There's SNOW place like home...

Good evening!

Sorry I've been so quiet this week on my blog - with the holidays and work I haven't had a chance to do much stamping lately. But, I have a fun card tonight to share that I made with a couple of Stampendous snowman stamp sets that I bought at Archiver's recently.

I was thinking of my buddy Lee Murphy when I made this card - everyone who knows her knows how much she ADORES pink and since she lives in Colorado she seems to have a snowstorm at least once a week...


Okay, can I tell you how much I am LOVING two of my Christmas gifts - my new Canon Rebel SLR is knocking my socks off AND my new photo tent is blowing me away too!!! I can't believe how much of a difference both of these items have made on the photos I took quickly in my stamping room just a little while ago.

There isn't much editing on these photos - just a bit of cropping and that's about it! Usually it takes a 'bazillion' hours to photograph, edit, and upload photos for me (well, that's a BIT of an exaggeration - but those of you who do this, know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? *wink*)

I'm thrilled at how quick and easy it was for me to get some good photographs of this card and of the other cards I've made with the new stamp sets Gina is releasing next week! I can't wait to show you those cards too! (yep, I just had to throw a tease or two in there, you know me! )

Before I go - I want to share a bit of news of another big event that happened in our household today... Ashley got braces! She is VERY proud of them and can't stop smiling so she can show off her blue & pink rubber bands. Let's hope the excitement continues and that she doesn't have much issues with them.


I'll see you back here on my blog on Friday night for a special blog hop that I'll be joining celebrating Melanie Muenchinger and her stamp sets that she has illustrated for GinaK Designs. It's her 2 year anniversary and she's hosting a blow-out blog hop event that I'm very excited to participate in with lots of other people!

Have a great night!
Jessica

Happy Bearthday!

Good morning!

I hope you've enjoyed your Christmas holiday with your family and friends! We spent a few days up north with our families - thankfully not being too bothered by the snow and ice storm that came through Wisconsin over Christmas. We have been relaxing at home the past few days playing with new toys, chilling out, and eating lots of sweet treats.

I have a fun boy birthday card to share this morning on my blog that I made with Stampin Up's Build-a-Bear stamps and several different colors of Gina's card stock. Since it's for a boy, I had to watch the embellishments that I usually like to add!

Everything is colored with Copics on GinaK's Pure Luxury white card stock. The striped ribbon across the bottom of the card was the inspiration for the colors I choose - I think it's an older SU ribbon.

and the inside...

I am back to work tomorrow - have you seen the H U G E sale that Gina is having online this weekend? With every $35 purchase, you get to pick a FREE stamp set valued at $20.95! Who does that?!? So, needless to say - I believe Shelly and I will be busy tomorrow packing orders, don't you?!


Have a great rest of your day! We may be headed to buy my new SLR camera today - YIPPEE! I've been saving my gift cards and received some money from Christmas to put toward it... so, it ends up looking like I won't have to pay too much out of pocket for it! Double YIPPEE!!

Jessica

Let it Snow and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm not sure that I'll be able to pop back in until after the holidays but I couldn't resist sharing one more Christmas card that I made recently with some more Penny Black images. With all the snow and ice that we are predicted to get in the midwest this week, it's rather appropriate, don't you think?

As you can see, I colored with Copics and embellished the images with Crystal Lacquer, liquid applique, glitters, and stickles again... love all those products! The sentiment on the front of the card is from Hero Arts.

and the inside with sentiments from GinaK - this top flap hides the brad prongs ...

and, of course more of the Labels 7 dies for the sentiment on the inside...

Before I let you go, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of my kids from last night. They had their Christmas program and were so cute that I just had to share them. The photos aren't the best... I'm hoping Santa will bring me a new SLR digital camera for Christmas - or at least soon after Christmas because I REALLY miss my SLR for photos of the kids.



Ashley's entire class were angels - look at how cute they all are performing last night...

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!

Merry Christmas, all my friends!
Jessica and family

Snuggle Buddies

Good evening!

How's the countdown going for you? Christmas is coming at a breakneck speed, isn't it? The kids have their Christmas program tomorrow night - this stamp from Stampendous made me think of the kids all standing together reciting their lines and singing their Christmas songs... isn't it cute?

I colored the images with Copics and added stickles, liquid applique, glitter, and Crystal lacquer to spiffy them up a bit - I love doing that, don't you?

Here's the inside view - I used GinaK's Holiday Greetings stamp set for the greetings and of course, my Labels 7 nestability dies ...

Have a great night - I hope it's a peaceful one for you and your family!
Jessica

Trimming the Tree

Happy Sunday!

I have a fun Christmas card to share with you today - just look at these adorable critters getting the Christmas tree all decorated... (love that cat hanging the star! lol)

I decorated this tree with Crystal lacquer on the ornaments and basket, stickles on the Christmas tree and star, and black Sakura glaze pen on the animal noses. The images were all colored with Copics and I used some scrap DieCuts with a View patterned papers to decorate the card front.

The sentiments are all from GinaK - from her Holiday Hospitality and Holiday Greetings stamp sets. As you can see, I'm still addicted to using these Nestability Label 7 dies for the insides of my cards... LOVE the book shape!

I hope your weekend went well and wasn't too crazy with all the holiday preparations! Brad and I finished shopping and wrapping presents on Friday night. I finally finished the 2010 calendar that I make for Brad for Christmas each year yesterday. I 'cheated' this year by purchasing a Basic Grey calendar kit at Archivers on Friday and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I'll share photos of that later this week - I really like how it turned out and think I'll make one for myself this year too!

Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jessica

Tech Talk Blog Hop!

Welcome back to another GinaK Blog hop!

Tonight it's all about Melanie Muenchinger's Tech Talk stamp set - and I can't wait to see what everyone is going to be sharing with us tonight! Do you remember that I mentioned on both Nina and Theresa's hops this week that I used the same sketch, Basic Grey Wassail papers & embellishments, and same elements on all my cards for this week's hops? See if you see the similarities on my two cards tonight. I hope you aren't bored of it yet! *wink*

I made this card for Brad - look at how cute the inside is ...


Melanie has added such fun things to put in the laptop screen! My laptop has become VERY important to me so I am thrilled to add this stamp set to my collection and know it will get tons of use.

My next card is a Christmas one. I stamped the laptop on patterned paper and colored the base with Copics but left the screen showing the pattern of the paper...

See? Same sketch, but this time I put the papers on the bottom of the card and used a border punch to decorate it. This is one of my most favorite and 'go-to' sketches of all time, I think! lol!

and the inside...


For more inspiration with Tech Talk tonight, check out these links:

Melanie Muenchinger {Illustrator}
Jessica Fick
Donna Baker
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Nina Brackett
Theresa Momber
Sankari Wegman

Melissa Shultz {CSS Designer}
Peggy Wainman {CSS Designer}
Tina Gilliland {Guest Designer}
Karen Knegten {Guest Designer}

The Tech Talk discussion on the StampTV Idea Center is a valuable resource filled with tips, sample projects, and tutorials. Melanie's tip sheet, free PDF template as well as the Card Kit is available in the discussion as well.

If you haven't already, stop by GinaK's blog today to leave your comment on her blog for your chance to win today's featured stamp set or any other stamp set designed by Melanie valued at $23.95 of your choice!

**********

Before you go though, I have to share these photos of an amazingly thoughtful gift I received at work on Wednesday afternoon. A delivery man showed up after lunch with a cookie bouquet. I called out to Gina to come and see who gave her the gift and then the man said "I'm looking for Jessica." I was SO surprised! lol!

I was thinking who on earth would send ME something... and then I read the card. The gals from the CenterStage Spotlight Alumni Design Team sent this to me! Are they the best, or what?!? Thank you SO much, girls! It is the most beautiful set of cookies I've ever seen!

Here's a few photos of my kids with the bouquet so you can see how fabulous these girls are to me! I asked Isaiah to hold the basket of cookies before I opened them - look at this amazing presentation...

Don't they look too good to eat!? Well, to you and I maybe - but Ashley couldn't wait to get her hands on this one...

These photos just give me the giggles - Ashley was SO excited about them and even dressed up to match them for the photos! She is wearing her snowman sweater, holding her snowman stuffed animal - all in honor of the cookie bouquet the CSS gals sent me! Isn't that just the sweetest thing?

She took her cookie to school for her lunch snack today. Isaiah is a little more reserved - he's decided to save his cookie for after his Christmas party next week because he thinks they are too pretty and special to eat. So, I asked him to 'pretend' to take a big bite for me...

The difference between my kids is so funny sometimes... Isaiah is a little more reserved and practical like me in many ways while Ashley takes after her dad in her personality and zest for life. I love that about both of them - and makes me feel a bit sorry for my son too... lol!

So, thank you CSS team for your Christmas present - It was so sweet - literally!! I can't wait to eat one... but I feel like Isaiah - how can you even dare to take a bite of one of these works of art?! I'll be sure to ask Ashley how when she gets home from school! lol! (By the way, you can see the CSS Alumni team's blogs on my blog roll on my side bar. I love these girls!)

Jessica

Life is Good Blog Hop!

Welcome to another GinaK blog hop!

Tonight we're showcasing Theresa Momber's Life is Good stamp set on our blogs. I have 2 cards to share all made with the same basic layout, elements and papers as the ones I shared on Monday night for Nina Brackett's blog hop. (To see those projects scroll down one post.)

I absolutely love these trees all stamped in a row in versamark ink and embossed with Cream embossing powder - they are so soft and pretty to me against these Basic Grey Wassail papers.

Here's the inside...

Simple - love the sentiment from Rupa's Warm & Wonderful stamp set paired with these snowflakes and the winter scene.

As I was making this card, I started thinking about my backyard. We have a tree line edging our backyard and frequently have deer in our backyard. Since we have an apple tree, a quiet neighborhood and several trees/bushes it seems to attract them - even though we live in town. We've seen as many as 5 deer at a time and recently this fall have seen a buck 3 or 4 times with a doe.

Here's a photo - sorry it's not the best quality, but you get the idea...


So, that was the inspiration for this card...

In the summer, the tree line is so full and lush it can be hard to see the deer but in the fall when the leaves are gone, they are a bit easier to spot. I stamped the trees in a row again and embossed with cream embossing powder and then stamped the trees again in versamark - to try to create a little more fullness.


and here's the inside...


For even more inspiration tonight with the Life is Good stamp set, check out these links:

Theresa Momber {Illustrator}
Jessica Fick
Nina Brackett
Melanie Muenchinger
Lee Murphy
Erika Martin
Emily Giovanni
Colleen Schaan

Cheri Weston {CSS designer}
Melissa Shultz {CSS designer}
Peggy Wainman {CSS designer}

Geri Utterback {guest designer}
Brenda Turner {guest designer}
Linda Payne {guest designer}

The Life is Good discussion on the StampTV Idea Center is also a valuable resource for tips, samples, and tutorials. Theresa's tip sheet and the Card Kit is available in the discussion as well.

And, finally stop by GinaK's blog today to leave your comment on her blog for your chance to win today's featured stamp set or another stamp set designed by Theresa valued at $23.95 of your choice!

Enjoy all the eye-candy tonight!
Jessica

Lovely Shelf Blog Hop!

Good evening!

I'm thrilled to be joining in on Nina Brackett's Lovely Shelf Blog hop tonight! I have lots of cards to show off tonight but I thought I'd start my post by sharing some of the background behind my projects you'll be seeing from me this week.

We have 3 Illustrator blog hops this week, so while I was working on my cards this weekend for all these events, I decided to share one of my favorite tips on how to 'mass produce' cards. Most people who know me and my card-making style like to tease me about how many cards I get done when I sit down to stamp. Admittedly, I can be quick when I make my projects (I made well over a dozen cards on Saturday & Sunday afternoon) but part of the reason for that is because I like to repeat certain elements and products on my cards when I sit down and play.

So, on the cards you'll be seeing from me all week - it's going to look like I was in a 'stamping rut' because you are going to see the same basic sketch along with many of the same elements and papers. I've tweaked each card a bit but basically the cards for Nina, Melanie, and Theresa's hops are all going to be essentially the same! I hope you won't get too bored with them ... *wink*



My first card tonight is the only card that I used GinaK's Cranberry Crisp card stock on - all the others were made with GinaK's Kraft card stock... I can't get enough of both of these colors lately!

Watch for these elements on each card - border punches, the edges being corner rounded, white ink, Basic Grey Wassail patterned papers & embellishments, pearls & rhinestones.


Another thing I'm 'known' for is finishing off the insides of my cards. This is so quick and easy to do and it really only takes a couple of minutes. I use the scraps on my table and some coordinating images and within minutes the entire card is done and ready to be sent out.

When I first started making cards, my family would comment on how pretty the outside looks and then ask me why I didn't finish off the insides as well. It got me thinking and now it's pretty much impossible for me to send out a card that isn't decorated on the inside. It also helps cut down on trying to think about what to say - there's room for me to jot a quick note and sign my name to most of my cards... *wink*

Next up is a fun vintage card that I really like but as you can see from the photos, I got a little heavy with the sanding block in the upper right hand corner of the card... oops!


and the inside - I used Nina's vase and some flower punch-outs to make a flower pot... notice the paper pierced stems? Love that - I have to do that more often because it's such a fun look!


My last card uses a Sizzix die and a sentiment from Warm and Wonderful ...

Isn't that snowflake sparkly? It's die cut from glitter sticker paper.

and the inside scene made with Nina's set...


For even more inspiration with the Lovely Shelf stamp set, please visit these designer's blogs:

Nina Brackett {illustrator}

Theresa Momber

Donna Baker

Emily Giovanni

Lee Murphy

Peggy Wainman {CSS designer}

Cheri Weston {CSS Designer}

Vanessa Menhorn {Nina's Guest Designer}

The StampTV Idea Center is also a valuable resource for tips, samples, and tutorials on how to use all of GinaK's stamp sets. Check out the Lovely Shelf stamp set discussion HERE. The Lovely Shelf Card Kit information can be found there as well.

And, finally remember to check in on GinaK's blog tonight to leave your comment on her Lovely Shelf post so that you can be entered to win Nina's stamp set or any stamp set designed by Nina valued at $23.95 or less!

Before I let you go, I thought I'd share 3 alternative to my Lovely Shelf card kit project...

Whew ... what long post from me tonight - thanks for hanging in there with me! I'll be back on Wednesday night joining in on another GinaK blog hop. We'll be featuring Theresa Momber's Life is Good stamp set and you'll see 2 more cards using some of the same basic elements as my first 3 cards tonight.

See you then!
Jessica