Phoenix Inspirations

Good morning everyone, March is marching on and it's Monday again - time for another challenge over on the  Make My Monday  challenge blog. This week the challenge is to create a clean and simple card using one colour and it's various tones - MONOTONE. Here is my card My colour of choice was Island Indigo, I inked my stamp and then stamped it on to scrap paper before stamping on to the card stock. The sentiment was stamped over the top - full strength. A little sponging was added to the edges along with some stamped butterflies. A few sparkly gems were added for a finishing touch. All materials used are Stampin' Up Stamps: Love and Sympathy, Precious Butterflies (retired) Ink: Island Indigo Card Stock: Whisper White, Island Indigo Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Sponges (All current Stampin' Up items can be ordered through me and delivered direct to your door - please see the details above in the top tabs - thank you). I do hope I get to visit ...

Today is a very special day as today is the first challenge of my new CAS challenge blog  CAS - Colours & Sketches  and we are kicking off with a double - an Colour and a Sketch, take a look Here is the card I have made for this challenge - hope you like it My four square panels have been embossed with a dotty embossing folder and my middle panel has been stamped with a sentiment using the Chocolate Chip ink. My leaves - from French Foliage have been coloured with Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Cobbler, cut out and attached using dimensionals I really hope you will join me in this new venture and I'm looking forward to visiting you all and seeing your CAS creations. Please do go and take a look at my fellow team mates' creations - they really are lovely, plus we have a very special Guest designer this week. Here's our blog badge - it would be great if you could add it to your blog to spread the word I would also like to say 'Hi' to Yvonne - my...

Take a look at the fabulous sketch Kylie has designed for us this week at  Addicted to Stamps & More And here is my card Today I have teamed up Just Believe with Summer Silhouettes and some of the paper from the Twitterpatted series of DSP. I also added some of the basic rhinestones - you can't see on here but they are extremely sparkly. Materials Stamps: Just Believe, Summer Silhouettes, Precious Butterflies (retired) Inks: Gumball Green, Primrose Petals Card Stock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple Paper: Twittwepatted DSP Accessories: Basic Rhinestones (I am happy to order any of the products listed above (excluding retired items) or anything from the current catalogue, just get in touch by clicking the links above - don't forget the special offers too). Can't wait to see what you all do with this sketch - if you need more inspiration pop over to the blog and check out all the DT cards - you won't be disappointed. See you soon...

I have a challenge card for you today - for two challenges in fact, a colour themed challenge and a sketch - take a look Simply Stampin' and retro sketches I found the colour combo a little strange at first (sorry ladies) but actually I'm really pleased with the end result. Here it is I've used two stamp sets: Simply Said (Poppy Parade stamped flower) and Precious Butterflies (Concord Crush stamped sentiment) - also used my very useful Butterfly Punch and Scallop Edge Punch. I have taken a leaf out of my friend  Mynnette's  book and added loads of  crystal bling! Feeling a little blue today - Briony (my daughter) returned to uni today, she left the house in total uproar as she only finished her packing minutes before she left! We were going to go with her but a friend offered to go and help out with transporting all her stuff and the unpacking - she didn't want us after that!! Thanks for looking, see you soon - Jacqueline x...

Continuing our RED/GREEN/CREAM themed challenge, for this week's Mid-week Motivation on  Make My Monday  I have created a waterfall card with...................strawberries!!! (I have included a pic of the inside but you must visit the  Challenge blog  to find out why!) I used card stock from my stash drawer for this card however I did use the Everything Eleanor and Precious Butterflies stamp sets. My strawberry is an old Craft Stamper mag freebie coloured with markers. There's still time to take part in the challenge - it doesn't have to be a summery card - these colours look great for Christmas too - see you over there? - Jacqueline xx

As promised the link for the Petal Fold card is now in the side bar - or you can click -  here . Here is another one I have made - this time in blue And inside Stamps used - Precious Butterflies. See you soon - Jacqueline xx

Good morning all - it's Monday so that must mean another challenge over on the  Make My Monday  challenge blog. We have a colour challenge for you this week - take a look - and here is my card I am quite taken with the technique of colouring onto vellum at the moment so I have stamped my Growing Green images on some vellum with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I then cut them out and attached them to my card - a centre step fold card. I cut a border to add a bit of interest to the sides and the front and also added a few gems. The sentiment is from Precious Butterflies oh and my colours are Blushing Bride and Lucky Limeade. Please do pop over to take a look at all the stunning work provided by my design team and I will see you soon - Jacqueline xx

Today I have made a card using the  Mojo Monday  sketch and the  Stampin' Royalty  colour combo Here is the card I made So - everything except the purple rhinestones on this card is Stampin' Up. Concord Crush, Peach Parfait and Whisper White card stock. Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride and Concord Crush inks. Also used my scallop edge punch and a sentiment from My Friend and a circle flourish from Charming and a butterfly from Precious Butterflies. That's it for today - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

As I mentioned yesterday, today was workshop day. We made Tent Cards - a bit like this I have raided my stash drawer for some 6" x 6" Papermania papers for this one - I love polka dots and this is a particularly pretty one don't you think. I also thought that it matched perfectly with the butterfly paper behind it. I used my Precious Butterflies Hostess set and stamped the flourish in Lucky Limeade. I then cut it out to fit into the corners. The butterflies were inked with Blushing Bride and again cut out before mounting with 3D foam pads. A few teeny tiny flowers were added and a load of bling and pearls! Also as promised there is a free step by step tutorial to accompany this card. Just pop on over to The Craft Club Blog  HERE  to take a look. I am going into scrapbook mode now as I am holding a special Easter Scrapbook Workshop next Wednesday. If you live in the Malvern area and you would like to join in click  HERE  for all the details - spaces are going...

Hello - hope everyone is having a great weekend - I have a quickie today, scheduled 'cos as you know I'm away at the moment. It follows the sketch at this week's  Freshly Made Sketches   and the colour theme at  CR84FN Color Challenge   And here is my card This is a fabulously bright colour combo including Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight. My stamp set of choice is the Hostess set Precious Butterflies. All being well I shall be back home tomorrow night so see you soon - Jacqueline xx

It's a few weeks since I joined in over at  Simply Stampin'  so today I made a card just for their challenge - the theme being Lace. I was having a rootle through my card stash when I came across some retired card stock in Almost Amethyst which I thought matched perfectly with one of the new In Colours - Concord Crush. What do you think? My lace isn't SU but I did use one of the stamps from the Precious Butterflies Hostess Set along with a few flowers punched in the Boho Blossoms punch. Some small pearls finished them off. My ink is also a retired colour - Sage Shadow and my image is stamped on to Very Vanilla card stock. Wasn't it nice to see the sun today - hope you got some where you are. Bye for now - Jacqueline xx

Just a quick post to tell you that the Telescoping Card tutorial is now up on the  Craft Club Blog . my workshop has just finished and this is what we made I haven't had time to bling it up yet so pop back tomorrow to see the actual finished card! I have used Very Vanilla and Lavender Lace card stock, Lavender Lace and Elegant Eggplant inks for stamping and my *NEW* My Friend stamp set - I also brought out Precious Butterflies for an airing too! Here is the card 'telescoped' out Pop on over to the  blog  for all the instructions on how to make this and I will see you tomorrow - Jacqueline xx

This week at  Less is More  the challenge is to use 'Punches or Die Cuts' - what a great idea. I love using my Cuttlebug so I decided on die cuts - here is my card I cut out a section at the bottom of my card using a square Nestie, then i die cut some Marianne Creatables flowers from Sahara Sand card stock. These were then glued in place along the aperture. The flat backed opals are from Martha Stewart. A Stampin' Up sentiment from the Precious Butterflies set was stamped on to card and also die cut - another flower was placed behind. Thanks for looking - Jacqueline xx

The challenge this week at  Less is More  is to have a hole or some kind of aperture in your card - take a look at what I made today I cut my aperture using my rectangular Nesties on my Cuttlebug and kept the bit I cut out to use to stamp my sentiment on. The stamp set I used is SU Precious Butterflies and is stamped in Old Olive and Melon Mambo ink. Here is a close up of the aperture My sentiment was stamped from the same set and the onto the piece of card stock from my aperture. It was then attached using 3D foam pads. The cut out flourish was attached using a fine glue pen and also some pieces of 3D foam pad cut very small. The butterflies are also cut out and mounted in the same way. Thanks for looking today - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

The challenge this week at  Simply Stampin'  is to use die cuts on our projects. I didn't think that I would be joining in this one as I don't yet own ant Stampin' Up dies - I have plenty of punches but I don't think that those qualify this time. However last night I had a small workshop where we were concentrating on our die cutting machines and my friend Louise bought along her stash of dies and amongst them was the Stampin' Up Sweet Buttons Embosslits Die. We were making our own embossing folders and the buttons did not suit our purpose so I squirrelled them away to use on this card which I made for the challenge I have used a base of Very Vanilla card stock and a mat of Crumb Cake. My patchwork squares are SU card stock in Certain Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Blushing Bride. The sentiment is from the Precious Butterflies Hostess set stamped in Roes Red ink. See you soon - Jacqueline xx

I know I have been using this image rather excessively lately - but it is so lovely and here I have used it in conjunction with this week's colour challenge at  Simply Stampin' . I don't have any Pink Pirouette card stock so I used Blushing Bride instead - hope that's OK ladies?! The image is from Simply Soft and I have coloured the flowers with Stampin' Write markers outlining the flowers in the Pool Party - I also added some highlights with a white gel pen. The sentiment is from Precious Butterflies and I also added a few pearls and flat backed gems to bling it up a bit!! Thanks for looking - see you soon - Jacqueline xx

OK - so I've argued with my husband, my daughter is returning to uni in about 30 minutes and I've lost my phone charger - it's one of those days. So I have locked myself away and spent a quiet morning crafting. Here is my card I have followed the colour challenge laid out in the latest challenge on  Pals Paper Arts  - take a look The sentiment I have used is from the Precious Butterflies set and along with my Boho Blossoms punch I have used a couple of dies and my Cuttlebug. Here is a close up Thanks for looking today - Jacqueline xx

Next Tuesday (10th) is the start of my workshops for 2012 and we will be kicking off with a Perforated Bookmark Card. Intrigued?..... take a look The panel on the right hand side of the card is perforated and can be removed to use as a bookmark. A nice easy project I think to start the New Year! It uses a combination of stamp sets - Simply Soft, Precious Butterflies and Butterfly Prints all on top of a brayered background. As always a step by step tutorial will be available after the workshop and details will appear in my side bar should you wish to have a go at making this yourself. I have a little friend hiding behind my laptop as I type this post - would you like to see him? He's sulking because I have taken the Christmas decorations down and he can no longer play Tarzan on the tinsel!! See you soon - Jacqueline xx

This week at  Simply Stampin'  we have a sketch to follow - take a look Here is my card I used Crumb Cake and Whisper White card stock and my Precious Butterflies stamp set. Inks used were Old Olive Island Indigo and Pool Party. See you soon - Jacqueline xx

It seems that most of us are getting into the spirit of things and being organised by making loads of Christmas cards. So before I too abandon myself to the frenzy I have one more butterfly card to share with you. Stamps used are from the Precious Butterflies Hostess set and the colours are Sage Shadow, Almost Amethyst and Elegant Eggplant. I used my favourite ever punch Boho Blossoms to make the flowers in the centres of the butterfly rings and then added a gem to the centres of the flowers. Dad is having more chemo at the end of this week so I'm taking a few days off to go and stay with him and Mum. I shall still blog as long as make enough cards before I go and I remember to schedule them all correctly!! Bye for now - Jacqueline xx