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

Showering my sister Beth with love...Week #207 at The Shabby Tea Room:

Hello Friends,
Happy Monday everyone!  I am here with two cards created for The Shabby Tea Room - week #207.  This week Tina is our creative host and she has chosen the theme of 'Wishy Washi' along with this beautiful photo for inspiration!   Tina asks that you create a card or project inspired by the photo and INCLUDE WASHI TAPE!

I was inspired by the cream, greens, and pinks at the bottom of the photo.  Are you wondering where I used my washi tape on my designs above.  Here is a process photo:

 I layered strips of Washi tape onto white cardstock and then die-cut my mats with the taped pieces.  I love that putti colored polka dotted one!  So sweet! 

 Both of these cards were given to my sweet younger sister Beth at her bridal shower this past weekend.  She loves nature and earth tones as well as the color green.  I tried to incorporate her colors into the cards.

This week our sponsor is:   Digital Papers by Janet Etsy!     I used a digital file from our sponsor called "Flower Strips".  I cut the strips from two sheets and layered three of the designs onto some copy weight paper with glue.  I then diecut my large mat and saved the outside or negative piece to create the second card:

 I was having a very difficult time getting my photos to show true colors outside as it was a very dark and overcast day when I took these here in Seattle.  Here are some indoor shots under artificial lighting:

I am not sure which photos are better but I thought I would share both.  The cards definitely look better in real life - as usual!  This card is kraft cardstock with a layer of embossed vellum over the top.  The "wedding couple" stamps I used are from two sets at Paper Sweeties:  Live, Laugh, Love and Wedding Day.  The sentiment "Celebrating You Today" is from a PTI set.  I was trying to find a Wedding Shower" sentiment but do not think I have one in my stash so I had to get creative!

Thanks so much for taking a look at my cards!  I hope you will hop over to The Shabby Tea Room to look at all of the projects from the design team and our guests!  We would love to have you join us in the Tea Room this week! 

:) Jill

2013 Christmas Tags - Tag #2: Peace on Earth

 

This morning I had to wait at home for an important conference call and while I was waiting I was able to create this tag.  I played around with a set of colored pencils that my son used at school a couple years ago.  I really liked coloring with them....I might need to purchase a higher quality set for Christmas to play around with some more.  I love them on the kraft card stock.

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my last post.  I so appreciate everyone's kind words and prayers of support! What a true blessing friends are!!!!

Hugs,

 Jill

My Parents celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary...

Hello Friends,

Today I made a card for my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary which is coming up on October 20th, 2012.  Here is a retake of a picture I have of the two of them on their wedding day...and they are just as cute now, fifty years later!  (Sorry about the picture quality but my main computer crashed today and is at the repair shop and using my laptop means that I don't have all of my normal programs at my fingertips...)

My sweet parents, Clark and Jackie, have raised a family of 7 children and are the best role models any child could have.  They are both retired but continue to lead active lives helping all of us kids and their friends, neighbors and extended family on a daily basis as well as being active members in their church community.  I pray at night to become as wonderful a woman as my Mother is.  And I hope that I can raise my son to be as wonderful a man as my Father is.  They are a true blessing in my life and I am so lucky that God blessed me with them as my parents.  Happy 50th Annivsersary Mom and Dad!!!

 In honor of their very special anniversary day I made a card for them taking my inspiration from The Shabby Team Room - week #136: Rustic Elegance.  And a beautiful inspiration photo picked by the lovely and talented Rebecca Deeprose  of Paper Primrose:

I just love the roses and candlesticks with the wood table - shabby chic elegance at its best with that touch of rustic wood!  And there is a ton of gorgeous inspiration in the Tea Room to inspire you if you would like to join in the challenge.

 My card started off with some lovely design paper with small glittered hearts on it.  I then added some rows of light pink felt cut with a heart border die and also used the leftover edges from the die cuts in between the rows of hearts.

My touch of "rustic" elements are two rusty old tin hearts which I lightened with some cream ink around the outside edges and topped with pink jute twine and some I am Roses baby roses.

I also added some felt and glitter details to the clothing of the stamp silouhette I used to represent my parents.  I added some paper and ribbon banners behind the focal diecuts and some doily type half circles to frame their faces.  I could not find any small stamps in my stash to make a "50" with so I hand wrote on a tiny tag for now.  I have an idea to print a tag on my computer and will experiment with that as soon as my computer is repaired and I am able to print again.  For now this will do.  I am learning to always get my "needed" cards done early so that I am not rushing at the last minute.  If I don't have time to print a new tag for this card I can still give it as is. 

Thanks for taking a look.  I would love to hear what you think of it!  I wish I could add a photo of my parents today but I wasn't able to find one tonight.  Maybe I can add it later on....
Smiles,
Jill

A little bit of green paint....

Hello all,
I was doing some blog hopping this afternoon and came upon the Embellish Magazine.com "Paint Color Trends Challenge". 

Here is the inspiration graphic and color pallette:

 

I recently purchased a little 6x6 distressed diamond mask and have had it sitting on my desk ready for use.  I decided this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  I also have a notebook where I jot down card ideas when they come to me and have been wanting to try making a "felt" christmas tree using the star border dies from Papertrey Ink.  I woke up one morning with the idea in my head and drew a quick sketch in my notebook.  I am happy to report that it came out as cute as I thought it would!

 

 

I also chose to decorate the inside of the card as I usually enclose a Holiday letter in my cards and just sign our names to the actual message area.

 

That is it for me tonight!  Thanks for taking a look at my card!  Sorry that the pictures have shadows and are a little dark - it is overcast in Seattle this afternoon and very dark and shadowy even with my extra lighting!!! 

 

:) Jill

A card for Make it Monday #77 - Ink Pads as watercolors

Hello all,
Tons to do today but I decided to take some time this morning to play with the new Make it Monday video - "Ink Pads as Watercolors" over at Nichole Heady's blog for Papertrey Ink:  HERE.  Dawn did a great job demonstrating this technique in her video and I decided to give it a go.

Here is my card:

 I stayed very close to Dawn's original card.  I don't have the dahlias set (Hmmm - may need to remedy that soon!) so after hunting through my stamps I decided to use Delightful Doilies to make my flowers.  And for the leaves (and little vines) I pulled out Strawberry Patch.  I stamped the background using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Then to "paint" my card I used the following inks: Raspberry Fizz, Autumn Rose, Sweet Blush, Simply Chartreuse, and Prima's "Summer Field". 

I used the same sentiment that Dawn used in her card from the Tagged Sentiments set.  The only change I made was that I turned the sketch at the end because I made a stamping error and had to trim my cardstock down and mat it with black to make it all come together.  I thought it looked better horizontally in the end.  I also impressed my card base with the linen impression plate to add some interest and dimension to the background.

I also got (once again!) some little smudges of ink on my white card base.  Please ignore it in the pictures!  I try so hard to not have this happen but it did -again!  Does anyone know of any tricks for taking ink smudges off?  I tried an eraser with no luck and I don't have enough time to re-do my card right now!  I hope someone knows a way to fix it.  When I worked in banking we had this solution that took ink off of checks if we needed to fix the amount for some reason....wish I had some of that at home! LOL!

That is it for me today...thanks so much for taking a look at my card.  I would love to know what you think of it and this technique!  I hope you find time to play along!
                                   : )   Jill

Life is sweet....a card for Make it Monday #76 Double-time bleach stamping

Hello all,
It is Sunday afternoon and I am in my cool crafty area in the basement making a few cards using bleach for the Make it Monday challenge over at Nichole Heady's blog: HERE

You really need to let the bleach dry (or use a heat gun!) before you over stamp as Nichole mentions in the video.  I thought mine was dry enough but it was not and it does bleach out the over-stamping a little if it is not completely dry.  Though this can look grungy and old if you like that look!

Here is my first attempt - I kept it very simple and just stamped a butterfly from Love Lives Here down the side of my card.  I then made a mask and did my over stamping in various color inks like a rainbow.  The senitment is from "The Sweet Life" stamp set and is a new favorite.

Thanks for taking a look at my card.  Hopefully more to come before the Monday deadline.  This is a fun technique to play with.

:) Jill
Edited to add:  So excited that this card got a shout-out on Nichole's blog and Facebook!

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

A card for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #67: Step-it-Up: Mixing Patterned Papers

Hello Crafty friends,
I found some time to play with Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday #67: "Step it up mixing pattern papers" challenge over at Nichole's blog: Capture the Moment:  HERE

Here is a picture of my card:

I used scraps from my stash.  Some of the papers are scraps from one of my all time favorite designers Margie Romney Aslett of "The Girl's Paperie" line from a couple years ago.  She is now designing over at Bazzill Basics Papers and has some great new papers out that I just received and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!  I also used my favorite new twine in a blue sky and brown combination and some delicious pink felt for my heart border.  The lovely brown and blue twine is from "Trendy Twine" and also comes in pink and brown too.  I just love the colors of twine that Trendy Twine produces!!  You can purchase it at Annie's Paper Boutique at Big Cartel:  HERE

The sentiment stamp is one of my favorite's from a set called "Signature Series Dress Form" in the Raspberry Suite line by Dawn McVey for Papertrey Ink.  It is a wonderful little $5.00 stamp set with 4 awesome sentiments and a dress form in it!  The dress form also has a matching die.  Adorable!

I hope you take time to join in the Make it Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink this week.  And the upcoming blog hop on the 25th too!  I would love to hear what you think of my card and of patterned paper combining.  I always struggle a little bit with combining patterns.  It takes me a while.  This card was no exception though it helped that I had lots of scraps in the pink/blue/green color families. Thank Goodness!!!  I may even try to make another card using scraps but with the colors for the blog hop coming up...we will see how my week goes. 

: )  Jill

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 28 - Bling it Up!

Hi Everyone,
I am here with a card for the "Bling it up" challenge #28 over at the Cheery Lynn Designs blog:  HERE

I made a birthday card for a cousin and decided to even add bling to the ice cream!  I used three Cheery Lynn Designs Dies:  DL103 Italian Flourish; B136 Anastasia Border and DL129 Border Carnivale.

Here are some pictures:

You can see the Italian Flourish doily peaking out from behind the store bought one as a border. 

Here is a close-up of the two border dies....and a bow to add a finishing touch!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day weekend.  It was Tim's and my first Mother's Day without Papa Stu and it was very hard.  The day after Mother's Day also marked 3 month's since Stuart went up to heaven after his long battle with brain cancer.  Stuart's cancer truly taught me to treasure the people I love each day, each moment, for we never know what God's plan is or when we might not be able to say or more importantly show them that we love them by our actions and words and deeds.  This life truly is a blessing each and every day....I am learning now to see it that way without my husband being a part of each moment.  It is hard but there are still daily gifts and love surrounding both of us.  Here are some of the Mother's Day cards I made for the special women in my life:

I hope you join in the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge and also take a look at their new dies that were just released.  Happy Crafting my friends!

: )   Jill

A couple of "Happy Birthday" Cards

Hi all,
I made a couple of birthday cards today using some Papertrey Ink stamp sets.  Here are some pics:

The cupcake stamp is from the set "Baby Button Bits" at Papertrey Ink.  I paper pieced the frosting on both cards using papers from We R Memory Keepers and Pink Paislee. 

The border on this card is from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The die is named "Border Carnivale".  It is one of my favorite border dies.  The hearts are made from an epiphany crafts punch.  The button is from My Mind's Eye. 

The borders on this card are from an EK Success punch and an MFT die.  The teal ribbon is from Michael's Recollections collection and comes with adhesive already on it - quite lovely for quick adhesion.  The corner punch is a new one from Fiskers and makes those lovely hole punches which are the perfect size for bling.  The background ATC cards in the gingham check are from a shop called:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/iralamijashop. Here is the listing for the specific item:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74900000/sale-gingham-backgrounds-collage-digital  Her shop is full of wonderful digital items in a shabby chic style I jut love!

Thanks for looking at my cards!  I would love to hear what you think of them!
:)  Jill

Challenges:  The Friday Mashup - pink cupcake card.