Mind Crafternoon Blog Hop

Good Crafternoon Everyone

Welcome to our fun Blog Hop in aid of the fabulous charity Mind. We aim to help a raise awareness of mental health issues and of money. If you would like a prize for joining in the blog Hop read on.

The blog hop starts on 12pm on 5th December and finishes on 9th December at 5pm,

  Each of the Crafter's Companion designers have created a project along with some tutorials to get people into craft and show what you can create with a little knowhow. As part of the Blog Hop event each of the Designers will have an individual prize to win - it will be a stamp/die or elements that has been used in their project. If for any reason the item is out of stock you will receive a voucher code instead).

To be in with a chance to win a prize you must leave me a comment and your email address, otherwise I will not be able to contact you. Winners of the blog prizes will be announced on my blog and on the Crafter's Companion UK Facebook page. Good Luck!

HERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN HELP

• Join in on our online fundraiser..get crafting!
• Buy a Crafter's Companion raffle ticket (100% proceeds go the Mind charity donate here!)
• Download your materials each day to be able to craft along with our videos (100% of proceeds go to the Mind Charity donate here!)
• Follow our Mind blog hop for inspiration
• Join in and 'Name the Crafter's Bear' (100% of proceeds go to the Mind Charity - donate here)...if you guess the name correctly you can win the bear, plusthe entire Sheena Douglass 60's Collection launching on the 8th December!

So Spread the word!

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 Right back to the Blog hop - you should
have arrived from Soraya

 

Soooo, to get you in the blog hopping mood I've created a sparkly Christmas card for the occasion. I've designed it so it's mainly mats and layers which can be easily replicated and a gorgeous glitter die cut star on top. If you wish to save time for batch making purposes or to reduce your postage costs (if posting it out) simply exclude some of the layers.

 

 I Used:

Crafter’s Companion Supplies: Crafter's Companion Silver Luxury Card Pack, Die'sire 'Shine Bright' Die, Die'sire Essential Only Words 'Merry Christmas' Die, Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card, Gemini Machine

 Other Supplies: 6" X 6" Card blank, Gems, Foam pads, Collall Glue

Here's the tutorial to recreate my card -

Step 1: Use white card, silver matt mirror and a piece of silver glitter card and a 6” x 6” card blank. 

Step 2: From the silver glitter card die cut a large star. Then cut 3 square mats from the matt silver card in the following sizes – 5½” x 5½”, 5” x 5” and 4½” x 4½”. Next cut 3 square mats from the white card in the following sizes – 5¼” x 5¼”, 4¾” x 4¾” and 4¼” x 4¼”.

TIP – To avoid confusion write the size of the mats in pencil on the back of each of them.

 

Step 3: On your card base glue the 5½” x 5½” silver mat directly onto the front, then on top of it add the white 5¼” x 5¼” mat, then the silver 5” x 5” mat, and finally the 4¾” x 4¾” white mat.

Next glue the white 4¼” x 4¼” mat on top of the silver 4½” x 4½” mat and add them both to the card base using foam pads to give it a little height. 

Step 4: Using glue carefully add the glitter star onto the topmost mat.

Step 5: From a piece of white card create a fishtail banner – approx 4” x ½” and cut 2 inverted ‘v’s’ at each end. Glue a die cut ‘Merry Christmas’ sentiment in the centre. Lightly run the banner through your fingers to give it a slight curve, add glue just at the tail ends and attach it across the star.

 

Step 6: To finish off add a gem in each corner and a few around the die cut star.

I used:

Crafter's Companion Products: Silver Luxury Card Pack, Die'sire 'Shine Bright' Die, Die'sire Essential Only Words 'Merry Christmas' Die, Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card, Gemini Machine

Other: 6" X 6" Card blank, Gems, Foam pads, Collall Glue

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 Your next hop is to the wonderful Laney

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Just in case you get along along the way - this is your Blog Hop journey:

Crafter's Companion UK

Jen

Angela C

Sam

Gemma

Sally

Angela H

Soraya

ME

Laney

Julie

Donna

Laine

Kelly

Have a wonderful time and enjoy!

 

Hugs

x Janine x

Crafter's Companion - BLOG HOP

Hi there

Welcome to our fun Blog Hop which we are holding to celebrate Sara's Signature Contemporary Christmas collection, which launches on the 6th August. 

You should have arrived from Suzi

 As part of the Blog Hop event each of the Designers have an individual prize you can win. The fabby prize on my blog is a Sara Signature Contemporary Christmas Elegant Snowfall 5" x 7" Embossing Folder and some Luxury Winter White Ribbon. To be in with a chance to win them you must leave me a comment. Winners of the individual blog prizes will be announced on the 5th Aug on Crafter's Companion UK Facebook page.

 

 

In addition to the individual blog prizes there is an overall prize of the WHOLE of the Sara Signature Contemporary Christmas collection. This will be announced live on the launch show on Hochanda  on the 6th August. To be entered into the overall prize draw you must comment on every Designer's blog in the hop - I have listed them all at the bottom of this post in case you get lost somewhere. 

 

The blog hop will finish on August 4th at 11.59pm, so you have lots of time to enter.

Good Luck!

Soooo, to get you in the creative and blog hopping mood I've created a sweet easel card for the occasion.
 

 

For my easel card I used:

Crafter's Companion Scruffy Little Kitten 'Tilly', English Country Garden 'Blooming Vines' Embossing Folder, Core'indations 'Pastels', Create-A-Card Base 'Stacey', Die'sire 'Happy Birthday' Die, Diamond Press 'Butterflies' Dies and 'Love Today Stamp/Die Set, Neenah Card, Sheena Douglass Stamping Card, Spectrum Noir Pens: Skin - Blender, FS2, FS4, TN2, TN3, CR3 / Hair - TN1, GB1, GB2, TN3, TN7 / Dress, Shoes, Hair Band, Flowers - PP1, PP2, PP4, PP6, DR6 / Grass - CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4 / Butterflies - CT1, CT3, OR1, OR2LV1, HB2

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 Your next hop is to the wonderful Sam  
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Here is your Blog Hop journey:

Sara

Laine

Donna

Susanne

Julie

Kelly

Soraya

Suzi

Me (Janine)

Sam

Sandra

Crafter's Companion Blog (with a fab treat for you)

ALL OUR LINKS ARE WORKING CORRECTLY NOW - SORRY FOR THE HICCUP!

 

Have a wonderful time and enjoy!

 

Hugs

x Janine x

Sugar Nelllie & All Dressed Up Blog Hop

- Hello Sugar Fans and All Dress up Fans -

Well hello and good morning to you all it's Blog Hop Day!!!

Our joint hop is to celebrate All Dressed Up's (ADU) recent birthday and to launch their stamps being available in both rubber and digital from Sugar Nellie.

We're having a BIG blog hop today combining both the Design Teams from Sugar Nellie and ADU's Dressy Girls.

So here's my card ---- or should I say 'book' for the hop. It's a book because I loved all the images so much I couldn't decide on just one, so I coloured all 4 of them. LOL 

Here's What I Did
I taped together 2 5" x 5" card blanks together to make a book so that it folded inwards - placing a strip of ribbon between the cards so that it can be tied together when closed. After printing all the images onto my colouring cardstock I coloured each of them with Copic Markers. I used the same colourway throughout all of the pictures, to finish off I added dots around the images. I then die cut 2 frames and 2 mounts in both blue and pink CS and layered them up. Using the left over squares from the frames I adhered some doubled sided paper to them and die cut my flowers, snowflakes and leaves. I peeled off the backing paper and added some crystal glitter - these were added to my frames as embellishments. I attached  3 of the panels to the inside of the card base and one on the back.  The front has a typed greeting in the same colour way as the rest of the book.

Here's What I Used

Stamp: New 'All Dressed Up' stamps available from Sugar Nellie at Funkykits

Paper/Cardstock (CS): Craftwork Super Smooth Digital CS, Topsy Turvy CS, Double Sided Adhesive Paper
Copics: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R30 / Pink Shades - / Blue shades -  / Blonde/Red Hair - YR0000, YR000, YR00, E13, E99 / Black Hair - C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, 000

Dies: Tonic Square Layering Dies, MFT Die-namic 'Flower Trio & Leaves Trio', MFT Die-namics 'Snowflakes', Tattered Lace 'Embellishments'
Other: Glitter, Ribbon

 

SO ONTO THE HOP ----

You should have arrived here from Holly's blog one of the Dressy Girl's.

Your next stop is - Keeley 

If you get lost along the way, here's the full blog hop list

Nancy

Lisa

Anne

Valou

Viv

Vicky

Holly

ME

Keeley

Marilyn

Fiona

Bettina

Christine L 

Lynne

There's lot's of goodies up for grabs but you must follow two simple rules -

1. You must complete the blog hop and make sure you leave a comment on each of the blog of the Sugar Nellie girl's and  the Dressing Girl's.

2. You must also create a card using the freebie donated by ADU, which is available on the All Dressing Up's blog and then add your completed card/project to Mr Linky on the ADU blog. 

The prizes are: 

All Dressed Up

Prize: the four new digital images

Crafty Ribbons

Prize:  £10 voucher

Petal Lu

Prize:  Petal Lu Lucky Dip (a box of 50 blooms)

Crafter’s Companion

Prize:  $30.00 gift certificate

Hobby Cutz

Prize:  goody bag or gift voucher

Scrap n’ Art Digital Magazine

Prize:  2 prizes, each one being a magazine subscription from the time it is entered to June

Kit and Clowder

Prize - online voucher to a class

Quixotic Paperie

Prize - Make It Crafty blending card

That Craft Place

Prize - £10 voucher

The hop will run for two weeks, so you have until 21st of October to get your card made and uploaded to the ADU blog. Good luck!

Don't forget to leave a comment on every blog along your travels. 

Hugs
 

x Janine x 

 

Creative Bloggers Hop

I was asked by the fabulous Fiona if I'd like to join in with the Creative Bloggers Hop. It's a continuous hop every Monday with a host of creative and inspirational bloggers taking part every week. I know Fiona from the Sugar Nellie and Sweet Stampin’ Design Team; she's such a talented lady and makes fantastic cards (I'd spot her famous doodling anywhere!).  We are also great Facebook buddies - who chat away until the wee hours.

So onto the questions and answers bit ----

1.  WHAT AM I WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT? 

I’m currently working on a few Design Team cards, one for the Sweet Stampin’ challenge that goes live on Saturday (9th Aug) and one Sugar Nellie which I has to be ready for Thursday (7th Aug).  I always intend to get ahead with my cards but for some reason I never do!  Mmm, maybe it’s because I get so distracted with Facebook and Pinterest (which I love!).  Plus I've just joined Kit & Clowder's Skin & Hair colouring course - I enjoy learning new things and developing my skills. So I reckon this will keep me busy for a while!

2.  HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN MY GENRE? 

I’m not sure it does really, but I do like to use different mediums eg Copics, water-colouring pens/inks and pencils.  I probably use my Copics more than the others – and I like to think I’m improving all the time. I do like to use my water colour pens/inks when I can because it’s great practice, plus I’m trying to make the night classes I took years ago pay off.  Quite a lot of the time I use digital images which I print off, colour and then fussy cut out, I just think it gives them more life.

I also like to stretch myself and my imagination by doing something different, whether it’s trying a new style, colour combos or medium.  I think this it's important, especially as I’m on a few DT and I don’t like things to be too samey.

3. WHY DO I WRITE/CREATE WHAT I DO? 

In a nutshell – I love it!  I adore being creative and feel the need to craft everyday when possible. I’ve always enjoyed all forms of arts & crafts and have always been crafty since I was a little girl. I have experimented with all types of things eg flower arranging, face painting, calligraphy -- to name a few. I eventually found my way to cardmaking, which I’ve done for the past 9 years since making my daughter’s 18^th birthday invites.  I love it because you can make your pieces of art as simple or elaborate as you like, either physically or digitally. ATM I'm also attempting to draw my own characters to turn into digital stamps - but it's a slow process --- maybe one day!

4. HOW DOES YOUR WRITING/CREATIVE PROCESS WORK? 

It depends really!  If it’s for a Design Team project I’ll usually pick the stamp  first (rubber or digi) but sometimes I'll have to select the colour scheme first, to be honest it depends on the theme, Next I decide on the layout and card shape (I 'm really into square cards at the mo), from this I'll pick out my patterned papers and cardstock. Sometimes, I have to do the whole thing in reverse - it really depends on the theme and/or the stamp I'm using.  But no matter which way round I do it I always pick out my pens or inks that co-ordinate with the paper and card I'm using. 

Tip -  never colour or pick out an image first before finding your patterned papers and cardstock - it never works out ---- believe me. Seriously you can spend hours trying to find something that matches - I know because I've tried it. LOL!  

If I ever find the card I'm making isn’t working (which happens a lot) and I’m not happy with it, I walk away from it for 10-20mins and do something completely different. I usually end up mooching around Pinterest (I love it, it’s so inspirational) or on Facebook.  Then if that doesn't work I'll send a picture of the offending card to my daughter who lives in London, and she'll tell me straight what's wrong with it. She's not a card maker but she has an excellent eye,. Then if she's not available I'll go and ask my hubbie - who's brutally honest anyway and he'll tell me whether it's a yay or a neigh. LOL

Anyhoo, onto the 2 amazing bloggers I’ve picked to carry the Creative Bloggers Hop

baton for next Monday ---

There should be 3 crafty blogger in total, but unfortunately  everyone I asked to be my #3 have either been asked already or were unable to do so due to prior commitments. But I'm pretty sure you'll be more than happy with  lovely ladies I asked, and who kindly accepted my request.

MARIE 

Marie is a fabulous lady who I had the pleasure of being a Design Team buddy with earlier this year.  She is such a talented lady who makes the most fantastic cards with the most amazing backgrounds.  As well as this, Marie has created brilliant video tutorials on a variety of colouring and crafty topics which are all available to watch on her blog.   

 SHIRLEY (AKA SQUIRREL)

Squirrel is a wonderful lady who I constantly bump in to (well not physically of course) on my blogging travels. She makes the most gorgeous cards - her colouring is amazing.  I especially love her cards coloured with distressing inks they're fabulous, and so are her tutorials which can be found on her blog  - I personally found them really useful.

Well that it's it from me for the Creative Bloggers Hop, it's now down to these lovely ladies

for next week! 

Thanks for dropping by.

Hugs

Janine xx

Furry Friends Blog Hop - Sugar Nellie

Whoo hoo it's Sugar Nellie's blog hop day!!!

Hello, well here it is the official launch of Furry Friends from Sugar Nellie and our blog hop day. So come on and check out my fab Design Team buddies who are showcasing some of our brilliant new stamps. If you feel inspired why not grab them now, they're all available as digital stamps - so you can get your hands on them instantly. There's special launch price which is only available this weekend.

 

To onto our hop!

You should have hopped HERE from the lovely Fiona's blog.

Here's my 'Furry Friends' hop card - I hope you like it and it inspires you to buy this cute little fella.

Here's What I Did
I've used Furry Friends 'High Flyer'. Does he look a little familiar! Yep, I used him to create the Blog Hop banner on our Facebook page and on the Sugar Nellie's blog.  He's such a dream to colour in and sooo cute!

On my card I wanted to give him a little extra dimension so I printed him out a few times onto Neenah cardstock, and coloured different sections in, these sections were then fussy cut out (this is my favourite thing to do!). The sections were then layered up using foam tape to form the final picture.  The same image was printed directly onto pale blue card, then the cat, plane, clouds and banner was glued directly onto this. To finish off my card I added hand cut hills and trees, plus a few punched out flowers. Everything was then matted and layered onto coordinating cardstock.

Here's What I Used

Stamp: Furry Friends 'High Flyer' available from Funkykits. 
Paper/Cardstock (CS): First Edition 'Spring Drops', Papermania Coloured CS, Neenah CS

Copic Pens: Various (Sorry I've lost my notebook with all the colours written in - when I find it I'll add the pen colours) 

Other: Punch, Glossy Accents, Fineliner Pen, CraftArtist2, White Pen, Silver Pen
 

Before You Hop Away

If you decided to purchase 'High Flyer' the banner is empty, this is so you can add your own text either digitally or by stamping inside it. I personally added my text inside the banner using CraftArtist 2, and I have written up an instructional sheet for you - this can be downloaded and/or printed out. You can find it on my Tutorials, Tips & Hints page (the link is at the top). Text can be inserted into or onto digital images using MS Word, so if you would instructions on how to do this let me know in your comments. 

Furry Friends Competition
There's a fabulous competition starting tomorrow (Sunday).  You need to purchase a 'Furry Friends' image, coloured it and make up your card then post it on your blog along with our competition banner.  Full details are given on the Competition page (the link is at top of the Sugar Nellie Blog). There's a fabulous prize on offer - a Copic colouring class with Kit & Clowder.  Plus there's a Guest Designer spot up for grabs. So come on what are you waiting for ---- get entering!

Your Next Hop
Next you need to hop to the gorgeous Christine's blog.

So good luck everyone and I hope you love our new stamps. 

Have fun in our blog hop.

Hugs

Janine x