Dancing in the Rain

Pin It Just wanted to pop in quickly tonight to share a card I made earlier this week for the challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.  The colors -- denim, cherry, and baby blue -- looked too fun, so I had to give it a go!

This cute image is from a set called Raindrop Kisses by Darcie's -- I think I have said over and over how much I love these sets!  So stinkin' cute!  :)

Now for the rest of the story:  I was all set to post yesterday and got caught up cheering my team to victory last night (during the NBA playoffs, I confess my priorities get all muddled...  Nothing else matters when the Spurs are playing!  :) and missed the posting deadline....  Oops!  Oh well!  Here it is anyway!

I added Glossy Accents to her boots and the rain puddles!  :)

the color story from The Play Date Cafe

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you are having a great week -- only two more days till the weekend!!!  :)

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Pin It Hello!

We are smack in the middle of birthday week in my family -- three birthdays and one anniversary in seven days!  Next up is my grandfather -- he will turn 89 (!) this week!  In his honor, I made what has to be the hardest. of. all. cards. to me...  the masculine card!  Girl-cards (for girl-recipients, anyway) are a cinch -- I mean, we crafters are stocked to the gills with flowers and colors and ribbons and bling!  But boy- (or, er, excuse me.... man-cards) throw me for a loop every time!

Sidenote:  In the end, though I'm happy with the result, I'm not really sure it's him...  My grandfather, or "Nana" as we call him -- (story in this post) -- is a super-special man with a fantastic sense of humor and more than a little bit of cantankerousness (which I adore about him!!  :)  I really struggled to distill all that into this card.  In the end, I decided to keep it simple, sticking to clean lines and colors and opting to hand-write the "Happy Birthday" sentiment....    Here it is:

I die-cut the chevrons using My Favorite Things Die-Namics' "Chevron Stripes"and papers from Basic Grey's "Wander" line.

I am also playing along with CAS-ual Fridays' challenge this week to make a masculine card using patterned paper.  Masculine?  check.  Patterned Paper?  double check!  :)


Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend -- blessings to you and yours!  :)

The Card is in the Mail! :)

Pin It Good morning!  I wanted to pop in this morning to share a card I made last week to send to The Netherlands as part of the Spring Card Exchange hosted on the Hero Arts Flickr site!  I'm thrilled that my card is traveling overseas -- boldly going where no card of mine has ever gone before!!  Ha!  :)

Making the card?  No problem....  Getting it to the post office and in the mail??  Now, that's a different story!  I am the world's worst about making a card with an intended recipient in mind and then never getting it in the mail!!!  How does that even happen?!?  (in my defense, this week I came down with a wicked case of strep throat -- and no way was I making it out of bed to the post office during those couple of days!! :) 

But I have (for the most part) recovered now, the card is in the mail, and I believe I am of sound (enough) mind to post the pics!  So, here it is:

Because this was for someone in the Hero Arts Flickr Group, I wanted to make sure I used some of my fave HA stamps, so I used the Envelope Pattern background stamp and the Newspaper Background stamp.  The flowers are called Dogwood Bloom and are from Memory Box.

I hope this card isn't crushed to pieces when it arrives at its destination!  Thank you for stopping by -- hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

 And, because I can't help myself -- 

the Western Conference Finals start tonight (finally!), so: 

Go Spurs Go!  :)

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Hero Arts "Envelope Pattern," "Newspaper Background," "Everyday Sayings,"  and Memory Box "Dogwood Bloom"
• Dies:  Spellbinders Nestabilities "Labels 8," Hero Arts/Sizzix "Playful Flowers and Butterflies," and Memory Box "Classic Tags"
• Inks:  Distress Inks "Dusty Concord," "Milled Lavender,"and "Tumbled Glass," Stampin' Up "Certainly Celery" and "Basic Gray," and Copic Markers BV000, BV02, B000, YG11, YG13, and YG17 and black multiliner .03mm
• Papers:  Copic X-Press It Blending Cardstock, Hero Arts Layering Papers - Celadon
• Diamond Stickles, gems, adhesives

A Sweet for My Sweet :)

Pin It Happy Tuesday!  I wanted to pop in to share a card I made this weekend for a sweet little girl I know who is celebrating her 7th birthday!  She's a sweetie, to be sure, so this card needed to have a little of that extra girlie **oomph!** (if you know what I mean!)

Sidenote:  I was thrilled to attend a Copics Standard Certification class this past weekend -- learned so much about these markers we all go crazy for -- and cannot wait to attend the Intermediate Certification class soon (it'll probably be a while before it's back in my neck of the woods again, so maybe this'll just have to be my excuse to go somewhere fun!  :)

So, this card and this super-cute Penny Black stamp are not really in my typical style, but both seemed appropriate for a 7 year-old and they gave me a good excuse to practice my coloring!!!  Ha!

I think she's pretty darn cute; what do you think?  I love her rosy cheeks and striped socks and big hair -- hey, I'm from Texas!  :)

Thanks for stopping by...  Here's hoping your day is full of color and sparkle (and cupcakes!!!  :)

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Penny Black "Sweet Thing" and Hero Arts "Happy Birthday Cupcakes"
• Papers:  My Mind's Eye "Howdy Doody" and Neenah "Desert Storm"
• Dies:  My Favorite Things "Chevron Stripes"
• Inks:  Copic Markers, Memento "Rich Cocoa," Tim Holtz Distress Inks "Vintage Photo"
• Glossy Accents, "Diamond" Stickles, dimensional adhesives

  

Especially Tweet

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Good Morning!  I am so excited to be a part of the DeNami Blog Hop today!  Our theme is "Pretty Pastels" and it puts me in a spring-time mood!  :)

First the details:  You are probably joining me from the incredibly talented Paulina's blog (one of my faves!).  If so, I'm sure you are already teeming with inspiration! But, alas, there are 31 stops on this hop, so no shortage of creative ideas for all!  You have until May 21st, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!)

DeNami Designs will generously be giving away be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment all along the hop!

Ok, so here it is:

For this card, I combined my favorite Tweety Bird Border stamp with this adorable stamp.  How can you go wrong??

Anyway, before I send you hopping along, I just wanted to thank you for stopping by -- 

But now you're off to see what kind of pastel goodness Barbara Murphy has  whipped up for you!  (Remember, if you get lost along the way or just want to start over from the beginning, you can just head back to the DeNami Designs blog to do that!) 

Happy Hopping!!!

Birds of a Feather

Pin It Hi!  Just a quick post today to share a cute little set of note cards I made for my sister for Mother's Day...  I shared in my last post this new love I have for the "Tweet Talk" set by Papertrey Ink and today's post will prove my love is real!  :)

I seriously can't get enough of this chubby little bird!  She just makes my heart sing!  :)  

My sister, who is (after my own mom) the best mother I know, always likes to do nice things for other people and I knew she would love this little set of notecards.  And I especially love that she can personalize her own cards with the mix-n-match sentiments!

And just for fun, I made these matching {giant} paperclips so she can keep all her *schtuff* organized (and pretty!  :)

Fun, right???  I hope all you moms (and sisters of moms and daughters of moms!) had a fantastic Mother's Day!  I hope your loved ones let you know how you special you are -- and how loved!  :)

This will be my second entry into this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays!  :)

Supplies:

• Papers - Memory Box "Brioche" and Neenah "Solar White" Cardstock
• Stamps - Papertrey Ink - "Tweet Talk"
• Inks - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Copic Markers
• Dies - Sizzix "Floral Botanical Set"
• Paperclips - found at PickYourPlum.com
• Diamond Stickles, gems, ribbon, adhesives

So Tweet!

Pin It Hello and happy weekend!  Hope yours is off to a great start!

I just got the cutest stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Tweet Talk and I'm happy to say -- I'm in love!   Seriously.  Had to ink it up -- and fast!  So I decided I'd play in my first-ever ColourQ challenge....  I saw the colors for this week's challenge and, more importantly, this card by Arielle and knew I would want to throw my hat card in the ring!  (And how perfect that this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is "Feathered Friends!")  :)

Here's my take:

Isn't that chubby little bird the cutest thing you ever saw?!?

  

I knew from the start what I wanted my sentiment to be -- problem was, I didn't have the stamps for it.... so -- I cut up a couple I do have...  I cut the "be" off a "just because" stamp and the "you" off a "thank you" stamp and then used a set of Hero Arts alphabet stamps for the "fabulous..."  Anyway, I got what I wanted in the end and I'm pretty darn pleased with the result!  :)

And a peek at the challenges this card was inspired by:

Hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by!  Let me know what you think!  :)

And Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there -- hope y'all have a great day filled with love and laughter (and breakfast in bed!)!  :)

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Papertrey Ink "Tweet Talk," Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings" & "Playful Flower Letters"
• Inks:  Memento "Rich Cocoa," Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Vintage Photo," and Copic Markers
• Papers:  K&Co. "Wild Saffron," Neenah "Solar White," Core'dinations "Distress"
• Diamond Stickles, ribbon, brads, adhesives

CAS Challenge(d)? :)

Pin It Hello!  I am popping in to say Happy Birthday to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog (being a newbie to this whole blogging / challenges / online crafting world, I thought they'd been around for years...) celebrating it's first birthday!!  Woo-hoo!

What better way to celebrate than with a Birthday Challenge??  (And who doesn't need a steady supply of birthday cards on-hand, anyway??)

A few disclaimers before I show you the goods:

• I love and try to embrace the whole "Clean and Simple" thing, but am discovering it's not my natural "go-to" style.  (Someone asked me to "label" my style a couple of weeks ago and the best I could come up with is -- wait for it --  "Less is... not enough!"  Haha!
• As a scrapper-turned-card-maker, I have found myself more and more retuning to my own hand-writing for sentiments lately, rather than stamps.  So the sentiment you are about to see is my own writing, and in the interest of making my cards more personal, I embrace the flaws and inconsistencies!  (Although I have to say, I got quite a kick out of my mom telling me she loved my "font!")

Ok, enough of that!  Here's my card:

Pretty darn simple (for me!  Ha!) and (almost) a one-layer card.  I die cut the bows using this set from Memory Box, first in colored cardstock, then into my card face.  I inset the colored bows in the negative space on the card front and then drew in the presents by hand.  A bit of copic-coloring and a few dots of Rock Candy Stickles and voila!  

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate you visiting and would love to hear from you!  Tell me this: what name would you give to describe your crafting style???  :)

To Mom with Love

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*** This is my second post today!  For my previous post, please click here or continue to scroll down.***

Ok, so I have had three -- woo-hoo! -- days off in a row this week and have managed to get an (almost) unprecedented amount of crafting time in!  What a great way to spend my time off!  Emmitt and I spent a great deal of time in my craft room today  -- check it out!

My crafting buddy -- faithful and supportive, but worthless for dispensing advice!  :)

Haha!  He sits in his chair across the desk from me the entire time I'm working -- like he has a vested interest in my projects!  :)

On to the goods:  I was inspired by this fabulous sketch over at RetroSketches and this color scheme from The Play Date Cafe.  How could I go wrong, right?  Oh, but wait!  Throw in this pic from The Shabby Tea Room (and the challenge to use a rose in your design!) and it gets even better!

Right.  It doesn't get much better than that, huh?  Well, here's what I came up with -- well, er... what Emmitt and I came up with:

Oh, my...  All these papers are from MME's "Dolled Up" line.  These colors just melt my heart!  Just totally swoon-worthy!!  :)  Hope you like it -- let me know what you think -- would love to hear from you!  :)

Love to you!

Jennifer (and Emmitt!)

And the Songbirds Keep Singing!

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Ok, so I am super-excited about this post!  You know when you're making something and everything just seems to "click" as you're making it??  When the colors seem to go just perfectly together and you have just enough adhesive or ribbon or trim to do what you want to do (and all the world is singing together in perfect harmony??  lol!)  Well, that's how this card came together for me -- and trust me, that does not happen all that often!

For this card, I'm using the inspiration from this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays: April Showers Bring May Flowers and the super-cute sketch from Retro Sketches.  I'm a sucker for flowers of all shapes and sizes on cards, so these really called to me!

Anyway, here's my take -- Ta-da!!!

I used my favorite new background stamp from Hero Arts -- "Lattice Background" -- love the look of it heat embossed on kraft cardstock!  The bird and flowers are by Darcie Heater (Darcie's Stamps) which are two of my all-time favorite sets!  

I think that little "songbird" is as cute as he can be, perched on his little twine branch!  (Or barbed wire, as my mom thought it was!!  ugghh!!)

Anyway, I hope you like it -- Thanks for stopping by!  :)

Supplies:

• Dies:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8
• Stamps:  Hero Arts Lattice Background and Darcie's Garden Wishes and Le Fleurs
• Inks:  Distress Inks and Copic Markers
• Papers: Kraft Cardstock and Neenah "Solar White" Cardstock
• Embossing powder, gems, twine, and adhesives