Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #129

Hello Friends,
Here with my last card of 2012.  I decided to play along with sketch #129 over at the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge blog.  It sounds like some changes are coming to these challenges in 2013.  I am looking forward to seeing what the New Year will bring to Waltzing Mouse Stamps and to the stamping and paper crafting world overall.  This hobby of ours is always growing and changing and surprising me with new ideas and concepts and designs! 

Here is this week's sketch from Edna Morrisedie:

And here is my take on it:

 

The background in white was impressed with the Cheery Lynn Designs Petite Heart Impression plate.
I have started mixing white with cream on my cards for some reason...it just seems to make it POP but I don't know if it is "proper" from a color standpoint?   Does anything go?  Hmm?

I took some liberties with the sketch and still am not sure that this card isn't missing something.  I was trying to use up some items on my desk from some previous cards I had made which is how I ended up with the square card with the die cut French Flair Scalloped shape in it.  I just hate to waste anything if I can help it...it comes from growing up in a family of 9 with very little in the way of extras I guess.  I just can't throw something away if I think I can make a card with it!  LOL!

Thanks for taking a look.  And thanks to Waltzing Mouse Stamps, Claire, and her design team and everyone that participates for a year full of fun in 2012!  I enjoyed myself and was inspired each and every time I visited or participated!

Happy New Year 2013!
:) Jill
 

Happy Birthday Sister...

Hello Friends,
Here today with a card I made for my sister Beth Ann's birthday which is just a few days away.  I was inspired by a lovely stamp set from Serendipity Stamps that I first saw on my friend Marybeth's blog:  HERE.  I saw the lovely card she made with the "Three Dresses" stamp set and I had to go and purchase it.  I have 4 sisters whose birthdays are all in the first 3 months of the year and when I saw this stamp set I thought of them right away.  Marybeth's lovely card and blog post inspired not only my purchase but my card for this post.  Thanks Marybeth!!  I love visiting your blog and seeing all of the beauty you create!  You are an inspiration and a smile maker in my life!  As are ALL of YOU that share this wonderful paper crafting world with me - I can't tell you what a blessing you all are - especially over the past 10+ months since my husband passed away.  Creating helps to fill a huge hole in my heart and seeing all the beauty that people make and share with others is a joy to me.   

I was also inspired by all of the lovely creations and the color story for this week's CR84FN Color Challenge: HERE.
Here is the lovely inspiration photo from the CR84FN blog:

And here are some pics of my card:

 I created a 5" square card and embossed the background with a Petite Hearts Embossing Plate from Cheery Lynn Designs.  I also cut out a French Flair Scalloped Stacker die cut in white cardstock to stamp the dresses on.  I then paper pieced each of the dresses using Kaiser Kraft's "The Lake House" paper pad as well as a lilac colored paper from the Boho Chic line - very old Making Memories paper.  I edged the die cut with copic V12  - pale lilac and then distressed the edges of the lilac color with some Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar ink - one of my all time favorite inks!

I also added some shading and coloring to the dresses with copics: E31, E71, and V12.  The sentiments I used are both from Papertrey Ink.  I kept the overall profile of this card flat as I have to snail mail it to another state.  I finished the card with some lace and a 10lb hemp twine wrap and bow.

I am entering this card into the Serendipity Stamps challenge:  SSCB#2 - Winter Birthday.  I hope that my card will count?  I did not use a "winter" themed stamp but it is for a winter birthday.   And of course into my favorite color challenge over at CR84FN - CR84FN69: HERE.  Thanks for taking a look at my card!
Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year!
Hugs,
:) Jill

Some Christmas Gifts I made....

Hello Everyone,

I thought I would share a few little gifts I made during the month of December:

 I often crochet flowers while waiting at different appointments that occur during my week.  I made these two a while back.   I decided to add some felt centers as well as sewing a felt backer on each to create a slide on pocket in the back so they would attach to and decorate some basic headbands.  The felt slide on pocket in the back means that it can be removed and placed on a different headband or used as a flower pin on a coat or sweater or hat for decoration.  These were given as a gift for a 5 year old friend of mine. 

 Below is a scarf that I crocheted for the same little girl.  She had gotten a beautiful new bright turquoise coat and this yarn matched perfectly.  I made two little felt and yarn pins to decorate the scarf or she can use them separately on her coat or a sweater etc. if she wants to. 

Thanks for taking a look at my little gift projects! 
:) Jill

A little white and cream....

Hello Friends,
I hope you all had a wonderful and joy-filled Holiday season!  I have been away from my blog for several weeks now due to a wide variety of reasons I won't go into...but I am very happy to be back in my craft room and finding some time to create again.  And I am looking forward to finding some time to come and see what everyone has been creating over the past few weeks.

I made a card for the Papertrey Ink December 2012 Blog Hop.  Here is the inspiration photo collage from Nichole's Blog:

I needed a sympathy card and was having trouble focusing on creating one so I decided to use this for the inspiration to complete one:

The sentiment is from "Sending You". 

Thanks for taking a look at my card.  I am looking forward to seeing what others came up with too!

:) Jill

Frame by Frame...feeling a little trigger happy today...

Hello Everyone,
Well I finally made a card for a Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World.  I think this may be my first ever entry into a challenge in the lovely Moxie-Land!!!  Or my second???  I have watched for a long time, watched and hopefully learned a little bit of something....still learning all the time and having fun doing it.

Here is the trigger photo:

Image Credit

I love to crochet and how I would enjoy making these frames! They are so very sweet!!  For some reason when I looked at them I thought of snowflakes falling..unique shapes each...drifting down.  And soft texture....so I thought FELT!!!

Anyway...here is what I came up with...a birthday card for a very dear friend.  It is a dark, rainy, cold and ugly Seattle day so this is the best picture I could come up with - I apologize for the color and lighting in advance!!!:

 

The sentiment says:  "Wishing you a cozy Winter Birthday" and is from the Papertrey Ink set: On ice.

Buttons, Felt, Sweet Blush Cardstock - Papertrey Ink.  Teal Dot Cardstock - Bazzill I believe - from my stash of 12 x 12 cardstock.  Sew Mini machine from Janome.  The sewing is supposed to symbolize the wind tossing the snowflakes around....either that or you can chalk it up to sewing with a badly bruised finger....more on that later...

 

Thanks for taking a look at my card. 

Here is one other card I made today - for Christmas:

 

This card uses a new Christmas stamp set called  "Stitched Stockings" designed by Lisa Johnson of Poppie Paperie for MFT Stamps.  I am loving this set!!! So fun for very quick Christmas cards with lots of style!

 

That is it for me tonight.  I am in the process of re-covering my dining room chairs and I hit my pointer finger with the hammer a couple days ago so card making (and sewing on my machine) is a wee bit on the painful side right now...as is typing...

so...

nighty-night...

see you in blog land soon...

:) Jill

 

Thinking of you....

Hello,
I made a card for this week's Make it Monday #93 - Splitting Die Cuts.  I had this idea, as soon as I saw the video, of creating a frame with the straight die cut piece from the new Shape Up Series -sweater die collection. 

Well I must say I had somewhat a comedy of errors while making this card.  I was able to create the frame pieces from the die cut quite easily having cut lots of trim pieces for my house when I first purchased it back in the early 1990's.  However - when I went to glue the frame pieces onto my card I didn't have it centered correctly and had to move it around which left some glue marks on my card.  After some creative trimming and layering, as well as some strategic glitter glue placement, I hope that you cannot tell?  (Why do I have such hard time just throwing the card away and starting over?  It is just paper after all???)  It is the whole "waste not, want not" from my childhood and the recycle/reuse thing also.

Alas....my card:

The coloring was done with colored pencils and as always I will preface by saying coloring is not my strong suit - AT ALL!!  The jute bow tied through the card was due to a hole that I created by accident....I told you - comedy of errors while making this one!!! I just added a second hole and tied the jute through the card and made the long bow.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I just love this Winter Hills stamp set!
:) Jill

Wanted Magic Hat! And one CRAZY Dr. Suess Based Card....

Hello Friends,
Today is the November 2012 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop.  And the inspiration is all about using cover art for a jump off point in your card (or project) making.   I really struggled with my card today but I loved the inspiration cover that I chose:

 

(source Pinterest) 

 

A book that my son and I read quite often around this time of year!  And don't you just have to think of Jim Carey when you hear the word Grinch now a days? 

Anyway here is my card...I won't go into how many problems I had making it but I will say that it made me work outside of my comfort zone and I would probably do much better on the second attempt if I still had some time to play!  Alas after hanging lights outside this afternoon and coming inside to steal some card making time for myself I now must go and make some dinner!

Anyway I hope my card makes you giggle a little!  More than likely you will just laugh out loud like I do each time I look at it!  

 

 

Happy Hopping!  Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I hope to spend some more time later tonight looking at everyone's cards.  I only had time to peek at a few this morning.
                                     :) Jill

How much liberty can I take with a sketch?....

 

Hello and Happy Saturday!
I hope you are enjoying your weekend and if living in the USA I hope you also enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday!

I am here today with a card for the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #125

Here is the lovely sketch:

When I saw this sketch I wrote it down in my sketch notebook and then flipped it 180 degrees.
It then looked to me like two trees standing up in the forest...and my brain went...ahhh Christmas Trees.  I asked myself - just how much liberty are we allowed to take with a sketch before it is too much?  This may be too much!!!!  But as inspiration is such a wonderful thing and as as I am TOTALLY in Christmas Card and Tag making mode right now I quickly pulled out my Waltzing Mouse "Vintage Banners" stamp set and came up with this card:

The sentiment is from Seasons of Love tags and says "Hearts ALL come home for Christmas".  I love this sentiment - one of my all time favorites!

 

Anyway I am not sure if my card will count but there it is nevertheless!

And I still have all week to play with this sketch so you never know...maybe another card idea will pop into my head this week.

Thanks for taking a look!

:) Jill

 

 

Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh....

Hello Friends,
I have another Christmas card to share tonight.  This one combines Waltzing Mouse stamps, Papertrey Ink's one horse open sleigh die, and a spellbinders rectangle die along with some buttons and floss and some Papertrey Ink papers.

Note:  Creating the reins (sp?) for the sleigh was a happy accident...I added the button to cover up a line on the die cut that was an error during die cutting.  I was thinking it could be the horses saddle or traces.  I then got the idea to put thread through it extra long to make the reins.  I added stickles silver glitter glue for the runners and the horses  harness.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!
:) Jill

A little snowman love...FMS62

Yesterday evening I went through a container of Holiday papers and picked out an adorable snowman paper to make a card with.  I saw this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches #62 and decided to play along...I ended up flipping the location of the shape to the left hand side and moving the sentiment down to make the card work with the paper I chose...I was trying not to completely cover up the adorable little snowmen.

Here is my card:

 I used a icicle border die to add borders to my piece of pattern paper and "iced" them up with some stickles diamond glitter glue.  I then made another border piece to layer over the diamond pattern paper to place my sentiment and embellishments on. 

 The die cut embellishments are a pine frond also edged in stickles and a snowflake from the new Taylored Expressions snowflake dies with a small gem added to the center.  The sentiment is from a Waltzing Mouse Stamp set called "Very Vintage Christmas".  The snowman paper is at least 1 or 2 or more years old and is from "Best Creations Inc" and is called Winter Wonderful Item#GP441.  www.bestcreation.us


Thanks for taking a look at my card. 
:) Jill

We are so THANKFUL for your hospitality....

Edited to add:  So honored that this card was chosen as one of the three Top Mouse picks for the November 17, 2012 Blog Hop!  Thanks Waltzing Mouse Stamps!

Hi everyone,
My second post for today is a card for the November 2012 Waltzing Mouse Stamps Blog Party!  The theme this month is:  GRATEFUL.  And here is the card that I came up with:

I started by embossing a rustic cream cardstock base with a Cheery Lynn Designs Embossing plate called "Old Parchment".  It is one of my favorites!  I selectively inked the beautiful tree from the set "Blessed by You" to fit it within the opening of the largest Opera Tag which I die cut from some terracotta tile cardstock.  I then added the small stamp from "Seasons of Love to create a border at the top of the opening and to frame the partial sentiment "Thankful for your".

The full sentiment is:  We are Thankful for your hospitality and draws your eye through the card from the upper left to the lower right.

Some button twine, some border stamping on the bottom of the card, and a wee border of glitter glue around the opera tag opening finishes off this card which I am giving to my parents who are hosting Thanksgiving at their house this year.  I am still working on the place cards but hope to share them on the blog if I have time before the big day.

Thanks for looking at my card!  Happy Hopping!

So much beautiful inspiration over at Waltzing Mouse today!

Love it!

:) Jill

Sleigh Bells Ring....are you listening?

Hello,
It is a very rainy and cloudy Saturday here in Seattle.  I cannot believe how dark it has been all day....but it gives us an excuse to stay inside and get cozy....especially after my son and I took a walk along the local creek to view the salmon spawning.  We made it for an hour before the rain once again dumped on our heads and we had to run for the car.

Now that I am home and all cozied up (and dried off again) I decided to make a card for this week's Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #124.

Here is the lovely sketch inspired by Karin Akesdotter:



And here is my card:

I just finished it and the glitter glue with additional Martha Stewart glitter on top still isn't dry but I wanted to get this uploaded before I started working on my Waltzing Mouse blog hop card of Gratitude.

Thanks for taking a look!

:) Jill

Wishing you a Sweet Shabby Christmas...

Here with a card for The Shabby Tea Room - Week #140 - Sweet Shabby Christmas.  Here is the beautiful inspiration photo chosen by Lenet:

I just love this photo!  I wish I had some trees like this at my house! So fun!

I am in total AWE at all of the GORGEOUS projects at the tea room this week - those by the designers as well as those of you that have already uploaded a creation!  Gorgeous isnpiration from everyone!

I was so inspired by this beautiful photo...here is what I came up with:

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  It sure came together quickly! These are my favorite colors and I go through more of these color cardstocks than anything else in my stash.  Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, and Vintage Cream or Oatmeal Cardstocks.  So soft and alluring.  Love them!!!

                                 :) Jill
Links to most of the products used in my card:
Not shown: inks - Kraft PTI, heart punch, heart border punch, cardstocks (Papertrey Ink / MFT Stamps)

The 6 Tags of Christmas...

Hello All,
I made a sweet set of simple tags tonight on some oatmeal cardstock using kraft ink, some diamond stickles glitter glue and my new rectangle dies from Lil Inker Designs.  All of the incredible stamps are from Serendipity Stamps:  HERE.  I used some sparkly gold twine for the ties and just love how elegant these turned out.  It is a very dark and rainy day here in Seattle so I did the best I could with the lighting for the pictures: 

Thanks for taking a look!  The pictures don't do them justice!  They are gorgeous - I just love how beautiful Serendipity stamps are.  More to come!  Happy Holiday Crafting!
                                                                :) Jill