Hello Everyone,
It’s Wednesday and time for the Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge at MFT! Here is the sketch for this week:

I hope you have time to play along.  There is a wonderful prize up for grabs - a $15 voucher ($20 if you used MFT stamps) to the MFT Boutique. You can submit your entry using the keyword MFTWSC109 to the Gallery at Splitcoaststampers. Entries for this week’s challenge will close on Tuesday, February 5th at noon EST.  I hope you join in all the fun!

Without further ado here is my card:

 This picture was taken outdoors in the rain!  I stayed under the back porch overhang so it is not the best angle or view....sorry!

This one was taken indoors in my light tent. Isn't light fascinating when it comes to photography?!?  I could play all day if I had more time...LOL!!!  I am definitely still trying to get the hang of how to take the best photo for my blog!  It is a challenge!

I used one of my very favorite stamp sets for this card - "Clearly Sentimental About Teaching".  I have a big soft spot for all the teachers who work with my son each day.  They have a very important job and I think they are underpaid for it!!!  So I like to try and give them a little something extra on Holidays and special occasions.  This card is going to my son's homeroom teacher for Valentine's Day.  I had made another card for her but it was given to one of my friend's daughter's who is in kindergarten.  She asked to come downstairs to see my studio the other day and her eyes lit up like the 4th of July (she is 5 years old).  I ended up sending her home with a mini scrapbook album all ready for pictures, some embellishments, and a valentine card for her Kindergarten teacher.  She wants to come and spend the day with me and craft which tickles my heart!   

Here's a little close up of the sentiment panel.  Love that I found that sweet heart-shaped button in my blue button jar!  The papers are from one of my favorite paper collections of all time from The Girl's Paperie!  Love them!  Wish I could buy more or get it digitally and print it out whenever I wanted to use it!  I did alter the paper a little bit by filling in those pink lines you see next to the blue with a copic marker RV11 - pink.  I thought it needed a little more substance to compete with the red polka dots on this card.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I hope you join in this week's challenge!  It is also teaser time for the February 2013 release!  I am loving what I am seeing as I do each month.  See - I really, really, really DO need that $20.00 voucher so I can grab some new yummy crafting supplies at MFT!  LOL!!! 

:)  Jill

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #129

Hello Friends,
Here with my last card of 2012.  I decided to play along with sketch #129 over at the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge blog.  It sounds like some changes are coming to these challenges in 2013.  I am looking forward to seeing what the New Year will bring to Waltzing Mouse Stamps and to the stamping and paper crafting world overall.  This hobby of ours is always growing and changing and surprising me with new ideas and concepts and designs! 

Here is this week's sketch from Edna Morrisedie:

And here is my take on it:

 

The background in white was impressed with the Cheery Lynn Designs Petite Heart Impression plate.
I have started mixing white with cream on my cards for some reason...it just seems to make it POP but I don't know if it is "proper" from a color standpoint?   Does anything go?  Hmm?

I took some liberties with the sketch and still am not sure that this card isn't missing something.  I was trying to use up some items on my desk from some previous cards I had made which is how I ended up with the square card with the die cut French Flair Scalloped shape in it.  I just hate to waste anything if I can help it...it comes from growing up in a family of 9 with very little in the way of extras I guess.  I just can't throw something away if I think I can make a card with it!  LOL!

Thanks for taking a look.  And thanks to Waltzing Mouse Stamps, Claire, and her design team and everyone that participates for a year full of fun in 2012!  I enjoyed myself and was inspired each and every time I visited or participated!

Happy New Year 2013!
:) Jill
 

How much liberty can I take with a sketch?....

 

Hello and Happy Saturday!
I hope you are enjoying your weekend and if living in the USA I hope you also enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday!

I am here today with a card for the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #125

Here is the lovely sketch:

When I saw this sketch I wrote it down in my sketch notebook and then flipped it 180 degrees.
It then looked to me like two trees standing up in the forest...and my brain went...ahhh Christmas Trees.  I asked myself - just how much liberty are we allowed to take with a sketch before it is too much?  This may be too much!!!!  But as inspiration is such a wonderful thing and as as I am TOTALLY in Christmas Card and Tag making mode right now I quickly pulled out my Waltzing Mouse "Vintage Banners" stamp set and came up with this card:

The sentiment is from Seasons of Love tags and says "Hearts ALL come home for Christmas".  I love this sentiment - one of my all time favorites!

 

Anyway I am not sure if my card will count but there it is nevertheless!

And I still have all week to play with this sketch so you never know...maybe another card idea will pop into my head this week.

Thanks for taking a look!

:) Jill

 

 

You are so sweet!

Hello Friends,
Had a little time on Sunday night to make a card.  My son and I had finished carving our pumpkins and we decided to play for a bit - he on the computer and me in my crafty space.  I was inspired by the beautiful cards over at the C84FN Color Challenge and specifically challenge #66:

There are so many lovely creations by the design team (WOW!!!!) and I had an idea come to mind right away.

I wanted to use a new to me flower die from Magnolia and make some negative die cuts and then place the actual flowers into the negative spaces with designer paper behind them.  On the road to doing this I ended up putting foam tape on the wrong side of my negative die cut piece. This was a bummer because this pretty light grey card stock had such a lovely texture on it.  I didn't want to waste the piece though so I used it anyway and then had to turn my flowers to the wrong side too.  Behind the opening in the Magnolia flowers is a piece of gray flowered Prima paper but you cannot see it very well because of the glitter glue I added to the flowers to make them POP more!  Needless to say my card did not turn out exactly as I wanted it to but it is still pretty I think! 

Thanks for taking a look at my card.  I thought I would end my post with a picture of my son and his wonderful Jack-o-lantern.  I love the face design that he came up with!  I just helped with the cutting!  I love the little carving knives they sell now - much safer for kids that want to carve!!!

Happy Halloween week everyone!  Enjoy!
:)  Jill and my sweet boy Tim

Butterfly kisses....

9/4/12: Edited to add: this photo:

 

Hello sweet blog Friends,

I want to thank everyone that visits my blog and leaves me the most supportive and amazing comments! And welcome to those that have subscribed to my blog too!  I am enjoying participating in challenges and learning new things about this craft that I love.  Your blogs and projects always bring joy to my heart when I visit you!  I think creating is sharing a little bit of our spirits or souls with each other....the beauty within brought to life with our hands...it is an amazing thing to take an inspiration photo or color story and see all of the unique creations brought to life by those that link up!  I am truly loving the experiences I am having!

Last night and tonight I have had just a few minutes to create as I have been busy during my very long days with some house projects that I am trying to finish up before the Seattle rains return.  By the time I am done with my day I just want to rest at night and my mojo isn't humming when I am that tired.  But tonight I was able to finish a sweet little card for the latest CR84FN challenge.  Here is the inspiration photo:

I love this soft color combo but did struggle finding the peach color in my stash.  I do not have cardstock in this color so I went searching through my designer paper and finally found something that fit with the challenge colors in my Prima paper stash.  It is a very small amount of peach but it is there in the background paper. 

The background of the card was created with my favorite stackers from Cheery Lynn Designs. They are called the French Flair Scalloped Large Stackers Nesting Dies.   When I make a shaped card these are the dies that I reach for 9 times out of 10.  I just love them!!!

 I made these sweet little tags with a stampin-up punch.  I had adhered some linen type fabric to some cream cardstock for the owl I made last week.  These little tags were punched out of the leftovers from the owl die cuts.  I like that they are a little bit frayed and "shabby".  I wrote on them with black marker because I wanted this specific sentiment for this card.

 I also made 3 little butterflies using the Marth Stewart butterfly trio punch.  I punched twice and then layered them with hemp twine for antennas.

The Lace Flourish Butterfly die is also from Cheery Lynn Designs. I love the intricacy of it.  I actually have the wings propped up on foam tape in the centers but it is hard to tell from the photos.  I may need to take a side view shot tomorrow and add it.  The heart border diecut from the kraft felt is from Papertrey Ink.

Well that is it for me tonight. I cannot believe that school starts the day after tomorrow for my little one.
Wishing everyone a wonderful school year!
:) Jill 
 

A little birthday card for my sister

The other night I made a sweet but very simple card for a Papertrey Ink contest but my husband wasn't feeling well and I did not get to upload it in time to enter it into the contest.  So tonight I am posting it after the fact.  It is a birthday card for my sweet sister.  Her birthday is right around Valentine's Day so it has a little heart doily on it.  It also uses a free Anniversary design from Nichole's blogpost at Papertrey Ink:   pti-anniversary-tag-download pdf  .  There are great images on this download that can be used over and over again for card making.

The images are made to fit a 1.75 inch circle punch which I do not own currently.  So I cut the image by hand the best that I could...it is sort of vintagey and imperfect but the card still turned out cute.  Here is a quick pic (the only one that turned out on the dark day I took it) and then I am off to hopefully make a couple of thank you notes using the wonderful color combos on today's papertrey ink blog post.  You can see all the anniversary posts here on Nichole's blog for Papertrey Ink:  Papertrey Ink Blog

Here is my sweet little card....for my sweet little sister....shhh don't tell her about it as I won't be mailing it out to her for a few days!
Supplies:
Doily:  stash
Patterned paper:  K & company - Sweet Nectar Line
Tag: K & Company
Adhesive:  Glue Glider Pro - High Tac cartridge; glue dots
Bling:  Recollections
Sentiment circle:  papertrey ink free pdf- see link in post above
Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Crafts