No snow here

I really need to get more Christmas cards made next month. I love the new snowmen which Lili of the Valley brought out last year and I think I will be printing some more of these off as they are so lovely and quick to colour. I diecut him with a stitched die from The Works and used Copics,added some spots with a white gel pen then added some fun flock to his hat and used a pearl pen for snow. The papers are Your Next Stamp and I added some ribbon and diecut some trees using glitter card.

No snow here though we did have some sleet and hail the other day. Otherwise it has either been cold, sunny, raining, windy or a combination of those.  Luckily I have lots of indoor hobbies because it certainly isn't beach weather. I hope all is well you and nobody has been flooded or had too much snow.  Weather is supposed to be horrible again today so will be staying in, some housework and ironing this morning, then crafting and a jigsaw this afternoon I think.

Another birdhouse

You may have seen a birdhouse cross stitch I posted recently which was part of a larger pattern by Durene Jones. I looked again at the pattern and liked this part of it so stitched another 4" hoop.  I would never want to sew the whole panel as it is rather large but using just a small part of it works well. They take longer to sew than many people would think but I do love making these.

I have my first craft fair of the year coming up on March 15th and my cardmaking classes start again on 18th March.

Top hat and tulips

It's launch day at Lili of the Valley and this is just one of 19 cute new images and sentiment sets. The girls and boys are my favourites, they really have that LOTV look about them. I loved colouring Top Hat and Tulips with Copics. The sentiment is one of the new ones. I used a stitched square die from The Works and added a little sparkle to the hearts with a clear sparkle pen. The papers are Lemoncraft Fresh Summer and the butterflies are from Poundland.

No crafting today as we have line dancing class from 1-2.30 and then shopping. A day at home tomorrow when I am hoping to get some more cards made. I do have a post scheduled for tomorrow though.

I do

I was asked by our line dance teacher for a personalised Wedding card and as I didn't have a lot of notice used a LOTV coloured simply print called I do. It is no longer available but you can still buy the image as a digi to colour. I added sparkle to the flowers with a clear sparkle pen. The paper is LOTV romance and roses, lace and flowers from Wild Orchid.  I coloured with wooden hearts with a Nova sparkle pen and added some pearl string and Dovecraft ribbon.

Tulips for Mother's Day

I said there is a variety of the new images from Lili of the Valley and this is one of three flower frame digis. This one is Spring Tulips which I have coloured with Copics and chalk for the sky. The paper is Echo Park. The sentiment is one of a new set from LOTV to go with the new images which launch on 25th Feb. I punched some leaves and added flowers and pearls.

A day in today doing bits and pieces. This afternoon we need to clear out on of the desk areas in my craftroom as an electrician is coming tomorrow to fit another plug socket in my room.  On Tuesday evening the decorator is coming to check out the room and agree a date for decorating. We decided that as I can't be without my craftroom for too long it will be a much quicker job having a professional decorator do it. He did our hall, stairs and landing last year and did a superb job. I look forward to having it done but not to clearing out the room.

A cup of tea sneak peek

I promised you some sneak peeks of the new images from LOTV. These will launch on 25th Feb so not long to wait. I didn't know which one to use first as there are animals, girls and a boy but I do love the little girls so decided on this one. The paper is so pretty that I really didn't need many embellishments and made myself step away rather than adding too much.

Image - LOTV a cup of tea

Medium - Copics

Paper - Lemoncraft fresh Summer

Other - cheesecloth, enamel hearts

We are going out for breakfast this morning and a wander round Wroxham before coming home. Graham wants to wash the car this afternoon so I will be crafting. Then an evening in front of the TV. We recently decided to sign up to Netflix as we wanted to watch Harlan Coben's The Stranger. I have read all his books and love them. Well The Stranger didn't disappoint, it was brilliant. We are currently watching Anne with an E based on Anne of Green Gables and it is wonderful. I also want to watch Safe and The Messiah. It is a shame that Outlander is on Amazon as we want to see the new series so I think we will be signing up to that just to watch Outlander and then stopping the subscription. That is the good thing with these streaming services, no contracts and some really good series and films.

Teddy and penguin

I still have a number of the coloured diecut images that LOTV used to make. This one is Teddy and Penguin. I also have the rubber stamp of this so must get that out to colour some time. I used Dovecraft Glad Tidings papers and a Sue Wilson cut and lift poinsettia and leaf die set.  I added some Stickles and used a Viva pearl pen for snow.

I have some gorgeous new digis from LOTV to colour so will be sharing some sneak peeks shortly.

Gin and tonic anyone?

I have had a few commissions lately so haven't had anything to post on here. I never look for orders but a couple of ladies at line dancing asked me to make cards and somebody saw my gift bags on Facebook and wanted a couple of personalised ones made. I am always happy to make cards to order especially when people don't have odd requests.

This one is for a lady who loves gin so when I saw this new image from Pink Gem I had to get it. This is gin and tonic Rita teamed with some old Craftwork Cards chalkboard papers.  I wanted to brighten the card so used some lovely bright card with the Hunkydory Moonstone fabulous floral dies.

We are so lucky with the weather here, the last two days have been dry, cool and often sunny. I feel so sorry for all the people affected by the recent storms and flooding. The weather should be good today for our trip into the city to meet my Mum.

Blow away

So storm Dennis is due to hit the UK today but hopefully won't be as bad as last week's storm. I think the dandelion clock would be blown out of the mouses's hand if he was outside today.  

Image and sentiment - Penny Black celebration critters

Medium - Copics

Papers - Lilybee Autumn Spice

Ribbon - Crafty Ribbons

Dies - MFT stitched rounded corner square, Crafts Too toadstools

Pearl flowers - from stash

We will be staying in today I think. I haven’t been out much for the last few days due to feeling rough with this cold but I am feeling quite a bit better now. Only my second cold this Winter and been healthy otherwise thank goodness.

Birdhouse cross stitch

I love stitching these 4" hoops and am always looking for different pictures which will fit into them. I have some old cross stitch magazines I got recently from somebody who no longer does cross stitch and sorted through the patterns, tearing out any I like the look of and then filing them into a ringbinder.  One of the patterns by Durene Jones is a large picture of birdhouses. I didn't want to stitch the whole things so chose one of the birdhouses to stitch.

Being from a magazine the picure goes across 3 pages so I copied the pages I wanted, then cut out and stuck the pieces together so that I had an easier pattern to follow.   There were a few butterflies in the picture so I added 3 of them to fill some of the white space.

I came back from my weekend away with a very sore throat which turned into a cold so had to cancel plans to meet my Mum in Norwich yesterday as I felt really awful and didn't want to give it to her. So we have rescheduled for next week as she wants to see a Maker's exhibition. Just hoping my cold soon goes and Graham doesn't get it.

Couple of decoupaged gift bags

I have been playing with the Dovecraft Paper Posies products and again and thought how perfect the decoupage pad is to use on gift bags. I bought the gift bags in Hobbycraft and used the paper posies paper, decoupage, washi tape, puffy stickers and wooden roses to decorate. I made the tags using an old spellbinders die.

I am still working on the spreadsheet for my LOTV stamps, having been away for a few days. Once I have the names of everything I will then need to tick off the ones I have. That will take some doing with some being rubber and some being digi but will be worth it when it is done.

Thanks, Thank you

I made this card for a friend using a Memory Box thank you background stamp. I do love making a distress layered card and used chessecloth behind the sentiment. The hearts were punched with a Hobbycraft punch and then glittered with a clear Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I used a Martha Stewart fern punch, flowers from Wild Orchids and sparkly butterflies from Poundland.

As I schedule this I am sorting an Excel spreadsheet for all my LOTV stamps and simply prints. There is one on the LOTV website which I am using but it has lots of text such as Lili of the Valley in front of the name of the stamp which needs deleting. As I have lots of rubber and lots of digi stamps it will be so helpful to see exactly what I have and will help me decide which others I need.

Happy Birthday and on our way home

A simple card for Trimcraft using the new Paper Posies range from Dovecraft. I used papers and decoupage plus my new Hunkdory fabulous flower dies.

We have been away to Potters again for a three night 60's break. We saw lots of 60's bands plus the Potters theatre company show Spirit of the 60's. So this morning we will having breakfast, packing up and then stopping at Tesco on the way home. As it is only a 40 minute drive away we will be home this afternoon to unpack. So apologies for not visiting your blogs whilst we have been away but we have done so many activities there has been no time for bloghopping.

Oops!!

I do love these cute Hobby House toppers and in a bid to keep up with making Christmas cards decided to use this cutie. The papers are double sided freebies from Papercrafter. The sentiment is an old Me to you material one which after I had stuck it on decided I don't like the way the image sticks up underneath it but I couldn't move it. I used Doohickey slender fir, MFT stitched round corner square and Memory Box stitched snowflake dies.

Meeting the author

A lovely evening yesterday at a book launch with Elly Griffiths, one of my favourite authors.  I am pleased to have introduced several people to her crime novels. We have met her a few times and she is a lovely person and interesting speaker. When I have finished my current novel I shall be starting her new book, The Lantern Men, the 12th Ruth Galloway book.

Another completed cross stitch

I am really enjoying cross stitching again and this is the third LOTV fairy I have completed. With hindsight I should have used slightly darker colours for her hair to give more contrast to her face. The waterlilies have pale pink edges which look really pretty but don't really show up well in the photo. 

This is how I finish mine off. The back of the cross stitch looks a mess but I never worry about that as it will be covered as you can see from the final picture.

So  when I cut the circle to begin with I allow an additional 2" so as this is a 8" hoop I cut a 10" circle. When I have finished the picture I stitch a running stitch around the edges and draw it in. I discovered anther way in a magazine so I did that too but forgot to take a picture. I laced across the back from top to bottom which pulled it in slightly more.  For a larger hoop like this I would definitely use both methods.

I then cut a circle of white felt and use 3d glue to attach it to the back. 

When I put a picture of my hedgie cross stitch on Facebook a friend messaged and said could I do a larger cross stitch for her niece's 21st Birthday.  I sent her a pic of the design and she said could she have it when completed so it is sold.

Soulmates

This is one of those images that makes you go awww how sweet. It is called soulmates and is one of the new love stamps from Lili of the Valley. I used MFT papers and a stitched scalloped border die. The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons and I used Copics for colouring. I used my lovely new flower dies, Hunkdory Moonstone fabulous florals.  The banner die is lawn fawn.  I made this for a friend's anniversary and now I know they received it I can share it with you.

Disney hotel

One of the things we loved to do was explore the Disney hotels. They are all so different, each with a theme. We travelled to this one by boat from Disney Springs. We enjoy the boat trip and loved to look round the hotel and then we sat having a drink enjoying the view in the top photo. 

I used products from the new Dovecraft paper posies range for this layout. I also used American thickers alphabet stickers, Sizzix shadow script die, Bo Bunny just visiting sentiment and some wooden hearts.

Hello there

As soon as I saw the gingham paper and buttons in the new Dovecraft paper posies range I knew I had to use them to make a new baby card. I love Scruffy Edward from LOTV and coloured him with Copics. I used an old Xcut oval die and a First Edition banner die along with faded jeans distress ink.

Products used from the Dovecraft paper posies range:

12x12 papers £7.99

Cotton Ribbons £2.49

Sentiment toppers £1.75

Wooden buttons £1.99

Puffy stickers £1.75

These products are available from Craftstash and will shortly be available from The Range.

Just for you

Well the plumber fixed the heating yesterday, it was a worn out valve so we were nice and warm last night when we watched the Downton Abbey movie which was wonderful. A simple card made using some of the new Trimcraft paper posies range. I rarely use decoupgae but as this was diecut it was very easy to make. I do like to shape decoupage and use 3d glue rather than foam pads which give a very flat look.  I simply backed it with a Dovecraft heart doily and added some pearls.

Trimcraft paper posies products used

12 x 12 paper £7.99

8x8 decoupage pad £7.99

LOTV meets Trimcraft

I received my first DT package as a Trimcraft Maker on Thursday and have been making some samples with the new Paper Posies range. The image is an old diecut from LOTV, wooden hearts from stash.

The new Trimcraft Paper Posies range has lots of very pretty items. On this card I used;

12x12 paper pad £7.99

Washi tape (2 designs in pack) £1.99

Wooden roses £1.75

Sentiment toppers £1.75

Our hearing system developed a fault yesterday afternoon so no heating. The plumber is coming this morning so fingers crossed it is something simple that can be easily fixed.

Florida airboat ride

I was rather apprehensive about this trip but Graham really wanted to do it so we settled for the half hour trip. I don't like fast boats but this skimmed over the water and reeds and it was a really good trip. We saw a lot of different birds and a few alligators. It is very noisy, hence the ear defenders. I used various papers, MFT sun and jumbo banner dies and some wooden arrows.

Breakfast in America

Thank you for all your positive comments on my Birthday books and welcome to my new followers. I made two scrapbook layouts yesterday, working my way through my American photos. The page says it all really.  They really do some lovely breakfasts in the US.  Th french toast with fruit was soooooo good. I used backing paper, coffee cup and sentiment from Laserow Love paper pack.

I have had a few twinges in one of my back teeth so off to the dentist this afternoon whilst Graham has a haircut. I know who has the better appointment there. Fingers crossed I don't need a filling.

Making something new

I am always on the lookout for something new to make for craft fairs and when I saw a tutorial for a Birthday book on Pinky's blog I decided to have a go. The inside looks like this with the other 6 months the other side plus a back cover.

I typed the wording and used Memory Box butterflies and some new flower dies I treated myself to after seeing another crafting friend use them. I think you will be seeing a lot of them. They are Hunkydory Moonstone fabulous flowers. Pinky wrapped what looked like elasticated card on hers but I used some Tim Holtz bulldog clips.  I didn't include a tick box unlike Pinky as I wanted it to be used every year.

I popped them in cello bags with a pen and took them into Prima Rosa where I sell some items so will see if they sell in there before making any more.

Showered with love

This is probably my favourite of the new love images from Lili of the Valley, showered with love. I had the idea in my head of a monochrome vintage style card with just a touch of red. Now sometimes I have an idea and am disappointed with how the card turns out but I am really pleased with this one.

Image - LOTV showered with love

Medium - Copics

Flowers - Michaels, USA

Sentiment - LOTV

Wooden heart - Hobbycraft

Distress Ink - Vintage photo

Other from stash - old papers, burlap with lace, cheesecloth, white gel pen on umbrella

Gone fishing

\i am determined to try to use some older stash this year and some techniques I haven't used for ages too. I really like the Little Claire silhouette stamps and the black looks effective against the bright colours I think.  The papers are MFT. I love playing around with stripes, just adding some tags and a stripe of red behind the image along with some doodling works well. I used a Fiskars tag punch and MFT stitched cloud dies.

Snow gnomes

My second Christmas card this year so far. A very kind blogging friend sent me some lovely stamps as a present and this is one of them. It is from Polkadoodles and is called snow gnomes. The colouring looks so much better in real life but that is the trouble with some of the dull days we have been having. Thankfully we have had a few lovely bright ones too and no snow at all this Winter.

I used Copics of course and teamed it with First Edition Jolly Holidays papers. I bought a new snowflake edger die in The Works, half price at £1.50 and used it with white glitter card. The sentiment is LOTV and the trees were cut with Joy dies.  I added some doodling with a Nuvo brush script pen and some chunky glitter I found in my stash.

I will be back tomorrow with another card, 

Sharing and caring

This is the last of the anniversary cards I made using the new coloured simply prints from Lili of the Valley. The papers are MME all things chalk again and the sentiment is LOTV. I added some doodling around the image, I really enjoyed making these black, white and red cards. 

A day in Norwich today where we shall either be having breakfast or lunch and I have an appointment for a haircut.

Be Mine

This is the third of the cards I made using one of the coloured simply prints which launched yesterday at Lili of the Valley. The paper is MME all things chalk again and the sentiment LOTV. I used a your next die heart banner and an old Crafty Sentiments heart border die.

Launch day

Yes it is launch day at Lili of the Valley. I posted a card yesterday afternoon so if you missed that one you will find it below. This is another of the coloured simply prints, called showered with love. The images are also available as digi stamps and this one is sitting in my desk waiting to be coloured. In the meantime here is the simply print.

I added some doodling and teamed it with MME all things chalk paper. The lamppost die is MFT, umbrella Memory Box, hearts are Gummiapan and the heart border is Your Next die.  The sentiment is from an old LOTV set.