D is for Daffodils

Happy Friday to you all,

I am just a little excited after finishing work yesterday for two weeks - so plenty of time for crafting!

As it's Friday - it's time for our next letter over at the Alphabet Challenge and yes, you guessed - it's the letter 'D'. Caz chose our theme this week and we would love to see your projects featuring 'Daffodils' - it's about time we saw a little colour out there, instead of the white stuff! Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I must admit, I was struggling to find anything with daffodils on to use for this one - but found a wooden stamp which has a set of three flowers on (one being the daffodil). So, I masked the other two flowers and just stamped the daffodil three times to make a CAS card this week. The images are coloured with Promarkers and I chose a DL landscape size for a change, which I think suits the layout well. What do you think?

Don't forget to pop over to the blog to check out some more inspiration from my teamies and I shall look forward to visiting your blogs to check out all the cheery spring daffodils.

Hugz, Jan xx

Spring Colours

Wow! Here's my second post today - it's amazing what you get done when you don't have to go to work!

I have made a little card this morning for the challenge over at 'Lili's Little Fairies', which is one of my favourite stamp companies. The challenge this week is to use 'Spring Colours' and although we don't seem to be having much 'Spring' here, I thought a bit of yellow and green seemed in order. Here's what I made ...

I have used the gorgeous LOTV 'Blossom' image which is coloured with Promarkers - I thought this one was perfect for what should be Spring! Lol. The sentiment is also LOTV and all the papers are from my stash. I have also used my new TH 'On the Edge' butterfly die - which I am becoming addicted to. Hope this one brings a little cheer into the cold, dull days we are getting at the moment.

Hugz, Jan xx

Inspired by a Book Cover

Good morning to you all,

Something a little different for me today - first of all, I'm at home (changed my day off this week) because of the school residential last week. We all had a fabulous time out in the Peak District, even with the four inches of snow that came down overnight last Thursday!! Oh my, to say it was cold was an understatement!!

Well, moving on - it's time for another challenge over at Make my Monday and this week we have made crafty projects using a book cover as inspiration. Another first for me and I am loving the challenges this DT brings - here's a photo of the book we used ...

As soon as I saw this, I knew exactly which stamp I wanted to use - it's been sitting in my stash forever and I think it fits the challenge perfectly. Here's what I made ...

I used a Versamark inkpad to stamp onto the black card, then added touches of Cosmic Shimmer mica powders which produced an amazing shimmer (which doesn't show very well on my photo!)  I stamped the sentiment in the middle (again with Versamark) and embossed with white embossing powder. Extra embellishments include a piece of black organza ribbon and bow, together with a couple of little die-cut butterflies to echo the theme.

Don't forget to pop over to the blog and check out the work of my talented teamies for some further inspiration. I shall look forward to visiting your blogs this week to see your interpretation of the book too.

Right, off to do some crafting,

Hugz, Jan xx

Enjoy the Adventure

Happy Friday everyone,

Well, my blog post title is quite appropriate today - I've scheduled my post for this morning because I am currently in Castleton with 32 nine-year olds on our school residential at an outdoor pursuits centre - so definitely an adventure! The weather forecast was for rain, rain and more rain, so spare a thought for me please (and no laughing)!! Lol.

As it's Friday, it's time for another challenge over at the Polkadoodles challenge blog - this week we would love to see your projects which include some embossing (this can be heat or dry embossing). Here's what I made  for my DT inspiration ...

I've used the gorgeous 'Cherryblossom Lane CD' which was designed by the amazingly talented Nikky Hall. I love all the little characters on the CD - each one seems to have their own personality. I have made a 6x6" card using backing papers, an image and a sentiment from the CD.  The image is coloured with my Promarkers and matted onto a darker blue.  I have included some dry embossing on a piece of blue pearlised paper and finished with a piece of twine and a couple of blue buttons. 

Please pop over to the blog, if you can spare the time, and take a look at the other DT projects made by my talented teamies. I shall look forward to seeing your entries and visiting your blogs over the next week.

Hugz, Jan xx

Fairy Dust

Good morning to you all,

It's my turn to post over at the Scrapbook Stamp Society today and I have a fantasy card to show you using the gorgeous 'Fairy Dust' image by Morgan Fitzsimons, which can be found in their on-line shop HERE.

I made a 6x6" card using background papers from Raspberry Road.  I have coloured the image with Promarkers, picking out two colours from the background papers. I decided to give her purple hair to create more of a fantasy theme for the card and have added one of my new die-cut pieces behind the image, together with a piece of polkadot organza ribbon and a couple of die-cut butterflies. Hope you like it!

I would love to enter this into the challenge over at Scrapbook Stamp Society.

Hugz, Jan xx

Clean and Simple

Good morning to all my crafty friends and followers,

If all has gone according to plan I should be back at school this morning, after a couple of sick days last week.

And what better way to celebrate Monday morning than with a new challenge over at the 'Make My Monday' challenge blog. This week we would love to see your 'Clean and Simple' projects using a monotone theme. Well, I was half way there - I love working in monotone, but clean and simple - now there's a challenge for someone who doesn't know when to stop with the embellishments!! Lol. Here's what I made ...

Well, there you go - see what you can do when you try! (It was hard though, I must admit I wanted to stick a few more embellishment on it!) All I used was my favourite distress ink - Victorian Velvet (yes, again I hear you say!), one of my favourite wording stamps, a piece of pink organza ribbon and a little metal heart embellishment. Definitely clean and simple!

I hope you can join us for the challenge and I shall look forward to checking out your projects during the week. Don't forget to pop over and take a peek at my talented teamies too.

Hugz, Jan xx

Inky Fingers at Studio 12

Morning everyone,

It's my turn to post a little inspiration over on the Studio 12 blog today - here's what I made ...

This gorgeous heart image is one of the cutting files in the 'Welcome Home' section of the Picknix 1 CD. But as I don't have a cutting machine, I like to use them as .png images to print. I love the solid black outlines, which are great for printing onto an inky background, which I made using one of my favourite distress ink colours - Victorian Velvet, with a little added spritz of pearl shimmer mist.

Once finished, I popped the inked piece through my printer and added the heart image and the sentiment, which is also from the CD. I printed a second copy of the hearts and cut out some of the centres to make a mask, before stamping inside a couple with a small flower stamp. I coloured a couple of the other hearts with an extra layer of distress ink and then outlined the whole thing with a Promarker to give some shadow.

Hope you like it - have a great day.

Hugz, Jan xx

Red Velvet

Happy Saturday,

Well, think I'm just about recovered now and on the mend ready for work again next week.

I have a card to show you today which I made for the 'Midweek Magnolias Challenge' who are celebrating their first birthday over on the blog. I've tried something a little different today - what do you think??

I made a shaped card and tried placing the elements a little 'off the page' - but it was hard (my OCD was challenging my decisions!) Lol - I think it turned out ok.  I used one of my favourite Magnolia stamps - Princess Tilda and gave her a little red velvet dress for the occasion.  All the elements are from my stash, including my brand new TH butterfly die, which I definitely think I will be using a lot!!

I would also like to enter this card into the 'I Love Promarkers' challenge which is Ribbons and Bows.

Enjoy your weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Most Coveted

Hi there everyone,

Well, it's been a strange one for me this week with a couple of days at home with a nasty tummy bug! Glad that's over - only thing it was good for was my Slimming Class!! Lol.

Friday seems to have arrived even quicker and it's time for the next letter over at the Alphabet Challenge.  We are up to the letter 'C' and Roxx challenged us to use our most 'Coveted' supplies on our projects this week! I nearly had a seizure - I thought my most coveted stash was meant to just sit there and be adored, not actually be used. I had to put my thinking cap on and decided to make something that I could keep, so that my prize stash didn't wander too far away! Here's what I decided to use ...

My gorgeous 'Once upon a Time' paper stack 

which I have only ever sat and stroked 

and a pack of Tim Holtz Idea-ology 'Keyholes' 

which I always considered far too good to actually use!

Here's what I made ...

I decided to make a Notebook to jot my ideas in when I am trawling the internet (instead of collecting hundreds of different scraps of paper with ideas on them!)  It measures 18cm x 16cm and is made from thick black card.  I scored 2cm in from the left to make a spine, leaving a 16cm square area to decorate.  

The book front is covered with one of the gorgeous glittered papers from the stack, after I inked the edges with 'Black Soot' distress ink.  I added a black 'Memory Box Madera Corner' die-cut to the bottom left corner and the Tim Holtz 'Keyhole' to the centre right.  I used my little Sizzix Sidekick to cut the 'Notes' lettering and the little butterfly and added them to the front.  The spine is secured with a thin black hairband and a wooden lollypop stick (which has been coloured with a black Promarker), after I added some note pages inside.

Now I get to keep my little project and see my treasured stash at the same time, although I have to confess I did make a mould of the 'keyhole' before I used it - so I could reproduce it at a later date if necessary!! Lol. Hope you like it - don't forget to pop over to the blog to see what my teamies chose to use from their most 'Coveted' stash too.

Hugz, Jan xx

Make My Monday

Hello out there from a very cold Yorkshire,

Well, I can't believe it's snowing again! Thought we had done with all that rubbish, but obviously not. Hope it picks up for next week when we take 32 school children on an outdoor pursuit residential!!!

I have some great news to share with you today - I have joined the Design Team over at the 'Make My Monday' challenge blog. If you are not familiar with the challenge, pop over to the blog HERE. This is a weekly challenge and the theme this week is 'Heat Embossing' - here's what I made for my first challenge ...

This is what I love about being a DT member because you have the chance to demonstrate many different styles.  This one isn't my normal 'cutsie' style, but I absolutely loved getting out one of my old favourite wooden mounted stamps, heat gun and embossing powder. I kept it nice and simple to show off the embossing - can you spot the jigsaw piece in the middle? 

I shall look forward to visiting your blogs this week if you decide to play along.

Hugz, Jan xx

More Distressing

Hi there,

It's Friday again, which means it's time for another challenge over at Polkadoodles and this week we would love to see your 'Distressed' projects.  Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I decided to make a tag this week and used a piece of left over kraft card for the base.  I chose a couple of papers from the 'Sugarplum Daisy CD' and tore the edges to fit the tag.  I added 'Walnut Stain' and 'Tumbled Glass' distress inks to the edges before stitching them onto the tag.  I then curled and ripped the edges a little more for a proper distressed look.  I added a gorgeous digi image from the fantastic new 'Time for Tea' collection, which is called 'Fall Love' and coloured with my Promarkers.  I typed out the saying on my pc, printed it, tore it into pieces and inked all the edges with distress ink, before sticking them in place.  A little piece of fencing (from the same CD), a piece of blue ribbon and a couple of blue candi finish off the design.  Hope you like it!

I shall look forward to checking out your 'Distressed' projects on the blog.

Hugz, Jan xx

Follow your Dreams

Happy Wednesday,

Morning to you all - it's my turn to post over at the Scrapbook Stamp Society and here's the card I made ...

I used a 6x6" card blank and covered it once again with gorgeous paper from Raspberry Road.  The image has to be one of my favourites - it's called 'Tiny and Supersaurus' by Sherri Baldy and can be found in their on-line store HERE.

I have coloured it with Promarkers, added a little glitter and highlights with a white pen.  I wanted to keep this one fairly simple to showcase the image, so have used minimal embellishments, including a gorgeous Memory Box border die, a stamped sentiment, a couple of hearts and some tiny punched flowers.

Why not pop over to the blog and check out the work of my fab teamies.

Hugz, Jan xx

Peaches and Cream

Hello there crafty friends,

First, can I say a big welcome to my new followers - I hope you enjoying visiting from time to time.

I have a birthday card to show you this evening, which I made for a work colleague and also for the challenge over at 'Lili's Little Fairies' - which is 'Peaches and Cream', hence the title of my post. Here's what I made ...

This one is a 6x6" cream linen card blank which I covered with gorgeous peach paper from Raspberry Road - I am in love with these papers at the moment and if you haven't found them yet, check them out HERE. I added a second mat which is also mounted on cream cardstock and decorated with a 'Fleur de Lys' die-cut border.  The cute little image is 'LOTV - Blossom' and is coloured with my Promarkers and mounted onto a peach scalloped circle.  The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is also LOTV. Added embellishments include a piece of vintage lace, three die-cut flowers from scraps of matching paper, a little die-cut butterfly with added pearls, a couple of pearl hearts and some adhesive gems.

I would also like to enter this in the following challenges:

I Love Promarkers - Lace and/or Pearls
Joanna Sheen - Layer it Up

Thanx for looking today and thank you for all your kind comments on my previous posts.
Hugz, Jan xx

B is for Bottles

Happy Friday to you all,

My working week is done, so it's now time for some crafting (I'll do some washing and cleaning later!) Lol.

As it's Friday that means it's time for the next letter over at the Alphabet Challenge blog, and this week my teamie Avril has chosen 'Bottles' for the letter 'B'.  So, we would love to see your projects showing a bottle somewhere, or you could alter or decorate an actual bottle.  Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I've chosen a 6x6" card this time and decorated it with pink and green papers from my stash.  The gorgeous little 'Fizzy Moon - Let's Celebrate' image is adorable and is stamped and coloured with my Promarkers.  Added embellishments include pink polkadot organza ribbon, pink rose blooms, a pink button, a little pink die-cut butterfly and some pink adhesive gems.

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the fab work from my teamies. I shall look forward to seeing your entries over the next couple of weeks.

Hugz, Jan xx