Just for Fun!

Good afternoon,

I feel like a bad blogger at the moment, it's been over three weeks again since I last posted, so please forgive me.

It's been over six months since I started my new job, but I am still getting used to the new regime - I'm out out of the house and working more now than I have done in the last thirty years - how does that work?! Lol.

Having said that I am absolutely loving all aspects of it - working in the store, demonstrating and teaching classes. I was promoted to Supervisor a few weeks ago, so my job role has changed a little (with more responsibility), but then I have always loved a challenge!

It's been one of my days off today and I have actually had a chance to 'play' in my craft room, instead of what I now class as 'work'. So, after spending what seems like an age watching crafting videos on You Tube this morning, I found this gorgeous little project which several people have done tutorials for and decided to have a go myself. So here's what I have been playing with today ...

I have used mainly 'Stampin' Up' products for this one (with a little Crafter's Companion thrown in for good measure).

I made the shadow box from a piece of 12" x 12" Sahara Sand cardstock, which has a little bit of text stamped on it using some Pumice Stone distress ink. The background design paper is from the 'Falling in Love' suite, and I cut lots of embellishments from a piece of the left over design paper using some of the dies from the 'Botanical Builder' set. . I also die-cut the beautiful 'Bloomin' Heart' from cream linen cardstock to fit in the centre of the little box.  

I had to sneak in a pretty die-cut butterfly, which is from the 'Shabby Chic' Signature collection by Sara Davies (I think this might appear on many of my projects from now on - I love it!). The stamped banner is also from the same collection.

I am planning to make more of these for an up and coming craft fayre that I want to attend, so watch this space.

Enjoy the rest of your evening,
Hugz Jan xx

Anything but a Card

Good Morning to you all,

I hope everyone is enjoying the extra long weekend - I only have one more week left of my summer break. This time next week I will be back at school, trying to fit all my crafting in when I can.

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week it is my turn to choose the theme. As you can see from my post title I chose 'ANYTHING BUT A CARD'.

This is a favourite theme of mine as I love making home decor projects and I have been wanting to show you this one for a while. So, here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

After much research on the subject - here's my version of a decorated shadow box. I chose the cream and pink theme to give a 'shabby' look to the project. The whole thing is made from scraps of paper from my stash, together with lots of little items from my craft box, including a baby domino, a little penny farthing charm, a miniature clothes peg, a dice, a mini wooden cotton bobbin, a mini clock charm and loads of tiny little punched butterflies. The letter 'B' in the largest section is to represent my surname (Brown) and I also added the date in one of the sections too. 

Here's a closer look at some of my favourite sections ...

The top section

I love the little bottle of beads

I covered the little cotton bobbin with some lace

I must admit this took a while to finish - but I am thrilled with the outcome and it now sits proudly on my display cabinet.  I am hoping to make these to order in the future, so watch this space.

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at something other than a card - I will be back on Wednesday with a little midweek motivation. 

Happy crafting,

Hugz, Jan xx

A Special Lady

A midweek hello to all my crafty friends,

Just popped on to show you a birthday card that I made for a very special lady  - I'm sure she won't mind me showing you all.  My biggest decision was whether to make it using her own products, or something completely different! Well, I took the 'completely different' option and used one of my own favourites instead.  Here's what I made ...

I began with my usual 8x8" scalloped card blank in cream and covered it with a selection of gorgeous papers from Pion Designs, which have all been inked with Victorian Velvet distress ink.  The main image is one of my favourite Magnolia stamps - 'Tilda and her Bunny' from the Butterfly Dreams collection and is partly coloured with my Promarkers (the hat and top are paper-pieced with scraps from the backing papers to match).  I also added a piece of ivory lace which I threaded with some pink organza ribbon and made a double bow using ivory seam binding and some more ogranza ribbon (can you spot the little silver metal heart charm?)  I used a LOTV sentiment and embellished the card with pretty flowers, some die-cut leaves, a lace doily, a little stamped postcard, a couple of hearts, a TH 'Wish' ticket and some flat back pearl accents.

I love the shabby chic look that the card has - hope my friend enjoyed it as much as I loved making it.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Inky Chicks - Bingo (Flowers, Lace and Pearls)

Magnolia Down Under - Recipe (Pink, Lace and Metal)

Midweek Magnolias - In the Pink with Ribbons and Pearls

Sugar Creek Hollow - Tic Tac Toe (Lace, Ribbon and Pearls)

Bye for now,

Hugz, Jan xx

Accordian Tag Book

Happy Saturday to everyone,

Hello and welcome to any new followers, it's good to have you on board.  Sorry if I haven't been around as much as usual over the last few days - I managed to get my nose stuck in my ancestry search again.  I received a phone call a few days ago from an elderly relative with some updated information, and once I get on the ancestry website I swear, time actually disappears!

Anyway, I have still been crafting too and thought I would show you something a little different today - I have been challenging myself to step away from my favourite 8x8" workspace and here's what I came up with ...

I bought a few of these little accordian tag books at a recent craft fayre and they are such fun to play with. This is the front when the book is closed. I inked around the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and stamped along the top edge with a little swirly stamp from my stashbox. I used some of my new stamps (also bought at the fayre) - this one is a 'Little Claire Designs' and is called 'Trailing Birdhouse' - it's sooo pretty. It is coloured with my Promarkers - thank goodness I had some fine nibs!

These are the first two tags with the edges decorated to match the front.  I have layered kraft card and papers from the Wild Rose Studio 'Vintage Rose' paper pack before adding some more stamps by Little Claire Designs.  The left hand side is 'Sweet Little Mary' and the right hand side is from the same stamp sheet as the front cover.  

These are the second two tags - edges decorated and same papers as above.  The sentiment on the left hand side is from a LOTV stamp sheet and the little birdhouse on the right hand side is Little Claire Designs again.  A selection of stashbox embellishments and some antique cream ribbon complete the project.

Here is the book open showing all four tags.  I hope you enjoyed looking as much as I did creating it.

I am entering this project into the 'Stampin for the Weekend' challenge which is 'Show us your Style' - mine always seems to be 'cute', but I think this one is a little 'shabby chic' too.

I am also entering it at 'Try it on Tuesday' - Anything Goes.

Enjoy the weekend, 

Hugz Jan xx