Glamourous Ladies Christmas Card

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you had a good weekend. We actually went to a socially distanced concert on Saturday. It was so lovely to be at an event. Everything was in place to keep you safe. I can't believe we are so close to Christmas. 

This is the card that I made for my good friend. We decided to meet for a walk to swap cards so I was able to make her card a bit bigger. 

I keep cards with images of this type of lady. My friend likes them a lot. 

So this image was cut from an old card. 

The Poinsettias and Ivy were cut with dies by John Next Door. I added pearls to the centres to make them a bit more opulent. At the back is white glitter card. 

I know my friend liked this card. It was lovely seeing her for a walk. Unfortunately we did get caught in the rain. Tonight is the night that  two planets are in conjunction  which will make what some people are calling the Bethlehem star. I do hope the skies will be clear enough to see it. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 76 at the Crafting Happiness Challenge blog

Have a good week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Golden (50th) Wedding Anniversary Cards

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

Good Afternoon. I hope you are having a good day. It is bright and sunny here today. I have already been out this morning. I do like to get out for a walk most days. This weekend we are visiting both sets of parents. I also need to sort some things out for my sister. Sunday will be a quiet day. On Monday we will be collecting my cards from the Hampshire Open Studios event. I have sold a few cards and I have received two commissions not too bad really. I do hope I get asked to participate again next year.

There is a very special couple at our church. They are in their 70s and they run a lot of activities for older people and people with dementia. Today is their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I just had to make them a card to celebrate.

I went with a gold and white theme. 

Here is the detail of the Oakham Lattice die set from the John Next Door range. You can always tell when I have used John Next Door dies as the floor is covered in lots of little bits. The sentiment and numbers are Crafter's Companion dies. The pearls made a nice addition to the design. 

This is one of the commissions I was asked to make. It is for the same couple that I my card was made for. This card used the Butterfly Heart Dies from the John Next Door range. I just love how you get so many butterflies you can use. 

That's all from me this week. I will be back after the weekend. I do hope that you have a good one. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 20 at the Crafter's Castle

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

Christmas Lantern

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your weekend going. It is nice to have an extra day with my hubby. Unfortunately a lot of our time has been taken up with hospital visiting. My mum has been diagnosed with Vascular dementia and she has been assessed as not being able to use the stairs safely. This means that I have to decided if she is going to live upstairs or downstairs in their house. I am feeling the pressure of this decision as it has a lot of implications for my mum and my dad. So if I dip in and out of blogland I hope that you will be patient with me.

I made a Christmas lantern with the small lantern die set from the John Next Door range.

I did watch a film about how to put the lantern together. I used black card that I used Pebeo Gilding wax on to make it look more like metal. There is acetate behind the panels. 

I used the poinsettia stamp set that goes with the die. You make so many poinsettias at the same time. I stamped onto white paper and I used Izink red into to colour the poinsettias. 

I added a battery powered tea light. 

Now it would be a plan to make a whole row of these. I have a feeling that may not happen this year. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The Rudolph Days May Challenge. 

Challenge 439 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Challenge 185 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge Blog

Challenge 50 at the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge

Challenge 10 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 441 at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sent with Love and Flowers

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? We have seen some wonderful sunshine  which has been nice. I have been having a quiet time  but I am still finding it hard to craft. One day was wiped out with a massive headache. On the plus side my parents seem to have settled down with their care package and they seem a lot happier. Another piece of good news it that we became Great Aunt and Uncle this week our niece gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter. We had lots of fun in Next picking out a gift to send. All the baby things are just so cute.

I decided to make another card with the flowers I made a few weeks ago.

I used a lot of dies from John Next Door. For the background I used some inky kitchen roll that had been stuck to card. Over this I put the Gerbera Corner die cut in white.

This this the sentiment that comes with the Small Butterfly die set I cut it with the inky paper and made a shadow of gold. I do this often with die cut sentiments it helps them to stand out from the background. 

When you use the Gerbera die  you get so many flowers. I stuck two of each size together after shaping adding a pearl to the centre. I do love the small butterfly dies. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. I am still trying to finish the ten Christmas cards for my husband's work colleagues. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Snowflake Square Christmas Card.

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? I haven't got so much planned this week so I am hoping to make some more Christmas cards. This year I am so behind on my makes. I think we are going to have to buy some cards. At least the postage will be cheaper I do find it hard to make flat cards.

Last week we had a lovely meal with some friends at a local pub. While we were there  picked up there Christmas menu. When I saw it I realised that I would be able to use some of the images to make Christmas cards.

I have been finding it hard to craft. When I get going it is alright it is the starting that is the problem. I did treat myself to some of John Next Door's new Christmas dies. That did seem to help a bit. The background paper is the cover of the Christmas leaflet from the pub.  I cut the Snowflake Square die in white glitter card the grey mat behind and the black mat with the die set. 

I used the Poinsettia stamp set with the matching dies. The flowers were shaped with a ball tool and make. The Ivy Spray die was cut in green glitter card. 

The sentiment is one of his too cut in white and black. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 187 at Dream Valley Challenges

Challenge 221 at the Crafting from the Heart Challenge blog

The Rudolph Days September Challenge 

Challenge 404 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

The Challenge starting 15th September at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog

The S and T Challenge at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Always Fun Challenges - Flowers

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How has your weekend been? I hope you did something nice. On Sunday we went to visit my husband's parents and take them out for a meal. My husband is borrowing a hat from them that will  be part of a costume for a murder mystery evening we are going to this week. I have a lovely friend who has lent me my costume including a fur coat. If there are any photos I will share them with you.

You might have noticed that I have joined a new design team Always Fun Challenges. This is my first card for them. The challenges are weekly starting on a Monday and finishing on a Saturday. There is always a theme this time it is Flowers.

I was making a card for an event later in the year and I liked part of the design and I thought that it might work well on a card by itself. This is what I ended up with. All the papers came from my stash. 

The challenges are fun and you just have to follow the theme. 

I cut the sentiment with a Signature die set. 

The flowers were made with the Cape Daisy die set from Creative Expressions. They are the same dies I used to make the button holes for the wedding last year. This was the first time I have used the dies since the wedding. I used left over papers from the wedding too. I used the Faux Quillled Leaves dies from Creative Expression to make the leaves. The ovals were cut with some Tattered Lace dies. 

I do like to have a few cards like this put by you never know when you might need one. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 82 at the Crafty Friends Challenge blog

Pixie's Snippets Playground  Challenge 325

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Emerald City Crafts Challenge Blog - Challenge 5

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends

I will start with an apology. I will be posting twice today. Two of the Design Teams I am on coincide today. It happens once a month. I know I made a statement about not blogging so much and I don't seem to be sticking to it.  Design team commitments often come at the start of the month.

Back to business. The new challenge starts today on the Emerald City Crafts Challenge blog it is our fifth challenge and the theme is always Anything Goes.

Linda has many wonderful things on her website. If you click on the logo you will be taken there. 

This image comes from the Joyeux Noel Ephemera available from Linda's website. 

I used a collection of Creative Expressions dies to make an embellishment that reflected the flower spray from the image. 

This is a stamp from IndigoBlu. I was really lucky and picked it up in a sale for 50p. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. We might be going to the NEC craft show on Sunday I won a ticket just one and there is all the travel and parking costs to think about. 

I would like to enter the November Challenge at Beccy's Challenges and challenge 54 at the Crafting with Friends Challenge blog.  

Happy Crafting.

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Some Good News - Emerald City Crafts

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

How is your weekend going? We had a busy day yesterday running round doing things with our daughter towards the wedding. The wedding dress is back and I can lace it.  It should be a quieter day today.

This is just a quick post from me to share some news. There is a new Challenge Blog starting being run by Linda Simpson. She has started an Etsy shop where she sells papers and ephemera. The new challenge blog is called the  Emerald City Crafts Challenge Blog.  The challenges start on the first Friday of the month and will run for three weeks the theme will always be Anything Goes. I was thrilled when Linda asked me to join her Design Team. The first challenge will start on 7th July.

I have created a tag with one of the images available from the store if you go the blog there is a link to the shop.

I picked up some Tim Holtz tags in a sale I think they are going to be very useful. I had the lace and the backing paper in my stash. 

This is the image it comes in a set. 

It would be lovely if you could join us for our first challenge. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

I would like to enter challenge 254 at the Brown Sugar Challenge blog. 

Take care. 

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Unicorn Challenge Blog - Petal Power

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope the week has started well for you. Yesterday was actually our 35th Wedding Anniversary. We have certainly come a long way together. My husband took the afternoon off and we had a lovely meal and we did a lot of shopping. It was all a bit low key but with a wedding to pay for it couldn't be any other way.

Being the first Tuesday of the month the new challenge starts today on the Unicorn Challenge blog the theme is Petal Power.

I treated myself to some new dies but I do like to keep using my older dies.  I used the border die from the French Collection designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions. 

The Easter basket die cuts out nicely and it is easy to make a mat to go behind it with the dies provided. I have not used the set to make the 3D basket yet. The flowers were made with a Martha Stewart punch. I used the Olive branch dies to create the foliage. 

The Happy Easter die comes with the Basket set. 

This is my last Easter card. I have enough now. 

I would like to enter the Botanical Challenge at the Try is on a Tuesday Challenge blog.

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

Please follow my blog with Bloglovin

Unicorn Challenge Blog - Make it Pearly

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

I hope you had a great weekend. On Saturday we went to the Newbury Craft Show and after we met our daughter and her fiance and his parents for a meal and a spot of shopping. On Sunday we had a day catching up on bits and pieces in the house. It is good to have days like that.

On the first Tuesday of the month a new challenge starts on the Unicorn Challenge blog the theme this time is Make it Pearly.

I started by making a circular aperture in the top layer and this was embossed with folder that came free with a magazine. I found a pale pink mirror card in my stash to mat the layers and make a frame for the image. For the mat at the back I used the Bed of Roses folder by Creative Expressions. 

The image is from a very old Kanban kit can you see she has pearls on her headband. As the mat is raised on foam pads she is recessed behind. 

These flowers are made with punch that embosses at the same time the leaf was made with the same type of punch. 

This is my stash from the Newbury Craft show. 

This is my stash with the raffle prize I won. 

Have a good week and there is always our challenge to join in with. 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie

Creative Artiste Challenge 16 - Anything Goes

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends

Today is a busy blog day. It the first of the month and it is a Friday.

The new challenge starts today on the Creative Artiste Challenge blog the theme is Anything Goes. There is a sponsor this month Scrapmatts  who are based in Australia. The design team were all sent goodies to play with. I have a little confession I lost my goodies I keep expecting them to turn up but they haven't yet.

In my stash I had a chipboard door hanger that I painted all over with Gesso. When this had dried I used some decoupage glue to cover the door hanger with different shades of blue tissue paper. There was another wait for this to dry. I did cover both sides. I took a stencil and inked through it with a silver ink. 

If you click on the link you will be taken to the store. 

This is an LOTV stamp that I love. She was stamped with black archival onto water colour card and then coloured with my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens.  She was cut our by hand and added to the door hanger with a gel glue. 

At the bottom I added shells, pearl strings and die cuts. 

Here is the hanger in place on the bathroom door. Thank you for visiting today. 

Happy Crafting 

Hugs Jackie