A Christmas Bauble

Hellooo ... back again!! Sorry for the neglected blogging and commenting, things are kind of busy around here but that's probably the case for most of us at the moment.

I wanted to play along with the second challenge at Addicted to CAS which is 'Bauble' this time round and I've left it until now to join in so I could play with my new Avery Elle stamp set 'Merry and Bright' which are the latest American stamp company available to buy here in the UK at Make the Day Special.

I love all those fonts together, it just had to be stamped in red... don't ask me why, it just said red to me Lol. To add some interest to the base card I used the dotted and solid line in the set with versamark to make a tone on tone candy stripe effect.
Can you see that sparkle?? trust me, it's better in real life. I added Hero Arts fine glitter to the un-coloured 'Merry' with a Quickie glue pen, a big intake of breath and steady hand!!! ..... I did remember to exhale before the glitter came out but it still got everywhere!!! Lol :0)

Well we are off this weekend to bring our girlie back home for Christmas, it'll be lovely and strange to have her back in the nest again and I'm hoping she'll be trying out some of her new found cooking skills for us too *wink*  James is looking forward to the influx of washing as well as having his big (little) sis home :0)
It'll be a fab Christmas when I finally get organised.... I'm hopeless! it's not like I didn't see it coming *shakes head and rolls eyes*

Jenny x

Stamps: Merry and Bright - Avery Elle
Ink: Cherry Cobbler - Stampin Up

Christmas Greenery

In the history of Less is More this has to be the second time I have put a card in the gallery so early on a Saturday morning!! It just so happens that the card I made for my blog post at Make the Day Special fits the RED & GREEN colour theme this week..... yay :0)

I've put this photo first because it shows the glittery berries amongst the greenery.... glitter is a bit camera shy as you can see from the whole card shot....

I've used two Paper Smooches sets for this card... the leaves and berries are from 'Reflections' and the sentiment is from 'All Yule Need'. To make the berries shimmer I used versamark and then Stamp n Bond embossing powder to make the glitter dust stick!!
I will also tell you that the air turned blue for a minute or two whilst I tried to tie that bow on my Bow Easy.... I thought seam binding was supposed to be a dream make bows from!! ...I've decided that finger nails are an advantage, still, got there in the end :0)

I see that Dynamic Duos has this festive colour palette this week too so I'll pop my card in the gallery there too :0)

While I'm here I wanted to let you know that Avery Elle stamps are the latest American brand stamps available from Make the Day Special here in the UK, you can find them here. There are also re-stocks of Lawn Fawn on their way and the December release Paper Smooches will be in next week too.
You can like us on Facebook for future store updates and why not follow the blog too.

Thanks for looking :0)
Jenny x

Christmas Buttons!!

This weeks challenge at Less is More is to fnd your inner glitz and glamour.... needless to say I had to dig quite deep to find mine!! It would have been easy for me to just add some gemstones but I took a step further and found some long forgotten glitter card  for a rather different use for a Stampin Up punch....

I have literally just got hold of my Stampin Up Mitten punch and straight away wanted to use the mitten topper as custard for a Christmas Pudding..... even better when I found a round button die was the perfect size to use as a pudding :0)

These are just the kind of novelty buttons I love..... not particularily useable but cute :0)

I finished off with a bit of sewing on the button card and card base and then that beautiful ribbon style sentiment from Stampin Up...... which is new as well, couldn't resist them *wink*

I would have loved these buttons on a cardigan in my younger days but now I think they look much better on a card........ no tasteless Christmas knitwear in this house!!! :0)

Thanks for looking
Jenny x

Supplies: Mitten builder Punch- Stampin Up, Button and card- Marianne Design Tag and buttons die
              Sentiment- Stampin Up

Snow Much Fun!!

I just thought I'd pop in to show you my card for todays blog post over 

at Make the Day Special..... I had fun making it :0)

Now I know these guys aren't evenly matched in size but they're having fun.... I think!!

That germ from 'Healthy Vibes' just makes the perfect snowball splat

especially when you add googly eyes and the fact that one of the beads is stuck 

in the up position adds to the dazed look... any other time that would annoy me!!!

I'm enjoying using the newest Paper Smooches Christmas stamps and I used 'Chilly Chums'

to decorate a Milk Carton  I cut on my Cricut using Bags,Tags,Boxes and more 2

I love to look around the Christmas Sweets in the shops *wink* and see what I could buy and 

re-package as Christmas gifts for James's classmates and teachers.....

this carton contains some Frosty Snowballs (sugar coated chocolate balls to you and I).

I'm working on some more ideas... I'll keep you posted :0)

That's all from me today, I hope you get some crafting time this weekend.... 

we are enjoying having Hannah at home after coming back from Uni to collect 

an Excellance in Maths award from her old school 

last night *insert proud Mum face*

Thanks for looking :0)

Jenny x

Stamps: Chilly Chums, Warm Hearts, Freezy Fellas, Swanky Snowdudes, 

              Healthy Vibes, Christmas Sampler from Paper Smooches

              

Winter Blues

Hello :0)

When crafting time is limited I just love challenges that work so well together and even better if I can make a Christmas card for them too :0)

Over at Less is More this week we're asked to use hardware on our cards .... hmmm .... well most of my metal hardware seems to be brads and eyelets so at least that narrowed the choice down and I went for simply hanging these three inked and stamped tiles on my card with a brad and triangular loop thingy!!!

Casual Fridays is a two week challenge this time round called Winter Blues and a new challenge for CAS loving crafters in blogland is Addicted to CAS and their first challenge is 'SNOW'..... now that's a Hat-Trick!!

Do check out the fab DT cards at these challenges and sorry for the short post, life's like that at the moment!!

Thanks for looking :0)

Jenny x

Stamps : 'Folk Art Flurries' WPlus9, 'Signature Christmas' PTI

A One Layer Neighbourhood

Helloooo..... it's been a while since I played along with the challenges at Less is More and this week is a one layer card so a great way to start flexing those crafting brain cells :0)

The theme is HOUSES, the perfect opportunity to use these little Stampin Up houses that I won as a spot prize from Chrissie and Mandi a while back and I used the colour combo from Dynamic Duos this week too.

The sentiment is from a 'There She Goes' stamp set and I hadn't realised that neighbourhood is obviously spelt differently in the US until after I stamped it!!

I'm quite happy with how it turned out and love those two colours together although looking at it now my version of Sahara Sand is slightly off but hey ho.... I'll enter it anyway :0)

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Jenny x

Fuity and Sweet

Hi Everyone...

....it seems that using my DT post at Make the Day Special blog is the only way to play along with challenges again this week so I've got two covered with this card....

...yep you probaly guessed it's CAS(E) this Sketch#4 and CASology which have given us the trigger word SUGAR.... fruit have sugar in them right??!! I included the word sweet in the sentiment in case the fruit  link was to tenuous  :0)
I wanted to try using my Prismas on coloured card again after being inspired by Danielle's brilliant tutorial here... she makes it look so easy and I really found her colouring technique helped me too, although a bit more practice wouldn't go amiss :0)
I think I should have included an extra grape/blueberry thingy somewhere but it's too late now...just looks a little unbalanced to me..anyhow here are the challenge graphics...

Hope you find some craft time this weekend and thanks for popping by :0)
Jenny x

Card: SU Crumb Cake
Stamps: Paper Smooches 'Fruitastic' & 'Sugar Rush'

A farewell challenge at St Luke's

Hello everyone.... I'm sad to say, as the title suggests, this will be the last challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge. It hasn't been an easy decision for Tara to make but logistical and personal reasons have left her with no option...... I'll leave it to Tara to explain in her own words here.

 ....So this last Challenge is just for fun as a Thank You for your continued support over the last 18months and yes there is a prize up for grabs too but we are no longer requiring you to send your cards to St Luke's anymore.

This month is another Christmas themed challenge and we'd like to see your traditional Christmas cards this time which could be interpreted in the colours or images.... I love seasonal greenery at this time of the year so went with the classic Christmas Poinsettia...

I love Kraft for Christmas cards and thought I'd cut a white flower with my spellbinders dies instead of the usual red and dust the centre of the petals with green chalk :0)

As it's the last challenge we have a bumper prize for you which contains two stamp sets and a die...

I would be lovely if you could play along with us this month for fun... and I'm sure you'll join me in thanking Tara for all the time she has spent over the last 18 mths organising and coordinating this monthly challenge and then sorting and selling your cards in all weathers to raise funds for the St Luke's Hospice :0)

I've certainly enjoyed working with Tara and the team for the last 14mths and I'm sure we'll keep bumping into each other in blogland :0)

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

A Christmas CAS(E)

Evening all....

This is the card I've made for my DT post over at Make the Day Special and I've used the sketch from this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch... they are on week three already and I haven't had chance to play along yet so I've rectified that this week :0)

With all the Christmas stash arriving in stores and todays definite wintery weather I thought I'd jump on the band wagon and add one more to the pile of cards I need to make this year... love this sketch, I can see this new challenge is going to be a great source of inspiration.... the DT cards are amazing.

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Jenny x

Stamps: Paper Smooches 'All Yule Need' 'Christmas Sampler'

CFC#76 - Kraft On... CASual Fridays Stamps For Sale!!

Well it's been an exciting week over at the CASual Fridays stamps blog and today 

sees the new CASual Fridays Stamps go officially on sale :0)

... but before you go and have a peek let me tell you about this weeks challenge...

...yep you guessed, we would love to see you use Kraft or Kraft coloured card somewhere in 

your project this week and to tempt you even more... the winner will recieve a gift card 

to use in the new CASual friday stamps store :0)

I have used a sentiment from 'WTF' and teamed it up with some bright coloured balloons,  the pattern on the pale blue panel has been made using the striped border pattern in that same stamp set.

If you've been over to the CASual Fridays blog you will see this is my last  challenge post as I've decided to step down as a Girl Friday :0( I'm just not having the time to craft and comment at the moment because  I'm needing to spend more time with James whilst  he gets used to a few changes around here. I'm not going for good...  I still intend to play along with challenges when time and mojo allows :0) I've enjoyed being part of the team and I'm grateful to Michele for giving me the chance to  work alongside some seriously talented designers these last 6 months :0) Also saying goodbye are Karolyn, Julie and Stephanie..  so dont forget to stop by and say farewell. Thanks for stopping by Jenny x

"Woot Woot".... it's a Sneak Peak

Hello, hello....

it's a very exciting week here at CASual Fridays...did you see Michele is 

launching her own stamp line called CAS-ual Fridays Stamps :0)

If you love all things CAS you'll adore these sets... todays sneak peak is a set called
Woot Woot!!

It's a brilliant set with some real fun celebration messages and sentiments 

in a mix of fonts with  background builder elements too... you can mix and match to your hearts content with these stamps :0)

This sentiment from the set just called for a couple of glasses of the bubbly stuff!!!

Perfect for a celebration :0)

 We have a great line up of guest stampers joining the Girl Fridays 

this week for the sneak peaks and it wouldn't be a 

celebration without chances to win the new stamp sets too :0)...

 so make sure you visit the new CAS-ual Fidays Stamps blog , oh and don't forget this weeks 

winner of CFC75 'Over the edge' challenge will win all 5 sets too.....

I told you it's an exciting week here at CAS-ual Fridays :0)

Here are the all important details

• The stamps are made in the USA from the finest Photopolymer, I can tell you that they ink and stamp like a dream :0)
• There are 5 new stamp sets being released on the 26th October and each day this week, starting yesterday, we are sneak peaking a different set.
• We are giving away one of the featured stamp sets from each day, all you have to do is visit the store blog and leave a comment... if you missed yesterdays peek don't worry, you still have time as commenting closes at 11.59pm EST this Weds :0)
• Winners will be announced this Thursday and the store goes live on Friday...make sure you bookmark the store address www.cas-ualfridaysstamps.com

CFC#75 - Today's the Day!!!

Well today is the big day!!!

You finally get to meet CASual Fridays little sister....I'm sure you're gonna love her :0)

BUT..... before you rush over to see her let me show you this weeks challenge badge...

.....yes we want to see part of your design  go over the edge of your card.

All the girl Fridays have used stamps this week from our 

super new SURPRISE sponsor

I hope you've got your sunglasses handy.....

Dont ya just love that large sentiment.... it was just asking for a fun, bright card !!!

Yes I went to town, in a CAS way, with the mirror and glitter card, it was fun to 

break into a little razzmatazz for todays big announcement :0)

Now you need to take those shades off and hop over to CASual Fridays

(I bet you sneaked over there already though) and check out what

 the party is all about :0)

Jenny x

CFC#74 - Put your Heart into it

Hello Everyone

It was lovely to see so many of you join in with our challenge last week

 and so many personal stories shared too ....

it was a wonderful pink gallery :0)

Well it's just a week to go now until the big announcement at CASual Fridays so lets 

get a step further and see this weeks challenge without further ado....

Our sponser this week is i {heart} papers who are kindly giving the winner a giftcard 

to use in their store, sooooo.... we would like to see hearts in your project this week please :0)

They can be large or small, one or many and it doesn't even have to be a heart shape...

perhaps just the word, it's up to you how creative you want to be :0)

It just happened that I needed to make a baby girl card this week and I've been wanting 

to get this sentiment in use for a while now so my little pink heart is hanging from a tree branch...

I should have taken a photo of the inside because the sentiment carries on......

"Congratulations to the old roots!"

I bet your giggling too, right ;0)

As always, hop over to see more inspiration from the rest of the Girl Fridays 

at the blog before you start creating.

Thanks for popping by

Jenny x

Two Cards, One Stamp!!

Hello crafty friends

It just so happens that I have a couple of cards for this weeks One Layer Wednesday which is being hosted by Susan this week...... I haven't played along for ages and it's a complete fluke that my cards fit this weeks theme which is to use one stamp in two different ways.

I've used the leaves from Wplus9 'Fresh Picked' as they were meant to be on the first card but then couldn't help wonder if I could use them to make a Poinsettia on a CAS Christmas card...... They are such pretty flowers but I can never get them to flower again the following year!!!

I haven't got round to posting on my blog (apart from DT stuff) since our Nephews wedding a couple of weekends ago so I thought I'd share a photo of the kiddos on the day..... no snaps of us all together yet, that's why I have the camera round my neck on these occasions.... so I'm always behind it *wink*

This is about as smart as James gets and it's always a challenge to keep him looking that way! Hannah was complaining how short she felt!!! well at 6'4" I suppose he does tower over a lot of people :0)

Thanks for looking :0)

Jenny x

STOP PRESS- have you seen this???

Morning Everyone

I'm popping by this morning to let you know about a fun announcement on the CASual Fridays blog!!!

You get to meet CASual Fridays new little sister on the 19th but until then we are having a fun linky party with a fabulous prize up for grabs worth $75 ..... Wow!!!!

So what are you waiting for... hop over there right now and join the party :0)

Just click HERE

 

Jenny x

 

One for the Girls

It's Friday again and time for a new challenge at CASual Fridays :0)

I loved seeing your cards inspired by your own blog headers and judging by your own words and creations, you enjoyed making them too.... even the most simple designs inspired you to make some wonderful cards. 

Now October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month so our challenge this week is called 'One for the Girls' and it's a guest designer search week as well.

We want to see your cards celebrating the girls in our lives... family or friends and this weeks winner will receive a gift card from our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp.

My card is pretty self explanatory really... going with the pink theme of the Breast Cancer campaign ribbon I used this large sentiment from My Favourite Things which continues onto the inside with "Really, you are!"

I hope you join us this week to help raise awareness of this terrible disease, whether it be a gentle reminder to check out any concerns you have or to celebrate those fortunate to come through treatment and fondly remember those who were not so lucky.

The Girl Fridays have more cards to share with you over at the blog and this week we are joined by the wonderfully creative Birgit as our guest designer. Pop back this evening for a special Happy Hour post for news of an extra prize giveaway too :0)

Thanks for stopping by today.
Jenny x

A Simple Christmas at St Luke's

Well a new month is upon us and Christmas is on the horizon although judging by our local supermarkets display of Christmas fayre you'd think it was in a few weeks time!!!

The new challenge over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge is to make a clean and simple Christmas card... with plenty of white space, perhaps thinking modern and graphic which is the style I decided to go with....

I hand cut and inked the snowy hills for my stylised trees to sit on.... they are small triangles of card covered in yummy washi tape. 

The snowy sky is stamped with a great little stamp I have that has no name on it which is a shame because it's invaluable when it comes to Christmas scenes and really deserves some recognition!!!

This months prize is this wonderful stamp set generously donated by Claire Brennan from Waltzingmouse Stamps.... perfectly themed for this months challenge :0)

So it's time to break out that seasonal stash and show us your CAS Christmas cards, a great excuse to get started on them or add to them......... well that's one more for my collection this year anyhow :0)

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's cards here.... thanks for looking :0)

Jenny x

I Thought of You !!

Hi everyone,

I'm using Blogsy to write this as I'm currently in London for our nephews wedding tomorrow, trouble is I haven't used it in a while so lets hope it works.

It's my day to share a card over at the Make the Day Special blog and I wanted to share it on here too because I've been playing with some of the new Wplus9 stamps and dies that Emily has just taken delivery of.....

I have used the 'Heartfelt Mix' stamps and matching dies to make this whimsical card by using the three line stamp as strings for a bunch of heart balloons which have been cut using the dies and inked to give dimension. The sweet sentiments in the set can be paired up to use inside and outside the card, they really are quite heartfelt as the name suggests!! The message inside my card says 'and smiled'.

To see the new stamps and dies visit the shop here and whilst your there have a look round the rest of the store...... I gather there are Magnolia stamps in stock too now

Right well I hope all the links work and now I've got to figure out how to schedule it to appear Saturday morning!!

Thanks for stopping by

Jenny x

 

Can you Toot Your Own Horn??

Now I bet you're curious about this weeks challenge at CASual Fridays with a title like that!!
No... nothing to do with transport, instead we want you to be inspired by your own blog header and translate that into a design on your projects :0).... how fun is that??

We have a great prize this week from our sponsors  a.muse studios  worth over $35!!!

I looked at my blog header and decided to not go literal with the layout on my card but kept with the tree theme and injected some colour by adding falling leaves....

I cut a few Memory box branches and 'pruned' them so they didn't all look the same before positioning them on the card..... oh boy did that take a while fiddling with them!!
The oak leaves are cut from basic grey PP with the Lil'inker Acorn die and then stuck back to back so they could withstand being shaped and curled.... I love the dimension they give to the scene :0)
The hessian/burlap bkgd and jute on the card base are to represent my blog bkgd.

I'm so looking forward to seeing where your blog inspiration takes you... don't forget to go check out the rest of the Girl Fridays cards this week by clicking here

Thanks for stopping by :0)
Jenny x

Guest designing at CASology

Hello  :0)

I'm here today guest designing with CASology, I was so happy to have won the 10th challenge last week with my Lawn Fawn Owl card... I haven't had much time to play along with challenges for weeks so winning a guest designer spot was a bonus :0)

This weeks cue word is SHOE and as always I had to think aside from the obvious.....

I needed a card for a family wedding this Saturday so I came up with the idea of silver horse-shoes for the bride and groom!
I love the purity of white space on a wedding card and the PTI impression plate gives a faux quilted texture alongside the (not so neat) stitching *wink*
Thank you so much to Melissa and her fab DT for having me join them this week, I can't wait to hop over and see their cards.... in fact it'll be fun to see how everyone uses the cue word  :0)

Talking of shoes..... I thought I'd share a photo of our estate car stuffed to the roof just before we set off to the University of Bath with Hannah at the weekend...

Yep there's quite a few pairs of shoes and bags of clothes in there...... from memory of the rooms we saw last summer I really thought we would be bringing some of it back but she has moved in easily... and still has space for all the text books and folders she'll accumulate soon :0)

I'm going to really miss her around home but with James keeping me on my toes, it certainly isn't going to feel like an empty nest!!
James came with us to see Hannah's new room but the highlight of the trip for him was finding the laundry room....

He really did look like a child in a sweet shop.... it's a good job he couldn't see inside the one machine that was working or we'd never have got him out of there!!!

Thanks for stopping by :0)

Jenny x