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Thursday, 31 March 2016

Springtime Parchment

Hello there,

Well, after a trip to the opticians yesterday to pick up my new glasses I experienced a strange occurrence! On the way home in the car I decided to put on my new sunglasses (well, it was nice and sunny) - but something didn't seem right. They didn't seem quite as clear as my old glasses! So, after a bit of swapping with my new clear glasses, new sunglasses and my old clear glasses, I realised that I could actually see better out of the old ones! How does that work? So when I got home I rang the opticians to query it - I was told that my eyes might need to adjust to the new ones and to try them again tomorrow! I have never experienced this before when starting out with a new pair - so the saga continues. I have to ring them back on Friday if there is no improvement!

On a crafty note, we have a brand new challenge starting today over at Cardz 4 Galz, and this week Amy has chosen the theme of

'SPRINGTIME'

Here's what I made using my new (very addictive) Groovi system from Claritystamps ...


I started with a piece of A5 parchment and built up the border and the '9 square' grid using the Nested Squares. I then filled each of the squares with a selection of tiny elements from the 'Butterfly Wreath', 'Meadow Grasses' and a couple of different 'Border' plates. The 'Spring' lettering was done using the alphabet from the Groovi Plate mate.

I added just a little white work with my embossing tool and had to chuckle as I worked on the tiny dots in the border area (I could hear Barbara in my head saying 'Up, Down, Left, Right, and Round and Round'!) to get the perfect dot! I then worked in some colour to the whole design using my Derwent pencils and attached it to rose pink card using the original Groovi 'Corner Punch'. I must say, I was pretty pleased with the result - hope you like it!

Hugz, Jan xx



Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Something Beginning with A

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a 'Happy Easter' weekend - what a range of weather. We went from beautiful warm sunshine on Friday to hailstones and a thunderstorm on Sunday!

I'm back today with a quick make for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz. It has been difficult to keep up with my crafting at the moment, but equally provides an escape from all the things going on around me too. So,this week my teamie Helen has chosen the theme

'SOMETHING 
BEGINNING WITH A'

Now there are so many options for this one, but I decided to keep it quite clean and simple. Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...


I found the cute little 'aeroplane' image on the internet and printed it onto white card. I used an oval Spellbinder die to cut the aperture in the kraft card layer, then ran it through my printer to add the 'Bon Voyage' sentiment. A few layers and some stars to embellish and there we go. 

Why not pop over to the main challenge blog and see what my team mates came up with for the letter A.

Hugz, Jan xx

Saturday, 26 March 2016

In the Springtime

Hi there everyone,

First of all, I wanted to thank each and every one of you that has sent such lovely messages offering words of sympathy and support during our sad time.  It has been a very difficult few weeks, with so many things reminding me of mum (and I'm sure there will be many more difficult times ahead). I managed to get through the funeral in one piece on Monday - it was a beautiful service and a very fitting tribute to mum.

I haven't been doing much crafting at the moment (haven't had time really), but we have a brand new challenge over at my challenge blog, Fantasy Stampers, today. I also have a close friend's birthday on Monday, so decided to put the two events together and make my DT card for her birthday. The new theme is

'IN THE SPRINGTIME'

Here's what I made using a pretty LOTV stamp called 'Little Lamb' ...


I know the image has Easter eggs on, but the little lamb reminds me of Spring (and her birthday falls over the Easter holiday). The image is coloured with Promarkers and the sentiment is also LOTV.  All other papers and embellishments are from my stash.

Hope you will join us with your own 'Spring' makes over the next two weeks.

Hugz, Jan xx

Friday, 18 March 2016

B for Beautiful Butterflies

Good morning,

We have a brand new theme over at the Alphabet Challenge today and the next letter is 'B' for

'BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES'.

Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...


This one is a home decor project and uses a natural wood box frame.

I cut an aperture in the piece of ivory card, then backed it with a piece of spotty design paper to make the background.

I die-cut lots of little butterflies from a selection of brown tone scraps and arranged them across the centre.

It was quite quick to do, but I think it looks really effective.

Hugz, Jan xx

Monday, 14 March 2016

A Sad Time

Hello there,

Well, I haven't visited blogland for a little while and I'm visiting today with a very heavy heart.

As those of you who read my blog will know, my mum has been ill for a few months now (in and out of hospital), but we managed to get her home on the 11th January.

She hasn't been well since then, and took a serious turn for the worse on Mother's Day, and sadly passed away early on Tuesday 8th March.

I feel as if my life has been turned upside down since then - she has left a massive gaping hole in our lives, and I never realised just how much there would be to do.

I am hoping my crafting will be a way of getting me through this, but at the moment I simply haven't had the time. So, I thought I would show you one of the poems we plan to read at mum's funeral next week.


I will be back soon, I promise - but for now we all need to heal.

Hugz, Jan xx

Friday, 4 March 2016

A for Anything Pink!

Good morning,

Well, it's Friday again - it sure does come round quick! It's been a very busy week with lots of things happening once again, including my daughter crashing her car yesterday! She is fine, but sadly I don't think her car will survive - it's currently with the insurance company and my OH seems to think they will write it off, so once we have the ok from them, it's off car hunting we will go.

On a crafty note, it's time for us to begin our alphabet once again over at the Alphabet Challenge, and this time it was my turn to choose the theme. So, for the next two weeks we would love to see your projects that are

'A for ANYTHING PINK!'

This has to be once of my favourite colours when crafting, and I think I went a little overboard with my mixed media project - here's what I came up with for my DT inspiration ...



First, I had a rummage through my stash and chose lots of bits and pieces to play with.

I began with a piece of thick cardstock which measures 18cm x 18cm, then covered it with my chosen pink design paper from my 'Heartfelt' LOTV paper pad. I inked around all four edges with Spun Sugar distress ink.

Next, I added some texture paste through a piece of sequin waste, then once dry dusted over with the same pink distress ink so it toned in with the background paper.

I dyed a length of white lace with the same ink - just squidging the ink on my craft mat and spritzing it with water, then using the lace to soak it all up. This was attached to the background piece before I added the heart, which is also covered with a different piece of design paper from the same paper pad - I love the crackled effect on this one.

Then I went to town with all the different embellishments I found, including lots of die-cut flowers, some pink buttons, a few little book paper circles (which I punched and coloured with a Promarker), a cute little wooden frame (which I painted with pink chalk paint and added a sentiment inside), the wooden lettering 'love' (which was painted then glittered), a couple of die-cut butterflies and lots of adhesive pearls and crystals.

The whole thing is mounted on a layer of white, then another piece of pink cardstock and voila! Definitely lots of Pink!! When I asked my OH if he liked it - he said, 'I suppose it's ok if you like pink!' I think that was a result. Lol.

I hope you love 'Pink' as much as I do and can find time to come and play along with us at the challenge this time.

Hugz, Jan xx


Thursday, 3 March 2016

It's all about the Women!

Hello there,

Well, like my title says, it's all about the women over at Cardz 4 Galz this time - we have a brand new challenge starting today and in readiness for 'Mother's Day' here in the UK on March 6th, and 'International Women's Day' on March 8th, our new theme for the next two weeks will be

'WOMAN/WOMEN'

Now this one got me thinking about the many different ways this could be interpreted, but I decided on a 'Friends' theme - you can never have too many 'women' friends. Here's what I came up with ...


First, I must admit to finding my inspiration for the animal print idea from Pinterest - I lose hours looking through the amazing crafting talent that can be found there.

This gorgeous stamp is called 'Victoria and Juliette's Night Out' from Stamping Bella and I stamped it once onto my card and then just the dress part onto the centre of my background piece of animal print design paper, which comes from an old paper pad called 'Little Black Dress' from Basic Grey. Then I cut out the dress from the centre (which is craftily hidden behind my topper - waste not, want not!) and then paper pieced over the stamped image. The dress on the left is done in the same way using up a tiny scrapling of design paper from my stash. The rest of the image is coloured with my Promarkers.

The stamped sentiment is from a very old set of stamps that live in my 'Sentiment' drawer.

I hope you will all come along and play too.
Hugz, Jan xx

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Backgrounds

Happy Tuesday,

I hope everyone had a good weekend and found time for something crafty.

I have my DT project for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz today - this challenge is all about the men in our life and has definitely helped me get going when designing my male themed cards. My team mate Joan has chosen the theme for the next seven days ...

'MAKE YOUR 
OWN BACKGROUND'

Here's what I came up with using my distress inks ...


I started with one piece of white card and then added Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Evergreen Bough distress inks using my blending tool. Next I used my favourite Stampin' Up grunge stamp to add some splatters using the same ink colours. I added a couple of pieces of torn book paper and coloured those to match, before passing the whole piece through a hexagon embossing folder. Then I cut the piece into three equal strips and rounded one end by drawing around a suitable sized pot and just trimming with my scissors.

The three strips are mounted on a piece of black card and I added a black strip, a piece of dark green ribbon and a stamped topper (stamped using an Inkylicious stamp with black archival ink).

I love making these backgrounds, but I also am addicted to my paper pads and must admit I usually reach for them when designing the background of a card (I have so many to choose from!!)

Why not pop over to the blog and check out some great projects from the rest of the team.
Hugz, Jan xx