Mum's the Word

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I am posting this quickly before we set off to the Make It craft show at Farnborough. We are taking my in-laws who live near the venue. My mother-in-law loves beads and my father-in-law will sit and people watch. The  big treat for me will be buying some storage for my really useful storage boxes to hopefully organize my cradfty stash.

This is my Design Team piece for the  Fantasy Stampers Challenge Blog. The theme for the challenge which starts today is Mum's the Word.

I had already made my Mother's Day cards so I decided to make a heart shaped gift for my mum.

This started life as a plain MDF heart. I painted both sides with  white Gesso and left it to dry.

When this was dry I mixed some pearlised PVA paint with some red die to make a pink paint to paint the front of the heart. This was left to dry - I did leave it overnight. It might not need so long but I fit this type of project around other ones that I am doing and that was more convenient this time. When everything was dry I stamped the Clarity Rose stamp No. 84 all over the background with Perfect Medium and then heat embossed it with CS Ivory Fine detail Embossing powder.

This is the  Classic Rose stamp  HCPC3619 by Heartfelt Creations I have only recently bought this stamp . It was stamped and heat embossed and then coloured with Promarkers. I cut it out from the background. I like this stamp a lot I think I will be using it often. 

I wanted to use Glossy Accents on the letters and I first tried stamping the letters but everything smudged, I must have used the wrong ink. So I tried again with dies and I was much happier with the results. 

The back of the heart  was decorated in a different way I wanted to try applying one sheet of tissue paper to the back with Decoupage glue. I saw John Lockwood using a sanding block to make the tissue the right size I must say it worked a treat. The ribbon was attached with CS Dries Clear PVA glue it didn't take long to hold the ribbon in place and the bond is really strong.  

I hope my mum likes this it is a gift made with love. I hope you have a great weekend and that you get a bit of time to craft.

I would like to enter this for the The Crazy Challenge - For My Mom.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Pop-up Box 45th Wedding Anniversary Card

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

Not long and it will be the weekend. I am looking forward to the weekend as I am off to the Farnborough Craft show and I have been promised some storage for my crafty stash. We have been measuring and we know what will fit in the space we have. I do hope it will make me more organised.

This card is for a commission and I started it before I became ill but I had to leave it alone for a while. When I was ill I found it very difficult to be creative things just didn't seem to turn out right. Today I managed to finish it at last.

The colour for a 45th Wedding Anniversary is Sapphire so I chose to make this card with pearlised royal blue card. There is a page on this blog which gives the measurements and scoring guide to make this type of card.

This shows the  position of the slats and that the back panel says Mum and Dad.

The panel at the front. 

The side panels were embossed to add texture and interest. 

This shows the numbers and the flowers. The flowers  were made with the Spellbinder die set Blossom Three a flat backed pearl was added to the centre of each. 

There you have it I hope the lady who ordered it likes it. It will fit into an 8" x 8" envelope. It still fascinates me that this type of card will fold flat for an envelope.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Sympathy in Mauve

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week shaping up? I have gone back to work and I am coping well it is just my hearing that is a bit off.

This is a card that I made for my husband's work friend whose father died recently.

Purple does seem to be my go to colour. I didn't want to use black but I wanted a dark colour. I used lots of Spellbinder dies and the Sue Wilson heart lattice embossing folder. All the inking was done with Dusty Concorde Distress ink.

This shows the detail of the corner die. 

I cut two square dies and off set them. I do like the flower box die it makes a good focal element.

It is a shame to have to make something for such a sad occasion I just wanted them to know that we care. 

I hope the rest week is good for you. I am going to the Make It craft show at Farnborough on Saturday. I was wondering if anyone else was going?  

Happy crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Revised Wedding Invitation Design

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you have had a good weekend. I am nearly completely better so I am fit enough to go back to work.

Well I have managed to catch up on a few jobs this week, even though at the start of the week it looked like I wouldn't be able to. My husband helped me hugely on Saturday.

I thought you might like to see the revised Wedding Invitation design. We have spoken to the happy couple and they are happy for me to go ahead with this design.

The colours are a bit more muted and I have used dies to cut some of the mats so I can do a bit of gutting to save a bit of money. 

 This is the original design it hasn't changed that much really. I will be using distress ink on the Gelli plate and not acrylic paint.  I think that will be easier to make multiple copies this way.

A close up of the background I used two netting masks stuck together to give me a larger mask  so that I could  create the netting effect on the background without having to move the mask. 

This is the Save the Date cards all finished my husband sorted all the printing for me which was a huge help. They were collected earlier and they will be sent out soon. 

So this is what I will be working on next. I think I will have to have a day making backgrounds and so forth. I don't want to leave it all till the last minute. I will be designing much smaller evening invitations soon they will be the same size as the Save the Date cards. 

I hope you have a good week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Easter Cards

Hi My Craft Blog Friends

I hope you have had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. I am a lot better the antibiotics seem to have done the trick. One slight problem is that my hearing has been affected but I think that will be sorted soon.

I have worked out that I need about twenty Easter cards this year. I don't usually make many Easter cards but this year I am working in a bigger team and they seem to like giving cards. Where I have been ill I have got behind with a lot of my projects. So I needed a simple design that I could make relatively quickie - nothing I make is particularly quick.

This is not unlike the design of the Get Well card I made for myself. I don't usually do gutting when I make cards but I had an epiphany with these cards. I was looking at my Tonic basic square dies and realized that I could cut the the smaller mats from the bigger mats. The card blanks I am using are 6" x 6". The dies work well with this size. 

This is my cutting plate loaded up with dies this means all the coloured card can be cut in one pass through the Grand Calibur. I wouldn't do this without tapping the dies down in place you wouldn't want them to overlap. 

 

The egg is a Spellbinder die. I used the Heart Lattice embossing folder. The inking was done with a Distress ink.  I am  making these in lots of different colours.

I was working on these yesterday and I have made them in  purple, mauve, blue, green, yellow, and pink. I have tried to keep the colours fresh and spring like. 

My plan for Saturday is to work on the wedding invites. My husband is going to help me with the printing and I will make the sample invitation while he is doing that. Then we can arrange another meet up with the happy couple. Have you got any crafty plans?

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

My cards in Create and Craft Magazine

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you are having a good week. You might be relieved to know that I eventually went to the doctors and I am now on antibiotics. I am not completely better but I feel that I am on the mend. I should be fit in time to go back to work. I do feel like I need a holiday to recharge my batteries. That's enough moaning.

I was thrilled that my cards are featured in the current issue of Create and Craft Club Magazine. I am pleased with the article and I think the photography is excellent.

I was sent some questions to answer and I did this as fully as I could and some how they made an article out of it. I had to send in my cards so they could be professionally photographed. I sent about eight items and they chose four. I think the stamps by Sam Poole look fantastic.

I though you might like to see the original cards and  the wall hanging.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope the rest of the week is good for you. I do hope that we keep the sun. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Wedding Invitation Samples

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you had a good weekend and are ready for the week ahead. I am still coughing so I think I will have to give in and go to the doctors. At least it is the Half Term holiday and I can get some rest.

I have mentioned the wedding invitations I will be making a few times and I thought the time has come to show you what I have been working on.

These are the samples I took to show the happy couple. This was after initial discussions on their wants. The wedding is having a naval theme as it will take place at Explosion: the museum of naval firepower in Gosport

This is the design that was chosen but there will be some changes the background was made with a Gelli plate.  I need to make another sample to incorporate the changes we discussed. 

This is me set up to make the Save the Date cards. They need to go out in March so I need to get a move  on. The ship die is a Signature die it cuts beautifully.

Well tomorrow is my first Blog Anniversary. I can't believe I have been blogging for a whole year. I want to thank all of my followers and all those that leave comments for making this journey such a pleasure.

I hope you have a great week.

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie

Pretty in Pink

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. I hope you have had a good week and have great plans for the weekend. I start half term holiday now and I think I will be mostly making Save the Date cards as the card has finally arrived. I am still coughing so any progress is a bit slow. I never did go back to work last week.

This is a special post for me because I have been accepted on to the Fantasy Stampers Challenge Blog Design Team. I am thrilled to say the least and this is my first offering. The current challenge is Pretty in Pink and this is my creation. You can find all the details of the challenge on the Fantasy Stampers Blog by clicking here.

Well Pretty in Pink what to do? Then  I remembered this beautiful  rose stamp that I bought in SplodgeAway  Facebook sale and I was away. 

I started with the layers the back mat I embossed with the Sue Wilson embossing folder Heart Trellis  and I inked it with Worn Lipstick Distress ink,

For the background I had a bit of fun, I used three shades of Distress ink and with Cut-n-Dry foam inked all over the page. When I was happy with the colour I sprayed some water over the whole background. I left it to dry naturally the water gives it a lovely  speckled effect. The final touch was to stamp the sentiment which is a Clarity stamp. 

I stamped the Viva Decor "3D Rose" set onto white stamping paper with Plum Archival ink and then the pieces  were heat embossed with CS Clear Detail Embossing Powder. To colour the images I put some Distress ink on my craft mat I added some water. I put the colour onto the image with a watercolour brush. I have never done this before I was pleased with the results. I cut all the pieces out by hand and I layered them up.  

 The final touch was to add the ribbon. I found this on sale in a fabric shop in Winchester I am now wishing I had bought a bit more it is so pretty. 

So that is my first post for Fantasy Stampers. Why not join in the challenge?

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Thinking of you in Mauve

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you are all well. I have not had a good week my cold has got a lot worse and I have had to take time off work. I think it might be on the turn now but it has been long and slow.

How sad is this? I ended up making myself a simple Get Well card. I had to be simple because everything I have tried to do this week has gone wrong which has meant that I am getting behind with things that I need to do. Of course I won't keep this card for me, someone else will receive it sometime. I just needed to make something I was pleased with.

This card started with the ribbon which is so pretty. I found the paper in my stash to match the ribbon  which wasn't particularly easy. The card blank is 6"x 6". The larger ivory mat was embossed with the Heart Lattice embossing folder by Sue Wilson.

Here is the butterfly it is one that came on one of the Tattered Lace magazines. My very kind friend has lent it to me. If you are reading, and you know who you are, I promise to give it back soon.  

Here is the sentiment cut with a Britannia die set. The little hearts in the corners are the waste from another die. 

So there you have it. I would like to enter it for Challenge 24 "Butterflies and R is for Ribbon" on the Butterfly Challenge blog. You can't see much of the  ribbon but it is there, you can't miss the butterfly.

Well I hope the end of the week is good for you. The way I am feeling I don't think I will be in work tomorrow. I am just going upstairs for a little sleep. 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Butterflies

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you had a great weekend. I really enjoyed the craft show in Portsmouth it was very quiet. There weren't many stands and there didn't seem to be many people milling around as before. I did manage to buy quite a bit even though. The best bit was definitely meeting up with my crafty buddy and she got to decorate a coaster on the Oyster crafts stand. There will be another show in June I am hoping to go back again, You even get free tea and coffee.

This is a card I made with the members gift from C & C TV I was cheeky and posted it on their Facebook Page I did get some very nice comments.

I started by cutting the mats. The top mat was a lovely pale blue into this I cut an aperture and then I embossed it with the Art Deco  embossing folder by Sue Wilson. Once done I inked all over the mat with some Distress Ink.

I stamped another one of the stamps  from a set that were the cover gift on Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine 138. I added some butterflies that came from the  Phill Martin set Butterfly Field. I cut the black frame with some of Sue Wilson's dies. The blue mat is raised on foam tape so the image is set back a little.

The sentiment was cut with a Signature die.

I cut the free tonic die in white and then I inked it to be the colours I wanted. I cut an extra four butterflies  they were easy to cut away from the rest of the die and it meant I could use up some smaller pieces of paper not wanting the whole of the die. They also added some dimension to the card.

Altogether I had quite a crafty weekend. One of my cards was shown on one of Sue Wilson's show on Saturday.  I was such a twit I didn't put my address in the email for the chance to win one of Sue's beautiful cards.

I still have the cold hanging around and it has developed into a nasty cough. It is half term next week I hope I am better by then that is when I am hoping to make the Save the Date cards and I will be helping my daughter to make a cosplay costume. I hope that you all have a good week ahead.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Butterflies in Love

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you are enjoying the weekend. I am  really looking forward  the Portsmouth Craft show tomorrow. I am hoping to buy lots of crafty stash and meet up with one of my crafty friends for a bit of a catch up.

I have had this design in my mind for a while. With my husband being out most of today I had the chance to create it. I used lots of Snippets and it has butterflies so I would like to enter the Challenges on the Butterfly challenge blog V is for Valentine and Pixie's Snippets Playground week 163.

I like the idea of filling a page with squares and making them look a bit like stamps. None of the elements are too large so it is a perfect opportunity to use lots of snippets. I am on a quest to use up my stash of tiny useful bits. The background paper is in the style of an old French newspaper.

I used Sizzix dies to cut the heart and the letters. The scalloped square was cut with a Spellbinder die.

The butterflies were also cut with a Sizzix die.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie