Phoenix Inspirations

It feels like it's been a while since I have blogged - my last few posts were scheduled as I have been away and  now that I am back I am preparing for the Jubilee weekend. I am up to my eyeballs in bunting, fairy cakes and acrylic paint - but more on that story later. The card I have made to show you today covers a lot: firstly it was made for the Mid-week Motivation for this week's  Make My Monday  challenge. It also follows the sketch over on this week's  Simply Stampin'  blog And finally I had to make a Thank You card as I am making a presentation over the weekend to a lady who is retiring - whew - here is the card Stamps used: S'U Baby Blossoms and Just Believe Inks: Old Olive, Blushing Bride and Regal Rose. I'm off now to paint the Queen's hat! - Jacqueline xx

Good morning all - it's Monday so that must mean another challenge over on the  Make My Monday  challenge blog. We have a colour challenge for you this week - take a look - and here is my card I am quite taken with the technique of colouring onto vellum at the moment so I have stamped my Growing Green images on some vellum with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I then cut them out and attached them to my card - a centre step fold card. I cut a border to add a bit of interest to the sides and the front and also added a few gems. The sentiment is from Precious Butterflies oh and my colours are Blushing Bride and Lucky Limeade. Please do pop over to take a look at all the stunning work provided by my design team and I will see you soon - Jacqueline xx

I have just bought some new Christmas stamps and what better place to try them out than the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  challenge. This week we want to see Heat or Dry Embossing on your Christmas cards - here are mine Yay - my new set is the Pines and Poinsettias from Stampin' Up! My image on this first card has been inked up using markers - Close to Cocoa, Lucky Limeade and Poppy Parade and I have dry embossed my white panel. Again I have used the same set this time heat embossing my image with gold embossing powder - I've also added some red gems too. Please pop over and take a look at the lovely cards created by my partner in crime  Mynnette  and I will see you soon - Jacqueline xx

This is a quickie as I am away tomorrow morning at stupid 'o' clock and I have to pack. Here is my card for the challenge at this week's  Dynamic Duos  - here is the colour scheme Here is my card Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Boho Blossoms punch, Swiss Dots embossing folder and some flat backed black pearls - job done! Have a great weekend folks - Jacqueline xx

I have just taken possession of a fabulous new stamp set - Up, Up & Away. It's a gorgeous set with balloons galore, take a look at the card I have made with it I've chosen mainly primary colours for this - Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Real Red and I have also followed this week's sketch over on  Retro Sketches The images of the houses are from the retired set Good Neighbors which I have stolen from my friend Beverley - she doesn't know it yet but she's not getting it back mwahahahaha. There are two more challenges I'd like to enter this card into, firstly  Crafty Cardmakers  - this week my great friend Mynnette is the hostess and as it was her birthday this month she chose the subject 'Birthday Balloon Bonanza' And then lastly I hope I can squeeze it into the  Polka Doodles  challenge where they are celebrating their 3rd birthday and want to see '3' of something - I have used 3 balloons and 3 flowers on my card

Here are details of my next all day workshop - will be making Mini Albums and we will be making them with Kraft paper bags and coffee filter bags - here is the info in case you are in the Malvern area and would like to have a go If you have no idea what I am talking about take a look at some pictures of past projects. Paper Bag Minis Coffee Filter Bag Minis Jacqueline xx

This is the card I have made for this week's mid-week Motivation over on the  Make My Monday  challenge blog I have topped my polka dot paper with a Crafty Individuals stamp just inked with Versafine Onyx. My poppies are from the Fabulous Florets set and have been stamped onto vellum with Versamark ink and embossed with black EP. I then coloured them using a Poppy Parade marker. they have all been attached with some 3D gloss adhesive stuff - I can never remember the name of it!!! Thanks for looking - Jacqueline xx

It's  Make My Monday  time again and our Floral Theme is continuing with Wild Flowers & Grasses. Here is my card I was aiming for a meadow scene with grasses and poppies by sponging Tempting Turquoise for the sky and Old Olive for the grass. My Grasses are from the Autumn Days set and the Poppies - large and small are from Greenhouse Garden. My sentiment is from Bird on a Branch and the punched leaves are made using the 2 Step Bird Punch. The scene is on a slant because of the type of fold used to make it - it is a Diagonal Tri-Fold Card - here are some more pics I found this technique on one of Mynnette's blogs -  Krafty Kansans  and she found it -  HERE . Hope everyone had a great weekend - bye for now - Jacqueline xx

I am a bit late getting this post out as I had a bit of a late night last night. My friend Louise popped round for a craft - we had great fun making pull up cards but I forgot to schedule my post for this morning and of course it being Saturday I had a bit of a lie in. But anyway here it is and this week at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  Mynnette has chosen 'Nativity Scenes' for the Theme Challenge. This was a huge challenge for me as I don't own any stamps or images of this nature. After scratching my head for ages and much wringing of my hands I hunted down some Clip Art images and printed them off and created  my cards. Here is the first I reverted back to our fist sketch challenge for the layout of this card and used a traditional Mary and Joseph scene. I glittered the halo's to match my gold mirri board which I ran through my 'Bug in the Swiss Dots EF. I haven't used gold mirri for years but have to admit that it does give a very luxu

A couple of days ago my lovely friend Bev came round to play bringing with her the now coveted Fresh Vintage set - sadly it's no longer available and I will long lament the fact that I failed to obtain it when it was available! Anyway I played with the stamps and have made a couple of cards - no sentiment on them as sometimes I need a sort of 'Just Because' kind of a card - take a look I used some of my Everyday Enchantment DSP with this card and used it to mount my squares. The flower image was inked with individual markers before stamping and it was cut out and attached using 3D foam pads. The border images were off cuts from a card I made previously - I just couldn't bring myself to throw them out and the tiny flowers were also cut out by hand. I then added loads of bling. This card was made using a technique demonstrated by the beautiful Mynnette  HERE  and again uses the Fresh Vintage set - this time just the flower image stamped in Poppy Parade ink.

I have a card for you today where I have used a technique called Velveteen Stamping - take a look To find out how to do this please hop on over to the  Technique Tuesday Blog  and Mynnette will show you. It's also my inspiration for this week's Mid-week Motivation over on the  Make My Monday  blog. Here is a close up of my stamping Sorry - the focus is a bit off on this pic but can you see - I've used the tree from Wondrous Gift underneath my stamped flowers - they are from the Simply Said set and are stamped in Concord Crush and Tangerine Tango ink. I'm hoping to settle down in front of the telly now and watch Lewis - bye for now - Jacqueline xx

This is a quick post for you all to ask you very nicely to pop over and read Jo's post  HERE . I've just sent a package to Jo with a load of cards and urge you to do the same - please. This is such a great way for us crafters to do what we do best and hopefully make a difference. Thanks for listening - Jacqueline xx

There is a great sketch this week at  Retro Sketches  - take a look My friend Bev came round to play this morning bringing with her the Fresh Vintage stamp set and this what I made I teamed up Poppy Parade card stock and some of the Everyday Enchantment DSP and then stamped my image using Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party and Peach Parfait ink. Bev was also making a card this morning for the  Make My Monday  challenge. She always seems to have problems and claims as she is packing up to go home that it will probably go in the bin. A few hours later however her card will appear on her blog looking stunning - seems I have a very bad influence on her concentration!! Pop back later as I had a good stamping session with these stamps and have a couple more cards to share with you  - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Thanks Mynnette! Hop over to the  Technique Tuesday Blog  to see all the other winners and this month's challenge can be found  HERE . Jacqueline xx

There is a great sketch today over on  Mojo Monday  - take a look Here is the card I made I started (as always) with a 5" x 5" card blank and added first some Cameo Coral  and then some Blush Blossom card stock. Each piece was inked around the edges with Brushed Corduroy DI and then I added some faux stitching with a white gel pen. My stamped images are from the Fabulous Florets set and are stamped in Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral ink. My butterfly is punched using the S'U Butterfly Punched and I have attached some flat backed gems. Thanks for popping by to take a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Another colour challenge at the  Dynamic Duos  blog Not much stamping on this card - decided to go with punches and die cuts, take a look I die cut 9 fancy So Saffron squares on my 'Bug and laid them on to a Pool Party mat. My label and frame are also die cut and my stamped sentiment is from Field Flowers. The flowers are punched using the Stampin' Up Boho Blossoms punch. Each flower has been embellished with pearls. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

Morning everyone - I am away at the moment so hopefully this post has scheduled properly and has appeared on time!! It's  Make My Monday  again and this week the challenge is to create something along the lines of Flowers and Music. Here is my card When I set out to make this card I realised that I had run out of card blanks - and horror of horrors I had no white or cream card to make one. Now I am much too tight to use my expensive coloured card stock to do this so I had a rootle around and found a card I had made ages ago that I didn't like. I hacked off the used bit , added a piece of Kraft card to the half that was left and voila! - problem solved. Will have to go shopping now though! More scraps were added in the form of a piece of paper with music on, and a piece of Wisteria Wonder card stock that had gone through a Swiss Dots embossing folder. All that was left to do now was add my flowers - Baby Blossoms in Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush - and my sentiment

I was unable to go to see dad as planned this weekend - after a routine blood test before his treatment the results came back saying that his immune levels had dropped to zero - that means he has to keep away from anyone with infections or colds or anyone that could possibly carry them. As my husband has been getting over a chest infection we thought it wise to stay away - it could be quite dangerous for dad to catch anything like that at the moment. OK - so that was the bad news - the good news is *extra crafting time* !!!!. I made this card today for a couple of challenges The lovely ladies at  Less is More  this week want us to make a One Layer Card but only using 3 stamps! Not too difficult - I used my 'My Friend' set: floral stamp, hello and the my friend stamp. Colours are Stampin' Up Regal Rose and a Versa Magic ink pad which I think is called Split Pea! I ran the bottom of my card through a Swiss Dots embossing folder - I did it the wrong way around though (

It's  52CCT  time again and this week Mynnette has come up with a fabulous colour combination for us - take a look Here are my cards The first one is my lovely scribble tree from Wondrous Gift and it has been heat embossed with silver embossing powder. I then embellished it with green flat backed gems. It's been cut out and raised up on 3D foam pads and attached to white card stock which has been dry embossed with a snowflakes embossing folder. I then layered it on to purple card stock. My second card is stamped with a Clarity stamp which has again been heat embossed with silver embossing powder. The white background has been stamped with some snowflakes from the Snow Flurries set and purple flat backed gems have been added to the centres. A large silver snowflake has been added to the middle of the O. This has all been layered up on to green card stock. Please pop over to say hello to  Mynnette  my partner in crime and do hop over to take a look at th

It was this new challenge blog that I heard so much about -  Dynamic Duos  - Batman and Robin! I know it's getting close to the end of the week .......... Here's the challenge I also thought I'd follow the sketch for this week's  Simply Stampin' Challenge Here is my card The patterned background paper is Stampin' Up Everyday Enchantment DSP and on to that I have layered my strips of Lucky Limeade card stock. My mat of Pool Party has a layer of Whisper White and on to this I have placed my stamped image - Field Flowers. To finish it off I have added a seam binding ribbon bow. This will probably be my last post for a few days apart from a couple of scheduled challenge posts - dad is in hospital tomorrow so I'm off to visit him and mum. He has his chemotherapy and me and mum do lunch! Dad's very lucky though the treatment is working and keeping him well. Hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm hoping it's going to s

Yesterday was my monthly Tuesday morning workshop and we made 'Spring Fold Cards' - take a look The one in the middle is the one we made first and I have a close up as you can't see it very well in the picture above! I used some basic coloured card stock to make this along with some pieses of the gorgeous Stampin' Up DSP - Beyond the Garden. Stamps used were from the Greenhouse Garden and Field Flowers sets and I used Peach Parfait and Tangerine Tango inks plus a little Old Olive. The next two cards were a technique  quickly demo'd at the end of the workshop and are 'Side Spring Fold Cards'. So using more or less the same materials these cards were made using a tecnique I found in the resources section on Splitcoast Stampers - stamps used were Everything Eleanor (swirl) Field Flowers and Fabulous Florets - also a sentiment from Vintage Vogue. The scalloped edge square was die cut on my Cuttlebug. As always - all tutorial details will be

I have resumed the Mid-week Motivation spot this week at  Make My Monday  with this card My blue card stock was trimmed on two corners with a corner rounder and then attached to a 5" x 5" card blank. It was then stamped with the stem stamp from Fabulous Florets and Lucky Limeade ink. I then took some squares of Regal Rose and Rich Razzelberry card stock and stamped the solid image stamp in Versamark ink - I then heat embossed with white embossing powder. I also attacked these squares with the corner rounder too! I die cut my label and then stamped my sentiment with Rich Razzelberry ink. I really hope this has inspired someone to hop over to the blog and take part in our challenge this week - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

We have a brand new month of challenges at  Make My Monday  - Suzi B has chosen a Floral theme with the first challenge being LILY OF THE VALLEY OR WHITE FLOWERS Here is my card This image is a Woodware stamp borrowed from a friend a while ago - it's an anemone. I left it white with a few bits of shading with a grey Promarker and it's also been layered and raised up with some 3D foam pads. The little flowers around the side are from my Fabulous Florets set. This is going to be a great month of challenges - please pop over to see what the rest of my team have made to inspire you. We also have a fabulous Guest Designer as well - Vicky from  Crafting Clare's Paper Moments . Hope everyone has a great Bank Hloiday - bye for now - Jacqueline xx