Monday 28 November 2011

Gift tags for all the family

Shopping List
Punches
Christmas Combination
Christmas Assortment
Very Big  Scalloped Circle
Super Duper Circle
Price Label
Single Holly
Blink Blink
Clear Magic FRCL171 All Through the Year
Holly brads
Santa Hat brads
Metals, Elements,Sparkler peel offs
Organza & gingham ribbon
Brilliance & Versafine inkpads
Crafty Edger + Antique Floral cassette
Small pieces of Magenta papers
All available from:-

Gift tags for all the family this week & I really got carried away I'm afraid. This is a great way to use  those carefully saved precious scraps of card, paper, ribbon & other treasures. I've used a whole selection of Woodware punches & the Francoise Read Clear Magic set "All Through the Year" was ideal for the words on my tags. I love the Holly Sprig brads & the Santa Hat brads that are new this year from Woodware, also the new single holly leaf 1" punch. It's a good opportunity to employ your Crafty Edger or border punches to give a lacy effect to the paper pieces. You can really go to town with Metals, Elements, Stickles & Sparkler peel offs to give those unique finishing touches & sparkle to your personalised tags.     

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Pick a colour........

Shopping List
Stampendous Cling Forest Cottage Scene CRR123
Woodware Clear Magic JGCL551
1" snowflake punch
Versafine inkpad
Brilliance Pearlescent Purple inkpad
Sakura Metallic pen in purple
Stickles Purple & Stardust
Lilac polka dot organza ribbon
Purple card
Lilac pearlescent card
Dark purple ribbed card
All available from


Time is marching steadily on towards Christmas & only so many crafting days to go! I've kept it simple this week & returned to my favourites- Stampendous stamps. Here we have a snowy log cabin scene which I have stamped using Brilliance Pearlescent Purple. I have used the inkpad & a Sakura metallic pen in purple to watercolour the image. I have layered onto the dark ribbed card and then onto the pearl lilac card onto which I have stamped my message. The message comes from Jane Gill's clear magic stamps, Christmas Verses, which I have used  for all my card messages & inserts this year as it's just so versatile & is suitable for any design. I have added a border of punched snowflakes & some dots of Stardust Stickles to give the snowy effect in the scene & a dot of purple Stickles at the centre of each snowflake. A little knot of lilac polka dot ribbon just finishes the card.        

Thursday 17 November 2011

Hobby Art weekend

Last weekend we enjoyed having Jenny Mayes from Hobby Art with us. Jenny's workshops are always in great demand & this time was no exception. Jenny was working with Hobby Arts new sets of clear stamps which included some new "Scene It" designs. She was also with us all day on Saturday demonstrating at Japonica & it proved to be a very busy day all round.




Here's Jenny at the end of a very long & busy day with our own Janet Caudrelier of Japonica

To launch our November offer of the month I was demonstrating a few weeks ago using one of the new Hobby Art set which is part of our offer & below are a few of my designs.




Wednesday 16 November 2011

Traditional Christmas

Shopping List
Woodware Singles Clear magic stamp
Holly Wreath FRS102
Christmas Verses JGCL551
Magenta 12"x12" paper
Holiday Poinsettias-memor 34
Holly sprig brads JL 146
Sakura metallic gel pens
Woodware Elements in red
Stickles Diamond
Versafine inkpad in Onyx Black
Clear embossing powder
Woodware paper trimmer with pinking blade
Woodware inverted corner rounder
All available from:-


We have a double twisted eisel card this week for our theme of Traditional Christmas. This has been created from a 8"x8" piece of card folded in half and the cut down the centre of the top half. Simply fold the two centre corners away from the  centre- a little like a shirt collar. The two  art pieces will fit onto these two folds. I have stamped all images in black ink and embossed with clear powder. Using the rich metallic Sakura pens I have watercoloured the images. As you will spot I have stamped part of the wreath to provide a flourish at the top and bottom of the message panel. Both pieces have been layered into dark green card & then gold card having used the inverted corner  punch first. The bottom half of the card has been covered with the Poinsettia paper and I have stamped a message border to act as the stop bar to the two eisel pieces. I have used the cute Holly brads on two layers of die cut circles to make some "mince pies". Add some frosting with Stickles and the red Elements to complete our Traditional Christmas theme.  

Thursday 10 November 2011

Angel Kisses

Shopping List
Stampendous Cling CRV 162 Manger Kisses
Stampendous Cling CRL 077 Snowflake Kisses
Bremen scrapbook paper (no 5)
Woodware 1" punches Holly & Snowflake
Clear Elements
Woodware paper flowers
Woodware Christmas paper lace
Double sided adhesive sheet
Blue superfine glitter
Small diamantes
Crafty Edger with Scallop Shell cassette
Stickles Stardust
8"x8" Woodware card blank
Versafine Onyx black
Brilliance Mediterranean Blue
All available from:-

For this month's sketch challenge I have used some adorable Stampendous cling stamps and one of the new large 8"x8" Woodware card blanks. These are great as they give you so much room to be creative & really make a special card for that special someone. I have used some of the pretty Bremen scrapbook paper with the edges punched using the Crafty Edger & the Scallop Shell cassette which I feel also has the feel of snowflakes. There are 2 smaller borders at the top & bottom of the card created by adding a strip of double sided adhesive sheet onto which comes the snowflake design paper lace & all topped off with a sprinkling of Ultrafine blue glitter. I have stamped our cute angels using Versafine Onyx Black inkpad & softly coloured the images with pencils. This was layered onto silver mirror card and clear Elements added around the scalloped edge.The paper flower was sponged with the blue inkpad & added sparkle was acheived using Stickles Stardust. As you will see from the original sketch above, I have cheated slightly by creating the curved border in the centre of our challenge with  punched snowflakes embellished with small diamantes. Lastly I have added some punched holly leaves and clear Elements  for those final frosty touches.  

Friday 4 November 2011

Pick up a penguin!

Shopping List
Woodware peel offs
90114 Penguins in black
90100 Snowflakes micro glitter silver/silver
Christmas Verses-JGCL551
Candy bonbons
Crystal glitter
Sakura gel pens
 Double sided adhesive sheet
Small diamantes
Versafine inkpad
All available from:-

Our theme this week is to use just one layer which is so hard to do when you're a matting & layering junkie like me. I've chosen this effective black peel off as you just can't have Christmas without a  penguin or two can you? I've placed the peel off directly onto the two outer sides of  a A4 trifold card blank and stamped the greeting from Christmas Verses onto the centre panel.I've used a different greeting from the same set along the top and bottom of the card. Cover this with a strip of DSA sheet, randomly add some small diamantes & then sprinkle with crystal glitter to give the whole border a frosty effect. Beware that you must use crystal glitter as any other will oscure the whole image. I have coloured the penguin scenes with Sakura gel pens and again sprinkled with crystal glitter.For the final touches I have added  some sparkling snowflakes with sky blue Candy Bonbons in the centres of some. Brrrrr!!