Happy Anniversary to our Daughter and Son-in-law

Hello my Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I have had a bit of a slow start here today. It is a bit of a strange day for me because it not only is the 2nd Wedding Anniversary of our daughter and son-in-law but it is also the anniversary of my dad going into hospital and us not being sure if he would come home. He did come home eventually but everything changed. 

I am sharing the anniversary card that I made for our daughter and son-in-law. I think they will be opening it today.  I did tell them that I would be blogging it today. So much has happened to us all in those last two years. 

I treated myself to the Butterfly Heart dies from the John Next Door range. I used the border die to create a kind of lacy effect. 

I cut the die in white and backed it with gold. I had fun trying to find some of the butterflies to fit back into the die. 

The sentiment was cut with a Signature die. I backed it in blue as in the background there is blue patterned paper. 

I don't usually share the insides of the cards that I make. I was rather proud of this one. I think it would look  nice in a  frame. 

Here they are on their wedding day. We all had such a lovely time we were at Bristol Zoo. 

I hope they have a lovely day today. I know they are both very busy people. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 118 at Sparkles Monthly Challenges

Challenge 96 at the A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge blog

The Wedding Season Challenge at the Daring Cardmakers Challenge blog

Have a great week

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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My Husband's Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I have been busy making Christmas cards again. The weather being the way it is has meant lots more time to craft.

Usually the first Christmas card I make is for my husband. This year with all the things going on I have only just got round to making it. Getting this done made a huge difference to how I am feeling about things. The card for our daughter and son-in-law is already made. Last week I managed to get lots of Christmas cards made with a Hunkydory kit that came free with the November issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.

I was very quick off the mark to get the Champagne Bottle die set from John Next Door. When I saw it demoed on TV I could see it had lots of potential.

So I used it to make a Christmas card for my hubby. The dies cut beautifully. I embossed the background and used some ribbon from my stash. The card is just a bit smaller than A4. The set comes with two dies that cut out stars. I have wanted dies to do this for ages and in fact I used them first on another card. I also cut some snowflakes in white to add texture to the background. 

I used John's sentiment on the label. 

I cut the wine glasses in silver mirror card and added red mirror card to look like red wine (it is his favourite). 

Here you can see the detail of the bottle. There are lots of dies in the set it has been well though out. I did use some number dies from my collection to add the date. 

Usually I post an off set picture of the card. I tried twice and for different reasons the photos  didn't work so I gave up.  I am pleased with how this card turned out. I have already made a birthday card with this die set it is going to be very useful. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The Challenge starting 15th October at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 169 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Challenge 407 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 154 at the Crafty Moments Challenge blog

Week 489 at the Allsorts Challenge blog

Challenge 412 at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge blog

Challenge 402 at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Crafty Catz Challenge blog Anything Goes with the optional twist of Colours of Spring

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you had a good week and have something nice planned for the coming weekend. On Saturday we are off to Ally Pally for the Craft show. We go on the train. It is a good day out. On Sunday we are heading off to Hastings for Beatles Day. It is a whole day dedicated to Beatles songs performed by many different people and the proceeds go to Macmillan Cancer Support. It is a very good day. We have been a few times now with our friends.

Being Friday the new challenge starts on the Crafty Catz Challenge blog. The theme is Anything Goes and the optional theme is Colours of Spring. The sponsor is Lacy Sunshine.

I found the paper in my stash and I cut an aperture for the image with my Double Pierced dies from Creative Expressions. 

There are many gorgeous images in the store click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

This image is called Rory's Hollyhocks and is available HERE. She was printed onto Neenah card and coloured with Promarkers. 

This is such a useful die from Crafter's Companion. 

I used the Star Flower Leaves from the John Next Door range and I created the flowers with punches. 

Have a great weekend. We are off to the Crafting at Ally Pally on Saturday and on Sunday we are going to Hastings for the annual Beatles Day. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 397 at the 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge blog 

Challenge 47 at the Craft Rocket Challenge blog

The April Challenge at the Crafting by Designs Challenge blog

Challenge 524 at The Cute Card Thursday Challenge blog

Challenge 39 at the Crafting with Attitude Challenge blog

Challenge 143 at the Through the Purple Haze Challenge blog

Week 14 at the Digi Chooseday Crafting Challenge blog

Challenge 24 at the Classic Design Team Open Challenge Blog

Color Inspiration Monthly Link Up 33

The April challenge at Crafteezee

Challenge 290 at the QKR Stampede Challenge blog

Challenge 115 at Kitty Bee Designs Friday Challenge

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Winter Trees Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How was your weekend? Did you do something nice?  We caught up on jobs in the garden our drive is going to be paved soon so it needed doing. My husband also printed the Save the Dates for our nephew and his fiancee.  This didn't go so well as the postcards wouldn't feed through the printer. He ended up scanning the back of one and typing the details in. Then I had to cut them out and stick them to the back of the postcards. We did loose a lot of time. They will be going in the post today. Next will be the invites.

I am not sure where I read it but someone said that people rely too much on dies in their card making. Now I love my dies and I use them a lot. This just got me wondering if I could make a card an not use any dies. I did use the Falling Snow embossing folder though.

I had my Tim Holtz stamping platform out to make another card. I have three of the mixed media plates that John Lockwood uses. I also have his Winter Trees stamp set. So I had the circle mixed media plate on the stamping platform and I inked it with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink that I spread out with a brayer. Then I used the snowflake stamps, from the Winter Trees set, to remove some of the ink from the media plate. Once the circle was complete I stamped the tree the pot and the sentiment with black archival. The platform makes is so easy to put the stamps where you want them. Then I took the paper from the stamp press and put in on my craft sheet. I put some Chipped Sapphire Distress ink on the make and I used the snowflake stamp to put snowflakes round the circle. 

I added a red ribbon from my stash. 

Have a great week. 

I would like to enter challenge 436 at the Allsorts Challenge blog , challenge 37 at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog , challenge 44 at A Snowflakes Promise challenge blog and the Anything Goes Christmas challenge at the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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