Thursday, October 25, 2012

Paper Crafting Tips and Tricks Week: The Journaling Cards Challenge

I love these challenge weeks that Cath hosts on the Moxie Fab World Blog! I won't be able to do all the challenges, but this one really inspired me. Cath says: 'Created as journaling prompts for layouts, journaling cards aren't just for scrapbookers any more'! The challenge can be found here. Even though I don't have any journaling cards, I found this one which was for free download on the Internet. Now, I'm wishing I did have some because the possibilities are endless with them!



This is the card I made, using Hero Arts Stamps. The roses, from the Pattern, heart and flowers set CL596, have been embossed and painted with distress ink dried Marigold. The whole sentiment reads: I am thankful for... YOU, which is part of a sentiment which I stamped.



As I had some scraps over, I thought I would use a journaling card to make a Tag too. The sentiment reads, I am thankful for... the little things, which once again is part of a Hero Arts sentiment.



26/10 - Then, I actually did find a journaling card in my stash, so I thought I would make it into a little love-letter for my DH... The writing is on the back of course... This little heart is from Hero Arts too, never used it until now.

31/10 - I have a couple more Journaling cards to share, so instead of creating another link, I'm adding them to this one


and this one


And I made this one which was a case of one of my Blog friends Hellemor's cards, for theStitching and Sewing challenge, which can be found here

I stitched around the edge and then turned the panel over before I adhered the stamped panel and I stamped a faux zigzag HA stamp at the bottom.




Quote from the blog:
All hail the latest and greatest special issue from Paper Crafts magazine! With its roots in the PC101 column found in every edition of the regular magazine, Paper Crafting Tips & Tricks gives you 6 moxie creative ideas on how to utilize products and techniques in your paper crafting and then shows you 6 additional ways to incorporate those ideas into actual projects.  All totaled, there are 252 inspiring ideas, and we're going to be celebrating along with Paper Crafts Connection all week long!

Today's challenge is squares, which I love working with for grids, but I don't think that is innovative enough for Cath! Will have to thank about that one.

Jacqueline

Kitchen tips



I had to share these with you! Did you know that Jamie Oliver has a new series of programs called '15 minute meals'? I watch them daily because this man inspires me to like cooking! From two programs, heres what I have learned:

- Now and again we can all eat a Rump steak, right? When you buy your meat, make sure you buy it THICK, don't buy the thin slivers! Why? Because they will cook right through too quickly. This is how he did it. He put oil into his pan which he has on full gas - he sprinkles the board with salt, pepper and 5-spice (which I believe is Ginger, paprika, coriander, curry and cumin, could be wrong...) and puts the meat into the spice which picks it up on both sides. Then he puts it into the hot oil and turns EVERY MINUTE for four  or five minutes. This is too avoid the moisture that forms on the bottom of the meat dampening the oil.
Yesterday I noticed that the shops sold thin slivers of Rump steak - which is odd, living here in a cuisine country!

- Second tip was how he savored his chicken filets. He put four or five on kitchen paper. Sprinkled salt and pepper over them and fresh Rosemary. Then he closed the kitchen paper over the top of the meat, and bashed the filets lightly with a roller pin. Why? So that the rosemary gets 'bashed' into the meat to give it more flavor. Liked that one!

Thirdly I noticed that he slices his asparagus with a potato peeler and eats them raw, on salads. Never knew you could eat them raw, but it is logic! I love raw mushrooms too.

Fourthly, he was preparing a salad with that very thin angel hair pasta. He doesn't boil it in a pan of water. He put hot water from the kettle into a bowl and puts the pasta into it for three to four minutes to swell before its ready.

To save time with a potato dish, he slices them in his Kitchen machine, peel and all, cooks them for 3-4 minutes and they are ready to go into the oven together with onions and cream!

To remove the stalk of a Paprika, just push it in and then pull it out!

Never use oil or butter in a griddle pan - the beauty of it is that the meat cooks in its own fat, which is healthier.

Such a clever man, I really like him.


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Vineyard colors

A couple of posts down I posted this photo and I've always wanted to make a card that reflects the colors of the Vineyard in Autumn.



Well, I found a stamp which could help me with that, called the Cling Leaf Spring from Stampendous, CRP180.
Here are a couple of cards I made with it.



This is more CAS style, but the orange comes out better on this one. I am entering this one into the Less is More Challenge this week which is Autumn. The challenge can be found here.



This is what the cling stamp looks like for those interested. I think it will be so versatile, one to use in all seasons!!


Edit: 24/10 - Adding a little grid card I made from the left overs and entering it into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which can be found here. The challenge is leaves.

Hope you are enjoying your week! I am enjoying the lovely weather. The lightfall in the evening on the mountains is just breathtaking! So enjoy this time of the year!
Jacqueline

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Christmas Tags from Wine Labels

Dear ladies,
I had made a Video to show you how I make one of these tags, but unfortunately is was too voluminous and the technical knowledge here in the house is just not sufficient to get it on the blog!

I made lots of these in different colors with the wine labels my son brought home for me.This one is stormy sky blue. I used a snowflake and Holly stamp to decorate the background. The dove is from Hero Arts which I stamped and embossed on the back of another wine-label as the quality of these little canvases is just top notch! I have just one label left which I am going to scan to make some more as they will be my Christmas 'card' for this year.


This one uses bundled sage distress ink.


This one uses Victorian Velvet. If ever the video can be converted I will put it on my blog.


And here they are hanging up waiting to be sent out in December!




Until next time!
Jacqueline



Monday, October 15, 2012

Winner give-away


Thank you all for your lovely feedback. Random org gave me nr. 3 today, which is Ros Crawford! Congratulations Ros. I will send you an e-mail.
I picked a second number, which was 3 as well :), so I had to pick a third which was 18 and that is Laura Jane. I will be sending her a little something.
Ros if you would be looking for inspiration in using these stamps, here is a handy link.

(Above picture - the vineyards in October near our home)



Saturday, October 13, 2012

Merry Background stamp and a give-away

Today I want to center around this beautiful Christmas stamp from Hero Arts: Merry Background S5531.


Here I used it for a Fall card. The beautiful leaf was a gift from my Russian friend Maria. I used my favorite distress ink color: bundled sage.

 


I treated myself recently to this Bird stamp from Stampendous. I had been looking for a nice bird stamp for ages and when I saw this one, I thought, thats it! Here, this stamp is used to create a Christmas background, stamped with Stormy sky.


This third card is another one using the Bird stamp but with a different background stamp. This one is an old one from Hero Arts, called the Misty Flower Pattern. I used my favorite definition stamp for the sentiment.


And lastly, this Christmas card using a variety of Old and new stamps from Hero Arts. The first wreath which is called the Leaf wreath is layered by the Berries stamp in the set CG363 Poinsettia & Berries from HA.



And now for my giveaway:

 This stamp set is called CL596 Pattern Hearts & Flowers.


If you want some ideas on how to use these stamps just look at the Flickr Gallery under this thread.
Just leave me a comment and I will choose somebody on Monday. I might not use Random Org this time, we will see. 

Have a lovely weekend!
Jacqueline

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tuesday Trigger - Val de Victorian

This is this weeks Trigger inspiration photo. The challenge which Cath at the Moxie Fab World gives every two or three weeks can be found here.


and these are my interpretations, because when one idea comes to mind, a second can follow! The sentiment mimics the slope the houses are on, which I did for the next card too. This is one of my favorite Hero Arts stamps at the moment called Floral Blossom. I used distress markers and pads and sprayed with water to give a muted effect. As you will see, the sentiment I used is from the same give-away I have further down this blog post.


My second card is the Flower Swirl Vine which was my original idea. This stamp does not get used enough really but I thought it was ideal for this challenge. I used distress makers and pads once again and the same sentiment.



Now I wanted to share a little thought provoking encouragement to my fellow sisters in the Lord.
I was a little discouraged lately. How full of compassion the Lord is to help us. I was sifting through some papers and found something which I want to share with you. Derek Prince is the Author.
Quote
The example is Gideon sitting behind the wine press, threshing the wheat and hiding in utter discouragement. The angel came to Gideon with the unexpected statement, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (Judges 6:12). Gideon surely looked around to see whom the angel was talking to, because he was cowering in fear from the Midianites. The Lord had to change Gideon's picture of himself before He could do anything with him.
The same is true of us. If we can't look at ourselves through the eyes of faith, then we are scarcely eligible for God's service. A wrong negative picture of ourselves will frustrate everything God wants to do for us unless we view things in a different light. Discouragement is a spiritual attack and we need the full Armour of God to counter attack it.
Unquote
I will stop there, because I think this says a lot already. Lets try and look at ourselves and each other through Christ and believe in the gifts He has placed within you - you probably have more to offer in this world than you ever thought you had!

Finally, I have a give away, again. I won a 50 dollar spending spree at Hero Arts in July. After three weeks my package had still not arrived, so I sent an e-mail to May to tell her. Within the day she had sent it again via Fed-Ex and it got delivered to my door in four days, hows that for service!! In the mean time, the original set of stamps arrived! May has kindly let me keep them so I will be having three give-aways in the coming weeks.



This is the stamp set which you could win. Please leave me a comment so I know you are interested. Picking a winner on Saturday!
Have a lovely day!
Jacqueline




Sunday, October 7, 2012

Winner give-away



Just wanted to share a little arrangement I made this afternoon with the leaves from the Vineyard that are beginning to show their Autumn colors. I found the black plate and holder at a rummage sale for a dollar, was so pleased with that find. 

I decided to do Random Org and to count all the comments, even those who didn't want to be part of the draw - a comment is a comment... and which number did I get between 1-25 - number 23 which is Marijke. Congratualtions!
Thanks to everybody who joined in, I have another stamp set which I will be giving away soon.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

A give away - FLORAL BLOSSOMS Hero Arts

From this stamp set:
The stamps which are in this giveaway are the bottom two, the top one is why I ordered the set, which I won with the Hero Arts August challenge recently.

Here are some of the cards I made with that stamp - the other two haven't been touched....



This is white embossing on Kraft.



Such a high quality stamp from Hero Arts that gives a perfect stamping finish. I run out of dimensional tape otherwise I would have mounted the focal panel..
Used distress markers and sprayed with water after having distressed white card with Old paper and stamped with Envelope Pattern.


I used the Simple Frame and distress markers for the Floral Blossom image for this Birthday Card.



I have seen that lots of bloggers are making their own colorful envelopes lately. Well  I have been doing the same, heres a photo of just a fraction of them.

For the stamps - all you need to do is leave a comment so I know you are interested and I will pick a winner via Random Org in three days time. I will send a card and a home made envelope as well.
 Jacqueline

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

From the scrap basket and the fourth 'A' - Appreciation

This just fell together when I was mixing and matching scraps - I have that sometimes. Couldn't find any challenge that matched it (usually its the other way round :)) so posting it anyway. Thanks to Sue (Suzz) for the scraps of paper she sent me a while ago - the background panel was from her and I believe she had used gesso on it?


The fourth 'A', which is very late in coming is APPRECIATE!
Now and again I get reminded that my marriage needs more attention than I am giving it.

The last 'A' was how having an attitude to adapt, as a service to the Lord, can have an astounding effect in your marriage. A man has the DNA of being a leader and the woman as being a helper. If these two can fuse together, in their God given roles, a harmonious marriage can result which in turn brings fruit to the Church and society. A good functioning couple brings harmony in the lives of their children too!


Here is Marabel... Quote

"As you grow older you'll find that the one thing to treasure most in life is loyalty and the worst and hardest thing to accept is ingratitude"... were words I heard recently. I pondered over these words... Ingratitude is almost the antithesis of loyalty.
"Maybe it's the age we are living in; but everybody seems so unappreciative and my wife heads the pack"... was another thing I recently heard.

There is no joy in giving, if the receiver is ungrateful. An ungrateful wife is no joy to her husband. They have forgotten those simple words 'thank you".
Appreciation involves two parts - internal and external. First of all, a wife cannot be grateful if she's grasping for her rights. If she feels she has the right to everything, she will not express sincere gratitude. Only if she yields this right to her Creator is she able to fully appreciate her privileges.

Secondly, appreciation from within must be communicated outwardly, by words, attitude, or action. A heart of gratitude must express itself. A thankful person cannot keep quiet.

Don't let your 'rights' keep you from being grateful!

Are you appreciative of the basics your husband knocks himself out to provide to support the family? What about when he brings you a gift.... even if you don't like it? His only reward is seeing how pleased you are. Be very sensitive how you react by telling him how thoughtful he is for thinking of you. You don't have to be insincere about it if you don't like what he bought, but your attitude is so important! A sincere "Thank you honey" will satisfy any husband whether it be for a mink stole or a bag of popcorn! The Biblical admonition "It is more blessed to give than to receive' is so true. Don't keep your husband from being blessed!

Unquote

Well, I believe this was the simplest one of the four, but still important, not to take what our husbands do for granted and to show our appreciation in word and deed to them. I know it encourages my husband when I say thank you for all the things he does -it seems to uplift his spirit and gives him a sense of well being.

I have been very guilty in the past of not showing my appreciation for the gifts my DH brought home. If he brought flowers I would complain that I would have rather had a plant, because then I could enjoy it more by putting it in the garden... only thinking in the practical sense of 'more value for our money'. He has always reacted very hurt to this way of 'practical' thinking and hasn't felt encouraged to bring me home flowers on impulse! I have put a damper on him wanting to surprise me because he was scared I wouldn't like anything of his choice, whether it be clothing or jewelry and that has remained for many years. Now, I don't care what he brings home, I just accept it and thank him for it in a sincere way - it isn't important what it is, it's the thought and the warm heart behind it that I love!


For those interested, I hope it was just a little reminder for us!
Jacqueline