Rustic Wreath Christmas Cards.....

Hello Friends,
I made a few Christmas cards this past weekend using the wonderful Rustic Wreath and A Thrill of Hope Stamp sets from Papertrey Ink.   I love both of these wonderful stamp sets!  They are getting lots of use in my craftroom as Christmas approaches.

I also used a heart tag die and some snowflake dies from Mama Elephant.  And a mint green floral paper from the Sunshine Backgrounds Digital Printable from Iralamija Shop on Etsy.

 

On this first card I layered the wreath 4 times for added dimension.  It is embossed with some shabby green embossing enamel from Stampendous.  I love the glittery sheen this gave the wreath though you cannot see it in the photo.

 This card is a combo of kraft, blue and mint.....so nice!

 Another color combo I love....Scarlet Jewel, Kraft and creamy watercolor paper!

And this one is all rainbow colors with a frosted window affect using the same shabby embossing powders from Stampendous in pink and green.  So fun!


That is it for me!  I hope you all have a lovely Halloween....my not so little guy and I carved a pumpkin tonight....

I cannot believe he is in high school all ready! 

Hugs,
Jill

Happy Birthday....May 2018 Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink

Hello Friends,
Long time no blog....seriously I have been taking a break from all things crafty for some reason...just haven't felt like, nor had the energy for creating AT ALL!  Not normal for me my crafty friends.  However as spring arrived my love of gardening got me out of doors and perked me up.  I love the spring months here in the Pacific Northwest! It is my favorite time to play in my garden.  This year I am adding additional blueberry bushes to my blueberry patch as well as a couple of new floribunda rose bushes.  All of my roses are opening this week and my yard smells like heaven!  Plus I love watching for humming birds drinking from my clematis and the last of my tulips.  Nature is so rejuvenating and rewarding - one of God's greatest daily blessings!

I have several birthdays to celebrate with family and friends over the weekend so I finally entered my craft room and made two cards tonight!  It has been too long since I made a card...LOL!  I might have forgotten how!

Just kidding....

For inspiration tonight I looked at the photo for the May 2018 Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink.

My card below was inspired by the wood trim on the camper and the pale pink lanterns:

Supplies:
Stamps:  You've been framed: oval - Papertrey Ink
Ink:  Fine Linen, Enchanted Evening - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock:  Spring Rain, Sweet Blush, Kraft - Papertrey Ink
Dies:  You've been framed die set: Papertrey Ink;  Sew Sweet Valentine Die Set by Tammy Tutterow for Spellbinders for the felt leaves.
Other:  Embossing folder, Paper Studio Flowers - Hobby Lobby; Copic Marker, digital paper

The other card I made is for my friend Sally's 60th birthday tomorrow!  We are going to a lovely party for her!  I will share that card with you after I give it to her. 

Have a lovely Memorial Day Weekend!  We are so blessed by all of our service men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom!  God Bless them and their families and friends who miss them every day! 

Hugs!

Papertrey Ink 11th Anniversary Challenges: Use Only Dies - No Stamps!

Hello Friends,
Here with another challenge card in celebration of Papertrey Ink's 11th Anniversary

I needed a birthday card for my sister and wanted to create one with an ocean theme.
I used the text blog horizontal birthday die designed by Lizzie Jones for my focal panel. (I love this die!)  I started with a white card base and inked some sand at the bottom using Kraft ink.  I then added some Hawaiian Shores ink to create the water.  I added some die cut fronds using a die I had in my stash on top of the inked area then covered with a layer of vellum.  To finish the card I stacked 3 die cut seahorses together for an embellishment.  A sweet turquoise gem for the eye adds a nice detail.

I like how the fronds show through the vellum.  I was inspired by several of the wonderful designs shown this week during the countdown including the color combo by Stephanie Gold.


Thanks for taking a look at my card!
Jill

Papertrey Ink 11th Anniversary Color Combo Challenge:

Hello Friends,
Here with another card for the 11th Anniversary Challenges at Papertrey Ink. 

This card is for the Color Combo Challenge and I chose to use Heather's card and combo as inspiration:

Here is my card:

Products Used:
Paper:  PTI Kraft Cardstock, Bitty Big Prairie Grass
Stamps:  Reasons To Smile, Tag-Its #3
Inks:  Kraft, Prairie Grass, Scarlet Jewel, Autumn Rose, White  NOTE: I do not have honey nut or olive twist so I added white ink to the list.
Other:  Kraft Foam, twine, glue

Thanks for taking a look!
Jill

Papertrey Ink 11th Anniversary Challenge: Stripes

 

Hello Friends,

Here is my card for today's Anniversary "Stripes" challenge at Papertrey Ink:

 

Product List:
Paper:  Bitty Big Prairie Grass, Stampers Select White Cardstock and Vellum
Stamps:  Bitty Bouquets and Reasons to Smiles
Dies:  Limitless Layers Hearts Die Set, Bitty Bouquet Matching Die Set
Inks:  Prairie Grass, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Lemon Tart, Scarlet Jewel
Other:  Glue, Dimensionals

Thanks for taking a look!
Jill

Papertrey Ink's 11th Anniversary Sketch Challenge

Yay!  It's Anniversary time at Papertrey Ink!  They are celebrating 11 wonderful years of creativity!  Happy Anniversary Papertrey Ink Family!

In honor of the celebration I am playing along in their lovely sketch challenge.   It was super hard to choose what sketch to work with!  I really want to try them all so it is nice that they have a printable of all of the sketches to reference when I have more time.

I wanted to make a cheerful floral "thinking of you" card for a family member and was inspired by Dawn, Lizzie and Melissa's cards and sketches which all contain beautiful floral clusters!  My new Flea Market Florals set was ready and waiting for use in my "new stamps" stack!

  Here are the 3 sketches I drew inspiration from:

It is kind of hard to see in the photo below but I also loved how Melissa added stitching into the holes of the mix and mat die she used and I wanted to try that as I recently purchased this die.  I also loved how the background mat was partially inked:

I tried several color combinations of florals and background colors before I settled on inking my mix and mat die with aqua mist ink.  I wanted it to look like a sky in the background of the Flea Market Florals and provide contrast to my pink flowers and green leaves.  I used a pink pearl embroidery floss to add the stitching in the holes of the mix and mat die. My sentiment is from "Delightful Dahlia Additions".  I also liked the way Melissa reduced her card size so that the Mix and Mat die peeked off the edges of the card.  I reduced my card to:  3 3/4" x 5 1/4". 

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I cannot wait to see what everyone is creating!
Crafty Hugs!
Jill

Make it Monday #276: Kraft and Colored Pencils with a piece of cake.....

Hello....here to share a quick card today that I colored up for this week's Make it Monday hosted by the sweet Melissa Phillips.  I pulled out my Kraft card stock and the "What the doodle: a piece of cake" stamp set from Papertrey Ink and created this birthday card:

This is a wonderful image for coloring. I used my Prima colored pencil sets to color up this sweet birthday cake slice, the cherry, and the plate and fork.  I also used both sentiments that come with this set.  I used the "Let's eat cake & celebrate" sentiment as a border down the right side of my tag die cut (Poppy Stamps) stamped in peony ink.  The "Happy Birthday" was embossed in the same white embossing powder as all of the images.  I used a doily to decorate the tag and added three "frosting" flower sequins from Paper Sweeties for a little shine!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I ended up embossing and coloring several images from Papertrey today so I may get to put together a few more cards this week.  Thanks for the wonderful inspiration video Melissa!  I enjoyed this fun technique!
:) Jill

Papertrey Ink February 2017 Blog Hop: Kindness has a beautiful way....

 

Hello Friends!  I am so excited to be participating in Papertrey Ink's February Blog Hop:

I have so many incredible Papertrey Ink stamp sets that do not get used enough so my goal for this year is to try and use them more often and to participate in blog hops and MIM's as I can.  Today I was inspired by the gold embossing on the black and the color grey as well as the pinks and purples of this beautiful photo!

 I started by embossing Heather's beautiful "Rustic Wreath" image stamp onto a black card stock square using Stampendous Jewel Gold Embossing Powder.

 I then embossed this wonderful Kindness sentiment and sunshine image from one of my very favorite sentiment sets "Choose Joy" in the center of the wreath image.

I chose a lovely grey floral paper from a "Tilda" paper pad to create the background on my true black card base.  I then wrapped the square wreath piece around to the back of the card so that part of the wreath decorates and adds interest to it. I wanted to keep the focus of the card on this wonderful sentiment but still  felt that the wreath needed something textural added to it so I then took a pink watercolor pencil and colored in every other leaf image around the wreath.  I think this added the perfect finishing touch to this simple but beautiful card. I also rounded the lower right corners of the image panel and card panels to add more interest.

 I have to say that I love these images together and may have to make several more of these cards to have on hand and share.  I truly feel that kindness is universally the most important language we all share each day!  And it is one of my "Mom-isms" that is said to my son as he gets out of the car each morning at school:  "Remember to smile and be kind!  They are your biggest gifts to the world each day!". 

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am so happy I got one made!  Yay for Mid-Winter break!  Off to see what everyone else created!
 
Hugs,
Jill

Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future with PTI

Hello Friends:
Are you following along with the wonderful celebration at Papertrey Ink for their 10th Anniversary?
I have a special place in my heart for Nichole and the entire Papertrey Family. The very first set of stamps I ever purchased online was from Papertrey Ink after seeing a card made with their products in a stamping magazine when I first started getting interested in card making.  Nichole's posts on her blog, along with those of all of the design team members over the years literally taught me how to stamp and design cards.  I have come a long way from my early days of card making but am still learning and growing with each card I make. What a blessing it is to have all of these wonderful designers to learn from!
 
Tonight I stole a little time to create and made a quick birthday card for my sister using inspiration from the "Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2010" post at Nichole's blog "Capture the Moment".

I call this a "scrap" card in that I did not cut any die cuts or papers to create it.  I only used existing "scraps" that were laying on my desk.  I always have a TON of leftover cuts after working on designs for the latest Paper Sweeties release that I just finished creating for.  I will eventually sort them into a die-cut file I keep on my desk but I thought it would be fun to make some cards first tonight before my big CLEAN-UP which follows all of my deadlines each month.  My desk always looks like a cyclone hit it by the time I finish! LOL!

Here are the products that I used to create my card:

I love the "Wreath for All Seasons" stamp set and have made many cards with it over the years.  I love its versatility! My favorite stamp in the set is that teeny tiny flower!!!! I added an entire row of them to the base of the card to ground it and two more to draw your eye through the card to the sentiment.  I used my Autumn Rose ink pad on the scalloped die cut to create a kind of rustic inked look by using the edge of the pad and sort of brushing it against the cardstock at an angle.  I like the texture it added to the card. :)

And before I go.....just for fun.... here is a set of cards that I made for the September 2013 Blog Hop:

 Thanks for taking a look!
Happy Crafting!
Jill

Make it Monday #264: Die Cut Stencil Shapes

Hello Friends,
It has once again been a long while since I have posted a card for a Make it Monday!  I often make the cards but just do not get them photographed and posted....life has a way of getting in the way of crafting sometimes as it should! LOL!  Anyway today I was home with a migraine resting and after my medicine finally kicked in I watched Melissa's video and this card idea jumped in my head based on the snowflake version she shared.  Thanks for the inspiration Melissa.  I was thrilled that I got to use the "all is calm, all is bright" sentiment from my new "Christmas Faith" set designed by Heather Nichols!  I love this set so much Heather!!!! I cannot wait to play with this stamp set some more and maybe use the doves for the stencils next!  Such a fun technique!  I took these pictures a few minutes ago at 9pm so even with my OTT lights the greens do not look right!  Sorry....it does look better in person! I thought if I waited to photograph it I might not get this card posted at all. :)

Supplies:
Cardstock:  New Leaf, White
Patterned Paper:  Kelly Green Gingham - digital print
Inks:  Vintage Jadeite; Smoky Shadow

Stamps: Winter Hills and Christmas Faith
Dies: Fancy Flakes; Monthly Moments Journal Card and Journal Card 2 dies;
          Gina Marie Designs - Scalloped Stitched Rectangle Dies
Other:  pop dots; tombow glue, pink lace - vintatge; stickles diamond glitter glue, pink copic marker; sponge for inking

Thanks for taking a peek!
Jill

Make it Monday #229 - Fabric Strip Christmas Trees

Hello Christmas Crafters....
I am playing along with Melissa Phillip's wonderful Make it Monday today.  Her lovely video shows how to make an adorable Christmas tree out of strips of fabric.  I love making small Christmas trees especially to give as gifts to people who are unable to put up a large tree at Christmas time.  It allows them to have the spirit of Christmas in their home or hospital room etc without any work at all.  When I saw Melissa's video I immediately knew that I could create a tree like hers and add it to a spool to make a mini-tree.  Here is what I came up with....I apologize for the picture quality...the sparkly star and the inclement weather here in Seattle were making it difficult to get a good shot even with my OTT lite today....

I found this such a fun project to work on!!!  I used two grosgrain ribbons from Papertrey Ink - Simply Chartreuse and ripe avocado.  (Note: I think that a lighter weight ribbon is easier to work with for this project but unfortunately this was what I had on hand in "green"! )   I also used some gingham ribbon, crochet ribbon in cream and red, various fabric strips from what I had on hand, and sparkly eyelash yarn as my "tinsel"....insert smile here!  :)

The straws I used were some I got on clearance last Christmas.  The spool is one that I emptied a while ago and kept.  I added some cream crocheted ribbon and a decorative pin to it before adding the tree.  I also reinforced the straw on the inside with a 1/4 strip of 110lb card stock that I scored and folded in half length wise.  I wanted to make the straw a little bit stronger since I had bent it several times by accident while creating.

Thanks for taking a look at my little tree.  I loved this technique and have a feeling I will be making many more of these over the next few weeks!  I want to try a card next!  Thanks for a great Christmas craft Melissa! It is my favorite season of the year to craft for!

Edited on 11-3-15:  Adding a better photo:

Hugs,
Jill

Papertrey October Blog Hop Challenge

Hello Friends,
I totally forgot that today was the wonderful Papertrey October blog hop challenge!  But I did have some crafty play time on Friday and had posted a couple pictures to Facebook over the weekend and my incredibly talented blog friend Wanda Guess who blogs at "A blog called Wanda" asked if my post was for the Blog Hop?!  Luckily what I made fit the challenge perfectly so I hope it is okay that I am linking up!

Thanks for taking a look! And thanks to Wanda for reminding me about the challenge!

 These tags use the new "Quilted Winter" stamps and dies plus the new "Tag Sale: Quilted Die".   The holly and berries are a very old die and I am not sure who the maker is? 

Here is a close up view of one of the tags:

This tag doesn't match the inspiration but I love the Victorian Christmas feel it has.....

I need to order some Autumn Rose ribbon though...I was totally out so used pink gingham instead....not enough contrast I think?  But still pretty! :)

Enjoy the hop!
:) Jill

Cards to share....

Hello,
I have some cards to share.  Some were made quite a while ago and I forgot to add them to my blog.  And some were made recently for some dear friends....

Here is a card with a sweet little Magnolia image....and some Tilda papers + a banner die from Penny Black.

 

 A card for my sweet Mother-in-law's birthday.  She loves bird-watching so I thought this was the perfect image for her card. I ordered this stamp from "Crafty Individuals" in the UK.  It is fun to be able to color the birds in a variety of different ways depending on the season.  The sentiment is from Paper Sweeties.

A couple cards for my friend Traci who owns and runs ArtAttackSupplies.com. 

This one uses some Tilda papers and die cuts....

 And this one does too but also uses a Magnolia border die for the banners:

I love that sweet little nest!

And a couple of cards that went out last week to some women that are facing difficult battles with their health...sending extra special hugs to Michelle and Sheila:

 I love this"HUGS" themed stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  It stays on my desk all the time and gets used a lot!

That is it for me today....
Thanks for taking a look!
Jill

Good Morning Stamp-A-Faire 2015 and Bridal Challenge

Good Morning to everyone having fun with Papertrey Ink's wonderful Stamp-A-Faire 2015 event!  Did you see the wonderful opening video?  If you didn't you have to go check it out!  So full of fun!

I love joining in this event each year!  I live in the Pacific Northwest so we get a very early start if we want to be ready to go with all of our East Coast friends - not to mention everyone joining in from around the world!  What time is it where you are?  Here is what I was doing very early this morning to get ready....

First you brew some very strong coffee......then you pour it and add some cream and sugar....one needs all the help they can get this early.....

 Then of course you start to drink it....

And once you feel that your eyes are focusing properly you can head downstairs to your craft room to start joining in the fun....

So here is my first Stamp-A-Faire 2015 card for the Bridal Challenge:

 The sentiment is from "Love and Marriage" and is embossed in silver to match the silver paper I used for the bride and groom die cuts.

I also used the "Night Sky" cover plate in vellum for the background.  To add texture I used some glue and glitter around the edge of the card.  This turned out so beautiful but I had a very difficult time getting a good photo!  LOL!

Thanks for taking a look!  Have fun today! I have lots of out-of-town guests this weekend so I am not sure how many cards I will get made today and tomorrow....but we have until Tuesday morning at 7am to participate so I hope to get a few more made if time permits!  Whatever you are doing - ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

Edited to add: new picture....I forgot his vest, hankie, and bowtie!  Oops!  That is what happens when I craft in the early morning hours! LOL!

Hugs,
:) Jill