Just playing with images

Good morning Bloggers, hopefully we will soon be back to normal. I hope you all had the best Christmas ever and that 2013 brings you lots to smile about :o)

Let us all please spare some thoughts for those poor folks who were flooded out, and hope that the weather very soon improves!

On to my card for the day. I thought that as I originally bought my Grand Calibur for cutting shaped cards it was time to get started on a few. Here is the first one.

I used Go Kreate dies for this one. I  folded white linen card to A5 then cut with die. The log and large toadstool are CorelDraw images which had to convert to WMF so I could open them in PSP, then I was able to convert to png so I could merge them. I then printed in word onto Papermania textured card. I wanted the fairies to be just a hint at the edge of vision so I stamped with Versamark then just dabbed with Pan Pastel and added a sprinkling of Glamour Dust. Fairies and sentiment are from Lindsay Mason.

Jackie xx 

Greetings

And a warm welcome to my new followers :o)

I hope Santa has been and paid you all a visit.

What a bad blogger I am. I can't believe that it's more than a week since I was last here. I will do my best to catch up with you all over the next day or two!

Jackie xx

21st birthday card

Good afternoon Bloggers, a bit late in the day for me to post, seems strange uploading at teatime LOL.

It's my Granddaughter's 21st birthday in January but I had to make it so she can take it back to York Uni with her before the day! She doesn't like fussy so I hope she appreciates this 8x8 unfussy card!

It's safe to post because she doesn't blog, but I made a second 21st card this morning too which I can't show yet because the young lady it is for may see it if I do!

I used a white 8x8 blank. The main diecuts are from my latest Marianne set and I cut the 21 out on the Cricut using the Vivaldi font in SCAL.

Sentiment is computer generated using the same font in Word, and cut with Nestabilities. 

All are mounted with foam pads to give a bit of depth. 

The pins I bought at Donington Hall in the Summer.

Jackie xx

A few of my favourite own photographs of 2012

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world.

I have no cards or pages to show you today, I just haven't had the time to make anything with the Christmas rush upon us now, especially at work. A supermarket is not the best place to be working at this time of the year LOL.

I thought I would just show you a few of my favourites from the photographs I have taken during 2012. You may have seen some of them but not all :o)

I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Hopefully I will be able to catch up with your blogs during the next couple of days.
I also hope that 2013 brings all that you would wish for you and your families :o)
Jackie xx

Birthday card for a dear friend

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all warm and well and ready for Christmas :o)

I couldn't show this card before but now that the birthday is over it's safe to upload it. I hope you had a great birthday Viv and Alfie too :o)

I used an 8x8 card blank and embossed it with A4 Mbossability folder.

Photograph is one I took of Mac, Viv's dog, but she hadn't seen it. Poor Mac has been poorly, I hope he is much better now.

Photograph and computer generated greeting were cut with nesties and grand nesties.

Foliage cut with Cheery Lynn. 

Jackie xx

Last Christmas card for 2012.....

.....or is it? I am bound to have forgotten someone!

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all warm and well on this very frosty morning. At least we have wall to wall sunshine and blue sky, albeit very cold Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Hopefully this is my last card for this year although I have already started on next years LOL. This one is a wallet to hold my Great-grandson's toy shop gift card.

They really don't come any more simple than this one, it took all of about 10 minutes to make! The image is actually the corner of a 12x12 paper I found whilst I was looking for something else. I matted it with pale green card added the ribbon and greeting then layered it onto a 6x6 card which I had folded and cut myself. There you go, I told you it couldn't be simpler LOL. 

Jackie xx

The rest of the pages for my friend's calendar

Well here we go again. I've done this once and then pressed the wrong key and lost it all. Yet another 'senior moment' LOL Here's hoping it work's this time!!!!!

These are the rest of the pages for my friend's calendar now that I have finally scanned them in. Keeping everything crossed that it works this time :o)

I did upload them in the right order but Blogger decided he liked them better this way!

Jackie xx

Oh not again I hear you cry...

...not another Christmas card!

Well you see, I just can't seem to get out of Christmas card mode but I promise I will try, I really will :o)
Welcome to my new follower Pinkjools :o)

I should be at work now but with several visits to the loo in a couple of hours I daren't leave the house :o(

Anyhow, without further ado here is my card. No stamping, no colouring, just lots of playing with my beloved dies LOL

I folded and cut white linen card to 5x7, my favourite size.

Embossed background was matted with yellow card to match the house windows.

Country scene is from Memory Box as is the reindeer, and the stars are from Lea'bilities, and they were cut from white glittercard. This is one of my first batch of cards for Christmas 2013 LOL.

Jackie xx

Merry Christmas everybody

Good afternoon everyone. I would just like to say that I wish you everything for Christmas and the New Year that you would wish for yourselves :o)

Jackie xx

Calendar for a non crafting friend

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all warm, dry and well...hugs

I tried uploading these yesterday but Blogger decided he didn't want to co-operate. This is my second attempt today cuz I have just pressed a wrong button and deleted it all. Talk about "senior moments"  LOL.

I made this calendar for a friend who doesn't know anything about crafting, she is an avid genealogist who sits for many hours a day transcribing parish records before they deteriorate any more and are lost forever.

Without more ado, here are the first 4 pages. The calendar is A4.

The saga continues, I just published without the pics, whatever next LOL.
I created the pages in MS Publisher using one of the templates, and added my own photographs. Each photograph was taken in the month it represents. 
I have to scan the rest of the pages in to save them as jpegs. My Publisher software is so ancient (2000) it doesn't allow me to save as jpegs and the original pages are far too large to upload (nearly 20 megabutes each) !
Jackie xx

Made last Sunday at craft get together

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all warm and well on this very frosty morning :o)

I don't know where the week has gone, it has flown so fast!

My cards this morning are the ones I made last weekend crafting with friends. They are all 5x5 and the scalloped blanks were donated by one of the girls.

One of the girls wondered if glittercard would emboss and the first card show that the answer is yes, it does!

Embossing folders use are; card 1 Couture Creations, card 2 SU, card 3 Mbossabilities.

Poinsettia is cut from vellum with Marianne die.

Poppies and foliage cut from pearlised white card with Memory Box and Cheery Lynn dies.

Flutterbies cut from bronze pearlised card with Martha Stewart punch, sentiment stamped with ? and cut with SU punches :o)

Jackie xx

Autumn for a change

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well, warm and dry.

My card for today features a photograph I took earlier this month just up the road from where I live. I was on my way to Long Eaton and had to stop and just gaze at the wonderful Autumn colour with the sun shining on them. It was truly magnificent :o)

As usual, I feathered the photograph in PSP then printed it onto Papermania textured card, then folded and cut to 5x7.

Hero Arts stamp was used for the sentiment, which is one of my favourites and was particularly relevant as I had done just that to get this picture.

The acorn die was sent to me by a friend who had two, as were the leaf diecuts :o)

Jackie xx

Ooooops! It's back to Christmas

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well, warm and dry!

I've gone back to Christmas with my card for today. At this rate I will have next year's Christmas cards made before the end of this year LOL.

This card was a bit of an experiment really. I had made the topper last week and realised that it was too big for a 6x6 card so it had to be an 8x8, but what to do for a frame? I had seen on someones blog or DC gallery (sorry I can't remember where or when) how to emboss a card using Nesties so that's what I did and was flabbergasted when it worked LOL.

Dies used are Cheery Lea'bilities and Memory box and punch is Martha Stewart. Sorry, can't remember whose embossing folder it is! Although the mat looks gold on the right hand side it is actually silver :o)

Jackie xx

Brilliant day and a non Christmas card for a change

Good morning crafters, I do hope that you are safe from the awful flooding. I am sending cyber hugs to those of you who have suffered from all this incessant rain  {{{{{HUGS}}}}}

***************

WARNING, long post so get your cuppa and settle down!

I had a wonderful day with my crafting friends yesterday (7 of us altogether) starting with bacon and cheese paninis and a cuppa as we arrived, then we played with Viv's i-pad so I ended up checking out Amazon and what did I buy? A Kindle Fire which was on offer at £30 off. Well I was never one to turn down a bargain so now I am waiting with bated breath for my new toy to arrive!

Then we all went to Byrkley Park for some retail therapy and as always we spent a fortune on crafting goodies ;o)

Back to our wonderful host Pauline's house where we tucked in to lovely home made apple/cinnamon and cherry scones with clotted cream and fresh strawberries, lemon drizzle cake and goodness knows what else (all of it very naughty)+ the inevitable cuppa.

Then it was time to play after another one of us went onto Amazon to buy the said Kindle Fire!

I did make three cards but I haven't taken pics of them yet, I will put them on later. 

For dinner, our lovely hostess had made rumblethump - what was that did I hear? - mashed potato mixed with finely shredded cabbage, onions and cheese and baked in the oven - lots of vegetables and succulent roast gammon, followed by our American friend's home made pumpkin pie. From this morning we have to fast to get the extra lbs off LOL.

Without more ado, here is my card for today, and they don't come much more simple :o)

Whilst looking for something else I found this 12x6 bit of card left over from who know's when. I found the ribbon, which is more aqua than it looks in the picture, so decided to have a play and here is the result. 

I folded the card into 6x6 and then stamped the PB Queen Anne's Lace and Stampendous agapanthus cluster onto the card and the geese (sorry I can't remember whose) and the sentiment, all in Memento Ivy. I hope you like it :o)

Jackie xx

Friend's birthday

Good morning Bloggers, my apologies for not visiting you for a few days! I will try and catch up over the next couple of day because on Sunday I will be out all day enjoying a craft get together with my friends. It has been very hectic here for the last few days what with Christmas shopping, car being serviced, new tyres being fitted, out to lunch 3 days this week etc. etc. etc....... life is so hard at times LOL. 

Next job is to start writing Christmas cards out ready for posting! I bought all my postage stamps before they went up in April.

Anyhow, on to my card for which I used my own photograph of the recipient's own dog. I know he has received it so it's okay to show it at last and he is delighted with it :o)

Inside is a smaller photograph. As always, the photograph was feathered in PSP and printed straight onto Papermania textured card, and the sentiment added in Word, using Dauphin font :o)

Jackie xx

Tim Holtz trees

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world and that you haven't had any flooding. Those poor folks in Scotland had it a few weeks ago and now they have it again. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like for them...sending cyber hugs for them all.

It's raining again and I have to take the car in for service this morning, then it's on the bus (after 9.30am of course) into Derby to do a bit of shopping. I don't really like going into the cities but heyho, I can't get what I need locally! This will be my second visit to Derby this year LOL, last time was January 2nd!

Anyhow, onto my cards for today, a nearly matching pair :o)

More simple cards I'm afraid.

Both are linencard folded and cut to 5x7.

Pearlised white card embossed with TH trees then matted with plain black card. 

Reindeer cut from scraps of white glittercard and holly from black card remnants, both using Memory Box dies.

Stamped greeting from ? to finish :o)

Jackie xx

Christmas candles

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world. What a beautiful morning it is, everywhere is white with frost and it looks so pretty :o)

I am on holiday for a week now...all together now YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...so I meant to enjoy myself. I do have to take the car in for service on Tuesday but that is just one day out of the eight I have! Tomorrow I am off to Belper river gardens to meet up with Mol from Docrafts so I am looking forward to that ;o)

On to my card for today. Yes, it's another simple one, with postage rates being so high I like to keep the ones for posting fairly flat! I have made some non Christmas cards too but can't put them on yet in case they are seen!

White linen card base folded and cut to 5x7.

Pearlised white card embossed with Craft Concepts folder, then lightly sponged with Memento inks, then matted with orange Bazzill from scrap box. Added tree handcut from white glittercard scrap, sentiment stamp from ?   :o)

Jackie xx

Good morning everyone, I'm not liking this fog we have today, and they do say that it will be slow to lift! Still, at least it's not cold this morning.

I'm not going far today, only to George's Tradition in Long Eaton for my weekly fix lunch. Can't let the weather stop me going there LOL. Then of course, as it's Thursday I will be at my daughter's at teatime. Other than that, methinks a bit of family research and maybe a play in the craftroom will be the order of the day. 

Anyhow, on to my card for today which is another very simple one.

Basecard is linen. The panel is pearlised white card embossed with ? embossing folder (sorry, no name on it) and matted onto red Bazzill from my scrap bin. Marianne poinsettia die cut from red vellum and green card, stamens hi-lited with Glossy Accents and Glamour Dust, sticky back gem from stash to finish off. I have had that sentiment on the acrylic block for so long (years) that I cannot remember where it's from :o)

Jackie xx

Sudbury Hall, it's all about the ceilings

Good morning Bloggers, I can't believe it's nearly a week since I last posted. Unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way, and the blog has to take a back seat!

I have already bought my Christmas present to me, a 6 month subscription to Find my Past, in the hope that I can tie up a few loose ends in my research, which has been neglected for too long. I aim to get back into it though. The daft thing is, I have found more for a friend than for me so far!!!!!

Anyhow, on to my photographs for today which I took at Sudbury Hall last month. It has the most glorious ceilings there, they are a wonderful sight to behold. It would have been wonderful if I could have laid flat on the floor to take the pics of them, but then I would have needed a crane to get me up again LOL.

I warn you it is picture heavy so you might like to get a cuppa and settle down comfortably!

I hope you have enjoyed my little tour of Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire. It really is well worth a visit if you are near enough :o)

Jackie xx