Christmas Robin

Hi Bloggers

Yesterday I went to the  Hobbycrafts show at the Excel Centre in London. At the same time Brick 2014 was going on  (a Lego convention) it was a strange mix. I will share some pictures from the Hobbycrafts show at the end of this post.

Today's card is a traditional card with a robin on it. Who doesn't like a robin at Christmas?



The main image came from an old Christmas card I save all my cards with robins on, I do like them a lot. I teamed the image with a black edging and some pretty paper. So quite an easy card really just what you need when you have a lot to make.

Now on to my pictures from the Hobbycrafts show. I met and had chats with Jo Austin and Pete Hughes. Of course I did some shopping, it would have been rude not too.

Jo Austin

Pete Hughes from Sizzix

Showing me the Pinecone die I'm getting it for Christmas (lucky me)

A World War I display all in white.

Hand knitted poppy wreaths. 

My stash the silver card is for wedding invites.

With Paddington at Paddington station.

I hope you all had a great weekend and got caught up on all the jobs that need to be done. I will be starting my Advent Journal tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly the time is going,

Happy crafting.

Hugs Jackie

Anniversary Hearts

Hi Bloggers 

How has your week been so far?  As usual at this time of year things are getting very busy, Today I have just been on a trip to Bursledon Windmill it is very interesting and well worth a visit and in the Spring they will start milling their own flour. 

I am sharing a quick little card today that was made with all the leftovers from the wedding card I made last week. So it will be just right for Pixie's Snippets Playground this time. I think silver and white is a classic combination for weddings and anniversarys. So I couldn't let all the bits and bobs go to waste.

I am sorry about the quality of the photos the light is really tricky at this time of year and of course the card doesn't have much contrast. Can you spot my slight slip with the background embossing.?

The hearts were made for the original card but when I laid out the mats and embellishments before I stuck them down these hearts just didn't look right. So I put them to one side and had another go. But they were too pretty not to use on another project,

The sentiment was cut from a scrap of silver paper. 

  

There you have it quite a simple card but a good one to have in my stash. I am starting to work on some wedding invitations  for a relative it will be a hefty project to get my teeth into.

We are off to see Michael McIntyre tomorrow  I can't wait. Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Advent Journal

Hi Bloggers

How is your week going? We were really  lucky  to get tickets to see Michael McIntyre later this week so we have to look forward to. It is a show to try out material so the venue is smaller than normal.

This post is something a little different for me, I have created a journal. I went a service at church that was led by Hopeweavers (a local organisation that leads quiet days and times of reflection often with a craft element) and we were given the chance to create an Advent Journal. The idea is to add our thoughts to the journal throughout Advent. There were no rules or restrictions  to what we could do. I decided that I would use it to try a few new craft techniques as well as my thoughts and feelings.

We were given a journal with a black cover. I didn't want to decorate the cover at the service as there was a particular technique that I wanted to try. I used the time there to number the pages.

So here are the starting materials some craft card and a journal with a black cover. I wanted to have a go at the faux leather technique. I found an online tutorial by Sheena Douglass that I followed. The only difference was that I used a decoupage glue to seal the sheet when it was finished.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and I thought I would have to leave it to dry for a long time but I was able to used the card the afternoon I made it. I used die cuts and ribbon to decorate the cover. The embossing folder I used was a 6" x 6" one which I had to extend the design to cover the whole sheet. 

This is the back the logo is the Hopeweavers logo. They have a website you can visit. 

So there you have it my journal for Advent. I am quite looking forward to filling it in. There will be a service in January where we can share our journals if we want to. 

Have a great week.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

A Fair Trade.

Hi  Bloggers

I hope you are having a great weekend. Christmas prep is in full swing in our house. I have even started to wrap presents.

Someone at work made me an offer that I couldn't refuse, she offered to make me a Christmas cake if I made a Christmas card for her mum. I was very happy to accept  this offer here is what I created for her. She has already made the cake. That was speedy and we both get to do something we enjoy doing.

  I based this card on one I had made previously but without my Grand Calibur I had to think of a way round not being able to do A4 embossing.

I cut the while mat for the aperture as wide as would so through my Big Shot. I like the white on black look I achieved this with a die cut in white for the sentiment.

Around the the edge of the black mat I stamped a snowflake with Perfect Medium and alternately heat embossed with white and then with clear embossing powder.

The one stipulation was that the word MUM was on the card, I cut this with my new Tonic alphabet dies - they are good. I cut off the the fancy bits for a cleaner look and so it would fit in the space I had left for it .

For the insert I cut the Mosaic Poinsettia out of Funky Foam and I used it as a stamp. 

Finally I used the leftover bits from the alphabet dies to decorate the envelope.

I think I got a fair trade for a cake. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. We are off to Salisbury to collect a rabbit for my daughter.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

White Wedding

Hi Bloggers

Here we are in the middle of the week, isn't the time going by quickly. Not long and it will be December and we all know what that means. I hope all your preparations are going well.

Today's card is a commission for a friend at work. She wanted and white card I persuaded her to have a touch of silver.

My friend was also keen on having the initials of the couple on the card. Tonic have just released some alphabet cards and I thought that they would be good for this commission (and in the future) so I treated myself. You can achieve three different looks with these dies which I thought made them good value.

I won't have my Grand Calibur for a while, my crafty friend helped me by allowing me to do some embossing on her machine. I used three different embossing folders two A4 and one smaller one. I haven't been successful making white on white cards before  that is why I  was keen to add the silver  for me it lifts the card just enough. I found this card tricky to photograph because of the lack of contrast.

Quite a simple card really. My big fear is that I have got the wrong initials.

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie

Dasher the Deer and a bag of .......

Hi Bloggers

I hope you are having a great weekend. I have actually got some time to craft having just had a week with no time at all. I am sure you are finding yourselves as busy as I am and I do appreciate it when you take time to visit my blog and leave comments.

I wanted to enter the challenge on the Crafting Musketeers Blog which this time is anything but a card. Well this certainly isn't a card.

This was an idea I saw on Pinterest and I decided that Dasher was a good candidate for this treatment. The chocolate raisins are giant ones as I thought this would look more effective.

Dasher was stamped with Black Archival and heat embossed with CS Clear embossing powder before  being coloured with Promarkers. The background paper, that I  made, was left over from another project. The snowy border was made with a Martha Stewart punch.

I am a bit funny about giving food to people without giving them all the information about it, you never know who might have allergies, and I wouldn't want to make anyone ill. As I was repackaging the raisins I cut the information from the pack and stuck it in the inside of the top piece so as not to spoil the design, but the information is still available. 

So there you have it Dasher the Deer and a bag of ...... I think this makes a fun and inexpensive gift. I will be making some more of these and Dasher is so cute you can't help but love him.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Blue Nativity

Hi Bloggers

How has your week been so far? I bet like me you are getting busy. There is news on my Grand Calibur,  I got a full refund. It couldn't be mended. I have ordered another one but this time a Teal one that is supposed to be an improved version. It is on pre-order so I won't have it for a while. A very kind friend has said that I can use her's if I need to, she is a star.

I think that  I have said before I make a lot of simple cards for Christmas. I am sharing some of them today.

The image is from LOTV it came in a pad of similar designs.  The backing mats were embossed with a couple of Sue Wilson A4 embossing folders. 

The sentiment was cut with a Signature die.

I made a few the same. I needed them for a group that we go to so I needed similar cards for them all.

Enjoy the rest of the week. We are seeing Wicked tonight I am really looking forward to seeing this.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Pine boughs and baubles

Hi Bloggers

I hope you have had a brilliant weekend and that the start of the new week is going well for you. It was a big weekend for our family with my husband's father being interviewed by Bill Turnbull live on Songs of Praise yesterday. I took a couple of photos from the television and I will post a couple at the end of this post.

I made today's card with the free bauble on Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine. At the moment you can see this card on their Facebook page it is part of their Christmas album.

 

First I made the background I stamped the line of trees in black ink. When this dried I linked the sky. I tore a piece of paper and I inked over it  and moved it down to ink again to create the effect of snow. The final touch was to stamp stars with CS Perfect Medium and I heat embossed them with silver embossing powder.

The pine boughs were cut with a Sue Wilson die.

I cut the bauble three times in gold. I used a circle die to cut background circles two in red and one in blue. The final touch was to add snow with CS white PVA glue covered in CS Iced Diamonds glitter.

This is my father-in-law  on the television and a close up of all the medals he has been awarded. He gets more all the time as different organisations honour the veterans.

At school lots of people are wearing handmade poppies this year so I thought I would have a go. Of course I have given a donation to the British Legion as well. I have had quite a few compliments. Which is nice.

Have a great week. I will be back soon with another creation. 

Thank you for all the comments I do read all of them. 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Bunnies and Butterflies

Hi Bloggers

How's that for a nice piece of alliteration? I think I need to go for a quiet lay down in a dark room to recover as I might have over extended myself. How has your week been? I seem to have been very busy but not achieved anything concrete. I hope you have a good weekend.

I made today's card for the challenge on the Butterfly Challenge blog this time it was to use three designer papers. Because I used so many snippets of paper to complete this card I will be entering it for the  Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge as well. Both challenges are worth checking out and you end up with useful cards in your stash for those times when someone says "Have you got a card for so and so's birthday"? That actually happened this week.

I know this card is for a butterfly challenge but I did go a bit mad with the butterfly theme. I stamped butterflies in two shades of Distress Ink on the backing sheet. I did use some mirror card I don't often use this but I think a little bit is OK now and again, though it doesn't photograph well.

The main LOTV image has butterflies on it. The paper round the image also has butterflies on it. The only paper that does not have any butterflies is the strip across the middle which has hearts. 

Then I did some die-cutting and I made more butterflies to sit on the punched and inked flowers.  The centres of the flowers and the heads of the butterflies are made with CS PVA glue.

 Our other piece of family news in that my husband's father who is a Normandy Veteran will be on the live broadcast of Songs of Praise on Sunday. It is being broadcast from the Garrison church in Aldershot. He is involved with rehearsals most of today.

Thank you for stopping by and for any comments that you might leave.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

New Home

Hi Bloggers

How is your week going? I am back to work after a half term break. This means fitting crafting in when I can. My Grand Calibur has made it back to Create and Craft now I have to wait and see what they are going to do about it.

I made two versions of today's card as I know two  people who are moving home soon. The two versions are slightly different to each other but I prefer this one. At least they will never be next to each other on the shelf to be compared.

To create the background I first cut the window with a Spellbinders die from some white card. I put the window to one side and then embossed the card with a mask. Once it was embossed I used some Distress ink  and inked through the mask to create the brickwork. 

I stuck some spotty paper behind the aperture and then reinserted the window I had cut earlier.

The flower pots and herb plants were cut with three sets of Spellbinders dies. 

The sentiment was cut with two  Brittania word dies, I backed it with a Spellbinders die that I cut about a bit to achieve the look I wanted. 

The cards are quite flat cards as I like to post New Home cards to people who have just moved house as I think it is good to get something nice in the post in your new home not just bills. 

That is all for now. Enjoy the rest of the week. Thank you for your visit it means a lot to me.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Welcome to the World

Hi Bloggers

We have just got back from a weekend away in Buckinghamshire where we visited Bletchley Park for the second time (we had return tickets). We were there on a lovely day and the sun lit up the autumn trees beautifully. It is a very interesting place to visit and they keep making improvements to  the visitor's experience. This time the car parks were better and there was more choice of places to eat.

Before we went away a friend of ours gave birth to a baby boy. I knew in time so I was able make a card for her before we went.

I had the image already all I did was to add a little blue to it with Promarkers. I teamed it with papers from my stash and oh boy do I have a lot of paper.

I cut a heart and the decoration was made with a Marianne die. The other embellishments I had in 

my stash. 

Congratulations was cut with a Brittania die.

 

This is the outfit I bought for the baby. If they don't like it, or have too many I did get a gift receipt so they can choose what to do.

While we were away I visited  TK Maxx in Milton Keynes and I always look at the few craft bits they have when I visit one . This time I got lucky and I found a Theresa Collins 12" x 12" paper pad. The paper is lovely quality and I probably shouldn't have but I did buy it. 

I hope she likes the card and the present. 

Have a great week I am back to work tomorrow half term is over. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie