My favourite things Blog Candy

I have put together a few of my favourite things to offer as a little blog candy prize as a thank you to all my lovely followers and to thank all of you who leave such lovely comments on my blog.


I was very lucky to win Michelle's lovely Blog Candy last week and I have been meaning to offer some blog candy for a while so if you would like to win:

A newly released Whiff of Joy 6x6 paper pad
A Cosmo Cricket Earth Love Mini Deck
A pack of Dear Lizzy American Crafts paper flower shapes
A pack of My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy layered Stickers
2 packs of Baker's Twine from The Ribbon Girl
A pack of my favourite Ribbon girl spotty buttons
A pack of Papermania Adhesive gems

Please sign up as a follower or leave a comment on this blog post and mention my candy giveaway on your blog. If you are a follower and leave a comment you will be entered twice.
I will draw a winner on the 1st of March. The candy will close at Midnight UTC on the 28th of February and the post will remain at the top until then. I will post Worldwide.
Thanks for entering and Good Luck!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Three circles

Morning! Hope you had a good weekend. It's Monday already and time for a new Pollycraft Challenge. Joanne has chosen our theme and she would like to see 'Three Circles' on your projects this week.
I have used the gorgeous Maurice for my card with my favourite My Mind's Eye Papers. I used some distress ink to frame the image before I coloured it with Promarkers and then set it into a Polaroid style frame cut from Kraft card which I had stamped with a sentiment.


I sewed some patterned papers to a square of Kraft card for the card base and then added three circles cut from scraps of papers. I finished with some gorgeous buttons from Crafty Emma's store.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge. We are sponsored this week by Quixotic Paperie and the winner will receive a 6x6 Prima paper pad.

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for all the Challenge details and lots of inspiration from the DT.
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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Trying something new

When I was ill and on the sofa this week , I spent most of Tuesday watching the Craft Day on QVC. I loved seeing all the upcoming trends from the States and was captivated by Tim Holtz's demos. I have several distress ink pads and a few other Tim Holtz bits and pieces which I use in my projects but have never tried the 'proper' techniques he uses.
I treated myself to the Special Value kit they had on offer and it arrived Friday. Yesterday I had a go at blending alcohol inks and stamping on the backgrounds I created and made 5 cards quite quickly.
The red card is the second card I made and the butterfly card is the last one. I will show the others another day. It was so much fun trying something new and I will definitely get my inks out again and have another play. It was also refreshing looking through my stash and seeing how I could use the bits I already have in a different way.
I am entering both of these cards into the Ginger Snaps colour Challenge which is 'Jewel colours with gold'. My Friend Petra is on the Design Team and she is the master of distress and altered art, I am always in awe of the beautiful designs she creates!
Have a good Sunday.
Jane
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CES Challenge #25 - Flowers and Flutterbys

Good Morning Everyone! I thought I had scheduled this post so apologies for the delay! I think I am starting to feel a bit better (finally!!) so I am debating whether to take myself off to the Farnborough Make it show. Hubby has offered to take me this afternoon when he finishes work so I don't have to drive.
I have already done a bit of crafting today. I bought the Tim Holtz kit from QVC so have made a few cards with the alcohol inks and stamps. So different to my usual style but so much fun to try something new! I'll show you what I made tomorrow.
The theme this week on the CES Challenge blog chosen by the lovely Emma is...

Flowers and Flutterbys

I immediately thought of this Pure Innocence Image by Heather Ellis. It's so adorable and available for only 50p from here.
I used some of the gorgeous new My Mind's Eye papers and a cherry blossom for my card.

I love all the papers in the new My Mind's Eye pads and these ones are very fresh and remind me of Spring.


I coloured my image with Promarkers and added lots of punched Martha Stewart butterflies. Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots of wonderful inspiration from the DT. I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win your choice of 5 packs of charms from Crafty Emma's Store.
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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Get Funky Challenge - Show us your heart!

Hi Everyone! It's my turn to show you my heart for this month's Get Funky Challenge which was set by the lovely Jules.

I fell in love with the 'Love,Love,Love' download when it was released and couldn't resist making a pair of sexy pants to adorn this fun card. I cut the shape free hand by folding a square of paper in half and then cutting it into shape. I added strips of card for the 'Y' and waistband and a couple of little gems.

The label sentiment was created using the Craft the Year Away CD.

We were so chuffed with how many of you took part in last month's Challenge, we hope you can join us again this month. When you have made your Project using at least one Funky Hand paper, link your entry HERE on Jules's first post.

The lovely Anice has also created a gorgeous Heart paper freebie to use if you would like to.

Have a great Friday!

Jane
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By Lori Designs Challenge 6

Hi there! I hope you are having a good week so far. I am still unwell and am really hoping I will be better by the weekend so I can go to the Make It Craft Show at Farnborough and do a bit of crafty shopping!
We have a lovely set of colours again for you this week for Lori's 6th Colour Challenge. I was really pleased to find some paper matching the theme in one of my new My Mind's Eye papers pads. These papers are my favourites at the moment!

I used my label Nestabilities to make a shaped card and covered it with patterned pink card to which I had stitched a block of flower paper. I then wrapped it with gingham ribbon and added it to the card base. I coloured Abby with my Promarkers to match the colour scheme and cut her out before sticking her on with foam pads. I layered up a paper and crochet flower which I topped with a blue spotty button and tucked a Pink Petticoat sentiment behind which I had cut out with another Spellbinders label.The Design Team have made some fabulous cards following the colour scheme. Please hop over to the Challenge blog for some inspiration, I hope you will be able to join in for the chance to win one of Lori's adorable images, all you need to do is use one of Lori's images and the set colours. I hope to see you there!
Jane
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Miss Evie - Wild West

I have another card to share with you today which I made with the newly released stamps at Squiggle stamps. Miss Evie is all dressed up for a trip to the Wild West and has a great Sherif's badge to match.

I used some Blue Gingham paper sewn on to some Kraft card as a base for my card and layered up some scraps of yellow and red patterned card on to some punched Kraft which were stuck to the base. I tied some yellow baker's twine around one of the panels to hang a little star charm.


I coloured Miss Evie with Promarkers to match my choice of papers and then cut her out and added her to the card with foam pads. I stamped a sentiment in the middle of the badge, coloured it in, cut it out, embellished with gems and then added it to the centre of a large flower and stuck both the top right hand corner of the card.
Have a great Wednesday!
Jane
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Critters and Cogs for the Letraset competition.

I have made a card to enter the Letraset competition that the very lovely Enfys is running on her blog. Paula at Pollycraft is having a Critters and Cogs party this week and Trix is one of the newly released images and as with all the other Critters and Cogs she is such fun to colour in.

I took inspiration from these fabulous Echo Park Little Boy papers to colour my image. For once, I did not use my sewing machine but I have used some fab orange trim I have had for a long time and a button from a treasured jar of buttons I received from my lovely Hubby for my Birthday last year. They are so lovely, I have only used a couple so far, they are almost too nice to use!

Here is a close up of my coloured image. I used the following colours:

Lime Green, Pear Green, Marsh Green
Red, Poppy,Crimson
Mandarin and Apricot
Duck Egg Blue and Cool Aqua
Gold and Tulip Yellow

Have a good Tuesday.
Jane
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Letraset Competition - Blending pairs

Just a quick post to share a photo I took yesterday for my entry to the Letraset Blending pairs competition. I love my Promarkers so I just had to enter!

Letraset would like to see our favourite blending colours for the chance to win some of their new packs of Promarkers.


In the photo above you can see 4 of my favourite combinations, there are many many more I use and I discover new combinations all the time! Lime green/pear green, is an old favourite, I use it a lot and rose pink/antique pink is one of my recent discoveries.

Every participant will be entered into a draw to win all 3 new sets.

These packs are great for beginners as they make it easy to select the colours to get depth and expert shading for your images.

You can check out all the details of the competition here.
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Diamonds and Pearls

Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I didn't go very far and stayed nice and warm away from the rain and did lots of crafting while trying to fight off my cold!
We have a lovely theme for you this week on the Pollycraft Challenge blog....'Diamonds and Pearls' so we would like to see lots of bling and beautiful pearls on your creations this week. I had planned on making a wedding card but this gingham and Kraft card caught my eye on the table and I made a New Baby card instead using the Baby Love Mini Doodle Set.

I made a centre step card following this tutorial and added Gingham with sewing around the edges to the panels. I added gems to the image and the sentiment and some pearls and a little wooden button I bought last summer at Convent Garden market. The finishing touch was a little gingham bow.

I hope you will be able to join us for this week's Challenge. We have a great prize for you.We are sponsored this week by The Secret Crafter and the winner will receive 3 digis.

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for all the details and some gorgeous cards from the Design Team.
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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Something a little bit different...

Tracy added some new Miss Evie images to the Squiggle Stamps shop this week. As soon as I saw the Castle image and Miss Evie Princess, I had the idea of making an easel card using the castle. I'm not 100% sure about this card. It's very different to my usual style!

I used Echo Park 'Life is Good' papers to paper piece the castle and then added it to the card. I printed Miss Evie quite small and then added her to the card and finished with lots of glitter, stick on gems and flowers.


I printed little banners using the Funky Hand 'Craft the Year Away' CD which I stuck behind the turrets. I might give this card another go with different papers, I think the patterns are fighting one another a little too much!
Have a good Sunday!
Jane
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Crafty Emma's Store Challenge - Spots and Stripes

I'm very happy today (despite still feeling horrible with this nasty cold!) as it is my turn to pick the Challenge theme for this week's CES Challenge. If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know how much I love my patterned papers and spots and stripes in particular so it will be no surprise to you that I chose...

'Spots and Stripes'

I have fallen in love with all the papers in the new My Mind's Eye pads, the colours are beautiful, the patterns are original and varied and there is an abundance of stripey and spotty papers in each pad...heaven!!!

I sewed three strips of different MME patterned papers together to cover my card base and wrapped them with Baker's twine. I cut a pinking circle from Kraft and topped this with some ledger paper I had stamped with a Hero Arts sentiment and sewed around the edges before adding to the card with foam pads.

I then stamped and coloured the adorable Whiff of Joy 'Ben' and paper pieced his T-Shirt and Skateboard and shoes. I added him to my sentiment circle with foam pads and finished the card with a punched star and a couple of buttons.

I had so much fun making this card. I loved doing the paper piecing and the image was so lovely to colour. As well as being my DT card for the CES Challenge I would like to enter this in to the latest Whiff of Joy Challenge as the theme is paper piecing.

I hope you will be able to join us for this week's CES Challenge. The prize for the winner is a Sugar & Spice 6x6 Paper Pack

Make sure you check out the blog for lots of inspiration from our Guest Designer and the very talented DT.
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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Friends are special treasures

I have a very quick share today. I am feeling very sorry for myself as I have a throat infection and am full of cold.

I made this card a while ago but hadn't shared it yet. I love this image from Pollycraft and the bright colours are just what I need to cheer me up today.
All papers are from American crafts, the sentiment is Hero Arts and the other bits and bobs are from my stash.
Have a good Friday.
Jane
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By Lori Designs Challenge 5

I would like to Thank you all for the wonderful comments you have been leaving and for all your lovely messages congratulating me on being chosen for Lori's Design Team. Your kindness means so much to me and it is wonderful to read all your lovely comments. I wish I had time to visit all of you and thank you personally.
Thursday is By Lori Designs Challenge day and we have another set of fabulous colours for you this week.
I love these colours and they match the colours of the papers in the DCWV latte stack perfectly.


I chose two papers from the stack and some coordinating card and then coloured Sophie with my Promarkers to match.
I stitched through my layers and added a huge bow with gorgeous Ribbon from the Ribbon Girl. The buttons were also from The Ribbon Girl, they are a lovely shade of green.
Aren't those colours stunning! I hope you will be able to join us for the Challenge this week for the chance to win a By Lori Designs digi image. Make sure you take a look at the blog to see all the stunning cards from the DT.
Enjoy the rest of your Thursday!
Jane
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Jerry Kisses - Tunes

I have a card to share with you today I made at the weekend with one of the fab new Jerry Kisses images which are now available from Pollycraft. Jerry reminds me of my eldest Son as he is permanently plugged in to his Ipod tapping away on his laptop.

I used some of the fabulous new My Mind's Eye papers which are available here from Crafty Emma's store. I have three of the pads now and I think I am going to have to treat myself to the last one in the collection, the papers are so gorgeous and each pad has a great selection of patterns suitable for either girly or boys cards. I love them! I added some stitching around the papers and added a brad, some buttons and little ribbon scraps tabs.
I hope you are having a better day than me, I have been asleep or dozing for most of the day. I have been under the weather the past couple of weeks and finally went to the Doctor's today. I have a throat infection but I have some tablets now so I hope I will start to feel better soon!
Jane
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Valentine kisses!

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day. Mine was lovely and I had a yummy dinner with my Husband in the evening. I've made quite a few Valentine's day cards as samples this year but my Hubby had seen all of them so I made this little one to give him yesterday.

It was the first time I made a heart shaped easel card and it did take me a while to figure it out! My Spellbinders hearts didn't seem to want to nest very easily so it took me a bit longer than I'd expected.


Here's a little close up of the cute Penny Black image I used. The papers are by Bobunny, I really like the mix of black with the red and pinks. I didn't want to overwhelm the card with too many details as it is quite small so I added some letter stickers and a die cut heart for my stopper and finished with some red heart gems.
Have a great Tuesday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Special Birthdays

I can't believe it's Monday already! I had a very busy weekend. My youngest son's bedroom looks lovely and bright and fresh after it's makeover. It was hard work but worth the effort!
We have a great theme for you this week for the Pollycraft Monday Challenge.
Emma has chosen...

''Special Birthdays''

She would like to see creations for milestone birthdays or for someone special rather than just a general birthday card.

I chose (as did many of the other DT girls) to use Delphine for my card. I love her, unlike me, she is so sophisticated and trendy !

Emma is also sponsoring the challenge with a prize from....Crafty Emma's Store.

The prize for one lucky winner is a beautiful pack of designer trims by Websters Pages.

I hope you will be able to join us this Challenge. Make sure you check out the blog for lots of fabulous card from the DT and our Guest Designers.
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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Crafty Emma's Store Challenge - Cute and Cuddly

It's Saturday already! I have a busy weekend lined up and am planning to do a bit of crafting today as well as a bit of tidying up and decorating!
I had lots of fun last night making this card for this week's CES Challenge. The theme is 'Cute and Cudddly' and I don't think you can get cuter than Kiki in a lovely cuddly rabbit suit!


I used some of the fabulous new My Mind's Eye papers available here from Crafty Emma's Store. I love them so much! They are double sided too and the colours and patterns are gorgeous!
I hope you will be able to join us for this week's Challenge.
Our fabulous prize this week is the winners choice of a gorgeous Fizzy Moon stamp

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots of lovely cute and cuddly projects from the DT and our talented guest designers.
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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More 'Love Love Love'...

A quick post today to share another card I made with the 'Love Love Love' download which is available here from Funky Hand.

The colour combination and paper designs in this download are perfect for Valentine's but will also come in handy all year round for Men's cards.
I layered up lots of the papers with stitching and used some of the alphas from the download to make up my sentiment. The label font (my favourite) and the little robot are from the Craft the Year Away CD and I just added some little gems to the precoloured robot as his antennae is green and I wanted it to be red to match.
Have a great Friday!
Jane
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My first card for the By Lori Designs Challenge Team!

As I mentioned earlier...I was very excited to find out a few days ago that I had been picked to be part of the By Lori Designs Challenge Design Team. I am so thrilled to have been chosen as I am a HUGE fan of Lori's wonderful drawings. Each little image is so full of character and is such a joy to colour in!
This week for the By Lori Designs 4th Challenge, we have a wonderful selection of colours for you to play with.



I love duck egg blue with aqua and red but had never thought of putting it with Olive Green before and it looks gorgeous! I made a card using some Green Bazzill card topped with My Mind's Eye papers and the very cute Lollipop Kaylee. I love her dress and the little bow in her hair. The sentiment is from SRM stickers and the twine and button are from The Ribbon Girl.

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots of wonderful cards from the brand new Design Team. I hope you will be able to play along with us too.
Each week the team will vote on a TOP Lollipop CARD and that designer will
receive a digi from the BLD Shop and will have an opportunity to be our
guest designer for the following challenge.
Jane
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By Lori Designs DT!

Hi Everyone! I have some exciting news! I have been chosen to be one of the Design Team members of the By LORi Designs DT!!

I will be back later to share my first official DT card for, color challenge #4.
Have a great Thursday!
Jane
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Pretty in Pink for True Love!

I simply adore this 'True Love' image which is available here from Squiggle Stamps. It reminds me of photos of my Parents before they were married so I decided to colour it in muted retro colours with my Promarkers to match the gorgeous Bobunny papers.

I added lots of stitching to the papers and cut the image out with a very narrow border before adding it to to a panel cut from text print love theme paper. I framed the image with flowers and some heart crystals for a romantic feel. As a finishing touch I added a couple of pretty pink gems.
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - sketch and love!

It is Monday already and time for a new Pollycraft Challenge. This week we have a lovely sketch by Maria for you all to play with and she has chosen a Love theme.

I used some My Mind's Eye papers I have had in my stash since last Summer and a doily I bought a while ago along with one of the wonderful Marley Valentine images available here from Pollycraft.

The sketch is lovely, I added the Hero Arts sentiment on an oval cut with a Nellie Snellen die and framed with little gems. I finished my card with a little crochet flower with a tiny gem in the centre.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win your choice of 10 Pollycraft images.
Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots of lovely inspiration from the Design Team.
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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A Funky Valentine's card

I made three cards today with the lovely new 'Love Love Love' download which is available now to by from the Funky Hand website. I showed them all to my Hubby and this one is his favourite so I thought I would share this one with you first.
The card was made by simply layering some of the gorgeous patterned paper over some red card and then sewing around the edges with my machine. I printed a digi stamp heart and a sentiment using the label font from the new Funky Hand Craft the Year away CD, added them to the card with foam pads and then finished with a mini button and a rose.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Jane
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Crafty Emma's Store Challenge - Red and Romance

Love is in the air on the CES Challenge blog and the theme chosen by the very talented Julie this week is 'Red and Romance', the perfect opportunity for you to make your Valentine card!

I have used one of the new Valentine images available at Pollycraft for my card with some papers from my stash and gems and a button from Crafty Emma's Store.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the change to win

Curly Gardenia Flowers, Colour Me Buttons & Bakers Twine

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots of inspiration from the DT!
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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Funky Hand on TV again today and a new download!

Anice will be back on Create and Craft again today at 10am and 2pm demonstrating the fabulous new 'Craft the Year Away' CD. I will be recording the shows to watch tonight when the boys are at Football.

I spotted my little basket on the last show. I made this by weaving strips of paper and then added a handle punched from some gingham. I love all the ginghams on the CD! The little tag was made with one of the precoloured digi images on the CD.
This little card was made using one of the templates. You choose which paper you want your hearts to be printed from, send it to the Workspace, choose the template, print you get a cute little card like this! I added a sentiment printed with the label font and mounted on foam pads and finished off with some little gems and bakers twine.
Anice has been a very busy bee and there is a new Valentine's theme download on the website now.

I love those colours and the heart papers are just fabulous! It makes a nice change from pinks and I will definitely having a play with this collection this weekend!
Have a great Friday!
Jane
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My card for the 'Going around in Circles' Funky Hand Challenge

It's time for me to share my Project for the Funky Fifteenth 'Going around in circles' Challenge. I have made a card using the adorable Robot digi which is available on the fabulous new 'Craft The Year Away' Papercraft Factory CD which was released last weekend. I used some very funky circles paper to layer my paper pieced robot onto.
I really love paper piecing digital images but don't do it that often as it always involves lots of time spent planning, running the papers several times through the printer to get the correct layers and I usually end up wasting lots of ink and paper to print one small image.


The new Papercraft Factory CD has however changed all this thanks to the new Workspace feature which allows you to print all the elements for your card on one page. It's like a virtual craft mat! All the different papers I used for my Robot card were printed on one sheet with very little planning.
I have taken a screen shot to illustrate what I mean and I will try and explain how I did it!



First I picked the aqua paper from the 'Marching on' collection and sent it to the Workspace, I added the sentiment to the bottom right hand corner of the page.
I went back to the paper collection, picked the lime green paper and sent it to the Workspace, I resized it to a small rectangle in the top left corner. I went back to the paper collection one last time to pick the circles paper and resized it to a larger rectangle in the top right hand corner.
Finally, I sent the digi image twice to the workspace and put one over the lime paper and one over the aqua paper. You can superimpose the images on top of one another and resize them to ensure they are both the same size.
I then printed the page out and cut out all the elements, inking the edges before adding them to my card base. For the robot's antennae, I coloured a wire paper flower stem black and curled it around a pencil and then added the circle on the top which I covered with glitter glue.
Easy peasy! I love the Workspace on the new CD so much, it makes creating cards with lots of different papers so easy!
I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I created my card, you still have time to join in with this month's Challenge and Anice has even created a freebie for you to use which is available here.
Please take a look at Allison's post for all the details on how to join in the fun!
Jane
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