All posts by Jackie

Anniversary cards

05/04/2011anniversary card, cardJackie

As you can see by the poor photography I was in rather a rush to take the photos and get these to get these in the post in time.
I was asked to make the 2 silver wedding anniversary cards for a pal (proceeds go to Spinal Injuries Scotland) and the Oriental one is for my wee brother Chris and his wife Grace. I haven’t made an Oriental style card for ages and I had forgotten what fabby Chiyogami papers I still have in my stash.

Silver hearts
Inks: Versamark with silver embossing powder
Card: white, silver miri, silver swirly vellum
Stamps: Hearts (possibly Elusive images), greeting Stamping up Cheers and wishes
Other: gems, white ribbon with silver edging, white flower, gem brad, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Silver anniversary
Inks: versamark with silver embossing powder
Card: white, silver miri, silver angel hair, Silver anniversary vellum,
Stamps: glasses chinking free with Craft stamper mag.
Other: silver heart charm, silver ribbon, silver nail heads, glitter pen to colour

Entwined hummingbirds
Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Distress ink Barn door, Adirondack Sunshine yellow
Card: silk matt coated white, white, black, embossed gold, Chiyogami patterned paper
Stamps: Clarity stamps Entiwined hummingbirds, Hero arts tiny Chinese wishes (love)

Mother’s day easel card

03/04/2011card, easel card, mothers day cardJackie

I love the colours of the Magenta paper I used on my mum’s card for mothering Sunday. It is pretty and bright without being sickly sweet. In fact I liked it so much that I made H’s mum the same card.

Inks: Distress inks Peeled paint used for some of the edges
Card: White card, Magenta Printemps passion collection Peacock blue (double sided), white flock vellum
Other: Delish mini pearl brads, Stampin up Hardware, Prima flower Calcutta dogwood Bright white, Punched frond leaves, punched butterflies, pearls,

Born to ride birthday card

28/03/2011biker card, born to ride, cardJackie

I really like this image from Karen’s Doodles and it is just right for birthday cards for a few of my male buddies. I also used it for a father’s day card and you can really change the look just by colouring it differently and using different back ground papers.

Inks: Distress ink Black soot
Card: white, textured silvery/grey
Digital stamp: Born to ride Karen’s Doodles
Other: Square silvery/grey brads, copics and Prisma pencils to colour, Diamond glaze

Get well card

25/03/2011card, get well soon cardJackie

Poor Ceara having to get her tonsils out! Hope all goes well and you are back to 100% soon.

Inks: Stampin up Old olive, Tombo pens 856 and 098
Card: white card, Stampin up patterned paper
Stamps: Stampin up Hopeful thoughts
Other: mini red rik rak ribbon

The never ending card

23/03/2011birthday card, card, Connell, never ending cardJackie

So what is a never ending card I hear you ask – well it is a card that once you open it you can keep on opening it because of the way it folds. They are very easy to make and you can find quite a few video tutorials on how to do this on you tube.

Now I know you are not supposed to mix up centimetres and inches when measuring but for this card I found it easier to measure the back ground card in inches and the panels in centimetres.
The whole card is 6″ x 6″
I cut 4 strips of the double sided back ground paper 3″ x 6″
Scored at 1 1/2″ from each narrow end
My square panels to stick on are 7cm x 7cm.
(If you search for never ending card on you tube you will see just how to stick the card together).

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Distress ink Peeled paint
Card: White card, BoBunny Beautiful life dots double sided card
Stamps: JudiKins small tennis ball (tiny cube of balls), Happy birthday from a Cute companions set
Other: black magic mesh, white gross grain ribbon, tennis racket embellishments, yellow and lime crayons, clip art tennis player, white pen, rub-on letters

Art journal week 10 – week

14/03/2011art journal, ukstampers weekly challenge No. 10Jackie

Week 10’s prompt for the ukstampers weekly challenge is: week
for week 10 you had to include:

list 7 things you did last week
provide evidence for at least two of them
use an old calendar as your background

For most of week I was mending the dogs toys (sewing them up after he had ripped the stuffing out of them), darning my favourite jumper (that is the wool stitched over the tear in the page), spring cleaning, numerous phone calls and arguments with a company who delivered the wrong item. I dined out with previous work colleges, had dinner with our wonderful friends and neighbours (John & Lizzie) then on Saturday night went to see Yes Prime Minister! The journalling did contain all 7 things but I cut it down to 6 just so it would fit better and still be legible. The calender part is a perpetual calendar I made using a template (Inka stamps 2007) it can be as old or new as you want.

Inks: Distress inks: Brushed corduroy, Forest moss, Spiced marmalade and Old paper, Memento Tuxedo black
Card: white card, white paper
Stamps: date stamp, Crafty individuals CI-255
Other: theatre ticket, darning wool, Tim Holtz spinner, brad and pin, gold pen

Art journal week 9 Fashion

02/03/2011art journal, week 9Jackie

Week 9 for the ukstampers weekly challenge theme is Fashion. You have to include:

what was/is your fashion disaster and what was/is your favourite piece
use some fabric on your page
use a picture from a magazine

For someone who is most comfortable in a jumper and trousers and not at all fashionable this was a little tricky. I do love Helena Bonham Carter’s style which is quirky, a bit goth, a bit steampunk, a bit hippy but at all times very feminine. I am rather boring and practical in my dress sense and I go for comfort and warmth instead of fashion or style. My worst fashion disaster was when I was in my twenties and had no money and had an invite (via my mum) to the Queen’s garden party. I had nothing that would do so I went to the sales and picked up an outfit that I could afford. It was a kind of pale green and off-white skirt and blouse affair along with a white hat, sling-backs and a handbag. A granny would have looked very smart in it. The hat was weird – not quite a bowler and had a dent in it like a cowboy hat. My favourite piece in my good old Belstaff jacket that has seen better days. These jackets get better with wear and get nice and comfortable and mine has a certain smell that invokes lots of memories of my biker days. Sadly it now lives in the loft (I won’t throw it out). The lace I used for this is the same as that on my wedding dress but I painted it with black acrylic paint then highlighted areas with gold wax on some of the embroidered bits. I don’t buy fashion mags so the picture of Helena Bonham Carter is from the Radio Times.

Inks: Tuxedo memento black
Card: Handmade cotton rag paper
Stamps: Stampotique Gooseneck (Daniel Torrente)
Other: lace, black and vermilion acrylic paint, dark red emulsion, gold pen, black netting, lime stickles, gold wax, picture of Helena Bonham Carter

Art journal week 8 Books

27/02/2011art journal, books, ukstampers weekly challenge week 8Jackie

What a difficult challenge this one has been. The ukstampers week 8 challenge prompt was Books and you had to include:

list your top 5 books, what and why
use a quote from one of them on your page
use an old book page as your background

So here is my page: although I did not use a quote from one of my chosen books I added an old Chinese proverb instead.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, versamark with clear embossing powder, Distress inks Black soot, Fired brick, frayed burlap, old paper, Forest moss
Card: Old page from torn from My altered book project (a PD James one I think), white card, parchment type thick paper
Stamps: Non sequitur Grave tidings, Graphicus bookmarks
Other: Adirondack color wash Pesto, Chroma jewels Slate and Forest, Walnut ink, Metallic rub-on gold

As a child I enjoyed reading books, as a teenager my reading fell by the wayside as I had far more sporty and outdoor things to do. It wasn’t until I had an enforced and rather long stay in hospital that rekindled my affection for reading. Buying new books is such a pleasure but I don’t have room for any more so I have made a rule that if I buy a new book then I must give one of my old ones away. These 5 books have made it to the section of books never to be given away (amongst quite a few others).

Around 1986 I found The Way of Wyrd, Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer by Brian Bates. A Christian scribe is given a mission to learn about Pagan beliefs and to accomplish this he becomes a Shaman’s apprentice. This is a fascinating account of some of the beliefs around that time.

Aztec by Gary Jennings is an epic adventure story of an Aztec man. It took me ages to get through it and in places I found it rather difficult but it is a fascinating account of the way Aztecs lived. There is a bit of everything in it.

Then comes Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell. Kay Scarpetta uses forensic science to track down killers. I was studying Biological science at the time I found this book and very nearly chose forensic science as one of my subjects. This was the first of many crime thrillers I have now read.

Ship of magic: The Liveship traders by Robin Hobb. What can I say – each and every one of her books (written as Robin Hobb) is magical and transports me away to another world of magic, mystery, dragons, serpents, Rain Wild River…..

Mort By Terry Pratchett. Need I say more… the Discworld series is amazing and I read this one first where DEATH takes a vacation and he takes on Mort as his apprentice. This is so funny and makes you want to read all the rest of the Discworld books in any order.

I wanted to add Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course too as it is my most used, most dog-eared cook book. The trouble is I have many more ‘favourite’ books that I couldn’t give away too numerous to mention. I enjoy reading cookery books and gardening books just as much as I do novels.

Art journal week 7 Colour

24/02/2011art journal, ukstampers weekly challenge No. 7Jackie

And here is my week 7 art journal page for the ukstampers weekly challenge.
Week 7’s prompt was Colour:

what is your favourite colour and why
use this as your main background for your page
add a doodled border to your page

Ok if you haven’t already guessed my favourite colour has to be green. I have to have a plant in every room so that I have some greenery to look at. If I don’t have a plant then I have a picture of a plant (is that sad). My favourite room in the house is the conservatory which used to be pretty full but I am trying to cut down on the number of plants now and most of them are ferns. Although I love flowers I like foliage even more for the fantastic array of shades of green.

As I was making this I learned the hard way that if you use masking fluid on cotton rag handmade paper it just rips the surface off when you try to remove it (I should have known that really, just wasn’t thinking). Still I just carried on and the ripped surface just adds more texture.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Brilliance Pearlescent ivy, Adirondack Lettuce, Distress ink Peeled paint
Card: Cotton rag handmade paper
Stamps: R.S. Tapestry clear Fern
Other: Acrylc paint Sap green and Pistachio, spray inks Adirondack color wash Pesto and Ecoline Charteuse, Distress stickles Peeled paint, Thistle stencil (leaves), red pen, white pen, black pen, Tim Holtz mask Flourish, masking fluid

Printers drawer project (ongoing)

23/02/2011printer's drawer, shabby chicJackie

Remember this printers drawer from Last year? Well it now looks like the picture below.
In my first post about this project I said that I would keep the look of the wood, just clean it up a bit and not paint it. Ha ha as you see I have changed my mind slightly (master of understatement!). First of all I cleaned it, sanded it then painted it all over with a mix of Deep sung cream and Dark truffle. Not one single piece of wood is actually straight and each section is a different size. I did try to take out individual pieces of wood in order to increase some of the sections but this just broke the wood as they are all nailed in (at an angle). Once it was all painted I added Tim Holtz tissue tapes, bits of stamped tissue paper and old adverts over the sides and edges. I still didn’t quite like the result so changed my mind and went down the route of shabby chic. The sections are quite small so I will be using the drawer to display some of my miniature mice and other such little items.

I painted it all white then pale blue and did a bit of sanding again so that some of the wood, tissue tape and adverts would still show through in places. I have added some patterned paper to some sections and left some blank.

Here is a wee close up of one section which I will display a tiny pewter bird in nest pill box.

It is all taking rather a long time to do as I have found it rather difficult to position the tray in such a way to paint it without getting sore shoulders in the process.
Once it is all finished and on the wall I will take a few more photos.

Cardesque

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