Hello, Crafters.
I hope you've enjoyed a great Christmas.
We had another great day yesterday with all our family over. It was a very relaxing fun day, which, like Christmas Day, all went far too quickly!
After we'd eaten we played Charades and UNO.
Because the age range went from grandchildren to grandparents, there were songs and films from the younger ones that the older ones didn't recognise and visa versa.
But that added to the fun!
This morning I uploaded a video to show how I made this great card!
This is the link: Elf Pop Up Slider Card.
I made this video on Christmas Eve when I was feeling very Christmassy.
The elf images I had were leftovers from the Magic Elf Card video I made, that gave me so much grief!
Rather than waste them I decided to use them for this card.
So that's my first two Christmas cards made for next year!
Although I made this as a Christmas card, it'll be really easy to change the image to make it a birthday card, or anniversary card, any occasion at all really.
I showed the card to my two grandchildren (aged 13 and 11 years) and they were both totally bowled over by it.
I think this style of card will be really appreciated by children of all ages............. ...........and adults, too!
The two main colours I've used here are Real Red and Pear Pizzazz.
The Elf is from the Christmas Cuties Stamp Set and the bells are from the Cozy Christmas Stamp set.
The two sentiments are from the Reason For The Season Stamp Set.
There aren't many retired products I use in my projects - the two exceptions are ribbons and Paper Piercing Packs.
I find that each roll of ribbon has so much ribbon on the reel, I can't ever use it all before it retires, especially when I try to have some ribbon for each of the colours available.
I keep the Paper Piercing Packs because I love the effect you can achieve with these and it's relatively easy to do it freehand in the absence of the templates.
Today I'll be preparing the new Spring catalogues and the Sale-a-bration catalogues to be posted to all my customers.
If you're in the EU, don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like copies of the new catalogues, please email me: janb@janbcards.com
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
This morning I posted my video which shows how I made last week's challenge card no. 2 - Corrugated Snowmen. My challenge card had been cut by hand but I used the dies for the video.
To create yesterday's challenge card I used the corrugated paper as a background for a small image from the Cosy Christmas stamp set. I'd fussy cut it out for an earlier project but didn't use it.
I used Early Espresso Ink on Whisper White Card Stock and highlighted the bow using a Gelly Roll gold pen.
The only thing I wished I'd done differently is to have used two doilies, one on top of the other, to make them a much brighter white. It would have been more in keeping with the brightness of the Whisper White card stock used for the sentiment.
To make this card I started with a card base in Whisper White Card Stock and adhered a top layer of our Kraft Card Stock, using Tombow Glue. I used some SNAIL and adhered a Paper Tea Lace doily to the card front.
Then I die cut a circle of Kraft Corrugated Paper, using our Circles Collection Framelits Dies and adhered it to the centre of the doily.
I adhered the bells image to the centre of the circle using Dimensionals.
I took a strip of our 1.25" White Jute Ribbon and cut off the two outside strips of thread.
Then I gently pulled individual strands off keeping both sides equal until I finished up with just seven strands remaining. 
It left two very fine fringes along the length of both sides of the ribbon.
Then I very, very carefully tied it into a bow. In this state, the ribbon has to be handled with very great care, as it is so easy to pull the remaining strands off!
For the sentiment I used some retired Early Espresso Embossing Powder to stamp the image from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set. I added a little bit of gold from the Gelly Roll gold pen into the centres of the four flowers.
I punched the sentiment out using the Decorative Label Punch. I also punched another one from the Corrugated Kraft Paper and cut off about 1" from each end and layered it under the sentiment.
I adhered it to the card front by putting Tombow on the back of the corrugated paper and Dimensionals under the centre of the Whisper White part.
I used the Confetti Stars Border Punch to punch some stars from the Corrugated Paper.
I'd managed to get some gold onto my finger, then onto the sentiment and wanted to cover it up!
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello Crafters.
Did you notice I changed the title of this week's challenge, yesterday? This wasn't deliberate so today I've gone back to the original title!
Sorry if I'm causing confusion...........I confuse myself, too! LOL!
Like of a lot of my projects, I don't know if this has a proper title or not. I haven't seen this demonstrated before, so I'm calling it Dancing Daubers!
It's very similar to "thumping", which I hope to show you during this challenge, but it's more controlled.
Using one of the sentiments from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set, I made three samples of the Dancing Dauber's technique yesterday but have only made one into a card.
I will use the other two at some time. Two of the colour schemes are fairly muted and the third is very definite.
The two colours I used on the card sentiment are Pool Party and Bermuda Bay. I keep one labelled dauber for each Stampin' Up! colour.
I started with the lightest colour, Pool Party, inked my dauber and danced it a few times in four places on my stamp i.e. north, south, east and west, making sure I stamped over an area a bit larger than the base of the dauber.
I re-inked now and again during each dance!
I changed to my Bermuda Bay dauber and danced it in the remaining blank spaces i.e. each of the four corners and in the centre.
The idea is to get the colours to blend in where they meet and not to leave any blank spaces.
Before I stamped my image onto a piece of Whisper White Card Stock, I "huffed" on my stamp to make sure the ink was still moist
The other two colour combinations I used are Wisteria Wonder with Elegant Eggplant and Real Red with Garden Green.
This is a great way of pulling two colours together on a card and the colour combination possibilities are endless.
If you wanted a rainbow effect, you might find thumping will be a better method for you to use.
To make my card, I started with a card base of Bermuda Bay Card Stock, with a layer of Pool Party. I
used Whisper White for the top layer and dry-embossed it using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.
To stamp the wreath from the Wondrous Wreath Stamp Set, I used Pool Party for the first layer, followed by Bermuda Bay with the final layer, the berries, in Island Indigo. I die cut it using the Wonderful Wreaths Framelits Dies and mounted onto my card using Dimensionals.
I stamped the bow from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp set and die cut it. There is a bow in the Wondrous Wreath Stamp Set but I just love this raffia type bow. The flower also came from the first stamp set. I stamped it in Pool Party and die cut. Both the bow and the flower were adhered to the wreath using Dimensionals.
To finish my card, I adhered the sentiment onto a piece of Pool Party Card Stock, using Tombow, and then adhered it to the card front using Dimensionals. I love this technique in all three of these colour combinations and I'll certainly be using it again.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting,
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
Yesterday I finally had my mobile phone upgraded to the 21st century! LOL!
Now I can get my business emails on the move, use the Internet and use it to get Wi-Fi for my laptop, when I'm out and about.
I was very pleasantly surprised what a small amount extra this new package is going to cost me!
I've posted today's video: Spinning Snowflake.
I made one as part of my weekly challenge a couple of weeks ago and found it was surprisingly easy to make.
I decided to share it as it does pack a nice surprise for the recipient if you remember to twist the snowflake 3 or 4 times before you put it in the envelope!
Definitely not the style of card that I would make lots of but definitely worth the effort for the really special people on my Christmas list.
On the video I make the Very Vanilla and Pool Party card; the black and gold card was no. 5 in the Flurry of Wishes Challenge and was posted here on 26th September 2015.
While I was making the video, I noticed on my sample card that I showed right at the beginning, I had used Lost Lagoon Ink for the sentiment instead of Pool Party!
After I had finished the video, I removed the rhinestones, stamped a replacement sentiment in Pool Party, and adhered it to the card.
Then I replaced the rhinestones.
Also at the end of the video, I couldn't decide if I wanted to put rhinestones on the sentiment of the card I was making!
I said the jury was out on that - the verdict came in - add the rhinestones!
Don't forget, if you would like to suggest something for a weekly challenge, I'd love to hear from you...........................but please be gentle with me! LOL!
I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
YAY! Success. I didn't use Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper, nor heat embossing, nor black & gold for project 5.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to start this card but I had to make a video first, in preparation for Sunday morning.
The card I was videoing was the black & gold swinging snowflake card which was last week's no. 5 project but I decided I'd use Very Vanilla and Pool Party instead.
My normal process for a video is to prep for two cards - one which I make before the video and the other for the video. When I started yesterday's first card I made a mistake by using die number 7 of the Circle Collections instead of number 6.
I put the circle and card aside and prepped another card. After that, the video was plain sailing. Once I had finished it, it was time to do project no. 5. I saw the Very Vanilla "mistake" sitting on top of my box and wondered if I could use it for my project. This is the result.
I started with my "mistake, which was a card base of Very Vanilla Card Stock and I used the Circle Collection Framelts Die no 7 to die cut the opening. Then I added a layer of Cherry Cobbler.
Initially I was planning to use the music sheet design from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper for the inside of my card but felt it looked a bit overcrowded with the wreath on top . What do you think? See the last two photographs.
Using Black Memento Ink, I stamped the wreath from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set onto Acetate. I coloured it in from the back using the Dark Cherry Cobbler Blendibilities for the holly berries, a green Sharpie for the leaves and a brown Staedtler Lumocolo pen for the branches.
I adhered the Acetate to the card base using Glue Dots and then adhered the Cherry Cobbler layer using Tombow. I attached a Very Vanilla "rim" to the front of the card and a Chery Cobbler "rim" on the inside of the card.
I used my marker pens to colour the sentiment from Cosy Christmas stamp set - the holly berries and flowers in Cherry Cobbler, the fir, stems and leaves in Cucumber Crush and the sentiment in Chocolate Chip.
I huffed on the stamp to re-moisten the ink and stamped onto some very Vanilla card stock. Painting stamps in this manner never gives a perfect image but I love the look it does give.
I stamped the bow from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set in Chocolate Chip Ink onto Very Vanilla Card Stock and die cut it with the corresponding die from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies. The bow and the sentiment have both been adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.
By the time I reached this far, it was getting late! I
sort-of cheated with the paper on the inside of the card! It's a wood grain design from the retired Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper.
Normally I would have used the Hardwood Stamp on Very Vanilla Card Stock, probably in Sahara Sand; or I might have used the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.
The final touch was to punch a piece of Very Vanilla using the Decorative Label Punch. I adhered it at the bottom of the inside right hand side of the card, low enough so it couldn't be seen through the Acetate. This is for the inside sentiment.
Which card do you think looks best - the music or the woodgrain? Do you think the music design makes the card look too busy from the outside?
Watch out for tomorrow's video. I'm not making this card but I will be showing you how to die cut circles onto layers so the card stock lines up. I had to do it the hard way, card base upwards, for this card because I'd made a mistake but on the video I show you the easy way i.e. top layer down to card base.
I hope you have a great weekend. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
It's the start of a new month, which means a new HOSTESS CODE for online customers to use when placing their orders - STWTN2ZV.
I had my day all planned out yesterday and I was going to get so much done!
Although it didn't go quite as planned, I still managed to get a lot of things done......... they just weren't on my planned list.
So I'm using yesterday's planned list today and see how far I get!
For yesterday's card, I used another design from the Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper.
It's a simple card but quite striking, I think.
I started with a card base of Whisper White Card Stock with a layer of Basic Black followed by the DSP.
I layered the DSP onto the Basic Black using Tombow but added the ribbon before adhering it to the card base.
The ribbon I used is now retired.
Suitable alternatives are the 1/8" Silver Ribbon (this is the same style as the black I've used i.e. it has a white trim on each edge) or you could use the 3/8" Basic Black Stitched Satin Ribbon.
I tied a double bow and glued it onto the ribbon.
If I was using the 3/8" Satin Ribbon, I would make a single bow because I think a double may be too big.
I stamped the house image and the sentiment, both from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set, in Versamark onto Whisper White card stock, and heat set with Black Embossing Powder.
Then I die cut the image and the sentiment using the second largest label die from the Tags and Labels Framelits Dies.
Using Tombow, I layered them onto Basic Black Card Stock that I had die cut using the largest label die from the same set of dies.
These were adhered on the card front over each ribbon using Dimensionals.
If you saw my video where I showed the goodies I was able to pre-order from the Christmas catalogue before it was launched, you'll know I fell totally in love with this DSP.
I'm still well and truly in love with it.......... it's gorgeous!
Until tomorrow, happy crafting!
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
I have just uploaded today's video which I have called simply Small Gift Box. I needed it to put my September Thank You gifts for my online customers in. The gifts are cute little Japanese Girl tweezers. I can't work in my studio without them, so I'm hoping this will be a very useful gift.
My good friend and upline Kim was meant to come over and see me yesterday. She was going to help me with some things I wanted to know online and I was going to help her with videoing. But it was not meant to be!
Her car broke down so she thought she'd do the journey by train! To drive to my house would take about 40 minutes but to do the journey by train it would take nearly two hours!!
We both live just outside the M25. If you're not familiar with the M25, it's the motorway that goes all the way round London through the suburbs. On a normal day, barring any problems, it's a pretty straight forward journey.
To do it by train, it's one train into London Bridge Station and another train out to me. Altogether, from door to door, it would have taken almost two hours........and another two back. Can you imagine wasting all that crafting time! Needless to say we cancelled and have rescheduled for next month.
After I had recovered from the disappointment, I started work in my studio.
I finished off work on my latest Stampin' Up! business project (more about that in a week or two) and then I started on today's project. I've made two cards which are quite similar because I couldn't decide if I wanted to do black & gold or white & gold! Looking at the finished cards, I prefer the white and gold but that's because of the design, not the colour! Which is your favourite and is it because of the colour or the design?
I'll go through the process for the white card as there is more to it. I started with a card base of Whisper White card stock, layered with Gold Foil and then the icicle designed gold and white paper from the Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper.
All the paper in this pack is shiny and feels "soft" - it's gorgeous! I then adhered a white Tea Doily with a gold Foil Doily on top.
I used my Embossing Buddy on a piece of Whisper White card stock and then, using Versamark, I stamped the house image from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set with Peace from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set immediately under the house. I also stamped ...at Christmas, also from Peaceful Wreath. I covered with Gold Embossing Powder and heat set all the images.
I die cut the house using the number 5 die (counting from the smallest) from the Circle Collections Framelits and adhered, with Tombow, on top of the gold doily. I cut ...at Christmas into a thin strip and layered onto a strip of gold foil. I adhered it to the card front using Dimensionals and added a small bow I'd made using the Gold Cord Trim.
I followed more or less the same procedure for the black and gold card except for the holly motif which is from the Oh, What Fun Stamp Set. If I've missed anything you'd like to know, please get in touch. ☺
That's about it for today, so until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
This morning I uploaded a video to show how I made this great card! 
Although I made this as a Christmas card, it'll be really easy to change the image to make it a birthday card, or anniversary card, any occasion at all really. 
The two sentiments are from the Reason For The Season Stamp Set.
