An English Country Garden

Hello blogging buddies and an especially warm welcome to Gabriella who is my newest follower! I hope you have fun on this crafty journey!

Hope you are well this weekend. I think the weather here is better than the forecast and my washing line is full, again! We've been having a bit of a clear out of stuff that's accumulated in eldest Bambino's wardrobes (ahem, it's not my crafty stash!) prior to us dismantling them and repainting her room in a couple of weeks, so I'm having a bit of an eBay weekend ;o)

It's also new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and this time we're being sponsored by Deedee from the now sadly closed Deedee's Digis. However, Deedee was determined to honour her sponsorship of this challenge, so she's let us have 2 digi sets for the lucky winner of this challenge.

Here's the sketch we're challenging you to create with this time:

and here's my take on it:

This is the card we gave to my M-i-L for her birthday which was yesterday, however she's in France at the mo (on an exchange trip with her church) so I've no idea if she likes it! I had fun making though and got a bit carried away with glue and sticky bits ;o)

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is a pre-made 12.5cm square cream card blank
• Mat and Layer card - is Kraft Cardstock
• Papers - are from the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10 (Spring 2016) CD-Rom and are a sneak peak from Sara Davies' newest Signature Collection - English Country Garden. Aren't these papers just dreamy? I've used a blue butterflies paper on a creamy background as my base layer, and then used a pale blue wood panel to use as my border.
  
• Sentiment - is from the Swirly String Sentiments Set by Lili of the Valley and I've stamped this directly onto the paper using Tuxedo Black Memento ink
• Flowers - are die cut and quilled using the Die'sire Stamen die and Kraft Cardstock (mental note to self: kraft cardstock is tough to quill!), together with the Die'sire Dahlia die and a floral pink paper from Sara's English County Garden Signature Collection. I've finished each flower by adding a clear gem to the centre.
• Leaf Sprays - are die cut from Kraft Cardstock using my Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower die, and before I removed the card from die, I ran it back through my Big Shot to emboss the vein on the leaf.
• Doily - is by Papermania which was sent to me by my lovely blogging buddy Rachel ... thanks honey 'cos it's perfect for this project!

I hope I have inspired you to play along with this sketch, but if you are in need of any further inspiration please head over to the Feeling Sketchy blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my talented teamies! Then don't forget to come back and share your creations with us. We'll be back with our next challenge on 1st June 2016.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• #CMC80 - Flowers at Card Mania Challenges
• Challenge #7 - Flower Garden at Crafty Enjoyments
• Challenge #49 - Birthday at Dies R Us Challenge
• Challenge #47 - Blossoms and/or Butterflies at Live & Love Crafts
• Challenge #02 - May at Classic Design Team Open Challenge
• Something beginning with B at CD Sunday - my B is Butterflies on my design paper
• Challenge 31 - In the Garden at Crafty Friends
• Flowers Everywhere at Di's Digi Designs Challenge
• Monthly Challenge 69 - Butterflies at Little Claire's

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs, Helen