Monday Moments

The last day of March!  Where does the time go?

Well a big chunk of my time is spent playing in my craft room.  So today I've a couple of cards to share.

I'm totally in love with the inspiration for my first card - lots of white and butterflies with a little aqua and tangerine thrown in.  So thank you Timeout challenge!

 

  

In fact I loved it so much I made two cards.  This one was inspired by Beverley's use of vellum. Love how it subdues the colours.

 

Supplies:

Card 1:

Punch: Martha Stewart

Paper: basic grey hopscotch

Stamp: Uniko Studio, Bright Butterflies

Ink: Memento, teal zeal

Embellishments: doodlebug mini pearls Spring assortment

Card 2: 

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Bright Butterflies

Ink: Memento, teal zeal, tangelo, cantaloupe

Punch: tonic

Embellishments: doodlebug mini pearls Spring assortment

So now I'm butterflied out and off to try something different.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Jane
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Friday Focus

Last night I had a bit of a play with my new bicycle stamp from Clearly Besotted.  Such a clear simple image and I tried to keep my cards that way.

So for my first card I stamped straight onto the card to create a one layer card.  This is something I find quite scary, but have been doing a lot more often recently especially if the card has to go in the post.

I based the layout on the challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.  When I was looking for their new challenge I spotted I'd made the top three with this card so I'm able to display their badge again. Thank you so much!!

 

So here's my card for their new challenge:

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Good Times

Inks: Memento, grape jelly, rose bud, tuxedo black

Focus 2

For my next card I upped the layering a little, but still kept it as simple as possible.  I used the layout at CAS(E) this Sketch.  I experimented with adding an inky hill to the background, but in the end went with the empty square and added a bit of washi tape for the stitching.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Good Times

Inks: Memento, ladybug, deandelion, tuxedo black

Embellishments: washi tape 

Focus 3

For my last card - I expect you've guessed - the same stamp but a little more layers.  This time I used some patterned paper from doodlebug and the layout from Freshly Made Sketches. I think this is my favourite of the three cards and I just love the bright chevron and tree bark papers.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Good Times + its matching die
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, rose bud
Papers: doodlebug, kraft in color & take note

Well that's all from me today.  Hope you love the bicycle stamp as much as I do!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Jane
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Wednesday Words

Time to enter the Uniko Studio challenge.  There is a theme of Hello Spring and a beautiful colour pallette of blues and greens.

So as I'm not seeing my grandsons this Easter I thought a card with an egg would be a good idea.  No doubt a little money inside to buy the real thing will also be a good idea!

I had such fun stamping the background patterns and got to indulge my new love of the sequin stamps. I used the bow from A Gift For You and one of the small stamps from the background builder set for the ribbon and tails.

Once the stamping was finished I lightly brushed over the whole egg with matching colours and mounted it onto foam pads for dimension.  Lastly I added some glossy accents - also a bit of a favourite thing at the moment.

 

  

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, A Gift For You, Background Builders Chevrons

Inks: Kaleidacolor, Caribbean sea; Memento, teal zeal, summer sky

Embellishments: glossy accents

Thanks for dropping by today.

Jane
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Monday Moments

A trio of cards to share today - had a busy creative time over the weekend!  Each card features the Uniko Studio A Gift For You stamp set, but as I'm entering them for different challenges I'll post each one under its own heading.

I'm starting with Unscripted Sketches where I made the top three again with a card last week.  This is just so brilliant and the biggest thank you ever goes their way.

When I see their new sketch come up each week I immediately seem to connect with it and know exactly what I want to do.  This week was no exception and I loved making this card.

 

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, A Gift For You & All Occasion Sentiments #2

Inks: Memento, cantaloupe, teal zeal, rhubarb stalk

Punch: ek notebook edger

Embellishments: glossy accents 

Moments 2

Having got this stamp out of its box I stuck with it for my next card using Sketch Saturday's layout.

I recently bought some doodlebug paper pads and adore their bright happy colours so I was really pleased to put them to use. I went for a strong contrast in my colour choices and love it looks.

Don't you think the tiny sequin stamp is just so cute?

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, A Gift For You

Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, rose bud

Paper: doodlebug, kraft in colour

Embellishments: glossy accents

Moments 3

Seems I couldn't get enough of this stamp set and my third card for Less is More also uses it.

I was liking the strong contrast of my previous card so much that I stuck with the same colours and just sneaked in one more.  Just had to use the sequin stamp again too!

Here's the Less is More challenge:

Our recipe this week has two parts!

Firstly we'd like to see 

THREE

of something on your cards 

PLUS

We'd like you to visit and comment on three other participants, hopefully ones you haven't visited before!

I really like this idea of commentating on other blogs.  I always try to leave comments because I know how lovely it is to read what other people have to say about my blog. But sometimes I'm short of time and it's all too easy to look, admire and then move on. So this challenge will kick me into shape and make me give others some love.

Well thanks for dropping by today. Hope this week brings you lots of joy!

Jane
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Saturday Scribbles

A scrapbook page and a card to share today.

The page uses the sketch from The Memory Nest Make It Monday challenge and had me trawling through my older photos once again.  I couldn't resist this photo of my two oldest sons first encounter with a crab.  I'm not sure which feeling was uppermost - fear or fascination - but it makes for a very engaging photo.

This was a joy to put together and the sketch felt so right. As usual my page shrinks the sketch and includes buttons!!

 

Supplies:

Papers: Bo bunny, back to basics; doodlebug, take note; Jessica Sprague, digi cards

Stamps: Technique Tuesday, notions, Ali Edwards Beautiful & Life in Pictures

Alpha: Websters storytellers

More Scribbles

My card is for the current challenge - vintage - over at The Male Room.

It seemed an obvious choice to use one of the LOTV vintage boys for this theme paired together with some kraft card and tartan paper.  I matched my pens to the colours from the paper and brushed over the background with distress ink to age and subdue the brightness of the white card.  I wanted to keep this card CAS, so simply added a few rows of machine stitching to one edge and resisted using any more embellishments.

Supplies:
Stamp: LOTV vintage boys
Paper: Paper Cellar 6x6
Ink: Ranger distress, brushed corduroy

Thanks for dropping by today.  Have a great weekend.

Jane
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Thursday Thoughts

So I sat down and played yesterday afternoon as I promised myself I would in yesterday's post.  And this is what I came up with -

 

It uses the whitewash water technique - here - and some of my go to colours. I'm entering it into the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and used a piece of pink vellum over the stamped stalk to give it the contrast bottom.  The flowers I cut out and mounted onto foam squares to add some depth and I finished it off with a faux bow on the ribbon.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Remember

Inks: Memento, rose bud, lilac posies, grape jelly, pistachio, bamboo leaves; Versa Magic, cloud white; Versamark

Embossing: Stampendous, white

Embellishments: ribbon from my stash

Thanks for dropping by today.

Jane

 *** 

Wednesday Words

Well would you believe it I made the top three again over at Unscripted Sketches.  How exciting is that?!! Thank you so much! It would be rude not to join in again this week and as I love their current sketch it was a no brainer.

At first I immediately thought of a project life type of scrapbook page, something to do with all those little boxes! But I felt that photos of my grandchildren and their everyday antics would suit this sort of page and as they're not here until Summer it will have to wait a while.

So I settled myself down, embraced my mantra for 2014 - accept things as they are - and made this card instead.  And now I'm so pleased that I did. There is something about the simplicity of this card that really appeals to me and I absolutely love it.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Geometric Style, Say It In Style

Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, bahama blue

Die: Clearly Besotted, In The Frame

More Words

Wow! Spotted I made it into the top three over at CAS Colours & Sketches as well this week.  A double whammy!  Thank you so much! I'm proud to display my winner's badge:

 

So here's my entry for their new challenge.  I always try to make sure I enter a challenge straight away if I've been lucky enough to win, it seems only right to support a blog that has supported me.

 

I was still feeling the colours of Spring and experimented with them on this gorgeous Clearly Besotted poppy stamp.  I have a bit of a thing for poppies and am thinking this stamp might work well with the whitewash water technique mentioned here. Well that's my crafting planned for today!

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Remember & Geometric Style

Inks: Memento, dandelion, tangelo, London fog, bamboo leaves

Embellishments: Glossy accents

Thanks for visiting my blog today,

Jane

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Monday Moment

Hi!

Hope you had a lovely relaxing weekend and the weather was just how you wanted it to be.  For me it was a bright and sunny weekend without too much to do apart from a little crafting.

So here's my first card for today.  I was so inspired by Beverley's post - here - that I just had to try this whitewash water technique straight away.  I absolutely love the look this gives, reminds me of fine porcelain vases, and is definitely one I'll be trying again soon.  I'm on the look out now for suitable stamps as many of mine tend to be solid shapes and this obviously needs outline shapes.

Once I'd stamped and coloured I found this layout at Sketch Saturday which seemed to fit the bill and my card was quickly put together. Hope you like it.

 

Supplies:

Stamp: Clearly Besotted, Take Good Care

Inks: Adirondack, meadow, willow, raspberry, purple twilight; VersaMark, watermark; Versa Magic, cloud white

Embossing: Crafts Too folder; Stampendous, white powder

Embellishments: doodlbug, sprinkles

 

Moment 2

While I'd got my Adirondack purple & pinks out I made an entirely different sort of card.  This was inspired by the Less is More theme - masking or stencilling. I love this mask from Prima Marketing and have used it on scrapbook pages as well as cards, but not for a little while.  So it was definitely time to give it some love.

First of all I used a die to cut a circle from scrap paper and placed the negative over my white card.  then I placed the mask on top of the circle cut out, carefully selecting the part of the mask I wanted to use.  I used my inkylicious brushes to add the purple ink, removed the mask but kept the the circle cut out in place and added the pink ink.

A trio of punched butterflies and I was done.  Such a delicate dainty image that I'm really pleased with.

Supplies:
Mask: Prima Marketing
Ink: Adirondack, raspberry, purple twilight
Die: Spellbinders circle
Punch: Martha Stewart
Paper: Papermania, Lucy Cromwell 6x6 designstax

Really pleased you dropped by today, thanks so much. Hope you enjoyed my purple and pink creations.

Jane
 ***

Friday Focus

A couple of cards to share today.

First up is for a challenge new to me and discovered when I was ordering some craft goodies from Craft Mojo. It's a monthly challenge and for March the theme is Spring Flowers.  Seemed like a good opportunity to give some love to my favourite first purchase from Uniko Studio - Flower Power #2.

I went with a layout that's a bit of a 'go to' for me and picked out some lovely Spring coloured card and paper. I used a bit of yellow ink for the flower centres and then added a nailhead to each. I often use this style of card to hold a short note to friends who I've not seen for a while or are going through a sticky patch and thjat's why i've not added a sentiment.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #2

Inks: Memento, rose bud, tangelo

Punch: Woodware, leaf

Embellishments: Mark Richards, nailheads

 

Friday Focus 2

My second card is for a well loved challenge over at Clearly Besotted.  They've had two brilliant releases recently, but on both occasions I've missed out on ordering as they've sold out overnight after their 10:00pm release.  Obviously doesn't do to wait until morning! I'm so not going to let that happen again.

The theme this month is In Flight and I dusted off a butterfly stamp for my little thank you card. I really like its delicateness - is there such a word? I stamped the butterfly onto patterned paper and then cut it out and used foam pads to add some dimension. I'm loving the colours of the background stamps, so fresh, and I just love the crackle effect on the pink stamp.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Geometric Style, Thank You
Inks: Memento, rose bud, bahama blue
Paper: Papermania, Lucy Cromwell
Embellishments: Papermania, adhesive shimmer dots

Thanks for dropping by today.

Jane
 ***

Tuesday Talk

Yesterday I worked on a scrapbook page that needed a lot of space for extended journalling.  So this week's layout from Unscripted Sketches was a gift. I simply rotated the sketch and placed my 6x4 photo at the top left rectangle and an envelope to contain the journalling at the bottom right rectangle.

There is nothing very private about the journalling, just rather a lot I wanted to include. It tells the story of my middle pregnancy, high blood pressure, living apart, moving house one week before the due date, the doctor's horror when I went to register, my oldest succumbing to his first illness when subjected to all the new bugs and the chaos of a new home, new baby and ill toddler all combined with Christmas - definitely one to remember!

Originally I'd chosen purply yellow papers, but once I'd found the little polaroid embellishment,  (originally made after reading this blog post), lurking in my stash and placed it on the envelope I just had to change my colour choices.  And I'm so pleased I did as I'm really loving the turquoise/yellow/red combo.

 

  

Supplies:

Papers: AC, kraft cardstock; My mind's Eye, Miss Caroline; + the spotty paper and scraps

Alphas: ep, a perfect summer; Bella Blvd, sophisticates

Punch: Martha Stewart, heart

Embellishments: buttons, twine & stickers from my stash

I also want to share my March patchwork block, Explore, for the Sugar Block Club.  I found the paper piecing large pinwheel surprisingly difficult and it took several attempts to get it right - just couldn't get my head round the doing it from the back for some reason. I don't think I've ever unpicked so much sewing before and when I eventually cracked it I realised it was so easy and couldn't think why I'd made such hard work of it. That's just how it goes sometimes!

Anyway here it is:

Thanks for dropping by today, hope the sun shines on you wherever you are.

Jane

 ***

Ten On The Tenth

Just before I share my ten things I have a card to show.  I found this new challenge at The Male Room when browsing Louise's blog and as it is all about male themed crafting and I'm a bit male heavy in my family, I thought I'd better give it a go.

So here's my card to match their current challenge - the colours blue, green & brown.  I stamped all over with the explosion for the background and then cut one out , glossy accented it and raised it up on foam pads. I added a grossgrain ribbon - more masculine - and a sentiment and this super quick card was complete.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, EXPLOSION; Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style
Inks: Memento, rich cocoa, danube blue, pear tart
Embellishments: Ribbon & glossy accents

So on to my ten things on the tenth list.  This month I decided it just had to be Spring themed. so here it is:

1. The colour returning to my garden, really lifts my spirits and I love standing at the kitchen and looking out at this bright corner.

2. Blossom on the tree. Magic when a photo turns out like this!

 

3. Crocuses - probably the first to bloom.

 

4. Followed closely by daffodils, which I can never resist picking and forcing to open up indoors.

5. Washing on the line - a sure sign of Spring and looking so much better than when it's hanging around on the radiators indoors.

 

6.  Easter eggs hit the supermarket.

 

7.  Getting out more and spotting catkins.

 

8. And sticky buds. Always brings back memories of my primary school days and The Nature Table with jars of sticky bud twigs and the excitement of finding they've finally opened up to reveal emerging leaves.

9. Lambs appearing in the fields. Just love to watch them jump and frolic.

 

10. The frogs returning to my pond.  On a sunny afternoon they are so noisy and oblivious to an audience watching them.

Well that's all for today, hope you've enjoyed my photos and thanks for dropping by.

Jane

 ***

 

Saturday Scribbles

A double scrapbook page to share today featuring photos of the very beautiful Belton House grounds. We went there last Tuesday, purely on a whim because the sun was shining and it seemed a waste to stay indoors.  So my planned sewing day was put on hold and I'm so pleased we did this.  I came back energised and enthusiastic and with that contented feeling you get after a great day - could be something to do with the sugar hit at the restaurant!

I used the sketch from The Memory Nest's first March challenge as the basis for my pages.  This was a really good one for me as I had so many photos I wanted to include and the double page multi-box layout was perfect.  I kept all embellishments to a minimum - just a couple of arrows and ink splatters - as I didn't want to compete with the photographs as they showed Belton in all its glory.

I kept the horizontal line  from the sketch using a Hambly screen print and the right hand circle, but then rotated the rest of the sketch to help with the placement of my photos.

 

Supplies:

Paper: AC kraft cardstock; Hambly Screen Prints, little circles

Stamp: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #2

Inks: Memento, rich cocoa; Mister Huey's Color Mists, dark calico, sunshine, opaque white

Alphas: ep reflections; AC thickers, Prairie

And here's that sugar hit:

 

To finish off the perfect outing we drove home through the back roads and spotted the first lambs of Spring. 

Thanks for dropping by today. Have a great weekend!

Jane

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