Greenwood Girl Cards: June 2015

July Guest Designer: Lin Brandyberry

I want to give a special welcome to our July Guest Designer: Lin Brandyberry! It is so wonderful to have her joining the hop this month! Welcome Lin!

Also the July Kit of the Month is now for sale at Paper Sweeties! Here is a picture of the kit:

Such sweet cards aren't they! And so fun to have the designs thought out for you so you can just have fun assembling them and giving them away. A fun crafty project for a summertime day!

Thanks for visiting me here at Greenwood Girl Cards! I hope all of our U.S.A. friends enjoy the coming Independence Day Celebration on the 4th of July! And I hope EVERYONE is having a very lovely Summer! Enjoy!

Hugs!
Jill

Monday, June 29, 2015

Hugs....

Happy Monday. Over the weekend I needed to make some cards for some very special people. I had recently ordered the "Big Hugs" stamps and dies from Papertrey Ink and thought the sentiments in the set were perfect for my needs.

This first card was made for our wonderful Pastor, Father Jerry, who is being transitioned to a new parish as of July 1st. This past Sunday was his last weekend with us. He holds a special place in my family's heart. He is the person who stood beside us when my husband was dieing from cancer and helped us through the funeral process and beyond. My son also made his First Holy Communion with Father Jerry and has gotten to know him quite well over the years. We will miss him very much and wish him the best as his flock changes once again.

This second card is being sent to my husband's cousin and family in California who just lost their son at 38 years of age after a short illness. I am heartbroken for them. Loss is so very difficult...even knowing that we will all be together again in Heaven someday. I like to think that Stuart and him are together now looking down on us.

Hugs,
Jill

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Hello Friends,
Here with a card for the June Blog Hop at Papertrey. I had so much fun being inspired by the lovely inspiration photo:

My card uses the thinner stripe from the Watercolor Wonder stamp set. I started with smokey shadow ink at the bottom (stamping more than once per inking) and then switched to soft stone ink part way up to get a graduated color affect. I felt the darker lines at the bottom helped to ground the flower.

When I went to stamp the leaves of this beautiful iris from the "Flower Favorites" stamp set I wanted to give them a sort of striped affect or texture so I inked the stamp and then pulled the pad over the stamp towards the top to make this striped pattern. I thought it looked more like real leaves this way. I was using a small square ink pad from PTI in "simply chartreuse" and the pad makes this pattern when you drag it on the stamp. I really like the way it looks.

A trio of bees and some dots of "Diamond" colored Stickles glitter glue for morning dew finish the card off nicely. (I could not find my glossy accents bottle while I was creating....but I did find it later...LOL!) So nice to have some extra time to create in the Summer time!

Thanks for taking a look! I cannot wait to see what everyone makes!
:) Jill

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Celebrate....Make it Monday #215: Bringing the inside out

Danielle is up for the Make it Monday video this week over at Nichole's Blog for Papertrey Ink. I love her idea of bringing the inside of the card out! And since it is summer I am finding a little more crafty time so that I can play along! Yay!

I wanted to ink up my new "Hooray" stamp set (designed by Lizzie Jones!) and use my new "celebrate" word die from Heather's "Good Times" die set. I cut the word die 3 times and stacked them for some dimension. I finished the card with some stacked sequins. The flower shaped sequins are from Paper Sweeties. They are so fun!

It is completely overcast here in Seattle this morning so my picture quality is sad....hoping to retake if the weather improves.

I have to run! I hope you take a peek at all of the wonderful cards everyone has already made.
So inspiring!
:) Jill

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Jam packed with love....

Well the lovely June Pajama Party is over at Waltzingmouse stamps but the fun is continuing - at least at my house where we are celebrating our first day of SUMMER BREAK!!! Yay! Is there anything better than knowing you have days and days to do anything you want?! My little one is over the moon with joy!!! And I am enjoying the change in routine....no rushing to get people to and from school in between working etc. Hooray for summertime!

I have a couple more "canning jar" themed cards to share with you using the lovely "Jar Fillers Jam Packed" stamps and dies from Waltzingmouse. It is a hard set for me to put down as I have a love for mason jars and all things homemade and yummy!

You have already seen this card if you viewed my Pajama Party post the other day....

Here are the two additional cards that I made but just did not have time to finish before the PJ party was over.....

This card features a lovely jar of "clover honey" which I hand wrote on the tag at the top of the jar. A "glue" mistake led me to add a wee bit of "Diamond" stickles to the lid.

A wee bit of chicken wire embossing adds to the country feel of the card. And some "cookie dough" flower sequins from Paper Sweeties finish the card off nicely I think. The centers of them were also dotted with stickles glitter glue. A nice touch of sparkle!

This jar got started with the thought of some grape jelly that I was putting on my son's toast the other morning. I don't often craft with the color purple (hmmm....don't know why?) but I may do so more now as I really like how this turned out! I did some two-tone inking on the jar and then used the same two colors of ink on the labels and tags. A little bit of Diamond stickles and sequins finished this card up nicely too.

By the way the outside white frame on this card is a leftover piece from a previous diecut. I decided to use it to frame the gingham and kraft mats on the card. I like this look and might try it again.

Well that is it for me today....thanks for taking a peek at my cards!
:) Jill

Monday, June 15, 2015

Paper Sweeties June Release Rewind

Hello and Welcome to the "Release Rewind" for Paper Sweeties June 2015 release!

Were you able to shop yesterday for some of the wonderful new stamps and sweet cuts? So many fun items to love!!! This has been one of my favorite releases! There are just so many things you can do with these stamps and sweet cuts dies! Summer crafting here I come!

Release Rewind day is when the Design Team creates projects using the new stamp sets combined with any of the existing products in the Paper Sweeties store.

I have used several previous releases on my cards today:

Sweeties Stand Stamp Set
Upper Case Alpha Stamp Set
Jake Stamp Set / Jake Sweet Cuts
Sweetie Pie Stamp Set

I also used these new releases:
At the Beach Stamp Set
Surf's Up Stamp Set
Let's Go To The Beach Stamp Set

My first card is all about the ice cream bar stamp in the new "At the Beach" stamp set:

I decided to make an Ice Cream Stand and feature the ice cream bar! I plan to give this sweet "ice cream" themed card to my son on his last day of school which believe it or not is today - June 16th! Tim's favorite dessert is ice cream of almost any kind. He loves to get "Fro-Yo" at a little place in our neighborhood and we have been getting it once a week in the unusually HOT Seattle weather we have been having! It is a nice Friday afternoon treat after a long week of school! I think he will love this card! And I plan to take him for ice cream today to celebrate his very last day of 4th grade!

My second card uses the beautiful hot air balloon in the "Let's Go To The Beach" stamp set. It is a scalloped circle card:

This is a 1 layer card but the masking of the balloons gives it some visual dimension I think. I stamped the balloon that I colored in blue and yellow tones first. Then I covered it with a mask and stamped the second balloon which I colored in pink and yellow tones. I then used the balloon mask again to add in my clouds around the balloons. The balloons are colored with Copic markers and I sponged some aqua ink around the balloons to fill in the background. The sentiment is from the "Sweetie Pie" stamp set. A sprinkling of pretty yellow "cookie dough" sequins as well as a "cookie dough" twine bow finishes off this sweet card.

There is more incredible Release Rewind Inspiration to be seen on the rest of the Design Team Members posts. Here is today's link list:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties Owner/Creator
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood (you are here)

And a reminder about our monthly inspiration challenge. Here is this month's graphic:

We hope you will participate! The winner will receive a $20.00 gift certificate for the Paper Sweeties store and a chance to guest design at a future Inspiration Challenge.

Did you know that Paper Sweeties has new card kits? The first kit has a wonderful Tea Party theme! Perhaps you love to create but don't want to purchase stamp sets and matching dies along with a die cutting machine due to the expense?! Or perhaps you are headed on vacation and want to have a little crafty project to take with? If so kits are your answer!!! Debbie puts together everything you need to create the projects shown! All you need are some adhesives, scissors and some crafty time! The kits cost $30.00 but you receive a $5.00 discount if you become a subscriber! You can find the kit by clicking HERE!

Thanks so much for joining the Paper Sweeties Design Team throughout the release this month! I so appreciate all of your lovely comments and visits to my blog and Facebook and Instagram! I hope to see you back here on July 1st when we showcase projects for the July Inspiration Challenge!

Happy Summer!!!!

Enjoy!

Jill

Waltzingmouse PJ Party - Challenge #1: Can it / Pickle It - Spread a little happiness!

Yay! Yay! Yay! It is Pajama Party Time at Waltzingmouse Stamps!

I made a card for Challenge #1: Can it / Pickle It....

I found the sweetest strawberry paper in one of my paper pads for the topper. I tried to make it look like this sweet jelly jar was sitting on a store shelf all ready to be purchased. I love things that are homespun looking and I was going for a "country store" type feel.

Thanks for taking a peek at my card! I sure love my Waltzingmouse stamps and dies! It is so fun to find some crafty time to play along in the Pajama Party challenges! Thanks to everyone that helps to make them happen! I am drooling over the new releases that just came out and the sweet jar filled with doughnuts card, among others, that you will find when you visit the challenge post: HERE.

Not sure if I will have time to make cards for the other challenges but I was determined to at least enter this one challenge for sure this time! Life sure does keep me hopping lately!
:) Jill

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Paper Sweeties June Release Party

Welcome to the June 2015 Release Party for Paper Sweeties! All of the new items that we have been showcasing the past few days are available in the Paper Sweeties store at 8am! Yay!!!!!!

Here are pictures of the sets being released this morning (June 15th):

At the Beach

Surf's Up

Island Time

Let's go to the Beach

Island Time Sweet Cuts

Let's go to the Beach Sweet Cuts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aren't they all wonderful! Summer crafting here I come!!!

A little bit of info about my card....The lovely Emma is wearing the outfit from the "At the Beach" stamp set. I used papers from the "Bella Rose" paper pad (link below). Emma is carrying what I like to call a "sunbrella" from the "Island Time" stamp set. There is a matching die for the "sunbrella" but I did not use it this time. Instead I chose to paper piece the "sunbrella" in the papers of her outfit so that she could be all matchy-matchy! Doesn't she look cute!

The sentiment is from the previously released "Hello Friend" stamp set. And along the sandy beach that she is standing on are some lovely sequin "sand-dollars"! Aren't they cute!!

There is lots more inspiration to see from the Paper Sweeties Design Team. Here is today's link list:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood

We hope to see you back here tomorrow for our release rewind. We will be sharing projects that use the new stamps combined with some of the existing Paper Sweeties product line!

:) Jill

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Paper Sweeties June Release Countdown

Hello Paper Sweeties Friends! It is Day Two of our countdown to the new release and I have another wonderful card to share with you today! All of the products being showcased by the Paper Sweeties Designers will be available for purchase on June 15th at 8am in the Paper Sweeties store!

This card uses the new stamp set "Surf's Up". I paper pieced three surf boards with different design papers and then added some stamped flowers from the "At the Beach" stamp set to the surf board in the center. My sister Joanna is an avid surfer and this card will more than likely go out to her very soon just for fun!

There is a ton more inspiration to be seen....just hop around to everyone's blogs:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood

Thanks for taking a look at my card! I so appreciate everyone's lovely comments!

Hope to see you back here tomorrow for release day!!!!

:) Jill

Friday, June 12, 2015

Paper Sweeties June Release Sneak Peeks

Today is "Sneak Peek" day for the June 2015 Paper Sweeties Release! I am starting off our 4 days of blog hops with a LOT of summer time "BEACH" inspiration! Wait until you see the wonderful sets that are being released for June! So exciting!!!!

The sets being released this month are:

Stamp Sets:
At the Beach
Surf's Up
Island Time
Let's go to the Beach

Sweet Cuts Dies:
Island Time Sweet Cuts
Let's go to the Beach Sweet Cuts

For today I have three similar cards that were all made with only inks and paper! I wanted to try my hand at inking with distress inks direct to paper. This is the first time that I have tried to create background scenes using only ink daubers and ink. I must say it is a fun technique to play around with! And it is rather addicting!

The stamp sets I used on this first card are: "At the Beach" and "Island Time". The various palm tree shapes were obtained by manipulating the palm tree stamp into various positions on my stamp block. This is one of the wonderful things about photo-polymer stamps and allows you to increase the versatility of the stamps you have in your stash. I added a bit of Stickles "diamond" to create the feel of waves and used a copic marker to add grass under the trees. I love the "couple" of starfish!

This next card uses the new sets "Surf's Up" and "Island Time" and it has kind of a "distressed" feel to it in real life that I am not sure comes through in the photo. This time I added some copic marker "dots" to the sand area to give it more interest. And again a wee bit of Stickles "diamond" to simulate the waves crashing on the shore. To create my sun rays I just inked against a straight piece of card stock and kept moving it around. I created the sun shine first and then added inks for the sand and water afterwards. I also colored the trees with copics and blended the areas between the sun rays with more copics.

And this last card uses "Island Time" and "At the Beach" once again. I love this sweet sentiment!

This time I made the sun first with some distress ink. Then added ink for the water and sand. Once you have the background the way you want it you can add your stamping, the palm trees and starfish, and then use Copics to fill in the grass and sand dots. A little bit of Stickles "diamond" provides some water highlights where the water meets the sand.

Well that is it for me today but there is a ton more inspiration to be had from the entire Paper Sweeties Design team:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood (You Are Here)