Phoenix Inspirations

Today my son William is 18 years old - I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast. I no longer have children - they are both adults - I feel so old!!!! So I got up at 6am this morning to make this card for him after every one exclaimed in horror when I suggested buying him a birthday card instead of making him one. Never mind I get to rest for a few days as I'm popping off later to see mum and dad. Any way here is the card I have used some Very Vanilla and Early Espresso card stock along with Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and Really Rust inks - all from Stampin' Up of course. I also used my favourite stamp at the moment - French Foliage. I shall be entering this into the sketch challenge over on the Simply Stampin'  blog. See you next week - Jacqueline xx.

I have had such a busy time recently - I've been taking part in a local festival (a bit like Glastonbury but without the horrible music and mud!!!!!). I had a stall selling my cards and paper crafted gifts and boy did I melt underneath my tent - phew! But I also took part in something else rather special. The theme of the festival was Masquerade and the local art group decided to take a picture of some masks, blow it up, divide it into 24 separate square and each member paint a square. They also asked local artists (me!) to contribute too. Here is how I started and here is how it finished The whole painting when it was unveiled looked like this If you look along the top row, second from the left - that's mine! It was great fun to do. Now I'm sorry - no cards to show you today. The reason is this little monster This cute little fur ball is Louis - my daughter (who is leaving for uni in but a few short weeks) decided to bring him home last week. Now we live in a tiny,...

It's Monday again - I've had a very busy weekend and I'm exhausted but that's another story. Today there is a sketch waiting for you over on the Make My Monday  challenge blog - and remember the theme is still FLORAL . I have used some Stampin' Up DSP from the Elegant Soiree set. The leaves are from the Just Believe stamp set and I have added some punched flowers and a few blue blingy gems to finish it off. Don't forget at the end of this challenge the monthly prize winner will be announced and a new theme will be in place for July - bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

This is ever such a rushed post - I'm working flat out getting every thing up together for the BIG festival that's happening in our village this weekend. I have to be on site tomorrow morning at 7.00am to set up!!! But any how here is the piccie of the card we made last night at my workshop The card has a little recessed window for the nest to fit in like so: And then when you open it up it looks like this: All the images are from the Stampin' Up set Nature Walk. That's it for today - please keep your fingers crossed for sunshine over the next couple of days - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Good evening everyone - has anyone else been struggling with blogger today? It just wouldn't let me upload piccies for ages today - very strange! Anyway today I have some matching items to show you. It all started with this tag I then decided to make a gift bag to attach it to - thing is I made the bag a little on the small side so I ended up making another tag for the bag. A tutorial on how to make the gift bag can be found over on the Make My Monday blog. So then I decided to go the whole hog and make a matching birthday card For all these projects I have used Stampin' Up Itty Bitty Buds stamp set. The card stock and inks are Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Not Quite Navy and Old Olive. And here is the whole lot together Thanks for stopping by to take a look - hope you liked it. I'll be back tomorrow with samples for my Thursday night workshop - see you then - Jacqueline xx.

Today's card is inspired by the challenge over on Simply Stampin  - the theme is 'You Got Male' Now I'm finding male cards a little easier since I acquired the French Foliage set from Stampin' Up - it has a lovely little script stamp and an ink splat which can make some great grungy images - take a look I have teamed this set up with some Night of Navy and Very Vanilla card stock. I used Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel and Baja Breeze inks. Another short post today folks as I am about to dash out the door to a committee meeting and then it's a mad dash to Birmingham Airport to fetch my husband - hopefully no delays. I can see it's going to be a late one tonight - see you tomorrow if I can manage to wake up!! - Jacqueline xx.

Good morning - hope everyone had a fab weekend. This week over on the Make My Monday  challenge blog the challenge is to make some TAGS . These can be tags on their own or attached to cards etc. I chose to attach mine to a card This card uses some of my own stamps (available on-line here) I have used Promarkers to colour the main flower on the tag and then stamped beneath the tag with Stampin' Up ink Old Olive are my Leaf Branch and Flower Branch (yikes - hope I got the names right!!) stamps. The sentiment is again Stampin' Up from the Just Believe Set and is stamped in Ruby Red ink. Please hop over and take a look - the Deezine Team have made some stunning projects to inspire you all. Thank you for stopping by today to take a look - see you again soon - Jacqueline xx.

I have added another two stamps to my website (see top bar) and thought that you might like to see how they stamp. This is my Outline Flower Stamp along with a Solid Leaf Branch - the leaves are stamped with Sage Shadow and Certain Celery ink and the flower is coloured with Promarkers. Short and sweet today - I've been dashing about like a headless chicken all day so I'm off to put my feet up - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Oops - nearly missed this one! Goodness knows where the time has gone this week. I've got a busy weekend ahead as my husband is flying out to Oslo so I know I will be washing, ironing and packing 'cos lets face it men are rubbish at doing things like that - or is it just my husband??? Anyway the challenge was to use these colours I know these colours are very masculine but I chose to do feminine instead and dug out my Vintage Vogue set Now I have a small confession to make - I had to substitute the Concord Crush and instead use Elegant Eggplant - sorry. I do think that these colours go so well together though. So all that remains for me to say is pop over to Simply Stampin'  check out the challenge and have a great weekend - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Tuesday just gone was my monthly Tuesday morning workshop - this time we made Tri - Shutter cards. The one I made used a base of Papermania Kraft card - it's a lovely sturdy card stock just right for projects such as this. The card basically folds four times but has three sections cut the opposite way to the folds and each section is folded opposite to the other. It sounds complicated however once you get the hang of it - it comes quite easily. Here is my card The colours I have used this time are Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler. The stamp set is the very gorgeous French Foliage. Here it is open That's it for today I'm afraid - it's getting scarily close to my BIG craft fair and I am burning the midnight oil trying to get everything made in time!!!! Bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Usually if making a card takes all day it's because Bev's here and we do more talking than crafting. However today I started this card and I've been plagued all day with phone calls and secretarial problems. I've also had nice things happen like meeting up with my daughter in Marks and Sparks for coffee. So it is with great relief that I finally say - here is my card! There is a tutorial to accompany this card over on my challenge blog Make My Monday  as the challenge is Die Cut Flowers. I have used the very versatile frame stamp from Baby Blossoms and a corner die cut that I cut out on my 'Bug. The colours I have used are Whisper White, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy. Thank you for joining me today - please pop tomorrow if you can - I have something to share with you that I made for my workshop a couple of days ago. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

This week on my challenge blog Make My Monday  the challenge is to use die cut flowers, just like I have done here This is a 5" x 5" cream card blank on to which I have placed some pink card. I then stamped some swirly bits using Stampin' Up - Itty Bitty Buds. The flowers were cut on my 'Bug and I know you are going to say "Where from?" Well, Bev bought them round last week - she got them from e-bay. We tried Google-ing the company name but all we got was a strange bar coded image! So, some pink brads were used for the flower centers and some pink bling was randomly added to the rest. Please do go over to the blog and have a go - there is a prize  for our monthly winner. Or just go over and see what the Deezine Team have come up with - there are some stunning samples this week. Hope you all had great weekend's despite the rain! - bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Yuk - I hate days like this. I had to go shopping this morning and on the way out of the garden a rose bush that we have by the gate got overloaded with rain and soaked me all down my back! I also stepped in a puddle at the supermarket and soaked my feet. I hate being cold, but more than that I hate being cold and wet - I am really considering lighting a fire this evening!!! Anyway - I got crafting this afternoon (with new stamps) and made this card This is some 12" x 12" paper that I have had since time began and until today was shoved to the bottom of my card drawer (made a HUGE mess trying to get it earlier!) and the letter stamps were some I got for my birthday. Admittedly I didn't think they were that exciting but I have since changed my mind. So I stamped and embossed them on to the paper and also stamped and embossed some Lovely as a Tree and then I added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pointer. The embossing looked a little lost on the paper so I sponged it with some Bru...

Yesterday was birthday and my lovely husband bought me some crafting stash. Unfortunately he duplicated an ink pad (Distress Ink - Tea Dye) but the craft shop where he bought it were very kind and let me exchange it for something else. That something was a fab little Crafty Individuals stamp. So I raced home, turned my craft room upside down looking for my EZ Mount, and made this card for this week's Less is More  challenge. This week the girls wanted a one layer card with the theme 'In the Frame' Here is my card I made this by first masking off an area in the center of the card - directly on to a 5" x 5" white card blank. Then using my brayer I added some yellow, blue and green ink to the card. The masks were removed and the image was stamped over the brayered square. Thanks ladies for another fantastic challenge - Jacqueline xx.

I have added a new page to my top bar. It's called 'My Artwork' and shows off some of my paintings - hope you like them. I've also been doing some ATCs today for the monthly swap over at The Stamp Man . This month the theme is 'TREES' Each one was first stamped in Versamark ink using a stamp from the Lovely as a Tree set and then sprinkled with white embossing powder. The images were set with a heat gun and then each one was sponged with various inks - oh and I made a post it note moon too. After sponging the images were covered with copy paper and then ironed with a very hot iron (I knew that thing would come in useful someday!!!!) I then stamped the trees again using dark ink. The embossing spreads out slightly and also goes flat doing this technique - it also makes the trees look quite shadowy and ghostly. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

I made another poppy card today using my stamp. The technique I used is called the 'Spotlight' technique and all the details can be found over on the Make My Monday  challenge blog. Here is the card There are still a few days left to take part in the Challenge and there are details of the prize too. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Today's card started out as a Tri-shutter card, I was making up a sample to show the ladies who will be coming to the June Tuesday morning workshop. Well I was mooching around You Tube to check on all the measurements and I came across one demonstrated by Dawn HERE  and I thought "ooh that's different - let's do that" I started it about midday and I finished it about 4.30pm - no good for a 2 hour workshop! Although I may have got it done a little quicker had Beverley not been here - I think we have done more gossiping and giggling than crafting!!!! Anyway - here is my card This is the front - I have used French Foliage (brilliant for 'man' cards) and I am really enjoying the little splodge stamp - great for covering up smudges! The base card is Papermania Kraft Basics again along with some Really Rust card stock. Inks were Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa. Here is a picture of the inside So the moral of this ...

I have just spent a rather pleasant afternoon playing very loud music and crafting. It's not something I do very often - play loud music my kids really complain when I do! My choices don't always go down very well with them. My card today is based on the sketch over at Simply Stampin' My card has a masculine theme - it's for Father's Day and uses my French Foliage set. The base card is some Papermania Kraft Basics stamped with Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Pumpkin Pie inks. I used my Bind it All to punch down the side of the card stock so that it looked like it had been torn from a book. The edges were distressed using scissors and then inked and some twine was tied around the whole piece. OK - I'd better turn the music down now - the natives are getting restless so I'd better go and feed them - bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Today's the day that the new  Make My Monday Challenge Blog begins. Me and my fabulous Deezine Team have worked so hard this week so that we could start at the beginning of June and you should head over there right now and take a look at their beautiful cards. Before you do go though here is my card. The theme is RED FLOWERS so I have chosen Poppies. They are one of my favourite flowers and the gardens are full of them just now. The image was repeat stamped onto white card stock and the coloured in using Promarkers (Lipstick Red, Crimson and Leaf Green) I used a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad to stamp the image as that is the only one I know of that is suitable for Promarker colouring. The red and green card stock is some I picked up at my local craft shop so I don't know all the colour names - sorry. The image was also stamped on to some white scraps and then punched out using a circle punch, these were also coloured in and then placed behind the main image and the teeny se...

I have been as busy as the proverbial bee today what with one thing and another - but I did have time to make this card for this week's CAS-ual Friday  challenge. This week we had this sketch to follow And my card looks like this I made this card by sponging through a small piece of sequin waste with More Mustard and Really Rust inks. The cute little bees are from my new Stampin' Up set - Nature Walk and the sentiment was stamped using a mini alphabet set. Hope everyone had a good weekend - despite the weather (don't you just love British Summertime!!!) - bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Saturday - time for Less is More  and this week the theme is Monochrome. Now I was very excited when I saw this and Mandi and Chrissie's sample cards are fabulous ........ I do love that Growing Green set!...... and then I popped over to Bev's blog to see what she had done and again it was brilliant - not so sure about mine though Now monochrome has always meant black and white to me but Mandi's cards had been done with pink and the other in blue so I too chose a pretty colour - Lavender Lace. Thing is it doesn't photo very well - my bird looks like he is lost in the mist! Don't get me wrong I love the way it has turned out but you will just have to take my word for it that it looks better in real life - honest! I have used a wide mixture of stamps for this - Stampin' Up - Bird on a Branch, Baby Blossoms, Simply Said and Flight of the Butterfly (they are mostly tiny stamps that I have used to stamp the frame) and in the top right corner I have used a weeny bir...

I've been having a play today with some new stamps. I have hankered after this set for a while now and it's going to feature heavily in one of my June workshops. The set is Nature Walk and I just love the little egg stamp - so much so that I have created a background with it take a look The little birdy has been raised up on 3D foam pads as has the bee at the top. The eggs were coloured in using Promarkers but for the bird I used coloured pencils, for some reason the Promarkers didn't like my paper and they started to bleed. I have to be a good girl now and go and do some proper work - invoices and stuff but watch out for some exciting things in the next couple of days - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

First of June today - yikes how time is flying! Time for another Mojo Monday  challenge too. Here is this week's sketch I went for the easy option and chose the square card to make - although not so easy lining up my paper for those triangles - take a look This is a whole mixture of stuff - Elegant Soiree and Springtime Vintage DSP, Bliss and Vintage Vogue stamp sets and (nicked form Bev) a flower die and ribbon. Also used Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy inks. So glad I didn't opt for the circle sketch although I do think that this technique makes a lovely effect. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx.