Make It Monday #48: Creating Backgrounds with Border Dies

Here is a quick post with a card I put together tonight for the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday #48.  You can find the info (and video by Dawn McVey) on Nichole Heady's blog:  Here

Supplies used:
Stamps:  Tiny Tags and Love Lives Here (PTI) plus my own handwriting with a zig pen
Ink:  Memento (Tuxedo black); Hampton Art (grey of some kind - old from my stash - no color name on pad)
Dies:  Simple circles border die; heart prints collection dies - PTI
Cardstock:  Smokey shadow; Raspberry Fizz, Autumn Rose and White (PTI)
Other:  Strawberry cupcake trendy twine, 1/8" white silk ribbon (PTI); Fine Linen felt (PTI) and a heart bling - Michael's.
Card is 5.5" x 5.5"

Thanks for taking a look.

: )   Jill





 

A thank you for BJ and Cheery Lynn Designs...

Hi All,
You may remember that I won a challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs a few weeks back.  See this post: HERE.  


On Saturday I received my prize in the mail.  It came on a day when I really needed something to make me smile so today I decided to make a thank you note to send to BJ and Mike Dywan and their entire staff over at Cheery Lynn Designs.  Here is the card:

Most of the dies are from Cheery Lynn Designs (here) 

These small hearts are from a series of heart dies from Papertrey Ink

The white snowflake is "snowflake 2" from Cheery Lynn Designs: Here

The "Thank You" sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink's "Say it with Style" stamp set from Dawn McVey's "Raspberry Suite" line: Here

I also added some of Cheery Lynn Designs baby snowflakes: Here

I will be sending this card out tomorrow as a huge thank you for my lovely prize package.  I enjoy entering Cheery Lynn Designs challenges and I hope you will join in the fun too!  There blog is at: http://cheerylynndesigns.blogspot.com/
Go check it out - they have so much lovely inspiration using there incredible dies!  Plus they have a new release coming out this month!  Yeah!

Thanks for taking a look at my blog....I love your comments and visiting your blogs to see what you are crafting too!

Paper Hugs,
Jill

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 10 - Beautiful Borders

Hello Crafty Friends,
It is time for another Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge.   You can find their lovely blog with tons of inspiration and all of their challenge information: HERE   I love that the sidebar includes info about upcoming challenge themes so that you can have time to think about what you want to do and plan ahead when you have some crafty time.  That is how my project came about.  I had some time while my sweet husband was resting and checked out the blog and worked ahead on this challenge.  It is all about beautiful borders this week!  I decided to create a valentine using one of my newest Cheery Lynn Die sets called the "Heart to Heart Doily Die".  You can find it on their website:  here   I also used the miniature rose die: here and for my border the "Border Carnivale" die: here

I also embossed the pocket and back side of the card with the "Petite Hearts" XL embossing plate. You can find the embossing plate: Here

I took quite a few pictures while making this card and photographing the finished product so you may need to grab a nice hot cup of tea or coffee to help you make it through this long post.  LOL!!!!

This time I made a pocket card with a removable tag.  The smallest heart die cut from the "Heart to Heart Doily Die" set helps to "hold" the tag in place via a tied on button and a flower topper made with the miniature rose die.   I used lots of light brown "chai" ink from Papertrey Ink to help distress the papers and make them look old along with some beautiful gold sheer shimmer spritz!  Lovely!

The tag and card...

A close up of the tag.  I love the gold shimmer - it really sparkles so pretty!
The stamp used is from Papertrey Ink's "Love Lives Here" stamp set. 
It is one of my favorite stamp sets in the world!!!!  The button is topped with a miniature rose with a little heart bling on top of the brad and of course some glitter!

Here is a close up of the Border Carnivale die...isn't it pretty with all of the little heart cutouts?
These super tiny roses are from "I am Roses"Here   They were also sprayed with the gold shimmer spritz used on the card.

A full shot of the tag...excuse the camera shadow...oops!

A side view at an angle so you can see the gold shimmer spritz and the Martha Stewart Course white glitter around the edges of the large heart.  You can also see the lacy edging I attached to the back side of the card.  More on how I did this at the end of this post.

Ahhh...a sweet valentine for someone special!

The inside of the card with a sentiment stamp I have had forever...it is an old wood block one and I am not sure where I got it???

 Here is a picture of the dies that I used from Cheery Lynn Designs wonderful company.
 I am showing them to you just as they appear after I have done my die-cutting (with the Cuttlehug adapter plate in my Cuttlebug for the more intricate dies) and have tapped them against the side of my garbage can a few times to get all of the little pieces out.  You will notice that there are very few pieces left to "dig" out with my piercing tool.  Love that!

For purposes of how I made the lacey heart edging or border on the card:

I cut off the top 1/3 of the medium lace heart doily die cut and taped it to the top edge of the back of the card with the nice side facing the front of the card.

I used a total of 3 of the medium heart lace die cuts to outline the whole card body.  They overlap in several spaces which makes it look fuller and more "ruffly".  Is that a word?  You can also see the blue shimmer ink that colored the back of my card when I placed it in my "spray" box to add the gold shimmer to the front of the card...ooops...I will show you how I fixed that....

After I finished taping the lace heart doily borders to the card back I die cut one more large heart, embossed it, and inked the edges before adhering it to the back of the card to make it all nice and clean and pretty.  We have to make them look practically perfect in every way right?!  No scotch tape or stray ink showing!  LOL!

 Well that is it for me my friends.  I tried to make a you tube video of my process but the blurbs of useable video I got are laughable.  Maybe I can do a video this weekend now that my sweet husband is done with chemo and is actually feeling a little bit better.  Thanks for taking a look and let me know if you have questions about my explanation of how I made the card!  The card size is 5" x 5" approximately with the lace border.

Hugs and Happy Crafting!
: )  Jill

A card for my sweet hubbie...January 6th 2012

Yesterday was a very hard day in our family.  My husband and I received some very difficult news about his cancer.  We are both heartbroken and to be honest reeling....in shock....not sure which way is up.  As the day wore on while he was resting I took comfort in the basement in my craft room amidst the laundry that needed doing, sheets to wash, towels to fold, etc. and made this card for him.....he is the love of my life.....and this card represents our family - The Norwood 3 - we are a unit of 3 hearts living and breathing together....and I just needed to tell my husband that I love him - forever!

(Edited to add:)
Supplies:
Heart die with thread like border:  HERE  (http://www.shop.creativetimeforme.com); smaller hearts - Papertrey Ink dies
Twine: trendy twine:  strawberry cupcake
Cardstock :  Papertrey Ink and stash
Ink: Hampton Art
PP: scrap from my stash - My Mind's Eye?


Bye for now my crafting friends...
Jill

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 9 - Winter Blues

Hello Stamping and Crafting Friends,
Today on this cold and wet Seattle day I made a lovely warm hot chocolatey card for the "Winter Blues" challenge over at the Cheery Lynn Designs blog:  HERE

I used lots of yummy dies from Cheery Lynn Designs including the following:
the French Pastry Doily Die, Snowflakes die, and (2) of the square scalloped large stackers nesting dies.

You can find these dies to purchase on the Cheery Lynn Designs site:  HERE

They make fantastic products, have fantastic customer service plus they have great how to videos on You Tube too.  Check out their you tube channel: HERE to learn more about their dies and how to use them.

Here is my "Winter Blues" card:

The base of the card is made with the Cheery Lynn Square Scalloped Large Stackers Nesting Dies.  I made the card base from the largest one and the cream card mat from the next size down.

I then added a French Pastry Doily from a pretty patterned paper in my scrap pile and an ATC card with some background stamping left over from another project.  The "Hot Cocoa" sentiment and mug with marshmallows are from some of my Papertrey Ink stamp sets.

Here is a picture of the sentiment on the inside of the card from "My Craft Spot" stamps at
http://craftspotbykimberly.blogspot.com:

The cream colored snowflakes on the exterior and interior of the card are from a die with 21 varying size and styles of snowflake designs on it from Cheery Lynn - I LOVE THIS DIE!!!!!  It is a great die to work with.  I like to pre-cut a bunch of runs of this die in my Cuttlebug and keep them on my desk during the Holiday card making season - you will use these adorable little snowflakes on every single card and tag that you make!!!!  Here is a picture of the die itself:

I just love how many different choices of "flakes" there are!  Fun, Fun, Fun!  Variety is the spice of life right!?!

Here are a few more detailed shots of my card:

 A close-up (above) of one of the adorable snowflakes!   Isn't the detail on it charming!?!!!!

 Ahh - Martha Stewart coarse glitter - is their anything better to simulate some icy snow?

 Marshmallows and another detail shot of one of Cheery Lynn Designs snowflakes!

Other products used:  buttons, bling, twine, glue, ad tech glue dot runner, glue dots, and a papertrey ink small doily die.  I am hoping that Cheery Lynn will come out with some smaller doily dies to go with their regular and mega sized versions in the future.  I really needed one to make my cup look like it was sitting on a table or table cloth and I didn't have any Cheery Lynn dies to use for this - YET!!!!  Wouldn't a baby Italian Flourish doily be adorable?  I think I will suggest this as a must have!!!!  By the way Cheery Lynn has a brand new release coming out in January so be sure to go and take a look at their wonder-filled website at
http://www.cheerylynndesigns.com/

Thanks for looking at my "Winter Blues" challenge entry!  I think I need to go make myself a cup of cocoa!  Can a woman ever have to much chocolate in her life?  Especially on a cold wet miserable rainy Seattle day?  I am so glad to be snuggled up in my craft room playing away tonight!

Blessings and Happy Crafting to you!
Smiles,

: )   Jill

I won the Cheery Lynn Designs Card Challenge #7 - " Tis the Season"!

Hello crafty friends,
I just found out that I won the Cheery Lynn Designs Card Challenge #7  "Tis the Season" contest.  You can see the announcement on their blog: HERE.
Here is a picture of the card that I entered:

You can see all the wonderful cards submitted for the challenge: HERE   All of the projects were beautiful so I am especially honored that mine was chosen!  There are so many talented card makers and crafty people from all over the world who use their beautiful dies! 

I was a little bit late in checking to see who won because my sweet husband has been having some complications this past week following his latest treatment and some new medications.  I have not had much time on the computer until today when I went to the Cheery Lynn blog for a visit and tabbed back to discover I had won!  I am so excited!  It will be wonderful to pick out some free products with the $20.00 prize voucher!  Thanks Cheery Lynn Designs!  I feel so blessed to have won some goodies from your incredible company!  You can see all of the wonderful dies and products carried at Cheery Lynn at their shop:  HERE  There dies are gorgeous and so fun to create with.  I hope to be back with an entry for this weeks challenge #9 "Winter Blues":  HERE   I hope if you visit my blog that you will consider playing along!   
Happy Crafting!  And again Happy New Year 2012!
Sending you Paper Hugs!
OOOOOO :)
: )   Jill

Happy New Year - ringing in 2012

Happy New Year 2012!  Wow what a great feeling to be starting another year with my family of three!  And of course my extended family and all of my blogging friends in the crafting world.

January 1st is also the birthday of my sweet niece Jacqueline so my post tonight is of the birthday card that I made to celebrate her winter-time birth!  She is 17 this year and is a sweet, compassionate, and giving young woman!  And she loves to ice skate!   Happy Birthday Jackie!  We love you soooo much! 

xo
 Auntie Jill

December 2011 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop - Holiday Leftovers Challenge

I don't know about you but when I am designing cards I always end up with a box full of leftovers or discards from each one I make.  I try this or that out and don't like the way it looks...die cut some paper and then change my mind about the color or shape and end up die cutting another.  The items that I don't use end up in a pile (often a very messy pile!) on my craft desk feeling lonely until I find a project to use them on.  This "pile of discarded items"  is what I dug through to get the start of this card. 

I had already stamped the coffee mugs and candy canes (from a series of cards that I made for my sister to sell at her coffee shop here in Seattle) so they were left overs. (Note:  I cut these stamped images out by hand because I could not find my die at the time - luckily it later turned up!)  I wanted to add something different to this card so I decided to stamp the marshmallows from the "Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers" set and decided to try and fit all 3 mugs on one card.   The diamond patterned paper was a leftover from a 6x6 sheet that I had used on another project and the button was already threaded and not used on another project too.

I added glitter glue to the stamped marshmallows and trimmed the piece up to fit the coffee cup.  The glitter glue caused the ink to run a bit but I kind of like the way it looks like the marshmallows have cocoa on them.

All in all this card came together quickly because I used all the discards from my desk to make it.  I will try this again as it made for a quick card!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our home to yours!

We wish peace, love, and joy to you all on this most special of days!  May your day be full of the blessings of family and friends and shared laughter and giggles and Christmas magic!  Happy Holidays from our home to yours...here is a little of our Christmas in pictures...

A year ago I thought that Christmas 2010 might be my last Christmas with my husband.  Here we are at Christmas 2011 and he is 1 year and 5 months into fighting his brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme IV.  This year each day has been lived as a blessing....each little moment of shared laughter, giggles, tears, and frustrations has been a blessing from God.  We have learned not to sweat the small stuff - and that it is all small stuff when you are truly fighting to live.  We know that each day is truly a gift from God and we are so happy to be celebrating this most holy of seasons together as our little family of three once again.  Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and all holidays to everyone!  We are all the same - we all want peace and happiness in our lives and the lives of our families and at this time of year I feel love surrounding all of us everywhere!  From our home to yours we wish you all the best now and in the coming year!

With hugs,

Jill

Make it Monday #46 - Any die into a folded tag...

I made some tags for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #46 challenge.  I made these before I was able to get on the computer and watch the video.  I had seen the title of the Make it Monday earlier in the day and was playing in my craft room while waiting for some laundry to dry and made these three lickety split.  Now that I have watched the video I like the way that Erin did it better so I am going to make some more using her methodology next.    Here are some pictures of my first round:

Thanks for taking a look at my post.  I hope you are enjoying your holiday season! 

: )   Jill