Happy Retirement Colin

Well today June 2nd is the official retirement day for my lovely hubby Colin. He decided to accept the offer of early retirement after working for Manchester City Council for 39 years...that sounds like forever but he has been with them since he left school!

His last day on Friday was obviously an emotional one for him I think he coped pretty well with it although I don't think its fully hit him yet that that's it as far as full time work is concerned. He may or may not look for a little part time job just to give him some spends now he is to be a kept man! lol.

So on Friday he wanted to say thanks and good bye to all his colleagues by taking in a few treats. I made him some chocolate fairy cakes which I think went down pretty well.

 

He also took a few sausage rolls and cheese straws plus a few more nibbles for them.

 

When he arrived home he had a lovely pressie off them all and a card plus a few more cards and pressies from individuals. I know he was touched by their generosity.

 

I couldn't let the day go unnoticed and I did make him a card myself for him. I used some of the Create a scene stamps from Creative expressions when Sheena Douglass designed for them. I hadn't used them in ages and had forgotten how lovely they are to use and build up scenes. I used the seaside set for this card. I stamped onto the reverse of centura pearl card and then water coloured the picture I created. I think it worked out quite well. I know Colin liked it.

 

 

Then last night we went out to celebrate at Red Hot World Buffet in Manchester. I still feel full!!!
It was a lovely relaxed evening but we were both glad to get home and get our PJ's and comfy trousers on.



Cheers to you all!
Happy Crafting

Jane xx

Pinch Punch and all that!

I can't believe we are here again with another challenge for you all!
Well done to our latest winner. Enjoy the vouchers...I know wjhat I would do with them...I have a list as long as both my arms of must haves but they are all now on my wish list!
Anyway I have just had a week off and I am feeling rather relaxed and content and ready for the the next 7 weeks of work! It doesnt sound so bad said in chunks! However my wonderful OH is finishing work today and retiring ( early)... so jealous! I will be going to work and leaving him being a house husband and I know he will be so good at it...he does most of the house stuff anyway.

Hasn't it been cold....it is a bit brighter today as I am writing this and it promises to be a better weekend. It will be a good weekend anyway with Barbara Gray on the telly with the Classroom show on Saturday abd the nornmal clarity shows on Sunday. I do love them as it lets us all see the fab cards the design team and Barbara have created. And the classroom we get to see all the homework that has found its way to Barbara.

On to the challenge for June. Summer is the time when many people get married so we have the theme Mr and Mrs. To enter you must create a project that uses clarity stamps only and any other materials around the theme of weddings and anniversary. I think the DT enjoyed this one and the cards are all amazing. Pop over to the Clarity Stamp blog for a nosey at their wonderful designs and for more details of the challenge and how to enter.

I decided to go with anniversary and used the 2 sizes of the lily of the valley -large and small.
Here is the card I made

 

I started off by stamping and embossing the images onto Theuva card with silver embossing powder. I then used pale green promarker to colour the leaves and edge the card. I then matted each topper on to silver mirri card.

I then needed a sentiment so I used the one I had got with the New Design Club but is available to buy from clarity. Its called Love you. I stamped and embossed this in silver and edged the card in the same way as the toppers and matted it on to silver card.

Once I had got all my toppers I cut some ferns and flourishes out of silver and pale green card and made a bow from my ribbon. I also coloured the ends of the hat pins using the same promarker as I had coloured the leaves.

 

I also cut a piece of white card 2cms smaller than my 8 x 8 card and edged that with the green promarker. I attached a piece of ribbon onto this smaller card then attached that to the base card. I then arranged the toppers going for an angle with the lily of the valley toppers then I put the ferns, flourishes, bow and pins to finish the card off.



I hope you like the card and that it helps to inspire you to enter the challenge. 
I also want to enter this into the Crafting for all seasons Wedding/ Anniversary Challenge.
I welcome any comments you would like to leave me. Happy Crafting
Love
Jane xx

Colourful flowers

Well I can't believe how fast time is going and here I am doing a card for the next Indigo Blu Challenge! This time its all about Flowers. So I had to use the Bloomin' Great set of stamps.

I coloured a piece of card with Pan Pastels and then stamped the 3 flowers in the set over it and cut them out. I cut out a circle of card and stamped one of the sentiments on it.

I cut a square of card and covered it with a mask by Splodge Away and brushed pan pastels over it to create a gentle background as the flowers were so bright. I attached this to an 8 x 8 card and then arranged the flowers and sentiment using foam pads.

I stamped some leaves from the set on to some green stiff paper and cut them out and slotted them in amongst the flowers.

I dotted some dew drops around the leaves. And here is the finished card. I do hope you like it.

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment if you can!

Happy Crafting.

Jane xx

It's May already!!

Well here we are in May already and that means a new Challenge over at the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog!
April has see some more fantastic entries and I hope the winner will be as overjoyed as our March winner,  Dawn!

And so to this months challenge. Its one to get your sentiments out for

It's all in the Sentiment.

So remember that you can only use stamps by Clarity Stamp Ltd but you can use any other crafty items - diecuts, masks, inks ,paints - to create a project.

Here is the card I made to give you some ideas....not that you need any!

 

As you can see I have gone this time for a monochrome effect and used fired brick distress ink to do all the stamping. I stamped the image of Beatrice and the tall wild poppies on to some water colour card and then used a damp paint brush to drag out the colour from the line art. I used the brush then to create a bit of colour in the sky.

 

This topper I mounted on to ruby red card stock as this toned better than other colours.














I cut out a border using a memory box die (Butterfly Vine) and after stamping a background onto my card blank using the Oats as seen on TV stamp I stuck the topper and die cut onto the card.

I then chose my sentiment and stamped it on to a piece of card, drew round it to create a shape then cut it out. I distressed the edges using distress ink and mounted it using some foam pads onto the card.
 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my project and I hope it has inspired you to have a go yourself..You never know you may be lucky enough to win the prize of £50 worth of vouchers to spend with Clarity Stamps!

 

 

Happy Crafting

 

Jane xx

 

 

 

 

 

End of playtime!

Well thats the Easter Holidays over and its back to work on Monday
I do feel as if I've had a really long holiday this Easter...maybe with working right up to the thursday before Good friday....I dunno but its been a good holiday.

And I have now done another of those things I want to do....I had my hair shocking pink!!!...Its nearly all gone now...it might still be in a bit on Monday but hey!

I have also been doing more of my journal and will now share a few of my most recent pages.

The first is using the tall trees classroom stamp by clarity.
As soon as I saw it I just got Stairway to heaven running through my brain so I used it as a page

The background I did by just randomly dividing into sections and then colouring in with pencil crayons.












The next page I had a go at doing was using the Clarity Birdcage set. I love this set and it has endless possibilities












After that I thought I'd use the Indigo Blu BFF stamps and create something. I also used Ella Bella







The last one is a page using bits and bobs of paper I had in my bit box...well its one way to use them up! I also inked a bit andadded some twirls of paper string!!! Fun times!













I hope you have enjoyed looking today and I will be back to share more with you very soon. Let me know what you think.

Happy Crafting

Jane xx

I have an Award

I have had a tremendous day yesterday out with friends buying crafty stuff and chatting craft as we drank coffee. I got home to find my new clarity stamps on the counter in the kitchen and then I came on my blog and saw that I have been given an award off the lovely Linda Walmsley! Thank you Linda and I accept it graciously! I shall display the badge with pride.

Linda has a lovely blog and thats why she was given the award! and now she has passed it on to me! Why not pop over to her blog for a nosey! http://lindylou-lifeinthecraftlane.blogspot.co.uk/

This award is designed for blogs that have less than 200 followers. Once the award has been accepted, the idea is to pay it forward to 5 other blogs that you like to read and follow, and hopefully encourage others to visit, read and follow them too.

To accept the award you have to ......
Thank the person who gave it to you, and link back to their blog
Post the award on your blog
Give the award to 5 other Bloggers, with less than 200 followers and leave a comment on their blogs telling them they've been nominated.

Here goes ........ my 5 nominations are ...

Jo Rice. My little crafty friend. And its right what they say....good things do come in small packages!! Jo is one of the most modest of people I know yet she has great talent! That's why she is on the indigo blu design team and other DTs too. Her blog JR Crafts is at http://jr-crafts.blogspot.co.uk/ and well worth a look!

Linda Page. She is a lovely lady and a fabulous crafter. She designs for the Clarity Challenge Blog and makes some gorgeous cards. Her blog is Linda's Handmade Cards is at http://lindyloushandmadecards.blogspot.co.uk/. Another one worth visiting.

Louise Withers. I have known Lou for a number of years but only just become reacquainted with her through crafting and become firm friends. She is another one of the modest type but her work is fab! Her blog Lous Creations is at http://lou-withers.blogspot.co.uk/ and is a definite one to visit!

Sam Crowe. I met Sam through facebook and then met up with her for real at Harrogate. She is a really talented lady and her work is really Arty! Sam loves inkyness and that can be seen on the work she does. Her blog SamsHomeCookedCards is at http://homecookedcards.blogspot.co.uk/ and is a must for all you stampists!

Lynne Hammond. I think Lynne is one of the most inspiring talented crafters I have ever met. She does the most amazing cards and is so inventive with her work. I suppose thats why she is on the Clarity Stamp DT. And yet she is another modest lady! Her blog Lynne's Crafty Little Blog is at http://lynnehcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ and has to be one you look at!


There you go. 
Congratulations ladies! 

If you choose to accept the award, follow the instructions, grab the badge from the top of this post and display it on your blog. Don't forget to link back here to show who was inspired by your work and awarded you the Liebster. xx

Have a good time crafting!

Jane xx

April Fool's....certainly NOT

Well its another month and so there is a new Challenge on offer over at the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog...and what is is I hear you ask?

Well we have had some really bad weather recently and so the new challenge could be something that we won't have been doing much of!

In the Garden....

 
 
So here is my card that I did


and I want to say thanks to my friend Jo Rice who lent me the garden stamps. I didn't tell her why I needed them...just that I needed to do something with them! I also used my new bunny stamps to make the card


I was glad that I got the masks for the bunnies as it made things a whole lot easier!

I did the sky by cutting my own mask for the clouds....and made a note to myself to get a cloud mask as soon as possible!!
Here is a close up of the image!

I matted the image onto black and then stuck this onto the centre of a 21cm x 21cm card blank. I went round the edge with a fineliner pen and in the corner added the words In the Garden.

I then cut out 2 of the Memory box die 'Leafy Branch' one black one green and stuck it to overhang the image.






I hope you have a go at the challenge. Lots of people had a go last month and it was great to see all the fabulous cards and projects you all made.
Why not have a look at the Clarity Challenge Blog for more inspiration and believe me.... there is plenty there. If you have a blog you can enter that way, if not you can send in your entry via email.  Don't be shy!
The winner will be picked by random generator....just make sure that you only use stamps by Clarity Stamps.
I hope you like my project and I look forward to seeing lots of great projects from you all.

Good Luck and Happy Crafting.

Jane xx