Daisy Chains

Good morning everyone, this has to be a record for me...posting this early on a Saturday morning and sharing my card for this weeks Less is More!!!....
....... that's because I'm super excited and extremely honoured to be joining Chrissie and Mandi as guest designer for the Lucky Dip challenge . I thoroughly enjoy the challenges at Less is More, in fact it was the first challenge blog I played along with when I started my blog last February so it has a special place in my creative calender :0)..... so what's instore for you this week.... a photo inspiration challenge!

You can take your inspiration from the photo or the colours, it's entirely up to you and I'll be honest, I find these a little more difficult to play along with so I've gone quite literal with a daisy chain, it was the first thing I thought of looking at the underside of the flowers :0)

The daisies are made from two punched flowers edged with Victorian Velvet DI and the centres are the punch-outs from my cropodile, they are the perfect size and the discs are slightly shaped too.
I hand cut the stems with a knife so I could get them nice and narrow, fiddly to stick down though!
Slight hiccup with the sentiment....after stamping it I noticed the 'flowers' is drooping...ha ha, Well that's what happens when you pick them !!!

Why don't you click HERE and visit the Less is More blog to see Chrissie and Mandi's beautiful creations, they're the driving force behind the brilliant challenges and provide us with amazing inspiration every week as well as visiting every single submission to leave encouraging comments...that's what I call dedication :0)

I hope you play along too, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's crafty take on the photo challenge.

Thanks for visiting me :0)
Jenny x

Making An Easter Nest!

Whilst I'm still without wheels and my mojo is alive and kicking at the moment, I disappeared into my craft room yesterday to get a card idea from my head and onto card...so to speak :0)

Using the delightful Easter photo inspiration at Jay Gees Nook and the fab sketch at Retro Sketches I decided to go with a springtime Easter card.... oh and it's another for Less is More too :0)

Easter time, to me, symbolises the changes taking place in our own back gardens and new life in the animal kingdom so a clutch of speckled eggs in a twiggy nest is what I really wanted to make and I had just the Memory Box die in mind....
.

I started by cutting the Memory Box Grapevine Wreath die

and then cut it into suitable size sections making sure to give the cut ends  realistic twiggy slant

and when layered up in a nest shape it looks really effective... glueing it was a lot easier than you imagine with strategically placed dots of wet glue on the wider areas of the twigs .... now I know how the birds do it *wink* :0)

I punched out three eggs, with an ancient punch that Ive had for ages, and used repositionable tape to glue them to my craft mat before sponging them with Aqua Mist and Sea Breeze VersaMagic. The speckles are added lightly with a very open density sponge in Rich Cocoa Memento.

The wood grain panel is embossed using a PTI impression plate, the speckled card was a great find in my stash for the rustic feel and just had to be teamed up with the hessian strip...... even the sewing machine has had another outing for this card..... can you tell I'm so pleased with it??

Seems a timely moment to remind you that the current Springtime Challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge ends mid-day Saturday so you still have time to link your cards up for the chance to win a set of Waltzing Mouse Stamps and help a great cause too...hop over and take a look for yourself :0)

 

Here are Arielle's Sketch and Judith's photo inspiration board, whilst over at Less is More this fits in with Embossing, Spring and Off Centre.

Right that's quite enough from me, phew what a long post but it's mostly pictures so hopefully you didn't mind :0)

Thanks for looking

Jenny x

Cascading Flowers

I'm back again.... told you I was on a crafty roll  :0)
The Runway Inspired challenge photo caught my eye this week with the bold brights against the black dress and this card idea popped into my head

Having found the right coloured card I just punched out one style of flower in two sizes and instead of planning I started randomly sticking them down and then added a few raised and shaped blooms to give a little dimension.
You can just about make out the small black flowers towards the base of the card as the cascade dwindles.... this was another 'outside photo needed' card !!!

I had to laugh at some of your comments  about our eventful day yesterday.... seriously, those days are few and far between and today has been just like normal apart from my lack of wheels, yep hubby's car broke down last night and it's now languishing at a garage waiting for a new fuel pump to arrive and be fitted! Probably wont get it back until Thursday so the next two days are going to be fun and games whilst he uses mine instead.... best find that bike of mine and see what state the tyres are in or should I dig out my old roller boots!! now that would be a sight for sore eyes and a sore bum for me no doubt ;0)

Thanks for looking :0)
Jenny x

Pastel butterflies

Evening all,
I'm on a crafty roll this week because I've had an unscheduled day in my craft room today ...more about that later tho !

First I have a card to share that I made with this weeks CASual Fridays challenge in mind but it will also fit in at Less is More too.....

This is the idea that first popped into my head for the black and pastels challenge at CASual Fridays and it's a design that's most likely been done loads of times before but the striking contrast between the pastel butterflies and black card is pleasing to my eye and it also meant I could use some of the gems I have hoarded but hardly use!!! .... the butterfly dies are from dienamics and a mixture of two different sets.

Over at Less is More we're asked to combine 3 past challenges and this fits in with wk#16 Butterflies (of course), wk#55 Die-cuts or Punches and wk#29 Things that move.
It was a complete nightmare to photograph in a light tent so we had to go alfresco .... much better result :0)

Well I was planning to share a before and after photo of Rolo with you today because he was due to go to the groomers for his first trim of the year but instead he snagged the nail on his dew claw this morning and spent the day at the vets having it sorted under sedation....just a small procedure but he takes his time to come round from the ol' jungle juice so they kept him most of the day :0( ..... and I decided in his absence to have a crafting session and crack on with some cards instead :0)
He's back with us now and after an initial burst of energy he looks suitably 'pooped' from his eventful day and luckily he has no dressings on either..... we don't do bandages well!!

Right I better find out where my husband is....he broke down on the way home from work and last I heard the AA had just arrived!!
Thanks for your visit :0)
Jenny x

Seed Head Silhouette

Good Morning everyone.... I'm a happy bunny this morning because I had some productive crafty time yesterday evening.... well, into the early hours of this morning too!! so I have a card to share with you for Less is More and ColourQ.

Last time I played with ColourQ I said how addictive Arielle's challenges are then promptly missed two! so I thought I need to tackle these colours because they didn't jump at me to start with.
Less is More this week is to make a card that combines at least three past challenges and this fits into

Wk#2  Flower or Tree

Wk#42   Silhouette

Wk#24  Circles

it would also fit Off the Edge, Bit of Bling, Off Centre.....oh and Anything Goes! don't think that counts though somehow :0)
The die I used is called Chloe and is from Memory Box..... just couldn't resist it when I saw it :0)

I've been out in the garden this morning trying to convince one of the neighbours chickens that it really would be better for it to return to the other side of the fence back with its friends before our Lakeland Terror sees it!!! They are not the brightest of animals are they!... after carefully herding it towards a possible escape route it decides to turn and run back past me clucking furiously!!! 

By now the mutt has gone to the French doors and seen, what he thinks is, mum trying to do a job he could do much better but with different consequences for the chicken and is getting rather excited and vocal about it!!

Left to its own devices in the safety of the fenced allotment it finally managed to get back over to its friends without any scratching in the vegetable beds and Rolo missed out on a playmate!!!....hope this is not the start of a regular visit, it has also confirmed my suspicions that Rolo would love us to keep chickens in the garden but more for a sport than egg production!!

Thanks for visiting today and hope you remembered to turn the clocks forward last night if you live in the UK!

Jenny x

Flashback Friday#21

Now this really is getting an entry in under the line...... I have 40 mins left to play!!!

I've only just become aware of Flashback Friday which is hosted by the lovely Amy and, as the title suggests, asks you to look back through your blog to find your first project in a chosen genre. This months guest is my blog pal Jen W and she chose 'Paper Piecing' !
The challenge has been open for three weeks so why I'm entering at the eleventh hour is unexplainable but anyhow here I am :0)
Sorry about the photo quality again.... at least I can blame it on rubbish photography and editing skills back then Lol

I had fun looking back through my cards and this is my first paper pieced project from about a year ago, as well as my first dabble into digi too....... I would love a funky sofa like that :0)
You can see the original post here.

It's going to be a warm and sunny weekend here, when the fog finally burns off, but I'm not sure what we have planned ...... it will probably involve some work in the garden though :0)
Must get this entered so better dash, thanks for looking
Jenny x

Bean Busy!!

Hi Everyone.......whoa it's been a busy week, you can tell the Easter holidays are coming up because the schools start throwing out appointments and when you take your eye off the crafting ball we all know the mojo goes to sleep too!!!

Well I think mine returned yesterday in a parcel of Paper Smooches stamps because I made a card for Less is More this week which is to use 'Masking' on your card...

This cute jelly bean is from the Spring Fling set and with that sentiment I just had to have a go at masking a few and shading them to make them look 3D :0)
Sorry for the fuzziness of the photo ...I think that's white card photography for you!

I just want to take this opportunity to let you know that Emily at Make the Day Special is the only UK stockist of Paper Smooches and Lawn Fawn stamps and she has just added the latest releases from both companies to her site as well as carrying lots of other overseas Stamp companies products too....I have no connection with Make the Day Special, just passing on the good news but I'm not taking responsibility for any spending sprees ....Lol :0)

This gorgeous weather we've been having here in the East has certainly bought the birds and flowers out in there springtime glory. Yesterday was my regular volunteering stint at the local RSPB reserve where we get our hands dirty outside doing all types of manual jobs around the reserve and yesterday we were repairing a flight of steps on one of the trails

Its great fun being out in the fresh air and making a difference you can see...not to mention the coffee breaks in the sunshine and listening to the birds singing :0)

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my Mothers Day post, James was impressed to see his card and gift on my blog and to see your messages :0)

Well, I have lots to do whilst the kiddos are at school so best get cracking and hope to catch up later :0)
Thanks for your visit....so pleased you popped by
Jenny x

A Lovely Day

Hello everyone,
Just popping in to share my Mothering Sunday treats from my lovely kiddos :0)

I always get treated to a cup of tea in bed on Mothers Day and this morning it came with a tray of cup cakes made by Hannah

She was a bit disappointed that the flower petals had dropped due to the moisture in the icing..... but hey ho they are certainly yummy :0)
James had made me a card at school which involved cutting , sticking and writing..... all tasks that he find particularly difficult because of his fine motor skill issues

The little stone owl was a present from him too which Hannah helped him choose, it's just so cute and similar to one we liked in a holiday cottage we stayed in a couple of years ago :0)
Do you see James's writing, he's made so much progress with his handwriting recently, he luckily does a lot of his work on the computer at school which helps him no end but its good for him to keep practising his writing skills :0)

Hannah made me a brilliant card ..... I think I may have to CASE it *wink*

and finally, here's the group shot with the lovely pink Hyacinth I had too.....aren't I a lucky Mum :0)
I must add the cupcakes are missing from the picture, NOT because I ate them all, they were in a tin at that point and there are 5 left as I write this...soon to be 4 *wink*

I hope all the lovely Mums out there had a wonderful day and were sufficiently treated and pampered.

Jenny x

Mothers Day Duo

Hi everyone, this is gonna be super quick because it's late and I should be tucked up in bed!!!

I've been crafting this evening for Mothers Day having only just realised that I need to post my Mother-in-laws card tomorrow!! honestly.... head like a sieve!
So just to put more pressure on me I decided to use this weeks Retro Sketches for MIL's card and I'm just getting it in under the wire!!!

This card really uses up quite a few scraps, including the other half of that gingham tablecloth!, and came together quite quickly.... I love the two teacups for a Mothers Day card, we usually visit the local garden centre for a browse and a drink in the restaurant when Mum comes up to visit us so I thought it was perfect for her :0)

My Mums card is inspired by the Clean and Simple sketch this week and these fabulous digi sentiments from Pink Petticoat

Love that paper, its from 5&dime by October Afternoon..... reminds me so much of the linen you would find in our old airing cupboard :0)

Decided to make a top layer with a band for the buttons and even managed to sew relatively straight lines with my machine!!! 

Super CAS but I love it that way :0)

Right..... really need to go and get some sleep, it'll be dark glasses for me tomorrow... Lol 

See ya'round and thanks for looking :0)

Jenny x 

Dies : MFT dienamics

Patterned Paper : October afternoon

Stamps : Canvas Bkgd -Hero Arts

Sentiments : Digis from Pink Petticoat

The Writing on the Wall

Hi folks, I'm back again with another card for a couple of challenges...... Yep I snuck back in the craft room yesterday evening because this idea popped into my head and I had to get it out of my system!!

I'm using the colours from the Play Date Cafe and using the graffiti as the focal point for CASual Fridays challenge this week

The embossed wall is a Tim Holtz folder that's relatively new too me but the graffiti alphabet from Sizzix is one I've had for yonks, Emilies post here got me thinking about these colours in a different way to the feminine photos above and that's how the graffiti idea came about.... thanks Emilie :0)

The card base has been stamped with a scratched texture bkgd in Pumice stone Distress ink and then the wall was grunged with the same ink and some Tim Holtz stamps used around the edges. The smilie face has been cut on my circuit........ I quite like the grunged but CAS look, wasn't sure I could pull it off!!!!

Hubby is obviously not up with text speak, in fact he's not up with technology much at all!, he looked at the card last night and just read it out as you see it then two seconds later you could see the penny drop when he realised what HB stands for...... Goodness knows what he was thinking in those two seconds though!!!!
Thanks for popping by :0)
Jenny x

One Layer Script

Well  good morning.... could be better weather wise but then it was glorious at the weekend so mustn't complain!
After last weeks trials and tribulations at home, my crafting time was not productive over the weekend for this weeks Less is More card......  I decided to walk away and mull over some ideas which seems to have worked because I knuckled down this morning and made a card I am happy with :0)

This weeks requirement is script...other than the sentiment, on a one layer card ! I do enjoy the one layer weeks because I find it helps to narrow down the stash and techniques that can be used!
I have the Hero Arts newsprint background so I had the idea to use it through a mask and the newspaper wrapped teapot and cup was born!! Ideal for a New Home card I thought...... they're usually the first items to be unpacked on moving day :0)
Old Paper and Antique Linen DI were used to give the paper an aged look and then extra shading with my coloursoft pencils. The sentiment is computer generated ... font is CK Toggle.

This is the first card I made on Saturday morning which is okay but I'm just not enthralled with it, not my usual style and does it have enough white space??.... perhaps that's why I'm not keen!!

The stamp and mask are made to look like a sheet of stamps and I bought them at a craft show ages ago, they are made by Just For Fun, hmm.... the jury's still out on this one, I much prefer my teapot card :0)

Thank you for all your caring comments regarding James, he is back at school this week and is much happier now things have settled down again which makes for a happier Mum too :0)

Thanks for stopping by today, it's great to have you here :0)
Jenny x

Neutral Ground

Hi'ya'll,
I'm pleased to say I've managed to get some time in my craft room this morning after having James off school the last three days with... lets just say issues related to his Autism so it's great to have some creative time today and still in time to play along with Less is More this week :0)

Mandi and Chrissie have a colour challenge for us this week   NEUTRALS  .... wow the thumbnails look amazing, all those yummy browns and creams :0)

I've used the 'Lovely Leaves' set from PTI and used the stepped mount technique again but without the foam tape between this time! The patterned strip is homemade Washi Tape that I've decorated with leaves from the same stamp set. It's quite easy to make with a strip of double sided tape (whatever width you want the tape to be) and tissue paper, I've used tan coloured here.


Simply stick a length of tape to the tissue paper and then trim to the width of the tape or narrower if required. Then decorate with inks and stamps... remembering that pigment inks take longer to dry (ask me how I know that!!!)  Peel the backing off and use it on your project :0
This is the video tutorial I used


Top Tip: remember the one layer of tissue is going to be a lot paler than the colour of the folded pack and the shade will change depending on the colour of the base card you're adhering it too :0)

Apologies for not visiting you much over the last few days... hope to rectify that later but for now I have a ton of jobs to do and an ever hopeful mutt sitting by my side wanting a walk.

Thanks for your visit :0)
Jenny x



Stamps: 'Lovely Leaves' Papertrey Ink
Ink : Soft Suede, Crumb Cake by Stampin Up

ColourQ#126

Hi Folks,
I need a card this week for my nephews birthday so I looked to ColourQ again for inspiration because Arielle's colour palettes are just so addictive!!
The combination of colours actually shouts springtime too me... in particular daffodils, so I had a hard time over-looking that to come up with masculine card, not that daffodils couldn't appear on a guys card..... enter stage right, my green fingered hubby as an example :0)

I've used my new Tim Holtz 'Inside Out' alphabet die for 'BIRTHDAY', love that you can use the inside letter with or without the outline or make it two tone as I've done here :0)
The white strip is embossed with the PTI wood-grain Impression Plate but its not showing well on the photo and the striped panel is made with lots of card offcuts stuck onto a card strip, trimmed and shaped with a corner chomper. Not sure about the swiped edges of the card.... seemed a good idea at the time to go around the edges with a white inkpad but not so sure I like it now!!

Typically its pouring with rain here today just as James has a friend coming to play this afternoon, he really wanted to get his Go-Kart out and charge round the garden on it, so it'll have to be inside games instead!
Hannah is on her second day of her new part-time job at our local garden centre, she was full of all that she'd been doing on her first day yesterday but I can tell that the best bit of the day was driving herself there and back again in Dads car..... yep, I know, we'll see less and less of that little car at weekends now!!!

Thanks for popping by today and hope your having a great weekend :0)

Jenny x

Leap Frog!

Afternoon everyone
I said I'd be back to share the card I made for my Brothers birthday which was Wednesday this week...yep he's a leap year baby and reached the grand old age of 9 real birthdays this year!!

I like to keep his real birthday years as age appropriate cards and fancied a frog theme this year but have no stamps or dies for such a little character so I had to improvise with basic shapes,  take a look...

I didn't have any particular challenge in mind when I made it but it just so happens that all the pieces are punched/cut from card scraps, including the piece used for the sky, so here's my third entry for Less is More .

I'm sure I'm not the only person to have done this but its great to be able to move a few ovals and circles around to make a cute froggy character. Did I take photos of the process?.... No, but then I'm sure you can see how I made him, including his rolled tongue. The lilypad and bulrushes are cut by hand, the 'Hoppy' is a paper pieced Lawn Fawn alphabet and Birthday is stamped, sorry don't know who makes the stamps.

Not much leaping going on I hear you say...... so lets have a look inside :0)

STOP PRESS : I'd like to say at this point that I wanted to make an interactive card but it just wasn't working for me and time was not on my side so this is what I went with instead :0)

The ripples are made by making three elipses in a word document on the computer then printing and cutting them out to use as masks around which I sponged Tumbled Glass and Faded jeans Distress Inks. I need to work on the interactive idea some more, it's getting my head around the mechanics of it that needs time, nevertheless I'm pleased to report my little bruv loved it :0)

Right I have a few jobs to do before James bowls in and demands my undivided attention, seriously he's like a human whirlwind shedding coat, shoes, bags and books on his way through to check out what is or isn't in the washing machine...Rolo keeps well out of the way!!

Thanks for stopping by today :0)

Jenny x

Is Springtime here??

Well the flora and fauna here in the UK certainly thinks it is with a lot of trees in leaf bud and birds collecting nesting material!! and with the new theme at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge for March being 'Spring into Spring' you can get into the spirit too by using seasonal colours, animals or flowers on your cards :0)

For my card I have followed the sketch at Clean & Simple stamping and used scraps so I could enter a second card into Less is More this week too.

(Gee whizz, sorry this photo is so fuzzy!)

The stamps are from a Printworks set and the tulips are made from a Memory Box die but not a tulip one!!!

I've used one of the Crisp Bows...... 

the red fluted heads are made from three teardrop shapes that are the waste piece from inside the loops (I've had these saved since Christmas time) and I've used a scrap of green card to cut three more bows and trimmed the loops and ties off the straight part to use it as the stem ....the green teardrops will go in my box to be used as leaves on another project :0)

The prize this month has been so kindly donated by Waltzingmouse Stamps and its the Big Bloom Chrysanthemums and Tara also has a copy of the current Papercrafts magazine to giveaway with it.

So please do find time to join us this month and send in your entries and other cards to the address on the St Luke's blog..... all proceeds from the sale of your handmade cards goes towards the fundraising the hospice has to do to remain open and help the patients and there families, our challenge co-ordinator,Tara has first hand experience of the wonderful care they provide. Please see the St Luke's blog for all the information you need :0)

Well as I'm writing this it's the last day of February and a Leap Year day so Happy Birthday to my brother who is very much my younger bruv today having only ever had nine proper birthdays!!!...I'll show you his card at the end of the week :0)

As I've been busy in my craft room today I had the chance to take some photos of my scrap storage, as half promised, but there only small pictures "wink"

The bottom photo shows my tubs of extra die cuts and  embellishments that never got used...I love to delve in when I need inspiration for a design or colour combo. The best part is the tubs are recycled Chinese takeaway containers and who needs an excuse to have one of those..... does that count as using up your scraps too????? Lol

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you can join our challenge this month :0)

Jenny x