It's a Girl

Now I will come clean about why I've been absent from Blogland and hardly on Facebook for the last few weeks. Firstly, I had my young grandson  to look after and take on holiday. We managed a couple of lovely days in Bournemouth on the beach. But then, while we were staying in Reading with one of my daughters, I received a message late one night from my eldest daughter to say she had gone into labour. By the time I got her to the hospital there were only minutes before her baby girl was born. As if that wasn't dramatic enough, panic then set in when the baby struggled to breathe. I'll spare you all the dramatic details, but after 4 days in SCBU, the baby was well enough to go on the post-natal ward, and now is safely home. My gorgeous new granddaughter's name is Harlow Frances and apart from the bruises and needle holes, you'd never know about the fright she gave us all.

This is the card I had made in advance to give to my daughter. We already knew the baby was a girl.

It's an easel card but the the stand up topper is smaller than the base. I used a card blank for the base so that the card still opens and has a verse inside. I covered the front of the card base with pearlescent card and layered a patchwork paper from Bearly Mine. I used my Lace Doily Corner die from Whimsy Stamps around the edges which I coloured with Distress Inks Spun Sugar and Antique Linen and added pearls. The leaf flourish dies are from Cheery Lynn.

I needed the perfect topper for my card. I looked everywhere for just the right image but couldn't find what I wanted so I got out my pencil and drew this image. After some helpful advice from Lexie, I turned my drawing into a digi which I coloured with my Polychromos.

I printed the sentiments on the computer and coloured them with the Distress Inks. The ends are extra pieces from the lace die cuts. The roses are all from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm very pleased to say that both mum and baby are doing well and we are all looking forward to a lot less drama in the future. Thank you for your patience with me and I hope to get back to visiting your blogs shortly.

Baby Love, Baby Girl

I'd like to remind everyone about Emma's Crafty Challenge #19 where the theme this this month is "Floral"

We have had lots of fabulous entries so far, but we want more. This challenge is being sponsored by Crafty Queens and they are offering a crafty bag stuffed with approximately £30 worth of gorgeous goodies. Do pay the shop a visit, they have a wide product range, big brands and great prices.

There seems to be a lot of babies being born at the moment and plenty of lovely inspiration from wonderful crafters. I was asked to make a baby girl card for one of my husband's work colleagues and went straight to one of my all time favourite images for baby girl cards.

I used Kraftyhands striped paper matted onto silver mirri. The butterfly paper is from Josephine Wall's Enchanted Dreams CD and the adorable image is from the now retired Joanna Sheen Baby Love CD. I printed the image twice and decoupaged the baby and the bowl. I cut the doily with a Cheery Lynn die from textured card. The sentiments were made on the computer.

I wrapped lace around a panel made from a Kraftyhands polka dot paper and silver mirri. The "Baby" die is from Marianne and I cut it from textured card.

I made the three pearl stick pins and added them to roses from Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished the card with pearls in the corners and more roses at the top.

For a full set of rules at Emma's crafty Challenge please check the Challenge blog While you're there have a look at the wonderful, inspirational projects from the other design team members. We'd love to see your "Floral" creations but hurry up. You only have until the end of the month to enter.
I'd like to enter this card in the challenge at The Crafting Cafe - A baby is Born.

Emma's Crafty Challenge #19

Welcome to Emma's Crafty Challenge #19. Thank you for all the fabulous entries for the previous challenge. The winner and Top Three will be announced in the next few days.
This challenge is being sponsored by Crafty Queens and they are offering a crafty bag stuffed with approximately £30 worth of gorgeous goodies. Do pay the shop a visit, they have a wide product range, big brands and great prices.

Our theme this month is "Floral"

I have made a card for your inspiration but you do not have to enter a card. Any new crafty project can be entered as long as it follows the theme.

I used a 6"x 6" card base and covered the front with pink card. The embossed layer was made with a Cuttlebug folder and pearlised card and the doily was cut with a Cheery Lynn die. 

The Happy Birthday was made with Britannia dies and I added three faux pearls.

The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the gold mirri leaf flourishes are from a Cheery Lynn die.

I finished the card with a triple bow tied with skinny ribbon.

 For a full set of rules please check the Challenge blog While you're there have a look at the wonderful, inspirational projects from the other design team members.

Emma's Crafty Challenge #16 Reminder

You only have 4 days left to enter this month's challenge at Emma's Cards UK, where the theme is

"Pink and Blue" 

We are being sponsored by Foil Play who have generously donated a £15 voucher to spend in their online store. There will also be blinkies for the top three runners up.

My card is a heart shaped easel that I hand cut. The mats and layers are Papermania textured card, a large heart doily and a Floral Damask paper from Kraftyhands CD Edwardian Rose Garden.

The image is one of Heather Valentin's hauntingly pretty Melancholy Moppets. Her name is Anastasia and I've coloured her with Promarkers. For your choice of wonderful digis please visit the Lacy Sunshine Store, it's THE only authorised place to sell them.

I embellished the card with a chopped up memory box die, ribbon and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and a Joy Crafts butterfly. All were coloured with Promarkers.

Head over to our challenge blog to see the cards from our talented DT members and check out the rules. Don't forget, you could win a fabulous £15 voucher from Foil Play for your efforts.

We look forward to seeing your crafty Pink and Blue creations. 

Another 18th Birthday Card

This is a birthday card I made for my best friend to give to Cathy for her birthday. Both of them  love shoes so I knew they'd be pleased with this card.

I used the Shoes in Bloom CD from Ooh La La Creations to create this 8"x 8" card. I used Adorable Scorable card as the base and matted and layered black card and a faux weave paper from the CD.

There are so many fabulous shoe images and papers to choose from, but I thought this pink rose one was perfect.  I printed it a few times and decoupaged the roses. I matted and layered the topper with pink and black card and added glitter to the petals.

I printed the 18, punched it out and covered it in glitter. The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the leaf flourishes are a Cheery Lynn die. 

Needless to say, both ladies were thrilled with the card. I hope you like it too.

Flowerbed Fred

I have made this card for the latest challenge at Lacy Sunshine where the theme is Spring Fever. I just couldn't resist the wonderful freebie digi by Heather Valentin and it would be so rude not to use it to enter the challenge.

I chose a blue and yellow colourway for this card and covered an 8"x 8" card blank with a paper from MCS Quintessential Country Garden.

The adorable image is called Flowerbed Fred and I coloured it with Promarkers before cutting it out and mounting on a couple of die-cuts.

I created the sentiment on the computer and used my favourite Cheery Lynn leaf flourish die and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts to embellish.

Remember to visit the Lacy Sunshine shop to purchase any of Heather's wonderful digis, it's the only place to legally buy them.

Eleanor and Pickles Back to School

Seeing as the first challenge at the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog  closes soon, I thought I'd show this card and enter it in the challenge while I had the chance. The image I've used this time is a retired digi, but there are plenty more to choose from at the Lacy Sunshine shop. This is the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work. Although I have used "cute" images on the three cards I've made recently with Heather's digis, there are darker, gothic designs as well. Do go and have a look.

I edged an 8"x 8" card blank with a Powder Blue Promarker before layering with a paper I made in MCS. I created a panel of blue striped paper from Polkadoodles Candy Doodle matted onto card edged with blue. I made the mat for the image the same way.

This image is called Eleanor and Pickles Back to School, and judging by the look on Pickles face he might have forgotten his homework. I used Promarkers to colour the image and stuck to pastels this time.

I used dies from Marianne for the flowers, fence and birds and coloured them all with Promarkers. The butterfly is a Joy Crafts Floral Flourish Butterfly which I cut twice and layered. The other flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.
If you are a Heather Valentin fan come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group. It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.

Emily Raindrops

I've been having a relaxing time colouring more Heather Valentin digis and even making cards with a few of them. I particularly love this image. It is called Emily Raindrops and can be found on the retiring digis page, for a mere $1 in the Lacy Sunshine shop,  it's the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work.
I would like to enter this card in the first Lacy Sunshine Challenge.

I started by colouring the edges of an 8"x 8" card blank with a Mint Green Promarker. The mats for the image and striped paper panel were created the same way. I wrapped lengths of lace and seam binding around a cropped paper from MCS Tinkering With Steampunk CD before layering it on the card blank. The striped paper is from Polkadoodles Candy Doodle CD  and the peach coloured panel is from Crafter's Companion CD Morehead People. I used an Apricot Promarker to create that mat. I changed the colour slightly of both papers in MCS.

As soon as I saw this image I thought of using a peachy colour for Emily's dress. I chose the turquoise shades for the rest of her outfit as I thought it gave a nice contrast - it's also my favourite colour. I used a flower die from Marianne and again coloured with Promarkers.

I positioned 3 roses from Wild Orchid Crafts  in a bottom corner and cut up a flourish from a Cheery Lynn die-cut and tucked the pieces underneath. I tied a small bow from the lace and finished off with Card Candi coloured to match the card.
If you too are a fan of Heather Valentin's wonderful artwork, come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group.  It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.

Eleanor Bookworm

I have been playing with some of Heather Valentin's beautiful digis. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from and I snapped up this image of Eleanor Bookworm for only $1. Check out Heather's online store, Lacy Sunshine, it's the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work.
I'd like to enter this card in the 1st Lacy Sunshine challenge, Anything Goes ,and at Glitter n Sparkle - "Girls are Made of " challenge.

To put the card together I started by covering an 8"x 8" card blank with blue polka dot paper from Polkadoodles Pretty Sweet CD. I wrapped a turquoise ribbon around it before sticking it down. I matted two other papers from the same CD and tucked them under the ribbon before matting and fixing Eleanor to the front of the card on foam pads. All the mats were created by colouring the edges of white card with a Sky Blue Promarker.

I knew exactly how I wanted to colour Eleanor and started by using my Promarkers. I didn't have the shades of blue I wanted though, so I got my Polychromos out to colour those parts of her outfit.

I cut out Cheery Lynn leaf flourishes, large and small, and a Memory Box butterfly die from white card and coloured them all with Promarkers. I dotted the card with flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished by threading a length of purple satin ribbon through the turquoise bow and curling the ends.

If you are a Heather Valentin fan come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group. It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.