The Gift of Coffee

Mmmm... the gift of coffee indeed or to be more precise... gift cards for coffee shops!!

My blog project this week over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store is a couple of 

gift card holders on a coffee theme and I broke out my new stamp set 

called Let's Chat by Concord & 9th.

These are great stamps from a new stamp company and they're now available here in the 

UK courtesy of Make the Day Special Stamp Store :)

I love the unique top view of the cup and saucer in this stamp set and although you are given some lovely scripty phrases to place inside your cup, I wanted to be a creative Barista and give my drink a seasonal theme. I used Paper Smooches holly dies to make a stencil and sponge brown ink through to mimic an arty dusting of chocolate :)

I used the MFT Blueprints 16 to make my card .... 

it's such a useful set with lots of components to play with ;)

My second card uses a solid stamp from another Concord & 9th set called Lots of Blots... it's a bit smaller than the space in the cup so I had to do a touch of water-colouring to fill in the gap around the edge but I reckon it would pass as a creamy message in a coffee??!! :)

More details and links to supplies can be found over on my DT blog post here if you're interested :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Snowflake Tree Decorations

Hi there :)

Monday is my DT day over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store and today I have been sharing these Snowflake tree decorations made using the MFT Pierced Snowflake dies....

I've been cranking these dies through my Big shot to create multi layers in brown and white card then finishing with a sticky back wood paper on one set and white glitter paper on the others. I love how the different materials give a totally different feel and theme.

 The greenery at the top is made using Under the Mistletoe dies from Wplus9 cut in two shades of green card, I trimmed the branches into smaller sections and added red liquid pearls for berries.

The glittery flakes just have a white bow and silver bells.... both sets make the softest tinkling when moved and I'm looking forward to hanging them on our tree :)

For more details you can visit my DT blog post here

    

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Garden Grown Wishes

Hi there :)
It's my DT day on the blog over at Make the Day Special blog and I've been arranging some potted plants using the Garden Grow stamp set from Altenew..... I was so pleased so see you can now buy coordinating dies so cutting out those intricate shapes is much easier :)

The plants are coloured with promarkers and copics but I was chuffed to find a way to use those small words and phrases in the set as a texty background for my little scene!!
I've used three shades of grey ink to stamp the words for an ombre effect and sponged the lightest grey ink to help define the edges of the masked area. The sentiment is from an older Hero Arts sentiment set that I think has been discontinued.

Stash used:

  

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Warm Woolly Wishes

Have you dug out your woolly hat and gloves yet???...

 I have, but only in stamp form as it's much too mild here still for the real thing :) 

For my DT blog post at Make the Day Special Stamp Store this week, I shared a winter's birthday card using a couple of stamp sets from Wplus9... Holiday Cheer and Background Builders: Knit..... they're perfect together :)

I love how the textured card adds to the 'knitted' effect and the stamping isn't perfect but that kinda adds to it too.... that's what I'm telling myself anyhow ;)

I used the outline of the hat and mitts on the same card and added some colour with the matching solid stamps and a small pattern from the knit background set. I kept the design simple so as not to cover too much of the knitted backdrop :)

Sentiment is from an Avery Elle and Lil'inkers stamp set, double stitched rectangle is from My Favourite Things :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Giving a Gnome a Home!!

Hi there :)

Does your home have a gnome?? Perhaps not... I must admit that we don't have any of the pint sized ornaments in the garden but I couldn't resist this cute set from MFT called You Gnome Me and all four of the little folk had to go on my card :)

I started by colouring the 'gift giving' gnome with pencils and trimming him out with scissors. To make him the focal point I stamped the rest of the gnomes on the Kraft card base in black ink and shaded them in a 'tone on tone' style using a brown and white pencil, this gives the gnomes some shape but keeps them in the background :)

For a sentiment I chose to use the Bella letters set from Mama Elephant so I could make my own... I thought this little guy looked like he was bearing gifts for a new home owner :)

                             

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

O Christmas Tea!!

Morning :)

I'm getting into the festive spirit over on the blog at Make the Day Special Stamp Store today....

I'm always on the look out for ideas for non traditional christmas cards so this play on words popped into my head when I came across the Avery Elle Tea Time set and that then sparked the idea to make a gift bag in the style of a giant tea bag...

I've coloured the cup using Prisma pencils and added some festive decoration courtesy of Lawn Fawn.. I've also embraced some minimal gold foiling using a zig glue pen.... I'm not a big fan of gold but you just have to at Christmas ;)

I'm loving the Bella letters stamp set from Mama Elephant.. just the right amount of whimsy in the font and a perfect size for cards too :)

I've used the paper bag die from MFT to make my giant tea bag..... I pinched the top together to close it with a separate strip of card.... it's the length of string and dangling gift tag which add the finishing tea bag touch :)

Stash used:

Tea Time - Avery Elle

Winter Gifts, Sweet Christmas -Lawn Fawn

Bella letters - Mama Elephant

Paper Bag die - MFT

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Folded Florals

Hi there,

My card this week over at Make the Day Special blog involved some stamping on the inside of the card with Altenew's Doodle Blooms....... then, by trimming and folding, the design flips to the front of the card....

This design took some working out on a paper prototype so I didn't mess it up ... but it evolved further still when I had to add extra florals over the scene to hide a stray inky mark!!!

The texture paste brick wall adds some background interest but doesn't compete with the flowers :)

I have some photos on my DT blog post here to show how I made it although they aren't step by step...more like "this is what it looked like opened out flat before adhering the front fold down"

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

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

Still Here!!!

Hi there :)

Well it's been just over a month since I last blogged, sure doesn't feel that long!! Time has flown these summer hols and it marks big changes for James who is starting college next Weds. Hannah is also home for a short while before going back to Bath for her fourth and last year at University.... I'm enjoying having a full house again :)

I wanted to share this card I made using Altenew's Garden Grow stamp set.... I love all the hand-drawn images ...perfect for my green fingered husband ;)

With some masking, I changed the bench into a shelf.... perfect for the tool shed I think :) These stamps will get lots of use... and I haven't even touched the plant images yet!!
This is a great set to practice water-colouring with although next time I'd use watercolour card.... I had to be careful not to soak it too much!!


We have a colour challenge this month over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog.... I went for the autumnal palette for my DT inspiration card and used the pretty Garden Flowers stamp set by Lia Griffiths for Hero Arts.

It would be great to see you play along in our challenge too... Just hop over to the blog here to find the competition details and linky gallery

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Hip Hip Hooray!!

How are these for a couple of party animals!!?? I just love these stamps by Dawn Machell from Reverse Confetti, they have an innocence to them like a child's drawing and I had this card idea in my head as soon as I saw the latest set, Later Alligator....

I just stamped and water-coloured the images then used the dies to cut them out to make my party group....  a lion from Leaping Lions was all ready to join them too but .... well you know what they say about three being a crowd!! I'm sure he'll join the fun later ;)

I found a great sentiment set to go with these party-goers too..... Strictly Sentiments from Wplus9 has fun phrases and brushstroke lettering too to go with the organic style :)

Stamps used
Monkey Business, Later Alligator - Reverse Confetti
Strictly Sentiments 5 - Wplus9

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