Forever Friends Baby Girl card

Hi blogging friends

Seems like ages since I posted - well, it feels like it.  Currently I am caring for another family member as they recover from major surgery done late in April so I don't have much time to craft.  It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride since January with the shock of diagnosis so we are all feeling quite exhausted emotionally and physically.  Personally, it's also a bit of a juggle for me having 2 family members with medical issues/appointments and helping both of them - but I am very lucky to have great neighbours who can lend a hand when I need it - and just having someone to have a quick chat to about it all helps so much.  The great thing is that my loved one will make a complete recovery - it is really just time to heal from the surgery.

Today I am sharing a baby girl card that I made for my nephew and wife to welcome their first baby.  I made this card a while ago but couldn't share it here until I knew they had received it (they live in another State).

The main image is by Docrafts - Forever Friends and is from some years ago.  I don't know what it's called as it just has a number on the side.  From memory, I bought it from The Glitterpot in the UK when I used to buy more stamping stuff from overseas. 

I stamped the image onto Ranger Watercolour cardstock using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink and coloured it using Faber-Castell + Lyra watercolour pencils and a #2 round paintbrush.  I paper-pieced the nappy by stamping the image again onto a scrap of pink gingham designer paper.  I went around the edges with a black Copic multiliner to hide any white edges then glued that on top of the stamped image.  I added a little bit of shading around the edges of the nappy with a pink Tombow marker.  I inked up just the paw again and restamped, coloured it and cut it out then popped it up on a 1mm dimensional.

The sentiment is by Impression Obsession - Sentiments 1 WP16 clear set - which I bought years ago but is still readily available.  It's a fantastic set to have because you can mix and match tons of sentiments for any occasion.

I added a pink Kaisercraft enamel heart then added Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to it as well as to the tag on the nappy.  Here is a close-up:

All the circles and scalloped circles were diecut using Lifestyle Nesting Circle/Scalloped Circle dies.  The lacy circle is a die by Nellie Snellen Multiframes Doily Flower MFD020 and the main panel is up on dimensionals.

The dry embossing was done with a Cuttlebug Jamara 5" x 7" embossing folder.  I trimmed the panel underneath the image to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools.

I felt like I should add some more embellishments like flowers or rhinestones or ribbon or twine or ? but I had my usual "embellishment brain freeze" and thought that if I let the card sit on my desk overnight surrounded by all the pink embellies that I got out, the fog would clear and I would know what to add....but nope, I just couldn't think of what to add and gave up - and then spent over 30 minutes putting away all the stuff I got out...sigh.....

Things should settle down here at home by about mid-June so I hope to get back into the swing of cardmaking by then. 

In the meantime, if you want to look at cute pictures of my cat Ruby, click on the link to Instagram (which is on the left-hand side of my Blog).  I also love taking photos of sunrises/sunsets.
 
Thanks for stopping by! 

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Docrafts Forever Friends FFS 9061006 E © 2008 Hallmark wood-mount, Impression Obsession Sentiments 1 WP16 clear set

Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black 

Designer Paper:  Scrap of pink gingham (unknown maker)

Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Circles + Nesting Scalloped Circles, Nellie Snellen Multiframes Doily Flower MFD020

Accessories:  Big Shot, Cuttlebug Jamara 5" x 7" embossing folder, Perfect Layers Tools, dimensionals, Faber-Castell + Lyra watercolour pencils, #2 round paintbrush, pink Tombow marker, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, Kaisercraft ink enamel heart, black Copic fine multiliner, Stampin' Up Fuse Fast adhesive, Cardstock: white, medium pink, light pink, Ranger watercolour

Lili of the Valley James - Big Heart Valentine's Day card

Hi blogging friends 

Today I am sharing a Valentine's Day card that I made for my daughter.  Even if you don't celebrate Valentine's Day per se, I think it is a great opportunity to send a card to someone to say how much you care about them.  My daughter and I also celebrated the occasion by baking some chocolate cupcakes and iced them with pink strawberry icing and sprinkles - yum!  

This card is also for the following Challenges:

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 67 of Anything Goes with a Twist - add a bow

Craftyhazelnut's February Patterned Paper Challenge which is 'Anything Goes' but Hazel must be able to see that you have used patterned paper as the whole idea of the challenge is to use up your stash of patterned paper - and let's face it, many of us have enough to keep us going for 10 lifetimes (I know I do LOL!).  And yet the lure of a fresh paper pad is so hard to resist........

I bought this adorable teddy bear stamp - James Big Heart - from Lili of the Valley UK just before Christmas but it hasn't seen ink till now.  I stamped the teddy using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto KW Doggett smooth white cardstock and coloured the teddy using Prismacolor + Derwent Coloursoft + Lyra coloured pencils and Odourless Mineral Spirits ie: the Magic Coloured Pencil technique aka Gamsol Magic - then coloured around the teddy using blue chalk.

I paper-pieced the heart and ran a soft grey Tombow pen around the outer edge to try and give it some 'roundness'.

I stamped the teddy again onto a scrap piece of cardstock and coloured the flower and the paws holding the heart - then cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals.  I also went around all the edges of the paper pieces with a Copic black multiliner to hide the white of where I cut.  You can see a little of the dimension in this close-up here:

Here is another angle to help you see the dimension:

I went over any areas that needed the blackness touched up especially around his eyes and nose with a Copic black multiliner then used a white gel pen to redo the white dots in the eyes and nose.

The sentiment is also from LOTV from their newly released set 'Happy Bears' which has lots of teddy bear images and sentiments - see HERE.

All the designer papers are by Crate Paper - Love Notes - which I picked up from Spotlight late last year.  It is a gorgeous pad with soft reds and light teal colours - right up my alley!

I used a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen to add some subtle glimmer to the heart and rose which is very hard to see in the photo.   The centre panel was trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools.

The light teal organza bow was made using my Bow Easy and I added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.  I glued the bow on using Fabric glue.  

I used an EK Success Arrows border punch to punch some tiny little hearts from the soft red cardstock (they are the leftover punchies that look like tiny hearts) and glued them around the teddy using Tombow Aqua glue.  Here is a close-up of that sweet teddy bear:

Once I had layered up the card, I attached a white cardstock base which was diecut using a circle die except that I moved the die up so that I still had a fold at the top.  The next photo explains what I mean if I am not making any sense:

I usually make my card fronts first then attach the front to a white cardstock base (unless it's a one-layer-card of course).

I think you could use this LOTV image for a Wedding Anniversary or Engagement too.

And now I thought I would share the gorgeous Boofle card that my daughter gave to me:

The papers and butterflies are by Kaisercraft from their Enchanted Garden collection.  The twine was saved from a clothing tag and the rhinestones are also by Kaisercraft.

My daughter knows that I love Boofle so I received a Boofle Gift bag filled with lots of lovely goodies.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:  

Stamps:  LOTV James - Big Heart ST483, sentiment from LOTV Happy Bears SET088

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Designer Paper:  Crate Paper Love Notes 6" x 6" pad (2013)

Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Circles and Nesting Scalloped Circles

Accessories:  Big Shot, dimensionals, Prismacolor + Derwent Coloursoft + Lyra coloured pencils, Odourless Mineral Spirits, paper stumps, Kaisercolour blue chalk, light teal organza ribbon, Fray Stop, Bow Easy, cardstock - soft red, light teal + KW Doggett Smooth White, Perfect Layers Tools, Wink of Stella Clear glitter pen, Black Copic multiliner 0.05, white gel pen, soft grey Tombow pen, Tombow Aqua glue, Stampin' Up Fuse Fast adhesive, Fabric glue

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border punch

Stampendous Snow Bears on Ice Circle card

Hi blogging friends 

Today I am sharing a Christmas card which I made for my dearest friend C who lives on the other side of Australia.  C is the kindest and most generous friend you could ever know - and has been an amazing support to our family since our loved one was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness in February 2012.  C is also a very talented cardmaker so I love our long chats on the phone about cardmaking.  Now that C has the card in her hot little hands, I can share it here:

The main image is by Stampendous - Snow Bears on Ice - which I have had forever and as far as I know, is retired - and was stamped using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto Ranger Distress watercolour cardstock and coloured with a variety of mediums:  Tombow pens, Ranger Distress Markers and Faber-Castell watercolour pencils.  I used a tiny round 5/0 paintbrush to dot white acrylic paint on the scarves.  I coloured around the image with blue chalk.

I went over the red hats using a Wink of Stella red glitter pen and added Stampin' Up Dazzling Details glitter glue underneath the skates.  I also added Cotton White Fun Flock mixed with Crystalina glitter to the cuff and pom-pom on the hat using Tombow Mono Aqua glue.  

Here is a close-up:

It is a bit hard to see the sparkle as the weather was very dreary on the day I took the photo.  An hour later, the card was in the post so I didn't have much choice!
 
The snowflakes are by My Favorite Things from their Snowflakes Trio die set.  I glued down just the centres and bent the snowflake arms (is that what they are called??) up a little to give them some dimension against the white cardstock, then added red rhinestones to the centres.

The sentiment is from Elzybells (who are no longer in business) and I added a green rhinestone to each end. 

The white cardstock base was originally a square pre-folded card and was diecut using a Lifestyle Nesting Circle die but I moved the die up a little so that I still had a small fold at the top.  I dry-embossed the circle cardstock base using my Big Shot and Cart-Us Snowflakes embossing folder, then all I had to do was layer the main image panel on.  All the circle/scalloped circle diecuts are from the Lifestyle Nesting Circle/Scalloped Circles sets.  I really love these sets because you get oodles of dies in them - from tiny circles to really large circles that are big enough to make a circle card:  great value in my opinion.  

I really should make more circle cards - they are a fun change from the regular square or rectangular cards.

Lastly, I used my Bow Easy to tie a double-bow out of my Doodlebug twine and glued it on using Glossy Accents.  I put some weight on it whilst it dried to hold it firmly.  As always, I added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.

Challenges:

I am popping my card into the following Challenge - 

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - December - Anything Goes

This will be my last post before Christmas.  I have one more Christmas card to share but as that person won't be opening it until Christmas Day, I can't share yet - plus they read my blog so sharing it beforehand would spoil the surprise. 

Merry Christmas and a happy 2015 to you all - and thanks so much for your support, comments and emails throughout this year.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous Snow Bears on Ice D144 wood-mount (retired), sentiment from Elzybells Mini Messages 20-054 clear set (retired)

Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black

Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Circles and Nesting Scalloped Circles, My Favorite Things Die-namics Snowflakes Trio

Accessories:  Big Shot, Tombow pens, Ranger Distress Markers, Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, #2 and 5/0 round paintbrush, Stampin' Up Dazzling Details glitter glue, Wink of Stella red glitter pen, JoSonja white acrylic paint, Stampendous Cotton White Fun flock mixed with fine Crystalina glitter, Tombow Mono Aqua and Mono Multi glue, Kaisercraft blue chalk, Bow Easy, Fray Stop, Doodlebug Ladybug twine, green and red rhinestones from stash, Ranger Distress watercolour cardstock, other cardstock - white, green, red

Woodware Space Cadet - nephew's 8th birthday card

Hi blogging friends

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted as it has been school holidays here where I live in Australia.  Inbetween medical appointments and various outings plus family over from interstate, there hasn't been a lot of crafting going on!  I was going to blog about my card yesterday but with the awful bombings at the Boston Marathon, it just didn't seem appropriate.   I shall never understand what goes on in the mind of someone wanting to plant bombs to injure or kill innocent people - it makes no logical sense.  My ♥ heart ♥ goes out to all those affected by this tragedy and I hope that those responsible will be brought to justice very quickly.

The card I am sharing today is for my nephew's 8th birthday - well, technically, he is my GREAT-nephew - but is a year younger than my own daughter!  There is a big generation gap in my husband's extended family and all my nephews and nieces are grown up and many are married with children.   And of course, that makes me a GREAT-Aunt which makes me feel like I am 150 years old - so I just sign my cards "Aunty Jocelyn" which I like a whole lot better!

My (great) nephew loves all things Star Wars which is why I went with the 'Space' theme for my card.   The rocket, stars and sentiment are from one of my favourite stamps sets:  Woodware Space Cadet.  I used this set last year for my nephew's 7th birthday which you can see HERE. 

The images/sentiment were stamped onto watercolour paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink and coloured with Derwent watercolour pencils and a small round #2 paintbrush.  I added Glossy Accents to the rocket and Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the rocket's flame and to the stars.  I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk.  Here is a close-up - love the shiny effect on the rocket:

I cut the prongs off the 3 glitter star brads and then attached them to the card with Glossy Accents.  I read on the forum at Splitcoaststampers that you can use Glossy Accents for adhering things to your card so I tried it and it works super-well.  My star brads were definitely not going to fall off - yay!  I dislike poking holes into my card to push through the prongs of a brad and find it almost impossible to get several of them to line up perfectly with each other - too much of a fiddle and so frustrating!  I'll be using Glossy Accents from now on!

The middle green panel was embossed using my Big Shot and Crafts Too Stars embossing folder and then I attached some silver/green ric-rac which I found in my stash.  The blue border on this green panel was trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools. 

I used my Paper Piercer to pierce holes in my blue scalloped circle card base.  Here is a side shot so you can see the layers:

I used one of my Lifestyle Nesting Circle dies to make a white cardstock circle card then attached my finished front panel to it.  You can see my tutorial on how to make a circle card HERE on my blog - just scroll down a little.

And here is pic of the inside.  Very simply done.  The sentiment is by My Memories which I bought from Riot Art and Craft and I used a star punch to punch 3 stars from glitter cardstock in matching colours to the star brads on the card front.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

My Time to Craft - Challenge #217 'In the Sky' where you can use butterflies, birds, balloons, planes etc. but they must be the main image.

Splitcoaststampers Free for All Friday Challenge F4A163 Glittery Happy Birthday from earlier in April - where you need to make a birthday card with glitter.  I purposely chose this particular designer paper because it has lots of glitter on it but it is hard to see the sparkliness other than in the 2nd photo.  Oh well:  at least you can see where I used glitter glue!   Note there are no time limits for playing Splitcoaststampers challenges. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Woodware FRCL097 Space Cadet clear set, sentiment card inside - My Memories #141502 Happy Birthday Script MMSWHB wood mount (Riot Art and Craft)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer Paper:  Birch Haberdashery and Craft (Australian company) SP183 (no name on paper)

Accessories:  Big Shot, Lifestyle Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesting Dies, Crafts Too Stars embossing folder, blue Kaisercolour chalk, dimensionals, silver/green ric-rac, Perfect Layers Tools, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, Glossy Accents, Star brads by Making Memories - green from Mini Shimmer Star brads set - red and blue from Stars in Bloom Shimmer set, 140lb watercolour paper, small round #2 paintbrush, Derwent watercolour pencils, paper piercer, cardstock - white, grass green, dark sky blue, green glitter, blue glitter, red glitter

Punches:  Carl CP-1 Star

Penny Black: It's for you and Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes

Hi and thanks for visiting my Blog :-)

I couldn't help myself - I had so much fun making my last Circle card, that I made another - except this one I made a top-opening card instead of a side-opening - and of course, it's a Valentine's card!  You can see my first circle card on my post HERE along with the instructions of how to make one. 

This very sweet and totally adorable puss is another Penny Black stamp (you know how much I LOVE my PB's), except that I didn't ink up the envelope portion of the stamp which is on the far left.

Image copyright Penny Black Stamps

I coloured the image with OMS and Derwent Coloursoft pencils, then lightly chalked around the image with blue Kaisercolour chalk, then added some pink I-Kandee Pealescent chalk here and there, and on the card that the cat is holding as well as some red Stickles to the hearts.

The lacey white cardstock was diecut with my Cuttlebug and NEW Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes (which also contain plain matching circle dies) - I used the biggest doily one on my card - and the image was diecut using one of the matching circles.  The pink cardstock was diecut using one of my Spellbinder Circle Nesties.

Did you notice the embossed texture on the red and pink cardstock?  I ran them both through my Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder.  I love how it adds some "lacey-ness" to the card to match the Doily Flower diecut.

The bow was made with my Bow Easy to which I glued a heart brad after cutting off the prongs (much easier than poking a hole to thread the prongs through!).

Now here is a photo of the same card, but with slight differences.  Can you spot them?  No?

Well, I wouldn't expect you to notice, but I ran the white cardstock Flower Lace Doily diecut through my Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder instead of the pink cardstock - I just wanted to see what it would look like to have the Lace Doily diecut embossed.  The other difference is that I sewed on a red heart to the ribbon - I couldn't find my red heart buttons when I made the first card (you know how us cardmakers lose stuff on our desk LOL.......!).  I'm not sure which card version I prefer - I like them both!

And here is a pic of both the card insides.  I added some tiny red hearts which are the leftover punchies from using my Arrows Border punch - I added red Stickles to them as well.    The first photo inside matches the first card, and the 2nd photo matches the 2nd card:

Challenges:

I am entering this card into the Penny Black at Allsorts January Challenge of "All you need is love" and they want to see your interpretation of that famous Beatles song.

And the Papertake Weekly Challenge where the first challenge of every month from now on will be "Anything Goes" plus an optional "extra" something  - and this particular Challenge has the optional extra of "Lace" which can be paper lace or fabric - but you don't have to have Lace if you don't want to. 

Thanks again for stopping by!  Thankfully, I seem to have sorted out my computer woes which had my computer in a constant state of re-booting after upgrading a program which corrupted - not fun :-(   Thank goodness for the 'System Restore' feature in Windows XP!!  Takes so much time to "fix" a computer when I would rather be cardmaking!!  Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black "It's from you" PB-2859J wood-mounted, Sentiment: from Wendy Irving Expressions J6412.02 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes MFD020, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS), Derwent Coloursoft pencils, paper stumps, Christmas red stickles, Kaisercolour blue chalk, I-Kan-dee Pearlescent chalk, ribbon, Bow Easy, heart brad/button, Cardstock: soft red, pink, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border

Penny Black dog with rose and NEW Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes

Hi and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!  

Did you make any New Year Resolutions?  I made one - and that is to "do the insides of my cards before I move onto the next card"!!  Are you like me, and once you do the front of the card, you leave the inside for "later on"?   And, then I often seem to smudge the inside sentiment because I am in such a hurry, or I stamp it upside down or crookedly!   UGGH!!   I hadn't done any of the insides of my Christmas cards last year so I had this last-minute rush to do them - but not this year - and so far, with the cards I have made (even though they are not Christmas cards), I have done the insides! Yay me!

Anyway, I am so happy that you stopped by, because I have some gorgeous new Nellie Snellen Flower Multiframe dies to show you.   Aren't they just so pretty?  Just like a lace doily.  There are 3 lacey dies and 3 matching plain circles in the set.  You use the same sandwich in your Cuttlebug as for Spellbinder Nestabilities, ie: A Plate, C Plate, Die face up, cardstock, B Plate. 

For my card, I decided to make a Circle Card using my Spellbinder Large Circle Nesties.  You simple fold a piece of cardstock in half, and line up the Circle Nestie just near the fold of the card - see this picture:

And run it through your Cuttlebug using the usual A, C and B plate combo for Spellbinder dies - and yes, it DOES cut through the 2 layers of cardstock - it's just regular cardstock - nothing special - but you should always check your own machine and NEVER EVER force a sandwich through if it feels very tight.  Here is an extra-close-up picture:

Hey, I just realised the background looks like a swimming pool full of water!  But it's just my glass-topped table on our decking.  I had to take the photo there because it was over 40degC outside (about 104degF) with a blistering hot north wind, so I couldn't take my photos in my usual place because my Nestie/cardstock would have blown away!

You can diecut any shaped card with your Dies - and it's really nice to make something different other than a square or rectangle-shaped card.  Go on - have a play!!

This cute little dog is from a Penny Black Clear Set called "Critter Party" and was coloured with Derwent Coloursoft Pencils and OMS.   I chalked the blue sky background and added some pink Pearlescent I-Kan-dee chalk here and there - which isn't picked up by the camera but adds a gorgeous shimmer and is so pretty IRL.   The sentiment is from a retired Elzybells Spring Cubes clear set and I added a tiny pink rhinestone either side of it.  I added some Cotton Candy Stickles to the rose and the dog's cheeks, plus the tiny pink hearts which are the leftover punchies from using my Arrows Border punch.  This panel was diecut with the circle die from the Multiframes set, and the pink circle was diecut with my Spellbinder Circle Nesties.

The bow was made with my Bow Easy.  Lastly, I sewed on the button, then glued the ribbon to the card using Fabric glue.

Are you ready for a pic of the inside?  Yes, I really did the inside of the card!

This sentiment is another retired Elzybells rubber stamp - wish Elzybells was still around :-(

Thanks for stopping by!   Have you made any New Year Crafting/Cardmaking Resolutions?  Drop me a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

I'll be back when I can with another card - being Summer holidays here, my posting will not be as regular plus I am having some computer issues whilst I have been upgrading my computer which is eating into my free-time (very frustrating!!).   Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Dog with rose - Penny Black "Critter Party" clear set, Sentiment (card front):  Elzybells Spring Cubes 20-015-CC clear set, Sentiment (card inside):  Elzybells "A beautiful day" rubber stamp

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes MFD020, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, OMS, paper stumps, Kaisercolour blue chalk, I-Kan-dee Pearlescent chalk, Cotton Candy (pink) Stickles, pink rhinestones, gingham ribbon, Bow Easy, heart button, pink sewing thread, Cardstock:  brown, pink, KW Doggett Knight White

Punches:  EK Success Arrows Border punch