When Stamping becomes a Game!!

Hi there :)

I love when I think of other ways to use my stamps aside of card-making and today I'm happy to share one of those ideas over at the Seven Hills Crafts blog....

I picked up this DIY memory card game from my local Tiger store ( I love this shop so much *wink*) and set about making a matching pairs game using lots of stamps from my ever growing stash :) The box contains 44 sturdy blank cards and they have a lovely papery finish which takes ink and Copic markers well..

I was careful not to do too much fancy colouring and saturate the paper, I then finished them off with a coat of glossy mod-podge to make them more durable and I also found it made the colours more vibrant too!!

My twenty year old Autistic lad still loves to play this game and he's pretty good at it too... a nice sized game to take out with you when waiting and patience is required :)

A few more details and links to the sets I've used can be found on the Seven Hills Crafts blog here.

Thanks for stopping by  :)

Jenny x

Rooting For You

Hi there :)

Well, apparently today is International Carrot Day... and we have been getting our allotment season under way this Easter break by sowing carrot seed this weekend so a carrot themed card seems most appropriate I think....

I adore anything veggie in the craft world and if you can add faces, arms and legs all the better :) This is my card over on the Seven Hills Crafts blog and I've used Lawn Fawns Rooting for You with limbs courtesy of Paper Smooches.
I love the very enthusiastic little guy... talk about a carrot uprising!! The Small Talk speech bubble is a perfect size for this confident little carrot...

Hehehe... as sweet as this bunch is,

I'm hoping our carrots don't go jumping out of the soil and start shouting about!!

More details can be found over on my DT blog post here.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Supplies used:

Stamps: (Rooting for You) Lawn Fawn, (Small Talk) Mama Elephant

Dies:  (Build a Bug, Fruit People & Borders 1) Paper Smooches, (Rooting for You Lawn Cuts) Lawn Fawn

Winter in the Park

Hi there :)

I'm popping by to share my DT cards from Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog this week..... I've jumped into Christmas crafting using the new dies for an older Lawn Fawn set Winter in the Park...

I fancied trying a retro style of card with a funky monochromatic palette.... and the dies are so handy, especially for the lamp post!!!

The 'inky background' bug then took hold and I had to try another idea just using the lamp post stamp.....

They really do turn into something quite magical when you add a warm glow around them and some white pencil highlights to make them look frosty :)

My twinkling lights are a little lost... I should have stamped them lower or not made the wire so dark but I wasn't about to scrap it at that stage ;)

Stamps used : Winter in the Park - Lawn Fawn ,  Winter Greetings - Lil' inkers
Dies used : Winter in the Park Lawn Cuts - Lawn Fawn

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Coffee Talk :0)

I have a couple of my Make the Day Special Stamp Store DT cards to share and one of them is for the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge..... the sketch just caught my eye because it was quite different and not a design I've tried before!!!

I love to treat my daughter to coffee shop giftcards whilst she's away at Uni so this will be winging its way to her as we speak with a fully loaded card inside.... this cute set from Lawn fawn was just perfect for the job and fun to colour too :0) I love how layering up the speech bubbles is a great CAS way to add patterned papers to the layout and I have enough of them to choose from!!!

We also have our monthly challenge up and running over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog and it's  a recycling theme this month...... all the details can be found here and the linky gallery is here.

My good recycling deed was to use the inner tubes from wrapping paper to print a pattern using acrylic paint onto white card

... the yellow circles were printed with a homemade stamp of spiralled string onto a cork from a bottle of bubbly... I was quite pleased with the end result despite my doubts during the process!!

It would be great if you could join in the challenge for the chance to win a £15 voucher to spend in the store... all we ask is that you use at least one product from the store with your recycling craftiness :0)

Jenny x

Mini Christmas Card Set and Box

Hi there :0)
I've been busy making a mini set of Christmas cards using Lawn Fawn stamps and dies for my DT posts over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store, which incidently is the best place to shop in the UK for your favourite US stamp companies.... lots of choice and a fast friendly service..... Thats what you call a shameless plug :0)

The weather here in the UK has turned decidedly wintery today so what better time to share them !!
They're all 4x4inches and lots of fun to make... James has already laid claim to them to give to his friends and his favourite is the Christ-Moose.
Lots of photos coming up...

 The box is made using a tutorial I found on You Tube which I reduced in size so it would be a snug fit for my cards. It can be made using a sheet of A4 card and I have a photographic tutorial over on my DT blog post here :0)

The two penguins on the ice are my favourite design so I had to repeat it for the box front and just change up the sentiment.

Right best go and warm up, all these images of snow and ice aren't helping my keep warm on such a gloomy wet day.... I'm trying not to give in and put the heating on yet so perhaps some vigourous housework will help instead!!!

Thanks for looking
Jenny x

Chalkboard Love!!

After all my frolicking with Paper Smooches recently I thought I should show my other stamps some love and naturally turned to Lawn Fawn :0) I wanted to play with the chalkboard in the set called 'A Good Apple' but pair it up with those cute geeky birds in 'Science of Love' and it just so happily happens that I can pop this into the current challenge at Lawnscaping too....

The challenge theme is to use embossing which I have for the white chalk images and the red hearts.... I've also added a bit of shading to the birdies with coloured pencil.
I'm hoping you can just make out the subtle background stamping on the white card... I use our new conservatory as my light tent now which is great but it's not always kind to the pale inks in photos!!.... I've used School House backdrops to make a lined paper pattern and then overstamped with images from the science set in MFT's Snow Cone hybrid ink :0)

                                                            
Right that's all from me, just wondering if this glorious weather is going to be too hot to take the dog out in... I don't want to wait until later when it could turn stormy !!!

Thanks for stopping by :0)
Jenny x

You Old Dinosaur!!!

I've been having fun with a new Lawn Fawn set called Critters from the Past for my DT blog post at Make the Day Special. I love creating with these sets, colouring and making scenes has to be my favourite type of crafting :0)

I wanted the sentiment to unfold with the card so I went with a zig zag style card, scoring half an A4 piece of card at 9 and 18cm. As you can see it's a great set for the older generation as well as the youngsters and with all the different alphabets Lawn Fawn has, its easy to make up your own sentiment.... however cheeky it might be *wink* :0)

Naturally this one will have to go in the sale box as I can't send it....... I'm much to young to be considered a dinosaur!!! 

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Jenny x

Stamps used : Critters from the Past, So much to Say, Milo's ABC, Jessie's ABC by Lawn Fawn

Show and Tell

Hello there.... I did say hopefully back to normal so the fact I'm writing this blog post late on a Friday evening is as normal as it's gonna be for the moment!!!

Apologies for harking back to Christmas but I wanted to share with you the gifts I made for James's classmates and teachers before the end of term...... I decided to follow Yaineas tutorial here and try my hand at decorating candles with Lawn Fawn stamps....

I found using solid images easier to start with and I just loved how they turned out..... Needless to say lots of people had decorated candles this year for Christmas... Lol :0)

Next are the edible gifts for the youngsters and We R Memory keepers made life easier for me this year by bringing out the gift bag and candy box punch board… perfect for sweets on the inside and decorating the outside with Lawn Fawn and Paper Smooches stamps.....

 

And a group shot.....

I was over the moon to find the mini gingerbread men..... perfect size for the candy boxes and I love how adding a window to the gift bags made them more like sweetie packets too :0) All three gifts can be adapted for different occasions just by changing up the stamps you use..... Don't forget Valentines Day is just around the corner *wink*

That's all from me, thank you for your lovely comments..... it's so nice to know you're all still there and I'm gradually catching up with you and your crafty places in blogland :0)

Jenny x

 

Fishy Fun!!

Hello there :0)

I'm playing along with MUSE for the first time today... I just haven't got round to it until now despite tuning in each week to check out the challenge and gallery, but this weeks fun card by my good friend Therese, inspired my card for today's Make the Day Special DT post.....

The hot weather we're having is playing havoc with my crafting mojo so I was happy when I had a lightbulb moment of turning the chalkboard from Lawn Fawn's A Good Apple into an aquarium by flipping it upside down... the rest of the card fell into place quickly after that!! The one blue bird on Therese's card inspired my athletic green fish to show you his party trick :0)
I used a piece of thin clear film sandwiched between the frame and card for a shiny glass effect...

I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS  where the theme is water... a very much needed commodity around here at the moment!!!
So here are the challenge details....

                       
                                                                                       

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend :0)

Jenny x

Stamps used : A Good Apple, Critters in the Sea, Swimsuit Season by Lawn Fawn

Party Fireworks

I'm just popping by with my DT card for Make the Day Special because it's for a couple of challenges and they close tomorrow... I think :0)

CASology have the cue word FIREWORKS and the colour palette at ColourQ seemed to fit that theme very well.....

I'm sort of halfway happy with this card...... I should have trimmed the white panel down more so as to show more of the blue base card but hey-ho. I've tried a different technique for this card by cutting the letters from the base panel and stacking extra die-cut letters underneath them to raise them up..... by using a contrasting colour I think they really catch the eye whilst blending in at the same time..... if that's possible :0)

I wasn't sure whether to add glitter or not as my Stickles weren't a good match so I plumped for bling instead, I really love these Lawn Fawn fireworks.... just the job for this challenge :0)

 

It's been the first day of a potential 10 day heatwave here in the south-east and I'm wilting already :0( The grass is already crunchy and the flower beds have turned to sand!! On the other hand the strawberry bed is in full production with this wall to wall sunshine and warmth..... guess you can't have it both ways!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

 

Start with a Smile

I don't know about you but waking up to the sun streaming round the edges of the curtains certainly makes me get out of bed with a spring in my step, despite the looming battle every morning to get James out of bed and ready for school.... oh and 'Happy' is definitely an optional mood for him in the morning!!

Why am I telling you all this you ask??? ....It's because my DT card this week reflects my happy morning mood on these sunny days ...

The sunshine rays stamps and dies are everywhere at the moment and they seemed the perfect partner for this happy breakfast set...... wouldn't it be good if the toast did pop up with a smile in the morning, that might be a good incentive for James too!!.... I have been known to draw funny faces in the butter on his toast in the morning when he was younger to encourage him to eat something at brekkie time :0)

                                                    
I'm going to pop this in over at the Lawnscaping Challenge which has a colouring challenge on the go at the moment and I just wanted to say another big thank you to the Lawnscaping ladies for selecting my MGM  lion card as the winner of the CAS challenge last week... he's grinning with even more pride now :0)

Thanks for your visit
Jenny x
stamps used : Love'n Breakfast - Lawn Fawn,  Bright Days - Avery Elle

A Royal Roar!!

I'm a happy mother chick today as my nest is full again now that Hannah has come back home for a few days having finished her exams... she is heading back again at the end of next week to join her house-mates in a proper week of end of exam celebrations but for now they are still studying hard so she has partially moved back home for the summer!!

This is why I'm later posting my Make the Day Special DT card which is also for the Royal challenge over at CASology as well as a CAS birthday card for the Lawnscaping challenge this week....

It's a tough cue word this week but I went with the 'King' of the beasts and a rather cute King he is too, the sentiment inspired me to set him up like the lion in the MGM logo by using a banner and some leafy branches for a laurel wreath .....I've obviously not remembered it right though because it should be gold film reel so not quite sure what I'm thinking of but he looks very regal anyhow!!!

                        

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It's a relaxed atmosphere at home today.. James is more than happy to have his sister home, not least because of all the extra washing to do and Hannah has decided she is just not going to fit back into her room this summer without a good clear out so the wardrobe is getting her attention first..... Watch out Charity shop here we come!!!
Thanks for stopping by
Jenny x

stamps and dies used: Bannerific, Critters on the Savannah, Blissful botanicals by Lawn Fawn

Nature's Duo!!

Red and green together just make me happy... Mother Nature got that colour combo spot on with roses, tulips, field poppies and strawberries to name but a few :0) It also fits in perfectly with this weeks colour challenge at Less is More because red and green sit opposite each other on the colour wheel too :0)

                                                     

I wanted to try some partial die-cutting with Lawn Fawns Blissful Botanicals stamps and dies and this is the end result...

The dies make it so easy to cut after you have stamped because they line up easily and the thin white border is really growing on me now... I'd never cut it that neatly myself!! 

For a bit of interest and texture, I embossed part of the base card with a folder from a Cuttlebug set called Fabric Swatches... I love all the stitching and faux fabric effects on the four folders :0)

I couldn't decide whether to add extra bling near the sentiment, I love the black beads in the flower centre but looking at it now I think a few more scattered would have been okay!!?? It's too late now because it's already gone on its merry travels!!....... Happy Birthday Jackie :0)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

Stamps used: Blissful Botanicals, Judy's blooms, Sophie's sentiments by Lawn fawn

A Pastel Treat

Hello there, back again so soon I know :0)

I'm being a last minute Lucy with a second card for the Less is More Challenge.... yes I know, with the colour palette I wasn't too sure about!! What can I say I'm a fickle girl *wink*.

I had originally thought they looked like 'Ice Cream' colours and then Laura's card inspired me to get this cute Lawn Fawn stamp set out.... I even added glitter.. phew, I think I need a little lie down!!

The Crumb Cake card base has been stamped top to bottom with one of the borders from 'Interlocking Backdrops' in Colorbox Frost White and I love the subtle pattern it's made.

I think I've got a better handle on the colours with this card and I definitely like them as ice cream flavours :0)

Lawn Fawn Stamps used : Here's the Scoop, Interlocking Backdrops available at Make the Day Special

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x