March Counterfeit Kit Projects

My March Counterfeit Kit has been languishing in it's box all month long. Not because I didn't like it - in fact I love it for it's bright happy colours, and my handmade embellishments! But March has been busy with illness and birthdays, and I had other crafty projects to make for deadlines, so my poor kit was feeling neglected.

Not anymore though! Over the last couple of days I've made a layout and a couple of cards, and I'm working on some more. So though it's taken me a while to get to it, I know I'm going to get a lot of use from it eventually!

Here's the layout - Moments:

I chose soft colours for this page about my Dad walking me down the aisle on my wedding day. I like the coral colour in the patterned papers - it's not quite so girly as pink but still has a romantic feel. 

I used the Pink Paislee 'moments' word for my title, though I still haven't completely decided whether to put another word before this so it says 'nervous moments' or 'sweet moments' or something like that - what do you think? I couldn't choose what other word to use as their were so many emotions going through me at the time!

There's a cluster of embellies below my journaling - I used the key to symbolise that my future was becoming 'unlocked', my fimo feather was the perfect colour, and I love the heart button which is pale but pearly. I stuck these all on with glossy accents:

I'm happy with the dreamy feel to the page!

Here are the cards I've finished so far...

Believe You're Awesome:

A pretty card to cheer up a friend. I heat embossed a chipboard butterfly with white embossing powder - thanks Sarah for lending it to me! And I added some little pink gems to the wings, so it looks nice and sparkly.

For You: 

I just had to use this cute owl on something! This card would make me smile so much if it came through my door - I just adore cute owl designs. Plus the yellow is so cheerful. I can't wait to send it out to someone! 

Can you see the little heart stamp? It's from the Maya Road 'You Are' Stamp set in my kit - I used it on my layout too. I am going to be using this heart all over the place - it stamps so clearly and is a sweet finishing touch!

Have you been making any projects that make you feel happy lately? x

Tweet

Glitz Design & Gossamer Blue Contest ~ a Layout and a Card

Seeing as I've been telling you how much I'm loving Glitz Design, first in my CHA product picks post, and then with this Mother's Day card, and this 'Go' layout, among others, then you probably aren't surprised that I'm entering the Glitz Design and Gossamer Blue 'Guest Designer' Contest!

I've made two entries, a layout and a card. The layout is bright and summery - I feel like I need to scrap photos like this at the moment to remind me that the weather will heat up at some point (it will, won't it?!). I've used mainly the Color Me Happy collection as it's so cheerful...

Live for Adventure:

For the photo panel I cut a rectangle through the 'Woodgrain' paper, to turn it into a frame. The whole woodgrain sheet is adhered with 3D foam tape to enhance the frame effect. I built the background using a 12x12 sheet of white cardstock, which is then collaged with scraps of paper from the Color Me Happy 6x6 pad (and one from Uncharted Waters). I like how they disappear beneath the frame:

At the base of the photo panel I border punched some stars using an American Crafts Knock Out Border Punch. I left the cardstock to show beneath them so they stood out more.

I sprinkled some white mist drops around the title, and heat embossed the 'Chevrons' Roller Doodle pointing towards it, so it didn't get lost with all the bright colours above it. I also added the 'follow your dreams' giant rhinestone as a subtitle, I adore the multi-coloured letters in it:

It makes me feel warmer and brighter just looking at this page!

Here's the card I made as a second entry, a birthday card for my Dad. He loves the seaside, so the Uncharted Waters collection was perfect to send him some wishes...

Birthday Wishes:

Here's how to make the card:

1. Roll Glitz's 'Woodgrain' Roller Doodle in parallel lines over a 5½" square of dark kraft, using a dark brown ink pad. Then trim this kraft square down to 4¾" square, to cut off the imperfect edges.

2. Trim some yellow, chalkboard effect, and blue diamond patterned papers from the Uncharted Waters 6x6 pad down to 4¼" wide. My blue piece is 1" tall, the chalkboard piece is just over ¼" tall, and the yellow piece just over 3⅜" tall. Adhere all these to the centre of your stamped kraft square.

3. Machine stitch around the edge of these coloured papers, using off-white thread. Adhere the kraft square to a cream 5x5" card blank.

4. Add an anchor from the Uncharted Waters 'What-Nots' using 3D foam dots. Stick a giant rhinestone to the top of the anchor. Add the recipients name in the top right corner of the card using mini-alphas (Cashmere Dame) and dot four blue rhinestones around the anchor.

5. Heat emboss your sentiment onto cream cardstock, I used brown ink and clear embossing powder. Ink the edges of the sentiment's rectangle, and adhere on top of your anchor.

Then give to someone sea-worthy! 

Have my projects made you feel summery or sea-sidey today? Are you desperate for warmer weather like me?

Wish me luck in the contest!

x

Tweet

Happy Mother's Day + Washi Tape Bow Tutorial

 Today is Mother's Day here, so Happy Mother's day to any Mother's / Grandmothers / Carers out there!

I had pancakes for breakfast in bed this morning (see my Instagram photos in my right sidebar for pictures!), so that was lovely. Unfortunately hubby then had to dash off to work, but my friend Rosie is cooking a roast for me and my kiddies for lunch - isn't she lovely?!

Here's the Mother's Day card I sent to my Mum. I won't see her today as she lives too far away for a day trip, but I should be seeing her in a week or so. I hope this colourful card made her smile this morning:

I used mainly Glitz Design items, from the 'Color Me Happy' and 'Uncharted Waters' collections. I love the giant rhinestone with a heart inside, and I'm having so much fun with the roller doodle stamps - I used the chevron doodle, with gold glitter Zing embossing powder, down the right of the card. It adds a lovely sparkle!

Do you want to know how I made the washi tape bow? Here you go:

Step 1: Cut a section off a cardboard tube, to just below the width of your washi tape:

Step 2: Cover it inside and out with washi tape (two different kinds of tape):

Step 3: Poke a hole through the middle of the front and back of the tube, and push a brad through to hold the tube together in a bow shape. The washi will wrinkle around the brad, but that's okay as you are going to cover up this centre section:

Step 4: Wrap some washi tape around the centre section a couple of times to cover up the brad and the wrinkled tape:

That's it! If you want the bow to have tails then just cut these from the same washi tape and stick them onto your project before you add the bow. Make sure you use really strong adhesive to attach the bow - I used a hot glue gun, but glossy accents or similar should also work.

This bow does make the card a bit bulky, as it doesn't squish down like a ribbon bow would. I had to send my card 'large letter' size by Royal Mail. I don't mind this, but if you don't like paying more for postage then you should save this kind of bow for hand-delivered cards or other projects!

Whether you are a Mother or not, I hope you enjoy your Sunday! x

Tweet

Cards for all!

I've been using up my February Counterfeit Kit by making some quick cards, for a variety of people or occasions:

I don't know who these are all destined for yet, but they'll go happily into my card box for when I need a card in a hurry! 

It make me feel good to have made a big dent in my kit too. I know I'm going to have some stickers and alphas left at the end of the month, but that's okay. Most of the papers should be gone! Do you ever make a batch of random cards just to plough through a bit of stash? x

Tweet

Valentine's Day Counterfeit-Kit Card

I used my January Counterfeit Kit to make this Valentine's Card for my husband:

The heart has zig-zag stitching around the edges, so that it makes a pocket behind - the 'Sweetheart' tab pulls out to reveal a heart-shaped note card.

I took the opportunity to use up lots of pink sparkly adhesive dots, before they get too old and lose their stickiness:

Here's the pull-out tag, with a list of some of the reasons I love my husband. I used some Simple Stories Sn@p 'Just the Basics' 6x8 paper to make the tag - I doodled a scalloped border around the edge, and coloured it in with gold pen:

I hope it will make him happy on Valentines day. We don't usually do much other than exchange a card, and maybe have a peaceful dinner to ourselves after the kids are in bed. But I still like it as an excuse to be a little more romantic for a day! Do you celebrate Valentines?

x

Tweet

Studio Calico Burst Mask Projects Part 2

The second part of my Studio Calico Burst Mask Projects are up on the SJ Crafts blog, right HERE.

Here's one of them, a colourful sunshine card:

To see how I created it, head over to the SJ Crafts blog. There's a T-Shirt I made with the mask on there too! 

Ta-ta for now! x

Tweet

January Counterfeit Kit ~ 2 Cards

Here's the first couple of projects I made with my January Counterfeit Kit - a couple of cards! 

The first was for my Mum, for her birthday which was on New Years Eve:

I got the idea to do the banner flags on the left from this card by Valerie O'Neall, but I tied the twine from my kit around mine instead of stitching. 

My flair is attached using a 3D Foam Dot that I could stick my pin into as well. And I've got my trademark scattering of bling!:

The second card is for my Nan's birthday, on the 10th of January:

I added some velvet ribbon on this one to make it softer, and chose a more 'retro' look. To make the kraft flag I just cut a rectangle, then gently folded it in half at the left and right edges, and cut from the corner to the middle so the ends would be even.

I know she'll like the cluster of buttons and bits:

These two cards were so quick to make, because I was keeping to my kit and not delving through all my stash! 

See you soon, x

Tweet

Some News!

I'm excited to announce I'm now a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Design Team! Yay!

I love this challenge blog, as it always gets me to look through my stash and mix things up. For those of you who don't know about the blog - each month a kit is chosen for inspiration and you're challenged to make your own kit from items your already own - to use up that stash! There's lots of ideas, mini-challenges, and tutorials on the blog to help you out throughout the month!

I'll be back on the 1st of January with my first proper CKCB (Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog) DT post - as part of the blog hop to reveal all the DT's January kits. But for today I thought I'd show you the projects I created for my DT application! We had to make a kit based on this Wood Floor Kit by , and though we only had to make one project with it, I couldn't stop once I'd started and I made two layouts and a card:

6 Months Old:

Love & Lollies:

You Are So Amazing:

All featuring some nice bright yellows and oranges, and some scattered gems and pearls! 

I can't wait to show you what I've been working on for January... so I'll see you again soon! Make sure you check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to see the other DT members announced today too! x

Tweet

Merry Christmas!

Hello all. Sorry my blog has been very quiet during December. We've had a variety of illnesses here, nothing serious, but enough to keep me busy when the kids were ill, or feeling rotten when I'd caught it off them! 

I've also been busy with a few deadlines that I'll tell you about when I'm able to! With all that, plus sending out Christmas cards and buying / wrapping presents, I feel quite exhausted. But now we're well, and all prepared, and I'm looking forward to a lovely Christmas Day tomorrow.

For this quick post I thought I'd show you a few Christmas cards that I hadn't had a chance to blog about. There were many more, some that I made in a rush just before visiting people (!), but these are my favourites...

Deck the Halls:

A card using Crate Paper Sleigh Ride, my Slice Design Cutter and the Fa La La card, and some wood veneer snowflakes.

Merry Christmas:

Using Pink Paislee City Sidewalks, some flicks of Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Spritz, and a Craft Tonic Star Punch.

Merry Christmas For You:

I've used up the rest of my My Mind's Eye All is Bright 6x6 Paper Pad now, which makes me feel sad as I loved it so much! There's also Rhinestones, Stickers, and Decorative Tape from the collection on here, plus a bit of silver string.

'tis the season:

More All is Bright on this one. I followed this tutorial from Meghann's Little Corner to make a Washi Tape feather, and I added some gold tinsel-like trim at the bottom. I need to source more of this trim as I love how it shines!

Now I'm off to arrange the presents under the tree, and then get some sleep before the children wake up nice and early! 

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful readers. I hope that all of you, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, are having a lovely few days to finish off 2012 in style. I'll be back again before the end of the year to share some news!

x

Tweet

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:

The Frosty Festivities Big Grand Giveaway Winner - Humel (Mel)

The Frosty Festivities Blog Hop Winner - Maria Ontiveros (Rinda)

The Kit of Old Winter / Christmas Stash Winner - Sandie

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)

Tweet

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:

An Echo Park Photo Freedom 'Today's Story' Kit from SJ Crafts - Nikki D

A Tree & Leaf Handmade Stamp Set from talktothesun - Marilize

4 Sets of Handmade Flair Badges from Scrap and Create - Louise

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)

Tweet

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

Tweet

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

Tweet

Using Circles on Christmas Cards

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

When I'm making Christmas cards, or any other batches of cards, I prefer to make each one differently, purely because I get really bored doing the same thing over and over again! The only trouble is that it can take a lot longer, because I have to do so much thinking before the next card. Usually I'll make some cards that are similar, for friends - these cards might just have a different colour or sentiment but the sketch and supplies will be the same.

For close friends and family I'll take the time to think. But to make it a little easier I'll choose a theme for myself to follow. For this trio of cards the theme was circles:

It was easy to find a selection of circles in my Christmas stash. There's something about circles that fits so well with Christmas - it's the shape of wreaths, and baubles, and snowballs. I've followed a different technique on each card to place the circles, and they're techniques that you could come back to again and again.

Technique 1: Scatter them:

Supplies mostly Pink Paislee City Sidewalks

To regular readers it's no surprise that I like the scattered circles look, I usually achieve it with gems on my layouts and cards. Here I've used ephemera and chipboard pieces, of varying sizes. Using a variety of sizes really helps to achieve the scattered look, if the pieces were all the same size your eyes would be trying to find the pattern and make them match. 

It also helps to place some alike colours near each other, and some separate - if you separated all the like colours then it would look too deliberate, putting some close together makes it seem more accidentally scattered:

Technique 2: Line them up:

Supplies mostly Crate Paper Sleigh Ride

Putting circles in a line is satisfying somehow. It is both linear and curvy, so it appeals to the part of me that likes things ordered, but also the part of me that likes to rebel! 

The theme of lined-up circles is repeated on both the background papers too, which unifies the card all together. And then it was a little too 'lined-up' for me, so I had to rebel further with a random misting of dots at the top of the card:

Technique 3: Cluster them:

Supplies mostly My Mind's Eye All is Bright

You don't have to cluster circles in the middle of a card or project, it would look equally good at a corner or edge of something. And you don't have to cluster as many circles together either - a cluster of 3 or four looks great too. 

To cluster some circles you need to place them as close together as possible, to make a feature of it. My centre circle is actually overlapping the brad and buttons circles, which helps to draw the eye in, as it's like something is secret and hidden, so you eye looks a little closer. Again I've used a variety of sizes to stop things looking too organised or linear:

Be Inspired:

• Chose the techniques of scattering, lining-up, or clustering to place some shapes on your next project
• Make a series of something eg. cards or tags, keeping a 'design theme' in mind (not an occasion theme), but making each item in the series a bit different
• Try placing some elements together, in a line or scattered, but varying the size of them

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!

See you again in 60 minutes!

Tweet