Candy Canes at Dies to Die for

Wheeee! It's Friday again, I've been horribly unwell this week (I even took a couple of days off work sick, which rarely happens), but it's almost the weekend and I'm here with my regular Dies to Die for post.  It's another Christmas card, I do hope you're not getting tired of these lol, but I promise I have some non Christmas creations coming up as well!

This is another Little Darlings Rubber Stamps - Saturated Canary image, she's called Candy Canes .  Now I have to say it wasn't originally my intention to go monochrome with this, she just turned out that way, but I really like the effect. Don't you just love her hair? It reminds me of Mr Whippy ice cream lol  just substitute a couple of chocolate flakes for the Candy Canes hehe.

I've popped a list of products used, along with some links at the end of my post.

I matched her with some gorgeous Maja design papers from the Vintage Frost Basics collection, and I've coloured her in Distress Ink markers.

Skin: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Spun Sugar (blush)
Hair: Spun Sugar, Fired Brick
Clothing: Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone.
I added Glamour Dust to her wings, I also added lines of subtle shimmer to her hair and clothes with a SakuraJelly Roll Stardust pen, but sadly the camera just doesn't pick it up, which is a shame because it's a beautiful effect in the flesh.

I added this lovely MFT Snowflake Doily behind her.

Look at that gorgeous bow, I thought it deserved some extra special bling.

I kept the inside quite simple, as by this time I was feeling very poorly indeed.

Stamp: Candy Canes
MFT Sowflake Doily Die
Reverse Wonky Rectangles
Maja Vintage Frost Basics-3rd December
Maja Vintage Frost Basics-5th December
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Candy Cane Charm
Ophelia 50mm Ivory Lace
Ivory Flat back Pearl Trim
Ivory Pearl String
Pink Pearl String
Pink Faux Silk Ribbon
8 mm Flat Back Ivory Pearls
Diamante and Pearl Embellishment
Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

This card is available to buy in my Etsy shop



I hope you like her and that she's inspired you to make a start on those Christmas cards if you haven't already.  I'll be back tomorrow with another (non-Christmas) make and some exciting news!  See you then! :) xx

Casey in Pencils

Happy hump day! Very quick share from me today as I've been suffering with a really awful cold this week and have even been home from work as I felt that bad, very unusual for me.

I experimented with colouring using Polychromos Pencils this weekend, Casey was ideal I thought to try them out as she's really quite quick to colour, and while there is a lot of work still to be done (lots more depth to be achieved I think), she turned out well enough to go on a card.

The beautiful papers are from Maja, Fika collection, love these.

The beautiful butterfly is from Karla's Kreative Korner.

The lovely bling on the bow is from The Handcrafted Card Company

I finished of the inside quite simply, with matching paper, a little seam binding and lace to match the front and a large blank oval for writing a message.

Casey Rubber Stamp
La-La Land Birdcage Die
Butterfly Embellishment - She Daydreams
Ophelia 50 mm embroidered ivory tulle lace
Mauve Mist vintage style seam binding
Cheesecloth Fabric
Rolled Rose Purple/Violet
Lilac 30 mm Wild Rose
Lily Flowers Small Pale Pink
Sweetheart Blossom Baby Pink and White
Pretty Blossom Purple/Violet
Cosmos Daisy Flower Deep Pink
Beaded Lavender Gypsophalia
Purple Round Pins
Heart Pins Pink

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop



Right that's all from me today, but I'll see you all again on Friday and if I can stop sniffing and sneezing for long enough I'll try and drop by your blogs this weekend and leave some love.

Take care! :) xx

Christmas Tilda in Red at Totally Tilda

Happy Sunday! This is one of 2 posts from me today, so if you're looking for my post for The Ribbon Girl, please scroll down.

Today at Totally Tilda we have a new challenge for you, and it's Christmas Tilda in Red.  So we want to see a Christmas themed card where Tilda is wearing red. I know that some of us have a bit of a love hate relationship with Red, it can be a very difficult colour to work with as it's one of the colours most prone to bleeding.  Well I cheated a bit on her trousers and used some red patterned paper, but I did use red Copics for most of the rest of her.

Colours used:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, R20
Hair E42, E43, E44, E47, E49
Top, shading on trousers, socks and presents: R24, R27, R29, R35, R37, R59, E40, E42, E44

As usual I inked all the edges with Walnut Stain and hand stitched them with red top stitch thread.

i mounted her on a Snowflake Doily and I thought this ribbon went very well.

I used some beautiful flowers, berries and cones, and dabbed them with a little white acrylic paint for a snowy look.

Papers used are from an older Maja collection.

Products used

MFT Snowflake Doily Die

25 mm Red Candy Check Ribbon

Wooden Star Buttons

Natural Button Twine

Jingle Bells Silver

Red Top Stitch Thread

Cheesecloth Fabric

45 mm Bethany Ivory Guipure Lace

Rose Bud Semi Open White

8 mm Flat back Ivory Pearls

6 mm Flat Back, Ivory pearls

Paint Dabber White Snow Cap

Our lovely sponsor for this challenge is Nikki from

Do pop over to see the rest of the team's fantastic makes in red and we hope to see you join us in this challenge and tick off another of your Christmas makes.

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop

That's all from me for today, but I'll be back on Tuesday, enjoy the rest of your weekend! :) xx

GDT for The Ribbon Girl - Magnolia Only - Sparkle

Happy Sunday everyone, I'm sooooo excited today to bring you my first project as GDT for

The Ribbon Girls. I still can't believe that  I was lucky enough to be invited!

It's a Magnolia only challenge this week and the theme is 'Sparkle'.  Well you know I like a bit of glitz and bling lol, so this challenge was lovely, though now I look at my card I don't think it has an overabundance of sparkle, but still enough to fit the theme.

I coloured up Tilda and Dexter with Distress Ink Markers. Now I've had this little sweetie for quite some time but I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time she's seen ink.

Colours used

Skin: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Spun Sugar

Hair: Peacock Feathers

Outfit and Dexter: Peacock Feathers, Sahded Lilac, Dusty Concord.

Shadow: Walnut Stain

I slathered lots of glamour dust on Dexter's horns scales and claws, but as usual it's very hard to pick up at it's best on camera, but it's very sparkly in the flesh.

I used some papers from the lovely Timeless Victorian pad from Lili of the Valley, I do like that these pads are 8 x 8 inches, so there's no problem cutting them with your larger shaped dies.

They were lightly distressed then inked with Walnut Stain and hand stitched with Gutterman Top Stitch thread. I popped a little cheese cloth fabric under my layers to soften the corners.

Love this beautiful satin ribbon, The Ribbon Girl stocks this in just about every colour you could wish for.

The gorgeous butterfly (with more sparkle!) is from Karla's Kreative Korner

I finished off the inside quite simply with some matching papers and a small mount of bling.

The Ribbon Girl products used:

25 mm Heliotrope Satin Ribbon

32 mm Josephine Ivory Fine Double Scallop Lace

Cherry Blossom Lilac/White Two Tone

Cosmos Daisy Pale Lilac

Lilac 30 mm Wild Roses

Rolled Paper Roses Aqua

15 mm Crystal & Diamante Embellishment 

2 mm Clear Flat Back Gems

5 mm Clear Crystals Self Adhesive

Cheesecloth Fabric

White Top Stitch Thread

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop

I do hope you like my make, why not join in the fun with us?  and don't forget to take a look at all the fabulous and fantastic makes by the regular team.

Well that's all for now, but I'll be back shortly :) xx

Use Pink at A Creative Romance

Hello again!  Yes it's my 2nd post of the day, so if you are here looking for my Dies to Die for post, please scroll down.

Today is the start of a new challenge at A Creative Romance, and our theme this time is 'Pink'.

Recently I made a few vintage style Christmas cards for an order and this is one of the cards that I made.  I love Christmas cards in non traditional colours, so this pink card is right up my street.  no stamped and coloured image again, so very good for those of you who don't enjoy stamping and colouring images. The image is actually taken from a piece of the designer paper.  All the papers are by Maja Design and come from the Vintage Frost Basics collection.

I cut the shape with a Go Kreate die and the framed image and sentiment are cut with MFT's Pierced Oval Stax.

I added pink lace, ivory ruffled tulle, flat back pearls and pearl trim, so beautiful fluted edge sheer ivory ribbon and some cheesecloth. I sprinkled plenty of Frantage in Shabby Pink and Chunky White.

The gorgeous pearl enbellishment is from The Handcrafted Card Company, I coloured the centre pink with my Copics.

Some pretty flowers to finish the front and the inside decorated with papers and dies to match and I was done. 

We are sponsored for this challenge by the wonderful Sandra Mathis of Live and Love Crafts, so you could win a super prize.

Do join us, pop over to the blog and check out my team mates fabulous makes and then show us your makes in Pink, go on....you know you want to!

That's all from me for today, but I'll be back on Sunday with my Totally Tilda make and my first creation for The Ribbon Girl Challenge Blog as GDT....exciting stuff! :) xx

Time for Tea - Presents at Dies to Die for.

Happy Friday everyone! As usual I'm very happy that it's almost the weekend.  I have another Christmas card to share with you today....yep, it's definitely 'that' time of year.

I won't waffle on too much but will let the photos do the talking, products and links are listed at the end of my post.

Time for Tea - Presents

Raindrop Echo - Checklist Background

MFT Notebook Insert Die

Vintage Autumn Basics - XI

Vintage Autumn Basics - XII

Vintage Autumn Basics - III

La-La Land Stitched Tabs Die

Prima Say it in Crystals - Free Spirit

Prima Say it in Crystals - Princess

Christmas Stocking Charm

Mini Christmas Tree Charm

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop

That's all from me for now but I'll be back in a bit with my post for A Creative Romance.
TTFN! :) xx

Vintage Birthday Card

Happy Saturday everyone. First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who left me such kind comments yesterday.  I have to report I'm feeling much better now, it's not often I get down, just everything seemed to come at once this week, but I spent a lovely evening with friends last night and feel much better for it.
Anyway.... I'm here today to share a card I made for my Mum's birthday.  It was yesterday so I can safely share it here now.  I'd been toying with the idea of making a card with a vintage photo for a while now, and I thought it was something that my mum would like, so here's what I ended up making.

I used beautiful Pion papers and cut the shape with a Go Kreate die. The picture itself is cut with an MFT Postage stamp Die.

I inked my layers with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and stitched them with Top Stitch thread in Pink and Yellow. The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and it's in a Tim Holtz book label from my stash.

I popped some Cheesecloth in between my layers to soften them. I added a large pink faux silk ribbon bow and lots of pearl embellishments.

The inside is decorated quite simply with more Pion papers and a blank cut with the postage die for writing a message.

I've linked a lot of the products below:

Pion Design Studio of Memories - Pink Ornament
Pion Design Flower frames - Crysanthemum

MFT Postage Stamp Stax
Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Cheesecloth Fabric

50mm Ophelia Ivory Embroidered Tulle Lace

4mm Flat Back Pearl Ivory Bead Trim

6mm Flat Back Pearl Ivory Bead Trim

3mm Ivory Pearl Bead String

Kort & Godt Rolled Paper Roses - Pale Pink

Cream 20mm Open Roses

38mm Pale Pink Faux Silk Ribbon

Rosebud Semi Open - Pale Pink

11mm Pearl Ivory Flat Backs

8mm Pearl Ivory Flat Backs

6mm Pearl Ivory Flat Backs

15mm Pearl & Diamante Embellishment 

All the other flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Well that's all from me today, I'm off to make some more cards! Enjoy your weekend everyone :) xx

Casey at Dies to Die for

Before I start my post for today, it's my Mum's birthday today, so a big Happy Birthday to my Mum! (I'll be posting the card I've made her tomorrow, once she's had a chance to see it and have it to herself).

Happy Friday everyone. Well I don't know about happy for me, just glad that this week has come to an end I think.  The week started poorly,  I had some disappointing news on Monday missing out on the Saturated Canary DT spots (I know, I know, it really shouldn't matter and it's one reason I hardly ever go in for DT calls and just wait to be invited, as it's a real slap to your ego when you don't get it).

To be fair I get asked more than my fair share and I only take on a fraction of those that do ask me, usually just guesting, as full time work means I can only take on so much, but this one, it was a real dream of mine. Also work has just  really been awful this week, I've been in early all week with so much loaded on me, I've been really stressed out which isn't like me, I've hurt my back/shoulder/neck, so even crafting, which I normally do to de-stress is painful.

Also I'm not enjoying the weather recently, it's been cold wet and miserable, just adding to my mood, so I thought...enough with the moaning,.....  I'd cheer myself up with a make in Spring like colours.

For today's make I chose to ink up Casey, from LDRS and my was she fun to colour......and so quick! Since she's just a 'floating' top half, I thought I'd 'frame' her with this Memory Box die. I did a little 'out of the box' fussy cutting, so the end of her braid hung over the frame. Links to products are at the end of my post.

I've coloured Casey in Distress Ink Markers, colours used are:

Skin: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Fired Brick, Victorian Velvet

Hair: Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs

Clothing: Dusty Concord

I added some lovely yellow and lilac trims, some cheesecloth,  and finished off with some beautiful beaded berries and flowers from  Wild Orchid Crafts and The Ribbon Girl.

The beautiful butterfly is from Karla's Kreative Korner.

The inside is decorated simply to complement the front with plenty of space for your own message.

I used the following products:

Maja Design, Vintage Spring Basics 10th April

Maja Design, Vintage Spring Basics, 6 x 6 pad

Little Darlings Rubber Stamps - Casey

Versafine Ink - Black Onyx

Memory Box, Victorian Frame Set

Mini Pom Poms Lavender

Tutu Trim Purple

Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Mimosa Yellow Seam Binding
Clementine Ivory Lace
11mm Ivory Flat Back Pearls
8mm Ivory Flat Back Pearls
6mm Ivory Flat Back Pearls

This card is now sold.

Well that's all from me today, I'm off to friends for dinner and drinks tonight, so hopefully that will cheer me up a bit!

I'll see you again tomorrow with more inspiration *hugs* :) xx

Halloween at Totally Tilda

Good morning and happy Sunday to all. I hope you're enjoying your weekend, I've been chilling out and making cards mostly. 

Before I get on to sharing my card I have to first share some super exciting news!  The lovely Mary of The Ribbon Girl, recently emailed me and asked if I would do a couple of guest spots for them...of course I quickly replied that I'd be thrilled to...well after leaping up and down like a loon lol.

Now here's where I make an embarrassing confession...when Mary emailed me to ask, she mentioned that she's put a not on my delivery note in my last order from them .......well my jaw hit the floor, I'd been so busy drooling over all the pretties in my parcel, that I hadn't even read the note properly and almost missed my chance!  I was so very lucky that Mary was kind enough to follow up with an email. Anyway I'll be joining in with one of their Magnolia only challenges and one of the Lovely Lili challenges, so stay tuned fr those :)

Ok so on to my make for today. We have a new challenge over at Totally Tilda and this time the theme is Halloween.  So we want to see your Halloween themed makes. Now I will openly admit that Halloween is not really my thing.  We don't celebrate it with cards and stuff here like they do over the water, so much as I really enjoy looking at all my friends Halloween makes on Facebook, I don't really enjoy making them, but I didn't go all out traditional Halloween.

I had however bought these wonderful butterflies from Karla's Kreative Korner, and I wanted to use them on my card, so I matched my papers and colouring to them.

I used Wizard Tilda for a magical rather than spooky theme and coloured her with my Copics.

The papers are not Halloween papers, but I thought that the orange swirl really looked good with the magic swirl from the wand, the black text on orange was quite fitting and the black on black butterfly/moth paper gave a slightly spooky feel, I used Orange and Black Top Stitch Thread. I added some lovely black lace, but as I often do I ended up covering most of it and you can just see it peeping out on the left hand side.

The cheese cloth added to the atmosphere and I cut a swirl in orange and added some small Rhinestones that I coloured to match my theme.. You can see in this picture that I added Glamour Dust to the magic swirl for sparkle.

Some black and orange flowers and a little apple from my stash and this gorgeous ribbon with a Star button tied on with black twine added and I slipped a glittery 'moon' behind my image.

I kept the inside fairly simple, some more of the orange swirly paper and plenty of blank space for a message.

I used the following Ribbon Girls goodies:

Black Lace - Francesa

25 mm Orange Delight Berisford Satin Ribbon

Cheesecloth Fabric

Black Button Twine

Wooden Star Button

2 mm Clear Gems

Black Top Stitch Thread

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop 

Our sponsor for this challenge is 

Simon Says Stamp

and they are offering the following prize

I'm so looking forward to seeing all your Halloween makes, make sure you check the Challenge blog for the important rules, and do check out all the DT makes while you're there, they are all scrummy!