Penny Black Snow Family

 I would like to bring together my entry for this weeks 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and a post for J and C Creations blog, which has this month's challenge as Animal Antics featuring Penny Black. This lovely Snow Family is a stamp from Penny Black, now I know they're not exactly animals but they are very cute and they do bring a smile to your face and there just might be a tiny animal under all that snow, honest!
They have been stamped in Archival Black ink and coloured with watercolour pens. I used a grey Promarker to add a little shading and if you look closely you might be able to see that the bobbles on their hats are fluffy, I found some flock in my stash that's been there for years because you only ever use a little at a time.

The background has been embossed with an embossing folder from Cuttlebug - Snowflakes. I chose not to try and emboss the lower part as once snow has fallen it looks smooth ( and I didn't want to mess it up!).
I cut around the family and across the lower background and then mounted it on foam pads to give a little dimension. The greeting is stamped in black and clear embossed, then it was cut out using the smallest die in the Mega Deckle Edge Label die set from Spellbinders.
A reasonable quick and easy card that looks clean and simple. I hope you like it.

London Line to Snetterton Park

 This lovely card was made by a very helpful friend to go on display at Snetterton Park. The decoupage is from Trimcraft's new 'London Line' range of papers, brads, ribbons, flowers, etc.
Snetterton Park has just opened a new hall that's full of gifts, books, arts and crafts. For those of you that don't already know the amazing toy and model shop -  it is huge. There are now six large halls full of wonderful things to suit the whole family. There is a large cafe with indoor and outdoor play areas, lots of free parking and it's open seven days a week.

The art & craft department has a growing selection of stock ranging from childrens crafting to items for the more serious artist or crafter. There will be regular workshops and demonstrations, some of which will be presented by well known crafting celebrities, so keep an eye out for news about upcoming events.
There will be an events page on the Snetterton Park website in the near future and I shall be listing them on here too.
It's been a busy few days but now the cat's out of the bag it's time to knuckle down and get crafting - as if I needed any encouragement!!

Gem Tree

Here is my offering for this month's sketch challenge over on 52CCT. It's quite good to have a guide to work to, it leaves you free to think about the colours and the focal point.
For my topper I have stamped a tree from Chocolate Baroque's 'Madonna and Trees' in clear on white card, then I coloured the card with Distress Ink Iced Spruce as it was a pretty good colour match to the patterned paper.
The tree is mounted on silver mirri card. I ran a silver ribbon across the patterned paper before mounting the tree on top. There is a small greeting in silver on white card mounted on foam pads at the point where the ribbon meets the tree. I chose to glue the little pink gems on last so that mounting everything was easier.
I really feel that I'm getting somewhere with the Christmas stash now, thanks to the inspiration from this challenge blog, I hope you are too.

Heartfelt Die-versity

 Just like a real butterfly this little fellow started life as something quite different. If you would like to see the whole process of how he got from humble but beautiful frame to sparkling butterfly, then hop over to the J and C Creations blog and take at look at the transformation.
Todays post is short and sweet as life here is rather busy at the moment. It's half term, jubilee and there's some more news to come soon. I hope you enjoy your long weekend.

Rose - Sew Simple

 As promised here are the instructions for the paper rose demonstrated on Sunday at Sew Simple. This is a technique that my friend Lynne showed me, it is always a firm favourite whenever it's used.

Materials : Four x 6 petal flower shape - lightweight card
                   ( die cut, punched or stamped and cut out )
                 Strong PVA glue or silicone glue
Tools :       Scissors
                 Cocktail stick or thin paintbrush handle
                 Mini pegs or paperclips

 These four flowers are stamped using a Chocolate Baroque stamp and cut out with scissors. The technique works just as well with die cut or punched flowers. It is possible to use a five petal shape, it will just produce a slightly different flower which would look great in a bouquet.
If you are going to colour your flower it is best to do that now as it's less fiddly before cutting. Remember to colour the back of the petals too, when the flower is built you can see the back of the shapes.

 One shape is left uncut for use as the base. One shape is snipped from edge to middle. One shape is cut to remove one petal and the last shape is cut to remove two petals. DO NOT throw anything away, we need those little petals too.

 Fold and glue the overlapping petals on cut shapes as per the photo. Using little pegs or clips will help hold it while the glue dries. Once the glue is dry use the cocktail stick or brush handle to gently roll the edges of the petals.

Begin by sticking the five petal shape to the base, you may need to flatten the bottom a little. Next glue the four petal shape and so on until you have built your flower. You will need to trim the bottom of each layer slightly to shorten it just enough to sit inside the previous layer.
Each flower you build will be a little different



I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do. Try different flower shapes and put them all together in an amazing bouquet. The floral gift that won't wilt or die. If you have any queries then please contact me either by leaving a comment ( I read them all as I don't get many) or by e-mail on my profile page.  Happy Crafting!!

All that glitters meets 52cct

 Here is my entry for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week.
It is also a card made as part of my design team work for the J and C Creations Challenge Blog, this months theme is All That Glitters.
This card has concertina sides so it gives some depth to the images used. The picture at the back is a lovely snow scene from Heartfelt Creations stamped in Distress Ink Dusty Concorde. I then used a damp paintbrush to blend some of the ink from the stamped image into the fence, trees and windows. The sky has also been blended with the purple ink leaving the roof and ground white. Clear glitter has been added to the trees and the roof to give a little sparkle.
The big tree was stamped on acetate using black Stazon, then glittered from the back using Frantage Crushed glass Glitter in green. the acetate layer has been fixed in the centre of the three folds on the side so it appears outside the window but in front of the cottage.

The beautiful window frame is a die from Heartfelt Creations cut out in white card and placed over the hole cut out of the front card. Once stuck down the filigree cut outs were glittered with Frantage Halo Glitter Mix in silver.
The foliage at the bottom was stamped with a Feather Grass Flourish from Heartfelt Creations and embossed in silver. The flowers were cut out with a Marianne die Poinsettia in silver mirri card with centres covered in Gala Glitz Lavender and Blue Glitter.
I found getting a really good picture a little difficult due to the shine on the acetate but I hope you can see lots of sparkle and shine in these two pictures.
All products used can be bought from J and C Creations.

J&C Creations challenge

May - All that glitters

This creation was inspired by the new embossing powders from Stampendous, they have a real vintage look to them. To begin with I cut the frame from gold satin mirri card using a die from Heartfelt Creations 'Decorative Window Scene'. I then placed it on top of my background paper and lightly drew around the centre opening so I knew where to cut a hole. I mounted the frame on the backing paper after cutting the opening and used Halo Glitter Mix Gold to fill in the cut outs. The frame is mounted on foam pads to raise it away from the photograph a little.
The small flowers are embossed with Aged Rose and Aged Aqua powders giving them a beautiful aged speckled look. The large flower is covered with Earth Elements 'Bed of Roses' which smells heavenly, a rose scented card with added bling, perfect. I stuck some little gems in the flower centres and added a few sprigs of die cut foliage. The finishing touch is a nice cream and aged gold organza bow.

Products used

Heartfelt Creations die  -  Decorative Window Scene

Stampendous Fran-tage Embossing Enamel  -  Aged Aqua / Aged Rose

Stampendous Fran-tage Earth Elements - Bed of Roses

Halo Glitter Mix  -  Gold

all products listed are available from http://www.jandccreations.co.uk/