Alcohol Inks Christmas

Sharing a Christmas card which I did yesterday in the same kind of theme I do every year with alcohol inks in the grid format. So enjoyable to do.

I used gold and white embossing on a glossy base card stock and punched out six squares.

These are cards like this I have made in previous years.

I wanted to share an article by Joyce Meyer - it really speaks for itself - it can be found here. I hope it blesses and encourages you as it did me.

Have a lovely Sunday and if I'm not on the blog before Christmas - may GOD grant you a Christmas full of peace and a year full of His Prescence.
Jacqueline

Peace Poinsettias

Good afternoon! The sun is shining here. I finally got some craft time as I have been busy with Christmas preparations and don't want to have to do everything at the last minute..

 I have used stamps from the Peace Poinsettias clear stamp set (CL796) from Hero Arts on patterned papers and a doily for background prettiness.

 Here is a photo of my Christmas Rose (Hellaborus). I would love to find one with white and pink speckled flowers?

I hope to have more time to create as I so miss it when I don't.

Happy sunday to all!
Jacqueline

Christmas cards

The Paris events are behind us but the sadness, the loss and the devastation for many families remains. The sirens were heard in every village of France when a minutes silence was announced out of respect for the dead on Monday. I pray that people will be drawn to God through Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace.

The Bible says in 1 Tim.2:5 :
For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity--the man Christ Jesus.

... and through Jesus Christ, human beings can be reconciled with each other. God, who is the beginning and the end, knows all things and we have to trust Him.

I am sharing a couple of Christmas Cards, probably already seen of my flickr gallery and on Pinterest, but these are the cards I'm sharing today.

I wanted to create the feel of Christmas lights in the tree and in a way use up the loose gems I had. The diecut deer I have kept for a couple of years, a gift from Sue Czosek. My absolute favorite definition stamp from Hero Arts 'Joy to You' is one I use a lot on my cards.

 This was made with the same idea as the first one.

Thank you, as always, for your precious visit, it makes me so thankful that our crafting community is so kind and generous!

Jacqueline

Hero Arts Clear Sentiment Set Live Life CL493

Recently, after receiving a card from my friend Franziska, with a card with one of the sentiments from the above Sentiments set from Hero Arts, I decided it would be worth investing in them.

So I am showing three cards today, made with them.  I think they are pretty straight forward in how I made them. Distress inks, water, stamps, archival ink etc...

On a distressed inked background I stamped the outline Carnation stamp image (never used it before :) and used this new sentiment.

 I included my little Christmas Robin on the photograph.

I love this sentiment, Life is better when you laugh a little... can't go wrong with that!!

We are still having beautiful weather - no need for heating in the home with such a hot sun. I am enjoying it and so are my new chickens... here they are:

Thanks for your visit!

Jacqueline

Friends are special treasures

I was very inspired by Jill's card here, on the Penny Black blog.  I have a stamp which looks similar and hardly ever use it, so now it has new life breathed into it.  I used a new sentiment which I recently purchased from Hero Arts in a set. This one is 'Friends are special treasures'. The script is a cling from Hero Arts as well.

I just can't remember who made the leaf and berry stamp.
I used distress inks and water to get a watercolor look.

We are still have beautiful sunny weather, feel so lucky.
Jacqueline

Winter scene

I found it quite a coincidence to see various blogs sharing cards with houses and winter scenes yesterday. Sally posted here and Virginia posted here, and yesterday I happened to play with a 'Village' stamp, paired with the Winter Scene (K5524) from Hero Arts.

So I thought I would share mine too.
We are having the most beautiful day. The vineyards are bright pink, deep red, golden brown, yellow and a gorgeous color orange. I have never seen them so beautiful!

Jacqueline

Collage card and scrapling

I go through stages and now I just love the collage style. Can't seem to get away from birds or butterflies but I really don't want too, because I have cut out so many that I can just pick one at random for any design.

This first card uses the Clock collage from Hampton Arts which was gold embossed on watercolor paper (yes, I tried it) and cut out and placed on a panel on which I stamped and gold embossed a cling frame from Hero Arts, with dimensional tape. Used punched out leaves, prima flowers and a bird to decorate the clock.

This little scrapling is just as it sounds - scrap-ling.. very small and made from left-overs.

I am going to be a grandma again! Our son Joël told us that in March 2016 their second child shall be born. What a blessing and Sérena (see above) will be a big sister, which I'm sure she will love. I took this photo of her in the summer when they were with us for a week.

We are having beautiful Fall weather, the sun is still hot and such a welcome as it warms the whole house up in the afternoons. This photo was taken a couple of years back but it is always like this and I thought I would share the larger size as it lets you feel the atmoshere of an early morning late in October.

Enjoy the season! I am going to make a cake for the weekend.
Jacqueline

Did I say 'Orlando'?

I hope I didn't lead anybody astray when I mentioned 'Orlando' in my last post. Because no, I did not go to Disney World! It just happened to be the spot that was picked for the Annual Federation of National Offices meeting of Derek Prince Ministries, the Christian Organisation we work for, here in France.

 (These are not all of the items, I have already given some things away)

One of the highlights of my trip (and I hope I haven't disappointed you !!) was a trip to Michaels because I never go to Michael's! It must have been about three years or more ago that I stepped inside this huge store of craft goodies. Once again, I was overwhelmed. Huge paper pads, half price, only 9,99 dollars - all that paper in one pad would last me at least another three years... I couldn't believe it. So much to see, I didn't know where to look. Stamps in a rack for 1,50 - did I see that right??  Oh but I just couldn't only  think of myself - my daughter in law would love to be here... And here I was in Michael's, Orlando just two weeks ago - eagerly looking around if I noticed any of the faces from blogland, but I didn't. Yes, I found three stamps, some pearls just the size I was looking for, a leaf paper punch, some envelopes and some cardstock and of course a beautiful 12x12 paper stack - just my style - perfect!! I cuddled the items and just relished my finds. I didn't go over the top just took a few of the things I needed. Back in the hotel room, I would look at my treasures over and over and couldn't wait to get home and use them. Sunday afternoon when we arrived back  in Montpellier we were notified that our luggage had not been transported with the plane from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris - I couldn't believe it, I had to wait to pack out my crafting stuff and I SO wanted to make a card with them!! Our baggage arrived three days later....can you image the scenarios I faced wondering whether I would ever get to play with my goodies??!!
 

So now I will share a couple of the cards I made. This is patterned paper that I love the most! Doesn't need much added to it!

And this is a card I made using the Clock collage stamp from Hampton Art. It is a design I have used many times before, but I love changing it up with different stamps, especially the Real Flowers from Hero Arts and their Definition stamps.
Thanks for passing by! I will answer any questions anybody might have about a stamp or papers in the comments section.
I just might be able to share a couple of photos in my next post.
Jacqueline

Autumn leaves

Glad to be back! It seems like ages since I posted a card. Hope you are all well and thank you if you take the time to visit me.

I am joining in the challenge on the Paper Players blog today, with the theme of leaves. These stamps are from the Stampin' Up set called An Open Heart. I created a distress background with Fall colors before I stamped and attached the little bird which is cut out, onto the branch.

I have been in Orlando for ten days and will share in a future post.

JUST AN EDIT: I reply to comments or questions etc. in the reply section under your comment in this post - so please take a look!

Have a lovely Sunday.

Collage cards

A farewell card to Summer... I think the fall has begun to make itself known and the cooler weather is upon us.

This is a collage card, using all kinds of stamps and my newly found Hero Arts butterfly.

Actually, I made this card first, and just copied the design to make the above card.

I will be away for a couple of weeks and I have prepared a lot of stamped butterflies which I hope to be taking with me to cut out when I can.

See you soon!
Jacqueline

Some more butterfly cards

Hello, it's been a while. Hope you are well!
Just sharing a couple of cards, the first one using my new-found butterfly stamp. She gets used to make all kinds of different colored butterflies on scrap bits of paper or old projects. I stamped the top panel of the card with black ink to form a pretty border.

My second card uses part of a wine label. I am always looking for new ways to use them.

Can you see my little porcelain chicken, it is a souvenir from my favorite holiday place Rosas, Spain.

Just adding another one, very simply stamping on a wine label.

Have a lovely day!
Jacqueline

Delight yourself in the Lord!

I love using this Bible verse on my cards, so here a couple using it.

This one is a play with stamps on a distressed ink background, collage style.

Here I used shadow inks which after inking up the stamp I smoothed down the colors with a paint brush. I have used my favorite Stampin' Up bird, I'm sure you hadn't noticed that :)

Have a lovely, delightful Sunday!

Jacqueline

Found an old friend!

Just recently I found an old friend. I was so happy to find her again! She had accompanied me to my Chemotherapy appointments and short stays in the hospital way back in 2011. She was a real pleasure to have and we had such good moments together! There she was, lying at the bottom of my ribbon basket... my long lost Hero Arts acrylic butterfly!!

 So to celebrate finding her again, here she is fluttering her wings on a very simple but enjoyable to make tag.

Welcome back!

Yes, we have rain and thunderstorms today!

Watercolored Anemones WPlus9

Hello!
Sharing a card with a new stamp set. As soon as I saw the cards made with this set I knew it would be something to invest in, so here is my first card with the watercolored Anemone stamp set from WPlus9.

I used shadow inks, no distress inks on these but they will work just as well with distress inks.

(Adding one more card a little bit later..)

Have a lovely day!
Jacqueline

Nature

Living in such a beautiful landscape, the swallows are pretty much the dominant feature in the skies these summer days and especially when the sun is setting and the temperature cools and they fly criss cross around the garden, quite a delight to watch. I am in awe of God's Creation. God speaks that way without Words as we can read in Psalm 19:
¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

My card features a swallow. It may be a bit abstract but it just happened that way.

My second card is also inspired by nature and color. I stamped on a wine label which usually appears on the back of a bottle. I used a bird stamp from Inkadinkado.

Thanks for visiting:
Jacqueline

Summer greetings!

 I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer weather!

Just popping in to share a little card and to say that although I don't post often during the summer months, I still think of you all and when life allows, I hope to be crafting again.

 Just adding a picture of how Nature can surprise at times. This is what I found in the nest last week - a mini little chicken egg which measured 3x4cm. I have placed a normal sized egg next to it, just fascinating. On opening it, it only has white in it, no yolk. And to think my chickens are two years old!

All the best wishes!
Jacqueline

Summer time

Hello! I have been away to Spain for a retreat with my family and have had my son, daughter-in-law and grand daughter to stay. So no card-making for me in what it seems like ages.

Yesterday was the beginning of Summer and at the same time it was Seréna's birthday. Luckily we got on together just fine, I had some great 'Oma' time with her.

This is how I will remember her. Today they have gone back home so I will really miss her.

To share a card I have chosen a grid card for a change.
Hope you are having lovely Summer weather!
Jacqueline

Tomorrow is a new day

When I first saw this bird stamp from Wplus9 I thought about paper piecing it.

I used some patterns that Sue had sent to me a while ago.

 This is my second card, painting with distress inks.

I'm all excited because I will be seeing my grand daughter this weekend. I haven't seen her in six months! My son and daughter in law will be staying with us until after her birthday on June 21st; Seréna is walking already.  We are having a family reunion. I hope to show some photos.

Thank you for your visit!
Jacqueline

Stamplorations - Casing Virginia Lu's card

I'm into card-making this last week - all of a sudden I feel like making cards again! So I'm posting a card which uses totally different techniques than I am used too, as I'm casing a most beautiful Wedding Card that Virginia Lu made. Honestly, as soon as I saw it, I pinned it - it has something very special about it.

It is for the above challenge, which can be found here.

So here are the two cards together. Not to be mistaken, the card on the left is Virginia's!

I used vellum and gold embossed the Hero Arts flowers and then colored in with distress markers. I used some string behind the sentiment and some sequins.

Thanks Virginia for the inspiration you give to the crafting world!

Jacqueline

Inspired by Lin

Hello on this beautiful Sunday afternoon!
I was inspired by a beautiful card by Lin, which you can see here. Isn't it beautiful! I just wanted to make a little vase of flowers and had to think of a Hero Arts stamp I have, and hardly use.

I mixed up some colors with distress inks and water and after gold embossing, started painting. The vase was printed on a scrap paper (a stamped project not yet used) and after arranging the flowers I added a little branch of leafs.

And my second one in pink.

Blessings to you!
Jacqueline

Shadow inks

Hola! (That is Spanish for 'Hello'). Hope everything is well in your part of the world.

I am sharing this card which I stamped with Hero Arts shadow inks. I usually only use distress inks so it is new for me. They are completely different in their usage. I have seen lots of card designs like this which I like. It is a matter of finding your smallest flower and leaf stamps and making a pattern on your card stock.

This little bird is from Wplus9 which I love. I colored it in with distress inks.

Distressed the background with green distress ink and stamped with green and used white embossing for the leaves. I stamped a HA leaf stamp six times to create a nest for the SU bird.

-
Last weekend DH and I were in Spain to celebrate our 28th Wedding Annivesary. We have found the perfect spot where we enjoy staying and the weather was good. I don't have one with the two of us, have to think of that next time.

Lastly a photo of my son who turned 23 on the 14th of May with Seréna who is 11 months old today.

Thank you for your visit.
Jacqueline