2016 Review

Hi Bloggers.

Well it's goodbye to 2016 so today I thought I'd share some of my favourite cards with you from this year month by month.

January -

You can read how this card was made here.

February -

You can read how this card was made here.

March -

You can read how this card was made here.

April -

You can read how this card was made here.

May -

You can read how this card was made here.

June -

You can read how this card was made here.

July -

You can read how this card was made here.

August -

You can read how this card was made here.

September -

You can read how this card was made here.

October -

You can read how this card was made here.

November -

You can read how this card was made here.

December -

You can read how this card was made here.

Hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane - it's been hard to pick some months! Don't forget there's every post I've ever written available for you to view anytime - just pick a year/month from the menu in the right-hand bar of this blog.

Today's Flash Sale is 20% off Cosmic Shimmer Colour Cloud Blending Inks. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Just to warn you, there may be an interruption on the facility to pay by card on my website as I swap over payment gateways (trying to get my head around it). You can still pay by card via paypal. Sorry for any inconvenience caused - my usual payment gateway is no longer accepting UK payments from today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

Freebie Friday

Hi Bloggers.

Today's Freebie Card was made for a magazine. I can't remember which one asit was co-ordinated by Creative Expressions and the article included cards by Sue Wilson, Tracey Laughton, John Lockwood and myself.

To go into the draw to win this card, leave a lovely comment below. I will announce the winner on Monday. Be sure to pop back to see if you have won - the card from 2 weeks ago has not been claimed!

Today's Flash Sale is 20% off Creative Expressions Stamps to Die For. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

Thank You

Hi Bloggers.

Here's today's card -

For the background, I popped a few drops of Flamingo, Amethyst and Limeade Alcohol Inks onto a piece of felt on an Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool and used this to colour a piece of White Gloss Card.

I cut the Spellbinders Symmetry in Space Kaleidoscope Die out of Coconut White Card twice. I snipped away part of the straight line edge on one side of one of the die cuts and glued both die cuts to my background.

I made a frame out of Coconut White Card using Sue Wilson's Double Pierced Squares and Double Pierced Squares Set B. I added it to my background using 3D Foam and trimmed away the excess.

 I cut the sentiment from more of my background paper using the Spellbinders All About You Die Set. I cut one of the dies from the Spellbinders Sunflower Photo Frame Die Set out of Coconut White Card twice and added my sentiment.

I made a flower from more of my background paper using Spellbinders Pinwheel Posies Die Set. I added an embellishment left over from my last One Day Special on Hochanda - made using Clear and Blue Raspberry CS Ultra Thick Embossing Crystals in a mould made from a Wendy Vecchi embellishment.

I cut a couple of leaves from Coconut White Card using Spellbinders Romantic Vines Die Set.

I assembled the card as shown adding an 8mm White Pearl to 3 of the corners and a couple of Coconut White mats.

Lisa Horton is continuing with ther One Day Special on Hochanda today with shows at 9am, 12noon, 4pm and 7pm. I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from the shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night or while stocks last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Today's Flash Sale is 20% off Stampendous Frantage. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

If you're popping over to my website - don't forget to check the Clearance Section - lots of bargains up for grabs on there!

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

For Being You

Hi Bloggers.

Here's today's card -

For the background, I cut the Spellbinders Two Way Street Die by Marisa Job out of Coconut White Card. I popped a piece of Creative Expressions Double Sided Adhesive Sheet onto a piece of Aqua Card and trimmed to just fractionally smaller than the die cut. I peeled away the other backing sheet and added it to the die cut. I rubbed CS Diamond Sprinkles into the exposed adhesive. I matted the piece onto Aqua Card.

I stamped the sentiment from the Justrite For All You Do Vintage Labels Three Stamp Set onto Coconut White Card using Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with CS Silver Shine Detail Embossing Powder. I cut it out using a small die from the Spellbinders Renaissance Tags Two Die Set and cut the corresponding larger die from the set out of Aqua Card.

I popped a piece of Creative Expressions Double Sided Adhesive Sheet onto a piece of Coconut White Card. I cut a couple of flowers from it using Spellbinders Shabby Posies Die Set. I removed the other backing sheet and rubbed CS Diamond Sprinkles into them. I added a Duck Egg Craft Consortium Resin Flower to the centres. 

I cut a couple of leaves out of Aqua Card using the Spellbinders Romantic Vines Die Set.

I assembled the card as shown, adding some White 5mm Pearls and popping onto a Coconut White Card Blank.

Lisa Horton is launching a new One Day Special on Hochanda at 8pm this evening. I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from the shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night or while stocks last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Today's Flash Sale is 25% off all Creative Expressions Gilding Waxes. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

I spent most of yesterday picking and packing website orders. All orders posted from 22nd December till yesterday afternoon will go out today. 

Those of you who subscribe to my website newsletters will be aware that Creative Expressions are taking on the Woodware brand. This is fabulous news. Products included are Jane Gill and Francoise Read stamps (they will also be bringing out new designs), Woodware Tools of the Trade and Sakura. Hopefully, the full list of products that have been taken on will be revealed by the end of January. Exciting times ahead!

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

You mean the world to me

Hi Bloggers.

Well, I managed to get my lie in yesterday - yay! Woke up to the sad new about the death of George Michael. I missed out on going to see him live in the 80's but Kathryn and I went to see him on his 25 tour - brilliant! So many talented people have been lost during 2016, let's hope that 2017 does not follow suit.

We really enjoyed Rogue One - I had already seen it but Nathan hadn't and I was happy to see it a second time.

My Craft Room is tidier now - still not really tidy but my problem is space and too much stuff to fit into it! I'm sure many of you have that problem too!

Here's today's card -

The background is the Pixie Powder Caught in Crystal technique. To recap, I used a piece of Heat Emboss Acetate. I added CS Glue and spritzed with a little water. I then sprinkled CS Pixie Powders over - I used Purple Violet and Teal Wash. I spritzed with a little more water and then sprinkled CS Frosty Dawn Diamond Frost over. I scrunched up a piece of White Tissue Paper, opened it out and added it to my background. I pressed it into the glue using a piece of Kitchen Roll and put aside to dry (4 – 5 hours).

Once my background was dry, I cut the Spellbinders Wagonwheel Kaleidoscope Die out of Coconut White Card twice. I glued them onto my background. I made a frame out of Coconut White Card using Sue Wilson's Double Pierced Squares and Double Pierced Squares Set B. I added it to my background using 3D Foam and trimmed away the excess.

I stamped the sentiment from the Justrite Crysanthemums Stamp Set onto Coconut White Card using Jet Black Archival. I cut it out using a die from Spellbinders Acanthus Leaf Tags and the corresponding larger die from the set. I inked through both dies using CS Phill Martin Decadent Teal Colour Cloud using a Smoothie.

I spritzed a piece of Watercolour Card with water and sprinkled over Teal Wash and Purple Violet Pixie Powders. Once dry, I made a flower from it using a die from the Spellbinders Pinwheel Posies Dies Set and added a Craft Consortium Pearl & Diamante Circle to the centre.

I added a couple of leaves cut from Coconut White Card using the Spellbinders Romantic Vines Die Set.

I finished my card by adding a Craft Consortium Pearl Heart to 3 corners of my frame.

Sorry if I confused anyone yesterday regarding John Lockwood's One Day Special - no one told me that it was starting at 9am! Anyway, apologies if it messed you up. It's still on catchup at www.hochanda.com if you missed it.

Today's Flash Sale is 20% off Distress Marker Pens. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

Boxing Day Boxes

Hi Bloggers.

Well my lie in yesterday morning went totally to pot. I forgot about the brass band! Every year on Christmas Day at 8am a Brass Band comes and plays on the corner by our house - only for about 2 minutes, just enough to wake everyone up! I can tell you, it puts me in a right good mood every time! I haven't a clue who they are or why they do it but it annoys me every time. I wouldn't mind if they did it a couple of hours later - not everyone has little ones and is up at that time.

Moan over! I realised yesterday that I hadn't posted any Spellbinders projects this month so before the month disappears, I thought I'd better fix that. Obviously, I didn't get much tidying done as I was getting cards made but there's always today! Nathan and I are off to see the new Star Wars movie later so I had better get a move on as I also need to start prepping for my next One Day Special on 5th January.

I have a couple of little boxes for you today. They're made using the Spellbinders Box Of Treats Special Occasions Die Set by Marisa Job.

The first one is made from a paper in Lisa Horton's Christmas Paper Pad -

It's a cute littel box - once made it measures approx 2 1/2" x 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" (plus flaps).

This is what the main die looks like -

If you cut and then emboss, the fold lines are scored.

Then, just fold, and glue the side panels and then thread some ribbon through the holes in the flap. Really easy!

I made a second one -

I used Phill Martin's Snowflakes Paper Pad for this one. I also used some of the other dies in the set. The sentiment is from the Justrite Christmas Mini Tags Stamp Set stamped using Cobalt Archival.

John Lockwood is launching a One Day Special on Hochanda today at 9am (change from usually launching at 8pm!) then also at 12noon, 4pm and 2 hours at 6pm. I have just 3 items from the shows on my website but I have popped a 10% discount on them. If you're interested, you can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or while stocks last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

I'm running a series of Flash Sales on my website from today till New Years Day. Today's Flash Sale is 20% off all Cosmic Shimmer Texture Pastes. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight or While Stocks Last. Discount will be applied at checkout.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

Happy Christmas!

Hi Bloggers.

Happy Christmas to you all. Hope you enjoy the Festive Season!

I had a lovely lunch with my Mom and Dad yesterday. If you're in the Stourbridge/Bromsgrove area, I highly recommend the Bell at Broughton. Mom and I had a couple of lovely meals there in August too when my Dad was in hospital.

I confess that I was pretty tired when I got home yesterday as it's 100 miles each way to my parents house plus I ran them to the pub and back. Doing One Day Specials on Hochanda kind of leaves you feeling a bit jet lagged the day after and quite often with a headache. I won't be setting an alarm this morning that's for sure!

Sorry, I don't exactly have a Christmas card to share today but it does feature a Christmas Justrite Background so almost there!

For the background, I ran a piece of Coconut White Card through the Spellbinders Platinum Machine with the Creative Expressions Wild Roses Embossing Folder. I matted it onto Black Card and added to a Coconut White Card Blank.

For the panels, I popped some CS Flake & Glitter Glue onto a piece of Wax Paper. I picked it up onto a piece of Cut n Dry Foam and used it to ink up the Justrite Holly Frame Background Stamp. I stamped it onto Coconut White Card leaving the stamp on the card no more than 3 seconds so as not to tear the card. I cleaned my stamp under a cold tap and then went back to my stamped image. I added CS Persian Dawn Gilding Flakes. I removed the excess using a piece of Rubit Scrubit.

I trimmed the background and cut into 3 panels which I matted onto Black Card. I added them to my background as shown.

I popped a piece of Creative Expressions Double Sided Self Adhesive Sheet onto a piece of Coconut White Card. I peeled away the other backing sheet and added Persian Dawn Gilding Flakes. I removed the excess using Rubit Scrubit. I stamped the sentiment from the Justrite Special Gifts Vintage Labels Twenty-Nine onto Coconut White Card using Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with CS Gold Detail Embossing Powder. I cut die #3 from Sue Wilson's Belgian Background Die Set from my gilded card. I cut dies #2 and #3 from the same set out of the card stamped with my sentiment and glued it to my gilded piece. I matted onto Black Card, added Mounting Cushion to the back and popped onto my card as shown.

 

I added a couple of Craft Consortium Pearl Heart Chain Embellishments to the sentiment panel and a Craft Consortium Pearl to each corner of my background.

Have a Great Day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).

Friends

Hi Bloggers.

Hope you enjoyed the One Day Special shows.

I'm off to meet my parents for lunch today (if I can get out of bed!). With my Mom recovering from her Stroke, I didn't want her to do Christmas at her house and I didn't want them to come to me as my stairs are tricky, Kathryn is away with her boyfriend and his family for Christmas and Nathan probably won't surface until tea time, we're not doing Christmas this year. I'm just meeting Mom and Dad for a lovely Christmas Meal at a lovely Pub today instead (same food, alot cheaper!). Tomorrow, I will be starting a major clear up of my Craft Room. It's beyond silly now - I can't find anything and the cats can't get on the bed anywhere for a snooze!

Here's today's card -

For the background,I stamped the Justrite Winter Wonder Stamp onto Coconut White Card using Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with CS Black Mirage Embossing Powder. I ran it through the Spellbinders Platinum Machine with Sue Wilson's Classic Weaving Die. I also cut the die from a piece of Coconut White Card. I cut the white die cut into strips and wove my background.

I made a frame out of Coconut White Card using Sue Wilson's Double Pierced Rectangles and Double Pierced Rectangles Set B. I added it to my background using 3D Foam Tape.

I stamped the sentiment from the Justrite Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine Stamp Set onto Coconut White Card using Jet Black Archival. I cut it out using die #2 from Sue's Dainty Rectanglular Frame Die Set. I cut the largest die in the set out of Black Card.

I cut the largest 2 dies in both the complete and the overlay styles in Sue's Striped Nasturtium Die Set out of Coconut White Card twice. I pressed the overlay die cuts into Clear Perfect Medium and embossed them with CS Black Mirage Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder. I added a Small Black Circle Dazzler to the centre of the flowers. I cut some leaves out of Black Card using Sue's Swirly Leaf Trio Die Set.

I assembled the card as shown adding Black and Coconut White Card mats and Small Black Circle Dazzlers to the corners of my frame.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).