Getting girly with Mami Doodles!

Hello everyone, did we all enjoy the Royal Wedding? I grabbed the best seat in the house, on the sofa next to the cat, and have to say that I enjoyed it all big time!
It's Challenge #25 over at Sweet Mami Doodles, and how kind of the lovely Elisa to let me choose the theme of 'Let's get girly'. Originally, I had a completely different card planned... until Elisa sent me this sweet digi, called 'Girly Girl'.

I decided to paper piece her using Basic Grey papers. I think the knack with paper piecing is to go for a patterned paper that is in proportion to the image. That sweet spotty paper worked very well.
I cut an additional arm, plus an additional head and front part of the hair to give a good result. Then I added oodles of girly Stickles and bling! Mami Doodles now has a new store meaning that it couldn't be easier to check out the full range of lovely images available. Why not head on over to the Mami Doodles blog to see the gorgeous DT inspiration and link up with the challenge? A very big thank you to Elisa and the girls for having me on board this month - it's been great fun!
Happy crafting everyone!

Mami Doodles - Guest Designer for April

So who is the guest designer for April at Mami Doodles ???

Well that would be little old me!!!

I was delighted when Elisa from Mami Doodles got in touch a while ago. I am a big fan of her cute digi's and although I am up to my ears in coursework I just couldn't walk away from the chance to get creating with her sweet images.

This week the Mami Doodles challenge is 'Use a punch or a die cut'. As someone who just couldn't get by without her beloved Cuttlebug this one was a gift!

I've used one of my favourite Mami Doodles images: she's called Lil'Mimi at the beach. I just love her little tummy and windswept hair. Such a cutie!

The papers are Lime Rickey from Basic Grey and the gems are from Hero Arts. I wanted the card to shout Summer holiday so went for warm, bright colours.

Why not drop by at Mami Doodles to join in Challenge #23 and take a look at the regular DT girls gorgeous creations. You can find Elisa's shop here, just click on the thumbnails to see her full range.

Happy crafting everyone!

Totally hopeless!

Honestly I am hopeless sometimes!

I made this card for my dear blogging, and now 'in-real-life', friend Vicky.

I made sure to post her card on my way to work yesterday so that it would drop onto her doormat to celebrate her birthday on Saturday 30th April. When I got to work I turned the calendar one day forward and discovered to my horror that Friday was April 30th and not Saturday.

A quick text message had to be sent to Vicky to explain that I am an idiot...

Happy birthday for YESTERDAY mate!

I decided to use two little Midori's to make Vicky's card and all the other stamps are from Hero Arts.

This card is a perfect match for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #81 this week as the theme is friendship.
I didn't manage to upload my card for the SCSC 'distressing' challenge to make the deadline, so I thought I'd share it now. I am experimenting with some Art Journey stamps but haven't quite got to grips with them yet.

I have had such a busy, stressful week that card making and blogging have taken a bit of a backseat. I'm really sorry that I haven't been visiting and commenting as much as usual. I really need to sort out the old work/life balance thing.

Please don't forget that my blog candy is up for grabs until Monday. I will make the draw on Tuesday morning. Also please take a look at my sidebar for the info about Linda's extra yummy birthday candy.

Happy crafting everyone!

Konnichiwa Midori!

When I spotted these cute Japanese girls over at Mamidoodles I just fell in love!

They are work of the talented Elisa and belong to her gorgeous and very affordable set of images called 'Midori', which means "Green" in Japanese.

Elisa has created this kit especially with us cardmaking girls in mind. You can get sweet little Midori in three different outfits, and she also comes as a template for paper piecing.

Elisa has just announced her new DT and has opened her first challenge over at Mamidoodles.

I couldn't resist playing along and really enjoyed using the yummy colour combo of 'wheat, pale blue and red' inspired by this picture.

This little tri-fold card is my entry for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #79.

The theme for this week has been chosen by my super talented friend Vicky... so there was even more incentive than usual for me to play along!

Vicky's theme is 'A Day Out', and originally I was thinking about a day out in the country such as a picnic or a visit to a farm. However, after seeing cute Midori I knew that I wanted a little group of girls in their beautiful kimonos taking a day trip to see the cherry blossom or Sakura. I loved the book and film 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden. The beautiful cherry blossom scenes made a big impact on me and inspired the idea for this card.

I used this beautiful traditional Haiku, translated by Robin Gill in 'Cherry blossom Epipthany', to set the scene:

cherry blossoms

with the morning moon

still in the sky

Japanese people believe the Japanese cherry blossom captures and defines all that is vulnerable about being human. They believe that the brief Sakura season gives a timely reminder, once a year, that life is fleeting and time is precious. For them the cherry blossom season is a time to take stock and evaluate what they have achieved, and what they are going to do next, on their life path. People travel from all over Japan to see the best displays of blossom.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge #55 - April flowers or April showers

Ginger Snap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Growth (personal growth!) and

Raise the Bar - Movie Mania: Memoirs of a Geisha

The cherry blossom on this card was created using flower soft. The additional stamps that I used are a flower border clear stamp and the gorgeous 'Leaf Flourish' stamp, both from Hero Arts. The leafy border stamp is from Hobby arts and was stamped using Distress Inks.

Happy crafting everyone, and don't forget to drop by next week as I'll be celebrating my 1st Blogoversary with a few little candy giveaways!

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all enjoying the Easter break!

Before I get started I just want to say a big thank you for all your helpful ideas and kind comments on my previous post. I guess we've all experienced that feeling when you really want a card to be perfect but it just doesn't quite happen. Thank you all soooooooo much!!!

I have let my hair down and had a bit of fun with the cards that I am posting today. This little bunny just stole my heart when I spotted him over on Mami Doodles. The talented Elisa has some lovely images available and all are very reasonably priced. Don't be surprised to see more of these cute digi's putting in an appearance here as I am really taken with her sweet designs.They do say that the camera never lies but this card is actually a lovely lilac colour rather than lavender blue. Those tiny butterflies are from Hero Arts and took ages to cut out!

I am entering this card over at Cute Card Thursday as Challenge #106 is 'So egg-citing'.

This second card is another outing for that sweet Lili of the Valley bunny.The paper is from a Laura Ashley collection and the colour can only be described as 'Germoline pink'. Thankfully it looks really sweet paired with Kraft card stock. I think that I spent much of my childhood smeared in Germoline ointment as I was always falling off my bike or tripping over my own feet. Does anyone else remember that oh so distinctive Germoline perfume?

So have a great weekend everyone, don't eat too much chocolate and I hope that you'll all find a little crafting time along the way!