You're Sweet, Sugar!

Happy Friday!

It's been a very long week for me and I for one am so thankful it's FRIDAY!!! I'm sure you're as excited as I am, right?! lol! I'm hoping to get some stamping in this afternoon since it's a shorter work day for me - wish me luck!

Today's card is one I made for the Release party last week and am finally getting around to sharing it. I paper pieced this adorable Sugar Bowl from Theresa's Purrr-fectly Delightful stamp set and used Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry papers since it works so well with this stamp image ...

and the inside...


Have a wonderful weekend - I hope you get to do something that brings you TONS of Happiness and rest!
Jessica

The Wind beneath my Wings...

Good evening!

Tonight's card was made with Rupa's adorable Sung from the Heart stamp set, GinaK's Gold Lined Organdy ribbon, and Basic Grey's Indian Summer paper pack - aren't they perfect together for this Valentine's Day card for Ashley?

and the inside with the new EK Success Scallop Heart paper punch -


Thanks for checking in on me tonight!

Jessica

Preview Day 2: Purrr-fectly Delightful & Square Pegs

Good evening!

It's Day 2 of our previews for January's release and tonight we are showcasing two new stamp sets that I know you're going to love! My first card is made with Theresa Momber's adorable Purrr-fectly Delightful stamp set. Theresa is such an artist and each image has so much detail that they are just begging to be stamped - as are all her images!

I just LOVE this huge vase of daisies...

I colored the entire image with Memento markers and then stamped onto GinaK's Pure Luxury white cardstock. Then, I took coordinating Sakura Glitter pens (you KNOW how much I love those!!) and traced over the stamped lines to add lots of sparkle. Then, I took my aqua painter and lightly brushed over the lines to smear them a bit to appear watercolored...

and the inside - if you LOVE cats, this set is a must have!!

The next set we're featuring tonight is Melanie Muenchinger's Square Pegs stamp set - an awesome set filled with bold lined & line art stamp sets with coordinating sentiments all designed to go with her Hip to be Square stamp set! You know how much we love Melanie's coordinating stamp set ideas!

I paper pieced the soup bowl with some October Afternoon Farm Fresh cardstock - isn't it fun?

and the inside - with more images from Melanie's stamp set...

And, before you go - I have one last quick card to show tonight with Melanie's set ...

I LOVE this image and paired with GinaK's Kraft, Chocolate, and Innocent Pink cardstocks... I'm in heaven! lol!

and the inside -


For even more inspiration with our new stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out these GinaK Designers' links:

Melanie Muenchinger {Illustrator of Square Pegs}

Theresa Momber {Illustrator of Purrr-fectly Delightful}

Gina Krupsky

Jessica Fick *You are here *

Nina Brackett

Carolyn King

Cathy Tidwell

Lee Murphy

Lynn Mercurio

Erika Martin

Emily Giovanni

Bev Gerard

Suzanne Dean

Joan Ervin {CSS Designer}

Betty Neville {CSS Designer}

Happy Blog hopping - we'll see you back here tomorrow night where we'll be showcasing the brand new StampTV kit designed by Gina!!

Jessica

Sketch Challenge for StampTV

Good morning!

I'm the hostess for the StampTV sketch challenge this week and wanted to share my project with you this morning on my blog. I'll share the other card I made with my sketch tomorrow - but I already showed it in the challenge thread that you can find here.

I pulled out Basic Grey's Offbeat paper pack & embellishments to make this birthday card. I was TRYING to make it masculine... do you think I pulled it off? I have such a hard time with masculine cards because a card just doesn't feel finished unless it has ribbon, buttons & pierced scallops somewhere on it! lol!

Here's a closeup of the golf bag paper pieced with that lovely Basic Grey paper...

I stamped the golf bag from Rupa's King of the Grill stamp set 3 times in Black Versafine ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. A few copic markers helped to define the layers and details. Then, I took my detail scissors and cut each layer out.

The 'happy birthday!' sentiment comes from GinaK's Tag, You're it! stamp set. Then, I took some white grosgrain ribbon, the 'dad' sentiment from Rupa's King of the Grill and my black Stazon ink pad and made my own specialized ribbon! I used the same ribbon for the inside...

To help seal the white ribbon that I taped across the front corner of the card, I attached another piece of Offbeat paper. It helps to finish the card off too. Here's the full view of the inside...

I hope you can join us for the challenge - it runs until next Thursday.

Have a great day!

Jessica

Relaxing with a friend...

Good evening!

Tonight I wanted to post this fun card I made recently with some Magnolia, Stampin Up and Alota rubber stamps that worked together perfectly to make a card for PaperCraft Planet's new theme this month called Friendship.

I used Basic Grey's Sultry papers for the card and Copic markers to color all the images...


Now, I'm not sure why there are two little butterflies flying around inside the house, but that corner needed something and I thought it was cute to have the kitty ready to pounce on the fluttering butterflies! lol!

Using the papers, I tried to make the cardfront look like a living room complete with wallpaper, carpet and even floor boards. The couch stamp is from Alota rubber stamps and the coffee cup and butterflies are from a Stampin Up Hostess set from the last catalog.

Here's a closeup of the kitty...


All the images are stamped a couple of times and popped up for added dimension. I just love how those little details really finish off these types of cards.

Have a wonderful night and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Jessica

Magnolia Valentines Card

Good morning!

I wish you could see this card in person... the dimensions and layers are just too fun! I probably ended up using almost a full sheet of SU's dimensional adhesives on it - lol! Not really, but almost!

I got some Christmas money from my family and knew exactly what I wanted to buy - some Magnolia stamps! I have been eyeing them for a while now and was tickled to see that Roses on Paper had many of the ones I wanted in stock, so I ordered some over Christmas. Shipping was super fast and I was pleased to get my order in just a couple of days.

This view of the card shows some of dimension of it - see the kitty's head popped up? For the little school girl, her knees and head are popped up too. That's a chalkboard hanging on the wall - can you tell? lol!

I stamped everything on GinaK's 80lb. Pure Luxury cardstock and colored with Copic markers. I used Basic Grey's Urban Prairie paper and buttons to decorate it.

Here's one more view to help show off the layering...


This card will be my Valentine's Day card for my husband. When we met, I was a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher - so when I saw these stamps, I just had to have them!

The inside of the card is pretty cute too - so I had to take a few photos of it to show you too. On our first date, Brad gave me 3 little white roses, so that's why I used 3 little prima flowers to decorate the little girl and the heart.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great rest of your day!

Jessica

More 3x3 Framed Friends....

Good morning!

Well, the weather man wasn't wrong... we've got LOTS more snow this morning and the much anticipated snow day for all area schools! The kids will be so thrilled and the adults aren't too unhappy with it either - at least the ones that don't have to go into work... and I'm one of them! No one will be able to get into at Gina's store - so do your shopping from your computer today, gals! LOL!

Today's 2 cards are the last in my paper piecing 3x3 cards. The first card is this adorable little owl. His facial expression just cracks me up - Asela drew such character and personality into all of her little creatures from Framed Friends. Wait until you see what she has up her sleeve for next month!!! I got a sneak peek yesterday and am in LOVE....


One thing that I don't think I've really mentioned about this set are the little pearls in each corner of the patterned paper on the cardfront.... They are all actually white pearls, but I used a coordinating Copic marker to color each pearl to match the main stamp image.

Last up, is Snail Mail.... how cute is this!? I absolutely love that little postage stamp that the snail is sitting on! Once again, all these papers are from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pack - can you see why I love it so much? There is so much variety with the colors and patterns in that little pack.

I hope you've enjoyed all my little notecards - they've been a big hit in the store, so I've decided to offer a paper piecing class next month using Asela's stamp set and a pack of Basic Grey 6x6 paper. I'll share the details of that class and all my other classes for next month a little later today. I'm so excited about them all!

Have a great day - and stay home if you can today! We've got 10" of new snow in the Madison area and it's still coming down! Several more inches are expected as the day goes on....

Jessica

Little Lady Bug

Good morning!

Yesterday I shared my little kitty card, and today I'm showing my Ladybug 3x3 card. I love this little bug! She is so cute with that heart on her tummy underneath the flower's petals.


I'm sharing this view of my card, so you can see the dimension of the paper piecing. And, there is just a little peek of the inside of the card too. Each of my 3x3 card bases is SU's basic black cardstock, so I put a white liner inside to finish it off. I added a strip of coordinating patterned paper along with a red sateen flower bloom with a pearl for the center.

Tomorrow morning, I'll share the rest of my Framed Friends 3x3 cards. If you would like to see the other 2 blog posts with them, look here: Here Kitty, Kitty and Puppy Love.

Card details: Framed Friends, Basic Grey's Urban Prairie, Kaiser Kraft Pearls, SU black cardstock, corner rounder & dimensionals, Offray Polka dot ribbon, Copic Markers

On another note, how have your holiday preparations been going? I have been so busy, I haven't even had time to do one of my favorite things lately: blog hop! I'm hoping to get a chance to do that a little tomorrow since we are going to get clobbered with another huge winter storm later today and tomorrow morning... so it looks like another snow day is a pretty big possibility.

If you are planning on stopping into Gina's store in McFarland tomorrow, definitely call first to make sure someone actually made it in. It's looking unlikely that it will even be open since everyone is pretty much saying that we're getting at 6-12" of snow with some freezing rain mixed in there...

The one good thing about all this snow and cold weather is that it gives me time to get some holiday crafting and cooking done, though! My to do list is slowly dwindling down.... so hopefully I'll get several more things done over the weekend off my list.

Have a wonderful day - and be safe during this holiday season!
Jessica

Here Kitty, Kitty....

Good morning!

Wisconsin winter is in full force here - and by the looks of the USA map, most of the country is in the deep freeze too! When I was thinking about a card to share this morning, I was drawn to this little kitty looking all warm and cozy in her home peeking out her window - maybe looking at the snow falling outside? We're going to get clobbered again with lots of snow later tomorrow night and over the weekend, so I guess I have snow on the brain! lol!


This little 3x3 card is one of a set that I made recently with Asela Hopkin's Framed Friends stamp set just released at GinaK Designs. I used up some scrap papers from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pack to paper piece the stamp image and decorate the outside and inside of the card. I love the bright and cheerful colors and patterns in this paper pack and have almost used it up!

The images were stamped on several pieces of paper in black Versafine ink and clear embossed with detail embossing powder. Then, they were cut out and layered over each other with SU's dimensional adhesives - another one of my favorite things! I shaded some of the papers with some Copic markers to add some shadows and highlights.

3x3 cards are so quick because of the small landscape of the cardfront - so just a main image and a ribbon bow is all it takes to finish it off! I corner rounded a few edges of the cardfront to add some visual interest and really like how funky it turned out.

Have a great day!
Jessica

Christmas Chef

Good evening!

Just a quick note tonight, that we decided to cancel my OMS class for tomorrow due to the weather we're expecting. I'm sorry for the inconvenience - we'll reschedule the class for January. Hopefully Tuesday night snowstorms won't be a habit this year since that's when I usually do my classes....

And, because I hate to have posts without some eyecandy, I thought I'd share this really quick card that I made today. Shelly brought in a new Inky Antics stamp that she recently bought. Isn't this chef adorable? I just had to ink him up quickly and make a card before I left work today. Literally this card took minutes...

I used some scrap Basic Grey Figgy patterned papers to make the card and paper piece the stamp image. He is shaded with Copics too. Nestabilities Labels 2 dies layered together, the new Tonic corner punch... and I was done!

Have a great night - and be safe with all this winter weather everyone is getting!

Jessica

Sneak Peeks Day 1: Puppy Love - and more!

Good morning!

Have you been enjoying all the amazing projects everyone is sharing with Asela Hopkin's adorable new stamp set called Framed Friends??! I think this is one of my most loved new stamp sets that I've gotten in awhile because I just LOVE cutesy stamps like these ones!

When I first saw Asela's stamp set, the first thought I had was how cute the images would be paper pieced with patterned papers. I decided to pull out my scrap pieces from a recent project that I was working on with Basic Grey's Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pack. Most of you know how much I love that paper because you've seen a lot of projects with these papers recently on my blog! I think they worked perfectly with all of Asela's animals/bugs.

I'll share close ups of each individual 3x3 card at Gina's Release Party and throughout the next few weeks here on my blog. But, this morning I'm going to highlight my little Puppy Love note card...



The base of all the notecards is Stampin Up's Basic Black cardstock. As I mentioned a little earlier, I used Urban Prairie papers for the entire card. I stamped the puppy image several times on different pieces of papers in Black Versafine Ink and clear embossed. When I paper piece a stamped image, I always stamp in black ink and clear emboss because I think it really helps to define the individual layers.

To highlight several of the pieces, I added shading with Copic Markers. They really helped to make the images pop and added warmth to the layers. The layers are all popped up with Stampin Up's Dimensional Adhesives. There are some small self-adhesive Pearls added here and there. I colored them with Copic Markers to match.

For some visual interest, I used my small corner rounder to round off a few corners. Each card is a little different because I was just experimenting and seeing what I could come up with. Since Asela's animals are 'housed' in rounded frames, it worked well together.

Each 3x3 card has a white liner inside with a strip of patterned paper along one side. For an added embellishment, I put a double layered Sateen Flower with a small pearl in the center.

Lots of Gina's Design Team Members have been working hard on sneak peeks with Asela's Framed Friends stamp set. Be sure to check them all out because they are fabulous!! And, remember to join us on Thursday night at GinaK's Forum on Splitcoast Stampers for her Release Party from 7-10 pm (CST).

Ready for the Blog Hop links? Here they are....

Gina, Asela, Joanne, Erika, Theresa, Donna, Kurtis, Mel, Emily, Cammie, Carolina, Cindy

Have fun hopping and see you tomorrow morning for two more new stamp set sneak peeks -

Jessica

PaperWorks Safari Animals

Good morning!

I am a sucker for cute stamp images and these set of safari animals from PaperWorks are adorable!! PaperWorks is a new company that is based in Canada. They are celebrating their first birthday and are currently having a great sale on their website. Check them out - you won't be sorry!

I received these three Safari animals in the mail last night and had to get them inky right away! Each stamp comes die cut and mounted on cling mount - so no prep is necessary - always a plus for any stamper, right?

The packaging is adorable too. Each animal comes in its own package with its story on the back of the laminated card. I plan on punching a hole in the corner of each card and using a metal ring to bind them together because the storage card is too cute to throw away!

The first thing I thought of when I saw these stamps was how cute they would look paper pieced and layered with designer papers. So, I pulled out another one of my favorite Basic Grey paper packs -Urban Prairie and started stamping! I just love the pinks & turquoise blue colors in this assortment.

I used Versafine Black ink and detail clear embossing powder to help the images really pop on the patterned papers. Whenever I paper piece, I like to do this extra step of embossing because it not only looks great, but it also helps me cut the images out a little more neatly. The embossed lines seem to help me see where to cut a little better, I guess.

To add a little more shading in certain areas, I used a few coordinating Copic Markers. Then, using dimensionals I popped up the heads to make them a little more 3D! I love how cute these guys look in person.

I used a couple of recent sketch challenges that my fellow design team gals have issued over at PaperCraft Planet. I'm new the sketch scene and am loving how easy they are to get out of my usual card layout ruts. Lucas the Lion's layout is Wendy's sketch 111508 and Gordie the Giraffe's layout is Tammy's sketch 112208.

After I finished my cards, I took my small bottle of Crystal Lacquer and added it to a few areas on the the animals - like the lion's mane above. Finally, I took my Inkssentials white gel pen and dotted the highlights in the eyes to make them pop.

Aren't these animals fun? My 8 year old daughter Ashley loves stuffed animals and went crazy for these little guys. Check out Peggy's fun website - you won't be sorry and tell her that Jessica sent you!

Have a great day!
Jessica