Summer Fun

 Well it's been quite a different summer this year!! We're not used to having the rainfall we've had and the garden is looking quite profuse and green...... a bit of sun and warmth would be nice again though now... please 😊

I've got a few summery themed cards I've made recently to share with you today....

This card uses the brilliant Perfect Pool Water stencil.... it's so clever and I really do think it gives you that glistening water look. I followed the tutorial on the MFT You Tube channel and used pale blue card as the base. The Splash set from Avery Elle is still one of my favourites and I thought the lady on her pineapple lilo would make a great substitute O for this quote...

Keeping with the water theme and this background stamp, also from MFT, makes a good watery texture too..

I used the good ol' technique of debossing with a die to make the frame and then stamped and inked inside it by using masking tape around the edges. The gulls just have the perfect poses to make them look like they're having a good catch up and what a great sentiment for them too 😃

..... and the last card, well summer means sunglasses for me and this die from Concord & 9th is just adorable and well thought out with separate dies for lens's, frame and arms....

I've kept it bold and simple colours and shapes.... the sort of style I'm drawn too. It's the small details, like the two strips of colour on the sentiment banner, I sometimes forget that do make the difference and that finishing touch!.... I think the pink are my favourite and I'm not usually a pink kinda girl 😉

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Float on:  Perfect Pool Water - MFT    Splash - Avery Elle     Cutaway Alpha dies - Waffleflower

Flocked Together:  Thick and Thin background - MFT   Seaside Seagulls - MFT    Spring Songbird - MFT

Sunshiny Day:  Lined By Hand background - MFT   You Matter stamp - C&9   Bright Eyes die - C&9   Bright Blossoms - Altenew

Focal Sentiments

The summer holidays have started here, James has finished college and we've made it through this strange year!! Trouble is, it's not so easy to find activities to do...... a lot of them need planning and booking which is something we are getting used to!

Craft time has suddenly become more restricted too but luckily I still have cards to share....

These two were fun to make using Avery Elle's Peek a Boo Tag Toppers and pairing them with birthday  sentiments.

I've used alphabet dies to make the sentiment part of the focal point ...... I quite like the silver dipped effect I used on this one.... I heat embossed the card first with silver and then cut the letters

Whilst the magical unicorn is quite a girlie design this second card is good for the little guys... oh, and the girls of course.....

You've heard of the Tiger Who Came for Tea..... well this is the Lion who came to the party!! 

This time I used a Lawn Fawn alphabet to embellish the sentiment and a wood plank background to give some rustic texture to the brown card.... I know we shouldn't have favourites but this one's mine :)

There are a few more creatures in the die set and I have more ideas to try using fun sentiments :)

Thanks for stopping by 

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Peek a Boo Jungle, Peek a Boo Tag Toppers - Avery Elle

Finley's ABC's - Lawn Fawn

Greenery Die - Waffleflower

Tall Alpha Lowercase - Altenew

Hello.... again!!

Hello there, I'm brushing down the blog again and posting a few cards... weeks turn into months and then it's hard to get back into setting aside time to update the blog. We are all okay here, just going with this crazy flow that is "life" at the moment and hoping, along with everyone else, that we are getting closer to normality..... whatever that is?!

I have lots to share but I think I'll start with a couple of cards I made for family members.... it's fun to make something a bit different than the regular shaped card so I used the Out the Box dies from MFT to make this golfing card. The set comes with shallow tabs that you attach from side to side and then I just added die cut grassy slopes with trees of different sizes attached.

That's quite a big bunker to avoid!!

I've either used dies or freehand cut the shapes myself and of course.... I can't resist a pun :)

The next card needs no explaining.... our nephew and his wife welcomed their twins into the world on the first day of lockdown here in the UK so they've had quite a busy year!! 

I do love the Dawn Machell illustrations for Reverse Confetti, those animals have such simple quirky shapes... perfect for little ones. I used the computer to personalise the card panel before adding the birthday gang. I love using my Polychrome Pencils on textured card too... I still much prefer them over Copic markers.

We've probably seen more of the twins over this last year via Zoom because of the Pandemic than we would've done otherwise and it's been lovely to see them grow and reach milestones. Strange to think of a whole new generation now that are becoming accustomed to seeing family via a computer screen!

Well I'll leave it at that for now, lets get back into it gently.

Thank you for stopping by and a special thank you to the lovely lady who wrote an email to check up on me and who gave me the kick up the bum I needed to dust off the keyboard and get this written.

Jenny x

Autumn Feels

 Hello there,

I'm sharing a few autumnal cards today, my favourite to make as the colours mother nature showers us with are just gorgeous. I've discovered and become obsessed with colouring die cuts with Distress Oxide inks... the colours are intense and I love the chalky matt finish when they are dry. I've used this technique for the first two cards...

This card uses dies and alphabet stamps from Concord & 9th... and the die cuts below are by sizzix... isn't that toadstool cute :) 

It just so happens these next two cards are both water coloured and are stamps from Colorado Craft Company, I love their large images for practising my painting..

This oak leaf image is my favourite, it's been a great year for acorns, lots of seeds and nuts in fact. I've been collecting the acorn cups when out walking so I can needle felt some acorns to go in them... not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but I quite like the idea of a garland :)

I hope you've been enjoying the autumn colours too :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Party Animals

I'm back again after another short break and Blogger has been updated!!

Seems to be pretty much the same just a bit more sleek in style so hopefully this will 

go smoothly.  These two cards were fun to colour... well they are fun images so what 

did I expect. By turning them into little framed pictures I gave myself some fussy

 cutting to do but that's okay... I like doing that :)

I used a patterned paper with text on which helps make the colours pop as 

well as being a good neutral backdrop.

I quite like colouring with greys but I did enjoy bringing these party 

parrots to life with colour and texture too.

The wording is made up using a mixture of alphabet and sentiment stamps, 

I spotted this pun on Pinterest and had to use it :)

Well there's no social distancing going on with these two!!

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny :)

Stash used:

Picture Perfect Party Animals - MFT

Selfie Square - MFT

 

Say it with Flowers

Well I'm gradually catching up now with all my cards to show you 

and this collection are all about the florals...

This gorgeous frame is a Hero Arts/Pinkfresh collaboration and I couldn't wait to try

 it embossed on dark card so I could use Prisma colour pencils to add some colour... 

When I had finished this next card I had flower pot envy!! Love this die set from MFT,

 all the pieces are well thought out and make such cute gardening tools, bench and flowers..

Flowers on the go!! Flora & Fauna have such whimsy images and this little van is 

just one of them. For a background I thought I'd try some subtle pattern making with 

a few smaller images... love the effect 😊

Saving my favourite til last and these silhouette stems from MFT are such a dream to stamp in 

layered colours thanks to my MISTI ... I was especially pleased with the daisies!

The vase is actually a take out coffee cup die that's been given a contemporary look.

Well that's all for this post, not sure what the next collection will be,

think we are heading towards a miscellaneous assortment!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

For the Guys

Hello folks.... I'm back with another 'catch up' instalment of cards and today is all about 

the men! As I make cards to sell in a local shop, I always create a few extra Father's Day cards

 and, although like a parent you shouldn't have favourites, I'm afraid I did which I'm sharing here..

If you visit often you'll know I can't resist a pun so this Lawn Fawn sentiment paired well 

with an older Paper smooches stamp but I have to say I really love those paint 

swish dies in shades of blue as a backdrop the most :)

Another fun card that's text based (pun intended) ... love the bold graphic style

all finished off with that cute phone die cut :)

Dad's and beers equals cheers, love this new stamp and die set from Waffleflower..

that's quite a head on that beer too... is that a good thing??

Now this was the actual card I sent to my dear Dad, the stamped image does take quite a few years off him but he knew it was meant to be him!! During lockdown he had to get to grips with 

Zoom and Skype... he managed okay with a lot of help but it's much better to be

 able to see him in person again now!

Not forgetting those dad's that are the Hero's without capes....although I don't actually 

agree with the killing of spiders.... rather they be caught and liberated elsewhere!! 

This is a riot of colour... a nod to Pop Art using a VW Beetle from a 

Christmas die set finished off with a pun.

Only one card actually mentions Father's Day I hear you say!... that way they can be 

used all year round... clever eh? 😉

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

Long Time No See!!

TAP TAP TAP......hello anybody there?? 

Well it seems my blog has been in lock down too! I'm not the best at keeping it up to date 

but then things have been different (i.e home tutoring/mentoring our 24 year old Autistic lad) 

so hopefully that's a good enough reason.

I have been crafting and, in fact, sharing everything over on my Instagram acct 

(link in the side bar) as well as posting every week on the Seven Hills blog so

 I have a quite a few cards to share here now!!

*************

Let's start with something topical! I was inspired by the fun cards I saw on social media 

for those who had lockdown birthdays, I decided to try an make my own hybrid version for

 a family member and these fun toilet dies from Create a Smile sure helped!!

I do love to mix up all my alpha stamps and dies for these cards, the challenge makes

 the end result more satisfying. I've used new and old fonts... yes I do have quite a collection,

 some are even Quik cutz dies.. remember them?

This next card was inspired by a Jennifer McGuire video, I wanted to try a bridge card to 

use with the Kraken set from Avery Elle...

I love how this turned out and it was fun to colour too. The lighthouse from Shine Bright 

was a perfect size for the scene as well.

Just look at those rough waves!!

 This is how the card looks from above and it just folds flat sideways for posting... 

check out Jennifer's video here

One more project for this blog post and this was a card for my Mum earlier in the year which I framed afterwards, it seemed the perfect piece of wall art for a coffee addict :)

The background stamp was one I picked up at a local craft fair in February... isn't it fab? I over stamped with a woodgrain background too and then added the wording over a square of cream vellum....another rummage through alpha sets for this one too😉

When it came to framing, I used this deep box frame with a piece of dark brown card-stock layered behind the card which is raised away from the background for a floating effect. Mum was chuffed with it and it hangs pretty in her kitchen or 'Coffee HQ' as it's otherwise known :)

Well I think that's all for this time... I don't want to shock blogger!!

I've lots more to share so will be back soon. 

I've listed items I've used as much as I can down below.

Lock down card:

Bella letters - Mama Elephant, Simple Alpha die - Altenew, Mini Well Connected Alphas - MFT

Whimsy Alpha - Mama Elephant, Cool Cuts Potty die and Oh Poo stamps - Create a Smile

Kraken Card:

Legendary, Shine Bright - Avery Elle, Cloud Stencil - MFT, Waves dies - MFT

Coffee Art:

Love of Coffee - Picket Fence Studios, Tall Type - Concord & 9th, Coffee Love - Altenew

Mug and font are older discontinued stash

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Winter Friends

We woke up to snow falling this morning and although it's not settling much and probably

wont hang around for long, I thought it was the perfect day to share this wintery friendship card..

I love the Go Girl dies, the choice of hairstyles and accessories is fun.

These three ladies are ready for chilly days with their coordinating winter warmers

which I've cut using felt and decorated with acrylic paint for extra interest and texture.

The stencil background gives a lovely subtle frame and its very thematic 

being a geo snowflake design. I do like the simple style of the faces by just adding the lips,

they remind me of the dress up dolls I used to love back in the day.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash used:

Go Girl stamp, Go Girl Winter and Summer dies - Waffleflower

Geo Snowflake stencil - Sugar Pea designs

Polar Pals - MFT

Winter Brrrthday!

Hellooo! 

First blog post of the year and its nearly the end of January!!

I thought I'd share this card from before Christmas as its still quite relevant for the 

cooler weather although we haven't had much of that really.

I made this for my Mother-in-law's birthday... she is a top hot chocolate fan 😉

I've used Lil Inkers stamps and dies and have used Copics and pencils to add 

shade to the pieces... I love how it turned out 😊

Unfortunately Lil Inkers is closing its shop doors which is a shame but I 

wish Laura all the best for her future plans.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Comfy Cocoa Die and Stamps, Coffee Talk 2 die - Lil Inkers (discontinued)

Knitted sweater background stamp - MFT

Bright Lights

Ahh, bright lights.... quite ironic that the day I photographed this card was 

anything but bright!! I could have done with some good lighting.

I love coloured fairy lights and this set makes it super simple to add them twirling and 

sprawling across your card front. The gap I left was just the right shape and size for this 'bright'

die cut and all that was left was to add some glossy dimension to each bulb :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Party lights stamp and die set - MFT

Rainbow Wishes die - Concord & 9th

Mini Merry Messages - Mama Elephant

Cheers & Beers

It's another inking for the beer bottle this week for a 60th birthday card, I love 

trawling through my alphabet stamps and dies to make up these typography style cards..

Keeping all your alpha stamps and die sets together makes this job a lot easier 

then it's just a case of playing around on scrap paper. Having an image helps as a 

starting point for sizing and layout.

I'm quite pleased how this card turned out :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Bubble Over - Stampin Up

Cheers Die, Mini Well Connected - MFT

Count on it dies- Avery Elle

Jet Alphabet - Heffy Doodle

Journalling Alphas - Neat & Tangled

Lots of Letters - Mama Elephant

Birthday Shout Out!

A break from Christmas cards today to share this card I made for a family birthday,

this Town Cryer is great for a guys card and fun to colour too..

I paired him up with the buildings from a Mama Elephant set and left them uncoloured 

so he would take centre stage... with a booming voice I think he already has centre stage!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stash Used:

Oyez Oyez - Waffleflower

City Sidewalks - Mama Elephant

Stitch Arch Stax dienamics - MFT