Phoenix Inspirations

Graceful Garden is a set I love, in fact I just love roses and this set has the most beautiful rose image perfect for colouring in or paper piecing. Today's card features this lovely rose and one of my favourite Stampin' Up colours - Night of Navy. So I tried to take an arty photograph of my card and I think that there is more of everything else than there is of the card!! The rose has been stamped onto Soft Sky card stock with Versamark ink and then heat embossed with white embossing powder - the leaves were treated the same way but onto Old Olive card stock. I used my leaf punch to and some copper glitter paper for my leaves and my sentiment is from (after searching through my stamp sets for ages) Beautiful Peacock - from the last Sale-A-Bration offer. I am off to my daughter's in Hereford for a few days but I am still hoping to blog a little - especially as I now have my handy little tablet keyboard! I'm getting quite techy in my old age - just need t...

So, the clocks have changed and the days are getting shorter. They are also getting a lot colder too and my little crafting space in the garage is getting decidedly chilly!  I used to only craft down there in the summer and craft very minimally in the winter  - just make the odd Christmas card. My main winter hobby was usually beading as that could be done in front of the telly in the warm and cosy living room.  The thing is  - I don't want to stop card making  - I  want to carry on all through the winter especially as I'm a Stampin' Up demonstrator again.  So over the weekend I migrated from the cold dark garage up into my bedroom. It's been a mammoth task  - I've had to completely change everything around,  extend shelves and install cupboards but it's been worth it as now I can craft in comfort. I'm also closer to the kitchen so more cups of tea!!! Ok  - so no new cards yet so here's one I made earlier This is a card ...

Oh dear - it's been a while. My treatment for my fibro is continuing and it's not exactly been pain free. I was referred to the gym by my dr - I go twice a week and it's tough! Any way enough about me - I managed to fit in a bit of crafting today and I had another play with my Painted Harvest set. The background is So Saffron card stock and it has been stamped with the Hardwood stamp - it's huge it did the whole background in one stamp! It was stamped in Crumb Cake ink which was also sponged around the edge along with some Early Espresso. The diamonds were cut from So Saffron and Crumb Cake card stock - again sponged with Crumb Cake and Early Espresso ink. The Sunflower  - stamped in So Saffron and Crushed Curry ink was attached using Dimensionals. The leaves were stamped in Lemon Lime Twist and Old Olive ink and punched out using the co-ordinating punch. The sentiment is from the Graceful Garden set. This card is being entered into the challenge at C...

CAS Colours & Sketches  have a 'Double' challenge this week - that is a colour challenge and a sketch together. The three colours of ink are all retired however I have them stashed away on my 'Retired Shelf'! So I dusted them off and got to work making this card. Actually only two of the inks were used in the end. The rose - from Graceful Garden, was stamped onto Pretty in Pink DSP, the leaves were stamped in the Certain Celery and the the band of Bashful Blue was created by masking off the band and stamping and sponging. It was lovely to re-visit the old colours but Stampin' Up have loads of current colours just as lovely. Just take a look through the catalogue in my side bar and you will see - Powder Pink, Wild Wasabi and Soft Sky would be perfect for this. Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon - J xx

I have been creating with Graceful Garden again and this is what I have come up with - I've used Petal Garden DSP for the background and used some to stamp my rose on to. I used gold embossing powder on the rose and cut it out. Some gold thread was added under the rose and the  little sentiment was added. this card is being entered into the challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches Thank you for dropping by today - I hope that the weather has been kinder where you are - we've had more rain!!! See you soon - J xx

I made this card for the challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches - unfortunatly I was too late to enter it! I am still going to show it off though - take a look I have played with the Bundle of Love DSP again - this time using the blue side. It is of course the very beautiful Soft Sky and I have used the same colour card stock to make the rose. The leaves were stamped in Old Olive ink while the rose was heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The stamp set is Graceful Garden and both it and the Bundle of Love along with all the other items used on this card can be ordered from my online shop  HERE Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon - J xx

Hooray - I still have internet - better hurry before it disappears again!!! Today's card is one that missed a challenge - take a look For this card I used the Bundle of Love DSP. On one side of the 12" x 12" paper there is a pink or blue pattern and on the reverse it's gorgeous gold foiling - it really is beautiful. I've used Graceful Garden and coloured the rose with Rich Razzleberry ink. I then cut out some leaves to frame it. They were inked with Old Olive. Today was a strange sort of a day.I was all set to craft as it was my day off but someone phoned in sick and I was called in for cover. All behind on my crafting now but a few pounds better off - all the more to spend on stamps!!! Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon - J xx

I got out my Graceful Garden stamp set again - I fell in love with this set when I first saw it in the catalogue and today I have a one layer card to share with you. The card I have to share with you today uses this set and I had a very clear idea of what I wanted my card to look like but the finished result is nothing like I imagined - how does that happen????? Does this happen to anyone else? Here it is I tried a different way of colouring today. As my paintbrush was still out after my card making yesterday I thought I'd use it again. The rose was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The petals were coloured with So Saffron ink and the leaves with Pear Pizzazz. I pressed an acrylic block on my stamp pad and then used a paint brush that had been dipped in water to pick up the ink. It was then just painted on. The foliage around the edge of the card was stamped in Pear Pizzazz and Always Artichoke ink. The outside edges of the card...

There are so many talented crafters about who are producing lovely work and sometimes you see a card that really grabs your attention. The card I have made for you today is inspired by fellow demonstrator. I have 'CASE'd' one of her cards that I fell in love with  HERE Here is my card I have used Fresh Fig card stock along with some Crumb Cake that has been stamped with the Hardwood background stamp. A piece of Petal Garden DSP was added along with a sentiment which is from Blooms and Wishes. Fresh Fig and Old Olive ink were used for the stamped roses - they were then coloured with an aqua painter, cut out and mounted using 3D foam pads. They are from the Graceful Garden set. The demonstrator's name is  Julie Kettlewell  and her blog is well worth a visit. I'm quite excited tonight - tomorrow I am running a fundraising event. It's a make and take and the charity is Make A Wish. Hopefully lots of people will turn up and help raise lots of m...

I've another new set to show off today - Graceful Garden. It has really beautiful rose images and matches the Petal Garden DSP perfectly. Today I have used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch Here is my card These decorative papers are exquisite, fabulous rose patterns and double sided. They are 6" x 6" and perfect for card making and isn't that rose stunning? Don't forget all the above products and more are available from my shop - details in the top tabs. See you soon xx

I've been having a pay with my new stamp sets which is good but sometimes it takes me a while to get used to them. I have to use them a few times to break them in or get a feel of their potential. Sometimes my first efforts are not very good because of this. This is my first go with the Blooms and Wishes set and I have used the colours from this week's  Color Throwdown My colours are Real Red, Dapper Denim and Daffodil Delight. Here is my card The background fiddly bits are stamped from the Graceful Garden set and I have added a few rhinestone gems as a finishing touch. These fabulous stamps and more are available in my shop - details in the top tabs. Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon xx