My Creative Spirit (Blog Archive)

Nervana Photo Frame Happy New Year everyone and here's to an exciting and creative 2014.  We've all been snapping away over Christmas and now have loads of photos for projects this year so I thought I'd make a picture frame for one I took of the crafty elf.  A 5 x 7 photo on it's way from the Tesco:-)   Ever the practical crafter it's a simple project and quite masculine for a change, with no frills to suit the photo.  He's going to smile at me through 2014 on my crafty desk lol!!   I used the new papers from the Nervana collection by Marion Smith from Jones Crafts along with the bicycle from her junque and gems packs to bling it up just a touch, and then some of the cut outs from the paper to add the hats and sentiment.  The frame is mounted on foam tape and theres a centre slider that pulls out to hold the photo so it can be changed …….  not that I'm going to do that :-)  Here's a close up of the bottom detail  Supply List ...

District Garment Vintage Layout I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas.  We did, and this year we really were all together as a family for the first time in many which made it all the more special It's been busy in the house with visitors and visiting so I haven't really had a change to take a good look at the two fabulous DT boxes full of goodies that arrived over the last week.  One was from G45 with the amazing new collections and staples being released at CHA in January. which I'll share with you once the sneak peeks have been featured over on the G45 blog, and the second was from the lovely Darren at Jones Crafts  .  Present overload or what!!!!  In Darrens box of goodies was the gorgeous new papers and embellishments by Marion Smith, beautiful buttons by Jones and some other goodies too.  I did manage to grab a couple of hours to myself late one night and put together the vintage layout above using three of the papers from the Garment ...

Key to My Heart Layout - Kaisercraft When Darren gave me this paper collection from Kaisercraft I had the perfect pictures in mind for a lovely layout with a french feel.   A few years ago Harry and I went to Paris and of course Disneyland.  After dropping our bags at the hotel, the first thing I took him to see was the Eiffel Tower.  I'll never forget his face as we walked around the corner to see it looming above us. He'll never forget it either nor the huge Strawberry ice-cream he had standing underneath it.  The pink papers in this collection have a sort of strawberry feel to them too. We had a few days sight seeing in Paris, including a whistle stop visit to the Louvre.  All he wanted to see in there was the Mona Lisa.  Once he'd seen that she does appear to watch you as you move around the room he was ready to go lol!!!   When we arrived at Disneyland, the first thing on Harrys to do list was have his picture taken with Mini Mouse.  ...

Happy Monday to you This was an exciting make.  My first DT package from Darren and the team at Jones & Co . contained one of the Kaisercraft picture frames, papers, stickers and pockets from G45's Sweet Sentiment collection, pastel buttons, vintage trim and Kaisercraft Butterflies.  After looking through all my photos I decided to make a montage using two of my favourite pics.  The first was my mum (middle left) and two of her sisters, taken in 1948 when they were schoolgirls in Clun, and the second was my Aunties wedding (Sheila was 8 in the bottom right picture).  The fourth sister, bridesmaid Loxie was born after the war when the girls came home to Birmingham.  I used Nougat Paperartsy Chalk Acrylic paint for the frame and backing board and then started chopping into the gorgeous papers after stroking them of course:-).  As always placing everything and deciding what went where took an absolute age, but once I'd done that putting it together ...

Helllloooooo  We have two things to share with you today, the first is a big announcement and the second is the launch of our December Giveaway.  Some of you will know and love working with the lovely Sandra, Lorraine, Stavros and  Darren on the Sales side who make up the wonderful team at Jones & Co Nottingham, trade suppliers of top quality Haberdashery and Craft products.  (Darren & Stavros above). Click here to like their page on  Facebook to keep up to date with whats new.  Darren (Sir Darren as he said he'd like to be called!!!!) has been instrumental in setting up the first ever design team for Jones & Co,  and earlier this week I was asked if I would like to join.  How fabulous is that, and with a huge Yes I did.  There are six of us in the team all listed below along with links to their blogs.  Between us we cover a wide range of creative styles and are all really looking forward to getting c...