TLT - Julie's Challenge - Loves Me Loves Me Not

Boy oh boy have I got a lot to share with you today so grab a coffee and just hope I don't forget anything!

First I have to tell you about the bribery I've been subjected to, not by one but THREE GD's! It happens ALMOST every time...you get GD's in and they don't want to leave so if they're not begging or pleading to stay they start bribing and offering all sorts...papers, ribbons, Nesties, Cricuts even holidays to tropical destinations but there's NO WAY I'd succumb to to those shenanigans, no way Jose. I don't know why they don't just say 'hey Queen Whiplash' (it's not what you think!) is there any chance of a permanent spot on the DT? And I would say, you bet! Seemple lol. So what I'm getting at is the Ladybugs and I have promoted Diane, Sally AND Catherine to permanent Ladybugs and let me tell you...they've certainly earned their wings! Welcome to the madhouse girlies :-D

Next is we have added a 2nd prize to the pot for the challenges which will start with the February 14th challenge.  So along with the overall challenge winner and 3 Top 3's there will now be a prize for an entry using an LCI image! Cool huh?

We had some fabulicious entries this past fortnight...thank you to everyone that took the time to enter. If you head over to the Challenge Blog you can see if you're one of the winners.

Ok...I think we can get started with today's challenge which has been chosen by my Lovely Ladybug Julie and she has chosen Loves Me Loves Me Not. I kinda went a different avenue...I went for 'Loves Me' and the love for a friend.

The friend I made my card for was my best friend in high school Sandra and she passed away a year ago tomorrow aged only 46. I can't believe it's been a year already :-( I was devastated when I heard as I had only talked to her a few weeks before and although she was in hospital at the time we spoke I expected to see her when I went home in the May. We were inseparable for years and when I moved to Scotland we saw each other when I went home and if we didn't manage for one reason or the other we always picked up where we left off the next time we met. I was tidying up a box the other day and came across a letter and card Sandra made for me a few years ago. It took a while before I was able to read it but when I did it was just like she was there in the room with me. Boy do I miss her.

There's only one image I could use and I used to to make a card for Sandra when I heard she had passed...BFF Phoebe & Olivia. Here's what I came up with...

For some reason whenever I look at this image it reminds me of the two of us although we were a bit older than these two when we met.

I saw on the MFT blog a couple of weeks ago one of the DT had used burlap to make rolled flowers...fabulicious! Of course I was on the case straight away but couldn't find any...it's probably called something else here (hessian comes to mind?) but I've put an order in to DLS and she's been to Fabricland and is sending some over :-D In the meantime, when I was in Craft World last week I had a brainwave and after a little search I found some 100% cotton embroidery stuff. Stuff??? I've had a total brain freeze and can't for the life think of what to call it lol. What do you think?  I LOVE it and need to buy more because it's almost finished!

The sentiment speaks for itself

I've finally got into the tucking hearts behind the image (Catherine is the Queen of Hearts!)...these are Cheerylynn (you get a set of two) and are totally gorgeous

So that's my card....I hope you like it.

Believe it or not I have more news and I thunk you're gonna love it...we have a new release along with a bloghop and you only have to wait a fortnight to see it!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it lol. A few or all of the Ladybugs may or may not show a sneak peek over the next two weeks just to tease you a little or possibly work you up into a frenzy of anticipation lol.

 OMG...did I mention I was excited? I love these new images and I hope you will too...I cannot wait for you to see them. In the mean time here you go....

Well??? Isn't it stunnalicious lol!!! Can you guess what it is? Well you only have a fortnight to wait but I've got a few more sneak peeks to tease you with until then so try and be patient :-D



Last but not least you've only a few hours to take advantage of the 1/2 price sale which ends at midnight. A few stamps have sold out but hopefully you're favourites are still there :-D

Ok...that's it. Make sure you check out the other Ladybugs blogs and leave them some love...their makes are fabarooni! Lisa finally got her Cricut sorted and she's been creating up a storm :-D

Thanks for stopping by

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

Phoebe

Hiya...just a quick one as I've got a train to catch in 48 minutes!!

I still had 2 of the BFF's to play with so chose Phoebe to make this card last week. I wanted to make a card for the BFF's illustrator Laura to go along with the stamps I was sending her. It wasn't her birthday (I don't think lol) but she loved her card anyway :-D

This card wasn't my favourite when I finished. If you'll notice there is NO stitching. I was trying to challenge myself and I didn't enjoy it at all. I kept glancing over at my sewing machine longingly as I was using my snot gun to stick the layers together lol. I managed to get to the end without having a break down and once I added the glitter, love blossomed :-D I actually followed a Sweet and Sassy sketch I saw over on Mary J's blog but I think I'm too late to enter. At least I tried!

All the BFF's have got the cutest faces...I just love everything about them

These are individual stamps so you can stamp them as a background or stack them up like I did. Because they're clear stamps it's easy peasy to do.

Anyone see a brown flower before??? You have now lol.

Ok...still have to vacuum and have some lunch so I'm off.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later xx

A gift for me!

When I was at the SECC last Friday with Annette we bumped into Ruth who works at CW. We had a bit of a chat and then she said she had something for me. She rummaged in her bag and brought out a box of ladybug party nails that her daughter Katie had bought for me when she spied them while out shopping!! Ruth said when Katie saw them she said straight away 'I want to buy these for Kerry because she makes lovely stamps'! (that's what I heard anyway lol) Awwwwwww....thank you Katie. Here they are ....

Boy do my hands look old...I'll have to get the hand cream out more often! They're pretty fab and stick on with what look like didi glue dots. Once on they're pretty hard to get off so there's no chance of these babies pinging off lol. Thanks again Katie for your gift and for thinking of me :-D

Annette and I stood for ages in front of  Go Kreate dies trying to decide which ones we wanted. Annette was looking at the shaped square dies and I was geared toward the shaped rectangle ones. Ever since Mary J made this card using her brand spankin' new Grand Calibur with the ginormous Nestabilities I wanted to make one too but as I already have the Cuttlebug AND the Big Shot I've been a bit reluctant to add another one. We were told the dies we were looking at would only fit an A4 machine which meant either the GC or the humungous Sizzix one. We left the stand empty handed and I spent the next 2 days trying to justify why I needed these dies even though I couldn't use 2 out of 3 of them. To cut a boring story short I remembered Elaine was going to the craft show on the Saturday so called her up and she got them for me!!! I know, I know...I've no self control but can I tell you somehting...all three dies work in my Cuttlebug!!! So whoever those girls were better get their information right because I'm sure they're losing a lot of sales.

I really wanted to ink up another one of my BFF's so it was Olivia's turn. Here's what I came up ...

I haven't made an easel card in ages and my new die worked really well. There is a smaller set that goes with this larger set but I'll get that the next time. They are pretty reasonable at £19.99 compared to the Nesties but you only get 3 in this set and they are a bit flimsier...they did the job though. 

Here is Olivia singing her little heart out...I like the fact that I could stamp the musical notes just above her mic.

I've been trying really hard to break away from colouring all my images brunettes. I've been trying a lot of the tutorials from Copic Creations and they have been a great help. They even put bundles of colours together so you don't have to think too hard lol.

I hope I'm not boring you with my felt flowers but I LOVE them and you'll be seeing a lot more of them.

I've a few orders to finish off this morning then some colouring and finally a quick trip into town on the train this afternoon to meet a friend I haven't seen since before Christmas.

Hope you have a fantastic Thursday.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Sue's Challenge - Spring Colours

Hiya! It's Tuesday and that can only mean one thing...another TLT! This week's challenge comes from my partner in crime Thelma, I mean Sue. On a side note I never did tell you that Sue went above and beyond her duties (not that she had any duties lol) and drove me back (out of her way I might add)to BFF's after Stitches finished. Karen text the directions so I was the official 'map' reader. We were doing really well...even came to the round about with the big statue I remembered from being out with Karen. I checked the directions on my phone and instructed Sue accordingly. All the while we were chatting and chatting and well, chatting. We'd be driving for quite a while when I realised we should have been well at Karen's so I gave her a quick call. Apparently when we were at the statue we were less than 5 minutes from her house!!!! If Thelma Sue was annoyed she hid it well lol. I'm sure after the 2 hour plus drive to Stitches and the 2 long days working, the last thing Sue needed was an extra half hour added on to her journey going home and I'm sure if there was a cliff nearby she might have been tempted to drive off it... jumping out first and letting me carry on to the bottom rofl.

As I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself....It's Sue's challenge and her theme is Spring Colours. I think it's perfect coming into March when hopefully spring is around the corner. Before I show you my card I'd like to thank everyone who entered last week's challenge. We had plethora (no I didn't swallow a dictionary, it just popped into my head! I will admit I did google it to make sure it meant what I thought it did lol...I know....I'm a malteser!!!) of flabulous entries and I know it was a hard one to choose the winners. Make sure you check out to see if you're one of those winners. I'm still waiting to hear from Barbara who won the blog hop and the 4 new BFF sets and Bea who won one of the stamp sets. If anyone knows Barbara or Bea, could you give them a nudge in my direction!

Now my card. I made this card using the same image as last week, Phoebe and Olivia and the sentiment 'You make me smile' for a good if not sad reason. I found out last November that my best friend from high school was very ill. Although we didn't exchange many phone calls or emails I always saw her or called her when I went home and we would pick up where we left off. I was looking forward to seeing her when I go home this May but sadly she passed away February 1st. To say I am devastated is an understatement. We were joined at the hip for four years and I couldn't imagine not having her in my life...she was only 46 years old. So this card is for Sandra...my BFF.

We lead such busy lives these days and I know it's hard to stay in touch but but don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Make the time...even if it's 5 minutes and call the person you've been meaning to...you won't regret it.

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