Enjoy the moment

Where has March flown to? It may be an exceptionally cold and wintery month for us, but it sure seems to have gone quickly. Today is my last day to join the HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS team as a guest designer. I've thoroughly enjoyed being a guest DT member and will continue to participate in the challenges each month.

Are you ready to get out your House Mouse & Friends stamps and participate in Challenge #92 ? It is my favorite type of challenge and that is a sketch challenge. Here is it (above).
Card Recipe:
Stamps: Stampabilities "Lavender Bouquet" and Papertrey Ink sentiment
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Dusty Concord
Image colored with Copic Markers
Designer Paper: Stampin' Up!
Embellishments: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Flower Soft, Martha Stewart ultra fine glitter, lavender colored sheer dotted organza ribbon.

For anyone who enjoys using Flower Soft have you tried making bouquets with it like my sweet Gruffie bear has here? It is very simple to do: Using approximately a two inch piece of fine wire heavily coat one end about 3/4 inch up the wire with a thick glue (I used Aileen's but Flower Soft does have their own brand). Sprinkle heavily with Flower Soft and then stick the opposite end of the wire in a dry sponge to let it stand up and dry for an hour or two. Once the strand was dry simply tie a pretty bow with your favorite ribbon and adhere the bouquet to your card.

My photos appear to be showing the Lilac bouquets as quite a dark purple but in real life they are a soft proper lavender color.

I'm looking forward to seeing our Lilac bushes in full bloom and I know when that day comes I'll be sure to "Enjoy the moment" just like this Gruffie is.
Cheers!
Jennifer

Blowing Kisses

Wouldn't this be a fun non-traditional Valentine card? The stamps are more from WHIPPER SNAPPER DESIGNS, designed by Anna Wight. The Fish is "Feelin' Fishy" and the sentiment is from "All things with Love." Both are new releases from Whipper Snapper this month.

I stamped the fish and sentiment on watercolor paper using Versamark. Then I embossed with Antique Gold embossing powder. To color the image I used Tombow markers and a wet brush for a watercolored look. The images and sentiment were cut out with Spellbinder Nestibilities dies and mounted on a fun Velum print that I found at Michaels. I added some machine stitching and some crystal brads in green to carry out my non-tradition Valentine colors to match the fish. That's all there is to this card. Easy-peasy!

I'm sad to report I'm still freezing here. Spring is nowhere to be seen. We've gotten more snow this week and while today is a clear, sunny, blue sky kind of day, the temperature is below freezing! Brrrr.... Come on SPRING!

Until next time,
Cheers!
Jennifer

Little Dresses for Africa

You've heard and read it before; the ancient African Proverb that states, "It takes a village to raise a child." In these times of plenty for a few and stark deprivation for many, it has made me wonder how I can, even if only in a small way, help be a part of the village to raise a child in need.

I've discovered a way and I'm using this post as a means to call out to my friends and family to help me meet a challenge and join me in making and sending 50 dresses and/or shorts to send to children in need in Africa. YES WE CAN HELP!

Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit 501c3, Christian based organization which provides relief to the children of Africa. Simple dresses are made out of pillow cases and distributed through the orphanages, churches and schools in Africa to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy!

I have committed to donating 50 simple pillowcase dresses and/or shorts. If this is a project you'd like to donate your help to I would love to have YOU as a supporter and contributor.

Here is how you can help. Sew a simple pillowcase dress or a pair of elasticized simple shorts for a boy and send it to me. Or make two or three...or 5. Each and every dress will be going to a child in need. And the beauty of this project is that the pillowcase dress is simple to make and is a beautiful sundress style for the heat of Africa.

Before you say, "I DON'T SEW" please consider sending to me a pillowcase of your choice. I will make the dress for you and add your name to the list of donors when I send the package. You see? You don't have to sew to help.

I would love to have your help. CLICK HERE for some photos of children receiving their dresses in Africa. Please note too that you may add pockets, trim, embroidery or leave the dresses plain. Every dress will be appreciated! PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT USE BUTTONS OR ZIPPERS on the garment as these are not easily repairable.

Here is a pictoral sample of how to make a pillowcase dress: http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/?page_id=477

And this downloadable pattern, through the courtesy of Nancy Zieman at Nancy's Notions is one way to make a pillowcase dress: http://www.nancysnotions.com/text/pdf/LittleDressesforAfrica_pattern.pdf

THE DETAILS:

1.) You want to contribute and you may email me at thimbles3 (at) hotmail (dot) com and I will send to you my mailing address for you to send to me your completed dresses or pillowcases that I will construct in your name. In your email, please tell me how many dresses or pillowcases you would like to send.

2.) Read the details about Little Dresses for Africa at their website to gain further understanding of how these simple pillowcase dresses help the little girls in need at their website: http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/

3.) I would like to mail these to the Little Dresses for Africa organization no later than June 1, 2011 so please send me your dresses or pillow case if you want to donate in that manner as soon as you've completed it. I will package the dresses per size as the instructions state and mail them a complete list of all of the wonderful people who've helped contribute. In addition, I'll email you photos of our completed dresses and boxing them up to mail. I want you to know that it is because of your generosity, support and help that makes this worthy project a go!

4.) Please note I will not accept monetary donations. The Little Dreses for Africa does take donations and if you choose to donate in a monetary means that would be wonderful but you must do that through their secure site.

5.) I am VERY committed to meeting my goal of 50 dresses to send to Little Dresses for Africa and will send them by June 1st. I do hope you'll help me reach my goal.

6.) If you have family or friends who sew or who would like to send me a pillowcase please spread the word.

Thank you for reading this post and, hopefully, joining me in this most worthwhile cause. I look forward to hearing from you soon if you can contribute and will keep in contact with you along the way.

Remember, It takes a whole village to raise a child!

Cheers!
Jennifer

Peter Cottontail and a basket of colorful eggs

This past weekend I decided it was long past time to clean my sewing room. As the case usually is, once I started looking at fabric and notions that needed to be tidied up, I stopped the cleaning process and began sewing. I had seen these darling plush bunnies online at Betz White's blog HERE . Betz made her bunnies out of repurposed cashmere garments for the ultimate in plush bunnies. I happened to have in my fabric stash three different colors of polarfleece and decided the bunnies would be soft and cuddle-y out of fleece. Another of my cleaning projects was supposed to have been to organize by color and stack my fat quarters of quilting fabrics. But once I knew I HAD TO make these plush bunnies I started going through fat quarters for the perfect inside ear treatments. Once you make one bunny, they begin to multiply. I began my first bunny (the pink one) at noon. By suppertime they had multiplied to three bunnies.

One of Betz suggestions is to felt a heart on the hip of each bunny using roving and felting needles. I just so happened to have a little bit of roving left from a wool bag I made and felted and so I felted a heart on each rabbit. I think next time I'll probably applique a heart but the felted heart is really an lovely touch.

And where you find the Easter bunny, you'll surely find colorful eggs. Just look at the basketful of eggs. Aren't these fun and colorful? The fabric eggs pattern is from Retro Mama's blog and you can find it ---> HERE. My stash of fat quarters came in handy again and I quickly began laying a dozen eggs! Ok... I sewed them up.

NOTE: The mister said I should call these not Fabergé eggs, but rather, FABRIC-J eggs. Ha ha ... get it? Fabric and J for Jennifer? He's such a card!
I feel like a child again. I made these for a special little someone's Easter surprise, but I've been having such fun playing with them (and removing them from three big bear dog's mouths) that I think I'll keep these for myself and I'll be making some more to give.

If you want to make a calorie free Easter basket treat, hop on over to Betz White's Blog ----> HERE for the bunny tutorial and to Retro Mama's Blog ----> HERE for the egg tutorial.

Cheers!
Jennifer

Thinking of you

Good Saturday morning to you. Brrrrr....the frost is on the already snowcovered ground this morning. I was really, REALLY hoping for some major snow melt this weekend, but it doesn't appear it will be happening quite yet. So...what to do? Make a thinking of you card filled with flowers and a spring/summertime scene.

The fox and woodland stamps are from Anna Wight's designs for Whipper Snapper Designs cling mount stamps. This set was just released last Monday and it is such a versatile stampset. For this card I stamped with Momento Tuxedo black ink and colored with Copic markers. I added a touch of ivory Flowersoft to the fox's tails and chest and then added just a touch of sparkle to the leaves, flowers and little Miss Fox's bow using Stickles glitter glue.

FOX FRIENDS

The sentiments are from the newly released ALL THINGS WITH LOVE set and this too is a versatile set: one that you'll reach for with all types of cards. The tag, Thinking of you, is from this set. In addition, I want to point out to you the background words you see in the background of my card. It is a continuous lines of friendship words and phrases. I used it in place of designer paper and while the main image covers much of it, it does give a warmth of loving thoughts from the words visible. I really, REALLY like this stamp and this type of background wording stamps.

ALL THINGS WITH LOVE
Be sure to check out these new stamp sets and then let your imagination go free with ideas!

It's Saturday morning, the mister is making a list of building materials he needs to pick up in town for projects he has started, so I think I'm going to spend much of my day doing some sewing. Later, I want to take a trip out to the barn to see my Gypsy mare and give her a thorough grooming. I'm eagerly awaiting the winter thaw so I can ride her when the footing gets better.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cheers!

Jennifer

Sorry I was CRABBY

Good Morning! It is almost "balmy" outside this morning but the weather forecast says that will change later today and the temperature will drop toward freezing again. Hopefully the slightly above freezing temperatures will thaw and melt all of the snow we still have. And at this time of year, I get CRABBY! The calendar says spring will arrive this coming Sunday, but the out-of-doors looks like winter.

I will probably get a lot of use out of this card and sentiment. Yep! This is another Anna Wight stamp design for Whipper Snapper Designs new cling mount Feelin' Fishy set. Isn't it a hoot?!

Feelin' Fishy Cling Mount stamp set

I don't know exactly why, but I have been designing all of my cards lately using Versamark on Watercolor paper and embossing the image in Antique Gold detail embossing powder and then watercoloring with Tombow Markers and a wet brush. It is a bit different look but I think it gives the sea world designs of fish and crabs and fun and water-like look. Using embossing powder does help hold the watercolor within the lines of the image.

The background designer paper is from K & Company. I added some machine stitching around the edges and some fun zig-zag stitches randomly around the crab. Maybe I was too crabby to stitch the entire circle? tee hee!

I love this bright and bold orange and blue color scheme. When I showed this card to the mister, his response was "WOW!" I'm not sure what his "wow" meant exactly and I didn't chance finding out what he was thinking.

Hope you aren't crabby today and have a glorious weekend.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Jennifer

Hello, hello, HOWDY

Just for fun, doesn't this card make you giggle? This is another of Anna Wight's designs for Whipper Snapper Designs new releases of "Feelin' Fishy". When I saw this week's layout over at Julee's MOJO MONDAY challenge #182 I knew I had to use this layout for one of the fun fish.

Below is the Mojo Monday layout design for this week:

Once again I stamped with Versamark on watercolor paper and embossed with antique gold. Next I used a wet brush with Tombow markers to color.


Isn't this collection of fish in Anna's "Feeling Fishy" set whimsical and fun? I'm having a blast playing with them.
Feelin' Fishy <----- Check out the set at Whipper Snapper by clicking.

All Things with Love <---- You can check out this delightful sentiment set by clicking its title.

The designer paper is from a new stack I just purchased from Cosmo Cricket. I cut it as per the layout design and added some gold crystals for a little added bling. The bubbles have a layer of dimensional glaze to give them a bubble effect.

I hope you'll check out all of the latest release sets designed by Anna over at Whipper Snapper Designs. You won't regret it!

Cheers!

Jennifer

You are a DEAR FRIEND

I want to show you another of the newly released WHIPPER SNAPPER DESIGNS cling sets that I've used for today's card. The set is called Fox Friends and it contains the most adorable fox, birds, snail, sentiments, party hat and beautiful forest tree line for you to create thinking of you, birthday and scenic cards as well.
Fox Friends <---- Click the words "fox friends" to take you directly to the site. For this card I used some beautiful designer paper from Stampin' Up! and carried the browns, pink, yellow and blue color scheme out in the flowers and paper. I used watercolor paper and stamped the images with Versamark and embossed the images and sentiment with antique gold ultra fine embossing powder. Then I water colored the images with Tombow Markers and a wet brush.

Of course the sweet fox friend needed some extra embellishment so I added Ivory Flower Soft product to her tail and chest fur and some pink liquid pearls to the sweet bow on her head and then popped her up, as well as the birds, with pop dot foam squares.

The sentiment, "You are a DEAR FRIEND" is from the newly released sentiment cling mount set titled "All things with Love" shown below:

All Things With Love <---- Click here to take you directly to the sentiment cling mount stamp set.

This Fox Friends cling set is filled with stamps to create a wide variety of cards. I know it is one that will be a 'go to' set for me in creating a variety of greeting cards.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Feelin' Fishy

BIG NEWS!! Do you love Whipper Snapper Designs? If you do, then you'll want to go to Whipper Snapper Designs website and check out the four latest stamp set releases. Anna Wight's whimisical designs are fresh and fun and I know you'll love them.

I was absolutely ecstactic to receive an invitation from Anna Wight to be one of the Guest Designers for the latest releases. So without further chatter, I want to show you a couple of the newly released sets with cards I've made using them.

The first set I used is called "Feelin' Fishy" and I am having so much fun with this set. Anna created the cutest and funniest fishies and sentiments to go with it.


Now I ask you...don't you think someone who might be feeling a bit under the weather feel better to receive a fun card like this? This is just one of the 8 different fish illustrated in the set.


And just to let you see all of the great stamps in the set, here is the CD case filled with these whimsical stamps and sentiments.

Feelin' Fishy <---- Just click to take you directly to Whipper Snapper Feelin' Fishy.

The next card I want to show you also uses Feelin' Fishy and I've also used one of the sentiment stamps from the "All Things with Love" set. This one is "You make me Smile" and it can be used for so many of Whipper Snappers designs. I thought it was fun with this fish wearing goggles.

Check out all of the fun sentiments in the "All Things with Love" set.


All Things With Love

I'll have more cards and sets to preview for you over the coming weeks. Be sure to check out Whipper Snapper Featured Designer Gallery for more inspiration and card designs using Anna Wight's Whipper Snapper Stamps.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Jennifer

Welcome to Spring

I had a happy surprise when I was asked to be one of the Guest Design Team members for March at the HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS challenge blog. Of course I was happy to accept the invitation!

"Welcome to Spring" is this week's House Mouse and Friends card challenge and what says spring more than baby chicks and budding flowers?

This little House Mouse is happily feeding the fuzzy chicks seeds. If you look closely you'll see the seeds are actually seed beads. I used Flower Soft product to create the look of the fuzzy chick down fleathers. The designer paper is from Stampin' Up! and I just love the yellow, blue and pink combination. It fits so well with the welcome to spring theme, don't you think?

I colored the image with Copic Markers. Then added the Flower Soft, sead beads and a little gold leafing to the edges after cutting the image with a Nestibilities die. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the lattice border edge, added some flowers and the card is ready for mailing.

Be sure to hope on over to House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge blog to see the design team's Welcome to Spring cards. While you are at it, why not join in the challenge. We'd all love to see your creations.

Cheers!

Jennifer

Easter Blessings

It is hard for me to imagine, due to all of the snow we've had this past week, that many of my friends and family are seeing daffodils and crocus peeking through the ground. I won't be seeing spring flowers for a while, but that just inspires me more to make cards with spring flowers.
This week's Friday Sketchers Challenge #145 (sketch shown below) provided the impetus for this Easter Blessings card. Such a lovely layout sketch!

I used the Stampin' Up! set titled "Abundant Hope" for this card. I colored the image with copic markers and used just a touch of stickles for some dew-y sparkled on the petals. The designer paper is from Ocotber Afternoon "Thrift Shop". I added some white pearls to the Prima Flowers and sweet little yellow pearls to the satin ribbon on the band.

I'm going to begin making some more Easter cards. Do you send Easter cards?

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

House Mouse Birthday Swing Card

It's been literally years since I've made a swing card and what could be more fun than to make a swing card (or sometimes they're called Flip-flop cards) using this adorable House Mouse birthday stamp. The swing card worked in perfectly for this week's Challenge #90 Multi fold card at House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge blog. This card most definitely has a lot of folds!

When I turn my card to the back side, this is what you'll see. The sentiment I used, The more candles the bigger the wish!, is from a Stampin' Up! set and I masked candles around the sentiment using the candles from a House Mouse stamp.

If you are interested in how to make a swing (or flip-flop) card, there is a wonderful tutorial on Splitcoast stampers that details the dimensions and scoring, folding and cutting lines. You can find that tutorial HERE. I made mine with different dimensions but the card is constructed in the same manner as the tutorial.

Now, hop on over to House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge blog to see more wonderful challenge cards using multiple folds.

Thanks for dropping by!
Cheers!

Jennifer