Class Project

Only just got round to posing the photos of the projects we made at last Saturday's class.  Still feeling rough and cant talk but never mind - its the weekend!!!

I held the class in my new craft room and it was fab - everyhing close to hand for a change (no running up and down stairs for things I had forgotten!!!).  It was a bit cosy though, six of us around the table - hope you enjoyed it ladies?

The stamp set is called Fresh Cuts and we used the Five Petal Punch and Fresh Cuts Notes which all co-ordinate with the stamp set.  Heres a close up of one of the cards.

The Designer Series Paper is Perfect Plum and is gorgeous, definatly one of my favourates!  Here are the instructions on how to make the Box in a Bag from the Splitcoast Stampers website.

The Fresh Cut Notes have the main image stamped on the inside of the card so it shows though the cut outs on the front.  The stem stamp was used around the outer edges of the front of the card then we stamped the small flower and cut it out.  A brad was used to secure it to the centre of the front of the card and a punched 5 petal flower was put it behind to cover the back of the brad.  So quick and simple to make - it took longer to type these instuctions than it did to make this card - LOL!!!

Recipe;

Cardsock - Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Fresh Cut Notes

Stamp set - Fresh Cuts

Ink - Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum

DSP - Perfect Plum

Accessories - Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, brads, silver elastic cord

Punches - Five Petal Punch, Round Tab Punch, 1 3/8 Circle and 1 1/4 Circle

Thanks for visiting, have a fab weekend!

Jan

Birthday Balloon

Hi there,  Just a quick post to show you a really simple card suitable for any age.  The balloon is coloured with Marvelous Markers but I couldn't get a nice shape for the highlight on the balloon - so had to improvise...

I punched Whisper White card using my scalloped circle punch and then fed this shape into a circle punch to give a smooth shallow curve to the inner part of the highlight then just glued it onto the balloon!

Recipe;
Cardstock - Whisper White & Bashful Blue
DSP - Not Quite Navy (Retired level 1 Hostess Set)
Ink - Black Stazon, Markers
Punches - Scallop Oval, 1 3/8 Circle
Accessories, More Mustard ribbon

Thanks for looking!
Jan

Bloomin' With Beauty

I think I must be a little run down at the minute as I have been feeling a bit ropey.  I had a terrible sore throat from Sunday, not good as I had to present a training session in London for work on Tuesday.  My voice started to falter on Monday and by the end of the training session yesterday it was almost gone!!!

Got up this morning and its totally gone - there is NO NOISE! - and its so frustrating!!!  Although my other half is loving the peace & quiet... for now, but he had better get ready!

Anyway, after all the rushing around getting everything ready for my class last Saturday and sorting out the Blog Hop project and post I have started to think about getting ready for the next Craft Fayre at our local Church.  Its in March so I thought I had better get my finger out!!!

Here is a card using the Bloomin' With Beauty set.  These stamps are is so elegant and simple with the most amazing detailing on the bee included in the set.

Its been put on an easel card - I know, but I love them and they look great displayed!  The image was stamped in Black Stazon as I did watercolouring with my Watercolour Wonder Crayons. 

I used a normal hole punch to punch out small circles out and covered them with Chrystal Effects to make fake brads.

Recipe;

Cardstock - Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, Bashfull Blue & Pretty in Pink.

Ink - Black Stayzon, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Chocolate Chip ribbon

Punches - Large Scallop Oval, Boho Blossoms & Eyelett Border.

Jan

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Sale A Bration Blog Hop

Welcome!!!

If all has gone well, you have arrived at my blog for todays Sale A Bration Blog Hop through the link on Kara's site.  Are you enjoying getting lots of ideas and inspiration whilst going around all the blogs?  Its great fun isnt it!!!

I love making 3D items and had the idea to make this tissue box cover during a shopping trip to the supermarket.  I did buy a template from a local craft shop but it wasnt quite right - I ended up making some changes but love the result. 

Will definately be making more for a craft fair coming up at our local church.  The ladies at my class yesterday (hope you had a great time girls?) loved it so we will be making one for our next class.

The stamp sets used are Vintage Labels (Sale A Bration Set) and Wonderful Words (current catalogue).

Cardstock is Basic Black and Kraft with the Designer Series Paper being from the Bella Bleu collection (this really is stunning).  The images are heat embossed in gold - I wanted to make it look elegant but simple.

And here's a card made using the Vintage Labels and Good Neighbours sets (both Sale A Bration freebies). 

                            

I am sure you are pushed for time whilst looking through all the sites so I will post more detailed instructions on my site in the next few days.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog, here is Linda's site for your next trip through cyberspace on the Blog Hop!! 

When you have visited all the 15 ladies sites on the Blog Hop there is a second group of ladies doing one and you can see them by visiting Saras blog here.

_________________Update as of 27th January____________

How exciting was the Blog Hop!!! Wow - I was totally gobsmacked with it. Looking at all the hits and comments on our blogs it seems to have gone down REALLY well for everyone.

There were some gorgeous projects and you could see just how much hard work everyone put in. It is the first time I have ever done anything like this but now I cant wait for the next one!!
As promised, here are the recipies for the projects...

Tissue Box Holder
Cardstock - Basic Black, Kraft
Stamp sets - Wonderful Words & Vintage Labels
Designer Series Paper - Bella Bleu
Punches - Scallop Circle, 1" Circle
Accessories - Gold embossing powder, Chrystal Effects (used on small circle centres)

Over the Hill Card
Cardstock - Ruby Red, Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Stamp sets - Good Nieghbours, Vintage Labels
Accessories - Certainly Celery Crossgrain ribbon, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon, Chocolate Chip
The ribbon used to make the grass was cut into 1" strips with 1/2 of the length frayed and stuck to the back of part of a circle of Certainly Celery card.

I would just like to thank everyone for their kind comments and for taking the time to participate - heres to the next Blog Hop!!!
Jan
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Haiti Appeal with Stampin' Up!

On January 12, 2010 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, leaving in its wake devastation so overwhelming that the Haitian people and their leaders can only look for help from the outside to cope. In the past, when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers, when a tsunami struck Indonesia, when a hurricane destroyed New Orleans, and when wildfires ravaged Australia, Stampin' Up! demonstrators stepped forward and showed their commitment to making a difference in the lives of others. This time is no different.


From now until 28 February, 2010, you can partner with Stampin' Up! to make a difference in the lives of those who continue to suffer from the effects of this devastating earthquake.

Stampin' Up! will set aside £1 from the sale of every Greenhouse Gardens stamp set and donate that money to the Red Cross’ International Response Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.


Further information on how Stampin' Up are helping in the effort are on Shelli's Blog.  Please contact me to place an order.

Jan

Sweet Birthday

I have been trying to get some spare birthday cards ready as I have lots of family birthdays coming up.

Here is a cute one using the Crazy for Cupcakes set. 

I stamped the images in Basic Gray and coloured in using my markers.  The cherries on the cupcakes were covered in Chrystal Effects which dries clear and really glossy.  I also used Chrystal Effects on the three punched circles on the top left hand side - this gave the effect of brads!!!

The Happy Birthday to You sentiment in the circle was made by stamping the curved sentiment and using the Stamp A Ma Jig to line up the second image creating a full circle and punching out using the 1 3/8 circle punch.  I punched a smaller circle using the 1" circle and mounted on top with dimentionals then cut out a single cupcake and put it in the top.

Recipe
Stamp Set - Crazy for Cupcakes
Inks - Marvelous Markers, Basic Gray
Cardstock - Real Red, Whisper White
DSP - Not Quite Navy (Retired Level 1 hostess set)
Accessories - Real Red ribbon, Chrystal Effects
Punches - 1 3/8 and 1" circle and stationery hole punch.

Jan

Just about recovered from a manic weekend.

Not only did I sort out my craft room but I went to my cousins wedding on Saturday.  Many years ago I used to work as a florist and even ran my own business for a while, designing wedding flowers.  I was over the moon to be asked to help out at the wedding, but had forgotten just how much hard work was involved.  By Saturday night I was exhausted!!!

Setting up the reception was 'interesting' and involved rearraning all the tables...  Its a good job we did it Friday night and didnt leave it until Saturday morning - we would have missed the service!

Their wedding day was absolutely amazing and almost everything went to plan - Thank God...

Here are a few photos of the flowers and the reception...

Anyway, back to crafting (way hay!) here is the card I made for the happy couple.  I used the Mr &; Mrs set - I decorated the cake boxes with the Together Forever sentiment from the set so I thought it would tie in nicely for their card.  Ooops, I forgot to take a pic of the cake boxes, sorry!

Its an easel card which I thought would stand out from all the others they would recieve.  I decided I just had to use some of my Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper (DSP) - I am always looking at how gorgeous it is but struggle to bring myself to cut into it!!!

To line up the main image I used my Stamp A Ma Jig to get the 'Mr', '&' and 'Mrs' images exactly where I wanted them.  Then traced using my glue pen over the '&' image and sprinkled Celery glitter from the Fine Cosmo over the wet glue.  I was surprised how the glitter didnt change the colour of the Sage Shadow ink beneath, but it was more like the glitter changed colour!

Recipe
Stamp set - Mr & Mrs
Ink - Sage Shadow
Cardstock - Sage Shadow, Basic Black & Whisper White
DSP - Nouveau Chic
Accessories - Certainly Celery ribbon, Celery Fine Cosmo Glitter.

Well, its back to normal now and I can relax. 

There are still a couple of places left for my class on Saturday, but please email me if you would like to come - I need to make sure that I have everything ready before the class.  We will be making a gift bag and two cards so if you fancy a couple of hours playing with a lovely group of crafting ladies, book your place now!

I will be putting the date of my next class on here soon.

Thanks
Jan
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Craft Room Storage

I moved all my crafting stuff into recently and now have much more space to spread out - and believe me, when I start crafting I SPREAD OUT (lol).  I have been tidying my storage today so thought I would share how its been organised.

All my SU stuff is on the right hand side, the top shelf has my inks, ribbons, glitters & embossing powders.  The glitters & embossing powders have been emptied into plastic cartons - the ones you get takeaways delivered in (and as you may be able to see we have them alot!).

Second shelf is all stamps.  The third shelf has more stamps and my cardstock.  The cardstock is in those A4 plastic boxes you can get from most craft shops - there is one colour family per box, with the box labelled with the colour family.

The fourth shelf has my carry box which has all my essentials when playing (sorry, cardmaking).  Things like scissors, glues, wheels & handles etc.  The items on the bottom shelf and the left hand side of the bookcase are non SU items - I bought some black canvas type drawer dividers from Ikea which pop into shape to hold light items and just stack them on top of each other.  They have small label areas on the front and look nice & tidy on the shelves.

Here is a small bookcase I bought from Argos ages ago.  On the top is a tool chest from Machine Mart which has 16 drawers (some with dividers).  The front of each drawer has a slot to drop in a drawer label, really handy to write on the contents - I have toppers & stamped images stored in here, ready for quick cards if needed.

I may have to rethink my punch storage now, as I have almost all of them now (tee hee!).  I couldnt find anything to store them on.  But whilst out shopping I found some of those cheap wire radiator airers - which are exactly the same width as the bookcase!  I got my hubby to bend the ends round to reduce the height and make them more stable. They arent strong enough to hold the weight of the punches - so I used a couple of dies to 'prop' them up (you can just see the yellow edge in the middle of the bottom row of punches. 

To make sure that the airers dont slide I put cut some wooden skewers (the ones you use at barbeques) and put them in the holes down the side of the bookcase - for adjusting the shelf height).  It just holds the airers tightly in place.

I have stored some of my slim die cuts in CD cases (but have to buy more cases after splashing out on dies the other week (Sssshhh).

I now also have two folding tables, a small one for when I am on my own and a 6 foot one for when holding classes - or for when I am speading out - LOL!

Hope this post gives you some inspiration or ideas how to store your stash.  If you have any ideas on how you store yours, please comment and share - we all need to make the most of the limited space we have!!!  If you need any closer photos just let me know.

Thanks for looking!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Jan
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Snow Fun!

Brrrrr how cold is it still!!?

Spent 2 hours getting to work on Monday morning and it was a horrendous journey.  But I survived the white knuckle ride through Flocton & Grange Moor.  The car in front of me spun round at one point which made me shake even more.

Hope you are coping OK with the bad weather?

I can never guarantee having the time to join in with all the challenges most of my crafting buddies do, so decided to set my own challenge!  To make a mans card using a full colour family!!! Mmmmm, maybe next time I will use an easier challenge that others have set (LOL).

I punched out the stars and then stamped the star image from the Darling Dots (Hostess Level 1 set).  I used the same ink colours as the punched stars and then cut them out by hand.  Then used dimentionals to mount them onto the co-ordinating star.

The rings are made using the 1 3/8 circle punch then putting the cardstock back into the 1 3/4 curcle punch, lining it up so there is the same amount of space all round the cutting area and punching it out.  A little fiddly, but it gives you a perfect and really thin ring.  The rings are glued behind each star.

Finally I used the Word Window punch and used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to line up the Happy Birthday sentiment (from the Happy Moments Sale A Bration offer).

Recipe;
Cardstock - all 12 colours from the Earth Elements colour family, Kraft & Whisper White.
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Creamy Caramel & Old Olive.
Punches - Star, Word Window, 1 3/8 and 1 3/4 Circles
Just shows how well all the colours in the family co-ordinate - 14 different colours used on one card!!! Whats ts the maximum number of colours you have used on a card?

Sara's Card Candy!

Here is a card I made using Card Candy from the amazing Sara!  I cant take any credit for the colour scheme either - as usual she thought of everything!!!

Thank you for the inspiration Sara - I really have fallen in love with this card - and will be making more as soon as my next order comes (I have ordered the Darling Dots Hostess set after seeing the gorgeous things Sara has done with it)

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog!

Jan

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Birthday Wishes

Well, back to the real world of work!  I havent made any resolutions this year - but I do intend to loose some weight, I cant fit into most of my work clothes now and refuse to buy any more - would rather spend any money I have on crafting.

Heres a birthday card I made at the weekend for a freind - she doesnt have access to a computer so I think I will be safe posting it on here - LOL!

I made the topper using a five petal flower punched shape and used dimentionals to raise the image of the flower and leaves.  The circle was made using the 1 3/4 circle 1 3/8 circle punches - punching the smaller one first and then aligning the other circle punch to give a really slim band when punched.  Its a bit fiddly but lovely and delicate when its done.

Recipe;

Cardstock - Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose

Inks - So Safron, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip

Stamp sets - Itty Bitty Buds, Sincere Salutations

Accessories - Pearls from Pretties Kit.

Punches - Word Window, Five Petal Flower, Eyelet Border, 1 3/4 circle and 1 3/8 circle.

Thanks for looking!

Jan

Had a fairly quiet New Year really.  Mum came over again for her lunch then we had a family tea with fireworks.  Too stuffed to eat much - apart from some cake! (well it would have been rude not to...). 

Unfortunately we have had more snow (we had only just got rid of it when it started again on Friday - Grrr) so back to square one with an ice rink for a street.  But on the up side its been so cold I havent wanted to go out - just been playing again!!!

This is the first time I have used the 'Thank You stamp from the 'Say it with Scallops' set.  The border on the stamp is really delicate - I love it.  The stamp set has four images which are designed to fit perfectly in the scallop square punch.

The other images on the card are from the Itty Bitty Buds (again, sorry but I really do like this set!).

Recipe;
Cardstock - Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and whisper White.
Inks - Pale Plum, mellow moss
Stamp sets - Itty Bitty Buds & Say it With Scallops
Accessories - Brads, Square Scallop punch, Eyelet Border punch, Whiper White Taffeta Ribbon.

So simple

I was having a bit of crafting cramp when I started this card.  Then glanced at one of the shelves in my craft room and noticed the glitter....
 

The background is stamped with Perfect Plum ink and then a dot of Tombow glue was added to the centre & Orchid glitter sprinkled on top.  I am always dubious using glitter - I always end up wearing it for a week after using it - but I was surprised at how this card turned out!

Recipe;

Cardstock - Blush Blossom, Whisper White, Purfect Plum

Stamp sets - Occasional Greetings, Itty Bitty Buds

Ink - Blush Blossom, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss

Accessories - Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Soft Subtles button, Word Window punch, Orchid Fine Cosmo Glitter, pearls from the Pretties Kit.

Well, back to work on Monday (Sob).  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Jan