Blossoms and Butterflies

Good Morning 

Huge apologies for being AWOL for so long, things have been really hectic here, my youngest daughter has been to Uganda so we had lots of organising and packing to do for her, she had a fantastic time out there helping to build a toilet block for an Orphanage and helping at the local school with lessons and activities.

It's the first Monday of the month which means it's time for our challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog!
This month our lovely Jane has set the challenge;

Blossoms and Butterflies

Please pop over and join in if you can the prize this month is a lavender Pretty Little Ribbon Pack

I made 2 cards but I'm not really happy with either of them, that will teach me to leave too little time to really sit down and make something nice.  I'm disappointed with myself as butterflies and blossoms are my two very favourite things to craft with!

For this card I decided to use some hydrangeas (quite a few actually!) to frame a sentiment, I used  gorgeous Sugar and Spice 5mm pearls for the centres.

 I then added a couple of butterflies with 3mm sugar and spice pearls to finish off.  I am in love with these pearls we have so many different colours in stock in the shop and I love the fact that you get 3 co-ordinating colours in each pack. I'm gonna be sticking them on everything!

My second card is to pop in my card box for any occasion, sometimes I need a thank you card or a note card so I like to keep a few simple cards made ready.

I used a new nestie set I got for my Birthday - Picot Edge Circles - ooh they are so pretty! I'm going to use this set a lot! Not so keen on cleaning out the dies after use though - all those little bits that get left behind.
 I embossed a butterfly with WOW! embossing powder and then embellished it with more 3mm sugar and spice pearls.

 I then gathered some white satin ribbon using my sewing machine (can easily done by hand using a simple running stitch)and then finished off with siam pink seam binding bow, a crochet flower and fabric brad.

Do visit the blog and have a look at the rest of the team's beautiful creations, they put mine to shame!

Thanks for visiting
Sarah x 

Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge - 'To Die For...'

Gosh where is this year going ? I cannot believe we are already into the month of April. As it's the first Monday of the month it's time for another challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge Blog. This week we have a nice easy one for you all;

To Die For...

Use die cuts or punches on your products

Well that must include about 90% of all our cards mustn't it?

We have a lovely prize on offer too so please come and join us you never know you might win this little lot;

I made two cards for the challenge, the first one  using a new die set and stamp set I got for my Birthday last week - Nestibilites  Labels 25 and a co-ordinating stamp from Waltzingmouse - Paris Nouveau set.  I used my favourite colours on the card and lots of my favourite ribbons too.

The embellishments remind me of a corsage, I have used my new favourite product - some gathered white tulle and then topped this with a pretty rose and some sheer polka dot ribbon. The hat and leaf pin finish it off.  Underneath the die cut I have used a length of white silky crush ribbon and aqua seam binding. 

My second card  used oval nesties with another Waltzingmouse co-ordinating set, I love the little cameo stamp.

 I made a little rolled rose with walnut seam binding and added it to a black seam binding bow. A very quick simple card without a sentiment so that I can use it for whatever occasion I need.

Don't forget to pop over to the blog and take a look at the rest of the design teams' creations, we have a lovely guest designer this month too.

thanks for visiting
Sarah x 

Ribbon Flowers

It's a lovely sunny day here, apparently we will be getting more sunshine for the rest of the week. 

I'm on a roll with my cardmaking after a while of not being very creative.

I have a ton of ribbon scraps lying around in my craftroom and I just can't bear to throw any of them away, sometimes I use them for tags but lately I have been trying to be a bit more creative with them. I recently saw some fabric flowers in a cardmaking magazine so I decided to try using some wide ribbon to make some with.

This card was very quick and easy to make, the fabulous papers are MME Lost and Found,  I used the paper as the focal point as it was so pretty.  I then made this flower with a small length of 38mm sheer ruffle edge ribbon from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop which I folded in half and used a simple running stitch along the fold. After that I gathered up the ribbon by pulling the thread at one end and securing into a flower shape with a few quick sewing stitches.

The green leaves were made using a couple of tiny scraps of sea moss seam binding  shaped into a loop and secured underneath the flower with a couple more stitches.

I finished off the flower with a pretty button sewn into the middle of the flower and a couple of leaf pins. I think the ruffle edge of the ribbon really works well as a flower.  I will definitely be using up more of my scraps making these flowers.

The celebrate stamp is from Waltzingmouse 'Say it Loud' set.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges;

Crafts and Me - Light Airy Spring Colours
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge- Spring
Crafty Catz - Spring is in the Air
Penny Black and more - Springtime
Stampin for the Weekend - Anything Goes


Thanks for stopping by,
Sarah x

Let It Snow....

Well actually Please don't let it snow!!  The weather here at the moment is so gorgeous and sunny I really don't want any more of the white stuff!

Today's card is for the Waltzingmouse Christmas challenge and this time I am tackling January which is to make a card featuring either a day or night time sky.  I found this a bit tricky but I decided to do my own twist and use kraft card (mostly because I love kraft card for Christmas projects) so I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this is day or night as I think it could be either!

I used glitter card to cut the silhouettes out and stamped the snowflakes and sentiment using Compliments of the Season set.  I couldn't resist using some festive red gingham ribbon from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop to finish off, and of course I used up my scraps to make a few matching tags too.

Thanks so much for stopping by

Sarah x 

Sketch time!

Hello there,

I've managed to get some precious time in my craftroom today, I really should have been tidying it up but instead I sat and made a few cards.  Today I'll share one with you that I made for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge;

This is a lovely simple sketch with so many different possibilities, I made a Birthday card as I have quite a few coming up.

I don't tend to use blue very much for birthday cards ( unless it's for a male card) but I had some nice papers on my desk and this gorgeous ribbon so I decided to go out of my comfort zone a bit.  

I cut a large blue circle out and layered a small doily on top of it, then  added my sentiment stamped onto a Labels 14 die cut which was first stamped with a Waltzingmouse Holiday Labels 14 stamp. The sentiment is from the new Compact sentiments set.  

I

The mesh ribbon from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop is so lovely to work with it ties such fabulous bows and holds it's shape so well. The finishing touch is a hydrangea prima flower embellished with a blue button.

I'm also entering this into the following challenges;

Crafts and me - Lets see a Circle

St Lukes charity challenge - Spring into Spring

I have a couple more cards to share but I'll save those for another day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x 

Christmas in March?...

Hi there,

Yes I am making Christmas cards again already!! I really wanted to join in with the Waltzingmouse Christmas card challenge this year as I missed out last year.  Each month there is a different challenge and the idea is that by the end of the year you should have most or all of your cards ready for Christmas. The great thing about this challenge is that you can go back and join in with previous months' challenges if you miss one or two along the way. 

So I am starting with March which is a colour challenge ;

Blue and Brown

I used  stamps from my favourite of last year's Christmas releases 'Seasonal Remedies'. This set looks great in traditional colours but I really like using kraft card with white embossing on it. I used a sheet of Magnolia paper (not a Christmas pattern but I think it looks quite festive!) layered with pale blue and kraft card. I finished off with a large bow using white silky crush ribbon and a smaller bow made with Walnut seam binding which has a sweet little snowflake charm hanging from it.

I managed to make 3 of these cards with the remainder of the paper and there were a lot of  scraps left over so while I had the stamp set out I decided to make a few tags with the leftovers (a sin to throw anything away!) .  These tags were very quick to put together and I managed to use up some scraps of ribbon too with a matching charm.

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself for starting off my Christmas card makes!

Thanks for popping by,
Sarah x

Stamps - Waltzingmouse
Ribbon, Seam binding and charms - Pretty Little Ribbon Shop

Spring Colours...

Good Morning,

Today is Challenge day over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog, and the lovely Mina has chosen

Spring Colours

I was really looking forward to this challenge but somehow I don't feel my cards came together as well as I wanted. Oh well I'm going to share them anyway.

The first card is for Mothers Day and I used a combination of green, pink and aqua. 

The rolled Roses are made using a Marianne D die, I used a strip of flat lace and some green divine bakers twine underneath.  To finish off I used a Waltzingmouse stamp from the Roses in Bloom set and embellished with a few self adhesive pearls.

My second card is really inspired by the large pink camellia tree in my front garden, it is already beginning to bloom and will continue for quite a while yet. 

For this card I used some MME papers, Waltzingmouse Say it Loud sentiment stamps and a butterfly stamp from Hero Arts.  The ribbon is sheer ruffle edge and the pretty little butterfly charm is new in stock (along with lots of other charms). I tied on the charm using some pink button twine.

Why don't you join us this month and show us some Spring inspired projects? The prize this month is a Pretty Little Ribbon Pack in black and white. Pop over to the blog to link up your entries.

thanks so much for popping by today,

Sarah x