Becca's Birthday!

Oh boy...once I got started playing with Becca's Distress Ink Dipping Technique, I couldn't stop. Here's two cards, and there's more drying right now!

Supplies: Sweet Pea Stamps image; Paper Smooches sentiment; unknown rectangle die; Distress inks in Seedless Preserves & Picked Raspberry; sequins from Neat & Tangled; Spectrum Noir markers

Supplies: Reverse Confetti Stamps; unkown floral dies; Distress inks in Seedless Preserves & Picked Raspberry; Sakura Stardust clear glitter pen; classic small circle Nesties; Neat & Tangled Sequins; bling from Dollarama

The stamping was a happy accident - the picked raspberry wasn't dark enough, so I slightly offset it with Seedless Preserves and got the cool shadowy effect...and now it's legible lol.

I've found Becca's inspiration board ridiculously inspirational, and I'll have some more to share tomorrow - which is coincidentally & conveniently also the deadline for her birthday bash :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Paper Players Sketch

Lots to post before deadlines! I had my first kid-free day since mid-June and I made good use of it :) This card is for the Paper Players sketch: 

Supplies: PTI stamps; distress inks in Shabby Shutters & Peeled Paint; Versamark & clear EP; May Arts Twine; Bow Easy; Tim Holtz design ruler & embroidery supplies; unknown tag die

Here's the sketch - I couldn't resist using vellum and stitching the border to mark that element on the sketch:

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #212 - Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend!

For my TMS post please click here - thanks!!

Oh but this challenge will appeal to your magpie eye :) This week at Shopping our Stash we want to see lots of bling! I know I use it a lot, so I decided to pull out some great big gems for something a little different. 

Supplies: Versamark & white detail EP; Waltzingmouse 'hello'; PTI 'baby'; all other stuff from stash

It's been a while since I played with quilling, and it was nice to get back into it. I imagine there'll be more this week since I have *guilty pleasure* season 7 of True Blood on loan from the library!  The ribbon was a great find by my friend Carrie at a thrift store - and the pearls woven at the top made it perfect for this card. 

Check out all the OOOOOH SHINY!!!

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

Chana

And you have until Monday,August 3 to come play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #311 - Sherri Baldy Designs!

Good morning! Kris is our talented sketcher this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches - and I love the ease of this sketch so much I made 2 cards to share, one using an adorable Bestie from Sherri Baldy Designs :) 

Supplies: image from Sherri Baldy Designs; Spectrum Noir markers; Sizzix embossing folder; Bo Bunny patterned paper; flag dies; classic small circle Nesties 

Supplies: papers from MME; sentiment from Paper Smooches; floral heart from Flourishes; Memento Gray Flannel ink; Shaded Lilac distress ink; classic small circle Nesties; Tim Holtz design ruler and embroidery supplies

Here's Kris' sketch:

This challenge will be open until next Sunday, August 2 - hop on over & see what the rest of the team has made! 

Debbie

Jenee 

Kris 

Melissa 

Nina

xoxo,

Jessi

Perfect Day!

The current Tiddly Inks challenge is Summer Song - and ohhhh how I love song-inspired challenges! I chose "Perfect Day" by Lady Antebellum, because I had Beach Babe to ink up!

Supplies: Beach Babe from Tiddly Inks; sentiment from Paper Smooches; Festive Berries distress ink; various distress inks for watercolouring; unknown edge die; MME papers; Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die; Distress embossing powder for sand

Inspired by the song, I chose red (for the red guitar), and had to include some "sand" for the couple sitting in the sand near the end of the song. 

xoxo,
Jessi

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - S is for...

Shaker cards! Doesn't Edna look festive with her maracas? The Snarky Sisters have truly brought it this challenge - can't wait to see what you guys come up with! I wasn't snarky at all - this card is one of those that I just keep seeing stuff in the piles on my desk and voila, it happened. 

Supplies: Waltzingmouse sentiment stamp; Distress inks in Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Broken China; sequins from Neat & Tangled; stitched rectangle die from Lil Inkers

I've been playing with wet watercolour paper trying to get the neat 'wash' backgrounds - love how this one turned out! 

Check out the shakers by the sistahs!

Barb

Chris

Donna

Karen

Lee

Lindsey

Lynne 

Michelle

You've got until Friday, August 7 to join in! 

And don't forget to stop by and leave our guest designer MICHELLE some love for her project! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Shopping our Stash #211 - Don't get Stressed, get De-Stressed!

For my TMS post, please click here. Thanks!!

Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as necessary. This week at Shopping our Stash we want to see what relaxes you. For me, that is definitely art. I can manage to put the world aside and create something beautiful, and that brings me a sense of calm nothing else does. 

Supplies: PTI paintbrushes; Paper Smooches sentiment; Distress inks for watercolouring; Palette Noir ink; Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die

Something else I like to do when I'm particularly stressed out? Make a card for myself, kinda. 

Supplies: Dusty Concord distress ink; Versmark & clear EP; Lil Inkers stitched rectangle; flotsam & jetsam for embellishing; Distress inks for watercolouring

Even if card-making or papercrafting is your de-stresser, make sure you use something that shows that (you know there's lots of adorable stamping sets out there!)

So what helps the SOS crew de-stress? 

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

Chana

And you have until Monday,July 27th to come play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #310 - SLS Lines!

Good morning! This week at Tuesday Morning Sketches we have SLS Lines as our awesome sponsor - so many fun & funky images in her shop! I had to choose Hipster to play with - being near a university town it's just too tempting to poke a little fun :)

Supplies: Hipster digi from SLS Lines; Spectrum Noir markers; computer-generated sentiment; unknown washi, card stock, and wood veneer

You'll notice his glasses are NOT shiny - because they have no glass in them, I decided. Faux frames. lol!

Debbie is our sketch artist this week - love the simplicity!

This challenge will be open until next Sunday, July 26 - hop on over & see what the rest of the team has made! 

Debbie

Jenee 

Kris 

Melissa 

Nina

xoxo,

Jessi

Happy Birthday Sweets!

In my marathon of posts yesterday I forgot one! I've got this cute little cupcake from Neat & Tangled for the Cupcake prompt at CASology:

Supplies: stamps all from Neat & Tangled; Sizzix embossing folder; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spectrum Noir markers; Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

That cherry REALLY wanted to be shiny!

xoxo,

Jessi

Becca's Birthday Bash!!

woohoo! The fabulous Becca over at The Damsel of Distressed is celebrating her birthday with a challenge - and a super inspiration board:

So many favourite things right there. I'm inspired by Becca to try new mixed media things all the time - every time I haul out a stencil or paste I think of her :) I know I'll play along more than once, but for my first time I decided to give her dip-dyeing technique a try. She explains how in the birthday bash post. 

Of course, because I'm different (read: too lazy to get up a fill a mister with water) I used pearl mist. This background is from a 'second dip' - I love the dotted and lighter intensity of the colours. Don't worry, I have a bunch more of these backgrounds to play with :)

Supplies: Unity Stamps; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; unknown stitched banner die; 1.5" circle punch; Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn distress inks; homemade perfect pearls mist; MME enamel dots & random bling; organza fabric from stash; googly eyes

OOOOH, SHINY!

Really, a card celebrating Becca was gonna have googly eyes on it. 

I paper-pieced the sherbet with another piece of dip-dyed paper that didn't blend as well. I made the inside of the bowl green too because hey, it's freaking hot and any sherbet worth its salt would be melty. The organza was frayed & heated with the heat gun. Love that stuff!

Happy Birthday Becca!! MWAH!!!

xoxo,

Jessi

You Melt My Heart...awwwww :)

I hadn't yet played with this fab popsicle set from Reverse Confetti, and what better time to pull it out than now? It did take me a couple weeks to work through the pile on my desk to actually use it ;) I was determined to not use patterned paper to play along with the Virginia's View challenge, and I thought Leslie's sketch was the perfect way to do that. Best of all? I showed Connor when I was done, and he said "WOW! Look at that popsicle...it's SWEET! Get it? Get it? "

Supplies: Reverse Confetti stamps & dies, Let's Chill; Hero Arts inks in Tide Pool, Green Hills, and Fresh Peach; unknown line border stamps; white letter stickers from Kelly Purkey; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; classic small oval Nesties; bling strip from Dollarama

My stamping on the die cut wasn't so well lined up, so I then patted it on the Green Hills ink pad for more complete coverage. I like the mottled look. Following the sketch made adding the sentiment I wanted a little tricky, so I used washi to mask off the sections of the sentiment, and then replaced the 'melt' with letter stickers coloured with Tide Pool ink. 

Here's the Virginia's View Challenge board:

(dang, missed the linky)

And The Crooked Stamper Sketch #6:


xoxo,
Jessi

Seeing Stars at Naughty or Nice!

So I saw Kate's post at Make the Day Special using die cuts and sequins, and thought ooooooh that looks awesome! I don't think mine turned out as well - but then I had four teenage boys playing some sort of zombie-killing game in the background while I was making mine :)

I thought the stars from Lil Inkers would make the perfect frame for my bright cheery sequins, and thus was born my card for Naughty or Nice this month:

Supplies: Lil Inkers star dies; sentiment unknown; Peacock Feathers distress ink; so.many.sequins.

After lightly marking the area to be sequined with a pencil, I applied them somewhat randomly to the double-sided tape. Dropped a bunch on the dog. Cursed the idea a few times. Applied the orange panel with foam tape more or less where I'd intended to. Swore I'd never do it again....until I showed a few people who loved it. MAYBE I'll do it again :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Take your Pick at The Kraft Journal!

I actually had time to play in some challenges this week - right before we head off on vacation to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Hold on to your collars, multiple posts coming up :)

Here's my card for the Take your Pick challenge at The Kraft Journal:

Supplies: Lil Inkers star dies; Reverse Confetti sentiment; Waltzingmouse stamps splats; Versamark & white detail EP; trim from Webster's Pages; light kraft card stock; buttons & fabric from stash

I used tiny pieces of double-sided tape underneath the round parts of the trim. The orange fabric is organza, frayed at the edges & then heated with my heat gun to get that fun melted/multicoloured texture. My picks from the board were orange, aqua, and fabric. 



xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #210 - Paper Piecing!

For my TMS post please click here - thanks!!

Paper piecing is one of those classic techniques that I sometimes forget about - good thing there are challenges like Shopping our Stash to remind us of the good stuff! Using digital images for paper piecing is a little bit more labour-intensive at the beginning but totally worth it - looky!

Supplies: bird & sentiment digi stamps from From the Heart; papers from MME and Studio Calico; Spectrum Noir markers; MME enamel dots 

A close up to show you his eyes & beak are popped up - I added some colour to the hats, but yes, I paper pieced the polka dots on his belly. Crazy!

Check out how the SOS crew showed off their paper skillz:

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

Chana

And you have until Monday,July 20th to come play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #309 - Deedee's Digis!

Yay! I'm the sketcher this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches, and I got to play with this adorable otter set from Deedee's Digis!

Supplies: Otterly Thankful digi set from Deedee's Digis; buttons from stash; Cuttlebug and Sizzix embossing folders; googly eyes

The set comes with coordinating papers that you can scale - love! 

Here's my sketch:

This challenge will be open until next Sunday, July 19 - hop on over & see what the rest of the team has made! 

Debbie

Jenee 

Kris 

Melissa 

Nina

xoxo,

Jessi

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - R is for...

Rude! Last year's Profanity challenge was so much fun, we had to do it again! The Snarky Sisters pulled out all our favourite curse words to play along:

Supplies: splat stamps from Neat & Tangled; Cup O Joe Hero Arts ink; Basic Grey letter stickers; spectrum noir marker

I think this would be perfect for a belated birthday card :)

Check out the glorious bad words on the Sistah's cards:

Barb

Chris

Donna

Karen 

Lee

Lindsey

Michelle

You've got until Friday,July 24th to join in! 

And don't forget to stop by and leave our guest designer JANE some love for her project! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Playing with Paper Smooches again!

I've got a few cards for this week's edition of Anything Goes at SPARKS -  the first one involved enough masking that I was doubting my sanity by the time I got to colouring it!

Supplies: Paper Smooches Zoo Crew, Word Up; polaroid frame from Lawn Fawn; MME enamel dots; Spectrum Noir markers; GOOGLY EYES! :D

The next two cards are birthday cards for some very adorable twin girls - I'm lucky enough to get to create special cards for these little ladies and their older siblings :) 

Supplies: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Chubby Chums;  papers from Recollections/Bo Bunny; Spectrum Noir markers; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; distress inks in Shaded Lilac and Picked Raspberry; buttons from stash; AC Thickers sparkly numbers; GOOGLY EYES!!

 

xoxo,
Jessi

Watercoloured Gerberas

Please don't hold the intervention yet - I'm still enjoying watercolouring too much! I've been playing around with making the large 'splotches' and although I still need practice with how much water's needed I am pretty happy with this one:

Supplies: Flourishes daisies; sentiment from PTI; Palette Noir ink; MME enamel dots; distress inks for watercolouring

Enamel dots just seem like the perfect embellishment for watercoloured images. Since this is a birthday card I'm popping in at little red wagon; and I was also inspired by the painted wall photograph at Open-Minded Crafting Fun:

xoxo,

Jessi

Shopping our Stash #209 - Gingham Style!

For my TMS post, please click here. Thanks!!

This week the Shopping our Stash team want you to show off your Gingham Style (and please tell me I'm not the only one with Gangnam Style going through my head? kthx) We want you to feature that classic picnic pattern - or checkered - or squares (not just one square panel, you know what we mean). I used several checkered patterns from an MME pad:

Supplies: papers from MME; stamps unknown; Festive Berries distress ink; Gray Flannel Memento ink

The light gray panel is checkered also. I stamped it with stars with the gray ink, stamping each twice to get the different shades. The 'starburst' is stamped off once on scrap paper so that it matched the red paper better.

Check out how the SOS crew played with their gingham style:

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

Chana

And you have until Monday,July 13th to come play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #308 - Stitchy Bear!

Good morning sketchers! It's been a quiet week on my blog - my husband's family had a reunion on the weekend, and so last week was full of cooking and prep for that. It was a blast :) Time for another Tuesday Morning Sketch - and this week we have Stitchy Bear returning as a sponsor. They offer such a huge variety of images, from cute to elegant to...the ones you didn't know you needed, like the one I chose!

Supplies: Up Yours digital stamp from Stitchy Bear; Spectrum Noir markers; computer-generated sentiment; button and washi tape from stash

When trying to choose what to use for the horizontal elements on the pink strip, I saw the bird washi tape and giggled to myself thinking hehehe, she's flipping the bird, that's perfect. 

Here's the sketch:

This challenge will be open until next Sunday, July 12 - hop on over & see what the rest of the team has made! 

Debbie

Jenee 

Kris 

Melissa 

Nina

xoxo,

Jessi