Thursday, 29 November 2012

The Frosty Festivities PDF, and the Challenge Winners!

Hello! This took me a little longer to put together than I expected, but The Frosty Festivities PDF is now available!


Just click HERE! 

You should then be able to view, download, or print the PDF, it's 40 pages packed with festive prettiness! PLEASE NOTE when you first click through it might take a little time to open on your screen, because the file is large. So if the SkyDrive screen looks blank to start with just leave it open for a minute and the PDF should appear!

 You can keep lots of the projects from the Frosty Festivities weekend, both mine and some of the Blog Hop posts, readily accessible for when you next need some inspiration!

Just please only keep this for personal use - and if anyone else wants a copy ask them to come to this blog post to download it themselves!

This is the first time I've made something like this, so I'd be grateful for any feedback, especially whether you think this is useful (I don't want to spend hours on a PDF again if it's no use to anyone!). Let me know in the comments below or by email at jennifergrace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk. Thanks!

And now, to announce the winners of the Frosty Festivities Challenges!





Congratulations winners! 

 (details of entrants to each challenge, and the random number generator to select the winners, are available as a word doc if requested)

Please contact me by email (address above), with 'challenge winner' in the subject line. Tell me your mailing address so I get get your prize on it's way to you!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, I loved looking at all your projects! I hope you'll be back for the next event in May or June 2013.

Finally, I have a shameless request for votes! I've entered my 'Advent Wishes Jar' into a Christmas Craft Competition. If you are on Pinterest, and you thought the project was good, could you please click HERE and 'like' the project on the competition board? Who ever gets the most 'likes' wins an Amazon gift card so I'd love to win! And there's still a bit of time to enter something of your own if you want to!


Well, that concludes the Frosty Festivities posts (for this year at least!). Jennifer's Jumbles can now resume regular programming. I hope you are all feeling nice and festive now! x

Thursday, 22 November 2012

More Winners - and thanks to all who entered!

It's time to announce some more Frosty Festivities winners! 

But first I want to say thank you to everyone who entered - I'm sorry you can't all win. I wish I could come up with a prize for each of you, as I'm so grateful to you for visiting my event and leaving such fabulous comments!

Supplies mainly Pink Paislee City Sidewalks

Don't get too disappointed if you're not a winner - remember the Challenges are still open until Sunday (you can see links to them all on the Finale Post here). You can also look forward to the next event, I'm planning it for sometime in May/June 2013! 

If you'd like to be added to my email list, to be contacted about future giveaways, events, or classes at Jennifer's Jumbles, then leave me your email as a comment, or send it to me at jennifergrace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk. Your email address will not be passed on to anyone else, and it will only be used for above information - I won't start filling up your inbox with random updates! (If you've already left your email address on the survey then I've got it - thanks!).

I'll stop babbling now, as I know what you really want to know is - who won? Here's the answers:


Congratulations!

Winners need to email me with their mailing addres - please put 'giveaway winner' in the subject line. I shall get your prize sent to you as soon as possible!

Thanks again to everyone who joined in - and remember to enter the challenges!

x

 (details of entrants to each giveaway, and the random number generator to select the winner, are available as word docs if requested)

Thank You to Sponsors - And Winners of Sponsored Giveaways!

This post announces the winners of the Sponsored Giveaways from my Frosty Festivities weekend. But before I tell you the winners, I want to say a big, huge, THANK YOU to the sponsors!

Supplies mainly Crate Paper Acorn Avenue




The weekend wouldn't have been the same without the generous prizes from SJ Crafts, talktothesun, and Scrap and Create!


I'm incredibly grateful to these wonderful shops for offering prizes! 

Whether you are a winner or not it would be lovely if you can show support to these shops by visiting them next time you want to top up your crafting supplies. Remember that Jayne is offering 3 bonus flair buttons to anyone that orders from Scrap and Create between now and 15th of December, quoting 'Jennifer's Jumbles', and don't forget to keep an eye on SJ Crafts and talktothesun's Facebook pages for updates or special offers!

Without further delay, here are the winners of the Sponsored Giveaways:


Congratulations Winners!

Please contact me at jennifergrace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk (you could also click the envelope icon in my right sidebar to send me an email) - put 'giveaway winner' in the subject line. From Nikki D I need your mailing address, from Marilize and Louise I need to know if you have an Etsy username. These details will then be passed on to the shop owners, so they can sort out delivery of your prize to you!

I shall be back in about an hour to announce the winners of the Grand Giveaway, the Blog Hop Prize, and the kit of Old Christmas/Winter Stash! 

In the meantime don't forget that the challenges are still open (the Finale post has a link to them all), and, if you haven't had a chance to fill out my survey yet, I'd be so grateful if you can do that here. (Thanks to everyone who's already filled the survey out!)

x

(details of entrants to each giveaway, and the random number generator to select the winner, are available as word docs if requested)

Sunday, 18 November 2012

The Frosty Finale!

Oh, it's come to the end of a wonderful festive weekend! I'm exhausted but I've had so much fun! 

I have one last item to show you, and a request for you to fill out a survey about the event, but first I want to remind you of all the giveaways and challenges in case you missed any of them:


The Challenges - These are STILL OPEN until next Sunday (25th November) at 10.59pm GMT:


The Giveaways Are Now CLOSED! Winners will be announced Thursday 22nd. Thanks to all who entered!
There were plenty more posts, full of tips and tutorials, but I can't link back to all of them! My favourites will appear on my 'Tutorials' page at some point! There will also be a PDF available to download, featuring lots of the tutorials and projects by myself and others, but this will not be ready until all the giveaways have closed, so keep checking back! 

Before I show you one final item, I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who's visited this weekend, and commented, and some of you have started entering the challenges too. I feel so blessed to have you lovely people reading my blog, I love sharing my crafts with you, and hearing all your comments - it's great to get to know you too.

Obviously I put a lot of work (and money) into the event. I absolutely love doing it so it's really, really worth it. But I'd be so grateful if, in return, you could just fill out this quick survey about the event and the Jennifer's Jumbles blog. It's only 8 questions, so it shouldn't take too long, and you'd be really helping me to plan for future events!

Here's my final project, an idea for gift wrapping using doilies. They'd look great under the Christmas tree:


The gift wrapping is quite easy to make: 

One has paper doilies glued onto brown wrapping paper using spray adhesive, I've tied this package up with lace trim from a haberdashery:



Another has four paper doilies glued together at the edges, and then wrapped around a tissue paper wrapped present. I've tied that gift with a tape measure:


The last is a cone for sweets or chocolates, made by cutting into the middle of a paper doily, then curling it in on itself until it forms a cone, and glueing in place. I attached a red polka dot ribbon to hold it with, or to hang it from a Christmas Tree.


I like the cone the best, but that might be because I'm craving some chocolate right now!

One last Be Inspired: Use a doily on your next project!

Thanks so much again. Don't forget to fill out the survey if you can. I shall look forward to seeing you at the next event, sometime in 2013!

Frosty wishes to you. x

Winter Woollies Recycling

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

I saw this pin on Pinterest, and I had to try out the ideas to recycle some winter woollies! I popped to the local charity shop, and picked up this jumper-dress:


And so far I've turned some of it into a bracelet (by following this tutorial):


And this pair of mittens (by following this tutorial):


I love them both! And I've got lots of material left - I'm planning on a scarf and a cushion cover. All from a jumper for £2! I shall be looking out for more!

Be Inspired:
  • Use a pin on Pinterest to inspire you 
  • Alter something old that needs a re-vamp
  • Add some wool to a project
Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED}- but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Have you ever recycled old clothing into something new? See you soon for the Final Frosty Festivities post! x


A Challenge - To add Glitter or Shimmer!


(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)


It's in the sparkle of frost, the twinkle of fairy lights, and the glitter on baubles. So now I challenge you to add some shimmer to a project - go crazy with it!

I think by now everyone knows that my favourite way to add sparkle is with gems and pearls, and this layout is no exception:


The journaling reads:

'We went for a family walk at Upton Country Park, and it was so super frosty! The leaves crunched underfoot, and the pond was iced over really thickly. We dried dropping stones on the icy pond to break it, but they just skidded across it to the far shore. It all felt like a magical other world.'

I used a mix of Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride and Acorn Avenue collections, I love the stripy Thickers:


The gems are a mix of Papermania, Hero Arts, and Kaiser Scrapbook. They shimmer nicely, and with the pale leaves from Acorn Avenue, they set the scene very well:


Be Inspired:
  • Add lots of shimmer, glitter, or sparkle 
  • Mix two collections from the same manufacturer
  • Place all your details in a central square panel
So now it's your turn!

To enter this challenge: make a craft project and add lots of Glitter or Shimmer (your favourite kind), blog about your project (or upload it to an online gallery), and link back to this post. Then come back here to link your project up! You can combine this with other challenges.

The challenge will close next Sunday, 25th November at 10.59pm GMT. All the challenges are open Internationally.

The winner will receive a mystery pack of papercraft supplies! I'm not sure what will be in it yet, but it will definitely include some shimmmer - there will be a whole pack of these in there:


And lots of other stuff too!

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} but challenge still open!- but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

The event is nearly over - two posts to go! The penultimate one will appear soon! x

'Snow is Too Cold' Layout

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

I don't often do Double-Page layouts, but every now and then there's a few photos that I want to use in a large size without hiding them, and I have a longer story to tell. That happened here:


This was my daughter's first experience of real snow, and she wasn't too sure about it, which shows in her expression:


The journaling reads:

"We don't get snow this deep at home, so this visit to granny's was your first walk through proper snow. We wrapped you up warm (you wore Auntie Katy's hat) but you still weren't sure - you kept saying 'it's too cold'! You didn't like touching it to build a snowman, and we had to carry you over a lot of drifts as you didn't like the crunch underfoot!

You like snow a lot more now, but I will never forget your confused little face from that chilly January day!"

We kept trying to coax Little Miss to play more in the snow, but she wasn't budging:


I brought the pages together by using 2" punched circles down an edge on each, and slanting some washi tape across them both to draw your eye across the page:


Be Inspired:
  • Slant some washi tape or patterned paper across the top or bottom of a page or card
  • Use a line of punched circles or other shapes
  • Make a project in a larger size than you usually would


Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Do you make many double page layouts? I'll see you again, right here, in an hour! x

Wonderful Winter Hats

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

One of the things I love about winter is that I can grab the duffel bag full of woolly hats, scarves, and gloves down from the top of the wardrobe, and start wearing them again! I'll admit I'm less excited about the gloves since we had children and I have to spend ages putting them on the kids, only for them to lose one 3 minutes later!

I still LOVE hats though! There's something so comforting about wearing a woolly hat. Here's two of my favourites:

Grey Hat With Snowflakes:


I bought this for myself years ago, when I used to work at Claire's Accessories. I love it because it covers my ears so well, and I can even tie it under my chin to really keep the cold air out when it's windy - perfect for wintry seaside walks!

Christmas Pudding Hat:


My Mum bought this for me for Christmas two years ago, and it's so fun to wear! It makes me feel very festive, and I love to wear it in the run up to Christmas, and definitely if we go for a stroll on Christmas day!

I had lots of warm winter hats, but until recently I didn't have any pretty 'occasion' winter hats - the kind you could wear to meet up with friends and feel special. I know it won't keep my head warm at all, but I love this new winter fascinator that I made.

Winter Fascinator:


It's got perfect frosty hues, and even a little bit of twinkle! I made this at the 101+ Ways With Glitter Book Launch, with the help of Hatastic who ran the workshop!

Be Inspired:
  • Go take photos of your favourite winter wear, and blog about it or scrapbook it (or both!)
  • Make a winter item with felt and sparkles
  • Make a project that looks like a Christmas pudding!

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Do you wear woolly hats in the winter? I'll be back shortly! x

A Trio of Tags

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

I've made a set of tags, and though each one uses products from different manufacturers, they all go together nicely.

A Trio of Tags:


I pulled them all together by using similar colours, techniques, and elements. 

They all have the same background shape, cut with my Slice Design Cutter and the Basic Elements card (on 4" setting). The edges of all the tags are distressed. Then each one has a white panel that has gold mist droplets on it, and red inked edges. 

Finally I layered on some elements, making sure each tag had something that peeked over the edge, and they also all have some stars:


Crate Paper Sleigh Ride - The star on here was cut using the Slice Design Cutter, and attached with pop dots.


My Mind's Eye All is Bright - after sticking on the 'Noel' sticker I flipped the tag over, and applied talcum powder to the ends of the sticker that were still showing.


Pink Paislee City Sidewalks and Artisan - The reindeer is from the paper bunting set, but it looks just as good stuck straight down on it's own.

Be Inspired:
  • Choose a few of the same colours / techniques / elements, and use them to make a trio of tags or cards
  • Stick on some stars - they're always Christmassy
  • Do some distressing on your next project

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Do you make tags for gifts at Christmas, or do you just use shop bought ones? Bye for now! x


Where else I've been Wintering

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

I have been preparing lots for this weekend (as you've probably guessed), but I've had a few other winter projects to complete for elsewhere too, and this hour I thought I'd share them with you!

I'm sorry to those who are regular readers and might have seen some of these before, but I shall start with something you're unlikely to have seen (I haven't told you about it, but you may have heard of it elsewhere!)...

Snowed In Magazine:


Ashley Pahl's free online Snowed In Magazine is full of extremely lovely seasonal delights, including crafts and recipes. It also features a pendant by me! It's completely different to the other pendants I've shown this weekend, you'll have to go and check out the magazine if you want to see it!

Speaking of magazines, I was also in the Christmas special of the Popular Crafts magazine (sadly the last ever issue of Popular Crafts) with this mini-album:



It documents our Christmas decorations. Sorry you can't see this magazine online, it's only available in UK stores I believe, but I did blog about our Christmas decorations as my 10 things on the 10th post last December - you can see it here. 

Finally, in case you missed them, I featured in two wintry posts on the SJ Crafts Blog this week. One was all about me, and how I'm Inspired by Winter, which is here, and the other was the latest SJ Crafts challenge, on the theme of Christmas, which is here and features this layout by me:


Please check all them out if you haven't seen them already!

Be Inspired:
  • Create a mini book which could be used as a decoration, to document your winter or Christmas
  • Put a giant gold bow onto a project
  • Find something in a magazine to use as inspiration for a winter-related activity

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

I'll be back at 5pm! (I hope!) x

Kids Crafts at Christmas

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

I love crafting with my kids at Christmas. My daughter always makes some cards, and there will be some baking involved at some point, plus each year we make some decorations. 

This year so far we've made these Peg Doll Angels:


I got the idea and tutorial from here. We jazzed ours up a bit, making the dresses out of white felt, which my daughter drew on and stuck sequins all over. She also drew on the faces and hair, and helped me cut the feathers. Then I wound on the halos and glued all the bits together using a hot glue gun.

I haven't decided yet if we're going to hang them as decorations or leave them as dolls. My daughter wants to give one each to her two best friends, so we'll only be keeping one of them:


I've just realised one of the angels has a wonky halo in the photo, and it's the one with the slight smirk. I think she's been at the sherry!

My daughter has also painted a snowflake window decoration that we got from HobbyCraft, she was concentrating on it very well:


And I know we'll be making our usual Reindeer - we draw around feet for the head and hands for the antlers, so each year the reindeer grow as my kids do! Eventually we'll have a whole gallery of them, but this photo is from the first year we did it, using my hands and feet and my daughter's:


They look very cute lined up on our wall each year!

Be Inspired:
  • Use feathers on your next winter project
  • Make a window decoration
  • Use your hands as a template for something, or do some finger painting!

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Have you ever done any crafting with kids at Christmas time? Any tips for what we can make next?

See you again soon - sorry the posts are running half an hour behind - I'm trying to catch up on finishing them off! x

December Daily / JYC

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

Last year I tried out a December album for the first time. I joined Shimelle's 'Journal Your Christmas' class, and prepared my album, even stitching lots of 8x8 page protectors to make them 4x8, and cutting all the papers to size, and making all my 'dates'. I only completed it up to day 4!

I blame the fact that my baby was still quite young (5 months old) at the time, we were away for Christmas, and I was using old supplies that didn't really excite me to create.

So I'm giving it another go this year - now baby is a bit older (and sleeping through the night - yay!), we're at home this year, and I've got lovely new stash to play with!

I've decorated the front of my album:


I'm using Pink Paislee's Portfolio album. I've misted the cover, first with two layers of Letter Jacket Mr Huey Mist, then one layer of Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Spritz, and a few droplets of White Calico Mr Huey's.

The rest is a variety of Pink Paislee City Sidewalks, Artisan, and Portfolio items, plus Studio Calico Hey Day numbers, and some gems (of course!). I took the album out of it's protective cover to decorate and photograph it, but it's back inside it now - I love that it has a clear protective cover so my gems and ephemera won't get knocked off:


I haven't done much of the inside yet, but when I've had off-cuts of paper from other projects I've begun cutting them down to slip into the page protectors. 

Most of the dividers will work well with the colour scheme, but I took out the bright yellow one and made a replacement from a sheet of Crate Paper 'Rudolph' paper, which I love love love:


And I know that I'm going to use the Crate Paper Sleigh Ride vellum numbers for my dates, except for the 25th, which I'm using a piece of City Sidewalks ephemera for. I've also put by a few other embellishments that I really want to use in the album (I want to keep them for myself rather than using them on cards!):


Otherwise I shall just be using bits and pieces from my new and old Christmas stash boxes. I shall keep cutting down bits of paper in preparation, and maybe die-cut some shapes and words. I think I'll be ready by the 1st of December to give the project a good try!

Be Inspired:
  • Do some misting or painting to turn something bright red/gold
  • Add some white ribbon or embellishments to your next wintry project
  • Start cutting your paper scraps down to squares or rectangles ready to go on something


Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!


Are you doing an album this December? I know some of you are! Leave a link in the comments if you've already blogged about your preparations! See you again soon. x

A Challenge - To Overlap!

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

It's time for another challenge! This one is to overlap some items on your next project. If you enter this challenge you'll be in with a chance to win this:




A LilyBee Design Christmas Cheer 6x6 Paper Pad and Mixed Stickers!

Overlapping is a form of layering, but when you overlap you are just tucking the edge of something under another item. I've already shown a couple of examples of it this weekend - the papers are overlapped under the photo on the Snow Buddy layout ( I could have cut the papers to fit exactly next to each other, instead of overlapping them), and the large circle overlaps the smaller circles on the last card on this post about using circles on your cards.

Here's a couple more examples:

Merry Card:


The tag cuts and the sticker on this 'Merry' card are overlapped to make a Christmas tree shape. Overlapping the tags helps to unify the different shapes - if they were placed above each other with no overlap it would look too disjointed and stop you from seeing a 'tree'. 

Merry Christmas Card:


There's lots of overlapping on this card. The papers are overlapped so the snowflakes disappear into the paper above, the edges of the sentiment and ephemera are all tucked under each other, and the bunting is piled up from back to front. All these combine to make you look closer, it makes your eye wonder what it's missing. And overlapping the bunting like this makes it flow from the image of the boy, giving movement to the card.

To enter this challenge: make a papercraft project (eg. a layout, card, tag, or other papercrafts) and overlap some items on it, blog about your project (or upload it to an online gallery), and link back to this post. Then come back here to link your project up! You can combine this with other challenges.

The challenge will close next Sunday, 25th November at 10.59pm GMT.

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} but challenge still open - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

I hope you're having a lovely Sunday, see you soon. x

Using Old Stash - Cards & Giveaway! {NOW CLOSED}

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

Here's three ideas for using up old winter or Christmas related paper crafting stash:

1. Find some bits that look on trend:


The polar bear 'flair' on here is actually an old badge from Paperchase. But it looks like the modern flair trend, so it makes the card feel up to date. Plus the bit of ribbon is the kind that never goes out of fashion, even though I bought it a couple of years ago. These things help to make the card look modern, even if the paper and trees looked a little dated in my stash.

2. Punch them out: 



The patterns on these blue papers weren't really to my taste any more. But I still love my Martha Stewart Vintage Doily punch, so I used that to create some snowflakes. With a few gems added they look very pretty!

3. Give it away {NOW CLOSED}:


I have too much old Christmas and winter themed stash sitting around. Even with me using it on some cards, and my daughter cutting bits up and sticking stickers everywhere, it's barely dented. So here's a giveaway for one of you to take a little of it off my hands, if you'd like to! 

It's a real mix of bits and bobs, I don't even know who the manufacturers are for some of them. But it all seems to be in good shape, and I don't think the stamp set has ever been used!

To enter this giveaway {NOW CLOSED} just leave a comment here letting me know you're interested! This giveaway will close at 10.59pm GMT on Monday 19th November. The winner will be announced, along with winners of all this weekend's giveaways, on Thursday 22nd November. The giveaway is open internationally. Please make sure that you tell me how to contact you if you win, if you're not easily reached via a google account.

Be Inspired:
  • See if you've got an old badge you could add to a project as 'flair'
  • Punch or die-cut up a piece of paper you don't like anymore - even if you don't know what you could use the shapes on yet
  • Make a card that shows a 'landscape' type scene, like the first card above

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} - but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Do you have a pile of old Christmas/winter stash you need to use up? Back again soon! x

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...