Papermill 'Wine'......better than anything you can drink!!

Morning everyone, I'm back!

Had a great holiday in Crete, but couldn't wait to get home to see the family, especially our gorgeous little Eva and of course to get back to crafting. 

We have our lovely Australian friends here too, on their last week of a 4 week tour of the UK, so normal service might not be resumed until next weekend, as I'll be spending some time with them, shopping etc....yeah!

Anyway, this week sees the new 'Special Offer' at

PAPERMILL

AND IT'S BLOOMIN' FAB!

 A4 Small Box of Wine Linen Embossed Card 270 gsm ONLY £5!!!

You all know how much I LOVE the white 'linen cardstock, yes? Well, I've got me sticky little mitts on some WINE coloured 'linen embossed' and it's fabulous!

I have a load of 'wine' ribbon that I collected when I was trying to match up Nick and Emma's wedding stationery a couple of years ago, thought I'd never get to use it, them wham, the cardstock arrived and it's such a perfect match, phew!

Anyway, enough shizzle, here is my DT card for Papermill. I wanted to show just how lovely the cardstock is, so kept it very simple.

Just look at the fab texture on the wine cardstock.

Think it would look great for Christmas cards too

Well, hope you like my card.

 I'll be back on Monday with a few DT cards for Oak House Studio, from their 'One Stamp' event last week.

Have a great weekend,

Barbara

xx
 I'm entering this card into the following challenge :-
Ladybug Crafts

This Weeks Special Offer from Papermill

Morning all, and welcome to my new followers.....thanks for popping by to see my work, and thanks also for all the lovely comments on previous posts, I appreciate them all.

I'm still on holiday and enjoying doing absolutely nothing...yeah!

I'm showing another 'Special Offer' from 

PAPERMILL

This week it's plain white cardstock, 250 gms, an A4 MIDI box is just £16 for approx 260 sheets.

I chose just to use a simple stamp by Stampendous,  coloured with Distress Inks, and matted onto more Papermill cardstock.

Very simple....what do you think?

I'll be back soon with a few cards for Oak House Studio.

Hope you will leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking,

xx

Another 'Special Offer' from Papermill.....

Morning everyone, from a very sunny and hot Crete....while you're reading this, I'm lying on the beach, whoohoo!...

Well, here we are again with another Special Offer from

PAPERMILL

This week the offer is for a gorgeous, 250gsm smooth Sea Green coloured cardstock.....I thought it would be perfect for a Christmas card so that's what I've made.

You can get an A4 small box for £4.50....approx 80 sheets.

Checkout the Papermill 'Special Offer' HERE

I've teamed it with white linen, of course....

A Memory Box die, the small snowflake/star from Lavinia Stamps, a scrap of ribbon and a few 'jewels' from my stash. 

Nothing else needed, the cardstock is so pretty, I wanted to show it off.

Hope you like it.

Catch you all soon, take care,

Barbara xx

Product Review

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

Just a short post from me today..... I'm reviewing a product from 'The Daylight Company', 

www.daylightcompany.com

I've got to say that I'd never thought of using a magnifier before, so when I saw this, I was excited (I know, I'm sad!). I had an eye test last week and although my vision hasn't changed much the Optician suggested I use a magnifier for my (very) close work. This 'lamp/magnifier' arrived the very next day, so I couldn't wait to try it.

Well, it's fab, and has made a huge difference to crafting at night.
The 'daylight' effect is brilliant, so much better than my old 'angle-poised' lamp, which made everything look yellow!

Dual LEDs.....

40 hours of battery life....

2 x magnification...

.flexible arm for easy adjustment...

an

a freestanding & clip-on base.

I love the clip-on bit, 'cos it now means I can read again in bed.....My new bedside lamps were meant for the 'luxury' look, and are not practical at all....however I can clip my new light to the bedhead and read....yeah!

Why did I wait so long to try one of these lights?....I'm now also able to get back into jewellery making, because of the magnifier, so as far as I'm concerned, it's a win win situation.
Back soon,
Barbara
xx

New Papermill 'Special Offer' .....

Morning everyone, here I am with another 'Special Offer' from

PAPERMILL

These weeks seem to be flying by, and the 'special' this

week is a beautiful 'soft-textured' creamy cardstock, which will work so well with lots of different papercrafts.
 Only £5.00 for approximately 75 - 80 A4 sheets

This is my DT card.....hope you like it.

 

Firstly I chopped off the side with a Martha Stewart punch.

I inked a piece of cardstock with a selection of colours from

 OAK HOUSE STUDIO 

When dry, this was stamped with flowers & leaves from Sheena Douglas and cut-out....(my pet hate!)

A heat-embossed sentiment and 'voila'...done!

(the cutting out takes the longest, but I do it while watching telly, otherwise I'd get nothing done )

Would love you to leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking....have a great weekend,

Barbara xx

 

Lavinia Stamps New challenge - Add A Flower!

Morning everyone, thanks for popping by on this gorgeous day......Welcome to my new followers, and thanks for taking an interest in my work.

Pinch, punch, 1st of the month, sees the new challenge starting at 

LAVINIA STAMPS

This month the theme is 'Add A Flower' and as usual the prize is a MASSIVE £40 to spend on Lavinia products. Why not pop over to the website and checkout the huge selection of gorgeous designs?
This is my DT card for the challenge, hope you like it.

The background on this card has been made with Pan Pastels, mounted onto cardstock from

 PAPERMILL

I've also used 3 Lavinia stamps,  a Tim Holtz 'Tattered Florals' die and a Marianne leaf flourish.
The funny thing is, I've had this die since it's release about 5 years ago but never tried it until this week....now I've used it on 3 cards!
Anyway, hope you like it.
Don't forget to checkout the other DT cards for more inspiration.
Thanks for all the lovely comments left on previous blog posts, I hope to see some of you entering this month so I can visit YOUR blogs.
Happy Sunday.....
Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
365 Cards
Pumpkin Spice
Challenges 4 Everybody
Come and Get It Challenge
Craft a Scene
Make it Monday 

Fantastic New Papermill 'Special Offer'

Evening all, I'm back again with the latest offer from

PAPERMILL

Fantastic blue cardstock 270 gms and only £4.50 for approx 80 x A4 sheets.

This card is fab quality with no white core, which is what I love about it.....I'm not a big fan of navy blue, but this shade is really gorgeous, I'll certainly be using it again.

Checkout the offer at

http://papermilldirect.co.uk/acatalog/special-offers.html

The blue card is matted onto Papermill white linen.

I've used the Tim Holtz 'Tattered Flower' die and a Marianne leaf flourish.

I think the sentiment is by Sheena Douglas.

A few 'pearls' from my stash...job done! 

The cardstock doesn't need loads of 'stuff' thrown on it, it's lovely as a 'clean and simple' creation.

Hope you like it....don't forget to leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking, and also don't forget to pop over to the Papermill site to checkout this, and other special offers. 

Catch you soon, have a good weekend,

Barbara

xx

Hurry......Lavinia Challenge SIX Ending Soon.

Hi all, hope you're enjoying a crafty day!

I have a very quick post for today to remind you that the Lavinia challenge ANYTHING GOES, finishes on 31st August at 8am....so still time to get your entry in.

LAVINIA STAMPS CHALLENGE BLOG 

 'Anything Goes' is such a great theme, so come on, what are you waiting for??  

£40 for the winner....yeah!!

All cardstock from

PAPERMILL 

Distress inks, and stamps from Lavinia Stamps and Stampendous (sentiment)

That's all for today....well I did say it was a quick post, didn't I?.....back on Friday with this weeks Papermill 'Special Offer'. 

Hope you can pop back then.

Barbara 

xx

New Papermill Offer....

Evening all, hope you're having a good week so far......I have my lovely sis-in-law, Ros, down for a few days, 'cos Alan has gone to the Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man. Won't get much crafting done, but we'll have plenty of laughs.....

So a very quick post tonight just to promote this weeks 'Special Offer' from

 PAPERMILL

The offer this week is for 'Dandy Embossed' white card 270gms.....An A4 small box for £5 (approx 75-80 sheets)

All cardstock from 

Papermill.

I quite like these CAS cards....there was absolutely no skill needed though so I'll probably make a batch of them for the Christmas craft fairs.

Well, that's all for now, hope you have a brilliant Bank Holiday weeknd.

Catch you soon.

Barbara xx

A 'Hindu' Wedding Card....

Afternoon everyone, hope you've all had a good week. Mine has been very busy, as usual....the best bit being a whole morning of baby-sitting our gorgeous little Eva. She really is the most delicious little thing (when she's in a good mood, of course. haha)

Anyway, today I wanted to show you a card I was asked to make for a Hindu wedding. The request was 'bright' with lots of gold.....After checking out some pics on the 'net, I realised why the customer said this......Almost every card I saw was either shocking pink or red/orange/yellow.

I decided to stick with my fave colours then added a bit of bling with heat embossing. 

All cardstock is from PAPERMILL 

I have inked 'white linen' with a selection of colours from 

the Colour Chemistry range by

OAK HOUSE STUDIO  

(fab inks!)

The flourish stamp is an old one, sorry not sure who  by, the gorgeous little stars are from 

LAVINIA STAMPS

All the 'fine detail' gold embossing powder is from 

Oak House Studio (link above)

The sentiment is computer-generated

My lovely customer loved it, and I think it might be the only one of it's kind....unless some of the other guests know an amazing card-maker too, hahaha

Well, that's it for today, hope you've enjoyed looking.

Have a great weekend, catch you all soon

xx

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges :-

Make it Monday

Sunshine Mail

Just for fun

Creative Corner

Sister Act Card Challenge

Stempelsonne

Totally Papercrafts

Bearly-Mine

Another Papermill Special Offer....

Evening everyone, hope you've had a good day....

Welcome to my new followers, and huge thanks for all the wonderful comments left on my last few posts, I appreciate them all xx

Tonight's post is to show the latest 'Special Offer' from 

PAPERMILL 

A4 Embossed Natural White Pearlised Card - 200gsm

50 sheets for only £3!
This is a very quick, clean and simple card to show off the texture of the cardstock.

Bird stamp and sentiment from Pink Petticoat,
leaf stamp from Inkylicious

I like this little bird, and use him quite often x
If you click ONCE on the images you'll be able to see the texture of the card much better.
Thats all for tonight, catch you in a couple of days.
Barbara
xx

Flowers Everywhere.........

Morning everyone, hope you're all fit and well on this gorgeous day. 

This is quite a long and flowery post, so please bear with me...I'm also surrounded by flowers as I write........but more about that later.

Todays card was made for a young girl to give the Bride and Groom at their wedding last Saturday..... she was a 'flower girl', so her mam asked for something flowery.

They both loved what I made, thankfully.....but because I'm a bit anal about things being perfect, this card had to have a touch up with Promarkers......can you spot where, by looking closely?

No, ok see if this helps....

Now can you see the little white piece showing near the top....I just couldn't let it go like that, so voila! out came the Pro's, and I just 'touched in', using similar colours to the patterned paper.....makes a huge difference though, don't you agree....haha.

So that's todays card......hope you like it.

It's been such a busy few days here.... as some of you will know it was my 'BIG' birthday on Monday, and I was dreading it....however Alan, Finn and the kids (Nick, Emma & Eva and Adam and Emma.....yes, I know, very confusing for me, 2 Emma's ) made it a weekend to remember by spoiling me rotten (I'd already had a week in Devon with all the above and my wonderful bro Colin and sis-in-law Ros as my treat, so didn't expect anything else)....anyway, no cooking all weekend, (loads of meals out) a day out on the Kennet and Avon canal on Sunday, and fabulous gifts and flowers....(good job I have lots of vases, as more have arrived since this pic was taken.)

All of my lovely hand-crafted cards from crafty friends are on the hearth x If you 'single-click' on the pic, you'll see them close-up.

The bright card on the mantlepiece is one of my own..... (made and blogged a couple of weeks ago with Lavinia Stamps)....I won't let Alan buy a crappy 'shop' card, so he always chooses one out of my stock. haha. I love the sentiment on this card, so he made the right choice.

WE MIGHT NOT HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER.....BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL!

(from Lavinia)

And last but not least, our gorgeous little Eva sent these pics to my mobile on Monday....she's so clever being able to write & text at only 16 weeks, don't you think ?

Thank you Emma, and Eva for taking the time to do this....love you both loads xx

Catch you all in a couple of days.

xx

Barbara

Papermill new 'Special Offer'.....

Afternoon everyone, I'm back again with a quick post to tell about the 'Special Offer' at 

PAPERMILL

This week it's a beautiful green pearlised A4 cardstock  (pearlised and coloured on both sides)

50 sheets - 285gsm for £4!
Such a bargain as the quality is amazing.....but just what we've come to expect from Papermill.

ALL cardstock is from PAPERMILL, as usual. I've also used

Spellbinder corner dies, and a little sentiment tag.

The main stamp is my gorgeous new Poinsettia from
OAK HOUSE STUDIO
I just LOVE it, and I'm already thinking of different ways to use this all year round.
I stamped the image 3 times on pink and 3 times on the green pearlised with Versamark, then heat embossed with OAK HOUSE STUDIO white embossing powder.....cut it all out and decoupaged. I love using pink, white and green together, reminds me of cherry blossom.

We have a plant in the garden called Actinidia...the leaves start off white, change to pink, then onto green in late Summer, it's so pretty. This pic shows it last week, growing along the verandah.

Here is our daft-as-a-brush (but fantastic) dog, Finn, admiring it too.

Well, don't forget to pop over to Papermill, and checkout the new offer. I think this weeks 'special' will be great for Christmas projects too.
Catch you all in a few days......my BIG birthday is looming on Monday, and I'm not looking forward to it....(still think I'm 25, inside) I might have to hide away for a while to recover from the yukkiness of it all!
Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
Craftin' Boutique
Addicted to Stamps & More
Crafting By Designs
Ruby's Rainbow

Lavinia Stamps August Challenge.....Anything Goes!

Morning everyone, think it's gonna be a hot one.... it's already a beautiful day here in Wiltshire.

Anyway, today sees the start of the August challenge at LAVINIA STAMPS.....the theme this month is Anything Goes, so lots of scope for you here.

The only stipulation is that you use one or more Lavinia stamps. Pop over to the website, there are some amazing stamps on offer.

The prize for the 'randomly-selected' winner is a MASSIVE £40 worth of stamps. (Well done to Elaine Maisey for winning the July challenge with her beautiful canvas bag )

Here are my DT samples for Anything Goes :-

I used PAPERMILL 'leather-look' cardstock for this tag.

Inks and Embossing Powder from  OAK HOUSE STUDIO

Isn't this ribbon gorgeous?

 Lavinia Stamps used.....

1. Believe

2. Mushrooms

3. Stars 1 and 2

4. Tiny Leaf (free with Creeping Vine)

Smooth white and black cardstock from

PAPERMILL

Same inks and ribbon on this tag as previous,

with a computer generated sentiment.

I've also used Glamourdust and Liquid Pearls.

Lavinia Stamps used......

1. Gaggle of Geese

2. Creeping Vine, used upside down 

Hope you've enjoyed looking.....don't forget to pop over to the Lavinia challenge blog and checkout the other DT makes, they're fab xx

Catch you all soon,

Barbara xx
I'm entering these tags into the following challenges :-
Craft-room challenge
Deep Ocean challenge
Holly Jolly Christmas challenge
Sweet Stamps
Creative Moments
Stampotique Designers

Have you entered the Oak House Studio competition??

Morning all, and welcome to my new followers....hope you enjoy looking at what I create.

Thank you all so much for all the fab comments on my previous posts, I love reading them.

Today I just have a very quick post, to remind you about the Oak House Studio competition......it finishes tonight!

Lovely Lynnda, of OHS is giving one lucky 'commentor' the chance to win SIX bottles of the fabulous Colouir Chemistry inks.

All you have to do is leave a comment on any of the July posts HERE to be in with a chance to win.

Here is another card made with the 'citrus' shades....they really do rival any other makes of ink on the market at the moment....I LOVE them!

All cardstock from Papermill, and inks & stamps from Oak House Studios. (sentiment from LOTV)

Well that's it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with my DT samples for the new Lavinia Stamps challenge.

Hope you can pop back then,

Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
C is for Challenge
Creative Creations
Eureka Stamps
Fashionista Challenge Blog
Make it Monday
Whoopsi Daisy
Through the Craftroom Door 

Don't Forget The Lavinia Challenge......

Evening all.  Hey, get me....blogging 2 days running! 

This is another quickie though, just to remind you about the Lavinia Stamps challenge.....have you got your entry in yet?? The prize is a HUGE £40 worth of products.

You don't need to own hundreds of Lavinia stamps & you don't have to be an experienced crafter either.  The card below has been made with ONE set of stamps, and the sentiment.

So, come on everyone, what are you waiting of.....get busy!

Checkout the Lavinia challenge blog  HERE

All the cardstock is from

PAPERMILL
Special offer this weekend is FREE POSTAGE
on orders over £25 @ Papermill

Inks are from the Colour Chemistry range,  by

OAK HOUSE STUDIO

Hope you like the bright colours, ( I love them )

And, I love the sentiment too,  it typifies Alan & I

Catch you all soon, have a great weekend.

Barbara 

xx

I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-

Sister Act Card Challenge

A.R.T. Card Challenge

In The Pink

Sarah Hurley Challenge

Crafts and Me

Lady Anne's Challenges

The Paper Shelter

Rhedd and Rosie Challenge

Inky Chicks
Make It Monday 

Fit for a Prince.......or Princess!

Afternoon everyone, from a very (still) hot Wiltshire....we haven't had the promised rain, and it's sweltering.

Just a very, very quick post today, as I'm helping in the shop again, and then going straight to baby-sit our beautiful little Eva. Lots of cuddles for me tonight......

Todays cards were made a few weeks ago when I was thinking 'babies'!  What better time to blog them, than after the new Prince has arrived?

I made a few to go into my stock boxes....they've since sold, so customers must be liking the CAS effect at the moment.

All cards made with white 'hammered' cardstock from

PAPERMILL 

The 'girl' and 'boy' dies are from Sizzix, I've had them for years and never used them.

Computer generated sentiments.

 Jewels from stash.

That's it, what could be simpler?

Hope you like them

Well, that's all for today, said it was going to be a quick post, didn't I?

 Enjoy the rest of the week, catch up with you at the weekend.

Barbara.

xx

Last butterflies....for a while, anyway!

Afternoon everyone, hope you're keeping cool !

Before starting, I'd just like to thank everyone for all the comments on my last few cards (especially the green butterfly one) I love reading them, and appreciate each and every one xx

Just another quick post today, as I'm blogging between customers in the shop.

This is my last butterfly card for a while, as I have soooooooooooooo many new stamps and stencils to play with when I get the chance.

It's another card made purely with inks, stamps and embossing powders from 

OAK HOUSE STUDIO

And, of course, all cardstock is from 

PAPERMILL

This butterfly was another scrap from a previous card.

Such beautiful coloured inks.

I just added a piece of lace, a die-cut and a butterfly charm.

All the stamping has been heat-embossed, still one of my favourite techniques.

Catch you all in a day or two....enjoy the sun while it lasts.

Oh, and don't forget to pop over to the Oak House Studio blog, HERE to be in with a chance of winning a fab selection of inks xx
 Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
Challenges4Everybody
Penny Black
One Stop Craft Challenge
Alphabet Challenge Blog
Designs by Lisa
Creative Fingers
Make It Monday
My Craft Creations 

Using Up My Citrus Scraps

Hi everyone,  here again with a very quick post. (hello to my new followers xx)

I just wanted to show a clean and simple card I made with my inked scraps.....( at this point I'll tell you that I NEVER throw away even the tiniest scrap of inked card which I've made myself....they all go into a box separate from all my other scraps )  The squares were cut out of the scraps from my last card (below), and stamped with the gorgeous large butterfly from Oak House Studio HERE 

I also inked the American seam binding, to match.

If you're sick of the sight of butterflies, don't worry.....I only have one more to show you after the weekend, haha

All cardstock is from 

PAPERMILL, 

it's their beautiful White Linen.

The butterfly,  sentiment  & Colour Chemistry inks are all available from Oak House Studio.

Hope you like it.

Don't forget to pop over to the OHS blog, & join in with the competition to win a selection of these gorgeous inks. The colours are fabulous xx

Have a great weekend

Barbara

xx





I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
Crafty Ribbons
Addicted to Stamps
Crafting by Designs
Crafts and Me

The Paper Shelter
Stampotique Designers Challenge 

Oak House Studio Sample

Hi everyone, thanks for popping by today......still enjoying the heat??

I'm in Adam's shop today.... we sell pet supplies and judging by the amount of flea treatments/sprays I'm selling, it looks as if the heat has made every flea in the area suddenly wake up, YUK! However, business is booming on these products, so I'm happy....good ol' fleas! haha

Anyway, todays card is made using products from 

OAK HOUSE STUDIO

All cardstock from 

PAPERMILL 

 Colour Chemistry Inks in

Citrus Lime

Citrus Yellow

Peacock Green

All found 

HERE

I've used 

White embossing powder

HERE

and stamps, English Garden and 3 Butterflies

HERE

What do you think then?? Aren't these colours fabulous?

Well that's it for today, I'll be back with another OHS sample tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the sun xx

I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
Joanna Sheen
Through the Craftroom Door
Tuesday Throwdown
Created with Love
House Of Gilli
Imagination Crafts
Incy wincy Designs
Make It Mondays
My Craft Creations
Rhedd and Rosie