part of Wales!  Sorry for the lack of craftiness, but i will be back tomorrow with some inspiration for our new challenge at Passion for Promarkers - don't forget, you still have a little bit of time to enter into our Anniversary challenge to ' Use diecuts' but you'll have to be quick!
Hugs,




Tuesday 20 May 2014

Passion for Promarkers - 5th Anniversary Use Die Cuts...


This card came in the Top 3 at Craftitude Challenges - thanks so much !



Good morning dear crafters. It's Tuesday again, which sees the start of a very special challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week it's PfP's 5th Anniversary! Hip, hip...hooray!

As it's a special challenge we have a really easy theme for you of "Use die cuts", although please note we are only accepting a maximum of 3 entries per person for this one challenge only.  To be eligible for the prize draw you MUST use your Letraset products (i.e. pro, flex, tria, aqua, metallic or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.  As always we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs and our sponsors have been very generous as usual .  Here we go.....
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Letraset Logo
Letraset are offering one lucky winnera pack of 12 Promarkers - Set 1
PM-SpringSummer2013-Pr1
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Michele R designs logo
Whimsy Stamps/Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize $10.00 worth of digi papers
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Little Claire are offering one lucky winner a beautiful Silhouette Elephants Clear Stamp
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Polkadoodles are offering one lucky winner2 digis from their Work & Play range
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Angel Crafts are offering one lucky winner(prize to be confirmed)
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Wow!  Told you there were some amazing prizes – definitely lots of reasons to join in the fun this week!! To give you lots of inspiration both Team 1 and Team 2 are sharing their creations, so don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to check them out!


For my card, I went with an Anniversary theme and used an image from Arthur's Clipart.  This card just sort of grew and ended up being an 8x8 square in the end!...
...The papers are from Prima Fairy Rhymes and Divine Collection paper pads.  The MS clay frame was made using the moulds that I won from the lovely Mandy's follower candy and the flowers are all from WOC.  The die cuts I have used are Spellbinders Circle, Marianne Stitched Flower circle, Crafts Too Label, Cheery Lynn Leaf Strip and Spellbinders Parisian Accents border die.  I added a pink satin ribbon and bow, pearl pins and finished with a touch of glitter and some pearl accents...
...I coloured the sweet picture with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the colour list I used :
Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Coral
Girl's Jacket - Blender, Honeydew, Pastel Green, Soft Green
Girl's Hat and Boots - Muted Pink, Tea Rose, Watermelon
Boy's Jacket - Soft Mauve, Lavender, Cool Grey 3 & 4
Boots - Amethyst, Purple, Slate, Cool Grey 3
Hat - Pastel Beige, Soft Khaki, Khaki
Puddles - Aquamarine
...Instead of an insert, I added a panel inside with the message, 'My perfect day has nothing to do with the weather or what I am doing.  My perfect day is whenever I'm with you.  With love on our Anniversary'...slushy, I know, but sometimes it's nice to have a bit of romance!?!
Well, that's it from me!  Hope you like my inspiration and that you can join in with our fantastic challenge this week, with such amazing prizes, it'd be a shame not to!  I look forward to visiting and seeing your wonderful creations and good luck in the draw!
Big crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Die Crazy (closes tomorrow)
L is for Lots of Layers (closes 29th)
That's Die-licious! (closes 29th)
To Die for (closes 22nd)

Monday 12 May 2014

More foodiness...

Good morning, dear Blogger friends!  My, I'm doing well at the moment - five cards in a week!  My sample box is overflowing, but it means I'll have LOTS of inspiration to share with everyone at the Sincerely Yours Papercraft @ Wrexham Show on the 7th June! 
I have some more foodie related craftiness for you today, but in a CAS style...
...I wanted to do something a bit different, so cut out different sized circles and circle frames from the BBQ and Telephone design set papers and whatever scraps where laying about on my table!  I used the snapshot tool to just print off the burger decoupage and added some gold, red and crystal glitter to highlight.  I created the sentiment in PS and kept the card quite minimal.  I normally mat and layer everything, so it was quite the challenge to just work straight on the card base, but I thought it would work better for the style of card...
...I finished the inside with the square BBQ insert and added acouple of red pearl accents to the top corner - the girls at our workshop joke that this is my signature, as I often find myself unable to resist the urge to just fill a corner with a few little pearls!
Once again, a little reminder that there's still time to enter in with our Yummy Food and Drink challenge over at Passion for Promarkers, but you'd best be quick as a new challnege starts tomorrow!  Have a great week - looks like things will be brightening up by midweek, I could do with a fix of Vitamin D!
Thanks for droppng by to see me, I really do appreciate your company and any comments that you leave me!
Hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
K for Keep it Simple - closes today
One for the Boys - closes 21st
Circles and Squares - closes 15th
(I've used circles on a square card base - hope this is okay?)
Dots and Spots - closes 21st

Sunday 11 May 2014

Just whipped this up to say...

Good morning, everyone and a Happy Sunday to you all!  We're hoping to have a relaxing day today and hopefully the sun will pop his head out now and again! 
I have another card made using one of the images from my new disc...
...I wanted this to look quite 'British Bake Off'-ish?!  I embossed the white background with Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder to look like whipped cream and disguised the join with a piece of red polka dot ribbon (my last piece!)...
...I printed the .png mixer digistamp using Windows Photo Viewer at Wallet size (9 to a page) - twice onto white colouring paper and once onto the red printed paper from the bbq design set.  I shaded the coloured version with Ruby, Crimson and Blender Promarkers then paper pieced over my coloured base image.  I coloured the bowl and knobs on the second digistamp and decoupaged over the top...
 ...I made some bunting and punched flowers from the Telephone flower and Lamp rose papers, inking the edges with Walnut Stain DI and adding pearl centres to the flowers.  A couple of pearly pins, dinky bow and fun sentiment - 'Just whipped this up to say...' and I was finished.  I haven't done anything with the inside yet as I don't know wether to decorate it or add an insert - we'll see, but it will complete the sentiment by reading...'Happy Birthday!'  Hope you like my pretty, culinary creation and I'll be back to share some more craftiness soon!
Huge crafty hugs and glittery wishes,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Anything Goes - closes 13th
Lots of Layers - closes tomorrow
Spring Flowers - closes 14th
2 or more patterned papers - closes 13th
Lots of Layers - closes 16th
Say it with Flowers - closes today

Saturday 10 May 2014

Some samples...

Good morning dear Blogger friends and I hope your having a fabulous weekend!  I thought I would pop in today and share a few samples that I've been making with my latest disc 'A Play on Words'...
...I made this little frame from an old pine one that has been sat in my crafty cupboards waiting to be transformed!  It is so much prettier now and although I am certainly no seamstress, I like to have a go and can stitch together curtains and cushions...heck, I've even just made myself an ABBA costume for a friend's hen party!  The sentiment is partly true for me, but in my case, it should read that EVERYTHING comes before housework!...
...My second project is a shaped card, again using the sewing machine image.  I used the snapshot tool to highlight just the sewing machine and printed twice to fit on an A4 sheet, so that I had an image for decoupaging...
...I drew around the shape to create the blank card back and score and attached along the top to create the card.  I really enjoyed making these crafty projects and will be sharing more as I make them!
Have a wonderful weekend whatever you're doing and I'll be back soon with some more craftiness!
Hugs,
PS DON'T FORGET THERE'S STILL TIME TO ENTER IN OUR YUMMY FOOD AND DRINK CHALLENGE AT PASSION FOR PROMARKERS!

Thursday 8 May 2014

More yummy food...

Good morning, lovely Bloggers on this rather miserable and very wet Thursday, here in Wales!  I hope that some of you are getting to enjoy the sunshine today!  Despite the wetness, I have another summery, yummy food card to share with you today...

...I have managed to find my Go-Kreate Frilly Frame dies which have been missing since the refurb work on our house! Woo hoo!  I decided it was about time that I tackle some of the 'stuff' that has been left unsorted and in boxes and baskets in my front/craft/dining/computer/anything else room and hey presto, there they were! So of course, I had to make a card using them...

 ...The image is one of my own and I've coloured with my Pro/Flexmarkers in bright, fruity colours and added Glossy Accents to the sauce and strawberries and Frosted Lace Stickles to the cream...
...The sentiment came from my new disc A Play on Words and I added some punched flowers to look like strawberry flowers.  A hot pink ribbon, heart pins, glitter, pearls and cute, metal strawberry charm finished everything off!
Thank you so much for dropping by to see me today and if my creation has left your mouth watering, don't forget that there's still time to enter Lou's Yummy Food Challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!
Big crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the folowing challenges :
Metal/Metallic - closes 13th
(I've used a metal charm and pins)
Ribbon or Lace - closes 10th
(I've used a hot pink satin ribbon bow)
Anything Goes - closes 11th
Spots and/or stripes - closes 14th
Something Sweet - closes 17th

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Passion for Promarkers - Yummy food...

Good morning, lovely Bloggers!  It's Tuesday again, which means that it's time for another brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week it's Lou in the chair and as it's International No Diet Day, she has chosen the theme 'Yummy food'!  We are sponsored by the fabulous Whiff of Joy who are offering 1 stamp to the lucky winner...

Don't forget to be eligible to win the prize, you MUST use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.

...I chose to use the ice cream digi from A Year in Cards and paired it with the matching papers.  I used the centre die from my Marianne doily die set to create the sun and hand cut the clouds from white paper...
...I coloured my image with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the list of colours :
Sauce - Shocking Pink, Vermillion
Flake - Caramel, Cocoa, Walnut
Ice cream - Linen, Vanilla, Mustard
Cone - Light Fawn, Soft Peach, Rose Peach
I decoupaged and highlighted the image with glitter and added Glossy Accents over the sauce...almost good enought to eat!...
...I embellished with some pink gingham ribbon, photo corner and pearls and finished the inside with a printed insert.
I hope there will be plenty of ice cream days this Summer and if you can find the time, we'd love it if you could join in with this fun challenge this week!  Thanks for dropping by to see my crafty creation and don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what my wonderful teamies have been up to!
Have a great Tuesday!  Crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Use that Ribbon!
Here comes Summer
Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes

Friday 2 May 2014

Box card crazy!...

Good morning, lovely Bloggers!  Remember that bandwagon that I jumped on a couple of posts back?...Well, I think I am going box card crazy!  I just love these fun little cards, full of dimension and interest and all folding flat to go into an envelope too!  I have been having a play with my new CD (available to buy from my sidebar) and have made a couple more box cards using the barbecue and lawn mower images...
...I used the snapshot tool to just print out the bits that I wanted and suspended them using scrap strips of acetate...
...a sideways view...
...I made another using the lawn mower images and sentiment - in hindsight, I wouldn't have printed onto the pearl cardstock as it tends to mute the colours somewhat, but hey-ho!  I made some cute little bees from my small flower punch and hand cut the grass - though I think I might just have to get myself a die as I really like the effect.  No sideways view for this one as I was trying to take the pics using our old SLR Fuji and a) I couldn't remember how to change the settings on the darn thing and b) the batteries decided to give up the ghost after this shot!  (Only reason being our 'proper' camera is in hubby's car!)

Really, I should be tackling the mountain of ironing that is resembling Snowdon in our bedroom, but it's dry and bright so I think I might just stick on my wellies and go and mow the lawn! (Lawn being a rather posh way of saying a mixture of grass and moss with a generous sprinkling of daisies and dandelions!)  Happy Friday everyone and I hope that you all have a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, let's hope that Mr Weather plays nice!
Big crafty Hugs,
Lisa X

P.S. Sincerely Yours Papercraft Shows have a new venue at Glyndwr University Sports Centre in Wrexham on the 7th June.  I'll be there with my new CD, so if you get the chance, why not pop along and say Hi?!
Papercrafts @ Wrexham
Saturday 7th June
Show Open 10am - 3.30pm
Tickets only £2 purchased in advance
£2.50 on the door