Some Halloween Cards...

I finally started making some Halloween cards this week and thought I would upload a few photos:

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper:  Aunthentique; My Mind's Eye

Stamps:  Michaels - Mummy; PTI - sentiment; Red Lead: Background stamp

Ink: Memento and Copic Markers

Dies:  Cheery Lynn Designs-web; My Favorite Things - flourish; Papertrey Ink: notebook paper and label die 

Other:  Martha Stewart Edge Punches; ribbon from my stash; Ad Tech Adhesive and glue dots

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink

Patterened Paper:  My Mind's eye and scrap from my stash

Stamps:  Red Lead Paperworks; Studio G - Hampton Art

Ink: Memento and copic markers

Ribbon: Michael's

Dies:  My Favorite Things; Papertrey Ink; Cheery Lynn Designs

Other: Buttons: Papertrey Ink;

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper:  Authentique

Stamps:  Red Lead Paperworks

Ink: Memento and copic markers

Ribbon: Michael's

Dies: Papertrey Ink and My Favorite Things Die-namics

Other:  Flowers - Prima; edge punch: Fiskars 

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Debbie Mumm

Stamps: Studio G - Hampton Arts;

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Dies:  Papertrey Ink; My Favorite Things and Stampin Up

Ribbon:  Michaels

Other: edge punch: Fiskars; Adhesive: ad-tech and glue dots and dollar store; rhinestones: Kaiser Kraft

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Authentique?

Stamps:  Red Lead Paperworks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; copic markers

Dies:  Papertrey Ink; Cheery Lynn Designs

Ribbon: Big Lots

Other:  Marth Stewart Edge Punch;

Well I hope you enjoyed this little post of Halloween cards.  I like to say that a card is a hug made of paper and I love sending hugs for each and every holiday!  Happy stamping everyone!  And thanks for looking and commenting!

Jill

MFTWSC39 and a Heather Ellis Digi too!

Hi all,
A couple more cards to share tonight.   The first card is another digi stamp from
Heather Ellis's ETSY site as noted in my previous blog post.  It is a "school"
themed card that will be going to my son's teacher eventually. 

The second card is for a challenge.  It is a thank you card that I will be giving
to my parents who are such a tremendous help to my little family of three
since my husband was diagnosed with grade IV brain cancer a year and 2
months ago.  This card is my first ever entry into a challenge at My Favorite
Things stamps.  They are one of my favorite stamp companies and I have
wanted to enter their challenges forever but this is my first attempt.
Here is the sketch:

Wednesday Stamp Club Getting Sketchy

Sketch #39

You can find all the info about the challenge at Kim van der Sanden's blog on
the MFT stamp site: here


Here are some pictures of the first card that is not part of the sketch challenge.
Again this is a digital stamp which I purchased from Heather Ellis's site on Etsy
:  here.   MFT has this stamp in the little girl version but since I have a little boy
I wanted the boy version.  Plus I liked the "black" chalkboard version as I love,
love, love!!!! to stamp in white ink!  When I stumbled upon this stamp on ETSY
I was thrilled!  I hope that MFT will add more boy PI sets in the future as their
are a lot of Mom's of boys out there who want to get stamps too!  I also hope
they add the doctor stamp in a girl version as my husband has several female
oncologists that I would love to send them to!  Of course MFT can't do
everything (and what they already do is OUTSTANDING!!!!)  but it doesn't
hurt to dream and ask right?!?

Here is my second card and this one follows sketch #39 for the MFT challenge . 

I am off to find out how to upload this to the challenge site over on Splitcoast
as I have never done that before either!  Thanks for taking a look at my cards!
Each day with my family is a gift and a day with card making in it makes me
twice as blessed! 
Hugs!
Jill 

A birthday card and a baby card....

This past weekend I needed a birthday card for a little boy as my son had a party to go to.  And this week I needed  a baby card for a friend who just had a beautiful baby girl.  So of course I made a couple of cards over the weekend and this time I broke out my copic markers to do some coloring...it has been a while and I am an amateur with coloring at best but I had fun which is what this craft is all about!  And who doesn't like receiving a handmade card!

This first card is from a stamp from My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Line.  The artist is Heather Ellis and I love her little boy stamps as I have a little boy and it is so hard to find little boy stamps!  There are tons of stamps for little girls but so few that I have found for boys!  Isn't this one adorable!  I altered one of the sentiments in this MFT set from "Swinging by to say hi" to "Swinging by to say Happy Birthday" with the gift recipients name added in small letter stickers.   My pictures were taken on an overcast morning so I apologize for the appearance of them:

The next card is from a digital stamp from Heather Ellis's ETSY site called:  digistampcharacters.  You can find the site here.  I ordered this digital stamp because I needed a baby card and I loved the card samples for both baby girls and boys on her site. 

I made a 5x5 square card using cardstock from Papertrey Ink; a doily die from MFT stamps and a tag die and stamp from Papertrey Ink.  I covered the card with some patterened paper in pink from my scrap stash.

I finished the card by adding a twine bow to this sweet baby's head and some diamond stickles around each of the oval nestabilities edges for some glitter.  What is a card without a little glitter?  Gotta have it! 

I think it turned out very cute and it was a fairly simple card to make too!  It was my first "digital stamp" card and I must say that printing the stamp to color is easy and quick and I had no problem with the black ink from the stamp outline running when I colored it with my copic markers!  Yeah!  Try digital stamps - you'll like them!  Especially Heather's which are soooo cute!

Hope you enjoyed seeing my cards today! 

Smiles,

Jill

   

Cheery Lynn Designs Anything Goes challenge...

Hello All,Cheery Lynn Designs is running a challenge over at their blog - HERE.  It is an anything goes challenge in which you must use at least one of their dies on your submission.  I use at least one of their dies on almost every single card I make these days so this was any easy challenge for me to enter this week.  Since my husband is ill I didn't have time to make anything new but I did link up one of the birthday cards I made in my last post.  This card uses the Italian Flourish Doily which of course is my fav since I am Italian....just kidding how can one even pick a fav of Cheery Lynn's dies - they are all fabulous and make it so easy to create a stunningly beautiful card! 

Here are a few more cards using Cheery Lynn Dies:

This card uses a French Flair Scalloped Large Stackers Nesting die for the layer created with the chicken wire design paper.  And the doily layer is the French Pastry Doily die. 

This card uses several layers of the French Flair Scalloped Large Stackers Nesting Dies.  I love that I can create large 5x5 cards with these extra large nesting dies!  Aren't these just

 gorgeous dies!  

Well I hope you link up a card to this challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs.  I love to see what others are making!  Have a great weekend!

: ) Smiles,

Jill

Make it Monday #31 - Creating backgrounds with non-background stamps...

Tonight I had the chance to make a card to thank some very dear friends
 of ours for a gift of some homemade jam. The Papertrey Ink
Make it Monday challenge this week involves
creating your own backgrounds with non-background stamps.
 I chose to use the berry stamp from tiny treats birthday to create my background with.
Then I used the fruit fusion strawberry set to create the sentiment and the larger strawberries.

All products used are Papertrey ink accept for the pink heart gems; green leaf jems above the button, and the button itself which I believe is from Crate Paper.  The butterfly and pearl pin is from Websters Pages.     
Thanks for taking a look!
: )   Jill

Happy Birthday Cards...

Hello,

Today I am posting a few Happy Birthday cards.  A friend asked me to make one for her sister's birthday that is coming up.  I made several different cards for her to choose from:





This first card uses the set "Sending You" from Papertrey Ink; papers from Authentique and a cheery lynn designs doily die and martha stewart edge punch.  It has 3 little grey pearls to lead your eye to the sentiment.

I used a hero arts envelope grid pattern stamp for the background of the sentiment piece.

This card uses scrap papers from my stash which I believe are Prima?  And Papertrey Ink dies and stamps.  A little lace separates the two patterned papers.  I used  a hero arts old script background stamp on the circle sentiment piece along with PTI's harvest berries stamp set for the leaves and berries.  Topped off with some diamond stickles for a little glitter.  Kept it non-dimensional for ease in mailing without extra postage.

This card uses Authentique papers; dies from My Favorite Things and Spellbinders and stamps from Hero Arts for the backgrounds and Papertrey Ink for the sentiment.  A little twine and pearls finish it up.

This card is done in all browns and kraft paper.  It is a 5" square card with paper

 from the Crafty Secrets creatingwith vintage patterns CD - the chicken wire backgrond paper -

and sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink.  It uses a decorative corner die that I believe

 is from Heartfelt Creations and a doily die from Cheery Lynn Designs. 

The brad in the center of the flower is American Crafts Dear Lizzy line
and the rest are prima and paper flowersfrom my kraft room.
A little gold thread holds the sentiment tag in place.

And last but not least this simple card again fairly  non-dimensional for mailing, is made with Authentique

and Kraft papers; spellbinders and PTI dies and some KI Memories stickers from my craft room. 

The sentiment stamp is a wood-mounted one that I bought at Michael's many years ago when I first

 started card making.  It is still one I use frequently.

That is it for today....Happy Wednesday everyone!
Smiles,
Jill

Crafty Secrets - Creating with Vintage Patterns CD

Hello all - here with a quick post of a couple of cards I made using Crafty Secrets new "Creating with Vintage Patterns CD" as well as some Crafty Secrets creative scraps;  Papertrey Ink stamps and dies from both PTI and Cheery Lynn Designs.  These cards are both mainly pink in color and include some maya road trims and other various goodies from my craft room.

Here are some pictures:

On this card I added a little bit of sewing with some light pink floss and I used a crafty secrets image from one of their creative scraps sets. 

This shaped card was made using a set of scalloped label dies from Cheery Lynn Designs and the papers from the Crafty Secrets CD.  The leaves, pearls and rose trim pieces are from my stash.  Love the softness of this card and I am in love with all of Cheery Lynn Designs dies! 

Can't wait to give this card as a thank you note to one of my husband's cousins who just sent us a gift.  We are so blessed by all the family and friends that are supporting our family during my husband's battle with brain cancer.  

Until tomorrow, blessings to you all!

Jill 

So grateful....some thank you's to special people...

Today I made some very special thank you's to mail to some of my husband's extended family who have been so kind to our family as my husband continues to battle his brain cancer. 

I kept these cards really simple, elegant, and slim or non-dimensional, except for one layer of foam tape beneath the sentiments, since they need to be mailed not hand delivered.

Here are some pics taken with the best lighting I could provide in my basement on this dark and dreary day:

Off to cook sunday dinner for my little family....

Bye for now,

Jill

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink - Signature Greetings, BB Gingham

Ink:  Jenni Bowlin - Brown Sugar

Paper:  Aqua Mist Cardstock - PTI; Crafty Secrets vintage digital CD of papers;

Other:  Dies: PTI;

Be Strong Clear Stamp set from Just Rite Stamps...

Just logging on to share that Just Rite Stamps has come out with a beautiful set of stamps for those of us that need to make cards for family and friends that are fighting cancer.  It is a beautiful set designed by Amy Tedder who is a 6 year survivor of ovarian cancer.  I ordered this set yesterday and will be using it to make cards for many of my friends that are battling this disease. 

Here is a picture of this stamp set from their website:





Here is a color chart for cancer ribbons for use during your cardmaking...this is also from the Just Rite Stamps blog:


A health tip for all of us:
Remember to eat mostly fruits and veggies - especially green veggies - each day.  Eat only whole grains and very few bread/pasta/white foods overall.  NO processed meats at all if you can do so!  Organic chicken and turkey occasionally.  Eating whole raw foods each day is vital to staying healthy!!  And if you can, get a good juicer that doesn't kill enzymes and drink a green juice each day at least once!  If you put some cucumber in it the taste is quite fresh!  It is raw health in a glass!  My husband and I are really working on this in our efforts to beat his grade 4 primary brain cancer!

God Bless us one and all!
Jill

I like Rose Blossom Cottage....and Make mine PINK!

Just a very short post to say that I was blog hopping today and found some new shabby chic storefronts that I liked.  Check out:  http://www.makeminepink.com/ .   There are some great shops here!  Rose blossom cottage is one of them at:  http://www.roseblossomcottage.com/.  It was fun looking at all of the great things for sale at a variety of the sites at make mine pink!  Great idea inspiration for card color combos!  Fun! Fun! Fun! 

Make it Monday #24 - Dry Brushing

Edited on 7-18 at 9:18pm to add two pictures and:  ....  Back at my desk this evening I looked at the card with fresh eyes and decided to make the bow smaller so the dress form would show more fully and balance the card better.  I still think something is off - probably because the pink items aren't in a triangle but not sure how I will fix that yet....maybe a heart on the dress form and change the color of the button flower?.....here is a fresh pic tonight of how the card looks now.....always learning and tweaking my designs....

ORIGINAL POST FROM A.M.:
Wow it is Monday again and this summer is flying by and we still haven't had any "hot" weather to speak of here in the Seattle area.  To all of you suffering through the heat waves elsewhere we wish you some of our cooler weather!  Hope you are all drinking some ice cold lemonade as you read this.

This morning my husband had a rare day with no medical appointments so I decided to spend an hour making a card for this week's "Make it Monday" over at Papertrey Ink.

 I loved the dry brushing technique though it was the first time I have ever painted on a card before and I think I will do a better job next time.  But for today I went ahead and finished the card with my "original" take on the dry brushing teqhnique as for me these challenges are all about learning to make cards in new ways.  (edited to add:  I used PTI's Background Builders Twinkle on the PTI cardstock)  I am finding that as I make more and more cards I am slowly improving my skills.  I still bungle things frequently! For example it took me 3 tries to complete my sentiment piece today because I was trying to stamp the sentiment with two colors of ink and each time I tried to stamp the second color I ran into a problem!  Ugh!  I finally ran out of time and stuck with black for the entire sentiment and added a couple of pink hearts around it instead. 

Here are some additional pictures:

I made the dress form and butterfly "wings" from the "Signature Series Dressform and Signature Series Butterfly" stamp sets designed by Dawn McVey for PTI.  I just love these sets of hers and I loved combining the dress form with the butterfly and adding a little pair of silk wings that I got from Memrie Mare on Etsy - HERE

Here is a close up of the sentiment.  

And one last shot of the card overall! 

Supplies:  Cardstock, button, dies stamps - background builder twinkle; Signature Series Butterfly; Signature Series Dress Form:  Papertrey Ink; Paint Dabber:  Adirondack from Ranger:  Pearl (this is gorgeous in person - not sure pictures did it justice!)  Ribbon; pearls from my stash. Ink: Adirondcak Jet Black; and Versamagic: Thatched Straw.  Stickles: Diamond (edge of butterfly)

Papertrey Ink's "Make It Monday" #23 - Pockets with edger dies

It has been a while since I completed a Make it Monday challenge over at Nichole's blog with Papertrey Ink.  Today I decided I needed to take an hour for myself to do something fun and I decided to make a card after taking a walk with my family on this very cool and overcast morning in Seattle.

Here are some pictures of the card with the edgers die pocket that I made.  It is a scallop circle card using the second smallest grand spellbinders scallop circle dies which I purchased for 40% of from Cut at Home with their monthly coupon.

The papers are from Papertrey Ink (cardstock) and Authentique (patterned papers). 

I used several PTI stamp sets:  Tiny Tags, Flower Fusion #2; and Love Lives Here.  The little bird stamp is from Inkadinkado.   Here is a picture below of the card without the tag inside the pocket: 

Here is the tag itself.  The scallop circle die for the tag is from PTI's limitless layers set as is the circle tag on top of it.

Another close up shot.

The small tag is from the Tiny Tags die set from PTI. And the edge on the pocket is from PTI's edgers #2 collection.

This is a picture of the inside of the card.

And...

This last picture is after I fixed a problem with the little bird...it had gotten bent a little when the wind blew it off the table where I was photographing it outside and some of the foam was showing in the pictures above....this was an extra photo I ran and took after I noticed...ugh - details!

That is it for today.  I am off to play with my little boy and plant some pumpkin seeds we received from a friend while my sweet hubbie rests.  Hopefully we will have pumpkins to carve in the fall.  Happy Weekend everyone!

A few contest wins....

Many of you that follow my blog know that my husband is battling a grade 4 brain cancer and that I am not able to update my blog sometimes because I am busy caring for him and our son.  While I am often busy with the most important blessings in my life - my husband and son - I do find time (usually late at night or in the wee hours of the morning) to surf blogs and enjoy all the crafty inspiration that the web offers.  I love to scrapbook and make cards and I do so as time allows but more often than not right now I find myself upstairs away from my craft room with only my laptop available for a few minutes of time every now and again.  To this end I have done a few blog hops or looked up blogs of companies that I love and over the past couple weeks I won some lovely goodies...

First during PTI's fruit fusion release I won the entire fruit fusion set of stamps and the wonderful paper too! 
Thanks to Nichole and Jen and the entire staff at Papertrey Ink for this wonderful prize package!

Then this past week I also won a $10.00 gift cerfiticate from Taylored Expressions via a comment I posted during their recent blog hop for their July release.  I have several of their stamp sets and recently I made an adorable card for Tim's teacher using one of their stamp sets called:  Make the Grade and my son also made a card for his teacher with it.  Adorable!

Then today as I was surfing one of my favorite blogs "I'm just a girl" by -Margie Romney-aslett I saw that I had also won a product release from Authentique via a comment I had posted on her blog showing the gorgeous new papers from this new path that her life has taken.  Margie's style is one that I love - vintage in living color with fun patterns.  I adore her designs from the Girl's Paperie and am so glad that she is still going to be bringing fantastic products to the market with the wonderful team at Authentique Paper.  Wait till you visit their site and see the Halloween line called "Glowing" that is going to be released on August 1st!  Gorgeous!  As are all the other lines...Paper BLISS in livng color!

To say that I am overwhelmed by these winnings is an understatement.  At a time that our family budget is stressed with doctor's bills I am still receiving fun new things to play with as time permits.  I am so blessed by these contest gifts!  Thanks to all the companies that have made my heart smile!