Swinging by...

Hi guys, back again!  Just a quick post from me to share a card that I made today using another of my images...

...this little girl on a swing is coloured using my Promarkers and 3D paper pieced...

...I matted the image onto a gold mirri card oval and added the Nellie Snellen corner to embellish.  Papers are First Edition Summer Breeze (love this pad, though it's nearly finished)...

...Flowers are small chrysanths from WOC and a freesia type flower that I made using the flat, mulberry paper daisies, wire and seed beads.  I made a little cameo using my smallest beaded oval and the background paper, added a couple of decorative pins and some corner dies.  Didn't get chance to decorate the inside yet, so this is still a work in progress.  The sentiment reads 'Swinging by to wish you a Happy Birthday'.  That's it from me as I'm off to take the boys to the village bingo in a bit - fingers crossed!!  Lisa X

I'm entering this card into the following challenges :

Simon Says Stamp

Anything Goes

Crafty Catz

Use a digi

Sweet Stampin'

Anyhting Goes

My first blog award...

Good morning, everyone!  Well, what can I say, I have received my first blog award from the lovely Rach!

It is always a pleasure to receive positive comments on your work, but I was so surprised to see that Rachel was kind enough to think of me as one of her award recipients! Thank you so much, honey!

The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favourite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note :

Here's what to do on receiving your Award
1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste their blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve recognition
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Here are the well deserved blogs (in no particular order) I have chosen to pass the award to :

Lorraine at Lorraine's Creations.  Great mix of styles and a wonderful Blogger, helping to encourage her newbie friend into Blogland.

Sazzle at Sazzle Craft.  Beautiful creations - love her choice of colours and stamps and shares tutorials on how her cards are made.

Candy at Creativity is Contagious.  Love this talented ladies distressing and altered art - a real hands on crafter!

Sarah at Created by Sarah.  Talented crafter - love her soft pastel tones and great colouring!

Poppet at Crafting When I Can.  Great crafter and Blogger - Team Leader at Crafting When We Can challenges and always leaves positive comments, plus has some great inspiration, too!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful creations, ladies...enjoy your award!  Lisa X

Freebie...

Hey guys!  Been having a play in PS this morning and what with the Jubilee and Olympics this year, thought I would make my own union jack papers, but in a more pastel tone...

...The papers are in 6x6 format 300dpi and can be downloaded from 4shared by clicking on the images above.  Enjoy!  Lisa x

Sprout...

What a gloriously, beautiful, Spring morning here in the UK!!  The lambs are bleating, the birds are tweeting and the sun is shining it's heart out!  And better still, the clock's change tonight and I wake up from my Winter hibernation!!

So this morning saw me awake at 6.30, partly because of the time of year and partly because of the fact that this stupid sore throat/tickly cough kept me up for half the night!  So down I came and decided to make a card with you all to share.  The colour theme over at the Ribbon Girl Blog is Aqua and White, with a picture inspiration...

...so this set my colour combo...

 There was another few challenges that I wanted to enter, so this determined my other choices...Raise the Bar wants 'In the Garden' and My Mum's Craft Shop wants us to 'Get Digital', so it had to be Mo Manning's Sprout image that I used...

...I wanted the image to be the main focus of the card, so printed it larger than I would normally and coloured with Promarkers.  The rest I kept rather simple, using Papermania's A Christmas Carol A5 Linen paper pack, First Edition Summer Breeze and just some cardstock from my stash.  I added some of my favourite wired organza ribbon which makes the most sumptuous bows, jade green string and a little metal sunflower charm.

The sentiments were made to look like plant labels and I decorated the inside to coordinate...

...I cut into the image around the plant pot, using my craft knife, so that it would sit over the patterned paper stripe (the same as on the front)...
...On a different note, here's something else that I made on Thursday - I was not in the mood for papercrafting, so dusted down my sewing machine and made myself a Roman blind for the bathroom (a job I've been meaning to do for months)...

...it even fits in with the Ribbon Girl's colour theme!  So there you are, hope you enjoy the lovely weather, if you've got it, and have a great weekend!  Thanks for dropping by, Lisa x

I'm entering my card into the following challenges :

The Ribbon Girl Challenge

Aqau and White

Raise the Bar

In the Garden

My Mum's Craft Shop

Let's Get Digital

Crafty Catz

Spring is in the Air

Just horsing around...

...mind you, I think that should be hoarsing the way my throat feels!  Both boys have been ill with cold/flu like bugs and I've been fighting it off for over a week, but it seems my immune system can't take the battering anymore and my throat feels like I've swallowed a cheese grater!

Anyway, I decided to console myself by sitting at my ridiculously messy table and trying to make something in the 4 inch square of space that I have!  I noticed on the lovely Coops blog that passion for Promarkers theme this week is animals, so I decided to create a card using one of my own digis (which will be available online in my digi shop in the near future - watch this space!)...

...I followed Bron's sketch over at the Friday Sketch Challenge (think this will be used again in the future).  The horseshoe was made using 2 different sized circle nesties and a few different sized hole punches - I think it turned out rather well?!  The papers are from First Edition Desert Blooms 6x6 pad, this is a great pad for allsorts of cards, so versatile...

...my 'Laughing Horse' was coloured using Promarkers and 3D decoupaged with an extra 2 layers for more depth.  The sentiment reads 'Heard it from the horse's mouth...' and inside, '...it's your Birthday!'..

...And a side view - I added the horse digi to the insert to finish.  Thanks for visiting me today and can I say a big 'Hi!' to my newest followers Elise, Mandy, Miray, Di and Carolyn (hope I've not missed anyone out!)  it really means a lot that you would consider following my little crafty blog and I hope you take inspiration from what I make...Big thanks to you and all my followers!  Lisa x

I'm entering this card into the following challenges :

Passion for Promarkers

Week 141 - Animals

Friday Sketch Challenge

Sketch #13 by Bron

Crafting When We Can

One for the Boys

Cards for Men

Challenge 6 - Cheeky Chappies

Robot Bag...

Hi everyone!  Another Spring morning here in Wales - yesterday, I managed to get out in the garden for a couple of hours, it's amazing how satisfying digging and weeding a patch of dirt can be!?!  I now have two raised vegetable beds ready for planting, now all I have to do is choose what I'm going to grow this year?  I dug up the last of the potatoes, which had kept all winter...there were a couple that were frosted, but I must have dug up a good 6 or 7lb of spuds - fantastic!  The garden is now full of little birds pecking away at the insects that have been unearthed...don't you just love Spring?!

Anyway, enough of my prattling, I have a project to share...  I noticed that it's a nice and easy Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp and Show - I love that challenge blog, it makes me think outside of my comfort zone and gets me mucky crafting (which is always a therapy when you're having a bad day)!  So I decided to alter another gift bag that my eldest received a present in for his birthday...

...before...

...and after!  I picked up the Couture Creations 'Workshop' folder form Crafts4U whilst we were at Leigh show, thinking that it would go well with the Boys2Men disc.  I inked the embossed panel with Weathered Wood DI and Tuxedo Black Memento (blends rather nicely actually)...

...I printed the robot digi twice onto grey pearl cardstock, coloured parts with Promarkers, then decoupaged using the second image.  I created a sign in PS for him to hold with the sentiment on...I thought 'just for you' would make it useable for any occasion.  I added some lovely wide grosgrain ribbon that was saved from little man's new PJ packaging and the cogs are Sizzlits dies that have been in my stash for ages.  I highlighted with some coloured glitters and gilding flakes and added a clock charm, that I also picked up at Leigh show...

And there you have it, a one off gift bag for some lucky recipient - if I can bear to part with it that is!  I do try to shut out of my mind the possibility that someone would throw it away afterwards, but it lurks there in some dusty corner of my brain!  I can't throw away any of the hand made cards I receive, so as you can imagine, have boxes and boxes of cards and things that the boys have made over the years!  Hope you like my creation and that it gives you the inspiration to have a go at altering something yourself!  Lisa x

I'm entering this project into the following challenges :

Simon Says Stamp and Show

Anything Goes

CES Challenge

Challenge#76 Charmed!

Paperplay Challenges

Recycle it!

(I've used a recycled gift bag and grosgrain ribbon from PJ packaging)

Crafty Creations Challenge

Challenge #160 Stripes

Spring Bringer

Hi there!  Well, what a beautiful day we have had today!  The sun has shone and it's been warm enough to venture out in just a T-shirt!  I made the most of the good weather and took the opportunity to get some washing out, sort out the garage and start on the shed...still a week's worth of tidying to do, but it's a start!  The fair weather also seemed to bring people out of the woodwork, as this afternoon saw us receiving 2 lots of unexpected guests - a lovely surprise!

Anyhow, I managed to colour in this little lovely whilst everyone else was still in bed this morning (I am definitely a morning person, whereas DH and my eldest don't wake up properly until midday!).  The stamp I used is Spring Bringer which I won from the lovely Mariska (thanks again, honey!)...I have been wanting to ink her up since she arrived in the post over a week ago, but just haven't had the chance!

I kept the card design quite simple, but added lots of layers for depth.  I treated myself to the Martha Stewart Punch around the page, Eyelet Lace, whilst I was in Crafter's Cove this week...I have admired it being used by the very talented Dena and love the added interest it gives to the card base.

I coloured this little lady with my Promarkers and Flexmarkers and used First Edition papers Animal Antics and Spring Feast.
Colours - Skin : Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Dusky Pink, Almond
Hair : Walnut, Spice, Cinnamon, Tan, Antique White FM
Top : Gold, Mustard, Buttercup, Antique White FM
Trousers : Soft Green, Pastel Green, Tea Green
Wings : Soft Peach, Light Fawn FM
Leaf background in flower bouquet : Forest Green, Grass, Meadow Green

The wired organza ribbon was originally a champagne colour and I coloured it with Soft Green to coordinate.  I added a circle sentiment, diamantes, pearls and a touch of Glamourdust glitter to finish.Hope you like it and thanks for dropping by, have a great week!  Lisa x

I am entering this card into the following challenges :

Simon Says Stamp

Mother's Day/Special Girl

Crafty Catz

Mother's Day/Special Lady

Allsorts

Say it with Flowers

Fussy and Fancy Friday

Fairies

Sugar and Spice...

Hi, back again!  As promised, here's a picture of the A Boy is.. card that I made for the show...

...I also made up a girl version using the sugar and spice verse...

...If you've got the 12 Cards of Christmas disc, here's how I made it...
If you run Windows Vista or 7, when the autorun menubox appears after inserting your disc, click on the folder icon that says 'Open folder to view files'.  If you run Windows XP, close the pdf browser when it opens, then goto Start > My Computer and RIGHT CLICK on the cd/dvd drive (where the lantern icon is), then click Open.

Double click the jpeg and png folder, then browse to find the patterned papers that you want to use.  Double click to open one in Windows Photo Viewer/Picture Gallery, click Print.  In the print window, set the paper size to A4 and choose the print size 4 to a page (9 x 13cm) (Number of times to use picture = 1)  Print your first paper.  Turn your paper 180 degrees and place back in your printer (so that it will be printing on the same side)  Choose a second paper and print as above (I used the xmas girl stars and argyle papers for the clothes).  Your paper should now be printed like this...

In the jpeg and png folder, xmas boy or girl folder, open the black and white digi image.  Place your paper back in your printer and overprint the image with the settings Paper size A4, 4 to a page (9 x 13cm), set the number of times to use the picture as 4 and uncheck the Fit to Page box.  You should now have this...

If you have colouring mediums (Promarkers, Copics, etc) you can colour the face, hair, bear/boat and present on one of the blank images and add shading to the jumper and trousers.  If not, print off one of the coloured images from the xmas boy or girl folder, ensuring that you use the same print settings - Paper size A4, 4 to a page, uncheck the Fit to Page and use the picture once.

I cut the heart from the first layer and added a touch of shading to the clothes using water colour pencils (be sure not to over wet the paper, as inkjet printer ink is usually water based and can bleed if you wet it too much)  Glue the clothes over the printed image, then the heart over the top...

I cut the verse using a Go Kreate die as a template and drawing around the inside with pencil, before cutting out and inking the edges if desired (I used Antique Linen)...

I used the pudding dot paper as a background for my card and inked the edges with Dusty Concord, layered onto  yellow matt, and some hot pink card, cut using the same Go Kreate die to matt the verse.  Pink organza ribbon and bow, lilac feather, silk flowers and a Memory Box swirl die (Madera corner) as embellishments...

  I finished with a co-ordinating insert which you can download here, or if you want the boy version here.

I made the boy card in the same way, but used the xmas boy stars and plaid paper for the clothes and postbox plaid as the background.  I also used a larger Go Kreate die to cut the verse in the same way, drawing around the inside for the verse and cutting out in gold for the matt.   Hope this gives you inspiration to have a go, thanks for looking and Happy Crafting!  Lisa x

A boy is...

Hi guys!  I'm back in Wales after a fantastic weekend up at Sincerely Yours papercraft Show at Leigh, in Lancashire.  It was a fabulous 2 day event and it was lovely to meet so many of you that follow my work and little blog!  I had some really wonderful feedback about my designs and hope that I managed to answer any questions that any of you may have had?!  I would like to say a special 'hello' to Gaye, who brought in 2 beautiful creations made using the little boy and girl from my 12 Cards of Christmas disc...we all know how diffiuclt it can be to take praise for our work, but I have to say they were fabulous!  So, well done Gaye and thank you for sharing your creations!

Speaking of the little boy and girl from the Xmas disc, as promised, I have uploaded the verse that I used on the little boy card that was so admired and created a little girl one on the same page, and you can download it from 4shared here.  (I will be posting pictures of the new samples and a quick tutorial of how I paper pieced them over the next few days)

Another 'hello' goes out to Vicky and Jan, who I always have a good chat and a laugh with - it was great to see you again girls..and Jan, Wales isn't that far, despite being a different country!! ;)

Well, that's it for now, I'll be back again later with a pic of the little boy card and a quick description of how I made it.  Until later, thanks for dropping by, Lisa x

Surprise!! I'm back!

...Whilst my printer was chugging away printing hundreds of pages for this weekend's show, I decided to try and get a card made to share with all you lovely bloggers, so inked up my Sarah Kay image, Bernadette admiring Spring flowers...

...I had been inspired by the theme for LOTV Challenge this week, which is peach and cream (even though I can't enter because I haven't used a LOTV image!)...

 ...I coloured Bernadette with my Promarkers, then glittered with a touch of Glamourdust and cut out using my standard oval nesties...

...I added some WOC roses and chrysanths, Memory Box Madera Corner die (chopped up) and look what arrived in the post, just in time to be added to my creation...those pretty Magnolia Doo Hickey Dragonflies that I won from the lovely and talented, Mariska - thanks, hun!  A gold Nellie Snellen fancy corner, simple sentiment and lots of pearls finished my creation.  Need to get off and carry on sorting for the weekend - if any of you are going to the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show at Leigh Sports Village, come over and say hi!  I always love meeting new crafters and sharing tips and ideas!  Thanks for dropping by and see you after the weekend, Lisa x

I'm entering this card into the following challenges :

PaperPlay Challenges

Something old, Something new

(Old is my First Edition Desert Bloome Paper Pad and my Bernadette stamp and new is for my Doo Hickey Dragonflies)

Crafty Catz

Eye Spy something beginning with B

(Bernadette)

Allsorts

It's your choice

Simon Says Stamp

Anything Goes

Mad busy!!

Hi guys!  Just thought I'd drop in and apologise for my absence, but I am MAD busy trying to get stuff ready for Papercraft@Leigh Show this weekend!  Typically, I have also had a list of cards to make from a friend and a couple more from neighbours, so don't have enough hours in a day (sat up 'til gone midnight making last night!)  I will be posting some of the new samples that I've made on Monday, but might not be back until then!  Sorry : (  Hope to see you back soon and thanks for dropping by, Lisa x