Black and white and from the heart...

Hi everyone,

Well, I knew I hadn't blogged in a long time, but woah...I didn't realise it was that long!  I won't go into detail but it's down to some really hard times me and my family are going through.

So I needed an escape, to take my mind off things, and is if by magic, the delightful Tara from, the amazing, 'Make The Day Special' had mentioned this challenge at, "Less is More", on Facebook.  It's a colour challenge - 'Black, Metallic, + one' (leaving a lot of white space).  Now I'm from Newcastle upon Tyne UK, and up here, we take our football pretty seriously.  The team my family, (especially my dad and brother) support is, Newcastle United, who's team colours are 'Black and White'.  Instantly, I knew it was time to 'get back on the horse'.

And here's my card...

I have been crazy about the recent 'bokeh effect' trend, but was yet to try it for myself, so thought I would see how it looks on black card...and here's how I achieved the look...

So once I had created my 'Bokeh effect' black card, I die cut a heart from it, also die-cutting a heart from my front card panel at the same time, and inlaid these two pieces.  I then die-cut the word 'Love' from the panel, using Paper Smooches word die, heat embossing this piece in Silver Sparkle to give me my metallic element.  I then inlaid all my pieces to give me one layer.  I then cut a few different stamps up to get the other words I wanted and built up my sentiment, heat embossing the separate words in red and black.  I cut the Paper Smooches 'Tiny Hearts dies' and heat embossed the tiny pieces in red embossing powder and used to embellish and finish my piece off.  And there you have it, I really hope you like it.

 xxx

And Dad, this is for you.

I will Love you, always

xxx

Hey there...

Hi everyone,

A quick share of a card I made today to enter into a couple of my favourite challenges, of which you can find the details here -

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Get crafty & use kraft

A Blog Named Hero

#54 Recycle It

And here's my card...

I started with a piece of kraft card, and used my Hero Arts, 'Triangle Pattern stencil' and Ranger's embossing paste, (which I coloured using Mustard Seed distress Ink), to create a dimensional, colourful background.  I then die cut this speech bubble from a Mama Elephant set, then die-cut 'HEY' from it, using Lawn Fawn's, 'Quinn's ABC's' dies, and edged everything in Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  I then backed my die-cut with some patterned paper from Lawn Fawn's, 'Let's Polka' paper pad to make the letters 'pop'.  I stamped out my little birdies form Lawn Fawn's, 'Hello Sunshine' set, again, using some paper from 'Let's Polka', and cut them out.  I added a scrap of twine behind my sentiment, and a little ribbon banner with a black enamel heart, and there you have it.  A very simple card, but I really like how it came out, it kinda reminds me of Pop Art.  Now you might be thinking, 'yup, plenty kraft, but where's the 'recycle/upcycle'...well, everything other than my card base has been made up by using my scraps...and the twine behind my sentiment...well I used that to wrap up by boyfriend's birthday present the other day...before quickly swiping it back, once said present was open, to 'recycle', LOL.  Don't judge me - you'd do the same, right? ...Right haha.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jillxxx

Krafty Halloween...

Hi everyone,

Today, I'm sharing a card I have made for a couple of fun and exciting challenges...

And you can find all the deets for each one here -

Lawnscaping 

Challenge #92 Halloween theme or Colour Combo

Simon Says Stamp

Get Crafty & use Kraft

And here's my card...

I started with a piece of watercolour card, and 'washed' it using Distress Inks, (Spiced Marmalade and Seedless Preserve), misted with water,  I then used a star mask and a black/purple texture paste by Creative Expressions to add interest to my background.  I created my aperture by die-cutting a circle from the centre of my card base (Neenah desert storm kraft card), and my background, and framed it using a thin kraft frame over a Spellbinders, 'Eyelet Circle' die-cut.  I also added  a dusting of glitter to my kraft frame.  My little monster is from Lawn Fawn's 'Monster Mash' set.  I stamped him out twice so I could have two different colours going on either side, so when he spins in his little window, it flicks between two colours, and coloured him using promarkers.  This was a new technique to me, colouring on kraft, and I've gotta say, I can't believe how vivid the colours remained on the kraft card!  I then fussy cut my monsters, and sandwiched some invisible thread between them when adhereing together, and sandwiched the same thread through my layers on my card as I constructed it, so that he hangs there.  My sentiment is also from Lawn Fawn's 'Monster Mash' set, and heat embossed on black card, in white powder.  I added a few little ribbons and a sprinkle of gems, and there you have it.  This is the first time I've done one of these 'invisible floaty' (yeah sure Jill, that's what they're called :/) cards, and I've gotta say, I'm chuffed with how it came out.  I think it's really cute :)

Hope you like it.

Jillxxx

Mama Elephant October Challenge...

Hi everyone,

I'd love to share a card I've made for the October Challenge going on over at Mama Elephant, which this month, is 'Anything Goes'.

And here's my card...

October has already rocked my world!  Soooo many awesome releases, and Mama Elephant have been top of the class!  And this stamp I've used right here, from the 'Peace On Earth' set, my oh my, absolute perfection.  I don't know how they do it, but they do, they just get it right every time!  So I obviously couldn't wait to ink this bad boy up so set to work straight away!  I started with a white card blank, stamped out this huge sentiment in Versmark ink, and clear heat embossed to create a resist.  I then inked over it using Seedless Preserve, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, and spritzed over the top using a shimmer mist.  I used a Studio Calico star mask covered with texture paste and sparkly embossing powder to create my star background.  Once dried, I heat set my embossing powder.  I also took some star wood veneers, and covered them in Versmark Ink and sparkly embossing powder to embellish with.  I used Mama Elephants 'Basic Set Creative Cuts' dies to create some layers, and made my own glitter card by edging plain white card in glue, and sprinkling with white glitter.  And there you have, a simple but bold card...a lot of inking, and a lot of embossing!

I hope you like it.

Jillxxx

Lawnscaping take #3

Hi everyone,

Well, here it is, my last shot in my efforts to impress the lovely folk over at Lawnscaping Challenge Blog, who currently have a call out to join their Facebook Team.  You can enter a maximum of 3 times, and this is my last life...eeeeeeeek!  I have tried to do three completely different designs, showing the different sides to me, so without further ado, here's my last card...

I took this adorable little fella from Lawn Fawn's 'Monster Mash' set, stamped him out on a sheet of masking paper a few times, and cut out.  I then took a piece of white card stock, and after stamping him out in the bottom right hand corner, to set my 'main' image, I repeatedly stamped him all over the page, masking the surrounding monsters as I went, until the whole page was over-run in a crazy monster mash fest!  I then coloured my main image, using bright oranges, to make him really 'pop'.  Once I'd wasted my time doing that - I decided a) I wanted him to actually stand off the card, and b) Instead of him being coloured, it would be more fun to paper-piece him.  So I put plan B into practise, and paper pieced my monster using paper from Lawn Fawn's 'Into the Woods', and 'Let's Polka' pads.  I also stamped, and cut out, this sweet little bow tie to add an extra touch of cute!  My sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's 'Chit Chat' set, and again, stamped and cut from the same paper, and mounted onto the card using foam adhesive.  I then matted my piece onto black card to frame it nicely, and some more Lawn Fawn polka dot paper.  And there you have it.  I didn't use any embellishments, as I loved the simplicity of the design.

I reeeeeeally hope you like it :)

Wish me luck folks!

Love always, Jillxxx

Lawnscaping Facebook call...

Hi everyone,

I want to share another card I have made to put forward for the call Lawnscaping Challenges have put out, to be part of their Facebook design team.  I mean, can you actually imagine how cool that would be?  Just the thought of it gets me giddy lol.  ...but before we get into that. I have some awesome Lawnscaping related news to share...I only just went and won a 'Top Mow-It-All' place in their most recent challenge (Patterned Papers), with this card behind this link!!!  I can't tell you how happy this has made me, I even done a little squeal haha.  I would love to think this was a sign from Universe lol, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, my eyes scrunched, and my nose crinkled, until the winners are announced!

So, back to reality Jill, back to reality...

Here's my second card...

You can enter up to 3 times, and I plan on using all my lives here!  I want to enter 3 different styles to show my different sides.

The idea with this card was to make it all about the background, and to create an Ombre effect, using one stamp, with different inks.  So I used this cool vine from Lawns Fawn's, 'Blissful Botanicals', and repeatedly stamped it, switching it around each time. I used Distress Inks, and went dark to light (Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick, Tattered Rose, and Spun Sugar).  My sentiment is cut from Lawn Fawns 'Thanks' word die, which I cut a few times, and glued together, then covered in Versamrk ink and Ranger's Black Sparkle embossing powder.  i then watercolour washed a piece of card, using Picked Raspberry distress ink, misted with water & mica powder, and cut a Spellbinders frame from it.  I then cut the 'Thanks' die from this frame, and in-laid the whole thing to my background.  Now hindsight is a wonderful thing, right?  And I can now see that this was a complete waste of my time and energy as it would look exactly the same had I of just popped the sentiment die-cut right on top of the frame, and not messed around with in-laying...but I did, so hey ho!  I finished by adding some little ribbons I had cut into a flag, tab, and banner and topped with a little black twine bow, embellished with a scattering of gems, and there you have it.

I really like simple graphic cards, and I definitely think this falls into that category, so am really pleased with how it came out.  I hope you like it too.  As always, I would love to read your comments.

Wish me luck :)

See you next time.

Jillxxx

The chance of a lifetime...

Wow wow wow, how exciting...Lawnscaping have put out a call to join their Facebook team!!!  Oh my word, can you imagine?  It would be an absolute dream come true.  I LOVE Lawn Fawn, I love their stamps, their dies, their papers, their twine, their characters, their spirit...yeah, I'm pretty much a mega fan!!!

So you can enter up to 3 times, and they want you to, 'Show us your style'.  I mean, you can imagine what the competition is gonna be like, but you can't pass up an opportunity like this, and you've gotta be in it to win it, right?  So, here goes...

Here's my first entry, made especially for the contest...

I made my card using Lawn Fawn's 'Home Sweet Home' set.  I started with a piece of white card and inked it up using Distress Inks -Tumbled Glass,  Broken China, and Chipped Sapphire over the majority of the card, and a small block of Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough along the bottom.  I then die-cut Lawn Fawn's grassy border, and punched out a circle, both from Lawn Fawn's 'let's Polka' paper pad.  Now my new favourite technique in the whole world, is 'no-line colouring'.  I just love the way it looks when executed well...and there lies the problem...executing it well lol.  It is sooo hard when the pieces you want to colour are so teeny tiny, so I managed to do my branches, but my little birds, heart and birdhouse...well, there's a reason I reverted to good ol' Memento Tuxedo ink LOL!  So I stamped out my pieces and coloured them (...with lines) using Promarkers, and fussy cut them all out.  I then die-cut a few little clouds from my background Using Lawn Fawn's 'Spring Showers' die set.   I stamped and heat embossed the cute little banner and sentiment, onto vellum, in Ranger's 'Black Sparkle', and cut out.  I added a little of wrap of twine to my grassy border, and edged my whole piece, including the cloud outlines, with a Zig glue pen, and added a fine white glitter, just to add a subtle shimmer.  I then built up my scene using clear gel to add dimension, and matted onto a piece of plain white card to show through the clouds.

And well, there you have it.  I hope you like it, and as always, would love to read your comments.

So wish me luck, keep your fingers crossed for me...and if you're making the decision...pick meeeeeeeeeee pleeeease :)

(*note to self:play it cool Jill, play it cool lol*)

Love always, jillxxx