Happy Holidays

 

Well I thought it was about time I came on my blog and said Hi to you all!

It has been a very busy and stressful term at school so these holidays are a time for me to relax and enjoy some well desreved me time.

 

I have managed to get a bit of crafting in but mainly at organised weekends when things have been planned but that has been good for me as it has developed my skills and pushed my creativity to the nth degree which has to be a good thing.

 

I was thrilled that just before Christmas I finally won the Clarity Challenge Here is the card I won with.

 

I was even more thrilled when Barbara contacted me to ask if she could use it as the Clarity Christmas E card that went out to her customers....Like I would say no!

 

Anyway I had better go and get my trifle finished! Off to see my brother and his family to day and I am taking the pudding!

 

See you all soon

 

Happy Crafting

 

Jane xx

A little bit Indigo Blu!

Well I cannot believe just how busy its been at the beginning of term! I knew it was going to be a busy start but WOW! What with new heavy timetable...new subjects for me to teach...open evening and then OFSTED arrived!
But all is OK and I can breathe a bit now!

So yesterday I decided to have an evening doing what I like and did a couple of cards using the Indigo blu Stamps...oh and I used one of Sheena Douglass's new stamps to add a few bits to it too.

 

The first one I stamped the tree in versamark then used winter wonderland embossing powder so it was white but with a bit of sparkle. I made sure I used the anti static bag on the black card adn it did pay off! I used the versamark pen to add a few dots and swirls then matted it on to some red card then onto some green and red backing paper. Here is the result...

 

 

The second on I embossed in green embossing powder then I stamped the corners with versamark using the border stamp in the Sheena Douglass snowflake stamps set. I then used pan pastels round the edges. I mounted this onto some silver holographic card

Once I had done the topper I stamped the base card with the Indigo Blu script stamp (which is great for backgrounds) just randomly with versamark and I added a few bits of the snowflake border then went over it with green and turquoise pan pastels. Here is the finished card...

 



 

 

Hope you are having a crafty weekend

 

Love

Jane xx

Clarity Weekend

Well as it is the Clarity weekend...when Barbara Gray does the Classroom show and her regular monthly show on Create and craft I thought I would show you my 2 cards that I have done for the last 2 clarity challenges

The first on is the Sports themed one. It had to say sports but could not have the olympic rings on it. It also had to be in red white and blue!

 

I drew the flame and cut it out of paper to make a stencil which I then stencilled onto card using pan pastels. I also used Pan Pastels to create the background and the SpOrt stamp. Then I stamped the sports icons in red and blue onto a piece of white card then assembled it all together!

 

 

The Second Card had to have a stamp, a bird and a tree on it and had to use shrink plastic somewhere in it.

I hadn't used the wire tree before so I wanted to incorporate this somewhere in the design and had considered using this on shrink plastic...but then I had a dream and this is the card I dreamt...My bird is the Kingfisher done in shrink plastic....It looked quite cute I thought. I like doing the stamp stamps and thought that the flower stamps would look good in them. The idea was that the flower stamps were the garden around the tree....yes I do have weird dreams. The backing paper was done with the stamp we got from the New design stamp club. I really useful stamp.



 

Well there you go!

 

Hope you have had a good crafty weekend

 

See you all soon

 

Jane xx

My Addiction!!

Now those of you who know me will be aware that I am addicted to stamping.
Yes I admit it..... I cannot pass a good stamp and I was looking for a particular stamp and found I had some stamps that I had still to explore so these are what I made following that discovery!

 

I used distress inks to do this and then Wow embossing powder for the plants at the front!

The backing was some spellbinders and M-bossibilities which I then rubbed with the ink blender to make it stand out a bit more.



 

I used distress ink again on this one and a bit of spritzing to get the background. Then the image and sentiment were stamped and embossed in black. The flowers and leaves were cut using memory box dies! And the backing is an M-Bossibility folder again once embossed it was rubbed over with ink to make the pattern 'pop'.

 

This last one saw me using my pan pastels to do the background. I used the pale tint blues and greens to create the background then stamped in brown adirondack to soften the image. I thought black would have been too harsh. I put the piece of peacock blue codinations card through an M-bossibilities folder and them sanded it to show up the pattern.

The borders are a spellbinders die and the flower I created by cutting and crumpling paper then putting it together with a brad. The borders are cut from brown card to tie everything together.

 

Well thats it for today!

 

Happy crafting

 

love and hugs

 

Jane xx





Time Flies....

...when we are having fun!!!
I cannot quite believe where the time has gone...it only seems a couple of days since I starting my summer break and now I have one more day of holiday left. Back to work on Monday! WOW! Where has that summer gone or have I been teleported into the future somehow!
Any way I thought you would like to see some of the stuff I have been doing over that time.

I started my holiday by having my anniversary card to make. Obviously I had to try and do it without Colin seeing it which is not easy as he has the knack of turning up when least expected but I managed it eventually! And with some days to spare! It was our Pearl anniversary this year so I wanted to make it special. Anyway here it is...Its an 8x8inch card and I used my slice, cricut and cuttlebug with spellbinders to make it!

I know he liked it...good job really!!!

I also was asked to make a wedding card. I had one for an engagement on Facebook which someone had seen and wanted me to do the same thing but for wedding! I never like doing exactly the same card but thats what she wanted so I had to oblige. She was happy with it anyway! Here it is.

 

Anyway thats all from me for the moment...Need to sort of some photos and then I'll be back.

 

Happy crafting

Jane xx

 

Lovely day

Wednesday, the first day of my jollies went really well.

To start it off Sheena Douglass was on the telly at 8 o'clock am so I woke up just in time to turn the telly on and watch it in bed....how indulgent of me!
Loved the backgrounds she was creating and the cards made were fab! Hope mine look half as good when I get my stamps.

I then got ready to go out to Poynton Garden Centre where I was going to the workshop run by Jo Rice. Todays class was Fabulous Florals! There were no clues to what we would be doing til we got there.

Jo handed out an assortment of backing papers and showed us the magazine that we could get them from.

We were going to have a go at making flowers then using them to make a card or 2!

We all had a go at making a rose...mine was OK but I decided to make the other type of rose where you cut a spiral and then roll it up quilling style and then glue it so it stays together..I made 2 of these and used them in my first card.

The second card we could do whatever we wanted using our papers. Jo gave us a button to use and we had access to distress inks and stamps if we wanted. Here is the card I made

I had a thoroughly nice morning and stayed for a bit whilst Jo got set up for the afternoon and had a drink and a natter with her and Alex!

I of course went to have a look in the shop where they had some new Indigo Blu stamps in. I had to buy a set....the poppy! I will be making good use of this stamp set, I am certain!

It was a really great start to my holidays! Thank you Jo!

Hope you are having a crafty day

Love

Jane xx

Summer Hols Are here!

Well the summer hols have arrived so I am going to try and spend some time updating my blog.

I will start with a card I have done for a challenge on The Vintage Artisans fb page.

It has to be vintage and a bit of Steampunk
I felt totally out of my depth but enjoyed doing it.

The image was off Vince Price's blog where he has some lovely free digis on offer. Thank you Vince. They are really brill and so easy to colour.

The flowers and backing papers are off the free CD I got with Crafts Beautiful Magazine. Its Shabby Chic by Debbie Moore Designs.

The other embellishments are the cogs and sprockets spellbinders.

Hope you like it.

Have a lovely crafty day!
Jane xx