Christmas Greetings

Good evening, I am here to wish all of my friends and followers a Happy Christmas and a happy,healthy and creative New Year. A big thank you to all of you for you lovely comments and encouragement through out the year. I really appreciate your support.
This card  was made with a set of stamps from Heartfelt Creations, and shows the true and real meaning of Christmas.
I hope you all find some peace during the festivities, after all the hustle and bustle of preparation during the past few weeks,and that you get to spend time with those who are dear to you.
  Jean x

Birthday Glamour

Firstly I apologize for my lack of commenting lately, I have been  occupied with making the extra Christmas cards I found that I still needed, and also several family birthdays to make for this month as well.
One of these birthdays is my Grand daughters' which was this week. I wanted to make her a special card as she has had quite a tough time lately. She is currently recovering from back surgery and has three very young children to look after. Fortunately she has quite a bit of help available but it is still a bit of a struggle.
I used this Imagination Stencil and Imagination Sparkle Medium, red and gold. I saw a card made similar to this on their stand at the NEC show last month and wondered how they had achieved the two tone look. On closer inspection I realized that it was two layers, the top one being acetate. I loved the effect and decided I would have to give it a go, although I had never used the Sparkle Medium on acetate before. First I used the red sparkle through the stencil onto black card and left it to dry. I then repeated the process with gold Sparkle onto acetate. They both took quite a while to dry because of the weather conditions, so I left them till the next day. The base card for this is a white 8" square, huge compared to my usual cards. I cut a piece of black card to cover the front leaving a very narrow border. I then placed my two stenciled pieces together offsetting them slightly and fixed them together with a few glue dots on  the edges. I cut a frame from metallic red card and stuck it over the image hiding the glue dots, and then fixed it to the card front leaving a narrow black border. The sentiment was stamped on a snippet of black card with a Chocolate Baroque stamp using Versamark ink and embossed with WOW gold embossing powder. I cut it out with a Spellbinders small circle die, and I used a die from Spellbinders Exquisite Circles set to cut the mat from a snippet of the metallic red card. Having stuck them together I used foam pads to attach it to the card.
I apologize here for the terrible photo, I see there is a reflection of myself taking it which I hadn't noticed as I was concentrating on not getting a glare from the shiny surfaces.

I am entering this at Virginia's View Challenges - All About Glitter,  and as I have used a couple of snippets I 'll pop over to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

Last Rudolph Day For This Year.

Today, being the 25th is Rudolph Day once again, in fact as it also November it it the last Rudolph Day Challenge for this year. I can't believe a whole year has whizzed by since Mo, of Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, took over the hosting of this fun challenge. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her for continuing to promote the friendly atmosphere between the participants each month and for the generous prizes.
So onto my card for this month, the stamp was free with a craft magazine recently. I stamped it with black Memento ink onto a snippet of white card, and coloured it with Promakers and Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I drew around the outside of a Spellbinder plain circle die and cut it out by hand.  This was because the die was just a tad too small for the stamped image and the next size up was bigger than I wanted. I  used a Spellbinder scalloped circle die to cut a mat from some red card and stuck the two together. I cut  and folded an  A5 size base card from matching red card, and trimmed a snippet of white card to fit the front leaving a narrow border. I ran this piece through my Cuttlebug with a NBUS Christmas words embossing folder. I am sorry but although the ef is new and only recently bought I didn't keep the packaging and I can't remember what make it is. The holly is part of a Cheery Lynne die, cut from a snippet of green card. with three red gems added for the berries.

I am entering this at Rudolph Day Challenge - Make a Christmas Card
and at Pixies snippet Playground - Use Snippets.

Thank you for taking time to visit here today and for your comments, I appreciate them all.
Jean

Butterfly Challenge with Zig-Zags

For the Butterfly Challenge this time the chosen letter is Z and Mrs A decreed that this should stand for Zig-Zags, so I have a butterfly card with zig-zags to show you today.
I started by choosing the patterned paper with a zig-zag design, which is from a Penny Black 6" pad, and the picked the other elements to go with it. I used some light greenish card, wrapped around with a piece of olive linen ribbon, with the ends secured behind, attached to a 15cm white base card. Next I embossed a square of brown card using a Stampin Up embossing folder with a zig -zag design and adhered it to the center of the card, and then added the two small squares of patterned paper.
 I don't very often use sketches for my cards but Jules of Always With A Heart Blog has very kindly shared a library of her design sketches and I have used one of them here. Thanks Jules.
I stamped the Chocolate Baroque butterfly on a snippet of white card with Versamark ink and embossed it with WOW gold embossing powder. I coloured it with some Inka-Gold paints by placing a small amount onto my craft mat and spritzing with water and the applying with a paint brush. The colours I used are greenyellow and old silver. I added a bit more water to the paint left on the craft mat and dragged another snippet of white card through it to use as a background for the butterfly. I stamped the butterfly and the greeting onto this piece with Memento Olive Grove and added it to the card, the painted butterfly was then fussy cut by hand and glued on with gel glue to raise the wings slightly.

I am entering this at The Butterfly Challenge - Butterflies + Z for Zig-Zags
                                 Pixie's Snippet Playground - Use Snippets. My white stamped card and the patterned paper are snippets.

Thank You for visiting here today and for you comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

Birthday Girl

Hello to my lovely followers.
Today's card is the one that I made for my great grand daughter, Jenna's 3rd birthday, which was at the weekend.                                                  
I used one of Docraft's Simply Gorjuss stamps and LOTV patterned papers. I stamped the image first, onto a snippet of white card with black Memento ink, and coloured it with Promarkers. These little girl images all have eyes but no other facial features and I must admit that I added a tiny nose and mouth with a black fine line pen as I think they look much better with a "proper face". The two patterned paper panels were cut from snippets from an LOTV pad that came free with a magazine some time ago, almost all used now. I layered both of these and the stamped image onto some blue card, adding a little scalloped canopy to the swing. I stuck the patterned pieces to the white 5"x 7" base card adding some pink grosgrain ribbon. The stamped piece is fixed with thin foam tape. The birthday greeting is from LOTV, stamped onto another snippet of white card. I didn't want it to end up too big so I die cut it with a small Spellbinder scalloped circle die, this removed the outer black border and I just inked round the edge with a black marker pen for a bit of definition. I mounted it onto a plain die cut circle of matching blue card and and used thicker foam pads to allow it to overlap the stamped layer.  To finish I added a little handwritten pink tab, and three punched daisies, shaped slightly with an embossing tool and with tiny blue pearls in the centers.

I am going to enter this at Pixies Snippet Playground - Use Snippets.

Thank you all for visiting here today and for your lovely comments, they very much appreciated.

Jean

Birthday Butterfly

Hello to all my lovely followers, I am a bit behind with my blog posts again and so today I have two cards to show you again. They were both made a little while ago for my sister Kate of Manualidades por mi blog, who many of you will know, and her husband who both had birthdays a couple of weeks ago. As I needed to make them  while we were in the middle of decorating our sitting room I tried to keep it fairly simple, so I chose three elements which I was pretty sure Kate would like. 1 - A Butterfly, 2 - Ovals and 3 - Turquoise to Jade colours. I used a Brilliance three colour ink pad called Peacock for most of the stamping and toning card from a Papermania multi colour pack. The butterfly is a two step stamp from Crafty Individuals. I inked the solid stamp with two of the  inkpad colours and stamped it onto a snippet of whte card, and then overstamped it with Versamark and embossed it with WOW silver embossing powder. I repeated this with another snippet and fussy cut it out. The first one I cut with a small spellbinder scalloped oval die, and inked the edge lightly with the peacock ink pad and a blending tool.   The fancy oval was cut from the turquiose card with a Dienamics die, and the two fixed together with DS tape. I used Lil Inkers stitched square dies to cut a turquoise mat and a smaller white one. I stamped the white one all over with a Crafty Individual floral background stamp, and stuck these two together, and before fixing to the card I wrapped some narrow organza ribbon round it and secured at the back. The ribbon looks very green in the photo but I think it matched slightly better IRL. The birthday greeting was stamped onto a very small snippet of white card and cut with a Memory Box Bistro Label die and the edge inked as before, and fixed over the ribbon and decorated with tiny gem stones at each end. I stuck the oval panel above the ribbon and fixed the cut out butterfly with Gel Glue to raise the wings. I tied a small bow with the ribbon and added it to the side of the label together with some tiny green plastic flowers and ceramic rose from my stash and a few die cut leaves from the bits box.
The second card is the one I made for Kate's          husband. I used a square 15cm Kraft base card,    and stamped it all over with a wood grain background stamp from Inkylicious.   The row of owls is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, I think onto another white card snippet. The stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. I think I coloured it with Distress Inks and a waterbrush. I am sorry  I believe that is what I used but as it is a little while since I made it I can't remember exactly. I trimmed the image and mounted it onto a mat of dark brown card which was also cut from a snippet. The birthday greeting is a chocolate Baroque stamp, and I added tree brown gems  by way of embellishment.
As I used several snippets I am going to link this up at, Pixie's Snippet Playground. I have been absent from there for a while and I believe all kinds of shenanigans are going on with talk of illicit parties going on behind the bike sheds. Sounds like fun!!
Thank you so much for your visit here today and for your comments which I really appreciate.
Jean

October Rudolph Day

I can't believe it is time for the Rudolph Day challenge again already, and even more scary is the fact that there is only one more RD before the big day itself. Scary because I am still woefully behind with my Christmas cards and next month is one of my busiest for family birthdays. However as my husband was out today playing in a game of bowls I was able to get two cards made. This first one is made with two stamps from a Chocolate Baroque set called Snowy scenes. I like this set because the images are smaller than many of theirs and are suitable for making A6 size cards. The base card for this is a dark blue A6 tent fold.  I stamped the owls first onto white card and then the cottage, extending the landscape lines out into the owls. I then masked all the stamping and used a template to create the moon with Squeezed Lemonade DI and a blending tool. Then with the masks still in place and masking the moon as well, I coloured the sky with a blending brush and DI Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire. I coloured the rest of the image with a mixture of Promarkers and Distress Markers, and then trimmed it to size, and stamped the sentiment with the Chipped Sapphire ink, which is another Chocolate Baroque stamp. I mounted this onto some silver glitter card and fixed it to the base card. I added some Stickles glitter to the snowy scene and punched out two snowflakes from the glitter card with an X cut punch and added them to the top corner.  
                                                                     
For my second card I used another stamp from the same set and stamped it with black Memento ink onto white card. I coloured it with Promarkers, and Sakura sparkle pens for the tree lights.  I mounted this one onto gold mirri card before sticking it to the red A6 card, folded portrait style.The sentiment is from Hero Arts stamped with Versamark and embossed with WOW gold embossing powder. I stamped a small sprig of holly in  opposite corners with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I added colour to these with  Stickles  glitter, and I added some glitter to the main image as well.

So now I am off to link these up at Scraps of Life by Scappymo for the Rudolph Day Challenge.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments which are really appreciated.
Jean
                                                                                                  
    

Purple Butterfly

My goodness it is a long time since I posted anything here, or even made anything that I could post. The reason is that we have been redecorating our lounge which resulted in the whole house being in a muddle as we live a smallish bungalow and there is just nowhere to move things to. Consequently the job involved moving furniture back and forth to reach the various parts of the room. However it is all done now and I am well pleased with the result, I just have to replace my books and photos. As today is Wednesday and my friends were here for craft this morning I took the opportunity to make this card  for the Butterfly Challenge, where this time the letter is E for embossing, this can be either heat or dry embossing, I opted for the dry kind.
When I was shopping in our local bits of everything shop recently I spotted a pack of grey board, die cut butterflies, about 25 of them I think, in assorted sizes for 40 pence, a bargain I couldn't resist. I chose these two for my card and embossed them with a Craft Concepts EF called Budding Vine, and the spayed them liberally with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Juneberry Wine. I the rubbed on some silver wax to highlight the high spots. For the back
ground panels I riffled trough the snippets box and found a piece of the pretty butterfly paper and the purple, inky piece which is the result of some long forgotten play session, so I am sorry but I have no idea what products I used, but judging by the colour it could have been the same glimmer spray and it has a bit of silver in it too. I trimmed both these pieces to make the panels and matted them onto silver mirri card. I stuck these to a 5" x 7" white base card and then added the butterflies mounting them on thin foam pads and adding some purple gems to their bodies. The sentiment is a Chocolate Baroque stamp inked with Seedless Preserves DI onto an offcut of the patterned paper and matted onto silver.
I am entering this card at The Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + E for Embossing. and as the two panels were snippets I am also taking it to Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets.
Thank you for visiting here today and for you comments which are all really appreciated.
I hope to be back soon.
Jean

Rudolph Day - Playing Catch Up.

Hello everyone, Here I am a few days late for the Rudolph Day Challenge at Scraps of Life by Scrappy Mo, so thank goodness the challenge stays open until the last day of the month. I did make my card in time but I couldn't upload the photo from my camera. At the moment I'm not sure if this means there is a fault with the camera memory card or if it is a problem with windows 10 which I have only recently installed. Anyway this photo was taken with my phone and somehow I managed to e-mail it to myself, I'm sorry it's not very good and it's at an odd angle but I guess it's better than nothing.
The stamp I used is a new one from Chocolate Baroque, stamped with black Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers. I added Diamond Stickles to the candle glow for some sparkle. I used an embossing folder that was free with a magazine to frame the image and trimmed it close to the embossing. Next I matted it onto some red satin finish card
and then stuck it to a white 5" x 7" base card. The sentiment is also a Chocolate Baroque stamp, stamped with black Memento ink directly onto the card.
Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments all of which I really appreciate.
Jean

New Grandparents.

Hi all, as I reported in my last post we have a new baby in the family and it means that my Son and  DIL are grandparents for the first time. My son is very excited about this and so I just had to make a card for them.
I used this cute stamp from LOTV and decided to give it a vintage look by stamping it with Vintage Photo DI onto ivory card. I then used a water brush to drag the colour into the image, adding a touch of Victorian Velvet DI and using an almond Promarker to colour the baby. I then cut it out with a Spellbinder die from the Elegant Ovals set, inking the edge lightly with the Vintage Photo ink. Both of the patterned papers are from an LOTV pad called Country Lady. The spotted paper being cut to make a mat for the die cut, and inked around the edge with DI. I fixed a piece of ivory coloured cotton lace to the bottom of this piece. The greeting on the tag is computer generated and printed onto ivory card, and cut into a tag shape with an X cut die, and matted onto a slightly larger spotted tag made by drawing round the outside of the tag die and cutting by hand. The base card is a 6" square with edges shaded with Vintage Photo DI. I cut a piece of the flower paper to size and die cut one edge with a Britannia scalloped die. I wrapped some narrow ribbon around this before sticking it to the card. This was an upcycled hanging loop cut from the shoulder of a purchased garment. It looks a bit dark in the photo but it matched better IRL. I used the tiny surplice piece to tie in the tag and then attached it to the image panel with a spotted brad I found in my stash.  The whole panel was then mounted onto the card with foam tape.

My Grandson doesn't live as locally to us as my Granddaughter does so I don't see them as often but as we had a family gathering at the weekend for a christening they were all there and I got my chance to meet my little Great Granddaughter, Ella, and have a nice little cuddle. She looked very sweet in her pink outfit,she was just ten days old.

As my card has some snippets in it, the stamping card and the tag were snippets and I think my upcycled ribbon probably counts as a snippet too, I am entering this at Pixies Snippet Playground.

I also noticed that the new theme at Cuttlebug Mania Challenge this week is Wheels, so as my little pram has wheels and I used my Cuttlebug for the die cutting I am entering there as well.

I would like to thank you all for taking time to visit here and for your comments which I really appreciate.
Jean

Another New Baby

It is a while since I have posted anything here, but I have been working on things I couldn't show you just yet, mainly for a double Christening celebration that is happening this weekend. I was trying to get it done so that I had time to make a new baby card for one of my Grandsons and his partner whose baby was due in about two weeks time, but as you can see baby Ella decided to arrive early and catch me out, so I had to stop what I was doing to make this card for them.
The base card is a white 5" x 7" and I covered the front of it with two pieces of paper from LOTV Country Lady pad. I covered the join with some pink organza ribbon and a piece of pale pink lace both from my stash. I used a new but unused stamp from LOTV stamped onto smooth white card with black Memento ink, and coloured with Promarkers. I brushed over the balloon twice with a clear Wink of Stellar pen and drew in the shine highlights with a white Wink of Stellar pen.  I die cut the image using a Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles die and sponged a little Spun Sugar DI shading around the edge before removing it from the die. I layered it onto a plain cut pink mat before fixing it to the card front with thin foam tape. The congratulations stamp is a very old wood mounted one and it didn't stamp very well, but I was aiming for a subtle look anyway hence the coloured ink, I think it was Versafine Crimson Red. I stamped it onto a snippet of the spotted paper and and a matching pink mat. The flowers were also made from die cut and punched snippets and were left overs from another project, and the leaves were die cut with a Brittania die. I added a pink organza bow to the top corner to finish it off.
So it is welcome to the world for little Ella and congratulations to the new Mum and Dad. My son is also very excited to be a Granddad for the first time and so I also made a card for him and my DIL which I might show you next time.  I've got a feeling my next few posts are going to be a bit baby orientated

I am going to enter this at
 Darnell's NBUS Challenge 5 - ( Never Before Used Schtuff ) My stamp.

 Simon Says Stamp - Stamp And Punch / Die Cut.  Stamped image, die cut image,flowers and leaves.
 Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Goes.  All die cuts made with Cuttlebug.
 Eclectic Ellapu - Pink Challenge Anything Goes.
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use snippets. Stamped image, flowers leaves & sentiment all snippets.

Thank you for taking time to visit here today and for you comments which I really appreciate.
Jean

August Rudolph Day

Well here we are the 25th of the month again and time for the Rudolph Day Challenge, where the theme is always anything goes as long as it's Christmas. The challenge starts today and runs until the last day of the month.
For my card this time I have used some new stamps from Paper Artsy, from their  Eclectica range designed by Lin Brown. All the stamps I've used here are from the same set.
I began by stamping the snowflake with Brilliance Ice Blue ink randomly onto some smooth white card. I wanted a subtle background and it doesn't show up very well in my photo but I think you could see it if you click on the picture to enlarge it. I then coloured the branch stamp with Distress Markers, Vintage Photo and Forest Moss, and huffed on it before stamping it toward the top of my card. Next I stamped the little bauble with Versamark and embossed it with WOW pearl gold embossing powder, and then coloured it with a red  Derwent Aqua tone marker and a water brush. At this stage I die cut it with a Li'l Inker  stitched rectangle die. I did this first so that I knew exactly where to place the Noel, which I stamped with Versamark and embossed and coloured the same way as the bauble. I used a small piece of gold peel off for the hanging chain, and then layered it onto first, some dark green card and  then gold mirri card before mounting it onto a folded red A6 card.  I quite like it now it's done but it didn't quite turn out as I had in mind and I had some difficulty trying to colour the embossed images. I tried Promarkers and then Distress markers which did colour OK, but I smudged both efforts trying to remove surplice ink from the embossing so my first two ended in the bin. The water colour crayons seemed to work better so I could make some more of this design quite easily now.

Thank you all for taking time to visit here today and for your lovely comments, I appreciate them all.

Now I am going to link this up at Scrappymo's Rudolph Day Challenge - Anything Christmas.

Jean

Musical Butterfly

This card was made with the Butterfly Challenge in mind where the theme is  Butterfly + W for Washi tape. I have said before that I have never used washi tape and don't even have any, but while looking for something else the other day I found this Tim Holtz tissue tape which I guess is more or less the same thing. It was hidden away at the bottom of  a drawer and I had completely forgotten I had it. Goodness only knows how long ago I bought it. Having found it I decided I could enter the challenge after all. As the tape has a musical theme I chose this Chocolate Baroque stamp to make the card. It was stamped onto a Snippet of white card with Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured with Promarkers. I drew over the swirly lines with a gold gel pen and painted the bubbles with Art Quest Sparkling Pastelles pearlescent paint palette.Having done this I used a Li'l Inker stitched rectangle die to cut it out and while it was still in the die I sponged a little Broken china DI around the edge. I matted it onto a snippet of glittery orange card that had been saved from a purchased card. This was also cut with a stitched rectangle die.The base card is a white 6" square and I sponged the edges very lightly with the same blue ink. I stuck two pieces of the tape across the center of it leaving a small gap between. I found some narrow blue ribbon to bring out the blue in the butterfly wings and used it to fill the gap.  I fixed the image panel in place slightly to the left hand side and stamped the Chocolate Baroque birthday greeting in the top right hand corner. I stamped another butterfly from a different Chocolate Baroque set onto a small snippet of white card and coloured it to match the main image, and then fussy cut it out by hand. I used a double ended tiny stamen coloured with a  black marker to make some antennae and glued them to the back of the butterfly before sticking it to the card with gel glue and adding two brown gems to the body.

I am entering this at The Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + W for Washi Tape
                                  Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
                                  Stamping Sensations - Use Stamps and Dies

Thank you all for taking time to visit here today and for your comments which are all really appreciated.

Jean

Sail Away

I have a man card to show you today that I made for my brother's birthday recently. I began by die cutting a circle from the center of a piece of copy paper. Then taking some smooth white stamping card I applied Distress Inks through the aperture with a blending tool to form the sun. I think the colours I used were Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door.There may have some others as well, I can't quite remember. When I was happy with the colour and made sure it was dry, I stamped the ship with Archival Jet Black ink. I cut a mat from some dark red card using a Li'l Inker stitched rectangle die and then trimmed the image to fit leaving a border all round. I stuck these together and then stamped the greeting in the lower corner and added a small helm charm, attaching it with a small matching brad. Both stamps I used are from Chocolate Baroque. The base card is made from a sheet of camel coloured card, similar in colour to Kraft but it has a nice bit of texture to it. I cut and folded it to make a 5" x 7" card, and then fixed the image panel in place.

I am entering this at Addicted To Stamps - Make Your Mark
                                The Crafter's Cafe - The Great Outdoors
                                The Male Room - Vacation / On The Beach.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments, all of which are really appreciated.

Jean

A Pretty Freebie

Well another week has just whizzed by and we have enjoyed some lovely summery weather for the last few days, so I hope the sun has been shining where you  are too.
My card today is made with this lovely stamp and embossing folder set that is free with the current issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I thought that apart from being very pretty this was good value and worth the price of the magazine. There is the A6 size EF, the border EF and the cameo style stamp. I pretty much followed the design that was in the magazine but I used different colours and different dies.
The base card is an ivory 15cm square, and the front is covered with Forest Moss coloured card from the Distress card pad, cut to leave a tiny border of ivory showing.  I used Bundled Sage card from the same pad to emboss two border strips and the sanded the embossing to reveal the lighter core. I trimmed these to fit onto the dark green panel leaving a narrow border. Next I ran a piece of ivory card through my Cuttlebug with the main EF, and then trimmed this piece to fit in the center, again leaving the narrow border. I stamped the cameo image with black Archival ink and die cut it using a Nellie Snellen nesting oval die. I used a Spellbinder die to cut the mat from the light green card to mount this. This die is from a set designed to co-ordinate with Just- Rite stamps. For the greeting I used the smallest die from Spellbinders Elegant Ovals set cutting one from light green and one from ivory card. I the trimmed the edge away from the ivory one so that it would fit inside the fancy edge of the green one and then stamped the birthday greeting with a Stamp Tapestry stamp. All that was left to do was to add a bow and a little rose above the image and some tiny green pearls to the frame and greeting panel.

I am entering this at Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes With a Stamp and a Die

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments which are all really appreciated.

Jean

Anniversary Card

Oh dear !, it has been a while since I posted anything here. This is not because I haven't made anything, I have actually been quite busy, but instead of lack of creative mojo,  rather I sometimes  get a blogging block when I just can't seem to get down to doing it. Still now that I've started again and as I have several cards made and photographed you may get a little rush of them.( But I'm not promising !.)
Anyway today I have an anniversary card made for my Son and DIL last week.
The base card is a pearlised white 15cm square and I stamped the greeting with black memento ink before embossing with Couture Creations EF, Tied Together. The embossing didn't cover the entire front of the card so I cut a lacy border from a snippet of mauve pearl card with a Joanna Sheen Signature die and wrapped it round with a very narrow purple ribbon before fixing it to the fold of the card. I then used another short length of the ribbon to tie a bow over it. The circle frame was cut from another snippet of the mauve card with a Memory Box die, and stuck in place to frame the greeting. On reflection I should have stamped the greeting onto a separate piece of card as it looks a bit faded on the pearl card. I think it looked better IRL though, than it does in the photo. The flowers and leaves are all made with Britania dies. I used a snippet of green pearl card for the leaves, and  snippets of white satin paper from Joanna Sheen for the flowers which I coloured with Promarkers before making up. I used a gel glue to fix these in place and self adhesive tiny pearls to embellish the embossed background.
I am going to enter this at Pixies Snippets Playground  - Just use Snippets.

Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.

Jean

July Rudolph Day

Hello again, as it is the 25th today I'm  back with a card for the Rudolph Day Challenge at Scraps of Life with Scrappymo. The challenge starts today and is open until 31st of July if you fancy taking part. You just need to make something with a Christmas theme and there is a super MB die as a prize.
My card is made with a Crafty Indviduals NBUS stamp. I stamped onto white card with black Archival ink and coloured the images with Coloursoft pencils. I then masked each one in turn with post it notes and sponged in the backgrounds with various Distress Inks. I cut them apart with fancy edged scissors called stamp, which were bought many years ago when I did a craft shop class on postage art. I am not so sure this was a good idea now as I can see that I haven't lined them up very well. It looked OK 'till I saw it on the screen.The red mat is cut to the same size as the original stamp which has black dots between and around the images to simulate perforation. Next I cut a larger mat from green glitter card, and I used red line extra strong tape to stick the red mat to the glitter card because I have found in the past that ordinary double sided doesn't always stay stuck and I don't want to find them falling apart when I come to write them at Christmas time. The base card is a folded white A6  size and having fixed the main panel in place I stamped the holly with Olympia Green Versafine ink and coloured the berries with a Barn Door Distress Marker, and the sentiment with Barn Door DI. The holly stamp is from a Paper Artsy set and the sentiment is Chocolate Baroque.

Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, all of them are really appreciated.
Jean

A Smiley Card

Hi there everyone, it has been a while since I posted anything here, it's not that I haven't made anything, just not got round to blogging it. I also seem to forget to take the photos lately as well, especially when I am dashing off to the post box as soon as the card is finished.
Today I have a card with hardly any stamping on it, just the first part of the sentiment which is stamped using part of an Art Impressions stamp with Versamark ink and embossed with WOW Vanilla White embossing powder.
The base card is a white A6 size and the patterned paper is from a 6 x 6 Dovecraft pad that I picked up in the supermarket. The pad is called Curiosity Corner and this is one of the pretty designs. I trimmed one piece to fit the front of the card and used the off cut to die cut the smile word and to punch out some of the small flowers. The card I used for the mats is from a Papermania multi-colour pack containing 1 sheet each of 75 shades of textured card. This is available in A4 and A6 sizes, and I bought the smaller size as I wasn't sure how much I would use it, but it is a nice light weight card which is ideal for multi layered cards and it die cuts beautifully, so I think I will have to invest in the larger size as I have already used it quite a lot. I cut the mats with two sizes of Li'l Inker stitched rectangle dies, and stuck them onto the card. I die cut the word twice more from a snippet of ivory card and stacked them up with the patterned one I cut earlier and stuck it to the green mat. I used an X Cut punch and some tiny snippets of coloured card to cut more little daisy flowers and a Brittania die and a snippet of green card to cut some small leaves. Using a small ball embossing tool I shaped the flowers a bit and arranged them on the card with the leaves before sticking them down and adding some little pearls to the centers.

I am entering this at Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets.

Thank you all for visiting here and for the lovely comments you leave, I really appreciate all of them.
Jean

Blue Butterfly

Hi there, today I have a card to show you which I made for a friends' birthday, but also made with the Butterfly Challenge in mind. The theme there this time is Butterfly + G is for gems. My base card here is a white 5" x 7" ready folded one from my stash. The patterned paper I think came free with a craft magazine some time last year, and I cut a panel to partly cover the front of the card. Both the oval and the flourish dies are from Dienamic. The oval is cut from smooth white card and the edges inked with Stormy Skies DI. The flourishes are cut from blue Papermania card, I had to trim these down a bit to fit on the card. I stamped the butterfly onto the oval with new stamps from Crafty Individuals. There are several different butterflies in the set and each one has two stamps, one to stamp the colour and the other to add the detail, this is the largest in the set. I used a Marvy Blending Blox ink pad with shades of blue for the first stamp, and Chipped Sapphire DI for the detail. I stamped it a second time on a snippet of white card and fussy cut it out. I fixed the oval in place with foam tape and glued the flourishes in place. I used gel glue to stick the second butterfly over the first one allowing the wings to be slightly raised. I then added some tiny blue gems to the body and to the edge of the oval. The birthday greeting is stamped with a Chocolate Baroque Stamp and Chipped Sapphire ink.

I am entering this at The Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + G is for Gems, and as the oval, butterfly and backing paper were all snippets I am also entering Pixies Snippet Playground - Use Snippets.  The butterfly is a creature so I can also enter at Stamping Sensations - Feature a Creature

Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.

June Roses

Today I am showing you a card made for a June birthday, which gave me the perfect opportunity to use my new set of stamps from Altenew. I chose the smaller of the two rose sets, it has stamps for two different roses some leaves and a branch as well as several smaller flowers. I actually started this card by cutting the oval shape from a snippet of white card using a die from Spellbinders Elegant Ovals. I did this because I wanted to make sure the roses fitted into it properly. I used just one of the roses from the set and turning it slightly for the second one. I stamped the right hand one first using three different shades of ink and I'm sorry I can't remember exactly which ones. I then made a mask to cover it while I stamped the second rose and then masked that one as well and stamped in the leaves. I then placed it back in the die and brushed lightly in the background with Tumbled Glass DI. I matted this onto a snippet of mauve pearl card, die cut with a Li'l Inker stitched  rectangle die. Another NBUS item. The base card is a white 15cm square and the front is covered with some pale blue patterned paper from my stash, cut to fit with the scallop blade in my cutter. This was inked around the edges with the Tumbled Glass ink before sticking it to the card. The little flowers are stamps from the same set as the rose and I stamped them with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky DI and a yellow pad for the centers. The greeting is from Choclate Baroque and stamped with Stormy Sky ink. I fixed some narrow lace to the bottom of the stitched rectangle before sticking it to the card.  The bow is made with pale blue seam binding, and the butterfly is die cut with Cheery Lynne dies, using a snippet of the backing paper for the open layer and another snippet of iridescent paper for the solid one. These were glued together and fixed to the card by just the body. I then added a little pink Stickles to the wings and two tiny pearls to the body.

As used several snippets I am entering this at Pixies Snippets Playground -Use Snippets
                                                             and at Mrs A;s Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + F for Flowers
                                                               also Stamping Sensations - Cuts or Punches

Thank you for taking time to visit here and for your lovely comments I really appreciate them all.
Jean

June Rudolph Day

Hi folks, another month nearly over and as it 25th today it is another Rudolph Day Challenge at Scraps of Life With Scappymo. This is my very quick and easy card. I spotted this stamp from Hero Arts while I was shopping on line for other items and I liked it so much I added it to the basket. I stamped it here onto white card with black Archival ink. next I trimmed it down leaving a narrow white edge and matted it onto silver mirri card. I cut an A4 sheet of dark blue card in half and folded it to make an A6 base card. Onto this I stamped a Chocolate Baroque greeting with Versamark and embossed it with WOW silver fine detail embossing powder, and then added the stamped panel. Lastly I added some Sickles glitter glue to highlight the snow and the top edge. I think you can just about see it in the photo. As I said a very quick and easy  card,  so much so in fact that I made four of them all the same at the same time. I needed them as I am way behind on my target for Christmas cards.
Now I am off to link this up at Scappymo's. The challenge is open until the end of the month if you fancy taking part, and there is a tag stamp and die set on offer as a prize too.
Thank you for taking time to visit here and for you comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

Butterflies + Sequins

Hello everyone, first off tonight I see I have a new follower so a big welcome to Elizabeth of The Silverscrapper's Work Space, I hope you like what you see and will visit often.
Todays card is for Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge where the theme this time is Butterfly + S for Sequins. I don't think I have ever used sequins on a card, but being the kind of person who never throws anything away, I knew that if I rummaged deep enough I would surely find some, and these are what I came up with. I have no idea where the pinky ones came from, there were only a few of them, but the tiny purple ones came in a little polybag of spares with some clothing I bought with beading and sequin decoration. I don't know if anyone would bother to sew on any that fell off  or not but, as I said I don't throw anything away,so into the craft embellishments box they went, and stayed waiting for their moment. So having found the sequins I looked through my sizable collection of butterfly stamps and decided on this lovely, but rarely used Crafty Individuals stamp. I stamped it with DI Dusty Concord onto a snippet of white card and made sure it was thoroughly dry before using pastel coloured Flex Markers and Promarkers to colour the butterflies.I had no idea if this would work but I used  very light touch and I am happy to say that I managed it without the stamping ink smudging. I used a gold gel pen to colour the decoration behind the butterflies. Next I used a die that I can't remember the make of to cut the scalloped edges and then used a snippet of purple card to mount it on. I wrapped lilac organza ribbon around the front of a white 15cm square card, and used a bowmaker thingy to tie a bow onto the front of it. The stamped panel was then added using thin foam pads. The greeting stamp is from Chocolate Baroque, stamped with the dusty Concord ink. Lastly the sequins were scattered and glued into place with glossy accents.
So now I am off to enter this at The Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + S for Sequins, and as I used a couple of snippets I can just make it into Pixies Snippet Playground - Use Snippets, for the second time this week.
Thank you all for visiting here and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

Anniversary Card

Good evening, I hope you have all enjoyed some lovely sunshine over the week end. It has been very pleasant here on the south coast. My husband forgot to take his hat with him for his bowls game on Saturday and came with a very rosy glow!!

I recently needed an anniversary card for my Daughter and SIL, and as I always make them pretty cards with hearts and flowers I thought I would try something a bit different this time. I decided to use these rather quirky stamps from Crafty Individuals mainly because I like the sentiment. The background paper is from Raspberry Road Designs, bought with a gift voucher that I won on Mrs. A's Butterfly challenge a while back. I had quite a job choosing as all their designs are fabulous, thank you Mrs. A.
Back to my card, I used a white 5" x 7" base card and cut some light grey card to fit the front leaving a small border. I then cut the printed paper a bit smaller again and stuck all these layers together. The geese and the words were all stamped onto snippets of white card with black Memento ink and fussy cut out. I added a little colour to the geese with Coloursoft pencils, and drew a line around the words with a black fine line pen. I used a spellbinder die to cut a heart from a snippet of vellum and then using a very small ball embossing tool and a foam mat I made a line of  dots all round the edge. This was then stuck to the card front using just a little glue where the the geese were going to go. The geese were fixed with thin foam pads. I used a CI stamp for the butterflies stamped with a dark purple ink onto a tiny snippet of purple card, and the fussy cut out. I used one of them to anchor the top of the vellum heart which was wanting to curl up at that edge. At this point I thought it needed cheering up a bit and I had rummage through the tiny snippets box for some coloured bits and used an Xcut punch for the daisies and a Joanna Sheen Signature die for the leaves. I arranged them in the corner and added little coloured gems to the centers of the flowers.

I am entering this at Pixies Snippets Playground - Use snippets.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments, they are all really appreciated.
Jean

A Man's Card

Here is a card that I made for my BIL's birthday. The stamp I used is from Hobby Arts, stamped with Black Memento ink, and coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, and using Sansodor to blend the colours. I trimmed this close to the image and matted it onto some gold coloured pearlised card. I cut another piece of this card just a little smaller than my 5"x 7" white base card, and then cut some brown card smaller again and embossed it with a Stampin Up EF, Stylish Stripes. I stuck these two pieces together and wound some bakers twine around them before sticking them to the card. I tied a small bow on the right hand side and then fixed the image panel with foam pads. I stamped the greeting onto a scrap of white card and mounted it onto matching gold card and fixed it at the base of the embossed panel. I have no idea what make this stamp is, it is one of a collection of clear greetings and sentiments that are kept for general use at my Wednesday morning crafting with friends sessions.

I am entering this at Cardz 4 Guys - Birds
                                 Simon Says Stamp - Make it Masculine
                                 Crafty Creations - All Creatures Great And Small

Thank you to all who visit here and for your comments, they are all really appreciated.
Jean

Cute and Cosy

Hi again, I am here with a quick post today. My regular readers will know that we had a new member added to our family last week and I showed you the card that I had made to mark the occasion. Well I had also been knitting a papoose which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it in a knitting magazine. I it is only suitable for a very new baby so I was trying hard to get it finished in time as we knew the baby would be delivered two weeks early. I just managed to get it done,  and gave it to my Granddaughter the weekend before she went into hospital. I hesitated to show it last week as it looked a bit odd laid out the table as you will see from the photo above, but yesterday my Granddaughter e-mailed this photo with baby Lorena in it.   Doesn't she   look cute and cosy?                                                  

I used the yarn recommended in the pattern, a machine washable 4ply baby wool so it is lovely and soft. It is knitted all in one piece, which was surprisingly long, then the bottom end is folded up and stitched at the sides and the top cast off edge folded in half and stitched to make the hood. then stitches picked up round the edge to make the ribbed finish.

Thank you to all who visit here and for your comments which are all really appreciated.
Jean

A Robin for Rudolph

Hi, I hope you all get a bit of sunshine for the bank holiday today. Although this is called a Spring Holiday it is also 25th which means once again it is Rudolph day at Scraps of Life with Scrappymo and this the card I have made for this time.
The stamp I used is from Hobby Art and I stamped it with Memento black ink and coloured it with Promarkers. I added some Stickles Stardust to highlight the snow and glossy accents to give the berries a bit of shine. I cut the image with the largest die in the Spellbinder Exquisite Circles set and dusted a little Tumbled Glass DI to the background while still in the die. The red mat cut with a Spellbinder Marvelous Squares die is a Brusho coloured piece from a previous play time. I fixed these two pieces together with ds tape. I cut and folded the 15 cm square base card from some red cardstock. The backing paper is from a Dovecraft  christmas pad cut to leave a thin red border. I added some green ribbon and a green snowflake button before sticking it to the card. The mounted image panel is fixed with thin foam tape. The greeting is stamped onto a snippet of the backing paper and cut into a circle by hand using the inside of a small circle die as a guide. The red mat is cut from a snippet of red card with the same die, and the snowflakes cut with an Xcut punch from another snippet of silver glitter card.
I am entering this at Scrappymo's Rudolph Day Challenge - Anything Christmas,
and as I used a few little snippets I am also entering at Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets.

Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

A Joyful Day

Hi again, the joyful day of my title happened on Tuesday of this week when our third little Great Granddaughter made her first appearance in the world. Today was also joyful for me as I went to visit them in hospital and had a lovely cuddle with the tiny bundle of joy.

Below is a little photo of her taken this afternoon,
just two days old.











Now for the card that I made for her happy Mum and Dad.
The image I used is from Hobby Arts, stamped with black Memento ink onto smooth white card  and coloured with Promarkers. I then die cut it with a die from Spellbinders Elegant Ovals set. I made a white 15cm square base card and covered the front with a deckle edged square of blue card cut slightly smaller to leave a tiny border. The pink layer was cut a bit smaller again and I used a corner rounder punch on the top corners and a Joanna Sheen Signature die to cut the lace edge at the bottom. I wrapped some spotted blue ribbon around this before sticking it to the card, and then I added a bow to the front and a little baby shoe charm. The image panel was added using thin foam tape. The new baby stamp is a little magazine freebie, and I matted it up on matching card and cut three little daisy flowers with an X cut punch for the top corners. I shaped the daisies a bit with an embossing stylus and added tiny pink gems to the centers. I used my Cuttlebug  for the die cut pieces so I am going to enter this at  Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Ribbon
and at   Crafty Boots - Ribbon or Lace.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate all of them.

Jean

Bluebells

Hi everyone I hope you are all enjoying some nice weekend weather. It is beautiful here today, with nice warm sunshine. There is quite a strong breeze but not enough to make it feel chilly.
The card I'm showing you today was inspired by our garden which is full of bluebells at the moment. In the past we have tried to dig some of them up but it seems the harder you try the more they grow and I do really like to see them, so now we just let them do their own thing and they are beautiful.
The stamp I used is from Chocolate Baroque stamped onto white card with black Memento ink. I used Derwent Coloursoft pencils blended with Sansodor for the colouring, and a pale grey Promarker at the base to ground them. I trimmed the image and matted it onto blue card. The base card is a white 15cm square and I stamped the grasses in the left hand corner using another Chocolate Baroque stamp and Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy ink. I fixed the bluebells in place and added three blue pearls to finish.
A nice quick post for you today. I am entering this at Stamping Sensations - Flower Power
                                                                                     The City Crafter - Focus on Flowers
                                                                                     Retro Rubber - May Flowers
Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, I truly appreciate the all.
Jean

Feathery Birthday

This card was made for my niece and I know she will like the colour combo, although it's not my favourite. I have used the Hot Off The Press stamps, stencil and die that came free with two magazines last year. I started by cutting and folding an A4 sheet of white card to make a 15cm square base card. I then cut cut some red card to make a mat slightly smaller than the card front, and stuck it in place. I used a snippet of smooth white card left from another project and placed the feather stencil where I wanted it and applied some black Memento ink from an old ink pad ( because I didn't want to make it too dark ). I then stamped over it with the detail stamp and Versafine Satin red ink.  I stamped it again onto copy paper and cut it out to make  a mask to cover the feather while I stamped the random dots with a Denami designs stamp and the Memento ( new pad this time ) and Versafine inks. Next I stamped the detail stamp again with Versamark ink onto a snippet of black card and embossed it with WOW white EP, and used the matching die to cut it out. I then stamped the solid feather with the red Versafine ink onto a snippet of white card and over stamped it with the detail stamp and black ink, and then die cut it. I stuck the black feather with DS tape slightly overlapping the stencilled one, and then fixed the red one with thin foam pads for a little extra dimension. I matted this onto black card leaving a very narrow border, and then wrapped red ribbon around it at the base of the feathers. I used a separate piece of ribbon to tie the knot in front, and stuck this whole panel onto the red fronted card. To finish I stamped the greeting with a Hobby Art stamp and some tiny black gems. I apologize for the poor angle of the photo and the way it makes the birthday word look so askew. I admit that when I saw it on the screen I went and checked it out IRL and it is in fact going slightly uphill, but I don't honestly think it is as obvious  as it looks here.
As I have used a few snippets I am going to take it over to Pixies Snippets Playground where there are some Sheena Douglas stamps on offer as a prize. There is still time to enter, and all you need to do is use a snippet or two in your creation to join in.
I am also entering at, Moving Along With The Times - Birds and Feathers.
                                  Stamps and Stencils - Three of a Kind I've used three feathers.
Thank you all for visiting here today and for your comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

A First Anniversary

Hi all, I can hardly believe it but it is a year ago today that my grandson and his wife were married. Here is the card that I made for them.
Green is their favoured colour, so I started by cutting a panel of this shaded green card so that the colour faded from left to right. I used a Memory Box die, Butterfly Heart, to cut slightly above the centre, and then punched a flower border with an X-cut edge punch. I folded all the butterfly wings upward a bit and the then stuck the whole panel onto some dark green card. I tied some striped green and blue organza ribbon around the mounted panel and tied a bow at the side. This was then fixed to a white 5" x 7" base card. The greeting was stamped with a Woodware stamp and Memento Olympia Green ink, and the card was finished with some rather nice sparkly pale green gems from my stash.
 I am entering this in the following challenges:
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Monochromatic
Ruby's Rainbow - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots - Things With Wings.
Thank you for visiting here today, and for your comments which are all appreciated.

Jean

Butterfly and Lace

This card was made for a friends' birthday and also with Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge in mind. The theme this time is Butterfly + L for Lace.
The base card is a white 15cm. square and the backing paper is from LOTV. I trimmed the paper using a deckle edged blade in my cutter and lightly inked the edges with Shabby Shutters DI. The green lace has been in my stash for ages but it was a good match for the green in the paper. I tucked the edges of the lace and the pink ribbon behind the paper before sticking it onto the card. I stamped the butterfly onto the card and also onto a snippet of white card with Brilliance Lightning Black ink.  I coloured the white one with Promarkers and then cut it out and brushed it all over with a clear Wink of Stellar pen. I stuck it over the butterfly on the card using silicon glue to raise the wings slightly. I tied a bow with the pink ribbon and fixed it in place with a glue dot. The little leaves were cut from light green pearlised card with a Britania die. I trimmed them down and tucked them under the ribbon and glued the little white and pink ceramic flowers over them with glossy accents. To finish I stamped the birthday greeting with the brilliance ink.  The greeting and the butterfly are both Chocolate Baroque stamps.
That's it for tonight, I hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend, and that the weather warms up a bit again too.
Thank you for taking time to visit here and for your comments which are really appreciated.
Jean

Rudolph Day - April

Well here I am turning up a little late for Rudolph Day which as most of you will know is always 25th of each month. The challenge remains open until the end of the month though, so I'm not too late. For this challenge you just need to make one christmas card which all helps towards getting a head start before the festive season arrives, which won't be too long, the way the months are speeding by at the moment.
I actually made two cards before our little away break last week so that they were ready to post when we came home, but we didn't get back till Friday evening, and yesterday was a bit hectic with all our stuff to sort out, washing and shopping to do and a Baby Shower in the afternoon for my Granddaughter whose third baby is likely to arrive next month.

I loved this image and knew straight away that I would have to make a new card with it. I trimmed the image close to the gold edging, the little corners are part of the picture, and added it to a red card mat. The backing paper is from a 6x6 pad that I think I bought in The Works. I chose this because it had a vintage look to it and the colour and style complimented the picture. I trimmed it just slightly smaller than the 15 cm ivory square base card and added a piece of brown and gold ribbon before sticking it down. The text was added using Chocolate Baroque stamps and Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I fixed the image over the ribbon with thin foam pads and with the last tiny piece of ribbon tied a knot to the side of it. To finish off I used a gold gel pen to highlight the top design and added a red gem to the centre.
                                                                                   
                                                                                 I loved the colours and sparkle in this image and simply trimmed it down a bit and stuck it to a mat of brown backing paper. The base card is 5x7   used landscape style with the fold at the top, and the front covered with paper from a Dovecraft christmas pack. I cut two corner decorations using a Memory Box die ( I think )  from brown pearl card and fixed them in opposite corners and added gold coloured gems.

I will now go and link this up at
Scraps of Life by Scrappymo - Rudolph Day.

Thank you for visiting here today and for your comments, all of which are really appreciated.
Jean x






                                                                            

Musical Butterfly

Good evening, what a lovely week weatherwise we have just had. For us here on the south coast anyway we have actually had two weeks of gorgeous warm sunshine and have been able to open windows and patio doors to let in some nice fresh air. I am hoping it will continue into next week as we are going away for a few days with my husband's bowls club and although I'm not very interested in the bowls I don't mind spending the afternoon sitting in the sun with a glass of wine and some friends to chat with while the men play.
Now for my card which I made today for the Butterfly Challenge where the theme is Butterfly + M for Music Notes. I was looking through my box of odd die cut scraps yesterday and spotted this yellow butterfly cut from some very old irridescent paper. It looks quite dark in the photo but IRL it varies from bright yellow to a reddish orangey colour depending on what angle you view it from. It is quite  thin paper with a shiny surface and having taken it from the box it promptly rolled up with the warmth of the sun, so I flattened it under an acryllic block and left it overnight while I decided what to do with it. To day I started by cutting and folding a white A5 card blank landscape style with the fold to left. I die cut the matching open work butterfly and the music notes from some snippets of dark brown pearl card. Both these dies are Memory Box. I used an ancient snippet of yellow patterned paper to make a panel for the left hand side and fixed it in place. I used some Stick It adhesive sheet when I cut the music so it was easy to stick it place. I glued the shiny butterfly in place next and then the body and the open work wings , glueing only in the center. To finish off I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp the sentiment which is a single clear stamp from Chocolate  Baroque. I bent it slightly to try and make it follow the shape of the music.
So now I am going to link this up at Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + M for Music Notes and as I used some snippets I'll hop over to Pixies Snippets Playground, I might just be able to make it before the gates close for this week.
Thank you you for taking the time to visit here today and for your comments which I really appreciate.
Jean x

Two More For The Men

I had more men's cards to make last week as it was my SIL 's birthday and also his SIL's on the same day. I recently bought two Stampin Up embossing folders with mens cards in mind. Both are abstract in design and look quite stylish as well. I particularly like the diagonal stripes. This is the one I used  for the first card, embossing a piece of white card. I then used my brayer and a Kaleidacolor ink pad, Desert Heat to add some colour. This is a brilliant way to colour embossed card as the colour really stays on the raised areas only. I saw this technique  on  Liz's blog Crafty Sunflower, here, a few weeks ago and thought what a good idea. Thanks Liz. I also used an ink blending mat which really helps to spread and blend the ink onto the brayer for nice smooth look. I cut some dark red card to fit the front of a white A5 card blank leaving a very narrow border, and then trimmed the embossed panel down to fit on the red card leaving a slightly wider border and stuck the two together. I cut the greeting with a Britannia die, once from a snippet of the red card and twice from white snippets, and the layered them up and coloured the edges with a dark red Distress Marker. I laid it on a non stick mat and gave it a coat of Glossy Accents and left it to dry before adding it to the card. I also added some gold coloured brads to the top and bottom corners and a tiny gold coloured gem for dot over the i. I  tied some red and white bakers twine around before sticking it to the base card.

For the second card I made it basically the same way using the Zig Zag EF and Melon Melody Kaleidacolor ink pad, and mounting onto dark green card. I turned the base card around to make  it a tent style, and hand cut a banner from  a snippet of white card for the greeting, which is a Chocolate Baroque stamp, inked with the same ink as the background.  I used green and yellow bakers twine and three coloured brads for decoration.
My description here is a bit long winded but these cards were actually quite quick to make.
I used a few snippets here so I going to pop over to Pixies Snippets Playground with them, where a snippet or two  is all that is required to get in.
I am also entering at Incy Wincy Designs  - Embossing - Wet or Dry
                                 Creative Knockouts - Birthday Wishes.


Thank You for visiting here today and for your comments all of which I really appreciate.
Jean