No Balls Allowed!

Good morning,

Well, that was a weekend I would like to forget - I had the worst 'man flu' descend on me, proper poorly! Quite ironic when I am booked to have my flu jab next weekend, don't you think. Anyway, think I'm on the mend now - well at least  I am upright! Lol.

It's time for our next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week Caz has chosen our theme. We would love to see your male themed projects showcasing the theme 

'NO BALLS ALLOWED'

 (SPORT)

Well, this team is really challenging me - both my sporty stamps have the use of balls! So off I went to search and came up with this cute digital image (I hope it's classed as a sport!). Here's what I made ...

My apologies for the poor picture quality - the only way to describe the day here is GREY!! 

I printed both the image and the quote from my pc, then coloured it with my Promarkers. I used my Clarity brick stencil to brush a little Tea Dye distress ink along the background to create the effect of a wall, then used my SU 'splatter' stamp with Fired Brick distress ink (I was going for the graffiti look in my mind). Hope you like it.

Why not pop over to the main blog and take a peek at what my teamies made too - see you there.

Hugz, Jan xx

Here Come the Girls

Hi there everyone,

I'm back today with details of the next theme over at my own challenge blog at Fantasy Stampers. We had a terrific response to our Autumn Colours last time - so if you came and played along, thank you so much.

For the next two weeks we have a real easy theme - so I hope we will see you all again with your makes for our challenge

'HERE COME THE GIRLS'

We would love to see anything girlie - it can be any kind of project, it doesn't have to be a card. Although I did stick with the traditional for my DT inspiration this time - here's what I made ...

This has to be one of my favourite kind of cards to make - all pink and girly, and I made it using some of my favourite products with the Lily of the Valley monthly challenge in mind. Their theme is 'Pretty Papers' and they have some gorgeous ones too - I used three different patterns from the 'Always and Forever' pad (all pink, and all nice and girly too).

I made an 8x8" card all layered up with lots of different shapes, backed with a lovely co-orinating burgundy cardstock.  Each layer is inked around the edges using Victorian Velvet distress ink.

The main image is also LOTV - the 'Birthday Fairy' and she stamped twice, coloured with my Promarkers and layered to give a decoupage effect (although this doesn't show well in my photo).  

I also used the LOTV postcard as part of my background layers and a little sentiment is stamped from their 'Everyday Grungy Sentiments'.

Extra embellies include a little die-cut bunting using scraps of the card and paper, a chipboard flower which I embossed with pink frantage powder, a piece of polkadot ribbon and a few aurora adhesive crystals.

Very much my usual design - now step away from the card Jan! Lol.

Right I'm off to go enter the challenge now. I hope you can come and play along with your own 'girly' makes - see you there. 

LOTV Ideas to Inspire Challenge - Pretty Papers

Hugz, Jan xx

Water

Hello there,

Wow, how the weeks pass by - it's time for our next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week Kim has chosen the theme of 

'WATER'

Now this one presented a problem - I had a total blank when I thought about which stamps I could use for this one, so decided to improvise instead. Here's what I came up with for my DT inspiration ...

I began with a 6x6" white card blank and added a slightly smaller white layer which I ran through a dotty embossing folder (sort of looks like bubbles, I thought). 

The top layer is a print I pulled from my geli plate - I used Tumbled Glass ink first, covered the geli plate, then removed a little of the ink with a piece of scrunched up paper, then pulled the first print. I repeated the same process with a little Broken China distress ink (sort of looks like water, I thought). 

The quote was printed on my pc, together with the little water droplets, which I covered with glossy accents to make them look realistic. I added a stamped 'Get Well Soon' quote, together with a piece of ribbon and a few aurora self adhesive crystals. I hope it fits the theme!

Hope you can come and join us with your own 'Water' themed projects.

Hugz, Jan xx 

Blue at My Besties UK

Good morning,

I hope everyone had a great weekend - mine involved some impromptu crafty shopping with my baby girl. I bought one or two bits and pieces to add to my stash - including a fab new paper pad which was reduced in the clearance section - bargain!

On a crafty note, it's time for our next challenge over at My Besties UK and this week Carol challenge the design team to use the colour blue. So, I decided to be a little alternate today and use one of Sherri's little boy images for a change - here's what I ended up with for my DT inspiration ...

I delved into my stash of plain tags for this one and covered it with a piece of card which I had inked with various blue distress inks. I also ran it through my hexagon embossing folder and applied a little gilding wax to highlight areas to make the background.

The image was coloured with my Promarkers and added to the tag, along with the wording 'Little Boy Blue' which I created on my pc, then tore and inked around the edges.

Embellishments include a piece of pale blue polkadot ribbon, a few blue buttons, some blue die-cut stars and a couple of blue brads. Righty, I think there is sufficient blue there, don't you! Lol.

Hope you will come and join us with your own 'blue' creations this time - if you would like some more inspiration, why not pop over to the main blog and check out what my teamies made too.

Hugz, Jan xx

No Pretty Papers!

Good morning,

I'm back today with news of our next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week Helen has chosen the theme of

'NO PRETTY PAPERS'

Now, normally I would be lost without my enormous stash of pretty papers, but I must admit I am beginning to enjoy making my own backgrounds and this challenge provides a great opportunity to play. So, here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

This one is made with my brand new stamps from Creative Expressions. The background is stamped using the script stamp and Faded Denim distress ink (first and second generation to get the difference in shading). I then ran it through a script embossing folder for extra detail and texture.

The main focal stamp is one of the gorgeous old cars from the 'Vintage Cars' stamp set. I have coloured it with my Promarkers then added glossy accents to the blue paintwork to make it shiny.  The sentiment is also from the same set.

Added embellishments include a piece of navy ribbon and a few card candi, coloured with my Promarkers to match the colour scheme.

I hope you will come and play with us this time.

Hugz, Jan xx

Autumn Colours

Good morning,

I hope you all have plans for a great weekend.

It's time for our next theme over at Fantasy Stampers and for the next two weeks we have a photo inspiration challenge based around 'AUTUMN COLOURS'. Here's the photo we used ...

I love this time of year - the colours are fabulous and I tried to echo this in my DT project - here's what I made ...

This one is 6x6" in size using brown cardstock for the main card - layered with burgundy and then cream. The sentiments are stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with copper powder. All the leaves were stamped out onto a piece of book paper that I coloured with Dylusion inks, then embossed with copper powder and cut out - it took me ages! I also used some extra die-cut foliage to build up the corner. There is also a little pumpkin nestled in the leaves which began life as a silver charm, but I also embossed him with copper powder to blend in. A few inky splatters, some adhesive pearls and a bit of copper glitter to finish off.

I hope you will come and play along with your own Autumn projects - see you there.

Hugz, Jan xx

P for Pretty Petals

Hi there everyone,

Well that's another of my working weeks over - time to play in the craft room today!

Over at the Alphabet Challenge we are ready for the next letter and this time it's my turn to choose the theme - so for the letter 'P' I chose

'PRETTY PETALS'

I adore making flowers to put on my cards, so this one was an easy one for me. Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

My apologies for the rubbish photo - I forgot that we are losing daylight at an alarming rate and left it a little late to take my piccie!

My card is 6x6" layered with pink vellum and then another, slightly smaller layer of white card which I passed through one of my embossing folders.

The flowers are Stampin Up 'Petite Petals' and are all stamped on white vellum using a Versamark inkpad. I embossed half of them with white embossing powder and the other half with pink embossing powder, then punched them out using the corresponding Stampin Up punch. I added co-ordinating pearls to the centre of all the flowers before adding them to my card.

I added a torn strip of the pink vellum to the bottom of the card, which has the word 'Inspire' stamped and embossed in white - this was then wrapped around the card and I also added a couple of pink brads for effect.

Hope you can join us this time.

Hugz, Jan xx

CAS at Cardz 4 Guyz

Hello there,

I'm back today with our next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week Julie has challenged us to make a 'CLEAN & SIMPLE' (CAS) card. So, here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

After all my usual 'put as much as I can' on a card - I am really getting to like making these clean & simple looks. This one measures 6x6" and I used just one piece of plain milk card. I stuck a small 'Post It' note in the centre to mask out the plain square, then used a range of my clock stamps to make a border. I added a little Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges and then removed the mask. I stamped a little 'Good Luck' greeting and added three tiny tags, each stamped with the letters to make 'Dad' and secured them with three brads. Simples!

I hope you can join us this week with your own Clean & Simple projects.

Hugz, Jan xx

Winged Fairies

Good morning,

I hope everyone had a great weekend, despite the awful rain on Saturday - we were struggling for it to get light all day here!

Are you ready for another challenge over at My Besties UK? Although our challenges are now always 'Anything Goes', our leader Carol still likes to offer the option of a theme and challenges the design team to use it. So for the next couple of weeks we would love to see your projects using

'WINGS'

Here's what I created for my DT inspiration using Sherri's gorgeous 'Winged Fairies' image ...

This one is an 8x8" design using backing papers from my stash layered on co-ordinated cardstock. The image is coloured with my Promarkers and I stamped and embossed all the way around the edge, and added a little glitter to their wings.  Added embellishments include some die-cut butterflies, a die-cut fence, three pretty paper roses, and some adhesive pearls.  The sentiment is stamped using a Clarity word chain.

Hope you can join us this time.

Hugz, Jan xx

Man's Best Friend

Happy Tuesday,

It's time for our next theme over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this one is a very apt one for me, as those of you that know me, know I lurve my little doggies! So for the next week we would love to see your projects showcasing the theme

'MAN'S BEST FRIEND'

Now, one of my little fur babies has been poorly over the weekend with a bad tummy bug - but after three trips to the vets and some antibiotics I hope she is on the mend. So in between returning to school yesterday and a trip to the vets, here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

It was quite a quick one using another freebie stamp from my Craft Stamper magazine - I love this little pooch. I stamped him three times in Sepia Ink, then punched out the squares and coloured the images with my Promarkers. I arranged them on three different layers, together with a pc generated sentiment and hey presto. Hope you like it!

Hope we will see you over at the challenge this time.

Hugz, Jan xx