Phoenix Inspirations

It's that time of the week again - Christmas card time at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Fabiola is our Hostess for this month and here is her sketch And here is my card I rotated the sketch to make it portrait and used my Christmas Blessings stamp set. Colours are: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Real Red and Gold embossing powder. Please do hop over to the blog to check out all the other gorgeous DT cards. See you soon xx

What will you choose - or will you go for both? I ask because this is the new challenge over on  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Here is my card - I chose pearls Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Christmas Blessings, Petite Pairs Ink: Smoky Slate, Certain Celery, Riding Hood Red Card Stock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Certain Celery Accessories: Border Punch, Word Window and Modern Label Punches, Basic Pearls Hope you are all having a great weekend - I'm decorating. It's a job I hate but since my husband's illness he has not been up to such jobs (hmmmmm) so it;s down to me - best get back to it then! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

We have a lovely challenge this week over on the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  all you have to do is add some Ribbons AND Bows to your Christmas cards Here is my card My poinsettia has been heat embossed with white embossing powder and then coloured using my Stamin' Write markers. I used some Kraft coloured ribbon and tied my bow using the fork technique - Louise showed me how but I'm sure there are Youtube videos to show you how too - Louise always brings a fork along with her to the workshops now! Here's a peek inside Stampin' Up materials used Stamps: Christmas Blessings Inks: Versamark, Crumb cake Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Poppy Parade (retired) Card Stock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch Other: Kraft coloured Ribbon - Fork! (All current Stampin' Up items can be ordered through me and delivered direct to your door - you will have to provide your own fork! Please see all t...

It's Bingo time at  Make My Monday  - take a look at the card and choose a line: up, down, side to side or horizontal - it's up to you I have gone for the line with Patterned Paper, Punches or Dies and Distressing - take a look I have two cute little Christmas owls just about to kiss under the mistletoe - here's what I used Materials Stamps: Sassy Salutations, Christmas Blessings Ink: Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso Card Stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake Paper: Christmas Candlelight Speciality DSP Accessories: 2 Step Owl Punch, Dimensionals, Sponges, Lucky Limeade organza ribbon, Basic Pearls (All items are from Stampin' Up - please see my details at the top of the page for ordering purposes) This is the last MMM challenge of the year so please pop over and wish the rest of the DT a Happy Christmas. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

When I started this blog at the end of last year I did it so I would not be stressed or rushed making Christmas cards now. I succeeded and I hope you did too. This is our last challenge this year but don't worry we will be back in January with more challenges and ideas for getting you organised for Christmas 2013. I couldn't have done it with out my team though: Mynnette who joined me at the beginning and Ruth, Louise, Danielle and Patty who joined us half way through the year - thanks ladies I'm looking forward to working with you next year. For this week's challenge we are going Crackers - take a look Interpret this as you wish - images of crackers, hats, toys confetti etc - you can even do a joke card it's up to you. I'm afraid I didn't do anything adventurous - my card just looks like a cracker - take a look This is actually a Diamond Fold card embellished for Christmas - here's another view Materials Stamps: Christmas Bl...

That's the challenge this week at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  - take a look Here is my card I stamped my flourish on to my card stock before I ran it through my embossing machine in my dotty folder and then I attached my silver bauble. A few flat backed gems were added too along with the sentiment from Christmas Blessings. There's only one more challenge after this at 52CCT and then we will be back in January - please do pop over to take a look at the other beautiful entries from the DT and I will see you soon - Jacqueline xx Materials Stamps: Flowering Flourishes, Christmas Blessings, Ornament Keepsakes Ink: Basic Black, Versamark Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black Accessories: Silver EP, Holiday Ornament Framelit Dies, Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones Other: Dotty EF (Please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com to order any of the Stampin' Up products listed above)

Guess who went to bed last night and forgot to schedule their post for  Addicted to Stamps & More ? Sorry Kylie! Anyway the challenge this week is 'Make Your Mark' - create a card or project, any subject but use marker pens. Here is my card The marker pens I have used are Stampin' Write markers and not only did I use them to ink up my stamps but I did a little colouring as well. Markers are great for this kind of set - I was able to ink up the holly leaves in green and add the red for the berries before stamping - very difficult with ink pads. Please don't forget to pop over and see all the lovely cards make by the rest of the DT this week and hopefully I will be stopping by to take a look at your work soon - bye for now - Jacqueline xx Materials Stamps: Christmas Blessings Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Lucky Limeade - markers Card Stock: Whisper White All supplies are Stampin' Up - please e-mail on deezinesart@gmail.com to place an order of j...

It's  Make My Monday  time once more and this month we have our lovely Caz hostessing the weekly challenges. This week she would like us to make projects portraying our FAVOURITE FLOWERS. Caz's favourite I believe are Poppies and she has made some really beautiful cards in the past using poppy images. Me on the other hand - well I can't decide. I do genuinely love all flowers and tend to 'swither' according to occasions or seasons. For example in Spring I go all out for Daffodils and in late Summer I adore the orange Marigolds with their furry brown centres. For my birthday - June, my Peonies are always in flower in the garden. Of course I have my favourite for Christmas too and that would be the Poinsettia - like the one I have made for my card today, please take a look So using a piece of Crumb Cake card stock I stamped a border of Holly and Ivy and I also stamped the sentiment directly on to the card. My main Poinsettia flower was stamped using one of the ...

Morning all - here's this week's sketch for the challenge at  52 {C}CT And here is my card Very CAS this week and I have rotated the sketch, I've also used my Christmas Blessings set - here's the full list of what I have used Materials Stamps: Christmas Blessings Inks: Cherry Cobbler (marker), Gumball Green (marker), Summer Starfruit (marker) Card Stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler (Don't forget you can order all these items and more through me - please see the details at the top of the page) This post is rather late for the challenge but please do pop over and check out all the other gorgeous DT cards. I'm feeling very sad today as I have had to miss this year's village Christmas Fair. I do it every year but this year I am just too tired. This week has been full of doctor visits, blood tests and more treatment for my poor husband and the worry of that combined with the news that my granddad is still very unwell has caused...

It's Saturday so that must mean time for another challenge over on the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown . This week we want you to add PEARLS to your projects Here is my card Today I have turned my Summer Silhouettes into Winter Silhouettes!! My pearls have been added as berries on my leaves. Materials Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Christmas Blessings Ink: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Cherry Cobbler Card Stock: Naturals White Accessories: Basic Pearls (order any of these items and more - my details are above) Please do hop on over and check out all the other wonderful cards created by the DT and I will see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Another challenge card today for these two challenge blogs The Color Throwdown Stampin' Up Only Challenges 'A Clean & Simple Holiday Card' Here is my card I substituted a couple of colours that I didn't have: Island Indigo for the Bermuda Bay and Pool Party for Soft Sky. It was also said that the grey could be changed to silver so I did that too! All products used are Stampin' Up - see the list below for all the lovely products I used to make this card. Don't forget that there is a Special Offer this month - if you buy the Ornament Keepsake stamps (includes the bauble above) or the Bundle of stamps and matching dies plus the Candlelight Christmas Speciality DSP you will receive a Paper-piercing pack - FREE! - Offer ends at the end of the month. See the links in the side bar for more details. Materials Stamps: Ornament Keepsake, Flowering Flourishes, Christmas Blessings Inks: Lucky Limeade (marker), Pool Party (marke...

Two challenges tonight and one card made using my Ornament Keepsake bundle again and a bit of gold embossing powder - take a look Materials Stamps: Ornament Keepsake, Christmas Blessings Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Versamark Card Stock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White Accessories: Holiday Ornament Framelits, Gold Embossing Powder, Dimensionals Other: Snowflake Embossing Folder. (There's still time to take advantage of the Ornament Keepsake bundle and Candlelight Christmas Speciality DSP and get a Paper-piercing pack FREE - see the side bar for details). I am entering this card into these challenges The Paper Players Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge See you soon - Jacqueline xx

I've been having a play with my Ornament keepsake bundle and apart from the 'normal' Christmas ornament style projects I have made this poinsettia flower from some of the die cut shapes I stamped and die cut 8 of the red ornament shapes and then a further 5 of the green - the ornament tops have been hidden by adding the centre. This is the small round stamp from the set and I cut out the very middle part to create the flower centre. Here's a close up Materials Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Christmas Blessings (sentiment) Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso (marker) Card Stock: Naturals White, Crumb Cake, Paper: Candlelight Christmas Speciality DSP Accessories: Holiday Ornaments Framelits (If you would like to make a card like this there is a special offer this month with the Ornament Keepsake bundle - see the side bar for details). I will be entering this card in this week's  Freshly Made Sketches  challenge and ...

It's a new month at the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  and it's Mynnette's turn to choose all our challenges, starting with this fabulous sketch Today I decided to use my lovely 'Christmas Blessings' set along with the label stamp from Everything Eleanor - take a look My trusty Stampin' Write markers were used to colour my images and the flowers were cut out and attached using some Dimensionals. Materials Stamps: Christmas Blessings, Everything Eleanor Inks: Certain Celery, Crumb Cake, Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Poppy Parade (retired), Lucky limeade, Pear Pizzazz (retired). Card Stock: Whisper White, Naturals White. Accessories: Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones Other: Red Ribbon (all the above Stampin' Up products unless retired can be ordered through me and delivered direct to you door. Why not take a look a the catalogue and special offers in the side bar). Have a great weekend folks and don't forget to check out all th...

Thursday night is my next club workshop and this time we will be making a Double Dutch Fold Card - I love making these they are so quick and easy and gorgeous to decorate - take a look It's getting close to that time of the year so I thought I would use this lovely set again and the Festival prints DSP. Here is a view of the inside Supplies used to make this card: Stamps: Christmas Blessings Ink: Cherry Cobbler ink pad, Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade markers Card stock: Naturals White Paper: Festival Prints DSP As usual as this is a workshop make I will endevour to get a step by step tutorial ready for you to follow after the workshop and don't forget all these supplies can be ordered by me and sent directly to your door - just click the link at the top. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that my blog has in the last 24 hours undergone a major change. A couple of weeks ago i made the decision to become a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and with the help of my lovely upline -  Vicky , I ordered my Starter Kit and made plans for my first workshop. This weekend it is Open House here at Rose Cottage and if you are in the area you can pop in and take a look at the new Annual Catalogue whilst having a nice cuppa and piece of cake. There are free gifts just for turning up and a Make and Take. People who know me know that I am very passionate about Stampin' Up products - I use them on all my cards - so nothing will change in regards the content of my blog posts. All that's different is that you can now purchase your own Stampin' Up goodies through me. So - back to today's Make and Take. It's a quick and easy Christmas card using two new sets - Christmas Blessings and Sassy Salutations - take a look Whisp...