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

Let's get all cozied up!!! It's chilly outside!

 

Hello Crafty Friends,
Here with a card for Make it Monday #91 - Faux Pockets.  I whipped up a quick card on this chilly autumn evening while my son took a break from his homework.  Today I decided it was time to dig out my mittens, gloves, and hats here in Seattle.  It is getting a wee bit too cold to be without them around here.  Now if it would just snow!  I was born here in Seattleland but was raised until 8th grade in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  And I must say while I love most of our Seattle weather I do crave a wee bit of snow in the winter.  The nice thing about living here is that you can find snow pretty much all year long just by driving into the mountains.  But I also like to have some in the city - a few snow days, some snow cream, a reason to break out the sleds with the neighbors etc.!  But, alas, I digress...onto my card....it was inspired by the mittens I pulled out today for winter.  I decided to grab my Love Lives Here Christmas Dies and create this:

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am off to Nichole's blog to peek at what other's have made!  It is always so fun to see all of the beautiful projects! 
                                     :) Jill

Card Recipe:
Stamps:  Happiest of Holidays and In the Meadow - Papertrey Ink
Paper Products: Papertrey Ink; Amuse (Twas the night paper) and My Mind's Eye
Dies/Impression Plates: Papertrey Ink - Love Lives Here Christmas dies; Peace Be Still Impression plate; Tag Sale #6; Cheery Lynn Designs: Heart die
Other:  Ribbon: May Arts 1/8" red velvet ribbon; Trendy Twine - Krazy for Kraft; glue dots, dimensional tape, button, Martha Stewart Heart Punch


 

A departure from cards for one night...

Hello Friends,
Tonight's post is a departure from card-making.  A week or so ago my little boy Tim said to me, "Mommy, why don't you ever take pictures anymore?  And why don't you make scrapbook pages for me anymore?".   My heart almost broke as I realized after talking with him a little that he misses my taking our special family moments and putting them down on paper with my little notes and thoughts.  I used to do this often from Tim's birth right up until Stuart became so ill and my time and energy were needed so much elsewhere.

So I have made an effort to start taking photos again.  A few here and there to record our lives as they continue to go on.  And tonight I took some of our photos from "Halloween-time" and made a scrapbook page.  The photos are of Tim and I picking out our pumpkins for "Jack-o-lantern carving night 2012" which is a tradition in our home usually occurring the Sunday afternoon before the big day.

This year was our first Halloween without Stuart.  He was always very excited to carve a scary pumpkin each year and we always took pictures in our kitchen as we happily created our Jack and Jill-o-lanterns.  I have many memorable moments of our Halloween's together including these photos from 2010...

 

I caught Tim in mid-flight by having him jump on our bed!  Then I added the caption and sent this to both Grandparents!

 

Anyway....here is the page I made tonight...not my best work but I do like the photos I took a couple Saturday's ago....including a self-portrait of Tim and I that I took by holding the camera out in front of us.

 

Thanks for taking a look...have a good night.

:) Jill and Tim

 

I love Snowmen! And Snow Angels! And Snow Babies....

Hello Friends,
Here tonight with a couple more Christmas cards.  These were made using another stamp from Serendipity Stamps that is new to their Holiday line up this year.  It is a beautiful snow angel holding a glowing star!  You can see (and purchase) the stamp:  HERE!

And here are some additional photos of my cards:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope to have time to re-take the photos during the day.  It has been cloudy the past few days here in Seattle and it is difficult to get good light for photo taking.  I used extra lighting but it just isn't the same as some good daylight.  I am posting anyway because I have a very busy weekend ahead of me and may not be in my craft room again until next week!  Happy Weekend everyone!
                                      :) Jill