Under Water

Good Morning,

I am a little over excited today as I picked up my new car yesterday (well, not brand new - but new to me). I was a little sad as I said goodbye to my trusty little car that I've had for the last ten years, but it was time to upgrade before it started costing me too much money. So, I've driven to work in it for the first time this morning, so fingers crossed!

I have my next DT project for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz today, and my teamie Jane has chosen the theme

'UNDER WATER'

Now, I had to think outside the box for this one as all I could find in my vast array of stamps were a couple of little mermaids (but wasn't sure about them for a male themed card). Anyway, I found this little guy in my 'go to' freebie box (which contains all my free stamps from my Craft Stamper magazines) and isn't he just too cute ...

The layout is completely flat, just layered onto a piece of co-ordinating cardstock.

First I masked out the vertical strip using a few sticky notes, then added some distress ink in Evergreen Bough and Mermaid Lagoon. I stamped down the left hand side with a little swirly stamp, then added my main focal image and a couple of starfish (well, stars anyway!)

The little sea horse is paper pieced so he stands out from the background, and I coloured all the bubbles with a glitter pen, then added some glossy accents to make then shine.

A stamped sentiment and a piece of co-ordinating twine to finish off.

Hugz, Jan xx

What's in your Basket?

Good Morning,

I have my next DT project for you as we have a brand new theme over at the Alphabet Challenge today. This time Jackie has chosen a popular theme for the letter 'Y' - we are letting 'YOU CHOOSE' for this one, so pretty much anything goes.

Here's what I made from the brand new issue of the Crafter's Inspiration magazine which came out a couple of weeks ago ...

This cute little basket was much easier to make than I anticipated and is made from just one piece of A4 cardstock.

It's decorated with papers from the 'English Country Garden' range from Sara's Signature Collection. The flowers are die-cut from scraps of the papers using a die from the same range.

I added a couple of pearl strings to the handle, together with three little cute hanging hearts and another die-cut flower for decoration.

My little basket is currently residing in the Crafter's Companion shop as a sample, but I think it would also look very sweet full of candy or little chocolate eggs for Easter.

Hope you will come and join us with your own projects.

Hugz, Jan xx

Teenage Birthday

Hello there,

I wanted to say a big 'Thank You' to my friends and followers today, and for the lovely kind words that many of you leave in my comments box - they are very much appreciated, and I can only apologise for my tardiness in returning the favour.

I'm back today with another DT project for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and this time Babs has chosen the theme

'CARDS FOR TEENZ'

Here's what I made for the challenge ...

This one came together quite quickly using a cream scalloped edge 6" x 6" card blank as a base.

I added a piece of beautifully glittered design paper from my stash. The second layer is a piece of co-ordinating design paper which I passed through my 'Happy Birthday' embossing folder from the 'Birthday Party' Signature Collection by Sara Davies. I cut the left hand edge with a border die to give a little extra detail.

The topper is partially embossed with a pretty flower folder, then I stamped the word 'Sweet' using my single alphabet letter stamps. The numbers are die-cut using a die also from the 'Birthday Party' collection (and were sneakily cut from the background piece, under the second layer which is now hidden!)

A few embellishment to finish off, including a piece of organza ribbon, a pretty flower with a nice pearl centre, a couple of punched hearts and a sweet little silver balloon charm.

Hope you can come and join us with your own 'teenage' creations this time.
Hugz, Jan xx

Love You!

Hello,

Well, I had my first Sunday off since starting my new job (apart from the Christmas holiday ones) and what did I do - craft of course! I have two family birthdays coming up this week so needed to get busy - my hubby and my sister both celebrate their birthdays within two days of each other, so a busy week. I will show you their cards at a later date though.

I have my next DT project for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz today and Caz has chosen a very appropriate theme for the time of year. Here's what I made for our new challenge

'LOVE YOU!'

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. A little bit of stamping and some die-cutting made this an easy one to put together. I love the cute little wooden heart just to finish off.

The text is actually a scrap of design paper, the background stamping is from my 'Gorgeous Grunge' set by Stampin' Up (a real go-to stamp set - I love it!) The hearts are cut using Leonie Pujol's mixed media dies and I cut them from several scraps of design paper and cardstock.

Hope to see you at the challenge,

Hugz, Jan xx

Love is in the Air

Good morning,

I hope everyone is keeping well - I have been keeping busy with my new job and did my third demonstration day last weekend. I was up in Beverley and had the company of some lovely crafty people, many of which stayed to watch me all day - so I just wanted to say 'Hello' if any of you are reading this.

Hopefully I will get round to posting some of my samples for you all to see - it's fantastic to be able to play with some of the new release products before they hit the shelves.

Anyway, I am back today with another DT project for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz today and this time our leader, Caz, has chosen a very appropriate theme for the time of year. So here is what I made for the theme

'LOVE IS IN THE AIR'

This one was designed for my next class at the Chesterfield store and I already have seven ladies coming to join me on the 10th to learn how to make it using a selection of Leonie Pujol stamps and dies.

If any of you are close enough and would like to come and play, you can book a place using this link bit.ly/Chesterfield-classes

Hugz, Jan xx