Happy New Year

Hi Blog friends

Sorry I haven't been around much. You know how it is, there is so much to do at Christmas. I hope your Christmas went well and that your plans for NewYear celebrations are shaping up. We are going to meet my sister in a hotel near Birmingham (it is about half way) for a bit of a catch up for a couple of days.

Now what do we all need to make at this time of year? Yes that's right - thank you cards. I needed eight. Here is my design.

I wanted to keep it quite simple. I started with 6 x 6 cream card blanks. The dies I used were some of Sue Wilson's apart from the sentiment which was from Spellbinders. The embossing folder was from Crafter's Companion. I still don't have my Grand Calibur so I am limited to the size of embossing I can do. I shouldn't have to wait too much longer.

This shows the detail of the dies. 

I would like to enter this for Pixie's Snippets playground.

That is all for today. I don't know when I will be back. The next thing I need to tackle is some wedding invite samples for my husband's niece. 

I hope you all have a wonderful 2015.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Last Post before Christmas

Hi Bloggers

I have been quiet for a few days as I have been ill, nothing serious but enough to make me feel rubbish and and unable to concentrate. I am starting to feel a bit better now but I am all behind with my Christmas preparations. So I don't think I will be posting again until after Christmas.

This is a card I made for the class I have been working with this year. The Santa is a wooden embellishment. The wreath was made with a Tim Holtz Sizzix die.

Do you remember this card that I made for a Christmas cake?

Well here is the cake, I think I did well out of this trade.

I entered this card in the Visible Image Craft Stamper cover stamps competition and I won.

Here is my prize I really want to get going with these stamps but it will have to wait until after Christmas now. 

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and I want to thank you for all your visits and all the comments.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Last Minute Christmas Cards

Hi Bloggers

How are your Christmas preparations getting on? It really isn't long now and there is so much to do. This is not helped by your husband saying I need 12 Christmas cards for people at work. So that was my Sunday afternoon sorted out for me. We could have bought cards but that feels like cheating.

I made one of these from a recycled card and the top of a chocolate box. All the gold card I used was retrieved from my scrap box. It did take a while to find enough scraps of a reasonable size. I would like to enter this card for Pixie's Snippets Playground Number 155.

I made 9 of these the image was from one of the Kanban  sheets I won recently. The paper was in my stash and the snowflakes were punched  from the waste from the inserts. 

I really didn't have long so they had to be quick cards and suitable for a man to send. Sorry this is just a quick post today. I am struggling to keep up with the blogging while being so busy at home I know that you understand.

 I couldn't be too cross with him as these were waiting for me when I got in from a work meal on Friday. Bless him.

I hope the rest of the week is good to you. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

A Fairy Just for You

Hi Bloggers

Aren't things getting madly busy? I keep forgetting things that I am supposed to be doing. This isn't helped by us having lost out entire address book with the demise of our old computer. Don't you just wish you had an old fashioned  paper version sometimes?

I have made this card to enter the  Butterfly Challenge No. 30 All kinds of Fairies. I managed to get some free  fairy stamps on the December issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. So with a little free time I was good to go.

This card started with the beautiful paper on the top layer it just had so much fantastic detail. The back sheet was from a pack by DCWV it is pearlised so it shines.

I stamped the fairy with black archival and then I heat embossed her with some embossing powder that I mixed myself from black and silver powder. I coloured the wings by painting them with distress ink and them covering that with mica powder. 

I cut some ivy with my Sue Wilson dies from white paper and them I inked them with a green distress ink. 

So that's it for today. All the wrapping and address finding is beckoning.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Secret Santa

Hi Bloggers

How is your week going? Mine has been a bit up and down but then most weeks are. There is still so much to do for Christmas. I hope your preparations are going well.

I made this card to as an entry to a  competition on the Visible Image Facebook page using the cover stamps from the December issue of Craft Stamper magazine.

I had wanted to go in for this competition for a while but I had no idea what to do with the three free stamps. A friend of mine came round for a crafty afternoon and we were using my number dies on the project we were making and the idea to use the date struck me.

 

I started with an A4 piece of Kraft card and I made the largest square card blank that I could. For the red mat I stamped the footprint stamp with CS Perfect Medium and heat embossed them with a clear sparkly embossing powder. Once this was done I used two shades of  red distress ink to reveal the footprints.

The green mat was created with the HO HO stamp (I nearly stamped OH OH). I used CS Perfect medium to stamp and  then alternately heat emboss with gold and then with detail white embossing powder. Finally I inked over with three shades of green Distress ink.  The numbers and letter were cut with some X-cut dies.

The Believe stamp was stamped with Black Archival and heat embossed with clear powder. I inked round the edge and mounted it on black card.

I assembled all the mats and then I wrapped some burlap round the mats before sticking the mats to the card blank. The final touch was to add a black embellishment. 

I called it Secret Santa because I thought the stamps hinted at Santa. 

Enjoy the rest of the week I hope all your Christmas shopping is going well.

Happy Crafting

Hugs

Jackie

Christmas Bling

Hi Bloggers

Here I am back today on a busy Saturday.We have already been out to the shops and got back. Most of the Christmas shopping is done now. My husband is doing lots of Christmas jobs and I have just found a little bit of time to myself.

This card started with the topper. I was lucky enough to win some Kanban toppers in a draw on Bev Lowe's blog - thank you. It was such a beautiful topper it inspired the rest of the card. I thought it would be good to enter the Crafty Musketeers Challenge 20 Use Bling and Delicious Doodles Non Traditional Christmas Challenge.

The finished card is 8" x 8". The background was created by stamping different sized snowflake stamps with CS Perfect Medium and heat embossing, one at a time, with silver glitter, clear and white embossing powder. 

I made the frame with a Spellbinder corner die cut four times in silver mirror card (which is really difficult to photograph). 

The final touch was to add a bow made with the My Craft Studio bow maker which I must say is very easy to use. I decorated the knot of the bow with snowflake made with two Spellbinders dies and i placed  a dazzler in the centre. 

As something a little different I thought I would share the chocolate vanilla marble cupcakes my daughter made earlier this week. We didn't get to try any as they were for a friend's birthday. We did get to lick the icing bowls (role reversal) which tasted delicious. 

Well that is all for today. Present wrapping is beckoning me as I 

type. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie

Ivy Trellis Birthday Card

Hi Bloggers

I am finding it hard to blog in December there are so many other things  that need doing there isn't so much time to craft. How are all your plans going? We actually know what we are doing for Christmas now so the shopping can start in earnest.

Today's card was the result of a play with some new dies they are all Sue Wilson dies.

I started with the card blank and I messed about with the dies until I was happy with the design it did take a while and quite a few false starts.

The panel dies are beautiful and I can think of quite a few uses for them. When I get my new  Grand Calibur I  want to try a similar design to this one as a square - you know how much I like squares.

I tried a much fancier die cut Happy Birthday in the centre of the tag and it just didn't work. It is very pretty I have saved it to use on another project.

So there you have it another birthday card for my stash. I keep needing male cards so I ought to make a few more of those. 

I would like to enter this for the Dream Valley Challenge 96 - True Blue.

It is Thursday evening so I want to wish you a happy weekend. Only one more day at work. I will be at a special service in Winchester Cathedral tomorrow for work it should be good if a little cold.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie