I have been missing in action because.....

I have been busy creating this Acrylic Album for a good friend of mine that had a baby girl in December. I am going to her baby shower tomorrow and just decided on Wednesday to make this for her. I really hope that she likes it. She knows that I scrapbook and loves to go through my albums and such, but she does not scrapbook for herself. I tried to make the album easy for her to be able to add her pictures to it, so I did not do too many different sized photo mats. The only thing I could NOT resist adding to the album was the big scalloped circles that look like flowers. I guess that she does not have add photos to those, she could just leave them alone.

ANYHOO.....on to the album. I created this using CTMH's My Creations Acrylic Album and My Reflections Daydream paper pack. I kind of used a hodge podge of accents, but all are CTMH and are current if you would like to order any! If you like this but it is too girly for you, check out Vicki's version using the My Reflections Stardust paper pack! She even has super cute black and white photos of her son on hers!!

Front cover....


Pages 1 and 2.....


Pages 1 and 2 still, with the divider moved over to page 1.......


Pages 3 and 4......


Pages 5 and 6.......


Pages 5 and 6 with the divider moved over to page 5.....I thought that if she wanted, she could add a photo to this, or she could keep it just plain.


Pages 7 and 8 The "flower" on this page is a large Nestabilities scalloped circle with a regular Nestabilities circle inside.......


Pages 7 and 8 again with the flower flipped over to the other side.


And finally, the back of the album. I did not do anything with the back, just stuck a piece of paper on it and a scalloped circle. I did not think it needed much more!


Am I forgiven for not posting for 2 days?? I thought maybe this would make up for it! If you really like this album and want to make one for yourself, leave a comment in this post and I will e-mail you the cutting dimensions and photos of the album in a word doc. If you want to re-create this using the same papers and album, you can order the supplies from my CTMH website and have them shipped directly to you!

All supplies are ctmh:
Paper: Daydream and Daydream Stickease
Embellishments: White Daisy Mini Medley, White Daisy Ribbon, Baby Pink Ribbon, Love Letters Rub-Ons, Winter Cozy Buttons, Holiday Buttons, Big Blooms, Circle Window Charms, Perennials Dimensional Elements, Monogram Dimensional Elements, and Sparkles

I hope that you have found some inspiration!

Thanks for sticking with me and not giving up on me! Please stop by again soon!!

Jen

Posting 2 Days in a Row......WOW I am on a Roll!!

And I even have my laundry done!! I am trying my follow the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge the best that I can! But it is proving to be a little harder than I thought to create 9 different cards! Since I don't think that I will be able to create 7 more cards before tomorrow night for the BIG drawing, I would still like to challenge myself to make a card for each of the sketch's.

This sketch that I followed today came from Jami Sibley. Check out the card that she created for this sketch, it is super cute! I REALLY like the way this sketch is layed out and LOVE the way my card turned out! Here is the sketch:


Here is my card using Close to my Heart's Free Spirit papers and matching My Reflections Stickease. For my sentiment I used a past Stamp of the Month called Say it in Style. I really love this stamp set for it's versitility in sentiments!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that CTMH will bring the set back to purchase in the Idea Books......


This card was actually one of the easiest yet! When I purchase CTMH's paper packs, I almost always purchase the My Reflections Stickease that match. The problem is I don't always use the stickease on my projects. So, I thought I would actually use them for this challenge. Kind of like a double challenge for me today! LOL


The flourish that I used is one of the stickers that come with the matching stickease assortment. I stuck the flourish onto a piece of Cocoa CS and cut around the flourish leaving a small border. The piece with the stitching is also a sticker, cut to size and distressed with Cocoa ink. The Pewter Designer Brads at the bottom of the card are new to the Spring Idea Book and are super cool!!

All supplies are CTMH:
Stamp: Say it in Style
Paper: Free Spirit
Embellishments: Free Spirit My Stickease, Pewter Designer Brads, Cocoa Ribbon
Other non-ctmh: Nestabilities Circles, SU! scalloped punch

I hope that you have found inspiration in my card today! Get those stickers out and put them on your cards! I know I will be using more!!

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope to see you back again!

Jen

InStyle Stamps Method Monday Challenge

Yesterday, InStyle Stamps DT member Maria, posted this AWESOME tutorial on how to make a Square Coat Card! I really LOVE the way this card turned out and the tutorial was super easy to follow! If you would like to play along with this challenge, all you need to do is make a Square Coat Card and post a link to your creation on the InStyle Stamps blog under the Method Monday post. We would love to have you play along and see what you come up with!

Here is my take on the Square Coat Card using Roxy from InStyle Stamps and Good Times paper from CTMH.


This is the card with the ribbon untied to show the card front.....


And finally the card opens up to write your message!

Roxy's shirt is paper pieced using the striped paper from Good Times. The pants are paper pieced using Twilight CS and distressing them with sand paper for a washed denim look. I colored her hair with a brown PrismaColor pencil and used Gamsol to blend the pencil marks. The earings are Twilight Brads.

Supplies used are:

Stamp: Roxy, InStyle Stamps
Paper: CTMH Good Times
Embellishments: Love Letters Chocolate Rub-Ons, Chocolate Mini Medley bigger brads, Twilight Brads and Twill Ribbon
Corner rounder and Nestabilities circles

I hope that I have inspired you to give this awesome tutorial a try!

Thanks for stopping by!! Please stop back again soon!

Jen

Another GREAT sketch from Taylored Expressions!

As I was creating the last card, I saw that Taylored Expressions had posted another sketch! This time, they are celebrating a year of Cupcake Challenges and have 9 sketches all together to participate in. The best part about it is there is a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the Taylored Expressions store!! If you head on over to Taylored Expressions blog, you can read all about their awesome give-aways this week!! I will be trying my darndest (is that really a word?) to play along with all 9 sketches.......we shall see how the week goes! LOL

Here is the sketch that I followed, or tried to follow for my card.....


Here is my take on the sketch using CTMH's Magic Moments paper and Whimsical Wings......


I was not a huge fan of the Whimsical Wings stamp set until I saw a card made using this stamp set in the Spring Idea Book. After seeing the way they made the butterfly's 3D, I knew that I NEEDED the stamp set! I created the dual colored butterfly by inking the image first in Sunflower and then the edges in Hollyhock. After that I took the edge of my ink pad and randomly put marks on the Sunflower ink. When I first stamped the image onto my paper, I HATED it. But I did not throw it away and for some reason it grew on me and I ended up thinking it was actually pretty cool! I added Prisma Gitter for bling!

All supplies are CTMH:
Stamps: Whimsical Wings, Say it in Style
Paper: Magic Moments
Embellishments: Hollyhock Ribbon, Cocoa Ribbon, Prisma Glitter

I hope that I have inspired you to think outside of the box and try something new!

Thanks for stopping by!! Please come back and visit!!

Jen

Hey there cupcake!! Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #51

I love sketch challenges, if you have not already noticed!! I have a list of blogs that I go through when I sit down to start a card. Once I have found the sketch that catches my eye, I get busy creating, or at least try to create! LOL I found this cute sketch over at Taylored Expressions and thought I would give it a shot. Here is the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #51.....

Here is my take on the challenge......For my card, I used the Key to my Heart paper pack (still available till the end of the month) and a new CTMH stamp set called Cupcake Sprinkles.


I stamped the cupcake top in Sorbet and put Liquid Applique over all and added Prisma Glitter to the top. After I took the heat gun to puff the Liquid Applique, I gently sponged Sorbet on to the top to give it a little color. For the cupcake bottom, I stamped the image with VersaMark and embossed it with Clear Detail Embossing Powder. I cut it out, took my Juniper marker to the lines and folded the edges in for dimension. Both pieces are pop dotted. The "stitching" around the card is a stamp from the Cupcake Sprinkles set.


Just in case you did not know this already, if you like any of the CTMH products that are used in my projects, all you need to do is click on the Close to my Heart link and order from my website. Your order will be shipped directly to you! It does not get much easier than that!! If you have any questions about the Close to my Heart products, or would like to join my team, please feel free to contact me anytime!

Most supplies are CTMH:
Stamp set: Cupcake Sprinkles
Papers: Key to my Heart
Embellishments: Spring Blossom Mini-Medley, Sorbet Ribbon
Non CTMH: sparkles ( archiver's)

Hope I have inspired in some way today!

Thanks for stopping by, make sure to stop by again!!

Jen

Butterfly Wings gable box

I receive the Splitcoast Stampers Weekly Inkling today and this week's tutorial caught my eye. When I opened my e-mail this morning and saw this tutorial, I knew exactly what I was going to make for the monthly unit swap that I participate in. This will not be my submission, but I was pretty tickled with the way this turned out! I was thinking this would be a fun little box to put a few goodies in and give out at my gatherings and crops.

If you would like to see the tutorial so you can make your very own Gable Box, all you have to do is follow this link at Splitcoast Stampers. If you would like to have the Splitcoast Stampers Weekly Inkling sent to you all you have to do is go to Splitcoast Stampers and sign up! It is as easy as that!!


Here is my take on the Gable Box using a sneak peak stamp from Close to my Heart's Stamp of the Month for March: Butterfly Wings. If you would like to buy this stamp you will have to wait until March to do so. But don't wait too long because once the month is gone, the stamp set is gone too :(

I created the butterfly wing by stamping the image in VersaMark and then in Crystal Blue ink and embossing it with Fine Detail Embossing Powder. After the embossing cooled, I colored it in with my Cocoa marker and wiped off the excess marker from the embossed areas. I then cut out the wing and pop dotted it over the body of the butterfly for dimension. I did go over the body of the butterfly with my Cocoa marker to make it a little darker than the original stamped image.

All supplies are CTMH:
Stamp: March SOTM Butterfly Wings (available March 1st - 31st 2009)
Paper: Creative Basics Emporium
Ink: Crystal Blue and Cocoa
Embellishments: Cocoa Ribbon, Crytal Blue Brads and Twilight corduroy button.
Other supplies used: VersaMark, Fine Detail Embossing Powder

Hope I have inspired you to go create your own Gable Box!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you come back to visit again!!

Jen

It's Monday.......Do you know what that means?

It means that it is Mojo Monday again! AND once again they have come up with a sketch that is impossible to resist! LOL This just might be my favorite sketch yet! I even surprised myself with how quickly this card came together. I do feel that it needs some brads or something because it feels plain to me. But when I did try to add a little something, it just seemed to make it look too busy. Anyhoo.....Here is the sketch....

And here is my take on the sketch......


For my card I used CTMH Stardust paper pack and Reach for the Stars stamp set. I stamped the rocket and exhaust with Versa Mark and Staz On and then embossed the image with Ultra Fine embossing powder. I used my CTMH Moonstruck Topiary and Grey Flannel markers to color both in. I really like how the embossing keeps the colors from bleeding into one another. It keeps it looking crisp to me. Here is a close up to show the dimension..........

Most supplies used for this card are CTMH:

Paper: My Reflections Stardust Level 2
Stamps: CTMH Reach for the Stars
Ribbon: Outdoor Denim and White Daisy
Nestabilities Circles

Hope that I have inspired in some way today!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you come back soon!

Jen

Mojo Monday card #2

After looking at the first card that I posted, I decided it needed a little something more added to it. The first card had paper piercing all around the edges of the orange dp but did not stand out for some reason. So, I started by taking my black marker and filling in each dot to make it more noticeable. Once I did that, my white gel pen was calling out to me to put dots on the black matting and the scalloped circle. NOW I think that this card looks MUCH better. Here it is...... you be the judge!

I hope that you have found inspiration in my re-do!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #69

Yes, I know it is Thursday and I should be working on my Thankful Thursday sketch challenge for InStyle Stamps......But I really like this sketch and wanted to make it first, since Monday comes before Thursday. Bad excuse, I know, but I just wanted to play with this sketch really bad! Too bad I can't combine both challenges and make this my Thankful Mojo Sketch Challenge! LOL

Here is the Mojo Monday sketch:

Here is my card:


For this card I used one of my favorite paper packs archaic by Basic Grey. I also used CTMH's Love Letters Rub-Ons. I have only used rub ons a few other times on my projects and honestly never understood the big deal that everyone makes about them. BUT using them in my project today actually made me start liking them!

Here is a close up of the details.......


The flower and the decoration behind it actually is one rub-on that I seperated and then cut out the flower. Each of the swirls on the circles are also rub-ons. I went a little crazy with the rub-ons on this card! LOL

Supplies for this card:
Paper: archaic Basic Grey, Black CS ctmh
Embellishments: Circle Window Charms ctmh, Black Bitty Brads ctmh, Love Letters Rub-Ons ctmh
Paper piercer

Hope I have inspired you in some way today!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Is it Tuesday already??

I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to post a project!! WOW This weekend sure got away from me and before I knew it, it was Tuesday night! I thought I would share this card that I made for a unit swap that I participate in each month. I kind of cheated with this card as I have already made a Thank You card using this darling bird and the same technique already. But, I was short on time today......yes I procrastinated again......and only had about 4 hours with which to come up with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card using CTMH's Emporium papers and colors, make 5 more and drop them off to my upline's house before heading to my new downlines house. WHEW!! Anyhoo...... Here is the card.......

For this card, I used the Originals Card Confidence Program for the LO and Emporium for my papers and colors. I used Intrinsic Backgrounds and Bird Basics to create the "feathery" look on the bird. I used an Edge Distresser to distress the edges of the cs and my paper piercer for the dots around the edge of the card. I started with a Colonial White background for my card so when I pierced the Cocoa cs, the background paper showed through. Last but not least, the square brads are from the Winter Cozy Mini Medley collection of which I had a few extra to use on my swaps due to the awesome gift from Shari (my upline) ......I posted a picture of them on an earlier post!

All products used on this card are CTMH

Hope this inspired you! I promise I won't take as long to post again! LOL

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you come back again sometime soon!

Jen

My card for the CPS98 Sketch Challenge

I really liked this week's sketch challenge over at CPS so decided to give it a whirl. I am very tired tonight.....so this will be a short and sweet post!

Here is the CPS sketch that I followed:

Here is my card:

Upclose of the bunny:

For the card I used CTMH Creative Basics Emporium paper and ribbon. I stamped the bunny on watercolor paper with staz on and versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I used my ctmh markers and a blending pen to color the bunny in. I added a little sparkle to the center of the flower on his hat. I cut him out and pop dotted him onto the oval that was stamped with a background stamp from CTMH Intrinsic Backgrounds. The ovals are Nestabilities and the notebook look is from a SU punch.

Hope I have inspired you today!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

InStyle Stamps Thankful Thursday Sketch Completed!!

I am finally finished with my card!! I don't believe you have met Marti yet. She was a little more challenging than the others have been so far.....at least for me. After unsucessfully coloring her with my markers, I ended up once again paper piecing her dress. My 14 yrd old daughter thought this would be a great thank you for hospitality....as in Thank You for the great time at your party. Once again this card does not WOW me, so I may be making changes later to see if I can get the WOW factor with this card. It just seems to be missing something...... Maybe you could help me. If you have any suggestions as to what would really make this a WOW card, leave a comment. If you think it is sweet just the way it is......leave a comment! LOL Thanks!!

OK I could not wait......it was bothering me too much!! LOL What do you think of this 2nd version? Any better? I just felt like the first card had too much empty space around Marti.


For this card I stamped Marti 3 times. Once on White Daisy CS, once on the Basic Grey DP and once on Vellum. I cut the dress from the DP and adhered it to the image on the White Daisy. I then cut out, glittered and adhered the vellum to the top of the DP. The clear tag that the Thank You is stamped on is from a container of Jim Holtz idea-ology clear charms. I used my circle nestabilities for the CP on the back of the charm and the CS on the front. For my large circle, I pulled out my OLD Creative Memories Circle and Oval cutting system. Who knew it would still be good for something....LOL!! I just might have to pull it out and use it more!

How about a close up just for fun??



Supplies:
Stamps Marti, InStyle Stamps and Say it in Style
Paper: Basic Grey, Sugared and White Daisy CS ctmh
Embellishments: Garden Green and Colonial White ribbon CTMH, Tim HOltz Fragments charms, prisma glitter ctmh,

Hope I have inspired today! Have fun with the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and for patiently waiting for me to get my rear in gear and make this card!

Jen

InStyle Stamps Thankful Thursday Sketch

I am so excited to announce that InStyle Stamps is holding a Thankful Thursday Sketch challenge each Thursday! I am in the process of creating my card for the sketch and will post it as soon as I have it completed. In the meantime if you would like to participate in this challenge all you need to do is create a Thanks, Thankful, or Thank you card using this super cute sketch created by Melissa.......

You do not need to use InStyle stamps on your card, but if you do that would be great too! Once you have created your card, leave a comment on this post at InStyle Stamps with a link to your card and while you are there take a peak at what you could win!! You have until Wednesday, January 14th, 11:59pm to create it and leave a comment! So what are you waiting for? Go get creative and let's see what you come up with!!!

While you are waiting for me to create my card, check out these blogs for more inspiration....

Jennie

Shary

Virginia

Sandy

Melissa

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Introducing Pam and Buster and Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge

In my search for sketch challenges, I found this awesome blog called Mojo Monday Sketch Blog. The weekly sketch challenge actually started out at Poetic Artistry and was recently moved to it's own blog. Since this is the first Monday of the month, this is a judged sketch challenge contest and the winner of the contest wins their choice of any Verve Stamps set up to $24!! I hope it is ok to post the sketch here......If not please let me know!! Here is the sketch.....

And here is my submission......... My image was larger than I thought it was going to be for this sketch, so i had to improvise a bit with what I was working with. One would think that it would have been easier to just use a different stamp.......but NO I was bound and determined to make Pam and Buster work for this card. LOL



For this card I used the retro Pam and Buster stamp from InStyle Stamps. These little ladies are so fun to paper piece, so I paper pieced Pam's dress and headband and Buster's coat. I colored Pam's hair using my Buttercup ctmh marker (since I don't own any copics YET)and her shoes and lips are Blush marker. Buster is colored with a Desert Sand marker and his nose it Bamboo. The little Baby Pink flowers are Edge Anchors from CTMH that are broken in half. pop dotted and have a sparkle on the top. I am not sure if this in my favorite card I have created lately.....but I thought it was sweet enough. It actually looks better in person. You know when you create that WOW card and you really don't care if anyone else likes it?? Well, this is NOT that card. LOL

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: Pam and Buster InStyle Stamps and Say it in Style CTMH
Inks: Blush, Buttercup, Baby Pink, Bamboo, Desert Sand and Smokey Plum
Paper: Basic Grey, Sugared
Embellishments: Cottage Baby Pink Edge Anchors, Just Blooms ctmh, Baby Pink organdy ribbon, and sparkles from Archiver's
Other supplies: Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! punches

Hope you have found some kind of inspiration today!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jen

Hydrangea Bittybloom....Isn't she just the sweetest thing?

I LOVE this little Hydrangea Bittybloom!! In the past I have had a hard time purchasing any other stamps than Close to my Heart. I always felt that if I was going to purchase stamps, I might as well purchase ones that I can use for my business. WELL that idea has been completely thrown out the window! There are just too many cute stamps out there for me not to buy. After oohing and aahing over the darling stamps at Stampingbella.com for quite some time, I finally broke down and bought 8 stamps. Hydrangea Bittybloom was one of them and after playing with her I will be placing another order for more of the Bittyblooms!!

For my card I used paper from the new Spring Idea Book called That's Amore. If you would like to see all of the papers and colors in this pack just click on the Spring Idea book on my sideline. I have to admit this was my least favorite paper pack in the Spring Idea book. But as always, once I get the papers in my hands and play around with them I always end up loving them.

I inked the image in black Staz On and then again in VersaMark and stamped onto Vanilla Cream CS and embossed the image with clear embossing powder. This way it was so much easier to color in each individual flower without the marker bleeding into the next flower. I stamped and embossed the image 2 times, cut out the skirt and leaves from one image and popdotted them on the first image for dimension.

Supplies used for card:
Stamp: Hydrangea Bittybloom
Paper: CTMH My Reflections That's Amore paper pack
Ink: Chocolate, Blush, Baby Pink, Sweet Leaf and Garden Green
Embellishments: CTMH Blush Ribbon Slide, Colonial White ribbon, paper flowers from Chocolate Mini-Medley and sponged in Blush, Sparkles bought from Archiver's.
Other supplies used: Clear embossing powder, Black Staz on, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and Oval Nestabilities

Hope you have found a little inspiration today!

Thanks for stopping by, please come back again!

Jen

My card for the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Sketch Challenge

I had a day of firsts yesterday. I attended my first blog hop, my first stamp release party and won my first set of stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps! How exciting is that?? All I had to do to win them was leave a comment at each of the DT's blogs yesterday and Thursday. I really had no expectations of winning anything, just thought it would be fun to play along. So last night I attended Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps release party and saw my name announced! WOO HOO!! When I receive my set, I will create a card and post so you all can see my gift. In the meantime if you would like to see the set I won, head on over to Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps website and look at the Floral Flourishes and as long as you are there take a peak at all of the great stamps and supplies they have!


Along with the new releases being announced, there was a sketch challenge, technique challenge and a color challenge for us to try. I LOVE a challenge so I created this card for the sketch challenge. This really was a challenge for me and after trying different stamped images on it, I opted for the easy way out and put flowers on the front. The words ALWAYS and FOREVER are from the Love Letters Rub-Ons by ctmh. The paper is from the new My Reflections Unforgettable paper pack.

Most supplies are CTMH:
Paper: My Reflections Unforgettable
Ink: Cocoa and Blush
Embellishments: Blush Buttons, Big Blooms (white flower), Love Letters Rub Ons, Chocolate Waxy Flax, and Sorbet Ribbon
The Dark Brown Flower was purchased at Archiver's

I hope I have inspired you in some small way today! Do you have a blog? If so, leave a comment so I can check out your blog too!

Thanks for stopping by!! I promise I won't take as long to post again!

Jen