ALLSORTS DT CREATION

Good morning everyone

It is time for another new challenge to be launched over on the Allsorts Challenge blog.

This week the theme has been chosen by my lovely team mate Emma and she has chosen to challenge you to make a card/ gift for Mothers Day or for someone who is like a mum to you...................

This week we have a new sponsor .. .. .. My Favorite Things and although they do lots of images too I chose to make my card just using their papers.

It is a bit of a different card for me this week as it doesn't feature an image - but I like it nonetheless.

This used:

Papers: My Favorite Things "Holiday collection - olive"
Cricut Cartridges: "Home Accents" for the swirls and "George and Basic Shapes" for the letters and heart
Flower: Made up of several Prima Hydrangea Petals
Pearls and brad from the stash box

I hope that you get the chance to play along this week and don't forget to pop over and see if you were the winner of my challenge last week .. .. .. or one of my Top 5!

Thanks for calling by and have a good weekend.

Love Jules xx

NOT QUITE SO BRIGHT .. ..

Good Morning All

Not quite so bright this morning .. .. .. but I still managed a quick photograph.

Cards don't get much simpler than this - and yet I am really pleased and really excited about this one. Why?!?!?!?? .. .. .. ..Well a few reasons really.

I don't know about you but I have a mountain of little scraps of paper that I just don't have the heart to throw away because "I am sure they will come in useful one day"!!!

Well this card used up a teeny tiny little bit of that scrap paper so I now envisage this card in a few different colour combinations and my paper pile can reduce slightly.

Also this card is suitable for men, women, boys and girls .. .. .. .. a card for all and it is really quick to make if you are in a hurry!!! Yippee!! If I make about 70 cards like this that will be my birthday cards made for the rest of the year. LOL!!! (Well I don't see that happening).

This used:

Image: Hero Arts CL287 "Big Candles"
Backing Paper: Pink Petticoat
Diamond Stickles
3D Foam Strip
Ribbon and Gems from the stash box

Another reason I love it is that there wasn't lots of fiddly cutting out to do either. All simply cut and the candles were mounted on the card with 3D foam to give a bit of depth. I drew the wick on the candles myself as there wasn't one on the stamp and it looked strange to me to have flames in the air without one!!

I am a bit worried that the flame on the left is a bit close to the ribbon .. .. but hopefully my card won't be a pile of ashes when I get home tonight LOL!!!

Have a good day, whatever you are doing and take care. Thanks for calling by.

Love Jules xx

THINGS MUST BE IMPROVING

Hi Everyone

Things must be improving .. .. .. I have been able to make and photograph a card "before" leaving for work!!!

Lighter mornings are coming!! Yay!!!

So here is the very quick card I made this morning - using "one" of my favourite Penny Black stamps.

This used:

Image: Penny Black 3377K "Whispers"
Background Paper: Pink Petticoat "Big Fella"
Nail heads: Josy Rose
Diamond Stickles
Promarkers
Ribbon from the stash box

Well off to work for me now!!

Catch you again soon folks .. .. .. have a good day!!

Love Jules xx

PENNY BLACK CHALLENGE WEEK 89

Hi Everyone

I hope that you all had a good weekend.

I fancied playing along with the Penny Black Challenge this week. It is a colour combo challenge and they are wanting to see pink, green and yellow on your creations.

Well I have managed to sneek a bit of each in here:

This used:

Image: Penny Black 3702J "Jump for Joy"
Backing Papers: Funky Hand "Dreams Come True" CD
Spellbinders Nestabilities "Large Deckled Rectangles"
Fiskars: Threading Water Punch
Bosskut: Die #0618 "Small Daisy"
Leone Em Pty: CP30 "Ash Branch"
Brads and Ribbon from the stash box

Hoping for mega production today ahead of work tomorrow - so off I go to it again!!

Take care everyone and thanks for calling by.

Love Jules xx

ALLSORTS DT CREATION

Morning folks

Saturday morning and another Allsorts Challenge day. This week it is my turn to set the challenge and I have gone for "a label, tag or ticket" on your creation.

I chose this theme well in advance and then later heard that we have a new sponsor for my week .. .. .. .. "Digital Inc Co" .. .. .. .. and we were all given a lovely image to work with.

I gained a gorgeous Japanese lady and suddenly thought .. how do I get a label, tag or ticket to work alongside it?!?!?!? All the ideas I had when I set the theme went out of the window and I ended up doing the following:

This used:

Image: Digital-Ink Co
Background paper: Funky Hand "Dreams Come True" CD
Promarkers
Punches to make roses, leaves and my label
Gold Glamour Dust
Nailheads: Josy Rose
Ribbon and cord from the stash box

I hope that lots of you get chance to play along this week as the prize will be 3 images of your choice from Digital-Ink Co.

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see what my lovely team mates have created with their images .. .. .. they are wonderful!!

Have a great weekend everyone .. .. .. we gained a little bit of snow in the night but I think today is supposed to be bright and beautiful.

Thank you so much for calling by.

Love Jules xx

MOTHER'S DAY MAKE

Hi Again

Well today is going well. Mother's Day cards are lining up nicely.

Just thought I would share one of them quickly with you whilst the light is reasonable.

This used:

Image: Hero Arts Cling Stamp CG137 "Thanks Flowers"
Backing Papers: Funky Hand CD "Funky Daze"
Sentiment: Computer Generated
Nestabilities: Small Deckled Mega Rectangles
Martha Stewart Punch: Embossed Zig-Zag
Promarkers
Button and ribbon from the stash box

See you again tomorrow with my Allsorts DT creation when it is my turn to set the challenge!!!

Thanks for calling by.

Love Jules xx

WHERE DOES MY TIME GO ????!!!!

Hi Everyone

Where does the time go? I am getting a bit worried .. .. .. the weeks are flying by too quickly .. .. .. is this a sign that I am getting old!!! My late MIL used to tell me that the older you get the quicker your days go. That's a shame because that means eventually I will no sooner be waking up than it will be time to go back to bed!! LOL!!!

I have made lots of creations this week but unfortunately have had to pass them on before I have had the opportunity to take a decent photograph (roll on Summer). This is the problem when you craft at "daft o'clock" in the morning and evening LOL!!

Today is going to be a mammoth Mother's Day card making session for me (in fact it might even continue into the weekend too). Lots of orders .. .. .. some of which have come from the Valentine Day card recipients. The ladies who received my cards over the weekend loved them and are now placing orders of their own for Mother's Day! Lovely stuff!

I am hoping to be back later with one of my creations of the day but just thought I should make an appearance to let you all know of another wonderful giveaway from Sir Stampalot.

You can find out how to be part of the continuing excitement by clicking to go to Brenda's blog here.

In fact each week until 1st April there will be a Hero Goody Bag giveaway.

So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning.. .. .. not much really:

* Just leave a comment on any of the posts Brenda adds to her blog between now and midnight GMT next Monday 22nd February.

and

* Add the goody bag picture to your blog with this link to help spread the word.

The challenge starts proper on the 1st April but there are going to be lots of goodies on offer in the run up to the launch.

Right then, off to be creative and I will hopefully see you all again later.

Love Jules xx

MY CRAFT FEST IS OVER

Hi Folks

Well the excitement of my long crafting Valentine weekend is nearly over :-(

Back to work tomorrow.

But hey .. .. .. I need to get my craft stash pennies from somewhere.

I also need to collect some money for the Valentine cards I made for some of the chaps at work .. .. .. .. it was a real eye opener seeing things from a man's point of view.

To me a Valentine card is a bit soppy and lovely dovey and is meant to tell your special someone how you feel.

Well yes, this is what some of the men wanted .. .. .. but not all!

Some wanted Valentine cards that didn't mention the word "love"!!!

Some wanted "funny ones" .. .. .. and I was asked "did I have one with a dog on the front?". I daren't ask why and just said "no, sorry".

I then said "I do have a stamp of a pig holding a heart and perhaps I should have done some that said "I might be a pig .. .. but I'm yours".

I thought they would be insulted by this but no .. .. .. .. .. that would have been perfect and why hadn't I done one like that!!!

It was such a laugh. But I had the last one. The chaps were saying how nice my cards were and how they couldn't believe I had made them .. .. .. .. I politely said "thank you" and finished off by saying "I do wedding stationery too if any of you are thinking of proposing for Valentines".

Deathly silence fell across the room. LOL!!!!

So, just in case you are interested .. .. .. in my little survey of men and Valentine cards I have decided that the quiet ones are the romantic ones!!!

I can't wait to hear what the ladies thought of their cards. Yesterday, I was imagining them opening their cards and was hoping they were pleased.

I know .. .. .. .. I am soppy in the extreme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the meantime here is a quick share of a birthday card I made for my son to give to the female drummer in one of his bands. I made this a little while ago now but it is fine for me to share it as the birthday is "long gone".

This used:

Images are all : Inkadinkado 98693 "Rock Star"
Backing Papers: DCWV Rockstar Mat Stack
Sentiment and Alphabet for name: Pink Petticoat
Brads, flowers and ribbon from the Stash box

I hope you have all had a good Monday - thanks for calling by.

Love Jules xx

SPECIAL CHALLENGE AND BLOG HOP RESULTS

Hi Everyone

To begin with "Happy Valentine's Day". I hope you are all able to do something you "love to do" on this special day.

The excitement surrounding the wonderful blog hop and special Stampalot Challenge has come to an end (sort of) and below are all the lucky winners of all the various prizes.

How generous of Sir Stampalot to provide all this lovely stash!!

Challenge winners are:

1st - Emma - UK - Big Shot and dies

2nd - Lina - Sweden - Assorted embellies, ribbons etc.,

3rd - Sue - UK - Penny Black stamp

Blog hop winners:

Lorraine - Josephine -UK - Embellies & cardstock
Francesca - Michelle - UK - Embellies, flowers, stickers
Chris - Diane - UK - Cardstock, embellies, ribbon
Jules - Amelie - Sweden - Stamp Happen stamp & envies
Clare - Tammy - USA - Hero stamp and sentiments
Tracy - Sarah - UK - Papers, buttons and ribbons
Debby - Nikbee - Australia - Hero stamp and sentiments
Sally - Sannas - Finland - Stampendous stamp & envies
Julia - Kari - Norway - DP's, ribbons & buttons
Pinky - Mirabella - Poland - Stampendous stamps

Winner of the Blog Hop solution which was "We have Moved"

Debbie M - Hampton Art stamp, embellies & ribbons

Congratulations to everyone who won a prize, please email Brenda at brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full names and postal addresses.

Commiserations to everyone who didn't win a prize - but the good news is that Sir Stampalot have now decided to make challenges a regular feature with the next one starting on 1st April!

Keep your eye on Brenda's blog for more news. You will hear it there first!!!

Have a lovely rest of the weekend.

Love Jules xx

ALLSORTS DT CREATION

Good morning everyone

Saturday .. .. again!!! So time for yet another Allsorts Challenge to be launched.

This week it has been set by my lovely teamie "Debs" - and her theme is a recipe challenge where you need to use 3 of one thing, 2 of another and 1 of something else. "A recipe with a difference" - the difference being that you decide what your 3, 2, 1 items are going to be.

This week the prize has been donated by our regular monthly sponsor - Digistamp Boutique. Thank you Sally-Anne.

Some of the DT have used some of Sally-Anne's images on their creations so make sure you go over and take a peep at them. Sally-Anne has also provided us with one of your lovely creations too.

Here is what I created:

This used:

Image - Digistamp Boutique "Single Flower"
Background papers - Pink Petticoat
Martha Stewart Punch - Embossed Zig Zag
ProMarkers
Buttons, Brad and ribbon from the stash box

My 3, 2, 1 items being - 3 brads, 2 buttons and 1 ribbon.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and I look forward to seeing what you have created.

Today is the last day for entering the special blog hop and challenge that is being sponsored by Sir Stampalot. You can read all about both here - if you haven't already taken part.. .. .. but you only have today left. Closing date and time for entries is midnight GMT tonight !! So no pressure LOL!!!!!!

Thanks for calling by.

Love Jules xx

I LOVE FRIDAY !!!

Hi Everyone

I love Friday .. .. .. it marks the start of the chance to do lots of crafting .. .. and I certainly have lots to do!!

Does anyone else have the same brain as me and no matter what you are doing you are trying to plan a creation or a new layout in your head? Do you have masses of little sketches scribbled on scraps of paper where you have doodled whilst talking on the phone etc.

Then the weekend comes and I try to use all of the ideas I have been planning and doodling during the week!!

Oh I am so sad!!! Get a life Jules !!!!!!

Anyway, here is a little creation that is just perfect for me. My second most favourite place in the world (the first being sat in front of my crafty goodies).

I just love a hot bubbly bath!!

This creation used:

Image: The Greeting Farm "Me Time Anya"
Backing Papers: Funky Hand "Funky Word Books"
Acrylic Stones: Josy Rose
Promarkers
Glamour Dust
Diamond Stickles
Ribbon from the stash box

Of course this weekend will also be an extra special "love" weekend and guess what I got today..

How lucky am I?

My lovely hubby arranged for them to be delivered today so that I could enjoy them today and all weekend.

I am so spoilt.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and don't forget that the special Stampalot Challenge ends at midnight tomorrow!! There is still time to take part in the blog hop or the card making challenge if you get your skates on.

See you tomorrow with my Allsorts DT creation. Our new DT member will be showing off her first Allsorts DT creation too (it is gorgeous).

Love Jules xx

A SUPER QUICK POST

Hi Everyone

A super quick share - just before I head off to work.

Nothing spectacular about this one other than the fact that I love it and don't want to give it away!! LOL!!!

This share features one of my loves "Messy Rabbit".

This used:

Image: Joanna Sheen MR132 "Butterfly"
Heart: Hero Arts CL406 "Buttons"
Backing Paper and sentiment: Pink Petticoat
Promarkers
Nail Heads: Josy Rose

I jinxed myself the other day by saying that it was brighter for taking photographs!!! Really struggled with this one. LOL!!

If I get chance to get a better picture and change this one then I will.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Love Jules xx

ONE TO DO A LOT OF

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday!!!

I love Sunday .. .. .. which is a sign that I am now a grown up!!

When I was a child they seemed to last for ever and nothing exciting hardly ever happened .. .. .. it was like you were just sitting waiting for school the next day!! Plus it always involved last minute homework, washing your hair, having a bath and cleaning your shoes!!!!!

We would watch a film on a Sunday and sometimes (but only sometimes) we would be sent to the shop to buy some sweets to eat whilst watching. This would be a real treat as sweets were quite rare in our house as was pop or fruit juice.

If Mum and Dad were feeling a bit "flush" they would share a box of Maltesers or Fruit Pastels .. .. .. .. if they weren't quite so "well off" that week they would have a quarter of sherbet lemons!

My brother and I would be given a few pennies (these were the old pennies not the ones we have today) and I would always try and choose something that would last for ages like Spangles or Fruit Gums .. .. .. other times I would have little "pip" things. They were little teeny tiny boiled things with what looked like icing sugar on them. I suppose this stopped them sticking together. They lasted for ever. Of course my pennies wouldn't run to a quarter - I would only be able to have two ounces but they lasted ages as I only ate them one at a time. LOL!!!

I can't remember what my brother chose or what we took back for my sister but because my brother was older he was probably "allowed" chewing gum and because my sister is so much younger she probably had something like a Milky Bar.

Happy days!! How I would love one of those days again - for us all to be together as a family back then. But make it a Sunday where I have done my homework already .. .. I don't want to have to sit and do that again!! LOL!!!!

So, round to my creation for today.

This is one I really enjoyed making and I have already made three of. I think this will be one I shall adapt for some of my orders for Mothering Sunday (14th March), birthdays, get well and thank you!! So versatile.

The cutting out is a bit fiddly but you can do this anywhere. I sat cutting whilst chatting with my Mum last week and came home with a lovely little collection ready for colouring and layering. I am loving the stamp set and have only used one of the flowers so far!!

This used:

Image: Hero Arts CL375 "Big Flower Pattern"
Backing Paper: Funky Hand "Dreams Come True"
Sentiment: Elzybells
Swirl: Sizzix Die 655217 "Swirl"
Promarkers
Glamour Dust
Ribbon and brad from the stash box

Oh aren't these slightly brighter days just lovely for taking photographs!! Spring is just around the corner!!

Happy Sunday everyone. Don't eat too many sweets!! LOL!!!

Love Jules xx

ALLSORTS DT CREATION

Hi everyone

Saturday morning is here .. .. .. and time for another Allsorts Challenge.

Last week we had a DT call over at Allsorts so we have all been very busy looking at all the many, many applications. Thank you very much to everyone who applied.

Today though launches another "normal challenge" with a gorgeous prize. Make sure you pop over and check out the prize and the inspiration provided by all the DT.

The challenge has been set by my lovely teamie Brenda .. .. and she wanted us to get distressed with button(s) and a bow.

This took quite a few of us out of our comfort zone but I must admit I quite enjoyed doing something which is "a little different for me".

Here is what I created (it might be my hubby's valentine card) :

and this creation used lots of things I have never used before!!!

Backing paper: Memory Store
Stamped script image: "32531" Elusive - Script Background (I have been wanting this stamp for ages now and finally invested!!).
Cuttlebug embossed heart set
Copper Foil
Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks (Currant, Denim and Cranberry)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Spiced Marmalade
Sentiment: Computer generated
Flowers, button, brads, ribbon and flowers from the stash box

I was really happy playing with so many "different things".

The copper foil was put through my cuttlebug using the embossed hearts set and I then painted them with the Alcohol Inks. I was just so pleased with the finished result. The inspiration came from a craft magazine but unfortunately I couldn't get the supplies they recommended so had to "adapt" LOL!!

I also used the inks on the button. It was a metal button with a shank and I threaded the flower stems through the shank.

I am hoping you likey likey as much as I do!! Not quite my normal "clean look" .. .. .. but it is nice to be a bit "messy" sometimes.

Have a brilliant weekend everyone.

Love Jules xx

FUN ON A FRIDAY

Hi Everyone

A share today that is another one I made using the brilliant Funky Hand CD "Dreams Come True".

I am beginning to see a theme running through the projects I am posting using this CD .. .. .. I always seem to use papers from the dark colour collections!!!

This is a shame because there are so many bright and beautiful colours and patterns on there. I must leave a post-it note by the computer to say "choose a vibrant colour range this time!!!" LOL!!!

One of the good parts about this CD is that you actually load it onto your computer - no seeking out CDs and booting up your computer with them. It is just sitting there all the time on my desktop waiting to be played with!!!

This used:

Funky Hand CD: "Dreams Come True" Papercraft Factory for the backing papers and the "Love" letters
Cuttlebug: Embossed Heart set
Fiskars: Threading Water Punch

Martha Stewart: Frond Punch
Woodware: Flower punch for making the flowers I am beginning to wish Brenda had never shown me how to make!! (only joking Brenda - I love them - but can't stop making them!!).
Eyelets, pearls and thread from the stash box

I don't think that you will have any problem finding a heart today!! LOL!!!

Anice is back on the TV again tomorrow Create and Craft .. .. 11.00am.

So reserve the best seat in the house or get your TV set to record. There will be lots of inspiration from Anice and my Funky Hand teamies.

I also used this card in the "By the Cute and Girly" love challenge this month. There are quite a few entries appearing on the challenge blog - well worth a little look-see. Lots of lovely prizes on offer too.

Take care everyone and I will see you again tomorrow with the next Allsorts Challenge.

Love Jules xx