John Next Door - Deco Butterflies Day 2

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

The weekend is here. Today is the day the John Lockwood is releasing his new Deco Butterfly dies. Here are some more of my makes this time featuring the smaller Butterfly dies. 

First up is a tag made with the John Next Door Luggage Tag die set. I do like making tags from time to time and these dies make nice big tags. 

Here is one of the butterflies nestled among the flowers and leaves. 

This is a DL card. I cut the aperture with circle dies from my collection. 

The Deco Butterflies are very  pretty. They work in all sorts of colours. 

For this DL card I used the butterfly silhouettes with the Poppy Head dies. 

Finally another DL card with the butterflies and the Poppy Head dies. I do love those sentiments that come with the butterflies. I have a feeling the dies and stamps in this collection won't last long. I will share my last make with these dies on Monday. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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John Next Door - Limited Edition Mandala Kit - Day 3

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How are we all doing? Not much has happened since yesterday. Though we did get some post and this included  quite a few things we need to sort out for my parents. My dad has got worse and he needs over night care now.  So I need to apply to get his Attendance Allowance increased. The form has taken 19 days to get here. When I send it back it is going to go registered. 

Here is another of the cards I made with the Limited Edition Mandala kit that will be released tomorrow on Hochanda. This one has a splash of colour. 

I used the outer die from the mandala to cut an aperture in the black card. Then I stamped and heat embossed the black card. I raised this layer up on large foam pads. I choose one of the patterned papers that come in the kit. I used copper card and black card to cut out the mandala and this was stuck to the patterned paper which is below the black heat embossed sheet. I used some ribbon to enhance the design. 

Have a good day. I think it is going to be a stay home and craft kind of a day. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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John Next Door Shutter Card Die set

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I have just finished two weeks of invigilating. The kids we have worked with have been very good and have coped with the difficult circumstances we have all had to deal with. I am posting on a Saturday as I have some news that I have been sitting on for a while. 

Back in the summer I applied to be a Guest John Next Door Angel for the month of September. Well that didn't work out. A bit later on a received and email that I assumed would tell me that too many people had applied and that I hadn't made the cut. Well I was wrong I was given the chance to be a Guest Angel for November. In October I received my dies and I had a great time making cards with the Shutter cards die set and the Poppy Heads dies. 

The dies were released on Hochanda yesterday and they proved to be very popular. I tried to make a range of card with the dies to show how versatile they could be. 

I will start with the Christmas cards I made. All the dies and papers I used have been designed by John Lockwood aka John Next Door.  

This card was shown in the Facebook Live the day before the release. By accident I made this card open the other way to most of them. It works just as well. 

Here is a more straight forward Christmas card. 

Here I made a Christmas card with Sam's Circles die set. I used the flags that came with Shutter Card die set. 

Here are the Christmas cards together. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 516 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Challenge 83 a the the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 28 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Alphabet Challenge - Letter Q for Quick and Simple

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week been? As you might know we were at a funeral on Wednesday the whole day went well. The service was followed by a woodland burial, we had never been to one of these before, it was very moving and a lovely way to say goodbye.

The new challenge starts on the Alphabet Challenge blog today the letter is Q and the theme is Quick and Simple.

This is a really quick and simple card. It was going to be a shaker card but I didn't leave enough room for the foam tape. Not to be thwarted I changed the plan and used a scrap of spotted paper behind the die cut. 

I used the Perspective Happy Birthday dies designed by Sue Wilson.  You can use the positive and the negative from these dies. 

This is the same card being shown on Hochanda back in August. I made some samples for John Lockwood to use in his shows. I was so proud to have my cards shown along side John's and Sue Wilson's. As a thank when I saw John at Ally Pally he gave me the complete collection of his Birthday Seasons stamps sets. That was so kind of him. 

I do love these dies and I think they are brilliant for none fussy cards for men. 

I would like to enter the CAS challenge at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog and Challenge 26 at Craft Rocket Challenges. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Perspective Dies by Sue Wilson

Hi  My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week been? At the start of the week I had a migraine and then headaches. I also hurt my back. I am feeling a lot better now. I dind't get as much done this week as I was hoping to. That is just how it goes sometimes.

Some of you know that I am friends with John Lockwood. We had arranged to meet up after one of his local (to me) workshops but his plans changed (they often do). Anyway he is in the process of moving and he asked if I would make some samples with the Perspective dies by Sue Wilson for his show on Hochanda. I agreed,  though I did need to buy some. The shows showcasing these die start tonight and carry on tomorrow.

These are the samples that I sent to John. I did enjoy working with these die they were fun to use and I love how you can use the negative and the positive of the die. Sue Wilson has lots of tutorials using these dies. The dies I have are the ones I thought would be most useful. 

This is the first card I made it was going to be a shaker card but I didn't leave enough space, for the foam tape between the Happy and the Birthday. I do like the clean simple lines of this card. 

This is meant to be a shaker card. I did get the idea from watching one of Sue Wilson's videos. The trouble is I put too much confetti in the card so it doesn't shake but it does look rather pretty. I need to make a birthday card for our daughter's fiance and I had been struggling with an idea now I am going to make one of these cards for him. 

I did buy the stamp that matched the Happy and I used it to create the background. I used a sticky embossing powder and gilding flakes. It is a lot less messy using gilding flakes this way. Once I had done this I used Distress ink to colour the background. 

This card sees my first use of Pixie Powders. Now they are quite as bright as Brushos but they do sparkle. I love things that sparkle. So behind the Best Wishes background there is some water colour paper that I coloured with Pixie Powders. I cut the Best Wishes die three times. Then I cut the Happy Birthday Circle set several times in different colours and I played around until I was happy with a combination. 

I do like making boxes and I found the Circle Thank You die and the Circle Happy Birthday just right for the top of a box. 

I decided to make a card to match the box. 

Lastly this is the Circle Happy Birthday set used to decorate a box. 

I did enjoy using these dies and I have lots of ideas of how to use them in the future. I feel like I have made a good investment. 

I hope you get to watch some of John's show on Hochanda he is always full of good tips and ideas. I am hoping to watch the launch show at least. We are rather busy tomorrow. 

Have a great weekend. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Primrose Cards on Hochanda

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your week going? We are now well into the run up to Easter but it all seems a bit early to me. The Wedding I have made all the things for is on Easter Saturday. When it is all over I will blog my makes and I will try to get a picture of the happy couple to share with you. We are dropping everything off on Friday before the wedding on Saturday.

I bought my self some of John Lockwood's latest release of stamps. I love Primroses and I went for the Primrose Element stamps and the Primrose Hearts Everyday Sentiment sets. I am friends with John on Facebook and we have met a few times in person. I sent John a message saying I had bought the stamps and he asked to see what I made with them. So I did and he asked to borrow them for his shows on Hochanda starting on 20th March for a one day special.

This is what I sent in I must admit that the stamps were very nice to work with. 

This is my tag being shown by Alex Turchyn. 

In the background of this photo you can see my cards on the shelf at the back they are all yellow and green I am a bit of a traditionalist. 

This is my card being shown by Hayley West. I was watching this on Catch-up. 

Here is a close up on the tag. Some of the other items will be blogged properly as I am going to use them for Design Team pieces. 

John has promised to send all the samples back. I have really enjoyed this experience and I would happily do it all again. 

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

A Birthday Card for a Special Surprise

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How has your week been so far? We are now at the half way point so we are getting ever closer  to the weekend. I have lots to do before we get there but I feel like I am catching up on outstanding projects.

The girl who comes and gives me a Sport's Massage once in a while asked if I would make  a birthday card for her mum. She wants to take her mum on a cruise and this will be her special present. I think it is a lovely generous idea. They have both had a tough year and it will do them both good.

I was asked to give the card a nautical feel. I used all the blue shades of Centura Pearl card that I have to make the layers. I have just bought the Sue Wilson Double Pierced Noble Square and Retangle dies and I used them to cut some of the layers. There are now B sets to match these dies, they have gone on my wish list. 

I used some of the other dies from the Noble collection to create the frame. I heard Julia Watts say to do the embossing before the cutting and I did this and it worked a treat.  The ship was cut with a Signature die. 

Under the ship I put the message that had be requested. I used the bunting from the Flower Pot Shelf die again. 

I am a bit of a sucker for competitions on Facebook and I often enter. Well on Friday last week I was lucky and I won this set of dies on the Hochanda Facebook page. I think they are going to be very useful. 

I hope my massage lady likes this card. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie