Merry Christmas, everyone!

These are my Christmas cards this year. I always do a batch of similar cards, as I don't really have the inspiration to do them all different! I have a couple of individual cards made- it's amazing how skilled my one year old is at using the Cuttlebug, and inking the edges of the cardstock! (Well, he can at least hold a crayon to scribble on the inside for his Daddy. Next year he can play with the craft stuff!) Anyway, for these cards I made some backgrounds using Distress inks (Water/craft mat plus sprayed) then cut them into squares, heat embossed the central images and then embossed around the edges. All of the images on these are Paperartsy, apart from the snowflakes, which are Katzelcraft.
Happy Christmas to you all, I'll be posting if I have anything new, otherwise I'll be enjoying Christmas with my family. Have fun!

Just one stamp CJ- Love.

Well, I've finally done it and changed my editing software, and I'm so glad I did. I was using Paint Shop Pro 8, which I've had for a while, and loved to use as it was really instinctive for me. Sadly, when I switched to Windows Vista, PSP8 suddenly didn't want to play, and became a torment to use instead of a pleasure. So I looked up loads of reviews, and decided to give Photoshop a try. Adobe offer a free 30 day trial, so I downloaded it. A few days of figuring it all out, and here we are! Now I've had a play, and figured out how to do all of the things I could do before, and I love it! My next thing is to try some digital scrapbooking, but don't expect to see the results any time soon, as I am really busy as always, and don't have time to play.
Anyway, here is another CJ entry for the UK Stampers journal I'm in. I really enjoyed this one, as I got all inspired by one of my favourite movies! This is Pat's journal, and her theme is 'love'. Her stamp is the heart stamp (from Clever cuts), and in the introductory page she wrote that she liked interactive elements, and wanted the colours to be red and pink. I was hit by the quote from 'Moulin Rouge', which you can see in the third photo, and thought immediately of the beginning of the movie, where the red curtain opens to reveal the Paris landscape.
The curtain was a free download from a website about toy theatres, stamped with Paperartsy and Zettiology stamps to create the gold braid effect. The wrought iron and Tour Eiffel stamps are Paperartsy, the stars are Field of Sky (again!) and the moon is an image from the 1902 movie 'Le Voyage Dans la Lune'. The heart stamp was stamped and embossed twice on acetate, then glittered on the reverse, and the words printed on the computer. The curtain has a card track to make it pull up and down fairly straight. I hope Pat likes it! Thanks for the inspiration.

PS The glue on the red heart isn't dry in the photos, but it was dry when I sent it, honest!

Here's one I made earlier...

Since I am crazy busy with Christmas and family things, I thought I would take the time to show a card I made in September. I don't want to show my Christmas cards until they are in the post, as I want them to be a bit of a surprise to those personal friends and family who will be receiving them. And other photos of things I have done haven't yet been cropped, as I am in the middle of changing my editing software. Luckily I had cropped this card ages ago, but had no time to blog it.
This is an acetate card, I got the instructions from Splitcoast Stampers, and what you can't really see is that I have stamped all over using a Cherry Pie leaf stamp, and clear embossing powder. Kym sent me the powder, it is from her shop Stamp Galaxy, and it is so clear that it doesn't photograph well! Most clear ep's are slightly yellowish, and this one isn't. Thanks Kym! The main image is Non Sequitur, stamped in Stazon on acetate, and the gold panel covers up the message on the inside! Clever, eh?

Charity Auction of gorgeous canvases in aid of Cancer Research.

Jennieoneinamillion at TalkCrafts forum has posted this message, and I really want to spread the news. These canvases are really gorgeous, and the minimum bids are truly low for these one-off items. There are six days left on the auction, so plenty of time to get bidding! We have almost all had our lives touched by cancer, in my own case 3 work colleages have recently suffered with breast cancer, and my Grandmother is coping with inoperable bowel cancer. So please go look, drool over these works of art, and place a bid. Lets raise some cash!


Hi,
I have a charity Auction for Cancer Research on ebay for the next 10 days.
We commissioned Daphne Roberts ( the boss!), to make some multi media canvases for us for our trade show in Feb 2007.

As they would be gathering dust after the end of this year, we decided to auction them off on Ebay for Cancer Research. Both Mal and I have family and friends who have suffered from Cancer, and thought this an appropriate way to raise money for a cause close to our hearts.

I have set the minimum bids low, and hope that some of you will bid to raise money, and have a great piece of artwork too! They will make a fab Christmas present if you could bear to give them away!

This is the link to my shop on ebay where they are being auctioned.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/millionsofstamps

happy Bidding and any questions please ask
Jennie x
_________________

Haircut!

This is my 100th post, and all I'm using it for is to mention that I got my hair cut! This is not a big deal in many ways, as I am a re-style junkie under normal circumstances, but this year has been special as I have spent it looking after my baby son. He had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I felt that it was time to have a change. After all, he knows me well enough now to recognise me with shorter hair! He also had his hair cut today, but at a special baby salon, where the children sit in a little car and watch cartoons.
I have made a couple more cards with my Magnolia stamps, and have another CJ entry to show, but right now I'm going to enjoy my Friday evening Indian meal. Yummy!

Petra's CJ.

This is my first ever entry in someone else's journal! If you recall, I am in a circle journal with 9 other people from UK Stampers, and the idea is that we send a journal around with an unmounted stamp, and everyone does an entry with that stamp. Well, this is Petra's journal, and she has chosen a journal made of envelopes and tags. Each player decorates an envelope, then uses Petra's stamp on the tag. Petra's stamp is a sort of hippy-chick from Time to Stamp, quite a challenging one really! First of all, it made me think of 'Hair', then I started to think about 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' by the Beatles. Hence the colours etc! (Check out the 3rd photo for the lyrics if you need an explanation).
The envelope is covered in paper made using the usual water/craft mat/Distress Ink technique. The diamond stamps are by Limited Edition, and the swirl stamp is from Paperartsy. The 'tangerine tree' is done using stamps from Aud Design, and the 'cellophane flowers' are also Aud Design. They are yellow and green, coloured with alcohol inks, but didn't photograph well.
The tag inside was inspired by those star charts, which show the night sky as a join-the-dots picture to explain the constellations. After sponging on some distress inks, I used Field of Sky to stamp on my stars in silver, then used Petra's stamp with Versamark and clear holographic embossing powder. As you can see from the photo, when you tilt the tag the image of the woman becomes clear, tilt it back and she's invisible!
I'm up to my eyeballs in birthday cards again, I have three to do this week. Then I have a flurry in January, and that's it for a while! I think that in February I need to sit down and make a few, so I'm not always playing catch-up. But I did take the time to make some arty ATCs for UK Stampers. I got really inky and pricked my fingertips (I used hand-sewing on them!), but afterwards I felt really good. Sometimes you just need to go where your muse takes you, it's really therapeutic. I forgot to take photos, though, sorry!