Welcome to the neighborhood....Paper Sweeties July Inspiratio Challenge #21....

Hello Friends,
So nice to have you visiting my blog today.  I am here with a very quick post...I made a card on this lovely Sunday for the Paper Sweeties July Inspiration Challenge #21.

Here is what I came up with....

A card to welcome a new neighbor using a sweet stamp set called Home Sweet Home from Paper Sweeties.  I kept this one really simple just adding some light copic coloring to the house including a very pale yellow for some light in the windows!  And then just a sweet twine bow to finish it off.

My niece Lauren was in town this weekend and took Tim to a Steam-Punk themed Live Action Role Playing Event (LARPing) at a local area park.   They made costumes together on Friday and then went to the event on Saturday!  They had a WONDERFUL time together and while they were gone I was able to have a lovely visit with my sweet sister Beth who was up from her home out of state. So blessed to have such sweet family members! 

Thanks for visiting me here on my blog!
Hugs,
Jill

Some Waltzing Mouse Goodness and "A picnic with Jill" digital papers....

Hello my friends,
Here with a card today featuring some beloved Waltzingmouse Stamps from the set called "Vintage Garden Seed Packet.  As many of you know I am an avid gardener and the spring and summer months find me busy outside more than inside.  This stamp set was the perfect one to use as I enjoy the beauty of my garden and bring it into my card making.

The colors I used are:  Chartreuse, Pink, Aqua and gray.  Love this color combo!  :

 

I am a HUGE fan of gingham papers and recently I asked my new friend Pepper at Red Pepper Papers to create a set of diamond gingham papers that I could print on my home computer after seeing a single color in one of her digital paper sets.  She created an entire set of papers for $3.00 called "A picnic with Jill" with wonderful colors for me to play with so I can print whatever I need when I am making cards or notecard sets.  It is her lovely paper that provides the lovey gingham mat behind my carnation seed packet panel.     

Well that is it for me today!  I am on after party clean-up detail as we celebrated my son's 10th birthday party yesterday - twice!  :)

Here is a picture from a small celebration at my Mom's and Dad's house where we went to go swimming yesterday with family:

Tim and Grandma Jackie

Until next time.....smiles,
Jill

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

Tag Play....Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!

Hello again...
Is everyone having fun on this lovely Sunday afternoon playing in their crafty caves?  I am!  :)


I decided to use a lovely little stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn called "Winter Bunny" to make these tags....this sweet stamp set has been burning a whole in my craft desk and yelling, "USE ME PLEASE!!!!  I AM SO DARN CUTE!"

 The gorgeous tag die and sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.  The "December Joys" sentiment is from a Technique Tuesday stamp set and the "for my friend" and "you're snow sweet" sentiments are from Sweet N Sassy stamps.  I have to say that I am in love with coloring this sweet little bunny! So adorable!!!!!

Linking To:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge


Thanks for taking a look!
Hugs,
Jill

A tag for the new "Tag You're It Challenge"....

Hello Friends,
I was visiting the lovely Tracey McNeeley's blog this morning and heard about a new CAS challenge that is just getting started called the Tag You're It Challenge! .  

The challenge was created by Jackie Rockwell and there is an incredible line up of wonderful designers that will be bringing a ton of inspiration to the table. And this week's inspiration tag comes from Karin Akesdotter and looks like this:

Isn't that the sweetest summer scene you have ever seen!  I just love it!  Awesome job Karin!

According to the challenge specs:  Your CAS style project can be a tag, or have a tag on it - be it a card, scrapbook page, or other item using whatever inspires you from that week's inspiration project.

I loved the summer scene Karin made and the first thing that came to mind was flip flops.  I whipped up this quick birthday tag for a friend this morning so that I could play along - and I stretched from my usual more layered style to try to keep it CAS which isn't my strong suit!:

Thanks for taking a look!  Hope you find time to play along!  Thanks Jackie and everyone involved for adding more fun to my summer crafting!
Hugs,
Jill

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papetrey Ink Aqua Mist and White
Stamps:  Flippin' Out - Papertrey Ink
Inks:  PTI / Memento 
Tag:  Jaded Blossom Tag die set
Twine: craft supply

A sympathy card....

Hello,
Just a quick post to share a sympathy card I put together tonight for a dear friend who just lost her Mother.
It uses one of my favorite sympathy sets called "Willow" from Papertrey Ink.  I love this sentiment for sympathy cards:  "Someone so special can never be forgotten".  I hope it will bring comfort.

  The lovely papers are from Pebbles "Front Porch" 6x6 paper pad.

Hugs,
Jill

SSCB#32 and Merry Monday #114: Happy Holidays

Hello,
Here with my first Christmas Card for my 2014 stash!  I took my inspiration from two different challenges: Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge and Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.  Here are their graphics:

 

Card Product Info:

The snowman stamp is called "Snow Angel" and is from Serendipity Stamps. The sentiment is also from SS.  The Christmas star I added to the sky is from the "Welcome Jesus" stamp set from Sweet N Sassy stamps.

The snow backdrop on the circle window was created with a Stampin Up stamp from the
"Gorgeous Grunge" set.  The trees are a Magnolia Die and I used circle dies from Lil Inker Designs and MFT stamps to create my window. Stickles Glitter Glue: "Diamond" adds the sparkle.  Coloring was done with colored pencils and Distress markers and water as well as my BG10 Copic marker. Other supplies:  cardstock, vellum, twine, and a snowflake embossing folder.

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

Happy Birthday Cards....

Here today with a couple of birthday cards for some special people.  One is for my son who will turn 10 on July 10th!  The other is for my dear cousin Stacy who will turn....a.... 29.... again.  :)

Today, June 23rd, my sweet husband Stuart would have celebrated his 57th year and so I send Happy Birthday greetings to our dear "Papa Stu" up in Heaven!  We are all thinking of you today!  Tim and I will be celebrating with some cupcakes and an annual picture later today!

Here are some pictures of my cards:

 I finally did it!  I used sequins on a card!  I wanted this one to look like a birthday party!  I cannot believe my son Tim is turning 10 years old.  Double digits!  The teen years are around the corner!  Oh my!  Where does the time go!!!!

 I placed things at different angles to give it a more "happy" or "celebratory" feel....

And for my sweet cousin...a more feminine card:

 Same style of card just softer colors and some lovely Tilda papers I had in my stash along with my beloved gingham from my digital paper files.  I am linking this card up to this week's Shabby Tea Room challenge.  It is week #224 and the theme is "Party Time".  We are challenged to make a Birthday card or project using pink, green and polka dots.  I hope that the "dots" around the mat for my sentiment count for the polka dot part of the challenge?!  :) 

Thanks for taking a look my friends!  I so enjoy reading your comments and visiting your blogs to see what you are up to!  Hope you are enjoying these lovely summer days!  It is our first full week of summer break from school and I am so enjoying taking a little bit of time in the morning to craft!  Today we are off to take a walk with my sister and her newest grand baby girl!  So fun! 

Rhonda - sending big hugs to you and your entire family my dear!!!   HUGS!!!!!!

Hope to be back with another post soon!
:)  Jill

Baby bootie love....and some cards too!

Hello Crafty Friends,
We have some dear friends due to have babies in the coming months and I have been busy making some baby boy and girl cards and some sweet baby "booties" using the new Baby Bootie Die Collection  from Papertrey Ink.  I thought I would post a few pictures to share.

 

 We have attended quite a few baby showers with more to come and my Mom was totally out of baby cards so I whipped up quite a few cards using the new "Welcome to the world little Angel" die also.  Love how easy it is to pull a card together in just a couple minutes with the die and some card stock and patterned papers!

Some baby girl cards:

 And some baby boy cards:

 By far my favorite thing is the sweet booties!  I added pink gingham ribbon bows to the little girl pair!  I just love how sweet they are!!!!  

Thanks for taking a look!  I am going to link this post to Darnell's NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge over at djkardkreations. 

Darnell is such an inspiration and she has definitely inspired me to shop and use my stash!  Thanks Darnell!   I truly am always trying to use the schtuff that is sitting in my craft room lonely and gathering dust - but lately time has not been on my side as life has been a wee bit BUSY!

The challenge theme is "Anything Goes" with a theme of "Friendship".  The cards and booties above are for new babies that are entering the world and these cards and gifts will be opened by some very dear girl friends and that is what friendship is all about!  What a blessing it is to welcome new life into the world!

I hope you will join in Darnell's first challenge that also celebrates her reaching 500 followers on her blog!
Congratulations Darnell!  And thanks for the inspiration!
:) Jill

Hello....and Happy Father's Day Weekend!

Hello Friends,
Wow!!!! It has been a LONG time since I put a blog post up!!!!  My sister's wedding was a wonderful event all the way back at the end of March!

My brother and I took the pictures for the happy couple and here is my favorite photo of the new Mr. and Mrs Paull from the outdoor shots:

 Aren't they a sweet couple!!!!!!

Here is a candid shot of Tim and his Aunt Beth before the ceremony.  We were in the hotel room hiding before the big event because the guests had begun to arrive...I forget what song they were singing now....

It was a lovely event and we all had a wonderful time!  I was busy processing photos and then some other things came up including touring and selecting a new school for Tim to go to next year.  To be honest I cannot believe it is already June!  School gets out here in Seattle on June 19th!  We cannot wait!  Summer is on its way to the Pacific Northwest!

Father's Day is this weekend and I found zero cards in my stash so this afternoon Tim and I came downstairs to our little art studio in the basement and tried to remember how to make cards!  LOL!  I made a very basic card and felt very rusty while doing so!  Tim however did a WONDERFUL job using my copics and stamps!  Here is what he made for his Grandpa Wendell, Stuart's Father, who we are off to visit this weekend:

The sweet puppy dog and sentiment are from a Sweet N Sassy Stamp set from 2012 called - you guessed it - "Gone Fishin".   Tim wanted the sentiment to look like it was caught on the hook at the end of the line.  I love the way he colored the background and made a sun and cloud as well as a fishing pond and ground.  He worked really hard on this card and I am so proud of him for finishing it!  He has some fine motor and processing skill issues which we go to therapy for each week and he has made great strides this year!  I know that his Grandpa will enjoy receiving it!


Here is the very basic card I made for my Dad using some Lil Inker dies:

 On the inside I added a wonderful sentiment from a Waltzing Mouse Stamp Set called "Man of the Hour"
The sentiment says:  "The Greatest Gift I ever had Came from God I call him DAD".   I love the sentiments in this set!!!  Sorry I did not take a photo of it!  I love the graphic feel of it!

I hope you all enjoy time with the special men in your lives this weekend! And if you, like Tim and I, are missing that special someone I hope that warm memories bring peace to your heart.  I know that we will be sending big hugs to Papa Stuart up in heaven and remembering some wonderful times that we were blessed to have shared with him!

Hugs,
Jill and Tim and our Angel Papa Stuart! :)   

Grow old along with me the best is yet to be.....

Nothing like a little Robert Browning poem to start of my post today.  So beautiful!

I am here with a super fast post....some of you may know that my little sister Beth is getting married very soon....and between wedding preparations, school tours for my son and some other things that are going on in my extended family my crafting time is very limited at the moment.  AND I miss it!!!!  But family always comes first so I am only crafting for the wedding currently with the hope of getting everything done in time!
Cross your fingers for me!!!!

So....thought I would share really quickly some photos of what I have been working on:

Table Reserves for the reception:

 I used some of the lovely gold tape from the first Papertrey Ink "Make it Market Kit" along the bottom of the tent. 

I also used some of the kit items to create a wedding card:

 Betsy had some lovely ideas on her blog for using the kit and I tried adding some gold embossing powder to the two feathers that I added to this card for my sister and new brother-in-law.  There wedding theme and colors are all about nature with greens, copper, gold, and cream along with sedums and various flowers and ferns. 

I think I need to do something more to make the sentiment pop more.  But if I run out of time this card will do just fine for them as I know they will love it and to be honest I am so busy I may not have time to make another!

Here are some of the many pictures I took at Beth's Bridal Shower.  I am trying to finish an album for her as part of her wedding gift:

This is my beautiful Mother Jackie with my sister Beth - the beautiful Bride-to-Be: 

She had just opened her gifts from my Mom and Dad which included this handkerchief that comes from my Great Grandmother who emigrated from Italy through Ellis Island.  We all choked up and I was so happy I got this photo! 

 My sisters Natalie and Diana did an incredible job with the decorations and the food!!!

 One of my favorite things that they did were these hanging sedum planters on fishing line coming down from the sky light!!!!  GORGEOUS!!!

 Veggies in dip inside baguette sections: 

 This is just one of the desserts that were served:

 My youngest sister Diana created this incredible tea bar because my sister Beth loves her herbal teas!:

 

The picture below is from left to right:  My mother Jackie, my youngest sister Diana, the bride-to-be Beth Ann and my older sister Natalie:

 And since I was doing all of the photography one of my sister's snapped this picture of Natalie and I.  We were born on January 12th and January 14th almost Irish twins - we missed it by 2 days.  We are often mistaken for each other though I think we look so different!   But what fun!!!

 And here are some of the girls gathered around our sweet Beth as the party was getting under way.   On the left is my oldest brother Tony's sweet girlfriend Gillian!  We are hoping she will be the next one to be a bride!!!!  :)

 My little sister Joanna and our friend Heidi are on the right side of Diana.  Joanna is Beth's wedding coordinator!  She is incredible!!!!

It was a beautiful day!!!!  My sisters are all so wonderfully artisitic and talented!!!!  I can't wait until we all bring everything we are creating for Beth and Jimmy together at the wedding!  It should be an incredibly beautiful event for them and all of us.  Not to mention a TON OF FUN! 

Well I really have to run now.....thanks for taking a look!  Marybeth I am still praying!!!!  GREAT BIG HUGS!!!!!!! 

Jill

Sending Springtime Hugs....The Shabby Tea Room - week #209

Good Monday Morning to you friends!
I am here today with my design team post for The Shabby Tea Room - week #209.  This week's host is Aneta with the theme of "Spring is Near" and this lovely inspiration photo:

Aneta asks that you create a card or project inspired by the photo and INCLUDE BABY BLUE, BIRDS AND SPRING FLOWERS.  

Here is my card:

  The "baby blue" and "flower" elements are obvious but I thought I would add a detail shot to show the "birds" which are from an embossing folder.  I embossed a piece of vellum with the birds and butterflies folder and then added some color with some aqua blue ink on the birds and some kraft ink around the edge of the vellum. 

 The sweet wheelbarrow is a digital cut file from our sponsor this week:  - The Cutting Cafe!  
I used the pdf version and hand cut the wheelbarrow for my card.   I love how sweet it looks filled with flowers!  The sentiment on my card is from a Paper Sweeties stamp set called:  Sending Springtime.

The Cutting Cafe is your one stop shop for affordable cutting files and printable stamps. They offer a huge selection of products for just about any occasion. 

Thanks for taking a look at my project for this week. I hope you will hop on over to The Shabby Tea Room to see all of the inspiration for this week's challenge and to hopefully join in the fun!
 Have a great week everyone!
:) Jill