Thursday 30 April 2015

After The Rain

Good morning to all my lovely crafty friends and followers, Today sees the launch of a new challenge at Crafty Ribbons the theme this week is Anything Goes always a favorite with everyone.



For my Design Team card I have used a cute stamp from Crafters Companion called After the Rain not sure if its still available as I was given this stamp.


Card Recipe

6x6 blank card Craftwork cards
After the Rain stamp from Crafters Companion painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils
Die is Marianne flower,.leaf and circle
Papers are Maja Design Summer Basics from Live and  Love crafts
Organza ribbon, Etienne Lace and Handmade label are all from Crafty Ribbons
Charm,pearl hearts and pearl sliders are from my stash
Sentiment made on the computer as the stamp design with the card same words didn't fit my design as its curved..
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts and  Live and Love Crafts

I hope you can find time to pop over and enter something into this challenge especially as its Anything Goes. There is always a great prize from The Crafty Ribbons Shop.

I am now going to ask you lovely bloggers for some help. Crafty Ribbons also run a daily Inspiration Blog. The design team each add a new project most days.however in recent weeks we seem to have had a decline in visitors and very few comments on the Design Teams fabulous projects so if you could find time now and again to pop over and visit that would be great the link is below. Thank You.


I hope you are all having a great week we are back to cold weather here I just hope last week wasn't our Summer!!. I'm doing the White on White card I made recently with our Craft Group ladies today so hope they enjoy making it. Hugs Carole x

I'm entering this into In The Pink Challenge Fussy and Fancy or Clean and Simple Challenge (Just hope its Pink enough )












Wednesday 29 April 2015

Deacon Bugs

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers hope you are all having a great week. .As its Wednesday today sees the launch of the new Anything Goes Challenge at Crafting by Designs.
We have two great sponsor

 Sami Stamps  

Prize - $12 gift certificate

and

Prize - winner choice of 7 digis

For my Design Team card I decide to use Deacon Bugs from Bugaboo Stamps.


Card Recipe

6x6 blank card
Blue ,red and  kraft card
Image Deacon Bugs Bugaboo Stamps painted with Derwent Inktense Pencil
Jumbo Ric Rac is from Crafty Ribbons
I made the tag banner
Sentiment tags are LOTV
The round die is a Whimsy Shapeology Slider I won in a Candy give away from Bev Rochester's Blog
LOTV greetings postmark stamp
Ladybirds, bee and twine are from my stash
 
I hope you like this card as I rarely do boys so when I picked this image I thought it would be a bit different. I hope you find time to enter the Anything Goes Challenge they are always so popular,

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone Hugs Carole x



Friday 24 April 2015

Pretty Bouquet

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers I hope you are all well and enjoying the great sunny weather . I would like to welcome my new follower Jenny thank you Jenny for following my blog and  I hope you can visit often.
My card today is a LOTV image that I coloured at craft class last week when our theme was stamping and  colouring.



Card Recipe

6x6 blank card Craftwork cards
Papers LOTV Baskets and  Bunnies
Stamp LOTV Pretty Bouquet painted with Promarker pens
Border Die Joy Crafts from Noor Designs UK
Lace and flower paper clip from my Stash
Pearl Trim and small cameo The Hobby House
Paper Bow from a Hunkydory sheet I was given 
Pearl beads I bought in a dollar shop in New Zealand threaded onto Anchor Marlitt thread
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts and  Boyes Stores
Sentiment tags LOTV
Spiders web mesh 
Butterfly punch Martha Stewart 

You will remember I mentioned earlier in the week that I was meeting my friend Val and going to Alnwick Garden we all had a great day the weather was perfect a huge  ice cream sitting in the sunshine and a lovely meal in The Tree House Restaurant then a visit to The Poison Garden. I've added a photo of us and  one of the fountains and The Tree House Restaurant..If you'v never visited its a gorgeous place for a day out.









I have one other bit of news you may also remember on Monday I told you about my challenge top pick and candy win and said I might but a lottery ticket,. Well I give a monthly donation to the local Butterwick Hospice Lottery and on Monday lunchtime a letter arrived and  I'd won £10 !! definitely my lucky week I've been in the lottery for ages and  never won anything .

Hope you all have a great weekend and if your lucky to live in the south enjoy this beautiful 
weather  hugs Carole x








Wednesday 22 April 2015

Mother's Day USA

Good morning everyone I hope you are all well and enjoying your week. Yes its Wednesday and the launch of a new Challenge at Crafting by Designs and the theme is Mother's Day I know its a bit late for the UK but its Mother's Day in the USA very soon.
We have two sponsors this week

 QKR Stampede   
Prize - winner choice of 3 single digis

and



I decided on a an QKR stampede stamp called Picking Flowers for my Mother's Day card


Card Recipe

6x6 Blank Card
Papers timeless Victorian LOTV
Kraft Card Crafters Companion
Stamp Picking Flowers painted with Promarker and  Copic pens
Hessian ribbon with lace overlay is from Hobby Lobby in Florida
Lilac lace and  Handmade label Crafty Ribbons
Heart buttons Whitby Crafts
Sentiments LOTV Greetings Postmarks and Sentiment Tags
Spellbinder stately circles and  circle dies
Flower punch 
Viva pearl pen and pearls from my stash

I thought she had a funny face and a bit of a fat arm when I was colouring her but I guess that's all part of the cuteness !!
Hope you all have a great week and can find time to pop over to the challenge I know some of you have had some luck in the recent challenges. hugs Carole x







Monday 20 April 2015

White on White

Good morning to all my lovely crafty friends and followers. I also want to give a special welcome this morning to my two new followers Vicky and  Marjorie . Thank you so much for following my blog I hope you find the time to visit me often .
Well I hope you have all had a good weekend  I did jobs and a bit of crafting yesterday and went to Newcastle on Saturday and did a bit of shopping.
My card today is another I have made as a sample for the ladies at my craft group to make next week. so a simpler design as we have all abilities, I decided on White on White.



Card Recipe

6x6 Scalloped card from Craftwork Cards
Embossing folder free in a magazine a while ago
Spellbinder Floral Oval die
Memory box Chloe Stem from the GNPE
Sentiment LOTV Handwritten Phrases
Butterfly die I think another magazine freebie 
Small ribbon flower from my stash 
All cut from 300gsm white card


Well today I've got two new box trees to put in pots in the garden and then hoping to get some more crafting done I didn't get time for much last week the week just seemed to fly by.Tomorrow we are meeting my friend Val and we are hoping weather permitting to go to the Alnwick Garden. .Looking forward to seeing her as we don;t get together that often as she lives in London it'll be chat chat all day!!
Hope you enjoy my card and  I'm hoping the ladies at the craft group do too its always difficult designing something everyone can make and likes.
Enjoy the week what ever you all have planned and before I go I want to thank you all for the lovely comments you have left recently you are all so lovely and amazing Hugs x

PS Forgot to tell you all I was delighted to get picked as a Perfect Pinky In The Pink Challenge with my Tiddly Inks For You card and I also won Candy on Debra's blog. I'm on a roll better buy a lottery ticket !!



Wednesday 15 April 2015

Best Friends Shaped Card


Good morning to all my lovely followers and  friends .Well its Wednesday and another launch of the weekly challenge over at Crafting by Designs . This week the theme is a shaped card. I enjoyed doing this card. as it made me have a dig around in my blank card box and found these lovely step cards I bought ages ago from Craftwork Cards not sure if they still sell them and its a while since I've made a card using them. Our sponsor this week is Eureka Stamps and I decided on a stamp called Best Friends for my Design Team card

Prize - winners choice of 3 single digis




Card Recipe

Blank step card Craftwork Cards
Image Best Friends from Eurika stamps coloured with Promarker and Copic pens
Spellbinder Floral oval die
Magnolia Doohickey flower die
Lace from my stash
Pearl string The Hobby House
Organza flower trim is cut from a very wide ribbon three rows of these flowers its fabulous and  from Crafty Ribbons
Sentiment tags LOTV
Small resin flowers Michaels Florida
Papers Maja Design Summer Basics
Pearls from my stash

I hope you are all having a great week and find time to dig out those shaped cards and enter the challenge hugs Carole x





Monday 13 April 2015

Tilda with Spring Bundle

Good morning everyone hope you are all well and enjoying this sunny weather.My post today is a Tilda image I bought recently in a sale at The Paperlane craft shop in Northallerton. I don't have many Tilda stamps but I liked this image and  its ages since I made a card using Tilda. I hope you like her.


Card Recipe

6x6 blank card
Papers are Maja Design Spring Basics from Live and  Love Crafts
Magnolia Tilda with Spring Bundle painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils
Fence die Crafty Sentiments Designs
Lace and  Fait Main ribbon from Crafty Ribbons
Butterfly punch Martha Stewart
Hessian butterflies from a pack from the pound shop
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts
Small wooden sentiment tag from a gift shop in Bakewell 
Sewing machine and white top stitch thread
Pearl string and twine from my stash

The sentiment letters are quite small but it reads "Good Friends are hard to find harder to leave and impossible to forget."isn't it lovely?

Hope you have a great week and  enjoy the weather and some crafty time. As the kids have gone back to school I think hubby and  I may have a pensioners day out to Whitby sometime this week.I need my GF fish and  chip fix and  its also an excuse to visit the craft shop!! hugs Carole x


Thursday 9 April 2015

For You

Good evening to all my lovely friends and  blog followers. My card today is the first Tiddly Inks image I have used. I've admired them on a couple of blogs and decided recently to buy a couple of digi's and this is the first.
 As it was a digi image I usually colour them with Copics and  Promarkers as I always find them difficult to colour with inktense pencils or distress inks so I have been trying a few methods to stop the printer ink from bleeding.  I decided once I got it sorted to write a tutorial and  this is on my Tutorial Page if you want to take a look. I'm sure there are other methods out there but this works for me. This is my first image painted with inktense pencils using this method and  I'm quite pleased with the results.




Card Recipe

7 x 7 Blank Card
Stamp Tiddly Inks Wryn Grow a Little Love painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils and sprinkled with Shabby Pink Frantage from Live and  Love Crafts
Butterfly border Joy Crafts
Papers Maja Design Coffee in the Arbour Grandma's Old Porcelain Cups a 12 x 12 sheet from Whichcraft at the GNPE
Spellbinder Opulent Oval dies
Guipure lace with flowers Wild Orchid Crafts (now out of stock) such a shame.
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts the grey roses were white and I painted them with a Promarker pen.  
Grey pearl hearts GNPE
Hearts Dutch Dubadoo Noor Designs
Resin Frame Melissa Francis
For You letters from a Pion cut out sheet
Grey pearl string and  ribbon my stash


Well I hope you are all having a great week the weather here has been lovely so I've made the most of it doing some garden jobs. 
Thank you to all of you who have commented on my last couple of posts the comments have been so lovely.  I loved and appreciated every one you are such special people . Hugs Carole x

I'm entering this into Tiddly Inks ChallengeIn The Pink Challenge and Noor Design Challenge





Wednesday 8 April 2015

Vintage Christmas

Good morning to all my crafty friends and followers and a special welcome today to my new follower Gran Margaret I hope you enjoy my blog so glad you are following me.
I know what your thinking now just finished Easter yesterday and she''s posting a Christmas card !! Well the card is to launch a new challenge over at Crafting by Designs. The theme is Get Ready for Christmas. We ran some challenges with this theme in the lead up to Christmas and they were so popular that the team decided to have this theme once a month throughout the year. Its a great way to build the Christmas cards up during the year

We have two sponsors this week

Prize - $15 credit to the store

)
Prize - choice of 3 single images up to $10


I decided on a collage sheet from Lunagirl Christmas in Pink for my design and this is one of the images from the sheet.



Card Recipe

7 x 7 Blank card
Image from Lunagirl Collage sheet Christmas in Pink
Papers LOTV Baskets and  Bunnies
Spellbinder Decorative Labels Eight
Cheery Lyn Doily Die English Tea Party
Sentiment LOTV Christmas Grungy Messages
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts. I embossed the poinsettia with chunky white embossing powder 
from Live and  Love Crafts
White seam binding ribbon also from Live and Love Crafts
Lace, pearl string and pearl heart pins are from my stash
White gesso
Resin Angel and Vintage Cabochon are both from Wild Orchid Crafts


I hope you are inspired to make a Christmas card ( especially if you haven't started any yet ) and  pop over and enter the challenge. Enjoy the rest of the week whatever you have planned Hugs Carole x



Friday 3 April 2015

Crafty Ribbons Easter Blog Hop

Happy Easter everyone.Today on the Crafty Ribbons Pure Inspiration Blog we are having a little blog hop around our Design Team blogs I do hope you can hop around with us. 



This cute little fellow is joining us but he has forgotten his name so on your visits to each of the teams blogs you will find a letter and when you have collected all the letters some are a little jumbled so you may have to sort them a little you will then know his name 

The prize is a fabulous voucher to spend at CRAFTY RIBBONS just think of all those gorgeous new ribbons you could buy

This is my inspiration for the blog hop. .I hope you like him and I would love it if you could leave me a comment.


Card Recipe

6x6 blank scalloped card
Bias binding ribbon and green pearl string from Crafty Ribbons  
I've stitched the bias binding around the edge of a circle and also used the ribbon and  pearl string to decorate my card
Stamp LOTV Armfuls of Daisies painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts and my stash
Sentiment LOTV Simply Sophisticated
Spellbinder circle and scalloped circle dies

So to join in this fun blog hop you need to go over to the Crafty Ribbons Pure Inspiration Blog to pick up the first couple of letters then visit each of the Design Team blogs to pick up the remaining letters then when you have all the letters just work out our bunnies name then go back to the Crafty Ribbons Pure Inspiration blog. You need to leave a comment with the bunnies name in it to be entered in the prize draw That's all you need to do so good luck everyone

My letter is A
You should have arrived here from Laura's blog 
and your next hop will take you to

If you get lost along the way just head back to the start.Remember to start and  finish at the Crafty Ribbons Pure Inspiration blog

The blog hop is running till next Friday 10th and will close at 10.a.m. 
So if you don't have time to complete the hop you can always hop back another day to finish it. Have fun hugs Carole x




Thursday 2 April 2015

Easter Box

Good morning to all my friends and blog followers I hope you are all looking forward to the Easter weekend and have some lovely things planned.
My post today is an Easter Box and  its my Design Team  project for the launch over at Crafty Ribbons of the new bi weekly challenge and the theme this week you guessed is Easter.


The Box


Box Lid


Inside of the box

Box Recipe

Round box
Easter Stamp LOTV ( I think its now retired )painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils.
 Velvet Ribbon, Etienne and Clermont lace all from Crafty Ribbons
Pearl Trims from Whitby Crafts and The Hobby House
Doily's cut to fit over the inside edge from Wild Orchid Crafts 
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts and  Boyes Stores
Easter Blessing Postmark Stamp from LOTV 
Tissue paper and  Chocolates from Thornton's!!

I hope you find time to pop over to the challenge and enter your Easter projects. If not you might like to take a look at the Crafty Ribbons shop they have some great unique ribbons and lace just gorgeous.
Hugs x




Wednesday 1 April 2015

Row of Whimsical Houses Wall Hanging

Good morning to all my lovely followers and  friends .Well its Wednesday again and today sees the launch of the weekly challenge over at Crafting by Designs and our theme this week is Anything goes This has got to be everyone's favorite so I 'm certain everyone will have something to enter.
We have two sponsors each giving generous prizes
Prize - 4 single digis

Prize - $10 credit to the store

For my DT project I decided on Row of Whimsical Houses from The Octopode Factory and  I've used it to make a wall hanging for a change.


Wall Hanging Recipe

Heart shape with hanger from a local Garden Centre Craft Shop Strikes at Stokesley.
Shape covered in Maja Design Papers Spring Basics from Live and  Love Crafts. The tag  and  April Diary are from the cut out sheet that comes with the pad.
Stamp Row of Whimsical Houses The Octopode Factory painted with Promarkers and Copic pens then fussy cut.
Sentiment our house in the middle of the street comes with the stamp
Sage green Hessian from the GNPE
Wooden stars Whiby Crafts
Wooden house and  green metal embellishment from my stash
Lace from Crafty Ribbons
New house sentiments on tag LOTV Greetings Postmarks
The edges are inked with Forest Green Distress Ink

Well I hope I've inspired you with my New Home Wall Hanging to pop over to Crafting by Designs and  take a look at this weeks Challenge hugs Carole