CFM 20 + A Crafty Little Place

Good morning all. I hope it's better where you are, we have grey, grey and more grey plus a bit of wet!

On to my card which I am entering for

CFM 20 - Autumn

A Crafty little place - Autumn

I have printed my own photograph straight onto the cream linen card, added a Fiskars punched border and and two lots of stamping.

Sentiment stamp and punches are from SU and I stamped the harvest image at a friend's house so don't know where the stamp came from. Coloured with copics and cut out with nesties. It really is a very simple card :o)

Jackie xx

Update: It seems that linking my card to the said blogs won't work for me at the moment so I will have to try again later :o(

Jackie xx

Karen's Doodles + Scrappy Frogs + Saturday challenge

Good afternoon Bloggers. It's a bit later in the day than ususal for me but here goes. I am entering this for 3 challenges;

Karen's Doodles - 7 of something

Scrappy Frog - make your own flowers

Saturday Challenge - Purple and silver

Image is from Karen's Doodles and coloured with copics then cut out with nesties. Just did a quick tot up and I think I've used 9 different punches for the flowers and leaves plus the ever present MS grass punch for the border. All other punches are from McGill, Woodware, EK Success and Xcut. Flowers are punched from purple pearlised thick paper and finished of with a dab of stickles in the middle, leaves punched from silver textured paper, and it's all put together onto mauve hammered card :o)

Jackie xx

Birthday card + Crafty Emma - animal antics

This is for my Great-grandson's 5th birthday on Saturday, I have yet to put the tag on. I am also entering it for the animal antics challenge over at Emma's blog

It's my first 7x5 easel card, not too sure if it works as well as a square one!

Base card is from PMS. I cut the lion on the Cricut then cut an extra mane which I hand cut to give dimension. Backing card I found in my stash whilst having a clearout, same for the tree stamp which unfortunately doesn't have a name on it!

The lion on the sentiment panel is from a photograph by my friend Pat. Lion and sentiment panel are both popped with foam pads :o)

Jackie xx

Allsorts - plain and simple

Good morning all on this very chilly Autumn Day. I love it, can't cope with heat so this is very welcome :o)

This is my entry for the plain and simple challenge over at Allsorts

My good friend Di has become a Granny again for the ? time so this card serves 2 purposes :o)

It's that Martha Stewart grass edge punch again folks, can't resist it! Papers are from FF CD, Koete Cow stamp is from Nellie Snellen, coloured with copics and cut out with nesties.

There are dabs of glossy accents on flower, dummy and flutterby but they don't show up very well on the pic. SU and Woodware sentiment stamps :o)

Jackie xx

OLW card

Good morning all, it's quite cold and windy here but the sun has finally broken through:o)

This is my offering for the Simplicity OLW challenge this week. Inspired by the golds/oranges of Autumn

I must say that I do find it very difficult doing one layer cards but I hope to improve over time! I found the card pad whilst having a clearout, can't even remember where I got it but it is quite thick shiny card and the colours are graduated so the back is getting paler than the front. I also found my unused pine branch stamp which is from Hero Arts. So, it is a marriage of two unused items from my stash. Sentiment is from SU. I used detail gold embossing powder :o)

Jackie xx

Made on my crafting day with friend

Had a fab day on Wednesday when Pauline came over. We both only got two cards made but we laffed a lot chinwagged a lot too :o)

I decided on the CAS style for both of them. I had to make myself a template (three separate bits) for the background on the Art Deco lady :o)

Jackie xx

The promised sepia cards

Good morning everyone, I hope it is less wet and windy where you are although the rain has finally stopped and the sun is peeping through :o)

The details are as for the previous post but I have changed the photographs to sepia which is my favourite.

The photograph with the border at the bottom was taken at Dovedale near the stepping stones but the rest I took at Elvaston Castle. I have been meaning all week to make a couple of challenge cards but being off work for a week I ended up making cards "just because" :o)

Jackie xx

Winter Wonderland - monochromatic + a few others

Good morning Bloggers :o) 

I know I have not been on much lately but I have tried to keep up with your postings. I am still in the throes of thinning the clutter out and taking dozens of books to charity shops etc. I am also on holiday from work this week and trying to take it leisurely, note I DID say leisurely LOL. I've come to the conclusion it not possible to be leisurely although I did manage to read a good book :o)

Anyway, I am babbling on so I must tell you that this is my entry for the

Winter Wonderland monochromatic Christmas card challenge.

I am also using it for a first time entry at Lexi's Creations use a photograph.

I opened my photograph in MS Publisher and added the sentiment with Word Art, then printed it straight onto linen card, cropped and folded it then added the stamped Craft's UK penguin which I coloured with only shades of grey copics.

I made a batch of 12 altogether, 5 in greyscale and 7 sepia. A very simple set of cards. I will put the sepia ones on later as I now have to prepare for my crafting friend Pauline who is coming over for a day of crafting, chinwagging and laffing :o)

Jackie xx

It finally rained...

...on my new lawn YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Wouldn't you just know it? Yesterday morning before work I popped to B&Q to buy a hose and reel for watering the lawn and then it rained, and rained, and rained. Talk about sod's law!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I am now on holiday for the whole week so hoping to get some cardmaking done.  See you later :o)

Jackie xx

A first + OLW card

Good morning Bloggers. Well it's now two days since I have my new lawn laid and not a drop of rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it rained every night before the event and not a drop since :o(

Anyway, I had much difficulty with this one layer card because I am so used to sticking bits on. It is also my first time entering Simplicity's One Layer Wednesday challenge. Not too sure that this qualifies but if it doesn't at least I tried :o)

I first made a template by using two sizes of nestie then stuck it down onto my 7x5 card which I had previously cut and folded. I sponged the three apertures with Tim Holtz distress inks but methinks the base card wasn't smooth enough (must see if I can find any locally). Then  I stamped the SU images and sentiment in sepia. I've had this SU set for many months but this is the first time it's seen the light of day since I bought it. I gave the rabbit and fawn just a tiny dash of gold glamour dust to lift it a bit. The border is stamped using two other SU sets :o)

Jackie xx

Had a busy day...

...watching my new lawn being laid LOL. I am so chuffed with it

It's only a tiny garden, 7m x3m, but it was an absolute jungle. What was a Malus (crab apple) tree is now a bird table and a huge dead prostrate conifer has been removed from the bottom right corner and now it looks big out there. Had to leave the buddleia for the flutterbies next year. All I need now is for it to rain all night :o)

Jackie xx

1st birthday + Pixie Dust challenge, animals

Made this to give to a friend's little boy :o)

I am entering it into the Pixie Dust Studio challenge for this week which is Animals.

This fab digi image is from Raising our Kids, coloured with copics and cut with nesties. Sentiment was printed in Word, sorry, forgot which font!

Paper is from an FF CD and the tiny images are from a set of 40 that I've had forever.

Jackie xx

Pics from yesterday

Sorry folks, this is a long post so grab a cuppa and a sandwich before you look
any further LOL.
This is just a few from the 131 pics I took in the space of about 3 hours :o)

If you haven't nodded off by the time you get to the bottom then you will see from the sky in the pics that the weather was quite variable but we never got wet :o)

These wall paintings are fantastic, the light was too bad for good photographs

Now here's a 'cheeky' girl and a little boy who couldn't wait :o)

This is The Cavendish where we had a lovely lunch.

Hope I didn't bore you too much :o)

Jackie xx

What a brilliant day out

Have you ever been to Bolsover Castle? If not, why not?

For many years I've been saying I would go one of these days and I finally went today with my friend Jean. What a fantastic day we had. A wander round the town, then a great pub lunch and then onto the castle. What a great one it is too. Once up in the castle grounds the panoramic views are magnificent. The photographs are still in the camera and I have to get ready to go to band practice soon so I will put a few pics on tomorrow all being well :o) The weather was very kind to us although very windy. We set off from home this morning in pouring rain and wondering if we were doing the right thing. By the time we got to Bolsover it was drying up and then when we went into the pub for lunch the heavens opened and it was coming down like nearly horizontal stair rods and bouncing up off the road. By the time we finished lunch it was drying up again so we were fine. The sun came out while we were in the castle grounds and we never got wet at all! Somebody was taking care of us for sure :o)

Jackie xx

Commissioned 8x8 wedding card

Good morning everyone :o)

After the lovely sunny day yesterday it's like being in a different country this morning, dull and very windy!

A friend asked me to make a large wedding card in purple and cream so here it is. I still have the inside to do though!

I bought 8x8 card blanks and envelopes from Monk's Den in Ashby de la Zouch when I was last there. I usually cut and fold my own cards but at £2.99 for a pack of 5 they are very good value. I am not connected with the shop, just a very happy customer :o) 

The main panel is textured pearly card from Paper Adventures, edged with Martha Stewart PATP and the cream is pearlised card from who know's where and cut with Nesties. I made all the flowers from cream and purple pearlised paper and various punches. I printed the sentiment in Word using Bradley Hand ITC font. The heart is from a Forever Friends unmounted stamp set.

The recipients are a couple in their 40s who are both getting married for the second time.

Jackie xx

Peachy Keen # 36 - sketch and colour combo

Good morning all on this very wet and bedraggled Saturday!

At least it is doing my newly cleared and flattened front garden good ready for me ordering the turfs during next week so hopefully I will have a nice new lawn before this time next week WhooHoooooooooooo.

Anyway, I digress. I am here to show you my offering for the

Peachy Keen #36 sketch and colour combo. 

The whale is from a PK set. Card used is Bazzill mustardy/orangey colour and yellow along with blue pearlised which I found while decluttering my stash! I also used Cuttlebug swirly folder (sanded) and Fiskars edge punch, and a Sizzix swirly die. It really is quite a simple card :o)

Jackie xx

Wouldn't you just know it...

...I make a pink baby girl card for challenges then the next day my friend's new grandson arrived! Then yesterday I tried 3 times to upload this one and it wouldn't load and the air was like a blue cloud hanging over me!!!!!!!!! 

I am sorry to say I cannot remember where I got this very cute image from, can anyone enlighten me please ?

All the papers are from FF CD, and of course I used nesties and Martha Stewart punch :o)

Jackie xx

I finally made a card

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well and painfree or at least getting there.

With all the upheaval of decluttering here this is my first card for a week, I was beginning to get the screaming abdabs for a fix :o)

Well, I finally managed to get in the craftroom and this is the result, a card for

Stamp Something - something cute 

Base card is pink hammered from PMS, DPs from J&P pictures, Koetie Cow stamp from Nellie Snellen, coloured with copics and cut with nesties, baby stapms from Woodware (I think). Couldn't resist using my Martha Stewart grass edge punch and ribbon is from stash.

I am also entering it for;

Aly's Sunday challenge - Pretty in pink

Cowgirls Sunday challenge - Anything goes

Paper Players - Clean and simple

Allsorts - New beginnings

Secret Crafter - Clean and simple

Wow, this is the first time I have entered one card for more than 3 challenges, here's hoping I manage to get them all linked properly (fingers crossed) :o)

Jackie xx

Animal pages

Sorry folks, still dredging up old scrapbook pages while I can't make cards!

Some swan photographs I took at Attenborough Nature Reserve a few years ago

I was visiting friends in their caravan up in Yorkshire for the day when I took these duckling pics. They were around the lake on the caravan site :o)

Jackie xx 

A couple more Ryan pages

Good morning Bloggers. The sun is shining and all is well until I have to go to work this afternoon :o(  Still, it brings in the pennies for more stash :o)

Still no cards yet while I am doing the decluttering, oh why did I ever start it. BUT, I am getting there slowly but surely!

In the meantime, here are a couple more of the pages from my Ryan Scrapbook, I hope you like them :o)

Jackie xx

I'm a norty blogger...

...I've been awol most of the week! I am seriously decluttering in the craft and sitting rooms so haven't made any cards.

Got a charity shop picking up some furniture next Tuesday all being well then I can really get down to it. It's amazing how much a wall unit can hold! I have filled up 1 box and 3 large bags just with books which I will have to sort through.

It's also amazing how much craft stuff I have that will never be used by me, but will be very useful for my friend's grandchildren. I have completely emptied a chest of drawers so that's a bit more space to play :o)

Lots more to go though, I am being totally ruthless!

Hopefully I may get some crafting in at the weekend but don't hold your breath :o)

Jackie xx