New Baby Girl Rocker Card with Fizzy Moon.

Hi Everyone,

How is everyone? Thought I'd just do a quick post. I made this card, us for my neighbour Linda's daughter Charlene, who had a little girl on the11th June. Congratulations to you all. Can you guess which digikits I used?

Did you guess? I used the Spellbinders Grand Big Scalloped circle dies to cut the shapes out of contrasting backing papers from the FM New Baby kit. I always use super smooth card for my images and when I make a rocker card I also print the backing papers on the same card, which is 220gsm,  to give extra strength.

The largest die is used twice, once in plain white 300gsm card, which is scored in half and folded, to form the rocker base, then again in the patterned paper. The next layer is the third largest, which is then mounted with double sided foam.  All the edges were distressed with Tim Holtz spun sugar and faux stitching was added to both layers using a pale pink fine line pen.

There are several images to choose from in the kit, but I thought this one was so cute, especially as Charlene is a new Mum. I can remember when I was a new Mum (just) my baby was never far away from me. I used the crop tool to make some decoupage layers and mounted them with foam pads to add some dimension.

To add the baby's name I used the bunting from FM Playtime. This bunting can be used for any length sentiment, just crop a couple and join them. The letters are also in the digikit. Brooke Anne, what a beautiful name, they were also mounted with foam for dimension. The flowers are from my stash, you can see that tale here. I think I have enough to last my lifetime. I added some glamour dust to the centre of the flowers to add a bit of sparkle.

Some card candy, new baby ribbon in pink and a matching box and the card is done. Charlene and Linda loved it, looks like I may have some new customers, they had no idea I made cards.


I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Sister Act Card Challenge - Challenge #63 - Anything goes.

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - June Challenge -  Layers.

Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything goes.

Inky Impressions Challenges - Anything goes.

A Gem of a Challenge - For a Child.

Thank you for coming by, do come again.


Love

xx

Get Well Soon with Fizzy Moon.

Hi Guys',

How is everyone? I promise not to mention the miserable weather, but I have to mention the cool storm we had here in Spalding on Friday. It lightened and thundered, right overhead, non stop for a good fifteen minutes, all the while absolutely shuttering it down. Not seen one like that in many a year, I was out in it too. The supermarket windows were rattling.

 

Anyway, back to the business of today. Went to see a lovely lady last week, who is just recovering from a hip replacement. My friend Sue and I took her out for lunch. I was amazed as to how quickly she's recovering. I can only put it down to her age, being a veritable youngster of sixty. Well I had to take her a card and a little gift, didn't I. So here it is.

 

 

 

 

 

I really love my Fizzy Moon digikits, there is something in there for every occasion, including get well, of course. I used a peek a boo style, using double sided papers in contrasting colours. I love this style, a bit fiddly, but very effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the flaps give lovely dimension. I printed onto 200gsm supersmooth card, cut a cross with my craft knife, then curled back and secured with small brads. I use card, as opposed to paper, because I don't want the flaps to lay flat.  

 

 



 

 

 

The topper was from the Fizzy Moon Playtime digikit, printed twice, then decoupaged. I made the sentiments using the ticker tape style font. I thought they were very apt, especially the 'Hip Hip Hooray' one. Some Rafia and a teddy charm to finish, and it was done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you know me and my boxes, I have to make a matching box, especially with all that dimension. Then there's the present.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

I made a couple of matching gift bags and tags in two different sizes, because I hadn't decided what to take her as a gift. Anyway, the first one turned out to be too small for the chocolates, so I opted for the larger one. I was pleased with the matching set, I think Margaret was too.

 

 

 

 

 

I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

 

 

Bunny Zoe's Challenge Blog - Flowers and Charms.

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything goes. ( Challenge 58)

MilkCoffee Challenge - Anything but a card.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Oooooh so cute.

PanPastels Challenge Blog - Florals.

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge - Use a Tag.

Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything goes.

The ABC Challenge - L for Lots of layers.

In The Pink - Simply Sentimental.

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by my blog, do come again.

 

 

Love,

 



 

Happy 8th Birthday for a Girl.

Hi Guys',

Hope you're all well and had a lovely Easter. Thought I'd post a quick card in between washing and drying, yuk. Much rather be crafting.

This card is the other half to the twins' cards I did for a friend at work. The first male one was posted a few months ago, so I thought it was time to post this female one.

 

 

 

It's a pretty pastel coloured MCS picture window card, using an image from the 'Countryside Garden' cd. I really enjoy making these 3D cards and they're so effective. I've adapted the style for many occasions now.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I printed extra butterflies and decoupaged them inside the card, to add extra dimension and also resized them, to use as embellishments on the front of the card. I love the way you the windows open to reveal the image, by pulling on the side flaps.





 

  

 



 

 

The no8 was cut on my cricut, using pink coredinations card.

 

 



 

 

A verse and a place to write a greeting was added to the back of the card.

 

 







And of course, no card is complete without a pretty box to match. I was told the little girl loved it.


I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Polkaddoodles Challenge Blog - Springtime.

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything goes.

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge - Spring.

Card Makin Mamas - Earth friendly.

Crafty Girls' Challenges - Anything goes.

Thank you for visiting my blog, do come again.


Love,

xx

Wedding rocker card with pillow effect embossing.

Good afternoon to everyone,

What a beautiful afternoon it is too. Had my first craft fair of the season last week and I have to say, it was lovely. It was a fund raiser for a choir in my area called 'A Handful of Harmonies.' What a great crowd they were and I had a fairly successful day, but I do think the wedding season may be upon us because I now have three orders for wedding cards.

Although I had three different cards on my stall to choose from, the one everyone went for was my 'Wedding Rocker', which can be found here. So it would seem simple white is the order of the day, so with that thought in mind I decided to design another similar card.

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while and was planning to do it in double sided printed papers, then the curls on the topper would be a contrasting colour. For this design I decided to use some pearlized card I bought to print on, but it was unsuitable. I have to say though, it's PERFECT for this card. It looks like royal icing. Yum.

The dies I used are the grand large scalloped ovals from Spellbinders. These dies are perfect for rocker cards. I have to admit to going to town a bit on this card, it took ages, but I think the end result is worth it. The largest die was used for the rocker base. It was cut twice, then one was folded lengthways to create the rocker and the second used as the base layer. The second layer, made with die no2, was embossed at 1cm intervals in a crisscross design. The effect is lovely, it looks cushioned, but I have to admit, my favourite part is the topper.

First, I cut two shapes using the no5 die. Onto the bottom layer I printed and embossed 'Wedding' in silver, using my Clarity word chain stamp. This one is in set no1, I love the typography type arty font, I'm so into this style at the moment. I then marked the centre of the second layer and cut the cross using a craft knife. I curled the edges with my bone folder before sticking onto the bottom layer with wet glue to allow a bit of manoeuvrability. Before sticking I cut  the embossed edge from the bottom layer to make it smaller, then you don't have to be so precise.

The flower was made using the spellbinders daisy die and floral flourishes die to add some more detail. It was secured with a large pearl brad from my stash. A couple of pearls on the topper and I decided to stop there. What, no ribbon? I hear you say. I don't think it needed it, I love it just as it is, what do you think?


I am entering this card in the following challenges :-

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge Blog - WOW challenge.

The ABC Challenge - J is for just as you like. 

Love To Create Challenge Blog - Vintage Romance.

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything goes.

Challenges 4 everybody - Anything goes.

Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything goes  
Artistic Inspirations - Monochrome / anything goes.
The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge Blog - Die cuts or embossing.
 

 

Thank you for visiting my blog and do come again.


Love

Graduation Book a Easel Card.

Good morning everyone,

It's a beautiful day here in Spalding, so before I go out to sample the sun I thought I'd just say hi. So..... Hi..... I'm off now.  ;) 

Seriously, if ever, today's card was made for a work colleague who's daughter has just graduated with honours. She is now a fully fledged Nurse. ( Now the hard work begins )

I love making wordbooks for cards that are a little more formal. For this one I used a Clipart Fairy image from the graduation kit.

It's such a great image, very quirky. There's another one for a male too, just as quirky. Think I'll have that as my word of the day.....Quirky. :)

The main image is decoupaged to give it a bit of dimension.

The book has three layers, although, with the clever use of stripes it looks like there are more. The greeting was coloured with the colour picker in CAP2 to match the little girls shoes and a bit of black and white spotty ribbon add to the quirky feeling.

Finally, some flowers and card candy and a box in contrasting paper to complete it.  I absolutely love it. I hope Sinead does. 



I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

4kraftygirlzchallenges - Anything goes.

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenges - For a special lady.

Inky Impressions Challenge - Humour.

The ABC Challenge - H is for Hair.

Thank you for stopping by, the sun is calling and to all the Mums out there, Happy Mothering Sunday tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jools.   xxx

Happy Birthday with Fizzy Moon.

Hello fellow bloggers,

Hope you are all well and thank you for stopping by.  Taking a break from crafting today because I've had a couple of heavy days using a craft knife and have a dead arm today. Think it's when I hold the ruler on the card. It'll soon go off, just have to rest it. What better excuse to bring my blog up to date.

I've made lots of cards this month but can't post them just yet. The people they're for would see them before the day. I can show today's card because it was my friends birthday Sunday, so no danger of letting the cat out of the bag now.

I bought a couple of Fizzy Moon digikits recently and I'm really loving them. This first one was for Sue, a very good friend and fellow crafter, so it had to be good. We all know how much we scrutinize the hand made cards we receive, we're so bad.

The image is from the Fizzy Moon Weekends kit. Who doesn't love a bit of chocolate, even if it's not real. These kits cater for all occasions, this one has hiking, fishing, photography, allsorts really.

I especially like this kit though because it has this lovely bunting. It only has six flags, but all you have to do is combine two and erase the ones you don't want, then just add the message. In this case it was 'Happy Birthday Sue'.  Lovely, isn't it? 

The kit also includes extra embellishments to decoupage with. Can't resist a bit of decoupaging, makes the image pop that bit more. Of course, a bit of glitter helps.  My Martha Stewart daisy punch provided a nice contrasting border, edged with Tim Holtz distressing ink. A bit of card candy and a big white bow and voila, a beautiful card fit for a queen. Hope you had a great birthday Sue.



I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Fashionista Challenge - Pretty in pink.

Love to Create Challenge Blog - Bingo. Sparkle, yellow, flowers.

Craft Your Passion Challenges - Mothers' Day/ For the ladies.

Crafts4Eternity - Anything goes.

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenges - Glitter and lace.

Moving Along With the Times - Photo inspiration.

4Kraftygirlzchallenges - Anything goes.

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge Blog - For a special lady.

A Gem of a Challenge - Mothers' day/female birthday/special lady.

Milk Coffee Challenge - At least two flowers. 

 

See you soon,

much love,

Jools.   xxx

Typography Greetings Cards, batch made.

Greetings all,

Did you ever get to the stage where you were putting inserts in up-side down, dripping glue where it shouldn't be, getting the sticky of the cello bag stuck to your card front, putting the wrong inserts in the wrong cards. Shall I go on? Yeah, I think you may have been there, well, that's where I was ten minutes ago, so I've taken a break and will update my blog while the jinx leaves.

I can see you all wondering what I was up to. Well here's the thing, I have two craft shows coming up in the near future, so I decided to batch make a few cards to boost my stock.

I'm still enjoying making typography cards, which seem to be quite popular this year. What's more, once the initial design is decided, the lettering can be changed for just about any occasion.

So my marathon batch covers Mum, Sis, Daughter, Friend, Dad, Brother, Son, Pal, Thinking of you and Anniversary.

I changed the theme a bit on the male cards, but the principal is the same. All the cards were designed in CAP2 using various digi kits. I just gathered lots of different letters from various alphabets so that I had a nice selection.

I chose a few nice backing papers and some embellishments to match. I like the Kraft paper I used for the male cards, I use this paper a lot. All the toppers were distressed with Tim Holtz and I finished them all with card candy and either bakers twine or raffia and either a heart or star 'Hand Made With Love' charm.   

So, twenty four made.....

...........and sixteen to go.

Phew, I do hope they sell. 



I am entering these cards into the following challenges :- 

Inky Impressions Challenge Blog - So charming.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Ladies day.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Sugar and Spice. 

In the Pink Challenge - Pink plus one. 

A Gem of a Challenge - Spots and stripes
Love to Create Challenge Blog - Anything goes

Less is More - Recipe - Metal.
Card Makin Mamas - Stack it up. 

 

 

Thank you for coming by and do come again. If you could leave a comment to let me know what you think, that would be great.


Love,


Jools.   xxxx

Paper piecing and colouring with Craft Artist Professional 2.

Good morning everyone,

Hope you're all well. Been doing something a little different this past few days. About a month ago a free digi stamp was posted on the 'Serif CraftArtist Creative Cappers' Facebook page, with the challenge to have a go at colouring or paper piecing.

Although I consider myself to be quite adept when using CAP2, this was something I'd not attempted. I guess I was the old fashioned, print it or stamp it, then colour it with whichever medium type. Any way, I decided to have a bash and here are the results. This is the naked digi, so to speak. 

Now I love a challenge and colouring OR paper piecing was an even bigger challenge to me. I decided to have a go at both. There are some excellent tutorials on the Creative Cappers group page, written by Catherine Carney. They are easy to follow and accessible if you are a group member. It's an excellent group guys', very supportive, why not pop along and have a look. The link is further up.

Here's the finished image. I'm very proud of this, I used gradient effects and shading to make it look more hand coloured. The shawl and patch are paper pieced. Again, all the instruction, by way of a simple, easy to follow tutorial, are on the group page.

I made the digi into a flat, digital card to celebrate Mothers' Day and here it is. Da Da. Can you tell I'm a bit chuffed.

Now, I enjoyed doing the colouring and paper piecing and shall definitely have another go. I also like making the finished card all within CAP2. I do this often. What I do miss sometimes though, is the actual playing with paper and glue. Don't ya just love it, sticky fingers and mess. I digress.

I decided to break the file down and print off the individual elements, to assemble into a card. I wondered if it would be as effective. Here it is, what do you think?

There were a few things I altered slightly. I decoupaged the bear, to give some dimension. The flower didn't work either, it was too fiddly to cut out and much too flat. Also, the fabric buttons. I used card candy in their place. I used a Spellbinder to cut the sentiment out and added some raffia to the spine to finish off, but I did put the faux stitching around the edges.

I enjoyed this project, I just need to upload it onto the group page now. Now there is a warning I'd like to issue before I go. I found this project to be highly ADDICTIVE. So unless you have loads of time to spare, every day, every week, every month, until you stop crafting........ Don't Do It!!!! Just kidding, but don't say you weren't warned. :)    


I am entering this card into the following challenges -:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Lovely layers.

Craft-room Challenge - Colour challenge.

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - Flowers galore.

Thanks for coming by and reading my ramblings and do come again.


Bye......

Jools.  xxxx

Mothers' Day Card with Tonic.

Hi blogger buddies,

Well, what a difference a bit of sun makes. Been out for a long walk with my pooch Bella, then to the garden centre, before home and a bit of crafting. Made two cards today, which for me at the moment is good. Can you get crafters block, like writers get writers block. Anyway, think I had it, but not today.


This first card is going to be the one I give to my Mum. As mentioned in another post, her favourite colour is blue, so out came all the blue card and papers. I decided on 'Gemstones' for the cardstock. It has a canvas texture with a beautiful pearlescent finish, just the job when using dies.

The dies are Tonic indulgence affections heart set. I got this set for Christmas and haven't used it much, so thought it would be ideal for this card. I used two shades of blue, white and added a layer of Papermania's silk screened vellum collection. The background text paper is from DCWV, simply called, 'Text Prints Paper Stack', which I mat and layered onto some of the Gemstones card in the palest of the two blues. I punched some detail onto the bottom of the paper before layering, using a Martha Stewart daisy punch.

I used the white Gemstones for the smallest heart, which is also the sentiment. I then made some flowers using the same papers and card and my Spellbinders daisy die.

A bit of card candy in the centre of the flowers, some blue ribbon and a few blue pearls and the card is finished. I love how it's turned out and I'm sure my Mum will.


I am entering this card into the following challenges -:

The ABC Challenge - 'F' is for Flowers.

Polka Doodles - Love/Romance

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Hearts/love.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - With a heart.

Thanks for popping by. Do leave a comment, then I know you've been and I can pop by your blog and have a look.


See ya....


Jools.  xx

Happy Birthday in the pink.

Good morning everyone,

Well, dare I say this, it's a beautiful day here in Lincolnshire. I do hope the less fortunate people down in the south of England are enjoying a bit of respite too.

I said I would go away and make some cards with all the Gelli prints I did and post them to show my efforts. What a plonker, the cards I had to make are for friends, who follow both my Facebook page and blog. So can't post those yet.

I can post this one though, because it's not for anyone in particular.

I went a bit mad on this one, couldn't decide what theme to use, so I decided to use dies. I thought the background was a bit too dark and needed breaking up, so the lovely indulgence die from Tonic was ideal. It's so lovely with it's filigree effect. I decided not to use a tag, just the hand mirror and cameo.

 

 

 

The 'Happy Birthday' was stamped with the Clarity letterbox set and I cut around the letters to insert the topper. I've seen Barbara do this often and think it's a great technique, and now I can do it too.

The flowers were made in CAP2. I made a punch, cut out the flower from some material and then used the stamp feature to duplicate it in different sizes. Got a bit carried away though, I've got hundreds now. It's so therapeutic though, cutting out. I do it on my lap tray while I'm watching TV. How many others out there do that?

I finished with white and silver ribbon, a white feather, for a bit of fru fru, and some pink gems.

Hope you like it and thanks for popping by. Do leave a comment so that I know you've been, I can drop by your blog then. That's if you have one of course.


I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Claritystamp challenge blog - Love and Romance.

Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything goes.

The ABC Challenge - E is for Embellishment.

Bye for now...

Jools.   xx

Gelli Plate Here I Come, Ready or Not.

Hi Guys'

Well, what a foul day, there's a right storm blowing up here in Spalding. So what better place to be than in the warm, in my craft room, playing. No.... creating. My poor little dog isn't happy though, she can't understand why I won't let her out to run around in my BOG of a garden, then come running back into the house, muddy paws and all. She just sits by the patio doors, staring all forlorn down the garden. Oh well, she'll learn.

I've been busy on my computer for a couple of weeks creating my website to start a little hand made wedding invitation and stationery business. It's something I've wanted to do for ages and I know there are loads of websites already out there, but hey, nothing ventured and all that. Here's a little collage of some of my work. I have a bedroom full of samples now. My brain needed a rest though, I'd no idea there'd be so much work in it.

So today I decided to play with my new 'Gelli Plate Kit' that my children bought me for Christmas. I'm not one for messy crafting really, I like clean digi crafting, so this is going to be interesting.

So, Gelli plate, check, brayer, paint, stencils, card, copy paper, inks and brushes, check, and here I go. Barbara makes it look so easy, I'm sure I'm going to struggle, but hey, if Martyn can do it, why not me? 

Here's my first attempt. I realised pretty quickly, that I wasn't putting on enough paint, hence the overkill on this first one. I quite like it though.

This second one has an aperture, done in nice bright colours, and by now I'm feeling more confident. I must say though, I'd no idea the finish would be quite so rough, I expected smoother.

No stopping me now, come on, I have to dirty ALL my stencils, they are brand new. I ended up getting a bit carried away, but I figured, if I'm going to make a mess, may as well make a batch. Bit like baking.

Have to say though, one of my favourites is the last one I made. I just smothered the Gelli plate in titanium white, to remove all the old paint and didn't really expect anything special, but take a look, it's lovely.

Anyway, off to add some distress inks and make my masterpieces into cards, still got some new unused stamps that I got for Chrimbles to try out.  I've got quite a few to make, so I'll post them when they're done.

Hope you enjoyed reading about me getting my feet wet and if you thought you couldn't do it, it's made you think again. It certainly has me. Oh, and thanks Barbara, it's your inspiration that got me started.

Thanks for popping by, do come again.

Love,

Jools.  xxxx