Spring Flowers

Hi Crafty Friends

I'm back after a break for my holiday (a Croatian cruise). It was delightful. This was our ship - and a clue as to how we spent some of our time 😉

This is the card I intended doing the week we did 'Time Flies' My replacement dies arrived just before I went away so I had something ready for the first week back (phew!) We just did a bit of stamping and colouring with DIs. The repeat diagonal stamping for the background looked trickier than it was, so no one opted for the more forgiving grungy stamp. It was a quick and easy card and I loved seeing the various colour schemes people went for.

Happy Crafting
jx

A Little Birdie

Hi Crafty Friends

This week's card was inspired by a card sample I saw at a craft show recently. It reminded me we haven't done paper-piecing for ages, so the stamp was straight into my basket! (It's Woodware, 'Special Bird')

It's a quick and easy card to do, once you've found a lot of co-ordinating papers with small patterns. I stamped the texture on the bird panel and the sentiment to tone more with the background, and I coloured and stamped the bird's body paper. I loved to see all the different versions everyone produced - all more colourful than mine, and all delightful.
The sentiment is an old favourite - it was free with a magazine getting on for 10 years ago. I was just starting crafting then and didn't have many supplies, so I used it a lot. I'm amazed it's lasted so well, especially since I lost it just after we'd made this card. I think it's worth the 2 hours I spent hunting for it.

Lose yourself in Happy Crafting
Jx

PS. I've just got back from the charity shop where I got a large haul of stamps a couple of days ago. I was hoping whoever is having a clear out had reached punches and embossing folders. They haven't, but I found this! The very stamp I was angst-ing about when I thought I'd lost it. The peace of mind of having a spare is well worth 50p. Anybody need a tree/fairy house stamp?😀

jx

Hello Sunshine

Hi Crafty Friends
This week we celebrated the gorgeous weather with a bright sunny card. It was a really quick card to make - very little die cutting, and some inking. It did involve a bit of painting  because I didn't have any suitable dies or stamps for the stem. I did have a stamp for some leaves for those who don't like drawing/painting. As you can see, my stems went wonky, but I don't think it matters.

My beloved (and slightly fire damaged) dotty stamp, made some excellent texture on the plant pot and the flower centres, and I got to use up some of my large supply of yellow paper 😀.

Luckily as it was a quick card, there was plenty of time to scoff cake 😋. Margaret brought delicious carrot cake and brownies on Tuesday; and, as it was her birthday, Keitha brought scrumptious Malteaser cupcakes on Wednesday. Thanks - what a lovely treat!

Happy crafting and scoffing everyone
Jx

Large distressed flowers card

Hi Crafty Friends
What a great change in the weather. It was actually a bit too warm for some as we crafted away in the conservatory this morning.
This week we did an A5 sized card, which is unusual for me, but I wanted to show off the gorgeous paper (from The Works) and my new HUGE happy birthday die.

If truth be told, the flowers are ones I'd made a while a go for another project (which they didn't suit). I think a couple of weeks kicking about on my desk getting more squashed and distressed was actually an good for them. However it was a time-consuming and messy business trying to replicate them in the time we had.
Happy Crafting
Jx

Time Flies

Hi Crafty Friends
Here is last week's card. I had intended doing a pretty Spring like card, but couldn't find the dies for it, so I had a quick change of plan and did this one. I'd made the sample some time ago so I was pretty much 'winging' (ha ha) it trying to remember all the details (and find the kit) at short notice.
Anyhoo - it all worked out ok, and we even finished early!

We started by stamping the background paper to get different looks for the panels; a great opportunity to get out a heap of grungy background stamps. Then on to the die cutting. I had originally intended to use an unbranded clock and cogs cluster die, but the clock was the wrong way round, so I made up my own collage from random bits. They were all coloured with gilding wax or gilding polish (except the butterfly). They look a lot more metallic in real life.
I hand wrote the sentiment out of desperation - having spent hours failing to find a 'time flies' stamp, or any stamps I could adapt. I thought I could put 'sorry I missed your birthday' inside.

Happy crafting
Jx

Sax Player

Hi Crafty Friends
Here at Serendipity Towers, the blossom is out and it's even been sunny, so it's been lovely to look out while crafting in the conservatory.
But when not admiring the trees, this is what we've been doing.

I love this sax player die, but I struggled to create a background for it. Having decided to have the music sentiment coming from the sax, I was committed to a square card, but without any other suitable dies/stamps the same size. Still, making what you've got do what you want is the name of the game.
In the end I went with an embossed brick panel and Sizzix skylines, and a lot of inking. It was good fun and in the end, quite quick to make.
happy crafting
Jx

doily card

Hi Crafty Friends

We're back, after a couple of weeks off, (while I vegged out on holiday) and this is what we've been up to.
It's a pretty straightforward layout, but there's a lot of die cutting and inking which slowed things down a bit.

I experimented with shaping the flowers in different ways and was quite happy with how these turned out.
happy crafting
jx