Kitsch Christmas

Hello there :)

Funny how styles come back around isn't it!! I can remember when I used to send rather twee Christmas cards to my school friends... I sent quite a few so mum used to buy the cheapest pack of cards she could find!! I think using the school Christmas postbox was the main attraction for sending them actually.. Lol :)

I had to have a go at re-creating the retro look of Christmas with the 

 Kitsch Christmas stamps from Avery Elle...

I also had another go at no-line colouring.... I seem to get on better doing this 

technique with animals more than any other image!! It also suits the kitsch look if you ask me :)

I sponged that classic teal background into a rectangular shape and added a few pine sprigs to frame the little deer. That fabulous font just finishes it off like a cherry on top of a cake..not forgetting a smattering of glitter too, that's a definite addition to the retro look :)

I'm adding this to the Less is More gallery this week as it's their 300th challenge and the theme is CELEBRATION & FESTIVALS

This was the challenge that inspired and shaped my cardmaking genre although I don't have the time to play along so much these days.. Well done LiM and all the fabulous design team, past and present :)

This card is featured on the Seven Hills Crafts blog today including links to the products

 I've used from the Seven Hills Crafts shop :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Beautiful Blooms

Hello there :)
Just for a change, I have a couple of floral cards today... I don't use many flowery stamps although I still seem to buy and hoard them *tut*
I've used the MFT stamp set called Beautiful Blooms to make two cards that are quite different... first up is a summery card using the lavender sprig...

This little scene reminds me of our trip this summer to a lavender farm... that heady scent and the buzzing of bees!! The colours are perfect for entering into the colour challenge this week over at Less is More which is colours found in a peacock feather. 

Not wanting to leave all the other stamps out in this lovely set, I challenged myself to make a Christmas Wreath ....

I'm as pleased as punch with how this came out ......definitely my Christmas card for this year :)

I'm sharing these cards over on the Seven Hills Crafts blog today where you can see a few photos showing how I built up the wreath and more details about which supplies I used :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Talking Computers

I'm over on the blog at Make the Day Special Stamp Store today and I've been playing with the new Blogging Buddies stamp set from Mama Elephant.... I love those cute little images of the laptop and Mac/PC. I made three cards but this is my favourite of the bunch....

Whilst the set comes with lots of sentiments to fit into the screens I was intrigued to see what else I could use!! Skype was my inspiration to use one of the smallest photos from Mama Elephants Photo Bomb stamp set.... I did some simple masking and colouring then trimmed the images out with the matching dies and used a sentiment from that set too :)

I'm entering this into Less is More challenge this week which has a theme of  MASCULINE... this could actually be for both the guys and the gals, especially the youngsters although computers are not exclusively reserved for that generation!!! I'm just pleased these are easy to customise and set up *wink*

Stamps used:

    

My other two cards using this set are over at the MtDS blog here if you'd like to check them out.
Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Make you Smile :)

I'm on the Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog today with a card using the new stamp and die set from Waffleflower called Tiger & Lily....

I used this weeks sketch at CAS(e) this Sketch for my design so I'll pop it in over there.... it's a loose interpretation because I love building up scenes within a frame and allowing some elements to overlap the edges :)

This stamp set just appealed to my inner child and I love how Nina coloured the images in the product video so I had to have a go too :)

                                                           

I'm also entering this into the Less is More challenge this week which is 'Life's a Beach'... well it certainly is for this shark with his piece of birthday cake!! Luckily he's a friendly chap so it wont be a deserted beach for long :)

Oh.... and just for a fun surprise on the inside.....

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

One for the Guys

Less is More have a great One Layer challenge this week..... a masculine card, two tricky genres rolled into one!! A great chance to use some unloved stamps from There She Goes, a stamp company that sadly no longer exists :( This guy comes with a space on his t-shirt and a choice of fun phrases for you to insert.... I think this one is my favourite and perfect for a tongue in cheek card for a guy :)

I'll also pop him into Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge this week too, the theme is Furry Friends.

I stamped and masked him so I could blend a background of blue and green before colouring him with Prismacolour pencils and Gamsol.

 Hmmmm.... I'm going to have to be careful who this one gets sent to !! *wink*

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Florals in a Frame

I'm sharing my DT card from the Make the Day Special blog as it's made with a couple of challenges in mind. The ladies at Less is More are asking us to choose three previous challenge themes for our creation this week and the sketch at CAS(e) this Sketch helped me to collate my ideas....

The three LiM challenges I've used are Wk. 54 Stripes, Wk. 79 Blue & Green and Wk 111 Frame it 

and here's the sketch from CTS this week

                                                      

The flowers and leaves are the Doodle Blooms stamp set from Altenew, the matching 

dies have just arrived in the UK and I couldn't wait to buy them...

 they make flower arranging so much easier..Lol :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Stamps and dies used available from Make the Day Special Stamp Store:

                     Doodle Blooms - Altenew, 

                     Basic Borders - Mama Elephant, 

                     Hand Written Notes - Avery Elle

                     Scalloped Frames - Paper Smooches

                     Doodle Blooms dies

Love Ewe!!

I'm popping by today with a card for the Less is More Challenge blog, Chrissie and the ladies are celebrating the blogs 4th birthday and whilst I don't seem to have time to play along as much as I'd like I wanted to join in for this milestone challenge :0)
As always, the beginning of the month is a colour challenge and this week it's.... PINK & GREY :)

Let me introduce you to Seamus... he's from a new-to-me stamp set by Janes Doodles, he's the cutest sheep around and full of a lot of love too :0) He comes with a few sentiments but I thought, seeing as his arms/legs were outstretched, he could simply hold his own sentiment banner.... I had to cut the heart and letters for him though!!

To make the soft grey background I stamped and masked his white fleecy bits *wink* ...before using a Warm Grey Promarker in the Tim Holtz Spritzer tool... it makes such a soft background which I couldn't achieve with inking.

I'm also popping him in over at CASology this week for the LOVE cue word... gotta love when these challenges just work together :)
                                                          
Congrats to Chrissie and the DT ladies past and present and here's to many more anniversaries!!

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Little One

It's time for a new challenge over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store and my DT card fits in with the Little Ones theme over at Less is More this week too......

Here's the sketch we have for you this month.... I have gone with a CAS version by shrinking the elements down for my card :0)

It's almost a one layer card with the panels sponged directly onto the card front using a mask and the little chick and balloon popped up on foam dots. To make the balloon string behave I put a tiny dot of Matte Medium onto my finger and pulled the thread through it..... if you use a small amount it doesn't make it too sticky but allows you to shape the thread how you want it :)

I hope you can join in with our Sketch challenge this month over at the MtDS blog, you can find the details and linky here

I'm also popping this into CASology's Birthday theme challenge this week..

                                                     

Stamps used : Just Hatched-Mama Elephant, Strictly Sentiments 1-Wplus9

Dies used : Balloon dies-Paper Smooches

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Celebrating Getting Old!!

Well how considerate are the ladies at CASology!!!
The cue word this week is OLD and it just coincides with my MIL's birthday this week..hehehe. Luckily she wont see this blog post but then again I'm sending her this card so I hope she see's the funny side....

Joking aside, I take my hat off to her because even at eighty something she jets off to the other-side of the world for three months every winter to visit family!! Not a lot keeps her stationary for long!!

Such a large number of candles is cause for a Celebration so I'm entering this in to Less is More this week... they are celebrating with their 200th challenge, now that would be a huge cake  :0)
Chrissie and her team do a stella job each week and even though I don't get round to joining in most of the time, I still check in with them each Saturday :0)
Congratulations Chrissie and here's to many more!!

                                                   

Jenny x
Stamps : Art Impressions - Girlfiends Giant Cake set.
Dies : Avery Elle - Finished Frames

A Metallic Wreath

Now we're into November the challenge blogs are lending themselves nicely to help us get cracking on our Christmas cards.... or is it just me that leaves it until now!!!???

Chrissie and the ladies at Less is More are asking for Christmas cards but not using red or green in the design and Virginia's View Challenge this month is 'All Things Metallic'.... they seem to be a good pairing of challenge themes to me ....

I've made my own silver embossed wreath using a Paper Smooches stamp and adorned it with gems,wire and of course a neat little blue/purple bow. The irridescent nature of the mauve coloured gems meant capturing them in a photo was a complete nightmare so this angle below is still not great for colour, but at least you can see them :0)

These wreaths are quite easy to whip up in batches and other colour themes would look lovely too.... I think I'd go for a smaller card base next time though!! Love the sentiment... very girlie :0)

                                             

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Jenny x

Stamps used : Jolly Holly - Paper Smooches

Missing your Mug!!!

Good Morning :0)

I'm playing along with a couple of challenges today, it's one layer week

at Less is More and the theme is BEVERAGES and the lovely 

pastel colours are this weeks palette at Colour Me......

 pastels aren't my usual but they seemed to suit mugs!!!

I'm trying to use stamps that have been filed away in my 

stash and never used, this set is from 

There She Goes which sadly, no longer 

exists *sad face*.... and I just love that sentiment :)

The solid mug was stamped first using masks to stack and stagger the images and then I used a stamp-a-majig to add the outline image. I added extra ink using

 a slightly damp paintbrush to add some shading

and a white prisma pencil for highlights. 

  

Thanks for Stopping By :0)

Jenny x

No Butts!!!

Hello there :0)

It's a yummy colour challenge at Less is More this week so I thought I'd grab a crafty moment to take part and get some new stamps into use.

CHOCOLATE MINT are the challenge colours which makes me think of ice cream, but I resisted that urge*wink* and coloured up this fun character instead....

I just love that beard!!! What fun to colour in :0)
He's from a stamp set by Simon Says Stamp and there are some good punny sentiments in the set but I had my own in mind which I added using Lawn fawn's Violets ABC's. It's not particularily straight or centred despite measuring and marking guidelines with a pencil!!..... should have stuck with eye-balling it :0)

Whilst I'm here I wanted to give you a heads up about this months 'sketch' challenge at Make the Day Special Stamp Store... you could be in with a chance to win £15 to spend in store!!
                             
This is my inspiration card using Lawn Fawns You're A Hoot...
                                                 
I hope you have time to play along with us, hop over here to see the details and find the linky tool :0)



Thanks for stopping by :0)
Jenny x
Products used : Birthday Farm Animals by Simon Says Stamp, Violets ABC's by Lawn Fawn, Circles Dies by Little B Dies.

New Tricks!!

Hello again, I'm taking the opportunity to craft while James is staying with my Mum and Dad for a couple of nights :0)
Good timing it appears too, as Less is More's challenge is Animals this week.... I'm always to be found when that word is mentioned as I have a soft spot for them...... they're lot easier to colour than people for card-making purposes too... Lol :0)

I love how this little Lawn Fawn daschund is flying along so I made a brightly coloured hoop for him to jump through using strips of coloured paper and two oval dies. It's a small card so not much white space but still a clean and simple design...... couldn't resist a cheeky sentiment *wink*

Thanks for stopping by
Jenny x
Stamps used : Critters at the Dog park, Milo's ABC's by Lawn Fawn

A Colour Challenge at Make the Day Special

Hello hello :0)

Pinch and a punch, 1st day of the month and a new monthly challenge at Make the Day Special!! This month we have a colour challenge so you can all come out of hiding from last months CASE it task *wink*

If you hop over to the MtDS blog you'll see a set of three colour palettes to choose from... Summer through to Autumn, so let the colours inspire you and use at least one product that is sold in the store on your project and you can play along for a chance to win a £15 gift voucher to spend at Make the Day Special :0)

                                                             
I decided to leave the orange out of this palette and use my Fresh Picked stamp set from Wplus9 for my card..... Have you spotted the Blackberries already starting to ripen on the brambles?.... I have my eye on a few good patches ready to go picking *wink*

Oh my goodness.... to say I'm pleased with how these turned out is an understatement!!.... I could just reach out and pick one!!!
After planning out on scrap paper the positioning of the leaves and berries I set about stamping them using masks in a mixture of Stampin Up and Memento inks.... then the fun begins using Prismacolour Pencils to add shading and highlights.
The juicyness comes from small dots of glossy accents on the berries that just to help pick up and reflect the light.
To add some extra contrast I used my craft knife to cut away the top half of the card panel and using foam pads I mounted it onto a gorgeous deep blackcurrant coloured card base.

It's the last day of this weeks challenge over at Less is More and because the week started with Chrissie's birthday they are having a Anything Goes party so I didn't want to miss out on that birthday bash :0)
Hope you had a wonderful birthday week away Chrissie!!


We'd love to see you join in this months challenge over at Make the Day Special, I look forward to seeing how these colours inspire you, all the details can be found over at the blog here.

Thanks for stopping by
Jenny x

Off the edge!!

Hello there.... it's busy, busy here ..... Hannah is home from Uni for the summer and I'm enjoying having some female company around the house not to mention fitting all her belongings back inside these four walls!!!

I have a couple of cards for the One Layer challenge at Less is More ... the theme this week is 'off the edge' so a great opportunity to break out a new stamp set by Nina Yang at Waffle Flower Crafts.....

I just had to have these because I love the whimsy style so I looked through my colour combo board on pinterest and got stamping.....  these images remind me of printed fabric from a well known department store here in the UK don't you think ??

My second card is the one I shared on my MtDS blog post on Monday and uses the Modern Leaves set from Avery Elle in gorgeous greens, blues and sand along with a sentiment from AE's Brushed stamp set.....

I'm in awe of those crafty peeps who can make stamped images look randomly placed..... it's so hard to do and anything but random!!! Definitely a technique that needs practicing :0)

Don't forget to check out all the new stash that arrived at Make the Day Special HQ last weekend, I gather the walls are positively bulging!!! There's also big reductions on UNITY and FLOURISHES...check them out here :0)


Thanks for stopping by
Jenny x

YAY!!!! I'm back with the PS Sparks Challenge DT and a Paper Smooches Giveaway!!

 Hello there, Woo Hooooooo ...yes... you may have seen the announcement last week for the new Paper Smooches Sparks DT. I count myself very lucky to have been asked to be a permanent member of the team alongside some seriously talented designers... WOW, you are in for a Paper Smooches treat each week at the challenge blog :0)

So without further a do lets kick this new term off with an Anything Goes Challenge which is always a fun way to let your creativity run loose. I've used an older set called Promenade in a CAS way to make a lunch invite using a sentiment from Think Fast.....

I love how the simple colour palette helps to keep the CAS feel and the layered frames add the illusion of perspective to the scene.... it's quite an inviting little Cafe actually... mines a Latte please if you wanted to go ahead and order :0)

To read all the details for this weeks challenge and to see what the rest of the DT have made to inspire you simply click HERE to visit the blog or click on the links below

Alice

Angeline

Erin

Jenny

Savannah

I'm also entering my card into the challenge at Less is More this week which is to simply use more than one stamp.... I've used 5 here :0)

I have a couple of Paper Smooches stamp sets to giveaway in celebration of joining the Sparks DT again which I will send to one lucky person from the comments on this blog post. Here are the sets, one of which has been so kindly and generously donated by the lovely Tara at Make the Day Special which, in case you didn't know, is where you can buy your Paper Smooches stamps from in the UK *wink*

I will use the random number generator thingy next Sun evening to pick one lucky person to receive these fun sets and announce the winner next Mon 9th here on my blog ...no matter where you live I'll send them there so good luck and thanks for sticking with me through this long happy post, I hope to see you in the PS Sparks gallery too :0)

Jenny x

Ovals and Banners!!

Here's my take on this weeks CASe this Sketch which, as you can see, I went with quite literally and ended up making my own version of Shabby Chic... I think????. I don't use ovals much in my card-making despite owning a set of oval dies so I thought I'd give the sketch a go...

Less is More are asking us to use stencilling or masking this week for the challenge so I showed my oval dies some love and made a mask to stamp Mama Elephants Water Blooms through and then used another to cut the flowery panel out. Hmmm.... then the banners gave me a problem, I didnt want them to compete with the flowers so one is a negative cut in the green card and the other is vellum embossed with stitching .... I like how they turned out.
In case you're wondering, the real stitching is "vintage" on purpose... it was quicker to do and looks much more like my sewing would do if I used a machine *wink*

 

Thanks for stopping by :0)
Jenny x

A Kiss for the Guys!!!

An intriguing blog post title eh????... well Less is More's Masculine themed challenge this week has got me kissing stamps together to make this rather vintage houndstooth armchair for a guys card :0) I thought it would pair up perfectly with this Paper Smooches sentiment although with the trend for retro nowadays you would probably find this in households of all ages!!!..I wouldn't mind one *wink*

The houndstooth pattern is from a new set by Paper Smooches called Kissables and its inked up in Early Espresso, the chair is inked in Crumb Cake. After the 'kissing' and stamping I reinked the chair with more crumbcake using a dauber so I could select the areas that needed more shadow and then re-stamped over the image...easy to do with solid shapes :0) I'm loving the sentiment... just about the fun side of cheeky I reckon!!! Now I need to decide if I can get away with it for my Mums birthday card this week *wink*...perhaps for the inside!!!

Thanks for stopping by :0)
Jenny x
Stamps used: Kissables 1, Happy Birthday by Paper Smooches and Dad's day by Lawn Fawn

Happy Hour!!

Rainbow colours always catch my eye so I'm betting the gallery at Less is More is going to look spectacular this week...yep they have a Rainbow colour challenge to mark the start of their third year of challenges and Make the Day Special are one of this months sponsors so I just had to play along :0)

Now this card looks much better in real life because the pale blue glasses don't look quite so washed out and the rainbow fruit and straw are shimmery thanks to my Wink of Stella brush pen, definitely a good buy, BUT....... it could just be my rubbish computer monitor :0(
This is the Paper Smooches Free Spirits set and all those small elements just said rainbow too me, its a fun little set that allows you to make your own cocktails in some great shaped glasses.... this set will be in stock soon as it's currently in transit to the store with a large Paper Smooches order :0)

There are numerous guest designers this week at LiM, and a few sponsors too, to mark their third birthday, it is the first challenge I joined in with and I believe the first CAS challenge out there in blogland!!
Thanks to Chrissie and Mandi (LiM creators) for helping me realise my secret love of clean and simple cards and giving me the confidence to create them too, I would love to say that I've played along each week but sometimes life gets in the way of 'me time' but I stop by each Saturday to check out the new challenge and take in the inspiration from Chrissie and Jen, not forgeting to mention browsing the gallery each week :0)

                                                        
I'm also entering this into the anything goes challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks (thanks Jen)...what can I say it was Monday yesterday!!!!

Righty-ho best get this entered and stop languishing on this keyboard...the sun is shining and I have washing that might just dry outside today!!!
Jenny x

A Cosy Little Caravan

I'm thinking ahead to the summer with this card despite the cold wet weather we're experiencing this week... imagine those warm summer evenings with the sounds of chirruping crickets but not the midges, you can leave them out!!!

I love this cute Caravan in Avery Elle's Home Sweet Home set, not to mention the Igloo and Tepee as well, and the sentiments are plentiful too :0)

The sketch at Less is More this week gave me the idea of making a strip of scenery behind the happy homemakers and I had to try Chrissies tip of scoring a border above and below the panel....it's a brilliant effect.. thanks Chrissie :0)

I used a couple of Mama Elephant stamp sets to help make the landscape along with some inking and masking... love when you can mix up those stamp companies :0)

Okay, back to this cold Monday and those mundane jobs around the house .... ta-rah for now :0)

Jenny x

Stamps used: Home Sweet Home-Avery Elle. Starry Night, Rustic Spring - Mama Elephant all available at Make the Day Special