Big Fish, Little Bowl, Moving House :)

Hello :)

It's been half term break here in the UK and I've not been well, 

which isn't a good combination I can tell you :( 

It's also the reason for an even longer gap in crafting but I'm here today 

with my DT card over at Seven Hills Crafts.

I had this idea pop into my head and I couldn't wait to turn it into reality... 

you know that feelin' right?

By die-cutting a circle into my card front the little goldfish can magically move house 

to a bigger tank when you open the card...

Ta-dahhhhhh

I was so happy it turned out how I imagined and of course, the Lawn Fawn alphabet stamps always allow you to customize your own sentiment too :)

The Lawnscaping Challenge this week is all about CELEBRATION so I'm going to pop it in over there, because moving house is or should be a celebration..... well, if you have energy left after the tiring stressful bit!! :)

                                            

You can find more details on how I made this card over at the Seven Hills Crafts blog here.

Stamps used

Fintastic Friends and Smitty's ABC's by Lawn Fawn

Thanks for stopping by :)

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

A Love Explosion!!

Hey, did you know it's Valentines Day coming up???? I'm guessing so unless you've been under a stone for the last few weeks...Lol  :0)
Well my card over at Make the Day Special has me getting in the Valentine theme this week using a new Lawn Fawn set in store....

I'm loving the Science of Love stamp set because those geeky birds are just the cutest but the little test tubes had the first inking along with the sentiment which looks so cool in two colours :0) Love how the firework explosions from Happy 4th make a great backdrop for those shooting hearts!!

NEWS FLASH : I've managed to marry up three challenges for this card... YAY!!.... 

                   

...and I've managed to get all three graphics in a line in this blog post... not sure which one I'm more ecstatic about... Lol :0)

Continuing the Love theme... I thought I'd share this card which I had published in Craft Stamper Magazine last month... same idea but using Paper Smooches stamps and dies instead

All this love and excitment... it's too much for a Monday morning!! I need to go and immerse myself in housework and calm down :0)

Thanks for visiting
Jenny x
Stamps used : Science of Love and dies, Happy 4th by Lawn Fawn.  Great Chemistry, Bam Bubble Dies by Paper Smooches

Retro Inspiration!!

Hello there.... are you a Pinterest Fan and do you love Lawn Fawn??? If the answer to both of these is yes then I have just the challenge for you :0)

It's my second and last time joining the girls at Lawnscaping this month and todays new challenge is great fun..... to be inspired by something you've found on Pinterest....

I have just a few boards on Pinterest with good intentions of using them to inspire me, I just never get round to doing just that, so this challenge was the kick up the bum I needed!! I love this retro Christmas print I pinned on my Inspiration board and thought the Lawn Fawn baubles in Ornate Ornaments lended themselves perfectly for a time-travelling design :0)
                                                        

credit

I love the "out of line" printing and angular colour blocking which was quite easy to reproduce with some masking and distress inks. Add a bit of bling with some silver thread, glittery dots and embossed sentiment across the polaroid style frame and I think the retro feel is definitely there.... love the colours too :0)

I can't wait to see what the DT girls have come up with, don't forget to hop over to the Lawnscaping blog and check them out for yourself, this weeks sponsor is the one and only.... Lawn Fawn.

I want to say thanks again to Laurel and the crew for letting me join them this month, it's been great fun and a real honour :0)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

Yay!!....I'm Guest-Designing at Lawnscaping this Month!!!!

Helloooo :0)... Well I pretty much blurted it out in the post title didn't I !!!

I was so excited to receive an email from the lovely Laurel Beard asking me to join the Lawnscaping girls this month... playing with such fun stamps, it wasn't a hard decision *wink*
So here I am with the first challenge of October and it's time to mix your favourite Lawn Fawn stamps or dies with Patterned Paper because we are having a ......

I just had to treat myself to some of the new release Lawn Fawn Stamp sets and whilst they are all delicious, I really wanted to ink up Winter in the Park...

I love the peaceful wintery scenes you can make with this set :0)

I've used a strip of snowy paper from the Fa La La paper pad and stamped the lamp-posts in dark grey, giving them shadow and highlights with white pencil and black pen... I love how frosty they look. The twinkling lights and lanterns have been given a glow by applying chalk on and around them.... you have to trust me when I say the camera has not done it any justice :0(

The bench is stamped on a seperate piece of card and given the same treatment as the lamp-posts for a frosty feel then cut away and mounted on foam pads to make a foreground piece.... I just had to glitter that snow cap along the back of the bench :0)

I hope you join in the fun this week, our sponser is the ridiculously well stocked Simon Says Stamp...... check out the Lawnscaping blog for details and to see what the DT girls have made to inspire you to :0)

                                                        

For those UK Lawn Fawn fans.... did you know that Make the Day Special are a UK supplier of Lawn Fawn stamps??? The newest release (including this stamp set) is open for Pre-order here until 12th Oct and current stock can be found here :0)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

A Birthday Blog Hop!

Hello :0)

Today I'm taking part in a mini blog hop with the rest of the DT girlies over at Make the Day Special to celebrate She's (Sheila's) birthday. Unfortunately She has recently left our fun little team and we thought it would be a great surprise to arrange this little hop around our blogs on her birthday, so .....

                                             

SHEILA!!

We have all decided to make tags which is something quite new for me
and I have to say I enjoyed  getting inky on such a small canvas!!

I took my inspiration from the current Lawnscaping challenge
and used Distress inks to make my sky and landscape and
DI pens on watercolour paper for the balloons from the
LF Blue Skies Stamp Set.

Here are the links to the rest of the team... you should have arrived here
from Jo's blog, if not you can start off from the MTDS blog....

  Make The Day Special

                                                                            Emily

                                                                             Jo

                                                                             Jenny.....(that's me!)

                                                                              Kate

                                                                              Keren

                                                                               Lou

                                                                              Lydia

I hope everyone enjoys the hop and that you have a fabulous birthday She :0)

Now off you go to Kate's blog....

thanks for hopping by :0)

Jenny x

Just Desserts!!

Hi there.... it's Saturday and if this scheduled blog post appears as planned we should be enjoying breakfast 'al fresco' on a campsite in Oxfordshire!!! Lets hope the weather is good... fingers-crossed :0)

I'm popping in to share my DT card over at Make the Day Special which was inspired by the One Layer challenge at Lawnscaping but also fits for Desserts at CASology and Summer at Addicted to CAS... triple score.. yes please :0)

           

I'm also feeling smug that I fooled blogger and got all three of those challenge graphics in one line... ahh, its the simple things in life :0)

I used a couple of Lawn Fawn sets and some masking to arrange these yummy desserts. They are coloured with Inktense and regular watercolour pencils... I like adding white gel pen highlights too, it's like the magic finishing touch that brings them to life!!

Right that's me done, I'll have to link them up when I get back home :0)
Thanks for looking and hope you have a great weekend.
Jenny x
Stamps: Here's the Scoop, Many Thanks - Lawn Fawn

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!!!

                        

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

A 'Spec'-tacular Splash!!

Goooooood Morning Everyone :0)....... I've been having fun with my Lawn Fawn stamps for my regular post at Make the day Special blog and playing along with a couple of challenges too.....

The moustache from Dads Day was just begging to be used with a pair of specs from Clear to See and how did I make the nose I hear you ask....... after a rummage through my stamps I found one of the pears from Silly Valentine to be the right shape and size!!! 

I part inked and stamped it then used a mask to get the moustache and specs in place :0)

The stitched ribbon bkgd is made using a stamp from Belinda's borders... love how turning the stamp gives this pattern!

I think he looks pretty happy, he's going to be entered into the colour splash challenge at the Lawnscaping Blog and because the splash is blue I will put him into this weeks Play Date Cafe gallery too, it's the closest I had to that bright blue!!

I also wanted to share a photo of this little chap in our garden today..... 

we have quite a few Greater Spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders in our garden and at this time of year they bring the youngsters in too, the juveniles have a red top to their heads. They are so noisy and pretty lazy too letting the parents do all the work but I'm not sure what he thought he was doing clinging to the picnic bench...no food there!!! I was lucky he sat there long enough to get the camera set up :0)

I hope you have a great weekend whatever you may be doing, thanks for stopping by.

Jenny x

A shining light

Morning crafty peeps :0).....Its the weekend and the weather is going to be hot and sunny so hopefully you've found your factor 50 by now and put the woolly hat and gloves away for a good few months...there, that'll bring about a change this week!!!

My share today over at Make the Day Special blog is an encouragement card for my super talented girl Hannah who has started her A levels this week along with many other 17/18 yr olds. Not that she needs a lot of encouragement because she's very disciplined at getting her study time in and has a brain like a sponge to soak up all the facts and figures she needs to know but it's just great to let her know we care and think she's amazing :0)

This is the first time I've inked up the lighbulb from this set and because it's a solid image, I decided I would emboss it with clear powder for a bkgd pattern and then again on yellow card and use the emboss resist technique to ink the surround in black.
I love the shine with the embossed images and it also means I can have a yellow bulb on black card!!! ...... you'd never get that with yellow embossing powder on dark card :0)

The sentiment from Lunar lights fitted perfectly and then inside I carried on the sentiment with a Lawn Fawn alphabet...

All that embossing on the front means it will fit nicely in at the Lawnscaping challenge this week too...... it's almost like I planned it *wink*

Next week will we be Hannah's final week at school apart from going in to sit exams and collecting results in August, I can't believe that era has come to an end! She hopes to go to Bath University and study Psychology in the autumn rather than take a year out, but she has a couple of overseas trips planned for the summer including an adventure to New Zealand on her own to visit family and friends..... and what an adventure that will be considering France is the furthest she's been!!

I have a feeling this summer will be a busy one :0)

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a lovely sunny weekend!

Jenny x

A Moooving Card !!

Hellooo, hope you're not getting tired of visiting....this is the fourth post in three days!!!

It's my turn to share a card at the Make the Day Special blog and because I need a 'Moving Home' card I thought I would use an idea I've had kicking around in my head using Lawn Fawn stamps....

This is a puntastic card and carries onto the inside as well....

I just love making scenes with the Lawn Fawn critters and I reckon this is clean and simple enough to enter into the current Lawnscaping challenge too :0)

The cow theme is absolutely spot on for the family this card is going to because they have moved to the outskirts of a village not far from a farm with a herd of cattle grazing in the adjacent fields.
They've bought a lovely house and garden but are worried about the smell of the cows being too intrusive.
Where they were, they had a smaller garden and nightmare neighbours to contend with every day ...... I know I'd rather have the smell of the countryside anyday :0)

Don't forget folks...  if you're in the UK, you can find Lawn Fawn products at Make the Day Special, just here.
That's all from me for a few days, I'll be back in the week.
Have a great weekend, hopefully in the sunshine :0)

Jenny x


Stamps: Critters on the Farm, Jessie's ABC's, Claire's ABC's  Lawn Fawn
Dies: Dienamics MFT
PP : Brightside by Lawn Fawn

A Belated Birthday!!

Yay for the weekend!!! :0)... lets hope we can see a bit more of Mr Blue Sky than we did in the week! I know we need the rain but this girl needs to get the washing dry too!!

Anyhow today I'm sharing a card I've made using Lawn Fawn Stamps for the current challenge at the Lawnscaping blog and for my regular spot over at the Make the Day Special blog.

The theme of the challenge is to 'Stamp a Scene' and I've adapted a couple of stamps to make my scene....

A couple of weeks ago I received some of the newest Lawn Fawn stamps which always opens up opportunities to use the older images in different ways. 

I thought this chilled out little tortoise would be a great reason for a belated birthday card, he's from the set called 'On the Mend' and he should have a poltice on his back but by carefully inking him and filling in his missing shell he's become the late sender of the birthday card instead!!

The flowering shrub is the tree top from 'Critters in the Burbs'... I've cut it in half so it would peek out further from behind the mail box.... I just love this cute little scene :0)

Thanks for stopping by today :0)
Jenny x


Stamp sets used: You've got mail, On the mend, Jessie's ABC, Bon Voyage and Critters in the Burbs.
Paper : Lawn Fawn 'Bright Side' 6x6 pad

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