The Other Side Of Me

Hi guys! I've been very, very busy on the Project Life front and have joined two brilliant groups on facebook, but I have made some changes too.  As soon as I've got some piccies ready, I'll update you on my progress. In the meantime, I've been extremely busy on the card-making front as well.  I work in a care home and I make a card for each resident on their birthdays for all the staff to sign.  I had no idea there were so many in November and December.  This is partly why I haven't been on here so regularly, I've actually been making the cards and thoroughly enjoying this amazing hobby. As well as that I run a card swap group.  There are ten members and we make a card for one other person in the group each month.  This is the card I made for Aileen Skene's birthday in October: I saw something similar on Pinterest (if I ever find it again I promise I'll credit it) using a different dsp of course.  I am actually winning the battle to get through...

Okay, I'm going to confess:  I was actually going to stop blogging at the end of 2013, but I find I can't resist it.  I realise this is the first post of the year, though.  This was the card I made for a resident in December.  The colour is Blushing Bride, which I really love. I am delighted to say that everyone in the Card Swap Group wants to keep going, so we will, which has cheered me up no end.  I am going to be more organised this year and send my cards off as early as I can.  I don't go into work on a Thursday until 5pm so I am going to use the whole of that day to craft. 1st Thursday: Card Swap group card 2nd Thursday: cards for residents 3rd Thursday: Christmas cards 4th Thursday: Art journaling. I am carrying on with my journal/smash book several days a week as well.  I'm finding it quite addictive. Back soon Jane xx

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

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

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!  ...

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...

Hello all! Just popping in with a quick post today. I've seen some beautiful colour combinations recently and had to have a go at some of my own.  I wanted to make a card for my Floor Manager at work, and this is what I came up with: It's a Z fold card made using Baja Breeze cardstock.  I inked up my Summer Silhouettes stamp set and away I went.  The colours are Early Espresso, Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake.  This was such a simple card to make.  The dsp is part of the Twitterpated set and the Happy Birthday is from the old Elementary Elegance stamp set.  A very sweet combo, I'm sure you'll agree. Well I think that's it really, thanks for looking in today.  Maybe you'll give these colours a try. Back soon with some card swaps. Jane xx

Good morning crafty peeps!  At last we have some sunshine and I have a day off.  I have bought some new crafty goodies and am looking forward to doing some work with them later today, but in the meantime, here is a card I made recently: I saw a card like this on Pinterest and decided I really must have a go, as I obviously have this paper, from the Twitterpated set.  This set of dsp is actually quite diverse, isn't it?  Most of it is flowery, then this pops up.  This is the first time I've used any Basic Gray cardstock, too, which I really enjoyed.  I am fascinated by the yellow and grey combination, and want to explore this further, as one of the residents at work has a little box with grey and yellow flowers on, and every time I see it it makes me want to run home and start stamping! The original card doesn't have the section of embossed cardstock that I stuck down the front, but that's because I picked up the card as it was, and got grease on it!...

Hello all, I hope you've coped ok with the bad weather we've been having.  I've had a week off work and haven't ridden at all.  That's never happened to me before!  It's a good job I've got crafting to fall back on, isn't it?  I've been extremely busy in the craft room and am currently working on something extra special, which I'll show you as soon as I can. But for now, here's a card I've really enjoyed making: I've made it as a lovely way to use up the last of my Pear Pizzazz cardstock.  I've decided it's definitely time to give it a good home and move on.  I've searched and searched for the original card to give it some credit, but I can't find where it's come from.  I've used one of the stamps from the Simply Soft stamp set, which I stamped in Gumball Green, which I think was a bit powerful, but it's stll a lovely card.  By the time I'd put the Lucky Limeade ribbon on it, it didn't seem to m...

I've had to make two cards for residents very close together, so, with a need for speed I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  I decided to case a card by Judy May, which you can see here  .  I love to case cards because I like starting out with a lot of the same stuff on the original card, then getting to the bit where you don't have something they used, so you have to use your imagination to think of something to use that captures the spirit of that card, the bit that impressed you, and then the card becomes your version.  Here's what I made: Somewhere between Real Red and Cherry Cobbler lies Riding Hood Red, and this is the first time I've used this lovely colour, and the papers from the Twitterpated dsp that work with it.  The base card is the beautiful Baja Breeze.  I wanted to capture the oval shape in the centre from the original card, but don't have those particular embossing folders - yet!  (Don't worry, they are on my shopping list!)...

Hello, hope you're all well.  I'm going to tell you the sad news, then move swiftly on, but I can't carry on blogging without mentioning it... John's horse Zak was injured last Saturday, with a tendon injury.  It turned out to be very serious indeed so on Wednesday we made the difficult decision to have him put to sleep.  It was totally heartrending and I never want to do it again.  I've been quite depressed over it as it was so sudden and such a shock, as you can imagine.  There is a big hole in my heart without him here. But I have been card-making, and need to do it more than ever now to cheer myself up.  So today, here is the card I made for my grandson's third birthday.  I'm sorry that the photo isn't great quality, I didn't realise until now and I've already posted it: The card is all baja breeze, and I can't remember now where I got the stamp from, but it's so sweet (coloured with Promarkers.)  I paper pieced the parcel from ...

I've recently sent two cards off to recipients before I'd taken photographs of them, what a fool!  One of them, in particular, was really nice, so I'm quite cross about it.  I've decided from now on I must take a photo as soon as the card is done and write a blog post for it while all the details are still fresh in my mind.  This is a project I did a little while ago, too.  Firstly, the card: I'm starting to really understand how SU! works for me.  I fall in love with a set of dsp, then I go and buy the plain cardstock that goes with it, some gorgeous stamps (and maybe dies or punches) and away I go and create!  This paper,  is called Twitterpated, and it's one of the most beautiful sets of paper I've ever used.  The blue cardstock is baja breeze, one of my fave colours, and the ribbon (oh the ribbon!) is ready pleated in blushing bride, what a fabulous product that turned out to be!   I've used the Apothecary Art stamp set and ...

I finally feel as if my mojo has come back.  I made a list yesterday of all the craft things I want to make over the next few weeks and there are 20 things on the list, which means my mojo is in full flow, do you know what I mean? The next thing is, I have to make a rule that I don't craft after 8pm, as it sets my brain alight and I can't go to sleep when I go to bed.  Last night I was up until 12.30 crafting.  That's no good, is it?! Anyway, here is the card that I made for my beautiful granddaughter this August: I was researching for another project and came across a tri-shutter card and decided it would be perfect for the project I had in mind.  There are different styles of shutter card, where the panels are rectangular, but the design I saw had square panels.  It took ages trawling the net for some instructions and dimensions to make one like this. Have a closer look at the stamped image: This image is from LOTV.  I was so thrilled wh...