Two Communion cards

Good morning all,
Today I have something a little different again.  Two cards that were not created by me but by my niece and her son.  My niece asked if they could come over and make cards for her daughters Communion on Sunday and so I spent all yesterday evening teaching them the basics including using the Grand Caliber.  Do they realise how priviledged they were I wonder: my GC is my pride and joy and is used so often now, I am close to having conversation with her...lol!  Yes, she is female, she is a thing of beauty afterall :)
Anyway, Mum got into the colouring and card making and my great nephew sat happily with the GC diecutting the items for the cards and also some butterflies and flower petals for the cake topper.  He did really well bless him and thoroughly enjoyed himself (my great nephew has some learning difficulties and so it was wonderful to see him creating so happily).   Here are the cards;  I think you will be impressed with them as they are, afterall, a first ever attempt.  I just wish I had been this good when I first started.

A vellum butterfly was placed underneath the paper butterly to give it more dimension and movement.

Recipe:-
Pink Petticoat papers, Spellbinders dies:- Labels 20, Tags 1&2 and Fanciful Flight.  Wild Orchid Crafts Flowers

I am still working on the cake topper, infact I think I will be working on it all day today, but I will do my best to complete it in time to photograph it for tomorrows post.  I have been quite nervous about doing all this as I am not a Catholic and, therefore, know nothing about First Communion.  All I know is that my great niece is very excited and it must be right for her and her family.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing something from a 'newbie'.  Take care and have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you to those who have entered their Bookmarks into the challenge already, they look absolutely fabulous (no pun intended!)   Hugs Linda

A favourite LOTV stamp

Last november I managed to get to the NEC and while there I could not resist one of my favourites,  Lily of the Valley.  The trouble is I love their stamps so much I couldn't decide which 4 to treat myself to,  so I spent ages just walking back and forth repeatedly looking at them all, my daughter by now beginning to sigh heavily in frustration.  Well to cut a long story short, I didn't buy this one and regretted it when I got home.   So, to salve my crafting broken heart I went online and treated myself to a few more stamps, the one I have used on todays card included.  So now.......  a happy chicky again and no daughter sighing over my shoulder!  lol!!   I am so grateful to my daughter, she is a darling and without her I wouldn't have been able to go to the show in the first place.

What do you think of these papers, aren't they beautiful?  They are from a pad of My Minds Eye glittered papers and I can't get enough of them, especially this rose one, it gives Pion papers a run for their money I think.    Well that's it for today folks, I am a very busy girl today;  I have my grandson then I am also making the cake decoration for my nieces First Communion on Sunday (remember the invites I made for her), plus I will be helping her mum and brother make cards for her too.
I hope you all have a lovely day.  I will do my best to catch up with all your blogs tomorrow, its the only day I have free so I have lots to cram in.
Oh, before I go, I have updated the Freebies (Tab at top of the page)  it includes a varied mix of papers from Donna at a wonderful site called Bearly Mine Designs.  I just adore the shabby chic and distressed papers.  If you have a couple of mins, stop by and take a look, I think you will find it worthwhile.
Hugs Linda xx

My Recipe:- Base card- ivory linen Papermill Direct.  Pastel green card- Anna Griffin scrapbooking kit.  Paper- MME Lost & Found Market Street glittered papers.  Rosy Posie stamp-  LOTV.   Ivory vintage seam binding ribbon- Sam Poole.  Metal embellishment, Tulips, 10mm & 25mm rose- WOC.  Spellbinders Border die Damask Accents-  Sam Poole.  Peach rose cluster from my stash.

Another bookmark and freebie papers info

Welcome one and all,
Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my last two cards, I was thrilled to know that you enjoyed them.
Before we get to todays creation, I wanted to answer a question possed by a couple of you concerning some of the papers I use.  On yesterdays Mini Rosette card I used some dogstooth (houndstooth)  and a few of you wondered where I bought it.  Well I didn't.  I am a bit of a web hunter and on my travels, hunting through many sites I have managed to find alot of lovely freebie papers, scrapbooking kits and toppers etc.  So, just for you, I spent last night strapped to my laptop hunting them all down,  again...... and after more than two hours I found them (plus a few others you may be interested in).
I really must learn to label my downloads clearer then I can find them again much easier!
To make things easier for you to find any papers I use in the future, I will post the links to them into the FREEBIES section at the top of the page.   The ones you are looking for today are called 'Sprik Space Houndstooth'.
Now, a little info for those new to downloading from 4Shared:   On Sprik Space website,  when you click on the papers (called pattern pieces) they will take you to 4Shared;  To get the papers free you have to download them one at a time, but don't fret they take seconds, and there is no 'wait 30secs before downloading' nonsense either.  When you are done with each one, just close that download tab and go back to the main tab to select your next colour download.  (See also the Pinterest Board-Freebies- he has lots to offer there too).
So girls go up to the top and take a look, I will keep updating the freebies over the next few weeks to include alot of wonderful sites that have lovely freebies for you.  Most of them will have been tried and tested by me so will have at least my seal of approval....lol!
Ok, thats done, now to my latest Bookmark.  Yesterday, I mentioned that the style of the mini card would be great adapted for a bookmark, so I decided to do just that and here it is:-

I thought it would be a bit of extra inspiration for anyone thinking of joining in with the challenge and also I wanted to make one as a little gift for my daughter.
For this one I cut a 4.75inch square of black card, topped it with ivory pearlescent and baby pink gingham (yee haw!), then added the half rosette to come just below the line of the side points.  Using Spellbinders borderabilities I cut a 0.75inch piece of the gingham and layered it onto another piece of black card approx 1.25inch deep, using the offcut piece of the gingham at the bottom.  I wrapped this with 3mm ribbon and secured the ends behind.

To hide the edge of the rosette, I placed double thickness of foam pads onto the base card right next to the rosette ( 1middle, 1each side) and then 1single layer of foam pads to the outside edges and placed the border strip over the top.  This formed a slight dome which gave it a nice finish, slightly hiding the pads.  To finish it off I stamped the word 'Imagine' onto a small rectangle of ivory card and matted it onto black, then I stamped the image of the book with glasses, cutting this out with a slight border and attaching both with a single layer of foam pads. I have fallen in love with the book/glasses stamp, it is lovely stamped on background papers for shabby chic or vintage cards etc (even wizarding wonders).
The back triangular piece is also matted with a piece of  the gingham card and I added a few clear gems to finish it off.
So there you have it, another bookmark quite simply done but very effective I think. 
I have a lovely LOTV image on a card for tomorrow, so I hope you can pop by again to take a look.  I would love to know what you think as I have tried a different technique with my promarkers.
Have a wonderful day.  Regards and best wishes Linda xx

Mini Rosette Card

Good morning all,
Well after a fussy day yesterday, I managed not only to finish my Nevaeh card but also make my mini card below.  I thought I had better get stuck in while I was in a good place, crafing wise, so I had a long hot bath to ease my back and then got straight back to my desk.
Last november, my friends daughter and I were making old book trees ready for Christmas (doing our bit for recycling) and I made up tons and tons of mini, midi and maxy sized rosettes to use as trimmings for the trees (Note to self:- do a tutorial for trees closer to Christmas).  Well I looked in the box this evening and there were two pretty pearlescent ones that just seemed to 'fit' together in more ways than one.  They basically gave me the idea for this card.  At first I was going to use a full sized rosette but it looked a little heavy on the mini card, so I halved it and bobs your uncle, the design took shape.

I used scalloped 8x8 card and folded it to make a 4x4card, so cute!  I layered white card and mini dogstooth (houndstooth to some),  then added the half rosettes.  Now came the problem of how to be able to cover the depth of the folds in the rosette and get a smooth look.  Well I solved that by cutting a strip of scallops off the waste piece of the 8x8 card, (decorated with Tonic Studio flower punch) then I doubled up 2mm foam pads under the main section of the border strip but only 1 layer on the ends.  This covered the rosette and gave it a slight domed shape also.  The pennants were attached again using double foam pads under the center sections and only 1 under the outer ones, to echo the domed shape.

Next I wrapped white vintage ribbon around the top of the pennants and secured it behind the white matt before attaching the layers to the base card.  Last I added a treble bow with the same ribbon (made using the Keepsake bowmaker) and added a pearly button and two small decorative pins to finish it off.
So there we have it, my Mini Rosette card.  I am really pleased with this one.   I think it would also be prefect for a corner bookmark; just change the shape of  the base card.  Which reminds me, please try to take part in the Bookmark challenge.  I have extended the date to the 25th May and I would be thrilled to see what you can do.  I don't have any silly rules other than only two different entries maximum. You can enter it into as many other challenges as you desire.  It's just for a bit of fun for us, doing something a little different and I have some lovely papers from MME for the winner.

Ok well that's it for today, have a good one and thank you all again for your wonderful words for baby Lee.  I haven't any further news at the moment, I think it will be same for a while.  I am just so happy he is strong and fighting to live.
Be happy and craft if you can.    Linda xx

My recipe:-  Papermania 8x8 Scalloped card in rose pink.  White 300gsm Kanban card.   Dogstooth from my stash.  Kanban pearly card for rosettes.  Vintage ribbon from Sam Poole.  Spellbinders Banner Basics Two from Once upon a Stamp.  Pearly button from the Hobby House.   Decorative pins handmade by me.

My first pencil colouring

Evening all,
UPDATE:-  BABY HAS BEEN NAMED LEE.  
Sorry I am a bit late posting this;  boy has it been hectic here today.  My grandson was here till 4.45, then I came straight upstairs to my craftroom to finish my card.  Next thing my daughter telephoned could she come and see me for a cuppa.  That was ok as she will talk to me as I craft, but the next thing we had to make urgent phone calls for my sons University funding and you know what that means -yea, hanging around on the telephone waiting for this dept and then lots of checks before they tell you they can't help you afterall. They needed to talk to my son.  Well he's in Leicester!!  To cut it short, I've told him to ring tomorrow and sort it out.  Phew... now to my card...at last, I know!!! :¬D
Well I managed to finish it and here she is.  Little Nevaeh from the wonderful drawing hand of Krista Smith at Saturated Canary.  Boy I wish I had a finger full of her talent!  If only aye....lol!

This is my first attempt at pencils in over 20years.  I am quite happy with it, but I need to practice the shading and softening more. I will get there I am determined, as I really enjoyed doing it.

Here is a close up of the image for a good look; see what you think...

I think the light interfered with her face a bit.  It honestly isn't as patchy as it looks here.  Maybe I used too much top lighting.

Here's another picture from the side to show you the dimension.  I used a pink patterned vellum butterfly over the top of the pink paper one to give it a bit of extra dimension.  The flower is made from a piece of lace curtain I cut into strips.  I use them to make lace ribbon and flowers.

I hope you like it.  It is something a little different and I think I am going to enjoy exploring this medium more and more.

Well that's it for today, I will try to get something done after my cuppa for tomorrrow.
Thank you all again for your best wishes, not only my little nephew but also the get well wishes sent to me.  I really appreciate them all.  Baby is the same today, holding on thankfully!
Hugs Linda xx

My Recipe:-  Base card Centura Ice white pearl.  Papers are Pink Petticoat downloadables (Baby blue and Blossom pink), All blue cards - The Paper Mill online.  Spellbinders border die (discontinued),  Spellbinders Fanciful Flight Butterfly.  Gems- Bobbity Boo Gems online.  Pearly ribbon slider-WOC.  Metal Embs -Ebay jewellery.  All other embellishments are from my stash.

Challenge news

Hi all,
Sorry I was unable to put a card up this morning, I am feeling alot stronger now but still not sleeping properly.  Anyway, I do not want to focus on that;  the reason I am popping in is to let you know that I have extended the date for the Bookmark Challenge as a few people mentioned that they were pushed for time.  As you all know I am very new to this so I will follow your advice and thank you for it.
If you click on the details at the head of this page it will take you straight to the Challenge page for all the details.
I am in the process of finishing a card for the blog, so I will pop it up a little later.  I hope you can find time to pop by and give me your views.  I  have been trying pencil sketch colouring again.  Haven't done this is years!!  I think it's ok for my first attempt, but I will keep practicing.  See what you think.
Thank you all for your lovely comments,; it's fabulous knowing that so many of you like my pins enough to want to enter the draw for the Candy again.  Good luck
Hugs Linda x

CANDY!!!

I have had such wonderful emails and comments with regards to my Decorative Pins that I have decided one more time to offer them as Candy. 

The prize for just One Winner will be a choice of either:-

A full Starter Kit of Decorative Pins, (also to include Glue)

or

a box of 6 readymade Decorative Pins (Elegance range- The long fancy pins!)

So there you have it, our next Candy.  Just make sure you leave me a comment under this post and you will be entered into the draw.  

I know there are alot of people out there who would like to enter the draws but do not want to become followers.  Very soon I will do open Candy draws for anyone to enter, but the regular draws at the moment are my way to say a BIG Thank You to all those who follow me and support me as I get myself into the swing of blogland.   I fully understand that we cannot follow everyone or we would be online every minute of everyday.  

So for those who come to browse and like to just pop by now and again, I do think of you too and I promise I will do a draw for anyone and everyone to enter very soon.

Ok that's it for now.  Good luck to everyone again.

Hugs Linda xx