Friday, April 30, 2010

Reasons for Mail... Send More Mother's Day Cards

Who do you send Mother's Day cards to? I usually hit my mom... my mother-in-law... my aunt.  This year I'm making a few extra cards to send to women (neighbors, moms from school, friends, etc.) who I think rock at being a mom... and I'm going to tell them that! Won't you join me?  So for this week's Reasons for Mail I challenge you to start making a few extra Mother's Day cards to share outside of the family;)
To create card:
1) cut card from white cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")
2) adhere patterned papers to card
3) cut slits for ribbon, thread ribbon and tie bow
4) embellish bow with twine and button
5) stamp Mother's Day sentiment on inside of card

Hope you have a great Friday! I'll leave you with a little Mother Wisdom:)

The phrase "working mother" is redundant. - Jane Sellman

Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown. In my heart it don't mean a thing. - Toni Morrison

Children are the sum of what mothers contribute to their lives. - Unknown
Take care!


Products: patterned paper (Pink Paislee); ribbon (Michael's Crafts); button (LaMode); cardstock (The Paper Company)

Sale Alert!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments is having a sale for National Scrapbook Day... 25% off the entire store today through Sunday (4/30 - 5/2)!!! There are some fun new paper pads in the shop... Basic Grey... October Afternoon... all good stuff... and ALL on SALE:) Happy Shopping!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Win GCD Studios Homespun Chic Collection Paper Pad...


... at their Facebook Page HERE.

** CONTEST CLOSED...and the winner is... Mandy Bursley Koeppen... congrats Mandy!

Wednesday Wisdom... Celebrate

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.  -Oprah Winfrey


Just dropping in quickly today to share a card that is in Paper Craft's Go-to Sketches.  If you are a card maker this issue is definitely worth its price. Tons of great sketches and a plethora of ideas for each ranging from all occasion cards to holiday. This was the first magazine where I had multiple cards published so I am very excited about that! My copy has been shared and used so much that its pages are starting to fall out. So fun:)


I hope you all are having a nice week!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Its a krafty Jacksonbelle Tuesday!

Today's Jacksonbelle challenge is to use kraft cardstock as a base for your card. That's not much of a challenge for me because kraft is my go to cardstock... I just feel like I'm in my element when using it.

So here is my card for today's challenge... using kraft and a couple of my favorite techniques:
1) distressing the edges with chalk ink (my go to chalk ink is Color Box's Chestnut Roan)
2) using a white pen to make faux stitching or doodling
To create card:
1) make card from kraft cardstock and ink edges
2) adhere patterned paper (here I used Pink Paislee's Office Lingo: Fast Track)
3) stamp white flower with butterfly stamp (Prima Wings), spray with glimmer mist and adhere smaller white flower (Prima Athena, Powder Puff)
4) doodle dot border with white pen
5) adhere pearl bling (Zva Creative) and stamp sentiment

Please join us for this week's challenge!  Just link a photo of your project to the comments section HERE or use keyword JBE103 when uploading to SCS or PCP. For more inspiration, be sure to check out all of the other Jacksonbelle Rockstar Blogs:
There is new Basic Grey & October Afternoon at Jacksonbelle Embellishments!


Happy Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday, April 26, 2010

What I have on my desk...

Hi all! I hope you had a great weekend. Just popping in to share a couple of cards made with some things I had laying on my desk...
I love this one because it really has a few of my favorite things on it... Pink Paislee, Piggy Tales, Prima and Unity. This one also uses the current sketch challenge from Paper Crafts Connection... there is still time left to play if you are looking for a good card sketch and fun challenge...

And this one is from my April Piggy Tale's Academy Kit...
So cute, huh? That kit is just darling... perfect for Spring:) What could you make using the things that you have laying on your desk?

Thanks for visiting!!!

Patterned paper (Piggy Tales, Pink Paislee), flower (Prima), tulle (Bazzill), stamp (Unity Stamp Co), rub-on (Piggy Tales), brad (GCD Studios), die (Quick Cuts)

Friday, April 23, 2010

April Inspiration

Hello! Today I am so happy to be back at the g.c.d Studios blog because it is inspiration time and I think you might be inspired by it to, so I will share it here...
...when I saw this image, I fell head over heels for the top two photos. I just love the cream and dusty pink color combination in the top left photo and the white, green and pink combo in the top right. I used this as an opportunity to create a couple of thank you cards to keep on hand. I hope you enjoy:)
Patterned paper (Homespun Chic collection: 8 x 8 paper pad and Independence collection: Lexicon); chipboard (Chip Art Medium Frames); tool (Chip Art mini shapes stamp); cardstock (white and cream); thread (Coats & Clark); paint (Making Memories); ribbon (Offray), clear stamp (Hero Arts), border punch (EK Success)

Patterned paper (Homespun Chic collection: 8 x 8 paper pad and Independence collection: Lexicon); embellishment (Homespun Chic Layered Frames); cardstock (cream and kraft); clear stamps (Hero Arts); thread (Coats & Clark)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

These are the Silly Days...

My kiddos always keep me laughing... it is funny how silly they can be and how much fun they can have just being silly. Tonight I wanted to take their picture with their giant pinwheels because I was inspired by these pinwheels here and wanted to put together a layout to document their new favorite yard toy. Well, this is the best photo they would give me...
... their new "thing" is to make the silliest faces that they can possibly make whenever I ask them to take a picture. So my layout is about that... not their new favorite yard toy. Reflecting upon it, I realized that life is more about the moments than the stuff... right? I'm glad I have my children to remind me of that:)

Patterned paper, stickers and tags (Fancy Pants Road Show collection); cardstock (Core'dinations); kraft (Paper Reflections); small letter stickers (Making Memories); punch (EK Success) sketch (Sketchy Thursday's Archives)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Jacksonbelle Tuesday... Favorite Products

Today's Jacksonbelle Tuesday challenge is to use your favorite Jacksonbelle product. This one is easy because right now I can not get enough of the new Prima:) It is simply gorgeous!!!

My top 3 favs are:
1) these stamps
2) these flowers and
3) this patterned paper

I used these three things to make a thank you card, gift bag and card set. As we get closer to the end of the school year, I start making and stash away thank you gifts to give later...

I used the flower stamp to make a pattern on my flowers before painting them with glimmer mist.
And a few note cards using some additional Prima paper from the shop along with flowers and stamps:) The best thing about Prima paper is that each side is so beautiful that you can make four unique cards from one 12"x12" paper.
To make these cards:
1) make card from kraft
2) cut patterned paper slightly smaller than card and adhere to card
3) embellish by stamping, stitching or adding ribbon and flowers to card

We hope you join us for this week's challenge!  Just link a photo of your project to the comments section HERE or use keyword JBE102 when uploading to SCS or PCP. For more inspiration, be sure to check out all of the other Jacksonbelle Rockstar Blogs:


New Basic Grey Cappella and Max & Whiskers is now in the Pre-Order Category and will be shipping the week of April 26th!!!... check it out:)


Happy Tuesday! Thank you for visiting today:)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Card and Page Monday... My Joy

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you:) How was your weekend? Mine was very good... we had two chilly but sunny gorgeous days and two fab soccer games. We met our neighbor's week old triplets... all healthy and home from the hospital at the same time... what a blessing! And I had some scrap time... so I was able to work ahead on a few projects and make a couple of layouts! Top it off with grilled buffalo chicken for dinner on Sunday and I couldn't have dreamt of a better weekend.

Here is one of my layouts... I've been drooling over the new Pink Paislee pleated ribbon and brads, so I was very happy to break them open and put them to good use all while playing along at Sketchy Thursdays (its been a long time, but I dig their sketches).
And a card because I was on a roll:) I hope you enjoy!
 


All products from Pink Paislee's Queen Bee collection; cardstock (Core'dinations).

Friday, April 16, 2010

Happy Friday...

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

If you are up for a fun challenge and would like to win some GCD Studios product you can find a challenge running HERE at scrapbook.com.


Have a happy Friday!


Products: patterned paper & sentiment (Artsy Urban collection by gcd Studios), orange satin ribbon (Michael's Crafts, Inc.)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Scrap that Poetry #14...April by John Greenleaf Whittier

Its time for a new poem and challenge at Scrap That Poetry. This week's poem is April by John Greenleaf Whittier...


'T is the noon of the spring-time, yet never a bird
In the wind-shaken elm or the maple is heard;
For green meadow-grasses wide levels of snow,
And blowing of drifts where the crocus should blow;
Where wind-flower and violet, amber and white,
On south-sloping brooksides should smile in the light,
O'er the cold winter-beds of their late-waking roots
The frosty flake eddies, the ice-crystal shoots;
And, longing for light, under wind-driven heaps,
Round the boles of the pine-wood the ground-laurel creeps,
Unkissed of the sunshine, unbaptized of showers,
With buds scarcely swelled, which should burst into flowers
We wait for thy coming, sweet wind of the south!
For the touch of thy light wings, the kiss of thy mouth;
For the yearly evangel thou bearest from God,
Resurrection and life to the graves of the sod!
Up our long river-valley, for days, have not ceased
The wail and the shriek of the bitter northeast,
Raw and chill, as if winnowed through ices and snow,
All the way from the land of the wild Esquimau,
Until all our dreams of the land of the blest,
Like that red hunter's, turn to the sunny southwest.
O soul of the spring-time, its light and its breath,
Bring warmth to this coldness, bring life to this death;
Renew the great miracle; let us behold
The stone from the mouth of the sepulchre rolled,
And Nature, like Lazarus, rise, as of old!
Let our faith, which in darkness and coldness has lain,
Revive with the warmth and the brightness again,
And in blooming of flower and budding of tree
The symbols and types of our destiny see;
The life of the spring-time, the life of the whole,
And, as sun to the sleeping earth, love to the soul

Want to play along with us? Its simple, just link a photo of the layout or project that this poem inspires to the comments section HERE. We'd love for you to join us!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Its a MAGIC day!

My 2 year old likes to label the days based on things that she knows like, "Its a sunny day", "Its a snowy day", or "Its a purple day" (if she's wearing all purple:). So today when she went under the dining room table to chase after a marker and came out without bumping her head, she declared that to be magic and today to be a "MAGIC day!"

So to celebrate the magic of Spring, here's a card to share from April's Piggy Tales Academy Kit.

Thanks for visiting today and here's to a "MAGIC day" for us and you too;)!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Its a Jacksonbelle Tuesday...

... and it's almost the most TAXIING time of the year!!! Today we want you to share your view on taxes... make a card using taxes as your inspiration.

Here is mine...

we are getting a refund this year so I made my card green... and it is always around the best part of spring time, so the reason for the butterflies and flower. I used the green patterned papers from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees and Bayberry Cottage 6x6 pads and Prima's stamp set, Wings that comes with that cool bling:)

Well, I hope you join us for our taxing challenge this week...LOL.  Just link a photo of your project to the comments section HERE or use keyword JBE101 when uploading to SCS or PCP. For more inspiration, be sure to check out all of the other Jacksonbelle Rockstar Blogs:

Happy Tuesday!

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Reasons for Mail... Break Out Your Glitter

Spring should glitter... right? Well this week's Reason for Mail is to send someone as little sparkle. Easy peasy! Dig out a sheet of you favorite patterned paper and make it shine by adding glitter.


For this card, I fussy cut flowers from Basic Grey's June Bug collection, added adhesive with a glue pen and poured on the glitter. What a mess! But soooo much fun:)  You can currently find this fun card and many others that "shine" in the April issue of Cards magazine.

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by and leaving such wonderful support and comments this week:) You all make me smile daily!

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Simple Kraft Flowers

Hi everyone! Today I'm here to share with you how to make super simple kraft flowers. All you need to make this stunning embellishment is:  
  • a recycled brown bag or a brown lunch bag 
  • decorative brads 
  • glimmer mist (or shimmer/glitter spray) 
  • flower punch
To make flower:
Grab a bag and a medium and/or small flower punch
Punch away
Spray punched flowers with glimmer mist
After flowers are dry, crumple them up (If you have little ones asking to help, this is the perfect job for them;)
Gently flatten your flowers back out, stack together, and punch a hole through the center
Secure with a decorative brad
Voila! A super quick, easy (and green if you use what you have on hand;) embellishment for your card or scrapbook page!  
Patterned paper (Ava and Homespun Chic by Melody Ross); brad (Artsy Urban by Melody Ross); epoxy sticker (Homespun Chic) other (rhinestone by K & Co., Offray ribbon, thread & kraft paper)

To create card:
1) cut card from kraft
2) adhere patterned papers and sew
3) apply sentiment
4) embellish with ribbon and flower (add bling by placing a crystal in the center of flower's brad)
Card measures: 4.25" x 5.5"

Vary flower sizes for a different look or to add a cluster of flowers to you project.
Patterned paper (Artsy Urban and Homespun Chic by Melody Ross); fabric brads (Homespun Chic by Melody Ross); other (rhinestones by Queen & Co., Offray ribbon, clear Stamp by Technique Tuesday, DMC floss, kraft and Tsukineko ink)

To create card:
1) cut card from kraft
2) adhere patterned papers and stamp sentiment
3) embellish yellow flowers by stitching with floss and adding red crystals
4) add kraft flowers and ribbon
Card measures: 5.5" x 4.25"