Jellypark supports Little Havens Children's Hospice

Last Friday over in the Jellypark Store Claire released a new image. This is a very special new release as it's this month's charity image. During 2012 Claire has chosen to support the Little Havens Children's Hospice. Little Havens cares for life-limited children and their families throughout the journey of their illness.

Every month Claire will release an image and every penny from the sale of the images will go to the charity.

I went straight to the shop to buy this little beauty. Here is the first of many cards that I will be making with her.

I've just realised that I've given her the same colour hair as the one Claire coloured up, funny that I thought she looked like a girl I went to school with and she had beautiful strawberry blonde hair which is why I chose that colour :o)

The background papers are a freebie from cardmaking and papercraft magazine, the pink and purple card on each corner are from a paper pad I got from Create and Craft, I've hand stitched them in place.

The gorgeous little girl is coloured in with promarkers as per usual and I've die cut some swirly sparkly bits and added pearls to each corner. Oh and I've finally gotten around to looking at cricut craftroom so the lemony swirly background frame was made on there and cut out on the cricut.

Happy Crafting

Mel :o)

Challenges entered :-

The paper shelter - swirls and pearls 31/1 (pink sparkly swirls and pearls in each corner)

Crafts and me challenge-challenge 68-pink and sparkly 31/1 (pink sparkly swirls)

I love promarkers - challenge 101 - purple and pink 31/1 (my colours exactly)

My mums craft shop challenges - challenge 41 - flowers 31/1 (flowery backing paper)

digidoodle shops best - challenge 92 - anything goes
Party time tuesdays - ptt53 - anything goes 7/2

Polka dots and a new vocation

I've decided that I missed my vocation in life, my mum always said I should have been a nurse and oh boy with the amount of ill peeps in my house recently that is all I've done. I'm up and down the stairs like a yo yo. It's the OH's turn now bless him and he really isn't very well at all. He's sleeping after a terrible night and the kids have been dispatched hopefully for a full day in school with no phone calls.

So it's..............

Blogger time for a bit whoop :o). Today I have a card which I made especially for the Polka Doodles fb/twitter (@Polkadoodles_uk) challenge. Nikky provided the image for the challenge and you have until Sunday 29th Jan to enter.

I printed the image off and my first instinct was to do some paper piecing as I thought that would look cool but as I was pondering I spotted my collection of silk threads, many of which match my promarkers perfectly and an idea was born :o).

Voila

I started off by colouring the images with my promakers and did all of my blending etc then I got my pokey tool and created the holes I needed to stitch through. Once I had finished the stitch work I used my white pen to create the polka dots. I was going to stitch around the edges of the card but didn't think it needed it, you can mess too much sometimes :o).

Challenges entered:-
my mums craft shop challenges - challenge 41 - flowers

Challenge 15 - Jellypark Friends - Winter Wonderland

Well hello there and a very Happy Jellypark Friends Friday to you. It's new challenge time again whoopee and this time round the theme is "Winter Wonderland" we would like to see wintry colours/images and/or snowflakes. I used one of the new release images  for my challenge card, when I'd finished my kids said the image looks just like "Gunter" from "Adventure Time" apparently they watch it, never heard of it myself but he must be a cutey if he looks like this :o).

I printed him off quite large he's 15cm tall and coloured him with promarkers, I've been practising my blending techniques. I then mounted him onto a glittery card stock, I blew the dust off my cricut expression (no idea why I haven't used it for ages, but I haven't) and cut out some mirri card snowflakes, I added a couple of aurora borealis gems to the centres.

The DT cards for the challenge post and new releases are outstanding, so pop on over to the challenge blog for loads of inspiration.

I hope that you can play along.

Don't forget there's only 1 week left for the current Jellypark Juniors challenge you've got to be in it to win it and what an amazing prize we have.

Mel :o)

Challenges entered:-

crafting for all seasons - ch 18 - color challenge blue and white 08/02

Happy Valentines

Happy Wednesday crafty peeps, I have had a lovely day in my craft room thanks to my gorgeous big sister who bought me a subscription for Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine last Christmas. This months free gift included some cute printed images and 3 gorgeous glitters. Like most crafters I adore a bit of glitz and sparkle. Anyhoo I got my copy yesterday so needless to say I am now absolutely covered in glitter.

The heart papers came free inside the magazine and I've coupled them with some lovely pearl card that I bought from Create and Craft a while ago. I've used a Jellypark image (of course), coloured with promarkers. I made the sentiment myself and it reads "our love will always be put on a pedestal" I then gathered some organza ribbon to create a nice pleated effect around the sentiment. I coloured up some ribbon which I put along the spine and then added my favourite aurora borealis gems to it, oh how they sparkle in the light. A few hand made flowers and a little heart pin completes it.

Happy Crafting Folks

Mel :o) xx

Challenges entered :-
Sentimental Sundays - challenge 85 - ribbon and sentiment there is a ribbon gathered around the edge of the sentiment and one down the spine
Polly craft challenge blog - challenge 123 - bingo Ribbon, sparkle, flowers
i love promarkers - challenge 100 - anything goes
my mums craft shop challenges - challenge 40 - favourite colour combo mine is magenta and baby pink, I've had to replace both of those colours of promarkers a couple of times :o)
pixie dust studio pixie challenge - challenge 109 - put your heart into it - big sparkly, blingy heart on this card :o)
sparkles forum challenges - c28 - new crafty goodies I used some brand new glitters and the flower dies I used are new also.
rubys rainbow - ch 20 - valentine or red and black Valentine
chocolate coffee cards - challenge-4 glitter

Happy Monday, Whoop I've made a card :o)

Not like me to have a card made on a Monday. To be fair I started it last night but I left the colouring until today. I'm amazed that I managed to get it finished to be honest. Monday is mega housework day here after the OH and sprogs have trashed the place over the weekend.

Whilst wandering around blogland last week I noticed that the Willow sketchie challenge blog had a new challenge and that a new cd was available from the Store. I popped over for a look and Oh my it's sooo cute, it's called "Polly Pickleberry" and it bounced straight into my shopping basket, well it would have been rude not to ;o). It arrived 2 days later and the only problem I've encountered since is which image to use first.

I thought it would be fitting for the first card I made with the cd to be one that follows the sketch over at the Willow sketch  blog.
Here is the sketch:-

Say hello to Polly :-

The papers and birthday sentiment are also from the Polly Pickleberry cd. I did some faux stitching around the edge of the paper. I cut out the doily with a cheery lynn die, I then ran it back through the cuttlebug in an embossing folder as I wanted to be able to distress it a bit. I coloured up a bit of ribbon and attached a pretty little metal charm. I clear embossed the "Happy Birthday" sentiment to give it a nice sheen. I finished off with 3 pink heart gems. 
Challenges I'm entering this card into are:-
Willow sketchie challenge - 12th January
Paper play challenges - week 2 - in stitches I used faux stitching around the edge
Sassy studio designs -107 - celebration I made a Birthday Card
C.R.A.F.T challenge -137 - celebrations Birthday Card
Pixie dust studio pixie challenge - challenge 109 - put your heart into it I used heart shaped gems
digi doodle shops challenge - 90 - embossing I clear heat embossed the sentiment and dry embossed the doily
Sparkles forum challenges - c28 - new crafty goodies I used my new Polly Pickleberry cd and ribbon
Sentimental sundays - challenge 85 - ribbon I used some organza ribbon
ribbon girls - colour challenge no 15 - blue and pink exactly my colour scheme :o)
2 sisters challenge blog - challenge 74 - use metal I used a metal charm
Sew many challenges - challenge 77 - anything goes

Blogger is playing up and is only letting me comment on some of the challenge blogs, apologies to those where I haven't left a comment after linking up, I have tried a couple of times. Thank you for the challenge :o)

Challenge 14 - Jellypark Friends - Something in my pocket

We are now into the Winter Term over at Jellypark Friends whoop, usually with a new term comes a new DT, however in our case and as none of us could bear the thought of leaving ;o), our DT has doubled in size :o). We have the most amazing crafters joining us. Pop on over to the challenge blog where Jennifer has introduced everybody.

As the DT is a bit larger now we have decided to split into 2 groups.

The theme for this challenge is "Something in my pocket", the DT have outdone themselves with some amazing inspirational projects.

This time round my group has the pleasure of showcasing the Jellypark new release images. I picked this gorgeous image and I so enjoyed making the card, I set myself the challenge of picking promarker colours which I use the least. I started off by colouring the image and then worked everything else around it. I wanted to go for an unusual colour scheme and I think the greens and spicy oranges really work together.

I gave her one of those faces you know the one when it's freezing and you look really rosy all over. I designed the sentiment and made the co-ordinating tassle, fortunately I have a vast collection of threads so was able to match it perfectly. The green thread between the bunting is from my lovely DT buddy Ruth.

Hope you like it.

Mel :o)

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Jellypark Juniors is now up and running and we have 11 wonderful entries already so if you've got crafty kids then why not get them making and enter our Anything goes challenge. We have a very cool prize on offer.

There's a wealth of talent on Craftpimp

I have mentioned before on my blog about being a member of the craftpimp forum. Craft pimp is a place where almost every single type of craft is represented. There are galleries to show other members your latest projects. We have tutorials, challenges and competitions and plenty of places to go for help and support. Most of all it's a really friendly place, my life has been enriched so much since joining and I have made some wonderful friends.

The purpose of this blog post isn't just so that I can wax lyrical about craftpimp, but to showcase a couple of beautifully crafted pieces of art, which I am lucky enough to now own.

First up is a pendant necklace which the amazingly talented Lynn -  nemeton on Etsy very generously offered up as a giveaway on one of the craftpimp threads.

 I have long been a fan of Lynn's prizewinning bead work, her pieces are perfect in every way. When I was lucky enough to win the necklace I knew it was going to be special, when I opened the box I was completely blown away.

Just look at those crystals, doesn't it look amazing and I'm rubbish at taking photographs so as you can imagine it's even nicer in the flesh.

Here are a couple more pieces which are currently available in Lynn's Etsy Store

Rose shadows crystal collar 

Champagne garden collar 

flower carpet cuff

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Next up are some fused glass pieces which I bought from Sam - Venus Art Glass I am a self confessed Christmas Tree Decoration fanatic, I adore them I get so much joy from finding unusual and beautiful decorations for my tree. I bought 2 sets of the decorations, one for me and one for my equally fanatical big sister. :o)

The beauty of the iridescent glass isn't coming through in the photograph as much as I'd like. I also received a gorgeous fused glass elephant sun catcher very similar to the yellow one below.

I have to confess to being a bit upset when I had to take down my Christmas Tree but am cheered by the thought that in 11 months time I get to unwrap them and marvel again at their beauty. In the meantime I have my sun catching elephant to look at, all I need now is some sun :o)

Here are some more pieces which are currently available in Sams Etsy Store

Fused glass quirky orange owl decoration

Large colourful fused glass bowl

Fused glass quirky elephant suncatcher

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Both Lynn and Sam are members of the Etsy Craftpimp Team.

Mel :o) x



First card of 2012

Happy New Year fellow crafters hope you all had a lovely time over the Christmas break.

Today life has returned to normal with school runs, housework and the dreaded laundry to tackle, I did enjoy the peace and quiet though.

I couldn't spend the entire time doing housework as that would be too tedious for words, so I made myself a nice cup of coffee and retired to the craft room for a well earned break. It gave me the opportunity to create with some images that I'd coloured last night most of which were collected from guest dt spots and various blog hops.

Over at Jellypark Friends Challenge Blog the theme is New Year/Old Year and I noticed on my blogland travels that there are currently a few challenges with a similar theme.

This card came about when I spotted a challenge for a non square/rectangular card, now this concept is totally foreign to me as I tend to work with straight edges lol.

I had a bit of look around and came up trumps with my copy of Funkyhand "Craft the Year Away" cd. I was able to create a lovely rocker card from a template on the cd and I also printed off co-ordinating backing papers.

The image is one that I'm pretty sure I got whilst on a Sassy Studio blog hop. I had so much fun colouring her with my promarkers.

I used some new flower dies that I got for Christmas to make the flower embellishments.

The round sentiment is one that I created myself and I thought as the girl has books under her arm and it's exam time in Universities across Britain that it would be quite apt.

Happy Crafting

Mel :o)

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Challenges entered :-

Sassy Studio Designs ~*~ dare to be sassy thursday 105 ~*~ no square/rectangle shaped cards
Crafters cafe blog challenge ~*~ 1 ~*~ new year/new beginnings (I've never made this shape of card before)
Party time tuesdays ~*~ ptt49 ~*~ something new (I used my new flower dies and punches for the flower embellishments)
Pollycraft challenge ~ 121 ~ punch it 

Sentimental Sundays - anything goes