Hi and welcome, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are now enjoying a little rest and relaxation!!!! Perhaps you were lucky enough to receive some crafting goodies from Santa which can be experimented with.

The Christmas card pictured below was made using 2 of my favourite stamp sets one from Crafty Individuals and the other from PaperArtsy. If you would like to see the different stages of making this card I have included a link to The Craft Barn Blog where all will be revealed here.

I would just like to wish you all A Very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year with lots of Craftyness added in. Take Care and see you all in 2017.

Jane x

"Bling It Up" Tag

Good evening and welcome, today I've been cracking on with some things ready for Christmas and thought I would share this tag with you. I would like to enter this for The Craft Barn 2 Weekly Challenge titled 'Bling it Up'.

Apart from adding the 'sparkley' bits the challenge also includes the colours purple, turquoise and green! I know turquoise and purple are often put together for Christmas decorations but the addition of green had me hooked.

So to begin with I started with a large manilla tag and dabbed on some Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Pansy using a small piece of cut and dry. Then once this was completely dry added some Tumbled Glass DI using a blending tool.

Next I coloured some Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste with a little Dreamweaver Metallic F/X in Kiwi. This was then spread through a reindeer stencil by Tando Creative. The stencil was removed, cleaned and replaced, then green glitter was added to the still wet reindeer.

I did not pile the glitter on too thick as I wanted the lighter green of the paste to show through in parts so as to vary the shades of green. Once dry a turquoise gem was added for an eye and a small bronze bell attached with invisible thread.

Then using just part of the main stamp from Jofy 06 the star and baubles were stamped in VersaMark ink and brushed with antique green Cosmic Shimmers Mica Powder and the sides of the tag were also stamped using the VersaMark ink and then clear heat embossed with 'Jingle bells'.

Finally a light turquoise/green ribbon was tied to the top. The shimmer on the hanging stars etc doesn't show that well in the photo but I am very pleased with the effect the reindeer has against the painted background.

If you are making some cards or other creations over the next few days give this colour combination a go and enter the Craft Barn Challenge and be in for a chance of winning a £10 voucher to spend on line in the shop.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a good week, take care and keep warm as it looks like it's going to be a "Chilly" one.  Jane X

The Wicked Witches' Residence !

Hi, yesterday I had a fun time creating a 'Spooky' Halloween card which I would like to enter for The Creative Carte Blanche Challenge Witchy Woman and The Craft Barn 2 weekly Challenge Pumpkin and Bat.

I started by cutting 2 houses using Tim Holtz Rickety House die, one in spotty co-ordinations card and one from card that had been coloured with Fresco Chalk Acrylic paints.

Once I'd worked out which window went  where I sanded the black die cut house and rubbed areas with Treasure Pewter.

Next I stamped the bat, pumpkin, broom, and hat onto scrap card and clear embossed so as two make cutting out a little easier. These were coloured with Distress Makers and a silver Pro-Marker.

The banner was cut from kraft card using Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Banners die and stamped with Wicked Witch and heat embossed in black.

The card blank was coloured using Distress inks in Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky and Pumice.

The cobwebs were added using pumice.

I don't normally make Halloween cards but I must admit this was fun to construct and I think the bat is quite evil!!

There is no visible witch in this project so I hope the Creative Carte Blanche will accept this entry.

Many thanks for stopping by, I hope your weekend is full of fun and relaxing things, maybe even some crafting!

Take Care, Jane X

Thrilling News----

Hi and welcome, today I am thrilled and excited to be able to tell you that I've been chosen to join The Craft Barn Blog Design Team. There was recently a post asking for people interested to apply and as I had been a customer of the shop at Lingfield and then Nutfield I felt a strong connection with the business which I wanted to continue.

We were having a couple of nights away in the camper van when I  found out I was one of the lucky 3 to be accepted and I was so chuffed and excited. A few days later the list of themes/topics arrived and I am now preparing various projects for the next couple of months.

My first sample was accepted and went out on the blog entry titled Alcohol Inks and Yupo.

To see how I made this card and a tag click here.

This weeks theme is Dimensional Crafting which I love, so had to add this to my chosen list. There have been 2 samples by other team members on the blog which are both very different and stunning. One is a gorgeous altered tin and the other a beautiful die-cut and stamped bird cage. 

To see these wonderful pieces grab a coffee and pop over to  The Craft Barn.

My entry will be posted tomorrow so to find out what I made with these embellishments please head over and have a peep.

Thank you as always for stopping by today and please do have a look at The Craft Barn's blog and maybe enter one of their 2 weekly challenges. See you soon and take care, Jane X.

Good evening and welcome, today after downloading some recent photos taken will we were away for a few nights in our camper van I found myself looking at this particular picture of a beautiful sunset.

The silhouette of the tree on the right made me think of a Crafty Individuals stamp set 367 ----- so off to the work bench I went.

The background was made using shaving foam and alcohol inks.

I printed off several pieces of card and tags for future use.

The image was then stamped in black Versa fine ink, cream lace attached underneath the image and some raspberry pink ribbon.

The wonderful sentiment from CI 410 was stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson onto a spare piece of white card then cut out using a die from Spellbinders ribbon banners LG. the edges were then lightly brushed with Seedless Preserves DI.

I was very pleased with the background and feel the colours gave the effect I was hoping to achieve.

I would like to enter this card for ;

The Craft Barn Challenge Around the House.

and

Crafty Individuals Challenge Clean and Simple.

Thank you for stopping by tonight, hope you have a good week and take care  Jane x

Stamping onto Linen

Hi, today I had a spare hour or so and thought I should really make a couple of cards ready for general birthday/greetings because the nearer it gets to shhh - 'Christmas' -- eek the harder it is to get anywhere near my work bench!
So here's my 2 cards which I would also like to enter for the Crafty Individuals bi-monthly challenge titled 'Clean and Simple'.

I started by lightly colouring a small off cut of white linen with distress inks and a brush and then stamped the image in the centre.

I did the same with another piece of linen but using different colours and a different image.

Next I trimmed the material and frayed the edges.

The edges of my card blanks were lightly coloured using the same distress inks that I had used on the linen.

I then cut some kraft card slightly larger than the pieces of material and distressed the edges before using as a mount for my stamped images.

I added a blue bead and some stitching, stamped the sentiment in Archival Cornflower and then added the lines with a very fine black pen.

The body of the butterfly had 8 or 9 very small beads threaded on some black cotton and then added 4 running stitches on each antenna.

The sentiment and 4 corners were stamped using Brilliance pearlescent olive ink. All the stamps were  by Crafty Individuals.

I was surprised at how quick these cards were to make as so often I think something will just take 30mins and it ends up taking a couple of hours or more!

I am pleased with the clean appearance of the finished cards and hope this fills the brief of Crafty Individuals Challenge.

Thank you as always for popping by today, all your comments are very much appreciated, take care and have a good week, Jane. X

My Attempt at making the Leandra Bead!!

Hi and welcome, this fortnight over on the PaperArtsy Blog the challenge is 'Beads, Charms and Dangles'. There are lots of wonderful examples to whet your appetite, but it was the video of the Leandra bead that really inspired me to get out the Melt Pot --- ( which when the temperature outside has been in the 30's for the past few days is not normally the first craft I'd jump too!)

To make the beads I followed the video as best I could with what head pins, Utee etc that I had in the craft room stash.

The head pins were only 45mm and having had a go I would now buy some slightly larger ones.

To start with the pan only had clear Utee added but gradually as I popped the growing beads into various shades of blue EP lovely streaks appeared  adding extra pattern and design to the beads.

Then as the contents of the pot got a little muddy I added some Primary Apple Red, Ancient Copper Metallic and the tiniest spot of black. 

Oohh thats yummy! 

These 2 beads were shaped by pressing the round bead onto the sides of the melt pot.

As the Utee level was going down and making the covering of the beads more difficult I decided to pour the remaining contents onto the craft mat and inked up a rubber stamp with Archival Black ink and pressed it into the very hot, molten Utee.

Once cool the stamp was removed and I rubbed in some Treasure Gold in Ruby and Renaissance but ------- was not completely happy with the result so decided to cut my losses and got the heat gun out and melted the piece on the craft mat---(" Is she mad " I can hear you saying!) Well I was very pleased with the end result as the wax melted just on the top and gave a lovely marbled effect. I then very lightly added a little Pewter wax to hi-light the edges of the letters.

When I started to make these lovely Leandra beads I had no idea what I was going to use then for but was itching to make something ----

So I now have a pair of unique ear-rings

and

some lovely beads for future projects.

A big thank you to PaperArtsy for the very inspiring video and I'm now off to order some larger headpins and another pot of clear utee !

Hope you all have a great weekend and if you live in the UK enjoy the Bank Holiday if you're lucky enough not to be working. Bye for now and take care Jane x