Jill's favourite things of 2015

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and today it's my turn to bring you my favourite products from the last year...talk about being spoilt for choice!!  

First off, I'm gonna have to go with my all time favourite, Mama Elephant, and specifically, those darling cutie patootie Reindeer from Reindeer Games.

 

These little chaps took our crafting community by storm this year, and have been flying off the shelves ever since!  It is of no surprise however, I mean...look at them! 

Next up, it's going to be Wplus9's 'Going Places'...

       

As soon as I set eyes on this set - I was desperate to have it in my stash.  It's their little faces, they're just divine.  I also love the fact you can use it for so much more than it's intended purpose, and bring the critters to life by placing them in alternate situations.  Just soooo cute.

OK, so finally, I'm gonna give a shout out to a whole company who I think have rocked it this year, and it's gonna be...Paper Smooches! 

       

 For me, it's a little nostalgic, as they were the reason I stumbled upon Make The Day Special, a long time ago, when I first fell in love with stamping.  They were the first 'American' stamp brand I started collecting, and I just loved them.  But, after finding this amazing place, and so many other incredible brands, they fell from the top of my most wanted list, and I hate to say it, I kind of forgot about them.  But my oh my, holy macaroni, I just think this year they have knocked it out the park with their releases!  Their die designs are amongst my favourite's, and most used, of all time.  Hat's off to them, I really think they're back with a bang and doing it in style!

I hope you have all had an amazing 2015 - and here's to our favourite companies keeping us skint throughout 2016 as well ;)

Jillxxx

p.s ...quick shout out to MFT's Sketched Chevron background lol...what a gorgeous massive beauty of a stamp that is...and an equally massive Merry Christmas to you all :)

Need a hug?

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and today, I'm offering up some hugs!

I used the new Paper Smooches 'Comforting Hugs' set again this week.  I just can't put it down, such an incredibly delightful set of images and sentiments.  The designs themselves are oh so sweet and simple, so I stuck with a pretty simple design of my own.

I started by stamping out my sentiment and this cute little cactus onto the centre of my card, and colouring the cheerful little chap using Distress Inks as watercolour.  I then gave him a wash of clear Wink of Stella, a layer of Glossy Accents, and left to dry completely.  I then created a circle mask, and used a chevron border stamp to create a background within the circle, using Versamark ink and clear heat embossing to act as a resist.  Whilst the mask was still in place, I washed over a mix of  Distress Inks, (Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, and Mustard Seed), not taking too much care as I wanted it to spill and splodge around the edge.  I then created a few little flicks of the same inks to create a little more interest to the backdrop.  I embellished with co-ordinating enamel dots and a scattering of clear sequins, matted onto black card, and mounted everything onto a Kraft card base.

                             

This set is one of those rare finds for me, whereby I want to use every single image, and every single sentiment from it!  I just think it's so adorable!  

As always, everything I used is linked below, and I have also linked an almost identical chevron set to the one I used, so be sure to check it out.

See you next week.

Jillx

         

Paper Smooches Paper Piecing

Hi everybody,

Jill here with some pretty simple paper piecing for you...

I used Comforting Hugs from Paper Smooches newest release to make my card, and boy what a release it was!  And Lawn Fawn's Let's Polka Mon Amie, 6 x 6" paper pad.

This Comforting Hugs set is just so cuuute!  I am a hugger, and a hug lover, so it is perfect for me!  So many cute images, and sentiments that can fit so many occasions!  The gentle softness of the Let's Polka Mon Amie paper pad just seemed to match perfectly.

I stamped my image out onto a few different patterned papers from the same pad, fussy cut the various pieces, and adhered back in place.  I then cut my panels using Mama Elephant's Index Card Creative Card's Die, and my hill using Mama Elephant's Landscape Border Trio Die.  The Clouds are cut from plain white card  using Paper Smooches Curly Clouds Die, and the sun is from Lawn Fawn's Spring Shower's set.

My sentiment is from the same gorgeous 'Comforting Hugs' set, and is stamped in black and clear heat embossed on cream card.  I have embellished with a couple of enamel dots, matted onto kraft card, then the whole thing mounted onto a cream card base.  And there you have it, a really simple but, hopefully, cheerful, bright, and effective card.

As always, everything I have used is linked below.

One last thing before I go...did you notice my blunder?  Take a closer look...I stuck my sun on the wrong way round so the hearts are lying on their side!  DOH!  What a dafty.  Never mind, I'm sure we've all been there!  10 points to whoever spotted it :) 

See you next week.

Jillx