Things I've made in the last week or so.

I've been running over with creative energy and making project after project. Here are a few I wanted to share. :)

I'm attending a get-together in which we are making Pagan prayer beads. So, I made three different sets as demos, make with three different techniques.

Knotted cord:

Flexible beading wire (can be worn as a necklace):

And beaded wire stations (can be worn as a bracelet):

I also made a tree of life pendant with unakite chips:

The kids and I also made handmade paper this weekend!

It's been fun!!

My first hand-carved stamp!

I think all stampers and papercraft enthusiasts dream of crafting their own tools or supplies to meet their exact needs. To this end, I've been looking into stamp carving lately. There are so many beautiful stamps to carve and so much inspiration! From fine art stamps to homey folk art stamps, from kitschy stamps to modern pop art stamps, really you can create whatever your heart desires and your hands stay steady for!

Well, tonight after my workout, I got inspired to make an owl stamp. I saw this example over at Darby Smart. So, I went looking for some clip art and found this little guy. He's a die, and he's now on my wishlist... because he's gorgeous.

Anywho, this is what I made:

 

I'm really happy with how he turned out!! And, it's a big stamp, about four inches tall, so high impact, baby! Not bad for my first time!

BB!

~Jeannie

Simple Sympathy card

This  is a simple sympathy card I made for a co-worker who's mother recently passed away. Clear embossing ink with clear embossing powder for the wood-grain background; gold washi tape for the border; gold embossing powder on the sentiment; all on kraft paper. My co-worker is a man, and I knew a simpler card would be more effective for him. I'm happy with how it turned out.

I will be submitting this to the CAS*ology Week 101: Wood challenge. Thank you for looking!

Recent Cards and a Happy Mother's Day!

Hey there! I wanted to share a few cards I've made recently and perhaps enter them into some contests. I'll list the contests for each card at the end. :) First cards made for Mom and Grandmas (or Mema's in our house!) for Mother's Day! I've been sitting on a the two butterfly cards for a while. I got inspired to make them, but didn't want to let it slip too early in case someone took a peek at my blog. Usually, I make a card and post it the same day, but these needed to be kept under wraps! LOL Without further ado...

 

These cards were made for my Mom and my Mother-in-law. I love making more than one card on a theme, but using different papers and placement to make it unique. In case you can't tell, I'm also big on decorating the envelopes. These are probably the most decorated envelopes I've made so far. They are colorful and make me happy. I hope they make the recipients happy, too!! :)

  Here's a closer look at the one I sent to my Mom. I hope she loves it almost as much as I love her. It would be weird for her to love a card as much as I love her, because, you know, she's my Mom and I love her an awful lot... ;)

The envelopes going to my Mom, with the addresses obscured for privacy purposes. I really should have thought of that before I addressed them! Oh, well, MS Paint to the rescue! 

You've already seen the butterfly card, so let's see the card that went in the envelope on the right...

Well, you can't see that exact card. I sealed that baby up before I thought to take a picture. However, here is a sister card I made for my husband's Granny. Again, similar materials and theme, but slightly different in how they are used and where. You'll get the idea though:

This was my first time making every single bit of the card, including the base and envelope, myself. I'm so happy with how it turned out and I love the surprise of the patterned paper on the inside of the envelope. I hope the colors aren't too bright for Granny. My youngest picked the polka-dotted flower for it. :)

Can I just take a moment here and reflect on my all-consuming love of brads and flowers? I only just discovered them (I'm not a scrapper) and when I did, it was like a lightning bolt out of the blue! So many avenues for colors, form, texture, and dimension! Be still my crafter's heart!

Ok, back to the card...

Here, you can just barely see the shimmery embossing powder I used on the sentiment. It's a clear powder, showing the ink through, but adding an almost opalescent, glittery finish to the stamp. I'm really happy with it and can see using that powder A LOT in the future! Especially on wintery cards.

On the inside of these cards, I placed a rectangle of coordinating orange paper to write our greetings on, but I didn't get a picture of that. I really like how these turned out, and personally, I love the intense, juicy colors! They make me think of fruity tropical drinks!

This last card is a "just because" card. I saw a sketch somewhere and got inspired, so I whipped up a card. I'm very happy with it's muted colors and light-hearted theme. I think I know who this is going to (a certain bike-loving friend), but we'll see! :D 

This was my first time using the adhesive lace I found on Amazon, and I couldn't be happier with the results! It's just a touch, but it adds a lot to the card in my opinion. To me, this is just a straight-up fun card. I went with a very simple envelope on this one: I simply glued the three heart shapes I punched from the card onto the lower left-hand corner on the front of the envelope. Nothing crazy, but I think it looks sweet. 

I'm getting a lot of cards sitting in my workspace, so I may have to take a page from Damask Love and start letting friends browse through and take some home when they come over. In that regard, Ive started working toward making card sets to give as gifts. I made a set of note-cards for my sister-in-law as a thank you for bringing me a rose from a recent plant sale, and I really like how they and the giftbox turned out... However, I didn't have time to photograph them before I gifted them. BUT, I've got two more sets in the works and I promise to take pics and post on those!

Ok, onto the challenges!

I'm going to enter all three (four?) cards into the  Lily The Pink Challenge for Ink on my Fingers as they all have pink in them. Maybe I'm a little girly? Who knew? LOL!

The Mother's Day butterfly card(s) will be entered into the Week #309 with Simon Says Stamp! for Sketch Saturday. Dang, it would be amazing to win that one... They will also be going into the Challenge #16 Mom challenge for The Stamping Boutique. I'd enter the tropical-colored card in that, too, but it doesn't actually say anything about Mother's Day on the front and I don't want to push it. :) I'll also submit them to the Anything Goes Challenge from Papertake Weekly Challenge. There are a TON of cards already entered, but it's really fun to see what everyone else comes up with and to participate.

The last card, the "Ticket to Happiness" card, will be entered in the Photo Inspiration Challenge for Stampin' for the Weekend. The colors just happen to be perfect! How lucky!

Wish me luck and we'll talk soon!

BB!

~Jeannie

Card making and entering my first sketch challenge

So, my most recent obsession has been card making. I love it because it lets me use so many of my crafty/artsy interests in on place, plus I get to give my projects away, which is my favorite reason to make anything. I wish I'd been taking pictures of all the cards I've been making to send out, but usually I make a card for a specific purpose then immediately send or give it to the person it was made for. I'll try to be better about that so I can share my work here. I can definitely promise to share the cards I made for Mother's Day after those cards have been given. I'm pretty proud of them.

Well, as you can imagine Pinterest and the internet in general has become my best friend, giving me inspiration and instruction. I'll list a few of my favorite blogs at the end of this post so maybe you can get some inspiration, too. :) I'll also list my Pinterest board and my paper crafts board in case you'd like to follow my exploits.

All that being said, I've been watching some card making challenges recently and really loving seeing how all these designers interpret a given sketch. Then, I came across this challenge: Retrosketches Challenge #111. When I saw it, I immediately thought to myself, "I could totally do that! I could do that right now!" And, I did!

This is what I came up with.

 

 I'm really happy with it. As you can see, instead of a ribbon from the sketch, I used washi tape and instead of a button, I used a flower attached with a brad. I added embossing to the sentiment and a few rhinestones because most things are better with rhinestones. I didn't brush all the stray embossing powder off the card because I liked that it gave it a bit of a vintage/worn/imperfect look. I thought it was interesting, so I left it.

 

 I left the inside blank because I like writing my own personal messages. I also stamped the enveloped with a simple floral stamp to add a little something.

I'm going to enter this in the challenge. I hope to at least get a little constructive criticism. Wish me luck!!

Here are those links I promised:

My Pinterest

My Pinterest Paper Crafts Board

Retro Sketches - I really like their sketches!

 Jennifer McGuire - so! much! to! love!!

Splitcoaststampers - check out their tutorials!

Damask Love - literally everything she makes is gorgeous, elegant, and fun!

Omiyage Blogs - fun with paper and washi tape!

Fiskers - great ideas using their products