A Monster gift tag and gift box

My Best Friend Fiona looked after my cat Patch when we went to Somerset and really helped us out at short notice so I wanted to give her a special little something to say Thank You. Patch had been missing for over 10 weeks and we thought she had found a new home or that something nasty had happened to her but she came strolling back in one evening when my Husband and Son were walking back from Jack's Valentine's disco. She just walked straight in the door, up the stairs and went back to her usual spot on our bed as if she had never been away!
I bought Fiona a nice bottle of Rioja and some Caramacs. Fiona gives up Chocolate for Lent but does have the odd Caramac as a treat...


I made a tag for the wine from a label that some flowers I bought from John Lewis were attached to when I bought them. I covered both sides with some digital download paper from Two Peas. The kit is a freebie and can be found here. I love how bright these papers are and they printed out perfectly on my linen textured card. I added an image from Jane's Doodles which I coloured in with my Promarkers, did a bit of overstamping on the layers with Hero Arts stamps. The finishing touches were ribbon, buttons and a few gems.
I decided to make a little box for the Caramacs to match. I measured the Caramacs and then made a box with my Scoreboard to fit. I used scraps to decorate the top of the box along with a punched border, some ribbon, a paper flower, a button and more stamping.
I have printed off a few more kits to try and I am so pleased with the quality of the freebies from Two Peas so expect to see a few more cards from me made with them!
I hope you are having a good Weekend.
Jane
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New Easy Craft Projects Challenge DT card

It's time for a new Challenge on the Easy Craft Projects Challenge blog.

We want you to create a card, layout, altered piece etc using one (or more) of these projects from Easy Craft Projects as inspiration:
Thank You Card
Quick Mother's Day Cards
House on a Hill Pin Cushion
Button Bracelet
Storage Projects

Sunshine's Stamps is sponsoring this challenge and is offering the winner from challenges #7 and #8 a $20 gift certificate to their store!

Here is the card I made using the Thank you card as inspiration.


I used Kraft card to make a card base and layered up scraps of DCWV, Bobunny and Basic Grey papers.
The blooms are Woodware and Prima tied together with string. The letter stickers are Making Memories.

I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge. Make sure you hop over to the blog to check out some lovely Projects from the DT for inspiration.

Jane
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New Willow Sketchie Challenge DT Project

It's time for a new Willow Sketchie and this one is a gorgeous sketch by Karen. I was really chuffed to be able to have a play Sharon's latest download to create my DT project. The new image is so cute and the papers that go with it are just amazing and were so lovely to work with.
I decided to make a box of notelets as my DT project and used the sketch to decorate the lid.


I made the box using some pearlescent card from Payperbox and my scoring board. I inked each layer to give some extra depth. I am addicted to inking the edges of my card layers at the moment!
I added a sentiment from Elzybells which fitted the theme perfectly onto one of my new Nestie label shapes.

I filled the box with 5 Notecards which I decorated with leftover scraps from my Printouts and more images. I used some precoloureds and coloured the rest with my Promarkers.

Here is an arty close up shot of the box lid :-)


Make sure you pop on over to the blog to see all the other DT projects, the girls have made some amazingly inspirational projects this week. Here is a copy of the gorgeous sketch.


I hope you will be able to take part for the chance of winning one of Sharon's stunning downloads.

I hope you are all ok and having a good week.
Jane
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Susie's sassy Challenge DT card: Aqua and Lilac

It's time for a new Challenge over at Susie's Sassy Challenges. This fortnight, we are following a colour theme set by DT member Lisa. Lisa chose her favourite colours for us to work with: Aqua and Lilac.
I never would have thought of putting these colours together but I love this combo now and will definitely use it again.

This week we have a super sponsor the lovely Roberta from Prairie Fairy Designs. Roberta is offering the winner of the winner of challenge #9 a selection of any 3 digital stamps from her store!!

I loved using this image, it is so pretty! I coloured it with Promarkers and added Stickles to the wings, the sentiment is a free digi stamp available from here.
I used American Crafts and DCWV papers and a Fiskars punch for the border. Most of the flowers are from Hero Arts with some Prima mixed in. The ribbon is from my stash.
Make sure you pop over to the blog and take a look at all the lovely DT cards. I hope you will be able to join us for the chance to win some gorgeous images!
I hope you are having a good week.
Jane
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Is it Spring yet?

I am back from my half term holidays in Somerset with my Hubby, the boys and Charlie. We stayed in a lovely little cottage on a dairy farm near Bridgwater. The weather was pretty awful the whole week but we still had a relaxing time and got out and about a bit in the local area. Charlie loved the beaches and running about in the sand :-)
I made a card today for the first time in ages...actually, I made two but the 1st one was terrible so is going in the bin! I followed the photo given for inspiration on the Docrafts website to make this card. The photo is very Springlike so I used very fresh and bright colours with a Daisy and Dandelion stamp.

The sentiment stamp is from a Honey and Hugs set. The ribbon is Papermania as are the papers and the little buttons.
This card did not come easy, I think I am a bit rusty, hopefully I will get my Mojo back soon as I have lots of DT and other Projects to make!
Jane
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I LOVE DIGI CHALLENGE #1 THINK PINK - DT card

Hurrah! It's finally here! Today is the launch of the 1st 'I love digi challenge' and the theme is :

THINK PINK

The sponsor for this Challenge is THE STAMPING BOUTIQUE and their prize is 5 Digi Images of the winners choice.

For my card I used one of Jane's monsters and coloured her in shades of pink adding little stick on gems to her horns. I cut her out and added her to a shaped card base I had cut with my Nestabilities. The spotty paper is from the latest Funky Hand CD. I printed everything onto textured card as I love the luxurious look this gives. The sentiment stamp is Hero Arts and the button is from Elzybells tied with some ribbon from my scraps box.

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT blogs for more inspiration:

Elaine - Leader

Paul

Callie

Bev

Karin

Dee

Poppy

Mel
and guest DT Jane

Then come on over to the blog and join us for our 1st Challenge!

Jane
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Winner of Jane's digi images

The winner of Jane's images is.......Dolly!
Can you please email me to milliesmarvels@gmail.com and I will
send your details to Jane.
Jane
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Jane's Doodles Release day and some DT news!

It's release day on Squigglefly and Jane has some fantastic new digi stamps available for you to play with.
Her latest release is called Bird Watching and the set has birds, birdhouses and even a worm! This cute little Owl is part of the set and he was so much fun to make into a card for Valentine's day.

I used a Bazzill border strip to edge the bottom of the card and covered the base card with American Crafts checked paper. I cut a frame from green card which I mounted on foam pads over a K+Co cloud circle. I then popped the little owl inside. The lovely sparkly letters are from American Crafts and the little alphas are Making memories. The gems are Kanban and the heart button and felt heart are from my stash tied together with some paper string.
We have welcomed some new DT members to the Jane's Doodles team, make sure you check out new DT members Lucy's and Mariana's blogs as well as the rest of the team for more inspiration and ideas.

Alice
Kelly
Lysa
Sanne
Jane
as well as Guest DT Donna.

Jane is also running a little giveaway to celebrate the new release. Leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner randomly who will receive a set of Jane's new images. I will draw a winner on Monday evening. Good luck everyone!
Jane
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My DT Card for Easy Craft Projects Challenge no6

It's time for another Challenge on the Easy Craft Projects Challenge blog. We are sponsored by Jane's Doodles this month so I used some of Jane's gorgeous Babushka images to make a card following the fab sketch provided by Nan.

I used American Crafts papers, Hero Arts and Prima flowers to make up my design. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and the brown accent strip and Butterflies are from Bazzill.
I finished the card off with some Making memories ribbon and lots of sparkly gems. I had lots of fun colouring in the images with my Promarkers. Jane's images are just wonderful to work with and if you take part in the ECP Challenge this month, you will be in with a chance of winning some of her digis and some of her fabulous handmade buttons! Make sure you check out the ECP blog for more details and for some more inspiration from the DT.
Jane
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My DT cards for Susie's Sassy Challenge - Hearts and Flowers

We are going all soppy and Romantic for the latest Challenge. The theme this fortnight has been picked by me! What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with hearts and flowers!

We are very lucky to have our first sponsors on the Challenge blog, Cards etc.

Jolanda sent us some lovely images to have a play with that are perfect for Valentine's day cards or Friendship cards.

I have made 2 cards using the downloads and decided to use non traditional Valentines colours. The 1st card is made with green Crate paper card and some K+Co textured white cardstock. The gems and flowers are from my stash as is the ribbon.
The second card was made with some backing papers I received in a blog candy win. The heart embellishment is a Nesties heart topped with a felt American Crafts heart tied with twine. The sentiment is from Elzybells.

I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge. Please check out the other DT girlies blogs for some inspiration and I look forward to visiting you all to see what you make :-)

Jane

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My DT card for the new Willow sketchie challenge

It's time for a new Willow sketchie Challenge and this week we were lucky enough to be able to use Sharon's latest download 'Alfie and the Birdhouse' to make our DT cards.
There is a lovely sketch from Deanne for you to follow this week. I love shaped cards so this was a real treat for me.

I started off with a square card blank onto which I drew around a cereal bowl to get the desired shape.
I then did the same with my backing paper to cover the front of the card. A strip of stripey card was edged with ribbon, the raw edges tucked behind the front. I got my glue gun out and stuck white lace around the card front and then attached this to the base to hide all the workings.
Following the sketch, I added the image which I coloured with Promarkers and accented with gems. The image was matted and layered on to Kraft card and I added a Hero Arts sentiment stamped onto a Nesties tag. I finished the card with lots of Flowers from my stash with gems.
Make sure you check out the blog for lots more inspiration from the Design Team and if you take part you may win a free download from Willow Designs. You don't have to use Willow designs digi stamps to take part but, of course, if you have them...we would love to see them!
Jane
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My Hubby's Valentine's day card

I have made loads of cards that would be suitable to give to my Hubby for Valentine's day but decided it would be nice to give him one that has been made especially for him. I coloured this image in bed this morning and put it together this evening. It was quite a quick card to put together as I knew what I wanted to do having planned in my head all afternoon.
I decided to play along with the latest Passion for Promarkers challenge by using the chosen colours for this week: Agean, Cool Aqua and Sky Blue to colour in my image. I have used this image before but in different colourways, I think she is really cute.

The papers are all from a DCWV paper pad that my Hubby bought me for Christmas so they all coordinate really nicely. The frame that Tilda is sitting on is from one of the pages. I cut it out with my scissors then cut the circle in the middle with my Nesties. The heart was also cut with my Nesties and edged in Mica powder (1st time I have used them ...)I added lace from John Lewis with Tesco Christmas ribbon to the front of the card before layering up the heart, frame and image. The sentiment stamped on the heart is from Elzybells as are the heart buttons. The butterflies are Nestabilities. I added another piece of ribbon tied around the frame and some gems to finish.
You can see on the close up of the image that I added Sakura highlights to the image and added glossy accents to the little Butterfly.
Jane
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Valentine's Heart Basket and card

My latest Project has been published on the Easy Craft Projects Website. I made a basket and card for Valentine's day using Magnolia stamps.

The basket was constructed using a Mirkwood designs template and decorated with a Magnolia stamps heart greeting circle.
The little card was made to match using a gorgeous Magnolia image of Tilda carrying a heart basket.

For full instructions on creating the project, please take a look here.
Jane
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A sneaky peek of my next Willow Sketchie DT card

No WOYWW from me today, I am still ill. I have Bronchitis but I have some antibiotics now so will hopefully start to feel better soon. I haven't made anything new for days but here is a little sneaky peek of my next DT card for the Willow Sketchie blog. There will be a new sketch for you to follow tomorrow and I know you are going to love it!


Make sure you pop back tomorrow for the reveal and check out the Willow sketchie blog for loads more DT cards and inspiration.
Jane
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A little Monkey for Passion for Promarkers

I have had this little Monkey from Jane's Doodles coloured in for ages sitting on my desk waiting to make a card but never seemed to get around to it. The theme this week on the Passion for Promarkers blog challenge is 'All creatures great and small' so it seemed the perfect opportunity to make a card with him.

This card was a little bit of an experiment and I am not 100% sure it works but I thought I would blog it anyway. I coloured the Monkey with Promarkers and cut him out with his branch. I then cut a label shape from cloudy K+Co paper and matted it on to a green label layer. The whole thing was mounted with foam pads on to a matted and layered wood effect background. The monkey was then stuck on top. I mounted his body on foam pads and glued the branch straight down to give some depth. The experiment was the leaves which is supposed to look like a tree. I cut lots of different sized Sizzix flowers, inked the edges and then layered them up. I added some paper flowers from John Lewis in the gaps and a little dotty butterfly in the top right. The sentiment is Hero Arts and the gems were from Hobbycraft.
I really love this little Monkey, I think he looks really mischievous :-) He is available from Squigglefly along with the rest of Jane's lovely digi stamps.
I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Jane
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I'm back and I love The Greeting Farm!!

I have been out of bed for the whole day today and am feeling better, not quite 100% yet. I still feel very tired and a bit wobbly but I made it out of the house for 2 hours this afternoon and managed to drop off my Son at Football this morning so it is a marked improvement.
I made some cards today for the 1st time in ages. Some are DT projects but the one below was just for fun.

I made this card at the dinner table which is in our living room and when I finished I announced that I was so happy I had made this card as it had been in my head all week! Hubby replied that was probably why I had been feeling so ill as a card in your head was bound to hurt! Ha ha!
Anyway, I have to Thank Susie for this card, we swapped some images and I received a stack of The Greeting Farm images and I love all of them. This cute little munchkin really grabbed my attention when I was flipping through the pile and I instantly thought of these 2 backing papers that have been in my stash for yonks!. The little canvas flower was a bit of an afterthought as it just didn't look right with just the sentiment tag and the star. The string was rescued from a clothing tag when I bought some jeans ages ago.
I inked the edges of the paper layers and added some fake stitching (don't know why as I never do that, but it just seemed right...)
In other exciting news today, I received an award from Julia which I will pass on soon and my email was read out on the Funky hand show on Create and craft and they showed a photo of a card I made with the new CD. My Son was well chuffed and so was I!
I am off now to print some digi stamps and papers and to have a bit more of a play. I have missed Crafting so much this week! It's nice to be back :-)
Jane
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My 1st Willow Sketchie DT card

It's time for a new Willow Sketchie Challenge! This week is my first time taking part as a DT member and here is the full reveal of my card following my sneaky peek yesterday.


All papers and the precoloured digi stamp used are from the new 'Alfie and the Bumble bee' download which is available from Willow Designs and the sentiment is a free digi stamp available from here.
Here is the lovely sketch from Sharon you have to follow to take part in this week's Challenge. I added a bit of stitching around the layers of card and used buttons instead of flowers around the image. A couple of gems finished the card off.

You are not obliged to use Willow Designs products to take part in the Challenge but if you have them, we would love to see them on your projects! You have a week to take part for the chance to win a Willow designs download.
Make sure you check out the blog for more inspiration from the fabulously talented DT and I hope you will be able to join us for a chance to win some of Sharon's fab digi delights!
Jane
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A new DT position!

A quick scheduled post from me just to announce my new DT position on the I LOVE DIGI Challenge blog. I am so excited to have been chosen to be part of Elaine's team. I am quite new to digi stamps and I am already hooked.

The 1st Challenge launches on the 18th of February. I am so looking forward to working with the following Team of talented crafters, why not check out their blogs which are linked below:

Elaine - Leader
Anne
Callie
Bev
Karin
Dee
Poppy
Mel
Paul

We will also be having Guest Designers too:

Jane
Dawn
Ali
Jennifer

I look forward to seeing you all on the 18th for the launch :-)
Jane
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A sneaky peek of my 1st Willow Designs DT card

No What's on your Workdesk Wednesday today from me. I have flu and only just managed to get up for about an hour this morning as it's my eldest's 13th Birthday.
A very quick post today written from my bed to give you a sneak peek of my 1st DT card for the new Willow Sketchie blog Challenge which starts tomorrow.

I made the card at the weekend as soon as I got the gorgeous downloads and I can't wait for the Challenge to start tomorrow.
Make sure you pop back tomorrow and check out the Willow Sketchie blog for the new sketch and a chance to win some downloads.
Jane
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My ATCs for the Addicted to ATCs January swap

Here are my ATCs for the Addicted to ATCs January swap. The theme is 'New Beginnings' so I chose to use one of the One Four Zero stamps I received as part of a prize last year.

I used very bright colours from my scrap box and coloured the image with Promarkers. The little flowers were part of my Christmas present from my DT buddy Tracy. If you are interested in swapping ATCs, please pop over to the blog for more details. We always welcome new people so it would be great if you could join us!
Have a lovely Monday, it is snowy outside and I have a nasty cold which is quickly travelling down to my throat and chest so I am not looking forward to going outside today :-(
Jane
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