What's on your Workdesk Wednesday?

My desk today is a mess again. I had a busy evening making some vulture's wings for my Son to wear in his School play this month. He is one of the vultures from the Jungle Book and needed some wings. A large cardboard box, some grey lining fabric, a glue gun, several burns and hours later and we have 2 wings which will have to do! They are not perfect but I think we will get away with them!

I received an interesting commission yesterday to make 2 matching albums telling the story of how two teenage sweethearts met to give to them as part of their Birthday presents. I did lots of rummaging through my stash for bits and pieces and papers to use and have settled on Elzybells stamps to help me tell the story.
I have a lot of them and think with some cutting sticking and a bit of altering, I can use them to illustrate the themes. I have a package of bits to take to my 'customer' to show and check I am going in the right direction. I made lots of cards this weekend, there is a pile of new Pollycraft cards on my tissue box which were made with new images yet to be released, they are a bit different and I know you are going to love them!
I hope you enjoy having a rummage around my desk, if you want to see more and maybe share a piccie of yours, please pop over to Julia's blog for more WOYWW fun!
Have a great Wednesday!
Jane
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Squigglebabies!

When I first joined the Squigglefly Design Team, we were asked to choose 3 images to have a play with.
I adore all of Eline's images and this 'Tiny tot' is just so cute!
I decided to make two simple cards, one for a boy and one for a girl.


I printed the image on to textured card and coloured it with Promarkers. For the girl card, I used pink and orange and added a little bow to the girl's head and little pearls to her sleepsuit.

For the little boy, I used soft green colours and added a coordinating button and a pearl to accent the Elzybells sentiment stamp. The papers I used are by DCWV.
Such simple easy cards to make to celebrate a new arrival, I think these would make lovely Baby Shower invitations too. Make sure you check out Squigglefly for lots more!
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Monday Challenge

For this week's Pollycraft Monday Challenge I had lots of fun making a card with one of Paula's new digi stamp characters. Maurice is just so cool! I love his little fishing outfit and I can't wait to use the other Maurices in the range too.


This week we have a sketch theme. The sketch by Marit is just lovely and was so easy to follow.

I used the Smirk men's papers, some Making memories star paper, stick on ribbon, buttons and charm from my stash to make a quick card. It's so easy when you have such a great sketch as a starting point.

I coloured Maurice in with my Promarkers and added a little bit of glossy accents to his glasses and the fish.
Make sure you check out the Challenge blog for lots more lovely cards from the DT, I hope you will find time to join in with the Challenge, the prize this week is some yummy Pollycraft goodies!
Have a fab Monday!
Jane
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My first Squigglefly Challenge!

It's my first Squigglefly Challenge since I joined the Squigglefly DT! I am still really excited to have been picked to work alongside such talented ladies and love all the new images which were released Saturday.
There is an open theme to the Challenge this week and you can create anything you like as long as you use a Squigglefly image
I chose to use 'Funny Fish' by Mark Hicks, these fish really make me smile so I chose to make a bright summery card with them.

I used Doodlebug papers and Bazzill card. I coloured the fish with Promarkers and added glossy accents to the sunglasses. I stitched around the layers and added a simple sentiment and a couple of small buttons.
I hope you will be able to join us for the Challenge, to be eligible for the prize, please use a Squigglefly.com image! There are always FREEbies available at their store!
Have a great Monday!
Jane
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A perfect day for a Christening

It's a gloriously beautiful sunny day today and a perfect day for a Christening, my morning has been disrupted slightly by our puppy Charlie ripping up his bed for the 3rd time in 2 days so I have to sort that out again :-(
We are going to a Christening today so I have made a card to give to the lovely little Isabelle.
I used My Minds eye and K+Co papers and lots of pearls and flowers all in lovely pale pink.

I had a bit of trouble finding an image I liked until I fell upon this adorable image by Mo Manning. I printed it on to textured card and coloured it with pale pink and ivory colours.

I printed my sentiment on the computer and cut it out with Nesties label shapes. The cross was from Flutterby Crafts and the flowers are mostly Prima.
I hope you have a lovely Sunday, I am off to sort out Charlie's mess!
Jane
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Summer bunting

I was recently featured in a list of top 50 craft blogs on the Dotcomgiftshop Blog, I was very honoured to be
chosen as the other people featured are so talented and many of them are crafters I have admired for a long time.
Most of you who visit my blog on Wednesdays have probably seen my bedroom before as my desk in is my room, the bed is at the opposite end to my desk.
I have always loved 'shabby chic' and have collected various bits and pieces and decided to bring the summer in by hanging some bunting from the Dotcomgiftshop over my bed.

The bunting is vintage paisley and matches my bedroom perfectly. It comes on a lovely sturdy blue cord and would look lovely hung up in a garden or as a decoration for a birthday party or baby shower.

Here's a picture showing how nice it looks over my bed. There are so many nice vintage chic items on the website, I think I may have to treat myself to some more lovely things for my room!
Have a lovely evening!
Jane
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Squigglefly release day

It's my first Squigglefly fly release day as part of the Squigglefly Design Team and I was sent some fabulous images to work with. I chose to make a card using Pudgy Flyer by new artist Joni Walker.

I just love the expression on his cute little face! I coloured him with Promarkers and added glossy accents to his feet, beak and eyes. The papers I used are by Cosmo Cricket, the ribbon and string was in my stash.

The sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp and I cut it out with a Nesties label before adding it to the card with foam pads and adding a string bow. The little button was from my stash.
Make sure you check out Squigglefly for loads of new images, there really is something there for all tastes and styles.

There is also an extra 30% off until Sunday as we hit 300 followers on the Challenge blog!
Here's the discount code: blog300
Use this on the image detail page in the discount code box to see your new discounted price.
Have a great Saturday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Friday Freebie

It's Friday so it's Freebie day on the Tales from Pollycraft blog! This week, Cuthbert is making another appearance, he is a little cutie so make sure you go and get yours! I love Cuthbert and Kiki and this image is no exception.

I am trying to be good and use up leftovers at the moment. The dotty paper is American crafts and was a square left in my scrap box as was the pink card. I coloured Cuthbert with Promarkers and added lots of stitching, some of my favourite ribbon, a little pearl and a button to finish the bow off.
Make sure you check out the Tales from Pollycraft blog for more cards from the DT.
Jane
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A Thank you tag

I recently received the gorgeous 'Be my Bridesmaid' stamps by My Cute Stamps which you can find here at Make the Day special. The images in the set are so gorgeous and girly, I couldn't wait to ink them up!
I decided to make something other than a card for a change and embellished a chipboard tag which can be added to a Bridesmaid's gift.

To make the tag, I stamped the sentiment onto a strip of gingham paper and added it to the bottom of the tag. I layered this with some cream flowery paper and covered the join with lace. I stamped the image onto smooth white card. coloured it in with Promarkers and cut it out, adding gems to the flowers.
I threaded the tag with girly pink ribbon and added 2 prima flowers and small roses with my glue gun.
As a finishing touch, I dotted around a couple more gems.
I really like this colour scheme and I am planning to use the leftovers from the tag to make a matching card.
I hope you have a great Friday!
Jane
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Happy 60th Birthday Mum!

It's a very special day today! My lovely Mum is 60! Happy Birthday Mum! The two of us had a girly day out in London last Friday and I took her out for a meal and to see Mamma Mia, it was the perfect girly day out and we laughed and cried and ate lovely food and even managed to go around the National Portrait Gallery and do a bit of shopping. I will treasure memories of that day forever, it could not have been more perfect!

I can finally share the card I made for my Mum, my Mum loves cats and is very glam so this 'Party time' image from Di's Digis was just right for her card. I used DCWV papers and American crafts thickers in shocking pink to make the card really pretty and girly, The flowers are from Prima and Hobbycraft


To go with Mum's card, I made her a circle album in matching papers. I added masses of pretty pink flowers to the cover of the book.


I added black and white photos of my Mum, my Nan and Grandad and my Dad and flowers and other pretty things I found in my stash. I love the photos of my Mum in her dress and bonnet, she looks like a little doll.

My Mum and Dad went on a Cruise recently and my Dad sent me some photos of them so I could add them to the album.

My Mum and Dad have gone away to Stratford-on-Avon for her birthday and she has taken this with her to open, I will be speaking to her later...I hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Thanks for stopping by and sorry this post was so long!
Have a great Thursday!
Jane
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WOYWW - a complete and utter mess!

Here is my desk today looking very shambolic and messy! I had a crafting session last night to make the Christening card which is on my desk. The session started with a 35 mins hunt for a cross charm which I knew I had somewhere! I found it eventually in a small box which was inside a bigger box full of ribbons!
My organisation did not last long!


I will keep this brief as I am off to work soon...there are lots of bits and pieces on the desk which I used to make the card and lots that I didn't. My treasured Easel from Julia is hiding at the back :-) I hope you enjoy having a snoop around my desk...if you want to see more please hop over to Julia's
Have a great Wednesday :-)
Jane
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Make the Day special blog candy winner and some ATCs

Thanks so much to all of you who visited my blog and left comments for the 1st Make the Day special blog hop.

I have drawn a winner using Random org to receive the card I featured and...the winner is...

Ann who said...

Love the owl - and the way everything coordinates so well. Fab card!

26 June 2010 13:38

Congratulations Ann! Please send me an email to milliesmarvels@gmail.com with your address and I will send the card to you.

Make sure you take a look at the Make The Day Special blog and the other DT blogs for the rest of the winners.

I have some ATCs to share with you today which I made for the Addicted to ATCs swap. The theme for June is Sewing and Fashion and I used some papers and stamps I bought at Ally Pally to make my ATCs

I normally make 3 the same but decided to make 3 different ones this month for a change! I loved using the pink with black and sticking on bits of lace and other haberdashery bits and bobs. The theme was such a great one to have a play with :-)
I hope you have a great Tuesday!
Jane
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A Cool Cat!

First of all I would like to Thank all of you who left me messages of support yesterday regarding my 'card selling' issue. It was lovely to read all your messages and advice so I wish to thank all of you who took the time to comment from the bottom of my heart :-) I will keep you posted on any updates!
Now on to happier things and a card which will hopefully make you smile, it certainly does cheer me up when I look at this image!

This cool cat is one of the new stamps that will be released this week at Pollycraft. I have been trying to be good and use up all my scraps, this dotty paper is a leftover from a Funky Hand print out and I love the bright pinks and greens. I coloured the image with my Promarkers and added some glossy accents to the glasses. The pink card was also from my stash and I used some American Crafts thickers for the sentiment.
I hope you have a lovely Monday and enjoy the sunshine, it is so warm here today!
Jane
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A Friday Freebie card and some dissapointing news

I didn't get around to making a card with the Pollycraft Friday Freebie last week as I was really busy! I did a little bit of stash shopping yesterday and a bit of cardmaking today so things are getting back to normal!
Paula has a gorgeous Mermaid image to share with you all this week.

I decide to create and underwater scene using K+CO papers for the Mermaid to swim around in. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added glitter and glossy accents to her tail. I added some Prima flowers for seaweed and dotted a few pearls around. The sentiment I used is Hero Arts.

I found something out yesterday that really shook me up, it's quite a long story so I will try and keep it brief. I normally take all the cards I don't use and sell them to a craft/gift shop which is my 'local'. I sell them for about £1.75 to £2.00 and the lady who runs the shop puts 50p on them before selling them. She told me yesterday they suspect one of the ladies who comes in and buys my cards is selling them on to another handmade card shop (who charge around £6.00 per card) and passing them on as her own!!! My cards have been seen there and apparently this woman has done this before. I couldn't believe it!! I was so upset and angry I stormed round to the card shop hoping to see one of my cards there with someone elses details there but they were all gone. I am going to keep an eye on this shop the next time I take a large batch of cards to sell. I was so angry and upset that someone would do this.
Has anything similar ever happened to you, if you have any advice for me, I would be really grateful for any suggestions on what I should do next :-( .
Sorry this has been a longer post than usual, hope you all had a lovely weekend
Jane
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Make the Day Special Blog Hop

Welcome to the Make the Day Special Blog Hop! We are showcasing cards made with the stamp ranges available at Make the Day special. Each member of the DT has chosen a range to work with and I chose my favourite....My Cute Stamps! I love all the images in the little Forest Friends set in particular. The little Owl with his eyes closed is just adorable!

To make the card, I used My Mind's Eye papers which I bought from the Funky Farm Scrapbook Farm and used a simple layout as I wanted to show off the stamps and the papers. I cut a scalloped circle from Coordinations card to add my panel of sky card to and then mounted it to the card with foams pads.
I stamped the owl, branch and leaves, the little bird and the sentiment onto textured card and then coloured in and cut out the various elements. All the colouring was done with my Promarkers. I stuck the elements down with my glue gun and foam pads and then added some button accents. I didn't want to make the card too girly so it could also be given to a man.
Thanks for visiting me for the blog hop, make sure you leave a comment for a chance to win a prize and I will draw a name from all the comments on this post to win the card pictured above.
If you arrived here from Jo's blog, your next stop is Kate.
Please see the blog order below if you wish to take part in the hop from the beginning, make sure you check out the other blogs to see some stunning cards from the rest of the DT.

Make the day special

Lucia

Kim

Lesley

Jo

Jane (me!)

Kate

Cath

{ippity} Inspiration

Hope you have a great Saturday and a fabulous weekend!
Jane
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Sew Sweet!

I have a very bright and summery card to share with you today which I made using a stamp from the QKR stampede range which is available from Make the Day special. This image is 'Just Sitting' and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to combine it with Gingham or checks.

I found this very bright backing paper in my stash with the purple card and this gave me the direction for my card colour scheme. I stamped onto smooth card and coloured the image with my Promarkers before cutting it out and mounting to a panel cut from my Nesties.
I cut the purple card to fit my card base and matted it with the checked card and sewed around the edges. I then wrapped the front with ribbon before sticking it to the base.
I added a sentiment with Prima and My Little Shoebox letter stickers and finished with some pins, a flower and buttons.
I hope you have a great Friday!
Jane
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Football is SERIOUS!!

I do not like Football. Never have. My Husband, however, loves it and so do my kids. In fact most people around me do...I made this plaque for a work colleague who celebrated her Birthday last week. The colours are those of her country's team and I used a plaque I bought at the Car boot sale for 50p as a base for my Project.


I covered the front of the plaque with Making Memories paper and poked through the holes with my pokey tool so I could thread through some wire I had shaped around a pencil.
I sanded the edges of the paper and inked them a little.

The football buttons were some my Son bought at a craft fair when we went together ages ago and I found them under his bed when I was clearing out. The sparkly letters and the white ones are from Making memories and the larger ones are my favourite Prima ones (you will have seen these a lot lately on my Projects...)
I finished it off with a bow which I think I received a long long time ago in an RAK from Becky!
Have a truly terrific Thursday!
Jane
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What's on your Workdesk this Wednesday?

I can't believe it is already Wednesday! I have been so busy since the weekend I have hardly seen the days go by! It's time for me to show you my desk again and is is cluttered but so much tidier than it was an hour before this photo was taken!

There are various finished projects on my desk which have just been photographed under my very sophisiticated system of 2 sheets of 12x12 and a daylight lamp. There are a set of drawers on the desk too which I bought from the Car boot sale for 50p which are waiting to be covered, I think I caught the altering bug after making my WOYWWAC tissue box!
The basket on the left has finished cards in which are waiting to be bagged up to go to the gift shop for selling. The choccies are for my Best Friend and are part of her Birthday present. I am going to see her today :-)
I hope you enjoyed looking at my desk. If you want to see more, hop on over to Julia's, she will welcome you with open arms!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Jane
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Angelicat and some very exciting news!

I have some very exciting news to share! From the 1st of July I will officially be a member of the 2010 Squigglefly Design Team! I applied last year and was told that I have been selected and now I can't believe my term is soon due to begin :-)
I love the images on Squigglefly and am such a big fan of digi stamping. The selection of Designers and styles available at Squigglefly is just amazing, something for everyone and every occasion!
As a treat, before the start of our DT term, we were asked to choose 3 images to have a play with.
This is the 1st one I have chosen, Angelicat by Crissy Armstrong. I really love Cats and love making cards with them on.
I cut Angelicat out with my craft knife so I could let his wings and tail hang out of the 'box'. I framed him with a Nesties shape.


I made the card into an easel shape and used organza ribbon and layers of DCWV card which has gorgeous embossing and glitter on it. All the layers were edged with ink to give dimension. The sentiment which is by Elzybells was cut out with Nestie label shapes. I decorated the top of the card with Butterflies, buttons with stick on pearls and lots of flowers.

I coloured the image with my Promarkers using tones of Soft Green and creams. I added Tim Holtz distress glitter for the wings and the halo and a tiny bit of glossy accents for his nose.
My 1st challenge as part of the Design Team will be in July but you can definitely expect to see a few more Squigglefly cards from me before then!
Have a great Tuesday!
Jane
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An altered pen box for the Pollycraft Monday Challenge

It's Monday already and time for a new Pollycraft Blog Challenge. The Challenge theme this week is to decorate something other than a card that must include a stamped or a digi- image and lace and glitter.
This had me stumped for a few days and suddenly when I saw this pen box, inspiration struck!
I bought the pen box a couple of weeks ago at a Car boot sale for 50p.

I decorated both sides with stripey glittery My Mind's Eye paper and added a strip of lace. I stuck the paper on with double sided tape and sanded the edges for a neat finish. I also added a drop of glossy accents to the ends of the lace after I had stuck it on with narrow tape to stop it from fraying.


I covered the lid with the same papers, also sanding the edges and adding a strip of lace. The letters I used are beautiful glittery ones from American Crafts.

I used a super cute Kiki Fairy image and coloured her with Promarkers adding glossy accents to the flower on her head and glitter to her wings, wand and star.
As a finishing touch I added some flowers and buttons threaded with ribbon.
I hope you will be able to join us for this Challenge for the chance to win

3 creative cottage kits!!

It's a great prize, the kits are just scrummy!

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT's amazing creations for some inspiration.
Have a lovely Monday!
Jane
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Happy Father's Day!!

This is the card I made for the boys to give to Hubby for Father's Day. I used the fabulous Ronnie charity digi which is available from Pollycraft. I love him so much and I have used him so many times on Men's cards already.


I used Bazzil card, Making Memories and Papermania paper and the letters are from Prima. I edged all the layers with ink and added the squares to the backing paper with foam pads. I cut the image out with my Nesties, I just love that Pinking circle!

I used the Passion for Promarkers sketch and of course coloured Ronnie with my Promarkers!

I hope you have a lovely day today for Father's Day!
Jane
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Delightful Daisy!

I recently discovered Squiggles stamps and I have fallen totally head over heels for Daisy! She is just adorable and she is wearing the cutest little dress and boots while flying her balloon.

I added her to this card which I made for June's Squiggles and Giggles blog challenge. The theme is 'Birthday best' and as Daisy is wearing her best Birthday dress, I thought she would be perfect! Daisy looked to me that she like she would be at home in a lovely sunny grassy green field to fly her balloon so I created a scene for her using Pink Paislee papers.
I coloured Daisy with Promarkers and cut her out very carefully leaving a very narrow border. I added glossy accents to her balloon and gave her lovely shiny green wellies too. I stitched around all the elements of the scene adding a spotty ribbon to draw attention to the stamped Hero Arts sentiment.
As a finishing touch, I added a couple of flowers and some coordinating gems.
I hope you have a lovely Saturday!
Jane
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Pollycraft Friday Freebie Flo

It's Friday!! Paula has a lovely Friday Freebie for you this week. Please meet cute little Flo!

I used some of my scraps to make this card, the backing paper is from Crate Paper, I love it and I have another sheet of it I can't bring myself to cut into yet! I have treasured every scrap :-)


The ribbon is from my stash and the flowers are from John Lewis. The little gems are very old and are from Papermania. The sentiment is Hero Arts and I cut it out with a Nesties label shape.
Make sure you pop over to the Tales from Pollycraft Blog to pick up your own little Flo, the DT have made some lovely cards to inspire you all too.
I hope you have a lovely Friday and a good weekend. I have some crafting lined up and some deadlines to meet!

Life's Adventures...

I have a card to share with you today made using a stamp from the Adventures in Happiness stamp available from Make the Day special. I love the sentiments in this set and a lot of them are great for Men's cards


To make this card, I cut some gridded paper to the size of my card base, I stamped the sentiment in the bottom corner and then sewed around the edges. I then fixed it to the card base. I cut a square of black card and added a square cut from an old map over the top at an angle. To finish, I added 2 American crafts chipboard shapes, a Doodlebug embellishment and a couple of gems.
Jane
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A mini monster card

A quick ost today to share the card some of you saw a sneak peek of on my desk yesterday. I needed a little card to put in with a letter to a Friend and I wanted something to make them smile so the Cogs and Critters from Pollycraft were ideal.

I printed Fluffy on to linen card and coloured him in with Promarkers. I cut him out with a Nesties shape, inked the edges, punched a Stampin up tab shape, stamped it with an Elzybells sentiment, inked the edges and then added it to the image.
I covered the base card with yellow textured card and then added a panel of K+Co paper from the Actopus to Zelephant pad.
As a finishing touch, I added a tiny button and some glossy accents.
Thanks to all of you who visited my blog and left comments yesterday.
Have a lovely Thursday!
Jane
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What's on your Workdesk Wednesday???

It's Wednesday already so time for a bit of Workdesk sharing. After my serene organisation from last week, I have a bit of mess to share with you today. This was the desk as it looked at bedtime last night. I made a gift which I cannot reveal yet and a mini card last night. The mini card is on my desk and I will be posting it tomorrow.

There are lots of things in my desk this week. The scraps system is working well and I have made quite a few cards since it's introduction using just scraps. There is a pile of new buttons on my desk I got at a bargain price from Hobbycraft last week. I love American crafts and Making memories and there were lots of bargains at Hobbycraft last week from those ranges. I couldn't resist treating myself!
I will try and come to visit more desks this week, I was so busy last week I didn't get round to many of you!
Thanks for all the lovely comments you left last week!
I hope you enjoyed rummaging through my mess, if you want to see more desks, please pop over to Julia's blog for more WOYWW fun.
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday.
Jane
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No1 bear

I have another Men's card to share with you today, the colours of the Doodlebug papers I used for yesterday's card really inspired me so I decided to make another card with them. For this card I used the 'No1 bear' digi stamp available here from Di's Digi downloads.

I printed the image onto textured cardstock and coloured it with Promarkers before cutting it out. I added glossy accents to the centre of the rosette and the bear's nose. The layout is vey simple and I used up some of the scraps left from my previous card. The letters I used are by Papermania as is the button and the pearl is by Prima. I have really enjoyed using these Doodlebug papers and I have lots left so expect to see more of this colour combo soon!
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Jane
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A card for Dad

I made this card last night using a pack of Doodlebug papers I picked up in TKMaxx on Sunday.
I used an A6 card for a change and it was quite fun to work with a different shape of card for a change.
The letters I used are from Prima and the button was from my stash.

I used the special Ronnie digi which was designed by Paula to help Emma raise funds in memory of her Dad. He is perfect for Father's Day cards and all those hard to make Men's cards.
"Ronnie'' is available to buy for only £1.50 directly from Emma and also from the Pollycraft shop. ALL proceeds from the sales will go to the YAA.
I hope you had a lovely weekend and have a lovely Monday.
Jane
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