Black, White & Red "Happy Birthday" Card -- Caardvarks "Lacy Days" Challenge & Polka Doodles Week 12 Challenge Entries!

Hello again! My Mom needed a birthday card for an old friend and I needed a card to enter in both the Caardvarks "Lacy Days" Challenge and Polka Doodles' Week 12 Challenge! I think it worked out very well if you ask me (smile) and brings my Spring Self Challenge Project count up to #28 of 30! :) If you'd like to see the other projects I created for my Spring Self Challenge, check out the label "Spring Self Challenge" listed in my sidebar.

On to the Challenges and the Project! The Caardvarks Challenge required us to use lace on a *new* stamped project. Not only is this a new creation, I used a brand new butterfly stamp too! :) The Polka Doodles Week 12 Challenge was to create a project based on the following sketch...

Ahh, but there is a catch! We were only to use Black and White and ONE other color! One of my all time fave color combos is Black & Red so I threw in the White and was all set to go! Here's what I came up with...

I used my Cuttlebug Flowery Embossing Folder in my new Sizzix Texture Boutique (LOVE IT btw!!) on the black background and paired it with a bright red mat. I stamped my butterfly using White Pearl Pigment Ink and brushed Perfect Pearls in "Perfect Pearl" over it to add a pearly white finish. I cut out the white oval using and embossed it with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder for another texture. I stamped my "Happy Birthday" Sentiment using Black Pigment Ink and Distressed the edges with the same ink. I distressed the edges of the red mat and popped them together.

I added some White Pearl stickles to the edges of the butterfly oval and drew in the dotted border with a white opaque pen. I added ribbon this great B&W polka dotted ribbon along with some pretty red lace to the base of my card and then began assembling!

I added some mini black pearls to the corners of my sentiment and layered pretty red and red printed flowers to create my three smaller objects alont the side of my butterfly oval. I used plain black brads on two of the flower clusters and a B&W Flower brad on the middle flower.Lastly, I popped everything up using pop dots and added my little B&W polka dotted bow with a glue dot. I tied a little red button with White linen thread to the middle of my polka dotted bow. Too cute! Once everything was assembled my card was finished! I left the inside blank (weird for me, I know!) so my Mom can choose what she wants inside (ie: blank, poem, etc.). This card was fun and easy to create so I'm thinking I will be using this card as a template for future creations!

Ok, so let's double check the challenge requirements...

Caardvarks

1. Use lace on your card, Check!
2. Create a *new* stamped card, Check!

Polka Doodles

1. Use the sketch, Check!
2. Use Black, White and ONE other color, Check!

Seems like I covered all my bases! Time to do a little "Easter Bunny-ing" and a little baking before bed! Hope you all have a great Easter and are fortunate enough to spend some time with your family and/or friends.

Thanks for looking!

*Hugs, JennRo*

"Egg Hunt" Happy Easter Card -- Doodle Dragon Studios Challenge #6 Entry!

Hello all! I hope you're having a great weekend! It is nice and sunny here in Connecticut so that is automatically makes it a great weekend on my end! :) Project # 27 of 30 of my Spring Creation Self Challenge is a cute Easter card using a Dustin Pike image. Have you seen Dustin's blogs? He creates the cutest images and sometimes even gives them away FREE!! Check his blogs out...Dustin Pike and Doodle Dragon Studios Challenge Blog . I used his Easter Bunny freebie image to create my entry over on the Doodle Dragon Studios Challenge Blog. The requirements for entry were to create an Easter project using one of Dustin's images. Almost too good to be true! I had SOOO much fun with my entry, so without further delay...This is what I whipped up!

Isn't Dustin Pike's Bunny Digi Stamp SOOO cute???!!! He looked like a bunny on a mission so I paired him up with the "egg hunt" stamp. I decided to make my bunny a "chocolate bunny" (my favorite!! lol) Once my bunny was colored I added pale pink glitter dust to his ears, nose and belly. I added diamond stickles to his eyes and his eggs and pink stickles to the outside of the white circle. When the stickles finished drying I added Glossy Accents to the eggs and grass for more detail. (You can see the glitter and gloss better in the next picture.) I also flocked his tail with Beary Brown Stampin' Up Flock. I wish you could see it better in these pictures, but my camera isn't great at close up shots. :(

After all my Bunny pieces were dry, I assembled my pieces using adhesive and Pop dots for dimension. You know I loooove my pop dots! ;) I found this FAB "Hoppy Easter" paper in my stash and better yet it was two sided with this cute pink/white egg paper, so I decided it was meant to be and put the two together. I used the MS scallop border punch on both the card base and the pink/egg paper and used my white opaque pen to draw the white dots on the scallops. I tied my little dark pink satin bow, lilac button and a dark pink smaller button, all together with some thin white twine.

I assembled my entire card and added medium sized pastel green pearls to the bottom of the "bounce" lines for added detail. Can you see all my lovely dimension in the picture above?? LOVE it! I doubled and tripled up on my pop dots! Actually, I ran out of pop dots while assembling and since I had a "one day only" coupon for today at M's I decided I'd run down to restock and get a few other things of course! ;)

I like to finish the inside of my cards too so that they are ready to go when I need them (like, tomorrow for this one! lol) I stamped the frilly frame and then the sentiment. "Happy Easter" is from that cute little "Pure Innocence" stamp set I've used a lot lately. I added some tiny crystals to the swirly points in the frame and 3 pale blue pearls to the middle of the sentiment. A close up pic is below...

I hope you liked this creation as it was really fun to create! I love working with Dustin's images and I can't help but have fun when I'm using his images!

*Hugs, JennRo*

Sweet Stampin Challenge #20 & Spring Creation Self Challenge Project #26!

I can't believe I have finished project #26 of my 30 project goal!! It's only April 1st! What will I do from now until July?? LOL I will have to up my goal I think! I have entered this card in Sweet Stampin Challenge #20 which is titled "A Man's World" and our only requirement was to make a card suitable for a man. Have you checked out the Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog yet?? It's a must, if you love stamping and Stampin' Up products!

This was a FUN card to create! I made it for my LOVELY Chiropractor, Dr. Langone, for his birthday. He has helped me feel soooo much better in such a short period of time! Finally feeling some relief all because I put faith in him to help me heal. AMAZING!

I had fun using "Glossy Accents" to create my "gooey" frosting look! I followed a sketch by Polka Doodles for their Week 12 Challenge, however I didn't read my challenge paperwork very carefully (we'll blame it on the FibroFog!) because I completely forgot we were only supposed to use Black and White along with ONE other color...OOPS! So, the sketch is from Polka Doodles, but I will be making another creation so that actually follows the rules! Oh well! One more project to look forward to! :) This cute little cupcake digital stamp is from Regina's FAB store The Cutting Cafe! I was lucky enough to win this set from a Bitten By The Bug challenge a while ago! I love this digital set, so if you haven't checked out her store it is a MUST! The cupcake is so cute on it's own but I jazzed it up with some folded vellum to look like a real wrapper and popped up a second cupcake for a more dimensional look. I cut the balloons (outside and inside) from teh Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge. I added glossy accents to the balloons for the front of the card and left the inside balloons "glossy-less". I really had fun with this project. Hope you like it and don't forget to leave some love!

*Hugs, JennRo*

Peggy Loves Vintage, Sketch Saturday #96 & Spring Creation Self Challenge Project #25!

WOW! Quite a whirlwind few days here on the homefront. Thankfully the sun was shining beautifully after so many days filled with rain. For me, rain equals more pain so I'm always thankful when the sun is out! :) I combined two challenges in this project. Over at PEGGY LOVES VINTAGE, the challenge was to create something with the following image:

The SKETCH SATURDAY challenge this week was to follow this sketch:

SO, combine the two and this is what I came up with!

--Project #25 of 30--"Easter Blessings" Card--

I used some FAB cardstock from Little Yellow Bicycle and some other papers from my stash! I stamped the sheet music onto beige cardstock to compliment the music in the bunny's hands. I used my new Sizzix Embosser to emboss the pink cardstock for added texture. I inked everything (including the dotted texture!) with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stamped my sentiment with the same ink. I used Diamond Glitter Stickles on the bunny image and also on the "frame" of the sentiment. I distressed the small blue circle with Tim Holtz's Paper Distress tool to give it an older look. Once everything was dry I assembled and POP'd everything up using pop dots! LOVE my dimensions!! :) A pretty pale pink satin ribbon to top it off and there ya have it! Hope you enjoy it! :)(Side View -- Can you see all that dimension??!! LOVE it!)

(Sentiment Close-Up)

Happy almost weekend! I hope it's sunny, sunny where you are! :)

Spring Creation Self Challenge Project #24!

How's everyone tonight? Hope your weekend went well! I had a good weekend myself. It started off with spending the evening being crafty with friends at my local Michael's store! Then I enjoyed the company of my family all weekend for Saturday night dinner with my sisters & Mom and then again tonight I spent the evening with my family celebrating my great-nephew's 5th birthday! (He LOVED his Cars "Gear Up" birthday card btw! If you missed the post you can check it out here!) I'm exhausted and pretty sore but I turned my craft room light off for the night (after dinner w/ the fam!) and watched some Sunday night TV! Before we went out to dinner tonight I finished up a Spring card I was working on this weekend. I was having an issue with my stamping ink. :( BUT...here it is!

Do you recognize this cute little girl?? You should from last night's post! Yes, it is the same little girl holding a basket full of Easter eggs! This time around I thought, how fun would it be if I switched up the eggs for flowers and made a spring card instead!? :) Hope you enjoy it!

(Side View)

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out my BLOG CANDY here!!!

~Hugs, JennRo~

Spring Creation Self Challenge Projects #16-23!

Good Evening! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I am posting some quick pics of Projects #16-23. Not much explaining tonight as I'm exhausted after being up half the night last night! Ahhh, what we do in the name of crafting! lol I hope you enjoy these creations!

--Project #16 of 30-- Small Paper Easter Basket--

Don't ya just love that little girl stamp?? She is sooo cute! I made a few different cards with her and am actually still using her in a few projects I'm currently working on! She's from "Pure Innocence". LOVE her! :)

--Project #17 of 30-- Pebble Magnet--

So I saw these cute little pebble magnets at a craft show one weekend and thought "I can make those!" Honestly, I wasn't sure how to do it but I figured it out and here is my first pebble magnet! They would make good paper weights or even thumbtacks!

--Project #18 of 30-- Cemetery Vase #1--

It is officially Spring here in Connecticut (though it certainly hasn't felt like it the last two days!) and until I can plant real flowers, I thought it would be nice to create Easter bouquets for my Father and Grandparents grave sites.

--Project #19 of 30 -- Cemetery Vase #2--

Easter Bouquet for my Grandparents.

--Project #20 of 30 -- Gear Up For A Happy Birthday Envelope--

About a week ago I created a "Gear Up For A Happy Birthday" Card for my Great-Nephew who will be turning 5 on Wednesday. Today I wrapped gifts (we're celebrating tomorrow) and realized I needed an envie for his card! Of course, I didn't have any that actually fit his card, so I had to make it! My first envie making (from scratch) experience! Not too bad if I do say so myself! :)

--Project #21 of 30 -- "Happy Easter" Blue/White Card--

I completed this card in Card Club at The Inspiration Station! So quick and easy, LOVE that! :)

--Project #22 of 30 -- "Happy Easter" Pink Ribbon Card--
I completed this card in Card Club at The Inspiration Station!

--Project #23 of 30 -- "Happy Easter" Yellow Polka Dotted Card--

I completed this card in Card Club at The Inspiration Station!

(Close up of the grass! It's a punch!!!! :) )

PHEW! That was a lot of creating! I hope you enjoyed what you saw today! Don't forget to sign up for my BLOG CANDY HERE!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Hugs, JennRo~

Polka Doodles Week #11 Challenge, Simon Says Stamp Distressing Challenge & Project #15 Spring Creation Self Challenge!

Hello All! The challenge this past week over on the Polka Doodles Challenge Blog was to create a card using this sketch as a base (four interlocking shapes). Easy right? The twist was that we were only allowed to use the Brown/Blue color combo! This proved to be a little challenging for me, as I had a hard time finding monochromatic blues and browns...but in the end, I was able to pull it together!

I've also entered this card in the "Distressing" challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog. We were asked to create a project using Distressing products; preferably Tim Holtz products. I'm pretty sure this project fits the call for distressing! I would love to try the glimmer mists because the Simon Says DT did AMAZING projects. You really need to check them out! Such talented ladies!

I created a "Happy Birthday" card using the rules of the challenges, for my Sister. Now, this would have been a great time to make a "masculine" birthday card but with a family as big as mine (and we're almost ALL ladies!) there is very rarely a time when I do NOT need a birthday card! lol Since her birthday is tomorrow (yikes!) I thought maybe I should get on it! lol Firstly, I cut my papers to the sizes I wanted and then distressed the edges of my all blue paper using the Tim Holtz Paper Distressing Tool. Once that was finished (and my dust blown away! lol) I stamped the "Happy Birthday" image. The stamp I used was something I had in my stash from many, many years ago by Stampendous. I used Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo Distress Ink for my stamp as well as to distress the edges of just about everything! After stamping the image I lightly brushed Perfect Pearls by Ranger in "Perfect Pearl" (how about that?! lol) over the image and around the edges of the blue paper to add a metallic-y shine to my sentiment. I added the small brads (I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was when I found these at Joann Fabrics this week!!! They're brown/blue!!! lol), to three corners.
I created my giant flower using my Cricut and the George & Basic Shapes cartridge (Flower2). I cut the flower in varying sizes (1.5in-4in) and papers. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink on each of the flowers (Even the all brown one! The paper had a white core!), layered them, stuck the "Enjoy" brad through the middle and attached it to the brown polka dotted background paper. I adhered my background paper to my card and began to curl my flower into shape! I used a round pencil to help curl the petals as my fingers were just not that nimble tonight! After my constructing my flower I dusted the edges with the Perfect Pearls in "Perfect Pearl" to give it an extra sparkle or two!

After my flower was finished, I finished constructing the rest of my card. I added the Blue/Brown polka dotted strips flat on the background paper and used pop dots to adhere my "Happy Birthday" sentiment. I like my dimensions! :)

This picture (below) shows the "Perfect Pearls" in action! I wish the camera took a better image of it, but if you've used it yourself than you know how beautiful this Ranger product can make things! If you haven't used it...TRY IT! I love it!After I finished "constructing" my card, I added some "Ice" Luster baubles to some of the polka dots on the strips and then decided to add a few to my flower too! I put them on the brown polka dots (the baubles are clear) so they would appear to be brown. I bought brown pearls to add to the card and have NO idea where they ran off to! I had them in my hand earlier tonight and when I went to look for them they are nowhere to be found! :( Oh well, I think my Lusters ended up being enough!

I am not one to leave the inside of my cards blank. To me, the card feels unfinished if the inside is decoration-less! So, for the inside of this card I distressed the edges of the card and the blue card stock with Vintage Photo, rounded my corners on the blue paper, cut three more flowers, distressed the edges with Vintage Photo, stuck them together with a mini-brad and adhered the blue paper to the card. I did curl this flower's petals a smidge just so it didn't seem so flat compared to the flower on the front, but because the card needs to close (really? lol) I couldn't curl too much. I wrote in my message and TA-DAAAA! Finished product! (Big smile!)

Tip: I added glue dots to my flowers as I have to mail this card (how???!!! I don't know!!). This is not necessary but I wanted to make sure those layers didn't budge during transit!

I had fun creating this card, I just hope it gets to South Carolina in one (not too schmooshed!) piece! Since her birthday is Sunday, I'm thinking it'll be a little late! Whoops! ;)

Have you entered to WIN my BLOG CANDY yet?? There is still time!! Check that post out here! Good luck and thanks for visiting my blog!

~Hugs, JennRo~

Spring Creation Self Challenge Projects #4-7!

WOW! I've been awfully busy the last few days! I have been creating up a storm! I have a little bit of everything for you tonight (or maybe I should say, "this morning"...I really need to go to bed!! lol) My wonderful friend, Aleana, took these pictures today for me! My camera was just NOT cutting it! Hop on over to her website to see her AMAZING work!

-- Project #4 of 30 -- "Miss You" Metallic Butterfly Card --

This card is a design of The Inspiration Station where I took a "Quick & Easy" Card making class the other day! LOVED it! Really, they are all quick and easy! :D I took the class for this card. I knew as soon as I saw it on their website who I was sending it to! The "Miss You" sentiment is a stamp from my own collection as they didn't have a "miss you" stamp there to use. This was my very first "ink job" (smile) using Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. It turned out a little darker than I would have liked but it was a learning experience! I wish you could see how beautiful this butterfly is in "real" life! We used "Perfect Pearls" Pigment Powder (another first for me!) and I LOVED it! I can't wait to stock up! :)

This picture shows the dimension and a close up of the Pearls! Love those too! :)

-- Project #5 of 30 -- Flowery Stamped Note card --

Another Inspiration Station Design. What a beautifully simple card to construct! Would you believe there are THREE different stamps on this card?? Stunning! I have wanted the lacy punch for quite some time and I think I'm putting it on my wish list for this weekend finally!Showing a side view of the dimensions again! LOVE my pop dots!! (And my pearlies too!!)

-- Project #6 of 30 -- "Thinking of You" Butterfly Card --

This card was SO, SO, SO easy to make! We stamped the background image twice; once on the card and once on a white piece of card stock. Colored in the white card stock buggies with our choice of coloring utensils (I used pencils, as my Copic class isn't until next month!), cut the buggies out and pop dotted them right over top of there counterparts on the card! Added some blueish pearlies (smile) and ribbon and VIOLA! Finished Product!! Oh, we also distressed the edges with Vintage Photo ink. Definitely got the hang of it now! :)Close Up of my handywork! :)Lastly, a close up of the Dimensions and Sentiment w/ BLING! :)

-- Project #7 of 30 -- "Oh Happy Day" Squirrel Card --

This last card designed by Inspiration Station was a little more tedious as there was inking, actual paper distressing and coloring to be done! Not to mention wrapping the twine and making sure to have enough left over to tie the button on! lol ;) "oh happy day" is a stamp with the dots added in with a black fine tip marker. The squirrel (Isn't he soo cute!!??) and the logs are stamped and the "bounce" line is hand drawn with a black fine tip marker. REALLY like this card!

Well, those are the card creations for the last day or so...stay tuned for another post featuring some jewelry creations! Which card was your favorite? *Hugs*