Happy Birthday flowers

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope that you had a good weekend. We had a whirlwind of a day on Saturday. The concert by Rick Wakeman was very enjoyable he talked about a few concerts we had been to in the past. Including an amazing orchestral version of the Six Wives of Henry VIII set in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. On Sunday we both worked on more of the wedding stationery that is needed for the end of March. Some things can't be done till right at the last minute. Our daughter and her fiancé are just beginning to thrash out their plans for their wedding.

I treated myself to the March issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and the free gift was a Hunkydory paper kit. I used the kit to make a birthday card for my mum.

This is an 8" x 8" card made with papers and toppers from the kit. I added mats and layers,  some butterflies, pearls and a ribbon. The papers and toppers are so pretty. 

I added mats to the topper too and I cut the corners to match. 

I added some butterflies cut with Sue Wilson die. They matched the silver butterflies on the topper. 

Here is is the finished card. The orange glow is from the setting sun when I was taking the photograph. 

Have a great week.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Fantasy Stampers - Mum's Rule! - Mother's Day

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

The weekend is here. I wonder what you plans are? Our daughter is home so she can attend her cousin's Hen Do. The wedding is next month and it is the one I have made the invitations and other stationary for. Later we are taking our daughter home before we head off to Basingstoke for an evening with Rick Wakeman. Do you know who he is?

The new challenge starts on the Fantasy Stampers Challenge Blog and the theme is Mum's Rule! or Mother's Day. 

I have fallen in love with the stamp set I was given at the charity craft event recently. As I had stamped it in black I wanted to use some black in the mats for this card. 

This is stamp is from the Stampin Up Birthday Blooms set. It is s stunning stamp I stamped it in black and heat embossed it in with a sparkly powder.  I coloured the flower with my Promarkers. 

This card is destined for my Mother-in-Law I think she will like it. 

If you check back with the Fantasy Stampers Challenge blog tomorrow the winners will be announced. 

Have a great weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Northern Lights Engagement Card

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you are having a good week.

I am sharing the engagement card I made for our daughter and her fiancé. I knew when the proposal happened under the Northern Lights what sort of card I wanted to make. I remembered a card that Sue Wilson made a while ago so I went back to her blog to check out the instructions.

I wanted my card to reflect the conditions when we saw the lights in Iceland so there had to be snow.

I started with a white piece of card for the background and lots of Distress ink in various colours later this is what I achieved. The trees were cut in black with the Sue Wilson Winter trees dies I used all the sizes. I added the snow with CS White PVA glue and I sprinkled a fine glitter over the glue. I cut the frame with the Double Pierced Rectangles dies. I do use these a lot. 

I used two different word sets for the sentiment. 

This is one of our daughter's fiancé's photographs from that special night. Unfortunately his tripod broke before our last stop where the lights were more spectacular.    

It is fine to share this card now the happy couple received it yesterday. 

I hope that the rest of the week is good for you. 

I would like to enter the challenge on TTCRD for Feb 23rd to 1st March , Challenge 100 at Crafting from the Heart, the Anything Goes Challenge at the Crafty Sentiments Designs and Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 217.

Take care.

Hugs Jackie

A Little Bird for Mother's Day

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week started? I must admit that it was hard getting up this morning for work but it was okay when I got there. Lots of people were interested in our holiday and the news of our daughter's engagement.

Well life seems to have been a bit of a whirlwind at the moment. I looked at the calendar to check when Mother's Day falls  (Sunday 6th March)   I was rather shocked how close it is. Also we had a hotel booked when my husband had his accident and it seems we  have rearranged it to the weekend of Mother's Day. We are not going to be popular.

I have made this card for my mum she is not a girlie  type of person so I thought she would like this image of a cute bird with its nest. The image came from an older issue of Making Cards Magazine. 

This sentiment I found in my stash. I will write something a bit more gushing on the inside. 

I cut the image out with one of  Sue Wilson's Double Pierced Squares and I inked through the die before I removed the image. I think the gingham paper was from the same issue of Making Cards Magazine. The other papers were in my stash in fact amongst my snippets. 

This card is quite flat it is going to have to go through the post. We will have to see our mums on a different day. When we changed the hotel we had no idea that Mother's Day falls that weekend.  We can't change is again it was hard last time.

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Tattered Lace - Loop Set Border Embossing Folders

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week been? We have had an exciting holiday and an engagement. We are now trying to get back to normal and catch up with lots of things. I am so glad that I have a few days before I need to go back to work.

Just before I went on holiday I was sent the Loop Set of four Border Embossing Folders and a cutting edge die by Tattered Lace. I made four samples for them as I didn't have much time.

I cut the embossing strips into squares the image that is left reminds me of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. I used white core card that I sanded back and then inked I think I even added gilding wax which I have just fallen in love with. 

For this card I used the edge die and one of the embossing folders to make a petticoat effect. 

I simply used embossed strips for this card and I added a big flower. 

The left over bits I used to make this tag. 

I said I would share some of my Iceland pictures the scenery was stunning and all covered in snow. 

This was the view across the water in Reykjavik. 

This is the Geysir that shoots steam into the air every 5 - 8 minutes.  

This is the Gullfoss waterfall partially frozen. We are planning a trip back one summer as the countryside would look so different then and we would have a better chance of seeing the whales which we didn't see this time. 

I have no idea if these samples were shown on television as we were away. They did appear briefly in the Tattered Lace gallery online. 

Enjoy your weekend. I need to make an engagement card I know just what to do. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Birthday Blooms Birthday Card

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

We are back and we had a wonderful time. We saw the Northern Lights one icy cold night and very excitingly my daughter's boyfriend proposed and she accepted so they are now engaged. We didn't see any whales though we did try on a 6 hour boat ride in rough seas. One day we did the Golden Circle Tour and we saw a thermally heated greenhouse where they grow tomatoes all year round, the big Geyser and the Gullfoss waterfall. On the last day we lazed in the thermal waters at the Blue Lagoon. My daughter's fiancé is very good at taking photos and I will try to get some of his to show you.

Today is the birthday of my special work friend and I think it will be safe to share her card now as she should have seen it earlier.  This is the friend that took me to the charity craft day I attended a couple of  weeks ago so I wanted to use the stamp set we got there to make her card.

The frame was made I used the Ornate Pierced  Rectangles, from the Noble collection by Sue Wilson, to make the frame. 

This is the largest stamp from the Stampin Up Birthday Blooms stamp set. It was stamped in black and heat embossed with a sparkly black embossing powder. The image was then coloured coloured with Promarkers. 

The sentiment comes in the set too. 

I am sure my friend will love this card. I hope that she has a very happy birthday. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Fantasy Stampers - Just One Layer

Hi My Craftly Blog Friends

I hope you are having a great weekend. As you see this we will be on our way to the airport to fly to Iceland for a few days. I am not planning to be in touch while I away as it seems a bit remote and I am not sure the hotel has WiFi.

There is a new challenge on the Fantasy Stampers Challenge Blog and the theme is " Just One Layer". I do find this type of card rather difficult you all know how much I love my mats and layers. I also have mucky fingers.

I promise this is just one layer. I made my own mask so that I could ink (with a brush) the centre square and the border. I also used a post-it note circle to mask where the moon was going to be. It took me a few goes to get this in the right place. 

This is the Silhouette Owl and Hedgehog  stamp from LC Designs it was stamped in black and heat embossed with a sparkly black powder.  

The sentiment is from Clarity stamps. 

There you have it just one layer. The challenge will last for two weeks. If you check back tomorrow the winners of the last challenge will be posted. 

I will catch up with everyone when we get back. I am sure I will have some photos to share. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Happy Birthday with Red Roses

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? We have had some very cold weather which is not good for all the spring flowers that are starting to bloom. It is good practice for me though as these are the types of temperatures that we will be getting in Iceland.

I made a quick birthday card after work yesterday.

This is a 7" x 7" card. I cut all the mats and layers and found a backing paper in my stash that matched the colours of the mats. I found a doily in my stash and I cut a circle of red and then one of the backing paper for the centre.  I knew I wanted to make red roses. 

I used the Tattered Lace Delicate Rose die to make the roses. I did remove some of the leave so that they weren't too bulky. I made a card a bit like this one as a sample but I sent it in without taking any photos. I have done that a couple of times now. 

Our council has planted daffodils all around our town and they are just starting to come out. These are the ones that I see on my walk home from work. They do look lovely in the sunshine. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. I will be back on Saturday with one more post before we go away. 

Take care. 

Happy Crafting. 

Hugs Jackie

Christmas Card Number Two

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? We have had some horrible weather down here near the south coast. I hope everyone is okay.

I found myself with a little bit of free time. I went out and posted some samples for Tattered Lace and when I got home, with no deadlines looming,  I decided to make another Christmas card. I have promised myself that this year will not end in a rush, like last year did. I am going to have to get a bit of a move on if I am going to have enough.

I went to my Christmas stash and on top was the Making Cards Christmas edition magazine from last year. In there were lots of lovely images and papers.

This is a 6" x 6" card. The backing paper and the image came from the magazine. All the dies I used are designed by Sue Wilson. 

Isn't this robin just so cute? I do love robins on Christmas cards they are so cheeky. 

I cut the sentiment in black and covered it with spray glue before coating it with glitter. 

So one more card for the stash I really do need to get some more made. Where does all the time go?

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie

A Make from my Charity Craft Day

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope that you are having a good weekend. The weather hasn't been too kind down here and our fence has suffered. We had a nice time with my parents,we got the shopping we needed for holiday done and we saw the new Dad's Army film. Not too bad for a Saturday.

The previous Saturday I went to a charity craft day. I was very pleased with the stamps I came home with and the projects I completed. One of them I liked a lot but I just felt that it needed a little bit more.

The middle of the card is what we made at the craft day. I just wanted to use it to make a bigger card. All the stamps I used came in the Birthday Blooms set that we were given in our goody bag when we arrived. In fact all eight of the projects for the day used the same set which was just brilliant for inspiration. What I added was some matting and layering. I also added a wider black mat and I stamped the smaller flower stamp with Perfect Medium and heat embossed it with a fine detail white powder. I do like heat embossing to create backgrounds. 

This is of  the sentiments that comes with the set. 

These little flowers are so pretty they were stamped in black and coloured with water based pens. 

These are the stamps I came home with I was well chuffed. I have used the large flower stamp twice since last weekend it is  very pretty. 

I hope that you enjoy the rest of Sunday and the week ahead. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Alphabet Challenge Blog - Letter Y - You Choose!

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you have had a good week and are ready for the weekend ahead. We will be visiting my parents on Saturday and hopefully doing some last minute shopping for our holiday which is next week. I am really looking forward to going on holiday.

A new challenge starts today on the Alphabet Challenge Blog. The letter is Y and the theme is You Choose so anything goes. All the design team makes are quite different so it is worth having a look at the blog.

I was asked to make another one of my pop-up box cards for a friend's daughter's special birthday.

This card was made from an A4 sheet of card. All the measurements and instructions to make this can be found on a page at the top of my blog. That page is the most popular thing that has ever been put on my blog it has had over 1000 views. 

The butterflies were cut with some Sue Wilson dies, the numbers were cut with some X-cut die.  The flowers were made with a punch that embosses. Each flower is made of two punched flowers and they were inked with Distress ink and a pearl was added to the middle to finish  them off. 

I like the back panel to stay upright, when the card is opened,  to make a backdrop. 

This is one of the side panels once I had done the embossing I used gilding wax to highlight the detail and add to the shine. 

Here you can see how the embellishments are attached to the internal slats. 

It is just so great that these cards fold flat. 

I was very pleased with how this card turned out and so was my friend. People do seem to like these cards for special occasions. 

I would like to enter Challenge 12 at Crafting with an Attitude, Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 214  and Challenge 47 at the Butterfly Challenge Blog. 

Have a great day. 

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie