As I mentioned, it was my DS’s birthday last week. He was 6 and he loves jokes! So when I’d spent some time scratching my head about what to do for a card, I thought I’d go with a joke (if not a very good one!) and came up with this:
Supplies used: Kraft card stock, Basic Grey Archaic collection pack, Basic Grey Archaic Chip Stickers (my last one – boo hoo!), Colorbox Chalk Inks – creamy brown, chestnut roan and olive, Memento Tuxedo Black and some little individual letter stamps – mine are wood mounted on pegs and nameless but you might want to try these, not such a nightmare for lining up!
While I was looking for a dinosaur joke, I came across this strawberry one which made me smile, so made one for this too (the punch line is ’strawberry jam’ btw!)
Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket Jack’s World paper crafting kit, Kars Fruity stamp, Copics for colouring, Memento and letter stamps as before.
BTW this is my favourite joke of all time – it’s bad but I love it, kills me everytime! Doesn’t make a good card though 
Three pieces of string are out for a walk one day. The sun is shining and as they pass the pub they stop for a drink. The first piece of string takes the orders and goes inside…
He walks up to the bar and asks the landlord for 3 pints of beer
The landlord looks at the string and says, “We don’t serve your kind in here.”
The string walks outside and tells the others what has happened.
The second piece of string says, “Don’t worry I’ll sort this out” and heads into the pub.
He walks up to the bar and says, “Look, please may I have 3 pints of beer now!”
The landlord looks at the second string and says, “I told your friend, we DON’T serve your kind in here.”
So the string walks outside and tells the others what has happened.
The third piece of string ties himself into a knot, frays up the ends of himself and walks back into the bar.
He walks up to the bar and says, “I’d like 3 pints of beer please.”
The bartender says, “Look! I told you before we don’t serve your type. You’re one of those strings who was in here earlier aren’t you?”
The string says, “Nope! I’m a frayed knot.”
Happy crafting
Jane
We’ve been waiting a long time but they have finally arrived – the Tim Holtz Alterations collection from Sizzix! We’ll be putting them on the website over the next couple of days but I couldn’t wait to show you this beautiful butterfly die – isn’t it gorgeous?
This is the card I made for my sister’s birthday this weekend – I’m not generally a grungey kind of girl but I did distress this one just a tiny bit 
I don’t think that you can see on this photo but I applied a thin layer of distress stickles over the lace of the wings to give the whole thing a little lift:
Supplies used:
Sizzix Bigz Die Tim Holtz Alterations Fanciful Flight, Craft Paper Blue Hill Collection Pack, Tim Holtz Distresser, Colorbox Chalk Ink Creamy Brown, Ranger Distress Stickles Vintage Photo.
Happy crafting
Jane
First let me apologise for the lack of the promised blog candy 
It’s all prepared but somehow we’ve managed to sell the paper pad we were giving away – doh! More stock due shortly and I’ll post as soon as it arrives
This weeks inspiration came from an unusual source (for me anyway, I’m very literal!) I was browsing through a clothing catalogue that I received in the mail when I saw this top (White Stuff if you fancy one!):
It’s such an unusual colour combo and I thought it would make a great card. I’ve also been storing up this ‘Embossed Layered Resist‘ technique from Jennifer McGuire for future use and with my trusty Silhouette Flower stamp (this is so useful – use it all the time!) off I went. I’m not very arty so I kept it really simple and loose but for a first try I’m pretty happy with it (and I love the colours!) You can’t see it very well in the photo for the dark grey background has a soft pearl sheen – gorgeous!
Supplies used:
Bazzill Cardstock ‘Mystique’ (base and main panel) , DCWV Hippie Chic Cardstock stack (dark grey and orange cardstock), Hero Arts Silhouette Flower, Ranger Clear Embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads – Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Ink Blending Tool, Personal Impressions Wording Stamps.
Happy crafting
Jane
Sorry I’ve been ‘missing in action’ – it’s been a crazy two weeks of new stock mountains, and stock taking here are craftie-charlie HQ!
On Friday we had a party to go to of a family friends little boy – I had no cards made and zero time to make one in But buying one is not an option with this job!!!
Short of time, I rifled through the Basic Grey card kits and pulled out the June Bug one – brilliant! All you need is some adhesive, and black & white pens – it includes full instructions and everything else you need. It’s definitely a great short cut (or a fab gift to get someone into cardmaking) but is probably classed as cheating if like me, when asked where you bought it from, you go “oh no, I didn’t buy it, I made it” and then enjoy all the praise
With the party over, I had a nice evening in front of the TV wiping up the rest for future use
Happy crafting
Jane
I love cupcake stamps – they are just so useful – girls, boys, any age – they do it all. So as soon as I saw this jumbo one from Hero Arts, I knew that I had to have one It’s a big stamp (the card is 5″ square!) so is a real focal point. Just some decoration (try not to notice the smudge on my stickles – where did that appear from?!) and voila!
Supplies used: Hero Arts Cupcake stamp, Timber Brown Stazon, Dovecraft Sentiments stamp, SU! Scallop Edger, MME Penny Lane cardstock, SU! Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip cardstock, Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Worn Lipstick, Dovecraft Adhesive Gems
Happy crafting
Jane
PS If you’re looking at this thinking – that’s all very nice but it’s a bit BIG – take a look at this cupcake set which arrived today
I love glitter And more particularly, I love these Thickers – they are just soooooo glittery – they are begging to be the star of any card or layout. This is a card I made for my dd whose birthday it was last week – it’s looking a little dunkled round the edges as I didn’t get to take a photo before giving it to her! I love putting kid’s names on their cards – it always makes them happy (especially those with unusual names!)
I don’t normally use stickers much but these new Pepper & Friends ones are so lovely and very easy to work with (they are on cardstock so don’t bend around all over the place – can you can move them (carefully!) if it doesn’t quite go right the first time)
Supplies used: Pepper & Friends 8×8 Designer Paper, Coredinations Gemstones 12×12 cardstock, plain white card, Trimcraft ivory satin ribbon, American Crafts Thickers – Sprinkles Lavender, Dovecraft Sentiments Clear Stamps, SU! Nearly Navy Ink, Pepper & Friends Buds and Butterflies stickers.
Talking of things that make me smile, call me a geek but this card had me rolling on the floor laughing – genius!
Happy crafting
Jane
We’re off to a birthday party for one of my DD’s friends shortly. Little girl cards are a challenge for me, they never seem to come out ‘little girl’ enough! Saying that, I LOVE these chipboard letters covered in Distress Stickles – they look sugar coated
Yummy!
Supplies used:
Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Worn Lipstick, O’Scrap Sans Serif Chipboard alphas, Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper, Basic Grey Button (most likely Indian Summer – I keep them all mixed up in a big tub!) , SU! Regal Rose Grosgrain ribbon & cardstock
Happy crafting
Jane
I always find masculine cards tricky but one of my favourite places to turn is the Basic Grey Archaic range – it’s just perfect for all ages so I really use up every scrap. I’ve made this card for Charlie’s DH whose birthday it is this week – it’s a bit on an ‘in-joke’ as actually he’s the youngest of the four of us as he likes to remind us ALOT! The card is 14.5cm square and I didn’t have a chip sticker small enough left so I’ve stuck one of the adhesive stickers from the collection pack to a piece of blank chipboard and cut it out by hand – I hope he appreciates the effort
Supplies used: Basic Grey Archaic collection pack & buttons, A4 kraft card, Colorbox Chalk Ink ‘chestnut roan’, Basic Grey mini chipboard letters, Glossy Accents for sticking my buttons!
Happy crafting
Jane
Finally got a chance to play with the gorgeous MME today! I decided to have a go with the Bloom & Grow – I think the colour palette is a little more ‘me’ but I’m sure I wont let that stand in my way of trying the Wild Asparagus too 
) Charlotte and I are sharing a set of the Basic Grey Beta Series stamps – don’t tell her I’ve used them already!!!
This is a fun little card for my niece who’ll be 10 at the end of the week. I hope she likes it – I had such fun with it I made two variations! The patterns are great to work with – I don’t stamp onto patterned paper much, I get stressed combining patterns but it was a breeze with these…
Supplies used:
MME Bloom & Grow 6×6 paper pack, Basic Grey Beta Series stamp set, Co-ordinations cardstock (sorry I can’t tell you which colours – I got so many oranges out I got all mixed up!), Fiskars Scalloped Lace Border Punch, SU! Scalloped circle and 1 1/4″ punches, Fiskars shaper cutter for the 2″ circle, Piggy Tales Chicken Little Ribbon.
Not that I’m obsessed or anything but this is another sketch from clean & simple stamping!
Happy crafting
Jane
My little boy was at a party today so it was small boy birthday card time again ) I was a little short of inspiration yesterday so after having a browse round I was very taken with this Clean and Simple sketch challenge from SplitCoastStampers. A big part of the challenge was that there wasn’t actually a sketch that I could find (!) so you had to imagine it in your head based on the various samples!!! It is however a great layout which I can see myself using a lot so expect to see more of this one.
The card is approx 6″ square and I’ve used a 1.5″ circle punch for my circles.
Supplies used: Basic Grey Archaic collection pack, SU Always Artichoke (I think) as base, Bazzill Mystique cardstock, Basic Grey Archaic Buttons, Chipboard and Foam squares for a little lift!, SU linen thread, 5 is from Basic Grey Offbeat Chipboard Alphas.
I thought that I’d make another one (to have in for emergencies!) while I had all the stuff out. This is the budget version as I used the front cover from the collection pack – waste not, want not! The circles are a little smaller (1″) Supplies as before )
Happy crafting
Jane
