Shopping our Stash #254 - The Four Elements!

Good morning! At Shopping our Stash we'd like to see your projects featuring one (or more) of  the  4 elements - Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. I've gone with Water for mine, using an image that's been kicking around on my desk for *koff* I dunno how long.

Supplies: Koi pre-coloured digi from Doodle Pantry; sentiment from Reverse Confetti; Sakura Stardust glitter pen; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade distress inks; Yellow Daisy tattered angels glimmer mist; bling from stash

I added some glitter details to the fish, then coated it with a thick layer of Dimensional Magic before fussy-cutting it and crackling it in a few places. 

Did you catch our new design team announcement on Saturday? Stacey, Maria, Mimi, and Cyndi will be joining us over the next few challenges, and we're so glad to have them with us!

Check out what the rest of my awesome teammates made!

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna (off this week)

Chris 

Barb

Chana (off this week)

Stacey

Cyndi

And you have until Monday June 6 to come play!

I also realized I haven't shared a picture of my crafty canine in ages - so here's a shot of Miss Abby hanging out while I create:

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #274 - Stitchy Bear!

I knew exactly what image I had to choose from Stitchy Bear for this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch!  Digi Blessings' Christmas Lights reminded me of these photos I took of Abby last Christmas:

I'll probably do it again this year ;)

Supplies: Christmas Lights digi stamp from Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet; papers from MME; flatback light buttons from Dress it Up!; classic small oval Nesties; Spectrum Noir markers

This week's sketch is one of mine:

I've rotated it for my card today :)

This challenge is open until next Sunday, November 9th -  hop on over & see what the design team has created for you!

Debbie

Jenee (off this week)

Kris 

Melissa

Nina

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

SPARKS, Players, and LOTS of photos!

OK! You ever have one of those weeks where you just cannot settle into your usual routine? That would be this week. Up too late, not sleeping well, at loose ends all day long like I've forgotten to do something...argh. Anyway, since most of you are here for cards, first I will do that, and then I will show you a whole bunch of pictures from today.

Annnnnd, I jumped on the bandwagon not too long ago and started a Facebook page - if you'd like to 'like' it the link is here.

Paper Smooches SPARKS has a week five "Anything Goes" challenge - yay! and The Paper Players have a sketch this week.  I was searching through my (enormous) stash of papers and found this Bo Bunny pad, and this came together:

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny; sentiment from Paper Smooches; Colorbox Frost White pigment ink; Stampendous white detail EP; circle punches - 3/4" and 1"; Sakura Stardust glitter pen

I wanted to highlight the little butterfly, so I sketched over it with my glitter pen & then made a little frame for it. It's a happy little butterfly :) 

Here's the Paper Players sketch:

And now, a jump in case you want to skip the personal stuff :) 

Crocheted Blankets

I did manage to get some pictures of the blankets I've made since Christmas yesterday, with the traditional pet-related scuffle surrounding it. My fault: I used a chair, and basically made a fort. Irresistible, I know. My mojo is back in full force, so I imagine crochet will take a backseat now that I'm actually making cards again. I confirmed with Rob last night - that was the longest mojo-block I've had since I started making cards. I was starting to worry :(

This is the one I just finished - a small afghan, or 'lap-ghan,' which is a lavender colour in an open lacy pattern - so light & really girly. It measures about 50x62 inches.

The blue/green baby blanket is my go-to baby blanket pattern - a soft ripple done up fast in double crochet. I've seriously lost track of how many blankets I've made with that adapted pattern (the original calls for single crochet). This time around it measures 30x34 inches. 

The pink? I made it up. I winged it. (Wung it?) and just went for it. It's also done in double crochet (back post double crochet) - and a cool 'third try's a charm' ruffly border:

Now to go back & count the stitches so that I can write up the pattern for it! It is a smaller blanket at 24x32 inches, but could easily be adapted to a larger size.

Yesterday I got a whole bunch of cards made for a whole bunch of challenges - so I'll be back as soon as I get THOSE photos edited. Sheesh but it's good to be back :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #182 - Doodle Pantry!

Good morning! I had really hoped to get some more posts up this week than last, but as it is I've just been keeping up with my design team commitments. I had some extra time yesterday, but as you'll see at the end of this post, a small roadblock got in the way of time at my desk. This week at Tuesday Morning Sketches, we have the always-fun Doodle Pantry as a sponsor - they have some really fun new releases! Here's the sketch we're working with:

and here's my card - I've turned the sketch 90 degrees for a vertical card.

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye (from the lovely Tammy!); another fun hedgie ssticker from Penny Black; sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches; Gray Flannel Memento ink; Timeless Twine; button from Basic Grey; Corner Chomper.

(an aside about the Corner Chomper - I notice it makes a rather rough cut - is that normal?)

And now for the roadblock....I went to sit down at my desk yesterday morning, and saw this:

Kleenex. Lots and lots of Kleenex. The culprit? Maggie the cat. She may be cute, but her current love of disemboweling Kleenex boxes has GOT to go. While pulling all this tissue out, she also knocked over the jar where I keep tools & scissors, pulled pens out of the box, knocked over the recycling bin, etc. I've cropped the picture of the complete damage because otherwise I'd be sneaking future design team information (on the left, behind my Distress inks, is where I clip up the following month's worth of DT assignments). 

And while I was holding the camera, someone else had to come and say hi:

If I'm taking pictures, Miss Abby must be the subject, right?

This sketch will be open until next Sunday, January 27. Make sure to hop over to the design blog and see the amazing creations by all my teamies: 

Angela 

Bonnie

Dawn

Debbie
Jenee

Laura

Theresa

Melissa

xoxo,

Jessi

PS - Don't forget to play along this week over at Scrapbooker's Paradise #100 - there are 3 prize packs up for grabs. With a broad challenge theme of "Celebration," it would pair up beautifully with this sketch :)

Animal Antics at Simon Says Stamp!

Animal Antics? How could I pass up playing in the new challenge at Simon Says Stamp? Well, I couldn't. So here's my card:

Supplies: Paper Smooches stamps;
Palette Noir ink;
papers from Simple Stories "Summer Fresh;"
standard circle Nesties;
speech balloon die cut from Jenny

The quilted piece of paper there is upside down - I had cut the circle piece out to use on another project, and it was laying on my desk upside down & I thought hey.....that little hamster would fit in there, I bet! I popped the quilted piece on one layer of foam tape, and the balloon is on two layers.

And since the theme is animal antics, I thought I'd tuck in a couple of pictures of a couple of my animals too. Abby is doing her normal "but, why are you sitting at your desk? Why aren't you petting ME? sad routine:

And Maggie, the 6-toed behemoth, showed me finally how the back cushion on the chair keeps getting flattened out. A 20-lb cat plunking her furry butt on it, that's how. (And I wondered recently about the six toes...so I went around counting cat toes. Our 'normal' toed cat has four on each foot, plus the 'dewclaw' up on her front feet. Is it called that on a cat? Gertie, our other 6-toed cat, has 6 on each front paw, and 5 on each back paw, plus the 'dewclaws' on the front. Maggie has 6 on each, front & back, plus the dewclaws. She originally had 7 on her right front paw, but it had to be removed, poor little girl. Anyway, I suppose not all 6-toed cats are the same. I wonder what genetics are at play there?)

I knew using the flash would make her leave, and it did. But I got her tongue sticking out first :)

The Simon Says Stamp challenge is open until Wednesday morning - lots of time left to play!

xoxo,

Jessi

My goodness, so many posts in a row...

...but I'm a last-minute Lucy, and that's what happens when you leave things to the last minute! I have some cards for the other categories of challenge over at Moxie Fab World  that are ending Monday July 23. I'm also trying to get eleventy billion things done...so first, an Abby pic:

She is not too happy...we are headed to Halifax next weekend for the Pride Parade, and since no one around here seems to want to go in costume, I nominated Abby. I took a dozen pics of her wearing her little rainbow babushka, but this is the only one that isn't blurry with 'get it off!' motions. We'll keep practicing!

And now for the cards...first up, the HELLO challenge:

Supplies: stamps from Flourishes;
Palette Noir ink;
embossing folder from Cuttlebug;
Labels 4 Nesties;
black & pink cardstock from stash;
pink rhinestones;
coloured with Martha Stewart markers

The sentiment on this card is perfect for a "hello, friend - we haven't talked in a while, and I was thinking of you!" greeting. I had some messy fun swiping the ink pad over the embossed areas of the pink paper - and with only those three gems, it's still a light and flat enough card for a single stamp. Score!

And now I have a couple for the CONGRATULATIONS! Challenge:

Supplies: stamps from Paper Smooches (from Barb!);
Palette Noir ink; Salmon Adirondack ink (watercolouring);
label & paper from Basic Grey "Little Black Dress;"
standard small circle Nesties

Supplies: paper from Basic Grey "Plumeria;"
digital image from Mo Manning;
London Fog & Palette Noir ink;
watercoloured with reinkers;
sentiments from Hero Arts;
standard oval Nesties

Supplies: stamps from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink;
label die from Sizzix;
gingham paper from stash;
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic;
googly eye from stash

The turtle is paper-pieced with two colours of cardstock, and his 'nails' coloured in with
a marker. The shell & nails are coated with Dimensional Magic using a toothpick. 

I love the variety of sentiments - and I love how flexible the sentiments are. The last two cards in particular could be for birthdays as well.

Time to run - the car is packed, the boys & dog are raring to go. Thanks for stopping by - so many times today :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Inspired by Woodgrain

Good morning! Squeaking in on the last day again for the challenge over at Inspired By #28. This week is all about the thank you card. With my sons in different schools for the first time, I have double the teachers and staff to thank, about 20 in total. I've always thanked the classroom teacher, but over time realized that people forget the custodians, the secretaries, and what about teachers? Gym, library, French, music...so we have a bit of a list. Anyhow, here's my card for a teacher who works closely with Connor in the Learning Centre. He's a musician and songwriter, and performed for Connor's Language Arts class during their poetry unit, so Connor calls him a famous musician. Fingers crossed that he has a position at the same school next year - he really is the kind of teacher that is worth his weight in gold!

Supplies: papers from Cosmo Cricket "Wanted;"
wood veneer banner pieces from Studio Calico;
twine from Paper Smooches;
guitar sticker from PSX;
letter stickers from Jillibean Soup

Here's the inspiration photo - for my card I was inspired by the woodgrain, and the variety of the colours in the metal wreath (although mine don't match). How cool would that be hanging outside?

For extra fun today, I wanted to share my dog adventure from Monday afternoon. First of all, a blurry picture of Abby with her crazy dog smile:

So we're out in the yard hanging out in the sunshine, playing Frisbee, burning my back to such a crisp that two days later I'm still wincing (yeah, way to go, I know...), and Abby the loony tune keeps racing back to the house and barking.

And barking.

And barking some more.

Finally, frustrated with how loud & persistent she's being no matter what I do, I get up and go over. "There's nothing there, you fool. Stop barking!! It's just a piece of wood!!" (Yes, I talk to her.)

Then I take a closer look at that piece of wood....

Can you see him?

A BIG FAT GROUNDHOG!

He must have crawled up there to hide when we came outside - they tend to be shy, and definitely afraid of dogs. This guy's bum was wider than he perhaps thought, because he was stuck. I had to hold Abby with one hand (being bitten by wild cornered rodent? No thanks.) while moving the wood & basket so he could waddle as fast as his chubby self could go. 

Abby is very proud of herself - the yard is once again safe from fat furry things!

xoxo,

Jessi

Moxie Fab "A is for Apricot"

This week's edition of Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger ends tonight, March 11, so hopefully you have some time to get your craft on today! The photo Cath chose this week is a gorgeous one, as per usual:

I was inspired by the bowl. I used a piece of copy paper cut with an oval Nestie as a mask, and stamped the flourishes around it & embossed them in gold, and then added the sentiment & embossed it as well. This is much more CAS than my usual (and no patterned paper? GASP!) but I love how it turned out!

Supplies: cardstock from PTI (From JJ!);
standard oval Nesties (for masking);
Versamark & Pirate Gold EP;
swirl stamps from Autumn Leaves;
sentiment stamp from Hampton Arts;
teal rhinestones from $store

And some photos of my picture-taking process...lol!

'scuse me, whatcha doing?

Hello! Good morning! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT YOU AREN'T PETTING ME?

OK, I'll go be sad while you take your stupid pictures. FINE. 

Oh, I love my dog. What a goof!
Lots of challenge posts coming up - it was a busy & productive card-making week, knowing that while the kids are on break it won't be!
xoxo,
Jessi

Playing in Paradise #53 - Musically Inspired!

THERE IS NO WAY I'M GONNA BE LATE THIS WEEK, I said to myself after blowing last week's PIP deadline by only a couple of hours....so yay me, there's nearly 2 days left! And besides that, I have two cards to share. For For Playing in Paradise #53 you've got to be ....

Supplies: gorgeous brolly paper from MME (from dear sweet Emily!);
cardstock from MFP; standard oval & labels 4 Nesties;
stamps from Market Street Stamps;
Palette Noir ink; versamark & clear EP (raindrops);
Offray ribbon, Bow-Easy, loads of foam tape;
3/4" circle punch for ribbon 'tabs'

I received a care package from Emily  the week before last, and as soon as I saw this pattern I knew I had to finally break in my sad face sun from Market Street Stamps. If the song isn't already playing in your head, this sentiment is (well, I imagine it is, anyway) inspired by Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine.' And it plays in my head every time I look at the sentiment... 

Time for the year-end wrap ups!

One of the things I love about this time of year blog-wise is seeing what different people pick as their favourite creations. I plan to do that, and I also plan to blog about my favourite reads of the year, and I don`t plan to list them in any particular order. But first, I thought I`d share something about this year that I`m absurdly proud of...

My sister & I, April 2011

Me, December 2011

OK, I *am* absurdly proud of my sister, but what I was trying to show you was the 45 pounds I`ve lost since summer. Yes, there`s more to go, but I`m definitely happy with this as a start.
A few pictures from the holidays:

Quick, everybody DERP!

Gingerbread train building - Connor & Riley

more train building - Riley & Connor

The train building was quite the adventure. Usually we build a gingerbread house, but when I saw the train kit we HAD to have that! It was harder to keep upright, though, and of course it was missing details that the Thomas-obsessed auties couldn`t ignore (Why doesn`t it have a funnel...why isn`t there an engineer...can we tell the company that they forgot the smokestack...etc.) Connor tried to build a funnel from candy canes, and when the whole train collapsed for the 2nd or 3rd time, he declared that what they were actually building was a train wreck.
The wreck was much more fun to build.

And now for a couple of favourites: I`ll pick one post from each month of the year, I think. So January`s favourite:

Link to original post

Maybe I`ll do the books the same way...I keep track of my reading in a spreadsheet, so I can actually look up books by month that way. I`m just going to pick them by how much I remember enjoying them. January`s favourite read would be 

The Matter of Sylvie, by Lee Kvern 

closely followed by 

 

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

See you tomorrow with February`s favourites!