Little Fishes....

It's all happening at Lili of the Valley, it's so exciting.  There is a new launch about to hit and it is just super duper cute.  If you like LOTV you are going to love these new stamps.  If you are in the UK they will be launched at the NEC in Birmingham  5th - 8th November otherwise online is scheduled for the 10th November.  I warn you start saving!!!

Here is a little sneak using "Little Fishes".  It's a shaker card using one of the sentiments that comes with the stamp in the background of the bubble.  I inked more bubbles in the background using a stencil and added some clear droplets.  Inside the shaker is a mixture of sequins some I glued to the background so they aren't all in the bottom of the shaker.   These are two of the "fishes" on the stamp which I coloured and very carefully fussy cut....a bit of a challenge but well worth the effort.  The paper in the background is from Bonnets & Bowties and Promises solids.

Mark your calendars and check out the rest of the Design Collective blogs for more sneaks.

Having a laugh!!

I had fun making this card.  It's the last Paper Smooches Sparks challenge, so I thought I'd have some fun.  I do love Chubby Chums and this is the cow in the set...he went a little crazy.  The challenge is a sketch and this was not what I was planning on doing but this is how it turned out.  I think that sentiment is perfect with all those crazy cows.

It's a shame to see the "Sparks" Challenge go, but I am looking forward to the new challenges that start on the 1st November on the Paper Smooches blog.  They are sure to be great.

www.papersmoochesstamps.com

Thanks for dropping in.

Karen xo

"Cuppa" thinking of you

I do enjoy a lovely cup of tea, generally fruit or herbal these days since I cut down my dairy intake and can't enjoy a "cuppa" without milk.  I do try once a day to have a cup of tea and do nothing else.  Its a little time to gather my thoughts in what is otherwise a busy life.

This is "Odd Dog" from Lili of the Valley.  He was part of a launch a few months back and I hadn't gotten around to colouring him.  There are 8 versions of him, all super cute.  I fussy cut him out and popped him up with foam dots, stamping the steam from his cuppa in the background.  After playing around with lots of options I ended up keeping him quite simple.

If you entered the recent Facebook challenge make sure to check out the winners list to see if you are on it as 15 lucky entrants won a stamp of their choice.

Now go and enjoy a cuppa and hope to see you again soon.

This little guy...

He's pretty cute right.  I played around stamping him on card to form my background paper.  No need to mask as I just stamped him in rows, pretty easy and pretty effective.  I then coloured an extra one up to pop on top.  It's Anything Goes at Paper Smooches this week so I'm going to pop "this little guy" into the challenge.  He's from the Chubby Chums set and the sentiment is from the uplifters set.

I also have a couple of new followers to welcome.  Thanks so much for joining me and I hope you pop in often.

www.papersmoochesstamps.com

Reindeer Trio

Recently Lili of the Valley launched 6 new sets of Christmas Trio rubber stamps.  As I was looking for a stamp to use for my October Design Collective card, being lazy and standing on tiptoes rather than taking the box down, the Reindeer set fell out so I decided to use them.  I coloured them up in non traditional Christmas colours, a combination falling rather into the Halloween category than Christmas.  Halloween doesn't really happen here but I do think the purple and orange combo is a great one.

I gathered inspiration from a few different places for this card.  Firstly from Kathy at the Daily Marker who recently coloured a background in dark colours, something I wouldn't normally do and okay I didn't go overboard but had the confidence to try something new.   Secondly the new challenge at Sparkle and Shine, which happens to be purple and orange sparkly pumpkins. Whilst I don't have a pumpkin in sight, the reindeers are round in shape, like pumpkins and I used purple and orange with gold foil and Pretty Pink Posh sequins for sparkle. Also stacked my reindeers.  Well it is interpretational....anyway you decide.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is also a similar palette so I am going to pop this in there too.

No Fall celebrations going on here....

Well its a little hard to celebrate fall when its spring on this side of the world.  A lot of our trees are native here and evergreen so we don't get the spectacular fall displays like you do in the Northern Hemisphere.  Don't get me wrong we do have trees that change colour and loose their leaves, but nothing like what I have seen in Canada.

Its a picture challenge at Paper Smooches this week and I always find it interesting to see how others interpret the picture compared to myself.  I used Paper Smooches feathers die in fall colours and kept my background white with a little embossed panel under the leaves (feathers).  I then added the sentiment from PS Flap Happy, which just seemed appropriate, and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins ironically called Tropical days for that finishing touch.  So here is the inspiration photo.......

.........and here is my card

www.papersmoochesstamps.com

Thanks for stopping by.

xo

Autumn Treats at Lili of the Valley

Make sure you head over to Lili of the Valley and take a look at the Autumn treats on offer until Sunday.  If you love Lili of the Valley then you are going to love the treats.  Also be sure to check out the Facebook challenge, join in under the event, Autumn Treats Challenge.

Here's a card using one of the stamps on offer "Football Bears".

Now hurry on over and check it out, ends Sunday so don't miss out.

Karen

xo

Lili of the Valley Special Offers

A little heads up there will be some amazing special offers on the Lili of the Valley website starting at midday on Wednesday UK time and running through till Saturday.  

To coincide with the special offer there will be a challenge on Facebook.  Details will be found on the Lili of the Valley facebook page from tomorrow.  I am sure you won't want to miss it so mark your diaries.

Here's a little teaser for you using the image  "Skipping".

Entered into these challenges

#145 at 613 Avenue Create

 #81 at Crafting from the Heart 

Feathers feathers everywhere...

I have been away for the best part of the week but I took my colouring away with me along with some pre stamped images.  I took eight 15 year olds away to Rotorua here in NZ.  We caught the coach there and back and had the best time.  Its such a great age as they can do things on their own, I just need to be around if they need me and to make sure things run smoothly.   This is the second time I have done this and they are already planning the next trip.  We are creating such amazing memories.

Anyway one of the little images I managed to colour is this little chickie from Paper Smooches Chubby Chums. The Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge this week is Anything Goes.  I had a bit of fun with this.  Using Paper Smooches feather die I cut several feathers and popped them onto my background.  I had already decided to use the frame to make a shaker, the sentiment is stamped in white and maybe it should have been black but I have trouble getting acetate here so decided to go with it as it was already stamped.  The chickie is behind the frame because original idea was to have his feet poking out at the bottom but it was quite a stretch and looked kind of silly.

papersmoochesstamps.com

Daisy Fairy

Its time for a new challenge at Southern Girls.  We have two wonderful sponsors, Little Claire and Ching-Chou Kuik.

The image I used is from Ching-Choe Kuik and is called Garden Daisy Fairy.  She is such a sweetie.  I coloured her in pencil and printed an extra daisy which I popped up at the bottom.  The sentiment "Dreams are Magical" and the paper is from Lili of the Valley.  Finished off with White seam binding (all the other colours I tried just overpowered the image and I wanted her to be the focus).  Lastly a few Enchanted Garden sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

The theme is twine, tape or ribbon.  Pretty easy right.  Hope you will pop on over and take a look at the rest of the design team's lovely creations and be inspired to join in.

See you over at Southern Girls.

Karen xo

Celebrate with Southern Girls

The theme for our new challenge at Southern Girls is "Celebration".

I guess the obvious celebrations coming up for many are Halloween and Christmas.  Here in New Zealand we don't really celebrate Halloween.  Although I do have a basket of sweets at the front door, we might get 2 maybe 3 lots of trick or treaters, if we are lucky.  I know its a big thing in the States and the confectionery companies did try and bring it in here a few years back but it just never took off.

Off course there are many other celebrations including Christmas, birthdays, a new baby, anniversaries, graduations and my choice, celebrating a new home.

I used an image from one of our lovely sponsors, Art by Miran called "cute window illustration".  I coloured the window frame and shutters in grey, cut out the window glass and backed it with a small square of paper. Then hand cut some little pots to sit on the window sill and popped a flower into each.  I added foam tape to the window with a double layer to the shutters for extra dimension.  The sentiment is a combination of die cut and computer generated.  Sequins add a little sparkle to the otherwise plain background.

Now pop on over and check out the other DT creations 

and celebrate with Southern Girls.  

Look forward to seeing your entries.

Sequin Overload....

Yes I do admit I may just have lost the plot when it comes to sequins, but I do love them.  They are such happy, shiny little things.

Ok its officially Day 3 of the 30 Day Colouring Challenge,  three for three, feeling pretty good.  I am away for a few days, taking the kids to Rotorua.  When I say kids I mean my two and six of their friends, that would be eight, 15 year olds.  Some people say I am crazy (hey I think that's a song) but I am making memories for us all and I know that we will have a great time.  I did it last year and it was just great.  I have stamped some images and have my colouring pencils packed ready to go to keep the momentum going, hoping of course I get a little bit of free time.

Anyway yesterday I watercolored some card with the intention of doing something completely different but I didn't like it as a background.  In the middle of the night I made this card in my mind with circles. Didn't really like the circles so they ended up cut to bits too.  So here we have take three, a watercolour garden.  The background paper has made such pretty flowers.

The watercolour inspiration comes from the latest Challenge at Sparkle and Shine.  I just love how they encourage you to use sequins.  The ones I have used are from Pretty Pink Posh, Summer Mix.

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for popping in.

Karen xo

You're Purrrfect

Actually its the 3rd of October here so my day 3 for the 30 Day Colouring Challenge hosted by the super talented Kathy from The Daily Marker.  Its quite handy really being a day ahead as I already have my day 3 colouring done and ready to post.

I coloured this little image with the latest challenge at Paper Smooches in mind.  I hadn't intended going black and white but that is where I ended up.  The stamps I used including the sentiment and paw print are from the Chubby Chums Set.  Yesterday I posted a card using some little cuties that peep over things which is how I came about the kitty popping out of the die cut note paper, just playing around a bit really.  I gold foiled the paw prints just for fun.

You should pop on over to the Paper Smooches site as their October release has some very lovely things, my favourite is the ugly christmas sweater, which I wish came as a single stamp.  We don't do white elephants or cookie exchanges down here so its hard to justify buying a set for one stamp.  (that's what I'm telling myself anyway). Definitely an opportunity for an ugly sweater set I'm thinking.

www.papersmoochesstamps.com

Forest Friends

The latest challenge theme at The Card Concept is Forest Friends, inspired by a very cute image.  When I saw this it gave me the perfect excuse to use a stamp set from Create a smile Stamps that I haven't used before....don't really know why as its super cute.

The style I have used is Clean and Layered (I think) I coloured the little critters with no line and popped up the bear and part of the mole.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  I then added a strip of paper that resembles a tree truck and a die cut tied line and a few sequins.  Think I will be using this stamp set a bit more now.

Cathy from the Daily Marker has also just started a new 30 Day Colouring Challenge, you should go and see what she did with a Starbucks cup.  I am going to try to colour every day...yikes did I actually say that...well it is a challenge!!!  

Hope to see you back again soon.

Karen xo