CASology #46 - FURRY

As soon as I saw the cue card for this week's CASology, I knew I had to finally ink up this poor neglected little stamp. And add fun flock. And come up with a fun sentiment.

Supplies: Fluffles stamp from Stampendous; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Bic markers; PSX alphabet stamps; Recollections card stock; Orange Fun Flock from Stampendous.

The alphabet set doesn't have a period in it - a serious failing - even though it has a comma. I masked the 'body' of the letter i to get that. This statement just really needed punctuation.

I've been trying to get my next couple weeks of DT cards finished so that I don't have to worry about deadlines while my mom is here - so far so good. Can't focus on anything today - I swear I feel like I have the attention span of a goldfish!

Here's the cue card - and for once I'm early, you have until Sunday to play.

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #103 - It's Our Anniversary!

**For my Tuesday Morning Sketches post, please scroll down or click here. Thanks!!**

Two years of challenges at Shopping our Stash - woohoo! And we have a few options for the challenge this week:

*Make an anniversary card

*Make a graduation card

*Use items that you have had for more than 2 years. 

(Make sure to tell us what they are!)

I ended up combining the graduation & 2 year challenges - this little chickie stamp has been a favourite of mine for years, and the floral paper & sticker sentiment have been around.....sheesh. I can't even guess. The yellow fun flock is at least 3 years old. Good thing that stuff doesn't go bad :)

Supplies: Stampendous grad chick stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; classic small circle Nesties; Stampendous Yellow Fun Flock; floral paper, sticker, ribbon, twine all unknown from stash; Spectrum Noir & Sharpie markers

I had that thin little strip of black card stock laying on my desk, already with Scor-Tape on the back of it, and it worked perfectly to give the top a border. 

Come & play along with this challenge until next Monday,June 3rd - hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!

Carla

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Michelle

Linda

And now I'm off for a full day of doctor & dentist appointments. Between 3 of us there are 4 appointments - and 3 of them are between 8:30 and 9 AM, on opposite sides of town. This is why husbands shouldn't be allowed to book follow-up appointments ;)

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #200 - Imagine That!

Look at that, 200 challenges at Tuesday Morning Sketches! WOOHOO! This week we are sponsored by Imagine That!...digis by Kris. 

Kris was very generous & provided the design team with images to work with for this week, but once again the dead printer kept me from using a sponsor image. You must go check out what she's got to offer - I am drooling over that hummingbird!

The good news is that we finally replaced the printer - and my 14-year-old installed it. That was pretty amazing.

I was on a baby card binge - so that's what I made with the sketch:

Supplies: all papers are backsides from a Little Yellow Bicycle pad; sailboat sticker from Doodlebug; sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches; Gray Flannel Memento ink; Wplus9 banner dies; Timeless Twine

I don't have a wave die (or anything that would pass) so I freehanded the spiky waves. Next time I might try sketching before cutting them, but I still like how they turned out. Here's the sketch, designed by Melissa:

This sketch is open until next Sunday, June 2nd.

Don't forget to visit all the other talented ladies on the DT:

Angela

Bonnie

Dawn

Debbie

Jenee

Laura

Theresa

Melissa

My mom is traveling across Canada today to come & visit, and her friend Tom is coming from Germany. They're meeting in Halifax & then driving down here. I'm wishing them both safe travels - and that my mom makes that connecting flight in Toronto - 35 minutes to make a connection. EEEK!

And in unrelated news, this happened in Amherst yesterday - this picture was taken on our main street:

So, kind of an exciting week :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Something AMAZING and beautiful!

A few months ago I shared that an old friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer. (Here's the original post). Well, guess what?

She had surgery - a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction - on April 9th. She goes back to work with a clean bill of health TOMORROW, May 27. Without chemo or radiation. The surgery was well-done and her lymph nodes were clear. She is cancer-free. She will of course be monitored but right now? She is healthy and good to go. I cannot tell you how happy this news makes me - I cried writing the post telling you about her diagnosis, and I'm crying again writing to tell you that she kicked cancer's butt.

She had two tumours, and two more cancerous areas that did not show up in any of the pre-surgery diagnostic tests but were discovered in pathology. You already know it, but early diagnosis is key.

So, I saw the challenge at Papercraft Star this week - Beauty. What do you find beautiful? I wanted to make a celebration card for my friend. This is momentous! But, well, it had to be a little sassy.

What do I find beautiful? My friend, who has amazing strength, grace, and beauty. Her recovery, which is miraculous. The fact that her family has a healthy mother and wife again. And the fact that she has been my friend for 20 years, and will be around 20 years from now.

Supplies: paper from Bo Bunny; clip art & sentiment from Crafty Secrets; Little Yellow Bicycle wood & heart pins; Prima bloom; May Arts ribbon; Wilton doily

I cannot tell you how much fun it was to make this card - that clip is genius. Most of the time we favour making cards for happy occasions - and that's very true. So this is on its way to Vancouver tomorrow with some yummy handmade truffles, handmade jewelry, and as many hugs as I can stuff into the box!

Thank you so much for sharing my joy :)

xoxo,

Jessi

The Kraft Journal - Celebration!

Earlier this week Therese at Lostinpaper posted an AMAZING creation with Prismacolor pencils on kraft - and I said I was writing it down on my challenge sheet so that I would remember to FINALLY try it myself. And I did! I love how it turned out:

Supplies: Hero Arts butterfly stamp; Prismacolor pencils; rub-on from Bazzill (from Pam! thank you!); kraft card stock; classic small & lacy circle Nesties; papers from Amy Tangerine; Sakura Stardust pen; various bling from Dollarama; crocheted mat by me (available here)

After I was finished colouring, I applied a bit of Stardust glitter pen, and smudged it with my fingers to blend it around a bit. The rainbow bling strips are arranged to overlap the crochet just a little bit & peek out as kind of a blingy scalloped edge. The words aren't coming here, but anyway....lol. I really love the angled green layer - this layout wants to be a sketch!

I knew I wanted to go bold & bright and SPARKLY because I envisioned this card making a perfect tween/teen birthday card - and THAT fits perfectly into this week's Kraft Journal challenge, which is Celebrations. Their linky is open until tonight.

One more card coming up - and some really fabulous news!!

xoxo,

Jessi

CASology 45 - Royal

I have a couple of challenge posts for today, and hopefully I will be getting caught up on commenting - I hardly spent time online on Friday and Saturday, and every Sunday I'm startled to see the several hundred posts waiting in my reader. Every time. You'd think I'd get used to it.

This week's cue card at CASology is ROYAL, and immediately I knew I wanted to use this sticker circle with King for a Day. It's not an original take on the word (OMG, did you see the cleverness? So cool) but it got some of my stash onto a card.

Supplies: Echo Park birthday kit; Recollections orange cardstock; black Sharpie

Very simple construction - I popped the circle up on foam tape for some interest, and tada! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Drunken Stampers #129 - The Hangover!

Yep, it may not be 'high theaytre' but I laughed my rear off at this movie and its sequel. And I bet I'll laugh at the third one too - there is a 12 year old boy in my heart, I just know it. This week at Drunken Stampers we want you to create a project based on the movie "The Hangover:"

I was thinking about a tiger. Or a monkey (from the sequel). Or a mattress on the roof, although what exactly THAT card would be for? Not sure. In the end I decided to go with a nice lovely wedding which is exactly what that poor bride wanted:

Supplies: Annabelle Stamps script stamp; Pumice Stone distress ink; Hero Arts wedding cake stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spectrum Noir markers; 'dew drops' from Dollarama; classic small oval Nesties

Our linky will be open until next Friday night, May 31st. Check out what the rest of the Midnight Margaritas made:

Spike

Jackie

Barbara

Chris

Vicki

Barb M. 

xoxo,
Jessi

Friends with Flair!

Keeping up with Unity on Facebook is pretty much an invitation to shop every weekend...eek! I just placed my second order in less than a month - those itty bittys jump right into the cart.

So, when I saw this edition of the {be inspired} challenge, that card sketch jumped right out at me because I'd just bought this nifty graduation stamp and I knew it would be perfect. I mean look, the sketch is covered with grad stuff!

When I got going, I decided to give the oh-so-hot chalkboard technique a go as well. I think I was a little too uniform in my ink sponging, but whatever, It was my first try, and I still lurve it:

Supplies: Colorbox White Frost pigment ink; Stampendous white EP; UNITY diploma cap & gown stamp; We R Memory Keepers washi tape; Wplus9 banner die; brads from stash

To help the chalkboard frame stand out a little more, I matted it with another piece of black cardstock. To make the flag, I carefully lined up thin washi tape on white cardstock so the pattern matched, and then die cut it. The graduated brads came about because it was too nekkid. And now I've used up those first three grey/white shades out of my neverending mini brad stash.

Annnnnnd, since it's been a long time since I played along with Friends with Flair, I saved this for today so I can pop in over there too {waves hello!}

xoxo,

Jessi

Drunken Stampers #128 - Star Wars

So it's not my week to post at Drunken Stampers, but I had a special request for a 7-year-old Star Wars fan, and Lynne's card with the countdown came out to play. How could I *not* link it up? You can too, if you're ready by Friday night!

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny; stamps from Jane's Doodles; AC Thickers; Basic Grey number stickers; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; Sakura Stardust pen; Corner Chomper;classic small circle Nesties

There's Dimensional Magic on the 'glass' parts of the space ship, and the flames. I scribbled Sharpies onto acetate & then used a blender pen so that I could colour the flames in lighter shades than I have. The yellow dots are also from the Thickers. 

And now I'm off to watch Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban - Connor & I are on our way through the octology (is there a word for an 8-part series? lol) these next few weeks. 

xoxo,

Jessi 

Grad Time - Squeal!

Completely by accident I discovered that this little grad cap confetti fits the hamster from Paper Smooches. OH YES.

Supplies: stamps from Paper Smooches (except edge - PTI); Glimmer Mists from Tattered Angels - yellow daisy, starfish, key lime, turquoise; Distress inks in Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade; Versamark; Stampendous black detail embossing powder; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Stampendous  Fun Flock; Spectrum Noir markers; Sharpie

The hamster has a fuzzy belly, naturally. With a teeny dimensional the grad cap is perched on his/her head, and the hamster is squealing with glee to be finished at last. 

The edge was done with a small flower stamp from PTI - I love the bit of interest it gives as a border, and by overlapping the impressions it gives a sort of abstract look. In my opinion, anyway. The hammy panel is edged with Sharpie to help it stand out.

Since The Pink Elephant is having a graduation challenge this week, I'm popping it in the linky over there - why don't you come play too?!

xoxo,

Jessi

10 minute Seize the Birthday dash!

As part of my mad dash of challenges (yep, I still haven't shared them all!) I decided to combine the current 10 Minute Craft Dash with the sketch from Seize the Birthday. I thought that would make it easier to complete my card in 10 minutes...but here's the thing. Usually I would glance at the clock at the beginning & end of creating, but I figured out how to use the stopwatch on my MP3 player. I didn't even know it had such a thing! (I didn't know it had a 'record' function either...there is a 6.5 hour recording with about 30 minutes of chatter, and hours of my husband snoring. lol!) Having the stopwatch going in my line of sight? I dropped everything I picked up. I'm putting it somewhere else next time!

Supplies: yellow paper from Stampin' Up; green from MME; velvet ribbon from Webster's Pages; sentiment from Annabelle Stamps; floral & butterfly stamps from Inkadinkado; Gray Flannel Memento ink; Mustard Seed, Bundled Sage, & Milled Lavender distress inks; brads from stash

Although I had all my supplies set out before the timer started, I forgot about the two circular elements of the sketch until the rest of the card was assembled. And, I mis-applied the foam adhesive so that part of the panel is bulgy. Gah. But it was less than 10 minutes, darn it. I can try again :)

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #102 - What's in your Tool Shed?

**For my Tuesday Morning Sketches post, please scroll down or click here. Thanks!!**

So here's a coincidence for you - just as I opened up the tab to write this post, a huge clatter came from downstairs. The sound of dozens of tools hitting the concrete floor in the basement....and a panicked cat running away. So right now, there is nothing in my tool box. It's all on the floor. 

These are the fun things I can tell you when I'm live-blogging instead of pre-scheduling. Isn't that great? *sigh* Anyone want a slightly used cat?

Back to the business at hand! This week at Shopping our Stash we want you to 

find a tool (punch, cutter, piercer, crimper,  crop-a-dile, eyelet setter, embossing folder,etc) that you haven't used in ages or ever and use it.  Be sure to tell us what it is!

This one was easy for me - I don't think I have ever used my eyelet setter often, because I have an old-school one. The kind you use with a mallet. And I tend to craft when other people are asleep. This card was made in the wee hours of Saturday morning...luckily the kids went back to sleep afterwards!

Supplies: all paper supplies from Kaisercraft; eyelets from ancient stash

I also used lovely bright colours to go along with the current jingle belles prompt, Merry & Bright.

What tools do YOU have that are collecting dust? Come & play along with this challenge until next Monday, May 27th - hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!

Carla

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Michelle

Linda

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #199 - Stamp Fairy!

Happy Tuesday :) A busy morning here on the blog - and Riley's first day back at school in a week. I love that child but I'll be very glad to see the back of him this morning! Combine a 4-year-old's propensity for incessant questioning with a hyper-literate 13-year-old's knowledge, and you have some extremely demanding question sessions.

So, this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches we're sponsored by the always-fabulous Stamp Fairy - I absolutely love the Barry images (and did you know she has freebies available too?) Unfortunately my printer died a sad and final death last week (right after buying new ink cartridges! ugh!) so I am not using a Stamp Fairy image today, but the rest of the team is! And wait until you see what cuties they are :)

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny; stamps from Unity; Vintage Photo distress ink; Versamark, Clear EP; twine from Paper Smooches; classic small oval Nesties

I've turned the sketch on its side:

This sketch is open until next Sunday, May 26th.

Don't forget to visit all the other talented ladies on the DT:

Angela

Bonnie

Dawn

Debbie

Jenee

Laura

Theresa

Melissa

xoxo,

Jessi

Fusion #7 - Mouse Party!

Here is one of those cards that didn't quite come out as planned. I began with a very clear idea to use the sketch portion of this week's Fusion challenge:

Supplies: paper strip from MME; AC Thickers (Party!); Wplus9 banner die; sentiment from Annabelle Stamps; Doodlebug twine; House Mouse sticker; PTI 'smudge' stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black ink

The banner came about because my 'plumb' is off and I stamped the sentiment crookedly on the first go. Ugh. The smudge stamp came about because I apparently had ink on my person somewhere and managed to get it on the card (AFTER adding everything but the mouse & confetti)...and then the confetti stickers had to cover up more accidental bits. Seriously, white space is hard to keep white. All in all I think my saves worked. At least I like it enough to share it & not recycle it, lol!

xoxo,

Jessi

CAS(E) this Sketch #28 - Mr & Mrs

I had an idea as soon as I saw this week's CAS(E) this Sketch - a very literal take on it, but I do love how it turned out. Mostly. 

Supplies: Inkadinkado bridal couple; PTI sentiment, circles, and hearts (various sets); Memento Gray Flannel ink; Spun Sugar distress ink; Picket Fence distress stickles

I regret the Stickles. Not only did I stick my finger in them (more than once) before they were dry, they didn't really turn my crank on this card. Oh well. It's hard to see but I've stamped the largest circles in Spun Sugar ink off-stamped once - in person it definitely helps to balance the scattered dots, but even full-size it's very hard to make out in the photo.

I'm pretty sure it was the heart in the sketch that shoved me towards a wedding card - gotta love that!

xoxo,

Jessi

Flourishes in my Little Red Wagon

Like I said yesterday, I managed to complete a whole bunch of challenges - after the madness of the Mother's Day blitz I really needed a list to know what to do next. I knew I wanted to ink up this gorgeous Gerbera Daisies stamp from Flourishes again (I'll share my first card at the end - I never did get a chance to post it before Mother's Day) and thought their Timeless Tuesday challenge of "green & blue" this week would be a perfect way to do that. I'm also linking up over at little red wagon because I've used one of my crochet mats, which I think counts as a doily.

Supplies: Gerbera Daisies stamp from Flourishes; paper from Memory Box; Memento Gray Flannel ink; Spectrum Noir, Bic, and Sharpie markers; Sakura Stardust clear glitter pen; classic small oval & lacy circle Nesties; crochet mat - available here.

It took far too long to colour these. I don't particularly want to talk about it.

I trimmed the three darker blue flowers, and the top aqua one, and adhered them with a tiny bit of glue, bending up the petals for a bit of dimension.

And here's the first card I made with this stamp - 

Once again, linking up the first card to these two challenges:

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday - blue & green

little red wagon - use a doily

xoxo,

Jessi

Mad challenges, yo!

Besides completing MAD CHALLENGES YO! I have finished watching season 5 (part one) of Breaking Bad this week. It took me so long because Rob had me convinced to go back to the beginning so that he could catch up - only to have him crap out about halfway through season 2. He still walks in halfway through an episode & wants me to catch him up, however. {boys} Not to give any spoilers if you haven't seen it, but the last 2 minutes BLEW MY MIND and I thought I'd heard all the big spoilers.

(Side effect of watching too much BB - I end up wanting to work the 'b' word into sentences. Ah, Jesse Pinkman.)

Anyway. I digress. I do that. First up: the current sketch challenge at Paper Smooches SPARKS - I modified the vertical sketch for a horizontal card.

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny; Wplus9 banner die; Paper Smooches Party Posse; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Stampendous Fun Flock; Spectrum Noir markers

Fuzzy belly! And company's here, and supper's about to reach critical mass, so gotta jet! Back soon!
Here's the sketch:

xoxo,

Jessi

Monster Birthday Wishes

So I'm still learning how to best use my alcohol ink markers, and playing around with mixing Bics, Sharpies, and Spectrum - plus a Prismacolor blender pen. I like to mix it up. I can't believe this is my first time playing along over at Annabelle Stamps - "Anything Goes" this week, so you can hardly go wrong there. Since I think this monster makes a perfect little boy birthday card, I'm also entering it over at The Pink Elephant, which is challenging us to make "Masculine Birthday" projects this week.

Supplies: Annabelle Stamps image & sentiment; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; papers from Bo Bunny; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; multiple marker brands; bling from Dollarama

After colouring my monster, I painted his balloon, his eyes, tooth, and toenails with Dimensional Magic. I love that stuff :) 

Not much to chat about, unless you want to hear minute details of a malfunctioning digestive tract...Riley is sick once again, after spending two weeks at home in April. The poor kid. It looks like he will need to undergo dietary sensitivity testing as a next step. As I keep saying, that's going to be a real blast since kids with autism don't already come with multiple food-based issues....insert sarcasm there. So, I'm going to go back to, uh, cleaning the bathroom. 

On a lighter note, my Mother's Day flowers came today! Rob ordered flowers for his mom, and for me. Her flowers arrived on time - mine, not so much. The florist that the national centre deals with here in town is about to close, and apparently my order fell through a billion cracks. Rob called at least 5 times on Friday, and countless emails and phone calls up to YESTERDAY still couldn't figure out what went wrong. So they're finally here, and now they're free. And, they came with a spectacular message:

Impossible to get a good photograph in my kitchen. Anyhow, it reads: "Feed the F*****G seals." That would be a Charlie quote from The Newsroom, the first season of which Rob & I have now watched 3 times. If he'd written something romantic I might have died of shock.

xoxo,

Jessi

Paper Hoarders Unite "In Bloom"!

So, Barb. She of the amazing talent & generosity...she who is SO much fun to shop with (now if only we could get Michaels  to let us back in...)  And we're both guilty of buying such pretty stuff, and then hoarding it. Because, well, you never know. They might stop making beautiful paper and stuff, and then what would happen? EEK.
She recently bought what she called the most beautiful paper in the world, and oh em gee, it is! She twisted my arm (so difficult to do with craft supplies) and then, since we had the matching stuff, we decided to challenge each other to use it. I got to pick the papers, and so both of us have made a card using these three papers from My Mind's Eye "In Bloom," which is a Michaels exclusive:

Supplies: Papers from MME; Nesties labels 5; letter stickers from Basic Grey (white, coloured with Spectrum Noir markers); buttons from Dollarama

I got a little funky with the label - it's adhered with a double layer of foam tape in the very centre, and then I sewed the buttons on overlapping the very edges to give it a curved look. And the chevron paper is of course fussy-cut along the pattern...I don't think I've used a chevron pattern yet without cutting it ;)

Now just wait until you see what awesomeness Barb has come up with - and what do you think? Should we do this again?  Make sure you leave her some love :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Shopping our Stash #101 - Scrap Attack!

**For my Tuesday Morning Sketches post, please scroll down or click here. Thanks!!**

Do we ever have a challenge this week at Shopping our Stash - scraps only. With the exception of your card base, you can't cut into any new paper!! 

Supplies: papers from Pink Paislee (mostly); circle Nestie of some kind; Memento Gray Flannel ink; Hero Arts lace; Paper Smooches 'mom' stamp

The polka-dot panel already had this offset circle cut out of it, and while flipping through the paper pad it framed this floral pattern so nicely that my idea was born. A bit of fussing around for some smaller bits for the side panel & voila! The polka dot piece is up on foam tape for interest & dimension.

This Shopping our Stash challenge is open until next Monday, May 20th - hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!

Carla

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Michelle

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #198 - The Greeting Farm!

Good morning & welcome to the newest Tuesday Morning Sketch - by me this week :) Anyone else have difficulty creating a card based on their own sketch? The sketch came quickly, but the card took some time. This week we're sponsored by the lovely Greeting Farm (will edit later with prize details! Off to the dentist first...)

ETA: the awesome prize is one stamp of YOUR choice as the winner! WOOT!

This week is also TWIST WEEK, which means that you MUST use the twist in order to win! This time around the twist is Flowers, Flowers, and More Flowers. There are flowers on my patterned papers, on the washi tape, and for the main image :)

Supplies: papers from Memory Box; Jolee's vellum stickers; We R Memory Keepers washi tape; Labels 4 Nesties; 1" circle punch; Mrs. Grossman's sticker sentiment

The washi is layered over the patterned paper (on either side of the dark paper strip) and I like how it almost blends in to the pattern. 

Here's the sketch:

This sketch is open until next Sunday, May 19th.

Don't forget to visit all the other talented ladies on the DT:

Angela

Bonnie

Dawn

Debbie

Jenee

Laura

Theresa

Melissa

As I mentioned, we're off to the dentist this morning - both Rob & I are getting mouth guards made. Ah, the joys & mysteries of adult married life...not ;) I'm not looking forward to the molding process (gag!) but I cannot wait to have some relief from the jaw pain from grinding my teeth.

xoxo,
Jessi