Saturdays with The Alley Way Stamps

Hey peeps!  It's Saturday and that means another pair of cards made with the new The Alley Way Stamps:)  Today I have a couple of colorful cards to share.  They both have lots of yummy color, but are at opposite ends of the design spectrum.  The first card was made with No Peeking and Petal Pushers.  I heat embossed the gingerbread men with white embossing powder and then blended on different distress inks.  Finished off each little man off with some enamel dots.  So cute!

My second card has a lot of color too, but a totally different feel!  I heat embossed the vine stamp from Petal Pushers in clear.  Then I used different colors of distress inks as watercolor paints.  (Just put a bit of the color onto a craft sheet, add in a bit of water, and paint the color on with a small paint brush)  This is not my usual style, so I was treading in new waters here!  But in the end, I thought the result had a really sweet organic quality which is what I was hoping for!  

Thanks so much for checking in today!  Don't forget to drop in to the The Alley Ways Stamps blog!  They're always hosting all kinds of fun over there!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle: The AEI♥U Challenge!

Fun news people!  Avery Elle is now hosting a new challenge!  Not only can you win stamps, but you'll also be featured as a guest designer during the next release!  So get yourselves on over to the Avery Elle blog for details!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Color Challenge #1

Some fun news today!  Mama Elephant is starting up a new color challenge!  The first challenge runs from December 17th to December 30th with the winners being announced on December 31st.  And get this, there are 2 prizes!  One winner will be chosen at random for a store gift certificate.  Another person will be chosen as a guest designer for an upcoming Mama Elephant release!  How cool is that?  To play, just link up a card on the ME blog using the colors above (sorbet/tomato, aqua, white, and glitter) and Mama Elephant stamps.  {If you don't have any, just pick up the digi stamp over at the Mama Elephant blog}

For this challenge, I pulled out the We Click set.  I love that little camera:)  To dress up the camera I stamped some coral and aqua papers with stamps from Basic Borders (see the stripes in the coral and dots in the aqua).  

The bit of glitter comes from a piece of silver glitter foam that I used for my "flash".  The camera strap is pieces of embroidery thread braided.  I pulled the hearts from On Target and Midnight Letters:) 

This card was so much fun to make!  I hope you play along with the ME Color Challenge too:)  The challenge runs 2 weeks, so you have lots of time!  Can't wait to see what you all create!!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Saturday with the The Alley Way Stamps ~ CAS Flowers

Hi guys!  It's Saturday and that means another pair of cards with The Alley Way Stamps:)  Apparently I was in a very CAS mood when I made both of these cards, a flowery CAS mood:)  My first card today features stamps from Petal Pushers.  The flower is heat embossed in clear and ink is blended over it.  The flowers are all various sizes, but they are all cut from the same original stamp.  Underneath I added a vellum vase with stems drawn with a copic.  

My second card is a holiday poinsettia card stamped with snowflakes from the bonus Holiday Sparkles set.  After die cutting the flower shape, I heat embossed the snowflakes and then blended red ink over it.  For natural items like flowers, leaves, sky backgrounds, I prefer to use a blended ink for color rather than use solid cardstock.  The color has more depth and seem more natural.  

I bent the petals a bit so that they lift off the card.  Finally, a little bit of bling (okay, a lot!) and a sentiment!  So easy!

As always, I thank you so much for stopping by!  And go check out the The Alley Ways Stamps blog!  Those gals are always up to something fun!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

2013 Hero Arts Catalog Blog Hop

Hi guys!  I'm so excited today because I get to be a part of the Hero Arts 2013 Catalog Blog Hop!  The 2013 Hero Arts Catalog makes its debut appearance today and to celebrate, we're hopping with the new goodies!  There's all kinds of festivities planned online and in stores, so check out the Hero Arts website for details! 

Now on to the good stuff, the stamps!  For my first card, I used the new set Clear Hexagons.  Such a fun mix of solid, patterned, and sentiment hexagons!  I chose a "bubbly" hexagon and heat embossed it in white onto vellum.  To color each hexagon, I masked off the edges and blended the *backs* of the each hexagon (the non-embossed side) with different color inks.  By blending the inks on the back side, the embossing stays nice and crisp.  I used a little clear foam (Kooltak, if you're wondering:) to attach each hexagon to my card base and finished it off with a great sentiment from the Many Birthday Messages set.  

My next card uses the new Tape Your Message set!  And when they say tape, I mean washi, of course!  This set includes a variety of washi tape stamps but I chose to work with the little tag stamp in the set.    

This little card is hiding a colorful secret!  It's a magic slider!  Just pull on the tab, and here comes the color!  This card just makes me happy, happy, happy!  I love the neon pink next to the mint green with just a little bit of sunny yellow.  {BTW, the fabulous flair is from the equally fabulous Bossy Joscie} The card base is stamped in Hero Arts Neon Pink with the Looped Flower stamp (love that this stamp will cover a card in one press:) 

If you're looking to try this technique on your own (and you SHOULD!), check out the fabulous Amy Wanford's site  or search "magic slider card" for directions.  Fun stuff!  

I couldn't resist making one more card with my Hero Arts goodies!  A rainbow holiday card!  This year, I seem to be all about the non-traditional holiday cards.  I started by heat embossing a piece of cardstock with this awesome "snowy" background stamp (ETA, the name of this stamp is Tiny Ink Spots) and blended inks over it.  I was going for an Aurora Borealis look.  Can you see it?  The sentiment is heat embossed in white onto a piece of vellum.  {The sentiment is one of my favorites and is from the set Joy to All.}  I just love how groovy (yes, I'm old;) and festive it turned out!   

That's it for me today!  Thanks so much Hero Arts for inviting me to play along:)  I really can't believe that I'm hopping with these unbelievably fantastic designers!  Somebody pinch me:)

Next stop on the hop is the wildly talented and fun Julie Ebersole!!  You know she's going to have something amazing to share:)  

Remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the Hero Arts Blog for a list of direct links to all the blogs in the hop!  You won't want to miss a stop!  Don't forget to leave some comments as you hop through.  Hero Arts is giving away several prize packs to random winners chosen from all the blog hop comments left by Monday, December 17th (midnight PST).  Thank you so much for stopping by!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Links to Hero Arts Stamps & Product used:

Hexagons (new)
Many Birthday Messages
Tape Your Message (new)
Looped Flower (new)
Tiny Ink Spots (new)
Joy to All 
Neon Pink Ink
Neon Yellow Ink

Becky and Melanie's Holiday Hop

Happy Holiday Hop!  Becky and Melanie thought it would be great fun to team up for a little Holiday Hop today.  We are showcasing Becky's new set, Warm Woolen Mittens along with Becky's new cut file Grand Banners and Grand Banners - Winter Sentiments and Melanie's new set, Lots of Letters today.  Joining us are some dynamic designers that will knock your socks off with their beautiful work!  Make sure you visit everyone's blog to leave a comment and be entered to win a clear I do! and Beyond Baskets stamp set!  Now onto today's projects!

My project is a banner made with Becky's cut file of  a banner pennant in the shield design (the cut file also includes a triangle pennant).  I stamped each flag with one of the fabulous background stamps from Warm Woolen Mittens and added my die cut letters over it.  I seem to be in a non-traditional color mood this year, so I used a cherry red and bright blue:) 

Here's a closer look at the fun nordic patterned background stamp!  To hang up my banner, I made two little mittens on clothespins:)  So cute!  I love that the pattern on the wrist of the mittens matches the background stamp.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and have fun visiting all the stops in the hop!  And I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!

Melanie Muenchinger (Illustrator of Lot of Letters)

Becky Oehlers (Illustrator of Warm Woolen Mittens)  

Beate Johns

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Laurie Schmidlin

Latisha Yoast

Michelle Woerner

Richard Breaks

Vera Yates

Tosh Leyendekker

Mahalo and aloha,
jj

Saturday with The Alley Way Stamps

Hi everyone!  I have another pair of cards made with the new The Alley Way Stamps:)  My first card today features stamps from Petal Pushers and Trees Company.  I was trying to achieve a look similar to the bokeh effect in photography.  {Bokeh refers to a photography technique where the lights in the background are out of focus and look like glowing orbs.  Take a look at these pics on Google for examples.}  To get a more layered look, I did some generational stamping (stamping off and restamping) as well as light pressure stamping.  Fun and easy!

This second card is something totally different!  I used stamps from the holiday set No Peeking to make a Santa going down the chimney:)  

Going, going, gone!  The chimney was embossed with an distressed brick embossing folder.

Here's a picture of the back side of the Santa to show you how the moving Santa was put together.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And go check out the The Alley Ways Stamps blog!  They're always hosting all kinds of fun over there!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle December Release ~ Group Post Day!

Are you ready?  It's Avery Elle RELEASE and GROUP POST day!  That means all the December sets are available for purchase on the Avery Elle site and each team member is showcasing their remaining projects:)  For me, that means I'm posting my Fun With Letters projects!  Before I jump into my cards, let's recap all the yummy stuff highlighted this week!

Lots of Love

Fun With Letters

Knotty

All Occasion Tags

I had so much fun making this card!  As I was looking at the grid pattern stamp from the Fun With Letters set, I thought that it would make a fantastic frame!  So I gathered up all kinds of bits and baubles and just started playing.  

The final mix are a made from buttons, twine, enamel dots, and gems.  I even managed to sneak in some patterned paper on this card too!   

For the next card, I used the grid stamp as a frame again, but this time I used the tiny heart stamp from the Framed Fonts set!  Dressed it up with a little ribbon and a veneer word and that was it:)

Thank you so much for stopping by all week long!  Your kindness is amazing!  I hope you click on over to see the fantastic projects Jamie, Kasia, Heather, and Chunyuan have for you today!

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

Kasia Curry

Heather Campbell

Chunyuan Wu

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies:

Fun With Letters stamp set 

Framed Fonts stamp set  

Ultra Pure Smooth White card stock

Aquamarine card stock