Papertrey Ink August 2013 Blog Hop

Hello Friends,
Here with a card for the August 2013 PTI blog hop!  Here is the inspiration I chose to work with:

This is the only card I have made this whole weekend and I struggled from beginning to end!  I do not craft well when I am overtired!  LOL!  And for some reason having to follow the sketch and color story was making me struggle even more when you would think it would be the opposite!!!  I think I need to add a dark brown mat behind the sentiment panel or something!  This would be a great card for the Stamp-A-Faire remix I think because to me something is a wee bit off!!!  But at least I made something!  :)

Enjoy hopping around!  I can't even get to the in-linkz list to upload my card or to see who has uploaded because Nichole's site keeps going down on me.  Maybe I can hop around and look tomorrow! 

Good Night!
:) Jill

Stamp-A-Faire 2013 - Opening Color/Sketch Challenge

My sister Natalie with her first ever card and my son Tim on Stamp-A-Faire Day 2013

Hello Friends,
Did you all have fun crafting this weekend - either at home or away as part of Stamp-A-Faire?  I had a grand time though in all honesty I didn't actually make a "whole" project yet.  I just dabbled and played with tea-dying, paper clay and shrink art mainly and then spent the rest of the day outside with my son playing with the neighbor kids and enjoying the last of the summer weather here in Seattle.

Tonight I have been having problems accessing Nichole Heady's blog "Capture the Moment" to try and upload to the Stamp-A-Faire links.  I keep getting an error code and the site then goes down.  My computer and every other site I am using are working fine so it may be that Nichole's blog is experiencing problems or that we are all trying to watch videos and/or access/upload at the same time and the sight is going down from that? 

Anyway I am going to just share a little bit about my Stamp-A-Faire day with you and not worry about adding my items to the in-linkz lists on Nichole's blog or about uploading the color story and sketch photos that we chose to use.  :) 

I was blessed to have one of my sisters, Natalie, come over to spend the morning with me in my craft room.  My sister Natalie is a wonderful painter and artist but is not familiar with stamping and card-making.  She needed a birthday card for her husband so I enjoyed showing her how to make a card and do some stamping for the very first time!  We giggled a lot and I laughed at myself because I am not used to telling someone all of the little tips and tricks that I have learned over the years!  My lack of teaching skills resulted in a few mishaps along the way but for a first attempt I thought Natalie did extremely well!  Most importantly we got to have girl time together (while crafting which is a bonus) which is what sisterhood of any kind is all about!  Here is a picture of her inking up and stamping for the first time!

  
Here is a picture of her finished card:

And the inside:

The stamps on the inside are not PTI stamps.  They are wood stamps that sit on a stand on my desk all the time and are some of my favorite "inside the card" sentiments.

Did you tea-dye any fabric?  I thought I would share what my fabric looked like before and after:

I love the tea-dyed color that I got and cannot wait to make something.  I started a card but to be honest I was tired and couldn't seem to create anything.  So I took a break from creating and my sister and I went outside to visit for a while before she needed to leave.  There is always tomorrow....and the next day...and so on.

I want to thank Nichole and all the wonderful team members at Papertrey Ink for such fantastic inspiration!  The tutorials and videos were so much fun to read and watch!  I still have not even seen everything!  It is wonderful to have so much inspiration available for free anytime I want to refer back to it!  My son's favorite part was of course shrinking the plastic with my heat gun!  So fun to watch it change before your eyes!!!  I couldn't take a picture because I was helping him do it! :)

I have seen a few of your posts and it looks like lots of fun and visiting was done by all!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Jill

Stamp-A-Faire Creative Retreat 2013 - Friday Night Meet and Greet

Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to take a moment to say hello from Seattle, Washington. Tim and I are so excited to be taking part in Stamp-A-Faire 2013.

  It was so much fun last time that we couldn't wait to take part again!!!

 Here are some pictures of what I have been cooking up so far in my kitchen tonight while Tim is fast asleep:

 A little bit of tea-stained muslin is "curing" on my stove-top tonight and the smell of tea permeating my kitchen was heavenly as the cooler air begins to make these late summer evenings a little bit chilly! 


And in my crafty basement cave -

On my newly painted craft table (that I built earlier this year) sits all of my delicious Papertrey Ink goodies for creating come morning! 

I love my baby utensil holder that I re-purposed from another area of my craft room!  All ready for some yummy smelling "scratch and sniff" cards using my new "Scent-imentals" stamp set!  Cinnamon anyone?!!!!

 And a slightly larger view of my basement craft room:

 

 I am so excited to learn some fun new techniques from the wonderful Papertrey Creative Team!

See you tomorrow!

:)  Jill

Happy "belated" Birthday Marybeth!!!!

Today a group of wonderful ladies and friends are sending a TON of Super SWEET (slightly belated :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to our dear friend Marybeth over at
Marybeth's Time for Paper!
  
Marybeth is just one of the sweetest bloggers on the web!!!!  She always has such wonderful things to say about everyone's projects and she extends the hand and heart of friendship in all that she says and does.  I feel blessed to know her and call her friend!  Happy Birthday (a little bit late) Marybeth!!  You are a true blessing in my life!!!
May God shower your life with blessings this year and always!



I love Marybeth's design style!  She has a fresh and clean approach with wonderful little touches that make her cards special each time!  For example I love her use of sequins and embellishments!  They always add that sweet extra touch that makes me oooh and ahhh when I visit her blog and see her beautiful cards.   : )

This card is for you Marybeth!!!

I used my new Papertrey Ink "Scrolling Script" stamp set and dies for the "Wish Big" sentiment and focal point.  And I also wanted to use my new Lil Inker Circle Dies as I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them so much!!!!
The little cream banner behind the sentiment panel was made with a Cheery Lynn Designs Die.  And the border at the bottom is a die from Impression Obsession.  

 I love the swirls of these sentiments!  :)

I finished the inside of the card with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle mat in pink and a Happy Birthday sentiment from Studio G (not pictured).  And I just had to add a little bit of "Diamond" stickles to the front of the card to finish it off in style.  And the pearls were the final touch!


 A big thank you to our friends Joyce and Cathy for organizing this lovely "Happy Birthday" blog hop for our dear Marybeth!  I hope you enjoy hopping around to see all of the birthday goodness that awaits!  You should have arrived here from Jeanne's blog and I am sending you off to visit with Kara.


Here are all of the links in case you get lost along the way:
Joyce

Cathy

Ally

Bev

Bonnie

Carol J.

Carol S.

Christina

Darnell

Helen

Jeanne

Jill   (you are here!)
Kara
Kelly
Kim
Lisa
Nancy
Renee
Sharron
Sue
Tracey
Vickie

Happy Birthday again Marybeth! 
   Hugs, 
  Jill

Merry Christmas my boy....FFC15 - Children's Theme

Hello Everyone,
I am here tonight with a card for my son this Christmas.  I was excited when I saw the theme for the current Festive Friday Challenge #15 which is to create a holiday project with a Children's theme.  Here is the inspiration photo:

Last year during a sale after Christmas I purchased a sweet stamp of a little boy decorating the Christmas Tree from Lili of the Valley stamps in the UK.  This was the stamp that came to mind when I saw the challenge theme.  I knew I would make a card for my son this year for Christmas using this stamp...and here it is....

I am slowly trying to learn how to shade and blend using Copics but I am a rank amateur compared to the many experts I am enjoying watching over on You Tube.  I think this stamp is adorable and it reminds me so much of my son decorating the tree with my husband and I when he was little.  I loved the way all the ornaments would be put on the lowest branches of the tree by him!  It was so sweet to watch the glow in his eyes as he gazed at all of the neat ornaments he was putting on the tree - many that he and I had spent hours painting and glittering while Papa was at work.  This stamp brings back those very precious memories to me!  What a blessing!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I hope you get a chance to join in these lovely holiday card making challenges over at Festive Friday!
:) Jill

Butterfly Kisses...

Good Morning All!  And welcome to my new subscribers here at Greenwood Girl Cards!  How nice of you to join me!  :)

I am here with a card I whipped up last night for the Serendipity Stamps Challenge #17 - Butterflies. 

I used their lovely Butterflly die to make my vellum and pink card stock butterfly covered in glitter.  The sentiment is also from Serendipity Stamps and came in one of their lovely grab bags from the sale they have going on right now over at their website.  I remember my little boy loving to give butterfly kisses to Mommy with his long eyelashes!  Such a nice memory - and he still has those long, long eyelashes!  :)

 I seem to be on a "pink" kick this summer but will see if I can deviate for my next card! LOL!  Thanks for taking a look!  I so appreciate you sharing some of your valuable time with me!  Have a great day!
Crafty Hugs,
Jill

God Bless You!

Hello Friends,
Another quick post....this is a card I made to send to a family member who could use some special blessings.
It uses a Lilli of the Valley Stamp from the UK

The rose and cream digital paper is from Iralamijashop on ETSY and the Gingham is from Prettiful Designs and is part of a pastel gingham pack of digital papers which is on sale for $1.25 today.

Thanks for looking!
:) Jill

Candy Canes 5 cents!

Hello Friends
Here with a card for the Festive Friday Challenge #14.  It is an Element Theme Challenge which requests that we include a candy cane on our project.  Here is the inspiration graphic:

 And here is my card:

Thanks for taking a look!  There are lots of gorgeous holiday cards over at the Festive Friday Blog so I hope you will go and check it out!  It is so fun to be getting my Holiday cards ready throughout the year instead of rushing at the last minute.  I have a huge family and I will have a special card for each person on my list come Christmas time!  Yay!  :)
Crafty Hugs,
Jill

Happy Birthday Paper Sweeties! - Sketch Inspiration #10

Edited to Add:   8-9-2013:  So excited to find out that I am this week's Friday Featured Fan over on the Paper Sweeties Blog:  HERE.
Thanks so much Debbie!!!!  :)

Hello Friends,
Here with a special Happy Birthday card for Debbie at Paper Sweeties today!  It has been a wonderful first year of sweet and adorable stamps from her company Paper Sweeties!  I am sending this card off to her to commemorate her first year!  It is a wonderful thing to have a dream and follow it and Debbie is an inspiration to me both in The Shabby Tea Room and at her lovely company Paper Sweeties.  Thanks for all you do Debbie!  And Happy 1st Birthday to Paper Sweeties and continued success and blessings to you both!

I based my card on the elements of the Paper Sweeties Sketch Inspiration Challenge #10.  Here is the sketch:

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  Happy Creating!
Hugs,
Jilll

Supplies:
Stamps:  Abigail Stamp Set - Paper Sweeties
Card Stock:  My Favorite Things
Papers:  Digital from various vendors - floral is from Iralamijashop on ETSY
Other:  Bling Bow - Fee Fee's Splendor: ETSY; Ribbon: stash; Flowers: Michael's.
Twine:  stash.; copic markers, ribbon: vintage from ETSY

Happy Wedding Day....and Happy Anniversary Paper Sweeties!

Hello Everyone,
I am having a lovely afternoon in my craft room today as my son is at day camp all day today!  It is super quiet without him here though and I miss him already!!!!  LOL!   But it is good for him to go and have fun with lots of other kids his age.  Today they are having a Reptile Man bring lots of animals to see and Boeing Astronomy will be there to show the kids the heavens.  They are also learning fire safety as they will be having a special cook-out later this week!   I cannot wait to go pick him up in a few minutes and see how he enjoyed the day.  I stayed long enough this morning to watch them open camp with some singing:

They are in a lovely wooded area near our home and I am glad that they have lots of shade as it is supposed to reach 85 degrees today which is hotter than normal for Seattle. 

Since I had some time to craft I made a card for my husband's cousin Natalie who just got married last weekend.  I am late getting it off to her but I think sometimes it is fun to receive things when you return from your honeymoon too!  At least I hope so! 

I used The Shabby Tea Room's latest challenge  - "week #178 Lazy Days"as my inspiration.  Here is the inspiration photo:

This week Starr is our creative host and she asks that we create a card or project inspired by the COLORS FROM THE PHOTO AND INCLUDE A METAL ELEMENT!

 My metal element is the stickpin at the top left of my card.  I used stamp sets from Paper Sweeties.  I just love the wedding sets that Debbie has in the shop.  And it is Paper Sweeties 1 year Anniversary too!  Happy Anniversary Debbie!  I look forward to many more years of creating with your beautiful products!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am off to pick up my sweet boy!
Hugs,
Jill

Happy Birthday Popsicle Lady!

Hello Friends,
Here with a quick card share.  It is my beautiful and sweet Mother's birthday today!  She is truly the loveliest woman I have ever known and I am so honored to call her my Mom!  Happy Birthday Mom!

My Mom is known for handing out popsicles in the summertime especially after a day spent swimming and playing in the sun.  Here is the card that I made for her using the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #91 - Hot Time in the Summer for my inspiration.  I am also linking to a challenge on the CC Designs Blog.  Challenge #2.

I used the CC Designs stamp:  Birgitta with Popsicle and created the sentiment on my computer.  The sweet scalloped layer that Birgitta is stamped on as well as the paper mat behind it in bright pink are made using the Cheery Lynn Designs Rectangle-Scalloped Card Stackers.  I love the small scallops on these dies and use them often when I am coloring larger sized images.

The little pink "blingy" bow in her hair is from my new favorite ETSY shop - Fee Fee's Splendor.  So fun to add these to a card for gift giving!

 My son and I are on our way over to spend the afternoon with my sweet Mom right now.   Thanks for taking a look at my card!  Happy Weekend!
:) Jill

Edited to add:   It looks like I missed the deadline on the card challenge by 4 minutes...bummer...so you won't see my card linked over at the Cheery Lynn Blog this week!  Oops!  They changed the deadline to Saturday afternoons...boo hoo!  :)