Graduation Card with an Irish Flavour using Flourishes Stamps

Am back with another commissioned order, for a young lady who earned her degree in Irish and Geography.. a lot of head scratching as to what I was going to make for this celebration! 

Anyway in the end it was a mixture of scarlet ribbon, digi papers, a Flourishes stamp set and the generous help of an Irish speaking lady called Neasa over in Galway - thanks Neasa, I am learning the odd Irish word slowly :)

The stamps are called 'From the Desk of', which you can find HERE on the Flourishes website - another stamp set  from Flourishes which I love and treasure - their designs are timeless! 

The maps I used, were purchased HERE on Etsy, and the inside of the card was also decorated with the same papers, which were muted slightly using image software (numpty here forgot to save a picture, sorry)

Hope you liked this one, I was pleased with it - simple but effective, and I keep using those spellbinder labels - the shape mixes with any of the spellbinder ovals really well.

April Workshop cards

Popping in to share some workshop makes with everyone. To all crafters I met this month, old and new, it was fantastic to meet up and share ideas once again :).

We made two boxed cards this month, the first one was a wedding one using pretty papers, die cuts and embossing.  You can find the paper set here at Nitwit Collections - note I have permission from the digi company to use the papers in my workshop.

Truly Madly Deeply from Nitwit Collections

Doves are from Dee's Distinctively dies (left and right doves and yes the same ones I used on the confirmation card this year - very well designed dies and a great shape suitable for all occasions)

Old Papermania embossing folder

Magnolia Doo Hickey Leaf dies

Posy Patch Spellbinder dies

Next up I used a Mo Manning release available as a rubber stamp or in digi format. The one I used was in rubber from Stamping Bella.

Also used a Cheery Lynn fence die, pretty papers from Bearly Mine (details to follow of where you can source them) and Martha Stewart punched butterflies

The inside of the centre step card:

coloured with Polychromos pencil crayons

and the outside of the box was decorated a little...

Next up was a nautical card (love making these!) using stamps from Flourishes, called a Guiding Light. I notice now that these have been discontinued, sadly, but you can use any nautical stamp and text stamp to achieve the effect below.

Spellbinders fancy framed tags used for the sentiment.

These are the Christening cards made with a memory box pram die (long overdue as I had neglected to use that die for some time!!), embossed patchwork (old Boofle embossing folder but try Crafters companion for the newer patchwork design embossing folders), and die cuts.

Last but not least is this little guy from Melissa at Meljen's designs. I used two digi's combined to create this card (use the PNG file in your purchase instead of the JPEG file when combining images):

Happy Birthday

Little Puddle Duck

During the class I did a demo on how to make shaped card blanks using dies to partially cut a shape from the blank - how this is achieved when positioning cutting dies and cutting plates in a certain place using the big shot.

Here is a view of the shape which pops out from the diagonal scoring position.

I will pop up a tutorial on this soon :)

I am entering this card into the current Meljen's Challenge - Anything Goes

Pop along and take part, as this is a good theme and the images are so easy to use!

Thanks to everyone who came this month and hope to see you all again soon. 

Take care and happy crafting.

Projects from First Workshop for 2014

Hope you are prepared for lots of photos when you land on this blog post! Here are the recent workshop cards we made in Limerick, Enniscorthy and Kilkenny.

Tent card using Penny black image, finished with die cut foam embellishment using a quickutz die, image coloured with Polychromos pencil crayons.

This card has room inside the back of the tent fold for a 'hidden' tag.

I will post  a quick Hougie board tutorial in the next few days on how to achieve a QUICK and EASY tent card from an A5 landscape fold card blank, so keep an eye out for this :)

The next card was made with a pre-coloured digi, available from Meljen's Designs HERE:

The scene was created using a Martha Stewart grass border punch, Cheery Lynn fence die and dotty papers, and Memory box cloud dies.

- the inside of the card (we had a choice of valentine message or anniversary message for this card).

Partial embossing and inking on the next masculine card, using a stamp from Stampin Up an alterations embossing folder. This stamp may be retired but the GOOD news is I found it available as a digi HERE

For the next card we did simple and effective inking on the flower die cut and on the background using cloud shaped paper 'masks'. I will put up a step by step post on how I inked this flower and what inks I used, in the next few days.

 

A New Baby / Twins card made using Lili of the Valley Images:

and the new baby option - coloured in pink or blue for a girl or boy..

Confirmation Card for a boy or girl using the Spellbinders Reverence M-Bossabilities folder (Marion in the Crafty Bride in Kilkenny may have these in stock, so please check with her if you would like one - contact details on the workshop page or the  Retail Corner - Where I buy page).

The embossing on this card was partial embossing again, for a subtle hint of the design, a demo of which was done at the workshops (I will do this on video one of these days when I figure that one out!)

So lots of pictures on this card to show the embossing..

  

There was a choice of an Easter card instead of the sympathy one for those who wanted to make an Easter card, with more embossing and a stamped image from Flourishes stamp range.

Links to some of the products used this month, will be added to the Links to products page - please note that the products are linked by sections, i.e. all dies together..

***

Quite often I get asked what attendees can expect from a workshop day.

The answer is to have fun, pick up tips and help your own 'mojo' - in other words, give you ideas of what you can do with things you already have and learn something new!  For those thinking of coming along, here is some feedback from this month's workshop days:

Thanks to those workshop attendees for taking the time to let me know your experience of the day ladies :)

Thank you Jessica ... had a lovely time today ...please let me know when you r coming to Limerick again - Sharon

Thanx 4 a lovey day in Woodfield & for all the prep put into the cards. Peggy thoroughly enjoyed the day and method of layering cards - Mary

Had a fab day crafting with the very talented Jessica Meyer. Thanks for a great day. Lots of ideas popping inside my head so hope the week ahead will be productive. - Norah

Thanks a mil Jess for a lovely day yesterday. The cards are beautiful. More lovely cards to make and to keep us busy. thanks again, Deirdre.

Really enjoyed today.. Margaret

Hi Jess so enjoyed yesterday. Up at 7 trying new things I learnt. Thank you. Marie

If you would like to attend one of my upcoming workshops, or for more information on workshop dates and venues, visit the Workshops Page.

Any questions, email me at creationsbyjess@eircom.net

Christmas Workshop makes

Popping in to share makes for this month's Christmas workshops.  We are getting stuck in to all things Christmas with the option of some gift box / packaging ideas for those really special gifts!

Today's post will be about all the cards and tomorrow I will post more versions of the tall gable box and an easel drawer box. I have decided to share these before the workshop this month, which I know some of you will like LOL!

I will be updating the Links to Products page with more info on products used, dies, papers, images etc where this are still available. Just need a little time to put in all the links so please be patient :)

Without further delay then, the first project to share is a matching tag and card (good for a man as no frilly things around!) and a nice way to dress up a bottle

My previous post contains info about an offer over at Meljen's designs where Melissa has a sale until November 30th - the snowmen used on the card and tag different size digi images which come pre coloured, so super quick to make up.

And to follow is a card made with a much loved Sarah Kay Christmas image - the card is slightly narrower than A5 with different sized front panels. 

the image was coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

The inside of the card:

The next card is quite feminine and has a 'Country Christmas' feel about it - the digi elements were from Nitwit Collections Holiday Bouquet collection which I adore.  and I am addicted to this spellbinder ornament shape on this card as you might notice LOL!

the same papers used on the inside of the card as the front. The papers are subtle enough to line the card inside and still be good to write a message on..

The embossed ornament shape has a different feel embossed. Sorry the photo just doesn't do it justice - I need more practice!

Some more red - it's my favourite Christmas colour after all!!

This little bear is sooo cute... I haven't used bear images in a long while and I couldn't resist that along with lots of glittered edges...

Above shows the easel card closed and below the easel in the standing position

Muted papers for the inside too, and loads of space to write a special Christmas message..  I will post the box version of this card tomorrow ;)

So another colour combo I use often is blue and white, and I love this cornflower shade of blue especially at Christmas time. The doves were the first ever set of Flourishes stamps I bought and the stamp design is simply stunning.

Lots of die cuts and embossing on this one!

Coloured with pencils again (note to self - paints and markers are being neglected..)

Some new snowflake dies from Marianne D..

Used those sentiment Stamps from The Snowman released by Crafters Companion - fabulous sentiment selection for all of your Christmas cards in one pack. Below is how the card will look closed...

Also note the different pressure used embossing the front of the card and the inside with the same embossing folder - the versatility of the Jus Cutz machine is fantastic and no shims used!

Last but not least is a card  using the Spellbinder ornament die - yep the shape lends itself to so many things, including using with stamps which don't specifically fit the die, like the Angel Trail one from Inkadinkado used below:

This card has white embossing powder heat embossed on purple card, dry embossed snowflake corners and stenciling (the die used as a stencil for stamping the image and for using the distress ink.

Will be back tomorrow with the boxes