29 September 2013

One for the boys .....



 I made a new baby card for a friend but instead of an image I have chosen to add a computer generated message instead.  

I used Magnolia doohicky dies to make the flower and the swirls and added sky blue 25mm satin ribbon, eyelash guipure lace, blues pearls, dusky blue 20mm and 10mm roses, white starburst stamens, white beaded stamens, flat flower pearl trim and a blue diamante embellishment. 


I found a nice poem on the internet and added it to the inside of the card

Over on the Ribbon Girl blog it's time for another Ribbon Girl Magnolia Only challenge and this month we would like to see your boy cards.    There are two fabulous prizes for the randomly chosen winner:
A Magnolia stamp all the way from the home of Tilda and Edwin kindly donated by Magnolia of Sweden



A £10 voucher towards a spending spree at The Ribbon Girl online store


I hope you will have time to look at the wonderful creations by the design team and I'm looking forward to seeing what you make!
Mary x

24 September 2013

Sketchy time at PTW .....



Sketch 83 Papertake Weekly


It's sketchy time over at Papertake Weekly - I used sketch number 83.  All papers are from LOTV  Classic Christmas 8 x 8 paper pad and the image was die-cut from the 'Festive Foliage' art pad.  I added some white fan pattern cotton lace, 25mm faux natural hessian ribbon (I frayed the top edge) and a piece of 7mm red satin ribbon on the tree trunk

I highlighted the berries on the tree with glossy accents and added some tiny little silver flatback embellishments.

I hope you can join us for the challenge - please go and have a look at the lovely cards the design team have made and you have a whole week to get your project in

Ribbon, lace, glossy accents are all from The Ribbon Girl

see you soon, Mary x



22 September 2013

Vintage style gift box and a gorgeous vintage giveaway

By Mary



I made this box from scatch from ordinary white card and decorated it with a 'Princess' vintage style booch, Zva crystal lines, ivory sweetheart blossoms and hip rosebuds and cream satin ribbon.  I used 11mm ivory pearls for the flower centres and the feet of the box.  I used a Martha Stewart punch around the page punch set to make the white lacy edge.  The paper is 'Country Lady' from Lili of the Valley and I made the paper flowers with it as well, using a 'Sun Kissed Fleur' die set by Heartfelt Creations.  I was really pleased with how the box turned out, especially the white lacy edge - I have to admit that it took 2 goes before I got perfect results but I think it was worth it. 

o0o0o0o0o

There is a gorgeous Vintage give away on The Ribbon Girl blog today


'Princess' faux pearl and diamante vintage style brooch
A bunch of 10 Wild Orchid cream open roses
1 metre of ivory 3mm x 5mm oat shape pearl bead string
1 metre of 15mm cream satin ribbon
1 metre of 'Josephine' ivory vintage style fine cotton lace

ll you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to leave them a comment and tell them how you would use this beautiful collection of goodies and leave a link to their store on your blog

and there are some fabulous projects using the range of vintage style brooches which are new to Ribbon Girl - with more styles to come very shortly

see you soon, Mary x

17 September 2013

Make it sparkle ....


This weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly is theme is

Make It Sparkle

So you just need to add something sparkly really, ie glitter, bling etc etc  - it's as easy as that :)

I added a pink gem and diamante embellishment, a piece from a zva clear crystal flourish, a stem of pink crystal drops, white baby's breath flower, pink/pale pink beaded berries, pink gardenia, pink carnation and open rose, some very sparkly twinkle tinsel (at the bottom of the card), some 'Nicole' vintage style lace, white mermaid 15mm sparkly ribbon and a piece of white pearl rose organza ribbon - I love sparkly things, can you tell?  All of these are from


I'm looking forward to seeing all of your sparkly creations,
Mary x


16 September 2013

Aqua and White Christmas ....


For a change and just for fun because I had a bit of extra time on Saturday,  I have made a very plain card - the background is embossed and I made the flower and leaves with Magnolia doohickey dies and used 3D glue between the layers (Dawny P showed us how to make these flowers at the LOTV Christmas workshop the other week)


I added a 20mm diamante spacer and filled it with a clear 14mm crystal gem.  Tag is punched and sentiment is from papertreyink stamp set.  The ribbon is aqua 15mm Berisford satin

I made this just for fun and just for fun will enter it into A Creative Romance challenge 'dies or punches' even though I know I can not win the prize (because Ribbon Girl is sponsoring)

Ribbon, spacer and gem all from The Ribbon Girl

15 September 2013

An anniversary card ....


The Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge is to use peach/orange and this is my DT card.  I was asked to make a card for a 30th wedding anniversary and just used die-cuts rather than an image.  I distresed and inked all the edges.   

I added some 'Deborah' 25mm ivory fine vintage style lace, 15mm pale peach satin ribbon, a bronze colour bird cage with heart and a pearl and diamante embellishment.  My flowers include a cream daisy, peach and ivory cherry blossoms and autumn gold 20mm open roses


The inside of the card is decorated to complement the front and 18mm 'Teresa' ivory lace was added under the scalloped panel.

Lace, ribbon, flowers, charm and embellisments are from


I hope you will be able to join in with this challenge and pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog to see the marvellous cards by the design team
Mary x

14 September 2013

Tea bag decoration ...


My sister and I spent a happy hour last night getting covered in glue and glitter - this was our first attempt at 'tea bag folding' maybe we should have used double sided paper? or looked at the instructions more carefully?  It's not quite right but we both liked our hanging decoration, we made one each - (yesterday morning I saw something similar  on Jeannes blog and was inspired to have a go - hers was gorgeous!  I'll keep practicing!)

I used flat gold cord, stardust stickles and a clear round diamante embellishment from


see you tomorrow for the Ribbon Girl September Colour Challenge
Mary x


10 September 2013

Childs play ..... vintage style!


This week's challenge at Papertake Weekly is 'Childs Play' - I've interpreted that as children playing and used this lovely vintage image and paper - I distressed the edges with my thumb nail and my Tim Holtz distresser as used by my Ribbon Girl teamie Becky and inked them with walnut stain.  I added scarlet berry satin ribbon and 'Danielle' white vintage style lace. The tag was cut from a scrap of text paper with a magnolia die and I popped in a copper coloured memo pin to hold a scrap of lace

My flowers include ivory beaded stamens, coffee pretty blossoms, ivory hip rosebuds and cream 20mm open roses.  

I hope you are able to join in with this week's challenge -  you'll find some fabulous cards over on the PTW challenge blog and there is a great prize to win

Ribbon, flowers and lace all from
TheRibbon Girl


see you soon, Mary x



8 September 2013

5 Christmas projects ....

Andrea and I had a lovely time at the LOTV workshop on Saturday - met some lovely crafters and spent all my pennies in the shop :-)  We crafted all day and I was covered in glamour dust - just for a change lol!  We made a large card, a joy fold card, a lovely wall hanging, decorated a Christmas cracker and a gift bag!  If anyone is humming and harring weather to go to one of these workshops, I thought it was well worth the money, in fact, exceptional value for money since we had a full day of crafting with the talented Dawny P and absolutely everything needed for the projects was provided - all you have to take is yourself and your lunch if you prefer not to buy a sandwhich from the lotv upstairs cafe


see you soon, Mary x

ps  have you seen the lovely Christmas giveaway over on the Ribbon Girl blog?

3 September 2013

Anything goes at Papertake Weekly ...


It's 'Anything Goes' (with the option of making a Christmas Card) over at Papertake Weekly - and the prize is kindly provided by Lili of the Valley so I have made a Christmas card using one of their very handy images from the Christmas art pad and some of their paper which I think is from the 'gentlemen' pad.  I added gold mesh sparkly ribbon, honey gold 16mm satin ribbon and Victoria antique white 32mm fine vintage style lace.  I highlighted the fur on the little girls hat and the snowflakes with Stardust Stickles.

My flower arrangement consists of brown two tone 30mm wild rose, 20mm and 10mm cream open roses, ivory hip rosebuds and coffee sweetheart blossoms.  I then tucked in a piece of ivory beaded gypsophalia and some tiny red berries 


please pop over to see my teamies wonderful creations - you can't fail to be inspired and we look forward to seeing your papercraft projects!

see you soon, Mary x

1 September 2013

Include numbers .....


It's my great-niece Nicole's second birthday in a couple of months (nothing like being up to date with your cards is there :0) so I have made her this pink card with a big Number 2 on it - the cheeky fairy splashing in the cupcake will make her Mam laugh I am sure!

I used an image from one of the oh so useful LOTV art pads, then added pale pink ruffle edge sheer with pink/pink saddlestitch on top, pink organza rose trim, some very sparkly twinkle tinsel above the rose trim, a Kort & Godt blue rolled rose, pink starburst stamen, ivory carnation, pale pink 10mm rose and white beaded stamens.  All paper edges were distressed with spun sugar ink

I hope you can join us at The Ribbon Girl Blog September Card Challenge to 'include numbers' and look forward to seeing all of your lovely creations - as usual we have a £10 voucher for The Ribbon Girl online store and a £10 voucher for the LOTV store!

see you soon, Mary x