enjoy the little things...

A PLACE TO SHARE MY PASSION FOR PAPER! :)

Happy Wednesday, I hope life is treating you well. If you're like me, You'll be loving the new LOTV images. They are absolutely ADORABLE . I really enjoyed colouring this image. Annabel Texting I have used : LOTV 8 x 8 Pad ~ Beach Bliss & Everyday Grungy Messages Make sure you pop over to the rest of the DT's blogs, to see more. Thank You for popping by BIG HUGZ InLinkz.com

Good morning everyone and thanks for stopping by! Today we are holding a Lili of the Valley design team blog hop to celebrate the launch of their gorgeous Summer stamps There are 10 new designs including fairies, flowers and also some that are a little bit different! The stamps will be available to buy on the website from midday UK time on Monday 8th July and will be launched in their Leeds shop on Saturday 6th if you are near enough to visit *** The LOTV design team are all joining in and you may have noticed that there are some new names on the list We’re all thrilled to welcome our new teamies . . . The very fabulous Kim, Becky and Debbie *** You just need to ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each card, hopefully we can give you lots of ideas and inspiration along the way for using the new images There are some great prizes up for grabs on this hop, we don’t know where they are hidden so do make sure you that you visit and comment on every blog We will let you know tomorrow evening which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and the winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those blogs 1st prize The full set of 10 new stamps 2nd prize 4 new perfectly pretty stamps 3rd prize 3 new flower stamps 4th prize 3 new fairy stamps Here's a list of all the blogs taking part, and remember that you will need to visit them all and leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning as we don’t know where the prizes are hidden; Ideas to Inspire Anne Becky Dawny Debbie Dena Elise Me !! Gretha Jen Kim Lou Mary J Mindy Moni Here’s my card, I have used the gorgeous CUTE FAIRY Your next stop is Gretha and if you get lost along the way you can start again at the Ideas to Inspire blog Don’t forget to also stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog tomorrow evening when you can find out who the lucky winners are of those great prizes Enjoy the hop… and good luck! Big HUGZ

Cards, papercrafting and quite a lot of pink!

A PASSION FOR CRAFT

Im sure Im not really showing you guys anything new with these DIY cupcake holders / pedestals....

Morning everyone, have you been enjoying our Sneak Peeks of the gorgeous Annabel, I adore every image in this release, and they are an absolute joy to colour. Time for another Lili of the Valley design team blog hop and today we’re giving you some inspiration for using their latest stamps which will be available to buy on the website from midday (UK time) on Monday 24th March There are 7 gorgeous stamps featuring their adorable new character Annabel * Just ‘hop’ from one blog to another following the links and leave a comment on each post, hopefully we can give you lots of ideas along the way As always we have some hidden prizes, we don’t know where they are so do be sure to visit and comment on every blog We will let you know on Monday morning which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and the winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those blogs We have 2 full sets of the new stamps to give away, 2 lucky winners will each win the set of 7 Annabel stamps Here's a list of all the blogs taking part, and remember that you will need to visit them all and leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning; Ideas to Inspire Anne Becky (me) Dawny Dena Elise Fleur Gretha Jen Kathy Lou Mary J Mindy Here's my card, I have used Big Kick. The papers are from Maja Designs Vintage Autumn Basics 12x12 sheets, I have distressed the edges with a Tim Holtz tool and then machine sewn them. I have coloured Annabel in with distress markers and reinkers, and sprinkled shabby pink Frantage around the image. The lace and flowers are all from The Ribbon Girl. Next stop is Dawny and if you get lost you can start again at the beginning and pick the links up from there Don’t forget to stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog on Monday morning when you can find out who the lucky winners were of the 2 sets of stamps Enjoy the hop everyone, good luck!

I’ve had quite a few emails asking if printing digi papers uses loads of ink. I think it’s down to your printer and how you print your papers. I have an HP that recycles ink, but even so I don’t print to “Best” or photo quality, I use the “fast normal” option and still get amazing quality printed papers. I also save ink by resizing the papers and printing exactly what I need and no more. I use Crafters Companion Decoupage paper to print my digi papers on to, it’s a heavyweight paper and gives fabulous results. So firstly, I decide on the layout/sketch I want to use then chose the papers I want to print. For the card above I needed the plaid sheet to be 14.5 x 14.5 cm so resized the original down to these measurements in Photoshop. Any photo-imaging program should do this. The flower layer had to be smaller so again I resized this down to 14.5 x 14.5 then using the crop tool cropped the paper down to the size I needed. By resizing your papers all to the same size you keep the uniformity of the patterns. So even if you only need a 5 cm x 5 cm piece, resize down to 14.5 x 14.5 (or whatever size you work with) then CROP down to the size you require. Then open up a new document (I work with A4) and set your resolution to 300. Copy and paste both the digi papers that you have resized and move around on the page to get them to fit. The more layers you intend to use on your card the more you will have to move/rotate on the A4 page to get them to fit. Hope this helps. Thanks for stopping by,

Hi, It's ALLSORTS time again! Thank you for all the gorgeous entries for Kirsten's fab theme Ribbon, Lace & Charm. xXx This week the lovely Amanda wants to see MONOCHROME xXx I have chosen shades of brown, pop over to ALLSORTS and check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous projects xXx xXx I have used: LOTV ~ Hanging around Magnolia ~ Bare Branch Nestabilites ~ Circles Tim Holtz ~ Distress Inks Leaf Punch Basic Grey ~ Kraft Garden Twine xXx Thank you for stopping by Hugz

[Enthält Werbung] Hallo ihr Lieben, ich habe heute wieder ein Sneak Peek für alle Lili of the Valley Fans, denn es gibt eine tolle neue Mini Stempel Kollektion mit süßen Mermaids und Fairies. Also seid gespannt und schaut öfters mal auf dem LOTV Ideas to Inspire Blog vorbei, um zu sehen was das Design Team in den nächsten Tagen schönes zaubert. Ich habe mir eine super süße Mermaid ausgesucht und sie passend zu tollem Papier, aus der Magic Happens Collection, von Kaisercraft coloriert. Außerdem habe ich mir noch zwei Sentiments aus den Sets Handwritten Phrases und Dreamy Days ausgesucht und eine Menge Glitter verwendet ;) Den Sketch findet ihr bei der Challenge von Tuesday Morning Sketches und das Team von Stampavie and more möchte gerne *Nähte* auf den Werken sehen. Und bei der Deep Ocean Challenge ist diesmal *alles erlaubt. Habt noch einen schönen Abend und vielen Dank für´s Vorbeischauen. Hi dear all, I have another sneak peek to share for all Lili of the Valley fans, because there will be a new release with mermaids and fairies. So be sure to have a look at the LOTV Ideas to Inspire Blog to see what the Design Team will create the next few days. I used a lovely Mermaid and colored her in to some beautiful papers of the Magical Happens Collection from Kaisercraft. I also selected two sentiments from the sets Handwritten Phrases Dreamy Days and of course, a lot of glitter ;) The sketch can be found at the challenge of Tuesday Morning Sketches and the team from Stampavie and more would like to see *Stitches* on the creations. Furthermore, at the Deep Ocean Challeng there is the theme *anything goes*. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the evening. Big hugs Nixe-Moni Card Recipe: Stamps: Mermaid 1 from Lili of the Valley Papers: Cardstock from Stash, Patterned Paper: Magic Happens Collection/Kaisercraft Tools: Scor Pal, Cuttlebug & Spellbinders Rectangles/Megahobby, Doo Hickey Die/Magnolia, Corner Punch, Sewing Machine Embellishments: Glitter/Stampin`Up!, Half Pearls, Cheesecloth and Ribbon from stash Sentiment: Handwritten Phrases and Dreamy Days/Lili of the Valley Medium: Prismacolor Pencil & White Spirit Colours I`ve used: Light Peach, Peach, Henna, Cream, Sienna Brown, Dark Brown, Greyed Lavender, Lilac, Parma Violet, Violet, Dioxazine Purple Hue, Muted Turquoise, Light Aqua, Aquamarine, Black

This is the second of two A6 baby girl cards I was commissioned to make for Papercraft Inspirations. The designs had to be easily adapted for baby boys. I love this sweet LOTV Elephant digi. Goodness there are a lot of elephants on my blog at the moment, It has been coloured with Copics, the digital papers are Nitwits, lace from Crafty Ribbons, sentiment from LOTV. Challenges The Paper Shelter make it digital The Ribbon Girl a card I was recently asked to join the design team at Papercraft Essentials magazine and received my first commission yesterday. I am thrilled to be designing for them. I also had a lovely surprise when I saw the front cover of Papercrafter magazine. I have had small pictures on the front of magazines but this is the first time my card has been the main picture. A cover girl at last! Here it is.

Hi everybody, Today is the start of a new challenge at Wild Orchid Challenges. We want you to show us a project with "anything birthday". I decided to combine this challenge with a card I wanted to make for a little girl who celebrated her very first birthday on July 15th. Noor is the daughter of Jolanda Bergmans, the owner and designer of Noor! Design. So along with pretty Wild Orchid Crafts products there also had to be Noor! Design products on this card... this is what I came up with: I pretty image is by Lili of the Valley and she's called Pom Pom. The pretty papers are Maja Design Sofiero and I combined that with white and pink colored cardstock. Behind the image are two Spellbinder Peony die cuts. The ribbon and rhinestones are from stash. As mentioned I decided to use a lot of Noor! Products used are: Tekststempels 2 Recht Labels & Tags 1 6002-0142 Stencil-Ovaal 6002/0258 (I didn't use the oval shape but I did use the swirls that go with it) Rand Vlinder 6002/0251 Vintage Flourishes Vlinder 6003-0023 (this butterfly is the perfect match to the largest butterfly in the edge die) The sentiment is Dutch and reads "Hieperdepiep Hoera" which means "Hip Hip Hooray". The Wild Orchid Crafts products I used are: Mixed Pink/White Cosmos Daisy Flowers Pink Trellis Roses 35mm Pink Open Roses 15mm Baby Pink Sweetheart Blossoms Ivory Open Roses 20mm A close up of the pretty image, as always colored with Copic Markers and completely 3D paper pieced. As you can see in this close up I have added stitches around the image and the papers and I have added some golden liquid pearls to the anthers of the flowers. I also wanted to show a close up of the gorgeous butterfly die cuts. And the little pieces that were used to built this image. Well hope you like my card but more importantly, hope Noor and her mummy liked it. Please join us at Wild Orchid Challenge and show us your birthday creation! I completely forgot to enter this card into challenges but hope it's OK that I enter it a day late, if not just let me know OK. I'd like to enter this card into: The current challenge at the Fashionista Challenge Blog which is "Wings" The current challenge at Lili of the Valley which is Pretty in Pink Hugs,

A new fortnightly challenge theme starts today at Sweet Stampin'. We'd like to see creations that represent Earth Day and/or contain recycled items. I was a bit stumped about what image to use at first until I remembered this Altenew stamp. I decided to ink up the image in different shades of green and used greetings from around the world for my sentiment. I also added some recycled cardboard for the image mat which also gave the image a bit of dimension. It would be great if you could play along with us this fortnight - we'd love to see what you come up with. You'll find inspiration from the Sweet Stampers and all the challenge details over on the blog here. Have a great weekend. xxx

Hi everyone, Welcome to Lili of the Valley 's May Blog Hop! You should have reached me via the gorgeous Elise Today we’re celebrating the launch of the sweet Birthday Fairies These adorable new stamps will be available to buy from 10am on Saturday 10th May. I'll be going to the shop in Leeds for the Birthday celebrations, there will be loads going on, new products, demonstrations, and special offers I'm very excited about it and it should be a really great day. Don’t worry if you can’t get to the shop because there will be some online fun too, we will let you have details nearer the time but Lucy will be on Facebook throughout the day bringing you chat, news and pictures from the shop As always we have some hidden prizes along the way, we don’t know where they are so do be sure to visit and comment on every blog It will be announced on the Ideas to Inspire blog on Saturday morning which were the ‘lucky’ blogs. The winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left on those blogs We have 2 full sets of the new stamps to give away, 2 lucky winners will each get all 10 new designs Here's my card, PETALS I have also used LOTV 8 x 8 Paper Pad ~ Timeless Victorian Vintage Sentiments ~ Occasions Remember that you will need to visit all of the blogs & leave a comment on each one to have the best chance of winning; You now need to "Hop" over to the gorgeous Gretha Big HUGZ InLinkz.com

It's not my turn for the challenge at A Creative Romance, but with the theme being Vintage I couldn't help but play along. I have used another sneak peek from the new release at Lili Of The Valley, this cutie is Balloon Basket, and has been coloured with distress markers. The papers are from the 6x6 pad Vintage Spring Basics. The edges have been distressed with a Tim Holtz tool. and Walnut Stain ink. I have used white rose pearl organza, white teeny tiny pom pom trim, pink rolled roses, 5mm self adhesive pearls, white tulips, white chrysanth, baby dummy charm, ivory button twine, cheesecloth and stickles all from The Ribbon Girl who are our sponsors this time. Hugs, Becky xx

I didn’t get this posted on Thursday with having the GDT card for the CLP challenge so better late than never. It’s my card for this week’s Lili of the Valley Challenge which is a brilliant sketch designed by our Pops. Thanks for giving us such a fab sketch to work with sweets :) I have used Raspberry Road One Fine Day paper kit, not Christmassy at all but I love the soft pretty shade of blue, it worked for me lol. The music paper is from the same kit. It’s so easy to work with digi kits when you have a multi layered sketch to work with, everything matches perfectly and you just print out what you need, no waste :) The embellies are all from Wild Orchid Crafts nach – lace, seam binding, pearl brad, pearls, 30mm wild rose, 25mm wild rose, sweetheart blossoms. The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley Christmas Greetings Small set which I have stamped on to a tiny tag. The image was coloured with Promarkers, Flexmarkers and a cool grey 70% pencil. Skin: Apricot, Oatmeal and blush Hair: Terracotta, Vanilla, Antique White Dress: Celestial Blue, Glacier Blue, Soft Aqua Stars,candle stick: Honeycomb, Lemon Greens: Pine, Meadow Green Wings: Buttercup, Lemon Chiffon I am off to teach a class at Papercuts this afternoon, so must skedaddle and get my kit packed up :) hugs

Hi again! My second card for today, using another adorable stamp from Lili of the Valley :) This time I've made a Z-Fold card with the cute image "The Little Things". This image is just perfect for occations as weddings, wedding anniversaries, valentine & engagements (and probably several more too)! I've masked the LOTV image together with a lantern and a heart shaped sentiment, and coloured it with my beloved Prismacolor pencils (again :) "The little things" is one of of the LOTV stamps on sale at a reduced price at the moment, and you can buy it for just £3.00 - just take a look at our special offers page! Remember - There's lots of inspiration on the LOTV I2I Blog every day this month, including georgeous sneak peeks of the new LOTV stamp collection due to be released on the 20th, so don't forget to check that out :) Z-Fold Card Size: 6" x 6" Ink: Memento - Espresso, Distress Ink - Pumice Stone & Weathered Wood. Stamps: Lili of the Valley - "The Little Things", Magnolia - lantern, Papirloftet - heartshaped background sentiment stamp (Congratulations). Colouring: Prismacolor Premier Pencils. Papers: Bildmålarna - Picnick "Lots of Flowers", Bazzill - steel blue & white cardstock, copy paper 200g. Tools: Martha Stewart - Flourish edge punch. Embellishments: Wild Orchid Crafts - Organza Ribbon, Paper Doilies, Slider Buckles, Self Adhesive Pearls, Sweetheart Blossoms, Curly Wild Roses 35 mm, Open Paper Roses 15 mm. I'm entering this in to these challenges: Creative Belli - Hearts/Valentine Papercraft Star - Hearts The Paper Shelter - Be my Valentine The Sisterhood of Crafters - Valentine Truly Scrumptious - Love & Hearts Deep Ocean - Love You Everybody Art - Love Ladybug Crafts Ink - Loves me, loves me not... My Time to Craft - A is for Adorable Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes Partytime Tuesdays - Valentines The Ribbon Carousel - Anything Goes Sassy Cheryl's - Be my Valentine Shopping Our Stash - Hearts, Valentines and/or Lace The Stamping Boutique - Valentines Try it on Tuesdays - Cards for a True Love Tuesday Throwdown - Be my Valentine Thanks for leaving me such sweet comments all the time - You're the best! Hugs, Lena Katrine

Morning all! Hope you are all well today! Well did you watch Dancing on Ice?? cannot believe Vanilla Ice was in the bottom two, what was that all about lol! I thought comedy Dave or Kerry should of gone last night and Jason was just plain nasty grrrrrrrr.......... I thought Karen was gonna hit him hehehe! So onto today's creation and I have used a gorgeous stamp from the fab Sassy range over at Funky Kits. Isn't she soooooo sweet! I have used again some lovely papers from Pink Petticoat (Oops, I think I'm getting a bit predictable here lol!) and my new heart punch ~ very CAS! This cutie is going into the following Challenges :- The Sugar Bowl # 52 ~ fab Sketch by Marie Therese plus optional LOVE Bella Bunting ~ Simply Sassy ~ Sugar Nellie Close up of image Close up of heart/ribbon Side View Items Used Stamp ~ Simply Sassy ~ Sugar Nellie Papers ~ Pink Petticoat Colouring medium ~ Promarkers & Chalks Heart Punch ~ MS "Lace Heart" Ribbon ~ Stash Thank you for looking and all your lovely comments :o) Well that's all for today!, hope you have a good one and I will catch up with you laters. Happy crafting!

This week's Wild Orchid Challenge is White + 2 with a twist, roses must feature on your project. Now that wasn’t difficult at all, I love my roses as you all know. I dug out some Tilda papers – Frosted Bluegreen and went with the White/Aqua/Taupe colour combo. I think I got a bit carried away when distressing the seam binding, a bit too grungy for me lol. The flowers used are all from Wild Orchid Crafts - Trellis rose, 25mm tea rose, 20mm roses, 10mm roses. They are all the new colours that will be released on Wednesday so don’t forget to check back for the hop. The lace, filigree corner and pearls are also from Wild Orchid Crafts A close up of Pom-Pom from Lili of the Valley (still think she’s the most cutest lil fairy ever!!) I coloured her with Copics and Prismacolor pencils: Hair: E53, E51, E50 and light umber pencil Skin: E21, E00, E000, R20, R30 Jumper: E42, E41, E40 and warm grey 70% pencil Skirt: BG11, BG10, BG70, 0 and Jade Green/ black pencil Grass: YG63, YG61, G20 and olive pencil Shadow around her: BG000, BG0000 I am scheduling the post and it’s really late so will post the winner of the Simon Says Stamp candy later today. hugs

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm ending this week with a shabby chic all-occasion card showcasing some of Lili of the Valley's beautiful new paper lines...and it just so happens that this month's challenge on the LOTV Ideas to Inspire blog is "Pretty Papers." Right up my alley! :) It's a "simply shabby chic" style card, using papers from several of the new lines. All the LOTV paper pads have several colorways of beautifully coordinated papers, but every now and then I like to challenge myself to see if I can blend several different lines of papers, and end up with a project that looks like it was made to go together. One of the things I like most about LOTV's papers is that I end up with a successful challenge every time I try it! Today's card blends a pink striped pattern and a small pink-on-pink patterned paper from the new On a High Note pad, with a brown dotted pattern from the Enchantment pad, and finally, a tan and pink floral from the Country Meadow line... Here are a few closeups of the floral cluster, starting with a top-down view of the closed rosebud stem... I love these pretty painted buttons...perfect for a colorful touch atop a couple loopy twine bows... And finally, a closeup of the sentiment from Set 29, Vintage Sentiments/Just to Say stamped onto a small tag that's been shabbied around the edges and topped with another loopy twine bow... Supplies: Patterned papers: LOTV On a High Note, Enchantment, and Country Meadow Stamp: LOTV Set 29, Vintage Sentiments/Just to Say Dies: My Favorite Things Royal Leaves; La-La Land Crafts Honeycomb Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts Painted button: TheFunkieJunkie.com Pearls: Recollections Miscellaneous: white hemp twine, cheesecloth As a reminder...there's blog candy given away **daily** over on the LOTV Ideas To Inspire blog...there's a link button to it over there on the right sidebar --> --> --> --> --> . All you need to do to get your name in the draw for the daily blog candy is leave a comment on the I2I blog post...how easy is that! And for some more fun news, LOTV is now a Platinum Partner at Splitcoast Stampers. If you're not already a member of this forum, check it out...it's free to join, and it's a wealth of information and inspiration. Thanks so much for stopping by today...have a wonderful weekend!

Woohoo, it’s Wild Orchid Challenge time and our first challenge is “Say it with Flowers”. How’s that for EASY, especially with all those gorge flowers you are sure to have in your stash!! You can interpret this any way you like, as long as you follow the theme. You don’t even have to use Wild Orchid Crafts flowers but it would be lovely if you do :) . Check out this prize!! I interpreted the challenge literally – loads and loads of flowers were used, I best never run out of them lol. I have made an Easel drawer box thingy (not sure what to call it) and got the inspiration for this from Kirsten who does the most exquisite work. I opted for the easy version and only made one drawer which will be filled with chocolates or fashion jewellery for our Ben’s teacher (2 gifts down, loads more to go!). Sorry there are quite a few photos. I am well pleased with how this turned out, even though I made it up as I went along as I wanted the easel card to be 6 x 6 so had a bit of a fiddle on to get the drawer the right size. The “handle” on the drawer is made up of two gold findings with a brad pushed through and secured on the inside of the drawer. I used Papermania papers (Blueberry Hill) and stamped around the edges with a stamp from my Stempelglede Grunge Flourish Hearts set with Walnut Stain distress ink. I used a neglected border punch from Martha Stewart – forgot I even had this one it’s been gathering dust for that long! The gorgeous Guipure lace is from Wild Orchid Crafts natch. The sentiment is a Stampin Up rub on, another thing I have had for so long I wasn’t even sure if it still had it’s stick. It did thank goodness. I overloaded on the pearls too, popped the little 3mm ones around the image and also on the punched border. Okay so the flowers I used are: Classic Sweet Rose, 30mm wild roses, 15mm roses, 10mm roses and 6mm rose buds – all were blinged with Glimmer mists to within an inch of their little lives lol. And lastly to show the drawer does open (no chocs in yet cos I will just eat them lol). I coloured the image with distress inks and watercolour pencils (couldn’t get the right shade of blue to match the roses on the paper till I got out the pencils). Well, if you’re still with me you’re amazing – I can’t half waffle on lol. Please do pop across to the Wild Orchid Challenge blog and take a peek at the rest of the DT’s amazing work AND the fantastic prize!! I’m off to lie down in a dark room after all that waffle lol. Thanks so much for bearing with me xxx hugs