Daisy Thanks

 

Hello fellow bloggers. After a 3 month absence I am hoping to post more

regularly. Both John and I have had health issues, but during the long break

 I have not been completely idle...I have made many of my Christmas cards

as well as creating a large mixed media art work for a wedding gift (which

sadly has had to be postponed for a second time due to this awful virus).

Several months ago I drove 7 hours north to a reunion for those of us who began

our secondary schooling in 1963😲...yes, that long ago! I had a wonderful week-

end, catching up with old friends and reliving many memories. A pleasant surprise 

was that three of our teachers attended. The reunion, almost 2 years in the planning

 was so well organised, mostly by one lady living approximately 1,500 kms (1,000 miles) 

away from the reunion. To thank Jenny for her mammoth effort, 

I gave her this card (with a box of choccies).

I thought the stamped sentiment inside the card was perfect for 

the occasion.

A closer look at my handmade daisies and the die-cut greeting.

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Ally's Angels #51 - 'Anything Goes'

Creative Fingers #217 - 'Anything Goes'

Happy Little Stampers (dies) - 'Anything Goes with Dies'

The Flower Challenge #61 - 'Use A Shape' (square) (must use handmade flowers) (5th birthday)

Dies - Spellbinders Oval; Tonic Studios Daisy Lace Square; Sue Wilson Creative Expressions Isobel; Memory Box Fauntleroy Crest

Punches - Carl Daisy; Martha Stewart Fern; Stampin' Up Scalloped Oval

Colouring - Promarkers  (Yellow and Vanilla) to colour pearls and daisy centres

Sentiment - Stampin' Up Peaceful Moments cling stamp set

Pearls and border sticker - from my junk stash

Please all stay safe in these uncertain and scary times.

Until next time (hopefully soon),

Hugs (virtual of course)

Jennifer.  xx

 

Birthday Stars

Good evening all. I hope you are all staying safe wherever you

are in this troubled world.

Do any of you find that there are one or two months during the year

where you have an overload of birthdays or other celebrations where

you are constantly in a flurry of card-making?? January and July are

those months for me.

I had not even begun to pack away my Christmas crafting items when I

needed to put my head down and tail up (not a sight for the faint-hearted!)

This card is for a young lad who lived near us before we moved into

this Retirement Village. He has had to overcome a long list of health

issues, so we think he is a little 'star'.

Dies - EZ Cut Stars; Sweet Story Stars; Memory Box Night Sky Border

Main Sentiment - Unnamed Happy Birthday peel-off sticker

Punch - Carl Alphabet Set (I punched Hayden's name from around the unwanted edges of the sticker sheet)

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Craft Rocket #77 - 'For the Boys/Men'

Daisy Chain #48 - 'Happy Birthday'

I hope to be back in a day or 2 with another of the many cards I have made since Christmas, so until then, happy crafting.

Thank you for visiting, 

Jennifer. xx

 

New Driver

Good afternoon. I hope you are all still staying safe and well.

Recently a lovely young lady we have known since she was born gained

her driver's licence. Imogen comes from a beautiful family...her maternal

grandparents are dear friends of ours, and we have watched her mum

grow from a cute little toddler, to a wonderful mother and career woman.

This is the card I made to congratulate Imogen on her achievement. 

Where have all those years gone??

Imogen not only excels academically at school, she works at

2 part-time jobs, saving enough money to buy a little car,

which is coloured (you guessed it!) green.

Challenges I would like to enter

Passion For Promarkers #539 - 'Add A Sentiment'

Polkadoodles Craft #17 - 'Anything Goes'

Simon Says Stamp (Monday) - 'Create A Scene'

Image, Sentiment and Dies - Polkadoodles Mini Winnie Lets Go clear stamp and die set

Colouring - Promarkers

Punch - Carl Vinca medium

Ink (sponging) - Distress Ink Tumbled Glass

Washi tape is from my junk stash

Until next time, thank you for visiting.

Hugs,

Jennifer.  x

Birthday Cake

Good morning all. I hope you are all staying safe in this sad and

scary time. At least as crafters we can keep ourselves busy.

Next week my sister-in-law will celebrate another birthday, and

this is the card I made for her. It is safe to show you as she

does not look at my blog. 

The lovely stamp set was a 'freebie' during the recent Stampin' Up 

Sale-a-bration. I have rarely bought any S.U. products, but as I was

tired of battling with my very old paper trimmer, I decided to buy a

S.U. trimmer from a demonstrator who lives in our retirement

village. The trimmer is fabulous, and I also bought a few other

products which I love.

A closer look at the pretty image, coloured of course with my

Promarkers. The tiny punched flower covers where I accidently

damaged the corner. I bet there is not one of you who has not

covered a mishap with a butterfly, flower, gem, etc. 😉

No, this butterfly does not hide a blemish - I just wanted to embellish 

inside the card. The matt layer was plain white, coloured with a narrow

border of pink Promarker used in the colouring of the flowers and butterfly.

Challenges I would like to enter

Ally's Angels  #33 - 'Anything Goes'

Alphabet - ' 'A' is for Anything Goes

Daisy Chain #40 - 'Birthday'

Dragonfly Dreams - 'Add a Flower/Flowers'

Passion for Promarkers #538 - 'Clean and Simple'

Sparkles Monthly #127 - 'Spring Is In The Air'

Image - Stampin' Up Happy Birthday To You rubber stamp set

Colouring - Promarkers

Sentiment - Stampin' Up Happy Birthday To You rubber stamp set

Dies - Spellbinders Classical and Scalloped Rectangles; Cheery Lynn Flourish Leaf Strip

Punches - Carl Sakura, large and small

Glitter glue - Ranger Stickles Star Dust

Until next time, thank you for visiting,

Hugs,

Jennifer.  x

2019

I guess the 2nd day of 2019 is a tad late to wish you all 

"Happy New Year", but I will still do so. I hope that 2019

is a happy, healthy, and successful year which fulfills all your dreams.

This card is for a darling old couple who, until a few months ago, lived just a few

doors away from us here in the retirement village. Unfortunately they both became 

unwell, and were no longer able to care for themselves in their home, 

so sadly they had to move into a nursing home.

Inside the card.

A closer look at the 'date', cut with some very old Cuttlebug dies.

Dies - Cuttlebug 2"x2" Birthday, Hippy Chick

Paper - Unnamed black glitter card; Unnamed gold textured card

Punches - Carl Sparkle (small stars), Carl Spiral; unnamed Star

Until next time, thank you for visiting,

Hugs,

Jennifer.  xx

For A Dear Friend

 What a shock, I neglect my blog for 2 weeks, then post 2 cards in an evening.

I made this card for my oldest and dear friend, Diane, whose birthday was yesterday 

We met during our first week at High School, 53 years ago, and 'clicked' immediately. 

We have been firm friends ever since, despite our many years of geographical 

distance apart. When we phone each other, or actually meet up, there is not a

slightest moment of awkwardness...we just chatter away as if we had

been together the day before.

Diane loves blue so this gorgeous piece of paper was an obvious choice for her 

card. For about 12 years I have bought lots of craft items from Rebecca, the owner 

of Bizzy Becs, and her service has always been superb. She often slipped a gift of

a small bundle of 6x6" scrapbook papers into an order. This stunning piece of

paper is one of those. I have been unable to part with it for about 4 years!!

I stamped these flowers onto parchment paper, then embossed them with Silver 

Pearl E.P. I coloured the back of the flowers with blue and yellow Promarkers,

then shaped them, before adding some Flower Soft to the centres. The single

leaves with the serrated edges were cut by hand with deckle-edged scissors

from tiny scraps of white cardstock, hand coloured with Distress Ink.

I made the butterfly quite a few years ago at a retreat. It was such a long 

time ago, I have forgotten the name of the product, and the technique 

we were shown. We used a shimmery sheet of foil-like material and an 

iron, then used a butterfly punch and an embossing folder. I found a

little bag of the different coloured butterflies in a drawer recently.

Inside the card co-ordinates with the front. These leaves were also

cut out by hand

Challenges I would Like To Enter

Addicted To Stamps #147 - 'Flowers and Butterflies

Aud Sentiments #179 - 'Flowers Plus A Sentiment'

Country View - 'Flower Power'

Creative Sketchy Girls #11 - 'Butterflies and Flowers

Die Cut Divas - 'Use Flowers'

Dies R Us #72 - 'Flowers'

Paper Play Sketches and Colour - 'Colour Challenge'

Passion For Promarkers #393 - 'Make It Bloom'

Paper - Unknown brand

Flower Stamp - Fiddle Sticks E494

Dies - Cheery Lynn Olive Branches; Joy Crafts 6003/0026

Punches - Martha Stewart PATP set Pansies; Carl Butterfly

Sentiments - Lili of the Valley Sentiment Tags Set 24

Embossing Powder - Stamp It Silver Pearl

Colouring - Promarkers Yellow, Royal Navy; Distress Inks Faded Jeans, various greens

Flower Soft - a mixture of Lemon and Yellow

Must go to bed and try to get some sleep, as we have to be up early tomorrow morning and drive at least an hour into town to buy a new printer. Ours 'died' today, and we need to replace it quickly as we have to have a pile of printing done in readiness for a meeting with our solicitor on Tuesday about our medical negligence case.

Until next time, happy crafting, and thank you for visiting.

Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Star Gazing

Well folks, here we are again with only 167 days until Christmas, and to

help you prepare your cards for the festive season we have a new

challenge for you at Winter Wonderland. Our theme this week is

'HAVE YOURSELF A BEARY CHRISTMAS'

Thank you to this week's wonderful sponsor......

For the past few years I have been saving pretty cards given to us by

friends, with a plan to recycle them. However, each Christmas the 

collection expands, when I stash them away and forget about them. 

When I saw the theme of our challenge for this week I remembered 

that I had a large card with cute polar bears in the enormous collection.

Silly muggins me forgot to photograph the card before I chopped it up.

I cut the image down considerably, so as to showcase the bears, layered

the image on mauve pearlised cardstock (same as the base card), then 

created a border of silvery clear border stickers that I have had in my

junk stash forever. The sentiment is recycled from the same card.

A closer look at the little cuties. I was not happy with how I joined the

border stickers at the corners, so I covered them with tiny negatives

from a Martha Stewart PATP punch.

Inside the card is very plain.

Image - Recycled Christmas card

Sentiment - Recycled Christmas card

Paper - Kaisercraft Christmas Spirit

Dies - Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle; Impression Obsession Mini Snowflakes; 

Punches - Martha Stewart PATP Aspen Snowflakes; Carl Snowflake

Glitter - Ranger Stickles Star Dust

Peel-off Border Sticker is from my junk stash

For a chance to win a lovely prize, and be inspired by my teamies gorgeous creations, pop over to Winter Wonderland for our 'Have a Beary Christmas' challenge.

Thank you for visiting, and until next time,

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Warren and His Giant Easter Egg

Can you believe we are almost at the end of March, and Easter is looming

large and strong. I thought we had 2 1/2 weeks until the bunny comes

a'visiting, but was in a panic when I realised we only have 10 days.

This card has to wing its way to the UK (from Australia), so I made

it yesterday, albeit in great haste. Thereby hangs a tale of woe......

because I had rushed my colouring, I wasn't completely happy, so

thought I would try to draw viewers' eyes from the image with some

sponging around the image. That will teach me not to rush...the 

sponging was very uneven, and looked terrible. The more I tried

to fix it, it looked worse. I didn't have time to colour another

image, so decided to 'fussy-cut' Warren and his giant egg.

Fussy-cutting is not a technique I enjoy, as you can probably see.

A closer look at poor Warren, who I think looks as if he is in 

shock at what I have done with him.

The inside of my card co-ordinates with the front. The photo just doesn't

do justice to the oh so gorgeous paper, which is super glittery.

Challenges I Would Like To Enter

Animal Friends #23 - 'Easter'

Corrosive #220 - 'Our Animal Friends'

Crafty Sentiments - 'Inspired By A Song' (Here Comes Peter Cottontail)

Creative Card Crew #83 - 'Easter Critters'

Cute Card Thursday #365 - 'Spring Fever'

Deep Ocean #100 - 'Easter'

Dream Valley #102 - 'Easter' TOP 3

Fantastic Tuesday #78 - 'Easter Card'

(PIN)spirational #136 - See photo (I was inspired by the soft pastel colours)

Simply Create Too #81 - 'Easter or Bunnies'

Image - Craftwork Cards Warren

Colouring - Promarkers

Sentiment - Easter set from $2 shop

Paper - First Edition Spring Drop

Dies - Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circles; QuickKutz Scalloped Border

Punches - Carl Sakura (mini); Martha Stewart Butterfly Trio

Card Candi - Craftwork Cards

Ribbon is from my junk stash

I must go and pretend that I love housework (Urghhhh), so until next time, thank you for visiting.

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Farewell Fairies

You may have guessed by the title of my blog that it is time to say goodbye to

Crafty Little Fairies. Yes, the very sad news is that our challenge blog is closing

after many happy and successful years. Originally we were Lili's Little Fairies. I 

was overjoyed 18 months ago when I was asked to join the super talented,

and lovely friendly fairies on their DT.

For our final challenge our theme is:-

'HOLLY AND/OR IVY'

You can use any image you wish, but please remember that it MUST be a hand

coloured, stamped or digi image, not a pre-coloured topper, or just die-cuts.

We have 4 fabulous sponsors, and they are

My card is for our lovely neighbours who have become dear friends.

(The 'Noel' is not crooked...I mounted it on 3D tape, and that is shadow,

as I photographed the card in early afternoon bright sunlight).

This is the first time I have used this sweet stamp which I bought several 

months ago after seeing it on so many blogs. 

Inside the card matches the front.

A closer look at the flower and foliage arrangement, in which I have

used both holly and ivy.

Image - Lili Of The Valley Christmas Candle

Colouring - Promarkers

Sentiment - Lili Of The Valley

Paper - First Edition Christmas Village

Dies - Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Ovals, Decorative Labels Eight, Floral Ovals; Marianne Ivy Corners; Cheery Lynn Holly Strip, Wreath Strip

Punches - Making Memories Corner Rounder, Carl Fern

Sponging - Distress Inks Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Pine Branch

Stickles - Star Dust

Flowers and ribbon from my junk stash

Challenges

A Crafty Mess #2 - 'Anything Goes-Traditional Christmas Colours'

Brown Sugar #123 - 'Winter'

Completely Christmas #41 - 'Add Some Holly'

C.R.A.F.T. #288 - 'Christmas'

Crafting For All Seasons #91 - ''Tis The Season'

Delightful - 'Twinkle, Twinkle (Add Something Sparkly) I hope the glitter on her hat, pom poms and flowers is enough sparkle.

Divas By Design - 'Feeling Festive'

DRS Designs - 'Glitter'

Sentimental Sundays #235 - 'Lots Of Layers'

Through The Purple Haze #70 - 'It's All About Christmas'

For a chance to win one of the lovely prizes, why not visit us at Crafty Little Fairies, get some inspiration from my fellow fairies' gorgeous creations, then enter our 'Holly and/or Ivy' challenge.

Before I close I just want to say how happy and proud I have been whilst on the CLF DT, and also thank the other fairies for their inspiration and support.

Until next time,

Hugs, 

Jennifer. x

Popcorn and Friend

My goodness, how quickly do the months go by!! It is the first Thursday of June,

and therefore it is time for a new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies. Our theme 

this month is usually always a popular one.......

'SPOTS AND STRIPES'

To qualify for a prize, you must use spots and stripes on your project, and as

always, you must use a stamped or digi image, not a pre-coloured 'topper'.

Speaking of prizes, this month we have five wonderful sponsors...

Thank you so much to each of  them.

You may remember that recently I 'catalogued' all my dies, so (it's a bit like

renovating a house - once you start, you can't stop) I am doing the same

with my embarrassingly vast collection of stamps. What is even more 

embarrassing, is that I am finding so many that have never seen ink!!

This is one of them. I don't know why, as it is so cute.

It is a very large image, so I had to cut around it by hand. I then used Stickles

to hide my 'wonky' cutting. (I think I should have done the same with the 

matting layer, cut with deckle-edged scissors).

A closer look at Popcorn, and his little friend, coloured with Promarkers.

Inside my card. Those pretty leaves are part of a prize I won recently in a 

challenge. I think I will be using them a lot more.

Challenges

A Little Bit Crafty - 'Child's Play'

Crafty Cardmakers and More #116 - 'Use 1 or More Flourishes'

Cute Card Thursday #324 - 'Perfectly Pink'

Little Claire's #45 - 'Spots and Stripes' WINNER

Paper Crafting Journey - 'Perfect in Pink' 

Penny's Paper Crafty #180 - 'Bears or Mice' WINNER

Image - Crafter's Companion Popcorn the Bear Birthday Hugs

Colouring - Promarkers

Paper - First Edition Spring Drop

Dies - Spellbinders Standard and Scalloped Circles, Decorative Labels Eight, Floral Flourishes, Pendants Eyelets; Sweet Stamps Elegant Leaves; Cheery Lynn Mini Dimentional Butterflies

Punch - EK Success Retro Flower (Lge); Carl Vinca (Mini)

Scissors - Fiskars Deckle Edge

Stickles - Star Dust

Ink for Sponging - Versacube Petal Pink

Ribbon and pink flower bead are from my junk stash

For a chance to win one of our lovely sponsors' prizes, why not visit us at Crafty Little Fairies, have a look at the beautiful creations by my fairy teamies, and enter our 'Spots and Stripes' challenge.

Until next time, thank you for looking,

Hugs, 

Jennifer. x