Prize Draw Winner!

Hello, Crafters.

You may remember that, during November, I was running a Prize Draw for my online customers to win a Stampin' Up! Scoreboard. 

When I was at the Christmas Shopping & Gift Event at the Pavilion Cafe on Thursday, I asked Kellie - the lady who owns and runs the Pavilion - if she'd pick the winner. 

And I asked my hubby if he'd photograph the draw, too!

As you can see from the photographs below, the lucky winner is Janice Hingley. 

So big, big CONGRATULATIONS to you, Janice! 

I'll send your prize to you with all the other goodies you get for being one of JanB's fabulous customers! THANK YOU☺

I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to Kellie for agreeing to pick the winner for me. Many thanks, Kellie! ☺

Please see photographs 8 - 10.

Photograph 8 - Kellie putting her hand in the bag to pick out  the winning ticket.

Photograph 9 - Kellie holding the winning ticket

Photograph 10 - a close up of the winning ticket!

Today's card was inspired by a Thank You card I have sitting on one of the stands in my studio, that I received from Paula Gorry recently. 

When I first started planning my card, I wondered if I put an extra layer on my card, do I do the layer in proportion to the Whisper White layer?

I thought that would be the correct way to go and that the triangles would workout correctly.

But then I thought, why not just take the easy option? 

The easy option was to do the Whisper White layer as normal and just triangle the Designer Series Paper layer!

To make today's card, I started with a card base of Mint Macaroon Cardstock (CS), with a layer of Whisper White CS and a top layer of two triangles of Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper (DSP). 

I cut both designs an eighth of an inch smaller than I would have done, if I was going to use the DSP as a "normal" layer! 

I cut both triangles from corner to corner, which gives me enough triangles for two cards!

I adhered the Whisper White layer to the card base using Tombow, and then two triangles. 

I chose the sentiment from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set, which was brought forward from last year. 

I used my Real Red and Mint Macaroon Marker Pens to paint the stamp, starting with the red first. 

When I'd finished, I huffed on the image and stamped it onto a piece of Whisper White CS. 

I die cut the sentiment using one of the circle Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, and layered it onto a Mint Macaroon scalloped circle which had been die cut with a straight cut circle from the Layering Circles Framelits dies.

I felt that the Mint Macaroon didn't show up very well on the Mint Macaroon DSP, so I die cut the next size scalloped circle die in Whisper White - the difference was amazing! 

It really made the image pop! 

Before I adhered it together, instead of using the Whisper White layer, I tried using one of our doilies but they are too creamy coloured - which was a shame because it did look really good!

Once I'd adhered all the three layers together, I added the sentiment to the card front using Dimensionals.

I tied a "bunny ears" bow using the gorgeous 5/8" Mint Macaroon Mini Striped Ribbon and adhered it with Glue Dots at an angle just above the sentiment.

My finishing touches were, firstly painting the holly berries with my Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.

Secondly, adding five Rhinestones randomly on the card front - three on the top DSP design and two on the actual sentiment.

Today's card isn't a traditional Christmas colour scheme but I do think it looks good!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend, and until tomoorow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Valita's Box Card Video

Hello, Crafters.

I first saw today's box card made about five year's ago. 

It was posted by Valita's Fresh Folds on 9th. November 2010 and I saw it sometime soon after. 

 
I fell in love with it and saved the video in my playlists, with every intention of making it sometime! I saw the video again the other day, and decided now was the time. It was so easy, I decided to make a video, too! I hope you like this as much as I do!

During her video, Valita said she made some small gift tags to pop inside the box as a little gift for the recipient and I thought what a really lovely idea! Alternative ideas are to pop a gift card inside, or money, some family photographs or a Christmas newsletter, the list is endless.

It took me three attempts before I was able to iron out the initial problems I'd encountered but once accomplished, I was really pleased with the end result. 

The possibilities for decorating the box card, inside and out - are also endless. When making a video, I try to keep the decorating to a minimum so it doesn't take up so much time that it becomes boring.

There are several options for where a message can be written in the card. The first option is to adhere a fancy shape die cut in Whisper White or Very Vanilla to the back of the box, which has been decorated in the same way as the two side panels and the inside layer. 

There's also plenty of room for a hand-written message behind the decorated side panel. Valita suggested you could write on the back of the inside panel, as long as you didn't adhere it down!

My first thoughts about how to keep the box closed were to have an image that would act as an anchor for a sentiment on the front, but I decided that there wouldn't be enough holding power. 

Then I thought about tying a ribbon around, after anchoring it down behind the back layer, but it allowed the top and bottom of both flaps immediately above and below the ribbon, raise up more or less straight away, a bit like a muffin top!  I decided on a belly band as it's quite wide and does a good job of holding a lot of the card in......rather like a corset!! 

That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Kraft Corrugated Challenge No. 1

Hello Crafters.

The most exciting news I have to share with you today, is that our insurance company met our claim for stolen property in full! No quibbles! How is that for first class, prompt service?

Now we're just waiting on a garage door company to come and check the repair hubby did to make sure it's been done to standard!

Yesterday's challenge card shows what a beautiful background the Kraft Corrugated Paper makes. The problem I had was to decide which colour card stock to use for the card base. I'd automatically thought I'd use Crumb Cake but the colour is oh so wrong!

So I took out my Kraft Card Stock, which is in the annual catalogue immediately underneath the Corrugated Paper - page 148. The colours are amazingly close. I added a layer of Whisper White Card Stock.

I die cut one of the baubles from the Corrugated Paper and it created a superb "embossed" edge all around it. Most of our Framelit dies do this but I think because this card stock is so thick, it's really very obvious and adds a significant amount of dimension to the card.

I also die cut the bauble topper from the Corrugated Paper but with the stripes going vertically which adds a nice but discreet touch to it.

Using Real Red Ink, I stamped the image from the Embellished Ornaments onto a piece of Whisper White Card Stock and adhered it behind the aperture - this was easier than stamping on the middle Whisper White layer. I found the easiest way to do the gluing was by putting Tombow around the reverse edge of the aperture.

I added three Rhinestones across the front of the bauble and then used two strands of our Linen Thread to make a bunny ears bow which I adhered using Tombow. I put an upturned punch on it to weight it done while the Tombow dried.

Again, using Real Red Ink and Whisper White Card Stock, I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set and immediately sprinkled it with Clear Embossing Powder.

Then I heat set it. I punched it out using the Extra Large Oval Punch and added three Rhinestones above and below the sentiment, which was then added to the card front with Dimensionals.

Although I liked the card design, it was looking rather bland and decided to add some stars, initially just in red in a random fashion.

Then I progressed to Red and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Papers stars and then on to one stripe at the top and one at the bottom. Ta-da, I was really pleased with my design!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Gagging order has been lifted & Video posted!

Hello, Crafters.

I've just posted today's video which is called Spotlight Bauble 

I first saw this technique demonstrated by Dawn Griffiths about 4 years ago and it was always in my plans to make a video showing how it's done.

So why now? 

On our last day at the Stampin' Up! OnStage Convention last Saturday, our European Director did a demonstration using this technique. 

It was hilarious and he made a brilliant job of it. 

He used the train from the Traveller Stamp Set and stamped it in black. 

He then stamped another image and heat embossed it using Gold Embossing Powder. 

He punched a circle out of this one and used it as his "spotlight". 

His was a Thank You card and would equally make a great masculine card.

I used one of the bauble stamps from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set and stamped onto Whisper White card stock using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

If you watch the video, you'll hear how much I love, love, love this ink!

I stamped onto another piece of Whisper White and heat embossed using Black Embossing Powder. 

Using Real Read, So Saffron and Pear Pizzazz Marker Pens, I coloured in the white areas and punched out two flowers using the Petite Petals Punch. 

These were adhered on top of the main image in the appropriate place - see how the coloured lines flow into the white lines. 

If you looked closely at the second photograph, you can see they are flower shapes!

For the bauble in the third photograph, I punched out three circles, including one (bottom left hand side) that came over the edge.

For the bauble in the fourth photograph I punched one large and one small circle.

All these samples show that anything goes, you can use any shape, any size, of punched shapes for this technique.

The fifth photograph is the most formal out of the four samples shown here but I wanted to show you the effect Axel went for with his Thank You card. 

I added a bit extra by putting Dazzling Diamonds around the edge of the centre circle as well as the bauble.

At the end of the video, I give a quick demonstration of how I achieved this effect. 

This technique is certainly a little something extra I'll be using again.

We are now allowed to show you the front covers of the new 2016 Spring Catalogue and the 2016 Sale-a-bration Catalogue, although we're not allowed to show you inside!

While we were at the OnStage Convention, we were able to pre-order certain stamp sets, card stock, accessory packs.

I'm hoping mine will arrive today - although I'll be out, my lovely UPS man will leave it as per my pre-arranged instructions. 

We're going to my Aunt's funeral and will probably be home early evening. 

I'll be driving and will be even more conscious of cars behind me, especially when I'm stationary, after hubby's car accident on Monday!

I'm really pleased to be able to let you know that he hasn't had any adverse reaction from the impact. 

I don't know much about cars, but apparently the Skoda he drives is a very robust car and, thankfully, protected him very well, so a very big thank you goes out to Skoda!

That's about it for today, so until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Inking Stamps Differently No. 1

Hello, Crafters.
  
I really didn't know what to call this week's challenge!

I want to show you different products to use, or different ways, to ink your stamps - so I settled on calling it: Inking Stamps Differently 

Rather than trying to explain what I mean, I'm starting straight away with explaining project number 1.

When you took your first look at today's card, did you immediately think stamping tone on tone for the bows in the background?  I imagine that's what I would probably have thought but it isn't.

I used Versamark to stamp the bows on the background. Although it initially has to be sticky to be able to hold embossing powder, Versamark does dry non-sticky.

I prefer to use this method if I want the background to be lighter than what I would achieve if I used the same colour ink as paper.

To create this card I started with a base of Garden Green Card Stock, with a layer of Whisper White, followed by a top layer of Garden Green.

I used the bow stamp from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set to create my background on the top layer by stamping with Versamark - this is sometimes referred to as a watermark.

Using our Basic Black Archival Ink, I stamped the wreath from the same stamp set onto some Whisper White Card Stock.

I coloured it using marker pens: Garden Green for the holly leaves, Real Red for the berries and Soft Suede for the branches.

I die cut the wreath using the dies from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies and adhered to the front of the card using Dimensionals.

Using Real Red Ink, I stamped the bow on a piece of Whisper White Card Stock and die cut it.

I used a Dimensional to adhere it to the wreath.

I chose the sentiment from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set, and as previously, used Real Red Ink and stamped onto Whisper White Card Stock.

I punched it out using the Decorative Label Punch making sure I kept the sentiment to the top.

In the space I'd left at the bottom, I stamped the little squiggly line from the Oh, What Fun Stamp Set using Garden Green Ink.

As I wasn't going to layer this with any other card stock, I sponged the edge with Garden Green Ink. I adhered this to the card front with Dimensionals, too.

That's it for today's card. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Cosy Christmas Challenge - Project 1

Hello, Crafters.

Yesterday, after much deliberation and agonising (a little bit of exaggeration there!) I finally decided on the stamp set Cosy Christmas Stamp Set for this week's challenge.

It was a choice between this or Peaceful Wreath and in project 1, quite unintentionally, I used both sets!

I started this card with a base of Whisper White Card Stock, with a layer of Red Foil followed with a layer of Whisper White.

Using Garden Green Ink, I stamped the holly from the Perfect Wreath Stamp Set twice at the bottom and painted the leaves using my Garden Green Marker Pen. I used my Medium Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities Pen for the holly berries.

I used Versamark and Gold Embossing Powder for the sleigh stamp from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set and heat set it. I also did that to the sentiment which is from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set. I cut this into a small rectangle and layered it onto some Gold Foil.

I used a very thin strip of Red Foil across the card, just over half way up. I made the snow in the top half using my 2-Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. The sentiment has been adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.

The final step was adding Crystal Effects to the holly berries. I don't know how long it takes Crystal Effects to dry completely but I always leave it overnight to be on the safe side.

The quality of the photographs, leaves quite a lot to be desired, but I hope you can see the shine from the Crystal Effects on the berries in the last photograph.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB. 

Glitter, Glitter All The Way!

Hello, Crafters.

I had an amazingly busy day yesterday and achieved so much. In the morning, I made a list of all the jobs I needed to do knowing that I wouldn't achieve all of them.

The only job I didn't achieve was to edit Sunday's video but I will probably do that after I've finished my two classes on Saturday.

For yesterday's card, I knew I wanted to die-cut one of the baubles out of the top layer and replace it with Glimmer Paper underneath.

I wasn't sure if I wanted the top layer in Whisper White or Real Red card stock so I did one of each and played around with the various combinations i.e. red with red, red with white, white with red or white with white.

You can see the winner was white with white and red with red is waiting on my desk to see what I'll be doing with them!

I started with a card base in Whisper White with a layer of Red Glimmer Paper. I stamped the holly image from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set in Tuxedo Black Memento in a similar way to how I did the holly wreath card on Monday.

In case you didn't see Monday's post, I prepared my Stamp-a-ma-jig first. Then I used tape to cover the bottom bare branch of the holly before inking. I put the Stamp-a-ma-jig sheet in place, removed the tape and stamped onto the card stock. I did this twice more down the right hand side and then three times down the left hand side.

I used a blender pen and Wild Wasabi Ink to colour the holly leaves and Real Red for the berries.

Using the 1/8" Handheld Punch and some scraps of Red Glimmer Paper, I punched out 30 circles. These were adhered on top of the stamped berries with the Two Way Glue Pen.

I adhered the top layer onto the Red Glimmer layer using Tombow and the die-cut bauble with Glue Dots. I punched the top of the bauble in Silver Glimmer, Gold Glimmer, Dazzling Diamonds and Red Glimmer Paper to see which one looked best!

I finished off by stamping the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto a piece of Whisper White card stock. This was layered onto a piece of Red Glimmer Paper and then the card front using Tombow Glue both times.

Today I'm posting out the copies of the new Christmas catalogues to my online customers. PLEASE NOTE: if you are a customer who has selected No Contact I'm not able to send you a catalogue. If you're not sure if you selected No Contact or not, please check your account settings. If you're not sure how to do this, let me know and I will guide you through it. If you would like to receive a copy and don't already have a SU demonstrator, please email me at janb@janbcards.com. (Unfortunately, I can only sell/recruit to the Stampin' Up! European Community which is the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Austria - I'm really sorry!).

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Christmas Tree Baubles - Project No. 3

Hello, Crafters.

How disappointed I was yesterday morning when I saw that my third project for this week had already been created by Stampin' Up! and was pictured on the front cover of the new Christmas catalogue!

How on earth could I have missed it? But miss it I did, so I have to move on.

One of the SU baubles has been made in Gold Foil Card Stock and the other one in Gold Glimmer Paper.

They both look absolutely gorgeous. 

There was already one fairly big difference between mine and SU but I still went back to the drawing board to add extra embellishments.

When I made my baubles, I added strings of beads to hang down from the baubles.

I allowed myself to get a bit carried away with the amount of beads I used on the red bauble! LOL!!

I can't go back and remove any because the Baker's Twine has been glued to the inside spine!

The Gold Thread on the green bauble and the extra thick white Baker's Twine on the red bauble are adhered all the way through the bauble.

To create my baubles I die-cut six for each, I can't see how many SU used in theirs.

For the Garden Green Bauble, which was die-cut using one of the dies in the forthcoming Delicate Ornaments Thinlits Die, I used the Two-Way Glue Pen to apply glue to the outside rims of all the circles.

I sprinkled this with Dazzling Diamonds, some of which adhered itself to the actual cut-outs where the glue had come to the edge of the cuts when I'd glued them together!

For the Real Red Bauble, I stamped one of the images from the forthcoming Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set six times, using Real Red Ink onto Whisper White Card Stock.

I die-cut all six images using the same set of dies as before.

The extra embellishments I added were gold sequins which I removed from the Gold Sequin Trim.

I used the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details as the glue.

I thought it would create an extra bit of sparkle if it could be seen through the hole in the sequin!

To construct the baubles I used the same process for each. 

I used my Score Board to score down the centre of each die-cut and then folded in half.

I used Tombow to glue three circles together and then applied an extra line of Tombow down the central spine of the bauble.

I attached the appropriate string of beads and glued the three remaining circles.  

The beads I used are old ones I found in my pre-SU stash, which I'd kept because I knew they'd come in useful one day!!

The fifth and sixth photographs show the baubles before I added the extra embellishments!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Ribbon Ornament & Video: Selective Dry Embossing

Hello, Crafters.

My day yesterday started with my regular physio session for my back's monthly MOT! And then I was able to spend the rest of the day in my studio.

Before I talk about today's card, I have just uploaded today's video: Selective Dry Embossing. I have posted a photograph at the end of today's blog of the card I made.

There is also an important piece of news at the end of this blog.

So onto my second card in my Week 12 Challenge. It's loosely based on Iris Folding but uses ribbon instead. I love this technique except that doing it properly with paper, if the paper used isn't fine enough, it can cause quite a bulge in the card.

This isn't a problem with ribbon but does require the layer to be on Dimensionals to get the best effect.

I started this card with a Whisper White card stock card base with a layer of Garden Green. I used the round ornament die from the forthcoming Delicate Ornaments Thinlits Dies to die-cut the top Whisper White top layer.

I stamped the front of the layer using Encore Silver Ultimate Metallic Ink with the snow stamp from the White Christmas Stamp Set, which is in the Annual Catalogue, brought forward from last year. I added faux stitching around the outside of the die-cut to give it a bit of an "edge".

Working from the reverse side, I used temporary adhesive to my layer and made sure it was lined up straight on my Grid Paper - this would make it easy to decide where to place the first ribbon.

I applied Fast Fuse around the outside of the die-cut and lined my first ribbon across the centre of the die-cut, making sure it went through the squares on the Grid Paper, corner to corner.

This isn't essential but it does make sure the angle of the ribbon "correct". When I had completely covered the die-cut, I turned it over to make sure I didn't have any gaps.
I had to adjust one of the ribbons towards the outside as I had lid it slightly on top of the adjacent ribbon. It was easily corrected.

I adhered this layer to the card front using Dimensionals. I die-cut the "snowflake" that's inside the ornament using Silver Foil Paper and adhered it with Tombow.

I stamped the top of the ornament on a scrap of Whisper White card stock with Versamark and sprinkled over it with the Silver Embossing Powder.


When I had heat set it, I die-cut it out and adhered it to the card front with Tombow.  I did the same heat embossing with the sentiment which I then layered onto a piece of Real Red card stock followed by a layer of Garden Green. This was popped up with Dimensionals.

I had an idea for my third project while I was working on this project yesterday and didn't want to wait until today before I found out whether it would work or not.

So I went ahead and did it......... successfully! I felt very pleased with my creation until I saw it had already been created by SU and there was a photograph of it on the front cover of the new Christmas catalogue! DOH!! Today, I'm going back to mine and will add some more embellishments to make them a different.

Oh, boy! I wish I was more observant!

Before I go, just to let you know that SU have added some more products to the European Clearance Rack - click on the tab at the top of this page and it will take you straight there. If you're not in Europe, please check the Clearance Rack in your region as products may vary.

Finally, at very long last, the Shop Now button at the top of the page will take you straight to my 24.7 online SU shop and, likewise, with the Weekly Deals Button.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting and maybe happy shopping!

JanB