J.Day Designs

Market Street Stamps February Block Party

2012-02-26T12:59:00.000-04:00

Well after a whole day of scrapbooking yesterday (my mind is mush now) I was glad to switch over to cards. I haven't scrapbooked in aaaaagggeeess, although I did manage to do four layouts. After those four I had to switch over to cards because the scrapping was started to stump me lol. So I whipped up a card for the block party using the stamp sets Neighborhood and Home Sweet Home, and yes I did another paper piecing. There's something about paper piecing that I find relaxing :)

I used the leftover papers from my other paper pieced card and made another scene, but in the country.

Be sure to stop on over to the Market Street Stamps blog to upload your creations, one person could win a guest designer spot and another could win some MSS goodies!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #41

2012-02-24T01:01:00.000-04:00

It's Friday and time to get your pun on over at CAS-ual Fridays! Here's your challenge for this week:

We want to see your CAS puny projects!

Our sponsor for this week is Skipping Stones Design (yay!) I had the opportunity to guest design with them last month and they have amazing stamps. Skipping Stones Design was kind enough to let us have a puny stamp set to work with too :) Make sure you stop by the Cas-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win!

I chose the stamp set Bra Volume #1 and came up with this simple card.

I'm really looking forward to this week's gallery as I suspect there will be a lot of funny cards. Stop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what the Girl Fridays have made to inspire you and then play along!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Julie

World Card Making Day Hop Winner

2012-02-21T23:30:00.000-04:00

Well I have a winner! From the comments left before the deadline on Feb.20, 2012 at midnight, the random winner is..........

Pam W Merwin!!

Pam W MerwinFeb 17, 2012 01:40 PM

Loved your winning card - saw it in the magazine - your card that you are giving away is absolutely gorgeous too - love that background!

Pam, if you could send me your mailing address to jdaydesigns@ns.sympatico.ca, I will mail out your prize package and send your address along to Paper Crafts so they can send you your free magazine.

Thank you all for the lovely comments and hope you had a fun along the hop :)

Market Street Stamps Home Sweet Home Stamp Release

2012-02-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

It's that time again! Time for another great release from Market Street Stamps! Tonight we're showcasing the set Home Sweet Home, so be sure to pop on over to the Market Street blog to see all the great projects :)

For my first card, I created a one layer card using a masking technique.

My coloring skills are not the greatest (still getting used to the copics lol) and here is my second card. It's basically the same design except I paper pieced, omitted the picket fence and added a birdie banner :)

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back at the Market Street Stamps blog tomorrow night at 7pm CST for more sneak peeks!

Julie

World Card Making Day Winners Blog Hop + Giveaway

2012-02-17T07:00:00.001-04:00

*For my CAS-ual Fridays post, please scroll down *

Hello paper crafters and welcome to the World Card Making Day winner blog hop! Lots of new cards to see along the hop and did I mention that for every participant in the hop there is a opportunity to win a prize package??!! If you've come from Carol Bloomberg's blog you're on the right track, if you get lost along the way the complete blog hop list is at the end of this post or if you're looking for the beginning, you can go to the Paper Crafts Connection blog.

First off I'll show you what I created and then we'll get onto the goodies!

Here is the card that I won with in the Christmas category:

And here is my new Christmas card to share with you (it was strange making a Christmas card in February lol). I've been on a stamped background kick lately so I just modified my original design to incorporate a stamped background panel. This card will be included in the prize package as well :)

Now here is what I have for a prize package giveaway...

(some of the WCMD prize package plus some items I cleaned out of my art room)

AND.....

See that Paper Crafts magazine popping up in the back? Paper Crafts is letting us give away a free copy of the March/April issue. So one lucky winner here will win all the goodies, PLUS a copy of the magazine, YAY!

To be eligible for the prize package you must leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm (pacific time) on Monday, February 20th. One winner will be selected randomly from the blog comments and the winner will be announced here on Wednesday, February 22nd.

The next blog to visit on the hop is Kelly Eubanks!

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

Julie

Paper Crafts
Alyssa Scritchfield
Amber Daigre
Becky Olsen
Carol Bloomberg
Julie Day (you are here)
Kelley Eubanks
Kelly Rasmussen
Laurie Willison
Lisa Petrella
Patricia Folchert
Savannah O'Gwynn
Sharon Dunn
Stephanie Washburn
Terri Davenport
Tifany DeGough
Trinh Arrieta
Vanessa Menhorn
Veronica Zalis
Wendy Frederick

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #40 - Tie one on

2012-02-17T01:01:00.003-04:00

I loved all the paper piecing cards that showed up in the gallery last week for CAS-ual Fridays! There were tons of ideas :) This week there's a brand new challenge using ribbon!

We want to see your CAS projects using ribbon in a party theme!

Our sponsor this week is May Arts and they were kind enough to supply the Girl Fridays with a bag full of yummy ribbon in all sorts of colors and styles! I for one was extremely excited with the ribbon as you can't find a huge selection of May Arts ribbon here in Nova Scotia, thank you May Arts! Make sure you head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you could win!

For my card this week I wanted to try a technique that I've seen cropping up quite a bit lately. An aperture card featuring a shape or text with ribbon in behind as the color.

For this card I just printed out the letters HB in an outline font on white cardstock and then cut them out with a craft knife. Below the letters I stamped "let's party". After figuring out where the cut out letters were going to land on the card base, I adhered some ribbon strips horizontally on the card base and then placed the cut out panel over top with foam tape.

I'm looking forward to how everyone incorporates ribbon into their birthday themed cards. Be sure to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog too look at the inspiration and then play along!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone, today I'm going to share with you a card using a few different techniques rolled into one. A little stamp resist paired with a watercolor look and some shimmer using pearl ex powders along with some stamp layering. Seeing how there is love in the air today, I've made a Valentine's Day card using the stamp set Birds of a Feather and Mesh. Be sure to check out Market Street Stamps to see these fabulous stamp sets.

First off, let's start with the list of materials you'll need:

* watercolor paper

* solid stamp image

* background stamp

* two of your fave ink colors that are close in color

* white embossing powder

* versamark

* heat gun

* pearl ex powder (I used micro pearl)

* dry paintbrush

* spray bottle with water in it

* some paper towel (it may get a bit messy)

* large acrylic block

The first thing you need to do is stamp your solid image on the watercolor paper and heat emboss with white powder. It's hard to tell in the photo where it's white on white, but it will show up really well once the ink color is on there.

Using the large acrylic block, randomly stamp your two colors over the surface of the block. I have used Tim Holtz distress inks in worn lipstick and fired brick.

Next take your dry paintbrush and dip it in your pearl ex powder. Shake the powder off the brush onto the inked acrylic block (I ended up flicking the brush with my finger as it just didn't want to let go). Spritz the inked block until the ink starts to move around on the block.

Stamp the acrylic block onto your watercolor paper over the embossed image, wipe up any excess water. If there are to many white spaces for your liking, you can repeat the process or spritz water directly onto the paper to get the ink to spread more. It will look something like this. The pearl ex shimmer doesn't show up well in the photos, but when you tilt it in the light it is really shimmery.

While your main panel is still a bit damp, ink the edges with the ink pad. Take a background stamp, I chose Mesh for this, ink it up with your lighter color and stamp right over the panel. Wipe the excess ink from the embossed image.

For the second background panel, I just stamped the scroll image from Birds of a Feather with the worn lipstick color and inked the edges.

After adhering the watercolor panel to two more panels, I topped it off with a sentiment and a white resin rose. Here is what the final card looks like...

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #39 - Love Ya to Pieces

2012-02-10T01:01:00.000-04:00

It's time for another fun CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week and it's one of my faves!

This week is all about paper piecing! The Girl Fridays want to see your CAS projects using paper piecing.

Our sponsor this week is The Craft's Meow who was kind enough to supply the Girl Fridays with stamps to play with :)

I thought it fitting to make a snow themed card seeing how it is winter. I see a lot of paper piecing done with patterned paper, but alas I am a cardstock girl to the core, so I paper pieced me some good ol' fashion cardstock and added a touch here and there :)

Seeing how this is one of my favorite techniques to do, I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Be sure to head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog and have a peek at the inspiration and play along!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

Something different

2012-02-05T15:33:00.000-04:00

I took a break from card making the other day and decided to give wire wrapped earrings a go. I found a simple design in a Bead Works magazine and gave that design a whirl, changing up the bead size and color to suit what I was looking for. I wanted to make the set in sterling silver, but I figured I'd give the copper a go first before I started working with the more expensive wire :)

The top bead is a round faceted amazonite and the rest are all pacific opal Swarovski crystals. It took a while to make these, but I enjoyed the process so much I whipped up some different designs as well.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you're having a great creative weekend!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #39

2012-02-03T01:01:00.004-04:00

Another challenge starts today over at CAS-ual Fridays! This week is our guest designer week challenge and we're rolling out the red carpet!

For this week's challenge we want to see your CAS projects that are based on a movie, any movie!

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamps, so be sure to check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win.

For my card I chose my all time favorite movie, Back to the Future. I went with two items that make me automatically think of this movie. The Hill Valley clock tower when the lightning bolt struck it at 10:04 pm and the song "Power of Love" which crops up quite a few times in the movie.

I've had this huge clock stamp kicking around for years and finally got to ink it up. For the font I found a Back to the Future font online and printed my sentiment in red, trimmed around it and popped it up off the clock. Super simple :)

The Girl Fridays are excited to see who will be temping with us next time and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for their movie themed cards!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

February Paint the Town Color Challenge

2012-02-01T19:35:00.000-04:00

It's time once again for another Market Street Stamps color challenge. I apologize for my post going up late, but I had my days mixed up as to when the challenge was ( I was a week behind) oops! Check out the fab color combo for this month!

I had some patterned papers in mind that matched these colors perfectly and there just happens to be a Market Street Stamp set that goes along perfectly too!

I used the set Comfort Food for my card and did a little paper piecing. Be sure to stop by the Market Street Stamps blog to check out all the inspiration and to play along too!You could be the lucky winner this month and win a stamp set!

Baked Fresh Card

Cardstock: (Basic Gray) Stampin' Up!; (luxury white) Gina K. Designs

Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Comfort Food) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Basic Gray) Stampin' Up!; (tuxedo black) Memento

Ribbon: (Basic Gray organza) Stampin' Up!

Brad: Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

Skipping Stones Design Sketch #113

2012-01-31T09:00:00.001-04:00

Today marks the last week I will be guest designing with the crew at Skipping Stones Design and I just want to say "Thank Yo"u for having me, it has been fun. This week's sketch is fabulous and features lots of circles...

For my card this week, I flipped the sketch and used Dandelion Dreams and Pumpkin Seed Sentiments.

I dug out one of my fave color combo's; kiwi kiss, baja breeze and not quite navy and did some stamp layering. I had planned on putting the rest of the sentiment "& Dandelion wishes", but it just wouldn't fit :)

Butterfly Kisses

Cardstock: (luxury white) Gina K. Designs; (crumb cake) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Dandelion wishes, Pumpkin Seed Sentiments) Skipping Stone Designs

Ink: (baja breeze, not quite navy, kiwi kiss) Stampin' Up!

Fiber: (baja breeze grosgrain ribbon) Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

For Cath (sans CHA) with Love Blog Hop

2012-01-31T01:00:00.000-04:00

I know a lady who is so Moxie Fab,

but this week this lady is kinda sad.

She goes to CHA every single year,

to give us a peek of what's all there.

She hurt her shoulder and just couldn't go,

yet the Paper Crafts gals took her to the show.

They took her in mini moxie form attached to a stick,

and she still is able to show us her favorite picks!

Two ladies in blog land had a brilliant thought,

to show this lady she means a lot.

So here is our love blog hop for one Moxie Fab chick,

and we hope you're feeling better really quick.

Thanks Cath for all that you do, we Moxie Fab love you!

Market Street Stamps Block Party

2012-01-29T23:08:00.001-04:00

While some of the girls are having a party at CHA, the rest of us back home are getting inky with our Market Street Stamps and having a party of our own!

Here's what you have to do:

Create a new project with MSS stamps! It can be anything (cards, layouts, altered items, etc.)- be creative and have FUN!
Link your project below by Sunday, January 29th at 11:59 PM Central Time
Note: Your creations for this contest will not be considered for the Cream of the Crop contest. Each MSS contest or challenge requires a separate, unique entry to be eligible to win!

Here's what you could win!

One randomly selected participant will win an awesome prize package full of yummy stamps & accessories!
ONE show stoppin' paper crafter will be asked to join us for a Guest Design spot for the following month! (This months winer will be the Guest Designer for the month of March!)

There is still time to play... 3 hours and counting :) We'd love to see what everyone is creating with their MSS stamps. Here is what I made using Birds of a Feather.

This card was super easy to make. I stamped the three birds on vanilla cardstock and colored in the hearts and beaks. Then I stamped the branch from Night Owls on patterned paper and cut it out. After I assembled my birdies on the branch, I wrote out the sentiment with a black zig writer and stamped the open heart at the beginning of the sentiment. The final touch was a hand drawn line around the card edge.

Thanks for stopping I hope you have a great crafty week!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #37 - Laura's sketch

2012-01-27T01:00:00.000-04:00

I was absolutely blown away by the amount of entries last week and the gorgeousness of the gallery. The CAS-ual Fridays gallery never looked so classy :) This week we have another sketch challenge for you by our own sketch artiste Laura Davis.

Our sponsor this week is Sweet N Sassy Stamps, so be sure to check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win :)

It's getting close to Valentine's day so I figured I better start making cards for that occasion. Here is my take on the sketch...

I used the Sweet Nothings stamp set from WPlus9 Designs to create my card. I stamped the brush stroke heart repeatedly with red ink and then colored in each heart with quick, short strokes with a pink color. The sentiment is stamped over top with black ink and a small rhinestone was added at the end. The border is just the small heart stamped repeatedly in red.

I hope everyone returns this week to play! I loved looking through all the fab creations this past week and I'm still strolling through that gallery and commenting :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

I Love You

Cardstock: (crumb cake, early espresso) Stampin' Up!; (luxury white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Sweet Nothings) WPlus9 Designs

Ink: (cherry cobbler, blushing bride) Stampin' Up!; (tuxedo black) Memento

Tools: (corner rounder) Stampin' Up!

First try at digital scrapbooking

2012-01-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

Scrapbooking is something that I don't do a lot of, digital scrapbooking even less. I finally got around to buying some digital software and had a chance to play with it last year and then forgot about it. I purchased the Stampin' Up! software and tried my hand at an 8x8 page. Here is what I came up with using a picture of my kitty :)

I like the way it turned out even though it took me days to figure out the functions and how to create a shadow and there is still LOTS to learn. Would I ever give up my real papers and embellishments to go totally digital? Probably not. There is just something about being able to "feel" the products :) Perhaps someday when I get some more free time I will make another page!

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping :)

Julie

Last Wednesday for guest designing with Paper Smooches

2012-01-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

Today marks my last day for guest designing for Paper Smooches this month and it has been a blast! I had so much fun creating with the new stamps this month! Here is my final card:

I used the stamp set Party Posse for this card and used a masking technique to pile these cute critters on top of each other. I was going to paper piece them, but I wanted to do one layer, which meant I had to color them in. I love Copics, I just don't know how to use them properly yet lol.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Julie

Skipping Stones Design Sketch #112

2012-01-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

Today marks another week for a Skipping Stones Design sketch and what a great sketch it is :)

For my card this week, I used a combo of Grunge and Grunge 2...and made a masculine card. That is one of my goals for this year, is to make more masculine cards because I never seem to have any!

I started with a Crumb Cake card base and that paired up Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla and a retired color called Bucakaroo Blue. Using coordinating ink colors, I stamped two of the textures on the green and blue strips and stamped the woodgrain on the vanilla piece. On a separate piece of vanilla cardstock I stamped the woodgrain again and then punched out 11 stars. I stuck the stars to the larger piece in a pattern using foam tape. Before adhering the panel to the card base I distressed the edges with a pair of scissors. Finishing touches were a few splats in the corner and the sentiment stamped in black.

Be sure to stop by the Skipping Stones Design blog and check out all the inspiration and play along!

Hey Handsome Card

Cardstock: (crumb cake, wild wasabi, buckaroo blue, very vanilla) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Grunge, Grunge 2) Skipping Stones Design

Ink: (crumb cake, wild wasabi, buckaroo blue) Stampin' Up!; (tuxedo black) Memento

Other: (star punch) Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Market Street Stamps January Release

2012-01-23T21:00:00.001-04:00

Exciting week at Market Street Stamps this week! It's the January release, YAY! Tonight I'm showcasing the stamp set Birds of a Feather, which also goes quite well with the January Market Fresh Kit.

In staying with my CAS style, I came up with this:

Isn't that birdie just adorable??!! I stamped the sentiment and hearts right on the card base and then stamped the bird kinda of sitting on top and then paper pieced right over it. Finishing touch was a little bit of twine :)

The MSS design team has TONS of ideas to show you for this stamp set and all the other ones this week too, so be sure to head on over to the Market Street Stamps blog to have a peek. I would have shown more samples, but I've been sending them into the Stamp It! cards pub call :)

Love Card

Cardstock: (crumb cake) Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! (retired)

Ink: (Pretty in Pink) Stampin' Up!, (tuxedo black) Memento

Fiber: (maraschino, blossom/Baker's Twine) The Twinery

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to stop by the Market Street Stamps blog at 7pm CST tomorrow night for another sneak preview!

Julie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2012-01-22T02:00:00.002-04:00

Today is a very special day...it's the Peachy Princess Birthday, the Peachy Princess being miss Angelica Suarez! Today we're having a Party Blog Hop in celebration for her birthday! Happy Birthday Angelica!!!

You should have just come from Saudra Regan's blog and if you get lost at any time the full hop list is at the bottom of the page. Here is my birthday card for Angelica:

My style is all about clean and simple, so I made a simple birthday ribbon for a #1 kinda gal. Angelica rocks!

Be sure to continue to hop along on this fabulous Party Hop for Angelica, LOTS of amazing projects to see! Your next stop is Lisa Buttafuoco's blog.

Thanks for stopping by and may you have a fan-tabulous birthday Angelica!

Julie

Kathy-http://www.peachykeenstamps-kathy.blogspot.com/

Amanda-http://amandascraftsandmore.blogspot.com/

Amy Crockett- http://www.scrappingmommy.com/

Cristina Garcia- http://www.craftingwithcristina.com/

Lauren Brewer http://www.laurenscreative.com/

DoBea Alberts- http://www.dobeaalberts.blogspot.com/

Raven Baca- http://www.Love4stamps.blogspot.com/

Jennie Garcia http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com/

Heather Hoffman - http://housesbuiltofcards.blogspot.com/

Lorie Souther- http://thethinkinspot.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Muzzulin- http://www.handmade75.blogspot.com/

Erin Schreiner - http://www.erinleecreative.com/

Brenda Weaver- http://www.sweetpapertreats.com/

Michelle Criswell- http://www.scrappinwithmybug.com

Michele Gross- http://studiomsg.blogspot.com/

Leanne Garner - http://www.createdbyleanne.blogspot.com/

Tifany DeGough - http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/

Samantha Casey- http://samanthacasey.blogspot.com/

Nikki Foraker- http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/

Heidi Anne Giebel - http://gotscraps.blogspot.com

Glorajean Beardall - http://www.glorascrafts.blogspot.com

Vivienne Holden - http://www.craftinghaven.blogspot.com/

Janice Wilson http://stampingwithjanice.blogspot.com/

Saundra Rega http://luvscrappingtogether.blogspot.com/

Julie Day - www.daydesigns.blogspot.com <-------- (you are HERE)

Lisa Buttafuoco - http://our2angelsinheaven.blogspot.com/

Kristi Bennett - www.littlepapersprinkles.blogspot.com

Mel Haas- http://doxiemeldesigns.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Washburn- http://sweetstephcardcreations.blogspot.com/

Kim Score -http://www.paperpunchaddiction.com/

Emma Aguilar -http://www.creativetimeforme.com/

Moxie Fab World Map to Your Heart Challenge

2012-01-22T00:41:00.000-04:00

So one of my new year's resolutions is to play more of the challenges over at the Moxie Fab World. I was intrigued by the Map to your Heart Challenge, but map items are few and far between in this household so I had to some serious digging. In the end I found a map of Canada in an old Webster's Dictionary and decided to focus on my home province. I've been a new kick lately which is melding my love of stamping with jewelry so here is what I came up with:

I snipped out Nova Scotia from the map to the size of a glass tile and then added a stamped heart and a stamped "i" and circled the word Nova Scotia with a black pen. I would have preferred some not so drab colors for my map, but it will do:) Now I have a unique necklace to wear out and about to show people how I feel about my home province!

I love Nova Scotia
Cardstock: (real red) Stampin' Up!
Stamps: (Helping Hands, Word Salad) Paper Smooches
Ink: (tuxedo black) Memento
Other: map, glass tile, silver chain, silver bail, glaze

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #36 - What's black and white and wears a suit?

2012-01-20T01:01:00.002-04:00

Gorgeous gallery last week with all those scallops. Some really fantastic ideas out there! This week at CAS-ual Fridays we're have a challenge in honor of Penguin Awareness Day!

So put away the colors this week and we want to see your clean and simple projects in JUST black and white :) Two colors you can never go wrong with!

This week's sponsor is Cindy Coutts, so be sure to pop over the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win!

Here is what I came up for this week's challenge...

I went with a background stamp and then punched a heart out of the lower right corner. I didn't have a stamp with the sentiment I wanted so I printed it out from the computer and placed in in the heart opening. To give the card some depth, the music background was popped up off the card base. Finishing touch was some black/white baker's twine wrapped around the left half and tied in a bow :)

The Girl Fridays would love to see what you come up with for this fab challenge this week, can't wait to see the gallery full of these two classy colors :)

Song in My Heart

Cardstock: (luxury white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Vintage Music) Market Street Stamps

Punch: (heart) Stampin' Up!

Fiber: (black and white/Baker's Twine) The Twinery

Font:(typical typewriter) www.1001freefonts.com

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Julie

Paper Smooches New Digs

2012-01-18T12:00:00.001-04:00

*If you're looking for my Market Street Stamps post, please scroll down*

I'm back again today with some more projects featuring the new releases from Paper Smooches. Today I have two cards to share with you. The first one features the stamp set Vogue Adobe, you'll have to excuse the lighting as my camera didn't like the major color difference between the white and dark purple lol. I assure you that white is crisper in real life and the purple is richer :)

I made this little scene by paper piecing the items together using a mix of cardstock and patterned papers.

This next card is a TALL one featuring the set Helping Hands.

I picked a rainbow of bright colors and repeatedly stamped the thumbs up hand on the card front and then topped it off with some matching twine and a simple sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back next Wednesday for my last guest design day with the Paper Smooches crew!

Julie

Little Doggie

2012-01-18T10:00:00.005-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I'm sharing a Market Street Stamps card featuring the stamp set Paw Prints on our Hearts. I've made it my goal this year to use stamps that I haven't touched yet (I seem to accumulate stamps faster than I can use them). So I dug out this set that I haven't had a chance to play with yet and made a CAS card.

I'm thinking I should have found a lighter brown for the body as the eyes don't show up as well as I would have liked them too. I paper pieced the doggie together and made a collar with a bit of pink and some small rhinestones. The head is popped up for a bit of dimension. I stamped the sentiment, with the heart pink and then highlighted the word pawprints with a copic marker. To top it off, I stamped some pawprints along the bottom and inked the edges.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great crafty day!

Julie

Skipping Stones Design Sketch #111

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I'm back today with another sketch from Skipping Stones Design and what a great sketch it is! Check it out...

For this week I used the stamp set Dandelion Dreams and did a very simple card using two colors with a wee bit of brown added. Here is what I came up with:

I started with a simple piece of patterned paper with two colors and then matched up a cardstock color to the patterned paper. For the bottom half I punched four circles and then stamped the images in coordinating ink. I stamped the sentiment in chocolate brown and added two strips of ribbon to divide the two panels.

I've enjoyed looking at what people have created each week for the sketches and can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this one :)

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #35 - Highs and Lows

2012-01-13T01:01:00.002-04:00

Hey CAS crafty peeps! Hope your 2012 is shaping up to be a creative and productive one. Amazing ideas using chipboard last week and from what I gather a lot of us have huge stashes of the stuff that we're trying to use up :) This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is like a roller coaster ride...up and down.

We want to see your Clean and Simple projects using scallops!

Our sponsor this week is Annabelle Stamps, so be sure to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win :)

This week I was really trying to not stamp on my project to see if I could do it, but alas I broke down and stamped my sentiment. I dug into some of my prizes from World Card Making Day and found some neat items to use, and I'd say my teammate Karen Baker and I were on the same wavelength this week with card designs lol

A simple and easy to re-create card. I punched a row of scallops and then used a piece of a fabRip (sticky fabric strip) to attach the scallop to the card base and pleated the fabRip as I went. Stamped a simple sentiment and then topped it off with some hemp twine and a wooden button :)

The Girl Fridays would love to have you play along with us this week, so be sure to pop over to the break room to check out the inspiration and then play along :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

Paper Smooches Stamps meets jewelry making

2012-01-11T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Today marks the second Wednesday that I'm guest designing with the Paper Smooches crew and today I decided to do something a little different and meld my two fave hobbies together...stamping and jewelry making. I made two necklace pendants with the latest stamp sets from Paper Smooches. The first pendant features Vogue Adobe.

First I stamped the vase and rose and masked them. Then I stamped the hexagons in a mini pattern (thanks for the pattern ideas Kim). After using copics to color in the images, I then applied a layer of glaze and attached the image to a glass tile. To finish off the necklace I added a sterling silver bail and some thin silver wire for a chain. Here's a close up of the pendant:

The next pendant was a larger pendant and I used both images and text for this one from the Helping Hands set.

I started by stamping the hand and sentiment and then masked them. Using the small rectangle from the Helping Hands set I stamped a random pattern for the background. The images were colored in using copics and the pendant was made the same way as the first one. I used a heavier chain for the necklace as the glass tile used was considerably larger and heavier than the rose pendant. Here is a close up of the pendant:

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back next Wednesday for some more Paper Smooches projects :)

Rose and Hand Pendants

Cardstock: (pure luxury white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Vogue Adobe and Helping Hands) Paper Smooches

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Color Medium: Copics

Other: (glass tiles, bail, glaze) Sun and Moon Jewelry; wire, chain

Paint the Town

2012-01-11T10:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to another Paint the Town Color Challenge with Market Street Stamps! This month we have a lovely palette of colors, check it out...

Here is what I came up with for this color combo:

A CAS design with a handmade embellishment. I've been on a jewelry kick so I dug out some of my supplies to make the embellishment. Here's a close up of the butterfly:

I stamped the butterfly from Believing Butterfly in a sherbet color and then punched it out in a circle. I made a tag out of it using a circle metal rim and then covered the entire piece in glaze. Before it dried I added pink seed beads around the edge, aqua seed beads to the wings and some flat back Swarovski crystals for some bling. After it dried completely I just used foam mounts to pop it off the texty banner.

The MSS design team would love to have you play along and you can even wind some goodies, be sure to check out all the details over at the Market Street Stamps blog!

Faith in You

Cardstock: (apricot appeal, rose red, white) Stampin' Up!; (aqua) Bazzill

Stamps: (Faith in You, Believing Butterfly) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (rose red, apricot appeal) Stampin' Up!

Tag: Making Memories

Other: seed beads, Swarovski crystals, glaze, foam mounts

Thanks for stopping by and have a great stamping day!

Julie

Skipping Stones Sketch #110 Blog Hop

2012-01-10T09:00:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Challenge #110 and the release of Grunge Two! If you just came from Wendy Price's blog, you are in the right place. If you just happened along my blog today, start at the beginning of the hop at Skipping Stones Design. The entire hop order is there and you can hop from blog to blog with ease.

Be sure to hop along and leave comments on all the fabulous designers’ blogs. Emily Leiphart, Candice Fields and myself are guest designing with the Skipping Stones Design team this month and Pamela Young will be providing all the fabulous sketch inspiration this month including the sketch we're using in today's hop!

Here is what I came up with for this week's set, isn't this stamp set fabulous??!!!

I Love You Card

Cardstock: (crumb cake, buckaroo blue) Stampin' Up!; (luxury pure white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Grunge 2) Skipping Stones Design

Ink: (buckaroo blue, sahara sand, real red) Stampin' Up!; (tuxedo black) Memento

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the hop!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #34

2012-01-06T01:01:00.001-04:00

New year and a new set of challenges! I hope everyone had a great holiday break and is ready to jump back into some fun CAS challenges. This week at CAS-ual Fridays you get to dig out your chipboard :)

There's something EXTRA special about this week's challenge...it's Guest Designer Challenge week! Whoo-hoo! One lucky person is going to land a guest designer spot with the Girl Fridays :)

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp, be sure to check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win and all the details for the guest designer spot.

For my card this week I dug through my chipboard bin (which is overflowing and really needs to be used up! lol) I went with letters and a neat image of the world by Market Street Stamps.

I was in a black and white mood with a pop of color and Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so red was logical choice :)

Loved all the fantastic projects in the gallery last challenge and I can't wait to see how everyone incorporates chip board into their projects. There's some pretty amazing inspiration from the Girl Fridays and we would LOVE to have you play along!

Love Goes 'Round
Cardstock: (White) Gina K. Designs, (real red) Stampin' Up!
Stamps: (It takes love, Mesh) Market Street Stamps
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Real Red) Stampin' Up!
Chip Board: Maya Road
Other: Black Pen, Swarovski red crystal, crystal effects

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Julie

Guest Designing with Paper Smooches

2012-01-04T21:03:00.000-04:00

Today marks the first Wednesday that I'm designing with the Paper Smooches crew! Yay! My stamps were a little late getting here so I had to make some cards using other sets to tie me over until next week. Here are the two featured on the Paper Smooches blog:

This card features the stamp set Gently Seasoned.

This card features Word Salad, Surf & Turf and Swanky Snowdudes.

I also made two other cards. I went clean and graphic with this first one using one of the circles from Gently Seasoned.

And this last one I used the set Sunny Side Up. I couldn't resist making some smiling raindrops. It's hard to see in the photo, but I topped them off with some crystal effects for some shine.

Thanks for stopping by, more Paper Smooches ideas next Wednesday using the new stamp sets :)

Julie

Skipping Stones January Guest Designer

2012-01-03T09:00:00.005-04:00

What a great start to the 2012 year with a guest design spot with Skipping Stones Design! Every Tuesday for the month of January I'll have a new card featuring the SSD sketch of the week and SSD stamps.

This is what this week's sketch looks like...

and here is what I came up with using Pumpkin Seed Sentiments.

I'm looking forward to the sketches for the rest of the month and playing with the SSD stamps! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this sketch challenge :)

Love You Card
Cardstock: (white) Staples
Stamps: (Pumpkin Seed Sentiments) Skipping Stones Design
Ink: (Cherry Cobbler, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso) Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: (Early Espresso Satin) Stampin' Up!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #33

2011-12-23T01:01:00.000-04:00

I'm really excited about this week's challenge that just so happens lasts for TWO whole weeks! Your challenge this week for CAS-ual Fridays is called...

Which in translation means you need to make a project that uses kraft and twine :)

Our sponsor this week is Market Street Stamps and the design team has joined us for the inspiration parade! I'm kinda partial to this design team as I'm one of the designers as well and I can assure you there is a fab prize to win. ALSO...the Market Street Stamps Block Party is happening the next two weeks too, so be sure to pop over there to see some other ways you can win some goodies plus win a chance to guest design with the Market Street Stamps design team :)

For my card I went with very simple and some repetitive elements...in my colors that is.

A simple kraft card base topped with three colors of baker's twine and then I mimicked the color pattern in the sentiment by coloring certain words with copic markers. The Girl Fridays would love to have you play along and there's loads of time to play...in both challenges! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge :)

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

Market Street Stamps December Release - Faith in You

2011-12-21T21:00:00.002-04:00

Whoo-hoo! It's release time again! Tonight we're sneak peekin' the stamp set Faith in You. Be sure to stop over to the Market Street Stamps blog to check out all the sneak peeks the designers have made and to get the deets on how you can win some fab prizes :) Here is the simple card I cam up with using the scroll heart image from the set and a sentiment.

Tomorrow is the big reveal of all the stamp sets so be sure to stop back to the Market Street Stamps blog at 7pm CST to check out all the fun!

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!

Julie

Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #32

2011-12-16T01:01:00.000-04:00

Everyone ready for Christmas? I'm not, but that's par for the course around this time. If you're behind in your christmas cards, the CAS-ual Fridays challenge would be a perfect opportunity to catch up. Not only will the card get made, but a matching envelope to boot!

Yup, that's what the challenge is a card with a matching envelope. I know most people are probably getting pretty sick of seeing Christmas cards, but I promise you'll only have to see Christmas-y related things from me for 9 more days and then I'll be moving onto New Year's :)

Our sponsor and guest this week is Sherri Thompson who is an Ippity Chick, you can find her shop here. Be sure to pop by the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win :)

Trying to catch up on my Christmas cards, I made a simple manger scene using the stamp "A child is born" from Unity. I kept the card base, ink and embellishments monochromatic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gallery last week and picked up some great ideas for misting! The Girl Fridays can't wait to see what you come up with for this week and there's lots of ideas to inspire you and they're not all Christmas lol.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

Holiday Card Crunch

2011-12-13T10:00:00.001-04:00

It's December 13th and Christmas is only 12 days away and you still have a WHOLE bunch of Christmas cards to make and SO little time! Well, today you're in luck, because I have a super easy way to dole out card after card with just a few supplies and a fun technique. If you missed yesterday's post about masking, you should check out DoBea's tutorial here for some great masking tips and tricks.

This is what you'll need to make your cards:

* post it notes

* xacto knife

* ruler

* marker

* white cardstock

* background stamps/sentiment stamp

* ink

The technique I'm going to show you today is how to mask with your background stamps. To make your mask, take a post it note and using the ruler draw a simple triangle (tree) and a trunk. Cut the shape out using your xacto knife. This is what you should end up with:

Stick your mask to your card front (I tried to center mine as close as possible) then stick post it notes around the edge to cover the rest of the card front. This is what it will look like:

Now for the stamping part, I left my background stamp on that clear piece of acetate because I first tried stamping with a block, but I found I couldn't apply pressure in the right areas to get inside the mask. By using just the acetate sheet you can press harder with your fingers in the area where your mask is. Another trick is to make sure a piece of the design lands in each corner of the triangle, that way your image outline is better defined. If you look at the image below, you can see that a piece of the image Flurries fills up each corner of the tree.

Once you've stamped over your mask, remove the post it notes. If you leave all the post it notes stuck together you can just lay this over your next card and stamp again. You can probably stamp about 15-20 times over the post it note mask before it starts to bleed through. You could also double mask your tree image using two different background stamps. The card on the left I stamped the tree with Flurries and the trunk with Mesh.

Give some of the other background stamps a try. For these cards I used Vintage Wallpaper and stamped one with the design vertical and the other horizontal.

I find background stamps that are 'busy' or that have very little empty space in between images are the best ones to use with masks. To top it off I paired each tree with a sentiment from the Essential Holiday Elegance set which are perfect for cards :) I ended up making five cards in just under 10 minutes, I'd say that's pretty good for a holiday card crunch.
Thanks for stopping by today!

The cards that didn't make it

2011-12-10T00:37:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure everyone is well aware, that today was the day where acceptance emails went out for the 10th anniversary special of Card Creations for Paper Crafts magazine. I had submitted 10 cards this time. Four were re-submits and 6 were new ones. Here is my rejection parade, some of which I'm kind of glad didn't make it because I like them so much :)

First up is my Market Street Stamps card featuring the new background stamp Grace.

Perfect for a Mother's Day card and lots of pink!

Next up was a re-submit for the wedding category involving some masking tape :)

This one was also a re-submit for the wedding category with handmade pear embellishments made from sculpey clay.

Another re-submit for the love category featuring lots and lots of buttons.

One more re-submit for the wedding category with flower, pearls, crystals and rhinestones.

This card was my super simple card I submitted for the love category which features my own lip print with pink lipstick, I love this card. I think I will set this one aside for hubby for Valentine's Day :)

A simple colored in card for the miss you category .

And last but not least, my two fave interactive cards. One for the halloween category and one for the encouragement category.

When you pull the Boo tab, the cut little ghost creeps over to Mr. Frankie :)

On this one if you push or pull the tab, the squirrel slides along the wire :)

And the 10th card you'll just have to wait and see in May ;)

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek, hope everyone has a great crafty weekend!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #31 - In the Mist

2011-12-09T01:01:00.001-04:00

There were some fab ideas in the gallery last week for CAS-ual Fridays for the Tic Tac Toe challenge, some that I intend to use for some Christmas cards too. This week, you get to get a little messy with your project :)

We want to see your misting skills! Here is the list of options for misting:

• Use pre-made misting products available at your local or on-line retailer.
• Create spray mist using a mix of re-inkers and water squirted through a spray bottle.
• Create opaque splatters with a mix of acrylic paint and water flicked off a paintbrush.
• Add fine water droplets to your background of distress inked paper.
• Utilize an airbrush system or marker misting tool
• Channel your inner child and spray ink or paint from a brush onto paper by blowing through a straw

Our sponsor this week is the Sweet Stamp Shop and they sent us some fabulous stamps to work with :) Make sure you pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to see what goodies you can win from our sponsor ;)

I went with the misting marker tool because that is what I'm most familiar with. I do have a couple of tattered angels products but I have yet to figure out the correct pressure to use on the pump so I don't make a complete mess! lol Here is what I came up with.

Very CAS and super easy! A misted card base and a paper pieced ice cream cone colored with copics. You can't tell in the picture, but I coated the chocolate sauce with some crystal effects to give it a nice sheen.

The Girl Fridays would love to have you play along this week and I can't wait to see everyone's misted ideas, I'm really hoping to learn something new or how to use my spray bottles properly :)

Thanks for stopping by and see you over at the Break Room!

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

2011-12-07T19:08:00.000-04:00

I managed to find a few minutes in this busy holiday season to play a challenge, the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, check out the inspirational photo...

I tell you what inspired me before I show my card, here's the list :

* Blue and White (I've been in Christmas card mode so I couldn't envision the yellow in my design)

* The close clustering of the picture frames

* The idea of a party or gathering

* The textures (ie. fabric - translated into hats and scarfs for me) lol

Based on the above ideas, here is what I came up with:

And here is a close up of the party goers...

Nothing says winter like the colors blue and white! My snowman party is all clustered together like the frames in the picture, well somewhat like the frames :) This was a fun card to make and a little tedious...there was a LOT of masking involved to get all those snowman to fit together properly. I used Copic markers to color everything, I originally was going to paper piece the whole thing, but that would have taken forever!

Snowman Christmas Card

Cardstock: (white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Swanky Snowdudes, Hang Ups) Paper Smooches

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Markers: (R46, BV00, BV02, BV04, R85, B00, B01, B02, C3) Copics

Glitter: (frosted lace) Stickles

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek and my snowy scene!

i {heart} papers and Market Street Stamps Blog Hop

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the i {heart} papers and Market Street Stamps combined teams blog hop! We're so excited to have you join us, and we know you're in for a real treat!

You should have arrived here from Gretchen Belknap blog. If not, visit Kate's i {heart} papers blog to start from the beginning. You'll go from there to the blogs of our designers and finish up at the Market Street Stamps blog. If you get lost, both company blogs have the complete list of links.

about i {heart} papers:

i {heart} papers is proud that we recently celebrated our 3rd anniversary in October. We’ve grown by leaps and bounds and have not strayed from our core principle of stellar customer service with FAST and FREE shipping. You ALWAYS receive free shipping with your $50 US order/$150 CAN order with no gimmicks or restrictions like so many other companies, and orders are almost always shipped within 24 business hours. We’re thrilled to be hopping along with the MSS team today and to be carrying the MSS line of stamps. If you’ve never ordered from us before, please mention that you learned about us on this hop for a free gift with your first order! Please visit us at www.iheartpapers.com, “like” us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/iheartpapers, where you'll find over 1900 other IHP fans!) and follow us on Twitter (@iheartpapers). Enjoy the hop! If you order by Wednesday midnight EST, all MSS sets are 15% off! Leave comments along the hop to be entered in a drawing to win one free MSS set. The more you comment, the more chances to win! You have until Wednesday at midnight...winners will be announced on the ihp blog on Friday!

about Market Street Stamps:

Market Street Stamps, LLC, was founded in January 2010 by Angelica and Jorge Suarez, a husband and wife team who create unique stamps made from peach-tinted photopolymer, the best available on the market today! Market Street Stamps' goal is to produce durable, high quality designs that you'll turn to again and again! We are thrilled to be hopping with i {heart} papers and their incredibly talented design team today! Be sure to "like" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MarketStreetStamps) for the latest releases and project ideas from our Design Team!

I've been on a gift card holder kick as it is getting so close to Christmas and decided to make another one using the stamp set Prancer and the background stamp Flurries. I made the gift card holder using Old Olive cardstock and then stamped the Flurries background in coordinating ink. For the front I made an accordion flower using some matching patterned paper and kept it together in the middle with a off white circle. Prancer was stamped with a deep brown ink and then cut out and popped up off the center. I opted for no sentiment as I think Prancer showcases the front very well all by himself :) Attach some ribbon beneath the flower before gluing on and you've got a perfect way to close your gift holder!

Here is a close up of the beautiful detail on the Prancer stamp...

From here, you're headed to Kendra Wietstock blog. Enjoy the hop! Thanks for your comments! Remember to order your MSS from ihp before Wednesday to get the 15% discount!

Market Street Stamp Block Party -Stepping out of the zone

2011-12-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

Let's get this PARTY started! A fab prize to be won AND one person will win a guest design spot for the following month. So hurry and link up your fab MSS creations over at the Market Street Stamps blog!

By now I'm sure most of you know I love to make two types of cards...cute as in little scenes or just plain clean and simple. For the Market Street Block Party this month I decided to challenge myself and try something different...so I did.

I'll warn you right now this card is very different than what I normally make and well, it's just downright dirty...grunge dirty that is :)

I got to playing around with the new background stamps and the idea I originally had, turned into something else. I started off with a white card base (yup there's white underneath there) and stamped the Mesh background in a dark blue. Then using the same stamp I stamped the background in green slightly off from the blue mesh. This is when the design started getting trippy to look at lol. Then I used the Gingham background and stamped it over top in a peach color. It was pretty messy at this point and then I just kept going. I rubbed Walnut Stain over the card front, with an emphasis on the edges and then I filled up a spray bottle with some chocolate ink and water and gave it a little spritz. I think I finally stopped when I couldn't see bright white anymore! I went with a masculine birthday card and colored some chipboard numbers black. Finishing touch was a row of black dots leading off the card edge. So what have a learned from this? Don't be afraid to get messy or step out of your card zone, because you just might miss out on an artistic discovery :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll load up your own Market Street creations over at the Block Party!

21 Card

Cardstock: White

Stamps: (Mesh, Gingham) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Peach Parfait) Stampin' Up!; (Walnut Stain) Time Holtz distress; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Other: Chipboard

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #30

2011-12-02T01:01:00.000-04:00

Well it's been two weeks since we've all had a new challenge to play, so let's jump right in! This week we're bringing you another Tic Tac Toe challenge, so lots of combos to play with.

Our sponsor this week is Paper Temptress who was kind enough to supply us with some cardstock. Be sure to stop on over to CAS-ual Fridays to check out the prize!

This was my first card I've made since the last challenge as I've been busy getting ready for a craft fair this weekend. I went with a vertical line using Polka Dots, Kraft and Orange and came up with a super simple masculine card :)

The Girl Fridays are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and I for one can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for their creations. Be sure to pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to check out the inspiration and we hope you'll play along too :)

The Twinery/Market Street Stamps Blog Hop

2011-11-19T09:00:00.002-04:00

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you're all going to have a little crafty time to yourself today or even some time to look at some crafty inspiration, and what better way to get some inspiration than hopping along on the Twinery/Market Street Stamps Blog Hop!

If you've just come from Julia Stainton's Blog then you're in the right place...if you think you're lost, then you can start at the Twinery blog. It's a 2 day hop, this being the 2nd day and there's tons of great inspiration to see along the way PLUS some fantastic goodies to win :)

I know, now you're wondering what the prize is eh? Well from the Twinery you could win..... a Ultimate Sampler Pack (retail value $25) from The Twinery?

A $25 gift certificate from Market Street Stamps

To be eligible to win you need to leave a comment on each blog, each day!

You have through Friday, November 25th to comment! Winners will be randomly drawn for and posted on both The Twinery and on the Market Street Stamps blog on Saturday, November 26th.

I simply adore the Night Owls set from Market Street Stamps and for whatever reason my mind thought of these two talking to each other using the ol' cup and string trick.

For this card I paper pieced the owls and popped them up off their branches fro some extra dimension. Here is a close up of the pretty blue owl:

To get the cups I took the outline coffee mug, stamped in and then cut off the handles and bubbles. After I stuck both owls down I measured a piece of twine to fit perfectly between the two cups.

For the leaves, I just drew a basic leaf outline and filled in the middle with pieces of swirled twine.

Thanks for hopping by and from here you can hop on over to the talented Jen Carter!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #29 - Karen's Sketch

2011-11-18T01:01:00.001-04:00

I love the fact that we have so many designers on the CAS-ual Fridays team that can put together some pretty awesome sketches! The challenge this week is a sketch from our Girl Friday Karen, check it out...

Our sponsor this week is TradeFish Designs, so be sure to pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you could win!

Just a reminder that this week's challenge runs for two weeks as to give people a bit of break over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

I ended up with a cute little holiday stamp set to play with, courtesy of TradeFish and here is my CAS card I came up with:

Believe it or not this card was the result of a mistake....a very sticky mistake lol. When I went to stick my window layer over top with pop dots, it stuck crooked and I tried to fix it by peeling the layer off and it ended up ripping my poor little card. So....my fix was little triangles of white in the corners to "cover" the rips. I think I like the added corners because it reminds me somewhat of a picture frame....well just a tad :)

The Girl Fridays can't wait to see what you come up with for this sketch challenge and there's LOADS of time to play!

Thanks for stopping by and happy CAS stamping!

I finally found a copy!

2011-11-14T22:55:00.002-04:00

Well its been 7 days since Paper Crafts' 365 Cards hit the newsstands and I couldn't find it ANYWHERE until a couple of days ago. I have been teased by friends as they snapped photos of the magazine to show me that they had it, I had my parents scouring stores while they were in town to find it and finally I got a sneak peek of my card when my friend and team mate Stephanie Washburn emailed me a picture:) How did I finally come across a copy of this fab magazine? First I drove 69.5km to the town of Truro and hit all the places that my parents didn't get too, with no luck there I drove another 52.8km to Elmsdale where I finally found one copy smushed in the back row of the reading section at the Atlantic Superstore. I read it through front to back 3 times now and I keep seeing "new" things I like and sooo many cards that I would just like to re-create. One of my two cards was already featured on the Paper Crafts blog last week so I'll show you the other one...

I picked up my daughter from my mother's today and the first thing my mom asked was, "Did you find the magazine?" lol. I had it in my hand and showed it to her. I made a quick duck to the restroom and when I came back she still had the magazine opened and then she looked at me with wide eyes and whispered "You weren't going to give that card to your father for his birthday were you?". I told her no I hadn't planned on it and explained that I didn't have the card anymore. She breathed a sigh of relief and said "Good, because I just showed it to him" lol.

Thanks for stopping by and if you haven't picked up 365 Cards yet, you really should, this magazine is busting at the seams with fabulous ideas!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #28 - Tag! You're it!

2011-11-11T01:01:00.002-04:00

Wow! So many off the edge ideas last week, I can't wait to see what you come up with for this challenge!

The CAS challenge for this week is to either make a tag or make a card with a tag on it.

Our sponsor this week is Purple Onion Designs, so be sure to pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to see what the prize is!

This week I've been still on working on Christmas themed projects, so I went with a simple Christmas tag:

This tag was super easy. A little stamping, some ripped paper for a snowbank and a bit of ribbon to finish it off. The Girl Fridays would love to have you stop by the break room and play along! There are some fab projects at CAS-ual Fridays to get you inspired too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!

What I've been up to and Prima Flower winners!

2011-11-09T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well the holiday season is fast approaching and things just seem to kick up a notch into the crazy realm around here. The annual Christmas craft fair is looming close which means I have to dig out my jewelry supplies and get busy making! Also, for the craft fair, our church has a table in the non-profit section of the fair. We are a fairly new church to the area and just want to get involved with different community activities, so we are giving away free handmade cd christmas ornaments at the fair.. Here is a sample of some of the ones we have done:

This is the lot that our teen group made last Friday night and they had a blast! Our goal is to have 600 made by the end of the month and I believe we have about 400 so far :)

And...... the WINNERS of the Prima flower giveaways are:

Prize box #1 - Mynnette

Prize box #2 - Annette

Ladies if you could e-mail me your full mailing addresses to jdaydesigns@ns.sympatico.ca, I will get your goodies out in the mail on Monday!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Prima Flower Giveaway x 2!

2011-11-05T01:01:00.000-03:00

It's been long overdue as I said I would have a blog giveaway when I hit 100 followers. Well, I've been doing some house cleaning in my art room and decided it's time for my Prima flower collection to find a new home as I NEVER use them. I will confess I mainly bought them for the cute containers (which I'm keeping). I had enough Prima flowers to fill two boxes, so TWO lucky people will get a prize!

Prima prize box #1

Prima prize box #2

For a chance to win all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post. What I want to know is where can a girl find some heavy weight white cardstock to buy? The only white I have ever owned is Stampin' Up! and it doesn't hold up well for card bases or for copic coloring. So leave me your suggestions and I will pick to random winners by Wednesday, November 9th.

Thanks for stopping by and I'm looking forward to giving these flowers a new home :)

CAS-ual FridaysChallenge #27 - Off the edge

2011-11-04T01:01:00.027-03:00

Hello crafty peeps! Loved all the entries last week over at CAS-ual Fridays! This week's challenge is going to take you right over the edge, literally!

The challenge for this week is too create a CAS project that has a panel or image hanging off the edge.

Our sponsor this week is L'il Inker Designs, so be sure to pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to see what you could win!

I've been slowly delving into my Christmas cards to make this year, so I decided to make a winter one with the snowflake off the edge.

A very, very CAS card using just white and blue :)

The Girl Fridays would love to have you stop by and share your work in the gallery at CAS-ual Fridays this week and the Girl Fridays also have some great inspirational pieces to get your mojo going :)

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

Play Date Cafe Challenge #106 - Final PBD Post

2011-11-03T01:01:00.001-03:00

This week marks the last official post for my Private Blend Designer position with the Play Date Cafe and what a terrific 3 months it has been! Even though I won't be on the designing end anymore, I'm sure you'll see me around playing along :) This week's color challenge is a color combo that I would never have thought of , gray, yellow and pink...

Our sponsor this week is Practicing Creativity Designs and the design team got to pull out their stamps from the summer challenge and play with them again :)

I went clean and simple and made an aperture window. I still haven't learned to use the color yellow very well, so it is just showcased a wee bit in the wheat stalks :)

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this color combo and perhaps I can pick up some new ideas as to how to incorporate more yellow into my projects. Be sure to stop by the Play Date Cafe to check out the prize package and see what all the other girls have whipped up to inspire you!

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

November Paint the Town Challenge

2011-11-02T10:00:00.000-03:00

Guess what? It's time to paint the town again over at the Market Street Stamps blog today. Check out the lovely color combo in this gorgeous inspirational photo, love all those purples :)

I've been dying to try out my Vintage Wallpaper stamp and wanted to do something a little different with it, so I dug out my watercolor paper and some purple inks for this project and here is what I came up with:

I stamped my three colors randomly on an acetate sheet and then stamped my image into the ink colors on the sheet. Then I spritzed the stamp with some water, just until the ink started to float and then stamped it onto the watercolor paper. You get two great effects with spritzing with water, your colors are muted and they blend really well together :)

The MSS design team would love to have you play along with us this month, so grab your Market Street Stamps and get inky with us! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this color combo :)

Happy Anniversary Card

Cardstock: (River Rock) Stampin' Up!; watercolor paper

Stamps: (Vintage Wallpaper, Celebrate Cake) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Pink Pirouette) Stampin' Up!

Stickers: (Rhinestones) Stampin' Up!

Owl Always Love You

2011-11-01T10:00:00.001-03:00

Hello crafty friends! I'm here to share with you a Market Street Stamps creation that is making its way to Operation Write Home. In anticipation that I wouldn't get any of my World Card Making cards back, I snapped pictures of them before I sent them off. One of my absolute faves just happened to be this cute little guy using the Night Owls set.

This card was uber easy to put together. I stuck with the colors red/pink/white with a smidgen of brown just because it was a love card after all :) The owl is paper pieced, along with the branch and I two tone inked the sentiment. I had an itty bitty heart punch to add a little "love" in the air and finished it off with some matching baker's twine. I hope this card makes someone smile, wherever it may end up :)

Here are my other WCMD cards that didn't make the cut...

Merry Christmas card featuring Market Street Stamps stamp set Argyle

Sittin' here thinking of you

Thinking of You Sailboats

Hello

Happy Birthday Trucks and Cars

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #26 - Lawn Fawn and Laura's Sketch

2011-10-28T01:01:00.000-03:00

I must say, there are a lot of crafty people out there with some mad coloring skills, the gallery was beautiful last week :) This week we have a little something for all you sketch lovers out there. Check out this sketch by our Laura Davis...

Our sponsor this week is Lawn Fawn and they had supplied us with some yummy stamps back in July. Be sure to pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to check the fab prize package :)

For this week I used a stamp set that I haven't inked yet from Lawn Fawn...Lunar Lights.

I rummaged through my scrap squares and found this great little white and red pattern that's flocked, it has such a nice fuzzy feel :) I forgot how long my tassel was and ended up having to chop it off to fit the card, but that's okay, I think I kind of like it going off the edge.

The Girl Fridays can't wait to see what you come up with for Laura's sketch this week, so be sure to stop by CAS-ual Fridays and play along with us!

Shine Brightly

Cardstock: (whipser white, real red, basic black) Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Lunar Lights) Lawn Fawn

Ink: (tuxedo black) Memento, (real red) Stampin' Up!

Other: rhinestone

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #105

2011-10-27T01:01:00.001-03:00

Lots of beautiful entries in last week's challenge and this week is another mellow color palette using the colors kraft, flesh and cadet blue, check out the yummy inspirational picture...

This week's sponsor is the Kraft Outlet, so be sure to pop over to the Play Date Cafe to check out the prize package.

I found this color combo a little challenging because the flesh color was throwing me off, so I went itty bitty in project size and made an ATC. A little stamping, some die cut buttons and a wee bit of linen thread to attach them, here's what I made...

The design team at the Play Date Cafe would love to have you play along with us this week, looking forward to see what you create :)

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #25 - Just add color

2011-10-21T01:01:00.009-03:00

I absolutely loved all the Hallowe'en projects last week, they were spook-tacular! This week at CAS-ual Fridays you'll have to dig out your color mediums whether it be crayons, inks, chalks, markers...whatever you love or have.

This week's sponsor is Clear and Simple Stamps and they were very generous in giving the Girl Fridays some yummy stamp sets to play with :) Not only is there a fab prize up for grabs, but also this bonus...

BONUS: Use the html code below to add the CSS blinkie to your side bar, and leave us a message with a link to your blog and we will randomly select (3) blogs featuring the CSS blinkie with the Limited Edition Crafty Bonus stamp set! {bonus closes Thursday 10.27.11 at midnight, EST}

BLINKIE HTML:

Okay my blinkie code doesn't seem to want to work on my post, so I'll direct you right over to CAS-ual Fridays to pick it up there...theirs definitely works :)

The stamp set we received was the Craft Room set and I absolutely LOVE it! It's so unique and there are so many fun elements in it. Here is what I came up with using the copic markers in the stamp set:

The Girl Fridays would love to have you stop on over to CAS-ual Fridays to play along with us this week and show us your CAS colored projects!

Play Date Cafe Challenge #104 - A little mellow

2011-10-20T01:01:00.001-03:00

Guess what today is? The 2nd year ANNIVERSARY for the Play Date Cafe! Whoo-hoo! This week's color story is a contrast from last week...soft and mellow with the colors mauve, egg yolk and artichoke, check out the lovely color story board:

This week we have 3 sponsors, yup THREE! First we have Layers of Color with their beautiful art stamps

AND the Sweet Stamp Shop with their fun and cute stamp images

AND The Twinery with their yummy, yummy baker's twine!

I've been making cards like crazy lately and my jewelry supplies have been long neglected, so I decided for this week's challenge to whip up a pair of simple earrings using Swarovski crystals in yellow and purple with some green pearls. Just a simple, straight drop earring with some silver beads in between.

The Play Date Cafe designers would love to have you celebrate with us for our 2nd anniversary! Be sure to stop by the cafe to see all the wonderful prizes to be won this week! We would love to see your creations in the gallery this week :)

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

2011-10-19T23:47:00.000-03:00

I've never participated in a Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, but when I saw the inspiration photo, I just had to give my idea a whirl :) Here is what the inspirational photo looks like:

I was inspired by the tomato shape, sewing, push pins, the color scheme and FABRIC! Here is what I came up with:

I paper pieced these little guys together except I used fabric. For the card base I hand stitched a cream colored piece of fabric and then stuck my little bunch of tomatoes onto the fabric panel. The sentiment is a mix of words from the Sentiment Sampler set. I wanted to incorporate some pincushions in there somewhere, so I made mini ones for stick pins using leftover fabric. Here is a close up of the stick pins:

This card was so fun to make, I think I will be trying more fabric piecing in the future :)

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie

Celebrating with Market Street Stamps

2011-10-17T20:57:00.000-03:00

So it's a celebration with Market Street Stamps this week for their 1 year anniversary...all...week...long :) Be sure to check back EVERY DAY to see what's going on! Have you moved into the Neighborhood yet? If you haven't moved in yet, you really should! It's Market Street bliss over there, with tons of ideas, forums, chats, etc., etc., etc.!

Also going on until October 19th is the Special Edition 1st Anniversary Block Party where you can win $600 worth of FREE STAMPS! All you have to do is load up your projects using Market Street Stamps. Here's what I made for some inspiration using the new stamp set "Sweet Spooks".

I hope you'll join us in all the fun this week, happy stamping!

Julie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #24- Spooky Spooky

2011-10-14T01:01:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone! It was so wonderful to see all the support for Julie Ranae last week at CAS-ual Fridays, it was truly appreciated! Today's challenge is a spooky one, Hallowe'en with one little twist...

Yup you read it right not ONE speck of ORANGE! So let's see your haunting CAS creations with no orange.

Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps so be sure to stop by the Break room to check out the prize!

I actually added layers to my card this time, which is a little different for me as I like minimal layers and wide open spaces. I felt my sentiment being the focal point and big and bold allowed be to add the layers while still keeping it CAS :)

My sentiment is actually a letterpress plate I got last year and although I didn't end up with much of an impression, it stamped really nice. It's hard to see, but the black layer behind it is a spider web embossing folder and at the last minute I decided to add the itty bitty spider with the big eyes. To get the thread I used some of the black bakers twine and untwisted the white from it and attached just the black thread by sewing it on.

The Girl Fridays can't wait to see your ghoulish goodies over at CAS-ual Fridays and there's plenty of spook-tacular inspiration for you to peek at!

Trick or Treat Card

Cardstock: (purple) Bazzill Basics; (kiwi kiss, basic black) Stampin' Up!

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Ribbon: Ribbon Carousel

Rhinestones: Stampin' Up!

Embossing Folder: (spider web) Stampin' Up!

Letterpress Plate: (trick or treat) Stampin' Up!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #103

2011-10-13T01:01:00.000-03:00

Hello my crafting friends! So glad you are joining us again this week at the Play Date Cafe for another FAN-TABULOUS color story! Check out the colors of rust, storm and deep sea :

Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps, be sure to pop on over to the Cafe to see what the prize is!

For my card this week I tried not use any other colors than the three in the color story, but I ended up using a wee bit of black for the sentiment.

I chose the three colors in cardstock and then stamped background stamps on the cardstock in matching ink colors. Then I just randomly jut sections and pieced them back together on the card front. The sentiment was easy peasy, just used some leftover chipboard letters, inked them black and stuck em' on :)

Thanks for stopping by and the Play Date Cafe design team would love to see your take on this challenge over in the gallery :)

Dad Card

Cardstock: (Really Rust, Taken with Teal, Basic Gray) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Vintage Music, Vintage Notepad, Argyle) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Really Rust, Taken with Teal, Basic Gray, Basic Black) Stampin' Up!

Other: chipboard letters

Hoot Hoot for Night Owls

2011-10-12T10:00:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone! Today on the Market Street Stamps blog I'm sharing a card that features the stamp set Night Owls and some brayering. For the complete tutorial click here.

Thanks for stopping by and have great day!

Night Owl Card

Cardstock: (Peach Parfait, Elegant Eggplant, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Whisper White) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Night Owls) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Peach Parfait, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant) Stampin' Up!; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Ribbon: (Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up!

Tools: brayer, sponge

Other: black marker, staple, foam mounts

Hallowe'en CARDS Challenge

2011-10-11T11:45:00.000-03:00

Next to Christmas, I would have to say that Hallowe'en is my next favorite holiday to make a card for. I just love the rich colors for Hallowe'en, especially purples and blacks and I LOVE a hauntingly full moon :) The challenge for this week over at the CARDS blog is to create a Hallowe'en card. Here is what I made using purple and black and a big full moon:

The best part I like about this card is that it is all one layer, so it's perfect for mailing. I started off with a piece of white cardstock and cut out a circle from a post it note for the moon. Once I had the moon in place, I brayered Rich Razzleberry ink starting from the top all the way down to the bottom. Then I brayered Elegant Eggplant over top part way down, not covering the Rich Razzleberry completely from the top. Using another post it note, I ripped a ground edge and stuck that over the bottom half of my brayered piece. Then I took the bare trees from the stamp set Lovely as a Tree and stamp the trees randomly in black, varying the heights. For the ground, I flipped the ripped post it note so it was covering the sky and then sponged black ink on the bottom. When the ground dried, I put the post it note back over the ground and sponged some elegant eggplant along the horizon line and using teh same ink color I sponged some clouds across the moon. The edges of the panel were sponged with black and I used a black zig writer marker to draw in the bats. Final touch was stamping the sentiment with white Staz On ink. The sentiment wasn't white enough for me so I went back over it with a white gel pen. Here is a close up of the spooky scene:

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a spook-tacular day!

Spooky Nights Card

Cardstock: (Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Hallowe'en Frights, Lovely as a Tree) Stampin' Up!

Ink: (Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black); White Staz On

Tools: brayer, sponge

Other: post it note, black zig writer marker, foam mounts

Swimming for Katie Blog Hop & Fundraiser

2011-10-10T01:01:00.011-03:00

Today I have another special blog hop for you and I hope you will swim along with us over the next three days to help out Katie and her family! Please read on for Katie's story...

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central is HERE. This is a permanent page that will stay active at i {heart} papers with current information and the full 3 day blog hop listing, as well as the donation button.

Here are all the items available for sale.

Keep Swimming Octopus
Peachy Clear stamp
$5.50 with free shipping

Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp
$3.00 with instant download

Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp with SVG cut file
$3.50 with instant download

Keep Swimming Mermaid DIGIstamp
$3.50 with instant download

Keep Swimming Ribbon Fish DIGIstamp and DIGIpapers
$5.00 with instant download

I hope you will join me in supporting Katie through a purchase or donation. The following is a list of everyone who has projects posted today.

AJ Otto

Beate

Carolyn Mustopa

Dawn Burnworth

Deb Felts

Gretchen Belknap

Heather Jensen

Jen del Muro

Julie Ranae

Kate - i {heart} papers

Kendra Wietstock

Lisa Johnson

Loretta Lock

Lori Tecler

Lynn Mercurio

Marianne Walker

Michele Gross

Stacy aka Twinshappy

Tracy Schultz

Debbie Olson

Cindy Lawrence

Cindy Haffner

Julie Koerber

Christine Okken

Tammy Hershberger

Danielle Kennedy

Barbara Anders

Makiko Jones

Ashley N Newell

Shannan Teubner

Taylor Usry

Jen Tapler

Jenn Balcer

Jenny Chesnick

Jess Larsen

Jessica Knutsen

Jimmi Mayo

Joan Bardee

Joan Ervin

Julia Aston

Julie Ebersole

I hope you will be inspired by them and moved to purchase or donate. If you would like to send Katie a card, her mailing address is:

Katie Renz

PO Box 5913

Bellingham, WA 98227-5913

Thank you!

Operation Julie's Smile

2011-10-07T09:01:00.001-03:00

Hello Everyone! Boy do we have a fab blog hop for you this weekend! The Girl Fridays from CAS-ual Fridays along with 100's of other designers have joined together for this benefit blog hop titled Operation Julie's Smile. Here's the story...

The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae. You may know her as the design team coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more. What many people don't know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child. It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth replaced in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out. But then it happened, she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them and that his recommendation that she give in and have all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would

'work' out payments with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appointment for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the 'payments' applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her and that too was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation...Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process...a total of $7000.

Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight!

Because she is an event organizer by trade, she has taken on the job of organizing all the blogs in this hop as her way of 'working overtime' for what she needs, the same as if she were able to work overtime at an outside job to pay for the work to be done.

It is the goal of all of these generous friends and sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If there is anything you can do to help with a financial donation, there is a donation button ready for you to click that you can find in the sidebar to the right. Any amount is appreciated and ALL DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool of over $2500!

Yup you read that right, $2500 worth of prizes to be won and there are three ways you can win:

1. From blog comments left

2. From PayPal Donation list

3. For blog hop hosts

Now with a hop this HUGE, there is bound to be a break in the links somewhere, so if you find yourself lost along the way you can always stop by he Sweet Stamp Shop Blog for the complete list of blog hoppers and the prize list is there too.

Sooooo the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week in relation to this blog hop is based on a quote.

Our sponsor this week is the Craft's Meow, who graciously supplied us with some stamps to play with.

I got the set Timless Tags and decided to pair these with the actual sentiment and some yummy twine.

If you're hopping along the right trail you should have came here from my teammate's blog, Dana Seymor and if you continue along you can hop on over to my other teammate's blog, Jinny Newlin. Make sure you leave a comment here so you have a chance at all the prizes up for grabs and if you can, please make a donation so we can help bring back a new smile for our friend :)We hope that you have fun hopping along and remember, you have all weekend to comment on blogs, so take your time!

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

Play Date Cafe Challenge #102 with Stampotique

2011-10-06T01:01:00.001-03:00

Moving right along in the color challenges we've now hit #102 over at the Play Date Cafe and what a WICKED color story this week :) Check it out:

Our sponsor this week is Stampotique and they supplied the design team with stamps to play with! Be sure to check out the Cafe to see what the prize package is :)

I had all the intentions of doing a Hallowe'en themed card with this color combo, but changed my mind and went with FLOWERS :) Here is what I came up with:

The design team has some great inspiration for you to take a gander at and and we would love to have you play along with us this week over at the Play Date Cafe!

Thinking of You Flowers

Cardstock: (Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Basic Black) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (flower, thinking of you) Stampotique

Ink: (Pixie Pink, Gable Green, Perfect plum Basic Black) Stampin' Up!

Other: foam mounts

Playing with Paper Smooches...FINALLY!

2011-10-05T00:38:00.001-03:00

Ever since the Paper Smooches stamp line launched, I've been buying sets here and there, but haven't really inked any of them. I've been..well...collecting them because they are just darn cute! Finally I had a reason to dig out a set I've been longing to try forever...Surf & Turf. My daughter wanted a birthday card for a friend that would hold a gift card and she wanted the card to MATCH the gift card. Well the gift card had a bunch of cartoon-y, cute fishes so here's what I made:

I've been on a paper piecing kick and decided to create a little fishy scene with one fish saying the phrase "Glug bloop" lol. The gift card fits under the waves as the scene is a pocket. I stamped all the pieces on colored cardstock except for the fishes. They were stamped on white and colored in using copics. Here is a close up of the ocean floor.

For the rocks, I used the top off a cupcake and candy apple from the "Sugar Rush" set. I outlined around all the pieces in the water with a blue copic marker to give it some extra dimension and added crystal effects to the bubbles and word bubble. The sentiment was printed off the computer using the font SNF Goody by Kim Hughes. Here's what the inside of the card looks like:

For the inside, I printed the sentiment from the computer using the SNF Goody font again and then added a little fish.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my little fishy scene!

Fishy Gift Card Holder

Cardstock: (Cool Carribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizazz, Basic Gray, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Surf & Turf, Sugar Rush) Paper Smooches; (word bubble) Studio G

Ink: (Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise) Stampin' Up!; (tuxedo black) Memento

Copics: B00 Frost Blue, B01 Mint Blue, B02 Robin's Egg Blue, V04 Lilac, V06 Lavender, R46 Strong Red, YG03 Yellow Green

Font: SNF Goody by Kim Hughes

Other: foam mounts

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #22 - Loopy or Tabbed?

2011-09-30T01:01:00.002-03:00

I loved everyone's creations for the monochromatic challenge last week! This week your challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays involves ribbon!

We want to see your Clean and Simple projects that use ribbon in an innovative way with either loops or tabs, sorry no bows!

Our sponsor this week is Ribbon Carousel and they supplied the Girl Fridays with some of their yummy ribbon!

I will admit that I didn't read the instructions for the challenge properly when I made my project and had a big, fat bow on it. I nixed the bow and tweaked the project a bit and came up with a loop. After I had finished I was thinking I should have made the card in the shape of a witch's neck and made the focal part as her necklace. Here's my Hallowe'en themed card:

The Girl Fridays can't wait to see what you come up with for ribbon ideas! Stop by the break room, have a peek at the design team samples and then play along with us this week :)

Tha Play Date Cafe Challenge #101

2011-09-29T01:01:00.006-03:00

*If you're looking for the Market Street Stamps September Release, please scroll down*

Well we hit a milestone last week with challenge number 100 over at the Play Date Cafe and now we're moving right along to #101! The color story this week has me thinking of antiques with its wonderful rich palette of colors using wine, smudge, leather and parchment. Check out the color story:

Our sponsor this week is Paper & Such, so be sure to stop by the Cafe to see what you can win!

One of the colors this week is leather and even though I didn't have the exact shade shown in the color story, I used an actual piece of leather on my project this week. Here is what I came up with:

I had the design of this card all mapped out in my head and then I got stuck on the sentiment. My sentiment is a referral to the main stamp image being the music, hence my favorite sound. To make the main panel, I first brayered distress ink in the color antique linen onto a piece of white cardstock going from the top and bottom so the middle was left lighter. Then I stamped the music background with the same color over top. I inked the edges with the same color and ripped the bottom portion of the panel to give it that distressed look. The flower was die cut from a piece of leather and topped off with a vintage brad center.

The design team has some beautiful projects to share, so be sure to pop over to have a quick peek in the Cafe and we would love to have you play along with us as well!

Favorite Sound Card

Cardstock: (Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White, Basic Gray) Stmapin' Up!

Specialty Paper: Leather

Stamps: (Vintage Music, Simple Joys) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Antique Linen) Tim Holtz Distress Ink; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Brad: (Vintage Collection) Stampin' Up!

Market Street Stamps September Release

2011-09-28T21:00:00.001-03:00

Have you seen the FABULOUS stamp reveals so far over at Market Street Stamps??!! Tonight is the last night of stamp reveals before they all go on sale tomorrow night at 7pm central. Market Street Stamps is showcasing "Comfort Foods" tonight and what a sweet and fun set this is! I made a card that has a double use.

The card holds a recipe in the pocket and notice that sweet little pumpkin pie piece? It's a magnet so you can attach your recipe to your fridge or just use the magnet as is. There I go with my fridge ideas again lol.

I stamped the pie piece on chipboard and cut it out as the base and then paper pieced over top of it. A small piece of magnetic tape was stuck to the back. The brown circle on the card hides another piece of magnetic tape so the pie piece stays in place until you pull it off, neat eh?

Be sure to stop over to the Market Street Stamps blog to see what the other designers have made and remember all the stamp sets you've seen this week go on SALE tomorrow (Sept.29th) at 7pm central time AND for ONE WHOLE WEEK after that, new sets are 15% off individually or 25% off if you buy that month's bundle (all sets in the release).

Pie Recipe Card

Cardstock: (Pumpkin Pie, Barely Banana, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Comfort Foods) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso) Stampin' Up!; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Ribbon: (Pumpkin Pie) Stampin' Up!

Other: chipboard, magnetic tape, foam mounts, computer font

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #21 - Mostly Monochromatic

2011-09-23T01:01:00.001-03:00

Another week has flown by and here were are again for another CAS-ual Fridays challenge! For this week you'll have to dig out your monochromatic colors for your Clean and Simple projects.

The challenge is to use three monochromatic shades of your choice of color PLUS Chocolate Brown!

Our sponsor this week is Stampotique Originals and they supplied the Girl Fridays with some product to play with.

I received "Daniel's Hearts" and "Thinking of You" to play with. With my image being hearts, my monochromatic color choice was a no brainer...pink or red. I had more shades of pink with my inks so I went that route. Here is what I came up with:

I started off by brayering my three shades of pink ink onto a piece of cardstock. After that dried, I stamped the hearts and sentiment in chocolate brown and sponged the pink panel with brown ink. I tied some chocolate brown ribbon around the panel and then mounted it to a chocolate brown card base.

The Girl Fridays would love you to play along with us this week, so be sure to pop on over to the break room, have a peek and play along!

Julie

Play Date Cafe Challenge #100

2011-09-22T01:01:00.000-03:00

Wow is this ever exciting! The 100th challenge for the Play Date Cafe! Our color story coordinator Jaclyn Miller has a gorgeous fall palette for you this week, check it out:

Our sponsor this week is Lawn Fawn and they were very kind in letting us pick a stamp set to play with to give you some inspiration!

For my card I used the "Bake me a Cake" set, but in a different way. I couldn't picture an orange, yellow or green cake so I went with a graphic design instead and made a background using the smaller images from the set.

I started with a kraft card base and then repeated a pattern using the squiggles and swirl dot and star with the PDCC colors. For the sentiment section I glued cardstock strips of the three colors and then cut it using a label die. The sentiment was stamped in black and then I used the smaller squiggles for brackets. Once I glued this on the card base, I punched a hole through the end of the label and card base and tied a piece of hemp twine around the section. Finishing touch was a little sponge inking around the edges with some green.

The PDCC designers have some great examples for you and we would love to have you play along with us this week in this milestone challenge!

Happy Birthday Card

Cardstock: (Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Bake me a cake) Lawn Fawn

Ink: (More Mustard, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke) Stampin' Up!; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Label Die: Papertrey Ink

 Fiber: (Hemp Twine) Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you over at the Cafe!

Market Fresh Sketch Challenge

2011-09-21T10:00:00.002-03:00

It's that time of month again, time for the latest sketch challenge over at the Market Street Stamps blog today!

Check out the sketch for this month:

I was in a Christmas mood, so I decided to make a card using the stamp set Joyful Snowman. Here is what I came up with:

We would love to have you play along this month, so be sure to stop by the Market Street Stamps blog to check out what the designers have for inspiration for you and then play along!

 Thanks for stopping in and having a peek!

Julie

The Vertical Sketch Challenge with Moxie Fab World

2011-09-19T21:02:00.000-03:00

There were four sketch challenges in celebration of the new magazine Card Ideas for Paper Crafters by Paper Crafts over at Moxie Fab World. I would have loved to have played all four of them, but I had to pick one because that's all I had time for :) I went with the vertical sketch challenge because this is one of the sketches I had an idea for when the call for this magazine was out, but I never got around to it. Here is what the sketch looks like:

The first thing that popped in my head when I saw this sketch several months ago was icicles! I wasn't sure how I was going to put that idea onto paper until I looked at the products I won from a recent Paper Crafts Color Inspiration challenge. Here is what I created:

As soon as I saw the sentiment "Baby it's cold outside", the song automatically popped into my head! I went with a CAS card with minimal layers. I first stamped the Vintage Music background stamp by Market Street Stamps on the card base and then stamped random snowflakes in the same color on a white piece and adhered that to the card base. The icicles were the fun part! To make them, I took a piece of acetate and drew an icicle design using crystal effects. Then I covered the design with two colors of minty green glitter and let it dry. Then I just cut out the icicle shape and stuck it over the top edge of the snowflake section using glue dots. Final touches were a stamped sentiment and some inking on the card edges. Here is a close up of the sparkly icicles:

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the fab entries over at Moxie Fab World, there are a ton of great ideas!

Baby it's Cold

 Cardstock: (Aqua Mist) Papertrey Ink; (Whisper White) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Vintage Music) Market Street Stamps; (Wonderland) Dear Lizzy + American Crafts; (Branch Out) Stampin' Up!

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Sage Shadow) Stampin' Up!

Glitter: (Aquamarine) Martha Stewart Crafts; (Mint) Stampendous

Other: acetate, crystal effects, glue dots

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #20 - Mini Cards

2011-09-16T01:01:00.000-03:00

Well I loved looking at everyone's fall masterpieces last week and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for the next CAS-ual Fridays challenge!

We want to see your amazing clean and simple creations in MINIATURE size! Anything 4x4 or smaller!

Our sponsor this week is Annabelle Stamps! Be sure to stop on over at CAS-ual Fridays to check out the prize package!

For this week, I was in the mood for music, felt and a different language, so here is what I came up with for my mini 4 x 4 cards:

I had so much fun playing with felt the other week I had to give it another go with some dies! There is a slew of great inspirational ideas from the Girl Fridays this week and we would love to have you play along with us!

Merci Mini Cards

Cardstock: (Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi) Stampin' Up!

Stamps: (Vintage Music) Market Street Stamps; (Think Big Favorites #3) Papertrey Ink

Ink: (Crumb Cake, Early Espresso) Stampin' Up!

Felt: (Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink  

Die: (Flower Fusion) Papertrey Ink

Buttons: (White & Cream, Ocean Tides Vintage Mix) Papertrey Ink

Punch: (Bird) Stampin' Up!

Other: distressing tool, sponge, thread

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the break room!