The Shabby Tea Room - Week #205 - Sketch Challenge

Hello Friends,
Here with my design team post for The Shabby Tea Room - Week #205.  This week our inspiration is a sketch:

The Shabby Girls are pleased to welcome our sponsor - Paper Temptress!

 

                       This week's lucky winner will receive a $25 gift certificate from Paper Temptress!

I love the beautiful cardstock that Paper Temptress carries.  On my project for this week I used Azalea Mica/Metallic 105lb cardstock; croyogen white cardstock; and vellum.

Here are some additional photos of my card:

 Isn't that Azalea a pretty color?  And though my photos do not show it the shimmer is incredible! It really adds to the cards overall look!

I embossed the vellum with dots - I love the texture and the pretty background it creates. I used my sweet Abigail stamp set from Paper Sweeties and added a nice sparkly bow to her hair!  I had to hand cut her out because I don't have the matching die yet!!! Need to put that on my list!  Though to be honest hand cutting is very relaxing to me.  My sentiment is from the Sending Sweet Thoughts stamp set. One of my favorite new sets from Paper Sweeties! 

Thanks for taking a look at my card today.  I hope you make a visit to The Shabby Tea Room to see all of the lovely inspiration from our guest designers and team!  And then I hope you find some time to link up a project so you can have a chance at winning the lovely prize from Paper Temptress! I hope you will join us!

Crafty Hugs,
Jill

Papertrey Ink - 7th Anniversary Day 3: card #2

Hi All,
Well I made one more card for the Day 3 challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  There will be 7 winners randomly selected to win $70.00 gift certificates to their store!  Yeah!  I love gift certificates!

Here is the card I made.  This one took me just over 16 minutes because of the fussy cutting and dimensionals that I used - but I still made it in under the 17 minute deadline!  Barely!  I LOVE the look of this image. It was also from the free printable.  This time I used Melissa Bickford's lovely artwork!  Thanks Melissa!

Here are some additional photos:

Glorious dimensionals!  :

Thanks for taking a look at my card!
Hugs!
Jill

Papertrey Ink - 7th Anniversary: Day Two/Three: I Just Love You!!!

Hello,
Just a quick post with a couple of cards. I missed the deadline this morning for Day Two's post so I made another card for day 3 too.  Here are both cards:

The "Friend" card was for yesterday's challenge.  I always forget about the time change back east and miss the deadline!  LOL!  You would think I would learn!!!

The "I just love you" card without the additional stamp/ink is for today's Anniversary challenge:

In honor of the continuing 7th Anniversary festivities at Papertrey Ink today's challenge was to choose 7 supplies in 7 minutes and make a card in 17 minutes!  What a ton of fun!!!  And it is in honor of this year's Stamp-a-Faire event with the theme of "Time Travel"!  I just love Stamp-a-Faire and think it will be so much fun to participate again this year!  :)  I love watching the video's that Nichole creates each year!  So fun to see all of your friends doing this stamping thing that we all love!


Here are my 7 supplies:
White cardstock - PTI
Embossed vellum piece leftover on my desk (trying to use up the HUGE box full of card parts near my desk!)  I really should show a picture - it is FULL!
Free Printable: PTI - yesterday's challenge post
Patterned Paper:  Iraliamijashop - ETSY
Twine
Tiny Felt Die Cut flower from my desk - I cut several for the previous card but decided 1 was perfect!
Pink bling piece for flower center


We did not have to include adhesives so I am hoping that includes glitter glue?  I "adhered" some to my vellum heart paper for a wee touch of sparkle! :)

I made the card in 9 minutes 37 seconds!  Probably because I had made the same card the day before!  But I liked it so much I plan on making several more to give for Valentine's Day!  I am totally hooked on embossed vellum right now and have a whole bunch of ready made pieces on my desk that need to be used!!!

Thanks for the wonderful printable! I want to use them all!!!! Such lovely designs!!!  Perhaps some more 17 minute cards will be made this morning!

Hugs,
Jill

 

Papertrey Ink - 7th Anniversary - Day 1

  
Hello Sweet Crafty Friends,
Here with a card for Day 1 of the Papertrey Ink 7th Anniversary Festivities!  There are so many wonderful things happening all over the web - Facebook, The Forum, Capture the Moment etc.  I am just trying to take it all in! 

Here is the color recipe and sketch that I used to create my card:

Okay...since it is an Anniversary I am going to get a little mushy about my sweet Stuart and Papertrey Ink so you can skip this next section if you want to....but it is kind of a nice true story in my opinion...

In just a few more days it will be two years since my son and I said goodbye to our beloved Staurt and there is a story related to Papertrey Ink that some of you probably do not know. I posted a portion of it on Facebook this morning when they asked, "How long have you been a customer of Papertrey Ink?" but I thought I would share it here too.

I started this blog in November 2010 just 4 months after my sweet Stuart was diagnosed with cancer.  I went from working outside the home as a small business accountant to becoming a full-time caregiver after my husband's surgery left him with cognitive deficits requiring constant care.  I left my job to care for him daily and when he was resting  -which was often after difficult treatments- I would retreat to my craft room.

The outpouring of love that happens when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer is unbelievable and I had so many people I wanted to thank.  And so I started using my scrapbooking supplies to make thank you cards - and lots of them.  And this eventually led me to Papertrey Ink after seeing some of their lovely products used in a "CARDS" magazine I purchased.  I carried that CARDS magazine with me to waiting rooms and studied how to make a card.  And I started learning little by little.  I still remember the first thank you card I made using the Year of Flowers: Roses Stamp set.  The people I gave that card to still had it displayed in their waiting room even after my sweet Stuart had passed away.  Sharing our thankfulness and love in a card can mean so much!

My husband and son encouraged me in my card-making endeavors and as time permitted I began to join in the Make it Monday challenges and meet sweet crafty friends on-line.  Lisa Elton of My Paper Tales and Marybeth of Marybeth's Time for Paper were some of the first people to comment on some of my PTI challenge cards.  And then Tracey, Leigh, Kara, Kelly S, Helen F, Julie, and so many others. This gave me encouragement to keep trying.

To this day I feel that the connection I made to stamping and Papertrey Ink stamps during this difficult time has helped me through one of the most challenging times in my life.  My friend Sue Lelli calls her blog "Card Therapy" and I have shared with her that I find it to be just that for me also!

I share all of this with you because the culmination of Papertrey Ink's Anniversary celebrations each year is always with their release on February 15th and it is always something that I look forward to and enjoy!  The challenges, the products, the fun anniversary activities!  It all brings joy to my life and my husband knew how very much I loved the celebration and Papertrey's wonderful products!  And I wonder sometimes if Stuart planned it - for this was the day that my Staurt went to heaven.  So while it is a very difficult day for me it also is a day that has something to look forward to that evening - the Anniversary Release!  It is something to make me smile in the midst of my sadness and to share with all of my crafty on-line friends who love Papertrey Ink as much as I do! And I know Stuart smiles down on me as he sees me enjoying and nourishing my artistic side!  And Papertrey Ink is what started it all for me!  So thanks Papertrey Family and all my crafty friends who visit and encourage me here at Greenwood Girl Cards!  Your support over the past few years has touched me far more than you may know or realize!  You are a great big blessing in my life!   

Okay...so if you are still with me and hopefully not crying like me...back to the card...here is a close up of the tiny tags:

    And one last picture of my card:

Thanks as always for looking!  And I hope you get to enjoy all of the fun over at Papertrey Ink as we celebrate their 7th Anniversary....I am so happy that I have so many wonderful friends to share this craft that I love with!  
Hugs,
Jill

  

New LOGO/HEADER for Greenwood Girl Cards - Shout out for Bety of Iralamijashop on ETSY

Hi Everyone,
A few months back one of my sisters used some of my Christmas tags on a Holiday table setting display at a catering business here in Seattle.  She asked if I had business cards that she could put out as she had requests for them.  So I decided that one of my goals for the New Year would be to create a logo and business cards for "Greenwood Girl Cards".

After some thought I decided to contact one of my favorite artists in the digital world - Beatriz Jennings (Bety for short) of Iraliamijashop on ETSY.  I contacted her via her ETSY site and asked her if she would be able to design a blog header / logo for me.  And together we discussed what I was looking for via some messaging and she got to work.  The beautiful logo you see added to my blog header is the result!  I love it!

Following in the footsteps of my blog friends Darnell and Jill....I wanted to give my sweet friend Bety a shout out on my blog in case anyone else is looking to have a header or logo created in the future.  You have seen me use Bety's digital papers and products on many of my creations and her blog art is wonderful if you, like me, love the vintage or shabby chic look!

You might also be interested in following her beautiful blog posts at  http://iralamija.blogspot.com/
I love visiting her there quite often!
I hope you are all having a wonderful week!
Hopefully here with a new card post later this week!
Hugs,
Jill

Enjoy Cards - for SSCB#27 - Buttons (round 2)

Hello Again,

I wanted to share two more cards I made today.  These are going to some dear friends with a little gift via snail mail.   I am also entering them into the Serendipity Stamps Challenge #27 - Buttons.

 I layered embossed vellum over some patterned paper to achieve the pretty background within the window created by the Lil Inker Design stitched circle die.  The sweet "Enjoy" sentiment is a stamp from Serendipity which is perfect for so many different occasions!  I love having it in my stamp collection!

One last picture:

Thanks for taking a look.
:) Jill

Happy For You.....

Hello Friends,

If you are looking for my design team post for The Shabby Tea Room go HERE.

Also - in case you didn't hear:  There is an open design team call at The Shabby Tea Room.  If you would like to know more about applying please go: HERE .

I have a card to share with you this evening. One of my sweet younger sisters, Beth Ann, will be marrying a wonderful man next month in Oregon.  Today I have been very busy preparing various things for her bridal shower and wedding.  Today I made her bridal shower card and thought I would share it here.  She is using a lovely shade of light celery green as her main color.

Here is the card I came up with:

 Please note that the green is photographing darker than in real life. I tried adjusting it but it still is not the actual light celery color.   

I started by die-cutting a lovely Lil Inker's Circle Die from my celery cardstock.  Then I layered a piece of vellum and some patterned paper behind the circle to create my background. The dress form is a die from Memory Box.  I die cut it once in white and left all the pieces in and once in vellum and took all the pieces out and then glued them together and added glitter to the bottom portion of the dress and a pearl "belt".  I was trying to create a wedding gown.

 I used a sentiment from Papertrey Ink that says:  "happy for you" and then added some flowers and lace.  I plan on making a box for this card and it will be going with a gift of the beautiful set of crystal stemware that Stuart and I used at our wedding to toast our marriage and our families.

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

Valentine's and some homemade embellishments....

Hello Friends,
It is week #204 at The Shabby Tea Room and we have a lovely inspiration photo to share with you:

 

This week Heidi is our creative host and she has chosen the theme of 'All That Glitters in Love' along with this beautiful photo for inspiration!   Heidi asks that you create a card or project inspired by the photo and INCLUDE PINK/RED/BURGUNDY, FLOWERS, HEARTS & GLITTER!

I created 3 cards using this weeks inspiration.  Here are some individual photos:

 I am on a "heart-shaped" card kick at the moment as I try to get some Valentine and Birthday cards ready for some of my dear friends and family.  I love this sentiment from Paper Sweeties.  It is part of the "Sending Sweet Thoughts" stamp set! 

 Here is Paper Sweeties "Emma" asking you all to "Have a Sweet Day"!  I noticed from taking the picture that my sweet Emma is leaning a wee bit to the left so I fixed her and the sentiment!  Pictures often tell a better story than my eyes these days!  LOL!  I hope to find some time to insert a replacement photo before this post goes live!  Otherwise  - please forgive me if you are tipping out of your chair!     

And how about some little clothespin embellishments to share with a card-making friend?.  I used a sweet little flower stamp and die from the "Sending Sweet Thoughts" stamp/die bundle and some baby clothespins I got at Michael's with a 40% off coupon!  I die cut the flowers and then colored them with copic markers. I then used a black marker to add some sweet little dots in the flower centers for contrast.  I kept trying to get them to line up straight on the tag but glue dots have a mind of their own.  I think next time I will put them on little squares of foam so I can move them around!  Live and learn! :)

Our sponsor this week is the wonderful:  - Paper Sweeties!:

Paper Sweeties is owned and illustrated by Debbie Marcinkiewicz, and offers high quality, on trend acrylic stamps, metal dies and fun embellishments.  Our heartwarming images allow paper crafters to create adorable dolls with interchangeable outfits and accessories! We also have a wide variety of wonderful all-occasion sentiments, labels, frames and accessory sets - perfect for every paper crafted project! The Sweeties dolls, accessories and sentiments are so much fun to play with and are sure to bring back fond childhood memories!  You'll enjoy using the Sweeties stamps and dies to create projects for card making, scrap booking, party invitations and favors, home decor, gifts and more!


The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $20 gift certificate from the Paper Sweeties boutique!

Yay!

I hope you will go and peek at all of the lovely inspiration in the Tea Room!

The Guest Designers and The Shabby Girls have created some beautiful projects for you to enjoy!  We would love to have you play along with us! 

Also Debbie posted a Design Team Call for The Shabby Tea Room. There are two positions open for the March - September 2014 term and we would love to have you apply if you are interested!

Happy Creating!

Jill 

Superbowl Sunday - Seahawks Memories of my boys....

Hi Friends,
Just a quick post as my little one and I head over to watch the Super Bowl at my parent's home.  I was thinking how excited Stuart would be today with his beloved Seahawk's playing and it brought to mind this picture which is a favorite of mine taken in 2007 when Tim had just turned 3 years old.  One of Stuart's friends Lee gave them each a Seahawks jersey for their birthdays and I snapped this photo right after they put them on....:

To this day it is a photo that makes me smile!  And it is the way I remember my Stuart - always with a sports cap on his head and a giant smile!  Not to mention those beautiful blue eyes which were the first thing I noticed about him the day we met!  Believe it or not I am not a big football fan but it is one of the things I miss sharing with Stuart now that he is gone!  It was fun to see him enjoying this sport with his friends!  And I know that he would have loved to see his team (He was a season ticket holder for over 20 years) play today's game! 

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me!  Go Seahawks!!!!
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

Warm and Cozy week at The Shabby Tea Room....

Hello Friends and Happy Monday Morning to you all!
I hope you heard my happy news that I announced on my blog last Friday: here.  I am the newest design team member at The Shabby Tea Room!  I am here today with my first official design team post! Yay!!!!

We are in week #203 in The Shabby Tea Room and our host is the lovely and talented Aneta.  Here is the beautiful inspiration photo chosen for this week:

Aneta asks that we use white or cream with cups and/or teapots in our project.  I just love this photo! Especially all of that yummy texture!  And that is what inspired my card:

I tried a couple of different ideas for the texture and settled on using this lovely heart diecut.  Our sponsor this week is "Digital Papers by Janet" on ETSY.  She has so many beautiful digital files!  I own quite a few of them myself!!!  I chose to use "Antique Paper 3" for my project today!  Such beautiful papers!

My teapots and/or cups are in this vintage image I chose from Pinterest.  I tried to link to the origin of this photo but the link kept saying it was broken.  Lots of computer glitches this weekend!   I lightened the original and made it into a heart shape using a photo editing software program. I then cut it out by hand and distressed the edges. Here is what the file looked like before I cut it out...I made several different sizes:

 Here is a close-up which better shows the digital papers I used.  I also added some charms and flowers:

 A side view:

 Thanks for taking a look at my first design team project for The Shabby Tea Room.  I hope you will take a look at all of the lovely projects over in the Tea Room and hopefully play along!
Happy Crafting!
: ) Jill  

A wonderful announcement....

Hi Everyone,
I am here on this lovely Friday night to make a wonderful announcement!! If you have visited my blog in the last few days you may have noticed a few changes on my sidebar. Debbie Marcinkiewicz has asked me to be on "The Shabby Tea Room" design team.  That's right I am the newest "Shabby Girl"!  My first post as an official design team member will be this coming Monday!  I am so thrilled and excited!

I decided to make a card using the lovely "Emma" stamp and die from Debbie's lovely "Paper Sweeties" stamp company to celebrate!  Don't you just love this sentiment!  I thought it was perfectly appropriate for my announcement!  Back in early 2012 a few months after my husband died I started to paper craft more often and to join in challenges more frequently.  As I was just starting to sort of get a handle on how to compose a good card I use to visit (lurk) in the Tea Room and wish I could make cards like the ones made by all of the very talented "Shabby Girls!"  Here is a link to what I believe is the very first card I ever shared at the tea room back at week #140 in November of 2012:  http://greenwoodgirlcards.blogspot.com/2012/11/wishing-you-sweet-shabby-christmas.html

And here is the card I shared:

I still have this card sitting in my craft room on my curio shelf and will never part with it.  It is one of my favorite cards!  I want to thank everyone that has ever shared a card in the Tea Room or been a designer there - YOU have ALL inspired me and helped me grow in my card making endeavors. And I am so excited that I now get a chance to do the same as a design team member! 

Happy Weekend everyone and I hope you will join me and all of the wonderful "Shabby Girls" in the Tea Room this coming Monday as we kick off the newest challenge!
:) Jill
 

   

The Shabby Tea Room - Week #202: 'Baby It's Cold Outside'!

Hello Everyone,
It is hard to believe that it is already the 20th of January!  Tim and I will be enjoying Martin Luther King's Birthday and a partial day off from our normal routines today.  I enjoyed an assembly at Tim's school last week all about Dr. King and it was so lovely to see the kids perform poems, songs, and skits with such an important message about equality!  I loved it when the first grade class performed "We Shall Overcome" in 3 part harmony!  They were too cute!!!  I am hoping during our free afternoon today to get some time in to visit and see what everyone is up to on their blogs!  I have been sooooo busy lately and I miss visiting everyone as regularly as I used to!!!!

I am here today with another "January Guest Designer" post for The Shabby Tea Room.  This is week #202 and here is the inspiration photo:

The theme is "Baby It's Cold Outside" and we were asked to create a card/project inspired by the photo using white/cream, green, red, and include a bow and something silver.  I was excited to use a new Paper Sweeties stamp/die set that I ordered recently called "Make the Season Bright". 

I love the sweet little angel in this set and once I started creating with it I could not stop!  I ended up making a card, tag and ornament.  Here are some additional photos:

The first thing I made was this card: 

My touch of silver is on the wings which were colored with a metallic marker.

Then I made this tag:

 

 And finally I made a Christmas Ornament:

 I made a "stuffed" angel ornament and then suspended it inside a tiny heart tartlet tin that was painted with picket fence distress crackle paint and edged with some Melissa Frances glass glitter. I added a red felt heart and smaller gingham doily heart behind the angel so that she would show up more and to add to the Christmas colors!  I put holes in the top and bottom of the tart tin with my crop-o-dile so I could add a tie and bow at the top with a snowflake and rose bead embellishment, as well as some beads at the bottom with a tiny bow.  The angel is suspended from the top hole with a bit of twine and she swings back and forth when the ornament moves.  I think this ornament looks a lot better in person - it did not photograph all that well!

Here are some pictures of me sewing up the ornament.  I die cut it from cream felt twice and once from linen which is what I stamped the image on.  Then I sewed the three pieces together by hand and added some batting:

Then I colored her with copics and added glitter to make her sparkle on the Christmas Tree!  Finally I added her to the painted tart tin and decorated!

Thanks for taking a look at my projects.  I so appreciate all of the lovely comments I receive!  They make me smile!  I hope you visit The Shabby Tea Room to see what all of the designers have created for this week!  There is always so much beautiful inspiration!!!! 

Crafty Hugs my friends!
:) Jill

SSCB#27 - Buttons....and some chalkboard too

Hello,
Here with a card for my son's sweet art teacher for the upcoming Teacher Appreciation Day in May.  I make quite a few cards each year so I like to do them a little bit at a time.  I drew inspiration from the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog and challenge 27 which is to use "buttons".  I also chose to embrace the chalkboard technique that many of the design team featured on the challenge blog!  Gorgeous cards ladies!!!

I chose to use a sentiment stamp that reads:  "Art! Who comprehends her?  Whom can one consult concerning this great goddess? - Ludwig Von Beetoven"  I tried using my pastels to cover the embossed sentiment with a rainbow of color....what do you think?

Thanks for taking a look! And I have to say it...."Go Seahawks!!!"  I know my husband is probably watching from Heaven as he was a season ticket holder for so many years and always hoped to go to a Super Bowl one day.......he would have been so excited today!  My son and I have the game on and are watching it for him today!  Love you Papa Stu!!!

Hugs,
Jill