Skipping Stones Designs New Release ~ Victorian Christmas

Happy Monday everyone!  I'm so excited to be playing along one more time with the wonderful Skipping Stones Designs DT.  This time I'm sharing a card using the newest newest Skipping Stones Designs set, Victorian Christmas! 

The Victorian Christmas set is full of lovely wintery images (think ornate flourishes), but I was especially taken with this beautiful tree image.  I clear embossed it onto pure white card stock then blended different shades of blue ink over it.  The tree design is full of swirls and circles that are perfect for embellishing.  I chose to use clear gems, but pearls, Stickles, or a glitter pen would be wonderful too!   

For the sentiment, I created a curved 3D folded banner with my Silhouette.  For a little more sparkle, I covered parts of the back of the banner (just the parts that show) with silvery glitter.  Click here to download the Silhouette studio file for the banner. 

I hope you pop on over to the Skipping Stones Designs Blog to see the fantastic SSD DT Victorian Christmas projects.  My buddy Miriam  is also playing along, so don't forget to stop over at her blog too!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant November Release Day!!

Today's release day!  For full reveals of all of the new sets, go to the Mama Elephant blog!  All 4 sets will be available to purchase at 9 pm EST tonight in the Mama Elephant store!!  

Don't forget that you have until this evening to get a chance to win a $40 gift certificate!  Details on the Mama Elephant blog!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight ~ Cup of Wishes

Hi everyone!  Today is the last day of highlights before the November Mama Elephant release goes up on the website!  The set for today is called Cup of Wishes!  As the name implies, this set is full of tea (or coffee:) cup images plus a bunch of other little detail stamps.  You will love it!  If you saw the sneak peeks of this set, you've already seen this sentiment:)  It is meant to go with the teacups in the set, but I thought I'd pair it up with a die cut cozy cabin!  

I used my Silhouette for this one, but you could use any die cut house with a chimney:)  Behind the window I put a little piece of cardstock blended with orange and yellow.  Can't you just picture the cozy fire inside?

If you'd like to try this card out yourself, you can pick up this Silhouette file here.  

Before I go, I want to share a little teacup tag!  For this tag, I stamped the teacup onto patterned paper (can you believe it?) and fussy cut it out.  The wafts of steam behind the cup are from the same sentiment stamp I used above only masked this time.  The sentiment is from a set we highlighted earlier this week, No Peeking.  As a final touch, I die cut a spoon in gold foil paper and debossed it with a flourishy impression plate to give it a engraved look.  The handle of the spoon is slipped through a little cut in the top of the cup as if it was in the tea itself.  

I hope you've found some inspiration this week!  THANK YOU so much for stopping by!  Tomorrow we will be highlighting the last of the November release!  Go check out the rest of the Mama Elephant gals to see their wonderful On Target projects!

Mama Elephant Blog

Alice Wertz

Mariana Grigsby

Pearl Lui

Savannah O'Gwynn

Don't forget to leave comments on the ME blog and the DT's blogs to enter your name into the drawing for a free set!  One winner will be randomly chosen from all the blogs:)  {All the new sets will be available for purchase on November 15th}  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight: On Target

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today we're highlighting the Mama Elephant set, On Target!  This set is chock full of fun arrow and chevron images!  For my first card, I paired a couple of those arrow images with the XOXO stamp from We Click!   Love the graphic, bold look with the minimal sentiment:) 

For my next card, I used gold heat embossing to highlight the chevron border and arrow.  I love the embossed gold look even if it didn't turn out so well in pics:)

Hope you enjoyed the cards today!  As always, thank you so much for stopping by!  Tomorrow we will be highlighting the last of the November release!  Go check out the rest of the Mama Elephant gals to see their wonderful On Target projects!

Mama Elephant Blog

Alice Wertz

Cheiron Brandon

Mariana Grigsby

Pearl Lui

Savannah O'Gwynn

Don't forget to leave comments on the ME blog and the DT's blogs to enter your name into the drawing for a free set!  One winner will be randomly chosen from all the blogs:)  {All the new sets will be available for purchase on November 15th}  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Show Me the Stamps Holiday Kick Off ~ Becky Oehlers Stamps

Welcome to the Show Me the Stamps Holiday Kick Off!  For this month's hop, several of the Gina K Designs illustrators have brought together their design teams and guests.  Each illustrator's design group has fun and exciting things to share using their stamps!  

You might have noticed that I said "Holiday Kick Off" instead of just blog hop.  That's because this month is special!  As you may know, we don't always have a prize each month, but this month we do!  The Gina K illustrators want to help you celebrate the holidays in style with some Gina K stamps!  For this month's hop, we will be giving away a $50 gift certificate to the Gina K Designs store!  All you have to do is leave a comment on each of the illustrators' blogs.  For an extra entry, become a blog follower at any of the illustrators and leave a comment letting them know you did.  That's up to 8 chances to win!  

If you've jumped into this hop midway, please start back at Becky Oehler's blog!  And make sure you hop to each illustrator's blog and their design teams for some amazing inspiration!  

Today, I'm working with Becky Oehlers Stamps (through Gina K Designs) set called Mistletoe Memories!  When Becky showed us peeks of this modern take on mistletoe months ago, it definitely got me excited for the holidays!  You can pick up this set on the Gina K website in rubber or clear! 

I'm really enjoying the non-traditional look for the holidays this year, so I went with a candy colored Christmas card!  I love holiday stamps that you can still use all year long!

Thanks so much for stopping in!  As always, it was fun to play with Becky's designs and I can't wait to see what she and the other DTer's have made!  To see more, follow the links to visit Becky, Vera, and Latisha!  

Becky Oehlers

Vera Yates

Latisha Yoast

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight ~ Midnight Letters

Hi everyone!  Ready for the next Mama Elephant set?  Today we're debuting the first Mama Elephant alpha set, Midnight Letters!   {All the new sets will be available for purchase on November 15th}  I've never seen an alpha set like this one before!  This set includes both a solid and an outline set that can be used separately or together.  Totally genius!  For this first card, I used just the solid stamps:)

Who doesn't love the look of white and kraft?  The perfect combination for a little "snow" stamping and a polar bear!  I couldn't resist that little bear again:)  He's colored in with colored pencils which are perfect for coloring on kraft because they are more opaque than markers.    

I added a little bit of falling snow from last month's Believe in Magic set behind my bear,  added a strip of glitter, and stamped a snowflake border.  Very snowy:)  For my next card I combined the outline and solid stamps!  

To take advantage of the flexibility of the alpha set, I stamped the sentiment vertically.  I love the look of the solid letter stamped slightly offset from the outline.  I cut the frame with my Silhouette and made 3 little windows for the adorable foxes.  I love those little peeking sweeties.

If you'd like to try this card yourself, pick up the Silhouette cut file here.  This file includes 2 versions: with and without the flag cutout.

That's it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by today!  Tomorrow we have one more set to highlight!  Now don't forget to visit the rest of the Mama Elephant gals to see their wonderful Midnight Letters projects!

Mama Elephant Blog

Alice Wertz

Cheiron Brandon

Mariana Grigsby

Pearl Lui

Savannah O'Gwynn

Don't forget to leave comments on the ME blog and the DT's blogs to enter your name into the drawing for a free set!  One winner will be randomly chosen from all the blogs:)  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight ~ No Peeking ~ Giveaway

Good Sunday morning everyone!  Did you check out the Mama Elephant peeks yesterday?  Today we're starting off the stamp highlights with the set No Peeking!  

When I first opened the set, I was drawn to those little peeking critters:)  So cute!  Between the cute critters and the tag frame, I can really see myself using the little builder stamps on lots of projects.  And for those technique folks out there, my little fake enamel dots are...

I've been wanting to buy those MME enamel dots for awhile, but I wasn't sure about the colors.  I'd seen Kristina Werner use nail polish on cards and it made me wonder.  I wanted to achieve more of a bead/enamel dot, so I went looking for a quick dry polish in some fun matte colors.  Lucky for me, I found mine on sale (2 for 1, woohoo!) at the local drugstore.  Just remember to let it sit on a level surface while it dries or you will get a wonky drip instead of a nice bead.  I'm definitely going to experiment with this a bit more.  Now for something a bit different...

You know I love my vellum!  I stamped the cute little snowflake stamp from No Peeking in white ink onto vellum.  It turned out so bright and beautiful even without embossing!  The little circles in the snowflake pattern are perfect for little jewels:)  I used a large gem in the middle and filled the outer circles with a spica glitter pen.  {The sentiment is from Polar Pals}

Thanks for stopping by today!  Come back tomorrow for another set reveal and check out the fabulous No Peeking projects from the rest of the Mama Elephant gals!

Mama Elephant Blog

Alice Wertz

Cheiron Brandon

Mariana Grigsby

Pearl Lui

Savannah O'Gwynn

Leave a comment at every stop and you may win a No Peeking set for  yourself!  One winner will be randomly chosen from all the blogs.  

 Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Sneak Peeks!

The sneak peeks are up!  If you visit the Mama Elephant blog today, you'll find a little bit of what's coming up this month!  And come back tomorrow for the start of the stamp highlights!  This month Mama Elephant is releasing 4 new stamp sets!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

10 Minute Craft Dash #6 with Avery Elle

Hi guys!  Avery Elle is sponsoring this round of the 10 minute Craft Dash Challenge, so we're all playing along today!  If you're new to this challenge, the goal create a card in 10 minutes or less using the 3 inspiration colors above.  You can gather your supplies beforehand, but the actual making of the card should be less than 10 minutes.  If you know anything about me, you will know that this is a TRUE CHALLENGE!  Let's get to the cards shall we?

My first card took 9:08!  I was contemplating add some gems but time was ticking!  Here are the steps: stamp 8 rows of the Fanfare border in the 3 colors, trim piece to fit over card, stamp frame onto leftover stamped piece (making sure the patterned lined up), stamp sentiment, fussy cut frame, adhere all the pieces to the card, round 2 right corners.  Whew!  Luckily the border stamps are so easy to line up! 

I know I was pushing my luck, but I tried my hand at one more card.  This time, I figured no stamping = quicker time!  This card only too 6:15!  Granted, I was die cutting like a crazy person, but I was determined to shave some time:)  Here's how it came together: die cut "hello" 4 times (white woodgrain, yellow, orange, and green cardstock), trim white woodgrain piece, inlay the "hello" back into the white woodgrain and add the different colored cut pieces, adhere panel to card with foam, round 2 right corners.  

I have to admit the time limit is kind of liberating!  You are forced to (in the words of the fabby Tim Gunn) "make it work"!  Now before you head on over the challenge site, check out what the other Avery Elle DT did for the challenge!  

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

Heather Campbell

Kasia Curry

Chunyuan Wu

10 minute Craft Dash Challenge

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies

Card #1:

Fanfare stamp set

Blooming Banner stamp set

Ultra Smooth Pure White cardstock

Card #2:

Lemongrass cardstock

Daisy cardstock

Fizz cardstock