Sparkly, Bubbly Congratulations!

Good morning everyone!
Well wasn't the wedding yesterday beautiful? And Kate looked just stunning! :D  Good luck to them both for a very happy life together!

And on the note of 'Congratulations', here is my 1st entry into the Less Is More challenge this week, which is Congratulations/Thank You. I would like to congratulate Chrissie and Mandi on a fab blog that I thoroughly enjoy entering the challenges on each week....there is always some fantastic inspiration from all the LIMettes too!

The image on this one was another from Complete Cardmaking With Your PC (issue 22) I simply arranged it on the card, in Word, with a matching sentiment and printed! I then added some Butterfly Trails glitter to the bubbles and Hey Presto!

See you later in the week LIMettes! ;)
Lizy x

Fluttery Butterfly

 Morning all!
Well I didn't end up going to bed early last night at all! Instead, I made this card.....

This was also made with some items I bought in Preston. Yes Jan, I gave in and bought the Marianne Designables folder! I also bought these Hunkydory butteflies. The card is A6 (the size of the embossing folder) and I have added a layer of eggshell coloured card behind the cut out bits. A few gems and the card was finished! May as well enter it into the LIM Off Centre challenge!

Hope you like it....off to watch the wedding and drink Bucks Fizz now.....Cheers!

Lizy x

Classic Cars

Here are another couple of cards I've made for the LIM Off Centre challenge with some other stamps I picked up in Preston.

This is another fantastic set this time by Papermania. There are several fab vintage cars in the set and each comes with it's own name stamp too! I decided just to plainly stamp these images and not colour them in, mainly because I need to practice with them! However, I do rather like the plain stamping...it gives a little class I feel.....

Hmmm anyway I'm off to try and comment on loads of posts, then get an early night for the wedding of the decade....got the Bucks Fizz chilling....

Lizy x

It's a cat's life!

Hey all!
I hope everyone has had a good Easter, Bank Holiday, etc, and I'm many are looking forward to the Royal Wedding tomorrow! Poor Kate......I bet she gets absolutely no sleep tonight!

Anyway, yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to have a ride out with Jen to Craft Inspirations in Preston and so today I had lots of new goodies to play with! So here is a sample of what I've produced. Please bear in mind that I've had a busy day playing with Keiran, so they're not the most difficult cards I've ever made LOL!

This is a fab set of stamps that I fell in love with immediately! It's Stampendous, Kitty Silhouettes, available here. I have quite simply arranged the stamps as above, and stamped them! Simples ;)

I would like to enter it into the LIM Off Centre challenge.

There have been some fab entries into this challenge this week, and I am trying to round to as many as I can to comment, but I'm struggling a little this week! So I'm sorry if I don't get to you :(  And for anyone who hasn't tried this challenge yet, go check it out.....it's really fab! :D

Lizy x

Riding My Bike

Here is one image I did happen to have coloured in, that I had forgotten about!

He is the wonderfully cute Riding My Bike stamp from LOTV and I have coloured him with my promarkers. As I decided to enter it into the Cards For Men - Circles challenge, I put it together with that in mind, hence all the circles! I added the button to fulfil the requirement for the Scrapbook Sisters - Buttons challenge.
It is all a little out of my comfort zone actually and I'm not sure if I like the card but I've done it now! Oh and the red card candi was because I was putting one of them on the smaller circle, but it fell out of my tweezers and landed on the bigger one! So I had to even it off by putting one in the original place! Lol never mind eh?

Let me know what you think......
Lizy x

Best Wishes and Reminisces

Good evening!

I have had a nice evening making a card and colouring in some images so I have some to work with, as I find that when I want to make a card, I never have any ready and never seem to be in the mood to colour any!

The card I want to post first though is another Off Centre card I made for the Less Is More challenge. As I mentioned last night, I wanted to use some 'free' stash from magazines......

These lovely chipboards are All Our Yesterdays designs free with Cardmaking & Papercraft (March I think). I have been looking for ways to use them and I quite like how this one turned out. Very simple, and the sentiment was free with this month's Quick Cards Mag along with some very cute Birthday Animals by Adam Pescott. The sentiment just fit perfectly around the chipboard.......made for it!
Now I just wanted to share a picture of the most fabulous cake that was made for Keiran's 3rd Birthday by his Grandma Pam....

Isn't (or should I say 'wasn't ' as there is none left!) fantastic! She has made him a themed cake every year and they are just wonderful! She really has a talent!



Lizy x

My first DT spot! :)

Just one last thing to post tonight....I got a DT spot on Crafting for All Seasons! I'm so very chuffed! :)  Thank you so much to Dawn for choosing me and I can't wait to get started! Go on over and check it out, and Follow it, and then post about it! :D

Lizy x

Pink, Blue & Brown Birdcage

Here is my second for tonight, and the first one I made.

 Again I used free papers from Card Making magazine, this time Nancy Watt, and cut out the birdcage. I mounted it onto some duck egg blue card and added half a flourish from Nesties flourishes set which I chalked in blue, then brown to give an antique look. I finished with a Papermania sentiment and drew a black border using a fineliner......first time I've tried this.

Annoyingly, I 'blobbed' the pen in the top left corner, so I had to cover it up! Hence the 3 tiny pink gems. They didn't look right on their own though so I matched them in the bottom right corner too.

I am entering it into 2 challenges......
Less is More (hello again!) - Off Centre
Colour Create - Pink, Blue & Brown

Thanks for looking...off to comment on some challenge entries now!
Lizy x

Say it with Flowers-Birthday wishes

Good evening all!
Well after a ridiculously hectic but totaly awesome day yesterday for Keiran's 3rd Birthday, and a very busy morning cleaning and tidying my house, it has been nice to just sit in my craft room for a couple of hours and make a few cards! Jen came for a crafting session but the curse of the lost mojo has hit......bit worried it's got lost under my mess! I did, however, manage to create 3 cards myself, the first of which is here.......

My mission tonight was to use some of the freebies from magazines as they always seem to just sit on the shelf gathering dust! This one was made using the Maria Maidment papers from a previous Making Cards issue. I put it together for the following challenges.......
St Lukes Charity card challenge - Say it with Flowers
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Sketch

Thanks for looking...will now post another card.....
Lizy x

Love you-for the LIMettes!

Happy Easter everyone!

Well I managed to get 10 minutes in my craft room after all last night.....and wow did I need it! I'd had an extremely hectic day getting shopping for Keiran's party today. Then preparing everything.....fruit kebabs, chocolate crispie cakes, crudities, homemade guacamole.....it'd been all go!
So when Keiran went to bed, I created this 2nd card for the LIM-Off centre challenge.....

It was inspired by some Christening invitations I helped my friend Gemma make on Friday for her little girl's Christening in May. The butterfly is one of the set from Marianne Creatables and the gems are Anita's gems. The greeting is from my trusty Papermania set, but only because I didn't fancy booting up my lappy at the time, or I may have printed a different one. Still, I quite like the card :)

I'm also entering it into Flutterby Wednesday's-Open challenge.
Ok well I am now off to hide all the eggs for the Easter egg hunt, finish the food and get myself ready for what is sure to be another mad hectic day!

TTFN
Lizy x

Off Centre_ Less is More

Morning happy LIMettes!
Well this a very quick one before I head to work! Off the centre...yay something I can do quickly for the LIM challenge this week!

This was a Stamp It! flower coloured in with watercolour pencils and finished with a sentiment from the same set, and a gem.

Right...off to work now!
Lizy x

Happy 3rd Birthday Keiran!

I have made this card for my wonderful Son's Birthday on Sunday. I was originally going to make a Little Einsteins card as he absolutely adores the program, but I couldn't find an image I wanted to use. And as I was getting my embossing folders out to try embossing acetate, Keiran spotted this one and said 'that's my friend Mickey!!!' So that clinched it!

I embossed the folder (Mickey Celebrates - Provocraft) onto acetate, and card...not sure why I did it on card too at the time...then coloured the acetate image with Promarkers (Poppy, Black, Grass, Gold, Warm Grey 4, True Blue, Blender). I was playing around with it on the card and the acetate did this 'bubble' thing so I decided to go with it. I coloured the streamers and confetti on the card to give some depth and attached the acetate over the card, creating the bubble. I then followed the sketch at Pixie Cottage-Sketch/Happy Birthday challenge to pull the card together. I do hope too that it fits with LIM - Acetate challenge too...hope it's not too 'more' than 'less'! I'm also entering this into I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes and Passion for Promarkers - White on white

Anyway, that's it for today! I have Gemma, Jonny and baby Amelia over for lunch, then I have my first date since me and Keiran's Dad split up tonight...wish me luck! So the next time I'll be here will hopefully be tomorrow with my new LIM challenge, if I manage to get it made before work tomorrow...will be tight as I start at 9am!

Enjoy the sun but remember the sunscreen!
Lizy x

Less is More Acetate, take 4!

Ok a couple of posts before I go and enjoy today's gorgeous weather again!
This is a card I made that was inspired by Sarah going through her Shabby Princess papers in last week's challenge! I immediately went rooting through them and found this...

The image is a border image from the Promise collection and I simply printed that, along with a sentiment onto printable acetate. I then cut off the bottom of a 6x6 card blank, used an MS border punch, and attached it all together using Pinflair Bookbinding glue...it's very strong and, if you put it on very thin, almost invisible! And it dries very quickly too!

Obviously, I have made this for LIM - Acetate challenge.

Back in a mo with my final card....
Lizy x

Embossed Butterfly

Good morning all!
Well it's another gorgeous day here in Bolton, which is fantastic and I love it, but it's no good for crafting......I am torn between enjoying the weather and sitting in my craft room! Going to have to find something I can make in my garden so I don't have to choose!
Anyway, here is the card I made on Monday night for LIM Acetate challenge, but couldn't photograph as it was still wet. I didn't get chance to post yesterday as I spent a fab day with Gemma, and a lovely couple of hours last night with Nikki, so when I got home, I just went to bed!

It was really difficult to make without leaving marks and creases on it! All because of the black background! Anyway, The Butterfly stamp is one I picked up in Harrogate but can't remember who from. I heat embossed it onto the acetate with WOW embossing powder, then wrapped it round the black card blank. I stuck it using glossy accents, then covered where the glue is with a couple of black gems. I finished with sentiment stamped in white ink directly onto the card. Oh and it was really hard to photograph!

The final technique I'm going to try today is embossing the acetate with a folder......if I can bear to stay indoors!
TFL!
Lizy x

Aqua & Acetate!

What a beautiful day we've had today in sunny old Bolton...and I've been working most of it LOL! Well Keiran was shattered because he was playing outside all day today at nursery, so he had an early night, and I took the opportunity to get half an hour in the craft room! Now it really needs a tidy, as I can slowly feel my mojo sliding under the mess, but I did manage to come up with a couple of cards...one is drying so I can't photograph it tonight, but here is the other......

I have made this to fit in with 2 challenges......
Less is More - Acetate
Ooh La La - Aqua, Bling & Sentiment

After making a 'split' acetate card, I fancied making one with a slight twist. For this one I simply cut a panel out of the card blank at an angle, replaced the section with acetate, added an insert from a paper pad from Holland, and finished with my sentiment and 3 gems. I think it is very simple but I quite like it! :)

Hope you've all had a lovely day and that tomorrow is just as lovely! Now I have to go and make a Christening card and a card for my wonderful Keiran for his 3rd birthday!

TFL
Lizy x

50th Birthday Stained Glass Flowery Art

I am going to post this, then I think I might plant some seeds for the garden, and go an enjoy the gorgeous weather again today! I may take my Promarkers into the garden with me......

This is a cross stitch card that was ordered last year for a 50th Birthday this month, but, as usual, I left it to the last minute before making it! It is also my second entry into LIM Acetate challenge. Do go and check out the Less Is More blog......the challenges really are fab! Thanks to Mandi & Chrissie for making me dig the acetate out.....and there was me thinking it was only for shaker cards!

The brief for the card was art, stained glass & flowers. Shoes were also mentioned but I could find a stained glass flowery shoe! ;)  The pattern for the cross stitch was in one of my Cross Stitch magazines....can't remember exactly which one now, but I could look it up if anyone wants to know. When I make cross stitch cards, I match the colours with the closest to what the pattern states with whatever I have in 'stock' as sometimes you only need a little length of it and there's no point buying more! This is a very vibrant card so I'm pleased the matching up worked out!

I then needed to figure out how to mount it on the card, but then I thought that 'art' could be the way to go! So I backed the stitching with white card then sandwiched it between two sheets of lightweight acetate. I cut an aperture in my 8x8 card and stuck the acetate in the aperture. I love the effect as it really looks like an item of framed art, especially with the sentiment on a 'panel' below the image.

Again, I hope the card will be loved by the recipient...not everyday you receive such a special card!

I am also entering it into the following challenges......
Rainbow Ladies - Springtime
The Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or for a special lady

Thanks for looking!
Lizy x

You'll always be my friend!

Hey!
Well here is the card I made on Friday for my very good friend Hels. I made a similar one for another fab friend in March, but I have used very different papers for this one!
*WARNING* It's bright!!

The stamp is from the Born To Shop range, and the papers are Shabby Princess, Spring Breeze. Coloured with Promarkers, as usual, to match the papers. The flower and gem are from my stash. The pictures really don't show just how bright this card is! But I think it's really funky and I love it! :D

I am entering it into the following challenges... (because I think they're very spring like colours!)

Rainbow Ladies - Springtime
The Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or for Mum/special lady

Thanks so much for looking......please leave a comment so I know you stopped by! :)
Lizy x

Wedding day with acetate

Hello everyone!
What a beautiful day it is today! I'm currently sat in my newly tended back garden posting this...it's glorious! I was working yesterday morning so couldn't enter the Less Is More challenge any earlier than today unfortunately, and I have also had a fab weekend with my wonderful friends, Hels and Jackie, seeing a brilliant Bryan Adams tribute band, so not much crafting has been done, until this morning! Hels asked me to make a wedding card for her friend's wedding, and as I knew I had the LIM Acetate challenge to do, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I did it! 2 birds with one stone! :)

So here is the card, and may I just say how very pleased I am with it!

The image is free from Papercraft Inspirations this month...there are 5 fab images in this style! I printed it twice in mirror image, cut them out, inserted a piece of organza ribbon through a slit I made in the bride's hair and glue the two images together. I printed the sentiment on the bottom of the A5 card blank, removed the middle section and placed an A5  piece of acetate behind. I then mounted the couple with silicone glue, and added some flowers to the bride's bouquet.

Hels is very pleased with the card and I hope the bride & groom are too!
As well as the LIM challenge, I am entering it into the following challenges.....
Scrapbook Sisters - Wedding/Anniversary
Totally Gorjuss - No patterned paper

Thanks for looking....I'm sure I'll be entering LIM again later in the week! ;)
Lizy x

Just to say...You're Special

It's the weekend! :)
Well after a day off card making, cos my mojo got up and left again, I seem to have got it back! This time I found it in my newly mown lawn!

Anyway, I have made 2 fab cards today, that I am VERY pleased with :D  I can only post one tonight though as the other is for my friend's birthday tomorrow.

So this little gem is using LOTV's very cute Spring Swing stamp. Now I have to admit, when I bought this stamp in Harrogate, I had a very good idea what I would do with it, and Jen's Swinging Along had given me the inspiration for the hanging in the aperture ages ago. Actually, I just went to find Jen's card so I could link it and discovered she too used Shabby Princess papers!

I have made this card using a card blank I had already cut a circular aperture in to make a shaker card at Christmas, but the aperture was too small!

I coloured this lovely image with Promarkers (Warm Grey 2, Holly, Forest Green, Pear Green, Caramel & Cocoa) The papers are, as mentioned, Shabby Princess from Vintage Florals and Harvest Spice. The flowers were made by using a stamp I have from 'Stamp It'. I stamped them with Brilliance Moonlit White onto some matching paper from my scrap box and cut them out, shaping them with a tool I bought from La Pashe in Harrogate. The sentiment is also from the Stamp It set and is stamped in brown ink.

 The middle of the flowers were made by punching a 1inch circle of green paper (from scrap box again!), cut it into a spiral and wrapped it around a coctail stick, then glued together. (I'll try and put a demonstration on my tips page this week). I had originally flocked the middles but it just didn't look enough. I finished with a
 little cotton wool for his bobtail.

When I had put the card together, I realised the back of the bunny wasn't too pretty so I put it onto my light box and used a black fineliner to draw the details on the back, which I then coloured in too.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - Fluffy

A Spoon Full Of Sugar - All Creatures Great And Small

Passion For Promarkers - Make your own Embellishments

The Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or for Mum or a special lady

Craft Your Passion - 2 by 2 (2 flowers and two coloured bunnies)

Hope you like it!

Lizy x



LIM Sentiment focus Take 4!

Good evening all,
First of all, I want to thank everyone for your very kind and lovely comments about all my cards, especially from the LIMettes! Thanks to Chrissie and Mandi for your relentles commenting too! And Chrissie, I know what you mean about my last entry, I couldn't figure out how to make it 'pop'. Maybe I will try again...I'm not one to give up on an idea!

Anyway, here is my fourth, and probably last, submission to LIM Sentiment Focus challenge. As I said yesterday, I wanted to try different techniques for this challenge, and this one was embossing using my Nesties...something I've never done before. I've always just used them for die-cutting.

Now this is the first go at this card, with gems around the embossed circle (Nestie Eyelet Circles) in every other 'dot'.

Then I decided maybe it was too much for LIM so I took them off, chalked every other 'dot' in green and added Glossy Accents, then added 3 little gems below the sentiment instead. I finished with a length of crumpled seam binding in sea moss (I think). I also chalked a little inside each scallop.

The sentiment is the free one from Pampered pets collection from DoCrafts mag.

Not sure which I prefer...I think maybe I should've had the gems round the circle and the rest of the embellishment... Anyway, the point of this card was to try a new technique for me, and I did! :)

Please let me know what you think and which you prefer... I value your opinions :)

Lizy x

One for the boys!

Here is a card I made for my 'little' brother's 32nd Birthday today. He is mad on computer games so when I saw this cute LOTV stamp, I just knew I had to make it for him!

Of course, the promarkers came out again, and some coloured paper from my scrap box and the card was born! The sketch was one I used a couple of weeks ago on another challenge, but I really like it so I thought it would work perfectly on for this stamp. Had I thought about it, I should have made the triangle pieces into checkered flags...mental note for next time! Main thing is, my Bro loved it! :D
Oh and I'm entering it into Bunny Zoe's Crafts One For The Boys challenge , One Stop Craft Challenge Monochrome and CES Monochromatic challenge :)
Lizy x

Sentiment focus (take 3!)

Here is my third attempt at Less is More's Sentiment Focus

Now it's not that I didn't like my other submissions but I was dead set on trying a few different techniques that I had seen while commenting on other entries. So here is one I have done using the spray technique. I created the sentiment in Word using the text box tutorial on the LIM blog. After printing it directly onto a 6x6 card blank I then put it into an old(ish) ;) shoebox and with some careful manouvering and lifting, I sprayed purple Cosmic Shimmer once onto the bottom right of the card. I only wish the couple of splodges on the right of the card hadn't happened....  I finished with 3 litle gems to highlight the 3 lilac words.

Thanks for looking...please tell me what you think...I'm open to constructive comments! :)
Lizy x

Little Acorn

Good evening!
I have been busy with the cards over the last couple of days, so time to post them I think! Here is the first one which is to enter into 2 challenges...
Lili of the Valley - Peach & Green
A Spoon Full of Sugar - All Creatures Great & Small

I was also going to enter it into Totally Gorjuss's Sketch challenge but I was too late!

The image is LOTV Little Acorn and I coloured it with Promarkers. I have used MME papers and finished with a simple greeting. I kept it simple cos I thought it looked best that way this time round.

Thanks for peeking :)
Lizy x

Crafting For All Seasons - new challenge blog and DT call!

Well there is a new blog on the block! Crafting For All Seasons is brand new and they are looking for a Design Team, so I am applying for it! :) They have asked us to post 3 of our best cards/projects...so hard to choose!! But choose I have and here they are...

I have chosen these 3 for a few reasons...I think they showcase my ability to make male, female and couple cards, coloured images, cross stitch, and Less is More, and 'different' fold, ie twisted easel. It's so hard to pick 3 cards out of all the ones I have made, I have so many different styles that I couldn't possibly cover them all in just 3 cards lol!

Anyway, thanks for looking and wish me luck! :D
Lizy x