There's no shell like home

Today's card is my one of the few 'fussy' cards I've made so far this year. I must admit that I'm a bit of a convert when it comes to the CAS card styles, and they are very much growing on me, but I do still like the effort that goes into creating an embellished card and I think it really sets them apart from the flat mass produced cards you can find in most shops.  This layout is one of my favourites, with the two papers, ribbon, a double bow, and two little arrays of blooms in opposite corners. Plus of course, some pearls!

This project is to jointly support the challenge at As You Like It Challenge and Sugar Bowl Challenges which both start today.

Card Recipe:

• Image - No Shell Like Home by Sugar Nellie
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Lace
• Spotty ribbon
• My Favourite Things Stitched Circles
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Southern Girls - Anything Goes
• Ribbon Girls - Any Image
• Noor! Design - Anything Goes

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Bunny Love

I've had this image coloured for a while but not made it into a card, so I've decided to rectify that with a CAS design in pink and green.  I'm not really keen on green, but it seems to fit the natural colours of the image.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Bunny Pile Stuffie from Stamping Bella
• Sentiment - Ellie Loves Phant by Stamping Bella
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Viva Pearl Pen
• Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Square Stackables
• Button Twine
• Flat Backed Pearls
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Create with Critters
• Ribbon Girls - Any Image

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Patsy - Good Luck

This is the final sample of my set of 4 for Crafty Sentiment Designs, and this one is 'Dressing Up' with one of the sentiments from the same set.  I love the bright reds on this one, and one of my favourite layouts too.

And here's a close up of her when she was on the TV last Friday with Suzette!!!  :0)

Card Recipe:

• Image & Sentiment - Dressing up by Crafty Sentiment Designs
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• My Favourite Things Stitched Circles
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• 15mm Satin Ribbon
• Button Twine
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Ribbon Girl - Any Image

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Patsy - Thinking of You

This is another card using one of the new images from Crafty Sentiment Designs featuring Patsy and Gizmo.  The sentiment is from the same set.

And here's a close up of her when she was on TV last Friday   :0)

Card Recipe:

• Image & Sentiment - Thinking of You by Crafty Sentiment Designs
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Button Twine
• Metal brad

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Create with Critters
• Winter Wonderland - Something New (new stamp & sentiment set only released Friday)
• Simon's Monday Challenge - Best Friends

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Patsy - Dressing Up

Today I'm sharing my second card featuring the new release at Crafty Sentiment Designs available from Hochanda TV.  This one's called Dressing Up and includes the sentiment.

And here is my card on TV from a screenshot I took during Suzette's show yesterday.  You were fab Suzette!!!  I loved the shows and it was fabulous to see both you and our cards on the screen.

Card Recipe:

• Image and Sentiment - Dressing Up by Crafty Sentiment Designs
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• My Favourite Things Stitched Ovals
• Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Border die
• Memory Box Stitched Clouds
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Monday Challenge - Best Friends
• Winter Wonderland - Something New (brand new stamp only released yesterday!)
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Create with Critters

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Patsy - I Love You

I'm quite excited today because my lovely As You Like It teamie, Suzette, who also happens to be one of the artists and owners of Crafty Sentiment Designs, has some new images out today, and I've been lucky enough to have been allowed to play with some of them ahead of the release.  Not only that, she's demonstrating her new images on TV today. so if you're near a TV or have access to the tinterweb take a peek at Hochanda TV at 10am, 1pm or 5pm today!  I'm hoping one of my cards might even be on TV!!

I'll post some samples over the next few days, but today's card uses a stamp and sentiment set called Dreams, featuring a little girl (Patsy) and her puppy (Gizmo).

Update!!! ... Here's a screenshot of my card on TV earlier today *big grin*...

Card Recipe:

• Image and Sentiment - Dreams by Crafty Sentiment Design
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Die-namics Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stax
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• Satin Ribbon
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Monday Challenge - Best Friends

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Birthday Ellie

Today is the last of my three samples of the new Trio stamps which are due out at Lili of the Valley by the end of this month, and this time I've teamed the Birthday sentiment with the Lion {edit whoops it's definitely the ELEPHANT, not a lion in disguise, thanks to a few of my readers for pointing that out!] from the Faraway Friends set.   I love the soft colours of this one.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Faraway Friends from LOTV
• Sentiment - Trio from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad (discontinued)
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Frantic Stamper Stitched Builder Edge Die

I've been inspired by:

• Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Create with Critters

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Lovely Leo

I've got another sample from the new sentiment trio set from the new release which is due out at Lili of the Valley in the next couple of weeks. I've teamed today's sentiment (With Lots of Love) with the cute Lion from the recently released Faraway Friends set.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Faraway Friends from LOTV
• Sentiment - Trio from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad (discontinued)
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Border die

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Cheeky Monkey

There's a new release of pretty trio sets due out before the end of this month at Lili of the Valley and I've been lucky enough to be given the sentiment trio to play with. I've teamed it up with the Cheeky Monkey from the Faraway Friends set released before Christmas. I think they go well together. I hope you like them too.  I've got a couple more samples to show you over the next couple of days too.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Faraway Friends from LOTV
• Sentiment - Trio from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad (discontinued)
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Border die

I've been inspired by:

• Seven Hills Challenge - Colour Challenge (3rd set) (scalloped die from store)

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Mint choc (not mouldy) two-tone cake

Brittany the Birthday girl was one of my lovely Xmas pressies this year and I've inked her up today for the first time.  Isn't she LOVELY!! (wish I could have all that cake to myself and still be that slim).

Card Recipe:

• Image - Brittany the Birthday Girl
• Typed Sentiment (Papyrus font)
• Colouring - Alcohol Markers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Glossy Accents
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Sketch Saturday - Sketch
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Ombre (sentiment and I tried with the cake)

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Don't Forget

This is my second project for Lili of the Valley this month and I've made a little reminder note-pad using one of the Faraway Friends images from the Little Critters sets. The text is printed onto vellum and I've added a little bit of ribbed ribbon at the top for some texture.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Little Critters Faraway Friends from LOTV
• Typed Sentiment (Papyrus font)
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Kate Knight paper stack
• My Favourite Things Stitched Circles
• Zutter binding machine and metal binding wires
• Vellum
• Ribbon

I've been inspired by:

• Crafty Calendar - Something New (the heffalump stamp)
• Seven Hills Craft Blog - Colour Inspiration (middle colour scheme - stitched circles from MTDS)

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Mouse Baggie

Today's project is to support the challenge at As You Like It Challenge where the theme is Paper or Non-paper project.  I think it's safe to say that my current favourites are paper projects, although I do like adding non-paper items (like ribbon and lace) onto my projects.  I love the variety of papers you can get and that you can paint your own designs on it too.  I've made a bag-in-a-box for this project, and added some lace around the edges. The handles are made from double sided cardstock, and I've added a little tag with a large flower brad.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Heartfelt from Purple Onion Designs
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell 12" paper stack
• My Favourite Things Stitched Ovals
• Avery Elle Amazing die
• Flower brads
• Lace

I've been inspired by:

• Noor! Design - Anything Goes
• Live & Love Crafts - Something New (the image)
• Creative Inspiration - Florals (flower brads)
• Allsorts Challenge - Ribbon and/or Lace

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Bunny Pile

I've had the inks out this weekend and also some of my favourite papers which have inspired this pretty aqua-purple colour combo.  The bunnies are one of my favourites from the recent Stuffies release at Stamping Bella so I've made them the centre of attention with very little fuss around them.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Bunny Pile Stuffies from Stamping Bella
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwits Digi Papers Promises
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Viva Pearl Pen - Ice White
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Monday Challenge - Something New (new stamp)
• Fab 'n' Funky - Something New (new stamp)
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Something New (new stamp)
• Cute Card Thursday - Whats New (new stamp)

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

You Brighten My Day

I'm sharing one of my Christmas pressies today, this gorgeous Stamping Bella image called 'I'll always have your back'.  It's just adorable, but I've used a different sentiment with it for this card. I've combined it with some pretty pink LOTV papers (now sadly discontinued as this pad was one of my favourites), some pink twine and a paper flower with a large fabric covered brad centre. This project is to support the challenge at In The Pink where the theme is a nice and easy Anything Goes!

Card Recipe:

• Image - I'll always have your back from Stamping Bella
• Sentiment - LOTV Happy Bears
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley Always and Forever paper pad
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Frantic Stamper Stitched Scene Builder Edge die
• Button Twine
• Paper flowers
• Fabric Brad

Created for:

Sponsored by:

I've been inspired by:

• Deep Ocean Challenge - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar Challenge - Something New
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Something New
• Fab n Funky - Something New

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Squirrel Nutkin

Well it's back to the grindstone for most of us today, including me, and I'll admit that I'm not looking forward to the first full week back at work.  I was poorly with a cold during the holidays so haven't really done much and I'm still lacking in energy (but that may also be the weather, short days and the fact that it's January!) but it's back to business and today is also my first card of 2016.

I decided to create a J-fold card for this little critter from Lili of the Valley as he's quite dinky, but still deserves to be the centre of attention on the card.  I've kept the design simple with just a couple of die cut leaf branches and a small single flower in matching colours.

Card Recipe:

• Image - LOTV Little Critters Woodland Friends
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Maja Design Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Viva Pearl Pen
• Flat Backed Pearl
• MFT Inside Out Rounded Square dies
• Memory Box Lavish Branch Die
• Memory Box Fancy Blossoms die

I've been inspired by:

• Deep Ocean Challenge - Anything Goes

Happy crafting
Annette
xx