Dream Valley Challenges #219 Hand-coloured Image

Hello, my lovelies! We have a new challenge for you at Dream Valley which is to use a Hand-coloured image. Our sponsor is Di's Digi Stamps - go and check out her adorable images! So cute!

For my card I used a fabulous stamp set by Love From Lizi which was in the February card kit but which should be available to buy separately in March. It's huge, and full of the most gorgeous retro flowers!

I stamped this bouquet in black pigment ink and heat-embossed it in clear embossing powder. I used my Inktense Pencils to colour , then fussy cut the image.

The background card has been stamped in Versamark with a little sprig from the same stamp set and also clear heat-embossed. I added the bouquet with foam tape and used some of Lizi's peel-offs as a partial border, then finished it off with Nuvo Drops.

I need to get out my Inktense Pencils more often, I'd forgotten how vibrant the colours are!

Have a look at the gorgeous cards my talented teamies have left to inspire you on the Challenge blog, then get out your favourite colouring medium and a pretty image and join in the fun!

Thanks for looking, and have a great week!

love Mags B x

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #65 Anything Christmas Goes.

Good morning! It's so cold today, and the last dregs of Storm Ciara mean it's also quite windy still. My heart goes out to those suffering from the floods, I can't imagine how awful it must be to lose everything like that. I hope the Powers That Be get off their bottoms and do something to prevent it ever happening again.

However, life goes on, and today it's time for a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy.

I have used items from the December 2019 card kit by Simon Says Stamp.

The sentiment is from the Gnome for the Holidays stamp set and I used the adorable Lil' Gnome die to paper piece the image, colouring his nose and beard with Copics. All the papers came with the kit. I added a red and gold ribbon from my stash to 'ground' the Gnome.

As usual my teamies have made some fabulous cards in all kinds of styles to inspire you, so do go and see!

Thanks for looking, and have a good day!

love Mags B x

My Time to Craft #425 Love me, Do!

All together now: "Love, love me, do! You know I love you! I'll always be true! So pleeeease! Love me, do!" (Cue Harmonica.)

Yes, I remember that Beatles song from when I was young! Now all of you will be singing it all weekend! And perhaps you'll join in at our new Challenge at My Time to Craft! too!

For my 'Love' card I have done some paper piecing, using more papers from the Nitwits Perfect Pair digi papers that I used on Monday.

I used pearlescent pink card for the die-cut heart outline and the mat. The heart die came from Simon Says Stamp and unfortunately is no longer available. I backed the outline with a scrap of white card and cut around the outside, then glued the patterned paper in the apertures. I used foam tape to give the heart some dimension.

The sentiment is from Good Gab by Paper Smooches, and I filled in the little heart with some Nuvo Glitter Drops. I like that sentiment, it makes me smile!

My teamies have created some lovely interpretations of the theme, do go and check them out!

Thanks for looking, and TGIF!

love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges #218 Love

Hello, my dearios! It's time for anotherChallenge at Dream Valley where our theme is Love.

Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter who kindly sent one of their adorable images for us to use. Unfortunately my printer broke down, so I couldn't use the image, but luckily I already had the gorgeous Victorian Beauty printed out. (This is the original image, the current one is slightly different but still gorgeous.)

She is a delight to colour, and I love the flirty glance she's giving as she checks her hair! I fussy cut her and raised her on foam pads, and cut a pink frame with a Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die (sadly no longer available.)

I used papers from Nitwits' Perfect Pair collection, so pretty! The place where the two papers join is edged with a Love from Lizi Matt Gold peel-off.

The Valentine sentiment is from an old Clearly Besotted sentiment set, which sadly is out of print, and embossed it with Ranger's Rose Quartz Embossing Powder.

Finally I used Tonic Nuvo Drops in Enchanting Pink.

This lady is definitely ready for Valentine's Day! On the day itself I will be doing the Church flowers, using pinks and red roses! Vibrant colours to cheer up the gloomiest February day!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you all have a good week.

love Mags B x

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #64 Anything Christmas Goes.

Afternoon, all! I apologise that I'm a day late with my post for The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. I had a rather long dental appointment yesterday, and when I got home I spent some time sleeping off the anaesthetic, and, I'm sorry to say, forgot my post!

However, here is my card! One of my New Year's Resolutions is to go back into my stash and use older items as well as snippets of papers. Here is the result:

The elaborate Merry Christmas die, from Sara Davies' Signature Collection for Crafter's Companion, was a magazine freebie and unfortunately is not available on the CC website. I used a snippet of gold card to cut it out and glued it onto a snippet of white pearlised card. The background paper is also from the snippets drawer. I added Nuvo Drops in red and white to give some festive bling.

Do join in our Challenge, it's such a great feeling to see a pile of Christmas cards mount up, knowing you won't have a mad rush to get them all done in November!

Thanks for looking, and I hope your week is going well.

love Mags B x

My Time to Craft #414 Inspired by Disney

Hello, my dearios! We have a lovely Challenge for you at My Time to Craft which is Inspired by Disney. That is INSPIRED BY... since Disney's images are all copyright, of course, and they come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who uses their images without permission.

So you could be inspired to use Mermaids, or Princesses, or a Chinese theme, or pick a fairy tale and put your own spin on it - just don't use any actual Disney images! And let us know what inspired you, too!

I have a beautiful digi from Sassy Studios (which sadly no longer seems to be trading) called Snow Queen Portrait, which reminds me of 'Frozen.'

For my winter birthday card, which is 5" x 7" for a change, I used shades of blue and white. The papers are from my stash, and long out of print. I layered them on blue and silver mats. I added White Blizzard Nuvo Drops to the centres of the snowflakes, and also to the Queen's hair, but they don't really show in the photo.

The silver-embossed sentiment is from an old Clearly Besotted stamp set. I added 2 snowflakes that came in a pack of 'Table Confetti' from my local supermarket one Christmas.

Go and see how my teamies have used our theme as inspiration for this challenge and come on down and join in!

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges #217 Spots and/or Dots

Yes, it's already time for the second Challenge of 2020 at Dream Valley! Our new theme is Spots and/or Dots and our sponsor is the fabulous Crafty Sentiments.

I have made a birthday card for a little boy, using the adorable Gaffi. Well, he's a giraffe, so definitely has spots!

The papers are from an old Echo Park pad called 'Petticoats and Pinstripes' which is sadly out of print. The gold-embossed sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Scripty Sayings. I added Nuvo Drops to embellish, not sequins, because the little boy this is intended for would probably pick off sequins and try to eat them!!

Go and see my teamies' lovely work, and check out our sponsor's gorgeous images!

Thanks for looking, and have a great week!

love Mags B x