Merry Christmas

Or Merry Christ-moose to be more precise!!

Regular viewers may recall the electrician moose of a few weeks ago - this is the stamp in its full Christmas form!!

It's a Woodware stamp and I think it's fab.

I've coloured his jumper with copics and the scarf I've stamped a second time, cut out and stuck on the image for a bit of dimension.

Shoes coloured in copics and covered with glossy accents.

Nose is a red card candi.

I've then added a couple of goggly eyes (he looks  a little stary in this picture!) and his fur, antlers and jumper trim are different colours of fun flock.

A bit of layering with matching card and some snowflake paper and a sentiment from the stamp set too.

Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas - see you on the other side!!

Jill

Bah Humbug!

An amazing thing is unfolding - I will actually have no wrapping or card making to do on Christmas Eve - that hasn't happened for years!!

Today's card was an idea I found whilst browsing punch art recently - here is the link which shows the punches used to make the grinch.

I saw it and had to make it for someone at work!
The card has a little scored piece inside so it stands on a desk rather than just being a card.

All the punches are Stampin' up in some form or another, apart from the eyebrows which I cut freehand.  (Thanks to Karen for the pennant punch!).

I have added a little fun flock to the hat trim and bobble.

Stamp from the Very Merry Tags set and cut out with co-ordinating punch (of course!).

Have just left a much more festive 'Chris Moose' drying so maybe I will preview him tomorrow!
Jill

On the 4th day of Christmas!!

A card for friends today who have a couple of chickens so I had to make this!

I've used a stamp from the Penny Black 12 Days of Christmas set.

The stamp itself is just one 'bird' so I embarked on a spot of masking to actually end up with 4 birds on the card.

I've coloured in copics and added some frantage embossing enamel for the snow effect.

Layered on some lovely pearly card from Anna Marie with a few gems.

'4 Calling Birds' stamped from the same set (which is a great set) and layered on SU punches.

A Christmas card!

Many apologies for the slight loss of service recently - I have made some things to blog about but had rather too many long days and late nights trying to finish bits in between going out and working that updating this had to take a back seat.

To resume - today's card is this years 'card of choice' that I have given to many friends and family.

I have carried on with the colour theme Jenny used on her Extravaganza day - SU smoky slate, island indigo and coastal cabana.  The background is actually a piece of paper mill card that is quite a good match for the island indigo and I've put through a cuttlebug with the perfect polka dots embossing folder.

Two of the baubles are from the 'Christmas Collectibles' stamp set, the one with the message on is from 'Best of Christmas.  All punched out with matching punch of course!

I've added a little matching twine to the message bauble and double punched the middle of the bottom bauble, punched out and added with a little foam pad (so it made standard post) to add a little depth.

Layered on a piece of white with a couple of strips of dotted scallop ribbon border punch in silver underneath.  Not sure how many I've made of these but it's quite a few now!

Noel Banner

This is the lovely banner I made at my first Bloomin' Buds meeting last week.

Isn't it lovely?
I hadn't even looked twice at the kit in the catalogue (as seems to happen with so many things).
The Build a Banner kit comes with a selection of pennants (in 3 designs), a set of alphabet stencils and the great image stencils of which we used the spot one to decorate two of our pennants.

I used ink to daub the spots and just stamped a snowflake from the Festive Flurry set on the other two and then they are layered up with a doily, snowflake and couple of circles before the die cut letter.

The brown at the top of the pennants is a Top Notz die folded in half.

All the pieces are then joined together (through the already ready to go holes) with ribbon.

Hello Kitty

A quick post today of a card I made after seeing a link here.

I made it for my niece who was 9 last week, using available punches - it's a really fun Hello Kitty representation which I thought was fab.

Another day out!

I went to my first downline meeting with Jenny and the Bloomin' Buds today - more on that tomorrow when I have a pic.

Jenny lives near Poole and originally I thought I would get back to go to work in the afternoon, then I thought I have so much to do actually I could make use of the time - then …..

I went ice skating in Bournemouth!!!

This has been much discussed recently as there are lots of ice rinks popping up and I love skating (I only get to have a go at Christmas).

I then considered a couple of shops I fancied popping in to whilst I was nearby so a plan was hatched.
I am so glad I did as it was sooooo quiet, there were only 12 of us in total for the hour, it was brilliant.


When I first got there the sun was out too and it was a gorgeous day - the beach a contrast to last time I went when you couldn't see sand for people!

You are invited

I finished the 'hearts' project!!!

It's a shame the light never seems to be good enough for pics this time of year but this is a snap of the finished pile.  

I made some Save the Date cards earlier in the year and have now made the Invitations.

There are 40 Wedding day invites and 50 Evening invites.

The front design is the same on each.  12 hearts on each invitation, 8 different designs so some are repeated.  These are a mixture of a few stamped ones (including a touch of coral as a nod to one of the wedding colours) and some just from pearl and patterned card.

The bottom of each invite has a piece of ivory card which I crazily suggested pricking for each invite.

I've used one of the Stampin' Up paper piercing templates and then of course after printing words for the front these are punched out with the matching SU punch - it does finish them off nicely.

The day invites are an A6 finished card and have a printed insert inside which you can just see has punched hearts in each corner.  These were also finished with a piece of string which 'tied' in with the 'we are tying the knot' theme to the save the date cards.

The evening invites are just a piece of A6 card with a printed piece attached to the back.

Each invite also has a printed reply/information slip.  I did tie these up with string which made for a nice presentation.

This is a close up of a wedding invite:

Did someone mention something about Christmas??!!!!

Wot no crafting!

Another break from doing things that needed to be done yesterday and a bit of a day out with Mum.

We started at a local house which isn't usually open to the public - Newton House - who had a craft fair raising money for charity in their stable block.  It was beautifully decorated and a really nice atmosphere (including some mulled apple juice and a very scrummy mince pie).

Then we went a little further away to another craft fair where Karen over at Serendipity Dragonfly had a stall of all her gorgeous makes where I purchased a lovely fabric box for a present along with a few goodies from some other stalls.

The weather was beautiful yesterday so as we were heading in that direction we then headed to the National Trust property at Stourhead.  It was the first day yesterday of some of the rooms in the house being open and decorated with trees in each room.  If you are in the area you must pop in, it was lovely.  A lot of work had been put in to all the trees and each room had lovely fireplace decorations & floral displays.  I won't spoil it but have a pic of the tree in the entrance hall below - I think it was 27 feet high - rather impressive.

The other plan in going yesterday, other than it just being lovely for a walk, was to catch the tree colours but we had very much missed the best of those, many leaves were already on the floor!
There were a couple of gorgeous red and yellow leaved trees with the sun on them in the afternoon though that I've added below.

Oh, and there was a craft fair in the courtyard between the entrance and the garden too!!!
 

        

       

Bus trip

Thanks for the OCD comments about my heart punching!  In my defence (and although I do occasionally have these tendencies) after punching out 1,080 hearts in 8 different designs I didn't want to mix them up so put them in my pots for safe keeping - this project is coming along quite well this week.

So, at work this week I was asked 'could I make a birthday card for man'.  I said yes with a bit of a question (given recent requests).  'He's 60, drives a bus and is a Bristol City fan'.  I kid you not, the craziness never ends.

Soooo, my first thought went to the Penny Black London bus which I don't own but a friend kindly let me stamp the image a while ago - amazingly in the chaos I found it and the card took shape:

I've coloured the image in copics - I did research on what colour the footy team are thinking I could colour the bus to match and handily enough they are red and white so that fitted in rather well.

The age and reference to the club are on the front of the bus.

Sentiment printed out to match the 'Bristol City' font and all layered to tie in - mounted on some great football card I bought at a local establishment recently.

Good job I bought it see Val?!

Back to the hearts before the next crazy request rolls in!

A Stampin' Up Adventure

Given the card that follows today might be a good day to mention (to those that haven't found out already) that I have recently signed up as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator.  I have become one of Jenny's team of Bloomin' Buds.

I am just sorting myself and coming up with a plan and fingers crossed in the new year would like to do the odd Stampin' Up party and spread the word - so watch this space.

In the meantime many happy returns to Anne from Crafty Bunch today who I made a Stampin' Up card for.

Colours used (both matching ink and card) are baked brown sugar, strawberry slush and crisp cantaloupe.

The background stamped leaves and the flowers and butterfly on the front are from the Polka-Dot Pieces stamp set and the sentiment is from 'Four You',
This card also used 3 different sizes of scallop circle punches, a small circle and the butterfly punches.

The large scallop circle was also decorated with the paper-piercing tool.  All finished with a few gems.

How many hearts?!!

A quick picture today just to show that I am still busy not doing Christmas cards!

The eagle eyed amongst you who have a good memory may recall a pile of hearts a while ago - I am now on the next round of the project.

This is a nearly-picture just short a few pieces of card and a few more hearts to be punched.

I have just stuck 480 hearts on to the relevant pieces of card - only another 600 to go now!!

Gone a bit cross-eyed so off for a nice soak in the bath before bed.

A Woodware crafty day out!

Another day out for me yesterday as I attended 2 workshops with the lovely Jane Gill down in Exmouth, run by Japonica.

The morning workshop was billed as using some of the stamps that Jane has designed for Woodware and we made this fabulous wreath.

Everyone had different shades of card from some new 6x6 pads that are available through Woodware.  They are slightly textured and also have a white core.  My wreath used sheets from the 'glamour' pad but Jane had also made a sample using the 'tropical' pad which included some zingy colours like lime, orange and pink - but they made a great wreath.

They all looked different too depending on who used gold, silver or white embossing powder for the images.  The stamps are Nordic Reindeer and Nordic dove (one with branch).  A ring was cut out as a base and I've decorated it with various punched plain and scalloped circles in different sizes (some stamped and embossed too) and some 'bling' shapes with fab glitter domes in.

Very pleased with the mornings efforts and went for a walk in the sun round Exmouth for a spot of retail therapy before the afternoon session which was floral punch craft.

And how cool is what we made in the afternoon?

Sorry this was the best picture I could get in the light today.
For this project we decorated a cone by covering it with embossing paste which dried a lovely gold colour and whilst still wet meant we could sit the card candi on it.

There were 5 different colour ways of tree for the afternoon and they all looked great.

We then punched out some flowers and leaves, shaped them and added those with a little tag and ribbon.

The cone is sat on some dowel decorated with washi tape that is sat in a little wood block that we also covered to match.

A very successful day indeed.

Christmoose gets a job!

Another day, another random request!
I was asked if I could produce a card with an electrician moose on it this week.  After a bit of eye rolling and asking why no-one could just ask for a standard golf or car card I came up with the following:

I 'utilised' my Woodware stamp Christmoose (who sports a xmas pud on his jumper).

I've stamped him on white card and copic coloured in everything except the jumper and scarf which I paper pieced.
The shoes have some glossy accents on them, his nose a bit of card candi and I added some fun flock on his antlers.

To make him 'electrical' I've added a piece of wire for him to hold and tweaked his arm position to suit.

Some layers added in matching colours, the background being a passing piece of embossed blue paper.

SU sentiment to finish off!
I am pleased to report my crazy friend and the recipient loved it.

More on my Woodware adventures tomorrow (hopefully).

Quilling in Somerset

So, last Saturday I ran 2 workshops in Yandles, Martock in Somerset.

I had 9 ladies in the morning for 'Quilling for Beginners', some stayed for the afternoon, some didn't but were replaced by new recruits so we had 8 ladies for the afternoon workshop which was 'Christmas Quilling'.

This is half of the morning group.  Everyone made a small shape sampler to practice forming coils in to teardrops, marquise, star etc.

You can probably then see on the table that project 2 was a snowflake card which was good to make using a few basic shapes.

The third project which everyone finished was a quilled frog which is mainly made of marquise shapes but in different lengths which is good for showing how to size projects.

This picture shows the other side of the table and the ladies who stuck with me all day!
(One of whom was my first teacher at primary school!!).

They were a very quiet group which they put down to concentrating.

In the afternoon they made a Christmas card which incorporated some shapes we hadn't used in the morning including ring coil, holly and fringing!

Everyone completed the card and some even started (& finished) a little filigree heart Christmas tree too.

This is the card:

I was very impressed with everyone else's fir cones as mine were cut a little too finely (a habit as I like small & fine things) but they actually looked much better with thicker fringing.

I also made a couple of variations of this card with a Christmas rose, a tapered candle, alternate side looping and a different way of adding yellow to the poinsettia just to show how you can change a card.

Everyone took away lots of finished projects and enjoyed themselves so a successful day all round for spreading the quilling word!

I also handed out my last few copies of print overruns of Quillers Today (with a membership form of course) to inspire everyone along the way.

Workshops

A quiet week on the blog front whilst I have been sorting things for firstly this weeks Crafty Bunch project (more to follow on that) and today's 2 workshops out at Yandles, Martock.

A quick pic from this afternoons delegates just starting out on a poinsettia, candle and fir cone card!

More pictures and details to follow.

Walking in Wales

Well, with much crafting to do yesterday - we went out for the day!!

We had earmarked the day for a walk, as long as the weather was ok and for once we were really lucky.

We trotted off to the Brecon Beacons - Graeme has a bit of a walking bug after our Lake District trip!

We walked to Pen-y-fan and not the easy, straightforward way but a rather longer and harder way of course.

This is a view nearer the start looking towards the summit on the right, with an almost equally large peak on the left which we skirted the top of on the way.

This is the view from the top, the valley from the previous picture being in the bottom right of this pic.

It was getting a little cloudier by the time we got to the top but still a beautiful view - and, ultimately, A view which is more than we got from Helvellyn recently.

Just back from being drafted in as a late replacement in a badminton match tonight so more panic crafting to come this week!!

Thinking of You

This was a sympathy card I got asked for recently.

Yet again I had a different vision in my head as to how it panned out but there we go!

I've used kraft card and ivory stamping card, both from Anna Marie Designs.

The stamp set on the top half is good old Vintage Vogue, now retired from Stampin' Up which I've stamped in the fab sounding baked brown sugar.  I think I used a slightly darker ink for the large flowers which I have cut out and added with a little 1mm pad (the card had to be posted).

I've also added a card candi on the flowers - this was the limit for getting through the post before extra cost!

Sentiment is from the lovely new Wetland stamp set, punched out and layered on the trusty SU scalloped oval.

For the bottom of the card I used the new roller which I won at Jenny's extravaganza recently - it's called 'Very Vintage' and goes very nicely with this stamp set.
I've added this layer to some SU border punched strips (dotted scallop ribbon border).

For not going to plan it ended up well and was much appreciated by those concerned.

Birthday gifts

A lovely couple of days away on a Spa break at Center Parcs at Longleat.
I can thoroughly recommend it.  We had as much time as we wanted in the spa on day 1 which contains lots of different steam rooms, saunas, meditation rooms etc and a little outdoor bubble pool.  Our package included all our food and a much needed back, neck & shoulder massage with mini facial which was soooo relaxing.

We stayed the night on fireworks night so got to see their fabulous display.  We also managed some time in the main pool both days and a few more hours in the spa on day 2 - it was all very relaxing and a great catch up with a couple of friends.

We went in aid of Karen's 40th and these are the presents I made her.

The organiser is a copy of one we did at one of Jenny's extravaganza's.  The colour theme had to be slightly led by the fact I needed 12x12" card which I don't have a big supply of.  The picture doesn't show it brilliantly but I think it was elegant eggplant card for the body of the folder.

If anyone missed a previous post it contains 12 pockets each with a little card for a month of the year so you can keep track of birthdays and important dates.

The origami box contains a folded paper album - each page is made from a sheet of 6x6".  I haven't made one of these for ages.

I have added a picture in each page that I know means a lot to Karen.  The box was decorated to tie in the colours.

And a final picture for today which one or two people will chuckle at (or be quite pleased!) and some will think I have lost it (some truth in that actually) - I will explain further one day.

Jill

Stamp-a-stack for Christmas

So, yesterday I had another crafty day out which I booked months ago - I went to Jo Dumbleton's Stamp-a-stack down in Dorset.

We made 12 cards, 2 each of the cards below:

Aren't they great?  We used many different stamp sets and punches.  We used embossing folders and framelits on the sizzix, stamping glitter, heat and stick powder, all sorts!

I had a couple of teeny mishaps (only 3 hours sleep wasn't entirely conducive to this) but you probably wouldn't notice and I am too much of a perfectionist.

My favourite card, no surprises if you know me, is this one:

I love it!  And have already made a couple more penguins.  This little chap is constructed from a combo of Stampin' Up punches.  I'll take a pic of the card inside for later in the week - and maybe see if you've worked out where everything comes from!!

Also have to report that for once my Mum did not win a raffle prize.

But I did!!!  Still not got the star prizes and this time I was drawn last so got what no one else wanted - still a prize though.

Off for a couple of days in the spa now so back soon with some more updates.

Jill

Choo-choo!

After nearly catching up I'm not quite up to date with blogs again and thought I had better update my own too as I have been busy this week.

This card was for my Godson.  As with everything I seem to have done recently I had a different idea of how it was going to look when I started but for various reasons this is what finally happened!:

Probably not a traditional card for a 5 year old either but Alex is a train fanatic so I had to use these lovely stamps from Molly Blooms.

I've coloured the images in copics, added some highlights with white pen and added fun flock for smoke.

Also coloured some peel off letters and number and added to some card candi which is layered on some punched circles.

A few layers of card, including one using Martha Stewart punch-around-the-page and some SU circle and scallop punches for the sentiment stamp from the stash.

This card is an 8x8" one too.  I did enter it in the Molly Blooms Facebook competition but as it wasn't as fancy as I'd planned and after seeing the competition I don't think it will get anywhere but I'm still really pleased with it.

Got another crafty day out tomorrow so will report back on that too.

Wot no view!

Just to finish my hols report before I get back to crafting - after my pics the other day I had to add one of Helvellyn.
We chose a day in the week that had the best forecast for our walk and the morning was beautiful, clear blue skies and a great temperature.

Needless to say heading over the Kirkstone Pass towards Glenridding it was very murky and the cloud was really low over the hills.
We had hoped it might clear but there was a point where we knew it wouldn't and ploughed on anyway.

To be honest if it had been clear at the top there is no way I would of made it along Striding Edge - I'd still be there clinging to the craggy rocks I think even though the view would of been spectacular.

This is me at the top of Englands third highest mountain:

It was a little refreshing for our coffee stop at the top but there were quite a few people (and dogs) up there.

Because of the cloud we managed to miss the turning we meant to take at the top to come back down so came a slightly longer way but the cloud lifted a little as we went down and there was some lovely scenery (it was still cloudy at the top).

After around a 6 hour outing we had a well deserved meal in a lovely cafe in the car park called Fellbites if anyone is ever passing.

Stampin' Up Christmas Extravaganza

So, I may do a little more holiday recap another day.

Had a busy few days with cards to finish, my printer was pronounced dead so had to spend some time rustling up another and had to book a little break to accommodate some Commonwealth Games tickets for next year (amongst other things).

Today I must mention yesterday's Stampin' Up Extravaganza with the lovely Jenny.

As I was away for the local version last week myself and Mum went to Jenny's group so we didn't miss out!

For those that haven't seen, this is what we made:

Firstly we made a card and decorated the large box.  Then we decorated the long, slim box which I think is great for a gift (and very reasonably priced) and lastly we decorated the little box and made 3 cards to go in it.

I love the colour combo on all these.

Jenny's days are always very labour intensive but this time we could be a little more leisurely and had time to chat, have lunch and watch the arrival of the bride in the church next to the hall where we spent the day!

We sat with two lovely ladies but they probably won't sit with us again as we swept up the table prizes and also both won on the raffle.  Mum asked me to make special mention to Janet and Val who recently saw her and commented on their improved chances of winning as we didn't go to the local day!

Mum always wins - I was going to stop taking her!!

I got caught this morning in my dressing gown having a leisurely start to the day catching up with some blogs (not quite done everyone yet but had quite a good browse) and sorting through some e-mails.

Could do with a couple of extra weeks in October if anyone finds any!

Jill

Still here!

A busy few days sorting some things out so just popping past to say I will be back to crafty updates soon but another holiday view to keep you going.

This was taken on the top of Latterbarrow which was a great walk from where we were staying in Hawkshead and from the top you could look over the other side of the hill to Windermere - it was a beautiful view.

Fingers crossed we don't all get blown away at the weekend!

I'm back!

Some followers will not know that I have been away because amazingly I scheduled 5 posts before I disappeared for a couple of weeks!  They were set up at very strange times of day and night but I got there, maybe not as detailed as some posts.

This also means I am behind on everyone elses blogs which I shall catch up with over the next few days.

We had a few days away at Manchester Velodrome for Graeme to compete up there - no medals to report but not for lack of trying!

We were staying in North Manchester and on the Saturday were heading up to the Lake District for a week.  As it happened there was a Sincerely Yours show in Lancashire the day we were literally passing - so I had to didn't I?!!

This confused some exhibitors I know as they expected to see me in Taunton but it was also nice to see a few different stands in a completely different area.  Thanks to Tim from Anna Marie Designs for another fab card deal (like I needed more!).  I only spent 2 hours there but it was nice for a crafty fix.

While I sort out some pictures and conduct a test on my printer to see if it is repairable or needs replacing I'll leave you with this quick view just to show it can be nice in the Lake District in October - so much nicer than it's been since we got back so I hope it brightens your day too.

Wetlands

This card came about after Jenny added a class at Stamping Moments.  I got the instructions and this card combines ideas from a few different cards.

The stamp set used for the birds and reeds is Wetlands from Stampin' Up.
The stone/sand effect is achieved by using the Gorgeous Grunge set which I have become a bit of a fan of.

Papermania 'nesties' used for the main image with a sun sponged in the background.
SU used for sentiment and punches it is mounted on!

Good old Stampin' Up!!

On your Wedding Day

Another quilled card!

I have stamped the sentiment in the middle of this card from a Forever Friends 'Going to the Chapel' set, embossed it in gold and layered on a piece of gold card.

Unfortunately this picture doesn't do some of the gorgeous quilling papers justice.
The teardrop flowers are made from 'lemonish white' paper and are edged with another brilliant new colour from JJ Quilling called 'solid gold' which also has a gold edge - it just adds a finishing pick me up to the flowers.

The solid gold has also been used for the roses and the gold edged version for the scrolls.
The fringed flowers are made with 10mm american paper from my stash but the centres are the gold edged solid gold again.

The leaves are the new olive crush again but this time a gold edged version to tie in with the rest of the design.

A quilled 'Special' Birthday

This is probably the first of rather too many cards this year for 'special' birthdays!

This is a 7x7" card from Anna Marie - rather a good 'in between' size - like we need another size card!

I've layered a peel off greeting on to a couple of punched shapes and added this to the centre of the card with foam pads.

The fringed flowers - yes, actual quilling!!! - are made from 10mm paper in bright colours.
This card was very much cased from the fab Jill over at Paper Daisy - do have a look if you haven't visited before, her cards are fabulous.

I've used a large quilling tool to roll the flowers so there is room for a little seed bead in the centre.

The leaves and tendrils in between are made from a gorgeous new paper from JJ Quilling called Olive Crush which actually contains crushed olives (or residues in some way from olives).  Apologies if I haven't entirely got my facts straight but either way the paper is just so scrummy!

There could be a range of these recycled papers so I look forward to some more.  The picture doesn't really do the colour justice but it is gorgeous in real life and was much admired when I took some to the local quilling group last week!

Poppy Birthday

You may remember from my box card-athon a while back that I made a poppy card and decided to keep it for a birthday.

Well, I kept it for Mum's birthday.

I added a little bit more to the inside for a message and made a box for it.

This is the card front.  I've used the Stampin' Up poppies stamp and coloured some of the flowers with copics and punched them out - layering them on more punched shapes.

SU sentiment also on punched shapes and finished with card layers and a couple of itty bitty punched shapes with gems in the centre.

The middle of the card has the main image and I've stamped the flowers twice, cut them out and added them with foam pads for a 3D effect.

I've then added a couple of card layers to the inside and added a tag with an SU sentiment.

And this is the box - not highly decorated but with some of the little flowers to match the front of the card and a tag to write on.

It makes it more of a surprise when you open the box then!

Sport

A quicker card today but one that fulfilled a request.

Haven't used this fab Sport stamp for a bit from Clarity Stamps.  Stamped it in SU real red and then added the footballer in the middle.

The card is for a Manchester United fan, hence the colours.

The card is A5 and I have randomly stamped a little Happy Birthday across the back and added some stamped footballs that I punched out and popped on a little 3D pad.

Main image then layered and added to the middle.

Piggies

A few days, several wedding cards and a mutant migraine later and here we are!!

A request this week for an Anniversary card - apparently the recipient has a 'pig' thing hence the subject.

Paper background from a Papermania Honey & Hugs set, layered on some pink card.

Piggies from a Woodware set, stamped on pink card and cut out.  The grass stamp is also from the same stamp set.

A touch of quilling added to the pigs spots and all finished with a selection of punches and a little peel off greeting.

Froggy

A couple of items I've made before today but have made a version  again this week.

Firstly Mr Frog!  It's a while since I made one of these (and did any quilling) but promised one to a friend ages ago.

This chap is from Jane Jenkins 'Three Dimensional Quilling' book.  I've made a few of the animals from the book and the frog is the one that people always want to buy!

I've also made a little 'stand' composed of 10mm paper rolled into a solid coil with a cone on top, similar to his body, so that he can sit on a shelf without toppling over.

To make more of a gift of it I also made another 'bag in a box'.

Paper from the stash, combined with some lucky limeade card, matching ribbon and ink and SU sentiment and punches.

Mr & Mrs (again)

A shorter post today and with a stamp I've used quite a bit recently - but it is still another card.

This is an 8x8" card as it was for a couple at work and was being passed round for everyone to write in.

Woodware Mr & Mrs stamp again with paper piecing from the stash.  I found out the colour theme was dusky pink so have used a selection of papers to suit.

As this card was bigger I've added some paper from a 12x12" piece on the base of the card, the stamp is mounted on a couple of layers and a few hearts to finish with the initials of the couple in the corner.

Molly Blooms Workshop

For my final workshop of the week I visited Jobo Crafts in Weston-Super-Mare yesterday for a great workshop with Clare Rowlands who is the mastermind behind the Molly Blooms range of stamps.

Her new Winter Woodland stamps literally came in to the shop on Friday too - not sure if that was good or bad really!!

Anyway, we made 2 cards on the day.  This is the first one:

The image 'Berry Nice Molly' has been stamped, coloured and cut out.  Clare uses Copics to colour her images so it was great to use some of her colour combinations to achieve the effects like the pictures on the front of the stamp packets.

Molly is sitting on 'Pinecone Perch' which was also stamped, coloured and cut into a circle with a few bits of the image having a slight overhang on to the matt behind it.

All the card layers were distressed with Tim Holtz ink and you can see we then used some more frantage on the background picture and die cut tree to create a snow effect.

Finished with a stamped and distressed tag & some buttons etc - and that was just the morning!

For the afternoon card we used the image 'Hattie'.

Coloured in copics again and both cards have a spot of glossy accents here and there for effect.

Similar to the first card the layers were distressed and built up with ribbon, buttons and die cuts - and some great felt snowflakes for this one.

Another sentiment was made in to a tag and then more frantage snow - very much 'thing' of the moment and I love it.

A great day out thanks to the ladies from Jobo Crafts, fellow crafters and Clare who came down from Lancashire in the morning (not a wise decision in hindsight!).

A couple of weeks off from workshops now but a few more to come this year!  Best put all these new ideas to good use in the meantime.

Thanks for popping by.   Jill

Japonica visit 2!

To carry on from my previous post the next workshop was with Julia Budd, the lovely lady behind the 'what's on your workdesk' blog.  She was very amusing and very worryingly a very clever judge of character - within 5 minutes she had me down as a bit of an 'OCD' crafter - I do like things to be right!!

We made a book with Julia that is currently somewhat UFO/WIP so I will feature this at another date (and be sharing with Crafty Bunch who I think might be interested).

My final workshop was with Jenny Mayes and it was rather frantic as she packed loads in but brilliant.

This first card features the new Bertie the Snowman stamp from Hobbyart.
The background has been stamped and some die cut snowflakes stuck to the back of the card layer.

The stamped image layer has been inked and stamped and Bertie was stamped again on another piece of card, coloured (except for his buttons I notice!) and added with 3D foam pads.

The picture probably doesn't do justice to the fact that we used the new 'Wink of Stella' pens for the glitter on his hat and scarf - they are soooo fab.
If you haven't seen them they are like a waterbrush but full of glitter and come in a vast amount of yummy colours.

As if this wasn't enough to be going on with we then made a second card.

This stamp is called Follow Me and we watercoloured it with Tombow pens.

Some of my colour ran a little and I possibly didn't finish the ground brilliantly because I wanted to look at the boxes and boxes of Jenny's samples before we went home - they were very inspirational.

The fantastic element on this card is the snow - I love it!!

It is another spot of frantage in the form of chunky white embossing enamel.  This will very much be featuring on more Christmas cards this year I think.

A great day and no rest for the wicked as tomorrow I am off for a Molly Blooms Day!