Hoppin' off to school!

I have been trying to be in several places at one time this past few weeks,

and my scrap time has been greatly reduced.

(Translates to "I have little time to color".)

 

So, this week I took out my Crafter's Companion,

Beatrix Potter, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" CD-Rom.

 

How cool are these!

 

The Decoupage sheets contain several versions of the same image, with various sections seperate from the image so that you can fussy-cut and layer making an adorable 3-D project!

 

My bad for not having discovered these sooner!

 

 

Because so very often I need a card for an unplanned occasion, I leave them blank or don't add a sentiment on the front at all!

 

I can think of many ideas for this little card.

 

 

The details literally just POP off the card!

 

 

I have been a longtime Beatrix Potter fan, and these character stamps, CD's, and pre-colored images are perfect!

 

 

Check out all of the wonderful options that Crafter's Companion offers at their store here!



Halloween 2012

WOW! Time really flies!

 

I remember when this little guy was just a tiny baby,

and his sister wasn't even yet a glint in her Daddy's eye

(Hey, that's an old saying. I didn't make it up!)

 

 

 

If you're wondering what gorgeous paper I used for this layout,

it's the new DCWV "Bewitched" stack that's in stores right now!

It has so many cool patterns that you'll have a tough time deciding which to use first!

 

 

 

These two are just a huge source of happiness for anyone who spends any time with them.  It is such a thrill to be able to share such memories.

 

 



Anthony and Burt send a THANKS!

I am so thrilled to now be a part of the

combined USA and UK

Crafter's Companion Challenge!

 

As a "Thanks" to Marcea in the UK and to enter in the

November monthly challenge

of "Favorite Color Combo",

I have put together this little card:

 

 

I love Anthony and Burt!

These stamps are so full of expression and fun!

 

 

Papers are Echo Park, "This and That".

The green and yellow are so bright and sunny.

And I am so GREEN with envy that Anthony and Burt are getting rain... lol!

Check out all of the terrific stamps at the Crafter's Companion store!

Thank you to everyone for reading my blog today!

 

~Jan~



"Owl" be there!

Ever looking for a simple and easy way to make a little decoration for a party or family get-together?

 

DCWV

makes it as easy as 1-2-3!

 

I used the Fall paper stack

"Autumn Melody"

to throw together these cute little placecards

for a family dinner.

 

 

The "Give a Hoot" Cricut cartridge made it very easy to cut out these little owls, and the papers from DCWV added a sparkle to the project!

I only have a few minutes here and there these days to scrap, so I try and keep my projects as simple as possible.

 

 

Even though most of the dinner guests will be adults, I wanted to add a whimsical flair to the meal. We lost my father after a long illness this last week and it has been so difficult for the entire family.

His grandchildren (my grown kids) and his great-grandson will be here and this will give us a reason to smile and celebrate his life.

 

These took me a total of 30 minutes to whip up!

Not fancy, but sure to get a giggle!

 

Have a great day!

~Jan~



Contest on Crafter's Companion's FB Page

If you've been seeing these very cool storage units

for your achohol markers,

You'll want to win some!

See the FB post here:

 

 

Just leave a comment answering an very easy question and you could win these fantastic racks!

 



I wish it WOULD snow!

DCWV

has a beautiful new paper called

"Arctic Wishes"

 and all the components for making your holiday projects
are in there!

 

 

 

The tree graphics are terrific as a background for a modern tree (like this one by Stampendous) or a realistic Christmas tree stamp, which we all have in our stashes!

 

Here in Phoenix, we won't see snow except on our cards and televisions.

This makes this stack even more special!

Pick yours up at JoAnn's now!

 

And, since I love their stamps and Essentials, I entered this in the monthly challenge at STAMPENDOUS!

Check it out!



New DCWV Card Challenge!

Hard to believe we're looking at a new monthly challenge already!

The holidays will be here before you know it!

 

I used the new

DCWV

" Heirloom Christmas Stack "

available now at Michael's.

 

 

For a gal who just a few years ago said she would never use bling,

 I sure like to pile it on occasionally!

 

 

I decided to make a card I could use for a birthday. There are so many friends and family having birthdays over the next few months!

 

 

I love the elegant and classy look of the houndstooth paper! I could use it over and over! And red and black?  My absolute favorites!

This stack can be used for so many occasions!

 

The red glitter cardstock mats are cut from the

DCWV, "Christmas & Winter Combo" matstack.

 

Enter your own card at the challenge at

DCWV!

You could win some terrific papers, too!



My Farewell to DYSU!



Market Street Stamps

*$25 Gift Certificate

 

First off, some sad news.
Due to my other commitments and scheduling,

I have decided to step down from the
Do You Stack Up? Design Team.

Let me say, though, that these gal's have been THE nicest, sweetest, most encouraging group I have ever worked with!
 

There comes a time when you realize, however,

that there are only so many hours in a day.
 

Wow, now that I've said it, it's really hit home. I will sincerely miss the friends I've made there.

All those times I fussed over the image I was assigned, now I see how they made me a better, more creative artist.
********************************************

I also just found out that I will be starting a new job in January!

Well, not a job really, and not even what I would call WORK, but

I will be caring for a 6 week old baby girl for a friends' friend!

Yep, the little guy's Mother I babysat for from the time he was 2 months old until 18 months, has a good friend who is expecting this next month! Another fellow teacher and a sweetheart of a gal!

I can't wait!

I'll still also be packing up 200+ class card kits a month for my good friend, Jennifer,

and keeping up with my other Design Team assignments as well!  Ugh! 

 *******************************

But, enough chit-chat...

Here are my cards for this week at DYSU!

 

I used the "Honeycomb" stamp from Market Street Stamps, and absolutely love it!

 

Yes, I went the "chicken wire" route!
I saw many folks are into the bees and honeycomb patterns, but I wanted to be different and chose to layer the "Honeycomb" embossed image over the
Recollection, "Rooster Provencial" stack pages.



These are huge glossy images printed on the 12 x 12 paper,
and made for the perfect 6 x 6 cards!
I find myself paying the extra more often to send out the bigger, thicker cards.
I love them, as do my friends and relatives!

 

The Market Street stamp is big, too!
It covered the entire upper 3/4 of my card!
And detailed the embossing so well!
I stamped in Momento, Rich Cocoa, and then sprinkled it with
detail gold embossing powder from Stampendous!

The heat-embossed stamp actually looks so much like metal!

 

I used brads to hold down my "nests" by stringing twine from one to the other and packing in the moss.
The addition of the dried corn was compliments of my little Goffin cockatoo.
Of course, he doesn't know he donated a portion of his mix for these projects!

These will be used a NOTE cards for whenever an occasion comes up where I have something to "crow" about or share a "Thank You!"  LOL!

A big THANK YOU to "Do You Stack Up?"!

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Alison, and everyone else at DYSU for welcoming me into their blog and always being there to support me.

 

Never fear though! I have promised to come back to take part in a large group DYSU hop in December!

Have fun looking at all of the team's projects!

And, I'm not going anywhere!
You'll still find me right here!



Humphrey takes off!

Welcome everyone to my very first

Crafter's Companion

Challenge

Design Team post!
 

 Yep, that's right!

My big news, well for me, is that I am now a proud member of both the
Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog
and the
Crafter's Companion Blog!
This means I will be bringing you not only the fun new challenge every month,
but sneaks and releases of the newest Crafter's Companion stamps and products!

 

 

I am so thrilled to be on this team

that I celebrated by coloring this adorable "Humphrey" image

and making this window card

for the

Fall Colors Challenge!
 

 Today's the LAST DAY to get your entry posted!

 

 

Isn't she cute?

The image is

"Swinging By"

and can be found here at the CC store!

 

 

 

Lots of fussy cutting on this little sweetie!

After coloring and cutting, I attached her "rope" and

hung her from the window opening.

The paper used for background is  

DCWV, "Wild Splendor" stack
and the punched leaves are made with the tiny Recollections leaf punch.

 

Quick, join the fun and maybe you could win

a $30 gift certificate to the Crafter's Companion store!
 

~Jan~

Scor-Pal is my pal!

Welcome to the

DCWV and Scor-Pal Hop!

 

Today I am demonstrating how my Scor-Pal score board makes my card making so easy!

 

Rather than just a simple gate-fold card, I like to occasionally throw in a

double gate-fold box card.

 

This can be as thin as 1/4 inch, which allows for you to add small dimensional elements to the inside sentiment/decoration of your project!

 

"Autumn Splendor"

 

First, accurately scoring and cutting your 12 x 12 pattern paper is key.

For this simple card layout,

I use one sheet of two-sided paper as both my base AND pretty background for my card.

This is also where using a very heavy, high-grade paper is important.

DCWV stacks are such quality products that they serve perfectly for these projects.

 

Wrong side up, score 3" from all four sides.

Then cut out the corners and

follow up by scoring 1/4 inch from the first scores...

towards the outer edge of your paper.

That's the easiest, fastest way for me to do it.

 

This will make a 1/4" THICK card when folded.

 

I hope you can see it in this photo.

 

This will leave the front flaps about 1/2" apart when closing the card. I either leave this as is and add some eyelets to the flaps and tie with ribbon,

OR

do as I did with this card, and add several layers of matching paper including punched scalloped layers, and ribbon to lengthen the front top flap.

 

 

The little Blue Moon metal pendant was hung from the bow, with a resin flower glued to its' center.

 

 

 

For the inside, I used Scor-Tape to adhere pattern paper.

This holds so well, and instantly! No waiting for glue to dry!

 

 

The leaves were cut from the Autumn Melody paper with my Cricut and the sentiment is one I found on the web.

Spellbinder Labels Nine was perfect to showcase my sentiment!

And notice that the 1/4" depth gives me the option of adding a bit of dimension to my card! You could add as much or as little as you like!

 

 

These cards could be saved and displayed as "shadow boxes" by your recipients.

 

 

 

Candle is for display only!

Never light a candle near paper!

 

Hope you enjoyed my simple tutorial and will start going "out of the box"

with your card projects!

 

 Enjoy the rest of the hop,
and please leave commetns as you go!



Challenge #95 at DYSU!

 

WET OR DRY EMBOSSING!

YOU CHOOSE!
OR USE BOTH!

Our sponsors:

Robyn's Fetish!

* Winner's Choice of 5 Digital Stamps

      Birdie Brown

*Winner's Choice of 3 Digital Stamps

Paper Pretties

* Winner's Choice of 6 Digital Images

******************************************************

This week's challenge really put my new coloring skills

to the test!

 

I had the pleasure of working with the gorgeous

 "English Tea Cup" image from

Robyn's Fetish!

 

I used three copies of the image, cut them out, and then stacked them. Only then did I color them. That way, I could clearly see where the shadows and highlights would fall. This is my very first true mono-chromatic Copics project.

 

I am quite happy with the way it turned out!

Those lessons are really paying off. Thanks, Jennifer Dove!

 

 

 

The "Die-Sire" embossing folder, Floral Frenzy", is also something new.

You can find it on the Crafter's Companion store blog.

I love the pretty little flowers that really POPPED when lightly sanded!

 

Now, go check out the rest of the team's projects!



Mulberry Woods Everyday New Release!

At Crafter's Companion, we are celebrating another fantastic stamp set from

Mulberry Woods!

 

This little cutie-pie is from the "Everyday" collection.

There you'll find six new sets, each one so adorable that you'll want them all!

 

"Relax"

 

I will be the first to admit that when I see animal fur on an image, I choke!

And because I haven't mastered the art of coloring it with my markers (not yet, anyway) I am quick at grabbing a piece of fabric and dabbing the bear with some colorless alcohol. This gives the look of fur without any of that unpleasant stress and nausea that accompanies my regular "fur" sessions! LOL!

I used the same method to make "grass". I simply dabbed a stripe of solid green ink across my horizon, and using a cordoroy fabric, lifted the color in a vertical pattern!

 

 

The next obvious question is, "How did you make the tree?"

This was an idea I BORROWED from my friend, Jennifer Dove.

I ran the Co-ordinations cardstock through my embosser using a woodgrain folder and sanded. Then, I cut out the knot hole and attached the tree to the card front with

black paper rolled inside. (Your tree will stick out about an inch)

I attached some moss to the bottom, along with some flowers and punched butterflies, and my tree was done. Well, almost.  You certainly can't sit under a tree with no leaves and branches, so I dug through my scraps of silk flower pieces, and found the ivy.

 

 

From a slight side view, you can see how this is a 6 x 6 step card with the tree attached to the highest side.  I will probably not be mailing this, but I thought it would look sweet along with a nice gift of a gardening/flower magazine for a friend who needs a break.

 

Hope you enjoyed my sharing these ideas with you!

 

See you next week!

~Jan~

 



A Bevy of Butterflies!

In recognition of

Breast Cancer Awareness Month,

I made this layout using the prettiest butterfly stamp ever

and one of my favorite quotes!

 

Crafter's Companion

 has many different styles of stamp images...

funny, cute, sincere, and insightful.

I loved these butterflies from

"Flying Colors"

(part of the Sheena Douglas collection)

the very first time I saw them!

 

 

The proverb was taken from the internet.

I think it speaks volumes when it comes to the brave women who

face breast cancer every day!

"There, but by the grace of God, ..."

 

 

A side view showing the dimension I added to each butterfly.

 

I colored them with my alcohol markers.

Then, with the antenna and the Glossy Accents added, they really came to life!

 

 

This is definitely one of my all-time favorite layouts.

No personal photos, or even experiences journaled, but it simply reflects how I feel about the trials that one must be faced with when battling a horrible disease.

 

If you look closely, you will also see how I implemented a new embossing folder from Die'Sire!  More of that at Crafter's Companion later this week!

 I made the background layer more vintage by cutting and distressing the edges and inking it to appear more aged.

Paper:  Graphic45, "Botanicabella" 
Cardstock:  Bazzill

Thanks for sharing in this special project with me
and Crafter's Companion!