Happy 17th birthday to my son.

Good morning!

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my son's birthday a few days ago.  He loves the color green so I thought I'd use that color with silvers and blacks.  Masculine/teen boy cards aren't the easiest to make for us card makers but I have to say that this one was pretty fun to work on!

I used dies and stamps from PaperTrey Ink - I love the size of those candles & numbers!  

Birthday Trio die collection

By the Numbers die collection

By The Numbers mat die collection

Suffix Style die collection

Polka Dot Parade #12 die

Polka Dot Parade #12

The 'birthday' sentiment was die cut twice - once with soft stone patterned paper and once in vellum, to soften it a bit.  The gunmetal twine is from The Twnery - love their shimmery baker's twine line!

For Isaiah's birthday note, I almost always try to put a list of things I love about him at the age he turns, so it was fun writing the 17 things I appreciate right now.  He is such a good kid and is becoming a great man - I'm blessed to call him my son.

Here's my favorite photo of him just shortly after his first birthday:

He looked like such a big boy with his hair trimmed around his ears and sitting so big and tall.  In all reality, he was a tiny little peanut - not even 20 pounds yet and in the 3rd percentile for his height.  He is still pretty small for his age - and he probably always will be on the shorter side since it's in his genes.

'

And, here he is today at Christmas time.  Almost all grown up but still my little guy at his heart.  Love this little man.

Thanks for endulging this mama today who is counting her blessings.  

I hope YOU have a great day, filled with lots of blessings & things to be thankful for too!

Jessica

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have had several other cards that I needed to post in the past 24 hours, but I wanted to make sure to share a card that I created in honor of all the moms out there.  I am blessed to have a wonderful, godly mom and an amazingly thoughtful mother-in-law and several 'adopted' moms in my life and am so thankful for each of them and the examples that they are to me.  I created my card today, while thinking of them and the love that each mom has for her children.  The stamps are from Layers of Color: The Love Chapter and Butterfly Collector.

God has blessed Brad and I with two kids that are pretty amazing people too!  It's been such a pleasure having them in our family and watching them grow up - my, how time flies, right?  One of my greatest joys is seeing them interact with each other (we're blessed that for the most part they never fight or bicker with each other!) and seeing their friendship grow.  I pray that Brad and I will be able to watch them grow and one day (a long, LONG time from now!) start their own families and continue with that friendship that is blossoming now.

I spent some time looking through older photos of my kids that I have on my laptop on Saturday night and thought I'd share some of my favorites with you here - I hope you don't mind!  It's a mom's duty on Mother's Day, right?  *wink!*

To all you mother's out there - Have a wonderful Mother's day!
Jessica


Card Details
Stamps: The Love Chapter and Butterfly Collector (LOC)
Ink: SU; Memento; Distress
Card stock: Webster's Pages
Other: lace; Spellbinder lattice rectangles; dauber; Wild Orchid flowers; Spellbinder ribbon banners; Grand Calibur machine; SU Taffeta ribbon

What a week!

Good morning!

Sorry for my long time absence... It's been quite an adventure for me the past few weeks! Unfortunately when I mentioned last week that I was feeling better - it was all just a myth.... lol! I'm not sure exactly what I had, but I was out for the count for nearly a week and finally ended up going into the doctor the evening before our family Disney World trip because I KNEW there was no way that I would be able to make it without some medicine! Thankfully it did the trick and by the time our flight to Florida took off on Friday morning, I was doing a bit better and continued to feel better and better each day of our vacation.

We spent Friday through Wednesday exploring Disney World, celebrating a belated birthday with my daughter Ashley and enjoying the Christmas decorations along with the regular Disney excitement. The weather was a bit cold to be outside all the time, but we braved the cold temps (40s and lower 50s most of the days) and rather than coming home with a suntan, came home with chapped cheeks and lips! lol! While there we were well aware that our friends up north were dealing with snow and frigid temps, so we tried to keep good attitudes and smiles on our faces with what we were missing, even though we were C O L D !! We even came home to a driveway of several inches of snow that we had to shovel before we could even get the van in the driveway!

 But, we're back now and getting back into the routine of school, work, and Christmas preparations! I have a quick card that I made before we left on our trip that I meant to share while we were away, but never got online to share it...

Card Details
Stamps: Hero Arts
Ink: SU; Memento
Cardstock: Stampin Up
Other: button; twine; lace; copics; pearls; stickles; spica glitter pens

I really like how the house looks stamped on this sahara sand paper and colored with Copics.  I rarely use colored papers for coloring and need to try to remember to do that more often.

No photo of the inside of the card this time - sorry about that!

Finally, I'll leave you with a couple more photos of us at Disney.  I have TONS more to sort through and edit, so look for more of those soon from me...

Have a fabulous rest of your day - I hope the holiday preparations are going well for you!

Jessica

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

 

Today is a very special day in our household!  It's my daughter Ashley's 10th birthday!  

It seems just like yesterday that the Lord blessed us with a little angel on that blustery November day...  She had a rough start with a difficult pregnancy and then when we thought we were all in the clear after the pregnancy, a scary first couple of hours with her lungs not being fully developed much to everyone's surprise - but God was gracious and choose to let my princess grow and thrive and be part of our family.  Brad and I are always taken back to those terrible first hours and days after her birth and wish we had pleasant memories of her birth like we do of our son's day but in a way maybe it's better because we realize the gift of life and how fragile our breath of life really is. 

On this very special day, I sat down a bit ago and designed a birthday card for my little birthday girl - I hope she'll like it!  These little MFT Pure Innocence girls are near and dear to me since they remind me so much of my own little girl...

Card Details

Stamps: MFT PI Something Special Just for You

Ink: Memento; Distress Broken china and spun sugar

Card stock: DCWV scallop rectangle; Girls Paperie 6x6 dp; Copic express-it paper

Other: Sewing machine; copics; buttons; doily; quikutz die; Martha Stewart border punch (for inside); heart punch; daubers

While designing this card, I decided to focus on stitching since that is the current MFT guest designer challenge, so you can see some zig-zag stitching, buttons sewn on and I even picked out some patterned papers with stitching on it too to complete the theme. 

One other important note is the white paper I used with my Copics... For the first time I tried the Copic brand X-Press it paper and let me tell you - I am IN LOVE!  I highly recommend it and will be stocking up my stash soon.  It really does blend the Copic ink beautifully.  Many of you know that I like Neenah, PTI, and GKD white and ivory card stocks with Copics and I still do like them and will use them.  But, this paper is different - it's hard to explain, but I felt that the blend-a-bility of the X-Press it paper works really well.

I have linked the MFT's store for the paper pack but know that you can find it many other places.  Ask for it for Christmas if you are a Copic lover like me - you won't be disappointed, I promise!!

Here's the inside view of the card...

 

And, for the first time I thought I'd share a photo of the Copics I used on the image.  If it's helpful to you I'll continue to do so, so please let me know if you like the photo included or not.  By the way, do you see those Copic storage shelves in the background of my photos today?  My dad made me a couple of shelves after I showed him some of the shelves I've been seeing out there in blog land... I love them, dad!  Thank you!

And, finally - here's a photo of the birthday girl on the first day of school!  Isn't she adorable with her head tilted a bit -

Have a fabulous day and enjoy something sweet today in honor of my little Sweetie!

Jessica

MFT Favorite Friend

Hi There!

Today I'm sharing the 8x8 scrapbook page I designed when I was MFT's Favorite Friend, several months ago.  I haven't shared this page with you here yet, so I thought I'd do that today!  The photo is one of Ashley with my Mother's Day flower bouquet from last May.

Scrapbook Page Details
Stamps: Jolinne - Sweet Spring (MFT)
Cardstock: Ivory; October Afternoon patterned papers
Ink: Memento
Other: Copics; Sewing machine; Petaloo flowers; SU ribbon; K&Co. brads; buttons; scor-tape; crystal laquer

I layered the little ballerina's paper pieced dress and popped up the layers a bit for more dimension ...

On a personal note: We had a nice Thanksgiving Dinner with my family yesterday and spent some of the day today shopping with my husband's family.  The crowds and lines weren't too bad and although we didn't head out super early for the huge 'door buster deals,' we were able to make a dent in our Christmas shopping.  It's been a nice relaxing holiday for us - I hope it has been for you and your loved ones too!

We're just about ready to head out for the Christmas parade so the kids can ride in Grandpa Fick's fire truck.  It's SO COLD outside that I'm not looking forward to it much... lol!  Good thing Grandma Fick has LOTS of blankets!!

Keep warm wherever you are and have a fabulous weekend!

Jessica

All about me: scrapbook page

*Click on photo for a larger view*

Happy Friday!

I have a fun 12 x 12 scrapbook page to share with some photos of my daughter Ashley taken on the last day of school in May.  The elementary had a carnival to celebrate school being done and among many other fun things - they had a face painting booth.  So, Ash decided to get her face painted like a leopard.  Her dad kept teasing her that she had 'leopard-sy' (get it?) which drove her crazy!  lol! 

I used a variety of stamps to make this page - but this little MFT Pure Innocence girl is the cutest of all of them, isn't she? 

Scrapbook page Details
Stamps: MFT Pure Innocence; variety of clear sentiment stamps from TCP and other unknown sources
Ink: Versafine black; Memento black
Cardstock: GinaK black, ivory; Cosmo Cricket 12x12 dp; SU kraft, tangelo
Other: Sewing machine; buttons; SU ribbons; detail clear embossing powder; scor-tape; corner chomper; Tim Holtz tiny attacher; circle punches; Copic markers

I'll be back on Sunday night with the GinaK Designs team when we'll be showcasing new stamp sets that will be available this Thursday, September 30!  Did you see the new card kit stamp set for this month?  Here's the sneak peek if you missed it on Gina's blog yesterday:

Isn't that fun!?  I can't wait to show you the rest of the stamp set along with the card kit that I've designed that will be free for a limited time!  In light of that, the time is running out to receive the Lean on Me card kit free with the purchase of the stamp set!  That offer is only available until 10pm central on Thursday, 9/30.  After that, the kit will be available for purchase for $12.95.

Have a great weekend!
Jessica

September GKD Challenge Hop

Good evening!

Welcome to our monthly GinaK Designs challenge hop!  This month Gina has challenged each of us to make a project with a favorite Fall/Autumn memory as the inspiration.  So, I pulled out the Lean on Me stamp set and designed this 12x12 scrapbook page that will eventually include photos of my 2 kids on the first day of school!  Being a former school teacher, that has to be one of the most favorite memories for me personally about fall: school!  I loved school as a child and loved teaching for nearly 5 years - before my son was born.

Here's the photos I'm getting printed to put on these pages eventually:

I'll just trim the photos to 3 3/4" x 4 3/4" to fit my pre-made mats and it's ready to go!  I chose not to crop the photos in my photo editing software to make sure I could fit them on the mats.  Quick and easy!

Here's a closer look at the corner of the page that showcases a few images from the Lean on Me stamp set.

School Scrapbook Page Details
Stamps: Lean on Me
Cardstock: GinaK ivory, black, sweet corn; SU Kraft 12x12; October Afternoon dp
Ink: Vivid; Black Memento
Other: Buttons; October Afternoon ticket; sewing machine; Basic Grey clips; buttons; trims; Spellbinder tag die

Another favorite autumn memory has to be going to the pumpkin patch with my kids - the hay/tractor ride, the pumpkins, the crisp air, etc... so fun!  So, thinking of those memories, I designed this card using the pumpkin from the Autumn Splendor StampTV kit:

 This card is pretty busy - but I was trying to use up a bunch of the fun patterns from the Basic Grey Sugar rush paper pack... lol!  The image is paper pieced with some patterned paper from the collection and then highlighted with a bit of colored Doodlebug glitter for some added sparkle...

Pumpkin Card Details
Stamps: Autumn Splendor (GKD)
Cardstock: GinaK black, white, kraft; Basic Grey Sugar Rush dp
Ink: Black memento; vivid; versafine black
Other: Dauber; Basic grey brads; copic markers; SU ribbon; Spellbinder eyelet square die; SU punch; glue pen, doodlebug glitters; corner rounder; EK Success border punch

 For all the information about how to enter your card into this month's challenge, please visit GinaK's blog, then check out these participating designer's blogs for more inspiration using the newly released stamp sets available through GinaK Designs:

• Jessica Fick * you are here!
• Theresa Momber
• Nina Brackett
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Tami Mayberry
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Lee Murphy
• Kurtis Amundson
• Miesje Flach - our CenterStage Spotlight designer!

Happy Hopping!  We can't wait to see what you're going to share with us!
Jessica

Faithful Florals Scrapbook page

Hi there!

Now that school is back in session for pretty much everyone, I thought I'd share an 8.5 x 11 scrapbook page I made with Tami Mayberry's new Faithful Florals stamp set.  I pulled out a favorite older photo of my son Isaiah sitting at his school desk with his Bible opened.  I believe he was in 6th grade here.  My kids attend a private Christian school (in fact the same one that I taught at before I had kids), so it seemed natural to pull out the Faithful Florals stamp set to scrapbook this page.

Scrapbook Page Details
Stamps: Faithful Florals (GinaK Designs)
Ink: Memento; Vivid
Cardstock: GinaK; October Afternoon dp
Other: Spellbinder label 7 dies; EK Success border punch; Basic Grey buttons and brads; SU bird punch, clip, chipboard heart, and ribbon; October afternoon journaling card and stickers; sewing machine; twine; dauber; paper piercer, template

I haven't decided if I'm going to journal on the little card a note to Isaiah or if I'll have him do it, so I left it blank for now.

Thanks for checking in on me today!  Have a great rest of your evening -
Jessica

Down on the Farm Scrapbook Layout

Hi there!

Today, I am sharing another 2 page layout that I created with a Card kit of mine that is available through GinaK Designs.  This is the Down on the Farm kit - aren't those farm animals adorable?!  I used the same papers, ribbons, and eyelets that are included in the card kit and just added some buttons, sewing, etc to make them into scrapbook pages, rather than cards.

Be sure to click on the photos to make them appear larger for even more details.  I used Liquid applique and glitter to embellish the sheep and cow image, while a pink button fit perfectly on the pig's snout!  lol!

Have a great rest of your day!
Jessica


Scrapbook page details
Stamps: Down on the Farm
Cardstock: GinaK - white, creme de menthe, bubblegum pink, smokey slate, ocean mist
Ink: Memento
Other: Sewing machine; copics, liquid applique, glitter, buttons, twine, ribbon, eyelets, Quikutz scallop border, Spellbinder square dies and label 12, cuttlebug embossing folders: dots, stripes, argyle; SU ABC dies

Sweetest Blessings Blog Hop

click on photo for a closer look

Good evening!

Tonight a couple of my friends and I are joining together to share some projects that we've designed using this month's Card Kit stamp set: Sweetest Blessings.  With the purchase of this adorable stamp set for the next few weeks, you automatically receive the card kit that I designed.   While planning for this hop, I used the kit contents to make a 2 page Scrapbook layout of some favorite photos of my kids celebrating their birthdays.

FYI: The size of my pages is my favorite scrapbook size: 8 1/2" x 11".  I haven't scrapbooked this size in a long time as I've been working on 9x9 or 12x12 for awhile, but let me just say that as soon as I started putting these pages together, it felt like I was back to my roots and the ideas just clicked! lol!  I have bazillion scrapbooks in my home with photos of my kids in this size albums and have decided it's where I will be staying because it just works for me.  If it works - why change, right? *wink*

This photo is a favorite one of mine from Ashley when she was 4, I believe.  We had bought these princess birthday hats for her party and she HAD to wear them for days before AND after her actual birthday.  This photo was taken of her eating her cereal one more for breakfast.  She had a favorite sweater on over her jammies because she is always cold when she wakes up in the morning - still the case today, nearly 6 years later.  Just look at those cheeks and chubby little fingers ... sigh.  I plan on adding some journaling notes to the nestability die tag next to the photo - I just didn't get to that before I took the photo.

click on photo for a closer look

Scrapbook Page details
Stamps: Sweetest Blessings (GKD)
Ink: Vivid; Memento
Cardstock: Bubblegum pink, passionate pink, white, turquoise sea, black (GKD)
Other: Quikutz 12" scallop border die; SU Sizzix ABC dies, copic markers; liquid applique, red liquid pearls, stardust stickles, glitter, sewing machine, spellbinder dies, silver eyelets, gingham ribbon, pencil for polka dots

**********

click on photo for a closer look

Now, this page is of a photo I took this past February of my son when he turned 13.  We went out to eat at his favorite restaurant with my family and he was treated to a special birthday sundae.  So, he was a good sport and posed a bit for some funny photos for me.  I'm sure he'd be 'outraged' that I used these pinks on his page, but I couldn't resist since the photo was so perfect.

click on photo for a closer look

Scrapbook Page Details
Stamps: Sweetest Blessings
Ink: Black Memento
Cardstock: GinaK
Other: Quikutz scallop border die; spellbinder dies; silver eyelets, twine; copic markers; liquid applique, stardust stickles, red liquid pearls, buttons, pink gingham ribbon, EK Success scallop corner and square punches; Cuttlebug embossing folders

**********

Please check out these designer's links to see more samples with the Sweetest Blessings stamp set:

• Jessica Fick * you are here!
  
• Bev Gerard
• Colleen Schaan
• Sankari Wegman
• Jennie Harper

Then, check out this discussion in the Idea Center to view the card kit that Jessica designed to coordinate with this adorable stamp set.  It's free with the purchase of the Sweetest Blessings stamp set until August 26!   The StampTV gallery is also filled with lots of ideas that you won't want to miss.  Here's the link: sweetestblessings

Have fun checking out all the ideas!  I hope it leaves you inspired!
Jessica

Bubble Girl!

Isn't she adorable? I love my little dishwashing daughter - even if she gets a little crazy with the bubbles sometimes! lol!

See you a bit later tonight with some scrapbook pages that I designed with the Sweetest Blessings stamp set!
Jessica

GinaK DT Challenge Hop

 Good evening!

Tonight I'm joining several other GinaK Designers in a special  blog hop event.  This month, Gina asked us to use the stamps released on July 1st using at least one of the StampTV video techniques on our project.  I decided to make a 12x12 scrapbook page for my upcoming Christmas calendar project using a favorite photo of my daughter Ashley along with the Seeds of Kindness stamp set.

As you can see from my photos, I used several techniques on my page.  I'll list each of them with the link to the technique video so you can check them out for more information:

• Sewing
• Crystal Lacquer
• Sakura Stardust Glitter Pen
• Cutting with Nestabilities

Project Details
Stamps: Seeds of Kindness
Ink: Memento
Cardstock: GinaK; SU 12x12; DCWV patterned papers; vellum
Other: Sewing machine; circle punches & spellbinders circle & label dies; EK Success butterfly punch; rhinestones; copics; crystal lacquer; glitter pen; polka dot embossing folder; Quikutz scallop border; SU ribbon; Corner Rounder


I don't know if you can tell on this last photo or not, but I thought I'd share a few details on it for you.  I colored the floral image with copics and then went over some of the lines with the Stardust glitter pen.  Then after it was added to the scrapbook page, I put a layer of Crystal lacquer over the entire circle focal point.  After which I set it aside to dry overnight.  It's really quite sparkly and shiny in person, but I don't believe my camera caught that very well...

For more projects and inspiration from the other designers participating in the hop tonight, please check out these links:

• GinaK
• Jessica * you are here!
• Theresa
• Melanie
• Nina
• Tami
• Cathy
• Lee
• Donna
• Kurtis
• Emily
• Erika

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!
Jessica