Spring Bunny

We're asking for your favourite flowers this week at As You Like It Challenge, and although I do like a lot of flowers, roses, tulips and magnolia would probably be my top picks of garden flowers.  However, I especially love orange flowers of pretty much any variety, so I've sneaked in an orange flower into my image, and roses into my embellishments for a double whammy!

Designed for:
As You Like It Challenge
Lili of the Valley

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

• Fur: Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Tea Dye
• Grass: Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss
• Sky: Tumbled Glass
• Yellows: Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge

Card Recipe:

• Little Friends Rabbit with Daisy by Lili of the Valley
• MFT Dienamics Stitched Circle Stax
• 15mm Organza Ribbon
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Cherry Blossom
• Cosmos Daisy
• Open Roses
• Mini Rosebuds
• Flat backed pearls

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

It's Party Time!

There are some new polymer stamps coming out at Lili of the Valley soon, and I've watercoloured these cute festive critters in their snuggly scarves to decorate some typed Party Invites.  

The invites are layered on black and red card from Papermill Direct, onto which I've randomly stamped some foliage from the Christmas Wreath stamp set and then layered onto more black and cream card.

Here's a close-up of the red card where I've randomly stamped the foliage in grey ink.

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

• Fur: Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Tea Dye
• Antlers: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain
• Reds: Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany
• Whites: Hickory Smoke, Black Soot

Card Recipe:

• Clear Polymer Stamps from Lili of the Valley
• Crealies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL24 Rectangles with Stichline

Papermill Direct:

• Post Box Red Plain Card
• Black Plain Card
• Ivory Hopsack Textured Card

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Monday Challenge - Make your own Background
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Bunny Sock

I'm back to the gorgeous bunnies from LOTV on today's card, and yes, it's another Christmas themed creation!  I've kept the layout very simple, with the colours of the papers deciding what colours I'd use in my image, and I've pulled out a Memory Box die that I have had for a few years, but don't think I've used much this year (although I am somewhat behind with my Christmas makes than I've been in previous years).

Here's a close up of the sweet bunny image:

Don't forget there's also a Christmas challenge on the LOTV Facebook page this month too. :0)

Card Recipe:

• Image - Christmas Bunnies Stocking
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwits Woodland Wishes Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Viva Pearl Pen - Ice White
• Memory Box Bursting Berry Border die

I've been inspired by:

• Noor! Design - CAS or Fully Loaded

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Teepee Card

I've not made a teepee fold card for a while and for some reason this image seemed to be 'calling out' for one, so I've had a go. I've used a Lili of the Valley image and Nitwits papers on a strong gold mirror cardbase.

Here's the card from the front .....

And a couple of pictures from both sides showing the circle sentiments I added ....

The image was a really sweet one called Carol Singing...

Here's how I made my simple Teepee cardbase:

First I cut a rectangle 12" x 6" of gold mirri card and scored it in half and each half on the diagonal as shown below:

Then I cut another 6" x 6" square of gold mirri card, scored it on the diagonal and adhered it to the rectangle base as shown below (again this is the back of the cardbase):

Before sticking the pieces together (above) I covered each of the triangle shapes with patterned papers so that when I turned it over, it looked like this:

I then used a small circle of stick-on velcro to create the ability to hold the fancy fold in place but also allowing it to open and fold flat for posting. :0)


Card Recipe:

• Image - Carol Singing by LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Christmas Sentiment Tags from LOTV
• Nitwits Woodland Wishes Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• Button Twine
• Glossy Accents
• Spellbinders Grand Ovals
• Gold Mirri card

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Sketchy Challenge - Add Some Bling
• The Ribbon Girl - Card Challenge

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Bunny Post

It's another Lili of the Valley card from Papercraft Essentials today, this time featuring Christmas Bunnies Post.  I must admit that I really love Lili's bunny images and this one is no exception.

Don't forget there's also a Christmas themed challenge on the LOTV Facebook page running until 15th October so if you get your skates on you can join in.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Christmas Bunnies Post from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Sentiment - Christmas Sentiment Tags from LOTV
• Nitwits Woodland Wishes Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Viva Pearl Pen - Ice White
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• MFT Inside Out Stitched Rounded Square Stax
• Glossy Accents
• Metal mini brad

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
• The Sketchy Challenge - Add Some Bling

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Easel Angels

I've got another couple of cards from my Papercraft Essentials magazine feature using two sweet angel images from Lili of the Valley. They each use easel shaped bases but I've varied them slightly. I kept the colours light, with a bit of red accent on each, because the images were pale and I didn't want them to be overpowered by strong coloured backing papers.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Christmas Angels Praying & Flying
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwits Woodland Wishes Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• MFT Stitched Ovals
• MFT Stitched Circles
• Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas Die
• Simon Says Stamp "Merry Christmas" Die
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• Flat Backed Pearls
• Die'sire Mini Victoriana border die

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Fab n Funky - Christmas

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Dropping the Shopping

I'm sharing another card from my featured set of Lili of the Valley for Papercraft Essentials.  This one is a gorgeously sweet image called Dropping the Shopping and I am pleased with how it turned out. I added some pink mesh ribbon as an accent as well as some stitched snowflake dies and a little sentiment tag.

Here's a close up of the image:

Card Recipe:

• Image - Dropping The Shopping from LOTV
• Sentiment - Christmas Sentiment Tags from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Nitwits Woodland Wishes Papers
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Memory Box Stitched Snowflake Dies
• Spellbinders Grand Oval dies
• Viva Pearl Pen - Ice White
• Pink mesh ribbon
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• Button Twine
• Flat Backed Pearls
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• That's Crafty - Christmas in September
• The Ribbon Girls - Any Image
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes using Spellbinders Oval Nesties

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Buttons and Bows

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is Buttons and Bows.  Now I admit that I'm not usually one to include buttons on my cards.  I think they belong in my wardrobe, but I've given in and created this one.  I've managed to get both a ribbon and a bow on it, and really love this gingham ribbon, although I don't usually like gingham.  Anyway, here's my card:

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Bunny with Chicks from LOTV
• One of my own Freebie Sentiments
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Clouds - Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Lacey Circle Spellbinder Nesties
• Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• Pearls
• Hobby House 8mm Pearl Brad

I've been inspired by:

• Wild Orchid Crafts - Buttons & Bows
• Totally Papercrafts - Easter with an egg shape (ok I have pieces of eggs in my image, but so did one of their design team so I hope it counts!)
• Incy Wincy - Use Pastels

Happy crafting.

White Wedding

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is 'Top of the Pops' (song inspired).  I did actually find this one a toughie, but in the end decided on Billy Idol's "White Wedding".  However, that might show my age a bit, so perhaps I should say it's inspired by Bruno Mars' "Marry You" instead??   LOL

Either way, I made a purple card with white accents, and a wedding image.   I painted the image with my DI re-inkers and added just a few embellishments to keep the design minimalistic.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Wedding Couple from Lili of the Valley
• Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Distress Re-inkers
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell Glittered paper
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Pearls
• White Ribbon

I've been inspired by:

• Papertake - 1, 2, 3 (1 image, 2 papers, 3 types of embellishments; ribbon, pearls, flowers)
• Anything Goes - Double up (2 papers, 2 sets of pearls, 2 ribbons, 2 people on the image!)
• Crafty Boots - Old, New, Borrowed, Blue (wedding theme, old image, blue outline on image,)

Happy crafting.

Emma Rose Garden

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is Mother's Day so I've got a card to share using Emma Rose Garden from LOTV.  I know it's not particularly girlie colours, but this one is for hubby to give to his mum, and since her favourite colour is turquoise I've tried to incorporate that colour in my card instead.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Emma Rose Garden from LOTV
• Sentiment - Typed
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Country Companions Sunshine Meadows Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Vintage style ribbon
• Liquid Pearls
• Pearls
• Sewing machine

I've been inspired by:

• The Ribbon Girl - Ribbon or Twine
• Papertake - Anything Goes with optional Mother's Day
• Bunny Zoe Challenge - Flowers and Pearls
• Creative Inspirations - Mother's Day
• Crafty Boots - Something Old (image), Something New (papers), Something borrowed (the blue card I used to layer my panels was previously a filing folder which I liberated and reused.  I also 'borrowed' the sketch from a challenge which finished a few weeks ago, but I saved it cos I liked it) and Something blue (yup, there's definitely some blue in there!)

Happy crafting.

Peaches & Cream

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is 'Peaches & Cream'. This is not a colour scheme that I would usually choose to use as I'm not over keen on orange as a colour, but a soft peach with cream accents has actually grown on me as I made this card, and I actually really like my finished card.  I think the sweet image helps, and I also like the sketch that I've used. I've saved the sketch as I think I'll be using this one again too!

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Bunnies In Love from LOTV
• One of my own Freebie Sentiments
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Nitwits Digi Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Lacey Circle Spellbinder Nesties
• Ribbons
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls
• Pearls
• Handmade Pin
• White flower soft (tail)
• Sewing machine

I've been inspired by:

• Fab n Funky - Pastel Colours
• Crafty Boots - Out of your comfort zone (orange!)
• Bunny Zoe Challenges - Flowers & Pearls
• Crafty Calendar - Love & Marriage
• Joanna Sheen - Layer it up
• Creative Craft - Sketch

Happy crafting.

Bears & Butterflies

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is butterflies.  I'm not usually a butterfly person, although I have made a few projects in the last week which have featured butterflies.  But luckily I do have a LOTV image with butterflies on it.  I do have a mini butterfly punch, so I've added a couple of butterflies by the flowers too.  I've used my favourite Papermania papers so I've kept the layout simple in order to show off the beautiful papers.

My image is painted with DI re-inkers and I've stitched around the panels with purple thread to match the purple colour scheme.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Bears & Butterflies from LOTV
• Typed Sentiment (You won't bring me down)
• Colouring - Distress Inks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Mini butterfly punch
• Magnolia Leaf & Swirl die (only used swirl)
• Pearls
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls
• Sewing machine

I've been inspired by:

• The ABC Challenge - H for Happy Birthday
• Bunny Zoe - Flowers & Pearls
• Stamping Sensations - Fur or Feathers
• Crafting When We Can - Birthstones (Amethyst)

Happy crafting.

Little Acorn

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is Pearls, one of my favourite embellishments, so I've created a card to support the challenge.  I painted the image with my DI re-inkers (yes I think it is really a 'baby' themed image, but hopefully it works for a birthday card too.

I've used pretty embossed and sparkly papers with a couple of die cuts and some gingham ribbon.

Oh yes, and I've added a few pearls!

See my cards available to buy on eBay


Guest Designer Call
Don't forget there is a Guest Designer call at The Stamp Basket; a shop which sells the most adorable stamps and fabulous crafting supplies. Pop over there to take a peek at the details of how to apply.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Little Acorn from LOTV
• Typed Sentiment (Font - You won't bring me down)
• Colouring - Distress Inks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• First Edition Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Memory Box Corner Bow Die
• Memory Box Macarena Corner Die
• Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• Liquid Pearls
• Pearls
• Sewing machine

I've been inspired by:

• Stamping Sensation - Fur

Happy crafting.

A Touch of Romance

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is A Touch of Romance.  I've opted for a C&S style today with some wired ribbon and glassy pearls.  The papers are glittered and embossed so they give out a shimmer too.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - The Little Things by LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Inks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• First Edition Papers
• Wired Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• Glass pearls
• Sewing Machine

I've been inspired by:

• Sweet Stampin' - Love is all around
• The Ribbon Girl - Love & Marriage
• Crafty Calender - Love & Marriage
• Penny Black & More - Pink, Swirly & Pearly
• Inky Chicks - Valentine / Anniversary
• Fab n Funky - Valentines
• Penny's - Ribbons & Bows
• Without Words - Love

Happy crafting.

Heart to Heart

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is anything but a square card, so I've made a fancy shaped card using a craftwork cards base.  The colouring is with DI re-inkers.  I'm still persevering  and have got most of the colours that I think I need now after one arrived today.  However, I'm sure there will be 'just one more' that I find I need.  I've also just got some lovely heart dies and this is my first card using them.  I thought they matched the image well.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Love Grows from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Inks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• My Mind's Eye and Fancy Pants papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Memory Box Corner Bow Die
• Memory Box Precious Hearts Die Duo
• Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• Liquid Pearls 
• Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Inky Chicks - Bingo (either diagonal)
• Sweet Stampin' - Ribbon
• Totally Gorjuss - Flowers

Happy crafting.

Spring Blossom

It's Anything Goes at Lili's Little Fairies this week and I've got a simple personalised birthday card to share.  The photo does not do justice to these gorgeous Papermania papers which are embossed and glittered. This set really is my all-time favourite (to date!).

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Blossom from LOTV
• One of my own bespoke creations
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papertake Lucy Cromwell
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Lacey Circle Spellbinder Nesties
• Labels 18 Spellbinders Nesties
• Memory Box Macarena Corner Die
• Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls
• Heart gems

I've been inspired by:

• Wild Orchid Crafts - Coming up Roses
• Inky Chicks - Bingo (top row : Ribbon, Sentiment, Flowers. Middle column : Sentiment, Image, Bow.  Diagonal: Flowers, Image, Die Cuts. Bottom row : Die cuts, Bow, Pearls!!!)
• Bunny Zoe - Anything Goes

Happy crafting.

Distressed at Distress Inks

We have some temporary glitches at Lili's Little Fairies as our leader Jacqui is offline with computer problems at the moment.  I'd made this card for this week's challenge, but we're going to have a wee break until she's returned, so as I'd scheduled this post, I'm sharing my card anyway.

I've been practising my painting with distress inks again.  I still think I need to keep practising to get better with the inks, but I've now got some paint brushes that I'm happier with, and also some good watercolour paper, so it's really now just down to my ability. I can't blame my results on poor quality materials now, can I!

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Times to Treasure from LOTV
• Colouring - Distress Inks and some pencil accents
• Clouds - Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• First Edition Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Spellbinders Nesties Labels 3
• Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
• From my stash -  Sparkly gems (a gift from my lovely blogpal Samantha)

I've been inspired by:

• The Sketchy Challenge - Sketch
• Wild Orchid Crafts - Coming up Roses
• NordSalten Hobby Club - Anything Goes

Happy crafting.

Charming

Assuming all goes well (I'm not sure what happened to last week's challenge) the theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is "Charming" and I've got yet another Christmas card to share.  This one was made for a customer so the sentiment is a custom one that I've made myself.

His requirements were to use his wife's favourite things; fairies, hearts (I managed to get 4 on there!), glitter, pink and the sentiment that he'd requested.   Plus I managed to also get on some snowflakes, ribbon, bow, pearl brad, flowers, pearls, gems and a home-made pin.

Phew.

That's a whole lotta stuff for one lickle card!

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Winter Fairy from LOTV
• One of my own bespoke sentiments
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• First Edition Summer Breeze papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Lacey Circle Spellbinder Nesties
• Labels 3 Spellbinder Nesties
• My Favourite Things Snowflake Dies
• Pink Ribbon
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• Hobby House 8mm Pearl Brad
• Liquid Pearls
• From my stash -  Stickles, Pearls, Heart charm, Handmade Pin, Gems, Pearl heart

I've been inspired by:

• Creative Creations - Anything Goes
• Wild Orchid Crafts - Anything Goes
• Inky Chicks - Anything Goes

Happy crafting.

Toboggan for Two

The theme today at Lili's Little Fairies is to use two backing papers and although Christmas is over, I'm sharing a card that I didn't have chance to post during the holidays.

I made it for a lovely lady who'd asked me to make Christmas cards for both her daughters and her husband.  And then her husband contacted me separately asking me to make one from him to his wife as she liked my cards so much.  So, because between them, the whole family was going to be receiving one of my cards, I decided to send the whole family a card from me, so I popped this one in their parcel!

I hope they liked it!!

I made the sentiment in Microsoft Word by slightly overlapping text boxes with their names in different fonts and colours until they fitted into the shape I needed to be able to use my Bistro Label die.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Toboggan for Two from LOTV
• Typed Sentiment
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Clouds - Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Lacey Circle Spellbinders Nesties
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Nitwits Digi Papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Memory Box Bistro Label Die
• Memory Box Frosty Border Die
• Memory Box Snowflake Corner Die
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls
• From my stash -  Ribbon

I've been inspired by:

• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
• Wild Orchid Crafts - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes

Happy crafting.

A Happy Mistake

This card is actually a mistake, because I made it for another DT project and then realised that I'd got carried away and had completely ignored the theme, so it didn't qualify.

Anyway, it fits this week's theme at Lili's Little Fairies which is 'Something New'.

My 'something new' is this little fella who just fell into my cart when I was last shopping at LOTV.

Seriously, their cart is dangerous, stamps constantly fall into it when I'm browsing.  And it seems to happen every time I shop there.  And of course I just can't possibly bring myself to remove them once they're in there.  So I just have to buy them.  Naturally!  ;0)

The Flowersoft that I've used for the snow is also new.  I only had green/meadow colour before, and thought I'd buy some white for snow.  I quite like it.  I'm not too sure about the snowflakes in the sky, but I like the bit on the ground.  I may need to practice more cos it went absolutely everywhere too!!

Despite the mess I made, I really like how this card turned out.  I hope the recipient does too, cos this one's been sent to a lovely friend !!

See my cards available to buy on eBay




Card Recipe:

• Image - James Bear in the Flowersoft Snow
• Sentiment - Typed (Font : Alex)
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• Clouds - Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base - The Stamp Basket
• Papers - Papermania Lucy Cromwell
• Memory Box Corner Bow die - The Stamp Basket
• Snowflake Dies - My Favourite Things
• Glamour Dust - The Stamp Basket
• From my stash -  Gems, Flowersoft, Pearls, Fancy Wool, Glossy accents

Please pop on over to the  Lili's Little Fairies challenge to see the other creations by the talented design team, and to enter our challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations this week.

I've been inspired by:

• Simon Says Stamp - Favourites (LOTV stamps, Snowflakes, Aqua/blue Christmas, stitching on cards, gorgeous dies, my favourite papers that I only use on special cards)
• Craft Your Passion - Stitching
• Totally Gorgeous - Snow
• One Stop Craft - Christmas Friends (sent to a friend)
• Penny Black & More at Allsorts - It's your choice
• The Sketchy Challenge - Sketch

Happy crafting.