Birthday Wishes

Hello again,

Welcome back to my blog, which is definitely being a little neglected lately.

Last time I posted, I was just off down to our new store which opened in Evesham last month. It's situated in the 'Valley' shopping village and looks so pretty.

It was most certainly a busy weekend - we had two of our TV personalities demonstrating and the store was full to the rafters. It was a couple of very long days, but my colleague and I had the best time there.

Back in our own store at Chesterfield, we are now preparing for our first Birthday celebrations - can you believe it's been nearly a year since we opened our doors! We have three lovely ladies coming over the birthday weekend to help us celebrate - Leann Chivers will be in store on Friday 22nd September, Sara Davies will be with us on Saturday 23rd and Lizzy Curtis on Sunday 24th. We are selling VIP tickets both in store and online if you would like to come and join us.

My crafty project today was made for my manager at the store who celebrated her birthday at the end of August - I'm sure she won't mind me showing you here ...

I used Sheena's glycerine technique with my Spectrum Noir Aqua markers to make the background - simply squidge a small amount of glycerine into your blending tool before picking up the scribbled water colour from your glass mat. It behaves much like distress inks, but stays open for longer allowing you to get a really good blend. I also flicked some water splats onto the background and blotted with a piece of kitchen paper to add a little interest. 

I stamped the pocket watch with black Versafine ink - 'Time Flies' designed by Donna Ratcliff for Crafter's Companion, then embossed with clear powder before adding a little extra depth using the same colours.

I stamped just one of the little butterflies for a second time and coloured it to match, then added it to the top of the stamped image.

A little frantage powder and a greeting to finish off.

Hope you like my design for today.

Hugz, Jan xx

A Numbered Birthday

Hi there,

I'm back today with the next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week it was my turn to choose the theme. So, we would love to see your male themed projects for a

'NUMBERED BIRTHDAY'

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

There were lots of possibilities for this one, but I decided on a child's birthday card using a new set of Kanban stamps which I recently purchased online.

Why not pop over and see what the design team did with the theme - hope you can join in too.

Hugz, Jan xx

Child's Play

Happy Monday,

Are you ready for another challenge? We have a new theme this morning over at Make My Monday. This one has been chosen by Laura and the theme is 'CHILD'S PLAY'. You can choose to make a child's birthday card, or a new baby card. I chose the second option and made two cards - one for a girl and one for a boy ...

These are both 6"x6" cards and are made using a Saturated Canary image called 'Butterfly Baby', coloured with my Promarkers. I couldn't resist making them in both traditional baby colours and am planning to offer them to order when I get my self organized. Everything has been made from scratch - the larger letters are stamped and embossed using the 'Clarity Letterbox' stamp set and the smaller letters are printed on my pc before being mounted on little die-cut tags. All other papers and embellishments are from my stash.

Hope these give you some inspiration to come and join in the challenge with us.

I am entering these cards into the challenge over at Saturated Canary which is 'Winged Things'.

Hugz, Jan xx

My first Saturated Canary Image

Hello to you all in blogland,

I hope everyone had a great weekend with lots of crafting taking place.  I have had a weekend of birthdays - first my hubby on Friday, followed by my sister today. What with Valentines Day on Thursday - it's been an expensive month too! Lol.

I thought I would show you the card I made for my sister today, using my very first 'Saturated Canary' image.  I bought the image a few weeks ago, but hadn't had an opportunity to use it yet - but thought this was the perfect time to print it out and colour away to my hearts content. Here's what I made ...

Card Recipe

Image 

'Jules' by the very talented Krista Smith at Saturated Canary

Colouring Medium 

Promarkers

Papers 

from my stashbox

Sentiment 

printed on pc

Flowers 

Doohickey Vintage Daisies, pink roses

Dies 

Doohickey Heart Swirl and Small Dragonfly, 

Memory Box Spring Border, Whimsy Banner Pennant

Embellishments

pink polkadot ribbon, pearl oval buckle, doily, flat back pearls, pearl stamens, pink adhesive gems

I must say, this is one of my favourite cards yet - I hope my sister likes it!  I can see I need to pay another visit to the Saturated Canary shop real soon - better start saving :)

Hugz, Jan xx

Happy Birthday Dad!

Helloo from a very cold Yorkshire tonight! Brrrrr.....

We had quite a bit of snow here yesterday, enough to close our school at lunchtime so the staff and children could get home safely - which gave me some extra crafty time (can't complain at that!)

Thought I would show you the card I made for my Dad's birthday at the weekend.  I always seem to struggle with cards for men, but here's what I made ...

I love this little 'Fizzy Moon' image and it was just perfect for my Dad! I coloured the bear with my Promarkers and then paper pieced the chair, stool and cushion with scraps of blue paper and then stamped on newspaper to paper piece the book (to make it look as if he fell asleep reading the newspaper!)

The side panel has been run through an embossing folder, then I added some distress ink to enhance the numbers.  I used a stashbox stamp for the greeting which is embossed with black powder.

Hope you like it.  See you soon,

Hugz, Jan xx

A Special Birthday

Happy Saturday everyone,

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by - I have already been back at school four weeks, only another four until the next break! Lol.

I hate to say it, but I haven't done much crafting this week - I have been so incredibly tired.  My hubby thinks I may have had some sort of virus - I said 'Yes, it's called sleeping sickness!'

Anyway, I have a very special card to show you today - one which I made for a special crafty friend who celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago.  I don't think she will mind me showing it you today ...

I bet you couldn't guess her favourite colour is PINK!  I raided my stash for everything pink I could lay my hands on, as you can see.  Here's the ingredients I used:

Image - Magnolia 'Princess Tilda'

Colour - Promarkers

Papers - Magnolia, My Mind's Eye (text paper was from my stash)

Sentiment - LOTV 'Recipe Sentiments'

Die-cuts - Doohickey: 'Vintage Daisies', 'Heart Swirl', 'Lovely Fence', 

'Antique Lace', Dragonfly and Marianne leaf die: LR0226

Embellishments - pink polkadot ribbon and bow, text heart, flat backed ivory pearls, 

pink adhesive gems, pink eyelets, 'wish' lettering

Ink - TH Distress ink 'Walnut Stain' and 'Victorian Velvet'

The sentiment is stamped onto a Doohickey 'Vintage Tag' 

and is tucked in behind the main image for an extra little surprise.

I think this particular Magnolia stamp is quickly becoming a favourite amongst my ever growing stamp collection - it fits so many different occasions.  Hope you like my little creation - I'm sure my friend did :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx