J&C Creations International Friendship February Challenge

Items from J&C Creations:

6x6 blank white card

Bildmalarna rubber stamp – Little Mimosa-witch

Spellbinders Labels Eight (S5-019)

FabScraps 12x12 paper Organic Herbs (C47-007)

Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads in Weathered Wood and Milled Lavender

Penny Black wooden stamp – Friendship (4176H)

Spellbinders Standard Circles Large (S4-114)

Martha Steward Frond Punch

Adhesive pearls

Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

Stickles - Waterfall

Method:

Cut a piece of paper to fit the base card and distress the edges.  Colour the edges with Weathered Wood. 

Stamp image onto card and colour.  Cut out the image using Labels Eight.  With the same die and the plain side of the paper, draw around the die and cut out using scissors.  Mat the image and attach to the base card. 

Attach a piece of vintage lace to the base of the card.  Cover the ends of the lace with a half circle of card covered with some of the FabScraps paper.  Add pearls to the lace if desired.

Stamp the sentiment onto card and cut out using the Standard Circles ensuring the loop for the “h” in friendship is outside the die when you cut the image.  (Bev Rochester has made a very good tutorial of how to do the “out of box” technique – see http://www.bevscrafts.blogspot.co.uk/p/video-tutorials.html).

Lightly colour the sentiment with the distress inks and mount top left of the base card.

Fit the matted image to the sentiment and attach to the base card.

Add cherry blossom flowers and several punched fronds and add a little stickles to both.

J&C Creations Celebrate Carnival Day 26th February

Items from J&C Creations:

6x6 white blank card

Coconut card

Adirondack Blending Solution

Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Pool, Sunset Orange, Watermelon and Citrus

Adhesive gems and pearls

Tim Holtz idea-ology salvage stickers – destinations

Distress Ink pad in Vintage Photos

Sticky pads

Also needed:

small postcard clear stamp (LOTV)

An old USA stamp

Prima Moulin Rouge 6x6 paper pad

Method:

Mat the carnival paper from the pad onto the 6x6 blank card.

Print a mask onto coconut card and cut out.

Cover the mask with blending solution and drop each of the alcohol inks until you are happy with the pattern.  Leave to dry.

Stamp the postcard onto coconut card with Vintage Photos and cut out, attach the old USA stamp and the Louisiana sticker from the destinations booklet.

Attach sticky fixers to each end and the middle of the back at the edge of the mask under the eyeholes.  Position as in the photo which will make the mask bend upwards slightly in the middle and then stick down at the base of the mask so it is 3-dimensional.

Add pearls to the swirls on the edges of the paper.

J&C Creations Celebrate National Embroidery Month

February is National Embroidery Month in the USA.  Apparently this came about from the editor of Stitches Magazine in the 1990s thinking about made up "marketing holidays" such as National Hot Dog Day, with her team who decided they needed a day like that for embroidery.  They wrote to the publisher of a book of marketing holidays which was primarily sold to public relations firms and advertising agencies.  They announced that Stitches Magazine was sponsoring National Embroidery Month and started promoting it.

This is my take on a cross stitch project as I don't have any actual stitching work, I used black, red and silver markers to make up a pattern (I used to do a lot of cross stitch work and found a template I could use).

Items from J&C Creations:

6x6 white blank card

Coconut card

Green & Yellow card

Best Creation paper 12 x 12 GP336

Marianne Creatables Tiny Flowers 1 (LR0248)

Stickles – Yellow

Green ribbon

You will also need:

Black, Red and Silver thin-tipped markers

3 glittery yellow buttons

Method:

Cut the green card and paper to fit the 6x6 card and mat.

Print small squares onto the coconut card to use as the base for the faux cross stitch pattern of choice.

Using red, black and silver pens make crosses in the squares as per chosen pattern.

Mat the image onto green card and then onto the base card.

Attach ribbon to the bottom of the card and add buttons of choice.

Die cut 2 of LR0248, one in green and the other in yellow and replace the green flower head with a yellow one.  Attach it to the card and cover in Stickles.

Flower Arranging

Hello, today I have a card made with another of LOTVs new stamps - Flower Arranging.

The background papers are Sweet Owl by First Edition, this one has little glittery owls printed all over it.  

I have cut the image out with Spellbinders Majestic Elements - Marvellous Squares and faux stitched around the edges.

The flowers are one of the new Sizzix dies as well as the sentiment tag.  The leaves are a Memory Box die.

Springtime Bear

Hello, today I have a card I made for my Sister's birthday.  I have used another new LOTV stamp called Springtime Bear and coloured the image with Flexis and chalk.

The backing paper is from Bo Bunny's Isabella collection and the cherry blossom is punched using Nellie's Floral punch.  The branch is a Spellbinders die.

Thinking of You

Unfortunately I have had another of 'those' cards to make.  I didn't want it to be all black and I think this is subdued enough to be acceptable.

The paper is from Prima's Nature Garden 6x6 pad, the flowers are die cut from a K&Co paper using one of the new Sizzix Thinlits die sets called Intricate Flowers designed by Paula Pascual.

The sentiment is by Craftwork Cards.

Gloucester Piggy

Hello, today I have a card made with a wooden embellishment I picked up when visiting The Range.  I added black spots to turn it into a Gloucester Old Spot piggy.

The paper is from another of LOTVs new pads called Country Gent and I have used Memory Box dies for the tree and grass.

Valentines

Hello, these are the two Valentines cards I made this year.

The first one is using black card (although it looks dark grey in this picture!) which has been embossed with Dies'ire Embossalicious SWCOR embossing folder from Crafters Companion.

My second card uses various dies - Memory Box Cherish border, La Rue and Butterfly.  The flower is Heartfelt Creations Delicate Asters, the sentiment Crealies CTTT04 and the heart is a Creative Expressions Dazzler.  I tried to make the inside of the heart look like rumpled silk but not sure if that succeeded looking at it now.

Mardi Gras Day - 12th February

Mardis Gras season refers to events of the carnival celebrations beginning on or after Epiphany and ending on Shrove Tuesday.  Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday” referring to the practice of the last night of eating before fasting for Lent.

Mardi Gras is celebrated in many countries but New Orleans is probably the most famous with music, parades, picnics and floats.  The actual Mardi Gras Day is Shrove Tuesday when everyone wears purple, green and gold and adorned with long beads which they beg from the floats. 

Masquerade balls are also held during January and February and this is my take on a ticket.

Items from J&C Creations:

Ranger tag

Adirondack Alcohol inks in Butterscotch, Purple Twilight and Clover

Adirondack Blending Solution

Purple, Emerald Green and Golden Yellow ribbons

Ranger Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium – in Matte

You will also need:

3 feathers and ribbons in purple, emerald green and golden yellow.

Lettering

Method:

Cover the tag with blending solution and drop each of the inks in a random fashion, moving them about until you are happy with the pattern.  Leave to dry.

Cut out or stamp small letters for Mardi Gras Ball Admit One and arrange on the tag.

Coat with the Matte medium.

Attach a green, purple and yellow feather to one end and tie a bow with the ribbons in the top right corner.

To make this mask I used:

Purple, Emerald Green and Golden Yellow feathers (from eBay)

Purple gems (J&C Creations)

Papier mache mask (The Range)

Ranger Claudine Hellmuth Studio White Gesso

Pebeo Deco Matte paint in Mango

Paint the mask with 2 coats of white gesso and then 2 coats of the Pebeo paint.

When dry, arrange the feathers in colour stripes and stick the gems around the eye sockets.

Floral Burst

Hello, today I have a card made with another of Spellbinders Shapeabilities  Cut, Fold and Tuck dies.  This one is called Floral Burst.

I have used the new papers from Papermania called Spots & Stripes - Pastels and teamed it with Core'dinations pastels card.

The flower is one of the new Memory Box dies called Fabulous Phlox.

Little Nurse

Hello, today I have a card I made for my dear friend's hubby.  I have used another LOTV stamp which is my favourite "poorly" stamp because I love the teddie.  I have used Flexis to colour the image.

The papers are another of the new LOTV pads - Bear Necessities which looks a bit like the pattern on the material PJs used to be made from.

The scroll at the base is made using an EK Success punch called Scroll Chain.

The Lost Balloon

Hello, today I have a card made with one of LOTVs new stamps called The Lost Balloon.  I have coloured it with Flexis and paper-pieced the balloons.

All the paper is from one of LOTVs and NitWits new paper pads called Candles and Cake - I love all the bright colours in this pad.

I have used an EK Success punch for the strip and a Die-Namics die for the paper ribbon.

Wee Bunny

Hello, today I have an old and new card.  The old stamp is Wee Bunny one of the Wee stamps from Whimsy Stamps and the new is paper from Papermania's new pad Spots & Stripes Pastels.  

The yellow is much brighter IRL than in the photo and I have used the large die from Die-Namics Beautiful Bows to make a paper bow.

The flower border is a Martha Steward punch around the page edger punch but I am not sure of the name.

Blue Clematis Tower

Hello, having rediscovered this lovely stamp whilst sorting out one of my stamp boxes, I decided to colour it in blue (the other one was mauve).  I used Flexmarkers.

The backing paper is Prima Meadow Lark and I have used a Tonic punch - Daisy Border and added blue gems.

I used another Tonic punch for the butterflies.

Bella Bouquet

Hello, on this very wet, dismal day I have a card I made using one of the new Memory Box dies - Bella Bouquet.  I cut two - one in green card and the other from my lovely, bright Japanese origami papers to create the flowers.

I have used Prima Rondelle for the backing paper.