Phoenix Inspirations

This is a card I have made for Mynnette's DT Call which you can find  HERE . She has several 'Inkspirational' challenges for us to complete before she chooses her team and this is for her 'Photo Inkspiration' challenge. Here is the pic for us to use Here is my card I have used an old retired set for this card called Bird on a Branch and I started with a piece of Basic Gray card stock on to which I sponged some Chocolate Chip ink. I also used the Chocolate Chip to stamp a few branches. The rest were stamped in Versa Mark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. My birds were stamped on to Whisper White card stock with Basic Black ink, cut out and attached using 3D Dimensionals. There are still two more challenges to complete but Mynnette has very generously given us 'till the end of November to complete them and her challenge blog will start in the New Year - that means that if you fancy being on Mynnette's DT -  there's still...

Found a new challenge blog recently called  Retro Sketches  - they have rather a nifty style about them - take a look at this week's sketch   I kept to the clean and simple style of this sketch by not adding any embellishments - just basic matting, layering and stamping I have used Whisper White and Calypso Coral card stock and Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade ink. My stamp sets of choice this time are Everything Eleanor and Bird on a Branch. I have been a bad blogger this week as I have done zero commenting so I am off to bed now in the hopes of rising early in the morning to catch up - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

The theme this week at  Simply Stampin'  is 'Snowflake Sparkle'. I had to think about this one as I don't have very many SU snowflake stamps in my collection - I had to dig deep and rootle out a couple of retired sets - take a look The base card is 5" x 5" square and is stamped with a snowflake stamp from the Snow Flurries set using Ballet Blue ink and a touch of glitter. I also stamped a sentiment from the Wondrous Gift set. I then took a piece of Ballet Blue card stock and scalloped the bottom edge. On to this I stamped some fir trees from the Lovely as a Tree set - they were heat embossed with white embossing powder and a few more were stamped in blue in the background. I then found in my stash my Bird on a Branch set so he was added to the scene too along with a few snowflakes just beginning to fall. A strip of white organza ribbon just adds the final touch. See you soon - Jacqueline xx

This week Mandi and Chrissie have challenged us to use the colours Red and Orange over on  Less is More . So this morning - trying to ignore the gloomy weather outside I made a card using my faithful Poppy stamp. I coloured the flowers in using Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait Stampin' Write markers and then did some sponging with a little Tangerine Tango. The sentiment is from the retired set Bird on a Branch. I had a friend helping me this morning - Louis my cat decided to join me but spent most of his time on the window sill watching the birds on the bird table. He also got very excited when he spied a squirrel running down the path You can't see it in this picture but he was muttering very angrily at that squirrel! - bye for now - Jacqueline xx

Over on  Less is More  the brief is to create a clean and simple card with 'Metal' on it. This is no bad thing because residing at the bottom of my paper and card drawer is a pack of metal foil sheets in gold, silver and bronze - bought on a whim and never used! I decided to use it with my 2 Step Owl Punch and punched out the elements in the various metallic colours. I then perched him on a branch and drew a frame around him The branch is from my Bird on a Branch set and the sentiment is from Just Believe - the frame is doodled by me! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look - hope you are enjoying your weekend - Jacqueline xx

It will come as no surprise to my regular blog readers that I am a Stampin' Up freak. I love stamping and buy loads of stamps, but for me Stampin' Up are the be all and end all of rubber stamps. So it was with great pleasure that I created today's card with three Stampin' Up challenges in mind. Firstly I will show you my card I started as always with a white 5" x 5" card base and the layout was taken from the sketch over on  Simply Stampin' The colour scheme was taken from this week's  Colour Throwdown And finally the challenge this time at  SUO Challenges  is Favourite New Stamp Sets. My newest set is the Growing Green and I love it - definitely a favourite. It looks great with the extra bling don't you think? The sentiment is from Bird on a Branch and I have used some 3D foam pads for extra dimension. Thanks for stopping by today - hope to See you again soon - 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...

Time for another fab challenge over on Less is More  and this week the brief was a one layer card with some embossing (dry or heat). I have had this idea in my head for a while now and today it took flight. I took my card blank (5" x 5") and masked off a section roughly (!) in the middle. I then used one of my favourite stamps. It's from the Papermania Build a Poppy set - it's the largest flower in the set that stamps images for you to cut out and make a 3D flower. After stamping my image in Onyx Black VersaFine I covered it in clear embossing powder which I then set with my heat gun. It looked good just as a black and white image but I decided to colour the poppies in using some Promarkers. The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up set Bird on a Branch and is also embossed. Here is a close up the embossing Oops forgot to say I used a post it note mask to overlap the flowers. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and take a look - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Good afternoon folks - just been trying to do some gardening but the ground is baked rock solid so I'm doing some blogging instead. Yesterday I decided to make some atc's - I haven't made any swaps for ages. But first I needed a theme, so I did some blog-hopping and I found a fab theme over on The Stampman  - Birds. Now I have loads of bird themed images but one of my favourites is Bird on a Branch and along with Stampin' Up's colour co-ordinated card stock and inks I managed to come up with something that I was rather pleased with - nothing like blowing your own trumpet eh?! Colours used were More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip. I am going back outside now to hack the garden a bit more! - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Hello every one - the launch of my on-line stamp shop is getting ever nearer - I'm working very hard designing as we speak. However I had ordered some new kit and it's just arrived damaged so I hope that this won't hold me up to much. Today I have another of my designs to share with you - hope you like it. I stamped the image a few times to test it out - this is just my prototype - and then I coloured it in. I used a memento ink pad (Tuxedo Black) as this meant I could colour it with my Promarkers. Next I cut out the part of the design I wanted to use and made my card. As you can see I am still borrowing the Martha Stewart paper punch and I also used the sentiment from the Bird on a Branch set. I am going to press the 'Publish Post' button now and hope that blogger behaves it'self - yesterday it wouldn't post my pics - how rude was that! - See you soon - Jacqueline xx.

What a lucky girl I am - yesterday my husband went out to do a bit of shopping and he came home bearing gifts. He had bought me a set of stamps from the Papermania range called 'Tweet'. Now I love birds and birdcages so I had to stamp a card straight away and this is the result The whole thing is stamped with a Memento ink pad - Tuxedo Black - and I used the branch from my Bird on a Branch set. To finish it off I raised the sentiment on some 3D foam pads and added some black satin ribbon. Although you can't see them on the photo there are some crystal hearts on the birdcage. I was really pleased with this card and it really didn't take that long to make and I also think it will be perfect for the challenge over on Craft Your Days Away Challenges  - the theme being 'Black and White' Thanks for looking - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Last week saw my February Tuesday workshop and the theme was 'Two Step Stamping'. To help my ladies understand what I meant by this I prepared some examples There is a bit of glare on the photo 'cos I laminated them and they will now be stored in my stamp index for future reference. After we had done a bit of practicing with and without a stamp positioner, I then demonstrated the Twisted Easel Card. Garden Greenhouse seemed to be the favourite - one lady loved it so much she has borrowed my set! I chose Bird on a Branch, this is a set form last year's Mini Catalogue which is now retired - but I love it. I also used a bit of Vintage Vogue too. It is essential to use a stamp positioner with this set as it is very difficult to stamp the three images by eye. The colours I used are Cameo Coral, Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla. Here is a view from the side. This next week is another of my workshops and I will demo-ing some Brayering techniques - one of my favourite things...

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.

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.

Hello to all you lovely crafters out there. Today I thought I would share with you an anniversary card I made for my Daughter to give to her boyfriend's parents. I think she said they had been married for 23 years. I chose Bird on a Branch for it's simplicity and Taken with Teal 'cos turquoise is Lyn's favourite colour. This is one of my favourite Stampin' Up sets - very versatile and I don't think that it needs much more than that. I put a sentiment inside with a little more of the card stock and wrapped some taffata ribbon twice around the front. Hope everyone is enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Hi folks - just a quick post to show you some work I've been doing with my brayer . The images were made by making a mask for the moon with a post it note and placing two on the paper so one acts as a reflection. Blue ink was then brayered over the top. The reflected trees wee added next by inking up the stamp (Stampin' Up - Lovely as a Tree) and rolling the brayer over the top, it is then transfered to the paper via the brayer and the stamp can then be re - inked and stamped on to the paper to produce the main image.  The Bird on a Branch (S'U) was made in the same way. The mountains in the background were made by ripping copier paper into 'mountain' shapes, sponging and then reversing to make the reflection in the water. Hope you like them - Jacqueline xx.

Good evening everyone. Just a quick post before I go to bed - it's nearly 10 and I'm feeling pretty tired. I have had a busy day preparing for my workshop tomorrow. We are using the Stampin' Up stamp set Flight of the Butterfly and I made a couple of cards to inspire my ladies - take a look This is called a recessed window card and I got the idea from a Splitcoast Stampers tutorial on You Tube. Apart from the stamp set I used the Butterfly Punch and some Elegant Eggplant card stock and ink. I used my trusty Cuttlebug for the corners and embossing and the sentiment stamp from Bird on a Branch. Not being content to just make one card - oh no - I revisited You Tube and found this idea for a stair step card For this card I used Sage Shadow and Always Atichoke and various paper punches. We are going to be making a 'Card in a Bag' tomorrow morning so please pop back to see the results. I will also have my completed 'Flip Album' from last week's workshop to sho...

Until a little while ago I didn't know what CASEd meant - it can take a little while for me to catch on sometimes! Well for anybody else like me it means Copy And Steal Everything. So I was mooching around some challenge blogs and I found a challenge on Cards and Things Challenges . It was to use the colours Basic Grey, Barely Banana and Always Artichoke. Well if you are a regular visitor you will know that I just love all things Stampin' Up - how could I resist? (The only thing is - I don't have Basic Grey so I used an ordinary grey ink pad ssssh - I won't tell if you won't!!) Any how moving on I also surfed around the Split Coast Stampers gallery for a bit of inspiration and I found this . I haven't used Organic Grace for ages so I thought I'd have a go - what do you think? It's not a total copy so I hope she will forgive me, I just fell in love with the simplicity of the stamping and the composition - mind you it wasn't very simple trying to li...

Hi all - this is one card for two challenges - would you like to see it? - The first challege is Project Tuesday  and the theme was an 'Open Swing Top Card' Want to see the swing? - There is a link to instructions for this card over on the blog or you could click here . The second challenge is Gingersnap Creations  and the theme there is 'Shades of Blue' I used: K&Company - Blue Awning papers (I know I'm using it a lot a the mo but it is soooo gorgeous) K&Company flower brads Stampin' Up - Bordering Blue card stock S'U inks - Bordering Blue & Night of Navy S'U stamp sets - Pocket Silhouettes, Flight of the Butterfly & Bird on a Branch (sentiment). Thank you for taking the time to look - I'm off to bed now - good night - Jacqueline xx.

O.K so I didn't get done yesterday what I should have (will have to work harder today!) but I still found time to sneak in a teeny challenge! Check out the sketch and samples here  and check out my card here: Materials used: White 5"x5" card base Papers: K&Company - Blue Awning Inks: Tim Holtz - Tea Dye & Memento - Paris Dusk Stamps: Stampin' Up - Greenhouse Garden & Bird on a Branch (sentiment). Ribbon: Stampin' Up - Very Vanilla. Pearls from stash. O.K got to dash - busy, busy, busy!!! - Jacqueline xx.