30 November 2012

Hardware Showcase

ShowCASe for week 94 
Hardware
It's always a delight to choose cards for our ShowCASes and this week is no exception.
So without further ado here they are.

 So simple yet so elegant!

What a beautiful wreath.

Innovative design

What fabulous sea!

Just love these cute mittens!

Heather
What terrific colouring!

I'm sure you'll join with us in congratulating these ladies on such superb submissions! 
What wonderful inspiration for us all!
Do please take the Showcase badge form the page at the top to display on your blogs ladies!
Another challenge starts tomorrow, you know it's going to be a colour challenge... any ideas?
You can find out in the morning!

24 November 2012

Week 95 Recipe Glamour and Glitz

Challenge 95 
For the recipe this week, we'd like you to include 
Glamour and Glitz
By that we mean something to include glitter or bling, something that twinkles, sparkles or shines. (Mandi would love this one, in fact she probably chose it!)

I had a wonderful day over on the Isle of Wight with her, despite the rain. It was great to see her new shop which was a hive of industry with walls being re-plastered and walls being painted. She is going to make it beautiful with her immaculate taste and imaginative ideas.   



The wall on the right was the one that had been painted and is now awaiting being dressed.The picture below shows the rear of the shop and you can see one of the walls which has just been re-plastered.
Mandi did a pretty good job of evading my camera!
Now, from somewhere full of Glamour and Glitz, on with this week's challenge!

(Back from her holiday)
So after a sunny week in Egypt I hope I managed to visit you all last week... so I have 2 cards today for you using some new stash.  Here is the first...

I used a set of snowflakes from SU and the flitterglu from Indigo Blu to add clear glitter onto pearl card. I then wrapped it with some gorgeous wool felt and used my new Die-namics bow maker die to add a felt bow... Sorry the photos are not great it just didn't want to focus at all.. 

Onto my second card...



I have used an SU embossing folder to emboss the Kraft card stock and then added clear glitter to the spots over the pattern.  It's finished off with a Pink Petticoat sentiment, a butterfly punch from SU and a glitter button from my stash.

I hope you all have a great week... can't wait to see what you come up with...
Jen
Jen used quite a lot of layers on this one, but the design is really clean and simple!

This is an Impression Obsession stamp which Mandi gave me, stamped in Stazon onto acetate, then glued and glittered on the back of the impression. I adhered another sheet of acetate behind that, to prevent the glitter from rubbing off. I stuck these behind an aperture in the card and added another sheet of card, also with a corresponding aperture cut into it, to hide where it had been attached.
This is a bargain stamp from Rubber Stampede, the image from which I gently coloured and twinkled with Glamour Dust. I added some Glossy Accents to the cake stand to make it look like glass, but sadly neither of these features shows up well in the photograph.
I added a few gems to the embossing and the ribbon.

We hope you really enjoy this one.
Let us see you sparkle!

23 November 2012

ShowCASe of Houses

As ever, there was a super array of different interpretations of our challenge last week. 
It's always wonderful to see what you creative LIMettes produce each time. 
Here is our 
HOUSES SHOWCASE

What a novel house!

Great artistry

Perfect placement

Always inspirational

So atmospheric!

What super examples to appreciate and inspire.
Thank you so much ladies. DO please take the Showcase badge from the page at the top to display on your blogs.
Check back in the morning for our new challenge, we always enjoy seeing what our talented LIMettes come up with.

17 November 2012

Week 94 Theme

Week 94
For our theme this week
we have chosen
HARDWARE
This could include a variety of things, but most probably it will be something made of metal!
It could include, brads, charms, eyelets, clips, staples, pins, studs etc.
If nothing fitting this description appears in your supplies, faux hardware will probably suffice... as long as it looks good!

Helloo..Mandi here..I hope you haven't forgotten me!
I cannot tell you how much I miss you all and taking part in LIM. I really am SO sorry I have had to take a back seat! THANK YOU to my lovely friend Chrissie for holding the fort and another big thank you to lovely Jen for stepping in....who is on holiday..did we allow time off? lol
My feet literally haven't touched the ground since I bought the shop. Can you believe it was October 20th, almost a month ago! So much has happened! All good though I'm loving it.
We have this week made  a start on painting the walls and changed it around. Will pop some pics on my personal blog sometime soon.
I will also be listing some more bits for sale.

It really does make me sad that I've had to pull away from LIM, I really do intend coming back, but it's impossible at the moment or in the near future.

Thank you for all your good wishes, they really mean a lot.
Off now with another lump in my throat...:(
Miss you all, very much


This card didn't start life quite like this. The panel behind the window was part of a one layer card which got a couple of smudges on it but couldn't be consigned immediately  to the bin... so I salvaged part of it and framed it with the window.
The ribbon was coloured to match the stamping, with a Stampin' Up  marker, which was also used to colour the Unity stamp. The sentiment is also from Stampin' Up.
The hardware is of course, the key!
When I first started card making, I bought all sorts of things which seemed a good idea at the time. These metal letter studs were a case in point. I don't think I've ever managed to use them before, but I really think they look quite good on this card. The super holly embossing is from a Sizzix folder.
There's a faux version of this card on my personal blog!

This little Memory Box stocking die, cut the felt with ease. I decided to add the brads, but had only pastel shades...lilac pink and green, so I heat embossed them in gold before adding them to the stocking. The backdrop is from a Sizzix embossing folder.

So I only managed one card this week and fingers crossed I'm having a fab time in sunny Egypt.  I decided to use bells for my piece of hardware and I've used fabulous new pink petticoat papers and sentiment and some twine and bells from The Ribbon Girl.  I have finished off with a little stitching.

Let's hope Jen has a wonderful hol in Egypt.
We would like to wish all of you a great week too!

I am going over to the island to see Mandi on Tuesday, I'll be able to see her new shop and I can hardly wait! What fun, it will be great to see her again, I'm sure you miss her as much as I do!

Do visit our personal blogs... we like to receive comments too!

16 November 2012

Pink ShowCASe

ShowCASe for week 92

It seems that PINK was one of those like/hate it colours, but some gorgeous cards emerged nevertheless and here are some for our showcase which really stood out.
 







It was difficult to narrow down the submissions for the showcase this week, but these are all spectacular we're sure you'll agree. 
Do please take the banner from the page at the top and thank you all so much and congratulations!

Our new challenge starts tomorrow, so do check back and see what we have in store for you!

10 November 2012

One Layer Week 93 Houses

First of all may I say a huge thank you to all those kind people who emailed offering help whilst Mandi is getting her business up and running.

Without further ado I would like to let you know our choice (Mandi  helped choose too).

She is well known to most of you, a faithful LIMette, a consummate crafter and a weekly source of inspiration to us all.
It's 
Jen
She had emailed with her offer within moments of last week's post going live and I'm sure that she will be a very popular choice.
Welcome Jen!

Now onto our challenge for this week which is 
ONE LAYER
with the theme of 
HOUSES

I thought for my first week as a guest I'd use a couple of my signature styles .. stitching and kraft.  I used digi images from Tiddlyinks.

The first card was coloured with prisma pencils in bright colours and I simply printed the image straight onto a sheet of A4 card and then cutting it out central. The sentiment is pink petticoat. I then stitched a couple of rows round the edge in an ah-hoc manner and added a backing on the inside of the card to cover up the stitching. this was simply cut 2 mm smaller than the card blank.



My second card uses a firm favourite kraft printed with the digi. This time I coloured in with my prisma pencils as I really love how the colours stand out on the kraft, I finished it off with some twine from the ribbon girl and rounded one corner.  Hope you like them.


Here is a card made from a a quick run across the card with my Stampin' Up wheel. I love these quirky houses. I coloured it with in neutral shades with watercolour pencils and a water brush. The sentiment is also Stampin' Up.


It's funny how Mandi and I often would choose to do similar things each week, without any prior consultation, and this week Jen and I have both chosen lighthouses!
This one is an image from Art Impressions, with a few rocks from Hobby Art and a sentiment from Inkylicious. Again it's coloured with watercolour pencils and a water brush.

What houses are you going to use this week? We can't wait to see!

09 November 2012

ShowCASe Week 91

It was interesting to see all the different interpretations of our simple Sketch 7, some simply stunning.
Choosing was as much of a pleasure as ever!

What a great stamping technique here

Liquid Pearls add that special touch!

Wild choice of papers for this one.

A taste of the orient!

DSC02104
Just love the letterpress technique for this stunningly simple card.

All beautiful, I'm sure you'll agree.
Do please display the ShowCASe badge on your blogs ladies, you'll find it on the page at the top.
Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who has offered to help me out during Mandi's hiatus.
Come back tomorrow to see who will becoming to support me as Guest Designer for the next few weeks.
You're going to be thrilled!

06 November 2012

October Winner!

October Winner
from
October Sponsor
We're sure that our choice of winner this time will be extremely popular!
This lady has contributed to just about every one of our challenges and comments on many, many submissions (in a foreign language for her too)!
Her work is wonderful, so without further ado we have to let you know that it is 
El Taller de los Recuerdos

If you can email us with your contact details Loli, we'll pass them on to WOW so that they can send your prize to you!

Many Congratulations.
Please take the Winner's Badge from the page at the top to display on your blog!


03 November 2012

Week 92 Colour Challenge

Our thoughts this week go out to all those affected by Superstorm Sandy. We can only wonder at the power of weather to cause such devastation and loss of life and property. 
We are thinking of you.

There is still no Mandi this week. She has continued to be incredibly busy as you might imagine when just taking over a new business. Her priorities, naturally, are to get that how she would wish. I hope that she will be able to return at some point, but for the moment I'll continue to bring you the challenges on my own. 
I'm sure that you miss her individual style and inspirational samples.

If there is someone who might wish to join me in a temporary capacity, whilst Mandi is otherwise engaged, I should be glad to hear from you. I feel that it is more helpful to display a variety of style for sample cards, rather than just one designer. It would be helpful however, if anyone interested had time to be able to comment on submissions too!

Now on to this week!
We have a new month and so a new Sponsor and we are delighted to have

as our sponsor once more for November!
Check out the wonderful collection or products available on their site.

For our colour challenge, we have chosen the colour 
PINK
Pink is a colour that I don't immediately rush to, and when faced with the prospect of having  to use it, I found some difficulty in doing so, trying lots of things before anything half decent emerged.
Chrissie
Here is a simple card with very little stamping, and incorporating a couple of dies from Simon Says Stamp by Memory Box.
I find that the holey die needs a shim to cut through the central section of it, but this is achieved by adding a small piece of card over the central portion of the die, after the first pass through the machine.
I always add some double sided tape or sheet to the back of card which is going to be cut with fiddly dies. This means that once cut, all I need to do is peel and stick!
I'm not sure of the make of the sentiment, but it's from a small, clear set... maybe White Rose Studio, but I couldn't be sure. It's simply embossed in silver.


This is a simple image from SU, stamped, coloured, twinkled, cut out and mounted on dimensional pads.The backdrop is a simple bit of embossing with a sentiment from Studio G, bought on sale somewhere or other, but which appealed to me... I wonder why?
These SU flowers from the Fast and Fabulous set which was a Hostess gift some time ago, were stamped in black onto dark card and then embossed with clear powder. I coloured in the petals quite heavily with a white watercolour pencil. I then went over this, starting in the centre of the flowers, with a couple of shades of fairly deep pink watercolour pencils and then blended the colours with a water brush.
The FRIEND stamp is from the SU 'For My Family' set.

This last one has NO stamping whatsoever and is merely a bunch of die cuts from Dienamics chevrons dies, using up a bunch of old DP which had been in the drawer for yonks. The butterfly is either Memory box or Dienamics... I'm sure someone will put me right!
The back of the card for the white section of the butterfly was covered with double sided tape before cutting the die, so I could just peel off the backing and stick it to the pink section.

On Thursday this week I shall be going to the NEC with LIMette Anne (Stargroves) to see what goodies are going for a song as it were. If any of you will be going and would like to meet up to say Hi, just email me and I'll let you have my mobile number so that we can find each other!
I'll carry my 'Less is More' tote so that you can spot me!

Have a great week, we'll be back with the announcement of October's winner very soon!

02 November 2012

Autumn ShowCASe Week 90

We have another wonderful bunch of cards to show you this week.
It is really such a delight to peruse all the submissions each time and here are a few of the many fabulous cards from our Autumn challenge!






What a simply stunning selection of cards. We are SO fortunate to have such wonderful crafters submitting such fabulous cards each week. I'm sure that we are all inspired by the sheer talent amongst our number!
Thank you ladies; do please take the ShowCASe badge from the page at the top to display on your blogs.
Congratulations everyone.
We'll be back with our October winner of the goodies from 
WOW EMBOSSING POWDERS
very soon.