Just Magnolia meets Sukkersott

One of my favourite card makers, Lena Katrine, has designed a fabulous sketch for this weeks Sukkersott challenge and I’ve combined this with the Just Magnolia challenge to incorporate ribbons and bows.

This is another image I coloured while I was on holiday.  She’s coloured with distress inks and I snipped a couple of petals off a cherry blossom paper flower for the extra falling petals.  The Crafty Individuals flourishes are stamped with distress ink as well and I tied a double bow to finish.

We’re having some friends over for a barbeque tomorrow so hopefully the weather will be kind to us.  Enjoy the bank holiday weekend everyone – it’s the last one before Christmas!!!

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Sugar Bowl Challenge

It’s AGES since I’ve entered a card in the Sugar Bowl Challenge but the sketch seemed to re-start my mojo which was a huge relief! 

I’ve been itching to used my new MME papers and they all coordinate so beautifully they’re perfect when you’re using lots of layers.  I’ve coloured this gorgeous SN Fragile Beauty image with distress inks and then used Antique Linen and Brushed Cordroy to sponge the background and edges.  All the papers have been distressed with Brushed Cordroy too.  The butterfly is a Quickutz die which I cut 3 times (card, velum and DP) to give it some dimension and then added a snip of Prima Say it with Crystals.  I’ve tried to show the dimension of the butterfly in this picture.

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All about the flowers

Well my mojo is still missing!  I sat down last night with a few sketches and all my papers and couldn’t come up with anything.  It’s so frustrating because I’ve got new stash I want to use but I don’t seem to know what to do with it.  My desk is strewn with flowers so in the end  I used my favourite gorjuss girl and surrounded her with blooms!

I found the large pink and cream flowers on a recent visit to John Lewis and the large bud was a find at a local sewing shop.  All the other flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

They’ve all been given a good spritz with pearl Glimmer Mist and the paper is from a K & Co recycled pack.

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Left my mojo somewhere in North Devon!

We had a lovely holiday.  The weather was better at home while we were away but we still had a great time.  Thomas was in his element – he loved the beach and we had trouble keeping him out of the sea.   I even found a craft shop to browse around for a couple of hours so I added a few bits to my stash.

But I think I left my mojo behind when we came home.  I sat at my desk ready to play with all my new goodies and nothing!!  I did colour a few images while we were away so I’ve used the Sketch and Stash sketch to make this Bildmalarna DT card.  I have used a few new things on this card – my new MS border punch and a new X-Cut flower punch.   This card is also for the Basic Grey challenge which is to use the colours pink, brown and yellow.

And here is a picture of Thomas enjoying himself at the beach

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Truly Scrumptious Challenge #14

This post has been scheduled as I’m on holiday so I hope it works OK!

The Truly Scrumptious challenge this time is to make anything BUT a card.  We’re being sponsored this week by Sandra Dry Digi Stamps and the lucky winner will get to choose six of her fabulous designs.

I decided to make a little gift set for my mum.  The first item is a simple topper for a bag containing mini bath bombs.  I used my label nesties and coloured the gorjuss girl in distress inks.  The roses are spritzed with glimmer mist.  The second item is a small gift box which has four drawers, each of which contains a gift.  I made this by using 4 craft matchboxes which I coloured using distress inks.  I used a ribbon slot punch to create a slit at the front of each drawer and then threaded the ribbon through.  The corners of the base & top of the box have been rounded and I then stamped and coloured the gorjuss girl so she would sit towards the bottom of the box as I wanted to add a nice posy of roses in the top corner. 

The flourishes stamped under the flowers are from Crafty Individuals and the sentiment is a Papermania stamp.

I hope you’ll all joining in this weeks challenge .

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Oops, almost forgot

Gosh my memory is shocking - its true what they say that having a baby seems to destroy huge amounts of brain cells! The lovely Jan left me this award a couple of days ago. I was so please to receive it as Jan is such a talented crafter and it turns out we both live in the same town!! Thank you Jan.


I would like to pass this on to all the girls on the Truly Scrumptious DT who make the most gorgeous creations for our challenges. So Beth, Danita, Debbie, Dawn, Heather, Michele, Mina and Nicole this is for you!!

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Bildmalarna DT / Spoon Full of Sugar

I’ve managed to squeeze another card in before we go on holiday tomorrow and this is another of the gorgeous new Bildmalarna stamps which is available now. 

I found these gorgeous papers at a small art shop in Bluewater.  Trouble is I have no idea what make they are as there was nothing printed on the back!  If anyone knows please tell me!!  The sketch is by the very talented Camilla.  I love how Camilla colours her images and she very kindly gave me some help with colouring faces a few weeks ago.  I’m still practicing Camilla but I think I’m getting better – thank you!!

So I’m signing off for a week now.  I might fit in a bit of blog hopping this evening in between the packing but otherwise I’ll see you in a weeks time!

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Bildmalarna DT card / Sketch Saturday

Phew, what a hot day we’re having in Kent today and so far its been very productive.  We dropped Thomas at nursery and went straight to Bluewater for a bit of shopping (new bedroom curtains) and lunch.  And then came home and sanded & painted all the downstairs window sills.  So now I have about 1/2 hour to make this post before I need to pick Thomas up.

I was thrilled when Lalla asked me if I would like to continue as a guest designer for their new release of stamps.  They arrived late last week and I have to say they are all gorgeous plus you can now order them already mounted on EZ mount.  I chose to ink up Mimosa  Umbrella first.  These images are so lovely to colour.  I experimented by using a bit of Black Soot distress ink in the areas where I wanted shadow and I’m pretty happy with the result.

The layout is from this weeks Sketch Saturday challenge.  Here is a close up of Mimosa.  I used some liquid gloss around her feet to create a puddle.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Mimosa Umbrella from Bildmalarna, Papermania sentiment

Papers: Double sided sheet from Imaginisce

Colouring Medium:  Distress Inks

Embellishments: Ribbon, crystal rain drops, brads, spacers all from my stash

Tools: Retro flower punches (medium & small), corner rounder punch

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Friday Sketchers

My new stamps from Sugar Nellie arrived in the post this week and it was a tough decision deciding which one to ink up first.  I decided on this adorable Manga girl who I fell in love with when I saw her on the SN blog.  She was out of stock twice before I could get my hands on her but she was definitely worth the wait.  She needed some funky papers and these have been in my drawer for a while now.  I didn’t want to hide the gorgeous patterns so I’ve just added a few stars and a simple sentiment.

Here’s a close up shot of this cutie

 

Card Recipe:

Image: Sugar Nellie

Colouring medium: Distress inks (Old Soot, Worn Lipstick, Aged Mahogany, Tattered Rose, Vintage Photo)

Papers: Bo Bunny

Embellishments: Woodware staple sentiment

Tools: Quickutz double star die, small star punch, circle and scalloped circle nesties

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An award

I've been given this award by the lovely and talented Danielle. Thank you so much. I'm so touched when someone take the time to pass on an award and, like all the comments I receive on my blog, it is really appreciated.

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Truly Scrumptious

This week on the Truly Scrumptious blog we have a fab sketch by the very talented Mina and the added challenge is to use some bling on your card.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people have started to make their Christmas cards recently which is such a good idea as I’m always rushed at that time of year.  I have a real lack of Christmas stamps (I feel a shopping spree coming on) but I do have this fabulous image from Pink Gem Designs.  I’ve coloured her in distress inks and added stickles to the fur trim on her dress, ear muffs and boots.  I used a Hero Arts snowflake stamp around the edge of the image and my other snowflakes are punched and embellished with crystal gems.  And for a bit more bling I added 3 star shaped brads to the ribbon.  I ran out of room for a sentiment but I’ll add one to the inside later on.

I hope you will be able to visit the Truly Scrumptious blog to see the DT’s fabulous creations.  There is also a fantastic set of Alota stamps to be won if you take part our challenge.

Card Recipe:

Stamp:  Winter Mimi from Pink Gem Designs, snowflake stamp from Hero Arts

Colouring medium: Distress Inks – Dusty Concord (dress & boots) Tattered Rose and Tea Dye (skin) Brushed Cordroy & Walnut Stain (hair)

Papers: DCWV Christmas Stack

Embellishments: Brads, ribbon and gems from stash

Tools: Label & Cirle Nesties, Sizzix snowflake die, X-Cut snowflake punch

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A baby girl this time!

Two new babies in a week!  Another of my NCT friends has had No.2, this time a little girl who arrived last Friday.  I’ve used the lovely sketch from this weeks Sketch & Stash challenge and, for a change, I’ve paper pieced my image rather than colour her.  I love the simple layout of this card as you get to see lots of the Graphic 45 paper.  I bought some lace from a local sewing shop yesterday so this is my new stash item.  I’m also entering this card in the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge (floral fantasy) and Stamp Something (paper piecing).

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Whiff of Joy and Papermania sentiment

Colouring: Distress inks for hair (brushed cordroy & walnut stain) and skin (tattered rose)

Papers: Graphic 45 and Anna Griffin

Embellishments: Flower from Wild Orchid Crafts, lace from stash

Tools:  MS lace doily punch, Cuttlebug fancy corner die, Leon-Em leaf punch, Label nesties

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