I'm on the Snowflakes Team at Winter Wonderland and Penguins!

I found out on Friday that I am on the Snowflakes Team at Winter Wonderland! Pretty exciting and cool as it really pushes me to get my Christmas Cards done and to use all the stamps, paints and other really cool crafty stuff that I have collected over the last few years - especially Christmas stuff as that is my favourite time of the year!

There will be a lot more activity on this blog from now on! :) Also, I will add more of my cards to my Etsy shop: JemLou Productions.

So the challenge that is running at the moment on Winter Wonderland is Penguins. You can find all the details as well as some beautiful inspiration from the Icicles Team at the Winter Wonderland blog.

Here is my card for the challenge:

There are two different styles of Penguin, the one in the top left and the one in the bottom right are from Lawn Fawn - Toboggan Together. The one in the top right and the one in the bottom left are from The Greeting Farm - Let it Snow.
The sentiment is also from Let it Snow, as are the hat, bow ties and scarf.
I coloured the background using Copics: BG02, B16, B29 & B69. The snow is texture paste using the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp! I have used this background before! It is from Kathy at The Daily Marker in one of her colour challenges.

The penguins have been coloured with Copics too:

• black - N5, N7, N9
• orange - YR07
• scarf - R27, YG09
• red bowtie and hat - R35, R37
• green bowtie - YG09, G17

I used Ranger Glossy Accents on the orange beaks and clear Wink of Stella pen on the eyes. I also added some Wink of Stella to the tops of the mountains.

The sentiment is stamped in Bamboo Leaves Memento ink.

The white square card is from Envelope Solutions.

Thanks for looking!

Switch up your shades - Power Poppy Challenge - Card 2

My second card for the Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy this month is Hollyberries:

Again I have used the following Tim Holtz Distress Markers: Festive Berries, Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twig, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass.
The Merry Christmas stamp is part of the Poinsettia clear stamp set.
The kraft card is from Envelope Solutions and the red tag and green ribbon is from my stash (purchased long ago!)

Thanks for looking!

Switch up your shades - Power Poppy Challenge - Card 1

The Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy this month is encouraging us to use a medium that we don't usually use. I have nearly the full set of the Tim Holtz Distress Markers, so I decided to give them a try with some of the Christmas stamps.
Here is a close up of my first card:

For the Glittering Glass Santa stamp, I used Festive Berries, Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Crushed Olive, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass.
The Merry Christmas stamp is part of the Poinsettia clear stamp set.
The kraft card is from Envelope Solutions and the green tag and red ribbon I found in my stash (purchased long ago!)

Colouring with the Distress Markers was quite a change from Copics - as I have already a bunch of images printed and cut on watercolour paper I will definitely continue to use this different medium.
So "THANKS" to Allison for suggesting this challenge.
Thanks for looking!

Stretch Yourself Challenge at Power Poppy

I have a new card that is part of a challenge at Power Poppy.

Click here for the link to the blog post.

I used a newish digital stamp called Snowglobe Greetings and the sentiment that goes with it. Here is my card:

The Copics I used were: R24, R26 (reds), E08 (bricks), YG17, YG06 (greens), E00, R20, R22, Y11, YG06 (doll), E31, E71 (bear), BG02, YG17, R24 (presents), E00, R20 (Santa's face), E30, E31, R24, R27, YG17, YG06 (base of snowglobe), T4, T6 (gloves and belt), Y17 (buckle).

I also used some Wink of Stella. The sentiment is outlined with R27.

Thanks for looking,

Power Poppy Rewind Challenge

I have been really getting into Power Poppy stamps! They suit me to a T - beautiful flowers, beautiful script writing for the sentiments and some gorgeous Christmas stamps. Also they come in digital, as well as clear stamps. I now have started a collection of both, I even suggested that I receive a gift certificate for Christmas! :)

So on to the latest challenge that I have joined. Power Poppy are running their Rewind challenge this month, which means that we pick one of the 10 challenges from this year. I chose Gifts from the Heart, as I had coloured this beautiful Glittering Glass Santa before Christmas and I was trying to think of a way to use him. I finally received some Power Poppy clear stamps that I ordered. I was hoping that I would see them before Christmas, but it was not to be - I'll remember to order a lot earlier in the year next year! Regardless, the customer support by Marcella was fantastic! Anyway, there is a sentiment that went well with my colouring and the little gift card that I wanted to use.

Here is my gift card:

The Glittering Glass Santa is printed on X-Press It card then coloured with the following Copics:

Red of Santa's coat and berries - R32, R35, R37

Green of tree and gloves - G02, G05, G07

Green of plant - YG63, YG67

Face of Santa - E000, E00, R20

Top of Santa (hanging part) - Y28

Background - B000

White fur of coat - clear Wink of Stella

The Merry Christmas stamp is a sentiment from the Poinsettia Stamp Set that I notice is still on sale!

I stamped the Merry Christmas in Vintage Sepia Versafine Ink.

The kraft card is from Envelope Solutions. Glittering Glass Santa is attached to the card with foam dots.

I hope to be posting a lot more in the coming year - I am going to work on my shop and I also made a commitment to myself to sit down and make more cards! Also I have a lot of new stamps and things to play with!! 

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Sale - 20% Off and cheaper shipping too!

We are having a Christmas Sale - be ready! ❘❘❙ ON SALE ❙❘❘ 20% off everything in JemLou Productions - just in time for Christmas! Cheaper shipping too. Everything handmade from Australia.

The sale runs from the 14th of November through to the 12th of December, 2015. 

If you spend a minimum of AUD20, then you can use JLPCSALE5OFF and receive an additional 5% off your order.
All my Christmas stock is in the store: JemLouProductions. Here is a link to Etsy On Sale with all the sale prices.
I am trying to add more cards.

Custom Orders:
If you need anything custom for this year, then please get in early! If you want something custom for next year, then also take advantage of the sale - I will do your custom order early next year.

Please come and visit Etsy and see all the goodies on sale for Christmas.

Thanks!

PixScan mat

Last night I used my Silhouette Cameo with my new PixScan mat - it is a new mat from Silhouette that enables you to scan and then cut out images using your Silhouette cutting tool!
I have been wanting something like this for ages, as I really do not like fussy cutting.... :(

So I had digitally printed some La-La Land Crafts images - Catching Butterflies Marci, Handyman Luka and Gone Fishing Luka on to X-Press It blending card. Then I took a photo of it with my iPod (this has to be calibrated for the PixScan software by importing in a photo of a piece of paper printed with a bunch of dots - bit tedious, as it doesn't really explain how to do it until you have made a mistake!)
The photo of your images on the mat needs to be imported into the latest version of the Silhouette Studio 3 software - there should be a PixScan icon in the upper left corner.
Then you just trace around the images and change to cut settings in the Silhouette software, before loading the PixScan mat into the Silhouette cutter and then sending the image to Silhouette to cut.

Here is a photo of my page already cut with the Silhouette, but still on the PixScan mat:

Here is a photo of the images cut out and ready to be coloured:

Overall I think this new mat is a great idea! About time someone came out with it!

If you want to see it on Amazon, click on the widget on the right.

Thanks for looking!