LOTV James Bear

Hello,
Today I have quite a simple card to share with you, I prefer to keep to a CAS style for male cards. I used an image from one of the Lili of the Valley coloured art pads, this one is from the James and Jenny Bear pad, I think it's a lovely image that could be for many different occasions. 
I die cut the image from the pad and matted onto kraft card, the papers are also from LOTV, I stamped the sentiments onto the same kraft card and used some string to embellish. I used a Martha Stewart punch to add some interest down the left side and finally die cut some faux buttons.
I really liked the colours on this card, they wouldn't probably be the usual colours I would go for, but I felt they complimented the image really well. 

Products used:

• Art pad, sentiments and papers all from LOTV
• Dies - MFT Die-namics pierced rectangles - Die-namics buttons
• Punch - Martha Stewart PATP Cherish
• Kraft card - Crafter's Companion Neenah Desert Storm (this is meant for colouring, but I like the light shade of the kraft and keep dipping into it!) 

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I hope you like my card, I have been inspired to enter the following challenge:

Lili of the Valley Monthly Challenge - June - Male or Sporty

For A Great Dad

Hello,
Today I am sharing a decoupaged card for a change, using yet another fab House Mouse Design. As it's Father's Day next Sunday here in the UK, I thought it was appropriate to go with a male themed card. I know it's not Autumn yet, but the last card was Christmas, so I am working my way back through the seasons!

To start, I have used a sheet of decoupage from Joanna Sheen's House Mouse Autumn collection, which is sadly not available on her site any longer.  I used my Spellbinders dies to make a shaped card and I used the same die set to make a mat with Coredinations cardstock. I then cut an aperture with a Spellbinders rectangle die and sanded down all the edges to reveal the core colour. I layered the aperture over the decoupage to frame the image. I then made these lovely leaves with dies and distress inks, to give the leaves a bit more dimension, I turned them over after I had inked them and used a ball tool to make them pop out a bit more, rather than being flat. I have done these leaves before and love the way they turn out. I added some stitched ribbon and a die cut button from kraft card, which I also distressed. I stamped a sentiment onto kraft card and again distressed the edges. Finally I added some brown card Candi to give a finishing touch to the corners. 

 You can see the layers of the decoupage clearer on this picture. 

Products used:

• Spellbinders Dies - Grand Labels 1 - Rectangles
• Impression Obsession Dies - Leaves
• House Mouse Decoupage - Joanna Sheen - Autumn
• Coredinations Cardstock - Vintage Collection
• Brown Cardstock - Papermill Direct
• Sentiment Stamp - Woodware - Larger Tie Set
• Kraft Card - Joy Crafts
• Distress Inks - Peeled Paint - Spiced Marmalade - Vintage Photo - Walnut Stain - Aged Mahogany 
• Die-namics Die - Buttons
• Ribbon from stash
• Card Candi - Craftwork Cards

I have been inspired to enter the following challenges:

1. House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge - Lots of Layers
2. Ooh La La Creations Challenge 158 - Father's Day/Male
3. The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog - 71 A cute one for Dad

I hope you like my card and would be grateful for any comments you leave. 

Peace On Earth

Hello people,
You are probably thinking that I have lost it today, Christmas.......at the beginning of June! What can I say, I felt the urge to make a Christmas card and felt inspired to join in some of the Christmas challenges out there in blog land. So here is my card using yet another gorgeous Lili of the Valley stamp, this one is called Peace on Earth, she is very adorable. 

I have coloured the image using Distress Markers and added some glamour dust to her wings and around her hair. I matted and layered onto some very lovely papers, might NEED another pad of these papers. I felt the papers didn't need to be matted onto yet more card stock and so I used my quicky glue pen and glamour dust and went around all the papers and the image to give some depth and texture. I made the poinsettias by stamping onto vellum using a Versamark ink pad and then I heat embossed using a glittery white embossing powder. I then cut out the poinsettias using my Spellbinders dies and pinched each petal before layering up. I used large clear beads in the centres of the poinsettias using a blob of Pinflair to keep them in place. The sentiment is also a LOTV stamp from the set Christmas circular sentiments set 5. To finish I used some pearls, a charm and a silver ribbon that I picked up in Waitrose sale after Christmas a few years back, I always know these bits and bobs that I acquire will come in handy sometime!  

 A view from a different angle, you can see the poinsettias better in this picture. 

Products used:

• Image & Sentiment stamps - LOTV
• Colouring medium - Tim Holtz Distress Markers
• Poinsettia Stamps - Heartfelt Creations Petite Poinsettia
• Poinsettia Dies - Spellbinders Layered Poinsettias
• Papers - First Edition Silent Night
• Embossing Powder - Heat it up Snowflake Tinsel (This is one of the first embossing powders I ever brought, so not sure if it's still available) 
• Glamour Dust - Joanna Sheen
• Pearls - The Hobby House
• Creative Expressions Large Beads - Joanna Sheen

I have been inspired to enter the following challenges:

1. Winter Wonderland Challenge - No Red or Green 
2. CHNC June Challenge - Anything goes as long as it's Christmas 

Feeling under the weather?

Hello
I'm back with another House Mouse card today, this time using a sweet Spring Tulip stamp set from Joanna Sheen. I coloured in the image using Distress Markers and added some glossy accents onto the rain drops. I opted for a shaped card for this image, as I always seem to reach for the square card blanks! The lovely little sentiment came with the stamp set and is just perfect for the image.
I matted and layered the image onto some designer paper and added some pretty flowers to match the colours in the image. Finally, I twisted some of the flower stems to fit under the flowers and added some gems and swirls. I think the photo came out a bit darker than I would have liked, it is a very dreary day here today in Kent. 

Card ingredients:

• Tulip Stamp Set - Joanna Sheen 
• Designer Papers - First Edition - Spring Feast
• Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts
• Dies - Go Kreate Frilly Frame - Swirls Crealies - Sentiment Die X-Cut
• Gems - The Hobby House
• Shaped Card Blank - Craftwork Cards

I have been inspired to make this card by The House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge 170 - Splish Splash and Gruffies & Guests Challenge 5 - Anything Goes With The Option of Spring. I hope you like my card today, thank you for visiting my blog. 

You Brighten my Day

Hello,

I spent a very relaxing evening yesterday colouring this very pretty image from Lili of the Valley, it's one of their new fairy stamps and I have to say my favourite of the new release. I coloured in the image with Distress Markers and I couldn't wait to make my card with it today! I added some Glamour Dust to the fairies wings for a bit of sparkle. Then, I teamed up the image with Maja Papers and stamped the sentiment onto kraft card using a Versafine Vintage Sepia ink pad. I stitched around the edges of the paper and added some flowers, ribbon and pearls. 

 A close up of the colouring and glitter.

Card ingredients:

• Stamps - LOTV Time Flies & Sentiment is from a Create and Craft LOTV exclusive 'Oh So Girlie' set. 
• Dies - Spellbinders Labels 17 - Crealies Leaves  
• Flowers & Pearls - The Hobby House
• Ribbon - Creative Expressions
• Papers - Maja Design, Vintage Autumn Basics

Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope my card inspires you and any comments would be appreciated, I love receiving and reading them. I will be entering my card into the following challenges. 

1. LOTV's Ideas to Inspire - May Challenge Fairies
2. Papertake Weekly Challenge - Pretty Pastels
3. The Ribbon Girls Blogspot - May Lovely Lili Challenge - Add Pearls
4. Crafty Little Fairies - May -In the Garden
5. A Gem of A Challenge - 119 - Your Favourite Colour Combo 

If nothing changed...

Hello,

I made this card this afternoon and was really pleased with it and thought I would share it on my blog. You know when you have an idea for a card and then when you make it up, it never turns out how you thought it would in your mind? Well this one turned out much better than planned for a change! 

I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of DP within the same pack as the background paper, using brown ink. I cut the image out using a Spellbinders die and then matted by drawing around the die and cutting out in caramel card stock. I glittered all around the edge's of the DP using a quickie glue pen, matted and layered and then added this gorgeous die cut butterfly. Finally I finished off with a few gems.

Card Ingredients:

• Sentiment stamp Dinkies No Butterflies - Little Claire 
• Memory Box Butterfly Die - Oyster Stamps
• Wild Rose Studios Designer Papers - Hobby Art
• Dies - Spellbinders Labels 22
• Caramel Card - Limetree Crafts
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Maroon Card - Papermill Direct
• Gems & Glamour Dust Glitter - Joanna Sheen

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

1. Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
2. The Crafting Cafe - May Challenge - Creatures
3. Sparkle N Sprinkle - May 2014 Challenge 
4. Sir Stampalot Challenge - May Challenge - Anything Goes
5. Ooh La La Creations Challenge 156 - Quotations 

Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you like my card. Any comments would be gratefully received. 

House Mouse Summer

Hello,
Well I said on a previous post I love Lili of the Valley. Well I have a second love and that is House Mouse! When I saw this months theme of Sunny Days on the House Mouse & Friends Challenge Blog, I thought I would join in and have a go. I have had this un-inked stamp set that I brought from Joanna Sheen some time and sadly it is now retired from the online store. I was a bit put off by the amount of colouring involved on this stamp, but this challenge spurred me on to give it a go. I coloured the image to match the backing papers using Promarkers, Copics and Prisma Colour Pencils. I used glossy accents on the ice cubes as it was crying out for it and I used my clear Wink of Stella pen over the top of the glossy accents, which gave a gentle shimmer (This doesn't show up in the photo). I decided to stamp the sentiment straight onto the backing paper as an after thought, always a scary moment that it might go horribly wrong, luckily it turned out fine this time! I added some stitching, ribbon and gems to embellish. Finally I couldn't resist colouring the little single mouse and so I added that onto the card as well. 

House Mouse Summer stamps

Card ingredients:

• Stamps - Joanna Sheen - House Mouse Summer Parasol
• DP - MME Sunny 
• Red Card - American Crafts textured card stock
• Embellishments - From stash 

I am entering this card into The House Mouse & Friends Monday challenge 'Sunny Days'

Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you like my card and any comments will be very much appreciated.