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

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 73 - Celebrate

Re-post....my original blog post was lost!  When I logged in this morning only the comments were left...so....I tried to remember what I wrote and retyped it. 

Hi Everyone,
Here with a card for the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 73 - Celebrate.  The word "Celebrate" made me think of the Celebration of Easter which we will be enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

I needed a card for my son's Easter basket.  His favorite treat at Easter is the chocolate bunny which is delivered each year.  He just loves to bite off those bunny ears on Easter morning! LOL!  Because of this I wanted to make a card with a chocolate bunny on it...


 Here is the card that I made for him and a spare....

I used the scalloped oval stackers from Cheery Lynn Designs for my shaped card and mats.  The little bunny die is from Impression Obsession and is embossed with a new embossing folder to give it some texture.

 I used an Easter themed impression plate from Cheery Lynn on the mat beneath the bunny.   You can find it: HERE.

Thanks for taking a look at my cards.  Have a wonderful weekend!
:) Jill

Easter Wishes - a card for Freshly Made Sketches #79

Hello,
I am still trying to get a few more Easter cards finsihed.  I took inspiration from the Freshly Made Sketches challenge #79: HERE

Here is the sketch:

Here is the card I made:

 I was originally trying for a one-layer card - very CAS.  But...after using a circle mask and stamping the two lovely borders from one of the new WPlus9 sets I didn't quite know how to make the circle space look right!  Ugh! 

So.....after embossing the background and then deliberating and trying different things I finally cut this pretty pink felt circle frame and added the smaller popped up circle with the sentiment.  I also added some coloring with my copics to help the flowers in the stamped images to POP a little from the background.

All I can say is that the art of making a single layer card is one that I aspire to.....tonight wasn't my night for it but I do like my finished product.  I just love the texture that felt adds!  Yummy!

Thanks for taking a look!

Hugs,

Jill

I Heart You!

Edited to add:  updated photo....1-25-13
Hello Friends,
Here with a card to celebrate Kara's 100 Weeks of Inspiration Challenge.  I love Kara's inspirational posts and her Pinterest file is one that I love browsing over and over again.  I was touched when I spied one of my cards added not too long ago!  Thanks Kara!  Your cards ALWAYS inspire me and I love your style! 

Tonight I went to Kara's Friday Inspiration File and picked this card by Christina Kowalczyk from her blog called My Paper Secret.  I loved this card the first time I saw it and I still do!!!  I decided to put a Valentine's Day spin on it as I have lots of cards to make for family and friends. Here is what I came up with:

(This is the updated photo...please disregard next paragraph - :)
The deadline on Kara's blog is in 8 hours so I took the photo tonight and of course it is shadowy!  I can hopefully retake it tomorrow morning with daylight but until then this will have to do.  I have a major lighting problem tonight as I am in the middle of a purge and re-org in my craft room and my normal lighting area is in the process of being moved nearer to windows for additional natural light.     

I am also entering this in the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge for this week #64 - Sweethearts.  

Thanks for looking at my card.  I hope to add an updated photo tomorrow with better lighting.
:) Jill

Silent Night, Holy Night....

Hello,
I am starting to steal a few minutes here and there to work on Christmas cards and tags as we are into November and the time really does start to fly by.  I sent a bunch of cards and tags home with my sister Beth who was visiting from Oregon and forgot to take any pictures of what I created.  Oh well.

Tonight I wanted to play with a nativity silouhette 4x4 die from Cottage Cutz.  Here is the card that I made in just a few minutes tonight and it would be easy to reproduce to send to many.  I plan on giving it to the Pastor at my church who has been so kind to my family and performed Stuart's Funeral Mass back in February.  Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I have been enjoying seeing so many holiday cards starting to be posted on everyone's blogs in the last few days or so.  This is such a fun time of year to be creative....well really any time of year is fun for creativity!

 I die cut the nativity die from the center of the card base.  I then embossed the dark blue cardstock base with the "old parchment" embossing plate from Cheery Lynn Designs to give it some lovely texture.  Next I cut out a nativity silhouette die cut in white.  I then backed the opening in the cardbase with some double sided paper with "starlight" on it in yellow and white.  Once this paper was in place I glued the white nativity silhouette die cut into the opening.   I placed a portion of the semtiment in the center of the nativity silouhette die cut on the front of the card by masking it.  The full sentiment says "Silent Night, Holy Night". 

   I then worked on the inside of the card.  I first placed the second half of the sentiment - "Holy Night" - on the inside of the card on the left hand side.  I added a second sentiment to the right hand side.  (Note: Just click on the pictures if you want to see a bigger photo)

To finish the card I added some stickles to the star, the stable and the halos on each of their heads. Then a nice blue and white twine bow on one end. This is a beautiful card in person and very simple to make!  I love that!

Thanks for taking a look!
:) Jill

I tried to link to the Nativity Silhouette die but the website of the store was down tonight.  I purchased mine from The Scrapping Cottage which should come up if you do a search.

Believe in the MAGIC....

Hello Friends,
I made another card for this weeks Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #122. I gained inspiration from the many wonderful cards made by the designers and from several Holiday based Waltzing Mouse stamp sets as well as a new Santa stamp that I recently purchased from Serendipity Stamps: HERE

Here again is this weeks sketch:

I had fun making this card and was inspired by Renee who made a card with a Santa silouhette and the colors black, red, and cream.  You can see her card on her blog "It's a Patchwork Life":   HERE.  I ended up using the colors black, red, white and silver on my card. 

 I love this sentiment "Believe in the magic..." and wanted to give a special card to my son who is being shall was say "challenged" in his Santa beliefs this year.  The picture doesn't show it well but the snowflakes stamped over the "Twas the night before Christmas" poem are done in silver while the poem was in white.

I added some glossy accents to Santa's glasses so they look more real and created a reindeer border with the sweetest little stamp from Waltzing Mouse's Holiday Ornaments set!  I think I might try to make this card again and emboss the snowflakes over the white ink next time. 

I also made a little tag to go with the package that I will be putting this card with.  I am trying to make things as special as I can for Tim this year as it will be a hard day for both of us - our first Christmas without our beloved Papa Stuart.  Just praying to make it through with grace and peace in our hearts.  Thank goodness for all of our wonderful family and friends and all of you out in blog land who have offered such wonderful and loving friendship and support these past months.  It means so much to me when I read your comments and emails!  You are a blessing to me! 

So thanks very much for taking a look at my creations and leaving such sweet comments on my blog.  They truly do brighten my days!

I was able to get my desktop computer that has my picture editing software on it up and running tonight so my picture quality is a bit better but as usual it was a very dark and grey day here in Seattle land which makes good picture taking difficult even with extra lighting.  It looks like a new computer is definitely in our future as even with 2 repair appointments it is hit or miss as far as the desktop booting up when I want to do some photo editing or other work.  Bummer! 

Happy Crafting friends!!!

:) Jill

Halloween Scenes....

Hello Friends,

Do you ever have a fairly simple straightforward card idea in your head and have it go in a completely over-the-top unexpected direction?  That is what happened to me this evening when I started to work on a card for the Cloud WPlus 9 blog hop.  I love the inspiration photo:

I loved all the pumpkins, polka dots, the tree and house and the "BOO" spelled out and sitting on the ladder.  I started trying to put a card together but was struggling for a variety of reasons. So I looked at the photo again and decided to free-hand cut a house and as seems to happen with all of my Halloween cards so far this year I ended up building a SCENE card when the original idea in my head was a very simple card.   

The house was first drawn on a piece of cardstock and then hand-cut. I added embossing to the roof using an embossing folder from Stampin Up and then inked it up to give it a vintage type feeling.  I used the WPlus9 smallest pinking square to make my window openings and I backed them with clear cardstock as "glass", some striped paper curtains and some window panes cut from cardstock.  Then I decided to add a banner to the roof line that says "BOO", some clouds, a harvest moon, and a front yard scene including a black cat, some pumpkins, a bird, some flowers, and a yard sign that says Happy Harvest.  The front door of the house has a gingham heart "window" and opens to reveal another heart and a sentiment.  I still felt it needed some "grounding" so I hand sewed some hemp twine around the outside of the base of the card to create a "frame".    I wanted to also add a witch diecut "flying" over the house but the scale of the die that I had available was too big.  It would have been so perfect though!!  Perhaps I can find a bat to add now that I am on the "scene-building roll!?  I will look....

Supplies:

Stamps: WPlus9 - various sets

Cardstock: WPlus9 and PTI

DP: Simple Stories - Harvest Lane

Felt: MFT

Other: Burlap (smoke in chimney); halloween twine, various dies from WPlus9 and PTI.

(NOTE: If you want specific info please leave me a comment!)

Thanks for taking a look at my card. 

: )  Jill

Card 2 - Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge 108

Hello,
Here with another card for the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #108: HERE.  I liked this sketch by the talented Belinda Chang Langner so much that I was inspired to make another card with some of the stamping leftovers I had on my desk from the first one. 

Here are some pictures:

 I created the sentiment by selecting words from several different sentiments within Waltzing Mouse Stamps set: Sewing Box Hugs!  I love how it turned out!

I had stamped these Sewing Box Hugs flowers from Waltzing Mouse stamps the other day in Berry Sorbet ink.  Last night I cut them all out and colored them with copics and edged them in some Marina Mist ink from Stampin Up.  Then I added the brad and some more copic ink to create the "stamens".  It was such a cute little flower I decided to make the second card to put it on!


Thanks for taking a look at my little card. Happy Crafting!
: )  Jill

Make it Monday #67 - Card #2

Hello,
Still playing with the Make it Monday challenge #67 over at Nichole Heady's blog for Papertrey Ink.  You can find the challenge: HERE.

Here is my second card using purple scraps from my scrap basket (which has way to many scraps in it by the way so I am glad this is whittling it down a bit! LOL!)

I used the new notched flower dies for my flower and another felt heart border on this card.  I used banner dies from MFTstamps.com to create the patterned paper banners for the background on this one.  This was a very quick card for me which I just love!!!!

A close-up of the flower.  Added some glue and some Martha Stewart glitter to punch it up a bit.  Along with some twine and a vintage button from my stash.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  I am enjoying this challenge and building up some birthday cards that I need for June and July!

:)  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.

Happy Anniversary to Papertrey Ink! Love, love, love your company and design team!

Today I am going to repost one of my favorite cards using papertrey ink products.  This is my first year using Papertrey Ink products.  I saw a card in a magazine using their stamps and decided to check them out online one day and I fell in love!  I love their stamps, their ink, their cardstock (which I just ordered for the first time a week or so ago and am just starting to use) and most of all their dies!  I am impressed with their service and the way they package their high-quality stamps!  I know I will be a customer for life!

This year my favorite product has to be the stamp set "Love Lives Here".  I love the verstility of this set!  There are so many uses for the stamps and the sentiments and the dies which have already made it onto several of my scrapbook pages too.  While I am still learning how to "design" and have a long way to go before I will feel that I am 'good' I still enjoy trying my hand at being creative.  It takes my mind off of my husband's illness and also allows me to make thank you notes for all of the people that are helping us out in our time of need.  This stamp set from papertrey ink along with the Crafty Secrets "Little Blessings" Creative Scraps which I also found this year have allowed me to send off some lovely thank you's to all the special people in our lives who are helping us right now.  So thank you Papertrey Ink and Crafty Secrets!  I love your products! 

Here are some of the cards I have made this year using Papertrey Ink's products...

I think the first card is my favorite of all because it seemed to turn out the best though I also like the last one.  I am still learning how to make cards so each one helps me grow a little.  The important thing is that I have fun making them and I get to send them to all my family and friends that are helping me out!  What could be a better reason to sit down and play with some ink, stamps and cardstock!  Again - thanks Papertrey Ink!  What a wonderful company full of amazing people doing what they love!  I am blessed to have found you this year!  Happy Anniversary!