Last two cards of the season...

...just making a start on Christmas 2016 LOL.

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world and your Christmas plans are coming together...big hugs.

I had a peek out of the window and it is very dark but dry out there so far (everything crossed it stays dry but I doubt it)

I decided to save a couple of my robin cards for the end :o)

Both basecards are approx 6x6, folded and cut from A4 sheets of white linencard from The Range.

Both red and white pearlised cards are from PDA, the red one has been embossed with 8x8 Crafters Companion Leaf Vein folder, and the white one with 8x8 Embossalicious holly folder.

I gave the white one a light  dusting with chalk.

Both robins are my own photographs of course, the first one being played with in PSE5 and the second on in PSP7. Both were cut with Die-namics stitched circle dies.

Computer generated sentiments, the first one was cut with Die-namics stitched Fishtail die.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas :o)

Jackie xx

Christmas penguins

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

OMG, I have normally finished all my cards and written them out by now, but I still have inserts to print then fold and cut and attach. I have to get the overseas ones finished by the weekend or they may not get them in time!!!

Oh well, onward and upward!

For my cards today I couldn't let Christmas come and go without my penguin photographs seeing the light of day again so here they are LOL. 

 

 Oh wow, I didn't know we could drag and drop our images now, brilliant

I said photographs, but it is actually one photograph that I took at Twycross Zoo about 2007! I feathered it then mirrored it in PSP7 to get the pair above.

Both basecards are folded and cut from A4 sheets of white linencard, one to approx. 6x6 and one to 7x5.

Both sentiments are computer generated.

Penguin pair cut with Spellbinders pierced square dies.

The single penguin cut with Spellbinders die too but I can't remember the name of it!

Mats on both cut from gold lincard, as is the Memory Box ivy.

 

 That's all there is to them, very simple cards indeed :o)

Jackie xx

Christmas x 5

Good morning Bloggers, I hope all is well in your world...hugs for all of you.

I am very late this morning so I will get on with it!

I have 5 cards for you today, all digi images merged onto my own photographs.

My photographs taken at Elvaston Castle about 5 years ago. All printed onto white linencard. Photographs and digi images merged in PSP7.

All digi images from Karen's Doodles and coloured with Copics and Sakura Pens.

All cards started off as A4 sheets of white linencard from The Range, which I folded and cut to 7x5 and just under 6x6.

Various card colours/types from stash used for layers, mostly from PDA.

A mix of sentiments, some computer generated and some stamped. Computer generated ones punched with SU.

Not really much else that I can say about them :o)

Jackie xx

Robins x 4

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well or getting there, and that you are warm and dry...hugs

OMG how the temperature plummeted last night, down to 1c when I left my friend's at about 10pm! Since then the heavens have opened and the rain is practically horizontal, the wind has gone to gale force again!!!

My title? Well I am uploading 4 robin cards but they are 4 different robins too, taken at various times at Attenborough Nature Reserve and St. Chad's Water. 

Basecards are 7x5 and 6x6 ish.

 All basecards are white linencard from The Range, folded and cut to size.

All images feathered in PSP7, but starburst created in PSE5, then printed in MS Word onto same linencard and three of the sentiments printed at the same time using various fonts. One sentiment printed in Word then punched with SU.

Panelled layer on third card is pearlised card, embossed with Embossalicious folder.

Diecut on last card cut with Memory Box die.

Pearls coloured with Copic marker pen :o)

Jackie xx

 

10 card commission

Good morning everyone, I hope all is as well as it can be with you...hugs

The wind is still blowing here but at least it is drying up again, and it isn't really cold yet, although the forecast says it soon will be!

My cousin asked me for 10 of these cards in brown and Ivory, she does so love her browns, and I do too so it was a real pleasure making them for her. Having said that, it is always a real pleasure making cards :o)

Basecard is ivory linencard from the PaperMill shop before they all closed a few years ago, folded and cut to 7x5

Brown textured card is from PDA.

Own photograph of course, you have seen the original when I posted my white version of this card.

Photograph feathered in PSP7 onto same ivory card, an cut with Spellbinders pierced oval die, then raised with sticky foam strips.

White pearlised card used for the panel which is embossed with Darice then lightly chalked.

I added a smidgeon of golf Glamour Dust which isn't very noticeable here, but is very twinkly IRL.

Sentiment stamped with Stamps and Smiles.

I had a little play with paperpiecing, long time since I last did any, and this little card is the result. I dug out an old Stampendous, Retro Trees, stamp for this one.

This is just a little A6 card, a size I rarely make. While I was looking for something else, I came across an A5 box full of hammered card which I had folded into A6 cards years ago and forgotten about, so it looks like I will be making lots more this size for a while LOL.

Green paper background is from my scrapbox, and I stamped the trees onto white linencard scrap, then onto the same green paper. I fussy cut them and stuck them on, then stamped the sentiment with the same stamp as on the set of cards.

I quite like the effect and will possibly do it again :o)

Jackie xx

 

 

Narrowboat reflections

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the unseasonal mildness, can't really say that I am, its not right. I prefer it when the seasons are defined by the weather!

I thought I would give you a brief break from the Christmas cards today, only today mind you :o)

Had a phone call from my cousin yesterday, she wants 40 Christmas cards so I had better get my skates on then. At least what she wants is a very simple design and all the same so I can set up a production line LOL.

How many of you knew that there were hands free can openers around. I didn't until I saw my daughter using one so I thought it would be ideal for Stephen as he is one handed since his stroke.

He is much more independent now, 2+ years after, but of course, tins defeat him. Anyhow, it arrived yesterday and it is the best invention ever, absolutely brilliant. You just put it on top of the tin, press the button and watch it do it's thing, amazing LOL.

Oooooops! I digress so on to my card for today :o)

My usual 5x7 card, folded and cut from an A4 sheet of white linencard.

My photograph,  taken at Trent Lock in June this year, feathered in PSP7 and printed onto the same white linencard, then cut with Grand Nestie, as is the blue layer.

Sentiment stamped and punched with SU.

This is my original photograph. The colour of the tarp on the boat seems to have changed with feathering :o)
Jackie xx

 

Christmas 45

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well or getting there...hugs

The rain has finally stopped, it didn't even rain overnight!!! Of course it's because I am back at work now isn't it!

My offering for today should have been Christmas 44 and 45, but I seem to have deleted 44, how divi can I get? Don't answer that LOL.

I used my usual white linencard, folded and cut to 7x5, I promise I do occasionally make other sizes and shapes LOL.

Pearlised white panel embossed with one of my new Darice folders and lightly chalked, then layered onto gold fluted card from PDA.

Own photograph taken last winter at St Chad's Water, feathered in PSP7.

Sentiment stamped with Stamps and Smiles (I think).

 This is my original photograph taken in 2011 :o)

Jackie xx

Juvenile starling

Good morning Bloggers, I hope you are all well or at least improving...hugs

I cannot believe it's Thursday again already, have they popped another one into the week while my back was turned?

For my card today, I used one of my first  photographs taken when I first bought my new camera back in June. I took this one through my then dirty kitchen window and was so chuffed with the detail on the birds feathers. This was the one that convinced me I had bought the right camera :o)

Anyhow, on to my card!

I didn't want any embellishments taking the eye away from this little birdie, hence the very CAS card.

Basecard is my usual white linencard, folded and cut to 7x5.

I feathered the photograph in PSP7 and printed it onto the same white card,  then cut it with Spellbinders pierced oval die.

Mat cut with Spellbinders pierced rectangle  die. 

Topper raised with sticky foam strips.

I think I could use this for almost any occasion and for male or female :o)

Jackie xx

Back to my photographs...

...which I have sadly neglected of late!

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world, here's a few hugs {{{{{hugs}}}}} if you want or need them.

After cutting out some of my own mats, I had several of these squares left so what should I do, throw them in the recycle bin or use them? I had an idea to use two of them so I may have a go at playing  with more of them because I am quite pleased with this effect :o)

Anyhow, on to my card for today.

Basecard is 8x8 ready folded from a Papermania pack.

Striped glittercard layer is from my stash, found it in several colours at the bottom of my glittercard box. Had it so many years I have forgotten where from!

Own thistle photograph taken at Mercia Marine a few weeks ago. I have never seen such large thistles, they were about 10 foot tall and I am not exaggerating, the flowers were huge and perfectly formed. I feathered it in PSP7 then opened it in MS Word and added the sentiment, then printed onto my usual white linencard from The Range before cutting it with an Xcut large circle die.

I intertwined the squares and attached them to the circle before adding them to the card.

It's not very often I say it of my own work but I really like this one :o)

Jackie xx

 

8x8 70th birthday commission

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

It's a bit dull and overcast here but at least it's dry!

A work colleague asked me to make a card for her Mum's 70th birthday and she wanted it to be CAS and include alcohol, karaoke and kindle! I puzzled for days on what to do, and played about on the computer,  and here is the finished card :o)

 I didn't have time to think about buying a champagne flute die as it might not have arrived in time, so I made my own in SCAL, then cut it with my ancient little Cricut. Likewise with the 70. Both were cut from a piece of glittercard which was a creamy white.

Pearlised panel was cut with Spellbinders Grand Nesties then embossed with Embossalicious folder. I used clear gems from stash for the bubbles.

 For the inside I opened a Word Doc and inserted a piece of sheet music and I used WordArt for the text. I didn't like the kid bit as this is for a 70 year old lady, so I changed it to Queen but forgot to take a pic after the change!

Next, I took a photograph of my own kindle and faded the page in PSP, then added the greeting using the Papyrus font.

I am very happy to report that the customer was bery pleased with it, thank goodness :o)

Jackie xx

A couple more sunsets

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

As you all probably know by now, I love taking photographs, lots of them, and I love playing with them in PSP. In fact I often play and then forget to use them LOL.

I played with some of my sunset photographs recently and you have already seen two of them. I have made 8 cards altogether using them and you have seen two, and I am now sharing another two.

The difference this time is that the elephant photograph isn't mine, it was taken by my very good friend PatEssex(Docrafts). 

The sunsets are mine though, as are the silhouettes and the artwork.

Both basecards began life as A4 sheets of white linencard from The Range, I folded and cut them to 7x5.

I do hope I am not boring you with them :o)
Jackie xx

 

Been playing again

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

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I am not enjoying all this heat, bring back lower temperatures say I.....

I've been playing with some of my sunset photographs from a while ago and my cards for today are the result. I am in the process of making a set of 6, these are the first 2. I realise they may not be to everyone's taste, but I am pleased with them :o)

If I remember correctly, the cat and the elephant are from my very old CorelDraw software (bought about 20 years ago) and I converted them in PSP7 (also bought around 20 years ago) to png then in SCAL so I could cut them out on my very old little Cricut.

I opened my sunset photographs in PSP7, then added the animal images and 

shadowed them.

I printed the pics onto Kodak Everyday Picture Paper which is 160 gsm and semigloss.

Black mats are Papermania textured card and the silhouetts are cut from the same card.

Computer generated sentiments cut with SU punches.

I hope you enjoy them as I really enjoyed playing :o)

Jackie xx

Commissioned 8x8 50th anniversary

Good morning Bloggers, I hope that all is well in your world...hugs

What a wild, wet and miserable day we had yesterday, started off sunny then degenerated rapidly with horizontal rain and gales!  :o(  At least it seems to have calmed down this morning so far.

 On to my card for today. I was asked to make a large Golden wedding anniversary card and it was left to me what I did, the only brief being it must be simple, so here it is, and I am pleased to say my customer was delighted with it, thank goodness :o)

 I used a Papermania 8x8 card blank for this one.

I was given and old wedding photograph of the couple, and it was do faded and had lots of marks all over it, so I had a go at cleaning it up in PSP7 then feathering what I had left to get rid of everyone else!

I cut the photograph and gold mat with Spellbinders dies.

The rose (same rose used twice) is my own photograph beautifully tubed by my very good friend Pat (PatEssex on DC) And the sentiment is computer generated.

Inside, I used the same layout with the roses, and the verse is computer generated. 

Not mush else can be said about it really, simple was what they wanted and simple was what they got :o)

Jackie xx

Commissioned set of flower cards

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well or getting there...hugs.

My cousin asked me to "make a few birthday cards please" and she always loves the one layer cards with my flower photographs on, so these are what I made for her. I actually made 9 but three were ivory basecards so I have left those for another post. 

I made six with white basecards  but two of them are the same sunflower (requested) so only five pics for you to peruse!

My cousin loved all of them so she had all nine :o)

All basecards are white linencard from The Range.

All images are my own photographs, printed straight onto the card along with the computer generated sentiments for which I used Dauphin font, then folded and cut to 7x5.

All photographs feathered using PSP7.

Not a lot else to be said about them really :o)

Jackie xx

Mauve crocus card

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

A warm welcome to new follower Debs, thank you for joining me :o)

Back to my photographs with my card for today. You have probably seen this one before (the photograph, not the card). I made it for my Aunt's 90th birthday. 90 or not, she is still working, bless her, I have 16 years to go to catch her up LOL.

 My usual white linencard, folded and cut to 7x5.

I feathered my photograph in PSP7,  printed it onto the same linencard as I used for the base, then cut it out with Spellbinders pierced oval die.

Foliage cut with  Memory Box die and sentiment stamped with Woodware.

Not much else can be said about it :o)

Jackie xx

 

Swan 2 of 6

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all as well as you can be...hugs.

A warm welcome to new follwer Sally H, welcome aboard Sally, and thank you to Brenda for recommending my blog to her  :o)

I was very rudely awakend this morning by something landing on my shoulder. I shot out of bed quicker than I have been capable of for many a long while and found it was a huge bumble bee!!!

It would appear that our mini heatwave is ending right about now.  For myself that is good cuz I can't get on with heat, but I know a lot of you will be disappointed!

Enough waffling now, here is my card for today.

Same swan as No. 1 but a different pose. He looks a tad more threatening on this one methinks.

All card used is my usual white linencard from The Range.

My photograh feathered in PSP7 and printedout then cut with die-namics stitched circle die.

Wavy border cut with Spellbinders die.

Not much else I can say about it really :o)

Jackie xx

 

Swan #1 of 6

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

I cannot believe it is Thursday again already, time seem to fly by with jet wings nowadays!!!

My card for today features the first swan from my little outing  a couple of weeks ago.

As usual, I opened my photograph in PSP7 and feathered it, then printed it onto my usual white linencard before cutting with Spellbinders pierced die.

Base card is the same linencard folded and cut to 7x5, then image popped with sticky foam strips to give dimension.

Memory Box foliage cut from Papermania textured card.

Clear gems coloured with Copic marker pen :o)

Jackie xx

50th anniversary in a hurry

Good morning everyone, and what a foggy start we have to the day here near Derby! I hope all is well in your world...hugs.

I had a phone call from my boss at work, "please Jackie, could you do me a big favour?" Less than 24 hours notice for a 50th anniversary card for her parents!!! I knew I had a gold rose photograph but I had to find it! Luckily, there it was, sitting in the rose folder within my flower folders. Thank goodness I have them all organised on my external hard drive! I couldn't believe it was 2007 when I took the photograph, OMG where did those nearly 8 years go to so quickly?

Just in case you are wondering so why last minute, she had tried to buy one from work and we didn't have any in so she was in a panic!!!!!

Anyhow, enough waffle, here is the card and thank goodness she loved it!

My usual white linencard, folded and cut to 7x5 for the base card.

I feathered the rose in PSP7 and added the sentiment using Vivaldi font, then printed it onto the same card, then cut with Spellbinders pierced die and popped it with sticky foam strips. 

Clear gems from stash coloured with Copic marker :o)

Jackie xx

3 day eventing

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well and enjoying your Easter  weekend...hugs.

I don't get Easter off work, but I do get time off later  when I want it. I work 5 BH Mondays so I put them together for an extra week off later.

I have been digging deep into my photograph folders again and found this one I took at Draycott House in 2008. Draycott House is, strangely enough, at Draycott in Derbyshire, and is just a couple of miles from where I live. I was passing one day and saw there was 3 day eventing going on and as I had my cameras with me I popped in for a few minutes! It was free!

As usual, I feathered  it in PSP7 then printed it onto my usual white linencard and cut it with Die-namics stitched round die.  All the card used is the said white linencard.

Wavy band is the waste from a previous card and the tiny buttons from stash.

I couldn't leave without wishing you all a wonderful Easter Weekend, have a good one everybody :o)

Jackie xx

We're going to the zoo

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well or getting there...hugs

I spent a lovely afternoon at Straw's Bridge, Ilkeston, with a Docrafts friend on Wednesday and it was glorious sunshine although biting cold! We both had our cameras with us so of course we took lots of pics. I will show you some later.

For today though, I have 2 cards to show you, both taken at Twycross Zoo, the baby elephant in 2009 and the snow leopard in 2010.

I did not want to detract from the images with embellishment.

All card used is white linencard from The Range.

Both photographs feathered in PSP7, printed in Word, then cut with Spellbinders pierced dies.

No sentiments yet until I know where I am sending them and even then maybe not :o)

Jackie xx