Spring Challenge

It's looking very much like spring here - we have some lovely sunshine today, so I thought this was an appropriate post to make.  The addiction continues and this is my entry for 'Joanna Sheen's Spring challenge' ...

I used a 6x6" card blank which is matted with lilac gingham paper, topped with a pretty lemon flowered paper from my stash and secured with a lilac brad in each corner.  I used my nesties to cut a 'fleur de lis' square from the gingham paper to use as a backing feature before adding the focal element - 'Tilda with her Bunny' from the 'Butterfly Wishes collection'.  Tilda is coloured with my promarkers and her top and bow are paper pieced with the lemon backing paper.  I have torn the edges of the stamped image and inked with mustard seed distress ink.  I love the sentiment on this card, which can be used for so many different occasions.  The flower embellishments are mainly Wild Orchid Crafts, together with a lilac skeleton leaf and a couple of swirl die-cuts which I have glittered for extra effect. 

I am also entering it in the 'Glitter Geeks challenge' - Spring is in the Air.
I hope you like it, Jx

Birthday Wishes

I have that Thursday feeling today - it's always a good one because it means my working week is done!  No work tomorrow, that means I can get back to my crafting for the next three days :)

It was a work friend's birthday yesterday, so I thought I would share a quick card I made for her ...

It features a couple of my favourites - 'Fizzy Moon' and the colour purple, together with nesties, lilac ribbon and some die-cut flowers.  I'm happy with how it turned out and my friend loved it! 

I'm off to find some more blog challenges to join in this weekend - anyone got any good ones to recommend? Jx

Back to Work

Hi folks,

Not much to say today - went back to work and had a very uneventful day! 

The picture says it all really!
It made me chuckle - let me know how your Monday went.

Hugz, Jx

Smile!

Happy Sunday everyone,

OK, it didn't take long, but I think I may be addicted to blog challenges!  What a fantastic outlet to showcase our artwork.  This one is for the 'Polkadoodles Challenge - Polkadots or Stripes or both'.  I chose the polkadots and made a tag in one of my favourite colour themes - pink and brown ...

The tag is handmade and covered in polkadot paper from the 'Double Sprinkles of Kraft' CD which is still one of my favourite PolkaDoodles cds.  The 'Smile' lettering, background polkadot border, the spotty tree, cute little butterfly and the main focal image of 'Winnie' are all from the same cd.  The 'Smile' lettering is coloured with my promarkers as is Winnie who is highlighted with glitter and mounted on a pink scalloped circle, cut with my nesties. I added some co-ordinating die-cut flowers and finished with a piece of pink ribbon from my stash.  I wasn't sure whether I had to use Polkadoodles products for this challenge, but I am quite pleased with the result.  Let me know what you think.

I am returning to work tomorrow after a week's illness - so I can't promise the daily posts, but I will be back! I am already working on my next challenge! Lol.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Jx

Very First Blog Challenge

I am so excited - after a bit more research into 'blog challenges' I have made my very first entry.  I spent some time yesterday visiting friends blogs and chose a challenge to participate in - I hope I got it right.  Here is my work for the 'Stamping for the Weekend Bingo challenge' - I picked 'Pink, Flowers and Lace' ...



I used another of my 8x8” scalloped edge card blanks and matted pink flowered paper, together with a smaller piece of pink wording paper from my stash.  The bingo card was stamped onto plain pink paper and torn around edges (I thought this was a quirky addition to the layering, as the challenge is called ‘Bingo’).  It also has a piece of white lace attached to the left hand side.  The stamp is ‘With Love’ from the Fizzy Moon range and is coloured with promarkers (I picked this image because of the flowers!). It’s mounted onto a large Lacy Circle die-cut from white pearlescent cardstock with my nestabilities.  The border at the bottom has three layers – white lace, a white pearlescent nestabilities border (Parisian Accents) and a piece of pink polka dot ribbon. I made the little bunting sentiment from scraps of pink paper mounted onto cardstock, threaded it onto very pale pink ribbon and secured it with two pink brads.  The card is decorated with a variety of flowers from my stash (some of which have white pearl accents in the centres and pearl stamen accents from Wild Orchid Crafts), together with three pink pearl hearts, a pink die-cut corner (Parisian Accents) and a small metal ‘made with love’ heart embellishment which hangs from the border behind the flowers. 

I am also entering this card for the

Wild Orchid Crafts - White + 1 challenge.

Hope you like it, Jx

Wall Hanging Plaque

Good morning, two posts in a row - I can't promise to keep this up! Lol. 

I wanted to share this little project today, which was inspired by an article in the March issue of Craft Stamper magazine and uses the free stamp - a quaint little house by the 'Octopode Factory'.

I used an old piece of heavyweight scrap cardboard which I backed with cream paper from my stash.  I stamped randomly to create the background and laid a piece of organza ribbon horizontally where I wanted the little houses to sit.  The houses are stamped onto scrap paper cut from the original piece and coloured with promarkers.  The front turret has been stamped a second time and raised up on dimensional glue to create a 3d effect. The title was printed from my pc onto mulberry paper and the charm at the bottom is handmade using a pearl bead and a little shrink plastic heart, which highlights the centre house.  It was a fun project to do and is now hanging in my dining room.

Resurrection!

Wow! I have been doing lots of 'crafty' research over the past few days and have visited some fantastic blogs. So, got me thinking ... maybe I should resurrect my own. It has definitely been neglected, but I was shocked to see how long it had been since my last post when I logged in earlier.

Anyway, I have had a bit of a revamp and a tidy up and although my posts are 'ancient' I will try to pop in and blog more frequently. I am still crafting, but looking at some of my old posts it is interesting to see how my style has changed over the years. I spend a lot of my time cardmaking and scrapbooking these days and still join in the odd swap over on the DoCrafts forum.

I am very proud of my latest card which is for my mum for Mother's Day, so I thought I would show it off on here ...

I have just bought some new 8x8" scalloped edged card blanks and this is the first, but I loved the extra space to play. I used papers are from my stash, nestabilities, the stamp is 'Fizzy Moon' and is coloured with my beloved Promarkers. The flowers are handmade and I printed the sentiment from my PC because I didn't have a 'Mother's Day' stamp. Hope you like it.