Piece by Piece die set from Die-Cutting Essentials magazine

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? My mother-in-law came out of hospital last Friday. On Saturday we visited and did lots of jobs around the house to help.  On Sunday went to Mottisfont. While we were there we got the message that my mother-in-law had been taken back into hospital. So there will be more hospital visiting this week.

I treated myself to Issue 54 of Die-cutting Essentials magazine. It came with the fabulous Piece by Piece die set. I found an old card with a nice image that I thought would work well with the die set.

That is a fabulous image to use. I made a 6" x 6" card blank and I added a mat of glitter card. 

The die set comes with an outer die so I used this to cut a black mat. Then I cut the image with the puzzle piece part of the die set. I offset one of the pieces to make it look like the puzzle was about to be finished. As a family we love doing puzzles at Christmas. 

I was really pleased with how this design worked out. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 448 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

Challenge 12 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

The Whatever the Weather Challenge at the Daring Card Makers Challenge blog

Challenge 206 at Dream Valley Challenges

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Rudolph Days Challenge - Snippets and Stags Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How has your week been? It has been so hot everything seems to have slowed down. My mother-in-is still in hospital so we will be visiting at the weekend.  I think we  need to look into getting them some help around the house. My mother-law-actually admitted that she might need some help.

I have been entering the Rudolph Days challenge every month to keep me on track with my Christmas cards. Here is a little card I made with Snippets and some of my new dies from the John Next Door range.

Okay you must have noticed that I am obsessed with making Snippets backgrounds. They look great in all different colours. This time I added some lines of glitter card to match one of the mats. 

This is the sentiment that comes with the Round Bauble die set from the John Next Door range. 

You get two stag dies in the Round Bauble set. They face opposite ways I thought they looked nice in rows along the card. 

Have a great weekend. We will be visiting the hospital at the weekend. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The July Challenge at the Rudolph Days Challenge

The July Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge

Challenge 447 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

Challenge 52 at the Holly and the Ivy Challenge blog

Challenge 12 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 402 at the My Time to Craft Challenge blog

Challenge 179 at the Cut it Up Challenge blog

Challenge 16 at the Cute N' Crafty Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Painted Blooms tent fold card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? It is flipping hot. Last night there was an amazing lightning storm. My mother-in-law is still in hospital. She has a chest infection but that seems to be clearing now. Hopefully she will be able to come out soon. My husband and I will be visiting again this evening. It is exactly a year since my dad was in hospital. I think we need  a season ticket to the car park.

I was looking at Beccy's Place blog and there was a cool card  design using the Painted Blooms digi stamp set. Click here to be taken to the blog post. 

The card blank was a leftover piece of card from cutting down an A3 sheet. I trimmed it to the size that would suit. 

I had a printed sheet of images of the Painted Blooms set left over from the cards I made for the release. I used  Neenah card and I fussy cut the flowers and leaves. In my stash of scraps I found a piece of white card that could be cut to size. I arranged the flowers and leaves at the bottom of the card and cut round the edge. 

I think this die came free with a magazine a long time ago. 

Thank you Beccy for the inspiration. This is another card that can go in the art sale. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 357

Challenge 395 at Crafty Creations Challenges

The Through the Craft Room Door challenge - 23rd July to 29th July 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Fa La Llama!

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? We had a whirlwind of a time. On Saturday we visited our parents. We took my husband's parents out for a meal. Then we visited my parents and had a cup of tea with them. On Sunday we were catching up with jobs around the house when we got the message that my husband's mother had been taken into hospital. We later got the message that she was feeling a bit better but was staying in for observations. Today we will be popping up to see her after my husband finishes work.

On to the card for today. Do you remember that the card I made for our daughter's birthday got lost is in the post. Well it did turn up. So I didn't need this replacement that I made. It is another one that can go in the art sale in August.

I used lots of bits of patterned paper from my stash to make the background. 

This cute llama comes from the Llama Love digi stamp set from Imaging That Digistamp that is available HERE.  I used the pre-coloured llama and the sentiment came in the set too. In the background is my own photo. 

Have a great week. I will keep everyone up to date about my mother-in-law. 

I would like to go in for the following challenges: 

The July Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Magical Unicorn Birthday Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How has your week been? I didn't have a good day on Wednesday but things picked up after that. I am having a table at one of the Hampshire Open Studios venues in a few weeks time. I was asked. I am finding the whole thing a bit daunting, Anyway I have been making a few things for it. This card is one of them.

The background was made with one of my sheets of inky kitchen paper for the sky and the grass was a piece of watercolour card coloured with Distress Oxides. 

This is the Unicorn stamp set from Woodware. I think he was stamped with Watering Can Archival ink. He was coloured with my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. Some of these pens seem to have gone a bit funny and the ink blobs out. So I have taken to putting the ink on my craft mat and using a paintbrush and water to apply it. This unicorn is very sparkly which is only as it should be. 

The sentiment came with the stamp set and was cut out with a cloud die. 

I did the same with this sentiment. 

I made the rainbow with the Double Pierced Circle dies from Creative Expressions. You do get two rainbows and lots of brightly coloured circles. 

I have various cloud dies that I used on this card.  That is one more card for my table. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 170 at the Seize the Birthday Challenge blog

Week 28 at the Colour Crazy Craft Challenge blog

QKR Stampede Challenge #357 Anything Goes 

The July Challenge at Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Challenge blog

Through the Craft Room Door challenge for the Week of 16th

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie 

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

A 21st Birthday Card for a special Lad

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? Sometimes things get so hectic that it is hard to find time to blog. I am sure lots of you know what this is like.

A couple of weeks ago there was an appeal for 21st birthday cards for a lad who wasn't expected to live past the age of three. So I decided to make a card for this lad's very special birthday.

I have had a stack of foiled card in my stash for a while. It was nice to actually use some on a project. 

I had a piece of one of my inky backgrounds left over and I cut the Spellbinders hot air balloon to go over it. The bird dies came free with a magazine recently. 

This numbers are X-cut dies and them make quite a statement. 

I hope he liked his card. I did see some photos there were lots of cards and he looked very happy. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 224 at the Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge blog

Challenge 125 at the Dies R Us Challenge 

Challenge 118 at Scrapy Land Challenges

The July Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 291 at the Brown Sugar Challenge blog

Challenge 7 at the Rainbow Card Challenge

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

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

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sent with Love Get Well Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

The weekend is here. I hope you are well. I am feeling a bit fragile and tired. I woke with a headache in the night and that is never good. Hopefully I will feel better by tomorrow when our daughter and son-in-law come to collect their very cute hamster. We have bought the M&S £10 pizza meal deal to share. Two pizzas a side and a pudding not bad really.

I made this as a Get Well card for someone special. All the dies I used are from the John Next Door range from Crafts-Too.

The card blank was made with the Foston Die set. I used the lattice die that comes with the set to decorate the front of the card. 

The 'Sent with Love' die comes with the Small butterflies die set. 

The flowers and leaves were cut with the Star Flowers and Star Flowers Leaves die sets. The butterfly was from the Small Butterfly die sets. 

I know this card has been received now so it is okay to share. 

I would like to enter the following Challenges:

The July Blues and Greens Challenge at Country View Challenges

The July Challenge at the Die Cut Divas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie 

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Not Just Cards Challenge Blog - July Challenge - Anything Goes

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going?  I met up with my friends that I used to work  with yesterday at a local garden centre. There is a Hobbycraft store next door which just had to be visited. It would have been rude not too. Today and tomorrow I have a couple of quiet days it will be nice to  be catch up on some things.

Well today is 11th of the month and this means that there will be a new challenge at the Not Just Cards Challenge blog where the theme is Anything Goes.

A few months ago my husband asked me to make a birthday card for a lady at his work that likes dogs.  It had to be quite a large card for people to sign. 

Our challenges are fun click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

This image is called Cute Puppy and it is available HERE.  It came as a PNG image so I could place it onto my own background and I added the sentiment. The image was coloured with Promarkers. 

I used the Ivy Spray dies and the Small Star flower dies from the John Next Door range to make the decorative border. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

I would like to enter the following Challenges:

Challenge 169 at the Seize the Birthday Challenge blog

Challenge 61 at Craft Rocket Challenges 

The July Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge 

Challenge 28 at the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge blog

The July Anything Goes Challenge at the Catch the Bug Challenge blog

Challenge 388 at the I ❤ Promarkers Challenge blog 

Challenge 501 at the Passion for Promarkers Challenge blog

Challenge 95 at the A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge blog

Challenge 172 at the Creative Moments Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

More Snippets Christmas Cards

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? Just to let you know that I had a lovely time at the Newbury Craft show. The new organisers did a fantastic job. I came away with quite few new crafty goodies. Yesterday I met my husband in Southampton so we could go the the cinema we ended up seeing Rocketman.  This was better than we expected. Today I am having lunch with a group of people that I used to work with. Being retired does have it's upsides.

I have been making Christmas cards again. You could say that I am obsessed with making cards using Snippets.

There are just so many strips of paper around to make backgrounds with. Funny thing how ever many cards I make the pile never seems to get any smaller. 

I used the deer from the Winter Wonderland die set from Sizzix. They were cut from Kraft Card and coloured with Distress ink. The ribbon in the background came from some craft stash that I inherited. 

This is the second card. I do like this design I will probably make some more cards like this. 

This is the Noel Word Die from Lil' inker Designs. 

Here are the cards together. More for my stash of Christmas cards. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 356 at Pixie's Snippets Playground

The July Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Challenge 61 at Craft Rocket Challenges

Challenge 52 at the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 445 at Crafthazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 12 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 124 at the Dies R Us Challenge

Challenge 117 at Scrapy Land Challenges

Challenge 118 at Always Fun Challenges

Challenge 188 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Beccy's Place - Painted Blooms

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your weekend? We had a nice lazy day on Saturday. My husband had a lovely time away and he did stay up very later so a lazy day was just right for him.  Today we are heading off to the Craft Show at Newbury Racecourse.

I am one of the blog contributors for Beccy's Place. I was sent the beautiful Painted Blooms digital stamp set to use. I made three cards.

I did love these images as soon as I saw them. For the card I wanted a matching backing paper so I made my own. I used Publisher and created a background. Then I repeated a small version of the image over and over to create a row. Which I then copied and pasted down the document. It really didn't take too long and the paper matches exactly. The main image was printed twice I used the pre-coloured images. I used one of the images as a base then I cut the petals and leaves and shaped them to give dimension. The whole image was sprayed with a glaze and Glossy Accents was added to the centre of the flowers. I used the Double Pierced Circle dies from Creative Expressions to cut the frame for the image. 

This is the Painted Blooms digital image set. It is available HERE. 

For this card I made the backing paper in the same way. The circles are from the middle of the frame from the first card. I added a corner die cut. 

You know that I like making cards from Snippets. Well I have quite a few bits of the backing paper left over. So I cut them into strips along with some gold mirror card. The sentiment was mounted onto the Refined Rectangles frame. 

Here are the cards together. I was pleased with how they turned out. It is a very pretty set of images to use. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 109 at the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge blog

Challenge 172 at the Creative Moments Challenge blog

The July Challenge at the Crafter's Castle Challenge

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Winter Wonderland Challenge Blog - Christmas or Winter Buildings

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you have had a good week. I am not quite sure where all the time went. Without my hubby around everything seems to take so much longer. Anyway he is back this evening I don't know  when. On Sunday as a treat I am being taken to the Newbury Craft  show. This time it has new organisers. It will be interesting to see what is different.

Today is the first day of the new challenge at the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog. This time the theme is Christmas or Winter Buildings. the fabulous sponsor is Twinkle Lane Designs.

I cut the aperture and the frame for the image with the Double Pierced Circle dies from Creative Expressions. 

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

The image I used is called Christmas Cottage and is available HERE.  I also used the Winter Forest Digital Paper set which is available HERE.  I printed both the image and the paper I wanted onto Neenah card stock. The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added Fluffy Stuff for the snow. 

I had some thin ribbon with Merry Christmas on it. I placed it over some stitched ribbon. 

There we are another Christmas card for my stash. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 151 at the Simply Create Too Challenge blog

Challenge 444 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 146 at the Kitty Bee Designs Challenge blog

Challenge 188 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Challenge 12 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin