Hey there, teacher...

Hi there,

It's Jill here, and I am delighted to be sharing a card I have made for the current Lawnscaping challenge, where this time round, the theme is, 'Back to School'.

This challenge is sponsored by the delightul Ellen Hutson, and you gotta be in it to win it, so get your supplies at the ready!

Here's what I came up with...

I've got a lot of friends who are teachers, so thought it would be a sweet idea to do a kind of 'Just Becasue...' card to brighten up your teachers day.  I mean, boy, do those guys put some long hours in?!

I created my blackboard by simply dusting black card with my anti-static bag!  I used Quinn's lower case dies to cut the 'teacher', and built up my sentiment using stamps from Flirty Frames, and Let's Play.  My wee little cutie pie worm is from 'Bugs and Kisses', and my little appple, is actually, well, not an apple, It's a teeny heart which I coloured and added a leaf too to transform into an appple! 

I adhered some vellum behind my spaces, surrounded in shaker tape, and filled the teeny compartments with all sorts of yumminess, like sequins, tinsel, and glitter, to create a lovely little shaker.

I matted onto some gorgeous Lawn Fawn 'Let's Polka Mon Amie' patterned paper, and there you have it.

I can't wait to see all your designs, so be sure to hit the link and play along!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jillx

Dancing Bear

Hi everybody,

Hope you are all well.

I've got a fun card to share with you today.

I used Lawn Fawn's 'Party Animal's' set as the main focus of my card.  As soon as I set eyes on this set, I thought it looked like the animals were dancing - and I couldn't wait to help them shake what their mama's gave them!  So that's exactly what I done...

I have no idea what this type of card is called - but the little cute bear is on invisible thread, so spins, and twirls, and dances like the party animal he is :)

Woah...check me out...yeah I added a video...(I think)!  Excuse my inky fingers - but I'm sure I'm in the right crowd to understand!

Everything on this card is Lawn Fawn, (megafan).  The cute critter's and my sentiment are from the the Party Animal set, the tree's are from Joy to the Woods, the banner is from Home Sweet Home, I used the Grassy Border die for my grass (state the obvious why don't you, Jill?), and all the patterned paper is, yup, from Lawn Fawn.  

I took all the elements I wanted to use to create my scene, stamped them out, coloured them using alcohol markers, and fussy cut.  I gave the bear a party pat, and some cutlery, (because everybody knows the best thing about a party is the party food!), which are included in the set, and all of which I had to stamp, colour, and cut twice, as I needed the matching image on the front and back.

I inked up my background, cut a circle from the centre, and built my scene around it.  To make my bear 'dance', I simply stuck the two coloured images back to back, with a string of invisible thread sandwiched between the two, then adhered the thread at the top and bottom of my die cut circle.  To keep everything nice, neat and tidy, I covered the back with a piece of matching die cut card.  I added a piece of patterned paper on the back wall, so it looks pretty through the peep hole, and there you have it.  a dancing bear all ready to party with his pals :)

I hope you like it.

As always, everything  I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

         

Stars, Stripes, and Shakers...

Hi everyone,

Id love to share a card I have made for the current Lawnscaping Challenge, which this time around, in honour of the upcoming 4th July, is 'Stars and Stripes'.

And here's what I came up with...

So, obviously, it's a wee little shaker card!  I'm not sure if we're meant to be 'done' with shakers yet, if it's time to 'move on'...but I'm not, I refuse to, I ain't ever giving them up coz i love em'!

I started by creating my own patterned paper, stamping out a couple of different widths of stripes in blue and red, and adding the dashed line form Belinda's Borders in green.  I stamped out the little star from Trim the Tree, gave them all a cute little face from the Milk & Cookies set, coloured them all using alcohol markers, and cut them out.  I used the journal die to cut the centre out of my panel and added acetate and shaker tape behind to create my shaker space.  I added all my cute stars, some wood veneers, and backed with some delicious, sparkly, striped patterned paper.  My sentiment is from the Chit Chat set, and is stamped on black card, heat embossed in white powder, and cut out.  I embellished with a scattering of die cut black hearts, and there you have it.

A simple, stripey, star filled, shaker :)

I really hope you like it.

See you next time.

Jillx

Having a pop at Pop Up...

Hi there,

Well, today has been one of those frustrating days where nothing seems to turn out right!  I wanted to make a card to play along with the current Lawnscaping Challenge, where this time round, the theme is, 'Try A New Technique'.  I love the recent trend that's emerging for cute 'pop up' cards, and hadn't tried my hand at it yet, so thought I'd give it a blast.

And here's where it took me...

I had recently bought the Mama Elephant's 'Pop Up Trio' die, so used that, along with Lawn Fawn's gorgeous 'Whale You Be Mine' set.  I also used the cloud die from Mama Elephant's 'Landscape Trio' set, to create my waves.  

Using the cloud die, I die cut one piece of watercolour card into many sections, (the idea being to create many waves and a sunset) and water colour washed each part in different Distress Inks, cutting and colouring an extra 'wave' at the same time to use as my first layer.  Now I don't know why, I think it may have been due to the wave I wanted to 'Pop Up' as my first layer, but for some reason, everything got a little confusing when I came to die-cutting the 'Pop Up' parts to get it to work.  I had to add little tabs to get my Whales to sit at the height I wanted them, and everything got a little, shall we say, 'testing'!  But hey ho, the challenge was all about trying something new, so I should have expected a bumpy road!  I eventually ended up some where close to what I pictured when the idea for this card popped in my head.  I watercolour washed a scrap of card in Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and cut Lawn Fawn's 'Tiny Hearts' from it to embellish with, and then stamped out my sentiment from the same 'Whale You Be Mine' set in black ink.  I also gave my whole piece a spritz of 'white', and a spritz of 'shine' spray, to make it glisten like water.

I then took another piece of card the same size, as a cover, and washed this piece in Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to match the sunset on the inside.  I stamped one of Lawn Fawn's 'Flirty Frames' on the cover, adding only dots to it, so that all the excitement is kept hidden inside!

And there you have it, a very not perfect Pop Up card!  ...And if you made it to the end of this post, you deserve a medal! Haha.

I hope you like it.

Jillxxx

A dream come true...

Hi everybody,

Well, well, well ... I have got the best news ever to share (well, for me!) - I have been asked to join the Design Team over at my favourite place on The Internet....Make the Day Special!  I can't believe it, I am such a megafan of their blog, and their shop - oh my oh my - I think I own half of it haha.  Pretty much my full stamp collection is from there - Tara who runs it (amazingly well, and all on her own I might add!), has THE best taste, and the prices are unreal amazing.  Yes, I'm gushing, but i really really love it!!!  So I obviously wanted to share my very first post here as well - and here it is :)
...

Jill here.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to be part of this amazing and talented team, it really is a dream come true.  I only hope I do you guys, and all the awesome products we all love, justice!

So, without further ado,  here's a sneak peek at my first offering...

Deciding what to do for my first post was such a tough decision!  I came to the conclusion that the best way to introduce myself was to stick to a couple of my, (and hopefully your) favourite things - Mama Elephant and watercolouring!

I used Mama Elephant's 'In My Heart' set, Lawn Fawn's 'Grassy Border', and 'Spring Showers' dies and a whole lot of watercolour, to create my bright Springtime scene.  

I die cut my back panel into several pieces, giving each piece a watercolour wash using Distress Inks, and pieced it back together so it remained in one layer.  My little cutie patooties from the 'In My Heart' set, are watercoloured, again using Distress Inks, fussy cut, and added to the front of my card using foam adhesive to really make them 'pop' off the page.  I stamped out my sentiment direct onto my card, and heat embossed using a Black Sparkle powder.  I finished  by embellishing with a couple of bright yellow enamel hearts to give an extra splash of colour, and there you have it.  The sun isn't shining up here in the North of England, so I thought I'd make it shine on my card!

I really hope you like it, and all the products I used are listed below, so go and give them a closer look!

See you all next week.

Jill

                  

*I should have published this post on 1st May...oopsy*

A new dimension of Tic Tac Toe...

Hi everybody,

Well, Spring has eventually sprung here in Newcastle...and I'm full of cold :( ...typical!  In any case, to cheer me up, I made a card to play along with the current challeges going on over at the, always awesome, Make The Day Special Challenge Blog, and, my other favourite place on the internet, the delightful Lawnscaping Challenge Blog.

This month's challenge at Lawnscaping, is 'Dimension', and here's all the details -

Lawnscaping Challenge Blog - Dimenion

And this month's Challenge at MTDS is 'Tic Tac Toe', a grid where you choose 3 of the items that make up a line, and use these 3 items to make up your creation!  Amazing idea, I've never heard of it before but what fun, loads of different variations to choose from.

Here's the 'Grid' -

And here's my card -

So, can you guess which line I chose :) ?  Yup, I went - Wood + Circles + Die cuts.

I used these gorgeous Wooden Veneers which I got from MTDS (and have been hoarding for a while now haha) for my wooden elements.  I used Lawn Fawn's 'Thanks' die, (the scripty words from Lawn Fawn are possibly my favourite sentiment die's of all time - I just LOVE the font!), and a circle die, and, with a bit of creative cutting, managed to get this one piece effect.  I backed with more wood veneer, mounted on thick foam adhesive to give some great dimension.  I loved the CAS look of the wood and the die-cutting, so kept things simple by embellishing with die cut, and pre-cut, wood veneer hearts and stars, adhered using gel glue to add more dimension.  I LOVE how the negative space in the hearts creates a whole new depth of dimension all on their own, and think the shadows created by all the dimension, look pretty cool too.

Hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment :)

Jillxxx

Distressed hugs...

Hi there,

I'd love to share another card I have made for, the awesome, Lawnscaping Challenge Blog, and this time round, the theme is 'Distress Addict'.  Lawn Fawn and Distress, the stuff dreams are made of :)

And here's my card...

I started by choosing a few different Lawn Fawn patterned papers, and cutting them into strips.  I distressed all the edges, both with my distress tool, and with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, and adhered to my panel.  Once everything was in place, I die-cut Lawn Fawn's 'Hugs' die from the centre, die-cutting another few out of kraft card, for me to build the die cut up with.  I then stuck these all together, in-laid them, and added my original piece of distressed patterned papers, to the top.  I stamped these oh-so cute little hedgehogs form the 'sending hedgehugs' set; a mini set that I love more and more every time i use it!  I coloured them using, yup, obviously, more Distress Inks.  I die cut a few Lawn Fawn hearts and also washed these in Ink.  So that  was all my elements made up, now on with finishing my sentiment.  I stamped out 'sending hedge...' from the same set onto vellum, by masking off the last part of the sentiment as, obviously, I had my raised die cut to finish off my greeting.  I cut my vellum into a banner, and adhered it to my card front by entwining it behind it the die cut, and one of my hearts.  I finished off with another few hearts, and there you have it...don't be distressed, hug it out :)  I really hope you like it and would love to read your comments.

Until next time...

Jillxxx

Delightful Distress...

Hi there,

A quick post before I have to go to work (booooo), to share a card I have made to enter into the current challenge going on over at the, always awesome, Lawnscaping Challenge blog.  Please excuse me as I brag for a moment...but I LOVE this blog, and was beyond thrilled to discover I won the last challenge...how exciting?!  So in any case, back to the task at hand, sorry, I just couldn't help but share my awesome news :)

Now, this time round, the theme is 'Distress Addicts'.  And here's my card...

I am out and proud...My name is Jill and I am a Distress Ink addict.  Like out of control, head over heels, in love, couldn't live without them, kind of addict.  So Lawn Fawn, plus Distress...I was obviously only ever going one direction!

I started by stamping out the heart border for, 'Belinda's Borders', several times to create a background, and heat embossing in clear powder.  I then smooshed and spritzed Abandoned Coral (February's release...and oh my what a release!), Worn Lipstick, and Tea Dye Distress Inks, on my craft sheet, pulled my card through the ink, and put aside to dry.  I then stamped out these gorgeous little bunnies, from the 'Snow Day' set, and painted them up using, yup, you guessed it, Distress Inks.  I added a wee little bow from the 'Monster Mash' set to my little girl bunny.  I also stamped out my speech bubbles from the 'Chit Chat' set, and added the 'U' to an empty bubble to complete my loved up sentiment, (I plan on giving this card to my amazing boyfriend as we are about to celebrate our 10th year together).  I coloured my speech bubbles using the gold watercolour form the Kuretake Gansai Tambi set, and used my finger to smudge some of the colour away to add to the 'distress' look.  I stamped out  the heart, also from the 'Snow Day' set, heat embossed in Platinum Sparkle, and cut out.  I also heat embossed some tiny hearts confetti at the same time to use as embellishments.  I used a couple of border punches on vellum, some ribbon, and some raw twine to ground my scene, and adhered all my bits in place using foam adhesive.  I added my little hearts to go all out on my loved up setting, and mounted onto a kraft card blank.  And there you have it.  I like how this card came together, and love the way my background came out.  I hope you do too.

I'd love to know what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Hopefully see you soon.

Jillxxx

dotty for dots and stripes...

Hi everybody,

I'd love to share a card I have made for the current challenge going on over at the awesome Lawnscaping Challenge blog, where this time round, the theme is 'Dots & Stripes'.  Cool. huh?  I am very partial to a good dot or stripe!

And here's my card...

I was admiring (touching, stroking, smelling - as you do), my delicious new Lawn Fawn 'Bugs and kisses' set, and thought, 'perfect', there right in front of me was those adorable little bugs, the bumble bee and ladybird, already perfectly making their own 'dots and stripes' statement, so how could I not let them lead the way?!  I used a few different Lawn Fawn sets to make up my scene.  The bugs and jar are from 'Bugs and kisses', the trees are from, 'Let's Play', and the leaves are from, 'Our friendship grows'.  I stamped out all my pieces and coloured them all using alcohol markers, and stamped my jar onto acetate.  My background is made up of all different delightful papers from Lawn Fawn's 'dots and stripes' pads in beautiful bright spring colours, well, because why not?  My aperture is created using Mama Elephant's 'Index Card' dies, and again built using Lawn Fawn paper pads.  My sentiment is from the Bugs and kisses' set, and stamped and heat embossed in Black Sparkle powder, on vellum, then cut using the cloud die from Mama Elephant's  'Landscape trio' set. I built up my scene using dimensional adhesive, and left my lid 'ajar' so my cute little bugs could fly free!  

I've gotta admit, I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  It's different from my normal style, but I had loads of fun building it up, and I think it's really cheery :)  

I hope you like it and these cute little fellas help brighten your day like they did mine.

See you next time.

Jillxxx

*edited-Amazing news - this scoped me 1st prize woop woop :)*

http://lawnscaping.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/winners-dots-stripes-queen-of-green-top.html