Phoenix Inspirations

Hi folks - just a quickie to say that the Joy Fold card tutorial is now on my Craft Club Blog -  HERE Here's the one I made today Made with Beyond the Garden DSP and Greenhouse Garden stamps. Colours used are: Pool Party, Indigo Island, Peach Parfait, Tangerine Tango,Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade. Jacqueline xx

The challenge this week over on  Make My Monday  is a Birthday Card with Pearls, so for this week's Mid-week Motivation piece I made a Joy Fold card - take a look I have used some of my S'U Beyond the Garden DSP for this and the Greenhouse Garden stamp set. I've also used a variety of colours: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Blushing Bride and Melon Mambo. Here's how it stays shut I placed a cut out flower on the corner - I also embellished each flower with a blob of liquid pearls. Here's the Birthday sentiment It's from the Up, Up and Away set. This is also the card we will be making at my Tuesday morning workshop next week and as always I will post a step by step tutorial on how to make this card on my  Craft Club Blog  - stay tuned for a link in the side bar. Thanks for stopping by to take a look today - bye for now - 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

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 ...

Next Tuesday will be my first October Workshop of the month - our subject this time is Waterfall Cards. Here's one I made as an example It uses the very gorgeous Greenhouse Garden and if you would like details of this - and other workshops hop over to my Craft Club Blog  here . There will also be a materials list and I will also post a full tutorial on the day on how to make this card. Before I go here is a shot of the card in motion Jacqueline xx.

Yesterday was Tuesday and my regular monthly crafting workshop. This time we tried out the One Sheet Wonder (minus the Mexican with the bad accent!). Stampin' Up stamp sets are perfect for this as their little boxes contain many coordinating stamps and sentiments. I made each participant a template I had designed and showed them how to stamp onto the back of the template so that when they turned it back over they could easily cut out each section. It may help to see what I mean from my photos. These stamps are from the Simply Said set. Yesterday I did the same thing but using the Greenhouse Garden set. This is the template I made Now for some reason it hasn't printed as I intended - it missed off a couple of sections on the bottom -but you get the idea. So, to summarise: take your template, stamp on the back cramming on as many images as possible, turn back over and cut out your sections. Now, you can make eight 5" x 5" card with this one sheet. Mount the se...

Continuing my 3D Flowers theme my workshop next Thursday night will be making a rose using a six petal flower. I did a tutorial on this a while ago - you can find it by clicking here . The card is a basic 5"x 5" card blank and I have stamped and sponged a mat in More Mustard followed by a mat stamped and sponged onto Very Vanilla with Old Olive ink. The Vintage Vogue and Greenhouse Garden sets were used. In the four corners are the small flowers from Greenhouse Garden and the main flower is stamped with the large flower from Vintage Vogue. The sentiment and cut out pieces are from a Papermania stamp set. I am hoping to demonstrate other kinds of 3D flowers on the night and if you would like to come along and you live in the Malvern area please e-mail me for details etc. I am off to find a jumper, there has been no sun today and I am feeling rather chilly. Hope the sun is shining where you are - bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

This is the card I demo'd this morning at my Tuesday workshop. Four lovely ladies attended and we made something like this The stamps are a combination of Greenhouse Garden and the tiny leaf from Vintage Vogue. The colours I used were Brocade Blue (retired), Baja Breeze and Always Artichoke. This is the last of the Penny Sliders for a while - tomorrow you can have a sneaky peek at the project for my Thursday evening workshop that is next week. We will be making a card with one of the 3D roses on. Now yesterday I mentioned that I had had an encounter with another spider and in my comments Vicky bless her wondered if I was being stalked by said creatures. Well what a thing to say - I now have visions of spiders hiding behind doors ready to leap out at me Kato style (Kato is the little man in the Pink Panther films who lies in wait for Peter Sellers). Do spiders know kung fu - they have an awful lot of legs for the karate chop don't they!!!! See you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Yah - I've just discovered a massive spider taking over my craft room. Luckily my husband was around to eliminate him (well set him free in the garden actually 'cos much as I hate them I can't kill them!). So - panic levels have now dropped so I can tell you all about my workshop planned for tomorrow morning. The theme this month is 3D flowers and tomorrow we are making a 'Penny Slider Card' The Vintage Vogue stamp set and also the Greenhouse Garden set will be available for use and here is a pic of the card we are making The colours I have used are : Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Old Olive. Here is another pic of the flower 'sliding' across the card A tutorial of how I made a similar card to this can be found here . If you live in the Malvern area and would like to come to one of my workshops please e-mail me at deezinesart@gmail.com I will also be showing my ladies my copy of the new Stampin' Up Mini Catalogue - can't wait to se...

Today is my one year blogaversary - it's been one year and a couple of days since I set it up and exactly a year since my first picture post. Don't go back there though - my efforts back then weren't up to much. Instead feast your eyes on this It's a sort of copy from one I saw whilst browsing the Splitcoast Stampers gallery - I changed it quite a bit but the idea is the same. It uses mainly Greenhouse Garden and a bit of Vintage Vogue, Mellow Moss and Summer Sun and a bit of bling. Now you may be aware that the appearance of my blog changes quite regularly and it's about to change again - I know what can I say - I love to play. Seriously though I hope that these new changes are going to be big. Stay tuned - you have to be in it to win it as they say. 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...

I really do not know where all my time has gone this week - I've had meetings (boring), I went to a Stampin' Up party (fab) and I helped out at the local Mother and Toddler group (exhausting) and last night I had my monthly craft workshop. I set my ladies a challenge to make Christmas cards and matching gift tags and the results are astounding. The time and effort that they have put into their projects is amazing - I'm so proud of them. Trouble is I now have to choose a winner - that is going to be sooooooo difficult! Anyway this is what we made last night These little 4" x 4" boxes boxes open up easel - card style to reveal little calendars on top of a small drawer suitable for storing post - it notes, stamps paper clips etc. These projects use my new favourite stamp set - Just Believe, Greenhouse Garden and my new favourite colour Baja Breeze - doesn't it look absolutely gorgeous with the dusky brown? Well my time is going to even busier this weekend as ...

It's not that I've lost my mojo or anything, but I was browsing the web and came across this gorgeous card over on Monica's  blog. I instantly fell in love with it and decided that as I had just received some new cardstock from Stampin' Up - I would have a go at recreating it. I changed some colours and ommitted the ribbon and some stamping but the rest I'm afraid is a blatant copy! I have used Stampin' Up colours Old Olive and Ruby Red, some grey and white cardstock from my stash and a C6 card blank. Stamps used are S'U Greenhouse Garden and the sentiment is from my NEW set - Vintage Vogue. I also used S'U Scallop Edge punch and the 2 Step Bird punch. The centres of the flowers were made by using a small circle punch, Old Olive cardstock and some self adhesive pearls. I am off now to play some more with my new stamps - see you soon - Jacqueline xx.

Just a quick post to share with you a card I made for a friend who's birthday it is today. It has been made using the Stampin' Up set Greenhouse Garden and Distress Inks. The flowers were stamped separately, cut out, shaped with a bone folder and then stuck on the card using 3D foam pads. Little touches of bling were also added. Happy birthday Rachel - hope you have a great day! - Jacqueline xx.

Hello again folks. I know in my last post I said I was going to do my housework - but I had a sudden thought. I had made my project for the Project Tuesday  challenge but I hadn't inserted the gum - it's a Gum Holder you see This is made from all Stampin' Up stuff - Very Vanilla and Certain Celery card stock, Certain Celery and Always Artichoke inks and the Greenhouse Garden stamp set. I followed Dawn's video tutorial on You Tube and found her instructions really easy to follow. I really hope I haven't missed the deadline on this - so sorry to be posting it so late. Until tomorrow - Jacqueline xx.

Just a quick short post as promised to show you the Flip Album I demonstrated at last week's workshop. This one is a made up album without all the embellishments This is the bare bones of the album and as far as we got on Thursday night. Hopefully my Ladies went staight home and decorated their albums - just as I did The pink album was the sample album - this is the one I made on the night. Blue seems to be my colour of the moment. Inspirarion for the little tag pockets was taken from a video I saw on You Tube and the papers are Blue Awning by K&Company. Here is the cover Can you see a little Stampin' Up sneaking in there........ yep you guessed it Greenhouse Garden! If you pop back later I will have yesterday's project to show too - bye for now - 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.

Are you feeling a little under the weather lately? Well this could be just the card for you. The theme at Stamp With Us  this fortnight is 'Get Well' Here is my card: The ribbon at the top will undo, then the square panel will open to reveal the sentiment - like so: Materials Used Card stock: Stampin' Up - Always Artichoke, Certain Celery & Very Vanilla. Inks: Stampin' Up - Always Artichoke & Certain Celery. Stamp Set: Stampin' Up - Greenhouse Garden & Flight of the Butterfly. Ribbon: Stampin' Up - Very Vanilla. Punch: Stampin' Up - Butterfly Punch. Other: Hot off the Press - Get Well sentiment. Thanks for taking the time to look - Jacqueline xx.

Hello folks - happy Monday to you all. First let me show you my card : This was a lovely card to do, a) because it's for  Stamp With Us and I get to show off all my fantastic Stampin' Up stuff, and b) because it is also for a brand new challenge blog Hidden Treasures Challenge . Here is the sketch from SWU that I followed: The challenge on Hidden Treasures was to use the colours Pink and Brown - here are the materials I used: (all Stampin' Up) Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink & Bravo Burgundy. Inks: Pretty In Pink & Bravo Burgundy. Stamp Sets: Greenhouse Garden, Flight Of The Butterfly & Pocket Silhouettes (sentiment). Punches: Butterfly punch & Scallop Edge punch. Hope you like my card - will be back later with another challenge card. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx.

Good evening everybody, have you all had a good day crafting? I have had an interesting day. First up-loaded a link to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday on my other blog - that was o.k, then decided to have a go at this week's Truly Scrumptious sketch challenge. Here is the sketch : I decided to go with the above and omit the square base and make a round card - well a round easel card actually - here it is: This a two - step stamping method using my new stamp set from Stampin' Up - 'Greenhouse Garden' Been hankering after this for a long time and have finally got it. The card stock and inks are Stampin' Up too - sorry if I'm boring I just love them. So what do you think? I'm a little unsure, this is not how I pictured it in my mind at the start. I don't know - maybe it will grow on me. However those around me like it - hope you do too - pop over to Truly Scrumptious  and take a look. Don't forget to stay tuned - have got another new stamp set...