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Saturday 28 April 2012

In The Garden.....

Hi, I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  Did anyone go to Aintree Racecourse Craft Fair?  I did, I had a lovely day and picked up some nice crafty bits to play with.  To be honest, with a lot of people trying out PanPastels and Memory Box dies, I was starting to feel a bit left out, so I felt I had to add to my stash :-)  I got six of the PP pale tints to start with, because I love pastel colours, and they are soooo beautiful - I'm now addicted and want more, and have used them on this jumbo altered coaster which cost me all of 5p in a charity shop (and started it's altered journey very differently last week, lol).

I also met Marie from Bailey Rosy (former Dolly Daydreams) at Aintree - what a lovely person!  As she is also from Liverpool, it was a foregone conclusion that she'd have a great sense of humour, but what I didn't know was that she's from about 2 miles away from me (at the most), and we went to the same high school, would you believe!!!  It was like meeting a long-lost friend from school!

The theme for The Stampsmith Challenge this month is The Colours of Spring - this is one of my favourite stamp ranges as their images are beautiful.  I wanted to try and do something a little different so I've used an image from the Pin Ups sheet, and turned her into "Betty, the gardener":

Using Kraft cardstock attached to the coaster, and a mask (A Touch of Mica), I've used the pale yellow PanPastel to create the brick wall.  I've then used a Memory Box die to create the bottom border coloured with green PP, then coloured the flower heads with the yellow and pink.

The sentiments were also coloured with the green, and the CI flourish was stamped with a pale pink acrylic paint dabber.  All the ribbons are from MME and the little watering can is from Mei Flower.  Betty herself (she's not really called Betty!) was stamped in Coffee Archival Ink - my other half, Dave, bought me the Pin Ups plate at Xmas but I've had a bit of trouble stamping the images from this particular one - I've stamped this image onto Clarity Stamps' silk, matt-coated cardstock this time and it's turned out better, so maybe it was my cardstock.
I usually take my blog photos on my mobile as it has a great camera on it, but it's in for repair at the moment (overuse of the USB port, lol) so I've had to use my old camera which hasn't picked up the colours quite as well as I'd like - it's  much more colourful in real life.  If it's back over the next couple of days, I'll update the photos.

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:-

Moving Along With The Times - Garden or Flowers
Shelley's Images Blog - Pastels, Kraft & Flowers
Southern Girls Challenge - Get Your Girly On
Stampavie and More - Spring
Flourishes/Timeless Tuesday - Bingo (I've used the middle line across)

I hope you like it.

Maria x

19 comments:

Mau xx said...

What a cute fun card, Love this die and it suits the image brilliantly.
Thanks for taking part in the MAWTT challenge
Mau xx

Darlene said...

So cute ... love the little watering can charm! Thanks so much for joining our "HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW" challenge at Shelly's Images! Please come back and join us again real soon!!
Darlene
Shelly's Images DT
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS

Amanda said...

Really nice card and I love how the diecut looks across the bottom :)

Thank you for joining us in Flourishes Timeless Tuesday!

~ Amanda :)

Yvonne Garner said...

Love you card! What fun! Best wishes, Yvonne

Shell Shearer Swinscoe said...

LOL love you coaster, fab image & sentiment!

Thank you for sharing with us at MAWTT this week, good luck!
Hugs Shell xx

Pia S said...

What a fun card! Love the pinup, the sentiment and that little watercan charm. Great!

marion said...

Looks lovely !Hugs, Marion

Jean said...

What a fun piece, I love that die cut border. Jean x

Anonymous said...

Hi Maria
Firstly, apologies for not being in contact.
I am not surprised you had fun as she is such a lovely woman.
Now onto Betty, oh this is so fabulous and creative. You have made her into a Minx!!!
Thank you for once again supporting TSC and Good Luck with the Prize Draw.
Wishes
Lynne

Valerie H. Marshall said...

How marvelous!! I'm thinking that Betty would have cars lined up for miles to see her work in the garden! LOL!! Wonderful creation for the Springtime Stampsmith Challenge!
Val ;)

Unknown said...

Wonderful creation! I love the flower border die you used! Thank you for playing along at the FTTC.

Anne H. said...

Such a lovely card.
Thanks for joining us at Stampavie and More.
Anne

hazel said...

What a fun coaster Maria, I love it.
xxx Hazel.

Anonymous said...

Hi Maria, thanks for your lovely words and the feeling is mutual, it was so lovely to meet you wish it could have been for longer. Just arrived home so am a bit late in commenting. Love this beauty the image is great and love the die cuts a saucy little number if ever I saw one !The addition of the watering can is such a fun touch too.

Take care

Marie

Anonymous said...

Hi Maria, thanks for your lovely words and the feeling is mutual, it was so lovely to meet you wish it could have been for longer. Just arrived home so am a bit late in commenting. Love this beauty the image is great and love the die cuts a saucy little number if ever I saw one !The addition of the watering can is such a fun touch too.

Take care

Marie

Jen Leeflang said...

What a fun card - LOVE your sense of humour!
Thanks for entering our challenge at Shelly's images this week! Good luck! Please pop back to the blog tomorrow to see if you're a winner and to join in our next exciting challenge!
luv'n huggz
Jen Leeflang
Shelly's Images DT

sammi said...

This coaster is wonderful! Thank you so much for playing along with us in our “How Does Your Garden Grow” challenge at Shelly's Images We're so happy you joined us! ~~Sammibug~~ Shelly's Images DT

Rene Sharp said...

What a gorgeous creation Maria, LOVE it!!! Thanks for playing along with us at Southern Girls Challenge. Smiles, Rene' :)

Vicky Hayes said...

It sounds as if you had a lovely time at Aintree Maria. I'm a big fan of Marie as she always has me giggling with her posts and her work is amazing and I loved the photo of you two on her blog.

Your Betty the gardener piece is fabulous - did she dress in the dark?! I love the way you coloured the die cut flowers. Vicky x