Phoenix Inspirations

You may remember back in October that I took part in a Breast Cancer Awareness blog hop (see here ). Well I was lucky enough to win Hels' 'Fanny Flamingo' - and here she is And here she is in close up Isn't she gorgeous? Thank you so much Hels - she will now take centre stage on my dressing table to be admired for ever more. So - apologies all for the sparseness of my posts lately. Firstly I was away - couldn't get to see Dad while he was in hospital so 'cos of the snow so saw him last weekend instead. I returned to find that my Mother-in-Law's pipes had burst in her house and that she was staying with us whilst her house dried out. Then I had two workshops this week (which I hadn't prepared for!!!) and I am battling a sore throat and cough. I am in dire need of some TLC! Looking forward to Monday though - my daughter who has left home recently to live with her boyfriend is coming home to have a DVD day with her Mum - yay. Can't wait - popcorn, ch...

I really enjoyed making this card - at first I was stumped for some inspiration so I popped over to Splitcoast Stampers  to see what today's sketch challenge was. Then I checked out the Color Throwdown  blog for some colour inspiration and the above card is what I came up with. Recipe 5" x 5" cream card blank Card stock - Stampin' Up - Certain Celery, Chocolate Chip & Riding Hood Red. Paper - S'U - Simply Scrappin' 'I Wish' Accessories - S'U Boho Blossoms punch, gold brads & ribbon. Hope you like it - Jacqueline xx.

The big freeze continues - I even had ice on the inside of my windows this morning. I woke up so cold too - my husband is away at the moment so he wasn't there to keep me warm. It wasn't too bad once I was up - the sun is actually shining in a bright blue sky making the landscape look very picturesque. I have made a card to show you - just a quickie before my fingers freeze up with frostbite This is made using the branch stamp from S'U Bird on a Branch set and the baubles from Hung up on the Holidays. The baubles have been inked with versamark and then embossed with silver embossing powder Take care everyone and keep warm - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Time for a challenge and today is the turn of 'Mojo Monday'. Here is today's sketch You can find the Mojo Monday blog here . And here is my card I used my Here Arts stamps again with some red card stock and some S'U Old Olive, a little gold ribbon and some red adhesive stones - simples! It's too cold to remain in my craft room any longer - I may even have to do some ironing in order to thaw my fingers out. Now there's a scary thought!!!! See you soon - Jacqueline xx.

This was my stall all set up this morning at 10.30. The lane up to the hall was extremely slippy this morning but I managed to get there OK with the help of my husband - I'm a real wimp when it comes to snow and ice. Last time I fell I broke my wrist and did all sorts of other damage too. Anyway I think that everyone else must be feeling the same as unfortunately the fair didn't get very busy and my stall looked pretty much the same at 2.30 in the afternoon. Had some lovely ladies on stalls next to me - one selling cupcakes (mmmmmm cakes) and the other some gorgeous silver jewellery of coarse both of which I had to buy from - thus spending all my profits!!!! It was great fun though. Hope you are all keeping safe and warm in this nasty weather - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

I had a bit of a play today - just looking through my stamp sets and trying to get some inspiration. I remembered a card I made back at the beginning of October where I made a tree card with the branch stamp from Bird on a Branch ( here ). So I decided to make a Christmassy one too. I got my favourite piece of kit out again - my brayer and created the background using Baja Breeze ink. Then I stamped the branch in Chocolate Chip and the snowflakes - from the Snow Flurries set in Versamark ink. Then I embossed the snowflakes with some silver tinsel embossing powder. I stamped a sentiment inside the card with a few more snowflakes as I didn't think the front of the card needed anything else. It's my Christmas Fair tomorrow - weather permitting - so hopefully will be able to share some pics of my stall with you - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

..... after going around in a grump all day - we had more snow (yuk) and I am soooooooooo fed up with all the hype about the football (I mean really - bothered?) - I finally got around to making a card I have made this for my Mum and Dad. Mum is seriously hard to please - Christmas cards have to be in traditional green and red - no blue and definitely no black. She doesn't do silver and she hated the ones I made in green and neutrals. This hopefully will tick all her boxes! I used the fir tree from Lovely as a Tree to make a kind of garland and then I embossed with one of the stamps from the Autumn Days set with gold embossing powder. I picked out a few of the round bits with some tiny red stones. I then made some poinsettia flowers with the 5 Petal Punch and the Boho Blossoms Punch - they are held together with gold brads. You can just see some snowflakes in the background, these were embossed with a holographic powder and I edged the card with versamark and sprinkled on some mo...

This is not normally something I would do - I like to layer up my card and add embellishments and so on. However, my Mother -in- Law needed a 'thin' card to send to America. So I made this I went straight on to a C6 sized card with my brayer. I blocked out the moon with a post it note and used some scrap copy paper torn into a hill shape. The ink I used was Baja Breeze. I then used Lovely as a Tree (one of my all time favourite sets) to create a forest and then stamped my reindeer jumping over the moon. So, hopefully this will be 'thin' enough for MIL to post. We have more snow falling at the moment so I don't think I will be venturing out today - I think I'm going to hibernate! See you soon - Jacqueline xx.