Sunset Calm

Once again it is the second Wednesday of the month, so therefore it is time

for a new challenge at Words 2 Craft By. Our quote this month is

"Go Where You Feel Most Alive"

You may interpret this any way you wish.

Personally, I feel most alive when I am alone, but surrounded by 

mother nature, be it flora or fauna.

If you have been reading my blog for several years, you will know that due to

John's serious illness, we had no choice but to sell our farm and move into

a retirement village. 

I miss our farm, and the peace and solitude there more than I could have ever

envisaged. A short walk from the rear of the house, up a wooded hill, took me

to the highest vantage point of our farm, from which I had almost 360o views

into the far distance. Many, many years ago, when we were both young and

strong, we carried a heavy wooden bench seat to the small plateau at the top.

Just a tiny portion of the many magnificent vistas from "my" hill.

On countless late afternoons I would sit there and watch the shadows lengthen

as the sun set, and listen to birds settling down for the night. Also, there would 

often be kangaroos grazing nearby. Almost always, several of my cats would be 

sitting with me, while my horses would graze nearby, sometimes coming up to 

nuzzle me. Sunsets have always had a magical quality for me, and as the golden

light of day faded, I would feel all the tensions of the day disappear with it.

With my card, I have tried to replicate that atmosphere, and I have to admit

that as I have been writing this, the memories have made me a tad teary.

 

Inside my card.

Stamps - Hero Arts Silhouette Grass;  Lavinia (unnamed)
Inks - Versafine Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor Cappuccino Delight (brayered onto gloss cardstock); Distress Ink ?Scattered Straw?
Sentiment peel-off sticker is from my never-decreasing hoard collection


Challenges I would like to enter
Always Fun #62 - 'For A Male/Dad (brother's birthday)
Cards In Envy - "Lets Hear It For The Boys" (brother's birthday)
Crafty Cardmakers #213 - "For A Man/Boy" (brother's birthday)
Get Creative #70 - "Monochromatic"
Retro Rubber #88 - "Anything Goes" (Grass stamp is about 9-10 years old)
Unicorn #33 - "Masculine" (brother's birthday)

For a chance to win a fabulous prize, why not visit Words 2 Craft By, check out the great inspiration by my teamies, then enter your own interpretation of our theme, "Go where you feel most alive".

Until next time, thank you for visiting,
Hugs,
Jennifer. xx

Butterflies and Swirls

Once again it is time for another challenge at Penny's Paper Crafty, and this week our theme is:-

'ANYTHING GOES WITH SWIRLS'

Our very generous sponsors are:-

I was given Summer Breeze, a digital image by Crafty Sentiments, to play with.

The background was created by stamping Hero Arts Fantastic Flourishes 

with pigment ink.

I coloured Summer Breeze with my Promarkers.

I would like to enter the:-
Paper Crafting Journey Challenge- 'Pearls and Swirls'

Image - Crafty Sentiments digi image Summer Breeze
Colouring - Promarkers
Sentiment - Stampin' Up
Dies - Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circles, Scalloped Ovals, Decorative Ovals Eight; Marianne: Cheery Lyn Butterflies 
Flowers, pearl flower centres, and Stickles Star Dust from my junk stash

For a chance to win great prizes, why not visit Penny's Paper Crafty and enter our challenge.
Hugs,
Jennifer. x

Guest Designer

Hello fellow crafters,
Last week I was thrilled to find that I had been chosen as the winner of challenge #27 in ABC Challenges, with this card that I made for my blogger friend, Pauline's birthday.

My prize was to be their Guest Designer for this week's challenge, 

'Make Your Own Stamped Background'

This is my card, using a colour I rarely use, orange. I felt like getting my fingers inky, something else I rarely do, so I made some more of my parchment roses.

For my background paper I used Express Blend-it card, which I normally use for my images that I colour with Promarkers. It is beautiful to work with when using a Resist Technique. I stamped the swirls with Versamark ink, then embossed them with Silver Pearl embossing powder, which creates such a 

luxurious look. 'Tis a pity that did not show up in the photo. I sponged the whole card with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, then wiped it with a facial tissue. It doesn't show, but I lightly sponged the leaves

with Sage Versacube ink.

A closer look at my parchment roses. They have Flower Soft in the centres.

The large one reminds me of the big, soft, highly-scented roses my

Gran used to grow. 

Inside my card co-ordinates with the front.

I would like to enter the following challenges:-

Craft Room - 'Stamp your Own Background Paper'

Crafty Ribbons #46 - 'Anything Goes With Ribbon'

Anything Goes #93 - 'Handmade Backgrounds'

Marianne Design Divas - 'Get Your Dies Out'

Rhedd and Rosie's #7 - 'Blooming Lovely'

Let's Craft and Create #70 - 'Die Cuts'

Milk Coffee - 'Load on the Flowers'

LEJ #54- 'Die Cuts and/or Punches'

Timeless Tuesdays - 'Butterflies'

Everybody Art #237- 'Flowers'

Whoopsidaisy - 'May Flowers' TOP 3

Creative Belli #170 - 'Flowers'

Stamps - Hero Arts Fantastic Florishes; Stampin' Up
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade; Adirondack Butterscotch and Raisin; Versacube Sage; Versamark clear
Dies - Spellbinders Rose Creation, Foliage; Marianne Creatables Double Frames, Frames Swirls
Punch - Carl Butterfly
Embossing Powder - Stamp-It Silver Pearl
Gem - Papermania
Flower Soft, Stickles Icicles, Ribbon, all from my junk stash

Why not pop over to ABC Challenges, see the lovely creations by the regular DT.

Hugs,
Jennifer. x

A Very Special First Birthday

Hello fellow crafters,
A baby's first birthday is always special, but I believe sometimes there is a reason for one to be extra special, and I have made this Fun Fold Card to celebrate one such occasion.

If you have been reading my blog since it began in April, you may remember several posts about a dear little baby boy John and I baby-sit on a regular basis. (John calls him "Tiger", because he is such a little fighter). He has had an incredibly difficult start in life, having had to undergo major heart surgery when 6 months old, which was followed by several serious complications in the ensuing 5 months. In a few weeks time he will celebrate his first birthday, and I finished this card for him last night.

His family don't look at my blog, as they are here at least weekly and see my crafty endeavours first hand, so it is safe to post it now, as I wish to enter it into several challenges.

The card is larger than those I usually make - A5 - thus giving me plenty of room to 'play'.

Isn't this resin bear the cutest little chap. I found him 8 years ago at Esher, at my first ever craft show, while on a visit to London. I bought 2 boy bears, and a cat sitting on a brick wall, but could not bear (ha ha, pardon my pun) to part with them, as I loved them so much. I think however, I have found an occasion special enough to use one of them.

Inside the card, showing where John and I will write our birthday greetings to this dear little boy.

I 'flipped' the image, and 'fussy-cut' a portion of it for the left-hand panel. The image, coloured with Promarkers, was a freebie digital stamp by Beccy Muir at Beccy's Place. Thank you Beccy. I found her blog a couple of weeks ago, and she has lots of lovely images for sale in her shop, including this little cutie.

For the 'detail label' on the back of the card, I used the second smallest die in my new SB 'Floral Ovals'.  The tiny cut-outs are stars, and some of you may have noticed, I glittered a few of them and attached them to the main image panel on the front of the card.

Challenges I would like to enter are -

          Use It Tuesday #40 - 'Use Your Scraps' (yellow backing card, 

                                             mini stars, white fence card, eyelets,)

          Daisy Doodles Creative #68 -'One For The Boys' (Digi)

          Cute Card Thursday #236 - 'Feature Letters/Numbers'      

          Pennies Paper Crafty #95 - 'More Than One Fold'  (Winner)

          Tammy's Scrappin Corner #29 - 'Kiddes Card'  (Top 3)
        Beccy's Place - 'Use One of Beccy's Images'

          Ready Teddy Go #14 - 'How Many Fingers?'
          Charisma Cardz #38 - 'For The Guys'

          My Mum's Craft Shop #76 - 'Stars'

          I Love Promarkers #136 - 'Male'

DP - DCWV  'Glittered Stack'
Alphabet Stamps - Hero Arts 'Balloon Alphas' (coloured with PMs & Stickles 'Stardust')
Dies - Marianne 'Fence & Birdhouse'; Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals' (back of card); Cuttlebug 'Party'
Glittered star (ex Christmas decoration), star eyelets, from my junk stash

Until next time, thank you for visiting and leaving your kind comments. Also, welcome to my new followers.
Hugs,
Jennifer. x

ATCs and More

Hello fellow crafters,
Sadly, my Stamp Camp/Retreat is over for another year. I look forward to it for months, and it feels as if we have barely settled in, and it is time to pack up and travel home. I know many of the other ladies feel the same.

The meals, prepared by Chef Mick, were as always, beautiful, and.....as always, I ate far too much.

Our instructor this year was the very talented Rachael Grieg, of Darkroom Door. We got very inky fingers, but it was such fun, and we learned a lot.

In my previous post I promised to show you some of the ATCs and other projects I had made for the weekend. I did 2 different styles of ATCs, as some people like 'pretty' styles, and others prefer a more grungy style. Below is a selection from the pile I made.

Unfortunately the photo above doesn't show the fact that I had embossed the majority of these ATCs with clear embossing powder. The brick wall card was put through a Tim Holtz embossing folder, swiped with Frayed Burlap distress ink, then clear embossed. The other cards were sponged with distress inks - Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, and Spiced Marmalade, then over-stamped. The tree and birds stamp is by Tim Holtz, while the flowers one is Hero Arts. 

The flower toppers are by Craftwork Cards, coloured with Promarkers; the middle card was embossed using 2 Cuttlebug folders - Swiss Dots and Argyle, then the raised Argyle side was swiped with Milled Lavender distress ink. The round flower stamp is from a very old Hero Arts set. For the 'quilted' cards I ruled squares, coloured them with Promarkers, then drew tiny flowers freehand. I pierced holes around the edges and drew faux stitching. I cut the scissors with a Marianne die.

This is a selection of the vellum flowers I made as samples for the demonstration I did at the Camp. Most are cut with different dies and punches, while some are cut freehand. They are coloured with various dye inks, either with single colours or blended on the flowers. The centres are Flower Soft.

These are the cards I made to thank Pat, Wilma, and Tara for all their hard work organising the Camp. (The photo which includes Tara's card was too blurred to publish). I also gave them a big box of Maltesers each. The toppers are by Craftwork Cards, coloured with Promarkers, and the DPs are First Edition 'Desert Bloom'.

This morning, one of my fur-babies, Pagliacci woke up with a closed eye, so off we went to the vet. The poor old boy (almost 14) has a huge ulcer on his cornea in one eye, and a small one on the other. Goodness knows how they occurred, but I have to put ointment in his eyes 4 or 5 times per day for 5 days. Oh dear, what fun I am in for - he is not known for his cooperative attitude.

As with previous Stamp Camps, we waste very little time sleeping, so I think it is time for me to try to catch up.

Until next time, thank you for looking,
Hugs, Jennifer. x