Catch a star with Visible Image

 Hi Everyone. It's time for my fortnightly design team make for Visible Image. Today I am sharing a pair of tags made using the beautiful 

Catch a star stamp set.

 This set is perfect not just for cards but for gift tags too.

Both tags were made in the same way. I die cut 2 tags using black card. When stamping and heat embossing on black card I always use an anti static bag to prevent the coloured embossing powders sticking to areas I want to keep black.  

The standing child was gold heat embossed. Then I stamped and white heat embossed the large star. Lastly I repeat stamped the background using the star cluster stamp and also white heat embossed those too. 

I stamped and gold heat embossed the words onto strips of black card and then stuck them in place.

I used exactly the same process for the sitting down child tag. 

For a finishing touch I layered them onto gold card and added a gold ribbon to each.

Here they are once more individually. 

I will be back in 2 weeks with my next VI make and a little heads up that it might be Christmas in July with a brand new release. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Remember to follow my Instagram account here where I share all my creative makes. 

Bye for now,

Jane x

The new "Shine On" release from Simon Says stamp

Hello Everyone, Simon says stamp have just launched their latest release called "Shine on". You can shop the whole collection here.

I was sent the hilarious new "Divorce upside" sentiment set to create with. These sentiments are certainly not the usual "Happy Birthday" but packed with quirky, witty greetings that made me smile while I was crafting. Sometimes a handmade card is just the thing to raise a smile during life's twists and turns.

I paired them with bright colours and cheerful designs. While these sentiments are a little different from the occasions we usually craft for, I love how they bring humour, encouragement and a positive outlook to a new chapter.

Whether it's offering support, celebrating a fresh start or simply letting a friend know you're thinking of them, a handmade card can make all the difference.

To match the fun of the sentiments, I went for bright colours, happy details and lots of playful elements. Sometimes it's good to step away from the traditional occasions and make something completely different.

I made 3 cards and a tag and will be sharing some process photos and close ups on my Instagram account here over the coming days. I like to put them all together here in a blog post for reference. All the products I have used are available on the Simon Says Stamp website. 

Card 1

I used a distress ink background with pastel cardstock and cups and saucers die cut using the Tim Holtz Papercut Cafe die set. 

Card 2

For this card I used a background made using Tim Holtz's large size "Numbered" 3D embossing folder and silver card. The extra numbers, hand etc are from his Postale die set

Card 3

I find the stamp hilarious, those pancakes and spatulas are such fun. I used a distress  oxide stain spray background with some extra distress watercolour pencil detailing. There is a sheet of Tim Holtz green paper palette paper tucked underneath too. 

Tag

I used Kraft card for the background and the hearts are Tim Holtz' stacked hearts die set. This tag works well attached to a bottle of wine...a great gift for someone who is celebrating their divroce. 

My dear Hb and I are celebrating 45 years of happy marriage on 25th July so fortunately I won't need to use the set for his next card!

So there we are, meet Simon Says Stamp's "The Upside of Divorce" set. They're a little bit unexpected, a little bit cheeky, but definitely memorable.

Bye for now,

Jane x

The new In my heart collection from Simon says stamp

Hi everyone I am delighted to share my next design team make for Simon Says Stamp. Their fabulous new release, out today, is called "In my heart".

The whole release is available on  their website here.

 I was sent the gorgeous "Let's connect" stamp set to design with. This set has 7 cute animals, 2 building blocks stamps and no less than 9 fun sentiments in it. A really bumper stamp set. I couldn't stop at designing just one make so I came up with four! You can check it out here. You can also buy it with the co ordinating dies here.

These are my makes; 3 cards and a tag. I used distress inks and watercolour pencils on all 4. 

Can you tell I love cats...just a bit!

I even got my sewing machine out for this one below. It has been shared on my Instagram account this morning here with some process photos. 

For my tag I used one of my new Tim Holtz palette papers for the background. 

Simon Says Stamp stocks everything I used for my makes, it really is your one stop shop for paper crafting. They also ship worldwide.

Thanks for stopping by today and remember that I share very regular content of my crafting journey over on Instagram. The link is here  You can also search for other makes using this gorgeous new release using the hashtag #SSSInMyHeart

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Handmade Birthday paper and card for my sweet Daisy

Hi everyone, and welcome to my latest design team make for Visible Image. The theme for our makes this week is "children". My sweetest granddaughter Daisy is 11 on the 11th of this month. I really don't know where those years have gone. She is still my best crafting buddy and loves to craft with me whenever she can. I decided that I would make her gift wrap, a tag and a card which all coordinated. She loves nature and one of her favourite Visible Image sets is the Bees. 

The stamp sets I used are the 

Bee Happy 

with their  co ordinating dies

The birthday balloons

 and their co ordinating dies

and one of the sentiments from the best birthday ever sentiment sets.

This is my step by step tutorial. 

I first stamped 1 of each of the balloons on kraft card using distress oxide ink. These are shown as below with their co ordinating dies. I also die cut  the number 11 using the number 1 die in the set, in black card. 

Here they are cut out. I stamped the sentiment onto kraft card and cut around it.

  I added scorched timber distress ink to all the edges to make everything pop. 

I stamped and die cut out some of the smaller bees. I always make more than I need so that some are always ready for a new project. 

I attached ribbons behind the balloons using foam tape and a bow to each front . I adhered the number 11 in place.

I stamped some stars on the tag (seen in final photo) and adhered everything in place. I added gold glitter pen and sparkle to the wings. 

I matted the tag onto yellow card and added a co ordinating ribbon. Here is the finished tag again.

For the matching gift wrap I wrapped brown paper around my glass media mat and using the 4 smaller bees on an acrylic block randomly stamped all over using VersaFine Summertime ink.

So here are the tag and gift wrap. 

This is the co ordinating card I made for Daisy.

and here her parcel all ready for her to open on her birthday. 

Can you guess what is inside?

 Shhhh...it's a new pair of Converse boots, her favourite footwear!

You can obviously use any stamp sets at all for this project. It really does elevate your gifting if you hand stamp your own gift wrap and make a matching tag (and even card as I did).

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

 Our kind, friendly and supportive customer Facebook Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

 I also organize a monthly artist trading card swap in the group. Whether you are a new stamper or a seasoned one you are most welcome to join us. Over 150 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started over 3 years ago. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month. There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best.

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Visible Image birthday tags

 Good morning another fortnight has whizzed and it's time for my fortnightly blogged design team make for Visible Image. I don't know about you but I often have made a card ahead of time but when it comes to the time to wrap the presents I often don't have a tag at hand.

 The Birthday balloons stamp set 

not only makes awesome birthday cards but is brilliant for tag making too. I love that it also has numbers in the set. It's co ordinating dies 

teamed with the fun sentiments from Best birthday ever 

make it quick and simple to make any tag needed. 

I decided to make a pair of tags for a 40th birthday to showcase these sets. 

This is what I got up to;

I took a piece of mop up inky card from my stash and die cut 2 tags from it. I then added the little stars flourish from the  Birthday balloons stamp set, stamping them randomly using gold pigment ink. 

I stamped the balloons in different colours and added the stars flourish to these too. I clear heat embossed them to add some shine,  

I die cut them all out and then added some bakers' twine to the back of each balloon. 

I stamped the 4 and 0 from the set in red and die cut those out too. I also used 2 of the sentiments from the  Best birthday ever 

I then put my design together and matted each tag on to red card. As a final touch I added a baker's twine cord to each tag and a bow to the balloons. 

Here they are separately;

and as a pair

with a couple of close ups

and 1 final shot

These really are must have birthday sets for your stash. I keep them out on my craft desk as I use them so much for cards and tags.

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

 Our kind, friendly and supportive customer Facebook Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

 I also organize a monthly artist trading card swap in the group.  We will be celebrating 3 years of swapping in May. Whether you are a new stamper or a seasoned one you are most welcome to join us. Over 150 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month. There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best.

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Pinterest here

and their website is here 

 You will also find me on Instagram here; @jane.tyrrell where I share many more samples than I have the time to blog. 

Bye for now,

Jane x