Elizabeth Bennet

Hello All,

Finally in amongst building work and looking after my little one, I actually got chance to escape into my loft for an evening's crafting.
 
There are so many new products and things that I feel I want and NEED, at the same time I feel I must use up the stash I have, so this is me playing with an old Kanban kit, and trying to "craft" with it. The Kit was called " Lavender and Lace" I stamped with an "indigo Blu" stamp over some of the printed card stock and colour tinted with copic's. There has been loads of distress ink added, a good sprinkling of frantage (one of my new fav obsessions!!), and finished off with some paper clay embellishments using "Martha Stewart" moulds.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe -Wings
Stamping Sensations - Free and easy
Everybody Art Challenge - Not Christmas
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - Fav Technique ( Currently frantage )
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
Wed Creative Inspiration - Anything Goes
Charisma Cards - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes

As always thanks for taking the time to pop by and have a look
Crafty Hugs
Juls

Sugar Bowl 110

Hello All,

First of all I must apologize for the delay in getting this post, we have been having major tinterent problems!!! Grrrrrr

Its time for a new challenge over at the sugar bowl and this time we have the theme "Faries" .... and at the house of sugar there are sooooooooo many fabulous fairy images to choose. I have gone for an older image from Dina Duda. I have coloured her with my copics and prisma's.

This is a really cheap notpad from tesco. Which I have covered in some nice Kraft paper and decorated with My Minds Eye papers.

Please come and join us over at the sugar bowl 

Cant wait to see what you create.

Crafty Hugs to all
Juls

Sparkle and Shine in the Sugar Bowl

Hello All,

Its time for another challenge over at the Sugar Bowl. This month we are looking for sparkle and Shine.

This is one of these cards that is fairly plain and simple but took me ages! I started with the fabulous Leanne Ellis - True Love image I stamped and embossed with black embossing powder, I used watercolour pencils to do the background and edges with distress inks, the image has been coloured with a combo of copics and prisma's , unfortunately due to the stamping with embossing powder I ended up with a weird grey shadow under her chin that I couldn't get rid of so I painted over with acrylic's it still shows but I am hoping I got away with it.

All the circles have been filled with Anita's Glaze and sprinkled with glitter. The background paper is handmade, I have used twinkling H2o's I have overstamped with a Bo Bunny script stamp, and I have used a Katy Sue stamp for the flowers  again I used Anita's glaze over them, I finished off with doodling and more glitter .... I struggled getting the "sparkle and shine" to show up on the photo's so I have done a couple of close ups just to prove its there!! lol ...

I also would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - Add sentiment
Daring Card Makers - All the other reasons
Sister Act - Anything Goes


As always thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Just Colour ....

Hi All,

I have been getting really bored with the way I colour, I think its an ok'ish standard, but its just the same all the time, I really wanted to try out new styles of colouring. Mostly inspired by the wonderful array of things I see here in blogland. I hae watched a couple of tutorials, and this is me just trying out a couple of the new tips I came across ..... like having pink as a base for brown hair!! .... think it certainly adds an extra depth to it. Also the way I have done the shading around the nose&eyes is different from my normal colouring, and the way of building up the cheek colour. It prob doesn't even look that much different but I enjoyed playing anyway.

I spent one evening colouring this fab Saturated Canary image, and then I matched it up with a few papers from my scrap pile, and kept it really simple

I would like to add this to the following challenges:

Pennies Paperraft - Add Black or Bling ( have a little touch of both)
Sister Act - Anythhing Goes

As always thanks for looking
crafty hugs
Juls

Gardner Gayle in Wellies

Hello All,

I had a look at the challenge for Saturated Canary and really fancied playing along, I have really wanted to do more "Altered Art" for a while. I normally do a notepad or gift bag. This is my first attempt at something a little different. Certainly needing a lot more practice at this type of thing. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I certainly had a lot of fun.

This is my daughters very first set of Wellie boots, and they started life like this:

As a pair:

  I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Saturated Canary  - Alter it
Creative Inspiration - Pearls, White, Flowers
Totally Papercrafts  - No Squares Allowed

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Under the Umbrella

Hi All,

Please don't go into shock!! 2 posts in a week!!

This is a card I made a wee while ago, but been so busy I have not got round to blogging it yet!! The papers are "My minds eye" and "Tilda" I have used my newly purchase Stamping Bella stamp .... so love this image!!  ..... I had not intended to be quite so heavy handed with the distress ink .. so splashed on some water to try and go with the Rain theme, to try and make it look deliberate rather than hours of coloring turning into a disaster!! ... then a sprinkling of frantage and some resin roses to finish.

I would like to enter this into the following challanges:

Creative Inspirations: Anything Goes
MAWT - Shaped Cards
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Totally Papercraft - No squares allowed

Thanks for looking
Hugs to all
Juls

Show Us Your first Nellie!!!

Hello All,

Well, I am so behind at the mo its shocking!! I knew that building an extension would be stressful just didn't realize quite how much so!! ... Also got some majorly stressful things going on with work so that's my reasons for my absence in blogland!!

Onto the more pleasant things in life .... like craft!! LOL, over at the sugar bowl we have a new challenge running, this time we have a little theme of  "use your first sugar Nellie stamp" ... So which stamp began your Sugar addication!! cant wait to find out!!

Have to say it was fun dusting of an older stamp .... I do love this little sweetie, I bought this from one of my little trips to Elgin, along with 2 other Elizabeth Bell stamps .... I now have over 100 Nellies!!

Please check out the challenge over at the sugar bowl, hope to see you there.

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sister Act - Anything Goes
Stamping for the weekend - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Bowl challange 108

Hello All ..... time for my monthly post LOL

I am sorry normal service will resume soon!! We still in the process of building the extension its a family affair, and its going great, we are currently staying in a holiday cottage while the work goes on.

So its time for another challenge at the sugar bowl. This is a bit of a random creation that just kind of happened there was no plan. I was clearing up from an evenings crafting, and saw the little photo cell stamp ... I had just been to Elgin (supposedly tile shopping for the extension - but managed to fit in a little trip to the house of sugar) ... and so I have these Leanne Ellis stamps Catch a Falling Star Fly Free Talking to the birds on my desk. I stamped and coloured them.

The next night I then had to find paper to match my colouring, so came across these WRMK papers ... I had to make a tiny piece of orange paper go rather a long way!!

Please hope over and check out what the other sweeties have created, and please do join us for the challenge, which is create anything you like, using your fabulous Nellies .... I cant wait to be inspired by you all, As always there is a prize of 4 fabby SN stamps up for grabs, 6 if we get over a 100 entries.

Thanks for looking hugs to all

Sugar Bowl Challenge

Hello All,

Wow I cant believe its been a month since I posted, and it is already time for another challenge over at the Sugar Bowl!!

For my card I have used "Room to Bloom" which you can get here  (this is a new image for me, it fell into my basket the last time I popped in to visit the girls in Elgin). I have coloured the image using my copic pens ... and teamed it up with some papers from My Minds Eye.

So I look forward to seeing you in the sugar bowl ... cant wait to see what you will make and inspire me with this month!! Its worth entering as there is a yummy prize of 4 sugary stamps up for grabs and all you have to do is use a Sugar Nellie stamp!!!

As always
Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Bowl Challange

Hello All,

Well life with a toddler whilst trying to build an extension yourself is proving rather hectic!! ... so I apologize for the lack of posts from me recently.

Its time for another challenge at the sugar bowl, and as always Karen has offered a fabulous prize of your choice of 4 sugar Nellie stamps, 6 if we get over 100 entries!!! so what are you waiting for lets get inking and show us your fabulous cards!!

I have used a the Leanne Ellis image - Cup of Tea, which you can find here I have kept this one nice and simples! I have coloured her with copics and added a sentiment, to make a little notelet card.

Thanks for looking
and I hope you join us
Hugs Juls

Joie De Vivie

Hello All,

Well this card I didnt really have a plan for ... it just kind of evolved.

Whilst clearing my craft space, I came across cards that I had started, but for some reason or other I had obviously fallen out with and pushed to one side .... I found this one it had a chocolate baroque image stamped and embossed in one corner .... So I decided to work with that, I colour tinted the edges of the card with distress ink - tattered rose, then I built up the background with some Bo Bunny stamps and various colours of memento inks.

After that ... I pulled out this Julie Nutting stamp, as its a new purchase and I was desperate to have a play ( I do have a book of hers "Fashion Collage" ... I attempted this look in a smash page that you can see here - I loved doing it but found it very time consuming, plus I have not really mastered getting the proportions of the model right! - who would have thought I took art at school!!! So its so great to have her stamps! )  ..... I then rummaged in my scrap bag to find a few papers that I thought would co-ordinate, and then created her outfit. I have coloured her in with Prisma pencils and have created her hair using acrylic paint. With the remainder of the scraps I had pulled out my stash, I created the Paris topper, using a stampendous stamp. I created the little clock flowers using a kanban stamp, I tinted the edges with a rub on wax and added a metal brad .... the sentiment was another find from my clear out ... I found a book sentiment based ephemera .... I then put a good sprinking of frantage everywhere, a few paper clay leaves, some pearls and gems, and this is this is the finished result.

I would like to submit this to the following challanges:

Simon Says - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Fashion Is my Passion
Mixed Media  Colour Challange - Yellow Peach & Pink
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Crafts for Eternity - Heavy Metal
Creative Romance - Dont be square

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Bowl Challange 105

Hello All,

Well its time for a new challenge over at the Sugar Bowl All that is required is that you use a Sugar Nellie stamp, other than that Anything Goes!!! How fabulous as that. Plus the prize is to receive 4 more fabby sweet sugar nellie stamps, ( 6 if we get over 100 entries) so its well worth joining in!!

For My Sugar Bowl project, I have upcycled some packaging that some cosmetics came in and created a gift bag and notecard. I have used the fabulous Leanne Ellis image - To Remember which you can find here

I have coloured the image with my copics and have used some fabby tilda papers to decorate the bag .. I added a little extra stamping to the notecard ... in all honesty that was to disguise some dogy stamping!! LOL

Hope to see you in the Sugar Bowl!!

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:

Simon Says - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me - Anything Goes
Stamping for the weekend - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Allsorts - Outside the Box

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Dressing Up

Hello All,

Something different from me today. When clearing my crafty space I mentioned that I found things that I had forgotten that I had ... I came across this Kanban template for a dress shaped card, something I bought donkeys ago but have never used ... so I had a little play last night and made these 2 little dresses,

They were quick and easy cards to make and I think perfect for any little girl. I have used some patterned papers, and have added a little stamping and distressed ink round the edges for a little interest, and have just embellished with bits and bobs to my hearts content. (p.s the flower on the card at the background does not stand out as quite that bright in real life! )

I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

I would like to enter these little dresses into the following challenges:

Kaboodle - Pastel colours
Crafts and Me - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Fashion is my passion
Creative Inspiration - Anything Goes, option ribbon
The ABC - P is for pretty pink
Creative Romance - Shaped Cards
Sister Act - Anything goes

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Snippit Love

Hello All,

Well what a busy week!!! Our extension is proving to be a nightmare!! without getting too technical foundations are normally 18" deep, and it is normal to tie into your existing foundations, we finally found ours at 7ft 7"!!!! So I have a massive hole to bury myself in if it all gets too much ... in all honesty we have no idea what we are doing now & are waiting for engineers to get back to us. The good news is that further down the street neighbors of our are building an extension, they ran into the same problem, and have obviously resolved it, so it is possible!!!

I at the same time as all this was going on decided it was time to re organize my craft space ... it really wasn't working for me ... I have new interests and supplies, ie I now love journaling, and have just discovered Paper Clay ect. Also I think I put things where they fit rather thank thinking about access to things I use the most ...... Anyway 5 days later its all sorted, I've discovered things I had forgotten I had ect ... passed a few things onto crafty friends ... now it already waiting for me to come and play!! Just wish I could work out how to pretty my space up a bit working in a non converted loft is not the best of spaces .....

Anyhoo on to the card ( after all that is why I am here posting!!!) This is the last card I made with the final snippits from my " Fabulous Fashion" card ... In all honesty I looked at these 3 tiny bits of green card, and just wondered what I was meant to do with them!!! ... I certainly was not feeling the love, anyway this is what I came up with, I added a little die cut heart from my box of bits ( created from my scrap pile!!) ... and actually out of the 6 cards I made with the leftovers this is my fav!!

I have to say I do love challenging myself to use up every bit of a paper I cut into, not only is it very satisfying .... and I am not adding to the pile of scraps, It is also pushing me into trying other styles of cards, just to use them up ... I don't think this one is really my style, but it has turned out to be a Fav, just shows .... pushing myself out of my comfort zone is sometimes worth it!!

I would like to enter this into:

Charizma Cards - Pink and Green ( I hope its ok to have the touch of black too, if not let me know and I will remove my entry)
Crafty Catz - Pick and Mix ( Anything Goes)
Sister Act ( Anything Goes )
Pixies Snippit Playground

Hugs to All
Juls

Scraps and Sentiments

Hello All,

For my last project ( In the post below) I allowed myself the luxuary of cutting into some lovely new Bo Bunny papers. As it is now my new rule not to add to my pile of scraps .... I have to keep crafting until every last snippit is gone, so I ended up making another 6 cards with the bits that were left.

Here are 2 of them and I will show some of the others again.

The first card, it just papers and stickers that came in the kit

The 2nd card I have used a Bo Bunny stamp to create the bird and the flowers.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Cupcake - Lets Get sentimental
Dutch Dare - Things that begin with B
Stamping for the weekend - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Pick&Mix (Anything Goes)
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Pixies Snippit Playground

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Fabulous Fashion

Hello All,

Firstly I must apologize for the quality of my photo, it was taken on my phone ... my beautiful sweet daughter has broken my camera, so I am a little stuck, I can use my husbands one but I was struggling as to use the macron setting it automatically used the flash, and those photos were just nasty!! I have treated myself to a little light box, pop up tent photo booth thing ( hope you are liking the technical terms there!!!) .... so we will see if that improves things a little.

Anyway onto my card .... I love these new Katy Sue designs I have all the stamps, and both the shoe and Fashion CD's, and as yet I had not had a play, so I thought it was about time!!

The main image and the handbag have been printed off from the Fashion CD, and I have coloured them with my copics and added a touch of sparkle. I have teamed it up with some Bo Bunny Papers and have added some stamping from one of the stamp sets ... Im not quite sure of how its turned out, I do think it looks slightly better in real life!

Our extention has had the foundations all marked up and we now in the process of digging. When all the work is completed I will have a walk in wardrobe!!!! eeek!!! anyway I thought when it is all done, that these images would make some fabulous art work for that room!! the wheels in my head are turning!!!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Craftalicious - Summer
Kaboodle - Summer
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Alphabet - I is for image

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Nellie Return To Fairy Glen Launch Day Hop

Hello All,

How exciting!!! Launch day is finally here!! I hope you are all enjoying a nice relaxing Saturday morning, with a brew hopping around checking out all these little sweeties and getting inspiraation along the way.

If you have just hopped along from the lovely Wendy's then you are right on track!!

I was so excited to be given the lovely A Little bit of Gossip to play with ... Isn't she just gorgeous:
    

                                    


I loved the image so much that I have kept my card quite simple with the focal point being this stunning image!! ... She has been coloured using Copic's and Prisma's and then of course she needed a generous helping of sparkle for those Fabulous wings!! I have embossed the background, and highlighted the detail using cosmic shimmer pearl pva. and I have made a few embellishments using Martha Stewart paper clay ... love that product so much ( but will save that for another day!!), and finally have just added a few gems.

You can buy this lovely stamp for £5.95, however FunkyKits have a Fairy Glen Launch offer ( It lasts this weekend only ) where you can get all 6 stamps for £28.

Don't forget to leave a little comment here and over at the Sugar Nellie blog, as there is a prize - drawn at random of some lovely sweet candy!!

Enjoy the rest of the hop, your next stop is the lovely Mina

Thanks for Looking
Hugs Juls

Return to Fairy Glen Sneek Week

Hello All,

I must apologize I am very late posting this ..... Its been a hectic week, Demolition started in preparation for our extension .... anyway .....

How exciting is this, more new images from Sugar Nellie, some stunning sweeties from Fairy Glen .... They are utterly gorgeous!!! be sure to check out the fabby Sugar Nellie Blog. All week there will be sneek peeks at these utterly gorgeous fairys, culminating in a blog hop on Saturday.

Hope you will all join us this week, and enjoy the release of some fabulous images, that will add a little magic to your crafting!

Hugs Juls

Guest Designer at City Crafter

Hello All,

I was so excited when the Lovely Kirsty from City Crafters e-mailed me and asked me to join in their challenge at city crafter as guest designer. Of course I immediately jumped at the chance and said YES!! I then I asked Kirsty what the challenge was and she said Pride and Prejudice .... well I knew it was meant to be!!!

I can not even begin to tell you how obsessed I am with P&P .... I practically know the Colin Firth adaptation off by heart ... I have read it so many times. I have 5 copies of pride and prejudice, not including having it on my kindle, and I have just bought another copy so I could have one as an art journal. ....... well then I had a gizillion ideas so the next problem was trying to channel myself in one direction.

In the end I decided to think practically, how would I use the finished project? So I decided to make a card that would be suitable to give to a P&P fanatic like myself!

This is another Serif based project, and I have added in a lovely image from Saturated Canary ... I have added Pride and Prejudice to the spine of the book. Also I used an Image from MSC "Regency Bonnets" so that she could be dreaming of Mr Darcy .... as every girl does .... and of course the most loved quite of all time:

" You Must Allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and Love You"

After I printed it out and coloured, I then added some frantage and some embellishments from my box of bits, and well this is the finished result!!

So please, lets loose ourselves in the world of Austin this week and join in over at city crafter

Thanks For Looking
Hugs Juls

Fashionable Scraps!!

Hello All,

Check me, 2 posts 2 days in a row!!!

Went to Howdens for a coffee this week, and just had to visit the craft shop while I was there ... FATAL!! .... so much for being really good until the extension was built and we know how many pennies will be rattling the bottom of our bank account!! saw this fabulous new Dylusion stamp and knew I NEEDED it!!! I just Love it, but its massive Really want to play, adding the hats e.c.t, but its clearly been designed with journaling in mind, so I will have to have a play in my journals. I have bought the set in the smaller size too, but love this one as I really thinks it makes a statement.

I stamped this on loads of scrap paper, and pieced it together to create this quirky coat, I added some shading using distress inks. I have layered it up using pinflair gel. A touch of black glitter on the shoes and the belt.

I would like to add this to the following challenges:

Kaboodle - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Wednesday Creative inspirations - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Pixes snippit playground

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Bowl Challenge 104

He He ....... I cant quite believe this is real, I keep pinching myself !!!  The bruises prove that I am really here telling you its time for a new challenge over at the sugar bowl!!! As always a fabulous prize of some lovely sugar is available so its well worth joining in!! As its anything goes, let your creativity go wild!! Cant wait to see what you all create!

Well ... first card as a sugarbowl sweetie! The hardest choice was to decide which to use ... I counted them up, I have 99 Sugar Nellies .... may need to go shopping it would be rude not to round it up to a 100!! .... I've cheated slightly and gone for 2!! I do love masking, and I love these 2 together. I have used High School Student and I Love to read both available from Funky Kits

I used some of my new yummy Tilda papers that I got on holiday. I made fake notepaper using my cropodile and scissors!! I stamped out the sentiment using an alphabet stamp that I have onto some of the scraps. Then I had to give everything a good sprinkling of frantage, some flowers gems and pearls.

As always thanks for looking
and dont forget to join us!
Hugs Juls

We've Travelled the world together .....

Hello All,

Sorry I have disappeared off the face of the earth!! I have been on Holiday.

We have also got planning for our extension (yehhhh!!!) - No I am not getting a craft room, I am still relegated to the loft, however we have a small house & I work from home, so now there 3 of us it was a choice of move or extend ... so lots of activity going on, so much to do!!

I have managed to escape to my loft a couple of times, however I have been working on projects I cant share just yet .... but they will be coming soon!!

This card was a commissioned card. My sister wanted me to make it for her Flat mate who is now moving. They have had a ball during there time together, visiting places like, Egypt, India, China ... and much more. So my brief was A map, to use Saturated Canary images ( my sister loves them!!) she always buys cards off me where they have been featured. She wanted them to be coloured to represent her and her flat mate ... and they also have a pet tortoise!!.....eek, wasnt sure quite how to fit all that in!!!

I was asked to do it, just as I was leaving form my Hols, so this is another Serif Card, I put it altogether, printed out and coloured while I was away, so it is another completely flat creation ... quite handy as I had to post it down to my sister!!

This is my entry for:

Kaboodle - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes

As Always
Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sugar Bowl Sweetie

Hi All,

I am beside myself with excitement to let you all know that I have the huge honor of being asked to join the Sugar Bowl Sweetie design team.

The Lovely Gayle announced it on the Sugar Nellie Blog on Tuesday .... and I have been going round with a constant smile since! I have been on holiday this week, so that has been the cherry on top of a most lovely week!! It is also the reason that I have had a slight delay in shouting this news from the rooftops!!

Hugs to All
Juls

Loving my box of bits!!!

Hello All,

Last night I got to take advantage of those 1500 die cuts ... the 4 days work it took finally seemed worth it! In blogland I love looking at all these cards that are piled up with embellishments and dies, however I normally manage to cut a couple of flowers, but I cant be bothered to cut more, however having a box of 1500 bits to rummage through, meant I could go mad ..... but I think you may be seeing hearts circles and flowers on everything now!!

I have used a SN Leanne Ellis image, the background was coloured with pan pastels, and the circles highlighted with prisma pencils. The girl was coloured with my copics .... and everything has been covered with glitter, using stickles!!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

The Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes
Crafty Calander - blooms and blossoms
Cute and Girly - Flowers
Kaboodle - For the Ladies
Simon Says - Happy mail
ABC - Make it sparkle
Charisma Cards - Shaped Cards
As you Like it - Favorite die or punch
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - shaped cards
Fussy and Fancy - Anything Goes
Stamping for the weekend - Dies and Punches
Allsorts - add some sparkle
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Dream Valley - No squares allowed
Pixies Snippit Playground

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Quickly Sketched Face

Hello All,

Well, I cant quite believe I am posting this .... I feel really exposed & a little embarrassed at the results, l really do need a lot of work and practice when it comes to sketching faces, portraits were always my nemesis when I took art at school. I have been avoiding the page that has you drawing faces in my doodle art book, so it was time to give it a try.

I quickly sketched this in about 10 min, when I was just going to bed last night. The eyes do look a little freaky, try as I might I cant get 2 to look the same ... hence why I tried to sketch it on graph paper to see if that helped.

My original plan, was I would use the sketch as a base and paint over it, however I decided to tape it into my journal with Washi tape as it is and hopefully in a few years I will be able to look back at it and see how far I have come.

Thanks for looking
Hugs to All
Juls

The War on Scraps!!

Hi All

Warning ... This is a picture heavy post! As most of you know January of this year, I began " Mission Impossible" .... to use up all my scraps, I have been faithfully crafting from my bag of scraps ( a large bag for life, from Tesco ) ... If I have afforded myself the luxury of cutting into a nice fresh piece of paper, then I have made sure that I have used up every last little bit, so I did not add to the scrap pile. However after months and months, I realized that I could craft for a hundred years and the scraps would never be gone!! I would never be able to move onto the Mahoosive pile of DP's that also need tackled, so I have to admit that I have resorted to some underhand dealings!!

I have asked some of my friends if their children would would appreciate and use a collection of patterned paper, so I have gone through my scraps, found usable pieces and squared them off, I found a few unloved peel offs and stickers, and stamped some images, and created these gift bags:

Even though if I had crafted for a month of Sundays I would never have been able to use all of those papers up ... I was still left with this:

I decided to do some die cutting, and thought I would create a little box of die cut shapes so they are to hand to use as embellishments at any time, In my head this would maybe take an hour or so to do, my scraps would disappear, and then I would do some crafting ....

5 days later, I had to stop at 1500 die cuts as my little box was full:

 Look what I did to my poor big shot:

P.S I didn't count all the punched flowers, decided life was to short for that!!

As the die cutting did not successfully conquer the scraps, I had to think again!! I have done art journal pages in the past, I decided to make an entire art Journal, using some old business cards and covering them with DP :

I think I will get some large jump rings for it, but for the moment I have tied it together with some fibers, from my stash:

Here are a couple of my Fav pages from the Journal, I wont show them all ... think there have already been far too many pictures in this post .... these are the raw product, they are yet to be covered with Gesso, paint and all things inky:

Lessons Learned:

I have descovered that even papers I dont like, when cut into lovey shapes, actually look really cute ... so I need to learn to see things differently. Also with the pages, I was putting papers on that I really had didnt like, the picture behind, I thought that orange paper was cheap looking and hideous, however by just keeping going and adding other things its turned into one of my fav pages ... so it will be good to challange myself to make things with some of my unloved stash and see what I can do with it !!

I have put in so much work, I know that I HAVE to have created a dent in my scraps, however it is not yet visable to the naked eye!! My loft floor is still full of scraps so I will see what I can come up with next time I venture up there.

This is my entry to Pixies Snippit Playground

Thanks for putting up with me and my waffle!!
Hugs Juls

Digital Vintage Violet

Hi All,

I was hoping to have a lovely selection of cards to share with you today, as I had planned some crafting time yesterday ... however none got done, I started attacking my scraps instead ... I will post some photos at a later date! However my loft is still covered in paper, and by poor big shot is having a well deserved rest, as I was die cutting for Britain yesterday!!

Anyhoo ... onto this card, This is another Serif Creation!! So it is all Flat, apart from the little flowers which have been decoupaged, and I coloured the image (one of my Fav's) with my copics.

This is my entry for:

Saturated Canary - Bright and Beautiful
Pennys Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes

As Always Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Spring Time in Paris

Hello All,

Well we have had a busy week, been building a shed, all ready to move the contents of our garage into it so we can knock down the garage if and when our planning comes through for our extension. Not had much time for crafting this week, so this card is from my last escape into the loft.

Still on My Scrap mission, so this is yet another card that has come from my scrap bag .... I even found a scrap that I had sprayed with Mica powder, and stitched, which blended in beautifully with the card I was making. most handy!!!!

This card has a bit of everything on it ... the background card has been stamped with a papermania stamp, and I added a little colour using my whisper pens. I totally fell in love with the new "Paris in Spring" stamp from "Stampendous" .... so it fell into my basket whilst watching C&C the other week, I have stamped it out on the blue paper, and paper pieced the flowers. I have collaged various papers from my mahoosive scrap collection. The image is a topper from the "dovecraft - lets party"range .... finally I added some frantage .. ( My latest obsession!!) and a few embellies, and this is the finished result.

This is my entry for:

Kaboodle - Spring
My Time to Craft - Stitching
Pennys Papercraft - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss - Embossing ( I have gone for the heat embossing option, with my beloved frantage!!)
Pixies Snippit Challenge

As Always thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Garden Treaure

Hello All,

I got to play in the loft again!! Whoop Whoop!!

Once again I am attacking the scrap pile ... I honestly think I will be doing that for the rest of my life. I have been so good and have been diligently working away at them for months, and as yet there is no visible dent!

I coloured up this fabulous Saturated Canary image, and I have used copics and prisma's .... I also played with my new favorite toy, a couple of franntage sets that fell in my basket the other day! Everything has been distressed with "Aged Mahogany - distress ink"  I have added a few bits of washi tape too, and then rubbed some gesso on various places.

This is my entry for:

Saturated Canary - Anything Goes
My Time to Craft - Stitching
Pennys Paper Craft - Use a sentiment
Stamping for the Weekend - Friendship
One Stop Craft - Not square
Allsorts - passion for flowers
Sister Act - Anything Goes


Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Rain on your Parade

Hello All,

Sorry, I have been missing for a while again, just as I was becoming regular and reliable!! Pressures from work, baby with bugs ... it has left little time for crafting and blogging!!

 I saw this sentiment on pinterest "If someone tries to rain on your parade, poke them with your umbrella" and thought it was hilarious!! As soon as I saw it I immediately thought of this Saturated Canary image. As I have not had much chance to play, all crafting that I have managed to fit in has been using Serif ... so again this has all been done on the computer, I also have a matching insert, I have printed it off coloured the image with my copics, and printed a couple of the elements a few times to create decoupage elements

 Have to say I am really enjoying this hybrid crafting!

Thanks for Looking
Hugs to all

Silhoutted Sugar

Hello All,

Well just as I got so that I was back to being a regular blogger, I've disappeared again!! We were away for our anniversary, then I have been doing a work training .... so there has been no blogging or crafting, just falling into bed exhausted!!

As it has been my anniversary I have received one or two crafting anniversary presents .... including a little trip to the house of sugar :-) I bought some lovely "My Minds Eye" papers that I have used here  ( I cant remember the name of the pad, and its up in the loft .... next time I go up, I will check and then update my post!)

I have used a Leanne Ellis stamp ( I would sooooo love it if we could get more of her images!!) but to be a little different, I coloured it in black, to create a silhouette.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sugar bowl - Anything Goes
Bunny Zoe Crafts - Girly
Shabby Tea Room - Anything Goes
Stamp with Fun - Anything Goes
ABC - Just as you Like
Charisma Cards - Die Cuts
Totally Gorjuss - Something Old (using an old stamp)

Now as I afforded myself the luxury of using new paper and not my scraps .... I had to follow my new rules, where I use it all up, so that I at least do not add to the enormous pile of scraps that I have ... I cut into 3 6x6 papers to make this card .... and have also decorated the inside of the card, I was then left with this:

And with the leftover snippits .. I made this:

Again with decorating the inside of the card too ... I do not have one little snippit left!! This card I would like to enter into

Pixies snippit playground.

Thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Scrap Flowers

Hello All,

Lots of different styles coming from me at the moment .... It is as a result of trying to use up all my scrap paper, I have to keep challenging myself, otherwise I would be getting really bored, and loosing the will to live constantly rummaging through my bag of scraps!! ..... Well when I saw the challenge over at Charisma Cards to use at least 5 different patterned papers ... well there was an invite to use my scraps!! .... I saw this idea on pinterest, so I thought I would give it a go .... I dug out these Dawn Bibby stamps that are ages old .... in fact I think they may have been part of the beginning of this whole crafty milarky ..... I quite like the way they turned out, so I made 3 cards in this style ... as my card box is needing replenished!

This is my entry for:

Bunny Zoe - Flowers and Pearls
Papertake weekly - Anything Goes
Oldie but Goodie - Feeling Floral (old scrap papers & very old stamp)
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Cute card Thursday - Something Old (old scrap papers & very old stamp)
Charisma Cards - At least 5 different papers
pixies snippit playground

As always thanks for looking
Hugs Juls

Sister Act Design Team Call

Hi All,

Well today I am doing something I have never done before, I am applying to be on a DT team .... It is a while since I have done any DT work .... Kezia coming up to a year old now and I am getting to craft regularly again. I love the sound of this challange blog as it will be anything goes all the time ... so much freedom and scope for creativity there!! Also it means with it being " Anything Goes " All the time I should have no problem in creating a project a week!

The application for the DT team requires that you show your top 3 cards ..... wow what a job that has been!! I spent all of last night looking over my blog to find what I would enter, it has been so difficult, however I have finally gone for these three:

I wish I could give some sort of explanation to my choice but to be honest I don't .... guess I just liked them.

I have to say looking over my blog was a very interesting exercise. In all honesty there is so much stuff that I looked at that I cringed to think I was willing to put it into the public domain!! It was interesting to see how I have improved, and the influence of fashion trends, products, and of course blogland! ....... I wonder what new changes will occur in the next few years!! ..... despite my vast amount of very cringe worthy posts, I still found it hard to choose just 3 cards for this post, so I guess I must be doing something right along the way!!

As always thanks for looking .... and dont forget to check out the Sister Act Blog
Hugs to All
Juls