Ali-Craft Workshops at Sandown - part 1

Good Morning Everyone! I mentioned last week that I spent the Saturday before last at the Craft Show in Sandown getting inky and messy and having lots of fun taking part in the Workshops run by Ali-Craft.

I finally got around to taking photos of what I made. I took part in 4 Workshops and here is what I made at two of them.

First up is a card made using Distress stains, inks, masking and Tim Holtz stamps. This was such fun to make. It was my first time playing with the Distress stains and I really enjoyed using them! I have been playing a bit more with this technique at home and I have another card to share with you which I made this weekend.

Next up is a tag book, the spine is concertina folded and it took me a while to get my head around this one but I love the finished book and it can be adapted to be made in any size.

The inside tags can be decorated. The sample Ali showed us was full of gorgeous Artwork!

Ali-Craft will be running workshops at the Farnborough Make it show and I would thoroughly recommend you book a place if you can. I had lots of fun trying new styles and I have to admit I am a little bit hooked on Steampunk now. I am going to be helping out doing a bit of demoing on the Ali-Craft stand at Farnborough while Ali takes the Workshops on Saturday and Sunday so please drop by and say hello if you are going to the Make it Show!
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - These are a few of my favourite things

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend, I was very busy and can't believe it's Monday already. We have a great theme for you this week on the Pollycraft Challenge blog which is... 

These are a few of my favourite things

I have made a card using my favourite Pollycraft Critter, spots and stripes which are also my favourite, my favourite spotty buttons and my favourite gingham ribbon. It's quite a small card but it is packed full of my favourite things! I even coloured Fluffy using my favourite Promarker colours!

The papers I used are mostly from Echo Park and the transfer sentiment is by Melissa Frances.
I stitched around the edges of the layers using some lovely thick red cotton and added them to a scalloped card base.

I hope you will be able to join us for this week's Challenge and show us some of your Favourite things, we have a fab sponsor this week! If you take part in the Challenge you will have the chance of winning a £10.00 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Store.

 

Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for all the details and for some great inspiration from the fabulous Pollycraft DT. Have a lovely Monday!

Jane

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Steampunk inspired for the Fiskarettes sketch Challenge

I have been playing with the gorgeous Echo Park Times and Seasons for the past few days and some lovely Sprocket dies I borrowed from a crafty Friend and I thought they would work really well to make a card using the lovely sketch by Clare for this fortnight's Fiskarettes Sketch Challenge.

 I had initially thought of using flowers where the circles but replaced them with cogs which gave me a great starting point for those hard to make Men's cards.
I used a 6x6 card blank and cut a square of card to measure 14.5 square to place my squares of papers which were cut to 4.5cm square on. This is a great project for using up scraps. I inked around the edges of all the papers before placing them on to the black card making sure I was happy with the arrangement before sticking them down!

I then stitched around the pieces with my machine before adding the finished black square to the card base. I stamped the sentiment in the top right hand corner, I have flipped the sketch to fit my design.
I added an arrangement of cogs in the centre of the card to mirror the sketch and added a double embossed clock face in the centre topped with some game spinners. I finished with a metal cog and a couple of gems. I hope you have a lovely Sunday!
Jane
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Whiff of Joy DT - Thanks a Million!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you had a good week and are having a good Weekend. I am planning to do some crafting today. I have made a lovely soup for my lunch to keep me warm as it is really cold here today! I received a gorgeous package of goodies from Katharina at Whiff of Joy this week and had so much fun playing with the postcard stamp and the gorgeous ribbons!

I used some lovely Tilda papers I found in my scraps box and had a play around distressing the papers with inks before layering them onto kraft card. I stamped the postcard onto kraft and distressed it further with more inks. I love this postcard stamp! It is fabulous! I added a Melissa Frances Transfer sentiment to it before adding it to the card. 

I love this Henry angel image, he is so cute! I stamped him onto white card and colourd him with Promarkers before cutting him out and adding him on top of the post card with foam pads. I added glitter glue to his halo and wings to make them sparkle! The ribbon I used for the bow is available here from Whiff of Joy, I love this blue and there are lots of other gorgeous colours in stock now!

I added some flowers from my stash and some gems and a little sparkly heart sticker from Paperchase as a finishing touch. I am off to do some crafting now! I have commissions to finish and then I am gong to have a play! I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Jane

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Sugar Nellie DT - Best Day Ever

Hello Everyone! Woohoo it's Wednesday! Only a few more days until the weekend! I had a bit of a crafty session last night making cards I can't show you as they are for a Magazine Commission. They are in a totally new style for me so I have really been enjoying the Challenge!

 I have a a little sweetie from the latest release from Sugar Nellie today. This stamp is called 'Best Day Ever' and is available to buy here from Funkykits. I coloured her in to match these lovely papers from American Crafts and this scrap of gingham I found in my scraps basket and sewed though all the layers with bright pink thread. I added some lovely lace from The Ribbon Girl and some flowers from my vast collection. The image was coloured with Promarkers,  I used a colour combo that I don't normally use and I think I will use it again as I love the Springtime feel. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday!

Jane

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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Warm it up

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend, I had a fab time on Saturday at the Sandown craft show. I spent the whole day there and took part in four workshops run by Ali-craft. I learnt lots of new techniques and met lots of lovely ladies at the same time.
I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning and tidying up as I hadn't cleaned properly for quite a while! Too much crafting to do! Anyway...enough about my weekend...Monday is Pollycraft Challenge day and the theme this week chosen by the lovely Mary J is .....

Warm it up

(keep warm, warm or hot colours, anything that makes you feel warm)

I was inspired to make my card by the sentiment I chose which is an old favourite from Elzybells.

I wanted to use Marley holding the heart but wanted to cover up the 'be mine' sentiment on the heart he is holding so I printed him once onto the card for colouring and another time on paper so I could cut the heart out and use as a template to trace onto red spotty paper, I then edged the heart with ink and stuck it over the coloured image before adding the button.

Marley was coloured with Promarkers and I added him to my layout created with My Mind's Eye papers with foam pads. I simply added scraps of paper to a square of kraft card and added some stitching to create a Clean and Simple design to show off Marley.

The little heart buttons I added to the heart and the sentiment are from Crafty Emma's Store.
I added a couple of gems and a dot of glossy accents to Marley's nose as a finishing touch.
I hope you will be able to join us for this week's Challenge. We are sponsored this week by The Crimson Cloud.

Our winner will receive their choice of 3 packs die cuts.

You can see all the DT cards and all the details of this week's Challenge here.

Have a great Monday!

Jane

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My tutorial on the Whiff of Joy blog

Good Morning Everyone! It's finally Saturday! I have been looking foward to today as I am going on a mini adventure on my own today to the Stitch and Creative Crafts show at  Sandown Race course. 

I am looking forward to spending some of my pennies on some new stash!

I have a tutorial to share with you all today on the Whiff of Joy inspirations blog.

 I will be showing you how to make a Concertina Matchbook with little bags to fill with crafty goodies.

I have used the adorable Henry with Large Rose who was part of this month's release at Whiff of Joy.

He is coloured with Promarkers to match these fab Echo Park papers. You can see my tutorial here.
Have a lovely Saturday!
Jane
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A card for two Challenges

Good Afternoon Everyone! I hope you are having a good day and are getting ready for the weekend. I have a card today for two Challenges using the adorable Tiddly Inks Wryn. I used Wryn on a card a few days ago and couldn't resist colouring her up again in a completely different style. I followed the colour scheme of yellow, orange, green and blue from the Tiddlyinks Challenge and used various papers from my scraps basket mixed in with some kraft card.

The papers are from American Crafts and the apple paper is (I think) by October Afternoon. The Ribbon is from American Crafts and the flowers are from various places. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I used a Martha Stewart punch fro the border. I followed the lovely Sketch from Sketch Saturday for the layout.

Here is a close of of Wryn, coloured with Promarkers and I added some glitter glue to the wings on the heart to make them sparkle.
I hope you have a lovely Friday afternoon and a great Weekend!
Jane
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Whiff of Joy DT for the Whiff of Joy Challenge - Love is in the air

Good Morning Everyone! The girls on the Whiff of Joy Challenge blog are getting ready for Valentine's Day with this fortnight's theme which is 'Love is in the air' and I have taken this quite literally for the card I have made for the Challenge. I have used the fun 'Penguin Trio' from the latest release at Whiff of Joy who are floating through the air clutching their heart shaped balloons.

I have used Fancy Pants 'Love Story' papers and matted the heart paper onto black card. The cloud paper is an old scrap from my scraps basket and I think it is from American Crafts. The sentiment I have used is by Hero Arts.

I stamped the Penguins onto white card and coloured them in with my Promarkers before cutting them out. I wrapped some twine around the layers before adding them to my card and then hung a little tag on a bow and added a small kraft die cut heart. I added a small tab of black gingham ribbon topped with a red heart button to the top right of the image and some small gems as a finishing touch.

Please take a look at the Challenge blog for all the fab DT cards and all the details on what you need to do to be in with the chance of winning the prize which is a voucher for 15%  off your next order from Whiff of Joy.

I hope you have a lovely Thursday.

Jane

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Sugar Nellie DT - Babies delight

Good Morning! I hope you are having a good week so far. You have probably noticed some changes on my blog lately, I decided to try out a new template and I have also upgraded to the new blogger interface. It took me a while to take the leap as I was a bit worried it may mess up my blog but it is slowly growing on me. One of the features is the ability to have extra large photos displayed so I am trying that today! Let me know what you think!

Every other Wednesday I get to share a card on the Sugar Nellie blog and today I am sharing a card made with the adorable 'Babies Delight' which was released on Friday at Sugar Nellie.

You can read all about how I made my card here, I also made a matching box using a pastry box from Waitrose, I may need to buy some more cakes to get another one as they make perfect gift boxes!

The colours are a bit different from my usual bright colours but I had so much fun using them and adding the gorgeous pastel flowers and the lovely bias binding. I am also entering my card into the latest Ribbon Girl colour challenge which is 'pink and blue'
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday!
Jane
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WOYWW!!

Hello! I hope you are all doing well this Wednesday. I have decided, after a VERY long break to start joining in again when I can with What's on your Workdesk Wednesday so here is my desk as it looks today, photographed last night.

It looks quite boring as I tidied after making what you can see on the desk which is something I have made for the Whiff of Joy Inspirations blog which will be revealed on Saturday. I hope you enjoy having a look around my desk...I really must clean off those sticky double sided tape marks from the front edge...they look  terrible on the photo although I hardly notice them when I am crafting!
I will be back in a bit with a Sugar Nellie card and if you want to see lots of interesting desks and maybe show us yours, you can read all about WOYWW here.
Jane
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New Embossing folder storage!

Good Morning Everyone! I don't have any new cards to show you today but I thought I would show you my new Embossing folder storage. I used to store my folders in a large black zip up folder with my dies but I was running out of space in my second folder so needed a cheaper and more easily accessible way to store my embossing folders. I came accross this binder at the weekend from Paperchase....

and teamed it up with some top loading recipe card holders. The complete binder with inserts cost me £5.25 and I can store 20 embossing folders in it and it sits very neatly on my shelf.

The cuttlebug folders fit brilliantly in the pockets, the sizzix ones are a bit of a tighter squeeze but still fit. I bought an extra set of inserts and have discovered they are a great fit for my Hero Arts sets so I have order two more binders and some more inserts online. I am determined to get my stash organised this year and so far it is going very well! I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Bingo

Good Morning Everyone! It's Monday (booooo!) but luckily we are back to our regular Monday Challenges on the Pollycraft Challenge blog (yaaaaay!!!) so at least there is something good to look forward to now on Mondays.

Cazza has come up with a fabulous theme for you this week....Bingo! She has put together a grid and you will need to pick three items in a line and feature them on your card.

I have gone for a diagonal line and have chosen Pearls and Ribbon to go with my Pollcraft image. I chose to use the fab and funky Sonny Honeycloud image 'My Way' and coloured her in with my Promarkers to match a mix of papers from my scraps basket.


The fabulous ribbon is from The Ribbon Girl and I used a pearl swirl I have had in my stash for ages and a new flower from Wild Orchid Crafts. The sentiment I used is a rub-on by Melissa Frances. I added a red heart button and a heart pin from my stash as a finishing touch.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win 10 Pollycraft Digis.

Have a great Monday!
Jane
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A card for the By Lori Designs Colour Challenge

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you are having a good Weekend so far. I don't normally have a lot of spare time to take part in all the Challenges I enjoy but made a special effort when I saw that the By Lori Designs Colour Challenges were back.

I have used a favourite By Lori Designs image I bought a while ago from Claudia and co and coloured her in to match the colour scheme for the Challenge.

Here is an 'arty' close up of my card, all the papers were in my scraps basket and the sentiment is also from By Lori Designs.


I stitched through all the layers with green thread and added some flowers and a bow tied from gorgeous ribbon from The Ribbon Girl. I added some gems and a little button which was lying around on my desk just begging to be stuck to the card.
I hope you have a lovely Sunday!
Jane
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Sugar Nellie Puppy Love Blog hop - Day 2

Good Morning Everyone and welcome to my blog for your first stop on day 2 of the Sugar Nellie Puppy Love Blog hop. You should have come here from the Sugar Nellie blog if you are following the hop. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments you left on my card yesterday. I have another bright and cheerful card to share with you today which I made using the adorable 'Hugs for Fifi' which is available to buy here from Funky Kits.


I coloured Fifi with my Promarkers to match these fab vibrant American Crafts papers and then cut her out with an oval die and added her to a frame cut from turquoise card. I added a lovely bow tied from from red polka dot ribbon. The sentiment I used is by Hero Arts and I die cut the label shape from a Papermania die. I tucked a small doily behind the image panel before sticking it down and finished with some flowers and some stick on pearls. Your next stop on the hop is the lovely Jenn's blog, remember to leave comments along the way for the chance to win some fab Candy! I hope you enjoy the hop and you can take a look at all the new stamps here.
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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Friends are the Flowers of Life - Tiddly Inks Blog Hop

Hello Everyone! This is a late and quick post from me as I have decided to join in with the Tiddly Inks Blog Hop. I recently treated myself to an adorable Wryn Image and couldn't resist taking part, I hope I make it before the deadline!


I have made a card using Wryn and some gorgeous Fancy Pants papers, the sentiment was a freebie with the image. I layered up my papers onto kraft and added my usual stitching and some gingham ribbon and lots of flowers. I love this image and she was such a delight to colour too!
I will be back in the morning with my card for the second day of the Sugar Nellie blog hop.
Jane
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Sugar Nellie Puppy Love Release Blog Hop - Day 1

Good Morning and Welcome to my blog for another stop on the Sugar Nellie Puppy Love Blog hop to celebrate the release of these adorable new Sugar Nellie stamps! If you are following the hop, you should have come here from the lovely Pat's blog.
My card was made with the adorable 'Lead the way' and I have coloured her in with my Promarkers to match these fun papers from Papermania. I love their vintage feel and the red,white and blue combo. To make the card, I covered my card base with blue spotty paper and then matted some red patterned paper onto a large scalloped square which was cut from Kraft and I sewed around the edges before adding it to the card at an angle. I die cut a fancy heart frame from more Kraft and layered this up with an envelope cut from the paper before adding the image on top. I added a printed sentiment, ribbon and some bits and bobs from my stash to finish the card off, including a little crown I have had in my stash for ages! I just love how elegant this image is and the little pooch is so cute with her little jacket! Make sure you take a look at all the wonderful new images in the Sugar Nellie shop as they are released today! Keep hopping to see some more samples made with these fabulous new stamps, your next stop on the hop is the lovely Mina.
Please remember to leave comments along the way for the chance to win some Candy and make sure you come back tomorrow as we will be starting all over and hopping again with Day 2 of the hop!
Have a lovely Friday!
Jane
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Whiff of Joy DT for the Whiff of Joy Challenge

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you are having a good week so far. I have a very special card to share with you today which I made for my lovely Hubby's Birthday and which follows the theme this fortnight on the Whiff of Joy Challenge blog which is 'Charms and Bling' .

To make the card base, I created a template in Word and printed it onto Kraft card before cutting it out with a craft knife. I then used the card to trace the shape onto the reverse of patterned paper and also cut this out with my Kraft knife. I sewed (very carefully!!) around the edges of the number before sticking it on to the card base and then matted and layered more kraft papers for the inside of the card.
I stamped 'Happy New Year Ben' onto white card and then coloured him in with Promarkers before cutting him out leaving a small border and added him to the card with foam pads. I tied a heart charm around the number with red twine and added a sentiment by Whimsy stamps which I mounted onto a red scalloped circle. I added some red gems as a finishing touch.
I hope you have a lovely Thursday.
Jane
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