Saturday, May 31, 2008

11 Days since my last post

Hey there!

I have received a few emails from friends asking if everything is okay. Life has just gotten a bit busy the past 10 days or so. I did receive some new stamps from JessicaLynnOriginals, and I can't wait to show you!! In fact, I can't wait to be able to sit down and get inky with them. :)

I have been organizing my craft room a little more and trying to get things in order better. My baker's racks were just getting too full and too wobbly. So I went out and bought some new "cubes" for my room. Wait until you see them! I really love them! I hope to post some pics Sunday or Monday, so stay tuned . . .

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Did you see. . . Jessica's sneak peek, Michelle's blog, and a few cards from me, too


First off . . . Don't forget!! Great opportunity for some really cute stamps, today (Wednesday) and great prices, too. Stop by www.jessicalynnoriginal.com/shopwithus


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Michelle at Stamps, Paper, Scissors, and Donkey Smiles has hit the 5K mark and is giving away some really cool blog candy? All you have to do is link her to your blog. Well, here she is, and you should HURRY to check it out, too. She has some really cute cards, and her banner is adorable as well. She is now on my Reader of blogs to watch. :)


Yesterday, I finished up some more Gruffies cards. These were made as flap cards by using Gruffies stamps -- Wheelbarrow Ride and Bedtime Story. I thought you might like a peek . . .



Today, I created some Christmas cards to try and get caught up on my Christmas card challenge. The Christmas cards were done in silver and blue and were created with Baroque Motifs from Stampin' Up. CS: Night of Navy, Brocade blue, sky blue, and white or vanilla.


Close up of the vanilla one. I really like the way the panel of navy adds more demension to this card. I may have to make a few more of these. :)
Closeup of the white one.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Woohoo! It's official . . .

I don't have any new JLO creations yet, but hopefully soon!! I ordered some more things from Jessica Lynn last week, and guess what?! She emailed me this weekend and asked me if I would like to be part of her Design Team. How cool is that?! Of course, it didn't take me long to reply to her. You are now looking at the newest member of JessicaLynnOriginal's Design Team! :) Woohooo! LOL
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I do have a cute Gruffies card if you would like to see . . .

I created a tiny card using the Bedtime Story Gruffies image, colored with prismacolor pencils and Gamsol, layered on pretty in pink cs pink then placed on dp on the front of a gable green bg created by using the dots and spots embossing folder.




I was really getting bored with the plain folding cards, so I have been trying to come up with some different ones. Alot of my bloggin' sisters have been creating awesome cards, terrific scrapbook LOs, and I felt I needed to step it up a notch. Well, this is for a swap, so it isn't loaded with embellishments like I would have enjoyed doing, but . . . I had fun making something different.





Saturday, May 10, 2008

Did you see what is going on at JessicaLynn's?!

Check it out by clicking on the blog title above! Good luck to everyone with the gift certificates, too. Ooh, wouldn't that be fun to win a $50 gift certificate?! I know I would have fun shopping there! :)


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Couple new House Mouse Cards and Wow . . . look what I got!

I have made a couple more House Mouse cards in the last 2 weeks for swaps that I will share with you, but I will save the best for last. :)







This first card was for a technique challenge. I agreed to try faux denim (but in this case, I will call it faux jeans, because I don't want to step on anyone's toes). There is a GREAT tutorial at Technique Junkies for this, or so I have heard that really looks like denim, but I thought I would try my hand at it too. I actually loved the denim look, but I was unable to find the technique because I haven't splurged for the TJ newsletters YET. I am really thinking about it though, because I have seen so many terrific examples of her techniques out there that I would love to try. Anyway, I used an adapted version of GinaK's faux wood technique with blue and white inks to try and come up with a faux jeans look.



So first, I took the Bliss Blue (or now Bashful Blue) and direct-to-paper dabbed it around on the white cs. Then I did the same with the Ballet Blue, which I also used to make streaks. This was done with the corner of the ink pad. Once you make sure your blue is dried well, you can then press the white pigment ink around in different spots to lighten it up a bit and make streaks with that as well. I still felt like this did not have the fabric "jeans" look to it, so I used the ballet blue again with my canvas bg stamp and stamped that overtop of all the different colors/streaks. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that stamp. Overall, I think it looks pretty close to denim jeans, but with more experimentation you may get something that looks closer. (otherwise go with the pro and check out Technique Junkies) :)




My second card is just a simple tent topper that I created for our HM SOTM(stamp of the month) swap. It was colored with prisma colors, trimmed to size, added to a layer of cs that was trimmed with Fiskar scissors for a bit of a scalloped edge, and then stickles and brads were added. The base layer is textured barely banana with a word window punch cut out for the sentiment "Celebrate" from the Flourishes word set.




One picture shows the sparkle better, and the other shows the word in the window punch better. I sure hope the ladies in the group like them. They are so stinkin' cute and fun to color. :)

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Now for my good news! I got the most terrific package yesterday from Donna at Down the Paper Trail with Nettie. If you haven't seen her blog, you must go check it out. The link is in my side bar on the right. She has reached 5000 hits already, and she had some terrific blog candy, which is now mine!!! :D Can you believe it?! I rarely win stuff, so this has me so excited! I took a picture of my treasures . . .



but my absolute favorite part is the Address Book she created. We keep a telephone book of friends, family, and frequently called stores or restaurants near our phone (in a drawer hidden from view), but BELIEVE ME this will not be in the drawer!! It will be out for everyone to see the marvelous creation Nettie made for me. I told her my kitchen had apples and was red and green with a gingham blue and white country type border with apples, etc, and she came up with this totally CUTE book for me. Don't ya just love it?! I sure do, and she handmade it!! Doesn't get much better than that! Thanks, again, Nettie! {{hugs}}



Thursday, May 1, 2008

JessicaLynnOriginals

Did you see Jessica's comment?! She liked my bone-shaped cards, too. I am so tickled. I really was trying to come up with something that was **Way-over-the-top**, and I just couldn't think of something that was totally new, out of this world, etc. . . . well, you know what I mean, right?!

I do think the fact that I give a tiny tutorial in there about how to change your stamped image to face the other direction is very helpful though.

If you think this tutorial and how to make the bone-shaped card seen below in the last post is something you might be interested in, check out her page by clicking on the title name above, and then the tutorial can be found by clicking on Newsletters from the left side of the main home page. (unfortunately blogger will not let me put the actual link here, because it doesn't end in .com or .net) Uggh!

Edited: Try HERE

Jessica also tells me she will be having a New Release this month (May 21st) of some new creations. Oooh, I am excited to see those as well. She also has some $1 stamps on her site. I just adore the little Yorkie (now don't buy them all before I get one *wink*) and the Chihuaha. There is a border collie on there, too that is really a great deal at a little over $2 (she looks just like my neighbor's dog) might have to get that one too. Okay, okay . . . sorry, I am being an enabler.

So, even if you can't buy right now . . . stop by and check it out.