Hostess with the Mostest

Those Royals sure know how to throw a party! Ok so they probably had hundreds of people working flat out to get Wills and Kate's big day organised down to the finest detail (with some help from the happy couple) but boy oh boy it sure was something else. I loved EVERYTHING about it though it took me till the end of the ceremony to love her dress. Now don't get me wrong...it was a beautiful dress and she was a stunning bride but I wasn't expecting lace for some reason and I also thought it would be more figure hugging. But by the end I was won over lol. Her sister's dress was AMAZING as was her mom's...The detail on the cuff's of the coat was stunning so I'm thinking since I'm going to be a MOB next year I might just go for the coat dress setup. I'm not a dress person...I own a couple but it wouldn't be my choice...I think it's the tomboy in me. Give me a sweatshirt, jeans and a pair of converse any day lol. But Nicole says I'm NOT allowed trousers in any shape or form...I was thinking really wide palazzo trousers with a nice jacket but I've been overruled!

Had a great time at Suzy Q's yesterday for the WOTY. I DID manage to get tiara's when I was out with Sadie on Thursday night...Claire's Accessories came to the rescue. I wore mine to pick Lynn up...I'm sure I got some funny looks, especially from the guy who was doing Lynn's grass. He did a double take when I got out of the car lol. We arrived at Susan's and  very quickly we were transformed into princesses for the afternoon....

The Three Princess's

Princess Lynn

Princess Susan & Princess Lynn

There's always one lol!

Princess Ladycow & Princess Lynn

I thought I'd better take some pictures of the wedding itself...

The Beautiful Couple

The Kiss!!!

I was so excited when I got this picture of them kissing lol.

Susan had a great wedding lunch for us...salmon and cucumber sandwiches, quiche, potato salad, salad, coleslaw and yummy icecream and strawberrys for dessert. We started with non-alcoholic cocktails then swiftly moved onto champagne with strawberries although I only had a tiny glass since I was driving. I left about 1:30 and the other two princesses carried on with the celebrations. Thanks Suzy Q for a flabulous time :-D

And since we're on the wedding theme, Nic and Ben asked us to go see another venue this morning that they had visited during the week. It didn't get off to a great start when the receptionist asked our name and I told her O'Leary, she picked up the phone and said 'that's O'Leary here' (which she repeated about 3 times)! Now I don't know what you would think of that but we weren't impressed she didn't say 'Mr & Mrs O'Leary are here'. The other thing we picked up on was that once she finished the call she didn't come over and say 'Stephanie will be with you in a moment'. We were just left hanging so we decided that if we owned the hotel she would be sacked lol. After all she's not given us a great first impression of the hotel and I believe first impressions count for a lot.

Stephanie was lovely though and more than made up for the receptionist but I don't think we're convinced. Nicole LOVES this place and I know she was unhappy we didn't love it too but she did want our opinion and I wasn't going to tell porky pies. At the end of the day it's what she wants and if this is the place then this is the place. And here I thought finding the dress was going to be the tricky part lol.

We've got a stunning day today so I'm going to go and sit outside for half an hour before I get stuck into some work.

Don't forget to take advantage of the FREE WORLDWIDE POSTAGE this weekend!!

Have a great weekend :-D

Catch ya later x

Wedding Fever

Good morning peeps!!! How are you all this gorgeous sunny day?? Yup...you read right...it's SUNNY in Glasgow!! I know...can you believe we've had more than one day in a row of sun...in fact I've lost count how many sunny days we've had in a row!!! I'm sure our bubble will burst very soon but until then I'm going to try and enjoy it. Elaine came over yesterday morning to pick up a few things and brought some stamped images of The Ruffle shoe she had coloured in but forgot them when she left. I needed to go to the PO and offered to meet her at the PO in the Village in EK. My plan was to get the train there (2 stops from my house), do my business, pass over the images to Elaine then get the train one stop back, grab a coffee at D'Lish then walk the rest of the way home. I've done the walk a few times and on a nice day it's really enjoyable. I don't know what happened and what my thinking was but when I got to the point where I go left for the train or right to walk I chose right and ended up walking home!!! I got my loan phone out (my Blackberry is in for repair and I've been given THE most frustrating phone to use...lost ALL my phone numbers that hadn't been saved to the SIM card and can't get the saved ones to come up on this phone hmph) (Oh yeah..I DID what Vodafone advised and backed up all my numbers and files on my laptop before I sent it in but can I open that file? NO!!) and whoever had it before me kindly downloaded Newton Faulkner and The Hoosiers so I listened to 10 songs on loop on the way. I needed to get a few things for dinner and arrived at Morrison's at just after 2...got my shopping...text Tams who was swimming with sharks at the beach and continued on my way. I finally got home at 3:05 pm and am guessing I walked 5 miles! I was sore and tired but really enjoyed it and I know that if I hadn't gone I would have been inside either crafting or shock horror...housework lol and missed it.

So what about the Blog Hop??? Weren't the makes by the team megalicious! And a big thank you to my friend Jeanie for playing along with us...wasn't her beach bag gorgeous. I've hinted that a tutorial of how she achieved the basket weave would go down a storm (either that or I'm buying a ticket to Florida and get a one on one lesson!!) By the amount of comments you've left you seemed to enjoy the hop and the new release. I've loved reading all of them .... from my lovely regular followers to new ones passing through...thank you :-D

It was Lisa's (the bestest co-ordinator a Head Ladycow could have!) birthday last week and although I sent her a card (Yes Pam it got there on the day!!!), posted a picture of a birthday cake on the DT blog and emailed her birthday wishes I forgot to mention it here and the fact that I was sponsoring MAWTT!!! I couldn't post her birthday card on my blog because I used one of the images for the new release but now it's no longer top secret I can share it with you...

I knew Lisa loved The Hightop so I inked it up with my Momento ip and coloured it in with my Copics. I bought the Spiral Notebook Page from PTI ages ago and thought it was high time I used it. I REALLY like the look of it....it's something a bit different. I think the pp is BG but I found it loose in a drawer so I could be wrong.

I added GD to the hearts ...

and tiny silver nailheads to the sneakers

This is one of the new colours of felt called mulberry...it's stunnalicious!!!

I love putting the sentiment up the side of the image like this

And of course I Mary J'd the inside. I was really pleased with the way it turned out...nothing like I had planned in my head lol.

Remember you can buy the new release for the special price of £5.50 until May 2nd when it will be £6.50. To celebrate the RW I'm offering FREE POSTAGE world wide for this weekend starting tomorrow until Monday!!!

That is a great saving so why not take advantage :-D

Speaking of the Royal Wedding, how many of you are going to watch it tomorrow? Suzy Q has invited Lynn and I to watch it at hers. She's going to make cucumber sandwiches and serve non alcoholic cocktails (for me anyway lol) and I'm in charge of the tiara's...I just hope I haven't left it too late to get any but Susan only organised this yesterday. There's been so much about the Royal Wedding for months now and I know some people are getting a bit fed up with it but not me. There hasn't been much to celebrate lately with the recession, loss of jobs, earthquakes and tsunami's so I think it's a great way to forget all that for a couple of hours tomorrow and enjoy the celebrations. I can't imagine how Kate (or Catherine as she's supposedly going to be called from now on) must be feeling knowing that she will be watch by 2 billion people. I remember how nervous I was walking down the aisle in front of 110 people back in the day lol. I think they make a gorgeous couple and I hope they will have a long and happy life together.

Well, that's it from me for today. Hope you have a great Thursday :-D

Catch ya later x

TLT - My Challenge - AND it's a blog hop AND it's a new release!!

{SCREAM} It's here...TLT!! But it's not just your average TLT, it's a new release with a Blog Hop thrown in for extra fun!!!

Ok, here's the scoop...

First the Hop.. all the DT have not only had to use the challenge theme, but they have also each used one of the new images. There are 4 in all and you'll agree when you see their creations the new images are just FLABULOUS!

The rules of the Hop are simple....

a) Visit each of the DT members in order and leave a comment on each of their blog hop posts.

b) leave a comment on the challenge blog once you have finished the hop.

c) If you have a blog, display the blog hop banner which is at the top of this post on your blog, either in a post or on your side bar.

The First Prize is all 4 images in the new release and we have 4 Runner Up prizes of one new image each. Winners will be chosen at random!

The hop will close 12pm midday GMT on Monday 2nd MAY and the winner will be announced at 9am GMT on Tuesday 3rd MAY..Good luck!!

I said there was going to be a surprise guest and there is...Jeanie aka The Spotted Chick!!!! I was so happy I was able to bribe get Jeanie to play along with us this week lol and since none of us have seen each other's makes (The girls are supposed to send their pics to me but only one has hmph!) it's all the more exciting for us!

There are 2 ways to win a prize .. you can just play along with the hop or enter the challenge .. and for the very brave you can do both!

Right...I think that's all the 'official' stuff out of the way...you should have arrived to me from my Lovely Ladybug Anita...if you've lost your way head back to the start at the flabulous Pam and work your way from there.

 

The theme of the challenge is Fashion...lol it's pretty obvious when you see the images! The new release is called Shoes n' Bags...I don't know many girls that don't love their shoes and handbags and thought it time I brought out some images. Each set has a pair of shoes and a bag of some shape and size AND 3 sentiments...what more could you ask for? These have been drawn by a fantastic local illustrator (that's 3 from Glasgow!) Rona Innes and I am over the moon with how they've turned out. It's almost like she got inside my head which isn't necessarily a good thing lol.

 Here's my card....

This is the Ruffle shoe and handbag set. I adore this but was quite daunted when I stamped it out and realised I would have to make those ruffles look well....like ruffles lol. I think I did an ok job :-D

I love this pp...It's from MME's Stella Rose 6 x 6 pad which I bought from Hayley (along with another 4 shhhh!) 

There is a slight problem with my card which I didn't realise until I'd coloured it and put it all together. There will be a small change to the shoe on the left when you buy this set...the heel strap will be slightly higher. I sent the wrong image to the manufacturer when I requested some samples and of course forgot when I made my card. The other Ladybugs who have used this image will have the correct one :-D

I used some tiny gold nailheads for the stud detail

 

and used the same nailheads in my flowers

Ain't it true!!

So that's my card...what do you think? I hope you're enjoying the images so far :-D From here you're heading to the amazing {squawk} Jeanie!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles   - Anything Goes

Let's Ink It Up - Show us Your Stitching

C.r.a.f.t. Challenge - Flowers

Craft Your Passion - Show Us Your Layers

House of Gilli - Layers and Stitching

Make It Monday

Don't worry if you don't win because as an added bonus you can buy the new Shoes n' Bags stamps for a special price of £5.50 (£6.50 thereafter) until Monday May 2nd.

One more thing...Thank you soooooo much for all your entries for last weeks challenge. We couldn't believe there were so many...246 to be exact!!! I'm just waiting for the RSI compensation claims to come in lol. Also a big welcome to all our new followers :-D All the winners are announced on the Challenge Blog so grab the banner if you're a Top 3 winner and if you've won the overall challenge, email me with the stamp of your choice (£6.50 value and not including the new release) at ladybugcraftsink@aol.com and where you'd like me to send it :-D

Thanks for stopping by today

Catch ya later x

PS...this is my SECOND post today (I know..get me!!) so make sure you scroll down for a looksee :-D

A Spoonful of Sugar...

...helps the medicine go down! Not only that but it's also a flabulous Challenge Blog aka ASOS and I was asked by one of their lovely DT's who happens to be one of MY lovely DT's, Mary J, if I would sponsor this weeks challenge and of course I said yes :-D

The theme was chosen by Mary J and is 'A Right Royal Knees Up'....Perfect since I believe there might be a big wedding this week lol! It doesn't have to be a wedding card though, it can be anything to do with Royalty...Prince, Princess, frogs even!!! I decided to play along and this is what I came up with...

 Meet Princess Ruby lol...

Ok...I know Shopping Ruby isn't a REAL princess but SHE thinks she is with her tiara lol

Make sure you check out A Spoonful of Sugar makes because they are one bunch of seriously talented ladies over there!!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenge:

 Oldie But a Goodie - Fit For A Queen/Princess

Catch ya later xx

Are you ready for it????

I've nothing exciting to show you as all my makes are revolved around tomorrow's release...did you know there's a new release tomorrow??? AND a blog hop with prizes??? AND a surprise guest??? Well there is and I'm super duper excited. I KNOW I won't sleep tonight lol and I'll be glued to my computer all day lol.

Although you don't have to have a blog to win, if you do, grab the banner below and spread the news! I know the DT will have the most flabulous makes to inspire you :-D

See you tomorrow....9am sharp!

xx



Happy Easter!

xx

Happy Saturday :-D We're having a cracking week here in Glasgow...we've had more than 2 days in a row of glorious sunshine lol. I think it's supposed to change tomorrow but hopefully it will be a minor blip.

I've been very busy since TLT and it looks like you have too!!! We've had a humungous amount of entries...last I checked it was over 180!!! My Ladybugs are looking for some kind of compensation from me for RSI (repetative strain injury) because of all the commenting they've been doing... cheeky bugs lol. I told them it was their own faults for creating such beautiful work. We've also gained 10 new followers so thank you to everyone, you're VERY welcome.

As I said, I've been very busy but I can't show you anything until after Tuesday because then I'd spoil the blog hop. I don' know about you but I'm sooooooooooo excited for this coming TLT and can't wait for you to see what the girls come up with. A blog hop is the only time we don't get to see each other's makes (well, except me lol) so we all get a surprise.

Today I have a crop with 8 ladies. It's been a while since the last one and a couple of the ladies haven't been since this time last year so we're really looking forward to seeing each other. We usually don't stop talking or laughing the whole day. I spent yesterday putting the make and take together and this is what I came up with...

You might remember this make from February 15. I bought extra clipboards while I was in LA knowing I'd want to do something at one of my crops. I changed it slightly and I love this one so much more. I haven't put a pencil on it yet...I don't want to spoil it lol.

Elaine brought me this gorgeous ruffle ribbon (at my request) from a trip to Florida a couple of years ago. She couldn't see the appeal and almost dared me to come up with something and here I have lol. It's another one of those purchases that you knew you'd need one day!

I just love colouring Wagon Full Of Cupcakes...she's such a cutie (get it...Cupcake Cutie lol)

How could Elaine not KNOW why I'd want this lush ribbon???

Yummalicious!

Now, don't forget to grab your banner for Tuesday's hop...there are prizes galore and lots of megamazing inspiration.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Anything Goes!!

Howdy folks and welcome to another TLT. How has the last week been for you? You've been very busy because we had a gazillion entries for last weeks challenge and they were ALL flabulous! Make sure you check the

 Challenge Blog to see if you're a winner. If you're the winner of the challenge email me at ladybugcraftsink@aol.com with the stamp of your choice (£6.50 value) and where you'd like me to send it.

Before I get started I want to thank all of your for your support, kind comments and enthusiasm for the LCI DT. I have a great bunch of girls that started out as strangers and are now firm friends and are very supportive of each other. Knowing that you visit us and acknowledge our efforts means the world to us.

Ok, now I've got you heading for the kleenex let's get this TLT started lol!

You're gonna love today's challenge because it's ANYTHING GOES!! Any image, any style, any colour...you name it you can do it :-D The Ladybugs have been extremely busy and have got some megamazing inspiration for you and since we all love to hear what you think why not leave some Ladybug Love along the way?

So would you like to see what I got up to? Check this out...

Ta dah!!!! This is double twist easel card I made after receiving BFF's card last week. I had a couple of practises before I got it right...I didn't have any instructions until Lyndsey from Lora Crafts kindly emailed them to me....thanks Lyndsey!! You can see the tutorial here along with loads of others.

Ain't that sentiment true...

It's no wonder Magnum is stuck lol

So how do you think I did...did I pass lol??

I've got quite a few cards to make in the next 2 1/2 weeks ... this one is for one of my BIL's...though I haven't decided which one yet!

Last week I shared the exciting news with you that there was a new release coming up but didn't tell you when. Welllllllll...are you ready for this??? It's next week...EEK!!! And there's more...it's going to be a BLOG HOP!!! OMG...can you stand it lol???!!

I hope you will love the new images as much as the girls and I do. I was working on my card yesterday and I'm loving it :-D What you've got to do is grab the flabulous badge that Lisa made (I just don't know where that girl gets the time or the ideas to do everything she does!) and put it on your blog to spread the news. Don't worry if you don't have a blog, you can still enter and you can still win :-D

I've got one more surprise but you're gonna have to wait until next week!

Ok....that's far too much excitement for me this morning so I think I'm going to have a lie down lol.

I hope you enjoy today's makes

Thanks for stopping by :-D

Catch ya later x

I'm a sponsor at MIM!

Good morning peeps! I was asked by my flabulous Co-ordinator Lisa if I would like to sponsor her wonderful friend Michelle's Make It Monday Linky Party. Ummmm...is grass green??? Of course, I would LOVE to sponsor MIM. It's not a challenge blog but a place to showcase your work and possibly win a place in the spotlight and a prize from a sponsor. Michelle has put together a small but perfectly formed DT and guess who's on it??? Lisa and Mary J!!!! What can I say...Michelle's got great taste lol.

I offered to make a card but unfortunately my weekend was incredibly busy (bridesmaid dress hunting...tell you about that later!) so I was unable to make the one I wanted. As I was in the process of finishing off a commission for a baby card, I used this instead. I hope you're not fed up with my baby cards lol! You'll have to excuse the crooked picture :-s

This has taken a while to grow on me. Originally I wanted to sew the felt to look like a quilt but the felt wasn't behaving so I only stitched the edges.

 

When Elzybells closed it's doors last year I snapped up some of her buttons in the sale...these ones matched perfectly. See...I DID need them lol!

There's a gazillion buttons of all shapes and sizes in each pot to keep me going for a while.

This sheer ruffle edged ribbon is gorgeous and the SU! Word Window punched sentiment fits perfectly between the edges.

Ok...why don't you skedaddle on over to Make It Monday, grab the banner while you're there and wish the new DT good luck :-D but before I go I'd like to thank Michelle's mom Shirley-Anne for becoming my 150th follower woot woot!!!

Have a great week!

Catch ya later x

Stop the clock!

TGIF!!! Phew...I don't know about you but my days are disappearing faster than an icecream on a hot day!! I'm getting nothing done fast and my 'to do' list is growing by the second.

 Ok that's enough complaining from me...I want to show you a card I recieved from BFF the other day. I knew one was in the making and thought it would be the usual square card we both love to make. But oh no...Karen pulled out all the stops and made me THE most gorgeous card. I'm not sure what the style is called...it might be double easel but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong lol!!

Have a looksee and let me know what you think...

OMG...how gorgeous is this!!!!

Thought this angle showed it off better

Phoebe & Olivia

 (notice my fancy schmancy watermark...finally figured out how to do it and not sure if I should keep it red or not...suggestions on a post card)

I love this sentiment :-D

This is the celery faux suede ruffle ribbon

I just love this card and I was keen to try it out and I did but you can't see it till next week lol. It was a bit tricky at first but it probably isn't and just me being thick!

Now I'm a bit concerned because my friend Susan has been holding her breath because I mentioned in my post on Tuesday that I had something I was going to share the next day and I haven't posted anything since TLT!!! So before she loses consciousness I'll share a little teaser with you....I've a new release coming up!!!!! And breathe Susan lol. OMG...I'm so excited about it and the Ladybugs loved the new images when they saw them. They're different from what I've got at the moment from a new (to me) talented illustrator. More details will be given over next couple of weeks so make sure you check back.

I've got a busy day tomorrow...one of Nicole's bridesmaids (her cousin Ciara) is travelling down from Harrogate tonight and tomorrow we're going bridesmaid dress hunting. We've got 3 appointments booked...10am, 1pm and 4pm and they're about 45 min-hour apart!!! I think it will be a trip to the chippy for dinner lol. Wish me luck!

That's it from me for today...thanks for stopping by

Hope you have a great weekend

Catch ya later xx

TLT - Pam's Challenge - Celebration

Woo hoo...it's TLT time and we have got lots of inspiration for you but before that I want to thank you for all your flabarooni entries. I think it was a toughie picking the winners this week and I'm so glad it wasn't me that had to do the picking!!! You might wanna head on over to the Challenge Blog and see if you're one of the winners. If you're the overall winner email me at ladybugcraftsink@aol.com with the stamp you'd like (£6.50 value) and where you want it sent to :-D

This weeks Celebration challenge was chosen by our lovely Pam which came at just the right time because I needed to make a baby card for Jean's niece's daughter! I mentioned this in my post on Sunday and here it is...

If you haven't noticed I'm really into kraft cs these days...I can't get enough of it!

 Little Jack chose the perfect day to arrive...last week's TLT ... I wonder if that's a sign lol. I think I'll make him an honorary Ladybug or should that be Babybug! 

Every time I colour up one of the Baby Baby images I say it's my favourite. I've been really concentrating on improving my colouring these days. I've been watching a lot of video tutorials on Suzanne Dean's blog and if you're into your Copics I would highly recommend you take a look. I know I've got a long way to go but I've picked up a lot of tips that have really helped my colouring. 

I stamped the sentiment onto the faux suede ruffle ribbon...it was a case of holding my breath as I did it because I had the whole card stitched and assembled when I decided to do it lol.

I LOVE my flower...I used Coconut Ice felt and added a small pearl to the centre.

And finally I Mary J'd the inside :-D

I hope you like my card and it inspires you in some small way. I've got some news to share with you tomorrow....I hope you'll be as excited as me when you find out what it is!!!

Congratulations to all last weeks winners and I hope to see even more entries this week. What are you waiting for...you know you want to!!

Thanks for popping in....have a great day.

Catch ya later x