Paying the love forward....the Liebster Blog Award....

I received a sweet email comment from Mackie at Mackie Made Paper Creations this past weekend.  She asked me to pay her blog a visit and when I did I found this:

Some "BLOG" love in the form of the Liebster Award.  You can see Mackie's post:  HERE.

Thanks Mackie for nominating me for this blog award!
You are so kind to think of me!!

To accept the award, you need to thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog.  Post the award on your blog.  Give the award to five other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  Write a comment on their blog to let them know they have been nominated. 

Here are the five fabulous ladies I would like to honor with this award.

Amy Papale  - Sugar Bucket Ink

Helen F - Handmade Cards by Helen

Kara Lynne - Kara Lynne's Card Designs

Sharron - On Papillion Wings

Jacquie Southas - What did I do today?

I love visiting each one of these women's blogs so much!   They each make wonderful cards and projects and always inspire me!  Thanks ladies!!! 

  I truly love to spend some of my free time each week hopping around blog-land to see what everyone is making as each one of us has such a wonderful creative spirit to share with the world!  I hope you will take some time to visit each of their blogs for some truly wonderful inspiration!

Thanks again to Mackie for nominating me!  I hope you will go and check her blog out too!
Crafty Hugs, 
:) Jill

Happy Birthday to YOU! - The Shabby Tea Room week #170

Edited to add:  6-16-13:  I am so excited that my card was chosen as one of The Shabby Tea Room's Terrific Top Three's this week!!!  Thanks so much!  Father's Day was a hard day for my son and I without my dear departed husband and this made me smile tonight! :)

Hello all,
Here with my card for this week's Shabby Tea Room inspiration:

We have been asked to use:  Blue, Pink, White (or cream) and flowers.  I had a lot of fun with this one and made a cupcake card.  I was totally inspired by the photo and by everyone's lovely creations in the tea room!  Each week is just full of eye candy that warms my heart! :)

 This card is making me wish I had a cupcake to eat!!!  LOL!

Below is a close up of the top of the cupcake...I used a digital paper to make the doily and roses and I embossed the pink card stock that the doily is sitting on.  There is a nice bling in the center of the largest rose but you cannot really see it in the pictures.  Perhaps I should have used a cream pearl - it might have shown up better in the photos...I may have to switch it before I give this card away to my Mom for her birthday in August!

A couple tiny tags, some 1/8" silk ribbon and a rose embellishment from Hobby Lobby dress up the sentiment area:

 I decided to take a photo against an Aqua Mist background so you can see the fabric lace flowers sticking out from the top of the card.   I got the idea to make these "lace" flowers from Melissa Phillip's blog "Lilybean's Paperie.  An example of hers that I love is HERE.  I diecut these lace flowers with my tattered florals Sissix die from Tim Holtz.  Love how easy it is to cut fabric with these!:

Thanks so much for looking at my card!  I have been in quite the pastel and homespun mood of late!
:) Jill

Happy Father's Day

Here with a quick post of a card for my Dad for Father's Day:

And I have been doing some painting of some storage items from my craft room.  I am trying to lighten up a lot of my dark brown storage items.  I craft in a dark basement and like to have everything painted in white or light colors as it makes my space brighter and I find it easier to see what is stored inside of them...

Here is what a couple of the items looked like before being painted:  they are dark brown and black:

 

And now a very, very light shabby pink....almost white.  You also get a peek at my backyard patio area which needs some work. The little built-in bench has some rotting boards this year that I have pulled out but not replaced yet.  It is times like this when I really miss my sweet husband!  But we women can do anything and I am sure I will get these taken care of this summer! I am becoming quite handy with a hammer, saw, and nails!!! Not to mention screws and my husbands drill which weighs a TON!!!  LOL! 

 I can't wait until everything is dry and I can put my craft things away again.  My craft room is all topsy-turvy today! 

So excited that it is the last day of school....my little one gets out of school in less than an hour now! Summer is finally here for us!!!
Hugs,
:) Jill

Like a RAINBOW you COLOR my WORLD!

Hello,
I made a second quick card tonight.  This one uses the colors for The Play Date Café - challenge #185.

Here is the graphic:

And also incorporates this week's Make it Monday #120 - Overlapping Ombre. 
Thanks for taking a look at my card!
:) Jill

Supplies: 
Stamps: Love Lives Here, and Beautiful Butterflies - PTI
Cardstock: PTI and MFT
Inks: various colors Martha Stewart and PTI
Other: stickles - Diamond, stardust pen, teal marker

Happy, Happy, Happy Retirement....overlapping ombre

Here with a quick card for Make it Monday #120 - Overlapping Ombre.  I am still making some retirement cards  for people to give to a special lady that is retiring at our school this week.  I decided to use this weeks technique for today's card.

You will notice that my "Happy" words are NOT overlapping.  I tried hard and have several tags to prove it but I kept just missing the overlap each time with this particular stamp.  When I looked at the tags I made this was actually my favorite so it is the one I used for my card.  On this one I put the lighter ink colors above and below the darkest color to draw the eye to the center of the tag and in turn to the "Happy Retirement" sentiment in black.  I am hoping to try this technique again to see if I can successfully overlap.  I must be "overlap" challenged!!! LOL!

Thanks for taking a look!
:) Jill

Supplies:
Stamps: Say it with Style, Mega Mixed Messages
Cardstock: White, Hawaiian Shores
Paper:  Digital wood paper
Inks:  Martha Stewart in blues and greens - stack; and Memento Tuxedo Black
Other:  Cheery Lynn Designs: Italian Flourish Doily Die, and Burlap Impression Plate.  Spray paint, tissue paper (doily is made from spray painted and dried tissue paper that was then die cut). Ribbon - RRR and vintage; button - PTI; hemp twine: MFT

A special card for a retiring teacher...

Hello Friends,
I have one more card to share for this weekend.  A lovely teacher who taught my son for his kindergarten year is going to be retiring at the end of the school year this coming Friday and we are having a lovely party for her this week after school.  I wanted to make a special card for her to show my appreciation for the very special woman she is!  What a blessing it was to have her teach my son!  I am glad that she will be substitute teaching next year so that we can all still see her regularly!

I used the Shabby Tea Room week 169 as my inspiration again as it was still in my head from Saturday night.  Here is the inspiration photo again:

And here is my card  - which draws inspiration mostly from the pillow and the creamer or small jug sitting on the table:

 I wanted the sentiment to be the focus of the card!  I had that glittery heart sitting on my desk with that little rose and I love the way they look together.  The doily is cut from cream felt and is the Italian Flourish doily from Cheery Lynn Design.  The pink edging around the circle die cut is made with some pink tissue paper which comes inside orders from MFT stamps.  (Thanks Kim! )

 

I love the touch of wood patterned paper at the bottom of the card front which ties in the wood from the inspiration photo.  And some lovely pink lace to draw the eye.  The ribbon is a large spool that I "scored" at the Goodwill near my house. I have a ton of it if anyone wants me to send them some!  I tied a double bow out of it and love the light airy feel it has!

This is the inside of the card.  I love these sentiments!  The "You are simply the best" is from My Creative Time - one of my very favorite stamp companies.  And the other is from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my card!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend!
:) Jill

PS: This card is not linked to the Shabby Tea Room because the challenge is closed.  I just used the inspiration for creating my card.  :)

My Cup Runneth Over....Let's Have Tea!

Hello Friends,
Happy Saturday night.  I wanted to play along with the Shabby Tea Room this week after seeing all of the lovely inspiration from the tea ladies!  Here is this week's inspiration photo week #169:

 Debbie is our host this week and she asked the following:   " I ask that you create a card or project inspired by   THE COLORS FROM THE PHOTO, INCLUDE FLOWERS AND A TEA THEME!"

We are having a beautiful month here in Seattle and all of my roses and clematis are in full bloom!  This always put me in the mood to use roses in my crafting so this was the perfect challenge for me tonight!

 Thanks for taking a look at my card!  There is a lovely gift certificate for $20.00 from Paper Sweeties as this week's prize.  Have you seen the lovely new releases from this past week?  I ordered the most wonderful new wedding stamps for some summer wedding cards.  And Debbie already got them to me as they arrived yesterday!!!  I can't wait to play with them!  :)

Supplies:
Cardstock: PTI, Michael's
Papers: Digital and vellum 
Stamps:  Kanban and PTI
Other: embossing folder: hearts, Cheery Lynn Design Italian Flourish Doily 
Ribbon: Etsy

PS:  I just noticed that I missed removing one of the little pieces from my doily - a hanging chad if you will!  I took it out but don't have time to retake photos tonight....oops!!!  It is the little things that make me giggle at this time of night!

:) Jill

You're so Sweet!

Hello Friends,
I received some new millinery flowers and ribbon in the mail this week from some lovely ETSY shops and wanted to make a card.  I used a Gorjuss girl stamp set called "Little Foxes" from the UK.  I paper pieced her clothes with some of my paper scraps (the pile I have needs to be USED so I am trying to work on that!).  And added a tag for the sentiment which is from Verve.  It is the "So Sweet Plain Jane".  And used one of my lovely Lil Inker Designs square stitched mat dies!  Love these!

The sweet bow is made with some fabric ribbon I purchased from a woman named Mary who lives in Twisp, Wa. and has an Etsy shop called Homestead Treasures.  I love the sweet vintage feel of it!  So soft and fun!

I used this sketch (below) as a jump off point when making my card - but it ended up being a very loose interpretation of the sketch.  I was using a square card base and was struggling to fit my elements with my Gorjuss girl and her two foxes as the three circles....anyway I have a lot of the elements of the sketch in my card like the 3 "brads" which I made into 2 buttons and a heart bling but I am not sure that it resembles the sketch enough to link up....but thanks for the inspiration Julee!!!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  The picture above gives you a peek at how sweetly Mary packages her fabric trims! 
Happy Weekend!
Jill

A heart that loves is always young....a card for Make it Monday #119 - Flagged Borders

Hello Friends,
My sweet Mother needed a card for some friend's who are celebrating their anniversary.  I decided to use the Make it Monday #119 - Flagged Borders for my inspiration.



I stayed very close to Dawn's wonderful original card after watching her video several times.  I made a 5" square card instead of an A2 though.  The sentiment is from Everyday Photo Finishers.  Love that set!!!!!  The background stamping behind the sentiment on the sweet blush panel is a small rose background stamp from a My Mind's Eye stamp set called "Find Your Wings and Fly"
Here is a close up:

The papers for my banners and the card background are from several sources.  Digital papers from
Iralamijashop on Etsy  and from Crafty Secrets.   I also used some scraps from my scrap bin and some "Vintage Marketplace" papers from Bazzill.  Love the shabby chic feel of this card!!!

The adorable heart hanging from the sentiment panel is from my friend Ivana who blogs at Paper Girl Crafts.  I won a recent giveaway and received the sweetest happy mail package from her!  Ivana has a wonderful Etsy shop called Ivana's Creations with all sorts of yummy goodies that she creates - including these hearts and the sweetest little embellishments with pearls and flower impressions.  I love visiting her blog for TONS of inspiration!  Thanks for my goodies Ivana!  You are a sweetheart!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  And thanks to Dawn for the wonderful inspiration!
Hugs,
Jill

Some very special cards....

 

Hello friends,

I needed some special cards for some special women in my life that are going through some difficult times right now.  I whipped one of these up on Friday night and the other this morning.

 Both cards use digital papers from an Etsy shop called Iralamijashop. The stamps are from MFT stamps.

The lace is vintage and the buttons are from my stash.  The embossing is from an Anne Griffin folder.

These go out asking for healing to my dear M and D!  God bless and keep you both!
Hugs,
Jill 

You are the most wonderful SON! - a card for PSSI#8

Hello Friends,
I am so excited to be here today with a card for a guest design spot over at Debbie's lovely Paper Sweeties blog for Paper Sweeties Sketch Inspiration #8:

I was blessed to have won the spot with a card I made for PSSI#6 :  HERE

I have lots of events coming up that I need cards for so I decided to make a special card for my son who will be celebrating his ninth birthday very soon.  I used two of paper sweeties newest sets to make my card:
Fun Shapes and You are the Most Wonderful.

 I added some little red star shaped sequins to my sentiment mat.  I think they are so cute!

Thanks for taking a look at my card.  I hope you can join in this month's paper sweeties sketch challenge!  I think I may even whip up a couple more cards using this sketch - it is a great one for masculine cards and I need some Father's Day cards too!

:) Jill 

Make a Wish...

Hello all,
Here with a quick post for The Shabby Tea Room week 169 - "Shabby Sunshine".   I have had very good intentions to play at the tea room more often this year but lately my days seem to be taken up with the joys of raising my son Tim which is as it should be.  Baseball season is almost over and we are done with Science Fair and now we just have two more weeks of school to get through before we can welcome summer.

Spring in my yard brings out the wishing flowers....or dandelions.  I love watching my son and the neighbor children make wishes on these flowers as they spring up all over our neighborhood!  As the grass grows in more fully, as the weather finally heats up here in Seattle, we see less of them but there are always a few for little hands to pull and make wishes on.  My card this week features the lovely dandelion set from MFT designed by Mona Pendelton.  This was a set that I just had to have and this is the first card that I have made with it using this weeks inspiration from the tea room:

 

I was inspired by the striped mug in the photo and the color scheme. I apologize for the quality of the photo it is 9pm here in Seattle and I need to re-take the photo in the daylight tomorrow.  I wanted to get it posted though just in case tomorrow gets away from me and I end up not posting it at all! LOL!  I have learned from experience to get it posted and then re-take!  

Thanks for taking a look at my card. :)

Jill

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores, Lemon Tart, White

Stamps:  MFT: "Dandelion Wishes" by Mona Pendelton Designs

 Dies:  MFT - Dandelion Stems and Toppers Dies, Taylored Expressions - border; Anne Griffin - embossing folder; Papertrey Ink Mat Stack dies.

Other:  floss, stickles, copics, button, dimensional adhesive, tombow glue

A Vintage Christmas Card for the Festive Friday Challenge #9

Hi all,
I was in the Christmas spirit today and decided to play along with the Festive Friday challenge: FFC09 - a red, green, and gold color challenge.  Here is the inspiration photo:

 

I started my card by embossing the candy canes from the Friendship Holiday Jar Fillers stamp set from Papertrey Ink with gold embossing powder on red card stock.  This set (shown below) is one of my favorite Christmas sets of all time:

The other stamp set I used to create this card is from Crafty Secrets and is called Christmas Joy.  You can find it here.

The sentiment as well as the holly stems, which I used to create a border on my matstack diecut, are from this set.  I also used some red music paper from one of Crafty Secrets CD's.  The red gingham paper was a scrap from my Christmas scrap bin.

Thanks for taking a look at my vintage Christmas card.  I found that I am sadly lacking in gold glitter in my carft room.  I planned on covering the line of platinum stickles around the gingham mat with gold glitter but alas I don't have any!!  I really must remedy that soon!!!

  There are so many beautiful samples over on the Festive Friday blog:  HERE.  I hope you find some time to take a look and play along.

Happy Sunday!

:) Jill

Supplies:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, oatmeal
Paper: Crafty Secrets CD and scrap from my stash; gold paper - free gift from Serendipity stamps.
Ink: Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar, Chai, and SU green
Other:  felt, gems, Stickles - red and platinum, gold embossing powder, vagabond and assorted dies.

YOU make my heart smile!

Hello Dears....
Here with the fastest blog hop card in the history of my card-making endeavors.  I made this in a little less than 17 minutes with exactly what was on my desk and it is a single layer CAS card which for me is always a challenge as I usually end up with ink somewhere that it shouldn't be.  And today was no exception hence the flower border from the top left to the bottom right which is strategically covering some inking "mistakes"...but alas there are no mistakes in card making just clever disguises and happy accidents! 

I am off to see the movie "Epic" with my son and his cousins Russell and Ruby with my mom, aka "Grandma Jackie".  So that is why I had so little time to make my card this morning.  I also didn't have my computer up while making it and I used the inks that I had on hand that were closest to what I could remember in my head...alas my memory is not as good as I thought so my colors do not perfectly match the listing in the photo above.  Oops...hope you don't mind my creative license...

 Thanks for taking a look.....
:) Jill

 Supplies:
Cardstock: White
Stamps: Framed out #12 and Mini Blooms
Inks:  rasberry fizz, orange zest - PTI; kraft, black: Memento; Green: SU.
other: pen for flower centers; corner chomper - we are memory keepers

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.....PSSI#7

Happy Tuesday Everyone!
I am here with a quick post.  I put together a lovely little card with one of my very favorite sentiments from Paper Sweeties -   "A DREAM is a WISH your HEART Makes"    I used the Paper Sweeties Sketch Inspiration #7 which looks like this:

 
I just had to paper piece that sweet little heart in the sentiment!  Too cute! :)
Thanks for taking a look at my card.  I hope you will join in the challenge over at the Paper Sweeties blog. 
:) Jill

Supplies:
Carstock:  Papertrey Ink: Aqua Mist
Paper:  Iralamijashop - Shabby Flowers Collage -    http://www.etsy.com/shop/iralamijashop             
Stamps:  Paper Sweeties - Make Today Beautiful
Other:  felt, dies, embossing folder, flower, stickles, pearls, dimensional adhesive, glue

Happy Mother's Day....a little late....

Hello Friends,
I am finally posting! Yay!!!  I have been away from my blog for about 3 weeks due to a variety of things the last of which has been a bout with a nasty virus.  Today is the first chance I have had to post anything.

I actually made about 8 cards last week for Teacher Appreciation but totally forgot to photograph any of them! (Hard to believe I know!!)  I normally make them well ahead of time but didn't get to it until the last minute this year...way too much happening with baseball, school routines, science fair, Mother's Day and then getting sick on top of it. 

So...I am just posting a single Mother's Day card that I made for my lovely Mother this year.  She is such an incredible woman.  She and my dear Dad raised 7 children together and have 6 grandchildren. They are the most amazing parents!  Happy Mother's Day Mom!  What a blessing you are to all of our lives! 

I also wanted to wish all of you amazing women out there in blog-land a Happy Mother's Day too!  Whether you are an Aunt, a Grandma, a Mother, a friend, a teacher, a neighbor, or a mentor to a child you make a difference in there lives and help them to become who they are.  I know that my son is blessed with many special Auntie's who hold a special place in his heart! They include my 4 sisters -  Natalie, Joanna, Beth Ann and Diana.  What a blessing they are to him!  And to me - especially since Stuart passed away!!!  I received the most beautiful flowers for Mother's Day from my sister's and parents this year.  It is a hard day for me with Stuart no longer by my side.  Without his love I would not be a Mother to my sweet boy Timothy!  It has always been a day that I took time to thank him for making me a Mother and it is still a strange world to not have him by my side.  My family did a wonderful job of making my day special this year so I say thank you to them.  And I pray that everyone that was missing their Mother or someone special in their lives this year was comforted by the memories of happy times they shared in the past.

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Hugs,
Jill