Pink and green... and flowers!

What a perfect challenge the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge gang have come up with again this week! I always enjoy a nice pink and green combo, add a few flowers and I'm a happy camper!

This gorgeous stamp is yet another Lili of the Valley gem. This is one serious addiction going on here I can tell you! The good news is that their online store is open again from today for anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms.

Sorry this is such a short post but I am up to my ears in bunnies and eggs in preparation for the weekend!

Happy crafting everyone!

Spring Day!

I hope that you won't mind if I share the gorgeous cards that the children made at the library yesterday to celebrate our Spring Open Day...So much sparkle and glitter...and just look at the bunny shaped card....Love those feathers and tissue flowers...

...and this little star is my friend Lorraine's gorgeous granddaughter making her card and posing for the April edition of the library newsletter!
I wish I could share pictures of all the other children too, but I have to be very careful about parental permission.
We had a great day at the library with a day of card and badge making competitions for the children, and Family History workshops for the adults. If this wasn't fun enough we also had an amazing garden makeover in the library grounds by a group of local young adults. They planted a gorgeous selection of spring flowers and shrubs to transform the area into a spring garden for the local community to enjoy.

I'm one happy librarian!

March Card Chain Challenge

I cannot believe that we are nearly due to say 'goodbye' to March... where did it go????

As this is the final Friday of the month the lovely Deborah has posted the info about her April Card Chain Challenge.

I am ever so slightly addicted to these challenges! Deborah offers a choice of themes, a colour palette and a sketch and you can combine as many of these as you choose.

I love the excitement of the sign up... the anticipation of the arrival of a card, and then bingo: an envelope from far away!!!

For her March CCC Deborah offered a gorgeous colour combo of Butter, Aqua, Teal, Ban de Soleil, and Rose. These colours were good enough to eat, so I couldn't resist using them to make this card for Anette in Norway.

I received these two beauties from the lovely Hannah. Thank you so much, I love 'em!Look at the sweet fringes on the cushion, the ribbon on the curtains and that pretty hand drawn tree in the window!If you want to play along with Deborah's April challenge you can sign up with Mr Linky over at her blog before April 1st.

Happy crafting everyone, it's nearly the weekend!

A quick post before bedtime

I am oh so tired, so please forgive me if this post doesn't make much sense!

Isn't this happy little bunny leaping that host of golden daffodils fun?

He's another Lili of the Valley cutie, and was a real joy to stamp and colour.

I also had fun creating the faux stitching with my sewing machine and a gel pen. I like the look of this technique so will definitely be using it again.

This little fellah is just perfect for the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge theme 'Spring has Sprung!' and Paper Play Challenge week 13 'Easter'.

And so to bed....

One Beautiful Ballerina!

I must say that I think Annie Rodrigue has surpassed herself with this fabulous new stamp! The brilliant new range of Kraftin' Kimmie stamps are now available over at Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

All of the new stamps are dance themed and great fun, but this little 'Angry Ballerina' grabbed my attention and then pirouetted into my shopping cart.

I know it's a bit corny but I just couldn't resist the 'sentiment'!

This is a tent card made with the help of Dena's great instructions over at The Just Magnolia Challenge Blog. In the end I placed the ballerina on the front of the card, rather than suspending her, as I wanted her to look like she was standing in the spotlight. Not quite sure if it works, but I had lots of fun trying!

I cut the large circle with my Mom's Martha Stewart Circle cutter... not easy to use, but gave a good effect. I read the instructions very carefully as Mom cut herself on the blade the first time she used it.

Now that I have seen the card on the screen I plan to try and make the curtains look a bit more 3-D. It never fails to surprise me how different a card can look on the screen. I often work on a card again after seeing it on the PC as all the faults and crooked lines become magnified and obvious!

Happy crafting everyone!

One fairy, and a bear with a blanket!

Unusually, I have two cards to share today...

The first one is a sweet Lilli of the Valley Fairy that I coloured with Promarkers. I added lots of Stickles and Diamond Glaze, but neither is showing up that well on this picture. I brushed a little gold Veracolour over those lovely Cuttlebugged swirls, but again while it looks lovely in real life it hasn't photographed well.

I just love colouring these images as they are so easy and you can get great effects with very little effort. This is all down to how beautifully they are drawn by those very talented LOTV artists and owes nothing to my colouring skills!

Now just to prove that I am not completely addicted to LOTV, my second card features a Popcorn the Bear image that I stamped on a visit to my friend Vicky a few weeks ago. While on the subject of the lovely Vicky, please drop by her blog to see the fabulous card that she posted yesterday as her DT card for the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge. It's a stunner, and one which just took my breath away when I saw it!

I made this second card for a friend who is retiring tomorrow. She collects and makes bears, so hopefully she will appreciate little Popcorn, his blanket, and his sparkly daisy. My mojo was lacking 'oomph' this morning so I decided to use this inspirational little sketch from Sketch Saturday to help things along... thank you so much girls, it did the job nicely!

Happy crafting everyone!