JAMSquared

A few weeks back, I made a card for a lady in my MYC group who just had a baby boy. I really like how it turned out.  I made two of them, so I have an extra for some other baby boy. I also made some personalized note cards like the ones I made here, but in boy colors. I’m excited that Stampin’ Up is bringing back Wild Wasabi, as that is one of my favorite colors.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Big on Spring
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Delicate Dots
Ink: Stampin’ Up Wild Wasabi
Accessories: button brads (Making Memories maybe?); dimensionals
Markers: Stampin’ Up Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery

Jessica really enjoys her exersaucer. I’ve got it in the middle of the kitchen so she can play and watch me cook dinner. Sometimes this location is not the greatest, mainly at night when it’s dark (hello stubbed toe), but it is great that she can have a ball and I can get dinner ready without too much fuss. She doesn’t seem to have a favorite toy on the exersaucer, but she does show the butterfly some love frequently. It is so cute how she holds onto it.

My good friend Jillan’s daughter Lillie recently turned three years old. She and her cousin Jacey (who is two months younger than her) celebrated by having a carnival-themed birthday party this past Sunday. I wanted to do something special for Lillie. Lillie is enamored with baby kangaroos. I recently bought this stamp set, because I knew it would be perfect.

Lillie’s birthday card was the other thing I worked on the last time I got together with Lori. It worked out well, because I was talking about grass and how I wish I had the Martha Stewart grass punch. Lori brought up that she had this grass-like wheel and it was perfect for the vision in my head, especially once I added the rhinestone flowers to the flowers in the grass.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Build-a-Roo, Daisy Field (wheel); Hero Arts CL037 Clear Design Number THREE; Stampabilites Fun Alpha Upper, Fun Alpha Lower
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Stazon Jet Black
Accessories: Kaiser Scrapbook flower rhinestones; Stickles Yellow, Xmas Red
Tools: Xyron 5″ Creative Station

I also made Lillie a personalized picture frame with a mama kangaroo and her joey. I am very happy with how it turned out. I would have liked to put something in the lower right corner, but couldn’t think of what to put.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Build-a-Roo, A*Muse Polka Dot Letters
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Stampin’ Up Close to Cocoa
Paint: Folk Art Christmas Red
Tools: Mod Podge Matte

I had plans for one more crafty thing, but I didn’t quite get to it. I rounded out Lillie’s gift with a stuffed kangaroo with baby joey and a book about kangaroos.

Unfortunately, Jessica didn’t care for the loudness of a toddler birthday party and we didn’t stay very long. Fortunately, Jillan pulled Lillie off to the side to open the gift from us (didn’t want to upset Jacey because he wasn’t opening gifts) and I got to see Lillie’s reaction to her present.

As you can see, Lillie very intently looked at her card and frame. Isn’t the little clown dress Jillan made for her perfect for the carnival theme of the party?

Here are two cards I finished up yesterday and today.

The first card was made for two challenges: All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge #26 and Anyone for Anya Sketch #9. The ATS challenge was to use sewing on your card. I’ve never used sewing on my card because a) my sewing machine is in Jessica’s closet and I usually crafty during her naptime and b) punching holes and then sewing seems time consuming. And yes, it was a little time consuming, but not too bad. However, I ended up punching twice as many holes as I needed. Oh well, I kinda like how it turned out. I ended up flipping the sketch on its side to work with the image and shrinking it so it could be an A2 card, the preferred size for Operation Write Home. I’m not completely sold on the sentiment I chose, but hopefully the soldier finds it perfect for his recipient.

Stamps: C.C. Designs Coffee Kiki La Rue; Stampin’ Up Sweet Little Sentiments
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana
Designer Paper:
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Stampin’ Up Wild Wasabi
Accessories: DMS floss 469; Inkessentials Glossy Accents (on mug)
Tools: colored pencils; Fiskars All A-Fleur Embossing Border Punch

The second card (actually the card I started first, but finished second) was made for the Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge #12. I had to modify it a little to fit in a sentiment. I’m not completely satisfied with how the embossing powder made the wings look, although it might be more from the Versamark marker muddying up the colored pencil.

Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge #12

Heart to Heart, Hand in Hand

Stamps: C.C. Designs Swiss Pixies Heidi Among the Flowers; Stampin’ Up Sweet Little Sentiments
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Ballet Blue
Designer Paper:
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Stampin’ Up Wild Wasabi
Accessories: A*Muse grosgrain stitched ribbon Popsicle Pink; Stampin’ Up Iridescent Ice embossing powder (wings, flower centers)
Tools: colored pencils; Nestabilites Standard Circles Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large

I’ve now got another eight cards ready to go for OWH, bringing me up to 14 for the year. They currently have a challenge going on to ship anytime cards. I’m going to try to get a few more cards made by the end of week before I ship them off.

My friend Patricia just turned 30. As part of her gift, I made her a set of A2 monogram cards using her favorite color red. I think they turned out very elegant and hopefully she can use them to send little notes. They meet the Our Creative Corner challenge to use blossoms.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Floral (background); JustRite Special Occasions Font
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Stampin’ Up Real Red
Tools: Nestabilites Standard Circles Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large