A Shabby Fairy!

I'm not sure if this card constitutes shabby chic or just shabby! I had great fun making it and I guess that's all that matters! lol! They've got some great challenges going on at the mo at Polkadoodles. This week it's vintage/shabby chic - a great excuse to get the Kraft card out and attack all the edges of the papers with scissors!

The digi stamp, papers and ticket sentiment are all from the Polkadoodles Sugarplum Daisy CD. I made a mask of the image and made some clouds using the ink dusters and tumbled glass distress ink. I coloured the image with copics.

I distressed just about everything with walnut stain distress ink - lightly though not Dawn Bibby style (I do love Dawn but she does love to slather everything in LOTS of walnut stain, lol!)  The circular die cut out of Kraft card is the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock die, a nice change from a doily. The flowers and lace are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The gorgeous ribbon is from my local craft shop - Samuel Taylor's - it's expensive but it sure does look scrummy!!

That's all from me, hope you've had a great day. I'm going to enter the card into the following challenges:


Polkadoodles - Vintage/Shabby Chic
Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes + Kraft

Together Forever

I am officially over the trauma of using that sketch! I'm a much happier bunny today. How super cute is this image? I have a real soft spot for the Crafter's Companion Strawberry Kisses stamp range (but not the CD which is now listed on ebay!).

The image has been coloured with copics and the sentiment is LOTV. There's that tree die again!! It's the Memory Box Arboscello die and if you buy it you won't regret it. It's like 'that' fence die - you'll use it everywhere! (No matter how inappropriate!) The flowery paper is papermania and the blue paper is from the Dreamees 'Forever Florals' Cd.

This was a bit of a super quick card, but I so love the image I thought I'd post it!

I have listed lots of crafty goodies on Ebay as I'm having a proper sort out of my stash. The Joanna Sheen 'If Flowers Could Talk' is listed - sorry for those who love it - I just cannot learn to love the words of Patience Strong and the Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection CD-ROM. Again, only used once but I am such a computer numpty I just can't get to grips with it and I refuse to let it torture me! Hit the ebay listings icon at the top of the page to check out the items.

Big hugs, have a great week, Jayne xx

Jacque's Sketch over at Lili's Little Fairies

Boy, did I get my knickers in a knot with this one! Seriously, how much stress can a sketch cause a person? I'm really not fond of this card but I think we've agreed to disagree!!! You'll do a much better job than me. What WAS I thinking?

I really do love these papers; they were free with a magazine but I'm sure they are by Craftwork Cards. I love this LOTV image too - another purchase at Harrogate. The flowers are WOC and the butterfly and dragonfly are Magnolia Doohickeys. The lovely sentiment is from the Polkadoodles 'Sugarplum Daisy' CD.

I think the less said the better really!! Hope you get to join in this week; there were some stunning entries last week. Don't forget to visit the other Fairy blogs this week - their cards this week are simply stunning.

Enjoy your week! Fairy hugs, Jayne xx

Scrumptious Sugarplum Fairy!

Over at the Polkadoodles Challenge Blog this week the theme is red and white. Could you hear me cheering? :)
I love, love, love this colour combo and it gave me the kick up the bum needed to get colouring! I've used this image because it's my absolute favourite from the Sugarplum Daisy CD (it has so much competition because this CD is fabulous!)

I coloured the scene with copics and just tried to go with the flow a bit more! I printed the scene out twice and cut around the second one to make a mask so that I could put some clouds in. I used the inkylicious ink dusters and Tumbled Glass distress ink. The backing papers are also form the Sugarplum Daisy CD as are the completely fabulous ticket sentiments. I've affixed the tickets with a screw brad from Creative Expressions.

The three pearl pin is from Creative Expressions but the red pearl pin is from the Hobby House. The butterfly, dragonfly and fence are all cut with Magnolia Doohickey dies. The ribbon is from Samuel Taylor's (who have reduced their nestabilities to £15 - yeah for them!). The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The large image scared me a bit as I had to use an 8" x 8" card, but it actually gives you more scope to go mad with embellies and the colouring was much more fun. I haven't enjoyed making anything as much as this in ages. It's not that it's a great card it's just that I used all the embellies I love, I adore the colours and all in all in put real joy in my soul. I think Chris fairy has a point; it does you good to make a card YOU like!!!

Huge thanks to you all for leaving such lovely comments about the Advent Calendar tutorial, it made my day (it took soooooo long to make and write up!).

I'm off for a cuppa and to watch Blue Bloods. Off on a tangent here, but wasn't Stampendous Fran on Create and Craft absolutely the best thing EVER!!!!!

Hugs, Jayne xxx

I'm entering this into:
Polkadoodles - Red and White
My Mums Craft Shop - The Great Outdoors 
Divas by Design - Buttons and/or Bows

Dreamees Advent Calendar - With Tutorial!

Ok, so it may, for normal folk, be a little early to be thinking about the C word, but Carol is taking the Dreamees samples to the NEC in the Autumn and I thought that at that point people would be thinking about the C word. There is logic to my thinking. Sometimes.

The photos are on the dreadful side of awful because I, and not my husband, was in charge of the camera. I'll ask him to take some more!!!!! The beautiful girly papers are from my favourite Dreamees 'Back to Basics' CD. The main image is a digi stamp from the Dreamees 'Seasonal Sweeties' CD. (www.dreamees.org.uk). This is another really useful CD to add to the collection. The snowflakes and little bauble (on which I've stamped the Woodware sentiment) are both from Spellbinders. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

This is the third advent calendar I've made and I'm so fed up with having to hunt around my craft room for hours to find the instructions I thought I'd do a tutorial, as much for me as anyone else!!!! I'm so disorganised. If you fancy having a go at one I really hope that these instructions are of some help.

You will need:

Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro The boxer Board
Scoring tool
Art Institute Glue or the Cosmic Shimmer Glue - something strong and tacky!
Double sided tape
Piece of Card 12"x6"
8 Pieces of Card 6"x6"
24 Pieces of Card 3 1/2" x 4 3/4"
24 Pieces of Card 6 1/2" x 3 1/2"
2 Pieces of Patterned Card 3"
Small Peel Off Numbers
Patterened Paper to Decorate

I really don't want to treat anyone like a numpty so forgive me if you think I've put too much info in here!

Start with making the little boxes.

You will need the 24 pieces of card measuring 3 1/2" x 4 3/4".
On the Boxer board work on the box LID side. Score each piece of card on all 4 sides at 5/8"
Fold and burnish each fold with your scoring tool.

Cut out small triangular slices of card from all 4 corners and glue (it's much stronger that double sided tape).

Now make the box slips. You will need 24 pieces of card 6 1/2" x 3 1/2".
Work on the box BASE side of the scoring board.
Score at 5/8" and fold and burnish the crease. Fold over the crease and put the SCORED edge of the card up against the lip of the Ultimate Pro.

Score again at 2 1/4"

Fold and burnish this crease and then put the scored edge up against the lip of the Ultimate Pro and score again at 5/8".

Fold and burnish the crease and butt the fold up against the lip of the Ultimate and score again at 2 1/4". Fold and burnish this crease.

Glue the short edges together so that you now have something vaguely resembling this:

If you want to put decorative paper liners in the boxes you will need 24 pieces of paper 2 1/8" x 3 3/8" and glue them into the box bases.

Now you need to start assembling the box tower! Onto a piece of the 6" x 6" card glue the box slip bases so they look like this:

On top of this, glue another piece of 6" x 6" card:

Onto this you need to place a further 4 boxes - this time in this configuration (so that a long edge of a box is over the top of a short edge - it makes sense in the picture!):

Again glue a piece of the 6" x 6" card to the top of the box slips and keep adding layers until you've completed all six: (apologies for the shocking photograph!!!!!!!):

Fold the piece of 12" x 6" card at 6" and again at 9" and score. This makes the base of your easel card.
The box on the easel card can be any size you want - it depends on what you're going to put in it. On the picture mine is 1 1/2" square and 3/4" deep. To make this you will need 2 pieces of card 3" square. On the box lid side of the board score at 3/4" on all four sides and repeat this with the second piece of card on the box base side:

Again, cut triangular slices out of the corners and glue.
All that's left is to add the numbers to the boxes and to decorate the easel card. If you work in batches it's really not that bad - my daughter loved her advent calendar and the great thing is, it's reusable!

I hope you haven't lost the will to live reading through all this - a gold star to you if you ploughed through to the bitter end!

Happy, happy crafting and thank you for stopping by! Big hugs, Jayne

Attack of the giant dahlia!

Gosh, this is a blast from the past! I made this ages ago but never posted it. I've made lots of cards this week but they're for a mag commission so I'll have to wait until it's published before I can unleash their full disastrous horror on you!!!! Poor Squirrel has lived and breathed every disaster with me - I have bombarded the poor woman with e-mails detailing every last catastrophe. Wait till you see poor Tilda with her head cut in half. Not been a great week really!!!!!!

This image is the jumbo dahlia stamp from stampendous. It's coloured with copics and I've decoupaged a couple of layers. I've stamped the background with spun sugar distress ink. The sentiment is from Woodware - just nice and normal not all mushy smushy!!!!!!

Hopefully, by tomorrow I'll have the advent calendar finished and might just get a tutorial done to go with it.

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm off to a lovely cafe now for my weekly treat of a cooked breakfast (just egg, beans, tomato and toast - nothing to kill the arteries!!). Hugs, Jayne xx

Diamonds and Pearls over at Lili's Little Fairies

Our challenge this week is, basically, bring on the bling! We are being sponsored by those lovely people at Wild Orchid Crafts so you have every incentive to give this one a whirl.

I love this little stamp (Rosie with a cake), she reminds me of my daughter.The image was coloured with copics and was one of a batch I did whilst at various playgyms over Easter. I only had a few pens so I'm gonna have lots of pink and blue cards!!!! The scrummy papers are from Prima and are from the Meadowlark pack. I've distressed them with some honey coloured acrylic paint. The butterflies are from a Tim Holtz edge die.The flowers and lace are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I've sort of made a start on the mag commission! I've made one card but I'm not sure it fits the bill. It's gonna be a long day!!

Don't forget to check out the other DT blogs; there sure are some stunning cards this week ( I need to know where Bev got that stunning backing paper). Be sure to drop by the Guest DT fairy's blogs - Squirrel, Bonnie and Becky.

Hope to see you playing along this week. Fairy hugs, Jayne

Lashings of Lace!

 

Apologies for the photo - my man took it and seemed not to notice that the ribbon was a tad wonky!!!! Hey-ho, you get the idea. This is another card made mainly using dreamees products (www.dreamees.org.uk).

The image is just the cutest digi stamp from the Seasonal Sweeties CD. I've coloured her dress with blossom and pale blossom promarkers - these have a lovely vintage pink feel to them. All other colouring has been done with copics.

The papers are from (my favourite) Back to Basics CD. There are soooo many pretty papers on this CD and it's just really easy to find co-ordinating papers. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Dreamees and I think they work quite nicely together. I've never been brave enough to try mixing the two, but it looks just fine!

The bigger butterfly is a Magnolia DooHickey and the sentiment is LOTV.

A fellow Mum at school told me I looked like I was losing a lot of weight and pointed to my face in a concerned sort of way. Well, I haven't! I think fat has gone from my face and migrated to my bottom. I now look drawn and haggard with the world's biggest bum. And, I have a cold sore. Really, ladies, I'm a man magnet right now. lol!!!!

I'm in the process of making another chest of drawers advent calendar with the dreamees products. I'm trying to do some photos so that I have a bit of a tutorial to go with it. I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend but I've just got a bit of a head-scratcher of a magazine commission for the beginning of May so it might get put off until next week!

Happy hugs to all, Jayne xxx

Shabby SugarPlum Daisy!

This new Polkadoodles CD is my absolute favourite Polkadoodles product ever! The digi stamps are just fabulous; I can print lots out so that every time I make a pig's ear of colouring one I can just move on to the next. Excellent!

I really love this colour combo; it's ideal for those of us who are a bit grubby and shabby around the edges! The papers are from Bo Bunny (Gabrielle Paper Pack) and are really lovely - not a duff paper in the whole pack. I assaulted the kraft card and dps with scissors to distress them :) and then attacked them some more with walnut stain distress ink. The ticket, I'm sure, is a stamp from stampingallday - will check for the website as it's great quality.

 The image is from the Sugarplum Daisy CD and I coloured her with copics and promarkers (because I LOVE the soft green and tea green promarkers!) The little tags are from Maya Road and the Weathered Clock die is one of Tim Holtz's Sizzix dies. The flowers and ribbon are from WOC.

Just a quick note about fabulous customer service from Letraset. I received a couple of sets of flexmarkers as a gift for subscribing to a magazine. Two of the pens don't work so I e-mailed letraset. Quick as a flash I received a reply telling me they would send replacements. Now, if only ALL companies cared about us customers like that!

 Wasn't it a hugely sad weekend for sport? Hugely sad for the family of young Piermario Morosini, the Italian footballer who died after collapsing mid game.  Also enormously sad to see Synchronized and According to Pete lose their lives at the Grand National. Methinks that if five jockeys had died at Cheltenham and another two at the Grand National safety would most definitely be higher on the agenda. Sorry, it makes me super cross.

Big hugs to all, especially to all those who have hit a rough patch. Hugs, Jayne xxx

I'm entering this card into the following:

Wild Orchid Crafts - Spring is in the air
 

I'm such a naughty Fairy!

Oooh, I've been such a naughty girl! I can't bring myself to own up to just how many LOTV stamps I've bought this last month but it's a lot!!! My man took me to the LOTV shop today and my daughter kept saying 'buy this Mummy it's so cute'. I kept having to say 'erm, I have that one darling' in the end my husband exclaimed 'No wonder I'm poor!'. Boys are SUCH drama queens!

Anyhoo, this is one of the new ones (!) called Patchwork Butterfly. Now, this is my first go with colouring with distress inks but I didn't have the right card. I now have some Bristol Board and will give it another go at the weekend. As Squirrel rightly pointed out it was quite difficult to move the ink around on this watercolour paper. Rome wasn't built in a day and I can only improve !!!! lol!
I can't remember what these papers are called but they're Papermania - will get back to you. I put the butterfly paper on upside down. Genius!

The punch is Martha Stewart, the dragonflies and tag are Magnolia Doo Hickeys. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I'm running out so I shall have to go and drool at their website (I can NEVER stick to my list!)

I just want to say a huge congrats to Squirrel, Bonnie and Becky our new Guest Designers over at Lili's Little Fairies. We are very lucky to have you ladies (and woodland creature!) on the DT. I'm really looking forward to working with you.

NCIS tonight - for goodness sake when will Tiva get it together! Have a fabulous weekend, hugs, Jayne x

Lili's Little Fairies - 'Transport'

Hmmm, this one caused quite some (hilarious) discussion at Fairy Towers this week! Hands up; this was my suggestion! I was thinking along the lines of stamps with boats, planes, bikes etc - I was trying to persuade you all to use the fabulous but much under-used boy LOTV stamps!!! However, as the ridiculously hilarious Elise pointed our Fairies (with wings!!!!!!) have their own method of transportation. Who am I to argue? So, go with what takes your fancy. The Land Ahoy stamp is my second favourite LOTV stamp so this week was a no brainer.

I bought these Rusty Pickle papers in a set from Create and Craft and I LOVE them! They're just super fun! The sentiment is cut from one of the sheets and the length of material is from the same kit. The rosette was made using the Tim Holtz decorative strip die and my fab glue gun (any excuse to unleash the glue gun!). For a nice change I finished the card and decorated the inside to match. Oooh, get me, finishing a card! The skull and crossbones is from a set of stamps from Woodware.

Get joining in this week - we have scrummy Ribbon Girl goodies up for grabs! The DT have done some stunning work this week so please visit them if you get a chance.

I'm in the middle of a truly hideous week but I'm hoping somehow things work themselves out. I can't even craft when I'm stressed out! I have, though,  got a huge (and most delicious) apple pie from Asda - life's not all bad.

Thank you for swinging by; I love to hear from you. Fairy hugs, Jayne xx

I'm going to enter this into:
Joanna Sheen - It's a Man's World 
Papertake Weekly - April Showers/Water water everywhere 
Simon says Stamp - April Showers

Pretty in shabby chic peach!

I made this some time ago whilst in my peach phase but wasn't sure about it so never got around to posting it! I'm still feeling dizzy and fuzzy in the head so I've not made a card in the last few days. I have been taking my daughter to playgyms and taken some colouring with me. I got some funny looks - a grown woman sat colouring! You know that 'are you some sort of whack job?' kinda look! The thing is, I only took a few of my pens so all my images are blue and pink!!!!! Genius!

So, back to the card. I made the easel with the scalloped circle grand nesties. The utterly scrummy papers are from Pion Designs - I hate chopping into expensive paper, it gives me the cold sweats!!!! The image and cute as a button sentiment are from LOTV. The beautiful organza rose is from Creative Expressions - I think they are now discontinued! I have no idea why - they are soooo lovely. The leaves are from the spellbinders foliage die set and the hearts are from the Cheery Lynn heart doily die set.

The lovely Squirrel has given me some tips on colouring with distress inks so that's going to be my new challenge. I'd always wanted to give it a go but when I found the gallery on Squirell's blog it was the kick up the bum I needed to give it a go. If you get a chance to check Squirrel's blog and gallery it's WELL worth a visit - she gives proper advice to the beginner on where to start. Thank you Miss Squirrel - you're a top bird and not even close to being a whack job!!!!

I'm entering this into:

Kaboodle Doodles : New Life challenge
Craft Your Passion - Shaped Cards

Big hugs to all, Jayne xx

Triple Dreamee Delight!

I am just loving the backing papers on the Back to Basics Dreamees CD. The papers are in colour categories so you don't need to spend an age wading through the CD to find papers that match. Yeah! If you're looking for somewhere to start a craft CD collection I think this CD would be the ideal place.

I loved this Dreamees plant pot stamp when I used it to make the red white polka dot card a while ago. I really wanted to give the shabby chic look a go with it and these papers were perfect. I've coloured the plant pots with copics (E40,E42,E43) and distressed the edges of practically everything (!) with walnut stain distress ink. The zip rose is from Creative Expressions and the two flowers are from Dreamees. The leaves are from the foliage die set from Spellbinders. The fence is from Dreamees and the dragonfly is a Magnolia DooHickey. The ticket sentiment is from the Sugarplum Daisy CD from Polksdoodles. Here's a 'top' shot!!

Again on this next one the papers are from the Dreamees Back to Basics CD and the stamp is also from Dreamees - I'm loving this yellow and blue combo.

This blue ribbon was from my stash and was a great colour match. The white doily was cut using the Cheery Lynn French Pastry doily die; it's a great size and really useful.The flowers are from WOC and the pins are from Creative Expressions. I love the fresh spring-like feel to this card. It lifts the spirit!

How fabulous are these purple backing papers? See, I told you that this CD was a must have!! This Dreamees tree stamp was a great excuse for me to use this Memory Box Arboscello tree die again. The stamp, papers and fab fence are all from Dreamees. The flowers are from WOC.

Check out the Dreamees website for more info about the CD and stamps.

That's it from me today, the world is spinning and I need a lie down and a cup of tea. Big hugs, Jayne xx

I'm entering the brown easel card into the Kaboodle Doodles - Anything but a rectangle challenge

CALLING ALL KNITTERS!!!

My teamie Dawny P has asked if any knitters out there could help make baby jumpers or beanie hats for 'fish and chip' babies in Africa. Please visit her blog (link here) and help if you can. If, like me, all you can knit is a scarf then please help by spreading the word. Thank you for all your help!

Hopefully I'll be back later to post the 3 Dreamees cards I finished today, but the dizziness is utterly hideous today so won't promise.

Big hugs, hope you're having a fabulous Easter, Jayne xx

Lili's Little Fairies - Buttons and Bows

This week's challenge was another of my suggestions so if you absolutely hate it you can blame me!! But really, what's not to like - ribbon and buttons - my craft room is stuffed full of both. Actually, my button jar is also full of dog hair and bits off the floor 'cos my daughter keeps tipping the jar out! lol!!!!

 

This is going to be one of those vague posts because I made the card a couple of weeks ago and I'm a bit hazy on the detail!!! The backing papers are possibly Forever Friends - aren't they cute and SUCH scrummy colours. I love this LOTV image especially because it doesn't show up my terrible colouring as much as some!! The tag and dragonfly are Magnolia DooHickeys and the doily is the Cheery Lynn French Pastry die. The pins, flowers and ribbon are WOC.

Hope you get a chance to join us this week. We had sooooo many gorgeous entries last week - picking a top 3 was so tough. Thank you for joining in; I get so much inspiration visiting all the amazing blogs. 

I so hope this dizziness gets better soon; still I'm not eating as much so I may be dizzy but I have a smaller bum! Ahhh, my glass is always half full!

Super fairy hugs, Jayne xx

Entering this card into :
Wild Orchid Crafts - Things with Wings
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Buttons and Bows

Snow and Summer Flowers!

I'm confused. Last week was super hot; my daughter was going to school in her Summer dress and even I took my cardy off! Today, we've built a big snowman in the back garden!!!! What is going on? I was going to post this card days ago when it was sunny but I'm in the midst of another bout of dizziness. It was slightly better yesterday but not too good today. I'm hoping some rest might see it off. Grrrrr!!!

 

I picked up this Wild Rose Studio stamp (In the Meadow) and paper pack (Anabelle's Meadow) at Harrogate. I'd been hankering after them for a while and I'm glad I succumbed as they really are delish. I also got to use my new Memory Box Puffy Cloud dies! I have been after these for months but they kept selling out!! In the end I think I got them from My Mums Craft Shop The fence is the Magnolia DooHickey - okay so I'm struggling to make a card without the fence at the minute. The flowers and ribbon are from WOC.

I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with my LLF dt card. I'm so glad I got a couple of weeks ahead before this dizziness struck; not being able to craft makes me miserable!!

I'm going to sort out entering this card into some challenges when the world isn't moving quite so fast!! In the meantime have a great week. Big (dizzy) hugs, Jayne xx

Wags and Whiskers - Say it with Flowers

Part Time Tuesday - Flowers

Crafter's Companion - Four Legged Friends
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
All Sorts - Photo Inspiration - I chose the pinks and greens
Simon Says Stamp - Favourite Tool - Grand Calibur (what else!!!)
Colour Me Creative - Spring Pretties