Koala Cuddles

Pastels are my favourite colours, and in particular pinks, blues and purples. I think they're easier on the eye and pretty.  I've used lots of pinks on today's card, even for the little koala critter for a bit of fun.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Koala on a Branch digi image by Lee Holland
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• 6mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL34 Double Stitched Squares

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Moo-velously Simple

Although I often add a lot of fancy embellishments to my cards, I do actually enjoy making clean and simple cards which keep the focus on the image, especially if it's a cutie!  

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Cow digi image by Lili of the Valley
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Enamel dots from Hobbycraft

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Moush-room

I love creating cards with texture and embellishments, my favourites being paper flowers. I've added a posy of cosmos daisies, roses and tulips to this sweet birthday card.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Mouse on Mushroom digi image by Lee Holland
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• MFT Happy Birthday Circle Frame Die
• 6mm Satin Ribbon
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cosmos Daisy
• Open Roses
• Mini Rosebuds
• Tulip Flowers
• Flat enamel dots from Hobbycraft

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

In the Dog House

It's always nice to receive complements when you give a hand crafted item, and today's card is made for a sweet friend who always appreciates the work that's gone into a hand crafted card.  She usually opens her card in front of me and shows it around the office to all her co-workers. It's a really nice feeling to know that your creations are enjoyed and possibly kept rather than binned once the special occasion has passed.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Puppy digi stamp by Lee Holland
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• MFT Happy Birthday Circle Frame Die
• 6mm Satin Ribbon
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cherry Blossom
• Open Roses
• Hip Rosebuds
• Mini Rosebuds
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL65 Double Stitched Circles

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Kingfisher Blue

Pastels are my favourites, as I find them calming on the eye.  In particular I like blue, pink and purple.  I've chosen this pretty pastel blue because the card and papers are some of my favourites.  I believe the image might be a robin, but I've chosen to colour him as a chubby kingfisher to continue the blue theme.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Digi image by Lee Holland on Etsy
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL65 Double Stitched Circles

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Cute Bunny

I'm not sure elegant is a quality that would apply to me in any thread of my life, and when it comes to cute versus elegant in my crafting, it's definitely cute that wins the vote!  In particular cute critters.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Bunny with Flower digi stamp by Lee Holland
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• Flat Backed Pearls
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cherry Blossom
• Open Roses
• Hip Rosebuds
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL65 Double Stitched Circles

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Daisy James

I've had a bit of a rummage through my craft stash and reaquainted myself with some of my older dies. I really love this daisy border die which creates such an effective frame around an image, adding a lot of interest and texture while still keeping it fairly flat for postage!

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• James with Daisy from Lili of the Valley
• Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• The Paper Boutique Thank You Square

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Bouquet Bear

Christmas would usually be my favourite crafting occasion, but as it's January I'm not feeling the festive vibe at the moment, so I've switched my allegiance to birthdays for the first challenge of 2026 at As You Like It Challenge.  Today's card is for my Auntie, whose birthday is next week.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Teddy Bouquet Digi image from Lili of the Valley
• Watercoloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• Flat Backed Pearls
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cherry Blossom
• Open Roses
• Mini Rosebuds
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL65 Double Stitched Circles
• MFT Happy Birthday Circle Frame Die 
  

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Snowman Gnome

Happy Christmas!

Not a card today, but a sweet crocheted Christmas gnome!

Pattern: Snowball the Gnome by Oxanami on Ravelry

Happy crafting

Annette
xx

Santa Belly

I've made this fat santa belly card from bright red card with some splashes of white, black and gold.  It was quite quick to make, and I love the fun design.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Smooth White Card 160gsm
• Plain Red Card 290gsm
• Black Plain Card 240gsm
• Gold Speckle Card
  

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Birthday Gnome

Today's card is for one of my lovely As You Like It Challenge teamies.  My gnome image is watercoloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers. I've framed him with some pretty papers and added a personalised typed sentiment.

Card Recipe:

• Gnome image by Lee Holland Digis
• Bubblegum Pink Card 170gsm
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Personalised typed sentiment

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Chimney Santa

I love using glitter on cards, especially to create the effect of snow. I love the sparkle and much prefer it to gold or silver card (which is also difficult to photograph).  I've used glitter card to create the snow layers on this die cut card. It's a tent fold, so does actually stand upright and is a fun shaped card for Christmas.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Santa Chimney cut file by Planeta Silhouette
• Smooth White Card 160gsm
• Plain Red Card 290gsm
• Woodstock Giallo Card 285gsm
• Black Plain Card 240gsm
• Iridescent White Glitter Card 220gsm

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Daisy Tilda

I've not used my Tilda stamps for a while and inked this sweet flower girl for a birthday card.  I really enjoy using these images when I make the effort to ink a rubber stamp rather than take the digi option, and I'm really pleased how she turned out.

I've framed her with my favourite embellishments, flowers and ribbon.  I love that they can bring out  accent colours from the image, and are soft but create texture. They can be a little bulky for mailing, but I love the 3D effect.  You can share your favourite embellishments with us this week at As You Like It Challenge.

Designed for:

As You Like It Challenge

Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers

Card Recipe:

• Magnolia Tilda Loves me loves me not
• MFT Dienamics Stitched Circle Stax
• Organza Ribbon
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cosmos Daisy
• Open Roses
• Mini Rosebuds

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Flower Bunny

I love a lot of cute and furry critters, but bunnies are one of my all time favourites.  I used to have a pet bunny when I was younger, and love to see them hopping around in the wild. I've used a bunny with daisy image for my card today which reminds me of Spring when the days are starting to get longer and warmer!

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers

Card Recipe:

• Rabbit with Daisy by Lili of the Valley
• 6mm Satin Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Lawn Fawn Puffy Clouds Border

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Lilac Heffalump

Ribbon is one of my favourite embellishments, and I have boxes of it in dozens of colours and shades.  My favourite is satin, but today I've used a gingham one which tones better with my card colours. I love the 3D effect on a card which makes it look more handcrafted when it's gifted.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Card Recipe:

• Elephant image by Lee Holland Digis
• Watercoloured using Distress Ink Reinkers
• Violet Plain Card 290gsm
• 15mm gingham ribbon
• Cherry Blossom
• Open Roses
• Mini Rosebuds
• Tulip Flowers
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL67 Double Stitched Ovals

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Birthday Bear

Today's card is for my Mother-in-Law's birthday. As usual, watercoloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers. I've added a personalised sentiement to make it a little more special.

Card Recipe:

• Image by Amanda Jayne Designs on Etsy
• Typed Sentiment
• Violet Plain Card 290gsm
• Nitwit Collections Papers

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Flower Umbrella Bear

I've made this beary-sweet card for one of my As You Like It Challenge teamies.  I've watercoloured him on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers.  I've inked around him by creating a mask and added a personalised typed sentiment.

Card Recipe:

• Image (retired?) from Amanda Jayne Designs
• Typed sentiment

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Pirate Bear

Square cards are my favourite standard shape cardbase. I caveat that by saying I still love a fancy shaped card, like an apron shape for a food related image, or snowflake shaped cards for Christmas, but for my go-to cards, it's always a 6" square. Maybe it's the symmetry of them, but there's plenty of space for an image, pretty papers, and some fancy bits.  Today's card is for my Brother-in-Law, so I've kept the fancy bits limited to some fonts with a personalised typed sentiment.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers

Card Recipe:

• James Pirate image by Lili of the Valley
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• MFT Stitched Border Die
• Typed sentiment

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Flower Gnome

This week at As You Like It Challenge we're asking you to share your favourite die.  This is an easy one for me, because I absolutely love my circle dies, of which I have a few with different stitching designs. But my most used is this simple single stitch design by MFT.  I love the variation of using a circle die on a square card, and the stitching is a lovely textured effect.  What did we do before these stitched edge dies became popular!

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers

Card Recipe:

• Flower Gnome image from Lee Holland Digis
• MFT Dienamics Stitched Circle Stax
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cherry Blossom
• Open Roses
• Organza Ribbon
• Satin Ribbon
• Flat backed pearls

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Autumn Badger

I really like making layered card with 3D elements, my favourites being flowers and ribbons. Many of my cards feature images framed with paper flowers and a double bow (a bowmaker is fabulous for this).  It does make mailing more bulky, but I love the effect of making it look more crafted than store-bought.

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge

Water-coloured on Ecoline Watercolour Card with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers

Card Recipe:

• Badger digi by Lee Holland Digis
• Seam binding ribbon
• 3mm satin ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cosmos Daisy
• Open Roses
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL65 Double Stitched Circles

Happy crafting
Annette
xx