****BLOG CANDY CLOSED****WINNER ANNOUNCED ****

I am offering the Blog Candy below to celebrate my success at the Christmas Fair and various other bits of good news I received lately. I was going to wait until my 200th post but I would like to post this out in plenty of time for Christmas so I will be running this Candy until the 4th of December at midnight so I can draw a winner and post out the goodies on the 5th.

There are lots of Christmas themed goodies up for grabs, perfect for those last minute cards!
The Candy comprises of:

• 1 pack of Dovecraft mini-Christmas stamps
• 1 reel of Anita's printed Merry Christmas ribbon
• a box of bling and Christmas confetti
• a pack of chipboard glittered letters
• 5 white square 5x5 card blanks
• 1 pack of EZ stick on embellishments
• 1 pack of Papermania elements sentiments
• 2 packs of Festive 3d chipboard decorations
• 1 pack of Anita's outline stickers
• 1 pack of Anita's coloured stickers
• A selection of red, green and white buttons
• 4 Festive card charms
• 1 Pack of Papermania stick on ribbon
• 1 Papermania Ribbon Collection Pack
• 1 pack of Charlotte lewis designs chipboard shapes
• 1 pack of Green themed MIC Handmade papers.

Phew!
To be in with a chance of winning, please comment on this post. If you are a follower you will be entered twice into the draw and if you could mention the candy on your blog too, that would be fantastic! I will post worldwide s make sure you comment before midnight on the 4th of December for the opportunity to win.
Good Luck!
Jane
x

My DT card for Easy Craft Projects Challenge no1!

I am excited to announce that the very first Easy Craft Projects Challenge is launching today with a fab Challenge. The theme for the 1st Challenge is turquoise and we have been given some lovely digi stamps by our sponsor the Cutting Cafe to play with.

I love the mitten images so couldn't resist using them on my card. I cut the circle sentiment and image with my Nesties and coloured it with Promarkers, I then matted it on to a scalloped circle cut from the reverse side of my American crafts backing paper. I covered the card blank with 2 matted squares of the backing paper round which I had wrapped some lovely Debbie Moore Designs organza ribbon.

To finish off the card, I made an embellishment from another printout of the mittens. I coloured them and cut them out and mounted them on the card with a ribbon finished with a snowflake brad. I then added a few gems around the card to add a bit of wintery sparkle.
Please come on over to the Challenge blog to see the lovely Design Team Projects and join in with our first Challenge. We have some lovely digi stamps for the winner drawn at random from all entries each month.
Hope to see you there!
Jane
x

A Funky Christmas decoration

I received my Funky Hand cd yesterday and downloaded one of the Christmas Word books I bought with the £20.00 voucher I received for winning November's Challenge on the Get Funky blog.
I couldn't resist printing out some of my favourite papers and having a play.

The Get Funky Challenge this month set by the very talented Kath is to make a Christmas decoration. I took inspiration from a decoration made by Elizabeth from Elzybells which she showcased on her blog yesterday and decided to use printed papers instead or ribbon to put the decoration together.

I printed one sheet of the gorgeous spotty paper and then fed it back through the printer so it was printed on both sides. I then cut the paper into strips measuring 10.5 cm x 1.5cm. I shaped each strip into a curve sticking the ends together with strong glue.
I cut 2 large Nesties circles from green printed card and stuck the paper ribbons evenly around the 1st circle. A ribbon was added for hanging and the second circle was then stuck on the back to hide the raw edges.
I cut more circles from printed papers and matted and layered them on the front of the decoration finished with a Stampendous sentiment. I added gems to finish off to give a bit of sparkle.

I made this lat night and took photos early this morning, I couldn't resist sharing a photo of my cat Patch looking a bit moody at being woken up too early :-)
I will be back later with details of the first Easy Craft Projects Challenge.
Jane
x

Susie's Sassy Challenge no3 DT card - Buttons and Bows

Another fortnight has passed already and Susie's next Sassy Challenge has been announced. The theme this time is Buttons and bows so I decided to make another Christmas card to add to my small pile of cards.
I used a digital image from Jane's Doodles Designs, this Santa is just so cute I couldn't resist making a backing paper for my card by printing out multiple images onto a piece of card and then colouring them in with my Promarkers. The images print so clearly and it is a real delight to colour them in. I also added glossy accents to his boots and glitter to the fur on his cute little santa suit.
I sewed the backing paper I had made on to some red card and wrapped a red satin ribbon round the assembled pieces before sticking to the card blank. I stamped the Papermania 'ho ho ho' sentiment onto a tag cut from a Sizzix shape and mounted it to the left of the card with a foam pad.
The Santa was then printed once and coloured it with Promarkers and more glossy accents and glitter was added to his boots and suit. I cut the image with Nesties and mounted onto a Nesties scalloped circle before sewing around with a ziz zag stitch. The topped was mounted on the card front and I added a large bow to which I had sewed a heart button. I finished off the card with 2 more heart shaped buttons that I had threaded with narrow red ribbon.
I love how bright and Christmassy this card turned out. Make sure you come and join us for the Challenge, this time there is a Guest Design Team place available for the winner. I loved looking through all your entries last time, they were all fab so make sure you join in again!
I hope you are having a good week.
Jane
x

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday

A very early WOYWW post for me this week. I am waiting for my little boy to wake up to see if he will be well enough to go back to School today. He has been off since Monday with a flu bug and I am hoping he will be feeling a lot better today. I took part in WOYWW last week but didn't get around to linking it up to Julia's blog as we got called to my eldest Son's school as he had sprained his ankle and we spent hours at the Hospital! Hopefully, I will get around to it this week.

My desk is mega tidy this week. I had a major reorganisation of my stash last weekend and have some new storage solutions to help keep me tidier. I have done a little crafting lately but it is so much easier to tidy up now and much quicker. The 2 baskets on my desk have got completed Projects in on the left and new stash on the right, including some gorgeous flowers bought from Die Cut Dreams and some papers from Quixotic paperie.

This is what the shelves above my desk look like, the drawer units are from Clas Ohlson and the one on the right has all my unmounted stamps in it, the one on the left is packed with embellishments and bling.
These shelves are next to them, just above my TV. The wooden unit on the left holds my 6x6 papers and the Really Useful Boxes unit is packed full of ribbons.
So you can see, I'm pretty tidy at the moment! Why not pop over to Julia's blog and check out the other workspaces or better still, upload a photo of yours to your blog and link it up so we can all have a look!
Before I go, I have some candy up for grabs that is ending this week. Follow the link on my sidebar to take part.
Have a lovely Wednesday!
Jane
x

Elzybells Advent Calendar giveaway and some candy

Just a quick post to let you know about the Advent calendar giveaway on Elizabeth's Elzybells blog. There is a prize for every day leading up to Christmas and if you leave a comment on the blog post you will be with a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes!

There is also still time to enter my blog candy giveaway which ends this week, to be in with a chance of winning some fab Christmas crafty goodies in time for last minute Christmas cards, please leave a comment on my blog candy post at the top of my blog.
Jane
x

Cook up a card December Recipe Design team card

Here is my Design Team card for the Cook up a Card December Recipe Challenge.

The Recipe this month is:

• 1 Snowman
• 2 Patterned Papers
• 3 Bows

I used a digital download from Jane's doodles for my snowman and coloured him in to coordinate with some gorgeous My Mind's eye Christmas papers. I used some Sizzix die cut Snowflakes which I topped with bows and some kanban bling. The sentiment is from Elzybells and is so cute. I cut this out with Nesties and topped it with my 3rd bow.
Come and take a look at the other DT cards and join us for this fun Challenge! There is some lovely Candy for the winner.

Hope you are having a good week so far and managing to stay warm and away from Winter bugs, my little boy has a nasty dose of flu :-(
Jane
x

An Elzybells dog box

I was very lucky last week to receive all the components to make this adorable little box from Paul who runs the ATC swappers ATC swap which I have been taking part in this year. The box was so lovely to put together. It is made from a Sizzix XL die and I really want one of my own now!


Paul had cut out all the pieces for me and stamped the image so all I had to do was colour it in and assemble it.


I used a K+Co flower ,which I had bought from Susie's fabulous online shop, as the inspiration for colouring in the cute dog image from Elzybells. I also added a bit of K+Co ribbon from my stash which coordinated perfectly with the theme.


I am so pleased with the end result. Thank you so much Paul and Thank you for all the stamped doggy images you sent me too it was so kind of you!

I hope you all had a good weekend.

Jane
x

ATCS for Addicted to ATCs November swap

I finally managed to get around to doing my ATCs for the Addicted to ATCs swap I run with Petra.
The theme was 'Something Spooky', so I used one of my favourite Elzybells stamps. I have used this trio so many times this year, I think this was my last chance to make something out of it for 2009!

I cut the little Witch out after colouring her in and mounted her onto some Daisy and Dandelion paper I had cut out with my labels Nesties and layered onto some Sizzix card. The 'trick or treat' is also from Elzybells and the little star was from a pack of crafty goodies from Lidl.
If you are interested in swapping ATCs, please take a look at the Addicted to ATCs blog, we are a friendly bunch and always welcome new people.
I hope you are having a nice weekend.
Jane
x

A new Design team and some fabulous dig stamps!

I have been waiting for today to be able to share some fabulous news I found out on Sunday. I am absolutely delighted to have been selected to be a part of Jane's Doodles Design Team!
Jane is such a talented artist and I have been a follower of her blog for ages! She has always made the most wonderful cards and extremely popular fimo buttons and she has just launched a new range of digi stamps available to buy from Squigglefly

I made the first card using the monster and monster which I printed so I could fit two on the front of the card. I just love these little monsters, they are so cute, just like my two little monsters! This card was perfect for them to give to their Dad for his Birthday Wednesday. I used Basic Grey and Making Memories papers then coloured the images with my Promarkers, adding glossy accents to the eyes. I got my sewing machine out to sew around all the layers to give some definition. I finished off the card with a stamped sentiment, kraft photo corners and a couple of buttons tied together with brown string.
I absolutely loved this Poinsettia when I saw it and couldn't wait to colour it in. I printed the image twice and coloured it with my Promarkers, I cut out the centre of the second image and added it to the first layer accenting the centre of the flower with stick on gems.
I matted and layered some Papermania paper on to the base card and added a sentiment stamped onto Nestie panels adding a couple more gems to finish it off.
Jane is announcing the DT today, so make sure you go and check out the rest of the Design Team's creations, you are sure to be inspired!
Click on the image below and it will take you to Jane's Blog and remember to check out Jane's images on Squigglefly.
Have a good Friday!
Jane
x

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Another week has gone by and it is time for WOYWW again. This is a totally honest picture of my desk and it is incredibly messy. I am hanging my head in shame! This is the aftermath of a cardmaking session last night on top of a couple of other sessions with no tidying in between.




You can see various things on my desk and a few things are missing too. My tiered basket is still in a plastic box downstairs as I used it at the Fair on Sunday. The pink stripy box is where I keep all my bling and I used the football ribbon to make a card for Darren which is on the post previous to this. There is a DT card peeking out of a box and piles of papers I was going to use but were discarded as unsuitable and left in a mess on the side of the desk. Actually there is far too much on the desk to go through everything in detail so if you see something and are wondering what it is, just leave me a comment...
Before you do that however why not take a piccie of your desk to share with us by linking it up to the fabulous Julia's blog.
I love having a look around all your desks so don't be shy and share away!
Jane
x

Football Birthday card

Just a quick post to upload a card I made tonight for my very patient Hubby, it is his Birthday tomorrow so I have been stuck to my Craft desk the whole evening making cards to give him from me and my kids.




I used a Papermania scallop card base, silver Papermania card, Making memories paper and resin football and ribbon from Hobbycraft. I picked up the stamp from Hobbycraft as well today in a lunchtime rush. I will upload the card I made from my kids later this week as it is a DT project too.
I have a day off work tomorrow and am going to try not to do ANYTHING crafty the whole day!

A totally FABULOUS day!

I apologise in advance as this post is probably going to be rather long! Today was the day of the Christmas fair at Crosfields school in Reading. It was my second year taking part. You can see photos of my stall last year here.

The first picture shows the whole of my stall. I was really pleased with how the stall looked as I managed to achieve the vision I had in my head for months. I used a Cream table cloth and a duvet cover and some bunting I won in a blog giveaway from the extremely talented Laura Clempson as a base for the stall and then added cream wire display shelves from BHS and a cupcake stand from Homebase. The baskets I used are mostly from Ikea.
Here is a closer view of my sign and a few other bits and bobs.
The snowman poo and reindeer poo were a great conversation starter and helped to keep people at the stall so they spent more time browsing. I definitely can reccomend having something free and a bit unusual to give away.
The red dotty bags were card kits I made up with enough supplies to make 6 cards. One of my kits will be going to China!

Here is my wonderful Mum who worked so hard all day with me and sold so much by enticing people with the 'poo'! She was such a star! My Dad kept popping in and out the whole day and was a great help unloading and loading the car and providing us with drinks to keep us going.

Here I am at the start of the day, looking a bit nervous! I had no need to as I sold about 3/4 of what I took with me. It was amazing and I had a wonderful surprise when Tammy who is one of my lovely followers came to visit my stall! It was so lovely to meet Tammy and I hope we can stay in touch as she is very local to me.
I feel very thankful tonight to have such lovely family and friends, my Hubby, Mum and Dad, Mum and Dad in law, my kids, my Friends and all my lovely Blogger Friends have all been rooting for me and have been so supportive. Your kind words and encouraging comments have helped me to achieve so much and I wish I could Thank you all personally!
After such an amazing day, I have even more good news this evening when I came home and checked my emails. I can't share it with you yet but I can't wait to tell you as I am so excited!!
If you are still reading....sorry this post has been so long! I am off to bed now.
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
Jane
x

I'm ready!!!

The last card has been priced, the last label has been made up and the last box has been packed!



I can now relax for 12 hours until I have to leave for the Crosfields Fair. The last job for me to do was to make a sign for my stall. I used a Blackboard to which I mounted a panel of black card decorated with Sizzix, Papermania and Making Memories letters.
I would like to say a special Thank you to my dear Husband who has helped me cutting Nesties labels and sticking prices on cards this past couple of days as I would never have been ready now without him.
Fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow and it will have all been worth it!
Jane
x

ATC Swappers November ATCs

I finally got around to making my ATCs for Paul's ATC swappers November swap. The theme was the 12 days of Christmas and you had to make a series of 12 ATCs. Here are all of mine together. Sorry the photo is a bit blurry!


I took iinspiration from some cards I made a few weeks ago using my Cuttlebug folder and an Elzybells stamp.
Here is a close-up of a couple of them. A couple got a bit smudged but I didn't have time to redo them but I don't think it is too noticeable.
I did lots more preparing for the Fair yesterday evening and just have a couple more things to finish off.
Am off to bed now as it is already Saturday and am suddenly feeling very tired!
Jane
x

Easy Craft Projects Challenge Blog candy!

If you like the look of all this Candy read on to find out how you can be in with a chance to win it all!!

The candy is to celebrate the launch of the Easy Craft Projects Challenge blog of which I am honoured to be part of the Design Team.

You can enter by either...

• Becoming a follower of ECP: The Challenges

• adding the ECP Challenges blog blinkie to your own blog and leave a comment on the blog post with a link to it (adding the blinkie will enter you into the draw twice!).

You can choose both options - giving you 3 entries into the draw.

The prize includes Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock, cards & envelopes, scrapbook in a tin, quilting fat quarters, stamps, ink, glittered papers, ribbons, buttons, flowers, flock, rhinestones, eyelets, and lots more embellishments!

A name will be drawn at random and announced on the blog. The closing date for entry for the giveaway is 23.59 GMT on Wednesday 2nd December.

Our first challenge will be going live on Friday 4th December!

Can't wait!

Jane
x

Reindeer poo and Snowman poo!

I have been even busier than usual the past few weeks getting bits and pieces ready to sell at the Crosfields Christmas Fair which is taking place on Sunday. I thought I would share some of the things I have made over the next few days. Hopefully you can get some ideas if you have any Fairs to take part in.

The first item is a box of Reindeer Poo, actually it is a box of Chocolate covered raisins...I used a Mirkwood designs template for the box and made it out of Kraft card. I then used an Elzybells stamp coloured with Promarkers which I cropped with my Nesties to made a label for the front of the box.

I added a little tag cut from Nesties with 'Reindeer Poo' on it which I had printed out on the PC. The box was filled with Chocolate covered raisins in a cellophane bag. The box was then tied close with a length of gingham ribbon.
The boxes took me quite a long time to put together so I decided to look for a quicker solution for my 'Snowman poo'. I cut A5 sheets of acetate in half, rolled them widthways and stapled them to make a tube.
I covered them with Cellophane tying one end like a cracker. I then filled the tubes with mini marshmallows and tied the other end with ribbon.
For the tags, I printed 'Snowman poo' on my PC and stamped a Stampendous snowman above it. I coloured him with Promarkers and then cropped into an oval with my Nesties which I then layered on to a scalloped Nesties oval. lots more Projects to share with you over the coming days so please check back before Sunday.
I hope all of you are safe in the terrible weather we are having and my thoughts are with all those affected by the floods in Cumbria.
Have a good Friday.
Jane
x
I have

Susie's Sassy Challenge #2 - Pink and Sparkly

Here is my Design Team card for Susie's second Sassy Challenge. I can't believe the first Challenge is over. The two weeks just flew by. There were so many lovely entries and it was lovely to visit all the blogs of crafters who took part. A winner has been picked so check out Susie's blog now for details.
The theme set this fortnight is Pink and Sparkly. I don't usually use Pink a lot but I do like a bit of bling!
I took my inspiration for this card from some gorgeous die cuts I received from Susie in and a lovely Magnolia stamped image also from Susie.


As you can see , I only used pinks on this card and I really like the overall effect.



I coloured Tilda with my Promarkers and added Glossy accents to her boots, this changed the colour a bit so I am not 100% happy with her boots but I think they tie in quite nicely with the Felt flower.
I added gems to the flowers in the basket and also to the lovely Organza ribbon.
The backing papers I used are Bazzil Bling and DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies and the flowers are from various sources, I think some may have been free with a Magazine a while back. They are held together with an Imaginisce button brad. I love these brads, they look so effective and are so quick instead of sewing the buttons on.
Here is a close up of the flower, you can also see some of the stitching here. I decided to sew around the image and the edge of the card to try and tie all the pinks in together.
I will leave you now with a picture of the prize you could win if you take part in the Challenge, I hope you can join in so I can come and have a nosey around all your lovely blogs!


Look at all those lovely goodies! Hope to see you there!
Jane
x

A punched star Christmas tree

This is my last DT project for Fiskarettes, I decided to make a card with no stamping for a change. This card is a lovely way to make use of your punches and is easy and quick to put together if you want to need to make lots.
You will need to punch out 15 green stars using your Fiskars Squeeze Star Punch and one pink one.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Punch out all the stars and cut a rectangle of card with your Fiskars Paper Trimmer to mount the stars onto. Punch a scalloped border on the bottom edge, using the Fiskars Scalloped Lace Border Punch.

2. Add the first line of stars to form the bottom of the tree. You will need five stars and will need to overlap them so they are joined together.
Continue building up the layers by adding one less star on each level until you get to the top of the tree.
3. Matt the tree topper onto a layer of pink card cut with the Paper trimmer.
4. Sew around the edge of the two layers. If you don’t have a sewing machine you could doodle fake stitching.
5. Cut another piece of patterned paper to fit the front of your chosen card blank. Using the Fiskars paper trimmer is invaluable when you are doing lots of matting and layering as it save so much time, the measuring and cutting is so quick and precise.
6. Add your stitched layers to the front of the card.
7. Sew a pink button onto your pink punched star and stick to the top of the tree with a foam pad.

8. Cut a pot shape from pink card and mount under the tree with foam pads.
9. Embellish the tree with pink gem baubles.
This tree can be made to look very different by changing the colour scheme to a more traditional one. You could try using different punches too, a circle punch would make a very modern tree!

Fiskarettes are looking for new DT members at the moment so please go and check out the DT call now. I had lots of fun working on the blog as part of the team for the past three months and can thoroughly recommend it.

Jane
x

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

It is Wednesday again and time for WOYWW, hosted by the lovely Julia. Here is my desk. It is tidy. Dad if you are reading this, you are right, I cheated and tidied my desk just before taking this photo. I was too ashamed to show the desk in it's raw state (partly beacause you couldn't really see the desk!) I was actually thinking I'm not going to participate in WOYWW this week but I just had to! I guess I am addicted to sharing!

There are lots of things lurking on the edges of the desk, a couple of DT cards, some stamps I am going to use for my next DT project for Easy Craft projects. A lovely little organza bag containing treasures from Susie's Die Cut Dreams shop ready to use on a project, the ATCS I have received so far for my ATC swap...
I actually have 2 work areas going at the moment. The photo below is my dining room table. I have been preparing for a Christmas Fair which takes place on Sunday so have been doing a bit of work on my larger table downstairs too. There are lots of things ready to sell in the big basket.
The sad thing is, I took these very early this morning and in the hour or so I was at home before I left for work, I have managed to mess both of them up even more by starting 2 new Projects! An empty desk is just irresistible to me, I just have to make a mess!
Why not show us your Workspaces and link them up to Julia's blog. I love having a nosey at what you have all been up to!

In other news, I am very happy to have accepted a position on the Design Team for the Easy Craft Projects Challenge blog.

Our first Challenge will start in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye on the blog for details of this and also a great giveaway!

Have a lovely Wednesday!
Jane
x

Some more felt, a sneaky peek and a DT call

I was a busy bee last night with more preparations for the Fair on Sunday. I made up 8 Butterfly Brooch kits cut from felt. I wrote out full instructions with photos so that people can make their own and put a needle, pearl topped pin, brooch pin and a small bobbin of thread in each kit with the precut felt and button . I have packaged the kits with Nesties labels and I will try and post a piccie of the packs later this week when everything is ready to go.

My final Fiskarettes project is published tomorrow so here is a little sneak peek...



I seem to have gone very pink lately which is not really like me! I cannot believe my time as a Fiskarettes DT member is nearly over. I have had so much fun working with all the Fiskars products and being part of the team. Take a look at the Fiskarettes blog if you fancy taking part in the Design Team as a DT call was announced yesterday.
Thanks to all of you who sent 'Get Well Soon' wishes to Ryan, I kept him at home yesterday and will be until Thursday to give his foot a bit of a chance to heal. He was feeling more comfortable yesterday evening although his foot is turning some lovely shades of purple now!
Jane
x