Wednesday 25 November 2015

Flying tonight

Hi Crafty Friends

Just thought I'd show you this. My friend Wendy wanted a Christmas card for her friend who has 5 dachshunds and a Jack Russell. She specified a long card, and this is what we came up with. It's the full length of an A4 sheet, so we had to make the envelope as well.


We had a great time making it, just hope she likes it
Happy crafting
j xx

Tuesday 24 November 2015

November makes

Hi Crafty Friends

Here's a round up of what we've been up to recently.

First of all a bit of a change - we did men's cards' two in one week. I cheated a bit and did cards I've done before. I'm hoping that has sorted everyone's requirements for men's cards for some time.



And then it was back to Christmas, and I got to play with my new Spellbinders frame die. It's gorgeous and comes with lovely poinsettia dies we'll have to use on another occasion - since there's still no sign of Christmas card fatigue setting in yet!
I (in my role of Early Christian Martyr!) lugged a massive box of gold and red card back from the NEC show recently, so we used that too. We stamped the background paper. The bauble is Spellbinders Heirloom Reflections


then I thought it was time to make a gift box. With thanks to Crafty Caroline on You Tube who gave me the basic idea. I adapted it a fair bit to make it close more, and decorated it with papers etc rather than stamping.


And here are some of the others I made, as I got rather carried away with them. I think I've done 8 now.


Happy crafting everyone
J x

Thursday 15 October 2015

Still making Christmas cards

Hi Crafty Friends
I keep asking Card Clubbers if they're fed up of doing Christmas yet, but seemingly not! So here's what we've been doing recently
I was aiming for a touch of shabby chic here, and used some of my precious supplies of gold printed vellum and some rather lush ribbon.

I was pleased with the effect of the gold shadow behind the candles & foliage, but it turned out be a bit tricky to do, what with so many small bits to fit in. We used DS tape and glitter for the window, and it's much more twinkly in real life.

Several people had asked for a cascade card, so this is what we did


And here are 2 more cards I made to the same design as before, but in more Christmassy colours


This was mainly for Margaret, who wanted a card using tissue paper, and whose favourite colours seem to be cream and gold. The edge is gold mirri card, but it's reflecting all sorts. I also used a Marianne snowflake die, very kindly lent to me by Trish. She says she won't lend me any more on account of my name for this one! (Well, what does it remind you of?)


These were just a little bonus make at the end of the Shabby chic week. We put little pockets in them to make gift card holders.

And finally a birthday card, for a friend - not a club make

Happy crafting
Jx

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Bendi-Fold with a difference

Hi Crafty Friends

I've been wanting to do a bendi-fold card since I saw one on Pinterest months ago, and this week I finally did one. I tweaked it a bit as all the examples I've seen have two bends; this one has three. We made it in craft club although I was worried with all the die cutting it would take too long. But in the event, we managed fine and everybody went home with a completed card.
These are the dies we used:
Marianne, Tiny Pines, Holly, Spellbinders houses, Spellbinders circle and ovals, X Cut trees, Britannia (I think) Santa.

Sorry the picture doesn't really do it justice, I don't seem to be able to get the colour right, and the card is more glittery than it looks here. So here is my Triple Bendi-fold.


happy crafting
Jx

Sunday 13 September 2015

Christmas in August

Hi Crafty Friends

Well, as usual, I am behind with my blogging. But it has been a lot of fun making the things for the card club. Here are some of them - first up a Christmas gift box. As you know, I love making boxes. The construction for this was quite simple, but the gorgeous Spellbinders Victorian Medallion 3 die really made it special. The poinsettias are Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettias

And here is a better picture of the top
I thought this was quite feminine, so we should make a gent's gift box as well. My brother always asks for ties for Christmas (goodness knows what I'll do when he packs in work!), so I went and found a tie and designed a box round that. It would also be great for gloves, silk scarf, home made sweets ....

Then it was back to cards - and a break fromChristmas. The scalloped borders are Spellbinders and the doily is quite an old Marianne one, but it's one of my favourites, though it's not so fancy as some of the new dies


But we were soon back to Christmas, and after all that die-cutting, we did some stamping. Mind you there was a lot of die-cutting of ovals first. The card as you can see was just a simple Spellbinders heirloom ornament matted onto Christmas paper and topped with a Sue Wilson bow. So we spent the morning/ afternoon making lots of different images. They all started with hills and a sunset (inspired by Card-i-o) and then everyone chose different stamps to make scenes - the ones that weren't used on the cards can be made into Christmas tags or toppers for other cards. It was great to see such a fantastic variety.


Then back to industrial strength Cuttlebugging. I love this border die (Lyra, by Sue Wilson) but it was quite complicated to cut the layers - still, being on red alert by the Cuttlebugs, did get me out of making the coffees! We stamped snowflakes on the background paper and embossed the bauble (another Spellbinder). In case you're wondering, the leaves are not a strange red colour - that would be my jumper, reflected in the silver leaves.


I was really pleased with how this next one turned out. Trish very kindly lent me her fabulous Frostyville border die (Memory Box). We made hills from torn card and added Marianne Tiny Pines and a stamped Santa (Dimension Fourth - now sadly I believe no longer in business).


This didn't take very long so we had time to make a small origami gift box, which I'll put on my next blog, when I've photographed it.

Hope you like what we've been doing
Happy crafting
J xx

Sunday 30 August 2015

Card Club Makes

Hi Crafty Friends

I don't know how that happened ! We have got to the end of August an I still haven't caught up with July's cards.

Here is some of what we've been up to

This one obviously inspired by the lovely Wendy at Card-i-o -and this one


This one was inspired by my good friend's husband whose birthday it was the week we made it.

It was nice to use my old Dimension Fourth music stamps which haven't had much of an airing.

And this is a very quick card using the fabulous Stampin Up 'Ornamental Pine' stamps - as requested by June.

It was quick to do, so we made tags from the off cuts - waste not,want not,


All for now
happy crafting
xx

Sunday 19 July 2015

July Catch-up

Hi Craft Friends

I've been AWOL for ages, as I've been working!! But it's finally done and I'm free, so it's a pity that just as I can contemplate loafing with a glass of wine on my new(ish) patio, it pours down. Still, it's given me time to catch up here.
The Card Club is going well, 2 groups a week, and they're a lot of fun.

I went to the Doncaster Summer Crafting show with two of my lovely friends from the Tuesday club, and met most of the rest  when we got there. We had a great time and spotted a few bargains!
Still no Christmas papers, and everyone wants to get on with Christmas cards.

So here is some of what we've been making


This used a free embossing folder (from Simply Cards and Papercraft, I think) and it set off a hunt for back copies of the mag. I should be on commission!

Next up was this

A lot of die cutting, but I got to use my new Sue Wilson corner die

Then by way of a change we did stamping and colouring. We heat embossed the flowers with white as a resist


Then it was time to tackle Christmas with no Christmas papers


OK, so orange may not be everybody's first thought when it comes to Christmas (you know who you are!), but hey ho.
A similar concept to the lovely Clarity stamp, but here the letters are die cuts and the O is an aperture. It features my favourite Christmas stamp of all time (probably my favourite stamp ever). We covered Santa with glitter using DS tape, which triggered a run on Ticker T Boo (bargain basement shop to non-locals) for the wide tape.

I'll be back soon with more of what we've been doing, but in the mean time
happy crafting
Jx

Sunday 31 May 2015

Craft Club

Hi Crafty Friends
Just a quick catch up. I'm pleased to say the open day did not deter people and we now have a thriving craft club. So far the weather has been kind and it's been fun having people round to craft.

We had a week off when I went to see my friend in Greece, but we're now back and at full steam!

Here are two of the cards we've made

The roses are hand made because I didn't have a die and we stacked the frame for extra dimension. The image has several layers of UTEE for a realistic effect




Thinking of Tracey, I decided to make a new home card. This one is a variation on a stepper card, and proved quite complicated. I'd started with the intention of making a card to fit the envelopes I have loads of, but needless to say, when I decided to add a pointy roof, it no longer fit, so we had to make envelopes as well. Still everybody managed it, and we had a good time. 

The fence is Spellbinders, the arches Go Create and I've no idea what make the trees are, but they're meant to be coral.

happy crafting

jan xx

Thursday 23 April 2015

My Open Day

Hi Crafty Friends

Well, it was a massive project, but my 'craftery' (aka the conservatory) is now a proper useable space.
I had an open day last Saturday, with crafty bargains, a make and take and my lovely friend. Maureen did sterling work manning the kettle.

Thanks also to Wendy, for loads of help (mainly involving heavy loads!) and also to the builders (M. Jakes) for some excellent work, and for helping out with really heavy lifting.

Thanks to all my lovely crafting friends who could make it, I had a really good time, and hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

here it is, nearly ready

as you can see, lots of items for sale


Most of these storage units are also for sale, so I'm hoping to get a bit more space for crafting tables



This is a super sunny spot for morning coffee


And here are some of my visitors, doing a lot more nattering than crafting!
When it got full, I was too busy to take pics

My lovely OH built this for me (over many years), it just needed a bit of finishing off by the builders. I am so proud of what he did, and pleased I have it, as both a memorial to him, and the start of new things.

I'm looking forward to a lot of crafting in here.

Jan xx

Thursday 26 March 2015

Easter Bunnies

Hi Crafty Friends

You might remember a few posts ago, I made some Christmas favour boxes. Well, I was delighted to be asked to tweak the idea for Easter. So I came up with these two Easter Bunnies, and shared them with the lovely ladies of Sue's class. 
I just hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did - I suspect quite a lot of grandchildren will be getting extra supplies of mini eggs in bunnies this Easter.



happy crafting
xx

Friday 13 March 2015

Bro's birthday

Hi Crafty Friends

Just thought I'd share with you the card I made for my brother's birthday. I got the idea off Pinterest and when I can find it again, I'll put the link on here. The one I saw looked like the shapes were cut out with dies, Cricut etc, whereas mine are much less exact, being drawn and hand cut by me. The eye should be smaller, (or not even there) but hey ho ...

Many thanks to the lovely lady in Boyes who provided DS tape, biro etc etc and let me stick the eye on & finish the card on her desk, and thereby make the post in time.


happy crafting

xx

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Is it too early for Christmas cards?

Hi Crafty Friends

We made a Christmas card in the Stampin Up class I went to this morning. And it reminded me I have some Christmas card pics I didn't post at the time. I loved these Pyramid cards and made loads of them.


Apparently it's 44 weeks till Christmas, so at a card a week, I guess it's not too early!!
Happy (Christmas) crafting
xx