OMG, Day 2 on Day 2!

Day 2 in the 30 Days of Creativity...

What colors are meaningful to you and why?

My favourite colour is green, nearly any colour of green. I am not even sure how to express why it's meaningful to me! All colours are meaningful to me, in that I love them all, and create with them all. I do remember hating brown, and orange, and I use them both all the time now. This is a much harder question than I anticipated... How about this? I find that, during the winter months, I am drawn to bright colours, probably in an effort to counter the darker days.

Here's a bright & shiny card to hopefully bring some brightness to your day:



Supplies: all papers from Basic Grey "Lemonade;"
vase punch by Marvy Uchida; leaf frond punch by Martha Stewart;
Happy Birthday sentiment from My Favourite Things, stamped in Regal Rose ink;
tag die from Provo Craft; ribbon from Offray
All the quilling paper is from Lake City, and the quilling all done by me

 Sarah, if you could let me know what you think about these photos the next few days - I'm learning how to use the camera, slowly, and the editing software. I got about 10 usable photos out of 2 hours' work today. Yay me!
xoxo,
Jessi

30 days of Creativity!

Blogging appears to be much harder work than I thought - not so much that I don't have anything to share, just that it's hard to type messages with no clear audience. I tend to imagine myself just talking to my sister Sarah, but of course I highly doubt I will ever share as much on the blog as I do with her! That would likely upset a few people :)

I follow a large number of blogs in my Google reader - I have no idea how to sync that with my blog so that it appears as a 'blogroll' other than to edit them one by one, so I haven't done so yet. One of the best in terms of craft research is Craft Critique, which as you might expect, provides user reviews of different products. 30 Days of Creativity is a little different. It's a list of prompts to help shove crafters into crafting, and maybe even blogging about it. I have no idea how well I'll do at keeping up with it, but I'm intrigued by the idea, and I'd like to give it a shot. Some of the prompts are for writing, as for Day One.

Day 1: When you were a child, how did you express your creativity?

Well, like every child does - I drew, I coloured, I pasted. I remember quite vaguely learning how to sew at about age 7 or 8, and I can't say as how I've improved that much at it since then, at least not with fabric! Sewing on paper is so much easier for me. As a teenager, I adored collage. My room was nearly papered with different collages - movie stars, black & white photos, quotes written and twirled in amongst the magazine clippings. I loved making them, and hanging them. I doodled - you know, what's now that ultra-trendy zentangling? Loads of it. I made enormous birthday cards for my friends, decorating the envelopes with their names writ large. By my late teens I moved on to cross-stitch, and I even made a doll. By the time my kids were born, I learned to crochet, and moved back into paper-crafting, and now I couldn't imagine lasting long without that creative outlet.

Well, I'm not the only person home today, and apparently my time on the computer has come to an end! One quick card before I go, and maybe I'll see you soon for Day 2. In honour of my improved PAPER stitching...

Supplies: Bird stitching pattern from Andrea Zuill;
all papers Basic Grey; leaves cut freehand;
"happy birthday" stamp from Hero Arts

xoxo,
Jessi

I'm such a lucky duck!

I think I am, most of the time. Everyone has down days (no pun intended, groan!), but I really truly do think I am a lucky person. This year has gotten off to a really crazy-lucky start in that I've won two "blog candy" prizes from stamp companies - My Favorite Things and All That Scraps. I was pretty dang excited after reading yesterday that I'd won at MFT, and when I saw today that I'd also won at All That Scraps, I'm surprised I didn't pee myself! Truly. All of the prizes are new releases - MFT's hasn't been released yet, so I can't link up a picture for you, but here are the sweetie pies from ATS (hands down, my favourite online shop. Christine is super-fast, the shipping is very reasonable, and she carries all my favourites.)
Love Lolita Honeybee
Love Lolita Butterfly
Love Lolita Ladybug
Now, aren't those going to make the cutest girly cards??? {swoon}
I'm still wading through Christmas cards for posting (and don't forget about the 50% off sale on Saturday in Sackville...) but I have a perfect one featuring an All That Scraps stamp: Holly Starshine

Supplies: paper from Imaginisce, Holly Starshine stamp, both from All That Scraps;
chipboard sentiment from never-ending Christmas stash;
Holly Starshine 'watercoloured' with Adirondack inks
& glossy accents added to her eyes, berries, & boots

Totally flapping with excitement...time to go do some shoveling of the steps so the paperboy can get in here in the morning!
xoxo
Jessi

Christmas bears!

Supplies: All paper from Basic Grey "Eskimo Kisses;
polar bear stamp by Imaginisce; Merry Always stamp by Hero Arts;
'From Our House to Yours' stamp by Stampendous; rhinestones & black fibres from stash

Supplies: All papers from MAMBI; ribbon from Offray;
Polar bear & penguin, and greeting stamp from The Cat's Pajamas;
candy canes from stash - bought a lifetime supply years ago!

xoxo
Jessi

Christmas, continued...

Supplies: papers from Doodlebug; gingerbread sticker from ?;
Sentiment from Stampendous, coloured with markers; 'cookie cutter' button from Dress it Up!;
miscellaneous rhinestones & brad



Supplies: papers from Cosmo Cricket;
Fluffles the Cat stamp & fun flock from Stampendous;
large snowflake layer cut with Spellbinders die & sponged with Versamark chalk ink

We had a glorious Christmas - the weather cooperated with our drive to Miramichi to visit Grammie and Poppy, and there was just enough snow on the ground to look festive without having to shovel it. The main snow came after we were already home. The boys had a blast Christmas morning opening all of their gifts, and if they didn't get everything they wanted, they haven't said anything about it. {whew!} At last count, Christmas Eve, I could have sworn Connor had at least 250 things on his list, and was still adding to it. I really wasn't sure that he understood us telling him that wishing for everything wouldn't mean he got everything. Riley tested us this year - he sent his letter to Santa sealed, without allowing either of us to read it. He asked a lot of questions about logistics, too - I'm not sure that we have much more time to enjoy the kids believing in Santa. Even Connor asked me if Santa was pretend, and I passed on answering that by turning it around: "Well, what do you think?"
Boxing Day we were lucky enough to eat a huge Christmas feast prepared by Grammie, and to have Rob's brother Ian & his kids come to join us. The older all 4 get, the more fun it is to watch them play together. (They range from 3.5 to nearly 12.)
xoxo
Jessi

Vintage Christmas



Supplies: Papers by Basic Grey; doily by Wilton;
angel, tag, and rub-on sentiment & snowflakes by K & Co.




Supplies: Everything by K & Co.



Supplies: everything by K & Co except lace by Hero Arts

I know that I mentioned earlier in the season that I had found some beautiful vintage goodies to create with - these are just some of the gobs of Christmas cards I made with all of it. I found that most of the vintage-style cards that I made were very difficult to scan because I tend to use a lot of layers and bulky embellishments, which I guess is true of most of the things I make!
xoxo
Jess

It's almost the New Year!

It may be almost the New Year, and Christmas may be finished once again, but I have oodles of Christmas cards still left in my little blog folder that I never got around to showing...so I'm typing up a few posts to finish them off in the hopes that by the actual New Year, I will have made some awesome new stuff WITH my awesome new stuff. I still have to motivate myself to put away the Christmas craft supplies for next year so that I can put away my new goodies!
The good news is, if you are local, that the Sackville Farmer's Market resumes on January 8th. This year, as in the last few years, you have a chance to stock up on cards for next year at half-price! Packages of 3 cards, and Christmas-themed earring cards will be 40% off, or $6 each. 


Supplies: Image by Pink Cat Studio; papers from Basic Grey "Eskimo Kisses;"
Snowflake punches by Martha Stewart; fun flock from Stampendous;
snowflake gems from Michael's




Supplies: image & sentiment from Pink Cat Studio;
paper from Doodlebug; snowflake punch & glitter by Martha Stewart;
brad by Basic Grey; lacey circle Nestabilities; watercoloured with Stampin' Up! pencils

And these are just two of the pretties you could pick up on the 8th :) Hope everyone's having a lovely holiday!
xoxo
Jessi

A Jolly & Fun-Filled Christmas!

Supplies: papers & snowman from My Mind's Eye;
snowflakes made using Martha Stewart punch & glittered;
sentiment rub-on by KaiserCraft

See, I told you I just don't say "Merry Christmas"!
The kids got a grand surprise this week - a package from Germany, with spyglasses and a letter with instructions from the BND (the German intelligence agency) to look out for Decepticon activity in our area! They have both been concentrating on watching out on our walks home from school - and they are LOVING it. Ah, Tom, he knows the way to these little boys' hearts.
Our other excitements....Connor has lost 2 teeth this week, one of which has been a real pain. The new tooth had grown out of the gum in front of the baby tooth, so the pressure wasn't pushing it out, and it was nearly impossible to get a hold of to pull it. Finally, after easily 3 months of real trying, it came out Saturday. Once that was out, Connor put his efforts into wiggling the other loose tooth he had, and only a few days later out it popped.
Apparently I should have said Connor's other excitements, because really, all the news seems to be his - he had a consult from the IWK regarding assistive technology, and, long story short, we have some really amazing options to run with, and he should begin training in January. Yes! Six months to become proficient before heading off to middle school - I think we can do it :)
xoxo
Jessi

Moxie Fab Card Creations: Favorite Occasions Challenge - LOVE!

Moxie Fab has the challenges that seem to get me going the most - this time it's a series of 4 favourite occasions for paper crafters. My first finished & scanned one is in the theme of love.



Supplies: Papers from Basic Grey, Sugar Rush;
snow-couple & heart rub-ons from Royal Langnickel;
snowflakes (Martha Stewart punches) from glitter paper;
heart button from Dress It Up!

Now, besides the background paper, it may not be immediately obvious why I'd put this into the challenge. It looks kind of Christmasy...but if you look closely, you'll see what I'm thinking: in the circle are the words "I love you for who you are." Check out the challenge details at Moxie Fab's blog entry.
xoxo
Jessi

Joy to the World!

Supplies: Papers from Basic Grey Jovial;
rub-ons (holly & poinsettia) from Royal Langnickel;
"Joy to the World" tag from K & Co

...and now I have that song in my head!
I realized a few days ago that very few of my cards actually say "Merry Christmas" - almost every one has some other holiday greeting on it. I've been making an effort to purposely use all the "Merry Christmas" stamps I own (at least 5) - but it's strange, they are never my first choice!
The second Sackville Midnight Madness is coming up this Friday, December 10, so I am working my tail off trying to make as many things as possible before then. Pressure always helps creativity for me. Added to that pressure was the need to get a certain package sent off to BC, and of course the last thing to go into that package was something handmade. I have NO IDEA who waited until the last minute to get that done, but it's done now & on the way.
xoxo
Jessi