Digital Crafting at Studio 12

Morning everyone,

I hope this post finds you all well - I should be safely on my way down south now for a week in the rain (I mean sun!!) with my family and two little doggies.

It's my turn to post over at the Studio 12 blog again today and I have a digital project to show you (another of the samples that I made for the launch show).  Here goes ...

When I saw the little sewing bobbin on the 'All Sewn Up' section of the Picknix Collection CD I knew straight away how I wanted to use it.  I simply enlarged the bobbin to a reasonable card size, then layered up lots of the sewing elements from the embellishment section on top and added one of the sentiments.  I printed it off and stuck it to a piece of white card and cut around the bobbin to make a very simple shaped card.  As the card is produced digitally it is completely flat - but the shadows do make it look layered - it's one of those that you have to touch just to prove that it is actually flat!

Hope you all have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Summer!

Hi there folks,

Well, it's Friday - that means only one thing - it's Polkadoodles challenge day.  This week the theme is 'Summer' and the design team have created lots of lovely themed projects over on the challenge blog for you to look at.  I have used my favourite 8x8" scalloped card and here's what I made ...

I used some gorgeous pastel papers from the 'Sundae of Seasons' CD, together with a fab little flower image from the same CD.  The main image is an 'Emma Canning' design and she is very aptly called 'Summer' and has been coloured with my Promarkers.  A collection of flowers accent the corner of the image and are enhanced with my favourite Marianne leaf die (LR0226).  I also used a Marianne die (LR0191) to display the sentiment (which is from the latest Pen & Paper Circle stamp set).  Extra embellishments include some pale pink satin ribbon, tiny punched daisies, a pink dragonfly brad and some taupe adhesive gems to finish the bottom corner.

I'm off on my holidays for a week early tomorrow morning, so I won't be around until next weekend to catch up with comments on all my favourite blogs out there.

See you all soon,

Hugz, Jan xx

Pen Holder

Hi there everyone,

I must say I am a little giddy today - I finished school on Thursday for the summer (if we get one!) so I have loadz of time for my crafting.

It's my turn to post over on the Studio 12 blog today, but I have posted here too for those of you who haven't discovered Stuido 12 yet.

I have something a little different today, made using the 'Welcome Home' section of the fantastic Picknix Collection CD, designed by the very talented Nikky Hall at Polkadoodles.  Here's what I made ...

This project started out life as a plain brown shaped chipboard container (which I bought recently at a craft fayre).  I painted the base and the top edge with a layer of Gesso, then added some pearlised turquoise paint and left to dry.  I covered the piece with paper from the CD, which has been inked around the edges with Broken China distress ink.  I also used a spray bottle top to stamp some extra circles onto the paper pieces using the same ink, for extra effect.  I added a piece of pale blue polkadot organza ribbon from my stash and two hearts (printed from the CD).  Embellishments include a die-cut swirl, some turquoise adhesive gems, two pale blue hat pins, two blue roses and a pretty bow to match the ribbon.  I kept the rest of the pot fairly simple, with just one heart on the back ...

I hope this shows how versatile the CD can be - it doesn't always have to be a card, there are endless projects to make using all the fantastic papers and embellishments on the CD.  If you haven't discovered Studio 12 yet, pop over to the blog here and take a peek.

Just before I go, don't forget that our Nikky (Chief Polkadoodler) is on Create and Craft today (11am and 4pm) showcasing a new Christmas CD - any bets on how long it will take to sell out?

Have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Shadow Box

Morning everyone,

We have actually had a couple of sunny days here this week, but the rain is back again now.

I have a project from the 'Studio 12 Picknix collection CD' to show you today, which can also be found on the Studio 12 blog today too.  If you haven't visited the blog yet, it features loads of fantastic projects from the Studio 12 design team, illustrating just what you can do with the CD, so pop over and take a peek.

This project is a Shadow Box and uses digital images from the 'Heavenly Garden' section of the CD.  Some of the images have been used digitally and some have been printed off and cut out, before using.  Here's what it looks like ...

The projects consists of two pieces of A5 card and two concertina spine dividers.  I just adore the tree image with the cute little tree houses in and wanted this to be the main focal point of the project.  I printed both the tree house and the cloud onto a piece of plain paper and stuck it onto the back piece of A5 card.  I made a frame out of the second piece of A5 card and covered this with paper from the collection.  I added acetate into the window space and added the fence and watering can behind the acetate.  The extra flowers, leaves and bunting were added to the front of the window.  A cute little sentiment from the collection finishes off the project.  It is difficult to see the dimension in the photo, but it does have some depth in real life, making a cool 3D project.  Hope you like it :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

A very British Olympic Blog Hop

Good morning everyone,

What an exciting Friday - not only is it Polkadoodles challenge day, we are having a BLOG HOP in celebration of the Olympics which are due to begin later this month.  So, if you arrived here from LOU's blog you are in the right place.

In order to take part in the hop, you must enter a project over at the Polkadoodles challenge blog using a 'Red, White and Blue' theme - showing what Britain means to you.  Then 'hop' along and visit each member of our participating DT and leave them a comment on their blog.  Please remember that you must complete both parts of the challenge (a project and the hop) in order to be in with a chance of winning some fabulous prizes.

Our 'First Prize' is a copy of the new

  'Studio 12 Picknix Collection CD', 

with a second and third prize on offer of a brilliant

  'Emma Canning digital download'.

The design team have been busy with lots of inspirational ideas over at the Polkadoodles challenge blog and here's what I designed for the challenge ...

As I have been working on the topic of the 'Olympics' with the children at school this term, I decided to make a scrapbook page this week to record some of the facts that we found out.  It is an 8x8" layout and uses papers from the 'Britannia collection' designed by Nikky Hall.  The image is from the 'Sugar Plum Daisy' CD and is coloured with Promarkers (with a little bit of paper piecing on her t-shirt from a scrap of the union flag paper).  I added a little union flag in her hand, so she looks as if she is celebrating a win! The lettering was produced on my PC and printed onto scraps of the papers.  The five circles are meant to represent the five Olympic rings and each contain a fact about the Olympics (ancient and modern).  

Right onto the important stuff, if you have left a comment below and followed my blog you now need to pop over to 'CLAIRE P' for the next stage in the hop.  If you would like to link to the main blog hop or to this page on your own blog to help spread the word - that would be great too :)

All there is left to say it 'Good Luck' and I shall enjoy reading all your comments. Big hugz, Jan xx

Birthday Time Again ...

Morning everyone,

We have another family birthday today - this time it's my eldest daughter's turn, so I thought I would show you her card.  She loves anything with a 'gothicky' look, but thankfully never went through the gothic appearance phase! Lol - so her card has a bit of a gothic feel to it.  Here's what I made ...

I love these digital images from Kenny K - this one is called 'Devilish Donna' and she fits the bill perfectly.  I picked the black and purple colour scheme as it is one of Vanessa's favourites.  I seem to have a bit of a thing for feathers at the moment too, but love how they look on the card.  Papers are from my stash and the sentiment is 'Little Claire's Designs'.  If you would like any more details, you know where to find me.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

Hugz, Jan xx

Keep it Simple at Studio 12

Happy Saturday from a very wet Yorkshire!

I have a really simple card today which was designed for the 'Studio 12 blog', for those occasions when you need a quick card.  The new Picknix CD (designed by the very talented Nikky Hall from Polkadoodles) has so many elements to choose from, it actually took me longer to decide what to use than actually make the card! Lol.  The CD has three fantastic collections and up until now I have stayed within one collection, but I set myself a little challenge to use at least one element from each collection on this one - just to be different.  Here's what I made ...

I'm in love with my kraft card at the moment and I think it blends really well with the pretty pink polkadot paper (wow, my pupils would be thrilled with that little bit of alliteration!) from the 'Welcome Home' section. I resized the paper so I only printed what I needed for the card, then added the sentiment (from the 'Heavenly Garden' section) and the piece of ribbon (from the 'All Sewn Up' section) before printing.  The flower is also from the 'Heavenly Garden' section and the quality of the images is so good it looks just like a real flowerhead. A bit more kraft card for matting, a couple of die-cut swirls and four matching brads to finish.  It only took me 20 minutes to assemble the card, once I had chosen elements from the CD - nice and quick for those occasions when you need a card in a hurry.

Don't forget to check out the Studio 12 blog where you will find lots of inspiration from my fellow teamies on how to use your Picknix CD.

Enjoy the weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx