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Good Morning,
It's Sandy here, posting from a grey and dull UK. So basically we're back to normality; I hope you all enjoyed the sun while it lasted. :-) As you might have noticed, here at the LLC Inspiration Blog we tend to work with different themes every week. Last week for example we, in honour of the opening of the Olympic games we did "Bling it On Week". By the way; the Special Olympic Offer; 20% off all blingy products at the Live & Love Crafts Store ends tomorrow at midnight.

Previously we've done both a Riddersholm Design week and a Pion Design week. This week however we don't have a special theme; I've given the DT "free hands" to create whatever they like and use whatever materials they like. I'm very excited to see what they're all coming up with!

When we have the freedom of choice, many of us tend to reach for our favourites. Yesterday Becky used Maja Design papers for her elegant monchrome card. Also Tina went with her favourite papers for this romantic vintage card;

Tina used the beautiful "Forget Me Not" from Pion Design's From My Heart II 12 x12 collection.
Tina also used:
Leaf & Swirl - Magnolia DooHickey
Cheese Cloth
Pearl String, Reprint
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad: Vintage Photo, Ranger
Mini Round Brads, Reprint

Many thanks for looking.
Please remember to stop by tomorrow, when our August challenge kicks off; we will then announce who the lucky winner of the £25 Store Voucher is and we'll have plenty more beautiful vintage inspiration for you!

Hugz, Sandy & Tina

Monochrome

Monday already, and it's Becky here again with a card.

For a change I've got a LaLa Land image, but coloured with distress markers. The papers are from Maja Design, there is not one in any collection I don't like. The largest square is Memories, the middle is 1905 and the smallest is 1904. All of the edges have been distressed with Walnut Stain.

I've used Tulle Pleat Trim, and decorated the inside of the card to match the front. There's still a few days to enter our Nautic Challenge, and join us on Wednesday 1st August for our new challenge.

Hugs,

Becky x

Blingy Baby Box

Hi everyone,
It's Sandy here, hijacking Becky's day to post. :-D I should have posted this yesterday, but ran out of time, so please scroll down or click here to see Becky's beautiful bling card.

Yesterday I attended a Baby Shower and for the occassion I made a box. Well, I did not actually make the box myself; technically speaking I only decorated the box.

 For some weird reason, the image looks more purple than pink in the pics I took outside. 

I found some old chipboard letters in a drawer; they were green, so I painted them white with gesso and then applied “Victorian Velvet” Stickles. For the flowers and Tilda’s wings I used my all time favourite glitter, Stardust Stickles.

The puffy pink flower is from Prima; I bought these flowers a while ago, but since they are so large, I find it a bit difficult to put them on cards. The cream Gardenia and the pink Hortensia (inked with Victorian Velvet) flowers are both from Papercraft Scandinavia, the roses from WOC. The crystal pins are from Maya Road, and so is the wooden butterfly (also painted with Gesso), which I added some Liquid Pearls – White Opal to. I glued Pearl String all around the lid (took a lot of patience…:-) ) The sentiment is an Idea-ology Adage ticket; I also used several of those for the edges of the box.

The lace I used for the edge of the lid is Camille. I also used some of the “Ash Rose” Seam Binding  to tie on a couple of charms; Merry Go Round Horse (love, love, love this one) and a Butterfly (which I painted white). I wasn’t actually going to decorate the inside, but then I did such a lousy job on the painting (used Gesso again – note to self; buy larger paint brush ), that I didn’t have any choice… LOL

The paper here on the inside of the lid is “Pink Butterfly” from Pion Design’s “Studio of Memories” collection. I also made the Vintage tag from this paper. The papers I used for the inside of the box itself are also from this collection; “Pink Ornament” & “Small Leaves“.

The vintage picture and the tickets for notes were cut from Maja Design’s “Memories“, the text strip from 1910. I did have Latin in school, but that was ages ago, and Latin not being one of those languages I use on a daily basis, I had to look up the meaning of “Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis” – “Times change, and we change with them”. Thought it was fitting for this box that little Ariana hopefully will use as a keepsake box for many years to come. I used 1922 for the lid and 1910 for the box, all from the Vintage Summer Basic Collection. Sweet Sleeping Baby Tilda was coloured with Copics (V0000, RV91, RV93 & RV95).

I hope you have enjoyed the Design Team's blingy projects this week.
Remember that currently all blingy products such as broaches, pearls, pins, and charms but also glitter and accents are 20% off at the Live & Love Crafts' Store!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
Hugz, Sandy

Tilda Picks Flowers

Hi, it's Becky here with my bling card. This little cutie is actually the first Tilda I remember seeing, and was one of the first ones I bought, I've been having a mooch through all of my stamps, I can't believe how many I have :)

I've used 6 x 6 Grandma's School Book Forest paper by Pion Design, which I've distressed with Walnut Stain. When I got my DT kit from Sandy I instantly fell in love with the Granny Pearl Brooch, I've stroked it several times, I had to remind myself that it was to go on a card, and it was perfect for our bling week, so I've fastened it over Tulle Pleat Trim which I've wrapped around the front of the card twice. I've used two vintage trinket crystal pins and the flowers are from Magnolia and Kort og Godt, the Roses with Glass Pearls and the Magnolia vintage orchids are available at Live & Love Crafts.

There's still a couple of days left to enter our Nautic challenge, remember to check back on Wednesday 1st August for our New Challenge.

Hugs,

Becky x

Shabby Mannequin with some bling

Good Morning, 

it´s Karita calling for you today with a new card made with delicious products from the Live & Love Crafts' store.

Well this isn´t an ordinary card from me as you can see ;) No stamped image... no vintage image... I`ve totally surprised my self by making this card and you know what...?:) I love it!! :D

I think this card has almost everything that  I love in crafting - lots of beautiful embellishments and most of all, Pion Design papers :)
On this card I used Yellow Pansy 6"x6" paper from the "For Mother" collection. Inked all the paper edges with Distress Ink - Walnut Stain, used my sewing machine and added some Crackle Paint - Picket Fence from Rangers.

And now comes the best part of my card... Embellishments!!!

So what do you think?!?!? Aren´t they delicious!?!? :):)
When I first saw this gorgeous Crystal Cameo Broach from Melissa Frances, I totally fell in love with it!!
The Organza Primrose Flower under the broach is from Maya Road.
Few lovely pins on the card too. These pins are Vintage Trinket Crystal Pin and Vintage Pearl Pins.

Here you can see this beautiful Love Hanger from Maya Road. I have painted it a little bit to give some shabby effect :)

Have you already seen the magnificent collection of Live & Love Crafts' Hand - Dyed Seam Bindings? WOW!! I want them all! ;)

The beautiful lace is called Alencon and you can find the Pearl String at the LLC Store too :)

Okay, that´s all from me now.
Wishing you all a crafty weekend :)
Hugs, Karita

A Mother's "Bling".

Hello crafty people, Elin here :)

I've heard (and seen) that it's "Bling it on" week at the moment, but due to my holiday I had my weekly project done before I left home. So with that excuse *wink* I would like to show you a card made for every mother's little "bling":

 Thats right; I made a "Newborn" card this time with this adorable litte baby from Pion Design. I used the sweet babyblue papers from Maja Design's Vintage Summer Basic: 1914. My tag on the inside of the card is from the same paper, only I used the backside. When decorating, I'm a huge fan of Cheese Cloth, and here I used it behind my flowers. Another one of my weaknesses is Shabby Seam Bindings!  Now you can get them in the most adorable colours in Sandy's store: hand-dyed and hand-crinkled ready for you to use!

 As you can see, I managed to put some sort of bling on my card even before I knew this week's theme!

I've used Melissa Frances Pearls on my corners, and all edges got a touch of Tim Holtz Distress. I mainly use the colour Tea Dye, but Vintage Photo is a huge favourite to.

I hope my card has given you some inspiration and ideas on how to use some of the great stuff Sandy has to offer, so please stop by the Live & Love Crafts' Store.

With Love,

  

Pinks and cream with a touch of bling.

Good Morning crafters.

Hi, Elizabeth here. Today I want to show you the card I made for the Midweek Magnolias challenge blog .

I used papers from Pion Design, this one is the Small Leaves and Pink Ornament 6x6. In the corner I put a "Garnish Applique" Resin Embellishment from Melissa Frances.  Behind the image is the soft and beautiful Vintage Scallop Lace Trim from Maya Road. I colored Magnolias Tilda Sending Loveletter with my Copic markers.

The flowers are Gardenia Flowers from Kort og Godt and Resin Blossoms. I used the beautiful Vintage Pearl Hat Pin, Trinket Mini Heart pins  and and the Love Hangar all from Maya Road. The Bling button is a Vintage button- lustrous also Maya Road. The die cuts are Leaf dies from the Magnolia doohickey Leaf and swirl set.

 I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Distress ink- vintage photo, and I framed the patterned paper with  some pearl string.

I decorated the inside with the lovely papers and some pearls.

Don't forget the Bling Special with 20% off everything blingy at the Live & Love Crafts' store.

Scroll down for details!

Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you all a wonderful and creative day! 

Hugs, 

Bling It On Week

  A very Good Morning from a sunny UK...
It's Sandy here again, posting on behalf of Tina. I had almost lost hope that we'd ever see the sun again this Summer, but now it's out for the 4th day in a row; yay!!! As you undoubtly are aware, this week the Olympic Games kick off in London, making London historic in being the first city that has hosted the modern Olympic Games three times!

In order to celebrate this occassion and the many shiny medals the Swedish athlets (oops I of course meant the British athletes :-)) will win for their country, we're doing a Bling Special with 20% off everything blingy at the Live & Love Crafts' store.

Simply use the code "Bling20" at Checkout.
The 20% off is applicable to the following product categories:
Accents & Glitter (Liquid Pearls, Stickles etc.)
Bling, Pearls & Pins
Brads & Buttons
Charms & Metal Decorations
Offer valid while stocks last and ends August 1st.

The motto of the London 2012 Olympic Games  is "Inspire a Generation", and this week the DT hope to inspire you with some blingy creations.

Tina has been thinking outside the box again and came up with this beautiful pin cushion: 

 The pretty butterfly tag inside the glass is from Riddersholm Designs' Huntington Garden Collection.

Here's a close up, where one can also see the stunning Melissa Frances Diamond Chandelier Drops a bit better.

The Crystal Pin and the Dress Form Clip are both from Maya Road.
The Pearl Pin is from Inkido and the Singer Sewing Machine Charm from Reprint.

Thanks so much for looking,

Tina

Sunday inspiration!

Hi, it's Elizabeth, with some Sunday inspiration for you!

I made this card with the lovely Riddersholm papers. They are perfect for that soft, shabby chic feeling I wanted to create on this card.

I used the Jummy/Jummy2 paper from Riddersholms Happy Party collection.

I also used a little peace of scrap paper, a doily and some corrugated cardboard.

I colored the image with Tim Holtz distress ink pads from Rangers.

 I used the gorgeous  Alecon Lace, and Hortensia flowers- petal pink along with some Kort og Godt flowers. 

 I found the perfect charms for this card:  The Singer Sewing Machine from Reprint, and the Maya Road Love Hanger

The papers are all I needed to decorate the inside. I used my sewing machine and Rangers distress ink- vintage photo, to distress the edges.

Hope you like it!

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday!

Hugs,

Elizabeth 

Shabby Saturday

Good Morning,
It's Sandy here. Hope you all got some great plans for this weekend. If you live in the UK; the sun is supposed to stay out, so make sure you make the most out of it (and I hope you'll have some time to get crafty as well!)

Did you enjoy the members' projects with Riddersholm's stunning papers so far this week? Let me do a quick recap; on Tuesday we started off with Tina's beautiful altered can, on Wednesday we had Becky's elegant card, on Thursday Elin's romantic gift bag, and yesterday we saw Karita's dreamy card.

I also have got a card to share with you today, but before I do, just a quick reminder that our 1st challenge, "Nautic" is now in it's 3rd week. Thanks to everyone who has already entered and if you haven't had a chance to participate yet, you still have about 10 more days to enter the challenge.

Now those who know me, they know that I'm a pastel girl, so it shall come as no surprise that I chose to work with papers from Riddersholm's Bello Pastello 2 collection.

The papers used are  No. 70 & No. 68. I used the back side of No 70. as it has the texture of an old ship wreck (not that you can see much of it on my card :-)) and I thought it'd go great with my image, the sweet Pearl Tilda  from the Magnolia Summer Memories Collection. Also the die is from Magnolia; Leaf & Swirl.

The frame around the image and the "handle" for the Melissa Frances Resin Wreath are pleated with shabby seam binding, a new product that I hope to have had added to the store by the beginning of next week.

 Love this stuff; it looks like candy when you put a few colours together, doesn't it? :-D

Speaking of new products, did you notice the beautiful image inside the resin wreath? This is one of the new adorable mini tags for the Bello Pastello Collection; they'll also be available for the other Riddersholm collections (Fleamarket, Huntington Garden & Chantilly Dawn).

Across the middle of the card I placed the stunning Maya Road Tea Garden Trim; I must admit it's one of those trims/laces that it breaks my heart cutting into. I cut two pieces off; one for each side of the image; it would have been a shame hiding it behind the image, and quite frankly it's too expensive to cover up, but like this one yard goes a long way!

The cheese cloth is a natural ingredient on a shabby card and so is of course lace; here I used "Chantilly", also from Riddersholm. The large Hortensia flower is from Papercraft Scandinavia and I inked it a bit with Victorian Velvet. Other ink pad colours used are "Tea Dye", "Walnut Stain" and "Peeled Paint". Yeah I know; I'd be lost without them! :-) To continue with the Ranger products, I decided to tone down the colour of my berries a bit and painted them with the white "Picket Fence" Crackle Paint. Since they are made out of plastic, the paint would undoubtely have peeled off, had I not coated them with the Inkssential transparent Crackle Accents. For the Mermaid tail I used another transparent accent medium, the "Rock Candy" Distress Stickles and lastly the pearls were made with the "White Opal" Liquid Pearls.

Have a great weekend and please stop by tomorrow for the last Riddersholm project this week, when it's Elizabeth's turn to share something "not too shabby"!

Hugz, Sandy

Love... Dream...

Hi, 

Karita here today with you all and I have new card to share with you. 
So we have a Riddersholm Design week going on here at Live & Love Crafts. 

Not so familiar papers to me, but when I saw them for the first time I said to myself - WOOOOW! :) 

Absolutely gorgeous! :)

On my card I used Summerfield paper from the Huntington Garden collection.
And all the edges are inked with Distress Ink - Walnut Stain and also I used my sewing machine.

On the edges of the card I used border punch from Martha Stewart.

I just love this Pom Pom ribbon from Melissa Frances and the gorgeous Vintage Scallop Lace from Maya Road, which is by the way so soft - like a baby's cheek :)

Not surprised to see lots of flowers..? ;) What can I say... I love them :) 

You can find that beautiful blue flower in the middle from here. 

And also I used few Roses With Glass Pearls from Kort&Godt.
And take a look at that gorgeous Vintage Key - I love it!!!! Have to get some more of those cuties!!! 

And some more flowers :) 

Well, that´s all for now :)

I wish you all a restful weekend and take care! :)

Hugs, Karita

A little Giftbag

Hi guys, its me, Elin again :)

Riddersholm Design week and this is my first, and most definitely not last, meeting with these gorgeous papers from Denmark. I love working with inspiring papers like these:

 For this project I've used loads of materials from our shop, here are some of them:

Pavillion from Riddersholm Design

Huntington from Riddersholm Design

Fleamarket from Riddersholm Design
Lace "Camille", Riddersholm Design
Lace "Champagne", Riddersholm Design

Gardenia from Papercraft Scandinavia

Memo Pions from Ranger

Wooden Clothespins from Papercrafts Scandinavia

If you like what you see and would like to have some of these gorgeous materials to play with, 

take a peak in Sandra's great online store and just click yes Yes YES :D

I'll be adding some more detailed pictures in my blog,
so feel free to stop by to take a closer look,

With love