Pirate! April 30th

Happy Saturday! I am still sleepy after getting up sooo early yesterday morning to watch the Royal Wedding! Wasn’t it wonderful? I thought she looked so lovely. Her dress was so perfectly elegant. Loved his red uniform….and thought the whole ceremony was beautiful.

I didn’t get to bed as early as I would have liked last night and then was up bright and early for my son’s Summer Hockey. Yes….we play hockey in the Summer too. There is no end to it! LOL!

Today I have my Sketch Saturday DT card to show you. Our wonderful sponsor is The Craft Barn.

I colored up another of the fabulous LaLa Land Stamps. This time it is a sweet Pirate. He doesn’t look very scary, does he? Just pure sugar!

The paper is by Fancy Pants: sugar dots, my day, wishes

The background behind the Pirate is a Hero Arts cling stamp that I stamped in Antique Linen and then sponged and sewed the edges. The brads are from Stampin’ Up.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs Jeanette

Tilda & Bunny Birthday Card

Happy Friday! I am writing my post tonight instead of tomorrow morning. I am getting up to watch the Royal Wedding in the morning and with the time difference between England and Canada….that means that if I don’t want to miss anything, I have to get up at 3am! Yikes! My hubbie thinks I am crazy but I can’t help it. Both my parents were from the UK and have instilled this love for all things Royal in me! In fact I have been talking about it and watching all the news that my middle son (total cutie) thought I was actually invited and going to the wedding!  LOL! I had to tell him that the Queen doesn’t actually know me.

Here is another sweet Magnolia card to share with you today. I think this is such a sweet image and it doesn’t have to be used only for Easter. The little birthday sentiment is not glued down. It can be slipped out and filled in for the special recipient.

I used some Magnolia DP for this once. I believe it was from the Wedding Collection. The flowers were from my stash and the crochet ribbon and the wrinkled ivory ribbon are both available at Stamp & Create. I embossed the edges of the focal panel with some Whiff of Joy swirls and then sponged over it with Antique linen distress ink.

Here is another view:

 

I have entered it in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Challenge:  The theme this week is Anything Goes.
• Magnolia Stamp Lovers Challenge:  Would love to see Flowers this week
• Craft Your Passion Challenge:  Lots of Layers this week
• Sparkle Forum Challenge:  Anything Goes this week
• Make it Monday Challenge:  Anything Goes this week
• Party Time Tuesday Challenge:  Anything Goes this week

Wow! That must be a record for me!

So, I am off to bed to get some shut-eye! My hubbie wants to know if I am going to dress up! LOL! I happened to buy a few new outfits today…there was a big sale and I bought a couple of gorgeous silk tops (ruby red and cobalt blue), a floral sort of sheer top, a lovely lime green cardigan, black capris and grey pinstriped boot cut pants. I am so NOT a big shopper but today was just one of those days…probably wont’ go shopping until the fall now :)

Thanks for stopping by……giving the “Royal Wave”

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Blue Skies

Happy Monday Evening! It was back to school for the kidlets today…..poor little one was in total denial after our 4 day weekend! I spent the day doing housework and picking up groceries.

I made this card over the weekend. It has been awhile since I had the time to play with my sweet Magnolia stamps. I really had so much fun creating this card. It is just for fun….not a DT card or even one for a challenge. Just pure fun!

 

This cutie is called Tilda with daffodil and she is from the last collection Butterfly kisses. I decided to perch her atop this sweet watering can. It is from an earlier collection and I have not used it in awhile. I masked off the image and sponged in some clouds with Tumbled glass distress ink and then sponged the grass with Shabby Shutters. I cut the scene out with my CM circles and then did some paper piercing along the edges for a little pop!

I decided to give a circle shaped easel card a try. Totally love this cute look. Since the focal image was quite large, I created the scalloped shape using my handy dandy Silhouette die cutter. I {heart} this machine :)

Here you can see the card opened up. I sponged another circle to create clouds and this sentiment from Verve stamps was the perfect match. The cut out shape and matching background are new from Stampin’ Up.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look at my card!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Stamp & Create Easter Sale

This is just a quick reminder that today is the last day of the Easter Sale over at Stamp & Create.

10% off everything in the store when you used discount code easter (all lowercase) at check out.

Here is a card I made featuring one of my favorite CC Designs stamps: Lying Nora. She was colored with copic markers and cut out. All the papers and die shapes are from the Laundry Line from MME.

I am entering this in the A Spoonful of Sugar Challenge : Let’s celebrate and 7 kids college fun : Easter or Spring.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Hugs Jeanette

Springtime Banner & Some Candy

Happy Easter! I wish each of your a wonderful Easter day. I hope that you will be surrounded by loved ones on this special day!

I don’t have a card for you today but I thought I would post my Spring Banner Tutorial here on my blog. I already shared this on the Whiff of Joy Inspiration blog. At the end of this post you will see the link to go and enter my blog candy.

This was so much fun to make and I am happy that I will be able to use it from year to year. 

I have made a short video for you to watch but first let’s look at some close-up shots!

  

Here are links to the stamps I have used (just click on them) and a list of additional supplies:

  

Copic Markers Used:

BG53, BG70, BG72, BG75,  E000, E00, E01, E23, E25, E31, E33, E40, E42, E44, E50, E59, E81, R00, R20, R21, R22, R24, V17, V20, V25, Y000, YG11, YG61, YG63, Y667, YR23, YR24, YR31, 0 colorless blender

Atyou Spica Markers:

Lavender 01, Red 03, Lemon 05, Melon 06, and Sakura Stardust pen

Stampin’ Up cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon and Butterfly Sizzix die, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Kryon spray adhesive, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, sewing machine, versamark, white filigree embossing powder, embossing gun

Pennants were made with Silhouette but you can make your own: the larger pennant measures 7.7” x 5.5”, the smaller one is 6.75” x 4.75”, tabs are 0.34” x 2.0”.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that this inspires you to create your own Whiff Of Joy Spring Banner!

While I was cutting out the pennants, letters and butterflies, I decided to make two of everything and so I will be offering them as a little blog candy over at my personal blog ~here~!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Road Trip April 23

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is enjoyed this long holiday weekend and that you are sharing time with loved ones :)

Today I am dyeing Easter eggs with the kids. Always such a fun activity and as they are getting a little older….a less messy one too!

Today I have my DT card for Sketch Saturday to show you. Our wonderful sponsor this week is Sparkle Creations Stamps and I was very happy to receive this sweet image: Cruisin Chloe with which to work with.

I just HAD to color in her car this hot pink. I simply could not help myself. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny’s Vicki B collection. The papers are amazing in this paper pad…lots of vibrant oranges and pinks and beautiful greens! I used my Sakura stardust pen to add sparkle to the chrome on the car. The sentiment is from High Hopes and works perfectly with this image. I sewed some Papertrey buttons along the bottom and my card was done!

Hope you can play along with us over at Sketch Saturday this week!

Don’t forget to enter my blog candy which you will find ~here~ in this post!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Some Spring-time Candy

View Full Album

Happy Thursday! I have posted a new video tutorial over at the Whiff of Joy Tutorials & Inspiration blog in which I show you how to make a beautiful Spring-time banner. You can see it ~here~.

Last month I created a Birthday banner for my boys using Whiff of Joy’s Henry Superhero stamps (you can see it ~here~ in this post).  I decided (actually my sons came up with the idea) that I would start creating different banners for each season and for special holidays. It is something that I can keep and then use again from year to year.

I used my Silhouette die cutter to cut out the pennant shapes and the letters and a Stampin’ Up die and MS punch for the butterflies. I decided to cut out duplicates of everything and I will be giving them away as a little blog candy.

So, one lucky person will have a little kit to make their own personal Spring banner.

The kit contains 6 scalloped pennants, 6 tabbed pennants, letters to spell “Spring”, 6 large butterflies, 6 medium butterflies, 12 small butterflies. Everything is color coordinated and ready for you to get creative with!

To enter, please link your name using the inlinkz blue frog at the end of this post. This candy is open to everyone and I will ship it out internationally. I simply ask that you become a follower of my blog :) This is my thank-you to all the wonderful people that support me :) If you would like to spread the word via your blog, that would be appreciated but it is not necessary to win :)

This candy will run until midnight EST  May 5th and I will announce the winner the following day!

FYI, I just updated my “For Sale” tab and have added a whole bunch of stamps that need a good home!

Have a fantastic day!

 

Hugs Jeanette

A New Video

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Today I have a new video to share with you. I often get questions about how I go about creating my cards and have had requests for a video on my card making process, so here it is:

Here is the finished card (previously posted)

The image is from La La Land Crafts. I will be using this image for my Copic Course over at Scrapbook Centrale next week(Friday April 29th). If you are in the Montreal area, and are interested in attending, you will find the information ~here~. I will also be doing two classes early Mary…I give you the details once the store calendar goes up!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day and let me know what you would like me to cover in future videos!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Bunnies,Bears,& Balloons…

Happy Tuesday dear Friends!

I have my High Hopes Challenge card to show you today and our challenge theme is bunnies, bears, & balloons!

There were so many images from our new release that I could choose to suit this theme but I eventually settled on this cutie Standing BIrthday Buddy.

I colored him up with a mix of Copic Markers and then Prismacolor pencils (always use the markers first or you will ruin their brush tip) with some accents made with a white gel pen.

I cut out the banner shape using my SIlhouette die cutting machine and just added some bakers twine to for a little interest and dimension. Easy Peasy and another card to add to my stash in case of need. I will die cut a number to add to the card once I know who the birthday boy/girl will be and their age!

Hope you can join us in this fun challenge! For more details, and to see the creations of my fellow DT Divas, please visit us at the High Hopes Challenge Blog! Looking forward to seeing your creations.

Hugs Jeanette

Stamp & Create Product Spotlight goes Digital

Happy Monday! As you read this I am probably at the dentist for a routine check-up and cleaning….but I am probably one of a small percentage of people who LOVES their dentist and it is not a visit I dread at all! He is a great guy and actually could moon-light as a comedian so I am sure to have fun. My kids all go to him as well and they are all jealous that I am going….the middle guy was begging to come! LOL!

Today I am happy to share with you a couple of projects that I created using Wags ‘n Whiskers digital stamps. Don’t get me wrong, I {heart} my “real” rubber and clear stamps….love the process of inking them up and stamping, but digital images are incredibly versatile and you can have so much fun altering them with a few clicks of your mouse.

For my first card, I used the “Angel Whispers” digital stamp. You can see it here in it’s true format:

I wanted to do something different with the stamp and create a vintage cameo look. I digitally erased her wings, her arms, the polka dots on her dress and the dog and then copied the portion of her hair from the right to add to the left.  I printed it out and then used a Copic Multi-liner to add the missing lines. I used various Cool Grey Copic Sketch Markers to color her in. For the bow in her hair, I used RV91, RV93, RV95, and a Stardust pen for a subtle hint of color and shimmer. Here is the result:

The image was printed on Cryogen Iridescent Paper which has a very subtle shimmer to it which I love when coloring monochromatically. It adds a little interest and keeps it from being too bland. I added two types of ribbon. The bottom layer is some May Arts ivory & brown checked and lying on top is some Papertrey Ink Soft blush ribbon. I added some glitter to it with some Scor-Tape and some MS glitter. The paper is a scrap the slider is from my stash. Here is another view:

The next project I want to show you is the card I created for this week’s Wags ‘n Whiskers Challenge which is a color challenge. You can find out more about that over at the blog ~here~. As always, there is a lovely prize for one of our lucky entrants!

I used this image: Bella and Gemma’s Spring Fun:

I wanted to create a little fridge magnet and wanted only to use the cat on the left. I digitally erased the smaller cat and then printed it out and colored it using Copic Markers. I cut it out and adhered some magnetic paper to the back and then covered it with a few layers of UTEE. Such a fun little gift to tuck into a card!

So, I hope I have given you some ideas as to the things you can do with digital stamps! As I know I will  be asked, I will tell you that I do not have Photoshop (it is on my wish-list though). I use an old photo software from Creative Memories but it gets the job done.

If you want to try out some digital images, this week Stamp & Create has all their Wags ‘n Whiskers digital images on sale! There is not better week to try out some digis!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

You Make Life Sparkle

Happy Saturday! Hope your day will be a sunny and warm one!

It is pouring rain here today. We had a sunny but still pretty cold day yesterday. The kids had a day off from school and so I took them all out for lunch and then we went to see the movie “Rio”! We all loved it and I highly recommend it. So funny and cute and entertaining.

Today I have my Sketch Saturday DT card to show you. We are being sponsored by Paper Makeup Stamps and they are offering a whopping $20 gift certificate. The owner Katie Cotton also generously offered an image to each of the DT and I picked this super sweet one: Shaela Fairy.  I love how delicate and sweet she is.

I went with a color combo that is pretty unusual for me but I drew it from the patterned paper which I used from the MME Stella Rose Collection. I {heart} this collection…every paper is just yummy.

The image was colored up with Copic Markers and I added sparkle with some Spica pens but it is a little hard to see in this picture. I must try to remember to take multiple photos with different angles of my cards.

The sentiment (which is included with the image) was punched out with a Stampin’ Up punch and lightly sponged to match the main image. The pennant was made with a Whiff of Joy metal die. and I just ran it through the sewing machine for some interest.

That is it for me. I have another tremendously busy day today. My hubby is busy at work and the boys have multiple sporting practices, games and a party to go to. Which reminds me…..I have to finish off icing the cinnamon buns that I am bringing to the party!

Hope you can play along with us over at Sketch Saturday this week!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Angels Landing ~ New Image

Happy Thursday! I am so happy to share today’s card with you. It features an incredible new image from Angel’s Landing: Bunny & Violets. It is part of the new nature series which features a cute little chipmunk…he is next on my list to color!

It was really fun to color up and for me is the “perfect” little Easter Bunny. It reminds me of the Laura Secord rabbit and that is always what the Easter Bunny brought to my home…..now he brings it to my boys! There is something about those little eggs wrapped up in pastel foil……

I am entering this in A Spoonful of Sugar challenge which is “animals”.

There are a ton of cute digital images to be found over at Angel’s Landing. The images are very well done and so much fun to color!

Have to run….. when will I stop being so busy?

Hugs Jeanette

Stamp & Create Bunny Spotlight

Happy Monday! We had a wonderful and sunny week-end and it was a real joy to spend some time outdoors. The snow is almost all gone and I was so happy to see my little tulips bravely poking out of the soil…some were even poking out from snow! I uncovered many of my plants and am really looking forward to when I can start preparing the garden beds…..I am longing for fresh herbs and flowers! Now, speaking of tulips…..

…don’t you just love this sweet bunny with his lovely bouquet? The image is an older High Hopes stamp entitled: Bunny Blooms. I colored this up with Copic Sketch Markers. I played around with the Cool Greys and hints of BG000 & BV000 for the little bunny. The white silk ribbon was tied using the Bow Easy. The paper is from the Stella Rose MME paper pads. Just a gorgeous collection. I am not going to hoard it but just enjoy using it! The sentiment is by Stampin’ Up and I also used one of their punches to punch it out.

This week the Stamp & Create Product Spotlight is: BUNNIES! That means that everything is this Bunny Category will be 25% off! What perfect timing with Easter just around the corner!

For more samples of some of the stamps for sale, please visit our inspiration & challenge blog and you will see the lovely cards created by the rest of the DT!

I had a really productive weekend in my craft room! I have two videos to edit and a whole bunch of DT cards made! It feels great and I can’t wait to show them to you. Plus I hope to get over to your blogs this week!  I haven’t had much time to comment lately and that always makes me feel a little sad since I really appreciate the comments that are left here for me.

Have a great day. It is rainy like crazy today but that’s okay with me. It is good for the flowers!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Sketch Saturday DT Card

Happy Saturday! The temperature is warming up and the snow mounds are receding at a fast pace. I am a happy girl. We even uncovered the Magnolia tree that we had wrapped up for the winter. I received this tree as a Mother’s Day present last year, when the blooming period was already over. I am so anxious to see the blooms this Spring!

Today’s Sketch Saturday card features another of the Whiff of Joy’s new April digital images: Charlotte and Charlie Waltzing." I also used a heart border from a previous release and the new sweet tags heart punch. I think this is one of my all time favorite dies and I love how the little hearts tie in so nicely with the border die I used. The paper is my new Kaiser Craft pad and the butterflies were made with a Martha Stewart punch.

  

After cutting out the tag using my Cuttlebug, I stamped it with Versamark using Stampin’ Up’s “En Francais” background stamp. I then embossed with White embossing powder and then sponged the edges with Distress Ink Spun sugar. I just noticed that I didn’t punch out all the little hearts at the bottom. Oops…that looks a little unfinished… I will attend to that presently.

This week our sponsor is Simon Says Stamp who are offering a lovely gift certificate to buy goodies at their store! Hope you can play along with us this week and don’t forget to check out the gorgeous cards by my fellow DT!

I also wanted to let you know that the Whiff of Joy online store is having a special sale featuring some of the loveliest stamps for spring, weddings, babies and Easter! Just click on the picture below.

 

Have a great weekend!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

High Hopes Blog Hop ~ Release Day!

Happy Thursday to you all! To celebrate High Hopes brand new release, we are having a blog hop!

If you did not come here from Jeanne’s blog, then you should start back at the beginning at the High Hopes Challenge blog and just hop along the links! There are prizes hidden along the way so don’t forget to leave a comment at each Diva’s blog for a chance to win some new release goodness!

For my card today, I have used this sweet little bear and this fun matching sentiment. His official name is Sitting Buddy with Balloon”. I think he is just the cutest thing.

He was colored up with Copic markers and I found some old October Afternoon paper that was just the right shade of red to match his bow and balloon. I added it to a Kraft card base and machine stitched it.

I attached a Basic Grey button which I tied on with some baker’s twine. I added a little interest to the ribbon treatment by adhering it with scor-tape and notching one end. I added another piece of 1/8” scor-tape to the front of the ribbon and then sprinkled some MS giltter on top. Such an easy little technique but it adds so much to the look of the card!

Our new release it filled with such incredible new stamps: teddy bears, robots, rag dolls and of course dragons! I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop!

The new stamps are available today at the High Hopes store, our Diva’s stores other retailers:

• High Hopes Website
• Nikki Fairbairn - Bunny Zoe's Crafts based out of the UK/Europe
• Lacey Stephens - Stamp and Create based out of the US
• Amy Leggate - Paper Romance based out of Canada
• Amy Wegener - Stampin' Stuff based out of Australia

Your next stop is the lovely Debby’s blog where I am sure she has something gorgeous to show you!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

High Hopes Sneak Peek #2

Happy Wednesday! I have another High Hopes Sneak Peek for you today and this time it is one of Sir Dustin’s Dragons!

I couldn’t resist creating a fun little scene card with this cutie. I just pictured him swinging from a tree so I went over to the Silhouette store and found this fun tree shape that came with the treehouse. It was perfect for what I had in mind. I simply sized the tree to fit on a 6 x 6 card. I added this fun Adventure text and found some paper scraps for the background!

Tomorrow is the big blog party & hop so don’t forget to stop by and hop along….there will be some prizes hidden along the way!

The new release will also be available as of tomorrow so your wait is almost over!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

High Hopes Challenge Sneak Peek

Happy Tuesday! I am feeling loads better today and ready to take on the rest of the week! I am super excited to be able to share one of the soon to be released High Hopes Stamps. Our challenge this week is “One for the boys” and I thought this sweet image illustrated by Laurie Furnell would make a perfect birthday card for a little guy.

I had a few bits of these two coordinating patterned papers in my scrap drawer and thought the color combo was fun and just the right mix of bright and contrast for a boys’ card. The image is colored with copic markers and then I sponged the edges with Tumbled glass distress ink and did some machine-stitching.

I added a Basic Grey button and looped some baker’s twine around one of the panels for some interest!

To see more sneak peeks (made by the awesome HH Divas) and to join in our challenge this week, please visit us at the High Hopes Challenge Blog.

Tomorrow I will be back with a sneak peek of one of Sir Dustin’s new dragon images! Our release party blog hop happens on April 7th….you’ll be able to hop along for a chance at some free rubber!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Stamp & Create Product Spotlight

Happy Monday! I regret to inform you that it is snowing in Montreal as I type this. I regret to inform you that I can no longer shine with positivity and say that I am sure Spring is on it’s way. I regret to inform you that to top it all off, I have a cold. I am thinking about moving to Florida.

Thank Goodness for stamping. This sweet Stampavie image is the perfect tonic when you have the Winter blues like I do!

My image was colored with Copics and I enhanced some of the shadowed areas with my Cool Grey markers.  I added a very light shadow around her with a Kohn-i-noor pencil and then sponged the edges with Antique Linen distress Ink.

I used a very simple but one of my favorite go-to card layouts but added some interest by layering 3 different types of ribbon.

The bottom layer is a luxurious May Arts silk ribbon, the middle is a gorgeous ivory crochet and the top layer is a wrinkled ribbon. I {heart} the texture that this brings to the card and of course, this one button is the perfect accent to it all. At first I was going to add more…..buttons are the Product spotlight this week over at Stamp & Create…but one just seemed to add more punch. Sometimes less is more!

Lately, I have started to add buttons to my cards more often. I really like this little embellishment. Can I say that it is a little more “casual” than a flower? Does that make sense? Maybe it is my cold meds talking! LOL! In any event, I am really into buttons lately and Lacey has them at 25% off for this week at Stamp & Create. I noticed that she has some new Jenny Bowlin ones….takes a look at these beauties:

I think these are gorgeous!

Here are some links to the products that I used for my card:

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit the Stamp & Create Blog to see the gorgeous creations that the team has made for inspiration and to check out the monthly challenge for a chance to win!

Hugs Jeanette xxo

Sketch Saturday DT Card

Happy Saturday! Hope that wherever you are, the sun is shining down on you! Today I have my Sketch Saturday card to show you. This week, our wonderful Sem is hosting the challenge and she arranged for our sponsor, Whimsy Stamps to give the DT girls an image of their choice. For me, it was a no-brainer, I picked the lovely Touched by Love digital image.

 

This was a Christmas image and the little girl had holly leaves in her hair. I decided to “erase”  the leaves and drew in the missing pieces of her hair. Love that you can do that with “digi” images.

I am going to be honest…my first attempt at coloring this ended in the bin. I really wanted the wings, her dress and the blanket to be white but on my first try I ended up with everything too grey. My second attempt I made a point to leave more areas uncolored, I used warm greys and cool greys and then BG000 and BV000 to keep the grey from looking too drab. I softened any lines with my colorless blender. Much better!

The patterned paper is by Webster’s Pages and the lace ribbon is Stampin Up. I have no idea where the flower is from. Sorry…it was alone and adrift in my flower bin!Here is a side view of the card:

Whimsy is offering a phenomenal prize this week so you are really going to want to enter this week. To see the pictures (yes, plural) of the stamps up for grab and to see the creations of my fellow SS DT sisters please visit us at Sketch Saturday.

Also, last night my amazing Stampin’ Up demonstrator emailed me to tell me about SU’s newest promotion: grab bags! ACK! Basically, supplies are limited so get them while it lasts, they have three sizes of them: $6 bag has $24 worth of product, $12 has $48 worth of product and the $18 has $72 worth of product!

I needed to buy more cardstock (ran out of my favorite Early Espresso) and at the same time I could not resist getting the $18 grab bag. I don’t care what is in it…it is Stampin’ Up so it will be good and if I get some duplicates of items I already have…..I’ll have a blog candy!

If you are Canadian, you can visit my demo Laura ~here~ to place an order. Mention I sent you and she will send a sample card in your order!

Have a great day everyone!

Hugs Jeanette xxo