The Other Side Of Me

This is my second go at a Project Life type of page.  Can I just say I have nothing against PL at all, I think it all looks fantastic, but I just can't afford it and have so much dsp in my house, it would be insanity to go and buy some more. So this is how I'm doing my pages.  The colour scheme for this one is Baja Breeze (good way to use up retired cardstock too, you see) and Cherry Cobbler.  There is a bit of dsp from Echo Park on the first page, which I really love.  This way I get to keep some for myself.  It's the same paper I used to make the Christmas card in my previous post. The biggest development (and there is a pun here, much as I'd like to avoid it) is that I found a photo developing shop in town that develops photos straight from my phone with a great deal of ease.  They print off two photos on a sheet of 4"x6" paper so you can cut them in half, and that's what I've done on these pages.  I was so excited at being able to do this! Her

I've had very little time to make Christmas cards this year, something I intend to rectify in 2014, but I thoroughly enjoyed making this one for my card swap group recipient for December, Zoe Tant. There is a total mix of products on this card. The card base and the ribbon are from Stampin Up, in Baja Breeze.  The dsp is called Winter Wishes by Echo Park and I absolutely love it.  I had to wait for it to come from America a few years ago and it didn't arrive until the middle of January! I've used the Marianne doily die to cut the white shape behind the jar.  The jar itself is a Sizzix stamp and die set.  I've had it for months and this is it's first outing.  The actual snowman in the jar is from Little Claire's Designs and was the perfect size.  The sentiment and the snow in the jar are from my new magazine Get Stamping.  John has bought me a subscription for this for Christmas, which I am very excited about.  The lid of the jar and the background for the s

I've been keeping a journal since the summer.  I've always kept a diary but I've wanted to add illustrations for ages.  I've just had to wait for the perfect book to use.  This is actually a sketch book from W H Smith. It's part smash book, part diary, part art journal.  I'm very pleased with a lot of the pages And then occasionally one turns out to be a total disaster! Okay, it started out well, went down hill rapidly and then I dropped a stamp on it and didn't know how to cover it up! And all the while, I kept seeing articles and pictures on Pinterest about Project Life.  At first I didn't even understand what it was, but I've gradually put two and two together and decided I really like it.  Anyone who likes scrapbooking is bound to, really.  Then it took ages to find out if anyone stocks the stuff in the UK (Hobbycraft as it turns out.  Probably others).  And then I looked at the price! There's no way, with all these stamps and

Such a simple card, made for one of the residents last week.  I'm not sure if the photo is clear enough, but the section on the right hand side has been put through the square lattice embossing folder.  Island Indigo is probably one of my all-time favourite colours and I love the dsp used here from Twitterpated.  It wasn't a massive card and had loads of signatures on it from all the staff, which the recipient was thrilled with.  I enjoyed making this so much I might pop off and make a couple more! Back soon Jane xx

Hello y'all! I seem to have got a bit of my mojo back as I've bought a new set of Christmas stamps, but I can't show you what I'm making with those until I start posting them out as some of the recipients read my blog. In the meantime, I've set a challenge for the Card Swap group to make a card using their all-time stamp set.  I imagine there was a lot of rummaging through boxes to find old friends!  This is what I made to send to Sue Ralph: You may well recognise that it's made with the French Foliage stamp set.  I love this set.  I always feel very artistic and creative with it and have never made something I didn't like.  I thought I'd add some of my favourite neutral ribbon and use my favourite punch on it as well!  Hope you like it, I know Sue did! Thanks for looking in today, I love to read your comments, so let me know what you think. Back soon, Happy crafting Jane xx

Helloooo!  I know you probably think I'm not blogging, but October was mostly involved with blogging about our holiday in Paris here http://artsafantasy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/paris-again-part-4.html Things around here seem to be becoming very french indeed.  I am actually having french lessons and it seems to be taking over my life!  I'm really enjoying it, though. Anyway, my challenge to the card swap group for October was to make an autumn-themed card.  This is what I made for Alison: I used the Tape It stamp set again because I love it and find it so versatile.  The card base is the retired More Mustard colour, but I've still got loads of it left.  The ink spots are from French Foliage, which I stamped in More Mustard, and Cajun Craze on the white background. Once again I stamped the Tape It stamps onto spare white cardstock and cut them out, but there's no reason why you couldn't stamp directly onto the card base.  I stuck them all down so they overlap

I've been meaning to put these cards on for a while, but life has been pretty hectic lately. These cards have both been sent to me from members of the card swap group, by two talented ladies.  The first one is from Zoe Tant.  Now, one of the things Blogger won't let me do any more is provide links to other blogs, but if you google http://stampingscene.blogspot.co.uk/  you'll find it.  Here's her card: It's beautiful and I've given it pride of place on my notice board.  Thankyou so much Zoe, it's lovely. The second card is from Ann Wall, the lady who first got me into Stampin Up and who I still order my supplies from.  Check this out: I'm assuming this is Coastal Cabana, it's a beautiful colour and the photograph doesn't do it justice. I absolutely love this card, too. The funny thing is, they've both used the same embossing folder, different ways up, can you see?  Thankyou to both of you, there's nothing like a fab card in the

Last month I challenged the Card Swap Group to make a card where the wording was the main focus.  This is the card I made for Margaret King at http://makingpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ All the cardstock is Very Vanilla.  I haven't used any of this for ages and had forgotten how beautiful it is, completely different from white.  I cut out the central piece with my framelits dies and held it in place on the base card so I could stamp the wording (from Clarity Stamps) then stuck the top panel in place, raised up on sticky fixers.  The dark ink used throughout is Chocolate Chip. Then I stamped the leaves on some spare pieces of Very Vanilla cs and stamped on them with the Gently Falling stamp set, which I am really in love with.  It's a two step stamp set.  Sometimes I use the stamp-a-ma-jig and sometimes I don't and to be honest, the results are just as good, as it's not something that has to be perfectly lined up to look good. I fussy cut the leaves out and then arran

Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your eyesight, you really are seeing two identical cards! One is for a member of the card swap group, Alison Pilkington, who had her birthday last month.  Around the same time, one of the residents had a birthday, so as I had everything out, I decided to make two of the same card.  I was on a roll!  The pink cardstock and ribbon are in the beautiful Blushing Bride.  I have a top this colour and absolutely love it.  This made it the perfect opportunity to use up some of my Twitterpated dsp.  The grey is Basic Gray and these two colours go really well together.  The stamp was actually a free one with a magazine ages ago. I'm off for a hop round to see what you've all been up to. Back soon Jane xx

Happy Monday morning, everyone! I just thought I'd pop in with a card I made for one of the residents last week.  It's the first square card I've made in months.  I miss it as a shape, actually.  It only ended up being square because I decided to start out by stamping my script background stamp and cutting it out with a border round it, which turned out to be more or less square.  I matted that onto a border of Summer Starfruit, then onto a white card base. Before all that, of course, I'd added the neutrals ribbon.  I'd actually stamped the leaf stamp from Summer Silhouettes onto the script, but then decided to cut some leaves with my die cut (in Gumball Green), then added the ribbon, then the flowers cut from the In Colours dsp, again in Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals.  The recipient is a blind lady, so I like to make her a card with plenty to touch.  She really liked it, anyway, and has kept it long after her birthday, which cheers me up no end! Back so

Hello all! Sorry I haven't been here for a while, things have been so busy.  I've hardly had time for crafting, let alone blogging as well. But when I have had time, I've been really enjoying myself.  Take the top card.  Sorry I can't remember where the inspiration came from, but I had great fun making this.  The green is Lucky Limeade.  I still love this colour, especially with black. This was the next one, with a different colour combination: I sent this one to my son in law.  I like the texture on these hexagons, but there is something lovely about the smooth ones on the first card, too.  You'll probably know the stamp set is Tape It from SU.  This is such a versatile set I'm using it on everything.  The blues are Tempting Turquoise, Island Indigo and Midnight Muse, which match the striped stamp sections. The next step was to make this one: This was for my son's birthday at the end of August.  It's literally 3 strips of Tim Holtz washi t

Well August has been a very busy month for card making.  I haven't been able to post as many as I'd like as I've been so busy in other ways as well.  Here's a card I made for one of the residents, though: I've had an image saved on Pinterest for some time that's very similar to this, so I've cased it.  The website seems to be called Betty's Stampin Stuff and here is the link to her blog  http://www.bettysstampnstuff.blogspot.co.uk/  although this is not a direct link to her version of the card, but I would like to credit her with the original.  The colour scheme is Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake and white.  The script stamp is from French Foliage, with a flourish stamp that isn't SU (I'm not sure who it's by to be honest!)  I was thrilled when I inked it up to see it already had butterflies on it, so it worked perfectly with the embossed ones.  Thanks for looking in today.  I'm off to practise some french and make a wedding card!

Hello everyone!  Hope you're all well and finding lots of time to craft.  August has turned out to be quite a busy month for card making and I'm only just getting round to some art journaling now.  Once the dreaded course work is done, it's going to be crafting all the way to Christmas, I can tell you! Anyway, for the card swap group in August I challenged everyone to make a tag.  Making a card to go with it was optional.  So here's my effort.  I tried something at first with Dylusions inks but I didn't like it, so I decided to have a go at this instead.  I've seen something similar on Pinterest, but to be honest they don't look anything like each other now!  The one I liked had a peg at the top, so I tried that but the peg was miles too big, so on went the button.  After that it was easy, as I have quite a few white things in my stash that all fitted perfectly on here.  Once I'd made it I was worried sick about posting it as the doily is very delic

Okay, it's not really the oldest card in the world, but it is for a lady who is 104!  How often are you going to be able to make a card for someone of that age?!  She is actually our oldest resident.  She is full of life, reads loads of books and walks down to the dining room and back, twice a day! The cardstock is Lucky Limeade, with my last, tiny bit of ribbon to match.  I've embossed the white background, embossed my oval frame and cut round it, adding a little Tim Holtz Broken China distress ink, otherwise it would have been Pool Party, but I still don't have the ink!  The little birds are from a now long retired set called Clearly For You, which was the first set I ever bought and return to again and again.  Anyway, the recipient loved the card, which made my day.  I've no idea how many candles they managed to fit on her cake, though... Back soon, I hope Jane xx

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest and decided to have a play.  The pink is melon mambo.  I have die cuts for the lettering. One thing led to another and before you know it, I'd made this as well: This is the card I decided to use.  The colour is calypso coral.  It's such a great colour with black.  The flowers are a very versatile die cut from Sizzix.  Back soon, I hope, and maybe even able to catch up with my recent makes. Jane x

They say it's better to give than to receive.  I'm sure that's true, but I've received some beautiful cards from the Card swap group recently and would like to show you them today. The first one is this lovely little card from Victoria Jefferies: I love her sweet style.  I actually lost this card for a while and was really upset and so happy when I found it again under a pile of papers! The next one is a fabulous card from Michelle.  I love the colour scheme and of course it's got butterflies on it!  What's not to like? Last month I challenged everyone to make a card no bigger than 4" x 4".  This is mine: It's the maximum size and in Calypso Coral, a colour I'm falling in love with.  I've used a scrap of Everyday Enchantment dsp and my little oval frame to pop a little stamped image in that was free with a magazine. But I feel topped by the card made by Aileen Skene here: It's a tiny 3" x 3" card

Oh my, July is whizzing by, isn't it? Things are very hectic here, as usual.  Tessa has had an operation and we have a new granddaughter, so there's plenty to keep us busy. I've challenged the card swap group in July to make the smallest card they can muster.  The maximum size must be no bigger than 4"x4".  It was my turn to send a card to Michelle, and this is what I made: I've recently bought a pack of Calypso Coral cardstock and thought now would be the perfect moment to break into it.  The white cardstock is 4"x4", then a smaller layer of Everyday Enchantment dsp, plus a smaller square of Calypso Coral on top, which has been run through the oval decorative frames ef.  The stamp was free with a magazine a couple of years ago.  I coloured the flower in Calypso Coral.  The little leaves are in Wild Wasabi and the water is Pool Party. Cute and simple and very satisfying to make.  Hope Michelle likes it. Back soon with some fabulous cards t

I can't believe it's been a year since I made the first card for the residents at work, and now I'm back at the beginning again.  This is a card for a lady who is 91!  I was a bit stumped at first, but remembered her love for cats, and knew exactly where to go for what I was looking for.  Here's the card: This is a digi stamp from Little Claire's Designs, and it's very, very sweet.  I printed it out on paper, because of course, the beauty of digi stamps is that you can make it any size you like.  I just started playing and chose grey for the cats and it all came together from there.  The cardstock is basic grey and the paper is an old colour set from Papermania.  It took a while for me to twig that the sentiment is already on there, so I decided to keep it simple and left it at that. Oh yes, one more thing.  I decided to add a dash of another colour and plumped for red.  Then I coloured the fish in red and wondered what on earth I was doing.  Then I reali

Finally my Blogger account is working properly again. It's been really weird which is why I haven't been on here much lately. So at last I can show you the card for last month's card swap group. This has momentarily satisfied my addiction to hexagons!  The papers are October Afternoon, Thrift Shop.  What a great way to use up scraps.  This was for Michelle, who I know is pretty keen on hexagons herself.  Lots of other things going on here.  I am busy preparing for a fete at work on Saturday where I am selling some cards (hopefully!)  If I can do that once a year it'll be very worthwhile. I'm also gradually becoming addicted to art journaling, and have decided to start a new blog showing my creations here .  I've missed the diary style of my old blog so have decided to get more into it again.  Pop over and have a look if art journaling is your thing. Back soon, folks. Make sure you're all getting plenty of fluids in this heat! Auntie Jane xx

Hello all! Goodness, June was a hectic month, wasn't it?  After selling Barnaby and then going on holiday, it's been work, work, work, with very little crafting time thrown in. Paris was wonderful.  You can read more about it on my other blog here .  But now it's time to show you the card I made for Aileen last month, come and have a look: The colour is Summer Starfruit with white.  I love the ribbon that comes with these In-Colours.  I ran a piece of white cardstock through my honeycomb ef and then cut a smaller piece of Summer Starfruit cs.  The white on the small piece is stamped with the retired Dot Dot Dot stamp.  Then I've used my posy punch to stamp out a flower.  It was at this point I gave a huge sigh when I remembered I wasn't making a birthday card (brain freeze, obviously!) and that the Hello stamp in the set would be perfect. So there we are, an easy, but fun card to make.  I think I'm going to have to order a pack of Summer Starfruit cardsto

I've been having another session in my craft room again, where one thing leads to another.  I'm really enjoying doing this lately.  Come and have a look: I had to make a card for a resident, and knew I wanted to use the old Sail Away stamp, as the recipient used to be in the marines, so I wanted something slightly nautical. It's hard to tell, but I've stamped a script stamp all over the cardstock.  I swiped ink direct from my ink spot over the tag, bashful blue at the top and baja breeze at the bottom, which went on beautifully, then stamped the boat, then again on white card stock, cut out the sails and glued them in place.  Loving it! Then I did this: I love this acrylic block technique.  Unfortunately I mostly have ink spots and have only just discovered that you can still do it with them, if you ink liberally all over the acrylic block with a pale ink.  I stamped it on the white cardstock and then added the Sail Away stamp.  I've framed the image in Mid

Hello y'all! Five minutes peace to sit and talk to you.  I've had another sesh with my Everyday Enchantment papers.  I still have loads left, but I've just bought some Calypso Coral cardstock and ink,  so there'll be no stopping me now.  Lookie: I'm not going to list any products as you probably recognise everything on these. You know me, butterflies with everything!   I've since added a sentiment to this one, just above the dsp on the left.   Surely you could make this with virtually any dsp?  Go on, CASE it and see what you end up with!  And finally, this one With the little birds from the Clearly For You stamp set. Which one do you like best? Back soon Jane xx 

I've been dying to ink up my 'Feeling Sentimental' stamp set.  I knew this year I would only be able to afford one Sale-a-Bration item, and decided fairly quickly that this had to be it: I realised after I'd made this that I'd missed a perfect chance here, because Peter used to be a policeman, so I wondered if it would have been better with the phone box on it (I could have done it in blue, couldn't I?)  I saw a version of this card on Pinterest a while ago by Diana Gibbs and knew it would be one to make. I don't think I was concentrating fully when I made this as I didn't absorb that Diana hadn't embossed the whole white piece!  I decided to go with what I'd done and it made a nice variation on the original.  I was thrilled to have the linen thread and ribbon to make the little tag detail at the top.  The colours are Riding Hood Red and Early Espresso, so that's the last of my Riding Hood Red gone.  I only had two sheets of it s

I'm really, really sorry, I can't apologise enough for the poor quality of this photo.  Unfortunately I didn't realise how bad it was until well after I'd sent the card, but here goes: Don't worry, you don't need glasses, it really is the poor quality of the picture.  Let me quickly give you the details and then we can move on!  I set the challenge for the card swap group to make a card in our recipient's favourite colour.  Most people said, 'purple,' or 'orange and red,' but I had to make a card in pink pirouette for Ann Wall.  Hmm, what to do?  I knew I wanted to use my honeycomb ef, especially as I found some pink pirouette core'dinations cardstock left over from a workshop Ann did last year.  At first it seemed obvious to team it with pool party and lucky limeade again, but I decided to go for something different.  I looked at the Beau Chateau dsp and saw the colours were soft suede, pink pirouette and marina mist. I've used

I seem to be making sets of cards lately.  You know me, once I get an idea in my head I love to play around with it.  Have a look at these: I was, of course, inspired by a card on Pinterest, this time by Erin Gonzales.  You can see her card here .  I really liked her card, but I wanted make one without the whole of the white panel being embossed so I could put a sentiment on it that could be read easily.  I loved the combination of backing paper, the little banner at the top, and of course, the butterflies.  The yellow panel at the back is Summer Starfruit, the pink is Primrose Petals and the blue is Island Indigo.  I used some of the images in Summer Silhouettes to stamp in white on the background panel. Note: It is entirely because of this card that I have bought the dsp for the In-Colours shown here.  So much for using up all my dsp! The next step was to find some stripy dsp, as I really liked this look in Erin's card.  I only have one set, and that's the subtles

Hello, I hope you're having a good weekend.  I've just got back from the cinema where we went to see Iron Man 3.  It turned out to be really good. I've been busy crafting, too.  Here's the card I made for my son's birthday last Tuesday: I've had this idea in my head for quite a while.  My son is at college studying music and I knew I wanted to put some sort of music on his card.  I bought some Tim Holtz washi tape in case I got desperate but I also ordered the music notes wheel from SU.  I've wanted this for absolute ages and I'm nervous that it might be retired so I thought I'd better buy it while I have the chance. It hadn't arrived by the time I had to make the card, so I started fiddling about with ideas with stamps and cardstock, when, 'plop', a parcel fell through the letter box.  I legged it to the door and lo and behold, my latest order had arrived.  I got out some black ink, inked up the wheel, and away I went (thanks Ann

At last I'm able to start showing you the cards I've made recently, as there have been a cluster of birthdays this past week but I've had to hold back on what I've made. So here is the first one: This is for one of the members of the card swap group, Zoe Tant.  You can see her inspiring blog here .  I saw a card on Pinterest that inspired my creation, but I can't find the original artist, so if anyone knows, please let me know so I can credit them. I have a feeling the base card in the original is early espresso, but I thought it might look nice using basic gray.  The next layer is some of the beautiful blushing bride paper from the Twitterpated dsp.  (Can't wait for this colour to come back, can you?) I've stamped the delicate branch from the Simply Soft set in basic gray.  I'm amazed at how many times I still reach for this stamp set. I stamped the delicate image in basic gray in different directions on the white cardstock pieces (6cm x 4cm)

Do you ever go on a bit of a journey with your cardmaking, where one thing leads naturally to another?  I know once I get an idea in my head (and it works!) I like to see where else I can go with it.  Let me explain. This card came to me in my sleep. My starting point was the dsp from Twitterpated, in the Island Indigo colour, so I sat for a while trying to decide what colours would go well with it, and it had to be this set again, ie Pool Party, Tangerine Tango and Rich Razzleberry.  I started by stamping the little flower arrangement in the top right corner, loving the fact that the leaves are in Island Indigo and not a green (because you get blue leaves, right?!)  Then I ran the card through the Bigshot with the honeycomb ef.  I was fascinated by the effect, and after that the rest of the card was a doddle.  The flower has been cut with my Sizzix flower die set, which comes with co-ordinating stamps and it rather cool!  I knew I wanted to go horizontally with something too,

Hello peeps, it's all go here, as usual! I didn't realise how many days had gone by since I last posted. I realised I'd completely forgotten to show you this little creation: I made it for Victoria Jefferies' birthday back in early April. She's one of the members of the card swap group I'm running, and a very talented crafter.  I don't think I've ever sat down at my desk and whipped something up so quickly (because I am an incompetant oaf who should have taken more notice of the date in the first place!) I literally finished making it and put it straight in the post so it's quite nice to revisit it again. Here are the deets: The card base is Baja (boo hoo!) Breeze, 5x7" Layer 1 is Basic Black cardstock. Layer 2 is just plain white cardstock, run through a 5x7 ef and trimmed to size. Layer 3 is So Saffron cut with the 3rd largest labels framelit Layer 4 A stamp from the Apothecary Art stamp set (luvs youuuuu!) which isn't colour