Playing in Paradise #62

Friday morning, and I've got a card to share for this week's Playing in Paradise challenge! This week we're being challenged by Allison, sketch queen, and here's her sketch:

I played around with some scrap cardstock & my trusty circle punches to figure out the easiest way to make those rings - that was definitely the element of the sketch that I was most drawn to! In the end, what I found easiest was to put double-sided tape (paper left on!) on the backside of the paper, punch the SMALLER circle, and then centre the hole in the larger punch. It was easy-peasy to peel the paper backing off of the thin rings afterwards...well, as easy as it ever is to peel that stuff off. (Note to self, stop biting fingernails. That would help!) Here's my card:

Supplies: all papers (and brads) from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
circle punches from EK Success;
sentiment from Hero Arts;
Peeled Paint distress ink; Palette Noir ink;
flower stamp from Stampin' Up;
standard circle small Nesties

If you like, I can take some photos of the circle process - I had actually meant to do that, and then forgot when I did the actual pieces for the card! Just let me know :)
Don't forget to go & see what the rest of the team has dreamed up:
Allison at Stampin' When I Can
Merlie at Cherish my Fetish
Angela at Angela Fehr Creativity Central
Nina at Notes by Nina

All the details & the linky tool for this challenge can be found over at Scrapbooker's Paradise Ponderings, and you have until next Thursday, April 19 at noon to play along for a great prize. Go check it out :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Challenges abound!

I've got more challenge cards to share tonight, so I'll get right to it.
First up is a card for two challenges: Tuesday Morning Sketches, and Crafty Creations Challenges. Lindsey at Bashful Blogging suggested that I join up at Crafty Creations Challenges, which has Flower Power as its challenge this week (open until Tuesday!). Thanks, Lindsey!
Tuesday Morning Sketches #141 has this sketch this week (open until Sunday):

Because this is the monthly judged challenge, there's an extra twist for the sketch: Think Spring! And more than anything (except mud, and I am NOT putting that on a card until it's out of my yard) FLOWERS say Spring to me.

Supplies: papers all from My Mind's Eye;
mesh tape from Barb;
sentiment from Paper Smooches;
Versamark & white EP;
pearls & rhinestones from the dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

My next card is for the Young Crafters Unite #8 - Sewing. That challenge is open until April 15 (Sunday). I used letter stickers as a template for the piercing for the sentiment. 

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Piccadilly;"
Bo Bunny letter stickers;
die-cut borders from Doodlebug;
ribbon rose from Offray

It's been a while since I participated over at Young Crafters Unite, so I'm glad to be back at it!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see what's up at Playing in Paradise this week :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Paper Smooches SPARKS

So the Paper Smooches SPARKS design team call has gone out...and how perfect, I just received my first order from them last week! So I have a couple of entries - one for the current SPARKS challenge, and one based on a past challenge.

It's funny because it's true :) I'd be an AMAZING millionaire! I went in a different direction with my creation - I'm contributing cards to a Mother's Day raffle basket for the Zumba Divas' Relay for Life team, and I thought that the Hope set that I won from Barb would make a perfect tag for that. I went with text and colours for my inspiration, using red & navy for the focal words.

Supplies: Hope stamp set from Paper Smooches;
standard small & lacey circle Nesties (largest in each set);
distress inks: tumbled glass, barn door, faded jeans

Because the team raising the money is a Zumba team, I thought the 'kick cancer's butt' and 'fight like a girl' sentiments were particularly perfect!

The other challenge that I was inspired by (so far...I have a couple others in the works too!) was actually the very first SPARKS challenge, to be inspired by this photo:

photo credit - Susan

I was inspired by the beads, the colours, the girliness, and the white space (I know, strange for me!):

Supplies: My Peeps stamp set from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir ink;
paper scraps for paper piecing the peacock's body & eye;
tail feathers quilled by me;
beading wire, seed beads from stash

I have a box of beads that hangs out under my desk, and I picked through a whole bunch of vials to find some perfect colours. I used about 4 times as much wire as needed, strung the beads on all at once, and then fiddled around while wrapping it around the main panel to keep most of the beads on the front, then wrapped one last time with the extra wire length. The white panel is mounted using doubled-up foam tape.

So, the current SPARKS challenge is open until April 18, and the DT call is open until April 23...and you can't win if you don't play!

xoxo,

Jessi

Lily Pad Flowers Challenge

Knowing that more quilling paper is on its way to me has made me comfortable using up the last little bits of different colours that I was hoarding saving just in case, and since I love to quill flowers most of all, I thought that I'd enter my most recent cards into Lily Pad's Flower Challenge. It's open until April 26, so you have lots of time to link up your own floral creations - with no product restrictions, you really can't lose :)

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Oxford;"
dragonfly die cut from K&Co;
standard oval Nesties; Sakura Stardust pen;
London Fog Memento ink; Stampin' Up sentiment;
pearls & rhinestones from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye;
Labels 4 Nesties;
London Fog Memento ink; sentiment from My Favorite Things;
Sakura Stardust pen; pearls from dollar store;
flower quilled by me

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Out of Print;"
standard circle Nesties;
Peeled Paint distress ink; Hero Arts sentiment;
pearls from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye (from Emily!);
labels 4 Nesties; pearls from dollar store;
Carnelian pearlustre EP from Stampendous;
Versamark, Studio G sentiment;
flowers quilled by me

Supplies: Paper from Basic Grey "Sweet Threads;"
pearls, swirls, and rhinestones from dollar store;
flowers quilled by me 

Have a happy Wednesday :)
xoxo,
Jessi

Punch it Out! Shopping our Stash #46

Completely forgot that I had made a card for this challenge until this afternoon - luckily I'm squeaking in with a whole 13 hours to spare!

Supplies: rainbow paper from scrap basket (made with distress inks:
Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint,
Broken China, Dusty Concord, and Palette Noir ink for splatters);
rhinestone swirls & red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black rhinestones
from the dollar store;
Sentiment from My Favorite Things "Hooga Booga;"
Martha Stewart Butterfly punch; Sakura Stardust glitter pen

I know I've said it before, but I do love creating with rainbow colours. Add bling (used up the last of several different swirl packages here) and a chance to use my Stardust pen? Yay!
If you have a card waiting to link up with the Shopping our Stash challenge, scoot on over & do it quick!

Several other items of note...my sugars are back to normal. A stomach bug has been going around, and even though I escaped the worst of it I think I was probably dehydrated. Glad that's over, though!

Last week I talked a little bit about how services are continually being cut for children with special needs- well, now our district has fired EVERY SINGLE LIBRARIAN. Every one. You can read about it in this article, including the ludicrous statement from a school board member: "libraries will still exist in the Chignecto-Central region, but there won't be any librarians working in them." That's 41 jobs - and just as an example, our local elementary school's librarian is shared amongst 3 schools, already a bare-bones situation.


I know that I will have to begin fighting, letter-writing, and putting energy into this situation soon, but right now I just can't do it. I am beyond discouraged that reasonable people would see this as an option - and if they are willing to slash an entire vital section of schooling, how in the world am I going to convince anyone otherwise? It's a whole new level of disheartening.

Well, that was a bummer. Go look at my cheery card again...I think I will too.
xoxo,
Jessi

Easter's TOMORROW?

Well, best intentions, and all that jazz..I have a whole bunch of Easter cards that I hadn't posted yet, so here they are:

Supplies: stamp from Inkadinkado;
paper from Basic Grey "Nook and Pantry;"
ribbon from Offray; Cuttlebug tag die;
handwritten sentiment; corner rounder

The image was 'watercoloured' with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam - awesome sparkle & dimension!

Supplies: Chick digi stamp from Tiddly Inks;
papers from Basic Grey "Piccadilly;"
felt rick-rack from the girls paperie;
letter stamps from PSX; Spiced Marmalade distress ink;
yellow Fun Flock (Stampendous); standard circle Nesties

Fuzzy! Googly!

Supplies: paper from Cosmo Cricket "Togetherness;"
rabbit scene from die-cut by K&Co 

I used two copies of the die-cut image, and cut out & popped up several elements 

Supplies: Inkadinkado stamp; Palette Noir ink;
Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils;
Offray ribbon, Martha Stewart butterfly punch;
scrap vellum; Tsukineko Pssst Glimmer Spray; corner rounder

Ooooh, shiny! Glittery! {happy}

I will be doing my level best to not indulge in any sweet treats tomorrow. My sugars have been all over the map the last few days - I'm having a lot of lows, in the 3s, complete with shaky hands & other less fun symptoms. It took me a few days to figure out what the problem was, and now I'll be testing 6-7 times a day to see what the trend is. Blech. I hate doing that, because I always end up with reduced sensation in my fingertips, and I'm pretty sure you all know I use those fingers for fiddly stuff!

Oooh, on that note: I ordered a bunch of new quilling paper to stock up on colours I'd run out of, so hopefully there will be some fun new quilling to share soon. I love blue, don't get me wrong, but I WILL be glad to see the end of that 'cadet blue' package I bought...lol!

Anyway, if you celebrate it, Happy Easter! And if you don't, happy weekend!
xoxo,
Jessi

Playing in Paradise #61

Guess what? My first week hosting over at Playing in Paradise, and we're playing with this inspiration photo:

Since Easter is this weekend, I decided to resist the urge to go Easter-y with my card, and instead went with the botanical idea I had. I just got the perfect images for this from the Scrapbooker's Paradise store, this Field Notes sheet from SEI. Perfect, right? So I chose a bird to work with, and voila:

Supplies: SEI Field Notes paper;
Fancy Pants paper;
studio G sentiment; Colorbox Chalk ink;
the girls paperie cameo; velvet K&Co leaves

Gorgeous cameo (ON SALE!) and shimmery velvet leaves

Love that cameo - and I scored the package for $1.80. Yep. My first stop is always the Sale section to see what goodies are in there - you will not believe the discounts. 

All the details & (if I did it right!) the linky tool for this challenge can be found over at Scrapbooker's Paradise Ponderings, and you have until next Thursday, April 12 at noon to play along for a great prize. Go check it out :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Moxie Fab 5 for $5

First, you guys are the best. Thanks for not only reading my rant, but responding to it & supporting it. It really does help to know that there's support out there :)

So, I have some more fun stuff to post for Moxie Fab's Practical Solutions week - this time in the 5 for $5 category. All of the Practical Solutions challenges end Monday April 9 at midnight. Luckily, in the cost accounting for the $5 category, we do not have to consider adhesives, inks, etc. That makes it a bit easier! Still, it's a heck of a challenge. So I did it twice, because that's how I roll.

Keep in mind I'm not a photographer...and the requested photo format is sadly beyond my abilities. Here's Set #1:

Supplies not considered in the cost: Memento London Fog ink

Cost for set #1: $3.36 (score!)

Studio G stamp set (all images and sentiment): $1.50

3 pieces of 6x6 paper: 58 cents

SEI Field Notes: used 5 of a total 15 pieces: 50 cents

pearls: 10 cents

envelopes: 50 cents

cardstock: 18 cents

The butterflies are stamped on scrap cardstock from cutting the card bases, fussy-cut and then adhered to the card.

Here's Set #2:

Supplies not considered in the cost: Palette Noir ink; clear embossing powder

Cost for Set #2:  $4.21

2 sheets of patterned vellum from the dollar store: 38 cents

Studio G sentiment: 1.50

HOTP Pretty Butterfly stamp set: 1.50 

rhinestones: 15 cents

cardstock: 18 cents

envelopes: 50 cents

I stamped the butterflies on each card, then stamped them again on scrap vellum (left over from cutting out the floral designs) and embossed with clear EP, fussy cut them, and adhered directly to the card. 

Since I'm not really happy with the group photos, here's my favourite card from each set:

There may be another post from me later - right now I need to finish the morning obstacle course and get everyone out the door!

xoxo,

Jessi

World Autism Day...and little red wagon #126

On my soapbox for just a minute - I know I say in my profile that autism will come up often, but honestly, I try not to have it take over. Frankly, autism is pretty much the REST of my life. Besides lighting the blue porch light yesterday for World Autism Day, I wasn't going to mention it, and then this morning I read Joan's post at Paperlicious. Empathy really is worth cultivating. The classmates who look out for my boys have hearts of gold. Only one of my boys has been accepted by his peers to the point of having friends over or being invited to birthday parties, but it's not the big events that matter most. It's the kids who help when the teacher can't, or the kids who stick up for my youngest when he's being bullied (sadly, a common occurrence).

New statistics have been released on the prevalence of autism in the United States - now 1 in 88 children. Five times as many boys as girls. That means 1 in 72 boys. That's nearly 2 percent of our boys, and although there's lots of research, there is very little practical help for any but the wealthy. And here I'm talking about Canada. In fact, schools are cutting more and more, and even though already both of my children are struggling with their supports being cut, there are more cuts on the horizon for the next school year. The emphasis is on early intervention, but to grow successful adults, development and intervention do not stop at age five.

As an example, Connor did not speak coherently until age seven. Everything I'd read prior to that spoke of the 'golden time' for language acquisition being before age 5. He didn't receive any speech therapy once he went to school, other than a yearly evaluation - and what I provided at home. Do you give up on your child because there's not funding available to provide the right therapies? My wish for Autism Awareness Month is that these kids receive the support and education that they deserve. It won't happen, because it's expensive. I must say, though, that I'm tired of fighting the same fight year after year, only to see more of the bare-bones services clawed away. It makes the teachers' jobs harder, it makes my childrens' lives harder, and it makes me angry. It's a lot less expensive to provide proper support during school years than it is to provide full-time residential care for an adult.

(OK, off my soapbox now. I think)

Supplies: cloud paper from K & Co;
standard oval Nesties;
parachuting bunny digi from MelStampz;
sentiment digi from lazy daisy

This week's challenge at little red wagon is "Up in the Clouds", open until tonight. I love this little parachuting bunny from MelStampz! I cut some clouds out of the patterned paper & popped them up for dimension, and there you have it.

Thanks for bearing with me!
xoxo,
Jessi

A Moxie-Fab Marathon!

I do love the Moxie Fab World for inspiration, and right now there are a big bunch of challenges happening there. I've got entries for 4 challenges, so I thought I'd combine them all into one gigantic Moxie Fab love-fest!

First up, this edition of the Tuesday Trigger: Happy Happy Joy Joy! It ends tonight, and the challenge is to create something inspired by this:

Credit: Orla Kiely

I knew instantly I had to use a particular stamp for this challenge - 

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Oxford;"
'happy' stamp from Daisy Bucket;
puppy & sentiment from Inkadinkado;
Palette Noir ink;
Versamark & black detail EP (for 'happy' sentiment)
bone flatback buttons from Dress it Up!
Mesh tape from Barb

Next up is the Fascination with Feathers challenge that ends tomorrow (April 2) - I have had a pile of feathers sitting on my desk that I swear I have tried to put on every.single.card. I've made since the challenge was issued. No dice. There was no forcing it.

Supplies: papers all from MME (from Emily!);
owls & sentiment from Pink Cat Studio;
feather from stash;
circle & lacey circle Nesties; toothpick

Turns out the feather 'bouquet' was just waiting for the right card! The polka-dot feather on top wanted to be on this card so badly ;) 

The Household Items challenge is open for another week (until April 9) and had me stumped! I've been inspired by other crafters, but of course the idea is to try doing something unique. One of the featured cards on Cath's post is a flower made with paper towel tube (by Teri Andersen) and I thought "OK, I could try SOMETHING with a paper towel tube." I tried stamping with the 'open' end, and thought before starting that it would make a neat background. Instead, what I noticed was that since my paper towel tube was a bit dinged up, the resulting stamped look was more like a coffee stain...and BAZINGA! Lightbulb! I poured some black coffee into a shallow dish, dipped the tube in, and went to town. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I flicked a couple of extra splashes on. 

Supplies: papers from the following Basic Grey packs:
Manila Basics; Little Black Dress; Nook & Pantry; Marjolaine;
teacup & sentiment stamps from Market Street Stamps;
Vintage Photo distress ink;
paper towel tube; coffee!

Black coffee ink!

What I learned? It dries lighter than I would have thought. Also, the watery nature of the coffee (as compared to ink) means that the paper warped quite a bit. Next time I would try drying with a heat gun to speed up dry time & hopefully avoid some of the warping. Still, I totally love how this turned out!

And, finally (for this post, anyhow!) is the DIY Embellishments challenge (also ending April 9). I have a feeling there will be another post or two from me for this challenge, because it's something I do all the time. 

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Sweet Threads;"
sentiment sticker from Doodlebug;
Spellbinders Butterfly die, standard small circle Nestie & lacey circle Nestie;
crocheted mat by me

The crocheted mat is one of my favourite embellishments - quick & easy to make, and it adds so much texture without adding a lot of weight or bulk. The butterfly is made from a cardboard box. A 'Kool-Aid Jammers' box, actually. I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the butterfly die four times, and still it was too thick to get a complete cut. I peeled off a bunch of the printed side of the box, ran it through again, and wah-la. I even like the distressed look the partial peeling made. 

Thanks for visiting!!

xoxo,

Jessi