Guest designer for Crafty Boots

Today I am delighted to be the Guest Designer for Crafty Boots. Their recent challenge theme is "No Stamps allowed". You can make anything crafty but it must have no stamping on it. Their challenge finishes on Sunday 28th February and you can see all the details and join in with the fun here

I had a very special wedding card to make for my silversmithing tutor so I decided to use this for my GD project.  Her dress was red and black and I used this for the colours of my card, plus I added in some wedding day white for luck.

I painted my card with Fresco paint and added some crackle paste through my TH Gothic stencil and left it to crackle.







































I love the effect it creates.

Next I die cut lots of frames and embellies and added glitter and textures to them.
I added distress glitter to my hearts

Once I had lots of textured pieces  I chose the ones I wanted to use for my card.

It was then time to put on my creative hat.....to produce this card.

It was so hard to photograph, IRL there is lots of lovely texture and twinkle.


Here are some close ups

I hope you will join in with the fun and that I have given you some inspiration how to make a textured card with no stamping. The challenge is running for one more week. Thanks to Dionne for inviting me to Guest Design today, it's been a pleasure.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Mixed media world  love is in the air
Frilly and Funkie 2/3 love is in the air
Country View make your own background

Pixie's snippets playground #217  my hearts were die cut with snippets of card
Creative Inspirations 3/3 anything goes with a sketch option

Emerald Creek Dares blogger scramble/anything goes 
Anything but cute grungy love
Creative Inspirations 3/3 anything goes with a sketch option
Double D 1/3 red and white
Little Claire's 1/3 love and marriage



We had a lovely visit to Southampton on Saturday. Daisy's speech is coming along so well..she is is now stringing sentences together. We got out for a coastal walk but boy was it wet, windy and very muddy!

 Daisy loves wearing her wellies and took every opportunity to jump when she could.

Thanks for stopping by today and if this is a first time visit for you, please can I extend you a very warm welcome. I would also like to say hello to my latest follower, it's great that you have joined me on my creative journey here at Jane's Journal.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

An industrial Valentine's card.

I am delighted to be a Guest Designer over at one of my favourite challenges, A Vintage Journey, today. Do pop over and join the fun here. When I was contacted before Christmas and advised the theme would be Industrial I must admit initially I thought.....omgoodness what on earth was I going to make? I am not a hugely "industrial grungy" girl but after some research and idea bashing I decided to get out the one "industrial" style Tim Bigz die I own, the weathered clock. I also decided to work with foil as it was something different.......little did I know that Professor Holtz would also use a foil technique for his January remix tag! I also thought that I would twist things slightly and as it was February that I would make a Valentine card for my Hb.

Here is how I went about creating my Industrial Valentine's card.

I used my weathered clock die to cut 2 textured clocks from foil covered grunge paper which had been texture embossed.  I made some hearts in the same way which I embossed after cutting.

 I made a metallic background for my card using strips of aluminium from a roll bought in my local Building Merchants shop.

I added lots of texture and faux rivets using any tools on hand and then painted  on black acrylic paint which I wiped back.  I also added some alcohol inks.

I then gave it a sanding with some sandpaper to distress it.

I coloured the hearts with red alcohol ink.

I also added some paint to the weathered clock die cuts and cut them up.

I also white embossed some Tim Holtz die cut words

Then it was time to put on my creative hat and play and this is what I came up with.....a very Industrial Valentine's card for my Hb.

 I love this scratched up distressed surface

 and the way it contrasts with the smooth red hearts and words.

 I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Noor UK  love
That Craft Place 1/3 anything goes
Frilly and Funkie 1/3 love is in the air
Anything but cute grungy love

Country View make your own background

Mixed media world  love is in the air
Creative Inspirations 2/3 anything goes with a sketch option
Love to create 2/2 anything creative #4
Moving along with the times 1/3 words only
Crafty boots  no stamps allowed

I had a lovely Valentine's day on Sunday. It was also the 36th anniversary of our engagement. My Hb isn't a flowers man but he is a sweet romantic. We don't always buy gifts but this year as well as my card he handed me this

and inside I found

The sweetest heart purse. It is also raising money for the British Heart Foundation, what a great idea.
I continued the heart theme with chocolates (of course) which I gave to him.

 In the centre is one heart shaped choc just for him but the rest of course I had to share with him, didn't I?

I might also have to ask him for the box back.....hmmm I could have fun upcyling that ;0)

Thanks as always for visiting me and if you are a first time visitor today you are most welcome  and I hope you enjoyed seeing my process for my card.

I have another Guest designer post coming up on Monday for Crafty Boots. It features quite an unusual wedding card so do come back and take a peep.

Bye for now, have a lovely crafty weekend. We' re off to catch up with Daisy and Co tomorrow ;0)

Jane x

Meet Rascog

I recently became the proud owner of a Rascog......yes seriously it's the name of a kitchen trolley sold by IKEA which is brilliant for storing craft materials. I have hankered after one for the last 2 years. Santa even had one on his list but obviously thought I had not been good enough...LOLOL. 2 weeks ago my Hb and I went to IKEA to look at some wardrobe storage and I remembered Rascog and looked him up.

We were really impressed by the size and quality that one slipped onto our trolley and came home. There are 3 colourways, black, cream and blue and I just had to have the duck egg blue...it's gorgeous,

However before I could use him it was the inevitable time for DIY...never my forte when presented with all these parts.

Bless his heart my darling Hb came to the rescue with his screwdriver.

And here is my Rascog in all his glory.

And his wheels move beautifully.

I will be taking Rastog down to my studio in the spring but for now I am using him indoors to store  in my temperature sensitive mediums. I have also put the stamps I am using for current projects there.

There is lots of space and in due course I will stack him up more efficiently.

I also bought a pair fo trainers recently for the summer in a not disimilar colour and I thought how brilliantly the raspberry colour goes with the blue on the box.

So yes these colours got me playing with blues and raspberry and pink. I brayered a background with Fresco paints.

There are some great challenges around at the moment I wanted to combine. For the Craft Stamper Take it make it challenge I needed use text. I stamped my Visible Image Bronte verse in pink and then in grey inks on top.

Out came my Tale of Two cities paperback and I stamped my new Wendy Vecchi floral set as well as a Visible Image butterfly to make a card.

and then it was time to put on my creative hat. This is what I came up with. My card is mounted on a Kraft card blank. I added some stencilling with archival ink. I think the Wendy Vecchi sentiment is perfect. I decided in the end not to add the butterfly, I often change things round when I am putting my projects together.

 I added some texture with crackle pasted to the die cut frame.

 I loved working with these colours.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Craft stamper take it make it  Text me
Pixie's snippets playground  #216 2/3 I used a snippet of card for my sentiment
Country View make your own background
Penny Black and More 2/3 anything goes with a stamp and a die
Ribbon Girl 2/3 any image card challenge
Simon says stamp Mondays 1/5 upcycle/recycle I have certainly upcycled my book pages..this tattered old paperback was destined for the recycling bin.
Creative Inspirations 1/3 anything goes with a sketch option
Addicted to stamps and More 1/3 anything goes
Emerald Creek Dares blogger scramble/anything goes 
Love to create 1/2 anything creative #4

It just shows how I can get inspiration from everywhere, even my new crafting trolley and trainers.

 I will be back on Friday with a Guest Designer piece for A Vintage Journey and it's very different for me. The theme for the challenge is industrial and I managed to add a love twist to it ;0)

Thanks for visiting, keep warm and carry on crafting.

Bye for now,

Jane x