More Than One Fold

Hello to all. I hope you are all well and happy. I am in shock to think 

that next week we will be in the second half of the year...do you all 

feel the same way too?

While on the subject of time rushing by, we once again have a new 

challenge for you at Winter Wonderland, and our theme this week is

'MORE THAN ONE FOLD'

Offering a prize of a $12 voucher is our lovely sponsor,

I have made a centre step card for my DT creation.

The holly berries on my design paper were white, so to add a little interest,

I coloured them red with my Promarkers.

I think Snowy, by Penny Black is one of the sweetest snowman images

available. I decided to make him even more irresistible by adhering some 

tiny holly leaves and berries to his hat, as well as glossy accents to

his buttons.

A side-on view.

Inside the card, with more miniature holly leaves and berries.

Challenges I would like to enter

Crafting By Design - 'Get Ready For Christmas'

Fab 'n' Funky #265 - 'Christmas'

Fussy and Fancy #142 - 'Fancy Folds'

Image - Penny Black Snowy

Colouring - Promarkers

Paper - Cre8ive

Dies - Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Rectangles; Memory Box Mini Holly Leaves; Couture Creations Mistletoe

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards

Stickles - Ranger Star Dust

For some inspiration by my talented teamies, pop over to Winter Wonderland and check out their lovely creations, then enter your own Christmas project. 

That's all from me, so until next time, thank you for visiting and "happy crafting".

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Pampered Pooches

Hello on this freezing cold evening in the Hunter Valley. I know I

have been a bad blogger lately, but I have been having lots of visits

to my GP and the physiotherapy department at the main hospital

in Newcastle. It seems that I have a torn cartilage in my right knee,

and plantar tendonitis in my left foot. I have been hobbling around

for several months, thinking my arthritis was getting worse, but when

I could stand the pain no longer, I went to my GP. My treatment is

ongoing, and may eventually lead to surgery.

The other reason for my absence in the past 3 days has been that my

beloved little cockatiel received a fright when I was cleaning his huge

cage on Sunday afternoon, and he flew out of it. He was immediately 

chased by a large assortment of wild birds (we live in a rural area) into

a very high tree on the neighbouring farm. We could not coax him down

and had to leave him there overnight. After 2 hours of coaxing yesterday

morning, he finally tried to fly across the small paddock to our house,

but wild birds chased him down the valley. For hours I could hear him

calling me from dense bushland (private property), then mid afternoon 

I heard a dreadful bird fight with lots of birds, and little Tiel screeching

in obvious panic...then total silence. I searched for him until darkness,

then again all day today, while I also did a mailbox drop over an area 

of about 7kms. I fear the worst...Tiel only had one leg, was on a special

diet, and since the weekend, we have had extremely cold weather.

I shall miss my little guy, he had such a funny personality, and was so 

lovable. He loved to sit on my chest watching TV, and would sit on

a perch on my desk, ripping bark off a stick and chattering to me, 

while I coloured stamped images. 

...........Now that I have just had a big 'bawling session', I will move onto

happier things. It will be my brother's birthday next Sunday, and he owns 

2 Pomeranian dogs. I searched the internet and found this free image of 2

 'poms' and another little dog (that looks just like his last dog). I made a 

very simple card, as I know that my brother and his wife bin cards as

soon as they open them...they don't like "clutter".

I covered the front of a kraft card base with bronze metallic paper,

and used some of my massive collection of peel-off stickers to

embellish it. That border sticker on the top of the image is

definitely straight - there is a 'bow' in the card.

A closer look at the digital copy of the vintage painting.

Image - Old Design Shop digital freebie

Punch - Zutter Corner Rounder

Bronze Paper - Unknown (many years old)

Peel-off Stickers - Papermania (sentiments); border from my junk stash

The fire has died, and the house is now freezing cold, so I will take my trusty hot-water bottle off to bed. After the upset of the last 3 days, and the pain in my foot and knee, I am completely exhausted.

I will be back on Friday with my DT card for Winter Wonderland, so until then "happy crafting".

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Naughty me!!...I am a whole day late telling you about our new

challenge at Winter Wonderland, where our theme this week is

'SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN'

Our lovely sponsor this week is 

I am fast becoming obsessed with mixed media, and decided to create

my DT card in that genre. Methinks however, I probably went a 

bit 'overboard' with my handmade texture paste 'snow'??

I have had this wonderful image of a vintage Santa superimposed on a

vintage postcard for ages, and decided it was about time that I 

printed him out. He was a freebie by the wonderful Linda

from the Funkie Junkie...thank you, Linda.

I am still on quite a steep learning curve with mixed media

products and techniques, and as you can see, my application of crackle 

medium failed. I am now sure that it is partly because I applied it too

thinly, but mostly because I 'worked' it too much. At certain angles a 

thin crackle is visible, but I could not capture it in my photos. Nor 

do the photos show the sparkle of the glitter I sprinkled on the

crackle paste and 'snow'.

I die-cut all my foliage from white cardstock, then sponged it

with various distress inks, the same ones that I used on the image,

although at different 'strengths'. I then randomly scribbled on the 

foliage with a Versamark pen, and sprinkled it with gold embossing 

powder. As an experiment, I over-heated a sample piece, thus

slightly singeing the cardstock. I loved the 'leathery' effect, so

applied that 'technique' to all the pieces of foliage.

In previous attempts at applying texture paste 'snow' over distress

inks, I have found that the distress inks bleed upwards into the 'snow',

therefore discolouring it significantly. With great advice from Pamellia,

I sprayed over the distress inks with workable fixative, let it dry,

then added my 'snow', which remained bright white. Yayyyy!

Challenges I would like to enter

ABC Christmas - 'L for Lyrics...song as inspiration' (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town)

Anything But Cute #2 - 'Make It Masculine'

C.R.A.F.T. #315 - 'Christmas'

Frilly And Funkie - 'Monochromatic'

Fussy And Fancy #141 - 'Distressed (or use an Aurora Wings image)

Simply Create Too #87 - 'Masculine'

The Craft Barn - 'For The Man In Your Life'

Image - Funkie Junkie (Linda Coughlin) Freebie Vintage Santa

Dies - Tim Holtz Sizzix Holiday Greens

Paper - First Edition Christmas Village

Texture Paste - Homemade

Crackle Paste - Tim Holtz Rock Candy

Glitter - Tim Holtz Dry Rock Candy

Embossing Powders - Stampendous Frantage Shabby White; Art Stamps Australia Gold

Distress Inks - Tim Holtz Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Iced Spruce

Beads - from my junk stash

For a chance to win a great prize, pop over to Winter Wonderland, check out my teamies' wonderful creations, then enter your own projects. Remember, your project must be for Christmas.

Thank you for visiting,

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Time and Tide

Oh dear, I think I am like a bus...nothing for ages, then two 

posts in one evening.

After several gloriously spring-like days here in the Hunter Valley, the 

weather today is definitely reminding us that winter arrived last week. It

is freezing, raining, and the daylight has been very weak all day. Therefore,

I had trouble getting any decent light to take my photos.

Regular visitors to my blog probably know that very recently I have become

 interested in Mixed Media. I guess it is just part of us evolving in our craft.

However, I will always love creating my cute and clean cards too. Let's just 

say I have added ''another string to my bow''.

So far I have made four Mixed Media cards, but today I decided to try a 

canvas. My few efforts at M. M. are obviously still very "beginner 

standard", but I guess we all have to start somewhere, and the whole 

process is a learning curve. I can't believe how I have changed...the more

messy my hands and desk become, the happier I am...What Fun!!!

This is a small canvas, but even then I procrastinated for an age before

I began...once started though, I really got into the swing of things. 

Previously, I have always created a card/project, then gone looking

for challenges to suit. However, this time there were several challenges

for which I created my canvas. 

This is Tim Holtz's Umbrella Man. I die-cut him from dark grey 

cardstock, ran a narrow line of Brushed Pewter around his edges,

then applied only one coat of clear embossing powder so he had a  

very textured surface. I coloured a silver heart brad with three 

coats of a black Promarker, then applied three coats of 

clear embossing powder.

I printed the quote onto sponged white cardstock with the computer,

cut each word individually, then sponged each tile with black ink.

The clock face was given the same treatment as Umbrella Man, minus

the Brushed Pewter edging.

A side view of my canvas, showing how I mounted Umbrella Man

on black 3D mounting tape.

Challenges I would like to enter

Anything But Cute #2 - 'Make It Masculine'

Craft Stamper - 'Take A Technique...Texture'

Frilly and Funkie - 'Monochromatic'

Mixed Media World #3 - 'Vintage'

Simply Create Too #87 - 'Masculine'

The Craft Barn - 'For The Man in Your Life'

Try It On Tuesday - 'Watches and Clocks'

Canvas Base - Winsor and Newton

Dies - Tim Holtz/Sizzix Umbrella Man, Weathered Clock

Stamps - Blade Rubber Official Paid; Stamp-It Victorian Watch

Stencil - Ranger Dylusions Diamond Small

Quote - Computer generated Harting font 

Texture Paste - homemade (thank you for the recipe Pamellia)

Embossing Powder - Fantasy Crafts Clear 

Printed Tissue - Collections Elements

Gesso - Atelier Traditional

Ink pads - Versamark; Versafine Onyx Black; Distress Ink Pumice Stone; Momento Tuxedo Black, London Fog; 

Distress Stain - Brushed Pewter

Aquapencil - Black

Heart brad is from my junk stash

I can't wait to have enough time to 'play' and get messy again, and will try something with lots of colour and perhaps some flowers next time.

Bye for now,

Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Astronaut Lili

Last month I won a challenge at Inky Impressions with my card,

'Buttons, Bows and Pinecones'. 

My prize was a selection of fabulous digital stamps and an 

invitation by Shell to become a GDT member for their challenge  

which begins today. The theme of this week's challenge is

'SOMETHING'S IN THE AIR'

I was thrilled to accept Shell's invitation, and using one of the images I 

chose, Astronaut Lili, this is the card I created.

It is a large card, 20.5 x 15cms. I have had a small piece of the space-themed 

paper for several years, and actually chose the image to use with the paper. 

However, I cannot remember which company makes it. The star stickers

are holographic, but that property does not show up well in the photos.

A closer look at Lili...she is a real cutie, and was such fun to colour.

I left the inside of the card quite plain, with plenty of space for

a personal message.

Challenges I would like to enter

Through The Purple Haze - 'Use Bright Colours'

Image - Inky Impressions Astronaut Lili

Colouring - Promarkers

Paper - Unknown (old)

Sentiment - Computer generated

Stars - Holographic peel-off stickers from my junk stash

I would like to thank Shell and the team for letting me join them for this week's challenge. If you would like to win some great digital stamps, and perhaps a chance to be a GDT member for a future challenge, why not pop over to Inky Impressions challenge, and enter your own fab creation.

Thank you for visiting, and until next time I wish you all "Happy Crafting".

Hugs

Jennifer. x

Raining Blossoms

Welcome, and thank you to my newest followers...I hope you

enjoy your visits to my blog.

Last month several of my friends celebrated their birthdays, and this is the

card I made for one of them. 

It is a rather simple card, with just a few die-cuts and some tiny pearls

as the embellishments. The card base is made from the most beautiful

butterfly embossed and pearlised cardstock that I have had in my 

collection for several years. 

Isn't this the most adorable little bear, with his friend 

and pretty umbrella.

Inside the card with a large area on which I wrote my personal

message. IRL the green spotted paper is exactly the same 

colour as the umbrella...just a few shades paler, but 

unfortunately it looks different in the photo.

Image - Penny Black Raining Daisies

Colouring - Promarkers

Dies - Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circles; Cheery Lynn Sentiment Frame #1; Joy Crafts 6002/0356

Paper - Franchville Pastel Basics

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards

Pearls are from my junk stash

I must go to bed and try to sleep as I am on duty at the Fort for the next three days. Tomorrow, Sunday, is one of my usual rostered days, then on Monday it will be one of our four main 'big days' of the year (a public holiday). The Fort is normally closed on Tuesdays, but next Tuesday we will be open because one of Australia's former Prime Ministers will be visiting.

"Happy crafting"

Hugs,

Jennifer. x