Saturday, December 19, 2009

Jewelry for a cause, a Fancy Nancy Party 
& a Christmas gift for the teacher...............


Tomorrow night there is a community charity event taking place at the New Oak Vineyard in Wellington.  There will be music, food, drinks, a silent auction and a live auction.  All of the proceeds from this event will benefit the Wellington Food Pantry.  The pantry is in dire need of donations.  More information about this event can be found here.....

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180810832375

If you want to help the cause, you can make a cash donation, donate food items or make a purchase at the event.  There are numerous fantastic items being auctioned off including tickets to Elton John, a police ride-along and even $400 worth of rental vouchers for the new St. Luke's Christian Community Center in Wellington.  I have donated  a handmade bracelet & earring set and 2 sets of hand-embossed cards.


Addie's class earned a Fancy Nancy Party this week, the kids thought it was great!  They all dressed up in their finest attire...(that's a fancy word for clothes).  If you have read the books, you get it.  If you haven't read the books you should!  This is Addie's teacher and she is very fancy! 








Last up is Addie's teacher's Christmas gift.  I wanted to make something handmade for her teacher this year, so I put together a set of 6 note cards.  The envelopes were all stamped to match and  even the flowers were dyed to match the paper.  (I got home and none of my flowers matched the shade of blue-green that was in the paper!  A little Close to my Heart re-inker and some white paper flowers and voila`, a perfect match.)  Of course no card set is complete without my signature satin ribbon.  I added celery green satin to the card wrap and pumpkin satin ribbon to the plastic bag that held the cards and then a little piece of red satin ribbon to hold the tag on the outside of the gift bag.  Fancy gifts can never have to much satin ribbon!

 

j.

Saturday, December 12, 2009







Gift Tin & a couple Christmas Cards



I started with  a metal lunch box that I bought after Christmas a couple of years ago at a very good clearance sale.  I cut two strips of Kraft cardstock approx. 2" wide x 12" long.  Glued them together to make one super long strip.  Then I stamped delicate snowflakes in White Stazon ink and added a little sponged white Stazon to all the edges.   Wrapped it around my box and glued the ends.  Then I wrapped a piece of beautiful Olive green satin ribbon and glue dotted the ends. 
 
I had a long piece of snowflake border that I got a Hobby Lobby for $1.50, and I cut one of the snowflakes out, added a button with a hemp thread and that is my center piece.  I thought it needed a tag with a greeting, dark chocolate Bazzil made the tag and a piece of Kraft with a scallop punch made the greeting base.  I am not even sure where I got the stamp that says Peace on Earth, but it came in a large set of Christmas stamps from several years ago.  Stazon around all the edges and a Stazon stamped snowflake in the middle.  A little red rhinstone finishes the tag.


Three pieces of coordinating ribbon for the handle and I have a lovely tin to fill with cookies, candles, cards or whatever. This would make an excellent gift for anyone on your list!
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Card to go with tin.  Cut a piece of Kraft Cardtsock 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", stamp with snowflake in Stazon.  Ink edges with white Stazon.  Add piece of coordinating Olive Green ribbon and a felt snowflake.  Top with a button threaded with hemp. Cute and simple!

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This card has a little more detail.  I made it special for a family in AZ. First cut a piece of red sparkly holly paper 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Cut a piece of Kraft Cardstock  3X3, stamp snowman stamp from Snow Friends set (Close to my Heart) in White Stazon.  Next I "colored" him in with the White Daisy Marker from Close to my Heart.  When you first use the marker it looks like nothing is happening, then in just a couple of min, the white starts to appear like magic.  It is very cool.  Definetly looks like snow.


 
I then added some sparkle with my Tonertex glue pen and added Prisma Glitter (Close to my Heart) to the little snowflakes and the ground around the snowman.  Inked edges with white Stazon.  I then mounted it onto a piece of Bazzil Bling Red cut to 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".  After all the snowman image with dry, I went back and colored his hat red, made his eyes, nose, buttons and colored in the heart with Prismacolor markers.  After that was dry I added a fake stitch to his hat and heart ornament with a white pen.  I then waited several min and went back over the hat with a fine tip Chocolate Marker from Close to my Heart and made the stitches on the hat look antiqued.  I also added some lines to the front of the hat and some shadows to the sides.  I also made his stick arms with the chocolate marker.

A small leftover piece of the dark chocolate cardstock made the tag and another scallop punched piece of cardstock with the "Peace on Earth" stamped in Chocolate.  I then decided I wanted to try another technique, so I stamped the snowflake on a piece of acetate and puched it out with the scallop punch and layered it onto the Kraft piece.  Added a red bling and a piece of Olive Green Satin ribbon.  Layer everthing together and stamp "Happy Holidays" in the inside.

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 Happy Anniversary card for Sally & Glen.  (Special order) Two chipboard hearts are the focal point for this card. One was coated in chocolate texture cardstock and three little blings added, the other was coated in red texture paper and then coated in a solid cover of Prisma Glitter.  I wrapped them in a hug of Chocolate satin ribbon and glue dotted them to a card base made of berry, green & red papers from  Bazzill.  Stamp the "Love" sentiment from "Card Commentary" from Close to my Heart and embossed it in red embossing powder.  Finished it off with a piece of chocolate satin ribbon and the inside sentiment of "Happy Anniversary".

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This is a picture I took when we were putting up the Christmas decorations and I really liked how Addie was really taking in the Nativity Scene.  She loves special things and this really caught her eye.  It was a gift from Johns parents several years ago. 

Have a peaceful day!
j.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009













It's a handmade Christmas....... 
One of my customers requested several card sets to give as gifts for Christmas.  She has been planning on trying to do all her shopping locally, which I think is a great idea!    She is going to give several people on her list a set of cards, a homemade goodie and earrings made by another local artist.  What a fantastic gift idea!   

I still have several more to make, this is just the first big batch.  All of them have been embossed, some of them have several layers.  
If you have any questions about product or technique, please feel free to leave a comment!


j.


p.s. Sorry the pictures are not very good, it has been non-stop rain here so I had to take them by the window and I  was sick on top of that, so my heart wasn't into the photography that day!  After a  steroid shot, antibiotics and a decongestant I feel like superwoman now!  :)




Sunday, November 1, 2009

All Hallow's Eve happenings.......













Card for Meg's secret pal at school.  Embossed, several times, then brayered and sponged with background.  Had a little oops with the embossing powder and as you can see there are several white dots around the vampire.  Apparently I didn't get all the little stray pieces of powder off and so those places remained white.  It's ok tho, as we all now know, vampires sparkle.  So this is our sparkly vampire, Edward!  HA!


Also the envelope had to be decorated!
Love the Martha Stewart Goo punch!




Who is that masked Grannie?  & " Sarah the Witch"  (Addie, looks very different with blonde hair!) 
Addie and me carving the pumpkin.














Outside decorations.  One of my favorite things is setting up the patio with decorations.  We have collected several cool ones over the years.

Mr. Heartbroken is a new addition this year.  He was waiting on his lovely lady, and she never showed.  He died right there on that bench, with a rose in his hand.  AWWW....poor guy!


Well, that's a wrap...hope you had a fun, safe Halloween!


j.

Thursday, October 29, 2009


Addie playing in the leaves.  The colors in the trees are so beautiful this fall.  We have really been lucky!

j.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pixie Stick Invitations
Kraft cardstock folded in half, cut into strips and glued on the edges forms this little pixie stick holder.  I first ran it through my printer to print the party info and each kiddo's name.  Finish with a knot of ribbon and a felt pumpkin.  Cute, inexpensive and still homemade!






No fall would be complete without a trip to the punkin' patch.  Big...small...round...tall...we like them all!  Even the little, little, little, bitty ones! 




These were  a recent special order.  I love how they turned out.  They are for twins that are only a week or two old!  So no scary stuff here, just sweet, happy pumpkins with sweet candy corn and only a little bitty "Boo".

j.

Thursday, October 15, 2009



Simple Masking

 Materials

2 Pieces of Scrap paper
Sponge
Ink
hole punch (I used 1 1/4")

 


First punch a circle out of one of your pieces of paper.  This will become your "stencil" or "mask".









 


Using your sponge, press it onto your ink pad to load your sponge with ink.  Then using either a pouncing or circular method.  Apply the ink to your stencil.  Being careful to not go off of the stencil or mask.  I found using a pouncing application or the swirl, gives it the best effect.  Hold your mask nice and tight.





 


Lift your mask and you should have a nice round ink mark.
























I then added a witch stamp inked up in black and stamped directly onto my masked image.  


This process could be used for many different things.  




Have Fun Masking!

j.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Yes it's true....Megan has her drivers permit!  
SCARY HUH?!  
 


Congrats Megan, we love you and are very proud of you!
j.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

NEW CLOSE TO MY HEART STAMPS!!!

The new catalog debuted September 1st and this was a must have stamp set for me. It is adorable. Its called "Childhood Portrait". It includes a child on a rocking horse, a large tree, ballerina, children on the bench, a child with a yo-yo, grass, birds and even a couple of sentiments! This set has the whole sh-bang! (Is that spelled right?!) You know what I mean!

Anyway, the ribbon and green paper are not CTMH, but the cream paper, ink, embossing powder, stamp and blue paper are CTMH. I just love all the textures in these cards. I made them and sold them in under 24 hours! I guess I am not the only one who liked them!



FYI, I have created a new pricing label. I read this week that if you are selling something to the public, that you must have consistent, easy to see pricing and descriptions. One of the biggest turn-offs for a potential customer is having to ask for a price. I found this information very interesting and helpful. Now I have always priced my items, but not in the same manner. For example, I used little white stickers and a black pen. Then I used little round stickers and a red pen, then I had a few special labels thrown in. It is harder for a customer to "know" where to look if it's different each time. So from now on everything gets a little "handmade" label. Now I can never let myself run out of Kraft card stock again! Which is OK with me! :)

j.

Monday, September 28, 2009

My oldest is 15!

Man that just should not be! She was very happy with her gifts, several movies, a phone, nail polish.....you know all the stuff a teenager has to have to survive! :)

Happy Birthday Megan!


Totally cool cake....in fact Megan said it was "awesome"........cool.


Thank you card for a customer of mine. Used the "Whoo loves you" stamp set from Close to my Heart. All paper except the Kraft card stock is Close to my Heart. Sentiment was printed on home printer. Mushrooms were stamped and cut out. Little mushrooms are from the "Dream Big" stamp set from CTMH. Owl and branch were cut out using the Home Decor Cricut cartridge. Lots and lots of sponging chocolate ink. The inside of the card says "I do", along with a note of thanks for purchasing her supplies from me. :)


Anytime notes. I had a dream about this set. I could see the plain white back ground with really bright solid color butterflies all over the front of the card. When I sat down the next day to make it this is what I ended up with! Not my normal style at all. Too.....ummm clean?!




I took a break from scrappin' one day this weekend and made this watch. I have been thinking about the idea for several weeks now and I finally got around to buying the watch part. (I had everything else!) It took about an 1 1/2 hours to complete and was simple as pie. I just love the color combo. Very eclectic.....that's me! I like old...new...vintage...chic....modern...all of it! So the best part about this watch is that the watch part is actually on jump rings, so I can change the beaded band part if I want to later! Very cool!


j.