Bo Bunny Blitzen

Popping in to whittle down my stash of ready-to-blog Christmas cards...this time all using Bo Bunny Blitzen papers. I bought two pads, and I'm well into the second one. Love it :)

Supplies: Papers from Bo Bunny;
stamps from The Cat's Pajamas; Palette Noir ink;
lacey circle Nesties; Stampendous Fun Flock;
Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder; sandpaper;
Sakura Stardust pen (sentiment)

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny;
acetate snowflake & brad from stash;
pink poinsettia from Hero Arts;
Sakura Stardust pen

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny;
chipboard gift from Bo Bunny; Wilton doily;
ribbon & pearls from stash

Supplies: papers & chipboard border from Bo Bunny;
bamboo crochet thread;
sentiment from Hero Arts; Palette Noir ink;
Sakura Stardust pen

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny;
stamps from Stampendous; Palette Noir ink;
Liquid Applique & micro-beads for frosting;
Sakura Black & Clear glaze pens;
felt snowflakes from Hero Arts; brad from Basic Grey;
standard oval Nesties

Supplies: papers & chipboard ornament from Bo Bunny;
sentiment from Stampendous; Memento London Fog ink;
snowflake gems from stash;
rhinestone burst & other gems from dollar store

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny;
stamps & fun flock from Stampendous; Palette Noir ink;
Liquid Applique & micro-beads for frosting;
Sakura Clear glaze pen;
brads & charm from Making Memories
standard circle Nesties

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny;
'jingle' stamp from studio G; Memento London Fog ink;
Reindeer buttons from Dress it Up;
jingle bells from Michaels;
scallops made with corner rounder

jingle jingle jingle!
I sewed the bells on loosely so that they can still ring

I'm really missing people this Christmas - we've lived here for nine years, and so it's been that long since I was home for the holidays, but for some reason it's hitting me harder than usual. Don't get me wrong, I always miss my mom & my sister, but my mom put my special ornament on the tree for me while we were on the phone, and that little act has had me tearing up lots in the last week. And I teared up when I put their special ornaments on my tree. And I'm tearing up now, darn it.

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash 31 - Soft as a Snowflake!

I can't be the only one left still making Christmas cards, right?

{crickets chirping}

I know, I know. And I only just sent cards in the mail yesterday. It's like the shoemaker's children going barefoot...no one who knows me ever gets a card on time. 

It's only my second time playing with Shopping our Stash but I really adore the whole idea of their challenges, and love that there's usually a broad way to interpret the challenge. This week's challenge is Soft as a Snowflake, and you're invited to feature something soft (in my case, felt & fun flock on the penguins' bellies and scarves), snowflakes (also here), or the challenge sponsor's images - this week it's A Day for Daisies.

Supplies: Penguin stamp & fun flock from Stampendous;
felt snowflakes from Hero Arts;
striped paper from Bo Bunny; purple cardstock from MFT (from JJ!)
snowflake Cuttlebug folder;
brad from Basic Grey; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; Martha Stewart fine crystal glitter 

In case you're a regular visitor to the Sackville Farmer's Market, the market will be open this Saturday, Christmas Eve, and several vendors plan to come on New Year's Eve as well. The Bridge Street Cafe is open both days through early afternoon, so come on out & visit!

xoxo,
Jessi

Button Challenges...

I have a couple more challenges to post today - hopefully you're not sick of me yet! Since these challenges are related I'm posting them together, and since I'm still trying to share all the Christmas cards before Christmas, I'm going to show you all of them.

The two challenges are:

Lily Pad Cards - Button Love

and

Scrapbooker's Paradise #46 - All About Buttons!

Well, I love buttons. And when I'm feeling stressed, or needing time to mull, the repetition of sewing on buttons is very soothing. AAAAnd that means I've been making a great deal of cards featuring buttons lately!

Supplies:  patterned papers from Bella Blvd;
dog & sentiment stamp from Inkadinkado;
Memento Tuxedo Black ink;
standard Oval nesties; scrap paper for paper-piecing the pup;
buttons from stash

Supplies: sentiment & star tree (envelope) from Stampin' Up;
Versamark & Stampendous Pirate Gold EP;
paper from Making Memories; kraft from Basic Grey;
star buttons from Dress It Up!;
all other buttons from stash;
misc. pearls & rhinestones

Supplies: all buttons from Basic Grey;
Penguin stamp & Cotton Ball fun flock from Stampendous;
greeting stamp from Inkadinkado; Memento Tuxedo Black ink;
patterned papers from Bo Bunny;
standard circle Nesties; Dimensional Magic by Mod Podge;
Martha Stewart glitter

Supplies: Patterned paper from Prima "North Country;"
buttons from Basic Grey;
rub-on sentiments from Making Memories (from Barbles!)

Supplies: papers from Bella Blvd;
green cardstock from Mark's Finest Papers (from JJ!);
standard oval Nesties; Palette Noir ink;
sentiment from Stampin' Up; buttons from Dress it Up

Supplies: papers from Simple Stories;
all buttons from Dress it Up!;
misc. rhinestones;rub-on sentiment from Making Memories (from Barbles!) ;
banner from Martha Stewart 

Supplies: paper from My Mind's Eye;
(strip on envie from Simple Stories);
star button from Dress it Up;
brown buttons from Basic Grey;
white buttons from stash;rub-on sentiment from Making Memories (from Barbles!) 

I'm pretty sure the button trees are some of my favourite to make - it's time consuming to sew on each button, but the end result is soooo worth it :)

Thanks for hanging in there - I hope to participate in more of these challenges in the new year! Crafty resolutions, now those I can get behind ;)

xoxo,

Jessi

A Partridge in a Pear Tree...sorta...

Sorta but not quite. Once again I made a list as my own prompt for the Tuesday Trigger, and it went like this:

birds

grey/silver/white

scallops

embroidery

and here's how it turned out:

Supplies: two shades of grey cardstock from stash;
silver paint pen;
Owl stamp from Inkadinkado;
Versamark & Stampendous Moonstone EP;
D'vine swirls Cuttlebug folder;
standard Oval Nesties; gems & rhinestone swirls from dollar store

Attempting to show the shimmer...

I love Inkadinkado's Winter Birds set, so knew I wanted to use one of those stamps, and rather than scallops I decided to go with swirls. And voila :)

Here's the Trigger photo - the deadline is today, December 18, so go get crafty!

xoxo,

Jessi

Woohoo! More mail from friends!

Supplies: rainbow paper made by me (post here);
floral silhouette from Digital Princess;
Happy Happy stamp from Daisy Bucket;
butterflies from Martha Stewart;
open-leaf fronds from Hampton Arts;
Memento Tuxedo Black ink;
assorted gemstones

The butterflies and open-leaf frond stamps I was lucky enough to receive in a fun package from JJ, along with this gorgeous tag (photographed against some of the cardstock she so generously sent me!):

Sally  sent me this beautifully embossed and distressed creation along with the blog candy I was lucky to win a few weeks ago:

And, last but not least, this card came to live at my house when Barb sent my prize from her first Barbles challenge.

I wish all of you a day to get your craft on too - the kids finished school on Friday, so I know I'll have to be sure to carve some crafty time out of each day so that I don't go absolutely bonkers! If you aren't already lucky enough to be a follower of these amazing, talented, generous ladies, go now! You won't be disappointed - all three of them have recently won challenges over at Moxie Fab World, so you know they're good!
xoxo,
Jessi

I'll have a blue, blue Christmas....

....aaaand you're welcome for the ear-worm ;)

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny "Blitzen;"
snowflake buttons from Dress it Up!;
snowflake stamps from Inkadinkado;
"winter wishes" sentiment from AmyR (CCDesigns);
Memento London Fog ink

close-up of the stitching used to adhere the tag

Supplies: papers and chipboard from Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday;"
standard oval Nesties;
'love' from Stampendous;
Versamark & 'moonscape' EP

Supplies: paper from Prima "North Country;"
sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up!; stamped with Faded Jeans;
'Merry Christmas' stamp from Kaisercraft; stamped with Tumbled Glass;
crocheted mat by me :)

At this point I'm looking at all the cards I have left to share for Christmas & thinking that grouping them together in some way is the only way to get them all out there! 

xoxo,

Jessi

Belated Mail from Friends

We all know which road is paved with good intentions, right? So I had intended to get this post up on Monday, and then we had a health emergency with Riley (who will be fine!) that required 3 hours in the emergency room, and more tests the next day, and so this waited. And then, I got more mail from friends (holy cow!) so then I was thinking I'd wait until I got those things photographed...and then realized that at this rate, I'm never going to get it up on the dang blog. So think of this as part one, part two to follow (hopefully!) on the weekend.

The awesome cards I'm going to share today came from Emily Keaton and Meg Craig, both such talented women, and lovely people to boot. First up, Meg, who blogged about this amazing telephone card here...and you know, I wonder if Lindsay ended up with her Angry Birds card yet? Look at the amazing detail in this telephone - and, Meg used her metallic red paper. That makes me special :)

Something that Meg & I have in common is our adorable dogs - Addy & Abby. They're both dorgs...a term coined by Mr. Corgi that really, describes these pups to a tee. 

Tee-hee ;)

And from Emily, a card that made me cry.

Emily sent this card after I shared my friend's diagnosis with cancer, with a beautiful note inside. I can't tell you how many times I've read her letter & felt the hug from miles away.

Let's end on a fun note, at the circus!

Look at the cool headpiece on the elephant! It was hard to capture, but the teardrop centrepiece is a super-sparkly gemstone. I love the folded back tent flap, and the baker's twine banner!

I hope that you enjoyed a peek at some of the mail I've been lucky to receive - and there's more :) It's hard not to get overwhelmed at this time of year, and I can feel myself teetering on that tightrope of freaking out over how many days are left until Christmas. {deep breaths, kiddo}

Back soon!

xoxo,

Jessi

Tuesday Trigger: Deck the Halls!

I love the artful whimsy of the ornaments in this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World. Since I appear to be low on printer ink I decided to write down the things that struck me most about the photograph, and then use that list as my prompt. Here's what I wrote:

Christmas decorations

circles

shimmer/shine

teal, red, pink, green, silver

white woodgrain

And what I came up with was a set of 6 cards:

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye (super glittery!);
stamps from Inkadinkado;
Palette Noir ink;
Iridescent glitter fabric paint;
Tumbled Glass Distress ink; standard circle Nesties

I made 2 with each colour hat band, just for a little bit of variety. 

This weekend's Midnight Madness was a blast - lots of sales, lots of fun, lots of Bailey's in the coffee...and I even decided to girl it up & put my hair in curlers & go all out on my makeup for the night. I never go out, at least not to anything that requires fancy-ness, so it was kind of fun to do, and I got lots of compliments on my hair. Anything other than its usual ponytail is a little shocking, I think :)

Stay tuned, because I have a great big "mail from friends" post coming up!

xoxo,

Jessi

Snowmen!

I'm in a mild panic getting ready for Sackville's 2nd Midnight Madness tonight (if you're local, I'll be set up in the Bridge Street Cafe - come say hi!) but wanted to pop in to let you all know how much I appreciate each & every one of the supportive comments you left about Connor's school situation. In a very strange twist, the meeting was productive. I'm still a little in shock, to be honest. It is really unfortunate that the difficulties he was having were allowed to snowball before coming together, but I'm confident that we're all on the same page now. Some of the things that fell through the cracks were completely crazy, though. Ugh. Anyway, onward & upward. Hurdle climbed, and luckily I get the impression that Connor's gotten all these people to adore him - he can be such a charming little bum, which is a good thing to remember when he's busy acting like a snotty teenager.

Anyhow, here's some fun snowman cards to look at - I'm not going to post supplies, since I'm pressed for time today, but if there's anything you're coveting or curious about just let me know in the comments!

close-up of the 'snow' - it's craft glitter snow paint, smeared onto glossy cardstock &
then ripped to make the snowdrifts without causing the finished card to wrinkle 

xoxo,

Jessi

Some more Christmas quilling

Supplies: Papers from Prima "North Country;"
standard circle Nesties; white pearls; quilled poinsettia by me (two layers)

Supplies: papers from Bo Bunny (sentiment printed on the paper);
green pearls; snowflake quilled by me (one layer)

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday;"
standard circle Nesties; green pearls;
sentiment from AmyR (CCDesigns); Bundled Sage distress ink;
poinsettia quilled by me (two layers)

Supplies: papers from Best Creations;
white pearls; Pirate Gold EP;
sentiment from Inkadinkado;
snowflake quilled by me (one layer)

Supplies: Paper from Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday;"
red and white pearls;
poinsettias quilled by me (centre is two layers, the 'end' ones are one layer each)

At the moment I'm under quite a bit of stress with a big school meeting for Connor. I haven't mentioned much about it because I'm finding it very frustrating. I asked for a meeting in September, and was told we should wait until each of his teachers had a chance to get to know him. Well, he's not doing very well. A few weeks ago he was crying so hard that the teachers didn't want to put him on the bus to come home. He is completely without an aide, and the accommodations they've put in place aren't sufficient. His report card was awful in most subjects, and his ability to cope emotionally is fading fast. Usually we notice that he regresses in what he watches on TV, and he's gone back to Sesame Street. He's almost 13, and he shaves, for heaven's sake. The chances of getting an aide are very slim, and I expect that the teachers at the meeting will want me to accept an adapted curriculum, which he doesn't need. What he needs is assistance! But of course, there's no money for that. I really hate fighting for every single thing my kids need. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be from the school's point of view, to continually have to deny services based on the lack of funding, but I have to shove that aside when it's my childrens' future I'm fighting for. I'm just very tired of fighting over & over again, for the same things, but giving up isn't an option either.

xoxo,
Jessi