Shopping our Stash #109 - Summer Theme or Summer Colours

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

This week at Shopping our Stash we're feeling seasonal - I may not love the HEAT of summer, but I sure do love the sunshine and the bright cheerful colours! I hauled out all kinds of stash before deciding what to make for this challenge. I finally ended up with a super-old Studio G stamp set for the sentiment, and my go-to sun stamp from the now-defunct Market Street Stamps.

You may notice something different about this, if you're coming from the SOS blog....where are the clouds? This is my original version of the card. While I was photographing it, I remembered that I have the new Paper Smooches cloud dies. 

SO.MUCH.BETTER.

Supplies: Market Street Stamps sun; Studio G sentiment; Paper Smooches clouds die; Bic Markers; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Mustard Seed distress ink; yellow embroidery floss & card stock; classic small circle Nesties

Yep. I liked the first version, but I LOVE the second one. The sun and the solid clouds are popped up with foam tape. To stitch the sun's rays (so simple, but it seriously makes it POP) I stamped them first in yellow ink, and then pierced & stitched along the stamped lines. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Come & play along with this challenge until next Monday, July 15th - hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!

Carla

Leslie

Alica

Deena 

Lauren

Michelle

And, don't forget to check out my pal Barb's sale page - still lots of awesome bits & bobs there! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Happy Birthday, Tuesday Morning Sketches!!

Good morning! This week is a HUGE celebration for Tuesday Morning Sketches - four years old. Can you believe it? Four years, over 200 sketches...this calls for a party! And a party it is. This week there are SEVEN prizes up for grabs. SEVEN lucky winners - and all drawn randomly, so everyone has an equal chance of winning. There are 4 sketches to choose from, and you can play along as many times as you like - but please remember, no backlinking!

We are also saying goodbye to Theresa this week - Theresa is the one who urged me to play along at TMS in the first place, and we are all going to miss her.

Now, 7 prizes mean 7 sponsors - these generous people and companies have offered up:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - MyMemories Suite Digital Software

Bonnie Kohane  - Card Kit featuring Glisten stamp from The Greeting Farm

Fresh Squeezed Stamps - Stamp Set of choice

Raisin Boat - Stamp Set of choice

Freckled Fawn - $20 gift card

Oak Pond Designs - 3 digis of choice

Wait, that's only 6, you're thinking. I'm the seventh - here's a picture of the set of crocheted mats I'm sending to one of the winners!

6 ovals - 2 white, one each pink, chocolate, cream, and KRAFT

6 small circles - 2 white, one each pink, chocolate, cream, and KRAFT

Kraft is a new colour for me - I haven't even added it to the Crocheted Mats page yet! 

Here are the four sketches to choose from this week - designed by Melissa, Theresa, and Debbie.

I've used Theresa's sketch for my card - I absolutely love the Pretty Bird set from Raisin Boat. This peacock is my favourite :)

Supplies: stamps from Raisin Boat; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Bic Markers; Amy Tangerine patterned paper; pink & purple crepe paper; pink rhinestone strips from Dollarama; classic small circle Nesties

The birthday party is going on until next Sunday, July 14th.

Don't forget to visit the rest of my teamies!

Angela

Bonnie

Debbie

Jenee

Laura

Melissa

AND if you haven't yet, stop by my pal Barb's blog & see what awesome goodies she's got for sale - lots of stamps & Nesties at great prices! 

I'll be right back with my Shopping our Stash post :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Flourishes Sketchy Release Challenge

As soon as I saw the sketch for July's release challenge I knew I wanted to use my very-well-loved Gerbera Daisies. I also got brave & coloured them again - one of these days I'll feel like I did a good job of it. Today is not that day, lol.

Supplies: Gerbera Daisies stamp from Flourishes; sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches; Memento Gray Flannel ink; classic small circle Nesties; buttons from stash; Bic markers; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; pink microbeads

For the three centre flowers, I coloured 2 sets, and fussy-cut one, leaving the blooms joined to one another. I used foam tape to secure them to the bottom piece, and then gently curled up the ends of the petals with my fingers. Dimensional Magic was added to each of the flower centres, and then I covered them with microbeads for some extra texture & dimension. The patterned paper is also adhered with foam to emphasize the window aspect. 

I'm not 100% happy with my colouring, but I do love how the card turned out. Definitely worth all the fussing! 

Here's the sketch - you have until Friday June 12 to play along as well!

As a follow-up to yesterday's post - yes, I convinced the family to go to the beach. But, in true Fogan style, it was a bit of a gong show. Here's what I wrote in my Facebook status after we got home:

The Fogans went to the beach in true Fogan style - upon getting out of the car Abby broke her leash clasp. On tying the leash to her collar...she slipped her collar entirely. And on reaching the sand, she took a great big crap. On reaching the water, she....took a great big crap. (Don't forget the hundreds of people watching me scoop poop out of the ocean with my hands....). And, just as we were exiting the water after an hour & a half of great fun, she stopped for one last giant yellow puddle piddle. RIGHT IN THE WATER. Don't forget the audience...no one can say I didn't teach her how to behave like a lady. 

Oh em gee. The hour and a half in the middle was awesome, though. 

xoxo,
Jessi

Unity Sketch .05!

So I bought this lovely stamp set from Unity a few weeks ago, and the sentiment is just so perfect. There are simply some times that people are expected to "get over" what happened, and that's not the way it works. Sorrow is on its own timetable.

This month's card sketch at the Unity {be inspired} Challenge was perfect for its first inking.

Supplies: Unity stamps; papers from Making Memories; Memento Gray Flannel ink; classic small circle Nesties; pearl strips from Dollarama; Corner Chomper

Here's the sketch:

You have until July 17th to enter - and there are 2 other challenges as part of it, so you should head over & check it out if you haven't already. 

xoxo,

Jessi

Ocean SPARKS

Well, it's a heat wave. With the humidex, the temperatures have been in the high 30s Celsius, which is about 100 F. I'm on day 4 of a massive headache, and I'm fairly certain if it lasts much longer there will be long-term consequences arising from the short tempers we're all experiencing. My desk is not a happy place to be during the day, but the wee hours aren't too bad. Yesterday, very early, I thought I'd make an ocean-inspired card for the current SPARKS challenge - inspired by Lindsey's card using the same fish!

Supplies: Paper Smooches stamps from Birthday Buddies, Geo-Graphic; scrap orange card stock; googly eyes; Palette Noir ink; Versamark; Distress inks in Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade, and Salty Ocean; Stampendous embossing powders: clear detail, sapphire, and moonstone; Bic markers; Sakura Stardust gel pen

I got VERY embossing happy with this card. The Geo-Graphic dots were stamped in Versamark, and then coated with Sapphire EP. I tapped the paper until only about half of the EP stayed stuck, and then added Moonstone. This gave the circles a neat two-tone sheen (totally worth the mess!). The sentiment was embossed by inking each word in Versamark & then the Distress ink, and then coating with clear EP. The fish were stamped with Palette & then clear EP (if you do it quickly, no other ink needed there). 

I coloured the scales & tails, then cut the fish out (trimming off their party hats) and glued them down just by the bodies. I bent up the tails a bit for even more dimension:

In case you're new to my blog, you may not know that my dear friend Barb has LOADS of Paper Smooches (and other fun stuff) for sale on her blog - including this Birthday Buddies set, which I use ALL.THE.TIME. Go look :D

Now I'm off to try to convince the fam that going to the beach would be better than staying here and fighting with each other ;) Have a great day!!

 xoxo,
Jessi

Seize the Paper Players!

It's my first time playing over at The Paper Players - I had printed out their last several challenges & didn't make it in time. I LOVE tic-tac-toe style challenges, so it was just a matter of narrowing down what I wanted to do. I've used the sketch from Seize the Birthday #20 as well.

Supplies: papers from Sassafras 'wee bundle;' Paper Smooches stamps (sentiment & leaves); Peeled Paint & Shabby Shutters distress inks; Memory Box leaf die; felt banner & ribbons from stash; Corner Chomper

The card base & circle were rescued from another project that went in a different direction - the sentiment is from one of my new-to-me Paper Smooches sets that I picked up from Barb's crafty sale. I should really just stamp it on every birthday card I send, because I am never on time ;)

Here's the tic-tac-toe grid from The Paper Players - I've played the third row down, birthday-yellow-ribbon. 

And here's the sketch from Seize the Birthday #20:

xoxo,

Jessi

A Magical Christmas

Once again I nearly missed it - the current DIGI challenge over at jingle belles ends in about 4 hours. I had colouring issues. I don't know if it's the new printer, but suddenly alcohol markers are not cooperating with some things, but not all. Same paper every time. I think I'm comfortable blaming the humidity - it's been over 90% all week, and today, the nicest day all week - it's still 80% humidity while the sun is bright & shining. Good thing I already don't care how my hair looks!

Anyway, after having to print out my stuff 3 times, I was just about ready to throw in my sweaty towel, and I got this one to work. YAY! I put it together using the Wanna Sketch? 6 from Lisa, and some help from Connor in choosing the patterned paper.

Supplies: Digi image & sentiment from Pink Cat Studio; Echo Park paper; Bic Markers; WPlus9 banner die; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic 

Connor, by the way, has decided that he loves sequins. A lot. He wants me to sew them on his tie - we already did a few - and down the sleeves of his matching shirt. This could get interesting!

Back to the card - these are some of the very first digis I ever bought. I just love those frogs! I haven't used them in a long time & thought it was time to bring them out to play. The frogs' eyes, and the snowman's eyes, nose, and buttons are all glossed up.

Don't forget about Barb's goodies for sale - there are still a whole bunch of Paper Smooches, Hero Arts, Nesties, and even Simply Renee organizational stuff available :) check it out here. 

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #108 - Red, White, and Blue OR...

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

This week at Shopping our Stash, we want you to use Red, White, and Blue in your creations - OR - use the colours of your country's flag. Since I'm up in the Great White North, eh, I used red & white:

Supplies: Bazzill card stock; floral cube from Stampendous; sentiment from Hero Arts; Colorbox Frost White pigment ink; Stampendous white detail embossing powder

Relatively simple - the 'stash' here would have to be the Colorbox ink. I bought it on a trip 7 years ago. Still juicy & works great! The edges of the red panel are distressed with my fingernail - I wanted just a little edge, not too much. 

Come & play along with this challenge until next Monday, July 8th - hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!

Carla

Leslie

Alica

Deena 

Lauren

Michelle

And again, from yesterday's post:

On Saturday I did a little shopping in my dear friend Barb's stash - and guess what? YOU CAN TOO! She has some really awesome stuff listed on her blog...check it out here.  There are a bunch of Paper Smooches sets...and Nesties....and if I talk much more about it I'm going to go buy more, so please save me from myself.  LOL!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Morning Sketches #205 - Doodle Pantry!

Good morning! Time for a new Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch, and this week we have the lovely Doodle Pantry sponsoring our prize. I have become borderline addicted to Doodle Pantry's colourized images - they are so well done & make it so easy.

For my card today I'm using the Peacock Birdie, which was offered as a freebie for a limited time (hey, did you know if you follow Doodle Pantry's blog  you not only get inspiration from their Design Team, but can find out what challenges they're sponsoring, join in DP's own challenges, and find out about freebies & specials? Just sayin!) Peacock Birdie also comes with digital papers, and I've used one on my card as well.

Supplies: Peacock Birdie from Doodle Pantry; sentiment from AmyR (CC Designs); Mowed Lawn distress ink; blue Liquid Pearls; Sakura Black Glaze Pen; Timeless Twine (denim); blue seam binding; WPlus9 banner die; classic small circle Nesties; green rhinestones 

I printed out two birds at the same time, and fussy cut one and popped it up. A little bit of Black Glaze on the eyes, and some liquid pearls on the tail, and voila :)

Here's the sketch:

This sketch is open until next Sunday, July 7th.

Don't forget to visit the rest of my teamies!

Angela

Bonnie

Debbie

Jenee

Laura

Melissa

And from yesterday's post:

On Saturday I did a little shopping in my dear friend Barb's stash - and guess what? YOU CAN TOO! She has some really awesome stuff listed on her blog...check it out here.  There are a bunch of Paper Smooches sets...and Nesties....and if I talk much more about it I'm going to go buy more, so please save me from myself.  LOL!

xoxo,

Jessi

Wanna Sketch #6

So one more thank you card from last week's blitz (which will continue this week, lol). This one uses the fab sketch from Lisa Arana's Wanna Sketch? #6. 

Supplies: paper from stash; Wplus9 banner die; Paper Smooches sentiment; Barn Door distress ink; Picket Fence stickles; yellow sparkle fabric paint

This paper's been on my desk for ages, and every time I tried to use it it just didn't work for me. Using a smidge made for a quick & easy card. I fussy-cut one of the blooms & popped it up over another at an angle for some fun dimension, and sparkled up the large flower centres. I used the largest die in the banner set & then gave each end a twist with my fingers to get the whimsical feel of the banner element in the sketch.

I'm also going to throw this in over at Simon Says Stamp for their Anything Goes challenge.

On Saturday I did a little shopping in my dear friend Barb's stash - and guess what? YOU CAN TOO! She has some really awesome stuff listed on her blog...check it out here.  There are a bunch of Paper Smooches sets...and Nesties....and if I talk much more about it I'm going to go buy more, so please save me from myself.  LOL!

xoxo,
Jessi