PSSC#4 February - Simply the Best

Do you love the Paper Sweeties?  Then this one is all for you!   Did you know they now have a sketch challenge every month?    That's right!  All you have to do is link up your project for your chance to win some Paper Sweeties Stamps to add to your collection.  That would always be welcome because all the sets work so well together.  If you start with one of the paper doll stamps - Abigail, Emma, Sophie or Jake  it's easy to add sets for different themes and occasions.  January had a great princess / prince theme - and wait til you see what this month brings - previews begin on the 13th!   And if the dollies aren't for you there are still loads of pretty sentiment stamps like the one I used today.

The sketch is just a guideline - the hearts on the sketch can be anything you like.  I wanted to make a romantic Valentine's Day card so I used paper tea roses in place of the hearts, and for the banner I used a pretty strip of crochet lace.  I double matted the sentiment to add more layers and richness and stuck to mostly neutral colors so that the roses would pop off the page more.  

I hope you will join us for the challenge.  You have a whole month to play and link up your designs here.  And if you need a little inspiration there are examples from the Paper Sweeties girls to get you started.

Jeanne

Supplies Used:  Finished Size 5.75" x 5.75"
Stamps: Paper Sweeties You Are Simply The Best
Pattern Paper:  Pink Paislee London Fog 6x6 Collection
Card Stock:  Papertrey Ink  Kraft, Stampin Up Pink Pirouette
Roses:  Iamroses.com
Dies:  Spellbinder Foliage, Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Frame 10
Button Twine White, 1/4" Pink Velvet May Arts (Ribbon Reel)
Lace Crochet Wild Orchid Crafts
Ink:  Stampin Up Chocolate Chip

CASE #126 - Fancy Tiles

 Hi and hope everyone is doing good! I have two posts today - one for the 12 Kits of Christmas and this one for CASE Study!  This is the last week for our muse of the month Ms. Amber Daigre from Damask Love and our special guest designer  Tasnim Ahmed from Cards and Bookmarks!!  I've been enjoying Casing Amber - and oh this week is another good one!!! 

Check out this inspiration photo!!    You can focus on anything in the photo - some of the DT even zero'd in on that sunny yellow in the background!  But for me it was all about the lattice die cut.  I know just about all of us have a background die cut that's been gathering dust!  Seems like we buy so many great products that get put on the top shelf way out of reach!  Well time to drag that baby back into the sunlight!  I have been inspired lately by the die cuts where the designer leaves the cut outs in tact and doesn't remove them.  I thought I'd do something a little different.  I cut out an image from some pattern paper that is just too darn pretty to cover up and made a sort of jig saw puzzle out of it. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll be doing with this design! Need a little inspiration? Hop on over to the other CASE designers and see what they came up with this week! Just click on their names below to hop to their blogs.

Chupa - Iwona Palamountain

Amy Wanford

Andrea Ewen

Christina MacLaren

Clare Buswell

Debbie Hughes

Jean Martin

Maureen Plut

Teneale Williams

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you over at CASE Study where you'll always be inspired to try something new!

Jeanne

Supplies Used: Finished Size: 4.5 x 6.25"Stamp: Serendipity Thanks so Much!
Pattern Paper: Pink Paislee SPring Jubilee Collection "Celebration"
Card Stock: Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores, Stamping Up! Pink Pirouette
Die: Cheery Lynn French Lattice Small FrameBorder Punch EK Success Dotted Scallop
Ribbon: 7/8" Pink GrosgrainInk: Versafine Onyx Black

12 Kits of the Holidays - January Edition

Welcome to our first edition of the 12 Kits of the Holidays.   Big changes for us this year.   A few good friends left us to focus on other commitments (Cathy Weber Empty Nest Crafter and Suzanne Dahlberg The Card Yard) and some new friends joined us to make an even 12 (Lynn Mercurio and Tracey McNeeley)  Last year The 12 kits of Christmas made so many Holiday and Christmas Cards that we decided to do something a little different this year. Instead of 12 months of Christmas or Winter Greetings we decided to break it up with a few other holidays.  

Here's how it works... there are 12 designers each assigned one month of the year.  The hostess of the month creates a "kit" to send to the other 11 members.  We all receive the same kit to work with and post our creations on the last day of the month.  It's fun and interesting to see the different ways we all use the same supplies.  This month we're celebrating Valentine's Day and our hostess is Joyce from Cards by the Sea.  Joyce gave us pretty paper from My Mind's Eye, and lots of die cut sentiments and shapes.   Joyce is famous for cards that come together by themselves - and I think her kit shows us all exactly why!  Everything was perfectly coordinated in soft blue, pink, and red, with lots of die cut images and so easy to assemble.  Just check out the photo of all the goodies!

Now for the fun part - showing you everything I put together with this fun kit.  I will name each card so you can identify all the ingredients at the bottom of my post.

Be Mine

LOVE

Hugs & Kisses

Ticket to Love

Now just hop on over to the rest of the ladies sites to see what they made with the same kit - you will flip when you see all the  different directions they take this - I know I am always amazed and wind up asking myself "why didn't I think of that?"  

Just click on their names below - I've got them listed by month so you can see what's ahead!

Joyce (January) Cards By The Sea

Renee (February) It's a Patchwork Life

Tracey (March) In My Creative Opinion 

Sharron (April) On Papillon Wings

Marybeth (May) Marybeth's Time For Paper

Jeanne Jachna (that's me! June)

Christina (July) Sea Glass Papercrafts

Amy (August) Stamp N Paradise

Kim (September) Cupcakes,Cards & Kim

Kara (October) KandRDesigns

Kelly (November) Gingham Girl

Jessica (December) The Paper Parade

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Jeanne 

Supplies Used: 

Be Mine Size: 4.25 x 5.5"

Stamps: Papertrey Ink: Heart Prints, WPlus9 Love You More

Die: Memory Box Piestra Tile, Papertery Ink Heart Prints

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye Lucky In Love Collection 6x6" 

Love: Size 4.5 x 6.25"

Stamps Papertrey Ink: Heart Prints, WPlus9 Love You More

Die: Spellbinder Resplendent Rectangles

May Arts Red Stripe Twill 

Border Punch Scallop Fiskars

Heart Gem

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye Lucky In Love Collection 6x6"

Hugs & Kisses Size 5.75" x 5.75"

Stamps: Papertrey Ink: Think Big Favorites

Die: Papertrey Ink Heart Border

May Arts Stripe Twill Red, Teal, Pink

Button: Papertrey Ink

Pearl Gems

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye Lucky In Love Collection 6x6"

Ticket to Love Size: 4.5 x 6.25"

Stamps: Papertrey ink Just the Ticket, Heart Prints, WPlus9 Love You More

Die: Papertrey Ink Heart and XO Border, Papertrey Ink Just the Ticket, Lil Inker Instant Camera, WPlus9 Love Notes Die

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye Lucky in Love Collection 6x6"

Serendipity Stamps New Releases Spring 2013

Today I am so excited to share with you some of the new designs from the 2013 Spring release at Serendipity! I got mine in the mail about a week ago and started playing with them immediately! The design team will be sharing samples today of the new stamps that include a heart background, tandem bike, quilted hearts as well as two new dies - an intricate cut cupcake and candle as well as a script "love" with heart cut outs I will keep this short because I have lots of photos to share and I know you will want to see the rest of the DT projects.

My first card is a fancy Valentine using the quilted heart with the small pillow stamp.  I stamped them in rich cocoa ink and colored them up with copics.  The design has a button image on it that I covered with an actual button to embellish.  I tied in the "quilted" / "sewing" theme by adding some measuring tape ribbon, button, button twine, and little heart pins.

I also made a cute little gift tag with the smaller quilted heart  this one I paper pieced by stamping on patterned paper and fussy cutting the image to attach to my tag.

The tandem bicycle image reminds me of vacation at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina we always rent bikes with baskets to store all the treasures we collect - seashells, pine cones, and flowers. The bicycle comes with a little bouquet of flowers that you can add or remove from your project . I cut a little slit in the top of my basket so I could show you both ways.

Here's my finished card! 

Hop on over to the rest of the DT blogs to see the rest of the new releases and what they've come up with!   And be sure to leave a comment on all the blogs by midnight on Feb 1 for your chance to win $20 off your next order!!!  The winner will be announced on Monday!  Just click on their names below to jump to their blog!

Marybeth Lopez

Pauline Pollington

Anya Schrier

Cathy Weber

Jenny Gropp

Miriam Napier

If you like what you've seen I think you should check out the Serendipity Stamps Blog Challenge.  This week we offered a free digital image - just link up your project for your chance to win $20 off your next Serendipity Stamps order!  What a great way to add some of these new products to your stash!

Jeanne

Supplies Used:

Quilted Heart   5" x 7"                                          

Stamps:  Serendipity Quilted Heart, Love You
Pattern Paper:  Crate Paper Little Bo Peep 6 x 6" Collection

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon, Vintage Cream

Ink:  Copic Markers, Momento Rich Cocoa, Versafine Onyx Black

Ribbon Trends Ruler Ribbon (Hobby Lobby), 5/8" Pink Satin Hobby Lobby

Buttons:  Papertrey Ink

Button Thread White:  May Arts (Ribbon Reel)

Pins:  Basic Grey

Dies:  Cheery Lynn French Pastry

Tandem Bike  5" x 7"

Serendipity Stamps Tandem Bike - We Make a Great Team

Pattern Paper:  Crate Paper Fourteen 6 x 6" Collection

Card Stock Papertrey ink Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy

Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers

Border Punch:  Ek Success Zig Zag Stitch

Tag:   

Stamps:  Serendipity Small Quilted Heart, Happy Valentines Day

Pattern Paper:  Crate Paper Fourteen 6 x 6" Collection

Card Stock:  Stampin Up!   Pretty In Pink

Versafine Onyx Black

Border Punch EK Success Dotted Scallop

Gems:  Pearls Paper Studio

Jumbo Glitter Eyelet We R Memory Keepers

1" Sheer Satin Band May Arts, 3/8" Stitched Edge Gingham

Twinery Twine Blossom

WMMM - Washi Valentine

Have you seen the Waltzingmouse Monday Morning Make Claire posted?  The challenge this week is to make your own Washi!  You can get all the directions at the Waltzingmouse Makes Blog.  I am totally addicted to washi and am always looking for ways to sneak a little in my designs.  It never occurred to me to try to make my own - but it was fun and easy.  This one took a little trial and error for me.  I used vellum double sided tape that didn't want to release the tissue paper when I was done - it started tearing - so I wound up running it through my Xyron sticker maker.  I love that the colors and patterns will match my project every time! 

I like to use a frame on my project when I work with Washi because you can let the patterns and pretty paper weave through your design.  I fussy cut the heart wreath - but with all the free digi cut files Claire released today I really need to start thinking about an electric cutter!

If you have some time this week you might want to give this technique a try!  You can link up your designs at the Waltzingmouse Makes blog and you might just win a prize!

Jeanne

Supplies Used: Finished Size 5" x 7"

Stamps: Waltzingmouse  My Heart, 

Cardstock Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Kraft, Vintage Cream,  Sweethearts,  Pic Nic Patterns, Off Beat Backgrounds

Dies: Spellbinders Heart Circles, Standard Circles, Ribbon Banners

Tissue Paper, Vellum Tape

Ink: Ranger Spun Sugar, Antique Linen, Stampin Up Real Red, 

1" Red Satin His & Hers Hobby Lobby

Embossing Plate Stampin Up / Sizzix Texturz Flourish

Serendipity Love Die

Hi! Hope everybody had a good weekend. It was freezing here - literally freezing rain coating everything so I spent the day at home. My poor daughter had to go to work though. She got to leave a little early because everyone else was staying home too and it was so icy she fell down in the parking lot twice before slipping and sliding her way to the car. Thankfully she made it home in one piece! Today it has warmed up a bit and all the ice is gone! 

 Serendipity Stamps is having a new release blog hop on Wednesday - but I wanted to give you a sneak peak. The Spring 2013 release is in the web store now. I made this card with the new "Love" die. Isn't it so pretty with the little cut outs being hearts?

I hope you'll stop back on Wednesday (Jan 30) to see the rest of the new releases and join me for the blog hop!  I hope you'll also check out the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog - there are only 6 days left to play - there is a free digi stamp there and you could win $20 off you next order!

Jeanne


Supplies Used: 6.25" x 4.5"
Stamp: Serendipity Scroll Heart
Dies: Serendipity Solid Heart, Love
Pattern Paper: Crate Paper Fourteen Collection 6" x 6" Pad
Solid Paper: Papertrey Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Vintage Cream
Border Punch: EK Success Double Embossed Dotted Lace
MT Washi Tape
Heart Gem
Ink: Momento Angel Pink
Button: Dress It Up
Ribbon 7/8" Pink Satin from His & Hers (Hobby Lobby)

Stampin Royalty #160 - Carnation Seed Packet

Was it me saying that it doesn't feel like winter here in the Midwest? Like what the heck was I thinking? It's freezing today! We got a little snow yesterday, not much where I am, but wow the temps are really low and the wind just burns your face when it hits you! Soooo.... I decided to stay home and keep warm! This is what I call baking weather. It just seems right to have the oven going and something baking to make it seem cozy! You know.. think comfort food... pot pies, chocolate chip cookies... feeling warmer yet?

I'm playing along today at Stampin' Royalty!  The challenge this week is Polka Dots!  Who doesn't like polka dots right?  My card has lots of them!  I stamped the seed packet and cut out the little window using a razor.  I stamped the carnation in red ink on some polka dot paper and placed it inside the window using pop dots on the frame to add a little dimension.  The sentiment fits perfectly inside the Spellbinder Ribbon Tags Trio 3 (an older set).    To keep with the gardening theme I added some rough burlap trim and a bitty rake and shovel charm.  I like browsing the jewelry section for little trinkets I can add as embellishments to cards.   They are usually a better quality  than the baubles I find in the scrapbook section.




Thanks for having a look! Keep warm!

Jeanne

Supplies Used: Finished Size 5.75" x 5.75"
Stamps: Waltzingmouse Vintage Garden Seed Packet
Dies: Spellbinder Ribbon Tag Trio 3, Classic Rectangles
Paper: October Afternoon Sidewalks and Modern Homemaker Collections, Cream dot graph paper is from Basic Grey Basics Collection.
Card Stock: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy
Charms Bliss Beads Charms
7/8" Red Satin Ribbon His & Hers (Hobby Lobby), 1/2" Burlap Natural & Natural Button Twine May Arts (Ribbon Reel)
Brad: Basic Grey
Border Punch: Ek Success Double Embossed Dotted Lace

Waltzingmouse Monday Morning Make - Chalkboard

Did you see the "Monday Morning Make" Technique Challenge Claire posted over at Waltzingmouse?  It's a really fun one -  a trendy chalkboard look.  The last Waltzingmouse Blog Party there were a few cards that were made using this technique and it really caught my eye too!  I'm so glad for an excuse to give it a try.  I almost feel like I took a class reading Claire's blog.   It details step by step instructions - all you need is a little practice and patience.  The hardest part was deciding on what stamps to use.


Like most crafters I used what I had on hand.  I was miffed with stamping embossing ink on black paper because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see it.   The neat freak I can sometimes be wanted to line everything up perfectly (I used 5 stamps on this one).  My solution? White ink.    The only white ink I had on hand was chalk ink and the embossing powder  didn't stick so good to it.  Switch to Plan B - I went for the embossing pad and ran across an old one I bought that was tinted!  That helped loads!  I won't tell you how many sheets of black paper I went through before I was happy with it - but good news - in the end I was happy with it. Oh and another thing I learned - chalk ink is good for the over strike because you can erase it if you don't like it.

Chalkboards always remind me of school and kids - so I made this little colorful candy bag. I'm sure you can find directions on line somewhere but I just winged it. On a 12 x 12 sheet of heavy card stock I scored lines at 1/2", 5", 6", and 10 1/2 and 11" and then turned my paper sideways and scored 1" along the bottom. Cut on the scored lines to the 1" bottom line and fold the edges up for the bottom. I trimmed the top of the bag with deckle edge scissors. 

I like to use wired ribbon for bigger bows - they are easy to shape and always stay poofy.  I hot glued a big button with a gem in the center of the bow.  I think it looks like a big piece of candy! I  am addicted to bitty tags so of course I added on on the corner of the bag!

I hope you will give this fun technique a try and link up your project at the Waltzingmouse Makes blog.  You have until next Monday to link up!  

Jeanne

Supplies Used: Finished Size 4.5" x 1" x 6.25"
Stamps: Waltzingmouse Holiday Labels 14, Candy Wagon
Pattern Paper: October Afternoon, Cakewalk Collection "Paper Straws"
Card stock: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst, True Black
Border Punch: Martha Stewart Double Scallop
Dies: Spellbinder Labels, Grand Labels
Extras: Button, Gem, Eyelet
Turquoise 1.5" Wired Ribbon Kirkland Costco
Ink: Embossing, Versamagic Cloud White
Twinery Strawberry Twine
Zing! Embossing Powder White

Retro Sketches #47 Happy Birthday

First a funny picture - I was cleaning up the last remains of Christmas - our sweet little gingerbread houses -  when I saw this!!  I can only imagine our new dog has been standing on the back of the couch to get to these peppermint sticks and gumdrops! Looks like she's been sneaking licks - that little stinker!  And can you believe I never caught her in the act?  She's about 90 pounds now so it's a wonder she was able to restrain herself and not just take a big bite! 

I had some extra time last night so I thought I'd play along with the Retro Sketches Challenge.  This has become one of my favorite sites lately.  I like the DT examples and the sketches are easy to take in any direction - C&S or fussy.  Their design this week is perfect for a C&S card.   I thought I'd make one a little fussier and get some coloring practice in at the same time.  No dies used on this card either - and hey look - no bow???   I colored up some pretty flowers from Clearly Besotted, fussy cut them  and layered a few of them for a little extra pop.  I embossed the background and added a little white chalk ink to show off the diamond detail that reminds me of a garden.  The green is a nice pop of color for me since it's winter here in the Midwest.       

 And here is my finished card

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! 

Big Hugs!
Jeanne

Supplies Used:  Finished Size 5" x 7"
Stamps:  Clearly Besotted Happy Everything
Card Stock Stampin Up Certainly Celery, Papertrey Ink:  Melon Berry, Vintage Cream
Ink:  Momento Rich Cocoa, Copic Markers, Versamagic Cloud White Versafine Onyx Black
Buttons:  Papertrey Ink
Ribbon:  7/8" Peach Gingham
Embossing Plate:  Sizzix/Stampin Up Harlequin