Animal Friends

Good morning everyone,

I can't believe it's Friday again - it comes around so soon. It's time for another challenge over at the Polkadoodles Challenge blog and this week we would love to see your projects showing ANIMALS. This was such an easy one to do - I love any stamps/images depicting animals - here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I love these little hedgehogs - they can be found on the 'Sugarplum Daisy CD', together with the backing papers and the sentiment.  I coloured them with my Promarkers and added a few embellishments from my stash. Hope you like it!

Hugz, Jan xx

A Summer Scene

Happy Monday to you all,

Well it is for me - I have an extra day off work today (an 'insect' day as my kids call it at school)! Lol. So, a little extra crafting time, I think.

It's time for the next challenge over at 'Make My Monday' and this week we would love to see your projects 'Creating a Summer Scene'. This one had me stumped for a while - couldn't think of any of my vast stash of stamps that I could apply to the theme, then I remembered these ...

The stamps are all individual ones from 'Art Impressions' which I bought ages ago - with lots of opportunities for masking. The scene is made up from three main stamps (watering can, wood tub and plantpot) with some added foliage and flowers.  The main parts were stamped onto watercolour paper with archival black ink and coloured with my distress inks and the flowers and foliage were stamped directly with the coloured distress inks. I added some colour to the background, a little fence and some green leaves around the edge. I decided to make a little easel card using 'Circles and Lacy Circles' Spellbinder dies.  The little row of plantpots across the bottom were also stamped, masked and coloured with distress inks and used to provide a stopper for the card.  I added a cute little sentiment from my stash.

If you have time, please pop along to the main blog and check out the work of my teamies. 

Hugz, Jan xx

Studio 12 at Polkadoodles

Good Morning,

I do hope that everyone is having a great weekend. It's my turn to post over at the Polkadoodles blog today and I have made a little something using the Picknix 1 CD. I must admit I had a little panic when I realised it was my turn to post and the colour cartridge had ran out in my printer! So into my scraps I went and this is what I came up with ...

I printed the sentiment onto a piece of white card then added the little hexagons which I stamped and cut out of scraps of paper left over from a previous project! A little bit of distress ink and some added flowers to finish off. A really quick and simple card!

Don't forget to pop over to the Polkadoodles on-line store where you can order the brand new 'Bonbon Belles' double CD - I can't believe how much Nikky has packed on this one for only £17.99.

Hugz, Jan xx

I love Purple!

Good Morning everyone,

Well, that's another weekend over and the start of a new week means it's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday.  This week we have another of our famous colour challenges, chosen by Caz and we would love to see your projects using 'PURPLE plus one neutral colour'. What more could I ask for - anyone who knows me will know that I lurves purple!  Here's what I came up with for my DT inspiration ...

I decided to have another go with my inks and my new ink dusters, which I purchased at a recent show. I used three shades of purple - TH distress inks in 'Milled Lavender' (for the water), 'Dusty Concord' (for the sky) and an Adirondack in 'Aubergine' for the hills. I've also added a little black ink on the top of the hills to give some depth.  I chose black as my neutral colour so that I could stamp out the images and mat on a layer of black card.  I'm quite pleased with the results (although there are a couple of little mistakes in the reflection if you look closely!)

I can't wait to see your interpretations of the theme this week and shall look forward to visiting your blogs. Don't forget to check out the main blog for some fab inspiration from my teamies too.

Hugz, Jan xx

Happy Father's Day

Hi, hope everyone has had a great weekend.

Just a quick post tonight to show the card I made for my dad to celebrate Father's Day today ...

I visited one of my local craft fairs last weekend and the first stop is always LOTV to buy a new set of stamps! I always try and choose a range of stamps to top up my collection and couldn't wait to use this one, which seems perfect for the guys. It's called 'In the Country' and I absolutely adore the little sheepdog peeping through the gate. I coloured it with my Promarkers to match the backing papers and embellished with bits from my stash.

Although I lost my own dad when I was a teenager, I consider myself very lucky to have been blessed with a great stepdad - Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

Hugz, Jan xx

21 Today!

Well, not really!

It was my youngest daughter's 21st birthday last weekend, so I thought I would show you the card I made for her. She has just finished her degree and will be moving back home next month - can't wait!

I chose my favourite 8x8" card blank and covered it with backing paper by Basic Grey layered on top of a piece of turquoise cardstock (her favourite, hence the colour theme).  The main image is 'Nevaeh' by Saturated Canary (she looks a little like Samantha!) - I coloured her with my Promarkers and added a little glitter to the bottom of her dress.  The '21' is handmade and covered in turquoise glitter, together with the little flowers which are die-cut from scraps of the backing paper. The sentiment was created on my pc and I added a little silver butterfly charm for good luck.

Needless to say she had a fantastic day and loved her card (and her new laptop)!

Hugz, Jan xx

One for the Boys

Good Morning,

I've got that Friday feeling! My day off and time for a new challenge over at Polkadoodles. This week we would love to see your projects for 'BOYS/MEN'. Always a tricky one in my book - I have yet to make my dad's Father's Day card! Anyway, here's my DT inspiration for this week's challenge ...

I used one of the ready made templates from the fantastic 'Paper Boutique (Vol 1) CD' - all you have to do is print them out! How simple is that! I decided to make the card flat, rather than a shaped stand-up card, so I printed out all the elements and decoupaged them up, giving some real shape to the little car. The backing paper is also from the same CD and I printed the little guy from the 'Candy Doodles CD', coloured him with my Promarkers and then popped him behind the wheel of his new car. A little greeting from my pc and a few stars to finish off.

Hope you all have a great day and I shall look forward to seeing your interpretations of our theme over the next week.

Hugz, Jan xx

Keep it Clean and Simple

Morning everyone,

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and enjoyed some sunshine.  We celebrated my youngest daughter's 21st birthday yesterday - my I'm feeling old! Lol. I will upload her birthday card later in the week.

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week we would love to see your 'Clean and Simple' projects using FLOWERS. So no fancy distressing or embellishing - just a nice CAS look with flowers as the main theme.  Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

Well, this is a very different look for me (coming from the person who never knows when to stop embellishing!) and I am coming to love this style of crafting. They look so crisp and are so quick and easy to design. This one is 6x6" and is a piece of white pearlescent cardstock matted onto a square of turquoise textured card.  I used a flower die to cut out the flower shape, allowing the turquoise layer to show through. I then added a second, smaller flower cut from a scrap of patterned paper with a button centre to highlight. A piece of twine and a sentiment to finish off.

I shall look forward to visiting your blogs to see your interpretations of our theme this week.

Hugz, Jan xx

I for Image

Good Morning everyone,

It's Friday again - wow! it does come around quickly, or is it just me!  It's time for the next letter over at the Alphabet Challenge and we are upto the letter 'I'.  So our Sheena chose 'Image' and we would love to see your projects using an 'image' as the focal point of your card. Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I have gone back to my 8x8" base card for this one and used a gorgeous image by the very talented Sherry Baldy, called 'Frilly Lilly'. You can buy this image and many others at her on-line store HERE.  I have coloured her with my Promarkers to match the backing paper, which is by Magnolia.  I added the pale pink as a contrasting colour and embellished to my hearts content. The card is for my Mum's birthday next week - I hope she likes it!

I would like to enter this one into Sherry's Besties Challenge which is to 'Sew or add Buttons'.  I only used one button (in the centre of the floppy bow on her hat) so not sure if it counts.

I shall look forward to visiting your blogs to check out your gorgeous images for the Alphabet Challenge over the next couple of weeks - so happy crafting.

Hugz, Jan xx

Vintage Lace

Happy Monday,

I hope everyone enjoyed the lovely weather over the weekend - hope it's here to stay!

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week Suzi has chosen the theme. We would love to see your projects using 'Lace and/or Ribbon'. Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I made a 6x6" card using a pre-printed topper, something I don't usually use much - but I adore these little girls and I though it went so well with the gorgeous backing paper and ivory vintage lace from my stash.  I also added a piece of black ribbon to pick out the black in the backing paper. Embellishments include some little felt daisies, three adhesive pearls and some letter tiles to spell the word 'vintage'. I love the sepia tones on this one.

If you have a minute, please pop over to the blog and check out the work of my teamies.

Hugz, Jan xx