It's Pink Christmastime at Jingle Belles!

I am so thrilled to be posting this - the Jingle Belles host a Pink Christmas challenge every October in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness. Not only do they raise awareness, but Stephanie & Lauren donate $2 each for every single card entered. They want to hit 125 cards this year - can we do it? (Yes we can!)

So WHY am I so excited to be a part of this? Because someone very dear to me fought breast cancer and WON. She kicked its ass. Angela has been a part of my life since I was 15 - she's always in my corner. She wrote about her journey - and she writes about other things too - and you should read her blog, because I told you to. She's funny and incredible and you'll wish she was your friend too :) And to toot my own horn, she wrote about me. She's an autism mom too - seriously, I am lucky to have her as a part of my life. And so that I don't get misty-eyed, and so that there are as many copies of this photo as possible on the internet:

 

Yep, I paid someone to do that to my hair. 

*koff*sniffle*OKBACKTOCARDS*

I had to go big with my card for this! Quilling was the obvious choice, really.

Supplies: quilling paper; vellum; patterned paper from MME; sentiment stamp from Stampendous; Versamark  & white EP; Tim Holtz design ruler, paper piercer, embroidery floss

I start out each snowflake with the six points, and really just let it flow from there. Since this is a keepsake card to be given in a box, I added some more details in a second layer.

To assemble the card, I embossed the sentiment on vellum, and then 'artfully tore' it to form two corner accents. I used the Tim Holtz ruler to pierce along the outer edges, and stitched with embroidery floss, and then glued the finished snowflake on top. 

Here's all the nitty-gritty details for the Pink Christmas challenge - 

The "Pink Christmas" prompt runs at JINGLE BELLES from midnight on Friday October 10th to 6pm EST on Wednesday, October 22nd; Stephanie and Lauren pledge to donate $2 each per linked up card to The Susan G. Komen Foundation.

The only requirement is that all link-ups be NEW holiday cards with some noticeable pink on them (so in other words, not just Rudolph's NOSE, lol!)

Participants may use sketches, combine challenges, and include any other colors in addition to pink; you can showcase however many cards you'd like to in one post, don't worry, we'll still count them all towards the total!

Thank you very much for your support!
♥♥♥

Check out Lauren's and Stephanie's  first cards for the two-week prompt, and keep an eye on all the entries coming in at the Jingle Belles blog! 

I am so excited to see what you all make to join in! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Wooohooo!

My Evil DoubleMint Twin, Chris, sistah from another mistah, has just joined the Just Us Girls challenge team :) She dared me to play along - so bossy, that one! I combined the prompt word CELEBRATE with the sketch from The Challenge.

Supplies: I *think* the paper is MME. Not sure.; sentiment from Paper Smooches; Brushed Corduroy distress ink; Sakura Stardust glitter pen; Wplus9 banner die; MFT star die; classic small circle Nesties

The banners & happy day on the patterned paper were perfect for a celebration-themed card. I spent the rest of yesterday working on tomorrow's card, which I am incredibly excited about :) Stay tuned!

The JUGs challenge closes tonight!

The Challenge #16 is open until October 19th:


xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #172 - It's the Most Colourful Time of the Year!

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

It's definitely getting into autumn in the northern hemisphere - in fact, the furnace is warming my feet right now as I'm typing! In honour of the season, we at Shopping our Stash want to see you use those fabulous autumn colours in  your projects this week - red, orange, gold, yellow, brown!

Supplies: pumpkin bouquet stamp from DRS Designs; sentiment & leaves from Jane's Doodles; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Brushed Corduroy, Fired Brick; Wild Honey, Antique Linen distress inks; Spectrum Noir markers; various colours of Stickles; classic small circle Nesties

I stamped the pumpkin bouquet twice to be able to pop up the bouquet portion. Pretty straightforward card :)

Ready to create?  Join us before next Monday, October 13th!

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

 Chana

Barb

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #270 - All Dressed Up!

Good morning! You are going to love this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch - and our sponsor, All Dressed Up, is definitely a popular place to shop these days.

I'm featuring this absolutely adorable Halloween image - A Magical Day:

Supplies: A Magical Day digi stamp from All Dressed Up; brad & papers from MME; Spectrum Noir markers; sakura stardust glitter pen; timeless twine; classic small and lacy oval Nesties

I had a heck of a time getting a nice clear shot - I promise it's my not-crack photography and not the digi itself! The banner piece is hand-cut from a scrap of cute punkin paper.

Here's the sketch:

This challenge is open until next Sunday, October 12th -  hop on over & see what the design team has created for you!

Debbie

Jenee 

Kris 

Melissa

Nina

xoxo,

Jessi

MERRY Jingle Belles!

So the current prompt at Jingle Belles is to use 3+ patterned papers on your card. I really didn't get a lot made last week with this nasty cold, and as simple as this card is, it took 3 days to make! Thankfully I'm feeling much better (still hacking up a lung, but hey, it's October. Isn't everyone?)

Supplies: all papers from MME; SRM sentiment; bling starbursts from dollar store

This is one of my go-to layouts for patterned paper - and the bold SRM sentiment stands out beautifully. 

Head on over & play along by Wednesday, mmmkay?

xoxo,

Jessi

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - I is for....

Icons! Person, place, or thing - it's up to you. The Snarky Sisters have chosen such a wide variety of icons for your inspiration - from Paris, to Dr. Who, to good ol' Saint Nick:

Supplies: Santa stamp from Paper Smooches; sentiment from Dylusions; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Cuttlebug embossing folder; paper from Kaisercraft; Spectrum Noir markers

Now thank goodness for my sisters, because I could NOT come up with an idea for this challenge. I blame the head cold. I also can relate to the frozen smile on Santa's face, and what he's thinking, because Christmas often exceeds the limits of my medication. 

So what icon comes to your mind? Or are you drawing a blank like I did? Check out the AMAZING inspiration pieces by my teamies:

Barb

Chris

Donna

Karen

Lee

Lindsey

Lynne 

Michelle

You've got until Friday, October 17th, to join in with us! 

And don't forget to stop by and leave our guest designer LYNN some love!

As uh, untraditional?, as this card is, I'm also throwing it in the polka dot/stripe challenge at Merry Monday :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Funky Fairy Journal & Tattoo Update!

I'm having so much fun making journals! I used to do collage-style covers with magazine pictures & so on, but being able to use a large image & dimensional items is WAY MORE FUN. Once again I've used a Stamping Chef image, this time Alyce. I'm popping in to play over at The Stamping Chef #49!
Oh, and I had a helper partway through:

Abby is very helpful when choosing embellishments!

(Not really. But she is awfully cute!)

Supplies: spiral-bound journal; jewelry wire & beads; assorted chipboard pieces & patterned paper; gems from the dollar store; home made enamel dots; Liquid Pearls; clear glitter glue; Plaid stencil; Dreamweaver embossing paste; lace from Webster's Pages; Spectrum Noir markers; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; and Alyce digi from The Stamping Chef

The embossing paste is untinted - it took on some of the paper's dye! Alyce's eyes have Dimensional Magic on them to make them pop. Her wings were painted with clear glitter glue.

The lace is adhered with Scor-Tape, and  then I dusted overtop with baby powder so that any exposed adhesive wouldn't pick up stray fluffy bits. Love the look on this frog's face! The red swirl was off-printed (like it hadn't been cut properly around the design) and so I sanded it & painted it with Liquid Pearls.

And I realized that I forgot to share the latest tattoo pictures - once it's healed I'll get Rob to take a proper picture to show off the whole thing. Right now it's scabby & itchy. The new additions are the leaf under the rose, the 'doodles' peeking out from various spots, and the three forget-me-nots. The double is for my boys, because they are never apart, and the single is for Rob. 

xoxo,
Jessi

Husbands! AMIRITE?

So, that title. 

I was pretty excited with how this card came out, and I showed it to Rob, who promptly said "What's with the butterfly? It looks like you dug it out of the garbage."

To which I replied, "I'm definitely saying that you said that on my blog!"

Supplies: patterned paper from Pink Paislee; flower stamps & sentiment from Paper Smooches; Peacock Feathers & Spiced Marmalade Distress inks; Studio Calico wooden butterfly; lace from Recollections; Liquid Pearls; Frantage EP in gold & shabby pink; burlap & seam binding from stash; embroidery floss 

The patterned paper has stitched details, and I pierced & stitched along some of those. I also added some random french knots. I used a small piece of double-sided tape to hold the burlap scrap in place, laid the laces over top, and stitched through them all with matching thread.

The garbage butterfly (lol) was first covered in Spiced Marmalade distress ink, and then coated with a layer of 2-way glue. I embossed with the Gold Frantage, and then while still wet sprinkled it with the Shabby Pink & melted that.

Little Red Wagon is hosting a stitching challenge this week, and The Pink Elephant is hosting an Anything Goes challenge, so I'm popping my garbage beauty into those 2 linkies :)

xoxo,

Jessi

What? She picked the colours?

I am not a colour challenge gal. It happens occasionally, but rarely on purpose. And yet, when I went to play with Lesley's Challenge #15, I pulled out the colours and forewent the sketch. (forgoed? lol) This is quite similar to a card I posted on my Facebook page earlier this week - but not the same.

Supplies: rabbit image from Your Next Stamp!; sentiment stamps from Paper Smooches; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spectrum Noir markers; Sharpie white paint pen; hot pink heart rhinestone from stash

I printed out two copies of the digi stamp so that I could pop up the paws & heart. The gemstone was a last minute addition because I smudged the white paint ink on the heart (ack!) and it wouldn't blend in for anything.
Here's The Challenge graphic:

xoxo,

Jessi

Halloween Kitty

First of all - this digi is from years ago, and was before I saved images with the company/artist name in the file. If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

Second of all, the fence made me think of the great inspiration photo at Just Us Girls this week - the decorations aren't specifically Halloweeny but it still spurred me to go print this out & colour it up :)

Supplies: unknown digi stamp; Spectrum Noir markers; PTI sentiment; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; papers from MME

Here's the inspiration photo:

I'm still suffering from a head cold, so sticking close to home & taking lots of naps & eating lots of soup. I found this on Facebook the other day, and every time I think of it I giggle (and then cough, and blow my nose. lol!)

xoxo,

Jessi