A Peaceful Festive Friday

It's FRIDAY (finally)!!!  What better way to celebrate a Friday (a holiday weekend Friday, no less) than to play along with a fantastic challenge:)  Today, I have the pleasure of playing along with the wonderful Meredith and her crew over at the Festive Friday Challenge!   Let's take a look at the inspiration pic, shall we?

At first, it was hard not to look at those adorable little hands:)  But eventually, I turned to the real focal point, the die cut word.  I don't have a die for the word "peace" *yet*, so I used my Silhouette for this one.  I cut the word into a a panel that was slightly smaller than my card front.  Then I stamped the entire panel with a lovely birch pattern stamp.  I wanted a softer background, so I stamped the trees in gray over a lighter gray.    

Behind the die cut word, I used 2 kinds of glitter (fine white and coarse clear).  Using two types of glitter on colored paper give you a kind of variegated look.  And the glitter seems to jump out at you more because of the contrasting base.  I love how it turned out!  For fun, I aligned the panel up and to the right to allow for a bit more red to show.  And I added a couple tiny die cut red birds to finish off my winter scene.    

Thanks so much for checking in this lovely Friday!  And big thanks to Meredith for the invitation to play along with you and your awesome team!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle August/September Inspiration Blog Hop

I'm so excited to be showcasing the new Avery Elle Halloween set, Twisted Treats!!!  As I said before, Halloween is all about the goodies!  This set is the perfect thing for creating party favors and treat bags for all your little monsters;)

For my first project, I was thinking Evil Queen.  Snow White's Queen, that is:)  The frame stamp reminded me of the Queen's mirror, and what better to go with the Queen's mirror but a candy apple?  To dress up the candy apple I wrapped it in red cellophane and wrapped some washi tape around the stick.  Then I created a tag using 2 die cut frames with a bit of vellum sandwiched between.  For my sentiment, I chose "Good to the Bitter End".  So apropos, no?  

I was also inspired to make a spoooooky Halloween card.  Some masking and a haunted house die cut was all it took to get this one done!

To get a crisp line when blending inks, I use these Post-It notes that have adhesive covering the entire back side of the paper.  You need that extra stickiness when you're moving the blending pad over the mask.    

Thank you for stopping checking out my projects today!  I do hope you stop by all the other Avery Elle blog hoppers!  Here's the blog line up if you've just started...

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

 Chunyuan Wu
Katie Gehring (our awesome guest designer!)
Nina Yang
Heather Campbell

JJ Bolton (you are here:)

Donna Mikasa

Kasia Curry
Maska Vanacker

To celebrate the August/September Release Blog Hop, Avery Elle is giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to one random winner!  To enter to win just comment on this post.  There is no purchase necessary and you must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  This giveaway is void where prohibited.  You can also do options 2, 3, 4, 5 or all 6 of the following to increase your chances of winning. You have until midnight Sunday, September 1st to enter.  The winner will be announced on the Avery Elle Blog on Monday, September 2nd.  All products are available for purchase in the Avery Elle store right now. 

To enter to win you can do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or all 6 of the following to increase your chances:

1. Comment on any of the design team's posts and/or here on the Avery Elle Blog
2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet the contest (we are @averyellestamps )
3. Follow us on Facebook (we are www.facebook.com/AveryElle ) and share us with your friends - make sure they tell us you sent them.
4. Follow us on Pinterest
5. Become a blog follower through Feedly or Blog Lovin' (comment on the Avery Elle blog if you already follow us)
6. Join our Flickr group (comment on the Avery Elle blog if you already belong)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Happy Camper CASE

Just stopping in quick CASE of the wonderful Chunyuan!  She posted this card the other day and, I couldn't resist:)  For my version, I used the Fill in the Blank stamps instead of the die cut.  And just like my squirrel card yesterday, I found a new stamp to fill in the blank!  The trees are from Happy Camper:)  Fun, right?  

For the camper (from Home Sweet Home), I paper pieced everything but the wheel, step, and hitch, and popped it up on foam tape.  That little detail gives this CAS card just a little extra something.   Just for fun, I did another version of this card with the campfire.  This time in retro colors!

Thanks so much for taking a peek! 

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Stamp Highlight: Happy Camper

Hi everyone!  Just stopping in with a couple of Avery Elle Happy Camper cards!  Even though the weather here is ALL summer, this set makes me dream of fall.  Fall is my favorite season!  It reminds me of my college years down in southwest Virginia.  Crisp air, leaves changing color, football, and camping!  

Here's my first go at this set...

Don't ask me why the fox is canoeing.  I was just having fun with all the scene building stamps and here's where I ended up!  Poor thing doesn't even have a paddle;)  He's cute though!  And so is this little critter...

Let's continue with the talking animal theme:)   Ever since I got my Fill in the Blank set, I've been experimenting with all kinds of fillers.  So many possibilities!  Who knew that Mr. Squirrel would be a perfect fit? 

For the sentiment, I masked out the "you" and put it in a die cut speech bubble (from Oh Yeah).  The background is a bit of kraft-colored woodgrain paper (still loving it).  

Thank you so, so much for checking in!  Heather also has a project today, so be sure to check it out!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight: Many Thanks

Hi guys!  It's the last day of the Mama Elephant August release highlights and you know there can't be a release without an awesome sentiment set!  Many Thanks fits the bill!  (Which is available on the site NOW by the way)  In true Mama Elephant fashion, this set includes a ton of fun and cute thank you sentiments:)

For my card, I thought I'd make another "washaker" (a washi shaker just like these inspired by the awesome Donna Mikasa).  But of course, it had to be heart shaped to go with the sentiment!  I die cut 2 hearts from clear plastic and then taped one side of the heart together with the washi tape.  Then I filled the heart with various colors of sequins and the sentiment (easy with the sequins, you don't need many).  Then I sealed the other half.  Around the heart, I added more sequins, enamel dots, and even some stamped hearts (from Sunny Skies).  I love the pinkness!  

Thanks for stopping by all week long!  You guys are the best!  Please be sure to visit the rest of the DT to see what fun they had with this cute set! 

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight: Foodie

Hi everyone!  It's day three of the Mama Elephant August release highlights and today we are showcasing the set Foodie!   (Which is available on the site NOW by the way)  This set has a bunch of little elements that are great for invitations, parties, and favors!

This was a perfect set to create my little table top scene!  I stamped and embossed the place setting in gold and even made a little gold border "china" plate.  Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a placemat:)  Easy and so cute for a hostess thank you card!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  And I hope that you get a chance to drop by the rest of the DT to see what fun they had with this fun set! 

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight: Message Bands

Hey guys!  It's day two of the Mama Elephant August release highlights and today we are showcasing the set Message Bands!   (Which is available on the site NOW by the way)  I used this set the other day for the Mama Elephant Stampede.

I'm not a scrapbooker (wish I was), but today I was channeling my inner scrapbooker just a bit:)  If you pretend that my stamped background is a picture, can't you see it as part of a layout?  All you'd need is a little Stazon ink and those message bands would look awesome on photos.  I stamped my cityscape with stamps from Central Park.  To make the scene more picture-like, I framed it with a simple cardstock frame.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  And I hope that you get a chance to drop by the rest of the DT to see what fun they had with this fun set! 

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlight: Bootastic

Hey everyone!  Today is the first day of the Mama Elephant August release highlights and the whole DT is showcasing the set Bootastic!   (Which is available on the site NOW by the way)  We are big fans of Halloween over here, so you know I love this set!   The little figures in this set are too adorable!  I just wanna pinch their little cheeks:) 

Like I said, Halloween is a big deal at our house.  The kids have gotten too big to go trick-or-treating, but we spent many years working on costumes and decorating the house.    This set makes me think back to a couple our favorite costumes over the years:)  (The kids will be so embarrassed that I'm posting these pics, but they know how I roll, lol)

Now back to my project:)  Let's face it, Halloween is all about the candy!  So instead of a card, I pulled out some of my wax paper favor bags and made a quick candy favor bag.  

The little hand-cut coffin opens to reveal...

A cute mummy in a gold-lined coffin!  (I should have done a sarcophagus!)  I finished it off with the perfect sentiment!  The "PEEKABOO" part of the stamp is and outline font, so I used a white pencil to randomly fill it the letters for an aged look.  I think I have more fun with Halloween than the kids;)

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope that you get a chance to drop by the rest of the DT to see what fun they had with this fun set! 

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Stamp Highlight: Written in the Stars

***scroll down to see my ME Stampede post***

Hi all!  Back today with an Avery Elle stamp highlight!  Today, I using the new set Written in the Stars!  Right now, constellations and stars are hot, and this is the sweetest stamp version ever:)  

When I saw the Written in the Stars set, I just knew I had to put them together with the other new sets, Happy Camper and Home Sweet Home!  Jamie has a bunch of sets this release that just play so well together:)  I stamped a background of a starry sky and stamped off lighter and lighter as I got to the bottom.  I die cut a circle for the moon and backed it with woodgrain paper that I lightly inked.  (BTW, that woodgrain paper makes a great moon, waves, sand dunes)  The "tent" is the teepee stamp from Home Sweet Home.  I stamped it off the card to make it look less teepee and more tent.  The sweet lil campfire is from Happy Camper.  

Here's a little hint on how to make those wisps of smoke off the campfire.  Tsusineko Fantastix.  I love these things!  If you're not familiar with them, they are small fabric applicators that you can use with ink or paint.  I just dab the ink pad with the Fantastix and apply directly to the card.  You can use the pointed brush tip (like me) to get a more free-flowing look or use the bullet version which gives you a more concentrated hit.  These are especially good for filling in missing spots when stamping solid stamps.  That never happens to me;)

Love the little scene all these stamps made!  The sentiment is something that I said often to my boys, so it just makes the whole card that much sweeter.  

Thank you so, so much for checking in!  Heather has some very cool Halloween stuff today, so you must go there next!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant August Stampede

Hey peeps!  It's Mama Elephant August Stampede time!  Have you been keeping up with the peeks over on the Mama Elephant blog?  Well, they're all loaded and ready to go at the Mama Elephant store!  For this month's stampede, I'm working with the new set Message Bands!   This set is perfect for a CAS gal like me, but can't you see these used with photographs?  

For my project, I made a sweet little baby card:)  My need for baby cards seems to go in waves and lately, it's been a tsunami!  (What was 8 months ago? lol)  So I paired up the "Whoa Baby!" stamp from Message Bands with the teeny baby bear of Nursery Deco and the balloon bouquet of Up and Away.  Who can resist a mini bear holding a bouquet of balloons?    

   

Most of the coloring was done with Copics, but I did color one balloon with my glitter pen.  I even used a little of the glitter pen to color in the sentiment.  A little glitter never hurt nobody;)

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away 3 gift certificates worth $20 each to 3 lucky people! Winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the Stampede. Winners will be announced on the blog on the last Stamp Highlight day.

Here's how to qualify to win (leave a separate comment for each):

1. Leave a comment on this blog post

2. Become a follower of our blog

3. Like/share us on Facebook:http://facebook.com/mamaelephant

4. Follow/tweet us on Twitter:http://twitter.com/heymamaelephant

Here's the list of all the hopper today!  Big thanks to the amazing Karolyn for joining us this month (woohoo)!
Kryssi Ng / Mama Elephant 

Heather Campbell

Mariana Grigsby 

Lea Lawson
Jenn Biederman 
Savannah O'Gwynn
Geralyn Sy 

Pearl Lui

Cheiron Brandon 

Alice Wertz 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Thank you so much for stopping by!!  And remember, tomorrow we start the stamp highlights so you can get to know each set better!  Lots of fun coming!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Giveaway Winner!!!

So I promised that I would pick an extra winner this month for commenting on the Avery Elle August/September blog hop.  And the winner is #46!

Number 46 is Barb Ghig who won with this comment:

Barb is a sweetie, so I'm extra glad she got picked:)  Barb, email me at ribbongirls at comcast dot net and I'll work out your prize!  

Thanks to everyone who commented and left such kind comments!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle August/September Blog Hop

It's release day and we're hopping!  There's so many new goodies, so let's get right to it, shall we?  The other day, I promised to come back today with projects using my new stamp set called Fill in the Blank.  This stamp set is designed to mix and match with two die sets to create all kinds of custom sentiments.  It's much easier to show than to explain;)  

For the first card, I used the stamps above with the word dies here...

To create this card...

I used the word die on textured gold cardstock and it looks so cool!  I backed the die cut with one of the background stamps from All Squared Up and leaves from Petals and Stems.  Add a few gold sequins and that was it!

For this next card, I used the stamps with the icon dies here...

These icon dies are meant to take the place of a letter in the word stamps, but my mind is racing with other ideas!  Here's a quickie card I did using the icon dies as they were intended:)

I used the icon die as a reverse die cut this time and backed it with glitter paper.  For fun, I colored the glitter paper with copics in an ombre pattern.  It was a happy coincidence that the "YOU" fits perfectly on the large tag die from Simply Tags: Everyday. 

I have one last card to share with you today!  

This time I used the little house icon die, but I only partially die cut it so that the house is still attached to the landscape.  If you're not familiar with this technique, google "partial die cutting" and you'll find lots of tutorials out there.  I stamped the "HAPPY" sentiment behind the die cut and the house just nestles right in place:)  The setting sun background was created by blending distress inks.  I even snuck in some soft stars from the new set Written in the Stars.  

Thank you for stopping by today (and for your patience earlier this week)!  I do hope you stop by all the other Avery Elle blog hoppers today!  Here's the blog line up if you've just started...

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

 Chunyuan Wu
Suzanne Dahlberg (our lovely guest designer!)
Nina Yang
Heather Campbell

JJ Bolton (you are here:)

Donna Mikasa

Kasia Curry
Maska Vanacker

To celebrate the August/September Release Blog Hop, Avery Elle is giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to one random winner!  To enter to win just comment on this post.  There is no purchase necessary and you must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  This giveaway is void where prohibited.  You can also do options 2, 3, 4, 5 or all 6 of the following to increase your chances of winning. You have until midnight Sunday, August 11th to enter.  The winner will be announced on the Avery Elle Blog on Monday, August 12th .  All products are available for purchase in the Avery Elle store right now.

To enter to win you can do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or all 6 of the following to increase your chances:

1. Comment on any of the design team's posts and/or here on the Avery Elle Blog
2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet the contest (we are @averyellestamps )
3. Follow us on Facebook (we are www.facebook.com/AveryElle ) and share us with your friends - make sure they tell us you sent them.
4. Follow us on Pinterest
5. Become a blog follower through Feedly or Blog Lovin' (comment on the Avery Elle blog if you already follow us)
6. Join our Flickr group (comment on the Avery Elle blog if you already belong)

As an added bonus, I'll also be choosing an extra winner from anyone who leaves a comment on this post by Sunday, August 11th!   I'll make sure that person gets something really special!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle August Release Coming Soon!

Hi guys!  My crazy life is finally catching up to me, so today this sneak peek is so secret that it's not here, lol!  Some of you may know that we're in the middle of selling our house and buying a new one.  That means craziness above and beyond the usual craziness over here.  So the usual sneak peek of my new designs for August will have to wait:)  Hopefully, some pics of the new sets will tide you over...

The stamp set is made to coordinate with both die sets for a variety of combined sentiments!  Can you see the possibilities?

I promise to make it up on Thursday when we do our new release blog hop!  I will even offer a giveaway (separate from the AE giveaway) for the folks that stop by on blog hop day.  In the mean time, you can see peeks that Jamie has available on the Avery Elle blog. 

The new release will be available on Thursday, August 8th in the store!  Be sure to come back on Thursday when the entire AE gang will be hopping!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj