Picked Just for You

Happy Saturday everyone,

What a fabulous day - I'm so glad the sunshine has lasted until the weekend. We've been for a lovely walk this afternoon with my two little dogs - I even think my lily-white skin has picked up a little bit of colour!! Lol.

I have a little 'Thank You' gift to show you today - it was made for a friend after she helped me in the garden and is made from two beer mats ...

The base is an oval beer mat, covered with blue marbled paper from my stash.  The main feature is a square beer mat, covered with a paler blue paper from my stash and edged with a silver marker.  The cute little stamps are from 'Art Impressions' and have been masked and layered to create a garden scene, then coloured with my Promarkers.  The sentiment is stamped and cut out using a Labels Seventeen nestie, backed with blue pearlised card.  The 'Thank You' sentiment is from 'Just Rite' and is stamped and cut using a Circle nestie.  The flowers and brads are all from my stash.  

I hope the sunshine stays with us tomorrow - enjoy the rest of the weekend.  Hugz, Jan xx

A Bit of Vintage Paris

Wow! 4 days of fantastic sunshine - I'm now being cooked in my crafty conservatory, rather than coming out like an ice-cube!!  Hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend - BBQ time I think.

I have been busy working on my youngest daughter's birthday card over the last couple of days, but can't show it yet as she sometimes pops on my blog, and I would hate her to see it before the day.  I can't believe how organized I am, but she is due home from university tomorrow for the summer, so I thought I would try and get ahead!

I have picked another card, which was made for a work colleague, to show you today.  It's a little different from my usual style (just to show I can!) Lol.  I am always being teased about my 'cutsie' style, so here goes ...

It's a 6x6" card matted with brown pearlised card and then paper from the Tim Holtz 'Vintage Shabby' paper stack which is inked around the edge with distress ink.  The main stamp is called  'Collage Take Time' from Hero Arts and is stamped onto ivory pearlised card and embossed with copper embossing powder. I tore the edges and inked with one of my all time favourite distress inks - walnut stain.  The two tickets are stamped using 'Invoke' stamps and cut out.  The card is finished with a die cut swirl, a couple of punched leaves, three co-ordinating buttons, a couple of amber adhesive gems and some 'birthday' wording.  I think it definitely has a 'vintage' feel to it - hope you like it.

Hugz, Jan xx

Happy Birthday Polkadoodles

Wow! What an exciting day - the Polkadoodles Challenge Blog is 3 today - Happy Birthday!

We are celebrating with a special 'Birthday Challenge' and giving away an extraordinary amount of prizes worth over £200!!  The whole design team have been involved and were challenged to make a birthday card using three of something - here's what I made ...

I chose a DL sized cardblank for a change which is layered with brown pearlised cardstock and pretty papers from the fabulous range of Polkadoodles CDs  (the flowered one is from the 'Sugar Birdies CD' and the striped one is from the 'Candy Doodles CD') and as you can see they compliment each other perfectly, even though they are from different CDs.

I love this yummy cupcake stamp - perfect for celebrating a birthday.  I stamped it once on card and coloured with Promarkers, then twice more onto shrink plastic and coloured with watercolour pencils before I shrunk them - so cute.  These are mounted onto a pink nestie circle, which has faux stitching around the edge and then a brown lacey circle cut from matching brown cardstock.

The sentiment is printed from the 'Candy Doodles CD', cut using a nestie circle which also has faux stitching and mounted onto a brown lacey circle to match the main image.

Added embellishments include a pink border cut using the nestabilities Parisian border die, together with some lush pink and brown checked ribbon (one of my favourite colour schemes) and a few pink adhesive gems to finish off.

All there is left to say is a huge 'Well Done' to the very talented and generous Nikky Hall and I hope I am still around to help celebrate the next three!

Get yourselves over to the blog quick and snaffle yourself some fab prizes.

Hugz, Jan xx

Birthday Presents

Morning everyone,

I'm back from a fantastic day with crafty friends yesterday, very tired but buzzing with new ideas to try out.

I have another little cutie card made for a work colleague which I thought I would share with you today, using a new stamp from Wild Rose Studio.

Card Recipe

Image

Bella with Presents (Wild Rose Studio)

Colouring Medium

Promarkers and crystal glitter

Papers

From my stash

Sentiment

Just Rite

Embellishments 

Lilac organza ribbon, sea green organza ribbon, 

die-cut swirls and lilac adhesive gems

I love the colour scheme on this one - hope she likes it.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hugz, Jan xx

  

It's in the Eyes

Hi there everyone,

I hope you are all ready for the weekend - I'm visiting a good friend up north as we speak, so I hope the scheduling works!

More art journaling today - this is a very addictive hobby and a fab way to express thoughts/feelings to paper.  Today's page is about the 'Eyes' and oh what a nightmare trying to draw them and get them right. Here's how it ended up ...

It is A5 in size again and the background is made using Broken China and Faded Jeans distress inks applied with an inking tool.  The usual selection of stamping and ink is applied over the top.  I did actually draw the eyes, after looking at loads of images on the computer - I can't believe how long it took to get them just right!  I am definitely feeling more confident with the handwriting - it's all my own this time and lots of doodling with black and white pens.  Hope you like it.  I want to try some acrylic paints on the next one, so watch this space.

Have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Something Old, Something New ...

Morning everyone, it's Friday which means it's challenge time again over at Polkadoodles.  This week's theme is 'A Wedding card with a Difference' - we were challenged to make a card incorporating the four elements from the traditional wedding quote 'Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.  Here's what I made ...

I chose an easel card this time which is decorated with gorgeous blue paper from the 'All Around & Everywhere' CD.  The cute little 'Bride and Groom' stamp is brand new to me and is coloured with Promarkers and a touch of crystal glitter and is mounted on a blue nestabilities Lacey Square.  

The sentiment is also from the same CD and is printed onto a little Magnolia die-cut tag, which is finished with a piece of blue ribbon (which was cut from a pair of old pyjamas)!  

Embellishments galore include a pretty white doily, a white feather (which is my borrowed item, from my daughter's stash), a white Doohickey die-cut swirl, lots of die-cut flowers with blue brads/blue adhesive gem centres, some gorgeous white lace, two little blue pearlised hearts, two white adhesive pearls and three clear little Polkadoodles dew drops. Well, I did say embellishments galore! 

The whole card is mounted onto pieces of blue lacey circle, which I cut and stuck behind the original easel to give an extra dimension - I hope you like it and maybe find a little inspiration.

I shall look forward to seeing your entries over at the Polkadoodles Challenge Blog - see you there.

Hugz, Jan xx

No Internet and the Boys

Well, I felt a bit like this yesterday when I got home from school to find out that the BT contractors who were trying to fix a fault on the phone line had actually severed the cable completely!!  Internet and phone line gone in a snip!  I didn't realise how much not being able to get on here would upset me! I need to get out more.  Anyway, all is good and I think I have caught up with everything - thank goodness it was only one day. Lol.

I thought I would share this with you tonight - I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who is planning to go, but Westlife were absolutely fab on Sunday night, so just a little taster of the boys for those who are interested.  So sad to think it is their last tour :(

Off to watch another favourite now, Mr Damon Salvatore no less (Vampire Diaries).
Hugz, Jan xx