Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Back in action

To celebrate fixing my printer problem that has been bugging me all week, I've got a little birthday card to share.  I'm a little addicted to these papers, they're so pretty and I love the faded look, so I'm using them for the second day in a row!  However, today's image uses Penny Black as it seem ages since I've inked up my fave PB stamps (plus my printer was on the blink at the time I coloured it, so I was going nowhere with my lovely digi stamps).



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
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Tuesday, 21 June 2011

A Hugs Card (and my first Tutorial at TTT)

It is meant to be the longest day today (UK) which is great (unless it rains all day like it did yesterday).  However, the down side is that the days will start getting shorter from now onwards.  I always dislike this day for that very reason.  We've not even had our summer and already the days are getting shorter !!!

Anyway, to cheer me up, there is a new challenge today at Top Tip Tuesday, and the theme to play along with this week is "Cross It" - either a criss cross card, or use ribbon / twine / paper weaving in a "criss cross" way.

Not only was this my first week of actually following a tutorial on the challenge (last week was a "free for all" tipper week), I actually offered to write the tutorial (there is nothing like jumping in at the deep end !!!).  But to be honest, I had wanted to make a criss cross card (or a 'hugs' card) for a while, so when the opportunity arose to make one as a tutorial for TTT, how could I turn it down!!!
I do hope that you can follow it, and I really look forward to seeing your creations this week.

Click here to see my tutorial.  It is a great type of card for putting gifts in for friends, like gift certificates, theatre tickets, holiday vouchers etc.

Our featured Tipper will receive a prize from Stash Books, and our random entry winner will receive 5 digis from Di's Digi Download.

For my card, I've used an adorable image from Wiff of Joy, that was given to me by my lovely Incy Wincy & StampFairy teamie, Chris - Thanks so much Chris, I really love it.


Card Recipe:
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 "Cross It" challenge.  I really look forward to seeing your tips and creations this week. I'd also love to hear your comments on my first tutorial for TTT.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
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Monday, 20 June 2011

Three cheers for a sketch challenge

There is a new challenge today at Stamp Fairy Challenge Blog, and it is sketch time !!!

Here's my card:


And here's the sketch to play along with this week:


I'm really excited because I've recently bought some Copics which are now complimenting my range of Promarkers, as I'm mixing and matching between both ranges of colours as I need them, so there is a bit of both on this card! 

I cut out the image and layered her onto foam pads on top of the embossed square.  I bought the butterfly punch on Saturday in my local craft shop (after wanting one for ages) and edged the wings with purple Stickles.  I went a bit mad with the Stickles and edged the pom poms too, and then added more bling with some shiny pearls dotted around.  You can still see a bit of the glue on one of them cos I didn't wait for it to dry before I took the photo.  Doh!!!  

Here's a close up of the cute little glittered image:


Card Recipe:
Please pop on over to the Stamp Fairy 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.

There is also a great new release out at Stamp Fairy today, and a whole new character; Tommy. Here's the preview of Tommy Sports. Check him out at Stamp Fairy.


I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
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Sassy Sketch at Incy Wincy

This week's challenge at Incy Wincy is a sketch by me !!!  I really hope that you like this one, and hope that you're inspired to join our challenge which is sponsored  by Sassy Studio.  Here's the sketch:


Card Recipe:

I hope that you'll join in with our sketch challenge at Incy Wincy, and I look forward to seeing your fab creations using my sketch.

I've been inspired by :


Happy crafting.
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Saturday, 18 June 2011

A Sticky Situation

There is a new challenge today at One Stop Craft Challenge, and the theme to play along with this week is 'get sticky' - use at least one sticker and we're sponsored by Sassy Studio.  My stickers are butterfly peel- offs stuck onto peach coloured card, and cut out, folded back to make the wings stand out, and stuck to the card.

Card Recipe:

Please pop on over to the One Stop Craft 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:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 6 comments:
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Father's Day

This week at 2 Sisters Challenge blog the theme is For a Guy.  It doesn't have to be for Father's day, but as it is June, I thought I would make a Father's day card.  We're sponsored this week by Robyn's Fetish.

Card Recipe:


Please pop on over to the 2 Sisters challenge blog to see the creations by the other members of the design team and to enter your card in our 'For a Guy' challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 10 comments:
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Friday, 17 June 2011

The Jolly Roger

There is a new release out at Stamp Fairy today; Pirates!!!   I feel like I need to have a parrot on my shoulder as I write this post!  (will a cat on my lap be good enough?)

Anyway, I've created something a bit different to my normal card creations, and made a little bookmark this week.  I'm not sure it is the most creative thing I've made recently, but based on the fact that my hubby is a real book worm, we can never have enough bookmarks in this house!

[Update, even before going to press he's nicked it, and it is already marking his page in a large volume that he's currently reading!!!]


Bookmark Recipe:
Here is a preview of the new pirates set:


I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
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Tuesday, 14 June 2011

My "Maiden Voyage" at Top Tip Tuesday

It's my first week on the design team at Top Tip Tuesday.  You could say it is my "maiden voyage" with the team, so what better image than a sailing theme, also ideal for Father's Day, which is this Sunday!

The new challenge today is a nice easy one to welcome the new team members without too much pressure, and it is Anything Goes.   We're sponsored by 2 fab companies, Robyn's Fetish and Stitchy Bear who have kindly supplied some digi images for the design team to showcase.

I've used a half fold card and made the image pop up from the base card so that it gives a bit of variety.  I always struggle with cards for men, because it is my natural instinct to add bows, flowers and other cute and pink things.  I seem to be at a loss to know what to put on a masculine card so decided to give it some shape.  I then added a few buttons, but managed to sneak in some stickles on the sea, as I wanted the sea to shimmer.  What do you think - still masculine !?!?


Card Recipe:
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 open challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations this week.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 15 comments:
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Monday, 13 June 2011

Hi-De-Hi, Campers !!!

There is a new challenge today at Stamp Fairy Challenge Blog, and the theme to play along with this week is "masculine".  I've decided to use Father's day as my theme, and as my dad loves camping, I thought it was a great excuse to colour up "Lenny Camping"; one of the recently released sets at Stamp Fairy.

I'm really getting keen on decorating the inside of my cards to complement the front cover, so I've used a second image from the same Lenny Camping set.  OK, so I admit that my dad now has upgraded his tent to a camper van, but he is still a boy scout at heart !!!

[update : before this post has even "gone to press", my hubby has now decided he wants this card for HIS father.  I guess it is appropriate because my father-in-law likes camping too (the "proper" (ie tent) variety of camping - none of this fancy camper-van camping!!!), so looks like I'm gonna have to make another card now for my own dad.  Doh!!!]

Card Recipe:
Front of card :


Inside of card :

Please pop on over to the Stamp Fairy Challenge Blog to see the other creations by the talented design team, and to enter our masculine challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations this week.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 21 comments:
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Little Puppy

This week at the Incy Wincy Challenge the theme is Father's Day / Masculine.  We're sponsored by our very own teamie, Nikki and her fab site Limited Runs.  I've used her image "Little Puppy" on my card, and even though he's a cutie, he is still perfect for a male themed card.  Please stop by her digi shop for some great images and fab inspiration.

Card Recipe:

Please pop on over to the Incy Wincy Challenge blog to see the other fab designs by our teamies, and to enter our Male / Father's day themed challenge.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 10 comments:
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Saturday, 11 June 2011

Soak Up Some Fun

This week at 2 Sisters Challenge blog the theme is a recipe : 1 image, 2 papers and 3 different embellishments.  We're sponsored by 2 great companies this week, Pattie's Creations and Whimsie Doodles.  I've decided to use pearls, flowers and a ribbon as my 3 embellishments.

Card Recipe:


Please pop on over to the 2 Sisters Challenge blog to see the creations by the other members of the design team, and to enter our 1,2,3 recipe challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 11 comments:
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Friday, 10 June 2011

Peeker Kids

TGI Friday !!!  Friday means new release and FREEBIE at Stamp Fairy.  Today it is Peeker Kids and the freebie is a flower.  I've decided to keep my card really simple today, and created it almost totally digitally before printing it out.  I created a wordart panel and put my Peeker Kid (the png version) over the top so that she looks like she is just gripping the top of the panel.  I added the freebie flowers to the bottom corners, flipping one around so they both face inwards.  

For the inside of the card, I used the same papers and layout, but flipped the girlie round too, so she was facing the other way.  I also made her a bit smaller on this version so the panel could be enlarged for writing my message.  I then printed both bits onto card, coloured in the images and added my embelishments.

This card is for one of my oldest friends (she's actually a bit younger than me, but you know what I mean!), who now lives a fair few miles away in Southampton.  Miss you Jules!  Happy Birthday.

Front:


Inside:

Card Recipe:
This is the preview of the full peeker kids set:

I've been inspired by :
Happy Crafting
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Thursday, 9 June 2011

Lenny Celebrations

I've got a cute little Lenny card to share with you today.  The main image is actually from the Lenny Happy New Year set, but I think he is ideal for a celebration at any time of year.  And wearing his little tie, he seems quite suited to a card for a man.  

I used some gems on the bubbles popping out of the champagne, and cut out the image twice, layering him up on sticky pads.  The sentiment is actually one of my own, but Stamp Fairy have a much better one that includes Lenny's face and so would better match the image.  

Orange isn't really my fave, but I quite like these softer shades and it was the papers which inspired me to try the colour, and I think it is passable as a masculine colour (well, it isn't pink or purple, is it!!)

I've used a Lenny Peeker bear on the inside of the card, peeking over the panel where the handwritten message will go. 

Front :


Inside :


Full Card View :

Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
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Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Happy Christmas !!! (& Freebies)

After yesterday's exciting news, I'm got even more excitement to share today because I've been offered a guest designer spot at ABC Christmas for this fortnight's challenge.

ABC Christmas are being sponsored by StampFairy, and because I'm one of the Stamp Fairy DT, I've been allowed to join in the fun with the ABC Christmas girls. 

Ok, I admit that although after December, I did fancy a break from making cards with penguins and snowflakes (I can hear all you dedicated Xmas card crafters gasp in disbelief!) but I'm recovered now, and back with a vengeance.  So much so, that I've dug out my Christmas stash box that I'd put in the cupboard, and not even put it away again (well that was after a bit of a ticking off by Samantha from ABC Christmas Challenge who thought it was a crime to hide all my Xmas stash away during the year !!!)  

I'm reformed now, honest Samantha!  And to pay my penance, I've got a special Christmassy freebie to give away today, created especially for my GDT spot with the ABC girls (see below).

Anyway, here's my sample card for this fortnight's challenge, which is 'for someone you Love', combined with a colour theme of Green, Red & Silver (how wonderfully Christmassy is that !!!). 


Card Recipe:
I hope to see you all join in the L for someone you Love (with green, red & silver) challenge at ABC Christmas, and please pop over to the challenge blog to see the other fab designs by the other DT members who are joined by some more of my Stamp Fairy teamies, including Gerda herself.

Freebie:
Finally, as promised above, here is my Christmas 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.
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!



I've been inspired by :
Happy crafting
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Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Some exciting news

I have considered myself extremely lucky to be on some truly amazing design teams, as well as Guest Designer for a couple of others.  In fact, I feel I've been so lucky, that when I saw the DT Call on Top Tip Tuesday, I thought that there was no chance that I would be good enough; not only to make some inspiring creations, but also to share useful tips that other crafters would find helpful.

However, I was encouraged to send in my application to Leanne (TTT’s blog owner) by my very flattering Stamp Fairy teamie, Samantha.  And it seems that Leanne also liked my designs, and I'm so flattered that she, and her team coordinators, have asked me to join the TTT design team.

Being on design teams has been a great way for me to make some wonderful blogging friendships, and even though I have never met my teamies in the flesh, I have found that it is a fabulous way to make friends and chat to people all over the world, who have the same creative interests as me.


Although it is going to be a whole new challenge for me (and I'm actually quite nervous through the all the excitement), I know that Top Tip Tuesday in particular is going to be a great place to share ideas. The main purpose of Leanne’s TTT blog is to share tips with everyone.  Therefore there is something for everyone, whether you enter our weekly challenges or not.  It is therefore a 'one stop shop' for “how tos” and crafting tutorials.  Leanne's idea is fabulous, and I'm really looking forward to being on the team.  I just hope that I can help inspire other people to try new things.

Thank you so much, Leanne, Samantha and Carol, for letting me play along and join in the fun at Top Tip Tuesday.  I'm really flattered to be joining you and your talented TTT girlies.

Annette xx
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Monday, 6 June 2011

Babies & Freebies

There's a fab new challenge at Stamp Fairy Challenge today, and the theme is 'New Arrivals' use pastel colours.  I got a bit carried away and made not just one card, but two as samples.  Well I couldn't decide between a baby girl or baby boy, so I did both!    Not only that, but I've also decorated the the insides of each card to match the front using Stamp Fairy's Baby Dotty and Baby Jake respectively.

Finally, I've been playing with some new baby sentiments, so it seemed only fair to give them a try!
See the freebies below if you want to download them. 

Anyway, here are my two cards:

For the girls :

Inside :


Girlie Card Recipe:

And for the boys :

Inside :

Boy's Card Recipe:
Pop on over to the Stamp Fairy challenge to see the creations by the other members of the DT and to join in our New Arrivals & pastels challenge this week.  I look forward to seeing your fab creations.

Freebies:
Finally, as promised above, here are some Sentiment freebies, including the one I've used above.  You're welcome to download them if you like them; click on each 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.
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!

Tip: by the way, if you have the Lacey Circle nesties like I've used above, then print any of my circle sentiments out at 2.7cm by 2.7cm or there abouts and the smallest nestie will fit around it as shown in my card above.




I've been inspired by:
Happy Crafting

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Tic Tac Toe

It's a new challenge at Incy Wincy today, and we're sponsored by Digi Doodle Shop.  This week we're playing Tic Tac Toe so you need to pick a row, column or diagonal of embelishments from the board below for your creation.

I opted for the third column (lace, buttons and something green) on my card, although I also have flowers and ribbon, but they don't make up another line!

Card Recipe

Please pop on over to the Incy Wincy Challenge blog to see the other creations from my talented teamies, and to enter our tic tac toe challenge.  I look forward to seeing your creations.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Posted by 5 comments:
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Sunday, 5 June 2011

It'll be all White on the Night (take 2)

Although other people can make these 'white on white' cards look absolutely fabulous, I've discovered that it is an awful lot harder than it looks.  This theme took two attempts before I was even marginally happy with my creation. 

On my first attempt, I used a border punch to create some interest, and then forgot to emboss the card before I stuck it to the base card.  I decided it looked too plain without the embossing, so tried to rectify the mistake with an obscene amount of white liquid pearls painstakingly dotted all over the card in a repeat pattern.  When I'd finished dotting the liquid pearls and refocused my eyes from all the concentrating, I sat back and thought 'I don't like that now'.  Doh !!!

Anyway, I wasn't going to share my attempt, but then I thought, 'Well I share what I think are my more acceptable creations, so it is only fair that I share my not so favourable ones'.  So I finished it off, and here is attempt number one:


Card Recipe:
  • Image - Penny Black 12 days of Xmas (Partridge in a Pear Tree) but I don't see why this should only be a Christmas image if you leave out the related sentiment, because it then just becomes a birdie doing her embroidery!
  • Sentiment - One of my own Freebies with some doodling around the edge to frame it
  • Papers - er, none!
  • Colouring mediums - Twinkling H2O watercolour paints.
  • Nesties - Fleur de Lis Squares for both image & sentiment
  • Cherry Blossom and 15mm roses - Wild Orchid Crafts
  • Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Swiss Dots
  • From my stash - Ribbons, liquid pearls, Xcut border punch
OK, so here is attempt number 2 which I was marginally happier with.  See what you think of this one, which I've left as an any occasion card so it could be an anniversary, wedding, birthday, or 'just because' card.


Card Recipe:
  • Image - Penny Black
  • Sentiment - One of my own Freebies
  • Papers - er, none!
  • Colouring mediums - Twinkling H2O watercolour paints.
  • Nesties - Floral Doily Motifs for image & Lacey Cirles for the sentiment
  • Cherry Blossom and 15mm roses - Wild Orchid Crafts
  • Embossing folder - Craft Concepts Budding Vine
  • From my stash - Ribbons, Lace, Pearls, Pin, Glitter glue everywhere!
Can you tell which card I prefer, just by the size of the bow?!?!

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 23 comments:
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Saturday, 4 June 2011

Magnolia Textures

Woo Hoo, I've got over 300 lovely followers!!!  I've been hovering at 297 for ages and it seems that yesterday's freebie givaway have taken me over the 300 mark!!!  I'll have to celebrate with some more freebies soon, so keep your eyes peeled !!!

Anyway, on to my second card for today.  I've not used a Magnolia image for a while and decided to ink one up for this week's challenge at One Stop Craft Challenge blog.  The theme is "Texture" and we're sponsored by our very own One Stop Card Crafts Shop. 

My textures are embossing, lace, layers, raised image using foam pads, wire/mesh butterfly, flowers, bow, gems and stickles.  

Unfortunately by the time I'd finished adding all that texture, I didn't have room for a sentiment (although there wasn't one in the sketch I followed to be fair!).  Anyway, I left my creation as an 'any occasion' card !!!

Card Recipe:
  • Image - Magnolia Flower Girl Tilda
  • Papers - Summertime Designs
  • Colouring mediums - Promarkers and Watercolour pencils.
  • Nesties - Lacey circles
  • Cherry Blossom, 10mm & 15mm roses - Wild Orchid Crafts
  • Butterfly - The Works
  • Embossing folder - Cuttelbug Swiss Dots
  • From my stash -  lace, gems, ribbon, stickles (on the petals)


Please pop on over to the One Stop Card Craft Challenge to see the other creations by the talented teamies and to enter our Texture challenge. I look forward to seeing your creations.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 17 comments:
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Digital Silhouette

This week the theme at 2 Sisters Challenge is Silhouettes and we're sponsored by Stitchy Bear Stamps.  Because I didn't need to colour in the image, I tried something a bit unusual and created this card entirely digitally before printing it out. 

I also wanted to use some of the digi ribbons that I've had for ages and just not used yet.  I wanted to try an oriental theme for this card, so I've used a black lace effect ribbon and added what I thought looked like bamboo paper designs (well, they do look a bit like bamboo!!!). 

Card Recipe:

Please pop on over to the 2 Sisters Challenge blog to see the creations by the other DT members, and also to link up your creations to our competition.  I look forward to seeing your silhouette creations.

I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 7 comments:
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Friday, 3 June 2011

Life's a Peach (and a Freebie or three)

It's Friday (yay!) so that means there is a new release today at Stamp Fairy.  Today's release features Lenny with a variety of fruits.  A little birdie told me that this set was inspired by Samantha, one of our Stamp Fairy teamies, who wanted some images to use to create some labels for her homemade marmalade.  How sweet is that (excuse the pun!)?  Gerda, you are so wonderful to create these little requests!  Anyway, today's card features Lenny holding a peach, but there are lots of other fruits available. I rather fancy the strawberry one, especially with Wimbledon starting shortly.   Mmmmm, Strawberries! 

Although there is a freebie sentiment with this set, I've actually used another of my homemade sentiments as I wanted a Peachy 'new home' sentiment for a card for my friend, who's moving house this week.   I've therefore included this and also some more sentiments below, so help yourself to any that take your fancy. 

Card Recipe:
 Here's the front of my "Peachy" card:

And here's the inside, using the same papers and layout:

Here's the preview of the whole collection:  Don't forget to visit the Stamp Fairy website to pick up your peachy freebie too.


Freebies:
Finally, as promised above, here are some Sentiment freebies from me, including the one I've used above.  You're welcome to download them if you like them; click on each 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.
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.

Tip: by the way, if you have the Lacey Circle nesties, then print any of my circle sentiments out at 2.7cm by 2.7cm or there abouts and the smallest nestie will fit around it as shown in my card above.




I've been inspired by:
Happy Crafting
Posted by 43 comments:
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Thursday, 2 June 2011

I resisted adding flowers, but tried something new instead ...

OMG how hard was this card to do (for me anyway) as I didn't put ANY flowers on it.  Not even one.  Ok, usually, I admit that I can splattergun them over the card a bit, so much so that the card may tip foward from all the added weight, but to not use even one!!  I'm going to need a lie down after this shock!  However, I thought I would keep this card a bit more simple, especially as I've also veered away from my usual monochrome colour scheme and instead opted for citrus colours of orange, yellow and green.

The main 'something new' referred to in the title, is paper piecing, which I've not done before. I used the same paper for the bears' blanket that I used for the main backing paper.  I admit that I'm not sure I should have used this paper, but I do like the technique and will have to have another try shortly.

And my third 'something new' (after the lack of flowers and the paper piecing) is that I've finally bought some Stickles.  I've only ever had a large dispenser of white glitter glue before, but now I've got, well, have a look for yourself ...


... and guess what?  They were a fiver! Yes for all 5 of them so £1 each!!!  I was so pleased that I bought a rainbow of colours Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.  My very own Stickles!!!  Well it would be criminal not to try them out on this card, wouldn't it.

Card Recipe:


I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 22 comments:
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Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Herb Patriot

I've been inspired by a few challenges in blogland this week, and have used my little Herb Patriot image from Stamp Fairy to create a card to share today.

Card Recipe:


I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting.
Posted by 10 comments:
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