Baby Bath Time

Here's another quick CAS baby card using the newest release from LOTV, 'Bath Time'. Instead of stamping and coloring directly onto the base layer of cardstock, (which makes me nervous) I chose to use a separate piece of cardstock to color on. Then I simply matted it with a piece of pretty pattern paper and adhered the whole thing to the card base.

This way if I mess up on the stamping, or coloring, I don't have to waste an entire 5" x 7" card base. The stamped sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, which I also colored a bit with my Copics, and embellished with a little rolled felt rose. The rose was easily made from a die cut from My Favorite Things.

I added some Stickles to the bath towel, and some Crystal Lacquer to the bubbles to make them shine. Easy enough, right?!

Well, it's almost the new year, and although we don't have any big parties to attend to I still get excited about the whole thing. 2013, can you believe it?! It's almost here.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Postcards for Christmas

Good morning friends, I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging! I'm not sure what's going on with me, but I am not going to stress about it. I feel some changes coming on, an urge to branch out and try new things but am not totally sure what they will be. So I will continue on, maybe not as regularly as usual, but hopefully enough to satisfy our LOTV sweet tooth, LOL!

This is a card I made last week and it sat in my 'To be photographed' pile ever since. It's one of my favorite stamps from this Christmas release, 'Christmas Star'. 

The postcard is from the lovely clear stamp set 36 'Christmas Icons'. This set has everything you need to beautifully embellish all your holiday cards, I love it.  I silver embossed the pretty postcard to add to the background. The aqua BG paper was also stamped with all the lovely snowflakes from the same set. 

To tie into the silver embossing on the postcard, I went around with some metallic silver embroidery thread and did a simple running stitch, and a strip of silver cardstock die cut with Memory Box's Tessatina die. A pretty red bow with some jingles and a snowflake charm finish this card off nicely. The sentiment is from the clear set 26, 'Simply Sophisticated'. 

I'll try to come back with one more Christmas card before the big day, my last I think, for a long, long time. I am quite burnt out from all things red and green and sparkly!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

The Christmas Bears Make a Snowman

Hello everyone, how about a Nordic card today? I am a huge fan of all things with pretty Nordic and Fair Isle patterns. I am looking for the perfect scarf for myself so I can put it on my Christmas list. In the meantime, I have to be content with using stamps to create my own patterns. I used the Little Bears Snowman for my card today, from Lili of the Valley. 

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps' Nordic Winter to create the pattern on the bottom half of the card. I had the urge to water color with my SU inks, so out came the paint brushes and water pot. Not a single Copic in sight! Sometimes, one just needs a bit of change...

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy it, have a great day!

Peace, Love and Joy

Hello everyone, I just wanted to drop in with another of my CAS creations using LOTV stamp Girl Sledging and to remind you all about the LOTV Virtual Christmas Facebook Party going on right now. It's an all day affair with many of the other designers who will be available for chat with tips and tutorials. I have to work so I will be missing from the festivities I'm afraid. 

This card measures 5" x 7" and the image was colored with Copics. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I hope you'll pop in to the FB party and say hello to the DT, sounds like a lot of fun! 

Thanks for visiting!

You are my Sunshine... Blog Hop

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! Welcome to the Lili of the Valley blog hop showcasing the last new stamp release of the year. We have some prizes to give away so make sure you read the rules carefully before entering.

There will be 18 baby and animal designs (unmounted rubber) and also 2 new A5 sheets of clear stamps (a companion set and also an everyday version of the Grungy Christmas Messages).

The stamps will be available to buy on the Lili of the Valley website from midday on Sunday the 25th November (UK time).

The entire DT is involved in the hop, so make sure to follow all the links below and leave a comment for a chance to win. We don’t know where the prizes are so make sure you visit every blog. We will let you know Friday evening which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and 2 winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left 

There will be 2 prize winners, each winning the 2 sets of clear stamps and 6 rubber stamps of their choice from the new designs (each prize value £52.00 approx. $83) 

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part  ...and remember you will need to visit them all to have the best chance of winning; 

Ideas to Inspire 

Anne 

Bev 

Claudia Rosa 

Dawny P 

Dena 

Elise 

Fleur 

Gretha 

Mindy 

Moni 

Pops 

And now here's my card...something very different from what you're used to seeing!

 I don't know about you all, but I've secretly admired and drooled over the CAS (clean and simple) design style for a loooong time. I even attempt to create one every once in a while, without much success. At least, I was never too happy with the final result. Until now. I think I have found my happy balance of simple and pretty with a touch of frou-frou. It makes me happy. And that's what matters to me. 
I've masked off the stamped image called 'You are my Sunshine' with some post it notes. I used some liquid masking fluid with a small paintbrush to mask off the bear and flowers so I could sponge the background with Distress inks. When that was dry, I used a gum eraser to rub off the masking fluid and I colored the rest of the image with colored pencils. I really wanted the image to POP because there was so much white space, so I used really bright colors. 

A simple ribbon and bow/button/charm embellishes the top of the card and that's it. Oh, a tiny little border of patterned paper around the edges of the card front. That's as CAS as I could manage, lol! 

So what do you all think of the new stamp release? Pretty awesome, I bet.

Now I'm off to start cooking ham and mashed potatoes, manicotti and couple of pies. Oh and maybe some blueberry cheesecake bars too. I feel stuffed and tired already! Thanks for visiting, and good luck if you're entering the contest! 

Christmas Cuties

Good morning friends, I have a quick Christmas card to share with you today. Time has been in short supply lately and I can't say I have a very big stash of cards ready to send out. Coloring is usually what takes me the longest when making a card, so I pulled out these beautiful Christmas Cuties Die Cut Designs that are already colored. I've never used them, I just admire them every once in a while. It's too bad they're being discontinued, because I love the soft water color look to them!

The whole card was a matter of putting together some pretty papers and embellishments. These patterned papers were printed from a digital collection called Alpine Frost from SEI. Snowflakes are Amuse Studios dies.

I added lots of glitter and bling to this card, since I didn't do any coloring, it sure does shine and sparkle!
Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Snuggle Time

Good morning blog friends, it's the final release of 2012 from Lili of the Valley and it's a great one! With a new year comes new things, and babies are as new as you can get. For all the new babies in your life LOTV presents some adorable and sweet baby themed stamps for your cardmaking arsenal! Do I sound like a commercial yet, lol?!

All joking aside, it seems like those nearest and dearest to us are always having babies, and cards are always needed. In my stash, they are as essential as birthday cards. Not to mention, I just love making them. I love pastels, I love baby animals, I love babies, so of course, I love making baby cards.

This little cutie is called 'Snuggle Time' and it's a stamp that will be released along with a lot of other beauties at the end of this month. 

In keeping with tradition, along with some beautiful focal image stamps will be a nice variety of companion stamps, sentiments as well as smaller images to decorate the insides of your cards.

Cardmaking has come such a long way since I first started this hobby, it is amazing! When I first started, my goal was to create cards that were almost as good as the ones you could buy in the card boutiques. Now, with the supplies and tools at our disposal, I can create cards that exceed the ones you can buy in boutiques! I LOVE that! Card boutiques are emulating us! 

The patterned papers used on this card are all from Raspberry Road Designs called 'Lullaby'.

I hope you're as excited about this release as I am, thanks for stopping by!

Gliding through the City

Today starts a regular work week, no more days off this year! Hopefully power is restored very shortly for most of New Jersey and we can get back to our normal lives. 

I have another LOTV card to share with you using the most recent Christmas release stamp, 'Ice Skating'. 

I've cut them out after coloring with Copics so I could mat them right into the scenic background paper from October Afternoon. LOVE this paper and will be very sad when it runs out!

Added a little mini pom pom trim along with the bow, and a glittered ornament I cut using my Cameo. 
That's it, hope you enjoy it, thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Fairy

Good morning all, it's good to be back on the interwebs, being without power is tough! But, if you can believe it, I was getting so restless I decided to try to color with only a couple of flashlights for illumination. I only chose colors I knew worked together, I wasn't going to rely on color charts for coordinating! I was kind of worried what it would look like in daylight, so I tried to be very careful. Fortunately, it looked fine when morning came and I assembled it onto this card.

I chose 'Bumble Bee Fairy' for my card and colored her in autumnal colors to coordinate with these papers from an Authentique paper pad.

I added a simple sentiment from the clear stamp set 'Simply Sophisticated'. The pretty fall leaves were cut on my Cameo and I inked them with assorted inks and Stickles. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Li'l Wizard

Good morning friends! I keep wishing that Lili of the Valley would make some Halloween or Autumn themed stamps, imagine how cute they would be!! I know, I know Halloween is not a big thing in the UK, so I have to be content with this adorable little guy dressed up as a wizard, 'Abracadabra'. I'm afraid he couldn't be spooky no matter how hard he tries though, ha ha!

He's colored with Copics, cut out and mounted on this awesome spider web frame from the Silhouette Store (digital die cut).

Papers are from Authentique, and the sentiment seal is Catslife Press.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

Fairy and her Birdy

Good morning all, I've been flat on my back all weekend, a back injury again. I wanted to wait it out and rest it at home to see if it would ease up, but it seems to be getting worse. So, I'm going to visit the Dr. today to see what's going on and maybe get some relief. 

It's been very hard to do any sitting at my craft table for any length of time, so this card was made in little bits and pieces as long as I could stand it. I hate laying around on the couch, I get so restless I feel like I could scream, and with TV just being the absolute pits, I just have to get up and do something despite the pain. 

This little beauty is another fairy from the new release coming out at Lili of the Valley the end of this month.

The vine on the left was cut with my Cameo from a Silhouette Store file, and the tiny flowers are an old punch I had laying around. Sentiment is from Lili of the Valley clear sentiments 26 set. Papers are from LOTV Bonnets and Bowties paper pad collection.

Thanks for visiting!

Sea Nymph

Good morning all! It's time for a Lili of the Valley fix once more, a new release coming up at the end of October. We've got fairies and mermaids coming up, and you are just going to swoon when you see them all!

I did some fancy paper piecing with the waves in the background, using the beautiful papers from the 'Promises' pad available at LOTV.  I used some wave cut files from the Silhouette Store to cut them out.

I also cut out some sea life shapes using my Silhouette, then Stickled them. The sentiments are also from LOTV, 'Sentiment Tags', and 'Girly Banners'. 

So what do you all think, love the mermaids? I sure do. Thanks for visiting!

Dance Child

Good morning everyone, I finally have another card to share using the new Geisha girl stamps. Creating has been pretty slow lately, took me quite a while to complete this one. Although the mojo seems to be getting ready for winter, I'm going to keep plugging away. I love this hobby and won't give it up!

Anyway, here's Aimi with Lantern.

She's colored with my Copics,  I pulled coordinating colors from the gorgeous peony papers from and older SEI paper pad. I save these papers for those really special cards, that's how much I love them.

I fashioned a little 'folding' paper fan out of some handmade paper I had laying around. I cut the thinnest little slivers of real wood paper to make the handles. It doesn't really fold, I wasn't that ambitious, I just glued it into place. 

The sentiment scroll is from the Geisha Companion Set and Scroll Sentiments. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a beautiful day!

'Twas the night before Christmas

Ooops, forgot to post this card last month! I used one of the new Christmas stamps 'Wishing and Waiting'. So cute! 

I used the Kraft and pink color combo again because I liked it so much that last time I tried it. The pretty patterned paper is from LOTV's paper pad, 'Krafty Christmas'. I embossed a pretty snowflake pattern using an impression plate for the pink paper.

The Poinsettia is a Spellbinders die, and I added some pink pom pom trim. The sentiment is from 'Set 33, Christmas Grungy Messages'. 

Have a great day!

Festive and Frosty

Good morning fellow LOTV fans (and other fans too!) here's another Christmas card to add to the pile, the Merry Christmas Penguins in all their cute and adorable glory. 

I tried something a bit different when coloring these cuties, instead of using black Copics, I used dark browns. I didn't think it would work, but guess what?! It looks great! I chose the dark browns hoping it would coordinate a bit with the background papers, and I am very pleased with the result. Who'd a thunk...

The papers are actually a digital collection from SEI called Alpine Frost. It was out years ago and I LOVED it and was in a panic when I ran out. Boy was I relieved to see I could still get it in digital format and use whenever I wanted forever and ever and ever! I wish ALL paper companies would do this, it would save me all that hoarding I do because I never want to run out! Pay attention paper companies, I need to make space on my dining room for actual eating, not paper crafting so can you digitize all your paper collections pleeeease?! I have hundreds of GB on my Google drive, but no GB on my dining room table, lol!

ahhh well, I tried.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Follow your Dreams

Hello again friends, Lili of the Valley has done it again with another release scheduled for next month. Something new and different, with beautiful little Japanese themed images. I'm so happy, they're so lovely!

The cherry blossom branches are a cut file from The Silhouette Store, I scratched some texture into them with my paper piercer. The flowers are the smallest flower from the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch that I shaped with my embossing stylus on a foam mat. The butterfly is also from the Silhouette Store.

Background paper is 'Meadowlark' from a Prima paper pad. 

So what do you think of the little Geishas? Wait till you see the rest of them, there are accessory stamps, sentiment stamps to complete the whole line. I'm in love...

Thanks for visiting!

Trim-trim-trimeree and a bit of insanity...

Good morning blog friends! I just want to say how thankful I am for all the lovely comments in response to my post the other day. I have to admit I was a bit worried that everyone would just disappear and blogging would become a thing of the past for me. But apparently, there are a lot of wonderful, understanding readers out there that inspire me to keep going! So I'm not going to stress over not posting every few days, and I will just enjoy my hobby and share my love of stamping when I can. I love interacting with my fellow stampers, so if you have questions, or just want to chit chat, feel free to email me using the link in my right sidebar. I answer every email!

On to my card today. This kind of card normally would take me 2 or 3 hours to create, from coloring to assembling the final layout. This time, I worked on it sporadically for three days, probably more like 5 or 6 hours. I don't know why. I can't seem to get into my usual 'groove'. I hem, and haw and try one thing, try something else because I don't like it, etc.

See the background paper? That was a bit of insanity, lol. I got it into my head I HAD to have a diamond background cut file for my Cameo, couldn't find one I liked for sale, so I embarked on making my own. Mind you, I'm not an expert at designing cut files, actually this is the first time I've done one I liked completely from scratch. It.took.me.forever... and a day. 

The second bit of insanity is the fact that I cut the diamonds from four different kinds of paper, so I had a PILE of tiny little diamond cut-outs to poke out. Actually, most of them came out easily, although there were a couple of sticky ones that fought me. THEN I assembled all the different patterned diamonds in the red paper background, kind of like a puzzle. Kind of therapeutic actually.

A lot of work I didn't really intend to do. I envisioned the diamonds would be bigger, resulting in less 'puzzling' LOL! Needless to say I'm working on a redesign of this cut file. If you want this version, email me and I'd be happy to send it to you. I only have a Silhouette Studio version, like I said, I'm a beginner at this sort of thing and have no idea to convert to different file types. 

Anyway, I colored 'Trimming the Tree' with my Copics and some colored pencils. I made the medallion flower using several strips of edge punched patterned paper that I scored every 1/4" and folded up, then flattened. I used a dab of hot glue to hold it all together. There are tons of tutorials on the web how to make them.
I added a tiny tag to the gold bow using one of the stamps from the 'Christmas Sentiment Tags' set. I like that the tags are a really easy shape to cut out with my trusty old scissors. No die needed. A punch might be nice though...
Or a cut file...I wonder if I could manage it? I'll let you know in 6 months, lol, that's how long it might take me to figure it out! 
Any Cameo experts out there care to give it a go? ;-)

Thanks for visiting!

String Tie Envelope Box

Good morning blog friends, it's been a long, long week. I struggled with lack of motivation for blogging, I have several bare bones posts sitting in my 'Drafts' folder, taunting me, but I had no desire to write them up and publish them. Actually, I had a couple of projects done, but didn't feel like setting up my light tent, taking pictures, editing, etc. etc. I've been working longer hours so I can carpool with Jimmy and save a big chunk of cash on gas, but it's really cramping my crafting time. And when I can't do my thing, I get grumpy, and tired, and overwhelmed. sigh...

Thanks for letting me vent, I'm done now. Here's a cute project I made using a Silhouette Store digital template for my Cameo. 

How adorable is this string tie box with little string tie envelopes? Something a little different from a traditional Christmas card. This would be perfect for sending Grandma the kid's school photos, you could attach them to the little inserts.

I just made little ATC sized cards with some Lili of the Valley stamps this time. I used 'Christmas Star', 'Set 33- Christmas Grungy Messages' and the tag is from 'Set 32'.

The papers are from the 'Classic Christmas' paper pad new to the LOTV store. 

I embellished the box with some paper 'greenery'. The pine boughs are a Cheery Lynn die, if I remember correctly. The pine cone is also made from paper, cut on my Cameo using an awesome set from SVG Cuts. I dabbed on some white Acrylic paint to the tips of the pine cone and greenery for a snowy effect. 

I love making 3D projects, and they're so much easier to make using my Cameo!

Thanks for visiting!

Winter Hexagons

Here's another card using one of the newest releases from Lili of the Valley, Furry Festive Friends. This is a tiny card compared to the ones I usually make! Only 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". But these images are tiny and so cute, and so fast to color up.

I really love the hexagon trend zooming around everywhere you look, I love that I can use a bunch of different patterned papers and combine them in one card. This card was made using a cut file from Paper Threads that makes it so easy! I used several different patterns from the new patterned paper pads 'Frosty Christmas'. Love the pretty, soft blues that can be used all winter, not just Christmas.

The sentiment is from the 'Christmas Handwritten Phrases' stamp set. 

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Lili of the Valley Christmas Animals Blog Hop

UPDATE: The winners have been announced on the Inspire blog, check HERE to see if you've won. 

Good morning LOTV fans, thanks for stopping by! Today we’re holding a Lili of the Valley sneak peek blog hop to celebrate the launch of some new Christmas Animals and Sentiment stamps! Here's how it's going to work... many of the DT members are going to be participating so all you have to do is 'hop' from blog to blog (links provided below) and leave a comment on each post for a chance to win some great prizes. 

Prize 1- One set of the brand new Christmas sentiment clear stamp sheets, 1 each of the new designs, worth £50.00 (approximately US$78.55).

Prize 2- The full set of the new Christmas animal rubber stamps, worth £45.00 (approximately US$70.70).

The prizes will be 'hidden' in 2 of the blogs, so you have to make sure and leave comments on all of them for the best chance of winning. The lucky blogs will be revealed tonight and two winners will be drawn at random from the comments left on those blogs. 

Now onto my card...

I chose to use 'All Cozy and Warm' for my card today. Remember these stamps will be available for purchase on August 22nd. I've colored these adorable animals with Copics and colored pencils.

The papers I used on this card are from the new 'Classic Christmas' paper pad recently made available in the store. They are wonderful! I especially love the tartan plaids included in this pad, I used the red for this card. I even added some texture to it using a linen impression plate, it almost looks like real fabric! The wood grain paper is not from the paper pad, it's a scrap I had laying on my craft table that just added the perfect 'lodge' Christmas look to the whole card. A pretty bow with some jingle bells and a tag from a new set of Christmas sentiment tags also being released on the 22nd and the card is done! I actually added some of the new papers to the inside of the card too, along with a verse from 'A5 Verses', but I forgot to take a picture of it. 

Anyway, hope you like it, now 'hop' along to the rest of our blogs and don't forget to leave comments on all of them for a chance to win! Thanks for visiting!

• Anne
• Bev
• Claudia Rosa
• Dawny P
• Dena
• Elise
• Fleur
• Gretha
• Lena Katrine
• Lou
• Moni
• Pops