Travel Journal Take 2

I have some Crafter's Companion announcements before I get started today.  The Crafter's Companion Design team has a contest going on between the designers and you can win too!  If you live in the US (sorry it's not open internationally  :(), consider becoming a follower of the CC Blog.  If you do become a follower, email Bindy (bindy@crafterscompanion.com) and say:

"Hi! I just became a follower of Crafter's Companion.  Jen (JLJ Designs sent me)."

You'll be in a drawing for a $100 gift certificate (wow, wow, wow)!  to spend at the Crafter's Companion store.  You'll be helping me because the designer with the most "referrals" gets a spending spree as well. 

Be sure to check out the Challenge Blog.  This week we're giving away Deserve a Treat from the SWALK collection.  All you need to do is leave a comment!

Yesterday's post had lots of details on how I made these travel journals.  They were so easy (and the stamps are so great), I made three!  For my cover today, I used Time in Paris.  I stamped it on Cryogen White and added Distress Ink to give it some texture.  I added white paper flowers with gem centers.

For the inside, I stamped Rose Clock on brown cardstock and colored the roses with colored pencils.  I added iridescent glitter to the clock face.

Happy Crafting!

Crafter's Companion Travel Journal

I have some Crafter's Companion announcements before I get started today.  This post is a tad long, so settle in.

The Crafter's Companion Design team has a contest going on between the designers and you can win too!  If you live in the US (sorry it's not open internationally  :(), consider becoming a follower of the CC Blog.  If you do become a follower, email Bindy (bindy@crafterscompanion.com) and say:

"Hi! I just became a follower of Crafter's Companion.  Jen (JLJ Designs sent me)."

You'll be in a drawing for a $100 gift certificate (wow, wow, wow)!  to spend at the Crafter's Companion store.  You'll be helping me because the designer with the most "referrals" gets a spending spree as well. 

Be sure to check out the Challenge Blog.  This week we're giving away Deserve a Treat from the SWALK collection.  All you need to do is leave a comment!

Now for my project.  When I saw these new Stamp It stamps, I immediately thought travel journal.  Now, I've been on a crafting spending fast this month, so I pondered how to make a travel journal using things I already had in the craft room.  I started with a 12x12 piece of heavy card stock (it was dark green, but I covered it all up).  I had some pretty purple parchment stationary from my wedding (keep in mind this was 13 years ago!) that I decided to use as the pages.  The stationary was 9" x 6.5", so I made my cardstock cover 10"x7".  After cutting the rectangle, I used my Boxer Board and Ultimate Tool to crease it down the center of the long side, making the book shape.  Then, I covered both sides of the paper with Mod Podge and torn papers from my stash.  I did this in two steps allowing one side to dry before doing the other.

Now it's time to decorate.  I stamped Destination on brown card stock and Mod Podge-ed it to the front with a paper flower behind it.  When that was dry, I added tulle, buttons, and flowers.

Here's the inside, where you can see the torn paper detail.  For the parchment pages, I stamped Compass on the first pages and used the other stamps at "random" through the book.

Here is the very inside of the book.  You can see Destination again and also Faith Birds.  It was a little tricky to get the staples in the center.  I turned the empty box that the parchment paper came in upside down and opened up my stapler so it was flat.  I put the book on the box and stapled through the pages and the box.  Then I gently pulled the book off the box and folded the pointy ends of the staple down.

I have two more journals to show you, so be sure to come back tomorrow and Wednesday!

Happy Crafting!

Craft Your Passion #95 - Beary Sweet

We're Beary Sweet this week at Craft Your Passion with Crafty Sentiments as our sponsor.  It's my last week as a guest designer.  Thank you to Jenn and Lisa for a great time!

I made two projects this week.  My first uses Mushroom Bear, but he's hidden inside.  I made a gatefold card with my Ultimate tool and used Happy Birthday paper over the center.

I thought it would be cute with the image hidden inside.  I used the same birthday paper to keep the theme inside as well.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge:

1. Sweet Stampin' - animals

For my second project, I tried something totally new.  I started with a candle card using my Ultimate tool and Boxer Board.  I kept the design really simple and added a thank you sentiment.

Then I made an Envelobox to hold my gift.  I decided this wouldn't be an Envelobox to mail, but would act more like gift wrap.  I decorated the front with Henry and Poppy from Crafty Sentiments.

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenge:

Fairy Fun Fridays #71 - anything but a card

I used this products to make my projects:

Happy Crafting!

Cupcake Inspirations 145 Sponsored by DRS Designs

It's time for another yummy challenge at Cupcake Inspirations.  This week we're sponsored by DRS Designs.

DRS Designs generously gave the CIC DT a choice of stamps and I got to play with this one - Silhouette Horse.  I stamped the horse on Cryogen White and then wrote a sentiment underneath.  I was inspired by the colors in the cake - black, white and pink are so fun together.  I added ribbon, a flower, and craft pins from my stash.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Simon Says - anything goes

2. Little Darlings #16 - polka dots

3. Secret Crafter #170 - ribbon

4. Stamp Scrap and Doodle - Anything Goes

5. Fussy and Fancy Friday - polka dots

Happy Crafting!

Australia Day Blog Hop

It's Australia Day in the Land Downunder and what better way to celebrate than bring you some NEW Australian themed Digi Stamps and offer you some inspiration with a quick blog hop!!

To celebrate, Zoe's been teaching us the language and local customs.  You'll see the language isn't very difficult to pick up : )  Here's a little history for you from Zoe: "What is Australia Day? Well in short, it's the day that the first fleet of convicts arrived in Sydney Australia (yup we are a bunch of convicts!! haha) but today we celebrate what's great about Australia with our family and friends and it usually involves a few snags on the barbie (BBQ)!"

I never need an excuse to party, so let's celebrate amongst friends from around the world and share some crafting inspiration with an Aussie Outback theme!

If you're already on the hop then you should have arrived from Jenn otherwise if you want to hop from the start head on over to say G'Day to AJ.

I got to play with these super-cute possums (they don't look like the ones we have here in the southern US).  I love the mama and baby together and they just screamed Valentine card for my mom.  Well, they didn't actually scream :-)  I colored them with Copics on Make It Colour paper.  I had a really good time practicing the fur (check out who colored the sample on the MIC site - it still astounds me that I get to color with these amazing ladies!)

Now I guess you're looking for the next mate to hop on over to??

Well before you do... Make sure you comment below for your chance to win an Australian Souvenir. Each of us will be selecting someone from our comments to receive a little Aussie Souvenir from Zoe!

PLUS Zoe is offering 20% OFF store wide at Makeitcrafty.com until the 28th January! Hurry on over (when you get through the hop of course!) to grab some bargains!!

OK OK... It's time to head on over to see my mate, Maria.

Thanks for celebrating with us!!  Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!!!

I'd like to enter this card in the Top Tip Tuesday #68 - sketch.

New contest at Crafter's Companion Blog!!

**link fixed**

Hello all! As you may know, I'm on the Crafter's Companion Design team.  We have a contest going on between the designers and you can win too.  If you live in the US (sorry it's not open internationally  :(), consider becoming a follower of the CC Blog.  If you do become a follower, email Bindy (bindy@crafterscompanion.com) and say

Hi! I just became a follower of Crafter's Companion.  Jen (JLJ Designs sent me).

You'll be in a drawing for a $100  :o gift certificate (wow, wow, wow)!  to spend at the Crafter's Companion store.  You'll be helping me because the designer with the most "referrals" gets a spending spree as well. 

Thank you for following!

Birthday Girl from Crafter's Companion

Hello all!  Before I share my project for today, I want to let you know about a great giveaway at the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog.  This week, we're giving away Babe from the Strawberry Kisses collection.  All you have to do is leave a comment on the challenge blog.  It doesn't get much easier.

I have a fun birthday card to share.  I used Birthday Girl from the Humphrey collection at Crafter's Companion.  I love these sweet elephants.  I chose red since it's Peanut's (my 4 y.o.) favorite color.  My card is 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (this is 1/2 of a sheet of letter sized paper).  I added button centers to my flowers, which I haven't done before.  I really like the effect.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
1. Friday Sketch Challenges #9 - sketch by Genevieve
2. Party Time Tuesdays #51 - Happy Birthday
3. Dream Valley #24 - animals

Happy Crafting!

Craft Your Passion #94 - Color Bingo

This week's challenge at Craft Your Passion is Color Bingo. We're sponsored this week by Limited Runs Digis.  I'm so happy to have another week as guest designer!

For my card, I chose the bottom row of the color bingo and I used Sunny Mug. I printed the image on Make It Color paper and colored it with Copics. I added fiber frames around the image and flowers in opposite corners.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Secret Crafter #169 - food and drink

Happy Crafting!

CIC #144 - Sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs

Welcome to challenge 144 at Cupcake Inspirations!  This week we're sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs.  We have fun winter cookies for inspiration this week.

Here's my card.  I went for a clean and simple design with lots of snowflake paper.  I used Girl with a Snowman.  I added sparkly buttons to finish the card.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge:

1. Fussy and Fancy - let it snow

Happy Crafting!

A Chance to Play

It's been a crazy week for me - not much time to play in the craft room or digi scrapping.  I carved out a little time today to play with my new Wryn image from Tiddly Inks.  I just love her - she reminds me of Peanut!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Tiddly Inks Challenge #78 - green, yellow, orange, blue

2. Sketch Saturday #191 - sketch - I tried to turn it upside down.

3. Crazy Challenge - tic-tac-toe - I used ribbon/image/pearls.

Here are the products I used in my card:

Happy Crafting!

Crafter's Companion - Kanji Stamps

Have you seen the giveaway at the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog?  All you have to do is leave a comment on the post to win the Art Kure Tewksbury stamp.  Easy peasy, right?  The giveaway is open to US residents.  You have until 8 pm on tonight to enter!

Here's my last gate fold card featuring the Kanji stamps from Crafter's Companion. I made the cards using the Ultimate tool, which made making the gate fold incredibly easy. I love the calming blues on this card. For the front, I used a "Thankfulness" stamp.

For the inside, I stamped fans on vellum and used them on each side. I added some vellum in the center to write a message.


Happy Crafting!

Crafter's Companion - Kanji Stamps

Have you seen the giveaway at the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog?  All you have to do is leave a comment on the post to win the Art Kure Tewksbury stamp.  Easy peasy, right?  The giveaway is open to US residents.  You have until 8 pm on Thursday to enter!

Here's my third gate fold card featuring the Kanji stamps from Crafter's Companion. I made the cards using the Ultimate tool, which made making the gate fold incredibly easy. For this card, I just decorated the front with a Happy Birthday sentiment.

Happy Crafting!

Crafter's Companion - Kanji Stamps

Have you seen the giveaway at the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog?  All you have to do is leave a comment on the post to win the Art Kure Tewksbury stamp.  Easy peasy, right?  The giveaway is open to US residents.  You have until 8 pm on Thursday to enter!

Here's my second gate fold card featuring the Kanji stamps from Crafter's Companion. I made the cards using the Ultimate tool, which made making the gate fold incredibly easy. For this card, I used two of the flower stamps on the front.

I decorated the inside with "Friendship."


Happy Crafting!

Crafter's Companion - Kanji Stamps

Crafter's Companion has new Kanji stamps this week. I thought it would be fun to use these stamps on gate fold cards (I made 4 different cards that I'll be posting this week), which were super-easy to make using the Ultimate tool. I usually avoid these types of cards because it's difficult to match the fold, but the Ultimate tool matched everything up easily. I covered my cardstock base in Asian-inspired papers. I stamped the Kanji background onto vellum and then mounted it on patterned paper. I attached it to one side of the gate gold card.

I decorated the inside the same way. Hubby is always looking for "flat" thank you cards. He means ones without a lot of embellishments. I added a stamped "Thanks" to the inside of the card. With the patterned papers and stamped images, I don't think this card needs anything else, so I'm happy and hubby is happy.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge

1. Divas by Design #18 - new beginnings and/or thanks

Happy Crafting!

Craft Your Passion #93 - In the Bag/Box

This week's challenge at Craft Your Passion is In the Bag/Box. Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps. When you're guest designing and you'd like to make a good impression, it's good idea to read the directions! Turns out, the challenge was to MAKE a bag or box. I decorated a bag for my project, and then looked more closely at what I was supposed to do. So I made a box using my Ultimate tool - super easy, by the way! I thought I'd go ahead and share both of them with you.

I'm going to share the project that I should have made for the challenge first. I made the box using my Ultimate tool. This was my first box with the tool and it was super easy. I made it out of two pieces of 12x12 cardstock - minimal cutting and NO measuring! I printed the Scene It Ava Deacon Birthday image on Make It Colour paper and colored it with Spectrum Noir markers. Here's the top:

Here's the front:

I'd like to enter the box in the following challenges:

1. C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #137 - celebrations

2. Sweet stampin challenge - all that glitters
3. The Crafty Pad #153 - glitter and gems

Now for the project I did first, which would not qualify for the challenge.  I've been really enjoying decorating plain white gift bags (dollar store 2 for $1) and turning them into something special. I used the same image as for the box. I printed the image on Make It Colour paper and colored it with Copics. Then, I let loose with the Stickles. I think a birthday bag needs lots of sparkle. I added a sentiment and some embellies to finish it.

I'd like to enter this bag in the following challenges:

1. Whimsy Inspirations #21 - happy birthday
2. Charisma #1 - Happy birthday
3. Card Crafter's Circle #5 - happy birthday
4. Sentimental Sundays #85 - ribbon
5. ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday

Here are the products I used:

Happy Crafting!

New Magnolia Cards

Please scroll down for my Cupcake Inspirations card.

I finally got to play last night with my Sweet Crazy Love Magnolia kit.  It arrived shortly before the holidays, but I didn't have time to play.  For my first card, I used Tilda with Cozy Heart.  I colored her in black and white.  I hadn't tried doing skin in black and white before and I really like the way it turned out. I used iridescent sparkles for the heart.  I dug some papers and black grosgrain ribbon out of my stash and included a pop of red.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Magnolia Down Under #129 - black and white image

2. Sketch Saturday #190 - sketch

3. 7 Kids #38 - try something new - I tried coloring skin with greys.

4. Crafty Creations #152 - something new

5. Let's Ink It Up #19 - anything goes

6. Really Reasonable Ribbon #40 - Valentine's Day

7. One Crazy Stamper - red, white and one other color - I chose black

I went totally the opposite direction for this card - pink all over the place.  I used Tilda loves flowers.  I think I may have gone a little overboard with the flowers on my card...I really need to work on the elegant floral arrangements I see on other cards.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. TOMIC #32 - monochromatic pink + bow
2. Magnolia-licious Highlights - anything goes
3. Just Magnolia #139 - sketch
4. DYSU #54 - pink
5. Paper Sundaes Second Birthday - I love challenge #56 pick your sundae toppings.  I love pink and flowers!
6. Stamp and Create - anything goes

I used the following products for these cards:

Happy Crafting!

Cupcake Inspirations #143 - Sponsored by Amber Ink

It's time for another yummy challenge at Cupcake Inspirations.  We're sponsored this week by Amber Ink.

I was totally inspired by the chocolate-y goodness of this cupcake and I went with a chocolate card.  I got the Sweet Crazy Love Magnolia stamp kit before Christmas, but I haven't had a chance to play.  I finally got a few inked up tonight and you'll see them over the next few days.  I used Edwin with Heart to make my chocolate card.  I made the heart red glitter to make it stand out.  I went with a simple design that was inspired by a card Delphine sent me for Christmas.

Here are the products I used for my card:

Happy Crafting!