Friday Sketchers Challenge

Good November 1st Saturday morning to you! And do we all have tummy aches from eating too much Halloween candy last night? Hmmmm...I'm not going to comment for myself but suffice to say we had a nice evening. Oh...and to those who asked me, No! Paul didn't photograph me in my Elphaba costume, however one of the moms taking her children around did snap a shot as I gave candy to her little children.

On with today's post. This is a day of firsts for me. This is the first time I particpated in a FRIDAY SKETCHERS challenge. This is an international group of papercrafters/cardmakers and I had such fun working with Friday's new sketch challenge. Here is my card using their layout sketch:


This is also the first time I've used a Magnolia stamp. This little girl is darling and such fun to color with my prismacolor pencils. I added frosted Stickles glitter to her wings and to her slip that is showing. The centers of her flower garland jumprope have tiny blue crystals and the purple paper flowers in the corners have crystal centers as well.

Another first for me was to make a square card. I loved it! I haven't made square cards before. This one measures 5" X 5". It worked perfectly for the sketch layout. Here is the Friday Sketchers number 26 layout:

My little magnolia girl is mounted on pop-dots for a bit more dimension.



If you enjoy working with sketch challenges and would enjoy participating with paper artists from all around the globe I encourage you to check out the FRIDAY SKETCHERS CHALLENGE group by clicking on the group name I have highlighted.


Happy Saturday! Happy November 1st (All Saints Day. And Happy Autumn weekend.

Trick or Treat

A little trick or treating...House Mouse style. I love the idea of the little mice (RATS as my dear friend Deborah calls them) carving Halloween apples.

Colored with prismacolor pencils and a little Martha Stewart Halloween ribbon added for fun.

Are you in costume yet? Since we saw the stage production of WICKED this summer I'm dressing as Elphaba, the "wicked" witch.

Happy Haunting!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Is your costume all ready or are you already dressed in a bewitching style? I have always loved Halloween and having lots and lots of children and adults come to my door. It doesn't matter to me the age of the trick-or-treater. My only "rule" (if I have a rule) is that they are polite and hopefully wearing some type of costume. We usually have more teenagers in our neighborhood and they always are a lot of fun.

These are the treatbags I made last year but I thought for this Halloween day I'd reprise them for this year's Halloween posting. They were very fast and fun to make.





Have a SPOOKTACULAR day!

Soot Stamping

We just had our first major snow storm of the year. WHAT? Snow in October? Yep! But I've just had so much fun this morning experimenting with SOOT STAMPING for the first time that I didn't even care about the snow outside. Have you tried the soot stamping technique? It creates a vintage photograph effect. For each of my cards I used the train from the Stampin' Up! set called Happiness is a Journey.


The technique is simple:
1.) Light a candle
2.) Using glossy cardstock glossy side down move your cardstock over the candle flame being sure that the flame touchs the cardstock. (WARNING: the edges of the cardstock will catch fire so do this near the sink in case of emergency.)
3.) The flame will leave black soot on your glossy cardstock. As soon as you've achieved the coverage you want, blow out the candle and then take your stamp and stamp directly (do NOT use any ink)onto the soot.
4.) Spray a clear fixative or acrylic spray over the soot to set the image. Do NOT touch the soot with your finger prior to spraying the fixative because you'll leave fingerprints. After you spray you can touch the area.

VOILA! That is all there is to it. Here are the three cards I made. I just love them and now I have three masculine cards to use for various occasions:







Well, I suppose I really should shovel off the deck and ramp now for the dogs. They haven't seemed to mind but it is pretty messy.

Until next time,

Wool sew for friends

This week's challenge at the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #11 calls for a card that is "natural." Natural can mean natural fibers, natural/neutral colors or anything you consider a natural element on your card. The choice is yours as long as you use a House Mouse or one of House Mouse friends stamp.

I chose a new Gruffies stamp titled "Wool sew for friends." I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils, stitched it to a green mat, pinked the edges and added buttons and then used a border punch of X's and Hearts and stitching.

You might ask, what is the "Natural" element on the card? Look closely at the lamb. Do you see the lambswool? I added a very small bit of natural wool roving to my lamb to give her a wooly coat. I've been doing a bit of wool felting and jewelry making lately using wool roving so I had it on hand to add to my cards as well.


If you enjoy House Mouse stamps or any of the House Mouse friends (Gruffies or Happy Hoppers) be sure to check out the weekly challenge on House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge site.



Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

Happy Blessings

I received my Stampin' Up order from the new catalog while I was away on vacation last week so you can just imagine how excited I was to break out the ink and new stamps and begin stamping!

This week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge, presented on Julee's blog POETIC ARTISTRY ,is the perfect layout for my new Stampin' Up! set called Happy Blessings.


I love the colors of the background paper, made by Basic Grey, and the SU olive green and chocolate chip cardstock worked perfectly with it. I stamped the sentiment on a pumpkin punchout using a Martha Stewart Pumpkin punch. The scarecrow is colored with Prismacolor pencils.


I started out using a very pretty satin ribbon in the center that says pumpkin patch on it but it was just too elegant looking for this scarecrow card and so I changed my mind and decided to use the natural raffia. I like the look and it makes me think that perhaps the scarecrow is spilling his stuffing.

This is Julee's sketch challenge for this week. I really enjoyed getting to join in on this week's sketch.

The sun is finally out after a lot of rain so I think I'll take the dogs out for a romp while I can stay dry.

Until later.....
Jennifer

Iris notecards

With Christmas coming in a couple of months, I decided that it was time to get serious about making some Christmas gift sets. One of my sisters loves Iris flowers. Her beautiful home is decorated in an iris theme/motif so I decided that I'd make her some notecards with her signature iris on the fronts of them.

The first iris notecard is made with a beautiful deep blue metal looking glossy cardstock. I embossed it with my cuttlebug and used and iris brass stencil and Glitter Glitz glitter.



The next card was also made using my Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder and the scalloped edge made with a Martha Stewart border punch. Again, I used an iris brass stencil with glitter glitz and sticky paper.



I may make one or two more variations of this card in different colors other than blue and then duplicate them for a whole set.



I hope everyone is enjoying a good weekend. Until later....

Jennifer

More Glitter Glitz

I'm having more fun playing around with my glitter glitz and rediscovering brass templates that have been neglected for so long in a drawer.

For today's card I used an Anna Griffin brass stencil that I've had for probably about four years and I hadn't even broken the seal on the package yet! YIKES! It's time to use some of these great stencils.



The really fun thing about using glitter glitz with the brass stencils is that it is so fast. Unlike embossing paste and stickles, you don't wait for anything to dry. The glitter glitz is sprinkled over the template which you've attached to sticky paper so the glitter is literally sticking to the paper when you peel it away from the template. This card took me a total of 15 minutes to make tops! The only reason it took even this long is that when I was sprinkling the glitter on the various parts of the tree stencil, I needed to change colors and decide the color placement.



I've received a couple of emails asking for more specifics about glitter glitz. Since this is entirely new to me I don't want to appear to be an authority as I'm not! But maybe if I get a chance this weekend I can create a tutorial making a simple card with Glitter Glitz. (We have a lot of home improvement chores to do so I may be painting and spackeling instead of cardmaking.)

To get a little look at an idea of what I'm using forgive my messy desktop but here are a couple of photos. You'll see that I'm using coffee filter papers to catch the excess glitter in the various colors. Also, you'll see in the background the autumn/winter box of glitter colors that I purchased. I've also tried using the Martha Stewart ultra fine glitter and it works well too on the sticky paper.


Here are a couple more photos of the supplies as well as the brass template and a practice glitter piece. I decided to make a minor change for my card so this is just a sample piece.

I have two more pieces started and will make floral cards as well as an icy blue and crystal winter snow scene. Using the glitter and stencils is fast. I'm just very slow figuring out card layouts.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me and ask. This is really fun stuff and if you like glitz and glitter, you will love this!

Back to my sparkle-y desk. You should see my dogs. They are glittery and ready to sparkle for the holidays...early!

Cheers!

Jennifer

Glitter Glitz Pumpkin

I'm back from my week vacation with my family in Indiana. I had a wonderful time and we had a huge family reunion. If it hadn't been for missing my hubby and critters I'd have not wanted to return.

While I was gone I did manage to get some fun papercraft shopping in and just look what I discovered! GLITTER GLITZ! Oh my...if you love stickles and glitter and lots of sparkle on your cards then you are going to love, Love, LOVE Glitter Glitz. I have the usual home from vacation cleaning and laundry to do but I couldn't help but make a really quick and simple card using a brass stencil and sticky paper and glitter glitz.



The pumpkin brass stencil is an old, old stencil I've had for years which I've used for dry embossing, embossing paste and now with Glitter glitz. The stencil doesn't have a manufacturer's name on it so I can't identity the maker for you. I chose this because (A.) I love pumpkins (B.) I need to make some autumn swap cards (C.) This card was so fast to make that I can get back to my housework and still have a chance to play with my new toys.



I hope this closeup shot shows how colorful and sparkle-y this card is. You are going to see a lot of cards using every stencil in my stash using the glitter glize product. It is so fun! I know...I'm an embellishment junkie.

Until later....

Jennifer

Rose Gardening Bibs

Have I mentioned how nuts I am about Impression Obsession stamps? Well I am! This Rose Gardening Bibs stamp is just adorable. I can think of a number of people for whom a card using this stamp would be perfect.

But.....somehow on the way to card creation this first card I made using it just didn't quite hit the mark. I'm not at all happy with the outcome of the card but I'll go ahead and post it for now until I make another that I'm more pleased with.



I colored the bibs with prisma color pencils. The designer paper is Martha Stewart. Our Walmart had a huge pad on sale of 12 X 12" size and 24 sheets in 12 different yet coordinating designs and I couldn't pass this paper up. It has so many coordination possibilities and I love the paper.

So for today I will post a not so hot card, but one I am confident I'll come up with a design in the future that will work. This stamp is just too cute not to want to use it over and over.

Thanks for looking!
Jennifer

Grateful gum boots

How is that for a blog entry title? "Grateful Gum boots"! I had never heard of rubber boots being called gum boots until I met my husband. I always just called them rubber boots. Anyway, have you noticed the trend lately for the most beautiful floral and patterned gum boots? Is it just around here or is everyone seeing them? I have to get a pair for pulling on quickly this winter.



This stamp is another one of my new Impression Obsession stamps. I love it. In fact, Impression Obsession is becoming one of my favorite lines of stamps. For this simple card I used my oval nestabilities to cut out the image after I'd colored it with watercolors. I wasn't able to get a clear closeup of the boots, but I covered the boots with a layer of dimensional glaze and they really look like rubber in real life. Even my husband commented on how real they look. (He usually thinks I use dimensional glaze too much but for this card he approved! hee hee hee).

I have some more Impression Obsession images colored and I will make them into cards very soon.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jennifer

Sheet music cards

Last year my mother moved from the house she and my father had lived in for more than 50 years to an apartment. My mother is a life long musician so naturally, she's acquired a great deal of sheet music and books over the many years. When it came time to move she gave away much of her music to other teachers, church organists and choir directors and also to many of her musician friends. Some of the music, though, was very old, discolored and torn. I let her know that any music she no longer wanted or could give away, I would love to use for cards. And so she gave me a lot of old sheet music.

I was playing around with some of the sheet music the other day. This first card I just might use for some of my Christmas cards this year. It is quite simple and quick to make but I like this sentiment with the music background.



The next card is just for fun...well actually, it is "just a note" card! It is based primarily on the Christmas card but one that could be used for any occasion or just a note.



These cards are minimal stamping but were a lot of fun to make. I'm going to see what else I can come up with using some of my mother's sheet music. I like that it has yellowed over the years. It gives these cards a special "vintage" look to them.

Until next time,

Jennifer

Alterations Sew & Go

I had a VERY nice surprise a few weeks ago. I was in the kitchen, preparing dinner when suddenly there was a "knock, knock, KNOCK!" on the front door. I heard my husband go to the door and following a short conversation with a very nice young man at the front door, my husband came back into the kitchen with a small parcel. He said with a grin on his face, "You just received a special delivery!" I dropped my potato peeler and tore into the package only to discover THIS House Mouse stamp and a beautiful card with a note that said, "...this stamp had Thimbles, Bobbins, Paper and Ink written all over it! Hope you enjoy it!..." and it was signed by my very talented artist friend from Nova Scotia, DEBORAH! Click Deborah's name to view her amazing artwork.



If you care to, double click the photo to enlarge it to see the mirror. I used dimensional glaze on it in Vintage glass color to make it look like a real mirror. Each pin head has a tiny drop of stickles to match the color. I machine stitched the borders and added buttons for the little mice to use on their garments when they are finished with their sewing.

For many years I did alterations as a side business and this little stamp is just sew (oops, so!) perfect for me to use.

I just love this stamp! Thank you so much Deborah!

Until later...

Jennifer

Floral Rooster

One of my favorite new Impression Obsession rubber stamps that I've recently purchased is the Floral Rooster stamp. I just love this rooster!


For this card I watercolored the Rooster with Tombow Markers and then added lots and lots of stickles for glitz! I knew I wanted to add machine stitching to this card and the feather stitch on the outter border reminds me of rooster tracks. The background/designer paper is some beautiful Anna Griffin paper.



For this Merci Rooster card I wanted to give it a different look but still use the same colors. I colored this rooster with Prismacolor pencils and toned down the stickles to a bare sheen. The floral designer paper is a little scrap of Daisy Dee that I had that was just the right size. I added a button and some ribbon, rounded the corners and VOILA! Same stamped image but a bit softer.

I am sure this floral Rooster stamp is surely going to get a lot of use by me.

Speaking of poultry...I had better start preparing the turkey for our Thanksgiving Dinner today. To all Canadian bloggers I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving today!

Jennifer

Trick or Treat

Have you missed me? WOW! It has been a long time since I've lasted posted. My husband has been doing a lot of traveling this month and he's had the camera with him. My scanner doesn't work so I've been out of luck as far as getting cards posted. I have made a lot of cards, so over the next several days I'll show some of my new creations. Some for challenges, some for fun and some from new stamps.

First I want to show you the card I made for the HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS MONDAY CHALLENGE GROUP. Each Monday the House Mouse and friends group post a new challenge. I've been wanting to play along for the longest time and I've finally slipped a card in just under the deadline wire. Tomorrow a new challenge will be posted.



For this card I used one of my new Gruffie's stamps titled "Punkin' Head'. I used some basic gray designer paper for the background and the "trick or Treat sentiment is stamped on a pumpkin punchout (a Martha Stewart Pumpkin punch.)

I colored the image with prismacolor pencils.

Wow...it feels good to be back into card making again. I've missed it and all of my blog-o-sphere friends.

More to come soon! Until then......
Jennifer

And the winner is........

I'm sending a big hug and thanks and also a "WOWZA" shout out to my friend JAN of Far North Designs for taking my blog candy challenge to make a card out of a label. Here is Jan's wonderful card using a bottle label, and of course it is from Alaska ! I love it!

I urge you to check out more of Jan's work and a description of how she made this card and others on Jan's blog, FAR NORTH DESIGNS.

Thank you for accepting and taking on my challenge, my friend! I'll be sending you your prize starter kit of Flower Soft. I hope you'll enjoy it!

A blog candy giveaway challenge

Are you up for a challenge? How about some blog candy? I want to pay it forward. Today I learned that my dear friend ETHEL announced that I was the winner of her blog candy giveaway on her blog.

Since it is just as fun to give as well as receive I thought I'd present some blog candy for giveaway. You know how I've been using the FLOWER SOFT embellishment on a lot of my cards lately? Well if you'd like a chance to receive your own jar of Pale Green FLOWER SOFT all you have to do is play along with my challenge.

Look closely at this card. Do you know what the "BLUE MOON" label is? YES! It is a beer bottle label. I thought this label was so pretty and would make a fun autumn card so I soaked the label off the beer bottle (I filled the sink with very hot water and let it soak until it peeled away) and then I matted it and created an autumn card. FUN! Since I made this card I've been saving pretty and/or interesting labels from wine bottles, beer bottles and fruit juice bottles. It is amazing how pretty some of the labels are.

SO HERE IS YOUR CHALLENGE TO WIN FLOWER SOFT OF YOUR OWN! Create a card using a label from a beverage bottle (good excuse to check out some micro breweries or local wineries). Once you've created your card post a comment on this post with a link to your card on your blog. If you don't have a blog, that's ok. Just email me with a photo of your card attached to the email. I'll make the deadline for your entry Saturday, October 4th at 11:59 p.m. EST. That gives you almost two weeks to drink up and create!


I want everyone to have a chance to win this neat new product. I'll mail anywhere in the world so don't let something like that big pond stop you from this challenge.

So get out your bottle opener and while you are sipping your favorite beverage think of how you can make a card for any occasion out of the label and link your card here and I'll use the random number thingy to choose a winner. You can make as many DIFFERENT label cards and enter them too for additional chances to win.

Sassy Halloween apron received!

I received the cutest apron for Halloween in the fall Sassy Apron swap from my partner, ALISHA R., who lives is Vienna, Austria. Alish made me this darling Halloween apron for me and appliqued the ghostly images on the pocket panel for some spooky fun Halloween flair. You can visit Alisha's blog HERE.


Another part of the Sassy Apron Swap instructions was to include a handmade, coordinating hotpad and a recipe for pie. Here is the great hot pad Alisha made for me. It is large, thick and I've been using it a lot already! She included a recipe for pumpkin pie squares that I'm most definitely going to make. The recipe sounds yummy.



This is the third of four Sassy Apron Swaps that our leader, Lucy has hosted. HUNDREDS of participants from all over the world make and swap aprons, recipes and an added goodie. I've thoroughly enjoyed these swaps. Who wouldn't when you receive great aprons and treats like this.

If you'd like to get in on the final Sassy Apron Swap for this year which will be a Winter themed apron, click on the Sassy Apron Swap icon on my right sidebar or click here on SASSY APRON SWAP to take you to the swap site. I'm sure in a month or so Lucy will be posting the details for the next apron swap.

Thanks so much Alisha for this great Fall apron. I love it!