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

CSS Sweet Treat Blog Hop

Welcome to another CenterStage Spotlight Blog Hop Event! Several of the designers asked last month about doing a Recipe Blog hop and we thought with the Christmas season right around the corner, a Holiday Treat Hop would be perfect!


The designers have whipped up some treats in their kitchens and their stamp rooms over the past few weeks so we could compile our very first Recipe Book for StampTV! The Recipe Book will be available as a free download PDF on StampTV tonight as well. Look for it on the Freebie Tab link.

It was lots of fun reading through everyone's recipes and compiling the book - I think I gained weight just working on it this week! *wink* The designers may not be sharing the actual recipes in their blog posts tonight, but they are all included in the PDF.

Check out these designer's blogs for the sweet projects they've designed around their treats:

Carolina Buchting
Carla Suto
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Joy Hadden
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons
Lee Murphy
Linda Payne
Lori McAree
Melissa Cash
Pam Imholz
Selma Stevenson
Sue Morris
Sue VanDeVusse
Sue Walsh
Vicki Dutcher

Then, stop by GinaK's blog for a super sweet give-away she has tonight in honor of the hop!


I've shared a couple of family favorite recipes that we always make each Christmas season in the Recipe Book. It just wouldn't seem like Christmas without these goodies!

Here's a photo of the gift box and matching card - I'll probably make a couple of these boxes up to give to the kid's teachers for Christmas along with their gift cards.


This is a fun Sizzix die that I recently purchased - it makes such an easy box to put together and is a great size for treats, etc.

Here's the coordinating card - with the same papers and embellishments as the box...

Project Details
Stamps: Holiday Cheer, Holiday Greetings
Cardstock: GinaK Kraft, white, red; DCWV Doodle pack
Ink: Memories white; Memento Black
Other: Labels 7 & tags nestabilities; Copic markers; felt & acrylic snowflakes; rhinestone brads; jute twine; SU border punch; crystal lacquer; sanding blog; stickles, glaze pen; Circle punches; SU Bags; Sizzix Bigz XL Bag w/ Handles

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy the rest of the hop!
Jessica

Quick and Easy Christmas Packaging!

Good morning!

Today I'm sharing some projects that I've made for PaperCraft Planet's 12 Days of Christmas promotion! It's Day 6 for our event and my Christmas project ideas feature Spellbinder's Nestability Dies as well as GinaK Clear Boxes/Pillow Boxes. If you've followed my blog at all, you already know how much I adore my Nestability dies - so I'm thrilled that they are the sponsor for today's generous prize package.

In order to find out how you can win the prize package offered today click here: ---> PaperCraft Planet.
Leaving a comment on this blog post will not qualify for the drawing - so be sure to add a comment on the link above.

And, now onto my gift projects:


I love this little pillow box - I filled it with Hersey Kisses for a sweet treat for a special someone...

Project Details
Stamps: Stampendous
Ink: Black Memento & Blue stazon
Cardstock: White cardstock
Other: Medium pillow box; Labels 4 nestability die; Copic markers; SU ribbon; stickles

Next, I made a gift box with a large clear box and some Nestability Shaped dies ...


Project Details:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings
Ink: Black Memento
Cardstock: Basic Grey Romani; GinaK White
Other: large clear box; Nestability dies: poinsettia, tags 5, leaves; EK success border punch; pearls; SU ribbon; sanding block



And, my last project is one that I shared during GinaK preview week a few days ago, but since it fits the theme, I decided to show it again. This gift box uses a Large Pillow box and I was able to fit a T-shirt inside...

Project Details
Stamps: Holiday Greetings; Special Memories
Ink: Black Versafine
Cardstock: Basic Grey Romani
Other: Nestability dies: Labels 7 & Scallop Circle; EK Success circle punches; SU ribbon; buttons; Fiskars border punch; sanding block


So, there you have it - 3 different gift package ideas! I literally whipped these up in a very short time this week and am thrilled to have some adorable gift boxes in my stash for this year's gifts!

Remember, click on this PaperCraft Planet Post to find out the clue and leave a comment!

Have a great day!
Jessica

Winter Cabin

Happy Friday!

What a fun day this has been - getting lots of orders out to people who eagerly ordered the new stamp sets that were showcased last night at the Release party! It's been a busy day - or should I say a busy WEEK for me and I'm glad the weekend is here! The kids have sleep-overs planned, so it's date night tonight! Yippee - those don't come around often enough!

My card today is one I shared last night during the release party. I used Theresa's gorgeous new Life is Good stamp set and some nestability dies to make this winter cabin - all snowy just in time for Christmas. I used liquid applique with glitter to make the snowy scene...

Card Details
Stamps: Life is Good, Holiday Greetings
Cardstock: GinaK white & chocolate; DCWV dp
Ink: Versafine black ink; Vivid ink
Other: dauber; nestability dies: labels 3 & 7 and circle; pearls; copics, liquid applique; glitter; detail clear embossing powder


and here's the inside - I am in love with this Labels 7 nestability dies!

Have a great weekend!
Jessica

I'm feeling Green...

Good evening!

Yesterday I shared several projects I made with Tami's stamp sets - all with the black, white & green color scheme. When I sat down tonight to make this card, I decided to go with those same colors again to make a quick and simple Christmas card to share with you.

I must be drawn to the brightness of these colors since we've had what seems like one day of sunshine this whole month of October so far. I know that's not really accurate... but, it's been a cold and dreary month with another full week of rainy, cloudy weather - so, I need some brightness somewhere!

I pulled out my Poinsettia Nestability dies and cut several flowers out to layer together for this card. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet and was really pleased with the sizes included in the set and how nicely they layered together to make a full poinsettia flower.

I cut the flowers out with SU's Green Galore cardstock and sponged with Green Galore ink before removing the dies - it really adds nice shading to the petals.

Have you had a chance to see the newest edition of the Stamping Lifestyle Magazine? You can download it HERE - which I KNOW you'll want to do, since Gina has a coupon in it!

I hope you'll be able to check back in with me tomorrow night as we'll be featuring Carolyn King's Warm Winter Wishes stamp set on yet another GinaK blog hop event!

See you then!
Jessica

Card Details
Stamps: Holiday Greetings
Cardstock: GinaK white & black; SU green galore
Ink: Memento, SU green galore
Other: Poinsettia & ribbon tag nestability dies, dauber, pearls, copic marker (to color the pearls black), ribbon, Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder, Ticket Corner punch