Almost birthday time!!

Apologies but I've had to disable commenting on this post due to the high number of spam comments :0(

Morning my crafty friends :0)

So with week#52, it's almost a year since Mandi and Chrissie launched the Less is More Challenge blog and it's gone from strength to strength. I have probably only missed a couple of challenges during the year and only joined in on week two... a one layer card!!! Not daunting at all....... much, considering it was my first week of blogging too!!
Less is More has certainly helped me to be more confident in my own style and try new things.  Mandi and Chrissie do such a sterling job commenting and lead the way each week with such fabulous cards to inspire our creations, it's been fun to see the LIM community grow and make new blog friends along the way too :0)

Here's to another 52 challenges and more?

Onto this weeks challenge and it's a sketch which we must keep rectangular and in the orientation shown so the band remains in a vertical position.

I decided to use the gorgeous colour palette at ColourQ this week to make my little flowery scene :0)

The fence is a dienamics die as are the leaves, the flowers are made with a punch. The flower centres are the punch outs from my Crop-o-dile.... love how it curls the card :0)

We are having a bit off a computer nightmare this weekend trying to extend the range of our wifi signal in our house and can't get the darn box of tricks to work and now the laptop has packed up again, so I'm getting this posting  before we have a complete disaster and lose this one too!!

Off to try and count birds  for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch now whilst sipping a calming coffee and take my mind off frustrating technology problems...... Grrrrrr!!!

Thanks for visiting me, it's great to see you here :0)
Jenny x

OLW - Colour in Winter

Hi everyone,
Well it's great to have a break from the recent dull weather we've had because it's been a lovely sunny winters day here and the mutt and I got out for an earlier walk to make the most of it,  when I got back home I decided to make a card for this weeks One Layer Wednesday at Susan's blog Simplicity.  I used to play along regularly so I need to get back to that routine, it's always good to stretch the creative braincells with a OLC !!!

Inspired by the early signs of spring, Susan wants us to use a pop of colour with white and grey on our OLC and only use black for the sentiment if we have to .
Perhaps it was my sunny walk that inspired me to tackle this weeks challenge today, although our walk did involve a fair bit of squelchy mud too!,  but I used this Penny Black border stamp and embossed it in white, then coloured the leaves and flowers with coloursoft pencils and used enamel accents for the flower centres.

It was at this point I realised I had not thought about the sentiment.... not black! (which would have looked too harsh anyway), so I stamped and embossed again... whilst holding my breath! Oh it could have gone so wrong at this point but I think I got away with it :0)

I had been trying a technique from card class which is to colour the white embossed lines but Jennifer McGuire used Prismacolour pencils and my coloursoft guys just weren't going to play nicely and do the same thing so I settled for colouring in between the lines and I have to say I'm impressed with the pop of pink on the grey!

I'm linking this up to Simon Says Stamp this week as they have an 'Anything Goes' challenge to win a $50 store voucher :0)

This weekend in the UK it's the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch 2012, I hope you can join in and record the feathered visitors to your garden for an hour either Saturday or Sunday, details can be found on the RSPB website here on how to take part. We usually make it a family occasion because you need that many eyes to count them!!

Thanks for your visit today :0)
Jenny x

The w'hole' picture

It's a rainy day here my crafty friends so that means ignore the housework and do some crafting ...right! :)

I've been pondering the Cut it Out challenge at Less is More this week and also wanted to join in with the Lawnscaping Challenge 'Winter Wonderland' so I put them together and hey presto .....

I do have other Lawn Fawn sets... honest, but the Winter Wonderland challenge just called for me to ink up these cute little snow critters again (and I love colouring them) for a photograph, and the Cut it Out challenge means you can open the card to see our little friends posing for the photo :)

I've used the school house backdrops to make the lined page effect and stamped the polaroid onto real photo paper with grey Stazon before cutting it out, ageing it with Old paper DI and curling a couple of corners. Do you like the bright green washi tape holding it on the page???

and who knew that Tim Holtz grunge stamps would ever work so well with Lawn Fawn stamps!!

I sooo enjoyed making this card and it means I've kept quiet and out of the way of Hannah who is busy revising for a Biology exam tomorrow..... well quiet apart from the 80's music escaping from the craftroom that is!!
The Lawn Fawn sets used are : Critters in the snow, Say Cheese, Schoolhouse backdrops, Swimsuit Season & Sophies Sentiments.
 I buy mine in the UK from Make the Day Special

I was so happy to see my Rain and Shine card made Colour Courtier this morning AND I have noticed that my list of followers has reached the 200 mark in the last day or two so a big thank you to all my crafty friends who visit my blog..... I'm deciding what to do to celebrate as I also have my first Blogaversary coming up around Valentines day too so I may just combine the two.... Still thinking on that one :)

Thanks for popping by today though, I really appreciate your comments, they always put a smile on my face :o)

Jenny X

Rain or Shine !

Hi Crafty Peeps :o)

This is going to be a super quick post as I'm off out the door shortly and I need to get this card in at ColourQ before the deadline later!!

I just love the rich colours for this weeks palette and was determined to use them so after a brainstorming session with my stamps I made this card this morning.....

Love this sweet little Unity stamp which I ordered amongst other stash with my gift vouchers for Simon Says Stamp :) I tried very hard to get the colours right and then the camera has slightly distorted them too but I think you'll agree they're close :)

We had a great time at the bowling alley .... a few strikes by everyone including James!!!
A few aches and pains this morning from using muscles I forgot I had!! Lol

Thanks for looking

Jenny X

In the dark!!

Hey it's the weekend, my favourite because there's no timetable to keep to...... I wish they lasted longer and came round quicker though!!

Did you know, over at CASual Fridays this week the challenge is in honour of Penguin Awareness day!!! Never knew there was such a day.... I wonder if penguins have a human awareness day?  ooops, I digress :) ..... and the challenge is to make a black and white card with no other colour on it at all!

A-ha a chance to make a stylish and elegant card, I thought ....... No! my childish imagination took over and I started to play around with a new set of speech bubble dies from X-cut and this card came about after a lot of phaffing and pushing card around - you wouldn't believe how long it took!

Quite self explanatory really.... speech bubbles and googly eyes, but who do they belong too???
Let's open the card and see who's waiting in the darkness :)

Yep it's the animal menagerie!!

It was great to ink up this old stamp, which I've had for yonks , it's made by Rubbadubbadoo who I don't think are around anymore but I could be wrong, gotta love these wacky stamp company names - they probably sold out to Inkadinkado !!! Lol
I couldn't decide whether to add colour to the inside but then thought this black and white shading would look like the light spilling into a dark room so that's what I went with :)

So hope you have a great weekend... we are off to cause havoc and mayhem in the bowling alley later and James is hyper excited about it :)

STRRRRIKE !!!!

Jenny x

Happy Birthday Sheep Sixteen!!

Morning everyone...

It was James's birthday yesterday, he turned the big 16 which, is a little recognised  milestone birthday these days but when it comes to James, I think these teenage birthdays are always a wonder to me and constant reminder of the widening gap between him and his peers!!  At sixteen he stands 6' 3" tall with size 12 feet and still loves nothing more than sitting sucking his thumb engrossed in a children's programme aimed at 6-7 yr olds or helping load and oversee the workings of the washing machine!

So what to put on a card for him that will catch his attention for longer than three seconds?.. I decided on using a set of Stamps that I won as blog candy from the lovely Lynn a few months ago, because they look like a couple of characters from Shaun the Sheep... one of his many favourites :)

Here's a link to a you tube video in case you haven't met this little chap before and as you can see, or may know, they're a cheeky bunch of characters so thought it only right that they should be up to mischief on the card and have taken a bite from the aperture :)

I took a risk with the spelling of 'birthday' because James is a stickler for things being right but it seemed to suit with him and he appreciated the pun in this instance!

He had a lovely mini party at school, they always make a fuss of their birthdays and then Nannie and Grandad where here after school and stayed for a birthday tea so the perfect day as far as he was concerned :)
We are bowling at the weekend with four of his friends from school which will also be a family outing because he can't go alone and he's really looking forward to it..... not many parents of 16 year olds can say that can they!!!

So here's to another year of ups and downs and decisions about the future.... yep life is quite interesting with James but his friendly nature and chatty character always shine through, giving us the privilege of an insight to how he sees life and actually I think his world is better than ours most of the time!!!

Thanks for your visit, hope you have a great day :)

Jenny X 

The Lovebirds!

Well hello fellow crafter's, are you intrigued by the title?.... then read on :)
I have two more cards for the Clean and Simple card class and the first one is also for Less is More this week which is a one layer card and must feature 'Birds'. Now for the love bit..... at the weekend we received the exciting news that our nephew and his girlfriend have got engaged so this helped me to decide on a theme for my birdie card :)

Yes I got inky for this card so something a little different for me, this technique was from day 5 of card class and used Distress inks and the blender tool with a little water added for a watercolour effect. The birds and branch are embossed first using Versafine  tuxedo black and clear EP on Watercolour card which was quite nerve-wracking as Versafine dries quickly at the best of times without the help of super absorbent card!!!
I hope Mandi and Chrissie don't mind the branch floating on the card, I added a second for good measure!

I'm also entering this into Barbles challenge at Kinsale Creations... I've been thinking along the lines of silhouette birds so LIM came along at the right time :)

This second card is an idea I've had for a few days and is a mid month reminder for the 'New Year, New Start' challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge

It just so happens that today's class is to make your own embellishments whilst keeping it CAS ...they must have read my mind!!

I've used a chipboard circle (thick card packaging) and some blue cellophane (Christmas wrapping) to make a sweet and stamped a sentiment through an aperture in the front for the sentiment inside and out :)
The twine is a great design idea from class so I had to try that too :)

We'd love to see you join in the challenge over at St Luke's... you can recycle anything on your card that was destined for the bin, it doesn't have to be left over from Christmas!

Right best get the first card written and ready to post tomorrow.... looking forward to a family wedding, not had one for a few years now....wonder if they need someone to make the invites????

Thanks for your visit I really appreciate your comments :)

Jenny X

Cards for Class

Hi crafty peeps :)

I signed up for the Clean and Simple Card-making Class this week but, as it was already day 4 I have some catching up to do, I'm going to make the cards for each class but they won't necessarily be in the right order!!

This first card is based on the sketch from day 1

It's also inspired by the current photo challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks challenge
and will fit nicely in at Simon Says Stamp which is Spots &/or Stripes.

I've used a small stamp in Sugar rush to make the toadstools and drew in the stalks, the background is just made using various sized circles dies/punches.... I just love red and white polka patterns, which is why I think these little guys are cute :)

My second card to share is from Day 3 which is to use inspiration to make a Clean and Simple card so off I went to Pinterest and found this photo ... oh for my hallway to look like this *sigh*

I turned the design through 90 degrees and used it as inspiration along with the technique of making your own faux chipboard to create this card.

I have to say this is a cool technique to try...  the die I used could easily cut chipboard but because I wanted a tone on tone effect I used thin white card stacked and stuck together with the last layer being the blue card ... not sure if it was quicker than fiddling about with foam pads but I think the effect is worth the difference :)

Right well that's all from me so far, the class is packed with tips and great ideas to get my head around and you should see some of the amazing samples already in the gallery as well as the gorgeous cards from class tutors Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and Julie Ebersole

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend :)

Jenny X

Fashion Inspired.... Me!!

I've been watching the Runway Inspired Challenge since it started but as I'm not so good with photo inspiration challenges, that's all I did....watch and swoon at the DT cards and fabulous entries, but here I am playing along with the third photo because those stripes and the peep toe shoes are just calling to me....

Seeing as the challenge ends tomorrow it's fair to say that I took a while to come up with this design and I'm pleased with it apart from the sentiment.... I know, I know I always moan about the sentiment but they give me such trouble! I either don't plan for it or it doesn't stamp well... I should have known white on black would be a pain in the butt too! It says 'Love You'...not sure what the squiggle is at the end :)

So there you have it my first fashion inspired card..... says the girl who's more at home in jeans and a fleece...Lol

Hope you like it too, thanks for looking :)

Jenny x

Musical Chipboard!!

I'm still on the theme of Thank you cards I'm afraid and punny sentiments too! 

I decided to play along with the Chipboard challenge at CASual Fridays this week with this card I've made......

I have to say it looked better in my minds eye... I think the sentiment could have been stamped better too!
The musical notes are die-cut from chipboard, coloured black with a promarker and then had the star treatment with glossy accents :)
The stave is created using the single line stamp from Lawn Fawn "School house Backdrops" which I shaped on an acrylic block before repeatedly stamping .

I'm also entering this into Young Crafters Unite Challenge#5 'Clean and Simple'

I've been out with Hannah in the car today as she has her driving test coming up next month so we are using Hubby's little 'runaround' to get extra practice sessions in alongside her proper lessons, she is getting on really well and it's nice to be driven but very hard to relax and sit back whilst  remembering not to pass on any of my bad habits too!!

It has also strengthened my views on the fact that James will certainly not begin learning to drive a car for quite a while yet! He will be 16 next week and since Hannah has started to learn he thinks he will automatically get behind the wheel when he turns 17.... he has many issues to overcome before this happens, some of which will never change but as they say...... never say never !!!

Thanks for your visit today and catch ya again soon :)
Jenny X

Purple...... Thanks!!!

Whoa....... doesn't time fly and getting time in my craft-room is proving a bit elusive at the moment!!!
Putting the Christmas decs away always sparks a mad session of putting the house in some sort of order and having a good clean :)

I managed a crafting session this weekend and one of the products is a card for Less is More.
This week is a colour challenge...... PURPLE!!!!...... not my favourite colour, I think because it can come in so many different hues, some of which clash terribly, so I steer clear of it in crafting so as not to spark a hair tearing out session!!!

Mandi and Chrissie have stepped up to the mark in setting the challenge and making some stunning examples using their non-favourite colour so I thought I should show solidarity and join in too....

I obviously had food on my mind because purple just kept conjuring up Cadburys Dairy Milk but I went with the healthier option of a bunch of grapes instead...... fits in much better as a Thank You card :)

I punched a few circles and added shadow with a pro-marker, highlight with a white gel pen and shaped a few of the top circles.
The leaf is a Cuttlebug die which I've shadowed and highlighted before shaping as well.

Well we are back to the full school and working week now and it's going to be another busy one, still best to keep active as it's the only way to justify eating all the lovely chocs and treats left over from Christmas!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny X

Recycled Twine!!

Hi y'll, hope you had a peaceful and healthy start to the New Year :)

We are having a slightly later start to the January challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge this month which is 

"New Year, New Start"

The theme is to give a new lease of life or recycle something destined for the bin, on your cards. The design team have used the aftermath of all the parcel wrappings from the holiday season for our cards but as the month goes on you may want to use other items instead!!

I decided to use the twine and string from all of the gift tags on the parcels to place behind dienamics alphabet dies and make a Thanks card....

The prize for this month at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge has been kindly donated by the The Ribbon Girl and is pictured below so please join us, we look forward to seeing how creative you can be :)

I'm also entering my card into the Less is More challenge 'JUST ONE WORD' and CASual Fridays too :)

My two are back at school this week and hubby is back at work too so normal crafting and blogging will resume.... trouble is, I'm at a bit of a loss without Christmas cards to make !!!! - perhaps I should start this years early ;)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny XX