Public Sleeping Day – 28th February

Here is a card I made for the J & C Creations Blog. February 28th is the annual Public Sleeping Day. That means today, wherever you are, sleep, nap, doze, snooze, rest your eyes, inspect the back of your eyelids or watch a movie on the inside of your eyes. Today is your day! (Sounds like my kind of day!!)

All this cold weather makes me yearn for summer, as that is a long way off, I’ll have to make do with  a summery image of this cute cat in a rather novel hammock!

Items available from the J & C Creations shop
Stamp - ‘Uplifting Occasion’ – Penny Black, coloured with Promarkers and paper pieced
Paper – Craft Creations
Prima flowers
Fancy buttons (flower centres)
Spellbinders ’Labels 25’ die

Other items

Kraft card
Ribbon
Cheery Lynn ‘Fanciful Flourish’ die

Challenges:
'Add A Sentiment' - Whoopsi Daisy
'Paper Piecing' - Tammy's Scrapin Corner
'Birthday' - Creative Card Crew
'Mother's Day or Birthday' - Inky Chicks
'Anything Goes' - Divas By Design
'Something Old' - Cute Card Thursday (I've had these flowers for ever!)
'Animals' - Allsorts

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Going Round In Circles

Today is the start of another challenge at Passion For Promarkers and this week the theme is ‘Circle Cards’. We are being sponsored by Michele R Designs who is offering £10 of the winner’s choice of digi papers, so pop along to the other DT members’ Blogs to get some  inspiration.

Unfortunately I do not own a cutting machine which will cut A4 card or any large circle dies, so I had to use a compass and  scissors and as my cutting out leaves a lot to be desired, making a circle card worried me a bit! I decided to use this very versatile Memory Box border die to go around the edges and hopefully this detracts from any wonkiness, lol! My paper is extremely pretty, but quite busy and so I minimised any decorations and now am not too sure if there are enough, but hey-ho, it’s done now :)

Stamp - ‘A Little Bird’ - Crafter’s Companion coloured with Promarkers
Card – Coredinations - Crafter’s Companion
Paper (Best Creations) & ribbon - J & C Creations shop
Dies used:  Die-Namics ‘Faux Crochet Border’ - Memory Box, Marianne Designs ‘Birdhouse & Fence’

Challenges:'Shaped Cards' - Cupcake Craft
'Circle Cards' - Paper Pretties

Thanks for looking! 

Natx

All At Sea

Gosh, it's Sunday again! That means the start of a new challenge at Come & Get It where the theme this week is 'Water Play'. I was going to make a card with a mermaid on it, when I remembered that I had this cute digi and had not used it before, so here is Barclay in his umbrella boat!

Image – 'Barclay At Sea’ - Pollycraft, coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment - Crafty Sentiments
Paper - Scrapbookingmad
Card - Coredinations
Ribbon & compass charm – J & C Creations shop
Beads from stash
Clear dew drops - The Ribbon Girl
Glitter – Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’
Dies used: SB 'Scalloped Squares' & 'Inverted Scalloped Squares'

Challenges:
’Add Some Metal’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Ribbon & Bling’- Dream Valley
’Mother’s Day/Birthday’- Inky Chicks
’Birthday’ – Creative Card Crew
’Blue & Yellow’ – Little Miss Muffet
’Animals’ – Allsorts
'Lots Of Layers' - Here Come The Boys

I'm off to the Extravaganza Day at J & C Creation's warehouse in a mo, I have my eye on a couple of things for Mother's Day, but don't want to be tempted into getting more stuff - yes, well wish me luck with that, lol!

Thanks for looking! 

Natx

Humphrey

It’s trying very hard to snow here at the minute, there’s lots of it in the air, but thankfully it’s not laying for the moment, so it’s rather nice to be holed up in my cosy craft room! I am on several DTs at the moment (and enjoying every minute) and all my card making recently has revolved around their challenges, so it was a nice change to make a card that I just fancied doing! I was so lucky at Christmas to win a voucher at  Crafter’s Companion and I have put my winnings to good use with this card.

Image - ‘Humphrey’ (coloured with Promarkers), Papers - ‘Humphrey’s Corner’ decoupage & paper pad and Coredinations card all from Crafter’s Companion
Pearls, charm & ribbon – J & C Creations shop
Tim Holtz distress ink pad ‘Spun Sugar’
Dies used: SB ‘Decorative Labels 8’ & ‘Labels 25’, Memory Box ‘Elegant Scrollwork’ & ‘La Rue Heart’

Challenges:
’Love Is In The Air’ - Crafter’s Companion
’Pink, Pearly & Swirly’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts
’Add Some Metal’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Bingo’ – Catch The Bug (ribbon/heart/charm)
’Ribbon & Bling’ – Dream Valley
’Four Legged Friends’ – I ♥ Promarkers

Thanks for looking!Natx

Friends Like Ewe!

Today’s card is for the new monthly challenge at J & C Creations Challenge where the theme is ‘International Friendship’, the challenge started on 13th February, but there is still plenty of time to get your entry in. In the meantime, if you pop over to the Challenge Blog you will see some more inspiration from the DT. So we want to see your creations based on any friendships, be they human, animal or a bit of both! The winner will receive a fantastic £20 voucher to spend in the J & C Creations Shop.

I have used a very aptly named stamp from Penny Black - ‘Friends’. I just love these cute sheep! It’s quite a big stamp, so I didn’t want to leave a lot of white around the image. I used distress ink for the grass, but I wasn’t brave enough to use it for the sky, so I went for some subtle (maybe too subtle – can’t see them very well!) clouds done with chalks. As the image takes up most of the card, I went easy on the embellishments!

Products from J & C Creations Shop 
Penny Black stamp - ‘Friends’ coloured with Promarkers
Pearls
Spellbinders ‘Labels 25’ & ‘Decorative Labels 8’
Tim Holtz distress ink pad ‘Bundled Sage’

Other products
Paper – Dovecraft’s ‘Back To Basics II’
Kraft card & ribbon from stash
Sentiment printed on my PC

Challenges:
'Anything Goes' - The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop
'Four Legged Friends' - I ♥ Promarkers

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Liebster Blog Award

I had the loveliest surprise recently when not one, but two lovely ladies awarded me a Liebster Blog Award.

I know Rocky from the DT at J & C Creations and was so very thrilled that she nominated me. Jay is a new follower to my Blog and I was equally thrilled to be nominated by her. So, Ladies, thank you very much!

ABOUT THE AWARD - this award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated you in turn award it to blogs that you like to visit that have fewer than 200 followers.  This is to encourage new visitors to visit these blogs.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE - you must thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award on your blog. Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers.  Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award.

PAY IT FORWARD - Listed below are five blogs that I like to visit and it would be great if you dropped in on them.

Sam is a girl after my own heart as she is a fellow Penny Black enthusiast and makes gorgeous cards with their images, a definite Blog to look in on if you are into cute with a capital C!

I love popping in to visit Kim, her cards are fab and she also makes some lovely needlework projects. I also like to catch up on news about Tilly the dog!

Jayne is a fellow teamie at Joanna Sheen, her cards are always so pretty and perfectly finished, it's a pleasure to visit her Blog.

Diane came to my notice when she entered the Joanna Sheen challenge recently. I stopped by her Blog which is full of lovely creations.

Last, but not least, Judy is on the Come & Get It DT where I am a Guest Designer at the moment and her Blog is also full of loveliness!

I know that some Bloggers out there do not like to receive these types of awards, I hope I do not offend any of my nominees. Please accept them in the spirit that they have been given which is one of admiration and friendship.

Natx

Marriage Means Commitment…

It’s Sunday again and that means a new challenge at Come & Get It. This week we have a Colour Combo: ‘Old Olive, Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry’!

We are being sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps who are offering a prize of 7 digis from their online shop – what a fab prize, so do pop over to the other DT members’ Blogs to get some inspiration!

For my card I have gone for something a bit different and have used one of Bugaboo’s comic stamps. I love Stella and Gus, they might not be very ‘PC’ but they are quite hilarious! My ribbon has come out a bit red in the photo, in real life it’s much more raspberry like!

Image – Stella and Gus ‘Marriage, Commitment, Insanity’ – Bugaboo Stamps coloured with Promarkers
Paper, Kraft card & heart doily from stash
Ribbon & heart charm – J & C Creations Shop
Dies used: SB ‘Labels 25’ & ‘Labels 2’

Challenges:
’Valentine or Anniversary’ – Inky Chicks
’Add Some Metal’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Love & Romance’ – Divas By Design
’Bingo’ – Catch The Bug (Ribbon/Heart/Charm)
’Anything Goes’ – The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop
’Feelin The Love’ – Love To Create

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Give Us A Cuddle

It’s Tuesday again (where is the time going?!?) and that means the start of another challenge at Passion For Promarkers. This week the theme is something I haven’t come across in Challenges before, so it made a nice change - ‘Give Us A Cuddle’.

Please pop over to the other DT blogs to see their fab creations.

We are being sponsored by the fantastic Saturated Canary who are offering 2 digis as the prize.

I decided that I didn’t really have any suitable images for this challenge so I went for a wander on the net and came across the perfect digi stamp at Mo Manning’s Digital Pencil – isn’t it adorable?! I was in pink mode after I found this fabulous ribbon at – would you believe it – my local Lidls!! Not only is it gorgeous, but it was 99p for 5m – bargain! 



Image - ‘Loveya’ – Mo Manning Digital pencil coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment printed on my PC
Card – Coredinations
Papers – Me To You ‘With Love’ 6” x 6” paper pad
Ribbon – Lidl’s
Bear charm – Ebay
Pin from stash
Clear Dew Drops – The Ribbon Girl
Hunkydoey Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ on her dress hem
Dies used: MFT ‘Faux Crochet Border’, Memory Box ‘Elegant Scrollwork’, SB ‘Classic Ovals’ & ‘Floral Ovals’

Challenges:
’Love Is In The Air’ – Ready-Teddy-Go
’Love Struck’ – Cute Card Thursday
'Feelin The Love' - Love To Create
'Anything Goes' - The Pretty L ittle Ribbon Shop

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Be My Valentine!

My second card today is for the challenge at Come & Get It where the theme this week is very topical - ‘Hearts’. Please pop over to the DT’s Blogs to see what they have been up to.
I have had a couple of freebies from Saturated Canary for some time, but have shied away from colouring them because my hair colouring technique has not been up to much. However, I have been practising and although I have some way to go to get to the standard of many crafter’s out there, I was pleased enough with this card to share!

Image - ‘Love’ – Saturated Canary coloured with Promarkers and a touch of polychromos pencils and oil
Sentiment printed on PC
Papers – Me To You ‘With Love’ 6” x 6” paper pad
Kraft card, heart doily & ribbon from stash
Glittery lace, heart pins & clear dew drops – The Ribbon Girl
Heart charm – J & C Creations
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘Labels 25’ & MFT ‘Faux Crochet Border’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’Ribbon and/or Lace’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Valentine’s Cards’ – Tammys Scrapin Corner
’Valentine or Anniversary’ – Inky Chicks
’Love Struck’ – Cute Card Thursday
’Be Mine’ – Dutch Dare
’Valentines’ – Allsorts
’Valentines’ – Dream Valley

Thanks for looking!Natx

Black & White

Today sees the start of another challenge at Joanna Sheen and this time the theme is ‘Black & White’. There is a £15 Joanna Sheen Shop voucher up for grabs to the winner, so get crafting!

This is my second challenge as part of the fantastic Joanna Sheen DT and it put me somewhat outside of my comfort zone. I love cute images and using my Promarkers to colour them in, so using just black and white was quite hard, lol. I started off thinking about doing a  CAS card, but it ended up very frilly and feminine and maybe a bit too busy, but it’s definitely black & white!

Here’s a sideways view which shows off the pretty card blank a bit better.

Image & sentiment – Silhouette series ‘Piano Lesson’ stamp set from Joanna Sheen Shop
Papers – Raspberry Road Designs – courtesy of Leesa whose fabulous Blog Candy I won recently
Card blank & swirls - ‘Vintage Step Card’ - Whichcraft
Black card & ribbon from stash
Pearls – J & C Creations Shop
Hunkydory’s Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whisper’ glitter
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘Classic Ovals’, ‘Floral Ovals’, ‘Classic Circles’ & ‘Scalloped Circles’ and Cheery Lynn’s ‘Exotic Butterflies’

Challenges:
‘Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’Fancy Edges’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Monochrome’ – Anything Goes
'Pearls & Swirls' - Sweet Stampin

Thanks For Looking!

Natx

(Lame) Duck Day 6th February

This is another card made for J & C Creations this time for Lame Duck Day. I mistakenly thought this would be a day celebrating ducks, however it's actually all about politics - not exactly a card friendly topic, so I cheated and made a cute and cuddly card!

Image – Penny Black ‘Duckling’ coloured with Promarkers
Yellow card – Coredinations
Paper - Docrafts 'Me To You 'Spring Chic'
Ribbon, pearls, leaf charms & flowers - J & C Creations
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘Decorative Labels 8’, Cheery Lynn 'Fanciful Flourish'
Duck buttons from my local wool shop and doily from stash
Hunkydory's Diamond Sparkles 'Angel Whispers'

Challenges:
’Ribbon and/or Lace’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Tic-Tac-Toe’ – Dutch Dare (ribbon/buttons/pearls)
’Something Metal’ – Stampin For The Weekend
’Let’s Get Cute’ – Allsorts
'Monochrome' - Anything Goes
'Anything Goes' - Papertake Weekly

Thanks for looking!
Natx

National Weatherperson’s Day – 5th February

This is a card I made for J & C Creations. We used to make cards for the shop/shows following a monthly theme, but since January, Sue our DT leader has come up with a fab idea. She has supplied us with a monthly calendar with different events on different days, we have to choose 2 dates and make a card/project interpreting the event in our own way. Unfortunately due to a mix-up I had to change my first choice of event and chose 'Weatherperson's Day' instead. Then I went and got crafter's block for quite some time until I finally ended up making this! I couldn't get the colours right in the photo, they look a bit washed out and I have got some weather embellishments on order that would have been perfect, but they have not arrived in time :(  But you get the general idea!

 

Items available from J & C Creations Shop
Images from Penny Black’s ‘Zoophabet’ clear stamp set coloured with Promarkers
Card - Coredinations
Compass charm
Ribbon from stash
Tools: Spellbinders ‘Classic Squares’ & ‘Scalloped Squares’ and  Sizzix/Tim Holtz Alterations ‘On The Edge’  dies, Cuttlebug ‘Swiss Dots’ embossing folder and Hougie Board 

Challenges:
'Ribbon and/or Lace' - Whoopsi Daisy
'Anything Goes' - Crafty Bloggers Network
'Anything Goes' - Papertake Weekly

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Planting Love

Another week has gone by, I can’t believe we are into February already! This week at Come & Get It the challenge is a sketch by Cindy. 

I’ve used an old, but much loved stamp from Penny Black for my card, I think maybe the images were a bit too big and the sketch has got a little lost, but these guys are so cute!

Image - ‘Labour Of Love’ - Penny Black coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment from Docrafts Papermania V & A clear stamp set ‘Gardenia’
Peach card – Coredinations
Papers from Trimcraft’s ‘Basil & Buttercup’ decoupage pad
Dies/punches used: MFT Die-namics ‘Faux Crochet Border’ and a hobbycraft butterfly punch
Pearls – J & C Creations
Bow from stash
Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ glitter on roses

Challenges:
’Let’s Get Cute’ – Allsorts
'Anything Goes' - Catch The Bug 

Thanks for looking!
Natx