Ho Ho Ho!!

Hi there :)

I'm just popping by to tell you about this months challenge over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store. Yep it's the beginning of a new month and this is the last challenge of 2015 as we will be taking a break in December, it's a nice easy sketch for you and this is my very loose interpretation of it...

I have used an un-inked set by Avery Elle called North Pole... I do love this busy little Santa, he has a real purpose in his stride!! :)

I coloured him with markers and used his Santa hat minus the written phrase... I placed a white pom pom on the end instead :) I used the Ho Ho Ho hat for my sentiment.. selectively inking and embossing the phrase in sparkly black powder then using the matching dies to trim the words out :)

My circle of dots are created using a home-made stencil made with the bubbles from Swim Team elle-ments dies. I traced a light circle in pencil onto some cardstock as a guide for placing and cutting the dots.

I then simply applied two shades of light blue ink through the stencil onto my card front and adhered some sequins and spots of glitter glue to add that extra festive sparkle :)

We'd love you to play along with us, you can find more inspiration and details here :)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

Stash used :

    

'Anything but a Card' Challenge

Hi there :)

The new challenge over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store this month is 'Anything but a Card' so I have decided to use the off cuts from a ruled refill pad I chopped up for another project to make a couple of jotter/shopping list pads....

There's been quite a bit of recycling going on with these two pads including the scraps of card I used for the front covers and even the magnetic piece on the back of the long jotter!! I have simply cut the long slim paper off-cut into two blocks and then stapled them together along with a cardboard back ( recycled from the A4 refill pad too).

I've used MFT's Fall Florals with pigment ink for the long pad and one of the Three Amigo's for the smaller although I've added a tail to this little cat from the raccoon so I could turn him into a tabby type :)

It was great fun making these and using up scraps along the way.... and nice to make something other than a card for a change :) I can't wait to see what fun ideas are entered into the gallery... it's always good to find new ways to use your stamps and dies so I hope you can join us too :) 

Challenge details and linky tool can be found here

Stamps and dies used:

Fall Florals - MFT 

Finley's ABC dies - Lawn Fawn

Three Amigos - Mama Elephant

In my Heart - Mama Elephant

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

Birthday presents

Eeek!! It's the first of August, this year is speeding by and this month will too especially as it's the summer hols here in the UK. I'm writing this post ahead and scheduling it as we will be travelling home from our week long holiday in Cornwall today... no doubt happy to be home but sad to leave such gorgeous countryside and definitely bored of sitting in a car for such a long journey!!

Anyhow the reason for my post is to let you know it's time for a new challenge at Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog and this month we have a sketch for you....

Here's my take on the sketch ... I started by choosing the patterned paper that would peek out at the top of the design and went from there. Looking at it now the colours shout Halloween to me!!

I love this stamp set and now Tara has started to stock My favourite Things means I get to use it for my DT inspiration card :) 

All the Challenge details can be found on the store blog here, it would be great if you could join us :)

Stamps & Dies Used

Celebrate You - My Favourite Things

Stitched Borders Dies - Lawn Fawn

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Using that Christmas Stash in July!!

It's the hottest July day on record here in the UK so the new challenge this month at Make the Day Special Stamp Store will help to cool things a little because we're asking you to dig out your Christmas stamps and dies to create with for.... Anything but Christmas.

                                        

I actually thought this sounded a simple challenge at first but it wasn't long before I was scratching my head!! I turned to my dies instead and went with the Stocking dies from Paper Smooches to make some dinky baby socks...

Instead of paper piecing, I cut them in white card and used Promarkers in three shades of blue to add stripes and solid colour to the heels and tops.... squee!!.. aren't they adorable :)

The stitched frame die is also from Paper Smooches and the sentiment by Lil Inkers.

The challenge details and gallery linky can be found here... I really can't wait to see the clever ways you guys use your Christmas stamps and dies for this challenge, the only rule is that you use a product from the store on your creation :)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

Leaping Lions!!

I'm popping by to share this CAS card made with Reverse Confetti's Leaping Lions stamp set....how cute is this little guy??

I just knew I had to paper piece this little lion.... he has a 'homemade toy' feel to him so I scrabbled around in my PP scraps for material inspired patterns and textures and kept the colours muted because that seemed to wotrk best :)

This card is actually for the new challenge over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store. This month we have a sketch challenge and you can find more details and inspiration from the DT here :)

                                                                  

We'd love you to join us, all we ask is that you use at least one product available from the store on your creations for a chance to win a £15 voucher to spend in-store. I hope you're inspired to play along and when you've finished your masterpiece you will find Mr linky  here :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

A Couple of Cards

Well that's the most original blog post title isn't it!!!

Yep these two cards are DT projects for Make the Day Special Stamp Store... which, by the way, is the best online stamp store in the UK stocking US stamp brands.... okay I may be a little biased but seriously, Tara does an amazing job :)

The store has a monthly challenge and yesterday saw the start of our colour challenge for March...


Just pick a palette and use at least three colours in your project and remember to use at least one product from the store too :)

Heres my card based on the far right palette using  Lawn fawn dinosaurs and a sentiment from Paper Smooches....

At the moment the card is blank inside but I think the sentiment should continue  ".....especially for a dinosaur!!" :) If you'd like to play along you can find all the details and Mr Linky here, a £15 store voucher is up for grabs :)

My DT card today uses the 'New in Store' Avery Elle stamp set called Super, perfect for my little brother's birthday card yesterday... perhaps I should've saved it for next year as he's a leap year baby and he'll be ten next February in proper birthdays :)

This was great fun to make especially as I have an old paper pad with half tone patterns amongst the patterns. I added dimension behind the clouds and skyline to create my scene and personalised it with a Lawn Fawn alphabet.... it's a good match for comic book fonts :)

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

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

A Christmas Colour Challenge

Hi there :0)

We're getting in the mood for Christmas over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store blog with a whole month of inspiration cards from the design team dedicated to the season, so it made sense to make this months challenge a Christmas one too!!

 It's simple... all you have to do is make a Christmas card using colours from one of these three palettes and link up to our challenge gallery here... all we ask is that you MUST use at least one product that we sell in the store :0)

         

I have to admit that the colours on the far right palette really appeal to me but I chose to go with the traditional reds and greens of the middle one instead...

I've used the Paper Smooches Holly Jolly stamped in Avery Elle pigment inks for my seasonal swag, to add some detail I used a few shades of Prisma Colour Pencils on top of the stamped images. I do love the effect of the ink on top of the Kraft coloured card... the colours are so true :0)

There's a £15 store voucher up for grabs so please come and join in, you have until the 24th November :0)

Hope to see you in the gallery and thanks for stopping by
Jenny x

What.... No Lines!!!

Hello y'all :0)
I'm a bit late but... Pinch and a Punch new challenge for the month!!! Yep over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store we have a brand new challenge and we are asking you to try a new technique or re-visit an old technique you haven't tried for a while.... let's see if we can get some new trends going..Lol :0)
                                                           

I opted for trying something new..... 'no-line' colouring with my Promarkers.... it's a technique I've admired from the sidelines and thought I'd try one day so what better time to do it!!

I chose a small image with not too many colours or details, it was quite tricky as you really notice how the pens bleed outside the stamped line!! This was the second attempt as you can see below... I personally found it better to start with the dark shadows, building up to the lighter areas and adding small hints of texture helps to bring the image to life too :0)

I used Memento Desert Sand to stamp the turtle and the balloons ...  taking the black line safety net away was scary!!! Lol.
Well that was fun...something I would try again and perhaps be a little more adventurous with colours too... we'd love you to join in with the challenge, you can check out the details here :0)

Thanks for stopping by
Jenny x

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

CASEing myself for MtDS

                                                            

Yesterday was the start of the new challenge at Make the Day Secial blog and this month Tara has given us a great challenge... Go back to your first year of blogging/crafting and chose a card to CASE ..oh, and you have to share your old card with us too :0)....... it's quite an eye-opener looking back through old blog posts and cards but I chose this one from Feb 2011...

                                                        

and here is my CASE'd version using Lawn Fawn's Home Sweet Home....

I thought I'd pick out the two bird houses and the embossed frame and shrink them down to a smaller area on the card front.... I love those cute houses in pretty polka dots :0)

I also wanted to share my DT blog project from Monday which is something a little different!! I have decided to dip my toe into the world of Project Life or pocket scrapbooking as it's otherwise known but I wanted to have a go at using my stamps to make my own Core and Journal cards...... it's great fun :0)

If you're interested in what stamps I've used, the details are here on my DT blog post......  I'm really pleased with them, great to find more uses for this ever-growing stamp collection I have *wink*
Now I just need to stop procrastinating on which photos to start with and get making my album up!!!

Thanks for stopping by and please pop over to MtDS to play along with this months challenge, as long as you use at least one product from the store you could be in with a chance of winning a gift card for a little shopping spree there :0)
I'm looking forward to seeing the cards, old and new!!
Jenny x