I believe in Angels....

Hello Friends,
It is 7pm on Monday evening and I am finally over my migraine! Yeah! I have a card to share that I made earlier this week and a tag too...

I used a new Cheery Lynn Designs tree die and border die that I purchased from their summer release that just came out.  I love the little star and swish cut outs that are on this tree die.  So pretty!  I added some glitter glue with gold highlights in it so I can enter it into the latest Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #90 - Silver and/or Gold.  I love the way the gold flecks sparkle in the above photo!  They are even prettier in person!

The card also uses some trendy twine in the color "Posy" (soft pink and cream) which I won on a recent Facebook giveaway!  So sweet!   

Here is another picture which shows the gold glitter effect on the tree better.  And also shows the tag again with the tiny angel wings that I created from the "leftover" cutouts in the Sofia's Heart Border Die.  Now I can make baby angel wings any time I want them.  The Sofia's Heart Doily Die makes slightly bigger angel wings  so you can depict a mother/child or family of angels if you want.  Love this!

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

I feel Merry....oh so Merry! And I love Glue Dots!

Edited to add:  So excited to have received a shout-out for this card!  You can see the post with all of the incredible entries as well as the shout-outs and this challenge's winner on the Festive Friday blog: HERE. 

Hi Everyone,
First I have some new followers to my blog this month and want to say welcome!  I am always so touched when someone decides to follow my little Greenwood Girl Cards blog. Yay!
 
I am feeling a little, all right a LOT, care-free today as my taxes are finally DONE!!!!  Yay!!!!  So relieved to have them finished after this very tough year....

To that end I was feeling very MERRY and decided to make a card that has been in my head since I saw this graphic and made my first round of "Merry" cards for FFC#4 on this post: HERE

Here is the graphic I am referring to at the Festive Friday blog:

Ever since I saw the graphic, at the very first moment, I just kept thinking "Christmas Ornament", "Christmas Ornament!"  And it was still in my head this morning when I woke up...anyone else wake up with card ideas in their heads???

So I made this:

The pretty red-music paper is a digital product from Crafty Secrets from one of their CD's.  I love, love, LOVE being able to print out as much of this paper as I need for Christmas Cards.  I hand-cut the ornament topper out of some kraft cardstock and cardboard paper.  Then I added some "Holly Berry" trendy twine from HERE tied up in a nice bow to embellish my ornament.  I made the card 5x5 so that the topper which extends off of the card front will still fit in a 6x6 envelope when it is time for mailing.  I also put glossy accents in the cutout space of each word.  It was not quite dry when I took the picture and I noticed that the inserts on my lower letter 'e' are shifting a bit in the photo but I didn't notice as I was actually taking the photo (of course)!  Soooo... just please ignore it as I am headed out the door and don't have time to re-take it today!  Just call me calamity Jill....

One more quick thing to share.....I love me some glue dots as I am sure many of you do too.  Thought I would share how I store mine:

 This little wood box was found at the thrift store in my neighborhood here in Seattle.  I saw it and the round curved inside, see next photo below:

 and knew that it would work perfectly to store my glue dots at home!  I have painted it several times over the past couple of years but the latest rendition is this pretty turquoise color.  I can't tell you how much time it saves me having a spot for each size of glue dot that I use - micro, mini, and craft. 

Thanks for your visit! 
You are in my thoughts Meredith....and your entire Family too!
Hugs,
:) Jill

 

Let's get all cozied up!!! It's chilly outside!

 

Hello Crafty Friends,
Here with a card for Make it Monday #91 - Faux Pockets.  I whipped up a quick card on this chilly autumn evening while my son took a break from his homework.  Today I decided it was time to dig out my mittens, gloves, and hats here in Seattle.  It is getting a wee bit too cold to be without them around here.  Now if it would just snow!  I was born here in Seattleland but was raised until 8th grade in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  And I must say while I love most of our Seattle weather I do crave a wee bit of snow in the winter.  The nice thing about living here is that you can find snow pretty much all year long just by driving into the mountains.  But I also like to have some in the city - a few snow days, some snow cream, a reason to break out the sleds with the neighbors etc.!  But, alas, I digress...onto my card....it was inspired by the mittens I pulled out today for winter.  I decided to grab my Love Lives Here Christmas Dies and create this:

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am off to Nichole's blog to peek at what other's have made!  It is always so fun to see all of the beautiful projects! 
                                     :) Jill

Card Recipe:
Stamps:  Happiest of Holidays and In the Meadow - Papertrey Ink
Paper Products: Papertrey Ink; Amuse (Twas the night paper) and My Mind's Eye
Dies/Impression Plates: Papertrey Ink - Love Lives Here Christmas dies; Peace Be Still Impression plate; Tag Sale #6; Cheery Lynn Designs: Heart die
Other:  Ribbon: May Arts 1/8" red velvet ribbon; Trendy Twine - Krazy for Kraft; glue dots, dimensional tape, button, Martha Stewart Heart Punch


 

I love Snowmen! And Snow Angels! And Snow Babies....

Hello Friends,
Here tonight with a couple more Christmas cards.  These were made using another stamp from Serendipity Stamps that is new to their Holiday line up this year.  It is a beautiful snow angel holding a glowing star!  You can see (and purchase) the stamp:  HERE!

And here are some additional photos of my cards:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope to have time to re-take the photos during the day.  It has been cloudy the past few days here in Seattle and it is difficult to get good light for photo taking.  I used extra lighting but it just isn't the same as some good daylight.  I am posting anyway because I have a very busy weekend ahead of me and may not be in my craft room again until next week!  Happy Weekend everyone!
                                      :) 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 mini-book for my son's 8th Birthday...Edited 7-23-12

Hello,
Tonight I wanted to put together a mini-book for the stamp-a-faire event over at Nichole Heady's blog for Papertrey Ink: HERE

I watched all of the videos over the past two days and decided to go with something similar to Melissa Phillips book after re-watching her wonderful video a second time.   The album is for my son's 8th birthday.   I really wanted the birthday photos to take center stage so I kept the book fairly simple.  I have never made a mini album from scratch like this before and I enjoyed the process.  I also learned a lot of things that I would do differently next time but I still like my final product.  I still need to add some embellishments to the pages but I added my journaling while the memories from the party are still fresh in my mind.  I also think I need to stamp on the "happy" die cut (or color it with my copics) to help it stand out but I am out of time tonight so that will have to be done later too!

This was Tim's first birthday without his beloved Papa Stu and we both struggled with how to celebrate it.  Some of you know that my sweet Stuart passed away from brain cancer 5 months ago.  We are still trying to figure out how to celebrate special days without him - these are the times when his absence is the hardest for us.  Tim did not want to have a party with his friends this year - he asked that only his immediate family celebrate with him.  So I planned a very impromptu pizza and salad party for the evening of his birthday and invited the family to come.  I have 6 siblings so it was a full house and it ended up being a very nice evening which helped the sadness of Stuart's absence to be less overwhelming.  I wanted to make an album of this birthday especially as I know as Tim grows up he will wonder and have questions about what his life was like after his Papa went to heaven. 

Here are some pics of my mostly finished mini album:

 If you have any suggestions on how to make the "Happy" look better I woud love to hear them!

 My sweet boy at breakfast - we have a tradition that you get to choose something special for breakfast on your birthday each year!  We always light a candle and sing with just "us" on the morning of each other's birthdays.

 My sister Beth who lives out of state sent a Tim a special package with his favorite - Mad Libs!!!

 The back of the mini-album.  I used light weight cardboard sandwiched between two pieces of die cut cardstock and a sheet of patterned bittdy dot paper for the front and back covers to make them sturdier.

A side view so you can see the pages and the colors used.  I think I can make a much better product now that I have this one mostly under my belt so to speak!  Thanks to all the designers that made such great videos and tutorials.  I learned a lot and had fun with this project!  Thanks for taking a look.  Stamp-a-faire was such a fun event! I hope I can participate more fully next year!

New cover picture - see edit notes below:

7-23-12:  Edited to add an updated picture of the cover.  I received some wonderful suggestions on fixing my "happy" as I wasn't pleased with it.  I changed the color and I tried to move the  hat but I will have to re-do the whole cover if I want to do so.  For now I am happier with just the new color!  Yeah!  Thanks for the lovely suggestions in my comments area!  So appreciate it! :)
                                                                    : )   Jill

A project for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #32 - Roses

Hello Sweet Friends,
My post today is of a personal nature.  As some of you may know my life was touched by cancer over the past few years when my husband was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumor.  June 15th was the 4 month anniversary of his death and today is our first Father's Day without him.  Each one of us has a journey in life that cancer touches.  Some of us have very personal stories like I do, but these days, unfortunately, everyone knows someone that is fighting, or has fought, the cancer battle.  

I find myself often reflecting on the events in my life and in the lives of my friends that are battling this disease. HOPE is such a huge part of this fight.  And it is HOPE that inspired my project today.  I plan on giving this to someone special in my life who is fighting the cancer battle right now...she has breast cancer and our sons are the same age and have known each other since preschool.  I am hoping and praying for full healing for her and for everyone that is fighting cancer! 

Here is a picture of my project -  (you can click on the picture to see a larger view):

I have been wanting to use the French Flair Scalloped dies with felt and fabric since I received them.  And I really wanted to do something special for the Cheery Lynn Roses challenge in particular as roses are my favorite flower.  This is the project that came into my head after seeing a Unity Stamp video on You Tube which involved stamping on fabric.  I made a little door hanging pillow full of HOPE! 

The dies I used are all from Cheery Lynn Designs.  You can find their website:HERE

I used dies:

XL-13 French Flair Scalloped

B-155 Large Rose

B-152 Mini Rose

I need to order the medium rose too - these dies are wonderful and cut felt like butter!

The stamp set I used is called Faith and Hope and you can purchase it at Papertrey Ink.

I did all of the sewing by hand on this pillow using my favorite "Twendy Twine" color of Strawberry Cupcake.  You can purchase this twine: HERE

Here are a few more close up shots and a view of the back of the pillow:

The creamy white felt is from Benize Bazaar:  HERE.  The felt used to make the roses is from Papertrey Ink.

A close up shot of the lovely felt roses created with the rose dies from Cheery Lynn.  The large flower was made with 3 layers of the large rose die and 3 layers of the small.  The small flowers are 3 layers of the small only.  The crystal topped brads are from Making Memories. 

The ombre pink ribbon is from May Arts and is 7/8".  The buttons are from my stash...and may be vintage?

The reverse side of the pillow has the bible quote sentiment of "I am the Lord who heals you" from the book of Exodus.  This is also from the Faith and Hope stamp set. 

I made a little guardian angel for the embellishment on the reverse side of the pillow.  I kept this side fairly non-dimensional so that it would hang flat against the door still.  The little pink wings are from "Frost it Pink".  The felt angel body is actually the leaf portion of the mini rose die and the button is from my stash. 

Thanks for taking a look at my project.  I think I will make more of these in the future but next time I will stamp and sew on the smaller panels before sewing and stuffing the pillow itself.  I learned a lot of "what not to do" while making this one...LOL!  I hope you join in the Cheery Lynn Roses challenge too - you can find the info:  HERE

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's, Uncle's, and Grandfather's out there!   Especially our service men and women who may be far from loved one's today. 

: )   Jill