Christmas in November!

Morning Everyone,

We are a month closer to Christmas since the last Challenge began so it's quite fitting that the theme for November at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge is Christmas....any which way you'd like to portray it. The lovely prize this month is a pair of un-mounted stamps kindly donated by Lili Of The Valley called 'Sprinkled with Sugar' and 'Recipe Sentiments'.....aren't they just cute :)

For my card I wanted to use my new stamps from Waltzing Mouse called Nordic Winter, I just love these knitted patterns, they remind me of a poncho my Mum made for me when I was much younger and I see the patterns are popular again on the high street!

I added blanket stitch to my raised panel to complete that cosy feel although my stitching leaves a lot to be desired...I think wool is usually the yarn of choice but that would have been too bulky here!
The sentiment is from 'Say it Loud- Winter Holiday' also a Waltzing Mouse Stamp Set, stamped and raised on an identical panel and a row of smoke coloured gems added to finish off :)

So please come and join us this month at St Luke's and make a Christmas card for our challenge then if your able, we'd love you to send it along with any others you would like to donate so they can be sold in aid of the hospice, please don't feel you have to donate to join in but please spread the word :)
See the blog for details of the challenge, about the hospice's work and how to send your cards in.

I so enjoyed inking these stamps up that I made a card for One layer Weds so I'll be back later today to share it with you....said it was going to be busy this week!!

Thanks for looking X

Smashing Pumpkins!!

......well not literally but we are pretty pleased with our line up

This is about as far as it goes for Halloween for us, the fun is growing these beasts and then carving the faces.

The sculptors are... (from left to right).... 

James with help from staff at school,

 Hannah going for the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' look, 

Me...just down right evil!! 

and the last was a collaboration between Hannah and James!

I notice how the smaller pumpkin doesn't glow like the others...perhaps because he's been carved for longer and is actually going a bit pulpy!!! Yuck.

This is how they looked before dark.....

.......just not as frightening :)

This time I really am back at the witching hour (thanks to blogger scheduling) with the new challenge over at St Luke's CCC.

See you then and Happy Halloween
 Mwahhahahaha

CFC#26 and PDC

Hello again,

Just popping in to post this card I made yesterday morning for Laura's Sketch at CASual Fridays this week with the gorgeous PDCC#105 colours....

The colours just shouted baby boy card to me and the sketch provided the inspiration. I finally got round to using some yummy patterned masking tape and a couple of bread tags which are Dienamics dies.
I enjoyed using this sketch as it's not normally a design I would create off my own back ..... I think because it has no image but I'm really pleased I tried it :)

Another one for the 'anything goes'  Simon Says Stamp Challenge....well you have to be in it to win it :)

I'll be back midnight tomorrow with a card for the new challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge..... it's going to be a busy crafting week with two family birthdays and my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary next weekend too, oh and a blog hop at Young Crafters Unite on Friday!!!!
Best crack on then, thanks for looking X

You're a Star!

Hi Everyone,

I've had a crafty morning and managed to make a couple of cards but the one I'm sharing with you today is for ColourQ and Less is More.
The colour palette at ColourQ was giving me a few problems until I saw the Less is More Challenge this week for  'Stars' and then the penny dropped.
I used the sketch from The Paper Players and had every intention of entering it but alas the challenge has closed....hey ho!

The stars are Dienamics dies, some of which have been de-bossed with a Quickutz goosebumps texture die.

The grid stamp is from Kaisercraft and the sentiment is PTI.

   

It's a lucky dip week over at Less is More which means Mandi and Chrissie have a guest designer joining them and this time the talented Vicky has the guest spot, do pop over and see their inspirational cards and join in the fun :)

I'm also entering this into the 'Anything Goes challenge' at Simon Says Stamp

So tomorrow we are carving our three home-grown pumpkins....I'll be sure to take some photos to share with you. :)
Hope you're enjoying the weekend and don't forget to turn the clocks back if you live in the UK!!!!

Clean and Simple Deer!!

Greetings peeps ..... first of all I have to let you know about a couple of new badges on my blog :)

I was so excited to have won a 'Perfect Princess' badge at Freshly Made Sketches for this card on Tuesday and then yesterday I found out I have been showcased at Less is More for this card in the 'Cocktail' week. These awards mean a lot to me in what seems to be restricted craft time at the moment .... I'm sure some little goblin has stolen a few hours out of the day since the kids went back to school !!!!

My card for this post is based on the sketch at Clean & Simple, I had plans to combine it with other challenges but time has marched on and deadlines passed me by so whilst tidying my desk this morning all these pieces came together and I decided to go it alone ...

The three deer are a memory box die cut which was a RAK from Tracy at Dies to Die For, Tracy kindly includes a selection of sample die cuts in each order to tempt you and I think it may have worked in this case :o)
The deer were just plain white so I gave them the old Versamark and silver embossing powder treatment before mounting them onto the card and die cutting a digi sentiment from Pink Petticoat with the PTI double ended banner, three little gems.....job done :o)

If you look closely there are a few bloops within the embossing resulting from a bad touch up job but I only had the one die cut!....so don't look too closely *wink*

Simon Says Stamp are playing 'anything goes' again this week for the chance to win a $50 store voucher and it's a free for all at Wee Memories , so I'll pop this in both of those Challenges too :o)

James has been so well behaved this week without big sis around, I'd even go to say he's enjoyed the extra attention  :o)
Hannah has thoroughly enjoyed her work experience in London, getting a taste of commuting on the trains although the early starts and long days are now catching up with her .... I sense a long' lay in' coming on this weekend!
Thanks for looking and hope your enjoying the half term week if you have kiddies around you X

Dotty or Spotty?

When does a dot become a spot? I have no idea but I do like polka dots so the challenge at Less is More this week is right up my street! We have to include them on our card and keep it a clean and simple design.

I've also been meaning to play along with the pretty inspiration photo board at Jay Gees Nook this month so here goes both challenges together...

I love the picture of the sofa on the inspiration board because the soft pastel cushions look amazing against the neutral material ..... needless to say it wouldn't stay that colour in our house!!
I've used a digi image, papers and sentiment on this card, the only stamp is the a.muse oval, I thought the chair looked cosy enough for a get well soon card :)

I'm also entering this into the 'Free for All' challenge at Wee Memories this week

So it's half term this week although Hannah has arranged a weeks work experience in London so I'm still up at the crack of dawn making packed lunches and surprisingly so was James this morning too!!! Typical I have to drag him out of bed school mornings but when he can lay in he's up and as bright as a button!......it's going to be a long day until the workers return home :)

Thanks for looking X

A Milestone Birthday

My Aunt is having a big birthday this weekend so a special card is in order and whilst browsing challenge blogs I found a fab sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the gorgeous trio of colours from the Play Date Cafe this week

The sentiment, whilst a little wonky...oops, is the newest Lawn Fawn alphabet called 'Sallys ABC' which contains numbers too,  I hand drew the small 'th' to match the font.
The flowers, flourish and label are MFT  dienamics dies and I made the small bud by snipping off two petals from a spare flower and slightly overlapping them before tucking them under the flourish.

Here are the challenge specs

Wow I think I've managed CAS, colourful and pretty in one card!
Sorry another short post...must dash and get dinner ready :)
Thanks for looking x

Cocktail time!!

Hello fellow crafters,

Sorry for the absence but life just got a little crazy last week so I hopped off blogland and now I'm scrambling back on again, I have some major blog-hopping to catch up with too !!

This weeks Less is More is a theme week and the key word is "COCKTAIL", it could be the obvious or a down right clever play on words .... see the blog for details.

I have gone down the literal interpretation because I have a suitable stamp that hasn't seen ink .... ever!

I wasn't too confident of my colouring skills for this image so I've cut out the drinks and placed various papers or coloured vellums behind the apertures to give colours to the drinks.
Not one of my favourite cards I've made but my inspiration seems to have done a runner at the moment :)
The stamp is from Dimension Fourth, which is now called Dimension Stamps.

Right I have a whole lot of catching up to do, see you around and thanks for looking X

All Heart

Yikes ..... not only is it one layer week at Less is More but you have to use Heart(s) in your design too!!!!

Now I'm not a sloppy romantic or frilly hearts kinda gal and my stamp collection sort of mirrors that so any hearts I have are little hearts that are extras in stamp sets. After deliberating over the weekend I turned to my Paper Smooches stamps and a good old fashioned play on words ....

I had a test run on scrap paper to get the spacing right on the pencil line heart before stamping on the card base and colouring with Promarkers. I thought a touch of glitter would give a bit of dimension too....STOP PRESS.... yep, I chose to use glitter!!!

I haven't had the pleasure of playing with my Paper Smooches stamps recently and it was great fun to get them inky again, the cute little sweetie was from the sugar rush stamp set and the sentiment is made from the alphadot set...... in fact Emily at 'Make the Day Special' has the whole range of Paper Smooches sets in including the new October release sets. I have no connection with the website, just thought I'd remind you that they are available to buy in the UK now :)

Well the weather here is decidedly rough today and I'm just wondering if I peg the duvet cover out I'll have to go into the village to fetch it back later!!! One of the perils of being open to the fields I guess ....... at least it's not raining too .... yet!

Thanks for looking X

ColourQ#105

I couldn't resist the gorgeous colour combo at ColourQ this week and whilst looking through my brass stencils recently I found the perfect image to use with the colours...

It's another Lasting Impressions stencil which I've embossed in various colours/cardstock and cut out after sanding , I used a length of wire and two brads for the strap on the lilac bag and I used two circle punches to make a wood effect handle for the smaller bag.
The sentiment was free in a stamp set on a craft magazine and I'm pleased it stamped so well ... love the jumbled font size :)

Those shopping bags would be filled with crafting stash for that sentiment to ring true for me :)

Quick post today as James is pestering me to put a wash load on!!!

Thanks for looking and hope you have a great weekend X

A favourite technique

First of all I'd like to thank you for the lovely comments on my last post, it has made me feel a lot better about the card, I simply cannot ignore the opinions of such a wide variety of talented crafters :) ......it's true we are our own worst critics!!

Today's card I'm much more excited about as it's been made using my favourite technique for the Wee Memories challenge this week in honour of World Cardmaking Day at the weekend....yep, dry embossing :)

I especially love being able to cut out the embossed pieces and mounting them on different coloured card stock as I've done here with this Lasting Impressions stencil which I've had in my stash for ages and with a family wedding coming up I knew I wanted to use it!
By using Black co-ordinations card I could sand the grooms shoe to show the design and then added a lace and a flower to the brides shoe for a bit of dimension. Photographing embossing is not easy so I hope you can make out the 'Perfect Pair' sentiment, lightening the photo too much blows out the detail!

If you remember my old embossing light box gave up on me a few weeks back and a detective process lead me to bulb failure which meant a new one as it's a sealed unit, so good old eBay came up with the goods :)  It's such a great tool to have and I love the ability to create my own embossed backgrounds with brass stencils..... never had a lot of success running brass stencils through the big shot!!

Thanks for your visit today as always, I have time for a bit of blog hopping now once I've grabbed a coffee :)

Edit to add : Please pop over to my daughters blog to see a fab pair of earrings she made for her friend, I love how realistic they look :) Thanks.

Jenny X

Ol' Blue Eyes

I made this card at the weekend for Less is More and CASual Fridays but I've been hesitant to post it because I'm not overly happy with it.... not sure why but something just isn't right about it, perhaps it's too much blue or not CAS enough? Anyhow it's all I've got at the moment so here goes

Mandi and Chrissie want us to use the colour of our eyes predominantly on our card and as you can see mine are bluey/grey...ok so this is more blue, perhaps that's why I'm not happy with it!!
CASual Fridays asked us to use ribbon loops on our card so I've used loops to act as leaves in my flower arrangement :)

I may be back with another card if I get chance this week, perhaps a re-work of this one!
Oh and I'm entering this into Simon Says Stamp 'Anything Goes'.....I would love to win that $50 voucher :)

Thanks for looking X

CQ#104 and a couple of cards to share

Colour Q are celebrating their second birthday with a challenge to CASE a previous Colour Queen's card using this weeks palette... and this is another one for the 'Anything Goes' challenge at Simon Says Stamp :)

I had a good rummage through the past winners and found this card for CQ callenge#38, that appealed to me so I decided to use my Cricut to cut these lovely leaves from the storybook cartridge and then use Nesties to cut out the negative frames

TIP: Choose a bold uncomplicated shape for this type of design ....... this was my second choice of image as the first was too intricate and drove me stir crazy trying to piece the negative back together again!!


I also want to share a couple of cards I've received recently from some wonderful blog buddies, this first is from Lynn @ The Mango Boys and Me and it came in with the blog candy I won recently. I love the narrow veneer strip the the acorns are stamped on and that touch of misting is just perfect :)

and finally this card is from Vicky @ Crafting Clare's Paper Moments. Vicky has used some of the new Stampin Up products and they look so elegant, love the little pearls on the cameo :)

I managed a little bit of crafting yesterday on World Card Making Day but with the impromptu heatwave we are having at the moment, things got a little uncomfortable in the craft space, call me a killjoy but I'd like the normal Autumnal weather to return!

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the sunny weekend X

Jenny

One for the men!

Good morning and welcome to October ..... yikes, another month gone!
It's time for a new challenge over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge and this month it's all about the men in our lives :)

Create a card with a masculine theme, man or boy,  for whatever occasion you like, and be in with a chance to win this fabulous package of goodies from the lovely ladies at ....

The prize contains :

My Mind's Eye Limited Edition 6x6 Double Sided Paper Pad - Dwell
East of India Pale Pink Ric Rac
Inkadinkado Mini Stamp - Thanks

Tsukineko Memento Dew Drop - New Sprout

Ranger Liquid Pearls - White Opal

K&Co Glitter Chipboard Alphabet - Smitten

K&Co Amy Butler Lotus Embellishment Jars

Creative Expressions Decorative Pins - Cream Pearl

You have to agree that's a pretty generous collection :)

You've had a sneak peak already so here is my masculine card for inspiration .....

I've gone for the classic 'wine lovers' theme and used the rich muted colours for the Play Date Cafe on my card which meant I had to use a coloured card base, something I admire in other cards but hardly do myself!

Oh I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge....it's 'Anything Goes' this week and who wouldn't like the chance to win a $50 store voucher?? they are also trying for 1000 entries this week!

So please sort through your stash, make a guy's card, and join us this month.
Don't forget that fantastic package of stash you could win too :)

Thanks for your visit X

Jenny