Just a dino note!

Where did our sun go?!  We were promised a day of sunshine yesterday but it only lasted for a few hours and then it took refuge behind the grey, grey clouds again!  Well March is just around the corner so it can only get better!

Before I get onto my card, I know many of you are interested in how to colour with Copics.  As you know, I did a tutorial for blonde hair (here) and now Elaine over at Quixotic Paperie has done for skin tones here. Anyone who has seen Elaine's work will know she is an amazing colourer (is that a word?!) so it's definitely worth a peak!

Okay, so my card today features this really sweet Bugaboo's Dino Stand - see that lickle, ickle heart on his butt?!!  Too cute, just too cute!  

 

I used the February sketch over at i{heart}2stamp and I teamed the little cutie with the BasicGrey Origins papers.  To give it that used look, I embossed the kraft cardstock and used some stripped corrugated cardboard.  I got this idea from Kim Dellow who is the queen of using this stuff so imaginatively!  Thanks Kim honey!  I also got to use up another one of those clips - I have a ton of these in assorted colours - must have bought them in a sale somewhere a very long time ago!  

That's it from me today!  See you tomorrow with my cards for A Spoonful of Sugar and Totally Ladybug Tuesday!

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, BasicGrey Origins

Stamps: Bugaboo Dino Stand, CC Designs sentiment

Mediums: Copics,ColorBox chalk inks

Accents: clip and string from stash

Tools: Sizzix and Cuttlebug embossing folders, Tim Holtz distressing tool, Nestabilities circle and rectangle dies (inside card) 

Cheers!

Hi all - I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!  Steve and I are off for trek at Birling Gap on the south coast of England tomorrow with the dogs.  We'll come back tired and aching, but it will be lovely to spend hours chatting and watching the dogs run around - it's gonna be great!  And a spot of pub food will be very welcome too!

Anyhoo, today's card uses this fun Pollycraft's Beer Monster - isn't he fun?

  

 
I am entering him into Karen's Doodles challenge for masculine cards and Pollycraft's Critters and Cogs challenge to use one of their critters or cogs and colour them in your favourite colour.  Of course, my fave is orange and I teamed it up with my other fave colours of green and blues.  Although I'm seeing a lot of pink in my cards recently - I blame that Pinky!

That's it from me today!  Hope your day is going to be as good as mine!

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts Sixth Avenue papers

Stamps: Pollycraft Beer Monster, CC Designs sentiment inside card

Mediums: Copics, Distress Ink Pumice Stone

Accents: clip, brands and string from stash, computer printed sentiment, sisal ribbon (from Bunny Zoe's here)

Tools: EK Success swiss cheese border punch, Tim Holtz distressing tool, Nestabilities label die (inside card)

 

Black and another colour over at Totally Gorjuss!

Happy Saturday everybody!  Got some good plans booked this weekend?  Mine will be stripping more paper off walls and then hopefully a long walk along the coast on Sunday as the sun is meant to be making a visit to the UK!!

Today is my last card for Totally Gorjuss for a while as I'm taking a little break to focus on other things.  This week's challenge is to use black with another colour!  And here is my card of black with yellow using one of those gorgeous Michelle Perkette Studio images...

 

 

I think she is soooo lovely!  This is Sleepytime Fairy and I got her here from Bunny Zoe's Crafts.  I coloured her dress in black and then used Glamour Dust to help make her dress, wings and the stars pop!


That's it from me today!  Don't forget to take a look at the other gorgeous DT makes over at Totally Gorjuss!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

• Flutter By Wednesday's anything goes 
• Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps to use a punch (border)
• Pairy Fairy Fridays inspired by a song (Wishing on a Star by Rose Royce - showing my age now!!)

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock

Stamps: Michelle Perkette Studio Sleepytime Fairy

Mediums: ProMarkers, Copics, Glamour Dust

Accents: ribbon and brads from stash, American Crafts rub on sentiment

Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Fiskars border punch, Nestabilities circle, scallop circle and label (inside card) dies

Claudia & Company Customer blog hop!

Hello and Welcome to Claudia and Company's first ever Customer Blog Hop!  And there are prizes to win! 

Today Claudia and Company is celebrating all of US; their dear friends and customers.  My regular visitors will know how much I love By Lori Designs that they stock so I just had to be part of it!

If you’ve just joined the fun, be sure to pop over to the Claudia and Company Blog to start the hop and get all the deets!  If you're already on the hop, you will have joined me from the lovely Paola and here is my card using BLD Lollipop Ethan...

 

I just love this guy - he is so cool and this card is going to my 18 year old nephew (who would actually prefer to skateboard on his PS2 rather than physically do it, lol!!).

So how can you win goodies?!!  Leave a comment on each post along the hop and you'll be eligible for the prizes that are up for grabs!  You have until Monday, February 28, 12pm EST to comment. Winners will be announced on March 1, during their Release Day Showcase.  Now you need to hop off to sweet April!

Here is the complete list of stops on the Hop!  Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoy the lovely inspiration!

LORi

Tracy

Sheri

Sandra

Krista

Kadie

Piali

Joni

Gwen

Sheng

Margie

Kelly

Jeanette

Cara

Kimmarie

Arielle

Hannah

Beverly

Sharette

Joy

Susan

Carol

Nicole

Paola

Mary J

April

Barb

Lorie

Sarabeth

Catherine

Veronica

Jessica

Judy

Taylor

Lysa

Jen

Jess

Pam

Heather

Mary

Claudia

Birthday bunting

It's colour challenge time again over at the By Lori Designs challenge blog!  This week is an unusual colour mix of bright blue and olive green with a soft pink - not colours I'd put together!  And this is my take on it...

 

I've used BLD Lollipop Happy Birthday Annie that comes with two different sentiments in this very pretty font - cute, huh?!  No design papers again - I'm getting used to this!  I brought the colours together by using the bunting and bakers twine (Quixotic Paperie sell a very wide variety of this gorgeous stuff here) - I think it worked out well much to my surprise, lol!!

 That's it from me today!  You'll love the other DT versions of this colour challenge over at the blog here.  I am entering my card into this week's Totally Papercraft challenge to use a digi and Crazy4Challenges to use a die (the banner).

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, Doodlebug lilywhite and pink cardstock

Stamps: BLD Lollipop Happy Birthday Annie

Mediums: Copics

Accents: bakers twine, floss (you can buy both from Quixotic Paperie here and here)

Tools: My Favorite Things banner die

Hints and tips on using the Sew Easy Tool

It's Thursday which means here is my creation using all those lovely goodies for Quixotic Inspirations.  Today I am going to give you my hints and tips for getting the most out of the Sew Easy Tool.  There are a few videos out there demonstrating the tool (see the CHA WRMK demo here) but I'm going to give you my experience of it and some practical tips on how to get the most out of it.  I have had my Sew Easy Tool now for a few months and I must say - I love it!  And why is that you ask?



1. I don't have to get my sewing machine out (which is broken anyway!)
2. It saves me a lot of time from piercing the holes plus I am not very good at piercing holes in a straight or even line!

3. Loads of variety - each piercing head (there are 7 and more to come!) has at least 3 different styles of stitching so this takes out the brain work of where to make your holes. Plus it has encouraged me to try new styles rather than do my usual straight lines of back stitching!

So this is the card I made for my Quixotic Paperie post today where I've used the tool... 

 

I have used Miss Anya from The Greeting Farm's I Heart Sweaters stamp set with the ever versatile Memory Box Pixie paper pack.  This reminds me of our Springs in the UK - fresh but it can still be little chilly! 


So first some basics for getting the most of your Sew Easy Tool...

• Paper / cardstock.  The guidance states to use "paper or light card". The tool is made of plastic (hence it's great price!) so it will struggle to pierce through thicker cardstock.  However, with practice (and patience!) I have managed to easily use the the tool with Bazzill Basics cardstock by using a firm and steady technique which I describe below. 
• Piercing mat. Not any mat will do!  You need to have a firm yet soft base like foam for the tool to pierce the holes through easily. If you don't, then the holes won't pierce through or, if the mat is too hard, the paper may also crumple up because it pushes the paper along rather than having the "give" for the tool to be pushed along. The Sew Easy Piercing Mat is obviously ideal but I have also tried it with a soft mouse mat and it worked well with this too.

Okay, so let's use it!  If you watch the CHA WRMK video you will that the lady does it pretty fast and with a flourish! Well I tried her style when I first got my tool and the paper just crumpled up and no holes were pierced!  I now have two techniques to overcome this.

1. Keep the edge of the head you are using parallel to the paper with your finger pressing directly down, as shown in the picture below. If it's not parallel, the pressure will not be even and the edge of the head will either crumple or cut the paper (or both!)

2. If you are using a thicker card, push the tool along steadily and firmly.  Even though I've used the tool several times now, it won't pierce the holes if I go too fast, but it will still make the indentations so you can at least use a pokey tool to pierce the holes.


3. When pushing the tool down, I find it best to push downwards from the elbow rather than just my finger - I find this doesn't put undue pressure on the paper/cardstock and minimises the paper/cardstock from crumpling/shifting.

4. Before you start to push the tool along, position the tool where you want to begin, then with your finger on top of the head where the finger guide is, push firmly down into the paper/cardstock so it makes its first pierce.  From then, steadily and firmly push the tool along, keeping it aligned. When the cardstock is thicker, I find that some holes aren't always made - I don't worry about this and keep on until I get to the end.  To finish off, I use my pokey tool to make any missing holes. 

Then lastly, but not least, I then do my stitching using my needle and floss.  I usually do this while watching something on the TV - I like to multi task!

Thanks for your patience and I hope you found this useful!  If you have any of your own techniques or useful tips, please share in the comments to this post!

New, new, new at Totally Ladybug Tuesday!

(Please scroll down for my A Spoonful of Sugar DT post)

 

This is a very exciting week for Ladybug Crafts Ink this week!  Not only is it a new challenge, but it's also a new release - double fun!  This week, uber lovely GD Domi has challenged us with a recipe - 3 flowers, 2 papers and 1 image!  

Of course we just had to have a blog hop to show off the new release with this challenge!  And because we are such a generous bunch, we're giving you the chance to win goodies!  One person will win the whole new release and 4 people will win one stamp each! Generous, no? 

Okay, so here are the rules:

• Grab the blog hop banner from the right hand navigator and put it on your blog
• Finish the blog hop, remembering to comment on each DT's post along the way
• On each DT post, you will find a number - collect these numbers and once you have them all, total them up and send your answer to this email address - lcichallengeblog@aol.com

If you've come from Lisa J's blog, you're on the right track!  But if you've got lost, go to the Totally Ladybug Tuesday challenge blog here.   So here is my card with the cutie Phoebe and Olivia...

 

Aren't they delightful!  And the sentiment also comes with the image along with two other images and two sentiments - "bff" and "So happy we're friends" - very useful!  And if you join in with the challenge, you have the usual chance of winning the main prize of a Ladybug Crafts Ink stamp (if you use a LCI image) or one of the runner up prizes for a winner's badge!

I can guarantee you that you're gonna love this new release that will be available in mid March!  And if you pre-order the stamps (go to the shop here) from now until 8 March, the stamps will retail for £5.99 in stead of their usual £6.99!



So the number you need from me is 2 and now you need to hop off to the scrummilicious Kerry!! 

That's it from me today - thanks for visiting! I am entering this card into Make It Monday to just share your creativity and Bunny Zoe's Monthly challenge for spring flowers.

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, Crate Paper Twirl paper collection

Stamps: Whimsey Doodles Paws I Care digi stamp set and Every Other Day rubber stamp set

Mediums: Copics

Accents: wired ribbon (from Bunny Zoe's here), white satin ribbon, yellow grosgrain ribbon and pearls from stash

Tools: My Favorite Things rolled rose and mini rolled rose dies (you can buy from Dies to Die For here and here) Grand Nestabilities label, circle and scallop cirle dies, Corner Chomper

A Spoonful of Sugar celebrates birthdays!

Hello everyone!  I hope your week has got off to a good start!  A bit rainy and grey as usual in the UK so my 2 hour commute into London has been more dull than usual!  Hey ho, what ya gonna do?! 

Enough waffle!  Here is my DT card for this week's A Spoonful of Sugar challenge with the theme of "birthday wishes" - a nice easy one to get your stocks levels of these up!  I decided to go all sweet and whimsey and use a Lili of the Valley stamp...

 

Isn't he cute?!  I first coloured him in a lighter brown colour but it was far too wish-washy with this layout so I decided to be brave and go for a grey - still not convinced if it was the right way to go, but Steve seemed to like it so it stays!  [[For now!]]  I love those lickle, ickle iridescent pearls - tooo sweet!  I got mine from Bunny Zoe's Crafts here)


The rest of the DT cards are their usual very high standard and you can see them all here on the challenge blog.  That's it from me today - have a lovely day!

I am entering this card into the Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge.

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, Memory Box Pixie paper pack (you can buy here from Quixotic Paperie)

Stamps: Lili of the Valley Balloon Bunny, Pink Petticoat sentiment

Mediums: water colouring with Distress Inks

Accents: Angel White 3mm iridescent pearls

Tools: My Favorite Things doily die (you can buy from Dies to Die For here), Stampin' Up window label punch

    

Hey cupcake!

Just a quick one from me to post the birthday card for my niece!  I've used this sweet Sonny Honeycloud Cards and Cupcakes along with a sentiment "hey cupcake" from the Sonny Says set.  I chose this because it reminds me of my niece during her first birthday party when she smeared a cupcake all over her face instead of eating it!!  It was hilarious - and I have the photos to prove it!  Anyway, here she is...

 

I think the bunting might look better curved - I'll play around with it to see!  I am entering this into the Pollycraft Monday challenge for either a special birthday or for someone special and also into the Crazy4Challenges for use a die - the banner die (it's soooo cool!).

Lastly, just to let you know that Elaine has some new stock in over at Quixotic Paperie - my current fave paper makers new Echo Park collections - Just for The Record and Springtime kits and Memory Box Brioche and Minuet 6x6 paps.  These are all gorgeous and can't wait to get my hands on ALL of these!  My other fave Kraftin' Kimmies have arrived along with the ever so elegant Stempelglede restocks. 

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill Bling cardstock, Doodlebug Lilywhite cardstock

Stamps: Pollycraft Sonny Honeycloud Cards and Cupcakes and Sonny Says set

Mediums: Copics

Accents: Bazzill floss

Tools: My Favorite Things banner die and stamp set

Woof! That's dog for "I love you!"

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a lovely weekend - mine is ticking along nicely!  I spent yesterday stripping off wallpaper from one of our bedrooms.  Not something I jump at the chance of doing but it rained heavily yesterday in the UK so it was good to be indoors!

To the card!  Today's card uses this uber cute dog from Karen's Doodles called "I didn't do it!" - isn't he sweet?!  

 

 

 
Have you ever had a stamp or digi that you love so much you're scared of using them because you may not do them justice?  Well this is how I felt over this little cutie - yeah, daft, I know!  But I really like how it turned out and it looks just like our Lulu - she will chew anything she can get her teeth into!  Luckily that doesn't include our furniture, but scarves, towels, branches ... anything!  And luckily this week's challenge over at Karen's Doodles is animal friends so of course I'll be entering it there!  

Thanks for visiting me today - I really appreciate all of your sweet and encouraging comments!

Paper/cardstock: Doodlebug Lilywhite cardstock, Papermania light blue cardstock

Stamps: Karen's Doodles I Didn't Do It!

Mediums: Copics, Sakura white gel pen

Accents: ribbon from stash, American Crafts Purkey rub on alphas

Tools: Martha Stewart and Fiskars border punches, Nestabilities dies

 

Check it out at Totally Gorjuss!

It's a Totally Gorjuss challenge day!  And this week our check it out challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp - have you seen how much stock these guys have?!!  Plenty of choice if you win this week's challenge!  For my DT card, I used BLD Puddle Jumper Davey again - I just love him!  Plus I was asked to make a card for a young lad so just had to ink him up again!

 

 

For my checks I used my Echo Park Little Boy Collection Kit (you can buy from Quixotic Paperie here) and did some stitching to give it some interest.  The sentiment inside the card says "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional" - it cracks me up!  I used the layout from this week's Sketchy Thursday challenge - I think it's fab and sure to use this one again!  I'm also going to enter this into the Claudia & Company about a boy challenge.

I hope you get a chance to play along - I'd love to see your interpretation of this challenge!  Check out the other DT cards here to get your dose of inspiration!

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, Echo Park LIttle Boy Collection Kit

Stamps: BLD Puddle Jumper Davey, CC Designs (I think!) sentiment inside card

Mediums: Copics

Accents: Bazzill floss

Tools: Nestabilities dies

My first card for the By Lori Designs challenge team!

(Please scroll down for my Quixotic Paperie DT post)

I am very happy to announce that I'm on the design team for the By Lori Designs challenge blog for the next four months!  I love Lori Boyd's images - so simple, yet fun and a joy to colour in or paper piece!  Each week is a colour challenge and this will be hard for me as I won't just be able to choose my usual bright, bold colours!  This week's challenge #5 are these gorgeous muted tones of green and pinks - I struggled to get inspired at first but once I got going, here is what I came up with...

 

This is Puddle Jumper Davey and he comes with a couple of sentiments and images including the cute teddy bear!  And there isn't a piece of DP in sight as I didn't have anything in these colours - another challenge for me as I rely on my patterned DPs to bring everything together!! 

If you have any BLD images I would love to see your take on the challenge too!  The other designer creations are gorgeous and you can see them on the blog here.  I am entering my card into Claudia and Company challenge "about a boy".

Thanks for visiting and see you on Saturday for my Totally Gorjuss post!

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock

Stamps: BLD Puddle Jumper Davey

Mediums: Copics

Accents: ribbon and clip from stash

Tools: EK Success border punch, Quickutz embossing folder

Welcome little one

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely week!  Here is my baby boy card using some yummy stock over at Quixotic Paperie.  I just had to use Jelly Bean from Whimsy Stamps - isn't he the cutest?!  

 

I matched him up with the Alphabet Soup Boy papers by My Minds Eye.  I love this versatile pack - I've used it now for men's cards, teenage cards, sassy girl cards and now this baby card!  The only bad thing about it is I'm running out of it, lol!!

I used my trusty Bazzill kraft cardstock for the card base and finished it off with some Fancy Pants buttons (which are 50% off at the moment - what a bargain!).

That's it from me today so see you next week and I hope you get some time for some creating today!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

• That's Krafty Thursday challenge - use kraft cardstock
• All That Scraps - For the Guys (well, a baby boy anyway!)
• Sir Stampalot's February challenge - all creatures great and small

Paper/cardstock: Bazzill cardstock, My Minds Eye Alphabet Soup Boy paper collection

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Jelly Bean, sentiment from Ladybug Crafts Ink baby baby set

Mediums: Copics

Accents: American Crafts ribbon, Fancy Pants buttons

Tools: Nestabilities rectangle die inside card

A totally different challenge at Totally Ladybug Tuesday!

(Please scroll down for my A Spoonful of Sugar DT post)

Hello everyone!  I hope your week has started off well!  It's Totally Ladybug Tuesday and this week it is my challenge!  Well as you know I love my cards but I thought I should challenge myself so this week I chose "anything BUT a card".  It seemed like a good idea at the time (I'm sure there was much encouragement from DT mate Lisa J), but what was I thinking - I've been panicking about it for months!!  And then - if you scroll down to my A Spoonful of Sugar post - we had the same challenge!  Well I am giving myself a BIG pat on the back because I managed to do both!  So here is my creation...

 

I love Slobbing Nikki - that is so totally me at 6.30am on a Saturday morning before I get up and do some crafting before Steve wakes up!  I thought it would be a great pressie for my mum for Mother's Day - a box of handmade choccies!  (No, not made by me - I'm not THAT creative!)  Take a looksee...

YUM!!  I can't guarantee these choccies will last until Mother's Day, but I promise to replace them!  Don't forget to take a look at the other FABULOUS DT makes here and to find out if you were last week's winner!

That's it from me today - come back for next week's challenge when we also have a blog hop to celcebrate a new release!!  There will be prizes again so if you want to get a head's start, show the banner below with pride on your blog!

Paper/cardstock: Crate Paper Cottage Collection Pack

Stamps: Ladybug Crafts Ink Slobbing Nikki

Mediums: Copics

Accents: pink crepe paper

Tools: My Favorite Things Die-namics Doily die, rolled rose die and mini rolled rose dies (you can buy all these from Dies to Die For here), EK Success border punch, Nestabilities circle die, Woodware 1" circle punch