My favourite new craft product from 2010 is...

The gorgeous Baker's twine which is available in so many colours from The Ribbon Girl. The small spotty buttons they have in store are a close second!

In my quest for a tidy and organised 2011 I started with my Baker's twine, inspired by this post, using this download.
Have a great New Year's Eve!
Jane
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Sale time at Funky Hand

Make sure you check out the massive sale at Funky Hand www.funkyhand.com there is 25% discount off everything, craft CD Roms, downloads and paper packs so grab yourself a real bargain before the New Year begins.

The sale ends 12 noon 1st January.
Jane
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AmberINK's INKredible Challenge #5

Hi Everyone! It's Wednesday and I am back at work. Our house is bursting at the seams with presents that all need to be found homes and I am in the mood to organise and declutter so the Challenge theme this month at Amber Ink was perfect!

The Challenge theme is to create something that will help you or someone else become organised. The winner of the Challenge will receive a brand new digistamp set! Take a look at the challenge blog for some great projects from the other Torchbearers and details on how to enter!
I decorated an empty Travel sweets tin with iPapers to keep some of my buttons in. I can see myself making some more of these in different colour ways, it was so much fun to make.

To decorate the tin, I first cut a circle from yellow card. I then cut a strip of yellow spotty Ipaper which I stuck over some pink flowery paper and die cut into a smaller circle. I stitched the edges and then stitched the smaller circle to the larger one before sticking to the tin lid.


I added buttons, butterflies punched from more Ipaper, felt embellishments and letter stickers to decorate the top of the lid.


I added paper strips along the edges of the lid and the side of the tin with some more stiching and a lovely gingham bow.


As a finishing touch, I added another circle of paper to line the tin and filled it with some buttons.
It's always very satisfying to create something useful from something that would usually be thrown away.

Make sure you go and check out the Projects created by the other Torchbearers, you are certain to find some inspiration if like me you are on a quest to be organised!

Alyssa

Cheryl Ann

Laurel

Lindsey

Have a great Wednesday!
Jane
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My Favourite cards of 2010

I have really enjoyed looking back over some of my blogging Friends cards from the past year over the past few days as they have showcased some of their favourites from 2010. I decided to take some time to go through my makes from this year and share some of my favourites with you.

January

I love this little shaped card which I made using one of Jane Beljo's little monsters. I made this card to cheer a friend up, the bright colours certainly did the trick as she told me the card really made her smile.

February

I love how my colouring turned out on the card and the colour combo of turquoise and gold.

March

Another shaped card, this one is very special as it earned me a place on the Pollycraft DT and I have been having fun with Paula's fabulous images ever since!

April

I {heart} Fluffy! The cutest cuddliest monster in the world! I have fond memories of making this card as I made it at a craft session with some dear Friends and I love the mix of spots with stripes.

May

Another mini shaped card, I just love everything about this one! I think I must have rediscovered my sewing machine around May!

June

This was the first card I made as part of the Squigglefly DT. I love this image and the papers.

July

This was one of the cards I made for my Son's Birthday. I love this image and the bright colours.

August

During the Summer, I found out I had been picked for the Funky Hand DT and this is one of the cards I made to celebrate. I have loved Anice's downloads and CDs ever since I started crafting so was (and still am) so chuffed to be part of her Design Team.

September

The Pure Innocence images are some of my favourites and I loved combining this one with some of the gorgeous shabby chic Wild Rose Studio papers for a Challenge for Crafty Emma's Challenge blog.

October

I helped to name Mimi and Marley so I had to include them in my favourites. I made so many cards with these adorable Mice from Pollycraft this Christmas but this one is my favourite. In fact, I like it so much, I couldn't part with it so it is in my card box :-)

November

I love these papers from Bobunny, they look great with my favourite Kraft card and this ticket stamp. I made the snowflake topper with tulle and glitter glue and my favourite Ribbon Girl buttons.

December

This is the card I made for my Wonderful Husband so I just had to include this in my favourites. The papers were a late purchase so I only used a couple of sheets from the pad. The layout was a sketch from Sketch Saturday and I love it and I love my Sparkly snowflakes too.

I have really enjoyed looking through all my cards from the past year and picking my favourites, if you do the same on your blog, leave me a link below and I will come and take a look.

Enjoy the rest of your evening, I am back at work tomorrow for a few days.
Jane
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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day! I did, we had a fabulous lunch in our local pub and I am still full up!


I don't have any cards to share with you today, instead I have the best things I have ever 'made', my lovely boys enjoying Christmas lunch looking all smart and grown up in their new shirts.
Jane
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Sending Winter Wishes

You may remember a long time ago, I posted some tiny angels I made from beads. Well, not long after that I made boxes for them all to live in so I could give them to my Friends for Christmas. All the boxes have now been given out so I can finally share them with you!
I only have 2 left now which will go to members of my family. I made the boxes using a Sizzix Shaker box die and My Mind's Eye Christmas papers which are gorgeous with lots of sparkle on them.
I made a topper for each box with an Elzybells stamp which was coloured with Promarkers and I then added lots of glitter to the wings.
I stamped a little sentiment to the inside of the box which also came from Elzybells before the shop closed this year and I added a couple of gems to finish off. A length of ribbon tucked behind the topper closes the box.
This is my last post before Christmas and my last day at work for a few days too. I am looking forward to spending some time with my family and doing a bit of crafting! I would like to wish you all a fabulous Christmas and a Happy New Year and Thank you all for your support and lovely comments this year!
Have a wonderful day!
Jane
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I {heart} U Mummy!

As promised yesterday, here is my 1st Project made using an Amberink digi stamp and ipapers. I had so much fun choosing images and gorgeous papers, there are lots with dots, my favourite!


I wanted to show how you can use the Halloween images all year round and made a card using the cute little Mummy. Orange and black are such a great colour combo and this Spider dot paper is just so cool!
To make the card, I cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the card base and then stitched a block of orange card into the centre. I added the Mummy which I had coloured with Promarkers and then cut out leaving a little border and then added my sentiment using different types of lettering.
As a finishing touch, I added a little felt flower topped with a black button and a little gem and some glitter glue in the heart.

I'm a torchbearer for AmberInk!

I have some very exciting news to share with you today. A few days ago I was contacted by Amber as Julia had chosen me to carry the AmberInk torch for December so first of all I would like to thank Julia for choosing me and I am really looking forward to creating Projects with the fabulous Amberink Digi images and gorgeous ipapers.

The other talented ladies who will also be carrying the torch for Amberink in December are:

Alyssa Scrithfiel @ http://critterlyss.blogspot.com/

Laurel Seabrook @ http://want2scrap.blogspot.com/

Lindsey Martin-Penny @ http://bashfulblogging.blogspot.com/

Cheryl Ann First @ http://cafexpressions.blogspot.com/

Please check out the AmberInk blog for full introductions and some photos of the torchbearers in their younger days! I love the way the introductions have been written, my own one made me laugh out loud!

I will be back tomorrow with my first Project. Here is a little sneak peek...



Have a great Monday! I know I will if the snow holds off long enough for me to get to work and get home!
Jane
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A Neverending card and some neverending snow!

I have a Neverending card to share with you today which I made a little while ago following a tutorial in Quick Cards Made Easy.

I used one of the new Cherry kisses Pollycraft images and beautiful papers I received from Becky for my birthday.I hope you are having a good weekend.
Jane
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I made the base card from red card and then used all the gorgeous papers to decorate the different panels.
I had so much fun making this card and choosing which papers to use, nearly as much fun as Charlie had in the snow today!



We went for a walk in the Snow today and were greeted by some truly fabulous scenery.

I spent the rest of the day crafting making cards for commissions and upcoming DT projects. I have quite a bit to do tomorrow as well but I don't think this snow is going anywhere fast so I expect we will be having another cosy day in.
Enjoy your weekends!
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A Merry and Bright Sonny card

I haven't done any crafting this week I can show you. In fact, my first card of the week was made last night as I have been exhausted every evening from my return to work.
I have a card to share with you today I made last week which is one of my favourite Sonny cards I have made. I love the colours and all the dots (my favourite!). I found these papers in my stash and I can't believe I hadn't used them yet. I coloured Sonny with my Promarkers and added her to the card with foam pads. The sentiment is from a Paper Makeup set which I bought from Quixotic Paperie.
It's the last day at School for the boys, Christmas is nearly here and I still have lots of Christmas cards to write and send. I am hoping to tick that job off the list this weekend!
Have a good Friday!
Jane
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Last minute Christmas cards

I have made so many Christmas cards this year that I was feeling pretty confident that I would have enough to see me through but I had a little panic when I looked in my Christmas box last week so I decided to make a few quick ones to fill it up again.

I chose one of my favourite Christmassy images to colour from Pollycraft and made the cards up in batches. First I cut out all the layers, then sewed them, then die cut and coloured the toppers and Sunday night I finally put then all together adding Glitter glue and gems.

This image is on sale at a special price of only 49p at the moment in the Pollycraft shop and really is perfect for those last minute cards!
Have a great Tuesday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - White Christmas

It's my turn to set the next Challenge on the Pollycraft Challenge blog and as we are approaching Christmas and I love snow, the theme I have chosen is...

WHITE CHRISTMAS
all white card(colour only on images) OR snowy/winter scenes..

I have had so much fun creating Wintery scenes with all of Paula's fabulous images this year and couldn't resist paper piecing a wintery white scene for one of the new Cherry Kisses images to skate around in.

The papers I used are by American Crafts and October Afternoon and the lovely ruffled ribbon trim is by The Ribbon Girl.

This Challenge is a little bit different from our usual weekly Challenge as we we will be running it for 1 month to give everyone a little break over Christmas and we would like to use this Challenge as an invitation to apply for a Guest Design Position, if you would like to be considered, please add GD to your name on inlinkz.

The next Challenge will be on the 10th of January.

As this is a special Challenge, we have some very special prizes for you as well as the GDT spots!

A Memory Box: Tinsel paperpack
from the lovely Emma at Crafty Emma's Store

And...

10 Pollycraft Digis!

As usual we have some fabulous cards from the Design team to inspire you so make sure you check out the Challenge blog!

Have a great Monday!
Jane
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A card for Isabelle

One of my lovely Friends beautiful little Daughter celebrated her 1st Birthday yesterday and it was lovely to be able to make a pink and girly card after all the Christmas cards I have been making lately.

I used the Funky Hand Colour me Happy CD to print the letters which I cut out with Nestabilities and to print the paper and the big number 1.
I matted the paper on to some textured card and then sewed around the edges with pale pink thread.
I mounted the letters and the number on to foam pads and then added them to the card and then got to work colouring the adorable Kaylee digi image by Lori Boyd.
When she was all coloured in, I cut her out with little border and added her to the card with foam pads. A little bow, a button and a few little gems finished the card off.
I had a lovely afternoon yesterday with my Best Friend Fiona and her gorgeous little boy, it is so lovely to be back in the swing of things a bit more!
Have a great Sunday!
Jane
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Something other than a Christmas card and some news!

I apologise for my absence over the past few days. I returned to work last week finally so I have been rather tired! My back just about made it to the weekend and I am now looking forward to taking a bit easier for a couple of days.

The Challenge theme this week on the CES Challenge blog is 'Anything but a Christmas Card!!', I am wondering what I am going to make after the 25th of this month as I feel I have been making Christmas cards since Easter!
For my Project, I decorated a Nutella jar (yum!) to fill with mint imperials for my Nanny for Christmas. I used Snow Day papers by Crate paper which I punched and die cut with various Spellbinders shapes and embellished with gems, glitter and a bit stitching.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge, we have a wonderful prize for you this week. Your choice of 3 images from the Stamp Fairy.

And now for my news...I found out last week that I am a runner up in the Card Designer of the Year Competition that is run by Simply Cards and Papercraft but I think I can finally tell you now as the Magazine is out! I am so chuffed and I can't wait to receive my prizes! It was a real thrill seeing my cards in the Magazine too :-)
I hope you have a great Saturday and a good Weekend!
Jane
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Christmas Jumper

I have had a bit of a rest from crafting the past few days getting ready for my return to work but I have a card to share with you today I made last week.

I used the 'Ethan's New Jumper' digital stamp which is available here from Pollycraft and coloured him with Promarkers to match some ancient backing papers I found in my stash. I kept the layout really simple and added one of my favourite Paper Makeup sentiment stamps and a little stick on pearl to finish the card off.
I hope you are having a good week so far.
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Pink, Blue and Brown

We have a colour Challenge for you this week on the Pollycraft Challenge blog. This week the lovely Lynsey has chosen a theme of Pink, Blue and Brown. I don't think I'd ever used those three colours before on a card but I definitely will be again, I loved the result so thanks for the inspiration Lynsey!

I used the lovely Sonny Honeycloud 'Winter' stamp in my card with a sentiment from the clear stamp set. I pulled out my embossing folder again and my sewing machine and stitched a little Winter scene for Sonny to stand in. The pink paper is from Cosmo cricket and the blue was a freebie in a magazine.
I made an embellishment using my favourite snowflake die, some ribbon
which has been in my stash for ages and a Ribbon Girl button. The finishing touch was a couple of brown gems on the sentiment strip. I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win a pack of 5 Promarkers.
Make sure you check out the blog for lots of stunning inspiration from the DT.
Jane
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Squigglefly Challenge - Let it snow!

It's Monday and time for a new Squigglefly Challenge. The theme this week is 'Let it Snow' so we want to see lots of snowflakes on your creations.

I chose to use my all time favourite Santa image. He is just so adorable, I have made so many cards using him as he is so quick to colour and looks great every time. This time, I used a simple layout with some stitching and embossing onto some red snowflake paper. I added Ribbon Girl twine and a little stamped tag to finish the card off and a little pom pom on Santa's hat.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge. This is my last card as part of the Squigglefly DT as my 6 months on the team are coming to an end. I have had such fun playing with all the images and can't believe how quickly the time has gone!
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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Christmas is sweet!

I have a quick share for you today. This is a card I made using one of the new lovely Cherry kisses images. This image is called 'Christmas is sweet' and it is one of my favourites.

I made the card using scraps from my neverending scrap box and pulled them all together with stitching and ribbon, a button and twine from The Ribbon Girl. I coloured the image with my Promarkers, her face does not look quite as pale in real life.
I hope you are having a good weekend. We are having a quiet day today, I am going food shopping and then for a coffee with my Hubby and that's it.
Jane
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Playing with my new stamps!

I was extremely lucky to be picked as the winner of the last Squiggle Stamps blog challenge with my glittery card and was able to choose lots of lovely stamps as my prize. I was so excited as I never win blog challenges! I received my package of lovely rubber stamps very quickly and also chose a couple of digi images too, including the one I have used in this card.

I LOVE this image, it was such a delight to colour and I had lots of fun matching my colours to these gorgeous Basic Grey papers. I am wondering what I am going to do after Christmas as I feel I have been making Christmas cards forever, I think I am addicted. I die cut a snowflake which I doused in lots of glitter to use as a base for my greeting which is tied with Ribbon Girl twine.
I am entering this card into this month's Challenge which is for a guest DT slot.

I have now officially finished my Christmas shopping. Most was completed online this year and I popped to Marks with my Hubby for a couple of hours today to get the last few bits. There are a few bits to wrap and the tree still to put up but it is finally beginning to 'look a bit like Christmas' in the Millard household!
Jane
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Pollycraft Friday Freebie

I had expected to be back a bit earlier than this to share this card. I had Physio on my back this afternoon which has left me in a bit of pain and I fell asleep after my Dinner!
Here is the card I made with the latest Pollycraft Friday Freebie 'Decorations'.
He is available here from Pollycraft and was just so lovely to colour in! I made the card using leftover scraps from my scraps box and a ribbon I have had in my stash for ages.


I added lots of gems, a bit of glitter and one of my favourite Ribbon Girl buttons to finish the card off.
Jane
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My Hubby's Christmas Card

I made my Hubby's Christmas card from me this morning. I always had in mind that I would use this adorable image from Pollycraft as it is so cute! I used Cosmo Cricket papers and cut some Spellbinders snowflakes to frame the image which I covered in lots and lots of glitter. I embossed the light green strip and added some stitching (of course!)

I followed this fabulous sketch from Sketch Saturday. I love their sketches and am going to make a real effort to join in with this Challenge more often.

I am also entering this card into the Winter Wonderland Challenge as the theme is Penguins and Polar bears.
I hope you have a great Friday, I will be back later with my Pollycraft Friday freebie card.
Jane
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A Shaped card for Someone Special...

I have a shaped card to share with you today which I made yesterday for my kids to give my lovely Hubby for Christmas. I used a template from Making cards to make the Star Shaped card. It was really simple to make and I love the finished result.

I cut the base card from Gingham card which I bought from my local craft shop and decorated it with scraps of green and red papers.

The little Santa in the centre is from Squigglefly, the large letter stickers have been in my stash for ages and fitted the space perfectly. All the other bits and bobs have been lurking in my stash for ages so I was really glad to use them on this project.
I am entering this card into the Winter Wonderland Challenge which is to create a shaped card and also into the Moving Along with times Challenge which is to create a card for Someone Special, as my Hubby is :-)
Have a good Thursday! My kids are as they have a day off school because of the snow.
Jane
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Get Funky December Challenge

Can you believe it is already the 1st of December? I can't!! The kids are excited as they have opened the 1st window on their Advent Calendars. We normally put our tree up on the 1st but I don't feel very Christmassy yet.
We have a sketch for you to follow this month on the Get Funky Challenge Blog.
We have joined Kathy and her team on her Sketch Challenge blog and I made this card using Gingham papers from the Colour Me Happy CD.

I used Kraft as my base card which I embossed and then I layered up the Ginghams and lace to follow the sketch. The letters I used are by Prima.

I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win a voucher to spend on lovely goodies at Funky Hand.
Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday and keep warm!
Jane
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