Phoenix Inspirations

I held my first Scrapbook Club workshop this morning - take a look at my page For details of what materials were used and a picture of the sketch I used hop on over to my  Scrapbook blog  and take a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

That's right this week at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  we have an Anything Goes challenge - as long as it's Christmassy though! For this challenge my dt piece is an easel card using my stamp of the moment - my Clarity bicycle - take a look I have used a mixture of X-Cut and Marianne Creatables dies and a couple of paper punches. The holly in the basket is stamped with the tiny stamp in the Pines and Poinsettias set - the pile of presents was hand drawn. We announce our new design team members today so please pop over and make them feel welcome and check out the wonderful creations from fellow team mates Mynnette and Ruth bye for now - Jacqueline xx

The tutorial for the Wiper Card is now up on the Craft Club Blog. Click  HERE  or the picture in the side bar to take you there. - Jacqueline xx

It's my first Scrapbook workshop tomorrow and in conjunction with this I have set up a  Scrapbook Blog  to give dates and times of my workshops. It will also showcase the monthly projects, my dt pieces for  Addicted to Stamping  scrapbook challenge and there will also be the odd tutorial posted there too.  You don't have to be a member of the club to benefit from all these updates, in fact if you hop over  there  now there is a tutorial ready and waiting for you. Don't forget to pop over there tomorrow evening to see what we have been up to! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

I went a workshop Tuesday evening where we had a play with gilding flakes. We started off using peel offs and double sided tape which was very nice but then I moved on to acetate. I stamped on to acetate with a black Stazon ink, let it dry and then covered it with double sided tape. The backing was removed and then dipped in the gilding flakes. This was by far the best technique for me and when I got home I created this card I made the flowers at the workshop using Fabulous Florets and the background at home. This was made by taking a sheet of double sided sticky and stamping directly on to the sticky with a black archival ink - this was then covered with a piece of acetate. The other side of the sticky was uncovered and this was dipped in to a tray of iridescent mica flakes. There was still a bit of sticky showing so I added some fine gold glitter too. I took anther piece of double sided sticky sheet and covered the mica and glitter - that meant that it was all sandwiched togethe...

I find sympathy cards very difficult to do - I don't want to make them too dark and depressing but then I don't want to go over the top either. Hopefully I got the balance right with this one Fortunately for me it was for no one that I knew, a past Chairman of our local Village Hall passed away and this was the card I sent his wife on behalf of the present committee. It's very simply done - matting and layering with navy and cream card stock, the flourish stamped from Everything Eleanor and a few tiny flowers with gems. My sentiment stamp is a 99p find at my local craft shop. Right I'm off now to build me an ark - we have had thunder and torrential rain since early this morning and as I live on a hill we are now an island - the lane is flooded both ends!!!! - Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

Continuing our RED/GREEN/CREAM themed challenge, for this week's Mid-week Motivation on  Make My Monday  I have created a waterfall card with...................strawberries!!! (I have included a pic of the inside but you must visit the  Challenge blog  to find out why!) I used card stock from my stash drawer for this card however I did use the Everything Eleanor and Precious Butterflies stamp sets. My strawberry is an old Craft Stamper mag freebie coloured with markers. There's still time to take part in the challenge - it doesn't have to be a summery card - these colours look great for Christmas too - see you over there? - Jacqueline xx

So how did you enjoy our first challenge - did you take the plunge and dust off your marker pens - will you get an Honourable Mention??? Go and check out the  Addicted to Stamps blog  and find out! Our second challenge is a 'BINGO' board - take a look You choose a line - across, down or diagonal and create your card or project using those three squares - here's mine I chose the bottom line - Flowers/Buttons/Blue - here's what I used to make it: A 5" x 5" card base, Pacific point, Baja Breeze and Whisper White card stock, Fabulous Florets and Everything Eleanor stamp sets, Boho Blossoms punch, 3 blue buttons, 3 flat backed pearls and Pacific Point, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks. Now I'm really hoping that you will immediately hop over to take a look at all the gorgeousness provided by my team mates and I hope to be visiting your blogs too to see what you have made - oooh before I go have you seen that we are running a monthly  ...

My next workshop will be this Thursday evening on the 28th and we will be making "Wiper Cards". Take a look at one I have made earlier I have used card stock and paper from my stash but the stamp set I have used is Fresh Vintage. If you want to play along the materials list is up on my  Craft Club Blog  and the tutorial will be going up after the workshop finishes on Thursday evening - look out for a link in the side bar. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

That's right and that can only mean one thing - Wimbledon!! And if you hop over to the  Make My Monday  challenge blog you will see that the challenge there is all about Strawberries and Cream as we have a colour challenge this week - RED, GREEN & CREAM/WHITE. Take a look at my card There's hardly any stamping on this easel card - just card stock in the required colours.. My cream card stock has been run though a Swiss Dots EF and my butterflies have been die cut and layered. I used the 2 Step Bird punch for my leaves and the Boho Blossoms punch for the flowers. My sentiment is from the Butterfly Prints set - here's a couple of close ups Have a great week and enjoy the tennis - don't forget to take a look at the blog to see what my team mates have made this week and I'll see you soon - Jacqueline xx

The theme this week at the  Less is More  challenge blog is 'Paper Piecing' - here is the card I made for this challenge I used my Fabulous Florets set, Wild Wasabi ink and a few scraps of blue polka dot paper - the sentiment is from that set too. Here's a close up This should have been posted yesterday but the batteries ran out on my camera - I plugged them in to the re-charger and it blew up!! ooops! bye for now - Jacqueline xx

This week over on the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  I have chosen the Embellishment theme and it is Here is my card I had added my glitter to the holly leaves and berries - maybe a couple of close ups will show it off better I have used Poppy Parade, Basic Black and Very Vanilla card stock and my Young Vermillion and Pines and Poinsettias stamp sets. I really hope I see you over there - you can check out my team mates Ruth and Mynnette too. Our DT Call is still running - we've two talented ladies already and are looking for possibly two more - could it be you? Have a great weekend folks, see you soon - Jacqueline xx 

Evening all - just a quick post as I think I'm running out of time to play along at this week's  Simply Stampin' challenge. This week it's a sketch challenge - take a look Here is my card After I had flipped the layout I used Baja Breeze card stock and added a length of Melon Mambo gros grain ribbon. On to Whisper White card stock I stamped with Wild Wasabi and Melon Mambo ink the large stamp from Just Believe. I also used the circle from that set, I stamped them in Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi and Baja Breeze ink and then cut them out. I added a sentiment (it's not on the sketch so I hope the girl's don't mind!) - all from the Just Believe set. Enjoy the weekend folks - Jacqueline xx

Mynnette's challenge this month over on  Technique Tuesday  is Faux Pressed Flowers - she has a great tutorial there too. Take a look at my card and then I will tell you how I made it I punched my flowers using the Boho Blossoms punch and purple papers, they were layered and glued in place on to white card stock. This was then run through my Cuttlebug in the Swiss Dots EF - flat backed gems were added to the centres and it was attached to a pre-scored card. My main panel has been stamped using my Clarity Bicycle and coloured in using Wisteria Wonder marker pen. A sentiment was added from Simply Said and a trio of punched flowers were attached to the basket. Getting really fed up with the weather now - it feels so cold and damp I think I may even light a fire!! - See you soon - Jacqueline xx

Over on the Addicted to Stamps  challenge blog our leader Kylie has set up a monthly  Scrapbook Challenge   too. I was very honoured to be the first asked to choose the theme for this challenge 'Celebrations - use Bunting' I am very new to scrapbooking but what little I have done - I LOVE! Here is my page for this month's challenge I really hope you will have a go at this and to help you a little I have a sketch and step by step tutorial  HERE  on my scrapbook blog. I have just started a new Scrapbooking Workshop Club and I set this blog up to help the ladies that come along to this - anyone though can pop over and take a look and hopefully pick up some helpful hints and tips. Happy scrappin' everyone and I hope soon to be visiting your blogs to see all your lovely pages - Jacqueline xx

My  Make My Monday  Mid-week motivation card this week follows our Dreams and Fairies theme for the Midsummer Night's Dream challenge - it's a shadow box card. My aperture was die cut on the Cuttlebug using the largest of my nesting butterfly dies. Inside I sponged over a post it note moon and then stamped a silhouette fairy. A little sparkly glitter was added and then on the outside I added my sentiment, a few butterflies and some flat backed gems. My sentiment is from Just Believe and I stamped it on to a die cut label. I am a little obcessed with my Swiss Dots embossing folder at the moment - as you can see I have embossed the front of my card with it! - I feel a trip to the craft shop coming on! There are more details for this card over on the blog please do pop over and take a look. Short and sweet this time - see you later - Jacqueline xx

It's arrived - the first ever challenge for  Addicted to Stamps  and the challenge is to: Make Your Mark That is you create your project using markers - Promarkers, Copics, Stampin' Write markers etc. I love my Promarkers and have used them a lot in the past but just at the moment my preference is my Stampin' Write markers. They are special in that they can colour directly on to your stamps. So instead of one stamp inked with one ink pad you can colour each individual element of one stamp in a different colour. Here is my very first dt piece for the challenge Can you see how each stripe on the balloons is coloured differently? I love that about these markers. To match the colours of my balloons I have also coloured the tiny flowers with markers and the sentiment label. My sky and hills were sponged with ink that had been scribbled onto an acrylic block - careful when doing this as the ink is more concentrated than when it comes off the ink pad, My stamps are: Up,...

Don't forget that the brand new challenge blog  Addicted to Stamps  goes live at 9am in Australia - that means midnight for us in the UK and that's when I shall be posting my first dt piece - i do hope I will see you there joining in. - Jacqueline xx

I have recently taken possession of a charming little bicycle stamp - take a look I first saw a bicycle stamp in the new Stampin' Up Summer mini but it was in the Hostess section and out of my range so I was very excited when I saw one very similar on Create and Craft with Barbara Grey. I love the fact that I can fill the little basket on the front with anything I like and I have loads of ideas fighting for position in my head!! Today's card follows the colour theme over on  Dynamic Duos and the sketch on  Mojo Monday Here is my card - I rotated the sketch to the right Thanks for looking today - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

The theme this week at  Make My Monday  is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and the challenge is to create something with fairies.  I borrowed some lovely Katy Sue Silhouette stamps from one of my friends and combined them with my brayer to create this card My background is a combination of Baja Breeze, Brocade Blue and Not Quite Navy and my images are stamped with Versa Colour black ink. Not the easiest stamps to use as I found that the stamps took on a lot of ink around the image and I had to be very careful not to transfer that ink to the paper. I glittered the wings of my fairies and also stamped inside the card My dt have done me proud this week so I do hope you can pop over and take a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Isn't great when you find a challenge blog that catches your eye and inspires you to create - yesterday I found  Just Add Ink . Their challenge this week is to take a look at  Delys Cram's  blog, find something that inspires you and then case it. I found this lovely sun-shiney card And here is what I created I used Daffodil Delight and Whisper White card stock along with my Boho Blossoms punch. My sentiment is from Vintage Vogue. Instead of polka dot patterned paper I ran my card stock through my 'Bug in the Swiss Dots folder. Hope everyone is having a great weekend despite the awful weather - I got wet three times today!! - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

The theme for this week's challenge at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  is SNOWMEN   Here is my card My card started out as a 5" x 5" card blank onto which I added a layer of navy card stock. I then ripped some pieces of copier paper to make my snowy landscape. The edges of the paper were coloured with a pale blue Promarker and glittered with some sparkly fibres. My snowmen were die cut for me a while ago by my good friend Beverley and have been waiting for just this moment to appear (actually found them a few days ago at the bottom of a drawer - sorry Bev!!) The snowmen too have been coloured with Promarkers and then stuck down using a glue pen and my sentiment is from a Polka Doodles set. I do hope you can find the time to pop over and take a look - over there you will find my team mates  Mynnette  and  Ruth If you fancy joining us and getting a head start on making your Christmas cards we are having a DT Call all this month - so w...

I am so excited - remember  THIS  post about the DT call for Kylie's new challenge blog  Addicted to Stamps ? Well ....... I'm on the design team! Our first challenge goes 'live' next Wednesday - Kylie lives in Australia so I guess that will be Tuesday night for us but I do hope you will join in and have a go - can't wait to see what you will create - Jacqueline xx

I do a Mid-week Motivation card each week for my  Make My Monday  challenge blog and usually when it comes to masculine themed cards I hide my head in the sand and let it pass me by. This week however I had an idea to use my new Stampin' Up set Up, Up & Away. It's full of gorgeous balloons, birds and clouds and is perfect for a male card and the Father's Day/Masculine theme - take a look I used Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler for my colours and more details on how I made this card can be found over on the blog - see you there - Jacqueline xx

Hi folks - just a quickie to say that the Joy Fold card tutorial is now on my Craft Club Blog -  HERE Here's the one I made today Made with Beyond the Garden DSP and Greenhouse Garden stamps. Colours used are: Pool Party, Indigo Island, Peach Parfait, Tangerine Tango,Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade. Jacqueline xx

If you love markers and colouring in this could be the perfect challenge blog for you. Even better it's a chance to get in at the beginning, click the link and pop over to take a look at this exciting new challenge blog set up by  Kylie Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog See you over there - Jacqueline xx

It was my birthday yesterday and amongst my many pressies I received some nesting butterfly dies. I was over the moon as a while ago I had seen  THIS  card on  VICKY'S  blog and was dying to recreate it. My card looks like this My card stock was folded in half and the die placed on the card stock just a little above the fold so that it made a shaped card. I used my cuttlebug. The butterfly was then die cut again - whole and used to make an easel card. There are four dies in the set and I cut a number of them to layer up on the card - I then added a sentiment and a few gems to finish it off. Here's what it looks like folded down ready to be posted Pop back tomorrow and I will share with you some of the amazing hand made cards i received from some of my crafty friends - see you soon - Jacqueline xx