JAMSquared

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.

I got together with my friend Lori on Sunday. One of the things I worked on was a birthday card for Jacey, Jennika‘s little boy. Jennika is the friend who made Jessica the adorable little knited hat with flower, which I just realized I never shared with you. Isn’t that hat adorable? You can get your own at Beany Bling (Jessica is a model there).

Anyway, Jacey and Lillie’s carnival birthday party is this coming weekend. Jacey likes blue and green and I know that his bedroom is getting a pirate make-over, so I borrowed this stamp set from Lori. I made this card for this week’s Stamp Something Challenge, to make something layered. To qualify for layers (outside of the matted map), I used a technique to give the little pirate boy dimension. I ran him through my Xyron 5″ Creative Station three times. The first two times I adhered him to white cardstock. This made him three layers of cardstock thick. In addition to dimension, this technique provided stability. After the third run through the Xyron, I stuck him to the card. I thought it might be safer for the pirate boy this way once he made it into the hands of soon-to-be three-year-old Jacey.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up  Ahoy Matey, Matey’s Map (wheel), On Your Birthday (sentiment); A*Muse Waves
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Kraft, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Versamark (waves)
Markers: Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Brilliant Blue, Basic Black, Going Gray
Tools: colored pencils; Xyron 5″ Creative Station

I ended up making some extra cards, but changed the sentiment. One or more of the extras will go to Operation Write Home.

Additional Stamps: Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Tropic Sentiments

I’m really digging these Tropic sentiments. I bought the tropic set and the 2 coordinating sentiments quite a while back and I finally got around to mounting them on EZ foam so I can use them.

I had grand intentions to make spring/Easter cards to send to an immediate portion of my large circle of family and friends. Considering, it is now July and you haven’t seen a spring card grace my blog with its presence, you would be correct in assuming my intention did not come to fruition.  I decided instead to make summer cards and save the spring card idea for next year. I made 14 of the following card. These were quick to come together and I made them the last time I stamped at my friend Lori‘s. We’re getting together again this Sunday, so be on the lookout for a card or two Sunday evening or sometime next week.

Stamps: A Muse Clouds, Waves, Sending You Sunshine; Hero Arts Clear Design August (sun)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Baja Breeze, Summer Sun
Ink:  Stampin’ Up Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun
Accessories:  Inkssentials Glossy Accents

As you might remember, I made these cookies for the troops back in September with Operation Baking Girls. Well, Stephanie got a thank you from our solider and she posted the card here.  You know, it makes me feel good to do nice stuff like this for people and a thank you isn’t necessary. But it especially makes me feel good when the nice stuff I do is appreciated.

On another note, Geeta organized a get-together tonight to make cards for the troops for Operation Hero Mail. While chatting with friends Lori, Veronica, Michelle, Edye, Amy, and Geeta, I made 15 cards to be sent to the troops. See the cards I made below. Aren’t they fun?