That's Quackers

This little duckling makes me smile playing in the grass.

Designed for:
Dies to Die For

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

• Duck: Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge
• Greens: Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss

Card Recipe:

• Pond Pampering by Colorado Craft Company
• Smooth White Card 160gsm
• Billiard Green Card 210gsm
• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Enamel dots from Hobbycraft

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Monday Challenge - Summer Fun

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Butterfly Wishes

I've loved the Tiny Townies images from Stamping Bella since they were first released and the new butterfly set are no exception.  This one's called Blanche and I even love her dainty hands! The folds on the dress were challenging but she didn't turn out too badly for a first attempt!  I added some white gel pen speckles on her wings and also some speckles on the sky around her although it doesn't show up well in the photograph!

Water-coloured on Langton Watercolour paper with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers:

• Hair: Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, 
• Skin: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Worn Lipstick
• Wings/Ground: Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss
• Sky: Tumbled Glass
• Dress: Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Black Soot

Card Recipe:

From Dies To Die For:

• Stamping Bella Butterfly Girl Blanche 
• Versafine Ink Pad

Other:

• Nitwit Collections Papers
• Clearly Besotted Scrumptious Scripts

I've been inspired by:

• Country View - Add some text using DI Reinkers

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Swinging Sixties

I'm in an extreme CAS mode today with a 'mail friendly' girlie card featuring one of the recently released images from Lili of the Valley called Swinging Sixties.  The layout is really simple and flat with an oversized sentiment from a set which I have had for ages, but don't think I've used it before now.

Card Recipe:

• Swinging Sixties by Lili of the Valley
• Watercoloured with Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Kate Knight Paper Stack
• Sincere Sentiments by Simone Clay

I've been inspired by:

• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Crafting When We Can - Clean & Simple
• Deep Ocean Challenge - Anything Goes

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Midsummer's Night

I've got a lovely Lili of the Valley card to share today using one of my favourite fairy images.  I have used her for a 'thinking of you' card, but she's so versatile that I've used her here on a birthday card. I've coloured her in DI reinkers, used my favourite papers and lots of glitter!  I was quite pleased with the finished result.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Midsummer's Night from LOTV
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley Tags
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley Promises paper pad
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Magnolia Doohickey Lace Border die
• Spellbinders Grand Ovals Nesting dies
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Crystal Glamour Dust
• WOC & Mulberry Flowers
• Flat Backed Pearls
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• Friday Sketch - Sketch
• Dragonfly Dreams - Girlie
• Noor! Design - Shaped Cards
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Dies (I used 2 different ones)

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Abigail the Artist

Today's card has been created for a lovely blogpal whose birthday is today.  She just happens to like pink (I personally think she has exceptionally good taste!).

The image is a gorgeous Uptown Girl coloured with DI Reinkers (boy those tiny details were fiddly). I found it slightly ironic struggling to paint an image of a girl painting!

Anyhoo, here she is, in all her pinky glory!

Card Recipe:

• Image - Abigail the Artist from Stamping Bella
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad
• Stazon Ink Pad
• The Langton Watercolour paper
• Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border die from Simon Says Stamp
• Button Twine
• Flat Backed Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Tie It Up
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Wishing you an Ice Birthday

One of my friends at work celebrates her birthday today and this is the card I've made for her.

I've used an image I've had for a while but I don't think I've inked it until now.  It's called Isabelle Loves her Ice Cream from Stamping Bella and I've watercoloured it with DI reinkers.

The image was really large so there was not much room for embellies.  I wrapped some twine around the image panel, inked around the edge, popped on a tag sentiment with a purple gem brad and that's about it!

Card Recipe:

• Image - Isabelle Loves Her Ice Cream from Stamping Bella
• Lili of the Valley Sentiment Tag
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Lili of the Valley paper pad: Solids Promises
• The Langton watercolour paper
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Ribbon Girl Button Twine
• Papermania Gem Brad

I've been inspired by:

• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
• The Ribbon Girl - Pastel Colours

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Plums

I've got another fruity bunny image today, featuring Plums from Scrapberrys. These bunnies are so adorable and I don't know which is my favourite.  This one's been coloured in purples, and teamed with purple accessories, including a gorgeous purple velvet ribbon.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Plums from Scrapberrys at Funky Kits
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley sentiment tags
• Colouring - Distress Ink Reinkers
• Cardworks Card base
• Maja Design paper pad
• The Langton watercolour paper
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Velvet Ribbon
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Flat Backed Pearl

I've been inspired by:

• Live & Love Crafts - Photo Inspiration
• The ABC Challenge - E = Exceptionally Cute
• Creatalicious - Not a Square
• The Ribbon Girl Challenge - Add Flowers
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Girlie

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I'm having a break from Christmas cards, although this image is versatile enough to become a Christmas or New Year image with the right sentiment!

This is also another CAS layout, but I stitched the image panel for some added interest.  These images are really large so there's not really much room for anything else anyway!

Hope you like it.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Uptown Girls Victoria and Juliette's Night Out
• Sentiment - LOTV Sentiment Tags
• Colouring - DI Reinkers
• Cardworks Card base
• Maja Design Papers
• Baby Blue Button Twine
• The Langton watercolour paper
• Stazon Ink Pad
• Pearls
• Viva Pearl Pen - Ice White
• Wink of Stella

I've been inspired by:

• Craft Your Passion - Things Beginning with B (Best Friends, Blue, Best Wishes, Bow)
• CAS on Sunday - Ribbon or Twine
• A Little Bit Crafty - CAS
• Stamp & Create - Ribbons or Bows

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Posy Trio, erm, Quartet?

I saw quite a challenging sketch on Sketch Saturday and decided to give it a try.  The only image I thought I could use though was called Posy Trio from Lili of the Valley (which I've not used for a while, and really appealed), but the sketch needed four elements.  So I cheated and stamped one of the trio of teddies twice!

I also recently bought a new 6" square embossing folder being the same size as my normal card bases.  My other embossing folders are 5"x4" so they don't cover a whole card if I want them to.  I then get in a mess trying to overlap areas and it ends up looking like a jigsaw, so I have to use ribbon to cover the joins.

Saying that, I did pop a ribbon across the width of this card cos the sketch needed something there, so I'm not really sure what I've gained.

D'oh!

Anyway, hope you like my card.

Card Recipe:

• Image - Posy Trio from LOTV
• Sentiment Tag from LOTV
• Colouring - Sakura Stardust Gel pens (flower centres), Painted with Distress Inks
• Cardworks Card base
• Watercolour paper
• Embossalicious Embossing Folder -  Floral Frenzy 6x6
• Stazon ink
• Satin Ribbon
• Red Twine
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• Sketch Saturday - Sketch
• Papertake Weekly - No Design Papers
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Spring Flowers
• Cute Card Thursday - Paw Pals

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Picking Flowers

I'm using my first pages of the lovely new Wild Rose Studio Antique Library Paper pad today, and all I can say is every page in this set is going to be used (and that's quite unusual for me, because there's usually some pages that I am not so keen on).  Not so with this pad, they're all lovely.

I've also used my new Wild Rose Studio Corner Flourish die, and boy, does this die cut well.  All those fiddly bits inside the flowers just fall out so easily, it is lovely to use.  I've used two of the die cuts, and they just overlapped by a few millimetres, so I snipped off a small smidgeon and you can barely see the join as they shape around the card base.  I've popped different sized pearls into the middles of each flower.

Card Recipe, featuring items from The Stamp Basket:

• Image - Elizabeth Bell Picked Sweet
• Sentiment from Lili of the Valley
• Colouring - Copics
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Wild Rose Studio Antique Library Paper pad
• Neenah Classic Crest White Stamping Card
• Wild Rose Studio Corner Flourish die
• Memory box Pippi and Isabelle butterfly die duo
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Vintage Style Ribbon - Pink
• Pearls
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• Cute Card Thursday - Girls
• Creative Inspirations - Fave colour combo (pink and purple)
• Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Special Lady
• Totally Papercrafts - Shaped Cards
• ABC - H for Hair

Happy crafting
Annette
xx

Hang in there

The theme today at Top Tip Tuesday is to use the sketch that our lovely teamie Deneen has found for us.

I'll admit that I was a bit unsure about the sketch when I first saw it;  I prefer square cards to rectangles, and I seem to struggle with oval shapes, but I interpreted it in my own style and adapted it a bit, although you should still be able to see the underlying sketch.

My card features a sweet image called Fluffy Hanging in There.  It's available in rubber from our sponsor, Stamp & Create, or as a digi stamp from Wee Stamps.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Fluffy Hanging in There from Wee Stamps
• LOTV Sentiment
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Twine
• Pearls
• Liquid Pearls
• Mini brad

I've been inspired by:

• Cute Card Thursday - Animal Magic
• Graph'it - Furry Friends

Happy crafting.
Annette
xx

Bella sitting on a pile of presents

Well I managed to make it though my sponsored walk last night without incident (apart from the idiots who thought it was fun to drive along the route throwing potatoes at the walkers and marshals!!! One hit my friend square on the back.  What prats!).  I ached so much by the end (we finished just after midnight) and you can be certain that I won't be doing much today!  I think it could be a great excuse for a crafting day!!

My card for The Stamp Basket today is another Bella, this time she's sitting on a pile of wrapped presents holding a balloon.  She looks like she's in full party mode!

The papers match the image, and I've tried to colour the image using the same colour scheme, including a touch of pale purple to bring out the purple accent on the lid of the bottom box.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Wild Rose Studio Bella Sitting on a pile of Presents
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Wild Rose Studio Bella's Birthday Papers
• Neenah Classic Crest White Stamping Card
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Memory Box Lavish Branch Die
• Memory Box Fancy Blossom Die
• Glossy Accents
• Lace
• Sheer White Ribbon
• 5mm, 4mm & 3mm Snow White pearls
• Tag sentiment from LOTV

I've been inspired by:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with Creatures
• Charisma Cardz - Lace
• A Little Bit Crafty - Die-ing for it

Happy crafting

Bella with Daisy

Boy oh boy, I sooooo glad it's the weekend, although I am doing a 15 mile sponsored night-walk tonight in aid of our local hospice!!   It starts at 7pm and I suspect I'll not get to bed until the early hours!!!  Zzzzzzzz   Wish me luck!!

My card for The Stamp Basket today features the cute 'heffalump', Bella with Daisy.  I've used some patriotic Wild Rose Studio Union Jack papers, and opted for a red, white and blue colour scheme.  I even coloured the shadow blue, but now I think it rather looks like Bella's stood in a puddle!

Don't forget the Stamp Basket sale is still on, so pop over to the store to stock up before the sale finishes on Monday.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Bella with Daisy
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Wild Rose Studio Strawberry Picnic Papers
• Neenah Classic Crest White Stamping Card
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Memory Box Whimsical Flourish Die
• Berisfords Satin Ribbon
• Liquid Pearls
• Glossy Accents
• Pearls (coloured with red copic)
• Hobby House 8mm Pearl Brad
• Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts
• Tag sentiments from LOTV

I've been inspired by:

• Simon Says Stamp - Patriotic
• A Little Bit Crafty - Die-ing for it
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly - Anything goes with creatures
• Creative Inspirations - Red, White and Blue

Happy crafting

Armfuls of Daisies

The theme today at As You Like It Challenge is your favourite 3 embellishments.  This is my kind of challenge as I'm definitely not a C&S kind of gal !!!

My favourite embellishments are mulberry flowers, pearls and ribbons because they're pretty and girlie.  I love the texture they add to a card too.  I get withdrawal symptoms if I don't use these on my creations.

My usual choice of ribbon would be a 15mm double sided satin, but I've opted for a matt vintage style seam binding on this card.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Armfuls of Daisies from LOTV
• LOTV Sentiment tags
• Distress Reinkers
• Clouds - Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papermania Lucy Cromwell papers
• Wild Orchid Craft Flowers
• Vintage style pink ribbon (wrapped around the bottom panel)
• Pearls
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• LOTV Challenge - Use a sentiment
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes with Ribbon (I've used matt vintage style ribbon)

Happy crafting.

Barry Balloons

I've got a 'just for fun' card to share today using a cute image from StampFairy.  This one is Barry Balloons, and I've kept the card quite clean & simple.

Here's my card, with a dash of pink, of course! :

I actually based the layout on a card I'd made before using a different image, but I liked the simple layout so have used it again.  Here's a reminder of the original card that I posted back in May.

See my cards available to buy on eBay




Card Recipe:

• Image - Barry Balloons from Stamp Fairy
• Typed sentiment
• Colouring - Distress Reinkers
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Nitwits Digi Papers
• Ribbon
• Pearls
• Glossy Accents

I've been inspired by:

• Papertake - Hot Colours
• Nordsalten Hobbyklubb - C&S
• Without Words - Hot Colours

Happy Crafting

Rose Scent Tilda

I really love today's card which I've made for The Stamp Basket blog.  I ordered the  gorgeous new Graphic 45 pad from Janet, and it arrived last weekend.  So, after hubby's rant along the lines of "gawd, what have you bought now" when the package hit the doormat last Saturday, guess what I spent the morning playing with!!

I coloured her with my Copics, but stamped the image with grey, rather than black, ink pad so the lines are soft.  I find this really hard to colour, and although I'm pleased with her hair, I'm not too sure about her dungarees, so I may have to have another try soon.

I stitched around the panels and image and managed to squeeze in two of my favourite Memory box dies; Lavish Branch and Fancy Blossoms.

Also, don't forget there is a huge summer sale at the moment at The Stamp Basket, as Janet is making way for new stock, so pop over there and grab a bargain.



See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Rose Scent Tilda
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Graphic 45 Secret Garden Papers
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Spellbinders Lacey Circles
• Memory Box Lavish Branch
• Memory Box Fancy Blossoms
• Liquid Pearls
• Hobby House Purple Pearls
• Hobby House 8mm Pearl Brad
• cArtUs Lili Border Die
• Spotty Ribbon
• Lili of the Valley Sentiment Tag
• Sewing Machine

I've been inspired by:

• Totally Tilda - Inspired by a song (Kiss from a Rose by Seal)
• Hobby House - Anything Goes
• Totally Papercrafts - Flowers & Bows

Happy crafting

Clean and Simple Barry

I've got a 'just for fun' card today using a cute image from Stampfairy called Barry Spring.  It's a nice clean and simple layout, and I've painted my image with Distress Re-inkers.

See my cards available to buy on eBay




Card Recipe:

• Image - Barry Spring from Stamp Fairy
• Colouring - Distress Inks
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Sentiment - typed and given some sparkle with Sakura Stardust Gel pen
• Spellbindgers Labels Eighteen
• Cut outs from Spellbinders Lacey Circles
• Nitwits Digi Papers - Crab Apple Too
• Ribbon from Fantastic Ribbon
• Pearls
• Glossy Accents
• Liquid Pearls

I've been inspired by:

• Sweet Stampin' - Clean & Simple (this is about as C&S as I can manage!)
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Happy Crafting

Sending Smiles Across the Miles (FREEBIE)

Happy Sunday everyone.  Today's card showcases products from The Stamp Basket, and features Sun Kissed from Elizabeth Bell.  I've used my lovely Lavish Branch die and pretty Country Companions double sided rose papers.

The sentiment is a new freebie, requested by TaylorMade. Unfortunately she didn't leave her email so I can't tell her that it's one of those I've selected, but hopefully she'll pop back to collect it.  It's taking me a while to make them up, but I'm getting through them slowly and there will be more to come yet, so keep popping back.

See my cards available to buy on eBay

Freebie:
As promised, here is my Sentiment freebie that I've used above.  You're free to download it if you like it; click on the image for a larger version, then right click and 'save picture as' to save to your own computer. 

My conditions are as follows:

1. Please become a follower, then you will see more freebies as they are posted,
2. Please leave a comment on this post to let me know you've downloaded it, and
3. Please don't share my freebies directly with other people, but please send them over to collect it themselves.
4. Please give me credit when you use them and post your finished creations on your blog.

I also adore seeing your creations using my digi sentiments, so I'd really love you to send me an email with links to your creations so I can pop over for a peek!

Card Recipe:

• Image - Sun Kissed from Elizabeth Bell
• Cardworks Shaped Card base
• Papers - Country Companions
• Spellbinders Lacey Circles Nesties dies
• Neenah Classic Crest White Stamping Card
• Momento Stamp Pad Ink
• Memory Box Lavish Branch Die
• Liquid Pearls
• Hobby House 8mm Pearl Brad
• Vintage Style Pink Ribbon
• Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

I've been inspired by:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show - Quotable
• Forever Friends - Girls
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Go Girlie

Happy crafting

Oh so Girlie

It's my favourite theme this week at Lili's Little Fairies which is to get all girlie.  How fab is that!!!  I've made a little card to match the notebook that I made a couple of weeks ago. I've not used a traditional pink theme for my girlie card, but I've added some girlie embellishments in the form of flowers, pearls, ribbon and of course glitter to my little fairy's wings.

See my cards available to buy on eBay



Card Recipe:

• Image - Birthday Fairy from Lili of the Valley
• Sentiment -  Lili of the Valley
• Papers - Wild Rose Studio
• Die - Magnolia leaf & swirl (only used the swirl)
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Sakura Stardust Gel pens
• All flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts
• From my stash -  Pearls, ribbon, glossy accents, glamour dust, liquid pearls

I've been inspired by:

• The Ribbon Girl - Bingo (ribbon pearls image)
• Crafty Calendar - Teddy Bear Parade

Happy crafting.

Not "Mushroom" for Ribbon?

This fortnight's challenge at Top Tip Tuesday is to focus on the ribbon.  I found this quite hard to do when I was also showcasing a digi image, especially when I'd printed out the digi quite large.  So I had to put my thinking cap on.

I decided to use ribbon in a colour that I'd used in my image, but the dusky pink didn't show up much, so I used a thinner ribbon in a bolder red, and layered it on top of the wider dusky pink.  I also made a huge bow, and used up the scraps that were left over in a little loop, again layered, and stuck it underneath the image panel.

Here's what I came up with:


See my cards available to buy on eBay


Card Recipe:

• Image - Fairy Seats from Delicious Doodles
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley
• Papers - Nitwits
• Colouring - Promarkers, Copics, Dovecraft Shimmer chalks
• Nesties - Labels 3
• Ribbons - Sew Sweet
• From my stash -  Pearls

Please pop on over to the Top Tip Tuesday Challenge Blog 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 - Anything Goes

Happy crafting.