Personalized Cards

Well, back to England tomorrow for a visit. Setting of early hours and catching ferry at 15.45 , it's going to be a long day. I'm sure it will be worth it when I see my friends and family. 

Recently sold several cards to a shop in Turre so hopefully that will be a regular order. 

I had several commissioned cards this week so I thought I would share them with you all.

As everybody knows I love House Mouse decoupage, I spend hours cutting and glazing. 

I tend to use stencils on quite a few of my cards as I love the effect. This is a clarity stencil , with a Lavinia fairy  stamped onto it using memento black ink.

Last week I made some of my own stencils which I showed you in my last post. 

Well I suppose I had better pack and have an early night. 

Take care and keep crafting Julie x

Good afternoon.

My last post showed you some cards I'd made using stencils. I don't have many so I thought I would make my own and this is what I came up with. 

I used clarity card so that I could rub the ink into the image aswell as using my brushes. Make sure you tape your stencil down using low tack tape as they can move about quite a it. I used dies to cut the shapes but you could do it free hand with a Stanley knife. ( they are not called Stanley knives but I couldn't remember but you know what a mean lol)

Well here are some of the finished cards,at the last event I went to they requested sympathy cards.

I just love how they turned out and got carried away and made 12 in total. My favourite is the card with all leaves just so simple and elegant. Anyway hope you like them take care stay safe and keep crafting love Julie xx

Magical Fairies

Hola, 
                      Busy day today finally got time to blitz my studio. When we moved into the villa , the previous owners left lots of books and knick knaks. Today I boxed them all ready for my market stall on Saturday. I now have lots of storage for my crafty stash.
Saturday will be my first market stall in Spain and I'm really looking forward to it. In England stall fees could be quite expensive and sometimes it was hard work making a profit, in Spain they charge a very small fee which makes it easier I hope to make some money.
I used my clarity masks and stencil brushes to design some backgrounds for these cards. 

I love how this card turned out,I was asked to make it for a friends son. I then decided to use my masks again and create a few fairy cards. I'm going to make these again but frame them for one of my spare bedrooms, but change the sentiments. 

Anyway off to bed I go another busy day tomorrow. Take care and keep safe love Julie xx

Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful

Good evening, 

Quiet day today spent most of my time in my craft studio. Yes I have my own studio how fab is that. Im hoping to eventually hold my classes in this room as it very spacious. 

When I start my market stall in February I'm going to promote some classes I already have a couple of ladies eager to start. 

Today I'm going to share one of my house mouse cards. The sentiment is from stampin up. 

Sorry my pics are rubbish lol . Hope you have had a good day. Stay safe and keep crafting Julie xx

Gardening in Spain

   

 

Good evening, just a quick email today.
If your new to my blog , I love crafting but last year I moved Spain. This blog is to keep my friends updated and to post my crafty makes.
We have a really big garden and decided today we would make a start and make it ours. We went to the local garden centre and bought some trees and potted plants.
The garden already has some well established palms and climbers. Pomegranate trees run along the periphery of the property by the pool. So we decided to plant a clementine and nectarine trees.
I love geraniums and daisies so to add alittle colour we purchased some of those. 

We named the nectarine tree Nigella and the clementine  Charlie. 

Pictures  of the pool I've planted some large daisies in the pots  near the fence but pictures don't do them justice. 

Anyway got to go and tend to all my scratches from cutting down the bougainvillea. Take care Julie xx

Sunday market in Villaricos

Hi happy Sunday, hope you are all well. Today we decided to travel to Villaricos which has a huge market and lovely views of the coast. The weather was glorious and we had a long walk along the coast line perfect afternoon. Starting to settle in Spain now and loving the lifestyle. Hope to post a few cards over the next few days . Keep safe and keep crafting x

A few pictures of the gorgeous harbour and of course a cheeky beer, purely to cool down . Xx

It's all about the men.

Hi as I posted earlier it's a bank holiday here in Spain.

All the shops are shut so perfect opportunity to chill out and craft. ( Athough I never need a reason to craft).

I really enjoy making male cards, I feel you can keep them simple and still be very effective.

Products used are Stampin up Guy Greetings and Traveller stamps.

Clarity stencil and alphabet . 

Stampin up ink.

Red and white card Stampin up card.

Hope you find some inspiration. Take care and stay safe Julie xx

Three Kings

Good afternoon, 

       Today we are having a chill as its a bank holiday in Spain. Today they celebrate 3 kings day  which is similar to our Christmas Day. 

Los Tres Reyes Magos literally means "The Three King Wizards", but is usually interpreted to mean "The Three Wise Men" or "The Three Kings".  Their celebration day (January 6th)  is refered to as "Three Kings Day" or just "The Day of the Kings".

As you may know the Three Kings, Balthasar (Spanish = Baltasar), Gaspar and Melchior (Spanish = Melchor) arrived twelve days after the birth of Jesus, bearing their famous gifts of gold, and frankincense and myrrh.  

As such in Spain, this is the day that people give and receive gifts.   And as children in the United States and other countries might wait with great anticipation the arrival of Santa Claus, in Spain the children await the arrival of the Three Kings.

On January 5th in most Spanish towns is the "la cabalgata" (the calvacade) which is a parade marking the arrival of the Three Kings.  The Three Kings ride on floats throwing candy to the children.  In the Canary and Balaeric Islands the Three Kings arrive by ship!  

After the parade the children return to their homes to prepare for the arrival of the Three Kings.  They place their shoes on the windowsills and fill them with straw, carrots and barley for the donkeys of the Three Kings.  Sometimes they might also leave some food for the Three Kings.  The next morning the children wake up early to open their presents. Although the children like all of the Three Kings, their favorite is Baltasar because he is the one who it is believed actually leaves the gifts.  This is also the day that adults will get their presents although of course these are not delivered by the Three Kings.

What ever you do today enjoy it . Take care and stay safe. Jx 

Do you believe in fairies?

Well today hubby was supposed to collect new glass for our snug room, unfortunately hubby locked us out last week and needed to kick glass panel in to get inside the house.

Houses in Spain are very difficult to break into as they have metal grills up at the windows and grills on some of the inside doors, thankfully we would have had to replace the glass panel anyway as the seal had been damaged by previous owners. 

Whilst he's out thought I would share another card.

This card is using Stampin up foliage stamps and Lavinia stamps

I'm still waiting for my glitter and liquid pearls to finish. 

Hope you like it. 

Take care and stay safe xxx

Lavinia , clarity and Stampin up

Good morning ,

                     Today I thought I would share a picture of a card I made a few days ago.

 In February I'm going to run a stall and hopefully earn alittle extra pocket money to pay for my craft addiction.

Not sure how my cards will go down in Spain so trying to make a variety .....

Everyone who knows  me I love house mouse so here is alittle cheeky house mouse Easter card. 

Hola, new year new blog.

Good evening, I've been asked to keep my blog updated by some friends so that they can continue to follow my new life in Spain.
Moving to Spain has been exciting and upsetting. Living in Spain for 4 months has certainly flown past. Hopefully you will all share my ups and downs .
Crafting is a big part of my life and I will share my makes and hopefully inspire you .
Please comment on my posts if you are able as I love reading the feedback.
 Let's begin today we have been searching for a garage as we had a message on the dashboard telling us to contact the workshop.
We found a garage , if you have ever lived in Spain you will know the Spanish do not excel in customer service or rush to deal with your problem.
Anyway showed the message to the mechanic who then proceeded to empty our boot with no explanation, apparently we have a tank in our boot for adblue fluid which is needed for the emissions. The mechanic then decided to serve another 3 customers whilst we were waiting lol who says a man can't multi task. Well 1 1/2 hours later we were done.
We decided to have a look in the surrounding area called Vera, and Mojcar which was gorgeous.
Spent a few hours walking along the beach collecting shells.
I'm going to start a stall in February selling my makes so watch this space. Take care keep safe xx

Perfect pennants

Good evening  

       I hope you are all well, the stamp set I want to share with you is Perfect Pennants from stampin up. I'm in the process of updating my display boards for my next workshop so I've made a few cards using this stamp set and I've really enjoyed it the swings are so sweet.

I love the sentiment life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful, how so very true. Take care and keep crafting Julie x

Shrinking Stampin up

Well I'm blogging this post from the bath lol...... I've had a productive day prepping for my March workshop I'm trying to be more organized  hence why I'm trying to finish projects earlier than they are due.Julie Kettlewell suggested this at the last training , she preps everything on a Monday for a Tuesday class rather than what I would do and prep on the day of class. I have several Easter stalls lined up so at least I can focus on them after my prepping is finished.

I can't share too much as I'm making the ladies several little gifts to inspire them to think outside the box with their stamp sets. 

Have you every wanted little embellishments for your cards maybe a duplicate of your favourite stamp set but smaller well you can. 

By using shrink plastic you can make those embellishments to match your card or even make a pendant for a necklace or earrings to pop into a card.

I use the love is kindness stamp with staz on ink and stamped onto shrink plastic. You have to stamp cut and colour quite quick as you don't want the image to bleed. 

 I'm really pleased with how they turned out but I can't tell you what I'm making as its a surprise for my ladies.

Shrink plastic is great for making scrabble counters for your cards just make sure when you are cutting leave a nice gap around the image.  Isn't this saying so appt "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful".  If you notice on my picture there is another saying from stampin up this is for an extra special gift for someone.  Quick tip if you are going to use shrink plastic it's much easier and you get a better finish putting them in the oven rather than using a heat tool. Anyway must go take care and keep crafting Jx 

Guy greetings

Well I've had quite a productive day. I'm trying to update my display boards for my first crop day on the 21st February and prepping for my workshop on the 28th March.

This week I seem to have only made male cards but I do enjoy it. 

Guy greeting stamp set and outward bound papers have been used in these projects. 

I've used the naturals card again which seems to suit this male theme.

On this card I cut extra hats and added dimensionals to make a few of them pop. Crystal effects on the raised hats just sets them off.  Well I had better place another order for these papers if you would like any products from stampin up just let me know. Take care keep crafting Jx 

Adventure Bound

Good evening, I received my adventure bound papers on Tuesday and couldn't wait to have a play. I was lucky enough to buy the guy greetings stamp set which go perfectly together. 

I knew as soon as I saw the papers with the wool design on I had to make a jumper and shirt card. So I made two lol 

Then I wanted to use the log effect papers with the guy greeting stamp set and this is what I came up with. The papers are such good value and size. Everyone who knows me knows I love making male cards. 

I used the natural white card to stamp on which I think goes really well for male cards. Well hope you like them take care and keep crafting. Jx