A Little Birdie Told Me...

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Good evening!  Popping in tonight to share a card I made using this week's sketch over at RetroSketches.  I love this sketch.  Initially, I was drawn to the scale of it…  The focal point of the card is relatively small which leaves quite of bit of "white space" on the card.  Interesting….  :)

I have been wanting to make a card for a co-worker of my mother's who just found out not too long ago she is having a little girl…  Babies of any variety are fun, but there is something magical about baby girls!  Oh, the dresses!  And the bows!  And the teensy-weensy little shoes!  And pink!  (Who doesn't love pink???)

So this card is for Angelica and her sweet little baby girl…  Congratulations!  :)

You'll notice that, even though I was drawn to the scale of the sketch, I didn't create my card with the same proportions…  And I have a (really) good reason.  I promise.  I love, love, love this stamp set from PTI ("Tweet Talk").  But no matter how I try, I find it impossible to stamp these sweet little birds without their tailfeathers (besides, Nelly & P. Diddy wouldn't approve if there weren't some to shake!  ;)

And here's the sketch I was working off of:

Thanks for stopping by…  I'll be back tomorrow night with a card that made my mother say this:  "What did you do to this one?!?  I've never seen a card look like that before…"   Hmmmm…  Not quite sure how to take that…  ;)

Have a great Wednesday!  :)

Floral Frenzy!

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Good morning!  You ever just have periods of time where you feel especially creative and are actually lucky enough to also happen to have the time to spend on your creative ventures??  Well, here it is -- 3:00 in the morning and I have just enjoyed 6 hours like that!  And, boy!  Was that just what I needed!! :)

{I also love when you happen to find a really great movie on that you practically know by heart and can just have it playing in the background…  Tonight "13 Going On 30" was on…  embarrassed to admit it, but I adore that movie!  Who wouldn't fall for Mark Ruffalo in that one?!?}

I wanted to share a card I made based on the inspiration card offered up this week over at Muse Card Club.  It's a lovely CAS stamped floral card by Marion Vagg and I was drawn to a couple of things on the card.  I love the two-tone stamping of her flowers and her pink & purple color scheme.  So I thought I'd give it a go…

Here's my take:

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I have a couple of weddings to attend this month, so I thought this would make a good "for the happy couple" kind of card…  :)

And here's Marion's original -- see where I drew my inspiration?

On a separate note, my heart is aching today for the people of the fabulous city of Boston (my favorite city!).  My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those affected by the senseless acts of violence and destruction that occurred there earlier today.

Wishing for you, my friends, love and peace and protection -- wherever you may be…

Sweet! :)

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Hello!  I am popping in today to share a card I made using the sketch over at Mojo Monday.  When I first saw the sketch, I was like, "what can I do with that??"  I couldn't figure out how all the banners would relate to the rest of the card…  But, I just decided to (use a couple of my favorite images and colors and) go with it!

Now I'm a believer.  This might be one of my favorite cards ever.  I love the colors (!) and the sweet flower image and that sentiment font (shut the front door!!!).  I mean, seriously, how sweet is that???

The papers are from the "Lively" collection by Authentique, the flower in a mason jar is by Endless Creations, and the sentiment is from Verve Stamps.

On a separate, but equally sweet note, take a look at what was whipped up in my house last night!

photo credit: Lovin' from the Oven

Oh my goodness -- were these ever a slice of heaven?!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to give it a try…  Soooo glad I did -- warm, gooey chocolatey marshmallowy fabulousness!  :)  Check out the Lovin' from the Oven blog to find the recipe for these S'mores Cookie Bars.  Trust me.  You'll be glad you did!  :)

Have a great Thursday…  almost the weekend!  :)

Color Challenged… Again.

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Hello again.

Tonight I'm popping in with a real quickie I made for the current color challenge over at the Play Date Cafe.  This one was a toughie for me because they were asking us to rock the neutrals, which I don't usually do too well… (Neutrals and I don't usually speak the same language.  At all.  Not even close.)

But it had been awhile since I'd linked up at TPDC, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I have a couple of weddings to attend this month and I thought these colors would lend themselves to that type of card, so there you have it..

Here's a look at the color palette we were playing with…  (I always think these colors look so good on Pinterest -- check my boards; they're littered with this stuff!  So where's the disconnect???  ;)

I'm off to bed -- been battling a stomach bug all day…  :(

Have a great Wednesday!  :)

Tea Time!

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Hello, and Happy Monday!  I hope you had a fantastic weekend!  :)

I have one of those jobs where you gotta work on the real weekends, so my "weekends" are usually Mondays and Tuesdays…  Today was my "Saturday" and I am both embarrassed and thrilled to admit that I never even made it out of my jammies today!  :)  I was able to be rather productive, but did it all from the confines (and in the comfort) of my own home.

I had a great day and was able to get in some good quality crafty-time!  :)

So I wanted to pop in to share with you a card I made based on this week's sketch over at RetroSketches.  I used a new (to me) technique I have been a little obsessed with lately…

The teapot and teacup are outline stickers by Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I covered some Sookwang tape with some Glitter Ritz microfine glitter, adhered the outline stickers and colored with my Copics…  Hopefully you can see the shimmer -- it's really sparkly in person!  :)

Here's the sketch I was working off of:

Hope you like it….  I have another project using this technique I'll be sharing in a couple of days.  :)

Have a great week!

 

Mad Dash

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Hello!  and Happy Friday!  Thought I'd try something new today and really push myself beyond my comfort zone…  I have mentioned before that I am not the speediest of crafters -- if fact, that's really putting it mildly…  Usually, every step in the process takes me a while (which, truthfully, is really what I love about this hobby -- it allows me the time to escape and just concentrate on making something  pretty (or "rilly pritty," as my young niece says!).

I have followed the "10 Minute Craft Dash" since Paulina launched it some time ago…  I was in shock and awe (and utter amazement) at what she and her DT were able to come up with in only 10 minutes!  But me??  I was too scared to try…  I knew I'd never, NEVER be able to complete an entire project in that amount of time!

The concept is simple -- take the assigned color scheme and 10 minutes and….  GO!!!

I guess you know where I'm going with this….  Today, I decided to give it my best shot.  Thankfully, the rules say you can gather all your supplies before you start your timer, so I did that (and even had them set out where I'd need them first: some by my paper trimmer, my dies by my Big Shot, etc!).  And I sketched what I wanted to do, and noted all the measurements I needed to cut to, and was ready to go!!  Took (several) deep breaths and started my timer!!!

Well, here it is (in 9:55.2, to be exact!!!  whew!):

{Would you believe that, of all the things that I thought might cause me to miss my time, it was taking all the sticky backs off of the pop-up adhesives that REALLY almost did me in?!?}

And the proof:

Now the trick will be seeing if I can clean up the mess I made in ten minutes or less!  :)  LOL!

Anyway, what fun!  I am totally going to be participating in this challenge again!!  :)

Hope you have a Fabulous Friday…  Thanks for stopping by!

A Heart Full of Love!

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Hello, hello!  Just wanted to pop in tonight to share some love with you!  (Literally!)  {Mad props to anyone who recognizes my title!}

This is a card created based on this week's color scheme over at Colour Q.  I love the pinks and the cheery spring colors…  I happened to still have a stash of the Konnichiwa line by Basic Grey that I had been hoarding saving for a rainy day (ahem…) and I thought these colors would be the perfect excuse to break it out!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great rest of your week!  It has been rainy here the last couple of days, but we sure need it, so I'm not complaining!  Bring on another couple of days of it -- I'm water-proof!  :)

Life is Good! :)

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Hello again!  I guess it goes without saying that I have been away for awhile…  And there is a lot that could be said about that, but I won't bore you with any of that…  :)

Suffice it to say, I've spent the last couple of months in a craft-less wasteland!  Literally.  I lost my crafty mojo somewhere along the way and have struggled mightily to get it back (you ever been there???)…  This isn't to say that there have been NO craft projects, but only that my out-put has been significantly less both in quantity and in quality…  :(

But I'm (trying to get) back!  {reminds me of that Jason Mraz song -- "I fell right through the cracks and now I'm trying to get back…."  Can you say CHEESY?!?}

For my first card back, I turned to the new card club/challenge "Muse" for some inspiration.  (Though this is my first time participating, I have been following (re: stalking) this blog since it started a couple of months ago and have really been impressed with both the DT submissions and the quality of the participants' work…

This week's "Muse" was none other than Laurie Willison, who offered up a flawless card for our interpretation…  Here's my take:

I drew a couple of elements from her card (the use of the negative die space as focal point and for my sentiment, the use of the border punch to frame an edge of the piece, and the strip of polka dots to "ground" the whole thing),  but really wanted to keep the color scheme as monochromatic as possible…  I have been all about the aqua lately…  

Anyway, I hope you like this card…  It really is nice to be back.  I look forward to catching up with many of you…  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and that you were able to spend a lovely Easter with your loved ones -- wherever they may be…

Mornin,' Punkin! :)

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Good morning, friends!  I am popping in today with one last Thanksgiving card post…  Just couldn't resist!  If you've been following along, you'll notice this card is in the same genre as my last couple of cards -- same patterned papers and all… (I was using a really great 6x6 pad from Authentique and since  Thanksgiving is so close, I figured I might as well try to use it up since I won't be able to get by with these colors a week from now!  ;)  Having said all of that, this is definitely my favorite of the "series."

One of my favorite bloggers is Melissa Phillips of "Lilybean's Paperie."  I love her style so much… every piece is a true work of art.  That, and I believe she is definitely a "Less is…. Not Enough!" kinda gal, too.  I know I have said I just can't do CAS and I have at long last resigned myself to that… so you can understand why I find Melissa's work so appealing…  :)

Today's card was inspired by this card Melissa posted a couple of days ago.  I love the colors and the textures and I'm not sure if she hand-designed her pumpkin or not, but the effect is that she did.  So here's my take on her card:

So what say you?  Did I do her masterpiece justice?  :)

I tore and pieced my pumpkin together and attached a little branch that I plucked off my crepe myrtle today!  The leaves are CTMH and were a gift from my sweet friend Melissa Shea.  The sentiment is from PTI and you can tell I am in love with that burlap ribbon, no?  :)

I am linking this card up to a couple of challenges:

• RetroSketches #38
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Thanksgiving
• The Friday Mashup: A Thankful Fall

On a separate note, I am so super excited because I am driving up to Oklahoma City today with my sister and mom and niece to see Straight No Chaser, one of my favorite groups, in concert…  It has become an annual fall tradition for us to go to one of their concerts, and this year we are introducing my niece to the fun!  Check 'em out:

Ok, so this isn't the most professionally-filmed video ever, but you oughtta get the idea of why we can't wait!  Always such a fun concert!  :)

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend!  May yours be blessed with family and friends, love and laughter, and as much turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie as your waistband will allow!  :)

All Torn Up!

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Good morning!  I just wanted to pop in this morning with another Thanksgiving card {I cannot believe Thanksgiving is NEXT week!!!  Seriously, where has the time gone?!?}…  We have spent every Thanksgiving of my life with my grandmother on my dad's side of the family and it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving if we didn't make our annual pilgrimage to a tiny town out in West Texas for the holiday…

This year, though, some of my favorite relatives, who normally make the trip from Nebraska every November, aren't going to be able to come down…  And I am bummed!  Seriously bummed.

So what is a card-maker to do in this situation??  You got it...

And I've got just a couple of days left to get them in the mail on time!  :)

I really am in love with this sentiment stamp…  Perfect for family members that will be so missed at our Thanksgiving celebration this year…

I had a couple of challenges in mind with this card…  The current color combo at ColourQ is one of my favorites and I love the "So Torn" theme at Cas-ual Fridays this week!  :)

Thanks for stopping by…  Are you busy planning for next week's festivities?  What will you be doing?  Hosting?  Traveling??  Whatever your plans, please know I am sending virtual Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours from here!  :) 

Finding My Mojo!

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Hello, friends!  I feel as though I've been gone for quite a while and I'm kinda struggling to regain my crafty mojo!  The last month has literally flown by -- and this is the time of year when I wish we could just stop the clocks and savor the season!  I love, love, love the fall…  my favorite time of year by far!!!  Ironic, since we really don't get much of one here in Texas… (which is why I always feel the urge to travel in October!)

Anyway, all of that is to say that we only have a couple more weeks to revel in the beauty of fall colors before making the mandatory leap to the colors of Christmas, so I knew that any "find-your-mojo-and-dust-it-off" undertakings would be autumnal in nature!  :)

I bought this adorable fall set from Papertrey Ink a couple of months ago, and hadn't inked it up yet, so I thought I'd give it a go…  I'm quite pleased with the overall effect of the card, but a teensy bit miffed with myself for once again making things a lot harder than they needed to be…  {anybody care to venture a guess as to what I did this time?  Or why I can never seem to learn my lesson???}  Ha!

Anyway, thank you for stopping in…  I hope you like it…  I have a couple of Thanksgiving cards I want to get in the mail this week, so I'll probably be popping in with more "fall fun" over the next couple of days!

But before I go, I wanted to share a pic I took on vacation…  I meant to get it up before Halloween, but it just wasn't in the cards…  I did a double-take when driving down the road in Cape Elizabeth, ME, and here's why:

Talk about being "abreast" of the situation -- these people are over the "moon" about fall!  :) 

Have a great Tuesday!

Jen  :)

Thankful for you! :)

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Good morning!  And welcome to the November DeNami Designs Blog Hop!  I am thrilled to be participating in this month's hop (and thrilled to be back here at my "virtual" home!  :)  If you have arrived here from Emily Keaton's blog (always one of my favorite stops on every DeNami hop!), then you are headed in the right direction!  If you get lost at any point, or just want to start all over from the beginning, you can always head over to the DeNami Designs blog for the whole list!

On to the goods!  I honestly love everything about this month's hop -- the theme, the colors, all of it!  I even used the hop "badge" as my inspiration!  :)  At any rate, it all got me to thinking of all the things (and people!) I am thankful for -- and discovered there were waaaayyyy more than I could put on a single card.  So I decided I'd share just a few of the things (and people!) I absolutely couldn't live without!  :)

I've used a couple of my favorite DeNami Petit Fours sets for this card (you can find them here and here!).  I've used that little leafy stamp several times here lately and just adore it.  It adds the perfect little flourish in tiny little spaces and is fun to ink in different colors!

Thank you for stopping by!  I'm about to send you off to see what kind of super-creative treat Melissa Waldorf has in store for you, but before I do, I just want to remind you that you have until 11:59pm PST on Monday, November 12th to comment all along the hop for a chance to win a DeNami shopping spree!  :)

Thanks again for visiting!  You are yet another thing I am so very thankful for!  :)