Wednesday, December 31, 2008

JBE New Year's Bash Challenge #4

Woohoo! The last challenge of the night -what a great bunch of challenges we have going on and HAVE YOU SEEN the prizes? Whoa, Lindsey has gone all out for each challenge!! Check out the Jacksonbelle Embellishment Challenge blog for all the details!

Challenge # 4 is a Birth of a New Day! That's right, make a birthday card. Lindsey has a birthday on January 4th, so in celebration I have made her a birthday card! For Splitcoast, use keyword: JBENYE4.
This card uses the super cute cupcake set by Inkadinkado called Birthday Cupcakes. I colored it with copic markers and decorated it with lots of glitter! The DP is Imaginisce Fairest of Them All line called Sweet Satin Ribbons -very cool it has glitter strips in it! In the center of all the Prima flowers I put some Dew Drops and accented them all with lots of Crystal Stickles! Oh man, this card is sparkly :-)
Here is a close up pic of the yummy cupcake.
Don't forget to cruise to all the Design Teams blogs to see their challenge cards and find out who has the CANDY!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Birthday Cupcakes
Paper - PTI spring moss, white, DP
Accessories - prima flowers, circle nesties, Art Glitter, copic markers, paper piercer


JBE New Years Eve Challenge #3

Well, have you been keeping up with the challenges? It's been a busy day!!

Time for the 3rd challenge -New Year's Resolution time!! That's right, create a card based in some way on your Resolution. Be creative, no restrictions. If you don’t have a resolution, like me, how about using some neglected stamps, paper, embellishments, etc… That is a New Year Resolution ANY stamper can relate to!!! SCS Keyword JBENYE3.

Here are the challenge details- ANYONE can play along, you don't need to use Jacksonbelle Embellishment items on your cards. All you have to do is go to the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Blog and link your card in the post for this challenge. That’s it! The deadline to enter for the CHALLENGES (blog candy deadline is different) is 1/4/09 by 12pm EST! There will be a prize given away for each challenge.

Blog Hop Treasure Hunt - Have you been hopping around? I have a list of the Design Team participating in this challenge below. Check them out to see their challenge cards and who has the candy!

Jennifer Buck
Jill Dunn
Kimberly O'Rosky
Kisa Peters
Lindsey Botkin
Lynda Benden
Maren Benedict
Taylor Usry
Rachel Baird

Before I forget...there is chatting going on!! Come join us at the JBelle Group on Paper Craft Planet for some NYE Fun!!!

Stay tuned for Challenge #4, I will have a card to post for that one.


JBE New Years Eve challenge #2!

So.... Did you all hop around the blogs from the last challenge and discover who all had the CANDY?? Yep, one was ME!! Scroll down to my Challenge #1 post and make a comment to enter.

On to Challenge #2 - in honor of traditional New Years Eve celebrations, make a black and white ( or vanilla) card. And the twist, you must include some SHINY accents or paper to the card. ANY theme! Just have fun with it! SCS Keyword JBENYE2.

Challenge details ~ ANYONE can play along and we hope you do!!! All you have to do is go to the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Blog and link your card in the post for the challenge you are playing. That’s it! The deadline to enter for the CHALLENGES (blog candy deadline is different) is 1/4/09 by 12pm EST! There will be a prize given away for each challenge.

Don't forget about the Blog Hop Treasure Hunt ~ take a look at the Design Team members below and see their challenge card and find out WHO has the candy!

AJ Otto
Jennifer Buck
Jill Dunn
Kisa Peters
Kimberly O’Rosky
Lindsey Botkin
Lynda Benden
Maren Benedict
Shannan Teubner
Taylor Usry

Check back in 2 hours for Challenge #3!!

JBE New Years Eve challenge #1

Are you ready for the first Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Eve challenge? Here it is!

Challenge #1 (3pm EST): Make a RING card!

Let's “RING” in the New Year together!! Keyword here - RING!!! Use your imagination and make a card that has a “ring” to it!! Ideas ~ Wedding card (wedding rings), circles, a bell, kids (ring around the Rosie), diamonds (either the shape OR the bling!!!). Have fun with it! SCS Keyword - JBENYE1

And... I HAVE SOME BLOG CANDY FOR THIS CHALLENGE!! Woohoo, you found me! I am giving away 3 lovely jars of SHIMMERZ! Oh yeah baby, SHIMMERZ! The colors are Wintergreen, Teal and Kiwi Lime. So, leave me a comment on this post and you will be eligible to win.
On to my challenge card. I chose to make a wedding card using a rings image! The images are from the Inkadinkado Wedding set. I stamped the bride and groom image in Versafine black onyx ink and lightly colored the flowers with a Copic marker (BV11 soft violet), the rings are embossed with Silver EP. I painted Angel Wings Shimmerz on the entire dress as well as the frame of the white oval panel. I also painted the Shimmerz on the prima flowers to match the glittery brad is from Imaginisce Hallowhimsy brads.

The designer paper is the new Memory Box Sprout paper pack -LOVE, love, love this paper pack, such soft designs and pretty purple and green colors!!

Here is a close up showing (I hope) the shimmerz on the image and flowers. I think you can click on the pic to make it bigger.


Here is the the BLOG CANDY! Again, to enter to win these Shimmerz jars, just leave me a comment. Check back for the winner announcement on Friday, Jan 2nd at 9am (PST). P.S. I fiddled with loading these 3 pictures for almost an hour trying to get them all in a row, I gave up and here they are -LOL!

Check out the other Design Team creations!!!
Card Deets:
Stamps - Wedding (Inka)
Ink - Versafine black onyx, pale plum (for sponging), versamark
Paper - Perfect plum, certain celery, white, Memory Box DP
Accessories - Prima flowers, Imaginisce glitter brads, Angel Wings Shimmerz, circle and oval nesties, Cuttlebug swiss dots EF, silver EP, copic markers

Happy New Year and let's PARTY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
'scuba

Head on over to the Jacksonbelle Embellishments page on Paper Craft Planet for lots of chatting, challenges and details about some prizes! It starts NOW (Noon or 3pm EST for your East Coasties)!!

There will be 4 challenges tonight, EVERYONE can play along!!! You don't have to use JBE products to play, but if you don't have any, you should head on over and check out the amazing goodies at the store.

How do play? Pick a challenge (or 4) and go to the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Challenge Blog and leave a comment & link to your card in the post for the specific challenge you are playing with. That’s it! The deadline to enter for the CHALLENGES (blog candy deadline is different) is 1/4/09 by 12pm EST. Of course there will be a prize given away for each challenge!!

OK, you know there had to be BLOG CANDY with each challenge? Here is the scoop with the candy, it's a Blog Hop Treasure Hunt!! How fun is that? We can’t tell you WHO is the bearer of the BLOG CANDY…you will have to go FIND it!!! Visit ALL the Jacksonbelle DT girls’ blogs (I have them on my sidebar) and maybe one or TWO of them might have some candy to share!! When you find it, leave a comment on their blog! That’s it!

Go on the hunt at 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm (all EST) when the challenges are announced.

All winners will be announced on the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Challenge Blog on Monday, 1/5/09.

Stay tuned for Challenge #1...



Monday, December 29, 2008

Featured Stamper card and some New Year's Eve fun with Jacksonbelle Embellishments!

Holy Smokes, it's almost 2009! Seriously, where did 2008 go? LOL! Whatcha all doing? Well, if you are staying at home like me (ok, I DO have 2 little kids) and want to have some stamping fun -you're in luck! There is a New Years Eve bash with Jacksonbelle Embellishments over on Papercraft Planet (PCP). There will be lots of chatting, challenges and PRIZES! Yeppers, prizes!! All the action starts at 3pm EST -so I hope to see you there.

Now on to my card. This was for yesterday's Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS. This week's FS was Stampfilled Dreams, AKA Barb Schram! WOWzers, that girl can rock some elegant cards. I had a great time cruising thru her gallery. I chose this card to case. I changed the image, and colors. What an amazing card it is, I so wish I had that lovely butterfly she used. But I really love this owl image from Inkadinkado's Birds Galore set and thought I would give it a try. In hindsight, it may be a bit too small for the space, but I really love that little owl! I embossed the image with chocolate brown EP and put tiny gems in each of the body circles (from Kaiser Crafts). The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics and the ribbon is SUs pink taffeta. The celery eyelet and pink burlap string for the tag are from Heidi's store, Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Here is a close up of the gemmed out owl!

Card Deets:
Stamps: birds galore, birthday basics
Paper: chocolate chip, pink pirouette, white
Ink: versamark, pretty in pink, choc chip
Accessories: Kaiser gems, taffeta ribbon, pink burlap string, celery eyelet, corner rounder


Friday, December 26, 2008

Birds Galore

Hi everyone, did you all have a good Christmas? Oh, Santa was kind to me! I have some wonderful new stamping stuff to play with and I just COULDN'T wait to get started. This card is for today's SCS Limited Supplies challenge -to make a NON-Christmas card and not to use traditional Christmas colors.

So, I used Taylor's Cupcake sketch and made a birthday card. Almost all of my goodies are from Jacksonbelle Embellishments Store -yummo! The image is from Inkadinkado's Birds Galore and the DP is Memory Box Sprout (love love love this paper -delish purples and greens with lovely delicate patterns!). I embossed the bird with white EP and then colored in the bottom details with a copic marker. I then lightly colored over the bottom with some sage green chalk. The corners of the image panel are small white rub-ons from Basic Grey Wholy Cow and I added some white dots with a gel pen.

The flowers are from Prima hydragea white can and lightly sponged with pale plum and Spring Moss ink, painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz, and then I added a green sparkly brad from the Imaginisce Hallowhimsy pack. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, Birthday Basics and is also embossed in white. The white satin ribbon, irridescent edged ribbon and Shimmerz are all from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Here is a pic Taylor's sketch! You can play along here.








Card Deets:
Stamps - birds galore, birthday basics
Ink - versamark, PTI spring moss and pale plum (for sponging)
Paper - PTI spring moss, white, Memory Box Sprout DP
Accessories - White embossing powder, glitter brads, Martha Stewart branch punch, Prima hydrangeas, rub-ons, organdy and satin ribbon

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas and some Elzy fun

Merry Christmas everyone!


May your homes be filled with the warmth of family and lots of Christmas cheer.

***If I was a bit more computer savvy, I would have inserted some fantastic holiday graphic... so imagine if you will, a lovely picture of holly leaves with sparkly red berries here***

Now for some Elzy fun. It's time for another challenge! This is challenge #10 and it is a sketch -my favorite kind! My fellow Elzybelle, Frances (StampOwl) designed this one -thanks Frances, I loved it!! You can check out all the Design Team creations by checking out the Elzybells blog here.



I have 2 cards to share, the first is for the sketch challenge. This card is going to one of my son's friends who is turning 5 early January. The image is Birthday Girl and I colored her with copic markers. To make the polka dot dress, I took a small dot stamp (from Technique Tuesday) and inked it in Ridinghood Red ink. I then took a Sakura stardust red pen and outlined the dress, present and colored her shoes. The DP is Basic Grey Urban Prairie and the sentiment is from Technique Tuesday's Small Sentiments set. I also used a piece of my beloved Hodgepodge Hardware from the Stylized Silver tin for the taffeta ribbon.

This next card uses the adorable image called In the Dog House. I colored it with copic markers and added stickles to the flowers and heart. The DP is the retired SU East Coast Prep and the ribbon is Wasabi double stitched.

You can click on the pictures to get a larger picture. I think I finally figured out how to do that - upload it in the 'medium size' selection!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Birthday girl, small sentiments
Paper - ridinghood red, soft sky, white, Urban Prairie DP
Accessories - Copic markers, silver brads, hodgepodge hardware, ridinghood red taffeta ribbon, swiss dots EF

Stamps - In the dog house
Paper - wild wasabi, lemon tart and white from Papertrey Ink, East Coast Prep DP
Accessories - copic markers, silver brads, wasabi double stitched grosgrain, stickles


Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snow blast and a doggy card

It's a Winter Wonderland here! We had 6"of snow just last night alone! Here is a pic of the walkway to my front door :-) Those little caps peaking out are my pathway lanterns -one had some protection from our Blue Spruce!!

I was asked to make a couple birthday cards using doggy images and used today's Featured Stamper challenge to get me started. This week is paulatracy (Paula), one of my fellow Elzybelles!! I was thrilled to see her honored today. She has coloring skills that are off the charts! I chose this card to case. You can see that I was a bit distracted with today's snow activities and strayed from the layout a bit, but the inspiration is still there -thanks Paula!


Unfortunately, I don't know the name of this doggy stamp, it is part of an unmounted set that my mom gave me, but it has a matching little kitty that I may have to ink up soon! I used Basic Grey's Urban Prairie DP and paired it with PTI Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist and Vintage Cream all framed with SU Blue Bayou.

Card Deets:

Stamps: Unknown Dog, Verve's Black tie birdies (sentiment)
Paper: PTI lemon tart, vintage cream, and aqua mist, SU Blue Bayou and Basic Grey Urban Prairie (Jacksonbelle Embellishments)
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, gamsol, circle nesties, swiss dots CB folder, sponge, white gel pen, cream grosgrain ribbon, Coal Shimmerz, and yellow brads -all 3 from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Only 5 more and a SFYTT

Believe it or not, I still have 6 Christmas cards to make and send!! Ack! So, today I made another one using Jen's Sketch For You to Try. I love this layout, there are lots of possibilities with the trio of circles at the bottom. :-)
For this card, I used Verve's Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor. I stamped the long background strip in Brilliant Blue on Bashful Blue. I used the little Snowflakes and circle border on each of the circles. The star bling and white satin ribbon came from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Card Deets:
Stamps - Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor
Ink - green and orange pens, brilliant blue, bashful blue, versafine black onyx
Paper - brilliant blue, bashful blue, whisper white
Accessories - Star bling, rectangle nestabilities, Cuttlebug flower die cuts

Some exciting news to share!

Amongst all the snow and ice around here, I have some exciting news to share -I have been invited to be on the new Design Team for Jacksonbelle Embellishments!! Woohoo! You can read about it here.

The New Design Team:
AJ Otto--The Willow Garden
Heather Lee-Reppen--Ink on my Year
Jennifer Buck--The Buck Stamps Here
Jill Dunn--Inkgenious
Kimberly O'Rosky--Sunshiny Days
Kisa Peters--Kisa's Paper Cuts
Maren Benedict--Zany not Crazy
Michelle Woerner-- ME!!!!
Melissa Bove--Creating From the Heart
Shannan Teubner--Pink Tulle with Feathers and Sequins
Taylor Usry--Musings of an Addict

And of course, the Executive Team:
Jacksonbelle herself--Lindsey Botkin
Lynda Beden--Stamp Act
Rachel Baird--Hope Stamps Eternal

WOW! See why I am so excited? What an amazing group of ladies!! I am so excited to get started. I can tell you all to tune into a special New Year's Eve Party more details later.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

SCS sketch 207 and a stamper's nightmare

OK, so you all know I am snowed in. So, I am making the best of it by making Christmas cards, listening to Christmas songs on UTube with the boys, making paper spiders with my punches with the boys, dansing, you get the picture...

So what's the nightmare you ask?? Well, I'M ALMOST OUT OF POSTAGE STAMPS! Yep, with only a couple more days to mail Christmas cards and NO way to get to the Post Office I have only 12 stamps left. Aaaackkkkk! I am wondering if I buy some online if they will be delivered in time... I will figure out something I am sure.

EDITED TO ADD: Today (Thursday) the snow is melting and I got to the PO! I bought plenty of stamps to mail all my cards, not to mention some groceries! -whew!


On to my card. This is for today's sketch challenge on SCS. I used Inkadinkado's Christmas Silhouette's reindeer embossed in black for my image. I colored the flowers with some copic markers and added a bit of bling. The DP is from Cosmo Cricket Be Good line -man I love this stuff, such rich colors! I used Verve's Ornamental Christmas for the sentiment. This set not only has the most amazing ornaments, but the sentiments are great too and I have used them on tons of cards.


Here is a pic of some of my supplies.


Card Deets:
Stamps: christmas silhouettes, Verve's ornamental christmas (sentiment)
Paper: black, very vanilla, Prism Herbal Garden Medium, Be Good DP
Ink: versamark, black, ruby red (sponging)
Accessories: velvet ribbon (dots and dashes), kaiser bling, scallop border punch, copic markers



Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Breezy snowman

Well, I am still snowed in and we are expecting another storm tomorrow and AGAIN on Saturday. Heaven knows when I will get out to do my Christmas shopping! So, in between breaking up the many fights between my housebound boys, I am stamping.
This is for today's SCS color challenge of Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss and an optional color of Now Quite Navy -I used all 4. I have to say, using Basic Grey was a challenge on this card. I ended up using it in the ribbon and the hat and boots on the image -I hope that is enough!!

The cute image is from Elzybells Art Stamps, Boy and Snowman and I used Elzybells Snowflake BG on the Baja panel. I colored the image with Copic markers and used Art Glitter (in 85 Crystal) on the snow and snowflakes. The sentiment is from Verve's Ornamental Christmas set and embossed in white. The ribbons are SU Basic Grey taffeta and Making Memories Paperie Poolside (thanks my Secret Santa!!). The sketch is from Jen's SFYTT -it is super cute and perfect for ribbons!!

Here is a close up of some supplies.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Boy & Snowman, Snowflake BG, Ornamental Christmas
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, white
Ink: baja breeze, black, versamark
Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Marvy small snowflake punch, ticket corner punch, bling, sponge, copic markers, taffeta and grosgrain ribbons.


Monday, December 15, 2008

Some simple easy Christmas cards using scraps

If you are like me, you are ADDICTED to Basic Grey 6x6 paper pads!! The only problem is that when using them, they create lots of scraps. So, I wanted to create some easy Christmas cards using those 2" scraps that have accumulated while my making my other cards.
These cards I call my second tier (no offense little cards, they can hear me, you know!) cards. Meaning they are not as elaborate as my others. These will be going to distant relatives and my husband's co-workers. The cards are a combination of Christmas Silhouettes embossed in gold, JustRite Stampers Christmas Ensemble, and Verve's Winter Wonderland Remix.

This is a pic of the supplies needed to make these.

Card Deets:
Paper - Basic Grey scraps, white cardstock, gold cardstock
Stamps - Christmas Silhouettes, JustRite Stampers Christmas ensemble, Winter Wonderland
Accessories - gold brads, various ribbons, circle and oval nesties

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Let it snow!!

Here is a fun picture of Bill and our oldest, Daniel (almost 5 yo) and their pride and joy of the day... a snowman! I had to dig in the fridge for the carrot nose and thru my button stash for his eyes. My little one, Ryan (3yo) was on the porch out of the wind enjoying the show!

Now on to my card for the day. I just love the Featured Stamper challenge. Today's FS was Cards By America. What a terrific gallery she has! You can check it out here.
I chose this card to case. I kept the layout, the use of the gold trimmed organdy ribbon, and the super flowers from Michaels. I changed the colors, substituted gold stickles for pearls, and sentiment. The image is Christmas Silhouettes from Inkadinkado and is embossed with gold EP. I used Basic Grey Wassail DP and some retired gold cardstock from Creative Memories. The flowers are from Michaels and are sponged with gold craft ink. Despite the fact I didn't have much time to make this today, and even with the minimal layers I think it turned out very elegant.

Here is a pic of the tin of flowers from Michaels. I found it in the Bridal section. I also have seen them in cream and red colors. Oh, don't cha love my MESSY desk? See that Almond Rocca in the background? It looks like the snow storm blew thru my craft area -LOL!

Card Deets:
Stamps: Christmas Silhouettes
Paper: white, gold, Wassail
Ink: versamark
Accessories: gold EP, satin edged organdy, gold stickles, wedding flowers from Michaels


Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Quick gift set and my computer is finally virus free

Well, after 3 full days of researching and countless hours of virus scanning and such, I am happy to report my computer is finally free of Trojan.Zlob.G!! For anyone who gets this annoying trojan horse, we finally got rid of it by doing a scan from the Windows (OneCare) site -which took 7 hours! Whew!

Now back to the gift sets I am doing for my sister. I have 13 done! Only 1 left! Here is one quick set I did using SU rub ons and some of the old Saffron DSP. Remember these? They were part of the last SAB and I have 2 practically brand new packs of the rub ons and lots of DSP scraps left. The set has 2 thank you, 2 birthdays and one any occasion, one b-day is not pictured cause it uses Soft Sky DSP and didn't look purty in the picture!
One cool thing about doing these gift sets, it has really given me a chance to use up some of my vast stash of STUFF!
Here is a pic of the rub ons. I keep all the misc cut up ones in a baggie and used the smaller flowers and such for the inside of the card.
Card Deets:
Stamps: misc sentiments from stamps
Paper: white, black, Saffron DSP
Accessories - SU rub ons (Love and Happiness), SU scalloped border punch, black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon










Sunday, December 7, 2008

Double take of lilac birthdays

OK, so I started out this lilac birthday card for this week's Crafty Secret's challenge -which was to use Buttons on your card in honor of National Button Day. AND, I was gonna be all kinds of savvy and combine challenges and use the OCC sketch for the layout. Well, my computer is having issues (yeppers, we have a nasty trojan horse thing), so I was doing the sketch by memory. Needless to say, I forgot something- the 3 tabs at the top.

For the image, I used a piece of CS Cotton Scraps and paired it with BG Urban Prairie DP.

So rather than TRY to pass it off as the sketch (there is a prize involved this week you see) I decided to make another lilac card!! I don't have another Lilac Cotton Scraps image, so I turned to the lovely lilac image from Flourishes, Lilac set. My friend Denise, Peanutbee, stamped these for me forever ago I finally have the perfect card for them (thanks Denise)! I colored the lilac image with prismacolor pencils and gamsol -the leaves are stamped twice and popped up for dimension. Both the leaves and lilacs are painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz.

The sentiment on both cards is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set. It was fun doing the 2 cards together, each lovely in their own way. All the buttons and Shimmerz are from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Lilac, birthday basics
Paper: wasabi, celery, whisper white, Urban Prairie
Ink: black, perfect plum
Accessories: Cotton Scraps, buttons, wasabi double stitched ribbon, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, blending stump, dimensionals