Joy and pink jingle bells

Hello my friends,
Today I was painting some items a lovely shade of "Peony Pink" in my studio.  One of those items was a bag of jingle bells.  Some pink paint and a wee bit of glitter and they were all ready for a Christmas Card.  Which brings me to the "Pink, White, and Silver" Color challenge over at the Festive Friday Challenge Blog.  So here is my entry into FFC13:

 I die-cut the WPlus9 snowflake out of my doily and then cut it again in pink, stamped it with a gingham background and inlaid it into the silver shimmer doily.  It is hard to tell in the picture but I really like the inlaid look in real life!  The heart tag is stamped and embossed in silver with a WPlus9 sentiment and tied with some cheese-cloth and pink jute twine with a lovely sparkly jingle bell added.  I struggled with the bottom section of the card and am not sure about the felt heart strip even now...but will let the card ruminate over-night and see if a solution presents itself in the morning.  I think my mojo is gone as I am super tired!!!!!  Too much has happened this week and sometimes being a single parent without my beloved Stuart just wears me totally out.  That is why I was crafting tonight - for some "ME" time! 

Thanks for taking a look and I apologize for my lack of comments in blog land of late....it has been a long couple of weeks!
Hugs,
Jill

P.S.  For those of you that were asking Tim is better finally! And Mommy is very relieved!  There are sure some nasty bugs going around...what happened to the 24 hour and 48 hour flu bugs of yester year?

SUPPLIES
Stamps: WPlus9
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink and Silver Shimmer from Thrift store find/stash
Other:  Felt, Cheery Lynn Doily Die; Papertrey Ink hear border die and heart tag die; WPlus9 snowflake die; cheesecloth, jute twine, jingle bell, stickles,

A special card for a retiring teacher...

Hello Friends,
I have one more card to share for this weekend.  A lovely teacher who taught my son for his kindergarten year is going to be retiring at the end of the school year this coming Friday and we are having a lovely party for her this week after school.  I wanted to make a special card for her to show my appreciation for the very special woman she is!  What a blessing it was to have her teach my son!  I am glad that she will be substitute teaching next year so that we can all still see her regularly!

I used the Shabby Tea Room week 169 as my inspiration again as it was still in my head from Saturday night.  Here is the inspiration photo again:

And here is my card  - which draws inspiration mostly from the pillow and the creamer or small jug sitting on the table:

 I wanted the sentiment to be the focus of the card!  I had that glittery heart sitting on my desk with that little rose and I love the way they look together.  The doily is cut from cream felt and is the Italian Flourish doily from Cheery Lynn Design.  The pink edging around the circle die cut is made with some pink tissue paper which comes inside orders from MFT stamps.  (Thanks Kim! )

 

I love the touch of wood patterned paper at the bottom of the card front which ties in the wood from the inspiration photo.  And some lovely pink lace to draw the eye.  The ribbon is a large spool that I "scored" at the Goodwill near my house. I have a ton of it if anyone wants me to send them some!  I tied a double bow out of it and love the light airy feel it has!

This is the inside of the card.  I love these sentiments!  The "You are simply the best" is from My Creative Time - one of my very favorite stamp companies.  And the other is from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my card!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend!
:) Jill

PS: This card is not linked to the Shabby Tea Room because the challenge is closed.  I just used the inspiration for creating my card.  :)

Celebrate Today....

Hello Friends,
I am in a card making slump...of sorts.  I have several cards started on my desk but nothing seems to be coming together easily the last couple times I tried to steal a few minutes for card making.  However I have been enjoying Spring Break with my little one and celebrating that all week so it has been a good week all in all!  So nice to have some time away from the daily grind to spend quality time with those that we love most.

Today on this lovely Sunday afternoon I have cobbled together a card full of some lovely purple roses.
I drew inspiration from the "Pretty in Purple" challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs and the "Stamp a Background" challenge over at Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.   There are wonderful prizes to be had for each session and I just love the chance to win some new goodies to play with!  Don't you?!  I hope you will join in too!

Here is the card I came up with.....

 I wanted to try something different so I made a tall card instead of the standard A2.  I used a lovely new rose stamp that I won from Serendipity Stamps for a challenge entry a few weeks back.  I was able to order several new stamps with my $20.00 gift certificate and I cannot wait to play with them all.  I used the rose stamp to make a background on the wisteria cardstock mat and then used it again to create the focal point.  I colored the image with a variety of Copic markers. 

I used a new die from Cheery Lynn Designs to create the purple trellis that the rose stamped mat is sitting on.  It is called the Gauze Border (item B305).  The scalloped oval mat is also from Cheery Lynn - item XM-8.  And I made the felt roses using the miniature rose die - B152.  I slid an "I am Roses" purple and white mini rose through the holes in 2 of the rose die cuts to create the flowers for my mini rose bouquet at the bottom of the card and as a topper for my bow. 

Thanks for taking a look...
:) Jill

Seahorse Love!

Hello Crafty Friends,
Summer Vacation from school is around the corner....just 3 1/2 months of school left!  I always look forward to summer time and giving my son's teachers a special end of the year card wishing them a lovely summer vacation.  I was playing around this weekend with some dies I purchased a while back.  A family of Seahorses (I have always loved seahorses from the time I was a little girl) from Cheery Lynn Designs.  Here is the card that I came up with: 

Isn't it a cute family of Seahorses floating along!  I cut them out of the square of Aqua Mist cardstock first and backed the openings with patterned paper to create a shadow effect behind the seahorse diecuts.  I popped up the diecuts and shifted them to the left just slightly so the patterned paper "shadow" shows.  A touch of cheesecloth sprayed with various mists creates the ocean floor with some pearls and sequin shells.

Thanks for taking a look!
Crafty Hugs,
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

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


 

Sending Thanksgiving Blessings....

Hello Friends,
Here today with a card for this week's Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #53 - Give Thanks.

I love Cheery Lynn Designs challenges and their beautiful purple dies.  I have my eye on some of the dies from their newest release including a beautiful angel that looks like this:


This is the Lacey Angel die and I think it is gorgeous!!!!  I just love angels and have so many angel friends and family members in my life that I know this die would get a lot of use by me!  It may become a Christmas gift to myself this year!

For today I decided I wanted to use their beautiful embossed leaf and acorn dies and incorporate them into a Thanksgiving card for my parent's who are once again hosting this year with a lot of help from all of us 7 kids and families.

I decided to go with a negative die cut panel and insert the leaf /acorn die cuts into it.

My die cut panel is a frame die from Cheery Lynn Designs called "Fiona's Magic Mirror".  I think it is just beautiful and perfect with these leaves and a little bit of wild honey distress ink on it to brighten up the edges of the kraft cardstock! 

 

 

 

 To balance out the yellow on the card I added a small scalloped circle die from Cheery Lynn Designs with my sentiment.  The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink Stamp set called: Autumn Hills.

I then added a yellow ribbon and some roses to create a triangle of yellow on the card.  I distressed the edges of my yellow and light brown cardstocks and then used my 1/8" corner chomper from We R Memory Keepers to slightly round the edges.   I took my pictures outside today but it was still gray and overcast here in Seattle so the colors are not perfect....but it will have to do for today!

 

Thanks for taking a look at my Thanksgiving card.  It is hard to believe that it is only 3 weeks away now!  My son loves making cut-out turkey and leaf shaped cookies each year so we may start on those this weekend and freeze the cookies to be frosted just before the big day! 

 

Happy Crafting and cooking all!

: )  Jill

 

Here are some links to products mentioned in my post:

Butterfly kisses....

9/4/12: Edited to add: this photo:

 

Hello sweet blog Friends,

I want to thank everyone that visits my blog and leaves me the most supportive and amazing comments! And welcome to those that have subscribed to my blog too!  I am enjoying participating in challenges and learning new things about this craft that I love.  Your blogs and projects always bring joy to my heart when I visit you!  I think creating is sharing a little bit of our spirits or souls with each other....the beauty within brought to life with our hands...it is an amazing thing to take an inspiration photo or color story and see all of the unique creations brought to life by those that link up!  I am truly loving the experiences I am having!

Last night and tonight I have had just a few minutes to create as I have been busy during my very long days with some house projects that I am trying to finish up before the Seattle rains return.  By the time I am done with my day I just want to rest at night and my mojo isn't humming when I am that tired.  But tonight I was able to finish a sweet little card for the latest CR84FN challenge.  Here is the inspiration photo:

I love this soft color combo but did struggle finding the peach color in my stash.  I do not have cardstock in this color so I went searching through my designer paper and finally found something that fit with the challenge colors in my Prima paper stash.  It is a very small amount of peach but it is there in the background paper. 

The background of the card was created with my favorite stackers from Cheery Lynn Designs. They are called the French Flair Scalloped Large Stackers Nesting Dies.   When I make a shaped card these are the dies that I reach for 9 times out of 10.  I just love them!!!

 I made these sweet little tags with a stampin-up punch.  I had adhered some linen type fabric to some cream cardstock for the owl I made last week.  These little tags were punched out of the leftovers from the owl die cuts.  I like that they are a little bit frayed and "shabby".  I wrote on them with black marker because I wanted this specific sentiment for this card.

 I also made 3 little butterflies using the Marth Stewart butterfly trio punch.  I punched twice and then layered them with hemp twine for antennas.

The Lace Flourish Butterfly die is also from Cheery Lynn Designs. I love the intricacy of it.  I actually have the wings propped up on foam tape in the centers but it is hard to tell from the photos.  I may need to take a side view shot tomorrow and add it.  The heart border diecut from the kraft felt is from Papertrey Ink.

Well that is it for me tonight. I cannot believe that school starts the day after tomorrow for my little one.
Wishing everyone a wonderful school year!
:) Jill 
 

A little Halloween fun....

Hello,
Tonight I took some time to whip together a little card for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #40 - Shaped Cards HERE.  (NOTE:  I also updated the look of my blog this weekend in case you are wondering what seems different....)

I debated on what shape to make but since I was feeling in a fallish mood I opted to take out some Halloween stamps and use the XL-6 Circle-Inverted Scallop Large Stackers Nesting Dies.  Since I decided to go with a Halloween/Fall theme I also took out the new to me D133 dies:  Small Leaves #1.  This is a lovely set of 4 leaves plus the sweetest little acorn die you have ever seen!   I cut them with some kraft cardstock and added some ink distressing.  I am totally in love with that little acorn die (and the leaves too with all their sweet embossed dimension) and you will see that I used two of them on my card below.

Here are some pictures:

 Here is my card.  That stamp is one I got at Michael's several years back and is still one of my favorites.  After coloring it with copics I added an outline and background with my BG10 copic to help the image stand out from the background. 

I made a little bow with some leftover ribbon from some packaging, some hemp twine and the mini-roses die - which is not pictured in my "dies I used" photo below as I couldn't find it when I went to take my picture....hmm...messy craft room right now....YES!

 This is a close up photo of those adorable dimension filled acorns.  I almost wish I hadn't added the glitter glue so you could see the tops clearly - these are just sooooo cute!  I think I want to make a banner with them for a Thanksgiving card next!  I am in love...I would like to get them in all the sizes available but I am on a budget - LOL!!!!  Maybe someday.....

Cheery Lynn's newest flower dies have the coolest centers to be used for stamens.  Here I cut one of the stamen dies out with black cardstock and made a spider with it.  Of course it is a 12-legged spider but hopefully no one will care?!  I think he is cute!  Also do you see the dimension on the leaf die cut out of kraft cardstock behind it - LOVE IT!

I cut the rose leaf trio out of aqua felt and cut one leaf off.  It looked like a cute little aqua bat ( I am definitely going to make one again with black felt and add some googly eyes on a different card) until I added the flower and acorns...I needed the flower etc. on the card for balance - rules of three and all that!

 Here is a picture of most of the Cheery Lynn Dies that I used.  I used the spider web doily die on tons of my Halloween cards last year - it is also a favorite of mine!  This time I cut it out of vellum and added glitter glue as if there were morning dew on the web.

I also used a Papertrey Ink notebook paper die (not shown above) to stamp my focal point and to back my focal point with orange cardstock.  I don't know if you can see it in the pictures but the orange piece of "notebook" cardstock was embossed with the burlap impression plate shown in the photo.  This is one of my favorite impression plates from Cheery Lynn Designs.  I love the XL size!!!!  It is almost 6" by almost 8"!

Thanks so much for taking a look at my little halloween card!  Only 24 more days of summer here in Seattle....school starts during the first week of September!  Trying to make it last.  Hope you are enjoying yours!

: )  Jill

A card for Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #31

Edited on 6-8-2012:  Added updated photos taken with natural light.

Hello all,
Here tonight with a card for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #31 - Make it Manly.  You can find the information about the challenge:  HERE.

Here is a picture of my manly card and the Cheery Lynn Designs dies that I used to make it:

This photo taken on 6-8-12 - natural daylight.

I don't have a lot of masculine stamps so I used a wreath and went with masculine colors of kraft, ripe avocado, dark chocolate, fine linen, and rustic cream.  The card has an old time vintagey feel to it in person...but I don't know that the photo translates it well.  All of the cardstock is from Papertrey Ink.  The only non-cheery lynn die is the banner at the top of the card which is from

Taylored Expressions.   

Below are the Cheery Lynn dies that I used for the square diecuts and border on my masculine card.  Not pictured is the old parchmant embossing plate which I used on the two square mats to give them texture. NOTE:  I will try to get some "daylight" pictures tomorrow - these were taken with lighting in my basement so they do not show details like I would want.

These Cheery Lynn dies were used to create the flower and greenery around it:

 

 A close-up of the flower and other details - photos taken on 6-8-12 with natural daylight:

The flower itself is made from some cardboard paper protectors that are used to ship the cardstock I purchase from Papertrey Ink.  I try to re-use my packaging from all my products as much as possible to be GREEN!

The stamps are from two different companies:  The Square border is from Our Daily Bread Designs.
The wreath and both sentiments are from Papertrey Ink.  Inks: Jenni Bowlin and Distress. The heart chipboard is from Michael's.  The button is Papertrey Ink and the ribbon is from my stash and very old!

That is it for me tonight.  I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the card and the pictures need to be retaken during daylight so I may update this post tomorrow morning.  (If I have time! )  (NOTE: Post updated on 6-8-2012 at 2:34pm.)  I hope you find some time to play along with the Cheery Lynn Designs challenge.  It is a lot of fun! 

                                                Happy Crafting Everybody!
                                                          : ) Jill