Miss You.....A card for the "Twine" challenge at Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.....

Hello,
Here with a quick post of a card that I made over the past few days for the latest Serendipity Stamps Challenge (SSCB#33 - Twine).  

I used the beautiful Dogwood Branch stamp colored wth copic markers.  I also used a lovely sentiment stamp "Miss You!". My twine was stitched around my circle mat which is from Little B dies. The decorative circle mat in green is from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The sentiment banner is from Jaded Blossom and is called "Flag Dies 2".   I love the scalloped edge! :)

And I embossed some vellum with polka dots to lay over the top of my pink glimmer cardstock.  So lovely in person.  I finished the card off with some tiny touches of diamond stickles in the center of the flowers to just add a touch of sparkle.  So much prettier in person.  It is overcast here in Seattle this morning so I took my photos inside....will try for a better photo later today if I have time! :)

Thanks for taking a look at my card......I hope you can play along this month at the Serendipity Stamps Challenge blog!  
Hugs,
Jill

Make it Monday #150 - Window Screen Cards...

Hello Everyone,
Do you ever fall in love with a card at first sight and HAVE TO CASE IT!!!! ?

Well I fell in love with this week's Make it Monday video and the cards that Melissa Phillips made and I just had to try CASEing them...

I used stamps from Papertrey Ink and Paper Sweeties as some of the products Melissa used I do not have in my crafty stash at this time.

Here are my cards:

The tiny feathers sticking out as leaves behind my flower are from a Cheery Lynn Designs Feather die set that comes with a tiny ink well!  Thought they worked great here!  The floral paper is from Iralamija's shop on ETSY. 

And a couple details shots:
I added glossy accents and glitter to the "screen" on this card because of a glue mistake but I love how it looks:

 On these two I turned the "screen" portion in the opposite direction so I could bring the focus on the diamonds in the center of the heart:

Melissa thanks for inspiring me!  I have a ton more ideas buzzing in my head but I already stole all the time I can this morning and am off to some appointments with my son...

Thanks for taking a look!  I cannot wait to go and look at everyone's cards for this MIM!
Hugs,
Jill

The Shabby Tea Room - Week#200 "So romantic"

I am so excited to be guest designing for The Shabby Tea Room for the month of January 2014.  What a lovely way to start the New Year!  Thanks Debbie for inviting me!

The theme for week #200 starting on Monday January 6, 2014 is "So Romantic".  Here is the inspiration photo:

We were asked to create a card/project inspired by the photo using roses.  Isn't this a gorgeous picture?  I love the roses, velvet ribbon, and pocket watch as well as the different papers and decorated tin can at the top of the photo.  So much to be inspired by.

January, February, and March in our family includes the birthdays of all 5 of us girls plus one of my nieces too.  With all of those birthdays to prepare for I decided to work on a birthday ensemble since I need to create several in the next few weeks for gift giving!  Here is what I came up with:

 I created a large Medallion using a Brenda Walton Sissix die as well as a card and tag. 

 The card uses two sets from Paper Sweeties.  The sentiment is from the stamp set called "Occasions".  While the polka dot frame label is from a set call "Beautiful".  The die cuts for the card itself are from Cheery Lynn Designs.

 Here is a close up of the medallion.  It is so much prettier in person! 

 Here is the little tag with a sweet little rose covered cottage.  This die is from Impression Obsession and I love using it for house-warming gifts or really any occasion!

I thought I would take a photo of the medallion hanging on the handle of a gift bag outside too to see if the light was better.  I love how easy it is to dress up a plain gift bag with one of these.  

Thanks for visiting my blog.  I hope you will check out all of the beautiful projects from the design team in the tea room this week and hopefully come and play along with us.

: ) Jill

Have A Very Merry Christmas in almost July...

 Here with a little Victorian Country Christmas spirit in almost July.  For the first time ever I am trying to make Christmas cards all year around so that I will have less to do come December and can relax and enjoy family and friends more during the season.  To this end I have a card this week for the Festive Friday Challenge #11.  It is an element challenge and here is the inspiration photo:

I have a ton of ideas for using tree elements bouncing around in my head tonight.   But I have to say that this card took me a while to pull together as several of my ideas did not pan out (yet!). Needless to say my spare parts box has lots of extra diecuts tonight for future Christmas cards! LOL!  The one thing that did work perfectly was the gorgeous sentiment from Verve that I wanted to use:

I finally settled on using a pine cone stamp and 3 small Magnolia tree diecuts in cardboard and cardstock for my tree elements.  Here is a close-up:

The heart dies are from both Cheery Lynn Designs and PTI.  The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!
Happy Weekend!
Jill

Make Today Beautiful - a card for the Spring Bliss challenge at The Shabby Tea Room....

Hello All,
Last night I whipped up this sweet little ray of sunshine card for this week's Shabby Tea Room "Spring Bliss" challenge.   Here is this week's graphic:

Debbie has asked that we create a card or project inspired by the INSPIRATION PHOTO USING YELLOW, GREEN, WHITE (OR CREAM) AND INCLUDE FLOWERS AND POLKA DOTS!


I had just received the "Make Today Beautiful" stamp set in the mail from Paper Sweeties and decided that this was the perfect challenge to initiate it - ie: get it all inky!!!!

 

 I stamped the rose flower several times on patterned papers and hand cut them and then distressed them with some water and crinkling.  I then threaded some small paper roses through the centers of 2 of the blossoms to create my flowers for the pot.  I twirled the stems around my stylus to add dimension to them.  I stamped the flower pot on designer paper too and then glued everything down and added a few baby die cut leaves.  A portion of a border die cut adds decoration to the pot along with a small twine bow. 

Some polka dot die cut mats using paper from Amuse Art Stamps help to ground the pretty pot of flowers and a few yellow pearls finish it off.  The white mat is embossed with a burlap impression plate from Cheery Lynn Designs -my polka dot embossing folder is too small for square cards - boo hoo!!!   

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I sure love my sweet little pot of flowers....and speaking of flowers I am off to my garden to plant some that I picked up this morning at the nursery near my home.  It is a sunny day in Seattle and that means I am outside as long as I can be soaking up some much needed vitamin D!
As Debbie's sweet stamp set says - "Make Today Beautiful!"!
Hugs,
Jill

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink and Michael's
Stamps:  Make Today Beautiful set - Paper Sweeties
Dies: Cheery Lynn Designs, Papertrey Ink
Other: pearls, flowers, twine, stickles, glue, score tape

Entered into the following challenges:

Challenge: The Shabby Tea Room #163 - Spring Bliss - linked above
Challenge:  Paper Sweeties  Sketch Inspiration #6  
(Note: Edited this post on 4-26-13 to add entry to the Paper Sweeties Sketch Inspiration Challenge #6.)

I Heart You!

Edited to add:  updated photo....1-25-13
Hello Friends,
Here with a card to celebrate Kara's 100 Weeks of Inspiration Challenge.  I love Kara's inspirational posts and her Pinterest file is one that I love browsing over and over again.  I was touched when I spied one of my cards added not too long ago!  Thanks Kara!  Your cards ALWAYS inspire me and I love your style! 

Tonight I went to Kara's Friday Inspiration File and picked this card by Christina Kowalczyk from her blog called My Paper Secret.  I loved this card the first time I saw it and I still do!!!  I decided to put a Valentine's Day spin on it as I have lots of cards to make for family and friends. Here is what I came up with:

(This is the updated photo...please disregard next paragraph - :)
The deadline on Kara's blog is in 8 hours so I took the photo tonight and of course it is shadowy!  I can hopefully retake it tomorrow morning with daylight but until then this will have to do.  I have a major lighting problem tonight as I am in the middle of a purge and re-org in my craft room and my normal lighting area is in the process of being moved nearer to windows for additional natural light.     

I am also entering this in the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge for this week #64 - Sweethearts.  

Thanks for looking at my card.  I hope to add an updated photo tomorrow with better lighting.
:) Jill

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Here with a card for my sister Natalie's birthday.  I used the lovely "Shabby Tea Room Week #148 - Elegance" for inspiration.  Here is the inspiration photo:





I have a new light tent that I ordered as a present for myself this past holiday season.  I posted two photos today.  Both were taken using the light tent.  The first (with the heart tag outside of the heart pocket from Memory Box) is clearer and crisper and has been adjusted in my photo software which in my opinion makes the colors show darker than they are in real life.  The second one has been left mostly unadjusted and is more true to the color the card actually is - ie: aqua mist and vintage cream card stock colors.  However it also is not as crisp and clear in my opinion.  Just curious which one you like better?  I am playing around with lighting and trying to take better quality photos as it is one of the most difficult things for me in our dark and rainy climate.  I think perhaps somewhere in between the two pictures both color and clarity wise?  What do you think?

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

Postscript:  
NOTE:  There was a problem with my card pictures showing on this blogpost for a day after I originally posted it.   Thanks to Deb and Marybeth for letting me know!!!  I finally got the problem fixed at 5:20pm on 1/11/13.  If you visited while the picture was not visible I apologize.  :)

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-e-e-e First Verve-OEL...a little Christmas in August for the Verve Card Carnival

Hello,
Here tonight with a card for the Verve Card Carnival in hopes that I will win their GRAND PRIZE of the full release of all their new stamps!  If you haven't been following their blog hops and all the excitement of their anniversary please check out their BLOG.  There is some incredible inspiration along the way and something will be sure to inspire you to make a card.

I went through my Verve stamps and decided to ink up a Christmas set called Glad Tidings. Here is my card:

I really wanted to get a card entered for the chance to win but I am not sure that I am satisfied with the layout of this card that I made.  I liked the background stamping I did with the snowflakes in the set.  I like the wreath also as it is one of my favorite images but I don't like the patterned paper that I stamped it on and I forgot to emboss the white focal piece that sits on top of the doily and couldn't remove it after I adhered it without ruining the card!  I also don't like the way I placed the flourish...Oh well...not every card is going to be a favorite and I did have fun making it! 

 

I also really like the way the velvet ribbon turned out! Love red velvet at Christmas especially layered like this!

 
Thanks for taking a peak at my card for the Verve Card Carnival!  Hope you get to join in for a chance to win all of the wonderful upcoming release!  They are also having a HUGE sale right now on all of their existing stamps...and I am so tempted to spend a little money....we shall see....I am trying to be GOOD and play with what I already HAVE as it is the playing that makes me happy and feeds my inner bliss!

Happy Crafting my friends!
: ) 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

Watermelon anyone?

Hello - I am here with a card for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #39 - Hot Time in the Summer!
You can find the challenge at this link: HERE

My card is inspired by my son Tim.  Watermelon is my son's favorite summer food and is a BIG part of our summer eating!  As soon as Tim sees watermelon in the store it ends up in our shopping cart and goes back in throughout the summer weeks of grocery shopping.  So when I saw the title of this challenge that is what came to mind and I got to thinking about the Cheery Lynn Dies and how I might fashion a watermelon inspired card.

Here are some pictures of my card....and following that some pictures of how I made it - a pictorial tutorial of sorts if you will...

 Start by making the card base with the English Tea Party Doily Angel Wing.  I scored and folded my card stock and laid the folded edge against the straight side so it would not be cut (as per normal).

I used the oval scalloped stackers to make the pink melon and added it to my card base using a Papertrey Ink melon colored bitty dot paper.  I then cut the middle of the Cheery Lynn heart doily set out of black cardstock to make seeds for my watermelon.

 Here is a picture showing me placing the seeds...

 This QuickStik is the ideal tool for gluing down small elements to your projects!  I could not have glued the seeds down without it!

I then made a "melon" colored rose with a white reverse and cut out some felt leaves using the dies shown in the photo.  I only used the smaller die of the sweet williams dies - center of picture - for the base of my flower.   The flower was made with white card stock and then spritzed with the Mr. Huey's mist.  I left some of the white card stock showing as it reminded me of a rose in my garden that has a white reverse and is so beautiful.  I also liked the way it picked up on the white focal point diecut I used for my sentiment.

 Here is another shot of the finished card. I added a lovely tie and bow with some Twisted Lime Trendy Twine!  I love all of their two-toned twines.  You can find them at Annie's Paper Boutique:  HERE

As I was going to photograph my card I asked my son to hold it for a moment while I adjusted the direction of my lighting....this is what he did with it and I was able to catch him at it....LOL!  I told you he LOVES watermelon - apparently even "paper" watermelon needs to be eaten! After he took it away from his mouth he said "Sorry Mom, I actually put my teeth on your card!"

That is it for me tonight.  Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am going to save it for one of Tim's teacher's next summer as they head into Summer Vacation.  The inside sentiment on a white die cut (I used the oval die again to line the inside) says "Enjoy your vacation" and is also from Papertrey Ink.

: )  Jill

A little Hot Cocoa anyone?

Hi Everyone,
Here tonight with a card I made all about hot cocoa.  Yesterday it was cool and overcast here in Seattle and my son wanted to go swimming (luckily in a heated pool...).  When he got out Grandma Jackie brought him a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows to drink while he was drying off all bundled up in a beach towel by Mommy.  Aren't Grandma's the best!!!!  I think so.  I wonder if Seattle is the only place where you need hot cocoa in the middle of Summer?  Anyway the hot cocoa and marshmallows inspired this card:  

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

Entered into:  Simon Says Stamp Challenge : Anything Goes:  HERE