Thanks Sew Much Kraftin Kimmie!

Hi! This is my last Saturday challenge as a Guest DT over at Kraftin Kimmie:( It's been a fun month, but probably the most hectic of my life thus far!! But I guess when it rains, it pours!! This last challenge is a fun one- Flowers!! May flowers hopefully, but I live here in frigid Alberta, where winter never ends....so I don't think there will be flowers here for awhile (except in my stamp room of course, where flowers are plentiful:) So in my final few minutes of fame, I'd like to thank Kim 'sew' much for chosing me! I am really so honoured to be recognized for something that I love so much! It really makes me a happy, happy girl!! I have had a blast this month! Kim and the DT are sooooo supportive and really made all the guests feel appreciated:) Thanks to you too Krafty Girls! You ladies ROCK!

So, on with the show as they say! For the challenge I decided to go a little atypical. Instead of my first thought, which was to pull out one of my 4 million prima-type flowers, I thought "I'm a crafty girl, I'll just make a flower"...then I had to consider what kind of flower to make. I thought about making a scrunchy-punch flower, but then I remembered that I was recently inspired by a really talented central Alberta cardmaker (like me!!) that I stumbled across in cyber space. Melissa makes THE coolest ribbon flowers EVAH!!! Mine is seriously decrepit compared to hers, but it was my first time, so what the heck! You have got to go check out her blog- her style is amazing:)

I stamped this little sewing mama (her name is Mona The Seamstress) and coloured her to resemble my mom (even the old fashioned black singer she has on display, to the distressed looking hard wood floor that I drew in) I actually bought this stamp because I thought that it looked so much like my mom!!! She's a quilter, so I am imagining a nice cozy quilt that she's running through the machine and not a pair of stained old wranglers that she's patching for my dad;)...it kinda looks like a pantleg that she's running through.

 I coloured the image up with copics and added spica clear glitter pen to the metal parts as well as the rim of her glasses (CE is on the glasses as well)I used some MME Stella & Rose dp, SU CS, SU border trim punch, and SU ribbon to make the flower. I sewed around the smaller rectangle panels and down the middle of the SU border. The inside follows the same general layout with both the sentiment and the accessory stamp used. I also used copics and spica on the scissors.

The sketch layout that I used was SSSC for this week.

{TCPTUES156} Mmm...Coffee!!

Oh how I love my morning (and mid-morning, noon, and afternoon;) coffee!! I would even drink it in the evening, but since the birth of the 3rd child, that isn't a good idea, unless insomnia sounds appealing (which it doesn't)! I love it all, cappucino, latte, plain ol' black, flavoured, iced, mocha...I have to have it ALL! So much so, that I think I've recently developed an ulcer:( But not even medical advice or intervention will stop me from my beloved coffee! So imagine my delight when I saw the inspiration for the TCP Tuesday challenge this week- COFFEE!! Ack! I was thrilled to pieces! And when our challenge hostess, Jen Del Muro, injured herself via a nasty burn, how could I resist helping her out as the TCP pinch-hitter?! I will ride Jen's burnt arm right to the finish line (sorry Jen, lol! Hope you are feeling better!)
Here is the AMAZING inspiration picture:


I could literally be inspired for days with this photo! The felt go-cup; the chocolately brown, rich beans; the vintage tins with so many delish colours to choose from!!!! Heaven I tell ya! Heaven!
But with this Kitty having 3 lil kittens to look after and one stray tom-cat out of town, time is limited....so I went with the inspiration that got my highly-caffeinated juices flowing: the felt cup.

I LOVE me some Tim Hortons whenever I get the chance (THE worst thing about moving out of the city- no Tim's down the street:(, so of course I had to showcase my new little coffee cozy on a Timmy's cup;) Sometimes those cups are H-O-T, hot! I bought a little cozy from a crafty-sewy lady this past summer and just copied that pattern to make this lil PJ Bear cozy. Don't look to closely at the sewing- I am a better paper crafter, hehe! I used a scalloped oval nestie and cut out some chocolate felt, cut out an oval from a peice of fabric backed with 'steam-a-seam' and stamped Peej right on it using stazon. I am starting to think there isn't anything that you can't colour on with copics! I even was able to blend a bit on fabric! Crazy! And remember PJ/copics on wood?? That worked great too! I gave him some white freckle-thingys with copic white opaque paint, as well as the sleeve on his lil go-cup and applied crystal effects to both his eyes/nose and the cup sleeve and coffee. The felt heart is cut using the heart trio Cutup die and TCP's red felt, and the little brown felt button was created using a Cutup die as well. They are stacked and tied with Linen Thread and hotglued to the fabric.

Here is a closer look at PJ:

 Oops- notice my skipped zig on my zig-zag stitching!? Oh well, I never claimed to be perfect!

And here's another note on copics- the elastic that I used was white (all the store had in stock), so I coloured it was the chisel end of a brown copic marker, gave it a run over with the iron to heat-set it and now it's matchy-matchy!

And here is the side with the elastic/ button closure (can fit all sizes of cup):

Want to play along with our Inspiration Challenge? Check out the deets…
1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge.
2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
3. Add your entry to the guestbook {on Alma’s blog} or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES156 for this week’s challenge.
4. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays.
6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

TCP Products used: PJ and coffee cup from A Beary Good Year ( a must have stamp set in my humble opinion!), heart trio and buttons Cutup dies, Linen Thread, red Felt.

Blessed Easter {VLVApr2011}

Happy Easter Sunday! I hope you are all having a wonderful day filled with friends and family:) My DH is away at work, and we were at my family's Easter dinner on Good Friday. We might head off to my hubby's side today, but I still have to finish marking so I can submit my grades to the college this week (I think the students are eagerly antcipating their marks!)...so we'll see if we make it to the family dinner. But I have my 3 lil bunnies to keep me company and we are planning to dye some eggs:)
I thought this card would be fitting for Easter, although I made it for my Great Aunt's baptism last week. I love my Verve stamps, but for some reason I rarely use them. I think that I might have to remedy that! They are so elegant...Hmph- maybe that's why I buy them and admire them in their pretty packaging? Elegant is not my style and I have a hard time making those kinds of cards. But I like the way this turned out! Even though the black lace might be a little risque for a card with scripture on it?? Hehe!!
I used the Viva La Verve sketch from April, week 1 for this one. I really do like verve's sketches...they are totally up my alley!
Here is the sketch:

And here is my interpretation of this fabulous sketch:

There you have it folks! Hope you have a great day and a yummy dinner:)

Jenny

Krafty Saturday {Hoppy Easter}

Hope you all are having a wonderful Easter weekend! My hubby is away at work, and so on Good Friday my boys and I went to my mom and dads for our Easter dinner....baked ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato bake, salad, buns, sweet and sour meatballs...and for desert- flapper pie with whipped cream and chocolate cupcakes (I made them;) Mmmmmm! So good!
 This is the card that I made for my mom and dad for Easter. I was so busy with work this past week that I only got ONE Easter card done! Crazy!! Anyway- I am still guest designing for Kraftin' Kimmie until the end of April (gonna be sad when thats over) and todays challenge is to make your card 'frilly'.

I used this cute little bunny stamp from KK that I love- they looks so mischevious, don't they? Like they've just been caught in the act. I coloured them in various shades of copics (warm, cool, neutral and toner families), and added CE to the noses and eyes. The grass and flowers are also coloured with copics and I used a colorless blender to 'remove' colour in dotty areas. I also added some adhesive pearls to the flower centers. I used a swiss dot embossing folder on the white square behind the circle of bunnies, and used MFT border die to cut out the white strip under the bunchy SU pink ribbon. The white lacey ribbon is also SU.

And here is the inside..pretty simple and plenty of room for me to write in my little message:) The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!

For more details about this challenge, or to see samples from the Krafty Girls and April Guests, visit the Kraftin' Kimmie blog!

Hope you enjoyed my little bunny card and that you all have a Blessed Easter!!

Jenny

{TCPTUES155} 2 for 1!!

Hello friends- it's my favorite day of the week..Tuesday!!! Actually Tuesday isn't my favorite day, but The Cat's Pajamas has made it move up quite a few spots! I loved TCPTUES before, and now that I'm an official Cat Packer I love it even more! This weeks challenge is an awesome sketch from one of my stampin' idols, Leigh. Aren't sketch challenges fun?? Half the work is already done for you:)

I was challenging myself to go a little different than usual and make a 'romantic' style of card. I like it, but I couldn't just let sleeping dogs lay, so I had to go back to the sketch (which was okay cuz it's such a fun one!) and make a more true-to-my-style kinda card;)
Here is the first card using the brand new The Tweetest Things set. As you'll see from my cards, you can get a very different effect from the same set..it's so versatile!! I also used the new cutups dies, Easy Rosettes and Home Tweet Home. Such fun new dies and alot of bang for your buck!

For the inside, the DP made it really easy! I just stamped one of the gorgeous phrases 'Just A Note' along the top, above the handy lines in the paper and voila! It's ready for you to add your words:)

And here is the second card, also using The Tweetest Things stamp set and Home Tweet Home die:

For the little circle-flag sentiment, I stamped the one-line sentiment in sections (using cherry ink for the 'tweet' part) so that I could fit it on the cardfront the way I wanted. I would NEVER dream of cutting a sentiment, so I just use scotch tape and tape off the sections I don't want prior to inking up the stamp, and then remove the tape before stamping on the paper. So simple and no cutting required!

I channelled my inner Jackie Pedro, and left the twine curls on my bow long! I think Jackie is the master at that, but for some reason I just didn't have the heart to cut off the one pretty curl, so I had to leave the other one on too, even though it's not as pretty as it's sister;) It's the kind of card that I think it works on:) Again, I used one of the many phrases that comes with this set to finish off the inside.

Be sure to play along, and link up your creation to the Dancing In Pajamas blog ,  for your chance to win weekly CatCash as well as the opportunity to be crowned next month's Swanky Stamper!!

Other supplies:
Card 1: DP- Websters Pages; CS- SU; Ink- SU, colorbox, memento;  Ribbon- SU
Card 2: DP- MME Stella & Rose; CS-SU, Ink- memento, SU; Ribbon- SU; metal stick- Tim Holtz, Pearls- unknown; Twine- TCP; dimensionals- SU; Baby braddy- MFT

Thanks for stopping by!
Jenny

A Krafty Hop!!

Today Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps is releasing their new APRILstamps!
As you’ve seen over the last few days in our Krafty Peeks, we have AMAZING new stamps for you to play with this month! We have some beautiful FAIRIES just in time for spring, from Annie Rodrigue! There are some more adorable Dress Up Kids from Steven Leary and we have a super fun new set of Krafty Quotes for you as well!!
You will get to see most of the new images while you sit back and enjoy our Krafty Hop! You’ll see all the Krafty Girls, as well as some very special Krafty Guests along the way!! If you want to start from the beginning, just head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge Blog! As you hop from blog to blog, be sure to leave a comment at each and every stop because some lucky stampers will win packages of stamps from the new release!! And when you’re done hoppin’, be sure to head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie shop, because ALL the new images are NOW available!
You should have 'hopped' on over here from Andrea's blog:)
For my hoppin' card, I chose to use the new Rosabelle (my fav faerie- I love her toad 'stool' hehe!) I used last weeks sketch from the Sweet Stop.


Here is my take on the sketch:

I coloured Rosabelle with my copics and a bit of clear and chocolate spica pens. I used BG's Curio paper, some candy dots, and a recollection silk flower. The CS is Stampin' up for the colours and Taylored Expressions Choice Buttercream. The sentiment on the front comes with Rosabelle and the inside sentiment is from Isabelle.

Up next on the hop is Deb. Head on over to her blog to see what gorgeous creation she has come up with! And then go and get filling your shopping cart at Kraftin' Kimmie's online shop:)

BINGO Challenge & Kraftin Kimmie Previews { Day 3 }

My favorite day of the Kraftin' Kimmie previews is here!! The hugely talented Annie Rodrigue's Moonlight Whisper girls (and boys) are my favorite of Kimmie's lines of stamps and this release does not disappoint! She has designed a fabulous new bunch of girls this month and if you believe in Faeries than these are for you!
The DT and April Krafy Guests are combining these sweet faeries with KK's Saturday Challenge, which has been brought to us by this weeks hostess, Tara. She has challenged us with a fun game of Bingo...no, not that kind of bingo, silly! We are using a bingo card to guide us in our choice of embellishments! I have never done a challenge like this, so I was a little unsure, but I found it really fun! All you have to do is choose a line (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) and use the embellie options from that line:)
Here is the 'card'. Play along this week and link up your creation to the KK Blog for your chance to win A free Rosabelle stamp (used by Tara)!

For my card I used flowers, ribbon and brads. I used this sweet new faerie, Isabelle. I stamped her, coloured with copics and added sakura glitter pens to her hair, dress, wings and shoes, then cut her out ever so carefully and mounted her onto a fun nestie shape with dimensionals. I used Prima paper, a Recollections flower, some SU ribbon, glitter brads and CS.  This card is totally not my style (I'm not a floral kinda girl) but I actually like the way it came out! I like to push myself to try different styles- it's fun to experiment and you never know what kind of results you'll get!

For the inside, I used the same nestie shapes, along with the sweet sentiment that comes with Isabelle.  A Martha Stewart punch finishes it off:)
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the Kraftin' Kimmie blog tomorrow for our Blog Hop!! There will be some serious eye candy that you won't want to miss out on...I for one, have saved the best for last;););)
Jenny

Kraftin Kimmie Previews { Day 2- Steven Leary}

TGIF!!!! While you are reading my post, I am off to take my Student Nurses on a field trip:) We are on our way to The Alzheimer Society of Alberta and NWT for an exciting presentation on geriatric nursing in Alzheimers and Dementia! Feild trips are fun- even for grown ups:)
So today the Krafty Girls and April Guests (me included!!) are previewing Steven Leary's Dress-up Kids! The little guy that I have worked with is Fireman Phil...and isn't he a cutie!!! I love anything 'little boy' being the mom of boys....

Since I had my cosmo cricket paper pad on my desk from yesterdays card, I thought that I may as well use it again, since I wanted a red/black/yellow colour scheme. I also used MFT's banner dies, TCP's Coolvetica alphabet and a MFT sketch challenge last week.

 Hop on over to Kraftin' Kimmie's blog to see a list of the participating designers for todays preview:)
Thanks for stopping by!! See you tomorrow for another preview (if you like Annie Rodrigue's images this will be the day for you!!!! Eeek! My personal fav!)
Jenny

Kraftin Kimmie Preview {Day 1- Krafty Quotes #3!}

 

Hi All! As one of the April Guest Designers, I'm so excited to be able to bring you this months release samples for Kraftin Kimmie stamps...Today the DT and Guests are sampling Krafty Quotes #3! These are really neat stamps because they are very large and make putting together cards really quick and easy! Plus they are true Kimmie style and chalk full of SASS!! lol!

I used a quote from Gloria Steinem for my card. I think it's kinda funny:)

I also used a sketch from Stamping Bella's Bellarific Friday. I flipped the oval the horizontally to fit my stamp.

I kept it pretty simple, obviously having the spotlight on the sentiment...I used Cosmo Crickets Circa 1930 paper, as I think the quote has that kind of era to it, when women seemed to be liberating themselves. The black strip joining all the papers vertically is a PTI die, the woman chipboard sticker is from the same CC collection and the flower is made using circle punches (distressed), topped with a button and SU twine double bow. I stamped the sentiment in Memento tuxedo black, cut it out using an oval nestie and distressed the edges with Colorbox Chalk Ink in 'toffee'. I matted that in a black scallop oval nestie die cut.

Here is a closeup of the tattered flower. I love the look of these and they are as easy on the pocketbook as you can get...just use those little scraps that you would otherwise throw in the trash. You don't even need a punch- since they are meant to look 'homemade' you can cut them out with scissors and it's completely okay that they aren't perfect!! Sometimes I spray them with water and then crumple and uncrumple, but here I just roughed them up a little dry and I think that they are just fine...a little crisper, but thats the look I wanted anyway:) Well, that's it for me! Drop by tomorrow for another Krafty Peek!

TCPTUES154- Ahoy There, Baby!

Greeting TCP fans! This week Alma has challenged the Cat Pack (still feels so strange to think that I am 'one of them'...hehe) to make a project with a baby theme...A member of the design team, Tracy, just welcomed a little bundle into her life! So this card is dedicated to her- Congrats Tracy!! Being a mom is the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life...also the hardest, but nothing could be more rewarding:) I am blessed to have 3 wonderful children and I thank God for them each and every day (even the bad ones- I'd rather have a million bad days with kids than one good day without)!!!! And here is a shot of my little photographers assistant, trying to tear down my white backdrop and knocking the card over three times while trying to sneak into the viewfinder for a 'cheeeese';) LOL!!

So enough with the sappy and on with the crafty!!
I really don't have much in the way of baby stamps...gonna have to put an order in...DH (read 'Darned Hubby' here) has been doing some thinking- he must have to much time on his hands at work is what I think, and he is talking about...Gasp..putting me on a stamping budget!!!! Ack!! What the heck?? LOL! He must be sniffing around for a beating....
So I used this little whale from 'A Whale of a Time' and turned it into a babyish kind of card... blue of course, in honour of Tracy's bouncing boy!
You should have arrived my way via the lovely Leigh. She always has some fabulous creation that will make you green with envy! At least she does that to me anyway!

I also used Verve's sketch for this week, flipping it on it's side:

I loved last weeks colour challenge (teal, yellow & orange) from Sony and couldn't resist working it into this card.....I love this MME paper..might have to break the budget and get another 6x6 pad, as I'm starting to get low on this specific pad!I used the Wave Cutup die, cutting my teal piece in half, using both the positive and negative side of the die to give a contiuous wavey look.  A little paper-piecing, black baby-braddie for the eye, chocolate taffeta SU ribbon, and cheapy-cheapy Michaels teal adhesive pearls finish it off!
For the inside I kept it pretty simple, using the wave die again, and the 'congratulations' sentiment from the new, must-have set 'Simply Said', which is a bargain at twelve smackeroos! Covers all your main phrasey needs;) I adhered a row of the smaller teal pearls for the final touch.

To start back at the beginning and see all the goodies that you missed, check out Alma's blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Jenny

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!! {Hang on to your underbritches}!

Finally!!!!! The day that I have been hoping for and dreaming about for months is here.....I have been in shock the past week and I think I need a pinch so I know it's real! As of today, I am officially the newest member of the Cat Pack! That's right people, Alma has asked me to join the Design Team over at The Cat's Pajamas! I am super thrilled beyond words.  But sadly, as a door opens for me, another closes for someone else...TCP is saying goodbye to a very talented artist, Sonja "Sony" Christoph. She will be missed, but I have a feeling that we'll see lots of her in the future- she does amazing stuff with TCP! I wish that I could have gotten to know Sony...I've admired her for awhile now and her blog was how I ended up stumbling upon The Cat's Pajamas! Strange how the world works!!! Best of luck to you Sony in school and in your career- you are an unbelievable talent! Check out Sony's stampin' blog and if you want to see some mind blowing stuff, her art blog will knock your socks off!!!

I'm going to show you a couple of cards that I made for the last TCP release a few weeks ago (I think that it was a test..glad that I passed;) lol! I never did get around to posting them on my blog.
These cards were both featured on SCS forum during the release, so if you came to the Pajama Party then you've seen them before....

I used the new 'Field of Pinwheels' set...I didn't have the pinwheel die yet, so I made my own (I don't recommend it- buy the die instead- it's so easy!) I also used the Flower Button Cutups die for the flower behind my big red button and the Inside Pinking die as well....See the little sparkle on all the little pinwheels? I applied Tiny Twinkles to each one......A glitter brad anchors my pinwheel and on the last picture you can see it in motion as I blew on it while taking the picture (I know, I am quite the talent doing two things at once;) Look at it go!!

And honestly, I made these cards awhile ago and I cannot remember the sketches that I used...Here is the the set in it's complete swankiness.....Look at the other sweet sentiments that come with:)







Here is the second card using 'little' Big Bear in Catch My Drift:

I coloured Bear with copics and paper pieced the balloons. The dp is a mix of October Afternoon, again- not sure where the layout is from.... I added the little tack and 'air' (?) to the sentiment....on the inside I curved the 2nd sentiment and stamped it along the edge of my nestie circle. I love how you can manipulate polymer stamps that way and get a little curve if you so desire! And did you check out the new watermark?? Now I really feel like a professional:) I could look at it all day long!

So in closing of this post, I would like to sincerely thank Alma for this wonderful opportunity! I feel so grateful that she chose a relatively new and unknown stamper like me to join this amazingly talented design team. Taking a chance on a newbie, and not just picking the 'famous' stampers to promote her business, to me says alot about her character:) So THANKS a million and I will do my best to represent your fabulous products!!

HUGS, Jenny