Dainty Dancing

We are still decorating at ours and hubby was sanding today so I was once again sent up to my craft room to keep out of the way of the dust, hurrah!  Sometimes there are advantages to being asthmatic!  

I had coloured this Lili Of The Valley, Dainty Dancing image with Pro-markers earlier in the week so I set to making a card with it for a work friend who attends weekly ballet exercise classes.  I used a variety of Memory Box, La La Land and Sizzix dies for the frame, fence, flowers and bunting.  The papers are from a paper pad that came free with a card magazine and I have used a Stampin Up text background stamp on one sheet to change the look of the papers slightly.  Trouble is I like the card so much I am not sure I want to part with it, perhaps I should make another, less embellished one for my friend, lol!

Scrap Whispers - Cool Dude

In May I took part in a scrap lift challenge over on www.scrapwhispers.com.  The challenge is based on the old Chinese Whispers game and you ask to join, get allocated to a team and pick a week from a list to be the week you do your scrap lift layout.  Your allocated team leader sends you an email just before its your allotted week, or earlier if the person before you finishes early and this email contains the layout created by the person before you in the challenge.  You then have to create your own layout lifting the design from the previous persons layout but using your own photos and papers etc.  When you have finished, you email a photo of your layout back to your team leader and she forwards it to the next person on the list.  You haven't to post your layout anywhere until the challenge is up a couple of months later and all the layouts are revealed, showing how the layouts change as they pass from person to person.  Fascinating to see how much the final layout for each team varies from the starting layout.

This was my submission and after completing it it went off to my friend as the final page in her son's first year baby album.

Mix It And Make It

I was browsing some Google images a week or two back looking for some inspiration and I saw a gorgeous pudding bowl card using the Mix It and Make It stamp from Lili Of The Valley on Crafty Lou's Small World blog (louisemolesworth.blogspot.com).  I rushed onto eBay and managed to find the old red Sizzix Pudding Bowl die which I won and which arrived really quickly and off I went creating this card using some old pink paper from my stash.  I used Pro-markers and Prisma pencils to colour the image and used some paper roses and florists tape to make the little floral vines at the top and bottom. The wooden table effect is a Hero Art wood grain stamp stamped with some Brushed Corduroy distress ink and I covered the egg in glossy accents to make it look more...eggy!  I have prepared a few  of the card bases so that once I have coloured some more images I can put a few cards together quickly ready for friends birthdays.

Like Father, Like Son

Another scrapbook page for my friend's baby album.  The page is mostly decorated with small pieces of washi tape from my stash.  It's amazing how much washi tape you acquire and it lasts ages.  I used a Prima stencil to add a few areas of colour on the white cardstock and I die cut the birds using a Sizzix die, one from canvas and one from paper (as I had run out of canvas).  The baby is a baby no more as he has just had his first birthday so the album, complete with all the layouts is now in the possession of my his mum and dad and I am looking forward to doing his year two album.  

School Nativity Accordion Card

My friend Kathy and I are totally in love with Karen Burniston's amazing accordion die.  All of Karen's dies are really hot and very much in demand at the moment and I think Kathy probably bought the last one in stock in the UK and I had to buy mine from a lovely lady in America via EBay.  Kathy is really creative and mentioned making a Christmas nativity themed card using the gorgeous stamps from Lili of The Valley.  We joked about having a race to see who could finish one first.  Kathy is brilliant at colouring with her Pro-markers and always seems to know which colours will work the best but it always takes me ages to chose my colours so naturally Kathy finished her card whilst I was still dithering over which shade of green to use!  Anyway, colours picked, four hours of colouring, some shading with Prisma pencils and a little bit of glitter glue and this is my finished card. I could have further embellished the card but I think the design is the main focal point so I don't want lots of embellishments to detract from that, perhaps I might do more embellishing on my next card.  I have to say they are a nightmare to photograph but so amazingly different to normal cards and I can't wait to make some more.  

Pop n Cuts Girl with Cake.

I made this card for a friend's birthday and it is another collaboration between the amazing Karen Burniston's Pop n Cuts dies and The stunning stamps of Lili of the Valley who are based about a ten minute drive from my home.  I coloured the images with Pro-markers and added some glitter glue to the icing on the cake.  The papers are from an old Papermania set and the flowers inside were cut with a Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die.  The flowers on the outside were hand cut and rolled using a quilling tool.

Pop n Cuts 1st Birthday Card

Last year I treated myself to the starter Pop n Cuts die, designed by Karen Burniston and manufactured by Sizzix.  I think I made one card then it went in a drawer and wasn't used again until I found it whilst having a tidy out a couple of weeks ago.  Now I am in love with all things Karen Burniston, the Pop n Cuts stuff in particular and her Accordion Flip Album die which I am also using a lot at the moment.  I have done a lot of Karen's classes in the past and have always been amazed at how all the interactive parts work but she has definitely outdone herself with these dies and all the co ordinating sizzlits etc.

Last week I went to the open day at Lili of the Valley in Farsley, Leeds.  I am lucky to live about ten minutes away which is great for my stamp collection but not so good for my bank balance!  I bought some stamps from some of their latest collections and some of their paper pads.  I also won a prize which was fabulous, it doesn't get any better than free!  I used some of the papers on this card and two of their stamped images, one on the front and one inside.  I coloured the images with Pro-markers and added some Glossy Accents to the sweeties to make them slightly 3D.  

Check out some more Pop n Cuts designs on Karen Burniston's blog... http://karenburniston.typepad.com/i_am_not_lefthanded/