Exploding Box Nautical Themed Birthday Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you have had a good week and are ready for the weekend. Now my mum is out of hospital and the carers are all in place we can have a weekend off. On Saturday our good friend is having a birthday tea at home and we are helping. She is going to be 60 and she has 60 guests coming. On Sunday we will be celebrating our daughter's birthday which was earlier in the week. We are having a trip to Marwell Zoo which is near where we live. It should be a good weekend full of fun.

My father-in-law loves the cards that I make. So I do like to make something a bit special for him. I thought I would have go at making an exploding box card.

I found the instructions for an exploding box card in one of my Hougie Board books. I did make the lid a bit bigger as I do like my layers. 

I used papers and dies that suited the theme. 

Now I made a film of opening the box. It is a very short film and it may not work. 

I decorated some of the inner flaps with nautical dies. 

Here is the another decorated panel. 

The ship in the centre is a Tattered Lace die. It only just fits in the box. 

Here is the box and lid. I know he will love this card. I would like to make a card like this for my husband's birthday. This was a good practice. 

I would like to enter the following Challenges: 

The Secret Hideaway Challenge at the Daring Card Makers Challenge blog

The May Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 220 at the Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge blog

Challenge 175 at the Cut It Up Challenge blog

Challenge 166 at the Seize the Birthday Challenge blog

Challenge 115 at Scrapy Land Challenges 

Challenge 164 at Creatalicious Challenges 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? Yesterday a lovely friend took me out for the day. Unfortunately I ended up with a really bad headache. I had to come home early and our evening plans were cancelled. I think the headache was a reaction to all the stress there has been lately. My mum is now home and she will be living upstairs. I am not sure if it is because of the dementia but she sleeps a lot.

Last week when I was making the wedding card with  Butterfly Heart die set, from the John Next Door range from Crafts Too, I couldn't believe just how many beautiful butterflies there were that came away from the die. So being me the WASTE had to be made into a card.

I used my Hougie board to emboss the background. 

I went a bit mad cutting more butterflies to add to the ones I already had. 

This is a Crafter's Companion die. 

There you have it quite a simple card to make. I couldn't let those butterflies go to waste. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 353 at Pixie's Snippets Playground

Enjoy the rest of the week 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Christmas Lantern

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your weekend going. It is nice to have an extra day with my hubby. Unfortunately a lot of our time has been taken up with hospital visiting. My mum has been diagnosed with Vascular dementia and she has been assessed as not being able to use the stairs safely. This means that I have to decided if she is going to live upstairs or downstairs in their house. I am feeling the pressure of this decision as it has a lot of implications for my mum and my dad. So if I dip in and out of blogland I hope that you will be patient with me.

I made a Christmas lantern with the small lantern die set from the John Next Door range.

I did watch a film about how to put the lantern together. I used black card that I used Pebeo Gilding wax on to make it look more like metal. There is acetate behind the panels. 

I used the poinsettia stamp set that goes with the die. You make so many poinsettias at the same time. I stamped onto white paper and I used Izink red into to colour the poinsettias. 

I added a battery powered tea light. 

Now it would be a plan to make a whole row of these. I have a feeling that may not happen this year. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The Rudolph Days May Challenge. 

Challenge 439 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Challenge 185 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge Blog

Challenge 50 at the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge

Challenge 10 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 441 at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Wedding Card made with my new Dies

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How has your week been? I have been invigilating but that is finished until after half term now. Today I will be helping at a Felting Workshop. I am hoping that I will be able to make another phone case as the one I made before fits my phone and my camera. For an update on my parents: my mum is still hospital and my dad is being taken to  visit her by a very kind neighbour. We will be going up at the weekend.

I have been a bit naughty and treated myself to some new dies from the John Next Door range. I just couldn't resist all hearts and butterflies in the Butterfly Heart Die Set.

I decided to make a wedding card. Hearts and butterflies are just so romantic. 

I added another heart to the centre of the two butterfly hearts this was so the sentiment would show up. The gold sentiment has a white shadow. 

I added congratulations too. 

My daughter has already bagged this card. She is having to miss a wedding in August as she and her hubby have a very cool trip to Poland lined up. She liked the idea of this pretty card. 

Have a great weekend. We will be mostly  hospital visiting. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Lakeside Clear Stamp set - Beccy's Place

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I am still in the thick of invigilating. Next week is half term so we have a week off.

I am sorry that I am not around as much as usual. Some of you might know that my mum was taken into hospital last week with a major infection. She also has mobility issues and these a being assessed now. This leaves my dad at home on his own. A few days ago he tried to visit my mum on his own. Since my dad was ill last summer he gets very confused. The carers were worried when he wasn't home so the police were involved. Luckily one of the neighbours found him walking home. We are not sure how long he was out but it was such a relief when he was found. A close neighbour has stepped up to take dad to the hospital to visit my mum.

Here is another of cards I made with the Lakeside Clear Stamp set from Beccy's Place. I wanted to have a play with a different type of background.

For the background I used the Caught in Crystal Technique that Sue Wilson uses.  On her blog there is a page dedicated to this technique. 

This is the stamp set it is available HERE. These images are also available as digital images. 

I stamped the image with Watering Can Archival ink to stamp the image and the sentiment. Then I used watercolour paints to colour the image and to create a background. I used the Double Pierced Rectangle to create a frame for the image. 

This card will stay in my stash until I decide who to send it to. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Thank You Card with Gerbera Flowers

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? We spent most of our travelling back and forth to see my parents. My mum was taken into hospital on Thursday evening and my dad is at  home being taken care of by the carers. We went up on Saturday and Sunday. This week between both me and my husband are very busy so we won't be able to visit again until next weekend. We are waiting for tests to find out what has been wrong with my mum.

When you have a birthday and you get nice presents you need thank you cards. All mine are made now and given out to people. I had lots of bits left over from making another card. So I decided to make them into a thank you card.

All the card I used for the layers was left over from another project. 

When I was travelling to Winchester once a week I treated myself to the Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets Dies  Mixed Media set two. I used one of the dies in the set to cut this flourish into the card. The thanks die is from Crafter's Companion. 

The flowers were cut with the Gerbera Flower die from the John Next Door Range. I used the Leafy flourish die to add the foliage. The butterflies were cut with the Small Butterfly die set. 

The friends who received this card liked it a lot. 

With all the things going on at the moment, I am not sure how much crafting I will be able to fit in. I will just have to see. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The May Challenge at the Die Cut Divas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Lakeside Clear Stamp set from Beccy's Place Step Panel Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you have had a good week and are ready for what the weekend has in store. This week I have been invigilating. I will be doing the same next week and then we have a week off. This weekend we are having some very dear friends to supper. It will be lovely to have a catch up it has been a while.

As promised I am sharing in more detail one of the cards that I made with the Lakeside Clear stamp set from Beccy's Place. I am very lucky that Beccy is happy to send stamps to me all the way from Australia.

I have made Step Panel cards but this is the most successful. It is fully self standing and that is an achievement. The papers I used have been in my stash for ages. 

This is the fabulous stamp set: it is available HERE.  Beccy does ship overseas. 

Beccy likes us to make a colour chart to go with our makes. I am not very good at this yet. You can see from the picture which Promakers I used. 

I do like this boat and it is easy to colour. I used some Tattered Lace oval dies to cut out the image and it's mat. 

Here you can see the step. I think this is a good was to showcase an image. Also it will fold flat for posting. 

I have a couple more cards to share from the set of cards I made for Beccy. She is lovely to work for. I am rather busy for the next few weeks. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The May Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 493 at the Passion for Promarkers Challenge blog

Challenge 384 at the I ❤ Promakers Challenge blog

Week 519 at the Allsorts Challenge blog

The May Challenge at the Colour It, Create It, Show it Off Challenge blog

Challenge 163 at Creatalicious Challenges

Have a great weekend. 

Crafty Hugs 

Jackie

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Fortieth Ruby Wedding Anniversary Card

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I am invigilating this week but just in the afternoons. It is nice not having to rush to get up.

Two of our good friends celebrated their Ruby Wedding Anniversary at the weekend. This is the card I made for them.

I started by making the Z fold base from a piece of A4 black card. I scored the card and then cut off the top make the opposite fold. This way everything fits together. The patterned paper was in my stash. I used the Leafy Flourish dies from the John Next Door range to add some extra detail They were a great way of using up some Snippets. 

The heart was cut with the Heart of Hearts die fro Creative Expressions. The initials were cut with some Tonic dies. I used the  left over die cuts to put initials on the envelope I made for this card. 

I found this embellishment in some lace and ribbon I was given from someone who has stopped crafting. This did make me think about how much craft stuff I have. 

The numbers were cut with some X-Cut dies that I have had for a long time. 

The Happy Anniversary die is a Signature die. 

Here you can see the Z fold more clearly. 

I know they liked the card they sent me a message. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

The May Challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 352 at Pixie's Snippets Playground. 

TTCRD Anything Goes Challenge Week of May 14th 

Challenge 92 at the A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge blog

Challenge 390 at the Crafty Creations Challenge blog

Challenge 114 at Scrapy Land Challenges 

Challenge 16 at the Creative Crafter's Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Beccy' Place - Clear Stamp Set - Lakeside

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? I hope that you had a good time. We enjoyed the Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie and the meal after with our daughter and son-in-law. It is always special spending time with them. In the summer I have been asked if I would like to show my cards at an Open Studios event. This meant that we spent some of the weekend working out how I could display my cards. The event is in August so I have some time to prepare. I am very flattered to have been asked. We also did some work in the garden. This week I will be mostly invigilating. It is exam time again.

Yesterday my cards were featured on the Beccy's Place Blog.  A little while back Beccy asked me to be one of her blog contributors. I readily agreed as I love Beccy's images and she is a lovely person to work with. To my surprise I was sent the Lakeside clear stamp set all the way from Australia. I did enjoy stamping and making different backgrounds. There are so many techniques you can use with stamps. 

Here are all my makes together. I will be featuring the individual makes in their own blog posts. 

This is the stamp set and it is available HERE. 

Have a great week. 

 Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

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Not Just Cards Challenge Blog - May Challenge - Anything Goes

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How has your week been? I had a lovely day for my birthday on Thursday. We went down to Gun Wharf Quays in Portsmouth. There we saw the film Long Shot and followed that with a very nice meal in Cafe Rouge. Today we will be heading into Southampton to meet our daughter and son-in-law. They are treating us  to see the Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie. I am not quite sure what to think though to be honest the reviews don't seem to be too bad. Anyway the cinema there is very nice and we will have a meal after.

Today being the 11th of the month sees the start of the new challenge at the Not Just Cards Challenge blog. The theme for our challenges is always Anything Goes.

I had in my stash a very pretty paper kit, that came free with a magazine some time ago. I used the papers and card from the kit as well as some lace that I bought at a craft fair. 

Why not come and join in with our challenge. Click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

There was a selection of toppers in the kit. I chose this one for my special friend. 

I used the Small Butterfly die set from the John Next Door range to make the butterflies. 

The special friend that I made this card for, had her birthday way back in December. 

Have a great weekend. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 461 at the Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge blog

Challenge 439 at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge blog

Challenge 424 at the Crafting from the Heart Challenge blog

Challenge 60 at the Crafty Addicts Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Moving Along with the Times (MAWTT) Challenge blog. - Theme Black and White Only

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I hope you are having a good one. Today is my birthday. My husband has taken the day off work. The plan is to get down to Gun Wharf Quays in Portsmouth. We can do a bit of shopping, have a nice meal and check out the cinema. It should be a nice day. I hope the weather stays nice for us.

Today the new challenge starts at the Moving Along with the Times (MAWTT) Challenge blog. The theme that has been chosen is Black and White Only.

When I had a crafty day with my friend a while back she was showing me how to used the waste from the Clarity Stamps Fresh Cut Dies. I came home and I looked at the Fresh Cut dies that I had and I realised that I could do the same.  I did find the backing paper on my computer. 

Why not join in with our challenge? Click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

So this card is made from the waste from the Deer Heart Aperture Die set. I used a Double sided sticky sheet to keep the bits in place. I do wish I that I had a finer black glitter. This was used to cover the sticky sheet. I used the Nested Hearts Die Set to cut out the image and to make a mat. 

This is a John Next Door die. I do like a small sentiment. 

This is the card made with the original die cut. The patterned paper was in my stash. 

It didn't seem right not to share both cards. I just think it is so great that you can use the waste from a die like this. 

I would like enter the following challenges:

The May Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 436 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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