Inspired by Summer Harvest

Isn't that a cute card, inspired by summer's sweet harvest of fresh veggies and fruits. The orange was created with Cricut's new Preserves cartridge, along with colors from Stampin up's current In-Color collection, and a *BRAND SPANKIN NEW* set of 9 digital phrases from Say It with Stamps by Jen.

Thanks for sticking with me!
jen

In My Pocket

Once again, Laura Jean sucked me into one of her swaps ;) This time, I created these pocket cards for her 3rd annual pocket card swap.

The top card was made using the Just for Ewe digis available at Pink Petticoat. It is such a sweet image, and the collection is so versatile!

Next, I created an ode to America-- cherry pie! My mom makes THE BEST cherry pie, with a flaky golden crust, sweet and tart in every bite. The stamp is a $1 clear stamp that I picked up at Michael's, and I used my Scor-Pal to create the background that looks like a tiled countertop.

Baby Jesus is Born

This little lovely is from Stampin Up's retired list, titled Baby Jesus is Born. I hand-drew the star and added jute to finish off the card.


These CAS cards are so awesome when you have to make 40+ card for the holidays!

Some more cards with images from Pink Petticoat, I just could not get enough of these little trees!

Christmas in July... or August, or whenever....

Here's a variety of cards I made using Pink Petticoat's Tall and Skinny Pom Pom Trees digis. I just LOVE these images, and most everything from Pink Petticoat. ;) Along with the cute images, I paired from non-traditional colors and went to work. So far, the pink one on top is my favorite, but I just adore them all.

So to me friends-- be on the lookout for these adorable greetings in a few monthes.

O Holy Night

The simplicity of this card is my favorite part, the Holy family, a simple family, on a simple card. The buttercream cardsotck has candy cane embossed Rich Razzleberry layered on top. The family is colored in with soft pencils, and touch of stardust stickles added to each lamb. Tied all together with a blue ribbon to coordinate with the blanket

Chillin out

Just tryin to chilllllllllllllllllllll in this heat, this card is full of layers and texture. The colors remind me of the winter nighttime sky, the blues and blacks, and a bit of soft yellow. Both the midnight black shimmer cardstock and the stripe of blue cardstock are cuttlebug embossed with the snowflake folder. The snowman is heat embossed, with the stars colored in and then Stickled gold. The yellow layer is popped up on dimensional tape, next to the black and white gingham ribbon. The scroll is also on dimensional tape.

Christmas in July

For the next few days I will be sharing some holiday cards I created with my neighbor on Wednesday. With the heatwave we have here in Ohio, we must do something to stay cool!

Today's card is all about the warming up. The paper is from Michael's, I picked it up 7/$1! Accented with white twill tape, punched out snowflakes, chocolate brads (mmmm, doesn't that sound good with some hot cocoa?!?!).

Inspired by Cake...

made with fewer calories! The CAS 74 challenge over on Splitcoast called for stampers to be inspired by Carrie's Cakes, and let me tell you, we had SO MANY yummy creations to drool over,... I mean be inspired by! I just fell in love with the textured white frosting on the Nannette cake, the deep chocolate color on the Taylor, and the sunflowers on the Regina and Sheila cakes.

It is difficult to see in the picture, but there are two scored lines below the wide brown ribbon on this card, and the top portion is Cuttlebug embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. I added flower soft to the center of the sunflower, which is popped up on dimensional tape.

thanks for looking!

Inspired by the World Cup...

and my DD. This card is for a sports themed swap over on Splitcoast Stampers, hosted by Laura Jean. I was inspired by the World Cup games, my dd who will be playing her first year of soccer this fall, and by my *FAV* NCAA team-- The Ohio State University BUCKEYES.

Silly Bands, Chokers, Belly Bands...

With Silly Bands all the rage around here this summer, I took that inspiration and created these "belly bands" or whatever you want to call them to go around hurricane jars. These band are SOOO easy to make (if they were too difficult, do you really think I would make them???)

I simply stamped an image, punched out with my circle and scallop punches and attached them to a ribbon fitted to go around the jar.

The coolest thing about the ribbon band is it is secured with... VELCRO to make it removable.

I made a variety of bands for to change throughout the seasons. The jars can be filled with candy, flowers, or add sand to the bottom and place a tealight candle in there too!

This is a great way to use up he scraps of paper and ribbon you know you have a stash of, but always forget aobut until too late. I purchased the jars at Wal-Mart for 97 cents each (near the floral/craft dept.)

For my grade level team members, I made a schoolhouse band and will be filling the jars with pencils as a beginning of the year gift. Karsyn's teacher will be getting the jars for Christmas, filled with goodies.

Christmas in Black & White

This card is for Kelli Jo's black and white Christmas card swap on Splitcoast Stampers. The layout is from Claudia & Company challenge #1

Thanks for stopping by!

Flying to new hieghts

This card is a modified version of one I posted last week for CAS. I LOVE the look of this set from Verve when it is paper pieced. My good enabler, I mean FRIEND Marji is hostessing a paper piecing themed card swap over on Splitcoast. I knew right away I wanted to use this set again, and change up the colors a bit. (Ya know, to use up all the retiring colors I horded from SU! over the years)

This card also works for these challenges:

Crafty Creations #72-- stitches (on the balloon piecing)

Charisma Cardz Challenges-- bling it up (on the clouds)

High Flying

This card is for the weekly CAS challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. This week's challenge is a theme of "things that fly." My first thought was "Well, pigs fly!" But I do not have a flying pig stamp, nor could I find a digi Monday night. So, my next thought was a birdie stamp I have, but I just could not make it work for me. FINALLY, I reached for my hot-air balloon stamp set from Verve,... and VIOLA~ a CAS card that flies! And I know somewhere I saw someone posted a challenge to make a sympathy card, but can I remember that challenge now, of course not!

Thanks for stopping by, I am off to give DD a bath and put her to bed

Anything but a Square

Needing a gift card holder for a baby shower this weeked, I came up with this gc hodler, loosly based in a stocking gc holder I made for Christmas. Running over to my Cricut-owning neighbor, I asked her if she had a baby bootie or bib cartridge. Both CCT and DCRU posted a "not a square" challenge this week, and this baby bootie-shaped card is definately NOT a square! Charisma Cardz Challenge's theme this week is spots & stripes. I think the dry embossed "Swiss Dots" folder from Cuttlebug works nicely for the spots, and the soft stripes on the dp at the top is a darling touch. All That Scraps' Weekly Wednesday Challenge is to use buttons and ribbons in the creations.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate all the comments and kind words!

go CBJ's!

LJ over at Splitcoast Stampers currently has a sports junkie themed swap going on. As always, I sign up, but this year I too a different approach. Instead of going with my *classic* colors of SCARLET & GRAY, I elected to go with the local hockey teams colors of red, white, & blue. The Columbus Bluejackets just hired a new coach, and things are looking up for them. :)

My favorite part of this card is the CAS* style of it. As is, this card is great for male or females since it isn't too frilly.




* Clean and Simple

Floating my cares away, SUMM-AH TIME STYLE!

How STINKIN cute is this card??? It really stretched my thinking to use the colors black, orange, and blue for Cute Card Thursday's color challenge 115 this week. I had to throw in a touch of so saffron and teal with the only orange, brilliant blue, and neutrals black and white to make this card work for me.

Over at ABC Challenge, the letter of the week is "W", as in "W" is for weather. Don't ya just love a sunny day at the beach, floating all your cares away?!?!?! Toss in a nice cold drink, and VIOLA, perfect time!

Crafty Creation's #71 theme is "child's play." My DD LOVES to play in the water, at the pool, at the beach, in the hot tub, or the bath. She is a regular fish in water!

And to wrap it all up, CAS-tastic threw out the challenge to use a button. I really like how the sun turned out with the stamped image, then covered with a button.

Sadly, I admit this card isthe first one I have made in over a month! With working on the house, wrapping up the school year, and planning summer vacations, I have been slightly busy to say the least. But we can bring on smmer now~ time to play, create, and celebrate!

One of the coolest things about our new house is our neighbors. They are wonderful people, AND she is into paper crafting like I am! Yesterday I went over to her house to play with the cricut, then last night she came over here and I showed her how to stamp. Ok, really, my 4 year old showed her how. And now we are ready to create and play for most of the summer.

THEN, about half an hour ago, my B-I-L called to say his fiancee is coming here from Russia on June 23rd. They are getting married that weekend, then we are hosting a small family reception here. WOOHOOO~~ I will make cards for them of course, and a bunch of otehre paper crafts too, I am sure.

Anyways, back to the card pictured. This card is for 3 different challenges, CAS #70 theme challenge to use a quote, verse, or saying, Color Combo 272 Real Red, Bermuda Bay, and Kraft, and Tuesday Morning Sketches #49.


Thanks for looking, I am off to try to create some more cards on this rainy blah day.

heros

Hero is the theme challenge thsi week over at Splitcoast Stamper's CAS 69. I made this card in honor of my hero, my dad. I think the simplicity of the card is the best part of hte design, understated, yet strong.

Thanks for looking!

Sophie All Grown Up

Sophie G is all grown up, and ready to beign her teaching adventure! This card was created for my student teacher who will be leaving us on Thursday. Teaching really is an adventure, and we wish her the best!

Guiding Light for a Family in need

I made this card for a family at our school. Please keep them in your prayers, as the family is going though a rough patch, medically speaking. Our staff came together to purchase some gift cards for them to use during treatments.

Anyways, I used several techniques to make this card. It is adapted from another one I made about a year ago. The image is heat embossed with white ink and white embossing powder, then watercolored with blue paints to make the background. Silver birds are stamped in the corner, and the image piece is popped up on dimensional tape. Base is dry embossed with cuttlebug D'vine swirls folder, then distressed with tempting turquois ink. All pieces are enclosed inside clear cardstock and wrapped in twine.

Just Messing Around...

I was messing around to create a sample to show a co-worker. We are making little notepads for Mother's Day, and this is a prototype I came up with. Cute, huh? And at 25 cents apiece, SOOO in our budgets!

Moose Sighting!

Isn't she darling??? I think this is my favorite Sophie image, or just about any of them!

LJ's annual Sweet Shoppe Swap

This darling card is for a swap on Splitcoast Stamps, and was for Clean and Simple Cards challenge on Splitcoast Stamps (#63-- inspired by Alanna)

My Salute

This is my creation for hte 4th of July BLOWOUT swap over on SCS. The Pledge of Allegiance digital stamp is available for FREE over on my other blog, so pop on over and snap it up!

Just messin' around...

With the school year winding down, and state testing this week, there is not much school-related work to bring home and do over the weekend, so I ACTUALLY got to do a little stampin this weekend! I looked up a few challenges, and after combining them, letting the creation mellow in my mind while I slept, this is the actual piece I came up with.

The layout is from 365 cards challenges. The requirement is to use "white space."

Just Scraps posted a challenge create a tag. I made the tags first, them added them to the card.

Over at All Sorts of Challenges, they had me in stitches, with the challenge this week to use real of faux stitches on your card.

Butterflies are the theme challenge at Our Creative Corner.

"S" is for Sparkle on ABC Challenge. It is difficult to see in the picture, but the butterfly is covered in stardust Stickles.

Finally, Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday posted a recipe challenge to use buttons, bows, and bling! Like I said, the butterfly has stardust Stickles, the buttons and bow are on the top arrow tag.

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comments!

jen

2 for the price of 1, AGAIN!

ok, so it was easy to combine these challenges, Tuesday Morning Sketches and Sweet Sketch Wednesday. TMS posted a recipe challenge to use soft colors, ribbon and flowers. I don't know if lilac and banana yellow qualify as "soft," but I certainly think they do. SSW has a sketch each week to play along with.

After combining the two, this is what I created. Thanks for looking!

jen

My All-Star Recipe for Chocolate MOOSE!

Get it-- Chocolate Moose, as in mouse the dessert :) he he he! Alyways, I layout is based upon he sketch over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. Soccer Riley is stamped in my new chocolate pigment ink that I was dying to tryout.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the recipe.

Tuesday Morning Sketches

This little lovely is based upon the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches. I love this stamp, as it is so versatile and makes such a clean crisp image. The blooms and dots look lovely together!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rico Sauve' ...

It's Rico! Joni over at Inktegrity has this ADORABLE flamingo named Rico (does anyone else hear "Rico Sauve" by Gerardo in the 1990's???) i LOVE this digi that Joni created, in fact, I think he is my new fav!

Now, to get on with the challenges this card meets:

First up is Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch #43. Each week Arlana posts a sketch to challenge us paper crafters. Thanks, Arlana!

Next, Just Scraps posted a theme and color challenge, with the theme of "New Beginnings" and to use pastel colors. Except fo the black, the pinks and greens are pastels, and this card is for my wonderful NEW neighbors, as they have helped us out so much with clearing the yard and some light demo work.


Over at Color Dare, challenge #61 is to use pink, green and black.


For Fun Challenges posted a very broad theme of "Anything Goes, Must be Family Friendly!" This card is definately family friendly in my mind!


Doodle Palace is challenging crafters to use the color black-- which is perfect for this card with the pink and green. They all look so yummy together, just like an awning on a candy store. :)

And to wrap it all up, Digital Tuesday challenge #52 is to SCRAP IT! Oh yes, EVERYTHING on this card came out of my scrap bin! All the cardstock and ribbon were leftover pieces from from a 12x12 layout I did for Karsyn's scrapbook.

a combination of things...

I {HEART} this stamp! It is quickly becoming a go-to stamp that I reach for quite often. The simplicity of the lines, versatility of hte image, and the fact that I got it for a QUARTER on clearance make it a new fav. First up, the layout is from Tuesday Morning Sketches. Melissa does a fabulous job of challenging crafters each week!

Next, the colors come from Krista Kris Challenges. Papercrafters were to the colors Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, and Old Olive. Running low on SU cardstock (no fear, I ordered more last week!), I substituted as close as I could with Bazzill cardstock.

Papertake Weekly has an open theme, and for the most part, I think we get to pick our own them. I chose "SpingtimeBlooms," as last weekend we had 3" of snow, and today we have 75* temps and on spring break. Feels like summer to me!

Over at ABC Challenges R is for RED! (my fav color, of course!)

Finally, Sherrod Studio posted a theme of "Spring"-- thinking thoughts of warm late May/early June blooms in brilliant reds and oranges

A little of this, and a little of that...

Well, I started off my spring break just right on Monday-- stampin! After being lazy and not getting up until 9, then fixing breakfast for DD and I, we just puttered aroudn the house in our lounging clothes watching cartoon and playing all morning-- Karsyn with her toys, and I with my stamps.

This card combines three challenges in one, talk about doing triple duty! First up is Bee-Crafty's Fortnight (2 week, for those of you who do not speak Shakespeare) Challenge. In honor of their one year anniversary, the posted challenge is to create a card with a "birthday" theme AND use a digital image (cupcake)

Next, Mojo Monday Challange 132 is to create a circle or square card. Mine started as a circle in my heard, but then I like the 4 1/2" square with the circle at the top better. My, my, how things get warped in my mind ;)

Finally, The Pink Elephant posted challenge #60 to use pastels. Now, I consider the colors on the card pastels, hope Ellie does too!

Thanks for looking!

TMS #38

This little lovely is for TMS #38. Each week Melissa posts a lovely sketch or challenge for players, and I always look at, but now I am back playing along. Again, I used the same color scheme as the SSW card (both cards were made from scraps left over from DD's scrapbook page I also worked on).

With me being off this week for Spring Break, look for a few more posts that you have seen lately. Maybe I will get back in the swing of things after hostessing a Stampin Up workshop last week.

So Sweet!

It is SO SWEET to be stampin again. After moving and decorating the new home, doing some remodel work, and being ill, I was in a stampin funk. But with the warmer weather, my funk is slowly leaving, and I am trying to get more done each week.

The colors were inspired by my gal pal Sher's fav colors, and the stamp is one of my favs since it is so versatile. The layout is based on SSW's sketch #42. Thanks for hangin in there with me!

Trust Your Heart

This card is based on the sketch over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday for week 36, but the colors and theme are taken from my daughter's request to have a "Princess and the Frog" themed birthday party. I need to get crackin on those invites! Here's the details:

Paper: Bazzill Pear Crush, purple, wine, white; SU! crushed curry; vellum

Stamp: Stretch n' Bubbles frog prince; Trust your heart background at Say It With Stamps by Jen

Accessories: paper flowers (don't you think they look like a water lily?), mini brad, dimensional tape, Gold Stickles, crystal effects on the eyes

Markers: green Twinkelette; Copics: yellow and brown

new digs

while I was redecorating the house, thought I would do a little work here too. Hope you enjoy the new digs, looking a little more modern than cutesy, but it just might grow on me. LMK what ya think!

~jen

hello out there!

I'm sure you have been wondering if I was still alive or not, and the short answer is "YES!" Ever since we moved into this house, all my creative efforts have gone to remodeling and decorating this home. I am happy to say that there is only two more rooms to paint-- my bedroom and the main bathroom. woohoo! Finished painting the living room during our last snow storm over the weekend.

So during THIS snow storm (Monday night-Wednesday morning), I caught up on grading and posting grades for families, and I even had time to play around with some stamps. 2 Red Banans posted a background challenge this week. Participants need to stamp a background for thier projects. Melissa at TMS posted a sketch challenge this week too, so I combined them to create the card below.

My DD Karsyn even played along! First up is her card, mine is below, in case you cannot tell the difference. ;)

Stampin up whisper white and Melon Mambo cardstock, along with Bazzill Bling Jade Green

CTMH "Teen Princess" stamp set and $1 Studio g Sweet Princess set

Silver heat embossing powder, CB Swiss Dots dry embossing folder, multiple punches, dimensional dots, mini pink brads, green bric-brac ribbon

Thanks for checking in on us, hopefully we will also weather the next storm!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #32

This card is for a digital image swap, where we swap cards created with digital stamps, and the sketch is from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #32. The robot, colored in with Copic markers, is from my good gal pal Joni over at Inktegrity by Joni. She has such awesomly cute stuff! The card is created with cardstock from Stampin Up! In Colors "Crushed Curry" and "Rich Razzelberry," along with pattern paper from DCWV Grade School Stack. The RR cardstock was ran thru the Cuttlebug using the "Traffic Jam" embossing folder. Sentiment was computer generated in MS Word with "OCR A" font to look like a robot-esque print-out.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think "Yo, Gabba Gabba!" when they look at this card?????

Single Layer Card

This card was created for a single-layer card swap on Splitcoast Stampers. This is a real challenge for me, as I like to use at least 2 layers, one as a touch of color against the white. The image is from Pink Petticoat Stamps. I pasted the image into a word document, and printed the whole thing on SU! Whisper White cardstock. After printing, the image was colored with Copic markers, and Little Miss Lambie was outlined in Stardust Stickles. I added a 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon to the top, and punched out the bottom with deco scissors and a mini hole punch.

Thanks for looking!

Jungle Love

Anyone else hear Steve Miller Band's "Jungle Love" while look at this card? That is the song I kept hearing as I designed this card and put it together! Anyways, Arlana at SSW posted this sketch last week and I finally had time to sit down and work on it Saturday morning.


To all the Jungle Lovers out there, have a SWEET DAY!

TMS 27

After being challanged on Monday, my first day back to work after a long break, I was once again challenged on Tuesday, but in a good soft of way ;). Melissa posted TMS #27, which I perused before going to work on a 2-hour delay each day this week. YES! THANK YOU, WINTER WEATHER!!!!

I am in a Valentine Card-making mood, and I want to get a jump of these, as that day will be here before we know it. I love this little Changito monkey, and reach for him a lot, since MONKEY LOVE is whst it is all about!

Thanks for looking!
jen

It's a Princess thing!

CAS over on the Splitcoast posted a Disney-inspired clean-and-simple challenge. I just finished painted and decorating my DD's room in a Disney Princess-inspired theme. She absolutely LOVES Beauty & the Beast, as well as the new movie, The Princess and the Frog. So when I saw this challenge, I HAD to to do a card that mimicked DD's room.

Karsyn's room is a mellow moss color, so I reached for this Bazzill Bling Jade Gem cardstock as the base, a clean white layer, with simple platinum-embossed crown to announce to all the princess has arrived. I finished off the card with a regal plum sash across the bottom, near the eyelet details, much like a princess' petticoat.

Thanks for looking!

Its SWEET again!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday posted sketch #30 this week, and of course I had to play along. Once again, I reached for some valentine-themed stamps to make cards for the upcoming holiday. Oh, and be sure to check out her cute new decorating scheme!