Phoenix Inspirations

It's CAS time at  Addicted to Stamps & More  that means a clean and simple card, little or no embellishment and plenty of white space - take a look at the card I have made, I think I've followed all the rules! I have resurrected an old favourite for this card - Baby Blossoms and used a variety of colours from the Subtles and Brights range. My sentiment is from Bird on a Branch and I have added some Lucky Limeade Organza ribbon. Don't forget to visit the blog to check out all the other wonderful creations provided by the dt. It's ten to midnight - I didn't have the time to schedule this before I left at the weekend so I'm rushing to do it now. Thanks for all the lovely comments you have been leaving me - Granddad is slowly settling in to his home and I have today been tidying up his garden - he had over 200 geraniums that needed digging up! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

I have another challenge card for you today - again for two challenges In The Pink  - 50 Shades of Pink Come and Get it Challenges  - sketch Here is my card - hope I've used enough pink I have used more of my Twitterpated DSP and this time I have teamed it up with Rich Razzleberry card card - a gorgeous deep raspberry pink colour. My flowers are from the Everything Eleanor set and have been stamped with Pretty In Pink ink and they have been attached around a small lacy doily. My sentiment label is from Baby Blossoms and I have used one of the sentiments from Just Believe. Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look today - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

This week at the  Less is More  challenge blog Chrissie and Mandi would like us to use their blog header as inspiration for our cards. This is the header And here is my card I used a music background stamp from Kaisercraft along with the roses from my S'U Baby Blossoms set and my colours are Kraft, Jet Black Adirondak ink and S'U Creamy Caramel. Here's a close up Thanks for looking today - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

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

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 sentimen...

I have had an idea in my head for a couple of weeks now and finally yesterday it escaped and became an actual card. I made it before I made the owl card that I posted yesterday - that one evolved because of this one I hadn't used my Baby Blossoms set for ages and now I can't put it down! I've also used one of my favourite sentiment stamps from Just Believe. Also used some of my favourite Kraft card stamped with a couple of corner flourishes so I shall be entering this into the  Kraft Journal  challenge where the theme is 'April Showers Bring May Flowers' - hope it fits in over there! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

My poor, starving student of a daughter has today conned me out of a birthday card and matching gift. She has bought her friend a hand made owl keyring so I made a little note book to go with it - using my 2 Step Owl punch of course! The big glittery 'C' is her initial - Cerys ........... yes she's Welsh. She is Briony's BFF at uni!! Here is the card I made to go with it As you can see I have also used the glorious Baby Blossoms set along with some nesting dies and some gorgeous card stock - Bazzill Basics pink polka dot and some kraft. I have found a challenge to enter this into it's  Challenge Up Your Life  and the theme is OWLS! Thanks for stopping by today to take a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Next Thursday night is my next workshop and I thought that it would be nice for my ladies to make a 'Telescoping Card'. There are a few videos on Youtube which I have adapted to make my card - take a look As always there will be a tutorial on my  Craft Club Blog  after the workshop and if you fancy having a go at making it there will be a materials list appearing very soon so you can get everything you need. Thanks for looking - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Here as promised is my second  Less is More  card. Now whilst I may be wishing the LIM Ladies good luck in their attempt to achieve 1000 submissions this week, this card is also for my daughter who leaves us for university on Saturday. It's a one layer card - the spotty frame was stamped first and then covered with a post it note mask. The flowers are from the Baby Blossoms set and I used Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive inks. Have to go now - said daughter is turning the house upside down in her attempt to pack! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

It was so gloomy, wet and grey this morning that I decided to make a bright and cheerful card. My Baby Blossoms stamp set has been out on my work desk for a while now so I thought I'd give it one more airing before I put it away. As always Bev was round for our usual coffee, craft and chat and Louise popped round too - we had great fun but my card seemed to take on a life of it's own and ended up totally different to what I expected it to be! (Too much chat with not enough concentration me thinks!!). Any way take a look I used a variety of colours from the In Colours and Brights sets and also my gorgeous 2 Step Owl Punch. The label that the owl is sitting on has been raised up on 3D foams as have the cut out roses. So - it is still gloomy, wet and grey here and I have to go out to a committee meeting tonight, really not looking forward to that but as I am the secretary I had better go don't you think? I shall be back tomorrow with another Less is More card for their...

The challenge this month at  St. Luke's Charity Challenges  is a Card buffet. I'm not that good at buffets - I always eat too much! However with this challenge you only get to choose four items - here is the list A good choice don't you think? I had great fun choosing and this is what I came up with The four items I chose were 1) Patterned paper - Stampin' Up Springtime Vintage DSP 2) Punches - Stampin' Up 2 Step Owl Punch 3) Buttons - Funky Hand Button collection - Remember December 4) String - from my stash tied in the buttons. The stamp set I used is Baby Blossoms. See you soon - Jacqueline xx

This is my first post on my new lap top. My computer was very old and was just taking too long to do anything so for the last couple of days I have been transferring files and generally getting acquainted with my new lap top. It also takes up less space in my craft room - more room now for new stash me thinks!! Today's card is an anniversary card. I have fallen in love with the swing card shape and used a base of Pear Pizzazz card stock to start me off. This is the front and I have used some Very Vanilla card stock which has been stamped around the edge with the border stamp from Vintage Vogue using a Pear Pizzazz Stampin' Write Marker. I then changed over to the Baby Blossoms stamp set and on a separate piece of card stock stamped out numerous roses using Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango ink pads. These were then cut out and glued on with a glue pen. The little leaf branches have been stamped in Old Olive ink. The dotty label was stuck on using 3D foam pads to add som...

I have a friend's birthday coming up soon and I always like to make her a little something. This year I have made a notebook. I salvaged some pages from an old A4 pad, cut them down to size and bound them together with my Bind it All machine. I decorated the cover with some Stampin' Up DSP - take a look The paper is from the Springtime Vintage collection and I have teamed it up with some Very Vanilla card stock. The little dotty frame is stamped from the Baby Blossoms set and my flower is made using some die cuts. The edges of the petals have been sponged with Baja Breeze ink. I am entering this notebook into the challenge over at  "Just Us Girls"  which has the theme of Altered Notebooks and then I shall wrap it up ready for my friend. I am away for a few days tomorrow - I am hoping to schedule some posts, whether this will work I don't know - but there's only one way to find out ........see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Wow - we are on challenge no. 8 this week and the challenge is - LACE & PEARLS. We are still vintage style but then you knew that didn't you! Here is my card for the DT For my card I have used some of Stampin' Up's Vintage Springtime DSP. I have layered it up with some Regal Rose and Very Vanilla card stock. The stamps I have used are from the Baby Blossoms set and they are stamped in Regal Rose, Rose Red and Always Artichoke inks. The lace border is made with lace sent to me a while ago by my fellow DT - Cath and has a little piece of pink organza ribbon woven through it. A pearl bead has also been threaded on in the middle. I really must apologise for the pearls in the centers of my flowers - it took me ages riffling around in my gem box only to realise that I had run out of sticky pearls so I raided some past projects and stole some! The flash on my camera though has picked up that they don't really match - doh! It would be really great to see you over on the...

.....is the theme for this week's challenge at the Simply Stampin'  challenge blog. As they are a challenge blog for everyone who loves Stampin' Up products they want to see something ie a stamp image or sentiment that is Stampin' Up on all of the projects we make. Needless to say - this is one of my most favourite of challenges! This week I have made a notebook. I always recycle the backs of note pads as they are a great source of chipboard and this time I covered it in white paper. I recycled an old sketch pad, cut the paper to size and bound it together with the covers with my Zutter Bind it All machine So to prevent this note book remaining naked I added some Sahara Sand card stock and some Vintage Springtime DSP. Here is the back of the book I then drew some inspiration from one of the Simply Stampin' design team - Angela. This is the piece that caught my eye - here (scroll down a little). And here is my interpretation I used my Baby Blossoms stamp set, ...

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

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 can't remember how I found this challenge blog - but it's in my favourites and today I thought I'd join in. It's another sketch challenge and it looks like this The blog is Stampin' Royalty  and I remember now it was Bev who told me about it. Anyway here is my card To make this card I have cut into my precious Springtime Vintage DSP and also used my Baby Blossoms stamp set. The colours I have used are Rose Red and Regal Rose, Always Artichoke ink and Melon Mambo ribbon. It's been a little weird around here today. First we noticed alot of cars driving up and down our lane - that's rare and then we heard  a helicopter buzzing around. That unfortunately means there's been an accident down on the main road - and shortly afterwards it was confirmed. There had been a serious accident right outside the pub where my daughter and I used to work and to make matters worse it involved two people we know. Hopefully they will be ok. So please take care this ...

I've made another card in the hopes that I can encourage some of you to take part in my DT Call. The challenge blog is Make it Monday  and I have created a sketch for you to follow. The card I have made for you to see today has rotated the sketch to the right to give a different angle I have used my lovely new set Baby Blossoms and the co-ordinating Springtime Vintage DSP. The sentiment is from Simply Said and I have used Soft Suede and Always artichoke card stock. The vintage lace is some my lovely friend Cath sent me from Cyprus. Hope you can find time to join in - you have untill May 31st. see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

This is my last post for a while - Dad is in hospital having some treatment so I'm popping up to see him. This is also the last of my challenge cards for this week too - take a look I made this card following the sketch over on Simply Stampin' I used some of the Springtime Vintage DSP mounted onto some Always Artichoke card stock (although you can't see that very well 'cos I made such a pigs ear of placing it that I had to trim most of it off!!). I then used some Rose Red card stock with a little pale pink ribbon to make the borders. The main image is stamped using the new Baby Blossoms set and it is mounted on some 3D foam tape. I am going to go and pack now - not in a suitcase though - oh no. I have to pack my clothes in a black bin liner. Why? Well my darling daughter has recently been away and she broke my only suitcase - she didn't tell me either 'till just now...doh! See you soon - enjoy your weekends - Jacqueline xx.