A Long Time Gone ...

Hello there,

It's been ages since my last post, but I have been having a nightmare of a time with Blogger. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but every time I go to open my blog it redirects it to an advertising page - it's driving me mad!! I have googled how to stop this and ran what seems like millions of antivirus/malware programmes to try and detect the problem - but it's still doing it!!! Aaaaaargh!!

Anyhow, I have managed to get in here today and it is letting me post (for now). So a lot has happened since I last posted, but I won't bore you with all the details. 

We have had a little change round at the shop and some of the staff are now producing the samples to showcase the new product launches at Crafter's Companion, so I thought I would show you one of my samples for the new Mockingbird Lane Perfect Partners collection by Sheena Douglass.

I have absolutely loved playing with these gorgeous little houses - here's the church from the collection ...

The background is made with distress inks, then over stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with white detail powder using the little snowflakes from the collection.

The dies and stamps are so easy to use and I have layered up some of the elements to give a 3D effect. The image is coloured with alcohol markers and I also added a little glitter to the snow areas for some sparkle.

My sample is now proudly residing on the display at the shop for our customers to use for a little inspiration.

I will try not to leave it so long before I post again this time, providing I can get back on Blogger. I would love to hear from you if you have had similar problems, especially if you have managed to fix them!!

Hugz, Jan xx

Enjoy the Moment

Good morning,

I am back at work today, after enjoying a whole week off last week. I had plenty of time to craft and I have been making some home decor items in readiness for a craft fayre at the end of May - I will show you some pictures when I have taken the photos.

I also made this card ready for the new challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz today, and this week Caz has chosen the theme

'SHADES OF BROWN'

So, I thought I would join in on taking up my new post as Guest Designer - here's what I  made after delving through my stash for all things brown ...

I love how this one turned out and actually enjoy making male themed cards now - this blog challenge has certainly taken away my previous hesitations about making cards for men.

I have used a multitude of items from my stash including design papers from LOTV, Tim Holtz and DoCrafts, together with stamps from Sheena Douglass.  I also used some die-cut cogs from the 'Just For Men'  range from Sara's Signature Collection and a little Pebeo gilding wax in King Gold. Like I said, a total mash up of products, but I love the finished design.

Hugz, Jan xx

Whatever Makes You Happy

Hello there everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine - the temperatures here have been unbelievable this week! It has been lovely to spend some time sat out in the garden - I even did some colouring out there yesterday.

So, today we have a brand new theme over at Cardz 4 Galz, and this time Babs has set us the challenge of using

'NO PATTERNED PAPERS'

Now, I must admit, I do love my design papers and do quickly turn to them when making a card - so this challenge was a pleasant change and I decided to get out my distress inks and get messy. Here's what I created for a little inspiration ...

As we have been enjoying all this glorious sunshine, I decided to use some lovely bright colours - I inked up a piece of white card using Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Shabby Shutters distress ink.

I created lots of depth to the colour by using a stencil, a few abstract stamps and a little piece of sequin waste. I stamped the two corners in black and then added some Black Soot distress ink around the edges.

The sentiment (corner stamp and the little dragonflies) are from a set by Sheena Douglass which I got free on a magazine some time ago. 

I die-cut some flowers from a scrap of the inked card and layered them up, with a few punched leaves, to finish the card.

I really enjoyed making my project without delving into my stash of design papers - why not go and check out how the rest of the design team managed without their papers too?

Hugz, Jan xx