And they're off.....

I can't quite believe that after almost 2 years in the planning, a lot of hard work and an awful lot of saving. My son and daughter in law are heading off around the world today, they are going to be away for about a year ! 

We all got together last night and celebrated with a lovely meal at a local pub/restaurant, and just spent some time together which was lovely.

They will be blogging about their adventures at a new website that Dan has set up, and it enables me to picture exactly where they are going and what countries are coming up next. I think they are going to approximately 16 different countries, starting in Hong Kong for the New Year. If you would like to have a look at what they are up to, you can follow them here at: passportandpants. They will be adding more countries as they go along.

Saying goodbye this morning hasn't been easy, and I must admit I am going to miss them both soooooo much. But I know they will have the experience of a lifetime, and we will talk and text, and skype whenever possible, so that I can keep up to date with their antics lol. 

Hope you are all having a good week. take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

MFT Elves

Good morning all and Merry Christmas. I hope you have all had a lovely holiday, however you spend it.

Ours has been spent with family, and has been thoroughly enjoyed. We have spent too much, eaten too much, and some have definitely drank too much lol, but we have been together and happy, which to me is all that matters.

Today's card is one of a set that I made for the younger members of the family. They were all made using the same stamp and die sets, but all different. This one went to my great niece, I hope you like it too.

The cover up behind the elf is an MFT one, cut three times using different coloured card and paper and then pieced back together on a double sided adhesive sheet.

I used the MFT Santa's Elves stamp and die sets for the characters and coloured them all in with Copic Markers, Wink of Stella pens and a white gel pen.

Then I added a simple die-cut sentiment and some festive Candy to finish it off.

Hope you like it, take care and have a very good week.

See you soon, take care.

xxx

Krumspring Presents - Naughty or Nice?

Good morning all, I hope you are having a good week. Today's card is the first one I have made using a Krumspring stamp. I follow the lovely lady who designs these stamps on Instagram, and when she had a new release last month I bought this presents stamp, called Naughty or Nice to give it a try.

 Now I have to save my pennies so that I can buy some more soon as they are great, they stamp brilliantly and some of the other ones available look amazing. If you haven't heard of her then head here to Maria's website and shop and take a look for yourself.

For this card, I stamped the presents with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. Then I coloured it with Copic Markers in some contemporary colours, as I did a second card with more traditional colours.

I cut the image out by hand and then found a piece of Christmas paper in the stash that complimented the colours. The little Elf holding the present is an MFT stamp from last year called Santa's Elves. 

I coloured him with matching colours and then cut him out with his coordinating die. 

After adding the sentiment I gave the presents and Elf a once over with Wink of Stella in Silver and Clear to give it all some sparkle.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you next week.

xxx

Christening dress

Good morning all, I hope you are having a good week and a good start to October.

Today's card is one I made for Jude's youngest Granddaughter Charlotte for her Christening last month. I wanted a card with a Christening dress on, but didn't have a die or stamp so I made one myself.

I used a paper doily for the skirt and folded it until I had the shape I wanted. Then I used a small rectangular piece of white card and used a circle punch to chop out the neck hole and to make the underarm section.

Then I tidied it up with scissors and a corner rounder for the arms. I put it all together with a small pink bow and then decorated it with tiny pearls.

I then used a pearl trim on the bottom of the skirt, around the neck and down the side of the card, after putting it on a pink paper background.

As we don't have stamps for Christenings or Baptism's, I wrote the sentiment on the PC and then printed it onto Safmat. (A clear sticky film which you can print on).

Hope you like it, have a great week and I'll see you Thursday.

xxx

Ellie sends birthday wishes

Good morning all, today's card is one I made for my Daughter-in-law a couple of weeks ago. 

I love this little elephant set from Avery Elle, I think it is probably my most used image stamp. 

I stamped the images with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then coloured them with Copic markers. Then I cut them out with their matching dies, and added Glossy Accents to the balloons to make them shine. 

Then I used a stencil that came free with a magazine a while ago to make the border, straight on to a 6 x 6 card blank. 

I inked through the stencil with Distress Inks, Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac and Milled Lavender.

Then I stamped a sentiment using a purple pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I cut it out with the MFT Stamps Stitched Banner dies.

Then to finish it off I added a couple of stickers to the balloons.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Cheers - on your Anniversary

Good morning all, hope you are having a good week. Today is my Son and Daughter-in-law's 1st wedding Anniversary. I can not believe that they have been married a year already! it has absolutely flown by. 

Anyway, this is one of the cards that I made for the family to send to them. They are away in Lisbon at the moment so I really hope they have a fabulous day. 

I combined a couple of Clearly Besotted stamp sets for this one, I used the Raise A Glass Additions and the Mr and Mrs sets.

I stamped the corner stamp from the Mr and Mrs set using New Sprout and Cottage Ivy Memento Inks and then stamped the glasses with Galaxy Gold and Pearlescent Crimson Dew Drop inks. Then I heat embossed the glasses with clear embossing powder. 

I used a Spellbinders Adorning Square die to cut the panel out and then backed it with gold and deep burgundy card. 

I used a 6 x 6 card blank and embossed the front with an X-Cut Plaid embossing folder.

I put the main panel in the centre of the card front, and then added the heat embossed sentiment to one side. Then I just added a sprinkling of gold sequins to finish it off. 

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Pink butterflies

Good morning all, hope you are having a good week. Today's card is one I made for a friend to send to her mum. 

I created the main image with my Silhouette software, piecing together parts from other cut files. Then I made the image black and printed it with the laser printer on to soft grey card. 

I used Heidi Swapp pink foil and ran the image through my Minc Machine. Then I cut the panel at an angle and mounted it on to a pink A5 card blank. 

The butterflies are from the Noor Design Butterfly border die. I cut the die twice and then inked them with Spun Sugar, Hickory smoke and Milled Lavender Distress Inks. 

Then I attached them to the card along the back of the grey panel and cut off the excess. 

I heat embossed the happy birthday sentiment on to a piece of white vellum and then cut it out with an MFT Stamps Stitched Banner die. 

Then I used a Cheery Lynn die to cut the Mum from Silver Foiled card and finished the card off with lots of sequins and a couple of little pink sequin butterflies.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Thank you

Good morning all and happy Tuesday. Yes it's Jen back again today. I'm giving Jude the week off as she has quite a lot on her plate at the min so I said I would take care of the blog this week. 

Today's card is one I was asked to make by a friend at work. She had finished her placement with us and was moving on, so wanted to send a little card of thanks to her manager.

I stuck with a classic black, white and silver colour scheme and heat embossed a script stamp on to black card with Cosmic Shimmer Fine Detail True White Embossing Powder.

Then I cut it out with a Spellbinder Deckled Edge die and backed it with a larger die cut from black gloss card.

Then I used a flower and leaf die set, cut from silver mirror card.

I used the MFT Stamps Stitched Banner Dies and a black and silver patterned card for the side and mounted it all on to a dark grey card.

Then I added the sentiment heat embossed in white and a few Dazzler gems to finish it off.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx