HAPPY EASTER!!

Hi everyone!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the whole family is completely chocolated out!!
Apologies for not blogging over the past week. My workroom has had the decorators in and it has been impossible to craft! It looks fantastic but I can't find anything!! The saying " a place for everything and everything in its place" doesn't work for me!! I will have to take a photo and show you.
I have been busy preparing for our open day at the end of April. Thought you might like to see a few cards I have put together using the bird cage sizzix die. This has been around for a while but I have never really used it in any of my designs.
Mens cards are a pain!! but have managed to create a card which could be used for a gentleman.

 

 

The paper is from MME and is just new in. Fantastic colour palette with teals, mustards and browns.

I cut the cage twice - once in mustard and once in mirri gold. The mustard cage is slightly shaped to give dimension and placed on top of the miiri slightly off from the top so that the mirri shows through

 

I threaded ribbon through the holes at the bottom of the cage and finished with a knot.
I chose the three main complementing colours as a border and used an EK Success border punch
to give definition. The greeting is from a popular sentiment stamp set by Hobby Art which I have used a lot - details at the end of this post.

The next card is using MME again - The Sweetest Thing - but this time nice and girly!

 

Apologies for wonky photo! - blame it on the sugar rush! - Again the cage has been cut twice.
The top cage is from Simply Lovely MME and the lower cage is from Bazzill Berrylicious.
I used the bottom corner of the patterned paper Sunshine and set it on an 8" card layered up with Berrylicious and Simply Lovely.


The ribbon  adds great colour and gems in the centre of the flowers and along the frame of the cage is adequate bling for effect.

I have used the same sentiment and stamped it in red.

The final design is using the Carta Bella. Just by using different patterned papers and themes you can use the same die and end up with a range of cards suitable for a wide selection of recipients.

 

I have used the cage as a window and added punched butterflies to give added dimension and a 'lightness' to the card

The bottom layer of the butterflies is black cardstock. The card is 8" and the decorative border punch is from EK Success.
Below are the details of the stamp set I have used on each of the cards £9.95.

Everything I have used in these designs are available. The patterned papers are 95p, Bazzill cardstock is 50p. Ribbons 45p - 65p.
Hope you are enjoying the long weekend and that the weather is behaving itself for you!

Happy crafting!

Hens and Lambs!

Have just finished an order for Hen Party invitations and thought I would share the design with you!

 

 

 

It is a tri-fold 6" card with a pocket on the inside left panel.

 

Black and pink with lots of gems and glitter! - just as it should be for a Hen Party!

I usaed the Hero Arts Marvellous shoe stamp set and a beautiful flourish and border stamp.

Its the first day of Spring - and you could have fooled me!!
Getting very worried about the sheep next door - lambs are due any day and snow is forecast for tom night and Friday going into the weekend!
Hope you are enjoying all the designs I'm blogging!
Happy crafting Jayne x

 



Scrapbook Heaven!

Having finished the previous scrapbook page I  had a sudden scrapbook splurge!
We have had the My MInds Eye 'Fine and Dandy' collection for quite a while but I havn't really played with it.

So with a couple of hours to spare yesterday evening I came up with a fully decorated Happy Birthday scrapbook ready for filling!

 

 

 

I love the colour combination in this collection. The design of the scrapbook is delightful -lots of different shapes and each page is decorated before you even srtart so no having to cut round awkward shapes. 

 

 

 

 

I added a lovely spotty ribbon and matching gems

 



 

 

The 6 x 6 matching patterned paper pad has beautiful designs in proportion to the book - I used the

larger 12 x 12 papers in the scrapbook page from my last post.

 

 

 

Little secret pockets allow more room on the page to put journalling or just extra photos. I used the decorative hat pins here also.

I have used the same papers as on the 12 x 12 scrapbook page in previous blog but scaled down to 6x6 and it is still effective.

The gems come pre-shaped in little crescents that fit exactly into the semi-circles on this page!

 

The Happy Birthday topper gives a professional finish to the album!

 



 Just a few close ups!

 

Plenty of matching gems!

Below are images of all the items I have used to complete the album

The 6x6 pad has 2 sheets each of 18 designs! £4.95. The flowers are very dainty and match perfectly with the design £2.95. The gems and hat pins are £2.85 each and the spotty ribbon is 45p per metre.

 

The Happy Birthday topper is glittered  .45p and the album which has the rings included is £7.95.

 

Dont forget you can double click on each photograph to enlarge the image!

 

Its snowing  - again!! Ollie loves it and is sitting by the patio doors wanting out!

Great weather for crafting!!

 

Jayne

 

Colour Is Cool!

Hi everybody!

With all the cold snowy wintery weather we are having I decided to pull together a scrapbook page using bold, bright patterned cardstock and lots of bling and embellishments! Whenever I bought in bold colourful patterned cardstock to the Card Studio customers would  steer away and move onto safer designs. We are so used to accenting with colour and design that we sometimes find it difficult to use it as the basis.

One particular design came from My Minds Eye. Every inch covered in dynamic design with a few colourful song birds thrown in as well!

 

 

 Its difficult to know where to begin!
We had a delivery from MME last week which had a cardstock with very similar colours. Again a full on patterned paper but with a lot of potential!

 

 

I carefully cut out the floweres with a small border - never try and cut on the line.

Using 1, 2 and 3mm foam pads I arranged the flowers directly onto the circle patterned paper.

 

 

It is difficult to see on screen but because the flowers are raised they cast a shadow which adds dimension and depth - apologies for the photography!- The photograph is of my son CJ and my grand-daughter Millie watching Polar Express - a great film! - I will get round to the journalling!

Never be afraid to experiment and look outside the box.

 

Happy crafting x

Bring It On!

Hi everybody!
What a day! Lots of you getting in contact from Kent with your snow horror stories.
Have just heard from poor Sarah who took an hour to travel 4 miles in blizzard conditions today!

SPRING CLEAN!

I was sorting through my designs in a feeble effort to have a spring clean when I came across a couple of designs using some of my favourite papers from Carta Bella - Paris Girl.

I had lots of fun with these at the September workshops. Its great when you get a collection of patterened papers that all work so well together.
You can see  designs in the Gallery on the website but I thought you might like to see a couple of items I did using a shadow box design.

 

The embellishments on the front are from the die cut sticker sheet as are the houses- I stuck them onto black card and carefully cut round the images- very simple to do . I also added a polyester sheet in the aperture to make it look like a window. The black beaded swirl added a touch of luxury!

I made up matching bags to put these into instead of the usual boxes.  They could also fold flat to go into a 6" envelope!

Just going to play with the new Sizzix dies that have arrived - will post the result at the weekend!

 

Have just had a visit from a flock of heavily pregnant sheep - they enjoy a daily wander past the house! Looking forward to the lambs - Spring is on its way!!

 

Have had lots of enquiries and orders for the stamps and patterned papers that I have used in my previous blogs!  Everything is for sale. From now on I will list the details and prices of items used in my designs and you are very welcome to ring or email orders through.

 

The Marvelous shoe stamps are £11.95.  The handbag and smaller shoe stamp sets are just £4.95 or both sets for £8.95.  Patterned cardstock is 95p a sheet. The Carta Bella patterned cardstock is 95p and the 12x12 die cut sticker sheet is £1.95

 

Happy crafting!

Jayne x



Handbags & Shoes!!

Thankyou for all your lovely emails since posting my last blog! I didn't realise how much I had been missed!
Have been busy with all the new stock that has been arriving - its great to have so many new things to play with - like a child in a sweet shop, what do I choose to use next!
My house has been full of electricians, plasterers, decoraters and kitchen fitters so it has been quite therapautic to retreat to my workroom and close the door!

 

Handbags and shoes never go out of fashion. Imaginisce have bought out a lovely set of 12x12 papers covered with them. I have incorporated these with new stamps from Crafty Impressions and a couple of old favourites that I never put away - handbags by Kirsty Wiseman and shoes by Hero Arts that have just come back into stock.

 

The papers are great because they contain text.The dog tooth background sets off the red and white with black glitter adding a touch of glitz!

 



 



 

 

It is handy to have the smaller shoe designs to use as background stamps. Add some glitter and matching handbag as the main topper and you you have a great wee card!

 

 

I have used just the two sheets of Imaginisce papers on this card. The printed text banner has been cut into seperate sayings and fixed around the frame in which I have stuck super shiny silver mirri board to give the effect of a mirror!

 

 

 

Last card for today. Again using the patterned papers. A nice simple card design that proved to be one of the most poular during last years classes and workshops. A nice large flower and a couple of bling daisies with matching Bazzill cardstock and hey presto!

 

Just off to have a nice cuppa in the garden - its a beautiful spring afternoon here - hope its the same where you are too!.

 

Jayne x



SPRING IS SPRINGING!!

SPRING IS SPRINGING!!

Well it is positively tropical here this afternoon!

Have just got back from a walk with Ollie and the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the sheep all look very heavily pregnant! Spring is just around the corner even though we had two inches of snow on Wednesday!

It's at this time of the year that new inspiration starts flowing. We've packed away all the red, gold and silver glitter - christmas is well and truly over!

Most of the large craft suppliers from all over the world have released their new products and there is plenty to play with!

We are now gearing up for the new classes and workshops that we will be holding over the coming months along with the monthly Open Days that are being held. The first one of which takes place in Troon on April 20th. We have had lots of enquiries and it looks like it's going to be a popular event. There will be live demonstrations and free make and takes for you to participate in. Also, most importantly there will be lots of inspiration in the form of card and scrapbooking examples on display. A small shop will be on site with lots of 12x12 patterned cardstock.

I have been spoilt for choice with all the lovely new 12x12 cardstock designs and couldn't resist a few quick cards

 

 

 The new designs from Teresa Collins have just hit our shores and as usual they are so inspirational.  She never fails to produce great collections.

I cut out a selection of blooms from the Poppies paper and combined them with the dotty Polaroid Paper. A trellis embossing folder gave me the texture I needed to make the poppies stand out and a nice bold Bazzill ribbon finished off the card. Simple, clean and effective.

I also used the same selection of papers to make a delightful box of cards to give as a gift. The recipient was thrilled!

The next choice of patterened cardstock comes from My Mind’s Eye. I always look forward to their releases and this winters selection is no exception. They have used colour pallets that are bang on trend for this season – mustards, teals and hot reds!

 

 

A couple of quick cards to show off the wonderful colours.
The Happy Birthday topper and hat pins are also from MME.  With the addition of some pretty paper flowers and a touch of dotty ribbons I hope you will agree that they are fresh and vibrant designs that are just right for spring!

We are planning lots of great things for 2013.

Lots of you from Kent have got in touch about the possibility of workshops. Unfortunately we are so busy close to home that that will not be possible. We are however hoping to do a couple of crafting weekends in Scotland so if you are interested in a long weekend in Bonny Scotland - let us know!

I think that is all for know. Its great to be back in the crafting swing of things- thankyou for all your good wishes, cards and flowers that I have received over the past year it has meant so much.

Happy crafting!