Thursday Thoughts

You may have spotted the button on the right hand side of my page that says I've been a guest designer at The Memory Nest and yesterday there was a little feature about me on their blog. Just want to say thanks to Leslie for this! Such a thrill to be part of their team for July and I'm thinking I probably ought to make a scrapbook page about it!

But for today a card to share that I made using the colours from ColourQ.  They are so Christmassy, reflecting the trend to do Christmas in July.

 

Well I wasn't sure I was ready to embrace Christmas card making just yet, but my card is nuetral enough to be used either for a birthday or Christmas so I've kept my options open.

 

I stamped a border of tiny brown circles at the bottom of my card and then added a white, twine wrapped, punched layer on top. The present was stamped and the bow coloured and added with foam pads onto a die cut kraft card circle. I finished off with a greeting and some sprinkles.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, A Gift For You, Background Builders, Round In Circles

Inks: SU, real red; Memento, rich cocoa

Pen: Promarker, leaf green

Die: Lawn Fawn, Stitched Party Banner

Punch: ek success

Embellishment: doodlebug sprinkles, day to day asst; twine from my stash

Thanks for looking. Enjoy your day - almost the weekend! 

Jane

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Wednesday Words

Hey! And welcome to my blog!

Today I'm sharing a card for the anything goes challenge at Less is More which also uses the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch as inspiration. 

 

We went new grandson shopping last week to make a start on getting his room planned and my daughter-in-law chose cute owls as her theme. And would you believe it I have a freebie set from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine that features an owl - well I just had to get on and have a play!

 I broke open my new Paper smooches dies to add a bit of texture to this one layer card.   And once again I picked up on the ribbon inspiration from my AAA Card team mate Vicki. Then I had the idea to pop a left over piece of the ribbon behind the crosses to make them stand out a bit more.

Supplies:
Stamp: Oscar the Owl freebie
Inks: Memento, rich cocoa
Pens: Promarkers, mustard, soft green, crimson; Flexmarkers, almond, cinnamon
Dies: Paper Smooches, stitched
Embellishments: ribbon from my stash

I'm so glad you popped by today, hope you found something to inspire you. Thanks for your time!

Jane
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Monday Moments

Well I've survived the hectic pace of the weekend show going on in my village and today it's all calm and peaceful once again.

Today's card is for three challenges. The layout is from CAS Colours & Sketches where I've been lucky enough to get chosen as a winner again with this card here.  Thank you so much, it gave me such a lift in the middle of a very trying week!

    

The inspiration for the colours and patterns has come from Time Out and since I only used Uniko Studio stamps I'm going to enter it into their 'Anything Goes' challenge.

           

And here's my card:

As you can see it was the chevron cushion inside the teepee that took my eye.  I thought the triangular layout also hinted at the teepee and I tried to pick up on both the feathers and the flags with my little flowers above the sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders chevrons, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Flower Power #2 & #4

Inks: SU, pool party, daffodil delight, wild wasabi, calypso coral

Die: Lawn Fawn, stitched party banners

I'm so pleased you decided to visit my blog today and do appreciate the time you spend here. Wishing you a wonderful start to your week.

Jane

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AAA Cards Game 13

Another Sunday and another game begins at AAA Cards. This week we're asking you to CREATE a shaker card.

I started by using a die to cut out flower shapes from patterned paper, plain cardstock and funky foam.  I sandwiched a circle of acetate between the foam and plain card and offset the patterned paper slightly for the top layer.

I placed these onto my card and then stamped the stem and leaves twice with the birthday greeting in the middle.  Next I added the sequins and adhered the flower shape to the card.

I then stamped the trio of flowers three times in a triangle to frame the shaker flower and added a matching sequin to each set.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #1, Clearly Besotted, sentiment from Pretty Petals
Inks: Memento, bamboo leaves, rose bud, tuxedo black
Embellishments: sequins from my stash

So now it's your turn to CREATE and have fun with a shaker card. If you would like more inspiration here are some links to my previous shaker cards - star, flower &  window.

Thanks you so much for visiting my blog today.

Jane
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Saturday Slot

Hello and welcome to my blog.  How's your weekend going? There's a big agricultural show happening in my village this weekend and everywhere is busy and buzzing and noisy - not at all like its usual sleepy self!

Today's card is for the current Colour Q - such pretty colours with my favourite purple and pinks included.

 

I have been very inspired by this card on Maile Belles blog and couldn't resist CASEing it. She is such a stunning card maker and I love her beautifully understated style.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals, Pretty Petals Plus; SU, background from Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: SU,melon mambo, calypso coral; Adirondack, eggplant; Memento, angel pink

Embellishments: ribbon from my stash

Short and sweet today - have to negotiate the traffic to escape from the village to grocery shop and go hospital visiting as well as maybe catching a little bit of the show. 

Thanks for looking.

Jane
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Friday Focus

So much for my relaxing week! I've been backwards and forwards to the hospital visiting my dad every day. So thank goodness for crafting - it's keeping me sane!

Today's card is for three challenges. The colours from Color Throwdown, the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and the theme of geometric from The Male Room.

   

 

And here's my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: SU, Gorgeous Grunge; Clearly Besotted, Geometric Style

Inks: SU, bermuda bay, daffodil delight, rich razzleberry

Embellishments: Habico, opulent pearls assortment

 Thanks for looking today.

Jane

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Wednesday Words

After my guest designer spot at Less Is More last week I'm back to entering their challenges again this week. 

     

The inspiration is the song 'Singing in the Rain' which immediately had me reaching for my Clearly Besotted umbrella die. I cut it three times so that I could paper piece the top layer in bright cheery colours - the happy singing in the rain feel!

I then planned out the rest of my card by stamping on scrap paper first.  This helped me to work out the spacing and placement of the different elements and also gave me the idea to restamp without re-inking to get the different shades of black.  I then went ahead and stamped straight onto a die cut tag.

All that was left to do was to stamp the sentiment onto a circle which I lifted with foam pads.  I took a marker round the eges of the circle and tag just to give them a bit more emphasis against the white cardstock.  I also added a small banner as I felt it balanced the look of the card better.

Suppplies:
Stamps: lawn fawn, Hello Sunshine
Inks: SU, wild wasabi,pool party, melon mambo stamp'nwrite pen; Memento, tuxedo black
Ppaper: doodlebug, kraft in color
Dies: Clearly Besotted, April Showers; Lil'inker, Anytime Tags
Punch: Woodware, circle

Thanks for looking at my blog today. As always it makes my day to think people have spent some of their precious time here.

Jane
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Tuesday Talk

A scrapbook page today, which is my greatest crafting love, but sadly gets far less response from blogland than my cards.

I used the tic-tac-toe board from 1,2,3 Get Scrappy for this layout - going straight across the middle - red, yellow, blue.

 

Even for me this is a very clean, simple, pared down page with loads of white space - well it's blue space really - but you know what I mean.  I've probably mentioned before that the photo always takes priority on my pages with journalling a close second.  Although I love to add embellishments and use patterned papers I never want them to overshadow or distract from the photo. Hey, that's just my style!

I absolutely adore this photo of my youngest - at the moment - grandson, emailed to me by my son.  I almost can't bear that he's looking so grown up after a whole year at school, but so far he's retained all of his pre-school character and his spirit - that's the loudness - has yet to be squashed!

Supplies:

Papers: Bazzill Basics blue card; doodlebug, kraft in color

Alphas: Lilybee designs, pinwheel

Stickers:  Lilybee designs, pinwheel

Thanks for spending some of your time looking at my blog today.

Jane

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Monday Moment

Welcome to a whole new week with all its crafting possibilities!

Today I'm sharing a card I made using the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours from CAS Colours & Sketches.  Both of these challenges were no brainers for me - the sketch so perfectly CAS and the colours, well I hardly need say, purple!

     

So out came my all time best used stitched mat dies and in no time at all my card was created.  As you can see I kept things very clean and simple with plenty of white space. 

I stamped the leaves and flowers twice using first generation ink for the outlines and second generation for the solid colour.  I stamped the heart, cut it out by hand and mounted it onto pads for dimension.  

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Always & Forever, Background Builders Vines

Inks: Memento, grape jelly, sweet plum, cottage ivy

Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

So pleased you visited my blog today, thanks for your time.

Jane

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AAA Cards Game 12 - INSPIRE

Did you enjoy last week's window sketch game?  Pop on over to AAA Cards to see if you're the winner of that fantastic Blue Moon voucher.

This week we're going to INSPIRE you with a card to CASE from our lovely design team member Angela.

 

My eye immediately focussed on the spotty paper, line of flowers and bright colours. I wonder what your initial thoughts will be?

Here's my take on Angela's card. 

I didn't have any long cardstock so I made a sort of mini version inside a 5"x7" landscape card. I kept the line of black spotty paper, but that vibrant pink centre flower on Angela's card kept winking at me, so I added an extra mat of pink polka dots for fun.  The sentiment echoes Angela's sentiment too.

I made the flowers in the same way as yesterday's card which I blogged about here. I chose the colours to echo the flower centres on Angela's card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Bridal Bouquet, sentiment from Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: SU, melon mambo, daffodil delight, pear pizzazz, old olive; Memento, tuxedo black

Dies: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles; Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

So that's a little insight into how my brain was working as I put my card together. Can't wait to see what you come up with and find out how you create cards.  Thanks for visiting today, hope you're feeling INSPIRED and ready to enter our game. Need more? Check out the cards from the other DT members here.

And since I've been chatting about flowers I just want to share this photo before I say good-bye.  It was taken in my garden yesterday afternoon and I was so blown away with the quality of my phone camera I needed to share it. Just look at all those little hairs on the stem!

 Once again thanks for looking and also for indulging my photo taking enthusiasm. Love my phone!

Jane

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Saturday Slot

I've had such a busy week ferrying people to appointments every day, apart from Thursday when I escaped to the hils of Derbyshire.  So I'm looking forward to a bit of a slow down over the weekend and hopefully into next week too!

So to kick start the weekend today's card is clean, simple and relaxed just as I intend to be.  I made it during one of the brief spells I was actually at home and used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. It's such a me sort of sketch and I really enjoyed chilling out in my craftroom stamping, cutting and sticking this card.

 

I got to use loads of my favourites - stitched dies, stamped banners, pretty pinks - and also tried out a new stamp set that involves a double stamping of both the flowers and leaves.

And here's a closer look at the detail.  There is a die for the flowers and leaves, but as it's out of stock at the moment I hand cut them instead. Am thinking they look fine.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Bridal Bouquet, Diagonal Stripes & sentiment from Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: SU, melon mambo, pear pizzazz, old olive; Memento, angel pink, tuxedo black

Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles; lawn fawn, stitched party banners

Thanks for dropping by today.  Have a brilliant and relaxing weekend.

Jane

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Friday Focus

I've not played at Color Throwdown for a while and decided it was time to renew my acquaintance with them.  The colours this week are so calm and soothing, so I tried to keep my card simple and in keeping.

 

This new flower stamp from Clearly Besotted is made in three layers.  First the background colour, soft sky, then the accent colour, calypso coral and finally the outline colour, London fog. I don't have crumb cake, but it looked sort of greeny beige on screen so I used pear pizzazz instead.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Swset Rose

Inks: SU, calyso coral, soft sky, pear pizzazz; Memento, London fog

Die: lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

Embellishmentsa: The Hobby House pearls, The Blues

Well I'm off out now for another round of trying to find a solution to replacing my dad's bath with a shower. You'd think this was not too difficult, but let me tell you it's eating into my time big and is a very frustrating process. If I ever find a solution that works, he can afford and can be started soonish I'll let you know!

Thanks for visiting today, it's much appreciated.

Jane

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Thursday Thoughts

A simple little card to share today that fits the bill for three challenges. The layout is from Sketch Saturday, the colours from ColourQ and the theme from CASology.

 

 

So as is my usual way I've shrunk the sketch to make it more my style and used one of the really cute cat stamps from Penny Black as my pet image.

The banners and twine use three of the accent colours and the stamps and button provide the black element.

Supplies:

Stamps: Penny Black, purrfect day; Clearly Besotted, Diagonal Stripes

Inks: SU, tempting turquoise, calypso coral; Memento, tuxedo black

Dies: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles; Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

Embellishments: btton & twine

A bit short and sweet today - about to head out for a day trip.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and spending a little time with me.

Jane

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Wednesday Words

A card to share with you all today. I've used the theme from The Male Room and the colours from The Card Concept but my own layout for this card.

I'm thinking my card fits this definition from The Card Concept:

 1. Clean and Simple (CAS)

Definition:

• One main image
• Lots of open space (uncluttered)
• Limited layers & embellishments
• Quick & easy to recreate

 

                   

So maybe you've guessed the theme from The Male Room?  Well not just football, but any games the guys enjoy. I've used this digi stamp many times before - you know the story of my male dominated life - and decided it was time to give it another airing.  The best thing about digi stamps - apart from the low cost - is that you can size them to fit whatever project you're into.

The colours were vibrant and in keeping with the theme and I got to use my new stash of perfectly matched card, inks and pens from Stampin' Up - absolutely one of their strongest selling points. 

And of course a couple of my 'go to' items are also on this card - the Lil'inker stitched mat die and Clearly Besotted stamps and dies.

Supplies:

Stamps: Cuddly Buddly, Karen Middleton digi stamp footie boy - find here; Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style & Diagonal Stripes

Inks: SU, bermuda bay, real red; Memento, tuxedo black

Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

Card: SU, bermuda bay

Pens: Promarkers & SU stamp'n write

So pleased that you had time to drop by my blog today, thank you!

Jane

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Tuesday Talk

Another scrapbook page today, but this one bang up to date with photos of my youngest grandson.  And I'm thinking he'll not be my youngest grandson for much longer as we've just found out a new grandson is on the way, this time to my oldest son and will only be ten minutes away instead of ten hours! So looking forward to that!! :))

But back to the page.  I used the layout from Sketch-N-Scrap's July challenge with just a few little adjustments.  Basically I rotated the the sketch a quarter turn and left out the third photo and put the title and journalling on the right hand side instead of the left, but I think you can still see all the elements.

 

This was such a fun page to put together and I loved using the new Journal It stamps and dies from Clearly Besotted.  I'm so buzzed that from now on I'll be able to produce my own labels in colours to match any papers from my stash.

Supplies:

Papers: ep, A Boy's Life; Elle's Studio, the sweet life journalling tag

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Journal It & Superstar

Inks: SU, pumpkin pie, pool party; Memento, naurical blue

Alphas: ep, A Perfect Summer

Embellishments: buttons from my stash 

Thank you for dropping by my blog today.  I love that you spent some time here with me.

Jane

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Monday Moments back at The Memory Nest

Today is my second and final spot as a guest designer over at The Memory Nest. Thank you Leslie for this brilliant opportunity. I've really had fun and got a big buzz from seeing my work on your blog!

Here's the sketch for today's challenge.

Hmm, getting a bit of deja vu here.  Reminds me of my card from yesterday for the AAA Cards game. But today it's a scrapbook page and couldn't look more different!

I went trawling through my old albums as I knew the photos from back then always had a white border that look like window frames.  I chose three photos and decided to make my own journal card to take the place of the last square. I started by stamping a grid onto pale blue card and then overstamped this with grasses and a sentiment circle in grey ink.

Next I gave some thought to the diagonal elements and cut and placed some paper strips and the two die cut circles onto the background paper.  I wanted to make the strips more prominent without overshadowing the photos so I stitched some zig-zag and straight lines with my sewing machine. The photos and journalling card were then adhered.

I used alpha stickers for the title - in a different place from the sketch as I felt it suited my layout better to have it in the middle of the photos. I added my journalling, using fullstops from the same alpha sheet as bullet points.

Finally, just to balance the whole page, I stamped some grasses and dragonflies in the top left and bottom right corners. And so my page was complete. 

By the way I'm the one to the right of the bottom photo - always a pleasure to remember I was slim once upon a time!

Supplies:

Papers: Bazill Basics Cardstock; October Afternoon, Make it Merry (both sides used for the strips); scraps from my stash

Alphas: ep, Winter Park

Stamps: Hobby Art, Anna's Collection - Just For You; Maya Road, Spool sentiments; Kaisercraft, grid

Ink: Memento, London fog

Die: Xcut, spiro circles

Thank you once again to Leslie and also to all of you who take the time to visit my blog. It is very much appreciated.

Jane

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