Get Well Soon....Lawnscaping Challenge #90 - Critters Galore

Hello Friends,
Here with some fairly simple "Get Well Soon" cards that I whipped together this morning in less than 20 minutes using a sweet little stamp set from Lawn Fawn!  I am entering them into the "Critters Galore" Lawnscaping challenge #90.   Birds are critters - right?

A dear friend just had hip replacement surgery and I took one of these cards to her this afternoon.  And the other card went to my sweet mom Jackie this morning.  She is recovering from two different accidents - one involving a semi-truck back on July 17th and the other a fall 9 days ago due to injuries from the first accident.  Our family is working together to give her full time care as she works very hard at recovering.  She should make a full recovery but it could take several months.  I try to bring her little things on the days that I care for her and today I brought her this card and a wee bit of Toblerone candy.  Mmmmm!  Chocolate is a great healer right?!?!  I think it is our time with her that is the greatest healer!  Family is so wonderful!  We are so blessed to have our families when we go through difficult times! 

Here is the sentiment I placed on the inside of the card from Amuse:

 

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little Get Well Soon stamp set from Lawn Fawn!  So fun to make sweet cards of well wishes with!  Thanks Kelly Marie Alvarez!!!

Thanks for peeking in at my somewhat neglected blog!  Life is hopping along at a quick pace these days and I am finding it hard to get things posted before I give them away!  LOL!  But I managed today and it is only 7:47pm!  :) Jill

Guest Designing for Paper Sweeties Inspiration #23 - September 2014 - Pretty Pumpkins!

Hello Friends,
Here with a card I made as this month's Guest Designer for the September Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge.  Here is the lovely graphic:

  I earned this lovely chance to guest design for this month via the card I made on this post for the July Paper Sweeties Inspiration challenge. Yeah!  So fun to be part of the hop this month and I thoroughly enjoyed the lovely $20.00 gift certificate which was my prize!  Thanks Debbie!  I hope you will join in the fun this month and you can be in the running for a lovely prize also! :)

My card uses the sweet Abigail stamp and die set.  The pumpkin Abigail is holding and the pile of leaves by her feet were stamped with the "Stand Add-on : Fall Harvest" set.  I believe the sentiment is from a set that is retired but Debbie has many lovely Autumn sentiments in her store on a variety of sets!

Thanks for taking a look at my card!  If you are wondering about the flowers in the picture they are some fabric and crepe paper flowers that I have been creating in the evenings while watching television with my son.

Here are the links to all of the lovely Paper Sweeties Designers:

Amber Kroening

Annette Allen

Annette Witherspoon

  Char Cundy

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

  Jeanne Jachna

Kerin Sylvester

Kristi Schurr

Larissa Heskett

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Maria Patrick

Michelle Bala

Mynnette Kitchen

Nancy Penir

Tammy Hobbs

                                               September Guest Designer: Jill Norwood (You are here now! :) 

I hope you will find some time to post your take on the lovely inspiration this month!  We would love to have you join us over at the Paper Sweeties blog for the September challenge!
Hugs,
Jill

Stamp-A-Faire 2014: Challenge #6 - Needlepoint Elegance with Melissa Phillips

 

Hello Friends,
Here is my Stamp-A-Faire entry for Challenge #6 taught by Melissa Phillips:

S.A.F. 2014 Morning Timer Challenge

Hello Stamp-A-Faire Time Travelers!
Here with my Morning Timer Challenge!  I found this card easy to make in 20 minutes though I wish that this set had dies as it would have made it less heart-racing at the end! LOL!  Racing was part of the fun really but my fussy cutting of the flower is not as neat as I would have made it if I had had just one more minute or so! Here is the sketch/colors I chose to use:

 And here is my card:

This is a wonderful sketch to keep on hand when you need a fast card!  Had I chose to use a stamp set with dies for my focal point I could have finished it in about 10 minutes for sure!  I hope you are having fun today with all of the wonderful Stamp-A-Faire challenges!  I am off to start the next one!
:) Jill

Stamp-A-Faire 2014 - Friday Night Meet and Greet!

 

Hello Friends,

Happy Friday Night!  Well it is finally here!  I am so very excited for tomorrow's Stamp-A-Faire 2014 event at Papertrey Ink!  Tonight is the meet and greet event so I thought I would post a photo of my desk with all of my stamps ready and waiting to be inked up! 

I cleaned up and got as organized as possible so that I would be all set to go bright and early in the morning! So excited to share in the 3rd year of this wonderful event!

Thanks to everyone at Papertrey Ink for all of the preparations and the wonderful welcome video!

I am off to look at all of the "Meet and Greet" posts on the inlinkz list at Nichole's blog.

See you tomorrow!

:) Jill

Merry Monday Challenge #121 (Pine Cones, Greens, and Plaid Ribbon)

Hello,
Well I made one more card on this lovely Saturday before heading off to run errands.  It is another Christmas card - this one for the Merry Monday Challenge #121.  Here is the inspiration graphic:

If you have been visiting my blog for the past few years then you may know that I have a true LOVE for pinecones!  I have a pine cone wreath in my living room that stays up all year and I collect all different sized cones and keep them in a milk glass dish in my kitchen too.  We also enjoy burning them in our outdoor fireplace when we roast marshmallows for s'mores and they once saved me from a rainy camp site in Montana when I scouted under the canopy of some large conifer trees for dry wood and found - you guessed it pinecones!!   I enjoy having nature's beauty around me all the time!  So this challenge was inspiring as soon as I read about it!  Here is what I made:

I used the lovely Peaceful Pinecones set from Papertrey Ink for my focal point and sentiment.  The dies for the sentiment are from Top Dog Dies and I just love them and how they can be layered together.  I added some mercury glass stickles to the card to give it that home-spun Christmas feeling that I love! 

Well that is it for me today!  Two cards on a Saturday - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. 
 Thanks for your visit!
:)  Jill

Festive Friday Challenge #38

Hello Friends,
It has been a while since I posted again.  Crazy busy summer this year!!!! Taking some time on this lovely Saturday morning to post a card for the Festive Friday Challenge #38.  Here is the lovely inspiration photo:

And here is the card I made:

I was inspired by the earth tones in the photo and the snowflakes and textures shown. I used the lovely Rustic Wreath set from Papertrey Ink along with the Lovely Layers set to create my dimensional flower/snowflake combo. 
 
 As always there is incredible inspiration from all of the Festive Friday Designers!  I hope you have time to go and take a peek at the blog and check them out!  I am looking forward to some holiday crafting time as school gets started again here in Seattle in early September!  Right now I am still focused on finishing projects on the exterior of my house! Praying the rains hold off a little while longer! It has not been the case this week however! :)

P.S.  I had a visit this morning while I was making some cards from my neighbor Mariko who just turned 10 years old.  She and my son play together almost every day.  She made this beautiful card all on her own.  I only helped her tie the twine bow!  Didn't she do a wonderful job!!!! So fun to have company in my craft room when I am working on a crafty deadline!   Thanks for joining me today Mariko!  :)

 See you all soon!
:) Jill

A little Verve Goodness on a Saturday Night....

Hi Friends,
It is Saturday night and I had a few minutes to play in my craft room with some new products from Verve Stamps.  I fell in love with the new "Happy Place" stamps and dies and decided to get them inky tonight.  I am linking this card up to the "Show us your VERVE challenge" over on the Verve Blog. 

Thanks for taking a look.  I have been super busy with some home maintenance issues the past few weeks and it is keeping me far away from my craft room sadly.  It sure has felt good to make some cards these past few days.  Thanks for taking a peek and as always for your lovely comments!  They always bring a smile to my heart!
:) Jill

Paper Sweeties 2nd Birthday Designer Blog Hop!

Hello Friends,
Today I am excited to be a part of the Paper Sweeties 2nd Birthday Designer Blog Hop!  Paper Sweeties (and its lovely and talented owner and creator Debbie Marcinkiewicz) is celebrating its 2nd year in business - Hooray!

You should have arrived here from the lovely Miriam Prantner's blog.  If not you may wish to start at the very beginning of the blog hop at the Paper Sweeties Blog so that you don't miss any of the wonderful inspiration!

I just love playing with Debbie's sweet stamps, dies, and other yummy supplies when I have time to create in my craft room.  For our inspiration we are using the Paper Sweeties Inspiration #22 challenge for August 2014 with the theme of "Let's Celebrate!"  Here is the lovely graphic:

I created a tag and two cards using this wonderful inspiration.  I used Paper Sweeties  "Sending Sweet Thoughts" stamp set and the matching  Sweet Cuts dies.  I also used a Happy Birthday stamp from a lovely sentiment stamp set called "Occasions".

I started off by creating this fun Happy Birthday tag.  I cut the sweet cuts cupcake dies from various colors of felt to match the inspiration graphic.  And added some lovely gingham ribbon so that I can hang it from a gift bag or use it as a gift tag.

 On this card I embossed some vellum and then used my Copic markers to color the back side of the vellum using the inspiration colors.  A sweet cupcake and sentiment complete this card.

This last one is a long card with a sentiment "Sending Sweet Thoughts" placed on banners sticking out of the cupcake's frosting.
 

I hope you will join in the August 2014 Challenge to help us celebrate Paper Sweeties 2nd Birthday! 

Enjoy hopping along to see all of the wonderful inspiration prepared by everyone!  I cannot wait to go take a look myself!  The next stop on the hop is the wonderful Gail Lass.  If you get lost along the way you can refer back to the Paper Sweeties Blog.

Happy Birthday Paper Sweeties!  WE LOVE YOU DEBBIE!!!!

:) Jill

Welcome to the neighborhood....Paper Sweeties July Inspiratio Challenge #21....

Hello Friends,
So nice to have you visiting my blog today.  I am here with a very quick post...I made a card on this lovely Sunday for the Paper Sweeties July Inspiration Challenge #21.

Here is what I came up with....

A card to welcome a new neighbor using a sweet stamp set called Home Sweet Home from Paper Sweeties.  I kept this one really simple just adding some light copic coloring to the house including a very pale yellow for some light in the windows!  And then just a sweet twine bow to finish it off.

My niece Lauren was in town this weekend and took Tim to a Steam-Punk themed Live Action Role Playing Event (LARPing) at a local area park.   They made costumes together on Friday and then went to the event on Saturday!  They had a WONDERFUL time together and while they were gone I was able to have a lovely visit with my sweet sister Beth who was up from her home out of state. So blessed to have such sweet family members! 

Thanks for visiting me here on my blog!
Hugs,
Jill

Some Waltzing Mouse Goodness and "A picnic with Jill" digital papers....

Hello my friends,
Here with a card today featuring some beloved Waltzingmouse Stamps from the set called "Vintage Garden Seed Packet.  As many of you know I am an avid gardener and the spring and summer months find me busy outside more than inside.  This stamp set was the perfect one to use as I enjoy the beauty of my garden and bring it into my card making.

The colors I used are:  Chartreuse, Pink, Aqua and gray.  Love this color combo!  :

 

I am a HUGE fan of gingham papers and recently I asked my new friend Pepper at Red Pepper Papers to create a set of diamond gingham papers that I could print on my home computer after seeing a single color in one of her digital paper sets.  She created an entire set of papers for $3.00 called "A picnic with Jill" with wonderful colors for me to play with so I can print whatever I need when I am making cards or notecard sets.  It is her lovely paper that provides the lovey gingham mat behind my carnation seed packet panel.     

Well that is it for me today!  I am on after party clean-up detail as we celebrated my son's 10th birthday party yesterday - twice!  :)

Here is a picture from a small celebration at my Mom's and Dad's house where we went to go swimming yesterday with family:

Tim and Grandma Jackie

Until next time.....smiles,
Jill

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

Tag Play....Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!

Hello again...
Is everyone having fun on this lovely Sunday afternoon playing in their crafty caves?  I am!  :)


I decided to use a lovely little stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn called "Winter Bunny" to make these tags....this sweet stamp set has been burning a whole in my craft desk and yelling, "USE ME PLEASE!!!!  I AM SO DARN CUTE!"

 The gorgeous tag die and sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.  The "December Joys" sentiment is from a Technique Tuesday stamp set and the "for my friend" and "you're snow sweet" sentiments are from Sweet N Sassy stamps.  I have to say that I am in love with coloring this sweet little bunny! So adorable!!!!!

Linking To:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge


Thanks for taking a look!
Hugs,
Jill

A tag for the new "Tag You're It Challenge"....

Hello Friends,
I was visiting the lovely Tracey McNeeley's blog this morning and heard about a new CAS challenge that is just getting started called the Tag You're It Challenge! .  

The challenge was created by Jackie Rockwell and there is an incredible line up of wonderful designers that will be bringing a ton of inspiration to the table. And this week's inspiration tag comes from Karin Akesdotter and looks like this:

Isn't that the sweetest summer scene you have ever seen!  I just love it!  Awesome job Karin!

According to the challenge specs:  Your CAS style project can be a tag, or have a tag on it - be it a card, scrapbook page, or other item using whatever inspires you from that week's inspiration project.

I loved the summer scene Karin made and the first thing that came to mind was flip flops.  I whipped up this quick birthday tag for a friend this morning so that I could play along - and I stretched from my usual more layered style to try to keep it CAS which isn't my strong suit!:

Thanks for taking a look!  Hope you find time to play along!  Thanks Jackie and everyone involved for adding more fun to my summer crafting!
Hugs,
Jill

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papetrey Ink Aqua Mist and White
Stamps:  Flippin' Out - Papertrey Ink
Inks:  PTI / Memento 
Tag:  Jaded Blossom Tag die set
Twine: craft supply

A sympathy card....

Hello,
Just a quick post to share a sympathy card I put together tonight for a dear friend who just lost her Mother.
It uses one of my favorite sympathy sets called "Willow" from Papertrey Ink.  I love this sentiment for sympathy cards:  "Someone so special can never be forgotten".  I hope it will bring comfort.

  The lovely papers are from Pebbles "Front Porch" 6x6 paper pad.

Hugs,
Jill

SSCB#32 and Merry Monday #114: Happy Holidays

Hello,
Here with my first Christmas Card for my 2014 stash!  I took my inspiration from two different challenges: Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge and Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.  Here are their graphics:

 

Card Product Info:

The snowman stamp is called "Snow Angel" and is from Serendipity Stamps. The sentiment is also from SS.  The Christmas star I added to the sky is from the "Welcome Jesus" stamp set from Sweet N Sassy stamps.

The snow backdrop on the circle window was created with a Stampin Up stamp from the
"Gorgeous Grunge" set.  The trees are a Magnolia Die and I used circle dies from Lil Inker Designs and MFT stamps to create my window. Stickles Glitter Glue: "Diamond" adds the sparkle.  Coloring was done with colored pencils and Distress markers and water as well as my BG10 Copic marker. Other supplies:  cardstock, vellum, twine, and a snowflake embossing folder.

Thanks for taking a look at my card!
Crafty Hugs,
Jill

Happy Birthday Cards....

Here today with a couple of birthday cards for some special people.  One is for my son who will turn 10 on July 10th!  The other is for my dear cousin Stacy who will turn....a.... 29.... again.  :)

Today, June 23rd, my sweet husband Stuart would have celebrated his 57th year and so I send Happy Birthday greetings to our dear "Papa Stu" up in Heaven!  We are all thinking of you today!  Tim and I will be celebrating with some cupcakes and an annual picture later today!

Here are some pictures of my cards:

 I finally did it!  I used sequins on a card!  I wanted this one to look like a birthday party!  I cannot believe my son Tim is turning 10 years old.  Double digits!  The teen years are around the corner!  Oh my!  Where does the time go!!!!

 I placed things at different angles to give it a more "happy" or "celebratory" feel....

And for my sweet cousin...a more feminine card:

 Same style of card just softer colors and some lovely Tilda papers I had in my stash along with my beloved gingham from my digital paper files.  I am linking this card up to this week's Shabby Tea Room challenge.  It is week #224 and the theme is "Party Time".  We are challenged to make a Birthday card or project using pink, green and polka dots.  I hope that the "dots" around the mat for my sentiment count for the polka dot part of the challenge?!  :) 

Thanks for taking a look my friends!  I so enjoy reading your comments and visiting your blogs to see what you are up to!  Hope you are enjoying these lovely summer days!  It is our first full week of summer break from school and I am so enjoying taking a little bit of time in the morning to craft!  Today we are off to take a walk with my sister and her newest grand baby girl!  So fun! 

Rhonda - sending big hugs to you and your entire family my dear!!!   HUGS!!!!!!

Hope to be back with another post soon!
:)  Jill