Crafty Catz Challenge blog - Anything Goes with the optional challenge of using the colours Blue, Green and Brown

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

Happy Friday the gateway to the weekend. I hope that you have something nice planned. The bunnies will be collected this weekend and then I can get their room really clean and then  it can become a store room again.

Today the new challenge starts on the Crafty Catz Challenge blog the theme is Anything Goes with the optional twist of using the colours Blue, Green and Brown. This was the theme of the very first challenge eight years ago. The sponsor this time is Di's Digi Stamps. The Design Team used their own images for this challenge.

I wanted to use the colours of the optional challenge. I started with a Kraft card blank and built up the layers with shades of blue, green and brown. 

There are lots of cute images in the store if you click on the logo you should be taken to the online store. 

The flower is the main stamp in the Birthday Blooms set from Stampin Up it was stamped onto water colour paper with archival ink and then coloured with Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. The outer die cut was made with the Umbria die from the Italian Collection. 

The tone of the card seemed right for a Thinking of You sentiment. 

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Take care. 

I would like to enter challenge 39 at the Colour Crazy Craft Challenge blog. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Moving Along with the Times (MAWTT) Challenge Blog - Geometric Shapes

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

Where is the time going it is Thursday already. Today I am having lunch with a friend to celebrate her birthday. I hope you have something nice planned.

The new challenge starts on the Moving Along with the Times (MAWTT) Challenge blog and the theme for the next fortnight is Geometric shapes.

I used some of the bonus papers I had printed for a card for Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine. I didn't have quite enough for the background of the card so I reprinted one of the patterns and made it bigger to fit the card. 

I cut the papers with some hexagon dies that came with one of the Crafter's Companion Inspiration Magazines. I do love the flamingos. 

The sentiment came from the bonus papers to. It was cut out with one of the Double Pierced Rectangle dies from Creative Expressions. 

Yesterday I helped my friend (she is in the middle) as she led a felting workshop. The ladies all made four coasters and a flower to make a brooch. I got to bring home a poppy I had helped to make. When it is finished I will share a photo of it with you. I have some other dates lined up to help it is lots of fun. 

I was quite pleased with how this tropical themed card turned out. I do like using hexagons on cards. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Forest Friend Birthday Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? I had to stay in this morning so that an engineer could come and look at our phone line. He did come a little late but not too bad. The issue ended up being our old phone in the hall that had no filter on it and it has been causing us problems. Hopefully all should be fine now.

I was using a sheet of patterned paper for another card and there was a cute image left at the bottom of the page so I just had to make a card with him.

The papers are ones that I have had for ages the range has long been discontinued. 

This little fox is so cute I couldn't let him go to waste. 

This is my LOTV sentiment stamp that I find so useful. I treated myself to the Double Pierced Circle dies from Creative Expressions. I do find those basic shape dies very useful. 

The ribbon just seemed to go with the colours and the design so well. This is another card for my ever growing stash of cards. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Framed Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

Well that was another busy weekend. They do just seem to flash by. On Saturday we cleaned out the bunnies (that takes a while), we worked on the Save the Date cards for the Malta wedding and we booked our accommodation and flights for the same wedding. On Sunday  we went to church for the harvest service then we went to Fleet to take my parents out for lunch and finally we went to Newbury to collect our daughter's hamster, who had died, from our new in-laws. It is a shame that the little hamster didn't last until they returned from their honeymoon. I need the week to get over the weekend.

I was making a card for one of the Design Teams I am on and I made a square frame for the image I was using then I decided a rectangular frame would suit it better. You will be able to see this card on first November. That left me with a rather nice frame.  I hunted through the old cards, that I have a stack of in the spare room, to find some images that might suit the frame.

The frame was cut with the Double Pierced Square dies designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions. I used Cherry and Old Gold Centura pearl card the. There is a layer of white glitter card in there to and the card blank was black. 

I thought this image from an old card went well with the frame. 

The banner came from another card. 

A nice simple make I just couldn't waste that frame. I have used all my sheets of Cherry card now I think I will have to order some more. 

I would like to enter the September  Rudolph Days Challenge and challenge 22 at the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge blog. 

Have a great week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Crafty Catz Challenge Blog - Birthday Challenge

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

The weekend is nearly here. I hope you have something nice planned. On Saturday we will be working on the Save the Date cards for our nephew and his fiancee. On Sunday we will be visiting both sets of parents.

The new challenge starts on the Crafty Catz Challenge blog  today it is a bit special as it is our birthday.

The SPONSOR - BUGABOO

THEME... Birthday card only NOT Anything Goes this week as this is our Birthday week (8 years)  there will be a few extra prizes will be on offer

the winner will be chosen (not random org)

TOP3 will each win an image of their choice

4 more winners will be chosen by random org and receive an image also. This is exciting.  

I like to recycle packaging where I can the background paper came from a flower bag. When I was looking through my scraps I found the off cut from a Pixie Powder background so I used it here. 

This is a our very generous sponsor for our birthday challenge. If you click on the image you will be taken to the store. 

This image is called Tulip Jar it is available here.  I printed it onto water colour paper and coloured it with my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. 

Yes my favourite LOTV Happy Birthday stamp. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

I would like to enter challenge 137 at the Creative Fingers Challenge Blog , Weeks 299 and 300 at the Pixie's Snippets Playground ,challenge 51 at the Crafting with Friends Challenge blog and challenge 347 at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge blog. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Christmas in the Forest

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? I seem to be getting busier and that is a good thing. My back has improved immensely and that has  given me a lot more energy.

I was so lucky to be able to go to Crafting at Ally Pally again last weekend. I really do enjoy that show. It was a bit quieter on the Saturday probably because of the bomb on the tube the day before. I was quite restrained in my spending and I only bought one die but I wanted to try it out. I did get some other things as well.

 I had this idea for a winter scene. I have been using my Tonic Guillotine for cutting my mats and layers I have been finding a lot easier than my rotary cutter. The moon was just cut from the black with a circle die to reveal the layer below. The stars came from the Star Spray die set from Creative Expressions. Really I wanted to cut the stars from the black like the moon but I couldn't find my star dies. 

This is the die I bought the Santa's sleigh from the Festive collection of dies designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions. 

I used the Winter Trees die set and the Deer Family die set also from Creative Expressions. The snow was made with white glitter card. 

When you come out of Ally Pally there is a terrace round the building and from there you get the most amazing views of London. 

In this one you can make out the towers on the O2.

I am planing to have another play with the new die I have some other ideas to try.  So far I have made 54 Christmas cards. I am really not sure how many I need this year now I am not working. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

I would like to enter challenge 74 at the Scrapy Land Challenge blog, challenge 35 at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog and challenge 44 at the Snowflakes Promoise Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Retirement Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

Well that was a busy weekend. I hope you had a good time too. I had a great time at Ally Pally I bought some new bits (it would be rude not to) and I met up with some lovely people. My back was very good too which helped hugely.  On Sunday we went to talk to our nephew and his fiancee, in Aldershot,  about their wedding invitations.When we got home we went to an extension warming . Back to normal today.

My husband asked me to make a retirement card for someone at his work. He gave her the  card last Friday so it fine for me to share it now.

I found the image on an old card. The image set the tone for the card.  The paper was left over from the wedding. The flowery strip in the middle came from the bottom of the card. The die top and bottom of the image is the Ursa die one of Sue Wilson's Gemini dies. 

I can't remember the name of this little character. I am sure someone will know. It just seemed to be a good image for a lady's retirement card. 

This is a Britannia die. I have a few of their word dies and they are very useful. 

The flowers were cut with Petite Peony Cluster die from the finishing touches collection from Creative Expressions. 

The extension warming we went to was at the house of my friend who  is an artist and she runs felting workshops. She asked me if I would be happy to help at these workshops and I said yes. I am very excited and I will be learning a new skill. My first workshop will be next week.  Have a great week. 

I would like to enter challenge 12 at the Daisy Chain Challenges. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Crafty Catz Challenge Blog - Anything Goes with the option of Halloween

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

The weekend is nearly here. I hope you have something nice planned. We are hoping to go to the Ally Pally Craft show at the weekend. I have bought the tickets but I am a bit worried about my back which is still playing up. We will just have to wait and see.

The new challenge starts today on the Crafty Catz challenge blog the theme is always Anything goes this time with the optional theme of Halloween. The sponsor is Lacy Sunshine and the team had images that we could work with. I have agreed to stay on as guest designer on the blog for the next month it was so nice to be asked.

Well if you know me  you know that I don't really do Halloween so I made a fun card with this quirky image. I embossed the background with a star patterned embossing folder then I inked over it with Distress inks.  

There are many wonderful images in the store. Click on the logo and you should be taken there. 

He is rather cute and he is called Franklin Beastie her is available HERE. I coloured him with Promarkers. I added a little heart to show that he is loved. 

This sentiment came from an old card it seemed rather appropriate. 

There you have it my card for the next challenge. It is nice to know that I will be staying on for a while. On another note I have been asked to make our nephews wedding invitations. The wedding is going to be in Malta so that will be a bit different. 

Happy Crafting

Take care

Hugs Jackie

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Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine Issue 170 Christmas Bonus Papers

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? I had a bad day yesterday I ended up with a migraine they really do wipe you out. So not much happened. Today our daughter and her new husband set off on their Honeymoon. They are going to Florida so it has been a bit hit and miss if they would be able to go. Of course this is nothing compared with what the people have had to contend with over there.

I was sent the bonus papers for issue 170 of Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine and I sent them a card but it didn't make it into print. I thought it was worth sharing it though.

Apart from the card for matting and layering and a gem everything came from the bonus papers.

I did love the image of the cute gingerbread man. 

The snowflake was cut with a Snowflake die designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions. 

We seem to be experiencing trouble with our internet. I will try to get round to comment as best I can. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Simple Gingerbread Man Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one. We had a lovely day on Saturday that started with breakfast out and ended with us receiving the bunnies so our daughter and her new husband can go on Honeymoon. They are booked to go Florida and we all know about the weather there at the moment we will just have to wait and see what happens. At least being here they are safe. My back is continuing to improve.

On Sunday I actually had some craft time. My husband decided he wanted work on his tax form. I set up a meal to cook in the slow cooker that left me free to craft. I have a mixed media project that I am working on  that has to be done is stages. Once I had got as far as I could I made a few simple Christmas cards to the same design. My husband finished the tax form which is good. He is very organised this year.

I really did use a lot of scraps. I found some A5 card blanks with envelopes (which I am going to stamp) and the papers came from my scrap pile as well as the black and gold card. 

This is a stamp from Sizzix and it comes with a matching die. 

I just love this gingerbread man stamp from the Cookie-Cutter stamp set from Stampin Up I have the matching punch. I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform and this is the first time that I have got such a good impression from the stamp. I do like to do a lot of stamping in one go when I have the stamping platform out. 

Meet the bunnies they are staying with us for about four weeks. The house already smells of hay. 

There are five of these cards. They are ideal being small enough and flat enough to post.

I would like to enter Weeks 297 and 298 at Pixie's Snippets Playground. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Crafty Catz Challenge Blog - Optional theme Thank You

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week been? I woke up without a headache for the first time in ages yesterday only to hurt my back later when I was sorting out some of my crafty stash. Serves me right for trying to pick up something way too big. I think I was in denial about just how many dies I have and I never seem to have everything I need.

This is my second offering for the Crafty Catz Challenge Blog the sponsor this time is Crafty Sentiments Designs. The theme is Anything Goes with the optional twist of a thank you sentiment.

When I saw the image I thought she would look good in pink. I added mats and layers and a patterned paper to match. 

Crafty Sentiments Designs has lots of wonderful images the store is worth a look if you click on the logo you should get taken to the store. 

This is the  image she  is called Emmi Loo - Just Me she is available from the store. I coloured her with Promarkers and the image and border was cut with Tattered Lace dies. 

Again this is my very useful thank you die that came free with a magazine sometime ago. 

It was good to use my Promarkers again I have been neglecting them lately. 

I would like to enter the Anything Goes Challenge at the Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge blog and challenge 49 at the Crafting with Friends Challenge blog. 

I hope you have time to join in with our challenge. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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