Shopping my Stash with the letter B...

Oh boy :) Last post today, I promise! Had to make time to play over at Shopping our Stash since I haven't in a few weeks....this time it's to make something that includes stash that starts with the letter B. How wide open is that? The challenge linky expires Monday at midnight, so hurry up & play along!

I went with butterflies & bling as my letter B items:

Supplies: Spellbinders butterfly dies;
silver paint pen; butterfly embossing folder; bling from dollar store

This was a huge stashbuster card - no idea where the grey patterned paper is from, but there was exactly enough to cut 3 butterflies (one to spare for the envelope!). The bling body & trail finished off a package of swirls, the silver paint pen hasn't been out to play in for-e-ver, and neither had the embossing folder. (Pats self on back). That's why I love the SOS challenges so much - I make a point of USING instead of hoarding (but don't worry, I still hoard. It's not a personality switch! lol)

*One more for the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - seriously, if you haven't gone over there already, GO! What are you waiting for???*

xoxo,
Jessi

Sugar & spice and all things nice...

....that's what little girls are made of! Challenge #167 at Crafty Creations Challenges  is to make a feminine card for a little girl. Yay! One of my favourite cards to make! You have until Wednesday to play along :) I made a card for the littlest kind of girl there is: a new baby.

Supplies: papers & stickers from K & Co;
ribbon from Paper Smooches;
sentiment from Stampin' Up; Broken China distress ink

I love including tactile elements, and wouldn't this card be perfect for a new baby who happens to have a toddler big sister? The heart & lamb are made of felt, and the ribbon is stitched so that the ruffles are securely fastened.

*Another one for the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp*

xoxo,
Jessi

Inspired by little red wagon

Sometimes challenges dovetail together so well I can't help but combine them - this is my first time playing at Inspired By, where challenge #21 is to create a project inspired by this lovely vase of tulips:

And this week's challenge at little red wagon  is to use three or more flowers on your card. Both challenges end on Wednesday. I was inspired to use a combination of purple flowers - and let me count how many blooms I added....

Supplies: sentiment from Gina K Designs;
Wild Plum adirondack ink; stamps on envelope from Basic Grey;
gems from dollar store; quilled flowers by me

...and it's got 20 flowers. I have several tulip die-cuts that are just begging to happen into a card, but everything I've tried so far just hasn't clicked. I may be back with another card for Inspired By if I can make them work :) 

*also popping this one into the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp* 

xoxo,

Jessi

TMS #143 - A Mom Sketch

I have a whole bunch of challenge cards to share today - I didn't get a lot of crafting done this past week, but what I *did* do was inspired & prompted by challenges. By the way, for those of you who occasionally marvel at how many cards I manage to make...I've purposely been keeping count during the month of April, and on May 1st I'll share the total with you. There *might* be another surprise coming too...just sayin'.

Anyway, lately I've been drawing the Tuesday Morning Sketch in my challenge book, and making a real effort to play along. This week's sketch has simple lines & so I found it easy to work with. The linky expires today (Sunday), so speed over & get yourself in the game :)

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Plumeria;"
brads from Basic Grey (unknown);
'mom' stamp from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink (generation stamping to get dark grey);
Sakura Stardust pen; flower diecut from K & Co;
pearl strip from dollar store; standard circle Nesties

It's a little difficult to tell in the picture, but the corner circles are adhered using foam tape, as is the floral die cut. The rectangular element is adhered directly to the card base, so just the corners that overlap the circles are popped up. I like how it looks - even though I had to hold it down until it dried to make it work. Zip Dry to the rescue :)

*Also entering into Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes challenge...because I can. That one ends on Wednesday!

xoxo,
Jessi

Hello, kitty!

At Scrapbooker's Paradise Ponderings this week, Playing in Paradise #64 is brought to us by Merlie ...be inspired by this adorable picture:

and here's what I came up with:

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye;
digi stamp from Motivet;
standard oval Nesties;
watercoloured with Distress inks;
Stampendous Fun Flock - cotton ball white

The 'hello' speech bubble is fussy-cut from another sheet of patterned paper in the same collection, and the kitty is cut out & popped up using a layer of foam tape. I just couldn't resist the sort-of-pun of having a kitty saying "hello" - and isn't it nice to send a friend a card just because?

As always, the Playing in Paradise challenge is open until the following Thursday at noon - May 3rd this week - and there's always a great prize up for grabs! Go leave some love for the rest of the design team gals too:

Merlie at Cherish my Fetish

Angela at Angela Fehr Creativity Central

Nina at Notes by Nina

Allison at Stampin' When I Can

xoxo,

Jessi

Butterflies...

A challenge about butterflies? I had to make time to play. It's over at Our Creative Corner - and it's my first time playing along :) You've got until tomorrow to play along - how can you resist?  Look at this gorgeous inspiration picture:

And I made two cards, both pretty similar:

Supplies: paper from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
thin, adhesive backed cork;
ivory velvet paper; Spellbinders dies: circle, lacy circle, butterfly;
sentiment from Paper Smooches;
versamark, white EP;
crocheted mat by me

Supplies: paper from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
green glitter paper - Colorbok;
white velvet paper; Spellbinders dies: circle, lacy circle, butterfly;
sentiment & twine from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir inkcrocheted mat by me  

And why do I love butterflies? They are rare (around here), they are soft, beautiful, and delicate. 

About my Picasa troubles...I gave up! I downloaded GIMP and luckily Lisa at dahlhouse designs has a terrific tutorial on how to use it. Sometimes it's best to just admit defeat & move on!

xoxo,

Jessi

I'm alive!

It has been a week of high drama, I tell you. I can't remember the last time I went this long without posting. Not to overshare, but to sum it up, here are two points:
1) diabetes sucks
2) don't ignore that little voice that says "go to the doctor"
And I also give thanks for quick-acting antibiotics. Yay!
And how's that for a segue into this card:

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Lauderdale;"
image from Mo Manning; watercoloured with distress inks;
Palette Noir ink; Spiced Marmalade distress ink; Hero Arts sentiments

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Little Black Dress;"
image from Mo Manning;
watercoloured with distress inks;
Making Memories brads; Hero Arts sentiment

Supplies: papers (including fussy-cut clocks) from Bo Bunny;
image from Mo Manning; watercoloured with distress inks &
Stampin' Up watercolour pencils

Supplies: papers from Kaisercraft;
image from Mo Manning; watercoloured with distress inks;
Memento London Fog ink; hero arts sentiments;
Offray ribbon

Most of the pictures we took during our trip to the wildlife park were of the animals, but there are a couple of shots I wanted to share with you:

Riley, the birthday boy!

Connor the goofy face maker 

Abraham Lincoln, the rhea. It's a feather - and it was hilarious!

If you made it this far, I've got a question - do you use Picasa for photo editing? Can you help me figure out how to insert a GIF watermark? I went through the help process and can't find the *^&^* 'insert' command!  Ugh.
xoxo,
Jessi

Playing in Paradise #63

This week we're being challenged by Angela! Spring flowers are finally starting to pop up in our neck of the woods this week - the tulips are bravely peeking out from among all the winter's detritus in our yard.

Playing in Paradise #63

Well, any challenge involving flowers makes me want to dig into my quilling paper, so that's what I did:

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Lemonade;"
corner rounder;
Spellbinders Lacy Circle Nesties;
Studio G sentiment;
Memento Angel Pink ink; Sakura Stardust pen;
pink pearls;
flowers quilled by me

You have to check out this week's guest designer...but you'll have to go over to Scrapbooker's Paradise to find out who it is :) 

Don't forget to see what the rest of the design team has been up to!

 Merlie at Cherish my Fetish

Angela at Angela Fehr Creativity Central

Nina at Notes by Nina

Allison at Stampin' When I Can

As always, this challenge is open until next Thursday at noon - the 26th - so head on over & link up your Spring Flower creations! There's a pretty sweet prize up for grabs :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Paper Smooches Marathon

This is the good kind of marathon, the kind that doesn't involve running. Zumba I like, running? Not so much.

Anyway, as soon as I got my Paper Smooches order, it hit my 'gotta use it NOW' pile on my desk, and it hasn't left. Here's what I've made so far (that didn't get shared already, that is):

Supplies: Papers from Echo Park;
stamps from Paper Smooches;
sun stamp from Studio G; Palette Noir ink;
standard & lacy circle Nesties

Supplies: papers from MME;
stamps & twine from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink;
Cloud stickers from Echo Park; Martha Stewart fringe scissors;
Sakura clear glaze pen; white Fun Flock

Supplies: papers from Echo Park;
standard small oval Nesties;
stamps from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink;
googly eye; Mod Podge dimensional magic

The turtle is paper-pieced & popped up

Supplies: papers from MME; standard oval Nesties;
stamps from Paper Smooches;
buttons from Basic Grey & stash

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Little Black Dress;"
stamps from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink; Liquid Pearls;
black & clear Sakura glaze pens

The sentiments and cat's eyes are glazed 

Supplies: paper from K & Co;
stamps from Paper Smooches;
London Fog Memento ink;
sparkly chipboard hearts from Martha Stewart;
yellow Fun Flock;
brad from Basic Grey; felt flower from stash;
standard & lacy circle Nesties

Busy times ahead - Mother's Day and university graduation are right around the corner!
xoxo,
Jessi

Just for fun - and a quick reminder!

Before I forget, if you've been meaning to link up to Flashback Friday 22.0 - your first project using a die-cut - you've got until Friday night. There's a fab prize up for grabs sponsored by Sylvia's Corner for a random participant, and with only 24 linked up so far....those odds are looking pretty good!

aaaaand, now for something completely different. Jen finally received the super-gross card that I made for her, so now I can blog about it too in case you feel the need to make your own super-gross Silence of the Lambs card! First of all, check out Jen's post HERE because she explains what led to the whole thing in the first place, and then come back (please? lol) and I'll tell you how it came to be!

OK, back? Here we go.

Supplies: lined paper from Basic Grey "Oxford;"
letter stamps from PSX;
Adirondack Salmon ink; Vintage Photo distress ink;
brown quilling paper; hemp twine; Offray ribbon

So, my first thought was to make the basket. At the time, there was also a challenge over at Little Red Wagon  to use weaving, so brilliant me wanted to weave the basket. As you'll notice, the card I made for that challenge was NOT this one! I wove a rectangular piece, with 1/8 inch quilling paper, covered the back with double-sided tape, and then used an oval Nestie to cut out the basket shape. All good so far.

What the heck do I use for a handle??

Many arghs were said, and eventually (after days of glaring at it sitting there on my desk) I tried twine. Meh. I tried ribbon. Meh. OMG BRILLIANT wind them together! 

So then, what kind of lotion did Buffalo Bill make his victims use? Oddly enough, if you google "Silence of the Lambs lotion" you WILL get video clips of the right spot in the movie. Huh. Even more oddly enough, no lotion company apparently wanted to have their brand associated with a serial killer. Go figure? The bottle was as generic as I've ever seen. It was hard to photograph, but I used an oval Nestie & then cut off the ends to approximate a bottle shape, and then for the cap I scored another piece of cardstock & rounded the corners.

And now for the really super gross part. The card sat on my desk for a couple of days, and I knew it 'needed' something else, but what? So I showed it to my husband, who said "What about the skin vest? That would be gross." OH YES, IT IS.

I sketched out a basic t-shirt shape on plain white paper, and used the scoring board and bone folder to break down the paper fibres. I kept going until the paper took on a sort of felty feel. Then I pressed the shirt right into the Salmon ink pad until it was completely covered. But, didn't the skin vest look all patched together? So I folded it in various spots, and used a brown pen to put stitches along those seams, and then dabbed some Fired Brick distress ink along the seams & the edges of the shirt for, well, ick, bloody bits. So the score board gave it a felty feel, but the further folding & adding ink? I don't even know how to describe how it feels, but it is just WRONG - everyone who touched it before I mailed it shuddered & shrank back. I'm alternately disturbed by that & pleased that it turned out...lol!

eeeewwwwwwww

 And finally, I added the long length of twine to the basket handle since of course in the movie the basket needs to be lowered into a deep hole...and there you have it, quite definitely the most disgusting card I've ever made - but for that, also one of the most fun, simply because it was for fun!

And now, without further ado, we will be back to cute & cheerful & pretty things. Not a minute too soon, right?
xoxo,
Jessi

Spring Colours at Little Red Wagon

I am thoroughly reveling in the warmer weather - the last couple of days have been GORGEOUS - yesterday at the wildlife park we walked around in t-shirts, in the sunshine. Today it's nearly 20 C, and sunny again. My quilling paper arrived on Friday, though, so I've been twirling like a fiend. I had to play along with little red wagon again, though, and their challenge this week is SPRING colours. The new challenges are posted Wednesday, so link up by tomorrow night! Green is the colour I think of first for spring, and I also think of flowers & birds returning. (Now, if those birds did NOT include the three families of starlings nesting in our carport and bombing the car every chance they get, I *would* be OK with that, lol!)

Supplies: Stamps from Paper Smooches: My Peeps, Party Posse, Word Up;
Palette Noir ink; Versamark & white EP;
paper from Basic Grey "Lauderdale;"
standard circle & oval Nesties;
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Poppy-uppy! And glossy!

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #47 - Masculine/Boy

This week I've been diligently using up the last little bits of hoarded paper from a few favourite collections, and digging through drawers to see what other treasures I've forgotten about. And guess what I found? Some perfect boy stuff for the Shopping our Stash challenge for masculine cards! Yay :) It's open until Monday night.

Supplies: papers from Imaginisce;
buttons from Basic Grey & stash;
twine from the Twinery (from Emily!)

Today is Riley's birthday - 12! Where on earth the time went, I don't know. We're heading out to Shubenacadie (about 1.5 hours away) to visit the wildlife park, and eating a lot of fast food by request...so when my stomach hurts tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I'll know what's to blame :) We haven't taken any boy pictures in a while, so with any luck I'll have some to share after our mini-trip.

xoxo,
Jessi

Playing in Paradise #62

Friday morning, and I've got a card to share for this week's Playing in Paradise challenge! This week we're being challenged by Allison, sketch queen, and here's her sketch:

I played around with some scrap cardstock & my trusty circle punches to figure out the easiest way to make those rings - that was definitely the element of the sketch that I was most drawn to! In the end, what I found easiest was to put double-sided tape (paper left on!) on the backside of the paper, punch the SMALLER circle, and then centre the hole in the larger punch. It was easy-peasy to peel the paper backing off of the thin rings afterwards...well, as easy as it ever is to peel that stuff off. (Note to self, stop biting fingernails. That would help!) Here's my card:

Supplies: all papers (and brads) from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
circle punches from EK Success;
sentiment from Hero Arts;
Peeled Paint distress ink; Palette Noir ink;
flower stamp from Stampin' Up;
standard circle small Nesties

If you like, I can take some photos of the circle process - I had actually meant to do that, and then forgot when I did the actual pieces for the card! Just let me know :)
Don't forget to go & see what the rest of the team has dreamed up:
Allison at Stampin' When I Can
Merlie at Cherish my Fetish
Angela at Angela Fehr Creativity Central
Nina at Notes by Nina

All the details & the linky tool for this challenge can be found over at Scrapbooker's Paradise Ponderings, and you have until next Thursday, April 19 at noon to play along for a great prize. Go check it out :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Challenges abound!

I've got more challenge cards to share tonight, so I'll get right to it.
First up is a card for two challenges: Tuesday Morning Sketches, and Crafty Creations Challenges. Lindsey at Bashful Blogging suggested that I join up at Crafty Creations Challenges, which has Flower Power as its challenge this week (open until Tuesday!). Thanks, Lindsey!
Tuesday Morning Sketches #141 has this sketch this week (open until Sunday):

Because this is the monthly judged challenge, there's an extra twist for the sketch: Think Spring! And more than anything (except mud, and I am NOT putting that on a card until it's out of my yard) FLOWERS say Spring to me.

Supplies: papers all from My Mind's Eye;
mesh tape from Barb;
sentiment from Paper Smooches;
Versamark & white EP;
pearls & rhinestones from the dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

My next card is for the Young Crafters Unite #8 - Sewing. That challenge is open until April 15 (Sunday). I used letter stickers as a template for the piercing for the sentiment. 

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Piccadilly;"
Bo Bunny letter stickers;
die-cut borders from Doodlebug;
ribbon rose from Offray

It's been a while since I participated over at Young Crafters Unite, so I'm glad to be back at it!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see what's up at Playing in Paradise this week :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Paper Smooches SPARKS

So the Paper Smooches SPARKS design team call has gone out...and how perfect, I just received my first order from them last week! So I have a couple of entries - one for the current SPARKS challenge, and one based on a past challenge.

It's funny because it's true :) I'd be an AMAZING millionaire! I went in a different direction with my creation - I'm contributing cards to a Mother's Day raffle basket for the Zumba Divas' Relay for Life team, and I thought that the Hope set that I won from Barb would make a perfect tag for that. I went with text and colours for my inspiration, using red & navy for the focal words.

Supplies: Hope stamp set from Paper Smooches;
standard small & lacey circle Nesties (largest in each set);
distress inks: tumbled glass, barn door, faded jeans

Because the team raising the money is a Zumba team, I thought the 'kick cancer's butt' and 'fight like a girl' sentiments were particularly perfect!

The other challenge that I was inspired by (so far...I have a couple others in the works too!) was actually the very first SPARKS challenge, to be inspired by this photo:

photo credit - Susan

I was inspired by the beads, the colours, the girliness, and the white space (I know, strange for me!):

Supplies: My Peeps stamp set from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink;
paper scraps for paper piecing the peacock's body & eye;
tail feathers quilled by me;
beading wire, seed beads from stash

I have a box of beads that hangs out under my desk, and I picked through a whole bunch of vials to find some perfect colours. I used about 4 times as much wire as needed, strung the beads on all at once, and then fiddled around while wrapping it around the main panel to keep most of the beads on the front, then wrapped one last time with the extra wire length. The white panel is mounted using doubled-up foam tape.

So, the current SPARKS challenge is open until April 18, and the DT call is open until April 23...and you can't win if you don't play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Lily Pad Flowers Challenge

Knowing that more quilling paper is on its way to me has made me comfortable using up the last little bits of different colours that I was hoarding saving just in case, and since I love to quill flowers most of all, I thought that I'd enter my most recent cards into Lily Pad's Flower Challenge. It's open until April 26, so you have lots of time to link up your own floral creations - with no product restrictions, you really can't lose :)

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Oxford;"
dragonfly die cut from K&Co;
standard oval Nesties; Sakura Stardust pen;
London Fog Memento ink; Stampin' Up sentiment;
pearls & rhinestones from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye;
Labels 4 Nesties;
London Fog Memento ink; sentiment from My Favorite Things;
Sakura Stardust pen; pearls from dollar store;
flower quilled by me

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
standard circle Nesties;
Peeled Paint distress ink; Hero Arts sentiment;
pearls from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye (from Emily!);
labels 4 Nesties; pearls from dollar store;
Carnelian pearlustre EP from Stampendous;
Versamark, Studio G sentiment;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: Paper from Basic Grey "Sweet Threads;"
pearls, swirls, and rhinestones from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me 

Have a happy Wednesday :)
xoxo,
Jessi