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

TLT - Anita's Challenge - Stitching Faux or Real

TLT???? Are you sure...but didn't we just have one like...yesterday???!!! You don't need me to tell you that time is whizzing on by...March 1st...no way!!

But it is and we've another flabulous challenge for you. First let me start by thanking everyone for their lovely comments on the new release, BFF's. There's a firm favourite with Phobe & Olivia but the other's aren't far behind. How can they be...they're all so darn cute! As you know there were prizes galore for the hop....There was the regular challenge prize of a stamp of your choice, then there were the top 3, THEN there was the biggie...the whole enchilada...that's right all 4 sets of BFF's to one lucky winner and finally 4 winners of a set of BFF's of their choice. Phew...aren't I good to you lololol. If you haven't already checked skiddaddle on over to the Challenge Blog to see if one of them was you! Don't forget you can purchase the BFF's for the special pre-order price of £5.99 until March 8th!

We've re-written the rules of the challenges slightly and it's good news....anyone can win a prize, not just those using an LCI stamp!! How's them apples?

It's all good news today and I've one more little bit for you...our Guest Designer for March!! The extremely talented Amanda has made it by the skin of her teeth as she will be our last GD for a little while. Make sure you check her blog and see her wonderful work,  leaving some Ladybug Love while you're there :-D

Ok on with the challenge. This week is our megamazing Ladybug, Anita's turn and she's chosen Stitching - Faux or Real. {Whoop whoop!} this was a real hard one....NOT lol!! I don't seem to be able to make a card any more without some kind of stitching on it and I prefer the real deal. A real challenge for me would be NOT to have any stitching... {gulp} I hope I haven't given those Ladybugs any ideas :-s

My niece in Ireland bought a new car a couple of weeks ago and I had planned to make her a card before I left for Stitches. Unfortunately I ran out of time but since my motto is 'Better late than never' I made it for this weeks challenge. Can you guess what stamp I used? Yup it's none other than Roadster Nikki. Here she is...let me know what you think....

I had a vision of Nikki driving on a road so used pp from one of my new MME pads I got from Hayley last week. Amazingly one of the sheets looked like tire treads ... see ... I KNEW I needed this pad lol ... and it worked perfectly IMHO! As the theme was stitching and roads have lines on the side I stitched along the edges of the 'road' and also around the main card.

I inked her up with my new Indian Ink pad (loving it!) and coloured her with Copics.

I can't get enough of these rolled flowers and think I might have gone a bit overboard but hey...you can't get enough of a good thing right? I went a bit pearl mad as well but it's a nice change from crystals for a softer look. I used GA for the windscreen so it kinda looks like glass although Nikki's has bubbles in it!

I thought the 'Saw it, loved it, bought it' sentiment was the perfect choice :-D

I must apologise for the poor quality pictures. Neither my main card reader or the spare was working so these are taken with my phone...bit of a contrast from yesterday's ... it must prefer taking outdoor pictures!!

So that's my card...I hope Ellyn will like it and that her car is red!

That's me for today. Make sure you check to see if you're a winner (if you are email me to let me know what your choice of stamp is) and see what the rest of the DT have come up with for you. You are gonna LOVE every one of them! Good luck for this week's challenge and I hope to see plenty of flabulous entries.

Thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Dominique's Challenge - It's a Blog Hop and a new release!!!

Hellooooooo!!! I'll apologise right now if this post is in anyway disjointed and confusing lol. I made my card last week and have waited till the last possible moment to write up the post as things have been a bit hectic at Stitches. The days have been long and our legs aching by the time the show finishes at 6 so it takes all our effort to walk to the car. Karen was feeling much better after getting an early night so she was in great form for the opening day. Sue arrived around 3 on Sunday and it's been brilliant meeting and getting to know her. She's doing a great job chatting to the customers...she's definitely got the gift of the gab lol!!! Hayley and her hubby arrived yesterday and here's the proof ....

We only need the other 8 Ladybugs and we'd have a swarm lol.

Anyway lets get going with this challenge. Today is our Guest Designer Domi's challenge. Her challenge was a recipe which is 3 flowers, 2 papers and 1 image. At this point I'd like to thank Domi for being our guest for February...today is her last challenge and what a way to go out...a blog hop! And speaking of which you should have arrived here from Mary J. If not head back to the Challenge blog to start from the beginning

I was feeling quite smug that I managed to get my card done then panicked thinking I'd not followed the recipe. A quick check and realised I'd got it right...phew...don't you hate it when you start doubting yourself!

Now the rules of this hop are each Ladybug has been assigned a number and once you find them all (some you'll be told the number, other's you might have to search a little) add them up and email your total to lcichallengeblog@aol.com The winner will receive the whole of the new release (4 sets) and then there will be 4 winners each winning one of the new sets.

The new release is called BFF's (Best Friends Forever) and I hope you will like them. Each set consists of a main image, 2 small coordinating images and 3 sentiments. Each set will retail for £6.99 but you can pre-order them from today until March 8th for the special price of £5.99!

Ok...enough of the chat...here's my card...

 

Meet Phoebe & Olivia...they come with the sentiments BFF, You make me smile and So happy we're friends and two smaller images of a trio of daisies and a butterfly which can be used to make backgrounds.

So what do you think? Aren't they just the cutest little girls! I loved designing these images with Baby Baby's very talented illustrator Laura Murray.

As I'm the last on the hop make sure you get your calculator's out, get adding and email your answer in.

You'll also find out if you're a winner from last weeks challenge if you go to the Challenge Blog. We had some amazing entries and I'm sure the Ladybugs had a hard time choosing a winner.

Make sure you leave some Ladybug Love...we all love to read your comments!

Thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Mary J's Challenge - Anything But a Card!

I don't know about you but time is just flying by at the moment! Is it because we're trying to cram as much as we can into our day or is because when we were younger we wished we were older and now we're older we wish we younger??? Does that make sense?

Before I get started with TLT I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderlicious entries to last weeks challenge. You are all stepping up your game and it's been wonderful looking at all your creations. Make sure you swing by the Challenge Blog to see if you're a winner!

Today is the flabulously gorgeous Mary J's turn and her challenge is 'Anything But A Card'. It was a really nice change to do something other than a card. This is what I came up with....

This is how my project started TLT life....

.....and this is how it ended up! Whadya' thunk? I'm pretty chuffed with it though as usual the picture doesn't do it justice. The colours are so vibrant and yummy...just like those cupcakes lol.

I started with Core'dinations cs, stuck it to the mini clipboard with my snot gun (ATG!) then trimmed and sanded the edges. I even managed to do the top bit :-D I had a strip of Doodlebug cupcake pp left so added that and a cupcake punched border on top finishing it off with ribbon and a button (the colours do coordinate, honest!)

I stamped and coloured Cupcake Cutie - Stack of Cupcakes with my Copics. Added some Fluffy Stuff, beads, pearls and glitter to the cupcakes, a few crystals to CC's dress and a brad to her hair (I cut off the back so it wasn't bulky).

I promise you won't be disappointed when you visit the rest of the DT...they're all scrumalicious!!

Next week is going to be really special. It's a blog hop with a new release and I can't wait for you to see the new images and the samples the Ladybugs have come up with! We'll have more details for you throughout the week but in the meantime grab the banner for your blog (though you don't have to have a blog to win) and spread the word!

Thanks for taking the time to pop in today ... I hope you have a great TLT!

Catch ya later x

TLT - Hayley's Challenge - Love Is In The Air

Hello and welcome to another TLT. Today's challenge comes courtesy of our Lovely Ladybug Hayley and her theme is Love Is In The Air.....awwwww. But before I go on I want to thank everyone who entered last weeks challenge. We had some flabulous entries and I'm glad I didn't have to pick the winners this week! Check out the Challenge Blog to see if you're a winner.

Just to shock Lisa I'd like to enter my card in:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Love is in the Air (great minds lol)
Dare to be Sassy Thursday - Love is in the Air (again!) Use a heart
Sarah Hurley - Use Die Cuts
Raise the Bar - Hearts

Ok, so on to my card. Love is in the Air...I suppose the first person you might think about it your husband/boyfriend/partner but I decided to make a card for a friend. Now I suppose that might raise an eyebrow or two but who says we can't love our friends? They are there for us when we need them in the good times and bad. They make us laugh and feel good about ourselves. They'll be honest when our 'bums look big' but in the nicest possible way lol. I thought the perfect stamps to use were Add On Magnum and Lily from the Add On's set....after all, they are best friends :-D

 

Now before you think Lily's picking the wax out of Magnum's ear she's actually giving him a kiss on his cheek ROFL (you can blame it on the jet lag). I was given a sample of an ink I've never seen before called Indian Ink. I thought I'd give it a try along with my new PTI white cs (recommended by my Lovely Ladybug Anita) so I stamped Magnum and Lily then coloured them with my Copics. All I can say is I LOVE the ink.... and LOVE the cs (thanks Anita!!!). The cs isn't as smooth as the ones I usually like to use but the image stamped perfectly with the ink...nice and crisp and the Copics were flabulous. I borrowed Gaynors trick of running the image through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder...I really like the way it turned out. I used one of my favourite EK Success punches for the border and some flabulous Bakers Twine gifted to me from another Lovely Ladybug Michele ... I've been dying to use it and it matched the cs perfectly :-D I've had the acrylic heart stone for ages and thought it finished off the twine nicely.

 

Here's a close up...what do you think?

 

I also picked up the new MFT's Die-namics Mini Rolled Roses. You get 2 dies which are slightly smaller than the Rolled Flower and have a scalloped edge. I used 2 sentiments from the Magnum Sentiments set and punched them with my SU! Word Window punch.

I'm not sure if you can see but I've sprayed the whole card with SU! Shimmer Ink diluted with water and put in a mini spray bottle. It looks shimmalicous lol!

So that's my card...let me know what you think and make sure you visit the other Ladybugs to get some inspiration. I hope to see lots of entries this week cuz I've got some exciting news and you'll only get to know it if you enter.....nah...just joking...but not about the exciting news lol!!!

Catch ya later x

ps I took the pictures this morning as the light was bad last night...don't know why I thought it was going to be any better at 7:30am! Will try and retake them later :-D

TLT - Anything Goes!

Goooooooood morning! Have you missed TLT as much as I have? It got a bit crazy leading up to Christmas so I think we were all in need of a break but we're back and all the Ladybugs are raring to go!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Song Title challenge set by Tams before Christmas.We had some flabulous entries and it was great to see you were able to craft over the holidays :-D Check our

Challenge Blog to see if you were one of the winners!

To ease you in gently we decided this Challenge was going to be Anything Goes! It can be a card, box, book, whatever and what's even better is that you can win a prize with any image...not just an LCI one. How's that for a great start to the New Year?!

Before I show you my card I'd like to tell you that our DT has grown. Pami, our November GD loved being on the team so much that she inundated me with hundreds emails over the holidays begging, pleading and even offering me vast sums of money to give her a permanent place on our DT! So what's a girl to do? I said yes of course lol!!! Ok...so it didn't really go down like that hee hee. No money exchanged hands and there was no begging or pleading (if there was to be it would be coming from me lol). We all just missed her and invited her back and thankfully she said yes :-D I hope you'll go and visit her blog and welcome her back.

We also have our lovely GD for January, Amber. Make sure you pop on over and give her a big Ladybug welcome :-D

Now onto my card. A friend ordered a boxed card for her daughter's 21st birthday before Christmas and this is what I came up with....

This is the front of the box. I kept it quite simple...thought I'd let the card do the talking lol. I started using my Bazzill Bling...I've had it for years and it's been collecting dust. I also used my Die-namics flower die...I just love that thing :-D

Here's what's inside...as you can see it's quite busy hence the simple box

I hope you're not tired of seeing barstool Winestool Nikki as three of us Ladybugs have inked her up...great minds and all that lol. I thought she was perfect to help celebrate a 21st. You might recognise the LO from the card I did here for Tam's challenge. I really liked the LO and since it was so close to Christmas (23rd) it saved me thinking of something else lol.

Nikki's dress cries out to be glitterfied and who am I not to comply lol.

Now, do you think you're up to the  Anything Goes Challenge? I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Next week is a biggie! It's a blog hop AND a new release AND it's MY challenge AND there's one or three prizes you might want to win lol :-D Grab the banner for your blog, though you don't have to have one to win, and tell everyone you know because I think you'll love this one!!

Finally, I hinted that I'm going to have a busy start to 2011 and I'm going to share that with you tomorrow so I hope you'll check back to share my news. I'm so terrified  excited I can't stand it lol.

Have a great TLT and thanks for stopping by :-D

Catch ya later x

TLT - Ang's Challenge - make your own designer paper

It's Tuesday and you know what that means...another TLT! This weeks challenge came from our lovely October Guest Designer Ang who chose 'create your own designer paper'. I didn't hear much squawking from the Lovely Ladybugs so I'm guessing they found this one pretty straight forward lol. It was a relief not to find my inbox full of whinging and whining Ladybugs...and I bet you didn't know Ladybugs could do that huh? 

So here are the cards starting with moi! I'm thinking this isn't the obvious way to make your own dp/pp but I thought it fit the bill and was a little bit different.

 It's raining....buttons!!! I sewed a line of straight (as straight as I'm ever gonna sew!) stitching in various lengths and then siliconed (yes...I'm going a bit wild with the silicone now lol) buttons on the end of each line. I saw this in a magazine a month or so ago and loved it. When I was trying to decide which image to use for this challenge I caught a glance at Wellies Robyn and knew this is the dp I wanted to do.

 I coloured her with my Copics and used my white gel pen to put polka dots on her bow, raincoat and wellies. I borrowed that from my lovely ladybug Michele :-D Robyn kinda looks like Mary Poppins without her puddle to splash in lol.

I used Glossy Accents on the umbrella and believe it or not just a pinch of Glamour Dust because I wanted the umbrella to still have that wet look. Probably needed the added protection from the falling buttons lol.

So that's my effort this week...I hope I passed the challenge. Have a look at what the Ladybugs came up with...flabulous gorjossity!

Ang

 

Anita

Gaelle

Hayley

Lisa

Mary J

Michele

Pinky

Sue

Tams

So that's it for this weeks TLT. I hope these cards have inspired you to created your own dp/pp. There are a few there that I'm definitely going to try out myself  :-D

At this point I'd like to thank Ang for being October's Guest Designer. It's been flab having you on our team and I know all the Lovely Ladybugs will join me in wishing you all the crafting success in the future :-D

Now don't forget about next week. What's going on you ask? Well it's only the very first challenge on our brand spankin' new Challenge Blog. But the excitement doesn't stop there...no siree bob...it's also a blog hop AND it's the  release of  the new Nikki & Friends stamps...and wait till you see Nikki's 'friend' {wolf whistle} lol.

Thanks for taking the time to visit today. Don't forget to leave some Ladybug Love for my hard working Ladybugs

Catch ya later x

It's TLT - Hayley's Challenge - Cats vs Dogs Shabby/Chic/Vintage and BIG news!!

Hey! It's another TLT and I can promise you an abundance of inspiration today. My Lovely Ladybugs have surpassed themselves this time (with the exception of me lol). To say this challenge has been challenging is the understatement of the year. In saying that everyone had their cards to me lickety split with mine bringing up the rear. I was soooooooooooo out of my comfort zone it wasn't funny. What I planned and what I ended up with don't match up but it's the taking part that counts right? I'm not sure if my card is Shabby...Chic...Vintage or Shabby/Chic/Vintage but I think the requirements are there with cats vs dogs lol. I hope Rocky and Ruby aren't offended that I've chose Magnum over Buttercup!

I hope you enjoy the cards....they are Magnifilicious today :-D

 I went with Basic Grey Wassil pp...I figured it fit the bill nicely. I didn't have anything else apart from the lace and the little brad loopy thing (which isn't sitting right :-d) so I made a little purchase on Saturday of the journalling tag and stamped a Christmas greeting. A bit of crooked stitching and fraying of the edges made it a bit more dirty looking {please forgive me clean lines!}

 I wasn't sure if glitter went with shabby/chic/vintage but hey...I couldn't give up EVERYTHING lol.

I bought some lace from Hayley ages ago and made a little lace flower finishing it off with a red button and twine. So that's my little offering.

Ang

Anita

Gaelle

Hayley

Lisa

Michele

Pinky

Sue

Tams

Mary J

Well??? What do you think? Don't you just LOVE what the girls did! The question I have to ask is...what the heck were we worrying about? lol. My little Ladybug's have certainly raised the bar this week so please leave them some Ladybug Love :-D

Now I promised you BIG news and BIG news you're gonna get! Are you ready for this...Ladybug Crafts Ink now has a Challenge Blog {clapping hands} !!!!! Lisa has assured me I am totally ready for it and that I can cope and all the info she tells me and it will eventually register in my swiss cheese of a brain lol.

The fun starts on 2nd November with our first challenge, but first we have some candy on offer and its so easy to win :-D

This is what you have to do:

A) Post a picture of the banner on your blog (and the candy if you wish) either in a post or your side bar.

B) Become a follower of the new Challenge Blog

C) Leave your name in the link with Mr Froggy.

Candy closes at 9am on Monday 1st Nov and the winner will be announced on Tues 2nd Nov when the first challenge will be announced.

Click HERE to be taken to the new Challenge blog

Good luck!

On a scale of 1-10 how BIG did I deliver lol! We are all raring to go and hope as many of you as possible will join in the challenges. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or advanced we'd love to see your work.

That was too much excitement for one morning so I'm going to put the kettle on and have a sit down lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by today

Catch ya later x

PS If you can stand it I've got more news for you tomorrow!