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

A Gingerbread Christmas

Morning everyone,

It's my turn to post over on the Studio 12 blog today and I can't believe just how many gorgeous ideas have been shown over the last couple of weeks - I consider myself very fortunate to work with such a talented bunch of people.

I thought I would show you one of my TV samples that I made for the launch of the new Picknix 2 collection.  I just adore all those little gingerbread people and couldn't resist popping one straight onto a card the minute I received them.  So, here we go ...

I love this shade of green, I think it's much softer than the traditional christmassy green and I used three different papers that all co-ordinate nicely for the background layering on the card.  The little gingerbread girl is sooo cute with her little mop cap and christmas stocking - I printed her straight from the CD and layered her onto some matching cardstock.  The sentiment is also from the CD.  A piece of organza ribbon, a couple of sprigs of holly (also from the CD) and some red adhesive gems finish off the card.  Hope you like it!

Have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer

Hi there,

It's Friday again, which means it's my day off work - I am off up north today to meet up with some very dear crafty friends - you know who you are! See you very soon! Lol

It's also Polkadoodles challenge day!  This week we are looking for cards that are inspired by a song title.  As you may have already guessed, I decided to go all Christmassy - here's my card for the challenge ...

I love the new 'Here Comes Christmas' CD and couldn't resist the cheeky little reindeer.  The background papers, sentiments and the reindeer image are all printed from the CD.  Added embellishments from my stash include some kraft card for layering, a piece of blue polkadot ribbon and a die-cut snowflake which has been frosted with a sprinkling of crystal glitter.  Oh, and don't forget a little red gem for Rudolph's nose! 

Are you ready now, after three?  Can I hear you all singing??

Don't forget to check out the blog here for some more great inspiration from my fab teamies.

Have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

Long Time, No See ...

Well Hello Blogland!

First of all, my apologies - I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last blog post!  So much has happened in such a short space of time.  The main event being my internet suddenly going down, totally out of the blue, and our rubbish service provider taking nearly two weeks to restore it!!!  Note to self - change service provider! Lol.

I can't believe how isolated I felt not being able to get on the internet (sad, I know).  We even resorted to purchasing time from another provider (mainly to let people know that I hadn't disappeared into cyberspace.

I've also had a couple of family problems, together with returning to school after my six week break, which is always manic!!

Anyhow, I'm back and still crafting - it would take more than that to put me off my favourite hobby.  I have a card to show today which I am entering into 'Lili's Little Fairies Challenge' - I have become rather addicted to my LOTV stamps lately and this was a perfect reason to use them.  They are playing bingo this week and it was a difficult choice which embellishments to use - in my true greedy style, I think I managed to use them all in some way - so you could say I have a full house!!  Here's what I made ...

I started out using the line 'Ribbons - Gems - Pearls', but by the time I had finished I had just about used them all!  The background paper has flowers on and the top two layers from my 'Love Letters' paper stack are glittered.  The stamped image is 'Dandelion' by LOTV and is coloured with Promarkers and a touch of crystal glitter and mounted on two die-cut Lacy Circles.  The sentiment is also from LOTV.  I have used a piece of ivory seam binding (from Wild Orchid Crafts) for the ribbon and added a bow, button and pearl headed pin (also from WOC).  The card is embellished with three flat back pearls, some pink adhesive gems, a couple of brads and a little heart charm.

I am also entering this one into the 'Wild Orchid Challenge' which is 'Layer it Up'.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday evening,

Hugz, Jan xx

It's all about the Texture

Hi there,

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend - we have had quite a bit of rain here.  I have been playing a continuous game of washing out/washing in all weekend! In between my crafting, of course! Lol.

I have gone all 'Steampunk' today making a special card for a design team call.  The theme is 'Texture' and I have tried to show this in several ways.  Here's what I made ...

The background paper is from the TH 'Lost and Found' paper stack and I distressed the edges with my scissors, before inking them with Walnut Stain distress ink.  I then inked through the clock mask and heat embossed some little cogs and gears down the right hand side with gold detail embossing powder.  I stamped some wings, gears and paint splodges onto the background paper and added some little torn pieces of text from an old book.

The main image is a Kanban stamp - partly coloured with Promarkers and the jacket is paper pieced. The image is backed with brown coredinations cardstock cut using a Spellbinders Labels Seventeen die.  It has been dry embossed with an embossing folder and then sanded back to show the core.

The 'Steampunk' lettering was mainly created on my pc, apart from the letter 'S' which was cut from a piece of card covered in metal tape, embossed and coloured with alcohol inks.  The flower was made in the same way.

Additional embellishments include a heart cut from corrugated card and inked with distress ink together with an additional brass-coloured wirework heart, a little brass clockface (which I added some chain to), some metal washers and a 'Dare to Create' sentiment.  I also treat some parts of the card to a sprinkling of gold Frantage embossing powder.

I think I managed to get some texture in there - hope I didn't overdo it! Lol.  I am off to submit it now and should find out at the beginning of September if I have been successful.  I hope so - wish me luck.

Hugz, Jan xx

Chocolate Box

Hello there,

It's my turn to post on the Studio 12 blog again today and I have a little gift idea to show you using a box template and the Studio 12 Picknix CD ...

I printed two sheets of the pink polkadot paper, reloaded them into the printer and then printed the box template on the reverse.  I cut, scored, folded and inked the pieces before cutting an aperture into the front using my nestabilities.  I secured a piece of acetate behind the aperture and added a scalloped circle border around the outside.  Once glued together the box was decorated with a sentiment from the CD, a little heart and charm, some die cut flowers and the cute little pink daisies from the CD.  I nestled some tissue paper in the bottom of the box and filled with chocolate, before fastening with a piece of co-ordinating organza ribbon.  A lovely little gift which took me about 40 minutes to create (which my daughter then tried to pinch. How rude!).

Note:  the box template is from the Polkadoodles 'Paper Boutique' (Vol 1) CD.

Have a great weekend,

Hugz, Jan xx

A Bit of Stitching

Good morning,

I can't believe it's Friday again already! This week has just flown by and it's time for another challenge over at the Polkadoodles blog.  This week Shell has challenged us to use some stitching on our projects (real or faux).  Here's my design team card for a little bit of inspiration ...

I love the 8x8" card and I have used three different papers from the Candy Doodles CD and layered them on co-ordinating cardstock.  I have stitched around the edge of all three pieces and added some distress ink for extra depth.  The challenge is also to use a gorgeous Emma Canning image and I couldn't decide which one to choose, so I added three on this card!  I love how Emma's girls can be layered up to create a single image, which was coloured with my Promarkers.  The sentiment is also from the Candy Doodles CD and I thought it fit the little group of 'friends' perfectly.  Lots of added embellishments from my stashbox to finish the card.  Hope you like it!

I shall look forward to visiting your blogs to check out the entries for this week's challenge.

Hugz, Jan xx