Floral Doily Thank You Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? Today there will be no invigilating for me as I am having lunch out with a lovely group of people that I used to work with. We go to a restaurant at a local college where the students wait on you and others cook the food. I must say that the food is amazing and the price is fantastic.

When I made my splat card (which you can see here) I had lots of flowers left over. Here is was I decided to make.

I saw a challenge somewhere to use a doily I am too late to join that challenge but it did remind me that I have lots of doilies in my stash. The patterned paper in the background is left over from our daughter's wedding. 

The cornflowers cut with the Cornflower die from the John Next Door range are very pretty. It you lay a 2.5 inch strip across the middle of the die you get two small flowers and all the centres. As all the dies are on one plate there is no chance of loosing the small dies. I used the Star Flower Leaves dies to cut the leaves. This design is a great way to use up Snippets of card and paper. 

The banner die and the thank you both came with the Crafter's Companion Advent calendar. 

I did enjoy making this card. It is so bright and cheerful. I am taking place at the Hampshire Studios event again this summer and I am already thinking of what I can make for it. This year I will have much more time to plan. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 370 at Pixie's Snippets Playground

 Challenge 28th January at the Through the Craft Room Door (TTCRD) Challenge Blog

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Pussy Cat themed easel Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? I hope you had something nice to do. We went into Southampton on Saturday morning. We had coffee and cake vouchers for John Lewis and it would have been rude not to use them. We also returned to the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Art Gallery which finishes soon. Sunday was a quiet day of catching up.

On Friday I had a bit of a difficult day. I didn't realise how tired invigilating had made me last week. With a free afternoon on Friday I tried to craft and nothing worked. I did get rather fed up. On Saturday afternoon  I took a bit of time out to craft and I was much happier with the results. Here is one of the cards that I made.

This year lots of people have given me their old cards to recycle. I go through them and sort out the cards I can use. I came across a card with a group of cats on. My mother-in-law loves cats and I thought the image would make a nice card for her. 

This is a happy group of cats all dressed up and ready for the cold. 

I used the sentiment cut with a die from the Happy Snowflakes die set and this became the stopper for the easel part of the card. 

The trees were cut with the Winter Trees die set from Creative Expressions. The little cat die came with the Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar. I like the design on this part of the card so much I might adapt it into a card on it's own. 

I was pleased with this card. I think my mother-in-law will love it. I will make a separate card for my father-in-law. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 474 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Challenge 18 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

The January Rudolph Days Challenge

The January Challenge at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog A = Anything Goes

Have a great week. I will be invigilating again this week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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When you can't get an idea out of your head...

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I am back invigilating today. These Year 10  practice exams will go on until the end of next week.

When I was using the Cornflower die, from the John Door Range, I kept thinking that the centres of the flowers looked a bit like paint splats. I just couldn't get that idea out of my head.

I found an inky background I had made a while ago. I thought it would be a good idea to make quite a small card. This one is made from an A4 sheet. 

Here are the stamen cut with the Cornflower die. I found if you laid a 2.5 strip of card across the middle of the die you could cut all the stamen and two small flowers. Now I have lots of small flowers. I will have to use them on a project. All the stamen were attached to the background. 

Then a piece of ribbon was placed across the middle of the card. The Happy Birthday, cut with a Crafter's Companion die, was stuck to the centre of the ribbon. 

This is a bright cheerful card. Now I will have to think of something to do with all those flowers with no centres. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Floral Feel Better Soon Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you have had a good weekend. We managed to be busy although not much was arranged. We did see our friend who had an operation last week. On Sunday we visited our daughter and son-in-law. We have started planning a special holiday with them. Today a full time carer starts work at my parents house to look after them. It has taken a lot of effort to get to this place.

I loved the dies I used on Friday's card so much that I decided to make a smaller card.

I found the patterned paper in a pad and I liked the colours so much I decided to make that the colour scheme of the card. 

I used the Renmore die set from the John Next Door range to make a focal point for the sentiment. This time I used the inner die that that comes with the set to make a darker background sentiment. The sentiment is made from a scrap of the patterned paper. The sentiment die is from Crafter's Companion. 

I cut the Cornflower die from the John Next Door Range in blues and yellows. As I was using smaller flowers I used the Star Flower Leaves dies to make the foliage. 

The next two weeks are going to be rather busy I am not sure how much crafting will get done. I will try to keep up with my comments. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Have a great week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie 

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Pretty Floral Birthday Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you have had a good week. We have certainly had some weather to contend with. I am looking forward to the weekend. It should be a quiet one as we have nothing planned. Though we might visit our friend who had the operation this week if he feels like visitors. I wonder what you have planned?

On my blog the other day  I had a comment that someone couldn't read my blog post as the font was too small. It would help me a lot if anyone else who is having this issue could let me know. I am using the Normal Font size and I am not keen to go bigger but I will if I have to.

In an attempt to be organised I have made a spreadsheet of all the birthdays and celebrations through the year that I would like to make cards for. Having compiled it the list is rather long and a bit daunting. I just don't want to leave anyone out. Here is a card I made for the first birthday on the list.

I found a pretty patterned paper in my stash and I matched the colours of the mats and layers to the paper. 

I cut the Renmore die to create a focal place for the sentiment from a scrap of white card from my stash. This die set is from the John Next Door range. 

I used two shades of pink to cut the Cornflower die to create the flowers. This is the first time I have used this die.  The foliage was cut the Leafy Swirls dies. Both of these are  from the John Next Door range. I used the off cuts from the mats to make the flowers. 

I do like how this card turned out. Now I want to make one in blues to see how that looks. Adding some ink and pearls to the flowers might look good too. Don't you just love it when dies give you ideas? 

For the next two weeks I will be invigilating so I am not sure how much crafting will get done. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Week 554 at the Allsorts Challenge blog

Challenge 181 at the Seize the Birthday Challenge blog

The Something New Challenge at the Daring Cardmakers Challenge blog (Cornflower Die is new).

Challenge 177 at the Creative Fingers Challenge blog

The January Challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge. 

Have a great weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge Blog - Challenge 108

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you are having a good week. I am still struggling to get on with my crafting life really does get in the way sometime.

Challenge 108 starts at the A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge blog today.  The theme is Anything Goes.  There are lovely Digi papers on offer as prizes.

I chose one of the lovely Thistle papers to use on my creation. You can see the musical notes in the background which was ideal for my project. 

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

This is a Signature die called first dance I have used is a lot. 

This is a Crafter's Companion die. 

There is a bit of a story to this card. Our friends have known Emma Barton (Honey in Eastenders) since she was a little girl. When Emma was on Strictly Come Dancing last year our friends went to the filming of one of the episodes as VIP guests. They have another friend whose son who has Cerebral Palsy and is a big Strictly fan. So the mum asked our friends if they would get a card signed. I offered to make a card to sign as I could theme it easily. Here is what was written in the card by Emma and some of the performers. 

Here is the lad with his card he does look very happy. 

It is nice to think that this card helped to make someone happy. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Gone Fishin' Card and Matching Gift Bag

Hello My Craft Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? We got done most of the things we were expecting to do. You always seem to run out of time.

The our friend that we met on Saturday for breakfast is going to have an operation on Tuesday. We decided to buy him some treats for when he is feeling better. We know him very well and we know what he likes to eat and drink. He also likes fishing.

I bought the Gone Fishin' set of images from Beccy's Place some time ago as I thought they would be useful. The set is available HERE. The paper I used was from a paper pad from The Works. It is a 12" x 12" pad so there was plenty of paper for both the card and the gift bag. 

I used the Double Pierced Circle dies from Creative Expressions to cute out the image and its mat. 

This sentiment was cut with some dies from the John Next Door Additions Dies Sentiments 1. I hope there is going to be a Sentiments 2 and maybe even 3. 

Here is the card with the matching gift bag. The bag contains a bottle of ginger liqueur and some dark chocolate ginger chocolates. They are both things that our friend likes a lot. It is always a worry when some one has to go to hospital. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 248 at the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge blog

The January Love Challenge at Country View Challenges

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Not Just Cards Challenge Blog - January Challenge - Anything Goes

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you are enjoying the weekend. Today we are having a real treat and meeting our good friends at a local garden centre for breakfast. I just love going out for breakfast. On Sunday we are meeting with my husband's brothers and their wives to discuss the care of my husband's parents and their finances. We are hoping to fit in a visit to my parents as well. Weekends are still busy.

It is time for the January challenge at the Not Just Cards Challenge blog to start. The theme is Anything Goes.

I was asked to make this card by a friend (the one we are meeting for breakfast today) for her friend who was going to be 70. I was told that she likes dogs and gardening. 

Our challenges are always Anything Goes why not come and join in with the fun. Click on the logo and you will be taken to the blog. 

The images I used came from a Hunkydory kit that came free with a magazine. The papers I used on the card came from the kit too.  The frame was created with a Spellbinders die. 

I liked this image because it suggested gardening and it had a little bird in it just like the one looking at the dog in the top image. 

I cut the two ornamental trees with a Creative Expressions die. 

I used a mix of dies to create this for the number. 

I was told that the friend was very pleased with this card. It is worth having so much stash when you get unusual requests for cards. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 180 at the Seize the Birthday Challenge blog

The January Challenge at the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Nativity Scene Twisted Easel Christmas Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I have been busy with a few things and I am finding it hard to fit in much crafting. I seem to need a specific goal to get going. I am hoping to make a gift bag and card for a friend who is having an operation next week. That should be enough motivation to gee me along.

In the meantime I have been looking through my files for cards that I have not shown you yet. Through the year I make a lot of Christmas cards and here is one of them that never had its day on the blog.

I do like making Nativity themed Christmas cards. I was thrilled when John Lockwood came out with the Nativity Scenes die set for his John Next Door range. All the layers were cut with the Double Pierced Square dies from Creative Expressions. 

I used together the O Little Town Scenes and the Nativity Scenes die set from the John Next Door range. I cut them twice once in black and once in Rose Gold (I love that colour). I used the Rose Gold as a shadow to highlight the dies. 

The sentiment was cut with another John Next Door die. In the background I used the Snowflake Embossing folder that came with the John Next Door craft magazine. The paper at the back of the Nativity Scene came from the magazine to. 

I would just like to say that I do appreciate everyone who visits my blog and especially those who take time to leave a comment. I know blogging isn't as popular as it was a few years ago. We have been through quite a few changes. Also there are some changes coming up for me personally.  I have decided that I am going to keep up with my blog but maybe I won't be posting as often.  I will still be around and I will keep visiting my crafty friend's blogs and leaving comments. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Week 489 at the Krafty Chicks Challenge blog

Challenge 471 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Card

Challenge 18 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 62 at the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge blog

The A is for Anything Goes at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog

The January Challenge at the Christmas Crafts All Year Round Challenge blog

Enjoy the rest of the week

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Bee Happy Card

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is you week going? I must admit that I have found it difficult to get going after the Christmas break. There are still  things to sort out with my parents and that is taking a lot of my time.

When challenge  challenge 71 started at the Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog. I made two cards. The first one I shared last week. Now is the time for the second one. To be honest I enjoyed making this card more. The challenge is on until the end of the month and the theme is Anything Goes.

The background was made with Pixie Powders on water colour card. 

Our challenge is sponsored by Oddball Art click on the logo and you will be taken to the store. 

The Signs of Spring image comes with a page of sentiments this is one of them and is available HERE. 

The bee and the hexagons are from the Dovecraft Bee Happy die collection. 

I don't know who I will send this card to but it a good one to have in my stash. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The What a Cutie/Make Someone Smile Challenge at the Try it on a Tuesday Challenge blog

Challenge 125 at the Creative Craft Cottage Challenge Blog

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Winter Wonderland Challenge blog - theme Little Friends

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? The weekend is nearly here and things are slowly getting back to normal. I am looking forward to getting the house sorted and to be able to do some crafting.

Today the new challenge starts at the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog the theme is Little Friends and the sponsor is Wink Wink Ink.

I did make this card before Christmas when I didn't have much time. So the design is very simple. 

Our sponsor is Wink Wink Ink and they are offering $15 dollars credit to the winner. There are many cute image sets in the store. Click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

This is a fancy sentiment die from Creative Expressions. 

The image set is called Just for You Buck Deer and Mouse Snowman Friend. The images in the set can be used separately. For speed I used the pre-coloured images. I made the background on my computer. 

The images are so cute and work so well together. 

Well I have made a start on my cards for next Christmas. Last year I didn't have a last minute rush I would like this year to be the same. 

Take care. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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