Update

Hi All

Just a quick update to let you all know where we're at..........

My hubby and I spent 4 hours last night bagging, pricing and organising all the cards we've received this year ahead of our first fair of 2012 which is tomorrow.  I should have taken a picture of the chaos that was our living room but I couldn't get to the camera (honestly it looked like ones of those programmes about hoarders and I swear we almost lost the cat......) 

We have now had a staggering One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty Cards donated since the challenge started last year - yes 1980 - so give yourselves a well deserved round of applause :-D

Now it's over to me to sell them - hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow when we're at St Luke's very own Summer Fair  (it's very wet and windy currently) and we're outdoors with just a flimsy gazebo for shelter :(   I will update the sales total on Sunday once I dry out ;-)  The fair is being held at St Mary's Community Centre this year for anyone local and NOT at the hospice.

We also have another fair on the 23rd June at Heeley City Farm so I will have another update then.

Thanks again for your continued support.

Tara
x

May "One Layer" Winners

Well, even though it wasn't our most popular challenge (lol!) we still had some stunning entries and I can now announce our prize winner and our 5 runners up:

The winning card was this gorgeous fruity number by Susan Goetter - a perfect example of an one layer card with lovely stamp composition and brilliant colouring (don't those strawberries make your mouth water???)  Congrats Susan - you win our LOTV stamps :-D

Our runners up this month who become "St Luke's Lovelies" and will get a badge emailed shortly, in numerical order are:

Linby - we loved your text behind your image which added real depth without layers

 The Sticky Elf - your embossing and inking panel was bright and brilliant

 Sylvia Anne - again great inking technique with perfect over-stamping

Pauline - your little framed image was delightful

Pat K - the shading on your rose was sheer perfection!

Thanks so much for playing along ladies - hope you'll all be back with something furry this month :-D

One Layer Month

This month at St Luke's there is only one rule and that is to have no layers on your card - stamp, draw, ink, emboss - whatever technique you fancy  - just do it directly onto the base card.

Now I know for some people a one layer card is a very scary prospect, it was for me when I first started to try, but it does get easier with practice - and you've got a whole month to play along and get in lots of practice and you may even end up as the recipient of this months prize.  We are being sponsored again by the lovely people over at Lili of the Valley and we have a pair of their gorgeous stamps to give away.

 

And so, to the wonderful inspiration parade from the design team - lots of great projects to get your creative juices flowing.

Anne

Anne - she loves one layer so much she did us two this month!

Deborah

is taking a break this month while she unpacks lots of boxes after moving to the USA

Jenny

Lynne

Sylvie

Tara

Tara - I like one layer too so decided to give you double the inspiration!

So now - it's over to you - dare to go one-layer!

Mid Month Inspiration

It seems that our one layer challenge is scaring you all this month - we know it can be scary at first, but trust us, once you break your one layer duck, you'll be making them all the time as they're such fun and so easy and quick once you get to grips with them. 

So, we thought we'd offer a little more inspiration to see if we can tempt a few more of you to play along.  The easiest technique to use if you want to get lots of pattern but keep to one layer is to use masking which Deborah has done one her vibrant card.  Lynne has simply stamped and coloured directly onto her card - it doesn't get much easier than that now does it?  Sylvie stamped a gorgeous image in 3 places on her card in black and added a little colour with promarkers.   I've taken a modern approach and kept it clean and simple with a masked strip for the sentiment across a block print flower stamp.

Deborah

 

Lynne

Sylvie

Tara

Do come and join the fun - you've still got a couple of weeks to perfect your technique.

April Winners and Design Team in Print!

It's time for a couple of announcements here on the St Luke's blog - firstly it's time to announce the winners of our anniversary "bling it up" challenge.

Our overall winner last month was Sian - she definitely met the "bling" brief head on and we loved that she took her inspiration from Jesse J's nails ;-)

Drop me an email Sian with your postal address and I'll get your bumper prize in the post after the bank holiday :-D

Our top 4 last month were, in numerical order:

Gillian - we loved your bling and big fluffy bow

Loli - your faberge style egg was an amazing creation

Vicky - just the sweetest get well soon card

Pauline - the layers of pattern were perfection

Thanks ladies - your blog badges will be emailed to you shortly.


We also have a bit of exciting news about some of the Design Team here at St Luke's - we're in print!!!   Lynne, Jenny and I (Tara) are all featured in the 100th edition of Papercraft Inspirations and we're all pretty excited about being published for the first time so hope you'll indulge us as we shout it from the rooftops ;-)  Here's a link to their beautiful blogs page where you can see a link to our cards that have been featured http://papercraftinspirations.themakingspot.com/blog/issue-100s-beautiful-blogs  and if you want to see us in paper, the magazine will be in your stores on 9th May.

Happy Anniversary to us!

It's our anniversary this month - this little fundraising blog has been going for a whole year and I can't quite believe it!  You've all been wonderfully generous in this last 12 months and we're growing and gaining lots of lovely blog buddies along the way - thank you all!

So, what better way to celebrate an anniversary than with a bit of bling?  So this month we want you to bring out your inner magpie and some sparkle to your creation with gems, glitter, beads or anything shiny :-)   A nice and easy challenge to encourage you all to play along this month - we'd love to celebrate our 1st anniversary by reaching 100 entries.

We have a bumper prize package this month in celebration of our anniversary worth in excess of £50.

It was a little hard to photograph to show it all clearly, so in case you can't make it out, here's a list of everything that is included in the bumper prize package:

A rainbow pack of felt sheets

A ribbon girl kit (yellow)

2 packs of antique gold effect embossed stickers

2 packs of assorted flowers

2 sheets of unmounted fairy and flower rubber stamps

a set of Papermania Christmas cling stamps

a Ladybug Crafts Ink Magnum cling stamp

4 packs of seed beads

a bunch of gold pearl sprays

a bunch of iridescent flower sprays

a bunch of gold leaf sprays

and a perfect Bow Maker MkII

If you need a little inspiration to get your mojo working, then just check out the wonderful creations from our super talented design team:

Anne

Deborah

Jenny

Lynne

Sylvie

Tara

So now it's over to you - we're looking forward to seeing all the sparkle :-)

March Winners

Good morning and Happy Easter to all our lovely followers - hope you are enjoying a fabulous day [and lots of chocolate ;-)  ]

It's been a real challenge picking our winner for last month's spring challenge - we have a record number of entries and they were all just gorgeous - spring certainly seemed to be a popular challenge with you all.  After much deliberation our overall winner is Jakki  with her beautiful soft pink and green card.  The layers are just gorgeous and the sentiment is certainly all about spring!   Jakki wins the magazine and Waltzingmouse stamp set.

For a record number of entries, we also have a record number of runners up who all get our St Luke's Lovelies badge:

All your cards were very different but all made us think of spring so thanks for sharing them with us.  Hope you'll all be back to have a go in our blingy anniversary challenge too.