Hubby's Birthday Card

Hello, Crafters.

On my blog yesterday, I told you that I'm not setting a challenge for myself this week as I'm off to the Stampin' Up! 3-day Convention in Brussels, which starts on Thursday.

However, I'm going to try and post a different card each day, so let's see how far I get!

Today's card is the card I made for hubby's birthday last Thursday.

I wanted to use the turtle stamp from the From Land To Sea Stamp Set as he loves animals.

I was struggling to come up with an idea, mainly, I think, because I've been in Christmas mode for so long now!

I decided to have a look on Pinterest to see if anything could inspire my creative juices.

I saw a couple of ideas and was about to close Pinterest, when I saw this card and I was absolutely bowled over by it! 

I thought what a brilliant idea and unusually for me, I did a straight copy of it - any changes I've made are very small.

First of all I'd like to acknowledge the creator of this card, and that is Heather from www.playingwithpapercrafting.com  - thanks, Heather, your card is brilliant!

When I make personalised cards, I don't worry about making sure I use only current Stampin' Up! products which applies to the background Designer Series Paper - it's from last year's Nordic Noel.

I started my card with a 6" x 6" card base with a layer of Night Of Navy Card Stock and a layer of Nordic Noel.

For the central image, I stamped the lighthouse from Land To Sea using Night of Navy ink and coloured it in using Real Read and Hello Honey Marker Pens.

I stamped the lighthose onto a Post-It note to use as a mask and stamped the "land" using the "square" stamp from the Work of Art Stamp Set.

I used Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaroon Ink for the sea, using the long curved stamp from the Work of Art Stamp Set.

I punched two different sized scalloped circles from computer paper and used them to sponge the sky with Soft Sky Ink.

The brilliance of this card comes from the "foam" created by stamping the solid "splodge" stamp from Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set using Versamark and heat embossing with White Embossing Powder.

I drew the seagulls using the Smoky Slate Marker Pen.

The final touch was the sentiment which is from Guy Greetings Stamp Set, stamped in Night of Navy and die cut with one of the dies from the Project Life Cards & Framelits.

I also die cut one shape in Night of Navy, cut it in half and adhered at the back with the top and bottom exposed. 

The only part I would change if I made his card again, is I'd make the "foam" come higher out of the sea - if you have a look at Heather's card, you'll see what I mean.

I hope you enjoyed this little break from Christmas cards. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Bowl of Ice Cream

Hello, Crafters.
 
It's the weekend and the sun is shining. I've just received confirmation that my parcel of pre-order goodies from the forthcoming Christmas catalogue is arriving on Monday! That's the kind of inspiration I need to make sure I get up to date with everything over the weekend! The new catalogue will be launched on 1st September 2015.

Today's card is the final one for this week's challenge. I decided to make a bowl of ice-cream using just the punch, so stamping. I've used Pink Pirouette (strawberry), Very Vanilla (vanilla) and Soft Suede (chocolate) and punched out two scoops of each flavour.

Using Versamark, I stamped each scoop using the sprinkles stamp from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set. I covered with Irresistible Ice and heat set.

For the bowl I stamped two images of the large curved stamp from the Work of Art Stamp Set using Bermuda Bay Ink on Bermuda Bay Card Stock. I inked with Versamark, covered it in Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

I punched out the base of the bowl using the word Window Punch. I stamped 5 flowers from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set using Bermuda Bay Ink on Bermuda Bay Card Stock and used them to decorate the bowl.

Unusually for me, I adhered these to the bowl using Glue Dots and put a Rhinestone in the centre of each.

I punched the cherry from the Tree Builder Punch using Red Glimmer Paper. The sentiment is from Circle of Spring and is stamped on Whisper White Card Stock and layered onto a piece of Bermuda Bay.

My card base is Whisper White with a layer of Bermuda Bay. I embossed the top Whisper White layer using the Happy Heart Embossing Folder. 

I adhered the two layers using Tombow, and then adhered the main piece of the bowl using Dimensionals. I glued the bowl base with Tombow.

The ice cream scoops were layered with Dimensionals, turned at different angles to make the ice cream look more interesting rather. I also think it makes it easier to get more ice cream in the bowl - yummy!!

This has been a week of fun cards for my challenge. I'm not moving on to Veronica's third suggestion because it involves using the mask sets. Although I have the Hearts and Stars, I haven't used them yet and as I'm working next week, I won't have much time to play. So I'm putting that suggestion on the back burner for the time being. 

I'm saving Veronica's fourth and final suggestion to the week after next so I can use something from my pre-order! Next week I'm going to do Wreaths. I have two ideas and need to think of three more. I do have two stamp sets that have wreaths and matching dies, Wondrous Wreath and Circle of Spring, but my plan is to make "manual" wreaths.

In the meantime, have a great weekend and happy crafting!

JanB.

American Muscle Car

Hello, Crafters.

Today's card was a
special order from
my Mr Ups.

Yesterday it was
his daughter's 21st
birthday and he
wanted a special
birthday card for her.

Demi is working
towards being a vet
and she also likes
American muscle
cars.

My first choice was
to make a card with
animals on it but
Mr Ups asked if I
could go for the
second option!

Well, I like a
challenge but my
first hurdle was
I didn't have a clue
what an American
muscle car was!

Fortunately, my
hubby is very well
informed on an
amazing amount of
subjects and filled
the void in my
knowledge.

Then hubby sort
of designed the
card!

He went into my
craft room and
found two retired
stamp sets. 

Need for Speed
provided the car
and the Great
Outdoors provided
the flame via the
campfire.

He also recommended an easel card.............the rest was up to me and this is the result.

Most of the products I used for this card are Stampin' Up! albeit some of them are retired. The products that aren't Stampin' Up! are the actual card base, the Happy Birthday sentiment and the number 21.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting!

JanB. 

Nemo Fun Card Video

Hello Crafters.

Today's video shows
how to make a fun
birthday card for
children.

Nemo is created by
punch art using the
Owl Builder punch.

I created the
sentiment, Happy
Birthday Fishes,
on my computer.

I've made three Nemo
cards and have given
them all different
style eyes.

You can see samples
of all of them on the
video and there will
be more photographs
on my Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/JanBCards

This is the link
for the video:-
Nemo Fun Fish Birthday Card
 Nemo was inspired
by fellow demonstrator
and friend Terri Neill.

If you visit her Facebook
page:
www.facebook.com/HomemadeMemoirs,
you will see that she
has photographs of
lots of different punch
art animals/people/
creatures, all that
have been created
using the Owl Builder
Punch.

Thanks for the inspiration, Terri, it's a gem!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

 

Preparing for Saturday's Classes

Hello, Crafters.

Today I've been working
on the projects I'll be
teaching in my classes
on Saturday.

The first card is
gorgeous - forgive my
modesty! - but there
is quite a lot of detail
on it and I think there
may be too much for
a class.

Although as I 'm writing
this I'm thinking if I
make the second
card plainer, hopefully
it will compensate for
the first project.

The 3D project I'm
planning is Crafty
Hallett's  bag.

I went to a card making
class this evening, held 
by a Stampin' Up!
demonstrator friend of
mine.

She planned her class 
round one stamp set
- Work of Art - and one
punch - Owl Builder
Punch. 

It worked really well
and we had a lot of
fun - both of these
products are so
amazingly versatile.
 
I made these three cards quite some time ago using the Work of Art stamp set - this will give you some idea of exactly how versatile this stamp set is!

Until Tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Stampin' Up! Convention in Brussels

Hello Crafters.

I'm so excited.....
.........I've just booked
to go to the Stampin'
Up! Convention in
Brussels in October.

I still have to sort out
my travel and hotel
and then start making
swaps again!

I had my two
workshops today
which were a lot
of fun as always.

One of my afternoon
ladies announced that
she's pregnant........with
twins! Needless to say
we are all so thrilled
for her.

These are the two
flower box cards I
made today as well
as one card.

We didn't have time
to make the card as
well during the morning
session..........too much
chatter and giggling!!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Until tomorrow, happy
crafting.

JanB

Work of Art plus Traveller

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you're all
enjoying your weekend.

We went for a lovely
walk after we had
dinner, chatting with
friends and neighbours
on our way.

My day in my studio
has been spent on the
first card for next
week's workshop. It
took me several
attempts at the card
I had in mind and I'm
still undecided about
which I think is the best
version.


I started with the
Smokey Slate Ship
but decided the
image was too large.
I went down a size
and made the
Smokey Slate Train.

I then decided to try a
different colour and
was really pleased
with the sepia effect
I achieved with
Crumb Cake, so I
did one Ship and
one Train. The
next one I did was
the Train with the
dark colour at the
top - I quite like
this one.

I then wondered what
it would look like if
I did the background
stamp the other way
up i.e. curving upwards!
I didn't like them
because they looked
upside down! I didn't
make cards with
them but I had intended
to photograph the
images for you to see
- maybe I'll do that
tomorrow!

Finally, I decided to
make one in a colour
and chose Lost Lagoon.

I've posted all the
cards I made here
- which do you think
looks best?

Your feedback really
will be appreciated.

Until tomorrow, happy
crafting.

JanB.

Work of Art 3

Hi, Crafters.

I am so thrilled! Today
I hit the magical 500
Likes on Facebook
- thanks a million to
you all.

Today's Work of Art
card has only used
just one of the stamps
in the set but what a
super card!


To create the ice cream I
used  one of the dies from
the Word Bubbles set. I
think it's more of a thought
bubble rather than a word
bubble - but even more
than that I think it looks
like a cloud!

I drew dark bits on the
chocolate ice cream to
look like choc chips,
pinky bits in the
strawberry ice  cream
to look like bits of
strawberry and yellow
bits in the vanilla ice
cream to look like
pineapple.

                                                                                    I punched the cherry
out of red glimmer
paper using a non-SU
balloon punch and cut
a small a piece of
green card stock for
the stalk. Looks good
enough to
eat.............well,
almost!

That's it for today,
so until tomorrow,
                                                                                    happy crafting everyone! 
                                                                                                              JanB.

Work Of Art 2

Hello Crafters.

This is another card
that's been made using
the Work of Art stamp
set.

The artist's palette and
brush has been made
using punch art.

I starting keeping
a book of all sorts of
punch art creations,
including animals and
Father Christmas.
Maybe, I should start
adding to it again!
Punch art if fun and
children love it - keeps
them quiet for ages!

You might recognise
the five colours used
are the five new in-
colours.

I'll have another card
for you tomorrow.

In the meantime, happy
crafting.

JanB

Work of Art

Hello Crafters.

Now that I have showed
you the three stamps
that come in the
Seasonally Scattered
stamp set, I am moving
onto the Work of Art
stamp set which is
available in the Annual
catalogue.

I'm sorry the first
picture is not great
quality but it does
show you what stamps
are included in the set
and I have to admit,
when I first saw it, I
moved  straight on to
the next page!

The stamps in the set
just did not fit the bill
for my style of creating.

But now I have seen
some of the ideas other
card makers have come
up with, I have to
swallow my words!
I am totally amazed
and am now on a
mission!

A mission to see how
many different designs
I can find on YouTube
and Pinterest using this
stamp set! This is my
favourite one so far.

I think this idea is
absolutely brilliant!

Tomorrow and the next
two or three evenings,
I'll show you other ideas!

In the meantime, happy
crafting.

JanB.

Bit early for Valentine's Day!

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've had a
great weekend.

The card I am
showing you today
has been made using
the same new stamp
set that was used to
make yesterday's 
Thank You card.

This card would
be ideal for
Valentine's Day but
the stamp could just
as easily be used for
an anniversary or
wedding card.

The stamp set,
Seasonally Scattered,
will be available
from the new
Autumn/Winter
(Christmas) catalogue
when it goes live on
28.08.14.

I used the stamp
You from the
Work of Art stamp
set.

I hope you have
a great week.
Until tomorrow,
happy crafting.

JanB.

What a success!

Hi, Crafters.

Wow! What a success I had with
selling my retired Stampin' Up!
stamp sets on eBay. All but one
sold.

This evening I packaged them
all up and tomorrow I'll pop
down to the Post Office so they
will soon be winging their way
to their new homes! Now to
get the next batch
sorted out!

You'll probably remember I was
 making Thank You cards so I
could put one in each package.
This is the second design I came
up with. I decided I should do
 something more masculine than flowers.



The sentiment is from a set called Perfectly
Penned - it's just so elegant, I love it.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.