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 :)

A friendly natter

Hi everybody,

Well, after the mid-week excitement of our 'Surprise' blog hop, it's a pleasure to see you all again so soon!  And I'm going to keep the fun, friend feels going with this weeks offering...

I used Wplus9's 'Going Places' stamp and matching die set to create this week's card.

The set comes with a little cute hot air balloon, and all the little critters sit in the basket and look awesome, but I wanted to see what else I could do with them, so dreamt up this little, 'neighbours chatting across the garden fence' scene.

                             

Everything on my card is coloured using Distress Ink as watercolour.  I used Mama Elephant's 'Landscape Trio' cloud die to create my hedges, and Lawn Fawn's 'Picket Fence Border' die as, well, obviously, my picket fence!  The sun is from Lawn Fawn's 'Spring Showers' set, and the sentiment, which is stamped onto vellum and attached using 'Stick-It', is from Mama Elephant's 'Sunday Sentiments' set.

                               

You are, literally, spoilt for choice with the amount of cuteness to choose from in the 'Going Places' set, all as adorable as each other.  As you can see, I couldn't choose, so didn't...and just went with them all haha.  I only wish I knew what they were chatting about :)

I really hope you like it.  As always, everything I used is linked below so be sure to go have a look and see what world you want to create!

See you next week.

Jillx

    

  

 

A Wild Watercolour Ride.

Hi everybody,

Jill here.  I hope you're all well.

I've got some of the newest release from WPlus9 for you today, and boy oh boy what a killer release it was!

I used the 'Going Places' stamp and matching die sets to make my card.  I'm not sure if it shows well on the pictures, but I added a sneaky little shaker behind the hot air balloon!  

I started by stamping out my elements, and watercolouring them using Distress Ink.  I washed over my background at the same time, to create a pretty sky of pinks and blues.  I then took the matching die set, and cut out my pieces, cutting the balloon from my background at the same time.  I only needed to cut the balloon to create my little shaker window, so inlaid the rest back in.  I covered my window in acetate, filled with some beautiful Neat and Tangled sequins, and sealed up.  I cut a couple of layers of clouds using Mama Elephant's 'Landscape Trio die', one layer from white card, and one layer from vellum.  I then put all my pieces together and built up my scene.  I stamped my sentiment onto vellum and adhered using 'Stick-it' (I can't stop sticking vellum any, and every, where now I know 'Stick-it' is invisible!).  I matted onto another layer of vellum, and another piece of card I had washed with Distress Ink, then onto a soft grey card base.  I embellished with a couple of black enamel hearts, and there you have it.

I hope you like it and would love to read what you think of the newest Wplus9 release.

Everything I used is linked below, so be sure to go and be blown away by how awesome the new sets are!

See you next week.

Jillx